Copyright © 2017 Phcog.Net. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Cite this article : Naruboina B, Praveen K, Rashmi N. Prevalence and Factors Influencing Depression among Adolescents with Type-1 Diabetes – A Cross-Sectional Study. Int J Med Public Health. 2017;7(3):162-5. ABSTRACT Background: Type 1 diabetes is the third most common paediatric endocrine disease. India accounts for most of the adolescents with T1DM in South-East Asia. Adolescents with diabetes are at higher risk of developing several psychological disorders due to the psychosocial stress posed by the condition. Depression is the commonest among these illnesses and necessitates active and early detection by screening strategies. Materials and Methodology: This Hospital Based Cross sectional study was conducted for the period of six months. All the Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes visiting the hospital during the study period were included. Details regarding socio-demographic characteristics, diabetes and glycemic status were collected in a pre tested structured questionnaire by interview technique. Symptoms suggestive of depression were collected using Patient Health Questionnaire – 9 (PHQ-9). Results: Among 30 Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes included in the present study, majority, 18 (60%) were in the age group of less than 14 years and 20 (66.7%) were females. The magnitude of depression among the study subjects was 18 (60%) of which majority of the subjects 12 (80%) were having mild depression. There was a significant association between depression and uncontrolled glycemic status, higher dosage of insulin intake and not strictly following the dietary practices. Conclusion: There was a high burden of depression in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. There was a significant relationship between the preventable factors like glycemic control and dietary practices with depression.


A novel method for the coding of hand-sorted, edge-punched cards based in part on the phonetics of a word is outlined. The greatest utility of the scheme lies in its speed because of the elimination of a need of a controlled index. Experience gained in the operation of the new system is briefly described.


Nematic Ordered Cellulose (NOC) film that exhibits a noncrystalline yet highly ordered form was prepared by stretching a water-swollen cellulose gel obtained in a unique manner with coagulation of cellulose molecules dissolved in the N,N-dimethylacetamide/LiCl solvent system. In this article, structural characteristics of this unique film were investigated. Orientation of the molecular chains in the non- crystalline regions across the entire film were stable after immersing in water at room temperature, though conventional amorphous cellulose regions are in any forms believed fairly to be recrystallized under a humid atmosphere. Even 30 days after immersing in water at 50 8C, neither crystallization nor disordering of the chains occurred in the NOC film. On the contrary, the film was capable of being transformed into films composed of cellulose polymorphs domains where the molecular orientation was still maintained as the initial film under various mild conditions that both cotton and cellophane did not show any changes on their structure. These contradictory properties of the NOC film proved to be dependent on its unique supermolecular structure. V


Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodoxy had historically cultivated a tolerant co-existence in Kazakhstan. Protestantism first arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with Lutherans, Baptists, Adventists, and Mennonites. Catholic presence, stemming from Franciscan monks in the thirteenth century, flourished with large numbers of Polish exiles, and Catholic German and Latvian immigrants. The Russian Revolution brought religious persecution and during decades of communist rule the country suffered a loss of identity. In 1991, Kazakhstan was declared an independent secular state; however, the loss of a state ideology led to renewed interest in religion and/or new moral and social communities. Since 1991, the Orthodox denomination has undergone a revival. While legislation targeted extremism, the law in practice had a negative impact on both Islamic and Christian communities, restricting religious freedom. This has led to a decline in religious organisations, dropping between 2011 and 2014 by around one-quarter. Still, Protestant churches outnumber Russian Orthodox churches by more than two to one. However, the ROC holds meetings with the government to discuss its spheres of activity in Kazakhstan. Given the state's limitations on religious expression, literature and teaching in school, the future of religious freedom in Kazakhstan remains uncertain.


When a repairable product under warranty fails, the manufacturer (warrantor) has the choice to either repair or replace the failed product. When repairing a failed product, the degree of repair which affects the working condition of the product can vary, and this is assumed to have an impact on the cost of the repair. The main motivation of this study is to develop a warranty repair strategy that minimizes the costs associated with servicing the warranty. In this research, the product coverage is represented by a two-dimensional rectangular region with a free-replacement warranty. We propose an imperfect repair strategy that suggests employing imperfect repairs of a predefined degree, in prespecified subregions of the warranty region. The aim is to then minimize the expected warranty servicing cost to the manufacturer by determining the optimal partitioning of the warranty region for the chosen degrees of repair. Two imperfect repair models are considered, and for both, the expressions for the distribution of the times to imperfect repair and the expected warranty servicing cost per product sold are derived. We numerically illustrate our findings and compare the expected costs of the proposed imperfect repair strategy with those of previously developed repair-replacement warranty strategies.


Abstract. The rugged surface of an urban area due to varying buildings can interact with solar beams and affect both the magnitude and spatiotemporal distribution of surface solar fluxes. Here we systematically examine the impact of buildings on downward surface solar fluxes over urban Beijing by using a 3-D radiation parameterization that accounts for 3-D building structures vs. the conventional plane-parallel scheme. We find that the resulting downward surface solar flux deviations between the 3-D and the plane-parallel schemes are generally ±1–10 W m−2 at 800 m grid resolution and within ±1 W m−2 at 4 km resolution. Pairs of positive–negative flux deviations on different sides of buildings are resolved at 800 m resolution, while they offset each other at 4 km resolution. Flux deviations from the unobstructed horizontal surface at 4 km resolution are positive around noon but negative in the early morning and late afternoon. The corresponding deviations at 800 m resolution, in contrast, show diurnal variations that are strongly dependent on the location of the grids relative to the buildings. Both the magnitude and spatiotemporal variations of flux deviations are largely dominated by the direct flux. Furthermore, we find that flux deviations can potentially be an order of magnitude larger by using a finer grid resolution. Atmospheric aerosols can reduce the magnitude of downward surface solar flux deviations by 10–65 %, while the surface albedo generally has a rather moderate impact on flux deviations. The results imply that the effect of buildings on downward surface solar fluxes may not be critically significant in mesoscale atmospheric models with a grid resolution of 4 km or coarser. However, the effect can play a crucial role in meso-urban atmospheric models as well as microscale urban dispersion models with resolutions of 1 m to 1 km.


PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the internationalization motives behind location choice among emerging country business groups (EBGs) and the way in which institutional factors affect Türkiye's foreign direct investment (FDI).Design/methodology/approachThis study develops a multi-perspective framework that integrates the ownership, location and internalization (OLI) paradigm (Dunning and Lundan, 2008) and the linkage, leverage and learning (LLL) model (Mathews, 2006) with neo-institutional theory to explain the internationalization of EBGs. It adopts a multiple-case study research method relying on 14 semi-structured interviews with top executives to explore the internationalization strategy of a set of Turkish BGs.FindingsThis study supports the combination of the OLI paradigm, the LLL model and neo-institutional theory to explain EBGs' internationalizing behaviors. Turkish BGs have adopted both asset exploitation and asset augmentation internationalization strategies. The institutional legitimacy mechanism moderates the internationalization motives of Turkish BGs, and their host country location choice and normative pressures are more salient than their regulative and cognitive pressures.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is based on a sample of EBGs from Türkiye, and this restriction limits the generalizability/applicability of the findings to BGs globally.Originality/valueFew studies have considered EBGs and their internationalization strategies in the international business field. This paper puts forward an integrated framework for analyzing internationalization and legitimacy in the institutional context of EBGs. This study highlights that BGs bridge institutional voids. Focusing on Turkish BGs helps to answer Granovetter's Coasian question and contributes to the understanding of emerging countries' economic development.


Metronidazole is commonly used for brain abscess but is not well known for its neurotoxic complications. Metronidazole-induced encephalopathy (MIEP) is toxic encephalopathy associated with the use of metronidazole. We experienced a case of brain abscess which developed reversible severe MIEP during treatment period. Although MIEP occurs in typical locations, it is not easy to differentiate from other conditions such as cerebral infarction, demyelinating diseases and metabolic diseases. Neurosurgeons should be aware that severe MIEP can occur during the use of metronidazole though it is not common.


In a previous paper [J. Chem. Phys. 116, 7544 (2002) (Paper I)] a model, based on the energy corrected sudden approximation, was proposed for the construction of the line-mixing relaxation matrix. It was successfully tested by comparisons with measured infrared spectra of ammonia-helium mixtures. The present paper extends this preliminary study by considering mixtures of NH3 with H2 and Ar. Measurements have been made at room temperature in the regions of the nu2 and nu1 bands for pressures up to several hundred atmospheres. As in Paper I, the relaxation operator is constructed, within the impact approximation, using the ECS approximation. The data required are dynamical factors (which can be predicted from the NH3-X potential energy surface) and a scaling length (adjusted using line broadening data). Comparisons between measured and calculated absorptions demonstrate the quality of the model which satisfactory corrects for the large deviations with respect to the purely Lorentzian behavior. Line-mixing effects for NH3-Ar and NH3-H2 are qualitatively similar to those observed for NH3-He but quantitative differences exist, particularly when intra- and interbranch couplings are considered. Finally, the proposed model leads to very satisfactory results in the wings of both the purely rotational and nu2 bands of NH3 diluted in H2, opening promising perspectives for the remote sensing study of planetary atmospheres.


Scoring systems are an extremely important class of election systems. A length-m (so-called) scoring vector applies only to m-candidate elections. To handle general elections, one must use a family of vectors, one per length. The most elegant approach to making sure such families are "family-like'' is the recently introduced notion of (polynomial-time uniform) pure scoring rules, where each scoring vector is obtained from its precursor by adding one new coefficient. We obtain the first dichotomy theorem for pure scoring rules for a control problem. In particular, for constructive control by adding voters (CCAV), we show that CCAV is solvable in polynomial time for k-approval with k<=3, k-veto with k<=2, every pure scoring rule in which only the two top-rated candidates gain nonzero scores, and a particular rule that is a "hybrid" of 1-approval and 1-veto. For all other pure scoring rules, CCAV is NP-complete. We also investigate the descriptive richness of different models for defining pure scoring rules, proving how more rule-generation time gives more rules, proving that rationals give more rules than do the natural numbers, and proving that some restrictions previously thought to be "w.l.o.g." in fact do lose generality.


We have engineered a recombinant mutant human hemoglobin, Hb Prisca β(S9C+C93A+C112G), which assembles in a polymeric form. The polymerization is obtained through the formation of intermolecular SS bonds between cysteine residues introduced at position β9, on the model of Hb Porto Alegre (β9Ser → Cys) (Bonaventura and Riggs, Science 1967;155:800–802 ). Cβ93 and Cβ112 were replaced in order to prevent formation of spurious SS bonds during the expression, assembly, and polymerization events. Dynamic light scattering measurements indicate that the final polymerization product is mainly formed by 6 to 8 tetrameric hemoglobin molecules. The sample polydispersity Q = 0.07 ± 0.02, is similar to that of purified human hemoglobin (Q = 0.02 ± 0.02), consistent with a good degree of homogeneity. In the presence of strong reducing agents, the polymer reverts to its tetrameric form. During the depolymerization process, a direct correlation is observed between the hydrodynamic radius and the light scattering of the system, which, in turn, is proportional to the mass of the protein. We interpret this to indicate that the hemoglobin molecules are tightly packed in the polymer with no empty spaces. The tight packing of the hemoglobin molecules suggests that the polymer has a globular shape and, thus, allows estimation of its radius. An illustration of an arrangement of a finite number of tetrameric hemoglobin molecules is presented. The conformational and functional characteristics of this polymer, such as heme pocket conformation, stability to denaturation, autoxidation rate, oxygen affinity, and cooperativity, remain similar to those of tetrameric human hemoglobin. Proteins 2001;44:212–222. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The influence of premorbid psychosocial factors on physical function and institutionalization 6 weeks after hospital discharge was studied in elderly stroke patients. The predictor variables of interest were social networks, availability of social support, pre-stroke depression (CES-D), and religiousness. The data were obtained from a prospective longitudinal study based on 2,812 noninstitutionalized individuals aged 65 years and older living in New Haven, Connecticut. Incident stroke cases from this study were followed for post-stroke outcomes. Results from 87 survivors indicated that larger social networks were associated with fewer limitations in physical function, controlling for relevant health and sociodemographic conditions. Larger networks were also associated with a lower risk of institutionalization (p < .05). None of the other psychosocial factors assessed appeared to be related to these outcomes.


Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are ideal laboratories for fundamental physics and cosmology. Our knowledge of AGNs has been greatly advanced during the past decades thanks to the unprecedentedly powerful X-ray missions (e.g., Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Swift) and modern large area surveys in the optical/UV band (e.g., the Sloan Digital Sky Survey; SDSS). Studies on the relation between multiwavelength properties of AGNs can reveal the physics of AGN accretion process. In this dissertation, I mainly study the relation between the AGN X-ray properties and their optical/UV spectral properties on emission lines, absorption lines and continuum. I also investigate the X-ray properties of AGNs with extreme radio properties in the early Universe. (1) We studied the X-ray properties of a class of radio-quiet SDSS quasars with weak broad emission lines (weak-line quasars; WLQs). Although the WLQ population shows diverse X-ray properties, they have an excess of X-ray weak sources. Besides having weak emission lines, the X-ray weak WLQs generally show other unusual UV emission-line properties similar to those of the remarkable X-ray weak quasar PHL 1811 (e.g., highly blueshifted C IV lines, weak semi-forbidden lines, and strong UV Fe emission). They are classified as "PHL 1811 analogs". The X-ray weak WLQs also show a harder X-ray spectrum, while the WLQ with normal X-ray brightness have similar X-ray spectral properties to those of typical quasars. We proposed an AGN geometry which can potentially unify the X-ray weak and X-ray normal WLQ populations via orientation effect. The infrared-to-UV spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of X-ray weak and X-ray normal WLQs have consistent SEDs with those for typical quasars, which disfavors the BL Lac-like scenario for the nature of these quasars (Chapters 2 and 3). (2) We have led the best X-ray study to date on quasars with intermediate-width absorption lines (mini-BALs). We found the X-ray brightness of mini-BAL quasars are more close to those of typical quasars than to BAL quasars (which are generally X-ray weak), showing they do not have substantial X-ray absorption. Strong correlations were found between the X-ray brightness and UV absorption parameters, e.g., the absorption strength and maximum outflow velocity. We further proposed new UV absorption parameters which better correlate with the X-ray properties than existing parameters do (Chapter 4). (3) We studied the relation between the optical/UV luminosity and X-ray luminosity (quantified by the αox parameter) for the most-luminous quasars over a wide range of redshifts. Our correlation analyses provide better constraints on the αox-UV luminosity correlation. We have also verified that the αox parameter does not significantly evolve with redshift. We provide the individual and composite mid-infrared-to-UV SEDs for the most-luminous quasars. (Chapter 5). (4) We presented the X-ray and multiwavelength properties of the highly radio-loud quasars (HRLQs) at z > 4. Our HRLQs show a significant enhancement of X-ray emission over those HRLQs at lower redshift with similar optical/UV and radio luminosities, suggesting that the jet-linked X-ray emission mechanism in the early universe may differ from that in the more evolved universe. The optical/UV emission-line strength of RLQs are correlated with radio loudness, but not with relative X-ray brightness. Our HRLQs generally follow the anti-correlation between


Purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation of the expected and perceived service quality at "all you can eat" restaurants in southern Taiwan. The findings of this study indicated that the service quality factors had a positive impact on overall customer satisfaction and revisiting intention. The results also showed that the "all you can eat" restaurant in Chiayi had a higher level for service related factors for "all you can eat" restaurants than Kaohsiung thus reflecting some regional differences in overall service quality. The analysis revealed a number of central and important properties attached to the consumption values associated with context of an "all you can eat" restaurant meal. Such insights can be of use to the management of restaurants in their efforts to improve the experience/quality for their customers and to increase customer loyalty. The consumer values identified here could also be used as suggestions concerning what to look for within more comprehensive empirical studies done in the future. This is the first study to are knowledge that examines "all you can eat" hospitality sector in Taiwan.


Objective: The main purpose of this study was to determine the exclusive breastfeeding rate in mothers who had problems in breastfeeding and were closely taken care by the well-trained breastfeeding team. The second purpose was to define the causes of non-exclusive breastfeeding. The third purpose was to compare the exclusive breastfeeding rate with the previous study of routine postpartum care. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted. From January to July 2005, there were 4,344 mothers delivered at  iriraj Hospital. 847 of them, mothers (19.5%) had the problems in breastfeeding, therefore, they were cared and supported to breastfeed their babies by well-trained clinicians either at a service ward or at a Lactation clinic. To obtain the data of method of feeding and the problems in breastfeeding, the subjects were contacted by phone during 7 days, 1, 4 and 6 months postpartum period. Results: The rates of the exclusive breastfeeding in 7 days, 1, 4 and 6 months during postpartum period in this study were 84.6%, 76%, 41% and 27.7%, respectively. The important problems of the breastfeeding were tongue tie of the infants and the short maternal nipples (57.5% and 31.6%, respectively). Compared with the previous study, in this study, breastfeeding lasted longer and had a higher rate. Conclusion: Successful breastfeeding would be achieved if mothers receive the continuous support from the care team and their families in detecting and solving the problems of breastfeeding in early period.


Background: Seafood are known to be nutritionally rich, however, water bodies from where these foods are harvested are often burdened with wastes from industries, household and run-offs. Thus seafood can harbor pathogenic microorganisms and heavy metals which can pose a serious health hazard to consumers. Materials and Methods: In this study, 5kg each of Littorina littorea , Achatina fulica , Tympanotonos fuscatus , Dorsanum miran , Egeria radiate and Penaeus notialis were investigated for microbial, proximate and heavy metal qualities using standard microbiological and chemical methods of analysis. Results: The gastropod mollusks Tympanotonos fuscatus , Littorina littorea and Achatina fulica had significantly (p≤0.05) higher microbial loads compared to other samples. All the samples had significantly (p≤0.05) higher coliform counts compared to standard specifications. The microbial isolates from the samples included species of Bacillus , Klebsiellae , Citrobacter , Providencia , Pseudomonas , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli and Aspergillus niger , Aspergillus flavus , yeasts, Alternaria , Absidia, Rhizopus , and Mucor . Antibiogram of the isolates revealed multiple resistances with 79.55% and 66.67% resistance to antibacterial and antifungal agents respectively. The seafood was rich in protein (8.0±0.03 to 46.0±0.03%) and fat (0.6±0.01 to 8.8±1.00%) but low in carbohydrate (1.18±0.84 to 3.81±0.86%).The heavy metal compositions of the seafood were generally low except for manganese 6.36±0.03ppm in Dorsanum miran and nickel 0.81±0.50 ppm in Penaeus notialis . Conclusion: The microbial loads of the seafood are significantly (p≤0.05) higher in gastropods and more than acceptable standard, effective protection of water bodies for food cultivation and constant monitoring of seafood is necessary. Adequate processing and employing good manufacturing practices can reduce the microbial loads to an acceptable level and prevent food borne hazards that could be associated with seafood consumption. Keywords: Seafood; Heavy metals; Microbial profile; proximate compositions


Sulfate-reducing bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide which is toxic and carcinogenic for intestinal epithelial cells and can cause the development of the inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis in the humans and animals. Enzyme O -acetylserine(thiol)lyase, localized in Escherichia coli genome, use sulfide as substrate in the cysteine synthesis pathway. In this paper, the molecular cloning cysK gene from E. coli , its genetic transferring in the intestinal sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio piger Vib-7 and the expression analysis of the enzyme was studied. Cysteine synthesis from hydrogen sulfide as substrate in the D. piger Vib-7 strain at the first time was demonstrated and characterized. The bacterial growth, sulfate and lactate consumption, accumulation of sulfide, acetate and cysteine synthesis in both D. piger Vib-7 wild-type and mutant-type were tested. The mutant-strain consumed much faster sulfate and lactate producing cysteine in the cultivation medium. The expression of the cysK gene in the mutant-type was studied by the formation of the final reaction product (cysteine) and the activity of O -acetylserine(thiol)lyase enzyme. Cysteine level was directly proportional to consumption of sulfate in the mutant-type and accumulation of sulfide in the wild-type. The D. piger Vib-7 mutant-type completely used sulfate the 48th hour of cultivation, thereafter additional sulfite and sulfide doses from the medium were also consumed and converted to cysteine. The obtained genetically constructed mutant strain bacterium D. piger Vib-7 for therapeutic strategy could be applied as a probiotic substance for subjects with inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis. This strain can compete with other intestinal sulfate-reducing bacteria, actively growth consuming sulfate and lactate much faster, and converting the toxic sulfide to untoxic cysteine in the gut. Microbes and Health, January 2015. 4(1): 19-24


In this present work, CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) were exploited in the oxidation reactions of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and glutamate (GLU) for the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Fast and highly efficient oxidation reactions of ALA to produce the hydroxyl radicals (HO*) and of GLU to produce the superoxide anion (O2*-) were observed in the cooperation of mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) capped-CdSe/ZnS QDs (MPA-QDs) under LED irradiation. Whereas, binding between MPA-QDs and coumarin-derived dendrimer (CdD)-captured silica particles (SiCdDs) through sol-gel GA enhanced singlet oxygen production under LED irradiation by about 80% as compared to that achieved using QDs only. Confocal fluorescent microscopic images of the size and morphology of HeLa cells confirmed the ROS production from ALA, GLU in cooperation with CdSe/ZnS QDs or QDs-coated SiCdDs under LED irradiation.


Clay soils frequently present difficulties in construction operations. One of the means by which the engineering behaviour of clays can be improved is to stabilize them by the addition of cementitious materials. However, one of the problems with stabilization of clay soils is their range of mineralogical composition, which means that some are more easy to stabilize than others. In order to investigate this problem, three of the principal components found in clays, namely, kaolinite, montmorillonite and quartz, were chosen. These three components were treated with varying amounts of lime and pulverized fly ash (PFA).

As stabilization of clay soils has most frequently been used in relation to road construction, the soil materials were subjected to the types of tests used in the design procedure for road pavements, namely, Atterberg limit tests, compaction tests, California bearing ratio tests, unconfined compressive tests, and tests to determine Young's modulus. Samples for testing, except those for consistency limits, were prepared with optimum values of moisture content and maximum dry density and were cured for different periods of time. The results of the various tests were compared, especially to see if there was an optimum amount for a particular addition which would bring about maximum enhancement of engineering performance of the components concerned. In all cases lime gave a greater enhancement in the soil property concerned than did PFA. When mixtures of lime and PFA were used, that with the highest lime ratio gave the best improvement.


In this article a virtual sensor for online load monitoring and subsequent remaining useful life (RUL) assessment of wind turbine gearbox bearings is presented. Utilizing a Digital Twin framework the virtual sensor combines data from readily available sensors of the condition monitoring (CMS) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system with a physics-based gearbox model. Different state estimation methods including Kalman Filter, Least Square estimator and a quasi-static approach are employed for load estimation. For RUL assessment the accumulated fatigue damage is calculated with the Palmgren-Miner model. A case study using simulation measurements from a high-fidelity gearbox model is conducted to evaluate the proposed method. Estimated loads at the considered IMS and HSS bearings show moderate to high correlation (R = 0.50-0.96) to measurements, as lower frequency internal dynamics are not fully captured. The estimated fatigue damage differs by 5-15 % from measurements.


Although empirical evidence has accumulated showing that group climate has a significant impact on employee voice, knowledge about how different types of climates may influence voice is limited. Drawing upon the theory of planned behavior, we develop and test a model that explains whether and how the two group climates, cooperation and sanction, differentially predict employee promotive and prohibitive voice. We test the hypotheses using data collected from a sample of 274 full-time employees nested in 58 workgroups across two time periods. The empirical results show that group climate predicts employee voice in different ways: Group cooperation climate has a positive effect on both types of employee voice, whereas group sanction climate shows a negative effect on promotive voice. Individuals' psychological capital is a cross-level mediator in the relationship between group climate and employee voice. Employees' prevention focus negatively moderates the relationship between psychological capital and employee voice. These results highlight the important effect of group climate on employee voice in organization and calls on managers to create a favorable environment to increase employees' psychological capital and voice behaviors.


In the past, Kundu et al. and Chakraborty et al. used extra scalar fields to cancel the quadratic divergences in the Higgs mass squared and they determined the mass of the required scalar field. In this work, a spin-3/2 particle has been used in the same manner to nullify the power-law divergences, and it is determined that the mass of the spin-3/2 particle resides in the ball park of the GUT scale.


Despite the lifesaving medical discoveries of the last century, there is still an urgent need to improve the curative rate and reduce mortality in many fatal diseases such as cancer. One of the main requirements is to find new ways to deliver therapeutics/drugs more efficiently and only to affected tissues/organs. An exciting new technology is nanomaterials which are being widely investigated as potential nanocarriers to achieve localized drug delivery that would improve therapy and reduce adverse drug side effects. Among all the nanocarriers, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are one of the most promising as, thanks to their paramagnetic/superparamagnetic properties, they can be easily modified with chemical and biological functions and can be visualized inside the body by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), while delivering the targeted therapy. Therefore, iron oxide nanoparticles were produced here with a novel method and their properties for potential applications in both diagnostics and therapeutics were investigated. The novel method involves production of free standing IONPs by inert gas condensation via the Mantis NanoGen Trio physical vapor deposition system. The IONPs were first sputtered and deposited on plasma cleaned, polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated silicon wafers. Surface modification of the cleaned wafer with PEG enabled deposition of free-standing IONPs, as once produced, the soft-landed IONPs were suspended by dissolution of the PEG layer in water. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) characterization revealed free standing, iron oxide nanoparticles with size < 20 nm within a polymer matrix. The nanoparticles were analyzed also by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and NanoSight Nanoparticle Tacking Analysis (NTA). Therefore, our work confirms that inert gas condensation by the Mantis NanoGen Trio physical vapor deposition sputtering at room temperature can be successfully used as a scalable, reproducible process to prepare free-standing IONPs. The PEG- IONPs produced in this work do not require further purification and thanks to their tunable narrow size distribution have potential to be a powerful tool for biomedical applications.


We investigated the ability of atheroma-associated liposomes and malondialdehyde (MDA)-modified low-density lipoproteins (MDA-LDL) to activate complement. Complement activation markers C3a, Bb, C4d and SC5b-9 were measured in both normal and complement-deficient sera. We found that MDA-LDL was able to generate C3a and SC5b-9, predominantly by the alternative pathway. High-density lipoproteins modified with MDA were also capable of C3a generation although to a lesser degree. The presence of atheroma-associated liposomes did not result in detectable levels of complement activation markers. We conclude that MDA-modified lipoproteins may represent a possible source for complement activation within atherosclerotic lesions.


This paper presents a procedure for evaluation of lightning performance of overhead distribution lines. Because both voltages from direct strokes and nearby strokes may cause flashovers in distribution lines, flashover rates due to them need to be analyzed. The procedure is implemented in electromagnetic transient program, and the Monte Carlo method is used to take into account the random nature of lightning parameters. The lightning-induced voltages are calculated with an equivalent circuit derived from Agrawal formula. The influence of insulation level and spacing between surge arresters on lightning flashover rates is analyzed with the procedure. For a line with low-insulation level about 150 kV above high conductivity ground or with high-insulation level about 300 kV above low conductivity ground, the spacing between arresters is best less than 400 m. But for a line with low-insulation level above low conductivity ground, it is better to reduce the spacing to 200 m.


Excess body adiposity, especially abdominal obesity and ectopic fat accumulation, are key risk factors in the development of a number of chronic diseases. The advent of in vivo imaging methodologies that allow direct assessment of total body fat and its distribution have been pivotal in this process. They have helped to identify a number of sub-phenotypes in the general population whose metabolic risk factors are not commensurate with their BMI. At least two such sub-phenotypes have been identified: subjects with normal BMI, but excess intra-abdominal (visceral) fat (with or without increased ectopic fat) and subjects with elevated BMI (> 25 kg/m2) but low visceral and ectopic fat. The former sub-phenotype is associated with adverse metabolic profiles, while the latter is associated with a metabolically normal phenotype, despite a high BMI. Here, examples of these phenotypes are presented and the value of carrying out enhanced phenotypical characterisation of subjects in interventional studies discussed.


ABSTRACT MicroRNAs (miRs) are short noncoding RNA molecules that regulate expression of target mRNAs. Many published sources provide information about miRs and their targets. However, bioinformatic tools elucidating higher level impact of the established total miR profiles, are still largely missing. Recently, we developed a method termed OncoFinder enabling quantification of the activities of intracellular molecular pathways basing on gene expression data. Here we propose a new technique, MiRImpact, which enables to link miR expression data with its estimated outcome on the regulation of molecular pathways, like signaling, metabolic, cytoskeleton rearrangement, and DNA repair pathways. MiRImpact uses OncoFinder rationale for pathway activity calculations, with the major distinctions that (i) it deals with the concentrations of miRs - known regulators of gene products participating in molecular pathways, and (ii) miRs are considered as negative regulators of target molecules, if other is not specified. MiRImpact operates with 2 types of databases: for molecular targets of miRs and for gene products participating in molecular pathways. We applied MiRImpact to compare regulation of human bladder cancer-specific signaling pathways at the levels of mRNA and miR expression. We took 2 most complete alternative databases of experimentally validated miR targets – miRTarBase and DianaTarBase, and an OncoFinder database featuring 2725 gene products and 271 signaling pathways. We showed that the impact of miRs is orthogonal to pathway regulation at the mRNA level, which stresses the importance of studying posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. We also report characteristic set of miR and mRNA regulation features linked with bladder cancer.


Objectives: The aim of this article is to propose a resin cement cleaning protocol for use before recementing a debonded restoration. Study Design: Ceramic samples were fabricated from IPS d.sign® and IPS e.max Press® and were treated with hydrofluoric acid etching (HF), or HF+silane (S), or HF+S+adhesive or HF+S+A+resin cement. All samples were placed in a furnace at 650º for one minute in order to attempt to pyrolyze the composite. Each step was examined under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results: When the cleaning protocol had been performed, it left a clean and retentive surface. Conclusions: If the restoration is placed in a furnace at 650º for one minute, the composite cement will burn or pyrolyze and disappear, allowing conventional retreatment of the ceramic before rebonding. Key words:Ceramic, debond, surface treatment.


There is a bidirectional association between epilepsy and depression and anxiety which are more prevalent in temporal lobe epilepsy and medically intractable epilepsy and are underdiagnosed. Many factors determine the occurrence of psychiatric symptoms. It is recommended that The Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDI-E) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) are employed for screening. This review finds that systematic screening should be routinely performed and treatment should be carried out in a formalized collaboration between neurologist, psychiatrist and psychologist.


ENL is a transcriptional co-activator that recruits elongation machinery to active cis-regulatory elements upon binding of its YEATS domain - a chromatin reader module - to acylated lysine side chains. Discovery chemistry for the ENL YEATS domain is highly motivated by its significance in acute leukemia pathophysiology, but cell-based assays able to support large-scale screening or hit validation efforts do not presently exist. Here, we report on the discovery of a target engagement assay that allows for high-throughput ligand discovery in living cells. This assay is based on the cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) but does not require exposing cells to elevated temperatures, as small-molecule ligands are able to stabilize the ENL YEATS domain at 37 °C. By eliminating temperature shifts, we developed a simplified target engagement assay that requires just two steps: drug treatment and luminescence detection. To demonstrate its value for higher throughput applications, we miniaturized the assay to a 1,536-well format and screened 37,120 small molecules, ultimately identifying an acyl-lysine-competitive ENL/AF9 YEATS domain inhibitor.


Tuberculosis infection (TBI) is defined as a state of infection in which individuals host live Mycobacterium tuberculosis with or without clinical signs of active TB. It is now understood as a dynamic process covering a spectrum of responses to infection resulting from the interaction between the TB bacilli and the host immune system. The global burden of TBI is about one-quarter of the world's population, representing a reservoir of approximately 2 billion people. On average, 5–10% of people who are infected will develop TB disease over the course of their lives, but this risk is enhanced in a series of conditions, such as co-infection with HIV. The End-TB strategy promotes the programmatic management of TBI as a crucial endeavor to achieving global targets to end the TB epidemic. The current development of new diagnostic tests capable of discriminating between simple TBI and active TB, combined with novel short-course preventive treatments, will help achieve this goal. In this paper, we present the current situation and recent developments of management of TBI and the operational challenges.


This paper presents a systematic optimization process for designing an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester using FEA(finite element analysis) to improve computational accuracy and efficiency. A static FEA is used in the optimization process where trend analysis in a short period of time is rather important than precise computation, while a dynamic FEA is used in the verification step for the final result where precise computation is more important. An electromechanical transduction factor can be calculated efficiently by using an approach to use the radial component of magnetic flux density directly instead of an approach to compute the flux density gradient. The proposed optimization process was verified through a case study where simulation and experiment results were compared.


Introduction. 1. Toward Interpreting Twentieth Century Philosophy. 2. Kant and the Post-Kantian Debate. 3. On Marxism in the twentieth century. 4. Pragmatism as epistemology. 5. Continental philosophy as phenomenology. 6. Anglo-American analytic philosophy. 7. Kant and Twentieth Century Philosophy. Notes. Index


Galileo Galilei has been at the center of our conception of the so-called scientiac revolution for generations. This has given rise to an enormous literature on his thought. But as important as that literature is, it is also important to understand how Galileo's thought was itself understood and received by his contemporaries. Particularly signiacant here is Galileo's reception in Paris, which was just beginning to oourish as a scientiac center at the moment when Galileo's greatest works appeared in print. The studies that follow are contributions to an effort to understand the different meanings that Galileo and Galileanism had for some of his arst readers, who were attempting to digest his thought and use it to nourish their own. They include Daniel Garber's essay on Marin Mersenne's changing attitudes toward Galileo in the 1620s to the 1640s and Domenico Bertoloni Meli's paper on Galileo and Mersenne's use of numerical tables. Also analyzed are the inouences of Galileo on the natural science and methodology of Thomas Hobbes, the expatriate Englishman living in Paris, by Douglas Jesseph, and Pierre Gassendi's investigation of Galileo's theory of tides, by Carla Rita Palmerino. Missing from this list of reactions to Galileo are those of René Descartes, that most famous Frenchman who was living in the Netherlands from the late 1620s to just before his death, though communicating regularly with Paris. Descartes is notorious for having uttered some fairly negative comments about Galileo; I would like to recall these brieoy just for the sake of completeness. For example, in reaction to Galileo's 1638 Two New Sciences, Descartes said:


Three of the most widely used concepts in education, objectives, curriculum, and evaluation, have direct parallels in primary care. This parallelism suggests an approach which may help family physicians both in understanding these educational concepts and in applying them with judgment. By drawing specific attention to the parallels and by the use of examples drawn both from clinical practice and from teaching, the author hopes to encourage physicians to view their teaching as an analog of clinical skills that are already familiar to them. This approach is applied to the problem of accommodating to individual differences in students, the most difficult obstacle to the proper application of educational concepts.


We exploit the detection of three distinct stellar subpopulations in the red giant branch of the Fornax dwarf Spheroidal to probe its density distribution. This allows us to resolve directly the evolution with radius of the dark matter mass profile. We find that a cored dark matter halo provides a perfect fit to the data, being consistent with all three stellar populations well within 1-sigma, and for the first time we are able to put constraints on the core size of such a halo. With respect to previous work, we do not strengthen the statistical exclusion of a dark matter cusp in Fornax, but we find that Navarro-Frenk-White haloes would be required to have unrealistically large scale radii in order to be compatible with the data, hence low values of the concentration parameter. We are then forced to conclude that the Fornax dwarf Spheroidal sits within a dark matter halo having a constant density core, with a core size of between 0.6 and 1.8 kpc.


Reports from the French Ministry of Education warn of a decrease in the use of school food services, especially in sensitive urban areas. They also suggest that this decline has led to cases of malnutrition. This article describes the characteristics of the current supply of school meals and measures the evolution of demand observed between 1992 and 1996 in relation to the economic situation of students' families. The study was carried out in 3 departments in France: Doubs, Herault, and Val de Marne. The administrators of all public and private middle and high schools in the 3 departments received a questionnaire asking them to describe the services offered in their cafeterias and to provide the corresponding statistical and accounting data. External food services near the schools were also taken into account. Seventy-nine percent of schools responded to the survey. Concerning the services offered, 91% of schools have their own cafeterias, of which 81% are managed by the schools. Concerning the evolution of utilisation, a significant decrease in the number of meals served in seen in middle schools. On the other hand, high schools have observed stable utilisation. The positive changes in utilisation are linked, in middle schools, to characteristics of the schools' internal food services (self-service, choice of main courses, modulation of seats). In high schools, positive changes in the utilisation of school services are linked to the lack of external food services near the schools. As middle schools and high schools control the logistics and management of food services offered to students, they are potentially in a position to influence a policy on this issue. The evolution in utilisation is very different among departments and between middle and high schools. While economic precariousness has a negative structural effect on utilisation, it doesn't seem to be a major factor in the evolution of the decrease observed over the past few years.


We describe the brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in eight neonates with tuberous sclerosis complex to further delineate the spectrum of characteristic findings in these patients. In addition to the previously described characteristic brain MRI findings in neonates, which included cortical tuber, transmantle dysplasia, subependymal nodules, cerebral subependymal giant cell astrocytomas, white-matter anomalies, and hemimegalencephaly, we found one neonate with cerebellar subependymal giant cell astrocytomas and one patient who had a normal MRI and computed tomographic scan of the brain at 4 days of age but subsequently was found to have cortical tubers and subependymal nodules by MRI. (J Child Neurol 2006;21:280—285; DOI 10.2310/7010.2006.00103).


The great evolutionary success of insects is partly linked to the innovation of the cuticle, which underlies a complex exoskeleton with varied functions. Cuticle development is costly because chitin and cuticular proteins require ingested nitrogen. Studying cuticle thickness on a comparative basis allows insight into the trade-off between offspring quality and quantity. This trade-off takes a particular meaning in ant workers because they are wingless, non-dispersers and generally sterile. We selected a comprehensive sample of 42 ant species (40 genera belonging to nine subfamilies) and measured cuticle thickness in workers using labour-intensive histological sectioning of the prothorax. Thickness varied substantially across genera, ranging from 1.3 to 109.8 µ m. We correlated thickness with body size, measured as head width. Our results show a strong influence of body size, but also phylogeny, because workers in 'formicoid' species tend to have a thinner cuticle (two exceptions). The effect of body size is also obvious in species having size-polymorphic workers. We discuss the idea that a thinner cuticle is associated with miniaturization of workers, and its ecological consequences are buffered in a social environment. We reveal that the bulk of ant species have a very thin cuticle, and this represents cost savings that may partly underlie the massive increase in colony size during adaptive radiation. – nitrogen limitation.


This investigation was designed to evaluate echoes of patients who received a course of doxorubicin (225-550 mg/m2) by two sensitive indicators of myocardial fibrosis: (1) M-mode scans of thickening-thinning curves of the left ventricular posterior wall (LVPW), and (2) two-dimensional qualitative evaluation of LVPW contraction at three levels of the LV short axis (leaflet, chordal, and papillary). These were compared to standard M-mode shortening fraction (delta S). Eighteen children with cancer were evaluated; 11 had received doxorubicin and 7 were treated with other agents. Echocardiographers were unaware of the treatment category. All controls and 10 of 11 doxorubicin patients had normal delta S. An M-mode echocardiogram of the expanded LVPW was digitized and wall thickness was evaluated by determining if diastolic relaxation had the normal two phases or only one; six of ten doxorubicin patients and no controls had abnormal relaxation. Qualitative evaluation of LVPW and septal contraction toward the center of the ventricle showed that seven of eleven patients who received doxorubicin and one control (a postthoracotomy patient) had contraction deficits. Six of seven with contraction deficit were the same patients with slowed relaxation. The greatest contraction deficit occurred in the LVPW behind the posterior mitral leaflet. Patients with more extensive involvement had an additional contraction deficit extending to the apex. These tests are more sensitive for detection of doxorubicin toxicity than delta S.


The success of targeted therapies for cancer is undisputed; strong preclinical evidence has resulted in the approval of several new agents for cancer treatment. The type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF1R) appeared to be one of these promising new targets. Substantial population and preclinical data have all pointed toward this pathway as an important regulator of tumor cell biology. Although early results from clinical trials that targeted the IGF1R showed some evidence of response, larger randomized phase III trials have not shown clear clinical benefit of targeting this pathway in combination with conventional strategies. These disappointing results have resulted in the discontinuation of several anti-IGF1R programs. However, the conduct of these trials has brought to the forefront several important factors that need to be considered in the conduct of future clinical trials. The need to develop biomarkers, a clearer understanding of insulin receptor function, and defining rational combination regimens all require further consideration. In this commentary, the current state of IGF1R inhibitors in cancer therapy is reviewed.


Increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations may directly affect insect behavior. Thrips hawaiiensis Morgan and T. flavus Schrank are economically important thrips pests native to China. We studied the development, survival, and oviposition of these two thrips under elevated CO2 concentrations (800 µl liter–1) and ambient CO2 (400 µl liter–1; control) conditions. Both thrips species developed faster but had lower survival rates under elevated CO2 levels compared with control conditions (developmental time: 13.25 days vs. 12.53 days in T. hawaiiensis, 12.18 days vs. 11.61 days in T. flavus; adult survival rate: 70.00% vs. 64.00% in T. hawaiiensis, 65.00% vs. 57.00% in T. flavus under control vs. 800 µl liter–1 CO2 conditions, respectively). The fecundity, net reproductive rate (R0), and intrinsic rate of increase (rm) of the two species were also lower under elevated CO2 concentrations (fecundity: 47.96 vs. 35.44 in T. hawaiiensis, 36.68 vs. 27.88 in T. flavus; R0: 19.83 vs. 13.62 in T. hawaiiensis, 14.02 vs. 9.86 in T. flavus; and rm: 0.131 vs. 0.121 in T. hawaiiensis, 0.113 vs. 0.104 in T. flavus under control and 800 µl liter–1 CO2 conditions, respectively). T. hawaiiensis developed slower but had a higher survival rate, fecundity, R0, and rm compared with T. flavus at each CO2 concentration. In summary, elevated CO2 concentrations negatively affected T. hawaiiensis and T. flavus populations. In a world with higher CO2 concentrations, T. hawaiiensis might be competitively superior to T. flavus where they co-occur. Graphical Abstract


An evaluation of the effect of impulse vibration and noise on vasomotor function of blood vessels among pneumatic forge hammer operators has been presented based on thermal tests (cooling). The study covered the following groups of workers; pneumatic forge hammer operators (I), pneumatic forging hammer operators (II), hammer operator's assistants (III), operators of forging presses and machines (IV) and the control group. The results of the study showed that in groups I and III it was impulse noise not vibration that caused changes in the functioning of peripheral blood vessels.


Anesthetic management during labor and delivery of a parturient after severe burn injury presents many unique challenges. We report the case of a 25-year-old parturient with a history of 85-90% total body surface area burn in 2002, who presented for a pre-delivery anesthesia evaluation. We outline the management plan that was devised and resulted in adequate labor analgesia. There are few cases in the literature reporting the use of an epidural catheter for labor analgesia and possible Cesarean section in post-burn patients. We suggest that it is important to perform a thorough assessment of post-burn parturients prior to the onset of labor. This assessment is useful in revealing potential limitations and complications that could arise during labor and delivery; thus allowing preparations to be made for interventions that may become necessary.


A case-control cross-sectional study was carried out to observe the changes in serum calcium, albumin and alkaline phosphatase levels of postmenopausal women compared to their premenopausal counterparts. This is to enable us ascertain the relative risk of developing osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in Bangladesh. One hundred and eighteen (118) apparently healthy females (59 premenopausal=control and 59 postmenopausal=case) were selected for the study. The study was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry, Mymensingh Medical College in cooperation with the Department of Gynecology, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and Community Based Medical College Hospital Bangladesh during the period from January to December 2009. Data were collected through clinical evaluation from pre-selected questionnaires. Fasting venous blood samples were taken for laboratory investigations. Serum calcium and albumin was determined using colorimetric method and enzymatic end point method was used to determine serum alkaline phosphatase levels. Statistical significance of difference between two groups were evaluated by using Student's unpaired 't' test with the help of SPSS software package. The results showed statistically significant decrease in serum calcium and albumin (p<0.01) of menopausal women compared to reproductive age group. The postmenopausal women had significantly higher (p<0.01) concentrations of serum alkaline phosphatase than the premenopausal women with regular menstruation. Therefore, it can be concluded that menopause leads to the increased risk of osteoporosis by decreasing serum calcium and albumin and by increasing alkaline phosphatase levels. The decreased serum calcium and increased alkaline phosphatase levels indicate that menopause is an independent risk factor for developing osteoporosis in women of Bangladesh.
CBMJ 2019 July: Vol. 08 No. 02 P: 30-35


This narrative follows the lives of a group of transgendered prostitutes ("travestis" in Portuguese) in the Brazilian city Salvador. Travestis are males who, at an age as young as ten, adopt female names, clothing styles, hairstyles and linguistic pronouns. They ingest massive doses of female hormones and inject litres of industrial silicone into their bodies to create breasts, wide hips and large thighs and buttocks. However, no travesti identifies herself as a woman, moreover they regard any male that does so as mentally disturbed. The text analyzes the ways that travestis modify their bodies, explores the motivations that lead them to choose this particular gendered identity, and examines the complex relationships that they maintain with one another, their boyfriends and their families. Also examining how they earn their living through prostitution and discussing the reasons that prostitution for most travestis is a positive and affirmative experience. Arguing that transgenderism never occurs in a natural or arbitrary form, the text shows how it is created in specific social contexts and assumes specific social forms, suggesting that travestis may distill and perfect the messages that give meaning to gender throughout Brazilian society and possibly throughout much of Latin America.


Gellan gum is a naturally occurring polymer that can crosslink in the presence of divalent cations to form biocompatible hydrogels. However, physically crosslinked gellan gum hydrogels lose stability under physiological conditions, which substantially limits the applications of these hydrogels in vivo. In order to improve the mechanical strength, we incorporated methacrylate into gellan gum and chemically crosslinked the hydrogel through three polymerization methods: step growth through thiol-ene photoclick chemistry, chain growth via photopolymerization, and mixed model in which both mechanisms were employed. Methacrylation was confirmed and quantified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The mechanical property and chemistry of the crosslinked gels were systematically explored by varying the reaction conditions. The swelling ratios of the hydrogels were correlated with the compression moduli and affected by the addition of calcium. In vitro enzymatic degradation rate was found dependent on the degree of methacrylation. NIH/3T3 fibroblast cell proliferation and morphology were related to substrate stiffness with high stiffness leading generally to higher proliferation. The proliferation is further affected by the thiol-ene ratios. We then further modified methacrylate Gellan gum with alkane bromide to increase hydrophobicity. Cell attachment on resultant hydrogels were assessed and imaged. Cytokine release was also measured with comparison to pristine methacrylated Gellan gum based hydrogels. The results suggest that a hydrogel platform based on gellan gum can offer versatile chemical modifications and tunable mechanical properties for a variety of biomaterials applications, such as the wound healing scaffold.


Abstract Eleonore Stump's Atonement marks a significant advance in atonement theory, especially in its nuanced approach to ethical and relational complexities, but tends to treat sin as social only insofar as one individual's sin can harm or shame another. I argue that that social sin requires social redemption and that exemplarism would provide a solution. Christ's pursuit of love and justice, in the midst of oppression, temptation, and struggle, offers a distinctive model of virtue, towards collective restoration of the world. While we cannot redeem ourselves, in calling us to effect justice and union with one another, God may also call us closer to Godself.


At odds with the dystopic representation of globalizing Indian cities, Siddharth Chowdhury's fiction re-invents Delhi as an ordinary city. Based on Homi Bhabha's understanding of "vernacular cosmopolitanism," this article argues that Chowdhury's conversational prose, the small lens through which he looks at the globalizing capital of India, and his comic appropriation of hardboiled fiction and coming-of-age novel codes, construct a transcultural aesthetic of the urban everyday and a singular counterpoint both to the monstrous as well as the triumphalist imagination of the Indian city.


Ultraviolet radiation (UV) induces apoptosis in keratinocytes by both p53- and death receptor-dependent pathways. It also generates free radicals in keratinocytes, including the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) by constitutive and inducible NO synthases (NOS). NO has both pro- and anti-apoptotic effects. We wished to determine which of these was predominant in keratinocytes. Human CCD1106 keratinocytes were irradiated with UVB in the presence and absence of several NOS antagonists. Apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry with annexin V binding. NOS antagonism consistently altered UVB-induced apoptosis measured 18 h after irradiation. In 9 of 13 experiments, NOS antagonism increased apoptosis. However, in 4 of 13 experiments, NOS antagonism reduced apoptosis. We postulated that the variable effects of NO might be due to a critical balance between UVB-induced NO and superoxide production. We predicted that NO would be anti-apoptotic in the presence of low O–2, but pro-apoptotic when NO combined with O–2 to form peroxynitrite. Though superoxide dismutase reduced apoptosis after UVB, addition of peroxynitrite did not affect apoptosis. We conclude that NO released by UV irradiation is anti-apoptotic; however, the levels of O–2 may be a determinant of NO action.


This paper presents a new multipath delay based algorithm, MPPERT (Multipath Probabilistic Early response TCP), which provides high throughput and efficient load balancing. In all-PERT environment, MPPERT suffers no packet loss and maintains much smaller queue sizes compared to existing MPTCP, making it suitable for real time data transfer. MPPERT is suitable for incremental deployment in a heterogeneous environment. PERT, being a delay based TCP protocol, has continuous information about the state of the bottleneck queue along its path. This information is valuable in enabling MPPERT to detect subflows sharing a common bottleneck and obtain a smaller set of disjoint subflows. This information can even be used to switch from coupled (a set of subflows having interdependent increase/decrease of congestion windows) to uncoupled (independent increase/decrease of congestion windows) subflows, yielding higher throughput when best single-path TCP constraint is relaxed. The ns-2 simulations support MPPERT as a highly competitive multipath approach, suitable for real time data transfer, which is capable of offering higher throughput and improved reliability.


One of effort to solve the low reading skill of students is through the implementation of innovative learning models. This research aims to enhance primary students' reading comprehenssion by implementing CIRC model within printed media. This research used collaborative action research of Kemis & Mc Taggart model. Participants of this research were 20 students at one of primary school in Karangpucung Sub-district. Researcher employed teacher as opponent participant to implementing action research and obtain supplementary dataTechnique of collecting data used  observation, interview, test, and observation and interview is used to obtain data about the implementation of research. Meanwhile, test is used to measure students' reading comprehenssion skill. Researcher analyzed data with three steps namely data reduction, displaying data, and drawing conclusion. In addition, triangulation technique is used to validating data. The research outcome showed the enhance of reading comprehenssion skill in each cycle. Based on the research outcome, researcher concludes that the implementation of CIRC model within printed media can enhance reading comprehenssion skill of primary students.


Over the last decade, frequency comb spectroscopy have led to significant developments in view of the identification of varied species and of the understanding of the structure of matter. Highly efficient amplification of frequency comb femtosecond oscillators in the high pulse energies regime should allow future applications using this approach to Lidar-type measurements. We report on the millijoule level design of femtosecond amplifiers near 2 μm wavelength having a great optical efficiency and compactness in order to be carrier in satellites. In addition to space applications, laser systems at 2 μm become more and more popular because they offer elegant solutions to generate ultra-broad band super-continuum in the mid-infrared and for material processing. Our study helps to compare the optical performance of Tm:YAG, Tm:YAP and Tm:YLF crystals as active media, for designing ultrashort pulse regenerative amplifiers with a high gain and wall-plug efficiencies up to 10%. We will present our approach to ensure the conservation of the initial phase shift between the envelope and the carrier of pulses during amplification. We primarily discuss an innovative model which proposes a gradual path towards the optimization of any regenerative amplifier using crystalline thulium-based, end-pumped doped rods. This also involves the analysis of sizing criteria based on the assumption of rod-based active media, including the doping content, the length of the rod and the beam size inside.


This paper investigates the relation between the temperature dependence of magnetoresistance (MR) and spin frustration in LaMnO3+δ when Ni is doped into the Mn site. The specimens experience magnetic frustration introduced by the competition between antiferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) interactions. According to the temperature dependence of magnetization after cooling the specimen in zero field and non-zero field, Ni-doped specimens behave like cluster glasses. This magnetic frustration at the low temperature is believed to result from the disordered spin structure between AFM and FM phases in these specimens. When the structural symmetry in the specimen is higher, the FM arrangement increases by double the exchange interaction. However, MR decreases in the same temperature region for the same reason. We suggest that the temperature dependence of MR below the Curie temperature in the Ni-doped specimen is controlled by the change of magnetization that occurs with structural change.


We investigate two similar, but distinct benchmarks in financial reporting, that expenses match the revenues they generate, and that revenues and expenses produce earnings that are value relevant. To investigate how well these may be achieved in practice, we study a managerial choice subject to discretion, and important to earnings: depreciation. Estimating firm-specific real and counterfactual depreciation policies using the time series of capital expenditures and reported depreciation expenses, we find two core results. First, there is a matching-market gap, which means that these two important benchmarks cannot be simultaneously achieved by a single earnings measure or accounting standard. Second, we find that current reporting practice is more aggressive than what either reporting benchmark would dictate, consistent with managerial discretion.


This paper disaggregates human development indicators across disability status to assess the situation of persons and households with disabilities. The paper uses 24 censuses and general household surveys from 21 low- and middle-income countries. Disability status is measured through self-reports of functional difficulties (for example, seeing or hearing). There are several findings of interest. First, disability is not rare in low- and middle-income countries. The median prevalence stands at 10 percent among adults ages 15 and older, and at 23 percent among households. There are consistent inequalities associated with disability and, in particular, with respect to educational attainment, work outcomes, poverty, food security, exposure to shocks, living conditions, and assets. At the same time, not all persons with functional difficulties experience deprivations. There is a gradient in inequalities associated with the degree of functional difficulty: persons with at least a lot of difficulty tend to be worse off than persons with some difficulty, who themselves tend to be worse off than persons with no difficulty. The results in this paper on the prevalence of functional difficulties and their association with socioeconomic deprivations show that disability should be central to human development policy, data, and research. More work is needed to curb the inequalities associated with disability.


The use of synthesized refrigerants has several environmental concerns. The most widely used substances like hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) have either high global warming potential (GWP), high ozone depletion potential (ODP) or long atmospheric life time. With the growing demand of healthier atmosphere, the study of other alternative substances is very important. This paper presents theoretical thermodynamic performance analysis of hydrocarbon based domestic vapour compression refrigeration system. Propane (R-290), isobutane (R-600a) and butane (R-600) were used. Then, the results were compared with the performance of currently most commonly used tetrafluoroethane (R-134a). These hydrocarbons have zero ODP and very negligible GWP. Different parameters, like coefficient of performance (COP), refrigeration effect, compressor work input and compressor discharge temperature were investigated. Evaporator and condenser temperatures, subcooling, superheating and compressor isentropic efficiency were the variables used for this study. MATLAB software has been used in the mathematical analysis. COP values were found comparable to that of R134a. All the hydrocarbons investigated gave beyond 150% refrigeration effect compared to R-134a for the same mass flow rate. But this was at the expense of higher compressor work input. This research also revealed that the compressor discharge temperature is much lower for R-600a and R-600. Generally, these hydrocarbons showed that they are a good alternative to R134a based on the thermodynamic point of view.


Triclosan, a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent, was reported to have been widely detected in various human biological samples such as urine, blood and human milk among foreign populations. In China, limited reports have been found on human exposure to triclosan, and the reported urinary triclosan concentrations were significantly lower than that of American populations. Besides, the potential influencing factors still remain unclear regarding human exposure to triclosan, but evidences suggest that those in middle age and with higher household income and higher social class tend to have higher urinary triclosan concentrations. Furthermore, triclosan exposure tend to differ by sex, geography, heredity, metabolism and life style.


Abstract The survivability of the naval ship is the capability of a warship to avoid or withstand a hostile environment. The survivability of the naval ship assessed by three categories (susceptibility, vulnerability and recoverability). The magnitude of susceptibility of a warship encountering with threat is dependent upon the attributes of detection equipment and weapon system. In this paper, as a part of a naval ship's survivability analysis, an assessment process model for the ship's susceptibility analysis technique is developed. Naval ship's survivability emphasizing the susceptibility is assessed by the probability of detection, and the probability of hit. Considering the radar cross section (RCS), the assessment procedure for the susceptibility is described. It's emphasizing the simplified calculation model based on the probability density function for probability of hit. Assuming the probability of hit given a both single-hit and multiple-hit, the susceptibility is accessed for a RCS and the hit probability for a rectangular target is applied for a given threat.


This thesis relates three subjects of inquiry the nature and function of narrative, the formation and maintenance of individual and communal identity, and the construction of the human cosmos and the places within it to develop a theory of the function of narrative in the construction of the human self and world. This theoretical framework is applied to the world projected by the Hebrew Bible, and, in particular, to the role of wilderness places within this cosmos. Wilderness is examined by means of the concept of "liminality," as that concept has been developed by Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner. The thesis concludes with an examination of the rabbinic rite of Passover, and argues that this rite utilizes a narrative of wilderness journey to enable contemporary participants to integrate the chaos and disorderliness of everyday life in a healthy and productive way, according to the pattern of a shared myth. The integration of life experience according to the shared myth brings about the self-identification of the individual with the larger community, and provides the community with an understanding of itself sufficient to sustain itself through the coming year.


Fracture-zone distribution in the North Atlantic Ocean varies from closely spaced (about 50 km) to widely spaced (300 km) between the equator and the Azores hotspot across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. North of the Azores hotspot, seamount chains predominate in place of fracture valleys. The fracture-zone trends are taken from a data base with the ability to show fracture valleys of several kilometres width. Whereas the past 200 m.y. of kinematic history in the Atlantic may be recorded in the magnetic lineations, these lineations are not adequate to show actual spreading flow lines and, in fact, cloud the actual bathymetry of fracture-valley orientation.


Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease whose clinical onset signifies a lifelong requirement for insulin therapy and increased risk of medical complications. To increase the efficiency and confidence with which drug candidates advance to human type 1 diabetes clinical trials, we have generated and validated a mathematical model of type 1 diabetes pathophysiology in a well‐characterized animal model of spontaneous type 1 diabetes, the non‐obese diabetic (NOD) mouse. The model is based on an extensive survey of the public literature and input from an independent scientific advisory board. It reproduces key disease features including activation and expansion of autoreactive lymphocytes in the pancreatic lymph nodes (PLNs), islet infiltration and β cell loss leading to hyperglycaemia. The model uses ordinary differential and algebraic equations to represent the pancreas and PLN as well as dynamic interactions of multiple cell types (e.g. dendritic cells, macrophages, CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD8+ T lymphocytes, regulatory T cells, β cells). The simulated features of untreated pathogenesis and disease outcomes for multiple interventions compare favourably with published experimental data. Thus, a mathematical model reproducing type 1 diabetes pathophysiology in the NOD mouse, validated based on accurate reproduction of results from multiple published interventions, is available for in silico hypothesis testing. Predictive biosimulation research evaluating therapeutic strategies and underlying biological mechanisms is intended to deprioritize hypotheses that impact disease outcome weakly and focus experimental research on hypotheses likely to provide insight into the disease and its treatment.


A watershed can be considered a multi-agent system (MAS) composed of water users (agents) spatially distributed in a distinct manner within a common defined environment from which they can all access a particular resource. The watershed system is characterized by distributed decision processes at the agent level and a coordination mechanism organizing the interactions among individual decision processes. This paper presents a decentralized optimization method known as constraint-based reasoning, which allows individual agents in a multi-agent system to optimize their behaviors. The method incorporates the optimization of all agents' objectives through a bargaining scheme, in which the i th agent optimizes its objective with a selected priority for collaboration and sends the solution back to all agents that interact with it. This methodology allows agents to determine how important their own objectives are in comparison to the constraints, using a local interest factor (β i ). A large β i value indicates a selfish agent who puts high priority on its own local benefit and ignores constraints. This analysis is applied to a hypothetical watershed with three offstream human agents (city and farms), one instream human agent (reservoir) and two ecological agents (fish habitat in the river). The proposed approach takes the objectives of individual agents into account and balances them through interactions among the agents. This bottom-up problem-solving approach mimics real-world watershed management problems better than conventional top-down optimization methods in which it is assumed that individual agents will completely comply with any recommendations that the coordinator makes.


The desirable features of future optical high-capacity networks include higher stability, reconfigurability and security. In order to enable robust and self-managed automated operation, the network itself should be able to monitor the physical state of the network, automatically diagnose and repair the network, dynamically allocate resources, and redirect traffic. Optical performance monitoring can agilely provide valuable information such that routing tables themselves can dynamically reflect the state of the physical links to the network controller. The key features of the desired monitor include simplicity in implementation, cost-effectiveness, transparency to data formats and rates, and isolation of the specific impairment from the others. We propose and demonstrate novel optical performance monitoring techniques using cost-effective photonic components and artificial neural network-assisted signal processing to continuously monitor multiple impairments and to accommodate different high-speed advanced modulation formats. These monitoring techniques can facilitate rapid identification and isolation of impairments to enhance the dynamic management of the optical high-capacity networks.


RF power amplifier efficiency and power output can be measured accurately without an RF power meter. The authors transfer to DC the measurement of RF voltage across a calibrated RF load which can be nominal resistive or nonnominal with parallel susceptance. They give an analysis of accuracy, including effects of RF harmonics.


A method of measuring the fill level based on the vibration signal of the mill shell is researched in this paper. An accelerometer that has a large measurement range is mounted directly to the mill shell, and the vibration signals are collected off the mill shell by a data acquisition system in experiment. According to the characteristic of vibration signal of mill shell, a filter processing method is applied and RMS values of vibration signals are extracted. The comparisons between the RMS value of filtered vibration signal and other traditional feature variables of fill level are discussed. The result of comparison shows that the vibrated feature variable of fill level proposed in this paper has a better superiority and stability.


The genetic and environmental etiology of low general cognitive ability (g) during infancy and early childhood has not previously been investigated. The current study examined the genetic etiology of low cognitive ability at 14, 20, 24, and 36 months with twins from the MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study. Low g groups were formed from the lowest 10th percentile at each age. Univariate probandwise concordance rates and DeFries-Fulker (J. C. DeFries & D. W. Fulker, 1985, 1988) multiple regression techniques suggest genetic etiology in low general cognitive ability groups. The stability of low general cognitive ability over time also appears to be primarily due to genetic factors. Although replication is necessary, these results suggest that the genetic etiology of low g during infancy and early childhood is at least as great as the heritability of g in the unselected population.


Introduction: HIV/AIDS has been occurring in the world as the major pandemic disease that affects all parts of the world, but sub-Saharan Africa it is high in prevalence which reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and makes individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. This often leads the patients to a variety of opportunistic infections including fungal infections and the like. Superficial fungal infections are common in HIV patients that can have an atypical clinical severity and variability of presentation and may be extensive, recurrent, and difficult to treat. Objectives: This study aims to determine the magnitude and associated factors of superficial fungal infections on HIV/ AIDS patients who have follow up at ART clinic in Debretabore General Hospital. Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study design was used via systematic random method with kth value of 3rd on 299 study population from December/2015-Feburaray/2016. Result: Prevalence of superficial fungal infection in this study was 59.2% with 99.7% response rate. Female {AOR(95% CI); 2.6 (3.06, 7.901)}, age ranges less than 15 [AOR(95% CI); 4.03 (0.002, 0.994)], and ages between 16-30 years [AOR(95% CI);2.1 (1.93, 7.16)], uneducated subjects [AOR (95% CI); 3.4 (0.00, 0.150)], presence of pets in the home 5.3 [(0.001, 0.183)], income source being a farmer [AOR (95% CI); 4.3 (0.031,0.72)], CD4 level less than 200cells/ mm3 [AOR (95% CI); 8 (0.00, 0.007)] and work condition associated to water [AOR (95% CI); 6.3 (7.31, 13.800)] were statistically significant to the presence of superficial fungal infection in Debretabor General hospital at ART clinic. Concussion: The overall prevalence of superficial fungal infection in the study area was relatively high (59.2%) with 78% of the cases were neglected as nothing would do on patients life having a statistical significant association with age, sex, income source (farmer), educational status, presence of pets in the home, CD4 level, work condition associated with water body. Thus, a continuous health education about the disease, factors with education on preventive methods and treating the cases accordingly of fungal infections should be sought.


Hydrogen-treated TiO2 as an electrocatalyst has shown to boost the capacity of high-performance all-vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) as a simple and eco-friendly strategy. The graphite felt-based GF@TiO2 :H electrode is able to inhibit the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which is a critical barrier for operating at high rate for long-term cycling in VRFBs. Significant improvements in charge/discharge and electron-transfer processes for the V3+ /V2+ reaction on the surface of reduced TiO2 were achieved as a consequence of the formation of oxygen functional groups and oxygen vacancies in the lattice structure. Key performance indicators of VRFB have been improved, such as high capability rates and electrolyte-utilization ratios (82 % at 200 mA cm-2 ). Additionally, high coulombic efficiencies (ca. 100 % up to the 96th cycle, afterwards >97 %) were obtained, demonstrating the feasibility of achieving long-term stability.


Abstract Support Vector Machines (SVM) have been used successfully in many Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. The novel contribution of this paper is in investigating two techniques for making SVM more suitable for language learning tasks. Firstly, we propose an SVM with uneven margins (SVMUM) model to deal with the problem of imbalanced training data. Secondly, SVM active learning is employed in order to alleviate the difficulty in obtaining labelled training data. The algorithms are presented and evaluated on several Information Extraction (IE) tasks, where they achieved better performance than the standard SVM and the SVM with passive learning, respectively. Moreover, by combining SVMUM with the active learning algorithm, we achieve the best reported results on the seminars and jobs corpora, which are benchmark data sets used for evaluation and comparison of machine learning algorithms for IE. In addition, we also evaluate the token based classification framework for IE with three different entity tagging schemes. In comparison to previous methods dealing with the same problems, our methods are both effective and efficient, which are valuable features for real-world applications. Due to the similarity in the formulation of the learning problem for IE and for other NLP tasks, the two techniques are likely to be beneficial in a wide range of applications1.


This paper presents a theoretical method for constructing dimensionless interaction curves for members subjected to combined tension and bending loads that produce inelastic strains, as well as experimental results which verify the theory. Each interaction curve represents the total range of the ratios of axial load to bending moment which will cause inelastic strains to extend to a given depth in the member. Experimental interaction curves were obtained from eccentrically loaded tension members of rectangular cross sections made from three strain-hardening materials, namely, annealed rail steel and aluminum alloys 24S-T4 and 75S-T6. Good agreement was found between theory and experiment. In order to design a member subjected to combined axial and bending loads by use of the interaction curves, the deflection of the member must be estimated. Three orders of approximation for the deflection of eccentrically loaded tension members are presented. The problem of combined bending and axial compressive loads is discussed and research based on the methods of analysis developed in this investigation is suggested for solving for the buckling load of a member subjected to combined bending and axial compressive loads.


For the original paper see ibid., vol. 44, no. 6, p. 848-853 (1996). In the above paper is presented a simplified, but quite accurate, method for the calculation of the resonant frequencies of whispering gallery modes in dielectric resonators. Abramowicz et al. have compared the result obtained by the author with the results of the full-wave radial mode-matching method, finding very good agreement. However, a part of the paper describing a model of coupled resonators and, particularly its solution were, in the commenters' opinion, faulty.


Sodium silicate-activated slags have the potential to harden quickly, which limits their practical use in grouting and deep soil mixing works. The open time of grouts is defined as the time period when their rheological properties allow their storage, pumping, and injection into the soil. In this work, the impact of the H2O/Na2O ratio and two acids (citric and boric acid) on the reactivity and hardening rates of slag-based grouts was studied. The H2O/Na2O ratio had a minimal impact on the open time but prolonged the setting time, as observed by ultrasonic characterization. Both acids were effective in delaying the structuration time, as revealed by oscillatory rheology and reaction advancement; however, they caused a decrease in the elastic modulus. Adding the acids resulted in a decrease in the pH of the medium, which may be linked to the extended open time. The analysis of the ion concentration of Ca, Si, and Al disclosed the mode of action of the two retarders.


The powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process has received widespread interest because of its capability to manufacture components with a complicated design and better surface finish compared to other additive techniques. Process optimization to obtain high quality parts is still a concern, which is impeding the full-scale production of materials. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to identify the best combination of process parameters that produces parts with the least defects and best features. This work focuses on gaining useful information about several features of the bead area, such as contact angle, porosity, voids, melt pool size and keyhole that were achieved using several combinations of laser power and scan speed to produce single scan lines. These features are identified and quantified using process learning, which is then used to conduct a comprehensive statistical analysis that allows to estimate the effect of the process parameters, such as laser power and scan speed on the output features. Both single and multi-response analyses are applied to analyze the response parameters, such as contact angle, porosity and melt pool size individually as well as in a collective manner. Laser power has been observed to have a more influential effect on all the features. A multi-response analysis showed that 150 W of laser power and 200 mm/s produced a bead with the best possible features.


A research framework, or construct, provides researchers with generally accepted guidelines to organize scholarly efforts and foster methodological rigor. Originating through applications of the scientific method, many qualitative research frameworks have become fully vetted and recognized in recent years, including action research, grounded theory, and the phenomenology, among many others. Over the last decade, the Policy Research Construct has evolved into a refined framework for qualitative and mixed method studies. This paper continues to define the PRC, and includes a meta-review of multiple applications of the PRC to examine policy-related research questions, as well as organizational change and program effectiveness research. ADVANCING A QUALITATIVE-BASED RESEARCH CONSTRUCT 3


The manufacturing technology was tested and the quality study of super-thick sheets made of highstrength structural cold-resistant steel AB2R made from large ingots was carried out. Ingots are poured with siphon using modern pouring and heat-insulating mixtures while protecting the metal with argon. The use of the developed technology for casting large ingots together with the use of out-of-furnace refining and metal modification with aluminum and calcium provides a high level of quality of super-thick rolled products.


When walking with wearable robotic exoskeletons (WRE) in people with spinal cord injury, the distance between the user and the walker is one of the most important perspectives for ensuring safety. The purpose of this study was to clarify the distance between WRE users and four-wheeled walkers (4WW) while walking on level and sloping surfaces. To eliminate the effects of variation in neurological conditions, 12 healthy subjects participated. All participants ambulated using the WRE and the 4WW on level and sloping surfaces. The outcomes were the mean distances between the WRE users and the 4WWs in the level and slope conditions. To examine the influence of uphill and downhill slopes on distance, comparisons were conducted between the uphill or downhill conditions and the respective transitional periods. In the uphill condition, the mean distances were significantly greater than that in the level condition. Conversely, the mean distance moving downhill was significantly shorter than that in the level condition. Changes in the distance between the WRE user and the 4WW might increase the risk of falling forward on an uphill slope and backward on a downhill slope. This study's results will assist in developing a new feedback system to prevent falls.


This article contends that a figural reading of Luke's passion narrative, influenced by Barth's account of vocation, offers a heuristic for discerning contemporary callings. The first part of this study examines Barth's theology of vocation. For Barth, one's vocation is a dialectic of the concrete circumstances of the disciple and the dynamic, event-like nature of the call itself. Together, a disciple's vocation is primarily a form of witness to the Christ who calls. The article then deploys Barth's account of vocation to inform a figural reading of Luke's passion narrative. This reading generates a renewed perception of prevailing vocational forms in the present.


ABSTRACT Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 possesses a biphenyl-catabolic (bph) gene cluster consisting of bphR1A1A2-(orf3)-bphA3A4BCX0X1X2X3D. The bphR1 (formerly orf0) gene product, which belongs to the GntR family, is a positive regulator for itself and bphX0X1X2X3D. Further analysis in this study revealed that a second regulator belonging to the LysR family (designated bphR2) is involved in the regulation of the bph genes in KF707. The bphR2 gene was not located near the bph gene cluster, and its product (BphR2) exhibited a high level of similarity to NahR (the naphthalene- and salicylate-catabolic regulator belonging to the LysR family) in plasmid NAH7 of Pseudomonas putida. A strain containing a disrupted bphR2 gene failed to grow on biphenyl as a sole source of carbon, and the BphD (2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid hydrolase) activity was significantly reduced compared to that of wild-type strain KF707. Furthermore, the same strain exhibited extremely low transcription of bphR1, bphA1, bphC, bphX0, and bphD. However, when the bphR2 gene was provided in trans to the bphR2-disrupted strain, the transcription level of these genes was restored. These results indicate that bphR2 regulates the bph genes positively as a second regulator together with BphR1.


Extensive dolomitization is prevalent in the platform and periplatform carbonates in the Lower-Middle Permian strata in the Midland and greater Permian Basin. Early workers have found that the platform and shelf-top carbonates were dolomitized, whereas slope and basinal carbonates remained calcitic, proposing a reflux dolomitization model as the possible diagenetic mechanism. More importantly, they underline that this dolomitization pattern controls the porosity and forms an updip seal. These studies are predominately conducted using well logs, cores, and outcrop analogs, and although exhibiting high resolution vertically, such determinations are laterally sparse. We have used supervised Bayesian classification and probabilistic neural networks (PNN) on a 3D seismic volume to create an estimation of the most probable distribution of dolomite and limestone within a subsurface 3D volume petrophysically constrained. Combining this lithologic information with porosity, we then illuminate the diagenetic effects on a seismic scale. We started our workflow by deriving lithology classifications from well-log crossplots of neutron porosity and acoustic impedance to determine the a priori proportions of the lithology and the probability density functions calculation for each lithology type. Then, we applied these probability distributions and a priori proportions to 3D seismic volumes of the acoustic impedance and predicted neutron porosity volume to create a lithology volume and probability volumes for each lithology type. The acoustic impedance volume was obtained by model-based poststack inversion, and the neutron porosity volume was obtained by the PNN. Our results best supported a regional reflux dolomitization model, in which the porosity is increasing from shelf to slope while the dolomitization is decreasing, but with sea-level forcing. With this study, we determined that diagenesis and the corresponding reservoir quality in these platforms and periplatform strata can be directly imaged and mapped on a seismic scale by quantitative seismic interpretation and supervised classification methods.


Under the hypothesis of billiards fully elastic collision, apply basic theoretical mechanics principle carrying out analysis of movement law after cue ball colliding object ball and before cue ball collides table side, it gives cue ball movement control equation during this period. Use Matlab simulation analyzing cue ball mass center speed and rotational angular speed influence on its movement trajectory. Then use geometrical method and trigonometric function knowledge structure, it puts forward object ball selection ways in playing aren best table net, through comparing i Q size relations, it gets conclusions whether stroking waist pocket or stroking bottom pocket. Therefore, after making clear object ball entering net and judging, it researches on cue ball position after it collidingwith object ball by physical dynamics and integration method, so that it can successfully set barrier for opponent stroking after ensuring own party potting. It improves billiards movement success rate to large extent.