Mammalian thioredoxin reductase (TR) is a pyridine disulfide oxidoreductase that uses the rare amino acid selenocysteine (Sec) in place of the more commonly used amino acid cysteine (Cys). Selenium is a Janus-faced element because it is both highly nucleophilic and highly electrophilic. Cys orthologs of Sec-containing enzymes may compensate for the absence of a Sec residue by making the active site Cys residue more (i) nucleophilic, (ii) electrophilic, or (iii) reactive by increasing both S-nucleophilicity and S-electrophilicity. It has already been shown that the Cys ortholog TR from Drosophila melanogaster (DmTR) has increased S-nucleophilicity [Gromer, S., Johansson, L., Bauer, H., Arscott, L. D., Rauch, S., Ballou, D. P., Williams, C. H., Jr., Schrimer, R. H., and Arnér, E. S (2003) Active sites of thioredoxin reductases: Why selenoproteins? Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100, 12618–12623]. Here we present evidence that DmTR also enhances the electrophilicity of Cys490 through the use of an "electrophilic activation" mechanism. This mechanism is proposed to work by polarizing the disulfide bond that occurs between Cys489 and Cys490 in the C-terminal redox center by the placement of a positive charge near Cys489. This polarization renders the sulfur atom of Cys490 electron deficient and enhances the rate of thiol/disulfide exchange that occurs between the N- and C-terminal redox centers. Our hypothesis was developed by using a strategy of homocysteine (hCys) for Cys substitution in the Cys-Cys redox dyad of DmTR to differentiate the function of each Cys residue. The results show that hCys could substitute for Cys490 with little loss of thioredoxin reductase activity, but that substitution of hCys for Cys489 resulted in a 238-fold reduction in activity. We hypothesize that replacement of Cys489 with hCys destroys an interaction between the sulfur atom of Cys489 and His464 crucial for the proposed electrophilic activation mechanism. This electrophilic activation serves as a compensatory mechanism in the absence of the more electrophilic Sec residue. We present an argument for the importance of S-electrophilicity in Cys orthologs of selenoenzymes.


The Grand Alliance HDTV system has been designed to provide advanced television service to North America. The FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service & the Grand Alliance have devised a testing program that demonstrates and measures the performance of a prototype system that has been constructed. This paper describes the prototype transport stream encoder subsystem design and implementation. >


This paper sought to develop a theoretical argument that ultimately showed that the accounting profession's response to the issue of sustainable development was not necessarily an evidence of the self-avowed commitment to public interest but rather an illustration of the profession's commitment to the survival of the business unit. This investigation was done via an exploration of literature which subsequently established the reactive nature of the profession, thus reinforcing the view that the profession reacted only because it became critically necessary to do so. The contribution of the accounting profession to sustainable development was also considered. This investigation also attempted to analyze the impact of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) via a consideration of the financial, environmental and social outcomes. While it was established that suggestions that SRI led to improved outcomes when compared to conventional funds were based on largely anecdotal data, this investigation showed that the necessity of incorporating social and environmental considerations in organizational policy as imposed by SRI as well as the availability of additional SRI funds cannot but be a source of strategic advantage.


Two prevalent types of distributional shifts in machine learning are the covariate shift (as observed across different domains) and the semantic shift (as seen across different classes). Traditional OOD detection techniques typically address only one of these shifts. However, real-world testing environments often present a combination of both covariate and semantic shifts. In this study, we introduce a novel problem, semantic OOD detection across domains, which simultaneously addresses both distributional shifts. To this end, we introduce two regularization strategies: domain generalization regularization, which ensures semantic invariance across domains to counteract the covariate shift, and OOD detection regularization, designed to enhance OOD detection capabilities against the semantic shift through energy bounding. Through rigorous testing on three standard domain generalization benchmarks, our proposed framework showcases its superiority over conventional domain generalization approaches in terms of OOD detection performance. Moreover, it holds its ground by maintaining comparable InD classification accuracy.


attention for social scientists dealing with the issue from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The aim of the article is to contribute to the academic reflection in the area. The article focuses on the compensatory aspects of adoption, On the one hand, adoption is a form of compensation for social orphancy, and, on the other hand, it gives childless couples a possibility to create a family and to fulfill their roles as parents. The author analyses selected aspects connected with shaping the identity of an adoptive family From the methodological perspective, the article offers a synthetic overview of subject literature and its constructive criticism.


Background The quality of care provided to recipients of health services is measured by the satisfaction of patient. Patient satisfaction is the extent to which patient feels that their needs and expectations have been met on behalf of their expenses made to get quality health services. Satisfied patients adhere to the treatment plan, seek for further services and provide feedback. Therefore, such study in Nepal would be important and first of its kind to assess the quality of physiotherapy services. Objective To evaluate the level of satisfaction of patient receiving outpatient Physiotherapy services and the relationship between the items within the questionnaire. Method The MedRisk Instrument for Measuring Patient Satisfaction (MRPS) with Physical Therapy Care was administered to 256 patients to identify the level of patient satisfaction. Result There was a high level of satisfaction of patient receiving Outpatient physiotherapy services using MRPS (Mean = 4.18; SD = 0.39). The relationships between individual item scores and Global satisfaction (Item 11) were explored with bivariate correlation analysis. The Internal factors correlated most strongly with the global satisfaction whereas the external factors had the lowest correlation with the global satisfaction. Conclusion Patient satisfaction is an important aspect of the measurement of quality of care. Thus, it must be evaluated timely to provide quality services to the patients. There was high level of satisfaction reported by patient receiving outpatient physiotherapy services in the Dhulikhel Hospital.


This paper presents a simple bitrate control method to prevent the abrupt quality degradation after scene change. After scene change, the quality degradation occurs due to the poor temporal prediction between pictures before and after scene change. We predict the coding complexity of picture using the spatial variance before DCT and spectral flatness measure. From the predicted coding complexity, we show that the rate-distortion relation of image can be approximated to exponential function. When scene changes, picture target bit is adjusted in the direction to minimize the distortion in a GOP using the rate-distortion relations for each P-picture. Since the bit shortage could be occurred, proposed method extends the current GOP to the next. The algorithm can be applied to the existing MPEG codecs and real-time applications easily. Compared with the MPEG-2 TM5 rate control algorithm, proposed algorithm shows 0.5∼2.5 dB gain in PSNR and a small fluctuation in quality after scene change.


INTRODUCTION Spectroscopy scans generally require averaging (over minutes) to obtain acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Patient motion compromises the quality and reliability of the resulting spectra. Such concerns are particularly acute with subjects who have difficulty holding still, for instance young children or adults who are in pain or confused. Therefore, we implemented a single-voxel H MR spectroscopy sequence with adaptive motion-correction based on the 3-dimensional prospective motion correction module for brain scans described in [1].


We investigate a method of ordering pixels (the elements of a rectangular matrix) based on an arithmetic progression with wrap-around (modular arithmetic). For appropriate choices of the progression's parameters, based on a generalization of Fibonacci numbers and the golden mean, we find equidistributed collections ofpixels formed by subintervals of the pixelprogression or "shuffle."
We illustrate this equidistributivity with a novel approach to progressive rendering of a synthetic image, and we suggest several opportunities for its application to other areas of image processing.


SUMMARY Wastewater from dyeing is a dangerous source of environmental contamination. Dyeing which is used in textile industry, is adding extreme color character to wastewater. Lots of textile industry use pigments and dyes in their products. In this study, the oxidation processes were carried out using Fenton reagent (Fe 2+ / H2O2). During the study different pH range (3-6-9) and different Fe 2+ / H2O2 molar ratios were used. The aim of this study is to present results concerning the optimization of azodyes removal to achieve decolourization by Fenton's reagent. Color measurements have been made using values of indexes of transparency parameter. Values of indexes of transparency = DFZ (DurchsichtsFarbZahl) in accordance with the EN ISO 7887 standards were obtained by taking absorbance in 436, 525 and 620 nm. DFZ values were calculated from these measurements. Best experimental results were obtained at the pH value of 3 with the Fe 2+ / H2O2 ratio of 1/ 5 (225 mg/L FeSO4 / 137 mg/L H2O2) by means of Fenton Process.


Global addressing of shared data simplifies parallel programming and complements message passing models commonly found in distributed memory machines. A number of programming systems have been designed that synthesize global addressing purely in software on such machines. These systems provide a number of communication mechanisms to mitigate the effect of high communication latencies and overheads. This study compares the mechanisms in two representative all-software systems: CRL and Split-C. CRL uses region-based caching while Split-C uses split-phase and push-based data transfers for optimizing communication performance. Both systems take advantage of bulk data transfers.By implementing a set of parallel applications in both CRL and Split-C, and running them on the IBM SP2, Meiko CS-2 and two simulated architectures, we find that split-phase and push-based bulk data transfers are essential for good performance. Region-based caching benefits applications with irregular structure and with sufficient temporal locality, especially under high communication latencies. However, caching also hurts performance when there is insufficient data reuse or when the size of caching granularity is mismatched with the communication granularity. We find the programming complexity of the communication mechanisms in both languages to be comparable. Based on our results, we recommend that an ideal system intended to support diverse applications on parallel platforms should incorporate the communication mechanisms in CRL and Split-C.


Extremely bright aurora was witnessed in East Asia on 17 September 1770, according to historical documents. The aurora was described as "as bright as a night with full moon" at magnetic latitude of 25°. The aurora was dominated by red color extending from near the horizon up beyond the polar star (corresponding to elevation angle of ~35°). We performed a two‐stream electron transport code to calculate the volume emission rates at 557.7 nm (OI) and 630.0 nm (OI). Two types of distribution of precipitating electrons were assumed. The first one is based on the unusually intense electron flux measured by the DMSP satellite in the March 1989 storm. The distribution consists of hot (peaking at 3 keV) and cold (peaking at 71 eV) components. The second one is the same as the first one, but the hot component is removed. We call this high‐intensity low‐energy electrons (HILEEs). The first spectrum results in an auroral display with a bright, lower green border. The second one results in red‐dominated aurora extending up to the elevation angle of 35° when the equatorward boundary of the electron precipitation is located at 32° invariant latitude. The poleward boundary of the precipitation would be 42° invariant latitude or greater to explain the auroral display extending from near the horizon. The origin of the HILEEs is probably the plasma sheet or the plasmasphere that is transported earthward to L ~ 1.39 due to enhanced magnetospheric convection. Local heating or acceleration is also plausible.


Accepting that the evaluation of the aerobic energy system contribution is very important for swimming train- ing diagnostics purposes and that oxygen uptake kinetics (VO2) is one of the most used parameters in that task, we pur- posed to assess the variability of the peak VO2 and VO2max values obtained in a 200 m front crawl effort, using five dif- ferent presentation intervals: breath-by-breath and average of 5, 10, 15, and 20 s. Ten male high-level swimmers per- formed a 200 m front crawl effort at maximal velocity being attached to a respiratory valve that allowed to directly meas- ure the breath-by-breath VO2 kinetics. VO2 peak was accepted as the highest single value on breath-by-breath sampling and VO2max was considered as the average values of the 5, 10, 15 and 20 s sampling obtained during the test. The ob- tained VO2peak and VO2max mean values in breath-by-breath and averaged 5 s sampling were similar to those described in the literature for experienced male competitive swimmers. Higher VO2 values were observed for breath-by-breath sampling, being observed differences between that data acquisition method and all the other time intervals (5, 10, 15 and 20 s). Differences were also visible between the 5 s averaging and the other less frequent data acquisitions considered (10, 15 and 20 s), evidencing that less frequent sampling frequencies underestimate the VO2max values. More future research about this topic, also conducted in real competition conditions, i.e., in swimming-pool (not in running or cycle ergome- ters) is needed.


Transcriptome profiling was performed on the harmful algal bloom-forming pelagophyte Aureococcus anophagefferens strain CCMP 1850 to assess responses to common stressors for dense phytoplankton blooms: low inorganic nitrogen concentrations, low inorganic phosphorus concentrations, low light levels, and a replete control. The de novo assemblies of pooled reads from all treatments reconstructed ~54,000 transcripts using Trinity, and ~31,000 transcripts using ABySS. Comparison to the strain CCMP 1984 genome showed that the majority of the gene models were present in both de novo assemblies and that roughly 95% of contigs from both assemblies mapped to the genome, with Trinity capturing slightly more genome content. Sequence reads were mapped back to the de novo assemblies as well as the gene models and differential expression was analyzed using a Bayesian approach called Analysis of Sequence Counts (ASC). On average, 93% of significantly upregulated transcripts recovered by genome mapping were present in the significantly upregulated pool from both de novo assembly methods. Transcripts related to the transport and metabolism of nitrogen were upregulated in the low nitrogen treatment, transcripts encoding enzymes that hydrolyze organic phosphorus or relieve arsenic toxicity were upregulated in the low phosphorus treatment, and transcripts for enzymes that catabolize organic compounds, restructure lipid membranes, or are involved in sulfolipid biosynthesis were upregulated in the low light treatment. A comparison of this transcriptome to the nutrient regulated transcriptional response of CCMP 1984 identified conserved responses between these two strains. These analyses reveal the transcriptional underpinnings of physiological shifts that could contribute to the ecological success of this species in situ: organic matter processing, metal detoxification, lipid restructuring, and photosynthetic apparatus turnover.


Abstract Since most research on the topic of experiences related to becoming a psychologist is conducted from a pathogenic paradigm, the study reported in this paper aimed to describe the journey of a clinical master's student from the perspective of positive psychology. A strengths-based paradigm allowed the researcher and the participant to understand the journey through the lens of personal growth, professional development, coping strategies, and attempts to make sense of the related difficulties. In this study, a qualitative research approach was used and a single case study design was employed. Data analysis followed the procedure of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Themes that were conceptualized and operationalized within the structure of psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989) comprised six well-being domains, namely (a) personal growth; (b) purpose in life; (c) autonomy; (d) self-acceptance; (e) positive relationships with others; and (f) environmental mastery. The most prominent finding was that, while the experience of becoming a psychologist is known to be a long and difficult journey, it can also be rewarding and positive, and holds the potential to enhance psychological well-being.


Warnings of looming crisis are all around us, including within services for older people. Recent reports warn that the care home sector is reaching a critical juncture and, without long-term planning and investment, crisis will turn to meltdown ( Burstow 2003 ). In the past five years something like 50,000 long-term care beds have been lost and now, according to the National Audit Office, tens of thousands of older people each year find themselves unable to leave hospital because there is insufficient post-hospital care (see page five ). Emergency hospital readmissions have increased by nearly 20 per cent over the past two years and the reality of intermediate care has yet to live up to the policy rhetoric.


Leakage power is a serious concern in nanometer CMOS technologies. In this paper we focus on leakage reduction through automatic insertion of sleep transistors for power gating in standard cell based designs. In particular, we propose clustering algorithms for row- based power-gating methodology which is based on using rows of the layout as the granularity for clustering. Our clustering methodology does timing and area constraint driven power-gating in contrast to only timing driven power-gating as proposed in the previous works. We present two distinct clustering algorithms with different accuracy-efficiency trade-off. An optimal one, which exploits a 0-1 or binary integer programming approach, and a heuristic one, which resorts to an implicit enumeration of the layout rows. Results show that, for all the benchmarks, the leakage power savings, as compared to previous techniques, are more than 75% when we have the same timing constraints but half sleep transistor area and at least 60% when area constraint is set at one fourth. We also show that we can perform clustering with no speed degradation and achieve maximum leakage power savings up-to 83%.


Abstract We present Herschel-SPIRE imaging spectroscopy (194-671 μm) of the bright starburst galaxy M82. We use RADEX and a Bayesian Likelihood Analysis to simultaneously model the temperature, density, column density, and filling factor of both the cool and warm components of molecular gas traced by the entire CO ladder up to J=13-12. The high-J lines observed by SPIRE trace much warmer gas (~500 K) than those observable from the ground. The addition of 13CO (and [C I]) is new and indicates that [C I] may be tracing different gas than 12CO. At such a high temperature, cooling is dominated by molecular hydrogen; we conclude with a discussion on the possible excitation processes in this warm component. Photon-dominated region (PDR) models require significantly higher densities than those indicated by our Bayesian likelihood analysis in order to explain the high-J CO line ratios, though cosmic-ray enhanced PDR models can do a better job reproducing the emission at lower densities. Shocks and turbulent heating are likely required to explain the bright high-J emission.


Current network planning and design methods use the average delay, packet loss and throughput as metrics to optimize the network cost and performance. New multimedia applications, on the other hand, also have critical jitter requirements that are not taken into account by these methods. Here, we explore the impact on the network performance of adding these jitter constraints. We use a fast jitter calculation model to solve the optimal routing problem for flows subject to jitter or delay constraints. We find that the optimal routing is very different for the two kinds of flows: They should be routed on different paths, the jitter-constrained flows should not be split on multiple paths while the opposite conclusion is true for delay-constrained flows.


Biobrane(®) is commonly used in paediatric burns to cover partial thickness burns and donor sites of split thickness skin (SSG). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of Biobrane(®) in dressing SSG adjacent to skin graft donor sites or partial thickness burns. A retrospective review was undertaken to determine the use of Biobrane(®) in dressing SSG, where the grafted areas were adjacent to donor sites or partial thickness burns. Between 2009 and 2012, we reported five cases of using Biobrane(®) to dress SSG, where the grafted areas were adjacent to partial thickness burns and two cases where the grafted areas were adjacent to donor sites. Biobrane(®) promoted adherence of the SSG to the wound, prevented shearing, and allowed fluid drainage. At the same time, Biobrane(®) also facilitated healing of the adjacent donor sites or partial thickness burns.


This investigation is one of a series of studies seeking to determine the degree of control given to women with different sex role identities. This study focused on the extent to which peers were willing to grant control to women with different sex role identities if working individually with each woman on various two-person tasks. The results indicated that women with different sex role identities were granted different amounts of control by their peers as a function of the type of two-person task under consideration. Women rated high on masculinity were granted greater control on enjoyable and creative tasks, whereas women rated low in masculinity were given more control on methodical and less enjoyable tasks. Women judged high in femininity were given control on tasks requiring interpersonal skills. These findings were discussed within the context of learned helplessness theory as a possible aid in understanding why more women than men become depressed.


The authors report their experience with 850 consecutive laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed from May 1990 to July 1997. In this series, despite a sporadic use of intraoperative cholangiography (IOC), there were no lesions of main biliary tract and there was only a biliary leaking cystic duct resolved with conservative treatment. The authors are satisfied with selective use of endoscopic cholangiography and sphincterotomy for the management of choledocholithiasis, and conclude that the use of IOC is not so essential to avoid iatrogenic lesions of main biliary tract, that could be avoid by applying a meticulous operative technique.


As a result of the current healthcare politics, nurses are taking a closer look at methods to support self-care and wellness. In this article, the author discusses methods, materials, cost, and problems of patient education. There are barriers to effective patient education. Nurses need to overcome these barriers and choose the most effective method and materials for teaching patients.


Abstract We report a case of a 29-year-old woman admitted twice to our hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) within 45 days following her bariatric surgery. The first admission required intensive care during her postoperative days after bariatric surgery. Subsequently, she continued to report high level of ketones on a daily basis. At her second admission, she presented with all three criteria of DKA. She was treated with a standard protocol for DKA, but ketones plasma level remained high despite significant improvement in pH and glycemic control. The administration of thiamine replacement was associated with normalization of the hyperketonemia. Thiamine deficiency can be associated with bariatric surgery and can lead to high ketone level in individuals with type 1 diabetes.


Intentional food crime is plural in nature in terms of the types of crime and the differing levels of financial gain. Successful models of food crime are dependent on how well the crime has been executed and at what point, or even if, detection actually occurs. The aim of this paper is to undertake a literature review and critique the often contradictory definitions that can be found in the literature in order to compare and contrast existing food crime risk assessment tools and their application. Food safety, food defense, and food fraud risk assessments consider different criteria in order to determine the degree of situational risk for each criteria and the measures that need to be implemented to mitigate that risk. Further research is required to support the development of global countermeasures, that are of value in reducing overall risk even when the potential hazards may be largely unknown, and specific countermeasures that can act against unique risks.


Polyamides and polyimides featuring a spirobifluorene unit as a structure directing motif in the polymer chain show intrinsic microporosity and consequently high surface areas. Such a spirobifluorene generates a 90° kink per repeating unit and thus prevents space-efficient packing or crystallization of the otherwise stiff polymer chains. Thus, the approach presented here extends the concept of polymers of intrinsic microporosity for ladder type poly(dibenzodioxane)s to more common polymers of high commercial interest. For example, a microporous polyimide with a surface area of ≈550 m 2 . g -1 was produced, which is readily soluble in chloroform.


A method for the separation and determination of trace amounts of silver in different aqueous media is based on coprecipitation of silver with Hg(II) sulphide, flotation of the precipitate with oleic acid (HOL) surfactant and redissolution with (1:1) concentrated nitr,ic and sulphuric acids. Ag is determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The different parameters influencing the processes of flotation and determination of silver viz. concentrations of coprecipitant, surfactant and major elements possibly present in some brines, acidity of the medium, agitation time, temperature and the effect of some selected foreign ions are investigated. At the optimal acidity value of the medium (0.2 M liN03); silver is separated quantitatively (100% ). The procedure is extended to recover and determine silver in natural water samples (3000 mL, successful flotation 3x1000 mL); the mean concentration of Ag being 2.5 ~giL.


| We describe EXPRESSION, a language supporting architectural design space exploration for embedded Systems-on-Chip (SOC) and automatic generation of a retargetable compiler/simulator toolkit. Key features of our language-driven design methodology include: a mixed behavioral/structural representation supporting a natural speci cation of the architecture; explicit speci cation of the memory subsystem allowing novel memory organizations and hierarchies; clean syntax and ease of modi cations supporting architectural exploration; a single speci cation supporting consistency and completeness checking of the architecture; and e cient speci cation of architectural resource constraints allowing extraction of detailed reservation tables for compiler scheduling. We illustrate key features of EXPRESSION through simple examples and demonstrate its e cacy in supporting exploration and automatic software toolkit generation for an embedded SOC codesign ow.


Ammonia (NH3) volatilization, denitrification loss, and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission were investigated from an irrigated wheat-maize rotation field on the North China Plain, and the magnitude of gaseous N loss from denitrification and NH3 volatilization was assessed. The micrometeorological gradient diffusion method in conjunction with a Bowen Ratio system was utilized to measure actual NH3 fluxes over a large area, while the acetylene inhibition technique (intact soil cores) was employed for measurement of denitrification losses and N2O emissions. Ammonia volatilization loss was 26.62% of the applied fertilizer nitrogen (N) under maize, while 0.90% and 15.55% were lost from the wheat field at sowing and topdressing, respectively. The differences in NH3 volatilization between different measurement events may be due to differences between the fertilization methods, and to differences in climatic conditions such as soil temperature. Denitrification losses in the fertilized plots were 0.67%-2.87% and 0.31%-0.49% of the applied fertilizer N under maize and wheat after subtracting those of the controls, respectively. Nitrous oxide emissions in the fertilized plots were approximately 0.08%-0.41% and 0.26%-0.34% of the applied fertilizer N over the maize and wheat seasons after subtracting those of the controls, correspondingly. The fertilizer N losses due to NH3 volatilization were markedly higher than those through denitrification and nitrous oxide emissions. These results indicated that NH3 volatilization was an important N transformation in the crop-soil system and was likely to be the major cause of low efficiencies with N fertilizer in the study area. Denitrification was not a very important pathway of N fertilizer loss, but did result in important evolution of the greenhouse gas N2O and the effect of N2O emitted from agricultural fields on environment should not be overlooked.


The role of the urology nurse in the care of 50 boys undergoing hypospadias surgery was prospectively evaluated using semi-structured interviews and data retrieved from hospital notes. Four nursing-related areas of interest were identified: Firstly, that nurses were instrumental in preparing the families for surgery by assessing the boys and providing information to the families. This enabled the early discharge of the children. Secondly, that nurses also dealt with any problems arising from pain or the wound as well as from the catheter or stent. Thirdly, that named nurses provided seamless care to the families enabling a development of familiarity and trust. Finally, nurses provided routine back-up and a 24-h emergency call facility for the families at home. These were valued by the parents for their reassuring and confidence giving effect as well as the quality of the advice given. Based on the results of this evaluation it was recommended to establish and introduce a care pathway for day-case hypospadias repairs and to upgrade the urology nurses' role towards advanced nursing practice.


Altered glucocorticoid hormone action may contribute to the etiology of the metabolic syndrome, but the molecular mechanisms are poorly defined. Tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoid is regulated by expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-alpha and 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I (11beta-HSD1)-mediated intracellular synthesis of active cortisol from inactive cortisone. We have analyzed GRalpha and 11beta-HSD1 expression in skeletal myoblasts from men (n = 14) with contrasting levels of insulin sensitivity (euglycemic clamp measurements of insulin-dependent glucose disposal rate), blood pressure, and adiposity. Positive associations were evident between myoblast expression of GRalpha under basal conditions and levels of insulin resistance (r(2) = 0.34, P < 0.05), BMI (r(2) = 0.49, P < 0.01), percent body fat (r(2) = 0.34, P < 0.02), and blood pressure (r(2) = 0.86, P < 0.001). Similar associations were evident when myoblasts were incubated with physiological levels of cortisol (P < 0.01 for all). Importantly, GRalpha expression was unaffected by variations in in vivo concentrations of insulin, IGF-1, or glucose concentrations. In common with the GR, 11beta-HSD1 expression in myoblasts incubated with physiological concentrations of cortisol in vitro was positively associated with levels of insulin resistance (r(2) = 0.68, P < 0.001), BMI (r(2) = 0.63, P < 0.005), and blood pressure (r(2) = 0.27, P < 0.05). Regulation of GRalpha and 11beta-HSD1 by cortisol was abolished by the GR antagonist RU38486. In summary, our data suggest that raised skeletal muscle cell expression of GRalpha and 11beta -HSD1-mediated regulation of intracellular cortisol may play a fundamental role in mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome.


Purpose. This study examined the effects of brief written educational materials on osteoporosis-related knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors. The study also examined whether observed effects varied as a function of one's stage in the precaution adoption process. Design. The study used an experimental research design. Setting. Participants were identified from North Carolina driver's license records. Subjects. Of the 1476 women in the initial sample, 536 (36.3%) enrolled in the study and 307 completed all follow-up assessments. Intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups. One group received an information packet containing general information about osteoporosis. One group received an action plan packet containing instructions on how to increase one's level of exercise and calcium intake. One group received both packets. The final group received neither packet. Measures. Primary study variables were beliefs related to osteoporosis, calcium, and exercise; osteoporosis knowledge; calcium and exercise stage; calcium intake; and exercise level. Results. Overall, receipt of the information packet was associated with changes in knowledge and beliefs (F[18,283] = 2.11, p < .01) irrespective of participants' stage of change. No effects on behavior were observed. Conclusions. These findings suggest that brief written educational materials can facilitate knowledge and belief change but that they do not promote behavior change. The generalizability of these findings is limited by the low study response rate.


The tracer diffusion of hydrogen is studied in amorphous Si3N4:H films which were produced by rf magnetron reactive sputtering. The diffusion experiments were carried out in the temperature range between 700 and 1000 °C with ion implanted deuterium isotopes. Secondary ion mass spectrometry was used for depth profile analysis. While a considerable part of the tracer is immobilized due to the interaction with the implantation damage, the other part migrates freely into the film, wherefrom diffusivities are extracted. These diffusivities coincide with those obtained from a control experiment with a gas exchange technique, demonstrating that the implantation damage has no significant influence on the determination of the correct diffusivities themselves.2H transport can be described by the concept of trap limited diffusion, where the tracer atoms are temporarily trapped by intrinsic film defects, presumably nitrogen dangling bonds. For the present case of a considerably high dissociation rate of trapped hydrogen, effective diffusivities are derived which obey an Arrhenius behaviour with a large activation energy of ΔE = 3.4 eV and a pre-exponential factor of D0 = 5 × 10−4 m2 s−1. The effect on diffusion of pre-annealing the films prior to diffusion in nitrogen and possible structural rearrangements involved, as well as of charging the films with hydrogen up to 2.6 at.%, is analysed.


Panel data consist of measurements taken from several individuals over time. Correlation among measurements taken from the same individual are often accounted for using random effect and random coefficient models. Panel data analysis that accounts for measurement error in the explanatory variables has not been thoroughly studied. This dissertation investigates statistical issues associated with two types of measurement error models for panel data;The first paper considers identification and estimation of a random effect model when some explanatory variables are measured with error. Here, individual heterogeneity is assumed to be manifested in intercepts that randomly differ across individuals. Identification of model parameters given the first two moments of observed variables is examined, and relatively unrestrictive sufficient conditions for identification are obtained. Estimation based on maximum normal likelihood is proposed. This method can be easily implemented using available computer packages that perform moment structure analysis. Compared to the only existing procedure based on instrumental variables, the new method is shown to be more efficient and to have much wider applicability. Standard error estimates and goodness-of-fit statistics obtained under the assumption of normally distributed observations are shown to be asymptotically valid for a broad class of non-normal observations. Simulation results demonstrating the efficiency and usefulness of the new procedure are presented;The second paper deals with the random coefficient model with measurement error, where all regression coefficients randomly differ across individuals. Two procedures are proposed for model fitting and estimation. The generalized least squares method is developed for the first two sample moments with a distribution-free estimate of the weight. Since this method tends to yield very variable estimates in small samples, an alternative method, the pseudo maximum normal likelihood procedure is also developed. The latter, obtained by maximizing a hypothetical normal likelihood for the first two sample moments, produces relative stable estimates in most samples. Asymptotic properties of the two procedures are derived and are used to obtain valid standard errors of the estimators. Numerical results showing the finite-sample properties of these estimators are also reported.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Accurate diagnostics to guide management are a technical challenge for many patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Some patients who undergo radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) and ultimately have high-grade (HG) UTUC can have non-diagnostic or low-grade (LG) UTUC (discordant pathology) at initial endoscopic evaluation. Stage distribution and survival of HG UTUC patients with discordant pathology may have important implications in the management of HG UTUC. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 191 UTUC patients with HG disease on surgical pathology who underwent endoscopic diagnostic biopsies prior to RNU from 2003 to 2018. The proportion of patients with muscle-invasive (≥pT2) disease on final pathology was compared in those with concordant versus discordant ureteroscopic pathology using Pearson's chi-squared test. Overall survival estimates for the two groups were obtained using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. RESULTS: There were 58 patients (30.1%) with discordant pathology and 133 patients with concordant pathology between ureteroscopy and RNU. No significant difference in overall survival was found between the two groups (p=0.9). Mean time from ureteroscopic biopsy to RNU was longer by 6 days for patients with discordant pathology (p=0.8). The proportion of ≥pT2 disease was not significantly different between patients with concordant and discordant pathologies (55.6% and 48.3% respectively, p=0.3). This was also seen after controlling for neoadjuvant chemotherapy use. A sensitivity analysis using preoperative urine cytology grade instead of biopsy grade did not show any significant difference in survival or proportion of ≥pT2 disease between patients with concordant (HG urine cytology) and discordant (LG/atypical/non-diagnostic urine cytology) pathology. A three-group sensitivity analysis combining biopsy and urine cytology grades (both HG vs both LG/atypical/non-diagnostic vs one HG and one LG/atypical/non-diagnostic) also showed no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Technical limitations in endoscopy can yield substantial rates of discordance between ureteroscopic and RNU pathology. HG UTUC patients with concordant compared to discordant pathology, however, have no significant differences in overall survival and ≥pT2 disease prevalence. These results suggest the importance of prompt evaluation and consideration for RNU in patients for whom there is a high clinical suspicion of HG disease, despite low-grade or non-diagnostic biopsy or urine cytology results. Source of Funding: None


In the half century since the initial discovery of an astronomical (non-solar) x-ray source, the observation time required to achieve a given sensitivity has decreased by eight orders of magnitude. Largely responsible for this dramatic progress has been the refinement of the (grazing-incidence) focusing x-ray telescope, culminating with the exquisite subarcsecond imaging performance of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The future of x-ray astronomy relies upon the development of x-ray telescopes with larger aperture areas (< 1 m2) and comparable or finer angular resolution (< 1″). Combined with the special requirements of grazing-incidence optics, the mass and envelope constraints of space-borne telescopes render such advances technologically challenging—requiring precision fabrication, alignment, and assembly of large areas (< 200 m2) of lightweight (≈ 1 kg m-2 areal density) mirrors. Achieving precise and stable alignment and figure control may entail active (in-space adjustable) x-ray optics. This paper discusses relevant programmatic and technological issues and summarizes current progress toward active x-ray telescopes.


This study discussed the application of the basic school literacy activity. The purpose of this was to contribute to improving the reading and writing skills of elementary school students. In addition, it aimed to solve the difficulties faced by the school in implementing the school literacy movement. This applied research was conducted for fifteen minutes each day for a period of one month. As participants, there were low-grade students, namely grade one and high-class students which was grade five. The first-grade students numbered about thirty as well as the fifth grade. The research instrument used observation, documentation study and interviews. The results showed that schools have not been able to implement the school literacy movement based on existing provisions. This can be seen from a number of inadequate facilities and the readiness of the teachers as well the students who were difficult to involved in the activity.


Voreloxin is a novel naphthyridine analog, structurally related to the quinolones, and currently in clinical trials in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Clinical responses have been observed in these indications (Lancet et al., 2007; McGuire et al., SGO 2008). Voreloxin\#8217;s mechanism of action involves DNA intercalation and inhibition of topoisomerase II that induces site-selective DNA double-strand breaks (DSB), G2 arrest and apoptosis. Potency was reported in primary patient biopsies from triple negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer and AML, including samples that are resistant to the topoisomerase II inhibitor doxorubicin, with activity independent of p53 family members (Hawtin et al AACR 2008). Here we report that toxic DSBs are generated at the replication fork, triggering homologous recombination repair (HRR) and that BRCA2 mutation increases sensitivity to voreloxin. We also show that the agent is active in breast cancer biopsies from patients with ductal or metastatic disease. The influence of BRCA2 on sensitivity to voreloxin was evaluated by proliferation assay in cells mutant and complemented for functional BRCA-2 (V-C8 and V-C8-B2). Activity in these assays was compared with doxorubicin. In cells mutant for BRCA2 an approximately 5-fold increase in sensitivity was identified for voreloxin as compared to cells expressing functional BRCA2 (IC 50 0.14 \#956;M vs 0.72 \#956;M). Doxorubicin sensitivity was increased approximately 4-fold (IC 50 0.05 \#956;M vs 0.19 \#956;M ). These studies were extended to the human sarcoma cell line U-20S, comparing wild-type cells to those depleted for BRCA2 using siRNA. The BRCA2 influence on sensitivity to voreloxin was evaluated by clonogenic survival and compared with doxorubicin. Voreloxin cytotoxicity toward 9 ductal and 8 metastatic primary breast cancer biopsies was determined using the Extreme Drug Resistance (EDR) proliferation assay. Voreloxin was potent in samples that were resistant to the topoisomerase II inhibitors doxorubicin and / or etoposide, and was also active in cisplatin-resistant samples. Voreloxin at 1µM (the plasma concentration sustained for approximately 24 hr in Phase 2 clinical studies) inhibited proliferation >90% in 8/9 ductal biopsies, with none being resistant to the agent. Proliferation was also inhibited >90% in 4/8 metastatic samples with only one being resistant to 1µM voreloxin. In conclusion, voreloxin induces DNA DSBs that are repaired by HRR, and BRCA2 mutations sensitize cells to the agent. Voreloxin is active in breast cancer biopsies, including those resistant to other topoisomerase II inhibitors. Combined with potent activity in triple-negative breast cancer biopsies and the known mechanism of action of voreloxin, these data support expansion of the clinical evaluation of voreloxin to include breast cancer, in which other topoisomerase II inhibitors are active. Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 1708.


ABSTRACT Background: The use of anticoagulation for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and CHA2DS2-VASc score of 1 has been debated, partially due to limited data on ischemic stroke risk and specific clinical trials in these patients. East Asian patients have a different stroke risk profile compared to non-East Asians. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of ischemic stroke risk in AF patients with a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 1 in East Asian countries. Methods: A comprehensive literature search for studies evaluating ischemic stroke risk related with AF with CHA2DS2-VASc score of 1 was conducted by two reviewers. We used a fixed-effect model first, then a random-effect model if heterogeneity was assessed with I2. Results: After pooling 6 studies, the annual rate of ischemic stroke in East Asian patients with AF and a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 1 was 1.66% (95% CI: 0.71%-2.61%, I2 = 98.4%). There was a wide range in reported pooled rates between countries, from 0.59% to 3.13%. Significant difference existed not only in the community-based studies (Chinese: 2.10% vs. Japanese: 0.60%), but also from the hospital-based studies (Chinese: 3.55% vs. Japanese: 0.42%). Confining the analysis to those on no antithrombotic treatment had limited effect on the summary estimate (eg. Chinese: 4.28% vs. Japanese: 0.6%). In Chinese studies, ischemic stroke rate was lower in females than males (female: 1.40% vs. male: 1.79%). However, the low event rate in Japanese studies may reflect unrecorded anticoagulation status at follow-up. Conclusions: Some regional differences between East Asian countries were observed for ischemic stroke risk in patients with a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 1. This may reflect methodological differences in studies and unrecorded anticoagulation use at followup, but further prospective studies are required to ascertain ischemic stroke risks, as well as the differences and reasons for this between East Asians and non-East Asians.


Social Network Service has the sufficient potential can be widely and effectively used for various fields of society because of convenient accessibility and definite user opinion. Above all Twitter has characteristics of simple and open network formation between users and remarkable real-time diffusion. However, real analysis is accompanied by many difficulties because of semantic analysis in 140-characters, the limitation of Korea natural language processing and the technical problem of Twitter is own restriction. This thesis paid its attention to human's political attitudes showing permanence and assumed that if applying it to the analytic design, it would contribute to the increase of precision and showed it through the experiment. As a result of experiment with Tweet corpus gathered during the election of national assemblymen on 11st April 2012, it could be known to be considerably similar compared to actual election result. The precision of 75.4% and recall of 34.8% was shown in case of individual Tweet analysis. On the other hand, the performance improvement of approximately 8% and 5% was shown in by-timeline political attitude analysis of user.


Abstract: Urban planning has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of their populations. Efficiency at this level has been hampered by the lack of integrated tools to adequately describe urban space in order to formulate appropriate design solutions. This paper describes an ontology called LBCS-OWL2 specifically developed to overcome this flaw, based on the Land Based Classification Standards (LBCS), a comprehensive and detailed land use standard to describe the different dimensions of urban space. The goal is to provide semantic and computer-readable land use descriptions of geo-referenced spatial data. This will help to make programming strategies available to those involved in the urban development process. There are several advantages to transferring a land use standard to an OWL2 land use ontology: it is modular, it can be shared and reused, it can be extended and data consistency maintained, and it is ready for integration, thereby supporting the interoperability of different urban planning applications. This standard is used as a basic structure for the "City Information Modelling" (CIM) model developed within a larger research project called City Induction, which aims to develop a tool for urban planning and design.


The purpose of this mixed methods study is to determine the effectiveness of casebased pedagogy in teaching basic principles of information ethics and ethical decisionmaking. Study reports results of preand post-assessment completed by 49 library and information science (LIS) graduate students at a Midwestern university. Using Creswell's (2014) convergent mixed methods strategy, the assessment instrument collected both quantitative and qualitative data in the preand post-assessment instrument, analyzed data separately, and compared it to better understand the problem. Pedagogy providing the context for this study is an example of a deliberate shift away from static lecture and memorization methods of instruction, to instruction involving a dynamic, interactive learning process. Curriculum and instruction is influenced by Dervin's (1983) seminal sense-making theory, in particular Dervin and Clark's (2003) dynamic, twodimensional communication-as-procedure model used to overcome communication gaps and inequities. Students focused on cases, authentic situational dilemmas related to privacy; intellectual freedom; intellectual property; intercultural ethics; and professional ethics. Findings suggest that case-based pedagogy resulted in students' improved (1) abilities to describe basic principles of information ethics; (2) abilities to apply a model for ethical decision-making; (3) opportunities to practice flexible communication behavior; (4) awareness of behaviors relevant to tolerance of others, privacy rights, authors' and artists' rights, and treatment of co-workers; and (5) self-reported interest in the study of information ethics and satisfaction with case-based learning. It is suggested that case-based instruction using the sense-making methodology holds much promise as an effective way to operationalize information ethics education in LIS as well as in traditional social science disciplines. It offers a framework for development of students' abilities to inform themselves efficiently and effectively about choices information professionals must make in today's pluralistic world.


ABSTRACT The prevalence of adolescent smoking in Greenland is relatively high and remains an important topic to study. The present study reports the prevalence of smoking among Greenlandic adolescents in 2018 and the association between smoking and social relations. The study was based on HBSC Greenland 2018, using a theoretical framework proposed by Due and colleagues, which divides social relations into structural and functional relations. The study showed a statistically significant gender difference in smoking, as 11.4% of the girls reported to smoke compared to 7.9% of the boys. The smoking prevalence increased significantly with age, and differences were also found for a place of residence, as the smoking prevalence was higher in towns and settlements compared to Nuuk. The adolescent smoking prevalence was higher when living in a home with one adult or in a foster family, school home or orphanage, versus living in home with at least two adults. No significant associations were found between adolescent smoking and functional relations. The results are beneficial to consider when applying new interventions to prevent adolescent smoking initiation in Greenland.


Hydrops-ectopic calcification-"moth-eaten" (HEM) or Greenberg skeletal dysplasia is an autosomal recessive chondrodystrophy with a lethal course, characterized by fetal hydrops, short limbs, and abnormal chondro-osseous calcification. We found elevated levels of cholesta-8,14-dien-3β-ol in cultured skin fibroblasts of an 18-wk-old fetus with HEM, compatible with a deficiency of the cholesterol biosynthetic enzyme 3β-hydroxysterol Δ14-reductase. Sequence analysis of two candidate genes encoding putative human sterol Δ14-reductases (TM7SF2 and LBR) identified a homozygous 1599–1605TCTTCTA→CTAGAAG substitution in exon 13 of the LBR gene encoding the lamin B receptor, which results in a truncated protein. Functional complementation of the HEM cells by transfection with control LBR cDNA confirmed that LBR encoded the defective sterol Δ14-reductase. Mutations in LBR recently have been reported also to cause Pelger-Huet anomaly, an autosomal dominant trait characterized by hypolobulated nuclei and abnormal chromatin structure in granulocytes. The fact that the healthy mother of the fetus showed hypolobulated nuclei in 60% of her granulocytes confirms that classic Pelger-Huet anomaly represents the heterozygous state of 3β-hydroxysterol Δ14-reductase deficiency.


A body of theory has been developed regarding multilevel coordination [1]. With applications sparse, the objective of this work is to relate and interpret a portion of the theory for control for the class of complex processes with sequential subprocesses. An example is formulated utilizing the Hot Strip Mill, including modification of current operating practice motivated by the coordination philosophy.


Interactive Digital TV (IDTV) is a reality in the midst of the Information Society, is expected to allow the development of new interactive systems that may be useful in daily life as well as in other scopes such as education, politics and economics. The implications that IDTV requires to mature settles new challenges for both public and private authorities, and, demands also, new standards for other aspects such as technolgy applications, television industry, legal frames, social envioroments and education fields. This paper presents the basis of IDTV and also looks beyond to explore what are the outlines that can be used to provide an efficient broadcast and interactivity.


We point out that with a specific counting of states loop quantum gravity implies that black holes perform a phase transition at a certain characteristic temperature TC . In this phase transition the punctures of the spin network on the stretched horizon of the black hole jump, in effect, from the vacuum to the excited states. The characteristic temperature TC may be regarded as the lowest possible temperature of the hole. From the point of view of a distant observer at rest with respect to the hole the characteristic temperature TC corresponds to the Hawking temperature of the hole.


Patch clamp analysis of membranes reconstituted with a fraction isolated from detergent-solubilized mitochondrial membranes by affinity chromatography on immobilized quinine earlier indicated the presence of two classes of ion channels, of about 40- and 140-pS conductance in medium including 150 mM KCl. Now a 57-kDa constituent of the quinine-affinity column eluate has been identified as the 40-pS channel. Protein fractions derived from the quinine-affinity column eluate by preparative isoelectric focusing with a Rotofor cell have been reconstituted into phospholipid vesicle membranes by detergent dialysis, and vesicles have been enlarged for patch clamping by dehydration and rehydration. Voltage clamp analysis has been carried out on excised patches bathed symmetrically in buffered medium containing 150 mM KCl and 100 microM CaCl2. Patches of membrane incorporating the 57-kDa protein exhibit 40-pS conductance transitions. The magnitude of conductance transitions is similar when Na+ replaces K+ in the bathing medium, indicating little selectivity of the 40-pS channel for K+ relative to Na+. Another fraction derived from the quinine-affinity column eluate is found to contain the larger channel, now estimated to have an average conductance of about 130 pS. Patches of control membrane prepared in the same way but without protein exhibit no channel activity.


We developed a new soft x-ray speckle intensity correlation spectroscopy system by use of a single shot high brilliant plasma soft x-ray laser. The plasma soft x-ray laser is characterized by several picoseconds in pulse width, more than 90% special coherence, and 10(11) soft x-ray photons within a single pulse. We developed a Michelson type delay pulse generator using a soft x-ray beam splitter to measure the intensity correlation of x-ray speckles from materials and succeeded in generating double coherent x-ray pulses with picosecond delay times. Moreover, we employed a high-speed soft x-ray streak camera for the picosecond time-resolved measurement of x-ray speckles caused by double coherent x-ray pulse illumination. We performed the x-ray speckle intensity correlation measurements for probing the relaxation phenomena of polarizations in polarization clusters in the paraelectric phase of the ferroelectric material BaTiO(3) near its Curie temperature and verified its performance.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the protective effects of curcumin on bile duct ligation(BDL)-induced liver cholestasis in mice, so as to provide a new treatment strategy for liver fibrosis.

METHODS
Forty-two healthy adult male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into sham group (n =6), sham+curcumin group (n=6), BDL treatment group (n=10), BDL+curcumin group(n=10), BDL+curcumin+ZnPP group (n=10). Seven days after BDL operation, the sham operation + curcumin group and the BDL+ curcumin group were treated with curcumin at the dose of 30 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection once a day for 7 days.The mice in BDL+ curcumin +ZnPP group were treated with curcumin (30 mg/kg) and ZnPP (50 μmol/kg) by intraperitoneal injection once a day for 7 days. For the sham group and the BDL group, mice were treated with equal-volume saline daily by intraperitoneal injection. After 14 days of BDL, the plasma and liver tissues were collected, the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were measured. The pathological changes of liver tissue and liver fibrosis were observed, and the protein expression of HO-1 in liver tissue was detected.

RESULTS
Compared with the sham group, mice in the BDL group had enlarged liver gallbladder and the serum levels of ALT and AST were increased significantly (P<0.05). Meanwhile, the results of Sirius red staining and qRT-PCR of pro-fibrosis related genes showed collagen deposition in the liver, and immunohistochemistry of macrophages and neutrophils showed inflammatory cell infiltration in the liver. Compared with the BDL group, the serum levels of ALT and AST in the curcumin treatment group were decreased significantly (P<0.05), collagen deposition and inflammatory cell infiltration were improved, and HO-1 expression was increased (P<0.05) after curcumin treatement. In the curcumin treatment group, the protective effect of curcumin on liver injury could be reversed by HO-1 active inhibitor ZnPP.

CONCLUSION
Curcumin can improve liver inflammation and fibrosis caused by BDL, and this protective effect is related to the regulation of HO-1 activity by curcumin.


Low frequency and large scale flow variations, often called macro-instability (MI) phenomena, were studied by means of a combination of large eddy simulations (LES) and sliding mesh (SM) models. Numerical predictions of MI characterictic in a six-bladed Rushton turbine stirred tank were performed by varying the off-bottom clearance at constant impeller rotational speed. The occurrence of MI in this study was identified by two methods: observing visually the flow velocity vector field and analyzing the time-series data of both velocity in the bulk flow and dynamic pressure on the vessel wall. The transient flow field visualization revealed the secondary circulation flow and the asymmetrical flow pattern beside of the mean flow pattern. The high variation intensity of flow pattern variation was clearly identified in the region with smaller space. The flow pattern variation was corroborated with the presence of high amplitude peaks in the low frequency part of the frequency spectrum of flow velocity. The distinct peak that was usually designated as the frequency of MI revealed the characteristic of MI. The physical meaning of the frequency of MI was the periodical appearance of the pronounced flow pattern. The numerical predictions of the frequency of MI in the region below and above impeller studied in this paper were confirmed well with the experimental results reported by Matsuda et al. (2004). The numerical prediction of the dynamic pressure monitored on the tank wall was also in agreement with the flow velocity monitored in the bulk flow for indicating the MI phenomena. This way of monitoring will be useful for the study of MI in multiphase agitated tank in the near future and in the practical application.


INTRODUCTION
Recombinant porcine FVIII (rpFVIII) (Obizur, Susoctcog-alfa, Takeda, Japan) is licensed for the treatment of bleeding in acquired Haemophilia A (AHA). The summary of product characteristics state that monitoring should be by one stage assay (OSA) rather than chromogenic assay (CSA). CSA have been shown to underestimate activity when rpFVIII is added to plasma in vitro.

METHODS
Samples from three AHA patients (n = 21) (pre- and post rpFVIII) were assessed using FVIII:C assays; OSA methods: Actin, Actin FS, Actin FSL and Pathromtin SL performed on CS5100i (Sysmex, Kobe, Japan); APTT-SP, SynthASil and SynthAFax performed on ACL TOP (Werfen, Barcelona, Spain). CSA methods on CS5100i: Siemens Chromogenic Assay, Biophen FVIII:C, Technochrom FVIII:C; on ACL TOP: Rox Factor VIII, Coamatic Factor VIII and CRYOcheck Factor VIII.

RESULTS
OSA and CSA varied according to reagent used median OSA 61 IU/dL (range 41.5-81 IU/dL (ANOVA p < 0.0001)) median CSA 46.5 IU/dL (range of method specific medians 36.5-84 IU/dL (ANOVA p < 0.0001)). Amongst OSA, Actin FS was associated with the highest FVIII:C, APTT-SP was associated with the lowest. Variation in CSA results by different methods was also seen with highest FVIII:C levels obtained using the Technochrom FVIII:C and the lowest levels obtained with Siemens Assay.

CONCLUSION
The relationship between OSA and CSA was not consistent between method or patient. Previously there has been reports of underestimation by CSA in in vitro spiked samples. Investigation into concentration of phospholipids in the APTT reagents may explain some of these variations.


N point particles move within a billiard table made of two circular cavities connected by a straight channel. The usual billiard dynamics is modified so that it remains deterministic, phase space volumes preserving and time reversal invariant. Particles move in straight lines and are elastically reflected at the boundary of the table, as usual, but those in a channel that are moving away from a cavity invert their motion (rebound), if their number exceeds a given threshold T. When the geometrical parameters of the billiard table are fixed, this mechanism gives rise to non-equilibrium phase transitions in the large N limit: letting T/N decrease, the homogeneous particle distribution abruptly turns into a stationary inhomogeneous one. The equivalence with a modified Ehrenfest two urn model, motivated by the ergodicity of the billiard with no rebound, allows us to obtain analytical results that accurately describe the numerical billiard simulation results. Thus, a stochastic exactly solvable model that exhibits non-equilibrium phase transitions is also introduced.


Sexual reproduction is a trait shared by all complex life, but explaining its origin and evolution remains a major theoretical challenge. Virtually all theoretical work on the evolution of sex has focused on the benefits of reciprocal recombination among nuclear genes, paying little attention to the dynamics of mitochondrial genes. Here I develop a mathematical model to study the evolution of alleles inducing cell fusion in an ancestral population of clonal proto-eukaryotes. Mitochondrial mixing masks the detrimental effects of faulty organelles and drives the evolution of sexual cell fusion despite the declining long-term population fitness. Cell-fusion alleles fix under negative epistatic interactions between mitochondrial mutations and strong purifying selection, low mutation load and weak mitochondrial-nuclear associations. I argue that similar conditions could have been maintained throughout the eukaryogenesis, favoring the evolution of sexual cell fusion and meiotic recombination without compromising the stability of the emerging complex cell.


We coupled the antimicrobial activity of two well-studied lactoferricin derivatives, LF11-215 and LF11-324, in Escherichia coli and different lipid-only mimics of its cytoplasmic membrane using a common thermodynamic framework for peptide partitioning. In particular, we combined an improved analysis of microdilution assays with ζ-potential measurements, which allowed us to discriminate between the maximum number of surface-adsorbed peptides and peptides fully partitioned into the bacteria. At the same time, we measured the partitioning of the peptides into vesicles composed of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylgylcerol (PG), and cardiolipin (CL) mixtures using tryptophan fluorescence and determined their membrane activity using a dye leakage assay and small-angle X-ray scattering. We found that the vast majority of LF11-215 and LF11-324 readily enter inner bacterial compartments, whereas only 1−5% remain surface bound. We observed comparable membrane binding of both peptides in membrane mimics containing PE and different molar ratios of PG and CL. The peptides' activity caused a concentration-dependent dye leakage in all studied membrane mimics; however, it also led to the formation of large aggregates, part of which contained collapsed multibilayers with sandwiched peptides in the interstitial space between membranes. This effect was least pronounced in pure PG vesicles, requiring also the highest peptide concentration to induce membrane permeabilization. In PE-containing systems, we additionally observed an effective shielding of the fluorescent dyes from leakage even at highest peptide concentrations, suggesting a coupling of the peptide activity to vesicle fusion, being mediated by the intrinsic lipid curvatures of PE and CL. Our results thus show that LF11-215 and LF11-324 effectively target inner bacterial components, while the stored elastic stress makes membranes more vulnerable to peptide translocation.


The monthly coal train reservations planning problem arises in the unit train business of North American railroads. It involves a variety of operational and tactical decisions such as train formation, routing, and scheduling. As a result of the extensive scope of coal transportation in the United States, models for this problem grow quickly to a size unmanageable by state-of-the-art optimization software. Therefore, we propose a two-model heuristic solution methodology that is time-efficient and produces good quality solutions. The first model is developed under simplifying assumptions and yields an upper bound on the number of reservations to be accepted during the month. It also assigns car consists to reservations based on aggregate supply and demand of resources. This model also provides a tentative schedule for trains, and sets precedence relations between reservations. These being given, a second procedure is used to construct a detailed monthly schedule through the solution of network flow models and through the solution of a job-shop scheduling problem. The resulting solution is then improved through a large-scale neighborhood search. We evaluate our approach computationally, both on randomly generated and practical instances. We show numerically that our approach outperforms current practice.


A new method has been employed for the design of solid-beam electron guns of high perveance and area convergence. This has resulted in designs with perveance 2.2×10-6 a/v3/2 and convergence ratio 300; and perveance 5×10-6 a/V3/2 and area convergence 6. Using conventional methods, a design with perveance 0.1×10-6a/v3/2 and area convergence ratio 1000 has been obtained. Each of these guns has yielded over 95 per cent transmission through a drift tube, in most cases with less than 1.5 times theoretical Brillouin focusing magnetic field. The design method consists of 1) paper design following earlier workers; 2) construction of a model using the design cathode and anode, but with the focus electrode replaced by a series of annular disk electrodes; 3) measurement, in pulsed bell-jar beam tester, of the beam leaving this gun, by means of a pinhole aperture followed by a split collector, yielding data on current density and trajectory angle as a function of radius and axial position; 4) modifications of annular disk potentials and cathode surface shape to improve beam quality; 5) electrolytic tank determination of the shape of a single electrode to replace the annular disks; and 6) test of the final design in a sealed-off, shielded-cathode, pulsed beam tester in which the beam flows through a drift tube in a uniform magnetic field. These methods are relatively exact and rapid. Drawings are presented for some specific designs.


To determine changes in the intracranial pressure dynamics under the condition of head-down tilt, the pressure-volume relationship in the cranial cavity as well as changes in intracranial pressure were studied experimentally in 31 cats. The animals were divided into three groups; with the horizontal, with the head-down and one with the head-up position. In each group the pressure volume index (PVI) and cranial cavity compliance (C) were examined under controlled respiration. The following results were obtained. (1) The values of PVI and C were significantly greater in the head-down tilt group as compared to those in the other groups, in spite of the increase in intracranial pressure level. (2) In the situations of craniospinal blockade by epidural ligation of spinal cord at C2 level, the PVI and C were also higher in the head-down tilt group than in the horizontal group. These results indicate that the pressure buffering capacity is increased with head-down tilt with respect to intracranial volume loading. It appears that the buffering mechanism does not depend on movement of the cerebrospinal fluid, but on the increased cerebral venous vascular bed with the communication between extracranium and intracranium.


Patient monitoring provides flexible and powerful patient surveillance through wearable devices at any time and anywhere. The increasing feasibility and convenience of mobile healthcare has already introduced several significant challenges for healthcare providers, policy makers, hospitals, and patients. A major challenge is to provide round-the-clock healthcare services to those patients who require it via wearable wireless medical devices. Furthermore, many patients have privacy concerns when it comes to releasing their personal information over open wireless channels. As a consequence, one of the most important and challenging issues that healthcare providers must deal with is how to secure the personal information of patients and to eliminate their privacy concerns. In this article we present several techniques that can be used to monitor patients effectively and enhance the functionality of telemedicine systems, and discuss how current secure strategies can impede the attacks faced by wireless communications in healthcare systems and improve the security of mobile healthcare.


In the Philippines, milk production is often inconsistent due to seasonality leading to either shortage or surplus of milk. Before processing, dairy farmers and cooperatives subject their collected raw milk to low temperatures to delay the deterioration of milk quality. This process is performed to prevent profit loss, reduce food waste and generate a sustainable supply chain. The study determined the effects of refrigeration, freezing and blast freezing on preserving the quality of raw cow's milk before processing. Chemical, foaming, microbial and sensory characteristics were determined to compare the effect of each treatment. Milk samples were refrigerated at 4 °C for 12 h (RM), frozen at -18 °C for 16 h (FM), and blast frozen at -40 °C for 10 h (BFM). Before conducting the analyses, FM and BFM were thawed at 4 °C for 22 and 16 h, respectively. Fat (4.07%) and protein (2.97%) significantly decreased in FM while moisture, total solids, titratable acidity and pH did not significantly differ among treatments. The foam value and foam volume were significantly higher in RM (88.00% and 86.33 mL) and BFM (91.58% and 89.75 mL), respectively. BFM had the lowest counts of aerobic microorganisms (5.16 log10 CFU/mL), coliforms (1.38 log10 CFU/mL), and Escherichia coli (< 1.00 log10 CFU/mL). Milk samples were pasteurized at 63 °C for 30 min before the conduct of the sensory analysis. Sensory characteristics did not significantly differ among treatments. From the results, blast freezing can be generally considered the most viable solution for storing raw cow's milk before processing.


Throughout the apartheid era South Africa maintained a wide-reaching propaganda apparatus. At its core was the information service that strongly capitalised on photography to visually articulate the minority regime's racist political messages, promote Afrikaner nationalism, and consolidate white rule. By unearthing a substantial corpus of photographs that so far have been hidden in archives, this book offers a distinctive perspective on the institutional context of the regime's photographic production and how it was tightly linked to the objective to build a white nation. Through scrutiny of the photographic material's iconographies, its circulation in printed matters, and a comparison with works by photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, Ernest Cole and David Goldblatt, readers gain fresh insight into the country's visual culture of the period. Based on the ambiguity of photographs, the monograph challenges the alleged dichotomy between so-called pro- and anti-apartheid photography, highlighting how the regime was able to position photographs in the grey area of inconspicuousness. By blending photo theory and art historical analysis with historical studies, Building a White Nation will appeal to scholars and postgraduate students in cultural studies interested in photo history and theory, visual culture and art history, African studies, South African photography, Afrikaner nationalism, propaganda studies, postcolonial studies, and archive theory.


The history of transgenderism is reaching a new turning point. From the medical beginnings of the 1940's to the real innovations of the last decade, surgery can, more than ever, contribute to the gender reassignment process. This article will firstly describe the evolution of the transgender demand, and will then review the specificities of male and female facial anatomy. We will conclude by defining the maxillofacial surgical field and the new role of the reference center at the University Hospital of Liège in this promise of treatment, that is both intimate and innovative.


Aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the on-board signal acquisition techniques suited for Deep Space Transponders addressing also mission aspects and implementation issues.


Minimally‐invasive endovascular procedures have been established as fundamental and incredibly effective interventions in the treatment of aneurysms. Daily operations incorporate thousands of hours of experience sourced from the operating room and extensive literature. In particular, neurointerventional angiography requires extensive hands‐on training under the guidance of an expert interventionalist in order to learn nuanced navigational and procedural strategies. The presence of a high learning curves and inter‐center training variability creates difficulties in developing standardized training and assessment models in this field. Surgical workflow analysis has been gaining traction in recent years as a favorable technical approach to understanding surgical procedures. Through the breakdown of clinical performance into its core steps and events, workflow models allow for the visualization, statistical analysis and standardization of performance from clinically representative arrays of data points. Simulation‐based training in cerebral aneurysm diagnosis and coiling has seen great technical advancement over the last decade, with the production of affordable, tactile computer‐based simulators. Although these tools hold much potential, there is little data supporting the extent of their abilities to teach and standardize clinically‐transferable skills. Using surgical workflow analysis software, we aim to dissect the core steps and events that occur during a cerebral aneurysm coiling procedure in order to identify the average occurrence and length of significant procedural steps and events. Using this data, we aim to develop a standardized model of performance that can be applied as a guide to simulation‐based training and as a performance metric to simulation‐based clinical skills transfer. A total of three video cameras are placed around the Angio Suite focusing on significant areas of clinical importance: (1) the femoral access site and hands of the surgical team, (2) the imaging monitors, and (3) angiography pedals. Video data from 20 patients undergoing a cerebral angiography coiling procedure are collected and analyzed using Annotate. Data analysis will focus on quantitative data, such as event occurrence and length, and summative qualitative data on procedural overview. This data will be used to develop an averaged expert performance model for this procedure. The results of this study will provide important guidelines for translational simulation‐based training work that is representative of the steps performed in the Angio Suite. Workflow analysis in cerebral aneurysm coiling can provide answers to many uncertainties existing in the field, such as metrics for performance among experts, accuracy of simulation‐based training in comparison to clinical practice and potential areas of development in clinical training. Furthermore, the development of a performance model in neurointerventional angiography would create potential for automated workflow analyses and application of statistical data towards the treatment recommendations for novel and difficult cases.


: In white noninbred rats hepatocytes have been studied morpho- and cytophotometrically. During evening-night time the volume of hepatocytes, their nuclei and cytoplasm increases, as do the amounts of benuclear and tetra- and octaploid cells. In the morning, on the background of maximal mitotic activity, the amount of the diploid cells increases, and the number of tetra- and octaploid hepatocytes, the volume of the nuclei and cytoplasm decreases.


The allergenic properties of the nine mite species prevalent in the house dust of northwestern Switzerland (Basel and surroundings) were studies. For the preparation of mite extracts, the average weight of each species was first determined and then the number per culture glass counted. Thus the extracts were prepared according to the weight of the mites. They were tested on 115 patients with ashma and/or rhinitis. Tests with patients own house dust and with a human dander/yeast mixture, which served as culture medium for the mites, were carried out simultaneously. Test results were either positive or negative for all substances in 93 patients (80 per cent). Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, D. farinae and Euroglyphus maynei caused the most frequent and most severe reactions. The species Glycyphagus destructor, G. privatus, Chortoglyphus arcuatus, Gohieria fusca, Tyrophagus putrescentiae and Acarus siro seem to play a less important role, if any, in house dust allergies.


In the past 20 years, there has been a growing trend towards the development and use of biomaterials for the repairing and restoration of damaged bone tissue. The calcium phosphate bioceramics have attracted great attention in the field of orthopaedics because of its similarity to the mineral component of bone tissue. They have been used as granules for example in non-load bearing small implants, such as middle ear implants, in coatings on metals as dental implants, as well as in porous implants to stimulate bone growth within the implant; and cements, which are implanted in a paste like form and harden in vivo. The clinical disadvantages associated with them are primarily focused on poor mechanical strength and slow resorption kinetics as compared with the surrounding tissue. Therefore, current studies are aimed at creating new formulations combining calcium phosphate compounds with biopolymers, in order to avoid the frequent migration of bioceramic particles from the implant site, reducing potential damage to soft tissue in the vicinity of the implant and to improve biodegradability, curing properties, mechanical strength and injectability. The aims of this paper is to bring a review of the literature concerning chitosan-hydroxyapatite composites for bone restoration, and to mention the main methods of preparation, physico-chemical and biological properties, and tissue engineering techniques using these materials.


Germ line mutations of the p53 gene are known to cause Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and a germ line p53 mutation has recently been reported in a small subset of familial gastric cancer (FGC) in Europe and Korea. Although the incidence of gastric cancer is very high in Japan and familial clustering is not uncommon, there has been little information on the genetic factors of FGC. Therefore, to determine the role of germ line p53 mutations in FGC in the Japanese population in this study, we used sequencing analysis to examine 80 individuals from 35 Japanese FGC families without germ line CDH1 mutations for germ line p53 mutations. One missense (c.91G>A: p.Val31Ile) and two intronic germ line mutations were found, and transcriptional activity of the Ile31 mutant on p53-responsive genes was examined to determine the functional effect of the novel p.Val31Ile germ line mutation. A luciferase reporter assay showed that the transcriptional activity of p21 (CDKN1A) and MDM2 promoters but not of the BAX promoter was significantly lower in the Ile31-type p53 than in the wild-type (wt) p53. Next, doxycycline-regulated p53-inducible H1299 cell lines were established by applying a retrovirus-mediated gene transfer system to a p53-null human H1299 cell line. Under similar p53 expression conditions shown by western blot and immunofluorescence analyses, a cell proliferation assay showed that the Ile31-type p53 had significantly lower cell proliferation suppressing activity than wt p53. These results suggest that Ile31-type p53 may be partly involved in FGC because of its low transcriptional activity and low cell proliferation suppressing activity.


Mutations in the BRCA2 tumor suppressor protein leave individuals susceptible to breast, ovarian and other cancers. The BRCA2 protein is a critical component of the DNA repair pathways in eukaryotes, and also plays an integral role in fostering genomic variability through meiotic recombination. Although present in many eukaryotes, as a whole the gene is weakly BRCA2 conserved. Conserved fragments of 30 amino acids (BRC repeats), which mediate interactions with the recombinase RAD51, helped detect orthologs of this protein in other organisms. The carboxy-terminal of the human BRCA2 has been shown to be phosphorylated by checkpoint kinases (Chk1/Chk2) at T3387, which regulate the sequestration of RAD51 on DNA damage. However, apart from three BRC repeats, the gene has not been Drosophila melanogaster annotated and associated with other functionally relevant sequence fragments in human BRCA2. In the current work, the carboxy-terminal phosphorylation threonine site (E=9.1e-4) and a new BRC repeat (E=17e-4) in D. melanogaster has been identified, using a fragmented alignment methodology (FRAGAL). In a similar study, FRAGAL has also identified a novel half-atetratricopeptide (HAT) motif (E=11e-4), a helical repeat motif implicated in various aspects of RNA metabolism, in Utp6 from yeast. The characteristic three aromatic residues with conserved spacing are observed in this new HAT repeat, further strengthening my claim. The reference and target sequences are sliced into overlapping fragments of equal parameterized lengths. All pairs of fragments in the reference and target proteins are aligned, and the gap penalties are adjusted to discourage gaps in the middle of the alignment. The results of the best matches are sorted based on differing criteria to aid the detection of known and putative sequences. The source code for FRAGAL results on these sequences is available at , while the https://github.com/sanchak/FragalCode database can be accessed at . www.sanchak.com/fragal.html Referee Status:


Abstract:In the past few decades, feminist critics have conveniently regarded the sonnet as a fundamentally masculine genre, as a bulwark of male subjectivity and a site of female objectification. This essay argues that the gendered allegiances of the nineteenth-century sonnet are much more complicated, and originate in the feminization that this male-dominated genre underwent in the last decades of the eighteenth century. Taking William Gifford's critique on the Della Cruscan poets in his satires "The Baviad" (1791) and "The Maeviad" (1795) as a case study, it examines the use of the feminized sonnet genre as satirical tool and as a metaphor of marginalization.


Figures: We note that the figures have been included in the manuscript file. Please upload the figures as separate figure files using the ¿upload¿ form on the submission system only, and delete the figure from the manuscript file. The figure file should not include the title (e.g. Figure 1... etc.) or the figure number. The legend and title should be part of the manuscript file, given after the reference list. The figures are numbered automatically in the order in which they are uploaded.


A significant effort of the COST211ter group activities is dedicated towards the contribution for the MPEG-4 video group activities. This paper provides an overview of the COST telecommunication framework and discusses the technical simulation model approach taken by the COST211ter group. Video coding with application to multimedia services is discussed.


In this Paper we study the changes in corporate valuation induced by the formation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe. We use corporate-level data from ten countries that adopted the euro, the three EU countries that did not join EMU, as well as Norway and Switzerland. We show that the introduction of the euro has increased Tobin's Q-ratios in EMU countries by 7.4%. The effects prevail even if we account for the decrease in long-term interest rates. The increases in Tobin's Q are larger for firms that are ex-ante expected to benefit more, i.e. firms from countries that had weak currencies and firms that were exposed to intra-European currency risks. Finally, the increases are also more significant for firms that are financially unconstrained. The evidence provided here supports the view that the introduction of the euro has lowered firms' cost of capital in EMU-countries.


The response of brittle materials to uniaxial compressive shock-loading has been the subject of much recent discussion. The physical interpretation of the yield point of brittle materials, the Hugoniot clastic limit (HEL), the rate-dependence of this threshold, and the effect of polycrystalline microstructure still remain to be comprehensively explained. Evidence of failure occurring in glasses behind a travelling boundary that follows a shock front has been accumulated and verified in several laboratories. Such a boundary has been called a failure wave. The variations in properties across this front include complete loss of tensile strength, partial loss of shear strength, reduction in acoustic impedance, lowered sound speed and opacity to light. Recently we have reported a similar behaviour in gabbro and the polycrystalline ceramics SiC, alumina and titanium diboride. It is the object of this work to present further observations of these phenomena and their relation to ballistic performance.


The Avena genus covers nine species in Poland, including farmed common oat (Avena sativa), wild oat (A. fatua) – a dangerous spring cereal weed, and bristle (or black) oat (A. strigosa Schreb.), a forgotten species. Bristle oat was a valuable component of common oat yield growing on the weakest soils, and it had a status of a crop plant in Poland and in many European countries till 1950s. Chemical analyses of bristle oat caryopses validated the high nutritive value of this species, which had been previously noted by the farmers of the Podhale region. On average, bristle oat contains 27–52% more protein, 14–27% more fat and 38–72% more sugars than common oat. It is good for human consumption in the form of flakes, flour and boiled grains. Bristle oat is witnessing a revival as a valuable farming species, and its crops are subsidized.


African countries have been among the last to be hit by the global coronavirus pandemic. Yet, as the cases rise and governments rightfully take the necessary measures to slow the spread of the virus, the continent is likely to face widespread economic fallout as business slows to a near halt. Some countries like Angola and Nigeria, were already going to feel the pain from an oil price war – largely driven by a falling out between Saudi Arabia and Russia – but a pandemic that has already pummelled stock markets across the globe will only be an add-on to the unavoidable economic damage expected in the short term for these countries.The reality is that many countries across the globe are on recession watch…some countries may already be in a recession (albeit not yet by the technical rules of a fall in GDP in two successive quarters). For Algeria, things are very complicated because the country does not have a pro-business energy policy. The perennial issue the hydrocarbons law still has not been reformed. Add to that the problems of security and corruption, and you end up with conditions that are unfavourable to private investment. Moreover, oil companies have seen billions of dollars of their value wiped out losing 10% to 15%. This will therefore limit investment.

The COVID-19 could lead to Africa's export revenues from fuels falling at around US$ 101 billion in 2020. Remittances and tourism are also being affected as the virus continues to spread worldwide, resulting in a decline in FDI flows; capital flight; domestic financial market tightening; and a slow-down in investments – hence job losses. Pharmaceuticals, imported largely from Europe and other COVID-19 affected partners from outside the continent, could see their prices increasing and availability reduced for Africans. With nearly two-thirds of African countries being net importers of basic food, shortages are feared to severely impact food availability and food security. Negative consequences are expected to worsen with the crisis becoming a pandemic. In addition, a decline in commodity prices could lead to fiscal pressures for Africa's economic power houses such as South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and Angola.


PBDEs are
widely used brominated flame retardant, which are increasingly reported in the
environment. Concentrations of thirteen PBDEs in a large
number of channel catfish and fish feeds collected from Hubei province of
China were investigated in this study. A fast isotopic dilution GC-MS
method was firstly developed to simultaneously determine thirteen PBDEs in channel
catfish and fish feeds in this study, and especially for the first
time PBDEs in fish feeds. Pressurized liquid extraction and
multi-layer silica gel column chromatography cleanup were used, some important
steps and crucial
parameters were modified and intensified compared with other literatures, and
GC and MS conditions were optimized. The limits of quantitation values of 0.25 - 5 μg·kg-1 wet
weight in channel catfish were calculated for PBDEs; so did 1 - 20 μg·kg-1 wet
weight in fish feeds. In
addition, good repeatability and accuracy of the whole method were achieved. The established methods were
therefore suitable for the simultaneous determinations of thirteen PBDEs in
these samples at trace contamination levels. Using the established methods,
PBDEs emerged in 10 of 180 channel catfish and 13 of 115 fish feeds, and the
dominant PBDEs homologues were PBDE-28, PBDE-47, PBDE-100, PBDE-99, PBDE-154,
PBDE-153 and PBDE-183. The detection rates of seven PBDEs congeners were in
turn respectively 1.74%, 7.83%, 4.35%, 5.22%, 3.48%, 2.61% and 2.61% in fish
feeds, and detection rates of seven PBDEs congeners were in turn respectively
1.11%, 3.89%, 2.22%, 1.67%, 1.11%, 1.11% and 1.11% in channel catfish. There
was significant correlation in PBDEs between matching channel catfish and fish
feeds (R2 = 0.742, P


The theme in this issue concerns the interface between child psychiatric services in low- and middle-income countries and the availability of such services in higher-income countries. In neither context are such services ideal, and resources are relatively slim when compared with demand. The key issues are discussed in three terms: first, of the need for nations to have a general statement of child and adolescent mental health policy (Shatkin et al); second, of the need to establish international child and mental health research networks to foster research in low- and middle-income countries (Erlich & Plener); and third, of the circumstances that exist for providing such support to children in one such country, Pakistan (Khan et al).


: Presentation of over 10 years' experience of percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy in about 200 patients, with special emphasis given to the technique and to the discussion of indications and contraindications, as well as of common problems.


Markov automata (MA) are stochastic models in which non-deterministic, probabilistic and timed events co-exists. Hence, they are a combination of interactive Markov chains (IMCs) and probabilistic automata (PAs). Since MAs were introduced recently, the analysis of them is mostly unexplored. In this thesis, we elaborate techniques which allows us to check the reliability and availability of components in MAs. Therefore, we provide on the one hand an algorithm to compute the expected time of reaching a set of goal states. On the other hand we provide an algorithm to compute the long-run average fraction of time spent in a set of goal states. Further, we prove the correctness of our results and show that a stationary deterministic scheduler will be sufficient to solve the non-determinism, with respect to obtain the minimum and maximum values. Moreover, we have a prototypical tool IMCA which supports these algorithms. Moreover, three case studies show the feasibility and scalability of the algorithms.


The foaming behaviour of polymer blends was systematically investigated using carbon dioxide as a blowing agent. Two batch-processing techniques were used to prepare specimens of different size. Various binary mixtures over a wide compositional range were selected as reference materials, in particular including immiscible (poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4phenylene ether)/poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (PPE/SAN) blends. Moreover, the influence of a compatibilization with block copolymers was investigated for PPE/SAN blends. The resulting foam morphology was characterised by evaluating the density, the cell size distribution, the cell wall morphology and the compression behaviour. Besides the commonly accepted key criteria for foaming neat polymers, our study identified significant factors determining the foamability of blends such as the blend morphology, the rheological and the thermal properties. Interestingly, the compatibilization of these PPE/SAN blends by block copolymers was identified as a technique to establish microand submicrocellular foam morphologies with nanostructured cell walls. In view of these results, new pathways for the tailoring of cellular blends are derived.