In drug development, image-based bioassays are commonplace, typically run in high throughput on automated microscopes. The resulting cell imaging data comes from multiple instruments and has been acquired at different time points, leading to technical and biological variation in the data, potentially hampering the quantitative analysis across an assay campaign. In this work, we analyze the robustness of a novel concept called Vision Transformers with respect to technical and biological variations. We compare their performance to recent analysis concepts by benchmarking the Cells Out of Sample dataset (COOS) from a high-content imaging screen. The experiments suggest that Vision Transformers are capable of learning more robust representations, thereby even outperforming specially designed deep learning architectures by a large margin.


Abstract The accumulation of endogenous hepatotoxin protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) in the liver was proposed to be a novel mechanism of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity (ATDH). ATP-binding cassette transporter G2 (ABCG2) plays an important role in modulating PPIX concentrations. This study aimed to explore the role of ABCG2 genetic polymorphisms in the risk of ATDH in Chinese patients. A 1:4 matched case–control study was performed among 202 ATDH cases and 808 controls. Conditional logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between genotypes and the risk of ATDH by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Male patients with CC genotype of rs2622605 had an increased risk of ATDH (adjusted OR = 1.615, 95% CI: 1.119–2.332, p = 0.011). The peak value of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was significantly higher in male patients with CC genotype of rs2622605 than in those with TT + TC genotype during antituberculosis treatment (102.0 U/L vs. 98.0 U/L, p = 0.029). This is the first attempt to evaluate the association between ABCG2 genetic variants and the risk of ATDH. Based on the 1:4 matched case–control study, the polymorphism at rs2622605 in the ABCG2 gene may be associated with the susceptibility to ATDH in Chinese male patients.


This paper describes a feature-based tracking system that can track moving objects with an active camera. A robust camera motion estimation algorithm is proposed to obtain a stable global motion for feature tracking. After we identify background and foreground motions based on dominant motion estimates, we estimate camera motion on the background by applying a parametric affine motion model. After compensating for camera motion, we trace multiple corner features in the scene and segment foreground objects by clustering motion trajectories of the corner features. We can also command the pan-tilt controller to position the moving object at the center of the camera.


This work aims to reveal the influence of thermal treatment on thermal conductivity of a clay-based raw material. The analysis of the effect of the porous network and solid skeleton on thermal conductivity has been performed by numerical simulation. Three steps were combined: (i) elaboration, (ii) characterisation, (iii) validation and comparison with experimental results. In filigree, the objective is to make an insulating material for the building field while decreasing energy of fabrication. After the step of elaboration, the porosity was evaluated experimentally by pycnometer and mercury intrusion porosimeter and numerically by means of micrographs observations. The effective thermal conductivity was evaluated using the laser flash technique and compared to results obtained by numerical simulation using ABAQUS software. The influence of the microstructure characteristics was highlighted by the numerical study which enables to overcome the limitation of the classical analytical models. As results, we observe that when the temperature of fabrication decreases of about 200 °C, the pore volume fraction is multiplied by six while the thermal conductivity decreases four times. The mechanical properties remain acceptable for a construction field. These tendencies were confirmed by both experimental and numerical approaches.


The paper tackles reasons for the delay of family formation in contemporary
 Serbia in the cultural context of pro-familism and standardized life course.
 Life course perspective is applied as the most suitable one because it
 fruitfully reconciles structure and agency, demography and sociology. Young
 people's transition to adulthood in Serbia is assessed as protracted,
 somewhat like in Mediterranean and CEE countries (e.g. Slovenia). The
 empirical evidence is based on various sources of data, combining
 quantitative (surveys and demographics) and qualitative approaches. The main
 conclusion is that structural barriers mostly hamper individualization and
 emancipation of young people from the family of origin, although personal
 reasons are not negligible (lack of a "proper partner"). Entry into marriage
 and start of childbearing are tightly related and compressed processes in a
 life course of young people in Serbia, thus identifying markers of adulthood.
 If we expect these groups of population to be the forerunners of
 (post)modernization, then more social, political support and action is needed
 for the sake of fostering: empowerment (employment, housing, and development
 of welfare state), services aimed at institutionalization of parenthood and
 care work, as well as gender equality in everyday life.


The singular expertise of family physicians is the ability to manage complexity with pragmatism, both clinically and ethically. Telemedicine raises multiple questions about the nature of the patient-physician relationship as manifested in clinical encounters. Some of these questions are concerning, underscoring the need to assess whether medical care is better with this new technology-or if it is just different or maybe even worse. It seems clear, however, that, regardless of its limitations, telemedicine is here to stay. The pragmatic complex ethical question, then, is how all of us together-both medical professionals and society at large-will manage it.


H. Neubauer, one of the authors of the paper, comments : We acknowledge the comments made by Wood and Conlan on our paper (Khan and others 2011) and would like to respond.

The stated prevalence of less than 0.1 per cent was an assumed prevalence and was erroneously inserted into the summary and into the statistics section without explanation in the discussion. As no concise data can be obtained from Pakistan and Brazil, any estimate on prevalence remains purely speculative. We are sorry for making this mistake and any misinterpretation it may have caused. …


In this work, we study the large-scale pretraining of BERT-Large with differentially private SGD (DP-SGD). We show that combined with a careful implementation, scaling up the batch size to millions (i.e., mega-batches) improves the utility of the DP-SGD step for BERT; we also enhance its efficiency by using an increasing batch size schedule. Our implementation builds on the recent work of [SVK20], who demonstrated that the overhead of a DP-SGD step is minimized with effective use of JAX [BFH+18, FJL18] primitives in conjunction with the XLA compiler [XLA17]. Our implementation achieves a masked language model accuracy of 60.5% at a batch size of 2M, for $\epsilon = 5.36$. To put this number in perspective, non-private BERT models achieve an accuracy of $\sim$70%.


When a newly arrived English learner (EL) enters the classroom, time is not on the teacher's side. It is not uncommon for the EL to arrive far ahead of assessment data, such as a standardized measure of language level. Yet, the teacher is obliged to immediately provide instruction. Time is not on the student's side either. English learners need immediate and appropriate instruction. This calls for a quick, formative assessment tool for identifying language level and appropriate accommodations. The purpose of this article is to present the Classroom Assessment of Language Levels (CALL) a tool for teachers to identify an EL's language level that suggests appropriate differentiated strategies matched to language level (Boyd-Batstone, 2013).


Multiple myeloma (MM), a plasma cell malignancy, accounts for approximately 1 percent of all cancers and slightly more than 10 percent of hematologic malignancies in the United States. Approximately 20,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year and over 11,000 people will die from this disease. Current therapies for MM often induce remission, but nearly all patients eventually relapse and die. T-cell mediated anti-tumor therapies using genetically modify T cells with specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have non-overlapping activity, toxicity and tumor resistance profiles compared to conventional chemotherapeutic agents. The main challenge in designing a CAR T cell immunotherapeutic approach is identifying the best antigen for tumor targeting. CS-1 is a cell surface glycoprotein of the signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM) receptor family that is highly and selectively expressed on normal plasma cells and MM cells, with lower expression on NK cells and little or no expression on normal tissues. This unique expression pattern and proven clinical benefit of CS-1 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of relapsed MM makes CS-1 a good target for CAR T cell therapy. Central memory T cells (TCM) from PBMC were isolated using a two-step process on the AutoMACS device to first deplete CD14+, CD45RA+ and CD25+ cells, then to positively select CD62L+ cells. These TCM undergo anti-CD3/CD28 bead stimulation and transduction with a lentiviral vector encoding CS-1 CAR containing a CD28 co-stimulatory domain and two mutations on IgG4 linker CH-2 portion to ensure enhanced potency and persistence after adoptive transfer. Gene modified CS-1 CAR T cells specifically lysed MM.1S, a MM cell line, in 4-hour 51Cr release assays and all the CAR+ cells expressed 107a upon co-cultured with the MM.1S cells. To investigate the potency of the CS-1CAR T cells, 2x106 MM.1S cells that were engineered to express GFP firefly luciferase were inoculated into NSG mice by tibia injection. 7 days post tumor engraftment, 1x106 CS-1 CAR T cells were intravenously injected into the tumor bearing mice. In contrast to untreated and mock cell treated mice in which tumor progressed rapidly systemically, single intravenous infusion of CS-1 CAR T cells induced dramatic tumor regression and significantly prolonged survival. In addition to CS-1, CD44v6 and BCMA are antigens that have also been shown to be over-expressed on MM tumor cells. We therefore compared the two CARs with CS-1 CAR for their anti-MM activity. Based on our studies, targeting CS-1 resulted in the best efficacy (Figure 1) and would be an attractive strategy for development of a clinical trial. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Quantum computing is posing new threats on our security infrastructure. This has triggered a new research field on quantum-safe methods, and those that rely on the application of quantum principles are commonly referred as quantum cryptography. The most mature development in the field of quantum cryptography is called Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). QKD is a key exchange primitive that can replace existing mechanisms that can become obsolete in the near future. Although QKD has reached a high level of maturity, there is still a long path for a mass market implementation. QKD shall overcome issues such as miniaturization, network integration and the reduction of production costs to make the technology affordable. In this direction, we foresee that QKD systems will evolve following the same path as other networking technologies, where systems will run on specific network cards, integrable in commodity chassis. This work describes part of our activity in the EU H2020 project CiViQ in which quantum technologies, as QKD systems or quantum random number generators (QRNG), will become a single network element that we define as Quantum Switch. This allows for quantum resources (keys or random numbers) to be provided as a service, while the different components are integrated to cooperate for providing the most random and secure bit streams. Furthermore, with the purpose of making our proposal closer to current networking technology, this work also proposes an abstraction logic for making our Quantum Switch suitable to become part of software-defined networking (SDN) architectures. The model fits in the architecture of the SDN quantum node architecture, that is being under standardization by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. It permits to operate an entire quantum network using a logically centralized SDN controller, and quantum switches to generate and to forward key material and random numbers across the entire network. This scheme, demonstrated for the first time at the Madrid Quantum Network, will allow for a faster and seamless integration of quantum technologies in the telecommunications infrastructure.


Second Language (L2) testing has increasingly relied on performance assessment to evaluate practical command of language acquired. However, such forms of assessment entail more complex task design and subjective human scoring judgment (Bachman, 2004), raising challenges for score dependability and score use due to variability associated with task design (Deville & Chalhoub-Deville, 2006; In'nami, & Koizumi, 2016), differences in rater behavior (Bachman, Lynch, & Mason, 1995), and rating rubric functionality, especially when consisting of multiple subscales (Grabowski & Lin, 2019; Sawaki, 2007, Xi, 2007). The current study illustrates the use of Multivariate Generalizability Theory (MG-Theory) analyses for examining score variability and dependability for written performance assessment on an ESL placement test, rated using an analytic rubric with three subscales. In particular, this study identified the presence of task-related variability that did reduce score dependability for the writing scores yielded from this test. By the same token, this variability could substantively be justified as an artifact of representing the construct of L2 writing ability in a sufficiently broad manner. Simply said, should we expect test takers to have equivalent levels of proficiency when writing a review of an experience as a customer and when writing an argumentative essay as a student?


The ultrasonographic appearance of mesenchymal hepatic hamartoma in two infants is described. In both cases the echo patterns were predominantly anechoic, but showed evidence of trabeculation. The differential diagnosis of mesenchymal hepatic hamartoma is discussed.


cupboards,bed-tablesand trays, and bedside lockers-all are discussedin the light of Miss Matthews's extensive observationsand careful thought; a bedsidelocker of her own design, which is illustrated and described,has many sound features. Chapters follow on window boxes, bird tables and mirrors, on a library and shopping service, on occupations (for interest and for therapy), on correspondenceand birthdays,andon visitors; in eacha commonsenseapproachis made to the patient'swelfare. A brief chapterdeals with out-patientsand enquiries,and finally, in the author'swords, "the long-standinggrievanceof the early morning wash is attacked". Apart from the design for a bedside locker there is little in this book that the author would claim as original. Most of the ideas are in practical use in one hospital or another. It is, however, extremely doubtful that anyonehospital observesthe lot -and it must be admitted that nearly every suggestion is reasonable, practicable and desirable, provided one acceptsthe view that the patient really is the most important personin a hospital and is in fact its raison d'ctre.


This was a Master's thesis, produced as part of the MA in Writing for Performance course at the University of Huddersfield, 2007-8. the dissertation was submitted and passed in April 2008, and was produced under Dr Linda Taylor. It situates Sarah Kane's work in a context and heritage of feminist performance art from the 1950s onwards. It discusses how performance artists such as Ana Mendieta, Yoko Ono, Suzanne Lacy, Judy Chicago, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Valerie Export, the Womanhouse project, Tracey Emin, Karen Finley and Jenny Holzer worked with the theme of rape, before analysing how Sarah Kane treated this in her 1995 play 'Blasted'.


Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of localization-related epilepsy, with the highest prevalence rate in adulthood. Recently, we reported the beneficial effects of the individual treatment with flavonoids such as silibinin and morin in kainic acid (KA)-treated mouse model for TLE. In this study, we investigated whether there is a synergistic effect of co-treatment with silibinin and morin on the susceptibility to seizure, the frequency of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs), and granule cell dispersion in the dentate gyrus, which could be partially controlled by treatment with each flavonoid in the animal model for TLE. Unfortunately, we did not observe any synergistic effect against the susceptibility of seizure and SRS induced by KA treatment. However, the combination of these flavonoids showed similar antiepileptic effects compared with treatment with each one individually. Therefore, although silibinin and morin are not suitable for combination therapy, our results still suggest that these flavonoids can be used as potent therapeutic compounds for preventing epileptic seizures.


Indirect techniques have been used to obtain information about reaction rates for several proton capture reactions that occur on short‐lived nuclei. The techniques used to carry out the measurements are reviewed and the results obtained are presented. Also future prospects for further measurements with a new facility, T‐REX are discussed.


OBJECTIVES: To develop an effective artificial intelligence (AI) driven platform to optimize the process of assessing appropriateness of hospitalization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Anonymized data of 22,020 insured-patient admissions in a BDMS network hospital were included to build a prediction model based on a comprehensive guideline for appropriate hospitalization. To develop Thai Natural Language Processing (NLP) model, 77,707 sentences from medical records were used and separated into two datasets, 80% for training and 20% for testing. A combined NLP and rule-based algorithms formed an AI engine and outputs were displayed using a web-based application. An expert panel of five Utilization Management (UM) physicians had several collaborative discussions to fine tune the NLP model, application of clinical criteria, and classification engine. Eventually, NLP model in the latest version (BURT1.1), had satisfactory features with overall higher than 99% accuracy, precision, recall, and F1. RESULTS: Performance of BURT1.1 was assessed using 300 cases randomly selected from the main dataset, against other methods, including concurrent review by UM nurses at the participating hospital, and UM nurses at Bangkok Hospital Headquarters (BHQ). Agreement upon UM Physician Panel consensus was set as one of the performance indicators, and BURT1.1 showed a favorable outcome with the highest rate of agreement (86%) among all the methods. The precision rate was 99% as compared to insurance claim approval status. Additionally, dramatic time savings were achieved with 0.59 second of processing time as compared to 10-15 minutes per case by conventional manual review. CONCLUSION: BURT1.1 should be effectively implemented as an automatic daily tool to screen inappropriate hospitalization. It can immediately identify patients at high risk of inappropriate hospitalization that require further assessment by UM nurse, thus providing feedback to attending physicians on the completeness and quality of documentation, with parallel notification to UM physicians. Ultimately, BURT1.1 can contribute to increase UM efficiency, speeding up the claim process, reducing health care costs due to unnecessary hospitalization, and reduction of claim denials.


This paper puts the case for perceiving the Indian subcontinent before 1750 as a zone largely external to the operations of the then Europe-based capitalist world-economy and to. see 175S0-1850 as the period during which it, along with many other parts of the world, was incorporated into the world-economy. It is argued that incorporation involved a restructuring of production processes and the creation of a political entity (or entities) operating within the rules of the interstate system. In the latter case, such an entity definitely does not have to be a colonial state. Indeed, in this period, the juridical structure of India was exceptional rather than usual, and the az/thor has sought to trace the processess by which this exception occurred.


A gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric method based on the use of short capillary gas chromatograph columns (3-5 m) and electron ionization mass spectrometry has been optimized and evaluated for the determination of underivatized anabolic steroids. The short-column gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric method was shown to result in short analysis times and to require minimal sample preparation, but suffered from some loss in sensitivity and chromatographic resolution compared with conventional gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric techniques for derivatized steroids. Therefore, short-column gas chromatographic conditions were optimized to maximize the sample transfer efficiency (sensitivity) from the gas chromatograph into the ion source of the mass spectrometer, while maintaining chromatographic integrity and minimizing thermal decomposition. Mass spectrometric conditions were optimized to maximize ionization efficiency with respect to the intensity of the molecular ion and degree of fragmentation such that positive identification of each steroid could be made based on the resulting mass spectra. Under optimized conditions, we have shown that underivatized anabolic steroids spiked into urine samples can be determined at low-nanogram levels using short-column chromatography/full-scan electron ionization mass spectrometry.


Gastroduodenal intolerance is one of the major factors limiting the use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in patients with rheumatic diseases. We previously demonstrated that dyspepsia was not a marker for ulcer in NSAID users. We have now evaluated dyspeptic symptoms in 245 arthritic patients (receiving 13 different NSAIDs) from the practices of two rheumatologists. Fifty-seven patients (23%) gave a history of previous peptic ulcers. Heartburn, indigestion, or sour stomach at least once within the past year was present in 62.5%; 36.7% had experienced these symptoms within the previous 2 months and 28.6% within the previous week. Only 39 patients (15.9%) had experienced dyspepsia more than once daily within the previous month, and 8 (3.3%) had dyspepsia >5 times/day. Thirtyfour of the 39 patients with daily dyspepsia claimed to obtain relief with cimetidine or antacids (34 patients) or food (2 patients), whereas 3 had not discovered anything that provided relief. Women smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to experience dyspepsia (p < 0.001). Neither men smokers nor those with a history of previous ulcer were more likely to have dyspepsia than nonsmokers or those without a history of ulcer (p > 0.5). We were not able to find a statistical association between any NSAID, or combination of NSAIDs, and the frequency of dyspepsia.


We analyzed resistive switching‐based memristors by using the charge–flux relations instead of the traditional current–voltage approach. We employed simulated and experimental data to develop a model that can be easily included in circuit simulators. Physical simulations of devices with different conductive filament sizes were employed to fit the 3‐parameter model introduced. Later on, the relations between the model parameters and the conductive filament geometrical features were characterized in‐depth. In addition, a model to obtain the energy employed in the reset process was presented. Finally, we used the model to estimate the experimental conductive filament radius distribution using a set of 3000 reset cycles. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Over the last three decades the centre of Athens has been the site of numerous pedestrianisation projects, transforming the image and function of Athenian public space within a four square kilometre zone around Acropolis Hill. Local authorities largely promote pedestrianisation as a means of boosting the cultural tourist profile of the Greek capital. Surrounded by streets that are replete with tourist and commercial activities, Athinas Street has been the focus of discussions on future pedestrianisation since 2009. In the context of a growing debate on the need of radical gestures in order to stimulate life in public space, the paper aims to stimulate discussion about the forms and triggers of animation of street life that do not depend on traditional planning or event management. By means of close observation of walkers' itineraries, the study seeks to reveal the ways in which street life flourishes within a blend of pedestrians' different types of presence in public associated with the permeable boundaries between private and public space usage. The author, who takes an urban planning and ethnographic perspective, aims to contribute to the current growing debate in Europe on the transformation of public space through the promotion of environments that promote walking. The article suggests that the enlivening of public space thrives in Athinas Street thanks to a heterogeneous walkscape characterised by a diversity of practices, trajectories and profiles of walkers, all of whom contribute to enlivening the place and creating a local identity.


Background To determine the efficacy of self-collection for primary screening of an array of sexually transmitted infections. Methods A cross-sectional baseline analysis was conducted on a cohort of 300 female sex workers (FSW) within an outpatient clinic from a suburban/slum area of Nairobi, from December 2009 to June 2010. APTIMA transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) assays (Gen-Probe Incorporated) were used for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC), Trichomonas vaginalis (Trich) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MGen) infections and, were analysed in San Diego, California. The APTIMA COMBO 2 assay (AC2) was used for CT/GC, the APTIMA Trichomonas vaginalis assay for Trich, and an APTIMA Mycoplasma genitalium research assay for Mgen. FSW conducted a self-collected sample in privacy, based on standardised instructions, and then underwent a pelvic exam to obtain a physician-collected sample. Results A total of 299 FSW (mean age of 30) participated, of which 15% were HIV-seropositive. MGen was the most common infection (12.7% in physician; 20.7% in self-collection), followed by Trich (7.7%; 9.7%), CT (4.3%; 5.4%), and GC (2.7%; 3.3%). For all STIs examined, the self-collected samples detected more positive cases than the physician-collected samples. No self-collected sample missed an infection that was picked by the physician sample. κ for agreement between self-collected and physician-collected samples were high for CT: 0.89, GC: 0.89 and Trich: 0.87, and slightly lower for MGen: 0.73. Using physician sampling as the gold-standard, the sensitivity of self-collection was 100% for all STIs. The specificity for self-collection was high for CT, GC, and Trich (99.0%, 99.3% and 97.8% respectively) and slightly lower for MGen (91.6%). Conclusion A single self-collected sample appeared to perform with comparable sensitivity and specificity to that of physician-collected sampling for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vaginalis and Mycoplasma genitalium.


Hepatitis C Virus belongs to the Flaviviridae family.  One proposed mechanism of HCV persistence in the ability to infect hematopoietic cells, including Dendritic cells (DCs). HCV infection of DCs could impair their functions that represent one of the mechanisms, thus hampering viral clearance by the host immune system. Among HCV-encoded proteins, the highly conserved Core protein has been suggested to be responsible for the immunomodulatory properties of this Hepacivirus . Recombinant viral vectors expressing the HCV Core protein and allowing its transduction and therefore the expression of the protein into DCs could be useful tools for the analysis of the properties of the Core protein. Vaccinia Virus and retrovirus have been used to transduce human DCs. Likewise, gene transfer into DCs using Semliki Forest Virus has been reported. This study aimed to express the HCV Core protein in human monocyte-derived DCs using an SFV vector, in which the subgenomic RNA encoding the structural proteins was replaced by the HCV Core sequence and then analyze the effects of its expression on DCs functions.


The increasing complexity of industrial systems leads to increased requirements concerning diagnosis capabilities. An intelligent process monitoring and fault diagnosis environment has been developed by interfacing a data acquisition and control software with a knowledge base system in an effective way. The abrupt changes of important system's variables are continually captured, analysed and compared with the relevant estimated values and the results are used for the final knowledge based diagnostic conclusions. The presentation of the implementation and developing of the intelligent monitoring process is the overall goal of this paper .


The public's perception of police legitimacy is viewed through the lens of procedural justice (Tyler, 2003). Legitimacy it is a perception held by an audience (Tankebe & Liebling, 2013). Tyler (2006, p. 375) defines legitimacy as "a psychological property of an authority, institution, or social arrangement that leads those connected to it to believe that it is appropriate, proper, and just." Four aspects of the police contact that affects a citizen's view: active participation in the decision-making, the decision-making is neutral and objective, trustworthy motives, and being treated with dignity and respect (Tyler, 2004). Accordingly an officer should act in a way that supports citizen's active participation, conveys an air of neutrality, and enhances dignity and respect. One way an officer can transmit his intent is through communicative intelligence. Communicative intelligence is a communication theory based on five capabilities (Zoller, 2015). These authors intend to link communicative intelligence to behaviors officers should engage in to enhance PJ and improve PL.


College sports serving national fitness are a complex system. College sports are an important part of national fitness. Basketball curriculum, as a subsystem of college sports, has always been loved by college students. The reform of college basketball curriculum mode is an important way to explore the coordinated evolution of college sports subsystem. Through the methods of questionnaire, interview, and mathematical statistics, aiming at the problems existing in the planning and design of basketball curriculum objectives and contents in colleges and universities, this study puts forward that it is necessary to establish a scientific and reasonable basketball special curriculum objective system and then combine the basketball curriculum teaching theory with the basketball training teaching mode, to cultivate students' practical application ability, and adopt a variety of teaching methods to cultivate students' practical ability. Finally, the teaching mode of basketball is improved. Through an example, the application effect of the basketball curriculum model under the background of national fitness proposed in this study is tested. The results show that the basketball curriculum teaching model proposed in this study has certain feasibility and effectiveness.


ABSTRACT Tropical rain forest is one type of forest ecosystem that dominated most of Sumatra areal. Arboretum of Faculty of forestry, Lancang Kuning University is the one of tropical rain forest  which the environment becomes a place or habitat for living things. This study aims to describe the various of fungi Basidiomycota. This study was going on May – June 2016. The making technique of data by exkplore an arboretum area to straight saw the fungi. The data collected were characteristic of fungi by morphology and detail pictue to indentification.  The result shows that there are 25 species include in 12 families. Species that is Auricularia auricula, Schyzophylum commune, Ramariopsis kunzei, Agaricus crocopeplus, Lepiota sp, Lycoperdon Pyriforme, Crepidotus sp, Mycena incata, Mycena sp, Marasmieullus candidus, Marasmius andracaceus, Marasmius elegan, Marasmius sp1, Marasmius sp2, Collybia sp, Polyporus sp, Lignosus rhinocerus, Ganoderma aplanatum, Ganoderma sp, Fomitopsis cajanderi, Fomitopsis finicola, Grivola Frondosa, Grivola sp, Coltricia perennis dan Coltricia cinamomea. The number of fungi order were 5 (five)  that could be Auriculateales, Aphylloporales, Agaricales, Polyporales and Hymenochaetales. Keywords : Basidiomycota, species, the tropical rain forest


In this study, we attempted to find alternative materials to rice bran (Japonica in Korea) such as rice bran pellet (Indica in Pakistan), corn distillers dried grains with solubles, sesame oil meal, and kapok meal for bottle cultivation of Pleurotus eryngii. Among all treatments, the total carbon content of the mixed substrate was the highest in T1 and the total nitrogen content was the highest in T4. The C/N ratio of T2 was comparable to that of the control and was higher than that of other treatments. The diameter of the pileus was the largest in T1 and T2, and the length of the stipe was the largest in T1 and T2. The yield and bio-efficiency of the fruit body were higher in T2 than in the other treatments, and were similar to that of the control plot. Therefore, the findings of our study suggest that rice bran pellet (Indica in Pakistan) could be a suitable alternative to rice bran (Japonica in Korea) for the cultivation of P. eryngii.


Introduction Postoperative biliary stricture (POBS) is one of the common complications of biliary surgery. Previous literature on risk factors of POBS was scarce, and the classification of POBS in benign and malignant biliary diseases was incomplete. Aim To analyze clinicopathological factors of POBS in usual biliary diseases, and to facilitate preoperative diagnosis of biliary stricture. Material and methods A retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data of 2228 patients who underwent biliary surgery in our hospital from July 2010 to June 2022. With the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the clinicopathological factors for POBS were classified, and data analysis was conducted. Results Benign diseases with age ≥ 60 years (p = 0.034), diabetes (p = 0.001), common bile duct diameter < 0.8 cm (p = 0.034), Mirizzi syndrome (p = 0.001), seniority of surgeons < 25 years (p = 0.001), and operation time for the first 6 years (p = 0.015) are more likely to evolve into POBS; malignant diseases with conjugated bilirubin ≥ 6.8 μmol/l (p = 0.042), alkaline phosphatase ≥ 125 U/l (p = 0.042), γ-glutamyl transferase ≥ 50 U/l (p = 0.047), diabetes (p = 0.038), and seniority of surgeons < 25 years (p = 0.008) are prone to POBS. Different surgical approaches affect the incidence of POBS (χ2 = 9.717, p = 0.034). The choice of surgical site is important for the incidence of POBS in malignant diseases (χ2 = 7.935, p = 0.041). Conclusions Surgeons need to identify risk factors, conduct patient visits and assessments preoperatively, standardize the operation in order to avoid structural damage, and reduce the occurrence of POBS.


The ability to isolate epithelial stem cells of the adult prostate (PrSCs) is crucial in terms of understanding their biology and purported role in tumor initiation. Previous isolations of PrSCs were based on subdividing total prostate epithelial cells by flow cytometry using antibodies to cell surface markers. In this study we have used a novel approach shown previously to successfully identify mammary stem cells (Bai & Rohrschneider, 2010, Genes Dev. 24:1882). This method employs the s-SHIP (stem-SH2-containing 59-Inositol Phosphatase) promoter to tag presumptive stem cells with GFP in a transgenic mouse model, called Tg11.5kb-GFP. Here we show that in Tg11.5kb-GFP mice, epithelial GFP+ (s-SHIP-expressing) cells are present transiently during early mouse prostate development: during the first week after birth, GFP expression was present in the growing buds in 1-3 % of total prostate cells, then decreased during the second week as the solid epithelial cords canalize. During this process, luminal and basal cells differenciate, and GFP+ cells localized in the basal cell layer of the epithelium. GFP expression was then totally turned off after 3 weeks. We therefore focused our study on epithelial GFP+ cells present between day 5 and day 7 after birth in order to determine if this population represents a population of putative stem cells. Cell surface marker analyses demonstrate an antigenic profile characteristic of basal epithelial prostate cells: lineage- CD24+ Sca-1+ CD49f+ (LSC). Interestingly, other research groups have shown that LSC population contains multipotent stem cells of the adult prostate; thus, the GFP+ cell population represent a subpopulation (~15%) of this basal/stem LSC population in the neonatal prostate. Moreover, in this LSC population, GFP+ cells showed ~20 fold more in vitro sphere-forming activity than the GFP- cells. Finally transplantation assays of 103 GFP+ cells in combination with urogenital sinus mesechymal cells demonstrated the potential of this GFP+ cell population to reconstitute in vivo prostate ducts containing both basal and luminal cells in renal grafts. Altogether, these results demonstrate that s-SHIP promoter expression is a new marker for basal epithelial prostate cells exhibiting stem/progenitor cell properties. We are now performing transcriptional analysis of GFP+ and GFP- basal LSC cells in order to define gene sets that distinguish a basal cell profile from a tissue stem cell profile. Preliminary results showed interesting candidate genes including transcription factors. We anticipate that these results will lead to a better definition of adult PrSCs and will help to elucidate prostate cancer etiology. Citation Format: Guillaume Brocqueville, Helene Bauderlique Le Roy, Larry R. Rohrschneider, Roland P. Bourette. s-SHIP promoter expression identifies a subset of murine basal prostate cells as neonatal stem cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Third AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research; Sep 18-22, 2013; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(19 Suppl):Abstract nr B07.


In the following article we present the application of the Eurocode rules for calculating the effective length of columns in single-storey buildings. Assuming the same effective lengths for cantilevers (i.e. l0 =2 lcol) and the construction columns, as in the example, will not always be correct. The problem of calculating the effective length mostly presents itself when using the simplified method. In the exact method it is not required to determine the effective lengths. This is why it is advisable while designing to use the exact method based on second order analysis and taking into account the nominal stiffness.


The Administration has proposed revising the AGI means test for eligibility to farm program payments. The 2002 farm bill excludes producers from farm program payments (CCP, DP, and MLG/LDP) if their average adjusted gross income (AGI) for three preceding years exceeds $2.5 million and less than 75% of their AGI comes from farming, ranching or forestry operations. The revised means test would reduce the AGI cut-off to $200,000 and repeal the 75% exclusion. The purpose of this report is to estimate the impacts of the AGI proposal on average annual government payments and real net worth in 2014 for representative crop farms. The AFPC maintains a data base of 64 representative commercial family farms in major production regions across the United States. The farms represent a full-time, commercial operation that is typical of farms in a particular area. The farmers who participate in the bi-annual farm update interviews are selected by the county agent based on farm size (typical for the area), crop mix and farming practices (typical for the area), and being full-time farmers (not employed off the farm). The farms were constructed with no off-farm income to illustrate the changes in wellbeing due to farm policy changes. To the extent that a farm has off-farm income, the results will be conservative.


ABSTRACT Leptolyngbya sp. strain Heron Island is a cyanobacterium exhibiting chromatic acclimation. However, this strain has strong interactions with other bacteria, making it impossible to obtain axenic cultures for sequencing. A protocol involving an analysis of tetranucleotide frequencies, G+C content, and BLAST searches has been described for separating the cyanobacterial scaffolds from those of its cooccurring bacteria.


Prior research demonstrates that viewing matched pictures is ineffective in reducing false memories for related lures that have not been previously externally presented during the experiment. However, other types of visual processing, such imagery encoding, have been shown to reduce false memories when evaluated from paradigms where the critical item is also thought to be internally activated, such as when using DRM lists. The prior work showing that imagery encoding can reduce false memories when using DRM lists may be confounded by a potential mismatch between the mentallygenerated image and the visual word. Using a category associate procedure, as opposed to DRM lists, may help provide a more accurate depiction of the effects of visual processing on false memories for related lures. The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the effects of different visual encoding conditions on false memory while using a category associate procedure. In two pilot experiments, we demonstrated that imagery encoding was effective in reducing false recall. In a third experiment, we manipulated the test instructions (standard v inclusion) to test the predictions of two key theories (impoverished relational-encoding and distinctiveness heuristic) used to explain the effects of varying levels of visual processing on false memory. The present set of experiments demonstrated that the type of visual stimuli has a unique effect on memory performance. Viewing items pictorially may help to increase the rate of correctly recalled items. Additionally, engaging in imagery may help to not only increase the rate of correctly recalled items, but also reduce the rate of falsely recalled items. Future work evaluating the potential theoretical mechanisms of these effects is warranted.


ABSTRACT The C and D box-containing (box C/D) small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) function in the nucleolytic processing and 2′-O-methylation of precursor rRNA. In vertebrates, most box C/D snoRNAs are processed from debranched pre-mRNA introns by exonucleolytic activities. Elements directing accurate snoRNA excision are located within the snoRNA itself; they comprise the conserved C and D boxes and an adjoining 5′,3′-terminal stem. Although the terminal stem has been demonstrated to be essential for snoRNA accumulation, many snoRNAs lack a terminal helix. To identify thecis-acting elements supporting the accumulation of intron-encoded box C/D snoRNAs devoid of a terminal stem, we have investigated the in vivo processing of the human U46 snoRNA and an artificial snoRNA from the human β-globin pre-mRNA. We demonstrate that internal and/or external stem structures located within the snoRNA or in the intronic flanking sequences support the accumulation of mammalian box C/D snoRNAs lacking a canonical terminal stem. In the intronic precursor RNA, transiently formed external and/or stable internal base-pairing interactions fold the C and D boxes together and therefore facilitate the binding of snoRNP proteins. Since the external intronic stems are degraded during snoRNA processing, we propose that the C and D boxes alone can provide metabolic stability for the mature snoRNA.


Abstract: Habitat loss and degradation appear to be the primary drivers of amphibian declines. Given the losses of native prairie and prairie wetlands, it is essential to understand the habitat conditions that support amphibian species in remaining prairie ecosystems. In this study, we combine wetland surveys, geographic information systems (GIS), and hierarchical statistical modeling to assess anuran occupancy relationships with wetland and landscape factors. We surveyed 141 wetlands with repeated sampling for amphibian breeding activity (calling, eggs, tadpoles, metamorphs) in the Sheyenne National Grasslands—one of the largest contiguous prairies on the North American continent. Overall we observed evidence of seven amphibian species breeding in the Sheyenne National Grasslands. Species with ubiquitous distributions (Boreal Chorus Frogs) or species that occurred infrequently (Canadian Toads and Great Plains Toads) had little variance in occupancy. However, Northern Leopard Frogs, Wood Frogs, and Gray Treefrogs exhibited occupancy relationships with wetland and landscape variables. Our results establish a baseline understanding of current prairie amphibian–habitat relationships. Furthermore, they indicate that integrating local and landscape variables into occupancy models that account for spatial autocorrelation can provide a better understanding of amphibian ecology, and can inform conservation and restoration programs.


Two studies evaluated theoretical models of how global self-esteem is related to self-perceptions. importance, certainty, and actual-ideal discrepancies in specific domains. Study 1 supported differentially weighting specific domains; global school esteem was substantially more correlated with self-perceptions in core school subjects than in noncore subjects. Neither study, however, supported individually weighting specific domains according to importance, certainty, actual-ideal discrepancies, or profile similarity components for each individual. For example. whereas one specific domain may be more important than others across all individuals, its effect does not vary for individuals who judge the domain as more or less important


Due to the similarities between mammoth ivory ornaments and modern elephant ivory ones in the market, the spectral properties of the two kinds of ivories were analyzed and compared in the present paper through the gemological tests, infrared spectrum and X-ray powder diffraction, etc. The research found that the refractive index and specific gravity of the two ivories are very similar. The refractive index of mammoth ivory is 1.52-1.53 whereas that of elephant ivory is 1.54-1.55. The specific gravity of mammoth ivory is 1.77 and that of elephant ivory is 1.72. It should be careful that Schreger angles are used to distinguish the two kinds of ivories, because the angles of inner and middle layers in the two kinds of tusks are similar except the angles of elephant tusk out-layers are larger than those of mammoth (The Schreger angle of the sample mammoth ivory belonging to out-layer tusks is 100 degrees nd that of elephant ivory is 115 degrees). In addition, the out-layer Schreger angles of Asian elephants are normally less than 120 degrees, while those of Africa elephants are bigger than 120 degrees (This can be used to identify Asian and Africa elephant ivories). The infrared spectroscopy test shows that the water-molecule-related absorption peaks of 3319, 1642 and 1557 cm(-1) are more obvious in the modern elephant ivory samples than in the mammoth ivory samples; the collagen-related absorption peaks of 2927and 2855 cm(-1) are obvious in the modern elephant ivory but extremely weak in the mammoth ivory. The results indicate that collagen and crystallized water in mammoth ivory reduced to a very low level after having been buried for a long period. X-ray powder diffraction results show that the diffraction peak splits of mammoth ivories are more obvious and sharp than that of elephant ivories, which means hydroxyapatites crystallized better despite being buried for thousands of years. Hence, it is an important reference for identifying the two kinds of ivories that the ivory organic matter was losing and inorganic matter crystallized better at same time after having been buried.


Background and Aims: As a result of the current demographics, increased projections of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and prevalence of the disease in Latin America (LA), a panel of multidisciplinary experts developed a review of ASCVD in this Region considering the available and appropriate diagnostic methods, classifying the disease and initiating appropriate treatment. The panel expects to increase the awareness of this prevalent disease, decrease consequences of ASCVD with corresponding cost savings and, ultimately, decrease the overall burden of ASCVD in LA. Methods: A selected panel of Latin American experts in fields related to ASCVD were provided with a series of relevant questions to address prior to the multi-day conference. Within this conference, each narrative was discussed and edited by the entire group, through numerous drafts and rounds of discussion until a consensus was achieved. Results: The authors propose specific and realistic recommendations for increasing the awareness of ASCVD in LA and in other countries in a similar situation. Moreover, in creating these recommendations, the authors strived to address all barriers and impediments mentioned previously within this review. Conclusion: This manuscript provides a review of the current state of ASCVD in LA. Additionally, the panel proposes practical recommendations that should be implemented throughout the Region in order to decrease the burden of ASCVD and effectively preventing the consequences in future generations. These recommendations can serve as a framework for LA and other countries in similar situations.


BackgroundIn the developing countries and specifically in the Arab world, the field of child psychiatry is relatively new. Autism became a subject of interest in the region only during the late 1990s. Tremendous effort is needed to raise the awareness of policy makers toward the need for implementation of services and research plans aiming to bridge the gap between the needs of and services provided for autism. AimThe aims of the study were to: (a) focus on the magnitude of the problem of autism in the Arab world; (b) highlight research conducted in this field; and (c) shed light on services provided for autistic patients and their families in the Arab world with special focus on cultural and economic characteristics of the region and its impact on autism. MethodsAll internationally published English language articles and their reference lists were reviewed using MEDLINE (1992–2012) and studies on autism spectrum disorder conducted in all Arab countries were selected. ResultsData from studies conducted by different Arab countries on various fields of autism research – genetic, autoimmune, oxidation stress, nutritional deficiencies, environmental toxins, errors of metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, clinical studies, imaging, treatment outcome, and available services for autistic patients – were collected and reviewed. Between 1992 and 2012 a total of 75 articles were published from Arab countries, most of which (n=55, 73.3%) were published in the last 4 years. Most of the articles discussed possible etiologies of the disorder (n=42, 56.6%). Autoimmune theory was the most commonly investigated in the Arab region (n=12, 16%). Review articles constituted 16% (n=12) of the published articles. The least addressed topic was treatment outcome (n=4, 5.3%). Most of the research came from Saudi Arabia (n=23, 30.6%) and Egypt (n=16, 21.3%). Lebanon came third (n=11, 14.7%) and had mostly review articles (n=6). Internationally published studies on the prevalence of autism in Arab countries showed inconsistent frequency. ConclusionThere is growing interest in autistic disorders in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as evidenced by the increase in research in this field in the last few years. Research on autism in Arab countries is still in its infancy and needs organizational efforts to be fruitful. Further research is needed within Arab countries to determine the most effective and efficient means of improving diagnosis and service delivery in the context of the particular country, culture, and governmental structure.


The article discusses the conceptual transformation within UNHCR towards a 'security discourse' in the 1990s. The article first outlines the post-Cold War context in which this discourse evolved; this context was characterized by the increasing hostility displayed by refugee host states towrds refugees and by the inclusion of refugee movements on the post-Cold War security agenda. The article then analyses the contents of UNHCR's security discourse and notes how the refugee agency attempts to reconcile its concern with the security and stability of refugee host states, on the one hand, and the safety and dignity of the refugee individual, on the other, by merging the two in the concept of 'human security'. The article concludes by discussing some problems raised by UNHCR's reliance on this controversial concept.


The universality of the shape of the species–area relationship (SAR) is subject to regular debate. Recently, Storch et al. (2012) argued that species–area relationships collapse into a single curve at continental scales after the axes are rescaled adjusting the area-axis being to the mean range size of species and the species-axis to the species richness of an area equal to mean range size. It has been claimed that this rescaling generates a universal model, invariant of taxon and continent, and that it is driven by differences in range sizes. Here, we test the universality of the rescaled SAR across scales smaller than the continental level, using presence data for plants, birds and butterflies. We also test an alternative rescaling approach, by using the total extent of the study area and total species richness. At the scales analysed here, we found that the proposed rescaling by Storch et al. adjusts for differences in the extent of the study area and for variation in gamma diversity. Consequently, while the rescaled curves were closely aligned, they did not converge into a single curve. The observed remaining variation is independent of scale and biogeographical region, and is correlated with beta diversity; thus, it reflects the differentiation of species composition in space.


Position verification before the treatment is performed to ensure the actual position to the planning position, so the dose distribution received by the tumor target would be in accordance with the planned dose. In Helical Tomotherapy (HT) treatment, the image of Megavoltage CT (MVCT) could be used to verify the patient's position by registering the image to Kilovoltage CT (KVCT) image. The aim of this study was to evaluate the comparison from the dose distribution resulted from MVCT and KVCT image registration with and without automatic position correction at high doses. The correction in MVCT image registration to KVCT image was performed with adjustment in four HT degrees of freedom (lateral, longitudinal, vertical and rotational direction). Nine MVCT patient images with Hepatocellular Carcinoma were used with high doses therapy in 4-10 fractions using HT at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. Evaluation of the dose distribution in the verification variation (the corrected and uncorrected position) was analyzed with Homogeneity Index (HI), Conformity Index (CI) and Organ at Risk. The results show that HI ranges from 0.06 to 0.3, while CI varies from 0.7 to 1. Based on these results, the position correction may less contribute to the dose distribution to the tumor target.


Xanthine oxidase (XO) is an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine, and this one to uric acid. This process reduces molecular oxygen to O2. Hydroxyl free radicals and hydrogen peroxide, both of which are byproducts of XO activity, can caused oxidative stress in human cells. Overproduction of uric acid in the body leads to hyperuricemia, which is also linked with gout. Uric production in the body can be lowered by XO inhibitors. Inhibition of XO has also been proposed as a mechanism for improving cardiovascular health. Therefore, the search for new efficient XO inhibitors is an interesting topic in drug discovery. 3-Phenylcoumarins and 2-phenylbenzofurans are privileged scaffolds in Medicinal Chemistry. Their structural similarity makes them interesting molecules for a comparative work. Methoxy and nitro substituents were introduced in both scaffolds. A preliminary study gives some insights into the synthesis and biological activity of these molecules against this important target. In general, the studied 3-phenylcoumarins proved to be better XO inhibitors than the similarly substituted 2-phenylbenzofurans. Further studies are still needed to optimize the structure and increase the potential of these molecules as XO inhibitors for the treatment of gout.


The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider has collected 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Detailed measurements of Higgs boson properties are being performed with this dataset. This report reviews measurements of the Higgs boson production mode cross sections and simplified template cross sections, using Higgs decays to two photons, two Z bosons and two W bosons.


Evidence is presented for Holocene relative sea-level changes on the margin of a glacio-isostatically uplifted area: the lower Wick River valley, northern Caithness, Scotland. Lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic analyses of intercalated clastic and organic sediments disclose evidence for a rapid rise of relative sea level from at least as low as -3.6 m to +1.5 m O.D. during the mid-Holocene, culminating between c. 6900 and c. 5900 BP. This is correlated with the Main Postglacial Transgression, identified widely in eastern Scotland. Following a subsequent regression, the sediments record two further marine transgressions beginning at c. 4400 and c. 1200 BP. The presence of late-Holocene estuarine deposits as the highest Holocene marine sediments is a situation only recorded to date at one other site in mainland Scotland. The coastal sediment sequence also indicates evidence for a palaeotsunami that occurred at between c. 7300 and c. 7000 BP and was associated with the Second Storegga Slide, one of the world's largest submarine sediment slides, located on the continental slope west of Norway.


Flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) is a generalization of the classical job-shop scheduling problem (JSP). It takes shape when alternative production routing is allowed in the classical job-shop. However, production scheduling becomes very complex as the number of jobs, operations, parts and machines increases. Until recently, scheduling problems were studied assuming that all of the problem parameters are known beforehand. However, such assumption does not reflect the reality as accidents and unforeseen incidents happen in real manufacturing systems. Thus, an optimal schedule that is produced based on deterministic measures may result in a degraded system performance when released to the job-shop. For this reason more emphasis is put towards producing schedules that can handle uncertainties caused by random disruptions. The current research work addresses solving the deterministic FJSP using evolutionary algorithm and then modifying that method so that robust and/or stable schedules for the FJSP with the presence of disruptions are obtained.
Evolutionary computation is used to develop a hybridized genetic algorithm (hGA) specifically designed for the deterministic FJSP. Its performance is evaluated by comparison to performances of previous approaches with the aid of an extensive computational study on 184 benchmark problems with the objective of minimizing the makespan.
After that, the previously developed hGA is modified to find schedules that are quality robust and/or stable in face of random machine breakdowns. Consequently, a two-stage hGA is proposed to generate the predictive schedule. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed method is compared against three other methods; two are taken from literature and the third is a combination of the former two methods.
Subsequently, the hGA is modified to consider FJSP when processing times of some operations are represented by or subjected to small-to-medium uncertainty. The work compares two genetic approaches to obtain predictive schedule, an approach based on expected processing times and an approach based on sampling technique. To determine the performance of the predictive schedules obtained by both approaches with respect to two types of robustness, an experimental study and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are conducted on a number of benchmark problems.


Transportation planners are increasingly adopting policies aimed at changing travel choices made by citizens. Rather than trying to solve transportation problems by building highways and transit routes, "transportation demand management" relies on incentives and disincentives to promote carpooling, vanpooling, transit use and changed work hours. These approaches attempt to accommodate travel demand by more efficiently utilizing existing facilities. While many argue that transportation behavior cannot be changed, this review demonstrates that many years of behavioral science research on travel show otherwise. Commuters respond to differences in travel time and travel cost, to changes in work hours and other attributes of travel in systematic ways which are quite predictable. As a consequence, travel demand management is a promising approach to regional transportation planning. ̄ NOTE This paper was presented at a Symposium entitled: "Transportation Demand Management: Policy Implications of Recent Behavioral Research," sponsored by the Public Policy Program of UCLA Extension. The author is grateful for the support of UCLA Extension, and wishes to thank Lyn Long and Susan Wirka for assistance in locating important source materials. I also wish to thank Professor Donald Shoup for helpful comments on an early draft. Chanaing Priorities in Transportation Planning American attitudes toward transportation planning have recently undergone significant change. For three decades after the end of World War II, public policy emphasized the construction of new highway and transit facilities in order to remove the backlog of needs resulting from the combined effects of depression, a war economy, continued urban growth, and accelerating automobile ownership. For the most part, there was consensus among transportation policymakers that their primary goal was to accommodate growth by constructing facilities which would have adequate capacity to handle future demand. It was understood that land use patterns and economic development were the sources of traffic, yet there was general agreement that transportation policy should aim to accommodate forecasted land use and economic growth rather than to institute regulations to control traffic. Views of transportation policymakers have been changing under pressure from increasing growth and traffic congestion, coupled with growing limits on transportation budgets, and increasing opposition to highway construction bY environmental coalitions and community groups. Now, policymakers frequently argue that "we can't build our way out of our problems," and that attempts to accommodate growth solely by increasing transportation system capacity impose greater costs on communities than are warranted by their benefits. In the seventies, this shift in emphasis gave rise to "transportation system management," the augmentation of capacity through low-capital-cost approaches uch as traffic signal synchronization and reserved lanes for high occupancy vehicles. In the early eighties, "transportation demand management" was also emphasized, including efforts to promote ridesharing and transit use by workers through a variety of subsidy and incentive programs. In the late eighties this growing movement toward management rather than facility construction has gained momentum. In addition to transportation system management and demand management, weare seeing increasing effort to change land use policy and attempts to spatially redirect residential and economic growth to control traffic at its source. Los Angeles is the region which for many epitomizes the historical reliance on the construction of new facilities to accommodate growing travel demand. Yet, the current Regional Mobility Plan (Southern California Association of Governments 1989) and Regional Air Quality Management Plan (South Coast Air Quality Management District 1989) both give unprecedented emphasis to strategies which encourage the reduction of single-occupant automobile commuting through increased reliance on public transit, vanpools, carpools, telecommuting, changed work hours, and land use changes to encourage greater jobs-housing balance. While about seven percent of the region's trips are presently made on public transit, these plans project a goal of about 19 percent transit utilization by the year 2010, in addition to major increases in carpooling and vanpooling. There is reason to question our ability to achieve a change of this enormous magnitude. Can We Chant, e Travel Behavior? Many are skeptical about prospects for achieving substantial behavioral change in travel patterns. Consumer behavior shows a very strong and steadily growing preference for the automobile in America. The National Personal Transportation Studies, based on national samples of several thousand households, showed that the proportion of households not owning automobiles dropped steadily from 20.6% in 1969 to 15.3% in 1977, to 13.5% in 1983, the most recent survey year. During the same period, the proportion of households owning three or more vehicles rose from 4.6% in 1969 to 15.6% in 1977 and to 19.3% in 1983 (U.S. Department of Transportation 1986). And, annual rates of automobile use are growing among those who own cars. Enormous public subsidies to new transit systems have proven cost-ineffective, and transit continues to lose ground to the automobile despite major public expenditures (Wachs 1989). Americans made 3.6% of their trips on public transit in 1969, and that share declined to 3.0% in 1977, and to only 2.6% by 1983 (Dole 1987). Underlying transportation policymaking in the coming decades is the critical assumption that we have the ability to change people's travel behavior. Will people accept alternatives to the sinqly occupied automobile, especially for their trips to work, and for other peak hour travel as well? It is said that Americans have developed lifestyles which are dependent upon driving to meet many needs. Urban form has adjusted to universal automobile ownership and use. At this point in time, many think that perhaps very little can be clone to reverse this trend. Yet, public policy is increasingly relying on such changes to lessen congestion while meeting future demands for travel at reasonable levels of public


Late presentation is a major problem in the management of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical features and the degree of visual disability of glaucoma patients at initial presentation. This was a prospective study of new patients with a diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma seen between January 2001 and August 2002 at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. The patients were analysed in the context of age, gender, geographical abode, educational and socioeconomic status and clinical presentation. The patients were examined using the Snellen's chart, pen torch, slit lamp biomicroscopy, ophthalmoscopy, tonometry, perimetry and gonioscopy. Over a 20-month period 154 patients were studied; the mean age was 52.73 years (standard deviation ± 15.98) and the highest incidence was in the seventh decade. The male to female ratio was 2.1:1. In all, 119 patients (77.3%) presented with subjective visual loss in one or both eyes, while 57.1% dated the onset of their symptoms to 1-5 years before presentation. Overall, 38 patients (24.7%) were blind when using visual acuity as the criteria, while 87 patients (56.5%) were blind when using visual fields as the criteria. The problem of late presentation has not improved over the last two and a half decades. More measures towards early detection by extensive health education, screening programmes and training of more eye care providers need to be put in place.


Abstract Mathematical models are developed to characterize propagation through a turbid medium at three different wavelengths in the visible and near infrared spectral range. These models are based upon relations between the temporal, angular, and spatial spread of electromagnetic unpolarized radiation, geometrical path length, particle size distribution, and the medium's propagation parameters such as Mie scattering, and absorption coefficients, Mie phase-function, and optical thickness. Calculations of the radiation characteristics were carried out using Monte Carlo simulations. Here, atmospheric particulates are used to model turbid media for optical thickness between 1 and 6, emphasizing optical communication applications, The advantage of this work is the ability to predict simply and in real time important radiation parameters relevant to any optical communication system. Results indicate very high correlation between optical thickness and propagation characteristics. For transmission, comparison is...


Plankton (phytoplankton and zooplankton) has an essential factor for aquatic ecosystem, because plankton is a primary food source for aquatic animals. This study was carried out in the Alas Strait, Sumbawa Regency on May 2012. Based on the data collected from 32 stations, phytoplankton distributions (abundance and ecology indexes), water quality condition, and relationship between them were examined. Phytoplankton identification results show that a total of 25 species was found, and that species were classified into seven classes. Bacillariophyceae (diatom) was the dominant class found in the study area. Pearson correlation indicated that water temperatur e, transpar ency, salinity, nitrate, and phosphate were the parameters significantly affected on phytoplankton distribution and abundance. The results from this study could contribute on the development marine aquaculture in this region in term of pearl aquaculture development.


The traditional conceptualization of individualism and collectivism as ideas on opposite ends of a dichotomous continuum is limited and in need of better formulation. This study tested Triandis' horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism typology for its ability to detect differences in Web users' cultural orientations within an individualistic culture, and examined the role of these cultural orientations in people's media use, Web skills and challenges, and attitude toward Web advertising. Findings from an online survey among Web users suggest that these types of cultural orientations impacted people's perceived Web skills and their attitudes toward Web advertising in both general and specific ways. Suggestions are advanced for future research to better understand the influence of cultural orientations on consumer response toward computer-mediated communication.


The growth in Medicare spending for inpatient hospital services slowed following the implementation of the prospective payment system (PPS) due to a decline in admission rates and limits on payment increases. Hospital costs, however, have increased faster than payments. Rather than reducing costs further, hospitals responded by charging privately insured patients more than the costs of their care and developing new revenue sources. PPS also redistributed Medicare payments across hospitals and was associated with increased spending in other settings. The PPS experience leaves policymakers with some immediate challenges and provides insights for the development of health care reform initiatives.


University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) creates highly skilled and productive business graduates for meeting demand of industry, globalization, knowledge economy, and job market at home and abroad. In coping with ongoing acute competitive pressures of the information edge, higher education curricula of business needs to be intellectually planned, through collaboration between university and industry and developing more connectivity among different stakeholders. Examples of such successful co-operation are well manifested in several countries especially in USA, created interest elsewhere to evaluate university-industry link programs. The present research has collected primary and secondary data from one public university (University of Chittagong) and one group of industries (PHP group of companies) for the study purpose. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative research instruments which have identified some criteria in order to develop a framework which are 5C such as (i) comparability, (ii) credibility, (iii) consistency, (iv) cost-benefit, and (v) culture. The Cone Model for university-industry collaboration has also been used in this paper.


Introduction Compensatory movements usually occur in stroke survivors with hemiplegia, which is detrimental to recovery. This paper proposes a compensatory movement detection method based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology and verifies its feasibility using a machine learning algorithm. We present a differential-based signal improvement (DBSI) method to enhance NIRS signal quality and discuss its effect on improving detection performance. Method Ten healthy subjects and six stroke survivors performed three common rehabilitation training tasks while the activation of six trunk muscles was recorded using NIRS sensors. After data preprocessing, DBSI was applied to the NIRS signals, and two time-domain features (mean and variance) were extracted. An SVM algorithm was used to test the effect of the NIRS signal on compensatory behavior detection. Results Classification results show that NIRS signals have good performance in compensatory detection, with accuracy rates of 97.76% in healthy subjects and 97.95% in stroke survivors. After using the DBSI method, the accuracy improved to 98.52% and 99.47%, respectively. Discussion Compared with other compensatory motion detection methods, our proposed method based on NIRS technology has better classification performance. The study highlights the potential of NIRS technology for improving stroke rehabilitation and warrants further investigation.


In terms of economic globalization and digitalization, the enterprise's financial reporting is a communication channel for transferring accounting information to stakeholders. The full and effective perception of user credentials is threatened by communication barriers that could lead to erroneous management decisions. Thus, it is necessary to improve financial reporting through feedback mechanisms to minimize the negative impact of communication threats to the accounting system. The purpose of this article is to identify basic communication of financial reporting, their minimization through ensuring the transparency of accounting information and calculation of analytical indicators. The article highlights the basic communication barriers to the perception of accounting information, which include unclear financial reporting indicators due to different interpretations of accounting concepts; the inadequate level of knowledge of the subjects of the communication process (communicator and recipient); the inaccuracy of information due to intentional or unintentional actions; lack of clarity in accounting regulations on the interpretation and structure of individual objects of accounting; information oversaturation; availability of non-target communications; availability of informal communications; inefficiency of the communication channel. The influence of communication threats to the accounting system on the example of forming the Ukrainian form of financial reporting Balance (Financial Statement) is substantiated. It is proposed to transform the form of financial statements Balance Sheet (Financial Statement) in Ukraine by separating two sections in assets «Non-current assets» and «Current assets») and three in liabilities («Equity», «Long-term liabilities» and «Current liabilities») to optimize the analysis of the financial condition, which will contribute to the effective perception of accounting and analytical data by stakeholders. The criterion of minimizing the impact of communication risks should be used to transform other forms of financial and integrated reporting. The proposals could be useful in reformatting financial reporting forms in other countries to ensure transparency and maximize the perception of accounting information.


Ophthalmodynamometry was done on 100 hypertensive cases and 100 non-hypertensive cases who had clear media and no glaucoma. The ratio of the pressure mean ophthalmic: pressure mean brachial in the non-hypertensive group was 0.71:1.0, which rose to 0.78:1.0 in the hypertensive group. The ophthalmic humeral diastolic ratio increased with the severity of fundus changes. The pressure mean ophthalmic showed higher values with increasing grades of fundus changes. Those cases having a pressure mean opthalmic higher than the expected value in the hypertensive group as compared to the cases having a pressure mean ophthalmic lower than the expected value, were at a greater risk or had a graver prognosis. The importance of ophthalmodynamometry is stressed for the prognosis of hypertension along with the fundus examination.


During the 1960s immigrants were normally called -foreigners- (utlanning) in the Swedish press, and were usually described in a way that would nowadays be considered not only as politically incorrect but also as flagrantly racist and xenophobic. This way of representing immigrants in the Swedish media changed radically at the beginning of 1970s. The word -foreigner- was replaced by -immigrant- in most newspaper articles, and the media started to represent immigrants in a manner that resembles current politically correct media discourse. This paper discusses, first, the reasons for this discursive shift, in the context of the evolution of the Swedish integration and integration policy that was initiated at the end of the 1960s, and, second, the related development of international migration and ethnic relations (IMER) research in Sweden. Finally, the paper presents some reflections on the current state of relations between Swedish integration policy and Swedish IMER research.


Large, oriented single crystals may be obtained from shear melts of colloidal particles after nucleation at the container walls. We are here interested in the processes occurring during the initial phase of their formation. Using different microscopic and scattering techniques we here studied highly charged suspensions of spherical particles, dispersed in low salt or deionized water, in single and double wall confinement, during and after cessation of shear. While the equilibrium phase of our colloidal solids is body centred cubic, the shear induced precursors of heterogeneous nuclei consist of wall based, oriented, registered or freely sliding layers with in plane hexagonal symmetry. Cessation of shear initiates a complex heterogeneous nucleation process. If the layer structures are space filling, they register to form a meta-stable randomly stacked close packed hexagonal crystal. In double wall confinement the transformation to the equilibrium body centred cubic structure occurs on long timescales via nucleation and subsequent lateral growth. For non-space filling, wall based layer structures we find indications of competition between the decay of the layers in favour of the shear melt and their stabilization through registering and subsequent coverage by an epitaxially growing wall crystal. From quantitative growth curve measurements we obtain the initial wall crystal thickness d0, which may serve as a lower bound to the extension of the layer structures under shear. We observe a pronounced dependence of d0 on both former shear conditions and meta-stability of the melt.


Poly(9-vinyladenine) and poly(1-vinyluracil) which are nondegradable, soluble polymers are taken up partially by mammalian cells grown in culture. The polymers remain associated with cells for several generations. In mice, after ip application, polymers slowly accumulate in liver, spleen, and thymus and remain there for as long as a month. Thus, these polymers which suppress the replication of murine leukemia viruses also accumulate in organs where the virus replicates. However, their antiviral activity does not reflect the amount of polymer found in these animal tissues. We propose that the polymers are gradually segregated into a group of cells or into subcellular organelles away from primary sites of virus replication. The results suggest that for a directly acting polymeric drug, a half-life over 24 h is without advantage.


In this paper, we describe an oblique feed screw that can be used as a load-sensitive continously variable transmission (CVT). This CVT consists of a screw, spring, and bearing, and it is remarkably simple and compact. Its reduction ratio changes automatically in response to the load, and its weights 13.8 [g]. We have experimentally verified that it can exert a large force of more than 100 [N], that it can increase its reduction ration from 20 to 45.


One of the important and underappreciated reproductive health problems in developing countries is the high rate of infertility and childlessness. A cross-sectional type of descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the male fertility status by the conventional semen analysis. This study was conducted in which 100 men with age ranged from 20 to 45 years of a primary and secondary infertile couple of more than one year, in the Infertility OPD of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Shahbag, Dhaka during October 2012 to March 2013. They were divided into two groups depending on the results of their semen analysis: 35 with abnormal semen and 65 with normal semen profile. The mean (±SD) age was 34.0±4.7 years in patients with abnormal semen and 33.9±5.6 years in patients with normal semen. Nearly one-third (31.42%) of the patients was a farmer in abnormal semen and 7.7% in normal semen. The majority (62.85%) of the abnormal semen patients worked in hot environments, STD was found 20.0% in patients with abnormal semen and 3.1% in patients with normal semen, mumps observed 8.6% in abnormal semen and 3.1% in normal semen patients. Surgical history was found 11.4% in abnormal semen and 1.5% in normal semen patients. Positive family history of infertility was found in 8.6% of abnormal semen patients but no positive family history of infertility was found in normal semen patients. Varicocele was found 25.7% in patients with abnormal semen and 21.5% in patients with normal semen. Primary subfertility was 91.4% in abnormal semen patients and 58.5% in normal semen patients. Farmer, hot working environment, STD, surgical history, positive family history, primary subfertility were significantly (p<0.05) higher in patients with abnormal semen. The highest number of patients were oligospermic (51.4) followed by azoospermia 22.9%, asthenozoospermia 17.1%, teratozoospermia 5.7% and aspermia 2.9%. Occupational exposure, STD, hot environment, past surgical history has a significant negative impact on male infertility.


How relevant and effective is the information given in a phase III cardiac rehabilitation programme? The purpose of this evaluation study was to consider the views of people attending a phase III cardiac rehabilitation programme in respect of the relevance of the information given in the educational component of the programme and to examine if that information can positively influence behaviour change. A review of the literature confirms that there is strong evidence attesting to the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation, despite this, important questions remain to be answered as to the value of the non-exercise element of the programme. Exploring patients' views and preferences is considered a valid method of assessing the value of health care. A questionnaire incorporating both quantitative and qualitative components was used to collect data from a selection of participants attending the programme (n=54, mostly middle aged males). Descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages were formulated to summarize and present the quantitative data, the responses to the qualitative data were thematically collated and analysed manually. Overall, the participants agreed the information they received in all of the educational talks was relevant to their needs. The findings also indicate that the participants were encouraged to make positive lifestyle changes, confirming the effectiveness of the information given as a means of instigating behavioural change.


Transportation modelling plays an important role in supporting transportation planning. Work trips are centre of focus of urban transportation planning and policy analysis. This may causes congestion in peak hours in the urban transportation network. One of the important aspects of transportation modelling is to predict the travel choice behaviour. The travel choice behaviour is also referred to as traveller mode choice, which is the most frequently modelled travel decision. It involves a specific aspect of human behaviour dedicated to choice decisions. With a model, as simplified representation of a part of reality provides a better understanding and interpreting of these complex systems. This paper investigates mode choice behaviour of employers in Calicut city. A multinomial logit model (MNL) with statistical data processing software SPSS was used for explaining travel patterns and mode choice of employees residing in Calicut city. MNL model was developed and identified the factors influencing the mode choice of work trips.MNL is widely used model in the discrete choice model and it has many computational advantages.


This paper reports the results of the synthesis of zeolitic material with adsorbent capacity from a rock of volcanic origin from sillar, Arequipa, Peru. The experimentation was carried out in a stainless steel reactor using solutions with different concentrations of KOH (2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 M), at a constant temperature of 150 ℃ and with a contact time between the volcanic material and the solution of 24, 48 and 72 h. The product obtained was characterized by means of scanning microscopic analysis (SEM) and cation exchange capacity (CIC).The results showed that synthetic zeolite was produced as a function of KOH concentration as the most influential independent variable. The highest cation exchange capacity (CEC) observed was 27.91 meq/100 g and corresponded to the formation of Linde F zeolite obtained with a 3.0 M KOH solution and for a time of 72 hours using a material whose particle size was 4 mm. Adsorption tests were performed using solutions containing Cu2+ cations in order to evaluate their adsorption capacity and kinetics.


Background and objective: The present study assesses the relationship between hyperuricemia and pulse pressure (PP) in non-diabetic Korean adults.

Material and methods: Data from 5122 subjects (2251 men and 2871 women) in the seventh Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VII-2, 2017) were analyzed.

Results: Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and PP were significant factors determining the odds ratios (ORs) for hyperuricemia (uric acid ≥7.0 mg/dL in men or ≥6.0 mg/dL in women) in men and the overall population. In women, SBP, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and PP were not significant factors determining the OR for hyperuricemia. After adjusting for related variables, the OR of hyperuricemia was significantly higher in the high PP group (PP >60.0 mmHg) for men (OR, 1.760; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.152--2.688) and the overall population (OR, 1.557; 95% CI, 1.132--2.140) compared with the normal PP group, but this trend was not seen in women (OR, 1.060; 95% CI, 0.646--1.740).

Conclusions: Hyperuricemia was positively associated with PP in non-diabetic Korean men but not in women.


The aim of the study is to substantiate the methodological tools for the integral assessment of rural development in terms of economic, social and environmental components and to determine the level of development of rural areas. For this purpose, the author has analyzed the existing methodological approaches to the study of socioeconomic processes in rural areas; grounded scientific methods and formed a system of criteria, indicators and indicators for assessing rural development. Assessment of the state of rural areas structurally involves the analysis of its organizational formation, the development of entrepreneurship as an economic basis, social infrastructure facilities, rational use of natural resources. A comprehensive assessment of the state and rural development has been carried out, it will ensure the identification and delivery of a stable relationship between the rates of economic growth, the level of development of society and the proper state of environmental management. On the basis of this, an effective mechanism for the implementation of management decisions to achieve the specified development parameters is proposed.


In the present study, an isoform of angiotensin‐converting enzyme was characterized from the testis of a decapod crustacean, the crayfish Astacus leptodactylus. Angiotensin‐converting enzyme cDNA, obtained by 3′‐ to 5′ RACE of testis RNAs, codes for a predicted one‐domain protein similar to the mammalian germinal isoform of angiotensin‐converting enzyme. All amino acid residues involved in enzyme activity are highly conserved, and a potential C‐terminus transmembrane anchor may be predicted from the sequence. Comparison of this testicular isoform with angiotensin‐converting enzyme from other crustaceans, namely Carcinus maenas, Homarus americanus (both reconstituted for this study from expressed‐sequence tag data) and Daphnia pulex, suggests that membrane‐bound angiotensin‐converting enzyme occurs widely in crustaceans, conversely to other invertebrate groups where angiotensin‐converting enzyme is predominantly a soluble protein. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry performed on testis sections show that angiotensin‐converting enzyme mRNA is mainly localized in spermatogonias, whereas protein is present in spermatozoids. By contrast, in vas deferens, immunoreactivity is detected in the seminal fluid rather than in germ cells. Accordingly, angiotensin‐converting enzyme activity assays of testis and vas deferens extracts demonstrate that the enzyme is present in the membrane fraction in testis, but in the soluble fraction in vas deferens. Taken together, the results obtained in the present study suggest that, during the migration of spermatozoids from testis to vas deferens, the enzyme is cleaved from the membrane of the germ cells and released into the seminal fluid. To our knowledge, this present study is the first to report such a maturation process for angiotensin‐converting enzyme outside of mammals.


OBJECTIVE
To study and analyze the possible benefits on performance of community health workers using point-of-care clinical guidelines implemented as interactive rich media job aids on small-format mobile platforms.

DESIGN
A crossover study with one intervention (rich media job aids) and one control (traditional job aids), two periods, with 50 community health workers, each subject solving a total 15 standardized cases per period per period (30 cases in total per subject).

MEASUREMENTS
Error rate per case and task, protocol compliance.

RESULTS
A total of 1394 cases were evaluated. Intervention reduces errors by an average of 33.15% (p = 0.001) and increases protocol compliance 30.18% (p < 0.001). Limitations Medical cases were presented on human patient simulators in a laboratory setting, not on real patients.

CONCLUSION
These results indicate encouraging prospects for mHealth technologies in general, and the use of rich media clinical guidelines on cell phones in particular, for the improvement of community health worker performance in developing countries.


In order to accommodate patients to new foot orthoses over time, two steps are required: The first is to obtain a baseline reading of the immediate effects across several weeks to ensure consistency. The second step is to look at changes with progressively longer wear periods similar to what occurs in general practice. This study addressed the first step. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the baseline reading of the immediate effects of foot orthoses on comfort and lower extremity kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity is consistent between days. Participants were 21 recreational runners who volunteered for the study. Three orthotic conditions (posting, custom-molding, posting and custom-molding) were compared to a control (flat) insert. Lower extremity kinematic, kinetic, and EMG data were collected for 108 trials per participant and condition in 9 sessions for each person for running at 4 m/s. Comfort for all orthotic conditions was assessed in each session using a visual analog scale. Statistically significant session effects were detected using repeated-measures ANOVA (α = .05). Three of the 93 variables had a significant session effect. A significant interaction between orthotic condition and session was observed for 6 of the 93 variables. The results of this study showed that the effects of foot orthoses on comfort, lower extremity kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity are consistent across a 3-week period when the wear time for each condition is restricted. Thus, foot orthoses lead to immediate changes in comfort, kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity with limited use. These immediate effects of foot orthoses on comfort, kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity are consistent between days.


Hypothalamic neurochemical alterations in mammals underlie disturbances of food intake. There is scarce information on these topics in elderly persons; therefore, the aims of the present study were: (i) to evaluate the orexigenic effects of a growth hormone secretagogue, administered to young and old rats and dogs, alone or in combination with molsidomine, a donor of nitric oxide and (ii) to evaluate by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in the whole hypothalamus of young and old rats messenger RNA levels of a wide number of anabolic and catabolic peptides, receptors, and enzymes involved in the control of feeding behavior, relating the detected titers, whenever possible, to the feeding responses to growth hormone secretagogue. In all, the results obtained strengthen the proposition that, in the hypothalamus of old rats, anti-anorexigenic compensatory mechanisms are operative, aimed at maintaining a "normal" feeding pattern. Thus, the occurrence of a primary, age-related alteration in the feeding mechanisms is unlikely.


The adsorption of DNA on surfaces is a widespread procedure and is a common way for fabrication of biosensors, DNA chips, and nanoelectronic devices. Although the biologically relevant and prevailing in vivo structure of DNA is its double-stranded (dsDNA) conformation, the characterization of DNA on surfaces has mainly focused on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Studying the structure of dsDNA on surfaces is of invaluable importance to microarray performance since their effectiveness relies on the ability of two DNA molecules to hybridize and remain stable. In addition, many of the enzymatic transactions performed on DNA require dsDNA, rather than ssDNA, as a substrate. However, it is not established that adsorbed dsDNA remains in its structure and does not denature. Here, two methodologies have been developed for distinguishing between surface-adsorbed single- and double-stranded DNA. We demonstrate that, upon formation of a dense monolayer, the nonthiolated strand comprising the dsDNA is released and the monolayer consists of mostly ssDNA. The fraction of dsDNA within the ssDNA monolayer depends on the length of the oligomers. A likely mechanism leading to this rearrangement is discussed.


Due to the introduction of auxiliary components in fuel cell vehicle powertrains and absence of internal combustion engine, the vibration sources and transfer paths are very different from conventional vehicles. These vibrations interact on the output performance of the fuel cell system.
 Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the vibration characteristics of the fuel cell system under vehicle operating conditions. IPEK conducted vehicle measurements regarding different driving manoeuvres and environments. In order to quantitatively evaluate contributions of each vibration
 source on the total vibration of fuel cell, frequency-domain contribution was investigated based on Operational Transfer Path Analysis method with the singular value decomposition as well as principal component. The results of vibration in Z-direction in the vehicle coordinate system show
 that the hydrogen pump dominantly contributes to the vibration of fuel cell in a wide range of frequency in the majority of the driving manoeuvres. However, the results vary in various driving manoeuvres, environments and frequencies. The Paper will discuss in detail the vibrational contributions
 in X-, Y- and Z-direction.