Passenger Transportation is one of the two major components of transportation sector (the other being freight) and it is one of the major factors affecting the energy demand and the need for transportation infrastructure investments. Specifically, 12% of energy consumption and almost 17% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are attributed to passenger transportation, while the energy consumption due to passenger transportation is almost 60% of the total energy consumption in transportation sector. These statistics indicate the importance of predicting passenger transportation for future energy and transportation infrastructure investment planning. Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is one of the most common measure estimating passenger trips in the United States and has been traditionally used to determine the need for new infrastructure. As the availability of energy resources and the funding for new infrastructure decrease, the need of forecasting VMT in the future for energy and transportation investment planning becomes vital. Various studies in the past have determined the factors affecting VMT. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, road infrastructure, and land use influence the amount of passenger trips, but also fuel prices and government policy. Increase of population and income per capita has been traditionally the factor resulting directly to the increase of VMT while areas with higher density result to lower per capita single vehicle travel demand. Moreover, the increase of fuel cost decreases VMT while the impact of lane miles is totally opposite. While previous studies have investigated the effect of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, or the effect of land use and road capacity, or the effect of fuel prices on VMT, the effect of these factors has not been fully examined in a multivariate


Soft systems methodology (SSM) has evolved into numerous configurations, set itself on a sophisticated philosophical foundation, and attracted much commentary. Those approaching SSM for the first time are understandably overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of information available on the methodology. A major challenge for novices is to acquire a fundamental understanding of how the methodology basically functions in itself. What is entailed in doing basic SSM? What are the essential mechanics of the methodology? How does it function internally on a fundamental level? If such questions remain unanswered, the assorted configurations of SSM available in the literature risk being misunderstood and, worse, the entire methodology risks being perceived as too confusing and therefore of little practical value. This paper addresses the questions by presenting the fundamental mechanics of the methodology.


ABSTRACT Introduction The process of chemical risk assessment traditionally relies on animal experiments and associated default uncertainty factors to account for interspecies and interindividual differences. To work toward a more precise and personalized risk assessment, these uncertainty factors should be refined and replaced by chemical-specific adjustment factors (CSAFs). Areas covered This concise review discusses alternative (in vitro/in silico) approaches that can be used to assess interspecies and interindividual differences in toxicodynamics, ranging from targeted to more integrated approaches. Although data are available on interspecies differences, the increasing use of human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neurons may provide opportunities to also assess interindividual variability in neurotoxicity. More integrated approaches, like adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) can provide a more quantitative understanding of the toxicodynamics of a chemical. Expert opinion To improve chemical risk assessment, refinement of uncertainty factors is crucial. In vitro and in silico models can facilitate the development of CSAFs, but still these models cannot always capture the complexity of the in vivo situation, thereby potentially hampering regulatory acceptance. The combined use of more integrated approaches, like AOPs and physiologically based kinetic models, can aid in structuring data and increasing suitability of alternative approaches for regulatory purposes.


ABSTRACT The growth of professional supervision in social work has been accompanied by complex attempts to theorise key elements of supervisory practice and highlight the need to further examine what constitutes supervisory support in current regulatory environments. Changes in human service organisations resulting from new public management generate a need to theorise broader patterns of support available to human service workers. This article draws on an electronic, mixed-method self-reporting study of advice and support-seeking behaviours of 193 human service professionals in 3 South Australian organisations. The findings indicate the fluidity of current professional supervision practice, with workers seeking professional wisdom, identifying practice direction, and debriefing with a range of colleagues within and outside their organisation. Accordingly, the article confirms that supervisors should no longer be thought of as the sole providers of professional advice and support for human service workers and conceptualises the workers as active agents shaping their own learning.


We study the formation of spatial solitons in an SBN:75 photorefractive crystal by a 532 nm continuous-wave laser beam. The output beam from the crystal cannot be compressed proportionally to the voltage of the applied electric field. Quasi-steady-state spatial solitons are formed instantaneously at a voltage of 900 V. Interestingly, the quasi-steady-state solitons exhibit a periodic behavior consisting of formation/broken/reformation cycles. If we increase the input intensity of the soliton beam but keep the same signal-to-background intensity ratio, the solitons stay for a longer time in the quasi-steady state and a longer period of soliton formation/broken/reformation cycle is also observed.


Objectives: To evaluate the direct costs of TB cases treated with DOTS/DOTS-plus in a specialized centre in Barcelona, Spain. Methods: A cross sectional study of TB cases treated in a specialized centre as in-patient or in-patient/out-patient after bacteriological negativization from 2000 to 2012, most of them have factors associated to poor adherence. Treatment was done following ERS and SEPAR Guidelines. Direct costs (in euros ,€) included: laboratory-radiological work, medical TB treatment, in-patient centre and out-patient visits during the 2 years9 of treatment. Results: Among 1401 TB cases, 1261 were TB sensitive, 63 (4.5%) mono-poliresistant, 71 (5.1%) MDR-TB and 6 (0.43%) were XDR-TB. Between MDR/XDR-TB cases 67.5% were immigrants. Direct costs of TB cases were estimated for a total in-patient during treatment and for a half in-patient/half-outpatient treatment. Drugs cost 215€ in TB sensitive cases, 2118 in TB-MDR, 15441 in TB-MDR plus other resistances and 40808 in TB-XDR. The 86.1% of MDR/XDR-TB cases were cured and 7.6% died. In drug sensitive the total cost as in-patient were 15001€, in TB-MDR patient was 60306€, in TB-MDR plus other resistances was 73599€ and in TB-XDR total cost was 98996€. When patients go home after sputum culture negativization the cost lowers 30%. HIV coinfection increases the cost 20%. Conclusion: To cure MDR/XDR-TB have a high economical impact not only by the TB drugs9 cost but also by DOT. But the high rate of MDR/XDR-TB cases cured allows to improve their lifetime, to avoid the death risk and the transmission of resistant baccills into the community.


Introduction: DC-rIL-2-VMO, an allogeneic cellular melanoma vaccine consisting of five melanoma cell lines, a recombinant vaccinia virus encoding for IL-2, as well as dendritic cells, has previously been shown to generate a potent cellular response in murine tumor models. We now demonstrate that this vaccine also has the capacity to generate a sustained humoral response in vitro. Methods: To detect anti-tumor antibodies in pre- and post-vaccinated melanoma patients' sera, a mixed hemadsorption assay (MHA) was used. The binding of human antibody from diluted patients' sera (1:05, 1:15 and 1:45) to cultured melanoma cells (Mel-2, Mel V, GLM-2 and KFM cells) was determined as indicator cells, sheep red blood cells (SRBC) coated sequentially with mouse anti-SRBC sera, goat sera against mouse sera, and mouse anti-human IgG sera to detect binding of human anti-melanoma antibodies. Results: Out of four patients evaluated with Stage IIIA-C and Stage IV resected with no evaluable disease (NED), three patients' post-vaccination sera showed antibodies specifically binding to melanoma cell lines. Antibodies from two of the patients' sera showed moderate to strong binding to three different melanoma cell lines (Mel 2, Mel V and GLM-2). Additionally, antibodies from patients' sera and sera from two normal healthy donors did not show any binding to colorectal carcinoma (SW1116) cells (CRC), a negative control. Conclusions: Treatment of patients with Stage IIIA-C and Stage IV melanoma resected to be NED with DC-rIL-2-VMO induced a tumor-specific antibody response. The presence of these anti-melanoma antibodies suggests that this vaccine may be effective in slowing the progression of melanoma in some patients via cellular and humoral immune mechanisms. DC-rIL-2-VMO has been FDA-approved for Phase I trials. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4756.


This paper analyses the qualities required for a union to respond effectively to management consultation demands. It examines consultation in a British utilities company since privatisation from interview, documentary and archival sources. Highly developed formal consultative procedures existed under nationalisation. Equivalent processes under privatisation made new demands on unions: speed of response, decentralisation and 'direct communication' by management with employees. One niche trade union for professional engineers was able to deal with these demands well in relation to other unions. The union's members had specific legal health and safety roles that were used to reduce the impact of serious job losses. Its representatives took advantage of these roles, and had a range of qualities helping it to reconcile member and management demands. This union also successfully restructured to respond to management requirements in the 1990s and has improved its position relative to its competitors. Consultation has therefore been largely 'captured' by one union.


In the present study, the correlated activities of adjacent ganglion cells of transient subtype in response to full-field white light stimulation were investigated in the chicken retina. Pharmacological studies and cross-correlation analysis demonstrated that application of the GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline (BIC) significantly down-regulated the correlation strength while increasing the firing activities. Meanwhile, application of the GABA(A) receptor agonist muscimol (MUS) potentiated the correlated activities while decreasing the firing rates. However, application of the GABA(C) receptor antagonist (1,2,5,6-Tetrahydropyridin-4-yl)methylphosphinic acid (TPMPA) did not have a consistent influence on either the firing rates or the correlation strength. These results suggest that in the chicken retina, correlated activities among neighborhood transient ganglion cells can be increased while firing activities are reduced with the activation of GABA(A) receptors. The GABA(A)-receptor-mediated inhibitory pathway may be critical for improving the efficiency of visual information transmission.


Corresponding author: Chan-Hee Lee https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9338-0679 Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, 170 Hyeonchung-ro, Nam-gu, Daegu 42415, Korea E-mail: email@example.com We would like to thank Professor Kim for the interest in and comments regarding our study entitled, "Clinical impact of dysglycemia in patients with an acute myocardial infarction," which was published in Diabetes and Metabolism Journal [1]. In our study, severe hyperglycemia (Group 5, >260 mg/dL) among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients was associated with a greater 30-day mortality in nondiabetics than in diabetics. A higher blood sugar level despite a lack of diabetes can indicate more extensive and serious myocardial damage based on higher troponin I and aspartate aminotransferase levels. I agree with your explanation regarding 'paradoxical resistance' of diabetic hearts to ischemia, which also can be explained by 'ischemic preconditioning (IP)' in diabetics. IP is the mechanism of protection in the heart in which ischemia paradoxically protects the myocardium against other ischemic insults [2,3]. As our study had different cut-off values for predicting 30day mortality between diabetics and nondiabetics (208.5 and 174.5 mg/dL, respectively), I also agree with your suggestion that the optimal glucose level may vary between diabetic and non-diabetic patients with AMIs. In a previous study about admission glucose level and mortality in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry, hypoglycemia upon admission in AMI patients was related to a higher 30-day mortality [4]. Higher N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide level and E/E ratio in the hypoglycemia groups could be expected to be a poor prognosis; however, those results could not be represented in the hypoglycemia groups because of the limited number of patients in our study. Further, it was difficult to assess the relationships between hypoglycemia and myocardial injury and dysfunction. We would like to thank Professor Kim again for the valuable comments on our findings. The noted limitation of our study will be identified through follow-up research to be conducted later.


Guidance and mentorship benefit faculty who having little or no background conducting research in medical education. From his experience the author suggests three characteristics that distinguish medical educators who are especially productive in their scholarly activities: intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation, collaboration with colleagues, and the personal qualities of patience and organization. He then expands on these characteristics by offering practical advice in the form of eight tips for faculty seeking to acquire or improve their medical education research skills.


Purpose: Bilateral breast cancer is an uncommon clinical entity. There is no specific treatment strategy and controversial issues concerning diagnostic criteria, management and classification exist. Method: In order to address some of these issues, a prospective analysis (data recorded upon patients first presentation) of an electronic breast cancer database at a tertiary cancer centre was performed. Patients' epidemiologic characteristics, clinical profile, genomic analysis information and the tumours' histopathology were analyzed. Results: Out of 900 patients treated for breast cancer between 2006 and 2009, 44 diagnosed with bilateral disease (5% of total)having a median age of 53 years(range 32-73). 16 of them (36%)suffered from synchronous disease and 28 (64%)from metachronous { >3 months apart between the initial diagnosis and subsequent contralateral breast tumour). Genetic analysis revealed 3 patients with inherited breast cancer syndromes (2 with BRCA1 and one with CDH-1 mutation). Among those with synchronous BBC 63% (10/16)were postmenopausal, 50% (8/16)had a positive family history for breast cancer and upon initial diagnosis 80% (13/16)of them presented with early stage disease (stages I,II).Contralateral disease was diagnosed incidentally. In contrast to these patients with synchronous BBC,57% of the patients (16/28)with metachronous CBC were premenopausal and 68% (19/28)had advanced disease (stages III,IV) upon the second diagnosis. Etrogens' use didn9t differ among the two groups, obesity was more common in patients with metachronous CBC, and smoking in the synchronous BBC patients. Of the 88 tumours, 81(92%) were invasive, with ductal adenoCa being the more common (53% of specimens). Of synchronous BBC tumours 12/16 (75%)were HR+ positive and 80%(13/16) expressed the same biologic features bilaterally. Of the metachronous tumours, upon initial diagnosis,26% were triple negative and only 7% were found with HER2 amplification, compared with 41% and 26% respectively in the second diagnosis. Conclusions: Synchronous BBC is less prevalent than Metachronous CBC, has more favourable characteristics (earlier stage at diagnosis, hormonal receptor positivity), and occurs mainly among postmenopausal women with positive family history. Metachronous CBC is more common in premenopausal women and has a tendency to change its biological and clinical characteristics to a more aggressive phenotype (triple negative, HER2 amplification) between initial and latter diagnosis. If this phenomenon is a result of previously given chemo/radio-therapy or it reperesents the natural evolution to a second primary, remains a challenging question to be answered. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-10-06.


The ameloblastoma is a benign odontogenic tumor of epithelial origin. Histopathologically, it occurs in six patterns: plexiform, follicular, acanthomatous, granular cell, basal cell, and desmoplastic type. This report presents a rare case of an ameloblastoma in the maxillary sinus that consists of three types: follicular, plexiform, and acanthomatous. The diagnostic procedure, surgical therapy, and follow-up findings are described and discussed.


Background and Objectives: Parental factors, including social and anthropometric factors, play a vital role in children longterm nutritional status. The objective of this study was to investigate correlations between parental factors and nutritional status of the schoolchildren in a rural setting of Indonesia. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out during May 2018. Totally, 146 schoolchildren from ten primary public schools in Sepatan Timur, Tangerang, Indonesia, were involved in the study. Structured questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographic data (educational level, employment status and number of children) and estimated anthropometric measures (body weight and height). Digital weighing scales and standard microtoises were used to measure children weight and height, respectively. Anthropometric indices, height for age (HAZ) and body mass index for age (BAZ) Z-scores were calculated using WHO AntroPlus. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was used in the study. Results: Nearly 19.2, 11.6 and 16.4% of the schoolchildren were stunting, wasted and overweight, respectively. Maternal nutrition status were significantly associated with schoolchildren HAZ (β 95% CI = 0.367 [0.009–0.724]) and BAZ (β 95% CI = 0.926 [0.428–1.423]) scores. The BAZ scores of the children were inversely associated with maternal education levels (β 95% CI = -1.206 [-2.000; -0.441]). Paternal nutrition status were significantly associated with children HAZ (β 95% CI = 0.419 [0.075; 0.762]) scores. Conclusions: Parental anthropometric measure and educational status significantly contribute to development of schoolchildren nutritional status in the rural setting.


This study aims to find out the concept of absolute liability in Indonesia's civil procedural legal system, especially regarding environmental disputes. Also examined the history of the development of strict liability in the common law legal system until it was adopted into Indonesia's civil procedural law. Theoretically this concept is still a concept found in several Indonesian laws. It's just how it is implemented in Indonesian judicial practice, until now there has been no further regulation. This study uses a type of normative juridical research, data collection is done through literature studies and document studies. The results of this study indicate that the concept of strict liability has been accepted in Indonesia's civil procedural law system, but at the implementation level there are no claims that use this strict liability concept.


Objective: To inform whether the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) should change its policy of not returning research results to ADNI participants, we surveyed investigators and research staff about disclosing ADNI biomarker information to research participants, with particular emphasis on amyloid imaging results. Methods: In April 2012, just before Food and Drug Administration approval of the amyloid-binding radiotracer, florbetapir, all ADNI investigators and personnel were recruited to complete an anonymous online survey that contained fixed choice and free-text questions. Results: Although ADNI participants often requested amyloid imaging results (the proportions of investigators who reported requests from more than half of their participants with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment were 20% and 22%, respectively), across all diagnostic groups, the majority of ADNI investigators (approximately 90%) did not return amyloid imaging results to ADNI participants. However, the majority of investigators reported that, if the Food and Drug Administration approved florbetapir, they would support the return of amyloid imaging results to participants with mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition, but they emphasized the need for guidance on how to provide these results to participants and for research to assess the value of returning results as well as how returning results will affect study validity and participant well-being. Conclusions: A majority of ADNI investigators support returning amyloid imaging results to ADNI participants. The findings that they want guidance on how to do this and research on the impact of disclosure suggest how to develop and monitor a disclosure process.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
The reduction of plant productivity by low atmospheric CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) during the last glacial period is proposed as a limiting factor for the establishment of agriculture. Supporting this hypothesis, previous work has shown that glacial pCO2 limits biomass in the wild progenitors of C3 and C4 founder crops, in part due to the direct effects of glacial pCO2 on photosynthesis. Here, we investigate the indirect role of pCO2 mediated via water status, hypothesizing that faster soil water depletion at glacial (18 Pa) compared to post-glacial (27 Pa) pCO2, due to greater stomatal conductance, feeds back to limit photosynthesis during drying cycles.

METHODS
We grew four wild progenitors of C3 and C4 crops at glacial and post-glacial pCO2 and investigated physiological changes in gas exchange, canopy transpiration, soil water content and water potential between regular watering events. Growth parameters including leaf area were measured.

KEY RESULTS
Initial transpiration rates were higher at glacial pCO2 due to greater stomatal conductance. However, stomatal conductance declined more rapidly over the soil drying cycle in glacial pCO2 and was associated with decreased intercellular pCO2 and lower photosynthesis. Soil water content was similar between pCO2 levels as larger leaf areas at post-glacial pCO2 offset the slower depletion of water. Instead the feedback could be linked to reduced plant water status. Particularly in the C4 plants, soil-leaf water potential gradients were greater at 18 Pa compared with 27 Pa pCO2, suggesting an increased ratio of leaf evaporative demand to supply.

CONCLUSIONS
Reduced plant water status appeared to cause a negative feedback on stomatal aperture in plants at glacial pCO2, thereby reducing photosynthesis. The effects were stronger in C4 species, providing a mechanism for reduced biomass at 18 Pa. These results have added significance when set against the drier climate of the glacial period.


The issue of employability and the development of entrepreneurship presents a real challenge, given that today's labor market is highly dynamic. Projections made for the next twenty years indicate important changes. The present study capitalizes on a research carried out in the Romanian academic environment, within three universities. The sample included students and employers from the public sphere. Our research reveals that the services available in three Romanian universities are developing in two main directions: one concerns working with students and developing their skills to become attractive on the labor market. Another direction is one that mediates between the academic world and the business environment. The results obtained through our research capture the policies and services of higher education in order to better train students and increase their employment opportunities. The options and expectations of students regarding the insertion on the labor market are contrasted to those of employers. This is the only way we can think of functional and flexible models for educating future employees in order to be able to face the new challenges of the labor market.


This article identifies future trends in relation to exchange-traded fund (ETF) products in Europe. It does so by analyzing the existing ETF segments across equities, fixed income, and commodities that show a healthy presence in their respective asset classes but do not have a representation in the ETF space. Such segments might provide avenues for the development of new European ETF products in the near term. The article also analyzes the market share of various ETF segments within each asset class available in the European market and compares them with the broader market. It then builds on this comparison to identify potential intra-asset class redistributions and growth opportunities in the European ETF industry.


This paper is devoted to the study of the local rapid exponential stabilization problem for a controlled Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation on a bounded interval. We build a feedback control law to force the solution of the closed-loop system to decay exponentially to zero with arbitrarily prescribed decay rates, provided that the initial datum is small enough. Our approach uses a method we introduced for the rapid stabilization of a Korteweg-de Vries equation. It relies on the construction of a suitable integral transform and can be applied to many other equations. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. 93D15, 35Q53.


Within the last decade there has been an increase in the use of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural basis of human perception, cognition and behavior. Moreover, this non-invasive imaging method has grown into a tool for clinicians and researchers to explore typical and atypical brain development. Although advances in neuroimaging tools and techniques are apparent, (f)MRI in young pediatric populations remains relatively infrequent. Practical as well as technical challenges when imaging children present clinicians and research teams with a unique set of problems. To name just a few, the child participants are challenged by a need for motivation, alertness and cooperation. Anxiety may be an additional factor to be addressed. Researchers or clinicians need to consider time constraints, movement restriction, scanner background noise and unfamiliarity with the MR scanner environment. A progressive use of functional and structural neuroimaging in younger age groups, however, could further add to our understanding of brain development. As an example, several research groups are currently working towards early detection of developmental disorders, potentially even before children present associated behavioral characteristics. Various strategies and techniques have been reported as a means to ensure comfort and cooperation of young children during neuroimaging sessions. Play therapy, behavioral approaches and simulation, the use of mock scanner areas, basic relaxation and a combination of these techniques have all been shown to improve the participant's compliance and thus MRI data quality. Even more importantly, these strategies have proven to increase the comfort of families and children involved. One of the main advances of such techniques for the clinical practice is the possibility of avoiding sedation or general anesthesia (GA) as a way to manage children's compliance during MR imaging sessions. In the current video report, we present a pediatric neuroimaging protocol with guidelines and procedures that have proven to be successful to date in young children.


Contrast threshold measurements have extended our perspective of human amblyopia by focusing our attention on the perception of objects larger than the resolution limit. This approach has shown that there are two categories of spatial loss in amblyopia, that anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia have a different neural basis, and that suprathreshold anomalies can occur independent of threshold defects.


We derive exact equations for a broken scale invariance of the homogeneous electron gas HEG, and show that they lead to a closed non-linear integral equation for the densitydensity correlation function when evaluated to leading order in the 1/N expansion. More generally, the identity leads to a sequence of more refined systems of equations, which close on a finite number of one plasmon irreducible (1PLI) correlation functions.


Despite improvements in burn injury related in-hospital mortality over the past decades, evidence of post-burn morbidity means that burn injury continues to present challenges for both clinicians and burn survivors (1). Our 33-year study of long-term mortality after pediatric burn injury, found increased long-term mortality after both minor and severe burn injury (2). Our study used population-based linked administrative health data from the Western Australian Data Linkage System (WADLS) (3), a validated whole-of-population data linkage system that routinely links data from core datasets for the population of Western Australia. The WADLS infrastructure enables probabilistic person links to be created and maintained between the state's population-based data collections.


Interpersonal communication is the exchange of information between the participants in a communication act. It consists of oral speech, i.e., words, as well as non-verbal communication, i.e., body position, gestures, facial expressions, eye movements, physical distance, sounds, eye contact and touch. Communication quality is determined not only by the use of code that is understandable to both the sender and the recipient of the message. Sometimes there are communication barriers that make it difficult to communicate with each other. In everyday contact, a lot of information is conveyed through words. The relevance of the study is that verbal communication in English is part of interpersonal communication, where you need to take care of speech correctness and accuracy of the message. The aim of the study is to consider the verbal aspects of interpersonal communication in English. Conversation is the most natural way to communicate between people. It is two-way and interactive, which means that dialogue participants change roles, sometimes speaking and sometimes listening. His theory is primarily linguistic in nature, but it can also be very well applied in the description of everyday conversations built around interlocutors, one of whom is the sender and the other the recipient. These roles, of course, are not permanent and change. In order for them to start a dialogue, they must be in contact with each other. In other words, a contact is a channel through which information can be exchanged. For interlocutors to understand each other, they must use the same code. It's just a free use of a certain language, namely English. Thanks to the code, you can create messages, i.e., statements, and the meeting of interlocutors always takes place under the established circumstances of place and time. They are called the context or environment of expression. The practical significance lies in the further effective use of verbal aspects of interpersonal communication in English.


The new standard IEEE 802.11e is specified to support quality-ofservice in wireless local area networks (WLAN). Recent research related to the Enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) performance is only analyzed on the contention window (CW), but ignore the effect of arbitration inter-frame spaces (AIFS) and retry limits. This paper aims at providing an analytical model that captures the operation of the AIFSs, contention window sizes and retry limits differentiation for the EDCA mechanism under saturation condition based on a three-dimension Markov Chain model. The analytical model provides an in-depth understanding and insights into the EDCA protocol, and effectiveness of different parameters on the system performance is investigated through extensive numerical and simulation results.


MicroRNAs (or miRNA) are key regulators of gene expression, but the precise mechanisms underlying their interaction with their mRNA targets are still poorly understood. Since miRNA are involved in the onset of many different diseases, the study of their interaction with the genome is very important to study. Although the experimental identification of miRNA can be performed using sequencing techniques, the characterization of their target is quite complex. Therefore, computational methods are required to focus the analysis on small set of possibilities. Unfortunately, the limited knowledge about the processes that regulate miRNA target association impairs the development of optimal algorithm for prediction of the regulated genes. This is the reason why a variety of miRNA target prediction algorithms are available, but results of their application are often inconsistent. Therefore, many miRNA targets have been computationally predicted, but only a limited number of these were experimentally validated. Different approaches can be used to recognize miRNA targets. These efforts have focused primarily on the quality of the sequence match between microRNA and target rather than on the role of the mRNA secondary structure in which the target is embedded. Nonetheless, it is known that the miRNA secondary structures contribute to target recognition, because there is an energetic cost to freeing base-pairing interactions within mRNA in order to make the target accessible for microRNA binding. This second approach can provide good results even when little is know about the conservation of the miRNA, but it has the drawback of being computationally very expensive. In this paper we propose a parallelization of PITA, which is one of the most popular algorithm that exploits energetic considerations for computing the miRNA-target predictions.


Objectives To evaluate tumor control following subtotal resection of advanced jugular paragangliomas in patients with functional lower cranial nerves and to investigate the utility of salvage radiotherapy for residual progressive disease. Study Design Case series with planned chart review. Setting Tertiary academic referral center. Subjects and Methods Patients who presented with advanced jugular paragangliomas and functional lower cranial nerves were analyzed. Primary outcome measures included extent of resection, long-term tumor control, need for additional treatment, and postoperative lower cranial nerve function. Results Twelve patients (mean age, 46.2 years; 7 women, 58.3%) who met inclusion criteria were evaluated between 1999 and 2013. The mean postoperative residual tumor volume was 27.7% (range, 3.5%-75.0%) of the preoperative volume. When the residual tumor volume was less than 20% of the preoperative volume, no tumor growth occurred over an average of 44.6 months of follow-up (P < .01). Four tumors (33.3%) demonstrated serial growth at a mean of 23.5 months following resection, 2 of which were treated with salvage stereotactic radiotherapy providing control through the last recorded follow-up. No patient experienced permanent postoperative lower cranial neuropathy as a result of surgery. Conclusion Subtotal resection of jugular paragangliomas with preservation of the lower cranial nerves is a viable management strategy. If more than 80% of the preoperative tumor volume is resected, the residual tumor seems less likely to grow.


Due to globalization and outsourcing of commodity production, an estimated 60 million workers are employed in the garment industry by multinational corporations, yet relatively little is known about the work–family tensions experienced by these workers. Building on role stress and job demands–resources theories, this study employed mixed methods to examine job stressors, support, and work–family conflict (WFC) in a sample of 168 Mexican workers in a multinational factory, a rarely studied and underserved population. As hypothesized, results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that workers experienced high job stress and WFC. Social support from spouses, family, and friends increased the positive association between job stress and WFC, suggesting that culturally relevant obligations increased WFC. This study highlights the need for multinational corporations to implement culturally adaptive, family-friendly policies. Implications for social workers in multinational work organizations and for future research are discussed.


In the search for new multifunctional spin crossover molecular materials, here we describe the synthesis, crystal structures and magnetic and photomagnetic properties of the complexes trans-[Fe(Fc-tzpy)2(NCX)2]·CHCl3 where Fc-tzpy is the ferrocene-appended ligand 4-(2-pyridyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-ylferrocene, X = S (1) and X = Se (2). Both complexes display thermal- and light-induced (LIESST) spin crossover properties characterised by T1/2 = 85 and 168 K, ΔS = 55 and 66 J K(-1) mol(-1), ΔH = 4.7 and 11.1 kJ mol(-1) and TLIESST = 47 K and 39 K for1 and 2 respectively. The crystal structure of 1 and 2 measured at 275 K is consistent with the iron(ii) ion in the high-spin state while the crystal structure of at 120 K denotes the occurrence of complete transformation to the low-spin state.


This thesis is an ethnography and situated history of Tibetan medical practitioners in
Tsang and Shigatse Prefecture, Central Tibet. It analyses how as individuals and groups,
Tibetan medical doctors – the so-called amchi – have adapted and transformed their
medical practices and multiple traditions of the Tibetan Science of Healing, or Sowa
Rigpa.
The principal argument is that amchi in the area studied have, at times and in
certain places, held considerable agency in processes of transforming their traditions.
This is despite and because of the ongoing Communist reforms, campaigns and
structural changes enacted within the wider domains of health care provision and
Tibetan medicine.
Based on my research, I am able to articulate more clearly the role of individual
amchi, their patients and other individuals and social groups, in shaping and adapting
aspects of Tibetan medical practice. A central claim is that amchi participated and
creatively used (and, in some cases, resisted and circumvented) the structures and
policies employed by the state to administer provision of health care and reconfigure
parts of Tibetan medical theory and practice. So far our understanding of Tibetan
medicine during the 20th century has been largely limited to the history and
contemporary work of central (Lhasa-based) government institutions of Tibetan
medicine, notably the Mentsikhang and the Chakpori, and the practitioners associated
with them.
The fresh insights gained from my work with more marginal amchi – in private
clinics, at home, in government hospitals and clinics, at monasteries – and also with
members of international NGOs, allow us to discern more clearly what I call
temporalities and socio-political geographies of amchi agency, which play a significant
role in passing on and shaping dynamic Tibetan medical traditions.
As the practices of the study population reflect, it is due to the efforts of those
who were able to negotiate and preserve their medical work, as well as continue to
innovate and adapt it, that multiple Tibetan medical traditions continue to exist in Tibet
today.


In the last few years a great number of AOSE methodologies have been proposed, some of which centered on organizational aspects to better capture the behavior of agents societies. Those methodologies may be considered very useful for modeling open systems composed of a great number of interacting autonomous agents. Gaia exploits organizational abstractions to provide clear guidelines for the analysis and design of complex and open Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). However, the notation of the Gaia methodology is probably less powerful (and perhaps less acceptable for industry solutions) than others (like AUML). In this perspective, this aims at performing a preliminary exploration towards the potential application of the AUML notation into the Gaia methodology: it explores the above issues using an application example and pays specific attention to the problem of modeling the complexity of open MAS and emergent behaviors.


Cyprus, a small island state in the far eastern corner of the Mediterranean, is an appropriate example of modernising states faced with the influx of Media pluralism and all the boons of a rich age of information communication systems, while its indigenous political problems remain unsolved. The invasion of Cyprus by Turkish troops in 1974 and the dichotomy of the land, with Turkish-Cypriots occupying and living in the Northern part and Greek-Cypriots living in the southern part of the island, has created a state in transition, from nationalism to internationalism, from the stage of ethnic cleavage to the stage of modernisation and globalisation. Media pluralism with the proliferation of imported programmes is another dimension in the life of the island. The ethnic/national issues, together with the content of television programmes, were the subject of the present study among youth. The discourses in these issues are presented through the three stages of the research conducted: the statistical research survey, the discourse analysis of 5 out of the top 10 programmes popular among the sample and the 23 interviews and 2 group discussions conducted with members of the sample. The results establish a relationship between television and national/ethnic issues and opens areas of research on television/media discourses about human rights, identity and nationality in an age of globalisation. The world may be sharing images, but individual countries are called upon to face internal national and political realities.


Natural wet slab avalanches release when rain or melt water decreases snowpack strength, and natural dry slab avalanches release when an increased load overcomes snowpack strength. This study investigates avalanche activity resulting from mixed rain and snow falling on a faceted snowpack. This scenario produced an extensive slab avalanche cycle in March 2018 in the mountains near Ketchum, Idaho, when a 24 hour storm deposited 50 to 65 mm of water. We investigate the contributions of the pre-existing snowpack structure and weather to avalanching, and suggest possible mechanisms for the observed slab avalanche activity. At upper elevations, expected widespread, 0.5 to 3 m deep, dry slab avalanche activity occurred on many aspects. However, at middle elevations (2300 m to 2700 m) near the fluctuating rain-snow line, a low frequency return period avalanche cycle occurred in a much smaller geographical area, and was concentrated around north-northwest aspects. This differs significantly from avalanches above this elevation that spanned all aspects. This scenario illustrates the challenges forecasting and communicating these events. In our experience, some avalanche cycles exist in a continuum of avalanche types that are not easily sorted into simple "wet" and "dry" categories. We discuss challenges in using current advisory and bulletin communication tools. Furthermore, it is possible that a changing climate will increase the frequency of mixed rain-snow events in areas with traditionally drier and colder climates. We believe the avalanche community will benefit from the refinement and development of tools and techniques to describe and forecast this challenging problem.


Change in marriage and cohabitation began in France thirty years ago. 2.5 million cohabiting couples and more than 40 percent of births outside marriage reveals not only a new acceptability of cohabitation and family formation out of wedlock, but a new social signification of marriage itself. In this paper, we analyze what appears to have been a "soft" revolution, widely accepted, and a paradoxical mutation. While the abandonment of a strictly matrimonial conception of the family is generally accepted in France, attitudes are much more contradictory with respect to legal rights of unmarried couples. The long, complex and controversial story of the evolution of the Pacs (Parte Civil de Solidarite) shows, behind the issue of homosexuality, how difficult it is for French culture to conceive a legal status of non-married couples. The Pacs, as a new possibility for heterosexual as well as homosexual cohabitees, is not easy to define from a legal point of view. This intermediate status, neither a union nor a contract, neither private nor public, expresses the ambiguity of the French way of responding to increasing cohabitation. Analyzing the Pacs as a transitory law, we suggest that a complex jurisprudential story is now beginning in France. This paper ends with a broader perspective on the interpretation of family change: no consensus exists in academic and political circles. The new forms of social inequalities will certainly represent one of the main issues in the public, academic and political debate in the future.


Three professors from the University of Connecticut have given us a new book that is both broad and deep, both practical and theoretical, and both serious and amusing, laden with algorithms, plots, equations, and wisdom. This book will help hard-boiled engineers looking for fast practical algorithms that work robustly in the real world. It will also enlighten academics about important and interesting topics yearning for even more theoretical innovations. The only problem is actually reading this everlasting gobstopper of a book (with 1235 pages, 2900 equations, 470 figures, 130 tables, hundreds of references, too many footnotes to count, and more). My own approach to solve this problem is to start at the back of the book to see how it ends. There we find a very long list of references, but most important we want to see how many of our papers the authors have cited. This is followed by a careful study of the footnotes, which are a cornucopia of jokes (as well as many serious technical comments). At last, we dive into hundreds of pages of detailed algorithms with numerical results, garnished with a stiff dose of stochastic matrix calculus. Neophytes are often surprised that 1235 pages are required to cover the subject of tracking and multisensor data fusion, considering that there are only 19 crucial issues to be considered, including limited resolution of the sensors, data association errors, measurement noise errors of the sensors, residual sensor bias and drift errors, measurement errors due to the propagation through the physical environment (e.g., the troposphere and ionosphere for radar and underwater for sonar), clutter, jamming, multipath, nonzero probability of false alarms, nonunity probability of detection of the targets, ill-conditioning of the error covariance matrix of the extended Kalman filter (or other algorithm), nonlinearities in the sensors measurements and dynamics of the targets, unmodeled dynamics of the target motion, real-time computational complexity of the algorithms, real-time joint multiple sensor resource management, limited resolution of the sensors, an ever-expanding plethora of algorithms invented by engineers and academics, non-Gaussian multimodal probability densities of the estimate of the state vector and the sensor measurements, statistical inconsistency of covariance matrices of the sensor measurements and the state vector error covariance matrices from various sensors, random sets of hypotheses, robustness to uncertainty in the models of sensors and target dynamics and environment, quantification of system performance as a function of track rate, multiple sensor geometry, unmodeled target acceleration, signal-to-noise ratio, and spatial density of the targets, as well as the most important issue, limited resolution of the sensors.


I.-MALPROJECTION OF THE SPATIAL POINT Wiseman, E. S.-Cerebral malprojection of thespatial point due to unconscious habit. Amer. Ji. of Physiological Optics, January, 1922. The author introduces his -subject by pointing out that in a small percentage of exophorias a " fusion check " will reveal a homonymous, rather than the customary crossed, diplopia. He briefly records two cases of his own, which illustrate this fact. 471


In the continental areas the outer 60 miles of the earth is herein referred to as the isostatic layer. This is subdivided from the surface downward as follows: a 10-mile granitic and sedimentary layer, a 20-mile intermediate layer of basic crystalline rocks, and a 30-mile layer of tachylyte. The uppermost and intermediate layers are generally referred to as the crust. Below the isostatic layer the earth is cooling and shrinking. Stresses in the isostatic layer are piled up until the breaking point is reached when these stresses are relieved by deformation of the crust. Mountain ranges are folded up and geosynclines are downwarped. Approximate isostatic balance is maintained throughout this series of events. Great masses of sediments will be deposited in the downwarps. A 2,000-foot basin will hold 12,000 feet of sediments because the deposited material is 5/6 as heavy as the material below that is replaced during periods of isostatic adjustment. The trough will be further deepened by rise of the level of base level. This is brought about by displacement of the sea water as the land masses are deposited in the ocean basins. Downfolding of the geosynclines will also occur as a result of geothermal changes. It is estimated that the rate of erosion exceeds the rate of thermal changes within the earth so that during a period of erosion the isogeotherms will be turned up. Downwarping will follow base-leveling merely as the isogeotherms return to normal. This may amount to as much as 1,000 feet nd may be added to the downwarping brought about by crustal collapse and deepening resulting from the rise of the level of base level. In general about 9,000 more feet of sediments may be assigned to the basin through deepening brought on by thermal and base-level changes, making a total of 21,000 feet of beds. Collapse of the crust at this time will fold this prism of sediments into a great mountain system. The beds must be downfolded about six times as much as they are upfolded in order to maintain isostatic balance. Compressive stresses will be dominant and the types of structures that will be formed are close folds, overturned folds, and thrust faults. Erosion of the mountain system will be accompanied by periodic vertical thrusts. These are effected as a result of isostatic adjustment. Compressive stresses will still be present but they will be secondary and brought on as only incidental to the vertical movements. Final erosion of this mountain system will leave the isogeotherms turned up. As the isogeotherms return to normal the resulting shrinkage will form a basin right where the high mountain range once stood. Crustal collapse will deepen the downwarp already begun and the new series of sediments will be separated from the first by a very marked angular unconformity. Another series of events may be started during the late stages of erosion. The viscosity of the subcrustal tachylyte layer may be reduced, by removal of overlying rock pressures and slight rise of temperature, to the point where crystals of olivine may begin to form in it. Once this process of fractional crystallization commences it will gain in momentum and a magma will be formed. Convection currents will stir the liquid body and it will work its way upward by selective fusion. When it reaches the zone of fracture it will be intruded and extruded. Repeated intrusions and extrusions will occur until the magma finally will be solidified. Cooling of the magmatic zone will cause shrinkage and downwarping, and this area once again will become the site of a geosyncline. End_Page 1320------------------------------


Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a technique to diagnose an accurate and reliable condition of civil infrastructure by collecting and analyzing responses from distributed sensors. In recent years, aging civil structures have been increasing and they require further developed SHM technology for development of sustainable society. Wireless smart sensor and network technology, which is one of the recently emerging SHM techniques, enables more effective and economic SHM system in comparison to the existing wired systems. Researchers continue on development of the capability and extension of wireless smart sensors, and implement performance validation in various in-laboratory and outdoor full-scale experiments. This paper presents a summary of recent (mostly after 2010) researches on smart sensors, focused on the newly developed hardware, software, and validation examples of the developed smart sensors.


WiRES (Women in Renewable Energy Sector) is a project about women and green jobs. It was implemented in 2009 and 2010 by Adapt, the Association for International and Comparative Studies in Labour Law and Industrial Relations, in cooperation with its partners: the University of Szeged (Hungary) and the Union for Private Economic Enterprise (Bulgaria). WiRES' main objective was to investigate the role of social dialogue in boosting female employment rates and improving working conditions of women workers in the renewable energy sector (RES) in Europe.The idea of the project stemmed from the analysis of the impact of the new environmental regulatory framework - at a European and national level - on employment and the labour market. The Climate and Energy Package, adopted by the European Union (EU) Parliament and Council in October 2008 (European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2009), set new binding standards aimed at tackling climate change. One of the ambitious objectives is to increase the use of renewables (wind, solar, biomass, etc.) to 20 per cent of the total energy production by 2020.1 The production of energy from renewable sources is expected to have an exponential occupational potential; the European Commission estimated that new energy jobs will increase up to 2.5 million in 2020 in the EU alone, with 60-70 per cent of the workforce engaged in manufacturing, engineering and installation services, and the remainder in agriculture. A qualified workforce, involving specific skills for renewable energy, will account for about 30 per cent of total employment, with the rest of the workforce exploiting specific skills and competencies already acquired in other industrial sectors (D'Orazio, 2009). The new environmental legislation is also expected to significantly affect production methods and processes. On the labour demand side, the so-called "job churn" effect is likely to be experienced, across sectors and within the same industry. New jobs will be created: some occupations may be replaced and others will disappear without any replacement; yet more will undergo changes in job content, required skills and work methods. This requires a well-managed restructuring, so that the competitiveness of enterprises is maintained and employment is preserved, and the transition of workers to other jobs of equivalent or even better quality is facilitated.Given this context, the research question that inspired the WiRES project was whether social dialogue and industrial relations can support the restructuring processes related to the implementation of EU climate change policies, turning them into a driver for the creation of new and better employment opportunities not only for men but for women as well. Female employment, in fact, remains a challenging issue in many European countries. Historically, women have been more affected by underemployment than men and have also tended to be concentrated in more precarious types of jobs (Eurostat, 2010).In addition to this, a lot remains to be done in terms of the quality of women's participation. This includes issues surrounding the gender pay gap, horizontal and vertical segregation, and the organization of working time and work-life balance. According to Eurostat, in 2009, women's gross hourly earnings were on average 17 per cent lower than men's in the EU27. The gender pay gap extends well beyond the question of equal pay for equal work (EC, 2010a), as it encompasses several other aspects: the way women's competences are valued compared with men's within a firm; horizontal and vertical segregation; other inequalities mainly affecting women - in particular their disproportionate burden of family responsibilities and the difficulties in reconciling work with private life. When it comes to concerns of horizontal and vertical segregation,2 there was not much positive improvement in sectors and occupations between 2003 and 2008. It is only recently that women have made advances into some jobs that were previously male-dominated (such as construction, electricity, gas and water supply, transport and communications, manufacturing and agriculture). …


This study evaluated the fracture strength of various restorative materials for primary molars in dovetail and box-only class II cavity designs. Eighty extracted noncarious human primary molars were used. The teeth were randomly divided into two groups for either dovetail or box-only preparations. The teeth were then divided into four subgroups for each restorative material: glass ionomer cement (GIC), resin-modified glass ionomer cement (RMGIC), compomer, and composite. The restorations were tested for fracture strength. The loads at fracture and fracture mode were recorded and a scanning electron microscopy analysis was performed to observe the micromorphology of the borders between the teeth and the materials. The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests were used. Although there were significant differences between the restorative materials (p < 0.05), there were no differences between the fracture strength of the box-only and the dovetail cavity designs in any of the groups (p > 0.05) except the composite group. The fracture strength of the compomer and composite groups was significantly higher than that of the GIC and RMGIC groups (p < 0.05). A class II cavity could be selected as dovetail or box-only and compomer and composite are more resistant to fracture than GIC and RMGIC.


Acute lung injury (ALI) and respiratory distress can develop as a consequence of sepsis with pathogens such as group A Streptococcus (GAS). In the pathogenesis of sepsis‐associated ALI, endothelial barrier disruption brought on by phagocyte activation is considered a causative factor. Here, we find that sevuparin, a heparinoid with low anticoagulant activity, prevents neutrophil‐induced lung plasma leakage in a murine model of systemic inflammation evoked by heat‐killed GAS (hkGAS). Furthermore, using human neutrophils and endothelial cell monolayers, we demonstrate that sevuparin inhibits hkGAS‐induced endothelial barrier disruption by neutralizing the activity of neutrophil‐derived proteins. By mass spectrometry of neutrophil secretion, we identify proteins, including serprocidins, S100 proteins, and histone H4, that interact with sevuparin and that are responsible for the disruptive effect on endothelial integrity. Collectively, our results demonstrate the critical role of neutrophil‐derived proteins in vascular hyperpermeability caused by GAS and suggest sevuparin as a potential therapeutic in acute neutrophilic inflammation.—Rasmuson, J., Kenne, E., Wahlgren, M., Soehnlein, O., Lindbom, L. Heparinoid sevuparin inhibits Streptococcus‐induced vascular leak through neutralizing neutrophil‐derived proteins. FASEB J. 33, 10443–10452 (2019). www.fasebj.org


The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) has been investigated for treating cancers and many other diseases as well as enhancing the reprogramming efficiency in cloned embryos for decades. In the present study, we investigated the effects of two novel HDAC inhibitors, i.e., HDACi-14 and -79, at the concentrations of 0, 1, 2, or 4 μM on the development of embryos cloned by the oocyte bisection cloning technique (OBCT). Blastocyst rates for the reconstructed embryos reached 60% in the 2 μM HDACi-14-treated groups, which was higher (P < 0.05) compared to the untreated group (36.9%). Similarly, HDACi-79 treatment at 2 and 4 μM also conferred higher (P < 0.05) blastocyst rates than that of the untreated group (79.4, 74.2, and 50.0%, respectively). Both HDACi-14 and -79 treatments had no beneficial effect on total cell numbers and apoptotic indices of cloned embryos (P > 0.05). Histone acetylation profile by both HDACi-14 (2 μM) and -79 (2 μM) treatments demonstrated a drastic increase (P < 0.05) mainly in two-cell stage embryos when compared to the control group. After seeding on the feeder cells, the aggregated cloned blastocysts produced by the HDACi-79 treatment showed a significant increase of primary outgrowths compared to the control group (60.0% vs. 42.9%; P < 0.05). Finally, the cloned embryo-derived ES cell lines from aggregated cloned embryos produced from the HDACi-79-treated, HDACi-14-treated and control groups were established (5, 3, and 2 lines, respectively). In conclusion, the novel histone deacetylation inhibitors improve blastocyst formation and potentially increase the derivation efficiency of ES cell lines from the cloned porcine embryos produced in vitro. Depending on the purposes, some fine-tuning may be required to maximize its beneficial effects of these newly synthesized chemicals.


Background NSAIDs are widely used in RA pts to control the main symptoms of the disease. However NSAIDs do not prevent RA progression and are associated with potential serious side effects. Therefore cutting down the use of NSAIDs leads to gastrointestinal (GI) and cardiovascular complications risk reduction, and should be considered as a criterion of efficacy. Objectives To evaluate the need in NSAIDs and rate of GI complications in RA patients managed according to "Treat to Target" strategy. Methods This study is a part of REMARCA program (abbreviation of Russian InvEstigation of MethotrexAte and biologics in eaRly aCtive inflammatory Arthritis). The study group included 141 RA patients (82.3% females and 17.7% males, mean age 50.3±12.8 y, disease duration 16,7±26,6 mo., including 51% of pts with disease duration of <6 mo.). The majority of pts had high disease activity (DAS28 5.5±1.14, SDAI 30,3±14,5), were RF-positive (88%) and ACPA-positive (86%). 127 pts (90%) were regularly taking NSIADs, 26 (18.4%) - glucocorticoids. 10 pts (7.0%) had the history of gastric and/or duodenal ulcer, 32 (22.7%) – dyspepsia, 61 (43.2%) - H.pylori infection. 12 (8.5%) were regularly taking proton pump inhibitors (PPI). At the first stage of the study all pts were administered methotrexate injections (MTI), starting from 10 mg/week with further dose escalation up to 20-30 mg/week. To evaluate NSAIDs negative impact on upper GI tract all patients were subjected to upper GI tract endoscopy on enrollment and in 3 months after inclusion into the study. Results Considerable improvement was documented in all pts after 3 mo of MTI therapy: a decrease in DAS28 to 4.08±1.46 (p<0,01), in SDAI - to 16.97±13.5 (p<0,01). The number of pts regularly taking NSAIDs reduced from 90% to 48.2%. Baseline upper GI tract endoscopy revealed gastric and/or duodenal ulcers in 7 (4.9%) pts, multiple (>10) gastric erosions - in 6 (4.3%) pts. Repeated endoscopic study in 3 mo after initiation of MTI did not find any ulcers, although multiple erosions were present in 3 (2.1%) pts. Conclusions Methotrexate injections allow to considerably cut down the need in NSAIDs within 3 mo after initiation of therapy. Discontinuation of NSAIDs in early RA pts is associated with significant reduction of GI complications risk. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract
Learning difficulty is a condition where students experience learning disruptions as they should, both from internal and external factors. This results in students not being able to develop according to their capacity. From this research can be put forward the formulation of the problem, namely, the types of learning difficulties experienced by junior high school / junior high school students in North Sumatra, what factors that make students difficult to learn in English, and how can efforts solve the problem of student learning difficulties. The purpose of this study was to determine the types of difficulties in understanding completing the material in English subjects, the factors that influence students in understanding completing the material in English subjects and problem solving efforts. The method used in this study is to use qualitative methods. Data collection techniques used were literature studies and interviews with each student were different classes. The results of this study are that there are still some students who still have difficulty in understanding completing the material in English subjects from the aspects of listening, reading, structure, and writing, and which are the factors causing students to experience learning difficulties, namely from cognitive factors (ability to memorize , the ability to master the material and the wrong learning habits, and what efforts will be used by educators using teaching repairs.

Keywords: learning difficulties, students, English.


A computer-assisted proof of existence of the critical fixed point of the Siegel disc renormalization operator is presented. The proof yields in addition existence of a smooth one-parameter family of non-commuting fixed points.


This work presents sweet almond (Prunus amygdalus "dulcis") seed oil (SASO) as a non-conventional feedstock for the preparation of biodiesel in Nigeria, rather than the traditional oils of palm, groundnut and palm kernel. SASO was extracted via the solvent method, pretreated to reduce the acid value, and transesterified using methanol (solvent) and sodium hydroxide (catalyst). The oil content and acid value of SASO were 51.45 ± 3.92% and 1.07 mg KOH/g, respectively. The fatty acid composition of SASO reveals the predominance of oleic acid (69.7%), linoleic acid (18.2%) and palmitic acid (9.3%). Specific fuel properties of sweet almond oil methyl esters (SAOME) were determined using standard test methods and were found to satisfy both EN 14214 and ASTM D6751 biodiesel standards; the cold flow properties were particularly outstanding (cloud point; -3oC and pour point; -9oC). SASO appears to offer great promise as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production in Nigeria.


We begin with some considerations on the world's major agricultural and food problems in the next decades, and go on to view them in relation with the structure and approach of recent Common Agricultural Policy in Europe. The European Union has now achieved economic importance at the worldwide level, and its agricultural policy must accordingly address the main world socio-economic problems of the future. In developing a long-term agricultural policy Europe has to take into account its main needs together with those of other countries. For this purpose it would be expedient for the EU to reconsider some of its traditional policy objectives and instruments.


Background Transvenous embolization (TVE) is an emerging technique for the endovascular treatment of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). The aim of this study was to investigate two in vivo AVM models and to assess TVE techniques using these models. Methods Blood flow in the porcine rete mirabile (RM) was modified by either creating a carotid–jugular fistula or by placing a balloon guide catheter in the carotid artery. The RM was embolized with precipitating hydrophobic injectable liquid (PHIL) 25% via transarterial embolization (TAE; control group) and compared with TVE applying the transvenous retrograde pressure cooker technique and TVE using a Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device for flow control (n=6, respectively). The embolization extent (penetration of the RM), the number of events of reflux or embolization distal to the RM and the procedure times were assessed. Results The modified RM could be successfully used for embolization in all cases. There were no significant differences regarding the outcome parameters between the two AVM models (fistula or balloon). TVE using the pressure cooker technique led to a higher extent of embolization (median 98.8% vs 63.5%; p=0.008), a lower number of reflux or distal embolization events (p<0.001) and a shorter procedure time (p<0.001) compared with conventional TAE. TVE using a WEB device for flow control was technically feasible and achieved a moderate extent of embolization (median 83.8%). Conclusion After surgical or endovascular modification, the porcine RM is a feasible in vivo AVM model for the investigation of TVE techniques. TVE using the pressure cooker technique is superior to conventional TAE in this experimental model.


Characteristics of the pressure drop in an expanded bed have been compared to those in a packed bed for numerical study of the in tel phase drag in gas-particle flows. A numerical analysis of the pressure drop by the particle drag has been conducted according to the tube-to-particle diameter ratios and Reynolds numbers for comparison. As the tube-to-particle diameter ratios increase at the same Reynolds number, the pressure drop tends to converge. It has been confirmed that characteristics of the pressure drop in the expanded bed are similar to those in the packed bed.


Despite the downward trend, Salmonella is still one of the most important bacterial intestinal infections agents. For example, in 2007 y. in Poland over 14 thousands human salmonelosis cases were notified, in 2008 y.--over 10 thousands. Among all Salmonella isolated from human source, most common (more then 80%) are two serotypes--S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium, but every year the number of non-typable (because of the lack I or II phase flagellar antigens, autoagglutinative or non-motility properties) Salmonella is growing. This work describes the results of the evaluation of commercially available kit PremiTest Salmonella (DSM, Netherlands), which uses the microarray hybridization in ArrayTube, for serological identification of non-typable Salmonella strains. All 37 researched strains were submitted to the Department of Bacteriology in 2007-2008 y, were reidentified according to standard operating procedures and serotyped by slide agglutination for somatic and flagellar antigens if it was possible. All strains were tested using the PremiTest Salmonella Kit, according to manufacturer instructions. In 21 cases (56%) full identification were achieved, in 5 cases (14%) additional tests were required for precise identification (Salmonella Choleraesuis or Paratyphi C, what was detailed using examination of additional biochemical features), 5 strains (14%) achieved an incomplete identification (three of them--S. diarizonae were confirmed in National Reference Laboratory for Salmonella) and 6 cases (16%) were not identified at all. The total number of recognized strains is 30 (81%). The results of present studies show, that PremiTest Salmonella Kit is useful for non-typable Salmonella identification.


Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and was responsible for more than 15,000 deaths in 2011.1 Less than 50% of patients with Dukes stage C and D survive more than 5 years.2 Molecular chaperone Heat shock protein (HSP) C1 is elevated in CRC.3 HSPC1's client proteins (e.g., HER2, pNF-ĸB, Akt etc.) are involved in key cellular pathways and apoptosis. HSPC1 inhibitors recently showed positive clinical results in breast cancer4 and non-small cell lung carcinoma.5 This study aims to explore the effect of combining HSPC1 inhibitors with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), the mainstay chemotherapy, in CRC. Methods CRC cell line HT29 were treated with HSPC1 inhibitors 17-DMAG and NVP-AUY922 as single agent and in combination with 5-FU. Six primary CRC samples were obtained immediately following surgical resection with consent and treated with HSPC1 inhibitors. Four subsequent samples were treated with a combination of HSPC1 inhibitors and 5-FU. Following treatment, cell metabolism rate and apoptosis were assessed using MTS and caspase-3 assay. Results In HT29, 17-DMAG was effective in inducing apoptosis and reducing cell proliferation whereas NVP-AUY922 did not. When combined with 5-FU, 17-DMAG showed additive effect. In primary CRC cells, a 50% reduction in cell metabolism rate was observed in 2/6 samples for 17-DMAG and 1/5 samples for NVP-AUY922. When subsequent primary samples were treated with 5-FU and HSPC1 inhibitors, significant decrease in cell metabolism rate and increase in apoptosis were observed in 1/4 samples. Conclusion HSPC1 inhibitors are able to potentiate the chemotherapeutic effect of 5-FU in CRC cell line and this result may be replicated in primary colorectal cancer cells obtained from surgical specimen. HSPC1 inhibitors have different mode of actions which is evident in the different response observed in both HT29 and primary cells. In addition, CRC cells have individual response to HSPC1 inhibitors and some were not responsive. Although a small sample size, this study encouraged our next phase of research combining HSPC1 inhibitors with current chemotherapeutic agents including oxaliplatin and irinotecan. Further studies will also focus on identifying potential biomarkers to select susceptible patients. References Cancer Research UK, 2013 National Cancer Intellidence Network (NCIN), 2009 Milicevic, Z, et al. International Journal of Oncology 2008. 32(6):p. 1169–1178 Modi, S, et al. Clin Cancer Res 2011;17(15):5132–9 Sequist, LV, et al. J Clin Oncol 2010:28(33):4953–60 Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


Quality assurance of adhesively bonded joints is of vital importance if their benefits are to be exploited across a wide range of industrial applications. A novel lightweight, low-cost, non-invasive embedded sacrificial sensor is proposed, capable of detecting damage within an adhesively bonded joint, which could also be used in a laminated composite structure. The sensor operation uses changes in electrical resistance, increasing as the sensing material area diminishes with damage progression. Initial tests prove the sensor concept by showing that the electrical resistance of the sensor increases proportionally with material removal, mimicking the sensor operation. Thermography is used to verify the current flow through the sensor and that any localised heating caused by the sensor is minimal. Short beam interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests show that embedding sensors in a composite laminates did not cause a reduction in material interfacial structural performance. Finally, the in situ performance of the sensor is demonstrated in quasi-static tensile tests to failure of adhesively bonded single lap joints (SLJs) with sensors embedded in the bond line. Prior to crack initiation, an electrical response occurs that correlates with increasing applied load, suggesting scope for secondary uses of the sensor for load monitoring and cycle counting. Crack initiation is accompanied by a rapid increase in electrical resistance, providing an indication of failure ahead of crack propagation and an opportunity for timely repair. As the crack damage propagated, the electrical response of the sensor increased proportionally. The effect of the sensor on the overall structural performance was assessed by comparing the failure load of joints with and without the embedded sensor with no measurable difference in ultimate strength. The research presented in the article serves as an important first step in developing a simple yet promising new technology for structural health monitoring with numerous potential applications.


A unique copolymer stabilizer is presented that can be used to stabilize multiwalled carbon nanotubes in aqueous solution to form "smart" dispersions. They showed double stimuli-responsive behavior (in dependence of temperature and ionic strength) and allowed for accurate control of the transition (exfoliated → agglomerated) temperature of nanotubes over a wide temperature range. In spite of its effective dispersion strength, the copolymer was easily synthesized in one step via free radical copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide and 1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide.


Objectives Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) is associated with adverse outcomes; however, imaging abnormalities are only detectable by conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in up to 50% of patients. This study investigated the variability in cortical thickness and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters among patients with NPSLE whose brain morphology appeared normal on conventional MRI. Methods This retrospective study enrolled 27 female patients with NPSLE (median age: 41.0 years, range: 22–63 years) and 34 female healthy controls (median age: 37.0 years, range: 24–55 years). None exhibited evident abnormalities on conventional MRI. Regional volumes, cortical thickness, and DTI parameters, including fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), were compared. Age-adjusted multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to detect significant NPSLE-associated differences. Results No significant differences in grey or white matter volume fractions were observed between the groups. However, the NPSLE group demonstrated significant cortical thinning in the right pars opercularis (2.45 vs 2.52 mm, p = 0.007), reduced FA values in the fornix (0.35 vs 0.40, p = 0.001) and left anterior limb of internal capsule (0.50 vs 0.52, p = 0.012), and increased MD in the fornix (1.71 vs 1.48, p = 0.009) and left posterior corona radiata (0.80 vs 0.76, p = 0.005) compared with those of healthy controls. Conclusions Cortical thickness measurements and DTI analyses can be used to detect differential variations in patients with NPSLE who exhibit an otherwise normal brain structure on conventional MRI, indicating the existence of subtle changes despite the absence of obvious macrostructural central nervous system involvement of lupus.


| This study aimed to conduct a cross-sectional study to investigate the prevalence of haemoprotozoan diseases in Sylhet district of Bangladesh. A one year ( January to December 2018) study on hemoprotozoan diseases was conducted in crossbred and indigenous cattle. Blood samples were collected randomly from 81 crossbred and from 19 indigenous cattle from four representative areas in three seasons. Blood samples were examined by Giemsa's stained thin blood smear method. The effect of breed, sex, age and season was observed in cattle during this study. The overall prevalence of haemoprotozoan diseases in Sylhet district was 52%. Three (3) types of haemoprotozoan diseases have been identified (Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Mixed) among them prevalence of Anaplasmosis was 28%, babesiosis was 08% and mixed infection was 15%. The prevalence of haemoprotozoan diseases was not significant (P>0.05) in relation to breed but the highest prevalence found in crossbreed cattle was Anaplasmosis (29.63%). Sex-wise prevalence was also not significant (P<0.05) in each of the diseases and here, the highest prevalence was found in male (31.48%) in case of Anaplasmosis. In relation to age, only mixed infected cattle were differ significantly (P<0.05) where the highest prevalence was observed (30.43%) in case of Anaplasmosis. Hemoprotozoan diseases were predominant in summer (36.11%) season followed by rainy (29.41%) and winter (16.67%) season. In case of mixed infection, adult cattle had significantly higher prevalence which was statistically significant (P<0.05). Study results revealed that burden of haemoprotozoan diseases are apparently high in Sylhet district regardless of the age, sex, breed and season. The data generated through this study will help to take adoptive control measures against haemoprotozoan diseases in Bangladesh.


Understanding who blames or supports whom in news text is a critical research question in computational social science. Traditional methods and datasets for sentiment analysis are, however, not suitable for the domain of political text as they do not consider the direction of sentiments expressed between entities. In this paper, we propose a novel NLP task of identifying directed sentiment relationship between political entities from a given news document, which we call directed sentiment extraction. From a million-scale news corpus, we construct a dataset of news sentences where sentiment relations of political entities are manually annotated. We present a simple but effective approach for utilizing a pretrained transformer, which infers the target class by predicting multiple question-answering tasks and combining the outcomes. We demonstrate the utility of our proposed method for social science research questions by analyzing positive and negative opinions between political entities in two major events: 2016 U.S. presidential election and COVID-19. The newly proposed problem, data, and method will facilitate future studies on interdisciplinary NLP methods and applications. © 2021 Association for Computational Linguistics


The increase in the number of Caesarian Sections is an important public health issue both in terms of
health and economic effects. Our aim was to illustrate their actual financial cost and to determine their
frequency. The study was done in a public hospital. We measured the direct and indirect costs of
scheduled caesarian sections among a convenience sample of 13 pregnant women in August 2013,
using micro-costing "bottom-up" approach. This included salaries, pharmaceuticals, consumables,
laboratory tests as well as the indirect cost of supporting services. For each patient a separate sheet
was created. The hospital stay was on average 7 days. We performed a quantitative analysis and
processed the data using the program Microsoft Excel. According to the findings, the financial cost
amounted to €2,654.60 on average. The research revealed an increase in the caesarians from 4.11% in
1980 rose to 40.07% in 2012 with a total cost at about 14 million (2.5%) of the health budget. These
finding will help informed decisions on introducing policies for the diminishing of the caesarian
sections in the country


A new, censored sample mean nonparametric identification algorithm for estimation of a nonlinear characteristic in Wiener system using properly preselected input-output data is proposed. Conditions imposed on the unknown characteristic are weak. In particular, its invertibility and global continuity are not required. The algorithm is based on computation of local sample-mean of proper output measurements. The mean square consistency of the estimate is proved for each continuity point of the unknown characteristic and the issue of the asymptotic convergence rate is discussed. Computer simulations are included to illustrate efficiency of the method also for small and moderate number of data.


The coastal cliffs between Tenby and Telpyn Point afford a fine section through part of the Carboniferous strata of southern Wales. Here the writer came across some thirty localities showing evidence of slumping. The evidence takes several forms : (1) contortion and slip-bedding; (2) slump-ball structures of a few inches to 24 feet across, generally composed of sandstone and embedded in mudstone. Lumps of clay-ironstone, resembling concretions, appear to have a similar origin; (3) crumpled balls, resembling the slump balls, but of a less compact structure, of only a few inches across and occurring embedded in sandy shale; (4) slipped blocks, giving the appearance of cross-bedding. These occur amongst other slump structures, as separate masses, generally a few feet across, which have slid without much internal distortion; (5) pseudo-ripple marks, which are regular slight folds measuring a few inches from crest to crest, each crest persisting only a short distance along the strike. They resemble ripple marks, but through a thickness of a few feet all laminae are bent in "similar folds" with the crests directly above each other. The thickness of the slump sheets varies from a foot or less to about 15 feet. For each sheet the thickness remains almost constant over large areas. The most extensive sheet is exposed for a mile along the coast around Telpyn Point and for 200 or 300 yards at right angles to this direction. At Waterwynch Bay four sheets are superposed. These larger sheets are composed of slump balls embedded in mudstone. They alternate with undisturbed beds. The slopes on the sea-floor during the slumping must have been exceedingly slight, since there is plentiful evidence of shallow water. Moreover, most individual, undisturbed beds can be traced for considerable distances, each showing a constant thickness. The slump balls are explained by quasi-turbulent motion of the sliding mud. An experimental investigation of the mechanics is being conducted in conjunction with Dr. van Straaten. Difficulty is sometimes found in distinguishing between slump structures and buckling in anticlinal cores, the two features frequently being closely associated in the field. Although it is not deemed probable, the possibility must be admitted that the so-called buckling is due, at least in part, to slumping. Anticlines, also, may have tended to form where slumping had previously caused irregularity in the bedding.


The effects of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase on ATP-sensitive K+ channels in cultured smooth muscle cells of the porcine coronary artery were investigated using the patch-clamp technique. Extracellular application of isoproterenol (1mM), a beta agonist, or forskolin (2 x 10(-5)M), an activator of adenylate cyclase, activated these channels in cell-attached patch configurations, which were not blocked by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (10(-6)M), an activator of protein kinase C. Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase activated these channels in inside-out patch configurations. These results suggest that cyclic AMP-dependent phosphorylation modulates ATP-sensitive K+ channels, in addition to its well known effects on Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels. The activation of ATP-sensitive K+ channels by cyclic AMP-dependent phosphorylation contributes to hyperpolarization of the membrane and to the relaxation of vascular smooth muscle cells.


A new simple method for classifying genes is proposed based on Klastorin's method. This method classifies genes into monophyletic groups which are made distinct from each other by evolutionary changes. The method is applicable as long as the phylogenetic tree of genes is obtained. There is a fast algorithm for obtaining the classification. A bootstrap test of a classification is also presented. As an example, we classified opsin genes. The classification obtained by this method is the same as the previous classification based on the function of opsins.


On behalf of my colleagues at the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, let me say that we are very pleased to help support this conference—the first in a series of conferences to recognise and stimulate innovation in the prevention and treatment of tobacco addiction in managed care. It is gratifying to see so many people here who share the vision of an expanded role for managed care in tobacco control.

I should like to examine, from the perspective of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation tobacco portfolio, where managed care interventions fit in the larger national tobacco control agenda, and why we at the foundation see them as integral to improving health and health care for all Americans. I shall also briefly describe some of the foundation programmes that have laid the groundwork for our new initiative, Addressing Tobacco in Managed Care.

Our most recent annual report focuses specifically on the opportunities and challenges that a market-driven healthcare system present for funding in each of our three major goal areas—assuring access to basic health care; improving care for chronic disease; and reducing the harm caused by substance use. The report notes that the explosive growth in managed care, with its interest in keeping people healthy to contain cost and its ability to institutionalise change, brings new opportunities, especially for grant-making in the field of substance abuse.

Although it is our newest goal, reducing the harm caused by substance abuse has reached parity, accounting last year for fully a third of the foundation's grants. The sum of our active and committed funds in tobacco control totals a little over $120 million. Tobacco control has been a priority for the foundation because tobacco use and addiction remain the United States' number one cause of preventable death and disease. Tobacco not only causes more than …


BACKGROUND
The Myosin Phosphatase (MP) holoenzyme is composed of a Protein Phosphatase type 1 (PP1) catalytic subunit and a regulatory subunit termed Myosin Phosphatase Target subunit 1 (MYPT1). Besides dephosphorylation of myosin, MP has been implicated in the control of cell proliferation via dephosphorylation and activation of the tumor suppressor gene products, retinoblastoma protein (pRb) and merlin. Inhibition of MP was shown to attenuate the drug-induced cell death of leukemic cells by chemotherapeutic agents, while activation of MP might have a sensitizing effect.

OBJECTIVE
Recently, Epigallocatechin-Gallate (EGCG), a major component of green tea, was shown to activate MP by inducing the dephosphorylation of MYPT1 at phospho-Thr696 (MYPT1pT696), which might confer enhanced chemosensitivity to cancer cells.

METHODS
THP-1 leukemic cells were treated with EGCG and Daunorubicin (DNR) and cell viability was analyzed. Phosphorylation of tumor suppressor proteins was detected by Western blotting.

RESULTS
EGCG or DNR (at sub-lethal doses) alone had moderate effects on cell viability, while the combined treatment caused a significant decrease in the number of viable cells by enhancing apoptosis and decreasing proliferation. EGCG plus DNR decreased the phosphorylation level of MYPT1pT696, which was accompanied by prominent dephosphorylation of pRb. In addition, significant dephosphorylation of merlin was observed when EGCG and DNR were applied together.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that EGCG-induced activation of MP might have a regulatory function in mediating the chemosensitivity of leukemic cells via dephosphorylation of tumor suppressor proteins.


: In this study, the experimental soil samples were collected from poultry waste dumping site at Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, India. From the five soil samples, 15 bacterial colonies were isolated based on Keratinolytic activity with source of agar nutrient medium, nitrogen, carbon and feather meal powder. After the incubation period only 6 isolates showed clear zone of hydrolysis around colony in feather meal agar medium incubated at 37 C for 72 h. The Bacterial species were identified by the morphological and biochemical tests compared with Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology IV edition. The obtained bacterial genera from poultry waste dumping sites were Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Micrococcus luteus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. During the Keratinolytic activity the maximum zone of inhibition was noticed in the isolate No.3, and it was identified as Micrococcus luteus. The identified potential keratinolytic bacterial species culture was optimized with different temperature, pH, nitrogen and carbon sources for bulk production of enzyme. The bulk production of enzyme was precipitated with 20% of ammonium sulphate and it was purified with dialysis bag and subjected to assay procedure for determination of enzyme activity. The antibiotic sensitivity was tested on the isolated bacterial isolates and the highest antibiotic resistance was observed in Staphylococcus aureus (75%) and second most Salmonella (70%) and followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (60%), Enterococcus faecalis (50%) and Escherichia coli (45%) .


Abstract. We investigated the effects of photon fluence rate on internode elongation in fully de-etiolated plants growing under sunlight. Our goal was to find out whether perception by the stems of fluence rate changes related to canopy density may be involved in the modulation of internode growth in canopies formed by plants of similar stature (e.g. crop stands). Using Datura ferox L. and Sinapis alba L. seedlings growing under natural radiation, we found that internode elongation is promoted by localized shading. This effect was observed with internodes receiving light with a high (>0.9) or a low (0.3) red (R) to far-red (FR) photon ratio. Selective removal of the different wavebands from the light impinging on the internodes showed that part of the response to fluence rate is due to photons in the R + FR range. The blue (B) component, most likely acting through a specific photoreceptor, also inhibited elongation. However, changes in the fluence rate of B light did not have detectable effects on the response of the internodes to R:FR ratio. Fibre-optic studies and measurements with integrating-cylinder sensors in even-aged populations of seedlings showed that both the quality and quantity of radiation received by the stems are profoundly influenced by changes in canopy density. When density is very low (leaf area index = LAI ≥ 1) only the R:FR ratio is reduced, due to FR reflected from nearby leaves. In the LAI range of 1 to 2, though a large proportion of the leaf area is still receiving full sunlight, the photon fluence rate at the stem level drops dramatically. These results suggest that in even-aged populations of LAI > 1 elongation growth is promoted by the low R:FR ratio and the reduced fluence rate. Perception of these two factors at the stem level may elicit morphological adaptations in the canopy before the onset of severe competition among neighbours for the resource of light.


Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATlON
 in the DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY of the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 1999.


The mitochondrial genome of Trypanosoma brucei contains many cryptogenes that must be extensively edited following transcription. The RNA editing process is directed by guide RNAs (gRNAs) that encode the information for the specific insertion and deletion of uridylates required to generate translatable mRNAs. We have deep sequenced the gRNA transcriptome from the bloodstream form of the EATRO 164 cell line. Using conventionally accepted fully edited mRNA sequences, ~1 million gRNAs were identified. In contrast, over 3 million reads were identified in our insect stage gRNA transcriptome. A comparison of the two life cycle transcriptomes show an overall ratio of procyclic to bloodstream gRNA reads of 3.5:1. This ratio varies significantly by gene and by gRNA populations within genes. The variation in the abundance of the initiating gRNAs for each gene, however, displays a trend that correlates with the developmental pattern of edited gene expression. A comparison of related major classes from each transcriptome revealed a median value of ten single nucleotide variations per gRNA. Nucleotide variations were much less likely to occur in the consecutive Watson-Crick anchor region, indicating a very strong bias against G:U base pairs in this region. This work indicates that gRNAs are expressed during both life cycle stages, and that differential editing patterns observed for the different mitochondrial mRNA transcripts are not due to the presence or absence of gRNAs. However, the abundance of certain gRNAs may be important in the developmental regulation of RNA editing.


The objective of this article is to present the trinomial experience-motivation-priorities and to explain its dynamics and how its elements work together. Among thehypotheses proposed is that a balance between those three elements can be conduciveto personal growth, and that deliberately aiming to balance the three elements canhave a positive amplifying effect on the consciousness evolution. The methodologyadopted was the identification of patterns in a collection of experiences, observations,and reflections from conscientiology classes, self-research, and interactions withconscientiology students, volunteers, and researchers. Potential applications for thetrinomial are proposed including a better understanding of the consciousness profilecorrelated to the second desoma.


We report a case of 70 year old women with primary hypertension and trigeminal neuralgia of the right side of face. Hypertension was well controlled with one antihypertensive drug for long time which became uncontrolled after administrating Carbamazepine for trigeminal neuralgia. The adverse effects of carbamazepine include cardiac conduction abnormalities, aplastic anemia, bone marrow depression, congestive heart failure, peripheral edema. Hypertension has rarely been documented with therapeutic doses of carbamazepine. On admission the patient had blood pressure 180/110 mmHg, despite an antihypertensive therapy. Treatment with additional antihypertensive medication did not reduce her blood pressure. After discontinuation of Carbamazepine levels of blood pressure were normal. Therefore, we considered that resistant hypertension was induced by oral carbamazepine therapy.