The recent discovery of introner-like elements (ILEs) in six fungal species shed new light on the origin of regular spliceosomal introns (RSIs) and the mechanism of intron gains. These novel spliceosomal introns are found in hundreds of copies, are longer than RSIs and harbor stable predicted secondary structures. Yet, they are prone to degeneration in sequence and length to become undistinguishable from RSIs, suggesting that ILEs are predecessors of most RSIs. In most fungi, other near-identical introns were found duplicated in lower numbers in the same gene or in unrelated genes, indicating that intron duplication is a widespread phenomenon. However, ILEs are associated with the majority of intron gains, suggesting that the other types of duplication are of minor importance to the overall gains of introns. Our data support the hypothesis that ILEs' multiplication corresponds to the main mechanism of intron gain in fungi.


Background This study aimed to explore how demographic, temporal and patient characteristics influenced the decision to convey in a large dataset of nearly half a million consecutive calls to an NHS Ambulance Service Trust in the course of a single year. Methods The retrospective dataset combined information from patient clinical records and Control system data. Thirty variables were examined using a variety of techniques, including Pearson χ2, Mantel-Haenszel test for trend and Binomial logistic regression. Challenges and benefits to combining large datasets from different sources were explored. Results The binomial logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ2(21)=90409, p<0.0005, and showed that crew skill level independently predicted decision to convey. The model explained 24.3% (Nagelkerke R2 ) of the variance in conveyance and correctly classified 68.2% of cases. Sensitivity was 86.4%, specificity was 44.4%, positive predictive value was 33.1% and negative predictive value was 71.6%. All five predictor variables were statistically significant. Controlling for all the other variables; increasing crew skill level was independently associated with a significantly reduced likelihood of being conveyed. Conclusions The potential implications of this finding for ambulance services, Emergency Departments and the wider NHS are profound. Investment in community services in more rural areas may reduce ambulance conveyance, resulting in fewer avoidable admissions and easing pressure on the system. A striking difference in conveyance rates due to the time of day the 999 call was made is evident. During the 'in hours' period ambulance clinicians were able to discharge more patients at scene without the requirement for an ED conveyance. Conversely access to alternative health and social care providers is limited 'out of hours'; making these services available over a longer operating period may similarly reduce ambulance conveyance rates during the evening and overnight.


Higher education continues to experience challenges arising from changing demographics and perceptions of the value of higher education. Prospective students want flexibility in how they pursue higher education. Programs must adapt to meet the changing needs and expectations of the audiences they serve. This is equally true for programs offered by library and information science schools. In an increasingly competitive educational environment where traditional student populations are shrinking, higher education institutions must be agile and proactive (Grawe, 2021).
            Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) or Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) recognize the students may bring knowledge and skills that are not documented as credit-bearing learning experiences from higher education institutions. The idea of PLA and CPL is not new. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) (https://www.cael.org/) has advocated for PLA and CPL for more than 40 years. Learning can take place through nontraditional instructional outlets. Work-related and military experiences also provide learning opportunities for which evidence may be available. Central to PLA and CPL is rigorous assessment. This assessment can take multiple forms, including portfolio evaluation, examinations for learning achievement, or equivalency determination of non-credit learning experiences. A recent study on PLA for adult learners concluded that PLA is associated with better student outcomes, including higher credential completion, cost savings and time savings (Klein-Collins et al., 2020). The panel topic addresses the conference theme by focusing on learning, practice and competencies.
            Many students applying to undergraduate or graduate programs at LIS schools bring work or non-credit experiences in areas such as information technology, librarianship or archival studies that are germane to the areas they plan to study. Should these applicants be provided the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they bring for admission consideration, course exemptions or credit recognition?
The objective of this juried panel is to begin a dialogue on the place of PLA in library and information science programs. After a brief introduction to PLA concepts, the panelists will discuss PLA initiatives in their schools. This will be followed by a discussion with the audience during the second half of the panel on questions that arise when considering the adoption of PLA. These questions include:

What are the potential benefits of, and concerns with, offering PLA options to prospective undergraduate and graduate students?
Which programs offered by LIS schools lend themselves to PLA?
How much credit should be provided to students for demonstrating prior learning?
What are the most effective approaches for assessing prior learning?
Can PLA make LIS programs more inclusive, and can it serve as an effective recruitment tool?

The following presenters will participate on the panel:
Dietmar Wolfram (Moderator), Head of School and Associate Dean, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Information Studies (SOIS) will provide a brief overview of PLA and methods of assessment.
Louise Spiteri, Professor, School of Information Management, Dalhousie University will discuss how Dalhousie's School of Information Management (SIM) moved from an ad hoc process to an official PLA process for admission assessment for their Master of Information (MI) program, and how this has allowed SIM to broaden the students entering the program. The presentation will also discuss the experience of students who have entered this way.
Sarah Beth Nelson, Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has led the University of Wisconsin System School Library Education Consortium where students can submit a portfolio to demonstrate prior learning in order to be exempted from three of the courses required for school library licensure.
Chad Zahrt, Assistant Dean, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will outline how SOIS has been providing elective credit for non-credit workshops in relevant information technology areas to incoming students in the Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology program.
Tomas A. Lipinski, Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will describe how SOIS is addressing the challenge of recognizing the knowledge of incoming MLIS students who bring substantial experience working in the field and how this may be assessed.


This chapter considers a range of individual difference variables that have potential relevance to specifically designed Web-based learning packages. These include: cognitive style, working memory efficiency, anxiety, gender, and current knowledge. It discusses, in general terms, the conditions under which the variables are important, and the potential interaction between them in affecting learning performance. The roles of the variables within the context of Web-based learning are then examined. It is argued that technical developments in computer technology that allow materials that can accommodate learning preferences by responding to the student's choices and learning performance combined with a better psychological understanding of individual differences in learning should result in improved educational effectiveness.


BACKGROUND: Malignant cerebral edema (MCE) and intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) are associated with poor neurological outcomes despite revascularization after mechanical thrombectomy (MT). The factors associated with the development of MCE and ICH after MT are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: To determine periprocedural factors associated with MCE, ICH, and poor functional outcome. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed anterior cerebral circulation large vessel occlusion cases that underwent MT from 2012 to 2019 at a single Comprehensive Stroke Center. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine significant predictors of MCE, ICH, and poor functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale, 3-6) at 90 d. RESULTS: Four hundred patients were included. Significant independent predictors of MCE after MT included initial stress glucose ratio (iSGR) (odds ratio [OR], 14.26; 95% CI, 3.82-53.26; P < .001), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03-1.18; P = .008), internal carotid artery compared with M1 or M2 occlusion, and absence of successful revascularization (OR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.06-0.44; P < .001). Significant independent predictors of poor functional outcome included MCE (OR, 7.47; 95% CI, 2.20-25.37; P = .001), iSGR (OR, 5.15; 95% CI, 1.82-14.53; P = .002), ICH (OR, 4.77; 95% CI, 1.20-18.69; P = .024), NIHSS (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.05-1.16; P < .001), age (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.03-1.07; P < .001), and thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 2C/3 recanalization (OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.05-0.29; P < .001). CONCLUSION: Elevated iSGR significantly increases the risk of MCE and ICH and is an independent predictor of poor functional outcome. Thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 2C/3 revascularization is associated with reduced risk of MCE, ICH, and poor functional outcome. Whether stress hyperglycemia represents a modifiable risk factor is uncertain, and further investigation is warranted.


Tanzania has made several reforms to improve public service since independence in 1961. One of the major concerns has been to wipe out ghost workers on the payroll. The efforts would improve public service and avoid unnecessary wastages of resources. For decades the payroll still bears names of fictitious and ex-employees who either retired or deceased. Ghost workers have been oozing scarce funds that could support service to the neediest Tanzanians. The situation calls for immediate but comprehensive interventions for dealing with menace to avoid further negative impacts on public service management and the country. The core intervention is to comprehend the nature of fraud on the payroll in Tanzania. Therefore, the paper proposes a conceptual framework for identifying and managing ghost workers on the payroll. The study is based on secondary data. The study used Fraud Triangle Theory, Fraud Diamond Theory, and Fraud Lifecycle Management Theory to construct the conceptual framework for managing ghost workers on the payroll in Tanzania. The framework can facilitate organizations, researchers, and human resources practitioners to analyze initial motives and traits of employees towards unethical behaviors, the probability of fraud on the payroll, and the quality of fraud management systems. In addition, the framework portrays that the fraud management systems must be inherent features of efficient and effective human resources management of any organization that needs and wants to curb ghost worker frauds on the payroll.
Keywords: Ghost Worker Frauds, Fraud Management, Conceptual Framework, Human Capital Management Information System, Payroll


In this paper, a dynamic model of the solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power unit is developed for the purpose of designing a controller to regulate fuel flow rate, fuel temperature, air flow rate, and air temperature to maintain the SOFC stack temperature, fuel utilization rate, and voltage within operation limits. A lumped model is used to consider the thermal dynamics and the electro-chemical dynamics inside an SOFC power unit. The fluid dynamics at the fuel and air inlets are considered by using the in-flow ramp-rates.


Startups that partner concurrently with a large corporation must compete for the latter's attention. We extend the attention‐based view from an intraorganizational to an interorganizational context, exploring how startups differ in the amount of attention they receive, their actions to attract and sustain attention, and the impact of attention dynamics on the relational outcome of the partnership. Our research uncovers two separate contests for attention involving corporate and divisional managers, highlighting the distributed nature of attention. Reflecting these, our findings reveal how startups' responsiveness to the respective cognitive schemas and corresponding stimuli of corporate and divisional managers is critical to understanding their distinct relational trajectories and disparate outcomes. Our focus on attention is complementary to the focus on trust that has hitherto dominated research on relational dynamics.Startups partner with large corporations to access needed complementary resources. However, truly benefiting from such partnerships is challenging and requires them to attract as well as sustain the latter's attention. Our study reveals two contests for attention: one with corporate managers tasked with running a startup partnering initiative and the other with divisional managers in business units with whom actual commercial joint activity is forged. These two sets of managers have different priorities (schemas) that result in differences in the nature and amount of attention they pay to startups' actions (stimuli). Startups seeking corporate partnerships would do well to recognize this heterogeneity within large corporations and accordingly manage the attention–attraction process through suitable partner‐centric behaviors. On their part, large corporations need to be aware of and sensitive to the challenges such disparate schema of corporate and divisional managers pose for successful partnering outcomes as the relationship transitions from the early to later stages.


We have determined the minimum set of molecular states and couplings that can explain the origin of ubiquitous oscillations in the excitation cross section for low-energy ion - atom collisions which have recently drawn significant theoretical and experimental attention. To this end, the model of non-adiabatic radial couplings between quasimolecular states in slow heavy particle collisions is reformulated using the hidden-crossings theory to circumvent certain inherent shortcomings of the conventional molecular orbital close-coupling approach. We find that four diabatic states, two of which are formed by appropriate S superseries of branch points of the complex adiabatic quasimolecular energy surface, are required to represent the physical mechanism responsible for the oscillations. In particular, the oscillations originate from the interference of two paths along these terms through which the initial state is promoted to the same final quasimolecular state.


DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM WHEN AN extremity, predominantly the lower one, is suddenly or gradually deprived of its arterial blood supply, ischemia develops, which, depending on its extent, may cause death of the limb or functional disability or go unnoticed and remain subclinical. Since almost invariably even the subclinical forms progress toward manifest disease, early recognition and early treatment are essential. The problem then revolves around the finding of the cause of the ischemia, the localization of the process to a segment or to a regional vascular area, and the relief of this arterial stoppage. It seemed worth while to summarize the activities of our group along these lines. I shall attempt to present the philosophy underlying the activities of our peripheral vascular clinic, first started in 1926. Many of the thoughts expressed here were developed and reported in association with my former or present associates,* for whose help and


Test equipment of shaft misalignment is used as the mechanical vibration of information to support the the students understanding of the topics provided. One important topic is the introduction to the vibration sources characteristics of the shaft rotation system. The main source of the vibration system is misalignment on the driver and the driven shaft. Introduction to discrete misalignment is very important, because the misalignment on the shaft connection(coupling), may cause vibration in the engine and can cause damage to the bearing or coupling a "premature", both from the machines and large machines which are small, and will also be used as data on the treatment system based vibration monitoring signal (predictive).
To display misalignment phenomena that occurs on shaft connection, then created a simple test equipment of shaft misalignment, portable, and easy in operation and support equipment that is not outrageously expensive, and are modular. Work system of the equipment is able to test that is designed shows characteristics of vibration signal that will be used as learning about advanced mechanical vibration and maintenance of engine as a monitoring signal that will be applied to the microhydro power (PLTMH) University Muhammadiyah of Malang..
Thus the test equipment can be obtained through shaft misalignment stages are carried out, among others, to identify the essential problems from the requirements list, to establish the function structure, search for working principle and structure of work, combination and concept layout, evaluation of technical and economic criteria, principles and solutionsand image design as a result of the end of the process of designing test equipment of shaft misalingment.


: The paper analyzes data from the clinical use of thiazolidinediones, human genetic observations and experiments with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-gamma) gene removal, and also those on the role of PPAR-alpha and -gamma in the function of the vascular endothelium, sympathetic autonomic nervous system, and renal sodium reabsorption. It is concluded that the tonic activity of PPAR is a universal protective mechanism counteracting the development of hypertension.


Penetration of the blood brain barrier (BBB) remains a significant hurdle in the development of biologic therapeutics for CNS-related cancers. Antibody-based molecules typically do not cross the BBB in amounts required for therapeutic efficacy. Receptor-mediated transporters in the luminal membrane of brain capillary endothelium, which normally transport circulating endogenous peptides and proteins, offer a non-invasive approach for the delivery of therapeutic molecules to the brain.Using a combination of in vitro and in vivo phage display technology, we isolated a panel of cross species (rodent, primate and human) binders to the transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) from synthetic libraries of shark variable antigen receptors (VNARs). Initially, the anti-TfR1 VNARs were fused to an immunoglobulin Fc backbone for testing in mice. At therapeutic (2 mg/kg) doses delivered by tail vein injection, high levels of the VNAR-Fc antibodies were found in the brain after 18 hours, which exceeded 5% of the plasma levels. Brain fractionation studies showed that the VNAR-Fc antibodies to TfR1 translocated to the brain parenchyma and were not retained in the capillaries. The lead anti-TfR1 VNAR was then used to target aberrant B cells in the brain for conditions such as cerebral lymphoma where existing CD20 therapies to not penetrate the CNS at therapeutic doses. A family of anti-CD20/TfR1 bispecific molecules were produced by linking the small VNAR to either the N- and C- terminus of heavy and light chains to create both monovalent and bivalent fusions . We used rituxan as the CD20 agent. The bispecifics were assessed for binding to the two cognate antigens and then tested for brain penetration after tail vein injection. At least 4 different formats gave excellent brain penetration 18 hours after dosing at 3.75mg/kg. Unmodified rituxan had a brain plasma ratio of 0.25 in line with published data while the best anti-TfR1-rituximab bispecific formats were between 2 to 5%. The bispecific formats also retain antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and will be further tested for brain penetration in non-human primates and in rodent models of CNS lymphoma. If these results successfully translate from rodents to larger animals, the peripheral delivery of a brain penetrant CD20/TfR1 bispecific antibody would provide a safer and more effective alternative to CD20 antibody delivery by the intrathecal route and could have broad utility in B cell driven brain cancer. Citation Format: Frank S. Walsh, Krzysztof Wicher, Jaroslaw Szary, Pawel Stocki, Michael Demydchuk, Lynn Rutkowski. Delivery of a CD20 transferrin receptor VNAR bispecific antibody to the brain for CNS lymphoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3631. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3631


Splenosis is autotransplantation of splenic tissue that usually follows traumatic rupture of the spleen and/or splenectomy. We report a case of retroperitoneal splenosis. The correct diagnosis was made noninvasively with Tc-99m heat-damaged red blood cell scintigraphy. Surgical treatment, which was not necessary in this patient, could be avoided by splenic scintigraphy.


A ¨RADAR¨ system, from the English Acronym ¨Radio Detention and Ranging¨. Better known as ¨Radio Detection and Location¨ RDL.  It is a system for detecting and positioning objects through shipping and reflection of electromagnetic waves in terms of the time of issue and the return of the waves and their speed (calculated by the Doppler effect of the electromagnetic signal received).  Meanwhile, an autonomous unmanned vehicle, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV, which is defined as an aircraft which does not carry a human operator, and uses aerodynamic forces to provide airlift by itself. Therefore, it can fly autonomously or it can be operated by remote control.  This article focuses on the review of experiences where these two technologies are integrated, particularly UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar). This is done in order to support research concerning the combination thereof to be applied in georeferencing humanitarian missions or military missions that require monitoring of airspace.


Abstract Southern hybridisation shows that urease-negative (UN) Campylobacter lari JCM2530T carries two putative major outer membrane protein (MOMP) genes. Sequences of approximately 2.1 kbp, encoding non-coding (NC) regions, with possible open reading frames (ORFs) for MOMP (porAl or porA2) of approximately 1.2 kbp, NC regions and partial and putative Cla_0435 or Cla_1109 ORFs were identified in all five UN C. lari isolates examined, following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cloning and sequencing. Each putative MOMP structural gene carried start and stop codons and ribosome binding sites of 1236–1278 bp in length. The putative σ70 transcriptional promoter and the hypothetical ρ-independent transcription terminator structures were also seen. Using Northern hybridisation, there was in vivo monocistronic MOMP gene transcription. In addition, in a Japanese urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter (UPTC) CF89–12 strain, the porA1 gene locus, including an extra gene (approximately 2000 bp in length) was identified. The extra gene may occur within the porA1 gene locus in the eight UPTC isolates of the 23 C. lari isolates examined. Thus, a genetic heterogeneity occurred within the porA1 gene locus from some of the C. lari organisms including the UPTC CF89–12.


Abstract
Purpose
This chapter critiques the forceful institutionalization of gender mainstreaming into development programs.

Methodology/approach
The data was generated from literature review and a research-based case study of the World Bank's Community-Based Rural Development Projects in a Ghanaian township using ethnographic research methods such as participant-observation, focus group discussion, and individual interviews.

Findings
Our study found that gender mainstreaming has become popular, with the majority of international development agencies, such as The World Bank, AusAID, USAID, and the UNDP, adopting it as an overarching framework for developing and delivering their programs and services. The concept has also made its way into government policies globally over the past decade and has a strong influence on aid projects, even on gender-neutral programs. Our ethnographic research revealed that it is problematic to simply use gender mainstreaming as a policy initiative. The research case study presented showed that, in their quest to involve women in decision-making processes in rural localities, officials who implemented the CBRDP targeted women, although improving gender equality (through the process of gender mainstreaming) was not an objective of the CBRDP project per se. As a result, the project was jeopardized, some local people misconceptualized the CBRDP as a "women's empowerment initiative," leading to apathy on the part of men, some of whom resented the CBRDP by preventing their wives and daughters from participating in it, ultimately causing a negative outcome.

Originality/value
We seek to alert international development organizations and practitioners that implementing gender mainstreaming programs and policies without considering local conditions and social relationships will fail to deliver the desired outcomes for the intended beneficiaries.


By using two magnetic-bubble positions per bit it is possible to develop simple logical circuits which display essentially unlimited fan-in and fan-out. Systems of these circuits can be organized such that they conserve bubbles. Pipelining methods can be employed to enhance the throughput.


Introduction: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder with multisystem manifestations including seizures, mental retardation, autism, and tumors in the brain, heart, skin, and kidney. TSC is caused by germline inactivating mutations in the TSC1 or TSC2 genes, which encode hamartin (TSC1) and tuberin (TSC2). The TSC1 and TSC2 proteins function as a heterodimer to inhibit Rheb, which is the target of tuberin9s GTPase activating domain. Rheb activates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 (mTORC1). Therefore, tumors from TSC patients have hyperactivation of mTORC1. Rapamycin, an allosteric mTORC1 inhibitor, shrinks kidney angiomyolipomas in TSC patients. However, the impact of rapamycin is cytostatic and discontinuation of treatment leads to tumor regrowth. Our goal was to identify compounds that synergize with rapamycin to induce the death of tuberin-null, mTORC1 hyperactive cells. Methods: We screened the ICCB-Longwood Known Bioactives collection (6,671 compounds which include FDA-approved compounds and clinical trial level compounds) in 621-101 cells. 621-101 cells are patient-derived from a renal angiomyolipoma and have bi-allelic TSC2 inactivation. 1,250 cells per well were plated in 384-well plates and grown overnight followed by pretreatment with rapamycin (20 nM) or DMSO for two hours. Compounds (10-20 uM) were added and allowed to incubate for 48-72 h. ATP levels (CellTiter Glo, Promega) were used as an indicator of cell viability. Staurosporine (1-2 uM) was used as a positive control for cell death. Results: We identified and confirmed 5 compounds that synergize with rapamycin compared to drug treatment alone. Compound 1, a selective B-Raf inhibitor, induces a 2-fold decrease in ATP levels (n=4, p Additionally, we identified 14 compounds that decrease ATP levels more effectively alone than in combination with rapamycin, which we have classified as potential single agent therapies. Of these, Compound 6 a protein kinase-C inhibitor, has been confirmed to decrease cell viability in 621-101 cells and Tsc2-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) compared to 621-101 cells treated with rapamycin and Tsc2 wild-type MEFs, respectively. Conclusions: We identified novel therapeutic agents for mTORC1 hyperactive cells, including 5 that synergize with rapamycin and several with potential single-agent efficacy. Their biologic mechanisms of action may reveal novel cellular pathways that participate in the pathogenesis of TSC and other mTORC1 hyperactive cancers. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: Doug Medvetz. A chemical screen in Tuberin-null cells identifies potential therapies for mTORC1 hyperactive cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chemical Systems Biology: Assembling and Interrogating Computational Models of the Cancer Cell by Chemical Perturbations; 2012 Jun 27-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(13 Suppl):Abstract nr A3.


This paper explores the use of chemical control by perpetrators as part of coercive controlling intimate partner violence and abuse, defined as the nonconsenting use of prescribed and nonprescribed medication (including vaccines), and/or other substances to coerce or control, reducing the victim-survivor's capacity for independence, freedom, and health. Based on testimonies of 37 victims-survivors and nine domestic abuse practitioners in the UK we identify varying tactics used to chemically coerce and control, deepening our understanding about the continually changing forms of domestic violence and abuse and enhancing the potential for a more robust response through better informed policy and practice.


The musical life of interwar France (1919-39) has fascinated many writers however, the part played by women musicians has been much neglected. This thesis seeks to rectify this situation by presenting a study of the activities and reception of the musiciennes of interwar France. The thesis is divided into three parts: part one provides a contextual framework within which to situate the pursuits of women musicians by considering both their contemporary social position and the gender- specific conditions which affect the lives, careers, and reception of musiciennes. Part two focuses on conductors and composers. Jane Evrard and her Orchestre fminin de Paris are discussed within the context of the contemporaneous development of the all- woman orchestra and rise of the first professional female conductors. The career of Germaine Tailleferre is considered as a case study of one of the most high-profile women composers. Her activities are placed against a backdrop of the wider contributions of compositrices, including Armande de Polignac, Marguerite Canal, Jeanne Leleu, Elsa Barraine, Yvonne Desportes, Claude Arrieu, Claire Delbos- Messiaen, and Marcelle de Manziarly, and the female candidates of the interwar Prix de Rome competition. Part three examines women such as Marguerite Long, Nadia Boulanger, and Wanda Landowska as performers and pedagogues, the reactions of contemporary critics, and discusses the subsequent reception of the musiciennes. A number of complex reasons are suggested to explain the current obscurity of many of the women, including the paradigm shift in French musical aesthetics after World War Two which tended to favour the Total Serialism propagated by Boulez, the concomitant decline of the professional all-women orchestras, and the commercial disadvantages which affect the promotion of women's music. By offering a reassessment of the musiciennes of interwar France this thesis poses a case for their full inclusion within the mainstream music history dedicated to this period.


Syntheses of thirteen new compounds of 1-ethyl-6-flouro-1, 4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-[(4-p-nitrobenzoyl)1-piperazinyl] quinoline-3-carboxylic acid and its analogues are reported. The structures were determined by IR, 1HNMR and elemental analysis. Four compounds have been subjected to antibacterial activity tests in vitro. Compound I1 was shown to have significant activity.


Addressing a topic of major importance to the maintenance of world food supplies, this reference identifies knowledge gaps, defines priorities, and formulates recommendations for the improvement of the rice-wheat farming system. The book reveals new systems of rice intensification and management and illustrates the application of no-till and conservation farming to the rice-wheat system. With contributions from 65 international experts, and case studies from India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, Sustainable Agriculture and the International Rice-Wheat System focuses on seeding equipment and residue management, weed control, water and nutrient efficiency, and integrated pest management.


Since the emergence of exhibition practices in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there has been a progressive normalization of the material conditions for observing paintings, such as their placement and the spectator's distance to them. Just like painters and Salon visitors, art critics needed to move closer to their object of inquiry in order to gain better knowledge of it, but paradoxically, they could not claim objectivity without stepping back. The ideal distance that would allow viewers to simultaneously grasp the whole and the details was a contentious topic of discussion for nineteenth-century artists, critics, and scientists. Among the different ways in which this question was formulated in art criticism, one in particular reveals the presuppositions of the time about proximity: the constant reference to the smell of the painting. Associated with proximity, smell metaphorizes the pleasure or trouble spectators feel when they get close to paintings, to their pictorial materiality, or even to the figures depicted. Because smell always functions as a sign of the substance from which it emanates, art critics' reference to it allowed them to consider the problem of proximity within the social and aesthetic issues of their time.


We compare numerical evolutions performed with the BSSNOK formulation and a conformal decomposition of a Z4-like formulation of general relativity. The important difference between the two formulations is that the Z4 formulation has a propagating Hamiltonian constraint, whereas BSSNOK has a zero-speed characteristic variable in the constraint subsystem. In spherical symmetry we evolve both puncture and neutron star initial data. We demonstrate that the propagating nature of the Z4 constraints leads to results that compare favorably with BSSNOK evolutions, especially when matter is present in the spacetime. From the point of view of implementation the new system is a simple modification of BSSNOK.


The small number of studies on alcohol use among adults with intellectual disabilities shows their usage is significantly less than average, with very high levels of abstinence. Despite this, the literature focuses almost to exclusion on the very small number of people who do have problems, and neglects to question the possible reasons for this differential pattern of consumption. This article reviews the extant literature, showing that it constructs an inherently pathological view of drinking in people with intellectual disabilities, framing it entirely within a discourse of risk and as a personal behaviour, rather than as a social and cultural one. As a counter to this perspective, the article opens up new lines of exploration around the significance of abstinence, why it might occur to such a high degree and whether, in fact, it might itself be and also point towards the cultural exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.


Set in postwar Malaya at the time when people and governments alike are bemused and dazzled by the turmoil of independence, this three-part novel is rich in hilarious comedy and razor-sharp in observation. The protagonist of the work is Victor Crabbe, a teacher in a multiracial school in a squalid village, who moves upward in position as he and his wife maintain a steady decadent progress backward.


In this paper and the companion paper (Sahlmann and Thiemann 2006 Towards the QFT on curved spacetime limit of QGR: II. A concrete implementation Class. Quantum Grav. 23 909), we address the question of how one might obtain the semiclassical limit of ordinary matter quantum fields (QFT) propagating on curved spacetimes (CST) from full-fledged quantum general relativity (QGR), starting from first principles. We stress that we do not claim to have a satisfactory answer to this question, rather our intention is to ignite a discussion by displaying the problems that have to be solved when carrying out such a programme. In the first paper of this series of two, we propose a general scheme of logical steps that one has to take in order to arrive at such a limit. We discuss the technical and conceptual problems that arise in doing so and how they can be solved in principle. As to be expected, completely new issues arise due to the fact that QGR is a background-independent theory. For instance, fundamentally the notion of a photon involves not only the Maxwell quantum field but also the metric operator—in a sense, there is no photon vacuum state but a 'photon vacuum operator'! Such problems have, to the best of our knowledge, not been discussed in the literature before, we are facing squarely one aspect of the deep conceptual difference between a background-dependent and a background-free theory. While in this first paper we focus on conceptual and abstract aspects, for instance the definition of (fundamental) n-particle states (e.g. photons), in the second paper we perform detailed calculations including, among other things, coherent state expectation values and propagation on random lattices. These calculations serve as an illustration of how far one can get with present mathematical techniques. Although they result in detailed predictions for the size of first quantum corrections such as the γ-ray burst effect, these predictions should not be taken too seriously because (a) the calculations are carried out at the kinematical level only and (b) while we can classify the amount of freedom in our constructions, the analysis of the physical significance of possible choices has just begun.


Using dance perspective and Homi Bhabha's postcolonial ambivalence theory, this study re-reads the events that occurred during the banquet at Herod's house. Unlike previous perspectives that focuses on the gruesome murder of John by Herod, the study focuses on the banquet that resulted in the young girl to dance to the point whereby, having been intoxicated and greatly amused, Herod asks the girl what she can have as a reward. By intersecting the female body that culturally signifies gender inferiority to its ambivalence as a subject of attraction and pleasure, I develop the hypothesis that the body through its dance regained its power by becoming a somewhat equal patron; negotiating its rights and being the source of an alternative and yet subversive power. Instead of the female body being a source merely of the male's gaze and pleasure, it attained agency and power.


Abstract Focusing on Japan, this paper explores whether powers and competences in the political system are likely to be recalibrated in favour of the executive when the environment is perceived as increasingly threatening. It shows that the executive has been significantly strengthened during the past two decades of political reforms, though a closer look reveals that only the most recent efforts are motivated by security concerns. Case studies on military deployments and arms exports do not expose any clear trend towards curbing parliament's formal control powers, but they indicate two related mechanisms that affect executive‒legislative relations. Firstly, the executive has sought to ensure faster decision-making in security policy, which may limit the Diet's ability to scrutinise policies in depth. Secondly, the level of contestation over security policy issues has been decreasing, especially given the securitisation of North Korea and China. This provides the executive with more leeway in devising policies.


Knowledge is increasingly being recognized to be of importance in an organization's corporate strategy. An Organization that shares knowledge among its management and staff grows stronger and becomes more competitive. Previous studies conducted in the area of knowledge application are not conclusive and this has led to a limited understanding of the extent of its effect on an organization's competitive advantage. Despite organizations' having implemented knowledge application, there is inconsistent data to support how it affects firm's competitive advantage. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of knowledge application on the competitive advantage at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC). In addition, the effect of innovation, decision making, improved customer service, and improved operational processes on competitive advantage in NCWSC was investigated. A case study research design was adopted with a target population of 333 management staff from different departments in NCWSC. Data collection was done using questionnaires and data analysis and interpretation done using qualitative and quantitative methods. The study revealed that Knowledge application on the competitive advantage is a very important aspect on the performance of the organization. Organizations should utilize knowledge to create customer focus strategies, cost leadership strategies, improve revenues, create competitive advantage, enhance innovations, employee growth, and development, faster and better decision-making, faster response to key business issues, improve quality and service delivery. From the study it can be deduced that to have a sustainable competitive advantage, an organization should provide its employees with the platform for applying knowledge in their working environment. The study recommended that organizations should therefore encourage experts to take a very active role in the creation of a knowledge base towards attainment of the organizational goals.


Summary
The life-histories of Carlina vulgaris L., Daucus carota L., Euphrasia officinalis L., Gentianella germanica (Willd). Borner, Linum catharticum L., and Scabiosa columbaria L. in a chalk grassland in the Netherlands are described on the basis of frequent observations during a period of three and a half years.

E. officinalis and a small part of the L. catharticum population were found to be annual. G. germanica and the major part of the L. catharticum population were biennial, whereas the other species took several years to reach maturity. All species except the major part of the Scabiosa columbaria population were monocarpic.

Vegetation cover influenced the occurrence of short-lived forbs, but a large variation is found in the data. In D. carota, E. officinalis and Scabiosa columbaria seed production had a marked effect on seedling density in the following year.

Shoot growth in Scabiosa columbaria seedlings varied at various vegetation densities. Furthermore, a marked correlation was found between rosette size and the probability of becoming mature in the subsequent year.

Within one grassland, life-history types within the group of short-lived species are found to vary. On the one hand, there are the small-seeded annuals with high mortality, but rather constant density of mature plants (Euphrasia), and on the other hand there are the more conservative life histories (Carlina, Daucus and Scabiosa), with larger seeds, lower mortality rates, but higher age of first reproduction and considerable variation in the density' of individuals.


The present experiment compared the fear-related behaviour of a mouse strain selected over 101 generations for high litter size with that of a randomly selected strain. The H-strain, selected for large litter size, has a mean (± SD) litter size at birth of 21.5 ± 3.5 pups. The randomly bred C-strain has a mean (± SD) litter size of 9.6 ± 2.2 pups. The elevated plus-maze, the light:dark test and a resident:intruder test were used to measure how the mice responded to novelty. In the elevated plus-maze, a well-validated model of animal anxiety, the H-strain was significantly more anxious (having a lower percentage of entries into open arms) than the C-strain at 9 weeks of age. In the light: dark test, in which the light levels were similar to those in the home environment, the H-strain did not differ significantly from the C-strain in its avoidance of the brightest area. In the resident: intruder test, where aggression-trained, older H-strain males were the residents, 11-week-old intruding mice of the C-strain spent a higher percentage of their time in flight and immobility than intruders of the H-strain. There were clear anxiety- and fear-related differences between the strains, which may be related to their selection history. The results illustrate a need for further studies on the consequences of selection for increased production for the ability of animals to adapt to their home environment and cope with environmental changes.


Reconstructing interacting hands from a single RGB image is a very challenging task. On the one hand, severe mutual occlusion and similar local appearance between two hands confuse the extraction of visual features, resulting in the misalignment of estimated hand meshes and the image. On the other hand, there are complex spatial relationship between interacting hands, which significantly increases the solution space of hand poses and increases the difficulty of network learning. In this paper, we propose a decoupled iterative refinement framework to achieve pixel-alignment hand reconstruction while efficiently modeling the spatial relationship between hands. Specifically, we define two feature spaces with different characteristics, namely 2D visual feature space and 3D joint feature space. First, we obtain joint-wise features from the visual feature map and utilize a graph convolution network and a transformer to perform intra- and inter-hand information interaction in the 3D joint feature space, respectively. Then, we project the joint features with global information back into the 2D visual feature space in an obfuscation-free manner and utilize the 2D convolution for pixel-wise enhancement. By performing multiple alternate enhancements in the two feature spaces, our method can achieve an accurate and robust reconstruction of interacting hands. Our method outperforms all existing two-hand reconstruction methods by a large margin on the InterHand2.6M dataset.


OBJECTIVE
To find out the spectrum of various histopathological types of primary neoplasms of different parts/organs of the female reproductive system seen at the Kathmandu University Teaching Hospital (KUTH) as there exists a worldwide wide variation in the distribution of various neoplasms, which appears largely due to exogenous factors rather than due to inherent differences between populations.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
This was a retrospective study. It was carried out at KUTH. All neoplasms of the female reproductive system seen at the KUTH during the period of 20 months from 1st January 2004 to 31st August 2005 were included in this study and examined by light microscope (LM).

RESULTS
A total number of 60 cases of neoplasms of the female reproductive system were seen. Out of these, 1 (1.7%) was of the vagina (squamous cell carcinoma, papillary variant); 16 (26.7%) were of the cervix of the uterus (all squamous cell carcinoma in advanced stage); none were of the endometrium; 20 (33.3%) were of the body of the uterus/uterine muscle (all liomyomas); 16 (26.7%) were of the ovary, (11 benign, consisting of nine mature cystic tertoma, also known as dermoid cyst, one serous papillary cystdenoma and one mucinous cystadenoma; and, five malignant, consisting of two serous cystadenocarcinoma, two mucinous cystadenocarcinoma and one mixed mucinous and serous cystadenocarcinoma); and, 7 (11.6%) were of the breast (two benign, consisting of fibroadenoma and five malignant, all consisting of infiltrating ductal carcinoma in advanced stage).

CONCLUSION
There were relatively a large number of cases of advanced stage of cancer of uterine cervix. All breast cancers seen were also in advanced stage. Endometrial carcinoma was conspicuously absent in our this small series of cases.


The most frequent cause of treatment failure following surgery for gastric cancer is peritoneal metastasis. The ability to predict the likelihood of peritoneal recurrence should improve the therapeutic approach to gastric cancer. Cytological analysis of peritoneal washings is thought to be useful for direct detection of free cancer cells in the peritoneal cavity. Intraperitoneal free cancer cells (IFCC) isolated during peritoneal washing in patients with gastric cancer, have been demonstrated to be significantly and independently related to the prognosis, influencing both early recurrence and poor survival, so that since 1998 the Japanese Classification of Gastric Carcinoma (JCGC) recommend peritoneal wash cytology (PWC) for the local staging. In Western countries PWC is not uniform practice, because of several controversies regarding the low sensitivity rate of conventional cytology, the correct application of molecular diagnosis (immunostaining and RT_PCR) and the exact role of PWC in the clinical practice. The authors examine the current apply of peritoneal washing in gastric cancer, emphasizing the clinical implication of peritoneal cytology by analyzing the different modality and techniques to perform it (conventional cytology, immunocytochemistry, RT-PCR), when to achieve it during the diagnostic or clinical work-up (at the staging or during the surgical treatment), and who will get a benefit (all patients or selected patients).


Transistor mismatch due to variability in short-channel effects induced by random dopant fluctuation is modeled in the light of 32-nm HKMG SOI dense SRAM bit-cell data. We present a simple analytical approach to model and characterize the mismatch increase in saturation relative to the linear mode. The increased mismatch in saturation can be mitigated by optimizing the choice of halo and well implants for channel doping.


Han Gong Qiu is a famous historic tragedy of Ma Zhi-yuan in Yuan Dynasty.It has profound thought and high artistry.This article elaborates the harmony between sentiment and rhythm,musical characteristics of language and construction of the linguist style by means of phonology,rhetoric etc.And also,it probes into the linguist artistry achieved in the Han Gong Qiu.


The hydrogen – hydrogen (deuterium) molecular ion is the most fundamental ion-molecule two-electron system. Charge transfer proceeds through dynamically coupled electronic, vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom. Using the ion-atom merged-beams apparatus at Oak Ridge National Laboratory absolute charge transfer cross sections for D2+ + H are measured from keV/u collision energies where the collision is considered "ro-vibrationally frozen" to meV/u energies where collision times are long enough to sample vibrational and rotational modes. The measurements benchmark high energy theory and vibrationally specific adiabatic theory.


Background Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive autoinflammatory disorder due to MEFV mutations and one of the most frequent Mediterranean genetic diseases. The observation of many heterozygous patients in whom a second mutated allele was excluded led to the proposal that heterozygosity could be causal. However, heterozygosity might be coincidental in many patients due to the very high rate of mutations in Mediterranean populations. Objective To better delineate the pathogenicity of heterozygosity in order to improve genetic counselling and disease management. Methods Complementary statistical approaches were used: estimation of FMF prevalence at population levels, genotype comparison in siblings from 63 familial forms, and genotype study in 557 patients from four Mediterranean populations. Results At the population level, we did not observe any contribution of heterozygosity to disease prevalence. In affected siblings of patients carrying two MEFV mutations, 92% carry two mutated alleles, whereas 4% are heterozygous with typical FMF diagnosis. We demonstrated statistically that patients are more likely to be heterozygous than healthy individuals, as shown by the higher ratio heterozygous carriers/non carriers in patients (p<10−7–p<0.003). The risk for heterozygotes to develop FMF was estimated between 2.1×10−3 and 5.8×10−3 and the relative risk, as compared to non carriers, between 6.3 and 8.1. Conclusions This is the first statistical demonstration that heterozygosity is not responsible for classical Mendelian FMF per se, but constitutes a susceptibility factor for clinically-similar multifactorial forms of the disease. We also provide a first estimate of the risk for heterozygotes to develop FMF.


Flavor is one of the important factors for udon, white salted Japanese noodles. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, we analyzed the volatile compounds from the flour, dough, and boiled noodles to clarify the mechanism of udon flavor formation. Hydrocarbons were the main compounds from the flour, while aldehydes and ketones were the main compounds from the dough and noodles. These aldehydes and ketones are presumed to be generated from the enzymatic oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids by lipoxygenase (LOX) upon the addition of water. LOX activity was significantly higher in the cultivar Norin61 than in Satonosora. In conclusion, the characteristic volatile compound profiles of Norin61 are due to differences in LOX activity. These results have been applied to the development of new value-added noodle products by various companies.


How should one go about understanding the relation between time and self? In the following I will compare and contrast two philosophical conceptions of self that both stress the close connection between selfhood and temporality. Despite this shared conviction they happen to emphasize quite diff erent aspects of self, however, partly because they operate with quite diff erent notions of time. In the fi rst case, the focus is on narrated time and on the link between selfhood and narration, in the second case, it is on the temporal structure of the stream of consciousness.


Although maxillary central incisors impaction is not a high frequent clinical condition, it is responsible for some undesirable aspects of patients smile from esthetic and functional points of view. There are some etiologic factors associated to this dental disturbance but the scientific literature is consensual on determining the importance of the early diagnosis and proper intervention. This manuscript consists on the case report of a 10 years old boy with Class I malocclusion, who showed during the mixed dentition phase, impaction of maxillary central incisors related to deciduous teeth retention and due to the presence of 2 mesiodens. The treatment proposed involved the surgical removal of the mesiodens, bonding of orthodontic accessories to the impacted incisors crowns followed by orthodontic traction with a removable orthodontic appliance. Regardless the development stage of the dentition was not ideal for this intervention, once the diagnosis should have been done as earlier as possible, favorable esthetic and functional results were attained.


With the new emerging throughput-intensive ultralow latency applications, there is a need for a transport layer protocol that can achieve high throughput with low latency. One promising candidate is TCP BBR, a protocol developed by Google, with the aim of achieving high throughput and low latency by operating around the Bandwidth Delay Product (BDP) of the bottleneck link. Google reported significant throughput gains and much lower latency relative to TCP Cubic following the deployment of BBR in their high-speed wide area wired network. As most of these emerging applications will be supported by Millimeter Wave (mmWave) wireless networks, BBR should achieve both high throughput and ultra-low latency in these settings. However, in our preliminary experiments with BBR over a mmWave wireless link operating at 60 GHz, we observed a severe degradation in throughput that we were able to attribute to high delay variation on the link. In this paper, we show that "throughput collapse" occurs when BBR's estimate of minimum RTT is less than half of the average RTT of the uncongested link (as when delay jitter is large). We demonstrate this phenomenon and explain the underlying reasons for it using a series of controlled experiments on the CloudLab testbed. We also present a mathematical analysis of BBR, which matches our experimental results closely. Based on our analysis, we propose and experimentally evaluate potential solutions that can overcome the throughput collapse without adding significant latency.


We show that the monodromy of a spherical conical metric is reducible if and only if it has a real-valued eigenfunction with eigenvalue 2 in the holomorphic extension of the associated Laplace--Beltrami operator. Such an eigenfunction produces a meromorphic vector field, which is then related to the developing maps of the conical metric. We also give a lower bound of the first nonzero eigenvalue, and a complete classification of the eigenspace dimension depending on the monodromy. This paper can be seen as a new connection between the complex analysis method and the PDE approach in the study of spherical conical metrics.


ABSTRACT Science is believed to be an important part of public policy decision making because of its inherent characteristics of measurability, rigor, objectivity, replication, and peer review. The purpose of this research was to explore the linkage of science to public policy decision making. The research explores what state and local public officials know about science and how much they actually use science in their decision making. Interview results with public officials in the State of Idaho demonstrate that policy makers ultimately see science as only one element in the mix. Findings suggest that equal attention and debate should be given to how science interacts with all of the other factors that affect the public policy making process.


The value of amino acids and vegetable oil derivatives as raw materials for the preparation of surfactants was recognized as soon as they were discovered early in the last century. Amino acid-based surfactants, which have an amino acid residue as a hydrophilic moiety, are reviewed with respect to their synthesis, properties and some applications. The review covers three main categories of amino acid-based surfactants: Nα-acyl, N-alkyl amide and O-alkyl ester derivatives among the linear or single chain amino acid-based surfactants; Nα, Nω-bis(Nα-acylarginine)α,ω-alkylendiamides, which are gemini amino acid-based surfactants; and 1-monoacyl-rac-glycero-3-O-(Nα-acetyl-L-amino acid) and 1,2-diacyl-rac-glycero-3-O-(Nα-acetyl-L-amino acid), both amino acid-based surfactants with glycerolipid-like structures.


This note presents a robust direct adaptive control scheme with a new normalization technique and its stability analysis in the presence of unmodeled dynamics and/or bounded disturbances. Following input-output stability theory, L/sub 2/ and L/sub /spl infin// stability of the system is studied using the sector stability and passivity theorems and conditions for global stability are derived. It is also shown that robustness of the adaptive control system can be improved when relative dead zone and the novel normalization technique are incorporated into the scheme. >


The number of African immigrants living in Western countries is increasing. A retrospective audit of sub-Saharan African patients attending the infectious diseases clinics of a Melbourne teaching hospital was performed. A total of 375 patients were included. Helicobacter pylori gastritis was diagnosed in 60% of those tested (35/58), schistosomiasis in 41% (84/206), chronic hepatitis B in 19% (32/167), and strongyloidiasis in 18% (32/179). Active tuberculosis (TB) affected 18% (51/276) and latent TB 55% (152/276). Pathologic parasites were detected in stool in 21% (31/145). Vitamin D deficiency (< 50 nmol/L) affected 73% (139/191), anemia 17% (52/312), iron deficiency 15% (22/151), and low neutrophil count 25% (78/312). Infectious diseases, vitamin D deficiency, anemia, and latent TB were common in sub-Saharan African immigrants. Clinicians need to be aware of these conditions to meet the health needs of this group. Comprehensive health checks should be encouraged for new arrivals, particularly from high-risk areas.


We present a catalog of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) constraints on deformation that occurred during earthquake sequences in southern Iran between 1992 and 2011, and explore the implications on the accommodation of large‐scale continental convergence between Saudi Arabia and Eurasia within the Zagros Mountains. The Zagros Mountains, a salt‐laden fold‐and‐thrust belt involving ~10 km of sedimentary rocks overlying Precambrian basement rocks, have formed as a result of ongoing continental collision since 10–20 Ma that is currently occurring at a rate of ~3 cm/yr. We first demonstrate that there is a biased misfit in earthquake locations in global catalogs that likely results from neglect of 3‐D velocity structure. Previous work involving two M ~ 6 earthquakes with well‐recorded aftershocks has shown that the deformation observed with InSAR may represent triggered slip on faults much shallower than the primary earthquake, which likely occurred within the basement rocks (>10 km depth). We explore the hypothesis that most of the deformation observed with InSAR spanning earthquake sequences is also due to shallow, triggered slip above a deeper earthquake, effectively doubling the moment release for each event. We quantify the effects that this extra moment release would have on the discrepancy between seismically and geodetically constrained moment rates in the region, finding that even with the extra triggered fault slip, significant aseismic deformation during the interseismic period is necessary to fully explain the convergence between Eurasia and Saudi Arabia.


Postindustrial occupational change has ended an era of unprecedented upward mobility. We examine the political implications of this immense structural shift by introducing the concept of status discordance, which we operationalize as the difference between status expectations formed during childhood and outcomes realized in adulthood. We leverage German household panel data and predictive modeling to provide empirical estimates of status expectations based on childhood circumstances and parental background. The analysis reveals that political dissatisfaction is widespread among voters who fall short of intergenerational status expectations. We show that such dissatisfaction is associated with higher abstention rates, less mainstream party support, and more radical voting. Moreover, we explore variation in status discordance by gender, education, and occupation, which influence the choice between radical left and right parties. Our findings highlight how expectations about opportunities underlie generational voting patterns and shed light on the ongoing breakdown of the postwar political consensus.


Optical critical dimension (OCD) metrology has rapidly become an important technology in supporting the worldwide semiconductor industry. OCD relies on a combination of measurement and modeling to extract the average dimensions of an array of parallel features, having fixed pitch and drawn linwidth. This paper reports results of OCD measurements on arrays selected to serve as prototype reference structures. In addition, SEM CD measurements were made on several of these structures to verify line uniformity. These prototypes are fabricated using the single-crystal CD reference materials (SCCDRM) process, which in prior work has been successfully applied to isolated feature reference materials. The SCCDRM process provides features with known geometries, typically vertical sidewalls, defined by the silicon lattice.


Many species of leaf-cutter ants (Atta and Acromyrmex) increase in abundance following natural or anthropogenic disturbances in the vegetation. However, the mechanisms responsible for such an increase are still poorly understood. We evaluated the effects of nesting site and the availability of palatable forage on survival and growth of Atta laevigata colonies at different developmental stages. Foundress queens transplanted into man-made clearings (dirt roads) had a much higher survival than those transplanted into the adjacent undisturbed savannah vegetation. Similarly, incipient colonies (≥ 3-months old) had significantly greater survival and growth rates in dirt roads. In contrast, nesting site did not influence performance of young colonies (≥ 15-months old). Both incipient and young colonies responded strongly and positively to experimental supplementation of palatable forage, and this effect was independent of the nesting habitat. Colonies that received extra food grew faster and had a significantly greater survival rate than control colonies. These results suggest that performance of A. laevigata is affected by the generally greater availability of suitable nesting sites and palatable vegetation in disturbed habitats. This may explain how these ants maintain high densities in these habitats, and since the relative importance of these factors changed with colony ontogeny, our findings highlight the importance of evaluating potential limiting factors throughout the full range of an organism's developmental stages.


ABSTRACT Background : Diversity and Inclusion concepts are crucial in healthcare as the patient population we encounter as hospitalist medicine team is diverse. A diverse and inclusive environment for healthcare employees can lead to improved job satisfaction and high-quality medical care of patients. However, hospitalist perspectives on diversity and inclusion in their work environment are not well studied and noted in literature. Understanding hospitalist perspectives of diversity and inclusion is important in promoting organizational culture. Methods We conducted an online survey of a large hospitalist group at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, from October–December 2019, as part of Hospital Internal Medicine (HIM) Diversity Council (HIM-DC) inception, to understand the perceptions of its staff about diversity and inclusion at work and facilitate the next best steps for the team. The responses to the survey questions were graded on a likert scale. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and interpret the data. Results : Of the 135 team members, 78 responded (58%). Of the respondents, more than 80% never witnessed or experienced discrimination from a colleague, while more than 50% did witness or experience discrimination from a patient/visitor. More than 70% did not report this discrimination. Nearly 90% felt that it was an inclusive environment at work, across different personal attributes. Most of the respondents requested additional cultural education and social events. Conclusion Unfortunately, a higher percentage of discrimination is perceived from patients/visitors. This highlights the need for institutional policies about visitor conduct. A high proportion of HIM staff felt inclusive at workplace. Committees such as HIM-DC can augment cultural education and social events to improve team's perception.


Background: Dermoscopic features of congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) have been mostly assessed by high-resolution videodermoscopy. However, optical dermoscopy with the 10-fold magnification is largely available. In some instances, the differential diagnosis between large CMN and Becker nevus (BN) may be difficult. Objective: The aims of this work were: (1) to assess by dermoscopy with the 10-fold magnification the morphological features which have been previously suggested as useful for the identification of CMN in high-resolution videodermoscopy; (2) to search and point out the dermoscopic features of BN; (3) to explore dermoscopic differences between CMN and BN. Methods: The subjects were observed among about 23,000 consecutive young men assessed at the Draft Council's Medical Unit of the Italian Navy in Taranto for compulsory recruitment and referred to the Department of Dermatology of the Italian Navy Hospital for dermatological examination. Lesions were examined by the same observer using a dermatoscope with a 10-fold magnification, and both the dermoscopic criteria stated by the international Consensus Net Meeting on Dermoscopy and dermoscopic features previously suggested as useful for the identification of CMN by videodermoscopy were recorded in a predisposed patient's card. Results: There were 127 male subjects, median age 19 years, with 127 CMN, measuring ≧1.5 to ≤19.9 cm in 78% and ≧20 cm in 22% of cases, and 64 male subjects, median age 19 years, with 64 BN. In the sample of medium-sized and large CMN, dermoscopic features previously identified as characteristic of congenital lesions (i.e. target network, focal thickening of network lines, target globules, skin furrow hypopigmentation, focal hypopigmentation, hair follicles, perifollicular hypopigmentation, vessels and target vessels) were observed in sufficiently high rates. In the BN group, network, focal hypopigmentation, skin furrow hypopigmentation, hair follicles, perifollicular hypopigmentation and vessels were the main dermoscopic features. Focal thickening of network lines, globules, target globules, homogeneous diffuse pigmentation, hyperpigmented areas, blotches and target vessels were more frequently observed in CMN than in BN. Conclusions: (1) The same dermoscopic features observed in small and medium-sized CMN by videodermoscopy with high magnifications are also detectable in medium-sized and large CMN, employing the dermoscopy with the 10-fold magnification. (2) Network, focal, skin furrow and perifollicular hypopigmentation, hair follicles and vessels could be considered as peculiar dermoscopic features of BN. (3) Major differences in the frequency of dermoscopic characteristics were detected between CMN and BN, and dermoscopy seems to provide some diagnostic aid in differentiating CMN from BN in equivocal cases.


The variability of smooth pursuit eye movements was studied in a group of healthy subjects for horizontal apparent motion by a method that does not require direct measurements of eye movements. It was found that the individual smooth pursuit efficiencies for binocular perception in group of healthy elderly subjects (mean age 61 years) as well as in the group of healthy young adults were distinctly differentiated. Furthermore, we have not detected any age-related decrease in the fraction of subjects showing high smooth pursuit efficiencies. This fact demonstrates that the human oculomotor system is relatively resistant to the effects of aging. At the same time, an appreciable increase of percentage of persons with directional asymmetry of smooth pursuit has been found among elderly adults. A higher smooth pursuit efficiency was noticed reliably more often in the direction from left to right rather than in the opposite direction. Subject eye movements were recorded with i-View XTM Hi-Speed 1250 eye tracking system (SMI Inc.). These records confirmed that the smooth pursuit accuracy of older adults is less than that of young persons, at least in some directions of tracking.


Abstract. Consecrated in 1297 as the monastery church of the four years earlier founded St. Catherine's monastery, the Gothic Church of St. Catherine was largely destroyed in a devastating bombing raid on January 2nd 1945. To counteract the process of disintegration, the departments of geo-information and lower monument protection authority of the City of Nuremburg decided to getting done a three dimensional building model of the Church of St. Catherine's. A heterogeneous set of data was used for preparation of a parametric architectural model. In effect the modeling of historic buildings can profit from the so called BIM method (Building Information Modeling), as the necessary structuring of the basic data renders it into very sustainable information. The resulting model is perfectly suited to deliver a vivid impression of the interior and exterior of this former mendicant orders' church to present observers.


The operation principle of a wind turbine and the feasibility of its characteristic simulation using closed-loop control of DC motor torque were analyzed in this paper. The architecture of DC motor based simulator of a small wind turbine was designed, and its implementation scheme in which DC motor was driven by SIMOREG DC MASTER 6RA70 and the test system with PMSG (permanent magnet synchronous generator) were presented. Experimental results have shown that the wind turbine simulator proposed in the paper is able to simulate the torque-speed and power-speed characteristics of a small wind turbine, and provides a practical solution of the prime mover for the research on the wind power technology in laboratory.


Docker is a containerization technology that allows developers to ship software applications along with their dependencies in Docker images. Developers can extend existing images using them as base images when writing Dockerfiles. However, a lot of alternative functionally equivalent base images are available. Although many studies define and evaluate quality features that can be extracted from Docker artifacts, the criteria on which developers choose a base image over another remain unclear. In this article, we aim to fill this gap. First, we conduct a literature review through which we define a taxonomy of quality features, identifying two main groups: configuration-related features (i.e., mainly related to the Dockerfile and image build process), and externally observable features (i.e., what the Docker image users can observe). Second, we ran an empirical study considering the developers' preference for 2,441 Docker images in 1,911 open source software projects. We want to understand how the externally observable features influence the developers' preferences, and how they are related to the configuration-related features. Our results pave the way to the definition of a reliable quality measure for Docker artifacts, along with tools that support developers for a quality-aware development of them.


We conduct dictator-type games in rural Paraguay; different treatments involve manipulating players' information and choice sets. From individuals' choices in the games, we draw inferences regarding impediments to efficient risk sharing in the larger village supergame. Outcomes from the experimental games suggest that players in most villages are reacting to the kinds of incentives that we would predict from a private information model with hidden investments, while in others players act in a manner consistent with the predictions of a model with limited commitment. No single one of our models can explain outcomes in all villages, but outcomes in nearly every village are consistent with one or more of our models.


Empirical research on cultural and social capital has generally ignored the key role of institutions in setting standards that determine the contingent value of this capital. Furthermore, many studies presume that the yielding of profit from cultural, social, and economic capital is automatic. Bourdieu's concept of field highlights the ''rules of the game'' and shows that parents' displays of capital only are valuable when they help parents comply with institutional standards. In this article, we examine how the field shapes parents' efforts to transmit advantages to their children through accessing high-status elementary schools. Drawing on interviews with 45 black and white middle-class families, as well as observation of school admission events and interviews with 20 school administrators, we illuminate the rules of the kindergarten admission game and describe how parents attempted to use capital to compete in the field in one large, urban district. We show the rules to be complex, hard to learn about, and implemented inconsistently. In this context, cultural, social, and economic capital that helped parents navigate the field had the potential to be profitable. But even parents with deep reservoirs of capital did not realize their first choice when they misunderstood the rules of the game or faced an imbalance of supply and demand for slots in highly desired schools. Thus, we argue that models need to take into account both the situational meaning of capital and the uncertainty in parents' efforts to use their capital to transmit advantages to their children.


BACKGROUND
Parenting styles have been previously associated with bullying, but some parenting practices have not received strong attention in the literature. We aimed to assess how parenting practices are associated with cyberbullying and traditional bullying involvement in adolescents.

METHOD
A cross-sectional survey of 2,218 secondary-school students in London (UK) was conducted. The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire and the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ-child form) were used.

RESULTS
Positive parenting significantly protected against cyberbullying involvement but not against traditional bullying. Inconsistent discipline was associated with being a cyberbully but not being a traditional one. Lower levels of monitoring were associated with being a cyberbully, a cyberbully-victim, a traditional bully, or a traditional bully-victim.

CONCLUSIONS
Parenting practices seem to be more relevant in cyberbullying than traditional bullying. Effective parenting practices such as positive parenting deserve attention as a potentially modifiable factor to protect against cyberbullying involvement. Ineffective parenting practices such as inconsistent discipline are relevant in cyberaggression, whereas poor monitoring is associated with both cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Clinical and research implications are discussed.


Deep Space 1 is the first interplanetary spacecraft to use an ion propulsion system for the primary delta-v maneuvers. The purpose of the mission is to validate a number of technologies, including ion propulsion and a high degree of spacecraft autonomy, on a flyby of an asteroid and two comets. The ion propulsion system has operated for a total of 3500 hours at engine power levels ranging from 0.48 to 1.94 kW and has completed the encounter with the asteroid 1992KD and the first set of deterministic burns required for a 2001 encounter with comet Wilson-Harrington. The system has worked extremely well after an initial grid short was cleared after launch. Operation during this primary mission phase has demonstrated all ion propulsion system and autonomous navigation functions. All propulsion system operating parameters are very close to the expected values with the exception of the thrust at higher power levels, which is about 2 percent lower than that calculated from the electrical parameters. This paper provides an overview of the system and presents the first flight validation data on an ion propulsion system in interplanetary space.


Blimps robot with helium gas have main advantages, there will be no need of driving force. In this project we are going to present a low weight , embedded system based blimp unmanned Airship. Advantages of this project could be less energy consumption low noise and cost efficiency which could made them ideal for exploration of areas without Disturbing environment. In this project we are going to implement high resolution and advanced facilities with low weight camera for capturing the video or images depending on need basis. We are trying to use the Fuzzy controller for automatic control in air. We are going to facilitates blimp with obstacles avoidance. We are going to provide the stability of blimp system in air. We are providing the facilities for tracking the object on ground from the Aerial blimp system.


We present a spectral-variability analysis of the low-redshift quasar PDS 456 using principal component analysis. In the XMM-Newton data, we find a strong peak in the first principal component at the energy of the Fe absorption line from the highly blueshifted outflow. This indicates that the absorption feature is more variable than the continuum, and that it is responding to the continuum. We find qualitatively different behaviour in the Suzaku data, which is dominated by changes in the column density of neutral absorption. In this case, we find no evidence of the absorption produced by the highly ionized gas being correlated with this variability. Additionally, we perform simulations of the source variability, and demonstrate that PCA can trivially distinguish between outflow variability correlated, anti-correlated, and un-correlated with the continuum flux. Here, the observed anti-correlation between the absorption line equivalent width and the continuum flux may be due to the ionization of the wind responding to the continuum. Finally, we compare our results with those found in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 IRAS 13224-3809. We find that the Fe K UFO feature is sharper and more prominent in PDS 456, but that it lacks the lower energy features from lighter elements found in IRAS 13224-3809, presumably due to differences in ionization.


OBJECTIVE
To find an approach for trans-oral endoscopic thyroidectomy (TOET) and cervical lymphadenectomy using conventional endoscopic surgical instruments on frozen fresh cadavers.

METHODS
Six frozen fresh cadavers were used in three groups of trans-oral trocar installation experiments: oral vestibule installation, sublingual region installation, and combined bi-vestibular and sublingual installation. TOET (with pretrachealis method to thyroid fixation removal) and cervical lymphadenectomy were performed experiments on another 6 frozen fresh cadavers using the best access approach found in the aforementioned experiments.

RESULTS
In oral vestibule trocar installations, the trocars caused large lacerated wound and damaged air tightness. In sublingual installations, only one trocar could be installed in the sublingual area because the space in sublingual area was limited. In combined bi-vestibular and sublingual installations, no gland, vessel or nerve was damaged. Combined bi-vestibular and sublingual access were selected as the surgical approach on the basic of analysis the merits of each approach. TOET and cervical lymphadenectomy in area III, IV, VI, VII were performed without making any accessory damage through combined bi-vestibular and sublingual access approach.

CONCLUSIONS
TOET is feasible. Combined bi-vestibular and sublingual approach is available for TOET. Part of the cervical lymph nodes could be resected. Pretrachealis approach to thyroid fixation removal can still be used.


Mutants of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) lacking glycoproteins gG, gE, gI or the putative gJ were constructed by inserting a lacZ expression cassette within the US4, US8, US7 and US5 genes respectively. Revertant viruses were then constructed by rescue with a wild-type DNA fragment. Each of these mutant viruses, by comparison with the parental virus HSV-1 SC16, exhibited normal particle to infectivity ratios, and had no discernible phenotypic abnormalities in baby hamster kidney-21 cells following high or low multiplicity infections. Infection of mice by scarification of the ear with these mutant viruses showed the following. (i) Interruption of the US5 (gJ) gene has no effect on the ability of HSV-1 to multiply at the inoculation site or its ability to enter or multiply in the peripheral or central nervous system (CNS). This shows that the US5 gene provides a convenient site for the insertion of foreign genes for both in vitro and in vivo studies. (ii) Disruption of the US4 (gG) gene results in marginal attenuation in the mouse ear model. (iii) Disruption of the US7 (gI) or US8 (gE) genes results in pronounced attenuation; virus was rapidly cleared from the inoculation site and was barely detectable in sensory ganglia or in the CNS. The failure of gI-negative or gE-negative viruses to replicate efficiently at the inoculation site in vivo led to the investigation of virus behaviour in epithelial cells in vitro. Viruses lacking gE or gI adsorbed to and entered these cells at normal rates compared with the parental virus, but formed minute plaques. This is consistent with a failure of cell-to-cell spread by the cell contact route. This was confirmed by measurement of the rate of increase in infectious centre numbers following low multiplicity infections. The view that gE and gI influence interactions between cells at the plasma membrane was reinforced by showing that the introduction of disrupted gE or gI genes into a syncytial, but otherwise syngeneic, background resulted in a non-syncytial phenotype. We conclude that the gE-gI complex plays a part, at least in some cell types, in the interactions at the cell surface that allow transmission of the virus from infected to uninfected cells by cell contact. In syncytial strains this leads to uncontrolled membrane fusion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Thermoelectric and galvanomagnetic properties for solid solution based on bismuth and antimony chalcogenides were studied for the optimal compositions and carrier concentrations in the temperature interval 100-240 K. Galvanomagnetic properties were analyzed in the framework of the many–valley energy spectrum model with isotropic and anisotropic scattering of charge carries. The figure-of-merit is shown to be determined with optimal relations between the values of the density-of-states effective mass, the carrier mobility taking into account degeneration of charge carriers, and the lattice thermal conductivity. The figure-of-merit also depends on anisotropy of the constant energy surface and scattering mechanism. Average values of the figure-of-merit  through the temperature interval 100-240 K are equal to (2.5-2.65) 10-3 K1 for optimal compositions and carrier concentrations.


Pleurotus sajor-caju is an important edible mushroom gaining popularity in recent years because of its high nutritional value and ability to grow on diverse agricultural wastes. Certain enzymes have been associated with their pattern of medium degradation, growth or development. Cultivation of P. sajor-caju was carried out using three agricultural wastes (rice straw, sawdust, rice bran) and an industrial waste (Brewers spent grain). The enzyme production from P. sajor-caju cultivated on these agro-industrial wastes was monitored for a period of sixty (60) days. P. sajor-caju cultivated on the different substrates were analyzed for proximate composition and toxicological effects. Cultivation of P. sajor-caju on rice straw had the least cultivation period (28 to 30 days), while P. sajor-caju cultivated on rice bran lasted for 45 to 48 days making these two substrates the most suitable for the growth of P. sajor-caju. Laccase had the highest enzyme activity on rice bran and sawdust (0.422μmol/min/ml and 1.44μmol/min/ml), manganese peroxidase production was the highest on rice straw (1.1063μmol/min/ml) and cellulase was the most active enzyme on brewers spent grain (0.8843μmol/min/ml). The proximate composition of P. sajor-caju cultivated on the Agro-industrial waste used showed that mushrooms cultivated on sawdust had the highest tannin (6.72 mg/100g), phytate (162.48mg/100g) and alkaloid content (3.7%), while mushrooms cultivated on brewers spent grains had a lower tannin, phytate and alkaloid and those cultivated on rice straw had the lowest antinutritional contents. Toxicity study on the effect of Pleurotus sajor-caju on the liver function indicator showed that the experimental feeding of albino rats with Pleurotus sajor-caju had no adverse effects on the enzyme indicators [Alanine Amino Tranferase (ALT), Aspartate Amino Transferase (AST), Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) and Alkaline Phophatase (ALP)] for liver function.


Pentakis(dimethylamino) disilane with general formula (1): Si2(NMe2)5Y, where Y is selected from the group comprising H, CI or an amino group its preparation method and its use to manufacture gate dielectric films or etch-stop dielectric films of SiN or SiON.


This paper develops and analyzes two models of asset valuation from which the appropriate discounts for lack of marketability, blockage, and minority ownership are derived. The analysis of the first model shows that a lack of prospective buyers is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a discount for lack of marketability. Heterogeneous beliefs among prospective buyers regarding the value of the asset are also required. A consequence of this result is that the proper marketability discount for an interest in a partnership that holds easily valued investment assets is zero. Analysis of the second model shows that a discount for owning a minority interest reflects the ability of a majority owner to indirectly transfer wealth to himself at the expense of the minority owner. If a discount exists, it is decreasing in the cost of the transfer to the corporation and decreasing in the ownership interest of the majority shareholder.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider the factors affecting the success of succession planning in family businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

The study reports on a panel discussion in which the former chairman of the William Jackson Food Group describes the processes put in place to manage succession at this family firm and his own experience of handing over to his successor.

Findings

Once upon a time, saying that you were going into the family business marked the end of any career discussion. Now it's just the beginning – interest in family firms has never been greater. Succession planning is a subject guaranteed to generate questions – everyone wants to know how to get it right. Fortunately, it's an area where some are happy to share their experience.

Research limitations/implications

The paper highlights the need for more longitudinal research on family firms.

Practical implications

This paper provides a practical guide to structures and processes that can facilitate succession planning in family firms.

Social implications

It draws attention to the emotional and psychological impact of succession on the retiring individual and the need to create life structures to replace former business involvement.

Originality/value

This paper aims to present a frank discussion of the approach to succession planning taken by one family business and the broader research questions that it raises.


Functional connectivity (fc) in the Salience Network (SN) is reduced by a meal. We hypothesized that disengagement of the SN may be mirrored by increased fc in Executive Control (ECN) or Default Mode (DMN) networks (representing a switch away from interoceptive neural processing after feeding) and that insulin resistance might impact shifts in postprandial neural processing. Subjects (N=111) oversampled for obesity had body composition, fasting glucose and insulin evaluated and underwent resting-state fMRI before and after a standardized meal. Masks for ECN (Seeley2007) and DMN (Grecius2003) were applied to obtain the fc pre-, post-meal and change (%). Subgroups with low (N=37) and high (N=36) HOMA-IR were created from tertiles. Among all subjects (28±9 y; BMI 30.5±6 kg/m 2 ), ECN fc was reduced by a meal (z=-2.9, P=0.004), but DMN fc did not change (z=-0.02, P=0.98). The low and high HOMA-IR groups had mean BMIs of 26.8 and 34.7±5. Fc response to a meal, adjusted for age, sex and fat mass, did not differ between low and high HOMA groups for ECN (group*time chi 2 (1)=2.39, P Int =0.12) or SN (chi 2 (1)=2.52, P Int =0.11); both groups reduced fc. However, for DMN a group*time was found (chi 2 (1)=9.12, P Int =0.003, adjusted), such that the low HOMA group increased post-meal fc (Fisher z-score 0.36 vs. 0.41, P=0.04), but high HOMA group decreased fc (0.37 vs. 0.31, P=0.03). Change (%) in connectivity was positively correlated among all 3 networks (P Fc was reduced by a meal in the ECN and not modified in the DMN on average. However, DMN fc increased with feeding in non-insulin resistant individuals as hypothesized, but decreased in those with insulin resistance, suggesting that insulin resistance impacts shifts in neural processing in response to a meal. Disclosure L.E. Sewaybricker: None. S.J. Melhorn: None. M.K. Askren: None. M. Webb: None. V. Tyagi: None. M. De Leon: None. T.J. Grabowski: None. E. Schur: None. Funding American Diabetes Association (1-17-ICTS-085 to E.S.); Sao Paulo Research Foundation (2017/00657-0); National Institutes of Health (DK089036, DK098466); University of Washington Nutrition Obesity Research Center (P30 DK035816); Diabetes Research Center (P30DK017047); Institute of Translational Health Sciences (UL1TR000423)


This paper addresses the volatile nature of agricultural frontier settlements in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia. Emphasis is placed on public policy and regional development plans, human mobility and survival strategies deployed by settlers in frontier areas. Despite located in much different longitudes, Brazil and Indonesia share a series of frontier-related traits, such as policy building, migration and circulation patterns and processes, environmental degradation, and cultural clashes. By addressing the realities of frontier expansion in Brazil and Indonesia in a comparative fashion, this study subsidizes the policy debate on stable and sustainable settlements in tropical regions.


Mucinous colorectal cancer (CRC) has been reported to have distinct clinicopathological and genetic characteristics. However, the incidence and the relationship among microsatellite instability (MSI), CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) and BRAF and KRAS mutations in mucinous and non‐mucinous CRC are not known. Activating mutations of BRAF and KRAS and their relationship with MSI and CIMP were examined in 83 sporadic CRC specimens (26 mucinous and 57 non‐mucinous CRC). MSI, CIMP, BRAF and KRAS mutation were observed in 17, 24, 25 and 36% of the tumors, respectively. BRAF mutation was highly correlated with MSI (p < 0.001) and CIMP (p < 0.001). A higher incidence of MSI (27% vs. 12%), CIMP (38% vs. 18%, p < 0.05) and BRAF mutation (46% vs. 16%, p < 0.01) was observed in mucinous CRC. KRAS mutation (27% vs. 40%) was observed more frequently in non‐mucinous CRC. Significantly higher percentages of mucinous CRC (54%, p < 0.05) had MSI or CIMP or BRAF mutations. Concordant occurrence of 2 or more of these alterations was observed in 39% of mucinous CRC and only 11% of non‐mucinous CRC (p < 0.01). The more frequent occurrence and closer association among MSI, CIMP and BRAF mutation in mucinous CRC observed in our study further supports the idea that its pathogenesis may involve distinct genetic and epigenetic changes. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


: In this article, the author discusses psychiatric disorders that present as physical illness with no underlying organic cause. The most common types are presented with their clinical presentation, causation, and treatment. It is intended that the practitioner will be able to include these disorders in the different diagnoses of the patients who have symptoms that are difficult to diagnose and are not responsive to therapy.


Cocos nucifera was a coastal plant whose roots were used in pharmacopoeia to treat anemia in Benin. The aqueous extract from its roots stimulated the synthesis of hemoglobin. The aim of this work was to test in vivo the efficacy of the butanolic fraction of the extract in the treatment of anemia. Methods: Wistar rats were anemic with phenylhydrazine for two days. From D2 to D15, some were treated by gavage with the butanolic fraction of the aqueous extract of Cocos nucifera roots at the dose of 40 mg or 60 mg/kg of body weight/day, others were treated with vitafer (an anti-anemic drug) or with distilled water. The rats blood were collected on days D0, D2, D7, D10 and D15 for the complete blood count and the osmotic resistance of the red blood cells. Results: On D2, phenylhydrazine significantly lowered the hemoglobin level and the number of red blood cells, which were respectively corrected on D10 and D15 by the fraction of extract with release of hypochromic macrocytes. However, the effect was slower than that of the crude extract, was not specific to erythropoiesis because it also stimulated thrombopoiesis and was not dose-dependent. Conclusion: The butanolic fraction of the aqueous extract of Cocos nucifera roots corrected anemia by stimulation of hematopoiesis. The observed biological activity would probably be linked to anthocyanins which are mainly isolated by butanol. These results contribute to a better knowledge of bioactive compounds of our antianemic plants.