The aim of the article is to answer a question to what extent the recent crises in international financial markets have confirmed the need for formal regulatory intervention and for official central bank support and subsequently, to what extent transactions in wholesale international financial markets should be subject to official oversight and control or if they can be left to internal market devices. The paper begins with an analysis of major financial disruptions in the last 20 to 25 years from which key findings and conclusions are derived. Subsequently, particular forms of market failure are analyzed with regard to the need of oversight and control of international financial transactions. The author concludes that wholesale international financial markets can be mostly governed by internal market devices. Nevertheless, governments and central banks should have suitable tools of oversight and control of financial transactions and regulatory means of intervention at disposal once the stability of international financial system is at risk.


Aim: Yiqi-Liangxue Recipe (YL) is a compound preparation of Chinese medicine used for preventing cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (Patent No. 200810240175.4). Maintaining the integrity of endothelia is one of the most effective approaches to prevent restenosis. Given its clinical protective effects on long-term prognosis, we investigated the mechanisms of YL in protecting vascular endothelial cells. Methods: We prepared drugs serum and human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) lines. The injured model was employed with Angiotensin II (Ang II). The YL group was employed with YL treatment. The ARB medicine group was employed with Losartan Potassium treatment. The combination of Chinese medicine and western medicine (YL+ARB) group was employed with both YL and ARB. The control group was unemployed with injury and medical treatment. For each group the cell migration rate (CM) and cell proliferation rate (CP) were measured. The concentration of Nitric Oxide (NO), Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), Endothelin-1 (ET-1) were assessed. The gene expression level of ET-1 was observed. Results: YL+ARB group significantly promoted the speed of the CM/CP of the injured HUVECs. Compared with model group, the concentration of NO increased after the drug intervention, and the concentration of ET-1 decreased. Compared with YL+ARB group, YL and ARB group each had the similar weaker effects, but did not have significant difference. The fluorescence of ROS in YL, ARB and YL+ARB group had no difference because the fluorescence was too strong. Compared with model group, the -2ΔΔCt values were decreased in the YL, ARB and YL+ARB group. The gene expression level of ET-1 was inhibited after the drug intervention, although with no significant difference. Conclusion: Treatment with YL ameliorates the injury of vascular endothelial cells and YL+ARB has better curative effect. The mechanisms are associated with improving the speed of the CM/CP; increasing the release of NO and attenuating the concentration of damage-associated mediators like ROS, ET-1 and the gene expression level of ET-1. The results suggest that YLmay be an option for preventing cardiovascular events after PCI.


Muscle contains the largest reservoir of glycogen (Glyc), a depot that is closely regulated and with influence on insulin sensitivity. The current study examines muscle Glyc in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity and with respect to muscle fiber type, intramyocellular lipid content (IMCL), and mitochondrial function (oxidative enzyme activity; OX-Enz). There is increasing interest in the relation of IMCL and mitochondrial dysfunction with insulin resistance (IR), yet the association with muscle Glyc has not been examined with regard to these parameters. Using a quantitative histological approach specific to muscle fiber types, we assessed muscle Glyc, IMCL, and OX-Enz in vastus lateralis obtained by percutaneous biopsy in lean nondiabetic (L; n = 16), obese nondiabetic (Ob; n = 15), and T2DM volunteers (n = 14). Insulin sensitivity was estimated using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)-IR. Muscle Glyc was reduced in T2DM, a deficit evident for type IIa fibers, yet minor in types I and IIb fibers. Low Glyc in T2DM correlated with fasting hyperglycemia. Also, in T2DM and Ob, there was significantly higher IMCL and lower OX-Enz in all fiber types. The IMCL-to-OX-Enz ratio, especially for type I fibers, correlated strongly with IR. Similarly, a Glyc-to-OX-Enz ratio correlated with IR, particularly for type IIb fibers. This ratio tended to be higher in Ob and T2DM. In summary, there is decreased muscle Glyc in T2DM yet a disproportional Glyc-to-OX-Enz relationship that is related to IR, although not as robustly as the IMCL-to-OX-Enz ratio.


Hyaluronic acid (HA), a major glycosaminoglycan of the extracellular matrix, has cell signaling functions that are dependent on its molecular weight. Anti-inflammatory effects for high-molecular-weight (HMW) HA and pro-inflammatory effects for low-molecular-weight (LMW) HA effects were found for various myeloid cells, including microglia. Astrocytes are cells of ectodermal origin that play a pivotal role in brain inflammation, but the link between HA with different molecular weights and an inflammatory response in these cells is not clear. We tested the effects of LMW and HMW HA in rat primary astrocytes, stimulated with Poly:IC (PIC, TLR3 agonist) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS, TLR4 agonist). Oxylipin profiles were measured by the UPLC-MS/MS analysis and metabolites HDoHEs (from docosahexaenoic acid), -HETEs, prostaglandins (from arachidonic acid), DiHOMEs and HODEs (from linoleic acid) were detected. Both, HMW and LMW HA downregulated the cyclooxygenase-mediated polyunsaturated fatty acids metabolism, LMW also reduced lipoxygenase-mediated fatty acid metabolism. Taken together, the data show that both LMW and HMW (i) influence themselves on cytokines (TNFα, IL-6, IL-10), enzymes iNOS, COX-2, and oxylipin levels in extracellular medium of cultured astrocytes, (ii) induced cellular adaptations in long-term applications, (iii) modulate TLR4- and TLR3-signaling pathways. The effects of HMW and LMW HA are predominantly revealed in TLR4– and TLR3- mediated responses, respectively.


BACKGROUND Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is an extremely rare endocrine malignancy, with a reported increase in incidence in the past decade. PC generally presents in an indolent fashion, featuring nonspecific symptoms associated with hypercalcemia. CASE REPORT Case 1: A 30-year-old man was admitted for symptoms associated with hypercalcemia and elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH). Imaging examinations showed the presence of a cervical nodular lesion. The patient underwent surgery, and the pathological diagnosis was PC. Case 2: A 45-year-old man with a history of hypothyroidism was referred to our Endocrinology Department for a cervical nodular lesion. A fine-needle aspiration was performed, and the result was suggestive of papillary carcinoma. Blood testing showed only mild hypercalcemia and PTH elevation, with no associated symptoms. The patient underwent surgery, and the histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of PC. Case 3: A 38-year-old man presented with diffuse bone pain and muscle weakness, severe hypercalcemia, high levels of PTH, and a cervical mass. The patient underwent surgery. Diagnostic pathology confirmed the diagnosis of PC. Five years later, the patient presented with a cutaneous metastasis, followed 1 year later by pulmonary metastases. CONCLUSIONS Most PCs are slow-growing tumors. Some of these tumors are diagnosed in association with hereditary syndromes. A clear distinction between benign and malignant lesions is not always simple because there is a lack of specific clinical distinguishing features of malignant lesions. Currently, surgical resection is the preferred approach; however, owing to the rarity of this condition, there is a void of high-quality data.


The social challenges that are directly related to human health care and wellbeing became an obstacle for modern urban development and new city constructions, such as traffic congestion, noise, air pollution, and safety. The solution to overcome those barriers appeared to be in the proper organization of construction activities, particularly, in the construction logistics management.
Hypothesis of this research suggest that modern construction logistics management cannot correspond social challenges as industry does not possess highly qualified staff, which questions current educational quality provided by institutions. Universities, therefore, search an answer what education needs to be provided to students to make specialists relevant to the contemporary construction industry, which requires coordination of activities and business processes within and between various organizations and sectors.
The aim of this research is to find out if there is a need for development of the novel learning contents for the future workforce for effectively manage construction logistics, to analyze where is the gap between construction industry demands and state of the arts of universities in the construction logistics, and answers the following questions:
What is the gap between educational state of the art in the construction logistics of leading universities and construction logistics practice? What is the educational state of the art in the construction logistics practice? And, what an education is demanded by the industry in the construction logistics practice?
The hypothesis was checked based on cases selected from the three Western European countries. The case selection conducted according to replication logic of Robert Yin (2003), which considered selection and research of multiple cases that allows generalizing findings in Western European region. Following leading universities were selected: Royal Institute of Technology (SW), Northumbria University (UK), University of Twente, and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL). These universities were identified because of the existence of consistent courses and topics in the field of logistics and supply chain management, both, at Bachelor's and Master's level. The research was hold according to methods used in the scientific paper of Sacks and Pikas (2013) where they studded educational gap analysis for Building Information Modeling (BIM). The methodology consist of six main steps, such as: (1) Preliminary literature review; (2) semi-structured interviews among the representatives of academia and industry; (3) development of comprehensive topics list for construction logistics; (4) online survey among the practitioners and evaluation of topics according to Bloom's cognitive dimensions; (5) in-depth interviews among the educators and evaluation of construction logistics related topics and courses according to Bloom's cognitive dimensions from 1 to 6; and final step (6) educational gap analysis. During this study researcher faced with limitations related to data collection from the university representatives. The lack of information was compensated by finding out alternative source of information, such as universities official web pages.
The findings validated the hypothesis partially. The knowledge gap between the state of the art of universities and industry requirements in the construction logistics appeared to be through number of topics related to reverse logistical processes and construction activities that was completely excluded or only partially included in the selected study courses. In addition, it showed that some courses are not well balanced as either they do not reach out industry requirements or exceed the demand in provided quality. Finally, research shows that state of the art in construction logistics are number of courses focusing on general logistics and supply chain management, after which a student needs an additional time to specialize in the construction logistics. Research provides recommendations for the reduction of educational gap and development of novel learning content for the education of construction logistics managers, and for better utilization of educational capacities within the industry.


ABSTRACT As East-West Asia relations expand and diversify, cross-regional non-state relations develop as well. Surprisingly though, this development has so far been largely overlooked. Attempting to fill this void, this article focuses on the involvement of Japan's and South Korea's civil societies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More specifically, it argues that the intensification of cross-regional connections between East Asia and the Middle East generates involvement of the civil society in this conflict, whose specific shape is influenced by the attributes of each state. To test this supposition, the article comparatively examines the civilian protests in Japan and South Korea against Israel and their impact. The article's contribution is fourfold: it examines the important yet inadequately studied growing civil society participation in East-West Asia relations; it indicates the relatively new interaction between state and non-state actors in East Asia concerning the Middle East; it explores for the first time protest movements against Israel in East Asia; and it enriches existing knowledge about civil society participation in South Korea's and Japan's foreign relations with an intriguing yet so far overlooked case.


The PID, fuzzy, self-organized fuzzy and self-organized fuzzy-PID controllers are adopted in the position control of single pneumatic muscle actuator. Experiments show that the self-organized fuzzy-PID is obviously effective for the position control of single pneumatic muscle actuator, which can realize precision within 0.3 mm and withstand 18N variable load plus about 36N fixed load. It is relatively precise and robust.


The distraction-lengthening principle and apparatus, formerly used in the hand for reconstruction in congenital anomalies and traumatic amputations, is described for reconstruction of metacarpals and phalanges shortened by injuries, especially gunshot wound, where those bones have lost significant length. Hands in which single metacarpals have been shortened or in which multiple digits are involved may benefit from the technique.


Abstract The X chromosome in non-African populations has less diversity and less Neanderthal introgression than expected. We analyzed X chromosome diversity across the globe and discovered seventeen chromosomal regions, where haplotypes of several hundred kilobases have recently reached high frequencies in non-African populations only. The selective sweeps must have occurred more than 45,000 years ago because the ancient Ust'-Ishim male also carries its expected proportion of these haplotypes. Surprisingly, the swept haplotypes are entirely devoid of Neanderthal introgression, which implies that a population without Neanderthal admixture contributed the swept haplotypes. It also implies that the sweeps must have happened after the main interbreeding event with Neanderthals about 55,000 BP. These swept haplotypes may thus be the only genetic remnants of an earlier out-of-Africa event. One Sentence Summary After humans expanded out of Africa, the X chromosome experienced a burst of extreme natural selection that removed Neanderthal admixture.


Adhesive capsulitis, also known as frozen shoulder, is a condition characterized by pain and stiffness of the shoulder joint. Frozen shoulder is more common in women, though it can also occur in men. It occurs mainly after 50 years of age. This study has been conducted to evaluate the role of homoeopathic treatment in cases of frozen shoulder disorder. Homoeopathy has also demonstrated great efficacy in curing symptoms and reducing severity of frozen shoulder.


Aim

To examining whether niche breadth, niche position and a compound measure of the two variables help to explain the range sizes of forest vascular plants.

Locations

Deciduous forests in two regions of Germany, the Weser–Elbe region and Bavarian Alps.

Methods

We compiled range size data for vascular plant species (30 in the Weser–Elbe region, 35 in the Bavarian Alps) on regional, national and continental scales by determining the area of occupancy (number of occupied grid cells) in both regions, Germany and Eurasia. Estimates of realized niche breadth and niche position (ecological optimum) for soil pH and light were based on measurements in 46 sites for all species. Frequency distributions of pH values on regional and national scales served to calculate the 'available niche breadth', i.e. niche breadth values corrected for the different availabilities of pH values in the region and country.

Results

Regional range size in the Weser–Elbe region increased with increasing niche breadth for both soil pH and light and with decreasing pH niche position. pH niche breadth was positively correlated to national range size in the Weser–Elbe region and to Eurasian range size in the Bavarian Alps. In the latter region, all other relationships with range size were (partly marginally) non-significant. Available niche breadth was generally more closely related to the regional and national distribution of species in both regions than either niche breadth or position alone.

Main conclusions

Niche breadth and position performed well as predictors of range size only for soil pH and in the Weser–Elbe region, which shows more homogeneous environmental conditions than the Bavarian Alps. If the frequencies of different ranges of pH values can be quantified, the calculation of available niche breadth for soil pH appears to be a promising approach for assessing the possible effects of niche variables on the range sizes of species.


Oscar Wilde's The Critic as Artist is shown to foreshadow some key concepts of poststructuralist interpretive theory - such as the necessary interplay of blindness and insight in criticism (Lacan, Paul de Man), or the retroactive effect of interpretation in the construction of the work. More specifically, Wilde's reading of the riddle of the Sphinx in a passage of this work both theorizes and dramatizes the paradoxical relationship between blindness and insight, in the shape of an ironic prophecy which can be read as Wilde's announcement of his own tragic downfall - in which there is an element of compulsive acting out that has been noted by a number of previous critics. That is, Wilde's Sphinx is used as the vehicle of a riddle about Wilde himself, and is an emblem of his own ambivalent attitude toward the public revelation of his homosexuality.


We describe the fabrication of a hybrid nanomagneto-electronic device, consisting of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire that is bridged by a ferromagnetic gate, and study the influence of the nanomagnet fringing fields on the quantum-wire magneto-resistance. The nonplanar gate shows clear single-domain structure in magnetic-force microscopy, and a simple magnetization behavior in an external magnetic field. This behavior is reflected as a hysteretic variation of the quantum-wire magneto-resistance, whose magnitude is found to be consistent with theoretical predictions for ballistic electron transport through a spatially varying magnetic field.


Kepler observations suggest that G-type stars produce powerful flares suggesting 9 that the early Earth may also have been exposed to frequent and energetic solar explosive 10 events generated by the young Sun. We show that powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) events 11 associated with superflares impacting the Earth magnetosphere with a frequency of 1 event/day. 12 What was the impact of superflares, CMEs and associated solar energetic particle (SEPs) events 13 on the atmospheric erosion of the young Earth and habitability? In this paper we discuss our 14 three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations that show that frequent and 15 energetic CMEs from the early Sun continuously destroyed the sub-solar parts of Earth's mag16 netosphere at heights < 1 RE . This suggests that CME shock accelerated energetic protons are 17 capable of penetrating into the polar cap region and breaking atmospheric molecular nitrogen, 18 the major ingredient of the early Earth atmosphere, into atomic nitrogen. Photo-collisional dis19 sociation of molecular nitrogen and carbon dioxide creates reactive chemistry that efficiently 20 produces nitrous oxide and hydrogen cyanide, the essential molecule in prebiotic life chemistry. 21 This raises an possibility that frequent super-CMEs could serve as a potential catalyst for the 22 origin of life on early Earth. 23


Brachytherapy is a widely used treatment for patients with localized cancer where high doses of radiation are administered to cancerous tissue by implanting radioactive seeds into the prostate using long beveled-tip needles. Accurate seed placement is an important factor that influences the outcome of the treatment. In this paper, we present and study the suitability of a new framework for computer-assisted needle steering during seed implantation in brachytherapy. The framework is based on a hand held brachytherapy needle steering apparatus. As the needle is manually inserted, the device automatically rotates the needle's base axially at appropriate depths inside tissue in order to control the trajectory of the needle tip towards a target. The steering controller is based on the Rapidly Exploring Random Tree algorithm that updates the necessary manoeuvres online. Experimental results performed in phantom and ex-vivo biological tissues show an average absolute targeting error of 0.56 ±0.62 and 0.48 ±0.48 mm, respectively.


The effect of antigen challenge on the airway responses to substance P and on the epithelial neutral endopeptidase (NEP) activity was investigated in aerosol sensitized guinea-pigs. In vivo, bronchial responses to aerosolized substance P were similar to the responses observed in antigen-challenged guinea-pigs and in the control groups. In contrast, when the guinea-pigs were pretreated with the NEP inhibitor, phosphoramidon, a significant increase in the airway responses to substance P was observed after antigen challenge in vivo. However, in vitro, the contractile responses of the tracheal smooth muscle to substance P were similar between groups of guinea-pigs, in respect to the presence or absence of the epithelium and/or phosphoramidon. Histological studies showed an accumulation of eosinophils in the tracheal submucosa after antigen challenge and intact epithelial cells. These results show that in vivo bronchial hyperresponsiveness to substance P after antigen challenge in the guinea-pig is not associated with increased responses of the smooth muscle to exogenous SP in vitro. In addition, the results with phosphoramidon suggest that loss of NEP activity cannot account for the in vivo bronchial hyperresponsiveness to substance P presently observed.


An area based counterpart of the binary structural opening spectra is developed. It is shown that these area opening and closing spectra can be computed using an adaptation of Tarjan's union-find algorithm. These spectra provide rotation, translation, and scale invariant pattern vectors for texture analysis.


India has experienced significant transformation in its economy since independence, especially agriculture. From a severely food-deficit nation during mid-1960s to a self-sufficient one, and becoming the largest exporter of rice and the largest producer of milk in 2020-21 is not a small achievement. Similar break-throughs have been achieved in poultry, fishery, fruits and vegetables, and cotton. All this was made possible with liberal infusion of modern technology, institutional innovations that made small holders part of this change, and enabling right incentives to cultivators. This holds lessons for many developing countries in south and south-east Asia as well as in African continent. But India still faces many challenges on food security front. Malnutrition rates amongst children remain high, and agricultural production begs the question of sustainability as water table in most parts of the country is falling rapidly. Also, the food system needs to move from 'tonnage centric to farmer centric' as incomes of agri-households remain pretty low, largely because of small holding sizes. It is high time that India opens up land lease markets, build efficient supply chains with Farmer Producer Organisations by infusing digital technologies to unleash next technological revolution that promotes efficiency, inclusiveness, and sustainability in agriculture through precision agriculture.


firstname.lastname@example.com Focusing on architectural reconstructions after armed conflicts 1 in the area of the former Yugoslav republics 2 , we would like to present the "other side" of the reconstruction by the example of the Old Bridge in Mostar; or rather, what is determinative in this special area of monumental preservation over the professional consideration: the social and political aspects. These aspects will be dealt with in more detail by examining the overall post-conflict reconstruction situation of cultural heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina, involving diverse opinions from experts and international assistance. This article re-exami-nes, among others, the prosperity of the recovery indicating an authenticity question, posed as: "how far can an authentic experience be recreated or conjured through the simulation of an absent original monu-ment?" 3 We evaluate the process and stages of the reconstruction of the Old Bridge in a spirit of "identical" restoration, by understanding its structure and rebuilding in identical shape and dimension, using original materials and construction techniques, based on archival documents. The judgement of the architectural reconstruction or rebuilding also depends on multiple aspects: the recognition and assertion of the hie-rarchy of values – material or physical, as well as intangible or immaterial. Delayed in the process, by nearly a decade due to the political and economic situation, it is important to evaluate several problems that occur, emphasizing in turn: the question of the original form, original spaces in the mirror of the history that formed in another way. This side raises ethical and moral questions as well. The approach and judgement of the architectural reconstruction is also different in the republics of the former Yugoslavia after the recent armed conflict. Seeing the diverseness in the social and political background the question arises whether the new reconstruction is another layer in the "stratigraphy" of the monument or it is the lockup of the


Background: Foodborne diseases are on the increase throughout the world due to poor attention given to personal and food hygiene measures by both lawmakers and people in charge of food preparation, especially in the developing countries.

Objective: To examine the knowledge and practices of food vendors operating in urban Kano on personal and food hygiene.

Materials and Methods: We used a descriptive cross-sectional design to study a random sample of 380 food vendors in Kano metropolis. Data were collected using pretested interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Epi Info® software, version 3.5.1.

Results: The mean age of the food vendors was 27.78 ± 7.63 years. The majority (61.1%) of them were men (53.2%), married (61.8%), and had at least secondary education (51.1%). More than two-thirds (89.7%) had fair knowledge of personal hygiene, although there were deficiencies in some of the key hygiene areas, but 62.4% and 36.6% had good and fair knowledge of food hygiene, respectively. Most of the food vendors had good practices of personal hygiene (93.2%). Paradoxically, only 17.1% had good practice of food hygiene. Furthermore, more than half (54.2%) showed bad workplace hygiene practices.

Conclusion: Food vendors operating in Kano generally knew about personal and food hygiene, but this was not reflected in their hygienic practices. It is the statutory responsibility of the environmental health officers to safeguard and implement food hygiene laws in Nigeria. But despite the available structure and personnel at the local government area level, the laws are still inactive. The health authorities at the state and federal levels should empower the environmental health officers with the necessary policy and logistic support they require to fully implement the laws in Kano and Nigeria as a whole. The laws should also be reviewed to ensure more severe penalty for offenders.


TVS components are widely used to protect electronic systems from ESD. However, there are various technologies of TVS components as well as numerous manufacturers for each technology. Choosing the right component is not easy, as a typical TVS data sheet does not always provide all the relevant information. This paper presents the pros and cons of different technologies as well as empirical data to facilitate the design of adequate and economical ESD protection.


The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) group intervention to reduce psychological distress as well as to strengthen self-esteem, resilience, and general well-being for individuals living with a chronic illness and/or other health challenges. This pilot study employed a pre–posttest design to evaluate the outcome of the intervention for individuals receiving care in a Community and Family Medicine department and a Women's Health Centre located in an urban downtown hospital. A total of 42 patients were enrolled in the study and 35 participants completed the intervention. Thirty-five of 42 enrolled participants completed the intervention. Twenty-eight participants completed the pretest and posttest assessments, which demonstrated statistically significant improvement on most outcome measures, including the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Rating Scale (CES-D), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Affect Balance Scale (ABS), the Resilience Scale (RS), and the Five-Item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Large effect sizes were observed for the CES-D, the ABS, and the DASS Stress subscale. Observed improvements were sustained at 4 weeks posttreatment. Results are consistent with studies indicating that MBCT offers promise in alleviating psychological distress for those who are seeking care in primary health care settings. Continued focus on how to best implement MBCT in primary health care, particularly for those with comorbid physical and mental health conditions, supports the World Health Organization's recommendation to integrate evidence-based mental health care within primary health care to promote equitable access to care for those most in need.


Precise and detailed knowledge of the dynamic characteristics of structt~res has become increasingly important in recent years. As a consequence, the accuracy of experbnental data, which is often used to validate and update fmite element models, has become extremely i"lporta"t. It has been shown expetientally [II that small changes in ambient temperature can cause distinct variations in the natural frequencies of a lightly damped structure, which in turn may result in significant errors in expainxntal and analytical results. Therefore, a good understanding of the physical driving mechanisms involved is "ecessaly so that adequate stability control measures may be implemented. i This paper presents a" analytical investigation of the variations in natural frequency caused by small changes i" temperature. A" analytical plate dynamic model is developed accounting for the effects of temperature-dependent material properties. Changes in temperature influence Young's modulus, stmctural dimensions (via thermal expansion), and boundary condition effects. These changes cause variations in the natural frequencies which result in marked changes in stmchlral dynamic response at frequencies near resonance, especially when damping is low. Natural frequencies decrease linearly with increasing temperature over the limited temperature range in this study. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the temperatare-dependence of Young's modulus is the dominant factor influencing the variations in natural frequency, but boundary condition effects may also be irrpmtmt.


This paper introduces MAPSAR (Multi-Application Purpose SAR): a new SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission for Earth Observation. MAPSAR is the result of a joint pre-phase A study made by INPE and DLR targeting a mission with a small spaceborne SAR for day and night Earth surface observation independent of weather conditions for assessment, management and monitoring natural (renewable and non-renewable) resources. In the study, the applicability of the sensor system to the following themes was investigated: Cartography, Forestry, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Agriculture, Disaster Management, Oceanography and Urban Studies. To accomplish the overall requirements, an L-band SAR has been chosen as the only payload of a small satellite. The satellite, based on the INPE s Multi Mission Platform, (MMP) is presented as well. The modular system consists of the satellite bus (platform) and a payload module for the SAR sensor accommodation. A dawn/dusk sun-synchronous orbit with a repeating cycle of 37 days at 620 km has been chosen for this study, but further orbit optimization based on mission simulations shall be performed in the phase A. The SAR sensor will be innovative with respect to overall mass, size and performance. The key component of the SAR instrument is the SAR antenna, which is designed as an elliptical parabolic reflector antenna with dimension of circa 7,5 m (azimuth) x 5 m (range). L-band (high spatial resolution, quad-pol) has been selected for the SAR sensor as optimum frequency accounting for the majority of Brazilian and German users requirements. The MAPSAR mission is tailored to optimally support the potential user groups in both countries taking into account the present status of current and planned SAR spaceborne programs, which should be complemented by the special mission characteristics of MAPSAR. At the moment, the pre-phase A has been concluded and the phase A is planned to start on 2003. The satellite launch is proposed for the year 2008.


Professional burnout of the high school tutors and its negative impact on the educational process and the state of health of teachers, have been revealed in the article, signs, indicating the systemic nature of the problem, have been described. Strategies of overcoming such professional burnout have been considered, the preference of the problem-oriented strategy has been noted. The results of the analysis of the time spent by the teacher in the formation of assignments have been presented. The expediency of using information technologies as a tool to reduce the load on the teacher by reducing the time required to prepare for practical and laboratory classes has been substantiated. The stages of preparation for classes, that should be automated, have been highlighted.


COVID-19 pandemic cases first started in November 2019 in Wuhan, China. However, the origins of the virus remain uncertain. Information and clinical complications of the disease, as well as treatment, continue to evolve in real-time. The latest complication of thrombolytic events of COVID-19 was thrust into the spotlight following the Associated Press report of Broadway star Nick Cordero having to undergo leg amputation for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in April 2020 and eventually succumbing to the infection. DVT is a subset of venous thromboembolism and is a preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Here, we describe a woman with serious mental illness developing COVID-19 and DVT complications.


ABSTRACT Introduction: For over 20 years, acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) has taken multiple definitions and/or classifications. The definition outlines the acute and chronic insults to include a homogenous patient group with liver failure and an expected outcome in a specific time frame. Early and accurate diagnosis is essential as this inflammation of the liver may tilt the balance of liver destruction and regeneration adversely. Various factors such as superadded systemic sepsis, liver reserve, cause of primary chronic liver disease, state of immune system or the state of gut microbial flora might determine the ultimate prognosis. Areas covered: To date, there has been no universally accepted definition of ACLF. In this review, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses, controversies and basis for early identification and accurate diagnosis of ACLF. PubMed and Google scholar database searches were conducted, search terms included 'acute on chronic liver failure,' 'ACLF,' and 'diagnostic criteria.' Expert commentary: With recent advances in the management of advanced cirrhosis, research will gradually shift towards ACLF in the near future, focusing on the pathogenesis, new treatment options and improving survival. Once we improve understanding of this syndrome, newer definitions will evolve, thereby enabling earlier diagnosis and novel therapeutic avenues.


The role of the endogenous apelin system in pregnancy is not well understood. Apelin's actions in pregnancy are further complicated by the expression of multiple forms of the peptide. Using radioimmunoassay (RIA) alone, we established the expression of apelin content in the chorionic villi of preeclamptic (PRE) and normal pregnant women (NORM) at 36-38 wk of gestation. Total apelin content was lower in PRE compared with NORM chorionic villi (49.7±3.4 vs. 72.3±9.8 fmol/mg protein; n=20-22) and was associated with a trend for lower preproapelin mRNA in the PRE. Further characterization of apelin isoforms by HPLC-RIA was conducted in pooled samples from each group. The expression patterns of apelin peptides in NORM and PRE villi revealed little or no apelin-36 or apelin-17. Pyroglutamate apelin-13 [(Pyr1)-apelin-13] was the predominant form of the peptide in NORM and PRE villi. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) activity was higher in PRE villi (572.0±23.0 vs. 485.3±24.8 pmol·mg(-1)·min(-1); n=18-22). A low dose of ANG II (1 nM; 2 h) decreased apelin release in NORM villous explants that was blocked by the ANG II receptor 1 (AT1) antagonist losartan. Moreover, losartan enhanced apelin release above the 2-h baseline levels in both NORM and PRE villi (P<0.05). In summary, these studies are the first to demonstrate the lower apelin content in human placental chorionic villi of PRE subjects using quantitative RIA. (Pyr1)-apelin-13 is the predominant form of endogenous apelin in the chorionic villi of NORM and PRE. The potential mechanism of lower apelin expression in the PRE villi may involve a negative regulation of apelin by ANG II.


The present invention relates to combination therapies and methods for treating, preventing and/or delaying the onset and/or development of schizophrenia, wherein the combination therapies comprise a hydrogenated pyrido[4,3-b]indole or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, such as dimebon, and an antipsychotic.


This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of adding Origanum majorana (OM) powder to domestic pigeon diets on growth performance, feeding and drinking behaviour, blood hematology, blood biochemical parameters, blood inflammatory and oxidative markers, carcass characteristics, the weights of lymphoid organs, and and intestinal cecal, and bursa of Fabricius histology. A random distribution of fifty-four unsexed pigeon squabs (30 days old, average body weight; 321 g ± 7.5) into three groups was done. The first group was fed the grower basal diet without adding OM powder, while OM powder was added at levels of 0.5 and 1% to the basal diets of the second and third groups, respectively. The changes in growth performance parameters and feeding and drinking behavior under OM powder's effect were insignificant. However, the lymphoid organs (spleen and thymus) significantly increased in weight (p < 0.05) in the OM-fed groups. Moreover, blood examination showed positive responses to OM powder in terms of blood cell counts (RBCs andWBCs), and the values of hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, lymphocyte numbers, levels of globulin, and glutathione peroxidase enzyme were significantly increased. The numbers of heterophils, the ratio of heterophil to lymphocyte, malondialdehyde levels were reduced (p < 0.05). Histomorphometry examination revealed increases in intestinal villi height, cecal thickness, and bursal follicle area and number. These results indicated that adding OM powder to the pigeon diet may improve their immunity, increase their antioxidant status, and correct some hematological disorders.


Antisocial personality have some clear symptoms as impulsivity, unstable emotions, aggression, drinking, use of drug, early initiation of sexual behavior making some difficulties and problems in their relationship with family members and those who have interaction with them and at least in the society. According to the mentioned symptoms of this personality disorder in the present research, it has been tried to solve these problems by comparing with the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and rational emotional behavior therapy (REBT) in irrational treatment, anxiety among young male prisoners who have antisocial personality in Ilam prison. The present semi-experimental project has been done by pretest and posttest selected purposely 64 subjects that have been selected purposely between 18 and 40 years among male prisoners in Ilam prison. Three questionnaires have been used, which are as follow: Millon Clinical Questionnaire, Johns Irrational Beliefs and Back Anxiety Questionnaire. In the study of the effectiveness of the therapies, the results showed that DBT has affected on all irrational beliefs (P < 0.05) and REBT only has affected on changing some beliefs. There is not also a significant difference between pretest and posttest scores for treating the anxiety but, DBT is more efficient than REBT. According to the findings obtained appears to be a dialectical therapy, therapeutic efficacy. Is more efficient than REBT in irrational believes treatment, anxiety people with antisocial personality disorder.


Dietary supplements are a form of complementary and alternative medicine that includes amino acids, biological extracts, herbs, minerals and vitamins. A theoretical review was carried out on the use of nutritional supplements in the pediatric population and their relationship with constipation, which is the second most important adverse effect associated with the consumption of these preparations, after diarrhea. A search for information was carried out, using specialized databases such as Pubmed, Scielo and Biomed Central, describing the main supplements used in pediatrics, constipation as a side effect, and the most important elements on its diagnosis and treatment.


Iran Abstract Background and Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare dentinal tubular penetration of two root canal sealers namely AH26 and MTA Fillapex in single-rooted teeth by scanning electron microscopy. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five mature human single-rooted teeth were selected. Cleaning and shaping was performed. The teeth were randomly divided into 2 groups. AH26 was delivered into the canals in group 1, and MTA Fillapex was delivered into the root canals in group 2 by lateral compaction technique. The roots were sectioned at 3 mm and 5 mm from the apex. The sections were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, and the deepest penetration depth of sealers was recorded. Statistical analysis was performed by t-test using SPSS version 19.0. Results: The deepest tubular penetration in group 1 at 3 mm from the apex was 808 µm while it was 717 µm in group 2 at 3 mm from the apex. The difference between the two groups was not significant (P=0.4). At 5 mm from the apex, the deepest tubular infiltration in group 1 was 995 µm while it was 915 µm in group 2. The difference between the 2 groups was not significant (P=0.4). Conclusion: Both sealers can be predictively used in different clinical situations when indicated


Intelligent agents such as robots are increasingly deployed in real-world, safety-critical settings. It is vital that these agents are able to explain the reasoning behind their decisions to human counterparts, however, their behavior is often produced by uninterpretable models such as deep neural networks. We propose an approach to generate natural language explanations for an agent's behavior based only on observations of states and actions, agnostic to the underlying model representation. We show how a compact representation of the agent's behavior can be learned and used to produce plausible explanations with minimal hallucination while affording user interaction with a pre-trained large language model. Through user studies and empirical experiments, we show that our approach generates explanations as helpful as those generated by a human domain expert while enabling beneficial interactions such as clarification and counterfactual queries.


Breast cancer may be associated with other primary cancers via germline mutations; however, sporadic occurrences of other malignancies are rare. With increased use of advanced breast cancer imaging, including MRI and PET/CT, other incidental synchronous cancers are increasingly identified. Such cases can represent unique diagnostic and treatment challenges. Here, we present a case of a young woman diagnosed with primary breast cancer who underwent imaging studies identifying an incidental primary peritoneal mesothelioma.


The COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and interventional cardiologists as well as other healthcare workers The number of COVID-19 positive or suspected positive patients requiring hospital admission has overwhelmed many health systems and negatively affected standard of care for ACS patients in these countries This manuscript aims to assist cardiologists in the invasive management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic Modified diagnostic and treatment algorithms, which have been developed in countries heavily beaten by this unpredictable challenge, are discussed as are various clinical scenarios and management algorithms for patients with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection presenting with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-ST elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS) Further described topics include the need for re-organization of pre-hospital (STEMI networks) and in-hospital structures (emergency rooms and cardiac units), with examples coming from multiple European countries Finally, this manuscript aims to help re-organizing of catheterization laboratory structures and personnel and to discuss measures for protection of healthcare providers involved with invasive procedures


Purpose: This study has public value as it identifies the current status and problems of extracurricular program. It does so by analyzing the operation and performance of extracurricular program after selecting them based on the results of student needs analysis. Additionally, it verifies whether participation in extracurricular program has an effect on self-efficacy and suggests implications for future program design and activation.
Method: Data collection was conducted by surveying students in the science department of O University in the Seoul metropolitan area, and analysis methods included frequency and percentage, exploratory factor analysis, reliability testing, correlation, and regression analysis. The research questions are
1. How is the selection of extracurricular program based on students' needs analysis?
2. What are the results of the analysis of the operational performance of extracurricular program?
3. Is participation in extracurricular program effective in promoting self-efficacy?
Results: Based on research question 1, the extracurricular program selected were the Creative Convergence Competition, the Foreign Student Mentoring Program, 5L DAY, and the 3D Printing Instructor Certification Course. According to research question 2, the creative convergence competition was able to develop core competencies outside the major and needed communication channels between departments. International student mentoring needed to strengthen the criteria for international students to participate in the program, and the 3D printing instructor certification course needed online lectures for theory and in-person lectures for practice. 5L DAY had the highest level of satisfaction among the comparison programs. According to research question 3, participation in the Future Learning Capability Program was effective in improving self-efficacy.
Conclusion: The limitations of this study include that the research subjects are limited to the science departments of metropolitan universities, and the effectiveness of the "Future Learning Competency" extracurricular program is verified among the core competency-based extracurricular program of universities, and subsequent research requires subdivision by department and grade, and research on various factors such as learning effectiveness and satisfaction.


A novel sensorless control method of surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (SPMSM) based on high frequency (HF) current signal injection is proposed in this paper. A HF sinusoidal current signal is superimposed into the estimated d-axis, and the rotor position can be demodulated after q-axis voltage is regulated, which is relative to error angle. Ultimately sensorless control can be achieved. Theoretical analysis and simulation validation are carried out. The simulation results indicate that the rotor position and speed can be obtained exactly at low and zero speed. The approach ensures good dynamic and static performances, and can realize accurate position servo control.


RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. Variations in venous deoxyhemoglobin levels in response to neuronal activation represent a complex interplay between focal changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and regional metabolism. The authors present a mathematic model that characterizes the response of venous oxygenation to changes in these variables. METHODS.Using a mass balance approach, the equations for a simple input-output model are derived and solved using Matlab. Changes in blood oxygenation are related to available results from functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments. RESULTS.Increases in CBF produce declines in oxygen extraction fraction and venous deoxyhemoglobin according to Fick's law, and are quantitatively in agreement with available magnetic resonance and positron-emission tomography data. A flow-volume envelope defines the changes in CBF relative to CBV. CONCLUSIONS.It is possible to obtain a quantitative understanding of changes in blood oxygenation and to relate these changes to the observed dynamics of magnetic resonance signal change in the setting of functional stimulation.


The influence of 17beta-estradiol on cAMP and cGMP levels, protein kinases A and C activityand corticosteroids secretion was investigated in postoperative human adrenal cortex tissue. cAMP accumulation in adrenocorticocytes increased uiider the influence of 17beta-estradiol. In vitro estradiol raised the activities of protein kinases A and C in membrane fraction of adrenal cortex tissue. Significant increasing of steroidogenesis was observed. These data support our conclusion that cAMP dependent siganling system is involved in activation of steroidogenesis by 17beta-estradiol.


English as International language becomes an important thing in the globalization era. In Indonesia, English one of the compulsory subjects in secondary school until university level. In accordance with the 1994 curriculum, English can be taught from the elementary school as the local content subjects. English subject is taught not only for the normal students but also for the students who have physical disorder. In Indonesia, there is a special school for these students called SLB (Sekolah Luar Biasa). In the teaching learning process at SMULB, the teacher usually faces some difficulties dealing with the students because they have disability of their hearing.
Based on the reason above, the writer tried to dig up and found out the teaching technique, the media used, and the problem faced by the teacher in teaching English to hearing-impaired students at SMULB Negeri (B) Pembina Tk. Nasional Lawang-Malang. The writer used the English teacher at SMULB as the subject of the research. The writer used the descriptive qualitative research in conducting the research. The instruments used in collecting the data were observation and interview.
The finding of the research showed that the teacher used "Perdati" technique (Percakapan Dari Hati ke Hati) in teaching English at SMULB. This term was made by the teacher and adopted from the Total Communication technique that requires a hearing-impaired person to use their residual hearing (how far he/she able to hear), a speech reading (the capability to understand visual cues of mouth movement lip reading) and facial expression. The teacher in SMULB used picture and real object as the instructional media. She made the picture as the instructional media by herself with coloring the picture to attract the student interest. Besides, she also used the real object as the variation of the instructional media.
Based on the observation and interview with the teacher, the writer also found two kind of problems faced by the teacher: first, the problem of material that includes choosing of the permanent textbook and choosing of the appropriate textbook for the students. Second, is the problem related with the student's condition. Dealing with problems of the students, the teacher must identify the cause of hearing-impaired. By knowing the cause it was easier for the teacher to deal with the students. It was also found that students who have hearing disability since they were born were easier to understand the material and the lesson than the students who get hearing-impaired after they grow up


It has been confirmed that the essential condition for glasses and glass-ceramics to bond to living bone is the formation of an apatite layer on their surfaces in the body. It has been proposed that a hydrated silica formed on the surfaces of these materials in the body plays an important role in forming the surface apatite layer, but this has not yet been proved. In the present study, it is shown experimentally that a pure hydrated silica gel can induce apatite formation on its surface in a simulated body fluid when its starting pH is increased from 7.2 to 7.4.


The aim of this paper is to defi ne factors infl uencing formation and development of clusters in the Czech Republic and Poland. The authors describe the existing cluster-based policies and the stages of a cluster development in these countries. On the basis of the case studies of clusters such as Envicrack from the Czech Republic and the Aviation Valley from Poland, the authors try to defi ne key factors and recommend activities essential to a successful cluster development in other emerging clusters.


Greenhouse gas emissions, produced by various sectors, including transportation, are significantly impairing the environment and drive climate change. Battery electric vehicles are increasingly seen as a way to alleviate these problems, but they must be charged with electricity produced through environmentally friendly methods. This paper investigates a possible relationship between battery electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic panels using ENABLE.EU household survey data from ten European countries in autumn 2017–spring 2018. Based on the estimates from a recursive bivariate probit model, it is found that the probability that a household owns a battery electric vehicle increases significantly if said household owns solar photovoltaic panels. This suggests that a policy encouraging the home charging of battery electric vehicles using solar photovoltaic panels that includes an energy storage facility could speed up the transition to the use of these vehicles.


This study assessed the implementation of guidance and counseling services by heads of schools on the management of professional misconduct among public secondary school teachers in Mara region, Tanzania. The reviewed literature indicated that they is high rate of teachers' professional misconduct and the application of guidance and counseling in managing teachers' professional misconduct, and there was a need of assessing the implementation of guidance and counseling and find the way it can be properly used to manage teachers' misbehaviours in the school environment. The study was guided by Transformation Leadership Theory which guides the HOSs to use different strategies in managing of teachers including guidance and counseling. This mixed method study adopted the convergent mixed research design whereby quantitative and qualitative data sets were collected simultaneously. The target population involved students, teachers, heads of schools and the District TSC Officers. Stratified, simple random and purposeful sampling techniques were used to determine the study sample that consisted of 468 respondents. Questionnaires, interview guides, interview schedule, and document analysis guide were used to collect the required information. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and inferentially using Chi-square technique. Tables, narrations and direct quotations were used to present the study findings. The study concluded that guidance and counseling was not properly implemented due to lack of guidance and counseling committee and lack of professionals dealing with teachers' misconduct. However, the findings also indicated that there was a significant relationship between the application of guidance and counseling strategy and teachers' professional misconduct management. The study recommended that the government should provide a specific policy that will give the guidelines for the formation guidance and counseling committee specific for teachers. Also, the government should employ teacher-counselors whom are knowledgeable and skillful with guidance and counseling parameters.


Ecological communities do not spring into existence overnight, but develop during the process we call assembly. As in other complex systems, random assemblies may generate surprising patterns. In previous models, sequential invasion and extinction moved successive species mixes toward a persistent one. Other species present in the pool could not invade this persistent mix. Chance events early in the assembly produced persistent mixes of different compositions. Most model species survived somewhere by belonging to one or more of these different persistent mixes. We show that with more rapid invasion, communities move through complex cycles of composition, where each species gets its turn. These complementary views offer insights into the diversity of natural communities. Importantly, they have practical implications for those attempting to restore diversity to damaged ecosystems.


The use of endovascular technique for peripheral vascular disease (PVD) has evolved and new devices and techniques were being developed. Even after recent development of noninvasive diagnosis of PVD, angiography is still the gold standard for the evaluation of stenotic and occluded lesions. Without precise angiographic information, endovascular therapy can not be performed. In this chapter, the angiographic technique to visualize major arteries of atherosclerotic disease is described.


This paper presents a double directional analysis of vehicle-to-vehicle channel measurements conducted in two different traffic environments. Using a high-resolution algorithm, we derive channel parameters like angle-of- arrival, angle-of-departure, propagation delay and Doppler's spread and identify underlying propagation mechanisms by combining these estimates with maps of the measurement sites. The results show that single-bounce interaction with static objects is the dominating effect in the absence of line-of-sight, and that the contribution from other vehicles is small. We also find that in the absence of line-of-sight the direction spread at both sides of link is large which indicates possible diversity gain using multi-antenna arrangements.


Test-enhanced learning is an evidence-based pedagogical tool for enhancing retention of both knowledge and skills. The phenomenon is independent of external factors such as feedback and intention to learn. The mechanism is complex and possibly related to stress and gender. Tests immediately after learning are most effective - and formats that support test-enhanced learning most effectively involve composing an answer or actively performing a skill. Use of tests in education should be integrated in the curriculum ensuring that the tests relevantly complement and enhance learning of knowledge or skills.


From 614 patients with notified pneumoconiosis who died in 1964-1992 on necropsy carcinoma of the lungs was found in 87, i.e. 14.1% (in 48 it was the cause of death). The incidence in individual years did not differ significantly; on evaluation in relation to the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis an insignificantly more frequent incidence was found in complicated pneumoconiosis of miners. On evaluation by work places miners in black coal mines and workers in quarries were affected more frequently, the difference being at the borderline of statistical significance. As to the histological aspect, most frequently squamous cell carcinoma was involved, the site was most frequently in both upper lobes. The carcinoma was seven times associated with silicotic lesions, with anthracofibrotic lesions six times (a total of 14.9%). In lifetime carcinoma was detected in 55 of the patients who died, i.e. in 63.2%. As to aetiopathogenetic influences, the relationship with smoking is significant. The aetiopathogenesis of carcinoma of the lungs in patients with pneumoconiosis is most probably not uniform-the influence of smoking is beyond doubt, the carcinogenic effect of silica should be considered in patients with carcinoma in the scar. With regard to the repeatedly proved more frequent incidence of carcinoma of the lungs in patients with pneumoconiosis, frequent check-ups of patients with pneumoconiosis focused on possible detection of lung cancer are essential.


This paper reads narrative published in the journals of 1870s Beirut in the context of an emerging bourgeois readership and argues that the significance of this archive to modern Arabic fiction has been neglected by critics. Taking the intensification of the silk trade with France following the civil war of 1860 as a point of historical departure, this paper traces the nexus of multiple influences upon narrative forms published in the burgeoning press of this period. Reading two serialized novels of 1870 alongside one another, this paper reveals the centrality of suspense to the proliferation of the press and the novel form. Anticipation, anxiety and hope pervade the pages of these periodicals as readers and writers negotiate changing notions of class and gender. The final portion of the paper returns to the question of influence, exposing the overdetermined narrative weave that connects these early serialized Arabic novels to not only the European novel, but also the heritage of popular Arabic storytelling epitomized by A Thousand and One Nights.


Aim: The aim of the investigation was the identification of those working steps with the highest radiation exposure for the medical personnel during F-l 8-FDG-PET studies and to evaluate the effectiveness of radiation protection devices and instructions developed in our PET-center. Methods: The personal dose and hand dose were measured for each working procedure during F-l 8-FDG-PET studies using electronic personal dosimeters and thermoluminescent dosimeters respectively. Additionally, measurements of the radiation level near the patient were taken. Results: The mean personal dose resulting from syringe preparation was 1 [iSv/syringe, from injection 3 fxSv/patient, from blood sampling during quantitative studies 6 fxSv/study, and from positioning and handling of the patient 6 |xSv/study. The mean hand dose per syringe preparation was 710 |xSv for each hand. The mean hand dose during injection was 13 jxSv for the right hand and 27 |xSv for the left hand. All above mentioned values were measured applying the routine radiation shielding in use in our PET center. Conclusion: With the developed radiation shielding and means to reduce radiation exposure applied the allowed annual dose for medical personnel are not exceeded. One exception is the hand dose resulting from syringe preparation. An automatic or remote filling device should be used at this working step.


The present study examined the effects of high‐altitude exposure on the pineal gland, the main source of production of melatonin. It was surmised that hypoxia experienced at high altitude, caused by decreased oxygen tension in the ambient air, might lead to some structural alterations in the pineal gland and, hence, affect its melatonin production. Adult Wistar rats were exposed to an altitude of 8,000 m for 2 hr in an altitude chamber and then sacrificed at various time intervals after the exposure. Normal rats kept at ground level were used as controls. Blood samples were collected at various time intervals for measurement of plasma melatonin level, and the pineal glands from both groups were processed for electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. The plasma melatonin level showed a steady increase following altitude exposure peaking at 7 days and returned to control levels thereafter. Between 1 and 4 days after altitude exposure, the mitochondrial number and lipid droplets in the pinealocytes appeared to be reduced compared with those in control rats. At 7 days, however, the mitochondrial numbers and lipid droplets were noticeably increased. At the same time interval, the expression of complement type 3 receptors and major histocompatibility class II antigens as detected with the antibodies OX‐42 and OX‐6, respectively, in macrophages/microglia was up‐regulated compared with that in the control rats and those killed at earlier times. This was attributed to the increased serum melatonin after the altitude exposure. By 14 and 21 days, the ultrastructure of pinealocytes and immunoreactivity of macrophages/microglia were comparable with those in the control rats. We conclude from this study that an altitude exposure in rats leads to an increase in melatonin production, which returned to control levels with passage of time. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Cardiovascular‐related diseases continue to be a leading cause of death globally. Among ischemic‐induced cardiac diseases, myocardial infarction (MI) is reported to be of an alarming value. Despite numerous improvements in the medical intrusions, still this armamentarium fails to be effective in managing the illness without setbacks. Ferruginol (FGL) is a major polyphenols and terpenoids with numerous pharmacological activities including antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory. Following, this work was aimed to explore the cardio protective effect of FGL (50 mg/kg) in isoprenaline hydrochloride (ISO)‐induced MI in experimental rats. After treatment with FGL in ISO‐induced MI in rats, noticeable changes were observed in the experimental rats. Injection of ISO to rats resulted in the augmented cardiac weight, serum cardiac markers (creatine kinase, creatine kinase‐MB, cardiac troponin T, and Cardiac troponin I), lipid peroxidation end products (thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substance and lipid hydroperoxides), reduced endogenous antioxidants (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione), reduced ATPase activity, and escalated pro‐inflammatory cytokines (interleukin‐6, tumor necrosis factor‐α, and nuclear factor‐κB) levels. Interestingly, the FGL supplementation to the ISO‐treated rats revealed the diminished heart weight, reduced cardiac markers, and lipid peroxidation. FGL also possessed the improved antioxidants status and diminished pro‐inflammatory mediator levels. The outcomes of histological analysis also evidenced the cardio protective role of FGL. Treatment with FGL reduced the cardiac damage biomarkers maintained to near normal levels in ISO‐induced rats. These study findings disclose the prospective capability of FGL in the treatment of MI in the future.


We studied three FLT3 ITD acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients who relapsed after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) and received multikinase inhibitor (MKI) sorafenib as part of salvage therapy. MKI was given to block the effect of FLT3 ITD mutation which powers proliferation of blast cells. However, the known facts that sorafenib is more effective in patents post alloHSCT suggested that this MKI can augment the immune system surveillance on leukaemia. In the present study, we investigated in depth the effect of sorafenib on the alloreactivity seen post-transplant including that on leukaemia. The patients (i) responded to the treatment with cessation of blasts which lasted 1, 17 and 42+ months, (ii) developed skin lesions with CD3+ cell invasion of the epidermis, (iii) had marrow infiltrated with CD8+ lymphocytes which co-expressed PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1 receptor, CD279) in higher proportions than those in the blood (163±32 x103 cells/μl vs 38±8 x103 cells/μl, p<0.001). The Lymphoprep fraction of marrow cells investigated for the expression of genes involved in lymphocyte activation showed in the patients with long lasting complete remission (CR) a similar pattern characterized by (i) a low expression of nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2) and colony stimulating factor 2 (CSF2) as well as that of angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) (supporting the immune response and anti-angiogenic) genes, and (ii) higher expression of fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) and collagen type IV alpha 3 chain (COL4A3) as well as toll like receptor 9 (TLR9) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) (pro-inflammatory expression profile) genes as compared with the normal individual. The positive effect in one patient hardly justified the presence of unwanted effects (progressive chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD) and avascular necrosis of the femur), which were in contrast negligible in the other patient. The anti-leukemic and unwanted effects of sorafenib do not rely on each other.


The authors present preliminary calculations of low-energy e+-N2 elastic scattering using the Kohn variational method. They present results for the Sigma g+ and Sigma u+ scattering symmetries below the first electron excitation threshold at 8.59 eV incident position energy. The trial functions for the calculations include separable correlation functions of Sigma g+, Sigma u+, Pi u and Pi g electronic symmetries and the results agree with R-matrix calculations by Danby and Tennyson (1991). The calculations are carried out in a similar way to previous successful low-energy e+-H2 scattering calculations. This paper shows that it is possible to apply the method used in the e+-H2 scattering calculations to positron scattering by a target molecule, N2, containing 14 electrons.


Myelin is a compacted multilamellar membrane which encases axons to provide electrical insulation and facilitates the rapid transmission of nerve impulses. The major myelin structural proteins produced by oligodendrocyctes in the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals are proteolipid protein (PLP) and myelin basic protein (MBP). In contrast, the major myelin structural proteins produced by the Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) of mammals are protein zero (Po) and MBP. Sharks (class Chondrichthyes) are the oldest living vertebrates that have a concentric multilamellar "mammalian-like" myelin structure around axons. In addition to this structural similarity, the shark and mammalian myelin proteins appeared to be distantly related biochemically and immunologically even though they diverged from each other about 400 million years ago. Logically those regions in the shared proteins, genes and promoters which are most similar between sharks and mammals are likely to be functionally important to both. Therefore by analyzing these elements in shark myelin and comparing them to what is already known about mammalian myelin we could learn about shark myelin, its evolution and what regions are essential for the proper function and expression of mammalian myelin. This thesis contains an analysis of the structure, expression and evolution of the shark myelin proteins and genes.

The first chapter (Saavedra, R., Fors, L., Aebersold, R., Arden, B., Horvath, S., Sanders, J., and Hood, L. J. Mol. Evol. 29:149) describes the isolation and sequencing of the two major shark CNS proteins Po and MBP and their corresponding cDNAs. This study shows that the myelin proteins of the shark brain are similar to the myelin proteins of the mammalian peripheral nervous system in both primary and secondary structures.

The second chapter (Fors, L., Saavedra, R., and Hood, L. Nuc. Acids Res., Submitted) contains a novel genomic walking technique that was developed to clone the shark Po and MBP promoters. Using this technique it was possible to clone approximately 400 nucleotides immediately upstream of the shark Po and MBP transcription initiation sites. This genomic walking technique will be generally useful for cloning promoters or other sequences of interest without the need for constructing or screening genomic libraries.

The third chapter presents and discusses the similarity between these shark Po and MBP promoters, the JC virus enhancer (which directs tissue-specific expression in oligodendrocytes), and the mouse Po and MBP promoters. The implications of these findings on nervous system specific and CNS vs. PNS specific gene expression are discussed.

Lastly, the appendix describes the current status of Shiverer transgenic mouse experiments in which constructs bearing the shark MBP gene are injected into mouse eggs. These transgenic experiments are testing if the structural similarity between shark and mammalian MBPs translates into any measurable functional similarity in vivo.


Corruption in public procurement transforms state institutions into private entities where public resources get diverted for the benefit of a few. On this matter, much of the discussion centers on the legal fulfillment of the procurement process, while there are fewer formal analyses related to the corporate features which are most likely to signal organized crime and corruption. The lack of systematic evidence on this subject has the potential to bias our understanding of corruption, making it overly focused on the public sector. Nevertheless, corruption scandals worldwide tell of the importance of taking a better look at the misuse and abuse of corporations for corrupt purposes. In this context, the research presented here seeks to contribute to the understanding of the criminal conspiracy of companies involved in public procurement corruption scandals under a network and complexity science perspective. To that end, we make use of a unique dataset of the corporate ownership and management information of four important and recently documented cases of corruption in Mexico, where hundreds of companies were used to embezzle billions of dollars. Under a bipartite network approach, we explore the relations between companies and their personnel (shareholders, legal representatives, administrators, and commissioners) in order to characterize their static and dynamic networked structure. In terms of organized crime and using different network properties, we describe how these companies connect with each other due to the existence of shared personnel with role multiplicity, leading to very different conspiracy networks. To best quantify this behavior, we introduce a heuristic network-based conspiracy indicator that together with other network metrics describes the differences and similarities among the networks associated with each corruption case. Finally, we discuss some public policy elements that might be needed to be considered in anti-corruption efforts related to corporate organized crime.


This paper analyzes the factors determining transactional exchange rate hedging with foreign currency debt for a sample of 56 Spanish non-financial companies listed in 2004. In particular, we analyze the variables that determine the decision to hedge with foreign currency debt as well as hedging volume. We also analyze the interaction between the foreign currency debt and derivatives in the hedging decision. Unlike previous empirical studies, which have attempted to explain the use of foreign currency debt through arguments exclusively stemming from optimal hedging theory, we have complemented the analysis with hypothesis from capital structure theory.


Mutations in the Leucine Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene are linked to autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD), and genetic variations at the LRRK2 locus are associated with an increased risk for sporadic PD. This gene encodes a kinase that is physiologically multiphosphorylated, including clusters of both heterologous phosphorylation and autophosphorylation sites. Several pieces of evidence indicate that LRRK2's phosphorylation is important for its pathological and physiological functioning. These include a reduced LRRK2 heterologous phosphorylation in PD brains or after pharmacological inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity as well as the appearance of subcellular LRRK2 accumulations when this protein is dephosphorylated at heterologous phosphosites. Nevertheless, the regulatory mechanisms governing LRRK2 phosphorylation levels and the cellular consequences of changes in LRRK2 phosphorylation remain incompletely understood. In this review, we present current knowledge on LRRK2 phosphorylation, LRRK2 phosphoregulation, and how LRRK2 phosphorylation changes affect cellular processes that may ultimately be linked to PD mechanisms.


We introduce two new scales for assessing substance abuse problems with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2): the Addiction Potential Scale (APS), a 39-item empirically derived scale, developed by contrasting the responses of a large residential substance abuse sample with responses from both normative and psychiatric control groups; and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS), a 13-item face-valid scale, constructed rationally and with attention to internal consistency. Both new scales are shown to discriminate well between groups and substantially better than other selected substance abuse scales. Covariation between the scales and joint effectiveness are examined. Finally, limitations for their practical utility are expressed, and considerations for future research are identified.


The Gill House' incorporated two streams of investigation firstly, the application of industrial building methods within a domestic building context. Secondly, the relationship between research practice and teaching, and the practical application of design methods used within an academic environment. One of the primary aims of the building project was to explore the possible application of industrial building methods to a domestic dwelling. This was partly instigated by a need to produce a very cost effective design but also by the client's desire for an overtly contemporary and flexible building design. In response the main structure was steel framed with the incorporation of a rain screen cladding system, allowing rapid construction of the primary structure and external envelope. The steel frame also allows for the possibility of post-construction modifications to the building, therefore potentially allowing the building to be radically changed in response to different future uses. The innovative design and design methods used in this project and their relationship to teaching were the subject of an invited exhibition at the David Azrelli Gallery, Ottawa, Canada, entitled Gowans+Wright: Studio Works 01 (Catalogue ISBN: 1 86050 205 9 containing a forward by the Curator Assistant Professor Janine Debanne, Carlton School of Architecture). The exhibition detailed the house design and the design method employed to produce it. This was placed in the context of a number of student projects, which had used the same method. The exhibition clearly illustrated the relationship between research practice and teaching and how each informed the other.


An algorithm for the improvement of the physical optics (PO) and equivalent edge currents (EECs) integral calculating near-field scattering is presented in this work. The solution is obtained by a more accurate representation of the Green function with an expansion centre that lies in the neighbourhood of the sources of interest. Phase and amplitude improvements of the approximate Green function overcome the shortcomings of the conventional PO and EEC for scattering evaluation in near-field regions. The improved algorithm preserves the simplicity and computational efficiency of the classical one and applies directly to near-field scattering. Under the consideration of the antenna radiation pattern, the formula of near-field scattering is derived. The applicability and accuracy of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by numerical simulations.


In this paper we discuss the estimation and methodology of the real equilibrium exchange rate partial equilibrium models and analyze to what extent the resulting estimates are applicable for setting the central parity prior to ERM II entry in the new EU member states. Given the uncertainty surrounding the estimates, we argue that they are informative in the sign rather than the size of the misalignment of the exchange rate, but may still serve as useful consistency checks for the decision on the setting of the central parity. We argue that policy makers should consider the estimates in their decision-making only if the real exchange rate is substantially misaligned.


During the course of 2020-2021, South Pole and Gaia have organized the Nordic Platform on Mobilising Climate Finance on behalf of NKL (Climate and Air Pollution Group -Nordic Council of Ministers). ...


Official forecasts of international institutions are never purely model-based. The preliminary results of models are adjusted with expert opinions. What is the impact of these adjustments for the forecasts? Are they necessary to get 'optimal' forecasts? When model-based forecasts are adjusted by experts, the loss function of these forecasts is not a mean squared error loss function. In fact, the overall loss function is unknown. To examine the quality of these forecasts, one can rely on the tests for forecast optimality under unknown loss function as developed in Patton and Timmermann (2007). We apply one of these tests to ten variables for which we have model-based forecasts and expert-adjusted forecasts, all generated by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). We find that for almost all variables the added expertise yields better forecasts in terms of fit. In terms of optimality the effect of adjustments for the forecasts are limited, because for most variables the assumption that the forecast are not optimal can be rejected for both the model-based and the expert-adjusted forecasts.


Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) cause severe life threatening infections resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality especially in neonatology ward. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology and resistance of 131 strains collected between 2007 and 2008 in neonatology and pediatric wards and to determine the mode of their epidemic spread. The isolates were identified, tested for antimicrobial susceptibility with the disk-diffusion on Mueller-Hinton agar. The type of ESBL was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by sequencing for CTX-M enzymes. The epidemiological relationships between epidemic strains were analysed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. In this study, antibiotic susceptibility testing showed resistance to all β-lactams except imipenem with a concomitant resistance toaminoglycosides, tetracycline and co-trimoxazole. Fluoroquinolones still have activity against strains. Characterization of β-lactamases encoding genes revealed that all strains have SHV β-lactamases. TEM-type and CTX-M-1 group were encoded, respectively, in 21 and 57% of ESBLs isolates. Among 84 strains tested by PFGE, 14 pulsotypes were identified. DNA sequencing of amplified CTX-M β-lactamase genes justified diffusion of CTX-M-15 between epidemic strains. In conclusion, this study revealed a high degree of clonal diversity of isolates and complexity of outbreaks that involve more than two epidemic pulsotypes and indicated that both clonal spread of epidemic strains and transfer of β-lactamases might contribute to epidemic dissemination of ESBL in neonatology ward.

 Keywords: K. pneumonia, CTX-M β-lactamases, PFGE, sequencing, clonality


The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index monitors the subjective wellbeing of the Australian population. Our first survey was conducted in April 2001 and this report concerns the 30th survey, undertaken in August 2013. Our previous survey had been conducted four months earlier in April. This intervening period corresponded to the 6th year of the Labor Government, elected in November 2007. Shortly after data collection, on 7th September, an election took place at which Labor lost to the Liberal Party Coalition. The share market had been stable for a couple of years, at a level well below its peak before the financial crisis. However, unemployment remained at about 5% and for those people with jobs, many were better-off financially due to cuts in interest rates, and so, in mortgage repayments. Each survey involves a telephone interview with a new sample of 2,000 Australians, selected to represent the geographic distribution of the national population. These surveys comprise the Personal Wellbeing Index, which measures people's satisfaction with their own lives, and the National Wellbeing Index, which measures how satisfied people are with life in Australia. Other items include a standard set of demographic questions and other survey-specific questions. The specific topics for Survey 30 are social media, personal achievement, and work conditions.


Introduction: Depression is associated with inflammation, Th1 and Th17 responses, oxidative and nitrosative stress (O&NS), autoimmune responses against neoantigenic determinants, and neuroprogression (i.e., neurodegeneration, impaired plasticity and reduced neurogenesis). These pathways involve increased monocytic activation and interleukin-1 (IL-1) levels. Areas covered: This review will highlight the putative role of IL-1 in depression and the potential use of IL-1 signaling blockade as a treatment of depression. Electronic databases, i.e., Scopus, PUBMED and Google Scholar were employed using keywords: depression, depressive-like, interleukin-1, and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA). Expert opinion: Ample studies show that depression is accompanied by increased levels of IL-1 and IL-1RA, which attenuates the pro-inflammatory activities of IL-1. In some, but not all studies, antidepressant treatment decreased IL-1β levels. In translational models, IL-1β administration elicits depressive-like behaviors, neuroinflammation and neuroprogression, whereas treatment with IL-1RA yields antidepressant-like effects and attenuates neuroprogression. Anakinra, an IL-1RA, targets not only IL-1 signaling, but also Th1, Th17, O&NS and neuroprogressive pathways and therefore may be advanced to clinical Phase-II trials in depression due to medical conditions associated with an elevated IL-1/IL-1RA ratio.


A direct boundary element method (BEM) was recently proposed for inductance extraction. Though faster than other volume integral methods, it still suffers from as many as 7N unknowns where N is the number of panels. A mixed BEM for inductance extraction is proposed in this paper, which combines indirect boundary integral equations (BIEs) of double layer potentials within conductors and direct BIEs within dielectric (between conductors). With this mixed BEM, the number of unknowns is remarkably cut down from 7N to 4N, and correspondingly, the CPU time spent on solving the linear system decreases greatly. Two interconnect structures are simulated to demonstrate the validity of this method


There has been a significant increase in recent years in the volume and diversity of streams of data, data streams from sensors, data streams arising from the analysis of content or data mining, right through to user generated Twitter streams. There has been a corresponding increase in demand for more real-time analysis of these streams in order to spot significant events and trends of interest to an individual or business. This has resulted in an increased need to achieve efficient temporal reasoning upon the streams. In this paper, we present a novel approach to perform temporal reasoning on real time streams of data using Semantic Web Technologies so that we could derive more valuable information by taking account of the time dimension. Moreover, in order to deal with such high-frequency data, several filter mechanisms have been implemented to, significantly, improve the performance of the reasoning process. In order to illustrate and evaluate the approach, the real-time analysis of Twitter data is taken as a concrete use case for such data streams.


The development and refinement of regional anaesthetic techniques for various types of surgery, mainly obstetric, ophthalmic and orthopaedic surgery, and of continuous regional analgesia continues. Suitable analgesic drug mixtures, and concentrations, will be further tested in order to find the ideal analgesic regimen for each type of surgery and for the individual patient. No new local anaesthetics or equipment for clinical use are expected in the near future. Improvement therefore depends much on how the anaesthesiologists use the present drugs, needles, nerve detection devices, catheters and pumps. During training in regional anaesthesia for the speciality of anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine, it may suffice to concentrate only on certain common techniques such as epidural block, spinal block, axillary brachial plexus block, intravenous regional anaesthesia and femoral nerve block. Rare regional anaesthetic blocks and invasive techniques should be mastered and taught by specially trained regional anaesthesiology experts. In chronic pain, regional anaesthetic blocks with local anesthetics are not expected to play any major therapeutic role. However, nerve blocks can be useful for diagnostic purposes and in order to facilitate rehabilitation in chronic pain syndromes.


Dirk Coetzee, Pretoria, 1997. Dirk was the first commander of the special 'counter-insurgency' unit at Vlakplaas. He had ordered the deaths of many African National Congress (ANC) activists, including Griffiths Mxenge. In 1989, Coetzee exposed the undercover operations of the South African Police (SAP) and lived in exile for three years afterwards. He applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and was granted amnesty for Mxenge's murder in August, 1997.


Systems employing variable-length source codes are prone to error propagation. Several techniques that involve varying levels of cooperation between the channel decoder and source decoder are considered for improving the performance. At one extreme, conventional tandem decoding performs channel decoding and source decoding independently; at the other extreme, joint source-channel MAP decoding combines the two into a single decoder. Simulation results indicate that joint source-channel list decoding with "trellis pruning" can result in significant improvement over conventional tandem decoding.


ABSTRACT A comprehensive analysis of early dinosaur relationships raised the possibility that the group may have originated in Laurasia (Northern Hemisphere), rather than Gondwana (Southern Hemisphere) as often thought. However, that study focused solely on morphology and phylogenetic relationships and did not quantitatively evaluate this issue. Here, we investigate dinosaur origins using a novel Bayesian framework uniting tip-dated phylogenetics with dynamic, time-sliced biogeographic methods, which explicitly account for the age and locality of fossils and the changing interconnections of areas through time due to tectonic and eustatic change. Our analysis finds strong support for a Gondwanan origin of Dinosauria, with 99 % probability for South America (83 % for southern South America). Parsimony analysis gives concordant results. Inclusion of time-sliced biogeographic information affects ancestral state reconstructions (e.g., high connectivity between two regions increases uncertainty over which is the ancestral area) and influences tree topology (disfavouring uniting fossil taxa from localities that were widely separated during the relevant time slice). Our approach directly integrates plate tectonics with phylogenetics and divergence dating, and in doing so reaffirms southern South America as the most likely area for the geographic origin of Dinosauria.


Background The meningococcal serogroup A (MenA) polysaccharide conjugate vaccine used in Sub-Saharan Africa does not prevent disease caused by MenW or MenX strains, which also cause epidemics in the region. We investigated the vaccine-potential of native outer membrane vesicles with over-expressed factor H-binding protein (NOMV-fHbp), which targeted antigens in African meningococcal strains, and was combined with a MenA polysaccharide conjugate vaccine. Methodology/Principal Findings The NOMV-fHbp vaccine was prepared from a mutant African MenW strain with PorA P1.5,2, attenuated endotoxin (ΔLpxL1), deleted capsular genes, and over-expressed fHbp in variant group 1. The NOMV-fHbp was adsorbed with Al(OH)3 and used to reconstitute a lyophilized MenA conjugate vaccine, which normally is reconstituted with liquid MenC, Y and W conjugates in a meningococcal quadrivalent conjugate vaccine (MCV4-CRM, Novartis). Mice immunized with the NOMV-fHbp vaccine alone developed serum bactericidal (human complement) activity against 13 of 15 African MenA strains tested; 10 of 10 African MenX strains, 7 of 7 African MenW strains, and 6 of 6 genetically diverse MenB strains with fHbp variant group 1 (including 1 strain from The Gambia). The combination NOMV-fHbp/MenA conjugate vaccine elicited high serum bactericidal titers against the two MenA strains tested that were resistant to bactericidal antibodies elicited by the NOMV-fHbp alone; the combination elicited higher titers against the MenA and MenW strains than those elicited by a control MCV4-CRM vaccine (P<0.05); and high titers against MenX and MenB strains. For most strains, the titers elicited by a control NOMV-fHbp knock out vaccine were <1∶10 except when the strain PorA matched the vaccine (titers >1∶000). Conclusion/Significance The NOMV-fHbp/MenA conjugate vaccine provided similar or higher coverage against MenA and MenW strains than a quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine, and extended protection against MenX strains responsible for epidemics in Africa, and MenB strains with fHbp in variant group 1.


WE BECOME DELICATE BOATS: POEMS AND ESSAYS by Deja Anne Earley May 2008 My collection of poems and essays, We Become Delicate Boats, takes inspiration from a broad range of sources that shift into each other: paintings, pop culture, literary figures, dreams, relationships, faith, family, history. For example, some poems throw together unexpected bedfellows, like Kafka's Gregor Samsa and Marie Antoinette; others are anecdotal, like one that describes going on a blind date with a man who actually turns out to be blind, some re-imagine stories we already know, like one in the voice of Medusa, talking about which occasions call for her various snake "wigs." Although quite a few pieces are playful, an underlying theme emerges: a simultaneous obsession and deep disturbance with frailty, with disfigurement. Through the poems and essays, I try to articulate that frailty, and find an attendant humor and beauty.


Aiming at the influence of fast moving target with acceleration in imaging and parameter estimation, a novel method for moving target detection and parameter estimation with three-channel is proposed. After the moving target echo is analyzed, the general two-order keystone transform is applied to eliminate range curve for clutter suppression result. Time-frequency analysis is employed to construct phase compensation function and correct the residual range walk. Finally, azimuth Fourier transform is performed to get the image. Moving target parameters can be obtained by the interferometric processing technology. Simulation results show the validity of the method.


Government regulation of sexuality includes prohibitions on same-sex intimacy, formation of families, and related rights of LGBT+ people due to their sexual orientation or gender identities. Countries in the Global South tend to lag behind those in the Global North in the recognition of LGBT+ rights, which overall tend to expand incrementally over time in response to LGBT+ activism, diffusion of international norms, and national economic, political and social context. Basic civil rights, including legalization of same-sex intimacy and marriage, are often a necessary precondition for LGBT+ access to the political right to organize and mobilize as an interest group as well as other social rights, such as health care and parental rights. In the developing world, Argentina and South Africa have been regional leaders in LGBT+ rights, and Latin America countries have tended to broaden protections earlier than countries at similar levels of development in Sub-Saharan Africa or Asia. Overall, in the early 21st century, the landscape of LGBT+ civil rights changed rapidly, while some political and social rights still lag behind.