This paper describes the potential effects of present-day aerosol pollution from North America (USA, Canada) on the climate of the North Atlantic region. The study has been performed by applying the comprehensive atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM5-HAM, which is coupled to a mixed-layer ocean with an embedded thermodynamic sea ice module. The model includes a microphysical aerosol model (HAM), which allows for the assessment of aerosol impacts on climate. Sulphate, black and organic carbon, sea salt and mineral dust are considered as aerosol species. Two equilibrium simulations with two different aerosol pollutant scenarios are compared for each season. We investigate the effect on radiation, temperature, hydrological quantities and dynamics, when human-induced aerosol emissions from North America were omitted. The decrease of both direct and indirect aerosol effects induces a positive change in top of the atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes resulting in an overall warming in the whole region. Our results demonstrate the vulnerability especially of the Arctic to the reduction in aerosol load. For fall we find an increase in precipitation over the North Atlantic, associated with a tendency to a larger number of cyclones with high-pressure gradients and a higher frequency in storm days.


BACKGROUND
Lymphatic dissemination is the main approach of metastasis in lung cancer, and it is also an important prognostic factor. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between tumor size and lymph node metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung.

METHODS
A total of 240 patients diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma were studied. The relationship between tumor size and lymph node metastasis was analyzed.

RESULTS
Lymph node metastasis rate in maximum diameter (d)≤2cm, 2cm < d≤3cm, 3cm < d≤6cm, 6cm < d≤10cm, and d > 10cm groups was 50.0%, 35.1%, 52.8%, 52.1% and 71.4%, respectively. There was no correlation between tumor size and lymph node metastasis (r=0.10, P > 0.05). Lymph node metastasis occurred more frequently in adenocarcinoma (58.8%) than that in squamous cell carcinoma (42.9%) (P < 0.05). Mediastinal lymph node metastasis was found in 7 patients (16.3%) with d≤3cm, who were all diagnosed as moderate or poor differentiation.

CONCLUSIONS
Lymph node metastasis is not related to tumor size. Lymph node metastasis occurs more frequently in adenocarcinoma than it does in squamous cell carcinoma. Mediastinal lymph node metastasis can be found in tumor with d≤3cm, and differentiation grade may play an important role in lymph node metastasis.


The last three decades have seen a renewed interest on the part of Evangelical scholars in patristic studies. Recently, theologians of the Pentecostal/Charismatic tradition have started to examine the works of Saint Symeon the New Theologian. The latter's emphasis on personal experience of the Holy Spirit and Christification provides a fertile ground for encounter between Orthodox and Pentecostal/Charismatic scholars. Recent Pentecostal/Charismatic scholarship on Symeon is reviewed in the light of contemporary Orthodox scholarship. Four key moments in Symeon's teaching on asceticism are presented in response to two Pentecostal/Charismatic theologians.


In heterogeneous networks (HetNets), the overlap of small cells and the macro cell causes severe cross-tier interference. Although there exist some approaches to address this problem, they usually require global channel state information, which is hard to obtain in practice, and get the sub-optimal power allocation policy with high computational complexity. To overcome these limitations, we propose a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) based power control scheme for the HetNet, where each access point makes power control decisions independently based on local information. To promote cooperation among agents, we develop a penalty-based Q learning (PQL) algorithm for MADRL systems. By introducing regularization terms in the loss function, each agent tends to choose an experienced action with high reward when revisiting a state, and thus the policy updating speed slows down. In this way, an agent's policy can be learned by other agents more easily, resulting in a more efficient collaboration process. We then implement the proposed PQL in the considered HetNet and compare it with other distributed-training-and-execution (DTE) algorithms. Simulation results show that our proposed PQL can learn the desired power control policy from a dynamic environment where the locations of users change episodically and outperform existing DTE MADRL algorithms.


Many scientists hypothesized that the presence of oxygen is necessary for the formation and stabilization of the metastable high Tc A15 Nb3Ge phase in Nb-Ge films. In our previous work we proposed that a certain amount of Nb5Ge3 may play a role in stabilizing the high Tc A15 phase. New experimental results of induction measurement on the Nb-Ge films support our proposal.


Objective:To address the need for nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)–sparing regimens, we explored the virologic and pharmacokinetic characteristics of maraviroc plus ritonavir-boosted darunavir in a single-arm, open-label, 96-week study. Methods:Twenty-four antiretroviral-naive R5 HIV-1–infected participants received maraviroc 150 mg and darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) 800/100 mg (MVC/DRV/r) once daily. The primary outcome was virologic failure (VF) = confirmed viral load (VL) >50 copies per milliliter at week 24 in the modified intent-to-treat population. To determine viral dynamics, participant-specific first- and second-phase empirical Bayes estimates were compared with decay rates from efavirenz (EFV) plus lopinavir/ritonavir, lopinavir/ritonavir plus 2NRTIs, and EFV plus 2NRTIs. Maraviroc plasma concentrations were determined at weeks 2, 4, 12, 24, and 48. Results:Baseline median (Q1, Q3) CD4 count and VL were 455 (299, 607) cells per cubic millimeter and 4.62 (4.18, 4.80) log10 copies per milliliter, respectively. VF occurred in 3 of 24 participants {12.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.7 to 32.4]} at week 24. One of these resuppressed, yielding a week 48 VF rate of 2/24 [8.3% (95% CI: 1.0 to 27.0)]. The week 48 failures were 2 of the 4 participants (50%) with baseline VL >100,000 copies per milliliter. Week 96 VF rate was 2/20 [10% (95% CI: 1.2 to 31.7)]. Phase 1 decay was faster with MVC/DRV/r than reported for ritonavir-boosted lopinavir plus 2NRTIs (P = 0.0063) and similar to EFV-based regimens. Individual maraviroc trough concentrations collected between 20 and 28 hours post dose (n = 59) was 13.7 to 130 ng/mL (Q1, 23.4 ng/mL; Q3, 46.5 ng/mL), and modeled steady-state concentration was 128 ng/mL. Conclusions:MVC/DRV/r 150/800/100 mg once daily has potential for treatment-naive patients with R5 HIV-1.


When mixed with an osteoconductive scaffold, recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor (rhPDGF-BB), a potent wound-healing protein, has been shown to promote clinical attachment gain, radiographic bone fill, and regeneration of the periodontium. This human case series evaluated the clinical outcome of rhPDGF with beta tricalcium phosphate (3-TCP) and a collagen membrane in the treatment of recession-type defects. The control was the clinical gold standard for root coverage: the subepithelial connective tissue graft (CTG). Seven patients with recession defects > or = 3 mm in contralateral quadrants of the maxilla, excluding molars, were treated in this series. Patients were followed postoperatively, and healing was evaluated at 8, 16, and 24 weeks, with recession depth as the primary outcome measure. This case series revealed a favorable tissue response to rhPDGF-BB + beta-TCP and a collagen membrane and comparable clinical outcomes to CTG, warranting a controlled clinical trial of greater magnitude.


Objectives This observational study aims to explore the predictive role of postoperative arterial lactate in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)-associated acute kidney injury (AKI). Materials and methods A total of 500 consecutive patients who underwent off-pump CABG from August 2020 to August 2021 at the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, were included. Logistic regression analysis was used to confirm the independent risk factors of off-pump CABG-associated AKI. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to evaluate the discrimination ability and Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness of fit test was performed to evaluate the calibration ability. Results The incidence of off-pump CABG-associated AKI was 20.6%. Female gender, preoperative albumin, baseline serum creatinine, 12 h postoperative arterial lactate and duration of mechanical ventilation were independent risk factors. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 12 h postoperative arterial lactate for predicting off-pump CABG-associated AKI was 0.756 and the cutoff value was 1.85. The prediction model that incorporated independent risk factors showed reliable predictive ability (AUC = 0.846). Total hospital stay, intensive care unit stay, occurrence of other postoperative complications, and 28-day mortality were all significantly higher in AKI group compared to non-AKI group. Conclusion 12 h postoperative arterial lactate was a validated predictive biomarker for off-pump CABG-associated AKI. We constructed a predictive model that facilitates the early recognition and management of off-pump CABG-associated AKI.


: Despite training and prevention programs, injury rates in agriculture remain high, and safety compliance is a challenge. Our aim was to compare farm operators' reported safety priorities to related behaviors. Surveys were mailed to 1600 agricultural operators; 326 returned complete data. We asked respondents about their safety priorities and practices related to machinery, chemicals, and structures. Kappa statistics, factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and profile analysis were used to understand how practices and priorities were related. Agreement between priorities and practices was low to moderate with high variability. Most discrepancies between the two were found in storing pesticides safely, keeping safety data sheets, using personal protective equipment, grain bin entry, and ladder safety. Machinery questions formed consistent constructs for practices and priorities, where practices predicted priorities more strongly than priorities predicted practices. Younger operators were less frequently exercising safe behaviors compared to older operators. Three safety compliance groups were identified: low compliance (15% of respondents), moderate (61%), and high (24%). Overall, operators reported that safety was a high priority, but their practices suggested otherwise. The promotion of safety culture has been suggested as an underutilized means in agriculture to address the complex issues that lead to unsafe practices, regardless of whether they are tied to limited resources, work organization, working environments, machinery, work habits, or general attention to safety. Effective new ways focusing on operator motivation are needed to bridge the gap between safety priorities and practices.


The current paper aims to explore the interrelationship between the right to development and rights-based approaches as a key to the implementation of international development. First, it researches the right to development as a human right. The paper starts the research from the historical background, the evolvement of the right to development going through the adoption of Declaration on the Right to Development till the creation of the Working group and High Level Task Force on the Right to Development and actions in the field. The research then goes further focusing on the Declaration on the Right to Development, the applicability of the articles and implications in the context of international development. The implications mostly refer to the fact that both developing and developed countries violate the right to development in their own way. Developing countries invoke the right to development to justify domination of economic development thus giving it priority over civil and political rights. Developed states, on the other hand, have the issue of providing a favorable atmosphere for the activities of their TNCs in developing countries very often in violation of human rights. The paper seeks to analyze and show that there can be no domination of one set of rights over the others, that all rights are indivisible and interdependent. Further, the research links the right to development to Millennium Development Goals, and Goal 8 in particular, focusing on their interrelationship in the context of development. The paper then elaborates on a rights-based approach to development cooperation. It makes a focus on the applicable principles and policies within the rights-based approach, and then takes a lead to discussion of development aid and conditionality in the context of development cooperation. The paper debates the concept of conditionality imposed by donor governments on recipient ones, about the advantages and disadvantages of the conditionality concept, coming to the conclusion that conditionality should be replaced by the notion of mutual accountability where there is a responsibility of both donor and recipient governments. And finally, the paper elaborates on mutual reinforcement of the right to development and the rights-based approach to explore their impacting potential on international development and gives recommendations on its implementation emphasizing the importance of several factors, such as adherence to human rights protection and promotion in development policies, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, replacement of conditionality with mutual accountability notion, good governance, participation, etc., which could lay the ground for the implementation of an appropriate international development while incorporating economic growth and social justice.


Recently, an increasing interest in UV/IR mixing phenomena has drawn attention to the range of validity of standard quantum field theory. Here we explore the consequences of such a limited range of validity in the context of radiative models for neutrino mass generation. We adopt an argument first published by Cohen, Kaplan and Nelson that gravity implies both UV and IR cutoffs, apply it to the loop integrals describing radiative corrections, and demonstrate that this effect has significant consequences for the parameter space of radiative neutrino mass models.


The amino acid sequences of 198 novel peptides were obtained using a generative long short-term memory recurrent neural network (LTSM RNN). To assess their antimicrobial effect, I synthesized 5 out of 198 generated peptides. The PEP-38 and PEP-137 peptides were active in vitro against carbapenem-resistant isolates of Klebsiella aerogenes (n=12) and K. pneumoniae (n=18). PEP-137 was also active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=17). The remaining three peptides (PEP-36, PEP-136 and PEP-174) showed no antibacterial effect. Then I investigated the effect of PEP-38 and PEP-137 (a single intraperitoneal administration of a 100 µg dose 30 min after infection) on animal survival in an experimental murine model of K. pneumoniae-induced sepsis. As a control, I used two groups of mice: one received sterile saline, and the other received inactive in vitro PEP-36 (a single 100 µg dose). The PEP-36 peptide was shown to provide the highest survival rate (66.7%). PEP-137 showed a survival rate of 50%. PEP-38 was found to be ineffective. The data obtained can be used to develop new antibacterial peptide drugs to combat antibiotic resistance.


Increased apoptosis of CD4+ T cells is considered to be involved in CD4+ T-cell depletion in human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals progressing toward acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). We have recently shown that CD95 (APO-1/Fas) expression is strongly increased in T cells of HIV-1-infected children. In this report we provide further evidence for a deregulated CD95 system in AIDS. CD95 expression in HIV-1+ children is not restricted to previously activated CD45RO+ T cells but is also increased on freshly isolated naive CD45RA+ T cells. In addition, specific CD95-mediated apoptosis is enhanced in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, levels of CD95 ligand mRNA are profoundly increased. Specific T-cell receptor/CD3-triggered apoptosis in HIV-1+ children is more enhanced in CD8+ than in CD4+ T cells. Accelerated activation induced cell death of T cells could partially be inhibited by blocking anti-CD95 antibody fragments. These data suggest an involvement of the CD95 receptor/ligand system in T-cell depletion and apoptosis in AIDS and may open new avenues of rational intervention strategies.


To our knowledge, we report the first Fourier domain modelocked laser (FDML) constructed using optical parameter amplifier (OPA) in conjunction with an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), centered at ~1556nm. We utilized a onepump OPA and a C-band EDFA in a series configuration with a polygon-grating wavelength filter to generate a hybrid FDML spectrum. Results demonstrate a substantially higher output power, better spectral shape and significantly more stable bandwidth than individual configurations. We believe this technique has the potential to enable several amplifiers to complement individual deficiencies resulting in improved spectral shapes and power generation for imaging applications such as optical coherence tomography (OCT).


A fresh look on carbon-based materials like carbon nanotubes (CNT) or graphene in microelectronic applications will be given. Graphene has just passed the peak of inflated expectations and is heading towards the trough of disillusionment from where CNTs are just recovering. In contrast to short scale SWCNTs, graphene nanoribbons - even with bandgap – are not promising candidates for a better transistor. However, interconnects made of multi-layer graphene show promise in a wide range of applications. Through-Silicon-Vias (TSV), capacitors, carbon gate, diodes, memories and sensors will be discussed. These applications are heavily based on the direct deposition methods which we have developed over the past decade.


The slopes on river banks close to the estuary can be affected by tides, so it can experience stability in the river bank. Therefore, this research is conducted to determine the stability of river bank due to tides with numerical analysis. The numerical analysis method was done by 2D Plaxis Software that using the Finite Element Method. The analysis was conducted on a homogeneous slope with 2 (two) different soil permeability coefficient values, there are low permeability and high permeability. The analysis is modeled by fully coupled analysis between deformation and ground water flow analysis. The results of the analysis indicate that a tidal are influence the stability of the slope based on the safety factor value. The highest of safety factor value are shown in high tide condition, and the lowest occur at low tide condition. This happens because the high tide condition occur the addition of hydraulic pressure from the water that will resist the sliding, while the low tide condition will reduce the hydraulic pressure. This can be a concern to the stability of river bank with tidal condition in order to avoid the erosion during the low tide conditions. The comparison of safety factors between two different types of soil permeability are not significant, the difference are only 3%.


Aim: During laparoscopic colorectal anastomosis, the rectal introduction of the circular stapler is achieved without hand assistance, increasing the risk of rectal injury. Therefore, we describe a technical adjustment facilitating rectal advancement of the stapler. Materials and Methods: Two hundred consecutive patients with benign condition underwent laparoscopic sigmoidectomy. Before any stapling, the complete circular stapler is introduced into the anus. The anvil is released in the lumen of the colon to be resected. After cross-stapling the rectum, the anvil is retrieved in the resected specimen before the final steps of the anastomosis. Feasibility, safety, and long-term results were evaluated. Results: In 194 patients, the anastomosis was successfully performed at upper rectal level. Only, 1 rectal wall injury was observed. At a median follow-up of 44 months, 3 patients presented anastomotic stenosis and 2 small-bowel obstructions. Conclusions: "Lost anvil" technique allows easy and safe circular stapler rectal advancement for laparoscopic colorectal anastomosis in benign diseases.


Five-milligram doses of d-, l- and dl-methadone were added to the perfusate of the isolated perfused rat liver and the disposition of each compound was monitored over a period of 120 minutes. There was an initial rapid decline in concentration of each drug in the perfusate, with approximately 70% disappearing in the first 10 minutes of the perfusion. Thereafter, the rate of decline of each compound slowed and the apparent half-life was about 100 minutes. In experiments with d- l- and dl-methadone the mean hepatic extraction from the perfusate at 10 minutes was 72, 66 and 69%, respectively. A comparison of the rate of disappearance of the d- and the l-isomers from the perfusate showed that the concentration of the d-isomer at each sampling time was lower than the concentration of the l-isomer and this concentration ratio ranged between 68 and 79%. A study of the disposition of dl-methadone in the isolated perfused liver indicated that the initial rapid decline of the drug in the perfusate in the first 10 minutes was caused primarily by the uptake of the unchanged drug into the liver. Thereafter, the concentration of methadone in the perfusate and liver declined slowly with time and was paralleled by an increase in the concentration of the primary mono-N-demethylated metabolite, which appeared in the liver, perfusate and bile. Smaller quantities of more polar metabolites, including hydroxylated compounds and conjugates, were also present in the liver and bile. Addition of SKF 525-A retarded the rate of decline of methadone from the perfusate and pretreatment of the rat with phenobarbital increased the rate of biotransformation of methadone in the isolated perfused liver.


Because it is an unconventional vegetable, arrowroot is appropriate for family farming; there is a need to find alternative ways to make its growing more sustainable, however. The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive performance of rhizomes and starch of arrowroot 'Seta' intercropped with crotalaria. The experiment consisted of four treatments, corresponding to three harvest for crotalaria intercropped with arrowroot (90, 120 and 150 days after sowing) plus single cultivation of arrowroot. The experiment used a complete randomized block design with four replications. Mass production of crotalaria, macro and micronutrients contents in the cut material and infestation by invasive plants were evaluated at each harvest. At the harvest of arrowroot, productivity and format of rhizomes classes, macro and micronutrient contents were evaluated, and the export of nutrients and production of starch by rhizomes were estimated. The hasvests carried out at 120 and 150 DAS, despite propagating the highest values of weight and nutrients, provided lower yields of total, large rhizomes, and starch. Crotalaria hasvested at 90 DAS provided values higher than the cuts performed on 120 and 150 DAS for most evaluated variables, not differing from control, including starch. The intercropping provided less infestation by invasive plants. The intercropping between crotalaria and arrowroot provided is suitable as long as the harvest of this legume occurs up to 90 DAS.


Colleges, universities, and secondary schools around the world are using the Duolingo English Test (DET) as a newway to assess English language proficiency. The DET offers many advantages to admissions offices and applicants: on-demand accessibility, low cost, remote test proctoring, and rapid score reporting, as well as an integrated video interview and writing sample. The DET also looks and functions differently from other proficiency tests, which raises an obvious question. If DET item types and administration differ from those used on other largescale tests like the TOEFL® or IELTS®, can DET test scores be used in the same way as the scores from those instruments?


Central motor conduction times for the adductor pollicis muscle, the twitch force of that muscle to scalp magnetic motor cortex stimulation, and the maximum force of phasic voluntary contraction of the same muscle were measured in 15 patients with multiple sclerosis. Two tests of manual dexterity of the same hand also were studied: the Purdue pegboard test, and the maximal frequency of a scissors movement of the thumb and index finger. The patients had normal strength or minimal weakness of the intrinsic muscles of the hand on clinical examination. The mean central motor conduction times for the adductor pollicis muscle for the patients were longer than normal, the peak twitch force of the adductor pollicis muscle evoked by cortical stimulation and the maximum force of a phasic voluntary contraction of the adductor pollicis muscle were smaller than normal. There were strong correlations between all these measures. Central motor conduction time in the patients was inversely correlated with voluntary phasic force and the twitch force after cortical stimulation. That is, the longer the central motor conduction time, the weaker the force. Prolonged central motor conduction time is likely to be accompanied by conduction block in corticomotoneuron pathways. The correlation of central motor conduction time with voluntary phasic force and the twitch force most likely reflects the degree of conduction block and temporal dispersion rather than delay in conduction per se. These results indicate that objective assessments of phasic muscle strength may reveal correlations with central motor conduction time that are not evident on conventional clinical examination which assesses tonic muscle contraction strength. There also was some correlation of central motor conduction time, twitch force, and voluntary phasic force with the performance of tests of manual dexterity. Since the voluntary phasic strength and twitch force to cortical stimulation were similarly weakened, the findings would also be consistent with the cortical stimulus and voluntary contraction using the same descending motor tracts.


Motivation: LTR retrotransposons are mobile elements that are able, like retroviruses, to copy and move inside eukaryotic genomes. In the present work, we propose a branching model for studying the propagation of LTR retrotransposons in these genomes. This model allows us to take into account both the positions and the degradation level of LTR retrotransposons copies. In our model, the duplication rate is also allowed to vary with the degradation level. Results: Various functions have been implemented in order to simulate their spread and visualization tools are proposed. Based on these simulation tools, we have developed a first method to evaluate the parameters of this propagation model. We applied this method to the study of the spread of the transposable elements ROO, GYPSY and DM412 on a chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Availability and Implementation: Our proposal has been implemented using Python software. Source code is freely available on the web at https://github.com/SergeMOULIN/retrotransposons‐spread. Contact: serge.moulin@univ‐fcomte.fr Supplementary information: are available at Bioinformatics online.


To determine whether S100β, an acidic calcium-binding protein previously demonstrated as a reliable indicator of a brain lesion, could be helpful in the detection of brain distress in intrauterine growth-retarded (IUGR) fetuses, we studied, by a case-control study, the correlation between S100B protein and the degree of fetoplacental blood flow impairment. Maternal and umbilical blood samples and placental tissue specimens were collected at delivery from IUGR pregnancies with normal (n = 10) or abnormal (n = 10) umbilical artery Doppler findings and from 40 uncomplicated pregnancies. S100β protein levels were measured by means of a specific RIA, and flow velocimetry waveforms were recorded from uterine, umbilical, and fetal middle cerebral arteries. Overall mean S100β proteins in umbilical plasma levels were higher (p < 0.05) in IUGR patients (121.8 ± 70.4 fmol/mL) than in control patients (54.7 ± 21.9 fmol/mL). IUGR fetuses with redistribution of blood flow showed the higher concentration of the protein (163.7 ± 55.2 fmol/mL). Fetal S100β concentrations correlated with middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (r = −0.536, p < 0.03) and with umbilical artery pulsatility index to middle cerebral artery pulsatility index ratio (r = 0.469, p < 0.03). No difference in the localization or intensity of S100β staining in the placental tissues or cord between uncomplicated and IUGR pregnancies was found. This study provides evidence that circulating S100β protein is increased in IUGR fetuses and correlates with cerebral hemodynamics, suggesting that it may represent an index of cerebral cell damage in the perinatal period.


Long before technology was developed, people had to rely on observations, patterns and their experience to predict the weather. Observers reported that the animals have senses that warned them of weather by several hours or just seconds, which allowed animals and people to heed those warnings for the chance to find safety. People sometimes are out of touch with weather reports and are ignorant of what the weather could be may cost them their lives. Therefore, the author develops a novel climatic forecasting system that can be used in the field for providing short-term weather forecasts for regions near the seas and oceans. The prediction system is a knowledge-based that incorporates behavior of both the birds and a sea animal called the crab and their relationships with the change in weather. Moreover, it provides advice regarding sailings and navigations.


Trust is a basic ingredient in the creation, the evolvement and the conservation of a long-term relationship between suppliers and buyers. It is also a key differentiator in defining the success or failure of many e-business companies, in order to endorse the importance of online trust. In this paper we present a study on online trust in the B2C Greek context. More specifically, we focus on the issues of perceived company's reputation, online trust and intention for online transactions. The aim of this study is to examine if there is a positive relationship between perceived company's reputation and online trust, and between online trust and consumer's intention for online transactions.


The southwestern part of Foxe Basin is a little known region of the Canadian Arctic, being difficult to access during the summer because of heavy and unpredictable ice conditions. Surveys of birds and marine mammals in the area were carried out by lightweight expeditions in the summers of 1994 and 1995, using sea-kayaks, as well as a Peterhead boat from the nearest community, at Repulse Bay. The area supports important populations of narwhal, bowhead whales and walrus, as well as significant concentrations of shorebirds, common eiders, black guillemots, and perhaps one third of the world's Thayer's gulls. New information was obtained on the status and abundance of these species and novel observations were made on the feeding ecology and breeding phenology of the gulls.


Abstract. The Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a classical problem in combinatorial optimization that consists of finding the shortest tour through all cities such that the salesman visits each city only one time and returns to the starting city. Genetic algorithm is one of the powerful ways to solve problems of traveling salesman problem TSP. The current genetic algorithm aims to take in consideration the constraints happening during the execution of genetic algorithm, such as traffic jams when solving TSP. This program has two important contributions. First one is proposing simple method into taking in consideration an inconvenient route linked to traffic jams. The second one is the use of closeness strategy during the initialization step, which can accelerate the execution time of the algorithm. The results of the experiments show that the improved algorithm works better than some other algorithms. The conclusion ends the analysis with recommendations and future works.


NK-92 is a highly cytotoxic natural killer (NK) tumor cell line that possesses properties that make it an excellent candidate for adoptive cellular immunotherapy. However, the cytotoxicity of NK cells is dependent on cytokines such as interleukin 2 (IL-2). Although NK-92 cells maintain cytotoxicity for a time after withdrawal of IL-2, clinical use will probably require prolonged treatment with fully activated cells to eliminate disease effectively. The ability to support cytotoxic cells with exogenously administered IL-2 is limited by associated toxicity. Therefore, we describe the transfection of the IL-2-dependent NK-92 cell line with human IL-2 (hIL-2) cDNA by particle-mediated gene transfer to create two IL-2-independent variants, NK-92MI and NK-92 CI, and describe their characterization and comparison with parental cells. Both variants were shown to contain, express, and synthesize the hIL-2 cDNA. IL-2 synthesis was higher in NK-92MI cells compared with NK-92CI cells, with no expression in parental cells. Functionally, the cytotoxicity of all three cell lines was similar and coincubation with IL-2-independent variants did not affect hematopoietic progenitor cells. NK-92MI and NK-92CI cells were more radiosensitive than NK-92 cells, with proliferation inhibited at lower radiation doses and increased morality and decreased cytotoxicity compared with parental cells. Data presented here show that we have created by particle-mediated gene transfer two IL-2-independent variants of NK-92 that are identical to parental cells in virtually all respects, including high cytotoxic activity. The nonviral transfection of these cells makes them suitable for clinical applications. These IL-2-independent cells should allow prolonged treatment with fully active natural killer cells without the need for exogenous IL-2 support.


The ability to reliably measure total respiratory input impedance Z/sup rs/ from 0.25 to 4 Hz has only recently been reported and only in healthy subjects. The real part of Z/sup rs/ decreased substantially with frequency. One explanation is provided by the Otis model, which contains parallel resistance-compliance time-constant inhomogeneities. Several investigators have suggested the use of this model at the level of estimating its parameters by fitting the model to data. Such an approach would permit quantification of the functional inhomogeneity of an individual's respiratory system and may be useful diagnostically. In this study, experimental data and a sensitivity analysis are combined to specify the requirements and limitations associated with estimating the parameters. The data acquisition technique was improved to acquire Z/sup rs/ as low as 0.125 Hz in seven healthy subjects. The Otis model provided an excellent fit to the data with reasonably low intra- and intersubject variability.<<ETX>>


We recently investigated the potential health benefits of honey as a substitute for refined sugars and demonstrated that compared to sucrose, honey may produce lower serum triglyceride, glucose and insulin concentrations over a short‐term period. Our goal was to determine the influence of honey versus sucrose on adiposity and plasma concentrations of insulin, glucose and lipids in two groups of weanling mice after a long‐term period. Eighteen male weanling ICR mice (29.7 ± 0.6 g) were equally divided into two groups and fed ad libitum one of two isoenergetic diets differing only in the carbohydrate source provided. Diets contained 20% carbohydrate (by weight of total diet) from clover honey or sucrose. After 116 days, fat pads were removed and blood was collected. No differences (p > 0.05) were found for weight gain, fat pad weights, glucose, insulin and triglycerides concentrations between honey and sucrose fed mice. Total cholesterol tended to be lower in the honey fed mice (p=.078). The results suggest that consuming honey instead of sucrose may potentially promote lower cholesterol over a long term period, but that benefits observed after shorter term feeding did not persist in growing ICR mice.


Monitoring the creative content within food marketing to children is strongly advocated by public health authorities, but few studies address the prevalence of health-related messaging in television adverts. Food and beverage adverts (n = 18,888 in 2008, n = 6664 in 2010) from UK television channels popular with children were coded and analyzed. Physical-activity depiction displayed an 18.8 percentage point increase from 2008 (4.4%) to 2010 (23.2%). Of the food adverts containing physical-activity depiction in 2010, 81.1% were for non-core foods. The appearance of health claims in food adverts in 2010 increased 4.1 percentage points from 2008 levels (20.7% to 24.8%) where the majority of food adverts featuring health and nutrition claims were for non-core foods (58.3%). Health-related (e.g., health/nutrition, weight loss/diet) appeals were used in 17.1% of food adverts during peak child-viewing times, rising to 33.0% of adverts shown on dedicated children's channels in 2010. Implicit (physical activity) and explicit (health claims) health messages are increasingly prevalent in UK television food advertising viewed by children, and are frequently used to promote unhealthy foods. Policy makers in the UK should consider amendments to the existing statutory approach in order to address this issue.


Fuzzy sets have been extensively researched and results have been developed based on the extensions of fuzzy sets. In this chapter, fuzzy sets and its extensions are discussed. Z-numbers along with weighted sum product assessment method is used to obtain a feasible solution to the location selection problem for installation of smog towers in a densely populated locality. The degrees of freedom namely degree of membership, degree of non-membership and the degree of hesitancy have been expressed as Zadeh's Z-number with probability quotient for the degrees. Further, ranking of the alternatives based on Z-numbers and WASPAS to allocate smog towers to residential areas stricken by air pollution.


Objective: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a static encephalopathy. In addition to motor developmental delay, most patients have speech and social developmental delay. Recently, complementary medicine like homeopathy has been used in the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders. This study has been conducted to determine the effect of adding homeopathic treatment to rehabilitation on speech and social development of children with spastic cerebral palsy. Material & Methods: This study was a double blind clinical trial. Twenty-four subjects were recruited from a clinic in Tehran during 2004. In this study, minimization technique was used and subjects were divided into case and control groups. The routine rehabilitation techniques were performed for 4 months in both groups. The control group received placebo and the case group homeopathy drugs. The subjects were 1-5 years old with spastic cerebral palsy, speech and social developmental delay. Level of speech and social development were assessed by Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DDST II) in the two beginning of the study and 4 months later. Findings: The average age, in the case and the control group was 28 and 28.4 months respectively. The level of speech and social development in the case group in comparison with the control group had no statistically significant difference (PV=0.17 and PV=1 respectively). Conclusion: Adding homeopathy to rehabilitation had no significant effect on the level of speech and social development of CP children. Regarding the proved effects of homeopathy mentioned in different articles on the developmental status of children with CP, it is not possible to reject the effects of homeopathy on speech and social development of children with CP.


A field experiment was carried out at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Farm during the Rabi season of 2008 to investigate the effect of nitrogen and potassium on the yield and yield components of BARI Bush Bean-2. The red brown terrace soil of Tejgaon was silty clay loam in texture having pH 5.6. The experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The experiment comprises 4 levels of nitrogen in the form ofurea (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg nitrogen/ha) and 4 levels of potassium from Muriate of Potash (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg potassium /ha). There was combination of sixteen treatments including control (no fertilizer). The results obtained revealed that different levels of nitrogen and potassium showed significant variations on the parameters studied. The treatment N80K40 (80 kg nitrogen + 40 kg potassium) gave the highest pod length (11.67 cm), pod diameter (3.13 cm), average single pod weight (5.99 g), total pod weight per plant (29.07 g), pod yield per plot (2033.33 g) and pod yield per hectare (4.96 tons).Thus the findings of the experiment suggested that combined use of 80 kg nitrogen + 40 kg potassium produced the maximum yield of BARI Bush Bean-2 in red brown terrace soil of the Tejgaon series. Original Research Article Roy et al.; AJAHR, 5(4): 9-18, 2020; Article no.AJAHR.56370 10


ABSTRACT This register-based study from Sweden examines mortality risks among young male victims of violence. In total, 8722 men aged 18–24 years who spent at least one night in inpatient care after exposure to violence in the years 1992–2005 were compared with 78,702 age-matched men from the general population. Cox regressions showed that men exposed to violence had a >3 times higher risk of all-cause mortality, a >4 times higher risk of suicide, and about a 20 times higher risk of death from later violence. The risk of suicide remained stable during the follow-up, and the risk of all-cause mortality and death from later violence decreased. Abbreviations: NBHW: The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen); Brå: The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet)


RESEARCH QUESTIONS -- 1. How do research and achievement of creativity improve when a tool of much greater comprehensiveness, detail, and level of organization is applied to common assessment, evaluation, and specification tasks? -- The secondary question in this paper. 2. How do you create a checklist vastly more detailed, comprehensive, and ordered than any prior such tools? -- The primary question in this paper. 3. What models of creativity if put into a large checklist format offer enough comprehensibility, diversity, and practicality to motivate people to use, study, and fully apply the checklist tool? This article presents the key variables of each of 20 well-ordered models of creativity in a checklist format. 1500 variables, organized in checklist format, with 0 to 10 point scales and fill in spaces for each variable, are included. Each of the 20 models is explained as well as some important initial uses of the checklist, by the author and other organizations. The significance, for understanding creativity and impacting it practically, of having more detailed, comprehensive, well-ordered, and articulated models of it is examined in the context of an overall program of structural cognition -- applying ordinary cognitive operators not to sets of 3 to 6 ideas at a time but to ordered patterns of 50 to 100 ideas at a time. Research, educative, and work improvement uses of the checklist are described.METHOD -- A model of 60 models of creativity was used to select 20 models, from diverse original model categories, to balance practicality, diversity, and comprehensibility. The most comprehensive model of creativity models yet published was used to furnish 60 models from which 20 were chosen for this 1500 item checklist. 1500 items were the cut off point because that is the maximum number of items that could be explained and scored by actual groups in a 3 day 8-hour day format. Which of the 60 models was chosen was entirely determined by dozens of consults over a period of years, noting which models were most requested, used, studied, asked about, by hundreds of consulting clients. A count was kept over a five year period of these requests, etc. and a simple summary of it used to pick the models most salient to clients during that time period. This is a non-scientific sampling method that yet has significant practicality.RESULT -- A checklist of 1500 variables that affect creativity or generate it, from 20 diverse models of what being creative is, in a format that non-professionals can understand and score in a 3 day 8-hour day format, if led by an instructor who explains each of the 1500 items just before each is scored.


The quality of teaching in schools is directly linked to the quality of preservice preparation that teachers receive. This is particularly important in the area of music teacher education, given the unique challenges that classroom music teachers commonly face. This paper reports on research designed to investigate the knowledge and skills that early-career music teachers perceive to be necessary to function effectively in the classroom, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of current teacher education programs in preparing them to teach secondary classroom music. Questionnaires were completed by 76 secondary classroom music teachers in their first three years of teaching in Queensland, Australia. Importance-Performance Analysis was used to determine those areas of the preservice course that constituted a high priority for attention. The findings suggest that preservice teachers need increased support in their development of pedagogical content knowledge and skills, and non-pedagogical professional content knowledge and skills. This research provides an empirical basis for reconceptualising music teacher education courses and raises important issues that music teacher educators need to address in order to ensure that graduates are adequately prepared for classroom music teaching.


Background : Open tibial fractures are notorious fractures because the open wound leaves us with limited options and means multiple operations with long intervals for the patient. The usual method of treatment of contaminated, late presenting and complicated fractures is a temporary external fixator followed by conversion into a costly definitive procedure once the wound has healed. The secondary definitive procedure also means extra cost in an already economically stressed patient.In our set up we have to often let patients leave with a plaster cast after removing the external fixator for economic constrains. Per cetaceous autologous bone marrow injection while the patient is on external fixator is one alternative that we have tried to deal with this problem hoping for a primary union without any costly intervention.
Materials and methods : We had 42 cases of open tibial fractures which were treated with external fixator and per cutaneous bone marrow injection while 38 other cases which were used as control with only the external fixator and no injections. We included open fractures of only Gustilo Anderson type II,IIIA and B for our study. Study was conducted between period of June 2012 and December 2013 at SBKS medical college .
Results : In group one, 34 of the 42 patients had a radiological union before 12 weeks while another 2 in 16 weeks. For group 2 , only 16 of the 38patients had radiological union at 12 weeks and no more at 16 weeks. The average time of union for group 1 was 10 weeks while of group 2 was 12 weeks .Function of the union cases of both the groups was similar in all aspects including distance of walking and ability to carry out daily activities.
Conclusion : Per cutaneous autologous bone marrow injections are cheap , easily available and successful alternative to a secondary procedure for open tibial fractures on external fixators.


Profiling elemental contents in wheat grains and clarifying the underlying genetic systems are important for the breeding of biofortified crops. Our objective was to evaluate the genetic potential of 269 Afghan wheat landraces for increasing elemental contents in wheat cultivars. The contents of three major (Mg, K, and P) and three minor (Mn, Fe, and Zn) elements in wheat grains were measured by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Large variations in elemental contents were observed among landraces. Marker-based heritability estimates were low to moderate, suggesting that the elemental contents are complex quantitative traits. Genetic correlations between two locations (Japan and Afghanistan) and among the six elements were estimated using a multi-response Bayesian linear mixed model. Low-to-moderate genetic correlations were observed among major elements and among minor elements respectively, but not between major and minor elements. A single-response genome-wide association study detected only one significant marker, which was associated with Zn, suggesting it will be difficult to increase the elemental contents of wheat by conventional marker-assisted selection. Genomic predictions for major elemental contents were moderately or highly accurate, whereas those for minor elements were mostly low or moderate. Our results indicate genomic selection may be useful for the genetic improvement of elemental contents in wheat.


Purpose: To evaluate the clinical and radiological results of an arthroscopic ACL reconstruction with a hamstring tendon and Ligament Anchor (LA) screw. Materials and Methods: 48 cases among 47 patients with a minimum 5 year follow up after the ACL reconstruction were examined. The clinical results (Lysholm Knee score, Tegner activity scale, Lachmann test, Pivot-shift test, and complications) were evaluated, and the radiological results (osteoarthritis, bony tunnel enlargement, instrumented anterior laxity test with Telos®) were assessed. Results: The Lysholm Knee score showed significant improvement from 65.8 to 96.7 at the final follow up. The Tegner activity scale also showed significant improvement from 3.5 preoperatively to 6.0 at the final follow-up. The Lachmann test showed that 42 cases had converted to negative. The Pivot-shift test was negative in 39 cases and mild positive in 9 cases. The side to side difference using the instrumented anterior laxity test was 12.5 mm preoperatively and 3.2 mm at the final follow-up. Degenerative osteoarthritis was observed in 9 (19%) knees. The femoral and tibial tunnel were widened by 21.6 and 20.9% in the AP view and 16.3 and 19.0% in the lateral view, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: An ACL reconstruction with a hamstring tendon and LA screw can restore the knee stability with satisfactory clinical results and few complications.


Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are enzymes that play a key role in structural modification and gene expression. The overexpression of HDAC is associated with cancer, and thus inhibiting the enzyme could be an efficient cancer therapy. To discover new HDAC inhibitors (HDACis), we proposed an improved protocol combining a hierarchical pharmacophore search, molecular docking, and molecular dynamic simulations. The test results showed that the improved screening protocol effectively reduced the false-positive rates of drug-like chemicals. Based on the protocol, we obtained 16 hit compounds as potential HDACis from the Life Chemicals database. Enzyme inhibition experiments showed that two of the hit chemical compounds had HDAC-inhibitory effects. In vitro assays showed that Z165155756 could selectively inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells and specifically promoted apoptosis and induced G1/S phase arrest in A2780 cells. It may have potential therapeutic effects in ovarian cancer and is worthy of further investigation.


The feasibility study of new design method is performed for the complicated combined support of pipes in nuclear power plant. The professional steelwork design tool "TEKLA" is integrated into the workflow of PDMS (Plant Design Management System), which is used for the pipes and support design. Comparing to the traditional method, the new method can make the design of combined support easier, and generate the fabrication drawing of support more accurately and quickly. It is great significance to improve the work efficiency and reduce the manpower and engineering cost.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Summary form only given. This talk explores what 21st century enterprise must do in order to survive the accelerated changes globally and compete effectively. There are three major aspects that an enterprise needs to follow, namely; 1. have the courage to do the right things, 2. have the capability to do things right; 3. have the will to change. We also discuss the concept of an Enterprise Clinic/spl trade/ as an implementation framework to help developing 21st century enterprises globally.


The dynamics of glass forming liquids shows a tremendous slowing down if temperature is decreased: Relaxation times, transport coefficients such as the diffusion constant or the shear viscosity grow by more than 15 orders of magnitude within narrow temperature range. One of the central goals in the field of glass physics is to understand the origin of this dramatic slowing down of the dynamics.

There are several scenarios that seem to be able to explain the slowing down of the dynamics and the low temperature state of the glass former. A very popular one is to rationalize the slow dynamics by invoking the existence of a thermodynamic transition, the so-called ideal glass transition from the liquid to an ideal glass states. This ideal glass transition occurs when the configurational entropy, defined as the logarithm of the number of available states, becomes zero. Due to this
singular behavior of the configurational entropy, the relaxation time and
transport coefficients diverge if the transition point is approached [1].

However, confirming the existence of the ideal glass transition is a very
difficult task since in practice the system falls out of equilibrium
before reaching this putative ideal glass transition temperature,
thus making the test of this theory most difficult. Furthermore, other
scenarios are also able to explain the slow dynamics without resorting
any thermodynamic transition [2].

In the present study, we investigate the existence of the ideal
glass transition by using computer simulation of a canonical binary
Lennard-Jones glass former in three dimensions. Massive computational
effort and efficient sampling algorithm (parallel tempering) allow us to
reach equilibrium states that are very deeply supercooled. By measuring
the configurational entropy directly (obtained via thermodynamic
integration), we find that the configuration entropy does not go to zero
at a finite temperature. This implies that the thermodynamic singularity
is indeed avoided before reaching a putative ideal glass transition
temperature predicted by previous studies. Our results indicates that
contrary to the previous results the system remains in a liquid state
down to zero temperature without showing an ideal glass transition.

Furthermore, we analyze the microscopic structure and the potential
energy landscape of the system to clarify the mechanism that leads to
the avoidance of the ideal glass transition. We find that locally
favored structures present in the liquid state hardly change in the
temperature range we consider, which rules out another possibility for
the slow dynamics, e.g. the transformation between two distinct liquids,
so-called liquid-liquid transition [3]. Instead, we find the potential
energy landscape contains extensive number of minima even very low
temperature, which rationalize the avoided singularity.

Our results support a theoretical argument that the ideal glass
transition can not exist at bulk system in finite dimensions [5].

[1] Adam G and Gibbs JH, J. Chem. Phys., 43, 139 (1965)
[2] Chandler D and Garrahan JP, Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem., 61, 191 (2010)
[3] Speck T, Royall CP, and Williams SR, arXiv:1409.0751, (2014)
[4] Saksaengwijit A and Heuer A, Phys. Rev. Lett., 93, 235701 (2004)
[5] Stillinger FH, J. Chem. Phys., 88, 7818 (1988)


In this paper an automated algorithmic method is presented for the dynamic analysis of geared trains/transmissions. These are treated as a system of interconnected flexible bodies. The procedure developed explains the switching of constraints with time as a result of the change in the contacting areas at the gear teeth. The elastic behavior of the system is studied through the employment of three-dimensional isoparametric elements having six degrees-of-freedom at each node. The contact between the bodies is assumed at the various nodes, which could be either a line or a plane. The kinematical expressions, together with the equations of motion using Kane's method, strain energy concepts, are presented in a matrix form suitable for computer implementation. The constraint Jacobian matrices are generated automatically based on the contact information between the bodies. The concepts of the relative velocity at the contacting points at the tooth pairs and the subsequent use of the transmission ratios in the analysis is presented.


Background Limited data are available examining the effects of both moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) on longevity among patients with heart failure (HF). This study examined the associations of MVPA and SB with all-cause mortality in HF patients using a nationally representative survey data. Methods National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (2007–2014) were used. 711 adults with self-reported congestive HF, linked to 2015 mortality data were analyzed. Self-reported MVPA and SB minutes were used to create the three MVPA [No-MVPA, insufficient (I-MVPA; <150 min/wk), and sufficient (S-MVPA; ≥150 min/wk)] and two SB (<8 and ≥8 hrs/d) groups. Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to test the associations of MVPA and SB with all-cause mortality. Results 119 deaths occurred over an average of 4.9 years of follow-up. Lower MVPA and higher SB were independently associated with poor survival (P < .001). Joint and stratified analyses showed that the protective effect of MVPA was most pronounced among patients with SB<8 hrs/d. There was no difference in the mortality risk by SB levels within I-MVPA and S-MVPA groups; however, in the No-MVPA group, those with SB≥8 hrs/d had a greater risk of mortality compared to those with <8 hrs/d (Hazard ratio = 1.60). Conclusion In this HF cohort, MVPA and SB were independently and jointly associated with all-cause mortality. The beneficial effect of MVPA is attenuated by excessive SB; however, engaging in some amount of MVPA may provide a protective effect and attenuates the detrimental effects associated with excessive SB.


We consider the irreducibility of switch-based Markov chains for the approximate uniform sampling of Hamiltonian cycles in a given undirected dense graph on $n$ vertices. As our main result, we show that every pair of Hamiltonian cycles in a graph with minimum degree at least $n/2+7$ can be transformed into each other by switch operations of size at most 10, implying that the switch Markov chain using switches of size at most 10 is irreducible. As a proof of concept, we also show that this Markov chain is rapidly mixing on dense monotone graphs.


The article is the result of an empirical research project that integrates historical, sociological and socio-psychological perspectives. The study is focused on the institution of religious leaders—dedes, the experts of oral tradition in Dersim, Eastern Anatolia. It attempts to trace back political obliteration strategies applied to these main agents of memory, by investigating their meaning and role for the maintenance of cultural identity. It analyses autobiographical memories of violence and persecution in narratives of dedes, especially in regard to their coping patterns and perceptions of history.


Sonodynamic therapy (SDT), as an emerging technique, gives rise to reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced apoptosis of tumor cells. However, nonselective enrichment and unsatisfactory penetration depth of sonosensitizers in tumor tissues limit its application. In this study, we synthesized core/shell (glucose oxidase (GOx) in the core/hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME) and IR780 in the shell) structured polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) with deep tumor penetration and mitochondrial targeting capability for synergistic sonodynamic and starvation therapy. After passing through the endothelial space of tumor vasculatures, by virtue of IR780, these NPs can selectively accumulate towards cancer cells/sites, especially in mitochondria and diffuse into deep tumour centres. Upon ultrasound (US) exposure, the overproduced ROS cause tumor cell apoptosis. Sonodynamic effects can be amplified by mitochondrial targeting because mitochondria are susceptible to ROS. GOx blocks glucose (energy) supply, further suppressing the growth of malignant tumors. This synergistic therapy exhibited a superb response to treatment (4.7-fold lower tumor growth in volume than the control group). In addition, these NPs also serve as excellent photoacoustic (PA)/fluorescent (FL) imaging contrast agents to simultaneously monitor and guide cancer therapy. This study paves a promising way to achieve an ideal strategy for cancer therapy.


We read with interest the article by Rahpeyma and Khajehahmadi, entitled 'Reconstruction of the maxilla by submental flap ', especially at a time when there appears to be a resurgence in the use of regional flaps for head and neck reconstruction. Firstly, we ask for clarification. We note that the authors compared their fistula rate of 20% to a quoted 7.5% rate for reconstruction with free microvascular flap reconstruction. The reference given is for Hanasono's paper; however, we were unable to find the quoted 7.5% fistula rate, but instead find early and late oroantral fistula rates of 0.4% and 2.5%, respectively. Secondly, there is an ongoing debate about the safety of the submental flap in head and neck cancer, and having acknowledged Martin in their paper, we would like to draw their attention to the recent paper by Fell et al., with Martin as senior author, which cautions the use of the submental flap as the primary reconstructive choice in head and neck cancer due to the number of nodal fields at risk of metastasis that are violated in the raising and transposition of the flap and the unknown risk on disease control. This point has been widely debated in the literature, particularly in the absence of level 1 nodal disease and we are curious whether this point was taken into consideration and if the submental flap was chosen in part due to benefits of shorter operating time or lack of alternative donor sites, in comparison with workhorse techniques such as the radial forearm free flap.


A discrimination task was used to assess changes in the loudness of speech that accompanied changes in the spectral tilt of a simulated hearing aid's frequency response. Band-limited (0.25-4 kHz) spondaic words were spectrally shaped at comparison tilt-factor values of -6, 0, and +6 dB per octave and delivered monaurally via insert earphone to each of 10 listeners with normal hearing (NH) and 15 listeners with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing impairment (HI). Results for the NH listeners indicated that loudness differences among the tilt factors were generally perceptible and that loudness judgments were highly transitive across different tilt-factor comparisons. Loudness differences were also perceptible to many of the HI listeners when they switched among tilt factors. The HI listeners' data showed some evidence of transitivity, but not so much as was shown by the NH listeners. Intersubject variability in the loudness judgments was found to be comparable for the two subject groups. Results of the study are discussed with regard to their implications for hearing aid fitting, with particular emphasis on the "parameter adjustment and selection" fitting procedure (J. Punch & R. Robb, 1992).


The success of a development is synonymous with the creation of the rate of economic development and the high absorption of labor. One of the real sectors that can reduce unemployment is micro, small and medium enterprises or often abbreviated as MSMEs. In MSME activities, MSME actors must master good financial management to ensure effective financial management. The research consists of independent variables namely financial knowledge (X1) and financial behavior (X2), the dependent variable is the effectiveness of financial management (Y). The purpose of this study is to find out and analyze the influence of knowledge and financial behavior on the development of MSMEs in. The benefits of the research are as input in improving the development of MSMEs, and as one of the requirements in the selection process for admission to the USU Faculty of Economics's Doctor of Management Science Program. This research was conducted in North Sumatra, the approach used in this study was a survey approach, the type of research was quantitative descriptive research, the nature of the research was explanatory research, the population in this study were MSMEs in North Sumatra, namely 2,857,124 MSMEs. the number of research samples is 400 respondents taken randomly by using the Slovin formula, 30 respondents used for valid tests and real tests taken outside the study sample. Data collection techniques were carried out by interviews (interviews), questionnaires, and decomme. This study uses the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program with a multiple regression equation as follows: Sub Model: Y = a + b1X1 + b2X2 e. F value calculated = 17,015> F table = 3.02 and significance probability 0,000 t table or 3,633> 0,097, and the significance of 0,000 t table or 4.142> 0.097, and the significance of 0,000 <0.05, Ha is accepted, meaning financial behavior has a positive effect and significance <0.05, Ha is accepted, meaning financial behavior has a positive and significant effect on the development of MSMEs.
Keywords: Knowledge, behavior,financial management.


The protective role of cyticholine was investigated on rabbit and dog kidneys subjected to temporary ischaemia. Following right nephrectomy, the right kidneys of 13 rabbits were subjected to warm ischaemia for 60'. Death occurred for various reasons within 48 hr. Histological examination suggested that tubular epithelium damage was less in the animals treated with cyticholine. In a similar experiment on 6 dogs after local and general infusion of cyticholine, warm ischaemia for 90' was followed by death in 33%, compared with 87.5% of the controls. Blood creatinine and BUN returned to normal between the 6th and the 8th days in the four surviving animals. The data suggest that cyticholine assists the functional recovery of kidneys subjected to warm ischaemia for more than 30' and limits tubular damage.


Algorithms that accurately predict gene structure from primary sequence alone were transformative for annotating the human genome. Can we also predict the expression levels of genes based solely on genome sequence? Here we sought to apply deep convolutional neural networks towards this goal. Surprisingly, a model that includes only promoter sequences and features associated with mRNA stability explains 59% and 71% of variation in steady-state mRNA levels in human and mouse, respectively. This model, which we call Xpresso, more than doubles the accuracy of alternative sequence-based models, and isolates rules as predictive as models relying on ChIP-seq data. Xpresso recapitulates genome-wide patterns of transcriptional activity and predicts the influence of enhancers, heterochromatic domains, and microRNAs. Model interpretation reveals that promoter-proximal CpG dinucleotides strongly predict transcriptional activity. Looking forward, we propose the accurate prediction of cell type-specific gene expression based solely on primary sequence as a grand challenge for the field.


We propose a scheme for the coupler-free excitation of surface polaritonic solitons and breathers in a planar plasmonic waveguide structure comprising a transparent layer, a metal layer, and a layer of a three-level lambda-type atomic medium. In the proposed system, an enhanced Kerr nonlinearity is achieved via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the bottom atomic medium, which can be controlled through proper modulation of the frequency detunings and Rabi frequencies of the driving laser fields. This nonlinearity balances the dispersion in the system, thus providing the necessary condition for the excitation of polaritonic solitons in the proposed system. As a result, the system yields laterally self-trapped bright and dark surface polaritonic solitons that are tightly guided at the interface of the metal and the EIT medium. Furthermore, we investigate the excitation of surface polaritonic Akhmediev breathers at the metal-EIT medium interface in the proposed system. A stable propagation of the surface polaritonic Akhmediev breathers is achieved with the proper choice of parameters in the proposed planar plasmonic waveguide structure. This experimentally feasible scheme could be significant in the development of highly compact nanophotonic devices in the optical regime.


The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of Taekwondo practice on the personality formation and the pro-social behavior of teenagers. The subject of study was teenagers who participated in Chungnam-Taekwondo examination on April, 2010 and selected by convenience sampling method. Out of the total 350 copies of questionnaire, 330 were collected but 299 excluding the 31 unfaithfully answered or left out were used for this study. Factor analysis, reliability analysis, frequency analysis correlation analysis and regression analysis were used. The following results were obtained through such procedure and analysis of data: First, after examination relationship between humanism and utilitarianism based on Taekwondo practice of teenagers, such factors as consideration, leardership, self-determination, stabilization effected on the utilitarianism in order. Second, after examination relationship between humanism and altruism based on Taekwondo practice of teenagers, such factors as consideration, self-determination effected on the altruism in order.


A mathematical analysis is presented for decision support for managing water resources in a water-limited environment. The water sources include rainfall, either direct or that held in reservoirs, shallow aquifers, river water withdrawal entitlements, and recycled water. Water from each source has its own characteristics of quality and thus suitability for use, quantity, temporal availability, environmental impact of use and cost to access. Water availability is modelled by a multivariate probability distribution. Relative values for salinity levels and nutrient or mineral loads are given and other water characteristics are summarised by a price for water from each source. We formulate and solve a stochastic linear program to find the optimal blend of the available sources while meeting quality and supply constraints. We apply these techniques to a common water resource management problem facing an Australian farmer, that of growing a summer crop usually reliant on irrigation. We compare alternate cropping decisions based on their risk of failing to meet supply or quality standards. Our measure of risk is Conditional Value-at-Risk.

 References F. J. Vasko, D. D. Newhart, and A. D. Strauss. Coal blending models for optimum cokemaking and blast furnace operation. Journal of the Operational Research Society , 56: 235--243, 2005. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601846 R. T. Rockafellar, and S. Uryasev. Conditional Value-at-Risk for General Loss Distributions. Journal of Banking and Finance , 26: 1443--1471, 2002. doi:10.1016/S0378-4266(02)00271-6 G. Yamout, and M. El-Fadel. An optimisation approach for multi-sector water supply management in the Greater Beirut area. Water Resources Management , 19: 791--812, 2005. doi:10.1007/s11269-005-3280-6 J. Liu, C. Men, V. E. Cabrera, S. Uryasev, and C. W. Fraisse. CVaR model for optimizing crop insurance under climate variability. Research Report 2006-1, Risk Management and Financial Engineering Lab, University of Florida , 2006. http://www.ise.ufl.edu/uryasev/pubs.html


Although there are many important concerns related to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), ethical issues should remain the top priority since the humanistic dimension of the recent pandemic is of prime importance. This short commentary highlights some ethical concerns related to (COVID-19). Political misuse, caring for older adults, and spread of harmful information are the 3 main issues that are addressed. It is hoped that those who can influence communities at large consider these issues for better public's health.


The adhesion and growth of two pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) on the surface of a heparinized hydrophilic polymer were studied. Heparinized hydrophilic polymer is composed of poly(vinyl chloride) grafted with poly(ethylene glycol) monomethacrylate, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, and ionically bound heparin. Poly(vinyl chloride) was used as a control. Plasma protein pre coated polymers were also prepared to evaluate the effect of proteins on bacterial adhesion. Polymer films were stored in bacterial suspensions under gentle shaking at 37 degrees C for 24 hr. The amount of adherent bacterial cells was measured by the bioluminescent assay of bacterial adenosine triphosphate. Their structure was observed by use of a scanning electron microscope. These evaluations demonstrated that a large amount of bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation was found on the surface of poly(vinyl chloride), whereas significant reductions in bacterial adhesion and no biofilm formation were observed on heparinized hydrophilic polymer. Bacterial adhesion onto plasma protein pre coat polymer films were also investigated, and it was clear that the bacterial adhesion on these surfaces was dependent upon the amount and species of absorbed proteins.


Acute aortic dissection in pregnancy is a rare condition with a potentially catastrophic outcome. The low rate of incidence together with variable presenting features in such circumstances makes diagnosis elusive. A high degree of clinical suspicion and diagnostic acumen is especially required in pregnant women without any history of connective tissue disorder, congenital aortic valvular malformation, or chronic hypertension. In this report, we present a case of aortic dissection with multiple aortic intimal tears in a medicolegal autopsy of a young pregnant woman who developed circulatory collapse and died during labor.


Static and dynamic response of a floating cryogenic hose is analyzed in offshore offloading of LNG, taking into account FLNG unit and LNG carrier in tandem. Response of the hose in the operation depends on several parameters involved. Among them, hose overall length, span, buoyancy and position of the hose ends (terminations at the vessels) relative to the sea surface are considered important, and they are investigated. Environmental loads as well as vessels motions are considered in the computational simulations achieved to evaluate the response of the hose in operation. Parametric variation is conducted in order to observe sensitivity of the hose to parameters aforementioned. Forces and moments at hose terminations (hose ends) as well as effective tension and curvature along hose length are observed. Critical zones of the hose (as its sections close to sea surface) are analyzed with details and main remarks are addressed.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


The purpose of this research is to observe the face types of haircut design that is the basis for the completion of a hair styling mainly with case of male college student. For the purpose of this, I carried out direct and indirect observation and measurement for faces of 293 male college student who attended universities in Busan, and measured face types which were classified by the group analysis preferred hair style in order to do actual hair cut design. The result of this research is as follow. This paper conducted the element analysis in regard to the direct and indirect items of face, and it pulled out 5 elements. As a result of group analysis with elements as independent variables, they are classified into 4 types. For actual hair cut design, 4 types classified by group analysis and nearing models analyzed. This research bring accurate information classified face types.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to measure actual costs of delivery of women with high-risk pregnancies in Norway. We calculated the cost difference between Caesarean section delivery and vaginal delivery and compared costs and the reimbursement received by hospitals. The present Norwegian financial system for hospitals has two components: a government reimbursement based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG) covering, in principle, half of hospital costs, and a basic budget received as a block grant.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
The study included 75 high-risk pregnant women. We used a prospective, individual bottom-up method based on: 1) hospital stay and the resources required, 2) operating theatre costs, 3) other major procedures, and 4) material and medication costs. Overhead costs (basic and general costs) were added on the basis on five key variables: 1) number of admittances (length of stay), 2) number of discharges, 3) number of employees, 4) floor space, and 5) number of PCs. The total cost for each patient was compared with the reimbursement received.

RESULTS
We found that the reimbursement did not cover actual costs. Calculations were made for Caesarean and vaginal deliveries respectively: Mean cost of a Caesarean delivery was NOK 96,556, compared to a DRG reimbursement of NOK 47,137; mean cost of a vaginal delivery was NOK 62,136, with a DRG reimbursement of NOK 27,146.


SUMMARY A list of Terrestrial Isopoda collected in the area of Sar Uanle (Southern Somalia) is given. Twelve species are mentioned of which six are new species: Tylos africanus, Buchnerillo oceanicus, Alloniscus rohustus, Armadilloniscus mirabilis, Tura candida, Periscyphis rubroantennatus.


The military has shifted its emphasis from strategic weapons, which are characteristically high performance, low volume and very expensive, to tactical weapons, which are low to moderate accuracy, high volume and low cost. The challenge in meeting the needs of this shift is to develop a small, low-cost Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with sufficient accuracy to meet the needs of modem precision tactical weapons. New instruments, new digital signal processing techniques and the Global Positioning System (GPS) have redefined the cost and performance capability achievable with tactical IMUS. Rockwell International is developing a Digital Quartz IMU (DQI) to meet the needs of this new generation of IMU requirements. The DQI is being designed around an Inertial Sensor Assembly (ISA) being jointly developed by Rockwell International and the Systron Donner Inertial Division of BEI. The ISA utilizes small, batch-fabricated quartz inertial sensors to achieve low cost and small volume. Traditional analog processing of the output of this class of sensor has been replaced with digital processing based on sigma delta analog-to-digital converters to achieve improved performance. This combination of low-cost batch processed sensors with the stability of high-speed digital signal processing produces an IMU that meets the needs of a wide variety of tactical weapons with attractive performancdcost ratios. Prototypes of the DQI design will be completed and evaluated in early 1994. This paper provides an overview of the DQI design and status. A description of the performance objectives and design approach used for the Inertial Sensor Assembly, digital signal processing and mechanical packaging of the DQI are presented.


Intercellular bridges are an essential structural feature found in both germline and somatic cells throughout the animal kingdom. Because of their large size, the germline intercellular bridges, or ring canals, in the developing fruit fly egg chamber are an excellent model to study the formation, stabilization, and expansion of these structures. Within the egg chamber, the germline ring canals connect 15 supporting nurse cells to the developing oocyte, facilitating the transfer of materials required for successful oogenesis. The ring canals are derived from a stalled actomyosin contractile ring; once formed, additional actin and actin-binding proteins are recruited to the ring to support the 20-fold expansion that accompanies oogenesis. These behaviors provide a unique model system to study the actin regulators that control incomplete cytokinesis, intercellular bridge formation, and expansion. By temporally controlling their expression in the germline, we have demonstrated that the Arp2/3 complex and the formin, Diaphanous (Dia), coordinately regulate ring canal size and expansion throughout oogenesis. Dia is required for successful incomplete cytokinesis and the initial stabilization of the germline ring canals. Once the ring canals have formed, the Arp2/3 complex and Dia cooperate to determine ring canal size and maintain their stability. Our data suggest that the nurse cells must maintain a precise balance between the activity of these two nucleators during oogenesis.


Abstract Introduction The COVID pandemic resulted in a shutdown of facilities and resources globally. With drastic changes in the provision of services available in the health sector, so too were medical students' provision of learning. With the onslaught of COVID and the need for ongoing learning resources for students, novel methods to maintain adequate surgical patient exposure and student interaction on a platform amenable to the interactive format required was devised using a virtual platform to compliment current pedagogical approaches. Methods This was a randomised control trial to evaluate the perceived use of remote learning in place of surgical bedside teaching in the COVID-19 era. Medical students in a regional hospital were recruited and randomised to undergo the bedside teaching in person or receive the teaching virtually through a Xpert eye, smart glasses to facilitate connections remotely. Feedback questionnaires and exit interviews carried out following each session. Content analysis of transcripts was performed to evaluate the presence and quality of perceived learning, benefits and limitations. Results Feedback demonstrated greater engagement, satisfaction, involvement and learning (p < 0.01) in the bedside teaching group. Content analysis yielded three main themes; Interpersonal content, technological features, and provision of content. Students reported the virtual teaching was an acceptable alternative in the current climate of social distancing and reduced patient access. Conclusion The current pandemic poses a risk to adequate patient exposure to patient centred learning. Teaching sessions received remotely are an acceptable alternative in the current climate of reduced clinical access, however bedside teaching remains the preferred method of learning.


This paper is interested to show the limitations that the 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional graphs are showing when we try to visualize the behavior of large number of variables, equations and functions in the same graphical space. Therefore, we suggest the application of multi-dimensional graphs under the application of Econographicology. The Econographicology is available to offer a large number of multi-dimensional graphs to economists, academics and policy makers to observe the behavior of a large number of variables, equations and functions in the same graphical space.


A Chinese sentence is represented as a sequence of characters, and words are not separated from each other. In statistical machine translation, the conventional approach is to segment the Chinese character sequence into words during the pre-processing. The training and translation are performed afterwards. However, this method is not optimal for two reasons: 1. The segmentations may be erroneous. 2. For a given character sequence, the best segmentation depends on its context and translation. In order to minimize the translation errors, we take different segmentation alternatives instead of a single segmentation into account and integrate the segmentation process with the search for the best translation. The segmentation decision is only taken during the generation of the translation. With this method we are able to translate Chinese text at the character level. The experiments on the IWSLT 2005 task showed improvements in the translation performance using two translation systems: a phrase-based system and a finite state transducer based system. For the phrase-based system, the improvement of the BLEU score is 1.5% absolute.


Pantanal is known because of the amplitude on the water dynamics, with a pronounced flood and dry seasons. The water expansion and retraction reflect in the hydric connectivity between river and bays, resembling the environments and causing distinct characteristics of water quality. In order to capture fish in these environments the gill nets are used. These passive devices allow the capture of a certain length category according to the meshes size, avoiding the capture of fish that are too small or too large, characterizing their selectivity. The present study aims to characterize the ichthyofauna of an oxbow lake system, as well as to establish its relationship with the seasonal, limnology and structural alterations of fish, seeking to understand the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the community. Three points of two side lakes were sampled using a set of gill nets with 2, 3, 4 and 5 cm between knots, allocated in parallel columns at every 10 meters in the lakes. The samples were performed during the day and during the night, where the nets were left in the water for 6 hours. Concomitantly to the fish sampling, the limnologic variables were obtained using a portable field equipment and Secchi disk. The results showed that the limnological variables changes according to the hydric seasons. These changes associated to the connectivity between the river and lakes presented an increase in the diversity indices considering the inlet of water in the system, while the disconnected lakes remained about the same during the entire year. This discrepancy may be caused by the selectivity of the gill nets using in the study, where fish may use the flooded area during the high waters, reducing the capture capacity of these devices. In the Pantanal, the connectivity associated to the selectivity of the gill nets determine the fish community.


A novel structure for chronically implantable cortical electrodes using polyimide bio-polymer was devised, which provides both flexibility for micro-motion compliance between brain tissues and the skull and at the brain/implant interface and stiffness for better surgical handling. A 5–10 µm thick silicon backbone layer was attached to the tip of the electrode to enhance the structural stiffness. This stiff segment was then followed by a 1 mm flexible segment without a silicon backbone layer. The fabricated implants have tri-shanks with five recording sites (20 µm × 20 µm) and two vias of 40 µm × 40 µm on each shank. In vitro cytotoxicity tests of prototype implants revealed no adverse toxic effects on cells. Bench test impedance values were assessed, resulting in an average impedance value of ∼2 MΩ at 1 KHz. For a 5 µm thick silicon backbone electrode, the stiffness of polyimide-based electrodes was increased ten times over that of electrodes without the silicon backbone layer. Furthermore, polyimide-based electrodes with 5 µm and 10 µm thick silicon backbone layer penetrated pia of rat brain without buckling that has been observed in implants without silicon reinforcement.


Introduction: In recent years, the treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria (AB) is a topic approached in the orthopedic literature, with conflicting results about the need for treatment in the preoperative total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Objective: Systematic review with meta-analysis relating the presence of AB, as preoperative routine finding, to the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) following TKA, as well as the need for preoperative treatment of this condition. Methods: For the systematic review performed, five original articles were selected, following the PRISMA-p 2015. The keywords such as "asymptomatic bacteriuria" and "arthroplasty" or "joint replacement" or "joint infection" were used for the literature search in the databases of Bireme, PubMed, Medline, Science Direct, Google Scholars, and SciElo, between January and July 2018. Statistical analysis using the Mantel–Haenszel method and statistical test of relative risk with random effects were performed. Risks for publication bias were examined using a funnel plot. All analyzes were conducted using Review Manager version 5.3. Results: The results were inconclusive as to the increase in infection rates in patients undergoing TKA with AB. Conclusion: The study showed that the treatment of AB with antibiotics in the TKA preoperative period remains controversial due to the lack of data that reinforce this hypothesis.


The study by Kim and colleagues (in press) demonstrated that the expression of nuclear isoform of clusterin is induced by ethanol (EtOH) to participate in apoptotic cell death of neurons in developing rodent brain. EtOH-induced nuclear clusterin interacts with Bcl(XL), thereby liberating proapoptotic Bax. This study indicates the proapoptotic role of nuclear clusterin in EtOH-exposed neurons, linking specific nuclear events to alcohol neurotoxicity. The study provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.


The present study is the water quality analysis of HSIIDC industrial area Kundli, Sonipat and their surrounding areas which includes tests for various physico-chemical parameters like Temperature, pH value, Total solids, Total suspended solids, Total dissolved solids and Total fixed solids, Total volatile solids, Total hardness, Alkalinity, Water quality index and Correlation coefficient matrix. Kundli is one of the most important industrial complexes in the state of Haryanawhich has Integrated Steel Plant, a number of sponge iron industries, automobile, chemicals, explosives, ceramics and distillery units and large number of small and medium industries. A water quality standard is a rule or law comprised of the uses to be made of a water body or segment and the water quality criteria necessary to protect that uses. In our study 20 samples were collected from Kundli and their surrounding areas. Out of 20 samples 10 samples found within permissible limit, 10 samples found out of permissible limit set by WHO, BIS, IS 10500. The water is badly affected may be due to disposal of industrial wastes into ground, open land areas and water bodies. In the light of this analysis we can conclude  that these water samples require some treatment before their use for drinking purpose. Such poor quality of water reasoned severe waterborne diseases like diarrhea, cholera etc.


The experiment described uses a 'single shot' oscilloscope for routine use in first year experiments. The experiment is now incorporated in the laboratory schedules for first year undergraduates following courses in chemistry and engineering at the Polytechnic, Huddersfield.


Large overpotentials upon discharge and charge of Li-O2 cells have motivated extensive research into heterogeneous solid electrocatalysts or non-carbon electrodes with the aim to improve rate capability, round-trip efficiency and cycle life. These features are equally governed by parasitic reactions, which are now recognized to be caused by the highly reactive singlet oxygen (1O2). However, the link between the presence of electrocatalysts and 1O2 formation in metal-O2 cells is unknown. Here, we show that, compared to pristine carbon black electrodes, a representative selection of electrocatalysts or non-carbon electrodes (noble metal, transition metal compounds) may both slightly reduce or severely increase the 1O2 formation. The individual reaction steps, where the surfaces impact the 1O2 yield are deciphered, showing that 1O2 yield from superoxide disproportionation as well as the decomposition of trace H2O2 are sensitive to catalysts. Transition metal compounds in general are prone to increase 1O2.


Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) may be defined by hepatic disease, gas exchange abnormalities that may lead to hypoxaemia, and the presence of pulmonary vascular dilations. The balance between the many substances involved in vasodilation and vasoconstriction is regulated by the liver; thus, liver damage may generate systemic changes throughout the body. The pulmonary tissue may be damaged by reactive oxygen species or nitric oxide. Dyspnoea is the most frequent pulmonary symptom, caused by tissue damage, and may become worse when an individual exercises. In experimental research the surgical model of bile duct ligation is the optimal model to simulate the typical lung alterations present in HPS, which results in an increase in oxidative stress in hepatic and pulmonary tissues. In liver injury, the muscular system may also be damaged, for example sarcopenia may seriously aggravate cirrhosis and is associated with cirrhotic patient mortality. Muscular changes can be explained by the actions of myostatin and insulin-like growth factor and the increase in body levels of ammonia. As a result of impaired cardiopulmonary and muscular conditions, HPS patients may exhibit a low exercise tolerance, low muscle strength, and low functionality. Liver disease can contribute to HPS oxidative stress and is one of the main factors responsible for the reduction of gas exchange. Physical exercise can be performed as a way of modifying this pathophysiological state. Studies that have investigated physical exercise as a therapy for cirrhosis suggest that this approach may be beneficial for cirrhotic patients, primarily with regard to muscular and cardiorespiratory injuries.


Recent studies have shown that subjecting foods to high temperatures during cooking processes such as frying gives rise to the formation of acrylamide. Several factors including product composition and processing conditions affect the rate of formation of this chemical in starch-rich foods. Low reducing sugar and the amino acid asparagine content is desired when cooking because the formation of acrylamide is attributed to the Maillard reaction that occurs between these food components. The cultivar 'Atlantic' was used to determine the effect of potato components (reducing sugars and asparagine) on acrylamide content during frying in a traditional fryer. A model system was developed by infusing leached potato slices with predetermined amounts of glucose and asparagine. Increasing glucose and asparagine content in the slices increased the acrylamide content in the potato chips. Color could not be used as an indication of acrylamide content because potato chips with similar color had very different acrylamide concentrations.


Band-shaped opacity of the cornea is a rare disease, first described by Dixon,1in his textbook on diseases of the eye in 1848, as a "curious form of opacity depending upon the spontaneous deposit of earthy salts between the epithelium and the anterior surface of the cornea." Dixon therefore named this condition "calcareous film of the cornea." Since Dixon's report, the literature has added little to the knowledge of this condition. However, as more cases were recognized it became apparent that this disease is of several types.2By far the most common type is seen in old people, usually with sightless, degenerated and often shrunken eyes, the result of long-standing iridocyclitis due to any of a number of causes, including glaucoma and sympathetic ophthalmia. Occasionally it occurs in an elderly person with otherwise normal eyes. The pathogenesis of this type is probably a degenerative process associated with advancing


It is factual that the establishment of an SME generally starts with the family members or at least with the indirect support and family assistance. This study is focused on finding the role of capital provided by the family at the time of establishing and developing SME, either in the form of money capital and financial assets or in the form of values, or emotions-time-care. The research is performed with using qualitative methods, namely Multi Case Studies on three SMEs in Bandung which are selected as the research object. Results from recorded interview are coded according to the research theme. Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital is used to analyze and to explore meaning from the findings. The findings show that economic capital is not the only factor that plays a role in starting and developing businesses in the three cases. There are other capitals such as cultural capital and social capital. Symbolic capital can be built in line with the cultural and social capital accumulated along the life of the business.