The development of matrix suctions in soils contributes to their shear strength, resulting in an enhanced factor of safety against bearing capacity failures. A Φ=0 bearing capacity analysis carried out to investigate the effect of matrix suctions is described in this paper. The contribution of matrix suction to shear strength is interpreted as an additional cohesion for use in bearing capacity calculations. The cohesion of soil is described by three components: a constant cohesion value corresponding to a matrix suction of zero, and two other components defining a bi-linear shear strength envelope that is dependent on the air-entry value and the de-saturation conditions whether hydrostatic or evaporative. Shear strength profiles were estimated by coupling predicted matrix suction profiles obtained from a one-dimensional numerical model of evaporation and experimental unsaturated-undrained shear strength data. An enhanced bearing capacity was obtained that was dependent on the water table depth and the duration of the evaporation.


The effects of design parameters on the pellet transport rate in the ejector system which is widely used in the production processes of automotive parts were investigated experimentally. The primary nozzle geometry, the area ratio (R) of nozzle exit cross-sectional area to mixing chamber cross-sectional area and the distance (S) from primary nozzle exit to mixing chamber entrance were considered as the design parameters. The area ratios of the primary nozzle were varied from R=0.10 to R=0.25, 0.30, 0.40 and 0.55. The primary nozzle was positioned at the non-dimensional distance (S/D) of 1.30, 1.87, 2.44, 3.00 and 3.75, normalized using the mixing chamber diameter (D). The design parameters were determined to run with high efficiency by measuring the pellets transport rate. The geometry and the area ratio (R) of the primary nozzle had an effect on the pellet transport rate of the ejector system, and the area ratio of R=0.3 was carefully selected after taking the minimum fluidization velocity and transport rate of applied pellets into account. The higher pellet transport rate with the variation of the distance (S/D) was observed at S/D of 2.44.


ABSTRACT The objectives of this research were to (1) identify the teacher's perspective about the characteristics and practices of portfolio assessment in English writing classes, (2) investigate the enactment of portfolio assessment in English writing classes, and (3) investigate the extent to which the enactment of portfolio assessment affected the quality of teaching learning process in English writing classes. Design of this research was case study. This research was conducted at a junior high school in Jember in 2015. Techniques of collecting data used were observation, interview, and document analysis. In analyzing data, Miles and Huberman's model was considered to be used through data reduction, data display, and conclusion. Based on the research data, it was found that (1) The English teachers assume that assessing writing by using portfolio assessment is good and useful, (2) portfolio assessment is enacted in English writing classes based on some parameters such as documenting the students' writings, scoring by using clear scoring rubric, giving feedback and encouraging students' self-reflection, giving chance to students to revise, and keeping the portfolio document as the document model, and (3) it gives good effect to the quality of teaching learning process in English writing classes. From those research data, it can be concluded the English teachers have good understanding about the characteristic and practices of enacting portfolio assessment in English writing classes, and product portfolio is chosen as the type of portfolio. Moreover, portfolio assessment brings some benefits which can be addressed to both students and English teachers. Keywords: scoring rubric, students' writings, teacher's perspective, learning process and case study.


Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/ceria composite fibres were synthesized by using a sequential combination of polymer electrospinning, spray-coating with a sol, and a final calcination step to yield microstructured ceria tubes, which are composed of nanocrystalline ceria particles. The PMMA template is removed from the organic/inorganic hybrid material by radio frequency (rf) plasma etching followed by calcination of the ceramic green-body fibres. Microsized ceria (CeO2) tubes, with a diameter of ca. 0.75 µm, composed of nanocrystalline agglomerated ceria particles were thus obtained. The 1-D ceramic ceria material was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV–vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), as well as thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Its catalytic performance was studied in the direct carboxylation of methanol with carbon dioxide leading to dimethyl carbonate [(CH3O)2CO, DMC], which is widely employed as a phosgene and dimethyl sulfate substitute, and as well as a fuel additive.


Consumers in the City of Pekanbaru and the surrounding area have relatively a tendency to prefer and consume imported canned beverage products, including the Del Monte brand. This can be influenced by the increasing number of imported canned beverage products offered by wholesalers and retailers. Consumers are increasingly free to choose and determine product attributes that are more desirable. This study aims to analyze consumer attitudes towards the attributes of the marketing mix of canned drinks imported by the Del Monte brand in the Pekanbaru Lower Market. The research method used is the survey method. Research respondents were obtained accidentally with a total of 30 people. Data analysis using Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS). The results showed that the attributes in quadrant I which have a strong influence and low dependence. Consumers' attitude in consuming the Del Monte brand canned drink product is more determined by cheaper prices, referrals, and products available anywhere and has a competitive value with other products. Del Monte Latte has similarities with Del Monte Mocha as well as its substitution products compared to Del Monte Vanila.


The study transcends the dichotomy law in the books/law in action by taking law's knowledge-production mechanisms seriously. It examines how the Israeli military justice system perceives and addresses disobedience toward the mandatory military service duty by deserters and conscientious objectors. Both groups resist the military service ethos but differ in the offenders demographics and motivations. The findings show how law co-opts the socio-political problems, assimilates them, and transforms them to narrow its framework. The legal system can be cognitively open to external frameworks introduced by powerful and resourceful defendants; it remains, however, normatively closed to alternative rules and perspectives.


Sir, The article by Kamyar et al. on magnesium sulphate, chorioamnionitis and neurodevelopment after preterm birth made an interesting read. Kamyar et al. concluded that among children who were exposed to chorioamnionitis, antenatal administration of magnesium sulphate was not associated with improved neurodevelopmental outcome. The general expectation is that magnesium sulphate confers neuroprotection by mitigating the inflammatory cytokine production in preterm infants. The authors quite correctly did not recommend any changes to the current practice guidelines, based on their study. It is worth mentioning the possibility for nonimprovement in neurodevelopmental outcome in the present study with the presence of infection. One explanation would be the random error and the small sample size. Another possibility is that the anti-inflammatory effect of magnesium sulphate may not be sufficient to overcome the inflammationmediated injury associated with chorioamnionitis, as suggested by the authors. There might be alternative mechanisms of neuronal injury for which magnesium sulphate is insufficient to abrogate the inflammatory insult and which need alternative neuromodulators. It is known that pathogens responsible for chorioamnionitis produce 'bacterial biofilms' that resist the actions of antibiotic therapy. Perhaps a similar mechanism may be in operation, to overcome the actions of magnesium sulphate, in the presence of chorioamnionitis. Another possibility is that the investigation of fetal neuroprotection is limited because cerebral palsy tends to be the sole clinical outcome studied. There are many subtle neurological impairments related to prematurity such as sensory neural hearing loss, visual impairments, and attention, cognitive and academic impairments. So the effects of magnesium, sulphate may be underestimated and this needs to be considered when considering the overall effect. It is clear that there remain gaps in our knowledge on preterm labour, neurodevelopmental impairments and the effects of magnesium sulphate. However, the study by Kamyar et al. has improved our existing body of evidence on the effects of magnesium sulphate and neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm labour.&


A study of the capacity of multiple-element antenna systems is presented with particular emphasis on the effects of mutual coupling between the antenna elements. As the total size of the array is often fixed and limited, the correlation of fading as well as the mutual coupling of two elements separated in index by some value l increases. In this paper, at first with the assumption that the length of the linear array of antenna elements and the number of antenna elements at the receiver are fixed, the capacity with coding, without coding, and the symbol error rate (SER) of space-time coding are investigated. The results obtained show that for the mean signal to noise ratio at the receiver of /spl rho/=20 dB, the linear array of three antenna elements is the optimum choice if the total length of the array is in the range of 0.3/spl lambda/-0.86/spl lambda/, while in the case of channel state information (CSI), this range is 0.25/spl lambda/-0.6/spl lambda/. The effects of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and number of the base station antenna elements on the capacity of the fixed-length linear arrays are also discussed. Next, it is assumed that the number of antenna elements at the transmitter and receiver are equal. Simulation results show the number of antenna elements for maximizing the capacity.


A low-temperature solution-based synthetic method was developed for the large-scale synthesis of one-dimensional nanostructures of alkali titanates. Two kinds of highly pure ribbonlike titanates were synthesized successfully in gram quantities without introducing any templates or catalysts. The structure and composition of the titanates were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, and EDX. The chemical and physical properties were preliminarily characterized, and some distinctive properties were observed.


The rate of drug overdose deaths involving heroin increased slightly during 2006-2010 but more than tripled during 2010-2015 for all age groups shown. During 2010-2015, the rates increased from 1.2 to 3.8 per 100,000 for persons aged 15-24 years, from 2.2 to 9.7 for persons aged 25-34 years, from 1.6 to 7.4 for persons aged 35-44 years, from 1.4 to 5.6 for persons aged 45-54 years, and from 0.7 to 3.4 for persons aged 55-64 years. In 2015, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving heroin was highest for persons aged 25-34.


This paper describes an effective methodological strategy that the Consolidated teaching innovation group in Communication and Audiovisual Media (In-COMAV), composed of a multidisciplinary teaching team, has been developing since 2016 within the Audiovisual Communication degree program ojfered by the University of Barcelona. This strategy consists of promoting service-learning projects within the context of various courses. Here we present the viability criteria established for the acceptance of projects oriented toward collaboration with organizations outside the university, the critica/ success factors and the results that this initiative has had on students, teachers, the university and society. Such results are perceived positively, yet there are still challenges and limitations to be overcome to ensure the continuity, sustainability and ejfectiveness of service-learning projects in higher education.


The spiral metallic stent for insertion into the prostatic urethra developed by Fabian a decade ago, and its various modifications have a fixed external caliber of up to 21F and does not allow passage of instruments larger than 5-6F through it. Thus, they cannot be used in patients who need frequent trans-urethral manipulations. Since all temporary prostatic stents, in the long term develop incrustations they have to be changed once a year, or earlier, if they become occluded by stone formation. Permanent stents cannot be used in patients who are temporarily unfit for surgery because their removal necessitate traumatic manipulations. In order to overcome these disadvantages, a new large caliber, self-expanding and self-retaining intra-prostatic stent was developed (ProstaCoil). This stent is inserted under fluoroscopic guidance using topical anaesthesia. During the last 36 months the ProstaCoil was inserted into 65 patients suffering from complete prostatic obstruction due to BPH. Follow-up of our patients was 3-28 months (mean 16 months). Forty-eight patients could void either immediately or within 48 hours after insertion of the stent. Thirty patients underwent TURP or open prostatectomy 3-12 months after insertion of the stent. In all these cases the stent was removed easily before surgery. Only in 1 case the stent was removed because of severe urge incontinence. Seven patients died during this period. Twenty-seven patients still are passing urine through their stents (the longest 32 months).


Starspots are cooler and darker than the stellar surface. Therefore, the emitted flux of a star changes when spots are visible on its surface. The presence of spots together with the stellar rotation leads to a periodic modulation on the light curve. By studying that modulation one can then learn about the stellar rotation and also magnetic activity. Recently, Reinhold & Arlt [1] proposed a method based on the analysis of the Lomb Scargle periodogram of the light curve to identify the sign of the differential rotation, i.e. whether the equator rotates faster than the poles or the opposite. We have been studying in detail the spots' impact on the light curve and on the resulting periodogram. We find that, under some conditions, the periodogram can actually provide an estimate of the true spot latitudes and/or the stellar inclination angle. Moreover, we find that the impact of the spot on the ratio between the heights of the second and first harmonics of the main peaks in the periodogram can be described by a single parameter, the visibility time of the spot. Finally, we also identify possible sources of false positives/negatives for the sign of the differential rotation.


The name of the Majorcan Jewish cartographer Cresques Abraham (1325–1387) is likely to be familiar to readers of this journal. From archival documents and the reading of maps, researchers such as Gabriel Llompart, Jaume Riera and Ramon Pujades have outlined his biography and explained his (attributed) cartographical production, highlighting the famous Catalan Atlas. This map was made known in the early nineteenth century by the intellectual Charles Athanase Walckenaer (1771–1852) who thus, in the words of Joseph Tastu (1839, 1841), 'opened the mine'. More than two centuries later it seemed there was nothing more to be said. Recently, however, Katrin Kogman-Appel (University of Münster, Germany) published the book under review—a gem dug from that 'mine'—which establishes a dialogue between map making and Jewish book culture in the Middle Ages. Breaking down disciplinary boundaries, KogmanAppel sheds new light on our cartographer and his work throughout the eight chapters that make up her book. The first chapter addresses the maps attributed to Cresques Abraham and suggests dates for their creation; the second focuses on the wealth of books he owned or had access to, including works of rabbinical scholarship and Arabic science. Here the library of the Jewish physician Lleó Judah Mosconi (d. 1377) plays an important role. The world depicted in the Catalan Atlas is thoroughly studied in the following five chapters, in which Kogman-Appel reveals the political information it conveys. The religious aspect of the atlas is covered in the final chapter. The portrait of its author that emerges here is to some extent unrecognizable, depicting Cresques Abraham as both intellectually richer and socially more complex than previously thought. He was a devout man of considerable wealth, a bibliophile with a passion for scientific knowledge, a skilled scribe and a gifted painter. His known works famously reflect his broad and eclectic education and talents. Kogman-Appel classes them as artefacts lying somewhere between science and art, and presents our protagonist as an innovator compared to his cartographer predecessors. His Catalan Atlas, today regarded as a jewel of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, was already highly valued in his own day. There is no consensus among scholars as to when the atlas, created in Mallorca in around 1375, reached French territory. Ernest-Théodore Hamy (1891) and Léopold Delisle (1907) suggested that the map was part of the library of Charles V of France ('the Wise', 1338– 1380), given that an inventory made on his death lists a mappamundi. However, other documents dated 1381 show that Prince John of Aragon (1350–1396) sent a mappamundi made by Cresques Abraham to the new King Charles VI (1368–1422) to celebrate his ascent to the French throne. Jaume Riera (1975) supported the date of 1381. Although Kogman-Appel follows Riera's scholarship in many respects, she opts instead for one year earlier (1380). The difference may be minimal, but it has important consequences in determining by and for whom the Catalan Atlas was commissioned. Kogman-Appel suggests Peter IV of Aragon (1319–1387) and Charles V of France respectively, and her overall interpretation of the map supports this argument. She deconstructs the Catalan Atlas to show that Cresques Abraham projected various layers of meaning to allow multiple readings: a reader could interpret the map according to the cultural codes with which he was familiar; in this way, the cartographer satisfied the demands of his readers—whether in Aragon or France —while still mapping his own Jewish vision of the world, where political alliances came into play to offer liberation from the yoke of Christian dominance. The enabling of multiple readings was achieved by means of subtle additions or omissions, both textual and graphic, here deciphered by Kogman-Appel thanks in particular to her careful and detailed comparison of the Catalan Atlas and the Farhi Codex, an autograph manuscript (Sassoon collection, MS 368, 1366–1382) signed by Cresques Abraham. She argues each interpretation with a deep knowledge of his cultural milieu and shows an outstanding mastery of medieval Christian, Jewish and Islamic sources, as well as of the state of the art in the academic field, although perhaps not all readers of her book will find every word convincing. At this point it is tempting to suggest that Cresques Abraham is still playing with us and allowing multiple readings. This book is the key to KogmanAppel's perspective, that of a world authority on Jewish art in the Middle Ages, and no medievalist should miss the opportunity to see this world through her eyes. Last but not least, she renames the cartographer. Like many medieval Jews, he had two names, one in the vernacular (that used at the start of my review) and one liturgical (with which he signed the Farhi Codex). From the title of her book onwards, Kogman-Appel chooses the latter: Elisha ben Abraham Cresques, or Elisha Cresques for short.


Three years ago, Dr. A. J. Ochsner, of this city, called my attention to the value of castor-oil in the treatment of neuralgia, particularly of the fifth nerve. He stated that he had seen this substance recommended in a German medical journal, but was not able to give the reference. Since that time I have diligently examined the literature, but have been unable to find the article in question. Dr. Ochsner said that his results in the treatment of facial neuralgia had been brilliant, he having had as many as thirteen consecutive cases that had come to the surgical clinic at Rush Medical College for operation, all relieved, or greatly improved, by the use of castor-oil. While I can not report a series of cases as lengthy and successful as those treated by Dr. Ochsner, yet the results of this method in my hands have been superior to those of


Some carbohydrates in young pig diets escape enzymatic digestion and form substrates for the gastrointestinal microflora. These include the non-digestible oligosaccharides ( NDO ), which are found in e.g. cereals and legumes. Certain NDO may selectively stimulate the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of favourable bacterial species, and as such beneficially affect (gut) health of the host. They are referred to as prebiotics. A series of studies was carried out to elucidate the role of dietary NDO as feedstuff components and their potential as prebiotic feed additives in young pig diets.The two types of NDO studied, fructooligosaccharides ( FOS ) and transgalactooligosaccharides ( TOS ), were included in NDO-free diets up to 40 g/kg. The NDO were also used as substrates for in vitro fermentation, using young pigs' digesta and faeces as inoculum. Dietary NDO hardly affected pig performance and apparent ileal and faecal nutrient digestion. More than 90% of the FOS was degraded pre-caecally; this was 30% for TOS (estimated by others). Pre-caecal saccharolytic activity enhanced for both types of dietary NDO, resulting in prebiotic effects at the ileal level (reduced pH, reduced concentration of aerobes). However, the FOS- and TOS diets differed in terms of ileal volatile fatty acid composition and concentration of anaerobes (including lactobacilli). These may have been related to differences in rate of fermentation (FOS>TOS) and types of volatile fatty acids produced, as observed during in vitro fermentation. The observed prebiotic effects at the ileal level were not maintained throughout the total large intestine, due to the fast rate of fermentation of FOS and TOS. As a result, some of the stimulated microflora probably started to use proteins as a source of energy, resulting in the increased proteolytic activity observed at the faecal level (increased pH and concentration of volatile fatty acids of protein origin).It was discussed that cereal- and legume-based diets may exert a certain level of prebiotic activity. Therefore, the use of FOS and TOS as prebiotic feed additives in such diets may be limited. However, prebiotic carbohydrates which can be fermented throughout the gastrointestinal tract, rather than only in the small intestine and/or the proximal colon, may result in prolonged prebiotic effects and prove useful as feed additive in young pig diets.


In the study of the effect of ascitic fluid and dialysate of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells (m.m. less than 15 kDa) on the growth of Ehrlich and Lewis carcinoma it was found that the ascitic fluid significantly decreased the size of Ehrlich tumor (by more than 50% on day 9-25 after the tumor cell inoculation). It also reduced Lewis carcinoma tumor volume by more than 30% during 3 weeks after the tumor cells inoculation. Dialysate of Ehrlich tumor cells significantly inhibited the growth of Ehrlich tumor too. It is suggested that this test-system simulates inhibition of a small tumor by a big tumor in vivo.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether the observed phenotypic stability in static strength during adolescence, as measured by interage correlations in arm pull, is mainly caused by genetic and/or environmental factors. Subjects were from the Leuven Longitudinal Twin Study (n = 105 pairs, equally divided over 5 zygosity groups). Arm-pull data were aligned on age at peak height velocity to attenuate the temporal fluctuations in interage correlations caused by differences in timing of the adolescent growth spurt. Developmental genetic models were fitted using structural equation modeling. After the data were aligned on age at peak height velocity, the annual interage correlations conformed to a quasi-simplex structure over a 4-yr interval. The best-fitting models included additive genetic and unique environmental sources of variation. Additive genetic factors that already explained a significant amount of variation at previous measurement occasions explained 44.3 and 22.5% of the total variation at the last measurement occasion in boys and girls, respectively. Corresponding values for unique environmental sources of variance are 31.2 and 44.5%, respectively. In conclusion, the observed stability of static strength during adolescence is caused by both stable genetic influences and stable unique environmental influences in boys and girls. Additive genetic factors seem to be the most important source of stability in boys, whereas unique environmental factors appear to be more predominant in girls.


We propose a series of algorithms for solving abstract convex programming problems and prove convergence to the global solution of the problem. The algorithms use an approximation of the objective function by piecewise-linear minorants.


In this paper, a low-voltage, high performance charge pump circuit, suitable for implementation in standard CMOS technologies is proposed. Its pumping operation is based on cascading several crossconnected NMOS voltage doubler stages. For very low-voltage applications (1.2 V, 0.9 V), where the performance of the NMOS transistors is limited due to body effect, two improved versions of the charge pump with cascaded voltage doublers (charge pump with CVD) are also proposed. The first utilises PMOS transistors (charge pump with CVD-PMOS) in parallel to the cross-connected NMOS transistors, while the second improves the pumping gain by boosting the clock amplitude (charge pump with CVD-BCLK). Simulations at 50 MHz have shown that a five-stages charge pump with CVD can achieve a 1.5–8.4 V voltage conversion. For the same stage number and frequency, an output voltage of 4 and 7.3 V can be generated from 0.9 V, by using the charge pump with CVD-PMOS and the charge pump with CVD-BCLK, respectively.


Modeling correct software-intensive Systems of Systems architectures is a challenging research direction that can be mastered by providing modeling abstractions. For this purpose, we provide an iterative modeling solution for a multi-scale description of software architectures. We provide a visual notation extending the graphical UML notations to represent structural as well as behavioral features of software architectures. We define a step-wise iterative process from a coarse-grain to a fine-grain description. The intermediate iterations provide a description with a given abstraction that allow the validation to be conducted significantly while remaining tractable w.r.t. complexity. The iterative process involves both system-independent structural features ensuring the model correctness, and system-specific features related to the expected behavior of the modeled domain. We apply our approach for a methodological design of an Emergency Response and Crisis Management System (ERCMS).


"Brazil is back on the world stage" – this was the main message Lula delivered as honorary guest at the UN Climate Summit in Egypt, less than a month after beating Bolsonaro in the runoff of Brazil's presidential elections with a narrow margin of 50.9% against 49.1%. Lula's high-strung victory in a divided country has attracted global media and political attention, reflecting not only concerns about the fate of Brazilian democracy after a long cycle of authoritarianism (2016-2022), but of how the election could point to a change in the correlation of forces in a number of consequential themes that resonate on the international agenda: the urgency of environmental protection and regulation, the resumption of the South American integration process, the possibility of a more assertive BRICS coalition pushing for a transition in economic development policies, the attention to social inclusion, the need to reverse neoliberal reforms related to labour market and public spending mechanisms, the hopes of re-organising international left-wing solidarity, among others.


Continuous professional development (CPD) comprises a range of learning activities that allow professionals to continue to learn and develop throughout their careers. The growing demand for better improvement in mathematics education and students' achievement calls for effective CPD. Mathematics teachers need effective CPD programs or activities that enhance their skills and trains them to set high expectations for their students. This study explores secondary mathematics teachers' perceptions of the impact of conducted CPD program on improving their teaching strategies in implementing the new mathematics curriculum in a private school in Dubai, UAE. A mixed methods approach was used with both quantitative and qualitative methods. The instruments used are the secondary mathematics teacher feedback form (SMTFF), teachers' reflective journals and interview forms. Participants' responses revealed that collaboration between teachers and relevance of promoted content should be the main focus of any CPD program. The implications from these key findings explore how different contributions such as continuity and collaboration can be developed to make CPD programs more efficient and relevant. Throughout the study the constant issue that emerged was the need for a paradigm shift in CPD content and methods of delivery to insure that attendees are leaving CPD sessions with useful ideas and activities that are applicable inside their classrooms.


Abstract Background Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a medical emergency, yet there are no standardized treatment guidelines for the medical or neurosurgical management of these patients and little data on neurocritical care. We conducted an international survey to understand current medical and neurosurgical TBM management and resource availability to provide baseline data needed for future multicenter trials addressing unanswered clinical research questions and the establishment of standardized guidelines. Methods An online survey of 77 questions covering medical and neurosurgical TBM management aimed at clinicians/nurses treating TBM was distributed as an anonymous link through email invitation, international organizations' membership distribution, and direct links on organizational webpages or social media. The survey remained open for 5 months. Data were summarized with frequencies and percentages. Results The survey had 222 responses from 43 countries representing 6 continents. Most respondents were from tertiary care facilities, with broad access to medical and neurosurgical resources. There was significant heterogeneity in general supportive care, and TBM-specific management demonstrated considerable divergence from current standard-of-care practices. The lack of standardized guidelines was identified as a major challenge in TBM management. General and neurocritical care were largely absent. Resources for bedside supportive care and noninvasive monitoring were broadly accessible. Conclusions These findings suggest that current TBM management could be improved by the establishment of internationally accepted treatment guidelines based on available evidence, and that numerous centers have resources available to participate in future multicenter trials, even for basic interventions, that may further improve patient outcomes globally.


A survey of natural vegetation, soil and water of Pakpattan District was undertaken in this study. Floristic data was analyzed by using multivariate analysis techniques i.e., Tow- way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). A total of fifty six species related to nineteen families were documented from forty quadrats in Pakpattan district. Two major and six sub plant communities were identified in the study area. The study also investigated the relationship of vegetation structure to selected environmental factors. This relationship was determined by CANOCO analysis. The distribution of species in relation to environmental variables indicated that although most of the variables were strongly correlated but failed to play major function in the grouping together of the species. This study also provided important information to preserve and improve the existing vegetation cover for conservation of indigenous flora.


Introduction: Non invasive ventilation (NIV) has a well documented place in the management of the type two respiratory failure of COPD. Ward based NIV is cost effective when compared to administering the treatment in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) setting. Prior to March 2010, type 2 respiratory failure requiring NIV at the Lister Hospital was managed in ICU, under anaesthetic care. In March 2010, a 4 bedded Respiratory High Care Unit (RHCU) was created to deliver NIV in a ward environment. Aims: To look at usage of the RHCU in the management of type 2 respiratory failure and the outcomes of those receiving NIV. Methods: Bed occupancy records were kept from the introduction of the RHCU. These were analysed from May 2010 to January 2011 in conjunction with medical records to establish diagnosis, length of stay and discharge destination. Results: 40 patients received NIV over the nine months. 31 (77%) had underlying COPD, 4 (10%) sleep apnoea and the remainder; heart failure, pneumonia, interstitial lung disease and motor neurone disease. Length of stay varied from 1-46 days (mean 11.3, standard deviation 9.7). In the 31 patients with COPD, 6 already had home NIV, 6 were referred for consideration of home NIV, and 14 (45%) discharged with no need for ongoing ventilation. 5 COPD patients did not survive the admission. Conclusion: COPD was the predominant diagnosis in the 40 patients treated with NIV. The introduction of the RHCU allowed savings through the avoidance of an ICU admission and meant a trial of NIV could be used more readily as a ceiling of treatment in end stage COPD. Of note, no COPD patients were transferred from the RHCU to ICU, indicating appropriate selection of patients for ward based NIV.


ABSTRACT: This study examines visual perception and spatial satisfaction according to lighting conditions. Field measurements and surveys were performed in three rest space of university buildings where various lighting conditions were employed. Results indicate that overall impression of space improved when low color temperature, such as 3,000 K governed overall lighting envi-ronment and accent lighting was used for wall surfaces. Lighting conditions that kept uniform illuminance levels using area light sources containing fluorescent lamps with 6,500 K failed to keep favorable spatial satisfaction for space. High color temperature was not recommended for lighting in rest space. Asymmetrical illuminance levels formed by low color temperature such as 3000 K is recommended to keep positive mood and improve spatial satisfaction in rest space. Overall impression of the space was influenced by visual comfort, color temperature, spatial satisfaction and brightness. Spatial satisfaction for space was effectively impacted by psychological comfort, color temperature and overall impression for lighting conditions. Psychological comfort in space was influenced by color temperature, spatial satisfaction and visual annoyance from reflected light.Keywords: Lighting conditions(조명조건), Color temperature(색온도), Visual perception(시각적 반응), Spatial satisfaction(공간 만족도), Impression of space(공간감)


Magnesium is an important engineering material because of its light weight and excellent properties. Its density is 1.74 g⋅cm-3, only 2/3 that of aluminum and 1/4 that of iron. Moreover, it also has many advantageous properties such as good castability, hot formability, excellent machinability, good electromagnetic shielding characteristics, good biocompatibility, and recyclability (Cao et al, 2006; Staiger et al, 2006). Therefore, magnesium and its alloys have the potential to replace steel and aluminum in many applications. They have already been used in aerospace, aircraft, automotive, mobile electronics, biomaterials and other fields (Zhang & Zhang, 2004). However, there are some challenges for applications of magnesium and its alloys in a larger scale. The most important one is improving their poor corrosion resistance. Magnesium is a very active metal, and the standard potential of Mg2+/Mg is -2.356V (vs. N.H.E. at 25°C) (Bard & Faulkner, 2001). Therefore, magnesium and its alloys are extremely susceptible to corrosion, which can cause the decreased mechanical stability and unattractive appearance (Gray & Luan, 2002). To protect magnesium and its alloys from being corroded, the following techniques are frequently used (Zhang & Zhang, 2004): Conversion surface treatments, as chromating, phosphating, etc., Anodizing, Electroplating and electroless plating, Adding corrosion inhibitors. A great number of scientific studies have been devoted to the subjects of the first 3 techniques above (Song, 2005). But the last one, adding corrosion inhibitors has been seldom involved. Inhibitors are chemicals that react with a metallic surface, or the environment this surface is exposed to, giving the surface a certain level of protection (Roberge, 2000). For the metals widely employed in the industry such as iron, copper, zinc and aluminum, adding corrosion inhibitors is an effective and convenient method to decrease the corrosion rate. For magnesium and its alloys, there are very few publications on their corrosion inhibitors and only few inhibitors such as the salts of F(Song, 2005), Cr2O72(Song, 2006), 8hydroxyquinoline (Galio et al, 2010), and so on, are involved. Since Fand Cr2O72pollute the environment seriously, it is quite necessary to pay more attention to develop the environmental friendly corrosion inhibitors for magnesium and its alloys.


The purpose of this study is to present the simulation results and an overview of the performance assessment of the Ground-Source Heat Pump(GSHP) system. The calculation was performed for two design factors: the spacing between boreholes and the depth of the vertical ground heat exchangers. And the simulation was carried out using the thermal simulation code TRNSYS with new model of water to water heat pump developed by this study. As a result, it was anticipated that the yearly mean COPs of heat pump for heating and cooling are about 3.7 and 5.8 respectively and the heat pump can supply 100% of heating and cooling load all the year around.


Insomnia is a common medical problem observed in everyday clinical practice by doctor of all specialities. In this article authors discuss the use and efficacy of antidepressants in insomnia treatment. According to the current therapeutic guidelines they are the third line treatment for insomnia. Authors reviewed data from clinial trials and discussed the mechanisms of antidepressants hypnotic action. The necessity of conductiong randomised, controlled clinical trials determinig the efficacy and safety of antidepressants in insomnia was underline by the authors. Psychiatry 2012; 9, 3: 83–90 key words: insomnia, antidepressants, sleep disorders


Bacterial spores are encased in a multilayered proteinaceous shell, called the coat. In many Bacillus spp., the coat protects against environmental assault and facilitates germination. In Bacillus anthracis, the spore is the etiological agent of anthrax, and the functions of the coat likely contribute to virulence. Here, we characterize a B. anthracis spore protein, called Cotbeta, which is encoded only in the genomes of the Bacillus cereus group. We found that Cotbeta is synthesized specifically during sporulation and is assembled onto the spore coat surface. Our analysis of a cotbeta null mutant in the Sterne strain reveals that Cotbeta has a role in determining coat-surface morphology but does not detectably affect germination. In the fully virulent Ames strain, a cotbeta null mutation has no effect on virulence in a murine model of B. anthracis infection.


Networks that are dynamically formed by hundreds or thousands of inexpensive sensors are widely used in environmental monitoring, disaster recovery and the other domains. In this paper, we present a protocol, LM-PB, for on-line broadcast routing in wireless sensor networks where the sensors are energy-constrained. Our protocol is aiming at maximizing the duration before the network becomes inoperative due to the lack of battery energy at sensors. An appropriate selection of transmitting sensors, which cover the rest in the network, is an efficient technique for broadcasting. LM-PB makes such selections by utilizing a novel timing heuristic, called FDL. It does not need any explicit control message and is free of exploring the network topology. Our experimental results demonstrate that LM-PB provides longer network lifetime compared with the existing passive protocols. Meanwhile, we notice that the total number of successfully routed messages, termed as the network capacity, is also maximized by LM-PB. Particularly, the results indicate that the additional delay incurred by LM-PB is much less than the worst case analyzed value, and is acceptable.


In 30--60 minutes following their administration sodium oxybutyrate in a dose of 100 mg/kg, mexamine in a dose of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg and also gutimine in doses of 25,50 and 100 mg/kg under conditions of hypoxic hypoxia corresponding to an altitude of 10000 m produce a marked antihypoxic effect. A combination of sodium oxybutyrate in the above dose, of mexamine in amounts of 1,2.5 and 5 mg/kg and also of gutimine in doses of 25,50 and 100 mg/kg permit it in some cases to achieve potentiation of antihypoxic effects of the drugs.


For an analysis of solar particle events using neutron monitor data it is necessary to model the global neutron monitor network response. This is possible using the corresponding yield function(s). We present new improved computations of standard 6NM64 yield functions for primary
protons and alpha particles. The yield functions were computed at several depths, encompassing all the historical and existing neutron monitors. The computations were carried out with the Planetocosmics Monte-Carlo tool for extensive air shower simulations. All the secondary particles, which contribute to the count rate of a NM were considered. An effect of the geometrical correction of the NM effective area was also considered above 5-10 GeV/nucleon. The new NM yield function is compared with previous estimates and with experimental altitude and latitude surveys. The new NM yield function was applied to an analysis of ground level enhancement on the basis of global NM network data. The application of previously used double attenuation length method and the new yield function for ground level enhancement analysis are compared.


The Fifth Regular Meeting of the Scientific Committee (SC5) of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in August 2009 considered the feasibility of quantitative stock assessments for sharks and recommended that preliminary assessments should proceed in parallel with development of a shark research plan to fill data gaps. This paper presents a proposed shark research plan in response to the Commission's approval in December 2009 of SC5's recommendation. An introduction to the Commission's eight current key shark species is presented, including a brief review of the history of their designation and species profiles containing information on habitat, life history and ecological risk, conservation status, current catches in the WCPO, and existing assessments or management. A review of existing fishery and biological information is then presented and data gaps are summarised. Major difficulties in the use of logsheet data for shark assessment are anticipated due to lack of data provision, as well as issues of species mis-identification, under-reporting and changes in targeting strategies. Observer data coverage, especially for longline fleets, is low and may not be representative of all areas where sharks are caught. Other commercial, research and recreational fishery data sources have some potential to inform the analyses but will require further work. Fisheryspecific biological data are available mainly in the form of observer data on shark lengths, sex, fate and condition, and through a limited number of studies on bycatch mitigation methods (i.e. post-release mortality rates). It is concluded that there is a reasonable amount of information available on the biology of most key shark species although studies are concentrated in a few geographic regions. The extent of shark tagging data is difficult to characterize but appears primarily available for blue and mako sharks. A number of proposed shark assessments by other organizations were noted, including silky and oceanic whitetip assessments for the eastern Pacific Ocean by IATTC; assessments of blue, mako and potentially bigeye and pelagic threshers by ISC; and data compilation for makos by CSIRO. A research plan is proposed as three phases: assessment, research coordination and fishery statistics improvement. Progress in all three phases will be necessary to assist the Commission in meeting its responsibilities for ensuring the sustainability of shark stocks. Phase 1 consists of three assessment steps to be undertaken on the basis of existing data. The first step will involve constructing indicators of the degree of fishing pressure on the key shark species. The second step will involve plotting these indicators against various measures of shark species' productivity. The third step will involve stock assessments using simple surplus production and age structured models, if possible. However, without additional inputs from Phases 2 and 3, stock assessments for some species will be severely compromised and may not be able to provide a meaningful basis for Commission decision-making. For this reason CCMs are invited to consider potential activities identified under Phases 2 and 3 (i.e. research coordination and fishery statistics improvement) as collaborative work and in-kind contributions. CCSBT-ERS/1203/Info09


ABSTRACT Mycoplasma bovis is a major bovine pathogen associated with bovine respiratory disease complex and is responsible for substantial economic losses worldwide. M. bovis is also associated with other clinical presentations in cattle, including mastitis, otitis, arthritis, and reproductive disorders. To gain a better understanding of the genetic diversity of this pathogen, a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme was developed and applied to the characterization of 137 M. bovis isolates from diverse geographical origins, obtained from healthy or clinically infected cattle. After in silico analysis, a final set of 7 housekeeping genes was selected (dnaA, metS, recA, tufA, atpA, rpoD, and tkt). MLST analysis demonstrated the presence of 35 different sequence types (STs) distributed in two main clonal complexes (CCs), defined at the double-locus variant level, namely, CC1, which included most of the British and German isolates, and CC2, which was a more heterogeneous and geographically distant group of isolates, including European, Asian, and Australian samples. Index of association analysis confirmed the clonal nature of the investigated M. bovis population, based on MLST data. This scheme has demonstrated high discriminatory power, with the analysis showing the presence of genetically distant and divergent clusters of isolates predominantly associated with geographical origins.


Since the crystal-field strength at the Cr3 + site is very close to the excited-state crossover (ESCO), this work investigates the optical properties of Cr3 + -doped Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG) nanoparticles as a function of temperature and pressure in order to establish the effect of the ESCO on the optical behaviour of nanocrystalline GGG. Luminescence, time-resolved emission and lifetime measurements have been performed on GGG:0.5% Cr3 + nanoparticles in the 25–300 K temperature range, as well as under hydrostatic pressure up to 20 GPa. We show how low temperature and high pressure progressively transforms broadband emission into a ruby-like luminescence. This behaviour together with the lifetime dependence on pressure and temperature are explained on the basis of the spin–orbit interaction between the 4T2 and 2E states of Cr3 + .


This paper summarizes the recent work of the authors in the numerical simulation of casting processes. In particular, a coupled thermomechanical model to simulate the solidification problem in casting has been developed [7,8,9]. The model, based on a general isotropic thermoelasto-plastivity theory and formulated in a macroscopical point of view, includes generated phase-change effects and considers the different thermomechanical behaviour of the solidifying material during its evolution from liquid to solid. For the purpose, a phase-change variable, plastic evolution equations and a temperature-dependent material constitutive law have be defined. Some relevant aspects of this model are presented here. Full thermomechanical coupling terms have been considered as well as variable thermal and mechanical boundary conditions: the first are due to air gap formation, while the second involve a contact formulation. Particular details concerning the numerical implementation of this model are also mentioned. An enhanced staggered scheme, used to solve the highly non-linear fully coupled finite element equations, is proposed. Furthermore, a proper converence criterion to stop the iteration process is adopted and, although the quadratic convergence of Newton-Rapshon's method is not achieved, several numerical experiments demonstrate reasonable convergence rates [9]. Finally, an experimental cylindrical casting test problem, including phase-change phenomena, emperature-dependent constitutive properties and contact effects, is analyzed. Numerical results are compared with some laboratory measurements


Well-annealed thin films are typically observed to exhibit mean grain diameters that are approximately equal to the film thickness. The standard explanation of this "sheet thickness effect" is that it results from a balance of grain boundary curvature in two different directions which, in turn, results from pinning at grain boundary grooves. TEM experiments have been performed to assess this model, and it is found that the predicted curvature about axes in the film plane is absent. Alternate explanations of the sheet thickness effect are considered.


Rational choice theorists have long been ambivalent about the rationality postulate. Although many agree that humans have imperfect foresight and inaccurate understandings of the world within which they act, no satisfactory approach relaxing the rationality postulates exists. In this article, we apply a new method that allows us to model directly rational action when agents have incomplete or inaccurate mental models of their world. In particular, we utilize the game theoretic notion of self-confirming equilibrium. The self-confirming equilibrium framework allows us to model an environment where a player's predictions about one another's behavior are inaccurate. It also allows us to model a common aspect of disputes; viz., that both sides believe they are acting reasonably while the other side is acting unreasonably. Finally, the approach allows a type of surprise in which a player's mis-conjectures about another's behavior results in behavior that was not anticipated. We apply this framework to the problem of the American Revolution, helping to resolve several unexplained puzzles in the historical literature. Historians of the Revolution emphasize the role of ideas in underpinning the revolutionary crisis. From the rational choice standpoint, a critical omission in the literature is that historians do not connect the realm of ideas with the realm of action. We demonstrate how the framework we propose can more directly shed light on three aspects absent in the existing literature. First, to explain why either side fought about abstract ideals or how those ideals were connected to the realm of action, and thus why the two sides failed to come to some accommodation despite their differences. Second, to explain why the colonists became so incensed over seemingly trivial taxes imposed by the British after the Seven Years' War ended in 1763. And, finally, to explain that if the clash of fundamental ideals led the two sides to armed confiict, how the British and the Americans could be unaware of their profound differences during the previous 100 plus years of cooperation.


miRNAs associate with Argonaute (AGO) proteins to silence the expression of mRNA targets by inhibiting translation and promoting deadenylation, decapping, and mRNA degradation. A current model for silencing suggests that AGOs mediate these effects through the sequential recruitment of GW182 proteins, the CCR4–NOT deadenylase complex and the translational repressor and decapping activator DDX6. An alternative model posits that AGOs repress translation by interfering with eIF4A function during 43S ribosomal scanning and that this mechanism is independent of GW182 and the CCR4–NOT complex in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we show that miRNAs, AGOs, GW182, the CCR4–NOT complex, and DDX6/Me31B repress and degrade polyadenylated mRNA targets that are translated via scanning‐independent mechanisms in both human and Dm cells. This and additional observations indicate a common mechanism used by these proteins and miRNAs to mediate silencing. This mechanism does not require eIF4A function during ribosomal scanning.


This paper empirically examines the causal relationships that occur between the values and attitudes that children learn during the process of socialization and the developmental process, which has taken place in Spain and the United States. When learned at an early age, values and attitudes such as responsibility, imagination, or perseverance constitute an important support for the future developmental processes of a society, if taken globally as extended values among a country's population. The data for this analysis came from the 1995 World Values Survey. The dependent variable in the causal analysis is the tendency in each of these countries towards the service sector. As independent variables we have used family values and attitudes, as well as structural characteristics of families and the various values taught to kids within the home. The varying effects of socialization on development were studied through principal components analysis, and also path analysis. The conclusions manifest that the different values taught in the two countries in their processes of socialization determine differing degrees and levels of development.


Delivering siRNA or shRNA into the developing embryos is still a main challenge to use of RNAi in mammalian systems. Here we analyze several factors influencing RNAi-mediated silencing of Sry gene, which is a tightly controlled spatiotemporal expressed gene and only shortly expressed in developing mouse embryo gonad. A Sry gene-specific shRNAs expression vector (pSilencer4.1/Sry565) was constructed. The shRNA constructs were mixed with polyethylenimines (PEIs) to form a complex and then injected into pregnant mice though tail vein. Our results showed that Sry gene was downregulated significantly in developing embryos. Further study revealed that knocking-down of Sry expression resulted in feminization of gonad development in mouse embryos and the expression level of Sox9 and Wt1 gene was also significantly changed by downregulation of Sry. The transfection efficiency is associated with the amount of plasmid DNA injection, injection time, injection speed, and volume. Our studies suggest that transplacental RNAi could be implemented by tail vein injection of plasmid vector into pregnant mice.


The current paper investigates the impacts of recent global economic crisis on tourism business in Penang. Tourism industry is vulnerable to various crises and disasters, and its growth has been impeding due to unpleasant situations. This paper is part of a research which has been conducted in Penang and uses qualitative research methodology. It was found that the recent global economic crisis created many negative impacts for business stakeholders in Penang and various strategies have been applied to mitigate the negative effects. The level of impacts was different for industry players and their businesses decreased for a certain period of time. The paper argues that the crisis had ripple effects and created many challenges for tourism business operators.


Mesoporous silica sphere (MSS) with switchable gates was prepared by the graft of pH-sensitive propyldiethylenetriamine groups (multiamine chains) around mesopore outlets. The textural parameters of the resultant material had been analyzed. In the following test of in vitrodrug release, the gated mesoporous material showed high response to solution pH. At high pH (pH 7.5), ibuprofen (IBU) that loaded in this carrier released rapidly and completely (within 2 h); at low pH (pH 4.0 or 5.0), only a small part of the IBU (13 wt%) was slowly released from this carrier and the most of IBU was effectively confined in mesopores.


Abstract:This essay examines the Indigenous social and diplomatic context behind New England Protestant missionary use of the spiritual question, or the postsermon question-and-answer session—a genre in which English authors recorded the questions asked and answered by potential Indigenous converts in order to showcase their readiness for salvation. The first recorded use of the question-and-answer session in the New England missionary context came during John Eliot's 1646 attempted proselytization of the Massachusett sachem Cutshamekin. By looking closely at Cutshamekin's linguistic and diplomatic history, I illustrate the connection between the question-and-answer session and Indigenous treaty-making practices. The generic relationship between treaty making and the question-and-answer session meant that Indigenous participants often approached the sessions as a forum for negotiating and renegotiating the terms of their prior agreements with the English. In providing an alternative generic history to these sessions, I illustrate the ways in which colonial genre formation resulted from active discursive collaboration between Indigenous people and English settlers.


firstname.lastname@example.com
Follow Kamran on Twitter @KamranAbbasi Would you spend £2bn of taxpayers' money on an unproved treatment for covid-19 (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1053)?1 Would you spend that money in the throes of a cost of living crisis that is worsening the health of people on low incomes and forcing people with cancer to turn off their heating (doi:10.1136/bmj.o938, doi:10.1136/bmj.o1103)?23 Wouldn't you wait for better evidence to emerge (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1037)?4 Would you continue to deny staff respiratory protection in defiance of the evidence and the airborne nature of SARS-CoV-2 transmission (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1082)?5 Would you continue to maintain that you had no idea that asymptomatic transmission of the virus was possible in defiance of the fact that you, your science advisers, and the available evidence had acknowledged this possibility from the outset (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1116)?6 Would you show no remorse over a High Court verdict that condemns you for failing vulnerable patients by discharging them to social care from hospital beds without a covid test (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1098)?7 Would you demoralise your healthcare staff and the public further by perpetuating your failure to tackle the urgent and long term workforce crisis (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1090)?8 Would you pretend that you had the workforce crisis in hand when, despite exhortation after exhortation, editorial after editorial, and patient complaint after patient complaint, it is clear that you don't have a workforce plan (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1047)?9 Would you sit on your hands and button your lips as those very same overburdened staff are mauled by the press (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1091)?10 Would you persist with your strategy of pretending that major challenges are over, as you do with the pandemic and Brexit, even when one of the results is drug shortages for patients with chronic disease (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1100)?11 Major challenges don't disappear overnight and must be tackled. Clinical negligence is yet another example where a demonstrably effective alternative approach of a no blame culture is being successfully implemented by other countries (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1085).12 If you made these choices, how could professionals and the public be confident that you will take full advantage of the opportunity of a data-centric health service, including a full and frank conversation about companies' use of health data (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1018)?13 Could you be trusted with striking new evidence that joint injections for osteoarthritis are potentially beneficial and help us rethink osteoarthritis as a disease of tear, flare, and repair instead of wear and tear (doi:10.1136/bmj-2021-068446, doi:10.1136/bmj.o1028)?1415 Or be relied on to learn the lessons from a multinational study of outcomes after revascularisation for acute myocardial infarction (doi:10.1136/bmj-2021-069164)?16 And you would probably struggle to maximise the clear potential of telemedicine for surgery, a potential that is being realised in the international support for the surgeons and people of Ukraine (doi:10.1136/bmj.o1078).17 When making sense of all this self-destructive decision making, a growing number of the rest of us are left wondering how different these choices would be in a world that prioritised the health and wellbeing of people and the planet. BMJ 2022;377: o1028. 35473825 16 Cram P Hatfield LA Bakx P. Variation in revascularisation use and outcomes of patients in hospital with acute myocardial infarction across six high income countries: cross sectional cohort study.


High quality epidemiological data are essential for both the development of national oral health policies and cost-effective targeting of resources. Unfortunately, a high level of clinical heterogeneity between studies in this area makes it difficult, and inappropriate, to try to produce any definitive figures on the global prevalence or incidence of root caries. Published studies have reported wide ranges for the prevalence of root caries (25-100%) and the mean Root Caries Index (9.7-38.7). The reported range for annual root caries incidence is also wide, from 10.1 to 40.6%. While more research is needed in this area, most studies conclude that the burden of root caries is high in the older age population.


This paper uses a seminonparametric model and Consumer Expenditure Survey data to estimate life cycle profiles of consumption, controlling for demographics, cohort and time effects. In addition to documenting profiles for total and nondurable consumption, we devote special attention to the age expenditure pattern for consumer durables. We find hump-shaped paths over the life cycle for total, for nondurable and for durable expenditures. Changes in household size account for roughly half of these humps. The other half remains unaccounted for by the standard complete markets life cycle model. Our results imply that households do not smooth consumption over their lifetimes. This is especially true for services from consumer durables. Bootstrap simulations suggest that our empirical estimates are tight and sensitivity analysis indicates that the computed profiles are robust to a large number of different specifications.


BACKGROUND
The two most frequently used options to reduce the occurrence of acute otitis media (AOM) are tympanostomy tubes and prophylactic antibiotics. The goal of this study was to create a decision model to identify which intervention, if any, is preferred from the perspective of parents with young children.

METHODS
We developed a decision analysis model based on probabilities obtained from the literature and outcome disutilities obtained by interviewing parents. These parameters were placed into the model along with the anticipated number of episodes of AOM a child was expected to have in the coming year without intervention. Sensitivity analyses were performed on the effectiveness of the interventions, the disutilities (burdens associated with specific outcomes or interventions) associated with the interventions, and the characteristics of AOM episodes that the child would experience without any intervention.

RESULTS
Thirty-seven parents with young children were interviewed for this project. The preferred intervention for a child was sensitive to the number of episodes of AOM the child was anticipated to have in the coming year, the percentage of these episodes predicted to be severe, and how parents rated tympanostomy tubes compared with prophylactic antibiotics. In our base case of four episodes of AOM in the coming year (two mild episodes and two severe episodes), we found that tympanostomy tubes resulted in the best average outcome. Under different patient conditions, however, the preferred strategy could be either the use of prophylactic antibiotics or watchful waiting.

CONCLUSIONS
In our base case, the model suggested that tympanostomy tubes were preferable to prophylactic antibiotics. However, there is no single preferred preventive intervention for all children with recurrent AOM because of variation in the character of infections and the values parents give to the potential outcomes.


Understanding how economic inequality translates into unequal political participation is critical, as the consequences of such inequality-unequal influence over political outcomes - are so acute. This paper advances an argument about how income influences an individual's propensity to vote: namely, that low income citizens are especially susceptible to negative economic shocks. When individuals in a state suer unexpectedly cold winters, all state residents will experience a shock to their costs of living, but low income residents will be more vulnerable to these shocks. As a result, the opportunity costs of political participation are higher for low income residents, which can influence their voting behavior in an approaching election. These same costs are probably negligible for more financially-secure residents. Using voter data from the American National Election Study in conjunction with state-level temperature data for the years 1952 to 2004, this analysis finds that deviations from average state temperatures in January have a significant impact on voting in the election the following November, but only among low income respondents. These findings hold up to various model specifications and sensitivity tests.


Abstract This work examines theoretical conditions for localized deformation in porous rock, with emphasis on two recently identified deformation structures: compaction bands and dilation bands. Field and laboratory observations report that compaction/dilation bands consist of pure compressional/dilational deformation, which form perpendicular to maximum/minimum compression. A bifurcation approach is employed, with a two-yield surface constitutive model, to develop localization conditions under axisymmetric stress states for different stress paths. The first yield surface corresponds to a dilatant, frictional-damage mechanism (brittle regime), while the yield surface cap corresponds to a compactant mechanism (ductile regime). In the transitional regime, where both mechanisms are active, this model successfully predicts compaction bands and shear bands observed in axisymmetric compression tests. Due to discontinuities in the predicted band angle for probable material parameter values, this model may explain the lack of low angle compacting shear band observations in experiments. The two-yield surface model may also be applicable for a non-traditional axisymmetric extension stress path: increasing confining pressure with constant axial compression. Conditions for dilation band formation for this stress path are significantly less restrictive than corresponding compaction band conditions, suggesting that dilation bands could be a common deformation mode for high porosity sandstone.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by selective depletion of nigral dopamine (DA) neurons containing neuromelanin (NM), suggesting the involvement of NM in the pathogenesis. This study reports induction of apoptosis by NM in SH‐SY5Y cells, whereas protease‐K‐treated NM, synthesized DA‐ and cysteinyl dopamine melanin showed much less cytotoxicity. Cell death was mediated by mitochondria‐mediated apoptotic pathway, namely collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c, and activation of caspase 3, but Bcl‐2 over‐expression did not suppress apoptosis. NM increased sulfhydryl content in mitochondria, and a major part of it was identified as GSH, whereas dopamine melanin significantly reduced sulfhydryl levels. Western blot analysis for protein‐bound GSH demonstrated that only NM reduced S‐glutathionylated proteins in mitochondria and dissociated macromolecular structure of complex I. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species were required for the deglutathionylation by NM, which antioxidants reduced significantly with prevention of apoptosis. These results suggest that NM may be related to cell death of DA neurons in PD and aging through regulation of mitochondrial redox state and S‐glutathionylation, for which NM‐associated protein is absolutely required. The novel function of NM is discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of PD.


The neglected stock effect is the phenomenon where less researched stock earns more return than that predicted by the traditional CAPM. The aim of this study is to reveal the bonding between neglected stock premium and equity returns in the stock market of Pakistan by using Fama and French (1992 & 1993) methodology. This study is unique with respect to Pakistan that checks the relationship among neglected stock premium and equity returns on a sample of 200 stocks listed the largest stock market of Pakistan KSE. It is corroborated that neglected firm effect is present in market and priced by the market. This manifests that those stocks which are neglected, less researched and got less analyst coverage earn higher return in comparison to popular stocks that got more analyst coverage. The results also revealed that two factor model has greater explanatory power in comparison to Traditional CAPM. The results of this study are in line with the findings of Arbel and Strebel (1980) and Bertin, Michayluk and Prather (2008) for the USA equity market. Lower research analyst coverage increases the uncertainty for investor that how the company will perform in the future, which ultimately increase the risk factor and so the demand of return from the investors. The decision makers must consider this anomaly while making decisions regarding financing, investing etc. This study will facilitate the investors in taking effective investment decision and for efficient resource allocation.


Composite material allowables development required for prototype aircraft is discussed along with the related building block test effort necessary for such structure development. Allowables requirements are included as part of building block structural test requirements that are related to aircraft structure part criticality classifications. Then, each part of the building block is related to the test/evaluation/analysis categories that need to be interrogated to study the risk involved. For allowables, the categories are preliminary and "design-to" values related to physical defect minimum requirements in each classification. For the building block structures development test effort categories, the procedure used is progressive scale up of the size and complexity of the test program parts: from single to multiple load paths to joints and shapes. In summary, the relationship of the quality assurance requirements to those required for design allowables for flat panels to those required for intermediate structural components to those required for full size structure are discussed. Quality assurance requirement categories are discussed for each structural classification, size, and complexity of parts to be built. The building block structures test development effort satisfies the goals of:
 1. Preliminary and "design-to" material allowables development,
 2. Appropriate conceptual structural development,
 3. Structural proof of concept and related analytical methods development,
 4. Structural verification testing for analytical methods correlation, and
 5. Structural integrity testing and FEM validations.
 Once these goals are achieved the user has acceptable risk and cost effective prototype composite aircraft structure that has the necessary integrity and reliability needed for the specific prototype aircraft being developed.


Polyherbal therapy is said to be a current pharmacological principle having the advantage of producing maximum therapeutic efficacy with minimum side effects. We assessed the Immunomodulatory effects of a combination of extracts from Sesbania grandiflora flowers and Cocculus hirsutus leaves. In this work we detected the IgM and IgG levels in sera from mice treated with the HP-I, HP-II and HP-III against SRBC in ELISA methods at 0, 4, 7 and 14 days. In addition, we analyzed the phytochemical properties of the different herbal preparations.   After oral administration of the dose of combined extract (100-400 mg/ kg b.w.) increase the serum antibody titers after four and seven days, suggesting immunostimulatory activity through modulation of B lymphocyte functions. These results suggested that HP-I from 1:1 of both plants contained several chemical compounds that possess positive modulator effects on the immune system.


The ornamental plant, Neotchihatchewia isatidea, is an endangered species of Turkey and threatened by complete extinction in the future. Therefore, in vitro multiplication of this species can be valuable for commercial production and germplasm conservation. Immature embryos of N. isatidea were cultured for initiation on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with N6-benzylamino-purine (BAP) and -naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Shoot primordia were visible within 5 - 6 weeks and the shoot primordia later developed into normal shoots 10 - 12 weeks after the culture initiation on calli developed from immature embryos. Shoot tips were also excised from developed plantlets for direct shoot organogenesis and cultured on MS shoot induction medium supplemented with BAP (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/l), kinetin (KIN) (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/l) and thidiazuron (TDZ) (0.05, 0.10 and 0.50 mg/l). Direct multiple shoots from shoot tips developed in most media tested. High shoot multiplication (3.73), high rooting (53 %) number of root per shoot (3.66) and survival ratio (46.6 %) were achieved.


The role played by the International Court of Justice (and, formerly, its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice) in the development of international law has been debated by scholars almost since the establishment of the World Court in 1922. While most agree that the ICJ has an influence in this regard, there is little agreement beyond that. This article, which draws upon a 2013 edited collection of the same name involving studies by leading experts in over a dozen areas of international law, posits some parameters appertaining to the influence of the Court. In short, it is suggested that the answer to the question whether the Court contributes to the development of international law in a meaningful way depends, in large measure, on the particular area of international law. This is so because important factors – including how frequently the ICJ is called upon to consider the area, what other law-determining agents exist in the area and the nature of the applicable international law – vary depending on the subject area. The article tests the proposed parameters through a brief consideration of the ICJ's influence on the international law regarding the functioning of the United Nations.


Abstract The paper presents the topic of academic education for sustainable development (ESD). A diagnostic survey was made in a form of a questionnaire in three groups of respondents: active geography teachers, participants of postgraduate program preparing for teaching geography and undergraduate students majoring in geography. The conducted research revealed how the groups of respondents differ in regards perception and preparedness to use of SD and ESD in school geographical education


A common query to the curators or the organizers by the match officials, umpires, match referee, sponsors, franchise, team managers, captains or the players is about the prevailing weather conditions just before or at the time of match as it effect the financial stake of each one of them directly or indirectly .The traditional or conventional style of answering the above mentioned query is to respond just by looking above the sky and based on experience that it will rain or the dew will form or not. Now a day's based on the meteorological data's (rain, temperature, humidity, dew point, ET rate etc.)provided by the local meteorological sub- stations installed by the IMD or various meteorological websites (such as www.aquaweather.com ) the exact timing, its intensity and probable losses can be perceived in advance and various precautionary measures and action can be taken by the curators and the groundsman thereby reducing their huge financial losses by having a dew effected or rain washed match. Even the timing of dew formation can be calculated by knowing the dew point temperature which is a nightmare for the bowlers during the day and night matches. The above mentioned meteorological data's are easily available and accessible by the nearest AWS (automatic weather stations) of the IMD or from weather forecasting websites. This review is an attempt to understand the Dew and its effects on the matches played under day and night conditions and various scientific preventive measures that can minimize its effect.


The statistical properties of the neoclassical radial diffusion are confirmed through direct comparison with a Wiener process by the numerical evaluations of the cumulant, diffusion and autocorrelation coefficients. Within the neoclassical framework the origin of stochasticity exists only in velocity space. It is characterized by the stationary, subdiffusive, uniform, and Markov processes. Through the drift motion of particle guiding centres, the stochasticity in velocity space leads to that in configuration space, i.e. the radial diffusion. It is shown that such a radial diffusion develops as an approximately Wiener process, i.e. the statistically non-stationary, normal diffusive, Gaussian, and Markov process in the asymptotic time region.


The underlying principle of the Bibliography of Life is to provide taxonomists and others with a freely accessible bibliography covering the whole of life. Such a bibliography has been achieved for specific study areas within taxonomy, but not for "life" as a whole.
Now the ViBRANT project has produced the two components needed to realize the concept of a Bibliography of Life: RefBank and ReFinder. RefBank is a network of servers that store, identify duplicates, and parse the components of bibliographic references. ReFinder is designed to discover and download references from a wide range of open access online bibliographies, such as CrossRef, PubMed, Mendeley, Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), RefBank, BioStor, BioNames and others.


The novel electronic properties of bilayer graphene can be fine-tuned via twisting, which may induce flat bands around the Fermi level with nontrivial topology. In general, the band structure of such twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) can be theoretically obtained by using first-principles calculations, tight-binding method, or continuum model, which are either computationally demanding or parameters dependent. In this work, by using the sure independence screening sparsifying operator method, we propose a physically interpretable three-dimensional descriptor which can be utilized to readily obtain the Γ-point gap of TBG at arbitrary twist angles and different interlayer spacings. The strong predictive power of the descriptor is demonstrated by a high Pearson coefficient of 99% for both the training and testing data. To go further, we adopt the neural network algorithm to accurately probe the flat bands of TBG at various twist angles, which can accelerate the study of strong correlation physics associated with such a fundamental characteristic, especially for those systems with a larger number of atoms in the unit cell.


Vascular endothelial cells release dilatory compounds like nitric oxide and prostacyclin, as well as contractile factors like endothelin-1 (ET-1). We investigated the interaction of ET-1 with nitric-oxide-mediated dilation in cannulated pressurized (75 mm Hg) arterioles from rat cremaster muscle (180 +/- 3 microm). Arterioles constricted spontaneously to 101 +/- 3 microm, while ET-1 (0.4 nM) increased constriction to 78 +/- 3 microm. Acetylcholine, an endothelium-dependent nitric-oxide-mediated vasodilator induced a dose-dependent dilation during spontaneous tone. After addition of ET-1, the response to acetylcholine was significantly impaired. Nitroprusside, an endothelium-independent nitric oxide donor, induced a dose-dependent dilation that was almost completely inhibited by ET-1. In contrast, 8-Br-cGMP-induced dilation was unaffected. Thus, ET-1 appears to inhibit nitric-oxide-mediated dilation at the level of cGMP formation or degradation. The effect of ET-1 appears to be specific for nitric oxide as responses to a prostacyclin analogue were impaired at low doses only. The inhibitory effect of ET-1 on nitric-oxide-mediated dilation could be mimicked with high potassium (65 +/- 6 microm), but not with phenylephrine (74 +/- 8 microm)-induced constriction. These data show a direct inhibitory effect of ET-1 on nitric-oxide-mediated dilation in isolated skeletal muscle arterioles.


Abstract. Hygroscopicity largely determines phase state, chemical reactivity, optical properties and cloud nucleation activities of aerosol particles, thus significantly affecting their impacts on visibility, atmospheric chemistry and climate. In the last twenty years a large number of field studies have investigated hygroscopicity of tropospheric aerosols in China under sub- and super-saturated conditions. Aerosol hygroscopicity measurements in China are reviewed in this paper: 1) a comprehensive summary and critical discussion of aerosol hygroscopicity measurements in China is provided; 2) available measurement data are compiled and presented under a consistent framework to enhance their accessibility and usability; 3) current knowledge gaps are identified, and an outlook which could serve as guidelines for planning future research is also proposed.


Abstract Exacerbated by the specificity of housing as a welfare good, debates on housing, citizenship and rights are complex and often confusing. This article attempts to clarify the debate on rights-based approaches in the field of housing, shelter and homelessness. It focuses on the philosophical distinction between "natural" and "socially constructed" rights, and suggests that a plausible "third way" may be found by using Martha Nussbaum's "central human capabilities" approach as a foundation for universal human rights. "Citizenship" is proposed as a conceptual bridge between the philosophical discourse on rights and its practical application in specific political contexts. For this purpose, T.H. Marshall's classic division between "civil" and "social" citizenship rights is translated into a distinction between "legal" and "programmatic" rights to housing. The article demonstrates that it is possible to object to the notion of natural and/or human rights in the housing field, and still be in favour of clearly delimited legal rights to housing for homeless people and others in acute need. Conversely, one may be in sympathy with the discourse of universal moral rights, but be sceptical about the allegedly "atomizing" implications of individually enforceable legal rights.


This paper examines the relationship of farmers' age, educational qualification and size of land holding with awareness of Novartis company's pesticides and information exposure through which they became aware of Novartis Company. The data were collected from 120 respondents of tehsil Arifwala, selected at random. The analysis of the data showed that age had a highly significant negative relationship with the awareness of Novartis Pesticide Company, while there existed a nonsignificant relationship between the age and information exposure. Education had a highly significant relationship with respondents' awareness about pesticides of Novartis Company. Similarly there existed a highly significant positive relationship between educational qualification of the respondents and their information exposure through which they became aware ofNovartis Company.


The paper presents results of analysis of certain quasi stationary and non stationary signals using Gabor transform and Gabor spectrogram. Initial results are based on the original programs realising Gabor transform, whereas the main part of the work — the comparative analysis of signals by Gabor spectrograms of higher orders and other time-frequency distributions was performed using the commercially available software package: Joint Time Frequency Analysis (JTFA) Toolkit from National Instruments. In most cases the experiments showed superiority of Gabor spectrogram over other methods mainly due to better time and frequency resolution and elimination of some of the cross terms inherent e.g. for Wigner-Ville or Choi-Williams Distributions.


In this paper, these setting can be useful in the microprocessor and sensor that designed to improve the efficiency of the photovoltaic system the photovoltaic position tracker device, and compared the normal photovoltaic system of fixed form with the photovoltaic system of solar position tracked form. Moreover, this is compared the catalogue of solar cell module and the simulation through a mathematics modelling with the solar cell's characteristic interpreting and that is composed an power conversion system with boost converter and voltage source inverter. This device can be used to the constant voltage control method for maximum power point tracking in boost converter control. Experiment Results is shown that using a SPWM(Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) control method in inverter control.


We produce different oil-in-water concentrated emulsions stabilized by surfactants and we follow their kinetic evolution. We get evidence that the size evolution is first determined by Ostwald ripening and then by coalescence. The crossover between the two regimes occurs at a well-defined droplet diameter that characterizes the surfactant monolayer. We exploit this general type of evolution to measure the characteristic coalescence frequency in the thin liquid films.


In this paper, we propose a method of designing input-output history feedback controllers for unknown linear discrete-time systems. Many conventional reinforcement-learning based controls such as policy iteration are state-feedback. We extend the policy iteration by incorporating a method to statically estimate state variables from a history of finite-time input-output data. The convergence of the policy to model-based optimal solution has been theoretically guaranteed. Moreover, the proposed method is one-shot learning, i.e., the optimal controller can be obtained by using initial experiment data only. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown through a numerical simulation through an oscillator network.


In a context of economic difficulties, the Tunisian government is required to find solutions to meet the expectations of the population. Health sector is one of the critical areas requiring radical reform. The objective of this paper is to find the place of public private partnership project in the harmonious development of both public and private sectors in Tunisia. Indeed, the Tunisian health system consists of two main sectors: the public sector, and the private sector, booming since the 90s. Tunisian infrastructure and staff resources distribution is characterised by a very significant regional disparity, to the detriment of the interior regions, which is more pronounced in the private sector. This area, considered innovative and responsive, captures the local wealthy clientele, and the foreign highly specialized care seekers. It wins over the best healthcare providers, inspite of some reported claims against pricing abuses leading to user's lack of confidence. As for the public sector under funded, handicapped by red tape and some forms of lack of transparency and lobbying, it can not cope with the influx of customers of poor and middle classes. The relationship between the two sectors misses often. The current challenge in the Tunisian health sector is how can public and private sectors combine and harmonize their efforts to achieve common interest objectives. The public-private partnership, is a process helping the state to involve private investors in the realization of public interest projects and develop long term contracts. So, the two sectors will share resources and technical expertise and will access to further advantages. However, it is essential to establish clear and effective legal and institutional frameworks governing private participation in the public sector.


Facet-dependent properties of novel metal or metal-oxide nanocrystals were discovered recently, and are attracting intensive interest owing to their great potential for various practical applications. Co3O4 as an important transition metal oxide shows electronic, magnetic, and redox properties which have found many applications in energy conversion and storage, magnetic separation, sensor devices and catalysis. This review summarizes the most recent research advances in synthesis and applications of nanosized Co3O4 with predominantly exposed facets, with emphasis on the enhanced performances in catalysis and electrochemical properties. The mechanism for improved selectivity and activity was discussed, and a panorama of the correlations between particle shape, crystal plane, surface atom arrangement, and active sites has been drawn. Insightful findings in this scope may be achieved by forthcoming research in theoretical calculations, rational synthesis, and emerging applications. Thus, researchers can manipulate the synthesis at the atomic level resulting in novel applications of the materials in a wide variety of areas.


The structure of population activity in the dorsolateral striatum during the performance of motor sequences has not been characterized and it is unclear if striatal ensembles encode (predict) kinematic parameters defining how sequences are executed. Here we analyzed hundreds of striatal spike trains from naive and trained rats performing a running sequence. We found that the population response was composed of a diversity of phasic modulations covering the entire sequence. The accuracy of kinematics encoding by single neurons was around chance level but improved when neuronal ensembles were considered. The distribution of single-neuron contributions to ensemble encoding was highly skewed with a minority of neurons responsible for most of the encoding accuracy. Importantly, running speed ensemble encoding improved after learning. We propose that during motor learning, striatal ensembles adjust their task representation by tuning the activity of a minority of neurons to the kinematic parameters most relevant to motor performance.


Myelomeningocele (MMC) is a devastating anomaly with lifelong disability and morbidity. This is the first nonlethal disease as an indication of possible fetal surgery, and currently is the most common disease having undergone open fetal surgery. Although fetal surgical repair alone has been partially improving postnatal long-term clinical outcome, additional innovative strategy to be coupled with should be further investigated. In this regard, we studied the significance of tissue engineering technology as a means of provoking synergistic regeneration of the spinal cord that has been injured due to the associated MMC by the time of fetal anatomical repair. The aim of this report is to evaluate therapeutic feasibility of prenatal direct coverage of the MMC using an adherent sheet-like cluster of cultured myoblasts, the cell sheet. In our study using SD rat as a retinoic-acid-induced model of fetal MMC, a piece of the sheet was directly attached onto the surface of the MMC lesion following anesthesia, laparotomy and hysterotomy. As a result, we could reveal that the cell sheet could histologically seal up the lesion if it was properly kept stuck 4, 6 and 24 hours in utero. In conclusion, the cell sheet, as a part of therapeutic strategy, is likely to work for improving the outcome of correcting fetal MMC surgically.


Objectives. Detection of extraesophageal reflux (EER) in children with chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) using three different diagnostic methods. Methods. Children between 1 and 7 years with OME who underwent adenoidectomy and myringotomy with insertion of a ventilation tube were included in this prospective study. EER was detected using three methods: oropharyngeal pH was monitored for 24 hours using the Restech system; detection of pepsin in middle ear fluid obtained during myringotomy was done using Peptest, and detection of pepsin in an adenoid specimen was done immunohistochemically. Results. Altogether 21 children were included in the study. Pathological oropharyngeal pH was confirmed in 13/21 (61.9%) children. Pepsin in the middle ear fluid was present in 5/21 (23.8%) children; these 5 patients were diagnosed with the most severe EER established through monitoring of oropharyngeal pH. No specimen of adenoids tested was positive for pepsin upon immunohistochemical examination. Conclusions. Diagnosis of EER in patients with OME using Restech is sensitive but less specific when compared to the detection of pepsin in middle ear fluid using Peptest. Pepsin in the middle ear was consistently present in patients with RYAN score above 200, and these patients in particular could potentially profit from antireflux therapy.


Intestinal atresias are a most common cause of bowel obstruction in the newborn. Jejunoileal obstruction was found in 46% of the intestinal atresia. The classification of jejunoileal atresias defined 4 types of lesions. Our case does not conform these types. A mixture of type I and type IIIa. This atresia included fenestrated mucosal web with minimal mesenteric defect. Being a life threatening surgical emergency, prompt diagnosis and opportune treatment are required to prevent mortality and other complications in intestinal atresias. In conclusion, intestinal atresias should be remembered in bilious vomiting of newborn. And intestinal atresia type may be unusual.


During mammalian spermiogenesis a spherical spermatid is transformed into a highly asymmetric sperm cell. Concurrently, the plasma membrane of the cell develops into a mosaic of discrete membrane regions, with each region containing a unique set of proteins. Biogenesis of these surface domains was studied by following the surface expression and localization of nine different antigens during spermiogenesis. Each of these antigens exhibits one of four distinct patterns of localization on testicular sperm (whole cell, whole head, anterior tail, and posterior tail), indicating that there are at least three distinct surface domains on testicular sperm. Our results on the timing of antigen localization suggest that the generation of surface domains in mammalian sperm is a complex process. This process involves temporal and spatial regulation of surface expression of the antigens, as well as the specific removal of antigens from inappropriate domains after they have reached the cell surface.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. BACKGROUND Recent studies demonstrate that board-certified plastic surgeons and dermatologists are underrepresented in posting public-directed marketing content about botulinum toxin A on YouTube. However, educational content and peer-to-peer social media influence regarding the topic of neurotoxins has not been studied. Twitter is a social media platform that has emerged as a unique network for public education and for the exchange of ideas among physicians. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to identify Twitter's top social media influencers on #botox, to describe their characteristics and to relate their social media influence to academic influence. METHODS Twitter influence scores for the topic search #botox were collected in January 2019 with Right Relevance software. #Botox was the only neurotoxin term with sufficient activity to generate an influencer list. The user accounts associated with top influencers were connected to individual names, identification as a plastic surgeon or dermatologist, board certification status, location, and academic h-index. RESULTS The top 101 Twitter influencers on #botox are presented. Seventy-five percent of influencers are physically located in the United States. Academic h-index of #botox social media influencers ranged from 0 to 62 (mean, 8.6). CONCLUSION This study shows that the top #botox social media influencers on Twitter and primarily board-certified or eligible plastic surgeons located in the United States. This study also elucidates the influencer network within which other plastic surgeons and dermatologists can interact to augment their own influence within the social media network. This is the first study to describe social media influencers in this way.