A typical durability-related phenomenon in many concrete constructions is crack formation. While larger cracks hamper structural integrity, also smaller sub-millimeter sized cracks may result in durability problems as particularly connected cracks increase matrix permeability. Ingress water and chemicals can cause premature matrix degradation and corrosion of embedded steel reinforcement. As regular manual maintenance and repair of concrete constructions is costly and in some cases not at all possible, inclusion of an autonomous self-healing repair mechanism would be highly beneficial as it could both reduce maintenance and increase material durability. Therefore, within the Delft Centre for Materials at the Delft University of Technology, the functionality of various self-healing additives is investigated in order to develop a new generation of self-healing concretes. In the present study the crack healing capacity of a specific bio-chemical additive, consisting of a mixture of viable but dormant bacteria and organic compounds packed in porous expanded clay particles, was investigated. Microscopic techniques in combination with permeability tests revealed that complete healing of cracks occurred in bacterial concrete and only partly in control concrete. The mechanism of crack healing in bacterial concrete presumably occurs through metabolic conversion of calcium lactate to calcium carbonate what results in crack-sealing. This biochemically mediated process resulted in efficient sealing of sub-millimeter sized (0.15 mm width) cracks. It is expected that further development of this new type of self-healing concrete will result in a more durable and moreover sustainable concrete which will be particularly suited for applications in wet environments where reinforcement corrosion tends to impede durability of traditional concrete constructions.


The Drosophila Bicoid (Bcd) protein plays a dual role as a transcription and translation factor dependent on the unique DNA and RNA binding properties of the homeodomain (HD). We have used circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy to probe the structure and stability of the Bcd-HD, for which a high resolution structure is not yet available. The fluorescence from the single tryptophan residue in the HD (Trp-48) is strongly quenched in the native state but is dramatically enhanced (∼20-fold) upon denaturation. Similar results were obtained with the Ultrabithorax HD (Ubx-HD), suggesting that the unusual tryptophan fluorescence may be a general phenomenon of HD proteins. We have used site-directed mutagenesis to explore the role of aromatic acids in the structure of the Bcd-HD and to evaluate the proposal that interactions between the strictly conserved Trp residue in HDs and nearby aromatic residues are responsible for the fluorescence quenching in the native state. We determined that both Trp-48 and Phe-8 in the N-terminal region of the HD are individually necessary for structural stability of the Bcd-HD, the latter most likely as a factor coordinating the orientation of the N-terminal helix I and the recognition helix for efficient binding to a DNA target.


This paper presents the results of an empirical study of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) in Bulgarian software industry. The study assesses the levels of entrepreneurial intensity and the internal organizational climate for corporate entrepreneurship among the employees of established Bulgarian-owned software companies. The CE factors validated by the study are management support, autonomy /work discretion and rewards/ reinforcement. The relationships among the factors of the organizational climate for CE and entrepreneurial intensity (EI) are tested and a model for the CE factors explaining EI is presented.


Internet traffic has been shown to have long-range dependence, and is often modeled by using the fractional Gaussian noise model. The fractional Gaussian noise model can capture the autocorrelation of a real trace, but cannot fit the marginal distribution when the trace has a non-Gaussian marginal distribution. In this letter, we use the inverted Box-Cox transformation to establish a long-range dependent Internet traffic model that can simultaneously capture both the long-range dependence parameter and the marginal distribution of a real trace


There is little doubt that cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) can kill tumor cells in-vivo. However, most CTL-inducing immunization protocols examined so far in cancer patients have yielded only limited clinical benefits, underscoring the urge to improve current approaches for the effective induction of tumor-reactive CTLs. The tumor side of the immunological frontline is armed with large masses, high mutability and an arsenal of immune evasion and suppression mechanisms. Accordingly, the confronting CTLs should come in large numbers, recognize an assortment of MHC class I (MHC-I) bound tumor-associated peptides and be brought into action under effective immunostimulatory conditions. Naïve CTLs are activated to become effector cells in secondary lymphoid organs, following their productive encounter with MHC-I-bound peptides at the surface of dendritic cells (DCs). Therefore, many cancer vaccines under development focus on the optimization of peptide presentation by DCs at this critical stage. The elucidation of discrete steps and the subsequent identification of inherent bottlenecks in the MHC-I antigen presentation pathway have fueled elaborate efforts to enhance vaccine efficacy by the rational targeting of proteins or peptides, formulated into these vaccines, to this pathway. Protein- and gene-based strategies are accordingly devised to deliver tumor-associated peptides to selected cellular compartments, which are essential for the generation of functional CTL ligands. Many of these strategies target the conventional, endogenous route, while others harness the unique pathways that enable DCs to present exogenous antigens, known as cross-presentation. Here we dissect the intricate machinery that produces CTL ligands and examine how knowledge-based cancer vaccines can target the sequence of workstations, biochemical utensils and molecular intermediates comprising this production line.


ABSTRACT The impact of mosquito-borne flavivirus infections worldwide is significant, and many critical aspects of these viruses' biology, including virus-host interactions, host cell requirements for replication, and how virus-host interactions impact pathology, remain to be fully understood. The recent reemergence and spread of flaviviruses, including dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV), and Zika virus (ZIKV), highlight the importance of performing basic research on this important group of pathogens. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that modulate gene expression posttranscriptionally and have been demonstrated to regulate a broad range of cellular processes. Our research is focused on identifying pro- and antiflaviviral miRNAs as a means of characterizing cellular pathways that support or limit viral replication. We have screened a library of known human miRNA mimics for their effect on the replication of three flaviviruses, DENV, WNV, and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), using a high-content immunofluorescence screen. Several families of miRNAs were identified as inhibiting multiple flaviviruses, including the miRNA miR-34, miR-15, and miR-517 families. Members of the miR-34 family, which have been extensively characterized for their ability to repress Wnt/β-catenin signaling, demonstrated strong antiflaviviral effects, and this inhibitory activity extended to other viruses, including ZIKV, alphaviruses, and herpesviruses. Previous research suggested a possible link between the Wnt and type I interferon (IFN) signaling pathways. Therefore, we investigated the role of type I IFN induction in the antiviral effects of the miR-34 family and confirmed that these miRNAs potentiate interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) phosphorylation and translocation to the nucleus, the induction of IFN-responsive genes, and the release of type I IFN from transfected cells. We further demonstrate that the intersection between the Wnt and IFN signaling pathways occurs at the point of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β)–TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) binding, inducing TBK1 to phosphorylate IRF3 and initiate downstream IFN signaling. In this way, we have identified a novel cellular signaling network with a critical role in regulating the replication of multiple virus families. These findings highlight the opportunities for using miRNAs as tools to discover and characterize unique cellular factors involved in supporting or limiting virus replication, opening up new avenues for antiviral research. IMPORTANCE MicroRNAs are a class of small regulatory RNAs that modulate cellular processes through the posttranscriptional repression of multiple transcripts. We hypothesized that individual miRNAs may be capable of inhibiting viral replication through their effects on host proteins or pathways. To test this, we performed a high-content screen for miRNAs that inhibit the replication of three medically relevant members of the flavivirus family: West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and dengue virus 2. The results of this screen identify multiple miRNAs that inhibit one or more of these viruses. Extensive follow-up on members of the miR-34 family of miRNAs, which are active against all three viruses as well as the closely related Zika virus, demonstrated that miR-34 functions through increasing the infected cell's ability to respond to infection through the interferon-based innate immune pathway. Our results not only add to the knowledge of how viruses interact with cellular pathways but also provide a basis for more extensive data mining by providing a comprehensive list of miRNAs capable of inhibiting flavivirus replication. Finally, the miRNAs themselves or cellular pathways identified as modulating virus infection may prove to be novel candidates for the development of therapeutic interventions.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the mean soft tissue facial profile for Persian adults as determined by the Holdaway analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Lateral cephalometric radiographs for 62 Persian adults with normal occlusion were used.

RESULTS
Persian adults have the same values of Holdaway soft tissue norms except for the skeletal profile convexity, H angle, basic upper lip thickness, and soft tissue chin thickness, which were increased in Persians in relation to Holdaway norms. When comparing men with women, the nose prominence (P < .001), basic upper lip thickness (P < .001), upper lip thickness (P < .001), inferior sulcus to H line (P < .001), and soft tissue chin thickness (P < .01) were significantly increased in Persian men compared with Persian women.

CONCLUSIONS
Persian adults differ from Holdaway's soft tissue norms in an increased skeletal profile convexity, H angle, basic upper lip thickness, and soft tissue chin thickness. These are recommended for use when formulating a treatment plan for this ethnic group.


Abstract We present the results of observations of distant galaxies (z ~ 0.8) at high spatial resolution (~0.1"). We observed 7 fields of 1' × 1' with the NACO Adaptive Optics system (VLT) in Ks (2.2μm) band with typical V ~ 14 guide stars and 3h integration time per field. Observed fields are selected within the COSMOS survey area. We analyze the morphologies by means of B/D (Bulge/Disk) decomposition with GIM2D and CAS (Concentration-Asymmetry) estimators for 79 galaxies with magnitudes between Ks = 17 − 23 and classify them in three main morphological types (Late Type, Early Type and Irregulars). We obtain for the first time an estimate of the distribution of galaxy types at redshift z ~ 1 as measured from the near infrared at high spatial resolution.


Two recent publications in Annals of Neurology have addressed the influence that apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotype may have on the clinicopathologic manifestations of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) [ 1, 21. In the first of these, Haan and colleagues [ I ] found chat apoE genotype does not influence the course of the rare disorder Dutch hereditary CAA (HCHWA-D) in which there is a point mutation in the gene encoding amyloid precursor protein. In the more recent publication, Greenberg and colleagues [2] reported a high frequency of apoE ~4 in 93 patients with CAA, verified by autopsy, without hemorrhage. This observation is in keeping with the association between apoE ~4 and deposition of amyloid P-protein (AD) in cerebral gray matter, which has been established in several disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD), aging, and head injury [3]. Indeed, an association between apoE €4 and deposition of AP in blood vessel walls has already been demonstrated in patients with AD [4]. Greenberg and colleagues [2] also found a high apoE ~4 frequency in a smaller group of patients (n = 1 5 ) with a diagnosis of CAA-associated cerebral hemorrhage. In this group the diagnosis was based on clinical and radiographic features in 7 patients, made by brain biopsy in 3 patients, and by autopsy in 5 patients. The authors concede that the clinical diagnostic criteria employed "await pathological confirmation" but are reasonable, given our knowledge of the manifestations of CAA [5]. We have determined the apoE genotypes of 31 patients with lobar hemorrhages shown by autopsy (n = 28) or biopsy (n = 3) to be associated with CAA (see Table). Our data do not confirm the high frequency of apoE €4 found by Greenberg and colleagues [2]. The apoE ~4 frequency in our series is comparable with that of the control population and is surprisingly low as a concomitant neuropathological diagnosis of AD was warranted in most of the patients. The high frequency of apoE €2 in our series is particularly remarkable for a group of patients the majority of whom had AD; most published studies of AD show a frequency of apoE ~2 that is significantly lower than the general population and on the order of five to 10 times lower than our patients with CAA. The reasons for the discrepancy between the data of Greenberg and colleagues [2] and our own are unclear, but


The design of a CW HCN submillimeter-wave laser is described, and an account is given of its performance. A reflection grating spectrometer and a Fabry-Perot interferometer constructed for measuring the laser output wavelength with accuracies better than 1 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, are also described. The body of the HCN laser is a Pyrex tube with an inner diameter of 48 mm and a length of 1.35 m. The active length of the glow discharge is approximately 1 m. The cavity consists of a plane mirror and a concave mirror, both of which are coated with gold and have a diameter of 80 mm. The laser output power is shown to be strongly dependent on the gas pressure.


Very high concentrations of CO2 have been encountered in solution as carbonic acid in hydrocarbon reservoirs in parts of the Greater Sarawak Basin, offshore Borneo, Malaysia. Concentrations can exceed 80%. Anomalous features in 3D seismic data also are found in areas with high CO2 concentrations. These features appear as halos around reservoirs, cutting across stratigraphy and indicating a hardening of the nonreservoir rocks within the envelope of the halo. These halos can extend for hundreds of meters above and below a reservoir. Elastic log data from wells that pass through and adjacent to these seismic anomalies indicate that mudrocks within the anomalies have higher densities and velocities than would be predicted from locally derived compaction trends. Combinable magnetic resonance measurements indicate that the anomalous properties are the result of lower-than-expected capillary-bound microporosities. It is proposed that carbonic acid in the reservoir fluids diffuses into the bounding rocks, causing a loss of porosity. The amount of porosity lost depends on the clay content of the mudrock and the initial level of compaction, with shallower, more clay-rich shales able to lose more porosity. The anomalous seismic signatures result from a sharp transition (over approximately 5 m) at the diagenetic front between normal and altered rocks. The alteration can significantly change the amplitude variation with offset response of the reservoirs and therefore the ability to correctly predict fluid phase and reservoir quality. No anomalies are observed when the concentration of CO2 in the reservoir is less than 10% but always present when CO2 exceeds 20%. Therefore, it is possible to map the general distribution of high CO2 concentration from seismic data. There is no indication that the scale, amplitude, or shape of the anomalies gives an indication of the concentration of CO2.


1. The Malpighian tubules of Rhodnius will secrete at a normal rate in solutions containing no potassium ions and the rate is unaffected by changes in the potassium concentration, when the balance of cationic concentration is made up by sodium ions. 2. In the absence of sodium ions the rate of secretion is much reduced. The addition of very small amounts of sodium-containing solution brings about an abrupt recovery in the rate and thereafter the rate is unaffected by further increases in the sodium concentration. 3. In solutions containing either sodium or potassium with choline making up the balance of monovalent cations, the rate of fluid secretion depends linearly on the concentration of either sodium or potassium. 4. The tubules will concentrate either sodium or potassium when they are present at low concentration in the bathing fluid, even in the face of a very much larger concentration of the other cation. This suggests that there are separate mechanisms for the handling of these two ions. 5. Secretion can be supported by a solution containing ammonium ions in place of sodium and potassium. The tubules behave, at least in the short term, as if they were unable to distinguish ammonium from potassium. 6. Chloride ions appear to play a special role in that only bromide ions and, to a limited extent, nitrate ions will substitute for them. The rate of secretion depends linearly on the chloride concentration. 7. The tubules secrete a fluid which is practically iso-osmotic to the bathing fluid. The rate of secretion depends inversely on the osmolarity of the bathing fluid. The rate of movement of solute is little affected by these changes of osmolarity. It appears that water movements follow, and are closely linked with, solute movements. 8. Copper, cyanide, iodoacetate and azide ions and 2,4-dinitrophenol all stop secretion when added to the bathing medium. Ouabain, acetazolamide and mammalian ADH all have no effect on the rate of secretion and ouabain has no effect on the composition of the secreted fluid. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) will stimulate a rapid flow of secretion. 9. Apparent neurosecretory axons have been found which supply the tubules. They do not contain enough diuretic activity to do more than play a minor role in diuresis. They may contribute to the rapid onset of diuresis or may affect the Malpighian tubules in some other way. 10. The evidence suggests that the tubules function by secreting chloride, potassium and sodium ions into the lumen (it is speculated that this may conceivably involve the active transport of all three ions) and that water movements closely follow these ion movements so that a rapid flow of iso-osmotic fluid is achieved.


The important factors for the development of GPS navigation system are the speed and cost of electronic map display with the mass data. It is essential to improve the speed of the electronic map information retrieval and browsing without increasing the cost. This paper presents a novel superfast image data retrieval method based on Hash function. This method simplifies the complexity of traditional Hash algorithm by taking advantage of pyramid structure. Furthermore, the vector grid is used to cut the displaying time of the graphics. Experiments are performed by comparing the suggested retrieval algorithm with two conventional algorithms and some results are reported.


Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is ubiquitous in the environment. Inhalation of LPS has been implicated in the pathogenesis and/or severity of several lung diseases, including pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Alveolar macrophages are the main resident leukocytes exposed to inhaled antigens. To obtain insight into which innate immune pathways become activated within human alveolar macrophages upon exposure to LPS in vivo, we conducted a study in eight healthy humans, in which we instilled sterile saline into a lung segment by bronchoscope, followed by instillation of LPS into the contralateral lung. Six hours later, a bilateral bronchoalveolar lavage was performed and whole-genome transcriptional profiling was done on purified alveolar macrophages, comparing cells exposed to saline or LPS from the same individuals. LPS induced differential expression of 2,932 genes in alveolar macrophages; 1,520 genes were upregulated, whereas 1,440 genes were downregulated. A total of 26 biological functions were overrepresented in LPS-exposed macrophages; 44 canonical pathways affected by LPS were identified, among which the genes associated with the role of pattern recognition receptors in recognition of bacteria and viruses represented the top pathway. Other pathways included cellular immune response, signaling by tumor necrosis factor (receptor) family members, cytokine signaling and glucocorticoid receptor signaling. These results reveal for the first time a large number of functional pathways influenced by the biologically relevant challenge provided by LPS administered into the airways. These data can assist in identifying novel targets for therapeutic intervention in pulmonary diseases associated with LPS exposure, including pneumonia, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.


There has been much study of the consequences of economic freedom but, outside of the role of political institutions, there has been little study of the determinants of economic freedom. We investigate whether religion affects economic freedom. Our cross-sectional data set includes 137 countries averaged over the period 2001–2010. Simple correlations show that Protestantism is associated with economic freedom, Islam is not, with Catholicism in between. The Protestant ethic requires economic freedom. Our empirical estimates, which include religiosity, political institutions, and other explanatory variables, confirm that Protestantism is most conducive to economic freedom.


A series of four indolenine squaraines bearing a chiral center at the 3-position of the indolenine moiety, with either an n-propyl or a phenyl group alongside a methyl group, were synthesized and obtained in a high purity of ≥ 98% for the desired stereoisomer. The indolenine precursors with a phenyl group attached at the chiral center were asymmetrically synthesized using a pericyclic-reaction cascade and obtained in high ee of 98%, whereas the ones with an n-propyl group were prepared by kinetic resolution through asymmetric hydrogenation, resulting in an ee of up to 98%. X-ray crystallography revealed a slightly twisted geometry for the phenyl-substituted cisoid squaraine derivative, whereas the n propyl-substituted derivative possessed the expected planar geometry. Variation of the substitution also influenced the optical properties, where the introduction of phenyl groups caused a progressive red-shift and reduction in squared transition moments, as well as reduced fluorescence quantum yields, Stokes shifts, and fluorescence lifetimes. All of the investigated compounds exhibited strong ECD signals, with Δε values of up to 24 M-1 cm-1 for the HOMO-LUMO transition. DFT calculations indicated that this was due to both large electric and magnetic transition moments, although the two vectors were mutually almost orthogonal.


Weight-sharing neural architecture search aims to optimize a configurable neural network model (supernet) for a variety of deployment scenarios across many devices with different resource constraints. Existing approaches use evolutionary search to extract models of different sizes from a supernet trained on a very large data set, and then fine-tune the extracted models on the typically small, real-world data set of interest. The computational cost of training thus grows linearly with the number of different model deployment scenarios. Hence, we propose Transfer-Once-For-All (TOFA) for supernet-style training on small data sets with constant computational training cost over any number of edge deployment scenarios. Given a task, TOFA obtains custom neural networks, both the topology and the weights, optimized for any number of edge deployment scenarios. To overcome the challenges arising from small data, TOFA utilizes a unified semi-supervised training loss to simultaneously train all subnets within the supernet, coupled with on-the-fly architecture selection at deployment time.


Presents a novel architecture for the efficient execution of symbolic languages on conventional von Neumann, register-based machines. Unlike other symbolic processing architectures, this is based on a Tag Coprocessor (TC) which is designed to work in parallel with a conventional RISC CPU such as the MIPS R3000. The TC performs almost all the tag manipulation operations independently of the CPU. It can also perform stack height checking, range checking and loop control. Our design significantly enhances the execution speed of symbolic languages such as Lisp and Prolog on a RISC processor, yet all existing software for the CPU without the TC will work with minimal modification. The simplicity of the TC architecture provides a cost-effective way of designing systems specifically for artificial intelligence applications. >


Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a fatal condition with limited treatment options; however in a previous small study co-trimoxazole has been shown to be beneficial. Methods In a double-blind, multi-centre study, 181 patients with usual interstitial pneumonia (n=166) or fibrotic non-specific interstitial pneumonia (n=15) were randomised to receive co-trimoxazole 960 mg twice daily or placebo for 12 months in addition to their usual care. Measurements were made of forced vital capacity (FVC), total lung capacity, total lung diffusing capacity of carbon monoxide, Medical Research Council dyspnoea score, St George's Respiratory Questionnaire and quality adjusted life years (QALYs). All cause mortality, costs and adverse events were recorded. Results Co-trimoxazole had no effect on FVC or other measures of lung function. However in the per-protocol analysis, co-trimoxazole resulted in a significant reduction in mortality (HR of 0.2 (0.06, 0.78)), significant improvements in the symptom domain of St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (mean difference −5.30 (−11.99, 1.40) units) and QALYs gained (mean difference 0.12 (0.01, 0.22) QALYs), and a reduction in the percentage of patients requiring an increase in oxygen therapy (OR 0.05 (0.00, 0.61)) compared to placebo. Furthermore, the use of co-trimoxazole reduced respiratory tract infections. The incremental cost per QALY gained was £21 391 (52.74% probability of being below £30 000; intention to treat analysis, UK societal perspective). Conclusion The addition of co-trimoxazole therapy to standard treatment for Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis had no effect on lung function or disease progression but resulted in a fivefold reduction in mortality and was cost-effective at UK thresholds.


Water is indispensable for life and its quality is directly related to public health. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in public water supply in municipalities in São Paulo State, Brazil. Analyses were carried out at the Adolfo Lutz Institute between February and December 2016, and included physicochemical (chlorine, pH, color, turbidity and nitrate), and microbiological parameters (total coliforms and Escherichia coli), as well as P. aeruginosa, with susceptibility tests to antimicrobial agents and biofilm production capacity by the strains isolated. In total, 251 water samples were evaluated and 19 (7.6%) presented P. aeruginosa. No significant differences were observed between the physicochemical parameters found in the positive and negative samples for this bacterium, but the samples containing total coliforms were also those with the highest positivity for P. aeruginosa. All samples with P. aeruginosa reported chlorine concentrations between 0.2 and 2.0 mg/L, as required by Brazilian legislation, demonstrating this bacterium's resistance to conventional water treatment processes. Although not resistant to the antimicrobials tested, most strains isolated were classified as strong biofilm producers, emphasizing the need for further studies involving water supply quality.


BVP Path Planners generate potential fields whose gradient descent represents navigational routes from any point of the environment to a goal position. The resulting trajectories are smooth and free of local minima. In this paper, we proceed with our comprehensive study on possible forms for the core equation of the planner. The main goal is to allow the planner to deal with inhomogeneous environments. The navigational potential is calculated independently in different patches of the environment. Each patch has its own bias for potential concavity (or convexity), then creating regions with higher or lower traveling preferences. By using simulated experiments we compare the performance of the new BVP with some recent proposals.


The cobalt (Co) catalyst behavior for SWNT growth on thermal oxidized silica and single-crystalline quartz by using alcohol chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was compared. The influence of the nature of substrate surface was analyzed from the size and density of both catalyst nanoparticles and SWNTs. The Co nanoparticles, on the quartz substrate after growth, had a mean diameter of about 5.9 nm which was larger than that (2.1 nm) on the silica substrate. Randomly dispersed SWNTs with a higher density were obtained on silica, while aligned SWNTs with a lower density were achieved on ST-cut quartz. The lower density of the nanoparticles on the quartz substrate can be attributed to a larger surface diffusion length of Co atoms in comparison with the silica surface. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2011.107]


Education will develop more and more, of course, supported by the existence of information and communication technology so that it becomes digital education that can support the advancement of the world of education. However, this technology-based education is still experiencing various obstacles and challenges. For example, remote areas that still lack the introduction of digital technology and networks so that there is a delay in the development of technology-based education.


The crystal structure of the thioacylenzyme intermediate of the phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) from Bacillus stearothermophilus has been solved at 1.8Å resolution. Formation of the intermediate was obtained by diffusion of the natural substrate within the crystal of the holoenzyme in the absence of inorganic phosphate. To define the soaking conditions suitable for the isolation and accumulation of the intermediate, a microspectrophotometric characterization of the reaction of GAPDH in single crystals was carried out, following NADH formation at 340 nm. When compared with the structure of the Michaelis complex ( Didierjean, C., Corbier, C., Fatih, M., Favier, F., Boschi-Muller, S., Branlant, G., and Aubry, A. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 12968-12976 ) the 206-210 loop is shifted and now forms part of the so-called "new Pi" site. The locations of both the O1 atom and the C3-phosphate group of the substrate are also changed. Altogether, the results provide evidence for the flipping of the C3-phosphate group occurring concomitantly or after the redox step.


ABSTRACT Current debates on recognition and domination tend to be characterized by two polarized positions. Where the "anti-recognition" camp views recognition as a tool for establishing and reproducing relations of power, the "pro-recognition" camp conceives it as a way for dominated individuals and social groups to lay stake to intersubjective relations that are more just. At first glance, Honneth's normative theory of recognition and Bourdieu's critical sociology of domination also divide along these lines. Honneth takes the pro-recognition stance, criticizing the French sociologist for adopting a "fragmented" conception of the social world that ignores the "moral consensus" underlying each claim for mutual recognition. In contrast, Bourdieu accuses the German philosopher of endorsing an "enchanted" view of the social world that misrecognizes the way that recognition perpetuates symbolic domination. However, through a close and nuanced reading of their works, this article suggests that, in spite of this difference, Honneth's and Bourdieu's theories nonetheless converge on the idea that recognition is neither "good" nor "bad" per se, but "structurally ambiguous" in its relations to symbolic domination.


The influence of strong electrolytes on the solubility of gases in aqueous/organic solutions has to be known in many industrial applications. In particular, thermodynamic models for correlating and predicting that influence have to be developed and tested. Progress in that area is rather limited, as reliable experimental data are scarcely found in the literature. Here, new experimental results are presented for the total pressure above liquid mixtures of (H2O + CH3OH + CO2 + NaCl) at temperatures of about (313.7, 354.4, and 395) K, total pressures up to ∼10 MPa, mole fractions of methanol in the binary solvent mixture (water + methanol) up to ∼0.75, and salt molalities up to 2 moles per kilogram of (water + methanol) but always well below the solubility limit of the salt in the gas-free solvent mixture. The new results are used to further test a recently developed extension of Pitzer's molality-scale-based model for the Gibbs excess energy of aqueous electrolyte solutions to mixed-solvent electrolyte- and...


In his 1939 Goulstonian Lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in London, Harold Himsworth addressed the "Mechanisms of Diabetes." In the course of these 3 presentations,1–3 he provided evidence that "diabetes mellitus is a disease in which the essential lesion is a diminished ability of the tissue to utilize glucose. The high blood sugar is a controlled and compensatory phenomenon, the object of which is to facilitate the utilization of glucose by the tissues." In addition, he challenged the conventional wisdom that "all causes of human diabetes could be explained by deficiency of insulin" and went on to utter the heretical notion that "a state of diabetes might result from inefficient action of insulin as well as from a lack of insulin." Thus, the notion of a causal role of insulin resistance in human disease was born almost 70 years ago.


The direct global matrix approach can be applied to modeling of range-dependent sound propagation in order to achieve numerically stable and accurate solutions. By solving the global system directly, this method features high efficiency as well as accuracy by avoiding error accumulation. It is an important issue to solve linear systems numerically in the direct global matrix approach, especially for the large-scale problems. An efficient and memory-saving algorithm is developed for solving the global system, in which the global coefficient matrix is treated as a block pentadiagonal matrix. As a result, this numerical model has the ability to solve large-scale problems on regular computers. Numerical examples are also presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this method.


I. INTRODUCTION The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a comprehensive federal statute that governs employee benefits. As its name suggests, it was enacted primarily to stabilize employer-provided retirement income, specifically pensions. (1) But even at the time of its passage, ERISA explicitly regulated employer-provided health care and disability benefits. (2) Such benefits have only increased in importance because a significant number of Americans receive health care through their employers. (3) While federal health care reform has taken center stage recently, (4) states have historically played a central role in regulating the interrelated areas of health care and insurance. Since ERISA's passage in 1974, however, states have had to contend with its preemptive effect, and the Supreme Court has weighed in on the relationship between ERISA and these traditional areas of state regulation on a number of occasions. (5) States' ability to exercise their traditional regulatory power has been upheld in a number of instances, (6) but the Court has been resistant to state efforts to enforce historically available remedies for behavior that is now regulated by ERISA. (7) This article focuses on a particular preemption question that is beginning to make its way through the Circuit Courts of Appeal. This potential preemption battle concerns state efforts to regulate--usually by banning--clauses within insurance contracts that purport to confer discretion upon the insurer in determining the meaning of the terms within the insurance contract, most importantly for the purpose of determining the insured's eligibility for insurance benefits. (8) Such a clause may read as follows: Insurer has full discretion and authority to determine the benefits and amount payable as well as to construe and interpret all terms and provisions of the plan." (9) The proposition set forth in such clauses--that the insurer's position about the meaning and applicability of the insurance contract carries more weight than the insured's position about those same issues--is contrary to the law in most states. States' regulatory regimes of insurance generally include private judicial enforcement, and the doctrines at play in those lawsuits generally seek to protect consumers, rather than favor insurers. That is, a person denied an insurance benefit can sue the insurer for breach of contract, and states have developed robust doctrines to govern such suits. If an insured is successful in proving that the insurer breached the insurance contract, the insured will receive the contested benefit as well as consequential damages of the breach and possibly also punitive damages if the insurance contract was breached in bad faith. More importantly for the purposes of this article, in such breach of contract cases, any ambiguity in the contract is interpreted against the insurer (because the insurer is the drafter). Contractual clauses that purport to confer interpretive authority upon the insurer are legally irrelevant. As a result of ERISA, however, such contractual provisions--commonly referred to as discretionary clauses--can have legal effect. The presence of such discretionary clauses can alter the standard of review--to the detriment of the insured--that a court will use in deciding whether an insurance benefit has been wrongfully denied. This point will be discussed in more detail below, but it suffices for the moment to note that the presence of such discretionary clauses has a totally different effect under federal law than it does under state law. In a benefits dispute governed by ERISA, such discretionary clauses may be accurate; a federal court may defer to the insurer's decision about the meaning of the insurance contract. In a benefits dispute that is governed by state law, on the other hand, such discretionary clauses have no legal effect. Consequently, the practical effect of such clauses (before the dispute arises) may well be to mislead the consumer, because the consumer is likely to believe that his or her rights in the event of a dispute with the insurer are less robust than they actually are. …


ABSTRACT Introduction: For patients with advanced/unresectable biliary tract cancers, cisplatin–gemcitabine combination is the standard first-line treatment. Beyond the first line, the therapeutic arsenal is limited with minimal benefit. Biliary tract cancers exhibit one of the highest frequencies of targetable molecular alterations across cancer types, and several targeted therapies are emerging as treatment options. Areas covered:We discuss neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor gene (NTRK) fusions in biliary tract cancers and the use of NTRK inhibitors (now approved in a 'cancer-agnostic' way), mechanisms of resistance, and emerging second-generation NTRK inhibitors. Expert opinion: Despite their rarity in biliary tract cancers, NTRK fusions are promising molecular targets because i) NTRK inhibitors have proven highly effective in NTRK-rearranged cancers and are now approved in a 'cancer-agnostic' way; ii) emerging second-generation NTRK inhibitors may overcome secondary resistance; iii) NTRK rearrangements will be readily detectable with the generalization of next-generation-sequencing in biliary tract cancers, including the detection of other frequent gene rearrangements, such as those involving the fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 gene (FGFR2). However, more data are necessary regarding the prevalence and characteristics of NTRK fusions in biliary tract cancers and the efficacy of NTRK inhibitors in these patients.


ABSTRACT The detailed information between plasma N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations and dogs with pulmonic stenosis (PS) is still unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical utility of measuring plasma NT-proBNP concentrations in dogs with PS and to determine whether plasma NT-proBNP concentration could be used to assess disease severity. This retrospective study enrolled 30 client-owned, untreated dogs with PS (asymptomatic [n=23] and symptomatic [n=7]) and 11 healthy laboratory beagles. Results of physical examination, thoracic radiography and echocardiography were recorded. Plasma NT-proBNP concentrations were measured using commercial laboratories. Compared to the healthy control dogs, cardiothoracic ratio was significantly increased in dogs with both asymptomatic and symptomatic PS. Similarly, the ratio of the main pulmonary artery to aorta was significantly decreased in dogs with both asymptomatic and symptomatic PS. The pulmonic pressure gradient in the symptomatic PS dogs was significantly higher than that in the asymptomatic PS dogs. Plasma NT-proBNP concentration was significantly elevated in the symptomatic PS dogs compared to the healthy control dogs and the asymptomatic PS dogs. Furthermore, the Doppler-derived pulmonic pressure gradient was significantly correlated with the plasma NT-proBNP concentration (r=0.78, r2=0.61, P<0.0001). Plasma NT-proBNP concentration >764 pmol/l to identify severe PS had a sensitivity of 76.2% and specificity of 81.8%. The plasma NT-proBNP concentration increased by spontaneous PS, i.e. right-sided pressure overload and can be used as an additional method to assess the severity of PS in dogs.


Small granules with a diameter of approximately 350 A are attached to the chloroplast lamellae of the red alga Porphyridium cruentum. To some extent, their size depends on the culture conditions and the age of the cell. It was possible to preserve the granules only with aldehyde prefixation. It can be seen that fixed or negatively stained granules are comprised of smaller subunits. The granules are arranged regularly on the lamellae in repeating rows with a center-to-center granule distance of 400 to 500 A. Attempts at characterization of these chloroplast granules revealed that they are resistant to hydrolysis by ribonuclease and appear to be structurally unaffected by methanol-acetone extraction. Because of their close association with the chloroplast lamellae, they are considered as possible sites of phycobilin concentration. This possibility is supported by two observations: when the phycobilins are removed, the granules disappear; and, when the chlorophyll and stainable membrane portions are selectively removed, the phycobilins and granules are still present. It was found that all other marine red algae examined had granules which were associated with the chloroplast lamellae.


: The cardiac valve pathology in 18,132 autopsies was analyzed. A total of 1,136 patients (6.3%) had acquired valvular disease. The most commonly diseased cardiac valve was the mitral valve (49%), followed by the aortic valve (42%) and the tricuspid (9%) and pulmonary valves (0.3%). Rheumatic fever accounted for 99.7% of cases of mitral stenosis and 68.4% of mitral incompetence. The autopsy incidence of mitral stenosis remained constant over 30 years (1950 to 1979). Only 44.4% of the cases of acquired aortic stenosis were due to rheumatic fever. Review of 100 consecutive, surgically excised native valves revealed that if the pathologist is given adequate information regarding the macroscopic appearance of the intact valve prior to excision, an accurate etiopathologic diagnosis can be made in 81% of cases compared with only 35% of cases without such information.


We describe a dominant thalassemia-like phenotype as a result of Hb Durham-N.C. which is caused by a single nucleotide substitution (C T G-C C G) at codon 114 resulting in leucine to proline substitution. Destabilization of heme pocket by amino acid substitutions might lead to formation of unstable β-globin chain which is rapidly catabolized resulting in thalassemia intermedia phenotype. Interestingly, the proband presented with a mild phenotype in contrast to cases which have been reported earlier and this is the first case described in the Malaysian population. The propositus was a seventeen-year-old Bugis female, diagnosed with beta thalassemia carrier during thalassemia screening. She was asymptomatic and her other siblings were healthy. Full blood count revealed mild anaemia with haemoglobin of 10.6 g/dL, raised red cell count (6.27 x 10 6 /ul), with low mean corpuscular volume (54.7 fL) and low mean corpuscular haemoglobin (16.9 pg). Peripheral blood film showed hypochromic microcytic red cells with anisocytosis.  No basophilic stippling was seen. High Performance Liquid Chromatography revealed increased Hb A 2 (4.9%) and Hb F (2.0%) with presence of abnormal peak (2.8%) at retention time 4.80 min. Capillary electrophoresis identified similar findings with raised Hb A 2 (5.2%) and Hb F (1.8%) level with the presence of an abnormal peak (3%) at Z(S). Beta-globin gene sequencing found a heterozygous state of codon 114[CTG>CCG] Hb Durham-N.C mutation. Subsequent Alpha-globin Multiplex Gap and ARMS-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed and no mutation was found. To conclude, other genetic modifier might have contributed to her milder β-thalassemia phenotype, not detectable by routine molecular methods. More extensive tests are required to identify the genetic modifier, which would help in planning the treatment and genetic counseling. Keywords: Durham; β-Thalassemia; Dominant


The movement disorder of cerebral palsy (CP) is expressed in a variety of ways and to varying degrees in each individual. The condition has become more complex over the last 20 years with the increasing survival of children born at less than 28 to 30 weeks gestationai age. Impairments present in children with CP as a direct result of the brain injury or occurring indirectly to compensate for underlying problems include abnormal muscle tone; weakness and lack of fitness; limited variety of muscle synergies; contracture and altered biomechanics, the net result being limited functional ability. Other contributors to the motor disorder include sensory, cognitive and perceptual impairments. In recent years understanding of the motor problem has increased, but less is known about effects of therapy. Evidence suggests that therapy can improve functional possibilities for children with cerebral palsy but is inconclusive as to which approach might be most beneficial. The therapist requires an understanding of the interaction of all systems, cognitive/perceptual, motor, musculoskeletal, sensory and behavioral, in the context of the development and plasticity of the CNS. It is necessary to understand the limitations of the damaged immature nervous system, but important to optimize the child's functional possibilities.


The properties of stimuli-responsive hydrogels can be tailored under various external stimuli, but it is difficult to realize the customized adjustment of hydrogel properties since the crosslinking degree in the gelation process is intractable. Here, a visible light triggered thiol-disulfide exchange reaction was applied for constructing disulfide-crosslinked hydrogels from P(EMA-SS-PEG), a poly(ethylene glycol) grafted poly(ethyl methacrylate) derivative with a disulfide linkage as the grafting point. This photochemical method provides mild gelation conditions to handily regulate the morphology, mechanical properties, swelling ratio, and degradation rate of hydrogels by simply varying the irradiation time. Based on this strategy, these disulfide-crosslinked hydrogel coatings showed rapid self-healing in 10 min under ambient conditions, which was dependent on the width of the scratch, temperature, and humidity. Notably, spraying water on these coatings could significantly accelerate the self-healing process of large scratches (360 μm) at room temperature with a self-healing time of 1 hour, enabling the practical application of hydrogel coatings in a natural environment.


Adrenal-based mineralocorticoid excess that is not secondary to excessive angiotensin II or adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) exists primarily as primary aldosteronism (PAL) and rarely as deoxycorticosterone- secreting adrenal tumor. The availability and wide application of the plasma aldosterone-plasma renin activity (PRA) ratio as a screening test for PAL has led to the recent recognition that PAL is common, possibly accounting for 5 to 10% of patients with hypertension, with most normokalemic. Detection and appropriate management of PAL relies on (1) screening of all patients with hypertension and not just those with hypokalemia or resistant hypertension; (2) confirmation of PAL using a reliable diagnostic approach such as fludrocortisone suppression testing (saline infusion testing may lack sensitivity); and (3) careful further assessment to differentiate the subtype, including genetic testing for the hybrid gene that causes glucocorticoid-remediable aldosteronism, and adrenal venous sampling to differentiate unilateral from bilateral aldosterone overproduction. The establishment of other underlying genetic mutations and new genetic tests should also aid in the detection of PAL and potentially curable hypertension. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Inc.


This study values the effectiveness of nutrition education interventions carried out by teachers with active didactic methodologies. The research was carried out by administering a frequency of food intake questionnaire, before and after the intervention. To compare the answers given before and after the educational intervention the Wilcoxon-test was applied to dependent data. Our research confirmed that a substantial percentage of children do not show a correct nutrition and therefore nutrition education interventions are opportune and necessary. In the group with "insufficient execution" particular variations are not taken place. In the group with "sufficient execution" increase the number of subjects having breakfast, particularly with milk and biscuits, and decrease the snakes intake. Moreover there is a general decrease of intake food as meat, fish, vegetables, salami and legumes. So this educational intervention seems to have only partial effectiveness.


Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in intensive care units in three European countries, the aim of this article is to engage with issues of secularity and the sacred in contemporary biomedicine. Contemporary biomedicine plays well into the narrative of secularization. At the same time, faced with criticism for its one sided and reductionist scientific focus, healthcare has moved in a supposedly more holistic direction, making space for the spiritual needs of patients. I suggest however, that some of the clinical practices that at face value appear to contradict the narrative of secularization, may just as much be interpreted within this framework and not as points of challenge. A second argument concerns the creed of biomedicine itself. Here, I draw on Durkheim's understanding of religion as a collective, moral project founded in the distinction between the sacred and the profane. These are collectively maintained categories, and the sacred according to Durkheim inspires in us a sense of deep-seated respect. It is socially determined, but its value and truth appear undeniable. Drawing on my own ethnographic experiences of being an observer in intensive care, as well as on social-scientific literature about the moral project of medicine, I suggest that contemporary biomedicine represent not only a disenchantment of human life in line with typical secularization theory. Rather, I suggest, we find in the practices and implicit moral stances of this field, evidence of what our society holds to be sacred.


The actual distribution of world income across countries is extremely unequal, much higher than the within country inequality faced by most countries. The question studied in this paper is: How do international policies on aid, trade, and factor movements affect the international distribution of income? To begin to answer this question, the authors calculate the impact by decile of the actual level of aid flows and the effect on potential income of merchandise trade restrictions by high-income countries. They find that aid's distributional impact is equality enhancing. While it is extremely small in terms of changes in standard inequality measures, it is of some importance for the lowest decile of the world's income distribution. The authors also find that some of this impact is counteracted by lost potential income in the lower deciles from merchandise trade barriers imposed by high-income countries. In brief, there is a contradiction in international policies where aid's equality-enhancing effect is somewhat offset by protectionism. They also discuss some of the analytical difficulties with extending this analysis of redistribution to other forms of international factor flows-more specifically, migrant worker and profit remittances. The analysis presented is partial and static and ignores within country distribution. As such, the authors suggest that future research should explore the distributional consequences of the broader general equilibrium effects, dynamic effects, and externalities associated with aid, trade, and factor flows. Future research should also analyze the within country distributional impacts of international policies.


Person re-identification (re-ID) requires one to match images of the same person across camera views. As a more challenging task, semi-supervised re-ID tackles the problem that only a number of identities in training data are fully labeled, while the remaining are unlabeled. Assuming that such labeled and unlabeled training data share disjoint identity labels, we propose a novel framework of Semantics-Guided Clustering with Deep Progressive Learning (SGC-DPL) to jointly exploit the above data. By advancing the proposed Semantics-Guided Affinity Propagation (SG-AP), we are able to assign pseudo-labels to selected unlabeled data in a progressive fashion, under the semantics guidance from the labeled ones. As a result, our approach is able to augment the labeled training data in the semi-supervised setting. Our experiments on two large-scale person re-ID benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of our SGC-DPL over state-of-the-art methods across different degrees of supervision. In extension, the generalization ability of our SGC-DPL is also verified in other tasks like vehicle re-ID or image retrieval with the semi-supervised setting.


Radiotherapy of head and neck cancers frequently leads to irreversible hypofunction of salivary glands, which severely compromises the quality of life and is extremely difficult to treat. We found recently that salivary gland resident macrophages are sensitive to radiation and interact with epithelial progenitors and endothelial cells through homeostatic paracrine factors. Heterogeneous subpopulations of resident macrophages are present in other organs with distinct functions, whereas subpopulations of salivary gland resident macrophages with distinct functions or transcriptional profiles have not been reported yet. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we found that mouse submandibular glands (SMGs) contain 2 distinct self-renewing resident macrophage subsets, an MHC-IIhi subset present in many other organs and an uncommon Csf2r+ subset. The main source of Csf2 in SMGs are innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that rely on IL15 for maintenance, while the main source of IL15 protein is Csf2r+ resident macrophages, indicating a homeostatic paracrine interaction between these cells. Csf2r+ resident macrophages are the major source of hepatocyte growth factor (Hgf) that regulates homeostasis of SMG epithelial progenitors. Meanwhile, Csf2r+ resident macrophages are responsive to Hedgehog signaling that can rescue salivary function impaired by radiation. Consistently, irradiation persistently decreased numbers of ILCs and levels of IL15 and Csf2 in SMGs, which were all recovered by transient activation of Hedgehog signaling after radiation. Csf2r+ resident macrophages and MHC-IIhi resident macrophages share transcriptome profiles of perivascular macrophages and macrophages associated with nerves and/or epithelial cells in other organs, respectively, and such niche preferences were supported by lineage tracing and immunofluorescent staining. These findings reveal an uncommon resident macrophage subset that regulates the homeostasis of the salivary gland and is promising as the target to restore salivary gland function impaired by radiation.


In this study, we present a novel theoretical account of the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component. Hybrid views interpret this ERP component in terms of two cognitive operations: (i) access of information, which is related to predictions (predictability component), and (ii) integration of information, which is related to plausibility (plausibility component). Though there is an empirical evidence for this view, what has been left open so far is how these two operations can be defined. In our approach, both components are related to categorization. The critical word and the argument position it is related to are associated with categories that have a graded structure. This graded structure is defined in terms of weights both on attributes and values of features belonging to a category. The weights, in turn, are defined using probability distributions. The predictability component is defined in terms of the information gain with respect to non mismatched features between the two categories. The plausibility component is defined as the difference in the degree of typicality between the two categories. Finally, the N400 amplitude is defined as a function of both components.


This paper tests for the existence of contagion during the 1997/98 Asian crisis. We interpret contagion as a significant change in the way that countryspecific shocks are transmitted across international stock markets. Using the full-information framework of Favero and Giavazzi (2002) we find that the null hypothesis of no contagion is widely rejected. We also uncover evidence of an asymmetric transmission of shocks. Since our results contrast with those obtained by Rigobon (2001, 2002) using a limited-information methodology we present Monte Carlo simulations which show that certain necessary conditions must be satisfied for this method to have power. For parameter values in line with our econometric estimations we conclude that the power of the limitedinformation approach remains relatively low. JEL Classification: C3, F3, F4, G1


Metal phosphides have recently emerged as promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we report the synthesis of ruthenium diphosphide embedded on a dual-doped graphitic carbon by pyrolyzing chitosan beads impregnated with ruthenium chloride and phosphorus pentoxide. The as-synthesized RuP2@N-P-C displays a good electrocatalytic activity in acidic, neutral and alkaline media. We show that the HER activity of the electrocatalyst can be tuned by varying the concentration of Li+ cations. Co-diffusion effects on H+ exerted by Li+ on HER in the porous carbon matrix have been observed.


We undertook a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between academic emotions (comprising positive high-arousal [PHA], positive low-arousal [PLA], negative high-arousal [NHA], and negative low-arousal [NLA] emotions) and academic performance among mainland Chinese students, and analyzed the moderating effects of regional location, age, achievement domain match, and gender on these associations. Included in the research were 35 primary studies with 17,548 participants. Results of the meta-analysis showed overwhelming support for the positive correlations between PHA, PLA, and academic achievement ( r PHA = .312, r PLA = .376), and negative correlations between NHA, NLA, and academic achievement ( r NHA = -.179, r NLA = -.371). Furthermore, moderation analyses suggested that these effects were influenced by regional location, age, achievement domain match, and gender. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.


In the ethnological and anthropological literature there are many good ethnographic studies of entities like local communities, class cultures, ethnic groups, particular institutions or age groups. But these studies are seldom anchored in a systematic theory of the total socio-cultural order. What we need are good models of the interrelations between specific forms of life. Based on several stints of fieldwork among different groups of urban working-class families in Norway, this paper attempts to make a systematic argument for the analysis of overarching cultural categories and their interrelations. Such overarching categories help organize, justify and legitimate the social, economic and cultural diversity that may be observed in daily life. More generally the problem under consideration concerns the relationship between contextualized ethnography and interpretations of comprehensive frameworks of implicit meanings in a modern large scale society. It is argued in the paper that this problem should not be phrased as a question of"generalization" of qualitative analysis. Such a phrasing very quickly leads to questions of sampling and boundaries which make anthropologists and European ethnologists look like bad survey sociologists. Instead the problem is rephrased as one of the "range", "extent", "era and area of relative power" of our interpretations.


The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between social capital and cultural intelligence with organizational phonics among education managers in Bashagar. The research method is descriptive-correlational. The statistical population of the study consisted of 194 managers of Bushehr education, out of which 140 were randomly selected. Measurement tools included Social Capital Questionnaire, Cultural Intelligence and Organizational Voice. The face validity and content validity of the questionnaires were evaluated and confirmed by academic scholars and in a case study using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of reliability, the reliability of which was 88% social capital, 93% cultural intelligence and 94% organizational voice. The results of this study showed that lack of social capital and high cultural intelligence affect managers, so that decreasing social capital and increasing cultural intelligence can lead managers to organizational voice and motivate and sense of responsibility. Increase towards the organization. Increasing social capital and high cultural intelligence can strengthen managers' sense of confidence and make managers more committed to achieving organizational goals. Therefore, using the results of this study, it can be concluded that in order to be able to have an organizational voice, education managers must increase cultural intelligence and social capital as much as possible.


Second hand clothes have invaded African markets for several decades. In all African countries, this kind of trade gives job and money to thousands of people without resources. Poor populations also buy cheap clothes. Firstly, the paper focuses on the arrival of second hand clothes during the past century in countries of Cape Verde, Ivory Coast and Senegal. Secondly, the paper presents big traders and detailers in that sector. Most of them are foreigners. Thirdly, through the places of capital cities where second hand clothes are sold, we try to explain again the notion of second-hand and what productions in African cities are possible.


BACKGROUND
The dental endoscope was developed to facilitate visualization of the subgingival environment as an aid in diagnosis and non-surgical root debridement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether endoscopy-aided scaling and root planing (SRP) resulted in a greater reduction of residual calculus compared to SRP alone in multirooted teeth.

METHODS
Twenty-four patients were enrolled and contributed 35 tooth pairs (70 teeth in total). Each tooth per pair was randomly assigned to receive endoscopy-aided SRP (test) or SRP alone (control). Both teeth were extracted immediately after treatment, washed with water, and stained with methylene blue. The percentage of residual calculus was determined via stereomicroscopy and digital image software by a single masked examiner.

RESULTS
Overall, there was 1.16% (P = 0.097) less residual calculus at test versus control sites. At interproximal surfaces, test roots had 2.63% less residual calculus than control roots (P = 0.003), whereas test roots had slightly more residual calculus than controls at buccal/lingual surfaces (0.36%; P = 0.652). There were no statistically significant differences in residual calculus between groups at deeper probing depths or at sites with deep furcation invasions. Only at shallower interproximal sites with probing depths < or =6 mm was significantly less residual calculus seen in roots treated with endoscopy (P = 0.020). Treatment time decreased significantly as operator experience increased; however, no significant improvement in residual calculus levels was noted with greater experience.

CONCLUSION
Within the confines of this study, the use of the endoscope as an adjunct to traditional SRP provided no significant improvement in calculus removal in multirooted molar teeth.


Abstract : Through a program of comprehensive research and detailed analysis, the paper presents current and proposed steps for the Integration of the Americas in the 21st Century within the time frame agreed to by all of the participants in the last Summit of the Americas held in Santiago, Chile in 1998. Based on the two most successful existing trade agreements in the Western Hemisphere, NAFTA and MERCOSUR, the discussion will attempt to document the theories, foreign policies, problems and facts which eventually resulted in a successful integration process. It will effectively define the meaning of the word 'regionalism' in a comprehensive manner which will also include the definition and understanding of that term by the two most important partners in those regional trade agreements, the United States of America and the Federative Republic of Brazil. Also, the regionalism concepts of both the U.S. and Brazil will be shown as actual options for hemispheric integration. Further, the NAFTA and MERCOSUR models will be analyzed and the current differences between the two will be detailed to enable a better understanding of the integration process. Following a discussion of the current and potential problems in the concept of a 'Free Trade Area of the Americas' as foreseen by both the United States and Brazil, the paper will conclude with what is considered to be the most feasible recommended steps needed to be taken in a pragmatic and modem approach to enable the construction of a strong and sustainable process to integrate the Continent.


In this paper, the digital data can be transformed using Discrete Wavelet Transform. The images need to be transformed without loosing of information. The Discrete Wavelet Transform was based on time-scale representation, which provides efficient multi-resolution. The lifting based scheme (5, 3) filters give lossless mode of information as per the JPEG 2000 Standard. The lifting based DWT are lower computational complexity and reduced memory requirements. Since Conventional convolution based DWT is area and power hungry which can be overcome by using the lifting based scheme. The DWT is being increasingly used for image coding. This is due to the fact that DWT supports features like progressive image transmission (by quality, by resolution), ease of transformed image manipulation, region of interest coding, etc. DWT has traditionally been implemented by convolution. Such an implementation demands both a large number of computations and a large storage features that are not desirable for either high-speed or low-power applications. Recently, a lifting- based scheme that often requires far fewer computations has been proposed for the DWT. In this paper, the design of Lossless 2-D DWT using Lifting Scheme Architecture will be modeled using the Verilog HDL and its functionality were verified using the Modelsim tool and can be synthesized using the Xilinx tool.


Title of dissertation: OPTICAL AND MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS OF A LEVITATED, GYROSCOPICALLY STABILIZED GRAPHENE NANOPLATELET Joyce Elizabeth Coppock, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Bruce Kane Laboratory for Physical Sciences I discuss the design and operation of a system for levitating a charged, μmscale, multilayer graphene nanoplatelet in a quadrupole electric field trap in high vacuum. Levitation decouples the platelet from its environment and enables sensitive mechanical and magnetic measurements. First, I describe a method of generating and trapping the nanoplatelets. The platelets are generated via liquid exfoliation of graphite pellets and charged via electrospray ionization. Individual platelets are trapped at a pressure of several hundred mTorr and transferred to a trap in a second chamber, which is pumped to UHV pressures for further study. All measurements of the trapped platelet's motion are performed via optical scattering. Second, I present a method of gyroscopically stabilizing the levitated platelet. The rotation frequency of the platelet is locked to an applied radio frequency (rf) electric field Erf . Over time, frequency-locking stabilizes the platelet so that its axis of rotation is normal to the platelet and perpendicular to Erf . Finally, I present optical data on the interaction of a multilayer graphene platelet with an applied magnetic field. The stabilized nanoplatelet is extremely sensitive to external torques, and its low-frequency dynamics are determined by an applied magnetic field. Two mechanisms of interaction are observed: a diamagnetic polarizability and a magnetic moment proportional to the frequency of rotation. A model is constructed to describe this data, and experimental values are compared to theory. OPTICAL AND MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS OF A LEVITATED, GYROSCOPICALLY STABILIZED GRAPHENE NANOPLATELET


OBJECTIVE
To determine the efficiency, during general anaesthesia, of four commercially available HMEs, with particular attention to the change of performances due to the new modifications introduced by the manufacturers.

DESIGN
Comparisons of the performances of each HMEs with psychometric method in terms of T degree C, RH (%), AH (mgH2O/1) of inhaled and expired gases.

PATIENTS
A sample of 28 patients under general anesthesia longer than 150 minutes, undergone elective urological surgery. Patients with cardiological, respiratory and metabolic impairments have been excluded.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
The measurements of T degree C, RH and AH have been performed with thermometric probes every minute. The collected data have been analyzed by Student's "t"-test for unpaired data.

CONCLUSIONS
The obtained data show that a good conditioning of the inhaled gases is possible, although only few HMEs satisfy the requirements indicated in the ISO and BSI standards.


Background: Graves disease or other causes of thyrotoxicosis are frequently associated with cytopenia. Although anemia is the most common, other cell lineage can be affected. Pancytopenia is a rare complication of thyrotoxicosis. Case presentation: We report a case of a 33-year-old Chinese man who presented a nonsevere pancytopenia in the context of a newly diagnosed Graves disease. Restauration of euthyroid state led to progressive correction of pancytopenia. Conclusions: Literature review shows other rare cases of pancytopenia. It is usually nonsevere with just extremely rare cases of transfusion reported. Evolution was always favorable after achievement of euthyroid state. Its mechanism remains poorly understood, especially because those patients have no vitamin or iron deficiency. The exact physiopathological process remains unclear but 2 causes seem to overlap: reduced production of hematopoietic cells from the bone marrow and increased destruction or sequestration of mature hematopoietic cells. Despite unclear mechanism, the presence of hematologic abnormalities including pancytopenia must not be considered as a contraindication to antithyroid drug therapy.


The design trend of train nose has been developed through interrelation of social culture and trains. Along with the changes of social culture and train nose of the advanced railway countries (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Korea) have been divided into the 6 periods from the 1800's to 2008. First, the design changes on the Image scale, Munsell system, Design positioning map of train nose have been confirmed. Second, the design trend of train nose through social culture has been analyzed. Last, the research on the design trend on train nose of each country has been done. The result shows that the design trend of train nose is a progressively structural, practical, popular, humane, eco-friendly and state-of-the-art design trend.


INTRODUCTION
Salt intake above 5 g/person/day is a strong independent risk factor for hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Published studies indicate that the main source of salt in human diet is processed ready-to-eat food, contributing with 65-85% to daily salt intake.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper was to present data on salt content of ready-to-eat food retailed in Novi Sad, Serbia, and contribution of the salt contained in 100 g of food to the recommended daily intake of salt for healthy and persons with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

METHODS
In 1,069 samples of ready-to-eat food, salt (sodium chloride) content was calculated based on chloride ion determined by titrimetric method, while in 54 samples of bottled water sodium content was determined using flame-photometry. Food items in each food group were categorized as low, medium or high salt. Average salt content of each food group was expressed as a percentage of recommended daily intake for healthy and for persons with CVD risk.

RESULTS
Average salt content (g/100 g) ranged from 0.36 ± 0.48 (breakfast cereals) to 2.32 ± 1.02 (grilled meat). The vast majority of the samples of sandwiches (91.7%), pizza (80.7%), salami (73.9%), sausages (72.9%), grilled meat (70.0%) and hard cheese (69.6%) had a high salt profile. Average amount of salt contained in 100 g of food participated with levels ranging from 7.2% (breakfast cereals) to 46.4% (grilled meat) and from 9.6% to 61.8% in the recommended daily intake for healthy adult and person with CVD risk, respectively. Average sodium content in 100 ml of bottled spring and mineral water was 0.33 ± 0.30 mg and 33 ± 44 mg, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Ready-to-eat food retailed in Novi Sad has high hidden salt content, which could be considered as an important contributor to relatively high salt consumption of its inhabitants.


Human language offers a variety of ways to create meaning, one of which is referring to entities, objects, or events in the world. One such meaning maker is understanding to whom or to what a pronoun in a discourse refers to. To understand a pronoun, the brain must access matching entities or concepts that have been encoded in memory from previous linguistic context. Models of language processing propose that internally stored linguistic concepts, accessed via exogenous cues such as phonological input of a word, are represented as (a)synchronous activities across a population of neurons active at specific frequency bands. Converging evidence suggests that delta band activity (1-3Hz) is involved in temporal and representational integration during sentence processing. Moreover, recent advances in the neurobiology of memory suggest that recollection engages reinstatement of neural dynamics that occurred during memory encoding. Integrating from these two research lines, we here predicted that neural dynamic patterns, especially in delta frequency range, underlying referential meaning representation would be reinstated during pronoun resolution. By leveraging neural decoding techniques (i.e., representation similarity analysis) on a magnetoencephalogram (MEG) dataset acquired during a naturalistic story-listening task, we provide evidence that delta-band activity underlies referential meaning representation. Our findings suggest that, during spoken language comprehension, endogenous linguistic representations such as referential concepts may be retrieved and represented via reinstatement of dynamic neural patterns.


This essay describes a project in which a 4 grade class joined forces with a university class to study and produce as theatre Paul Fleischman's Seedfolks, an inspiring story of a diverse group of community residents who transform a vacant urban lot into a wonderful community garden. In addition to the arts component, the two teachers unexpectedly found an opportunity to encourage sustainability of education when their students embarked on a pen pal correspondence.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical factors, drug-related genetic polymorphisms, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types to determine the association with sorafenib-induced high-grade skin rash (HGSR) in Japanese patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). A total of 55 patients with advanced RCC treated with sorafenib were analyzed retrospectively. Of these, 33 patients were subjected to HLA typing and polymorphism analyses of CYP3A5, ABCB1, ABCC2, and UGT1A1, which are involved in the metabolism and membrane transport of sorafenib. Grade 3 or higher SR developed in 12 (22%), and a higher incidence was observed in female patients than in male patients (40 vs. 15%, P=0.046). The initial dose, initial dose per body weight, and initial dose per body surface area in patients with HGSR were significantly higher than those in patients without HGSR. Patients with the ABCC2 -24CC genotype were at a significantly higher risk of SR than those with the CT genotype (35 vs. 0%, P=0.032). HLA-A*24 was significantly associated with the occurrence of HGSR (P=0.049). Our finding suggested that women, higher initial dose per body weight or body surface area, the ABCC2 -24CC genotype, and HLA-A*24 are associated with the risk of sorafenib-induced HGSR in Japanese RCC patients.


Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between technology and knowledge management in the selected sport organizations of Iran. Methodology: This study was descriptive. The sample was 103 managers in sport organizations. Data was gathered by Questionnaires. Data was analyzed by Spearman's correlation coefficient, Pearson and regression in SPSS19 software. Results: Results indicated a positive and significant relationship between ICT and knowledge management in sport organizations. Conclusion: The results showed that the technology play a key role in knowledge management in sports organizations. It revealed that the more staff ability is in the information technology, the better knowledge management will be established. So, ability must be considered as effective tool to gather, store, transmit and disseminate knowledge in the organization managers' plans.


When GPS, or other absolute positioning, is un-available, terrain-relative velocity is crucial for dead reckoning and the vehicle's pose estimate. Unfortunately, the position-denied accuracy of the inertial navigation system (INS) is governed by the performance of the linear velocity aiding sources, such as wheel odometry, which are typically corrupted by large systematic errors due to wheel slip. As a result, affordable terrestrial inertial navigation is ineffective in estimating position when denied position fixes for an extended period of time. For mobile robots, the mapping between inputs and resultant behavior depends critically on terrain conditions which vary significantly over time and space which cannot be pre-programmed. Past work has used Integrated Perturbative Dynamics (IPD) to identify successively systematic and stochastic models of wheel slip, but treated the pose filter only as input without improving the odometry measurements used for vehicle navigation. We present a unique approach of a predictive vehicle slip model in a delayed state extended Kalman filter. The relative pose difference between the current state and delayed state is used as a measurement update to the vehicle slip model. These results create an opportunity to compensate for wheel slip effects in terrestrial inertial navigation. This paper presents the design, calibration, and verification of such a system and concludes that the position-denied performance of the compensated system is far superior.


In the framework of multi-configuration Dirac–Fock theory, a detailed calculation is performed for the decay rates and the energies of the doubly excited 2s2 1S0 state of He-like ions, of which atomic number Z ranges from 6 to 92. The 2s2 1S0 – 1s2S1/2 Auger decay is predominant at low Z regime, whereas the 2s2 1S0 – 1s2p 1,3P1 two-electron one-photon transitions become quite important in moderate and high Z regimes. For heavy ions with Z≥72, the contribution of 2s2 1S0 – 1s2s3S1 M1 transition is significant. The Breit interaction considerably enhances the 2s2 1S0 – 1s2S1/2 Auger rate at high Z regime.


Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one of the great Russian authors. His name is not only known in Russia but also abroad. One of his novels entitled Crime and Punishment brings his name to be heard abroad. It has also been considered as one of the famous novels in world's literature and translated into other languages, such as English, France, Indonesia and etc. Moreover, the novel makes him acquire the status of English novelist by adoption. The novel is about the mental processes of how a murderer's character named Raskolnikov develops. In the thesis, the writer is eager to analyze how Raskolnikov's characters develop before the crime and after he undergoes his mental punishment and being touched by Sonia's love. In order to get the answer she uses the literary theories namely the theory of characterization and the theory of conflict. She uses critics on Crime and Punishment to help her analyze the topic. From the analysis, the thesis writer finds out that before the crime, Raskolnikov is an isolated, coward and arrogant person. Somehow, after he undergoes mental punishment as the effect of his crime, he becomes humble. However, his character as a coward person does not change. It begins to develop after he is touched by Sonia's love as he confesses his crime to the police and goes through the life in prison in Siberia. He thus proves himself as a responsible person. Therefore, the writer concludes that Raskolnikov has experienced great character development


This paper analyses the relationship between innovation - proxied by Research and Development (R&D), patent and trade mark activity - and profitability in a panel of Australian firms (1995 to 1998). Special attention is given to assessing the nature of competitive conditions faced by different firms, as the nature of competition is likely to affect the returns to innovation. The hypothesis is that lower levels of competition will imply higher returns to innovation. To allow for a time lag time before any return to innovation, the market value of the firms is used as a proxy for expected future profits. The results give some support for the main hypothesis: the market's valuation of R&D activity is higher in industries where competition is lower. However, the paper highlights the difficulty in assessing competitive conditions and finds a number of results that challenge the simple hypothesis.


How does quotation transparency affect financial market performance? Biais's irrelevance proposition in 1993 shows that centralized markets yield the same expected bid-ask spreads as fragmented markets, other things equal. However, de Frutos and Manzano demonstrated in 2002 that expected spreads in fragmented markets are smaller and market participants prefer to trade in fragmented markets. This paper introduces liquidity traders' costs of searching for a better quote into the Biais model and derives opposite conclusions to these previous studies: expected spreads in centralized markets are smaller and liquidity traders prefer centralized markets, while market makers prefer fragmented markets. Copyright 2005 by The American Finance Association.


Abstract Ramakatsa v Magashule signifies the first time the Constitutional Court permitted an individual to base a cause of action against another non-state actor, in this case a political party, solely on the contents of a right entrenched in the Bill of Rights. In doing so, the court moved away from the development of the common law in terms of s 8 or s 39 (2) of the Constitution as the means to incorporate constitutional rights or values into the law that regulates the legal relationship between non-state actors, and, in effect, recognized a third methodological pathway through which fundamental rights applies horizontally between non-state actors. Following this seminal decision, it is necessary to modify South African constitutional theory on horizontal application to reflect the three means through which the Bill of Rights applies to private relations. It is also necessary to consider whether the new methodological pathway the court recognised in terms of s 172(1) of the Constitution may apply to other non-state actors.


This revised volume, originally published in Sweden, consolidates multidisciplinary research on gender inequalities in health. Reviewing previous research and presenting empirical data from Sweden and elsewhere, the authors examine basic concepts, possible hypotheses, explanatory models, and policy solutions for the biological and social causes of the differences in health between men and women. Along with discussions of reproductive, mental, and occupational health, this book reviews critical issues such as violence and asks important questions, such as why men are dying younger. The volume also analyzes how Sweden's labour market, social structure, and health care system have contributed to these gender differences, and what effects these factors will have in the future. Sweden's experience as a pioneer in health achievement and gender equality provides valuable insights into the health-related challenges remaining for the rest of the world.


Cooperating with parents is one of the basic tasks of every educational institution. School (i. e. teachers and other pedagogical workers) and home (i. e. parents) both take priority in childrens´ education. That is the main reason for their cooperation which takes on new challenges along the way. It takes effort on both sides to be able to cooperate and establish a good, equal relationship that needs to be changed and improved constantly, and to successfully overcome potential obstacles within various cooperating forms by using certain knowledge and skills. Only then all parties included in such cooperation can truly benefit from it.
The main purpose of this paper was to explore the teachers´ as well as the parents´ points of view and their experiences in cooperating in special needs primary schools.
The data was acquired by using a survey, especially designed for the purposes of this research. The methods used for the pedagogical research were the descriptive and the causal non-experimental ones.
The samples of the study, i. e. 30 teachers and 55 parents, were chosen from three special needs primary schools around Carinthia.
The results of the study reveal that cooperation is highly appreciated and of major importance to both the teachers as well as the parents. The parents evaluate the cooperation even more positive in comparison to the teachers. According to the teachers, parents mostly attend formal forms of cooperation, i. e. parent´s meetings, parent-teacher conferences and phone conversations, while when attending the informal forms of cooperation, parents would mostly come to various school events.
Both parties are most satisfied with the listed forms of cooperation and the majority on both sides would not change any of them. However, those who would like to change some forms, chose mainly the informal ones, as they are not completely aware of their purpose and width yet.
Judging from the mutual expectations stated in the survey, there is a great harmony between the actual teachers´ expectations of the parents and the parents´ opinion, and vice versa. Furthermore, both survey samples claimed mainly positive experience in their cooperation.


Providing clean, continuous and reliable power to many industrial customers has become a necessity. Where possible, sensitive customers are supplied by two low-voltage utility feeders one of which is used as backup. Bus Transfer is able to provide the sensitive loads with a fast transfer to the backup feeder when the main one fails. This paper presents a new method to optimize harmonic estimation in bus transfer systems that use thyristor-based static transfer switch. The method uses filter bank property of Discrete Wavelet Packet Transform to measure the effective values of harmonics which are compatible with IEC standards, and implements them in power quality indices for operation of bus transfer systems. Implementation of wavelet packet transform has the benefit of inter-harmonic recognition, low spectral leakage, and the use of inappropriate length of a sampling window. The proposed method decomposes the voltage and current waveforms into uniform frequency bands corresponding to harmonics, and uses an optimized method to reduce the spectral leakage due to imperfect frequency response of the applied wavelet filter bank. As a case study, by using PSCAD software linked with MATLAB, the method is implemented and tested on a harmonic polluted network. The simulation results show the high accuracy of the proposed method.


The project Co-creative Welfare Innovation explored what compe- tencies employees need and developed knowledge of co-creation processes along with vulnerable service recipients. Action research was used to gather data from four cases in three Norwegian mu- nicipalities. Data were analyzed by using thematic analysis. Find- ings indicate that employees working closely with recipients of welfare services need professional support to understand co-crea- tion and develop an own sense of professional confidence. There is a need for methodical competence, local experiential competence and target group competence. The study shows that proper prepa- rations before involving the recipients is essential, along with safe, supportive, collegial unities internally in the services. Co-creation seems to function as a change process bringing forth competence, provided there's an organizational framework for it. A dedicated co-creation team of employees with complementary competencies seems essential to succeed.


The design and performance of a system for spotting handwritten Arabic words in scanned document images is presented. Three main components of the system are a word segmenter, a shape based matcher for words and a search interface. The user types in a query in English within a search window, the system finds the equivalent Arabic word, e.g., by dictionary look-up, locates word images in an indexed (segmented) set of documents. A two-step approach is employed in performing the search: (1) prototype selection: the query is used to obtain a set of handwritten samples of that word from a known set of writers (these are the prototypes), and (2) word matching: the prototypes are used to spot each occurrence of those words in the indexed document database. A ranking is performed on the entire set of test word images-- where the ranking criterion is a similarity score between each prototype word and the candidate words based on global word shape features. A database of 20,000 word images contained in 100 scanned handwritten Arabic documents written by 10 different writers was used to study retrieval performance. Using five writers for providing prototypes and the other five for testing, using manually segmented documents, 55% precision is obtained at 50% recall. Performance increases as more writers are used for training.


The first demonstration, to our knowledge, of the creation of ultrabroadband superluminescent light-emitting diodes using multiple quantum-dot layer structure by rapid thermal-annealing process is reported. The device exhibits a 3 dB emission bandwidth of 146 nm centered at 984 nm with cw output power as high as 15 mW at room temperature corresponding to an extremely small coherence length of 6.6 microm.


BACKGROUND
The relations among hyporetinolemia, acute phase proteins, and vitamin A status in children are unclear.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to examine the relations between acute phase proteins and plasma retinol concentrations in children with and without clinical vitamin A deficiency (Bitot spots and night blindness).

DESIGN
The study was a nonconcurrent analysis of acute phase protein concentrations and other data from a previous clinical trial. Preschool children, 3-6 y of age, with (n = 118) and without (n = 118) xerophthalmia were assigned to receive oral vitamin A (60 mg retinol equivalent) or placebo and were seen at 5 wk. All children received oral vitamin A (60 mg retinol equivalent) at 5 wk.

RESULTS
At baseline, alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein (AGP) was elevated in 42.9% and 23.5% (P < 0.003) and C-reactive protein (CRP) was elevated in 17.7% and 13.7% (NS) of children with and without xerophthalmia, respectively. Hyporetinolemia (retinol < 0.7 micromol/L) occurred in 61.0% and 47.4% (P < 0.04) of children with and without xerophthalmia, respectively. A history of fever, a history of cough, and nasal discharge noted on examination were each associated with elevated acute phase proteins. Vitamin A supplementation increased plasma retinol at 5 wk but had no significant effect on concentrations of acute phase proteins.

CONCLUSIONS
Elevated acute phase protein concentrations and infectious disease morbidity are closely associated during vitamin A deficiency.


Bovine mononuclear cells in the presence of bovine anti-chicken erythrocyte sera at high dilutions induce release of chromium-51 from labeled chicken erythrocytes. Bovine effector cells are capable of recognizing both bovine immunoglobulin G1 and bovine immunoglobulin G2; in contrast, human effector cells only recognize immunoglobulin G1. Effector cell activity of bovine mononuclear cells is equally distributed between peripheral blood and spleen. As in other species, thymus and lymph node cells exert no antibody-dependent effect, although some direct cytotoxicity by lymph node cells may be observed. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity against a bovine cell line can also be detected. By using a tannic acid technique, it was found that chicken erythrocytes coated with Theileria parva piroplasm antigen or with Trypanosoma rhodesiense variant-specific coat antigen form suitable targets for bovine antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity assays. By using such targets, a moderate degree of direct cytotoxicity by bovine mononuclear cells, in the absence of antibody, is always observed; this may be reduced by choosing optimal conditions of tannic acid treatment and antigen sensitization and by the use of short incubation periods for the cytotoxicity assay. Observations have been made on the variant specificity, time course of appearance, and association with immunoglobulin G1 of the antibody activity responsible for cell-dependent cytotoxicity against chicken erythrocytes coated with T. rhodesiense antigens. The potential usefulness of this technique in the analysis of protective immune responses against protozoal infections is discussed.


: Deep neural networks have shown impressive performance in various applications, including many pattern recognition problems. However, their working mechanisms have not been fully understood and adversarial examples indicate some fundamental problems with DNN-based classification methods. In this paper, we investigate the decision modeling mechanism of deep neural networks, which use the ReLU function. We derive some equations that show how each layer of deep neural networks expands the input dimension into higher dimensional spaces and generates numerous decision polygons. In this paper, we investigate the decision polygon formulations and present some examples that show interesting properties of DNN based classification methods.