This is an open access article & it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Identification of termites is a challenging task due to variable morphological differences among species and their eusocial behaviour with different caste system. A method for easy and accurate species-level identification at any life stage is required. In this study, a 658-base pair region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was used to explore its utility in the identification of important subterranean termites. Termite specimens collected from 25 locations from various states, were characterized using specific primers for their identification. Sequence analysis and divergence among the species was assessed. The composition of the mitochondrial sequence of the COI gene in the present study was expectedly AT biased. GenBank accession numbers were obtained for the species. Sequence analysis and divergence among the species was assessed, which revealed significantly high percentage of A+T base composition. Molecular sequence information from NCBI revealed relatedness in all the collected termites, accurately as revealed by their morphological characters. The studies indicate the relevance of DNA sequencing to match different forms of termites and address ambiguities in morphological identification. The information on species diversity would help plan strategies for management of termites.


A field circuit model of the structure of the irregular coaxial resonator (ICR) based on microwave circuit theory is presented. All its circuit parameters are determined by the boundary-element method (BEM). Through this method, a complex three-dimensional electromagnetic problem is converted into two-dimensional electromagnetic and equivalent microwave circuit problems. Numerical results show good accuracy fit for engineering application. The procedure is general and can be used to analyze arbitrary irregular coaxial cavities also.


Tumor suppressor function can be modulated by subtle variation of expression levels, proper cellular compartmentalization and post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, acetylation and sumoylation. The non-genomic loss of function of tumor suppressors offers a challenging therapeutic opportunity. The reactivation of a tumor suppressor could indeed promote selective apoptosis of cancer cells without affecting normal cells. The identification of mechanisms that affect tumor suppressor functions is therefore essential. In this work, we show that BCR-ABL promotes the accumulation of the NFKBIA gene product, IκBα, in the cytosol through physical interaction and stabilization of the protein. Furthermore, BCR-ABL/IκBα complex acts as a scaffold protein favoring p53 nuclear exclusion. We therefore identify a novel BCR-ABL/IκBα/p53 network, whereby BCR-ABL functionally inactivates a key tumor suppressor.


Storytelling, allegory, and metaphor have long been associated with imaginative literature.Yet narrative presentation, analogical thought, and figurative language are constantly encountered in workaday cognition and communication as well. Likewise, role-playing andmind reading occur not only in the theater or through the overheard soliloquies of poetry and the psychological novel. They are omnipresent in ordinary life. Such shared features of literary and nonliterary mentation could understandably prompt MarkTurner's (: v) epigrammatic formulation: ''the literary mind is the fundamental mind.'' After all, we do not need to leave one mind in the cloak room and rent a different mind for the proper appre-


We study dwarf satellite galaxy quenching using observations from the Geha et al. NASASloan Atlas/SDSS catalogue together with {n-ary logical and} cold dark matter cosmological simulations to facilitate selection and interpretation. We show that fewer than 30 per cent of dwarfs (M* ≃ 108.5-9.5M⊙) identified as satellites within massive host haloes (Mhost ≃ 1012.5-14M⊙) are quenched, in spite of the expectation from simulations that half of them should have been accreted more than 6 Gyr ago. We conclude that whatever the action triggering environmental quenching of dwarf satellites, the process must be highly inefficient. We investigate a series of simple, one-parameter quenching models in order to understand what is required to explain the low quenched fraction and conclude that either the quenching time-scale is very long (>9.5Gyr, a 'slow starvation' scenario) or that the environmental trigger is not well matched to accretion within the virial volume. We discuss these results in light of the fact that most of the low-mass dwarf satellites in the Local Group are quenched, a seeming contradiction that could point to a characteristic mass scale for satellite quenching. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.


Owing to fuel scarcity and environmental contamination set off by the conventional sources, renewable energy resources rule the world of power generation. Up gradation of energy production through wind farms is being encouraged now-a-days, as the wind power is dirt free, readily available renewable alternative. The integration of wind farms with power grid leads to Power Quality (PQ) issues such as voltage sag, swell, flicker, harmonics etc. Most of the industrial and commercial loads are of non-linear type which indeed the starting place of harmonics. As 70% of PQ problems are voltage sag which is one of the most severe disturbances to sensitive loads. As an outcome of the aforementioned issues both consumer sector and production sector gets affected with poor quality of power which urge PQ enhancement at its best level. Among many of custom power devices, Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) is the only device used to diminish both voltage sag and current harmonics. This paper analyzes PQ problems, voltage sag and current harmonics due to the interconnection of grid connected wind turbine and also provides PQ enhancement by introducing UPQC. To improve the performance of UPQC, a novel control strategy using Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is proposed which eliminates the drawback of using fixed gains in conventional PI controller. From the simulation results, by comparing controller performance, the proposed fuzzy controlled UPQC provides effective and efficient mitigation of both voltage sag and current harmonics than the conventional PI controlled UPQC, thus making the grid connected wind power system more reliable by providing good quality of power.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the practices and challenges of online learning or so called Learning From Home (LFH) in English Department during the even semester 2019/2020 academic year. The subject of this study are 8 lecturers of English Department at STKIP Al Hikmah. This study employed descriptive qualitative research design. The instrument used is daily online teaching monitoring and evaluation questionnaire. The result of this study is categorized into five aspects namely 1) online learning applications frequently used by the lecturers are WhatsApp, Google Classroom, Schoology, Quizizz, E-mail,  Zoom Cloud Meeting, Email, and Youtube 2) online learning activities frequently conducted by the lecturers are uploading materials, discussion forum, conducting quizzes, uploading assigment,, and video conferences, 3) scheduled assignment submission rate, 4) students' participation rate and 5) challenges and alternative solution proposed by the lecturers during the online learning.


This paper is to develop an economic model that is appropriate to analyse the expected impact of air pollution policies on national economic performance and on household incomes for various socio-economic groups. The model includes the impact of economic activities on air quality in urban areas as well as the impact of urban air quality on the economy. Application of this model in Indonesia suggests that an implementation of policies to improve urban air quality might also induce a higher GDP and increase the income of poor households in the country.


Introduction: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the disclosure or nondisclosure of information regarding environmental performance by polluting companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange according to the requirements of the current laws and regulations, as well as the accounting standards of Iran (VAT rules, the fifth development plan, the collection of some of the government revenues and other relevant laws). Methods: In this study, there was an attempt to use the descriptive survey method for research. To this aim, five issues regarding the environmental performance reporting were investigated in 47 polluting companies including 9 industries during 2002–2008. Results: The results obtained through binominal test demonstrate that at least 50% of the observations made about the polluting companies are indicative of the fact that their board of directors discloses the information regarding the environmental financial performance to the general assembly meeting via financial notes and reports. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that polluting companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange disclose their environmental financial performance to the general assembly meeting through notes with financial statements, and also through the reports of board of directors. It is worth mentioning that as long as the disclosure of information regarding the environmental performance is arbitrary and voluntary, companies use different procedures for reporting, and their level of disclosure of environmental performance fluctuates.


The authors report on a case in which a carotid-cavernous fistula and an associated cavernous-carotid dissection developed in a 48-year-old man following a motor vehicle accident. The fistula was treated with coil embolization via a combined transarterial-transvenous approach. The dissected carotid artery segment was treated with a balloon-expandable stent, which restored normal caliber and hemispheric flow. There was no recurrence of the fistula and the postoperative wide patency of the carotid artery indicates that stent placement is an effective method of treating traumatic intracranial artery dissections.


In warm forming of aluminum sheet materials, determination, realization, and maintenance of optimal temperature gradient is a key process parameter for increased formability. In this study, a two-phase procedure for efficient and accurate determination of proper temperature condition for warm forming of aluminum sheet metal blanks is presented using a hybrid 3D isothermal/non-isothermal finite element analysis (FEA) and design of experiments (DOE) approach. First, the relative trend, priority and overall temperature ranges of aluminum sheet metal blank regions are obtained using isothermal FE modeling and DOE techniques to reduce the analysis time significantly. In this phase, different temperature levels were assigned onto different regions of the deforming blank material (i.e., holding region, corner region, etc.). Heat transfer with the tooling and environment during the deformation process is ignored in order to achieve rapid predictions. Second, few additional non-isothermal FEAs, taking heat transfer into account, are conducted to validate and to refine the warm forming conditions based on the results from the isothermal FEA/DOE analysis. The proposed hybrid methodology offers rapid and relatively accurate design of warm forming process, especially for large parts that require 3D FE analysis. In addition, effects of forming speed v, friction , and blank holder pressure on formability are investigated. Increasing part formability is observed with decreasing punch speed and blank holder pressure while an optimal process window is found in case of varying friction coefficients. DOI: 10.1115/1.2162913


In this part of the chapter we have described the characteristics of two alternating sleep states - REM and NREM sleep in preterm and full-term infants. We have indicated how individual physiologic measures, recorded during sleep, mature and become synchromized into patterns that define the sleep states. We have described abnormalities in this process and have related them to clinical populations of deviant infants. Throughout, we have emphasized the complexity of the process and the methodologic sophistication required to investigate adequately the multiple dimensions of sleep. Despite somewhat discrepant and confusing reports in the literature, we continue to believe that sleep studies will provide rewarding insights into the central nervous system functioning of the developing young infant.


The performance of a cross-functional team depends on the skillful and innovative combination of information and expertise from all team members. Communication is the medium through which team members share the information required for successful amalgamation. In this work, we postulate that both high and low levels of team communication can impede team performance, thus leading to a curvilinear relationship between team performance and team communication. To test this hypothesis, the relationships between face-to-face, e-mail, and telephone communication and team performance were examined for 60 cross-functional project teams. E-mail and face-to-face communication were curvilinearly associated with performance, but telephone communication was not. Further analysis of the communication frequency between colocations showed that e-mail is the only medium for which usage increased with distance.


The patellar tendon lesion is very important due to the role of this tendon on the conformation of the extensor mechanism of the quadriceps. When the terminal end of this mechanism is injured, the extensor function of the knee is completely lost and thus the functional capability of the involved limb is completely disrupted.


Perfectionism has been shown to be related to depressive symptomatology in both adult and child populations. However, there are no known studies of levels of socially prescribed (SPP) and self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) in nonclinical children versus those with a clinically diagnosed depressive disorder. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine SPP and SOP as predictors of depressive diagnoses in a sample of 10- to 11-year-old children. Seven hundred and eighty-six children (390 boys, 396 girls) from primary schools in low socio-economic metropolitan areas completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (CAPS) as part of a larger study. Children who scored above the clinical cut-off for the CDI also completed part of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-IV. Fifty children met criteria for a diagnosis of a depressive disorder. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to predict diagnostic status from SPP, SOP, gender, and intervention group. SPP was the only significant predictor of diagnostic status. Implications for the treatment and prevention of childhood depression are discussed.


Abstract The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of hot rolled Mg-12Gd-1Zn-0.5Zr-0.5Ag (in wt.%) (MGZKA) alloys, with and without Al and Li additions, were investigated in this study. The Al and Li-containing alloys achieved excellent overall mechanical properties, especially MGZKA-6Al5Li alloy with a high elastic modulus of 52.2 GPa and a good plasticity of 15%. Compared with Al and Li-free MGZKA alloy, the fragmented Al2Gd and nanoscale Al2Li3 phases with high modulus are observed in Al and Li-containing MGZKA-4Al3Li and MGZKA-6Al5Li alloys, which contribute to the overall elastic modulus of the alloys. The dynamic recrystallization regions of Al and Li-containing alloys increased while c/a ratio reduced, leading to the weakened texture. The activation of non-basal slip in Al and Li-containing alloys is closely related to the fine grains and weakened texture, which jointly promote the plasticity of Al and Li-containing alloys.


Evaluating novel authentication systems is often costly and time-consuming. In this work, we assess the suitability of using Virtual Reality (VR) to evaluate the usability and security of real-world authentication systems. To this end, we conducted a replication study and built a virtual replica of CueAuth [52], a recently introduced authentication scheme, and report on results from: (1) a lab-based in-VR usability study (N=20) evaluating user performance; (2) an online security study (N=22) evaluating system's observation resistance through virtual avatars; and (3) a comparison between our results and those previously reported in the real-world evaluation. Our analysis indicates that VR can serve as a suitable test-bed for human-centred evaluations of real-world authentication schemes, but the used VR technology can have an impact on the evaluation. Our work is a first step towards augmenting the design and evaluation spectrum of authentication systems and offers ground work for more research to follow.


Abstract Large-scale loss and degradation of North American native prairie coupled with sharp declines in grassland bird populations call for a clear understanding of the effects of livestock production on bird habitat selection. Grassland birds typically select breeding habitat based on a suite of structural and community vegetation features shaped by grazing. Rangeland health indices are a tool for assessing grassland structure and community composition that may offer biologists and range managers common language to achieve grassland bird recovery goals. We used point-count surveys, vegetation measures, and indices of rangeland health to examine bird-habitat relationships on native grassland in southwestern Saskatchewan for 10 grassland bird species. We used an information theoretic approach to compare the support of three hypotheses explaining variation in bird abundance as a function of local vegetation characteristics: bird abundance is best explained by 1) vegetation structure, 2) vegetation structure heterogeneity, or 3) plant community. Vegetation structure variables were present in top-ranking models (i.e., models within four Akaike information criterion units of top model) for eight species and solely comprised top-ranking models for Baird's sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii), chestnut-collared longspur (Calcarius ornatus), horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), McCown's longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), and savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis). Structural heterogeneity variables were present in top-ranked models for grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), and western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta). Plant composition variables solely comprised top-ranking models for clay-colored sparrow (Spizella pallida) and were present in top-ranked models for grasshopper sparrow and vesper sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus). Our results indicate that vegetation structure variables, namely litter mass, vegetation volume, and bare ground cover, best explain variation in bird abundance. Although the rangeland health index received little support as a predictor of bird abundance, vegetation structure components of the index could be used to communicate grazing management guidelines that maintain grassland bird habitat.


ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of postmenopausal hormone therapy on coagulation and whether this effect differs according to ABO blood groups. MethodsThis was a prospective observational study to evaluate factor VIII (FVIII) activity, factor von Willebrand (vWF), and D-dimer (D-Di) levels and ABO blood groups in 61 postmenopausal women using oral estrogen plus progestogen therapy (EPT; 2 mg estradiol + 1 mg norethisterone acetate) for 3 months and in 101 women not using EPT. After 3 months, all eligible women who had completed the treatment scheme proposed for the EPT group or those who opted to participate but had not undergone EPT had a blood sample collected for analysis. ResultsSignificant differences were observed in FVIII activity and vWF levels in the control group between those carrying group O and non–group O blood. For EPT users, significant differences were observed for FVIII activity, vWF, and D-Di levels. After a multivariate regression analysis, FVIII activity and ABO blood groups were independently associated with vWF levels, whereas interaction between ABO blood groups and EPT were independently associated with FVIII activity. Besides diabetes, the ABO × EPT interaction was also noted to be independently associated with D-Di levels. ConclusionsThese findings suggest an interactive effect between oral EPT and non-O blood groups, contributing to the mechanism by which estrogen triggers the hypercoagulability state and increased risk for venous thrombosis in women undergoing oral EPT.


are quite the psychological depressed Patients with depression frequently experience painful somatic symptoms, which may be the only symptoms reported to the physician. In addition, patients with chronic painful medical illnesses frequently suffer comorbid depression. Antidepressants have been used successfully to treat psychological and physical symptoms of depression as well as chronic pain in nondepressed patients. Although the precise mechanisms by which antidepressants relieve symptoms of depression and pain are not clearly understood at this time, evidence suggests that serotonin and norepinephrine are involved in both. Antidepressants that act via modifying both serotonergic and noradrenergic neurotransmission may have an advantage compared with antidepressants that primarily affect only one of these neurotransmitter systems, particularly in patients with both depression and painful physical symptoms.


Visceral adipose tissue is now recognized as an endocrine organ that plays a key role in organismal homeostasis by integrating metabolic and immunological aspects. In healthy individuals, this fat depot participates in the storage and release of lipids as per physiological demand, while maintaining a local anti-inflammatory environment. In this regard, recent findings highlight the pivotal role of distinct subtypes of mesenchymal stromal cells (mSCs) as orchestrators of metabolic homeostasis by engendering adipocytes to sustain adequate lipid storage as well as immune regulators via cross-talk with specialized tissue-resident immunocytes, especially regulatory T cells (Tregs) and Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC2s) to prevent the development of local inflammation. In addition, these stromal-immunocyte interactions are influenced by a number of physiological conditions such as aging and sex hormones. Perturbation of VAT equilibrium occurring during obesity appreciably alters the distribution and phenotype of mSCs, immunocytes and other cell types, thereby promoting the development of chronic, low-grade inflammation locally and systemically. These alterations impair metabolic signaling and substantially contribute to the onset of disease, including type 2 diabetes. The present mini-review discusses the latest advances in this area, with an emphasis on the newly uncovered heterogeneity of mSCs, how they communicate with Tregs and ILC2s under different physio-pathological circumstances and future challenges to face.


We performed two successive operations in a 39-year-old pregnant woman with myasthenia gravis (MG) with perioperative administration of dexmedetomidine. The first was an emergency cesarean section at 28 weeks' gestation. The patient was administered vecuronium, a muscle relaxant during the operation. She was sedated with dexmedetomidine for prolonged postoperative intubation until she was conscious and the effects of vecuronium had worn off. Extubation was successfully performed within half an hour of regaining consciousness. The second operation was an extended thymectomy performed under general anesthesia. Dexmedetomidine was administered intravenously as an adjunctive anesthetic without vecuronium. Extubation was successfully performed immediately after the operation. Here, we report a successful perioperative management with dexmedetomidine in a patient with MG, without any complications. Although dexmedetomidine has been considered useful for perioperative management of patients with MG, further consideration regarding its use in such cases is needed.


'Social Realism' has long underpinned the dominant discourse in history
education in England (Smith, 2017). Its commitment to 'powerful' disciplinary
knowledge has enabled history educators to assert the unique contribution
that their subject makes to a child's education and fomented an apparent
consensus about the aims and purposes of a history education.
In this paper, we argue that it is increasingly a consensus under strain. While
the terms 'powerful knowledge' and 'social realism' are widely used by
history educators, their overuse as rhetorical devices has weakened their
precision and undermined some of their theoretical potency. We suggest
that this has given rise to a split within social realist history educators
between 'Radical' and 'Traditional' social realists. Both use the language of
social realism and both subscribe to the theory's epistemic underpinning, but
disagree about the nature and significance of powerful knowledge.
These are wide-ranging context models which we intend to develop in more
detail elsewhere. We here restrict our analysis to the theorisation of powerful
knowledge in each.


: Attosecond science capitalizes on the extreme nonlinearity of strong fields, driven by few-cycle pulses, to attain attosecond temporal resolution and give access to the electron motion dynamics of matter in real-time. Here, we measured the electronic delay response of the dielectric system triggered by a strong field of few-cycle pulses to be in the order of 425 ± 98 as. Moreover, we exploited the electronic response following the strong driver field to demonstrate all-optical light field metrology with attosecond resolution. This field sampling methodology provides a direct connection between the driver field and the induced ultrafast dynamics in matter. Also, we demonstrate the quantum electron motion control in dielectric using synthesized light waveforms. This on-demand electron motion control realizes the long-anticipated ultrafast optical switches and quantum electronics. This advancement promises to increase the limiting speed of data processing and information encoding to rates that exceed 1 petabit/s, opening a new realm of information technology.


The aim of this study was to at tempt to assess the suitability of proton spectroscopy (1HMRS) in deter mining the metabolic state of the lower leg muscles in healthy volunteers before and after intense exercise. 30 healthy volunteers participated in the study, performed on a 1.5T MR scanner using a point-resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence. VOI (Volume of Interest) was localized in the tibialis anterior and soleus muscle lower leg. The data were processed using GE spectroscopy tools. We analyzed on all MR spectra the following metabo lits: intramyocellular lipids (IMCL), extramyocellular lipids (EMCL), carnitine (Ct), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho), trimethylamines (TMA), glucose (Glc), taurine (Tau) and lactate (Lac). We compared the resultant intensity ratios using t - test. Based on statistical analysis of results, there was no si gnificant difference between average value of relative (WSS) (p<0.05) before and after exercise for either the tibialis anterior muscle or soleus muscle. Only the division of the research group into subgroups showed statistical differences. For the tibialis anterior (TA) showed an increase in the TMA subgroup of male group, volunteers whom doing sport occasionally and non smoking. Ct decrease in subgroup volunteers whom exercise time was exactly 20 minutes. For soleus muscle (SOL) increase IMCL(CH2) in subgroup of volunteers whom exercise time was exactly 20 minuts and non smoking. In the subgroup of volunteers doing sports professionally Ct increase after exercise. 1HMRS allows noninvasive studies of muscle metabolism before and after exercises.


Background: This paper discusses the molecular mechanism of Tanreqing (TRQ) in the treatment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) using the network pharmacology approach. Our study provides new ideas on the laboratory research and clinical treatment of the disease. Method: Information on the chemical constituents of TRQ and the genes targeted by the disease was collected. The common gene targets of the drug and the disease were input into the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins(STRING)database to understand the interaction among target proteins. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and a network of the chemical constituents of TRQ and their targets were constructed using Cytoscape. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed using the R program and other relevant software packages. Results: Twenty-eight active chemical constituents and 365 gene targets were identified for TRQ. Out of these genes, 113 were also found to be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Enrichment analysis revealed the therapeutic role that TRQ could have played in the treatment of COVID-19, via the regulation of important pathways such as the renin–angiotension system, neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, phospholipase D (PLD) signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway, and the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway. Conclusions: This study attempts to predict the molecular mechanism of TRQ in the treatment of COVID-19, and suggests TRQ intervention through multiple targets and pathways in processes including inflammatory response, immune regulation, and apoptosis during the treatment of the disease. This study indicates the potential rational application of TRQ in the clinical treatment of COVID-19.


ABSTRACT The OxyR regulon is known to mediate protection against oxidizing agents in Salmonella typhimurium. We reported previously that ahp, one of the OxyR-regulated loci, is induced during macrophage interaction (K. P. Francis, P. D. Taylor, C. J. Inchley, and M. P. Gallagher, J. Bacteriol. 179:4046–4048, 1997). We now report on the effects of disrupting ahp oroxyR on virulence in a BALB/c mouse model. Surprisingly, insertion of a Mudlux derivative within ahpCwas found to result in attenuation, while irreversible inactivation of the locus through insertion of a cml cassette did not. An SL1344 derivative carrying anoxyR::kan disruption was also found to be as virulent as the parental strain. Moreover, both cell-mediated and humoral responses to AhpC were found to develop during the course of infection, probably through T-helper-cell (type I) activation. These results indicate that, although not essential for virulence, AhpC is expressed by S. typhimurium during infection of BALB/c mice and constitutes a target for the immune system.


The amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from concatenated erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) in a 10 Gb/s 500 km soliton transmission system has been successfully reduced through the use of a nonlinear amplifying-loop mirror (NALM). By using the NALM the ratio of the signal peak to ASE was improved from 17.4:1 to 24.9:1. A similar result was obtained for a nonlinear optical-loop mirror (NOLM) with a 6:4 directional coupler. It is noted that pulse transmission through the NALM or the NOLM gives rise to frequency chirp, which means that these fiber devices are not appropriate for use at the midpoint of a long-distance soliton transmission. The chirp characteristics caused by the NALM were also described and the optimum condition for nonlinear switching was obtained. >


This is a review of the literature available on data for the EROI (prior to this special issue) of the following 12 sources of fuel/energy: oil and natural gas, coal, tar sands, shale oil, nuclear, wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, wave/tidal and corn ethanol. Unfortunately, we found that few studies have been undertaken since the 1980s, and such as have been done are often marked more by advocacy than objectivity. The most recent summary of work and data on the EROI of fuels was conducted in the summer of 2007 at SUNY ESF and appeared on The Oil Drum website and in a readable summary by Richard Heinberg. This paper summarizes the findings of that study, and also those preceding and subsequent to it where available. It also summarizes issues raised by some concerning the findings of these studies and with the calculations within. While there are many who believe that such EROI studies are critical to understanding our financial and social future there seems to be very little interest by governments and industries in supporting this research or in using or promulgating such research as has been done. We view this as critical as our main fuels are progressively depleted and as we are faced with making extremely important decisions on a very meager analytical and data base, and with few scientists trained to cut through the reams of insufficiently analyzed energy advocacy saturating our media and the blogosphere.


Poverty alleviation is one of the means of eradicating poverty and establishing ideal sustainable livelihoods. Since most poverty alleviation programmes are delivered within the public service institutional set up, the pursuit for sustainable livelihoods can only be realized if the public service delivery system is sustainable. This article discusses poverty alleviation and service delivery in the South African context. In so doing, it draws on three major poverty surveys in South Africa the findings of which have been documented in the First Carnegie Commission's Report of 1932, the Second Carnegie Commission Report of 1984 and the 1998 Poverty and Inequality Report. Against this backdrop, a conceptual framework linking poverty alleviation to service delivery is developed. The article then provides a discussion on sustainable service delivery as a pre-requisite for successful poverty alleviation programmes and concludes with recommendations on how this could be translated into practice and the role of NGOs in this regard.

 Key words: Poverty alleviation, sustainable livelihoods, sustainable service delivery, South Africa


Conventional pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) schemes fully depend on a microprocessor (MPU) for extensive real-time computation, intervention, and housekeeping, and are limited to applications at low fundamental frequencies and low precision. At 20-kHz switching, the overhead of a modern 16-bit CPU increases up to 90%, making virtually no time available for regular control tasks. It also has poor cycle-to-cycle accuracy of /spl plusmn/5-10 /spl mu/s. A novel self-managed high-frequency and precision PWM architecture and integrated circuit are developed for distributed drive control systems. This architecture permits near-zero interfacing rate with the coprocessor, thus eliminating the overhead of the MPU's intervention and housekeeping, while being capable of both asynchronous and synchronous PWM at a range of 0-1000 Hz of fundamental frequencies, expandable to several kilohertz. A cycle-to-cycle accuracy of 50 ns is achievable in precision open-loop control. Experimental results verify our new design. This effectively supports distributed ac drive systems with highly coordinated controls.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

It is thought that SP-C/CC10 double positive cells, which normally contribute to the renewal of lung epithelial cells, are the origin adenocarcinoma (ADC) of the lung. The present study shows that postnatal disruption of Runx3 in the mouse lung results in dedifferentiation of bronchiolar epithelial cells into SP-C/CC10 double positive cells. The double positive cells differentiate into SP-C single positive cells and adenoma (median survival, longer than 1 year). When Adenovirus-Cre was infected, LSL-K-RasG12D mice induced ADC in prolonged latency (median survival, 220 days) and Runx3f/f/LSL-K-RasG12D mice rapidly induced ADC (median survival, 79 days), indicating a strong tumor suppressor activity of Runx3. When Cre was activated in a limited number of cells through a leaky activation of Cretm/ERT in the absence of tamoxifen, K-RasLSL-G12D/+/Cretm/ERT mice did not induce lung ADC. In contrast, simultaneous inactivation of Runx3 and activation of K-Ras (Runx3f/f/K-RasLSL-G12D/+/Cretm/ERT) induced lung ADC with striking morphological similarities to human lung ADC in all mice (median survival, 48 days after birth). We also found that Runx3 forms a complex with BRD2 (a relative of TAF250) in a K-Ras activity-dependent manner and the complex transiently induces p14ARF and p21. When K-Ras was constitutively activated, the Runx3-BRD2 complex was maintained for long time and the expressions of p14ARF and p21 was continued. Disruption of the Runx3-BRD2 complex abolished expression of these two genes. These results suggest that cells recognize oncogenic K-Ras through a monitoring system composed of Runx3-BRD2 complex and Runx3-inactivation leads to abrogation of the monitoring system as well as dedifferentiation of lung epithelial cells.

Citation Format: You-Soub Lee, Ju-Won Jang, Xin-Zi Chi, Yoshiaki Ito, Suk-Chul Bae. Identification of Runx3 as a gatekeeper of lung adenocarcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2960. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2960


This study is a continuation of a series of papers dealing with topotecan interaction with double-stranded polydeoxyribonucleotides. We showed earlier that topotecan molecules form dimers in solution at concentration above 10(-5) (per base pair). Topotecan interaction with calf thymus DNA in solutions of low ionic strength was studied by fluorescence, circular dichroism, and linear flow dichroism. The data obtained indicate that topotecan forms two types of complex with DNA, DNA molecules combining with each other during formation of one of these complexes. The association constant of two topotecan-filled DNA molecules with each other was estimated at 10(4) M-1 (per base pair) in 1 mM sodium cacodylate buffer, pH 6.8, at 20 degrees C. A possibility of modulation of DNA topoisomerase I activity by topotecan due to complexation with several sites of a supercoiled DNA molecule is discussed.


Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) features poor prognosis which partialy attributed to the high metastasis rate. However, there is no effective target for systemic TNBC therapy due to the absence of estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor 2 receptors (ER, PR, HER-2) up to date. In the present study, we evaluated the role of sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) and its catalysate sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) in TNBC metastasis, and the antitumor activity of SphK2 specific inhibitor ABC294640 in TNBC metastasis. Methods: The function of SphK2 and S1P in migration of TNBC cells was evaluated by Transwell migration and wound healing assays. The molecular mechanisms of SphK2/S1P mediating TNBC metastasis were investigated using cell line establishment, western blot, histological examination and immunohistochemistry assays. The antitumor activity of ABC294640 was examined in TNBC lung metastasis model in vivo. Results: SphK2 regulated TNBC cells migration through the generation of S1P. Targeting SphK2 with ABC294640 inhibited TNBC lung metastasis in vivo . p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1), p-Lin-11/Isl-1/Mec-3 kinase 1 (LIMK1) and Cofilin1 was the downstream signaling cascade of SphK2/S1P. Inhibition of PAK1 suppressed SphK2/S1P induced TNBC cells migration. Concusion: SphK2/S1P promotes TNBC metastasis through the activation of the PAK1/LIMK1/Cofilin1 signaling pathway. ABC294640 potently inhibits TNBC metastasis in vivo which could be developed as a novel agent for the clinical treatment of TNBC.


Language is not merely reproducing means in order to re-voice ideas, but on top of that, it can construct the idea too. This theory has been applied since the administration of New Order government, a practice that has allowed the government to have a special policy to direct the development of Indonesian language. Therefore, it has not only been functioning as a medium of communication supporting the life of the state, but at the end it has also been functioning as an effective means of instruction in certain discourse with specific purpose appealed by the government.


An extraordinarily large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are now available in humans as well as in other model organisms. Technological advancements may soon make it feasible to assay hundreds of SNPs in virtually any organism of interest. One potential application of SNPs is the determination of pairwise genetic relationships in populations without known pedigrees. Although microsatellites are currently the marker of choice for this purpose, the number of independently segregating microsatellite markers that can be feasibly assayed is limited. Thus, it can be difficult to distinguish reliably some classes of relationship (e.g. full‐sibs from half‐sibs) with microsatellite data alone. We assess, via Monte Carlo computer simulation, the potential for using a large panel of independently segregating SNPs to infer genetic relationships, following the analytical approach of Blouin et al. (1996 ). We have explored a 'best case scenario' in which 100 independently segregating SNPs are available. For discrimination among single‐generation relationships or for the identification of parent–offspring pairs, it appears that such a panel of moderately polymorphic SNPs (minor allele frequency of 0.20) will provide discrimination power equivalent to only 16–20 independently segregating microsatellites. Although newly available analytical methods that can account for tight genetic linkage between markers will, in theory, allow improved estimation of relationships using thousands of SNPs in highly dense genomic scans, in practice such studies will only be feasible in a handful of model organisms. Given the comparable amount of effort required for the development of both types of markers, it seems that microsatellites will remain the marker of choice for relationship estimation in nonmodel organisms, at least for the foreseeable future.


Sustainability assessment using a life‐cycle approach is indispensable to contemporary bioprocess development. This assessment is particularly important for early‐stage bioprocess development. As early‐stage investigations of bioprocesses involve the evaluation of their ecological and socioeconomic effects, they can be adjusted more effectively and improved towards sustainability, thereby reducing environmental risk and production costs. Early‐stage sustainability assessment is an important precautionary practice and, despite limited data, a unique opportunity to determine the primary impacts of bioprocess development. To this end, a simple and robust method was applied based on the standardized life‐cycle sustainability assessment methodology and commercially available datasets. In our study, we elaborated on the yeast‐based citric acid production process with Yarrowia lipolytica assessing 11 different substrates in different process modes. The focus of our analysis comprised both cultivation and down‐stream processing. According to our results, the repeated batch raw glycerol based bioprocess alternative showed the best environmental performance. The second‐ and third‐best options were also glycerol‐based. The least sustainable processes were those using molasses, chemically produced ethanol, and soy bean oil. The aggregated results of environmental, economic, and social impacts display waste frying oil as the best‐ranked alternative. The bioprocess with sunflower oil in the batch mode ranked second. The least favorable alternatives were the chemically produced ethanol‐, soy oil‐, refined glycerol‐, and molasses‐based citric acid production processes. The scenario analysis demonstrated that the environmental impact of nutrients and wastewater treatment is negligible, but energy demand of cultivation and down‐stream processing dominated the production process. However, without energy demand the omission of neutralizers almost halves the total impact, and neglecting pasteurization also considerably decreases the environmental impact.


Background This study analyzed the distribution of Rh serological phenotype in people living in Hangzhou, China, and assessed the necessity of its routine clinical detection and homotypic infusion. Material/Methods Blood donors and patients who might need blood transfusion were enrolled into the study, and ABO and 5 major Rh serological antigens (C, c, D, E, and e) were routinely detected. The consistent ABO and Rh serological phenotype blood was transfused between the blood donors and recipients. Irregular antibodies were screened and identified in patients before the blood transfusion. Then, the transfusion adverse effects were monitored and compared with the previous data in the hospital. Results The phenotypic frequencies of Rh blood groups were D>C>E>c>e. The CCDee was the most common phenotype and CcdEe was the least common. The detection rate of unexpected antibodies gradually increased, while the unexpected antibodies slowly decreased in the Rh system. There was a correlation between the isotypic infusion of 5 Rh antigens and the detection rate of antibodies in the Rh system (R=0.845). The adverse effects of blood transfusion declined from 19.95% in 2011 with just homotypic ABO infusion to 3.098% in 2019 with the transfusion of homotypic ABO and the 5 major Rh serological antigens. Conclusions The consistency of the transfusion with ABO and 5 significant Rh serological antigens could prevent and decrease the high frequency production of isoantibodies, which is of vital importance in reducing the incidence rate of adverse effects in patients receiving transfusions.


A review of recent advances in fundamental knowledge of the mechanism of luminescence excitation by electrons is given. The development of the scintillation counter and studies of electron scattering together with progress in the study of photo-luminescence mechanisms in phosphors have provided a new basis for establishing a sound theory of cathodoluminescence. It is shown that the brightness-voltage relations for conventional screens result from the complex microcrystalline form of the phosphor. Single crystal studies with electron beam and single particle excitation reveal a more simple behavior. Ultimate screen efficiency is shown to be strongly dependent on loss of scattered primary and secondary electrons from the phosphor surface and on nonradiative electron-hole recombination in electron traps and other nonluminescent centers. Current saturation and electron burn are also discussed


This study focuses on the integration of panoramic photographs and web-based GIS. The integration of complementary technologies provides more powerful results in GIS applications. Collecting and assembling a series of digital images of large geographic areas into single panoramic images allow the user to view a multi-dimensional map that provides significantly more geographic information. By adopting the web as a dissemination way for geographic information, we can provide alternate representations of our environment. GIS, which include historical monuments, is important theme for various field such as historical conservation and tourism fields. The GIS published via Internet so as to come into contact with wide-range user. Because of gaps between providers and users, a lot of problems arise on historical heritage especially. The Internet is a perfect solution to speed up interactive communication between them. Panoramic Imaging is a major part of the image-based category of the virtual tours. It provides not only increased realism but also inexpensive solutions to information systems. Digital Camera was used in order to create Panorama. Beauty spots were chosen in historical place so as to show its visual features. To determine coordinates of point, where photos were taken, were measured by handheld GPS. As a result, a Historical Information System (HIS) was designed and panoramic image was transferred to HIS as a new document. The study is considered as a multipurpose though; it is capable of serving as an expert system.


Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanotags are widely used in the biomedical field including live-cell imaging due to the high specificity from their fingerprint spectrum and the multiplexing capability from the ultra-narrow linewidth. However, long-term live-cell Raman imaging is limited due to the photodamage from a relatively long exposure time and a high laser power, which are needed for acquiring detectable Raman signals. In this work, we attempt to resolve this issue by developing ultrabright gap-enhanced resonance Raman tags (GERRTs), consisting of a petal-like gold core and a silver shell with the near-infrared resonant reporter of IR-780 embedded in between, for long-term and high-speed live-cell imaging. GERRTs exhibit an ultrahigh Raman intensity down to a single-nanoparticle level in aqueous solution and the solid state upon 785 nm excitation, allowing for high-resolution time-lapse live-cell Raman imaging with an exposure time of 1 ms per pixel and a laser power of 50 μW. Under these measurement conditions, we can possibly capture dynamic cellular processes with a high temporal resolution, and track living cells for long periods of time owing to the reduced photodamage to cells. These nanotags open new opportunities for ultrasensitive, low-phototoxic, and long-term live-cell imaging.


Abstract Genetics are fundamental to understanding the pathophysiology of neurological disease, including movement disorders. Genetic testing in clinical practice has changed dramatically over the last few decades. While the likelihood of establishing an etiological diagnosis is greater now with increased access to testing and more advanced technologies, clinicians face challenges when deciding whether to test, then selecting the appropriate test, and ultimately interpreting and sharing the results with patients and families. In this review, we use a case-based approach to cover core aspects of genetic testing for the neurologist, namely, genetic testing in Parkinson's disease, interpretation of inconclusive genetic test reports, and genetic testing for repeat expansion disorders using Huntington disease as a prototype.


In 2014 the sentencing range for murder was changed in order to increase the use of life sentence for murder. Thus the legitimacy of life imprisonment has become an even more relevant question than before the amendment. The aim of this paper is to examine the life imprisonment in Swedish law through a critical point of view. More specifically the main question for this essay is which are the arguments for the life sentence, and which arguments can be held against it? In order to answer this question, the life sentence is examined in relation to some of the most common theories of criminal justice.

In chapter 1 it is explained how the life sentence is fixed in the Swedish penal system. The life sentence is the most severe sanction in Swedish law and has been used in practice mostly for cases of murder, in which there are aggravating circumstances. Even if the life sentence theoretically intends to be a life-lasting sentence, the life imprisonment is often converted into a fixed term imprisonment by the Swedish Government, or by the law (2006:45) on conversion of imprisonment for life ("omvandlingslagen").

In chapter 2-5 the life sentence is examined in relation to the following theories: a theory which focuses mainly on the blame of the offender, a theory in which the function of the penalty is to prevent people from committing crimes, a theory in which the penalty should reflect how severe people in general wants the sanctions to be, and a theory which emphasizes the importance of humanity.

The conclusion (chapter 7) is that there is no evidence that a severe punishment, as the life sentence, has an impact of the criminal rate, more specifically the cases of murder. There is also held that people serving life sentences find it stressful not to know when they are being released from prison. Hence, it is difficult to combine the life sentence with a theory based on the principle of humanity. Furthermore, it is difficult to argue that the life sentence is reflecting the degree of seriousness of an offender`s criminal conduct. Finally, it can be questioned whether the life sentence has a symbolic value, which a fixed-term penalty has not.


AIM
In oral medicine the incisional biopsy, removing a specimen of tissue for microscopic examination, represents an important step in diagnosis and management. Up till now, many practitioners have used the traditional scalpel 15 and, recently, the scalpel punch, an easy and quick device with a circle lama, has been introduced. The aim of the present study was to compare clinical effects of the punch biopsy technique versus traditional method with scalpel 15.

METHODS
This prospective case-control study investigated 41 patients [mean age 56.1, range (21-79); 16 males (39.0%), 25 females (61,0%)], consecutively referred to the Unit of Oral Medicine in Palermo (July-December 2002); in parallel groups, 18 subjects [mean age 58, range (36-79); 6 males (33.3%),12 females (66,6%)] were treated with punch scalpel (TEST group) and 23 [mean age 54.6, range (21-77); 10 males (43.5%), 13 females (56,5%)] with traditional scalpel (control group). A single operator carried out all biopsy procedures; a different single observer, in 3 different times, registered the following outcomes: 1) postoperative pain by mean a Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), 2) timing of wound-healing, 3) restitutio ad integrum.

RESULTS
There was no statistically significant differences between the 2 techniques for the above parameters.

CONCLUSION
Punch biopsy, an easy and quick technique, may be considered a valid procedure in oral medicine for the diagnosis and the follow-up of several lesions.


SUMMARY We present the unusual case of an unilateral hypertrophic scar placed in the superior eyelid after a blepharoplasty. The surgery treatment didnt resolve it. Then, we applied intralesio- nal corticoids successfully. We think this must be the first line treatment in keloids and hypertrophic scars.


Actinic keratosis (AK) is a premalignant lesion caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation and characterized by epithelial and connective tissue alterations. Objective and Methods: To examine the potential relationship between connective tissue degeneration and cell proliferation in epithelial cells. 35 cases were immunohistochemically analyzed for the expression of Ki-67 and elastin. Dermal elastosis was divided into three areas (zones) according to its prevalence: narrow area – elastosis located in papillary dermis and upper layers of reticular dermis; wide area – up to the deep layers of the reticular dermis; and total area – equal to dermis width. Results: The increase in the solar elastosis grade was associated with an increase in positive cell numbers for Ki-67. A low proliferative activity of epidermal cells was observed in lesions with the narrow area of elastosis, whereas the moderate activity was found in actinic keratoses with the wide and the total areas of elastosis. Basal and suprabasal expression predominated in the lesions with narrow area of connective tissue degeneration; expression in spinosum layer and full-thickness of epidermis was prevalent in the lesions with wide and total areas of degeneration. These results demonstrate that the epithelial expression of cell proliferation is augmented with the increase of the solar elastosis grade. Thus, the grade of solar elastosis could be a helpful morphologic marker in the assessment of neoplastic changes in sun-damaged skin.


The flow properties of starch pastes prepared by different procedures were measured and modelled. an extended power law model was developed to describe the shear stress over wide ranges of shear rates, temperatures and concentrations (6-450 s−1, 10-90°C, 3-10%). Each pastes preparation procedure required its own set of parameter values to be modelled since different preparation procedures produced pastes with considerably different flow properties. These effects have to be considered before the flow properties can be predicted with satisfactory precision for process applications. Such a method is presented in a subsequent paper. the exactness in the modelling was restricted by the changes of the flow properties during the measuring process.


Background: Catheter associated urinary tract infections are the leading cause of secondary health care-associated bacteremia. An infection that involves any of the organs or structures of urinary tract infection including the kidneys, urethra, bladder and ureter is called as urinary tract infection. About 75% of urinary tract infections acquired in the hospital are because of the urinary catheters. Prolonged use of indwelling urinary catheter is one of the main risk of catheter associated urinary tract infection.
Objective: To assess the knowledge on practice of urinary catheter care and compliance to urinary catheter care guidelines by the staff nurses.
Materials and Method: Quantitative approach with descriptive survey design was used for the study. Staff nurses available during data collection and willing to participate were included. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit the participants to assess the knowledge. By concealed observation practices of urinary catheter care were made to assess the compliance.
Results:Majority 89(82.4%) of the participants had average knowledge, 18(16.7%) had good knowledge on prevention of catheter associated urinary tract infections. There was maximum noncompliance to the procedural steps while performing urine specimen collection, removal of urinary catheter and maintenance of urinary catheter.
Conclusion:Nurses have to be aware of hospital policies and CDC guidelines in carrying out procedures like urinary catheter insertion, collection of urine specimens and maintenance of indwelling urinary catheter. Compliance of staff nurses is vital in reducing and preventing the occurrence of health care associated infection.


Demand forecasting is one of the managers' concerns in service supply chain management. With accurate passenger flow forecasting, the station-level service suppliers can make better service plans accordingly. However, the existing forecasting model cannot identify the different future passenger flow at different types of stations. As a result, the service suppliers cannot make service plans according to the demands of different stations. In this article, we propose a deep learning architecture called DeepSPF (Deep Learning for Subway Passenger Forecasting) to predict subway passenger flow considering the different functional types of stations. We also propose the sliding long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks as an important component of our model, combining LSTM and one-dimensional convolution. In the experiments of the Beijing subway, DeepSPF outperforms the baseline models in three-time granularities (10, 15, and 30 minutes). Moreover, a comparison between variants of DeepSPF indicates that, with the information of stations' functional types, DeepSPF has strong robustness when an abnormal situation happens.


Neutron spin‐echo (NSE) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the study of magnon lifetimes and magnetic critical dynamics. The unique property of NSE is the energy resolution in the μeV range. The first NSE spectrometers were optimized for quasielastic scattering at small momentum transfers and delivered substantial contributions to the understanding of critical dynamics in ferromagnets and dynamic correlations in spin glasses. The subsequent resonant NSE (NRSE) technique extends the parameter range toward large momentum and energy transfers and permits to measure magnon lifetimes across the Brillouin zone. NRSE also comprises the Larmor diffraction (LD) mode with a resolution for lattice spacings and their variance Δdhkl/dhkl of order 10−6 . LD proves useful to determine magnetostriction effects, small lattice distortions related to magnetic ordering, mosaic spread in crystals, and the size distribution of antiferromagnetic domains. Both typical experiments and the related technical innovation are reviewed and an outlook on future developments is given.


Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) enables the ultrasensitive detection of analyte molecules in various applications due to the enhanced electric field of metallic nanostructures. Salt-induced silver nanoparticle aggregation is the most popular method for generating SERS-active substrates; however, it is limited by poor reproducibility, stability, and biocompatibility. The present protocol integrates optical manipulation and SERS detection to develop an efficient analytical platform to address this. A 1064 nm trapping laser and a 532 nm Raman probe laser are combined in a microscope to assemble silver nanoparticles, which generate plasmonic hotspots for in situ SERS measurements in aqueous environments. Without aggregating agents, this dynamic plasmonic silver nanoparticle assembly enables an approximately 50-fold enhancement of the analyte molecule signal. Moreover, it provides spatial and temporal control to form the SERS-active assembly in as low as 0.05 nM analyte-coated silver nanoparticle solution, which minimizes the potential perturbation for in vivo analysis. Hence, this optical trapping-integrated SERS platform holds great potential for efficient, reproducible, and stable molecular analyses in liquids, especially in aqueous physiological environments.


In most organisms, primordial germ cells (PGCs) arise far from the region where somatic gonadal precursors (SGPs) are specified. Although PGCs in general originate as a single cluster of cells, the somatic parts of the gonad form on each site of the embryo. Thus, to reach the gonad, PGCs not only migrate from their site of origin but also split into two groups. Taking advantage of high-resolution real-time imaging, we show that in Drosophila melanogaster PGCs are polarized and migrate directionally toward the SGPs, avoiding the midline. Unexpectedly, neither PGC attractants synthesized in the SGPs nor known midline repellents for axon guidance were required to sort PGCs bilaterally. Repellent activity provided by wunen (wun) and wunen-2 (wun-2) expressed in the central nervous system, however, is essential in this migration process and controls PGC survival. Our results suggest that expression of wun/wun-2 repellents along the migratory paths provides faithful control over the sorting of PGCs into two gonads and eliminates PGCs left in the middle of the embryo.


Stimulation by insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) of LISN C4 cells, a mouse fibroblast cell line that overexpresses human IGF-I receptors, led to an increase in the amount of a phosphatidylinositol kinase that could be immunoprecipitated by anti-IGF-I receptor or anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. The identity of the lipid produced in phosphatidylinositol kinase assays of anti-IGF-I receptor or anti-phosphotyrosine immunoprecipitates indicated that IGF-I selectively increased the amount of immunoprecipitated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity. The amount of immunoprecipitated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity that was increased by IGF-I followed a time course that paralleled the stimulation of IGF-I receptor beta-subunit autophosphorylation. The amount of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity detected in anti-IGF-I receptor immunoprecipitates represented only 2% of that which was immunoprecipitated by anti-phosphotyrosine antibody. Furthermore, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity which was recovered with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody was present in both cytosol and particulate cell fractions at approximately similar levels. Taken together, these results suggest that the stimulation of the IGF-I receptor tyrosine kinase leads to an increase in the amount of phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase activity immunoprecipitated by antiphosphotyrosine and anti-IGF-I receptor antibodies and to a limited association with the IGF-I receptor itself, even though these cells express very high levels of IGF-I receptors. That the majority of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity does not tightly associate with the IGF-I receptor after IGF-I stimulation suggests that it may be associated with other tyrosine phosphorylated proteins. Alternatively, the kinase itself may become phosphorylated on tyrosine and dissociate from the IGF-I receptor. In this manner, an increase of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity by IGF-I deviates from the activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase by platelet-derived growth factor receptor in that a tight association with the receptor is not produced after stimulation.


DVB-H is a terrestrial digital TV standard that allows user to move freely when receiving signals. Additional Reed-Solomon codes are also included as an option to cope with higher channel error rate in mobile environment. However, it is designed with fix-valued link layer parameters, such as coding rates and error rates. In mobile networks, channel conditions change from time to time, thus code rates that behave well in one case may become inadequate in another. On the other hand, to implement static and highly protective codes results in low throughput. In this paper, we propose dynamic forward error control scheme (DFEC) that adapts to varying channel conditions. Depending on the content carried, DFEC provides different schemes for more efficient utilization of channel capacities. Simulations show that it achieves a better throughput, which could also translate to more power saving for the system


Recent scholarship has documented how the coronavirus pandemic itself has exacerbated existing inequalities in the United States. Less attention has been paid to the unequal impacts of pandemic responses. In this chapter, I draw on two years of ethnographic fieldwork (four months during the pandemic) to explore how blanket pandemic response policies interact with underlying structural inequalities. By building on a framework that describes community vulnerability, I argue that the second-order effects of such policies operate to widen spatial inequality. The chapter considers the case of Central Delta County, an impoverished rural community in the Mississippi Delta that has experienced decades of persistent depopulation and systemic racism. © 2021 selection and editorial matter, J. Michael Ryan;individual chapters, the contributors.


This article reports an investigation into the administrative costs of the Slovak tax system. By applying methodology used in the Czech Republic, it analyses the administrative costs of taxation in Slovakia between 2004 and 2011. The results show that Slovakia has relatively high costs of tax administration compared to other developed countries, including its neighbours the V4 countries. We argue that most of the higher relative cost is caused by subjective – speculative factors that will be addressed by ongoing tax system reforms.


Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are used for optical transmission for all ATLAS detectors. There have been various problems with the reliability of the VCSELs used in some but not all of the sub-systems. This paper briefly reviews the design of VCSELs and the potential reliability issues. Some of the techniques used in Failure Analysis (FA) are explained with examples from studies of devices that failed during ATLAS operation. Estimates of the failure rates from the different systems are given and the implications for detector operations are discussed. The attempts to diagnose the causes of the problems are described. The mitigation strategies for the two sub-systems most seriously affected are described. Finally some conclusions about VCSEL reliability and the outlook for ATLAS operation will be given.


The stability of the various facets in oxygen-induced faceting of Re(1231) has been studied by low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microcopy, and synchrotron-based high-resolution X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. When Re(1231) is annealed at 800-1200 K in oxygen (10(-7) Torr), the surface becomes completely covered with nanometer-scale facets, and its morphology depends on the substrate temperature and oxygen exposure. Especially, the (1121) facet competes with the (1011) facet in determining the surface morphology, and the stability of each facet relies on oxygen coverage. Using density functional theory, the O-Re binding energies on the facets for various oxygen concentrations are calculated to explain how the oxygen coverage affects the anisotropy of surface free energy, which in turn determines the morphology of the faceted surface.


ABSTRACT There is a longstanding conjecture by Fröberg about the Hilbert series of the ring R∕I, where R is a polynomial ring, and I an ideal generated by generic forms. We prove this conjecture true in the case when I is generated by a large number of forms, all of the same degree. We also conjecture that an ideal generated by m'th powers of generic forms of degree d≥2 gives the same Hilbert series as an ideal generated by generic forms of degree md. We verify this in several cases. This also gives a proof of the first conjecture in some new cases.


Replication protein A (RPA) is a heterotrimeric single-stranded DNA-binding protein that plays an important role in cellular responses to DNA damage. For example, RPA can activate the cell-cycle checkpoint protein ATR in the presence of persisting DNA damage. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has 5 functional homologous RPA70 genes which may play specific roles in response to DNA damaging agents. One chemical that causes DNA damage in Arabidopsis is Hydroxyurea (HU), which blocks DNA replication by inhibiting activity in Ribonucleotide Reductase (RNR), an enzyme responsible for the production of free deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs). In studies of Arabidopsis mutants, atr plants, but not rpa70c, were found to be hypersensitive to HU and had inhibited root and shoot growth and increased root hair formation. However, the double mutant rpa70c.atr was found to be less sensitive to HU and had an enhanced expression of RNR compared to atr single mutants. The double mutant's curious phenotype indicates that the double mutant suppresses the phenotype of the atr mutation and that the absence of the RPA70C gene partially reverses the effect of HU on atr mutant plants, probably due to the enhanced expression of RNR. These results indicate that RPA70C in conjunction with ATR plays a role in the regulation of DNA replication. Introduction All living organisms are constantly exposed to DNA damage by means of a chemical or physical source. When damage occurs, eukaryotic organisms have a number of conserved mechanisms that can be used to recognize and respond to the damage. One protein that plays an important role in DNA damage response mechanisms is Replication Protein A (RPA), a heterotrimeric single-stranded DNA-binding protein that functions in DNA damage recognition, repair, and replication. In its normal function, RPA works in concert with other proteins such as Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related protein (ATR), a universally conserved protein kinase, to sense persisting single-stranded DNA and to activate a cell cycle checkpoint (Culligan et al., 2004). One of the many model organisms used to study RPA is the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Most animals such as Homo sapiens have one gene for the Replication Protein A 70 subunit, RPA's largest subunit, and a mutation in the gene is fatal to the organism. However, Arabidopsis has five homologs of RPA70 (RPA70A-RPA70E). A mutation in any one of these genes is not lethal to Arabidopsis, therefore Arabidopsis was chosen as a model organism to genetically study its mutants in this study. Arabidopsis also has a short life cycle, produces many seeds, has a small size and genome and is applicable to vegetables which made it a favorable organism. The phylogenetic tree in Figure A shows the evolutionary relationship of RPA70 across species. RPA70 A, C and E are closely related in one group and RPA70 B and D are closely related in another for Arabidopsis. Interestingly, in projects performed by other researchers, RPA A, C and E were found to be transcriptionally up-regulated in response to DNA doublestranded breaks caused by ionizing radiation whereas RPA70B and RPA70D were not. These relationships indicate that each Arabidopsis homolog may have a distinct role in DNA damage recognition and repair and yet there may also be some redundancies in their functions. For this research, the RPA70C gene in particular was chosen to be the initial focus of the project in conjunction with ATR. Figure A: Phylogenetic Tree of RPA70 across Multiple Species Evolutionary relationship of the RPA70 homologs in Arabidopsis thaliana. To induce DNA damage in the plants, the chemical hydroxyurea (HU) was used. HU is known to disrupt DNA replication by inhibiting the activity of Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), a protein that synthesizes free deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs). RNR has two components: the regulatory subunit RNR1 and the catalytic subunit RNR2 which has three homologs: RNR2A, RNR2B and RNR2C. It has been found that expansion of dNTP pools may help cells survive DNA damage by promoting the repair and/or the bypass of DNA lesions (Poli et al., 2012). Since RNR is the most important gene in the production of dNTPs and dNTP pools are rate limiting for DNA replication, its expression was also studied in relation to RPA70C. RPA70 (Human) RPA70 (Mouse) RPA70 (Frog) RPA70 (Fly) RPA70-a (Rice) RPA70-A (Arabidopsis) RPA70-E (Arabidopsis) RPA70-C (Arabidopsis) RPA70-c (Rice) RPA70-b (Rice) RPA70-B (Arabidopsis) RPA70-D (Arabidopsis) RPA70 (Yeast) 100 100 100 100


Professions grapple with defining advanced practice and the characteristics of advanced practitioners. In nursing and allied health, advanced practice has been defined as 'a state of professional maturity in which the individual demonstrates a level of integrated knowledge, skill and competence that challenges the accepted boundaries of practice and pioneers new developments in health care'. Evolution of advanced practice in Australia has been slower than in the United Kingdom, mainly due to differences in demography, the health system and industrial relations. This article describes a conceptual model of advanced practitioner characteristics in the medical radiation professions, taking into account experiences in other countries and professions. Using the CanMEDS framework, the model includes foundation characteristics of communication, collaboration and professionalism, which are fundamental to advanced clinical practice. Gateway characteristics are: clinical expertise, with high level competency in a particular area of clinical practice; scholarship and teaching, including a masters qualification and knowledge dissemination through educating others; and evidence‐based practice, with judgements made on the basis of research findings, including research by the advanced practitioner. The pinnacle of advanced practice is clinical leadership, where the practitioner has a central role in the health care team, with the capacity to influence decision making and advocate for others, including patients. The proposed conceptual model is robust yet adaptable in defining generic characteristics of advanced practitioners, no matter their clinical specialty. The advanced practice roles that evolve to meet future health service demand must focus on the needs of patients, local populations and communities.


Ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) peptide mass mapping experiments were performed using a variety of drift gases (He, N2, Ar and CH4). The drift gases studied cover a range of polarizabilities ((0.2-2.6) x 10(-24) cm3) and the peak capacities obtained for tryptic peptides in each gas are compared. Although the different gases exhibit similar peak capacities (5430 (Ar) to 7580 (N2)) in some cases separation selectivity presumably based on peptide conformers (or conformer populations), is observed. For example the drift time profiles observed for some tryptic peptide ions from aldolase (rabbit muscle) show a dependence on drift gas. The transmission of high-mass ions (m/z > 2000) is also influenced by increased scattering cross-section of the more massive drift gases. Consequently the practical peak capacity for IM-MS separation cannot be assumed to be solely a function of resolution and the ability of a gas to distribute signals in two-dimensional space; rather, peak capacity estimates must account for the transmission losses experienced for peptide ions as the drift gas mass increases.


Background. Compared to average maternal mortality ratio of 8 per 100,000 live births in industrialized countries, Ethiopia has an estimated maternal mortality ratio of 676 per 100,000 live births. Maternal deaths can be prevented partially through increasing awareness of danger signs of obstetric complications and involving husbands (male) in birth preparedness practice. Methods. Community based cross-sectional study was done. All adult males with a wife or partner who lives in the selected kebeles were our study population. Data was collected by pretested and structured questionnaires and two-stage cluster sampling procedure was used in order to collect study samples. Data was cleaned and entered into Epi Info 7 and exported to SPSS (IBM-21) for further analysis. Ordinary and hierarchical logistic regression model were used and AOR with 95% CI were used to show factors and the effect of men's awareness of danger sign on men's involvement in birth preparedness practice. Results. Total numbers of men interviewed were 836 making a response rate of 98.9%. 42% of men had awareness of danger sign and 9.4% (95% CI: (7.42, 11.4) of men were involved in birth preparedness practice. Respondents who live in the rural area [(AOR: 8.41; (95% CI: (4.99, 14.2)], governments employee [(AOR: 3.75; (95% CI: (1.38, 10.2)], those who belong to the highest wealth quintile [(AOR: 3.09; (95% CI: (1.51, 6.34)], and husbands whose wives gave birth in the hospital [(AOR: 2.09; (95% CI: (1.29, 3.37)], health center [(AOR: 1.99; (95% CI: (1.21, 3.28)], and health post [(AOR: 2.2; (95% CI: 2.16 (1.06, 404)] were positively associated and those who had no role in the health development army [(AOR: 0.43; (95% CI: (0.26, 0.72)] were negatively associated with men's awareness of danger signs of obstetric complications. Conclusion. The prevalence of men awareness of danger sign was low and male involvement in birth preparedness practice was very low. Since there is a low level of awareness (17.1%) particularly in the urban area and men act as gatekeepers to women's health, the respective organization needs to review urban health extension program and give due emphasis to husband education in order that they are able to recognize danger signs of obstetric complications in a way to increase their involvement in birth preparedness practice.


Introduction: Selection of drugs to treat patients with cancer is typically based on the anatomical site in which the tumor is located. Here we report a treatment decision for a patient with relapsed, advanced cervical cancer that was based on a comprehensive omics analysis using whole genome sequencing (WGS) combined with quantitative proteomics. Methods: The patient was a 44-year-old female whose disease had progressed following surgery and more than 4 lines of chemotherapy. WGS was performed on the patient9s formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) metastatic tumor sample and a matched-normal reference sample. Quantitative proteomics was performed on the FFPE tumor sample by Selected Reaction Monitoring Mass Spectrometry and was quantitated at the atomolar level. Results: WGS found somatic mutations and rearrangements and reads mapping to human papillomavirus type 18 (HPV 18). Mutations more commonly found in breast cancer (ERBB2, CDH1, and CLTCL1) were noted. The HPV 18 genome was integrated into chromosome 17 in close proximity to a 7-fold amplification of the ERBB2 gene. Proteomic analysis of the FFPE tumor validated and quantitated overexpression of HER2 protein resulting from ERBB2 gene amplification, with 11,322 amol/μg of tissue protein. Clinically observed ranges for breast or gastric cancer are 150-500 amol/μg, with levels above 750 amol/μg correlating with FISH-positive amplification and clinical efficacy of trastuzumab (unpublished observation). Based on these comprehensive omic findings, trastuzumab, a therapy approved for breast and gastric cancer, was administered. The patient experienced a reduction in the size of her tumor (by CT/PET) and stabilization of her disease for 5 months. Conclusion: WGS and proteomic profiling of this patient9s disease identified, confirmed, and quantitated an appropriate target for pharmaceutical intervention. The patient presented with cervical cancer; however, the WGS analysis pointed towards a potentially causative integration of the HPV 18 genome resulting in ERBB2 amplification along with genomic mutations more commonly found in breast cancer. Proteomic analysis further validated and quantitated the HER2 expression resulting from ERBB2 gene amplification, leading to the patient9s treatment with trastuzumab. Our findings argue for the use of comprehensive omics analysis to guide decision support for personalized management of cancer care with therapies determined based on a quantitative proteomic signature, independent of anatomical tumor type. Citation Format: Stephen Benz, J Zackary Sanborn, Nicole S. Hensley, Todd Hembrough, Charles J. Vaske, Jon Burrows, Shahrooz Rabizadeh, Ivor Royston, Patrick Soon-Shiong. Whole genome sequencing and quantitative proteomics reveal HPV integration and HER2 overexpression in a patient with cervical cancer: Comprehensive omics analysis driving clinical treatment decisions. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Integrating Clinical Genomics and Cancer Therapy; Jun 13-16, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2016;22(1_Suppl):Abstract nr 25.


The prevalence of overweight and obesity in most developed and developing countries have been increasing markedly over the past two decades. This increase includes all ages, genders, racial and ethnic groups, income, and educational levels. This study examined the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults aged 25–55 years in Shiraz (Southern Iran). The data are based on a random multistage sample survey of 2282 married adults (1141 pairs) living is Shiraz, whose heights and weights were measured in the 2002–2003 academic year. The prevalence of overweight or obesity (body mass index ≥ 25) was 49.7% in men and 63.9% in women. The prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥ 30) was 10.5% and 22.5% in men and women, respectively, which shows an increased secular change of 5.8% in men and 17.4% in women during a 14‐year period. Overweight and obesity are common in Iran. Obesity and overweight were significantly more common among women than among men (P‐valve = 0.000). There is a need to establish programmes for prevention and treatment of obesity especially Iranian's women.


Methyl 10-undecenoate and mercuric acetate were reacted in methanol to give methyl methoxyacetoxy mercury-undecanoate. The mercurial adduct was then reacted with phenol, o-cresol, m-cresol, p-cresol and o-tert-butylphenol in 1: 5 mole ratio each at 60 °C for one hour in the presence of perchloric acid as a catalyst, giving methyl 10, 11-diaryl undecanoates corresponding to the respective phenols. The reaction of the mercurial adduct and 2, 6-di-tert-butylphenol gave methyl 11- (hydroxy, di-tert-butylphenyl) 9-undecenoate instead of methyl 10, 11-diaryl undecanoate. The mercurial adduct was then reacted with methyl benzoate, dimethyl phthalate, and methyl acetylsalicylate at the same reaction condition for 2 hours, giving methyl 11-methoxycarbonylphenyl-9-undecenoate, methyl 11-dimethoxycarbonylphenyl-9-undecenoate, and methyl 11-acetoxymethoxycarbonylphenyl-9-undecenoate. All diaryl undecanoates listed above showed antioxidant activity for methyl oleate at 40 °C and 100 °C. However, their activities are somewhat less than the activity of BRA. They were found effective as corrosion inhibitors by the water-dip method with a sample of turbine oil and test pieces o mild steel, aluminium, zinc and brass at the concentrations of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8%. Especially, the derivatives from p-cresol and o-cresol were excellent as corrosion inhibitors. Methyl 11-methoxycarbonylphenyl-9-undecenoate, methyl 11-dimethoxycarbonylphenyl-9-undecenoate and methyl 11- (acetoxy, methoxycarbonylphenyl) -9-undecenoate were converted to its sodium, calcium, strontium and barium soaps, and their activity as corrosion inhibitors was tested with a sample of turbine oil and test pieces of mild steel at the concentrations of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8% by the water-dip method. Regerding the acid components, the activity was ranked in the order of 11- (hydroxy, carboxyphenyl) -9-undecenoic acid>11-dicarboxyphenyl-9-undecenoic acid>11-carboxyphenyl-9-undecenoic acid. As for the base components, strontium and barium soaps were very effective followed by calcium soaps, sodium soaps being slightly less effective.


Receptor activity-modifying proteins (RAMPs) interact with and modify the behavior of the calcitonin receptor (CTR) and calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR). We have examined the contribution of the short intracellular C terminus, using constructs that delete the last eight amino acids of each RAMP. C-Terminal deletion of individual RAMPs had little effect on the signaling profile induced when complexed with CLR in COS-7 or human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells. Likewise, confocal microscopy revealed each of the mutant RAMPs translocated hemagglutinin-tagged CLR to the cell surface. In contrast, a pronounced effect of RAMP C-terminal truncation was seen for RAMP/CTRa complexes, studied in COS-7 cells, with significant attenuation of amylin receptor phenotype induction that was stronger for RAMP1 and -2 than RAMP3. The loss of amylin binding upon C-terminal deletion could be partially recovered with overexpression of Gαs, suggesting an impact of the RAMP C terminus on coupling of G proteins to the receptor complex. In HEK293 cells the c-Myc-RAMP1 C-terminal deletion mutant showed high receptor-independent cell surface expression; however, this construct showed low cell surface expression when expressed alone in COS-7 cells, indicating interaction of RAMPs with other cellular components via the C terminus. This mutant also had reduced cell surface expression when coexpressed with CTR. Thus, this study reveals important functionality of the RAMP C-terminal domain and identifies key differences in the role of the RAMP C terminus for CTR versus CLR-based receptors.


Two common South American species of lynx spiders, Peucetia rubrolineata and P. flava (Oxyopidae), were surveyed on three localities in southeastern Brazil to determine plant choice. Both species were found to be associated with plants bearing glandular trichomes. A literature review and complementary data show that ten Peucetia species are associated with up to 55 plant species bearing glandular trichomes in at least 20 distinct vegetation types (phytophysiognomies) in more than 36 localities in the Neotropical, Neartic, Afrotropical, and Paleartic regions. The main plant families used by the spiders were Solanaceae, Asteraceae, and Melastomataceae. The specialization of the Peucetia species for plants bearing glandular trichomes may have evolved because insects adhered to these sticky structures may be used as prey by the spiders.


Coronary lesions are one of the complications of mediastinal radiotherapy; they are more uncommon, at least in their clinical expression, than the involvement of the pericardium, but they are interesting by their gravity and occurrence in young patients (35 years old, in an average). We are reporting 7 cases in addition to the 53 already recorded in the literature. The neoplasm which led to the radiation treatment is, in 85 p. cent of the cases Hodgkin's disease and in 10 per cent of the cases a breast cancer. The time of occurrence of the clinical signs is of 5 years, in an average. The revealing symptom is an initial necrosis or an angor, most often unstable (45 p. cent of the cases, for each of them), more exceptionnally it is a sudden death or a pericarditis. The coronary risk factors have been determined in 37 patients; 45 p. cent had none. In half of the cases, the coronary involvement is monotruncular and frequently proximal (the anterior interventricular trunk is affected twice as often as the right coronary); in the other half, there is an equal distribution between bi-troncular and tri-truncular involvement. There are various pathological lesions: typical with isolated fibrosis of the intima and aventitia, pure atherosclerotic lesions or association of the two. The prognosis of these coronary lesions is severe (43 p. cent of deaths), but the patients who underwent revascularization procedures (by-pass or more seldom transluminal angioplasty) have in 80 p. cent of the cases a favorable evolution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The density functional theory (DFT) established itself as a well reputed way to compute the electronic structure in most branches of chemistry and materials science. In the formulation given by Kohn, Hohenberg and Sham in the 1960's, the many-electron wave function is replaced by the electron density, so that the energy is just a functional of the latter. The DFT is applied, with low computational cost and reasonable accuracy, to predict diverse properties as binding or atomization energies, shapes and sizes of molecules, crystal structures of solids, energy barriers to various processes, etc. In the mid 1980s, it became an attractive alternative to the well developed wave function techniques such as Hartree-Fock, when crucial developments in exchange-correlation energy has been taken into account, since the Hartree-Fock method treats exchange exactly but neglects correlation This article is an introduction to the conceptual basis of the DFT in a language accessible for readers entering the field of quantum chemistry and condensed-matter physics. It begins with a presentation of the Thomas-Fermi atomic model and follows by the essentials of the density functional theory based on the works of Hohenberg, Kohn and Sham. With a discussion of the exchange and correlation effects, possible improvements are then presented. Lastly, mention is made of the main hybrid functionals and of the software packages successfully applied to diverse materials of chemical, physical and biological interest.


Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the association between hopelessness, social support and community integration, and depression. Methods: We analyzed data from a questionnaire administered to subjects aged 65 years or older living alone for a 2015 community mental health project in Gyeongnam S city. We used a correlation analysis and a hierarchical regression analysis to identify factors that affect depression. Results: When controlling for socio-demographic factors, hopelessness and community integration had significant effects on depression. That is, the higher the hopelessness (B=0.768, p<.001) and the lower the community integration (B=-0.163, p=.012), the higher the depression in elderly living alone . Conclusions: There is a need for approaches at both the individual and social levels that consider and improve measures to prevent and reduce depression. Moreover, it is especially necessary to enhance community integration.


Nowadays, due to the increasing number of disasters, improving distribution system resiliency is a new challenging issue for researchers. One of the main methods for improving the resiliency in distribution systems is to supply critical loads after disasters during the power outage and before system restorations. In this paper, a "Sustainable and resilient smart house" is introduced for the first time by using plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). PHEVs have the ability to use their fuel for generating electricity in emergency situations as the Vehicle to Grid (V2G) scheme. This ability, besides smart house control management, provides an opportunity for distribution system operators to use their extra energy for supplying a critical load in the system. The proposed control strategy in this paper is dedicated to a short duration power outage, which includes a large percent of the events. Then, improvement of the resiliency of distribution systems is investigated through supplying smart residential customers and injecting extra power to the main grid. A novel formulation is proposed for increasing the injected power of the smart house to the main grid using PHEVs. The effectiveness of the proposed method in increasing power injection during power outages is shown in simulation results.


This paper elucidates the changing ownership of Public owned airports to Privatisation. The analysis is envisioned towards the passengers' interest in availing air transport which are likely to become more efficient. The improvisation of regional connectivity would yield more people to opt for air transport. A series of efforts were taken before making the questionnaires that were placed in the survey including the psychological aspects when deciding about the choice of airports which are getting privatized. The collected inputs from the passengers vary from seldom travelers to frequent
travelers across the country are analyzed using the linear programming technique such as the DEA[1] which depicts the effective views of the travelers to go for Privatisation. The questionnaire was carefully framed such that all the aspects covering ergonomics level, including the ease of navigation, the reach of supporting staff. The airports would get diversified with their services without the intervention of Government. In India, a total of 137 airports which include 23 International airports (3 Civil Enclaves), 10 Customs Airports (4 Civil Enclaves) having custom and immigration facilities for limited international operations and 104 Domestic airports (23 Civil Enclaves) are administered by the Airport Authority of India (AAI).[10] The USA has 14,549 Private airports (74%) within the total 19,636 airports. Many countries like the USA, Russia, China, U. K, France have a larger number of Privately-owned airports helping their countries in getting economically strengthened. IATA forecasts a growth of 6.8% per annum for India. The usage of No frill airports would reduce the cost of capital investment in making
an airport to start functioning and help the nation to grow in the economy. In addition, Six AAI airports are operated, managed, and developed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) namely, Guwahati, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Lucknow. At Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Ahmedabad, Performance Based Navigation (PBN) arrival and departure procedures have been implemented and for Hyderabad airport, it is in progress and Space-based, Final Operational Phase (FOP) of (GAGAN), GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation[10] is under implementation which is not airport-based and will be available for use at all of the country's airports.
Enhancing the prediction of outcomes through feature selection, the Data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is used for the analytics questionnaire. This is a function whose form is based on the efficiency of the scrutinized evaluations. It's an approach for measuring the performance efficiency of global public airports through varied contemplations of results of the survey. This technique aims to measure how efficiently a DEA uses the resources available to generate a group of outputs along with feature section models that are then analyzed after that to evaluate the contributing factors for airport operation and privatization.


Recently, a new procedure for noninvasive measurement of the microcircu lation has been developed in the form of a helium-neon-laser Doppler apparatus with which the total erythrocyte flow through a cubic millimeter of skin is quan tifiable. The authors used the procedure to examine 17 persons with healthy vessels, 36 patients with a degenerative occlusive disease of the peripheral arteries in Fontaine stages II-IV, and 5 patients with endangiitis obliterans. It is concluded that single measurements do not permit an assessment of microcirculatory conditions but that provocative tests (which are described), especially occlusion tests, make possible valid and reproducible statements and have a high selectivity with respect to the different stages of disease. By repeated measurements followed by calculation of mean values, a further reduction in intraindividual variability among the measurement results can be obtained. Laser-Doppler examinations of the skin constitute a new procedure with which quantitative statements on the blood flow through skin are feasible and from which interesting results can be expected, especially when used as an acute test.


We have measured puff by puff the effect of smoking three brands of cigarettes with different composition on airways resistance (Raw) thoracic gas volume (TGV) and the maximal expiratory flow volume (MEFV) curve. Raw increased significantly with all three brands of cigarettes after one puff. The maximum effect was reached after three puffs. Instantaneous flow at 50% of vital capacity (FEF50) decreased significantly with cigarettes high in nicotine content, but not so after smoking a low nicotine (0.31 mg) cigarette. Instantaneous flow at 75% of vital capacity out (FEF75) increased significantly 30 min after the low nicotine cigarette was smoked. A deep inspiration prior to Raw determination reduced by approximately one third the bronchoconstrictor effect of cigarette smoke. All effects were reversible within 30 min, except the delayed effect of the low nicotine cigarette on the FEF75. We conclude that the probable site of action of tobacco smoke is in the large and central airways. The bronchoconstrictor effect rapidly reaches a plateau. A delayed bronchodilation of the small airways observed after smoking the low nicotine cigarette might represent a response usually masked by other long-acting components in smoke. We suggest that the airway response to tobacco smoke is complex and probably a result of several components present in smoke which still have to be identified.