A new microelectronic package was designed for a high-power light-emitting diode (LED). The objective was to build a package that enables the LED to operate with currents as high as 2 Amps. An innovative thin-film interface has been developed to electrically connect the cathode of the LED die to a 22AWG Cu wire. This thinfilm interface is wirebondable and solderable, and consists of three layers: Au, Ni93/V7, and Si. Four 1 mil Au wirebonds, supporting 2A of maximum current, connect the Au thin-film to the LED die cathode. Sn96Ag4 solder is used for connecting the Ni93/V7 thin-film to the 22AWG Cu wire. To provide an electrical, mechanical and thermal platform for the anode of the LED die, a sub-assembly was developed. This sub-assembly utilizes a Cu substrate on which the anode of the LED die is attached with Au80Sn20 solder. The LED die, thin-film interface and Cu substrate integrate into the sub-assembly, which then solders onto a Cu heatsink. Electrical current flows into the heatsink, through the LED, across the thin-film interface, then out the Cu wire. All-metal interfaces from the LED anode to the heatsink provide a thermally conductive path. However, testing results show that the LED fails with currents of 815 mAmps or less. It appears that the failure was caused by thermal management within the die and is not due to the design of the package.


The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) fills the cell with a continuous network of sealed membrane tubules and sheets. The ER is subdivided into microdomains mediating one-third of total protein biosynthesis, oxidative protein folding, secretion, protein quality control, calcium signaling, marcoautophagy/autophagy, stress sensing, and apoptosis. Defects in ER-calcium homeostasis underlie several diseases. Damage to the ER by misfolded membrane proteins is suppressed by specific HSPA/Hsp70 and DNAJ/Hsp40 chaperone pairs that select intermediates for ubiquitination and ER-associated degradation (ERAD) via the proteasome. The ER-transmembrane Hsp40 chaperone DNAJB12 and HSPA/Hsp70 also target toxic intermediates of misfolded membrane proteins for ER-associated autophagy (ERAA). DNAJB12-HSPA/Hsp70 maintain membrane protein degradation intermediates in detergent-soluble and degradation-competent states. DNAJB12-HSPA/Hsp70 also interact with the autophagy initiation kinase ULK1 on ER tubules containing ERAD-resistant misfolded membrane proteins (ERAD-RMPs). Omegasomes are ER microdomains where the autophagosome precursor or phagophore (PG) forms. ER tubules loaded with ERAD-RMPs enter omegasomes where they are converted into ER-connected PG (ER-PG). The Atg8 (autophagy related 8)-family member GABARAP (GABA type A receptor-associated protein) facilitates transfer of ERAD-RMPs from ER-PGs to autolysosomes (AL) that dock transiently with omegasomes. This article describes a model for DNAJB12-HSPA/Hsp70 action during the conformation-dependent triage in the ER of misfolded membrane proteins for folding versus proteasomal or AL degradation.


Initially proposed by Moulinec and Suquet (1994, 1998), FFT-based homogenization methods have gained in popularity within the last decade. Recent developments include (the list is not exhaustive) alternative iterative schemes (Monchiet and Bonnet, 2012), improved discrete Green operators (Brisard and Dormieux, 2012; Willot, 2015), geometric non-linearities (Kabel et al., 2014), convergence with respect to the grid-size (Brisard and Dormieux, 2012; Schneider 2014). Very little attention has been paid so far to the quantitative estimation of the quality of the numerical solution. In this talk, we will present a strategy for an a-posteriori evaluation of the numerical error. The approach is based on the so-called error in constitutive law (Ladeveze, 1983). Initially devised for the finite element method, it is extended here to FFT-based methods on cartesian grds. This requires the reconstruction of the displacement (which is usually not carried out in a standard FFT analysis), and an efficient procedure will be presented. The technique will be illustrated on a few simple examples. It should be noted that the aposteriori error estimator thus introduced applies to any FFT-based scheme. Therefore, the present framework allows a quantitative comparison of the various discrete Green operators.


Background: Gephyrin clusters inhibitory GABAA and glycine receptors at postsynaptic sites. Results: GABAA and glycine receptor binding to gephyrin is a mutually exclusive process relying on distantly related sequence motifs. Conclusion: Clustering of GABAA and glycine receptors is mediated by a shared binding site on gephyrin. Significance: Gephyrin-dependent synaptic clustering of chloride-permeable ligand channels at synaptic sites relies on an evolutionarily conserved mechanism. Gephyrin is the major protein determinant for the clustering of inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors. Earlier analyses revealed that gephyrin tightly binds to residues 398–410 of the glycine receptor β subunit (GlyR β) and, as demonstrated only recently, also interacts with GABAA receptors (GABAARs) containing the α1, α2, and α3 subunits. Here, we dissect the molecular basis underlying the interactions between gephyrin and GABAARs containing these α-subunits and compare them to the crystal structure of the gephyrin-GlyR β complex. Biophysical and biochemical assays revealed that, in contrast to its tight interaction with GlyR β, gephyrin only loosely interacts with GABAAR α2, whereas it has an intermediate affinity for the GABAAR α1 and α3 subunits. Despite the wide variation in affinities and the low overall sequence homology among the identified receptor subunits, competition assays confirmed the receptor-gephyrin interaction to be a mutually exclusive process. Selected gephyrin point mutants that critically weaken complex formation with GlyR β also abolished the GABAAR α1 and α3 interactions. Additionally, we identified a common binding motif with two conserved aromatic residues that are central for gephyrin binding. Consistent with the biochemical data, mutations of the corresponding residues within the cytoplasmic domain of α2 subunit-containing GABAARs attenuated clustering of these receptors at postsynaptic sites in hippocampal neurons. Taken together, our experiments provide key insights regarding similarities and differences in the complex formation between gephyrin and GABAARs compared with GlyRs and, hence, the accumulation of these receptors at postsynaptic sites.


Rotator cuff injuries in the overhead athlete are frequently seen at all levels of competitive sports. The repetitive, high magnitude forces generated at the capsuloligamentous complex, as well as at the rotator cuff itself, can result in loss of glenohumeral stability and primary as well as secondary lesions in the rotator cuff itself. The biomechanics of overhead sporting activity (i.e., pitching, tennis) explains the tremendous load demands placed on the shoulder. These forces must be clearly understood by the sports medicine specialist before proper treatment protocols can be initiated. A fundamental understanding of the biomechanics can provide important information to maximize treatments, enhance overall performance, and accelerate a more effective and expeditious rehabilitation program. The rehabilitation of these complex injuries remains a challenge and requires a methodic, systematic approach that is goal directed and designed to fulfill specific and objective criteria before progressing to the next phase of rehabilitation. Finally, the rehabilitation must be individualized and sports specific.


Abstract We investigated the microscopic mineral characteristics of modern eolian dust particulates and the trace-element compositions of the siliciclastic fractions of these samples, collected from the Philippine Sea in 2014 and 2015, and conducted an air mass backwards trajectory analysis of dust particulates in the spring and winter of 2015, to better constrain the provenances and transport dynamics of dust delivered to this region. The microscopic minerals show obvious signatures of dust deposition and physical abrasion, indicating long-distance wind transport from the Asian deserts. The trace-element compositions (Zr–Th–Sc) display a binary mixture of eolian materials derived from the eastern Asian deserts and the central Asian deserts, which is similar to the result of the Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of modern sediment trap sediments collected on the Benham Rise in 2015. We demonstrate that modern dust sediments in the Philippine Sea primarily originate from the Ordos Desert (generally > 80%), while the contributions of the Taklimakan Desert and the Badain Jaran Desert are small. Eolian dust particulates raised from source regions are predominantly transported to the Philippine Sea by the East Asian winter monsoon, but not by the westerlies. In addition, our results indicate that increased precipitation in the source regions can result in relatively low dust fluxes in the Philippine Sea, and there is a period of 6–7 days for eolian dust originating from source areas to be delivered to the Philippine Sea.


One among the fastest growing fields is health care industry. The medical industry contains large amount of medical data which would not be "mined". The mined data helps in finding the hidden information. Extensive amount of data in medical database need the development of tools which are used to access the data, analyze the data, knowledge discovery, and efficient use of the stored knowledge and information. The medical industry have large amount of data collected about the patient including the details, diagnosis and medications. Turning these data into useful pattern helps in predicting with the new treatments and medicines. This helps in the better diagnosis and therapy where the patients can attain the good QoS (quality of service). This paper features the different data mining and warehousing techniques used in healthcare field for the best decision making.


This article summarizes and provides additional perspective on a study that contributes to the growing body of analyses of the costs of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The study estimates the economic costs to Canada of six planning scenarios. Four of these scenarios involve the use of tradable emission permits and two involved a carbon tax. In each case, the mechanism's target is to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at some percentage of 1990 levels (100% or 90%) by either 2010 or 2015. Policies that impose greater constraints on carbon dioxide emissions lead to higher economic costs in terms of foregone output. These costs, however, vary for the same objective, depending on the mechanism chosen and the economic assumptions made. In one typical scenario, in which tradable emission permits are used to achieve stabilization at 1990 levels by 2010, GDP is depressed from the "business-as-usual" scenario by about 2% for the first decade, after which it recovers to business-as-usual levels. Generally, for all scenarios, the economic impact of climate change mitigation imposes a transition cost on http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol2/iss1/art3/ (1 of 11) [10/23/2008 10:47:31 AM] Conservation Ecology: Impacts On Canadian Competitiveness Of International Climate Change Mitigation the economy, but the long-term productive capacity of the economy is not significantly affected.


Few studies have assessed the ecological role of regulated small rivers in the environmental biology of invasive largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides in Iberian waters. 2. Size structure, diet, physical condition, and developmental stress of largemouth bass populations were compared between two contrasting habitats in the Iberian Peninsula, the Encinarejo Reservoir and the small River Jandula below the dam (Guadalquivir River Basin, southern Spain). 3. Size structure differed between river and reservoir populations of small (<180 mm FL) largemouth bass, with a higher proportion of individuals between 30 and 60 mm in the river and a higher proportion of 20-40 mm individuals in the reservoir. In the river, the most important prey for small largemouth bass were Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Odonata nymphs. In the reservoir, Gerridae insects and pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus were the most important prey in terms of ingested biomass for small largemouth bass, whereas large individuals consumed high percentages of common carp Cyprinus carpio and pumpkinseed. Prey richness, trophic niche breadth, and trophic diversity were significantly higher in small largemouth bass from the river, as well as eviscerated mass and glucose level. Fluctuating asymmetry was lower in the river for branched rays of pectoral fins, eye diameter, and length of pectoral fins. 4. Overall results indicate that largemouth bass are taking advantage of both habitat differentiation and flow regulation in Mediterranean streams. Therefore, regulated small rivers may play an ecological role as 'nursery' areas, where developmental stress is low and thus, juvenile fish can display better body condition and nutritional status than their reservoir counterparts. 5. The present study provides information relevant to the management of largemouth bass and subsequent conservation of the valuable and endemic Iberian fish fauna. For example, size-specific culls in the reservoirs and below the dams are suggested strategies to control the reinforcement of downstream populations. Copyright # 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Expansion Of Potato Plant In Medium Plain Has Geographical Obstacles Concerning With Its Characteristics Of Which Requires A Relatively Low Temperature During Growth Stage, Especially At Tuber Formation Which Requires The Optimum Temperature Of 180 Oc. Escalating Temperatures Imply A Greater Rate Of Gibberellin Synthesis In Leave Bud And Stolon Tip, And Indicating A Modification Of Stolon Into Tuber Is Impaired. Apart From That, Planting Of The Potato In Medium Plain Requires Adaptive Variety Which Can Tolerate High Temperature And Drought Stress. The Main Of Objective Research Was To Find Out Potato Variety Which Was Relatively More Adaptive To High Temperature In The Medium Plains. This Research Was Conducted In Sibolangit District (680 Asl), Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatera, Started From April Until July 2016. Treatments Consisted Of 7 Potato Varieties Which Were Arranged In A Simple Randomized Block Design And Replicated Three Times. Results Showed That Plant Height Was Significantly Different Among Varieties Evaluated, Whereas Greenness Intensity Of Leaves Seemed Homogeneous Among Varieties. Several Morphological Characters Of The Potato Including Leaf Area Index (LAI), Leaf Canopy Structure, Leaf Arrangement, Growth Habit, Stem Anthocyanin, A Frequency Of Flowering, And Color Of Flower Crown Are Significantly Varied Depend On Crop Genotypes.


Carbon-climate feedbacks, which amplifies or attenuates atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel emissions, are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate projections. However, these feedbacks depend both on temperature and its coupling to water and energy cycles, especially in the tropics. We show that atmospheric aridity—quantified as vapor pressure deficit (VPD)—is a good proxy for this coupling. Tropical VPD is strongly correlated to the global CO2 growth rate (CGR) with observed present-day sensitivities of −2.5 ± 0.4 GtC mb−1 yr−1. The sensitivity of CGR to tropical VPD interannual variability has increased by a factor of 1.7 ± 0.3 in the 21st century. A combination of causality and statistical analysis point to mechanistic moisture drivers of the VPD–CGR sensitivities, independent of temperature. Observational records provide evidence that tropical atmospheric aridity is linked to both water deficit and spatially correlated with evaporative fraction suggesting that CGR variability is indirectly driven by land—atmosphere coupling (compound soil and atmospheric drought). This coupling is manifest as a kind of carbon-climate feedback in CMIP6 Earth System Models where long–term increases in tropical VPD reduce tropical carbon storage but with a substantial inter-model range [−1.4 to −59.4 GtC mb−1]. However, by employing a hierarchical emergent constraint, the best estimate of atmospheric aridity—carbon cycle feedback (φ TL ) is −19 ± 10 GtC mb−1, which is 28% lower than model estimates with an uncertainty reduction of 50%. Our results bridge the role of moisture and land–atmosphere coupling on net carbon variability to the vulnerability of carbon storage in a changing climate.


Cassava's importance as a food security crop in Sub Saharan Africa will be enhanced by its special traits such as tolerance to drought and high yields under hydrothermal stress. Some of the special traits which include the light reflective and absorptive properties of the leaves that depend on the surface characteristics of the leaves, are variety dependent and may influence the plants' reaction to light; hence, its photosynthetic capacity. We investigated the differences in the leaf spectral properties in different cassava varieties and related them to leaf biochemical properties using 20 cassava varieties established in a randomized complete block design in Kasese, western Uganda. Time dependent changes in leaf spectral characteristics were studied using Digimizer software and related to changes in sugar and pigment properties. Changes in the amount of reflected light were observed for the three main wavelengths used by plants (blue, green and red) with the blue being the most preferred. Total soluble free sugars exhibited a diurnal pattern from lower values (0.07 mg/g) after the dark period to higher values (0.313 mg/g) as the day progressed and was different from those of translocatable sugars such as sucrose. Chlorophyll a exhibited a curved pattern in all varieties increasing with increase in light intensity from 09:00 h (0.18 ug/g), peaking at 15:00 h (0.22 ug/g) and dropping down in concentration by 18:00 h (0.16 ug/g). Significant differences were observed in cassava varieties for the concentration of chlorophylls and carotenes. The results were obtained at a time of optimal growth conditions (four months after planting) and were used to classify these varieties into three broad groups showing that studies on spectral properties of leaves can still give a lot of insights in selection for stress tolerance under less optimal stress. The significant changes observed in the phenotype especially the foliar portion of the plant with the stay green and early recovering mechanisms of tolerance identified also tarried well with observed spectral differences. The results show that studies on plant spectral properties can be important in making inferences on the plants physiological and growth status. Keywords : Spectral properties, tolerance mechanisms, physiology, reflectance.


A party in power can address only a limited number of issues in an election cycle. What issues to address - the party's agenda - has dynamic implications because it aects what issues will be addressed in the future. What is the optimal agenda in the presence of dynamic concerns? How do bargaining rules aect the agenda? What are the eciency implications? We address these questions in a stylized model in which the incumbent in each period addresses one issue among several issues and the remaining issues roll over to the next period. When the incumbent expects the opposition to come in power next period, distortions can happen in the form of steering and preemption. In steering, the incumbent gives priority to a less pressing issue to direct the opposition party towards addressing the most pressing issue for the incumbent. In preemption, the incumbent gives priority to the issue most pressing for the opposition to prevent the opposition from addressing it. Although preemption can still be ecient, steering is necessarily inecient.


Globalization is a key factor in the success of business organizations today, impacting many aspects of management performance. Understanding the global business environment has therefore become a key objective in the teaching of international business on Executive MBA programs. Drawing on the theory of experiential learning, this study examines the relationship between program structure and learning activities of an international study visit (ISV) to China and the learning experience for Executive MBA students. The findings indicate that learning experience may be most effective where the structure of an ISV incorporates certain activities that promote experiential and deep-level learning. Educational implications are discussed.


Agglomeration operations are a core component of the automated generalization of aggregated area groups. However, because geographical elements that possess agglomeration features are relatively scarce, the current literature has not given sufficient attention to agglomeration operations. Furthermore, most reports on the subject are limited to the general conceptual level. Consequently, current agglomeration methods are highly reliant on subjective determinations and cannot support intelligent computer processing. This paper proposes an automated processing method for agglomeration areas. Firstly, the proposed method automatically identifies agglomeration areas based on the width of the striped bridging area, distribution pattern index (DPI), shape similarity index (SSI), and overlap index (OI). Next, the progressive agglomeration operation is carried out, including the computation of the external boundary outlines and the extraction of agglomeration lines. The effectiveness and rationality of the proposed method has been validated by using actual census data of Chinese geographical conditions in the Jiangsu Province.


Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. Variability Thesis directed by Professor Edith Zagona Previous approaches to water resources planning under inter-annual climate variability combining skillful seasonal flow forecasts with climatology for subsequent years are not skillful for medium term (i.e. decadal scale) projections as decision makers are not able to plan adequately to avoid vulnerabilities. This research addresses this need by integrating skillful decadal scale streamflow projections into the robust decision making framework and making the probability distribution of this projection available to the decision making logic. The range of possible future hydrologic scenarios can be defined using a variety of nonparametric methods. Once defined, an ensemble projection of decadal flow scenarios is generated from a wavelet-based spectral K-nearest-neighbor resampling approach using historical and paleo-reconstructed data. This method has been shown to generate skillful medium term projections with a rich variety of natural variability. The current state of the system in combination with the probability distribution of the projected flow ensembles enables the selection of appropriate decision options. This process is repeated for each year of the planning horizon—resulting in system outcomes that can be evaluated on their performance and resiliency. The research utilizes the RiverSMART suite of software modeling and analysis tools developed under the Bureau of Reclamation's WaterSMART initiative and built around the RiverWare modeling environment. A case study is developed for the Gunnison and Upper Colorado River Basins demonstrates the utility of the decision-making framework. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


Polyhydroxy aromatic compounds are one of the most important classes
of phenolic compounds with different biological activities. Some important and biologically active
phenol-based compounds have also been isolated from nature.

An efficient procedure for the synthesis of polyhydroxy aromatic compounds (phloroglucide
analogs) is described. In this procedure, a reaction took place between different 4-substituted
phenols and 2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl) phenols. The reactions proceed in the presence of catalytic
amount of silica gel supported boric tri-sulfuric anhydride (SiO2-BTSA) in excellent yields.

16 compounds were synthesized (I1-I16). Chemical structures of all the compounds were
confirmed by spectroscopic methods. We optimized the chemical reactions in the presence of different
acidic catalysts, different solvents and also different temperatures. A catalytic amount of
SiO2-BTSA in dichloroethane (DCE) was the best condition. Some of the synthesized compounds
were screened for their antimicrobial activities. Antifungal and antibacterial activities of the synthesized
compounds were evaluated by broth microdilution method as recommended by CLSI.
Some of the tested compounds showed good in vitro biological properties.

 Our active compounds could introduce as good candidates for further studies as antimicrobial
agents.


【A meteo-tsunami occurred along the coastline of South Korea on 31 March 2007, with an estimated maximum amplitude of 240 cm in Yeonggwang (YG). In this study, we investigated the synoptic weather systems around the Yellow sea including the Bohai Bay and Shandong Peninsula using a weather research and forecast model and weather charts of the surface pressure level, upper pressure level and auxiliary analysis. We found that 4-lows passed through the Yellow sea from the Shandung Peninsula to Korea during 5 days. Moreover, the passage of the cold front and the locally heavy rain with a sudden pressure change may make the resonance response in the near-shore and ocean with a regular time-lag. The sea-level pressure disturbance and absolute vorticity in 500 hPa projected over the Yellow sea was propagated with a similar velocity to the coastline of South Korea at the time that meteo-tsunami occurred.】


Wellbore quality might not always be the top priority from a drilling perspective due to the misconception that quality comes at the expense of drilling efficiency. This is indeed a misconception since a compromised wellbore quality, which can be defined as non-uniform wellbore shape due to the presence of enlargements and tight spots, is a sign of energy waste. The result of this is actually drilling inefficiency. It is proposed that drilling quality and efficiency come hand in hand provided that they are planned to be connected by two factors: drillstring design and geomechanics modelling. Drillstrings are designed to prevent mechanical failure and produce the highest possible ROP. Another aspect of the design is preventing vibrations and hole patterns. This work employs surface drilling parameters and geomechanics principles to correlate the drilled wellbore quality to the drillstring design.
 Surface drilling parameters and bit wear grading reports are used as diagnostic tools to check for dissipated energy and string vibrations, where the dissipated energy can be either mechanical, hydraulic, or both. This is then cross-referenced with multi-arm caliper measurements to confirm the influence on wellbore quality. A geomechanics model is incorporated to filter out in-situ stresses induced breakouts from breakouts and hole patterns caused by interactions with the drillstring. The role played by the drillstring design on this whole process is explored. Finally, drillstring modifications are proposed based on geomechanics considerations.
 The illustrated case shows a strong correlation between the shape of the wellbore, the spacing of the different bottomhole assembly components, and the formation mechanical properties. Another illustrated case, which utilized a modified drillstring design showed significant improvement in the wellbore quality. The results of the different cases confirm that incorporating geomechanical analysis in the process of drillstring design will help reconcile both of drilling quality and of efficiency.


We study the magnetoelectric coupling for the [001]-oriented (LaMnO3)2/(BaTiO3)5/(SrMnO3)2 superlattice, by means of the density functional theory. An interesting transition between ferromagnetic ordering and antiferromagnetic ordering is demonstrated by switching ferroelectric polarization in short-period superlattice structure. The predicted ferroelectrically induced magnetic reconstruction is less sensitive to the choice of Coulomb-correction U within GGA + U scheme. A possible explanation is given in terms of the favorable effect of n-type SrMnO3/LaMnO3 interface. Our results suggest that a sizable magnetoelectric effect may be achieved in the short-period LaMnO3/BaTiO3/SrMnO3 superlattice, hence promising application in electrically controlled magnetic data storage.


Extracellular vesicles (EVs), comprising large microvesicles (MVs) and exosomes (EXs), play a key role in intercellular communication, both in physiological and in a wide variety of pathological conditions. However, the education of EV target cells has so far mainly been investigated as a function of EX cargo, while few studies have focused on the characterization of EV surface membrane molecules and the mechanisms that mediate the addressability of specific EVs to different cell types and tissues. Identifying these mechanisms will help fulfill the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic promises fueled by our growing knowledge of EVs. In this review, we first discuss published studies on the presumed EV "delivery code" and on the combinations of the hypothesized EV surface membrane "sender" and "recipient" molecules that may mediate EV targeting in intercellular communication. Then we briefly review the main experimental approaches and techniques, and the bioinformatic tools that can be used to identify and characterize the structure and functional role of EV surface membrane molecules. In the final part, we present innovative techniques and directions for future research that would improve and deepen our understandings of EV-cell targeting.


Hypotheses on the pathogenesis of heartwater, which have been published so far, are briefly reviewed. Attempts were made at counteracting the effects of vaso-active substances released by mast cells by treating mice infected with Cowdria ruminantium with antagonists to histamin and serotonin on one hand, and with mast cell stabilizers on the other, but were not successful. Preliminary findings suggest that a hypersensitive type of reaction, triggered by the release of pharmacologically active substances, may possibly be basic to the pathogenesis of heartwater. Complement, and the products of arachidonic acid metabolism, possibly play a role in the release of the vaso-active substances.


Lee waves play an important role in transferring energy from the geostrophic eddy field to turbulent mixing in the Southern Ocean. As such, lee waves can impact the Southern Ocean circulation and modulate its response to changing climate through their regulation on the eddy field and turbulent mixing. The drag effect of lee waves on the eddy field and the mixing effect of lee waves on the tracer field have been studied separately to show their importance. However, it remains unclear how the drag and mixing effects act together to modify the Southern Ocean circulation. In this study, a lee wave parameterization that includes both lee wave drag and its associated lee-wave-driven mixing is developed and implemented in an eddy-resolving idealized model of the Southern Ocean to simulate and quantify the impacts of lee waves on the Southern Ocean circulation. The results show that lee waves enhance the baroclinic transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and strengthen the lower overturning circulation. The impact of lee waves on the large-scale circulation are explained by the control of lee wave drag on isopycnal slopes through their effect on eddies, and by the control of lee-wave-driven mixing on deep stratification and water mass transformation. The results also show that the drag and mixing effects are coupled such that they act to weaken one another. The implication is that the future parameterization of lee waves in global ocean and climate models should take both drag and mixing effects into consideration for a more accurate representation of their impact on the ocean circulation.


The authors considered the brand new approaches to choose the breeding pairs (varieties) for crossing and prediction of eco-genetic picture of new variety. The algorithm of control of breeding process on the basis of mathematical model for «genotype—environment» interaction was proposed, which consists in successive choose the variants of mutually complementary eco-genetic character of potential parents and prediction of resultant quantitative breeding determinants. The choose of the variants is performed until a required degree of coincidence between predictable and specified breeding determinants occurs. Under the control of ecological factors such choose is supplementing by optimization of environment parameters, and it provides the maximal usage of eco-genetic potential and the increase of reliability of identification of progeny genotypes on their phenotypes in the sequel.


Various corn-based traditional food in Indonesia representing a wealth ethnic food in every regions that needs to be preserved. In every region there is a specific corn based food, differ in processing methods. This paper discusses various traditional food products based on fresh corn and dried grain. Nutritional components of local corn variety were also reviewed. To improve the image of traditional corn based food an intensive promotion of the functional food contained in the simple corn food preparation is suggested. It requires that corn food be sold in food stalls and restaurants. Corn based food is considered healthier, low in cholesterol and suitable for the old people diet. Traditional food preparation based on corn could be modified using the international recipes, so that it could enter the home industries. Corn variety suitable for food industries is needed, especially those with good eating quality, high productivity and contain high nutritions. Corn based food should be promoted to broaden the food diversification program.


Human hexokinase (HK) II, a glucose phosphorylating enzyme in muscle tissue, plays a central role in glucose metabolism. Since reduced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and reduced glucose-6-phosphate content in muscle have been demonstrated in pre-non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (pre-NIDDM) and NIDDM subjects, we have examined the coding region of the HKII gene in NIDDM patients to determine whether these patients show genetic polymorphisms that are associated with or contribute to the disease. Single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis and nucleotide sequencing were initially performed on the entire coding region of the HKII gene of 38 insulin-resistant NIDDM patients and 5 healthy control subjects. This analysis revealed four missense mutations at codons 142 (Gln to His), 148 (Leu to Phe), 497 (Arg to Gln), and 844 (Arg to Lys) and an additional six exon polymorphisms that did not predict any change in amino acid composition of the protein. One homozygous and nine heterozygous carriers of the codon 142 mutation were found among the NIDDM patients. The mutations at codons 148, 497, and 844 were each found in one diabetic subject and only on one allele. There were no carriers of compound heterozygous mutations. A subsequent study of 301 patients with NIDDM and 151 healthy control subjects revealed no additional mutations at codons 148, 497, or 844. The total frequency of the mutated allele at codon 142 was 18.9% among the control subjects and 17.0% among the NIDDM patients (X2 = 0.56, P = 0.45). A population-based sample of 383 unrelated young healthy Caucasians was examined during a combined intravenous glucose and tolbutamide test to address whether the codon 142 amino acid polymorphism was associated with alterations in glucose effectiveness or insulin sensitivity. No evidence could, however, be provided for obvious relationships between the two estimates of whole-body insulin action and glucose turnover and the gene variant. In conclusion, four amino acid substitutions have been identified in the human HKII gene. Although the widespread mutation at codon 142 does not seem to be associated with an increased susceptibility to NIDDM or major abnormalities in whole-body glucose effectiveness or insulin sensitivity, further studies are needed to address the potential roles of the HKII mutations in intracellular energy metabolism.


This article explores the ways in which the Petřin Park is territorially produced. Drawing on my own ethnographic fi eldwork in the park, I analyse various forms of territorial production with special regard to marginalised productions of homeless people who live in Petřin under the constant threat of eradication from the place by municipal authorities. The object of this article is to develop a symmetrical perspective on the study of an urban park. I deploy the concept of territoriality (Karrholm), signifi cantly infl uenced by actor network theory, which deconstructs well established dichotomies of the social and the natural, as well as the public and the private and, thus, enables more subtle analysis of relationships between humans and non-humans and private and public activities in the place. Drawing upon Mitchell who argues that free and open public space has not yet existed in our history, I propose to avoid an uncritical use of the concept of public space. Instead, I develop the term "shared place" as characterised by a high level of territorial complexity. I claim that the socio-natural inclusiveness and democracy of a particular place is a function of the degree of sharing among different territorial producers (both human and non-human), rather than by a declared public character.


This paper is concerned with the forms and functions of silence in business communication. The empirical data come from three personal interviews conducted with Hungarian business professionals working in different fields of business. The first interview is conducted with an expert in pharmaceutical business, the second one is with a senior manager in the telecommunications industry, and the third one is done with a marketing manager. In the research audio recordings were made in Hungarian, which were then transcribed and translated into English. For the data analysis Laningen's (1988) three step phenomenological method has been used. The advantage of qualitative personal interviews is that it provides much flexibility both in the conduct of data collection and subsequent analysis. The results make us realise how complex and ambiguous, yet finely-tuned the use of silence in business communication can be.


ABSTRACT This study examines the narratives shared by low-income women in addiction recovery centers about the meaning they attach to being a parent in recovery and how they view current program models that include children in daily treatment. Their stories reflect the centrality of the mothering role to women in recovery and offer insights that can guide treatment and program planning with families.


The remarkable emergence of all‐dielectric meta‐photonics governed by the physics of high‐index dielectric materials offers a low‐loss platform for efficient manipulation and subwavelength control of electromagnetic waves from microwaves to visible frequencies. Dielectric metasurfaces can focus electromagnetic waves, generate structured beams and vortices, enhance local fields for advanced sensing, and provide novel functionalities for classical and quantum technologies. Recent advances in meta‐photonics are associated with the exploration of exotic electromagnetic modes called the bound states in the continuum (BICs), which offer a simple interference mechanism to achieve large quality factors (Q) through excitation of supercavity modes in dielectric nanostructures and resonant metasurfaces. Here, a BIC‐driven terahertz metasurface with dynamic control of high‐Q silicon supercavities that are reconfigurable at a nanosecond timescale is experimentally demonstrated. It is revealed that such supercavities enable low‐power, optically induced terahertz switching and modulation of sharp resonances for potential applications in lasing, mode multiplexing, and biosensing.


Mosquitoes' increasing resistance to insecticides is becoming a major threat for control efforts worldwide. Multiple P450 genes that are up-regulated in permethrin resistant strains of Culex quinquefasciatus have been linked to the development of resistance. In the current study, we characterized the function of six P450 genes, CYP6P14, CYP6BZ2, CYP9J33, CYP9J34, CYP9J40, and CYP9J45, that are overexpressed in the permethrin resistant Culex mosquitoes and showed their capability in metabolism of permethrin. These six P450 genes can convert 3-phenoxybenzoic alcohol (PBCHO) to a less toxic product, 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (PBCOOH), indicating that these P450s play an important role in permethrin degradation pathways. Although we know multiple P450 genes are over-expressed in permethrin resistant Culex mosquitoes, it remains to be seen whether cytochrome P450-reductase (CPR) gene that are co-overexpressed with P450 genes in permethrin resistant mosquitoes do indeed serve as a resistance mechanism. An in-depth investigation of the expression of CPR gene in resistant mosquitoes was conducted in permethrin resistant mosquitoes. The finding of CPR gene overexpression in permethrin resistant mosquitoes suggested the importance of co-overexpression of multiple P450 genes with their obligatory electron donor CPR in the complex detoxification system, boosting the metabolism of permethrin and hence the development of permethrin resistance in Cx. quinquefasciatus.


The electronic structures and magnetic properties in 4H-SiC codoped with Al and Mn have been investigated systematically based on density functional theory. Our results show that (Al,Mn)-codoping introduces spin-polarized hole states in 4H-SiC. The codoped system prefers the ferromagnetic state and the magnetization energy is larger than some of the known room-temperature diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs), indicating high RT ferromagnetism for (Al,Mn): 4H-SiC can be expected. The ferromagnetic property is mainly attributed to the 3d orbitals of Mn. Besides that the coupling of Mn–C–Mn also plays important roles in enhancing ferromagnetism in the case with more than one Mn atom. Our study explains the intrinsic factors inducing magnetism in 4H-SiC, which may provide a promising approach for preparing DMSs.


We studied DNA rearrangements in Escherichia coli by using a plasmid-based system with a transcriptionally silent tet gene and selecting for Tetr isolates. The predominant activating event was a 1.3-kilobase-pair deletion in the plasmid between two sites, with 14 of 19 base pairs being identical. These deletions occurred equally frequently in a recA+ strain and a recA13 mutant. However, the frequency of Tetr occurrence was stimulated 50-fold by treatment of the cells with UV light in a process that was at least partly independent of the SOS response. Bacterial mutants deleted for the xth-pnc region of the chromosome exhibited a strongly elevated spontaneous frequency of Tetr isolates, all with the same 1.3-kilobase-pair deletion. This phenotype of high-frequency deletion could be complemented by an episome covering this region, but not by the cloned xth gene. These studies helped to define the role of different DNA damages in illegitimate recombination and identify a region of the E. coli chromosome that contains a gene whose product normally suppresses illegitimate deletions.


Interns are expected to teach medical students, yet there is little formal training in medical school to prepare them for this role. To enhance the teaching skills of our graduating students we initiated a 4-hour "teaching to teach" course as part of the end of the fourth-year curriculum. Course evaluations demonstrate that students strongly support this program (overall ratings 2000 to 2005: mean=4.4 [scale 1 to 5], n=224). When 2004 course participants were surveyed during the last month of their internship, 84% "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement: "The teaching to teach course helped prepare me for my role as a teacher during internship" (2005: mean 4.2 [scale 1 to 5], n=45, response rate 60%). A course preparing fourth-year students to teach during internship is both feasible and reproducible, with a minimal commitment of faculty and resident time. Participants identify it as an important addition to their education and as useful during internship.


Music has proven to play a vital role in social and emotional development in teenagers and young adults. From contemplation, developing self-identity, understanding interpersonal relationships, and providing possibilities of experience mastery, agency, and self-control with the help of self-directed activities, music helps its audience develop in all aspects of life. In specific, Rock music, since its existence has been more than entertainment, artists expressed themselves and shared their opinions through their musical pieces. Infamous for promoting drugs and alcohol, Rock Music used its platform to enlighten the audience about taboo topics like racism, inequality, and other social issues. This research paper uses a qualitative methodology approach to understand Rock Music listeners' points of view. Data was collected through 'in-depth interviews' of 15 participants hailing from different parts of the country. Rock Music has several positive effects on the listeners. Rock can elevate moods, induce emotions, helps the listeners be more productive and creative with their everyday work, and constantly motivate them to do better in every aspect of life. Rock provides a platform to express feelings and vent out all the angst, especially for those who otherwise do not voice their opinions because of their nature in general. Rock Music has been able to shape personalities, characteristics, and thought processes. Moreover, majorly, Rock Music helps people with anger management.


What are the advantages and disadvantages of a monolithic virtual learning environment compared with a more diverse assembly of software elements adapted for learning? Is the whole greater than the sum of the parts when simple learning technologies are utilised in combination? Can a rich, relatively complex, learning environment emerge from a combination of relatively simple, individual learning elements? These questions are addressed in this paper, and we describe some of the outcomes we have observed when students use a learning environment developed using a number of loosely related web technologies together with more traditional teaching methods. Our strategy for the development of teaching and learning is to combine well understood tools involving a website, web forms, audio and video tools and RSS to produce an interactive learning system that can be taken in various directions depending on the needs and interests of the learners and the teacher. We believe that combining these simple elements can produce a learning environment that is robust,maintainable, controllable and is tuned to the needs of the students and the teachers. Our approach encourages experimentation, keeping what works and easily discarding what is unsuccessful or requiring further development. This paper describes the continuing evolution of our approach, and the reactions of learners. We compare our approach based on the use of simple tools with development using a virtual learning environment (VLE). The paper addresses the conference theme of enhancing the scope of technologies beyond their usual application limits.


The hereditary angioneurotic oedema is an exceptional disease of deadly risk from glottic oedema. The diagnosis is based on a very low serum C4, with collapsed C1 INH for a patient who has repeated attacks of Quincke's oedema or pseudo occlusive digestive crisis. These crisis are prevented by taking anabolic steroids and must be treated when they are serious by intravenous C1 INH. The recent contributions of the immunogenetic and the interest of a national registry are underlined.


The two mutual funds, IDBI Nifty Index (G) and IDFC Nifty (G) are compared and the performances were appraised. Both the funds have features in common, including the inception at the same time. The funds considered for the study were kept to a minimum in order to include the granular details. The portfolio characteristics are summarized by graphical representation to the extent possible. Statistical evaluation was performed with S&P CNX Nifty as benchmark index and the evaluation parameters: correlation, standard deviation, linear regression, Sharpe's Index, Treynor's Index, Jensen's Alpha, Fama's Measure and M 2 .


The paper proposes a new scheme for on-demand allocation of global IP addresses to hosts of an autonomous network. Such a scheme is needed in order to overcome the problem of IP address exhaustion. According to the new scheme, each host of the autonomous network is assigned a xed local address which appears in the source eld of all the IP datagrams the host sends and in the destination eld of all the IP datagrams it receives. A host that needs an IP-level connectivity with external hosts is allocated a global address for a limited time. Such a host continues using its xed local address as the source eld of every sent datagram. However, if the datagram is destined for an external host, the autonomous network border gateway swaps the xed local address of the source with the leased global one. When an external host sends a datagram to a local host, it uses the global address of the local host as destination address. When the datagram enters the autonomous network, the leased global address is swapped by the xed local one. As the paper shows, the proposed scheme that employs IP address swapping has several important advantages. Most of these advantages are due to the fact that the leased global addresses are not visible to the internal routing gateways, and that local hosts always use a single local address. Address: HP Israel Science Center, Technion City, Haifa 32000, Israel. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


Abstract Under conditions of sub-greenschist and low greenschist facies retrogression, both intragranular microcracking and grain-boundary dilatancy are important processes for facilitating fluid access into domains between fractures in metamorphic rocks. Both processes play a crucial role in promoting retrogression of high-temperature minerals. In a quartz-rich schist from Norway, garnet retrogression is clearly linked to microcracking in the vicinity of a minor fracture. Intense microcracking of quartz extends up to 12 mm from the fracture, and permits fluid infiltration. This causes extensive (70–100%) garnet retrogression to chlorite. At distances >16 mm from the fracture there is no sign of fluid infiltration and garnets are entirely unaltered. The spatial distribution of grain-boundary reaction products in a scapolite-dominated rock from Scotland provides evidence for the significant role played by transient grain-boundary dilatancy in promoting grain-scale fluid access and resultant retrogression. By applying distinct element modelling (UDEC code) the geometrical differences in distribution of grain-boundary reaction products are directly related to subtle differences in the magnitude and orientation of applied stresses and patterns of transient grain-boundary dilatancy.


Three dimensional (3D) culture has gradually become a research hotspot in the field of drug screening, stem cell research, and tissue engineering due to its more physiological-like morphology and function. In this study, we compared the differences of cell proliferation, population, protein expression and chemoresistance profiles between two dimensional (2D) and 3D culture of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) Jurkat cell line. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is used for 3D culture owing to its biochemical properties and compatibility. Culturing of ALL Jurkat cell line in collagen type I coated polycaprolactone scaffold for 168 h increased cell proliferation, attachment, as well as the drug resistance to cytarabine (Ara-C) and daunorubicin (DNR) without changing the original CD2+CD3+CD4+dimCD8−CD34−CD45+dim phenotype, compared to uncoated PCL scaffold and tissue culture plate systems. Molecularly, increased chemoresistance is associated with the upregulation of discoidin domain receptor 1 (DDR1) and transcription factor STAT3. Inhibition of DDR1 activity by DDR1-specific inhibitor DDR-IN-1 accelerated cell death in the presence of Ara-C, DNR or their combination. These results demonstrated that 3D culture enhances chemoresistance of ALL Jurkat cell line by increasing DDR1 expression. Importantly, the cell adhesion-mediated drug resistance induced by DDR1 in the scaffold was similar to the clinical situation, indicating the 3D culture of cancer cells recapitulate the in vivo tumor environment and this platform can be used as a promising pre-clinic drug-screen system.


In this paper, we show how to solve large sparse linear systems in a grid environment using the Java language and the MPJ library for communication. We describe a parallel version of the GMRES method which takes into account the sparsity of the matrix for message exchanges among processors. Two implementations are compared: one in Java using MPJ and one in C using MPI. The performance of both codes is also compared with that of the PETSc library. Experiments have been carried out using the GRID'5000 platform, on the one hand, on a local cluster, and, on the other hand, on clusters located in distant geographical sites. It is noticeable that the performance of our solver in Java is comparable to the same solver written in C and also to the PETSc library. Our solver in Java allowed us to solve sparse systems of size up to 2 billions with two geographically distant sites.


Gas permeable rigid lens materials offer the opportunity to reevaluate contact lens design. This paper presents the rationale and procedures followed in the development of a design concept for the Polycon lens material.


Dilatation of the pulmonary artery occurs frequently in cases of valvular pulmonary stenosis and is often called "poststenotic." We determined the diameter of the pulmonary artery angiocardiographically and compared this with the data obtained by heart catheterization in cases of pulmonary stenosis and of idiopathic dilatation of the pulmonary artery. Features are presented which constitute arguments in favor of Laubry's suggestion that we are dealing with two different abnormalities, namely, a valvular stenosis and a dilatation of the pulmonary artery though hydraulic forces may contribute to the final development of the dilatation.


AMC (which can be also described as fetal muscle cicatrisation) is a term describing the presence of various arthrogenic contractures at the moment of birth, limiting, to a certain degree, the range of joints mobility. The incidence of the disease is low--1 per 3,000 births and it is usually not determined genetically. In a 12-year-old patient treated in Paedodontic Dentistry Department of the Medical University of Lublin the contractions were observed in elbow joints, wrist joints and ankle joints. Dental examination revealed microgenia, limited mobility in temporo-mandibular joints and delayed teething. DMF mean value of permanent teeth was 4. Earlier the patient has not undergone any dental treatment. The conservative and orthodontic treatment applied was difficult due to limited mandible abduction (2-3 cm) and limited lateral movements. Children and adolescents with such diseases should undergo intensive prophylactic procedures because their dental treatment is very complicated.


The Mughal Empire, which conquered and ruled virtually all of today's India, Pakistan and Bangladesh over several centuries, created one of the richest and most colourful of all historical periods. Peoples of different cultures - including Muslims, Christians, Hindus and others, originating from Iran, Central Asia, Europe and South Asia itself worked, traded and travelled throughout the Empire, contributing to its dynamism and power. A few of the Europeans who began crisscrossing the roads of Mughal India wrote, in the forms of diaries, letters and travelogues, about the people and lands they encountered.This illuminating and carefully chosen anthology contains a collection of among the best writings by European travellers from England, Italy, Russia, France, Spain and Portugal as they journeyed the length and breadth of the Empire over a 200-year period (1471-1671). Their experiences and observations form fascinating and informative visions of travel and life in India during this period and provide invaluable contributions to our understanding of life there at the time.


Literature generates philosophically interesting knowledge in the process of creating novel aesthetic effects. I explore this dynamic by considering the representation of the experience of death--taking as my chief example Emily Dickinson's "I heard a Fly buzz--when I died." To create an aesthetically convincing representation of what it's like to die, the poet compares this unknown experience with the familiar experience of "losing oneself" in absorbed listening to sound. I argue that the adequacy of this kind of listening as a metaphor for the experience of death requires that the poet identifies surprising aspects of the familiar experience, aspects that align with some of our secular intuitions about death. These intuitions include: death will bring about the end of my self; death will bring about the end of my experiences. I bring Dickinson's implicit claims about certain modes of sound perception into relation with philosophical arguments by Derek Parfit, David Hume, William James, among others, to suggest their plausibility.


The myth for today is an axiom of what we may call Leninology — a branch of Kremlinology that has rapidly grown in the hands of the various university Russian Institutes, doctoral programs, political journalists, et al. According to this axiom, Lenin's 1902 book What Is To Be Done? (for short, WITBD) represents the essential content of his 'operational code' or 'concept of the party': all of Bolshevism and eventually Stalinism lies in ambush in its pages; it is the canonical work of 'Leninism' on party organisation, which, in turn, bears the original sin of totalitarianism. It establishes the 'Leninist type of party' as an authoritarian structure controlled from the top by 'professional revolutionaries' of upper-class provenance lording over a proletarian rank and file.


In this paper we deal with second order quadratic variations  along general  subdivisions for processes with Gaussian increments. These have almost surely a deterministic limit under conditions on the mesh of the subdivisions. This limit depends on the singularity function of the process and on the structure of the subdivisions too. Then we illustrate the results with the example of the time-space deformed fractional Brownian motion and we present some simulations.


Introduction: educational institutions are in charge of training qualified professional personnel who must be prepared to act in society. Objective: describe the socioeconomic profile of dental clinic users and identify the reasons why they make use of the service. Methods: a cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted of clinical cariology records from a higher education institution. 313 records were analyzed in the years 2011-2013. The data collected were sociodemographic variables (age, sex, family income, parents' schooling level) and reasons why they seek care. Data were treated descriptively and subjected to chi-square statistical tests, where 5 % was considered significant. Results: users' mean age was 6 ± 7.81 years with an even distribution between the sexes: female 50.2 % and male 49.8 %. Most parents had attended school for more than eight years: fathers 67.35 % and mothers 70.43 %. Around 37.75 % of the fathers and 43.9 % of the mothers with more than eight years of schooling go to the clinic for treatment, whereas 29.6 % of the fathers and 26.53 % of the mothers seek preventive care. The relationship found between education and reasons why parents seek care was p= 0.01. As to family income, 49.9 % reported that the family did not receive any, 39.8 % receive minimum wages and 10.4 % get more than one paycheck. Among no-income families, 37 % attend the service in search of treatment and 12.7 % seek preventive care. Conclusion: the population seeking care at the clinic was the most vulnerable socioeconomically and the reason for attending consultation was treatment.


We report on carrier-induced effects on emission and absorption in forward biased GaAs/AlGaAs V-groove quantum wire (QWR) diodes observed using low-temperature (10 K) photoluminescence (PL), electroluminescence (EL) and PL excitation (PLE) spectroscopy. In the case of simultaneous electron-hole injection we observe a band-gap renormalization (BGR) of at least 5 meV for a carrier density of approximate to 10(6) cm(-1), by comparing high-density EL spectra with low-density PLE spectra. In the case of electron injection of approximate to 10(6) cm(-1) we observe a complete quenching of the PLE absorption edge related to a Burstein-Moss shift of approximate to 35 meV. Hole band-filling is much less effective due to smaller subband spacing and larger density-of-states in the valence band.


Accumulated data reveal the generally uniform sedimentation trend of the Upper Silurian marine basin of Tuva, which appears to have been shallow throughout its history, although reconstruction of the relief of the trough fringe is difficult. The climate of the region was evidently warm, dry and semi-arid. The observed geologic development trend - transgression followed by regression - was not accompanied by a consistent trend of changes in mineral associations of the terrigenous rocks.--IGR Staff


This paper introduces the Electronic Commerce Payment System-Telephone Number (ECPS-TN) with a deferred payment method that bills the price of merchandise in electronic commerce shopping mall based on business to customer (B2C) together with a telephone bill, and presents its configurations, functions, and performances. The ECPS-TN consists of a server and gateway system that presents the service of ECPS-TN which can be linked by the present electronic commerce shopping mall of the Web/Merchant server, customer management and billing system, and the TCP/IP. By introducing a different payment method from the present payment such as credit card, electronic money wallet, and on-line depositing, it can not only serve a variation of payment but also secure a member of service for almost of users by using the system that bills the price of merchandise in electronic commerce shopping mall together with the number of public switched telephone network/integrated service digital network (PSTN/ISDN) which belongs to an average Internet user.


In this paper we consider eigenvalue problems on time scales involving linear Hamiltonian dynamic systems. We give conditions that ensure that the eigenvalues of the problem are isolated and bounded below. The presented results are applicable also to Sturm-Liouville dynamic equations of higher order, and further special cases of our systems are linear Hamiltonian differential systems as well as linear Hamiltonian difference systems.


We studied annual trends and characteristics of nesting activities and hatchling production by female Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) in Komodo National Park, Indonesia between 2002 and 2006. During this period, we recorded 12, 16, 15, 13, and 6 females nesting annually at 42 potential nesting sites. An average female nesting periodicity was estimated at 1.2±0.4 years. This result arose because most females bred annually and some biennially. Some females reused nest sites in successive years while others did not. Nesting females had significantly lower body mass compared to when they were recaptured again in a non-nesting state. All-female nesting activities were conducted within their resident valleys and suggested a strong tendency for spatial fidelity. Komodo Dragons were generally considered solitary nesters as only on one occasion were two nesting females observed to use the same nesting site. On average, 21.0±3.6 Komodo Dragon hatchlings emerged from each nest. We estimated that within the study area, nesting female Komodo Dragons produced between 129.0±21.8 and 344.0±58.16 hatchlings per annum. We discuss the ecological and evolutionary significance of these attributes. However, the main conservation management implications drawn from this study are that there are a low annual number of nesting females and associated hatchling production in Komodo National Park. Hence, a continuation of more extensive nesting surveys could provide a cost-effective and accurate way to gather important long-term demographic information for this species.


Abstract Objectives To examine the psychosexual impact and disclosure experiences of women testing HPV‐positive following cervical screening. Design In‐depth semi‐structured interviews. Methods Interviews were conducted with 21 women of screening age (i.e. those aged 24–65 years) in England who self‐reported testing HPV‐positive in the context of cervical screening in the last 12 months. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis. Results The sexually transmitted nature of HPV, and aspects relating to the transmission of HPV and where their HPV infection had come from, had an impact on women's current, past and future interpersonal and sexual relationships. Most women had disclosed their HPV infection to others, however the factors influencing their decision, and others' reactions to disclosure differed. The magnitude and extent of psychosexual impact was influenced by how women conceptualized HPV, their understanding of key aspects of the virus, concerns about transmitting HPV and having a persistent HPV infection. Conclusions Increasing knowledge of key aspects of HPV, such as its high prevalence and spontaneous clearance, and the differences between HPV and other STIs, may increase women's understanding of their screening result and reduce any negative psychosexual consequences of testing HPV‐positive. Referring to HPV as an infection that is passed on by skin‐to‐skin contact during sexual activity, rather than an STI, may help to lessen any psychosexual impact triggered by the STI label.


The spate of public sector reforms which have taken place in recent decades has triggered the development of a new body of research around public sector accounting and performance measurement both in public administration as well as in the (public sector) accounting literature. However, studies in accounting and public administration have at times ignored each other, proceeding in parallel. This symposium encourages the adoption of interdisciplinary perspectives in exploring the myriad roles played by accounting and performance measurement systems in contemporary public administration. Emphasizing that accounting and performance measurement systems are socially, politically, culturally constructed and, in turn, are implicated in the creation of organizations, society and political values, this symposium aims to extend the dialogue between accounting and public administration scholars in exploring how accounting, accountability and performance measurement considerations are connected to policy‐making, public services and, more generally, the building and maintenance of modern states and democracies.


Four different commercial poultry feeds namely, Amo, Vital, Top and Animal care poultry feed brands, each consisting of starter, grower, layer and finisher categories respectively, obtained from their trade outlets in Umudike, Nigeria were examined for their microbiological and physicochemical qualities using standard microbiological and analytical methods. The fungal count was highest in Vital layer feed with 9.6 × 105 cfu/g, while the least count of 3.0 × 104 cfu/g was recorded in Animal care grower feed. Bacterial count was highest in Amo starter (2.70 × 107 cfu/g) and least in Amo layer (2.0 × 106 cfu/g). A total of twelve microorganisms were isolated. Fungal isolates include Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium spp, Penicillium spp and Rhizopus spp with Aspergillus flavus having the highest percentage occurrence of 25.4%. Bacterial isolates include Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp, Pseudomonas spp, Klebsiella spp, Streptococcus spp, and Listeria spp with Staphylococcus aureus having the highest percentage occurrence of 19.9%. Physicochemical analyses revealed the presence of moisture, ash, carbohydrate, crude fibre, crude fat and protein contents. The presence of microorganisms in poultry feeds could pose a threat to the poultry birds and humans, therefore the need for constant assessment of the safe quality of these feeds.


The claims that big data holds the key to enterprise successes and that Artificial Intelligence is going to replace humanity have become increasingly more popular over the past few years, both in academia and in the industry. However, while these claims may indeed capture some truth, they have also been massively oversold, or so we contend here. The goal of this paper is two-fold. First, we provide a qualified defence of the value of less data within the context of AI. This is done by carefully reviewing two distinct problems for big data driven AI, namely a) the limited track record of Deep Learning in key areas such as Natural Language Processing, b) the regulatory and business significance of being able to learn from few data points. Second, we briefly sketch what we refer to as a case of AI with humans and for humans, namely an AI paradigm whereby the systems we build are privacy-oriented and focused on human-machine collaboration, not competition. Combining our claims above, we conclude that when seen through the lens of cognitively inspired AI, the bright future of the discipline is about less data, not more, and more humans, not fewer.


Gammadelta T cells are expanded in human IgA nephropathy and in a rat model of adriamycin (ADR)-induced nephropathy. Despite different diseases and species, these renal gammadelta T cells use a restricted set of gammadelta T cell receptor (TCR) genes. To explore whether this phenomenon of post injury expansion of gammadelta T cells occurs in autoimmune-mediated glomerulonephritis, we studied gammadelta TCR genes in Heymann nephritis (HN). Gammadelta T cells were increased in HN kidneys (p<0.001). These gammadelta T cells predominantly expressed Vgamma6/Vdelta1 genes and used canonical matching sequences previously seen in the other models of renal injury. Gammadelta T cells from the kidneys expressed high levels of TGF-beta, IL-4 and IL-5. The gammadelta T cells from both ADR-treated and HN kidneys expressed NKG2D, the NK cell-activating receptor. These results demonstrate that the majority of gammadelta T cells in the HN kidney use a canonical Vgamma6/Vdelta1 TCR--the gammadelta TCR previously described in the rat ADR-treated kidney. The restriction in gammadelta TCR seen in two completely different models of kidney injury and the expression of an innate activating molecule NKG2D suggests that the gammadelta T cells may be responding to tissue stress from injury and producing a regulatory response.


Production of light-section rolled products and wire rods of alloyed steel grades differs by small volume of yearly output and wide range of smelted grades. To organize production of light-section rolled products of alloyed steel grades in small volumes, OJSC "Spetsmash" elaborated concept of small-capacity production, which was implemented at several plants. It was shown that horizontal CCM can be effectively applied in the small-capacity production within complexes of light-section rolled stock of alloyed steels production. At the plant "Ferrotrade" (Beloretsk) when creating a complex for production wire rods of 6.5 mm diameter of austenite class steels and nickel-based alloys, a horizontal CCM was constructed. Production of 60 mm diameter billets by the machine was mastered, which enabled to apply a rolling mini-mill, characterizing by small dimensions and power. The horizontal CCM, constructed in 2016 at the steelmaking shop of CJSC "Izhevsk pilot-mechanical plant", was equipped by electromagnetic stirrer (EMS). It was noted that EMS was applied for the first time in domestic metallurgy at the industrial CCM of horizontal type. In the process of this CCM mastering, more than 60 heats were casted into billets of 80, 200 and 120 mm diameter. EMS application resulted in improving average point on the central porosity to 1.2—1.8 depending on the stirring modes. In 2018 the OJSC "Spetsmash" for the Research Center "Thermodeform" (Magnitogorsk) constructed an experimental horizontal CCM, designed for casting of billets of 40—60 mm diameter by direct casting of melt from the crucible of 60 kg induction furnace into the metal reservoir 776 of the machine. Development of a project of horizontal CCM for PJSC "PlasmaTek" (Ukraine, Vinnitsy) finished, designed for production of billets of 50 and 60 mm diameter within a complex of equipment for manufacturing welding electrodes not only of alloyed but also of carbon steel grades. The designed productivity of the complex is 12,000 t/year. Basic technical characteristics of the CCM presented. Small-capacity production with horizontal CCMs can be organized as independent objects and within existing steel-works for expanding product range.


The increase in the number of cases of allergic reactions and celiac disease is an important problem. The solution to this problem is the search and development of relevant and effective ways to eliminate gluten. Specific amino acid sequences glutamine and proline determine the resistance to protease hydrolysis of the structural domains of gluten fractions. The analysis of the literature data showed that an alternative to the gluten-free diet is the use of biotechnological methods for modifying ingredients containing gluten. Such methods include the use of leavens on the base of lactic acid bacteria or enzyme preparations containing peptidases specific to gluten biocatalysis. In addition, the pretreatment of raw materials by extrusion cooking contributes to an increase in the degree of gluten hydrolysis. The effect of the thermoplastic extrusion and various enzyme systems containing proteases, amylolytic, cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes on the changes in the molecular weights of wheat protein fractions was studied. It was found that extrusion as a factor of protein modification significantly affects the proteolysis of wheat proteins using enzyme systems of different substrate specificity. The most effective hydrolysis was shown by the use of a complex enzyme preparation Amyloprotoorizin. including The effect was also noted after bioconversion of non-extruded wheat. An algorithm for the technology of wheat snacks based on the processes of extrusion and biocatalysis of proteins with specific proteases for the elimination of gluten is devepoped. The practical implementation of the technology will make it possible to obtain ready-to-eat snacks, which will be investigated for the preservation or elimination of antigenic properties during clinical trials.


During organogenesis, individual cells must commit to and execute specific cell fates. However, the molecular mechanisms linking cell fate specification to fate execution and morphogenesis remain a largely unexplored area in developmental biology. The Caenorhabditis elegans vulva is an excellent model to dissect the molecular pathways linking cell fate specification and execution during organogenesis. We have recently identified a conserved nuclear zinc finger transcription factor called VAB-23 that plays essential roles during vulval torid formation in the larva and ventral epidermal closure in the embryo. VAB-23 regulates the transcription of specific target genes including smp-1 Semaphorin. EGFR/RAS/MAPK signaling upregulates via the HOX protein LIN-39 the expression of VAB-23 in the 1° vulval cell lineage, indicating that cell fate specification and execution are temporally overlapping and tightly linked processes. Here, we discuss the roles of VAB-23 in morphogenesis and the implications of its regulation on the spatio-temporal control of organogenesis.


The paper describes a method for automated small-signal frequency response analysis based on transient response obtained using a general-purpose simulation tool such as simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE). The method is based on using the simulation tool to evaluate the converter impulse response. The main advantage of the proposed method as a design verification tool is that frequency responses can be generated efficiently for any converter configuration and any model complexity supported by the general-purpose simulator. Application examples are included to demonstrate very good correlation between the generated responses and experimental data, and to compare the results with predictions of approximate analytical methods. In particular, the method is applied to investigate high-frequency dynamics of pulse width modulation (PWM) converters operating in discontinuous conduction mode, and the results are used to compare and validate several existing analytical modeling approaches.


The present communication reports very low doses of environmentally available TCDD exposed for sub acute exposure duration affects to membrane bound ATPases enzymes in mice brain. Healthy female Swiss albino mice with the same body weight of about 25-30g were considered for the experimental purposes after acclimatization for a period of 2-3 days prior to the experiment. The animals were grouped before the experiments and kept under standard conditions. The experiments were conducted according to the ethical norms approved by the CPCSEA (Letter: CP6EA/CH/RF/ACK-2003, 29-07-2003). Animals were provided with rodent diet (Keval Sales Corporation, India) and water ad libitum.Different groups of mice were received different concentrations of TCDD (0.004 mg/kg bw and 0.04 mg/kg bw) for 2, 4 and 6 days of exposure durations. Control group of mice were received corn oil as a vehicle. Two hypotheses viz., (a) invivo exposure of environmentally available low concentrations of TCDD provokes both dose and subacute exposure duration dependent effects to membrane bound ATPases system, and (b) TCDD possibly has an indirect effect on membrane bound ATPases system, were tested in this study. The results suggested predominant exposure duration dependent effects on the membrane bound ion dependent ATPases studied. The observed results were indicative of a possible indirect effect of TCDD occurred by complex chain of reactions exhibited by cell when exposed to TCDD. In conclusion of present study being a lipophilic toxic, TCDD affects to ion channels by affecting different physiological reaction. TCDD may not be affecting directly to membrane bound ion channels.


The space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler have opened a new era in stellar physics, especially for evolved stars, with precise asteroseismic measurements that help determine precise stellar parameters and perform ensemble asteroseismology. This paper deals with the quality of the information that we can retrieve from the oscillations. It focusses on the conditions for obtaining the most accurate measurement of the radial and non-radial oscillation patterns. This accuracy is a prerequisite for making the best with asteroseismic data. From radial modes, we derive proxies of the stellar mass and radii with an unprecedented accuracy for field stars. For dozens of subgiants and thousands of red giants, the identification of mixed modes (corresponding to gravity waves propagating in the core coupled to pressure waves propagating in the envelope) indicates unambiguously their evolutionary status. As probes of the stellar core, these mixed modes also reveal the internal differential rotation and show the spinning down of the core rotation of stars ascending the red giant branch. A toy model of the coupling of waves constructing mixed modes is exposed, for illustrating many of their features.


T2K is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that will use an off-axis beamline, produced at J-PARC and directed towards the SuperKamiokande detector, to precisely measure muon neutrino disappearance as well as electron neutrino appearance in a beam. A near detector, built 280 m downstream of the proton target, is needed in order to monitor the beam as well as to measure neutrino interaction cross-sections. As part of the near detector, two fine-grained detectors (FGDs) combined with three time-projection chambers (TPCs) will form the target mass for neutrino interaction. One FGD will consist of plastic scintillator while the other will contain a significant admixture of water in order to estimate nuclear effects as well as to match Super-K's target material. The liquid fraction of the water-rich FGD will either consist of pure water (passive configuration) or be made of an active water/liquid scintillator cocktail. This thesis presents the latest design and construction developments relating to the water FGD, looking specifically at important physics issues that need to be solved, such as the mechanical design of the structure, fluid sealing, light yield and stability of aged materials. Extruded sheets of polypropylene with a hollow profile have been considered as a structural element to contain the liquid due to their mechanical strength and low cost. In the active configuration, the individual cells of such an extrusion will become readout channels once threaded with wavelength shifting fibers. Fluid sealing has been studied for both the case of a passive as well as an active water detector, and successful seal prototypes have been built: a simple epoxy seal for the passive water case and a more elaborate two-piece thermal welded endcap for the active detector option. Single-cell prototypes have been filled with the scintillator cocktail, and light yield tests have been performed using a 400-MeV/c proton beam. More specifically, the attenuation length of the fiber has been measured and long term stability of the liquid mixture has been investigated. Results of aging for all considered materials when put in contact with the chemically reactive liquid scintillator are also presented.


Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) is a methodology that estimates the likelihood that various levels of earthquake-caused ground motion will be exceeded at a given location in a given future time period. Due to large uncertainties in all the geosciences data and in their modeling, multiple model interpretations are often possible. This leads to disagreement among experts, which in the past has led to disagreement on the selection of ground motion for design at a given site. In order to review the present state-of-the-art and improve on the overall stability of the PSHA process, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) co-sponsored a project to provide methodological guidance on how to perform a PSHA. The project has been carried out by a seven-member Senior Seismic Hazard Analysis Committee (SSHAC) supported by a large number other experts. The SSHAC reviewed past studies, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the EPRI landmark PSHA studies of the 1980`s and examined ways to improve on the present state-of-the-art. The Committee`s most important conclusion is that differences in PSHA results are due to procedural rather than technical differences. Thus, in addition to providing a detailed documentation on state-of-the-art elements of a PSHA, this report provides a series of procedural recommendations. The role of experts is analyzed in detail. Two entities are formally defined-the Technical Integrator (TI) and the Technical Facilitator Integrator (TFI)--to account for the various levels of complexity in the technical issues and different levels of efforts needed in a given study.


Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) is an inflammatory cytokine that regulates inflammation and tumor progression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The higher levels of TNF α are known to induce expression of several genes such as TNFα-induced protein 2 (TNFAIP2) with a largely unknown role in NSCLC. We provide the preliminary evidence for the role of TNFAIP2 in NSCLC progression and its epigenetic regulation mediated by microRNA, miR-145-5p. The expression of TNFAIP2 was confirmed using quantitative real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot in NSCLC tissue and paired adjacent normal tissue. All in vitro assays were undertaken in A549 and H23 cells and chemoresistance assays were undertaken in A549/Cisplatin (DDP) and H23/DDP cell types. TNFAIP2 silencing was undertaken using lipofectamine transfection of specific siRNA. Cells were co-transfected with miR-145-5p, and TNFAIP2-3' untranslated region (UTR) or TNFAIP2 with mutated 3'UTR using the luciferase vector pGL. Cell viability, transwell migration, and invasion were assessed. The role of caspase 3 proteins in cell viability was ascertained using Western blot. The tumor tissues (and cisplatin-resistant cell lines A549/DDP and H23/DDP) expressed significantly higher levels of TNAIP2 mRNA and protein. Silencing of TNFAIP2 resulted in reduced cell viability, reduced invasion, and migration in vitro. Silencing of TNFAIP2 in A549/DDP and H23/DDP had higher expression of TNFAIP2, reduced cell viability, and increased induction of caspase 3. MiR-145-5p binds to the 3'UTR of TNFAIP2. Overexpression of MiR-145-5p reduced expression of TNFAIP2, decreased cell viability, reduced cell migration and invasion, and significantly reduced expression of caspase 3 protein. TNFAIP2 mediates tumorigenesis in NSCLC through, not completely known pathways. miR-145-5p negatively regulates TNFAIP2 expression. miR-145-5p-mediated therapies may be explored in NSCLC.


In the early fifth century, both Cyril of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo used Eusebius of Caesarea's Chronicle in the writing of their respective apologetic treatises – Against Julian for Cyril and The city of God for Augustine. The present study compares the use that these two authors made of their predecessor and argues for two continuities between these acts of reception: the use of synchronisms between biblical and non-biblical history and the tracing of Mosaic monotheism through time. In both these respects, Cyril and Augustine were carrying forward themes of Christian apologetic that reached back to the second-century apologists.


The study empirically investigated the casual link between foreign direct investment, trade and economic growth in case of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. For empirical purpose we used annual time series data for the years 1980-2010. In this study it is tried to find out that is there casual link between FDI trade and GDP in case of selected countries, and if causality exists then what is the direction of causality. ADF unit root test is used to check the stationarity of the data. Granger causality test has been used for estimating the casual relationship. Auto Regression Distributive Lag is used to estimate long run and short run relation among the variables. The empirical results revealed that all the variables are integrated of order one. Empirical results of Granger causality test revealed that in case of Pakistan there is bidirectional causality between FDI and economic growth and unidirectional causality from FDI to trade. In case of India there is unidirectional causality from economic growth to remittances and from remittances to trade. Furthermore, in case of Bangladesh there is unidirectional relationship between FDI to economic growth, trade to economic growth, remittances to economic growth and trade to FDI while bidirectional causality from between remittances and FDI and remittances and trade. Keywords: Gross Domestic Product; Foreign Direct Investment; Exports; Granger Causality


Tripolar electrodes have been shown to have less mutual information and higher spatial resolution than disc electrodes. In this work, a four-layer anisotropic concentric spherical head computer model was programmed, then four configurations of time-varying dipole signals were used to generate the scalp surface signals that would be obtained with tripolar and disc electrodes. Finally, a fast fixed-point algorithm was used for signal independent component analysis (ICA). The results show that signals from tripolar electrodes generated better ICA separation results than from disc electrodes.


This article describes a method for analyzing, modeling, and simulating a two-level arrival-counting process. This method is particlarly appropriate when the number of independent processes is large, as is the case in our motivating application which requires analyzing and representing computer file system trace data for activity on nearly 8,000 files. The method is also applicable to network trace data characterizing communication patterns between pairs of computers. We apply cluster analysis to separate the arrival process into groups or bursts of activity on a file. We then characterize the arrival procss in terms of the time between bursts of activity on file, the time between file events within bursts, and the number of events in a burst. Finally, we model these three components individually, then reassemble the results to produce a synthetic trace generator. In order to gauge the effectiveness of this method, we use synthetically generated (simulated) trace data produced in this way to drive a discrete-event simulation of a distributed replicated file system. We compare the results of the simulation driven by the synthetic trace with the same simulation driven by the original trace data, and conclude that the synthetic data capture the essential characteristics of the empirical trace.


In this paper we incorporate a binary arithmetic coder into a predictive lossless image compression scheme. Its idea arises from the observation that a binary arithmetic coder needs much less computation than a multi-symbol one and therefore should run faster. To map the prediction errors to binary symbols which are fed into the arithmetic coder, Rice code has been adopted because of the Laplacian distribution for prediction errors. Experiments show that the compression performance of this scheme is better than that of LOCO and S+P and is close to that of CALIC.


The purpose of this article is to define the relationship between value of investments made by foreign investors in Poland and the total amount of their investment made by these investors in the world. The study includes the period 2005–2011 when the economic and financial crisis occurred in the global economy. Therefore, special attention was paid to the impact of global economic crisis on the changes in the total amount and direction of foreign investments. Much attention will be paid "greenfield" investments which are essential for the host countries because of creating (and increasing) value of the assets located in those countries from the basis. The author hypothesized that the crisis has caused quite far-reaching reallocation of foreign investment in the world but that did not affect the direction off load the total value of foreign investments in Poland.


Obligate avian brood parasites can be host specialists or host generalists. In turn, individual females within generalist brood parasites may themselves be host specialists or generalists. The shiny cowbird Molothrus bonariensis is an extreme generalist, but little is known about individual female host fidelity. We examined variation in mitochondrial control region sequences from cowbird chicks found in nests of four common Argentinean hosts. Haplotype frequency distributions differed among cowbird chicks from nests of these hosts, primarily because eggs laid in nests of house wrens Troglodytes aedon differed genetically from those laid in nests of the other three hosts (chalk‐browed mockingbird Mimus saturninus, brown‐and‐yellow marshbird Pseudoleistes virescens, and rufous‐collared sparrow Zonotrichia capensis). These differences in a maternally inherited marker indicate the presence of a nonrandom laying behaviour in the females of this otherwise generalist brood parasite, which may be guided by choice for nest type, as house wrens nest in cavities whereas the other three species are open cup nesters.


Background. Celiac disease is frequently associated with uncontrolled blood sugar and impaired linear growth in a child with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Objective. To study the impact of a gluten-free diet on several growth parameters in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and celiac disease. Methodology. Two hundred and fifty six patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus were screened (149 males and 107 females) during the study period of two years. Patients were evaluated for the clinical signs, biochemical investigations and family history of celiac disease in a tertiary care health centre in Western Uttar Pradesh, India. Results. Twenty four (9.3%) patients were diagnosed to have celiac disease; the mean age at diagnosis of diabetes was 9.37±7 years. Only one out of twenty four patients with celiac disease had been diagnosed before the detection of diabetes mellitus. Weight standard deviation score (SDS) increased from -0.12±1.3 at the start of gluten free diet to 0.8±0.9 after 12 months (p<0.004). Height SDS decreased from -2.46±1.1 at the start of gluten free diet to -2.14±0.9 after 12 months later (p=0.087). Bone age SDS increased from 9.2±6.3 at the start of gluten free diet to 10.3±6.7 after 12 months later. Height velocity increased from 4.7±0.7 cm/year in the year before treatment to 5.1+1.2 cm/year during treatment (p=0.05). The increase in Haemoglobin, serum calcium, and serum iron was statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion. Patients with celiac disease associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus frequently have poor glycemic control and impairment in several growth parameters. When these patients are put on a gluten restricted diet, they show signs of improvement in terms of weight gain, height, serum Ca, serum iron, haemoglobin, and in height velocity.


Transcription factors, which represent an important class of proteins that play key roles in controlling cellular proliferation and cell cycle modulation, are attractive targets for cancer therapy. Previous researches have shown that the expression level of activating transcription factor 5 (ATF5) was frequently increased in glioma and its acetylation level was related to glioma. The purposes of this study were to explore the methylation level of ATF5 in clinical glioma tissues and to explore the effect of ATF5 methylation on the expression of ATF5 in glioma. Methylation of the promoter region of ATF5 was assayed by bisulfite-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sequencing analysis in 35 cases of glioma and 5 normal tissues. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was also performed to detect ATF5 mRNA expression in 35 cases of glioma and 5 normal tissues. Clinical data were collected from the patients and analyzed. The percentages of methylation of the ATF5 gene in the promoter region in healthy control, patients with well-differentiated glioma, and those with poorly differentiated glioma were 87.78%, 73.89%, and 47.70%, respectively. Analysis of the methylation status of the promoter region of the ATF5 gene showed a gradually decreased methylation level in poorly differentiated glioma, well-differentiated glioma, and normal tissues (P<0.05). There was also a significant difference between well-differentiated glioma and poorly differentiated glioma (P<0.05). ATF5 mRNA expression in glioma was significantly higher than that in the normal tissues (P<0.05). This study provides the first evidence that the methylation level of ATF5 decreased, and its mRNA expression was evidently up-regulated in glioma.


In most carbohydrate-containing foods, the blood insulin response is predictable and is closely linked to the food's glycaemic index (GI). A single study, examining whole milk and fermented milk products made from whole milk, recently reported a large dissociation between the GI and insulinaemic index (II) in healthy normal adults. Because the fat component of a food may influence the GI and II, it is unclear if a similar dissociation may exist for skimmed milk in normal adults. We determined the GI and II of both skimmed and whole milk in nine healthy, male (n 6) and female (n 3) subjects (23·6 (sd 1·4) years). No significant (P>0·05) differences existed between GI and II for skimmed and whole milks. Significant (P<0·05) differences were observed between the actual and predicted areas under the insulin curves for both skimmed milk (predicted 1405 (sd 289) pmol×min/l; actual 6152 (sd 1177) pmol×min/l) and whole milk (predicted 1564 (sd 339) pmol×min/l; actual 5939 (sd 1095) pmol×min/l). Consequently, a large and similar dissociation of the GI and II existed for both whole milk (42 (sd 5) and 148 (sd 14)) and skimmed milk (37 (sd 9) and 140 (sd 13)). It is concluded that the dissociation of the GI and II in milk is not related to its fat content.


A superintegrable, discrete model of the quantum isotropic oscillator in two-dimensions is introduced. The system is defined on the regular, infinite-dimensional N × N ?> lattice. It is governed by a Hamiltonian expressed as a seven-point difference operator involving three parameters. The exact solutions of the model are given in terms of the two-variable Meixner polynomials orthogonal with respect to the negative trinomial distribution. The constants of motion of the system are constructed using the raising and lowering operators for these polynomials. They are shown to generate an su ( 2 ) ?> invariance algebra. The two-variable Meixner polynomials are seen to support irreducible representations of this algebra. In the continuum limit, where the lattice constant tends to zero, the standard isotropic quantum oscillator in two-dimensions is recovered. The limit process from the two-variable Meixner polynomials to a product of two Hermite polynomials is carried out by involving the bivariate Charlier polynomials.