This set of volumes, edited by Ted Dinan of St. James's Hospital and Trinity College, Dublin, whilst recognizing the multifactorial nature of psychiatric illness, consists largely of a number of expertly written and reasonably current reviews of the neuro-biology of various disorders in adult and child psychiatry. Dr. Dinan has done a wonderful job in co-ordinating the work of thirty-one authors, each an expert in his or her field. He has written the chapter on post-partum mental illness himself. The other Irish-based contributors are Siobhan Barry (Trinity College; Mania) and Brian Leonard (University College, Galway; neurochemistry). Volume 1 covers neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, animal models, immunology, brain imaging, and schizophrenia. Volume 2 deals with a variety of clinical disorders. Neurobiology, like other sciences, throws up more questions than answers. Progress is often slow, and blind alleys are commonplace. However, we are probably getting better at asking ourselves the correct questions. A major obstacle remains the difficulty of fit between the molecule and the man; we find it difficult to define and classify behaviour; we find it dreadfully hard to match the latter with measured chemicals and electrochemical events; and we do not yet know for sure what is primary to a condition and what is secondary to being disordered. However, not being able to see Pluto did not stop our forefathers recognising its existence and position. This is certainly a good text for the clinician with an interest in the basic sciences. It would make profitable reading for the trainee psychiatrist. It is an essential text for the neuroscientist and all medical libraries. It is, sadly, expensive and should be produced as a single-volume, cheap paperback. Brian O'Shea


Vehicle-borne tracking and position device is used to track LEO satellite. Because of the absence of the target which might be caused by cloud or zenith blind zone, the forecasting data will be used to acquire the target. While orbit prediction has serious errors, the target is always missed. Meanwhile, in its application to the vehicle-borne tracking and position device, due to the base of instability in the tracking process, it will result in significant difference between predicting data and tracking data, so the target will be not tracked rapidly. We applied tracking data to predict satellite orbits by improving Laplace method, and then corrected the error between Predicted data and actual measured data by interpolation method of Lagrange which improves the accuracy of prediction values. The testing data shows the accuracy of predicted data ranging from 3' to 10' for both azimuth and elevation when extrapolated satellite orbit to 7 seconds time.


Frame induction is the automatic creation of frame-semantic resources similar to FrameNet or PropBank, which map lexical units of a language to frame representations of each lexical unit's semantics. For verbs, these representations usually include a specification of their argument slots and of the selectional restrictions that apply to each slot. Verbs that participate in diathesis alternations have different syntactic realizations whose semantics are closely related, but not identical. We discuss the influence that such alternations have on frame induction, compare several possible frame structures for verbs in the causative alternation, and propose a systematic analysis of alternating verbs that encodes their similarities as well as their differences.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between play behaviors and young children`s playfulness in a variety of play space environments. The subjects were 150 4-year old children of 29 mixed-age classes in childcare centers of Seoul and Gyeonggi area. The results were as follows; (1) Their play behaviors differed according to their play environment in terms of classroom spaces. Solitary-active play behaviors were more frequently observed in large play spaces than small. (2) Leading participation, cognitive flexibility, voluntary full immersion, and total playfulness scores correlated negatively with reticent behavior. Leading participation, voluntary full immersion, and total playfulness scores, on the other hand, correlated positively with group play behavior. (3) In small play spaces, leading participation, voluntary full immersion correlated negatively with reticent behavior, but leading participation correlated positively with group play. In middle play spaces, cognitive flexibility correlated negatively with reticent behavior. In large play spaces, voluntary full immersion correlated negatively with parallel play, but leading participation, cognitive flexibility, expressions of joy, voluntary full immersion, and total playfulness score correlated positively with group play.


This study is important for the optimization of protoplast fusogen and washing solution system suitable for protoplast fusion between the Triticum aestivum and Aegilops. By enzymolysis, the result shows that more than 90% viable protoplasts of Mingxian169 (common wheat) and Y2155a ( Aegilops ) were efficiently obtained and fused. The greatest of protoplast fusogen and washing solution condition was developed using an orthogonal experimental design, L25 (55), where L=orthogonal table; 5=factors; 5=five levels of each; and 25=experimental number. It was shown that the greatest protoplast fusogen was found at PEG6000 content (w/v) 25%, 0.50 M sucrose, pH 6.0 and washing solution was 5.0 mM CaCl 2 . Over 10% viable heterokaryons was produced using different fusion condition. Because of the narrow genetic diversity of common wheat and elite agronomic traits of many wild relatives, it is very important and helpful for the improvement of common wheat through somatic hybridization between wheat and wheat wild relatives, Key words: Protoplast, fusion, orthogonal design method, Mingxian 169, Y2155a.


Purpose Although anemia is considered to be a contributor to intra-tumoral hypoxia and tumor resistance to ionizing radiation in cancer patients, the impact of pretreatment anemia on local control after neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) and surgery for rectal cancer remains unclear. Materials and Methods We reviewed the records of 247 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who were treated with NACRT followed by curative-intent surgery. Results The patients with anemia before NACRT (36.0%, 89/247) achieved less pathologic complete response (pCR) than those without anemia (p = 0.012). The patients with pretreatment anemia had worse 3-year local control than those without pretreatment anemia (86.0% vs. 95.7%, p = 0.005). Multivariate analysis showed that pretreatment anemia (p = 0.035), pathologic tumor and nodal stage (p = 0.020 and 0.032, respectively) were independently significant factors for local control. Conclusion Pretreatment anemia had negative impacts on pCR and local control among patients who underwent NACRT and surgery for rectal cancer. Strategies maintaining hemoglobin level within normal range could potentially be used to improve local control in rectal cancer patients.


Objectives: There has been a lot of controversy about whether Korean traditional medicines cause drug-induced hepatotoxicity or not. However, this controversy has not been examined from a scientific approach, especially in terms of toxicology. Thus, this article for traditional Korean medicine-induced hepatotoxicity was reviewed on a basis of toxicological assessment. Methods: Toxicological assessments were carried out in a view of reactive intermediates formation from biotransformation in animals based on cytochrome P450 activity inducing oxidative stress, and case reports in world-wide. Results and Conclusions: Several herbal materials used for traditional Korean medicines were identified as possible agents causing drug-induced hepatotoxicity. Most of these agents seem to produce toxic reactive intermediates caused by cytochrome P450. Oxidative stress followed by cytochrome P450 activation could also be a reason for herb-induced hepatotoxicity. Plausible prevention of herb-induced hepatotoxicity was suggested.


Most ecosystems provide multiple services, thus the impact of biodiversity losses on ecosystem functions may be considerably underestimated by studies that only address single functions. We propose a multivariate modelling framework for quantifying the relationship between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). Our framework consolidates the strengths of previous approaches to analysing ecosystem multifunctionality and contributes several advances. It simultaneously assesses the drivers of multifunctionality, such as species relative abundances, richness, evenness and other manipulated treatments. It also tests the relative importance of these drivers across functions, incorporates correlations among functions and identifies conditions where all functions perform well and where trade-offs occur among functions. We illustrate our framework using data from three ecosystem functions (sown biomass, weed suppression and nitrogen yield) in a four-species grassland experiment. We found high variability in performance across the functions in monocultures, but as community diversity increased, performance increased and variability across functions decreased.


Although shear strength plays an important role in the performance of asphalt mixtures, it is still not adopted as a control index in traditional asphalt pavement structure design. Among most shear strength tests, the shape of specimen damage in the uniaxial penetration test and circle shear test proved to be more accurate in reflecting the practical asphalt pavement damage shape. To explore the impact of material composition on the shear performance of asphalt mixtures under different test conditions, uniaxial penetration tests, circle shear tests, and unconfined compressive strength tests were conducted to evaluate shear strength with considerations of asphalt mixture composition (asphalt binders, aggregate, and mineral powder). Experimental results demonstrate that the SBS-modified asphalt mixtures have a higher shear strength than conventional 70# asphalt mixtures, and the shear performance of mixtures is positively correlated with softening point of asphalt binder. For the same gradation, the shear strength of asphalt mixtures increases with the asphalt-aggregate ratio first, then decreases with the ratio increases. The shear performance of mixtures can be increased by properly increasing the maximum nominal aggregate size and reasonably adjusting the aggregate gradation. Mineral powder replaced by 20% cement or 10% PSP (phosphorus slag powder) can also satisfy the requirement. Both coarse aggregate and fine aggregate containing silt impact the shear performance of mixtures; it is recommended that the silt content of coarse aggregates is controlled within 3%, and that of fine aggregate should be within 1%.


As the last ten years have seen the advent of the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, large numbers of digital content are now available for learners and teachers to use and reuse. Engaging with OER compels educators to address issues of sharing, quality, ownership, and changing professional practices. In this report, we describe the experience of setting up LORO, a repository of languages OER, especially in relation to teachers' perceptions of barriers and enablers to successful engagement with open content.


Abstract Observations were made on Dendrocalamus giganteus clumps in six locations in the Kandy district of Sri Lanka when 23 out of 111 clumps flowered from 1990 to 1996. Examination of fresh florets confirmed their description by Munro in 1868 (Clayton et al ., 1994. In: Dassanayake MD, Fosberg FR, Clayton WD, eds. A revised handbook of the flora of Ceylon. Vol. VIII . New Delhi: Amerind Publishing, 1–458). Flowering behaviour was similar to that reported by Macmillan (1907, Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. Vol IV : 123–129) when the species first flowered after its introduction to Sri Lanka. Giant inflorescences bearing numerous florets developed in flowering clumps. Seed set was rare. Except for two clumps that died, the others survived after flowering. Precocious flowering was seen in a 4-year old seed-raised plant. Vegetative growth was related to the seasonal rainfall, while flowering did not appear to be related to any external factor; but the development of vegetative shoots from floral primordia of in vitro cultured inflorescences indicated the possible reversal or deviation of flowering by external factors. Flowering behaviour did not indicate mast seeding, while the relatively large proportion of clumps that flowered ruled out sporadic flowering. It was not possible to confirm that the species had a flowering cycle of 76 years as reported by Janzen (1976, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 7 : 347–391). It was more likely to be a population of cohorts with different flowering cycles.


Preeclampsia is an idiopathic multisystem disorder with partial genetic and immunological etiology. Several studies investigated the association between various single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) genes and the risk of preeclampsia. However, they achieved inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis by systematically searching the Cochrane Library, PubMed and Embase databases and assessed this association by calculating pooled odds ratios with 95% confidence interval to reach a more trustworthy conclusion. Subgroup analyses by genotype methods and source of controls (SOC) were also conducted. Seven citations containing nine studies were included for four SNPs (Fas -670 A/G, FasL 124A/G, FasL -844C/T, Fas -1377 G/A) in this meta-analysis. Our data suggested the G allele and genotype GG of the Fas -670 A/G polymorphism, GG genotype of the FasL 124A/G polymorphism, and TT genotype of the FasL -844C/T polymorphism increased the risk of preeclampsia. Stratification analyses by genotype methods and SOC also indicated that Fas -670 A/G polymorphism was related to increased risk for preeclampsia. In conclusion, Fas and FasL gene polymorphisms play important roles in the development of preeclampsia. Further well-designed studies in other races are needed to confirm the findings of this meta-analysis.


We explore the response of a single Hodgkin-Huxley neuron to a local field potential input, which is modeled as a subthreshold harmonic signal, plus synaptic inputs from independent Poisson processes. The synaptic input rate is periodically modulated with the same frequency as the signal. The neural behavior depends remarkably on the signal frequency. The neuron is more sensitive to the signals with frequencies ranging from 30 to 65 Hz and can produce regular output spikes with a low variability. Increasing the mean synaptic input rate can improve the detection of the subthreshold signal. These results further verify that noise can play a constructive role in signal processing of neurons.


Knowledge management is an emerging area which is gaining interest from organization and governments. As moving nowadays toward building organizational knowledge, knowledge management will play a fundamental role towards the success of transforming tacit knowledge into organizational explicit knowledge during current big data and high level of competencies between organizations to provide promptly and required services. One of the key building blocks for developing and advancing this field of knowledge management is artificial intelligence. organizations need to be able to exchange information, queries, and requests with some other beneficiaries and agencies that they share a common unified domain. One possible approach to this issue is Automating Knowledge, the methods which have been used to employ Semantic techniques for modeling about provide automatic accurate information extracts inquiry's answer from the proposed knowledge management system. This paper will clarify the future of knowledge management system and the methodology of its link to artificial intelligence in organizations when it's come to providing humanitarian emergency assistant, services and health care as the current global pandemic virus. The advanced proposed system will enable beneficiaries, employees and external official entities to get instantly automatically replay for various inquiries without required humanitarian intervention unless it's necessary! and enable to save ' transfer ' retrieve and generate new knowledge through three levels depending on the semantic technique, natural language processing algorithms and Ontology techniques in extracting inquiry's answer in the first level then using chat system with an employee in the second level and through sending email to the specialist in the last third level. The validity of the method is proved in this comprehensive intelligent inquiry system. Showing the effectiveness of this approach by testing it on a humanitarian agency. The experimental results were extremely encouraging as such organization did not own automatic knowledge management system as its provisions on this research paper, so its recommended to use it in a large area as the proposed system show outperforms baseline methods and improve the accuracy answering by 86%.


For second-order dynamic model of multi-vehicle system, we investigate a second-order consensus protocol for the system in the case of collecting information without time-delay. By introducing position tracking value, we propose a simple second-order consensus protocol, making the states of each vehicle converge to the given tracking values. The necessary and sufficient condition under which second-order consensus can be reached is derived by using the system stability theory. The second consensus is then applied to the multiple vehicle systems with four vehicles as an illustrative example.


Presents a collaborative effort to design and implement a cooperative material handling system by a small team of human and robotic agents in an unstructured indoor environment. The authors' approach makes fundamental use of the human agents' expertise for aspects of task planning, task monitoring, and error recovery. The authors' system is neither fully autonomous nor fully teleoperated. It is designed to make effective use of the human's abilities within the present state of the art of autonomous systems. The authors' robotic agents refer to systems which are each equipped with at least one sensing modality and which possess some capability for self-orientation and/or mobility. The authors' robotic agents are not required to be homogeneous with respect to either capabilities or function. The authors' research stresses both paradigms and testbed experimentation. Theory issues include the requisite coordination principles and techniques which are fundamental to a cooperative multiagent system's basic functioning. The authors have constructed an experimental distributed multiagent-architecture testbed facility. The required modular components of this testbed are currently operational and have been tested individually. The authors' current research focuses on the agents' integration in a scenario for cooperative material handling.


The spin torque assisted thermal switching of the single free layer was studied theoretically. Based on the rate equation, we derived the theoretical formulas of the most likely and mean switching currents of the sweep current assisted magnetization switching, and found that the value of the exponent b in the switching rate formula significantly affects the estimation of the retention time of magnetic random access memory. Based on the Fokker-Planck approach, we also showed that the value of b should be two, not unity as argued in the previous works.


Diabetes mellitus is common in Western countries. Secondary complications in various organs occur after type 1 as well as type 2 diabetes. Complications, such as nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy, are well known. Specific efforts to treat complications in the lower leg--"the diabetic foot"--have been emphasized. Various complications to diabetes occur also in the upper extremity and hand--"the diabetic hand"--and include not only more specific diabetic-related conditions like limited joint mobility but conditions related to the non-diabetic hand, such as trigger finger, Dupuytren's contracture and peripheral nerve compression lesions are also seen. Following surgical treatment of the latter conditions extra care of patients with diabetes mellitus--for example physiotherapy and help by an occupational therapist--may have to be provided. This review describes complications in the hand in diabetes mellitus.


Power system planning is important for technical and economic efficiency and adequacy of future electricity networks. The expansion of the power system is a challenging problem due to its large-scale, long-term and non-linear nature. Since the computer science revolution, there are several emerging techniques proposed to solve power system optimization problems. This paper will present an overview of existing power system planning approaches and optimization techniques, published in the international technical literature. Subsystems and systems with short-term time horizon (years) have been successfully solved. However, it still remains a hard task to solve large-scale systems in a dynamic way with a long-term time horizon (decades). Recent developments in the electricity system even further increase the complexity of planning in the electricity sector (e.g. liberalized market, unbundling of vertically integrated energy companies, and ongoing energy transition). In addition, many stakeholders are involved with multiple objectives of interest, sometimes also conflicting. Appropriate multiobjective planning methods that consider these aspects can reduce investment risks for different stakeholders (e.g. network operators), which eases the integration of renewable energy sources and maintains a reliable electricity supply. However, this has not been done so far.


While the literature on multivariate models for continuous data flourishes, there is a lack of models for multivariate counts. We aim to contribute to this framework by extending the well known class of univariate hidden Markov models to the multidimensional case, by introducing multivariate Poisson hidden Markov models. Each state of the extended model is associated with a different multivariate discrete distribution. We consider different distributions with Poisson marginals, starting from the multivariate Poisson distribution and then extending to copula based distributions to allow flexible dependence structures. An EM type algorithm is developed for maximum likelihood estimation. A real data application is presented to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed models. In particular, we apply the models to the occurrence of strong earthquakes (surface wave magnitude ≥5), in three seismogenic subregions in the broad region of the North Aegean Sea for the time period from 1 January 1981 to 31 December 2008. Earthquakes occurring in one subregion may trigger events in adjacent ones and hence the observed time series of events are cross‐correlated. It is evident from the results that the three subregions interact with each other at times differing by up to a few months. This migration of seismic activity is captured by the model as a transition to a state of higher seismicity.


The transit patterns EEG of 50 premature baby with hypoxia-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and 30 premature baby with not have HIE was analyzed in postconceptual age 38-40 weeks. Neurophysiology immaturation were observed in all premature babies. Delta-brash is seen as physiology pattern EEG in premature baby. STOP, PTӨ and sharp-wave are assessed as abnormalities pattern EEG and were detected in premature babies with HIE.


. Since the mid-2000s, the political capital of Cameroon, Yaounde is undergoing construction with many urban development projects coordinated by the Yaounde City Council carried out in residential areas and informal settlements. These various activities as many other urban development projects have impacts on the living conditions of the inhabitants. This article focuses on the projects specifically carried out in the informal settlements, aims at analyzing the meaning and the scope of those projects in the lives of individuals and communities. Indeed, this work, is interested in the different operations of eviction, opening up and restructuring that took place in the informal settlements as well as their social consequences on the entire population of the city. It describes these different operations as public actions that are not deployed over the entire area occupied by the popular neighborhoods in Yaoundé, but only on certain slums concentrated around the central town. These results and conclusion are developed from data obtained during direct observations in the slums, from archives and from semi-structured interviews with some urban actors who participated in the implementation of urban development programs in the slums of Yaoundé.


Research into risky decision making (RDM) has become a multidisciplinary effort. Conversations cut across fields such as psychology, economics, insurance, and marketing. This broad interest highlights the necessity for collaborative investigation of RDM to understand and manipulate the situations within which it manifests. A holistic understanding of RDM has been impeded by the independent development of diverse RDM research methodologies across different fields. There is no software specific to RDM that combines paradigms and analytical tools based on recent developments in high-performance computing technologies. This paper presents a toolkit called RDMTk, developed specifically for the study of risky decision making. RDMTk provides a free environment that can be used to manage globally-based experiments while fostering collaborative research. The incorporation of machine learning and high-performance computing (HPC) technologies in the toolkit further open additional possibilities such as scalable algorithms and big data problems arising from global scale experiments.


For decades, immunisation has saved millions of lives in South Africa and prevented countless illnesses and disabilities in South Africa. Vaccination is the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our children against ill health. One example is paediatric immunisation, which prevents approximately three million child deaths worldwide each year and saves 750 000 more from disability. In addition to alleviating suffering and the prevention of infectious diseases by vaccination, it is also more cost-effective than treatment of infectious diseases once contracted. Nonetheless, the current vaccine climate is polarised, with some vaccine hesitancy in the population. Another conundrum that arises is the vaccine gauntlet between parent and child. The Department of Health announced in 2021 that children are to be vaccinated in South Africa with or without parental consent. In the context of our law and the requirements of informed consent, a child as young as 12 years of age can be vaccinated, unassisted. Several issues and concerns arise in the given circumstances: in one instance there might be an implied threat that a parent's wish will be undermined and circumvented by the Department of Health and, in another, that a child's own wish to be vaccinated or not will be ignored. This article examines the conflict over parent and child consent in relation to the Covid-19 vaccination. The current legal framework regarding minors' consent in South Africa is discussed. Thereafter, the article analyses the consent in respect of children required for the Covid-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom and the United States. The article concludes by exploring recommendations to bridge the divide that exists between parent and child when they have opposing views on vaccinations in certain instances.


Background: Anxiety symptoms are common in autistic children; however, it is
difficult to accurately assess the symptoms of anxiety in this population due to a
lack of autism-specific anxiety assessment tools. The Anxiety Scale for Children
with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASC-ASD) is a newly developed measure
designed to address this need. The ASC-ASD is designed specifically for use with
autistic children, and is designed to assess both typical and atypical anxiety symptomatology.
This study aimed to provide preliminary data regarding the validity of
the ASC-ASD, as well as rates of cross-informant agreement and prevalence of
anxiety symptomatology as measured by the ASC-ASD.
Methods: In order to explore the profile of anxiety symptomatology captured by
the ASC-ASD, the ASC-ASD and Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) were
administered to 30 autistic children, ages 10–12, and their parents.
Results: High rates of anxiety symptomatology were found, with 46% of the children
and 80% of their parents reporting scores in the clinical range on the SCAS.
Scores on the SCAS and ASC-ASD were moderately to strongly correlated. Overall,
children tended to endorse more items on the ASC-ASD, whereas parents
tended to endorse more items on the SCAS.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that autistic children and their parents may have
different perceptions of the anxiety symptoms experienced by autistic children.
Findings also indicated that the ASC-ASD has promise as an autism-specific
assessment of anxiety symptomatology in children, although further research is
required in this area.


Although the capacity to test reality is variable in any person, it appears to be critically diminished in those who are labeled "borderline" or "psychotic." The classical scientific literature examines this process mainly as an intrapsychic phenomenon. Freud 1 wrote that in both neurosis and psychosis there is a withdrawal of the ego from reality. In economic terms, there is a withdrawal of preconscious cathexis. He said, ". . . . neurosis does not deny the existence of reality, it merely tries to ignore it ; psychosis denies it and tries to substitute something else for it." Freud called the normal or healthy reaction a combination of these two: "It denies reality as little as neurosis, but then, like a psychosis, is concerned with effecting a change in it. This expedient normal attitude leads naturally to some active achievement in the outer world and is not content like psychosis, with establishing the alteration


This descriptive, qualitative study aimed at identifying how low-income families manage to restructure themselves after giving birth to a child who is physically disabled due to Chronic Childhood Encephalopathy. Parents (n=11) from eight nuclear families with a physically disabled child attending a physiotherapeutic clinic/school in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil) were selected for semi-structured interviews followed by a socioeconomic and cultural survey. Through content analysis, data were grouped into eight thematic axes showing that among the many difficulties faced by those families were the loss of the object of desire, a decrease in income and social contacts, and emotional imbalance, which comprised the internal and external factors both contributing to an increased family stress and exerting heavy influence on family interactions. Families were shown to face their adversity by devising strategies for adaptation and solution seeking. It could be concluded that new ways of restructuring took place so that balance could be kept. A greater family and societal mobilization is needed towards the creation or support of public policies designed to validate the physically disabled as subjects and citizens. Given the importance of the matter and the paucity of studies in the field, further research should be carried out on the dynamics of family behavior for a better evaluation of the impact of physical disability on family structure.


- Data Analysis and classification is widely used in many applications. Classification is one of the data mining methodologies which help to assign data in a collection to target classes. The objective of this work is to develop a rough set based Neuro-fuzzy inference system for decision making with high predictive accuracy. In this work, we have proposed an enhanced technique to incorporate the concept of rough set theory with Neuro-fuzzy system to minimize the uncertainties of the data set by removing the redundant attributes. The goal of classification is to forecast accurately the target class for each data case. Huge volumes of data will usually have a large number of attributes and there will be lot of missing and invalid attributes. To overcome these shortcomings due to invalid or missing attributes we incorporate rough set approximation concept with Neuro-fuzzy. Thus, the proposed system will increase the accuracy of the classification even with missing attributes and the rules generated thereby resulting in efficient classification of decision attributes based on the condition attributes. The proposed methodology can be used for forecasting and prediction techniques such as clinical diagnosis, stock market prediction, weather forecasting, landslide prediction and so on.


In this paper, by comparing among different equations of state, we would like to find one equation of state, which can be applied in wide range of pressures for fcc metals. The equations of state for fcc metals: Al,Cu,Ag have been studied with ultrasonic data. Compared with experimental DAC data, it is found that there is no equation of state, which can describe the compressibility for any materials from low pressures to ultrahigh pressures. However, the Vinet isothermal equation of state can describe the compressibility for fcc metals up to moderate high pressures (forAl about 200 GPa, for Cu and Ag about 100GPa).


In this chapter we discuss what ethnomethodology and conversation analysis can contribute to studies of the military, specifically understandings of 'action-in-interaction' in military settings. The chapter is methodologically focused and explores how work in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis provides an alternative way of approaching the problems posed in studying the different forms of practice that constitute 'soldierly work'. Rather than approach these issues in the abstract, and in line with the central thrust of ethnomethodological (e.g. Garfinkel 1967, 2002; Heritage 1984; Lynch 2007) and conversation analytic studies (e.g. Heritage 1995; Pomerantz & Fehr 1997; Sacks 1995; Schegloff 2007), we shall outline this approach through a discussion of the methods employed, and difficulties encountered, in the course of research we conducted into a specific case. This was a fatal 'blue-on-blue' or 'friendly fire' attack on British infantry by American aircraft during the Second Gulf War (see Mair, Watson, Elsey & Smith 2012; Mair, Elsey, Watson & Smith 2013). What initially drew us to the incident was the availability of a cockpit video-tape that was leaked to the public during a controversial coroner's inquest in 2007, some four years after the attack took place. Crucially this videotape contained the audio communications between the two pilots involved in the attack and the ground forward air controller (GFAC) they were working with, providing unparalleled access to such an incident as it unfolded. Our interest in the footage was twofold. We wanted, firstly, to see what insights we could glean from data of this kind about combat as experienced first-hand, 'first-time-through' (Garfinkel, Lynch & Livingston 1981); and, secondly, we wanted to look at what the three official inquiries made of the incident (including two military boards of inquiry, alongside the coroner's inquest) and explore how they had used (and problematised) the video as a resource for analysing the actions of the pilots. This methodological strategy reflects the 'duplex' forms of analysis that ethnomethodology and conversation analysis rest upon (Watson 2009): in this case, an analysis of the pilot's communicative and sense-making practices coupled with an analysis of locally situated reconstructions of those practices by a number of authoritative auditors. This analysis of members' reconstructions of practices, rather than ours as researchers, involved us 'tacking' between the video and after-the-fact accounts of what the video could be said to show. In order to explain how we proceeded, we will initially discuss the problems we encountered in transcribing the video and what those difficulties themselves revealed about what the pilots were doing. After that, we turn to the ways in which we established links between the video and the reports published by the official inquiries, reports which offered competing and apparently conflicting interpretations of what happened and why. Based on this, and having linked our research to wider work in the field as we go, we will conclude, finally, by returning to the question of what ethnomethodological and conversation analytic research adds to our understanding of action-in-interaction in military settings: namely, a focus on its specificities and the forms of organisation internal to it.


Out of 207 cases of pulmonary resection, the author studied tubercle bacilli in 314 foci by smear, culture and estimation of resistance with the purpose to find out the characteristic traits of these bacilli, and obtained the following results. Smear positive ones occupy 94.2 per cent while culture positive only 45.2 per cent, and smear positive, culture negative ones occupy 49.7 per cent. The smear positive rate by various methods of staining is poorest in the case of Ziehl-Neelsen method and highest in the fluorescent method. There can be found no difference in the culture result whether cultured in an untreated 1% ogawa medim, 4% sodinm hydrocide-treated medium or untreated-3% ogawa medium. It seems that the question whether or not the tubercle bacilli in the focus are culture positive does not depend so much on the kind of chemotherapy, the dose of drug administered or duration of the treatment, but it rather depends on the character of the focus, and the effect of the chemotherapy affects indirectly ans secondarily, and that after the closing of focus and the hardening of contents with lapse of time smear positive-culture negative cases will increase in number. In the case given chemotherapy and collapse treatment prior to the resection, no fixed relationship can be observed in the cavity but in the case of the caseous cavity accompanied by penumothorax many culture positive ones can be recognized. In the case whose bacillib in the focus proved to be culture negative the majority of them show the normal value of the blood sedimentation before operation, and in these showing the value over 21 mm most of the bacilli in the cavity prove to be culture positive. The acquiring of resistance by the bacilli in the focus is dependent on the character of the focus rather than the dose of drugs or the duration of the treatment. In the open focus treated with a large dose of drug for a long period of time the resistance of bacilli in the focus is high, while the resistance of the bacilli in the encapsulated focus is generally low. However, even in the same kind of foci the resistance of bacilli tends to be higher in the foci whose contents are softer, and the same thing can be said of bacilli in different kinds of foci. Even in the cavity which stopped expelling bacilli soon after the start of chemotherapy, when the chmotherapy is continued for a long time afterward, generally there is no rising tendency in the resistance of bacilli in the focus. As for the degree of resistance acquired by bacilli against various drugs, the majority acquire a higher resistance against SM, and the resistance against PAS is on the whole low, while that ahainst INAH is approxiamtely similar to that against SM.


The photovoltaic effect in p-n junctions can be used to measure the diffusion lengths of minority carriers in a semiconductor. The short-circuit current in an irradiated p-n junction is Ik=egL, where e is the electron charge, g the generation rate (number of electron-hole pairs per unit volume and unit time generated by the radiation), and L a quantity which equals the diffusion length if the position of the p-n junction is suitably chosen. If g is known, the diffusion length can be calculated from the short-circuit current. The generation rate can easily be calculated if the junction is irradiated by γ rays from a Co60 source. The method will be described more closely in this paper. Diffusion lengths were measured in Si, GaAs, and InP containing a p-n junction. In GaAs diffusion lengths up to 8 μ were measured, and up to 130 μ in InP.


Following D. Sobota we call a family $\mathcal F$ of infinite subsets of $\mathbb N$ a Rosenthal family if it can replace the family of all infinite subsets of $\mathbb N$ in classical Rosenthal's Lemma concerning sequences of measures on pairwise disjoint sets. We resolve two problems on Rosenthal families: every ultrafilter is a Rosenthal family and the minimal size of a Rosenthal family is exactly equal to the reaping cardinal $\mathfrak r$. This is achieved through analyzing nowhere reaping families of subsets of $\mathbb N$ and through applying a paving lemma which is a consequence of a paving lemma concerning linear operators on $\ell_1^n$ due to Bourgain. We use connections of the above results with free set results for functions on $\mathbb N$ and with linear operators on $c_0$ to determine the values of several other derived cardinal invariants.


The properties of vaterite-containing tricalcium silicate (referred as V-C3S) bone cement can be significantly affected by the addition of graphene oxide (GO). The composited bone cement can overcome the problems of calcium silicate-based bone cement, such as poor mechanical properties and low cellular activity. The material properties, mineralization and cell compatibility were characterized. The results demonstrated that GO/V-C3S had good curing ability, mechanical properties and high injectability. In general, V-C3S adding with 0.04 wt% GO is better due to its advanced compressive strength (17.14% higher than pure V-C3S) and lower pH value. In vitro immersion experiments could show its admirable mineralization ability. Cell experiments confirmed its low cytotoxicity and favorable ability of cell proliferation. In addition, enhanced antibacterial property (2–3 times higher compared with pure V-C3S) was also verified by antibacterial experiments. These results suggest that GO/V-C3S bone cement is a promising material for biomedical applications.


A 40-year-old female patient presented with persistent severe back pain radiating to the right leg, abdominal pain and constipation. Other clinical symptoms included nausea, vomiting and high-grade fever. Clinical examination showed generalised abdominal and lower back tenderness. There was no sensory loss or motor weakness in lower limbs, however investigations showed raised inflammatory markers. Radiographs of the lumbar spine and hip joint were normal. MRI revealed a septic arthritis of the right L3/4 facet joint, associated with a large abscess extending anteriorly to the right paraspinal muscles and posteriorly into the right posterolateral aspect of the epidural space in the central spinal canal, with moderate compression of the dural sac. Unlike any other reported similar case, this septic arthritis developed without prior medical intervention. The patient was treated successfully with ultrasound guided drainage of the facet joint/abscess and antibiotics.


The aim of this article is to examine the implications of high politics in the South China Sea disputes, which basically involve the United States, and other claimant countries, such as Vietnam and the Philippines on one side, and China on the other. The two main actors, namely China and the United States, appear to be re-assertive. All the claimant countries are asking for their stakes, which involve their sovereignty, and sovereign and maritime rights. The fall-out is the polarization of the stakeholders and greater military build-up. Overt military confrontation is a remote possibility at the moment, mainly because of overriding considerations, such as interdependence in economy and a trend towards regionalism. Nevertheless, the array of sophisticated military forces and the vital national interests of the stakeholders in the Sea tend to portend a problematic frontier. This article indicates certain policy implications and attempts to develop the framework of a scenario that is likely to emerge premised on high politics.


Copyright © 1993 by ASME. This paper describes the application of an unstructured mesh, solution-adaptive, 3D Navier-Stokes solver to the numerical simulation of the flow in a complex, three pass, turbulated, serpentine coolant passage, typical of modern axial gas turbine practice. The predicted variation of heat transfer coefficient on the convex, pressure side of the passage is in encouraging agreement with measurements from a very similar geometry, particularly as regards spatial distribution. The absolute level of the predicted heat transfer coefficients is somewhat lower than in the measurements but this is consistent with the post-processing difficulty of defining the temperature difference used to form the coefficient. A strong interrelationship was observed between the secondary flows in the coolant passage and the heat transfer distribution. The paper attempts to show that the benefits of unstructured meshing, solution-adaption and a general purpose flow solver combine to produce a very powerful analytical ability which now permits routine solution of complex geometries such as that described here.


End user participation in healthcare IT system development is essential in order to develop systems that fit together with healthcare professionals' work tasks and needs. National questionnaire studies were conducted to explore how nurses and physicians participate in system development and what kind of experiences they have on participation. The questionnaire to nurses was conducted in spring 2017. Similarly, the questionnaire to physicians was conducted in spring 2017 but also earlier in 2010 and in 2014. The number of respondents was 4018 for physicians and 3607 for nurses.
Participation rates in the system development were following: 46% of the nurses and 49% of the physicians had participated in the system development. 21% of the nurses were willing to participate in the development groups and 20% were not willing to participate at all. The physicians' rates were 18% and 16% in 2014, respectively. Depending on the used software, 43 - 93 % of the respondents felt that software vendors were not interested in the views and opinions of the end users, nor did the proposed improvements take place in the desired manner or quick enough. Compared to years 2010 and 2014, physicians' opinions had not changed more positive.
The study results indicate that a large number of the end users would be willing to participate in healthcare IT system development. However, suitable methods and appropriate practices on how to involve end users in development work seem to be lacking. The results indicate that end users feel not to be able to influence to the development in the way they wish. The participation should take place as a part of the daily work. Healthcare organisations need to recognise the importance of participating in development work and, for example, enable career paths for IT physicians and nurses. It is important that the clinical work of physicians and nurses who develop information systems, will continue alongside the development to keep the practical "touch" to work in which systems are being used.


Vestibular and oculomotor impairment and symptoms may be associated with worse outcomes after sport-related concussion (SRC), including prolonged recovery. In this review, we evaluate current findings on vestibular and oculomotor impairments as well as treatment approaches after SRC, and we highlight areas in which investigation is needed. Clinical researchers have intimated that recovery from SRC may follow certain clinical profiles that affect the vestibular and oculomotor pathways. Identifying clinical profiles may help to inform better treatment and earlier intervention to reduce recovery time after SRC. As such, screening for and subsequent monitoring of vestibular and oculomotor impairment and symptoms are critical to assessing and informing subsequent referral, treatment, and return to play. However, until recently, no brief-screening vestibular and oculomotor tools were available to evaluate this injury. In response, researchers and clinicians partnered to develop the Vestibular/Ocular-Motor Screening, which assesses pursuits, saccades, vestibular ocular reflex, visual motion sensitivity, and convergence via symptom provocation and measurement of near-point convergence. Other specialized tools, such as the King-Devick test for saccadic eye movements and the Dizziness Handicap Inventory for dizziness, may provide additional information regarding specific impairments and symptoms. Tools such as the Vestibular/Ocular-Motor Screening provide information to guide specialized referrals for additional assessment and targeted rehabilitation. Vestibular rehabilitation and visual-oculomotor therapies involve an active, expose-recover approach to reduce impairment and symptoms. Initial results support the effectiveness of both vestibular and visual-oculomotor therapies, especially those that target specific impairments. However, the evidence supporting rehabilitation strategies for both vestibular and oculomotor impairment and symptoms is limited and involves small sample sizes, combined therapies, nonrandomized treatment groups, and lack of controls. Additional studies on the effectiveness of screening tools and rehabilitation strategies for both vestibular and oculomotor impairment and symptoms after SRC are warranted.


To study the method of anodic oxidation followed by hydrothermal treatment for cp titanium and to know bone response to thin hydroxyapatite layers in vivo, commercially pure titanium plates were anodized at 200 V-400 V with direct electric current density no more than 50 mA/cm2 for 15 minutes in the electrolytic trough. beta-glycerophosphate sodium(0.03-0.04 M) and calcium acetate(0.2-0.3 M) were used as electrolytes. Then, titanium plates were hydrothermal treated in the autoclave for 2 hours at 280 degrees C-300 degrees C. Polishing and grit-blasting surface was used as control to learn bone response to thin layers. Twelve rabbits were evenly divided into 3 groups, each group was implanted with 12 implants into the rabbits femoral bone. After 4, 8 and 16 weeks, implants were taken out and collected respectively and were made grinding slices. The bone-implant interface was observed with light microscope. And the bone-implant interface of polishing and layered implants after 8 weeks implantation was observed with scanning electron microscope. The element contents at the interface of polishing and layered implants before and after 8 weeks implantation were detected with EDAX. Results showed that there was hydroxyapatite(HA) precipitated on the titanium surfaceamellae bone in 8 weeks for thin HA coatings, and no HA debris were found at the interfacial zone. In addition, Ca and P content on the hydrothermal treated implant surface increased much more after implantation than that of polished implants. It was concluded that anodic oxidation followed by hydrothermal treatment could precipitate thin hydroxyapatie layer on the surface of cp titanium, which could improve early formation of woven bone and accelerate woven bone transferring to lamellae bone at the implanted site.


Phytoplankton production of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) against the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and the associated changes in absorption properties, were examined across different trophic regions south of Tasmania, from the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) to the Sub-Antarctic Zone (SAZ) and in sub-tropical waters. The MAA concentration and particulate absorption coefficient were determined in the 0 to 100 m layer across a latitudinal gradient from 54 to 44 degrees south. These spatial observations were complemented with daily incubation experiments at 3 stations located in the PFZ and in the SAZ southeast and southwest of Tasmania. MAAs were widespread, with a predominance of primary MAAs such as porphyra-334 in the PFZ and secondary MAAs such as palythenic acid in the stratified waters in the north of the SAZ. Under surface irradiance levels during deck incubation experiments, phytoplankton from the PFZ and SAZ produced significant amounts of MAAs under UVB radiations, and a fraction was released into the dissolved fraction (generally <20% of the total MAAs). MAA production rates in the north of the SAZ ranged from 0.0009 to 0.0436 mg m−3 kJ−1 UVB m−2 southwest and southeast of Tasmania, respectively. Changes in MAA distribution are discussed in relation to environmental factors (UV radiation exposure, mixing, nutrients) and shifts in the phytoplankton assemblage composition. The strong variability in MAA distribution and composition across the study region is driven primarily by UV radiation exposure and vertical mixing and secondarily by speciesspecific responses to UV radiation.


................................................................................................................................... ii List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. x Chapter


Amyloid-like fibrils from β-lactoglobulin have potential as efficient thickening and gelling agents for food and biomedical applications, but the link between fibril morphology and bulk viscosity is poorly understood. We examined how lyophilization and rehydration affects the morphology and rheological properties of semiflexible (i.e., straight) and highly flexible (i.e., curly) fibrils, the latter made with 80 mM CaCl(2). Straight fibrils were fractured into short rods by lyophilization and rehydration, whereas curly fibrils sustained little damage. This was reflected in the viscosities of rehydrated fibril dispersions, which were much lower for straight fibrils than for curly fibrils. Lyophilized straight or curly fibrils seeded new fibril growth, but viscosity enhancement due to seeding was negligible. We believe that the increase in fibril concentration caused by seeding was counterbalanced by a decrease in fibril length, reducing the ability of fibrils to form physical entanglement networks.


A Euler--Seidel matrix is determined by an infinite sequence whose elements are given by recursion. The recurrence relations are investigated for numbers and polynomials such as hyperharmonics, Lucas numbers, and Euler and Genocchi polynomials. Linear recurring sequences in finite fields are employed, for instance, in coding theory and in several branches of electrical engineering. In this work, we define the period of a Euler--Seidel matrix over a field Fp with p elements, where p is a prime number. We give some results for the matrix whose initial sequence is \{sr(n)\}n=0\infty, where sr(n)=\sumk=0n {\binom{n}{k}}r, n \geq 0, and r is a fixed positive number. The numbers sr(n) play an important role in combinatorics and number theory. These numbers are known as Franel numbers for r=3.


The presented research is part of a broader project DIEM-SSP — Disasters and Emergencies Management for Safety and Security in Industrial Plants – aiming at managing major industrial emergencies by considering both medical and engineering/logistics issues. When a disaster occurs, it is necessary to immediately provide relief plans. Many decisions must be made in very short time, which may have a relevant impact on the consequences of the disaster. For an efficient and smart exploitation of available resources, it is necessary to mitigate damages. From a logistics point of view, one of the major issues in the event of a major industrial disaster (fire, explosion or toxic gas dispersion) is to evacuate the external population that can be affected by the disaster to specific evacuation areas. The purpose of the research is to determine the optimal number and allocation of vehicles (buses) which must be involved in order to evacuate the population located in a defined risk area around the emergency site and the optimal location for evacuation areas. For that reasons, a dynamic version of the bus allocation problem is proposed using a mixed- integer programming model.


Nanocrystalline TiO2 was synthesized by the low-temperature hydrothermal method using ionic liquid(1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazole acetate)-water mixture as solvent;various studies such as X-ray diffraction,Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area,X-ray photoelectron spectra,UV-Vis spectroscopy were conducted.The products prepared from ionic liquid-water mixture possessed good anatase crystallinity and contained less brookite phase than that from pure water.The photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange in water was studied in photoreactor with UV lamp as light source.The product prepared from ionic liquid-water solvent for 24 h showed superior photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange compared to commercial TiO2,Degussa P25.The higher photocatalytic activity was attributed to the crystal phase,grain size,and specific surface area of the catalyst.Further,the effects of the catalyst amount and pH value of solution on the photocatalytic activity of the product were also investigated.


Concentrations of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in atmospheric particles were measured in Tianjin during January, April, July and October in 2008. The 24-h PM2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 micrometer [�� m]) and PM10 (particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 micrometer [�� m]) samples were simultaneously collected every day during sampling periods. These samples were analyzed for OC/EC by thermal/optical reflectance (TOR) following the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) protocol. The annual average concentration was 109.8 ± 48.5 �� g/m 3 in PM2.5, and 196.2 ± 86.1 �� g/m 3 in PM10, respectively. The average ratio of PM2.5/PM10 was 57.9%, indicating the PM2.5 had been one of the main contaminations affecting urban atmospheric environmental quality in Tianjin. The concentrations of OC and EC in PM2.5 and PM10 were all relatively higher in winter and fall and lower in summer and spring. This seasonal variation could be attributed to the cooperative effects of changes in emission rates and seasonal meteorological conditions. The annual average concentration of the estimated secondary organic carbon (SOC) was 14.9 �� g/m 3 and occupied 61.7% of the total OC in PM2.5, while those in PM10 were 23.4�� g/m 3 and 61.2%, respectively, indicating SOC had been an important contributor to organic aerosol in Tianjin. The distribution of eight carbon fractions (OC1, OC2, OC3, OC4, EC1, EC2, EC3 and OP) was also reported and found that the biomass burning, coal–combustion and motor-vehicle exhaust were all contributed to the carbonaceous particles in Tianjin.


Eragrostis plana Nees (Poaceae), known commonly as tough lovegrass, is the most abundant invasive plant found in the rangelands of Southern Brazil. This study is the first to document the anatomical and histochemical features of the leaves and roots of this grass. Five leaf blades and five roots were collected, fixed in formaldehyde, glacial acetic acid, ethanol 70° (FAA 70), sectioned, stained, and photographed under a light microscope. Anatomical analysis of the leaves was supplemented with observations under a scanning electron microscope. Manual cuts were made into fresh material, which was subjected to specific reagents to determine the lipid, phenol, tannin, lignin, alkaloid, and starch presence. The analyses revealed that the leaves are amphistomatic with paracytic stomata, and the epidermis has lignified cells, a Kranz structure, collateral vascular bundles of two sizes, tectors, unicellular and crystalline trichomes. The roots are polyarc with air gaps on the cortical parenchyma, U-thickened endodermal cell walls and a parenchymatic pith with starch storage cells. Leaves and roots contain lipids, phenols, lignins, and alkaloids; starch is only present in the roots. Anatomical and histochemical traits of tough lovegrass suggest that the plant has adapted to survive under biotic and abiotic stress, which enhances its performance in relation to native plants.

 Key words: Anatomy, histochemistry, invasive.


After synthesis of a deuterated 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE) standard, the formation of 4-HNE during heating of peanut oil and whole peanuts, respectively, was measured by GC-MS. Whereas a significant increase in 4-HNE levels was observed for peanut oil, the amount of 4-HNE decreased when whole peanuts were roasted due to lipation reactions with amino acid side chains of the proteins. The ε-amino group of lysine was identified as the favored reaction partner of 4-HNE. After heating N(α)-acetyl-l-lysine and 4-HNE, a Schiff base, a novel pyridinium derivative, a 2-pentylpyrrol derivative and, following reduction and hydrolysis, a reduced, cyclized Michael adduct were identified. 2-Amino-6-(2-pentyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)hexanoic acid (2-PPL) was synthesized and quantitated in peanut proteins, which had been incubated with various amounts of 4-HNE by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS after enzymatic hydrolysis. At low 4-HNE concentrations the modification of lysine could be entirely explained by the formation of 2-PPL. Additionally, 2-PPL was quantified for the first time in peanut samples, and an increase depending on the roasting time was observed. 2-PPL represents a suitable marker to evaluate the extent of food protein lipation by 4-HNE.


The study evaluated the nutrient compositions of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacaum, ex. Fr. Kummer) grown using different agricultural waste: sawdust, sugarcane (Sacharum officinarum) peels, plantain leaves and corn cobs. The proximate compositions of P. ostreatus fruit bodies varied significantly (P≤ 0.05). Matured fruit bodies of P. ostreatus harvested from sawdust and sugarcane peel substrates had significantly (P≤ 0.05) the highest content of moisture (15.20%) and ash (5.23%) respectively. The Corn cob substrates yielded P. ostreatus with significantly (P≤ 0.05) the highest amount of protein (9.38%) and lipids (8.5%); and lowest amount of carbohydrates (51.76%). Crude fibre was found more in the fruit bodies of P. ostreatus harvested from sugarcane peel substrates (8.23%) followed by corn cobs (7.28% ). The mineral content varied significantly (P≤ 0.05) from 0.43 - 0.90, 0.12 - 0.30, 9.20 - 14.6, 7.30 -13.0 and 1.5 - 2.7 mg/100g for iron, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and calcium respectively. P. ostreatus from sugarcane peels had significantly (P≤ 0.05) the highest mineral content except for calcium. Vitamin C content ranged from 1.3 mg/100g for corn hob to 1.8mg/100g for sawdust. The study revealed that sugarcane peel and corn hob in terms of the proximate and mineral composition are better substrate for the growth of P. ostreatus. It is therefore recommended that these agricultural wastes should be used in the cultivation of P. ostreatus. Besides producing nutritious mushrooms, this will help to reduce the huge agricultural wastes within our environment that sometimes when not properly managed caused serious environmental pollution.


Parasitic diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites are a burden to public health throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world. TriTrypDB (https://tritrypdb.org) is a free online resource for data mining of genomic and functional data from these kinetoplastid parasites and is part of the VEuPathDB Bioinformatics Resource Center (https://veupathdb.org). As of release 59, TriTrypDB hosts 83 kinetoplastid genomes, nine of which, including Trypanosoma brucei brucei TREU927, Trypanosoma cruzi CL Brener and Leishmania major Friedlin, undergo manual curation by integrating information from scientific publications, high-throughput assays and user submitted comments. TriTrypDB also integrates transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenomic, population-level and isolate data, functional information from genome-wide RNAi knock-down and fluorescent tagging, and results from automated bioinformatics analysis pipelines. TriTrypDB offers a user-friendly web interface embedded with a genome browser, search strategy system and bioinformatics tools to support custom in silico experiments that leverage integrated data. A Galaxy workspace enables users to analyze their private data (e.g., RNA-sequencing, variant calling, etc.) and explore their results privately in the context of publicly available information in the database. The recent addition of an annotation platform based on Apollo enables users to provide both functional and structural changes that will appear as 'community annotations' immediately and, pending curatorial review, will be integrated into the official genome annotation.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and is frequently accompanied by various sequelae. Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are observed in COVID-19 pneumonia patients after recovery, probably due to persistent inflammation in the lungs. We herein report a case of ILD with anti-signal recognition particle antibodies following severe COVID-19 pneumonia. The patient was diagnosed with ILD three months after COVID-19 pneumonia. Although the exact mechanism is unknown, the autoantibody-induced immune response might have been the pulmonary fibrosis trigger in this patient.


The anticoagulant behavior of sulfated polysaccharides from seaweeds is reviewed based on their chemical structures. Analysis of the literature suggested that the driving force for the formation of the sulfated polysaccharide/protein complex is the non-specific polar interaction between the negatively and positively charged groups in the polysaccharide and protein, respectively and that the complex is further stabilized by short-range interactions. The polysaccharide binding site should be able to go through the following conformational steps in the formation of the complex: random coil-->ordered conformation--> low distortion of this conformation to form a complementary fitting structure with the protein backbone. The sulfated monosaccharide units with the highest potential for anticoagulant activity should have two sulfate groups and a glycosidic linkage on the pyranose ring with C-2, C-3 and C-4 in 2S, 3R, 4R or 2R, 3S, 4S configurations for galactose, fucose and arabinose and 2S, 3S, 4R, for rhamnose. Three distributions of these substituents appear: 3-linked 2,4-disulfated units, 4-linked 2,3-disulfated units and 2-linked 3,4-disulfated residues. These types of units have the possibility, through the equilibrium of the chair conformations, to place their sulfate groups in adequate special positions to interact with basic groups of the protein. The anticoagulant activity is mainly attributed to thrombin inhibition mediated by antithrombin and/or heparin cofactor II, with different effectivenesses depending of the compound. Other mechanisms are also proposed and these differences could be attributed to the diversity of structures of the polysaccharides evaluated and to the fact that one compound may have more than one target protease.


Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the biochemical composition of urinary stones in Dohuk Province. Patients and methods: A prospective study done at Azadi-Teaching Hospital in Duhok city, during a period of two years from Jun. 2009 to Jun. 2001. The total number of patients collected was 150. Both inpatients and outpatients were included. Pediatric age group excluded. The source of collection of samples was: stones passed spontaneously by the patient with conservative treatment, or after surgery or extra corporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). Results: Total number of patients was 150, 102 patients (68%) were males & 48 patients (32%) were females, male: female ratio = 2.1:1. Out of 150 patients, 52 (35%) had calcium phosphate, 45 (30%) had calcium oxalate, and 30 (20%) with uric acid stones. 20 patients (13%) had mixed stones "calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate" and only 3 patient (2%) had pure oxalate stones. Out of 150 patients, 117 (78%) had calcium stones & 30 patients (20%) had uric acid stones, & 3 patients (2%) had oxalate stone. No other types of stones were detected in this study. Conclusion: The study revealed that most of the stones in our patients were calcium containing stones. The most common stones were calcium phosphate, and the percentage of uric acid stones was high.


Present-day automatic optimization relies on powerful static (i.e., compile-time) analysis and transformation methods. One popular platform for automatic optimization is the polyhedron model. Yet, after several decades of development, there remains a lack of empirical evidence of the model's benefits for real-world software systems. We report on an empirical study in which we analyzed a set of popular software systems, distributed across various application domains. We found that polyhedral optimization at compile time often lacks the information necessary to exploit the potential for optimization of a program's execution. However, when conducted also at run time, polyhedral optimization shows greater relevance for real-world applications. On average, the share of the run time amenable to polyhedral optimization is increased by a factor of nearly 3.


The kidneys of nine fetuses whose mothers were chronically hypertensive were examined microscopically. Three of these mothers used antihypertensive agents throughout pregnancy including one who used an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. The tubular defects found in these kidneys were compared to the kidneys of 20 normal controls, 13 fetuses with various multiple malformation syndromes and six cases of the twin to twin transfusion syndrome. Evidence from these cases as well as the literature suggest that the primary mechanism by which ACE inhibitors affect development of the fetal kidney is through decreased renal blood flow.


In this present study, 11 porcine epidemic diarrhea viruses (PEDVs) were isolated from the fecal samples of piglets infected with PEDV in HeiLongJiang province of China. In order to analyze the molecular evolution of these reemerging PEDVs, the ORF3 and M genes of 11 PEDVs were amplified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, cloned, sequenced, and analyzed with each other as well as other PEDV reference strains. The complete nucleotide sequence comparison was performed with Bioedit software, and the results showed that the similarity of 11 ORF3 and M genes ranged from 97% to 100%. Nucleotides and amino acids were changed at some sites in the ORF3 and M genes of the 11 PEDV isolates when compared with CV777 reference strain, indicating that high level of variation may have occurred in the ORF3 and M genes of PEDV strains. To establish genetic relationships of the fully sequenced ORF3 and M genes, multiple sequence alignments were carried and phylogenetic analysis was performed. The results indicated that these PEDV isolates belonged to genotype 3.4 that is dominant subgroup in PEDV Group, showed a close relationship with some recent reported Chinese PEDV strains, and exhibited comparatively rapid genetic evolution, as revealed by these viruses responsible for the recent PEDV outbreak in HeiLongJiang province clustered closely together with other Chinese strains with rapid evolution rate. This study might be not only crucial to understand the currently prevailing PEDV strains in northeast of China, but also provides valuable data for preventing and controlling PEDV.


Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity, by Afsaneh Najmabadi. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2005. xiv + 244 pages. Notes to p. 305. Illustrations. Gloss, to p. 309. Bibl. to p. 339. Credits to p. 342. Index to p. 363. $60 cloth; $ 24.95 paper. Afsaneh Najmabadi's initial project was to employ gender analytically to write a history of Iranian modernity in which the issues of gender and women would not be afterthoughts and appendixes. In the process of writing on gender in the formation of Iranian modernity, which was shaped in the rearticulation of concepts like nation, politics, homeland, and knowledge, Najmabadi realized that thinking of gender as man/woman was a modern imperative made possible through the erasures that led to this binarity of gender. By incorporating a critical analysis of modern homo/heterosexual definition, Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity, becomes an endeavor to understand modern Iranian culture and to show that 19th century Iran was shaped by the transformation of gender and sexuality. The book is arranged in eight chapters followed by an epilogue. The first three chapters rely heavily on visual texts as primary material, while the remaining chapters are mainly based on secondary textual sources. Arguing that, in 19th century Iran, ideas of beauty were ungendered (p. 25), the author contends that the sun on the national emblem (formally adopted in 1836) rising behind the torso of a male lion holding a sword should be regarded as a (fe)male face. Confronting the assumed normalcy of the man/woman binary, she maps modes of maleness in Qajar Iran that were distinct from manhood. Terms such as amrad (young adolescent male) and mukhannas (an adult man desiring to be an object of desire for adult men) existed to name fractures of masculinity that are now translated by Iranian culture into effeminization. In the sociocultural world of the Qajars, male love was focused on a beloved male, but by the end of the 19th century modernity closeted the male beloved into the premodern, redefined homosexual desire from natural to unnatural, blaming it on the women's seclusion and gender segregation (p. 55). Later, when women became more publicly visible in society, and beauty was feminized, the symbolic sun of the national emblem was gradually effaced, for it both consolidated its gender as female (p. 63-64) and was affiliated with male adolescent beauty (p. 93). Heteronormalization of eros and sex that called for heterosocialization of public space (p. 54) and a reconfiguration of family life (as the building block of the nation) became a condition of achieving modernity, while homoeroticism and samesex practices came to mark the country as backward. Najmabadi agrees that gender and sexuality have generated modern nationalism, but she argues that binarization of gender and the heteronormalization of love and sexuality should also be seen as the work of nationalism and patriotism (pp. …


For many years it was assumed that living organisms always utilized ATP in a highly efficient manner, but simple growth studies with bacteria indicated that the efficiency of biomass production was often at least 3-fold lower than the amount that would be predicted from standard biosynthetic pathways. The utilization of energy for maintenance could only explain a small portion of this discrepancy particularly when the growth rate was high. These ideas and thermodynamic arguments indicated that cells might have another avenue of energy utilization. This phenomenon has also been called 'uncoupling', 'spillage' and 'overflow metabolism', but 'energy spilling' is probably the most descriptive term. It appears that many bacteria spill energy, and the few that do not can be killed (large and often rapid decrease in viability), if the growth medium is nitrogen-limited and the energy source is in 'excess'. The lactic acid bacterium, Streptococcus bovis, is an ideal bacterium for the study of energy spilling. Because it only uses substrate level phosphorylation to generate ATP, ATP generation can be calculated with a high degree of certainty. It does not store glucose as glycogen, and its cell membrane can be easily accessed. Comparative analysis of heat production, membrane voltage, ATP production and Ohm's law indicated that the energy spilling reaction of S. bovis is mediated by a futile cycle of protons through the cell membrane. Less is known about Escherichia coli, but in this bacterium energy spilling could be mediated by a futile cycle of potassium or ammonium ions. Energy spilling is not restricted to prokaryotes and appears to occur in yeasts and in higher organisms. In man, energy spilling may be related to cancer, ageing, ischemia and cardiac failure.


Gene expression can be studied at a genome-wide scale with the aid of modern microarray technologies. Expression profiling of tens to hundreds of individuals in a genetic population can reveal the consequences of genetic variation. In this paper it is argued that the design and analysis of such a study is not a matter of simply applying the existing and more-or-less standard computational tools for microarrays to a new type of experimental data. It is shown how to fully exploit the power of genetics through optimal experimental design and analysis for two major microarray technologies, cDNA two-colour arrays and Affymetrix short oligonucleotide arrays.


The association between prepartum time-series fetal heart rate pattern changes and cord blood gas data at delivery was examined using the conventional 5-tier classification and the Rainbow system for 229 female patients who delivered vaginally. They were classified into three groups based on the results of umbilical cord blood gas analysis at delivery. The fetal heart rate pattern classifications were based on analysis of measurement taken at 10-min intervals, beginning at 120 min pre-delivery. The relationship between fetal heart rate pattern classification and cord blood pH at delivery changed over time. The 5-tier classification at each interval increased before delivery in the Mild and Severe groups compared with the Normal group. No significant differences were observed between acidemia groups. The Rainbow classification showed a significant differences between the acidemia groups at each interval, particularly during the prepartum period. A relationship between classification and outcome was evident before delivery for both the 5-tier classification and Rainbow system.


Large two-photon absorptivities are reported for symmetrical bis-donor stilbene derivatives with dialkylamino or diphenylamino groups. These molecules exhibit strong optical limiting of nanosecond pulses over a broad spectral range in the visible. Relative to bis(di-n-butylamino)stilbene, bis(diphenylamino)stilbene exhibits a 90-nm red shift of its optical limiting band but only a minimal shift of ~13 nm of its lowest one-photon electronic absorption band. Mixtures of these compounds offer an unprecedented combination of broad optical limiting bandwidth and high linear transparency.


With the advent of endonuclease methods of genome editing, particularly CRISPR/Cas9, it has become possible to obtain genetically modified rabbits by microinjection of zygotes. These highly effective human disease models can be used for various purposes. The present review aims to consider modern achievements in the creation of rabbit biomodels of human diseases using the technologies of genetic editing. It is concluded that Russian laboratories should intensify research in the development of genetically modified rabbits that can be used for various biomedical studies and biomodelling.


A novel algorithm named A Robust Clustering Algorithm for Categorical(ROCK) model is proposed to improve clustering quality and it is efficient for the data of high dimensionality,sparsity and categorical nature.A novel concept called "common neighbors"(links),an appropriate selection of nearest neighbors,is adopted as similarity measure between a pair of points.The key step of computing adjacency matrix,which has a significant effect on the time complexity,could be implemented by GPU's excellent performance such as the number of floating-point operations per second and the parallel processing on fragment vector processing,and the others could be finished by Central Processing Units(CPU).Some experiments conducted in a PC with AMD 643500+ CPU and NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT graphic card demonstrate that the present algorithm is faster than the previous CPU-based algorithms,thus it is applicable for the clustering data stream that requiring for high speed processing and high quality clustering results.


Turner syndrome (TS) is defined by total or partial loss of the sex chromosomes X. Features vary widely including short stature and ovarian failure inconstantly associated with characteristic face, skeletal malformations, renal and cardiac anomalies and endocrine disorders. We analyzed the clinical and cytogenetic profiles of 37 TS children diagnosed with TS from January 2007 to December 2011 in the aim to establish genotype- phenotype correlations. Growth delay and hypothyroidism were noted respectively in 89.2% and 19.4%of patients. Diabetes and celiac disease was observed in 5.6% of cases. 35% of our cohort had a 45, X karyotype, 8.1% had 45, X/47, XXX mosaïcism and 5.4% have 45, X/46, XY mosaïcism Interestingly, FISH revealed the presence of SRY gene. The remainders had structural abnormalities: 35.1% had isochromosome Xq which was homogenous in roughly half of cases. 10.8% were diagnosed with a terminal deletion Xp and 5.4% with a ring of chromosome X. There was no correlation between genotypes and clinical features. The short stature in girls with TS is thought to be related to the haploinsufficiency of the SHOX gene on Xp22.3. As a result, treatment with GH is now routinely adopted even if the GH hormone is normally secreted. The higher risk of autoimmune diseases in women with TS could result from haploinsufficiency of the FOXP3 gene on Xp 11.23. Otherwise, we highlight the importance of detection of 45, X/46, Xy mosaïcism which may be cryptic requiring SRY probe FISH screening a condition that exposes to gonadoblastome and special chirurgical preventive treatment.


This chapter examines the current 'architecture' of the British state, in particular the way in which governmental power is distributed among the nations of the United Kingdom. The theme of this chapter will be to show how the continuing (and, as James Bryce argued, inevitable) tension between centripetal and centrifugal forces can be usefully applied to power relations between the various nations of the United Kingdom, and between these nations and Europe, providing a basis for analyzing how these nations are drawn or impelled by some forces towards a centralized unitary polity, whilst at the same time other forces tend towards dispersion of power. The resulting pattern might be analyzed along a spectrum from centralisation to independence, with subsidiarity, devolution and federalism being seen as weigh stations along the way, but given how complex the variations in the distribution of power between these nations and the centre have become over time, the construction of any static architectural blueprint of the British state is bound to be misleading. Indeed, the architectural metaphor, with its implications of stability might usefully be rethought.


Background: Epilepsy surgery failure is not uncommon, with several explanations having been proposed. In this series, we detail cases of epilepsy surgery failure subsequently attributed to insular involvement. Methods: We retrospectively identified patients investigated at the epilepsy monitoring units of two Canadian tertiary care centers (2004–2020). Included patients were adults who had undergone epilepsy surgeries with recurrence of seizures post-operatively and who were subsequently determined to have an insular epileptogenic focus. Clinical, electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and surgical data were synthesized. Results: We present 14 patients who demonstrated insular epileptic activity post-surgery-failure as detected by intracranial EEG, MEG, or seizure improvement after insular resection. Seven patients had manifestations evoking possible insular involvement prior to their first surgery. Most patients (8/14) had initial surgeries targeting the temporal lobe. Seizure recurrence ranged from the immediate post-operative period to one year. The main modality used to determine insular involvement was MEG (8/14). Nine patients underwent re-operations that included insular resection; seven achieved a favorable post-operative outcome (Engel I or II). Conclusions: Our series suggests that lowering the threshold for suspecting insular epilepsy may be necessary to improve epilepsy surgery outcomes. Detecting insular epilepsy post-surgery-failure may allow for re-operations which may lead to good outcomes.


Since there is no standard formalism for defining software
metrics, many of the measures that exist have some ambiguity in their
definitions which hinders their comparison and implementation. We address
this problem by presenting an approach for defining software metrics.
This approach is based on expressing the measures as Object Constraint
Language queries over a language metamodel. To illustrate the
approach, we specify how the Chidamber and Kemerer metrics suite can
be measured from Unified Modelling Language class diagrams by presenting
formal definitions for these metrics using the Unified Modelling
Language 2.0 metamodel.


ABSTRACT: The present work sought an analysis of the most frequent nursing diagnoses found among individuals presenting abnormally high blood pressures – hypertension – in an urban transportation company in a city located in Sao Paulo state. The approaches used to evaluate such workers were: nursing interview and physical examination as to the hypertension, a disease affecting approximately 20 million brazilians, although there are not intense studies on this subject in brazil in our sample 15 men and 13 women presented these three most common diagnoses: lack of knowledge about the disease; disturbances on sleeping patterns; and altered nutrition, once there was ingestion of food higher than corporal needs. The lack of previous experiences related to hypertension, together with low schooling and little interest in knowing more about the disease represented the main causes impairing the individuals' adhesion to appropriate treatments and adoption of healthy daily habits. It is thus evident that it is necessary to take urgent steps towards people's conscientiousness about the importance of preventing and understanding the hypertension. It is only through studies and incentives aiming early detection and preventive measures that it will be possible to carry out effective nursing assistance to such a clientele.

KEYWORDS: Nursing Diagnosis; Blood Pressure; Nursing Care.


The exact quantification of ammonia (NH3) emissions is the basic presumption for the fulfilment of obligations set by the CLRTAP (Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution) Protocol which was signed by the Czech Republic in 1999. Most NH3 emissions in the Czech Republic are produced during the breeding of cattle, pigs, and poultry; therefore, determinating emission factors for these kinds of animals by studying their total number, type of breeding, and subsequent disposal of manure is the solution to the problem of NH3 emissions quantification. This paper summarizes the results of 4 years of research in this area, determining the emission factors and ways of decreasing emissions from the breeding of cattle, pigs, and poultry.


We previously reported that the concentration of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the brainstem of cisplatin-administered ferrets is significantly increased as compared with that of control animals. In an attempt to clarify the mechanisms of emesis induced by cytotoxic drugs, we measured kaolin ingestion (pica) and the tissue concentrations of 5-HT, norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine in various brain regions of rats after cisplatin administration. 5-HT concentrations in the hippocampus, the medulla oblongata and the hypothalamus significantly increased 72 hours after a single dose administration of cisplatin (5 mg/kg, i.p.) compared with those of control rats. NE concentration in the hippocampus significantly increased simultaneously with kaolin ingestion in cisplatin-treated rats. These results suggest that higher brain regions such as the hippocampus and the hypothalamus are involved in cisplatin-induced emesis.


The jurisprudence of the permanent regional human rights courts in Europe, Africa and the Americas is profoundly shaping and enriching the law of transitional justice. This book is concerned with the role and contribution of these courts to refounding domestic rights commitments in societies emerging from conflict or authoritarian rule. Contributors from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds analyze the regional case law – primarily, that of the European Court of Human Rights – to illuminate the ways in which human rights norms obtain traction in situations where national legal institutions have either been complicit in, or powerless to halt, violations of core rights. This 'transitional jurisprudence' includes scrutiny of rights violations occurring in the course of transition, but also rights violations directly caused by transition and measures introduced to manage the related socio-political and economic fallout. The chapters thus explore a diverse range of transitional narratives including claims related to freedom of religion, property rights, the right to free elections, freedom of expression, freedom from discrimination and the right to life.Each of the regional human rights protection systems has responded to rights violations arising from protracted periods of systemic abuse. The canon of human rights jurisprudence has itself therefore been shaped by the challenges of confronting transitional problems. The book further shows how the judgments of these regional courts can catalyze reform at the national level, influence the strategies employed by domestic actors, and help settle contested histories.'Transition' is not a trump card by which states can evade their human rights obligations. The European Court of Human Rights has developed a nuanced and forward-looking, though not always consistent, approach to transitional dilemmas. Amongst the factors it considers are the justice implications of the passage of time and the adequacy of institutional safeguards to limit the harms caused by exceptional transitional measures. Thus, despite the remoteness of these human rights courts in both time and space, this book demonstrates that the regional jurisprudence can exert a significant steer on the direction of transition processes.


A certain class of *-homomorphisms C(X) ® A —» C(Y) ® B, called compatible with a map defined on Y with values in the set of all closed nonempty subsets of X, is studied. A local description of *-homomorphisms C(X) ® A —> C(Y) <S> B is given considering separately the cases X = point and A = C; this is done in terms of continuous "quasifields" of C*-algebras. Conditions under which an inductive limit lim(C(Xfc) ® Aj., $&.), where each $jt is of the above type, is *-isomorphic with the tensor product of a commutative C*-algebra with an AF algebra are given. For such inductive limits the isomorphism problem is considered. The study of inductive limits of C* -algebras of the form C(X) ® F (with F a finite-dimensional C*-algebra) has been suggested by E. G. Effros in [5]. Clearly, for this problem, the structure of the *-homomorphisms between algebras of the above form is important. This question has been considered in [1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12]. The main result of the present paper gives a sufficient condition for the triviality of the inductive limits, i.e., so that they are tensor products of commutative algebras and AF-algebras. After some preliminaries in §1, we consider in §2 *-homomorphisms <&: C(X) ® A^C(Y)®B compatible (2.3) with a map 0: Y -> K(X)(K(X) the closed subsets of X) which generalize the homomorphisms compatible with a covering considered in [8]. Our results are more precise in the following two situations: 1°. 0(y) — tp~l(y), tp: X —> Y a continuous surjection; 2°. 0(y) = {tp(y)}, tp:Y->X continuous (2.7). Given a homomorphism, we find conditions that insure the existence of a 0 as in 1° above with which it is compatible (2.8). We also improve one of our previous results (Proposition 2.5 in [8]) concerning homomorphisms compatible with a p-fold covering (2.9). In §3 the homomorphisms C(X) ® A —> C(Y) <g> B are unitial, A, B are finite dimensional and the compact spaces X, Y are metrizable (excepting Proposition 3.1). Our results describe the local structure of such homomorphisms in terms of continuous "quasifields" of finite-dimensional C*-algebras ((3.1) and (3.4)). Using classes of inner equivalent injective homomorphisms between continuous quasifields of finite-dimensional C*-algebras (see 3.3) we study the set of classes of inner equivalent homomorphisms (injective homomorphisms) from C(X) to C(Y) ® B Received by the editors August 20, 1987. Presented at the 11th Conference on Operator Theory, Bucharert, Romania, June 2-12, 1986, organized by INCREST. 1980 Mathematics Subject Classification (1985 Revision). Primary 46M40; Secondary 46L99. ©1988 American Mathematical Society 0002-9947/88 $1.00 + $.25 per page 703 License or copyright restrictions may apply to redistribution; see https://www.ams.org/journal-terms-of-use


Most New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are frugivores. Many of these species are sympatric and mechanisms of resource partitioning including vertical stratification and divergent foraging strategies have been described. This study investigates a previously unexplored but potentially significant factor in resource partitioning: the relationship between feeding behaviour and fruit hardness. Data summarizing ingestive and fruit processing behaviours were collected during feeding experiments from five sympatric frugivorous phyllostomid species: Artibeus jamaicensis , Dermanura phaeotis , Sturnira lilium , Carollia perspicillata , and Glossophaga soricina . Individuals were the subjects of feeding experiments that consisted of eating hard and soft fruits of similar size, shape, and mass. Variables analysed from videotapes of the experiments describe how fruits are placed in the mouth during ingestion, the frequency of head movements during biting, the number of bites used to remove a piece of fruit, and the number of chews used to process each mouthful of fruit. Results of chi-square, log-linear, R×C, and Kruskal–Wallis tests demonstrate that feeding behaviours vary significantly with fruit hardness both within and between species. Artibeus , Dermanura , and Sturnira are behaviourally specialized for feeding on relatively hard fruits. However, Carollia , and probably Glossophaga , lack these behavioural specializations. Both mechanical and ecological implications of intra- and interspecific behavioural variation are discussed. Differences in fruit handling behaviour are also used to make explicit predictions regarding interspecific variation in masticatory morphology. This study demonstrates that the relationship between fruit hardness and feeding behaviour may be an integral part of frugivore ecology. Overall, resource partitioning among phyllostomid frugivores is a result of complex interactions among and between bats and their food plants. Controlled experimental studies such as this one provide a crucial means of dissecting these complex interactions and gaining insight into the basis of frugivore diversity.


Modification-dependent and -independent biomolecular interactions (BIs), including protein-protein, protein-DNA/RNA and protein-lipid, play crucial roles in all cellular processes. Dysregulation of BIs or malfunction of the associated enzymes results in various diseases, thus they are attractive targets for therapies. High-throughput screening (HTS) can greatly facilitate the discovery of drugs for these targets. Here we describe a HTS drug discovery method, called compartmentalization of enhanced biomolecular interactions in test tubes (CEBIT). CEBIT uses selective recruitment of biomolecules into phase separated compartments harboring their cognate binding partners as readouts. CEBIT were tailored to detect various BIs and associated modifying enzymes. Using CEBIT-based HTS assays, we successfully identified known inhibitors of the p53/MDM2 interaction and of SUV39H1 from a compound library. CEBIT is simple and versatile, and is likely to become a powerful tool for drug discovery and basic biomedical research.