The objective of this study was to compare the quality characteristics of chicken breast and thigh meat from North Korean native chickens (NKNC), South Korean native chickens (SKNC, woorimotdak), and commercial broilers (CB). NKNC thigh meat had a higher crude protein content than CB. In addition, the breasts of NKNC and CB had higher pH values than that of SKNC, but the cooking loss was higher in NKNC. The surface color of the breast and thigh meat of NKNC was darker and redder than that of SKNC and CB. The total collagen content of the breast and thigh muscles was the highest in NKNC, followed by SKNC and CB. A similar trend occurred with breast meat hardness. The content of arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids was higher in both the breast and thigh muscles of NKNC than in those of the other groups, while the concentrations of linoleic and linolenic acids were higher only in thigh meat. Sensory evaluation did not show any differences among the three different strains of chicken except for the meat color. Sensory panelists preferred thigh meat from SKNC and CB to that of NKNC due to the strong dark color of the NKNC. Based on these results, NKNC had harder breasts based on texture, as well as a darker surface color and higher composition of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids than CB. The quality characteristics of SKNC tested in this study were intermediate between NKNC and CB; however, SKNC may have a better chance of acceptance by Korean consumers due to the undesirable color of NKNC.


The effectiveness of conservation interventions such as Payments for Environmental Services (PES) is often evaluated—if it is evaluated at all—only at the completion of the intervention. Since gains achieved by the intervention may be lost after it ends, even apparently successful interventions may not result in long-term conservation benefits, a problem known as that of permanence. This paper uses a unique dataset to examine the permanence of land use change induced by a short-term, asset-building PES program implemented in Quindío, Colombia, between 2003 and 2008. This the first PES program to have a control group for comparison. Under this program, PES had been found to have a positive and highly significant impact on land use. To assess the long-term permanence of these changes, both PES recipients and control households were re-surveyed in 2011, four years after the last payment was made. We find that the land use changes that had been induced by PES were broadly sustained in intervening years, with minor differences across specific practices and sub-groups of participants, indicating that these changes were in fact permanent. The patterns of change in the period after the PES program was completed also help better understand the reasons for the program's success. These results suggest that, at least in the case of productive land uses such as silvopastoral practices under conditions such as those at the study site, asset-building PES programs can be effective at encouraging land owners to adopt environmentally-beneficial land management practices and that the benefits will persist after payments cease.


Preliminary aircraft design is a multi-disciplinary optimization MDO problem. By exploiting interactions between disciplines, MDO enables to find superior design. However, including all disciplines simultaneously increases the complexity of the problem. In this paper, we show how a cooperative multi-agent framework can offer advantages to system decomposition and inter-disciplinary communications. Each agent represents a physical model, is designed separately, and has a local system view based on its neighbours relationships. Then with a cooperative reasoning, agents collaborate to find equilibrium between local optimal solutions. First experimentations find design solutions with a distributed and cooperative decision process. It offers promising perspectives by optimising simultaneously both model organisation and model parameters.


Experimental measurements of the dc gain as a function of temperature and of emitter-base and collector-base current-voltage characteristics for bipolar transistors with polysilicon contacts to the emitter are reported, dc gains as high as 2000 have been measured in devices for which a thin insulating layer was encouraged to grow between the monocrystalline silicon emitter and the polycrystalline silicon contact layer. This gain is 20 times larger than that for devices in which the insulating film growth was inhibited. It is suggested that, for these particular devices, the polysilicon layer contributes to a contact which is very similar to that of a metal-insulator-semiconductor tunnel junction contact. A model based on this hypothesis is developed and shown to give a good fit to all the experimental data.


PURPOSES : Hollows are easily made, and bearing capacity can be lowered near underground structures because sublayers of pavement settle for a long time due to difficult compaction at the position. If loadings are applied in this condition, distresses may occur in pavement and, as the result, its lifespan can decrease due to the stress larger than that expected in design phase. Although reinforced slab is installed on side of box culvert to minimize the distresses, length of the reinforced slab is fixed as 6m in Korea without any theoretical consideration. The purpose of this paper is investigating the behavior of concrete pavement according to the cover depth of the box culvert ad the length of the reinforced slab. METHODS : The distresses of concrete pavement slabs were investigated and cover depth was surveyed at position where the box culverts were located in expressways. The concrete pavements including the box culverts were modeled by finite element method and their behaviors according to the soil cover depth were analyzed. Wheel loading was applied after considering self weight of the pavement and temperature gradient of the concrete pavement slab at Yeojoo, Gyeonggi where a test road was located. After installing pavement joint at various positions, behavior of the pavement was analyzed by changing the soil cover depth and length of the reinforced slab. RESULTS : As the result, the tensile stress developed in the pavement slab according to the joint position, cover depth, and reinforced slab length was figured out. CONCLUSIONS : More reasonable and economic design of the concrete pavement including the box culvert is expected by the research results.


Learning student days now in demand to be more active in learning kegeiatan. Not only that, but students are also in demand untu connect each subject to one another and can menerpkan in everyday life. The problems faced in learning activities in class V SDN Ketintang II Surabaya is the low interest of students in learning terajdi because teachers still use the lecture method is conventional. Submission of materials with the lecture method makes students often feel tired and boring, lack of teachers using an interesting method has not been implemented as well as connect with the subject matter of the other subject matter is still weak and lacking. Therefore the solutions offered in this study is penerpan contextual learning model through a thematic approach to improve student learning outcomes.
The purpose of this research is to describe the activities of teachers in improving student learning outcomes siswa.Mendeskripsikan submarine activity following study and to describe student learning outcomes after application of contextual learning model through a thematic approach. Model of research is a class act consisting of two cycles. The subjects were students of class V SDN Ketintang II Surabaya with details of the male 16 and female 14. Grand Total students there are 30. Data were obtained from observation and tests. Data observation activities of teachers and students in the analysis as a percentage. Data from tests based on the percentage of students in the analysis of classical learning completeness.
The results showed that the percentage of teachers' activities increased by 24.6%. Ie from 66.7% to 90.3%. Activities of students increased by 25.1% from 67.8% to 92.9%. While the learning outcomes of students has increased by 17.2% from 68.5% to 85%. Based on these results, mak recommended for elementary school teachers to try to implement contextual learning model approach teamatik especially the theme of harmony in society.


ABSTRACT The microbiological diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is crucial for successful antimicrobial treatment. Cultures have limited sensitivity, especially in patients receiving antibiotics. We evaluated the value of multiplex PCR for detection of microbial DNA in sonication fluid from removed orthopedic prostheses. Cases of PJI in which the prosthesis (or part of it) was removed were prospectively included. The removed implant was sonicated, and the resulting sonication fluid was cultured and subjected to multiplex PCR. Of 37 PJI cases (17 hip prostheses, 14 knee prostheses, 4 shoulder prostheses, 1 elbow prosthesis, and 1 ankle prosthesis), pathogens were identified in periprosthetic tissue in 24 (65%) cases, in sonication fluid in 23 (62%) cases, and by multiplex PCR in 29 (78%) cases. The pathogen was detected in 5 cases in sonication fluid only (Propionibacterium acnes in all cases; none of these patients had previously received antibiotics) and in 11 cases by multiplex PCR only (all of these patients had previously received antibiotics). After exclusion of 8 cases caused by P. acnes or Corynebacterium species, which cannot be detected due to the absence of specific primers in the PCR kit, sonication cultures were positive in 17 cases and multiplex PCR sonication cultures were positive in 29 cases (59% versus 100%, respectively; P < 0.01). Among 19 cases (51%) receiving antibiotics, multiplex PCR was positive in all 19 (100%), whereas sonication cultures grew the organism in 8 (42%) (P < 0.01). Multiplex PCR of sonication fluid is a promising test for diagnosis of PJI, particularly in patients who previously received antibiotics. With modified primer sets, multiplex PCR has the potential for further improvement of the diagnosis of PJI.


Staphylococcus aureus causing wide spectrum of infections and has tendency for the development of multidrug resistance. The study was conducted to find out the antibiogram of S. aureus from clinical samples at Ayub Teaching institute, Abbottabad since September 2018 to May 2019 and to determine the prevalence of MRSA and MSSA .Total 100 Staphylococcus aureus was collected from clinical samples (pus, urine and blood) and identification was done by standard microbiological methods and antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by using disk diffusion method as per CLSI guidelines. Out of these 100 isolates, 44 (44%) were MRSA and 56 (56%) were MSSA. Most of the MRSA isolates were collected from blood 20(45.45%) followed by pus 14(31.81%) and urine 10 (22.7%) correspondingly while the highest prevalence of MSSA was in pus samples 26 (46.42%), and were same in the samples of blood and urine 15 (26.78%). MRSA was sensitive to Amikacin (95%) and Vancomycin (86%) but resistant to Oxacillin (100%) and Imipenem (82%). MSSA was sensitive to Oxacillin (100%) and Doxycyclin (86%) but resistant to Ciprofloxacin and Oflaxacin (64%). All the isolates were sensitive to Amikacin, Doxycyclin and Gentamicin .Frequency of S.aureus is common in clinical samples of patients at Abbottabad and these were momentously resistant to frequently prescribed antibiotics, so, anti-staphylococcal antibiotics correct use is crucial.


Capsicum has been an important part of diet since centuries and has been widely used traditionally for ailments. The objective of the present analysis was to determine the diuretic and antidiarrheal potentials of four variations of Capsicum annum L. fruits available in local market of Karachi, Pakistan. It belongs to family Solanaceae and extracts were prepared in 95% ethanol and was given in doses of 200 and 400mg/kg and the activity was correlated with commonly used diuretics and anti-diarrheal further reinforcing its conventional use. Fruits extracts were evaluated for anti-diarrheal properties in castor-oil induced diarrhea to confirm its activity. The diuretic activity of the 95% ethanolic extracts of Capsicum annum L. was assessed based on diuresis of 24 hr. collected through metabolic cage. Urinary excretion of water and electrolytes (Na+ and K+) is significantly increased by the standard diuretic drug furosemide, which is comparable with the extract. The anti-diarrheal effects of 95% ethanolic extracts of Capsicum annum L. were examined by castor oil induced diarrhea and all varieties of Capsicum annum L. significantly inhibited the number of defecations.


OBJECTIVES
We compared prevalence rates and correlates of substance use among high school students in South Africa and the United States.

METHODS
We used weighted data from 2 nationally representative surveys of high school students. We conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses and examined between-country differences in rates and correlates of substance use were examined.

RESULTS
Rates of past-month alcohol and marijuana use were lower among South African students than among US students, but rates of illicit hard drug use were higher. Correlates of use in the 2 countries differed. For example, female gender was protective against tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in South Africa, whereas in the United States it was protective only against marijuana use. Black race/ethnicity was associated with lower rates of past-month cigarette and alcohol use in both countries, but the protective effect for alcohol use was stronger in South Africa.

CONCLUSIONS
Crosscultural studies can elucidate common and culturally unique pathways to drug use. Our results can inform future research, policies, and behavioral interventions in South Africa.


The metabolism of organic molecules by living organisms is of fundamental interest to biologists, microbiologists, and biochemists. The primary avenue of metabolism in most living organisms is via oxidative pathways. The aromatic hydrocarbons (arenes) are subject to such oxidative degradation; their mammalian and microbial systems have been extensively studied. It is the capacity of certain microorganisms to convert by oxidation arenes into arene cis-dihydrodiols that provide the foundation of this chapter. Arenes are subject to a variety of oxidations, but the expression "microbial arene oxidation" is used for the specific oxidation discussed here.

The assignment of dihydrodiol configuration and the use of mutant strains of microorganisms laid the groundwork for the development of arene oxidation as a process useful to organic synthesis. Other advances discussed in this chapter led to the development of microbial arene oxidations that are suitable for organic synthesis. Attractive features include: the process is one of a very few that disrupts the aromatic system of arenes; the array of functional groups generated in the dihydrodiol products is useful; the process is highly enantioselective, affording pure enantiomerically pure products in most cases.

For this chapter, the literature has been reviewed through 2001.

Keywords:

microbial arene oxidations;
toluene dioxygenase;
naphthalene dioxygenase;
biphenyl oxygenase;
benzoate dioxygenase;
site directed mutagensis;
scope;
synthesis applications;
intermediates;
microbially produced dihydrodiols;
yields;
stability;
isolation;
micororganismss;
inducers;
experimental conditions;
experimental procedures;
mineral salt broths


Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine the relative roles of the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) in pupillary hippus.

Methods
We used a paired-eye control study design with three cohorts receiving either 1.0% tropicamide (PNS antagonist) in light (TL), 1.0% tropicamide in dark (TD), or 10% phenylephrine (SNS) in light (PL), n = 12 in each. Each subject received one drop to the randomly determined treatment eye, while the other eye served as control. Bilateral measures of pupil size and dynamics were made over 2.6 seconds using an infrared eye-tracker sampling at 500 Hz. Measures were taken at baseline, then every 5 minutes for 40 minutes. Hippus, analyzed in both time and frequency domains, was compared between eyes and cohorts.

Results
Pupillary hippus with a distinct dominant frequency was present in all measures at baseline (mean: 0.62 Hz, SD: 0.213 Hz), and that frequency did not change in any group (P = 0.971). Hippus magnitude (treatment eye relative to control eye) decreased in the TL (-72.8 ± 4.7%, P < 0.0001) and TD (-71.3 ± 2.6%, P < 0.0001) groups, but did not change in the PL (+5.4 ± 13.7%, P = 0.173) group, despite PL pupils dilating to a proportion similar to TD.

Conclusions
Pupillary hippus can be extinguished by antagonizing the PNS, whereas agonizing the SNS dilates the pupil without affecting hippus. This suggests that hippus originates from central PNS activity, and not from SNS activity, or oscillations in the balance between PNS and SNS at the pupil.


Previous studies have convincingly shown that leaders' support for followers' family lives is of vital importance for followers' work-family spillover, well-being and job motivation. The role of leader's own family-to-work spillover, however, remained underexposed thus far. We investigate whether leaders' family-to-work conflict (FWC) and enrichment (FWE) influence followers' work attitudes (i.e., job burnout and work engagement). Moreover, we test whether such effects are due to cross-over processes, whereby the leader's feelings of burnout and engagement crossover to followers through a) role modeling, b) leader's expression of positive versus negative emotions, and c) the leader's behavior (undermining or supportive). Using a sample of 199 leaders and 456 followers, we found that the leader's FWC at time1 had a positive relationship with the follower's feelings of burnout at time3, through leader's enhanced feelings of burnout at time2. Similarly, leader's FWE was positively related to leader's work engagement at time2, consequently enhancing followers' work engagement at time3. Our findings supported two crossover mechanisms: role modeling and the leader' behavior. The results underscore that leader's family lives matter at work, influencing not only their own enthusiasm at work, but also how they motivate and inspire their followers.


There is currently tremendous interest in the previously documented example of a stable species exhibiting a boron–boron triple bond (Science, 2012, 336, 1420). Notably, it has recently been stated using arguments based on force constants that this diboryne may not, in reality, feature a boron–boron triple bond. Here, we use advanced solid-state NMR and computational methodology in order to directly probe the orbitals involved in multiple boron–boron bonds experimentally via analysis of B–B spin–spin (J) coupling constants. Computationally, the mechanism responsible for the boron–boron spin–spin coupling in these species is found to be analogous to that for the case of multiply-bonded carbon atoms. The trend in reduced J coupling constants for diborenes and a diboryne, measured experimentally, is in agreement with that known for alkenes and alkynes. This experimental probe of the electronic structure of the boron–boron multiple bond provides strong evidence supporting the originally proposed nature of the bonds in the diboryne and diborenes, and demonstrates that the orbitals involved in boron–boron bonding are equivalent to those well known to construct the multiple bonds between other second-row elements such as carbon and nitrogen.


Over 60 years of nuclear activity have resulted in a global legacy of contaminated land and radioactive waste. Uranium (U) is a significant component of this legacy and is present in radioactive wastes and at many contaminated sites. U-incorporated iron (oxyhydr)oxides may provide a long-term barrier to U migration in the environment. However, reductive dissolution of iron (oxyhydr)oxides can occur on reaction with aqueous sulfide (sulfidation), a common environmental species, due to the microbial reduction of sulfate. In this work, U(VI)–goethite was initially reacted with aqueous sulfide, followed by a reoxidation reaction, to further understand the long-term fate of U species under fluctuating environmental conditions. Over the first day of sulfidation, a transient release of aqueous U was observed, likely due to intermediate uranyl(VI)–persulfide species. Despite this, overall U was retained in the solid phase, with the formation of nanocrystalline U(IV)O2 in the sulfidized system along with a persistent U(V) component. On reoxidation, U was associated with an iron (oxyhydr)oxide phase either as an adsorbed uranyl (approximately 65%) or an incorporated U (35%) species. These findings support the overarching concept of iron (oxyhydr)oxides acting as a barrier to U migration in the environment, even under fluctuating redox conditions.


The paper presents an instructional design utilizing automated-learning tools to teach about defining terms in an online Humanities senior seminar at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. By leveraging digital learning tools in a Moodle environment, a system was produced that students could access independently and work through at their own pace in order to be introduced to, learn more deeply about and provide evidence of progress and mastery for the task of defining terms in a clear effective way. The research presented here gathered data from students about their impression of the tool as well as from analytics provided by Moodle. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed and results presented for 200 students. It was shown that the tool was effective to engage students, attain learning goals and not consume significant instructional time or that of the educator beyond initial design and implementation of the tools and resources.


Abstract A new species, Elanella haifensis, is described from off the coast of Israel, collected in depths ranging from 9.8–22.4 m. It is easily distinguishable from congeners by the spinulate bulbous setae III and IV of the female caudal ramus, and the shape of the male antennule. A new diagnosis is presented for the genus Elanella. This is the first record of the genus in Mediterranean waters.


Ectopic pregnancy accounts for 1–2% of all pregnancies. Ultrasound is the primary diagnostic tool to locate pregnancy outside the uterus and identify complications such as haemoperitoneum. In inconclusive cases, MRI is an adjunctive imaging modality offering more precise tissue differentiation and helpful to location identification. Presented is an unusual case of tubal pregnancy. The patient in her 30s, who was 14 weeks into her first pregnancy, had a suspected abdominal pregnancy. Both transabdominal ultrasound and an MRI indicated an ectopic pregnancy, likely originating from the right fallopian tube. A successful laparotomy and right salpingectomy were performed without complications. Rarely, as in this case, large unruptured and advanced tubal pregnancies can mimic an abdominal pregnancy, underscoring the importance of disease recognition and familiarity with uncommon image findings. An accurate diagnosis of pregnancy location is crucial for effective case management.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Breast cancer, the most frequent cancer among women in the majority of countries, is also a stressful disease. The principal effectors of the stress system include the epinephrine (EPI) and norepinephrine which bind to α1-, α2- and β-adrenoceptors (AR). We have described α2-AR in human tumor and non-tumor breast cell lines, associated with increased cell proliferation and tumor growth. We have also studied the effect of β-AR agonists and antagonists in different breast cancer experimental models. When animals were treated with the agonist isoproterenol (ISO) and/or salbutamol (SALB), tumor growth was significantly reduced correlating with Erk 1/2 phosphorylation status in whole protein tumor samples by Western blotting.

The aims of the present work were: to assess the expression of β2-AR in human breast cancer cell lines (IBH-4, IBH-6, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, among others) by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence (IF) techniques; to study the biological effect of β-AR agonists by means of proliferation assays and compare these results with the effect of the natural agonist (EPI); to find out the signaling pathways involved in reduced Erk phosphorylation induced by β-AR stimulation.

β2-AR expression was detected by RT-PCR, using GAPDH as a control. A positive staining was seen in all cells by IF. After the incubation of the cells with increasing doses (from 10−13M to 10−6M) of the β-AR agonist (ISO or SALB), a significant reduction in [3H]-thymidine incorporation to the cells nuclei was observed as compared to control values (expressed as percentage of control incorporation). IBH-4: ISO 0.1μM, 75.87±8.49% vs control 100±7.18% p<0.05; SALB 0.1nM, 63.86±6.42% vs 100±7.79% p<0.05. IBH-6: ISO 0.1μM, 67.02±6.11% vs control 100±6.64% p<0.05; SALB 0.1nM, 59.88±5.62% vs control 100±7.34% p<0.05. A similar inhibition was detected in MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and HS-578T cell lines. In all the cell lines studied, the adrenergic agonist EPI exerted a stimulating cell proliferation effect.

Erk1/2 phosphorylation was significantly inhibited by SALB or ISO studied by Western blotting. Erk1/2 phosphorylation decreased when the cells were treated with 8-Br-cAMP, or the PKA specific analog (6-Bnz) and this effect was mimic with forskolin. The effect on Erk1/2 phosphorylation was reversed by H-89 (PKA inhibitor) in the presence and absence of β-agonists.

We conclude that both ISO and SALB, acting through β-AR, inhibit cell proliferation. On the other hand, EPI increases cell proliferation acting through α2-AR. We propose that in the cell lines studied, the adrenergic compounds act via classic Gs pathways, augmenting cAMP and activating PKA and not EPAC. The results are promising and in agreement with the in vivo experiments presented before. These compounds, devoid of serious side-effects, could eventually be employed to inhibit tumor growth. In the future, it might be useful to analyse the metastatic potential of the cells.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1047. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1047


Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a worldwide stress test for health systems. 2 years have elapsed since the description of the first cases of pneumonia of unknown origin. This study quantifies the impact of COVID-19 in the screening program of chronic viral infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) along the six different pandemic waves in our population. Each wave had particular epidemiological, biological, or clinical patterns. Methods We analyzed the number of samples for screening of these viruses from March 2020 to February 2022, the new infections detected in the pandemic period compared to the previous year, the time elapsed between diagnosis and linking to treatment and follow-up of patients, and the percentage of late HIV diagnosis. Moreover, we used the origin of the samples as a marker for quantifying the restoration of activity in primary care. Results During the first pandemic year, the number of samples received was reduced by 26.7, 22.6, and 22.5% for molecular detection of HPV or serological HCV and HIV status respectively. The highest decrease was observed during the first wave with 70, 40, and 26.7% for HPV, HCV, and HIV. As expected, new diagnoses also decreased by 35.4, 58.2, and 40.5% for HPV, HCV, and HIV respectively during the first year of the pandemic. In the second year of the pandemic, the number of samples remained below pre-pandemic period levels for HCV (−3.6%) and HIV (−9.3%) but was slightly higher for HPV (8.0%). The new diagnoses in the second year of the pandemic were −16.1, −46.8, and −18.6% for HPV, HCV, and HIV respectively. Conclusions Undoubtedly, an important number of new HPV, HCV, and HIV infections were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, and surveillance programs were disrupted as a consequence of collapse of the health system. It is a priority to reinforce these surveillance programs as soon as possible in order to detect undiagnosed cases before the associated morbidity-mortality increases. New pandemic waves could increase the risk of reversing the achievements made over the last few decades.


Coherent Doppler light detection and ranging (lidar) measures a component of atmospheric wind motion in the direction of the lidar beam. However, velocity vectors are needed in order to obtain more complete knowledge of flow fields in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Several methods such as the velocity azimuthal display (VAD) and dual-Doppler approaches exist to retrieve two-dimensional vector fields, but these methods tend to lose local information about the flow field due to the averaging involved. A two-dimensional vector retrieval method has been adapted from radar data assimilation techniques. The retrievals are performed on data from the Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) experiment and are shown to retain the local velocity information which is lost in a method like the VAD. A comparison with dual-Doppler retrievals shows reasonable agreement. Furthermore, radial velocities computed using the projections of the retrieved vectors from one lidar and the look direction from the other lidar compare well w...


ABSTRACT Customised product design is attracting increasing attention. However, consumers can be overwhelmed by the variety of products. To confront this challenge, this paper presents a two-step recommendation approach for customised products. First, an adaptive specification process captures customer requirements in an accelerated manner by presenting the most informative attribute for a customer to specify. Then, a maximal marginal relevance-based recommendation set is presented, based on the customer's partial specifications. This process ensures broad coverage of customers' needs by considering not only the relevance of each product to their requirements but also redundancy in the recommendation set.


This article provides an overview of the usage of performance-based simulation tools for building design and evaluation in Singapore based on an extensive industry survey. It highlights the status and difficulties encountered in the usage and the needs of the industry for such tools. Recommendations are also given to promote the pervasive use of such simulation tools.


Culture and network may be interacted according to their impact on international trade, in such a way that networks alleviate the negative effect of cultural dissimilarity. This study investigates the effect of network and culture on international trade, and a possible interaction between two effects. Empirical findings from the augmented gravity model using a bilateral data set of 34 OECD countries confirm the positive effect of cultural proximity and network on trade. More importantly, the findings also reveal an interaction effect in a way that networks, such as FDI, migration and internet, play a significant role in mitigating the deterrent effect of culture dissimilarity on international trade. The internet is found to have the strongest interaction effect, followed by FDI and migration.


Injectable hybrid hydrogels were produced by mixing crosslinked aldehyde hyaluronic acid with dexamethasone grafted water soluble chitosan, without the addition of a chemical crosslinking agent. The gelation is attributed to the Schiff-base reaction between amino and aldehyde groups of hydrogel precursors. In this article, the water soluble chitosan, N-succinyl-chitosan, grafted with dexamethasone via water soluble carbodiimide chemistry has been characterized. In vitro gelation time, morphologies, swelling, weight loss, and compressive modulus of hybrid hydrogels in phosphate buffered saline were studied. The dexamethasone grafted hydrogel showed a slightly lower gelation time, higher water uptake and faster weight loss compared to the hydrogel without dexamethasone. Human adipose-derived stem cells were encapsulated into the dexamethasone grafted hydrogel in vitro to assess the biological performance and applicability of the hydrogel as cell carrier. Results demonstrated that the dexamethasone grafted hydrogel resulted in enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation as compared to the hydrogel without dexamethasone. These characteristics provide a potential opportunity for the dexamethasone grafted hybrid hydrogel as an injectable scaffold in adipose tissue engineering applications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013


The Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), proposed by R. Goodman (1997), has been used by researchers to measure social, emotional and behaviour difficulties in children. The SDQ includes four difficulty subscales, measuring emotional, conduct, hyperactivity and peer problems. It also includes a fifth subscale, measuring prosocial behaviour. Dickey and Blumberg (2004) suggested that the SDQ factor structure can be reduced to three dimensions comprising the prosocial, externalisation and internalisation subscales. Externalising problems combine conduct and hyperactivity, while internalising problems combine peer and emotional difficulties. A sample of 5200 local students aged between 4 and 16 years was used to investigate the factor structure underlying the teachers' version of the SDQ. Statistical analysis was conducted using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study finds that the three-factor solution fits the data well. EFA establishes good internal consistency of these three factors. Moreover, several fit indices confirm this three-factor model through CFA. The externalisation construct linking hyperactivity and conduct problems is more robust than the internalisation construct linking emotional to peer problems. Through SEM, it was deduced that the Externalisation Factor dominates both the Internalisation and the Prosocial Factors. This implies that by controlling externalized behaviour leads to a better control of internalized and prosocial behaviours of students.


Background Internet interventions have the potential to address many of the health problems that produce the greatest global burden of disease. We present a study illustrating this potential. The Spanish/English San Francisco Stop Smoking Internet site, which yielded quit rates of 20% or more at 12 months in published randomized controlled trials (RCTs), was modified to make it accessible to Spanish- and English-speaking smokers 18 years of age or older anywhere in the world. Objective To illustrate that Internet interventions designed to conduct RCTs can be adapted to serve as universal health care resources. We also examine quit rates obtained in the current participant preference study (in which users could choose from all elements tested in previous RCTs) to determine whether they differ from the quit rates found in the RCTs. Methods We modified the San Francisco Stop Smoking Internet site so that, instead of being randomly assigned to a specific intervention, participants could personalize the site by choosing among nine site elements (eg, stop smoking guide, reminder emails, journal, mood management intervention, or virtual group). Participants completed a baseline assessment, and reported smoking and mood data at 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. We assessed the modified website's reach and outcomes (quit rates), and compared the quit rates of the current participant preference study with those of the previous RCTs. Results In the first year of recruitment, 94,158 individuals from 152 countries and territories visited the site; 13,488 participants left some data; 9173 signed consent; 7763 completed the baseline survey; and 1955, 1362, 1106, and 1096 left 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month data, respectively. Observed quit rates were 38.1% (n = 668), 44.9% (n = 546), 43.6% (n = 431), and 45.4% (n = 449), respectively. The current participant preference study yielded higher observed quit rates (odds ratio 1.30) than the previous RCT when controlling for individuals' demographic and smoking characteristics. Conclusions After strict RCTs are completed, Internet intervention sites can be made into worldwide health intervention resources without reducing their effectiveness. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00721786; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00721786 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/66npiZF4y)


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer‑associated mortalities worldwide. Increasing studies have demonstrated that the deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) is associated with the occurrence and development of multiple types of human cancer, including CRC. miR‑329 has been identified to be downregulated in various types of cancer; however, its expression pattern, functions and mechanisms in CRC remain unclear. The present study demonstrated that miR‑329 was lowly expressed in CRC tissue samples and cell lines. Low expression of miR‑329 was correlated with tumor‑node‑metastasis stage and lymph node metastasis in patients with CRC. In vitro experiments revealed that resumption expression of miR‑329 suppressed cell proliferation and invasion in CRC. Furthermore, the results of the present study indicated that miR‑329 targets transforming growth factor‑β1 (TGF‑β1) directly in vitro. TGF‑β1 was demonstrated to be upregulated in CRC tissue samples and inversely correlated with miR‑329 expression. Upregulation of TGF‑β1 was able to partially counteract the antitumor roles of miR‑329 on CRC cell proliferation and invasion. The results of the current study revealed that miR‑329 suppresses CRC cell proliferation and invasion through targeting TGF‑β1, thus suggesting that targeting miR‑329/TGF‑β1 may provide a novel effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of patients with CRC.


The Web allows self-regulated learning through interaction with large amounts of learning resources. While enjoying the flexibility of learning, learners may suffer from cognitive overload and conceptual and navigational disorientation when faced with various information resources under disparate topics and complex knowledge structures. This study proposed a knowledge visualization (KV) approach to this problem in an online course. The investigation involved the design, development, and evaluation of an enhanced learning system for the course using the proposed approach. The focus was on visualization of domain knowledge structure and integrating the structure with curriculum design, learning resources, learning assessment, intellectual process, and social learning. Survey and interviews with students demonstrated high user satisfaction and acceptance with the developed system and its functions for KV. These findings lay the foundation for further exploration with the system to determine its impact on reducing cognitive load and improving the learning process.


Conductance fluctuations in four samples of undoped intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon ~a-Si:H! were measured in the temperature range of 450 K to 500 K and for frequencies from 2 Hz to 3 kHz. The noise spectra divide into two regions that each fit a 1/f a power law but with different slope parameters a and different temperature dependences. At low frequencies, a is greater than unity and increases with temperature. At high frequencies, a is near 0.6 and temperature independent, but the noise magnitude decreases rapidly with temperature. We infer from the different dependences on temperature that the noise is generated by two independent mechanisms operating simultaneously in a-Si:H. We also observe that the 1/f noise exhibits a quadratic dependence on bias current and Gaussian statistics. @S0163-1829~99!04327-1#


A brief history, an overview of the workplan, some caveats and several concerns and risks of the Decade are presented together with what WPHNA thinks needs change for the remainng years of the Decade.


Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most frequent causes for early retirement, hospital treatment and loss of days of work (Raspe u. Kohlmann 1993). Further differentiation and earlier diagnosis of psychogenic LBP could significantly reduce health costs. We interviewed 101 patients with LBP in the departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery (Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke, University Witten/Herdecke) with the "structured biographical interview for patients with pain" (Egle 1992). This questionnaire has been used successfully differentiating between patients with organic and psychogenic chronic pain syndromes. It is a semi-standardised instrument based on observations, mainly made by Engel (1959), showing that many patients suffering from chronic benign pain syndromes had experienced psychic traumatisation during childhood. We compared a group of patients with clear neurological deficits and organic pain origin (n = 47) with a group of patients with psychogenic LBP (n = 25). Parameters were among others their biographical family constellations, their past medical history (also looking for symptoms of dissociation [conversion]), their present life and their coping with pain. In comparison with other studies examining similar aspects in patients who had pain in other parts of the body (Egle et al. 1991), our groups showed less discriminating results concerning biographical aspects. We found that also 40% of patients with organic pain origin hat traumatic constellations in their childhood. The following factors differentiated best between the both groups and characterised the psychogenic group: Intensity of pain was judged to be significantly higher with the "visual analog scale": age of the patient less than 40 years; distraction does not alter the pain; preceding experiences with physicians had often been negative; pain leads to impairment of familiar contacts; conflicts with parents during childhood could not adequately discussed with them at that time. These seven aspects can very well be part of a clinical history taking in a general medical setting, so that patients with LBP can be differentiated more effectively.


Malaysia is a developing country and its economy is growing, in order to keep growing at its present rate, must be supported by a stable and reliable energy supply. In the past, sustained economic growth has resulted in a growing consumption of energy. In order to achieve sustainable and reliable energy supply, energy requirements must be regulated. For This purpose an estimation of future energy requirements in lights of improving its efficiency is required and recognizing energy consumption patterns among households and energy intensity among productive sectors is needed. It is important to note that, fluctuation in energy prices, particularly price of crude oil could exert an important influence on the macroeconomics of the country. This study, therefore, tries to construct a hybrid energy I-O table, conduct sectoral energy intensity analysis and evaluate the effects of higher energy prices on inflation and household expenditures. The hybrid energy I-O table shows that Industrial and Transport sectors consumed approximately 80% of the country's consumption of energy over time. Therefore, if we give special attention to these two sectors, it could help to conserve energy consumption effectively. In addition, any study such as the present one, could help policy makers in strategizing the future sustainable development of the industry and help households to be more prudent in energy consumption. Results of the present study reveal that in general energy intensity of the economy has increased over time. The energy intensity for all sectors computed 0.094 and 0.103 toe/'000 RM and for non-energy sectors quantified 0.069 and 0.077 toe/'000 in the years 2000 and 2005 respectively. The most energy intensive sectors remained the same while the least energy intensive sectors changed slightly during 2000 – 2005 periods. It is also found that value-added share of high energy intensive sectors is higher than that of the low energy intensive sectors. It means that Malaysian economy can switch form more polluted, high CO2 emission and high energy intensive sectors to clean, less energy intensive and high value added activities. In this research we assumed that the energy consumption behavior of consumers and producers remained constant, a double increase in the price of energy would lead to the value of household expenditure increased by 20 and 17 in years 2000 and 2005 respectively for the same quantities. Households consume 8121293 toe and 10762104 toe energy in Malaysian economy in the years 2000 and 2005. The households are responsible for almost 30 percent of energy consumption in Malaysia. Their energy consumption increase about 30 percent within years 2000 to 2005. By doubling the energy prices the sectoral price change 14.57 % and 15.43 % in the years 2000 and 2005 while CPI change 14.74 % and 11.21% respectively in the same years. These changes in CPI can have several reasons i) weights of CPI changes over years ii) Households expenditure pattern changes over years iii)The economy becomes less susceptible in response to energy price shocks. Different groups of household expenditure affected by increasing the price of energy dissimilarly for urban and rural households. The group Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Rural more affected than urban in both years 2000 and 2005. But the groups Transport and Electricity, gas & other fuel urban more affected than rural in both years. In term of strata, bottom quintile more affected in the group Gross rent, Fuel & Power while top quintile more affected in the group Transport and Communications. The lowest income category of household, which is represented by the first quintile of the household strata, is the most vulnerable to the increase in the price of energy through the indirect effect of inter-sectoral linkages.


For a given target system and apparatus described by quantum theory, the so-called quantum no-programming theorem indicates that a family of states called programs in the apparatus with a fixed unitary operation on total system programs distinct unitary dynamics to the target system only if the initial programs are orthogonal to each other. The current study aims at revealing whether a similar behavior can be observed in generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs). Generalizing the programming scheme to GPTs, we derive a similar theorem to the quantum no-programming theorem. We, furthermore, demonstrate that programming of reversible dynamics is closely related to a curious structure named a quasi-classical structure on the state space. Programming of irreversible dynamics, i.e., channels, in GPTs is also investigated.


This paper analyzes the important but elusive relationship between the modern presidency and social movements. Although the presidency-social movement nexus is fraught with tension, collaboration between the White House and social activists was indispensable to the important changes that occurred during the second half of the twentieth century. Focusing especially on Lyndon Johnson's uneasy but critical relationship to the Civil Rights movement and Ronald Reagan's enlistment of the Christian Right into the Republican Party, we trace the emergence of a novel form of politics since the 1960s that joins executive prerogative, grass roots insurgency, and party polarization. Johnson¹s efforts to leverage presidential power to advance Civil Rights played a critical role in recasting the relationship between national administration and social movements, one that paved the way for a national conservative offensive. The relationship forged between Johnson and the Civil Rights movement has echoes in the similar joining of the Reagan presidency and the Christian right, an executive-insurgency alliance that instigated the transformation of the Republican Party and spurred the development a new presidency-centered party system by the end of the 1980s.


PURPOSE
Despite increased 161-km ultramarathon participation in recent years, little is known about those who pursue such an activity. This study surveyed entrants in two of the largest 161-km trail ultramarathon runs in North America to explore demographic characteristics and issues that affected race performance.

METHODS
All entries of the 2009 Western States Endurance Run and the Vermont 100 Endurance Race were invited to complete a postrace questionnaire.

RESULTS
There were 500 respondents among the 701 race entries (71.3% response). Finish time was found to have a significant (P ≤ .01) negative association with training volume and was generally directly associated with body mass index. Among nonfinishers, the primary reason for dropping out was nausea and/or vomiting (23.0%). Finishers compared with nonfinishers were more likely (P ≤ .02) to report blisters (40.1% vs 17.3%), muscle pain (36.5% vs 20.1%), and exhaustion (23.1% vs 13.7%) as adversely affecting race performance, but nausea and/or vomiting was similar between groups (36.8% vs 39.6%). Nausea and/or vomiting was no more common among those using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), those participating in the event with higher ambient temperatures, those with a lower training volume, or those with less experience at finishing 161-km races. Overall use of NSAIDs was high, and greater (P = .006) among finishers (60.5%) than nonfinishers (46.4%).

CONCLUSIONS
From this study, we conclude that primary performance-limiting issues in 161-km ultramarathons include nausea and/or vomiting, blisters, and muscle pain, and there is a disturbingly high use of NSAIDs in these events.


We have performed x-ray spectroscopic measurements of the dielectronic recombination resonance strength for the LMn (n = 3, ..., 10) series of Si-like W60+ to N-like W67+ tungsten ions. Highly charged tungsten ions were produced, stored and excited with the Berlin electron beam ion trap and the emitted radiation was analyzed with a solid state detector. Information on the charge state abundance in the trap was extracted from a fit of the theoretical radiative recombination intensity to measured values. The fit procedure was only feasible when the fine structure, angular momentum of the recombination channels is taken into account. Our measurement of x-rays from n = 2-3, 2-4 and higher DR resonance transitions was compared to relativistic calculations of the DR cross sections and rate coefficients calculated with the Hebrew University Lawrence Livermore Atomic Code (HULLAC). The previous theoretical predictions for Ne-like tungsten (W64+) [3] were extended with calculations for ions in adjacent charge states and compare well with the observed DR resonance structure.


Antibiotic use has led to increased resistance to certain group markers: penicillin, erythromycin and ciprofloxacin for beta-lactams, macrolides and quinolones, respectively. The influence of resistance to markers in decreasing susceptibility to the drugs included (on the basis of chemical structure) in the corresponding antibiotic group can be defined as 'resistance class effect'. In the case of macrolides, this effect is dependent on the prevalent resistant phenotype among the isolates of the target bacteria: the class effect exists completely if the mechanism of resistance is constitutive MLS(B) (all macrolides are affected by resistance to erythromycin), and only partially if the mechanism is the efflux M phenotype (all but 16-membered macrolides are affected). In Spain, the first case is exemplified by Streptococcus pneumoniae and the second by Streptococcus pyogenes. For beta-lactams and quinolones, resistance to the group markers results in large decreases in the antimicrobial activity of the less potent members of the group, penicillin being a better driver of resistance for oral cephalosporins than for aminopenicillins, and ciprofloxacin being a better driver for older rather than for the newer quinolones, which have enhanced anti-pneumococcal activity. Empirical prescription guidelines based on the pharmacoepidemiology of resistance, recommending the use of potent drugs that are less influenced by resistance to the marker, may help to counter the spread of resistance in the community.


Background: Although routine measurements are taken at birth, the derivable benefits from their interpretations have not been maximized in the care of the newborn.
 Aim: To determine the relationship between placental weight (PW) at birth, maternal biosocial characteristics, birth weight (BW) and placental-to-birth-weight ratio (PBWR) on immediate and follow up care of the newborn.
 Methods: A cross-sectional study involving parturient who had singleton deliveries at ≥32weeks gestation with comparison of maternal biosocial parameters, PW, BW and PBWR. Deliveries <32weeks gestation, multiple gestation and incomplete placenta were excluded from the study.  Data was retrieved from the institutional birth registry; data management included determination and comparison of mean values and ratio of individual parameters using SPSS version 21.0.
 Result: Among the 8645 participants, the mean PW was 589.2±146g and it increased with maternal age. The mean BW increased with maternal age with a decline from 35years, PBWR declined until age 30years with a rise afterwards. The mean PW increased with parity, the BW increased till the fourth delivery when it began to decline but PBWR did not follow a regular pattern with parity. The PW and BW increased with gestational age while PBWR increased till 36th week, declined from 37th to 42nd week with a rise from 43rd week. The mean PW and BW increased with maternal educational status while booked participants had higher PW and BW but lower PBWR compared to unbooked women.
 Conclusion: The placental weight is a central index for the interpretation of measurements at birth, detection of associated abnormalities and suggestion for neonatal follow-up.


The variation of magnetization produced by the simultaneous application of magnetic fields and stresses (both compressive and tensile) has been studied for a range of iron-carbon alloys that have been subjected to various metallurgical treatments. For annealed, low carbon content materials in a small magnetic field, the magnetization-stress curves are unsymmetrical with respect to tension and compression. In the applied fields and stresses used, the asymmetry becomes less pronounced both for increase in residual internal stress and for increase in carbon content until, for cold-worked, high carbon content materials, curves are obtained that are sensibly symmetrical. Up to now, two mechanisms have been used to explain the experimentally observed changes in magnetization, namely, that of stress-induced pressure p acting on 90° domain walls and that of large-scale changes in domain structure due to stress. It is demonstrated that these two mechanisms alone cannot account for the present observations. However, qualitative agreement is obtained over the whole range of alloys when account is taken of a third mechanism, that of stress-induced changes in the opposition term that must be in balance with p for domain wall equilibrium.


ABSTRACT Building detection in high spatial resolution optical remote sensing images is important for city planning, navigation, population estimation and many other applications. Although many methods have been proposed, building detection is still a challenging problem due to complex scenes and small or arbitrarily orientated buildings. Moreover, most algorithms detect rotated buildings with horizontal bounding boxes leading to many background pixels being preserved in the final detection, which is not beneficial for post-processing. To address these problems, we present the U-Rotation Detection Network (U-RDN), which can effectively detect buildings with arbitrarily orientated detection bounding boxes. First, the U-Rotation Region Proposal Network (U-RRPN) is proposed to generate rotated proposals through rotated anchors. Then, a Rotation Fast-Region Convolutional Neural Network (RFast-RCNN) is performed, which extracts fixed-size features from rotated proposals and utilizes them to obtain fine-detections. For extracting fixed-size features from rotated proposals, we propose Auto Mask Region-Of-Interest Align (AM-ROI Align). The AM-ROI Align not only reduces abundant noise but also preserves the proper information of an object in ROI. Experimental results using the public building dataset, SpaceNet, show that our method can detect buildings with skewed bounding boxes and has a state-of-the-art performance compared with other algorithms.


This paper examines how the Chinese economy has been involved in global value chains from the perspective of domestic value creation, by using the OECD value-added-trade data (OECD TiVA database). This study contributes to the existing literature by decomposing the domestic value creation into a direct effect from export industries and an indirect effect from the other supporting industries. The empirical estimation first identified the "smile curve" in the "indirect" domestic value creation in total manufactures as the average pattern of the Asian GVCs development paths, in which the domestic value share to exports declines at the early development stage and regains itself at the later stage with the turning point being at 1,830 US dollars as per capita GDP. Then the analysis confirmed the position of Chinese economy, which has already passed the Asian average turning point and has entered the phase of regaining the domestic value share to exports. Finally, the analysis found that the domestic value creation in China has originated from the development of supporting industries, in particular, service industries, which might reflect the progress in basic infrastructure there.


The Computational Sciences Environment (CSE) was developed to provide a standard development platform for data analysis, visualization, and software testing and evaluation. The Classified Data Analysis and Assessment Center (CDAAC), in conjunction with the Computational Sciences and Engineering Branch (CSEB) of the Army Research Laboratory, assembled a set of open source data analysis tools and applications, software management and testing tools, and libraries necessary to run the tools; and made them available as a package called CSE. CSE also provides experimental software builds for users who might need newer features than what is currently available in the release package. The CSE team provides support for developers, the end-user, and distributed development teams. Tests are regularly run on the software, both current and release, and the results are submitted to quality dashboards for review using CTest. CTest is part of an open-source software building tool called CMake. Developers can use CSE as a template and can customize it to meet their specific project goals. CSE provides developers with a common tool set to assist in developing portable high performance computing (HPC) Applications. Development of CSE has been managed through an open-source project management application that provides Software Configuration Management (SCM) integration of the CSE repository, informational wikis, bug tracking, and feature requests. To support distributed development teams, CSE provides project management tools, software repositories, SCM, and online software quality dashboards.


One hundred and eighteen surface soil samples were collected from the Dongguan City, and analyzed for concentration of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd, As, Hg, pH and OM. The spatial distribution and sources of soil heavy metals were studied using multivariate geostatistical methods and GIS technique. The results indicated concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cd and Hg were beyond the soil background content in Guangdong province, and especially concentrations of Pb, Cd and Hg were greatly beyond the content. The results of factor analysis group Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr and As in Factor 1, Pb and Hg in Factor 2 and Cd in Factor 3. The spatial maps based on geostatistical analysis show definite association of Factor 1 with the soil parent material, Factor 2 was mainly affected by industries. The spatial distribution of Factor 3 was attributed to anthropogenic influence.


Aims. We construct the rotation curve of the Milky Way in the extended solar neighbourhood using a sample of Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) G-dwarfs. We investigate the rotation curve shape for the presence of any peculiarities just outside the solar radius as has been reported by some authors.
Methods. Using the modified Strömberg relation and the most recent data from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), we determine the solar peculiar velocity and the radial scale lengths for the three populations of different metallicities representing the Galactic thin disc. Subsequently, with the same binning in metallicity for the SEGUE G-dwarfs, we construct the rotation curve for a range of Galactocentric distances from 7 to 10 kpc. We approach this problem in a framework of classical Jeans analysis and derive the circular velocity by correcting the mean tangential velocity for the asymmetric drift in each distance bin. With SEGUE data we also calculate the radial scale length of the thick disc taking as known the derived peculiar motion of the Sun and the slope of the rotation curve.
Results. The tangential component of the solar peculiar velocity is found to be V ⊙ = 4.47 ± 0.8 km s−1 and the corresponding scale lengths from the RAVE data are Rd(0 < [Fe/H] < 0.2) = 2.07 ± 0.2 kpc, Rd(−0.2 < [Fe/H] < 0) = 2.28 ± 0.26 kpc and Rd(−0.5 < [Fe/H] <−0.2) = 3.05 ± 0.43 kpc. In terms of the asymmetric drift, the thin disc SEGUE stars are demonstrated to have dynamics similar to the thin disc RAVE stars, therefore the scale lengths calculated from the SEGUE sample have close values: Rd(0 < [Fe/H] < 0.2) = 1.91 ± 0.23 kpc, Rd(−0.2 < [Fe/H] < 0) = 2.51 ± 0.25 kpc and Rd(−0.5 < [Fe/H] <−0.2) = 3.55 ± 0.42 kpc. The rotation curve constructed through SEGUE G-dwarfs appears to be smooth in the selected radial range 7 kpc < R < 10 kpc. The inferred power law index of the rotation curve is 0.033 ± 0.034, which corresponds to a local slope of dV c∕dR = 0.98 ± 1 km s−1 kpc−1. The radial scale length of the thick disc is 2.05 kpc with no essential dependence on metallicity.
Conclusions. The local kinematics of the thin disc rotation as determined in the framework of our new careful analysis does not favour the presence of a massive overdensity ring just outside the solar radius. We also find values for solar peculiar motion, radial scale lengths of thick disc, and three thin disc populations of different metallicities as a side result of this work.


Background: Racial and ethnic minority patients, as well as those with lower incomes and inadequate insurance, are less likely to complete preventative colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Patient navigation is known to be an effective method for increasing the rates of CRC screening among minority groups and the medically underserved. The University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) is an active participant in the American Cancer Society9s Colorectal Cancer Screening Initiative (ACS CCSI). The ACS CCSI began in August, 2012 with a goal of increasing access to and utilization of CRC screening among uninsured Illinois residents. In support of the CCSI, the UCM has partnered with Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers located on Chicago9s South Side. Patients who participate in the CCSI at these healthcare sites receive: in-clinic patient navigation provided by an ACS trained navigator; they are provided GoLYTELY for bowel irrigation; and they are referred to UCM for screening colonoscopy. Prior to the day of their scheduled endoscopy, CCSI participants have no interaction or communication with the performing Gastroenterologist and they are responsible for adhering to the appropriate diet and completing the bowel preparation medications. Adequate bowel preparation is a quality measure for colonoscopy. Standard descriptors of bowel preparation include: "excellent", no or minimal stool and small amounts of clear fluid; "Good", no or minimal stool with large amounts of clear fluid; "Fair", semisolid debris that are cleared with difficulty; and "Poor", solid or semisolid debris that cannot be effectively cleared. Inadequate, "Fair" or "Poor", bowel preparation is known to: lower rates of polyp detection; increase colonoscopy procedure duration; and contribute to earlier than recommended intervals for surveillance examination. Published studies have noted that uninsured patient populations are more likely to have an inadequate bowel preparation when compared with insured patient populations. The aim of this study was to assess bowel preparation among an insured university hospital population and an uninsured patient population who received navigation through the ACS CCSI. Methods: This is a retrospective chart review of colonoscopies performed between 08/01/2012 and 07/01/2013. Inclusion criteria: adults age 50 and above who were eligible for guideline consistent CRC screening. Exclusion criteria: Patients referred for screening colonoscopy by a gastroenterologist. These patients are excluded as they may have received additional patient education and/or procedure related instructions that would likely impact the quality of their bowel preparation. Endoscopy procedure reports were reviewed for bowel preparation quality. Bowel preparation was summarized as Excellent/Good or Fair/Poor. Chi-Square and paired T-tests where used for statistical analysis. Results: 228 outpatient colonoscopies were included in the review. 86 colonoscopies were performed as part of the ACS CCSI and 142 colonoscopies were performed as usual care. There was no difference in male gender comparing ACS CCSI and usual care (30% vs. 35%, p > 0.50). The average age of ACS CCSI patients was younger than usual care (56.3 vs. 61.9 years, p Conclusion: There are many barriers to effective CRC screening. Through the ACS CCSI, access to screening colonoscopies for the underserved in Illinois will increase. However, even with increased access, the quality of examination during colonoscopy can be impaired by inadequate bowel preparation thereby limiting its benefits and efficacy in preventing CRC. Our study found that an uninsured patient population that receives navigation through programs such as the ACS CCSI may achieve comparable, or in this population superior, rates of adequate quality of bowel preparation. Citation Format: Keith Naylor, Cassandra Fritz, Helen Lam, Karen Kim. Comparing screening colonoscopy bowel preparation quality in navigated uninsured and insured patient populations. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B88. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-B88


Elastic-viscoelastic correspondence was used to generate displacement–time solutions for spherical indentation testing of soft biological materials with time-dependent mechanical behavior. Boltzmann hereditary integral operators were used to determine solutions for indentation load-relaxation following a constant displacement rate ramp. A "ramp correction factor" approach was used for routine analysis of experimental load-relaxation data. Experimental load-relaxation tests were performed on rubber, as well as kidney tissue and costal cartilage, two hydrated soft biological tissues with vastly different mechanical responses. The experimental data were fit to the spherical indentation ramp-relaxation solutions to obtain values of short- and long-time shear modulus and of material time constants. The method is used to demonstrate linearly viscoelastic responses in rubber, level-independent indentation results for costal cartilage, and age-independent indentation results for kidney parenchymal tissue.


The denatured state of several proteins has been shown to display transient structures that are relevant for folding, stability, and aggregation. To detect them by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the denatured state must be stabilized by chemical agents or changes in temperature. This makes the environment different from that experienced in biologically relevant processes. Using high‐resolution heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy, we have characterized several denatured states of a monomeric variant of HIV‐1 protease, which is natively structured in water, induced by different concentrations of urea, guanidinium chloride, and acetic acid. We have extrapolated the chemical shifts and the relaxation parameters to the denaturant‐free denatured state at native conditions, showing that they converge to the same values. Subsequently, we characterized the conformational properties of this biologically relevant denatured state under native conditions by advanced molecular dynamics simulations and validated the results by comparison to experimental data. We show that the denatured state of HIV‐1 protease under native conditions displays rich patterns of transient native and non‐native structures, which could be of relevance to its guidance through a complex folding process.


The construction industry is deemed to be one of the most dangerous industries worldwide due to its special characteristics of production process. Globalization has brought about an increasing number of construction companies involving themselves in the international construction market. Due to involvement of participants from different countries and regions, international construction projects possess complexities from national, organizational and individual perspectives which may affect construction safety management adversely and lead to unsatisfactory safety performance. Safety climate, defined as "a unified set of cognitions regarding the safety aspects of the organization", is often considered to be a predictor of safety behavior and performance. After conducting a comprehensive review of existing literature related to safety climate measurement in construction sector, this study highlights several conditions for selecting suitable safety climate instruments specific in international construction projects.


The objective was to evaluate available literature on treatment of chronic pouchitis with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) focusing on clinical outcomes, safety, and different approaches to FMT preparation and delivery. A systematic review of electronic databases was conducted using Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials Library from inception through April 2020. Human studies of all study types reporting results of FMT to treat chronic pouchitis were included. Nine studies, reporting FMT treatment of 69 patients with chronic pouchitis were found eligible for the review. Most studies were case series and cohort studies rated as having fair to poor quality due to high risk of bias and small sample size. Only one randomized controlled trial was included, finding no beneficial effect of FMT. In total clinical response after FMT was reported in 14 (31.8%) out of 44 evaluated patients at various timepoints after FMT, and clinical remission in ten (22.7%) patients. Only minor self-limiting adverse events were reported. FMT varied greatly regarding preparation, length of treatment, and route of delivery. The effects of FMT on symptoms of chronic pouchitis are not established, though some studies show promising results. Future controlled well-designed studies are warranted.


Background
The closure of the North Atlantic cod fishery in 1992 has had devastating economic,
social and health impacts on coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.
However, considerable variability in adaptation has been noted between communities that
were formally dependant on the fishery.
Aim
This thesis builds on previous research by exploring the community-level social and
economic processes that contribute to the variability in adaptation measured through an
expansive conceptualization of community well-being.
Method
Two communities differing in employment recovery during the 1990s were selected for
multi-method case studies. Quantitative and qualitative data on community well-being,
social processes (social capital), and economic processes (local economic development)
were integrated into the analysis.
Results
Ratings of most community well-being dimensions were generally positive in both
communities. However, Dorytown residents reported less alcohol abuse, less crime,
greater ability to be involved in decision-making, greater satisfaction with community
characteristics such as greenery and parks, water quality and services from the local
council. Residents of Dorytown were also more hopeful for the future, and perceived
greater employment availability in the region. Some mental and physical health indicators were poorer for both communities than for the Province, with the exception of
self-rated health and heavy alcohol consumption. Dorytown had lower hospitalization
rates than Bigcove, and less modemte and heavy drinking. Community well-being
findings for Bigcove were more consistent with documented effects of economic decline.
In tenns of economic and social processes, employment in Bigcove had been more
dependent on the volatile fishery whereas Dorytown community groups planned and
executed an economic development strategy using federal and provincial programming
dollars, volunteered labour from the community, and natural resources within the
•
community. Residents in both communities expressed concerns with employment
security in their towns. Interviews suggested that all forms of social capital (bonding,
bridging and linking) were associated with greater development of community-controlled
economic opportunities and positive social outcomes (youth engagement, public safety)
for Dorytown. Other factors such as leadership, human capital (skills and knowledge),
and community enabling government policies played a substantial role in outcomes for
Dorytown.
Conclusion
These findings provide some insight as to the community-level processes that underlie
certain dimensions of community well-being and demonstrate the benefits of a mixedmethods
approach to understanding it. Policy implications include skill-building
supports for community development volunteers, and aspiring or existing entrepreneurs,
so that they are better equipped to engage with government or other funding bodies,
continued support for community development funding programs, and policies that
support economic diversification.


it was shown that treatment of certain proteins, such as casein, with iodine under mildly alkaline conditions produced iodoproteins which exhibited thyroid activity by the oral route and from which thyroxine could be isolated after hydrolysis. Since iodocasein could be made quite readily from available materials it was evident that here was a cheap and plentiful supply of artificial thyroid hormone lending itself to easy administration to cows under practical conditions. Large-scale experiments. carried out in this country under the aegis of the Agricultural Research Council and in the United States had shown that the galactopoietic effects observed with dried thyroid gland or thyroxine could be reproduced in all essentials by feeding iodoprotein. One important point was that prolonged feeding of doses sufficient to produce milk yield increases of the order of 30% above basal caused sufficient hypermetabolism to bring about significant and undesirable losses in body weight. If, however, one contented oneself with smaller responses the body weight losses were negligible, provided extra food was given in compensation. Clinical reports on the use of thyroid hormones for the stimulation of lactation in women had not always been favourable; in fact, some clinicians had advocated thyroid treatment for the suppression of unwanted milk secretion. Nevertheless, further clinical trials, keeping the necessity for careful control of dosage in mind, would appear to be justified. Vitamins in Human Milk


Plasmonic field synthesis is a fundamental technology that enables to realize various two-dimensional surface plasmon field patterns and light beaming useful for practical applications as well as fundamental research. There are considerable researches on plasmonic field synthesis and control such as surface Plasmon (SP) hot spots, SP vortices, SP Fourier optics, and SP transformation optics. Recently, advanced plasmonic field synthesis such as active control of SP fields, broadband SP field generation, SP Airy beams, and SP transformation optics are actively researched.


In 1972, 100 American professors of obstetrics published a statement setting out the benefits they believed legalised abortion could deliver for their nation and for its women.1 Forty years later, the next generation of professors have weighed their colleagues' expectations against their own professional experience, and state: "We have had 40 years of medical progress but have witnessed political regression that the 100 professors did not anticipate".2

The 100 American professors writing today document a barrage of policy and legal assaults that have impeded the development of the abortion services that their mentors strived to achieve. Abortion per se , they conclude, is no cause for clinical concern – but political opposition to abortion is. Conservative resistance to abortion has, according to the authors of the statement2 published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and reprinted in Contraception , brought threats to: the autonomy of the doctor-patient relationship; evidence-based medical practice; the training of students and residents; and, ultimately, the health of patients.

In short, insofar as abortion is a problem today, it is a matter of its politics, not its practice.

Today's obstetrics and gynaecology professors know, as a matter of proven fact, that high-quality, affordable, acceptable abortion services can be developed and that they bring social and personal benefits. Their concern is whether such services may be developed. When it comes to abortion, the question is: will governments allow doctors to do their best for patients?

The tremendous advances in reproductive health during the past 40 years are indisputable. In most countries in the developed North, women are better able to prevent pregnancy with a wider choice of more effective contraceptive methods. If abortion is necessary, in early pregnancy mifepristone and misoprostol provide an experience of early abortion that is similar to a 'spontaneous miscarriage' …


This book addresses the essential phenomena underlying the overall behaviours of complex systems and enterprises. Understanding these phenomena can enable improving these systems. These phenomena range from physical, behavioral, and organizational to economic and social, all of which involve significant human components. Specific phenomena of interest and how they are represented depend on the questions of interest and the relevant domains or contexts.


We propose Point2Cyl, a supervised network transforming a raw 3D point cloud to a set of extrusion cylinders. Reverse engineering from a raw geometry to a CAD model is an essential task to enable manipulation of the 3D data in shape editing software and thus expand their usages in many downstream applications. Particularly, the form of CAD models having a sequence of extrusion cylinders - a 2D sketch plus an extrusion axis and range - and their boolean combinations is not only widely used in the CAD community/software but also has great expressivity of shapes, compared to having limited types of primitives (e.g., planes, spheres, and cylinders). In this work, we introduce a neural network that solves the extrusion cylinder decomposition problem in a geometry-grounded way by first learning underlying geometric proxies. Precisely, our approach first predicts per-point segmentation, base/barrel labels and normals, then estimates for the underlying extrusion parameters in differentiable and closed-form formulations. Our experiments show that our approach demonstrates the best performance on two recent CAD datasets, Fusion Gallery and DeepCAD, and we further showcase our approach on reverse engineering and editing.


Background One of the most widely used methods to detect tuberculosis (TB) infection is the tuberculin skin test (TST). The completion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) genome sequence has led to identification of several antigens that can be utilized for accurate diagnosis and control of TB. The aim of this study was to purify the recombinant M. tuberculosis antigens for the evaluation of their potential in TB diagnosis. Methods The recombinant secretory antigens, ESAT-6, CFP-10 and ESAT-6/CFP-10 were produced by PCR and cloning methods. To investigate antigen specific responses of these recombinant antigens in detection of TB, ex vivo enzyme linked immunospot (ELISPOT) test in 30 clinically diagnosed TB patients was evaluated. Results The selected M. tuberculosis antigens were cloned, expressed and purified in Escherichia coli (BL21). ELISPOT assay for detection of TB showed the sensitivity of 93, 90 and 100% for recombinant ESAT-6, CFP-10 and ESAT-6/CFP-10 proteins respectively, which is significantly higher than conventional TST. Conclusion The recombinant antigens of ESAT-6, CFP-10 and ESAT-6/CFP-10 can be used as an accurate means of detecting TB in Iran.


Copepods are gaining attention as superior viable live feed for larviculture and as ecological bioindicators. One of the possible candidates from Malaysia is Leptocaris canariensis (Copepoda: Harpacticoida). However, little is known about the molecular aspect of this species. In this study, DNA of individual L. canariensis was extracted and the partial mitochondrial CO1 gene was successfully amplified using universal primers LCO-1490 and HCO-2198. A 582 bp partial mitochondrial CO1 gene sequence was obtained. Analysis of partial CO1 sequences of L. canariensis revealed 100% similarity among all the individual copepods, verifying the purity of samples and the consistency of the optimized extraction and amplification protocols done in this study. BLAST analysis confirmed that the obtained sequences were from CO1 region and of copepod origin (with E-value < e -10 ). Phylogenetic analysis of L. canariensis along with selected outgroups from different taxa level further supports the purity of L. canariensis maintained and validates the taxonomy of L. canariensis up to the subclass level: Copepoda. This study serves as the first documentation of molecular studies done on harpacticoids from the genus Leptocaris . The availability of L. canariensis partial CO1 sequence as reference will spearheads many more research in various fields in the near future. Keywords: Harpacticoida, Leptocaris canariensis , CO1 gene, molecular identification. Afr. J. Biotechnol Vol. 12 No. 50


Self-immolation constitutes a rare form of suicide in developed countries, though it accounts for unique injury characteristics in the burn intensive care unit. The aim of this study was to present the epidemiological and clinical features of patients burned during a suicidal attempt seen in a North Rhine-Westphalia burn intensive care unit (BICU). To address this aim, we undertook a 21-year retrospective study involving patients with thermal injuries admitted to the largest burn unit in Germany. A total of 125 suicide-related burn victims were identified in the study period (9.4%). Comparing the self-immolation group with the rest burn patient cohort, suicide victims were more likely to be single and to act under the influence of alcohol. The suicidal group had a larger extent of burns, higher incidence of inhalation injury, required more surgical procedures, catecholamines, blood transfusions, and a longer BICU stay. Their clinical course was complicated by prolonged intubation period, higher rate of multiple drug-resistant bacteria acquisition and sepsis, leading to a higher mortality rate. Although the proportion of self-immolation victims among all burned patients is not high, the markedly higher severity of their burns and their poorer quality of outcomes makes them an important clinical subgroup for further study.


Background: N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) is considered to be the most prevalent and abundant internal modification observed in mRNA between viruses and mammals. As a reversible epigenetic modification, m6A controls gene expression in diverse physiological and pathological processes. Accumulating evidence in recent years reveals that aberrant expression of m6A reader proteins may have tumor-suppressing or carcinogenic functions. However, the biological role and mechanism of m6A reader YTH Domain Containing 1 (YTHDC1) in ovarian cancer progression remain inadequately understood. Methods: Quantitative RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and bioinformatics analyses were undertaken for studying the YTHDC1 expression in ovarian cancer. In vitro and in vivo models were used to examine the role of YTHDC1. RNA sequencing, RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing, m6A-modified RNA immunoprecipitation, actinomycin-D assay, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and Western blot were used in the investigation the regulatory mechanisms among YTHDC1, Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3), Phosphoinositide-3-Kinase Regulatory Subunit 1 (PIK3R1), and Glucosidase II Alpha Subunit (GANAB). Results: Here, we found that YTHDC1 expression is decreased in ovarian cancer. Overexpression of YTHDC1 inhibited ovarian cancer development both in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistically, PIK3R1 was identified to be the direct target for YTHDC1. YTHDC1 enhanced PIK3R1 stability in an m6A-dependent manner, which subsequently inhibited GANAB expression in the N-glycan biosynthesis via the STAT3 signaling. Conclusions: Our findings unveil YTHDC1 as a tumor suppressor in the progression of ovarian cancer and as a potential prognostic biomarker that could serve as a target in ovarian cancer treatment.


The acetogenin containing members of the Annonaceae family Annona squamosa L., Annona reticulata L., and Annona muricata L are known insecticidals. The antifungal potency of these three well studied plants along with a fourth acetogenin containing member, Uvaria narum L. were put to test against the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides that causes post harvest anthracnose disease in many tropical fruits. Preliminary screening formed the first part of the study where the leaves and seeds of all the four plants were extracted sequentially by soxhelet extraction in four different solvents, viz. (PE) Petroleum ether, (highly non polar), (Chl) Chloroform and (Ac) Acetone, (both medium polar) and (CH3OH) Methanol (highly polar). The obtained extracts were subjected to antifungal test by paper disc method. None of the plant extracts showed any appreciable activity except the PE and Chl extracts of Uvaria narum. Hence this plant was subjected to individual soxhelet extractions in the four above mentioned solvents. Both the above mentioned type of extracts (i.e. sequential and individual) were then subjected to inhibition studies against the same fungus using Poison food technique, in PDA (Potato Dextrose Agar Medium) and the diameter of the hyphal growth measured, to know the inhibition percentage of each extract. It was found that the chloroform and acetone extracts of Uvaria narum obtained by individual soxhelet extraction showed a 100% inhibition to the growth of fungus. The effect of the acetone extract on the fungal hyphae and spores was noted by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). It revealed membrane disruptions by pore formations and putative lysis causing cytoplasmic spilling and empty hyphae.


Digitally documenting complex heritage sites such as castles is a desirable yet difficult task with no established framework. Although 3D digitizing and modelling with laser scanners, Photogrammetry, and computer aided architectural design (CAAD) are maturing, each alone is inadequate to model an entire castle in details. We present a sequential approach that combines multiple techniques, each where best suited, to capture and model the fine geometric detail of castles. We provide new contributions in several areas: an effective workflow for castle 3D modelling, increasing the level of automation and the seamless integration of models created independently from different data sets. We tested the approach on various castles in Northern Italy and the results demonstrated that it is effective, accurate, and creates highly detailed models suitable for interactive visualization. It is also equally applicable to other types of large complex architectures.


Author(s): Ganem, Claire | Advisor(s): Ginther, Amy | Abstract: The art form of directing has been primarily male-dominated since its formation in the late nineteenth century. Due to the rise of naturalism in the theatre, part of a director's job is determining "truthful" behavior on the stage. In many ways, this job is representative of a patriarchal "regime of truth" proposed by the social theorist, Foucault, who argues that power lies in the hegemonies that decide the subjective truths of our society. Foucault adds that power shows itself through disciplinary actions. These disciplinary actions are present in the theatre, as many directors use their power to punish, manipulate, or objectify actors to achieve a "truth" on stage that lines up with that director's preconceived notions of social conventions and gender. In this paper, I argue that a feminist-based directing process should be used to prevent dangerous disciplinary actions towards actors. I then develop my own type of feminist-based rehearsal process for a production of The Drowning Girls by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson, and Daniela Vlaskalic that took place at the University of California Santa Cruz in February 2018. Through the use of communication, collaboration, relationships, and synthesis, I created a directorial methodology that aimed to break down the power structure created between actor and director. I conclude that the performance was more effective because the rehearsal space emphasized actor autonomy and created an environment of safety which helped actors reach a level of emotional vulnerability on the stage.


This paper describes the design of a Common feed with double Microstrip patch antenna for satellite application using FR-4 substrate. The main contribution of the paper is optimized and achieves high gain, high efficiency, very low return loss and ease to adapt in MMIC technology. The proposed antenna is capable to maintain its high performance over wireless system operating at X - band (8-12 GHz) frequency range. The antenna resonates at dual frequency band and thus the antenna becomes a necessity for many applications in recent wireless communication, such as RADAR, Microwave and Space applications. The proposed antenna is fabricated on a FR4 substrate of thickness 0.8 mm and a dielectric constant of 4.4 and tested. The proposed antenna yields a VSWR of about 1.34 (7.99 GHz) and 1.27 (9.99 GHz) under simulation and 1.033 (7.99 GHZ) and 1.098 (9.99 GHz) in measurements respectively. The figure of eight radiation pattern is achieved with antenna gain of 5.63 dBi (7.99 GHZ) and 6.52 dBi (9.99 GHz) under simulation and measured peak radiation efficiency of 97.99% (7.99 GHZ) and 98.31% (9.99 GHz) are observed for the operating bands. Finally, the experimental outcome seems very nexus with the simulated ones for the proposed antenna.


A family of five benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) compounds with varied side arm functionality [alkyl: n = 3, 4 and 5 chains; and ester and carboyxic acids] is reported. Investigations into their self-assembly behaviour revealed the extent to which minor changes in the side arm functionality can affect the structures formed. The carboxylic acid derivatives have a tendency to form gels, while the ester derivatives instead form crystalline phases with associated thermotropic phase transitions. The influence of the side chain length and terminal functional group is rationalised by a combination of single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and examinations of the bulk material properties.


We propose an evolutionary approach for studying the dynamics of interaction of strategic agents that interact in a marketplace. The goal is to learn which agent strategies are most suited by observing the distribution of the agents that survive in the market over extended periods of time. We present experimental results from a simulated market, where multiple service providers compete for customers using different deployment and pricing schemes. The results show that heterogeneous strategies evolve and co-exist in the same market.


thec organ1 of vision, bIut also by the same action, produce absorption or ullceration of tle orbital proessof the fionital bone, andlthus induice serious injury of the brain or its meninges. In fact, that pait of tlhe orbit to which. tlie tumour was attaclhed -wvas felt by the finger during the operation to be distinctly unieven and rugose. The result of treatmenet in this ease has been so far, in a considerable degree, satisfactory. The disease seems to lhave been removed, and there is no threatening of any return; the protruded eye has in a great degree, if not entirely, returnedl into the orbit, and possesses a certain degree of visionl, although the cornea at one tine seemed to have almost lost its transparency. Of cases somewhat similar to the above, a few are on record. I miiay refer to one, extracted from a German writer, mentioned at p. 671 of the Lancet for February 12th, 1831. Another case of orbital exostosis is related in the Mledical Times for May 30th, 1851, p. 494, by Mr. Canton, as occurring to him at the Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital. In both these cases the exostosis is stated to have been successfully removed. In the first volume of the Edinburgh Mlledical and Surgical Journal, p. 405, Mr. Lucas relates a case of successful removal from the orbit of an osseous tumour, occasioned by a blow from a cow's born; andl it mav be here remarked that these tumours or exostoses seem to be occasionally, if not generally, produced by accidenit. In Schlmidt's Jahrbiichier, vol. viii, p. 312, 1st September, 1834, a case is related as operated on by M. Seutin at the Hopital St. Pierre, Brussels, whlence the patient was discharged cured at the expiration of three weeks.


This deliverable provides an analysis of the ( meta)data catalogues concept in different domain-specific research data infrastructures and research data repositories. It discusses the importance of metadata standards and vocabularies for improving the FAIRness of these research data collections, as well as the diversity of specific domain dependent metadata standards and vocabularies (a.k.a. semantic artifacts). We discuss the problem with five domains (Life Sciences; Photon and Neutron; Social Sciences and Humanities; Environmental research, and with the corresponding five funded 'ESFRI cluster projects' (EOSC-Life, PaNOSC, SSHOC, ENVRIFAIR, and ESCAPE), and we describe a pilot proposal of metadata catalogue integration to improve cross-disciplinary FAIR uptake with the metadata catalogues of the clusters. of the catalogue and datasets, realizable


The results of over 400 tests for identification of clinical yeast isolates as to species using the Uni-Yeast-Tek (UYT) system in comparison with a more conventional system are reported. The conventional system utilized a total of 23 individual tests, including both fermentation and assimilation tests, whereas the UYT system included only 11 separate tests. In the initial phase of the study, coded unknown isolates were evaluated by each of two technologists using both methods independently. After this initial evaluation, the two methods were used in parallel for routine testing of yeast isolates as they were obtained from clinical specimens. A further evaluation of the UYT system was carried out by retrospectively analyzing the species reported from a clinical mycology laboratory during two separate time periods in which different approaches to yeast identification were employed. A total of 92% of the isolates tested with the UYT system were correctly reported within 72 h, 96% were correctly named after 1 week of incubation, and 97% were correctly reported after 2 weeks of incubation of UYT plates at 30°C when results of the two phases of the study were analyzed together. With the conventional system, 88% of the isolates were correctly reported at 72 h, 96% at 1 week, and 98% after 2 weeks of incubation of biochemical tests. Retrospective analysis of laboratory records revealed no major changes in species reported after adoption of the UYT system for routine testing of clinical isolates. The data presented in this report suggest that the UYT system can be expected to yield rapid presumptive identification of clinical yeast isolates with reasonable confidence when certain minor limitations that are discussed in the text are taken into account.


Chocolate has been shown to decrease mean basal lower esophageal sphincter (LES) pressure, providing a rationale for the pathogenesis of chocolate-induced reflux symptoms. We assessed the relationship between chocolate ingestion and increased esophageal acid exposure using intraesophageal pH monitoring. Compared with ingestion of a dextrose control solution of similar volume, osmolality, and calories, postprandial ingestion of chocolate resulted in a significant increase in acid exposure in the first postprandial hour in patients with esophagitis. We conclude that this finding supports recommendations that patients with reflux esophagitis abstain from chocolate.