Background: Surgical-site infection(SSI) is a major problem worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity, increase length of hospital stay and cost. Objective: To determine incidence and risk factors for surgical-site infections after orthopaedic operations. Methods: Five months prospective surveillance of surgicalsite infections was conducted at NKST Rehabilitation Hospital ,Mkar from 1st June 2010 to 30th October 2010. All the patients who underwent orthopaedic operation were evaluated. Patients who had completed cast(POP) application postoperatively were excluded from the study(inspection of woundcould not be possible). Wounds were inspected and scored five times within 14 days by the authors using scoring method designed by Wilson et al. Results: A total of one hundred and twenty eight orthopaedic operations were performed in our centre. Seventy nine patients(61.7%) were male and 49(38.3%) female . The age of patients ranged from 4 to 80years with mean age of 34.7years. Eighty one(63.3%) of the wound were classified as clean, 17(13.3%) as contaminated and 23(23.4%)as dirty. Sixty eight (53.1%) cases showed satisfactory healing, 26(20.3%) had disturbance of healing and 15 (11.7%), 12(9.4%) and 7(5.5%) had minor, moderate and severe wound infection respectively. The incidence of surgical site infections in clean cases was 3.4%, 55.6% in contaminated cases and 70% when the wound was classified as dirty. The overall incidence rate of surgical site infections was 24.3%. Conclusion: surgical-site infection is a major problem in orthopaedics operations. Prevention of surgical-site infection should be emphasized and intervention methods should aim at modifying the risk factors. Keywords : Surgical-site, infection, orthopaedic operations.


This article discusses the potentially harmful practice of utilizing the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as the only tool when diagnosing minority clients with a mental illness. Issues addressed include diagnosing, accuracy, cultural information, revision process, clinical judgment, training, and empirical evidence. A brief discussion of what social workers can do to enhance diagnosing is given, as well as looking at the DSM-5. Finally, a brief summary and recommendations for practitioners, schools of social work, and researchers are provided.


I explore the relationships between hate group activity, community factors, and the likelihood of hate crime occurrence within a county area. I integrate considerations raised by Routine Activity and Social Control theorists as well as current hate crime literature to frame my concept of the hate manager, an agent of social control that utilizes hate crimes as a means of enacting extralegal selfhelp for hate groups. I explore the relationship between hate managers and hate crime by testing a model relating hate group activity and hate crime occurrences by location. Next, I correlate hate crime occurrences with hate group activity at the county level for the state of Virginia using public data. I find that a hate group's presence holds greater predictive power than nearly any other factor for hate crime likelihood. My findings illustrate the nature of hate crime as a means of social control; whereby hate groups act as a parochial order and maintain hierarchical relations between offenders and victims through means of disciplinary crimes. I conclude by outlining suggestions for future research into the role of the hate manager. Hate Managers and Where They Target: An Analysis of Hate Crime as Hate Group SelfHelp


The primary objective of the Beyond Einstein Advanced Coherent Optical Network (BEACON) mission is a search for new physics beyond general relativity by measuring the curvature of relativistic space-time around Earth. This curvature is characterized by the Eddington parameter \gamma -- the most fundamental relativistic gravity parameter and a direct measure for the presence of new physical interactions. BEACON will achieve an accuracy of 1 x 10^{-9} in measuring the parameter \gamma, thereby going a factor of 30,000 beyond the present best result involving the Cassini spacecraft. Secondary mission objectives include: (i) a direct measurement of the "frame-dragging" and geodetic precessions in the Earth's rotational gravitomagnetic field, to 0.05% and 0.03% accuracy correspondingly, (ii) first measurement of gravity's non-linear effects on light and corresponding 2nd order spatial metric's effects to 0.01% accuracy. BEACON will lead to robust advances in tests of fundamental physics -- this mission could discover a violation or extension of general relativity and/or reveal the presence of an additional long range interaction in physics. BEACON will provide crucial information to separate modern scalar-tensor theories of gravity from general relativity, probe possible ways for gravity quantization, and test modern theories of cosmological evolution.


To solve the HIP lack of movement in the region, a method to support micro-mobility of MIP is applied to the HIP. HIP makes any original RVS (Rendezvous Server) is divided into three layers, improved the HIP mobility management. This mechanism can not only solve the MN moves in different regions of management, but also than the original HIP protocol has an advantage. Performance analysis shows that not only can reduce the signaling overhead, and can support micro-mobility.


This paper explored the impact of the Transforming Tanzania Charcoal Sector Project (TTCSP), on the sustainability of Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) in Kilosa District, using the Ihombwe CBFM as a case study. The study used a qualitative research design. A sample of 47 participants was used to collect data. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select participants. Data were collected through document reviews, in-depth interviews, focused group discussions and observation. Thematic analysis was used in data analysis. The findings showed that the project has implemented several activities such as capacity building to village institutions, supporting the village land use plan, village resources assessment, and forest harvest plans, training charcoal producers and timber processing groups on modern techniques. Moreover, the Project supported the construction and furnishing of the village office and the development of village by-laws. Furthermore, the Project has strengthened the operationalization CBFM as well as the introduction of a sustainable forest harvest management model. The Ihombwe CBFM has been formalized and made able to generate significant income from forest products such as charcoal and timber. After all these initiatives, deforestation was perceived to decrease thus, ensuring the sustainability of the community forest.


Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is a drug widely used in the treatment of various rheumatic and dermatological diseases. it has been shown to improve survival in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), being one of the 4 drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of this disease. However, HCQ has been associated with irreversible visual loss due to retinal toxicity. Retinal toxicity is more prevalent than previously thought, reaching 7.5% in patients with more than 5 years of treatment with HCQ and up to 20% after 20 years, when more sensitive methods are used for screening. Risk factors for ocular toxicity are daily dose, especially in relation to body weight, duration of HCQ use, cumulative dose, concomitant use of tamoxifen and the presence of previous macular alterations. Once retinopathy is definitely installed, changes are usually irreversible even after treatment with HCQ is discontinued. Consequently, periodic screening is recommended in order to detect changes early before macular alteration. Traditional evaluation with fundus examination or color vision testing are not recommended as screening methods anymore because they don't recognize early stages of retinopathy. instead, techniques such as automated visual fields and SD-OTC are recommended and should be performed annually, beginning after 5 years of HCQ use, in the absence of risk factors. The only effective treatment of this complication is definite suspension of HCQ use.


[Full text of the Introduction follows. Link to PDF below] In 2014 Canada is still awkwardly bound by its nineteenth century origins. The geographic and demographic character of the provinces—and the constitutional division of powers—were established before motorized ground travel was common, before mass air travel was dreamt of, and long before the Internet lifted some of the psychological constraints of distance and locality. Transportation infrastructure channels our travels east and west. When Canadian history is diachronically taught it is very frequently recounted as the story of European exploration and sett lement from east to west. There are many consequences of this "latitudinal" perspective, the most serious of which is that it distorts understanding by ignoring the many histories of the civilizations that were here before Europeans arrived— including those to whom the circumpolar Arctic is home. A second distorting eff ect of the nineteenth century origin is the extent to which Canada's current situation as an important power in the circumpolar basin is invisible to Canadian citizens. Our long Arctic coastline, second in size only to that of Russia, and our strategic position for Atlantic-Pacifi c and North America-Russia shipping—not to mention our world-changing innovations in democratic governance in the northern territories—are rarely integrated in public discussions about fundamental political and economic decisions. Within the country, Canadians look east and west, not north. Beyond our borders, they look south (though litt le neck-stretching is required to see the constantly communicating colossus on our southern perimeter), east to Europe, or west to the trading partners of Asia. It is tempting to consider that these psychological dispositions account for the extent to which the northern dimension of Canadian foreign policy remains an appendix to the country's main business abroad. With this special issue of the Northern Review, we off er some countervailing perspectives. Authors from a variety of disciplines and several countries consider one important aspect of circumpolar politics—relations among Canada, the European Union (EU), some of the EU countries, and some neighbouring states such as Russia. Two contributors, Terry Fenge and Jennifer Spence, focus on the Arctic Council. Fenge provides a close analysis of the recent history of the Arctic Council, with an eye to how Canada, occupying the Council's chair until 2015, will respond to key challenges. Spence lifts the lid on an often-ignored feature of circumpolar aff airs: how the internal organization of a participating state (in this case, Canada) aff ects its foreign policy and approach to a particular international organization. Cecile Pelaudeix and Thierry Rodon take up similar themes in their comparison of eff orts by the European Union, Germany, and France to develop coherent Arctic policies in the context of growing regional complexity and other national priorities. Richard Powell explores the complex interplay of United Kingdom and Scotland political goals with respect to EU membership and Scott ish independence, as these are refracted in discussions of Arctic policy and approaches to Arctic environmental and other challenges. Russian goals in the Arctic and the charged relations between Russia and the EU are the focus of Pami Aalto's analysis, which concludes that sovereignty and great power management issues constrain opportunities for co-operation on trade and environmental stewardship. Heather Nicol draws att ention to the original sovereign peoples of the circumpolar region, considering how evolving contemporary understandings of Arctic sovereignty may aff ect the non-state actors—Indigenous governments and organizations—in the region. This special issue of the Northern Review also includes a review by Victor Sauntry of Whitney Lackenbauer's long awaited history of the Canadian Rangers, a study that fills in an important "northern dimension" to Canadian defence policy. Three other important books relevant to our theme have been published recently: Ken S. Coates, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, William Morrison, and Greg Poelzer, Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North (Thomas Allen, 2010); Franklyn Griffi  ths, Rob Huebert, and P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Canada and the Changing Arctic: Sovereignty, Security, and Stewardship (Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2011); and Richard Powell and Klaus Dodds, Polar Geopolitcs? Knowledges, Resources and Legal Regimes (Edward Elgar, 2014). Many of the articles in this collection had their origin in a September 2011 conference organized by the Centre for European Studies (EU Centre of Excellence) at Carleton University, on "The European Union, Canada, and the Arctic: International Policy on the Arctic." While that conference was funded with the assistance of the European Union, the contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the European Union.


The implementation of UAS is bringing easiness and time saving activities into the currently construction site task. In the construction industry, diverse and relevant benefits of the technology have been identified through the project life cycle, such as monitoring project progress report, faster and low-cost land measurements and 3D modelling. Currently, the most valuable benefits of the UAS in the construction industry are related to automation the construction process, low cost, greater speed and safer real-time data collection compare with the traditional methods, and a reliable replacement over satellites and manned vehicles in terms of high-resolution images. However, there is a lack of exemplification and clarity of the actual implementation of the UAS in the construction industry in terms of adoption process and impacted usage. Therefore, a systematic literature review was carried out in order to explore the literature available of the topic related to implementation of unmanned aerial system in the construction industry, the most relevant tasks, cases, areas of usage and the reasons of applying it. The finding of this paper is providing exemplification models of current usage such as visualisation and disaster management, evolution map of the UAS according to the publication numbers and construction project stages when to use the UAS.


Abstract Precise control of blood clotting and rapid reversal of anticoagulation are essential in many clinical situations. We were successful in modifying a thrombin‐binding aptamer with a red‐light photocleavable linker derived from Cy7 by Cu‐catalyzed Click chemistry. We were able to show that we can successfully deactivate the modified aptamer with red light (660 nm) even in human blood—restoring the blood's natural coagulation capability.


This study developed a traffic sign detection and recognition algorithm based on the RetinaNet. Two main aspects were revised to improve the detection of traffic signs: image cropping to address the issue of large image and small traffic signs; and using more anchors with various scales to detect traffic signs with different sizes and shapes. The proposed algorithm was trained and tested in a series of autonomous driving front-view images in a virtual simulation environment. Results show that the algorithm performed extremely well under good illumination and weather conditions. Its drawbacks are that it sometimes failed to detect object under bad weather conditions like snow and failed to distinguish speed limits signs with different limit values.


Caudal anesthesia has been used on a daily basis for two years in the Department of Anesthesia of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital. A retrospective study on 231 children was done to specify the procedures, the indication and the dosage of local anesthetics.


Exploring effects of topology in condensed matter systems [1] has led to the discovery of fundamentally new quantum phases and phenomena [2], including the spin Hall effect [3], protected transport of helical fermions [4], topological superconductivity [5], and large nonlinear optical response [6,7]. So far, focus has been on weakly interacting systems, but it is clear that the interplay of strong correlations and topology has many further surprises in store [8,9]. Heavy fermion systems are a highly versatile platform to reveal them [10,11]. Here we report the discovery of a giant spontaneous Hall effect in the noncentrosymmetric Kondo semimetal Ce$_3$Bi$_4$Pd$_3$ (ref 10), under preserved time reversal symmetry (TRS). We attribute it to Weyl nodes - singularities of the Berry curvature - Kondo-driven to the immediate vicinity of the Fermi level. We stress that this phenomenon is distinct from the previously detected anomalous Hall response in systems with broken TRS [12-15] and that its characteristics require a description beyond the nonlinear quantum Hall effect [16]. The astonishingly large magnitude of the effect in even tiny electric and zero magnetic fields, as well as its robust bulk nature may aid the exploitation in topological quantum devices.


Electronic states of Ni and Ce in the heavy fermion (Ce1-XGdX)Ni system were studied employing magnetic properties. The samples (x = 0.15 and 0.20) showed clear magnetic order, however, the magnetizations in x = 0.15 and 0.20 unexpectedly decreased rapidly with the increase of temperature. The Curie temperatures were clearly determined by the Arrott-plot and the values were 11 K and 17 K, respectively for x = 0.15 and 0.20. The inverse susceptibilities were not linear and showed the characteristic curves for ferri-magnetism. This behaviour suggests that the Ni and/or Ce may be magnetic elements in x = 0.15 and 0.20. Based on the above-mentioned results, molecular-field analysis was carried out within the localized picture and it was found that the Gd-Gd exchange interaction was strongly suppressed and this suppression reflected the rapid decrease of magnetization.


We present measurements of the x-ray focusing properties of square-pore microchannel plates (MCP's). Square-pore MCP's contain large numbers of closely packed optical surfaces, as required for grazing incidence x-ray optics. The surface of individual MCP channels has been measured and found to have high microroughness transverse to the channel axis and low microroughness parallel to the axis. The high frequency transverse roughness, on length scales greater than 400 nm, has a rms value of 5.9 nm and a Gaussian autocorrelation function with correlation length of 1.41 microm. We find that the geometric misalignments of the surfaces of different channels limit the angular resolution obtainable with current samples of MCP's to 7.1 arcmin.


Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic carcinomas generally confers a more aggressive clinical behavior and less favorable prognosis than usual prostatic carcinomas. In this manuscript, we report a case of a 58-year-old man with prostatic carcinoma who died 1 year after initial diagnosis. Autopsy showed a disseminated prostatic carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation. There were metastasis to the spleen, an organ infrequently involved by disseminated epithelial neoplasms. Neuroendocrine differentiation was demonstrated by immunohistochemical studies in the biopsy and autopsy material.


T2D is a heterogeneous disease. Individuals in the Swedish All New Diabetics in Scania (ANDIS) cohort with newly diagnosed T2D were grouped by 6 demographic and clinical variables to show 4 distinct T2D subtypes with differential risk for nephropathy and retinopathy. We tested the predictive validity of this clustering system for patients with advanced T2D in DEVOTE (a large, global, randomized, double-blind, cardiovascular outcomes trial; median observation time: 1.99 years) for major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE)-free survival, severe hypoglycemia (SH)-free survival, and overall survival rates. Subjects (N=7637, mean age=65.0 years, mean T2D duration=16.4 years, mean glycated hemoglobin [A1C]=8.43%) were assigned to a cluster for which they had the smallest Euclidean distance to the cluster center based on available baseline variables: A1C, BMI, age, age at diagnosis. Insulin resistance and sensitivity measures were not available. The 4 DEVOTE clusters showed baseline characteristics consistent with the original ANDIS clusters, with significant differences in MACE-incidence and SH-incidence (Table). The results were confirmed using data from the LEADER trial (data not shown). The study suggests that clusters derived from early T2D can be replicated in long-standing T2D. Future work should characterize differences in treatment response across clusters to improve outcomes across the heterogeneous T2D population. Disclosure A.R. Kahkoska: None. E. Hachmann-Nielsen: Employee; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. K. Klein: None. K.G. Kongsbak: Employee; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. K. Kvist: Employee; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. J.B. Buse: Consultant; Self; Neurimmune AG. Research Support; Self; AstraZeneca, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, vTv Therapeutics. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Mellitus Health, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Stability Health. Other Relationship; Self; ADOCIA, AstraZeneca, Dance Biopharm Holdings Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, MannKind Corporation, NovaTarg, Novo Nordisk A/S, Senseonics, vTv Therapeutics, Zafgen, Inc. Funding Novo Nordisk


ORETO, G., et al.: Modulated Parasystole Complicating Permanent Ventricular Pacing: The Different Influence of Spontaneous and Paced Impulses Upon the Parasystolic Rhythm A case of modulated ventricular parasystole observed in a patient with a VVIM pacemaker is reported. Analysis reveals that the electrotonic influence (modulation) effected upon the parasysiolic focus hy the sinus impulses is different from that exerted by the paced impulses. Furthermore, fusion beats reflect an intermediate modulating effect according to the prevalence of the sinus or the paced wavefront.


The acquisition of the dynamic balance between excitation and inhibition in developing Purkinje cells, necessary for their proper function, is analyzed. Newborn (P0) mouse cerebellum contains glutamatergic (VGLUT2‐IR) and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐ergic (VIAAT‐IR) axons. The former prevail and belong to climbing fibers, whereas the latter neither colabel with calbindin‐expressing fibers nor belong to axons of the cortical GABAergic interneurons. During the first postnatal week, VIAAT‐IR axons in the Purkinje cell neighborhood remains very low, and the first synapses with basket fibers are formed at P7, when climbing fibers have already established dense pericellular nets. The descending basket fibers reach the Purkinje cell axon initial segment by P9, immediately establishing axoaxonic synapses. The pinceaux appear as primitive vortex‐like arrangements by P12, and by P20 interbasket fiber septate‐like junctions, typical of fully mature pinceaux, are still missing. The climbing fiber's somatodendritic translocation occurs later than expected, after the regression of the multiple innervation, and follows the ascending collaterals of the basket axons, which are apparently the optimal substrate for the proper subcellular targeting of the climbing fibers. These results emphasize that chemical transmission in the axon initial segment precedes the electrical inhibition generated by field effects. In addition, GABAergic Purkinje cells, as opposed to glutamatergic projection neurons in other cortical structures, do not begin to receive their excitation to inhibition balance until the end of the first postnatal week, despite the early presence of potentially functional GABAergic axons that possess the required vesicular transport system. J. Comp. Neurol. 506:240–262, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Ergonomically unsuitable school furniture is frequently considered one of the major causes of severe posture problems in adulthood. This study was designed to determine the ergonomic suitability of educational furniture in the lecture theaters at the University of Ibadan to serve as a case study. Sample of convenience was used to select participants for this study. The lecture theaters were selected based on their capacity, design, and dimension. A total of 240 students (120 males and 120 females) participated in this study. The ergonomic suitability of lecture theaters was determined by analyzing the mismatches between student anthropometric dimensions and furniture dimensions, and also by analyzing the design and orientation of the lecture theaters. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, range, and median. The results showed that there was a significant difference in height between males and females but no significant difference between other anthropometric variables measured. About 20% of the participants had a fitting seat height, while seat height was unsuitable for the remaining 80.4%. On the other hand, 23.3% had a fitting seat depth, while it was unsuitable for 76.7% of the participants, and 99.6% of the participants had fitting desk clearance but 0.4% found it unsuitable. A total of 25.8% of the participants had a fitting desk height, while 74.2% of the students found it unsuitable. It was concluded that the furniture in the lecture theaters at the university studied was not ergonomically suitable for the students. Hence it is recommended that further studies, including more universities across a wide spectrum of society, should be performed to determine the effect of furniture on student health, and the need to adopt the use of adjustable furniture in lecture theaters to prevent health hazards that may occur secondary to the use of unsuitable furniture.


Cell fate transitions are accompanied by global transcriptional, epigenetic and topological changes driven by transcription factors (TFs), as is strikingly exemplified in somatic cell reprogramming to pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) by OCT4, KLF4, SOX2 and cMYC. How TFs orchestrate the complex molecular changes around their targets in a temporal manner remains largely elusive. Here, using KLF4 as a paradigm, we provide the first TF-centric view of chromatin reorganization during reprogramming and its association to enhancer rewiring and gene regulation. We captured the enhancer connectomes in fibroblasts and PSCs by H3K27ac HiChIP and identified complex 3D enhancer hubs that were strongly correlated with cell-type specific gene expression and coregulation. KLF4-centric conformational analysis at different reprogramming stages revealed that KLF4 is involved in the dissociation of fibroblast-specific and the establishment of PSC-specific enhancer loops concomitantly with repression or activation of linked genes. Moreover, KLF4 occupancy was significantly enriched within highly connected enhancers, suggesting a role in the formation and regulation of complex enhancer hubs. Indeed, disruption of a single KLF4 binding site from a PSC-specific enhancer was sufficient to reduce expression of multiple genes within the enhancer hub, partly by impairing long-range contact. Our study provides an integrative view of the intricate activities of a master regulator during a controlled cell fate transition and offers novel insights into the order and nature of molecular events that follow TF binding.


Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease. High-throughput molecular profiling techniques have to date rarely been applied to MBC and the few available studies report small sample sizes; there is hence a paucity of knowledge of the disease at the molecular level. The aim of this study was to characterize 66 clinicopathologically well-annotated fresh frozen MBC tumors by gene expression profiling using Illumina9s HumanHT-12 arrays and to compare them with female breast cancer (FBC). Two stable clusters were detected, luminal M1 (70%) and luminal M2 (30%), respectively; additional subgroups may exist, but the limited sample size prevented further subgroupings. Seven gene expression (GEX) modules associated with key biological processes in FBC (tumor invasion and metastasis, immune response, angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation, and ER and HER2 signaling, respectively) were used to discover biologically meaningful differences between the two subgroups found in MBC, and to compare them with the intrinsic subgroups of FBC. The luminal M1 tumors were more highly correlated to the tumor invasion and metastasis, proliferation and HER2 modules. Furthermore, patients whose tumors were highly correlated to the tumor invasion and metastasis module had a significantly worse distant metastasis free survival (p=0.02). Genes involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), e.g. SLUG, were included in the tumor invasion and metastasis module, and the expression of SLUG was significantly higher in the luminal M1 tumors compared to luminal M2 tumors (p=7x10-5). The majority of MBC tumors in the present study were ER positive by immunohistochemistry, a well-known feature of MBC. Despite this, luminal M1 tumors displayed a significantly lower correlation to the ER signaling module, as well as a more aggressive phenotype and worse prognosis compared luminal M2 tumors. Interestingly, SLUG expression is associated with the basal subtype of FBC. When the MBC subgroups described herein were compared with the intrinsic subgroups of FBC, they differed substantially. Taking this into consideration, combined with the inferior outcome of MBC patients, these findings clearly indicate the requirement to better understand the pathobiology of MBC, and the need to stratify patients based on tumor characteristics, as well as the potential need for alternative treatment strategies for these patients. To summarize, we have revealed two transcriptional subgroups of MBC with different tumor biological features of potential clinical relevance, and also show that MBC differs from FBC. This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Cancer Society, the G Nilsson Cancer Foundation, the Mrs. B Kamprad Foundation, and the Lund University Hospital Research Foundation. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-95. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-LB-95


A professional family is an organizational form of institutional care which is used mainly in residential children's homes . By considering the psychological development of the child and by providing a supportive environment, the professional family provides systematic, purposeful and professional care and education for the child . It attempts to respect age differences and developmental disorders in the child . The professional family provides this care and education continually for a specific period of time. The process of forming a relationship between the parents and the children being cared for is very problematic. There is a significant lack of clarity and many problems exist in this field and to make it worse the status of the professional parents, mainly the professional mother are not clearly defined. We attempted to define this status through qualitative research using the theory of object relations by Donald Wood Winnicott .


Retail food price inflation in the UK peaked at nearly 14% in the summer of 2008, a level much higher than had been seen in the previous 10 years and, since then, food price inflation has continued to lead general inflation. An obvious factor driving domestic retail food prices is world
commodity prices, but other factors matter too. In this paper, we model UK food price inflation and explore a range of potential drivers including world food prices, exchange rates, manufacturing costs, oil prices and wages. Over the
period 1990-2010, we show that the major drivers of UK food price inflation are world raw food prices and the exchange rate; less important are manufacturing costs, unemployment and earnings. Oil prices matter too but indirectly via their effect on world agricultural commodity prices. We also show that the effect on domestic retail food price inflation depends on the duration of the shocks arising on world commodity markets.


Lung cancer is the leading cause of death among male in the world. PET/CT is useful for the detection of early lung cancer since it is an imaging technique that has functional and anatomical information. However, radiologist has to examine using the large number of images. Therefore reduction of radiologist's load is strongly desired. In this study, hybrid CAD scheme has been proposed to detect lung nodule in PET/CT images. Proposed method detects the lung nodule from both CT and PET images. As for the detection in CT images, solitary nodules are detected using Cylindrical Filter that we developed. PET images are binarized based on standard uptake value (SUV); highly uptake regions are detected. FP reduction is performed using seven characteristic features and Support Vector Machine. Finally by integrating these results, candidate regions are obtained. In the experiment, we evaluated proposed method using 50 cases of PET/CT images obtained for the cancer-screening program. We evaluated true-positive fraction (TPF) and the number of false positives / case (FPs/case). As a result, TPFs for CT and PET were 0.67 and 0.38, respectively. By integrating the both results, TPF was improved to 0.80. These results indicate that our method may be useful for the lung cancer detection using PET/CT images.


The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) can include two soft breaking terms which are often neglected: a non-analytic scalar trilinear coupling and a Higgsino bilinear term. A set of high-scale boundary conditions consistent with the reparameterisation invariance which the model possesses is obtained. The three-family renormalisation group equations for the MSSM with these terms are presented. The ranges of the universal high-scale values of these couplings which lead to an acceptable TeV-scale theory are obtained, as is the supersymmetric particle spectrum at this scale. The effect of the new terms on fine-tuning is presented. SOFTSUSY, an existing program for calculating SUSY particle spectra, has been used, with as few modifications as possible.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the inhibitory effect of Sidaxue (SX), a traditional Guizhou Miao herbal medicine formula, on necrotic apoptosis and synovial angiogenesis in rats with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and the role of the RIPK1/RIPK3/MLKL pathway in mediating this effect.

METHODS
Forty-two SD rats were randomized into 6 groups (n=7), including a normal control group, a CIA model group, 3 SX treatment groups at low (10 g/kg), moderate (20 g/kg) and high (40 g/kg) doses, and a GTW treatment group. CIA rat models were established by subcutaneous injections of bovine type II collagen, and the treatments were administered daily by gavage for 21 days. The rats were observed for swelling of the hind limb joints, which was rated using the arthritis index (AI) score on a weekly basis. Serum levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-17 in the rats were detected using ELISA, and the pathological changes in the synovium were observed with HE staining. Real-time PCR was performed to detect the mRNA expression levels of VEGF, MMP-9, Ang-1, RIPK1, RIPK3, and caspase-8 in the synovial tissues, and the protein expressions of VEGF, MMP9, Ang-1, Stat-3, RIPK1, RIPK3, MLKLl, p-MLKL and caspase-8 were detected using Western blotting.

RESULTS
Compared with those in CIA model group, the rats receiving treatment with GTW and SX showed milder swelling of the hind limb joints with significantly lower AI scores (P < 0.05). In CIA model group, a large number of inflammatory cells were observed in the synovium with obvious damages of the tissue structure. In the drug treatment groups, inflammatory cell infiltration, synovial angiogenesis and synovial hyperplasia were alleviated, and the therapeutic effects were obviously enhanced as SX dose increased. Compared with those in the model group, the rats treated with GTW and high-dose SX showed significantly decreased serum levels of IL-1β, IL-17 and TNF-α (P < 0.05), lower mRNA and protein expressions of RIPK1, RIPK3, VEGF, Ang-1, and MMP9 (P < 0.05), higher expressions of caspase-8 (P < 0.01), and obviously lowered expression of Stat-3 protein and phosphorylation level of MLKL (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
SX can improve synovial angiogenesis in CIA rats possibly by inhibiting the activation of RIP1/RIP3/MLKL signaling pathway and down-regulating the expression of the vascular growth factors VEGF, Ang-1, MMP9, and Stat-3.


Selective formation of positional isomers and accordingly tuning the physicochemical properties of small conjugated organic molecules through structural isomers is an effective crystal engineering for a fascinating successful delivery of thermally stable and photophysically exciting compounds. By small structural skeleton changes, the single crystal of the naphthalenemaleonitrile isomers is found to exhibit a drastic change in crystal packing array, which in turn is found to tune the thermal and physicochemical properties. The α-isomer (A) forms the "herringbone packing" (HP) due to peri-interaction-sensitive C–H···(Ar)π (Ar = naphthalene ring) interactions, and the β-isomer (B) forms the "bricklayer packing" (BP) due to π(C≡N)···π(Ar) stacking interactions. These two positional isomers have revealed insight of molecular packing-dependent structure–property relationship. In this report, we show that a simple modification of relatively less common weak interactions, such as C–H···π(Ar) ↔ π(C≡N)···π(Ar), through the preparation of isomers, can lead to a drastic change in crystal packing (HP ↔ BP). Also, this report demonstrates that by a small structural diversity, one can obtain significant changes in the physicochemical properties like melting behavior, enthalpy, entropy, and electrical properties in the solid state. Therefore, it transpires from this study that structural isomer provides a useful complement to intermolecular nonbonding interactions as a tool to design new promising materials.


Background: Rodent models of neurological disease such as stroke are often characterized by motor deficits. One of the tests that are used to assess these motor deficits is the tapered beam test, which provides a sensitive measure of bilateral motor function based on foot faults (slips) made by a rodent traversing a gradually narrowing beam. However, manual frame-by-frame scoring of video recordings is necessary to obtain test results, which is time-consuming and prone to human rater bias. New method: We present a cost-effective method for automated touch sensing in the tapered beam test. Capacitive touch sensors detect foot faults onto the beam through a layer of conductive paint, and results are processed and stored on a Raspberry Pi computer. Results: Automated touch sensing using this method achieved high sensitivity (96.2%) as compared to 'gold utomation ouse ehavior troke standard' manual video scoring. Furthermore, it provided a reliable measure of lateralized motor deficits in mice with unilateral photothrombotic stroke: results indicated an increased number of contralesional foot faults for up to 6 days after ischemia. Comparison with existing method: The automated adaptation of the tapered beam test produces results immediately after each trial, without the need for labor-intensive post-hoc video scoring. It also increases objectivity of the data as it requires less experimenter involvement during analysis.


A new design and retrofit concept that deals with the placement and functional attributes of dampers for the seismic protection of buildings is presented. The configuration for the proposed concept is referred to as \Iload balancing prestressed tendon-fuse + damper system\N. The system is based on the notion of prestressed load-balancing and uses a combination of tendons, fuse-bars, and dampers; the latter preferably possessing recentering and preload characteristics. It is shown that the system has a direct effect in reducing the overturning moment demand on the main structural elements. The new approach is first contrasted with the concept that is currently used by designers and advocated in FEMA 273. Next, an overall strategy is presented for the various phases of the design process. This includes the facets of conceptual and preliminary design as well as the final design verification process. The efficacy of the preliminary design phase is improved by a well-conceived single-degree-of-freedom idealization of the structural system. The general normalized design parameters for the supplemental system are then transformed for the multi-degree-of-freedom system based on specific configuration details. Finally, the seismic design and evaluation of a nine-story steel building is presented as an example of the applicability of the proposed design algorithm and system configuration.


The Social Security debate could and should be part of a larger one in which we engage our fellow citizens in figuring out how to take best advantage of new opportunities created by longer lives and better health. Since Social Security was first enacted, vast changes have occurred in the economy, life expectancy, health care, the physical demands of jobs, the labor force participation of women, and even the age at which one can be considered old. This testimony focuses especially on our increasing inability to protect the young, the truly old, and the vulnerable when Social Security morphs into a middle-age retirement system.


Photograph of the front of the "Pennybacker Campbell House," a 2 ½-story, white, frame, Queen Anne-style house located at 814 S. Sycamore in Palestine, Texas.


In light of a recent report that short-term treatment with valproic acid (VA) might accelerate the decay of the latent reservoir for HIV-1 in patients receiving combination therapy and allow eventual eradication of the infection, we studied patients with prolonged suppression of viremia who were receiving combination therapy and who had also been receiving chronic VA therapy for neurological or psychiatric conditions. Latently infected cells were readily detected in all patients at levels comparable to those seen in patients receiving combination therapy alone. We conclude that the clinical use of VA has no ancillary effect on the decay of the latent reservoir.


A bleachery effluent from a sulfite process pulp mill, which was extracted with alkali and treated with oxygen and hydrogen peroxide (EOP), was treated with two fungi, Trametes versicolor and Stagonospora gigaspora. Trametes versicolor did not cause any depolymerization or degradation of effluent lignins but increased the amount of chromophores, whereas S. gigaspora depolymerized the EOP lignins and caused a substantial reduction in aromatic compounds. For both fungal treatments, CuO oxidation caused a decrease in the yield of the aldehydes within the vanillyl and p-hydroxy phenol families, which was faster than the rates of decrease in the yields of the corresponding acids and ketones. However, only S. gigaspora caused changes in the pattern of the 11 characteristic lignin phenols produced by CuO oxidation, reflecting a preferential metabolism of some phenolic precursors. This fungus decreased the yield of total vanillyl phenols (V), which contributed the bulk of the 11 lignin oxidation products, from 93% initially to 59%. As a consequence, coumaryl (C), syringyl (S), and p-hydroxy phenols (P) became relatively enriched to 1.2, 6.5, and 33%, respectively. The stability of EOP-lignin constituent subunits is S > P > C > V. The two fungi differed significantly in their level of enzyme activities. In effluent-free medium, the ratio of laccase to peroxidase was higher for T. versicolor than for S. gigaspora. The presence of EOP-lignins significantly increased this ratio. No lignin peroxidase was detected but manganese peroxidase and laccase were detected during degradation activities.


Information about our world and society cannot be obtained through numbers only, even so because a significant segment of our current knowledge is conveyed through pictures and other visual signs. These are to complement our verbal codes and are capable of showing the human face of social reality, such as poverty, hidden beyond the maze of various charts and diagrams. The concept of "The poorest 100" was inspired by the top list of the 100 richest persons published every year; this unique sociographic report became the paraphrase of that top list. If you can read the list of the 100 most affluent persons in Hungary, why should not someone present the list of the poorest 100 in another volume? "Who are they? And what made them what they are? How can we show solidarity with them and how can we help them to help themselves?" - These are some of the questions raised by the publisher.


Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) sulfotransferase (ST) catalyzes the sulfate conjugation of DHEA and other steroid compounds. The human gene for DHEA ST (STD) was mapped by the polymerase chain reaction to chromosome 19 using human x rodent somatic cell hybrid panels. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was then used to localize the STD gene to the region 19q13.3.


Background The objective was to assess the risk of HIV transmission from orogenital intercourse (OI). Methods Systematic review of the literature on HIV-1 infectiousness through OI conducted according to MOOSE guidelines for reviews of observational studies. The PubMed database and bibliographies of relevant articles were searched to July 2007. Results Of the titles, 56 214 were searched from which 10 potentially appropriate studies were identified; two additional studies were identified through bibliographies and one through discussion with experts. There were 10 included studies, providing estimates of transmission probabilities per-partner (n = 5), incidence per-partner (n = 3), per-study participant (n = 3, following initially seronegative individuals whose partners are of unknown serostatus) and per-act (n = 3). Only four of 10 studies reported non-zero estimates: two per-partner estimates (20%, 95% CI: 6–51, n = 10 and a model-based estimate, 1%, range 0.85–2.3%), one per-study participant estimate (0.37%, 95% CI: 0.10–1.34%) and one per-act estimate (0.04%, 95% CI: 0.01–0.17%). Upper bounds for the 95% CI for zero estimates tended to be relatively large due to the small study sample sizes: 9.0, 12.1 and 2.8% for per-partner; 4.7, 9.6 and 1.8 per 100 person-years for incidence per-partner; 4.4% per-study participant and 0.45 and 0.02% for per-act. Given the small number of studies, a meta-analysis was not considered appropriate. Conclusions There are currently insufficient data to estimate precisely the risk from OI exposure. The low risk of transmission evident from identified studies means that more and larger studies would be required to provide sufficient evidence to derive more precise estimates.


This paper proposes an effective emotional text-to-speech (TTS) system with a pre-trained language model (LM)-based emotion prediction method. Unlike conventional systems that require auxiliary inputs such as manually defined emotion classes, our system directly estimates emotion-related attributes from the input text. Specifically, we utilize generative pre-trained transformer (GPT)-3 to jointly predict both an emotion class and its strength in representing emotions coarse and fine properties, respectively. Then, these attributes are combined in the emotional embedding space and used as conditional features of the TTS model for generating output speech signals. Consequently, the proposed system can produce emotional speech only from text without any auxiliary inputs. Furthermore, because the GPT-3 enables to capture emotional context among the consecutive sentences, the proposed method can effectively handle the paragraph-level generation of emotional speech.


The Passive Eye is a revolutionary and historically rich account of Berkeley's theory of vision. In this formidable work, the author considers the theory of the embodied subject and its passions in light of a highly dynamic conception of infinity. Arsic shows the profound affinities between Berkeley and Spinoza, and offers a highly textual reading of Berkeley on the concept of an "exhausted subjectivity." The author begins by following the Renaissance universe of vision, particularly the paradoxical elusive nature of mirrors, then shows how this conception of vision was translated into the optical devices and in what way the various ways of deception could be conceived. Reading Berkeley against the backdrop of competing theories, in relation to Leibniz, Spinoza, Newton, Malebranche, Hume, Locke, Molyneux and others, this book gives a meticulous historic reconstruction of Berkeley's theory. This excellent scholarly work presents Berkeley's theory in a new and radical light. The book, presented in three parts, begins by presenting the conceptions of vision prior to Berkeley's intervention. In the second part, the author moves through a careful study of Descartes' theory of vision to arrive at Berkeley. The third part addresses the author's version of Berkeley in which the eye and the image become inseparable due to the collapse of the universe of representation. The problem of vision becomes not that of representation, but of presentation. Through an erudite historic reading of Berkeley's theory and astute comparative assessments, the author uncovers Berkeley's place as a contemporary theoretician, corresponding with such thinkers as Deleuze, Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida.


Carbon monoxide (CO) is regarded as a potential therapeutic agent with multiple beneficial functions for biomedical applications. In this study, a versatile CO nanogenerator (designated as PPOSD) was fabricated and developed for tumor therapy and anti-inflammation. Partially oxidized tin disulfide (SnS2) nanosheets (POS NSs) were decorated with a tumor-targeting polymer (polyethylene glycol-cyclo(Asp-d-Phe-Lys-Arg-Gly), PEG-cRGD), followed by the loading of chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) to prepare polymer@POS@DOX, or PPOSD. After injected intravenously, PPOSD could selectively accumulate in tumor tissue via the cRGD-mediated tumor recognition. Upon 561 nm laser irradiation, the POS moiety in PPOSD can photoreduce CO2 to CO, which significantly sensitized the chemotherapeutic effect of DOX. The POS in PPOSD can also act as a photothermal agent for effective photothermal therapy (PTT) of the tumor upon 808 nm laser irradiation. Furthermore, the generated CO can simultaneously decrease the inflammatory reaction caused by PTT. Blood analysis and hematoxylin-eosin staining of major organs showed that no obvious systemic toxicity was induced after the treatment, suggesting good biosafety of PPOSD. This versatile CO nanogenerator will find great potential for both enhanced tumor inhibition and anti-inflammation.


An original approach has been presented to characterize the local geometry of pores containing protonated small molecule impurities in organic materials. It was here applied in TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) powder material to investigate the porosity able to enclose water molecules. The presence of such defects may have a significant impact on TATB-based compositions mechanical properties, efficiency, and shock sensitivity. Apparent self-diffusion coefficients measured on the low water signal residue were consistent with highly mobile species experiencing restricted diffusion in confined porosities. Applying the methodology commonly used for the characterization of porous systems, we could demonstrate for the first time that pores, with an average size in the 3-5 μm range, were already present in the native TATB powder before any formulation and that these pores were closed and filled with water/NH4Cl solutions. The presence of such macrocavities was further confirmed by analyzing the TATB 3D porous structure using the SEM-FIB dual-beam technique at the scale of particle fractions. Calculation of the pore volumes was performed to deduce pore size distributions assuming spherical cavities. A volume-weighted average size was calculated showing a satisfactory agreement with NMR results and a suitable complementarity of the two approaches.


Recognized by international experience one of the most important factors in the success of the country's armed forces is a motivated and educated human resource. Consequently, in the contemporary stage  the world's  developed countries' armed forces pay great attention to the education, training and career development of the personnel.
The article describes close relationship between military education, educational process and the motivation of the military servicemen. It is noteworthy that in the armed forces there is no uniform approach to motivate military personnel, the motivation process is more oriented towards the challenge of internal interest by methods of 'punishment and encouragement ', focusing on the educational process in the field of military education, and the external impulses and motivation of students.
In the theoretical aspect not only the theory of contemporary motivation and demands – Richard Ryan and Edward Des ' the theory of self – determination, Victor Vruism's theory of expectations and Abraham Maslow's  theory of expectations and  requirements, but also substantiates the advantages, values and importance from the scope of practical aspects of military education. Students' motivation sources and types are based on the results of the survey conducted by the Georgian National Defence Academy students. In this article the possibility of implementation of the proposed theories in the field of military education is reinforced and stated by examples and practical research results of well- known authors. Various forms and methods of student motivation are discussed, the role and abilities of teachers and instructors in students' motivation. It focuses on the theory of self-determination that expresses the importance of motivating students among different people with different status and thus closely related to the educational process. The theory focuses on three basic universal requirements such as autonomy, competency and relatedness.
 The paper presents the summary and recommendations of values, importance and  advantages of using theories of motivation and demands in the field of military education by students, teachers and instructors.


Background: Cardiotoxicity is the most concerning toxicity associated with the commonly used HER2-directed immunotherapy, trastuzumab (Tz). In general, a significant decline of left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) in asymptomatic patients is accepted as a decrease of at least 10% or an absolute value of below 50%. We are currently conducting multiple trials of HER2-directed peptide vaccines, often given either concurrently or in close temporal proximity to Tz. This has raised the issue that combining therapies could increase the risk of cardio-toxicity. Here, we present safety data from multiple trials in which the combination of these HER2-directed therapies was administered. Methods: Phase I and II trials were conducted in disease-free breast cancer patients after completion of chemotherapy when indicated. Patients (pts) who were determined by treating oncologists to qualify for Tz received this therapy per standard-of-care. These pts were enrolled onto HER2-directed peptide vaccine trials per each trial9s inclusion criteria, with vaccinated (VG) pts receiving peptide + GM-CSF and control (CG) pts receiving GM-CSF alone. All patients were monitored for local and systemic toxicity to peptide inoculations (graded by the NCI9s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events). In addition, patients who received Tz had EF tracked through either echocardiogram or MUGA according to local standard of practice. Our database was queried for patients who received Tz and peptide, and had documented measures of EF pre-vaccine (Pre), during vaccine (D) and post-vaccine (Post). These pts were then placed in two groups based on the timing of Tz and vaccine therapy: concurrent(C) group and sequential(S) group. Mean EF at each time point was compared using a t-test. Results: Overall, the peptide vaccines were well tolerated (max local tox: 1% Grade 0, 65% Gr 1, 33% Gr 2, 1% Gr 3; max systemic tox: 19% Gr 0, 63% Gr 1, 18% Gr 2, 0% Gr 3). These toxicities are likely secondary to the GM-CSF immunoadjuvant as control pts receiving GM-CSF alone have similar toxicity profiles (max local tox: 0% Gr 0, 76% Gr 1, 23% Gr 2, 1% Gr 3; max systemic tox: 20% Gr 0, 65% Gr 1, 15% Gr 2, 0% Gr 3). There have been no serious or non-serious cardiac-related adverse events in our trials. In total, 71 pts treated with Tz and enrolled in a vaccine trial had EF measurements available for analysis; 54 in the S group (35 VG, 19 CG) and 17 in the C group (10 VG, 7 CG). Overall, neither VG nor CG pts had significant changes in EF (VG Pre: 65±0.8%, D: 63±0.9%, Post: 64±0.3%; CG Pre: 63±1.2%, D: 64±1.8%, Post: 63±1.1%). Separating VG pts into C and S pts, there were again no significant changes in EF, (C Pre: 65±1.0%, D: 63±1.0%, Post: 63±1.4%; S Pre: 65±1.7%, D: 61±1.3%, Post: 65±1.8%). Conclusions: HER2-directed peptide vaccines are safe and well tolerated. Initial data indicate that the combination of Tz and HER2-directed peptide vaccines, whether concurrent or sequential, does not cause significant cardiac toxicities as measured by changes in the EF during and after therapy. We will continue to track this safety data to confirm early findings as we pursue additional combination trials. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-16-05.


Simultaneous measurements of arterial, end‐tidal, and transcutaneous carbon dioxide (Pa  CO 2 , Pet  CO 2 , Ptc  CO 2 , respectively) were obtained in 134 children receiving mechanical ventilation (ages, 2 days to 16 years; mean, 2.5 years). The mean ± SD Pet  CO 2 ± bias (Pa  CO 2 − Pet  CO 2 ) was 3.4 ± 6.6 mmHg. When the Pet  CO 2 bias was plotted against the Pa  O 2 /P  AO 2 ratio, a change in the scatter was obvious at about 0.3. The Pet  CO 2 bias for patients with Pa  O 2 /P  AO 2 under 0.3 was 7.8 ± 7.3 mmHg compared to 0 ± 3.4 in patients with Pa  O 2 /P  AO 2 above 0.3 (P < 0.001). Pet  CO 2 differed significantly from Pa  CO 2 (P < 0.001) only for patients with Pa  O 2 /P  AO 2 under 0.3. The slope (Pa  CO 2 versus Pet  CO 2 ) for these patients was 1.59, while the slope for patients with Pa  O 2 /P  AO 2 above 0.3 coincided with the line of identity (1.00). The mean ± SD Ptc  CO 2 bias (Pa  CO 2 − Ptc  CO 2 ) was − 1.3 ± 7.2 mmHg. Skin perfusion was recorded at the area close to the transcutaneous CO2 monitor electrode and was defined as normal when capillary refill was below 3 seconds. The Ptc  CO 2 bias for patients with normal skin perfusion was −0.2 ± 5.4 mmHg (P = 0.73) compared to −4.1 ± 9.9 for patients with decreased skin perfusion (P = 0.01). The slope of Ptc  CO 2 against Pa  CO 2 was closer to identity in patients with normal skin perfusion (1.17) than in patients where it was decreased (slope, 1.40). We suggest that Pa  CO 2 estimation by both Pet  CO 2 and Ptc  CO 2 is sufficiently precise and reliable for clinical use in critically ill children. Certain limitations stem from the nature of the techniques. Measurement of alveolar to arterial O2 ratio may improve the precision of Pa  CO 2 estimation by capnography; assessment of skin perfusion is important in order to increase the accuracy of the transcutaneous method, especially in critically ill children.


Short-period (SP) and long-period (LP) seismograms written by the main shock and two principal aftershocks of the 1976 Friuli, Italy, earthquake sequence are modeled in the time domain using synthetic seismograms. The main shock occurred on 6 May 1976 (20h 00m, M_s = 6.5) and both aftershocks on 15 September 1976 (03h 15m, M_s = 6.0 and 09h 21m, M_s = 5.9). Source models were determined initially by trial and error and then refined using a waveform inversion program. Two point sources of radiation are required to adequately model the aftershock short-period records. For the 09h 21m aftershock, the model derived from short-period records also produces good fits to the long-period data. The seismic moment of this earthquake is found to be 0.8 to 1.0 × 10^(25) dyne-cm. The SP model for the 03h 15m aftershock, on the other hand, predicts long-period synthetics which do not agree with the observations. In particular, the SP moment (0.37 × 10^(25) dyne-cm) is about Formula times smaller than the LP moment (1 × 10^(25) dyne-cm). Adding a long-period component to the SP model considerably improves LP waveform and moment agreement. In the case of the main shock, a reasonable fit to the observed SP data is obtained using three point sources of radiation. However, LP synthetics computed using this model do not agree with the observations, and the SP moment (0.65 × 10^(25) dyne-cm) is a small fraction of the LP moment (3 to 5 × 10^(25) dyne-cm). Time function durations indicate that the individual events inferred from the SP records are radiated from patches of the fault having radii of 2 to 4 km and stress drops in the range 35 to 276 bars. In comparison, stress drops estimated from LP data are found to be 12 bars (main shock) and 24 bars (09h 21m aftershock). These observations suggest that the short-period instruments are sensitive to the high-frequency radiation emitted from small, high-stress drop areas on the fault plane whereas the long-period instruments record the overall motion during the earthquake.


Dr. Jos Hilhorst presents a study of Colombian integrated rural development program started in 1976. This article in interesting because it points at a relatively new approach for reaching sectorial and regional development. Hilhorst points out that both the concept and the program objectives were not stable during the period (1976-1981) due to existing pre-conditions, the institutionalization process and because the policy instruments were not stable. Thus the results, according to certain pilot projects, were not in accordance with the preliminary program objectives. The conclusions of this experience give a good lesson about the mistakes that have to be evitated in projects with similar conditions as the Columbian experience posed.


Combined natural and forced convection occurring in saturated porous media is an important subject in several engineering fields, including design of high performance thermal insulation systems, packed beds, contaminants flow, and the development of geothermal resources.
 The paper presents numerical simulation results on mixed convection flow past a porous cavity located in a porous layer. The steady-state regime is studied for several intensities of the buoyancy effects due to temperature variations. The influences of Péclet and Rayleigh numbers on flow pattern and temperature distributions are examined. Local and global Nusselt numbers are reported for the heated wall.
 The differential equations were approximated numerically, being discretized by integration over finite volumes. The fluxes at the volume boundaries were represented using the UNIFAES discretization scheme. The UNIFAES, unified finite approaches exponential scheme for convective-diffusive fluid transport equations, has shown excellent accuracy and stability with irregular grids.


1. Intracellular recordings were made from bipolar and amacrine cells in the isolated goldfish retina. Cells were identified mainly from their response patterns to a spot and an annulus in reference to the knowledge obtained from the previous work of intracellular Procion Yellow injection. Using white light and monochromatic lights receptive field organization of recorded cells were analysed.


The crystal structures of two coordination polymers [Ln(IN)3(H2O)2]n (Ln = Nd 1, Gd 2; IN = isonicotinate) were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and further chara- cterized by IR, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. Crystal data for 1: monoclinic, space group P21/c, a = 9.6636(5), b = 19.7532(10), c = 11.6183(6) (A), β = 112.032(1)°, V = 2055.83(18) (A)3, Z = 4, Dc = 1.766 g/cm3, F(000) = 1076, μ = 2.575 mm-1 and R = 0.0493; Crystal data for 2: monoclinic, space group C2/c, a = 20.251(2), b = 11.6199(11), c = 9.8240(9) (A), β = 115.505(3)°, V = 2086.4(3) (A)3, Z = 4, Dc = 1.781 g/cm3, F(000) = 1092, μ = 3.228 mm-1 and R = 0.0695. In the title compounds, the center atoms Ln(III) are in a distorted square antiprismatic geometry and linked by bridging isonicotinate to form an infinite chain. The intermolecular hydro- gen bonds lead to the formation of three-dimensional supramolecular structures.


We describe an evaluation of the HighlY constrained back-PRojection (HYPR) de-noising in conjunction with the maximum a posteriori (MAP) reconstruction for the microPET-Inveon scanner. The HYPR technique involves the creation of a composite image from the entire duration of the dynamic scan. This image provides high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as well as high spatial resolution, and then it is updated by the weighting images generated from each individual dynamic frame to form the HYPR images. Consequently, as long as the composite image has a good SNR, the image quality of each dynamic frame with poor SNR can be improved. Dynamic mouse as well as static tumor imaging with high and low doses was performed to evaluate the advantages and limitations of the HYPR method. Time-activity-curve (TAC) comparison, precision vs accuracy in tumor/muscle ratio and mean absolute error vs number of counts were evaluated. It was found that HYPR can not only improve SNR and produce smoother TACs (on both single-voxel and region-of-interest levels) with lower variance but also be able to reduce the amount of dose injected. Two limitations were found: (1) at very low counts the low activity regions cannot be restored completely, and a positive bias in the estimated tumor/muscle ratio was obtained as a result, and (2) motion contamination between the composite and each dynamic image can introduce motion-artifact in the HYPR image. Therefore, motion needs to be corrected before applying HYPR.


The objective of the experimental work described in this paper was to investigate the efficiency of GFRP composites in strengthening simply supported reinforced concrete beams designed with insufficient shear capacity. Using the hand lay-up technique, successive layers of a woven fiberglass fabric were bonded along the shear span to increase the shear capacity and to avoid catastrophic premature failure modes. The strengthened beams were fabricated with no web reinforcement to explore the efficiency of the proposed strengthening technique using the results of control beams with closed stirrups as a  web reinforcement. The test results of 18 beams are reported, addressing the influence of different shear strengthening schemes and variable longitudinal reinforcement ratios on the structural behavior. The results indicated that significant increases in the shear strength and improvements in the overall structural behavior of beams with insufficient shear capacity could be achieved by proper application of GFRP wraps.


The introduction of topical corticosteroids greatly expanded the practitioner's dermatologic armamentarium and at the same time augmented the list of local and systemic iatrogenic diseases with which he must deal. A recent review of the literature was undertaken to determine the adverse effects seen with topically administered corticosteroids. These were found to be arbitrarily assignable to eight categories: pilosebaceous, atrophic, therapeutic, immunologic, cosmetic, endocrinologic, oculonasal, and allergic. A brief discussion of the individual entities seen in each category as well as the etiology, when known, and treatment, if any, are included in this discussion.


Purpose
The creation of partnerships among companies, governments and universities can improve innovation and the technological development of institutions. As innovation is a multidimensional concept, more nuanced research is needed to identify, which dimensions of innovation firms should focus on them. This paper aims to investigate the influence of attitude to knowledge sharing (KS) factors, learning organization and creativity on the innovation in marketing biotechnology firms. So, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of learning organization, attitude to KS, creativity, information technology (IT) acceptance, KS culture and trust on the innovation by presenting a new framework and a model.

Design/methodology/approach
The structural equation modeling technique is used to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement of the provided model. Data were collected by questionnaires. A case study was carried out in 100 marketing biotechnology firms in the Tehran of Iran. In this paper, smart partial least squares 2.0 was used to evaluate the measurement.

Findings
The result showed that all hypotheses of this research are proved. Also, the results have shown that the attitude to KS, learning organization and creativity affect the innovation in marketing biotechnology firms. As an overall result, the managers should create an enhanced knowledge bank to increase and encourage the KS among employees, thus creating and enhancing innovation in organizations. Also, the results have shown that marketing shortages were mostly connected to access to human resources with related management and marketing experiences and were mainly felt by firms introducing discontinuous novelties.

Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this paper is that the sample was retrieved from 384 employees in 100 marketing biotechnology institutions. The larger number of samples can yield better results. Next, even though the respondents' profiles indicated a high probability of them being cognizant of their organization's efforts in inter-firm KS, learning, creativity and innovation with three or four respondent from each organization answering all questions for such complicated issues always poses the risk of measurement bias and inaccuracy. An ideal situation for future studies would be to pool and compare multiple respondents from the same organization to obtain a more comprehensive firm-level measurement. In addition, this study only surveyed and sampled biotech marketing companies in Iran. Therefore, the model should be examined using samples from other countries because the varieties of culture could have an impact on employee apprehensions. So, future researchers can test the measurement instrument in different countries and/or conduct large multi-national comparisons.

Practical implications
Successful marketing strategies depend very much on an organization's ability to implement them. This paper provides an excellent study about the future of pharmaceutical KS and shows that innovation paths are linked with local and temporary occasions. Also, the results of this study provide valuable information in formulating marketing biotechnology programs. It is essential to study both economics and innovation for students and academics. The results also suggested that policies to increase economic research will also increase innovation. They could contain the consolidation of the legal framework and institutional resources for public organizations to protect intellectual properties. In general, for successful implementation of strategies an organization has to integrate KS, processes and IT.

Social implications
The paper identifies the most critical factors in the innovation process of enterprizes in marketing biotechnology institutions. The implications derived from this study can shed new light upon policy-making both at the level of governance and in the management practice in Iran's marketing biotechnology industry. Also, the paper increases understanding of the innovation process in Iran marketing biotechnology companies. This study contributes to innovating management research by offering a set of legal and dependable operational measures. These measures can help academics in theory analysis.

Originality/value
This is the first attempt examining the role of the learning organization, creativity and attitude to KS as a key contingency factor in innovation in Iran marketing biotechnology firms, an issue whose understanding is still developing in the literature. The paper adds to the body of knowledge by allowing better understanding the attitude toward KS and the influence of KS, learning and creativity on innovation. Previous studies did not investigate the KS in marketing biotechnology firms deeply, but, the present paper permits a more complete view on this topic. The guidelines are provided for the top directors to promote KS and innovation according to the research results. From a managerial point of view some critical elements, which are important for the success of KS and application of these elements for progressing institutional guidelines to develop KS, are considered. Theoretical foundations can be extracted from this study, and these foundations can be implemented to investigate connection in KS elements such as feasibilities processes and institution initiative abilities. So, the results could be suitable to managers when arranging an organization and shaping its culture to improve knowledge management.


The idea of active power played central role in the 17th Century philosophy and science. The idea is as follows: if not prevented, bodies necessarily do certain things in virtue of their power. This kind of thought naturally arose from what might properly be called the law of persistence, according to which moving bodies continue their motion unchanged if no new external force intervenes.1 What bodies do in virtue of their power was called actions, and in terms of actions such things as resistance, pressure and affections were explained. What is this active power? One of the main aims of philosophers in the 17th and 18th Centuries was to find a good answer to this question.


We report an investigation of photocurrent response in a sawtooth doping superlattice which is composed of alternating n(Si) and p(Be) δ‐doping layers with undoped GaAs layers (7–15 nm) between them. A selective contact method is used to measure the interesting behavior of the subband gap compared with the gap of the host semiconductor. The photocurrent is finite even when the photon energy is below the gap of GaAs and can be varied by applying a bias voltage between the n and p contacts. The observed phenomena can be explained by a generalized Franz–Keldysh model which takes into account the finite voltage drop inside the sample.


The Ok Tedi porphyry copper-gold deposit in western Papua New Guinea was discovered and tested by a subsidiary of Kennecott Copper Corporation in 1968-1971. Exploration lapsed in 1972-1975 while Kennecott and the government of Papua New Guinea sought agreement on terms which would apply to any future mining operation. Negotiations failed in March 1975. Over the following fifteen months, the government carried out further testing and in 1976 entered into an agreement with an international consortium of companies led by The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited of Australia for final feasibility investigations and studies.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the value and accuracy of ultrasonography in the detection and determination of the gender of the fetus. This prospective study involves the Ultrasound examination of a total of 415 fetuses including 216 (52%) females and 199 (48%) males. The mean gestational age at which the fetuses were scanned was 32 weeks 1 day, with a range of 15 to 40 weeks. Fetal sex identification was only possible in 363 (87.5%) cases. Of these, the fetal sex corroborated birth sex in 314 (75.7%) and disagrees in 49(11.8%) cases. The overall estimated sensitivity of the scan in fetal sex determination is 86.5%, while the estimated specificity for identification of the female sex (90.6%) was higher than that of the male (83.2%). Despite the high efficacy of ultrasound in sex determination obtained in our study, the errors and failure rates should be made known to mothers who are willing to know the gender of their fetuses.


BACKGROUND
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a multisystem disease that affects the cardiorespiratory system and the cardiac autonomic control may be altered at rest and after a submaximal exercise.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the cardiac autonomic control by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis before and after a 6-minute walk test (6MWT).

METHOD
Thirteen children diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CFG) aged 12±2.7 years (FEV1/FVC: 0.83±0.11, FEV1: 71.4±21 %pred) and 12 healthy children (control group-CG) aged 11.4±2.4 years (FEV1/FVC: 0.91±0.12, FEV1: 91.6±17.4 %pred) were included in the study. HRV was evaluated prior to and immediately after the 6MWT and the heart rate recovery assessed on the first and second minute after test.

RESULTS
Prior to exercise, CF patients presented higher values for the variables LF(nu) (53.2±15.0 vs. 32.8±7.9, p=0.0003) and LF/HF (1.25±0.72 vs. 0.49±0.18, p<0.006) as well as lower values of HF(%) (25.4±18.4 vs. 53±9.6, p=0.002) and HF(nu) (47.3±14.7 vs. 68.3±8.7, p0.001) when compared to CG. After the 6MWT, both groups demonstrated HRV recovery to baseline levels; however, the differences between CFG and CG were maintained for the variables LF(ms 2) (846.7±754.8 vs. 345.6±197.2, p=0.02); LF(%) (35.4±8.1 vs. 25.9±6.2, p=0.002); LF(nu) (60.0±16.3 vs. 34.9±8.7, p<0.0001); HF(%) (27.4±13.7 vs. 48.1±6.3, p=0.0003); HF(nu) (40.4±15.8 vs. 65.6±8.2, p=0.0003) and LF/HF (1.9±1.7 vs. 0.5±0.2, p=0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
Children with cystic fibrosis exhibited predominance of sympathetic activity at rest that persisted after the 6-minute walking test when compared to the control group.


The study aimed to identify the role of strategic leadership in the internal security apparatus, and measure its capabilities in crisis management in the Northern part of Iraq, by studying the dimensions of strategic leadership (spreading organizational learning, empowering workers, spreading organizational culture, strategic visualization, and organizational control), highlighting its relationship and its impact. In managing crisis, the study made suggested recommendations to strengthen and develop the role of strategic leadership in crisis management. The research targeted governmental institutions of the Northern part of Iraq and questionnaire was used as a means of data collection.


Barrier free tourism is increasingly getting a greater attention by the tourist industry, not just for the added value given to the touristic experience, but because of the difference and specialization on a wide market share that the Spanish touristic sector has not been able to fully take advantage of yet. Following this idea, the National Plan for Smart cities (Plan Nacional de Ciudades Inteligentes) stands up for smart touristic destinations where innovative technologies should play an important role to improve accessibility. The development of the mobile phone App "Barrier Free-Valencia" intents to offer a useful tool to walk through the city of Valencia guaranteeing a 100% barrier free route. The methodology used for the development is based on the combination of a systematic field work, using free access information provided by the Municipality of Valencia, and calculations based on the Dijkstra algorithm (1959) implemented on a GIS software. To calculate the route, it is used the impedance or crossing difficulty concept where the different urban barriers and low comfort situation areas are identified. The main data used are: presence of lower sidewalks, path narrowing, slopes, steps and noisy pavement. After this data has been identified, the routes are divided into accessible, passable, and not accessible. It is necessary to work on the idea of creating representative single line grids of sidewalks and, therefore, of real paths followed by urban citizens. By doing so, more data can be collected to build a complete Smart City grid. The development of Apps such as Barrier Free will help on the evolution towards more inclusive cities. An idea that is the basic line of our investigation.


Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider are at the start of a challenging hunt for the Higgs boson, a particle thought to confer the property of mass on every other particle.


The experiment study was made to optimize the design of a pumping forebay. The Combined-sills were made in the forebay to eliminate the circulation and vortices of the diffusing flow successfully. The Numerical simulation of three-dimensional turbulent flow is applied on the complicate fore-and-aft flow of sills. The computational results are compared with the measurement results of physical model. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The flow pattern is obviously improved. The study results have been applied in the project which gives a uniform approach flow to the pumping sump.© 2009 ASME


This research was conducted to develop a model to analyze the effect of entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge management, strategic partnership to competitive advantage as well as its implications on the performance of the company. The research problem posed is a decrease in production value and investment value along with the increasing number of metal craft business units in Cepogo, Boyolali Regency. The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the entrepreneurial background, knowledge management and partnership strategies to competitive advantage and business performance. To test and analyze the performance excellence of enterprises. This research was conducted on the owners of SMEs which are in Sub Cepogo Boyolali, using a survey of 229 sample survey. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in AMOS software program version 23. Results from seven hypotheses show entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge management, and partnership strategies positive and significant competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge management, and competitive advantages positive and significant impact on business performance. Partnership strategy does not affect the performance of the business.


Climate policy has a strong influence on policy processes at national levels in Indonesia, while other policies with a focus on air quality improvement are being implemented at local levels. Indonesia as a developing country has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 29 percent by the year 2030. This calls into question the extent to which cities and local governments can cope with the challenges of climate change mitigation. The purpose of the research is to find out the extent to which local air pollution reduction policies can contribute to the climate change mitigation program. The research design involved an empirical case study on governance and policy relevant to climate change efforts to lower GHG in Bandung City, Indonesia. The study evaluated the air quality improvement and the climate change mitigation programs using the actor-based framework of the Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT). The governance and stakeholder characteristic of climate change mitigation were also analysed using the structural context part of the CIT framework. The result shows that air quality improvement policy is implemented separately from climate policy; the latter operates at the national level and the former at the local level. By looking at the actor interaction analysis, the study concludes that a more holistic environmental policy approach would be more efficient at reducing local air pollution and contributing to the mitigation of climate change.


BACKGROUND
Mild paravalvular regurgitation (PVR) remains a frequent and underappreciated adverse event after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) despite remarkable progress in device technology and implantation technique.

AIMS
This study sought to investigate the impact of mild PVR after TAVI on five-year clinical outcomes.

METHODS
In a prospective TAVI registry, PVR prior to discharge was retrospectively assessed in an echocardiographic core laboratory. Patients with ≥moderate PVR were excluded. Mild PVR was categorised into mild and mild-to-moderate PVR using a recently proposed unifying 5-class grading scheme.

RESULTS
A total of 1,128 patients undergoing TAVI between 2007 and 2015 were enrolled. Of these, 560 patients had mild PVR, including 433 with mild (5-class) PVR and 127 with mild-to-moderate PVR. Patients with mild PVR were older (83 years vs 82 years, p=0.013) and had a higher surgical risk compared to patients with none/trace PVR (STS-PROM: 6.49±4.68 vs 5.41±3.48, p<0.001). At five years, patients with mild PVR had a higher risk of mortality than those with none/trace PVR (54.6% vs 43.8%; HRadjusted 1.26, 95% CI: 1.06-1.50). When applying the 5-class grading scheme, only mild-to-moderate PVR was associated with an increased risk of mortality at five years (mild PVR: HRadjusted 1.19, 95% CI: 0.99-1.43, mild-to-moderate PVR: HRadjusted 1.56, 95% CI: 1.20-2.02). The effect of mild PVR on five-year mortality was consistent across major subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS
Mild PVR was associated with an increased risk of mortality at five years after TAVI. The detrimental effect was primarily driven by mild-to-moderate PVR using the 5-class grading scheme.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01368250.


List of Tables List of Figures Forward by Johny K. Johansson Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Introduction Managing Export Entry and Expansion: An Overview by Philip J. Rosson and Stanley D. Reid Part II: Perspectives On Export Expansion and Development A Challenge to the Stages Theory of the Internationalization Process by Peter W. Turnbull Strategic Differentiation and Adaptation Among Small-and Medium-Sized Italian Exporting Manufacturers by Riccardo Lanzara Grouping for Export: An Effective Solution? by Lawrence S. Welch and Pat Joynt Managing Export Development Between Industrialized and Developing Countries by David Ford et al Part III: Export Market Selection and Entry Manager's Attitudes Toward Risk Among Determinants of Export Entry of Small-and Medium-Sized Firms by Elyette Roux Country Risk Evaluations and Export Market Entry by Wrwin Dichtl and Hans-Georg Koglmayr Approaches to International Market Selection for Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises by Nicolas Papodopoulos Export Market Secection Decisions for Small Firms: A Role for Government by Donald Beliveau The Role of Trade Missions in Export Expansion: A Comparison of Users and Nonusers by F.H. Rolf Seringhaus Part IV: Market Entry and Expansion Modes Internationalization of Small-and Medium-Sized Italian Manufacturing Firms by Riccardo Varaldo Export Entry and Expansion Strategies: The People's Republic of China by Farhad Simyar and Kamar Argheyd Trading Companies and Freight Forwarders as Export Intermediaties by Jean-Emile Denis and Helen Mallett-LaFreniere Vertical Channel Integration as Export Marketing Strategy: A Longitudinal Study of Hong Kong Apparel Manufacturing Firms by Tsang-Sing Chan The Overseas Distributor Method: Performance and Change in a Harsh Environment by Philip J. Rosson Distribution Methods and Export Performance by Hugh. J. Munro and Paul W. Beamish Part V: Export Structures and Strategies Export Strategies, Structure, and Performance: An Empirical Study of Small Italian Manufacturing Firms by Stanley D. Reid Export Management Structure and Successful High Technology Innovation by Igal Ayal and Joel Raban Profitable Export Marketing Practices: An Exploratory Inquiry by Warren J. Bilkey Part VI: Export Research Issues International Marketing Success: On Conducting More Relevant Research by V.J. Kirpalani and David Balcome Research on Success in Exporting: Past, Present and Future by Shyam Kamath, Philip J. Rosson, Donald Patton, and Mary Brooks Corporate Index Source Index Subject Index


With increasing personal and business financial challenges facing today's professionals, we, as business school faculty, have a responsibility to offer the educational background that should enable rising professionals to successfully manage finances. Unfortunately, the results of a recent analysis of curriculum offerings in Personal Financial Planning indicate that we, as faculty, have not fully accepted this responsibility. Only three out of the 131 four-year institutions reviewed have a required Personal Financial Planning course in their curriculums. Quite frankly, we're permitting launching a generation of students who are unprepared to manage both their own and potentially others' financial affairs. With that shortfall of a course offering as a backdrop, we suggest the following content for a required Personal Financial Planning course for all students majoring in Business Administration.


We have developed and optimized the necessary laboratory materials to make DNA microarray technology accessible to all high school students at a fraction of both cost and data size. The primary component is a DNA chip/array that students "print" by hand and then analyze using research tools that have been adapted for classroom use. The primary adaptation is the use of a simulated cDNA target. The low density DNA array we discuss here was used to demonstrate differential expression of several Arabidopsis thaliana genes related to photosynthesis and photomorphogenesis. The methods we present here can be used with any biological organism whose sequence is known. Furthermore, these methods can be adapted to exhibit a variety of differential gene expression patterns under different experimental conditions. The materials and tools we discuss have been applied in classrooms at West High School in Madison, WI. We have also shared these materials with high school teachers attending professional development courses at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison.


Multi-Level Cellular Automata: a platform for understanding perceptual and social dynamics Jan Koenderink Delft University of Technology Whitman Richards Mass. Inst. of Technology Abstract: Social and biological systems consist of many levels, typically hierarchically arranged, with different mechanisms and rules for organizing information and decision-making at each level. This multi-level flow of informa- tion processing is obvious in perceptual systems, where simple feature elements are aggregated into more complex groupings using Gestalt-like associations. Likewise, in social domains, we find that rules governing individual acts for cooperative activities, for example, are quite different from those of a government that enforces laws for businesses. In both cases these different rules are distinctive to their own level. Yet, because adjacent levels interact, one level can influence outcomes in neighboring levels. For a system to be stable, these outcomes must in some manner be made harmonious, otherwise chaos is likely. We illustrate the behavioral dynamics of such multi-level systems using a simplified three layer framework consisting of agents (individuals or feature elements), groups (factions or Gestalt groupings) and a governing authority (a Federation or a dominating model class). Keywords: dynamical systems; cellular automata; multi-level cognition; social structures; perceptual information processing


There is no doubt that the further development in the field of nutrition is linked with personalization. Nutrition management with account for metabolism plays a key role in health strengthening and prevention of human diseases. The paper gives a review of studies associated with personalized nutrition. Personalized nutrition is inextricably linked with personalized food products. At present, however, mass production of personalized food products for individuals or small groups of people is unfeasible. The devel‑ opment of personalized food products requires both time and labor input, as well as multidisciplinary and profound knowledge in a wide spectrum of areas associated with biology, medicine, nutrition and food systems. Among the most important characteristics of modern science is the study of complex and super‑complex organized objects such as the food system. These objects were studied previously but by the way of significant simplification of their structure. Investigation of objects with all variety and complexity of their organization requires not only new scientific ideas but also a new conceptual framework, new research methodology, new approaches to simulation of both products and physiological processes. In this study, the authors made an attempt to bring the theoretical view on an individual product closer to the complex task solution using the method of mathematical physiology. The intuitive conceptual model for a process of food design is shown with regard to the "health passport" of an individual, disease risk and gastrointestinal (GI) tract status. The differential equations of the concentration dynamics of protein, denatured protein and peptides in the human stomach are presented. The differential equations that describe the process of protein assimilation in the human stomach were solved in the simulation environment Simplex 3. The presented fragments of model realization show the pos‑ sibility of virtual study on an effect of different indicators of the food nutritional value on the rate of digestion and the process of cleavage of complex components (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) to mono‑structural elements depending on different state and influence factors.


The spectrotemporal and energy characteristics of the radiation of a pulsed chemical H2—F2 laser were calculated on the basis of a multilevel model taking into account the nonequilibrium population of the rotational levels, and were compared with experimental data. The theoretical model took into account the stimulated emission of radiation as a result of the ν, j−1 → ν−1, j transitions (ν = 1–6 and j=4–12) in the HF molecule. The rotational relaxation rate constants of the HF molecule were varied in the calculations. Comparison of the calculated and experimental spectral characteristics of the laser radiation indicates that the rate of the rotational transitions involving high (j=10–12) rotational sublevels of HF is insufficient, leading to an appreciable reduction in the energy of the output radiation for lines with such values of j, compared with lines characterised by j=7, 8.


Objective: Nurses' challenges in poor-resource countries like Nigeria have been understudied. This study determined nurses' perceived challenges in management of hospitalized cancer patients in a comprehensive cancer center in southeast of Nigeria. Methods: The descriptive study included 133 registered nurses working in medical-surgical and oncology wards. A 37-item questionnaire included seven (7) questions on socioeconomic, 16 questions related to nurse's knowledge, and 14 questions related to cancer treatment and the hospital facility. A significant challenge was defined as a mean score of more than 3 in a Likert scale 5 points. Results: Challenges included a shortage of nurses (inadequate numbers of skilled nurses in oncology and other wards with mean±sd score (4.73±0.58), lack of continuing education on current trends in the management of cancer (4.03±0.45), and lack of oncology trained nursing experts for job mentoring (4.24±0.77). Others were managing patients facing chemotherapy related side-effects (3.06±2.12), high cost of treatment borne by cancer patients (4.41±0.68) and exorbitant hospital bills (4.72±0.48), non-availability of drugs (4.09±0.87) and institutional policy bottlenecks affecting subsidizing treatment costs (4.09±0.84). Cancer care affected mainly by inadequate and functional equipment (4.24±0.55), and with no staff remuneration (4.53± 0.85). Conclusion: Nurses' Perceived Challenges were related to professional, institutional, and those related to patient.


Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a primary global healthcare concern as it hampers the effectiveness of commonly used antibiotics used to treat infectious diseases. The development of bacterial resistance continues to escalate over time. Rapid identification of the infecting bacterium and determination of its antibiotic susceptibility are crucial for optimal treatment and can save lives in many cases. Classical methods for determining bacterial susceptibility take at least 48 h, leading physicians to resort to empirical antibiotic treatment based on their experience. This random and excessive use of antibiotics is one of the most significant drivers of the development of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, posing a severe threat to global healthcare. To address these challenges, considerable efforts are underway to reduce the testing time of taxonomic classification of the infecting bacterium at the species level and its antibiotic susceptibility determination. Infrared spectroscopy is considered a rapid and reliable method for detecting minor molecular changes in cells. Thus, the main goal of this study was the use of infrared spectroscopy to shorten the identification and the susceptibility testing time of Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from 48 h to approximately 40 min, directly from patients' urine samples. It was possible to identify the Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa species with 99% accuracy and, simultaneously, to determine their susceptibility to different antibiotics with an accuracy exceeding 80%.