This paper outlined the preliminary studies in Malaysia for livestock management. Livestock area signifies the biggest food industry segment in Malaysia. Self-sufficiency in livestock product such as beef, mutton and dairy product is claimed to be low by the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) in year 2011. To improve the current Malaysia livestock industry, this paper proposes a better management system especially in handling database of the cattle at Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI). The objectives of this work are; to propose the attributes for database in four sections involved in livestock management and to propose on the livestock management architecture towards the Good Husbandry Practices (GAHP) as specified in MS2027:2006. A system combining the RFID technology supported with graphical user interface (GUI) is developed using VisualBasic.NET for four sections that are breeding, feedlot-fattening, dairying and slaughtering. User may update the data on the GUI and view existing data collected from the tag, which is then automatically updated at the central database. The data gathered on temperature will be further analyzed for early detection of disease.


Infection is one of the most common causes of infant morbidity and mortality in the neonatal intensive care unit, despite the availability of various therapeutic medical interventions, such as mechanical ventilation, that allow premature infants a better chance of survival. In fact, many of these therapeutic interventions violate the natural protective barriers for infection. Fortunately, maternal and neonatal risk factors have been identified for early- and late-onset sepsis and the prevalence of highly suspected pathogens for each type of infection influences the empiric selection of antibiotics. In many institutions, the common pathogens have developed resistance to antibiotics. In others, the predominance of pathogens has shifted. Both challenges may warrant modification of traditional antibiotic regimens. Continual monitoring of pathogen shifts within an individual neonatal intensive care unit and application of various antibiotic characteristics are key elements of strategic, safe, and effective use of antibiotics in this patient population. Development of a protocol incorporating infection control measures and guidelines for judicious use of antibiotics can minimize the threat of antibiotic resistance.


Alburnus nasreddini described from Lake Eber in Central Anatolia is a junior synonym of A. escherichii, a widespread species in adjacent Sakarya River drainage. We found no morphological characters to distinguish Alburnus nasreddini from A. escherichii and both are poorly distinguished on a molecular level also.


This paper analyzes the competing pricing mechanisms of uniform and pay-as-bid pricing in an electricity market. Game theory and auction theory are adopted to analyze the strategic behavior of a big player and a small player in a short-term auction game. Contrary to what would be expected from the conclusion of the "revenue equivalence theorem," we prove that for a two-player static game the Nash Equilibrium (NE) under pay-as-bid pricing will yield less total revenue in expectation than under uniform pricing when demand is inelastic. To confirm this theoretical result we simulated the model using a mixed-strategy NE solver. We extended the model to an elastic demand case and showed that pay-as-bid pricing also led to a larger expected total demand being served when demand is elastic.


Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) play a relevant role as drivers of species abundance, coexistence, and succession in plant communities. However, the potential contribution of PSFs to community dynamics in changing forest ecosystems affected by global change drivers is still largely unexplored. We measured the direction, strength and nature (biological vs. chemical) of PSFs experienced by coexisting tree species in two types of declining Quercus suber forests of southwestern Spain (open woodland vs. closed forest) invaded by the exotic soil pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi. To test PSFs in a realistic community context, we focused not only on individual PSFs (i.e., comparing the growth of a tree species on conspecific vs. heterospecific soil) but also calculated net-pairwise PSFs by comparing performance of coexisting tree species on their own and each other's soils. We hypothesized that the decline and death of Q. suber would alter the direction and strength of individual and net-pairwise PSFs due to the associated changes in soil nutrients and microbial communities, with implications for recruitment dynamics and species coexistence. In support of our hypothesis, we found that the decline of Q. suber translated into substantial alterations of individual and net-pairwise PSFs, which shifted from mostly neutral to significantly positive or negative, depending on the forest type. In both cases however the identified PSFs benefited other species more than Q. suber (i.e., heterospecific positive PSF in the open woodland, conspecific negative PSF in the closed forest). Our results supported PSFs driven by changes in chemical soil properties (mainly phosphorus) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, but not in pathogen abundance. Overall, our study suggests that PSFs might reinforce the loss of dominance of Q. suber in declining forests invaded by P. cinnamomi by promoting the relative performance of non-declining coexisting species. More generally, our results indicate an increase in the strength of net PSFs as natural forests become disturbed by global change drivers (e.g., invasive species), suggesting an increasingly important role of PSFs in forest community dynamics in the near future.


In a multimarket environment, a GENCO produces electricity subject to a number of factors, including physical and environmental constraints, together with trading strategies in the electricity market (EM), fuel market (FM) and carbon market (CM). To assist a GENCO to maximize its profits from EM, FM and CM, this paper proposes a dynamic decision making model with two consecutive stages. Fuzzy differential evolution algorithm is used to solve this decision-making problem. Taking transactions in the three interactive markets into account, the proposed model has been tested for a GENCO consisting of seven thermal units and a wind farm. A rational tradeoff between the profit-making and emission reduction has been demonstrated by the GENCO using the proposed model, indicating a well alignment with the intended goal of the introducing emission trading scheme (ETS).


Changes in land use for development purposes in the upper catchment of the Mara River Basin have threatened the water quantity of its major tributaries. This study investigated the effect of human settlement and development on the microbial water quality at various points along the channel of Nyangores River using Membrane Filtration Technique (MFT) to determine the densities of total coliforms, Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci and Clostridium perfringens. Pollution with easily biodegradable organic matter was detected by Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) procedures and BOD5 determination. Temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids and pH of the water sources were also measured at the time of sampling using appropriate measuring Meters. The collected data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 software with a confident level of 95%. The results indicated spatial variation in the densities of faecal contamination and easily degradable organic matter indicators, p<0.05. Physico-chemical parameters studied also showed significant spatial variation except DO, p<0.05. In conclusion, the presence of anthropogenic activities along Nyangores River have impacted negatively on quality of its water and therefore appropriate corrective mechanisms are necessary to help improve and restore its water and uphold its ecological integrity.


We present a method for area selective deposition of 2D WS2 nanoribbons with tunable thickness on a dielectric substrate. The process is based on a complete conversion of a pre-patterned, H-terminated Si layer to metallic W by WF6, followed by in situ sulfidation by H2S. The reaction process, performed at 450 °C, yields nanoribbons with lateral dimension down to 20 nm and with random basal plane orientation. The thickness of the nanoribbons is accurately controlled by the thickness of the pre-deposited Si layer. Upon rapid thermal annealing at 900 °C under inert gas, the WS2 basal planes align parallel to the substrate.


Even though machine translation (MT) systems have reached impressive performances in cross-lingual translation tasks, the quality of MT is still far behind professional human translations (HTs) due to the complexity in natural languages, especially for terminologies in different domains. Therefore, HTs are still widely demanded in practice. However, the quality of HT is also imperfect and vary significantly depending on the experience and knowledge of the translators. Evaluating the quality of HT in an automatic manner has faced many challenges. Although bilingual speakers are able to assess the translation quality, manually checking the accuracy of translations is expensive and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised method to evaluate the quality of HT without requiring any labelled data. We compare a range of methods for automatically grading HTs and observe the Bidirectional Minimum Word Mover's distance (BiMWMD) to produce gradings that correlate well with humans.


The role of the ship-broker is that of mediator for the achievement of agreements of collaboration that include transport of goods via sea. The ship-broker, either representing a charterer or a ship owner, undertakes the location of the most suitable occasion for chartering and negotiates her terms, leading to a binding contract between the two parts, the charter party. His work is not simple, brings big responsibilities and requires a lot of abilities in order to be successful. The present thesis intends the investigation of the ship-brokering profession. Initially the role and the nature of the ship-broker's work as well as the skills they should possess in order to be successful are analyzed, along with the responsibilities this profession holds. Also, a categorisation of ship-brokers is attempted. Afterwards, the role of the ship-broker is presented, through a case-study. Furthermore, a research on Greek ship-broker's companies is presented and the conduct of conclusions, with regard to the age and education of workers in ship-broker offices, as well as tendencies for activation of Greek ship-broker offices more generally, is attempted.


Liver is often exposed to plethora of chemical toxins. Owing to its profound physiological role and central function in metabolism and homeostasis, pertinent succession of cell cycle in liver epithelial cells is of prime importance to maintain cellular proliferation. Although recent evidence has displayed a strong association between exposures to methyl isocyanate (MIC), one of the most toxic isocyanates, and neoplastic transformation, molecular characterization of the longitudinal effects of MIC on cell cycle regulation has never been performed. Here, we sequentially delineated the status of different proteins arbitrating the deregulation of cell cycle in liver epithelial cells treated with MIC. Our data reaffirms the oncogenic capability of MIC with elevated DNA damage response proteins pATM and γ‐H2AX, deregulation of DNA damage check point genes CHK1 and CHK2, altered expression of p53 and p21 proteins involved in cell cycle arrest with perturbation in GADD‐45 expression in the treated cells. Further, alterations in cyclin A, cyclin E, CDK2 levels along with overexpression of mitotic spindle checkpoints proteins Aurora A/B, centrosomal pericentrin protein, chromosomal aberrations, and loss of Pot1a was observed. Thus, MIC impacts key proteins involved in cell cycle regulation to trigger genomic instability as a possible mechanism of developmental basis of liver carcinogenesis. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 29: 284–297, 2014.


In this work, silica nanofibers (SNFs) were prepared by an electrospinning method and modified with poly-d-lysine (PDL) or (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APTS) making biocompatible and degradable substrates for neuronal growth. The as-prepared SNF, modified SNF-PDL, and SNF-APTS were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, contact angle measurements, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. Herein, the scanning electron microscopic images revealed that dissolution occurred in a corrosion-like manner by enlarging porous structures, which led to loss of structural integrity. In addition, covalently modified SNF-APTS with more hydrophobic surfaces and smaller surface areas resulted in significantly slower dissolution compared to SNF and physically modified SNF-PDL, revealing that different surface modifications can be used to tune the dissolution rate. Growth of primary hippocampal neuron on all substrates led to a slower dissolution rate. The three-dimensional SNF with larger surface area and higher surface density of the amino group promoted better cell attachment and resulted in an increased neurite density. This is the first known work addressing the degradability of SNF substrate in physiological conditions with neuron growth in vitro, suggesting a strong potential for the applications of the material in controlled drug release.


Milking cows once daily is a management tool that has been implemented to improve physical and financial results of seasonal pasture-based dairy farms. The Molly cow model integrates physiology and metabolism of dairy cattle; however, milk production during short-term changes in milking frequency (e.g., 1× milking) is not well represented. The model includes a representation of variable rates of cell quiescence and death. However, the rate constants governing cell death and the return of quiescent to active cells are not affected by milking frequency. An empirical assessment of the problem was conducted, and it was hypothesized that changing the current representation of the rate of cell death in response to short-term 1× milking would more accurately represent active and quiescent cells and improve predictions of milk production. An extra senescent cell flux was added to account for cell loss during periods of 1× milking. Additional changes included a gradual decline in the rate of 1× stimulated senescence during 1× milking, and a structural change in cell cycling between active and quiescent cells during and after short-term 1× milking. Data used for parameter estimation were obtained from 5 studies where 1× milking or different feeding strategies were tested. Parameter estimates of cell loss indicated that 1× milking would affect a small proportion of quiescent cells to cause extra cell death. This added cell senescence was influenced by the length of 1× milking such that cell senescence peaked on d 1 of 1× milking and decayed from that point. The new structure in the model includes a variable rate of cell death in response to 1× milking and a gradual rate of return of quiescent cells back to the active pool in response to switching to 2× milking after short-term 1× milking. Root mean square errors, mean bias, and slope bias declined by at least 50% for predictions of energy-corrected milk yield and fat percent. The model showed quantitative agreement with production data from short-term 1× milking. The accuracy of predictions was improved and the error was reduced by implementing modifications in the model in response to changes in milking frequency.


Previous years have seen a proliferation of 3-valued models for capturing abstractions of systems, since these enable verifying both universal and existential properties. Reasoning about such systems is either inexpensive and imprecise (compositional checking), or expensive and precise (thorough checking). In this paper, we prove that thorough and compositional checks for temporal formulas in their disjunctive forms coincide, which leads to an effective procedure for thorough checking of a variety of abstract models and the entire mu-calculus


The status of axillary lymph nodes is an important prognostic factor in the outcome of breast cancer tumors. New trials changed the attitude towards axillary clearance. In the era of development of new immune therapies for breast cancer, it is important to identify a biomarker that can predict lymph node status. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are a valuable indicator of the immune microenvironment that plays the central role in new anticancer drugs. Although the correlation between TILs and response to chemotherapy was established by previous studies, our retrospective study investigated the correlation between TILs and lymph node status. We analyzed data on 172 patients. According to stage, patients were divided in two groups: patients who underwent primary surgical treatment (breast-conserving or mastectomy and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy +/− axillary clearance in conformity with lymph node status) and patients who received chemotherapy prior to surgical treatment (breast-conserving or mastectomy + axillary clearance). We showed a good inverse correlation between TILs and lymph nodes status for both early stage and locally advanced breast cancers. Moreover, TILs are a predictor for positive lymph nodes in the axilla in patients undergoing axillary clearance after SLN biopsy, with no statistical difference between the intrinsic or histological subtype of breast cancers. We also obtained a significant correlation between TILs and response to chemotherapy with no significative difference according to histological subtype. Although further data have still to be gathered before meeting the criteria for clinical utility, this study demonstrates that TILs are one of the most accredited forthcoming biomarkers for breast cancer (BC) patients.


One of the consequences of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain was the re-imagining of time while horology and chronometry as arts and as industry changed people's relationship to temporal activities. For the first time, labor and laborers were "on the clock," and the pace at which social and commercial activities moved significantly increased. Time became secularized, as the hours of Church-defined collective activities (tolled by cathedral bells, for example) were replaced with mechanisms held by individuals (watches) and featured in domestic parlors (mantel clocks), and thus private and public forms of time intersected in ways that destabilized social structures and patterns of behaviors. Schedules of public activities, such as train arrivals and departures, were expected to operate with precision and predictability, as individual watches and public clocks ticked in unison. According to Stuart Sherman, clocks articulate time's meanings in and for the culture that produces them (ix), and the Romantic period registered new meanings of time with particular acuity (Miller 3). Writers of the period reflected and responded to the new kind of time as recent scholars have noted. Studying the temporal form of Wordsworth's evening poems, Christopher Miller shows how evening poetry registers increments and lapses of time (6-7). Stuart Sherman examined diurnal texts, such as Frances Burney's journal, and how they draw their power and their appeal from their engagement with new structures of time (276). John Barnard probed the temporal negotiations John Keats made between his medical training and his poetry between September, 1816, and March, 1817, noting that new patients were diagnosed in less than two minutes each at Guy's Hospital. It is in the context of this scholarship that I found it timely for this year's ICR meeting's theme of "Romantic Objects" to discuss the objects of time measurement and how these objects signaled the revaluation and organization of time in Romantic comedy, a genre in which timing is important for its verbal and visual effects. Eric Bruton and Alfred and Eugene Jaquet Cahpuis offer relevant watch-making information for my analysis. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries. London was the center of clock making and the watch trade, and watch-making centers included Geneva, Paris, as well as London. From 1780-1835, pedometer watches were popular as rare charming conceits. Famous for his montre perpetulle. Abraham-Louis Breguet invented in the 1780s a self-winding watch wound by a bouncing weight. While the most famous of the perpetuelle watches were the 1783 "Marie Antoinette" watch and a Breguet watch Napoleon took on his Egyptian campaign in the late 1790s, by the beginning of the 19th century, there were about 50,000 watches a year coming from Geneva workshops. Basil Charles le Roy, a master watchmaker in Paris from 1788 until 1825, supplied watches to Napoleon and other members of the Emperor's family. Watchmaker to Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, Robert Robin invented a "free" escapement mechanism for watches in 1791. In 1794, 2,700 luxurious and decorated watches confiscated and deposited in the Record Offices of the French Revolutionary Tribunal were auctioned. Another Geneva horologist, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, the first to make exquisite singing-bird boxes and famous for his ingenious and remarkable mechanical puppets, opened a branch office in London in 1783. But British watchmakers were innovative with timekeepers as well. In 1780, George III granted a Letters Patent to Louis Recordon for the mechanism of a self-winding watch, the first patent ever to cover an automatic remtmtoire. Recordon served as a liaison officer among Geneva, Paris, and London where firms were exporting watches and timekeepers to the Near and Far East. Another English watch-maker Thomas Mudge invented the letter escapement for the watch. He set up shop in Fleet Street, where he made the first lever watch, which was bought by George III and presented to Queen Charlotte. …


Reflection and non reflection symmetry conditions can be fitted in the scattering models to optimize the coherence power estimation. The SAR formed from received wave is in the form of images which captures the physical feature of the target under consideration. To cohersely extract the target characters prominently the co polarization parameters are considered in the design model. In this investigation a new modified approach with the co polarization parameters is developed. The scattering component and the associated power components computed from the design model illustrate quantitatively a better confidence in evaluating the target. The components namely surface power component, volume power components and double bounce power components are obtained from the scattering parameters. The formulated algorithms model used in decomposition technique gives positive scattering powers. The technique is applied on C band RADARSAT2 images and simulated using a system level mathematical model.


Increase in population and landuse changes near the coastal region have affected the coastal environment. Industrialization thrived and population boomed, and groundwater was deemed to be a very important resource for their subsequent functioning. The consequent over extracting of groundwater has totally compromised the quality of ground water. Sea water intrusion has also grown to be a major issue in the Coastal Taluks of Tiruvallur district which has in turn, affected the Agricultural Cultivation and livelihood of many farmers and residents. A total of 37 groundwater samples were collected and the water quality assessment had been carried out by evaluating the physicochemical parameters, in order to analyze the degree of damage done to the quality of groundwater . The ionic dominance for the major cations and the anions were in the order of EC, pH, TDS, Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K and Cl > HCO3> SO42> Fl > CO3, respectively. Most of the samples analyzed were above the standard guidelines set by BIS and WHO. Geographical Information System (GIS) was used to analysis the spatial variation of chemical content in the ground water. The quality of the water was evaluated using Piper Diagram and also by correlation method. The results revealed that most of the samples are not suitable for irrigation. Based on these parameters, groundwater had been assessed and was not suitable for drinking and irrigation purpose.


ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded the opportunity for key workers in some traditionally 'dirty' occupations to experience elevated levels of prestige. Although public perceptions of certain key workers have evolved in this way not all occupations have benefitted from comparable narratives. Using data from 18 police officer interviews, we theorise that the police are constructed as the 'villains' of the pandemic, tasked with the 'dirtier' responsibilities of enforcing rules that transgress societal order (as opposed to 'heroes' performing the more prestigious functions such as saving lives). For this reason, they have not benefitted from the same esteem markers awarded to other key workers, which in turn has had a detrimental effect on their morale. Gratitude, especially experienced via public markers of esteem symbolic of the pandemic, was salient in participants negotiating their 'dirt' and occupational prestige.


A review is given of research in Russia on electromagnetic field (EMF) mechanisms of action, biological effects, and medical diagnostic and therapeutic application. Possible applications of the sensitive multichannel radiometers at GHz and IR for dynamic medical diagnostics are also outlined. Dynamic imaging of patients is used for diagnosis of diseases such as disorders of the peripheral blood flow and accompanying diseases.


Energy detection is popularly used in the detection of idle spectrum because of its simple implement and low complexity. But, the detection performance can be observably affected due to noise uncertainty. Papers have proposed some solutions to resist the effects of noise uncertainty. However, most of these papers are assumed that the noise uncertainty interval is known to the detector, designing algorithms to detect the primary user signal. Few algorithms are designed to estimate the range of the noise uncertainty. This paper presents an algorithm for energy detection based on noise variance estimation that can be relatively accurate estimated the noise uncertainty interval. The simulation results show that in the case of the noise uncertainty interval is unknown to the detector, our proposed algorithm can detect well, which is similar to the theoretical detection, and its complexity is also very low.


Stimulation of a Ca(2+)-induced Ca(2+)-release channel from skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum by various adenosine(5')oligophospho(5')adenosines (ApnA, n = 2-6) by a rapid quenching technique using radioactive calcium was studied. Ap4A, Ap5A and Ap6A, as well as adenosine 5'-[beta, gamma-methylene]triphosphate (AdoPP [CH2]P), a non-hydrolyzable ATP analogue, stimulated the Ca(2+)-release channel, whereas Ap2A and Ap3A had no effect. At a concentration of 0.5 mM, the order of stimulation was AdoPP[CH2]P less than Ap4A less than Ap5A much less than Ap6A. As well as having the highest affinity (0.44 mM for half-maximal stimulation), Ap6A showed an extraordinarily high Hill coefficient of 3.3 (1.9 for AdoPP[CH2]P, 2.1 for Ap5A). The stimulating effect of Ap6A was reversible, yet its dissociation proceeded very slowly. Stimulation of Ca2+ release by Ap6A was counteracted by Mg2+ and ruthenium red. A 2',3'-dialdehyde derivative of Ap6A, which is a chemical probe for amino groups, stimulated irreversibly the Ca(2+)-release channel and modified some high-molecular-mass sarcoplasmic reticulum proteins, possibly including the channel protein. Our data suggest that Ap6A stimulates the Ca2+ channel by binding to the activation site of the channel subunit and simultaneously preventing the spontaneous decay of the Ca2+ channel by keeping together two of the four channel subunits by bridging them with its two adenosine groups.


Electrochemical degradation of organic molecules is important in wastewater treatment. In addition, the direct oxidation of small organics can be utilized for electrochemical hydrogen production or fuel cell. This study aimed to provide database for various anode catalysts that can degrade organic molecules such as urea, methanol, ethanol, glucose, ammonia, formic acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid in various pH conditions. Pt, Ni, Cu anodes were employed, and the target molecule concentration was 0.3 M. The activity was analyzed by the peak current densities of cyclic voltammetry. The Cu showed activity in the reaction of decomposing glucose and ammonia at pH 14. The Ni was active in ammonia degradation at pH 7, and the Pt was active in oxalic acid oxidation at pH 0. Relevant mechanisms were proposed for these reactions. We suggest Cu-Ni composites for toilet wastewater treatment and Pt for handling anaerobic digestor effluent.


The pre-treatment using single H2O2, UV-H2O2 and Fenton's process as a pre-treatment option for olive mill effluent (OME), which is known to contain a significant amount of inhibitory compounds (e.g., phenolics and tannins) was carried out in order to enhance anaerobic degradation of OME. Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) assay was employed in order to monitor and comparatively evaluate any increase in biogas production as an indicator of improvement in anaerobic biological degradation before and after pre-treatment. The results suggested that pre-treatment using Fenton's process resulted in an almost 3.5-fold enhancement in the biodegradability of OME, which was much lower if it was digested alone (without pre-treatment). Pre-treatment in the form of UV-H2O2 also significantly increased the biogas production (1.75-fold higher gas production than raw OME sample); on the other hand, the use of H2O2 alone negatively affected the biogas production. It was demonstrated that the anaerobic biodegradability of OME could be significantly enhanced by pre-treatment using Fenton's process and therefore anaerobic degradation after a suitable pre-treatment could be proposed for the safe disposal of OME.


: Prior any satellite technology developments, the geodetic networks of a country were realized from a topocentric datum, and hence the respective cartography was performed. With availability of Global Navigation Satellite Systems-GNSS, cartography needs to be updated and referenced to a geocentric datum to be compatible with this technology. Cartography in Ecuador has been performed using the PSAD56 (Provisional South American Datum 1956) systems, nevertheless it's necessary to have inside the system SIRGAS (SIstema de Referencia Geocéntrico para las AmericaS). This transformation between PSAD56 to SIRGAS use seven transformation parameters calculated with the method Helmert. These parameters, in case of Ecuador are compatible for scales of 1:25 000 or less, that does not satisfy the requirements on applications for major scales. In this study, the technique of neural networks is demonstrated as an alternative for improving the processing of UTM planes coordinates E, N (East, North) from PSAD56 to SIRGAS. Therefore, from the coordinates E, N, of the two systems, four transformation parameters were calculated (two of translation, one of rotation, and one scale difference) using the technique bidimensional transformation. Additionally, the same coordinates were used to training Multilayer Arti fi cial Neural Network -MANN, in which the inputs are the coordinates E, N in PSAD56 and output are the coordinates E, N in SIRGAS. Both the two-dimensional transformation and ANN were used as control points to determine the differences between the mentioned methods. The results imply that, the coordinates transformation obtained with the arti fi cial neural network multilayer trained have been improving the results that the bidimensional transformation, and compatible to scales 1:5000.


An influenzavirus isolated from a shearwater bird nesting on Tryon Island on the Australian Great Barrier Reef in 1971 has been more extensively characterized. Haemagglutinin subunits were isolated from the shearwater virus and from the antigenically related avian influenzaviruses A/turkey/Mass./65 (Hav6N2) and A/duck/Penn./69 (Hav6N1). Maps of the tryptic peptides from the heavy polypeptides (HA1) of the haemagglutinin subunits of the three viruses showed a number of differences, but peptide maps of the light polypeptides (HA2) were almost identical, suggesting that these had almost the same amino acid sequence. Extensive tests confirmed that the neuraminidase of the shearwater virus was not related antigenically to any known neuraminidase. The sera collected from pelagic birds nesting on islands in the Capricorn-Bunker group in 1970 were devoid of any antibodies to the shearwater virus, while a high proportion of the sera collected from birds on the same islands in 1972 (one year after the isolation of the shearwater virus) had antibodies to the haemagglutinin and neuraminidase of the shearwater virus, some to a high titre. Thus, the shearwater virus appeared to have only recently been introduced into the area from where it was isolated.


Background: The periodontal attachment apparatus consists of the periodontal ligament, alveolar bone, cementum and supra-crestal connective tissue. They are interdependent and provide protection and support to the dentition. It is theorized that the integrity of the periodontal apparatus can be maintained throughout life by exercising comprehensive oral hygiene practices and routine dental care. Additionally, it appears to be unaffected by aging. As a consequence, the investigators performed a study to determine the effects of chronological aging on alveolar bone loss. Objective: The present study was conducted to determine the relationship between oral alveolar bone loss, oral hygiene, and aging among African-American and Caucasian populations. Methods: The population consisted of 229 individuals. There were 131 men and 98 women. With respect to race there were 89 African-Americans and 140 Caucasians. Oral examinations, oral hygiene and missing teeth determinations and bitewing radiographs were performed on all the individuals. Radiographs were digitized and measurements were made from the cementum/enamel junction to the alveolar bone crest. Measurements were made for both the maxillary and mandibular jaws. Results: The results of the study showed a significant multiple linear regression model relationship between oral bone loss and aging. Oral hygiene was a factor, but contributed only slightly to the overall model. Race, gender and the number of missing teeth were not significant variables in the overall model. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest age-related alveolar bone loss.


The single national curriculum is the latest decision of the Government of Pakistan in the education sector. One of the aims of introducing a single national curriculum is to inculcate the values of national solidarity and social cohesion. This study aims to identify the weightage given to the national heroes in the primary curriculum (the books in English and Urdu from grades 1 to 5) to instill the importance and values of nationalism and national integration. The content analysis method is used to identify the inclusion of national heroes in the old versus new curriculum. The detailed analysis of the content reveals no significant difference between the old and the new curriculum. The almost same content is used without giving much importance to the nation's heroes. Also, there is the repetition of the same heroes. Moreover, the representation of local heroes and women role models from different fields of life are also scarce. Keywords: single national curriculum, national heroes, curriculum reforms, national integration, value development


. There has been considerable recent interest in a new class of non-slow roll inflationary solutions known as constant roll inflation. Constant roll solutions are a generalization of the ultra-slow roll (USR) solution, where the first Hubble slow roll parameter (cid:15) is small, but the second Hubble slow roll parameter η is not. While it is known that the USR solutions represent dynamical transients, there has been some disagreement in literature about whether or not large- η constant roll solutions are attractors or are also a class of transient solutions. In this paper we show that the large- η constant roll solutions do in fact represent transient solutions by performing stability analysis on the exact analytic (large- η ) constant roll solutions.


Achondrogenesis is a lethal form of congenital chondrodystophy characterised by extreme micromelia. Definitive clinical and radiographic criteria have been established to differentiate Type II Achondrogenesis (Langer-Saldino) from type I Achondrogenesis (Parenti-Fraccaro). The mode of inheritance is autosomal recessive for both types. We are presenting a case of Type II Achondrogenesis, a still born male to consanguinous parents. The clinical features included an enlarged head, protuberant abdomen and short stubby limbs. The mother had earlier delivered two still born males presumably with similar features. Radiographic characteristics of absence of rib fractures and well ossified iliac bones with concave medial margins and absent or deficient ossification of the sacrum, ischiae, and pubic bones differentiated Type II Achondrogenesis from Type I Achondrogenesis.


Yellow water is a by-product of liquor in the solid state fermentation process, and contains a large amount of nutrients, such as acids, esters, alcohols and aldehydes produced by fermentation. The components in the yellow water reflect the fermentation information to a certain extent, so the fermentation process can be monitored by detecting the yellow water component online. A sensor array detection device is designed for detecting yellow water. In addition, chemical titration is used to obtain data such as acidity, reducing sugar and starch of yellow water. Principal component analysis and discriminant function analysis were performed on the data; and a multivariate linear regression was used to establish a prediction model for the data. The results showed that the prediction bias for acidity and alcohol was small, 0.39 and 0.43, respectively.


The study was conducted for three months, from December 2012 to February 2013 at Lempake urban village, North Samarinda sub district of Samarinda City that is known as a center of curly red chili production.  Object of research are farmers managing curly red chili farming in the 2012 rainy season at the study area. This study used a survey method, that meaned it takes most of the respondents samples from the existing population.  Based on the observation of 285 farmers are determined to take as many as 30 farmers as respondents. Methods of data retrieval are implemented using a combination of methods: observation, interviews, literature review, and documentation studies by using structured questionnaire as major tool.  The data analysis technique used in this study include: (1) R/C ratio to calculate the level of efficiency, (2) Break Even Point (BEP) to test the profit or loss, (3) Return on Investment Method to test the efficiency of the use of farm capital, (4) Payback Period method to test the payback curly red chili capital farming used. The results showed that: 1. The amount of the total cost of the average production of farm curly red chili per growing season of Rp 11,328,317,- or Rp. 28,320,793,- per hectare, while the average income for price at the level of 15,000,- per kilogram per acreage of Rp.27,025,000,- or equals to Rp.67,562,500,- per hectare.  2. The results of the financial analysis showed that curly red chili farming feasible to be developed, with an average value: (a). income of Rp. 15,696,683,- (acreage) and Rp.39,241,707,- (ha), (b) R/C ratio of 2.39, (c). BEP production volume as much as 755.22 kg (acreage) and 1,888.05 kg (ha), (d). BEP production price of Rp.6276.08,- per kilogram; (e). ROI of 138.56%, and (f). payback period of 1.68 during the growing season.  3. The results of both analyzes sensitititas to rising production cost price inflation (6% and 9%) and decrease the production price of unity (Rp.8.000,- and Rp.12.000,-) indicates that the curly red chili farming feasible to be developed at the study area.


A new Vertex6-chipscope based implementation scheme of the AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard, with 256-bit key) encryption and decryption algorithm is proposed in this paper. For maintaining the speed of encryption and decryption, the pipelining technology is applied and the mode of data transmission is modified in this design so that the chip size can be reduced. The 256-bit plaintext and the 256-bit initial key, as well as the 256-bit output of cipher-text, are all divided into four 32-bit consecutive units respectively controlled by the clock. In this novel work, substantial improvement in performance in terms of area, power and dynamic speed has been obtained.


With the abundance of information and materials now available, elementary schools can ill afford to be without programs designed for the early identification and treatment of dyslexia and related reading problems. Although such programs require interdisciplinary teamwork, a major role is played by the alert teacher who spots the symptoms and can help create and initiate treatment procedures. This paper discusses behavioral symptoms, diagnostic tests, and programs for prevention and remediation of dyslexia. Careful consideration of these aspects of the problem will help classroom teachers in working with dyslexic children.


AshwiniRao Background:-Evidence based practice (EBP) is a way to transfer evidence obtained from research into everyday provision of health care services. A dentist should not only know about the sources to obtain evidence, but also be able to critically assess the mountain of research studies available. This study was aimed to determine EBP knowledge, attitudes, confidence in critical appraisal skills and methods for accessing evidence among oral health professionals in Mangalore, India. Material and method:-We used a standardized and validated 36 item EBP KACE (Knowledge, Attitudes, Confidence and Evidence) questionnaire which consisted of 4 domains, Knowledge of Critical Appraisal, Attitudes about Evidence-Based Practice, Confidence in Critical Appraisal Skills and Accessing Evidence. Statistical analysis was performed using student's t test, binary logistic regression and bivariate correlation tests. Results:-A total of 133 males and 231 females took part in the study (n=364). Participants were divided into interns, postgraduate students and specialists. Mean knowledge of postgraduates (2.45; SD 1.2) was highest. Attitudes levels were similar for postgraduates (4.4; SD 2.5) and undergraduates (4.7; SD 2.6). Postgraduate students were more aware of newer methods of accessing evidence (4.1; SD 2.0) (p < 0.01) compared to others. Conclusions:-Postgraduates had greater knowledge of EBP and better ideas of ways to access evidence. The undergraduates showed a positive attitude and interest towards evidence based practice. Hence, making evidence based practice a formalized part of dental curriculum would enable young dentists to make optimal treatment decisions essential in the interest of the patient as well as the community.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive motor disorder, but frequently is accompanied by autonomic symptoms such as hypotension. Together with the decrease of dopamine, significant decreases in aminopeptidase activities have been reported in PD brains. However, up to date there are no studies about changes of aminopeptidase activities in plasma of PD patients. We studied plasma activities of alanyl-, aspartyl-(AspAP), cystinyl-(CysAP) and glutamyl-aminopeptidase (GluAP) in two groups of subjects: control (n=41) and PD (n=48). Plasma activities of AspAP, CysAP, and GluAP showed significant decreases of 24.9% (p<0.05), 39.4% (p<0.01) and 33.3% (p<0.01), respectively, in PD group. These aminopeptidases are involved in the metabolism of circulating peptides such as the ones of the renin-angiotensin system. The importance of aminopeptidases in striatal dopamine content and in neuroendocrine system in PD is discussed.


This study aims to determine the supporting and inhibiting factors as well as the effectiveness of learning biology during the covid-19 pandemic at MAS Al Wasliyah Marbau. This research is a qualitative descriptive type with data collection techniques through interviews, questionnaires, observation and documentation. Data analysis used in the form of data collection, data reduction, and data presentation. The results of this study indicate that the inhibiting factors for learning from home in biology are internet networks, student absence from online learning, economic conditions of students, and possession of gadgets or laptops. The supporting factors are technology, learning places in accordance with the COVID-19 health protocol, adequate learning resources and learning media, online learning implementation plans designed by teachers, students' enthusiastic attitude in studying, and adequate infrastructure. In conclusion, 82% of biology learning at MAS Al Wasliyah Marbau runs effectively in accordance with government regulations through Circular Letter No. 15 of 2020.


Business groups are a prominent enterprise system in most East Asian and emerging economies. This article addresses an important but understudied issue – ownership and control of these large conglomerates. Studying the ownership structure of the top 100 Taiwanese business groups sheds light on the debate between the culturalists and the institutionalists. Culturalists claim family domination even in institutional changes while institutionalists suggest more dispersed and open shareholding after economic liberalization. The longitudinal analysis of group ownership across three time periods reveals a mixed structure. Although the family still controls most of the old, core groupmembers, new firms and joint ventures that are owned by multiple family groups rose significantly during the institutional transition of 1987–93. The evidence shows that organizational changes neither completely comply with emerging rules, nor do they hold on to existing cultural logics. Neither the culturalists nor the institutionalists have correctly predicted the metamorphosis. Rather, the concept of compromise strategy, which allows organizations to retain their core interests while at the same time respond to institutional constraints and/or incentives, provides a proper explanation.


For simulations of highly complex geometries, frequently encountered in many fields of science and engineering, the process of generating a high-quality, body-fitted grid is very complicated and time-intensive. Thus, one of the principal goals of contemporary CFD is the development of numerical algorithms, which are able to deliver computationally efficient, and highly accurate solutions for a wide range of applications involving multi-physics problems, e.g. Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI). Immersed interface/boundary methods provide considerable advantages over conventional approaches, especially for flow problems containing moving boundaries.
In the present work, a novel, robust, highly-accurate, Immersed Interface Method (IIM) is developed, which is based on a local Taylor-series expansion at irregular grid points enforcing numerical stability through a local stability condition. Various immersed methods have been developed in the past; however, these methods only considered the order of the local truncation error. The numerical stability of these schemes was demonstrated (in a global sense) by considering a number of different test-problems. None of these schemes used a concrete local stability condition to derive the irregular stencil coefficients. This work will demonstrate that the local stability constraint is valid as long as the DFL-number does not reach a limiting value. The IIM integrated into a newly developed Incompressible Navier-Stokes (INS) solver is used herein to simulate fully coupled FSI problems. The extension of the novel IIM to a higher-order method, the compressible Navier-Stokes equations and the Maxwell's equations demonstrate the great potential of the novel IIM.
In the second part of this dissertation, the newly developed INS solver is employed to study the flow of a stalled airfoil and steady/unsteady stenotic flows. In this context, a new biglobal stability analysis approach based on solving an Initial Value Problem (IVP), instead of the traditionally used EigenValue Problem (EVP), is presented. It is demonstrated that this approach based on an IVP is computationally less expensive compared to EVP approaches while still capturing the relevant physics.


Randomized controlled trials (RCT) provide data on clinically measurable outcomes (safety and efficacy) in the short-term. The need for longer-term data requires extended follow-up. The biologic era particularly has witnessed an increasing number of reports on post-RCT extension clinical data; their reporting however is fraught with challenges with no guidelines on optimal reporting. At this meeting a scientific abstract is presented on the recommendations recently formulated by a EULAR task force (Buch M et al). My presentation focuses on the above design and reporting challenges. Advantages of long-term extension studies (LTE) include the well-described study groups and information on the retention of therapy beyond the trial. Under the right circumstances, more evidence on efficacy and safety can accrue. And finally, LTE can enable ongoing access to an effective therapy that would otherwise be unavailable to subjects that participated in the prior RCT. Disadvantages include the increased potential for bias mainly through selection of patients to include, method of analysis (e.g. the choice of the denominator to calculate rates), and lack of transparency in reporting. There are also ethical issues such as the assumption that the experimental agent is effective and treatment should be continued where proof is not yet fully available. The key recommendations of the Task Force are: – All patients from the original trial should be accounted for; – Requirement of a minimum set of data, including time of last observation; reason for: TES exclusion if drug discontinued, cessation of follow-up and cessation for other reasons; progress at each stage from RCT start to TES completion; duration of active treatment; – Requirement of a flow chart (see figure example for a placebo/background MTX trial); – Report consistent with existing guidelines (CONSORT, STROBE), ACR/EULAR recommendations; – Minimum set of outcomes, including sustainability and new achievement of high hurdle outcomes (remission/LDA); drop-outs detailed; – Efficacy & safety of a TES reported together. We hope that adoptions of these recommendations will lead to better and more informative LTE reports. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of hypertension and its reverse on serum nitric oxide (NO) concentration and endothelial permeability in two-kidney one-clip (2K1C) hypertensive rats. 28 male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: 1) 2K1C for 12 weeks; 2) sham-clipped for 12 weeks; 3) 2K1C for 12 weeks and unclipped for 12 weeks; 4) sham-clipped for 12 weeks and unclipped for 12 weeks. Blood samples were taken before experiment, 12th week and 24th week (in groups 3 and 4). Coronary vascular and aortic endothelial permeability were determined by extravasation of Evans blue dye method. Serum NO level was significantly lower in hypertensive group compare with sham group (4.21 ± 1.28 vs. 9.47 ± 1.34 µmol/l, respectively). Reversal of hypertension did not improve serum NO concentration in 2K1C group (4.21 ± 1.28 vs. 4.32 ± 1.34 µmol/l). Coronary vascular and aortic endothelial permeability were not different between hypertensive and normotensive groups and reversal of hypertension did not alter endothelial permeability. Lower serum NO concentration in 2K1C hypertensive rats even after reversal of hypertension suggested that in addition to NO, other mechanisms could be involved in surgical reversal of hypertension. Hypertension and its reverse did not change endothelial permeability at least in this model of hypertension.


The "energy saving labeling program" was introduced in 2006 to the Japan retail market for the purpose of penetrating energy efficient home appliances. In this paper, we investigate the influence of two energy efficiency indices: (1) annual energy consumption (kWh) and (2) energy-saving achievement rate (%) included in the "energy-saving label" on the price and consumer purchasing for high-efficiency refrigerators. We use the point of sale (POS) data of the Japan refrigerators market for 2015 which account for approximately 76% of the domestic market sales share. First, by estimating the hedonic price model, we obtain the willingness to pay for the energy efficiency of refrigerators for each region and unit size. Second, based on the results, we examine the implicit discount rates for the energy saving benefits of high-efficiency refrigerators. The discount rate is 4.3%-7.8% for the index of (1) and 0.7%-10.7% for (2), which are lower than the 11%-300% from the previous studies. Our results suggest that consumers are not myopic when purchasing a refrigerator, and make decisions taking into consideration of the benefits of energy savings obtained during use. We conclude that the two energy efficiency indices contribute to the dispersion of energy-saving refrigerators.


The increasing importance of governmental regulation in strategic sectors of the economy, particularly in the energy business, impacts on competitive markets. Uncertainties about governmental regulation and arbitrary decisions increase global risk levels for energy companies. In this paper we propose and demonstrate the utility of some concepts inspired in the Information Theory to analyze regulatory risk in energy companies. With the stock prices of selected energy companies we calculate the data series of rates of return. These continuous sources of daily returns are transformed (quantifying) into discrete ones in order to evaluate entropies using a discrete source model. We analyze the sensitivity of the quantum step of the quantizer and evaluate the entropy of different records, which include information from gas and electricity utilities for ten consecutive years. Finally, the short-time or sliding entropy concept to detect risk events caused by uncertainties or unexpected regulatory changes is introduced. Results confirm lower levels of risk in those countries where the regulatory framework is much more stable and predictable. The proposed methodology provides an objective comparison or benchmark between different regulatory systems by observing the stock prices evolution of the companies under such regulations.


All junior medical students at the authors' institution are enrolled in a 2-week combined rotation in diagnostic radiology and anesthesia, with the time divided equally between the departments. The purpose of this rotation is to familiarize students with various imaging modalities and to introduce interpretation of conventional radiographs. The rotation is offered five times during the academic year, and each includes the same enrollment (about 20 students), educational structure (lectures, self-study, and case review) and method of evaluation (multiple choice examination). To assess the educational benefits of this short exposure to radiology, we gave a preexamination and postexamination at the beginning and the end of each rotation. Comparison of scores between the pretest and post-test showed a significant learning gain for all rotations (P less than 0.01). There was no difference between groups scheduled early in the academic year compared with those with more clinical experience at the end of the year. We conclude that a well-structured brief junior rotation in radiology can effectively improve students' knowledge of imaging and its role in clinical evaluation.


Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) requires the packaging of tRNALys,3 from the host cell into the new viral particles. The GagPol viral polyprotein precursor associates with mitochondrial lysyl-tRNA synthetase (mLysRS) in a complex with tRNALys, an essential step to initiate reverse transcription in the virions. The C-terminal integrase moiety of GagPol is essential for its association with mLysRS. We show that integrases from HIV-1 and HIV-2 bind mLysRS with the same efficiency. In this work, we have undertaken to probe the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the complex of integrase with mLysRS. We first established that the C-terminal domain (CTD) of integrase is the major interacting domain with mLysRS. Using the pBpa-photo crosslinking approach, inter-protein cross-links were observed involving amino acid residues located at the surface of the catalytic domain of mLysRS and of the CTD of integrase. In parallel, using molecular docking simulation, a single structural model of complex was found to outscore other alternative conformations. Consistent with crosslinking experiments, this structural model was further probed experimentally. Five compensatory mutations in the two partners were successfully designed which supports the validity of the model. The complex highlights that binding of integrase could stabilize the tRNALys:mLysRS interaction.


In Reply.— Recently, investigators have reported 39 cases of hyperthyroidism without thyroid pain and/or tenderness associated with low radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU). Gluck and associates 1 have made a valuable contribution to the understanding of the cause of this syndrome by noting histological changes of chronic thyroiditis on thyroid biopsies performed in four cases. Although the changes of chronic thyroiditis have also been detected by other investigators, 2,3 there remains considerable controversy over whether patients with this thyroid disorder have a form of subacute thyroiditis or chronic thyroiditis. In an editorial in the JanuaryArchives(138:26-27, 1978), Woolf indicates that patients exhibit features of both disorders. The clinical course, low RAIU, and negative or weakly positive thyroid antibodies suggests subacute thyroiditis, while the absence of thyroidal pain, normal ESR and biopsy findings are consistent with chronic thyroiditis. Although the relative merits of these causes are debated in recent reports, editorials,


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of thiolated polycarbophil as an adjuvant to enhance the permeation and improve the stability of a phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide (PTO-ODN) on the nasal mucosa. Polycarbophil-cysteine (PCP-Cys) was synthesized by the covalent attachment of L-cysteine to the polymeric backbone. Cytotoxicity tests were examined on human nasal epithelial cells from surgery of nasal polyps confirmed by histological studies. Deoxyribonuclease I activity in respiratory region of the porcine nasal cavity was analyzed by an enzymatic assay. The enzymatic degradation of PTO-ODNs on freshly excised porcine nasal mucosa was analyzed and protection of PCP-cysteine toward DNase I degradation was evaluated. Permeation studies were performed in Ussing-type diffusion chambers. PCP-Cys/GSH did not arise a remarkable mortal effect. Porcine respiratory mucosa was shown to possess nuclease activity corresponding to 0.69 Kunitz units/mL. PTO-ODNs were degraded by incubation with nasal mucosa. In the presence of 0.45% thiolated polycarbophil and 0.5% glutathione (GSH), this degradation process could be lowered. In the presence of thiolated polycarbophil and GSH the uptake of PTO-ODNs from the nasal mucosa was 1.7-fold improved. According to these results thiolated polycarbophil/GSH might be a promising excipient for nasal administration of PTO-ODNs.


Correspondence-based shape models are key to various medical imaging applications that rely on a statistical analysis of anatomies. Such shape models are expected to represent consistent anatomical features across the population for population-specific shape statistics. Early approaches for correspondence placement rely on nearest neighbor search for simpler anatomies. Coordinate transformations for shape correspondence hold promise to address the increasing anatomical complexities. Nonetheless, due to the inherent shape-level geometric complexity and population-level shape variation, the coordinate-wise correspondence often does not translate to the anatomical correspondence. An alternative, group-wise approach for correspondence placement explicitly models the trade-off between geometric description and the population's statistical compactness. However, these models achieve limited success in resolving nonlinear shape correspondence. Recent works have addressed this limitation by adopting an application-specific notion of correspondence through lifting positional data to a higher dimensional feature space. However, they heavily rely on manual expertise to create domain-specific features and consistent landmarks. This paper proposes an automated feature learning approach, using deep convolutional neural networks to extract correspondence-friendly features from shape ensembles. Further, an unsupervised domain adaptation scheme is introduced to augment the pretrained geometric features with new anatomies. Results on anatomical datasets of human scapula, femur, and pelvis bones demonstrate that features learned in supervised fashion show improved performance for correspondence estimation compared to the manual features. Further, unsupervised learning is demonstrated to learn complex anatomy features using the supervised domain adaptation from features learned on simpler anatomy.


We performed a candidate gene association study of 43 polymorphisms in genes coding genes functioning in extracellular matrix remodeling, xenobiotic metabolism and antioxidant pathways in 257 children with severe chronic lung disease (CLD) and 335 controls. The frequencies of wild type/ wild type genotype of CYP2F1 (c.14_15insC) gene were significantly higher in CLD patients than in the healthy control group (Padj=0.000001; OR=3.16 2.10-4.77). Association with CLD and CYP1A1 gene polymorphisms (3798T>C and 2454A>G) in additive model (Padj=0.0003; OR=1.72 1.28-2.33 and Padj=0.001; OR=2.31 1.28-2.33) was found. The patients with CLD showed significantly elevated frequencies of the GSTT1 gene deletion (Padj=0.0003; OR=1.98 95% CI 1.36-2.89). The GSTP1 (313A>G) polymorphism was associated with CLD (for AA genotype Padj = 0.0046, OR=1.65 1.17-2.34). Regression analysis showed that CAT (-262C>T) CC genotype is associated with a 1.84 -fold increase (95% CI 1.22-2.65; Padj=0.0009) and NQO1 (465C>T) is associated with a 1.89 -fold increase (95% CI 1.19-3.02; Padj=0.006) in additive model. Association with CLD and MMP3 (-1171 5A>6A), MMP12 (-82A>G), MMP9 (2660A>G) and TIMP3 (-1296T>C) gene polymorphisms in dominant model was found (Padj=0.0013, OR=2.75 1.43-5.31; Padj=0.007, OR=1.83 1.16-2.89; Padj=0.017, OR=1.54 1.08-2.21; Padj=0.033, OR=1.48 1.11-2.01) Consequently, CYP2F1, CYP1A1, CAT, GSTP1, GSTT1, NQO1, MMP3, MMP9, MMP12 and TIMP3 genetic polymorphisms probably play a substantial part in susceptibility to severe pulmonary inflammation in children with CLD.


We describe a general method of calculating exciton energies in shallow quantum wells. This technique is applicable to both single- and multiple-quantum-well systems, and is valid for both type-I and type-II systems, even under circumstances where the valence- and/or conduction-band offsets may be small compared to the exciton binding energy. Quantitative predictions of excitonic energies and relative intensities are made and compared with experimental data on a number of different shallow-well diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum well and superlattice systems. Based on these comparisons, it is shown that the model indeed provides a detailed description and analysis of the type-I\char21{}type-II transition and the behavior of excitons in a spin superlattice. In addition, the model also predicts and describes certain additional phenomena, such as metastable ``above-gap'' excitons which should exist in certain type-II systems. Also, reentrant type-I\char21{}type-II\char21{}type-I transitions are predicted under some circumstances.


Objectives: To describe the beliefs and attitudes of U.S. neurosurgeons regarding the use of intracranial pressure monitors among comatose children with meningitis. Design and Setting: A questionnaire was administered by mail between March and July 2009, to a random sample of 500 adult neurosurgeons and to all 228 pediatric neurosurgeons in the Congress of Neurologic Surgeons. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: The response rate was 60%. Abnormal computed tomography scans, either with brain swelling or hydrocephalus, and older child age were likely to prompt neurosurgeons to consider monitoring intracranial pressure, whereas etiology of meningitis did not impact the decision to monitor intracranial pressure. Fifty-two percent of neurosurgeons believed computed tomography scans were inaccurate in detecting elevated intracranial pressure in comatose children with meningitis, 22% believed otherwise, and 26% were uncertain. Only 25% of neurosurgeons felt there was sufficient medical evidence to monitor intracranial pressure in comatose children with meningitis, with higher frequency among adult than pediatric (30% vs. 16%; p < .01) neurosurgeons. Eighty-one percent of neurosurgeons disagreed with the notion that comatose children with meningitis were too ill to benefit from placement of intracranial pressure monitors. Pediatric neurosurgeons reported a higher frequency than adult neurosurgeons of having placed more (more than five) intracranial pressure monitors in comatose children with meningitis (42% vs. 28%; p < .01). Conclusions: Most neurosurgeons are willing to consider monitoring intracranial pressure among comatose children with meningitis in the presence of abnormal findings on computed tomography scan and with older patient age. These findings are instructive in view of the current uncertainty and equipoise in clinical practice regarding intracranial pressure monitoring in these critically ill children.


This paper presents a SIM-based tool for user authentication in various service areas such as financial transactions in e-commerce. Other remote services can use SIM as an authentication tool over existing GSM technology through GPRS, which is an additional packet data feature for the GSM network. It allows both packet-switched and circuit-switched traffic to exist in the GSM infrastructure. As GPRS is designed to support packet based protocols, such as the Internet Protocol (IP) based bursty and uneven traffic flow, it enables new services such as reasonably fast access to the Internet, electronic mail and other data oriented services, that have been too inefficient in traditional circuit-switched digital mobile networks. Using GPRS features, the e-commerce applications can use SIM as user authentication for transactions. SIM can also be a tool for user identity and authentication around the corporate intranets. This can reduce security infrastructure setup and investment overhead for the security concerned organizations. This paper depicts an electronic payment protocol by means of SIM based authentication with the illustrations of its formal modelling & verification results.


The outgrowth of neuronal processes involves a great increase in the surface area of the cell. The supply of membrane material necessarily must be coordinated with the demands for neurite growth. The selective growth of only one or two neurites at any given time during the development of polarity raises the possibility that the production of materials by the soma is limiting for growth (Dotti and Banker, 1987; Dotti et al., 1988; Goslin and Banker, 1990). To examine the role of the availability of membrane components during the development of polarity and axonal elongation, we treated neurons with brefeldin A, an antibiotic that disrupts the trafficking of vesicles from the Golgi complex to the plasma membrane. Treatment with brefeldin A (1 μg/ml) inhibited axonal growth within 0.5 hr; in unpolarized cells it prevented the formation of an axon. These results indicate that the availability of membrane components of Golgi-derived vesicles is required for axonal growth and hence the development of polarity. Inhibitors of protein and RNA synthesis also blocked axonal growth and the development of polarity, but over a much slower time course. This suggests that the full complement of proteins and mRNAs required for the initial development of polarity is present for several hours before polarity is actually established.


Infants and children learn through the interaction of their nervous systems with their physical, social, and cultural environments, helped by their peers, parents, and teachers. The failure of such learning to progress normally in preschool children delays their acquisition of developmental skills and may lead to the identification of the child as being "developmentally delayed".

There is increasing understanding of processes underlying learning at different levels of complexity: from changes in synaptic function, through the identification of specific neuronal systems, to the cognitive and perceptual faculties which such systems may support,1 and extending to the logical structures required to represent what is learnt and to guide further learning.2 This has a counterpart in the considerable literature on how a child's learning may be influenced by social and cultural environments,3 4 by the attitude and responses of parents and carers, and by the child's ability to interact with them.

It is important clinically that we are able to identify impediments to learning in individual children, at such different levels, so that we can assess their effects and develop strategies to optimise subsequent learning for that child. We do not know how to influence damaged brain systems directly, but may be able to reduce the effects of neurological damage on subsequent learning and skill acquisition, which may in turn improve impaired perceptual or memory abilities. How can the child with neurological impairment be enabled to perceive, understand, respond to and explore their environment?

Infants and children learn through "active engagement", doing things together with a parent or carer, who enables and mediates the child's further exploration and understanding of the environment.3 We wish to provide examples to describe some of the neurological processes which may underlie such "active learning", and how it might be disrupted when they are …


The continuous-space symbiotic branching model describes the evolution of two interacting populations that can reproduce locally only in the simultaneous presence of each other. If started with complementary Heaviside initial conditions, the interface where both populations coexist remains compact. Together with a diffusive scaling property, this suggests the presence of an interesting scaling limit. Indeed, in the present paper, we show weak convergence of the diffusively rescaled populations as measure-valued processes in the Skorokhod, respectively the Meyer-Zheng, topology (for suitable parameter ranges). The limit can be characterized as the unique solution to a martingale problem and satisfies a "separation of types" property. This provides an important step toward an understanding of the scaling limit for the interface. As a corollary, we obtain an estimate on the moments of the width of an approximate interface.


Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are significant public health problem in India. Studies have shown a considerably higher prevalence of STIs among females as well as in high-risk groups. Thus, we conducted this study to estimate the prevalence of STIs and to find out its associated factors among women living with HIV/AIDS. Material & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the ART centre, Aligarh. A total of 170 HIV positive women were approached with study tools comprising of pre-structured proforma. NACO STIs Syndromes were used to estimate STIs. Data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0, keeping significance at p<0.05. Results: We found the self-reported prevalence of STIs in HIV positive women to be 18.2% (31/170) at the time of interview and 49.4% (84/170) ever since the diagnosis of HIV. Most of the HIV women were presently having vaginal/cervical or urethral discharge syndrome (93.5%) and genital ulcer syndrome (16.1%). STIs were significantly associated with uneducated females and with irregular use of condoms. Conclusion: This study found the prevalence of STIs to be still higher among HIV positive women, in spite of years of targeted interventions reducing it. A proper action and further researches are required to explore and manage variables associating STIs for reducing its prevalence


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of service quality and prices on patient satisfaction at the Yapida Gunung Putri Clinic, Bogor, both partially and simultaneously. While the method used is quantitative. The sampling technique used the Slovin formula and the sample in this study was 100 respondents. Data analysis used validity test, reliability test, classical assumption test, regression analysis, correlation coefficient analysis, coefficient of determination analysis and hypothesis testing. From the results of the study, service satisfaction has a simultaneous influence, service satisfaction and price s have an influence on patient satisfaction where Ha3 is accepted so that f count is 58.794 > f table 3.09. While the effect on patient satisfaction is seen based on the results of hypothesis testing, namely Ha1 is accepted where t count 6.030  > t table 1.984  and price s have an influence on patient satisfaction based on t count 3.944 > t table 1.984. Then Ha2 is accepted.
Keywords: Quality of Service, Rates, Patients.


The study of credit derivatives is one of the most popular and controversial issues that concerns the entire financial industry. Increases of defaults and bankruptcies during the recent credit crunch has stipulated a heated debate about the adequacy of the existing pricing and hedging methodologies for credit derivatives portfolios. The main objective of this thesis is to propose and evaluate a treatable framework that addresses many of the deferences of the standard market model for portfolios of credit instruments. After review and product introductions in CHAPTER 1 we first summarize the common simulation methods for pricing portfolio credit derivatives, then we propose an alternative methodology that is based on an economical sense of the models and market observables in CHAPTER 2. Such simulation method provides a testing environment which houses the asset value based models with reliable assumptions. Meanwhile, a PCA analysis on CDO market spreads is performed on market data in CHAPTER 3. In CHAPTER 4, we develop an old school dynamic model for credit derivative valuation, it match the market needs, fit quoted spreads while providing time evolution using historical market observable measure. Finally, combining together the model and simulation framework, we are able to construct hedging strategies based on simulation results in CHAPTER 5. We mainly focus on the utilization of default probabilities in pricing techniques and a close-form formula is provided to calculate probability of default from the proposed growth rate factor.


The critical properties of the three-dimensional XY model are studied in large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations by using a worm algorithm for the integer-current representation of the model. In large systems, singular behavior of the internal energy around the critical point is observed, and the finite-size scaling analyses of the superfluid stiffness lead us to find the critical inverse temperature Kc = 0.45416(1) and the correlation length critical exponent ν = 0.6708(5).


Background: Responses following BRCA1/2 genetic testing are relevant for the comprehension of risk status and may play a role in risk management decision making. The objective of this study was to evaluate a psychosocial telephone counseling (PTC) intervention delivered to BRCA1/2 mutation carriers following standard genetic counseling (SGC). We examined the effect of the intervention on distress and the concerns related to genetic testing. Methods: This prospective randomized clinical trial included 90 BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. We measured anxiety, depression, and genetic testing distress outcomes at intervention baseline and 6 and 12 months following disclosure. We evaluated the effects of SGC versus SGC plus PTC on psychological outcomes using intention-to-treat analyses through generalized estimating equations. Results: At 6 months, PTC reduced depressive symptoms (Z = −2.25, P = 0.02) and genetic testing distress (Z = 2.18, P = 0.02) compared with SGC. Furthermore, women in the intervention condition reported less clinically significant anxiety at 6 months (χ21 = 4.11, P = 0.04) than women who received SGC. We found no differences in outcomes between the intervention groups at the 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: As an adjunct to SGC, PTC delivered following disclosure of positive BRCA1/2 test results seems to offer modest short-term benefits for distress and anxiety. These results build upon a growing literature of psychosocial interventions for BRCA1/2 carriers and, given the potential impact of affect on risk management decision making, suggest that some carriers may derive benefits from adjuncts to traditional genetic counseling. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(3); 648–54


Background: Lost interdental papillae in the esthetic region are of great concern from the esthetic and functional point of view. We elicit a clinical study of papillary reconstruction in this article using injectable platelet-rich fibrin (I-PRF) as a nonsurgical procedure and compare its results to those of the subepithelial connective tissue graft (SECTG), being considered the gold standard method used to reconstruct interdental papillae. Methods: Twenty-four patients seeking treatment for black triangles were randomized into two groups: group A patients were treated with the SECTG technique, and group B patients were treated with I-PRF. Four injections were given at each papilla site at baseline, two-, four-, and six-week intervals to ensure optimal esthetics. Pain, clinical, and volumetric assessments were done. Volumetric assessment was completed through intraoral scanning of the papilla site at baseline and after six months, after which the results were obtained by superimposition of both scans. Results: Group A (5.08 ±2.15) had a significantly higher mean pain score value than group B (1.17 ±0.94) (p < 0.001). Group B (0.31 ±0.21) had a higher mean value of volumetric changes at the interdental papillae than group A (0.25 ±0.17), yet the difference was not significant (p = 0.517). Conclusion: Injectable platelet-rich fibrin gave comparable results to SECTG in Nordland Class I defects only, provided that the injection protocol was once every 15 days for a two-month period. Patients treated with I-PRF were more satisfied with the procedure and the results than patients who were treated with SECTG.


Abstract:
 Six species of recent brachiopods have been identified in material collected during the French Tarasoc Expedition to the Tarava Seamounts and the Society and Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia, in 2009. Two of them, Frenulina sanguinolenta (Gmelin, 1790) and Thecidellina maxilla (Hedley, 1899), have already been reported from the studied region. Two species, Discradisca sparselineata (Dall, 1920) and Septicollarina zezinae Bitner, 2009, are reported for the first time from French Polynesia, and two other species are described as new, Dallithyris tahitiensis Bitner, n. sp., and Annuloplatidia curiosa Bitner, n. sp., although the latter species was already recorded from French Polynesia, ascribed to a different taxon. When compared with the brachiopod fauna from the southwestern Pacific, that of French Polynesia is taxonomically depauperate, which might reflect the younger geological age of the islands of the central Pacific.


We consider the viscoelastic response of the electronic degrees of freedom in 2D and 3D topological insulators (TI's). Our primary focus is on the 2D Chern insulator which exhibits a bulk dissipationless viscosity analogous to the quantum Hall viscosity predicted in integer and fractional quantum Hall states. We show that the dissipationless viscosity is the response of a TI to torsional deformations of the underlying lattice geometry. The viscoelastic response also indicates that crystal dislocations in Chern insulators will carry momentum density. We briefly discuss generalizations to 3D which imply that time-reversal invariant TI's will exhibit a quantum Hall viscosity on their surfaces.


Authigenic clays are an important control on reservoir quality in lacustrine carbonates but remain challenging to predict. Lacustrine depositional systems respond to climatic variations in rainfall, surface runoff and groundwater input, and evaporation, and result in rapid and frequent changes in lake volume; this is expressed through changing water depth and shoreline position. In the upper portion of the Early Palaeocene Yacoraite Formation of the Salta Basin in Argentina, extensive lacustrine deposits were deposited during the sag phase of rifting. Prior high‐resolution stratigraphic studies have suggested that climatic factors control microbial carbonate sequences within a 'balanced fill' lake, with variation in the lake level having a major influence on facies association changes. This study characterizes the evolution of facies and mineralogy within the Yacoraite Formation, focusing on the distribution of clay minerals, making a link between the high, medium and low‐frequency sequence stratigraphic cycles. The low‐frequency transgressive hemicycle of the upper portion of the Yacoraite Formation is comprised of abundant siliciclastic facies, suggesting a wetter period. Microbialites occurring in this interval are coarse‐grained and agglutinated. Detrital clay minerals such as illite and chlorite and associated siliciclastic sediments were input to the lake during high‐frequency transgressive periods. During high‐frequency regressive hemicycles, sedimentation was dominated by carbonate facies with Ca‐rich dolomite and the authigenic clays are comprised of chlorite/smectite mixed‐layers. By contrast, the low frequency regressive hemicycle records fine‐grained agglutinated microbialite with horizons of fibrous calcite, more stoichiometric dolomite, barite and authigenic magnesian smectite. This indicates elevated ion concentrations in the lake under intense evaporation during an arid period. Understanding the conditions that are favourable for formation and preservation of authigenic clays within the lacustrine environment can improve understanding of reservoir quality in comparable economically important deposits.


Attention can be used to keep track of moving items, particularly when there are multiple targets of interest that cannot all be followed with eye movements. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate cortical regions involved in attentive tracking. Cortical flattening techniques facilitated within-subject comparisons of activation produced by attentive tracking, visual motion, discrete attention shifts, and eye movements. In the main task, subjects viewed a display of nine green "bouncing balls" and used attention to mentally track a subset of them while fixating. At the start of each attentive-tracking condition, several target balls (e.g., 3/9) turned red for 2 s and then reverted to green. Subjects then used attention to keep track of the previously indicated targets, which were otherwise indistinguishable from the nontargets. Attentive-tracking conditions alternated with passive viewing of the same display when no targets had been indicated. Subjects were pretested with an eye-movement monitor to ensure they could perform the task accurately while fixating. For seven subjects, functional activation was superimposed on each individual's cortically unfolded surface. Comparisons between attentive tracking and passive viewing revealed bilateral activation in parietal cortex (intraparietal sulcus, postcentral sulcus, superior parietal lobule, and precuneus), frontal cortex (frontal eye fields and precentral sulcus), and the MT complex (including motion-selective areas MT and MST). Attentional enhancement was absent in early visual areas and weak in the MT complex. However, in parietal and frontal areas, the signal change produced by the moving stimuli was more than doubled when items were tracked attentively. Comparisons between attentive tracking and attention shifting revealed essentially identical activation patterns that differed only in the magnitude of activation. This suggests that parietal cortex is involved not only in discrete shifts of attention between objects at different spatial locations but also in continuous "attentional pursuit" of moving objects. Attentive-tracking activation patterns were also similar, though not identical, to those produced by eye movements. Taken together, these results suggest that attentive tracking is mediated by a network of areas that includes parietal and frontal regions responsible for attention shifts and eye movements and the MT complex, thought to be responsible for motion perception. These results are consistent with theoretical models of attentive tracking as an attentional process that assigns spatial tags to targets and registers changes in their position, generating a high-level percept of apparent motion.


Since its debut in 2001 Wikipedia has attracted the attention of many researchers in different fields. In recent years researchers in the area of ontology learning have realised the huge potential of Wikipedia as a source of semi-structured knowledge and several systems have used it as their main source of knowledge. However, the techniques used to extract semantic information vary greatly, as do the resulting ontologies. This paper introduces a framework to compare ontology learning systems that use Wikipedia as their main source of knowledge. Six prominent systems are compared and contrasted using the framework.


The minimum energy configurations of ZnO clusters in beta cage of zeolite Y are reported. The energy minimization was applied to the distinct low energy configurations, collected during grand canonical Monte Carlo Simulations. The long range Coulombic potential between ions and short range interactions between ions in the form of Buckingham potential were considered. The shell model by Dick and Overhauser was added to treat anions as polarizable and the results are compared with the results without the shell model. The O-O interatomic distances of the clusters are longer and Zn-Zn distances are shorter when the shell model is applied. The minimum energy configurations of the (ZnO) 1 to (ZnO) 7 in the beta cage indicate strong interaction of Zn atom to the oxygens of 6-ring. The potential energy of the cluster decreases while the energy per ZnO increases for the larger cluster.


A 33-year-old man without medical history or cardiovascular disease risk factors presented with recurrent progressively worsening chest pain that had been preceded by few days of flu like illness. His initial ECG and troponin rise supported the diagnosis of myopericarditis for which he was treated with aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with good response initially. He later on developed severe recurrent chest pain and became tachycardic and hypotensive. Serial ECGs revealed a pattern of significant dynamic ST elevation in several leads, a pattern that is not usually seen in pericarditis. Subsequently, features of bedside echo did not support the diagnosis of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The patient did well on conservative management with NSAIDs. He did not undergo urgent coronary angiography which would not have offered the patient any clinical benefit at the time and would have put him at procedural risk unnecessarily. The diagnosis of myopericarditis was confirmed retrospectively with typical features on cardiovascular magnetic resonance.


Objective: An open-label placebo (OLP) is a placebo treatment in which the patient is aware that the treatment is a placebo. OLPs are considered effective for reducing pain, and previous studies have shown a stronger placebo effect for placebo acupuncture than for placebo pills. In this study, the authors compared the analgesic effects of OLP pills, OLP acupuncture, and a no treatment condition in healthy participants, and then examined the factors contributing to the OLP effect. Design: Randomized controlled crossover trial. Settings/Location: College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Subjects: 34 healthy participants. Intervention: Participants received three different treatments ("OLP-pill," "OLP-acupuncture," and "no treatment") on three separate days in random order. Outcome Measurements: Before and after the treatment, heat pain stimuli were applied to the participants' hands, and pain tolerance, intensity, and unpleasantness were measured using a visual analog scale (range, 0-10). Results: Data of 31 participants were included in the analysis. The authors found significant analgesic effects of the placebo pill and placebo acupuncture in the OLP condition. Regression analyses revealed that expectations regarding treatment and practitioner identity influenced the analgesic effects of OLP acupuncture. There was no adverse event. Conclusions: Expectations regarding treatment and practitioner identity influenced the analgesic effect of placebo acupuncture without deception. These findings provide new information regarding the cognitive factors underlying pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments. Clinical Trial Registration Number: KCT0004928.


This paper uses Chinese …rm-level data to document facts that run counter to the accumulated evidence about exporting …rms and provides a model that reconciles these contrasting patterns. The new facts are: (1) China's exporters are typically less productive and sell less in the domestic market than non-exporters, and (2) the distribution of export intensity exhibits a U-shape, with more than half of China's exporters exporting most of their output. Previous studies of …rms in more developed countries have found that exporters are more productive, sell more in the domestic market, and export only a small fraction of their output. The new facts call into question the generality of recent trade theory, which has been extremely successful in explaining the behavior of exporters in developed countries. However, I show that the economic forces described by Melitz (2003), when properly interpreted, are exactly the ones needed to explain the observed patterns among Chinese …rms. When countries di¤er in their factor endowment, sectors that are intensive in the locally abundant factor face higher competition in the domestic market than in foreign markets. Hence domestic rather than export markets select the most e¢ cient …rms. In the Chinese data, both the productivity di¤erences between exporters and non-exporters as well as the distribution of export intensity are systematically related to the labor intensity of the …rm or its industry. This relationship is exactly what is predicted by a Melitz model augmented to allow for factor intensity to vary by industry. Lastly, I show that the model correctly predicts the e¤ects of trade liberalization in China following China's integration into the WTO in 2001.


Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is worldwide endemic parasitic zoonosis caused by tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. In human, liver is most common organ affected up to 85%. Informal Working Group on Echinococcosis (IWGE) of World Health Organization (WHO) published a standard classification of the cysts based on ultrasound (1) and a consensus in 2010 suggesting treating with albendazol as first choice of treatment in uncomplicated CE1 and CE3a up to 5 cm (2). In the context of pandemic of COVID-19, patients who requires elective percutaneous or surgical treatment for symptomatic non-complicated hepatic CE must be delayed or suspended because this disease is not life threatening unless it's complicated and by the shortness of bed and the risk of intra-hospital COVID-19 infection. The aim of this case report is to describe the follow up of a patient with hepatic cystic echinococcosis who should have undergone elective precutaneous or surgical treatment, treated with albendazole in the context of a pandemic COVID-19.


The rumen degradability of four common Nigeria forages namely, Stylosanthes gracilis, Panicum maximum, Pennisetum purpureum, Centrosema pubescens were studied. The rumen degradability of the crude protein (CP), dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) contents of these forages were measured in four rumen-fistulated sheep weighing 9.6±0.07kg and using the nylon bag technique. A 4 x 4 latin square experimental design was used where four replicates of each forage were put in nylon bags measuring 7.5 x 10cm and incubated in the rumen of four sheep. The percentage disappearance of crude protein, dry matter and organic matter were monitored by withdrawing each bag at different time internals of 4, 8, 24 and 48hrs. The percent potential degradability of the forages at 48hrs were as follows: S. gracilis , CP (67%); DM (75%); OM (63%-); P. maximum , CP (57%), DM (50.12%), OM (40.36%); P. purpureum , CP (66%), DM (62.13%), OM (58.36%); C. pubescens , CP (50.7%), DM(51.1%), OM(51.06%). The DM and OM potential degradability for S. gracilis was significantly (p C. pubescens and P. maximum . There was however no significant (p>0.05) difference in the OM degradability of S. gracilis and P. purpureum . There was an inverse relationship between the crude fiber content of forages (Legumes and Grasses) and their rumen degradability. The data obtained in this study will help in formulating forage based diets that provide adequate rumen degradable and by pass proteins for optimum growth and productivity KEY WORDS: Rumen, sheep, degradability Nigerian Veterinary Journal Vol.25(1) 2004: 14-20


Soil salinization is a pressing agricultural problem in many areas of the world, particularly in areas heavily reliant on irrigation agriculture. While the negative effects of salinity on crop plants have been widely studied, its effects on soil microorganisms have received less attention, and the impact of soil salinity on both microbial community structure and functioning is not well understood. Soil microorganisms are important in regulating terrestrial biogeochemical processes and changes in microbial community structure and functioning in response to salinization could have far-reaching consequences for carbon and nutrient cycling. The main aims of this thesis were to (a) assess and compare the impact of salinity on different microbial processes in soil, (b) study the ability of soil microbial communities to adapt to increasing salinity and connect increased tolerance to changes in community composition and functioning, and (c) study the combined impact of salinity and another important environmental disturbance, drought. The impact of salinity on soil microorganisms was studied at three different time scales: (i) acute salt exposure, (ii) exposure over one month and (iii) naturally saline soils having experienced high salt concentrations over long time periods. I found that processes such as growth, respiration and N transformation rates were strongly negatively reduced in response to acute salt exposure. However, increased salt tolerance of the microbial community could be induced quickly, combined with a partial recovery of process rates. A strong relationship between soil salinity and community salt tolerance was also found along natural gradients of salinity. Higher community salt tolerance was reflected in shifts in the composition of the bacterial community. Fungi were less sensitive to salt exposure than bacteria, which manifested in less inhibition of fungal growth both after short-term and long-term exposure to salinity. When salinity was combined with drying of soils, the effects of the individual factors were exacerbated. Increased soil salinity also modified the microbial response to rewetting of died soil.In summary, soil salinity was found to be an important regulator of both microbial functioning and community composition. While microbial communities have a strong potential to adapt to increasing salt concentrations which can offset to some defree the loss of functioning of the microbial community, process rates are still reduced in saline soils compared to non-saline soils. Thus, as salt-affected soils increase in area, the ability of microorganisms in saline soils to sustain biogeochemical cycles need to be considered.