Radicalism, meaning here complete dedication to a cause, even at the risk of one's own life, is not an epiphenomenon nor a derailment of religion. It is an ingrained tendency within religion and of a frequency, not occurred in other domains like politics, the economy or science. The root cause of this intimate link of religion with radicalism is the opening up within religion of an utopian dimension. Equipped furthermore with distinctive institutions and with claims of religious omnivalence – of being valid in all walks of life – religions thus present a potent vantage point from which life and society can be criticized and called up for conversion and reform. Religious radicalism accounts for much of the prominence and visibility of religion in society. There are many forms of religious radicalism, most of them peaceful in character. Distinction will be made between ordinary and extra-ordinary radicalism and establishment and anti-establishment radicalism. Reducing religious radicalism to violence or ill-fated extremism, is not only factually wrong. It also means underestimating the importance and role of religious radicalism for religion – and society.


The present study addresses the issue of ethnic inequality in homeownership. We start out by addressing the social significance of homeownership as it relates to material wellbeing, sense of security, perceived "stake in the system," and social assimilation. The empirical analysis focuses on immigrants to Israel and examines the extent to which length of residence in the host society, as well as the period of migration, affect ethnic inequality in homeownership. In order to separate the effects of specific period of migration from duration of residence, we pooled data from three household expenditure-surveys carried out between 1975 and 1993. The findings confirmed the positive effect of length of residence in the host society on homeownership, but also revealed unique period effects. These are linked to the political economy of Israel and to the role played by the state in shaping housing opportunities. The findings also revealed substantial ethnic group differences in homeownership. The source of these disparities and their consequences highlight stratification processes that are independent of labor market achievements.


Abstract The influence of environmental and human factors on group sizes of large ungulates is still poorly understood, especially when considered at multiple timescales. We analyzed long-term data of red deer (Cervus elaphus) group sizes collected at 3 timescales in Białowieża Primeval Forest, Poland, from 1986 to 2003. On the daily scale, group size differed among periods of the day for females in summer (P = 0.001) and autumn (P = 0.04) but not winter (P = 0.18). Group size of males did not differ (P > 0.35) among the periods of day during any season. On the seasonal scale, both sexes had larger group sizes in winter than summer, and males were always more solitary than females. At the annual scale, multiple-regression analysis explained 96% (r2 = 0.957) of deer grouping patterns. Human hunting had the greatest influence (sr2i = 0.414), followed by acorn crop (sr2i = 0.012) and snow cover (sr2i = 0.008). Intense hunting by humans during a 5-year period appeared to cause increases in group sizes, even while red deer densities decreased. The disruption of the normally positive relationship of deer density to group size apparently affected predator–prey relationships, consequently red deer numbers continued to decline even after hunting pressure was relaxed. Our results indicate caution should be used when reducing red deer numbers by dramatic increases in hunting because the resulting behavioral and ecological changes in deer have implications that extend well beyond the season and year, with important consequences for the long-term stability of the population, especially in areas where large carnivores are present.


Sesotho is generally described as a tonal language. This paper describes an investigation into the ability of a group of young speakers of Sesotho to perceive and produce tonal distinctions in Sesotho. In particular, it focuses on the status of the subject concord morpheme in the question phrases o batlang? (2SG; 'What do you want?') and o batlang? (3SG/CL1; 'What does (s)he want?'). Thirty young mother tongue speakers aged between 15 and 17 participated in the study, which was conducted over a period of three months. The findings of both experiments clearly showed the functional use of tone by these speakers to be limited, or in some cases even totally absent. These results are suggestive of a system in a state of flux, perhaps indicating the start of an evolutionary process.


BACKGROUND
We sought to examine health care resource utilization in the last 6 months of life among patients who died with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) compared with those who died with lung cancer and to examine geographic variations in care.

METHODS
We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed as having COPD or lung cancer, who were seen in 1 of 7 Veteran Affairs medical centers primary care clinics and who died during the study period. Our outcome of interest was health care resource utilization in the last 6 months of life.

RESULTS
In the last 6 months of life, patients with COPD were more likely to visit their primary care providers but had fewer hospital admissions compared with patients with lung cancer. Patients with COPD had twice the odds of being admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), 5 times the odds of remaining there 2 weeks or longer, and received fewer opiates and benzodiazepine prescriptions compared with patients with lung cancer. There were geographic variations in the use of ICUs for patients with COPD but not for those with lung cancer. Total health care costs were $4000 higher for patients with COPD because of ICU utilization.

CONCLUSIONS
In the last 6 months of life, patients with COPD were more likely to have had a primary care visit and been admitted to an ICU but less likely to receive palliative medications compared with patients with lung cancer. We found significant geographic variability in ICU utilization but only for patients with COPD.


More than thirty years ago Leslie Paton began to publish, in Brain , in the Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom , and as monographs, a series of studies on pathologic changes in the optic nerve in relation to intracranial lesions, tumors of the brain and allied conditions. Much of the material came from the pathologic laboratory and from the wards of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases—Queen Square, as it was known to neurologists—and concerned patients admitted to the service of Sir William Gowers, Mr. Gordon Holmes and others. This interesting and instructive research, based on a wealth of clinical observation as well as on histologic data, dealt with papilledema, atrophy of the optic nerve and neural changes in disseminate sclerosis and in tabes. The papers presented an unusual amount of well digested evidence on the ophthalmoscopic appearance, the pathologic mechanism and the histologic picture of papilledema.


Psychostimulants, including amphetamine (AMPH), exert robust arousal-enhancing, reinforcing and locomotor-activating effects. These behavioural actions involve drug-induced elevations in extracellular norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) within a variety of cortical and subcortical regions. The lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), including the lateral hypothalamus proper, perifornical area and adjacent dorsomedial hypothalamus, is implicated in appetitive- and arousal-related processes. The LHA is innervated by both NE and DA projections and systemically administered AMPH has been demonstrated to activate LHA neurons. Combined, these and other observations suggest the LHA may be a site of action in the behavioural effects of psychostimulants. To test this hypothesis, we examined the degree to which AMPH (10 nmol, 25 nmol) acts within the LHA to exert arousing, locomotor-activating and reinforcing actions in quietly resting/sleeping rats. Although intra-LHA AMPH robustly increased time spent awake, this occurred in the absence of pronounced locomotor activation or reinforcing actions, as measured in a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Arousing and stressful conditions or drug re-exposure can elicit relapse in humans and reinstate drug-seeking in animals. Given the LHA is also implicated in the reinstatement of drug-seeking behaviour, additional studies examined whether AMPH acts within the LHA to reinstate an extinguished CPP produced with systemic AMPH administration. Our results demonstrate that AMPH action within the LHA is sufficient to reinstate drug-seeking behaviour, as measured in this paradigm. Collectively, these observations demonstrate that psychostimulants act within the LHA to elicit affectively neutral arousal and reinstate drug-seeking behaviour.


AIM
To assess the scientific evidence on the efficacy of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in the treatment of temporomandibular disorders (TMD).

METHODS
The databases of PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane Clinical Trials Register, and PEDro were manually and electronically searched up to February 2010. Two independent reviewers screened, extracted, and assessed the quality of the publications. A meta-analysis- was performed to quantify the pooled effect of LLLT on pain and function in patients with chronic TMD.

RESULTS
The literature search identified 323 papers without overlap between selected databases, but after the two-phase study selection, only six randomized clinical trials (RCT) were included in the systematic review. The primary outcome of interest was the change in pain from baseline to endpoint. The pooled effect of LLLT on pain, measured through a visual analog scale with a mean difference of 7.77 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: -2.49 to 18.02), was not statistically significant from placebo. Change from baseline to endpoint of secondary outcomes was 4.04 mm (95% CI 3.06 to 5.02) for mandibular maximum vertical opening; 1.64 mm (95% CI 0.10 to 3.17) for right lateral excursion and 1.90 mm (95% CI: -4.08 to 7.88) for left lateral excursion.

CONCLUSION
Currently, there is no evidence to support the effectiveness of LLLT in the treatment of TMD.


The giant protein titin is essential for striated muscle development, structure, and elasticity. All titin mutations reported to date cause late‐onset, dominant disorders involving either skeletal muscle or the heart. Our aim was to delineate the phenotype and determine the genetic defects in two consanguineous families with an early‐onset, recessive muscle and cardiac disorder.


The research was conducted at the Regional Disaster Management Agency in Makassar City. This type of research is quantitative with analytical survey research methods. The population in this study were all officers of the Regional Disaster Management Agency. The sample of this research is the officers of the Regional Disaster Management Agency in Makassar City, as many as 40 people consisting of 30 office staff and 10 field officers. The results of the research by office staff and field officers showed that knowledge (p value 0.032 <α 0.05), attitude (p value 0.036 <α 0.05), and practice (p value 0.013 <α 0.05). This means that there is a significant relationship between the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Regional Disaster Management Agency officials on optimizing flood disaster management in Makassar City. Knowledge, attitudes and good practices can make all Regional Disaster Management Agency officers more optimal in emergency response to floods


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether ferrets naturally infected with Helicobacter mustelae were hypergastrinemic, compared with ferrets that were specific-pathogen-free (SPF) for H mustelae.

DESIGN
Plasma gastrin concentrations in H mustelae-infected and SPF ferrets were measured at 3 time points and compared to determine whether H mustelae was associated with hypergastrinemia.

ANIMALS
21 H mustelae-infected ferrets and 10 SPF ferrets.

PROCEDURE
The H mustelae status of the ferrets was confirmed prior to commencement of the study. Gastric endoscopy was used to obtain gastric mucosal pinch biopsy specimens that were processed for rapid-urease assay, microaerophilic culturing, and histologic evaluation. Plasma gastrin concentrations were determined at 3 time points: baseline after a 12-hour nonfeeding period, and 30 and 60 minutes after oral administration of a standardized meal. Gastrin was measured by radioimmunoassay.

RESULTS
The results for the H mustelae-infected group (mean +/- SEM pg/ml) were: baseline, 54.4 +/- 2.56; 30 minutes, 94.5 +/- 6.05; and 60 minutes, 82.6 +/- 5.73. The SPF group results were: baseline, 55.8 +/- 7.35; 30 minutes, 80.8 +/- 5.77; and 60 minutes, 59.7 +/- 4.95. There was a significant (P < 0.01) difference at the 60-minute time point between the 2 groups of animals. The H mustelae group had a 17% higher mean gastrin value at 30 minutes.

CONCLUSIONS
Helicobacter mustelae is associated with hypergastrinemia in ferrets.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Helicobacter-induced hypergastrinemia may be related to the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease in ferrets.


In recent decades, the Hulu Langat Basin in Malaysia has been exposed to extensive changes in land use pattern and consequently hydrological conditions. Maintaining a reasonable balance between environmental currents and governmental/population demands is a difficult task. In this work, 3 land use scenarios were defined, which are the present (baseline), future, and water conservation plans. Weighted goal programming (WGP), integrated with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), was used to optimize the baseline land use scenario with consideration of water conservation outcomes and future development trend. Three types of objectives were involved in the AHP-WGP approach, i.e. social, economic, and environmental. The values of environmental objectives were estimated using the optimized Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Four planning alternatives were defined and formulated, i.e. A1, A2, B1, and B2. The AHP-WGP approach resulted in 4 optimized land development alternatives. In terms of the water conservation objective, alternatives A1 and B1 were more desirable than alternatives A2 and B2, respectively. However, due to the existing socioeconomic-environmental circumstances within the Hulu Langat Basin, alternatives B1 and B2 were more appropriate.


Research on deliberative democracy has taken an empirical turn. There is a now an expanding literature that seeks to explore deliberative practice as it occurs in contemporary political practice. Much of this empirical scholarship has been situated within what Bevir and Ansari (2012) label a 'modernist' tradition of social inquiry, where hypotheses are tested, causal relationships identified and explanatory models developed. Under this mode of research, scholars have focused much attention on studying deliberative forums; offering insights into the nature and quality of deliberation and the effect of deliberation on individual preferences. But, these discrete face-to-face interactions represent only a small portion of the diversity of what constitutes public deliberation. The recent shift towards a deliberative systems approach emphasizes precisely this point and suggests understanding deliberation as a communicative activity occurring in a diversity of spaces. Notwithstanding its conceptual appeal, the systemic approach raises several questions, particularly when it comes to its empirical investigation and invites us to think harder about how we might study broader understandings of public deliberation. This paper argues that interpretive approaches, with their emphasis on understanding phenomena through experiences, perspectives, artifacts and actions, offer valuable tools for studying how deliberative systems are enacted in modern polities, and the possibilities and limitations for improving them. Drawing on recent empirical studies, the paper demonstrates how interpretive approaches can shed light on how deliberation occurs within, and across, a range of modes and settings in a deliberative system.


This paper critically assesses the literature on the relationship between economic integration and the environment. In particular, we investigate how trade liberalization and capital market integration affect environmental policy and thus environmental quality. Conversely, we also study how environmental policy can be used to serve non-environmental (trade policy) goals. The interaction between economic integration and environmental policy is not only approached from a traditional social welfare maximizing perspective, but ? as a novelty ? also includes the emerging political-economic literature on this set of issues. This altered perspective leads us to substantially different results. Moreover, we present the substantial empirical evidence for both perspectives. This allows us to put the theoretical findings in perspective.


An autobiographical narrative forms the basis for the exploration of a tension at the heart of philosophical practice. This paper considers whether Philosophy should be construed as a text-driven, expert-based endeavor as is typical in University programs or whether there is a primordial philosophical experience that grounds a more informal process of philosophical engagement? That is, is Philosophy a natural extension of human perplexity available as a tool for understanding without the trappings of Professorial scholarship and the authority of canonical texts, or has the historical development of Philosophy so constructed its practice that it is beholden to sophisticated scholarship and the professional interpretation of a definitive body of classical and contemporary sources?


Forensic anthropologists and pathologists have solved various mysteries like identifying victims and documenting crimes. They have identified the remains of decomposed, partially skeletonised and burned victims. For identifications, the parameters like sex, stature, age and ancestry are the foremost essential components. Present cross-sectional study was carried out on 206 Ladakhi subjects (129 males and 77 females) aged between 14 to 19 years by random sampling method. Classifications were done on basis of standards given by Martin & Saller, (1957) and Vallois, (1965). The hand parameters showed significant sexual dimorphism in adolescent boys and girls at (p<0.001) of Ladakhi population. Analysis showed that hands parameters in adolescent girls are found to be more reliable and applicable for stature estimation than in boys. Regression equations showed that multiple regressions are better in predicting the stature than the linear regression in Ladakhi adolescents. The present study revealed that like other body dimensions like long bone length, cephalofacial dimensions, foot dimensions, etc., hand dimensions can also be applied for stature reconstruction when only hand are available for forensic examinations.


UNLABELLED
The prognostic role of p53 and Ki67 in colorectal carcinomas (CRC) is very controversial in the literature. In our study, we tried to find if their immunostains are correlated with bcl-2 expression or other classical prognostic factors (sex, age, localization and size of tumor, the grade and staging of tumor). We studied 507 cases with CRC and chose 38 cases in which we realized these correlations. Fourteen cases were mucinous CRC, the other 24 cases being non-mucinous CRC (six well differentiated, 13 moderate and five poorly differentiated). For statistical analysis, we used the Statistical Program Graph Pad In Stat 3-Trial Version. We considered the significant association when p<0.05, with 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS
The median value was 75% for p53 expression, respectively 35% for Ki67 expression. Bcl-2 was positive in 47% of cases but not correlated with p53 or Ki67. We found a significantly statistical decrease p53 immunostain with grade of tumor (70% in well differentiated, respectively 40% in poorly differentiated CRC) and increase of Ki67 median expression (25% in well differentiated, respectively 60% in poorly differentiated CRC). Ki67 was correlated with age of patients, lymph node involvement, being more expressed in N2 (80%) than in N0 (22.5%) and with Dukes MAC staging (25% in B1, 60% in C2). P53 was correlated with age of patients and pT component, after pTNM staging (75% in pT2, 40% in pT4). P53 was not correlated with Ki67.

CONCLUSION
The CCR prognostic is not determined only by proliferative capacity of tumoral cells.


Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an inflammatory form of arthritis that appears approximately 7–10 years after psoriasis and remains undiagnosed in most of patients. Currently, only a few quantitative and succinct PsA-risk prediction models are available. The aim of this study was to establish and validate a prediction model for quantitatively assessing the risk of PsA in moderate and severe plaque psoriasis patients. A non-interventional and cross-sectional study was conducted. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory records were collected and blindly reviewed. Logistic regression was used to develop this prediction model. With C-index and calibration curve, internal validation was performed. Five-fold cross validation, external validation and decision curve analysis (DCA) were also applied to assess this model. Among 405 patients, 111 patients had PsA. Arthralgia (OR = 39.346; 95% CI: 20.139–82.579), C-reactive protein (OR = 2.008; 95% CI: 1.051–3.838), lymphocyte level (OR = 0.341; 95% CI: 0.177–0.621), hypertension (OR = 0.235; 95% CI: 0.077–0.660) and disease duration (OR = 1.033; 95% CI: 0.998–1.071) were identified as potential predictors affecting the risk of transition from moderate and severe PsO to PsA. C-index for the prediction nomogram was 0.911 (95% CI: 0.879–0.943), and was confirmed to be 0.905 through 1000-time bootstrapping internal validation. Cross validation and external validation were preformed and proved the accuracy and generalizability of this prediction model. This study establishes a quantitative predictive nomogram with good predictive power for assessing the risk of PsA in patients with moderate and severe PsO.


This paper reveals the effort of Ethiopian government to mobilize its domestic water resources to support the country's development initiatives as a better alternative to reliance on foreign aid. To achieve this objective, the researcher employed qualitative methodology. Besides, data were gathered from both primary and secondary sources. Based on the data analyzed, the study revealed that the government of Ethiopia has been committed to utilize its domestic water resources to support the overall development initiatives in the country. Accordingly, it has constructed several small and medium-scale hydro dams, which are currently supplying above 2000 MW electric power. It has also three crucial hydro dams under construction; their completion is expected to bring substantial change to the people and development for the country. Moreover, there are several dams which are planned to be constructed in the future. The findings of the study also show that, the aforementioned dam projects have been, all in all, financed and coordinated by Ethiopian government and its people. The government relied on its domestic available resources than the declining support from international donors. Thus, the study concludes that Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM), mainly water resources, has been taken as a viable means of Ethiopia's development since very early on, ahead of recent studies, which show the projected decline of foreign aid to African countries. The study calls for strong commitment of all the concerned bodies to effectuate the hydro dam projects under construction and future planned projects by sustaining their unlimited support to realize Ethiopia's vision of becoming a middle-income country in the near future.


Two approaches using genetic algorithms for feature subset selection are compared. The first approach considers a simple genetic algorithm (SGA) while the second one takes into account an iterative genetic algorithm (IGA) which is claimed to converge faster than SGA. Initially, we present an overview of the system to be optimized and the methodology applied in the experiments as well. Next, we discuss the advantages and drawbacks of each approach based on experiments carried out on NIST SD19. Finally, we conclude that the IGA converges faster than the SGA, however, the SGA seems more suitable for our problem.


Traditional semiconductor technology is based entirely on exploiting electron charge. Researchers are now investigating ways to use both electronic properties and electron spin simultaneously in semiconductors. The goal is the development of spintronic devices that integrate processing and storage capabilities thus far carried out separately. In his Perspective, [Ohno][1] highlights a new material developed by [ Matsumoto et al. ][2], a transparent room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor that may in the future be used in integrated circuit-storage-display units, for example, in electronic paper.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5505/840
 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/291/5505/854


This study aims to study the feasibility of the potential of Original Village Revenues (PADesa) in two villages (Desa Paccekke and Desa Lawallu) located in Soppeng Riaja District. The implementation of this research uses published data collection techniques (1) direct observation or monitoring of the research object. Data were analyzed using qualitative analysis methods, the method offered to provide a complete picture of the subject under discussion. Percentage of Original Income in Pacceke Village only contributed 14.9 million rupiah (0.22%), where the highest percentage was revenue originating from the self-help budget, participation and mutual assistance. Lawallu Village community participation in the implementation of development and village development is more visible, this is based on the Village Original Income Value (PADesa) sourced from the results of operations, self-help, participation and mutual cooperation, and other legitimate village original income of 25.75 million rupiah (0.32%). The original income of Pacceke Village and Lawallu Village is still relatively small based on the PADesa obtained in 2014-2018.


This review gives a brief introduction to the microarray technology and its experimental design and data analysis and a discussion of recent global progress in research using microarray technology in fi sh biology and aquaculture. DNA microarrays have been reported to have been used for the analysis of gene expression during various physiological, developmental or cellular processes in fi sh. During the recent past, investigators have begun to use microarrays on fi sh to address ecological, evolutionary and environmental questions including the variability of gene expression in natural populations, speciation, ecotype diversity, environmental remediation and host-pathogen interactions. The study suggests that a lot of gene expression studies have been conducted on salmon and zebrafi sh in Europe and USA. The same may be applied on Indian Major Carps and Catfi shes to augment productivity from aquaculture sector. Review Article Microarray Analysis of Fish Genomic Data for enhancing Aquaculture Productivity of India


Named Data Networking (NDN) performs its routing and forwarding decisions using name prefixes. This removes some of the issues affecting addresses in our traditional IP architecture such as limitation in address allocation and management, and even NAT translations etcetera. Another positivity of NDN is its ability to use the conventional routing like the link state and distance vector algorithm. In route announcement, NDN node broadcasts its name prefix which consists of the knowledge of the next communicating node. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of mobility management models used in forwarding NDN contents to a next hop. This makes it crucial to select an approach of mobility model that translates the nature of movement of the NDN mobile routers. A detailed analysis of the famous mobility model such as the Random Waypoint mobility and Constant Velocity were computed to determine the mobility rate of the NDN mobile router. Simulation analysis was carried out using ndnSIM 2.1 on Linux Version 16.1. we build and compile with modules and libraries in NS-3.29. The sample of movement of the mobile router is illustrated and our result present the viability of the Constant Velocity model as compared with the Random Way point.


Altitude estimation is important for successful control and navigation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs do not have indoor access to GPS signals and can only use on-board sensors for reliable estimation of altitude. Unfortunately, most existing navigation schemes are not robust to the presence of abnormal obstructions above and below the UAV. In this work, we propose a novel strategy for tackling the altitude estimation problem that utilizes multiple model adaptive estimation (MMAE), where the candidate models correspond to four scenarios: no obstacles above and below the UAV; obstacles above the UAV; obstacles below the UAV; and obstacles above and below the UAV. The principle of Occam's razor ensures that the model that offers the most parsimonious explanation of the sensor data has the most influence in the MMAE algorithm. We validate the proposed scheme on synthetic and real sensor data.


This study was designed in order to investigate the effect of Myrmecodia platytyrea (MyP) extract as an anti-hypercholesterolemic agent. The acute toxicological test was done by administration of single dose and followed by 14 days observation on the rat. The subchronic toxicological test was done by administration of 28 days repeated dose. Both tests showed that MyP water extract was not toxic. The bioassay-guided isolation revealed that the MyP water extract containing 2-(2-methylbutyryl) phloroglucinol glucoside which reduced 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) activity (p<0.05) with inhibition concentration 50 (IC₅₀) of 75 μg/ml. Besides that, polysaccharide showed effective concentration 50 (EC₅₀) of 50.5 μg/ml for bile acid binding. Meanwhile, rutin actively decreased pancreatic lipase activity with IC₅₀ of 130 μg/ml. Moreover, in vivo study results showed that treatment of MyP water extract can significantly reduce (p<0.05) low-density lipoprotein (LDL) compared to negative control group. The extract significantly increased (p<0.05) high-density lipoproteins (HDL) concentration compared to negative control group. In addition, MyP water extract increased faecal cholesterol and faecal bile compared to normal control group. Lipid peroxidation was significantly decreased (p<0.05) in MyP water extract treatment group. The extract also decreased the formation of the fatty streak at the aorta and significantly decreased (p<0.05) the thickness of foam cell in high cholesterol diet (HCD) induced rat…


Rhodium(III)-catalyzed C-H amidation of 2-arylindoles with dioxazolones for the synthesis of indolo[1,2-c]quinazolines is reported. The reaction is compatible with a wide range of electronically diverse 2-arylindoles and dioxazolones, providing indolo[1,2-c]quinazolines in high to excellent yields. Most notably, the combination of this Rh-catalyzed C-H amidation and intramolecular N-H/N-C(O) cyclization enables the most straightforward direct route to indolo[1,2-c]quinazolines to date. Mechanistic studies and evaluation of antitumor activity of these high value heterocycles are disclosed.


When corporate ownership and control are separated, information asymmetries arise between the uniformed principal (investor) and the informed agent (manager). Within this principal agent conflict, the communication of risks faced by the entity is crucial within a corporate governance context, as investor decisions concerning a company are mainly driven by the evaluation of chances and especially of risks regarding the future prosperity of the company. Risks can thereby only be communicated reliably as part of corporate communication (i.e. without inducing unexpected behaviors), when the informational needs of the investors are understood. In order to derive insight about which variables are important in explaining how investors perceive risks disclosed by an entity, I develop a structural equation model in which I combine two theoretical approaches of human risk perception: the "decision theory view" and the "behavioral risk perspective". For estimating the model, I make recourse to data derived from a survey that was conducted with 32 students who were asked to assess five risks which the fictitious "Alpha group" discloses in its management commentary. I chose the management commentary as the object of study, as it has a unique and increasing relevance as an instrument of capital market communication. My results suggest that both theoretical approaches are important in explaining investors ́ risk perceptions. This finding calls into question that standard-setters predominantly adopt a decision theory view concerning risk reporting, and has further implications for the development of a company ́s risk communication strategy within a corporate governance context.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the haematological explorations and blood disorders in the general pediatric department of the specialized health establishment mother and child) of Tlemcen. The sample size is 418, and data were collected using a questionnaire. The hemogram (complete blood count) was the most hematological exam realized (for 99% of patients). This study revealed a high prevalence of anemia especially in children of preschool age, and among these anemia, the hypochromic microcytic anemia is the most represented with a rate of 28%, it is mainly related to iron deficiency (found in 43% of patients), iron deficiency with or without anemia . The study also revealed the low prevalence of childhood leukemia. The prescription and the realization of complementary examinations to the hemogram should better clarify the anomalies and hematologic diseases.


VP 16-213 (etoposide, abbr. to VP), an oncostatic drug, was administered orally to pregnant Crj: CD (Sprague-Dawley) rats from day 7 through 17 of gestation at dose levels of 1, 3 and 10 mg/kg/day. The summarized results obtained are as follows: VP 10 mg/kg suppressed the maternal body weight increase from day 12 through 20 of gestation. VP 10 mg/kg brought the inhibition of fetal growth accompanied by the lowered values in body weight and body length. Furthermore, the elevated incidences of skeletal anomalies and unossified 5th and 6th sternums, as well as retarded ossification of thoracic vertebrae were also noted in this dose level. VP 10 mg/kg induced anophthalmia, microphthalmia and dilated lateral ventricles in fetuses (F1), as well as unilateral anophthalmia in offspring (F1). VP 10 mg/kg increased the days required for opening of eyelids and descending of testes in offspring (F1), but failed to affect their learning ability, motility, motor activity or emotional development. VP 10 mg/kg suppressed the growth of genital organs in F1 rats of both sexes, but failed to affect their reproductive ability or gestation period. As for F2 newborns derived from F1 rats whose dams had ever received VP 10 mg/kg during the period of fetal organogenesis, the number of implantations and survivors as well as birth indexes lowered due to changes in these items restricted to a few litters. Based on these results, the no-effect dose level of VP under the present experimental condition was estimated to be 3 mg/kg/day against dams and their offspring.


In this paper, based on the nonlocal Timoshenko beam theory, a nonlinear model is presented for the vibrational behavior of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in elastic medium in thermal environment. Using the Timoshenko beam theory and nonlocal elasticity of Eringen, the influences of rotary inertia, transverse shear deformation and small scale effect are taken into account. To model the interaction forces between walls, whether adjacent or non-adjacent, the van der Waals interlayer interactions are considered. The harmonic balance method (HBM) is used for the solution of the set of nonlinear governing equations and the frequency function of the system for the simply-supported boundary conditions is derived. Compared to the incremental harmonic balance method which has been employed in the previous studies, the HBM is simpler and has a reasonable accuracy. The effects of geometrical parameters of nanotubes such as the number of walls, the ratio of length to outer diameter and environmental conditions such as elastic medium modulus, temperature and also the effect of nonlocal parameter on the nonlinear frequency are investigated. The presented nonlinear vibration analysis is of a general form, so that they are applicable for CNTs with arbitrary number of walls. The obtained results for single-, double- and triple-walled CNTs indicate that with an increase in the number of walls, elastic medium modulus, aspect ratio and temperature, the value of nonlinear frequency tends to that of its linear counterpart. Also, a comparison between the results of the Timoshenko beam theory and those of Euler-Bernoulli beam theory shows that the difference between the frequency responses of these theories is significant for short CNTs, but, as the length increases, the difference between the results becomes negligible.


This paper presents an analytical model of instruction fetch performance of a trace cache. This paper also presents an analytical model of miss rate of a trace cache. These models can be used to analyze performance and behavior of a microarchitecture of a processor. These models are implemented in a new microarchitecture tool Tulip. Performances of several benchmark programs based on Tulip are also presented in this paper.


Abstract: Despite the development of successful strategies for averting hyperacute rejection (HAR) in both small and large animal xenograft models, a delayed xenograft rejection (DXR) ultimately occurs. This process is characterized by endothelial cell activation and graft infiltration with activated monocytes and natural killer (NK) cells. We evaluated the role of monocytes and macrophages in a guinea pig‐to‐rat model of DXR. Our results suggest that specific interactions between these cells and the xenograft occur that result in their activation, since adoptive transfer of xenoactivated splenocytes significantly accelerated both DXR and allograft rejection, while adoptive transfer of alloactivated splenocytes did not. Furthermore, while normal splenocytes caused antibody‐dependent cell‐mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) of xenogeneic endothelial cells, xenoactivated splenocytes caused significantly greater endothelial cytotoxicity by antibody‐independent mechanisms. Both normal and xenoactivated splenocytes were significantly less cytotoxic if adherent cells, consisting predominantly of monocytes and macrophages, were first removed. In vivo recipient macrophage depletion, using liposome‐encapsulated dichloromethylene diphosphonate, did not influence DXR and this may indicate that nonphagocytic circulating monocytes may be more important in DXR. However, adoptive transfer of splenocytes from a macrophage depleted, xenoactivated donor did not accelerate xenograft rejection, while splenocytes from a nondepleted xenoactivated donor did, thereby supporting the importance of monocytes and macrophages in this I phase of xenograft rejection.


Samson Agonistes is unique in its treatment of the Herculean hero so prevalent in Renaissance drama (for example, Tamburlaine, Bussy D'Ambois, Coriolanus). Milton regarded Samson as a type of Hercules; but neither the biblical nor the Greek hero was adequate as a model for the hero of his drama. Unlike other Renaissance dramatists, whose conception of the Herculean hero derived from traditional versions (for example, Sophocles' Women of Trachis) and who portrayed Hercules in all his areté, Milton's conception rested on the much more humanized hero of Euripides' Heracles. Comparison of Heracles with Samson Agonistes reveals many similarities in theme, structure, and character. The conflict in both plays is spiritual and internal, and both heroes move from a nadir of despair to insight and gradual accumulation of inner strength. A persistent image in both plays is the movement from darkness to light, in each case reflecting the thematic movement from physical blindness to spiritual vision. Furthermore, the Amphitryon-Heracles relationship is very much like that of Manoa and Samson; Theseus functions in much the same way as does the Chorus in Samson; Hera's role is similar to Dalila's; and Lycus has much in common with Harapha. Finally, both plays end with emphasis on the hero's fame in history and his continuing influence on society; and both plays ignore traditional reference to the hero's deification or immortality.


Unsuccessful exposure to hydrogen sulfide containing production fluids occurred in API N-80 and P-110 grades in the early 1950's and prompted the development of metallurgically improved and strength restricted C-75, L-80 and C-90 grade tubulars for sour service. As deeper, higher pressure wells were drilled, the need for higher performance grades escalated. For wells deeper than about 17,500 feet, economics justified higher performing quality tubulars, yet C-100 or higher performing tubulars remained unavailable. Following similar developments in other industries facing a need for higher performing, fracture resistant materials, Lone Star Steel Company has combined advanced metallurgical and processing techniques with ID and OD imperfection removal and cold forming steps to upgrade both dimensional control and steel quality of tubulars. The result is a more conservative approach which conveys C-100 performance for the LSS-95 SSGS grade. A method for statistical analysis of dimensional properties is derived and its relationship to manufacturing process design and product dimensional compliance is presented for plain-end OCTG casing.


: Cyber Terrorism attacks us at the point at which the "physical world" and "virtual world" converge. The "physical world" is physical matter that is seen, touched, and ingested every day. The "virtual world" is symbolic, that place in which computer programs function and data moves. Increasingly, people's experience of the physical world is dependent on the operations of the virtual world. This dependence and intersection of the physical world and the virtual world make masses of people vulnerable to the Cyber Terrorist. A Cyber Terrorist could remotely access the processing control systems of a cereal manufacturer to sicken and kill the children of a nation. A Cyber Terrorist could place computerized bombs around a city, all simultaneously transmitting unique numeric patterns, each bomb receiving each other's pattern, so if one bomb stops transmitting, all bombs detonate simultaneously. A Cyber Terrorist could disrupt international financial transactions, undermine air traffic control systems, alter the formulas of medication at pharmaceutical manufacturers, and sabotage utility systems. As young, educated people are brought into the folds of terrorist groups, this new generation will have the talent to execute the acts of Cyber Terrorism. Countering Cyber Terrorism requires increased cooperation and the sharing of intelligence among those responsible for the security of our virtual world. Counter-terrorism experts must be those individuals who understand the weapons being faced and have experience in fighting wars where the physical and virtual worlds meet.


This study was designed to provide practical environmental marketing data by measuring the effect of environmental marketing on customer loyalty and trust at coffee stores. The results were obtained by empirical analysis and are summarized as follows. The first hypothesis, the effect of environmental marketing on consumer trust at coffee stores, showed that environmental marketing at coffee stores had a statistically significant positive effect on consumer trust. Price, product, and facilities as sub-factors of environmental marketing at coffee stores had effects on consumer trust. Especially, facilities was the highest. The second hypothesis, the effect of environmental marketing on customer loyalty at coffee stores, showed that environmental marketing at coffee stores had a statistically significant positive effect on customer loyalty. Price, product, and facilities as sub-factors of environmental marketing at coffee stores had effects on customer loyalty. Especially, facilities was the highest. The third hypothesis, the effect of consumer trust on customer loyalty at coffee stores, showed that consumer trust at coffee stores had a statistically significant positive effect on customer loyalty. Improvement of consumer trust by environmental marketing was an important factor in improving customer loyalty. As for these findings, price, product, and facilities as sub-factors of environmental marketing at coffee stores had effects on consumer trust and loyalty. Consequently, these findings provide helpful information for coffee stores to plan environmental marketing strategies and establish direction, and they can be used for management activities.


The paper tries to apply a psychological theory of language production and interpretation to the linguistic description of pronouns. The claim is that this is possible and helpful and that a full theory of the use and interpretation of pronouns is possible from this perspective, i.e.one that can both predict when pronouns are used and what is their antecedent. In particular, the theory should be able to explain the properties of pronoun resolution, pronoun selection in natural language generation and the grammaticalisation processes that lead to pronouns. The psychological theory proposed is motivated as an account of parity: the probable identity between the speaker intention and the hearer interpretation. It has four components: a minimal account of legal forms for a given input, speaker self-monitoring for a prioritised set of features, cue-based understanding and filtering by production. A good form for an intention is legal and marks the most prioritised features best, a good interpretation meets the production filter and is most strongly cued by the signal. Descriptively, the main component of self-monitoring for pronouns is an extension of the referential hierarchy (Gundel et al., 1993). Recency, frequency and relevance are effects of cue-based interpretation and central to pronoun resolution. The role of syntax is limited to the agreement features and subclassification of pronouns. The aim of the paper is not to contribute to pronoun resolution or generation but to explore the descriptive potential of a psychologically inspired account of parity in linguistic communication, with of course the hope that the understanding of pronouns benefits from this exercise.


"Memories well up out of the depths of the unconscious and/or work away as (dis)enabling background. They are not static information, but are reworked in the light of current practice, and at the same time shape that practice" (Jones and Garde‐Hansen, 2012: 161).The aim of the forthcoming paper is to gain insight in the precarious process of welling up the sometimes hidden memories of asylum‐seekers staying in an Asylum Seekers' Residence Centre (ASCR). I will discuss how these living memories are framed and fixed in the asylum‐procedure. In order to study and define an asylum‐seeker's identity and motivations for seeking refuge, the asylum‐procedure evokes his or her memories. Herlihy & Turner (2007) assert that the chance of being granted asylum is mainly based on the asylum‐seeker's ability "to recount a coherent, consistent narrative, describing past experiences of past persecution, which fit the definition of the Geneva Convention […]. However, for many, neither remembering nor relating some of the most horrific experiences of their lives is easy" (Herlihy & Turner, 2007: 268). The data for the study, consisting of a research‐diary, interviews and sketches, are collected in an ASRC in The Netherlands. Both in‐ and outside this centre its inhabitants remain confined within the time‐space of the extended procedure. For at least halve a year, but often much longer they have to wait for the Immigration and Naturalisation Service to study their asylumrequests. Uncertain about their future they are continuously reworking their painful or even traumatic memories.


This paper discusses some ways to achieve large tilting motions with PKM by resorting to articulated travelling plate. Different known options are firstly presented: remote actuation, hybrid architectures, redundancy, rotation amplification, and translation-to-rotation transformation. Starting from two of those features, the aim of this paper is to go one step further and to analyse various ways to obtain 4-dof robots which compare directly with commercially available Delta-like robots in terms of technology, workspace, and performance while avoiding the central, telescopic, RUPUR kinematic chain.


The objective of our work is to show a useful alternative for the residual vegetable oil on the Greek island of Skiathos, where an important tourist industry exists. We propose the transformation of household and tourism originated fried oils by esterification. We estimate to treat 100 to 200 tonnes of waste oils annually, collected approximately from one hundred points and processed in modular reactors of 205 It. The biodiesel could be used for transport by the Municipality's vehicles or, if possible, by small seagoing boats. However, biodiesel production has some non-technical barriers: lack of established market, doubts over the quality as fuel and possible resistance by local he1 suppliers. On the other hand biodiesel has two major advantages: low cost and represents a sustainable waste-to-energy solution. Hence, to Implement the project we propose a plan of participatory actions.


Pressure drop along horizontal well causes unequal draw down along the well, thus reducing the effectiveness of the toe of the well, and increasing the tendency for water and gas coning at the heel. Completion has been proposed to combat this effect using a stinger that extends from the heel into the horizontal section. This reduces the magnitude of the pressure drop over the well bore, because the well is effectively split in two segments of reduced length. Based on the model of the single phase pressure drop calculation in horizontal well bore and infiltrating fluid in reservoir, the model of the reservoir flow and well bore couple flow was established, and numerical solution was given. By the analysis of the examples of stinger completion technology in a Chinese offshore oil field, the average water ratio of stinger completion was 47.4 percent lower than conventional completion oil well, the average daily oil production increase was 73.16 percent.


A method of measuring the second-order degree of coherence in an arbitrary plane by means of a compact wavefront shearing interferometer is described. The prism interferometer previously described by Saunders produces two sheared images that interfere, allowing measurement of the degree of spatial coherence. If the degree of coherence is a function of coordinate differences only, the visibility is constant; otherwise it varies over the field. Experimental results are given.


Abstract Hypothesis: The multiple stressors, in different combinations, may impact differently upon seed quality, and low-level doses of radiation may enhance synergistic or antagonistic effects. Results: During 1991–2014 we investigated the quality of the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale s.l.) seed progeny growing under low-level radiation exposure at the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT) area (result of the Kyshtym accident, Russia), and in plants from areas exposed to background radiation. The viability of the dandelion seed progeny was assessed according to chronic radiation exposure, accounting for the variability of weather conditions among years. Environmental factors (temperature, precipitation, and their ratio in different months) can modify the radiobiological effects. We found a wide range of possible responses to multiple stressors: inhibition, stimulation, and indifferent effects in different seasons. Conclusion: The intraspecific variability of the quality of dandelion seed progeny was greatly increased under conditions of low doses of chronic irradiation. Temperature was the most significant factor for seed progeny formation in the EURT zone, whereas the sums of precipitation and ratios of precipitation to temperature dominantly affected organisms from the background population.


Routine sampling of mosquito populations in rural villages was carried out during 13 months at 4 locations in southern Bali Island, Indonesia. Sampling was by light trapping and early night resting collections around animal stables. Specimens collected were preserved for assay of arthropod-borne viruses; 104,608 specimens representing 20 species were prepared in 2681 pools for viral assay. Anopheles barbirostris and An. subpictus have been shown to be important vectors of Brugia malayi and B. timori and of malaria and Wuchereria bancrofti in other parts of Indonesia but have not been incriminated in transmission of disease agents in Bali. Anopheles vagus may be involved in filarial transmission in other regions but is not regarded as important in Bali. Culex fuscocephala, Cx. gelidus and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus have been incriminated in the transmission of Japanese encephalitis virus in Indonesia and Cx. vishnui has been similarly implicated in other countries. The populations of these mosquitoes are compared and plotted against rainfall. The potential of the more common species as vector of some human pathogens is discussed.


Roles of orbital degree of freedom of Mn ions in phase transition as a function of temperature and hole concentration in perovskite manganites are studied. It is shown that the orbital order-disorder transition is of the first order in the wide region of hole concentration and the N$\rm \acute{e}$el temperature for the anisotropic spin ordering, such as the layer-type antiferromagnetic one, is lower than the orbital ordering temperature due to the anisotropy in the orbital space. The calculated results of the temperature dependence of the spin and orbital order parameters explain a variety of the experiments observed in manganites.


Molsidomine is a derivative of the sydnonimines and is a long-acting vasodilator that may be effective in the treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris. To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and drug tolerance, eight men with stable angina pectoris performed a symptom-limited maximal exercise test on a computer-assisted treadmill. After ingesting either placebo or molsidomine administered in single blind fashion 90 min before the exercise test on the first day of treatment, molsidomine decreased the average systolic blood pressure response from 154 +/- 3 (SEM) to 135 +/- 4 mmHg (p less than 0.01). However it did not significantly change the average heart rate response (117 +/- 7 to 124 +/- 8 beats/min) and the rate-pressure product (18.1 +/- 1.2 X 10(3) to 16.8 +/- 1.1 X 10(3]. The average time up to the onset of ischemia at which significant ST-segment deviation (0.1 mV) first appeared was increased from 9.0 +/- 1.7 to 12.8 +/- 1.2 min (p less than 0.001) after molsidomine. At peak exercise after molsidomine, the mean value of ST-segment deviation in V5 or aVF was decreased (p less than 0.001). This result was obtained even though the average exercise duration was increased from 11.4 +/- 1.7 to 13.6 +/- 1.2 min (p less than 0.001). The treadmill score according to Hollenberg was also improved from -47 +/- 24 to 1 +/- 14 after molsidomine administration. After six weeks of continued therapy with molsidomine the favorable effect on exercise tolerance was significantly decreased in terms of exercise duration, the time up to the onset of ischemia, and the treadmill score.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract. The integration of computer vision and photogrammetry to generate three-dimensional (3D) information from images has contributed to a wider use of point clouds, for mapping purposes. Large-scale topographic map production requires 3D data with high precision and accuracy to represent the real conditions of the earth surface. Apart from LiDAR point clouds, the image-based matching is also believed to have the ability to generate reliable and detailed point clouds from multiple-view images. In order to examine and analyze possible fusion of LiDAR and image-based matching for large-scale detailed mapping purposes, point clouds are generated by Semi Global Matching (SGM) and by Structure from Motion (SfM). In order to conduct comprehensive and fair comparison, this study uses aerial photos and LiDAR data that were acquired at the same time. Qualitative and quantitative assessments have been applied to evaluate LiDAR and image-matching point clouds data in terms of visualization, geometric accuracy, and classification result. The comparison results conclude that LiDAR is the best data for large-scale mapping.


Anemia is common among patients with malignant tumors, due to the disease and chemotherapy. Anemia decreases patient's quality of life, and worsens the dose intensity of chemotherapy. The aim of this retrospective data-analysis was to determine the rate of transfusions and the maintenance of chemotherapeutic dose intensity in 9 small cell lung cancer patients receiving beta-erythropoietin, due to anemia observed after the first cycle of chemotherapy. The mean pre-treatment hemoglobin concentration of the patients was 116.67+/-8.17 g/L (mean+/-SD). The mean pre-erythropoietin hemoglobin concentration at baseline was 103.11+/-7.52 g/L. Six cycles of platinum compounds and etoposide were used. The post-treatment hemoglobin concentration of patients was 110.11+/-5.37 g/L (p = 0,028 vs. baseline). During these 54 chemotherapeutic cycles, only 2 patients needed transfusion, each of them once. According to our experience, the use of beta-erythropoietin in 9 anemic small cell lung cancer patients resulted in a low rate of transfusions and maintenance of cytotoxic treatment dose intensity. The adequate use of beta-erythropoietin is of great help to the physician in the management of small cell lung cancer patients.


Insulin-, glucagon-, and somatostatin-containing cells were evaluated by morphometry in sections of pancreas treated for immunofluorescence. Glucagon- and somatostatin-containing cells were found to be increased in islets of streptozotocin-diabetic rats as compared to control islets.


Abstract Historically, distributions of plants and animals have shifted with changes in regional and global temperatures. Current predictions from general circulation models show changes in level and variation in temperature and rainfall over the next several decades. The magnitude and direction of such changes vary regionally. Studies are beginning to show that these changes will impact distribution of species of plants and animals, and, concomitantly, species composition of plant and animal communities. We used geographic information systems, vegetation models, and general circulation models to predict the impact of global climate change (GCC) on the distribution of vegetation at a regional scale, the state of Texas. Then we used habitat preferences for species of rodents in the state to predict how GCC would impact their geographic range and species richness. Our determination of suitable habitats for species of rodents included an average of 98% of capture points, and we found that suitable habitat averaged 62% of the geographic range of species. Size of habitat-corrected range increased an average of 2- to 3-fold under GCC, indicating that rodents were more adaptable to changes in vegetation than were other mammals we studied (e.g., lagomorphs and insectivores), whose range decreased, but similar to Chiroptera, whose ranges also increased. Geographic ranges shifted an average of 54% under a warmer, wetter climate and 61% under a warmer, drier climate, resulting in inclusion of an average of 60% new vegetation associations in the ranges under the former scenario and 64% under the latter scenario. The impact of GCC on rodents in Texas was greatest under the warmer, drier climatic scenario. Two species, Oryzomys cousei and Microtus mexicanus, were predicted to go extinct because their suitable habitats did not occur under GCC. These results demonstrated that the type of climate change (warmer, drier or warmer, wetter) and its severity would be important. GCC was predicted to have the greatest impact on rodent distributions in eastern Texas under a scenario of a warmer and wetter climate because forests expanded, whereas the impact would be greatest in western and southern Texas if climate becomes warmer and drier because desert and shrub habitats expanded. Life-history variables (e.g., habitat type or diet) were correlated with changes in size of range, location, or habitat composition, and reflected broad changes in the relative distribution of vegetation types. Granivores and herbivores used fewer new habitat associations that entered Texas after GCC than did omnivores or insectivores, as did terrestrial rodents compared with fossorial or arboreal rodents.


Location-aided routing protocol (LAR) utilizes the position information for routing. This system is simulated position information in specific areas by using mobile nodes. Movement of hosts results in routes, requiring some mechanism for determining new routes. This system finds position information using Location aided routing algorithm between each nodes. In real application, mobile nodes can apply without time consuming and saving cost to get location information using wireless sensor network. Each of the nodes is involved with calculating its position. If the position information is searched in the routing protocol, then position-based routing protocol is used. After creating the position table, all mobile nodes can transmit 64B data within active mobile nodes via Base station. The algorithm is determined locations of nodes based on the connectivity for every node in specific area. This system is demonstrated location information by using Location-Aided Routing (LAR) protocol for route discovery. This system can assist to detect location of the specific areas using mobiles nodes. Simulation results are used to draw conclusions regarding to the proposed routing algorithm. The simulation of system is implemented mobile nodes and node movement function by using C# programming language.


Rock at depth is subjected to stresses resulting from the weight of the overlying strata. When an underground opening is excavated, the stress field in this rock mass is locally disrupted and induces a new set of stresses surrounding the new opening. At tunnel and cavern associated junctions, the re-distributed stresses will alter the stress fields of adjacent openings. For example, loadings from a taller cavern will be transferred through the rock arch and concentrated as additional vertical stress above the crown of the shorter cavern. The load transferring mechanisms in this paper refer to the construction of the cavern complex, which involves developing new sewage treatment works in caverns to be constructed at Nui Po Shan, A Kung Kok, Sha Tin, to replace the existing Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works (STSTW). Upon functioning of the new STSTW, the existing site will be released for other uses beneficial to the development of Hong Kong.The works at the new STSTW occupies about 14 hectares in the area comprising of Main Access Tunnel (MAT), Secondary Access Tunnel (SAT), fifteen Process Caverns, the Main Driveway (MD), Secondary Driveway (SD), four Branch Driveways, Ventilation Shaft, Ventilation Adit, two Effluent Pipelines, and lining and portal structure of MAT and SAT. These structures are excavated mainly by the drill-and-blast method in hard rock, with rock covering more than half of the excavation span/height above the crown. They are designed as drained and are primarily supported by the rock arch, reinforced by systematic permanent rock bolts with permanent sprayed concrete. In addition, drained cast-in-situ reinforced concrete lining is proposed for poor ground conditions.For the proposed cavern complex, most of the Branch Driveways are taller than Process Caverns and MD/SD except for the middle cavern for sludge treatment (STC) purposes. STC's design span and height are 30 m and 35 m, respectively. Therefore, additional stresses are expected to transfer from Branch Driveways and STC to other Process Caverns and MD/SD. Numerical modeling using finite element methods has been established, where two-dimensional design models and three-dimensional verification models in accordance with the varying excavation profiles, overburden depth, and rock mass quality have been carried out. By observing the stress redistribution from the taller STC to other Process Caverns, the two-dimensional and three-dimensional models aim to study the stress concentration zones and the extent of the influence zone at tunnel and cavern associated junctions. The maximum deformation is located along with the crown of STC and intruding corners at the associated junctions, in which the Process Caverns with the largest excavation span and height are proposed.This paper provided a detailed description of the geology, cavern complex geometrical arrangements, rock mass properties for the modeling, methodology of modeling, and mechanism of load redistribution observed at the junctions.


Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was space selectively immobilized onto a quartz substrate using photo-reactions initiated by pulsed laser irradiation of benzophenone derivatives tethered by silane coupling to the quartz. The excitation of the benzophenone with 266 nm light yields the pi-pi* triplet state with a quantum yield of 1. This triplet state then reacts with BSA in buffer solution in contact with the modified quartz. The triplet state may form a ketyl radical by reaction with the solution or it may abstract a proton directly from the BSA becoming covalently tethered to the surface. The entire deposition process was monitored in real time, in-situ using a Brewster angle microscope (BAM).


High permittivity (K) gate insulators are projected for sub-100 nm Si MOSFETs since direct tunneling will likely limit SiO/sub 2/ thicknesses to 1.0-1.5 nm. High-K insulators avoid tunneling, but their larger physical thicknesses introduce subtle capacitive coupling phenomena such as fringing-induced barrier lowering (FIBL) that can compromise off-state leakage. In this study, device simulation examines both on and off-state drain current with very high-K gate insulators and sidewall spacers to reveal new source-side and boundary condition effects. Asymmetric devices help to distinguish the effects. A study of stacked gate insulators demonstrates a 10% increase in drive current achieved with high-K spacers in 50 nm devices.


Digitizing a historical document using ontologies and natural language processing techniques can transform it from arcane text to a useful knowledge base.The Handbook on Architecture (Handbuch der Architektur) was perhaps one of the most ambitious publishing projects ever. Like a 19thcentury Wikipedia, it attempted nothing less than a full account of all architectural knowledge available at the time, both past and present. It covers topics from Greek temples to contemporary hospitals and universities; from the design of individual construction elements such as window sills to large-scale town planning; from physics to design; from planning to construction. It also discusses architectural history and styles and a multitude of other topics, such as building conception, statics, and interior design.Not surprisingly, this project took longer than planned. The encyclopedia's first volume was partly published in 1880, and over the next 63 years more than 100 architects worked on what would become more than 140 individual publications with over 25,000 pages. One important insight of our work is that targeted text analysis support, already available today, can easily be integrated into common desktop tools to support users for their task at hand. While NLP techniques are far from perfect or comprehensive, they can already deliver knowledge discovery support that goes significantly beyond the currently used approach of full-text search and information retrieval.


We identify the conditions under which voters can induce political parties to collect information and to select policies which are optimal from the representative voter's point of view. We show that when parties are office motivated the voting rule should encourage parties to collect information. Voting rules that focus on the opposition party sometimes dominate voting rules that focus on the incumbent party. When parties are policy motivated, they also have to be motivated to select good policies. Generally, it is easier to stimulate policy motivated parties than office motivated parties to collect information. However, in contrast to office motivated parties, policy motivated parties will sometimes select policies that conflict with the representative voter's interest.


The light-matter coupling between electromagnetic modes guided by a semiconductor nanowire and excitonic states of molecules localized in its surrounding media is studied from both classical and quantum perspectives, with the aim of describing the strong-coupling regime. Weakly guided modes (bare photonic modes) are found through a classical analysis, identifying those lowest-order modes presenting large electromagnetic fields spreading outside the nanowire while preserving their robust guided behavior. Experimental fits of the dielectric permittivity of an organic dye that exhibits excitonic states are used for realistic scenarios. A quantum model properly confirms through an avoided mode crossing that the strong-coupling regime can be achieved for this configuration, leading to Rabi splitting values above 100 meV. In addition, it is shown that the coupling strength depends on the fraction of energy spread outside the nanowire, rather than on the mode field localization. These results open up a new avenue towards strong-coupling phenomenology involving propagating modes in nonabsorbing media.


Background Despite recent impressive successes in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, there are still considerable clinical challenges. To improve T cell persistence and antitumor effect, which are critical for clinical responses, various efforts have been made to optimize the CAR design such as the inclusion of a costimulatory domain(s). It is known that non-specific activation of CAR-T cells is greatly influenced by the CAR design, and excessive T cell activation leads exhaustion of T cells and depletion of naive/memory subsets important for durable clinical responses. Thus, the CAR construct needs to be optimized so that transduced T cells persist and induce potent antigen-specific response with reduced non-specific activation. For optimal T cell activation and proliferation, three signals including TCR (signal 1), co-stimulatory (signal 2), and cytokine (signal 3) signals, are essential. The conventional second and third generation CARs containing CD3ζ and a co-stimulatory domain such as a signal domain of CD28 and 4-1BB can conduct signal 1 and 2, but not signal 3. Recently, we have developed a new generation JAK-STAT CAR composed of a truncated cytoplasmic domain of the IL-2 receptor β chain and STAT3/5 binding motifs, CD28 co-stimulatory domain, and CD3ζ domain. The novel anti-CD19 JAK-STAT CAR-T cells showed antigen-specific activation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, enhanced proliferation, and limited terminal differentiation in vitro compared to second generation 28ζ CAR or 4-1BBζ CAR-transduced T cells. Furthermore, the anti-CD19 JAK-STAT CAR-T cells demonstrated superior in vivo persistence and antitumor effect in mouse models.1 In addition, we previously showed that a hinge region and the composition of a single chain variable fragment (scFv) such as the order of VH and VL regions critically influence not only antigen-dependent activation but also undesired antigen-independent activation known as tonic signaling.2 Methods In this study, we have optimized the scFv design in 28ζ CAR and JAK-STAT CAR constructs to show superior antigen-specific activation and reduced tonic signaling for several targets (CD19, CD20, Mesothelin, and GD2). And we have evaluated the feature of JAK-STAT CAR-T cells compared to 28ζ CAR-T cells. Results JAK-STAT CAR-T cells showed superior antigen-specific proliferation with less differentiated status, whereas 28ζ CAR-T cells showed antigen-independent proliferation and displayed higher exhaustion marker expression after repetitive stimulations. Conclusions These results suggest that our JAK-STAT-CARs with enhanced antigen-specific response with minimized tonic signaling targeting various antigens has the potential to demonstrate improved clinical efficacy. References Kagoya Y, et al. A novel chimeric antigen receptor containing a JAK–STAT signaling domain mediates superior antitumor effects. Nat Med 2018;24:p352–359. Okamoto S, et al. Detail analysis of non-specific activation of CD19 CAR-T cells caused by CAR design. ASGCT ( 2015)


Rural youth are the backbone of a country. It is a golden rule to remobilise the youth for their constructive involvement in any programme aimed at development of the community for the optimum utilization of best available human resources. Despite of being so salient element for building a better rural India, no serious attempt has been made to develop the integrated personality of rural youths.The present study was undertaken in Vijaypur block of Jammu district (J&K). The investigation was done to assess the important dimensions of interest and activities of rural young boys and youth. The study was carried out on 80 respondents in 4 villages of C.A.D. Block, Vijaypur, District Jammu. The main out comes of the study are very less rural youth were grouped to higher socio-economic status, which is also very less in the present scenario of rural development. Amongst all the items of social interest 'Making new friends and working with friends' were noticed as most preferred item i.e. 100 per cent in lower age group but slightly decreased as the age increases & in Political interest 'Knowledge & faith in Indian politician' has maximum percentage in all age groups and is remarkable to see that Majority of rural youth found interested in 'Respecting the family culture'. In case of economic interest 'Helping in family earning' was observed the most preferred item and 'Participating in rural religious functions' was reported positively related with the age group of rural youth in case of religious interests. It was very good to note that amongst all individual recreational activities 'Laughing' was enjoyed by every rural youth and 'Resting' was found increasing as the age was increased.


Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading source of death and morbidity, and the search continues for viable therapeutic options to stimulate new coronary growth. Low frequency vibration (LFV) can induce fluid sheer forces and cyclic stretch/strain to vascular endothelial cells and extracellular matrix which is known to up-regulate expression of pro-angiogenic mediators such as nitric oxide, vascular endothelial growth factor, and other sheer responsive proteins. Further, cyclic stretch of coronary microvascular cells has shown to induce coronary angiogenesis in-vitro, and LFV promoted arteriogenesis has recently been demonstrated in-vivo. Interestingly there has been no work to address whether transthoracic LFV massage could induce neo-coronary growth in CAD patients. We therefore present a single center, prospective, blinded, randomized, controlled pilot study protocol aiming to test whether penetrative LFV (35 Hz) applied to the upper back of refractory angina (RFA) and/or ischemic heart failure (IHF) patients (by daily 30 minute sessions, over a 3 month period) may enhance lasting myocardial perfusion and improve clinical outcomes.


The black-footed rock-wallaby (Petrogale lateralis) was once widespread and abundant in rock-piles and ranges in the Warburton region of Western Australia. However, by the 1970s a major decline in its distribution and abundance was apparent. Ranges and rock outcrops were searched with local Aboriginal people to document the past and present distribution and abundance of the species and Aboriginal knowledge of its ecology. The journals of explorers, prospectors and surveyors were examined for records of rock-wallabies. Geologists, dingo trappers and other people who had worked in the region since 1930 were interviewed to document more recent sightings. Extant, small populations of rock-wallabies were located in six ranges, where they were inhabiting extensive gabbro rock-piles and rugged quartzite gullies, often in close proximity to permanent water. None of the granite outcrops visited had extant populations. Continuing local extinctions suggest that surviving populations are under threat and management intervention is required for their long term conservation.


OBJECTIVE
To determine why methotrexate (MTX) exacerbates rheumatoid nodules in some patients, despite the effective suppression of synovial inflammation.

METHODS
Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-induced differentiation of monocytes into multinucleated giant cells was used as an in vitro model to study the effects of adenosine on nodulosis.

RESULTS
MTX at 200-2,000 nM or the adenosine A1 agonist N5-cyclopentyl adenosine (CPA) (10(-12) to 10(-9) M) or the A2 antagonist 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine markedly enhanced giant cell formation, whereas the adenosine A1 antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-dipropylxanthine completely reversed these effects. PMA, CPA, and MTX induced adenosine release by cultured monocytes at concentrations consistent with those associated with predominantly A1 effects. Furthermore, surface expression of A1 receptors was found to remain unchanged on the differentiating cells throughout the culture period.

CONCLUSION
Agents that inhibit adenosine A1 receptors might be useful in the treatment of MTX-induced rheumatoid nodulosis, while still potentiating the A2-mediated antiinflammatory effects of MTX on synovitis.


Palladium is used in several industrial applications and, given its high intrinsic value, intense efforts are made to recover the element. In this hydrometallurgic perspective, ion-exchange (IEX) technologies are principal means. Yet, without incorporating the chemical and physical properties of the Pd present in real, plant-specific conditions, the recovery cannot reach its technical nor economic optimum. This study characterized a relevant Pd-containing waste stream of a mirror manufacturer to provide input for a speciation model, predicting the Pd speciation as a function of pH and chloride concentration. Besides the administered neutral PdCl2 form, both positively and negatively charged [PdCln](2-n) species occur depending on the chloride concentration in solution. Purolite C100 and Relite 2AS IEX resins were selected and applied in combination with other treatment steps to optimize the Pd recovery. A combination of the cation and anion exchange resins was found successful to quantitatively recover Pd. Given the fact that Pd was also primarily associated with particles, laboratory-scale experiments focused on physical removal of the Pd-containing flow were conducted, which showed that particle-bound Pd can already be removed by physical pre-treatment prior to IEX, while the ionic fraction remains fully susceptible to the IEX mechanism.


Ten field trials were conducted on farmers' fields in five villages in sub humid environment of northern Nigeria during the 1998 and l 999 cropping seasons to test the performances of improved groundnut cultivars for forage and seed production. Farmers' preferences and reasons for preference of the cultivars were also assessed. All the selected (improved) cultivars out yielded the local (control) cultivar. Forage, pod and seed yields were greater for cultivar M343-801A, followed by cutlivar 88-801 and then cultivar M516-79l in that order. With the exception of Ca concentration, other nutritive value indices measured, showed sufficient concentrations for livestock production during the critical periods of low quality and scarce forage materials. Keywords: Groundnut, cultivars, food, feed, assessmention-farm


Cancer is a genetic disease. Step-wise alteration of genes that have a normal function in the cell can lead to the transformation of a healthy cell into a malignant cancer cell. Cancer genes provide several traits to the cell that allow it to become malignant. These traits have been researched for many years, and currently one knows quite well what has to change in a normal cell before a tumor can be formed. For example, cells must divide continuously, escape the immune system and cause the growth of new blood vessels among others. There are many genes that can cause these processes when deregulated, and each individual tumor alters a different combination of genes to acquire its tumorigenic traits. Knowing which combination of mutations was sustained by a tumor is important as this might make the tumor susceptible or resistant to certain treatments. There are many ways in which cancer genes get mutated. This thesis studies two ways in which cancer genes are mutated. The first way of mutation comes from gains and losses of gene DNA called DNA copy number alterations (CNAs). These alterations occur due to the fact that tumors generally lose their ability to correctly repair damage to their DNA. CNAs can alter the expression of cancer genes and thereby cause cancer. Not only cancer-related genes will be affected by CNAs, also non-related DNA can be damaged. The challenge is to separate the truly oncogenic CNAs from the non-oncogenic passenger CNAs, as these oncogenic CNAs point to novel cancer genes that can be new drug targets. This thesis introduces two methods of finding cancer genes by examining DNA copy number alterations. Multiple comparable tumor samples are used to detect regions in the DNA that are altered significantly more often than other regions, indicating that they are more important for tumor development and therefore probably causative. Analogously, a novel method is introduced to find pairwise regions in the DNA that are preferentially lost or gained together (co-occurring) or preferentially not together (mutually exclusive). It is shown that co-occurring CNAs primarily target genes that are highly similar in function. A detailed analysis of a group of three mutually exclusive CNAs made it possible to associate a novel function to a known cancer gene. The second source of mutations concerns insertions of viral or transposon DNA. These agents insert their DNA in the host genome, which can cause activation or inactivation of host genes. Occasionally they can perturb genes that allow the cell to acquire cancer-related traits. In the end these insertions will cause a tumor. By carefully examining the tumor DNA one is able to reconstruct which genes caused the cancer. Of course, not all insertions were instrumental in the development of the cancer, so also in this case the passenger events and truly causal events have to be separated. This thesis used a novel approach called Shear-Splink that allows determination of the relative number of integrations in a single tumor. Each tumor will present a variety of insertions, each with its own abundance. By examining this abundance it is possible to distinguish between insertions that happened early in tumor development (and are therefore highly abundant) and insertions that are simple passengers or only essential for a small number of cells in the tumor (who will be lowly abundant). In this thesis this has been applied to a study of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV), a retrovirus that causes breast cancer in mice through insertion of its DNA in the mouse genome. Results show that by examining the insertion abundance a model through which the tumor has developed can be recovered. Overall this thesis contributes to the analysis of tumor-causing events and especially to the determination of which combination of events is necessary to cause a tumor.


This study empirically examines the longitudinal influences of salesperson goal orientations on performance trajectories during a planned change intervention that requires learning to answer two questions. First, what is the functional form of salespeople's performance trajectories during a period of change implementation? Second, why are some salespeople better at adapting to change than others? Polynomial growth models show that the average salesperson performance trajectory displays an initial decline, gradual recovery, and eventual restabilization. Salesperson learning orientation is related positively to larger initial declines, steeper recovery slopes, and higher restabilization levels. In contrast, performance orientation is related positively to smaller initial declines, but shallower recovery slopes and lower restabilization levels. The results suggest that successful implementation of planned change interventions largely depends on identifying and appreciating the heterogeneity of individual traits that share meaning with the change. The study has implications on what sales managers should expect in terms of performance losses and gains during change and how managers can predict which salespeople will reap the largest performance benefits from a change intervention.


BACKGROUND
Permanent hair dyes are used by about one third of adult American women. Several epidemiologic studies associate hair dye use with increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma. In one study, risk increased with more prolonged exposure to darker, more concentrated, permanent dyes.

PURPOSE
The purpose of our study was to examine the relationship between hair dye use and development of certain cancers associated with hair dye use in previous studies.

METHODS
We examined prospectively the relationship between the use of permanent hair dyes and selected fatal cancers in 573,369 women. The participants provided information in 1982 on the frequency and duration of hair dye use and the color of hair dye used. Death rates were measured through 1989. Relative risks (RRs) were computed with subjects who had not used hair dyes serving as the referent group, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated on the basis of approximate-variance formulas.

RESULTS
Women who had ever used permanent hair dyes showed decreased risk of all fatal cancers combined (RR = 0.93; 95% CI = 0.89-0.98) and of urinary system cancers (RR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.49-0.87) and no increase in risk of any type of hematopoietic cancer. Women who had used black hair dyes for 20 years (0.6% of women hair dyers) or more had increased risk of fatal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (RR = 4.37; 95% CI = 1.3-15.2) and multiple myeloma (RR = 4.39; 95% CI = 1.1-18.3). These positive findings are based on three cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and two cases of multiple myeloma. We found no relationship between use of permanent hair dyes and fatal cancers of the mouth, breast, lung, bladder, or cervix, areas that were of interest as the result of earlier studies.

CONCLUSIONS
Women using permanent hair dyes are not generally at increased risk of fatal cancer. Women with prolonged use of dark, particularly black, hair dyes may have increased risk of fatal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma, but these women are a small fraction of hair dye users. Nonetheless, the removal of carcinogens from hair dyes and appropriate labeling of hair-coloring products would help reduce this potential risk.


This research is different from previous research, this research focuses on the process that forms a system in the application of recognition and measurement of fixed assets with the problems that follow based on the perspective of PSAP 07. This type of qualitative research is used in this study with a case study approach. Sources of data through interviews, documentation, and observations of asset officers and accounting officers within the Dinas Kesehatan and UPT Puskesmas of Lumajang Regency. The validity of the data using the triangulation technique. The results of the study indicate that the application of recognition and measurement of fixed assets based on the perspective of PSAP 07 is carried out by the system that has been formed in the organization. This system serves as the basis for employees who are responsible for managing fixed assets. A theoretical contribution to this research is to strengthen Institutional theory. The practical contribution is a recommendation for the government maintain the system that has been formed with the hope that the management of fixed assets in OPD will be of higher quality.


The present study examined teachers' assessment literacy (TAL) and its effect on their present assessment practices and learners' writing developments. The study sought to gain a better comprehending of the extent to which teachers' assessment literacy affects their practices and their learners' learning. In order to conduct the present study and collect the required data, the researchers employed teachers' assessment literacy inventory. The method of the study is based on Qualitative method.  The findings of the study demonstrated that teachers' assessment literacy has a statistically significant effect on learners' writing developments and teachers' assessment awareness leads teaching environments into effective and motivated assessment design. These findings of the results suggest educators considering teachers' assessment awareness in their teacher education programs. It was found that the effects of teacher assessment literacy (TAL) has strong effect on the writing developments. That is to say, teacher assessment literacy (TAL) has a significant effect on the enhancement of the writing ability by learners.


This paper investigates the problem of Named Entity Recognition (NER) for extreme low-resource languages with only a few hundred tagged data samples. NER is a fundamental task in Natural Language Processing (NLP). A critical driver accelerating NER systems' progress is the existence of large-scale language corpora that enable NER systems to achieve outstanding performance in languages such as English and French with abundant training data. However, NER for low-resource languages remains relatively unexplored. In this paper, we introduce Mask Augmented Named Entity Recognition (MANER), a new methodology that leverages the distributional hypothesis of pre-trained masked language models (MLMs) for NER. Thetoken in pre-trained MLMs encodes valuable semantic contextual information. MANER re-purposes thetoken for NER prediction. Specifically, we prepend thetoken to every word in a sentence for which we would like to predict the named entity tag. During training, we jointly fine-tune the MLM and a new NER prediction head attached to eachtoken. We demonstrate that MANER is well-suited for NER in low-resource languages; our experiments show that for 100 languages with as few as 100 training examples, it improves on state-of-the-art methods by up to 48% and by 12% on average on F1 score. We also perform detailed analyses and ablation studies to understand the scenarios that are best-suited to MANER.


Rapid warming of stored red cell concentrates demands a technique that provides careful treatment of the erythrocytes, reliability, simple handling, and prompt processing. The Fenwal BW-5, a dry-heat blood warmer, is a well-established blood heating device. However, its use is time-consuming and rather complicated. The newly developed Infusotherm 407 is a microwave blood warmer providing short prewarming time and easy handling, but its safe applicability for resuspended red cells had not previously been proven. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Using the disposable plastic Ery-Set Schiwa (100 ml NaCl 0.9%), 211 red cell concentrates were diluted; 115 were warmed by the Infusotherm 407 and 96 by the Fenwal BW-5. The age of the blood units ranged between 1 and 30 days and the volume between 300 and 350 ml after resuspension. The Infusotherm 407 produces pulsed high-frequency waves that are absorbed by the blood unit and transformed into heat. The swivelling mechanism of the rotating holder allows continuous mixing and uniform warming of the red-cell suspension. The blood temperature is registered on the bag's surface by a thermometer integrated in the rotating holder. At 32 degrees C, the warming process is stopped automatically. Within the Fenwal BW-5 a special plastic bag has to be fixed between two electrically heated thermostat-controlled plates. The bag contains the blood that is passing through in several coils. A constant working temperature is maintained by an electronic monitor system up to a blood flow of 150 ml/min. Several laboratory parameters, i.e. extracellular hemoglobin, potassium, lactate dehydrogenase, as well as mean erythrocyte volume (MCV) and osmotic fragility of the red cells were determined from samples prior to and after blood warming. Thus, apparent hemolysis, morphological changes, or discrete damage to the erythrocytes could be detected. RESULTS. We observed a slight elevation in hemolysis parameters after warming with both devices. The alterations were within the range for stored packed red cells given by the European Public Health Committee. MCV and osmotic fragility remained unchanged. We did not find any comparable data concerning diluted packed red cells for either of the devices. Our own results did not show any significant difference between the two methods of heating. DISCUSSION. From the literature, it is known that the erythrocytes of full-sized blood units with normal hematocrit are not damaged by microwave warming. In contrast, small blood units and undiluted packed red cells revealed considerable hemolysis and distinct changes in MCV and osmotic fragility.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


This paper examines the issue of test score inflation in the context of test-based accountability. The first section provides some background on the topic, describing what exactly is meant by test score inflation, reviewing the existing evidence for such inflation, and discussing why one should or should not be concerned if scores are inflated. When test scores are inflated, they are no longer good indicators of overall student skills. The second section discusses a number of ways to understand whether test score gains resulting from an accountability policy are meaningful. The third section presents some evidence on the factors driving test score improvements in Chicago following the implementation of high-stakes testing in that district. Data from the school system were obtained for students in grades 3, 6, and 8 from 1993 to 2000. The final section discusses the implications of potential test score inflation for education policy. Carefully examining the nature of gains on a high-stakes examination can reveal much about real performance changes under an accountability program. (Contains 9 tables and 28 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made 1 from the original document. 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY


There is no patient care without clinical practice. To improve the quality of health care, organizations must build a finely tuned and resilient clinical enterprise, one founded on clear role accountability and decision authority within the team. The author views scope of practice and professional standards as the foundation for practice accountability and decision authority. A case is made that an interdisciplinary, professional practice model is an appropriate delivery model in today's health care environment; a model that places the professional role in its rightful place as decision maker and supports the role's inherent accountability to evaluate and monitor practice performance. The importance of measuring professional practice performance is seen as a key link toward better understanding ways to reduce error and ensure patient safety.


Treatment strategies combining immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) with other agents have emerged as a promising approach in the treatment of cancers. AHCC®, a standardized extract of cultured Lentinula edodes mycelia, has been reported to inhibit tumor growth and enhance immune cell function. Here we investigated whether AHCC® promotes the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy in cancers. A combination of oral AHCC® and dual immune checkpoint blockade (DICB), including PD-1/CTLA-4 blockade, had reduced tumor growth and increased granzyme B and Ki-67 expression by tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells in MC38 colon cancer bearing mice compared to a combination of water and DICB. In the same tumor bearing mice, AHCC® and DICB treatment also altered the composition of the gut microbiome with the increased abundance of the species of Ruminococcaceae family which is associated with increased therapeutic efficacy of immunotherapy. The anti-tumor effect of AHCC® and DICB was not found in MC38 tumor-bearing mice treated with antibiotics. These data suggest that AHCC® increases the anti-tumor effect of DICB by enhancing T cell function and affecting the gut microbiome.


This article offers points of intersection and difference across communication research on political comedy. Based on our findings, we argue that political comedy scholarship can be usefully divided into two areas: (1) features and (2) effects. Under features, we find three overlapping but distinct areas of emphasis: political comedy's rhetorical devices and conventions, its ideological and ethical functions, and its contributions to public culture. Under effects, we construct another four areas, including knowledge and learning, attitudes and opinion, cynicism and engagement, and processing, understanding, and affinity. The essay provides an overview of studies on political comedy's features and effects, before concluding with five pathways that can bridge these divides and bring conceptual clarity to future research.