Nanocomposites synthesized by alternative approaches like biosynthetic methods are safer than those prepared by traditional chemical techniques. Further, this approach is both economically and environmentally feasible. In this study, we report an eco-friendly methodology for preparing cerium dioxide/molybdenum disulphide (CeO2/MoS2) nanocomposites. Moringa oleifera peel was used as the reducing/stabilizing agent for synthesizing CeO2 nanoparticles. The prepared nanocomposite were characterized using FT-IR analysis, SEM and EDAX analysis, TEM and SAED pattern analysis, X-Ray Diffraction Pattern, Zeta Potential, UV-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectra, X-Ray Photon Spectroscopy and Photoluminescence spectra. Particle size and morphology were characterized by TEM and SEM. The photocatalytic pursuit of CeO2/MoS2 was explored by the degradation of methyl violet (MV) under visible light irradiation. Our methodology proved to be 96.25% effective in the degradation of MV. Further, we used this Response Surface Methodology for enhancing the process factors like volume of photocatalyst, time for degradation and concentration of MV.


Following a cancer diagnosis, patients must cope with numerous physical, emotional, and practical challenges. While health information exists to help patients learn how to manage these challenges, health information seeking often declines over time, recalling information is difficult, and limited time with healthcare providers can leave patients feeling uninformed about their illness. We designed MyPath to overcome these information access challenges. The mobile system offers personalized, dynamic, and trusted health information recommendations to help patients learn about and manage their cancer. Through a seven-month deployment study with breast cancer patients, we found that use of the application encouraged proactive health management behaviors, and identified factors that motivated technology adoption and abandonment. We discuss the implications of these results for facilitating use of mHealth tools by a rural patient population and the importance of scaling support to a large range of information needs. We use this work to demonstrate the value of personalized health information systems and to motivate future CSCW research developing personalized support systems for other health situations with complex information access models.


Levofloxacin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that exists as a hemihydrate under ambient conditions. In addition to the hemihydrate, there are three known crystalline anhydrate forms, denoted as α, β, and γ. In this study, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy, single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, and solid-state NMR spectroscopy were used to investigate the transitions that occurred upon dehydration to the anhydrate as well as additional transitions that occurred to the anhydrous material upon heating/cooling. An enantiotropic conversion was observed in the DSC around 54°C corresponding to the conversion of the γ form to a new form, denoted as the δ form. Raman spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and solid-state NMR spectroscopy confirmed that a new crystalline form was being produced.


: Objective: To determine the frequency of cases with hypersplenism presenting with liver cirrhosis. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study conducted at Kishwar Fazal Teaching Hospital, Sheikhupura, Pakistan during July to December 2018. In this study the diagnosed cases of liver cirrhosis of at least one year or more were included. The cases of age more than 20 years irrespective of gender were selected. Liver cirrhosis was labelled where the liver was shrunken and portal vein was more than 1 cm with or without signs and symptoms of cirrhosis. Detailed clinical and laboratory investigation s were conducted to label the Child Pugh Class. The cases with bleeding disorders and haematological malignancies were excluded. The diagnosis of hypersplenism was made on bone marrow analysis showing normal or hyper cellular marrow. Results: In this study there were total 100 cases out of which 57 (57%) were males and 43 (43%) females. The mean age was 53.45±8.11 years. Majority of the cases were seen in Child class B affecting 52 (52% of the cases. Hypersplenism was observed in 43 (43%) of the cases. Hypersplenism was seen more in cases with liver cirrhosis more than 2 years where it was observed in 37 (58.73%) out of 63 cases with p= 0.02. It was also seen more in cases with child pugh class C where it was noted in 34 (70.83%) out of 48 cases with p value of 0.001. Conclusion: Hypersplenism is seen in almost half of the cases with cirrhosis and is more in cases with Child class C and duration of cirrhosis > 2 years.


Age determination and annual increases in both length and weight was made for Gerres oyena (Forsk) by the examination and measurements of scales. A linear relationship between the body length and the anterior radius of scale has been established with an intercept of 1.942 cm on the length axis. The annuli first appeared on the scales in April and the mean monthly growth increased progressively from April till October when maximum growth was recorded. It was also noticed that, there was a good relation between the annuli formation and water temperature. The annuli were formed on the scales at a water temperature range of 21 to 26 degrees C. The length-weight relationships was estimated and given by the equation: W=0.00812 L3.13. The condition factor, K for the different size groups ranged between 0.72 and 0.88 and increased with length. Characteristics of scales, beside the time of annulus formation and its validity as a year mark have been discussed


The dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) 7alpha-hydroxylation in humans takes place in the liver, skin, and brain. These organs are targets for the glucocorticoid hormones where 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1) activates cortisone through its reduction into cortisol. The putative interference of 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA with the 11beta-HSD1-catalyzed reduction of cortisone into cortisol has been confirmed in preliminary works with human liver tissue preparations of the enzyme demonstrating the transformation of 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA into 7-oxo-DHEA and 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA. However, the large production of 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA could not be explained satisfactorily. Therefore our objective was to study the role in the metabolism of oxygenated DHEA by recombinant human 11beta-HSD1 expressed in yeast. The 7alpha- and 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA were each oxidized into 7-oxo-DHEA with quite dissimilar K(M) (70 and 9.5 microM, respectively) but at equivalent V(max). In contrast, the 11beta-HSD1-mediated reduction of 7-oxo-DHEA led to the production of both 7alpha- and 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA with equivalent K(M) (1.1 microM) but with a 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA production characterized by a significantly greater V(max). The 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA produced by the cytochrome CYP7B1 in tissues may exert anti-glucocorticoid effects through interference with the 11beta-HSD1-mediated cortisone reduction.


Objective To characterize the status of ovarian reserve and ART outcomes in BPES women and provide informative reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods Twenty-one women with BPES were screened for mutations in the FOXL2 gene and underwent assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. Indicators for ovarian reserve and ART outcomes were compared between patients with and without FOXL2 mutations. Additionally, ART outcomes were compared among patients with different subtypes of FOXL2 mutations. Results A total of 13 distinct heterozygous variants in the FOXL2 gene were identified in 80.95% of BPES women, including 4 novel mutations with plausible pathogenicity (c.173_175dup, c.481C>T, c.576del and c.675_714del). Compared to non-mutation group, patients with FOXL2 mutations had elevated levels of FSH (P=0.007), decreased AMH levels (P=0.012) and less AFC (P=0.015). They also had worse ART outcomes with large amount of Gn dosage (P=0.008), fewer oocytes (P=0.001), Day3 good quality embryos (P=0.001) and good quality blastocysts (P=0.037), and a higher cancellation rate (P=0.272). High heterogeneity of ART outcomes existed in BPES patients with different FOXL2 mutation types. Conclusions BPES patients with FOXL2 mutations had diminished ovarian reserve and adverse ART outcomes. The genotype-reproductive phenotype correlations were highly heterogeneous and cannot be generalized. Genetic counseling for fertility planning and preimplantation or prenatal genetic diagnosis to reduce offspring inheritance are recommended.


Agrammatic aphasia is a serious language impairment which can occur after a stroke or traumatic brain injury. We present an automatic method for analyzing aphasic speech using surface level parse features and context-free grammar production rules. Examining these features individually, we show that we can uncover many of the same characteristics of agrammatic language that have been reported in studies using manual analysis. When taken together, these parse features can be used to train a classifier to accurately predict whether or not an individual has aphasia. Furthermore, we find that the parse features can lead to higher classification accuracies than traditional measures of syntactic complexity. Finally, we find that a minimal amount of pre-processing can lead to better results than using either the raw data or highly processed data.


This work aimed to study the circuits of proximity, that can be established between urban consumers in the municipality of Viseu, and producers of animal and vegetable origin, inhabiting the rural areas of the city. This study also aims to contribute to the opening of a space for debate, where ideas and projects that aim to promote the revitalization of these circuits of proximity can be released and discussed, in the context of wealth creation and its more equal distribution, and in the context of preserving the countryside and the rural life of our county. For this, it was elected a qualitative method of analysis of the information gathered through different interviews with farmers and urban customers. These players were chosen in a random manner, respecting only some parameters for its selection. It was demonstrated with this study that it is possible to strengthen relations between urban and rural areas of the municipality of Viseu, identifying gains that this relationship can bring to both parties. This value creation goes beyond the purely economic aspect, which by no means ceases to be decisive, promoting also the creation and strengthening of social ties between the two communities.


Problem WHWB-US is an independent affiliate of WHWB. Many of our founding members are sensitive to global issues because of occupational health risks encountered during their work in other countries. There is a limited number of US industrial hygienists with global perspectives and, therefore, we need to develop a strategy that will increase our membership. We believe our approach may offer a blueprint for occupational hygienists in similar situations throughout the world. Possible solutions As WHWB-US grows, we wish to establish student chapters and to reach out to other professionals in fields such as engineering, public health, medicine, and business. WHWB-US chose Ann Arbour as its headquarters because the University of Michigan's (UMich) Industrial Hygiene (IH) program has a strong global orientation. This led to the establishment of our first UMich student chapter in 2016. We are in the process of establishing student chapters at Brigham Young University in Utah and Idaho and George Washington University in Washington DC. Student members have worked with the electronics industry in Mexico, the e-waste industry in Thailand and the Vietnamese-American community in nail salons. We hope to add members by encouraging interested professionals from business, unions, consumer groups, physicians, and safety disciplines to join WHWB-US. We expect that lessons learned from these efforts will be scalable to global problems. Going forward WHWB-US is urging the involvement of graduate students and their faculty in medicine, public health, environmental epidemiology, engineering, IH and business to participate in the 2018 IOHA Conference in Washington DC. New members will contribute to WHWB-US growth, and these younger professionals will be encouraged to join in leadership and recruitment efforts. Conclusion We feel this approach will enable WHWB-US to expand its membership and offer a model for other practitioners from outside the US to join WHWB International and develop their own chapters and professional collaborations.


Since 1974, 32 seizure patients have undergone chronic cerebellar stimulation (CCS); 27 have been contacted with 9 (7 spastic, 2 epileptic) continuing to use CCS for an average of 14.3 years (10-17 years). 6 (67%) are seizure-free and 3 (33%) have a reduction of seizure frequency. In the last 2 years, 2 other patients with spastic seizures, who were using CCS for 13 years, died of respiratory illness; 1 had been seizure-free and the other had a reduction. Of the remaining 16 patients (12 spastic, 4 epileptic) who did use CCS for an average of 8.3 years (2-14 years) and now have nonfunctioning stimulators, 5 (31%) continue to be seizure-free, 7 (44%) have a reduction and 4 (25%) have no change or a slight increase. Overall, 23 (85%) patients have benefitted from CCS. Stimulation charge densities were 0.9-2.5 microC/cm2/phase delivered at 10-180 pulses/sec to bilateral electrode pads on the superomedial cerebellar cortex. CCS is relatively safe and nonablative, and could be offered for patients with intractable seizures originating from bilateral or extratemporal foci.


The Morocco Social Priorities Program incorporates three complementary projects, one of which is the Basic Health Project. These projects are being implemented simultaneously in the 14 poorest provinces, in which 27 percent of the total population and 43 percent of the rural population live. The overall objectives of the Social Priorities Project are to assist the government to implement its strategy to increase access of the poor to basic social services, enhance social protection, and create new opportunities for the poor to participate in economically productive activities. Social Development best practices were recognized as: the multi-dimensional approach to poverty reduction aimed at enhancing opportunities, capabilities, empowerment, and security of the poor; Participatory processes in implementation; organizational and institutional decentralization; and ongoing monitoring and evaluation of social development outcomes by the government and community.


Spatial electrocardiography based on the lead field concept of McFee and Johnston appears to be theoretically more satisfactory than other systems of vectorcardiography. To determine the normal range of planar loop patterns to be expected with this technic and to compare them with those derived by previous methods, a survey of young adult males has been carried out with particular reference to the sagittal plane. The possible relationship between loop orientation and anatomic cardiac position has been investigated and a comparison made of main loop axes and the corresponding electric axes as calculated from scalar tracing areas.


A new technique is described for measuring the distance between a lens and reflecting surface extremely accurately. It is based on the sharply peaked depth response of type II confocal systems. By dithering either the sample or the optical system, a differential measurement is generated, placing a zero-crossing at the peak of the depth response and improving the ranging accuracy. The technique is independent of surface roughness or tilt and hence is useful for robotics or machining applications. Sensitivities to surface vibrations of 0.01 nm and thin film measurements to 0.04 microm demonstrated. Signal-to-noise calculations are presented, and the procedure for measuring the thickness of transparent films is outlined.


Stroke is the third most common cause of death, and a leading cause of physical disability in adults. Recovery after a major stroke is usually limited, but cell therapy, especially by application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is emerging with fixed neurologic deficits. The aim of the current study was directed to isolation and cultivation of the bone marrow (BM) derived MSCs from young rats, as well as to study the role of intravenous administration of BM-MSCs in mature male rats as an animal model for Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion (MCAO). MSCs are spindle in shape fibroblast-like cells and possess the ability to aggregate and form colonies-forming unit – fibroblast (CFU-F). MSCs showed positive response for CD105 + (the specific marker for MSCs detection) and negative response for surface marker (CD34¯), characteristic for the hematopoietic cells. The immunohistochemistry study of intravenous administration of Bromodeoxyyuridin (BrdU) labeled BM-MSCs after 24 h of mechanical MCAO in mature rats, demonstrated survival, engraftment and migration of systemically delivered cells in the cerebral cortex and heart tissues. However, these cells were not indicated in the lung and liver tissues. In conclusion, intravenously administered BM-MSCs enter brain and heart, and survive of this, may provide a cell source to treat stroke and heart disease.  Keywords: Middle cerebral artery occlusion, mesenchymal stem cells, rats, transplantation, bromodeoxyyuridin.  African Journal of Biotechnology , Vol 13(47) 4399-4409


Background: Tuberculosis and HIV Co-infection has become a major public health problem worldwide. Tuberculosis has become the major cause of death in HIV positive patients.HIV infection is characterised by CD4+ lymphocyte depletion manifested through the loss of the immune response capacity. The impact of simultaneous infections on the immune parameters is still not fully explored. Aim: This study was aimed to determine the predictors and estimates of T cell subsets including cytokine profiles of TB-HIV co-infection patients after initiation of dual therapy in Coastal Region, Kenya. Study design: Hospital and laboratory based cross-sectional study was carried between May 2012 and November 2014 at Coast General Referral hospital, Tudor, Port-Reitz, Mlaleo, Likoni and Mikandani districts and Sub-districts hospitals. Methodology: Tuberculosis was diagnosed following standard clinical bacteriological and radiological procedures. Sputa from 500 tuberculosis suspects underwent mycobacteriologic evaluation using Ziel Nelsen smear microscopy, Lowestein and Jensen and BACTEC MGIT 960 culturing. Consenting participants were screened for HIV infection by enzyme -linked immunosorbent assay. CD4+, CD8+cells/μl were analyzed using a BD FACS Count Flow cytometer. These parameters were measured at the time of HAART initiation (30 days after onset of TB treatment) and at the follow-up visits after 30, 60 and 90 days. Results: In Total, 210/500 (42%) of the suspects had Mycobacterial disease and 78/210 (37.1%) were HIV infected 53.8% females and 46.2% males. Age (OR=2.06; 95% CI: 1.1-3.00; p<0.003), marital status (OR=3.54; 95% CI: 2.01-4.65;p<0.0001), baseline CD4 count (OR=3.23; 95% CI: 1.23-8.34; p<0.0001) and WHO clinical stage at presentation (OR=3.84; 95% CI:1.45-7.63; p<0.003) remained significant predictors after adjustment for confounding. Increase of CD4+T cell counts and suppression of HIV viral load were observed for all patients under HAART and TB treatment. Higher values of IFN-Y, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10 were observed from the baseline to two months after treatment initiation, whereas reduced levels of TNF- were observed between 60 and 90 days of HAART. Conclusion: Lower CD4 lymphocyte count, substance exposure and WHO clinical stage at presentation were found to be predicting factors for co-infection. Independent of the immunosuppressant profile at baeline, patients under HAART were able to recover the CD4+T cell counts, control viral replication and immune activation parameters overtime.


2017 marked the 70th anniversary of the end of colonial rule in British India and of the division of the country into the two independent states of India and Pakistan. To commemorate the event, in August 2017, the BBC broadcast a series of programmes focused specifically on Partition. Focusing on My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947, this article analyses the programme's structure and rhetorical strategies, with particular reference to its representation of the empire and of contemporary postcolonial Britain. We argue that the show, by merging personal and national histories, successfully promotes an inclusive perspective on Britishness, in line with the BBC's inclusivity remit, which also emphasises the multicultural character of Britain as a result of its colonial history. The emphasis on individualised account of suffering and resilience, however, leaves Partition circumscribed within the 'temporary madness' narrative, thus limiting the show's engagement with the politics of colonialism and decolonisation.


. This work concerns estimation of multidimensional nonlinear regression models using multilayer perceptron (MLP). The main problem with such model is that we have to know the covariance matrix of the noise to get optimal estimator. however we show that, if we choose as cost function the logarithm of the determinant of the empirical error covariance matrix, we get an asymptotically optimal estimator.


We reported that though >90% of high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas (HGSC) harbor somatic TP53 mutations, cases with missense mutations have significantly longer progression free and overall survival than cases with "null" mutations, and that HGSCs defined by TP53 mutation type exhibit unique differences in their genomic landscapes. Large-scale molecular genetic analyses by The Cancer Atlas Group (TCGA) have identified numerous genes/molecular pathways that could be targeted for therapy in HGSC. A large number of candidates were reported, whereby the results were affected by heterogeneity of samples. We have analyzed the transcriptomes from a unique HGSC cell line model with altered in vivo tumorigenic and in vitro growth characteristics to understand the biology of HGSC as we have shown in previous analyses that the pathways affected intersected those found altered in tumors. We posit that investigating phenotypically defined cancer cell line models could facilitate the identification of targets for siRNA-based therapeutics (as an example). Towards this goal, we have characterized the transcriptomes (n~700 RNAs) derived from our parental HGSC cell line model and derived genetically modified cell lines. The cell line was derived from long term passage of ovarian ascites, harbors a somatic missense TP53 mutation and exhibits suppression of tumorigenicity in murine models. The genetically modified derivative cell lines have lost tumorigenic potential and exhibit altered growth characteristics. We compared their transcriptomes, derived a list a genes correlated with these alterations and then compared them to transcriptomes from public data sets: ovarian surface epithelial cells (n=10) and HGSC (n=56); and (2) TCGA samples (n~300). A defined list of known and new genes was identified by these comparative analyses pointing to targets that could be used to affect tumorigenic potential. The genetically modified model provides a new avenue of research that has the potential to elucidate pathways important in HGSC, especially those involved in tumorigenicity, as well as define targets for the development of RNA-based targeted therapeutics. Citation Format: Patricia N. Tonin, Celia MT Greenwood, Diane MT Provencher, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson. Using a unique genetically modified ovarian cancer cell line model to identify the targets for siRNA directed therapies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: From Concept to Clinic; Sep 18-21, 2013; Miami, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2013;19(19 Suppl):Abstract nr B24.


This article considers Pindar's use of the expression θαῦµα … ἀκοῦσαι, 'a wonder to hear', inPythian1 to describe the monster Typhoeus. I argue that the expression needs to be read against Hesiod's use of a similar locution, θαύµατ' ἀκοῦσαι, to describe Typhoeus in theTheogony. There, Hesiod adapts the common epic formula θαῦµα ἰδέσθαι, producing a unique phrase to indicate Typhoeus' chaotic blending of sights and sounds, and at the same time his disruption of the rules of poetic communication. Typhoeus' disharmonious poetics there stands in contrast to the orderly image of the choral Muses in the proem. I argue in turn that Pindar subtly reworks the Hesiodic formula to reflect Typhoeus' defeat by Zeus, and thereby subsumes the monster's 'acoustics' within the θαῦµα of the choral performance of the ode itself.


Let A be a symmetric matrix and let f be a smooth function deened on an interval containing the spectrum of A: Generalizing a well-known result of Demko, Moss and Smith on the decay of the inverse we show that when A is banded, the entries of f(A) are bounded in an exponentially decaying manner away from the main diagonal. Bounds obtained by representing the entries of f(A) in terms of Riemann{Stieltjes integrals and by approximating such integrals by Gaussian quadrature rules are also considered. Applications of these bounds to preconditioning are suggested and illustrated by a few numerical examples.


BsSco is a membrane-associated protein from Bacillus subtilis characterized by the sequence CXXXCP, which is conserved in yeast and human mitochondrial Sco proteins, and their bacterial homologues. BsSco is involved in the assembly of the Cu(A) center in cytochrome c oxidase and may play a role in the transfer of copper to this site. We have characterized the soluble domain of BsSco by biochemical, spectroscopic, and structural approaches. Soluble BsSco is monomeric in solution, and the two conserved cysteines are involved in an intramolecular cystine bridge. The cystine bridge is easily reduced, and circular dichroism spectroscopy shows no large-scale changes in BsSco's secondary structure upon reduction. The crystal structure of soluble BsSco, determined at 1.7 A resolution, reveals typical elements of a thioredoxin fold. The CXXXCP motif, in which Cys45 and Cys49 are conserved, is located in a turn structure on the surface of the protein. In various native and His135Ala mutant structures, both disulfide-bonded and non-disulfide-bonded forms of CXXXCP are observed. However, despite extensive attempts, copper has not been found near or beyond the CXXXCP motif, a presumptive copper-binding site. Another potential copper binding residue, His135, is located in a highly flexible loop parallel to the CXXXCP loop but is more than 10 A from Cys45 and Cys49. If these three residues are to coordinate copper, a conformational change is necessary. The structural identification of a disulfide switch demonstrates that BsSco has the capability to fill a redox role in Cu(A) assembly.


(H-SoP). The development cycle of the proposed H-SoP is significantly shorter than that of conventional LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) or IPD (Integrated Passive Devices) packaging technologies, also, the fabrication cost of H-SoP is less than that of L TCC or IPD. As an application of the proposed H-SoP, a 60-GHz receiver front-end which includes bandpass filter, low-noise amplifier, and a mixer is developed using active and passive building blocks from different technologies to optimize cost and performance. The experimental results exhibited an error vector-magnitude of less than 6% for a 64-QAM OFDM signal over 60-GHz. The measured results confirm the potential of the proposed alumina H-SoP for low-cost, high-performance , short development cycle 60-GHz radio front-ends.


Due to rapidly depleting land-based mineral resources, oceanic mineral deposits gain greater significance. Ferromanganese deposits on the seabed (nodules) and seamounts (crusts) known for the enrichment of several transition metals were discovered during pioneering expeditions of H. M. S. Challenger during 1872–76. The metal contents in these deposits show large variations from basin to basin. For India, the Cu and Ni (1% each) in nodules and Co (0.7%) and Pt (0.5 ppm) in seamount crusts recovered from the Indian Ocean are important. The hydrogenous crusts are not only important as economically valuable deposits of Co and Pt, but also are potential paleoceanographic repositories. Ferromanganese nodule exploration by India began in 1981 and concluded with recognition by the International Seabed Authority as a Pioneer Investor in 1987. This exploration license provides India with exclusive exploration rights over an area of 150,000 km2 (Pioneer Area) in the Central Indian Ocean. Nearly 700 million tonnes of nodule resources are estimated in this mine site, which are expected to contain around 14 million tonnes of combined Cu and Ni metals valued approximately over Rs. 1000 billion at current average market rate. Quantitative resource evaluation for seamount ferromanganese crusts is not yet available due to limited exploratory work. However, a promising area of Co–Pt enriched ferromanganese crust occurrence has been discovered on the Afanasiy-Nikitin Seamounts in the Eastern Equatorial Indian Ocean by NIO scientists, which contains Co upto 0.9 % and Pt upto 1 ppm.


Bund shaping is one of the essential operations in preparing a paddy transplanting field. This operation is undertaken manually by spades in a traditional way as this has not been mechanised thus far. Therefore, this study was conducted to expose this operation by evaluating the economic, as well as physiological, cost involved in the bund shaping. For the economic cost, the study was conducted in nine different districts of Assam (India). The bund length for the estimated area was measured and estimated for one ha of land. The average rate of manual bund shaping was also measured to calculate the cost involved in this operation. Moreover, for the physiological cost, ten experienced subjects were calibrated and measured for their maximum aerobic capacity by sub-maximal exercise in laboratory condition. Furthermore, the heart rate was measured during the manual bund shaping and was then correlated with the calibrated data. It was found that the average required bund shaping length per ha was 3 669 m which was associated with a cost of 2 062.8 rupees. It was found that the bund shaping consumed 76.96% of the maximum volume of the oxygen consumption capacity of the subjects; however, the energy expenditure rate with respect to time and bund length were 7.37 kcal·min–1 and 4.33 kcal·m–1, respectively. Hence, bund shaping in a paddy field comes under a severe workload category which emphasises the need of mechanisation for the bund shaping operation.


Background Rituximab (RTX) has been evaluated in many clinical trials and self-reporting instruments have been used in conjunction with objective measurements. Little is known about the relationship between objective and self-reported outcomes in RA patients treated with repeated courses of biologics over extended periods of time Objectives To investigate and compare the evolution of clinical outcome measures and self-perceived health status in patients with severe active RA treated with multiple courses of RTX in routine clinical practice setting in Romania. Methods In this open-label, multicentre, prospective observational study, patients were treated with initial (2x1000 mg IV, at 2 weeks apart) and subsequent RTX courses. Clinical assessments including 28-joint disease activity score (DAS-28) were performed at baseline (before treatment initiation), and after each retreatment course at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. A visual analogue scale (VAS; 0=best, 100=worst) allowed patients to report health status at each clinical assessment. Delta DAS-28 and delta VAS were calculated as difference between values found at two consecutive evaluations. Linear regression models were estimated at baseline, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months with the DAS-28 as the outcome variable and the VAS as a predictor. Statistical analyses were performed with STATA SE 11.0 software. Results A total of 943 adult (>18 years) patients with active RA and inadequate response to at least one TNF inhibitor received initial RTX treatment. In our cohort, 805 (85.37%) patients had only one anti-TNF treatment and 138 (14.63%) had more than one, with a median duration of anti-TNF treatment of 21 and 47 months, respectively. Median DAS-28 and VAS self-reported scores steadily decreased after each retreatment: Conclusions We found strong correlation between objective clinical outcomes and self-reported health status, with clinical response maintained or improved after each fixed interval retreatment with Rituximab. Major improvements occurred early in our study, at 6 months, and were appreciated by patients. This synergy is important for doctor-patient relationship, increased patient confidence and treatment compliance, key factors for a successful therapy. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared


This study analyzes four mediation initiatives in the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to understand the differences between mediators' capabilities and their effect on the negotiating flexibility of the disputing parties. It is claimed that regardless of the outcomes of the negotiations, in all mediation cases, parties adopted flexible negotiating behavior in the form of making or offering concessions, agreements on rules and procedures, agreements on mutual solutions, and introducing new peace proposals. In all instances, the mediators played both the facilitator and manipulator roles. The difference between a mediation process leading to an agreement and one ending with a stalemate is found in the way and extent to which a mediator uses his or her leverage in playing the role of a


A theoretical treatment is presented for the focusing of polarized vortex beams, including the generation of Bessel beams. A combination of a phase vortex with arbitrary topological charge, and a polarization vortex of arbitrary order is considered. Results are given for both paraxial and high NA systems. Conditions for the presence of non-zero on-axis intensity are given. An interesting observation is that half-order phase vortices can exist, without the existence of any phase discontinuity. The behavior of Bessel beams with half-order phase vortices is investigated.


Objective To identify the medical causes of death and contribution of non-biological factors towards infant mortality by a retrospective analysis of routinely collected data using verbal and social autopsy tools. Setting The study site was Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS), Ballabgarh, North India Participants All infant deaths during the years 2008–2012 were included for verbal autopsy and infant deaths from July 2012 to December 2012 were included for social autopsy. Outcome measures Cause of death ascertained by a validated verbal autopsy tool and level of delay based on a three-delay model using the INDEPTH social autopsy tool were the main outcome measures. The level of delay was defined as follows: level 1, delay in identification of danger signs and decision making to seek care; level 2, delay in reaching a health facility from home; level 3, delay in getting healthcare at the health facility. Results The infant mortality rate during the study period was 46.5/1000 live births. Neonatal deaths contributed to 54.3% of infant deaths and 39% occurred on the first day of life. Birth asphyxia (31.5%) followed by low birth weight (LBW)/prematurity (26.5%) were the most common causes of neonatal death, while infection (57.8%) was the most common cause of post-neonatal death. Care-seeking was delayed among 50% of neonatal deaths and 41.2% of post-neonatal deaths. Delay at level 1 was most common and occurred in 32.4% of neonatal deaths and 29.4% of post-neonatal deaths. Deaths due to LBW/prematurity were mostly followed by delay at level 1. Conclusion A high proportion of preventable infant mortality still exists in an area which is under continuous health and demographic surveillance. There is a need to enhance home-based preventive care to enable the mother to identify and respond to danger signs. Verbal autopsy and social autopsy could be routinely done to guide policy interventions aimed at reduction of infant mortality.


One of the most important factors that contribute to traffic accidents on the expressway is the low visibility, which may be caused by local or regional weather status such as agglomerate fog, rain, snow and sandstorm. A pre-warning system would be great help to prevent traffic accidents due to low visibility. Considering some problems of the existing system, such as the limited monitoring area and expensive cost, etc., a new kind of visibility pre-warning system is presented in this paper. The pre-warning system is made up of measuring nodes and communications bus. At the measuring node there is a long-distance photoelectric sensor, which is placed by means of cascade at the middle isolation strip along the expressway. Using the long-distance sensors makes it possible to monitor the visibility status of the whole expressway. CAN bus is used in this system as the communication bus to transmit information about visibility along the expressway. In virtue of the advantages of the CAN bus, a long distance network is constructed to meet the needs of the system, such as real time, reliability and low cost. With this new visibility pre-warning system, the visibility status of the whole expressway can be monitored in time and all day. In this paper, the architectural structure of the system is introduced, and also the detailed designs of the measuring node and hardware connection of the CAN bus communications is described.


Objective: The Oncotype DX® Breast Cancer Test is a validated 21-gene assay that predicts the likelihood of benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in early-stage, node-negative and up to 3-node-positive, ER+ breast cancer as well as the likelihood of distant recurrence at 10-years. Study objective was to investigate the cost-utility (incremental cost per QALY gained) of using Oncotype DX® in early stage, node-negative, ER+ breast cancer patients, from the perspective of the Irish Healthcare system. Methods: A cost-utility analysis was performed over the lifetime of the patient using a state transition model (Markov), which simulated the costs and quality-adjusted survival associated with and without the use of Oncotype DX® to inform adjuvant chemotherapy decisions. The model included 3 health states: no recurrence, recurrence and death. Transition probabilities between health states, utility scores associated with each of the health state, patient cohort characteristics and impact of Oncotype DX® on chemotherapy decisions data were derived from published sources. Direct medical costs associated with chemotherapy were collected from a representative panel of 5 hospitals in Ireland. Costs and outcomes were discounted at 4% per annum and the analysis was conducted over 30 years (lifetime horizon). Probabilistic and one-way sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results: Costs associated with adjuvant chemotherapy (4 cycles of TC) included the following costs: drug (€1,002); administration and monitoring (€1,646); adverse event prevention (€3,561) and adverse event management (€756). The average total cost of chemotherapy across hospitals therefore summed up to €6,965. The base case incremental cost per QALY gained with ODX testing was estimated to be €9,462. There was a 74% chance for ODX to be cost-effective at a willingness to pay threshold of €20,000. Conclusions: Using Oncotype DX® as a decision tool to inform adjuvant chemotherapy in node-negative, ER+ breast cancer patients, is likely to be cost-effective in the Irish healthcare setting. This estimate is probably conservative as the cost and disutility associated with long-term impact of chemotherapy related adverse events (i.e. such as cardiotoxicity, secondary leukaemia and potential cognitive impairment) have not been considered. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-10-04.


Research was carried out on the growth and characterization of Gd2O3-doped HfO2 thin films as gate dielectrics for Si CMOS technology prepared by RF magnetron co-sputtering. The crystal morphology, composition and electrical properties of both Gd2O3-doped and as grown HfO2 gate dielectrics have been comparatively investigated. Cross-section high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveals that all the deposited high-k gate dielectrics display amorphous structures with a thickness of ~10nm. C-V and I-V measurements indicate the pronounced reductions of dielectric loss, equivalent oxide thickness (EOT), as well as the leakage current for Gd2O3-doped HfO2 thin films. Moreover, the calculated dielectric constants significantly increase from 20.2 to 31.6 and less hysteresis in the reverse sweeping could also be observed as the doping content of Gd2O3 increases.


Impaired baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) is a sign of diabetic cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) which often remains undiscovered during the early course of diabetes. We aimed to determine whether BRS alterations can be detected in patients with recent-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Continuous plethysmographic arterial pressure and R-R intervals were recorded using the Finometer (Finapres Medical Systems) from the left middle finger in 586 participants from the baseline German Diabetes Study (GDS) cohort with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and a known diabetes duration ≤1 year (T1D/T2D [mean±SD]: n=208/378; age: 34.7±11.1/51.6±10.3 years; male: 60/74%; BMI: 24.7±4.2/31.7±6.3 kg/m²; diabetes duration: 6.3±3.3/5.9±3.5 months; HbA1c: 6.5±1.1/6.5±0.9%) and corresponding controls (CON1/CON2: n=74/208; age: 36.4±10.1/49.4±14.8 years; male: 64/64%; BMI: 26.5±4.9/26.6±4.9 kg/m²; HbA1c: 5.2±0.3/5.3±0.3%). BRS parameters included the alpha index of spectral power (BRSα), transfer function cross spectrum (xBRS), and sequence analyses (BRSseq). After adjustment for sex, age, BMI, and smoking, all three BRS measures were reduced in T2D vs. CON2 (BRSα: 10.1±8.6 vs. 15.4±10.2 ms/mmHg; xBRS: 7.84±6.94 vs. 10.4±8.2 ms/mmHg; BRSseq: 9.85±9.07 vs. 13.3±9.6 ms/mmHg) (P≤0.01), while no such differences were observed in T1D vs. CON1. Multiple regression analyses revealed, that systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the strongest determinant of lower BRS in T2D (xBRS/BRSseq/BRSα: β=-0.32/-0.23/-0.22) followed by age (xBRS: β=-0.18) and lower HDL cholesterol (BRSseq: β=-0.23), while in T1D it was age (xBRS/BRSseq/BRSα: β=-0.37/-0.36/-0.34), SBP (xBRS/BRSα: β=-0.26), and BMI (BRSseq: β=-0.24) (all P≤0.01). In conclusion, reduced baroreflex sensitivity indicates early CAN in recent-onset type 2 diabetes in relation to modifiable risk factors such as higher systolic blood pressure and lower HDL cholesterol. Disclosure G.J. Bonhof: None. A. Strom: None. K. Bodis: None. K. Mussig: None. J. Szendroedi: None. M. Roden: Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. Research Support; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. Consultant; Self; Poxel SA. Research Support; Self; Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition, GlaxoSmithKline plc., Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition, Sanofi. D. Ziegler: None.


Linear and cyclic cyclolinopeptide A (CLA) analogues containing alpha-hydroxymethylleucine (HmL) in positions 1, 4, and 1&4, and alpha-hydroxymethylvaline (HmV) in position 5, were synthesized by the solid-phase peptide strategy and cyclized with the 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide/1-hydroxy-7-azabenzotriazole (EDC/HOAt) reagent. The peptides were examined for their immunosuppressive activity in the lymphocyte proliferation assays (LPA). Only HmL-containing peptides demonstrated at about 25% lower immunosuppressive activity, but they are four times more soluble in water solutions than the native CLA. It seems from the LPA results that peptide [(HmL4)CLA] is the most promising for further studies. This peptide was characterized in solution, at room temperature in CDCl3, and the conformation compared with that observed for CLA in the solid state.


Rumen responses to cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) were evaluated in a feeding study. Four wethers were fed a hay and concentrate diet for 4 weeks (pre-CNSL period), and then fed the same diet supplemented with low and high levels of CNSL for 2 weeks each (L-CNSL and H-CNSL periods respectively). The diet was then reverted to the unsupplemented control diet for another 2 weeks (post-CNSL period). Rumen parameters were monitored in each feeding period. CNSL, regardless of the two levels tested, did not show any adverse effects on total short chain fatty acid concentration and dry matter digestibility in the rumen. Propionate proportion increased in the H-CNSL period, while methane production potential, acetate and butyrate proportions, viscosity, foam formation and its stability, and ammonia concentration decreased. Values of these parameters returned to those in the unsupplemented control period after cessation of CNSL supplementation. Clone library analysis of 16S rRNA genes revealed the following shifts in the H-CNSL period. For bacteria, Firmicutes was frequently detected, while Bacteroidetes and Spirochetes were not. For archaea, Methanobrevibacter wolinii was predominant. These results indicate that CNSL could be a methane inhibitor and propionate enhancer by altering the rumen microbial community.


Fluorine, along with water, carbon dioxide and chlorine, are major components of natural hydrothermal fluid. The highest concentration of natural fluid in the formation of fluorine reached at the lithium-fluorine granite and associated pegmatite, in greisen, as well as in pegmatite of high alkaline rocks. Concentration of fluorine and silica in the fluid were the main factors of formation of quartz veins and zones of silicification in metasomatites in greisen and pegmatite of rare metal deposits. According to the authors, the T-P conditions and the concentration of fluorine in the fluid for various natural objects associated with greisen or rare-metal mineralization, were different. Rocks of Khangilay pluton (Eastern Transbaikalia) were formed at pressure close to 100 MPa (at depth of about 6-8 km) [Zaraisky et al., 1997; Aksyuk, 2002]. In Khangilay pluton there are three intrusion phases: the earliest, which formed bt granite of the Khangilay massif; later leucogranite phase, which formed the Spokoynensky stock and the final phase of the lithium-fluorine granites, which formed the Orlovka stock. According to our estimates, the concentration of fluorine in fluid at formation of biotite granite of the Khangilay massif was about 0.037-0.075 MHF (mol/dm3) (or 0.157 0.234 mHF (mol/kg)). In the formation of leucogranite and associated Sn-W deposit Spokoyninskoe, characterized by magmatic


ABSTRACT This is the first report of a detailed relationship between triazole treatment history and triazole MICs for 154 Aspergillus fumigatus clinical isolates. The duration of itraconazole dosage increased as the itraconazole MIC increased, and a positive correlation was observed (r = 0.5700, P < 0.0001). The number of itraconazole-naïve isolates dramatically decreased as the itraconazole MIC increased, particularly for MICs exceeding 2 μg/ml (0.5 μg/ml versus 2 μg/ml, P = 0.03). We also examined the relationship between cumulative itraconazole usage and the MICs of other azoles. A positive correlation existed between itraconazole dosage period and posaconazole MIC (r = 0.5237, P < 0.0001). The number of itraconazole-naïve isolates also decreased as the posaconazole MIC increased, particularly for MICs exceeding 0.5 μg/ml (0.25 μg/ml versus 0.5 μg/ml, P = 0.004). Conversely, the correlation coefficient obtained from the scattergram of itraconazole usage and voriconazole MICs was small (r = −0.2627, P = 0.001). Susceptibility to three triazole agents did not change as the duration of voriconazole exposure changed. In addition, we carried out detailed analysis, including microsatellite genotyping, for isolates obtained from patients infected with azole-resistant A. fumigatus. We confirmed the presence of acquired resistance to itraconazole and posaconazole due to a G54 substitution in the cyp51A gene for a patient with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis after oral itraconazole therapy. We should consider the possible appearance of azole-resistant A. fumigatus if itraconazole is used for extended periods.


Crosslinked polyethylene foam is widely used in packaging and as an insulation material. Finely ground waste of such crosslinked foam mesh size 7 or particle size less than 2815 μm is used as a filler in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) of two different grades (7.5 and 21 MFI). Mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of filled composites is studied experimentally. Waste foam powder concentration was varied up to 40% by weight basis. Impact strength of base HDPE increased by a factor of six. The overall changes in mechanical properties are similar to the crosslinking effect. It is believed that waste foam particles act as a point of entanglement with different chains of polyethylene. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 110–114, 2004


Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are contaminated by industrial and municipal point sources and agricultural nonpoint sources of pollution. The objective of this study was to compare the porewater characteristics of two Chesapeake Bay tributaries: Wicomico River (WR) contaminated by point source and Pocomoke River (PR) contaminated by both point and nonpoint sources of pollution. Four study sites (1 mile before, adjacent to, and 1 and 2 miles after the sewage treatment plant) were chosen to collect sediment samples in both the rivers. The sediment-pore waters were analyzed for toxicity using Microtox marine luminescent bacteria-Vibrio fischeri. USEPA toxicity identification evaluation tests on these pore waters confirmed that the contaminants (ammonia and heavy metals) in WR were from municipal point sources, whereas in PR the contamination (metals, pesticides, and PCBs) was from nonpoint sources (agriculture) of pollution. The toxicity (and the concentration of contaminants) decreased both upstream and downstream from the most polluted site in both the rivers.


Discrete event simulation (DES) is a computer based simulation method which is particularly effective for modeling the performance of systems which are driven by activities occurring at discrete instants in time (events). Such simulations can serve as an effective tool to evaluate the performance of communication systems carrying a diverse mix of traffic. The development of personal communications systems (PCS) is expected to require the evaluation of the effectiveness of various communications protocols that handle complex traffic mixes such as voice, data, and specialized messaging. Modern commercial software facilitates simulation development by providing a graphical interface with appropriate building blocks for common functions. This paper illustrates the use of this procedure through a basic queuing model representing the priority queuing process used in systems. The model presented shows capacity limitations of a simple queuing system in which a stream of voice traffic contends with a stream of data traffic. To ensure continuity of voice messages, voice traffic is given priority over data traffic. More complex aspects of communication protocols may be simulated by incorporating additional detail in the model at the expense of computer simulation time.


The thirteenth volume of Comunicazioni dell'Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli» is divided, as was the previous one, into three sections: 1. Editions and rieditions of texts; 2. Critical notes; 3. Chronique de lexicographie papyrologique de la vie matérielle. In the first section there are texts which are being published for the first time or which are subject to a revision and a new edition, both belonging to various collections. This section also includes the exhibition of an exceptional artefact from the Arab period, belonging to the Papyrological Institute «G. Vitelli»'s collection. The second section includes three contributions with careful palaeographic and linguistic observations on literary and documentary texts, and a fourth contribution offering an exhaustive summary of the publication state of an archive from the Institute's collection. Lastly, the third section, as consolidated by the previous volume of the Comunicazioni, collects several findings of the international research project on the lexicography of material culture (Lex.Pap.Mat.), documented in the language of papyri.


Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are used to claim that their impact goes beyond money since rescuing from exclusion uncollateralized poor borrowers significantly affects their dignity, self-esteem, social recognition, future economic perspectives and, through it, life satisfaction. Our article aims to verify the validity of this claim by evaluating whether access to microfinance loans has significant direct impact on life satisfaction beyond its indirect impact via current income changes. Empirical findings on a sample of poor borrowers in the suburbs of Buenos Aires show that, after controlling for survivorship, selection and interview bias, microfinance membership has a significant and positive effect on life satisfaction.


This work aimed to evaluate the sprouting of cuttings and yield of 'Amarela de Carandai' peruvian carrot plants from cuttings which were disinfected with eucalyptus oil and rooted in polyethylene trays. In pre-rooting on trays, the Plan Puebla III experimental matrix was used to combine doses of eucalyptus oil and immersion periods, respectively: 0.6%/36 s; 1.4%/36 s; 0.6%/84 s; 1.4%/84 s; 1.0%/60 s; 0.1%/36 s; 1.9%/84 s; 0.6%/6 s and 1.4%/114 s, added a control (0.0%/0 s). At field, ten cuttings per plot and six treatments were used: 0.6%/36 s; 0.6%/84 s; 1.0%/60 s; 0.1%/36 s; 0.6%/6 s and 0.0%/0 s. Highest percentages of sprouted cuttings and height of plants were obtained in treatments with doses of eucalyptus oil smaller than 1.0% and the control. The highest fresh weight of commercial roots, which were harvested at 264 days after planting, were obtained in 0.6%/36 s, 0.6%/84 s and 1.0%/60 s treatments. There was burning of leaves caused by Alternaria sp. and Septoria sp., with more intensity on 111 days after planting, which showed theirselves associated and without possibility of isolate quantification. It was concluded that, to achieve higher yield of commercial roots, it must disinfect the cuttings with aqueous solution with doses of 0.6% or 1.0% of eucalyptus oil and immersion for periods of 36 s to 84 s, with harvest at 264 days after planting.


ABSTRACT Camelpox virus (CMLV) is the closest known virus to variola virus. Here we report on the anti-CMLV activities of several acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs) related to cidofovir [(S)-1-(3-hydroxy-2-phosphonomethoxypropyl)cytosine (HPMPC; Vistide)] against two CMLV strains, CML1 and CML14. Cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assays performed with human embryonic lung fibroblast monolayers revealed the selectivities of the first two classes of ANPs (cHPMPA, HPMPDAP, and HPMPO-DAPy) and of the hexadecyloxyethyl ester of 1-{[(5S)-2-hydroxy-2-oxido-1,4,2-dioxaphosphinan-5-yl]methyl}-5-azacytosine (HDE-cHPMP-5-azaC), belonging to the newly synthesized ANPs, which are HPMP derivatives containing a 5-azacytosine moiety. The inhibitory activities of ANPs against both strains were also confirmed with primary human keratinocyte (PHK) monolayers, despite the higher toxicity of those molecules on growing PHKs. Virus yield assays confirmed the anti-CML1 and anti-CML14 efficacies of the compounds selected for the highest potencies in CPE reduction experiments. Ex vivo studies were performed with a 3-dimensional model of human skin, i.e., organotypic epithelial raft cultures of PHKs. It was ascertained by histological evaluation, as well as by virus yield assays, that CMLV replicated in the human skin equivalent. HPMPC and the newly synthesized ANPs proved to be effective at protecting the epithelial cells against CMLV-induced CPE. Moreover, in contrast to the toxicity on PHK monolayers, signs of toxicity in the differentiated epithelium were seen only at high ANP concentrations. Our results demonstrate that compounds belonging to the newly synthesized ANPs, in addition to cidofovir, represent promising candidates for the treatment of poxvirus infections.


We generated transgenic mice that carry 4.6 kb of the mouse galanin gene fused to 2.5 kb of the rat PRL promoter. In all transgenic lines that carried and transmitted the transgene, there were significant increases in galanin messenger RNA and peptide levels in the anterior pituitary in both male and female transgenic mice, and the elevation of galanin was restricted to the anterior lobe. Furthermore, galanin release from pituitary cells in vitro of both male and female transgenic mice was dramatically increased compared with that in control mice. At 2-4 months of age, pituitary PRL contents in female transgenic mice were increased compared with those in normal controls. Moreover, PRL messenger RNA levels were increased in female transgenic mice. However, plasma levels of PRL in female transgenic mice were not significantly higher until 6 months of age. By 11 months of age, cell numbers in the anterior pituitary were increased in female, but not male, transgenic mice. The percentage of lactotrophs in female transgenic mice as well as PRL gene expression per cell were significantly higher. No differences were detected in PRL content, gene expression, or release between normal and transgenic male mice. Six weeks of estrogen treatment significantly increased anterior pituitary weights and PRL secretion in male transgenic mice compared with that in normal male mice. In addition, anterior pituitary weights and PRL secretion were decreased in female transgenic mice compared with controls 6 weeks after ovariectomy. We conclude that overexpression of galanin in lactotrophs stimulates PRL synthesis and secretion and acts as a growth factor resulting in the formation of pituitary hyperplasia and hyperprolactinemia. Furthermore, estrogen appears critical for these galanin-mediated events.


The ratio of good to bad die on a production wafer can range from less than 10% to well over 90%, depending on the process and the complexity of the design. This article provides an overview of the modeling approaches used to predict wafer yield. It explains how to account for relative circuit complexity, systematic and random defects, and defect clustering. As the examples in the article show, with just a basic understanding of yield models, readers can estimate expected yield losses and identify abnormal yield results for a given design.


Real-time active load-pull (RTALP) characterization of power transistors with a large signal network analyzer (LSNA) has the benefit of greatly accelerating the design of power amplifiers. However RTALP has been so far limited to devices operating under CW excitations and constant biasing and was therefore mostly applicable to transistors with small memory effects. In TDMA communication or radar systems, amplifiers are excited by pulsed or modulated RF signals and operate under pulsed biasing. For such applications the measurement of modulated/pulsed RF signals under pulsed biasing/RF conditions is required for a more realistic understanding of the behavior of transistors with memory effects. This paper demonstrates that under appropriate conditions it is possible to effectively combine these two excitation modes while performing large-signal measurement by sub-sampling down-conversion with a LSNA. In this demonstration, the acquisition of CW two-tone and three-tone excitations is performed using multiple-recording with pulse duty rate of 1.5% and 0.15%. The pulse-recorded measurements for the three-tone excitation are found to be consistent with CW measurements (100% duty rate). This preliminary work indicates that either intermodulation or real-time active load-pull measurements under pulsed operation can be readily realized for RF samplers with sufficiently short settling time while operating under pulsed RF modulation.


This article deals with the enigmatic biography and the controversial oeuvre of Karl Maria Kertbeny (recte: Karl Maria Benkert; 1824-1882). Kertbeny was a representative of the so-called Hungarus identity, a convinced Hungarian of non-Hungarian mother tongue. He worked primarily as a journalistic mediator and literary translator and was largely responsible for the image of Hungary and of Hungarian culture and literature in German-speaking countries, especially in the period from the middle of the 19th century onwards. In the article, the overly critical attitude that posterity took towards Kertbeny is set to some extent straight.


Aortic valve stenosis (AVS) is a prevalent condition among the elderly population that eventually requires aortic valve replacement. The lack of reliable biomarkers for AVS poses a challenge for its early diagnosis and the application of preventive measures. Untargeted gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics was applied in 46 AVS cases and 46 controls to identify plasma and urine metabolites underlying AVS risk. Multivariate data analyses were performed on pre-processed data (e.g. spectral peak alignment), in order to detect changes in metabolite levels in AVS patients and to evaluate their performance in group separation and sensitivity of AVS prediction, followed by regression analyses to test for their association with AVS. Through untargeted analysis of 190 urine and 130 plasma features that could be detected and quantified in the GC-MS spectra, we identified contrasting levels of 22 urine and 21 plasma features between AVS patients and control subjects. Following metabolite assignment, we observed significant changes in the concentration of known metabolites in urine (n = 14) and plasma (n = 15) that distinguish the metabolomic profiles of AVS patients from healthy controls. Associations with AVS were replicated in both plasma and urine for about half of these metabolites. Among these, 2-Oxovaleric acid, elaidic acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, estrone, myo-inositol showed contrasting trends of regulation in the two biofluids. Only trans-Aconitic acid and 2,4-Di-tert-butylphenol showed consistent patterns of regulation in both plasma and urine. These results illustrate the power of metabolomics in identifying potential disease-associated biomarkers and provide a foundation for further studies towards early diagnostic applications in severe heart conditions that may prevent surgery in the elderly.


Fringe projection profilometry has gained significant interest due to its high precision, enhanced resolution, and simplified design. Typically, the spatial and perspective measurement capability is restricted by the lenses of the camera and projector in accordance with the principles of geometric optics. Therefore, large-size object measurement requires data acquisition from multiple perspectives, followed by point cloud splicing. Current point cloud registration methods usually rely on 2D feature textures, 3D structural elements, or supplementary tools, which will increase costs or limit the scope of the application. To address large-size 3D measurement more efficiently, we propose a low-cost and feasible method that combines active projection textures, color channel multiplexing, image feature matching and coarse-to-fine point registration strategies. Using a composite structured light with red speckle patterns for larger areas and blue sinusoidal fringe patterns for smaller ones, projected onto the surface, which allows us to accomplish simultaneous 3D reconstruction and point cloud registration. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective for the 3D measurement of large-size and weak-textured objects.


A vertex colouring of a 2-connected plane graph G is a strong parity vertex colouring if for every face f and each colour c, the number of vertices incident with f coloured by c is either zero or odd. Czap et al. [Discrete Math. 311 (2011) 512-520] proved that every 2-connected plane graph has a proper strong parity vertex colouring with at most 118 colours. In this paper we improve this upper bound for some classes of plane graphs.


Essentials of Good Practice - Effective Communication - First Contact and Short Exchanges - Sharing Information and Offering Advice - Help over the Telephone - Helping Other People: A Positive Framework - Understanding and Extending the Perspective of Clients - Goal Setting and Action Planning - Helping Through Group Work - Running a Group - Specific Applications in Brief - Safe Practice for Yourself, Your Team and Your Clients - Appendix - Index


Introducing the first mobile app designed specifically for the Thalassemia community; Thalime, your personalized private community. Thalime is a free app that connects patients and caregivers of Thalassemia to others who know what you're going through. Learn about your condition from a trusted source. Improve your well-being with health-tracking tools. Get support from others just like you. With personalized disease management tools designed to make life easier every day, Thalime is your allin-one health resource that empowers you to be in control of your health. Build your private peer community to learn, share and receive support. Follow programs and set goals with our personalized recommendations and virtual coaching. Track your progress with our visual health tracker for blood transfusions and medication tracker. Additional health tracker tools allow you to monitor and share your mood, energy, pain and more.


Studies of resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies reveal an amazingly detailed and clear picture of galaxy evolution. Within the Local Group, the ability to probe the stellar populations of small and large galaxies opens up the possibility of exploring key questions such as the nature of dark matter, the detailed formation history of different galaxy components, and the role of accretion in galactic formation. Upcoming wide-field surveys promise to extend this ability to all galaxies within 10 Mpc, drastically increasing our capability to decipher galaxy evolution and enabling statistical studies of galaxies' stellar populations. To facilitate the optimum use of these upcoming capabilities, we develop a simple formalism to predict the density of resolved stars for an observation of a stellar population at fixed surface brightness and population parameters. We provide an interface to calculate all quantities of interest to this formalism via a public release of the code walter. This code enables calculation of (i) the expected number density of detected stars; (ii) the exposure time needed to reach certain population features, such as the horizontal branch; and (iii) an estimate of the crowding limit, among other features. We provide a limited test of the code and formalism of the paper against existing resolved star observations. These calculations will be very useful for planning surveys with NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman, formerly WFIRST), which we use for example calculations throughout this work.


Significance Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, and there is no cure. DNA repair activity is deficient in AD patient brains, especially DNA polymerase β (Polβ), a key protein in DNA base excision. NAD+ is a cellular metabolite critical for mitochondrial health and biogenesis, stem cell self-renewal, and neuronal stress resistance. This study shows that NAD+ levels were decreased in a new AD mouse model with introduced DNA repair deficiency (3xTgAD/Polβ+/−), and NAD+ supplementation with nicotinamide riboside significantly normalized neuroinflammation, synaptic transmission, phosphorylated Tau, and DNA damage as well as improved learning and memory and motor function. This has implications for human AD intervention. Emerging findings suggest that compromised cellular bioenergetics and DNA repair contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but their role in disease-defining pathology is unclear. We developed a DNA repair-deficient 3xTgAD/Polβ+/− mouse that exacerbates major features of human AD including phosphorylated Tau (pTau) pathologies, synaptic dysfunction, neuronal death, and cognitive impairment. Here we report that 3xTgAD/Polβ+/− mice have a reduced cerebral NAD+/NADH ratio indicating impaired cerebral energy metabolism, which is normalized by nicotinamide riboside (NR) treatment. NR lessened pTau pathology in both 3xTgAD and 3xTgAD/Polβ+/− mice but had no impact on amyloid β peptide (Aβ) accumulation. NR-treated 3xTgAD/Polβ+/− mice exhibited reduced DNA damage, neuroinflammation, and apoptosis of hippocampal neurons and increased activity of SIRT3 in the brain. NR improved cognitive function in multiple behavioral tests and restored hippocampal synaptic plasticity in 3xTgAD mice and 3xTgAD/Polβ+/− mice. In general, the deficits between genotypes and the benefits of NR were greater in 3xTgAD/Polβ+/− mice than in 3xTgAD mice. Our findings suggest a pivotal role for cellular NAD+ depletion upstream of neuroinflammation, pTau, DNA damage, synaptic dysfunction, and neuronal degeneration in AD. Interventions that bolster neuronal NAD+ levels therefore have therapeutic potential for AD.


Founded in 1989 and comprising the world's three largest economies (the United States, China, and Japan) together with eighteen other member states with diverse economies and polities, APEC (AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation) has become the leading forum for government collaboration in the Pacific Rim. This history of its first decade of operation is the latest volume in the Cambridge AsiaPacific Studies series. John Ravenhill, the series general editor and author of this book, is a leading international political economist who has made significant contributions to a number of literatures on globalization, the political economy of East Asia, and Australian politics. Although the primary audience for this volume is undoubtedly the international political economy community, there are themes here of interest for business historians, at least for those with the catholic interests represented by Enterprise & Society. Emanating from proposals first made in the late 1960s within East Asia for an intergovernmental Organisation for Pacific Trade and Development that could harness the growing interdependence between Asia-Pacific economies, APEC came to fruition two decades later in very different economic and political circumstances, both regionally and globally. The positive version of its subsequent development emphasizes APEC's position as the fastest growing of all regional economic organizations; its imaginative, challenging, and globally important targets (especially free trade in the region by 2010 for its developed economies and by 2020 for those less developed); its annual meeting of economic leaders, which is the only institutionalized forum that brings together government heads of all Pacific Rim countries, including the "three Chinas" of the People's Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan; and, in contrast to other international organizations, its commitment to facilitating business, regularly bringing private-sector business into its activities. Indeed, at APEC's core is the recognition that business has always been the primary force behind dynamic growth in the region: APEC economies now comprise some 55 percent of global production and 45 percent of global trade. A commitment to open regionalism through trade liberalization and cooperation has yielded enormous economic benefits for the organi-


This retrospective study was performed to determine the range, occurrence and incidence of spontaneously arising histopathological findings of the cardiovascular system in purpose-bred laboratory nonhuman primates. Data were collected from 84 controlled toxicological studies with equal numbers of male and female animals and full tissue lists. Attempts were also made to standardize pathological terms used by various original pathologists. Tissue sections from 2464 animals, which included 2050 cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis), 284 common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and 130 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were examined. The most common cardiac finding was focal myocardial inflammation, subcategorized as either "inflammatory cell infiltration" (339) or "focal myocarditis" (131). Other cardiac findings included mineralization (29), endocarditis (16), pericarditis (10), squamous cysts (6) and ectopic thyroid tissue (5). Perivasculitis/vasculitis in the kidney, lung, meninges, sciatic nerve, and other tissues (206) was the most common vascular lesion. Focal myocarditis was more common in male (60%) than female (40%) animals. Cardiac mineralization and extramedullary hematopoiesis were more common in marmosets than other species while ectopic thyroid tissue was present in marmosets and cynomolgus monkeys. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the range and incidence of spontaneous cardiovascular lesions in laboratory nonhuman primates.


Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) have well-known bifidogenic effects as probiotics. In this study, esterification was adopted for FOS modification to produce better prebiotic properties. We synthesized and characterized acetylated fructo-oligosaccharides (Ac-FOS) and butyrylated fructo-oligosaccharides (Bu-FOS) as candidate prebiotics. Antioxidant activity and prebiotic esactiviti were evaluated as important indicators. We found, surprisingly, that butyrylation was an effective method in significantly improving the antioxidant activity of FOS. The fermentation products of feces from mice added to Ac-FOS and Bu-FOS, were investigated in vitro, including changes of pH values, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production, and microbiota composition. Supplementation of Ac-FOS or Bu-FOS increased pH values and promoted the growth and activity of beneficial intestinal bacteria, such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. More importantly, the levels of prebiotic SCFAs were obviously elevated as detected by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Results suggest that Ac-FOS and Bu-FOS have great potential applications in SCFA delivery systems and gut microbiota regulation.


Abstract : It is a fact that the tooth-to-tail ratio in any modern military is heavily weighted towards the tail. The tooth the personnel and equipment in direct contact with enemy forces is a small fraction of the remainder (the tail) although identifying exactly where the line between the two falls remains a matter of great debate. The US Air Force is the world s leader in war-fighting automation and robotics. In fact, in accordance with the directive of Gen Larry Spencer, the vice-chief of staff, we are about to push the technological envelope even further by investigating quantum systems, cyber vulnerabilities, and the survivability of remotely piloted systems.1 Consider our use of drones to multiply the effects of large numbers of attack and reconnaissance pilots and to remove those personnel from the battlefield. Right now we are developing technology that will enable a single pilot to control a wolf pack of drones, further multiplying a single aircrew s mission effectiveness.2 However, we have not made much progress in using robots to enhance the effectiveness of the larger part of Air Force business. The amount of maintenance required by modern aerial war-fighting capabilities keeping the planes, people, and air bases in fighting condition produces a long support tail. If we use our established leadership and knowledge in the field of robotics and automation to address the tail side of the force, we can create a new, better paradigm.


This paper addresses the combination of Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm (PS) for optimization modeling. To illustrate the proposed methodology, an application case is shown to optimize the business results of a company. We estimate business results as a function of seven criteria through an ANN. The ANN is embedded in a PS metaheuristics to provide "optimal" profiles of companies based on the level of proficiency in the seven criteria. Our approach is tested using data from the quality auditors' score of 60 industrial firms in Abu Dhabi for the Sheikh Khalifa Industrial Award (SKIA) in 2000 and 2001. The choice of both algorithms (ANN and PS) is motivated by the fact that within the management system of companies, Business Result is the output of a learning process utilizing key company's variables and when competing over time, companies are evolving by auto/mutual benchmarking their performance in the market as swarm does when moving together.


We report on the development of electrochemical etching technology for the production of multilayer porous structures (MPS) allowing one to fabricate Bragg reflectors on the basis of GaN bulk substrates grown by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE). The formation of MPS during anodization is caused by the spatial modulation of the electrical conductivity throughout the surface and the volume of the HVPE-grown GaN substrate, which occurs according to a previously proposed model involving generation of pits and their overgrowth. We found that the topology of the porous sheets constituting the MPS is different in the vicinity of N-face and Ga-face of the bulk wafer, it being of conical shape near the N-face and of hemispherical shape near the Ga-face. The composition of electrolytes, their concentration as well as the anodization potential applied during electrochemical etching are among technological parameters optimized for designing MPS suitable for Bragg reflector applications. It is shown also that regions with various porosities can be produced in depth of the sample by changing the anodization potential during the electrochemical etching.


State losses in the government sector are caused by a variety of complex factors, including the weakness of internal control system. The organizational factors and the quality of the supervisory apparatus are two weak points that cause the ineffective earlywarningsystem.Thisstudyaimstoevaluatetheweaknessesofthesetwoaspects to reconstruct the government internal control systembased on al hisbah.This study usesacriticalqualitativeapproachintheIslamicparadigm.Thisstudyemphasizesone of the non-ministerial government institutions by conducting in-depth interviews and documentation studies. The informants consisted of eleven people, which are experts in the public sector, chairman of the drafting team for the law of government internal control system, officials in the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, technical deputies, APIP leaders in the government institution in question, and experts of al-hisbah.The result of the research shows that the institutional contextualization of al hisbahis compatible in reconstructing the government internal control system because it offers a more independent organizational structure and more competent human resources in quality and quantity at the level of central, ministry/institutional, and regional government.


The rectorite (REC), a form of layered silicate, was facilely intercalated and even exfoliated in soy protein isolate (SPI) matrix. Furthermore, the reinforced biodegradable nanocomposite sheets were produced, in which the exfoliated REC lamellae plays a key role. After solution-mixing, XRD patterns showed that the REC lamellae were intercalated and even completely exfoliated for 4 wt % REC added, but the expanded gallery gradually became narrower with increasing REC content. FT-IR also verified the molecular-level associations between SPI molecules and REC lamellae by vibration variances of hydrogen bonding. The compression-molding further promoted intercalation and exfoliation, namely the 8 wt % REC can also be almost dispersed as exfoliated lamellae, while the interlayer of RECs also further separated for nanocomposites with higher REC content. TEM images visualized the transfer from exfoliation to intercalation and the decrease of interlayer distance with increasing REC content. The thicker and longer exfoliated REC lamellae resulted in high load and easy-to-yield of material. The maximum strength of nanocomposite sheets occurred at the addition of 12 wt % REC. Thereafter, the SPI chain can move more easily because of weak interaction between free negative-charge rich domain of SPI and REC surface in gallery, which did not favor enhancing mechanical performance. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007


This article describes how learning is a native ability of the brain. However, very little is known of the process as it happens. The engineering model presented in this work provides a base to explore the innards of cognition. The computational implementation of the model is usable to assess cognitive profiles by means of machine learning and harmonic filtering. The model relies on an evolutionary dimensional space consisting of phylogenetic, ontogenetic and microgenetic timelines. The microgenetic space reveals the state machine nature of cognition, standing as an internal translator to a brain specific language. The study of this machine and its language is the key to understanding cognition.


Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD) is an autosomal recessive leukodystrophy characterized by neurogenic bladder, progressive spastic gait, and peripheral neuropathy. Polyglucosan bodies accumulate in the central and peripheral nervous systems and are often associated with glycogen branching enzyme (GBE) deficiency. To improve clinical diagnosis and enable future evaluation of therapeutic strategies, we conducted a multinational study of the natural history and imaging features of APBD.


A simple method for the preparation of lysosomes from livers of rats injected with Triton WR 1339 was developed. Enzymic characterization showed that the Triton WR 1339-filled lysosome (tritosome) preparation isolated by this procedure was almost completely free from mitochondria, peroxisomes, and microsomes. With this method, tritosomes were purified about 50 times with a yield of 8%. The tritosomal membrane fraction was prepared by osmotic disruption of the purified tritosomes followed by washing with 1 M NaCl. Analysis by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that tritosomal membrane proteins were distinct from those of plasma membranes. The major glycoproteins found in tritosomal membranes in the higher molecular weight region were not detected in plasma membranes. When livers were labeled with L-[3H]leucine or D-[3H]glucosamine, the incorporation of both isotopes into tritosomes attained the maximum value at around 3 h after the isotope injection. Radioactivities associated with the tritosomal membranes decayed slower than those of the tritosomal contents. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the membranes labeled with the isotopes for various times demonstrated the distribution and variation with time of radioactivity in the protein and glycoprotein components. The results indicate that the turnover rate of the protein and glycoprotein components in the tritosomal membrane is heterogeneous.


It is not often that a series of lectures can be usefully transformed into a book, and it says much for the author ofthe present volume that he has succeeded in producing a useful as well as a highly readable monograph. This monograph is based on three lectures given by the author last year at theUniversity of London, and summarizes a great deal of the work on population cytogenetics carried out by the author and his colleagues in Edinburgh during the past six years. The book is divided into four chapters only, the first dealing with chromosome studies on the general population, the second with the identity of the chromatinpositive male, the third presenting data obtained largely by the Edinburgh group on the function, behaviour, and sex-determining role of the Y chromosome; and the final, and this is the most interesting, chapter deals with structural autosomal heterozygosity. A great deal of most useful and interesting data are packed into this volume and the author is to be congratulated on the clarity of his presentation. The book is to be recommended to anyone interested in problems of chromosome variation as seen among ordinary men and women. From this approach, far more than from a study of congenital malformation, are we likely to obtain a real idea of the load of chromosome anomalies carried in the general population. JOHN L. HAMERTON


Virtually all sources devoted to heat exchanger theory, (in particular the heat transfer textbooks), start the analyses of the main thermal features of various heat exchangers by emphasizing the differences between the two basic flow arrangements: (i) the unidirectional parallel flow (in the literature often called parallel flow or co-current flow), and (ii) bidirectional flow (in the literature often called counterflow or counter-current flow). This is justified by a convincing argument that the two arrangements correspond to the two theoretical limits of performance. Namely, among all possible flow arrangements, the unidirectional flow is characterized with the smallest and the bi-directional with the largest effectiveness. Modeling of the two arrangements is, as a rule, performed simultaneously but separately. More importantly, the concept of heat exchanger effectiveness is usually introduced as the ratio of the heat transfer rate, exchanged in a given heat exchanger, and the maximum possible heat transfer rate that could be exchanged in a hypothetical bidirectional flow (counterflow) heat exchanger of an infinitely large thermal (and physical!) size. In contrast, this paper promotes a unified approach to both flow arrangements and advocates the use of the effectiveness definition based on a notion of the dimensionless outlet temperature of fluid stream. It is argued that this approach evades pedagogical drawbacks of formal integration of two mathematical models and, more importantly, eliminates the need for an introduction of a vague concept of 'infinitely large counter-current heat exchanger'. Instead, a unified analysis of a single model should be performed and the effectiveness should be introduced as a figure of merit that takes into account performance only of the actual heat exchanger. This approach leads to the same final results as the conventional one, but it follows methodologically a simpler path, without a need for an early introduction of vague (although plausible) thermodynamic concepts.


Assumed effects on land attributes have important implications for nearly all aspects of social, environmental and economic sustainability as well as policy designed to enhance sustainable agriculture. Life-cycle assessments, technical-economic assessments, and sustainability assessments of agriculture and bioproduct industries often use computational models to contribute to an understanding of complex processes. However, because the impacts attributed to a specific process or product must be interpreted in terms of a "business as usual" case, the reference scenario is a key factor in interpreting assessment results. Further, predictions of change are not equivalent to knowledge or data from empirical studies and instead can reflect underlying assumptions and embedded uncertainty from large input datasets. For example, in estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics, there is no internationally agreed SOC measurement protocol. This complicates the establishment of baseline scenarios for comparison across industries and continents (e.g. Brazil and the US: two of the largest bioproduct producers who often trade in equivalent products). If these models are used to accurately predict change and to justify the sustainability of a product, the reference scenario assumptions need to be realistic, measurable, and clearly documented. Justification for assumptions or simplifications should be based on published data and research that employs scientific principles and best available practices for measurement. We will present the results of a systematic literature review to determine the degree to which reference scenarios are explicitly defined when the effects of bioproducts are assessed; and to identify any published guidelines or rules for defining appropriate reference scenarios when assessing bioproducts. We will also present a summary of key aspects of a reference scenario and show the application of these principles to develop a SOC baseline for bioproduct assessments.


The insecticidal Cry11Aa and Cyt1Aa proteins are produced by Bacillus thuringiensis as crystal inclusions. They work synergistically inducing high toxicity against mosquito larvae. It was proposed that these crystal inclusions are rapidly solubilized and activated in the gut lumen, followed by pore formation in midgut cells killing the larvae. In addition, Cyt1Aa functions as a Cry11Aa binding receptor, inducing Cry11Aa oligomerization and membrane insertion. Here, we used fluorescent labeled crystals, protoxins or activated toxins for in vivo localization at nano-scale resolution. We show that after larvae were fed solubilized proteins, these proteins were not accumulated inside the gut and larvae were not killed. In contrast, if larvae were fed soluble non-toxic mutant proteins, these proteins were found inside the gut bound to gut-microvilli. Only feeding with crystal inclusions resulted in high larval mortality, suggesting that they have a role for an optimal intoxication process. At the macroscopic level, Cry11Aa completely degraded the gastric caeca structure and, in the presence of Cyt1Aa, this effect was observed at lower toxin-concentrations and at shorter periods. The labeled Cry11Aa crystal protein, after midgut processing, binds to the gastric caeca and posterior midgut regions, and also to anterior and medium regions where it is internalized in ordered "net like" structures, leading finally to cell break down. During synergism both Cry11Aa and Cyt1Aa toxins showed a dynamic layered array at the surface of apical microvilli, where Cry11Aa is localized in the lower layer closer to the cell cytoplasm, and Cyt1Aa is layered over Cry11Aa. This array depends on the pore formation activity of Cry11Aa, since the non-toxic mutant Cry11Aa-E97A, which is unable to oligomerize, inverted this array. Internalization of Cry11Aa was also observed during synergism. These data indicate that the mechanism of action of Cry11Aa is more complex than previously anticipated, and may involve additional steps besides pore-formation activity.


BACKGROUND
Burned patients demonstrate resistance to the effects of non-depolarizing blocking drugs as a result of acetylcholine receptor changes. They also have decreased activity of plasma cholinesterase (PCHE), which metabolizes mivacurium. We hypothesized that decreased PCHE activity would decrease metabolism of mivacurium, and counteract the receptor-related resistance following burns.

METHODS
Thirteen burned patients and six controls, aged 13-18 yr were followed in 27 studies. The burned patients were sub-classified as having 10-30% or >30% body surface area burn and were studied whenever possible at < or =6 days, and at 1-12 weeks after the burn. Mivacurium pharmacodynamics were examined following a bolus (0.15 mg kg(-1)) dose, and during and after a continuous infusion.

RESULTS
Following a bolus, the onset time and the maximal effect were similar to controls. Recovery was prolonged in the 10-30% burn group at 1-12 weeks (P<0.008), with a similar trend in the >30% burn group at < or =6 days (P<0.082) compared with controls. The infusion requirements for mivacurium were not increased in the burned groups. The PCHE activity was decreased in all burn groups and was inversely related to recovery following the bolus (r=0.73, P<0.001) and the infusion (r=0.69, P<0.001).

CONCLUSION
In contrast to previous studies with non-depolarizers in burned patients, normal mivacurium doses can produce paralysis, at least as rapidly as in controls, but with a possibility of a prolonged recovery from block. The standard dose of mivacurium in the presence of decreased PCHE activity is in effect, a relative overdose that explains the above findings. Mivacurium is an effective drug for use in burns, irrespective of time after, or magnitude of burn injury.


As the classroom climate transforms into a more technology-enhanced environment with increased device availability, there is a growing need to understand how attitudes among teachers may be influenced by the use of these devices in the classroom. Because of current technology trends, device integration is essential to meet education goals (Keengwe, Schnellert, & Mills, 2012). Research suggests that the use of mobile devices in the classroom along with the expectations for teachers to integrate these devices into their curriculum can have significant effects on attitudes and behaviors among teachers and therefore, should be studied (Sahin et al., 2017; Moore, 2016; Beeland, 2002; Christensen, 2002). This study attempted to examine the difference in teacher attitudes toward technology integration based on their use of either Chromebooks or iPads as mobile devices in a one-to-one integrated middle-school classroom. Using a quantitative, causal comparative design, participants were selected from a population of middle-school teachers at two Southeastern United States school districts. The sample size of participants was 115, of which 73 used Chromebooks and 42 used iPads. Data were analyzed using an independent-samples t-test to examine the relationship between attitude and mobile device used. Results of the survey showed that no significant difference existed in the attitude scores of teachers' and the mobile device they used. Although the study did not find significance in the attitude scores, the data indicated that attitudes were mostly positive. Further research should be conducted to include a broader population, other grade levels, and other mobile devices. Studies that look at variables such as self-efficacy, training, and confidence, along with attitude should be researched.


Act 178 is a Vermont law passed in 2006 to resolve Vermont's ancient roads problem: the problem of legal highways that fell into disuse, were largely invisible to an observer on the ground, and increasingly clouded landowner's titles. On its face, Act 178's solution seems simple: by 2010, towns must map the ancient roads they wish to preserve; in 2010, unmapped ancient roads become Unidentified Corridors; and in 2015, Unidentified Corridors are discontinued – seemingly ending the ancient roads problem. Many ancient roads were mapped by the 2010 deadline, and will therefore be preserved by towns while putting landowners on notice about the roads' existence. However, as Unidentified Corridors become a reality in 2010, new problems with Act 178 are coming into focus. Act 178's Unidentified Corridor provisions fail to achieve the legislature's goal to provide a comprehensive solution to ancient roads. Rights like prescriptive public easements, private rights of access, trails, and "clearly observable" highways appear to fall outside the statutory definition of Unidentified Corridors and therefore likely constitute ancient roads that will survive despite the Act. Furthermore, the statutory language allowing a town to reclassify an Unidentified Corridor into a permanent class of road may inadvertently lead to invalid unconstitutional takings which require towns to pay compensation to landowners. In its Unidentified Corridor provisions, Act 178 therefore fails landowners that should be able to rely on the Act to extinguish ancient roads that may now be clouding their titles. Similarly, the Act fails towns that should be able to rely on it to systematically discontinue the ancient roads they do not want, while preserving those they do want. This article analyzes these lurking shortcomings in Act 178's Unidentified Corridor provisions that take effect in 2010. It does so in three parts. First, is a background of the statutes and common law that together make up Vermont highway law. Second, is a discussion of the ancient roads problem in Vermont and how Act 178 purports to solve the problem. Finally, third, is an analysis of how Act 178's Unidentified Corridor provisions fail to fully resolve the ancient roads problem and thus fail to achieve the purpose of the Act.


An intuitive approach to a known technique for solving static field problems is presented. The method itself consists of approximating an integral equation with a set of simultaneous algebraic equations and finding the solution with the aid of a computer. An engineering application for which the method seems well suited is in the analysis and design of devices using ceramic permanent magnets and, for this reason, the paper is oriented along these lines.


Professional and popular journals present fuel cells as the salvation of transportation and electric power infrastructures; the ultimate rechargeable battery. Engineers and investors alike find them attractive as a modern and elegant alternative to other electrical generators. On three occasions since W. R. Grove's initial research around 1840, widespread adoption of fuel cells seemed imminent. Each time, technical challenges in materials and systems integration, along with advances in other electrical technologies frustrated advocates' hopes. Despite successful development of several different types, commercialization remains limited to niche applications. After 180 years fuel cells remain outside the mainstream of power generation technology. This paper presents an overview of that history. The author discusses basic challenges that have faced developers, and suggests how present research may benefit from past experience.