The adaptive value of phenotypic plasticity depends upon the degree of match achieved between phenotype and environment. This match is governed in part by how well organisms discern environmental states (e.g. presence or absence of particular predators). To examine the specificity with which organisms use cues to induce defensive phenotypes, we raised freshwater snails, Physella virgata, with either molluscivorous or non-molluscivorous sunfish species (Lepomis cyanellus, L. gibbosus, L. macrochirus, L. megalotis, L. microlophus, Micropterus salmoides). Regardless of the predator class with which they were raised, snails exhibited two induced responses: (1) reduced growth and (2) development of rotund shells. Reduced growth typically results from predator avoidance behaviours and so is associated with a net survival benefit in environments containing molluscivores. Rotund shells increase crush resistance and so increase both handling time and rejection rates by molluscivorous sunfish. Despite the adaptive nature of these responses to molluscivorous species, responding unnecessarily to non-molluscivores is maladaptive. Growth reduction limits fecundity and prevents snails from attaining size refugia for most predators. Rotund shells increase vulnerability to shell-entry predators, which are typically more common than shell-crushing predators. Thus the induced responses entail costs but award no advantages in the presence of non-molluscivorous sunfish. Lack of specificity in use of cues (e.g. all sunfish treated alike) may be a major constraint on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, these induced responses may produce trait-mediated indirect effects that cascade throughout the food web.


OBJECTIVES
Previous studies have reported several different plasmids that confer multidrug resistance (MDR) including resistance to aminoglycosides. In this study, we investigated the aminoglycoside resistance patterns for 224 Escherichia coli isolates from diseased chickens and ducks in China, characterized a novel MDR plasmid, and collected prevalence data on similar resistance plasmids.

METHODS
Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined using disc diffusion and the microdilution method. The plasmid pXZ was analysed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) with EcoRI and SalI, and sequenced. The prevalence of similar resistance plasmids was assessed by multiplex PCR and by RFLP analysis.

RESULTS
Among the 224 E. coli isolates, 189 (84.4%) were resistant to streptomycin, 125 (55.8%) were resistant to kanamycin, 116 (51.8%) were resistant to gentamicin, 106 (47.3%) were resistant to neomycin and 98 (43.8%) were resistant to amikacin. Among the 224 E. coli isolates, 17 contained a plasmid with the MDR-encoding region of pXZ, which showed high-level resistance to aminoglycosides (MICs of gentamicin and amikacin ≥ 512 mg/L). The plasmid pXZ was digested into five fragments by EcoRI and six fragments by SalI. The plasmid pXZ was a circular DNA molecule of 76635 bp with a 51.65% guanine + cytosine content and included four resistance genes (rmtB, fosA3, bla(TEM-1) and bla(CTX-M-24)).

CONCLUSIONS
A novel MDR plasmid, pXZ, harbouring four resistance genes (rmtB, fosA3, bla(TEM-1) and bla(CTX-M)) was identified. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an aminoglycoside resistance plasmid harbouring the fosA3 gene.


Non-interleaving semantics of concurrent systems is often expressed using posets, where causally related events are ordered and concurrent events are unordered. Each causal poset describes a unique concurrent history, i.e., a set of executions, expressed as sequences or step sequences, that are consistent with it. Moreover, a poset captures all precedence-based invariant relationships between the events in the executions belonging to its concurrent history. However, concurrent histories in general may be too intricate to be described solely in terms of causal posets. In this paper, we introduce and investigate generalised mutex order structures which can capture the invariant causal relationships in any concurrent history consisting of step sequence executions. Each such structure comprises two relations, viz. interleaving/mutex and weak causality. As our main result we prove that each generalised mutex order structure is the intersection of the step sequence executions which are consistent with it.


The feasibility of EVA/LLDPE films containing 1, 2 and 5% (w/w) K-sorbate to inhibit microbial growth and as a consequence prolong shelf-life of foods was investigated. Based on weight loss experiments it was shown that K-sorbate is very suitable for incorporation in LLDPE because of its heat stability during extrusion. After 3 weeks, resp. 6.4, 2.8 and 5.7% of the incorporated sorbic acid was released into distilled water from films containing resp. 1, 2 and 5% (w/w) K-sorbate. The very limited migration of K-sorbate may be explained by the incompatibility of the polar salt with the apolar LLDPE. This limited migration could explain the very small inhibitory effect of the K-sorbate films on the growth of Candida spp., Pichia spp., Trichosporon spp. and Penicillium spp. During storage at 7 °C of cheese packaged in a 5% (w/w) K-sorbate film, no significant differences could be observed for yeast and mould growth on the cheese cubes compared to a reference film. The concentration of sorbic acid in the cheese did not exceed 14 ppm. This is much lower than the 1000 ppm K-sorbate needed to inhibit microbial growth. The results of this study confirm that the K-sorbate incorporated LLDPE film is not able to inhibit microbial growth in vitro on inoculated media and in vivo on cheese due to the insufficient release of K-sorbate from the film.


LINC-NIRVANA is the near-infrared homothetic imaging camera for the Large Binocular Telescope. Once operational, it will provide an unprecedented combination of angular resolution, sensitivity and field of view. Its layer-oriented MCAO systems (one for each arm of the interferometer) are conjugated to the ground layer and an additional layer in the upper atmosphere. In this contribution MCAO wavefront control is discussed in the context of the overall control scheme for LINC-NIRVANA. Special attention is paid to a set of auxiliary control tasks which are mandatory for MCAO operation: The Fields of View of each wavefront sensor in the instrument have to be derotated independent from each other and independently from the science field. Any wavefront information obtained by the sensors has to be matched to the time invariant modes of the deformable mirrors in the system. The tip/tilt control scheme is outlined, in which atmospheric, but also instrumental tip/tilt corrections are sensed with the high layer wavefront sensor and corrected by the adaptive secondary mirror of the LBT. Slow image motion effects on the science detector have to be considered, which are caused by flexure in the non-common path between AO and the science camera, atmospheric differential refraction, and alignment tolerances of the derotators. Last but not least: The sensor optics (pyramids) have to be accurately positioned at the images of natural reference stars.


This article, by applying Freudian psychoanalytical theories, offers a new interpretation on Young Goodman Brown written by Na thaniel Hawthorne. Firstly, by analyzing the Theory of Drive (especially the death theory), it points out that " evil" is one of human in stincts, and the whole story stems from this very instinct. Then, the article focuses on the mental struggles and the collapse of Brown' s faith from perspective of Freudian Personality Structure. At last, it concludes that Brown' s mental sufferings lie in the fierce conflicts be tween his id, ego and super-ego and his mental disorder is caused by his faith collapse.


The structure of water at interfaces is crucial for processes ranging from photocatalysis to protein folding. Here, we investigate the structure and lattice dynamics of two-layer crystalline ice films grown on a hydrophobic substrate, graphene on Pt(111), with low energy electron diffraction, reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy, rare-gas adsorption/desorption, and ab initio molecular dynamics. Unlike hexagonal ice, which consists of stacks of puckered hexagonal "bilayers", this new ice polymorph consists of two flat hexagonal sheets of water molecules in which the hexagons in each sheet are stacked directly on top of each other. Such two-layer ices have been predicted for water confined between hydrophobic walls, but not previously observed experimentally. Our results show that the two-layer ice forms even at zero pressure at a single hydrophobic interface by maximizing the number of hydrogen bonds at the expense of adopting a nontetrahedral geometry with weakened hydrogen bonds.


Advanced technology in design and implementation of stable foamed cement systems now offers new solutions to critical oil-field cementing problems well beyond the original utility of lightweight slurries in reducing hydrostatic pressure across fracture-sensitive zones. Implications of new high-performance foamed cement capabilities are discussed for specialized applications such as thermal recovery, deep cementing in a narrow annular gap, lost-circulation control and stimulation across fractured or washed-out zones, as well as other unique advantages in primary cementing. Specialized foamed cement studies reveal improved prevention of strength and permeability retrogression and enhanced thermal isolation for steamflood applications, all at significantly reduced fracture stress as compared to conventional extended systems. Because of their unique rheology, high-performance foam slurries can be designed to exhibit moderate thixotropy but maintain excellent fluidity at extremely low shear. Cement foams further aid zonal isolation due to improved shear bonding and enhanced pipe/cement/formation contact as a result of the expansive nature of the slurry during setting. A number of successful jobs are documented in which lightweight nitrified systems placed across weak and washed-out zones have been successfully perforated and fractured. Several new potential applications for moderate to high-density, stable, nitrified slurries are also discussed based on their unique performance.


It is normal for companies, during their life cycle, to alternate between positive and negative phases, periods of success and failure. When a negative period shifts from temporary to structural and chronic (and thus continues over time), the company is often destined to go bankrupt. The uncertainty regarding the exact moment when this takes place has brought about a plethora of quantitative and qualitative models aimed at predicting bankruptcy. This study applies the most well-known of these models, the Z-Score, through an application to Italian companies subject to Extraordinary Administration (a sort of Italian Chapter 11) between 2000 and 2010. Since Italy is one of the pivotal countries that will likely decide the fate of the Euro, methods to identify firms that may need financial support takes on an even more important effort than in normal times.


A method for implementing subtyping and inheritance, as independent features of object-oriented languages, is presented. There are at least two reasons for decoupling subtyping from inheritance: the negative influence on encapsulation and the different perspective of specification inheritance (subtyping) and implementation inheritance (code sharing). In our approach, subtyping and inheritance are defined in two independent constructs: the class module and the implementation module which are separately compiled. Subtyping is declared in the class module which contains all the public definitions of the class (e.g., types and operation signatures), while inheritance is defined in the implementation module, which contains the implementations of all the operations of the class. The class module includes assertions which are an algorithmic form of operation specification.


A G van Aarde as theologian (1979-) This article is an attempt to give a brief overview of the different theological points of departure of Van Aarde's theological model, which has been lectured in the Department of New Testament Studies (Sec A) at the University of Pretoria since 1984. The ways in which this theological model are advocated are traced through his lectures, and his many scientific publications are also taken into consideration. From his theological model it is clear that, for Van Aarde, there is an indissoluble relationship between epistemology, methodology and teleology. In this connection, attention is given to the different epistemological, theological and hermeneutical presuppositions of his theological model. The conclusion is made that his theological model succeeds in being relevant and committed to reality with reference to the church in today's mondial culture.


The world of biomedical research is in constant evolution, requiring more and more conditions and norms through pre-clinic and clinic studies. Nanodiamonds (NDs) with exceptional optical, thermal and mechanical properties emerged on the global scientific scene and recently gained more attention in biomedicine and bioanalysis fields. Many problematics have been deliberated to better understand their in vitro and in vivo efficiency and compatibility. Light was shed on their synthesis, modification and purification steps, as well as particle size and surface properties in order to find the most suitable operating conditions. In this review, we present the latest advances of NDs use in bioapplications. A large variety of subjects including anticancer and antimicrobial systems, wound healing and tissue engineering management tools, but also bioimaging and labeling probes are tackled. The key information resulting from these recent works were evidenced to make an overview of the potential features of NDs, with a special look on emerging therapeutic and diagnosis combinations.


Actin is the most abundant protein in eukaryotes. Under physiological conditions, it can polymerize into polarized filaments. At the heart of these processes are actin-binding proteins that stimulate actin assembly. Most of them are composed of multiple domains that perform both regulatory and signaling functions. Many actin-binding proteins, including WASP and formin family proteins, are auto-inhibited through intramolecular interactions that mask the actin-regulating sites of these proteins. The large flexible molecules of formins have so far eluded crystallization, and have been crystallized only partially. The information from the available crystal structures is valuable, but somewhat difficult to interpret without a larger framework on which to pose the actin-binding mechanism. Single-particle electron microscopy and electron tomography could provide such a large framework with the full-length structures of protein complexes. The recent advances in determining the molecular interactions in protein complexes predict that the molecular modeling and molecular dynamics methods could be employed to study conformational changes in molecules.


RATIONALE
Sex hormones play a role in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but the menstrual cycle has never been studied.

OBJECTIVES
We conducted a prospective observational study of eight women with stable PAH and 20 healthy controls over one cycle.

METHODS
Participants completed four study visits one week apart starting on the first day of menstruation. Relationships between sex hormones, hormone metabolites, and extracellular vesicle microRNA (miRNA) expression and clinical markers were compared with generalized linear mixed modeling.

RESULTS
Women with PAH had higher but less variable estradiol (E2) levels (p < 0.001) that tracked with six-minute walk distance (6MWD) (p < 0.001), N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (p = 0.03) levels, and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (p < 0.01); the direction of these associations depended on menstrual phase. Dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) levels were lower in women with PAH (all visits, p < 0.001). In PAH, each 100 g/dL increase in DHEA-S was associated with a 127-meter increase in 6MWD (p < 0.001) and was moderated by the cardioprotective E2 metabolite 2-methoxyestrone (p < 0.001). As DHEA-S increased, NT-proBNP levels decreased (p = 0.001). Expression of extracellular vesicle miRNAs-21, -29c, and -376a was higher in PAH, moderated by E2 and DHEA-S levels, and tracked with hormone associated changes in clinical measures.

CONCLUSIONS
Women with PAH have fluctuations in cardiopulmonary function during menstruation driven by E2 and DHEA-S. These hormones in turn influence transcription of extracellular vesicle miRNAs implicated in the pathobiology of pulmonary vascular disease and cancer.


Summary

Aim: To assess the face validity of a food intake questionnaire (FIQ) by comparison to current dietetic practice exemplified by State Registered Dietitians (SRD) working in the North West of England.

Methods: 228 questionnaires were posted to 38 dietetic departments in the North West & North Wales branch of the British Dietetic Association. Dietitians were asked to name foods they considered most important when advising clients on four aspects of healthy eating: lowering sugar intake, lowering fat intake, increasing fibre intake and decreasing salt intake; the foods mentioned by most respondents in each category were ranked 1–10. If an FIQ item appeared in the list of ranked foods and was selected by more than 50% of the sample its inclusion in the FIQ was considered face valid.

Results: 56 foods out of the 80 ranked 1–10 in the eight categories appeared in the FIQ. Thirty-one of these 56 foods were mentioned by more than 50% of dietitians when considering the four aspects of healthy eating; 27 (87%) of these were included in FIQ items. The study also revealed a surprisingly large number of foods to be mentioned by dietitians for each of the four categories. The list of foods mentioned was extensive; for example, 120 foods were mentioned when considering lowering fat intake.

Conclusions: The items chosen for the FIQ can be seen to agree closely with the opinions of practising SRDs, confirming its face validity. The results also suggest there is a need to debate the nature of dietary advice which is given to the public. The findings of the study suggest that translating nutritional guidelines into advice about which foods should be eaten is far from simple. The results may provide one reason for public confusion about healthy eating.


Agus Setiawan (13140133), Design of Noted Installment Maturity Program With Web Based SMS Gateway SMS Gateway comes as a medium or a means of SMS based information provider. Seeing the development, SMS Gateway is increasingly used by many agencies as one of the information management tools. In providing information regarding notification of payment due to hajj payments to customers, only reminds customers by contacting every customer via telephone. There are some problems in the process of delivering the information, for the SMS Gateway can be a solution to the problems faced both from the cooperative and customers. The purpose of this SMS Gateway utilization is for notification of payment system of payment of installment which can send message to all customers of. With the notification application, the payment due system of installment using SMS Gateway can remind every customer in terms of payment. Not only that every customer will also get information easily. In this research using several methods of data collection method such as literatur, interview and literature study, analysis method,, design method, and test method. With the notification on the mobile phone in the form of SMS then the customer will be easier in receiving the delivery of information from the cooperative. In making this application produce a system that can help the company to send notification of installment due date automatically every month. This system uses the API from SMSGateway.me in order to use Android Mobile as SMS sender, the advantage is faster SMS sent, saving power because this system can be installed in Hosting and can be online 24 hours without turning on the computer.


An outstanding problem posed by Einstein's general theory of relativity to the quantum theory of point particle fields is the fate of a massive point particle; for, in the classical solutions of Einstein's theory, such a system should be a black hole. We use exact results in a new approach to quantum gravity to show that this conclusion is obviated by quantum loop effects. Phenomenological implications are discussed.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dimethyl amiloride (DMA), a specific inhibitor of Na(+)/H(+) exchanger-1 (NHE-1), on intracellular pH value (pHi), proliferation and apoptosis of HL-60/ADM cells in vitro. After treatment with DMA at different doses, pHi of HL-60 and HL-60/ADM cell lines were determined by using pH-sensitive fluorescence dye BECEF-AM; the rate of growth inhibition of cells was detected with MTT assay; cell cycle was detected by flow cytometric DNA analysis; cell apoptosis was observed with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). The results showed that pHi in HL-60/ADM cells was higher than that in HL-60 cells. After treatment with DMA at different doses, pHi decreased, the rate of growth inhibition and the rate of apoptotic cells in HL-60/ADM cells were all higher than those in HL-60 cells. Meanwhile, after treatment with DMA during 100 micromol/L to 150 micromol/L, the increase amplitude of G(0)/G(1) phase cells and the decrease amplitude of S + G(2)/M cells in HL-60/ADM cells were higher than those in HL-60 cells. It is concluded that by causing intracellular acidification, the NHE-1-specific inhibitor DMA inhibits proliferation of HL-60/ADM cells and induces apoptosis of HL-60/ADM cells, and the degree of this growth inhibition of HL-60/ADM cells is higher than that of HL-60 cells.


The present study aimed to identify the therapeutic interventions categories carried out in Intensive Care Units (ICU), finding out their prevalence and identifying their components according to TISS-28. The sample was composed of 89 adult patients who were consecutively admitted to the ICU of a university hospital in São Paulo city. Basic and Supportive Activities, Ventilatory, Cardiovascular and Renal were the TISS-28 that prevailed with a frequency of 73.0% and 100%. The frequency of the items considered Basic Activities were prevalent, that is, higher than 90.0%. The quantitative average of urinary debt was 98.2% concerning Renal Support. The results may mean quality of assistance provided to the clients, as they contribute to the human resources estimative and materials in the ICU as well.


Interference coloring of the regular component of a polychromatic light scattered by a colorless dielectric slab with a rough surface is considered. To explain the observed alternation of colors as the depth of roughness grows, we apply the model of a transient layer associated with surface roughness, which extends the well-known analogy between the layer and a light-scattering particle. It is shown that coloring of the forward-scattered component of a white light can be interpreted as the action of a peculiar quarter-wavelength (anti-reflecting) layer for some spectral component of a polychromatic probing beam. By applying the modern chromascopic technique, we compare the coloring of the forward-scattered and the specularly reflected radiation. As the demonstration, the effect of "a blue Moon" and "a red Moon" caused by the spectral changes induced by white-light scattering at the rough surface of a colorless glass is represented. — Natura simplex et fecunda, A. Fresnel.


Patients with severely uncontrolled diabetes mellitus must be cared for by physicians and nurses who understand the pathophysiology of ketoacidosis and nonketotic hyperglycemia, who carefully seek and treat precipitating or underlying illnesses, and who can provide the patients with continuous clinical attention and laboratory monitoring. Most patients with diabetic ketoacidosis survive the acute metabolic disorder; the infrequent deaths are usually due to serious underlying illnesses. The latter are more common in patients with nonketotic hyperglycemia, who are usually older than those with ketoacidosis and who usually also have serious underlying chronic diseases. The essential features of treatment for either of the foregoing acute metabolic disorders are administration of insulin (especially gingerly in the older patients with nonketotic hyperglycemia, despite their commonly remarkable hyperglycemia); rehydration with NaCl solutions; and IV administration of K+, usually not until after a few hours of treatment with insulin and NaCl solutions. Administration of NaHCO3 is usually not necessary except in patients with a blood pH less than 7.1. Administration of phosphate has been recommended as part of the treatment for ketoacidosis, but its need is uncertain. Although patients with nonketotic hyperglycemia are often more severely dehydrated and hyperglycemic than those with ketoacidosis, they usually should be given smaller amounts of insulin, NaCl solutions, and K+, and less rapidly.


Hybrid density functional theory investigations are conducted to compare the structural properties, stability, vibrational frequencies, and thermodynamic functions of MoS2 and WS2-based monolayers and single-wall nanotubes using the same calculation scheme. The thermal contributions to thermodynamic functions for the layers and nanotubes are computed using phonon frequencies in the harmonic approximation. The thin MoS2 and WS2 nanotubes' thermodynamic properties in regard to the same properties of the corresponding monolayers are obtained. It is found a noticeable deviation in these relative thermodynamic properties of the MoS2 and WS2 nanotubes. It is also shown that the thermal contribution to the stability of nanotubes is appreciable, especially for the nanotubes with small diameters. The deviation of nanotube free energy, entropy, and heat capacity from the layer values is larger in the case of MoS2 than in the case of WS2.


The island of Arran has long been recognised as an ideally happy hunting-ground for the geologist, and not the least interesting portion of it is the shore section from Brodick via Corrygills to Clauchlands Point, and the eastern part of the ridge of the Clauchland Hills, visited by members of this Society on the 20th April, 1908. To the young geologist in particular is this section of value, as here there is exposed within a distance of a few miles a continuous section of rocks, presenting very clearly, and in such short space, many features of great interest, such as dykes and sills, and their relations with the sedimentary rocks, also faulting, false-bedding, weathering, marine erosion, and ice action. The sedimentary rocks are red sandstones and conglomerates of Lower Triassic age, with a general S. to S.W. dip, much faulted, and intersected by numerous dykes—mostly basic— and invaded at many points by sills of felsite, pitchstone, quartz-porphyry, and dolerite. The age of these sedimentary rocks was long disputed, and they have been variously regarded as of Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous, or New Red age; but the question seems to have been definitely settled (according to the "Memoir of the Geological Survey") in 1894, when they were found to be unconformable to the Carboniferous formation. At Corrie, and near Brodick, they are seen to rest on the Lower Coal Measures, and in Ben Lister Glen on the Corrie Limestone, hundreds of feet lower in the Carboniferous formation; while at Machrie, on This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE
Leukocyte differentiation antigen CD117 is one of the targets that tyrosine kinase selective inhibitors work on. Whether CD117 is expressed on the cell surface, and the expression level are highly correlated with tyrosine kinase selective inhibitors. This study was designed to investigate the expression of CD117 on multiple myeloma (MM) cells, which may provide a theoretical evidence for the use of tyrosine kinase selective inhibitors in MM,meanwhile,the importance of CD117 expression on MM cells was estimated.

METHODS
CD117, CD56, and CD54 were measured by three-color flow cytometry with CD45/SSC gating strategy.

RESULTS
Of 48 patients with MM, 17 (35.5%) had positive CD117 expression on myeloma cells, 39 (81.2%) had positive CD56 expression, and 48 (100.0%) had positive CD54 expression. CD117 expression on myeloma cells was lower than CD56, and CD54. CD117 positive expression was positive correlated with the percentage of myeloma cells in bone marrow. CD117 positive in IgG type of MM was 64%, higher than other types such as light chain or IgA. CD117 positivity showed no significant difference in different stages (P >0.05), and in patients haven't been pretreated, or relapsed after pretreated (P >0.01). In MM patients haven't been pretreated, the reaction rate of VAD chemotherapy in CD117 positive cases was 71.4%, and showed no significant difference (P >0.05) compared with the reaction rate of 66.7% in CD117 negative cases.

CONCLUSION
CD117 can be regard as the related tumor antigen of MM, and may be a valuable marker in the use of tyrosine kinase selective inhibitors, which inhibit the signal conduct to the target.


The needs for higher speed and bandwidth at low power for portable and high-performance applications has been driving recent innovations in packaging technologies with new substrate platforms with finer lithographic capability and dimensional stability, such as ultra-thin glass, to enable off- chip interconnections pitch scaling, down to 30µm. Copper pillar flip-chip thermocompression bonding (TCB) has subsequently become a pervasive technology in the past decade, and is now considered as the next interconnection and assembly node for smart mobile and high-performance systems. However, additional innovations are needed to achieve high-throughput thermocompression bonding on fragile and thin glass, with short cycle times and process conditions within HVM (high-volume manufacturing) tool capability. These include material advances in surface finishes and pre-applied underfill materials with built-in flux, along with a unique co-development strategy to provide high- speed solutions with optimized TCB profiles that consider the dynamic thermal behavior of high-density glass substrates, underfill curing kinetics, as well as tool compatibility. These innovations are the key focus of this paper. Finite element heat transfer and thermomechanical modeling were carried out to emulate assembly processes and compare the behavior of glass substrates to that of current technologies. Residual stresses created during the cool-down phase were extracted to help define process windows for stress management in interconnections, by fine control of intermetallics (IMC) formation. Emerging surface finish chemistries compatible with high-density wiring with sub- 10m spacings, such as OSP or EPAG (electroless Pd, autocatalytic Au) finish, were also evaluated for their effect on the formed IMC systems. A new set of no-flow snap-cure underfill materials with high thermal stability, beyond existing conductive films or pastes, was developed in synergy with tools and processes for compatibility with advanced substrate technologies. Model predictions were validated with assembly trials on ultra-thin glass and organic substrates with 100µm thin cores. Design guidelines for bonding tools, materials and processes were finally derived, for high-speed thermocompression bonding, customized to the performance, reliability and cost needs of next-generation mobile and high- performance systems.


Faecal incontinence is a distressing and socially debilitating problem. Nurses are ideally placed to support patients and assist them in improving their quality of life. In order to provide the necessary holistic care the nurse needs to understand the nature of the patient's symptoms and be aware of a variety of management interventions. In this article the author outlines the various causes of faecal incontinence and highlights the importance of a thorough nursing assessment which takes into account the physical, psychological and social aspects of the symptoms. Planned care should be based on a firm knowledge base, but should reflect the needs of the individual. A good nurse-patient interaction facilitates this process and should be valued.


【In present-day Korea, a climatic change is causing various changes to the life of people and their body. The climate is more and more warm, so the internal environment of people's body is exchanging to warm. The climatic change's range is big and the speed is fast. So the harmony of human body is being destroyed and the human body's adaptation ability is becoming low. At this condition, diseases more frequently occur. So doctor must expect the occur of diseases and practice early treatment. And in present-day Korea, a life environmental change is being advanced. The life environmental change is causing big changes to the people's body and having influences to the occur of diseases. To this problem, doctor must expect and practice early treatment. This thesis would like to interpret about present-day Korea's climatic changes and life environmental changes in Korean Medicine point of view, and try to present the method of Korean Medicine early treatment. And comment on present-day Korea's early treatment method especially on health supplement or functional food and vaccination.】


Many studies have examined organizations' use of specific types of online media, but few studies have examined how organizations generate dialogues and develop relationships by using multiple online communication platforms. This study takes an integrated approach by examining how top global organizations incorporate brand Web sites, Facebook, and Twitter to cultivate relationships with stakeholders. Its findings suggest that those particular online media are used similarly, that is, more for information dissemination than user engagement and more for one-way than two-way communication. The findings also suggest that the types of products promoted can affect the way that organizations use different online media to develop relationships.


The purpose of this communication is to report the evolution of a solar (senile) lentigo into a solitary lichen planus‐like keratosis (SLPLK). This case is unique because this evolution was documented by biopsies taken from the same lesion nearly 5 years apart. The pathogenesis of SLPLK is discussed.


Objectives: The aim of the study was to help generate information and knowledge regarding the causes and complications leading to maternal deaths in an Urban tertiary care hospital, to find if any of them are potentially preventable and to use information thus generated to save lives. Method: The Medical records of all maternal deaths over a period of 5 years between June 2009 to May 2014 were reviewed and analysed for maternal age, antenatal registration, mode of delivery, parity, admission date interval and causes of death.
Results: The maternal mortality rate ranged between 448 to 750 / 100000 births in the study period. The causes of death were eclampsia - pregnancy induced hypertension (39.4%) haemorrhage (35%), Sepsis(6%), Hepatitis (6.5%), Anaemia (13%), Heart Disease (2.6%). Maximum deaths occurred between 21-30 years of age is 84.6%. Mortality highest in post natal mothers 158 (69.2%). Unbooked cases constituted 204(89.4%) of Maternal deaths and included 157(68.8%) of referred cases. Overall mortality was 544/100000 of maternal deaths due to direct obstetric deaths 181 (79.3%) and indirect obstetric deaths 47 (20.6%).
Conclusion: The classical triad of causes of maternal mortality in our study remained eclampsia, haemorrhage, sepsis in that order. Haemorrhage and sepsis are considered potentially preventable causes of maternal deaths.

Keywords: Maternal Mortality, Direct obstetric deaths and indirect obstetric deaths


Purpose
The financial sector's resilience is associated with greater prosperity and a better average income. Banks have evolved their business model and diversified their sources of income, and bank digitalization has become one of the prominent strategies. The purpose of this study is to examine how bank service expansion represented by revenue diversification activities and digital strategy will enhance bank stability in ASEAN countries from 2010 to 2021.

Design/methodology/approach
This study uses information from the Datastream database and banks' annual reports to measure bank stability, diversification and market power, which also provide information for bank digital strategy. This study uses the two-step system generalized method of moments to investigate the effect of diversification and digitalization on bank stability in ASEAN.

Findings
The results of this study show that bank revenue diversification has no effect on bank stability, and the presence of the chief digital officer and digital disclosure improves banks' stability. However, alliance strategy with financial technology companies does not significantly impact bank stability and might increase bank risk.

Practical implications
The findings of this study provide relevant policy implications: the regulation should support bank business to diversify the source of income; regulators and policymakers should regulate and enhance the Information and Communication Technology infrastructure; and banks should design their strategy comprehensively.

Originality/value
This study provides new evidence of the essential role of digital strategy in enhancing bank stability in ASEAN. In addition, this study also shows how banks diversify their business in a competitive environment.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa is among the best known hospital pathogens. This organism is the most common
opportunistic pathogen with an innate resistance to many antibiotics. Its inborn resistance to many antimicrobial
agents and its ability to develop multidrug resistance imposes a serious therapeutic issue. Resistance of this
bacterium against different antibiotics has been reported from various regions. The purpose of this study was to
clarify the presence of resistance genes to ESBL antibiotics in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from
different parts of Tonekabon Shahid Rajai hospital in North of Iran using PCR technique. In this study, 35 strains of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa were collected from different wards of Tonekabon Shahid Rajai Hospital within 2011-
2012. To determine the resistance of strains, antibiogram test was performed by the disk diffusion method. Specific
primers were used to detect the presence of the studied genes, and the PCR technique was applied to amplify the
above genes. the strains showed different levels of resistance to antibiotics including, 42.8% to Tobramycin, 20% to
Ceftazidime, and 2.8% to Imipenem. All Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates did not show any resistance to
Ciprofloxacin and Amikacin. Of total 35 studied strains, PstS, and blaoxa -50 genes were observed, in 35 (100%) and
34 (97.1%) strains, respectively. Regarding the high percentage of resistance of isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa
to the antibiotics of the ESBL, the accurate performance of antibiogram tests before the prescription of antibiotics
seems to be an unavoidable necessity in the treatment of infections resulted from these bacteria. This study is the
first report of presence of PstS and blaOXA type genes in P. aeruginosa isolates, in Tonekabon Shahid Rajai
hospital in North of Iran


This paper examines empirical performance of three different Phillips curve specifications in the euro area.Instead of imposing rational expectations, direct measures, ie OECD forecasts, are used to proxy economic agents' inflation expectations.Real marginal costs are measured in three different ways.The results suggest that with directly measured expectations the estimated New Classical Phillips curve has satisfactory statistical properties. Moreover, the driving variable enters the estimated, purely forward-looking, New Keynesian Phillips curve with the correct sign, but it is clearly outperformed by the New Classical and Hybrid Phillips curves.We interpret our results as indicating that the European inflation process is not purely forwardlooking, so that inflation cannot instantaneously adjust to new information. Consequently, even allowing for possible non-rationality in expectations, a lagged inflation term enters the New Keynesian Phillips curve for European inflation dynamics.The inflation process seems to have become more forward-looking in the recent years of low and stable inflation.Furthermore, in the New Keynesian Phillips curve relationship, the output gap turns out to be at least as good a proxy for real marginal cost as is the labour income share. Key words: Phillips curve, expectations, euro area JEL Classification: E31, C52


Lotteries are one of the most commonly-adopted rationing mechanisms. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor conducts lotteries to grant H-1B work visas to potential foreign workers, and the Traffic Management Bureau in Beijing conducts lotteries to grant license plates. Previous research focuses on the effects of license lotteries on a society level. The present research focuses on the individual decision level: Would license lotteries influence post-licensing purchases, for example, how much one spends on a car after the license is granted?

Intuitively, lotteries should not influence car purchases. First, although license plates are a scarce resource, cars are not, so one doesn't automatically need to pay a higher price for a car when a license is granted. Second, unlike auctions, lotteries award a random selection of people, so the lottery winners should be representative of the population of all car buyers, rich or poor.

However, what we found is rather counterintuitive. Our preliminary findings suggest that individual car buyers in a lottery city (e.g., Beijing) choose more expensive cars than those in a no-lottery city, and that within Beijing, the preference for expensive cars suddenly increased after the lotteries started in January 2011. With these results as the starting point, we seek to thoroughly understand why this license-lottery effect occurs.

We consider different possible alternative explanations, such as income effects. In general, we take a two-step approach. For each explanation, we first let data speak. If empirical analyses cannot rule in or out the explanation, we conduct experiments. We then propose our own hypothesis. To verify this account, we conduct a series of lab and field experiments in naturalistic settings and with incentive-comparable measurements. Experiments are expected to provide strong evidence on causality.

Theoretically, our research aims to show a counterintuitive effect in China's automobile market, reveal the delicate but powerful influence of the lottery-based rationing mechanism on related purchases, and examine alternative hypothesis. Methodologically, our research aims to explore a combination of empirical analysis and experimental design and to be a true behavioral science collaboration with no discipline boundary. Practically, our research aims to provide data-driven advice for policy makers on the design of rationing mechanisms.


We perform haptic rendering of a polygonal mesh at a high speed, independent of its face count, using a topologically structured data representation that avoids edge gap effects from small numerical errors. Constraints on the virtual proxy's position on the mesh give good results in rendering concave edges. The algorithm allows force shading and smoothing at convex corners and edges by an approach originally developed for graphic rendering.


The theory of $n$-fold integer programming has been recently emerging as an important tool in parameterized complexity. The input to an $n$-fold integer program (IP) consists of parameter $A$, dimension $n$, and numerical data of binary encoding length $L$. It was known for some time that such programs can be solved in polynomial time using $O(n^{g(A)}L)$ arithmetic operations where $g$ is an exponential function of the parameter. In 2013 it was shown that it can be solved in fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) time using $O(f(A)n^3L)$ arithmetic operations for a single-exponential function $f$. This, and a faster algorithm for a special case of combinatorial $n$-fold IP, have led to several very recent breakthroughs in the parameterized complexity of scheduling, stringology, and computational social choice. In 2015 it was shown that it can be solved in strongly polynomial time using $O(n^{g(A)})$ arithmetic operations.
Here we establish a result which subsumes all three of the above results by showing that $n$-fold IP can be solved in strongly polynomial FPT time using $O(f(A)n^3)$ arithmetic operations. In fact, our results are much more general, briefly outlined as follows.
- There is a strongly polynomial algorithm for ILP whenever a so-called Graver-best oracle is realizable for it.
- Graver-best oracles for the large classes of multi-stage stochastic and tree-fold ILPs can be realized in FPT time. Together with the previous oracle algorithm, this newly shows two large classes of ILP to be strongly polynomial; in contrast, only few classes of ILP were previously known to be strongly polynomial.
- We show that ILP is FPT parameterized by the largest coefficient $\|A\|_\infty$ and the primal or dual treedepth of $A$, and that this parameterization cannot be relaxed, signifying substantial progress in understanding the parameterized complexity of ILP.


AIM
We aimed to assess the skills of final year medical students and resident medical officers in recognising and interpreting important common or life-threatening abnormalities in the electrocardiogram (ECG).

METHODS
102 participants at two study sites (52 of whom were final year medical students) attempted to determine the heart rate and rhythm and identify and interpret any abnormalities present in 15 ECGs in a 30-minute time period.

RESULTS
Accurate determination of heart rate was poor, ranging from 0% to 89% correct across the 15 ECGs. Normal sinus rhythm in 8 ECGs was identified 81% to 95% of the time, and ventricular tachycardia was identified by 98% of participants. Atrial fibrillation (55%), second degree heart block (19%) and ventricular pacing (9%) were not well identified. Four ECGs showed acute ischaemic ST segment changes, and these were correctly identified in 87% to 93% of cases, although interpretation of these abnormalities was less accurate. Long QT interval (7%) and pre-excitation (WPW pattern, 11%) were not well recognised. Nearly half of the participants rated their ability to interpret ECGs as less than satisfactory while just over half rated the ECG teaching they had received as less than satisfactory.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall study participants did not achieve what we would consider an adequate standard in recognising and interpreting important common or life-threatening abnormalities in the ECG. To address this we need to define minimum standards in ECG interpretation, to improve our teaching to meet these standards, and to assess our graduates against these.


Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental disorder that affects millions of children. It is difficult to diagnose because symptoms of ADHD differ from person to person. The aim of this study is to develop an objective tool that can help physicians to diagnose this disease by minimizing the human effort. Brain MR images from 26 individuals from NP Istanbul Neuropsychiatry Hospital were collected. Two separated dataset is created in order to extract features from magnetic resonance images. These are gray level co-occurrence matrix dataset and Haralick texture features dataset. The most useful features are determined by Principal Component Analysis. K-nearest neighbor, Naive Bayes and Decision Tree algorithms are used for classification. Performance of the model is tested by cross validation and hold out methods, and evaluated by using sensivity and specifity values.


Variable speed AC drives are finding their place in all types of industrial and commercial loads. This Work covers the current source converter technologies, including pulse width-modulated current-source inverters (CSIs) and in addition, this also addresses the present status of the direct converters & gives an overview of the commonly Used modulation schemes for VFD systems. The proposed work flow is that to work with the simulation of three phases PWM Current Source Inverter fed Induction Motor (CSI-IM) drive systems using Matlab/Simulink simulation Software. This work primarily presents a Unified approach for generating pulse width-modulated patterns for three-phase current-source rectifiers and inverters (CSR/is) that provides unconstrained selective harmonic elimination and fundamental current control. This conversion Process generates harmonics in the motor current waveform. This project deals with the analysis of motor current Harmonics using FFT analysis and use of filter for mitigating them for smooth operation of motor. The filter used for Reduction of harmonics is passive filter. The filter is such it reduces only the 5th & 7th order harmonics. Thus the Analysis of motor current harmonics is done firstly without filter & then it has been compared with the results after the Addition of filter. It is found that the 5th & 7th order harmonics has reduced considerably.


Social Information Systems (SocIS) enable many people to interact digitally and collaboratively create and share digital content. Nevertheless, the large and heterogenous SocIS communities make it challenging to ensure information quality (IQ) because members' interpretation and evaluation of content might be very different. As a remedy, many platforms explicitly state normative IQ guidelines. Guidelines can be developed either by the community members themselves or by the platform provider (and imposed on the community). It is unclear, however, which of these two approaches members agree with more strongly and which produces the more satisficatory IQ guidelines. Through an empirical survey study covering 15 different SocIS platforms, we find that members do agree more and are more satisfied when guidelines have been developed by the community. These findings are important for platform providers to improve IQ and retain members, and also inform research on IQ in SocIS.


The development objective of the First Phase of the Inter-Zonal Transmission Hub Project under the WAPP APL3 is to reduce the cost of and improve security of electricity supply to Burkina Faso, while increasing Ghana's electricity export capacity. The extension of closing date of IDA Credit Cr. 49710-GH from December 31, 2017 to December 31, 2018 (closing date of WAPP Inter-zonal Transmission Hub Project-P094919) is needed to ensure completion of all project activities (construction of Bolgatanga II substation and commissioning of 225kV Ghana-Burkina Faso Interconnector) to achieve project objectives. Disbursement ratio is expected to be 95 percent if 12-months extension approval is granted. An implementation plan including the transportation of equipment, completion of installation works and commissioning within the extended closing date has been agreed with the GRIDCo, freight forwarder, transporter, contractor and owners' engineer. No other changes are proposed with this extension request.


Modern Massively Multi-player Online Games (MMOGs) have grown to become extremely complex in terms of the usable resources in the games, resulting in an increase in the amount of data collected by tracking the in-game activities of players. This has opened the door for researchers to come up with novel methods to utilize this data to improve and personalize the user experience. In this paper, a novel but flexible framework towards building a team based recommender system for player-versus-player (PvP) content in such MMOGs is presented, and applied to a case study in the context of the major commercial title Destiny 2. The framework combines behavioral profiling via cluster analysis with recommendation systems to look at teams of players as a unit, as well as the individual players, to make recommendations to the players, with the purpose of providing information to them towards improving their performance.


The traditional food supply chain is arranged as a complex array of producers, handlers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. As the food supply chain grew in complexity over time, little emphasis was placed on reserving information regarding the origin of raw materials and their transformation, often by multiple handlers, into consumer ready products. This paper provides case illustrations of the implementation of information systems for support of traceability in Europe. Emphasis is on the firm level costs and benefits as well as the broader market structure and governance issues inherent in information economics of the firm.


This paper describes a method of calculating voltage distribution in a stator winding exposed to impulse voltage. In this method, the voltage distribution in an equivalent-circuit representation of the stator winding is calculated. The winding is treated as an infinite number of identical coils connected in series, with each coil represented by an equivalent circuit including inductance, turn-to-ground capacitance and conductance, and with mutual inductance, capacitance, and conductance between turns. The impulse voltage is approximated by a Fourier series of components. The voltage distribution for each component is calculated, and the complete voltage distribution is obtained by summing the voltages due to each component. The complete calculating procedure, including the calculation of the equivalent circuit parameters has bee programmed in Basic language for computer calculation. Examples of the coil and turn voltages distributions calculated by this program and a comparison of calculated data with test data for a particular stator winding are included.


We develop a credit-risk model to study the informational role of investment in bankruptcy. Firms' investment decisions carry information about their asset quality, thereby mitigating informational frictions when firms enter bankruptcy. An increase in aggregate investment can reduce the informational value of investment, depressing firms' recovery values. Therefore, policies boosting investment can decrease debt and firm values through reducing the informational value of investment. The presence of debt overhang may enhance firm value by making firms' investment decisions more informative. We present suggestive empirical evidence consistent with model predictions on the relation between firms' investment rates and recovery rates.


Research regarding chemical protective clothing (CPC) focuses on human comfort, clothing performance, and the heat strain associated with wearing protective materials. These studies are usually limited to one or two fabric/garment characteristics (e.g., garment weight, barrier permeability), and most of the research has been specific for certain tasks or garments. A systematic approach is needed in order to offer a comprehensive analysis on the performance of CPC and provide a technical basis for predicting comfort. This research measures the physical and thermal comfort related properties of CPC with available bench-scale methods and predicts the comfort level and heat strain based on the mechanical and physical properties of the material. Five articles of CPC and one fabric sample, with various chemical protective qualities, were evaluated with respect to mechanical and comfort related heat and moisture transfer properties. The results obtained were analyzed, and the physical burden and heat stress a human would experience when wearing these CPC fabrics were investigated. Comparisons and correlations between these properties and their contribution to clothing performance and human comfort are discussed. A full analysis of the physical and moisture related properties of the selected CPC fabrics is provided.


Summary 5-Fluorouracil-2-C14 (FU) and 5-fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine-2-C14 (FUDR) were administered to cancer patients by oral, intravenous, intramuscular, and intraperitoneal routes. The radioactivity in the plasma, respiratory CO2, and urine was measured, and fractionation of radioactive materials on ion-exchange columns into the unchanged drug and the various degradation products was carried out with urines and some acid-soluble extracts of plasma. The level of radioactivity in the plasma was higher for the first 2 hours after intravenous injections of FU-2-C14 and FUDR-2-C14 than after administration by any other route. The unchanged drugs persisted longer in urine after intravenous injections than after oral, intramuscular, or intraperitoneal administrations. The excretion of radioactivity as respiratory CO2 was least after the intravenous injection of FUDR. It was concluded, therefore, that intravenous administration of both drugs is the method of choice in the clinical use of these drugs. There was more degradation of FU injected as a continuous infusion than following rapid intravenous injection, and the opposite was true for FUDR. One patient, who tolerated large doses of FUDR without toxic manifestations, degraded the drug rapidly; whereas a second patient, who rapidly became toxic to FUDR, degraded the drug at a much slower rate. When the degradation of 3′,5′-diacetyl-5-fluoro-2′-deoxyrudine-2-C14 and FUDR-2-C14, both given orally to the same patient, was compared, it was found that 5′-monoacetyl-FUDR was present in the urine 24 hours after administration of the diacetyl compound, whereas no unchanged drug was found in the urine after administration of FUDR. After intravenous injections of FU-2-C14 and FUDR-2-C14, radioactivity was found in the cerebrospinal fluid. Fractionation of the radioactive compounds demonstrated the presence of unchanged drug in the cerebrospinal fluid.


More and more food businesses make competition tighter, so one of the strategies of entrepreneurs to maintain or develop their business is by paying attention to several factors that make their customers have a good loyalty towards the business, one of which is to have a good quality of service. This study aims to determine the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction in the Garut Bread Shop. In this study sample used 30 respondents consumer of Garut Bread Bloated and data collection was obtained through the distribution of online questionnaires via (Google Form) on consumers of Garut Bread Bloated. The data processing obtained is processed using a simple linear regression method with a causal quantitative approach. Statistical analysis was measured using the SPSS computer program version 20 of Windows. Based on the results of this study indicate that there is a positive and significant effect that service quality has an effect on customer satisfaction. Although the level of customer satisfaction is contained in several factors that are not analyzed in this study, but one of the indications that is influential in achieving customer satisfaction is a good level of service. So Roti Kembung Garut employees must be responsive in dealing with complaints from consumers so they do not feel disappointed and the loss of satisfaction with customers. Garut Bloated Bread is also expected to be able to maintain other facilities so that consumers feel satisfied and happy so that it will increase customer loyalty.


Routine pre-operative EEG studies as well as direct brain recording and stimulation carried out during operations were analysed for 59 patients subjected to a standard unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy for the treatment of epilepsy. All patients in the present series were 16 years old or older at the time of operation, which was invariably carried out under local scalp analgesia only. Electrophysiological findings was correlated with pathological changes noted in the resected temporal lobes, and with the effects of surgery upon seizure activity. Pre-operative EEG data correlated with each of four pathological categories when sphenoidal electrodes and intravenous barbiturate narcosis were emplyed. Thirty of 31 patients with mesial temporal sclerosis demonstrated medial temporal primary spike foci, frequently with independent contralateral and extratemporal secondary foci. In addition, one-third of these patients demonstrated unilateral focal decreased barbiturate-induced fast activity in the corresponding sphenoidal to ear channels. Twelve patients with other specific medial focal lesions (mostly hamartomas) also had medial temporal primary foci, often with independent contralateral secondaries but never with extratemporal foci. Two patients in this group also demonstrated focal decreased fast activity in the appropriate sphenoidal-ear channel. Both of these groups did very well post-operatively with respect to their epilepsy. Five patients with large temporal convexity cicatrices antedating seizures all demonstrated lateral temporal primary spike foci without independent secondary foci or focal decreased fast activity and did not do as well post-operatively as the first two groups. Eleven patients had only non-specific changes in the resected temporal lobe and in general did not benefit from surgery. Various combinations of primary and independent secondary spike foci were seen. Only this group demonstrated diffuse or bifrontal spikes during initial EEG recording, and basal mid-line spikes with intravenous thiopentone. Pecilar sharp notched spike were also very common in this group, but not unique to it. Focal decreases in barbiturate-induced fast activity were not noted.


In this paper we present the results from a qualitative study exploring people's opinions and reactions to the possibility of emotion-aware adaptive web user interfaces, those which will have the capability to read users' emotions and adapt accordingly. The purpose of this work is to improve understanding of how people envision such emotion-aware interfaces may be a part of their computing experience, and to explore any concerns that people have relating to this technology. We expect that such information will be helpful for directing the development of new emotion-aware adaptive web interfaces.


For-profit, post-secondary institutions significantly increased in numbers within the last two decades. In the United States, many for-profit colleges and universities offer distance-learning-based and self-paced-based academic and vocational programs from certificate to doctoral degree level to non-traditional, returning, evening and adult students who cannot enrol at one of the on-campus, day-time programs for traditionally-aged and full-time students. A large number of for-profit colleges and universities employ different strategies to maintain effective numbers of student enrolment and collect enough budget for financial health. This literature paper explains the overview of for-profit colleges and universities in the United States including donation and income sources, enrolment management, employment management and customer-oriented service with the question of how for-profit colleges and universities can survive in the current, rapidly changing environment containing many different competitors. The literature review also provides a brief section about how nursing programs at the for-profit colleges and universities continue their operation in the current financial and educational environment.


ABSTRACT The conduct of clinical trials is a complicated process involving a myriad of regulations and enforcement entities. To protect the rights and welfare of study participants, a system of oversight bodies called institutional review boards has been established in the US. This article describes how institutional review boards work and explains what clinical researchers need to know about federally mandated human subject protection requirements.


The general state of the problem of the radiation modification of the action of solid catalysts is discussed, in relation to various types of heterogeneous catalytic reactions, on the basis of 190 references.


Purpose: The objectives of this study are: (a) to examine the association between political budget and incumbents' regional head votes, (b) to examine the moderating effect of political competition in the association between political budget with incumbents' regional head votes.

Theoretical framework: This article examines whether social assistance budget is associated with incumbents' votes in Indonesia's local elections.

Design/methodology/approach: The samples are 212 regencies and cities in Indonesia that conducted local electionsin which the incumbent regents or mayors were taking part. Hypotheses are tested using moderated regression analysis (MRA).

Findings: The result found that social assistance budget directly affects the incumbent votes in the local elections.

Research, Practical & Social implications: This study which examines the effect of the political budget on incumbents' votes. Local elections cannot avoid candidates' rivalry, thus also examined its role when interacting with social assistance budgets.

Originality/value: Political competition occurs; its interaction with social assistance budgets negatively affects the incumbents' votes.


Recurrently drought, high food prices, conflict, and market distortions are some of the mutually reinforcing factors of vulnerability and instability affecting the building of sustainable development pathways in the world. In this regard, the linkages between Climate Change, Risk Reduction, and Sustainable Development are cross-cutting and complex. Through a situational analysis, the paper seeks a correlation between the observed impacts of climate change and disaster events on the development levels of a Sahelian Archipelagic Country —Cabo Verde —in recent decades (1970 to present). It seeks to demonstrate policymakers and civil society the crucial role of combined Disaster Risk Management (DRM) methodologies, National risk profile analysis, and Human Development Index (HDI) methodology and development policies as mutually supportive tools to build resilience. In its core components, the study seeks the understanding of emerging causes of risks by addressing resource gaps in the development of Caboverdian context-based DRR solutions and approaches to increase capacity to build Climate-Resilient Pathways in similar circumstances.


A composite transparent conductive substrate for photoelec. device (solar cell) comprises transparent base (made of glass, plastic or transparent polymer); high-cond. grid mesh (made of silver, stainless steel, iron-nickel alloy, etc.) formed on the transparent base via printing, electroplating, sputtering, etc.; and transparent conductive film (made of tin-doped indium oxide, fluorine-doped tin oxide, etc.) covering the transparent base and encasing the entire grid mesh. The inventive substrate has good corrosion resistance, reduced surface resistance, excellent cond., and wide application in dye-sensitized solar cell, silicon thin film solar cell, copper indium diselenide solar cell, compd. thin film solar cell and org. thin film solar cell. For dye-sensitized solar cell, the invention can simplify the manuf. process and improve the performance and stability. [on SciFinder(R)]


An improved assay for the simultaneous assessment of phagocytic uptake (via Immunobeads) and metabolic integrity (via nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) dye reduction) was used to evaluate the neutrophil function in neonates, one year olds, and adults. The unique advantage of this assay is that it offers greater standardization since the beads are commercially available with a known quantity of immunoglobulin bound to their surface which allows for considerably less variation than particles opsonized in vivo. Blood samples were collected from 20 full term healthy neonates, 20 healthy one year olds, and 20 healthy adults. The neutrophils were isolated, and phagocytic and killing function compared among the three groups. It was found that the neonates had a small but significant neutrophil dysfunction with respect to phagocytic and intracellular killing ability when compared to the one year olds and adults. Additionally, blood was collected and evaluated from five premature infants with varying degrees of stress. Their neutrophil dysfunction was much more pronounced. Although it was previously thought that full term healthy neonates have no demonstrable neutrophil dysfunction unless stressed in some manner, a subtle dysfunction was identified even in unstressed neonates. It was, however, found to be more pronounced if the neonate was either premature or stressed in some manner. It is hoped that this assay, through its greater sensitivity and ease of standardization, will uncover subtle neutrophil dysfunctions in various disease states that as yet remain undiagnosed. The clinical significance of such subtle neutrophil dysfunctions is not yet known.


This paper considers the problem of eco-driving for electric cars. This problem is formulated as an Optimal Control Problem (OCP) aiming at minimizing the vehicle's energy consumption over fixed time and distance horizons. The impact of battery parameter variations and auxiliary power demands on the optimal vehicle velocity computation are studied from a model complexity viewpoint. Simulation results are presented and discussed to illustrate the suggested simplifications.


Bitcoin is a potentially disruptive new crypto-currency based on a decentralized opensource protocol which is gradually gaining popularity. Perhaps the most important question that will affect Bitcoin's success, is whether or not it will be able to scale to support the high volume of transactions required from a global currency system. We investigate the restrictions on the rate of transaction processing in Bitcoin as a function of both the bandwidth available to nodes and the network delay, both of which lower the efficiency of Bitcoin's transaction processing. The security analysis done by Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto [12] assumes that block propagation delays are negligible compared to the time between blocks—an assumption that does not hold when the protocol is required to process transactions at high rates. We improve upon the original analysis and remove this assumption. Using our results, we are able to give bounds on the number of transactions per second the protocol can handle securely. Building on previously published measurements by Decker and Wattenhofer [5], we show these bounds are currently more restrictive by an order of magnitude than the bandwidth needed to stream all transactions. We additionally show how currently planned improvements to the protocol, namely the use of transaction hashes in blocks (instead of complete transaction records), will dramatically alleviate these restrictions. Finally, we present an easily implementable modification to the way Bitcoin constructs its main data structure, the blockchain, that immensely improves security from attackers, especially when the network operates at high rates. This improvement allows for further increases in the number of transactions processed per second. We show that with our proposed modification, significant speedups can be gained in confirmation time of transactions as well. The block generation rate can be securely increased to more than one block per second – a 600 fold speedup compared to today's rate, while still allowing the network to processes many transactions per second.


Asset bubbles and their subsequent bursts have been a part of capital markets since modern capital markets began to evolve some 300 years ago. Although each bubble environment has its own distinguishing characteristics, certain common elements persist over time as the key ingredients of market bubbles— financial innovation, the emotions and psychology of investors, and leverage. The author explores how these features present themselves in market bubbles and the ensuing market disruptions, and offers some suggestions for improving future risk management. Among the recommendations is a strong, yet flexible, oversight framework having the goal of identifying and containing areas of excessive economic risk.


We prove a theta relation analogous to the classical Poisson-Jacobi theta inversion formula and deduce two formulas for the associated zeta functions. The proof is based on determinations of the heat kernel on Z and on Z/mZ. The theta identity gives in particular an interesting formula for certain sums of Bessel functions.


Significance
 Discussion about Chinese development loans is unlikely, but the issue will be in the background given the controversy over China's growing Pacific role. Tongan Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva had proposed that indebted island states develop a collective approach to seeking debt relief from China at the forum but backtracked a few days later. While Australia remains the largest development partner to most Pacific Island states, concerns about indebtedness, and Chinese political leverage, have grown as island states feel the strains of repaying Chinese concessional loans.

 Impacts
 China's preference for bilateral aid and lending will outweigh any regional initiatives at developing a common approach.
 Vanuatu, Kiribati and the Solomons will likely graduate from Least Developed Country status by 2021, losing trade preferences.
 Loss of Least Developed Country status will increase island states' debt distress risks and vulnerability to economic shocks.
 China is unlikely to persuade Palau, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru to switch allegiances over recognising Taiwan.
 The PIF forum, attended by observers including the United Kingdom, will focus on security, climate change and good governance.


In recent years much attention has been paid by clinicians to suppurative lesions about the teeth as a source of systemic infections. Considerable statistical material has been accumulated, especially in England, showing the frequent clinical coincidence of pyorrhea alveolaris and apical abscesses with various constitutional disturbances, particularly acute and chronic rheumatism. The literature on this subject has been reviewed by Nodine.1 A recent communication by Gilmer and Moody2records the results of bacteriologic examinations of some forty dental abscesses. They found that, in a varied flora, the streptococci were the organisms most constantly present. So far as we know, these workers, together with Rosenow, whose paper accompanies theirs, are the only ones who have attacked this problem from a bacteriologic standpoint. Our own work was carried on in the clinics and laboratories of the University of Minnesota, with funds provided by the Research Commission and Scientific Foundation of


Occurrence of Scrobipalpa salinella (Zeller) was investigated on glasswort in Shinan, Jeonnam and Kimjae, Jeonbuk from 2010 to 2011. The occurrence of S. salinella observed four times in a year. Adult stages of S. salinella in two areas occurred from mid-April to late September. The peak times of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation adults of S. salinella was observed on early May, mid-June, late July (in Kimjae) to early August (in Shinan) and early September, respectively. And larval stages of S. salinella occurred from late May to late August. The peak times of development of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation larvae of S. salinella was observed on mid-June, mid-July and mid-August, respectively. However, the 4th generation larvae began to occur in mid-September but didn't damage in glasswort. Among the distances from the bank of glasswort field (3, 6, 9 m) and periods of damage (Jun. 16, Jul. 7, Aug. 12), larval density in 3 m distance from the bank in 1st damage season (Jun. 16) was high which resulted to severe damage. Damage of 2nd and 3rd generation larvae was progressed both density of larvae and levels of damage.


We examine the gravitational wave frequencies from neutron stars during thermal evolution, adopting the relativistic Cowling approximation. We particularly focus on the neutron star models, in which the direct Urca (rapid cooling process) does not work, without the superfluidity and superconductivity. For such models, the cooling curve hardly depends on the equation of state (EOS) as well as the mass of neutron star, while we show that the gravitational wave frequencies strongly depend on the both properties. Then, we find that the frequencies of the fundamental and the 1st pressure mode multiplied with the stellar mass are well expressed as a function of the stellar compactness almost independently of the EOS. We also find that the frequency of the 1st gravity mode in later phase of the thermal evolution is strongly correlated with the stellar compactness. In addition, we derive the empirical formula estimating the threshold mass for the onset of the direct Urca inside the neutron star as a function of the nuclear saturation parameter. This formula will give us a constraint on the neutron star properties, if it would be observationally found that the direct Urca occurs (or does not work) inside the neutron star.


Absorption of electrolytes and water from the human rectum was quantified by sequential sampling of physiological solutions instilled into the rectum and by the method of continuous intraluminal perfusion. The absorptive function of the rectum measured by the perfusion technique was also compared with that of the entire large intestine. The rectum did not absorb sodium, chloride, or water from isotonic solutions, even after 90 minutes of exposure. The remainder of the colon effectively absorbed sodium, chloride, and water at a rate of approximately 1% of the infused load per minute of contact between perfusates and mucosa.


Objective. There are several x-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning strategies used to reduce radiation dose, such as (1) sparse-view CT, (2) low-dose CT and (3) region-of-interest (ROI) CT (called interior tomography). To further reduce the dose, sparse-view and/or low-dose CT settings can be applied together with interior tomography. Interior tomography has various advantages in terms of reducing the number of detectors and decreasing the x-ray radiation dose. However, a large patient or a small field-of-view (FOV) detector can cause truncated projections, and then the reconstructed images suffer from severe cupping artifacts. In addition, although low-dose CT can reduce the radiation exposure dose, analytic reconstruction algorithms produce image noise. Recently, many researchers have utilized image-domain deep learning (DL) approaches to remove each artifact and demonstrated impressive performances, and the theory of deep convolutional framelets supports the reason for the performance improvement. Approach. In this paper, we found that it is difficult to solve coupled artifacts using an image-domain convolutional neural network (CNN) based on deep convolutional framelets. Significance. To address the coupled problem, we decouple it into two sub-problems: (i) image-domain noise reduction inside the truncated projection to solve low-dose CT problem and (ii) extrapolation of the projection outside the truncated projection to solve the ROI CT problem. The decoupled sub-problems are solved directly with a novel proposed end-to-end learning method using dual-domain CNNs. Main results. We demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the conventional image-domain DL methods, and a projection-domain CNN shows better performance than the image-domain CNNs commonly used by many researchers.


This article explores how refugee advocates, and refugees themselves, manage social hostility towards refugees and migrants through their talk, specifically how this hostility is managed through orientation to the category 'victim'. Case studies from the publicity materials of four advocacy organisations, as well as the 'internal' talk of their staff, volunteers and beneficiaries collected via Narrative Biographical Interviews, are analysed using discourse analytic methods, specifically Membership Categorisation Analysis. This allows insight into the differing aspects of the organisation's talk and allows analysis of how orientation to the victim category is distributed and managed across the 'dialogical network'. This discourse analytic approach, sensitive to how members of the 'dialogical network' make hostile and sympathetic voices relevant features of their local talk and manage categorisations of refugees in often tacit ways, highlights a pattern of category change, where a reworking of the dominant modes of refugee representation performed by the organisations in their publicity materials is achieved by their members and beneficiaries. The category work negotiated by advocate and refugee informants rearranges the components of the helping relationship, centring the experience, voice and strength of asylum seekers/refugees, and de-centres the objectives of the helping organisations – offering insights into new ways forward for refugee advocacy as a practice of solidarity beyond charity.


EDrrOR,-J Goodwin's editorial on the importance of clinical skills fails to offer any worthwhile evidence for the hypotheses proposed.' The author opines that only the "clinically inexperienced" depend on the Swan-Ganz catheter for measuring intracardiac pressures in critically ill patients, yet the author offers no evidence to support this "good example" of undue reliance on technology and ignores objective studies that show that clinical assessment of the haemodynamic status of critically ill patients is extremely unreliable.2 Having insulted those of us who use pulmonary artery catheterisation, Goodwin then accuses those of us who teach of allowing our clinical skills to wane by citing a "recent" (1988) story in a Sunday newspaper (fictitious) and two articles from a single issue of Annals of Internal Medicine in 1992 (both wrongly referenced),'4 which are of no relevance to medical training in Britain and do not show that doctors are less skilful now than they were in Goodwin's imaginary good old days. When Goodwin refers disparagingly to the use of computers in diagnosis I presume that this is an allusion to the development of artificial intelligence and expert systems. Those who develop such systems have done much research into the logical processes of expert clinicians and attempt to emulate them. This work serves to preserve and enhance rather than destroy the best clinical skills.' Goodwin's final unsubstantiated insult is to imply that those of us who use technology fail to talk to our patients. I agree that basic clinical skills must be preserved and taught, but if colleges are to draw up guidelines on clinical skills these must be based on balanced evidence of their practical utility and not on technophobic prejudices. Uncritical reliance on values obtained by machines can be dangerous, but uncritical reliance on clinical skills is no safer.


Introduction: Head trauma is the third leading cause of death and one of the most common causes of referral to the emergency department. Prognosis in these patients identifies individuals at higher risk and provides them with faster and more complete treatment, so it is of particular importance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic and predictive value of white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and coagulation tests in the outcome of patients with blunt head trauma. Methods: In this retrospective study, 91 patients referred to the emergency department of Imam Reza hospital of Tabriz, with a complaint of DAI type of blunt head trauma, were enrolled in a complete and sequential study during the first six months of the year 2017. The patientswere divided into two groups according to good or poor prognosis and their association with leukocytosis status and other paraclinical factors at the baseline. Results: The final outcome in high consciousness group was 13.3% need for intubation,26.7% need for surgery, 50% improvement without complications, and 10% mortality. In the low consciousness group, 16.7% required intubation, 20.0% required surgery, 10% had no complications, and 53.3% experienced mortality. The significance level of the chi-squaretest was 0.001. Independent t test results showed that the WBC and ESR values in the lowconsciousness group were significantly higher than the high consciousness group. But the international normalized ratio (INR) in the high consciousness group was significantly higher than the low consciousness group (P<0.05). Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between severity of injury and leukocytosis, ESRelevation, and related coagulopathy after major trauma.


(i) Creature Approach:—This is an unusual title for the section which in Chapter 1 indicates how problems should be approached, in Chapter 2 details some kinematic elements and in Chapter 3 analyses velocities and accelerations graphically by vector methods. (ii) Constant Velocity Ratio Mechanisms:—This deals with cycloids and involute curves and the main features of spur, helical, bevel, hypoid and worm gearing. The involute geometry for spur gear teeth is well covered. (Hi) Variable Velocity Ratio Mechanism:—This deals initially with displacement, velocity and acceleration vs time graphs leading to cam gears and non circular spur gear. Link mechanisms are dealt with in some detail. The illustrations are numerous and are excellent. The text is clear, but it suffers from American expressions which the British reader might find annoying and unnecessary—"techniques of ideation," "parametric influence," and "environment of the problem" are a few examples. Despite these criticisms the undergraduate will be interested in the book.—T. ALLAN.


The simulation of radar signal processing is an important part of the simulation of the radar system. This paper introduces a method of the simulation of radar signal processing based on Matlab, including the simulation of radar echo and clutter, and researches the simulation method of important technologies in the radar signal processing, including quadrature sampling, pulse compression, echo accumulation and CFAR detector. The work in this paper can overcome the disadvantages such as difficulty and lengthiness and show the convenience and simplicity of the simulation of radar signal processing based on MATLAB.


A 10-year-old girl was diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma; staging evaluation revealed a large mediastinal mass and normal peripheral blood and bone marrow morphology. Tumor cell immunologic marker analysis and Southern blot gene rearrangement studies demonstrated a T-cell lineage. She achieved a complete remission following multi-agent chemotherapy; however, 19 months following initial diagnosis while on maintenance therapy, she presented with typical acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The bone marrow was replaced by lymphoblasts, though the mediastinum was normal and there was no peripheral lymphadenopathy. Repeat immunophenotypic and genotypic studies demonstrated a precursor B-cell ALL lineage without expression of the T-cell surface antigens present on the original neoplasm. Repeat genotypic analysis showed immunoglobulin heavy and light chain gene rearrangements without the T-cell receptor gamma and beta gene rearrangements noted in the original lymphoblastic lymphoma. The complete alteration of lineage in these lymphoblastic processes suggests the de novo occurrence of a second neoplasm or, alternatively, an ALL relapse from a lineage-uncommitted neoplastic lymphoid progenitor cell.


This paper presents a multi-factor decision-making approach for prioritising criticality of failure modes as an alternative to traditional approach of failure mode effect and criticality analysis (FMECA). A review of the literature reveals that although a number of studies have been done on these issues, but none of them have explicitly studied the variations in expert's opinion (intra-personal uncertainty) and the variations in the understanding among experts (inter-personal uncertainty) together. To deal with this problem, this literature proposes a new fuzzy FMECA approach based on IT2 fuzzy sets, which has the ability to capture both intra-personal and inter-personal uncertainty. This approach introduces a more accurate representation of the aggregated data by presenting variations among the individual judgements into type-2 fuzzy numbers, allowing suitable weights for each risk factor by decision makers and thereby developing a flexibility for analysis. The proposed method is applied to evaluate the criticality of different failure modes of boiler tubes of a coal-fired thermal power plants. Interval type-2 fuzzy sets with signed distances, a multi criteria decision-making tool, is used to evaluate the criticalities of the different failure modes (alternatives) of the system.


Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating degenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of motor neurons in the motor cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord. Although defined as a motor disorder, ALS can arise concurrently with frontotemporal lobal dementia (FTLD). ALS begins focally but disseminates to cause paralysis and death. About 10% of ALS cases are caused by gene mutations, and more than 40 ALS-associated genes have been identified. While important questions about the biology of this disease remain unanswered, investigations of ALS genes have delineated pathogenic roles for (a) perturbations in protein stability and degradation, (b) altered homeostasis of critical RNA- and DNA-binding proteins, (c) impaired cytoskeleton function, and (d) non-neuronal cells as modifiers of the ALS phenotype. The rapidity of progress in ALS genetics and the subsequent acquisition of insights into the molecular biology of these genes provide grounds for optimism that meaningful therapies for ALS are attainable.


Many birds acquire carotenoid pigments from foods and deposit these pigments into feathers and bare-parts to become sexually attractive, but little work has been done on the interindividual and temporal variability in the types and amounts of carotenoids that free-ranging individuals have available for use in coloration or other functions (e.g., in immunomodulation). To address this issue, we studied intra-annual variation in plasma carotenoid profiles of juvenile and adult white-winged crossbills Loxia leucoptera of both sexes. Adult male crossbills exhibit bright red carotenoid-based plumage pigmentation, whereas females uniformly display drab yellow feather coloration and juvenile males only occasionally display some orange or pink color. Yellow xanthophylls (e.g., lutein, zeaxanthin) were predominant in plasma of birds from both sexes and age classes throughout the year. Plasma xanthophylls levels tended to be highest in the summer, when crossbills increase seed consumption for breeding as well as supplement their diet with insects. Blood accumulation of three other, less common plasma carotenoids-b-cryptoxanthin, rubixanthin, and gazaniaxanthin-varied in a highly season-, sex-, and age-dependent fashion. These carotenoids were virtually absent in juvenile or adult female plasma at all times of year and were only present in male plasma, at higher concentrations in adults than juveniles, during the period of feather growth (Sept.! Nov.). These pigments have been reported as valuable precursors of the metabolically derived red pigments (e.g., 3-hydroxy-echinenone, 4-oxo-rubixanthin, and 4-oxo-gazaniaxanthin, respectively) that appear in the plumage of male crossbills. These findings suggest that male crossbills either adopt a season-specific foraging strategy to acquire foods rich in these pigments at the time they are needed to develop red coloration, or have a unique physiological ability to metabolically produce these pigments or absorb them from food during molt, in order to maximize color production.


Cesarean section rates are increasing globally, mainly in developed countries. The World Health Organization stated that there is no justification to have cesarean section rates higher that 10-15%. Although it is necessary in some cases, but it also has high risks of complications for both woman and fetus. This study is a case-control study conducted on (151) women who had delivered in Babylon Maternity and Pediatrics Teaching Hospital during February 2019, and aims to determine its associated causes and risk factors. Participants aged (17-40) years with a mean age of (27.1 ± 5.9), 106 of them had a normal delivery, while 45 had a cesarean section. Older age was found to be significantly associated with cesarean section (P-value=0.006). Also, significant association was found between cesarean section and each of mother employment, parental education, diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, anemia, history of stillbirth, previous cesarean section, breech presentation, and twin pregnancy (P-value < 0.05).


Ribbing became an increasingly common feature of pentamerid shells, especially the family Stricklandiidae, during the later Llandovery (Early Silurian). The thin shells of stricklandiids from the Llandovery (Aeronian-Telychian) equatorial carbonate rampshelf of Anticosti Island reveal at least three ribbing designs in various genera; 1) radially arranged ribs, e.g., Costistricklandia; 2) divergent, chevron-like ribs, e.g., Ehlersella; and 3) diagonally criss-cross, mutually intersecting divaricate ribs, as in Kulumbella and Microcardinalia (Chiastodoca) new subgenus. Weakly divaricate species previously assigned to Kulumbella, Stricklandia or Microcardinalia from Anticosti Island, South China and the Baltic region, are assigned to the new subgenus Chiastodoca (type Stricklandinia salterii Billings, 1868), and they are suggested to have evolved their divaricate ribbing from smooth forms, independently from the earlier genus Kulumbella, in the same sense that radial or divergent ribbing was developed separately in a number of pentamerid and stricklandiid lineages in the late Llandovery and Wenlock. In Anticosti, the divaricate genus Kulumbella, originally described from Siberia, appeared, without a known ancestral form, in the Anticosti Basin (as K. xacta n.sp.), and became extinct equally suddenly in the upper part of the Gun River Formation (mid-Aeronian). This sudden arrival of immigrant taxa, originally appearing earlier in other areas, is matched in other brachiopod groups and corals in the Anticosti section. Weakly divaricate ribbing in Chiastodoca is characteristic of the early Telychian (Ferrum Member, Jupiter Formation), and radial ribbing is typical of the late Telychian genus Costistricklandia (Pavillon Member, Jupiter Formation).


We investigated the online monitoring of a 1.55-/spl mu/m amplitude-modulation vestigial-sideband CATV video transport system using a 1.65-/spl mu/m optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). The baseband video-picture distortion resulting from the stimulated Raman scattering interaction between the AM video signals and the OTDR pulses in the single-mode fiber link is observed and analyzed.


PURPOSE
Besides well-defined environmental causes, accumulating evidence suggests that respiratory tract infections play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Among these Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has been discussed as possibly inducing the development of asthma.

METHODS
This study was designed to investigate the presence of anti chlamydial IgG, IgA, and IgM antibodies by ELISA in serum samples of 60 adults with a clinical history of asthma and 100 healthy age and sex matched controls. All the samples positive for Chlamydial genus specific IgG antibodies were then subjected to Chlamydia pneumoniae species specific IgG antibody ELISA.

RESULTS
The IgG anti chlamydial antibody-positivity rate in the patients with bronchial asthma (80%) was significantly higher in all age groups than that in the healthy age and sex matched controls (59%). No significant association was observed for IgA and IgM anti chlamydial antibodies. C. pneumoniae species specific IgG antibody seroprevalence was also found to be significantly higher in all age groups in comparison to controls (61.66% vs 38%).

CONCLUSIONS
Serological evidence of chronic infection with C. pneumoniae was more frequent in patients with asthma compared with control subjects. Our results support the correlation of bronchial asthma and chronic infection with C. pneumoniae in Indian population.


INTRODUCTION
The dental care must be driven by preventive and curative measures that can contribute to the population's oral health promotion.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the impact of the actions proposed by a comprehensive dental care protocol (CDCP) on the oral health condition of primary care users.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The sample consisted of 32 volunteers, assisted throughout the six phases proposed by the CDCP: diagnosis of dental needs; resolution of urgencies; restorative interventions; application of promotional measures; evaluation of the achieved health level; and periodic controls. Data were collected through clinical exams, which measured the simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S), gingival bleeding index (GBI) and the decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) Index, before and after the CDCP was implemented. Statistical analysis consisted of the Wilcoxon test, at 5% significance level (α = 0.05).

RESULTS
The OHI-S and GBI indices showed a significant reduction (p < 0.05) from the initial (1.4 ± 0.6 and 46.3 ± 19.9) to final condition (0.9 ± 0.3 and 21.5 ± 7.5). The decayed, missing and filled teeth and the missing teeth component were not significantly altered (p > 0.05), showing final values equal to 12.7 ± 9.6 and 5.6 ± 7.8, respectively. Decayed elements were fully converted into filled elements, and the final values of the decayed and filled elements were, respectively, 0.0 ± 0.0 and 7.3 ± 5.7 (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The enactment of the CDCP had a beneficial effect on the oral health of the population assisted by the dental services offered in primary care and this protocol seems to ft the public dental service demands.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The CDCP can be useful to public dental service planning since it showed an efficient clinical outcome to the patients. We consider that this protocol should be employed in primary care oral health services in order to achieve overall upgrade, access enlargement and public oral health promotion.