The uncontrollable cells growth in the brain portion is the main reason for cancer deaths nowadays. So, effective detection of brain tumors is more important in the medical field to analyze the tumor portion. Detecting tumors prior and diagnosis of tumors can play a major role in preventing human death due to brain tumors. To detect the tumor portion, many segmentation and classification methods have been proposed. For the effect segmentation process, enhancing brain images is necessary. In this present paper, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain images have been taken as test images. The proposed enhancement method has two major phases. The first phase contains a regularization process in two steps to equalize the test images' intensities, and the second phase contains a mapping process of two steps to enhance the contrast of the image and remap their intensity values to the natural dynamic range.


Nanoaggregates, novel nano/micron hierarchical structures with large surface area and significantly reduced grain boundary, are potentially useful electroactive materials. Herein, we report a facile, low-cost and scalable synthesis of α-Fe2O3 nanoaggregates by hydrothermally treating a single precursor of a star-shaped polymeric iron(III) acetate at 200 °C. The nanoaggregates possess a surface area of 47.84 m2 g−1 and a small crystalline size of 10 nm. The application of the nanoaggregates as the anode in a lithium ion battery was explored. Although the nanoaggregates cannot afford a large volume change during the lithium insertion/extraction process, the use of their core/shell composites with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (α-Fe2O3@rGO) has led to a stable cycling performance over 90 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g−1, a high specific capacity of 1787.27 mA h g−1 for the 90th cycle at 0.1 A g−1 and a good rate capability at various current densities. It is believed that the graphene shell helps to increase the conductivity of the composite electrodes, maintain the structural integrity of the nanoaggregates, enhance the mechanical stability of the electrode and confine a stabilized solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on the surface of the composite.


In this paper, we show that the earlier presented immune response inspired algorithmic framework in the work of Gy. Cserey et al. (2006, 2004) for spatial-temporal target detection applications using CNN technology by T. Roska and L.O. Chua (1993, 2002) and T. Roska (2002) can be implemented on the latest CNN-UM chip (Acel6k) by A. Rodriguez-Vazquez (2004) and Bi-i system by A. Zarandy and C. Rekcezky (2005). The implementation of the algorithm is real-time and able to detect novelty events in image flows reliably, running 10000 templates/s with video-frame (25 frame/s) speed and on image size of 128 times 128. Besides that some results of the implementation of this AIS model and its application for natural image flows are shown, the realized adaptation and mutation methods are also introduced.


Background: Triple negative breast cancers of high proliferation or grade are a subgroup characterized by very poor prognosis, rapid progression to metastatic stage and rapid onset of resistance to chemotherapy after initial response. As a whole, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents a specific area of medical need, in which new therapeutic approaches deserve appropriate test. Retrospective data showed that a subset of patients have an ongoing immune response within the tumor microenvironment, and that PD-L1 expression is an adaptive method of tumor resistance to tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, which in turn are needed for response to chemotherapy. Overall, the data suggests a role for immune regulation of response to chemotherapy, and support the concept that blockade of immune check-points may favor the achievement of durable response by immune mechanisms themselves, and in combination with classical chemotherapy. Methods: In this multicenter open label study (NCT002620280), a total of 280 patients with TNBC were randomized to neoadjuvant carboplatin AUC 2 and abraxane 125 mg/m2 iv on days 1 and 8, with or without atezolizumab 1200 mg iv on day 1. Both regimens were given every 3 weeks for 8 cycles and were followed by surgery and by 4 cycles of an anthracycline regimen as per investigator choice. The primary aim of the study is to compare event-free survival 5 years after randomization of the last patient. Important secondary aim is the rate of pCR (defined as absence of invasive in breast and lymph nodes). The comparison among treatments will be carried out by a two-sided Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test, controlling for disease stage (early high-risk vs locally advanced) and PD-L1 expression (positive vs negative). The primary population for all efficacy endpoints will be the ITT (intent-to-treat) population, the safety population is defined as all randomized patients who received at least one dose of either regimen. pCR and safety data will be presented at the meeting. Patients will continue to be followed up to allow for assessing comparative long-term event-free and overall survival analyses. Supported in part by unrestricted grants from Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd, Switzerland and Celgene International Sarl, Switzerland Citation Format: Luca Gianni, Chiun-Sheng Huang, Daniel Egle, Begona Bermejo, Claudio Zamagni, Marc Thill, Antonio Anton, Stefania Zambelli, Giampaolo Bianchini, Stefania Russo, Eva Ciruelos, Richrad Greil, Vladimir Semiglazov, Marco Colleoni, Catherine Kelly, Gabriella Mariani, Lucia Del Mastro, Ilaria Maffeis, Pinuccia Valagussa, Giuseppe Viale. Pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant treatment with or without atezolizumab in triple negative, early high-risk and locally advanced breast cancer. NeoTRIPaPDL1 Michelangelo randomized study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS3-04.


The aim of this study is to predict the performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells composed of various cathod materials by applying Neural network modeling. To predict PEM fuel cell performance, cyclic voltammetry charts and electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) calculations are required. At the first stage, required informations were selected based on the experimental data for various cathod materials. Pure platinum, reduced Graphene OxideCarbon Black, Carbon Black and Graphene NanoplateletsCarbon Black are the common materials as cathod. After that, avaiable data were classified based on two variables: total surface area and percentage of platinum in the electrode. Then, the artificial neural network (ANN) code is written for each group. By running the code, the cathode cyclic voltammetry diagram as well as ECSA is obtained and compared with exprimental data. Results showed that ANN code could accurately predict the cathode cyclic voltammetry diagram and ECSA values. The higher amount of ECSA shows better performace of fuel cell.


Purpose Fibrosis contributes to an adverse structural remodeling of the failing heart. In morphologic terms, it presents as a perivascular/interstitial fibrosis of intramural coronary arteries and as microscopic scarring, a marker of necrotic cardiomyocyte death. Because these lesions are found in both the right and the left heart, a circulating substance has been incriminated (vis-e-vis a hemodynamic factor). In rats with aldosteronism, such as structural remodeling with fibrosis is found throughout the heart and other organs, together with markers of oxidative stress and redox-sensitive transcription. We hypothesized that it is possible to attenuate the appearance of cardiac fibrosis in rats with aldosteronism by cotreatment with either an aldosterone receptor antagonist, spironolactone (Spiro), or a dietary Zn supplement (Zn+), an antioxidant. Methods and Results Eight-week-old male, uninephrectomized Sprague-Dawley rats received aldosterone via subcutaneous pump (0.75 μg/h) and 1% NaCl in their drinking water (ALDOST) for 4 weeks alone or together with either Spiro (150 mg/kg/d by gavage) or Zn+ (1478.84 mg of Zn/kg chow). At 4 weeks, hearts were harvested for immunohistochemical detection of gp91phox, a subunit of NADPH oxidase and source of superoxide, and histochemical assessment of fibrillar collagen using picrosirius red. In coronal sections taken from the minor axis of the heart, morphometric determination of collagen volume fraction (CVF) was assessed. In contrast to untreated, unoperated controls, there was increased tissue labeling for gp91phox and an increase in cardiac CVF (1.3 ± 0.2 vs 4.5 ± 0.6%; p Conclusion In association with aldosteronism, increased fibrillar collagen deposition as well as increased activity of gp91phox was found in cardiac tissue. These effects were prevented by Spiro cotreatment or diminished by dietary Zn+ supplementation to further implicate oxidative stress in the appearance of cardiac fibrosis in aldosteronism. Fibrosis is a surrogate marker of a previously altered redox state.


&NA; A 28 mth old male presented with a squint and leukocoria. Clinical examination and computerized tomography (CT) suggested a unilateral retinoblastoma with distal optic nerve involvement. Investigations for distant metastasis including lumbar puncture cytology were negative. The eye was enucleated and 12 mm of optic nerve was excised via a combined neurosurgical/ophthalmological approach. Histopathological examination confirmed the optic nerve to the point of excision was free of tumor. However, cytology of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the Sylvian fissure, taken at the time of surgery, revealed malignant retinoblastoma cells. The patient was treated with intrathecal and intravenous chemotherapy, and cranial radiotherapy. He is alive and well 4 yrs later. This case displays the importance of CSF cytology from the Sylvian fissure, as it dramatically changed the management and prognosis for the child. The role of lumbar puncture cytology in excluding CSF micrometastasis can be unreliable. A neurosurgical approach to the optic nerve has the potential to gain access to a long length of optic nerve, should it be involved with tumor, and also allows direct CSF sampling.


In-depth interviews with five nursing students and five rural preceptors in the southern interior region of British Columbia were used to develop an ethnographically informed, multi-dimensional account of the nature and educational value of rural hospital-based preceptorships. Rather than a straightforward teacher-student or mentor-novice relationship, the reciprocity between preceptor and student was situated within a process of cultural mediation in which relationships with the healthcare team, community members, and place itself all played important roles. Specific issues or dimensions highlighted in this study included: the role of the rural preceptor as cultural mediator; the significance of the healthcare team in rural preceptorships; the unique importance of rural relational continuity for student learning and healthcare practices; the challenges of living the professional ethic of confidentiality in a rural context; and the interplay between independence and dependence in rural nursing practice, given the distribution of resources within and beyond the rural context. The preceptorship experience provided students with diverse learning opportunities, including learning to expect and prepare for the unexpected, that facilitated the development of technical skills and clinical decision-making skills. Recommendations are outlined for the redesign of rural practice-education in order to maximize educational opportunities and benefits and to develop a scholarship of place-based engagement in nursing education.


Abstract An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the effect of notches on the flow and noise characteristics of 2:1 elliptic-slot jets. The effect of variation in notch geometry is also investigated. The presence of the notch is found to provide low-velocity regions in the notched-minor-axis plane thereby intensifying the jet growth along that plane. The interaction of these low-velocity regions with the mean flow results in shorter core-lengths. At under-expansion, the shock-cell lengths are weakened considerably in notched jets resulting in significant reductions in the overall jet noise level. Azimuthal directivity of elliptic jets indicate higher noise intensity radiated along major-axis ends relative to minor-axis sides. Notches seem to circumferentially modify the noise emission characteristics and significantly bring down the noise levels along major-axis-unnotched plane. Polar directivity indicates reduction in both shock noise and jet mixing noise in the forward quadrant.


The widespread poor agricultural practices and ancient technologies continuously aggravate erosion of sediments and soil nutrients from delicate terrains at the major catchments of water shades. The ongoing study is assessing soil and nutrient losses in the four major land use covers (forest, pasture, tea and maize farms) in the upper catchment of Nyondo River Basin. The study sites in the upper catchment of Nyondo River Basin are densely populated and receive bimodal rains that support agriculture which is the main economic activity supporting livelihoods of the communities in the region. The experiment is laid in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with each of the land use covers replicated 3 times with erosion traps mounted on 150 m plots. First data set was collected during the short rainy season of 2019 and long rainy season of 2020, with subsequent data collection continuing up to the short rainy season of 2021. Preliminary results showed that soil and nutrients were significantly lost in maize fields (p=0.05), forest cover was the least vulnerable while pasture cover had the highest surface runoff. Nutrient concentrations in the eroded sediments (p=0.05) were significantly higher than those that remained in maize plot while forest and tea fields registered comparable effectiveness in reducing both soil and nutrient losses, seasons notwithstanding. Pasture and maize fields had the highest water loss due to low infiltration rate and were also vulnerable to sediment and nutrients loss through surface runoff. The information will be used to inform and advise stake holders on land use policies geared towards attainment of sustainable agriculture and water quality in Nyondo and areas with similar landscapes and agricultural practices.


Intangible cultural heritage is representative of a community's cultural authenticity and identity and includes oral traditions, performing arts, festive events or traditional craftsmanship which have been inherited over generations (UNESCO, 2003). Each culturally diverse community possesses its own unique and authentic intangible cultural heritage, which is not only an integral element of the soul of a community, but can be a vital resource for generating tourism at the national and local levels.
There is little argument that intangible cultural heritage can provide a destination and/or community with a unique selling point and competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Intangible cultural heritage is experiential by nature, thus supports tourists in their desire to have a culturally authentic experience. In the process of commodification, however, intangible cultural heritage is transformed and staged too often and to varying degrees, which can lead to a loss of its authenticity (Alivizatou, 2012; Giudici, Melis, Dessi, & Ramos, 2013). Therefore, an approach facilitating intangible cultural heritage as a sustainable tourism resource is tenuous (WTO, 2012).
Despite the increasing attention to intangible cultural heritage and the advice to adopt sustainable approach in the development of intangible cultural heritage as a tourism resource, little research has explored intangible cultural heritage from sustainability perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the extent to which the development of intangible cultural heritage facilitates the development of a sustainable tourism resource. To achieve this, the following three objectives were developed. First, to situate the sustainable tourism development literature within the context of intangible cultural heritage; second, to analyse public organisations' documents in order to determine the extent to which they have facilitated the development of intangible cultural heritage as a sustainable tourism resource; and third, to establish a framework facilitating intangible cultural heritage as a sustainable tourism resource.
This study adopted a single case study, with South Korea as a single representative case. A qualitative-dominant, mixed method approach was used in the process of data collection, analysis and interpretation. A total of 131 public documents from six public organisations were analysed for the second objective. Semi-structured face to face interviews were conducted with a total of 25 intangible cultural heritage practitioners and 22 locals; and questionnaires were given to 255 visitors at National Intangible Heritage Centre in Korea and then collected, to address the third objective.
The critical interpretive analysis of 131 public documents revealed that overall, Korean public organisations' goals and strategies have shown a propensity toward economic neoliberalism, mainly by regarding intangible cultural heritage tourism resources as economic tools. To a much lesser extent, they focus on social development such as ICH practitioners' equity to participation in the decision-making process and/or intangible cultural heritage practitioners' empowerment.
The analysis of 47 interviews with intangible cultural heritage practitioners and locals, and of 255 questionnaires revealed that safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and developing its tourism role share a symbiotic relationship. This study presents a framework to facilitate the growth of the symbiotic relationships. The framework suggests, for the symbiotic relationship to be facilitated, a top-down approach blended with a bottom up approach, cooperation between stakeholders, and entrepreneurship are necessary.
This research addresses a gap in the literature and provides the practical understanding of intangible cultural heritage development. The exploratory research on intangible cultural heritage provides a much-needed framework for intangible cultural heritage to be a sustainable tourism resource, which can be groundwork for future academic research. Moreover, the project offers valuable insight into the combination of various intangible cultural heritage development strategies within one destination (i.e., South Korea), in order to reduce overlapping efforts by stakeholders in South Korea and maximise synergies to facilitate a greater range of positive impacts on the development of intangible cultural heritage for communities.


BACKGROUND
Heat shock protein (60 kd HSP) has been implicated in the etiology of Behçet's disease, but its expression at sites of inflammation is unknown.

OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to investigate local HSP 60 expression and to quantify T-cell receptor (TCR) gamma delta-positive cells, which are known to respond to HSP peptides.

METHODS
Patients with active Behçet's disease (n = 21) and controls (n = 18) were included. Flow cytometric analysis was performed on peripheral blood to investigate TCR gamma delta-positive cell counts. Biopsies were performed on active skin lesions, and immunohistochemical analysis was performed by a streptavidin-biotin method using the monoclonal ML-30 antibody; HSP staining intensity and distribution were evaluated in a blinded fashion. Immunohistochemical studies were performed to quantify TCR gamma delta-positive cells at lesional sites.

RESULTS
Mucocutaneous lesions of patients with Behçet's disease had statistically significantly increased expression of HSP 60/65. Peripheral blood TCR gamma delta-positive cell counts were similar in both groups. However, lesional skin of patients with Behçet's disease had significantly increased gamma delta-positive T-cell counts.

CONCLUSION
Up-regulation of HSP expression was found at lesional skin sites in Behçet's disease. The increased number of TCR gamma delta-positive cells, which are known to respond to HSP peptides, may support the function of HSPs in the etiology of Behçet's disease. However, these findings may also be an epiphenomenon that needs to be further investigated.


The paper presents the results of an experimental investigation designed to study the trend of the contamination by radiocesium of milk and meat of cows: (1) under conditions of a single contamination of the pasture. (2) under conditions of a continuous ingestion corresponding to the case of a constant contamination of the pasture. The knowledge of the evolution in the course of time of the relation between the activities of meat and milk and of its dependence on the nature of the different organs and the age of the animals should make more easy the survey of the contamination of the environment and allow to decide on possible countermeasures to be taken in the case of an accident.


Site-specific incorporation of un-natural amino acids (UNAA) is a powerful approach to engineer and understand protein function [1-4]. Site-specific incorporation of UNAAs is achieved through repurposing the amber codon (UAG) as a sense codon for the UNAA, a tRNACUA that base pairs with an UAG codon in the mRNA and an orthogonal amino-acyl tRNA synthetase (aaRS) that charges the tRNACUA with the UNAA [5, 6]. Here, we report expansion of the zebrafish genetic code to incorporate the UNAAs, Azido-lysine (AzK), bicyclononyne-lysine (BCNK), and Diazirine-lysine (AbK) into green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Glutathione-S-transferase (GST). We also present proteomic evidence for UNAA incorporation into GFP. Our work sets the stage for the use of UNAA mutagenesis to investigate and engineer protein function in zebrafish.


A 7-month-old girl succumbed to respiratory failure following exposure to high-density mercury vapor produced by heating of the metal in the home. Her course typified inhalation mercury toxic reaction, which in its focus on pulmonary damage creates a clinical picture distinct from that of chronic and oral mercury poisoning.


There is presented implementation of hybrid DCT/DPCM video-encoder in the power ful TI's media processor TMS320DM642 embed in evaluation module DM642 EVM. Code Composer Studio 3 is used as working space. Videoencoder is implemented with use of C code so it is easily understandable. The easiness is very important because the implemented video-encoder will be used for educational purposes. The structure of the encoder is lightly recognizable forstudents frequenting the courses Analog and Digital Television, Digital Image Processing and Encoding so some routines could lightly modified.


We argue that while Multilateral Development Banks ("MDBs") and national governments have mechanisms to fight corruption, the objectives and outcomes of these enforcement mechanisms diverge. MDBs are interested in the causes and effects of corruption from a development perspective and, as such, tend to sanction small and medium enterprises and individuals, while national governments are focused on a more punitive outcome, targeting larger multinational corporations. This article examines the enforcement objectives articulated in national legislation, namely the US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act and its Canadian counterpart, the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, as well as several Canadian cases, on the one hand, and the tools and outcomes of MDBs' sanctions systems on the other. We conclude that national enforcement efforts and MDBs' sanctions outcomes intersect in their fight against international corruption in that their results are complementary; the former punishing large-scale offenders while the latter ensuring the integrity of development projects.


A study compared the in vitro fertilization results in women with one or two ovaries. Eighteen percent (23/125) of in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer cycles were in patients with one ovary. One-ovary patients averaged 4.2 follicles (greater than or equal to 10 mm) as compared to 7.9 in two-ovary patients, and significantly fewer ova were recovered from one-ovary patients (4.0 vs. 5.3). The total follicular volume was significantly less in one-ovary patients as compared to two-ovary patients, and the serum estradiol per follicle was less in one-ovary patients. However, the volume of the dominant follicle, the maximum serum estradiol levels, the number of ampules of Pergonal given and the ovum fertilization rate were not significantly different in one- and two-ovary patients. The mean number of embryos transferred was 3.9 +/- 1.9 in one-ovary patients and 4.5 +/- 1.8 in two-ovary patients (NS). Two pregnancies occurred in one-ovary patients (8.3% per laparoscopy) and 13 in two-ovary patients (12.9% per laparoscopy). The two one-ovary patients who achieved pregnancy behaved more like two-ovary patients in terms of peak serum estradiol levels and number of ova recovered.


This article attempts to reconstruct the introduction and expansion of modern education from1930 to 1991 in Jimma Town. Following the incorporation of Jimma into the empire of Menelik II, there had been a gradual influx of Orthodox Christians to the town. This increase in the number of Christian settlers from northern and central Ethiopia could be regarded as an immediate factor for the establishment of Church and subsequently of church education in Jimma. However, Quran education predates Church education in Jimma town mainly because Islam was the established religion in Jimma before 1930s. There had, been no churches in the town until the beginning of the 1930 and no church education too. The establishment of modern government school in Jimma was part of the general process of extending modern education in the country from the late 1920's and early 1930's onwards.


DNA-dependent kinase (DNA-PK) plays an important role in the cellular response to DNA damage through the detection and repair of double strand breaks, and is a critical component of the DNA damage response (DDR). Double strand breaks can be induced by a range of agents, including chemotherapy, radiation or PARP inhibitors such as olaparib (Lynparza), and thus a DNA-PK inhibitor is likely to sensitise to these agents. DNA-PK inhibitors may also be effective as monotherapy in tumours with high endogenous levels of DNA damage resulting from defects in other DNA repair pathways. Our screening strategy focussed on identifying hits with good selectivity versus structurally related kinases. Significant improvements were made to permeability, metabolic stability and PK properties, whilst improving potency and selectivity with a structure-guided approach. This optimisation resulted in AZD7648, which is a potent inhibitor of DNA-PK (0.6 nM in biochemical assay, 89 nM in A549 cells) and >100x selective against 396 other kinases in a Thermofisher selectivity panel. In addition, AZD7648 has good crystalline solubility, metabolic stability and predictable pharmacokinetics in preclinical species. In murine xenograft models, PD was assessed using pRPA (S4/8) and was potently inhibited (in vivo IC50 = 52 nM). Tumour growth inhibition was observed with AZD7648 as monotherapy, and regressions were observed in combination with either olaparib or radiation. The efficacy observed when combining AZD7648 with olaparib was correlated to free cover over the in vivo IC90. AZD7648 is a potent and highly selective DNA-PK inhibitor, with good crystalline solubility, permeability and metabolic stability, good bioavailability and predictable pharmacokinetics in preclinical species, and potent knockdown of pRPA and regressions in murine xenograft models when combining with olaparib or radiation. These features make AZD7648 a suitable clinical candidate, and clinical studies evaluating AZD7648 as a potential cancer treatment are planned in 2019. Citation Format: Frederick W. Goldberg, Elaine Cadogan, Raymond Finlay, Antonio Ramos Montoya, David Beattie, Gillian Lamont, Charlene Fallan, Jacqueline Fok, Mercedes Vazquez-Chantada, Derek Barratt, Emma Dean, Jane Norris, Andrew Campbell, Anna Cronin, Joanna Harding, Attilla Ting, Simon Hollingsworth, Barry Davies. Discovery and first structural disclosure of AZD7648: A potent and selective DNA-PK inhibitor [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr DDT01-02.


Dynamic locomotion in legged robots is close to industrial collaboration, but a lack of standardized testing obstructs commercialization. The issues are not merely political, theoretical, or algorithmic but also physical, indicating limited studies and comprehension regarding standard testing infrastructure and equipment. For decades, the approaches we have been testing legged robots were rarely standardizable with hand-pushing, foot-kicking, rope-dragging, stick-poking, and ball-swinging. This paper aims to bridge the gap by proposing the use of the linear impactor, a well-established tool in other standardized testing disciplines, to serve as an adaptive, repeatable, and fair disturbance rejection testing equipment for legged robots. A pneumatic linear impactor is also adopted for the case study involving the humanoid robot Digit. Three locomotion controllers are examined, including a commercial one, using a walking-in-place task against frontal impacts. The statistically best controller was able to withstand the impact momentum (26.376 kg$\cdot$m/s) on par with a reported average effective momentum from straight punches by Olympic boxers (26.506 kg$\cdot$m/s). Moreover, the case study highlights other anti-intuitive observations, demonstrations, and implications that, to the best of the authors' knowledge, are first-of-its-kind revealed in real-world testing of legged robots.


Background Pristane induced lupus (PIL) is a well-established murine model for environmentally induced systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Mice develop specific autoantibodies and show symptoms of SLE including arthritis, diffuse proliferative immune complex glomerulonephritis and haemorrhagic pulmonary capillaritis. Objectives To investigate the therapeutic effects of in vitro -induced regulatory T cells (iTreg) in the murine model of PIL. Methods BALB/c mice were injected i.p. with either 0.5ml of pristane (PIL) or PBS (controls). Naive CD4+ thymocytes were sorted and cultured and cell suspensions with >80% of CD4+FoxP3+ cells (iTreg) were injected intravenously (i) once when PIL was induced (5x106 iTreg (iTreg-single)) or (ii) every 4 weeks (1x106 iTreg, iTreg-rep). Animals were monitored for paw swelling and grip strength. After 8 months histological analysis evaluated for cartilage degradation, number of osteoclasts and the extent of inflammation and bone erosion. Glomerulonephritis and pneumonitis were quantified using the kidney biopsy score and a newly adapted histomorphometric image analysis system; inflammatory tissue was further analyzed by tissue cytometry. Serum levels of anti-dsDNA, anti-histone and anti-chromatin antibodies were measured by ELISA. Results Monthly injections of 1x106 iTreg reduced the clinical as well as the histological severity of PIL-arthritis, seen by a higher mean grip strength (2.96±0.02 vs. 2.73±0.06, p<0.01), less mean paw swelling (0.04±0.02 vs. 0.36±0.07, p<0.01) and retardation of the symptom onset (Figure A). 62% of PIL-mice and 33% of iTreg-rep mice had erosive arthritis. There was a significant reduction of arthritis severity in all histological parameters (inflammatory area in mm2 0.19±0.06 vs. 0.69±0.11; erosive area in mm2 0.01±0.01 vs. 0.07±0.02; number of osteoclasts 2±1.13 vs. 9.14±2; cartilage degradation in mm2 0.06±0.01 vs. 0.19±0.03, all p<0.01, Figure B). The single boost of 5x106 iTreg could not prevent joint manifestations. However, a slight retardation in "loss of grip strength" and a significantly less erosive area was observed. In regards to the cellular composition of the inflammatory tissue in paws, a significantly increased relative amount of CD4+Foxp3+ cells was seen in the iTreg-rep group compared to the PIL group (in % 5.2±2.3 vs. 0.6±0.2, p<0.01). Repeatedly injected mice (iTreg-rep) had significant less pulmonary involvement (perivascular inflammatory area in mm2/mm2 lung area 0,003±0,001 vs. 0,007±0,001, p<0.01) and renal disease (glomerular activity score 1,17±0,31 vs. 2,43±0,39, p<0.05) compared to PIL (Figure C). Corresponding, iTreg-rep mice had significantly lower serum levels of disease-associated auto-antibodies (Figure D). Conclusions Repeated injections of iTreg ameliorate the clinical and histological severity of PIL- manifestations. A single boost of iTreg at the time of disease induction does not prevent manifestations, but retards the onset of symptoms. Thus iTreg have significant positive effects on PIL, which may have consequences for future approaches in treating SLE. Disclosure of Interest None declared


A great deal of attentions is currently focused on multisensor data fusion. A very important aspect of it is track-to-track association and track fusion in distributed multisensor-multitarget environments. The approach based on Hopfield neural network has been developed. But the performance of this approach is limited because Hopfield neural network is often trapped in the local minima. This paper try to solve this problem with an approach based on chaotic neural network (CNN). Furthermore, in order to improve the performance of neural network, the association statistic between tracks from different sensors is modified. Computer simulation results indicate that this approach is more efficient than the algorithm based on continuous Hopfield neural network (CHNN).


This study discusses the effect of semi-supervised learning in combination with pretrained language models for data-to-text generation. It is not known whether semi-supervised learning is still helpful when a large-scale language model is also supplemented. This study aims to answer this question by comparing a data-to-text system only supplemented with a language model, to two data-to-text systems that are additionally enriched by a data augmentation or a pseudo-labeling semi-supervised learning approach. Results show that semi-supervised learning results in higher scores on diversity metrics. In terms of output quality, extending the training set of a data-to-text system with a language model using the pseudo-labeling approach did increase text quality scores, but the data augmentation approach yielded similar scores to the system without training set extension. These results indicate that semi-supervised learning approaches can bolster output quality and diversity, even when a language model is also present.


A modification of the standard format of multiple choice question (MCQ) examinations, recently introduced in certain medical schools in this country, is decribed. The scheme allows for the variation of marks allocated to different in the paper, depending upon the relevance, importance and degree of difficulty of each question. However, the manner in which this new system is being implemented in some cases transgresses some fundamental principles of MCQ examinations. The consequence of this is that the average mark for the class is unintentionally low, with the good students separated from the main body of the class by a disproportionate number of marks. In addition, the examination lends itself to abuse by the enterprising student who is familar with the system of mark allocation.


A 32-year-old African American woman with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) and a 3-year history of extensive facial molluscum contagiosum (MCV) presented to the dermatology clinic for treatment. The patient had been treated with multiple therapies, including liquid nitrogen, topical 0.05% liquid tretinoin, and 0.5% topical podofilox, with no improvement and some secondary irritation to the latter 2 therapies. At her initial appointment, she was taking nelfinavir mesylate (Viracept), 750 mg 3 times daily; stavudine (Zerit), 40 mg twice daily; didanosine (Videx), 200 mg twice daily; trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim DS), 800 mg/160 mg every day; and fluconazole (Diflucan), 100 mg every day. She had been receiving nelfinavir, stavudine, and didanosine for 5 months and trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole and fluconazole since shortly after her diagnosis 3 years earlier. Her CD4 T-cell count was 0.004 3 10/L (38/mm) and the viral load (Roche Amplicor HIV-1 RNA–polymerase chain reaction [RNAPCR]) was at 2900 RNA copies/mL. This represented an approximately 1.5 log reduction in her initial viral load and had remained relatively stable during the past few months. On examination, there were papules and large nodules and plaques predominantly on the face. They ranged in size from 3 to 20 mm, with areas of depressed scarring and postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (Figure 1).


The aim of this study is to examine the impact of organizational virtue perceived by of the employees of educational organizations on the perceived organizational happiness at schools which is their work places. Data collection was conducted through the "Organizational Virute" (OVS) and "School Organizational Happiness" (SOHS) scales from a group of teachers (N = 242) working at elementary schools. The OVS, used to collect data at the study, has three sub-dimensions as "Optimism, Trust and grace, Integrity and forgiveness" while the SOHS has five sub-dimensions as  "Management processes, Professional attitude,    Workplace communication, Devotion and Economic conditions". Results of the correlation tests showed that there is positive associations that are mostly at medium and high levels between all sub dimensions of the OV scale and all sub-dimensions of the SOH scale. Results of the multiple regression analysis demonstrated that some of the sub-dimensions of the SOH scale estimate certain sub-dimensions of the OVS except for the "economic conditions" sub-dimension: The "Optimism" sub-dimension of the OVS   estimates the "Trust and Grace" sub-dimension, "Professional attitude" estimates "Communication" whereas the "Honesty and forgiveness" sub-dimension  estimates the "Management processes, Professional attitude and Devotion" sub-dimensions. The constant values calculated by the multiple regression analysis for all sub-dimensions are significant indicates that other factors than organizational virtue, that are not covered by this study, also have certain impacts on school organizational happiness.


Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is a persistent and bioaccumulative perfluorinated acid detectable in humans and wildlife worldwide that has alerted scientists to examine the environmental fate of other fluorinated organic contaminants. Recently a homologous series of perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) was detected in the Arctic, yet little is known about their sources, breadth of contamination, or environmental distribution. In this study we analyzed for PFOS, the homologous series of PFCAs ranging from 8 to 15 carbons in chain length, and the PFOS-precursor heptadecafluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA) in various organisms from a food web of Lake Ontario. The sampled organisms included a top predator fish, lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), three forage fish species including rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus), and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), and two invertebrates Diporeia (Diporeia hoyi) and Mysis (Mysis relicta). A striking finding was that the highest mean concentration for each fluorinated contaminantwas detected in the benthic macroinvertebrate Diporeia, which occupies the lowest trophic level of all organisms analyzed. Perfluorinated acid concentrations in Diporeia were often 10-fold higher than in Mysis, a predominantly pelagic feeder, suggesting that a major source of perfluoroalkyl contaminants to this food web was the sediment, not the water. PFOS was the dominant acid in all samples, but long-chain PFCAs, ranging in length from 8 to 15 carbons, were also detected in most samples between <0.5 and 90 ng/ g. Among Mysis and the more pelagic fish species (e.g. excluding Diporeia and sculpin) there was evidence for biomagnification, but the influence of foraging on highly contaminated Diporeia and sculpin by these fish may have overestimated trophic magnification factors (TMFs), which ranged from 0.51 for FOSA to 5.88 for PFOS. By accounting for the known diet composition of lake trout, it was shown that bioaccumulation was indeed occurring at the top of the food web for all perfluoroalkyl compounds except PFOA. Future monitoring at other locations in Lake Ontario, and in other aquatic environments, is necessary to determine if these food web dynamics are widespread. Archived lake trout samples collected between 1980 and 2001 showed that mean whole body PFOS concentrations increased from 43 to 180 ng/g over this period, but not linearly, and may have been indirectly influenced by the invasion and proliferation of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) through effects on the population and ecology of forage fishes.


Dendrobatid frogs perform a unique mode of parental care, ranging from egg attendance and tadpole transport to tadpole feeding. It is hypothesized that a behaviour in which the egg attending parent remains with the cluch is the most primitive condition. In more advanced forms or parental care, the male is able to attend several clutches of eggs. Tadpole attendance and feeding, finally, started as deceit; the male induced the female to lay eggs into a bromeliad leaf axil already occupied by a larva. Costs and benefits of the different modes of parental care and possible alternative reproductive tactics are discussed.


Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are thin intercellular connections facilitating the transport of diverse cargoes, ranging from ions to organelles. While TNT studies have predominantly been conducted in cell cultures, the existence of open-ended TNTs within live organisms remains unverified. Despite the observation of intercellular connections during embryonic development across various species, their functional role has not been confirmed. In this study, we performed mosaic labeling of gastrula cells in zebrafish embryos to demonstrate the coexistence of TNT-like structures alongside other cellular protrusions. These embryonic TNT-like connections exhibited similar morphology to TNTs described in cell culture, appeared to have similar formation mechanisms and could be induced by Eps8 overexpression and CK666 treatment. Most notably, to classify them as TNTs, we demonstrated their capability to transfer both soluble cargoes and organelles, which is a defining feature of open-ended TNTs. This study marks the first demonstration of functional TNTs in a living embryo.


Survey was intended to study the storage insect pests in sorghum around the sub-zoba Hamelmalo. Though this crop is one of the most stable field crops in Eritrea, it is severely infested by many storage insect pests. Therefore, the survey was conducted to address the challenges with storage insect pests with the aim of identifying the storage insect pests of sorghum grains, storage methods of the subsistence farmers and its management practices used by the farmers. The survey was carried out in sub-zoba Hamelmalo by using open ended questionnaires. Five administrative villages were randomly selected and from each village eleven farmers were selected at random for interview and sample collections. Five hundred gram of sorghum grains were collected and checked for pest occurrence and emergence in the laboratory. Sitophilus oryzae, Sitotroga cerealella and Sitophilus granaries were recognized as major storage insect pests in the representative administrative villages. The study discovered that the weight losses due to the storage insect pests range from 0.089% to 1.82% in sub-zoba Hamelmalo. The interview showed farmers in the sub-zoba used different management practices including ash mixing with grain, sun drying, cleaning, plant materials and insecticides to protect the grain from storage insect pests. In addition to that it is indicated that the most of the growers of the sampled villages used polyethene (meshemae) and guffet (traditional storage material) to store their produce.


Previous research has shown that gender role attitudes can predict changes in couples' housework division over critical life events, but these studies might have suffered from endogeneity because such life events are anticipated and may be affected by gender role attitudes. In contrast, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was a truly exogenous shock that hit couples unexpectedly. Estimating fixed-effects regression models, the authors examine the role of gender ideologies in how couples adjusted their division of housework during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared with a prepandemic baseline observation. The data cover 3,219 couples from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Both partners spent substantially more time on housework throughout the COVID-19 crisis than before, especially in the early stages. However, we found no evidence that individuals' or couples' precrisis gender role attitudes affected changes in men's and women's absolute or relative contributions to housework at any time during the lockdown.


We present a continuity‐based approach for calculating flow delivered to a main channel from an adjacent floodplain and use the values in a linear diffusion model to generalize fluxes across a floodplain. Using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements of floodplain water level changes and the continuity equation, we demonstrate that flow rates are not the same throughout Amazonian floodplains. Also, rates of floodplain storage change are found to be least in areas of greatest distance from a main channel which suggests a long residence time. Linear diffusion modeling of floodplain drainage represents the composite behavior of flow through channels, swamps and lakes and provides a simple method of defining storage changes. The key parameter necessary for diffusion modeling is floodplain conductivity which can be constrained by a simple description of floodplain topography and measurements of temporal changes in floodplain water levels.


A 3-10-GHz CMOS distributed amplifier (DA) with flat and low noise figure (NF) and flat and high power gain (S 21 ) is demonstrated. A flat and low NF was achieved by adopting an RL terminating network for the gate transmission line, and a slightly under-damped Q -factor for the second-order NF frequency response. Besides, an flat and high S 21 was achieved by using the proposed cascade gain cell, which constitutes a cascode-stage with a low- Q RLC load and an inductive-peaking common-source stage. In the high-gain mode, the DA consumed 37.8 mW and achieved a flat and high S 21 of 20.47plusmn0.72 dB with an average NF of 3.29plusmndB over the 3plusmn10plusmnGHz band of interest, one of the best reported NF performances for a CMOS UWB DA or low-noise amplifier. In the low-gain mode, the DA achieved S 21 of 11.03plusmn0.98plusmndB and an average NF of 4.25plusmndB with a power dissipation ( PD ) of 6.86 mW, the lowest PD ever reported for a CMOS UWB DA or LNA with an average S 21 of greater than 10 dB.


Much work in Natural Language Processing (NLP) has been for resource-rich languages, making generalization to new, less-resourced languages challenging. We present two approaches for improving generalization to low-resourced languages by adapting continuous word representations using linguistically motivated subword units: phonemes, morphemes and graphemes. Our method requires neither parallel corpora nor bilingual dictionaries and provides a significant gain in performance over previous methods relying on these resources. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approaches on Named Entity Recognition for four languages, namely Uyghur, Turkish, Bengali and Hindi, of which Uyghur and Bengali are low resource languages, and also perform experiments on Machine Translation. Exploiting subwords with transfer learning gives us a boost of +15.2 NER F1 for Uyghur and +9.7 F1 for Bengali. We also show improvements in the monolingual setting where we achieve (avg.) +3 F1 and (avg.) +1.35 BLEU.


Primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNETs) are a malignant group of neoplasms and are neuroectodermal in origin. In most large series published to date, peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumours usually present in the second decade of life, with a slight male preponderance. Those which occurs peripherally resemble soft tissue sarcomas. Peripheral PNET is rare in presentation and of which only few cases involving the soft tissues of the abdominal wall have been reported. We present a case affecting a young female who presented to us with a progressively enlarging swelling involving the anterior abdominal wall. She underwent wide excision followed by adjuvant therapy based on final histopathology report.


Melanoma develops the ability to evade immune recognition through multiple mechanisms, despite being highly immunogenic. This is demonstrated by the effective and additive response checkpoint blockade therapies have had during combination clinical trials in melanoma [1]. While the results of these trials have been promising, large portions of patients do not respond to treatment [1,2]. Additionally, many responders take months to show a response using standard criteria. In order to monitor patient response and understand the limitations of immunotherapy, we performed phage display to discover peptides targeted to tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in melanoma tumors. To improve phage library characterization, we developed a method to deep sequence phage with the Ilumina MiSeq platform. Phage screens using PhD7 library (NEB) performed on HUVECS and on TILs, naive and effector T cells, and B cells harvested from mice. The phage libraries generated from these screens were deep sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq system. The sequencing data was analyzed with an efficient, custom MATLAB script, which arranges sequences by frequency determining peptide frequencies for each library. Peptide frequency was normalized to a reference library generated by amplifying an unscreened phage library. T cell screens were compared with B cell and endothelial cell screens in sequence frequency matrices. Top TIL targeting sequences were cloned into phage, and then fluorescently labeled along with insert-less control phage. Labeled phage were incubated with TILs, or effector T cells and analyzed for specificity using flow cytometry. Four phage clones were identified with at least four fold increased binding for TILs over effector T cells isolated from the spleen. Interestingly, only subsets of the TILs were bound by the targeted phage. We have identified and validated peptides that demonstrate specificity for CD8 TILs. These peptide sequences represent candidates for development into companion diagnostic imaging agents for use with checkpoint therapies. We are currently evaluating these peptides in an in vivo tumor model to further validate their specificity and to determine their biodistributions. Peptides that validate in vivo could be developed into useful imaging agents. After peptide sequences have been validated in vivo, we will determine the phage binding partner using a phage based pulldown. The peptide binding partners discovered through this approach will provide insight into the subset of TILs bound by the phage. [1] Wolchok, J. D. et al., N Engl J Med 2013; 369:122-133. [2] Drake, CG. et al., Clin Cancer Res November 15, 201117. Citation Format: Dustin Bauknight, Andrew Buckner, Lindsey Brinton, Timothy Bullock, Kimberly Kelly. T cell targeted peptides for monitoring immune response in melanoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4147.


Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a kind of secretory proteinases. Degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by MMPs enhances tumor invasion and metastasis. To monitor MMPs activity and assess the MMP inhibitor effects in vivo, we constructed a plasmid that encoded a secretory fluorescent sensor named DMC (DsRed2-MSS-CFP expressed from pDisplay vector) that DsRed2 and cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) linked by MMP substrate site (MSS). MDA-MB 435s cells highly expressing endogenetic secretory MMP were transfected with the DMC plasmid so that the DMC could be cleaved by endogenetic MMP and the fluorescence ratio of DsRed2 to CFP was decreased. Treating the cells with GM6001, an MMP inhibitor, blocked the cleavage of DMC and caused an increase of the DsRed2/CFP ratio. The same result was achieved by using an in vivo tumor model that stable DMC-expressing MDA-MB 435s cells inoculated onto the chorioallantoic membrane of developing chick embryos to form primary tumors on the membrane. Thus, the fluorescent sensor DMC is able to sensitively monitor MMP activity and assess MMP inhibitors for anticancer research in vivo. This proves a novel method to efficiently screen and assess the anticancer drug MMP inhibitor in living cells and in vivo tumor models.


The current study analyzed the relation between recidivism and self-reported psychopathic traits, more specifically the callous-unemotional, impulsivity, and narcissism dimensions of the psychopathy construct. The Antisocial Process Screening Device – Self-Report (APSD-SR) and other self-report instruments independently measuring the three different dimensions of psychopathy (that is, Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, Narcissistic Personality-13) were completed by a sample of incarcerated male juvenile offenders (N = 244) who were retrospectively classified as recidivists versus non-recidivists. The only statistically significant relation found between recidivism and self-reported psychopathic traits after controlling for age and socioeconomic status was with the impulsivity dimension of the APSD-SR. Additionally, results showed that recidivism was associated with alcohol use but not with drug use or crime seriousness.


Nowadays, the Web has becomeone of the most widespread platforms for information change and retrieval. As it becomes easier to publish documents, as the number of users, and thus publishers, increases and as the number of documents grows, searching for information is turning into a cumbersome and timeconsuming operation. Because of the loose interconnection between documents, people have difficulty remembering where they have been and returning to previously visited pages. Navigation through the web faces problems of locating onesel f with respect to space and time. The idea of graphical assistance navigation is to help users to find their paths in hyperspace by adapting the style of link presentation to the goals, knowledge and other characteristics of an individual user. We first introduce the concepts related to web navigation; we then present an overview of different graphical navigation tools and techniques. We conclude by presenting a comparative table of these tools based on some pertinent criteria.


Essays by women students saved by (white) Gladys Groves from sex and marriage education courses she taught at 1940s North Carolina black colleges show black women engaging with modern discourses of sexuality and marriage to critique repressive sexual socialization that stemmed from the still-powerful respectability code governing black women's self-presentation. This article argues that, while these women still hoped to control sexuality, they also found the modern social scientific view useful for claiming the normality of youth sexuality and the legitimacy of women's desire. Some took on the modern standard of female sexual responsiveness, but more used their new knowledge to critique the punitive treatment of childish sexual curiosity that they and others had commonly undergone. The research is significant because so few sources exist expressing the sexual experience and subjectivity of African American women, given the power of the sexual silence induced by the politics of respectability.


Abstract Biflagellate algal cells of the genus Volvox form spherical colonies that propel themselves, vertically upwards in still fluid, by the coordinated beating of thousands of flagella, that also cause the colonies to rotate about their vertical axes. When they are swimming in a chamber of finite depth, pairs (or more) of Volvox carteri colonies were observed by Drescher et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 102, 2009, 168101) to exhibit hydrodynamic bound states when they are close to a rigid horizontal boundary. When the boundary is above, the colonies are attracted to each other and orbit around each other in a 'waltz'; when the boundary is below they perform more complex 'minuet' motions. These dances are simulated in the present paper, using a novel 'spherical squirmer' model of a colony in which, instead of a time-independent but $\theta$-dependent tangential velocity being imposed on the spherical surface (radius $a$; $\theta$ is the polar angle), a time-independent and uniform tangential shear stress is applied to the fluid on a sphere of radius $(1+\epsilon )a, \epsilon \ll 1$, where $\epsilon a$ represents the length of the flagella. The fluid must satisfy the no-slip condition on the sphere at radius $a$. In addition to the shear stress, the motions depend on two dimensionless parameters that describe the effect of gravity on a colony: $F_g$, proportional to the ratio of the sedimentation speed of a non-swimming colony to its swimming speed, and $G_{bh}$, that represents the fact that colonies are bottom heavy; $G_{bh}$ is the ratio of the time scale to swim a distance equal to the radius, to the time scale for gravitational reorientation of the colony's axis to the vertical when it is disturbed. In addition to reproducing both of the dancing modes, the simulations are able to determine values of $F_g$ and $G_{bh}$ for which they are stable (or not); there is reasonable agreement with the experiments. A far-field model for the minuet motions is also shown to have qualitative agreement, but does not describe some features that are reproduced in the full simulations.


After the 1970s crises of capitalist system, profit rates of the capitalist were decreasing rapidly. In early capitalized countries all investment areas were not as profitable as it used to be. These countries, capitalists, need to find new investment areas and markets. Simultaneously late capitalized countries need more capital and investments in their economy. The needs of two sides are overlapping in the same period, but late capitalized country economies have high risks for capitalist class. Their laws and rules were not compatible with early capitalized countries. For this reason, foreign investment regimes have became an important topic for the late capitalized and early capitalized countries since 1970s. Since it was a necessity to establish proper structures as parallel to the aim of drawing more and more investment to the countries, the concept of 'Improving investment climate' gained a dominant position in debates on investment. The concept itself mainly refers to consisting necessary conditions in order for giving a new impetus to accumulation of capital. The institutions which run all these works have been named as Investment Advisory Councils. These Councils are also known as governance bodies which have actively been functioning in many countries in the last decade. These Councils are the most important institutions of reform process. Although these Councils have common targets, each institution in invidual countries has different characteristics specific to its own structure. In this study we are trying to define the concept of investment climate and main institution of 'second generation' reform process. There is a big consensus in development studies of World Bank, IMF and OECD organisations. They argue that improving investment climate studies are for prosperity of everyone. In this study we are trying to show this process creates some loosers and winners. IAC institutions receive strong support from international organizations as well, it is possible to argue that improving investment climate in single countries is for the general interest of entire capitalist class. Ironically, these Councils define their targets as to make their countries the most competitive economy. Thus, it is apparent that two opposite tendencies exist in this process. In this study, it is aimed to understand how does IAC reach its targets which have been determined via two opposite tendencies. The reviews which will focus on IAC and YOIKK in Turkey consist the field of the research. Furthermore, the legislation which was introduced in the context of YOIKK will be analysed and the observations on the two opposite tendencies: competition and cooperation will also be integrated in to the study.


Some rhizospheric bacteria were tested in potted plants to assess their possible mitigatory effect against the cereal cyst nematode, Heterodera avenae infecting wheat. Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillum lipoferum and Pseudomonas sp. reduced nematode infection to various levels while Rhizobium ciceri had no apparent effect. Six out of eight strains of A. chroococcum showing different properties like nitrogen fixation, ammonia excretion, indole acetic acid (IAA) production and siderophore production reduced cyst formation from 6 to 60 per cent. Strain 1 (1) and Mac 27 having high siderophore production did no control nematode infection but high temperature resistant mutant HT54, possessing the highest ammonia excretion ability and negligible IAA production, reduced nematode infection by 48 per cent. Results indicated that ammonia but not siderophores or IAA had a role in the control of H. avenae infection in wheat. All strains of A. chroococcum in general and HT 54 in particular promoted growth of nematode infected wheat plants.


This paper synoptically discusses the concept of political (in)tolerance and its implication on any democratic setting alongside with the concept of governance.  Against this background, it argues that most African states took over from centralized and unrepresentative colonial ethnic and religious separatism – tribalism – and become victims to centrifugal aspirations of ambitious politicians speaking in the name of ethnic, religious and regional minorities (Esman, 1997). This monocratic political order (which derives from the Hobbesian notion/conception of the state) not only failed as a system but led to serious in tolerance and in some cases disastrous consequences for the economy and people of Africa (Olowu, 1995). And as a result, enormous amount of money is being spent worldwide on questions of political tolerance. Political intolerance and lack of debate, according to literature, had caused retardation in ideas, innovation, creativity and growth of political consciousness among people due to the fear of misconception of such ideas by their political opponents or fellow comrades. This makes democratic transitions arduous thereby threatening the consolidation of democracy. Political tolerance is not easy to practice. However, its exercise, without jettisoning social justice or the abandonment or weakening of one's conviction will promote a culture of political pluralism. This, without any controversies, will guarantee peace and harmony which is a cornerstone of democratic consolidation. For democratic engine to be well propelled, regardless of any strategy, the best public policy should arise out of citizens' willingness to imbibe positive values as well as any other attribute and be ready to tolerate the expression of a plurality of political opinions, including those different to their own.  This is essential because, instrumental to good democratic governance is human beings with positive values and other dimensions of human performance that enable social, economic and political institutions to function and remain functional, over time (Adjibolosoo, 1995).

 Key words: Political (in)tolerance, democratic governance, political consciousness, monocratic, democratic engine, positive values, centrifugal aspiration, ethnic and religion separatism, social justice, hobbessian, democratic consolidation.


Arbitrary-shaped text detection in natural images is a challenging task due to the complexity of the background and the diversity of text properties. The difficulty lies in two aspects: accurate separation of adjacent texts and sufficient text feature representation. To handle these problems, we consider text detection as instance segmentation and propose a novel text detection framework, which jointly learns semantic segmentation and a pixel affinity pyramid in a unified fully convolutional network. Specifically, the pixel affinity pyramid is proposed to encode multi-scale instance affiliation relationships of pixels, which is not only robust to varying shapes of text but also provides an accurate boundary description for separating closely located texts. In the inference phase, a simple but effective post-processing is presented to reconstruct text instances from the semantic segmentation results under the guidance of the learned pixel affinity pyramid, achieving good accuracy and efficiency. Furthermore, to enhance the representation of text features in the neural network, two modules — the Region Enhancement Module (REM) and Attentional Fusion Module (AFM) — are proposed. The REM models the semantic correlations of regional features to enhance the features from the text area, which effectively suppresses false-positive detection. The AFM adaptively fuses multi-scale textual information through an attention mechanism to obtain abundant text semantic features, which benefits multi-sized text detection. Extensive ablation experiments are conducted demonstrating the effectiveness of the REM and AFM. Evaluation results on standard benchmarks, including Total-Text, ICDAR2015, SCUT-CTW1500, and MSRA-TD500, show that our method surpasses most existing text detectors and achieves state-of-the-art performance, denoting its superior capability in detecting arbitrary-shaped texts.


In the previous paper1) in this series, some properties of chitinolytic enzyme present in the stomach of fish, Lateolabrax japonicus, were investigated by measuring the reducing sugar produced. In the present study, chitinase activity was observed by decreasing substrate (Precipitated chitin, P. Ch), because the amount of P. Ch present in the reaction mixture could be measured turbidimetrically using a Hitachi EPU type spectrophotometer at 430 mμ. The amount of N-acetylglucosamine (NGA) was measured by the method described by REISSIG et. al.2) Oligo-NGA was estimated from the amount of NGA produced by the addition of β-glucosidase. Results obtained are as follows: 1) The amount of P. Ch present in the reaction mixture can be measured turbidimetrically (Fig. 1). 2) In the early stage of incubation, a considerable decrease of P. Ch is observed in amounts, although little amount of NGA is formed (Table 1). Judging from the result, it might be assumed that the most of the product obtaind in the early stage of the reaction is oligo-NGA. 3) Most of these oligo-NGA may be higher oligo-NGA which is not attacked by β-gluco-sidase (Table 1). 4) Optimum pH value and temperature on the chitinolytic action were almost similar to those estimated from the previous results of determination of the reducing sugar produced1). (Fig. 6, Fig. 8). 5) It is ascertained that the chitinolytic enzyme of fish consists of two or more different kinds of enzyme.


Tracking of position and orientation in 3D space termed as 6-Degree of Freedom, is critical for head-mounted displays to experience immersive content in augmented reality and virtual reality applications. Today's outside-in tracking system commonly uses a light-based tracking method which is very accurate but has limitations of occlusion and line of sight dependency, causing loss of track and bad user experience. In this research work, we present a novel approach of an outside-in tracking system for augmented reality and virtual reality devices using electromagnetism which provides occlusion free and line of sight independent 6-degree of freedom tracking. The tracking method consists of a central coil wound in three orthogonal directions and a set of orthogonally wound receiver coil embedded in the head-mounted display. We propose a very novel closed-form and computationally in-expensive Beyond Line-of-Sight (PLoS) tracking approach to locate the position as well as the orientation angle of the head-mounted display (HMD) concerning the central magnetic coil. Our approach is independent of line-of-sight so the central coil unit can track the HMD in all directions with physical obstruction between the path of central unit and HMD. Our study demonstrates that this electromagnetism based approach can be used to track augmented reality and virtual reality HMD within the field range of the central magnetic coil. We have tested up to 100 cm (1 meter) range with an accuracy up to ± 1cm considering light-based outside-in tracking as ground truth.


The radiation therapy is applied on around 50% of the cancer patients.
As we know, before implementing a radiation treatment planning system in the
clinic, the dose-calculation measurement must be validated using rigorous,
clinically relevant criteria [1]. Percent Depth Doses (PDD), Dose Profile (DP),
Open Collimator Factor (OCF) etc., are measured for all numbers of square fields for Treatment Planning
System XiO, version 4.7, for 6 and 15 MV photons energies and for 15°, 30°, 45°, 60° wedge, which were employed to obtain the
profiles in any depth. The measurements were conducted also for different
energies of electron beam and TPS calculation algorithms.


Oesophago-respiratory fistula in most instances in a complication of advanced malignant tumours of the oesophagus or the lung. In our patient group eleven oesophago-respiratory and one gastro-respiratory fistulas were encountered. Three patients were operated upon. In one of them with achalasia, early oesophageal carcinoma was discovered in the background of the fistula. Two patients had fistulas without of oesophageal narrowing, therefore, stent implantation into the trachea and bronchus was performed. One of them was previously managed endoscopically with lyodura plug and fibrin glue, but only temporary occlusion of the fistula was obtained. In five patients, seven conventional oesophageal prosthesis (6 Cook, 1 Rüsch) were used to close the fistulas. In one of these patients, three oesophago-respiratory fistulas developed one after the other at the level of the prosthesis funnel. They were closed with three prostheses connected with short silicone tubes. In the last two patients, Gianturco-Z stent was employed. Its advantages over the plastic prostheses include small basic and lager final luminal diameter, lesser predilatation, easier implantation, lower complication and mortality rate. The silicone coated and double funnel stent with expansile force is effective in fistulas closure. On implantation, stent shortening in minimal, allowing precise placement of the stent even in proximal malignant oesophageal stenosis with oesophago-bronchial fistula. The high price of the stent is compensated for by the lower complication rate, shorter hospitalization and subsequent reduction is hospital expenses. Therefore these metal stents should be financed by the National Health Service, at least in specialized centers for managing patients with dysphagia.


The aim of the present study was to carry out a survey of the main difficulties found by the technicians of animal health defense in the establishment of beef cattle traceability, aiming to design indicators, suggest proposals to solve such difficulties and contribute to the formulation of national policies. A semi-structured qualitative questionnaire was designed containing 39 open and mixed multiple-choice questions sent to 125 veterinaries of the Latu sensu graduate course in Animal Health Defense of the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Lavras, MG, Brazil. The data obtained were tabulated using EpiData® 3.1 software, with automatic control of data range and consistency, and afterward analyzed by means of descriptive and inductive statistics, using the statistical program PASW (Predictive Analytics SoftWare) version 18.0. The chief difficulties found by the techniques were concerned directly with the frequent changes in the legislation (97.6%), the lack of understanding of the norms (86.9%), and of the spread of traceability (62.8%). Among the advantages of identification and animal traceability mentioned by technicians include increasing knowledge of the quantity of livestock (97.5%), the opening and maintenance of current consumer markets (95.0%), and the control and supervision of the transit of animals (93.3%). Traceability, despite being a demand, above all of the importing consuming market, is still under evolution. Both the qualification and awareness of the raisers in relation to traceability are required.


Introduction/Background Prolactin (PRL) expression has been reported to stimulate cell proliferation and might be associated with worse survival outcomes in patients with endometrial cancer (EC). We evaluated the effect of PRL during medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) plus metformin treatment as fertility-sparing treatment in patients with atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) and EC. Furthermore, we investigated the interaction of PRL and metformin on EC cells. Methodology We retrospectively investigated 18 patients with AEH and 41 with EC who were treated with MPA (400 mg/day) plus metformin (750–2250 mg/day) as fertility-sparing treatments. We evaluated serum PRL levels before and during MPA administration. We analyzed the association between serum PRL and relapse-free survival (RFS). The EC-cell lines (ISHIKAWA, HEC-1B, and HEC 265) were treated with recombinant human PRL (500ng/ml) and/or metformin (1 mM). The interaction of PRL and metformin on EC cell proliferation was examined with a WST-8 assay and western blot analysis. Results Before MPA treatment, the median serum PRL levels were 10.3 (4.5–47.0) ng/ml. During MPA treatment, the median serum PRL level increased to 34.6 (17.8–78.7) ng/ml. The percent of patients with hyperprolactinemia (>15 ng/ml) increased from 19% to 100% after starting MPA treatment. There was no significant difference in RFS between the patients with serum PRL levels ≥15 ng/ml and <15 ng/ml before MPA/metformin treatment and between those with serum PRL levels ≥30 ng/ml and <30 ng/ml during treatment. PRL promoted the proliferation and significantly increased phospho-ribosomal protein S6 and phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 in EC cell lines. These effects were attenuated by the combination with metformin. Conclusion High-dose MPA using fertility sparing treatment induced hyperprolactinemia that may cause a progressive effect on EC. The addition of metformin may prevent this effect and improve fertility-sparing treatment outcomes for patients with AEH and EC. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


Backlund transformations of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation which transform a real potential into another real potential are constructed, as well as their Darboux versions. The iterated application of these Backlund transformations to a generic potential is considered and the obtained recursion relations are explicitly solved. It is shown that the dressing of the generic potential can be obtained by taking the continuous limit of this infinite sequence of Backlund transformations, and that the delta -bar integral equations, which solve the inverse spectral problem, can be obtained as the continuous limit of the recurrence equation defining the sequence of the Darboux transformations.


Background Instagram is increasingly becoming a platform on which visual communication of cancer takes place, but few studies have investigated the content and effects. In particular, a paucity of research has evaluated the effects of visual communication of cancer on participative engagement outcomes. Objective The objective of our study was to investigate cancer-related beliefs and emotions shared on Instagram and to examine their effects on participative engagement outcomes including likes, comments, and social support. Methods This study analyzed the content of 441 posts of #melanomasucks on Instagram and assessed the effects of the content characteristics on outcomes, including the number of likes and comments and types of social support using group least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression. Results Posts about controlling melanoma were most frequent (271/441, 61.5%), followed by 240 (54.4%) posts about outcomes of having melanoma. Ninety posts (20.4%) were about the causes of melanoma. A greater number of posts expressed positive (159/441, 36.1%) than negative emotions (100/441, 22.7%). Eighty posts (18.1%) expressed hope, making it the most frequently expressed emotion; 49 posts expressed fear (11.1%), 46 were humorous (10.4%), and 46 showed sadness (10.4%). Posts about self behavior as a cause of melanoma decreased likes (P<.001) and social support comments (P=.048). Posts about physical consequences of melanoma decreased likes (P=.02) but increased comments (P<.001) and emotional social support (P<.001); posts about melanoma treatment experience increased comments (P=.03) and emotional social support (P<.001). None of the expressions of positive emotions increased likes, comments, or social support. Expression of anger increased the number of likes (P<.001) but those about fear (P<.001) and joy (P=.006) decreased the number of likes. Posts about fear (P=.003) and sadness (P=.003) increased emotional social support. Posts showing images of melanoma or its treatment on the face or body parts made up 21.8% (96/441) of total posts. Inclusion of images increased the number of comments (P=.001). Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of the content and effects of user-generated visual cancer communication on social media. The findings show where the self-expressive and social engagement functions of #melanomasucks converge and diverge, providing implications for extending research on the commonsense model of illness and for developing conceptual frameworks explaining participative engagement on social media.


This research analyzes the influence of robotics on tourism. It is an innovative phenomenon, but one that is expected to be present in most tourism and communication activities. Robotics is beginning to produce results in terms of jobs related to tourism. Robots are incorporated in all types of establishments, especially in hotels, restaurants and museums. The phenomenon is analyzed through a quantitative (implementing data from automatic check-in and check-out machines in Barcelona hotels) and qualitative (in-depth interviews) methodology. The improvements and drawbacks that they can represent are observed, as well as their repercussion on the tourism work environment. It is concluded that the inclusion of robotics in tourism is still in the development phase, but it implies personnel savings and more personalized and interactive attention for the end user. The machines are used more often in hostels and tourist apartments than in hotels.


Background: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a serious adverse drug reaction associated with an increased length of hospital stay (LOS) and utilization of healthcare services and even more so if heparin-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (HITT) occurs. Objective: To determine the attributable healthcare cost and LOS of patients experiencing HIT compared with control subjects. Methods: A retrospective case-control study conducted in hospitalized patients with HIT and their control subjects from January 1to December 31, 2013. Of the 462 HIT assay performed, 29 HIT cases and 141 matched control subjects were evaluated. Healthcare costs elements attributed to HIT included laboratory tests, non-heparin anticoagulant, medical imaging, physician visits and LOS. The healthcare costs and LOS of cases, HIT and HITT, and control subjects were determined in US$, year 2013. Result: Compared to the control subjects, the attributable healthcare cost and LOS were $3159 and 8 days for HIT cases and $18256 and 19 days for HITT cases, respectively. The HITT cases incurred median healthcare costs of $22893 compared with $7799 (p<0.001) for HIT cases without complication. Conclusion: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is significantly associated with increased healthcare costs and an increased LOS. These findings suggest that using low-molecular-weight-heparin (LMWH) is one of the strategies aiming to reduce the incidence of HIT.


Autoantibodies to autologous cellular antigens in cancer patients have been considered as reporters identifying antigenic changes in cellular factors involved in the transformation process. We have made use of such autoantibodies from hepatocellular carcinoma patients to immunoscreen a cDNA expression library and have identified a cytoplasmic RNA-binding protein p62. Autoantibodies to p62 have been detected in up to 21% of a cohort of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Further study has demonstrated that p62 is a member of insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein family (IMPs), which is an isoform of IMP2. The three members of the IMP family (IMP1, 2 and 3) have been found to regulate translation of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) mRNA in a post-transcriptional manner. Since several studies have suggested that IMP1 and IMP3 play important roles in cancer progression, whether p62/IMP2 can also play a role in cancer formation remains to be investigated. In this study, we intend to interrogate the role of p62/IMP2 in HCC formation. We found that the expression of p62/IMP2 (57.5%) is significantly higher in HCC specimen than that in normal liver tissue (15.4%) by immunohistochemistry study. Furthermore, p62/IMP2 is detected to be overexpressed in several liver cancer cell lines. Depletion of p62/IMP2 via lentivirus-mediated knockdown in SNU449 liver cancer cell line decreased the cell proliferation. On the contrary, the ectopic overexpression of p62/IMP2 increased cell proliferation. Our data suggested that p62/IMP2 is overexpressed in liver cancer and is functionally correlated with cancer cell growth. Citation Format: Ningjing Lei, Bo Peng, Yang Li, Yurong Chai, Jianying Zhang. p62/IMP2 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5381. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5381


In response to antitrust cases challenging the exclusionary conduct of dominant firms, some dominant firms offer an "appropriability defense." This defense is the claim that prohibiting the challenged conduct would lessen the dominant firm's return to investment in research and development (R&D), undermine that firm's incentive to innovate, and harm the prospects for industry innovation. An appropriability defense should be questioned, and often rejected, if the dominant firm would be expected to increase its own R&D effort in response to increased R&D by its rivals after liability on a dominant firm is imposed. An analytical framework for determining whether a dominant firm would behave this way is provided, based on evaluating the firm's likely incremental gain from new product development if its rivals also introduce new products relative to its gain if its rivals do not upgrade their products, and potentially observable factors relevant to making this assessment are identified. The application of the framework in individual cases is illustrated using the facts of three classic antitrust monopolization cases involving new product development: the Microsoft case involving Netscape and Java, the IBM plug compatibility cases (treated as a single case), and the FTC's patent portfolio case against Xerox.


While the teaching of discipline-specific writing has drawn increasing attention in recent EAP writing research, much remains to be investigated regarding what constitutes teaching specificity. This study, adopting a learner-focused perspective, examines how students respond to discipline-specificity when learning in an EAP writing class and what the relationship is between learning the writing of disciplines and general academic writing. It used an in-depth qualitative approach and documented three focal students' learning trajectories of a business-specific genre – case analysis – in an Academic English for Business course at a Chinese university, drawing on data from interviews, the students' course reflections, and their multiple drafts of case analysis texts. It was found that the students grasped the genre-specific move structure and the specialized vocabulary of case analysis writing, and they also sharpened their academic skills for business study, including assessing information, applying disciplinary knowledge, and making evaluative analysis. However, the students' learning of case analysis was affected by problems regarding their general academic writing skills, including argumentation and the formality and clarity of language in the academic written register. The issues of learning disciplinespecific writing in combination with disciplinary ways of knowing and doing, and the interplay between learning discipline-specific and general academic writing are discussed. Pedagogical implications for teaching specificity in EAP writing classes are also suggested


Zircon in five samples of variably comminuted, melted, and hydrothermally altered orthogneiss from the Maniitsoq structure of southern West Greenland yield a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 3000.9 ± 1.9 Ma (ion probe data, n = 37). The age data constitute a rare example of pervasive and nearly complete isotopic resetting of zircon during a regional hydrothermal event. Many zircon grains are homogeneous or display weak flame‐like patterns in backscattered electron images. Other grains show complex internal textures, where homogeneous, high‐U fronts commonly cut across relict igneous‐type oscillatory zonation. Inclusions of quartz, plagioclase, mica, and other Al ± Na ± Ca ± Fe‐bearing silicates are very common. In two samples, selective replacement of zircon with baddeleyite occurs along concentric zones with relict igneous zonation, and as specks a few microns large within recrystallized, high‐U areas. We interpret the 3000.9 ± 1.9 Ma date as the minimum age of the recently proposed impact structure at Maniitsoq. The great geographical extent and intensity of the hydrothermal event suggest massive invasion of water into the currently exposed crust, implying that the age of the hydrothermal alteration would closely approximate the age of the proposed impact at Maniitsoq. At the western margin of the Taserssuaq tonalite complex, which postdates the Maniitsoq event, a 207Pb/206Pb mean age of 2994.6 ± 3.4 Ma obtained from zircon has mostly retained igneous‐type oscillatory zonation. A subsequent thermal event at approximately 2975 Ma is recorded in several samples by zircon with baddeleyite replacement textures.


A novel method for modeling burden surface temperature field in blast furnace (BF) is presented in this paper. It is based on information fusion and makes full use of temperature information detected from the throat of BF. A dynamic temperature calibration method based on two-point method is taken as the benchmark calibration method, in which the nonlinear error involved is adjusted by an improved BP neural network based on genetic algorithm (GA). Due to the high robustness and better nonlinear approximation ability, the proposed method overcomes the shortages of conventional calibration methods, and gets the distribution model of temperature field with more details. The simulation results and industrial implementation show that, this model of burden surface temperature field can depict distribution of temperature field more exactly, so that it is more effective to understand the distribution of gas flow and instruct the operation of burden distribution.


A combined experimental/numerical study was performed to calculate the 3D octahedral shear strain map in a mouse tibia loaded axially. This study is motivated by the fact that the bone remodelling analysis, in this in vivo mouse model should be performed at the zone of highest mechanical stimulus to maximise the measured effects. Accordingly, it is proposed that quantification of bone remodelling should be performed at the tibial crest and at the distal diaphysis. The numerical model could also be used to furnish a more subtle analysis as a precise correlation between local strain and local biological response can be obtained with the experimentally validated numerical model.


There is a renewed interest in carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology due to recently expanded US Internal Revenue Service 45Q credits as well as to reduce anthropogenic carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Deep carbonate reservoirs in western Kansas have the potential for CO2 storage because they have experienced low waste-fluid injection volumes to date. Waste-fluid injection in Kansas has not caused felt seismicity for more than seven decades. However, beginning in 2013, the state has experienced increased seismicity due to increased subsurface pressure associated with the injection of large volumes of variable-TDS (total dissolved solids) waste-fluid in US EPA Class I and Class II wells. This work compares CO2, low-TDS, and high-TDS injection practices and quantifies the induced spatial and temporal patterns in overpressure in the caprock, reservoir, and its hydraulically connected crystalline basement, where the majority of induced seismicity in Kansas has been observed. Our results show that pressure buildup is higher in the caprock and lower in the crystalline basement when injecting CO2 as compared to variable-TDS waste-fluid injection. The CO2 plume tends to expand at the top of the reservoir, primarily due to its lower density and viscosity than reservoir brines, creating an overpressure plume that moves the resident brine across the caprock. In contrast, waste-fluid injection moves more resident brine down into the basement, particularly when high-TDS waste-fluid is injected. This result is particularly valid for high-permeability carbonate reservoirs, in which gravity forces dominate over viscous forces and move the CO2 and overpressure plume toward the top of the reservoir. Our study may explain the lack of human-perceivable induced seismicity at operating CO2 injection projects globally.


The study investigates the effects of human resources training practices on employees' performance at Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA). Specifically, the study examined if employee's engagement, motivation and job satisfaction have effects on employee's performance at DAWASA. The study employed pragmatic philosophy with a mixed research approach and descriptive research design. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview guide. Analysis was done through descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings depicted that HR training practices enhance internal communication, enrich employees with decision making skills, increase employees' commitment and participation/involvement in various issues increase employees' capacity in meeting deadlines increase the feelings of ownership and handling of employees with care. Also, human resource training practices have found to motivate employees and increase performance as it boosts of employees, develop employee's personality, reduce supervision level enhance employee's pro-activeness, reduce absenteeism, increase ability to defend employer and lastly enhance organization image. Lastly on effects of job satisfaction on employee's performance, the study conclude that Human Resource training practices enhance job satisfaction as it increases employee's devotion time, team working, ability to cope with changes, ability to meet work standards, and reduced supervisors' supervision. The study recommends the management of DAWASA to having enough budget and supportive policies for training issues. Secondly, there is a need of budget allocation by the government or authority to enable DAWASA to be able to acquire experts and trainers who will enable proper implementation of Human Resource training practices at all levels


Hyperaldosteronism is associated with hypertension, cardiovascular fibrosis, and electrolyte disturbances, including hypomagnesemia. Mechanisms underlying aldosterone-mediated Mg2+ changes are unclear, but the novel Mg2+ transporters TRPM6 and TRPM7 may be important. We examined whether aldosterone influences renal TRPM6/7 and the TRPM7 downstream target annexin-1 and tested the hypothesis that Mg2+ administration ameliorates aldosterone-induced cardiovascular and renal injury and prevents aldosterone-associated hypertension. C57B6 mice were studied (12 weeks, n=8 to 9/group); (1) control group (0.2% dietary Mg2+), (2) Mg2+ group (0.75% dietary Mg2+), (3) aldosterone group (Aldo, 400 &mgr;g/kg/min and 0.9% NaCl drinking water), and (4) Aldo+Mg2+ group. Blood pressure was unaltered by aldosterone and was similar in all groups throughout the experiment. Serum Na+ was increased and serum K+ and Mg2+ decreased in the Aldo group. Aldo mice had hypomagnesuria and proteinuria, and renal, cardiac, and aortic fibrosis, which were normalized by Mg2+ supplementation. Renal and cardiovascular expression of interleukin-6, VCAM1 and COX2 was increased in the Aldo group. Magnesium attenuated renal and cardiac interleukin-6 content and decreased renal VCAM1 and cardiac COX2 expression (P<0.05). Aldosterone decreased expression of renal TRPM7 and the downstream target annexin-1 (P<0.05) without effect on TRPM6. Whereas Mg2+ increased mRNA expression of TRPM6 and TRPM7, it had no effect on TRPM7 and annexin-1 protein content. Our data demonstrate that aldosterone mediates blood pressure-independent renal and cardiovascular fibrosis and inflammation through Mg2+-sensitive pathways. We suggest that altered Mg2+ metabolism in hyperaldosteronism may relate to TRPM7 downregulation and that Mg2+ protects against cardiovascular and renal damaging actions of aldosterone.


Abstract Residential segregation has severely limited racial integration in public schools andracial hostility and prejudice continue to exist within society. Studies demonstrate that youth may be unprepared as future leaders in dealing with the social justice issues ofa diverse and global economy. Interventions to promote positive civic participation and mutual understanding between groups are essential ingredients for community building and social renewal. Theory suggests an intergenerational dialogic model may provide an effective framework to reduce prejudice among youth. A conceptual model for an intervention is presented. Descriptions of a pilot program and an elaboration of the model for future interventions are included.


In this study, rheological behavior of Sepiolite as a drilling fluid are investigated
and comparison study between rheological properties of Bentonite with Sepiolite has
been made to ensure optimum value of Sepiolite rheological properties. In high salt
contamination and high temperature well, the utilization of Bentonite mud system lead
to undesirable rheological performance. Hence, process of removing drilling cuttings is
disturbed; unacceptable fluid losses and optimum equivalent circulation density (ECD)
can not be achieved.
This research is focus on rheological properties of Sepiolite at vanous
temperatures and brine concentrations for instances at 150°F and 250°F of 16 hours hot
rolled. Semi saturated and saturated brine of 5 lb and 10 lb potassium chloride are
formulated in Sepiolite mud system. Furthermore, contradistinction analysis between
Bentonite and Sepiolite are analyzed to confirm the efficacious of Sepiolite
performance.
In order to design an effective drilling fluid system, fresh water is mixed with
potassium chloride to obtain a brine solution. Soda ash which is hardness material is
added in the solution and mixed for duration of 1 minute. Next, caustic soda is
circulated into the solution for about 5 minute. The function of this chemical is to adjust
pH value between 9.0 and 9.5. After that, HYDRO PAC-LV is added and mixed for 5
minutes followed by Bentonite. Last but not least, barite is added for 20 minutes as a
weighting agent.
In conclusion, Sepiolite mud system performs better than Sabah and India
Bentonite. Based on the pattern achieved from laboratory experiment, Sepiolite gives
best rheological values followed by Sabah Bentonite and India Bentonite. Nevertheless,
Sepiolite mud system exhibits highest fluid loss compare to the other Bentonite. This
situation can be treated by using higher performance of fluid loss reducer.


The aim of the present work is to evaluate the putative antidepressant-like effects of hydroethanolic and dichloromethanic extracts from the aerial parts of Sonchus oleraceus (Family Asteraceae) on the performance of male mice in the forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) models predictive of depression. The hydroethanolic and dichloromethanic extracts, both in doses of 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg, were orally administered 1 hour before carrying out the FST or the TST. The immobility time in both the FST and the TST was significantly reduced by acute oral treatment with the extracts (dose range, 100-300 mg/kg), without accompanying changes in ambulation, as assessed in an open-field test. This excluded the possibility that the effect of the extracts is due to an activation of locomotion. The efficacy of the extracts was found to be comparable to that of amitriptyline (10 mg/kg, p.o.). The present study provides evidence for an antidepressant-like effect of the active principle(s) present in the extracts of S. oleraceus in mice. Therefore, a standardized S. oleraceus extract or its purified constituents could be of potential interest for the treatment of depressive disorders.