We employ a sample of 362 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) to calculate their integrated luminosities by integrating the spectral energy distribution (SED) constructed with multi-band (radio, IR, optical, UV and X-ray) data. We compare these luminosities with those estimated from monochromatic luminosities by multiplying them by the conventional bolometric correction factors. Our analysis shows that the integrated luminosities calculated from the SED are much larger than the bolometric luminosities estimated from monochromatic luminosities. Their departing behavior tightly correlates with radio luminosities. The relations between integrated and monochromatic luminosities are explored, which are regarded as empirical relations that might be more suitable to be applied to estimate integrated luminosities of FSRQs from their monochromatic luminosities.


Recent years have witnessed an improvement in the energy efficiency of capacitive sensor interfaces by more than three orders of magnitude. This paper reviews the architectural and circuit innovations that have contributed to this progress. The fundamental limit on the energy consumption of capacitive sensor interfaces is discussed, as well as the widely used figure-of-merit (FoM). Interfaces based on period modulation feature simple circuitry, but their power efficiency at higher resolution deteriorates. Those employing ΔΣ modulation achieve high resolution with improved efficiency but require operational transconductance amplifiers that do not easily scale with process and supply voltage. Interfaces using successive approximation techniques feature mostly digital circuitry achieving good power efficiency at medium resolution. To achieve higher resolution, they can also be employed as the front-end in a hybrid architecture, where a back-end based on ΔΣ modulation or a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) performs a fine measurement on the front-end's residue, resulting in high resolution and excellent energy efficiency simultaneously.


The objective of this study was to design and validate a unique bioreactor design for applying spatially selective, linear, cyclic strain to degradable and non-degradable polymeric fabric scaffolds. This system uses a novel three-clamp design to apply cyclic strain via a computer controlled linear actuator to a specified zone of a scaffold while isolating the remainder of the scaffold from strain. Image analysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) woven scaffolds subjected to a 3% mechanical stretch demonstrated that the stretched portion of the scaffold experienced 2.97% ± 0.13% strain (mean ± standard deviation) while the unstretched portion experienced 0.02% ± 0.18% strain. NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells were cultured on the PET scaffolds and half of each scaffold was stretched 5% at 0.5 Hz for one hour per day for 14 days in the bioreactor. Cells were checked for viability and proliferation at the end of the 14 day period and levels of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and collagen (hydroxyproline) were measured as indicators of extracellular matrix production. Scaffolds in the bioreactor showed a seven-fold increase in cell number over scaffolds cultured statically in tissue culture plastic petri dishes (control). Bioreactor scaffolds showed a lower concentration of GAG deposition per cell as compared to the control scaffolds largely due to the great increase in cell number. A 75% increase in hydroxyproline concentration per cell was seen in the bioreactor stretched scaffolds as compared to the control scaffolds. Surprisingly, little differences were experienced between the stretched and unstretched portions of the scaffolds for this study. This was largely attributed to the conditioned and shared media effect. Results indicate that the bioreactor system is capable of applying spatially-selective, linear, cyclic strain to cells growing on polymeric fabric scaffolds and evaluating the cellular and matrix responses to the applied strains.


Introduction: The engagement of women community health workers has been recognized as one key strategy to tackle the emergent shortage of health workers in developing countries. The ASHAs are instituted by the state as part of National Rural Health Mission of the Government of India for the grassroots health care delivery. The capacity building initiatives and empowerment of the local women are crucial for effective health care delivery of large section of rural population. The current study explores some of the crucial variables of the capacity building initiatives at the monthly meeting platforms at CHC/PHC in the state of UP. Research Methodology: A total of four districts of Uttar Pradesh were selected purposively for the study and the data collection was conducted in the villages of the respective districts with the help of a pre-tested structured interview schedule with both close-ended and open-ended questions. In addition, in-depth interviews were also conducted amongst the ASHAs and a total 250 respondents had participated in the study. Results: A large majority (90 percent) of the ASHAs attended and benefitted from the monthly meetings at various PHCs in their respective districts. The total duration of these meetings varied from 2-3 hours each in different districts and mainly the agenda of these meetings were review of daily work, training and problem solving. Additionally various other topics were covered in the meetings such as cord care and new-born care; however certain topics such as interpersonal skills, gender and equity were not dealt adequately. Difficulty and poor attendance in the meetings were also reported from Banda District of Bundelkhand region due to inaccessibility, challenges in travelling and frequent rescheduling of the meetings. Primarily the Health Education Officers were the leading facilitators of these meetings in the four districts. The benefits of these meetings were cited by the ASHAs as those built their level of confidence while working in the community and the inputs also enhanced the required level of knowledge on different health issues. At the same time, they also reported that their counseling skills as well as the quality of home visits had improved. Conclusions: The process of capacity building of ASHAs in the monthly meeting platforms could be considered as a significant strategy in developing the community health workforce. These meetings and training platforms are optimally utilized to improve the level of motivation, confidence, work skills, quality and quantity of their home visits. The meetings are more effective if the areas such as regular guidance, work related problem solving, record keeping and documentation of activities were discussed frequently.


Chrysanthemum is an important ornamental plant which is increasingly being monocropped. Monocropping is known to affect both fungal abundance and species diversity. Here, quantitative PCR allied with DGGE analysis was used to show that fungi were more abundant in the rhizosphere than in the bulk soil and that the fungal populations changed during the growth cycle of the chrysanthemum. The majority of amplified fragments appeared to derive from Fusarium species, and F. oxysporum and F. solani proved to be the major pathogenic species which are built up by monocropping.


Introduction: The aims were to assess residual deltoid ligament instability after lateral malleolus osteosynthesis and to compare the outcomes of deltoid suture and syndesmotic fixation. Methods: A consecutive series of 65 eligible patients with a displaced or minimally displaced fibula fracture identified on a stress radiograph were prospectively enrolled. The patients were randomized into two groups, namely, group I (deltoid repair) and group II (syndesmotic fixation). We assessed the competence of the deltoid ligament intraoperatively using a manual stress test. Only the patients with residual medial instability (Medial Clear Space greater than 4 mm) were randomly assigned for treatment by deltoid ligament repair with anchor or syndesmotic fixation. Results: Of all the patients, 60 (92.2%) had positive preoperative manual stress test results. After fracture osteosynthesis, the test results were still positive in 13 (21.6%) patients, 8 (13.3%) patients from group I, both superficial and deep layers sutured with a bone anchor, and 5 patients (8.3%) from group II, stabilized with a syndesmotic 4-cortical screw. At the end of the surgery, a new manual stress test was performed, which proved stability in all the patients. The average follow-up period was 23.5 months. In groups I and II, the AOFAS scores were 95 and 93, the EQ-5D measures were 0.758 and 0.743, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were 16.7 and 19.2, and the Medial Clear Space values were 2.7 ± 0.5 mm and 2.6 ± 0.4 mm, respectively, without statistically significant differences. Conclusion: In 21.6% of cases, residual medial instability persisted after osteosynthesis of the lateral malleolus. The deltoid repair and syndesmotic fixation groups showed similar functional and radiological outcomes. Level of Evidence II; Therapeutic Studies; Prospective Comparative Study.


Objective: To investigate the connections among social support, stress, and depression. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Guizhou Province in China. Population or Sample: An aggregate of 1,056 expectant ladies, had finished our questionnaire during pregnancy from March to April in 2020. Methods: The Edinburgh prenatal sadness scale, an independent pressure scale, and social support scale evaluated the downturn, stress, and social support of pregnant people during the pestilence. An auxiliary condition model was utilized to examine the immediate and aberrant connection between social support and prenatal misery. Main Outcome Measures: Incidence of depression. Results: During the pandemic time, 73.01% of pregnant ladies experienced prenatal misery. The model is suitable (chi-square = 11.96, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.07, RMR = 0.03). The auxiliary condition model indicated that the immediate pathway of social support to depression was critical (normalized pathway coefficient = - 0.34), and the aberrant pathway of stress to depression via social support was additionally huge (normalized pathway coefficient = 0.50). Stress partially intercedes the connection between social support and depression. Conclusion: Our discoveries posit that social support is related to an expanded danger of depression. Stress is decidedly corresponding to depression and assumes an interceding position between social support and stress. Thusly, directed mediation ought to be completed to lessen the depression of pregnant ladies and improve their psychological wellness status. Keywords: stress, depression, social support, structural equation model


Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is an excellent target for imaging and treatment of prostate carcinoma (PCa). Unfortunately, not all PCa cells express PSMA. Therefore, alternative theranostic targets are required. The membrane protein prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) is highly overexpressed in most primary prostate carcinoma (PCa) cells and in metastatic and hormone refractory tumor cells. Moreover, PSCA expression positively correlates with tumor progression. Therefore, it represents a potential alternative theranostic target suitable for imaging and/or radioimmunotherapy. In order to support this working hypothesis, we conjugated our previously described anti-PSCA monoclonal antibody (mAb) 7F5 with the bifunctional chelator CHX-A″-DTPA and subsequently radiolabeled it with the theranostic radionuclide 177Lu. The resulting radiolabeled mAb ([177Lu]Lu-CHX-A″-DTPA-7F5) was characterized both in vitro and in vivo. It showed a high radiochemical purity (>95%) and stability. The labelling did not affect its binding capability. Biodistribution studies showed a high specific tumor uptake compared to most non-targeted tissues in mice bearing PSCA-positive tumors. Accordingly, SPECT/CT images revealed a high tumor-to-background ratios from 16 h to 7 days after administration of [177Lu]Lu-CHX-A″-DTPA-7F5. Consequently, [177Lu]Lu-CHX-A″-DTPA-7F5 represents a promising candidate for imaging and in the future also for radioimmunotherapy.


Background The lack of trust in vaccines is a major contributor to vaccine hesitancy. To overcome vaccine hesitancy for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Australian government launched multiple public health campaigns to encourage vaccine uptake. This sentiment analysis examines the effect of public health campaigns and COVID-19–related events on sentiment and vaccine uptake. Objective This study aims to examine the relationship between sentiment and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and government actions that impacted public sentiment about the vaccine. Methods Using machine learning methods, we collected 137,523 publicly available English language tweets published in Australia between February and October 2021 that contained COVID-19 vaccine–related keywords. Machine learning methods were used to extract topics and sentiments relating to COVID-19 vaccination. The relationship between public vaccination sentiment on Twitter and vaccine uptake was examined. Results The majority of collected tweets expressed negative (n=91,052, 66%) rather than positive (n=21,686, 16%) or neutral (n=24,785, 18%) sentiments. Topics discussed within the study time frame included the role of the government in the vaccination rollout, availability and accessibility of the vaccine, and vaccine efficacy. There was a significant positive correlation between negative sentiment and the number of vaccine doses administered daily (r267=.15, P<.05), with positive sentiment showing the inverse effect. Public health campaigns, lockdowns, and antivaccination protests were associated with increased negative sentiment, while vaccination mandates had no significant effect on sentiment. Conclusions The study findings demonstrate that negative sentiment was more prevalent on Twitter during the Australian vaccination rollout but vaccine uptake remained high. Australians expressed anger at the slow rollout and limited availability of the vaccine during the study period. Public health campaigns, lockdowns, and antivaccination rallies increased negative sentiment. In contrast, news of increased vaccine availability for the public and government acquisition of more doses were key government actions that reduced negative sentiment. These findings can be used to inform government communication planning.


It is demonstrated that the known for a long time transition between the gap and the gapless states in the Abrikosov-Gor'kov theory of a superconductor with paramagnetic impurities is of the Lifshitz type, i.e. of the $2\frac12$ order phase transition. We reveal the emergence of a cuspidal edge at the density of states surface $N(\omega,\Delta_0)$ ($\Delta_0$ is the value of the superconducting order parameter in the absence of magnetic impurities) and the occurrence of the catastrophe phenomenon at the transition point. We study the stability of such a transition with respect to the spatial fluctuations of the magnetic impurities critical concentration $n_s$ and show that the requirement for validity of its mean field description is unobtrusive: $\nabla \left( {\ln {n_s}} \right) \ll \xi^{-1} $ (here $\xi$ is the superconducting coherence length). Finally, we show that, similarly to the Lifshitz point, the $2\frac12$ order phase transition should be accompanied by the corresponding singularities. For instance, the superconducting thermoelectric effect has a giant peak exceeding the normal value of the Seebeck coefficient by the ratio of the Fermi energy and the superconducting gap. The concept of the experiment for the confirmation of $2\frac12$ order transition nature is proposed. The obtained theoretical results can be applied for the explanation of recent experiments with lightwave-driven gapless superconductivity, for the new interpretation of the disorder induced transition $s_{\pm}$-$s_{++}$ states via gapless state in multi-band superconductors, for better understanding of the gapless color superconductivity in quantum chromodynamics, the string theory.


The second volume of The Heritage of Armenian Literature continues the highly acclaimed and monumental project of presenting Armenia's literary treasures to an English-speaking audience. Nowhere else can students and general readers easily find a comprehensive, English-language guide to these masterpieces, complete with important background information and vivid, accurate translations of key sample passages. Volume 2 takes readers through the medieval period up to the eighteenth century. As in the previous volume, the editors here offer a wide and varied range of readings that encompasses the literary panorama of this ancient civilization. They situate each work as extensively as possible within its theological, historical, and philosophical contexts, while highlighting aspects that will be meaningful to readers in light of modern scholarship.


Achillea tenuifolia (AT) is one of the most herbs are being used by people as a traditional medicinal remedy. Antioxidant activity of AT different extracts and total flavonoid and phenol levels in the extracts were investigated in this study. Plant extracts were prepared by maceration method using ethyl acetate, methanol and methanol-water (1:1). Folin Ciocalteu reagent in terms of gallic acid equivalent achieved the total phenol's content. AlCl3 was used as a reagent for flavonoid determination. Flavonoid content of the plant extracts obtained in terms of quercetin equivalent. DPPH radical scavenging effect of the extracts was determined by UV spectroscopy. Also in order to determine lipid peroxidation inhibition of the extracts of A. tenuifolia, ferric thiocyanate method with BHT, a synthetic reference standard, was carried out in this study. Phenol contents were 43.97 ± 0.034, 74.16 ± 0.55 and 106 ± 0.693 mg g-1 in the ethyl acetate, methanol and methanol-water extracts, respectively. Flavonoid amount obtained in the ethyl acetate, methanol and methanol-water extracts were 10.6 ± 1.85, 23.1 ± 0.5 and 190 ± 1.3 mg g-1, respectively. The percentage of DPPH radical scavenged by the most active extract (methanol-water) of A. tenuifolia was 92% at a concentration of 1 mgml-1 greater than 94% of BHT at 2 mgml-1. IC50 of methanol-water extract and BHT were 0.015 and 0.053 mgml-1, respectively. Lipid peroxidation inhibition was observed by the most polar extract of AT about 91.84%. Phenol and flavonoids content confirm the existence of more polar hydroxyl containing chemical structures in the plant. The potency of radical scavenging effect of methanol-water extract was about 3.5 times greater than synthetic antioxidant BHT. The inhibitory activity of the extracts on the lipid peroxidation of linoleic acid in ferric thiocyanate test was also significant (> 90%). In this study we concluded that there is a direct relation between phenol and flavonoid content of plant extracts and the antioxidant activity. So that the greater amount of phenolic compounds leads to more potent radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition activities as it was observed in A. tenuifolia polar extract in the present study.


Introduction: Trastuzumab emtansine(T-DM1) and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd, formerly DS-8201a), the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), are commonly used in metastatic breast cancer. However, their real-world safety profile has not been adequately compared. Objective: We aimed to investigate the adverse event (AE) profile of T-DM1 and T-DXd reported by the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). Methods: All indications were searched for T-DM1 and T-DXd, as primary suspected drugs, from FAERS data (January 2004 to June 2023). Disproportionality analyses were performed by reporting odds ratios (ROR) and proportional reporting ratio (PRR). The odds ratio (OR) of fatal AEs associated with T-DM1 and T-DXd under different exposure factors were performed by univariate and multivariate logistical regression analysis. Results: 3723 and 2045 reports of T-DM1 and T-DXd were submitted to FAERS. Finally, 94 and 61 significant signals for T-DM1 and T-DXd were systematically analyzed. The valid AEs with the highest frequency and the strongest signal intensity for T-DM1 were platelet count decreased (n=108) and hepatopulmonary syndrome (ROR=680.42), respectively. Interstitial lung disease (n=262, ROR=82.55) and pneumonitis (n=89, ROR = 48.34) showed both high frequency and strong signal intensity for T-DXd. The proportion of AEs in each SOC system was different. T-DM1 had a greater proportion of valid AEs in the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, hepatobiliary system, ocular system, cardiac system and hematologic system(p<0.05). T-DXd had a greater proportion of valid AEs in the skin disorders, respiratory system, infestations, general system and gastrointestinal system(p<0.05). Furthermore, the analysis of fatal AEs in four systems revealed that T-DXd exhibited a significantly higher proportion of fatal outcomes in the hematologic and respiratory system compared to T-DM1. Conversely, T-DM1 had a significantly higher proportion of fatal outcomes in the hepatobiliary system. Neither T-DM1 nor T-DXd exhibited a high mortality ratio in the cardiac system. Logistic regression analysis indicated that advanced age (≥65 years) and male gender were identified as independent risk factors of fatal AEs for both T-DM1 and T-DXd. Additionally, the drug combination therapy, particularly with a CYP3A4 inhibitor, was found to be a risk factor for fatal AEs specifically related to T-DXd. Conclusions: Hematological and respiratory toxicity of T-DXd and hepatobiliary toxicity of T-DM1 exhibited a high incidence of fatal outcomes. It is crucial to identify high-risk factors and enhance the monitoring of AEs during clinical application.


The effect of water on "antiplasticization" and plasticization of green and roasted coffee was studied by textural analysis, sorption isotherms, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). From BET monolayer value to a(w) = 0.61 and 0.75 for green and roasted coffee, respectively, the solid matrix hydration occurred and water induced hardening. Very short NMR T(2) values and the concomitant absence of any DSC endothermic peak assignable to water freezing were observed at these a(w) values. When solid matrix hydration was completed, water started to act as a plasticizing agent, the compressive modulus started to decrease, and NMR revealed the appearance of a new proton pool with increased mobility. According to DSC, only when the plasticizing effect became important did water present enough mobility to freeze. Above this moisture value (a(w) = 0.78 and 0.86 for green and roasted coffee, respectively), water determined a decrease of bean hardness and a further decrease of the elastic modulus.


At the up-stream of the Horoman river, Hidaka province, felsic metamorphic rocks which are mainly composed of biotite hornfels, biotite migmatite, tonalitic migmatite and coarse biotite diorite are enclosed in gabbro-diorite on a small scale. The biotite hornfels is not homogeneous and has clots of plagioclase-biotite rock with sub-glomeroporphylitic texture of biotite. In biotite and tonalite migmatites, the sub-igneous textures are recognized, and in their inclusions such as plagioclase-biotite or plagioclase-hornblende rocks the sub-diabase texture are also observed. The migmatites, coarse biotite diorite, and their inclusions are considered to be the products of the metamorphism which differentiated from biotite hornfelsic rocks in the early and middle stages of the mechanical movement. The gabbro-diorite has the relict texture of the migmatite and it seems that the gabbro-diorite was intruded before the stage of the migmatization. No contact effects are found between the felsic metamorphic rock and the gabbro-diorite.


Background Chemical cues provide aquatic organisms with sensory information that guides behavioural responses and thus interactions among themselves, each other and the environment. Chemical cues are considered important for predator avoidance, foraging, larval settlement and broadcast spawning in aquatic environments. However, the significance of their role as drivers of direct interactions between heterospecifics has been largely overlooked. Methodology/Principal Findings A video camera and a demarcated arena were used in situ to record behavioural responses of three native gastropod species, Assiminea cf. capensis, Melanoides tuberculata and Coriandria durbanensis, exposed to treatments representing chemical cues released by a non-native invasive gastropod, Tarebia granifera. The responses were measured quantitatively as displacement and orientation of movement at locations in St Lucia Estuary, within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east coast of South Africa. All native gastropods exhibited a negative taxis response to chemical cues released by T. granifera, while T. granifera individuals responded randomly to conspecifics. Displacement was measured relative to the source of the extract, the number of steps taken were determined with path analysis and orientation was determined from the mean (±95% CIs) turning angles, with significant negative turning angles representing negative taxis. Responses to treatments corresponding to the environment and conspecifics were random and undirected, indicating kinesis. Conclusion/Significance This study presents evidence for interactions driven by chemical cues between a non-native invasive gastropod and several gastropods native to South Africa. The results indicate that chemical cues can facilitate invasion success as the behavioural response of native gastropods is to move away allowing additional food and space resources to become available to T. granifera.


The oral rehabilitation of edentulous patients with immediate loading has become a safe procedure with high predictability. The success is related to immediate fabrication of a passive fit framework to attach the implants. Based on these considerations, this case report shows an alternative technique for mandibular rehabilitation using implants immediately loaded, where the framework was fabricated using cylinders with internal reinforcement and precast pieces, electrowelding, and conventional welding providing esthetics and function to the patient in a short period of time.


Organocatalytic ring-opening polymerization (ROP) reactions of three renewable 5-alkyl δ-lactones, namely δ-hexalactone (HL), δ-nonalactone (NL) and δ-decalactone (DL), using diphenyl phosphate (DPP) were investigated. Room temperature, together with a relatively high monomer concentration (≥3 M), was demonstrated to be suitable for achieving a living ROP behavior, a high conversion of the lactone, a controlled molecular weight and a low dispersity of the polyester. HL, containing a 5-methyl substituent, showed a much higher reactivity (polymerization rate) and a slightly higher equilibrium conversion than the compounds with longer alkyl substituents (NL and DL). The effectiveness of DPP-catalyzed ROP of 5-alkyl δ-lactones facilitated the one-pot performance following the t-BuP4-promoted ROP of monosubstituted epoxides. It has been shown in an earlier study that substituted polyethers acted as "slow initiators" for non-substituted lactones. However, efficient initiations were observed in the present study as substituted lactones were polymerized from the substituted polyethers. Therefore, this reinforces the previously developed "catalyst switch" strategy, making it a more versatile tool for the synthesis of well-defined polyether–polyester block copolymers from a large variety of epoxide and lactone monomers.


The explants from 17-day old embryos of A and C57BL mice were used for long-term organ cultures. The following series of explants were studied: 1) the intact control explants; 2) the explants treated by NMU; 3) the explants treated by BP; 4) the explants isolated from mesenchyma (M); 5) the explants isolated from M and treated by NMU; 6) the explants isolated from M and treated by BP. The survival of explants treated by NMU or BP did not differ from the intact control explants (p less than 0.1). The removal of M decreased the survival only in the explants from the distal RT of A mice (p 0.01). The survival of explants isolated from M and treated by NMU or BP was significantly lower than it was in intact explants (p less than 0.01-0.001). Thus, the destruction of epithelial-mesenchymal interaction induced by removal of M can modulate the toxic effect of pulmonotropic carcinogens.


Introduction: The Ets-transcription factor Etv1 is involved in epithelial-mesenchymal interactions during pancreatic development and shows enhanced expression in PanIN as well as in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Therefore, we aimed to identify the mechanistic roles of Etv1 in EMT and invasion in PanIN and PDAC. Methods: Cells were isolated from Pdx1Cre;Kras G12D/+ -mice (PanIN) and Pdx1Cre;Kras G12D/+ ;p53 R175H/+ -mice (PDAC) and lentiviral tranduction was used to induce overexpression or knockdown (shRNA) of Etv1, respectively. Cells were grown in 3D organotypic culture to analyze morphology and growth behavior. Invasion and sphere formation (self-renewal) assays were performed. FACS-sorting was used to isolate CD44+/CD24+ cells as a putative cancer stem cell population in PDAC and analyzed for Etv1 expression. To assess the role of Etv1 in PDAC in vivo, orthotopic pancreatic xenograft transplantation of Etv1 overexpressing PDAC cells was performed. Results: Etv1 overexpression in PanIN cells grown in 3D-organotypic culture induces a spindle shaped morphology and highly perturbed cyst architecture in contrast to control PanIN cells that form spheroid cysts that resemble normal pancreatic ductal structures. Concurrently and consistently, EMT-related genes (snail, twist, zeb1 and zeb2, as well as vimentin and N-cadherin) were found upregulated by >2-fold in PanIN-mEtv1 cells. Moreover, the expression of Mmp3 and Mmp9 was significantly increased. Functionally, the invasive capacity of PanIN-mEtv1 cells was more than twice that of control cells; knockdown of Etv1 in PDAC-cells significantly abrogated their invasive capacity. In sphere forming assays PanIN-mEtv1 cells revealed an increased self-renewal capacity, whereas sphere formation is reduced by knockdown of Etv1 in PanIN as well as in PDAC cells. FACS-sorting and subsequent expression analysis revealed increased Etv1 levels in the putative cancer stem cell population of CD44+/CD24+ PDAC-cells. Data from orthotopic xenografts showed significantly larger tumors, significantly increased stromal expansion measured by trichrome staining, and increased local tumor invasion in Etv1-overexpressing cells compared to controls. The increased stromal expansion significantly correlated to the increased tumor volume observed in Etv1 over-expressing xenografts. Conclusion: Our novel data indicate that Etv1 induces EMT as well as invasion both in vitro and in vivo and mediates self-renewal capacity of premalignant cells derived from PanIN- as well as PDAC-cells. Our in vivo data suggest a role for Etv1 in expanding the stromal compartment. These striking data suggest that Etv1 is biologically important in EMT. In vivo experiments with conditional knockout of Etv1 in Pdx1Cre;Kras G12D/+ ;p53 R175H/+ -mice are ongoing to further elucidate the role of Etv1 in PanIN and PDAC initiation and progression. Citation Format: Koushik K. Das, Steffen Heeg, Maximilian Reichert, Shigetsugu Takano, Basil S. Bakir, Gregory P. Botta, Christopher Hahn, Andrew D. Rhim, Anil K. Rustgi. The Ets-transcription factor Etv1 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and invasion as well as expands the stromal compartment in vivo. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment; May 18-21, 2014; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(13 Suppl):Abstract nr A46.


One of the most difficult properties to derive for stars is their age. For cool main-sequence stars, gyrochronology relations can be used to infer stellar ages from measured rotation pe- riods and HR Diagram positions. These relations have few calibrators with known ages for old, long rotation period stars. There is a significant sample of old Kepler objects of inter- est, or KOIs, which have both measurable surface rotation periods and precise asteroseismic measurements from which ages can be accurately derived. In this work we determine the age and the rotation period of solar-like pulsating KOIs to both compare the rotation properties of stars with and without known planets and enlarge the gyrochronology calibration sample for old stars. We use Kepler photometric light curves to derive the stellar surface rotation peri- ods while ages are obtained with asteroseismology using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal in which individual mode frequencies are combined with high-resolution spectroscopic pa- rameters. We thus determine surface rotation periods and ages for 11 planet-hosting stars, all over 2 Gyr old. We find that the planet-hosting stars exhibit a rotational behaviour that is consistent with the latest age-rotation models and similar to the rotational behaviour of stars without detected planets. We conclude that these old KOIs can be used to test and calibrate gyrochronology along with stars not known to host planets.


REPORT OF A CASE A 64-year-old white man received a cadaveric renal transplant in May 1989 for end-stage renal disease secondary to hypertension. His medical problems included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, and cholelithiasis. The posttransplantation immunosuppressive regimen consisted of cyclosporine (1.5 to 1.7 mg/d), azathioprine (50 mg/d), and prednisone (17.5 mg/d). Other concomitant medications included verapamil, digoxin, furosemide, metolazone, spironolactone, ranitidine, colace, and potassium (oral slow release). Renal function remained excellent: serum creatinine averaged 80 μmol/L. Cyclosporine levels at trough ranged from 90 to 200 ng/mL (target range, 100 to 225 ng/mL). Creatinine clearance varied: 0.8 to 1 μmol/L. Five months after transplantation, he began complaining of yellowish-white papules and nodules on the ventral pads of his fingers. This continued to progress, and the ventral aspect of his fingers became acutely ten- der, swollen, pruritic, and erythematous (Figure 1). Serum uric acid levels varied from a low


Cylindrical test samples were compressed statically and dynamically at temperatures ranging from +100 to -195°C and the yield stress, form of yield and surface markings observed. A Hopkinson bar and throw -off rod and electric resistance strain gauges were used for stress determinations under dynamic loads. The stress necessary to in intiate yield rises steeply with fall in temperature and is accompanied by a change in mechanism of deformation from normal slip to the formation of Neumann lamellae at a critical temperature. The critical temperature is higher under dynamic loading, but there appears to be a critical stress for the formation of Neumann lamellae, whether caused by high rates of loading or low temperatures.


ABSTRACT One hundred and twenty Cobb 500 hens, 20 wk of age, were randomly allocated into individual cages with the objective of estimating their Zn requirements. The study was composed of 3 phases: adaptation to cages (basal diet), depletion (deficient diet containing 18.7 ± 0.47 ppm Zn) for 7 wk, and experimental phases. Hens were fed diets with graded increments of Zn sulfate heptahydrate (ZnSO4·7H2O), totaling 18.7 ± 0.47, 50.3 ± 10.6, 77.3.0 ± 11.0, 110.2 ± 12.8, 140 ± 12.2, and 170.6 ± 13.2 ppm analyzed Zn in feeds for 12 wk (experimental phase). Requirements of Zn were done using quadratic polynomial (QP), broken line quadratic (BLQ), and exponential asymptotic (EA) models. In general, the non‐linear statistical models were the ones that best fit the results in this study. Requirements obtained for hen day egg production and settable egg production were 83.3, 78.6 ppm and 61.4, 65.4 ppm for period of 33 to 36 wk, and 63.3, 53.1 and 60.4, 46.1 ppm for period of 37 to 40 wk, and 62.8, 52.8, and 67.7, 62.1 ppm for period of 41 to 44 wk, respectively, using BLQ and EA models. Total eggs and total settable eggs produced per hen had Zn requirements estimated as 75.7, 64.7 ppm, and 56.5, 41.5 ppm, respectively, for BLQ and EA models, whereas for alkaline phosphatase and eggshell percentage were 161.8, 124.9 ppm and 126.1, 122.4 ppm, using QP and BLQ models. Maximum responses for Zn in yolk for periods of 37 to 40 and 41 to 44 wk were 71.0, 78.1 and 64.5, 59.6 ppm, respectively, using BLQ and EA models. Breaking strength had Zn requirements estimated at 68.0 and 96.7 ppm, whereas eggshell palisade layer and eggshell thickness were maximized with 67.9, 67.9 ppm, and 67.7, 64.4 ppm, respectively, for BLQ and EA models. The average of all Zn requirement estimates obtained by EA and BLQ models in the present study was 72.28 ppm or 11.1 mg/hen/d.


This is a review of 418 patients with cancer of the pyriform sinus who had complete treatment at University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital, treated over a 28‐year time span. Treatment modalities used included radiation therapy, surgery, and planned combined treatment, primarily in the form of surgery and postoperative radiation therapy. Superficial lesions, with no impairment of laryngeal motility, are suitable for irradiation therapy planned for cure. (The policies of treatment have changed throughout the years). Analysis is made comparing the results of the larger groups of patients treated by surgery only, or surgery followed by postoperative radiation therapy. There is a significant lower incidence of failure above the clavicle in the combined treatment group, and a better 5‐year survival. Rate of recurrences and the specific sites of failure above the clavicles are discussed, as well as the means of preventing such. The causes of death between 2 and 5 years are presented.


The invention relates to a lubricant pump (1), in particular for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, comprising a housing (3) in which at least one pair (4) of intermeshing gear wheels (5) is disposed for delivering lubricant, wherein a first of the gear wheels is rotatably mounted on a drive shaft and the second of the gear wheels (5) is rotatably mounted on an axially displaceable displacement unit (6) for adjusting a variable volume to be delivered, and further comprising a control piston (16) which can be moved axially in a receptacle (15) of the housing (3) for hydraulically adjusting the position of the displacement unit (6), wherein the control piston (16) has a central longitudinal shaft (17) and cylinder rings (18-21) enclosing control edges (18', 18"; 19', 19") for exposing or closing control channels (12, 13) opening into the receptacle (15). The control piston (16) is designed as a composite component (31), wherein the cylinder rings (18-21) are produced from a material which reduces friction and/or wear with respect to the receptacle (15), and the central longitudinal shaft (17) is produced at least in some sections from a material which has a coefficient of thermal expansion that corresponds at least substantially to that of the receptacle (15). The invention further relates to a control piston for a lubricant pump.


New tools to detect exposure of free-range Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) to pathogenic mycobacteria would be valuable for improved disease surveillance and wildlife management. Two hundred sera from wild boar of known Mycobacterium bovis infection status were used to evaluate test suitability for the detection of antibodies against M. bovis and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (or cross-reacting members of the M. avium complex). Two traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were evaluated using M. bovis purified protein derivative (bPPD) and paratuberculosis protoplasmatic antigen 3 (PPA3) as antigens, respectively, and a new point-of-care test format for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) that uses the innovative dual-path platform (DPP TB) test. The effect of individual factors (sex, age, lesions) on the diagnostic performance of the serologic tests was also determined. Although the DPP had a sensitivity of 89.6% and a specificity of 90.4%, for bPPD, the sensitivity was 79.2% and the specificity 100%. Both tests had a kappa agreement of 0.80. Sixty-five of 68 (95.6%) wild boar sera with antibodies against the PPA3 antigen corresponded to known M. bovis–infected wild boar. Significant differences were not observed in the bPPD and DPP readings among lesion categories or between age classes. A slight sex-related difference in sensitivity toward males in the DPP was found, but it was not detected in the bPPD enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results support the use of antibody-based diagnostic tests for both large-scale and individual bTB testing of Eurasian wild boar and suggest that wild boar cannot be used as sentinels for infections caused by M. avium complex members.


The operation of a microwave photonic link is thoroughly investigated both theoretically and experimentally. To this aim, we have developed a simulation tool based on an accurate physical model embedded in a radio frequency (RF) chain simulator. The theoretical predictions are tested on an intensity modulation-direct detection (IMDD) link we have specifically developed to this purpose. Our simulation tool takes into account both optical and electrical characteristics of the link components including the laser dynamics and impedance matching networks. It thus enables an accurate understanding of the different physical and electrical phenomena governing the link's performances even under unusual operation conditions. Specifically, we were able to isolate an unusual behavior and to confirm it experimentally. It is thereby clear that the noise figure of a microwave optical link can be lower than the electrical losses, such as a mismatched output passive electrical network. This state is reached when the optical losses are high enough and when the link's output impedance is mismatched, too.


The first retrieval of hourly atmospheric radiocesium concentrations during March 12-23, 2011 just after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FD1NPS) accident was already published by measuring radionuclides in Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) on the filter-tapes installed in SPM monitors with beta-ray attenuation method at 40 sites operated by local governments in the air pollution monitoring network of eastern Japan (Scientific Reports, 2014). Since then, hourly atmospheric radionuclides in SPM have been measured at around 100 SPM monitoring stations, and the dataset has been also published on a website (Journal of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences, 2015). In this paper, we will introduce new findings by the synthetic analysis of not only those data but also radiation dose rates at many monitoring sites, atmospheric radionuclides independently measured at several sites, and meteorological data by Japan Meteorological Agency. From the FD1NPS, 7 and 6 plumes/polluted air masses with high radionuclides were found to be transported to southern Tohoku region including the Fukushima prefecture, and to the central Kanto region including Tokyo Metropolitan Area located more than 170 km southwest of the FD1NPS, respectively. Many peaks of radiation dose rate were already observed at many monitoring stations, and a one-to-one correspondence could be identified between a peak of radiation dose and a plume/polluted air mass of radionuclides. Many case studies on the transport of plume/polluted air masses have been also made, and which clearly demonstrates that local meteorological conditions such as land and sea breezes, precipitation, and temperature inversion layers near the surface coupled with topography could greatly affect the transport pathways of radioactive materials, their maximum concentrations, and their deposition to the land surface.


The runoff of the Huanghe contains a great amount of suspended load and forms the high-density underflows (hyperpycnal currents) at the river mouth. The sediments over the subaqneous delta are mainly transported by the underflow. The sediment texture gradually get fining seawards, which relates to the attenuation of the hyperpycnal currents and hypopycnal plumes. Being hydraulically equivalent to the medlum-silt-sized quartz, which is the dominant component in the sediments, the clastic mica concentrates on the delta. The maximum thickness of the subaqueous delta is about 16m and the period of accumulation lasted from 12 to 16 years, therefore its sedimentary rate ranges from 110 to 130 cm/a.


On November 24, 2017, the State Council of China issued an urgent notice concerning launching a nationwide inspection of the standardization of kindergarten management and education. Triggered by several recent kindergarten abuse claims, China is aiming to reduce the occurrence of such cases in an effective way. From a lifecourse epidemiological perspective, such abuse experiences in the early life can jeopardize children's behavior, physical and especially mental health in adulthood (1–5). There are a total estimation of 239 thousand kindergartens and 82 million population aged 0–4 in China by 2016 (6, 7). Therefore, such a nationwide inspection could be considered a large-scale public health intervention program. These recent abuse cases, found out accidentally by parents at home, imply that an unknown number of adolescent and adult mental (sometimes physical) health issues may stem from what has happened but been unseen or intentionally kept hidden in kindergarten, with suspicions that during that period children were under duress and hence not capable of proper and adequate communication about abuse issues with their guardians in kindergarten.


The wetting transition in a closed system is analytically discussed based on the Sullivan model. The wetting transition is first order for the finite system, while it becomes of second order for the infinite one. In addition, the temperature TW of the wetting transition becomes lower as the separation of the two walls decreases.


This study reports the effect of long-term (8 days) addition of bile salts in the duodenal lumen of the pig in which the bile enterohepatic cycle was fully maintained. Seventeen pigs were fitted with permanent fistulae in the bile duct and the duodenum. The bile collected in 9 pigs was returned to the intestine, while that of the other 8 pigs was returned after a 30 p. 100 excess in bile salts, supplied by lyophilized porcine bile, had been added. At the end of the 8-day experimental period, the enzymes were determined in the fresh total pancreatic glands of all the pigs. The results showed no significant differences in lipase, colipase, amylase, chymotrypsin or trypsin activities in either group of animals. The existence of an in vivo relationship between bile salts and colipase secretions is hypothesized.


Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study examined whether school-aged second-generation heritage speakers exhibit knowledge of the semantic and pragmatic constraints on Spanish copula selection with adjectives, and whether experiential factors affect copula interpretation. Design/methodology/approach: Following a between-subjects design, we administered 2 Picture Selection Tasks to 50 second-generation bilingual children (ages 5;1–14;10) and 21 first-generation adults living in the same community in central Texas. Task 1 included real adjectives and Task 2 novel adjectives. We administered a morphosyntactic proficiency test in English and Spanish (BESA/BESA-ME) to the children and obtained language exposure and use data. Data and analysis: Using generalized linear mixed models, analyses compared bilingual children to first-generation adults in their selection of the temporary picture with each copula (ser vs. estar), and also examined the role of age, language exposure/use, and morphosyntactic proficiency. Findings/conclusions: Only children with high Spanish morphosyntactic proficiency approached adult-like sensitivity to the semantic and pragmatic distinctions between ser and estar with adjectives. Age, Spanish exposure and use, and English proficiency did not significantly influence performance on the tasks. Originality: This study provides the first detailed examination of the acquisition of copula selection with adjectives in Spanish-English school-aged heritage speakers living in the US. Significance/implications: This study offers evidence of the vulnerability of aspect, as instantiated in Spanish copula selection, among school-aged bilingual children. It also suggests low-proficiency children might be a catalyzing locus of the accelerated changes in copula use.


Welcome to the 2016 Proceedings of the Eurographics Symposium on Rendering! This marks the 27th annual instance of the conference that focuses on all aspects of rendering. This year, the conference is being hosted at the beautiful Trinity College Dublin, Ireland on 22-24 June 2016, and is co-located with the conference on High Performance Graphics, as well as the workshop on Material Appearance Modeling. This is an exciting opportunity for researchers of various communities to meet over five inspiring days of Computer Graphics.


A female infant with early-onset GM1-gangliosidosis type I was investigated. The lymphocytes, transformed lymphocytes and cultured skin fibroblasts of the patient were demonstrated to have severe beta-D-galactosidase deficiency. The beta-D-galactosidase activities of these cells from the patient's father and mother were at the lower limit of the normal range. The oligosaccharide accumulation in urine of the patient showed the typical type I GM1-gangliosidosis pattern, but no GM1 ganglioside was detected in the patient's urine or transformed lymphocytes. The clinical features were compatible with infantile GM1-gangliosidosis. The mixture of homogenates from the cultured fibroblasts or transformed lymphocytes of the patient and controls showed no complementation of beta-D-galactosidase activity against the controls.


This paper considers the benefits of participating in a Photographic electronic Narrative (PeN) project funded through a mid-career fellowship scheme and hosted at an independent, part community funded resettlement scheme (RS), located outside of the prison estate in England, for men released on temporary licence (ROTL) and others on community sentences referred through probation (trainees). After two years, two interrelated and significant outcomes have emerged, firstly, that the PeN project through the co-creation of blog posts, has given trainees an opportunity to imagine future selves (Giordano et al 2002, Hunter and Farrall 2018), with the research encounter a means of bearing witness to this and the trauma of criminalisation (Anderson 2016). Secondly, creating and posting PeN project blogs has created a virtual space for these imagined future selves to be articulated and, crucially, it gives trainees' families, friends and the wider community a means of also bearing witness to trainees' desistance narratives (Anderson 2016).


The present study explains how empowerment is perceived by employees in the service sector (banking sector). The study also examines the level of psychological empowerment and its cognitions meaning, competence, self-determination and impact among employees of different sectors of banks. 337 employees from private sector, public sector and new generation banks participated in this study. One way ANOVA was conducted to find out whether psychological empowerment and its cognitions vary on the basis of three different sectors of banks. Post-hoc test was conducted to find out which sector differs significantly. The findings from the study indicate that employees' psychological empowerment does not differ on the basis of different sectors of banks, but there is a difference in cognitions of psychological empowerment in meaning cognition and impact cognition of employees.


ACUTE ENDOCARDITIS is uncommon in early childhood and especially so in infancy. The purpose of this paper is to report in detail a case occurring in a newborn infant, to give an account of 13 others in children under age of 2 years, and to review the literature. REPORT OF CASE IN A NEWBORN A healthy woman aged 21 years was delivered of her first child on May 30, 1952. Delivery was normal, and the infant, a girl, weighed 8 lb. 6 oz. (3,800 gm.) at birth. She was routinely examined on the second day and presented no evidence of any abnormality. Breast feeding was instituted, and progress was satisfactory until the evening of the seventh day. She then vomited several times and was found to have a rectal temperature of 102.6 F. Examination showed a distended abdomen, with palpable liver and spleen. The terminal phalanx of the left thumb


AGILE Project is developing the 3rd generation MDO processes, which will support the development of the next generation aerospace products. The establishment of effective collaborative design methodologies, is currently acknowledged as the key enabler for future product development processes. At the same time, the need to introduce collaborative design techniques within educational activities is also well recognized by the Academic, Research and Industrial communities. AGILE project supported by European Commission's H2020 Programme, is setting the "AGILE Paradigm", a conceptual framework which contains all the elements to implement a multidisciplinary collaborative design network. The AGILE Academy initiative is conceived to infuse into the Academic organizations and educational environments the "AGILE Paradigm", and make available all the technologies developed within the AGILE Project, which support the implementation of such a Paradigm. This paper focus is on the inception, approach and results of the AGILE Academy participants from several universities around the world.


Problem statement: Over 2.2 billions of oil and oil products were transported every year and often these activities can result in air, water and soil contamination. Expousure to petroleum products can cause health problems to humn and animals and affect marine animals and wildlife habitats. Approach: The objective of this study was to developed a technology for the remediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. The remediation method included three processes: (a) an effective soil washing process for the removal of the hydrocarbons from the contaminated soil, (b) an efficient water decontamination process using peat moss as an oil absorbent and (c) an effective bioremediation process for converting the oil in peat moss into carbon dioxide and water. Results: The results showed that water was an effective solvent for the removal of oil from contaminated soil. It had also been determined that peat moss is an effective absorbent and could be used to remove oil from the contaminated water. Peat can absorb 12.6 times its weight liquid (water/oil). The bioremediation process was effective in degrading the oil into harmless carbon dioxide and water products. About 77.65% of the THC was removed within 60 days of bioremediation. The hemophilic microbial population in the compost quickly acclimatized to the hydrocarbon as was evident from the immediate rise in the reactor temperature. The C: N ratio decreased from 30:1-12:1 indicating the degradation of organic C in the petroleum hydrocarbons and the peat. Urea was a very effective source of nitrogen in initiating and maintaining intense microbial respiration activity. Conclusion: A sequential processes for the remediation of oil contaminated soil is developed. These included soil washing, absorption of oil from water using peat and bioremediation of contaminated peat. A degradation model is developed and used to calculate the time required for a complete degradation. The model indicated that a total degradation of oil could be achieved within 68.5 days.


The first edition (Karasu, 1989) of this monumental handbook grew out of seven years' work by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Task Force on Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders. Evidence from 30 years of increasingly sophisticated epidemiologic, neuroscientific, psychosocial, and clinical studies argued powerfully for such an attempt. There were, however, significant reservations within the profession. Some feared that a "treatment manual" would oversimplify and that cookbook approaches to notoriously complex sets of human problems deemphasize psychosocial and psychotherapeutic perspectives in favor of neurobiological and pharmacological reductionism. Such approaches further would obscure the individuality of psychiatric patients and downplay the role of clinical judgment. For the most part, the first edition allayed such fears, acknowledging the provisional and still controversial nature of psychiatry's evolving knowledge base. Like its predecessor, the new edition is pluralistic. It does not represent the official policy of the APA, and it offers, in the editor's words,


The paper presents a calculation method and the results of modeling the nonlinear forced planar oscillations of a beam. The calculation approach is based on the method of weighted residuals in the Galerkin form in combination with numerical methods of integration over time. A sequential analysis of elastic linear and geometrically nonlinear oscillations is performed and the case of irreversible deformation due to the occurrence of physically nonlinear creep strains is considered. To describe it, the Norton power law is used. Cases of hinge supported and a cantilever beam are considered. When solving the problem of a hinge supported beam, the sine system was used as the basis functions, and the Krylov functions were used for the cantilever beam's problem. The results of numerical modeling are presented in the form of the dependence of the beam deflections on time and on the coordinate at a given point in time. The influence of geometric nonlinearity is demonstrated. The increase in deflection with time due to an increase in creep strains is analyzed.


In this position paper, we examine factors, such as trust and usability, which can affect the adoption of an autonomic system. We argue that a system that exhibits initiative and strong communication skills is more likely to be adopted, and propose to treat humans as modeled, managed elements in an autonomic control loop to achieve these goals. We then propose some synergistic design ideas to make communicating with users more effective, and to allow the system to learn from the users' actions.


Light activates a 3',5'-cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) in bovine retinal rod outer segments. The light is absorbed by rhodopsin situated in the disk membranes. PDE is a three-subunit peripheral protein on the disks and appears to be activated via a guanine nucleotide binding protein (G) in the presence of activated rhodopsin and GTP. Does the activation occur by collision coupling of G and PDE? We have studied the protein-protein interactions of PDE in situ in disk membranes by radiation inactivation. Irradiation of a protein with high-energy electrons leads to loss of activity in proportion to radiation dose and the molecular weight of the protein. We see no change in the size of PDE upon activation by light and 100 microM guanosine 5'-(beta, gamma-imidotriphosphate) (Gpp[NH]p) compared with PDE in dark with 260 microM GTP. Application of statistics to our data shows that a 27 000 change in molecular weight would be significant at the 95% level but that smaller changes would go undetected. The apparent molecular weight is 176 000 +/- 27 000 (mean +/- 95% confidence limit), in agreement with the size determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Thus there appears to be either (i) no permanent change in PDE size on activation or (ii) a small change, undetectable by the technique, or (iii) an exchange of subunits such that no net change in molecular weight is seen.


: With the ongoing shift in the dynamics of retail development toward in-ner-city sites, mega-retail-led regeneration schemes have emerged as an important strategy for place marketing in the entrepreneurial city of London. While a number of studies have attempted to examine the effects of these schemes, the focus of previous studies has been limited to their wider economic and en-vironmental effects. However, few studies have empirically investigated their impact on surrounding neighborhoods, particularly deprived neighborhoods. This paper investigates the effects of the Westfield London Shopping Centre on changes in housing price levels in the surrounding neighborhood of White City/Shep-herd's Bush, in order to determine whether mega-retail-led regeneration schemes are a key determinant in the process of gentrification. A difference-in-differences analysis was used to assess differentials in the change rates of housing prices between control and treatment groups following the development of Westfield London. It was found that Westfield London development caused an increase in the change rate of housing prices of the treatment group relative to that of the control group. These findings indicate that mega-retail-led regeneration schemes may be a main cause of the pricing out of neighborhood residents who cannot afford the resulting increased rents and for altering the characteristics of neighborhoods and their social networks.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to clarify the most relevant points in managing suspected foreign bodies of the musculoskeletal system on the basis of a literature review and published reports with cases to illustrate each type on different imaging modalities.

CONCLUSION
Foreign bodies of the musculoskeletal system are a common problem in emergency departments, with more than a third missed in the initial clinical evaluation. These retained objects may result in various complications and also offer fertile ground for litigation.


The early-stage design of a new microprocessor involves the evaluation of a wide range of benchmarks across a large number of architectural configurations. Several methods are used to cut down on the required simulation time. Typically, however, existing approaches fail to capture true program behaviour accurately and require a non-negligible number of training simulations to be run. We address these problems by developing a machine learning model that predicts the mean of any given metric, e.g. cycles or energy, across a range of programs, for any microarchitectural configuration. It works by combining only the most representative programs from the benchmark suite based on their behaviour in the design space under consideration. We use our model to predict the mean performance, energy, energy-delay (ED) and energy-delay-squared (EDD) of the SPEC CPU 2000 and MiBench benchmark suites within our design space. We achieve the same level of accuracy as two state-of-the-art prediction techniques but require five times fewer training simulations. Furthermore, our technique is scalable and we show that, asymptotically, it requires an order of magnitude fewer simulations than these existing approaches.


The general view seems to be that most adults maintain a more or less steady weight. This belief is based on epidemiological data from large population groups. In reality people fluctuate in their weight, but the average of the group is constant because the gainers and losers tend to cancel out. For example, in a study in Finland the average weight gain over five years among 6504 men was 600 g, and among 6165 women (excluding those who were pregnant during the study) it was even less—only 60 g.1 However, a sixth of the men and slightly fewer of the women had gained more than 5 kg between examinations, while a tenth of the men and an eighth of the women had had similar losses of weight. Rapid gains and losses were not confined to the obese; they occurred in thin people, too.

Many studies in Britain2 and the United States3 have shown that, compared with those of stable weight, people with a very variable weight have a …


Background: Osmophobia is defined as intolerance to odors and it is associated to primary headaches, particularly to migraine with or without aura. It occurs during headache attacks and/or in the period between headache attacks. It is not yet known specific treatment for osmophobia. Case: We describe a case of a 38-year-old woman diagnosed with migraine without aura according to ICHD- 3 criteria. She complained of severe osmophobia both during and between headache attacks. In the pain-free period, she had extreme intolerance to any odors. Physical examination and imaging were unremarkable. Several prophylactic treatments of migraine were administered the past two years. There was a marked improvement in the frequency and intensity of headache attacks, but osmophobia remained unchanged. She would like to treat only her osmophobia. A prophylactic treatment with phenytoin was started to osmophobia, with disappearance of this symptom within 90 days. Conclusion: From our experience in this case, phenytoin should be considered as possible prophylactic treatment for osmophobia between headache attacks in migraine patients.


We describe an uncommon type of spinal arteriovenous malformation that is intradural rather than dural and that consists of a true fistula rather than a nidus of abnormal vessels between the anterior spinal artery and a draining vein. Its clinical significance and treatment are discussed.


Spermatozoa incubated in uterine fluid collected 7 or 18 h after ovulation showed no significant differences either in motility or in fecundity, despite wide variations of composition of the uterine fluid itself. The absence of uterine fluid in the oviduct 1 h before oviposition may be partially responsible for spermatozoa being unable to migrate easily to the storage sites after insemination of this time. Females inseminated intravaginally at the presumed time of oviposition showed consistently low fertility, irrespective of whether an egg was present in the uterus or not. Normal fertility rates could be achieved with inseminations intravaginally at or near the time of oviposition if the uterine contractions associated with oviposition were inhibited by treatment with indomethacin. Hens inseminated intravaginally 1 h after oviposition retained lower proportions (0.4 to 0.7%) of the initial dose of spermatozoa (measured 2 h after insemination) in their oviduct that hens inseminated 5 to 6 h after oviposition (4.5 to 23.3%).


Pyrazolines and their derivatives have been extensively studied as coordinated ligands of high potential applications in diverse chemical and biological systems. This work explores some methods of synthesis of pyrazolines, such as the preparation of pyrazole derivatives via chalcones. It also demonstrates that 2-pyrazoline complexes were biologically active and have had a range of clinical applications. Palladium (II) complex of pyrazole was active as antitumor when tested against murine mammary adenocarcinoma (LM3). Copper (II) and Cobalt (II) complex are biologically active in the living system as biomolecules or co factors. Based on these information, we tried here to synthesis a new 2-pyrazoline from (E)-3-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one. The newly synthesized pyrazoline was characterized using mass spectroscopy, nucleic magnetic resonance spectroscopy NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR. The characterization results showed that 2-pyrazoline has successfully synthesized. The microanalyses (C.H.N.S), GC-MS, H and 13C NMR and FT-IR spectra confirmed the formation of 2-pyrazoline ring with substitution at N1,C-3 and C-5 and the spin-spin coupling constants (J) for the multiple peaks at H NMR spectra pointed to  the de shielded aromatic protons in  α and β protons of the prepared chalcone. Interestingly, some new family of pyrazoles that have isosteres of Zonisamide have previously showed activity toward treating neuroglial disorders such as epilepsy and autism. Thus, our synthesized pyrazole could have the potency to moderate some neurodegenerative disorders. It could negatively interact with some neurotransmitters through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions with the amino and carboxylic ends of the functional ends of the neurotransmitters. This promising trend by the promising candidate 2- pyrazoline should have further investigations.


Patient well-being is always the goal of rehabilitation of edentulism; however, evaluations of treatment success often overlook the patient's subjective feelings about comfort, function, speech, social image, social inhibitions, psychological discomfort, and/or disabilities. The purpose of this study was to assess these patient responses using an oral health questionnaire. To assess such feelings, a self-administered 20-question multiple-choice patient-reported Edentulous Patient Impact Questionnaire was developed, based upon the previously validated Oral Health Impact Profile patient-assessment tool. Responses were solicited from randomly selected patients treated with an implant-supported, fixed, immediately loaded full arch prosthesis. The questionnaires were completed by 250 patients. Of the respondents, 95% described themselves as being either extremely satisfied (74%) or satisfied (21%) with their new teeth, and 98% said they would definitely recommend similar treatment (88%) or consider recommending it (10%) to a friend or colleague. Based upon an oral health impact survey completed by 250 patients treated with full-arch implant-supported, immediately loaded fixed dental prostheses, it appears that patient satisfaction is high and that treated patients would generally be willing to recommend this treatment to others.


Objective: To determine the effectiveness of knee arthroscopic surgical procedures Material and Methods: It is an observational prospective study conducted on 135 patients with torn anterior cruciate ligament and menisci who underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy and /or reconstruction of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at orthopedic department of Khyber teaching hospital Peshawar from November 2017 to June 2019. Patients demographics recorded. Pre-op and post-operative assessment done and results recorded. Results: A total of 135 patients underwent knee arthroscopy. Out of this 72 (53%) patients had partially torn meniscus only, 8(7%) patients had combine meniscal tear along with ACL tear while 47(39%) patients had isolated ACL tear only. So, in total 80 patients underwent partial meniscectomy while, 55 patients underwent ACL reconstruction. So for description purpose we can divide all the patients into two groups, Group A: Arthroscopic ACL reconstruction Group B: Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy group In Group A there were 54(98%) male and only 01(02%) female while Group B comprised of 77 male and 03 female patients. Mean age of both groups was comparable. Right side was mainly involved in ACL reconstruction group while left side in partial meniscectomy group. Sports injury was the principal underlying reason in the patients undergoing for partial meniscectomy while sports and road traffic accident (RTA) were equally responsible for the patient group underwent ACL reconstruction surgery. Similarly, in group A where patients underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction 91% became asymptomatic while, in group B where patients underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy about 94% turned out to be symptom free in comparison to preoperative status. There were intra-operative as well as post-operative complications. Among the earlier category, instrument breakage, technical faults in the arthroscopic machine, graft cut out and problem with fixation of tibial end of graft in ACL reconstruction were notorious. Postoperatively, knee joint infection, stiffness and pain were significant. Conclusion: Knee arthroscopy is an effective and reproducible technique with decent and efficient outcome.


The purpose of this pilot study was to describe short and long-term changes in cognitive function and quality of life in patients with melanoma receiving interferon (IFN) -2b. This study used a three-group, repeated measures design in which cognitive function and quality of life were evaluated prior to initiation of treatment at 3-month intervals during treatment and 3 months following the completion of treatment. The sample consisted of 16 adults with Stage II or III melanoma, randomized to one of three treatment groups. Participants in Arm A received high-dose IFN -2b, those in Arm B received low-dose IFN•-2b, and those in Arm C received no therapy (control). No significant changes in cognitive function were detected. In participants in ArmA, there was a significant deterioration in the physical well-being dimension of quality of life from baseline to 3 months after beginning therapy.


As part of the diversity screen of the HEALTHGRAIN project, the total folate contents of bread wheat (130 winter and 20 spring wheat genotypes), durum wheat (10 genotypes), earlier cultivated diploid einkorn and tetraploid emmer wheat (5 genotypes of each), and spelt (5 genotypes), grown in the same location in a controlled manner, were determined by a microbiological assay. The total folate contents ranged from 364 to 774 ng/g of dm in winter wheat and from 323 to 741 ng/g of dm in spring wheat, thus showing a marked variation. The highest mean for total folate content was measured in the durum wheat genotypes, whereas the earlier cultivated diploid and tetraploid wheat genotypes and spelt were shown to possess comparable or even higher folate contents than bread wheat. HPLC analysis of selected genotypes showed that 5-formyltetrahydrofolate was the major vitamer. The data provide a basis for breeding wheat genotypes with improved folate content.


We investigate the deformation of Mauna Loa and Kllauea volcanoes, Hawai'i, by exploiting the advanced differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) technique referred to as the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm. In particular, we present time series of line-of-sight (LOS) displacements derived from SAR data acquired by the ASAR instrument, on board the ENVISAT satellite, from the ascending (track 93) and descending (track 429) orbits between 2003 and 2008. For each coherent pixel of the radar images we compute time-dependent surface displacements as well as the average LOS deformation rate. Our results quantify, in space and time, the complex deformation of Mauna Loa and Kllauea volcanoes. The derived InSAR measurements are compared to continuous GPS data to asses the quality of the SBAS-InSAR products.


Purpose: This study assessed the impact of stuttering via a questionnaire in which fluent individuals were asked to assume the mindset of persons who stutter (PWS) in various life aspects, including vocation, romance, daily activities, friends/social life, family and general lifestyle. The perceived impact of stuttering through the mind's eyes of nonstutterers is supposed to reflect respondents' abilities to impart 'theory of mind' in addressing social penalties related to stuttering. Method: Ninety-one university students answered a questionnaire containing 56 statements on a 7-point Likert scale. Forty-four participants (mean age = 20.4, SD = 4.4) were randomly selected to assume a stuttering identity and 47 respondents (mean age = 20.5, SD = 3.1) to assume their normally fluent identity. Results: Significant differences between groups were found in more than two thirds of items regarding employment, romance, and daily activities, and in fewer than half of items regarding family, friend/social life, and general life style (p <0.001). Conclusions: The social penalties associated with stuttering appear to be apparent to fluent individuals, especially in areas of vocation, romance, and daily activities, suggesting that nonstuttering individuals, when assuming the role of PWS, are capable of at least temporarily feeling the negative impact of stuttering.


With the advent of pervasive computing environments, the issue related to context-aware middleware is an emerging area of research. We propose proactive services on the basis of CAMUS (context-aware middleware for URC Systems). First, this paper presents the system architecture of CAMUS. CAMUS is a middleware for providing context-aware applications with development and execution methodology. Accordingly, the applications developed by CAMUS respond in a timely fashion to contexts. Secondly, this paper illustrates the contents recommendation and control service agents with the property, operation, and task for the context-aware active services. Next, proposed active services is applied to the pervasive home environment for evaluation of our system. To do this, we implement the TV contents recommendation service agent, control service agent and context-aware task using CAMUS


Both urbanization and a high share of youth ("youth bulge") have been shown to correlate with higher levels of political violence, in general, and terrorism, in particular. In this article, we test the hypothesis that urbanization and general youth bulge (share of aged 15–29 in the adult population) should produce a particularly significant impact on the level of terrorist activity when acting together due to the interaction effect. Performed negative binomial regressions (both with and without interaction term) support this hypothesis. We also test the impact of "urban youth bulge" (share of urban youth in the total adult population), and it turns out to be a much more significant predictor of terrorism than either general youth bulge or urbanization taken separately. This finding is shown to have substantial practical implications, indicating that urban youth bulges are likely to retain their relevance in the forthcoming decades, in contrast to general youth bulges.


[3H]Dihydroergocryptine ([3H]DHE) binds to sites in membranes derived from rat myocardium that have the characteristics expected of α-adrenergic receptors. The binding is saturable with 41 fmol [3H]DHE bound per mg of protein and of high affinity with KD = 2.9 niu. The binding is rapid and readily reversible. Adrenergic agonists compete with [3H]DHE for binding in the order: epinephrine > norepinephrine » isoproterenol; and adrenergic antagonists compete for binding in the order: phentolamine » propranolol. For comparison, (-)[3H]dihydroalprenolol [(-)[3H]DHA] was used to bind to sites in the same membrane preparations having characteristics of β-receptors. The number and affinity of β-receptors were quite similar to those of the α-receptors with 46 fmol (-)[3H]DHA per mg protein bound at saturation and KD = 2.5 nM. These techniques allowed identification of both ft- and o-adrenergic receptors in membranes derived from isolated atria, right ventricular free walls, and left ventricles including interventricular septa. This is the first report documenting direct identification of myocardial a-receptors by radioligand-binding techniques and complements the literature previously reporting myocardial inotopic and electrophysiological responses to α-adrenergic stimulation.


An analysis of register data for Finland shows that the use of health and social care services by older people varies by both age and proximity to death. Acute health care use depends more on proximity to death, suggesting that the need for such services will be less than might have been expected given the likely increase in numbers of older people. However, this is more than offset by a greater use of residential long-term care especially by the "old old". The balance of care is likely to shift from acute to long-term care services.


A new array geometry, which is capable of significantly increasing the degrees of freedom of linear arrays, is proposed. This structure is obtained by systematically nesting two or more uniform linear arrays and can provide O(N2) degrees of freedom using only N physical sensors when the second-order statistics of the received data is used. The concept of nesting is shown to be easily extensible to multiple stages and the structure of the optimally nested array is found analytically. It is possible to provide closed form expressions for the sensor locations and the exact degrees of freedom obtainable from the proposed array as a function of the total number of sensors. This cannot be done for existing classes of arrays like minimum redundancy arrays which have been used earlier for detecting more sources than the number of physical sensors. In minimum-input-minimum-output (MIMO) radar, the degrees of freedom are increased by constructing a longer virtual array through active sensing. The method proposed here, however, does not require active sensing and is capable of providing increased degrees of freedom in a completely passive setting. To utilize the degrees of freedom of the nested co-array, a novel spatial smoothing based approach to DOA estimation is also proposed, which does not require the inherent assumptions of the traditional techniques based on fourth-order cumulants or quasi stationary signals. As another potential application of the nested array, a new approach to beamforming based on a nonlinear preprocessing is also introduced, which can effectively utilize the degrees of freedom offered by the nested arrays. The usefulness of all the proposed methods is verified through extensive computer simulations.


Introduction. Knee osteoarthritis (gonarthrosis) of different etiology is the most common age-related joint disease affecting over 80% people beyond 55 years of age. The use of hyaluronic acid "replacement" intraarticular injections is the priority method for treating gonarthrosis. Implants with human synovial fluid containing hyaluronic acid with a concentration of 10 mg/ml are the most commonly used therapy in world practice.Objective of the study: compare the efficacy of RIPART hyaluronic acid, 3.0 ml (Ingal LLC, Russia) and the standard Mucosat chondroprotector therapy (chondroitin sodium sulfate 100 mg, Russia) in patients with degree 1–3 gonarthrosis in the outpatient setting.Materials and methods. A total of 90 patients with degree 1–3 gonarthrosis were included in the study. The patients had not previously received any treatment with Mucosat chondroprotector and RIPART hyaluronic acid. The drugs for the treatment of patients with gonarthrosis were selected in accordance with the clinical guidelines for the management of osteoarthritis, taking into account the age and comorbidity of patients. Of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, Nimesulide, 100 mg was selected at a standard dosage of 200 mg/day for 14 days, followed by reduction of the dose to 100 mg/day for a period of 14 days to 1 month. Mucosat was used as a chondroprotector in two comparison groups No. 1 and No. 3 (n = 60) at a dose of 2.0 ml intramuscularly No. 30 ampoules every other day for 8 weeks. In comparison groups No. 2 and No. 3, a local injection of RIPART 3.0 hyaluronic acid preparation was made into the knee joint (a single injection per week, 3 in total). In comparison group No. 3 (n = 30), the patients with degree 1–3 gonarthrosis received a combined course of local therapy with RIPART 3.0 No. 3 hyaluronic acid and Mucosat injection IM.In addition to clinical examination, the time required for an individual to climb the 10-step stairs and the time required for an individual to walk the 30-m distance were used to assess the effectiveness of treatment (с). The knee joint volume was measured using a centimeter tape in the middle third of the joint, the knee range of motion was measured with electrogoniometers, the joint swelling was assessed in points (0 to 2 points), pain during palpation along the joint gap was assessed in points (0 to 2). The pain level was assessed using a visual analogue scale, and the functional WOMAC index and Leken index were determined based on the patient-reported outcomes.Results. In study group No. 1 (nimesulide + Mucosate), 30 patients with degree 1–2 gonarthrosis received nimesulide and Mucosate therapy for 6 months, which resulted in the reduction of pain on a visual-analogue scale on Days 8–9. After 6-month observation, the level of pain on the visual analogue scale in patients with degree 1–2 gonarthrosis did not exceed 20–25 mm, in patients with degree 3 gonarthrosis, the pain level on the pain visual analogue scale did not reduce less than 35–40 mm. The Leken index decreased to 2 points in degree 1–2 gonarthrosis and to 5 points in degree 3 gonarthrosis.In comparison group No. 2, the effectiveness of local RIPART hyaluronic acid therapy exceeded the indicators in group 1, which made itself evident in the fact that pain decreased on a visual-analogue scale after the first knee joint injection in patients with degree 1 and 2 gonarthrosis and resulted in a decrease of nimesulide doses on Day 2–3 followed by its cancellation. Local RIPART hyaluronic acid therapy in patients with degree 3 gonarthrosis resulted in the reduction of nimesulide dose on Day 22 after the third knee joint injection.After 6-month observation, the level of pain did not exceed 20–25 mm on the pain visual-analogue scale in patients with degree 1–2 of gonarthrosis and did not decrease less than 35–40 mm on the pain visual-analogue scale in patients with degree 3 gonarthrosis. The Leken index decreased to 5 points.In comparison group No. 3, the combined treatment "nimesulide + Mucosat + RIPART" in 30 patients with degree 1–3 gonarthrosis showed a significant and noticeable reduction in pain to 15–20 mm on the visual-analogue scale in degree 1–2 gonarthrosis and to35 mmin degree 3 gonarthrosis, the Leken index decreased to 1–2 and 5–6 points, respectively.Patients with degree 3 gonarthrosis continued to administer nimesulide at a dose of 200 mg/day for 21–23 days, followed by switching to on-demand therapy during the entire observation period (before exercise, after exercise). The pain level on the visual analogue scale in patients with degree 3 gonarthrosis decreased on day 20–23 from the baseline figures of 80–85 mm to 35–40 mm; the relapse rate of pain and reactive synovitis decreased. In patients with degree 1–2 gonarthrosis, nimesulide was cancelled on Day 8, pain level after 6 months did not exceed 15–20 mm on the visual-analogue scale. Changes in the Leken index and WOMAC index correlated with an indicator of pain level of the visual analogue scale.Conclusions. The study findings showed that the outpatient local therapy with RIPART hyaluronic acid combined with Mucosat chondroprotector and a short course of nimesulide as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be recommenced as the preferred treatment method compared to the prescription of any of the chondroprotectors in degree 1–3 gonarthrosis.


The onset of neurodegenerative disorders (NDs), such as Alzheimer's disease, is associated with the accumulation of aggregates of misfolded proteins. We previously showed that chemical knockdown of ND-related aggregation-prone proteins can be achieved by proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs). However, hetero-bifunctional PROTACs generally show poor permeability into the central nervous system, where NDs are located. Here, we document the conversion of one of our PROTACs into hydrophobic tags (HyTs), another class of degraders bearing hydrophobic degrons. This conversion decreases the molecular weight and the number of hydrogen bond donors/acceptors. All the developed HyTs lowered the level of mutant huntingtin, an aggregation-prone protein, with potency comparable to that of the parent PROTAC. Through IAM chromatography analysis and in vivo brain penetration assay of the HyTs, we discovered a brain-permeable HyT. Our results and mechanistic analysis indicate that conversion of protein degraders into HyTs could be a useful approach to improve their drug-like properties.


Korea Government has been aggressively promoting diffusion of NCS in public sector. In fact, NCS is spreading in public organization in this year. NCS(National Competency Standards) is defined by standardization of capabilities(knowledge, skill, attitudes) required to perform jobs effectively in the workplace in national level. NCS is riding a wave of renewed public interest in case of high youth unemployment rates in South Korea. Job-mismatch usually occur when the job that the company need is different from the job that job seeker need. And because of this mismatch, youth unemployment rates is growing increasingly. NCS is the best tool for increasing person- job fit and person-organization fit, so NCS can contribute to reducing the youth unemployment in Korea. This study aims to analyze the case of NCS-based recruitment and selection in public administration service organizations and suggest for diffusion of NCS in service industry.


This essay scrutinizes political obligation in the Second Treatise by analyzing the "natural liberty" Locke attributes to children, savages, some foreigners, and other tacit consenters. Both natural liberty and the voluntarism of consent require certain conditions to be actualized, one of the most important of which is "room enough": unoccupied space like that found in America in which it is possible to "exit" from the potentially coercive dilemmas of tacit consent and perhaps to originate a founding (express) consent. Insofar as consent and natural liberty rely on the availability of open space, though, Lockean liberalism justifies, maybe requires, settler colonialism.


Many small middle-income countries (SMICs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have experienced a moderation in growth in recent years. Although factor accumulation, most notably capital deepening, was crucial to the success of many SMICs historically, this growth model appears to have run its course. The analysis in this paper suggests that the decline in the contribution of total factor productivity (TFP) to growth is largely responsible for the slowdown in trend growth in many SMICs, which highlights the need for policy actions to reinvigorate productivity growth. This paper explores the question of what kind of structural policies could boost productivity growth in SMICs and the political economy factors that may be contributing to the slow implementation of these critical reforms in these countries. The findings suggest that although macroeconomic stability and trade openness are necessary for productivity growth, they are not sufficient. SMICs need to improve the quality of their public spending, most notably in education to minimize the skill mismatch in the labor market, reduce the regulatory burden on firms, improve access to finance by small and medium-sized enterprises and create the enabling environment to facilitate structural transformation in these economies.


Al Fatihah reflection Therapy (ART) is a theistic psychotherapy that shares characteristics with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) from Beck. However, the conceptualization and intervention emphasis differs in some ways. The ART has a vertical dimension (theistic) which uses the verses of Al Fatiha as a reflection of the changing thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals through restructuring cognitive, reading passages, and behavioral tasks. It is expected the ART can be applied, do research, and can be considered as a single intervention or additional interventionsfor Muslim clients. Keywords : Al-Fatihah, Reflection, Cognitive Restructuring, Verses Recitation, Behavioral Task.


ABSTRACT. The aim of the study was to assess the economic viability of farms specializing in dairy cattle breeding in countries with the highest share of milk production in the EU. Viability was measured using two models based on the opportunity cost of unpaid labour and equity. The study used a comparative analysis of farm viability indicators calculated on the basis of data collected in the FADN system in 2008-2017, taking changes in income in the short and long term into account. The research indicates that farms with greater economic potential were characterized by higher economic viability. Italian and Polish farms with an economic size of EUR 100,000-500,000 were considered viable and developing, as well as Italian and German farms from the group of over EUR 500,000. British and French farms were characterized by a lack of viability. The results were largely influenced by differences in the level of average wages in the national economy of the analysed countries, inputs of unpaid labour and the level and volatility of income.


Biomimetic approach has been employed in studies on fabrication of iron-containing mesoscopic aggregates in polymer-containing media. The work has been divided into two parts.

Part one concerns the hydrolysis of various iron(III) compounds in the solutions of watersoluble polymers both natural and synthetic that are carrying various functional groups. The process of the hydrolysis and the properties of obtained composite materials have been studied by means of viscometry, FTIR. electrophoresis, UV-vis-spectroscopy. transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. X-ray powder diffraction. Mossbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements.

The data showed that the polymers present can exert a significant influence on the stability and organisation of the iron(III) hydrolytic products formed. Small (2-4 nm) nanoscale electron dense structures of ferrihydrite observed in the presence of PVA and PAA demonstrate an additional degree of aggregation and ordering in acidic polysaccharide - containing media that reflects the significant structural differences of the latter - the presence of comparatively rigid polysaccharide backbone and formation of an entangled polymer network entrapping the iron aggregates, due to the overlapping and cross-linking of the rodlike molecules. In the solutions containing two phases - organic and aqueous, high molecular weight acidic polysaccharide interfacial films have been observed to host a mesoscopic iron(III)-containing semi-crystalline structures of geometry and morphology different from that of the bulk precipitate formed during the slow hydrolysis of iron(III) compounds.

Part two of the current work is dealing with the studies of biomimetic mineralisation of particularly designed synthetic symplex polysaccharide matrices. The ability of polyanion polycation pairs to undergo self-assembly in the solutions has been employed in the syntheses of ordered insoluble materials formed through combined effect of Coulombic and hydrophobic interactions, and hydrogen bonds. The process of polysaccharide symplex formation, its subsequent mineralisation with iron(III)-containing compounds and the properties of materials obtained have been studied by means of viscometry, surface tension measurements, ljC solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray analysis, thermogravimetry, Mossbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The formation of biomimetic composite materials containing mesoscopic rod-like aggregates of iron(III)-oxo hydroxy compounds with a geometry clearly defined by that of the polymer matricestemplates has been observed.

Following the manufacturing of the iron(III)-containing nanoscale aggregates within polymer matrices, attempts to produce zero-valent Fe particles incorporated in the polymer matrix by various methods of reduction have been carried out. The gradual reduction of the symplex composite iron(III)-containing materials with sodium borohydride in non-aqueous media has produced solid powders of composite material containing nanoscale "soft" iron particles. The properties of the materials have been studied by means of Mossbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements.


An air source heat pump system (ASHPS) was setup, which provided space heating and cooling, as well as hot water for an office building in Tianjin. Its operating performance in winter was evaluated based on test data including water inlet and outlet temperatures, ambient and room temperatures, relative humidity and energy combustion under different operation modes. Then a comparative discussion is given on the effect of climate conditions and heating load ratio on the operation behavior, and an analysis of heating capacity variation caused by evaporator frosting is carried out as well. Finally, the defrosting parameters and the technical feasibility are studied for a constant heating demand.


In the economy of our country, under the influence of the wave of economic crisis, a situation has developed that has significantly affected the activities of commercial banks that are participants in the financial market. In recent years, there has been a consistently high amplitude of global changes in financial markets, due to the crisis and instability of the political situation in the country. All this affects the functioning of commercial banks, especially in the regulation of interest rates. The banking sector is constantly faced with all sorts of risks. Interest rate risk is rightly recognized as the most important bank risk. According to the Central Bank of theRussian Federation, interest rate risk is the risk of financial losses (losses) that arise as a result of an unfavorable change in interest rates on assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet instruments. Interest rate risk management in commercial banks has become complicated due to the current economic and political situation in our country, as well as the instability of market conditions. The development of practical recommendations aimed at improving the interest rate risk management system in a commercial bank is an urgent task for any commercial bank.