Hypoglycosylated MUC1 is a tumor-associated protein that is expressed on over 80% of all human cancers including adenocarcinomas of the colon, pancreas, breast, lung, prostate, and ovary, and multiple myeloma. In our recent clinical trial, individuals at-risk for colon adenocarcinoma received a prophylactic MUC1 cancer vaccine. Many individuals responded producing high titers of anti-MUC1 IgG antibodies with no detectable toxicity. This trial provided a rare source of human antibodies elicited and affinity-matured in a healthy human host to abnormal MUC1. Using our recently developed proteomics method, we isolated and identified 13 anti-MUC1 antibodies representing 7 different clonotypes. These antibodies bind to several different epitopes on the MUC1 vaccine peptide with a range of affinities (15.7μM to 130pM). They also stain MUC1 on human cancer cell lines and colon, breast, lung, and pancreas adenocarcinoma tissue sections while showing no reactivity against a large panel of normal tissues that express MUC1. We constructed lentiviral vectors encoding chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) using scFv's of several of the antibodies as antigen binding regions and a variety of co-signaling domain architectures. Several of the scFv's were able to retarget human primary T cells to become activated and produce cytokines in a MUC1-dependent manner and to lyse a variety of MUC1+ human tumor cell lines. Preclinical testing in mouse tumor xenograftgrafts is underway. Being of fully human origin and showing a high-degree of tumor specificity and efficacy in preclinical experiments, these antibodies will be tested in future clinical trials for potential approval for therapy of cancer patients.


We investigate the behavior of an ensemble of non-interacting, identical atoms excited by a laser. In general, the -th atom sees a Rabi frequency , an initial position dependent laser phase , and a motion induced Doppler shift of . When or is distinct for each atom, the system evolves into a superposition of intercoupled states, of which there are symmetric and asymmetric collective states. For a collective state atomic interferometer (COSAIN), we recently proposed, it is important to understand the behavior of all the collective states under various conditions. In this paper, we show how to formulate the properties of these states under various non-idealities, and use this formulation to understand the dynamics thereof. We also consider the effect of treating the center of mass degree of freedom of the atoms quantum mechanically on the description of the collective states, illustrating that it is indeed possible to construct a generalized collective state, as needed for the COSAIN, when each atom is assumed to be in a localized wave packet. The analysis presented in this paper is important for understanding the dynamics of the COSAIN, and will help advance the analysis and optimization of spin squeezing in the presence of practically unavoidable non-idealities as well as in the domain where the center of mass motion of the atoms is quantized.


Whether writing from the perspective of rhetoric or political science, scholars of presidential communication often assume that the ultimate meaning of presidential rhetoric lies in whether it achieves policy success. In this book, David Michael Ryfe argues that although presidential rhetoric has many meanings, one of the most important is how it rhetorically constructs the practice of presidential communication itself. Drawing upon an examination of presidential rhetoric in the twentieth century - from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin D. Roosevelt, from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton - Ryfe surveys the shifting meaning of presidential communication. In doing so, he reveals that the so-called public or rhetorical presidency is not one fixed entity, but rather a continuously negotiated discursive construct.


Combining the need to (re)dress bodies and façades with the will to adorn, let's consider the wide possibilities that textiles and new materials offer, to point out more sustainable solutions, that can counteract thermal discomfort. Both clothing and buildings protect and shelter the body while providing a means to express the identity of the wearer.In this study, we explore our relationship between interior and exterior. Clothing and housing are presented as an extension of our skin. They allow us to improve the thermal comfort of the users and the dwellings. Fabric structures are used to cover bodies and to clad the structure of buildings, used in both with the same function of protection and thermoregulation. There are numerous constructive advantages in the use of textiles from the translucency of the material, light construction and quick assembly, significant energy savings, flexibility, and adaptability to the site. When there is damage to building infrastructure, caused for example by terrorism or earthquakes, there is often a need for prefabricated, transportable solutions. Textiles used in tent systems are still a referenced solution for emergency shelters due to their lightness, ease of transport and assembly by volunteers without technical training. This research locates textiles used in architecture from their initial use to the present day. We will present examples used by traditional cultures, but also contemporary and innovative constructions. Our study motivates a set of connections, between the User, Textiles, Architecture and Materials. We start with the most comprehensive and transversal connections, like the frequent association of skin to clothing and then clothes to our dwellings. In a second moment some more specific and specialized references, in which we will point out some textiles and coverings, which have incorporated characteristics of flexibility, adaptability and interaction.In this study we present some versatile, adaptable, and ecological structures, which reflect the environmental and social changes of our society. We conclude that the use of textiles in architecture, allows to improve the thermal comfort of the users, to express their identity and to respond to humanitarian needs.


This research is to investigate the effects of exercise adherence due to the leisure satisfaction of marine sports participants. In this paper, we will provide a basic database to vitalize marine sports. In order to analyze the result, we conducted a survey targeting 326 participants from 2010 Busan metropolitan city marine sports. The following results are obtained after analyze the data using SPSS/PC+ Win. 15.0 with a correlation analysis and a multiple regression analysis. First, all of the sub-factors from leisure satisfaction and exercise adherence show a positive correlation after analyzing the relationship between the leisure satisfaction and the exercise adherence of marine sports participants. Second, after analyzing the effects of exercise adherence according to the leisure satisfaction of marine sports participants, the result showed that the egoistic satisfaction influences the exercise capacity. Therefore, the data shows that the psychological satisfaction affects exercise environment, exercise companion, exercise habits and exercise attention.


We present an open-source library (FonBund) that provides a way of mapping sequences of arbitrary phonetic segments in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) into multiple articulatory feature representations. The library interfaces with several existing linguistic typology resources providing phonological segment inventories and their corresponding articulatory feature systems. Our first goal was to facilitate the derivation of articulatory features without giving a special preference to any particular phonological segment inventory provided by freely available linguistic typology resources. The second goal was to build a very light-weight library that can be easily modified to support new phonological segment inventories. In order to support IPA segments that do not occur in the freely available resources, the library provides a simple configuration language for performing segment rewrites and adding custom segments with the corresponding feature structures. In addition to introducing the library and the corresponding linguistic resources, we also describe some of the practical uses of this library (multilingual speech synthesis) in the hope that this software will help facilitate multilingual speech research.


This paper evaluates the regulatory approach to competition issues in the UK 4G spectrum auction which involved the innovative use of spectrum floors, the flexible reservation of portfolios of spectrum for either a new entrant or the smallest incumbent national mobile competitor (H3G). Spectrum floors have two dimensions of flexibility: different portfolios of spectrum can be reserved for different players, eg depending on their pre-auction spectrum holdings; and the choice of spectrum to be reserved from a range of portfolios, each of which is sufficient to promote competition, is decided through the auction as the floor that minimises the opportunity cost of reservation. The use of spectrum floors appropriately emphasised output efficiency through promoting downstream competition. But its implementation in the auction sought also to maximise auction efficiency (subject to the constraint of the floor) through sophisticated modifications to the already complex design of the combinatorial clock auction. This approach represented a balance between the risks of market and regulatory failure. On the one hand, H3G or a new entrant might fail in the auction to acquire the spectrum required for promotion of downstream competition because of asymmetries in intrinsic value compared to social value or strategic investment by the larger incumbents (EE, Telefonica and Vodafone) to deny spectrum to competitors. On the other hand, using the traditional approach of spectrum set-aside there might be a high opportunity cost of reservation through choosing the wrong spectrum to be reserved. In the UK 4G auction held in January to February 2013 the full potential of spectrum floors was not, in the event, tested because there was no competition between bidders eligible to obtain reserved spectrum - H3G was the only such bidder willing to pay the reserve price of the spectrum floors. However, there was still competition over the choice of spectrum floor for H3G, which resulted in an outcome that some considered surprising. H3G won the spectrum floor of 2x5MHz in the higher-value 800MHz band, ie scarce sub-1GHz spectrum, rather than 2x20MHz in the higher-frequency 2.6GHz band. By analysing the bid data, a comparison of these two floors shows that the marginal value in H3G's package bids of £165m exceeded the overall opportunity cost to other bidders of £107m. This outcome was not a fluke or an aberration as it clearly reflected the consistent pattern of bids made in the auction. In particular it reflected H3G's strategy of bidding marginal values for the floor packages equal to the differences in their reserve prices, which guaranteed that it would not pay more than the reserve price for its winning spectrum floor; and EE's consistently aggressive bidding at the margin for 2x20MHz of 2.6GHz compared to 2x5MHz of 800MHz. Based on the bids made in the auction it was clearly more efficient for H3G to win the spectrum floor of 2x5MHz of 800MHz, even if this might not have been the prediction before the auction. With the important caveat that some of the bidding may have been strategic and deviated from bidders' true intrinsic values, this suggests that one of the key elements of flexibility in the new regulatory tool of spectrum floors proved to be important the first time it was used in the UK 4G auction. This flexibility avoided the regulatory failure that could have occurred with simple spectrum set-side of the regulator reserving less efficient pre-specified spectrum in the false belief that would minimise the opportunity cost of spectrum reservation.


OBJECTIVES
To explore the relationship between the use of diagnostic cues and observer performance in the diagnosis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc position.

METHODS
Thirty arthrographic examinations using fluoroscopy alone and combined with either transcranial radiography or tomography were selected. Seven observers assessed the examinations with the aid of reference images and written diagnostic cues for three disc diagnoses. After one month three of the observers repeated the assessments and noted how they applied the diagnostic cues. Later, they made a consensus report on how the cues were applied to each joint.

RESULTS
The seven observers agreed unanimously with the reference diagnosis by fluoroscopy alone in 11 joints and in 14 when supplemented with transcranial radiography or tomography. Seven joints were given three different diagnoses by the seven observers when fluoroscopy was used alone and five when supplemented with transcranial radiography or tomography. The cues were applied with confidence in those joints where the observers were unanimous but in those with three different diagnoses, the anatomical features described in the cues were difficult to identify or the findings were ambiguous as they did not match the cues.

CONCLUSIONS
It appears difficult to define radiographic cues applicable to all TMJ disc positions.


All isomorphisms of Pl\"ucker spaces on affine spaces with dimensions $\geq 3$ arise from collineations of the underlying affine spaces.


This article describes an empirical study of 28 alternative women's health organizations. These organizations were formed by women who rejected the existing institutions of health care, especially the nature and quality of reproductive health services. The study examined their philosophy of health care, the range of services provided and the characteristics of women who use them, their internal organization in terms of the distribution of power and authority, and the problems and challenges involved in their existence. Implications and impacts resulting from their continuing existence into the 1980s on the delivery of health care for women are addressed.


Communication is one of the core components for cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL). The communication bandwidth, in many real applications, is always subject to certain constraints. To improve communication efficiency, in this article, we propose to simultaneously optimize whom to communicate with and what to communicate for each agent in MARL. By initiating the communication between agents with a directed complete graph, we propose a novel communication model, named Communicative Graph Information Bottleneck Network (CGIBNet), to simultaneously compress the graph structure and the node information with the graph information bottleneck principle. The graph structure compression is designed to cut the redundant edges for determining whom to communicate with. The node information compression aims to address the problem of what to communicate via learning compact node representations. Moreover, CGIBNet is the first universal module for bandwidth-constrained communication, which can be applied to various training frameworks (i.e., policy-based and value-based MARL frameworks) and communication modes (i.e., single-round and multi-round communication). Extensive experiments are conducted in Traffic Control and StarCraft II environments. The results indicate that our method can achieve better performance in bandwidth-constrained settings compared with state-of-the-art algorithms.


The operation of micro generation connected to the distribution network can cause statutory voltage limits, recommended voltage unbalance levels and switchgear fault ratings to be exceeded. However, there are a range of distribution network designs and operating practices and thus the impact will vary accordingly. Relating losses, voltages, currents and load unbalanced ratio leads to conclusions about the way to operate an existing network or optimise a new one with small-scale distributed generation. The aim was to investigate and develop methodology for evaluation of the long-term loss- inclusive optimal network design strategies and to determine the effect of the penetration of micro generation such as CHP and PV in realistic distribution networks. The overall conclusion is that to accommodate micro generation penetration into existing networks, no major capital investment is required. The need for reinforcement of the network components will depend on the level of generation and on the extent to which reverse power flows happens. In most parts of the network, micro generation exports will not be sufficient to result in any need for network investment. However, if the network was to be planned accounting with DG, the optimal design policy adopted for distribution networks would change when compared to networks with no micro generation.


PURPOSE
To analyze preoperative predictive factors for intraoperative balloon dilation in semirigid ureteroscopic lithotripsy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed data from 397 consecutive semirigid ureteroscopic lithotripsies performed in 389 patients with ureteral stones at our institution during the calendar year 2010. Preoperative patient-related variables (age, sex, body mass index, history of urinary tract infection, previous stent placement, and time from initial presentation to intervention) and stone-related variables (laterality, numbers, location, width, and degree of hydronephrosis) were collected. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were performed to examine the statistical association between these variables and the use of intraoperative balloon ureteral dilation.

RESULTS
Intraoperative balloon dilation was performed in 109 (27.5%) procedures. Univariate analysis identified increasing stone width (P<0.001) and lack of previous stent placement (P<0.001) as preoperative predictors of intraoperative balloon dilation. Stone width (P<0.001, odds ratio [OR] 1.274, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.147-1.415) and lack of previous stent placement (P<0.001, OR 0.025, CI 0.006-0.105) remained independently associated with intraoperative balloon dilation in multivariate logistic regression.

CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, our study is the first to statistically analyze the potential predictive factors for intraoperative balloon dilation in semirigid ureteroscopic lithotripsy. Larger stone width was significantly associated with intraoperative balloon dilation, whereas the presence of an indwelling ureteral stent, for at least 1 week, nearly eliminated the need for balloon dilation in subsequent ureteroscopic lithotripsy.


Two cases of oat cell carcinoma are described. Both patients presented initially with a lump in the breast. A review of the published reports on breast metastases as a presenting feature of malignant disease was performed and lung cancer was found to be the commonest extramammary tumour to present as a breast mass (80% of cases) and usually as small cell carcinoma.


Supervisory control of multiple autonomous vehicles raises many issues concerning the balance of system autonomy with human interaction for optimal operator situation awareness and system performance. An unmanned vehicle simulation designed to manipulate the application of automation was used to evaluate participants' performance on image analysis tasks under two automation control schemes: adaptable (level of automation directly manipulated by participant throughout trials) and adaptive (level of automation adapted as a function of participants' performance on four types of tasks). The results showed that while adaptable automation increased workload, it also improved change detection, as well as operator confidence in task-related decision-making.


The principal thermomagnetic effects in semiconductors and semimetals are discussed, with emphasis on the physical processes which affect the transport coefficients. The Seebeck, Nernst, Righi-Leduc, Peltier, Ettingshausen and magnetothermal resistance coefficients are defined and the Kelvin-Onsager relations between the coefficients are discussed. The Boltzmann equation for electrons is discussed rather briefly, with some comments on its limitations, and references to more rigorous treatments, especially in high magnetic fields. The Boltzmann equation is used to discuss the symmetry of the thermomagnetic effects, and explicit formulae are given for spherical energy bands within the relaxation time approximation. It is emphasized that if the density of states is non-parabolic the thermomagnetic coefficients are particularly affected. Experimental results in extrinsic semiconductors are reviewed. Phonon drag effects are discussed qualitatively for both lightly and heavily doped semiconductors. Formulae are given for the ambipolar effects in an intrinsic semiconductor or semimetal, and the use of the Ettingshausen and Peltier effects to obtain useful cooling at low temperatures is discussed. The practical achievements which have been obtained so far are given.


This paper presents an efficient and effective framework for the design and development of enhanced selective video encryption scheme for H.264/AVC based on advanced encryption standard (AES). Due to the importance of maintaining the security of information that is publicly displayed, many approaches have been implemented to provide security for information dissemination over the networks. These include encryption, authentication, and digital signatures. For video, the method has been adopted to protect unwanted interception and viewing of any video while in transmission over the networks. In this paper, we design a new selective video encryption based on H.264/AVC and AES. In this proposed scheme, instead of encrypting the entire video stream bit by bit, only the I-frames bitstreams are encrypted. This method took into consideration the good features of selective encryption algorithms with regard to computational complexity, and data compression performance. The proposed scheme was tested in the simulated environment using different video sequences. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides adequate security to video streams. It has no effect on compression ratio and does not reduce the original video compression efficiency. Moreover, it is a suitable technique for secure H.264 bitstreams that require transmission or storage in un-trusted intermediate devices.


Objective The aim of our study was to use (1H) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a tool to assess metabolic functions of hepatocytes and to monitor major metabolic pathways of these cells during culture following hypothermic preservation. Methods After isolation, 2 × 107 primary porcine hepatocytes were preserved at 4°C in supplemented Leibovitz L-15 medium for 48 h. Viability was assessed at isolation, 24 and 48 h. At isolation and at 48 h cells were plated and cultured with serum free supplemented Williams E medium. 1H NMR spectroscopy was used to assess indices of glucose metabolism, ammonia clearance indices and ketone bodies precursors at 48 h post-plating. Peak integration was applied with sodium 3-(trimethylsilyl-2,2,3,3-2H4)-1-propionate as an internal standard to obtain quantitative results. Results Results were obtained from six isolations. Viability was 78.1 ± 1.2% at isolation, 69 ± 3.4% at 24 h and 58.9 ± 3.8% at 48 h of hypothermia. Plating efficiency was 87 ± 4% for freshly isolated cells and 33.6 ± 7.6% for hypothermically preserved cells. Glucose consumption was comparable in both groups. Hypothermically preserved cells consumed more threonine, produced more pyruvate and alanine but less lactate. They also produced less acetate and consumed less tyrosine. Glutamate and glutamine concentrations were similar under both conditions. Conclusion 1H NMR spectroscopy is a valid method for assessing metabolic pathways of cultured primary porcine hepatocytes. Although hypothermically preserved cells had a reduced plating efficiency, they were still metabolically active. Thus, hypothermia can be used as a temporary preservation technique for primary porcine hepatocytes.


This paper proposes control algorithms for a fault-tolerant permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive. In order to improve the reliability of the drive, an algorithm for achieving sensorless control that operates properly also in fault mode is proposed. Furthermore, it is shown how a closed-loop field-weakening controller needs to be modified in order to operate properly in fault mode. The application in mind is electric vehicle propulsion and the algorithms presented are verified with experimental results using an in-wheel PMSM. With the proposed modifications, the reliability of the drive can be increased.


The adsorption characteristics of arsenate on ion exchange fiber(IEF) and iron-modified ion exchange fiber(FeIEF) were evaluated.Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study the arsenate adsorption effect by varying contact time,pH,and coexisting anions.Adsorption capacity was found to increase by increasing the contact time and acidic conditions were favorable for arsenate adsorption on IEF and Fe-IEF.Arsenate adsorption data were better consistent with Freundlich equation than Langmuir equation.The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities were 285 and 333 mg/g at 25℃ for IEF and Fe-IEF respectively.The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetic model.The existence of HCO 3-,PO34-,SO24-,SiO23-,and NO 3-decreased the arsenate adsorption capacity on IEF.Cl-and F-had little influence on it.When FeIEF was adopted,the effects of HCO 3-,SO24-,Cl-,SiO23-,and NO 3-were negligible,while PO43-could still markedly decrease the adsorption capacity and F-had inhibitory effect on arsenate adsorption.Fe-IEF can be used as a highly selective and efficient sorbent for removal of arsenate from aqueous solutions.


Several bacteria that are associated with macroalgae can use phycocolloids as a carbon source. Strain INACH002, isolated from decomposing Porphyra (Rhodophyta), in King George Island, Antarctica, was screened and characterized for the ability to produce agarase and alginate-lyase enzymatic activities. Our strain INACH002 was identified as a member of the genus Flavobacterium, closely related to Flavobacterium faecale, using 16S rRNA gene analysis. The INACH002 strain was characterized as psychrotrophic due to its optimal temperature (17 oC) and maximum temperature (20°C) of growth. Agarase and alginate-lyase displayed enzymatic activities within a range of 10°C to 50°C, with differences in the optimal temperature to hydrolyze agar (50°C), agarose (50°C) and alginate (30°C) during the first 30 min of activity. Strain Flavobacterium INACH002 is a promising Antarctic biotechnological resource; however, further research is required to illustrate the structural and functional bases of the enzymatic performance observed during the degradation of different substrates at different temperatures.


Current applications of the Electric Potential Sensor operate in a strongly (capacitively) coupled limit, with the sensor physically close to or touching the source. This mode of operation screens the sensor effectively from the majority of external noise. To date however the full capability of these sensors operating in a remote mode has not been realised outside of a screened environment (Faraday cage). This paper describes the results of preliminary work in tailoring the response of the sensors to particular signals and so reject background noise, thereby enhancing both the dynamic range and signal to noise ratio significantly.


Process optimization is one of the critical tasks at assembly line of engine. Now a day manufacturing industries are facing the problem of high rejection rate. If the process is running with high variation of required parameter then definitely rejection will occur. In manufacturing industry, Shainin six sigma methodology is highly adopted because of lesser data collection to achieve the target. The Shainin System (SS) is the name given to a problem solving system, with its associated strategies and tools widely used and promoted in the manufacturing sector. In the present work, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) has been used to reduce the number of engine rejection at hot testing of it. In define phase problem was defined by selecting the core issues concerned. In the measure phase data was collected to determine the current performance and the process capability. During Analyzing phase root causes of engine rejection were identified. In the improvement phase solutions were arrived at and finally in the control phase various tools were implemented for tracking the process and putting it under control. This paper includes case study on the optimization of tappet setting defects of water cooled engine at in process verification through Shainin design of experiment (DOE) and six sigma methodology. Keyword - Shainin System (SS), Six Sigma, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control), Design of Experiment (DOE)


An accurate and efficient numerical method has been developed for a nonlinear diffusion convection-dominated problem. The scheme combines asymptotic methods with usual solution techniques for hyperbolic problems. After having localized shock or corner layers and rescaling, first terms of the inner expansion are computed. Using the same concepts gives a method to compute a very accurate solution of the nonlinear conservation law. Because our numerical scheme is based on a uniform approximation throughout the domain, the shock is localized very accurately and there is practically no smearing out. Numerical computations are presented. Another novel feature is the ability to break down the problem according to subdomains of different local behavior, based on asymptotic analysis, which may make it feasible to do computations with different processors.


In a previous article of this series there was reported by Doctor Williams (1) and her co-workers a detailed study of the colony formation on standardized blood agar plates of Smith and Brown's (2) alpha type streptococci isolated from the upper respiratory tract. The sugar reactions of these organisms were also given. The results of these studies showed a multiplicity of varieties of streptococci.
 In a continuation of this investigation, we have tested the serological relationships of a number of these strains by the agglutination and agglutinin-absorption methods. Very little detailed study on the serological relations of the green producing streptococci seems to have been made and no minute study of the power of colony strains2 to absorb agglutinins has been reported. Krumwiede and Valentine (3) have reported the results of direct agglutination tests made with members of the streptococcus viridans group obtained from both pathogenic and normal sources.


Turbochargers are inherently dynamic devices, comprising internal flow volumes, mechanical inertias and thermal masses. When operating under transient conditions within an engine system, these dynamics need to be better understood. In this paper, a new non-dimensional modelling approach to characterise the turbocharger is proposed. Two new dimensionless quantities are defined with respect to mechanical and thermal transient behaviour, which are used in conjunction with the Strouhal number for flow transients. The modelling approach is applied to a small wastegated turbocharger and validated against experimental results. The model is used to simulate the turbocharger mass flow rate, turbine housing temperature and shaft speed responses to different excitation frequencies for different sizes of turbine. The results highlight the influence of turbocharger size on the dynamic behaviour of the system, which is particularly marked for the turbine housing temperature. At certain frequency ranges, the system behaviour is quasi-steady, allowing modelling through static maps in these operating regions. Outside these ranges, however, transient elements play a more important role. The simulation study shows that the proposed dimensionless parameters can be used to normalise the influence of turbine size on the dynamic response characteristics of the system. The model and corresponding dimensionless parameters can be applied in future simulation studies as well as for turbocharger matching in industry.


This paper presents the primary conceptual design results of Smart Harbor. As the world trade becomes active, so container cargo volume is increasing constantly. Since the coming of very large container ships, It`s necessary that a harbor handles many containers more than before. Therefore, we designed the new concept of SMART HARBOR which overcomes land site problem for port expansion and geographic constraints of very large container ships in harbor.


Consistent bioinformatics analysis approaches of chemically perturbed biological systems are needed in order to achieve meaningful integration of results from multiple experiments in support of cancer systems biology research. Our initial efforts have focused on identifying and contrasting molecular mechanisms that reveal biochemical events affecting non-small cell lung cancers in the context of combination drug therapies as a model for defining these approaches. While the link between growth factor receptor mutations, target inhibitor drugs and non-small cell lung cancer is well established, the basis of variable response in different patient cohorts is still poorly understood and is the subject of ongoing investigations. Data for our efforts were provided by the NCI9s Center for Advanced Preclinical Research. Mice genetically engineered to develop erlotinib-sensitive lung adenocarcinomas were subjected to drug compounds that are currently in clinical trials, as well as erlotinib, individually and in combination, to study early response and development of late resistance. Metabolite data, gene expression data, and histological data were collected and used in defining the initial analysis approach. While evaluation of analysis approaches continues, preliminary results already indicate these data can be effective in assessing drug efficacy on reducing tumor burden. Further efforts are underway to develop analysis techniques to explore the underlying dynamic processes. Citation Format: Anand S. Merchant, Natalie Fedorova Abrams, Eric A. Stahlberg, Zoe Weaver. Integrated analysis of molecular and metabolomic data to identify drug resistance mechanisms in lung 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 A33.


Conformational distortions in bis-chelating nickel(II) complexes with naphtholate Schiff base ligands bearing an alkyl chiral group at the imino nitrogen atoms are described. The single crystal X-ray analysis at 100 K by using synchrotron radiation of bis[1-((((R)-1,2,2-trimethylpropyl)imino)methyl)-2-naphtholato]nickel(II) shows an umbrella shape of sizeable bending. In addition, the unit cell of this complex contains 16 crystallographically independent units, a rare example of high Z′ value.


Background: Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberance is relatively uncommon low to intermediate grade malignant neoplasm with characteristic cytogenetic features. It constitutes less than 0.1% of all malignant neoplasms. Although metastasized rarely, it is locally aggressive tumour with high recurrence rate. It is a one of the rare type of law grade sarcomas that occur s anywhere in the body, usually arise from trunks and extremities. It rarely arises from abdominal wall. Objectives: The main objective of the present study was to study the outcome of surgical treatment of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberance. Methods: This study included 4 patients all retrospective and prospective from September 2008 to December 2013. They were subjected to detailed history taking and examination with relevant investigations and were subjected to surgery. They were followed up for at least 36-month period to assess for any recurrence. Results and Interpretation: Out of 4 patients, all were males. Mean age of presentation was 32 years. Site distribution was 25% trunk, 50% extremities and 25% neck. All patients underwent wide local excision. At the end of follow-up period of up to 3 years after surgery Overall recurrence rate was nil. Because of the potential of local recurrence, therapy for DFSP should be directed toward adequate local excision of the primary lesion. Minimal resection should include a surrounding margin, comprising 3-cm margin of normal skin and removal of underlying deep fascia. Compromising on margins invites higher chances of local recurrence. Conclusion: DFSP behaves like a locally infiltrating neoplasm. Despite their locally aggressive behaviour, distant metastasis occurs with extreme rarity. Because of this, it is reasonable that therapy should be directed towards adequate local excision of the primary lesion. Compromising on margins always invites higher chances of local recurrence. [Bhadreshwara K NJIRM 2014; 5(4):98-101]


Introduction and Objective : The purpose of this study was to carry out functional analysis of oncogenic microRNA-183 and identify their specific target genes in bladder cancer. Methods : Expression levels of miR-183 in bladder normal/cancer tissues and bladder cancer cell lines were confirmed using real-time PCR. To examine the function of miR-183, cell growth, and migration were performed using UM-UC-3 cells because the miR-183 expression level was highest among bladder cancer cell lines. To search for target genes of miR-183, we used a target scan algorithm and performed Dkk-3 and SMAD4 3'UTR luciferase assays. To analyze whether Dkk-3 and SMAD4 affect cell growth and motility, Dkk-3 and SMAD4 expressing plasmids were transfected into UM-UC-3 cells and cell growth and motility were performed. Results: Expression of miR-183 in cancer bladder tissues was significantly up-regulated compared to normal bladder tissues. MiR-183 expression was significantly higher in the pT3+4 tissues than in pT1+2 tissues. Higher miR-183 expression was significantly associated with shorter survival. MiR-183 increased cell growth and migration abilities in UM-UC-3 cells. MiR-183 decreased 3'UTR luciferase activity of Dkk-3 and SMAD4. Cell growth and motility was significantly decreased in Dkk-3 and SMAD4 transfected cells compared with control cells. Conclusions : MiR-183 is a oncogenic microRNA in bladder cancer through down-regulation of Dkk-3 and SMAD4. Citation Format: Koji Ueno, Hiroshi Hirata, Varahram Shahryari, Yuichiro Tanaka, Z. Laura Tabatabai, Yuji Hinoda, Rajvir Dahiya. Oncogenic microRNA-183 induces cell growth and motility through down-regulation of Dkk-3 and SMAD4 in bladder cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4181. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4181


Despite the fact that quantitative experimental data have been available for more than forty years now, nematoacoustics still poses intriguing theoretical and experimental problems. In this paper, we prove that the main observed features of acoustic wave propagation through a nematic liquid crystal cell - namely, the frequency-dependent anisotropy of sound velocity and acoustic attenuation - can be explained by properly accounting for two fundamental features of the nematic response: anisotropy and relaxation. The latter concept - new in liquid crystal modelling - provides the first theoretical explanation of the structural relaxation process hypothesised long ago by Mullen and co-workers [Mullen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 1972, 28, 799]. We compare and contrast our proposal with an alternative theory where the liquid crystal is modelled as an anisotropic second-gradient fluid.


Learning strateries and efforts have popularly recognized academic motivation as the driving force of student academic performance. The present study examines the direct and indirect effect of classroom climate on student academic motivation at the tertiary level. A sample population of 119 freshmen from Hanoi Law University was approached to respond to a questionnaire. The result shows that classroom climate positively affects student academic motivation and that the relationship is significantly mediated by academic self-efficacy. Particularly, the findings indicate that a favourable classroom climate can effectively improve student academic motivation, the planned and fair classroom climates effectually build students' self-efficacy in their learning. This study highlights the indispensable and pivotal role that a planned, cohesive, and fair classroom climate plays in motivating students to learn. Moreover, it provides references for policymakers, school administrators, and lecturers in building a positive and healthy classroom climate.


A neutrosophic set, proposed by Smarandache, considers a truth membership function, an indeterminacy membership function, and a falsity membership function. Neutrosophic soft sets combined by Maji have been utilized successfully to model uncertainty in several areas of application such as control, reasoning, pattern recognition, and computer vision. In the present paper, some basic notions of neutrosophic soft sets have been redefined and the neutrosophic soft point concept has been introduced. Later we give the neutrosophic soft T i " role="presentation"> T i T i T_{i} -space and the relationships between them are discussed in detail.


Background: There is a paucity of literature regarding thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR) in women. We report our institutional experience with TEVAR. Methods: Retrospective chart review was performed from 2004 to 2008. TEVAR was performed in 59 patients; 29 (49%) were female. Results: Mean age was 73.5 years. Mean thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) diameter was larger for women (5.9 cm vs 4.7 cm). A trend toward an increase in paraplegia was noted in women, 10.3% vs 4.8%. This may be related to increase in length of aortic coverage in women, 18.2 cm vs 15.2 cm (P < .05). Conclusion: TEVAR in women is safe and effective. The length of aortic coverage is greater in women, which may be related to larger aneurysms and more diffuse disease. This may be associated with a concerning increase in postoperative paraplegia. Women undergoing TEVAR should be considered for prophylactic maneuvers to prevent spinal cord ischemia (SCI), including minimizing length of coverage.


We identified mixed infections of pathogenic Leptospira in small mammals across a landscape-scale study area in Madagascar by using primers targeting different Leptospira spp. Using targeted primers increased prevalence estimates and evidence for transmission between endemic and invasive hosts. Future studies should assess rodentborne transmission of Leptospira to humans.


This study investigated relationship of religious commitment and post traumatic growth (PIG); as well as the moderating role of gender on religious commitment-PIG relationship. Religious commitment was considered as both intrapersonal and interpersonal in form. PIG was examined through its domains: appreciation of life, new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual growth and relationship with others, including the composite score of PIG. Participants were 478 students (Mage = 24.37; Females = 246, Males = 232) of Delta State Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku in south-south region of Nigeria, who completed the 10-item Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI - 10) and PIG Inventory. Pearson's correlations and Hierarchical Multiple Regression were used in data analysis. Intrapersonal religious commitment was positively related to PIG and its domains, except appreciation of life. Interpersonal religious commitment was positively related to all domains of PIG. Gender moderated the relationship between intrapersonal religious commitment and new possibilities, personal strength and spiritual growth but no moderation by gender were found in the relationship between intrapersonal religious commitment and appreciation of life, relationship with others and PIG total. Moderation by gender was found for only the relationship between interpersonal religious commitment and appreciation of life. Mental health promotion efforts in finding benefits from trauma should recognise the interactive role of gender on some religious commitment-PIG relations.


This work presents comparisons among the numeric results obtained by the Boundary Element Method, Finite Element Method and Flux Spline Method applied to two-dimensional scalar potential problems. Cases are stationary and governed by Laplace and Poisson equations. The main purpose of this paper is to compare the accuracy of mentioned methods in computational simulations. So, the applications were selected to analyze numerical behavior when some special physical and geometrical aspects are involved, such as: discontinuities in the boundary conditions, actions concentrated on specific part on the domain, non-homogeneity in constitutive properties etc.


According to several empirical studies US inflation and nominal interest rates as well as the real interest rate can be described as unit root processes. These results imply that nominal interest rates and expected inflation do not move one-for-one in the long run, which is incongruent with theoretical models. In this paper we introduce a new nonlinear bivariate mixture autoregressive model that seems to fit quarterly US data (1953 : II-2004 : IV) reasonably well. It is found that the three-month Treasury bill rate and inflation share a common nonlinear component that explains a large part of their persistence. The real interest rate is devoid of this component, indicating one-for-one movement of the nominal interest rate and inflation in the long run and, hence, stationarity of the real interest rate. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract: In this digital age, EFL students have been used to using technological media in their daily lives. They
have learnt English through video games even before they meet their English teachers for the first time in
primary school. By the time they are adults, they have learnt a lot because of video games. Video games are also
believed to be able to enhance students' 21st century skills. EFL teachers need to improvise the teaching and
learning activities by inserting video games in their classrooms not only to improve their students' English
ability, but also to enhance the students' 21st century skills needed for the upcoming Asean Economic
Community (AEC) in 2015. From this perspective, this paper is aimed to discuss the integration of video games
in EFL classrooms for adults by EFL teachers in institutions, the guidelines regarding the practical use of this
technology, and the 21st century skills that can be enhanced through the use of this technology. This paper is
useful for EFL teachers to utilise video games for learning and to motivate students.
Keywords: Video Games, 21st Century Skills, EFL classroom, Teaching and Learning Activities


The relationship of information security and information culture is examined, on the basis of which information security is studied as an element of social culture. The following definition is formulated: information security – the condition of the information environment that ensures the satisfaction of the information needs of the subjects of information relations, information security and the protection of subjects from negative information impact. Information security is closely related to the information culture, which means the ability to effectively use its information resources and means of information communication and also apply for these purposes the advanced achievements in the field of information resources development and information technology.It is noted that the information culture also has an objective (the culture of ownership of information for something) and subjective (the subject of ownership is a person, society) essence, and the personality is both a subject and an object of information culture.The concept of a "culture of informational self-defense" is singled out separately, combines the features of the material and ideal worldview of a person and forms his informational culture both in terms of information and professional competence culture, and in terms of information security culture. The culture of informational self-defense determines the individual's ability to handle information without harming themselves and other participants in informational relations; the ability to withstand information threats and maintain mental health in the face of negative information impact.It is established that in the context of changing sociocultural values and taking into account the indicated causal relationships, the solution to the problem of ensuring the information security of an individual should be of a comprehensive systemic nature and carried out at different levels.


The efficiency of grazing ruminant production systems is directly associated to the animals' ingestive behavior, and to structural characteristics of the pastures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ingestive behavior of young lambs grazing three different heights of Capim Aruana (Panicum maximum). The experiment was carried out in two consecutive years, in which 30 tester lambs (4–5 months old) were equally divided into three paddocks (treatments) corresponding to different average sward heights of Aruana grass: (1) Tall-75 cm; (2) Medium-50 cm; and (3) Short-25 cm in a randomized block design. Ingestive behavior assessments were carried out every 28 days through 10-min observations of the main activities of the animals (grazing, ruminating, idling) and biting rate, from sunrise to sunset. In addition, the productive and qualitative characteristics of the pastures were assessed. Despite differences in pasture structure, grazing time (GT) and idling time were similar among treatments (P = 0.4266 and P = 0.2939, respectively). The shortest ruminating time (RT, P = 0.0181) was recorded in the treatment of lowest sward height. Lambs grazing on this treatment also showed 23% more bites per minute (P= < 0.0001) than animals in the Tall and Medium treatments. A Decision Tree analysis was performed for GT, identifying in a hierarchical order that the initial weight of the animals and sward height explained 62% (R2 = 0.621) of the variation, representing the variables with the greatest influence on GT. Initial body weight explained 48% of the model. Thus, our research shows that the different sward heights of Capim Aruana mainly alter the lamb's RT and biting rate, and that the animals' initial body weight is a key factor influencing GT, given that this variable makes lambs more susceptible to changes in sward height.


The amount of investment megaprojects increases every year. Due to its technical complexity, high economic costs and dependence on multiple external factors, megaprojects often turn out to be economically ineffective. The probability of a project failure varies a lot depending on the industry and type of project. Statistically, hosting the Olympic Games projects are the ones to have the highest rates of frequency and percentage of cost overruns. The expenses related with these projects are constantly growing. The authors analyze the indicators of economic effectiveness of making investments in major infrastructural projects of Russian Federation. Hereafter, the authors study the experience of implementing such projects on the whole territory of Russia, and analyze in detail the results of creating and using the Olympic venues of Sochi-2014. The authors' research has shown that payback periods of the Olympic venues vary from 19 ("Bolshoi" stadium) to 198 years ("Fisht" stadium). Clearly, these results do not correspond even to the Requirements of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, defining economically effective projects as those with payback period less than or equal to 5 years. However, the implementation of such projects can be considered as the creation of public goods, with their further active use by the population of the country.


This article is one of a series of reports on studies of a certain psychopathologic picture occurring in schizophrenia. It was previously observed that some schizophrenic patients present a number of symptoms which are not likely to occur alone but are observed only in association with each other. The association of these symptoms in a consistent fashion seems to be indicative of a hitherto undescribed syndrome and therefore to merit closer study. The principal components of the syndrome in question are: 1. Severe disturbances of self-awareness: These are manifested in a great variety of complaints, of which the most important is the impression of being divided into two or more persons, and various symptoms of depersonalization. 2. The experience of motor influences and the impression of passivity: This disturbance is manifested in such complaints as: "They move my arm." "It is not I who is talking; the words just fly


The purpose of this research was to evaluate the need to use heparin when preparing an UltraTag red blood cell (RBC) kit for a nuclear medicine study. Methods: Nonheparinized blood samples (n = 15) and heparinized blood samples (n = 15) were added to UltraTag RBC kits. The samples were examined for macroscopic blood clotting and microscopic platelet clumping. As a control, samples with heparin (n = 15) and without heparin (n = 15) were used to help evaluate the effectiveness of the anticoagulant properties within the UltraTag RBC kit (sodium citrate) and whether those properties played a role in preventing clots or clumps. To detect clotting, the wooden applicator stick method was used. To detect clumping, blood smears were evaluated using a light microscope. The two samples were compared for presence of clots and clumps. Fisher exact testing was used to evaluate the significance of the data. Results: For the UltraTag RBC group, 2 of the 15 nonheparinized samples clotted and none of the 15 heparinized samples clotted; for the control group, 2 of the 15 nonheparinized samples clotted and none of the 15 heparinized samples clotted. For the Ultra-Tag RBC group, 3 of the 15 nonheparinized samples clumped and 3 of the 15 heparinized samples clumped; for the control group, 15 of the 15 nonheparinized samples clumped and 10 of the 15 heparinized samples clumped. Conclusion: When heparin is not used, the Ultra-Tag RBC kit is more likely to form clots. Heparin should always be used when preparing an Ultra-Tag RBC kit for a nuclear medicine study.


Wood product trade in the Central American-Dominican Republic region currently poses great challenges for the systems employed to report and verify statistical information. Through the work of a regional group of consultants and local contributors, a regional statistical analysis was performed regarding wood trade between Central American countries and the Dominican Republic (CA-DR region), and between the region and main external markets. Wood product export and import procedures were also updated. This research allows these countries to assess potential trade statistics use to generate traceability and transparency in their legal trade verification systems and to gain credibility in the eyes of other countries or markets.


The Basis Expansion Model (BEM) is often employed to track the time variant multipath channels. Using an accurate estimation of the Doppler spread for the BEM gives better channel tracking performance for very high speed vehicles [1]. We propose a modification of the conventional BEM for 3GPP LTE systems which is independent from the Doppler spread for all realistic speeds. It shows no significant loss of estimation accuracy compared to conventional BEM, thus providing a robust channel tracking for mobile equipment under changing multipath environment with the additional advantage of very low computational complexity. Simulation results of Mean Squared Error (MSE) are provided to support our claim.


This essay argues that Peter Perring Thoms (1790–1855), a printer in the service of the British East India Company in Macau, fashioned a Chinacentric sinology that cannot be readily subsumed under statist and other instrumental forms of Orientalism. Instead, neither a casual "amateur" nor an institutionally sanctioned "professional," Thoms pioneered a translation model as a "citizen-scholar" intent on establishing literary and artistic excellence as an imaginative locus to forge transnational bonds of anti-imperialist solidarities between the Chinese and the English.


HeLa cells were synchronized for S phase DNA synthesis by the double thymidine block procedure and simultaneously depleted of putrescine and spermidine with the irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase, alpha-difluoromethyl ornithine. S phase DNA synthesis was inhibited and cell proliferation was prevented in the cells in which polyamines were depleted by the inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase. Nuclei prepared from synchronized, polyamine-depleted cells were almost totally inactivated for in vitro DNA synthesis. S phase DNA synthesis was restored and normal cell proliferation occurred if either putrescine, spermidine, or spermine was added to the medium during the synchronization of the cells in the presence of alpha-difluoromethyl ornithine. Nucleic prepared from cells synchronized in media containing the inhibitor but supplemented with a polyamine during the synchronization procedure were also completely active in the synthesis of DNA in vitro. The results indicate that polyamines are required for the replication of DNA in HeLa cells.


In 2015, after two years of controversy, the so-called 'Swedish model'—the criminalisation of paying for sex—became law in Northern Ireland as an anti-trafficking measure. Evidence from the ground in Northern Ireland, however, questions the enforceability and appropriateness of a sex purchase ban to significantly reduce or eradicate trafficking in the sex industry. First, it is unclear that criminalisation will change the behaviour of male purchasers, many of whom thought that their actions were already illegal; second, sex workers do not support the law; and third, there are significant difficulties in law enforcement in the context of Northern Ireland, including a lack of police resources.This article examines mitigating evidence drawn from two sources: findings from a mixed methods study commissioned by the Department of Justice of Northern Ireland—in which we were amongst several co-authors—to support the reform process; and contributions to the consultation held within it.We argue that the sex purchase ban in Northern Ireland is essentially meant to send a moral message about the unacceptability of commercial sex rather than effectively reduce trafficking. With this conclusion, we aim to contribute to an open and honest debate about the moral foundations of anti-trafficking measures, the role of research evidence in the policy process, and the gap between stated intentions and likely effects of neo-abolitionist measures such as the sex purchase ban in both Northern Ireland and more generally.


Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the hand's acceleration on the propulsive forces and the relative contribution of the drag and lift on their resultant force in the separate phases of the front crawl underwater arm stroke. Ten female swimmers swam one trial of all-out 25-m front crawl. The underwater motion of each swimmer's right hand was recorded using four camcorders and four periscope systems. Anatomical landmarks were digitised, and the propulsive forces generated by the swimmer's hand were estimated from the kinematic data in conjunction with hydrodynamic coefficients. When the hand's acceleration was taken into account, the magnitude of the propulsive forces was greater, with the exception of the mean drag force during the final part of the underwater arm stroke. The mean drag force was greater than the mean lift force in the middle part, while the mean lift force was greater than the mean drag force in the final part of the underwater arm stroke. Thus, swimmers should accelerate their hands from the beginning of their backward motion, press the water with large pitch angles during the middle part and sweep with small pitch angles during the final part of their underwater arm stroke.


Hybridomas are as susceptible to mycoplasma contamination as animal cell cultures. Two in vitro methods and one in vivo passage into mice were compared for efficiency of curing hybridomas from mycoplasma contaminations. Four contaminated clones were treated with the combined action of 5-bromouracil (5-BrUra) and the Hoechst 33258 followed by photosensitization. The other in vitro method involved the use of BM-cycline. The success of overcoming the mycoplasma contamination was dependent on the level of the initial contamination of the individual hybridoma. BM-cycline was more efficient than the photosensitization method. For the most contaminated hybridomas, 10 successive treatments with 5-BrUra were necessary as compared to six treatments with BM-cycline. Moreover, the use of BM-cycline reduced the contamination by as much as 50% after the first treatment. After twenty passages following the curing of hybridomas with BM-cycline, cells were stable and retained their specificity and secretion of their respective immunoglobulins. Whereas, treatment with 5-bromouracil, recurrence of contamination was observed in one of the four hybridomas after 10 passages following treatment. Decontamination after one passage in peritoneal cavity in mice was not always sufficient since one of four hybridomas remained contaminated. BM-cycline appears to be the method of choice since it is more efficient, less time consuming, simpler and less expensive. Mycoplasma strains that could be identified were of bovine origin: Mycoplasma arginini and Acholeplasma laidlawii.


Science is not changing every day, but our understanding. Through systematic research based on hypothesis, scientists give a lead towards possible truth. With more and more such hypothesis, we can go nearer to the truth. In all fields of research, it is customary to design research based on hypothesis. Scientists test their hypothesis using suitable test statistics and arrive at some conclusion. But the technical, economic feasibility and replicability of such results will decide the rate of its adoptability. The results of sample survey, hypothesis-based research may go wrong in many instances. Intricacies between parameters in a dynamic aquatic system are so complex. This leads us to conclude the results with certain assumptions and conditions. These conditions and assumptions limit the translation of knowledge into reality. When dealing with system level research, developing and under developed countries cannot afford to waste time and money on hypothesis. Due to the advancement information technology, huge data can be collected, processed which enabled better understanding of correlations between parameters and results can be predicted with precisely. If the research shifts from hypothesis to data driven approach, most of the results can directly applied in the intended field. The results of Data Driven Approach in Research (DDAR) will play vital role in designing developmental programs and policy making. DDAR also attracts funding support from industries and more technology will move to the field.


Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) integrates major areas of an organisation, including community, environment, ethics, workforce, human rights, responsibility in the market, vision and values and workplace. Much work has been done on the organization giving back to the environment and community; however other areas are rarely covered. The workforce is one of the major stakeholders of an organisation; it is an internal part of it and can either promote or tarnish the CSR image of the organization. Staff are part of an organizations' CSR success and this paper assesses the impact of Airtel Nigeria's CSR on staff' effectiveness and satisfaction at work. Structured questionnaires are administered to forty randomly selected staffs and two managers are interviewed from the two founding branches of the organization. The study shows that majority (57.5%) of the respondents do not understand the meaning of CSR; they see it as the organization being charitable and thus find it difficult to accept it affects their effectiveness and performance at work. However, Airtel Nigeria did not relent in their CSR duties to staff and community. Thus the organization should provide effective CSR training and communication to enlighten their workforce on their CSR activities for staff.


The comprehension of "what cancer is" was bespoke these two last decades, switching from the traditional centro-cellular vision of cancer to a new holistic vision which integrates the tumor microenvironment and its immune component. Although in both visions, the result is, in fine, the emergence of a clone of cancer cells whose genome is modified, the genesis of the emergence of this clone and of its expansion is quite different offering a new explanatory framework and allowing the design of new predictive bio-markers as well as the development of innovative therapies. Recent data demonstrate that the immune infiltrate of the tumor is determinant for the outcome of patients bearing a solid cancer. For the first time, patient' prognosis can be estimated, not only by the assessment of tumor criteria (TNM classification, genetic disorders) but also by the evaluation of the immune component of the tumor microenvironment, using novel methodologies such as the 'Immunoscore'. Taking account of parameters derived from the reaction of the host against his tumor is an additional step towards a so-called Personalized Medicine in patients with cancer.


In present article ZnO thin films were deposited for five different substrate temperatures (150-350 oC) using simple spray technique. The deposited films have been characterized using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and UV-Visible spectroscopy and effect of substrate temperature on structure, morphology, and optical properties have been studied. Crystallite size was estimated from using Lorentz Fit of XRD data. The crystallite size was in the 20 to 26.32 nm range.  The SEM of (ZnO 300 ) film sample shows whole surface was uniformly coated with schematically arranged network of ZnO wires of average diameter 566 nm. Purity of the deposited sample was investigated by using Energ Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX).  All the ZnO films exhibit 70 to 80% transmittance and 3.23 to 3.26 eV optical band gap.


Purpose To determine the diagnostic efficacy of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) in the diagnosis of perianal fistula and its complications. Material and methods This is a retrospective study based on the data of 47 patients with a clinical diagnosis of perianal fistula, who had an MRI study performed on a 1.5-T GE Signa MR scanner. DWI sequences were done using 3 different b-values. Other routine MR sequences were included. The MR images were studied to compare the diagnostic efficacy of the DW MRI sequence and other sequences in diagnosing perianal fistula and its complications. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of abscesses and inflammatory soft tissue lesions were measured using ADC maps. The standard reference to obtain diagnostic efficacy was post-surgical data. Results Seventy-nine perianal fistulas were diagnosed in 47 patients who had undergone an MRI study. The sensitivity and specificity of different MR sequences in diagnosing perianal fistulas are T2 FSFSE: 92% sensitivity; DWI: 96% sensitivity; combined T2+DWI: 100% sensitivity; and post-gadolinium T1 FS has 100% sensitivity in diagnosing perianal fistulas. The mean apparent diffusion coefficient for the abscess in our study was 0.990 ± 0.05 × 10-3, and the mean apparent diffusion coefficient for an inflammatory soft tissue lesion was 1.440 ± 0.05 × 10-3. The optimal ADC cut-off for the abscess was 1.098 × 10-3 mm2/s showing 100% sensitivity and 93.8% specificity. Conclusions DW imaging is a reliable sequence to diagnose perianal fistula and its complications. Measurement of ADC values is reliable in diagnosing perianal abscess collection. DWI sequence helps patients with renal impairment in whom IV gadolinium is contraindicated.


OBJECTIVE--To determine the courses of absorption and the interindividual and intraindividual variations in absorption of iodine-125 labelled Ultratard HM and NovoSol Basal injected subcutaneously. DESIGN--Open randomised crossover study. Each patient was tested during two study periods of five days each, during which he or she received a subcutaneous injection of either 125I-NovoSol Basal or 125I-Ultratard HM on four consecutive days. The aim was to detect a reduction in intraindividual standard deviation by a factor of two with a probability 0.95, taking 0.05 as the level of significance. This required 24 degrees of freedom and led to the choice of four courses in each of eight patients. SETTING--Referrals to the diabetes research centre in Hvidøre, Copenhagen. PATIENTS--Eight insulin dependent (type I) diabetics with low or undetectable C peptide concentrations who were receiving a multiple insulin injection regimen. One patient withdrew immediately after recruitment. INTERVENTIONS--After an overnight fast patients received 96 nmol (16 IU insulin) of either 125I-NovoSol Basal or 125I-Ultratard HM injected subcutaneously into the thigh. To ensure that the insulin entered the subcutaneous fat at the same depth, ultrasonography was performed on each patient before the first injection. A different injection site on the thigh was used each day for four days in order to facilitate monitoring of the disappearance of four different depots in each patient. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--Residual activity at the injection site was measured roughly every two hours throughout the day. No radioactivity measurements were performed overnight (10 pm till 8 am). The residual radioactivity after the injection on the first day (upper right thigh) was recorded for five days, that after the injection on the second day (upper left thigh) for four days, after the injection on the third day (lower right thigh) for three days, and after the last injection (lower left thigh) for two days. RESULTS--NovoSol Basal was absorbed according to first order kinetics with a mean t50% of 35.3 (SEM 1.4) hours; Ultratard HM was absorbed after a lag phase and the corresponding t50% was 25.5 (2.5) hours. The intraindividual variations in t50% were significantly smaller with NovoSol Basal than with Ultratard HM (18.4% v 44.5%; p less than 0.001). Interindividual variations, however, were not significantly different (25.2% v 36.9%; p = 0.38). The total variation in t50% was substantially smaller with NovoSol Basal than with Ultratard HM (20.3% v 42.8%). CONCLUSIONS--NovoSol Basal seems to be an appreciable advance over Ultratard HM as a soluble insulin preparation for obtaining reproducible 24 hour insulin concentrations in the blood


Individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder show alterations in functional neural connectivity during rest. However, resting‐state network (RSN) disruptions have not been systematically compared between the two disorders. Further, the impact of RSN disruptions on social cognition, a key determinant of functional outcome, has not been studied. Forty‐eight individuals with schizophrenia, 46 with bipolar disorder, and 48 healthy controls completed resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging. An atlas‐based approach was used to examine functional connectivity within nine RSNs across the cortex. RSN connectivity was assessed via nonparametric permutation testing, and associations with performance on emotion perception, mentalizing, and emotion management tasks were examined. Group differences were observed in the medial and lateral visual networks and the sensorimotor network. Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated reduced connectivity relative to healthy controls in all three networks. Individuals with bipolar disorder demonstrated reduced connectivity relative to controls in the medial visual network and connectivity within this network was significantly positively correlated with emotion management. In healthy controls, connectivity within the medial and lateral visual networks positively correlated with mentalizing. No significant correlations were found for either visual network in schizophrenia. Results highlight the role of altered early visual processing in social cognitive deficits in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, individuals with bipolar disorder appear to compensate for disrupted visual network connectivity on social cognitive tasks, whereas those with schizophrenia do not. The current study adds clarity on the neurophysiology underlying social cognitive deficits that result in impaired functioning in serious mental illness.


The genome of an endangered avian species, the whooping crane (Grus americana) has been examined using the methods of karyotype analysis, cytofluorometry, and analytical ultracentrifugation. This species has a karyotype (2n = 82) common to the other crane species previously examined with five autosomal pairs and one sex chromosome pair as the macrochromosomes, and a large number of microchromosomes. Sex chromosomes are heteromorphic in females permitting sexing by means of chromosome analysis. The DNA buoyant density in neutral CsCl reveals the presence of two heavy satellite bands, and uncommon finding when compared to previous studies of avian DNA.


For Koryŏ aristocratic families, the three-generation segment remained basic as the primary unit for dividing inheritance. This segment includes the oldest lineal ascendant, his sons and daughters (and sons-in-law), and his grandsons and granddaughters by both his sons and daughters, that is, a cognatic three-generation segment. In the private sphere men and women held equal rights but in the public sphere only men had rights and duties. The protective appointment was also granted based on the three-generation segment and likewise investiture in the royal family was similarly regulated. This was much smaller than in China where the patrilineal five-generation segment was the norm for the imperial family. Although Confucian influence on the family system would evolve later in the Chosŏn period, filial piety in which the oldest lineal ascendant was venerated was important for aristocratic families.


Physician characteristics and preferences continue to change. Between 1970 and 1999, the physician population more then doubled nationwide and the proportion of female MDs increased from 7.7% to 23.4%. This study examines the changing profile of Oklahoma physicians since 1928. Data on 14,314 MDs licensed by the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision between 1928 and 2001 were analyzed, and summary statistics on age, gender, race, specialty and board certification are reported by ten-year intervals. On average, Oklahoma physician are getting older. While the mean age in the 60s was 35 years, by the end of the last decade it had risen to 52. The number of women MDs started to increase in the 70s and has more then tripled in the last 30 years. The same pattern of growth has been witnessed for non-white physicians and international medical graduates (IMGs), who were practically non-existent before 1960. The proportion of board certified physicians has steadily increased, reaching the current level of 66%. Due to the increasing participation of females, non-whites and IMGs, the profile of the Oklahoma physician has radically changed during the last 70 years.


Day nurseries in deprived inner-city areas have to cope with a wide range of problems which are presented by the young children and their families. Many of the children can be delayed in some area of their development or have emotional problems which require sensitive handling. These challenges are in addition to the expected difficulties of helping young children to adjust to a new situation and the presence of unfamiliar adults and children. The staff of day nurseries tend to be young and the 2-year training has a great deal to cover on normal development. The consequence is that staff in their late teens and early twenties have to face the demands of children whose development is often far from 'normal' in terms of the average range. It was a concern about this situation in a very disadvantaged area of London and the fact that nurseries have traditionally been fairly isolated institutions that led to the planning of a 2-year exploratory project with the objective of introducing new ideas and approaches to nursery staff which would help them provide a better quality of care to socially disadvantaged under-5s.


The Internet represents a different type of technology for publishers of scientific, technical, and medical journals. It is not a technology that sustains current markets and creates new efficiencies but is, rather, a disruptive technology that could radically alter market forces, profit expectations, and business models. This paper is a translation and amplification of the research done in this area, applied to a large-circulation new science journal, Pediatrics. The findings suggest that the journal of the future will be electronic, have a less volatile cost structure, be supported more by services than by content, be less able to rely on subscription revenues, and abandon certain elements of current value networks. It also provides a possible framework for other publishers to use to evaluate their own journals relative to this disruptive technology.


The PAMELA satellite borne experiment is designed to study cosmic rays with great accuracy in a wide energy range. One of PAMELA's main goal is the study of the antimatter component of cosmic rays. The experiment, housed on board the Russian satellite Resurs-DK1, was launched on June 15th 2006 and it is still taking data. In this work we present the measurement of galactic positron energy spectrum in the energy range between 500 MeV and few hundred GeV.


The relationship between graduate students and their research advisors within academia is pivotal to the development and success of the research enterprise. Graduate students rely on their faculty advisor to be a source of information, a departmental negotiator, and a role model to guide their professional and ethical behavior. However, if an advisor does not fully recognize a student's best interest or they are unaware of how to be an "ethical mentor", they may overlook the unique social capital of the graduate student (e.g., background, culture) and jeopardize the research relationship. This work aims to explore how women graduate students and faculties in science and engineering understand ethical mentoring within research relationships. Particularly, we are interested in understanding the six ethical mentoring principles suggested by Johnson (2016)—beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, fidelity, fairness, and privacy—all of which require an in-depth understanding for a productive research relationship. Qualitative analysis revealed that participants emphasized the principles of beneficence and fidelity, while principles of privacy and fairness were mentioned the least. Three key themes emerged from this analysis: (a) communication; (b) relative power between mentor and mentee; and (c) awareness (or a lack thereof) around implicit expectations within the research culture.


This paper focuses on the detectability of defects causing the gates of transistors in CMOS integrated circuits to float (open), i.e., on floating gate transistor (FGT) faults. Such faults are known to occur in practice. It is increasingly important to consider their detection to meet high quality requirements for circuits fabricated in deep submicrometer technologies. We focus on the detectability of FGT faults by the standard voltage- and current-based production test strategies that we refer to as static voltage (SV), dynamic voltage (DV), and static current (SC) test strategies. We demonstrate how the behavior of the devices caused by FGT faults depends on two classes of technological and topological parameters: the predictable and unpredictable parameters. We show that an FGT fault can induce abnormal logic values, additional delays, or increased power supply current. We introduce the concept of a detectability interval, i.e., the range of values an unpredictable parameter may assume that one allows for the fault detection using a specific test strategy. We illustrate how the detectability intervals for the SV and DV strategies complement that of the SC strategy. In addition, a new test scheme that results in an increased SC detectability of FGT faults is developed. Finally, we demonstrate the effects of initial trapped charges and the effects of coupling to surrounding metal on the detectability intervals of each of the test strategies.


Violence against women is present in every country and it cut across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. Research has shown that there are links between HIV and AIDS, gender inequity and gender based violence that prevents women from influencing the circumstances of sex, resulting in unsafe sex practice and contracting of sexually transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS.
The overall objective of the study was to increase understanding of Intimate Partner Violence experiences of sexual assault, its risk factor on the transmission of HIV infection among women admitted in Trauma Unit A of a particular hospital in the Vhembe District. This raises the questions "What is the women's experience of sexual assault? Is sexual assault a risk factor to the transmission of HIV infection among women?"
The research design was qualitative, exploratory descriptive and contextual in nature. In this study the target population consisted of all women who made use of a trauma unit A ata particular hospital in the LimpopoProvince. Six participants were selected by means of purposive sampling. In-depth individual interviews were conducted, using a voice recorder.
The principles outlined by Lincoln and Guba were followed to ensure the trustworthiness of the study. Data analysis was guided by Tesch's principles of qualitative data analysis.
The findings of the study reflected that women experienced Intimate Partner Violence sexual assault in their lives and that sexual assault is a risk factor to the transmission of HIV infection among women. The study therefore, suggests a need for screening and prevention programmes that aims to reduce Intimate Partner Violence and HIV infection


PURPOSE: Polybenzimidazolium is provided to provide a polymer electrolyte with excellent performance and stability. CONSTITUTION: Polybenzimidazolium has a structure indicated in chemical formula 1 or chemical formula 2. In the chemical formulas, A is a direct bond or oxygen, B is a diacid group having 1-5 heteroatoms or diacid group containing nine or more carbon atoms, each of R1-R4 is independently hydrogen, a C1-6 alkyl group or aromatic substituent group, X- is anion selected from halogen, OH-, carbonate, hydrogen carbonate, sulfate, acetate, formate, methanolate and ethnolate, and n is an integer from 1 or more. [Reference numerals] (AA) R1 or unsubstituted; (BB, EE) R3 or unsubstituted; (CC) R2 or unsubstituted; (DD, FF) R4 or unsubsituted


The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in chicks of wild birds and captive individuals was studied in the Poznań environs and in the Poznań Zoological Garden in the years 2002-2003. Bird blood was tested for T. gondii antibodies by an indirect fluorescent antibody test. T. gondii antibodies were detected from 5.8% of 205 analysed white stork chicks and 13.6% of 44 analysed adult storks in the zoo. Because toxoplasmosis is one of the more common parasitic zoonoses worldwide, we briefly discuss the potential epidemiological importance of stork toxoplasmosis to humans.


Commonly used mass-concentration (mascon) solutions estimated from Level-1B Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On data, provided by processing centers such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) or the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), do not give users control over the placement of mascons or inversion assumptions, such as regularization. While a few studies have focused on regional or global mascon optimization from spherical harmonics data, a global optimization based on the geometry of geophysical signal as a standardized product with user-defined points has not been addressed. Finding the optimal configuration with enough coverage to account for far-field leakage is not a trivial task and is often approached in an ad-hoc manner, if at all. Here, we present an automated approach to defining non-uniform, global mascon solutions that focus on a region of interest specified by the user, while maintaining few global degrees of freedom to minimize noise and leakage. We showcase our approach in High Mountain Asia (HMA) and Alaska, and compare the results with global uniform mascon solutions from range-rate data. We show that the custom mascon solutions can lead to improved regional trends due to a more careful sampling of geophysically distinct regions. In addition, the custom mascon solutions exhibit different seasonal variation compared to the regularized solutions. Our open-source pipeline will allow the community to quickly and efficiently develop optimized global mascon solutions for an arbitrary point or polygon anywhere on the surface of the Earth.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the effect of the Ontario Ministry of Health's pilot public-education campaign launched in London, Ont., on Jan. 15, 1994, to reduce the number of visits to physicians' offices because of cold and flu symptoms.

DESIGN
Before-after comparison of claims to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Physician billings for visits because of cold and flu symptoms and total billings for all types of visits during the 2 months before and after the start of the campaign, and during the same two periods in the previous year, in London and in the rest of Ontario.

RESULTS
By the time the campaign was started, much of the cold and flu season was already over for that winter. Still, the decrease in billings for visits because of cold and flu symptoms in the 2 months after the campaign was introduced was 6% greater in London than in the rest of Ontario. There was virtually no difference in total billings between London and the rest of the province during the same period.

CONCLUSION
The modest relative reduction in physician billings for visits because of cold or flu symptoms in London following the introduction of the public-education campaign may have been due to the intervention as well as to other factors.


Kosev, V., Vasileva, V., & Acar, Z. (2019). Adaptability and productive potential of initial material from grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.). Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 25(5), 994–1000 The adaptive properties of six grass pea varieties (BGE027129, BGE015741, BGE025277, LAT4362, LA5108 and LAT5038) were studied by the signs plant height (cm), aboveground mass weight (leaves + stems) (g), pods per plant, seeds per plant, seed weight per plant (g) and nodule weight (g). The study was conducted in 2014-2016 in the experimental fi eld of the Institute of Forage Crops, Pleven, Bulgaria. Varieties with high general and specifi c adaptive ability, relative stability and selection value on the traits studied were identifi ed. BGE027129 was characterized by high selective value of the number of pods, number of seeds and seed weight per plant, and BGE015741 by the plant height, number of seeds and seed weight per plant, respectively. Interest for the combinatorial selection is the variety BGE025277 by the plant height and the seed weight per plant, which are combined with good homeostaticity and relative stability to the environment. The varieties BGE027129, BGE015741 and BGE025277 can be used as parental components in breeding programs to create grass pea varieties with a larger number of seeds and pods per plant, and higher weight of seeds.


This article aims to present a paradigmatic classification of the predominant references on the social capital theory in management science from the identification of the underlying epistemological principles. Social scientists have offered a variety of definitions of social capital, in which each one expresses a significant particularity. Underlying this fact, scientists have used epistemological principles in their research, which reflect a worldview that is prior to the concepts they are trying to define. In this article, the epistemological analysis seeks to identify elements of empiricism, rationalism, utilitarianism, positivism, functionalism, systemism and dialectics. We analyse the contributions of Bourdieu, Coleman, Putnam, Fukuyama and Ghoshal on the social capital theory. The analyses are presented considering the area of expertise of the authors, being sociology, political science or management. In general, we conclude that the principles of systemism are prevalent in the concepts of social capital developed by the authors analysed. The approaches of Coleman, Putnam, Fukuyama and Ghoshal can be classified as developed in a functionalist paradigm, while Bourdieu's approach can be positioned in a critical paradigm.


Purpose The nasopalatine canal is a well-known, important anatomical structure in the anterior maxilla, but this region contains many accessory canals. The canalis sinuosus (CS) is one of these canals; it contains the anterior superior alveolar nerve, along with veins and arteries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the CS using conebeam computed tomography (CBCT) in patients with maxillary impacted canines. Materials and Methods A total of 111 patients admitted to the Istanbul Medipol University School of Dentistry for the exposure, orthodontic treatment, and/or extraction of an impacted canine were included in this study. CBCT images were obtained for these patients under standard conditions. Axial, coronal, and sagittal sections were evaluated to assess the prevalence of CS, the direction and diameter of the canal, its relation with the impacted canine, and its distance from the alveolar crest. Further, possible correlations with patient gender and age were analyzed. Results The CS could be detected bilaterally in all the evaluated tomography images. The mean canal diameter was significantly larger in males than in females (P=.001). The CS ran significantly closer to the impacted canine when the canal was located horizontally (P=.03). Variations of the canal, such as accessory canals, were identified in 6 patients. Conclusion CS is an anatomical entity that may resemble periapical lesions and other anatomical structures. Evaluation with CBCT prior to surgical procedures in the anterior maxilla will help to prevent overlooking such anatomical structures and to decrease possible surgical complications.


Brushless DC (BLDC) motors have been widely used in industry. However, one of the main drawbacks of using BLDC motors is the undesirable torque ripple. The torque ripple can cause mechanical vibration, acoustic noise and bearing damage that reduces the lifetime of the machine. This paper proposes a simple repetitive control scheme to attenuate torque ripple of BLDC motors. In this method, the ripple is considered as an undesirable repeated signal that will be minimized by the repetitive control scheme. The control input used in the proposed method is controlled transistors switching using space vector pulse width modulation technique. Simulation results show the proposed repetitive control technique results in the apparent reduction of the torque ripple when compared to a conventional control scheme.


A series of 3,5-disubstituted chiral hydantoins were prepared from D-amino acid and phenyl isocyanate in mixed solvent, and the catalyst was then supported on macroporous adsorption resins. The catalytic activitiy of the chiral hydantoins with different structures was investigated in the asymmetric cyanohydrination of 3-phenoxy benzaldehyde. The result showed that the improved process for preparation of chiral hydantoins is easy in operation, and the supported chiral hydantoins all exhibited sound enantioselectivity in the asymmetric synthesis of (S)-α-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol with ee value of around 20%~35.5%.


With his best-selling Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph E. Stiglitz showed how a misplaced faith in free-market ideology led to many of the recent problems suffered by the developing nations. Here he turns the same light on the United States. The Roaring Nineties offers not only an insider's illuminating view of policymaking but also a compelling case that even the Clinton administration was too closely tied to the financial community-that along with enormous economic success in the nineties came the seeds of the destruction visited on the economy at the end of the decade. This groundbreaking work by the Nobel Prize-winning economist argues that much of what we understood about the 1990s' prosperity is wrong, that the theories that have been used to guide world leaders and anchor key business decisions were fundamentally outdated. Yes, jobs were created, technology prospered, inflation fell, and poverty was reduced. But at the same time the foundation was laid for the economic problems we face today. Trapped in a near-ideological commitment to free markets, policymakers permitted accounting standards to slip, carried deregulation further than they should have, and pandered to corporate greed. These chickens have now come home to roost. The paperback includes a new introduction that reviews the continued failure of the Bush administration's policies, which have taken a bad situation and made it worse.


This chapter presents an overview and analysis of the various aspects of resources and users in the two Belgian cases of Oostende and Brugge. These two case study areas lie next to each other and occupy around half of the total Belgian coastal zone. The Belgian coast is a densely populated and intensely used area due to its well-established infrastructure that makes the coast easily accessible for a broad (European) hinterland. Both the Belgian cases have a larger core and ring and are famous tourist attractions. While Brugge develops based on its two main pillars of multifunctional cargo port area and its touristic heritage, Oostende relies on strong beach tourism and a port as a passenger gateway. Both cases have witnessed their strong urbanization process decades ago and their development has become stabilized during the last decade. The economies rely more and more on commerce and service sector rather than traditional industrial activities. Agriculture has reduced to a marginal role, both in term of production and in term of employment. The major users include the local inhabitants, visitors, second-home owners, and various community groups. In Brugge, the port of Zeebrugge is one of the major users as it occupies a large area, which contains also valuable nature sites as well as important road, rail and waterway links to the hinterland. In Oostende, competition at the beachfront is one of the main issues. Generally ageing population, loss of agricultural lands, slight increase of mixed-use forest and nature areas, increase in port activities and urban sprawl are some of the trends observed in both cases. The scarcity of coastal space, and its contestation by a diversity of users for competing interests [mainly economic development and environmental protection] plays a pivotal role in generating a range of conflicts.


The 2007 Spring Symposium Series was held Monday through Wednesday, March 26-28, 2007, at Stanford University, California. The titles of the nine symposia in this symposium series were (1) Control Mechanisms for Spatial Knowledge Processing in Cognitive/Intelligent Systems, (2) Game Theoretic and Decision Theoretic Agents, (3) Intentions in Intelligent Systems, (4) Interaction Challenges for Artificial Assistants, (5) Logical Formalizations of Commonsense Reasoning, (6) Machine Reading, (7) Multidisciplinary Collaboration for Socially Assistive Robotics, (8) Quantum Interaction, and (9) Robots and Robot Venues: Resources for AI Education.


Downy mildew (DM) is a major disease of maize that causes significant yield loss in subtropical and tropical regions around the world. A variety of DM strains have been reported, and the resistance to them is polygenically controlled. In this study, we analyzed the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involved in resistance to Peronosclerospora sorghi (sorghum DM), P. maydis (Java DM), and Sclerophthora macrospora (crazy top DM) using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) from a cross between B73 (susceptible) and Ki11 (resistant), and the candidate genes for P. sorghi, P. maydis, and S. macrospora resistance were discovered. The linkage map was constructed with 234 simple sequence repeat (SSR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers, which was identified seven QTLs (chromosomes 2, 3, 6, and 9) for three DM strains. The major QTL, located on chromosome 2, consists of 12.95% of phenotypic variation explained (PVE) and a logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 14.12. Sixty-two candidate genes for P. sorghi, P. maydis, and S. macrospora resistance were obtained between the flanked markers in the QTL regions. The relative expression level of candidate genes was evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) using resistant (CML228, Ki3, and Ki11) and susceptible (B73 and CML270) genotypes. For the 62 candidate genes, 15 genes were upregulated in resistant genotypes. Among these, three (GRMZM2G028643, GRMZM2G128315, and GRMZM2G330907) and AC210003.2_FG004 were annotated as leucine-rich repeat (LRR) and peroxidase (POX) genes, respectively. These candidate genes in the QTL regions provide valuable information for further studies related to P. sorghi, P. maydis, and S. macrospora resistance.