Ethiopia has witnessed a history of language policies ranging from pre-1991 linguistic assimilation to the post-1991 official multilingualism. Though many articles have been written on Ethiopia's current language policy, little attention has been given to the current policy's challenges and future consequences. Hence, the intention of this article is to reflect upon challenges and future consequences of the current Ethiopian language policy. Since the concern of language policy in linguistically diverse countries like Ethiopia is fairly complex, this article focuses only on four major issues: bilingualism, rural-urban migration, language policy models and linguistic human rights.  These points are first explored on the basis of the existing language policy-related sociolinguistic conceptual frameworks; thereafter the current challenges and a forecast on the potential future consequences of the current Ethiopian language policy are discussed. Taking the three-language model into account, Ethiopia currently lacks a de jury language of interethnic/intergroup communication. The ongoing urbanization, due to a high degree rural-urban migration and the horizontal expansion of metropolitan areas are creating a complex sociolinguistic profile in urban areas, putting citizens' linguistic human rights at risk. The pre-1991 most prevalent bilingual nature of the society is swiftly shifting and regional monolingualism is on the rise. This trend will predictably turn some regions into linguistic islands and put communication at cross regional and national level at risk. The unfolding sociolinguistic dynamics calls for urgent language policy rethinking in Ethiopia.

 Key words: National language, symmetric multilingualism, exoglossic language policy.


A 37-kDa binding polypeptide accumulates in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) extracts from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients and is being considered as a potential diagnostic marker (De Meirleir, K., Bisbal, C., Campine, I., De Becker, P., Salehzada, T., Demettre, E., and Lebleu, B. (2000) Am. J. Med. 108, 99–105). We establish here that this low molecular weight 2-5A-binding polypeptide is a truncated form of the native 2-5A-dependent ribonuclease L (RNase L), generated by an increased proteolytic activity in CFS PBMC extracts. RNase L proteolysis in CFS PBMC extracts can be mimicked in a model system in which recombinant RNase L is treated with human leukocyte elastase. RNase L proteolysis leads to the accumulation of two major fragments with molecular masses of 37 and 30 kDa. The 37-kDa fragment includes the 2-5A binding site and the N-terminal end of native RNase L. The 30-kDa fragment includes the catalytic site in the C-terminal part of RNase L. Interestingly, RNase L remains active and 2-5A-dependent when degraded into its 30- and 37-kDa fragments by proteases of CFS PBMC extract or by purified human leukocyte elastase. The 2-5A-dependent nuclease activity of the truncated RNase L could result from the association of these digestion products, as suggested in pull down experiments.


Covalently coupling nucleic acids to a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) surface has been demonstrated for generating effective gene therapy agents to modify cellular protein expression. The therapeutic efficacy of the approach is anticipated to be impacted by the length of time the nucleic acid sequence resides in the endolysosomal pathway once transfected into a cell. It is believed that the dynamics of the processing should reflect the linkage chemistry of the DNA to the AuNP surface. In this manuscript the dynamics of nanotherapeutic uptake, nucleic acid release, and gene processing are investigated  in vitro for a AuNP-nucleic acid delivery platform transfected into A375 human melanoma cells, as a function of the nucleic acid-gold linkage chemistry. The dynamics of cell processing of the single monodentate thiol (SX), bidentate dual thiol (SS), or mixed bidentate thiol plus amine (SN) coordination of nucleic acids to the AuNP surface are evaluated using a multicolor nanosurface energy transfer bio-optical transponder (SET-BOT) technology. The use of live-cell fluorescence microscopy allows for the direct visualization of the uptake and localization of a lipofectamine-packaged SET-BOT using a dye (DL700) that is not quenched in the proximity of the AuNP, while fluorescence "turn on" of a dye that is proximally quenched by the AuNP (DL488) is used to report on the dynamics of release of the nucleic acid cargo within the cell. For protein expression following transcription of the gene, the emission signature of a red fluorescent protein, tdTomato, is monitored. The intracellular rates of DNA release from the AuNP surface once endosomally packaged within the A375 human melanoma cells were found to follow the binding activity series: bidentate thiol > bidentate thiol plus amine > monodentate thiol, consistent with the strength of multidentate chelation, paired with the stabilizing influence of π-backbonding of thiols compared to σ-donation in amines, when bound to a gold surface.


Aim To further aid the transition of children with diabetes from primary to secondary school through the embedding of educational activities designed together with our teaching colleagues and multidisciplinary Paediatric Diabetes Team. Improving the understanding of diabetes and how best it can be controlled and monitored. Methods 10 patients with diabetes, aged between 10–12 years, and their families were invited to the Royal Free Hospital Children's School from 11.30am until 3.30 pm during the school half term. The activities covered the following topics, Diabetes UK, Juvinille Diabetes Research Foundation, food you would keep game, Free Style Libra intro, Carb Counting Quiz, Carb counting todays lunch and correction doses for you, were under taken and throughout the day they all had chance to trail the Free Style Libra blood Glucose monitors. Pre and Post evaluation forms were completed at the end of the session, then all the patients were contacted two weeks later to assess their impressions regarding the use of the monitors provided on the day. This educational model was developed from the previous year, by the addition of Freestyle Libra trails throughout the day. Results There was a measurable improvement in both parent and children's knowledge of insulin and carbohydrates, the ability to identify and measure the carbohydrate content of different foods, awareness of charities working in diabetes and an improvement in understanding, access and application of diabetes related technology now available. Conclusion Maintaining and developing the previous year's programme, by the introduction of the new technology leads to improved patient uptake and outcomes. We are generating a sustainable social network with professionals and families where good practice can be shared.


Two transformer-based laminated core models, which have the same material and joint type but different leg length, are established, and the joint influence region (JIR) of the core models is proposed to investigate the magnetic flux and iron loss at core joints. In this way the equivalent magnetic path length of the square core can be determined, and the iron loss generated at core joints can be separated from the total core loss. An efficient approach to simulate the iron loss and the flux distributions at core joints is implemented and validated, which can be used in the electromagnetic design of products.


Nine chemotherapy-naive women with recurrent (2 patients) or high risk factors (bilateral or extraovarian spread, poorly-differentiated tumor, age > or = 40 years at diagnosis, residual disease after surgery) granulosa-cell tumors were treated with cisplatin, cyclophosphamide with or without doxorubicin (PAC, PC) or cisplatin, etoposide and bleamycin (PVP-16B). Toxicity was acceptable and the most frequently encountered adverse reactions were WHO grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity in 77% of patients, and grade 3 myelosuppression in 22% of cases. Clinical complete response was achieved in the 2 patients with recurrent disease. Five patients underwent second look surgery which documented: complete response in 3 patients, partial response in 1 patient and progressive disease in 1 case. Median survival was 85 months (range 14-103). Cisplatin-based cytotoxic regimens may be of benefit in the treatment of recurrent or high risk granulosa-cell tumors.


PURPOSE
To investigate the viability of the 10 kVp rule as a substitute for the 15% rule in obtaining extremity radiographs of high diagnostic quality while lowering patient radiation dose. The intention of this substitution is to allow technologists a simpler and quicker calculation for use in clinical settings to benefit patients without disrupting workflow.

METHODS
Three anteroposterior or posteroanterior exposures were made on 3 anthropomorphic phantom extremities: hand, knee, and shoulder. Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were placed at the center of each phantom; a new TLD was used for each exposure. Exposures were made on a Defininium 8000 digital radiography system (General Electric) using the unaltered, system-preset techniques used by the authors' imaging department, techniques adapted from the 10 kVp rule, and techniques adapted from the 15% rule. The detector exposure indicator from each image was used to compare image quality among the 3 exposures in each group. Entrance skin dose measured from the TLDs also were compared among the 3 exposures for each extremity. One TLD was used as a control to determine the amount of background radiation to which the TLDs were exposed.

RESULTS
The detector exposure indicator remained in optimal range for every exposure with both applied rules as well as the system-preset techniques. Entrance skin dose was lower for both rules in the shoulder and hand trials, with the possibility of error during exposure and reading of the system-preset technique used on the knee phantom. Entrance skin dose also was lower for the shoulder and hand exposures when using the 10 kVp techniques compared with the 15% rule techniques.

DISCUSSION
Aside from unknown entrance skin dose errors during knee imaging, no failures of the tested rules were found. Using manual technique selection rather than automatic exposure control allowed for consistent manipulation of technical factors. TLDs allowed for relatively reliable and quick readings from each exposure, although they could have been the cause of an error in the exposure reading of the preset technique of the knee. Environment and equipment were unchanged to maintain consistency.

CONCLUSION
Results demonstrated that both the 15% rule and the 10 kVp rule successfully maintained or slightly improved image quality according to the detector exposure indicators. The results also demonstrated lowered patient dose according to the entrance skin doses. Based on these results, the 10 kVp rule might be a reasonable substitute for the 15% rule. Further research should be conducted with more repetitions that include digital radiography equipment for a wider range of examinations.


Background and Objectives Hemolytic transfusion reactions have been one of the most common causes of transfusion related mortalities and morbidities. Increased vigilance and use of newer technologies could lead in decreased rate of complications. Case A 19-year-old man with a broken leg, under anesthesia and surgery, received 2 packs of RBCs. Afterwards, he was admitted in the intensive care unit of the hospital for supportive care. Later assessments revealed that the transfused blood, though confirmed by the hospital blood bank, had not been really isogroup. Conclusions Transfusion related medical errors are still inducing a considerable rate of mortality and morbidity in our health system. Systematic approachesn (including enhancement of the role of hospital transfusion committees) to lower these complications could lead in decreased rate of errors.


This report is based on a rapid review of the available evidence and research on the experience of sleeping rough among women. The report looks at the collection and analysis of statistical data, from both survey and administrative sources and the qualitative information collected through interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic and sociological research. The main focus is on the UK, but the review encompasses data and information from around the world.


Background The modification of microbial ecology in human gut by supplementing probiotics may be an alternative strategy to ameliorate or prevent depression. Objective The current study was conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of the probiotic strain Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 for major depressive disorder (MDD) in IBS patients. Method Patients (n = 40) diagnosed for MDD with IBS were randomized (1:1) to receive placebo or B. coagulans MTCC 5856 at a daily dose of 2 × 109 cfu (2 billion spores) and were maintained to the end of double-blind treatment (90 days). Changes from baseline in clinical symptoms of MDD and IBS were evaluated through questionnaires. Results Significant change (p = 0.01) in favour of the B. coagulans MTCC 5856 was observed for the primary efficacy measure Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Irritable bowel syndrome quality of life questionnaire (IBS-QOL). Secondary efficacy measures i.e. Clinical Global Impression-Improvement rating Scale (CGI-I), Clinical Global Impression Severity rating Scale (CGI-S), Gastrointestinal Discomfort Questionnaire (GI-DQ) and Modified Epworth Sleepiness Scale (mESS) also showed significant results (p = 0.01) in B. coagulans MTCC 5856 group compared to placebo group except dementia total reaction scoring. Serum myeloperoxidase, an inflammatory biomarker was also significantly reduced (p < 0.01) when compared with the baseline and end of the study. All the safety parameters remained well within the normal clinical range and had no clinically significant difference between the screening and at the end of the study. Conclusion B. coagulans MTCC 5856 showed robust efficacy for the treatment of patients experiencing IBS symptoms with major depressive disorder. The improvement in depression and IBS symptoms was statistically significant and clinically meaningful. These findings support B. coagulans MTCC 5856 as an important new treatment option for major depressive disorder in IBS patients.


The paper presents a new approach for the estimation of harmonic components of a power system using a linear adaptive neuron called Adaline. The learning parameters in the proposed neural estimation algorithm are adjusted to force the error between the actual and desired outputs to satisfy a stable difference error equation. The estimator tracks the Fourier coefficients of the signal data corrupted with noise and decaying DC components very accurately. Adaptive tracking of harmonic components of a power system can easily be done using this algorithm. Several numerical tests have been conducted for the adaptive estimation of harmonic components of power system signals mixed with noise and decaying DC components.


Literature has been limited in regard to the mechanisms of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in patients with paramembranous (perimembranous) ventricular septal defect (VSD). Most observations have noted tricuspid valve clefts or dysplasia. We describe another mechanism for production of TR in association with paramembranous VSD. In 8 patients, we found significant TR produced by the VSD jet pushing the tricuspid anterior leaflet forward to open the tricuspid valve orifice. In these patients, a moderate paramembranous VSD extended slightly below the septal tricuspid leaflet with only partial obstruction of the VSD jet. All patients had restrictive VSD with low right ventricular pressure. This mechanism to produce TR was best defined by intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography, but current higher resolution imaging should allow correct diagnosis. We believe that when this mechanism for TR is found in association with a moderate VSD, surgical VSD closure is warranted.


Since only one inverter voltage vector is applied during each duty cycle, traditional model predictive direct power control (MPDPC) for grid-connected inverters (GCIs) results in serious harmonics in current and power. Moreover, a high sampling frequency is needed to ensure satisfactory steady-state performance, which is contradictory to its long execution time due to the iterative prediction calculations. To solve these problems, a novel dead-beat MPDPC strategy is proposed, using two active inverter voltage vectors and one zero inverter voltage vector during each duty cycle. Adoption of three inverter vectors ensures a constant switching frequency. Thus, smooth steady-state performance of both current and power can be obtained. Unlike the traditional three-vector based MPDPC strategy, the proposed three vectors are selected based on the power errors rather than the sector where the grid voltage vector is located, which ensures that the duration times of the selected vectors are positive all the time. Iterative calculations of the cost function in traditional predictive control are also removed, which makes the proposed strategy easy to implement on digital signal processors (DSPs) for industrial applications. Results of experiments based on a 1 kW inverter setup validate the feasibility of the proposed three-vector based dead-beat MPDPC strategy.


An emerging trend in telemedicine has been the development of health applications (apps) for smartphones. Apps focusing on insulin dose calculators are widely available, but the majority of them may contribute to incorrect dose recommendations that put patients at risk for overdose or hypoglycemic events (1). Published data evaluating the effectiveness of using an app in purposely guiding insulin dose titration among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is scarce.

In this pilot study, we developed a smartphone app called "Diabetes Pal" and investigated its feasibility to deliver an insulin titration algorithm in insulin-naive T2DM patients. A 24-week, randomized, open-label, parallel-group trial was conducted at the Singapore General Hospital between March 2013 and March 2015. The study was approved by the ethics board of the Singapore Health Services and registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01950676).

Insulin-naive T2DM patients with suboptimal glycemic control (HbA1c ≥7.5% [58 mmol/mol]) despite use of two or more oral glucose-lowering drugs were recruited and randomized in a 1:1 ratio into the intervention and control groups. The randomization list was computer generated with a fixed block size of four within each of five endocrinologists. Treatment allocation codes were concealed in sequentially numbered envelopes that were opened each time a patient was enrolled. Participants received a one-time individual educational session with a diabetes nurse educator. Participants were instructed to start with 10 units of insulin detemir at bedtime, self-monitor fasting blood glucose (FBG) daily, and self-titrate insulin every 3 days using a prescribed algorithm to reach a target FBG of 72–126 mg/dL (4.0–7.0 mmol/L). The algorithm was based on the mean FBG (mFBG) over 3 days; +4 when mFBG exceeded 180 mg/dL (10 mmol/L) and +2 when mFBG was 126–180 mg/dL (7.0–10.0 mmol/L). If FBG was <72 mg/dL (<4.0 mmol/L), the dose was …


The growth of an eucalypt plantation should be monitored to identify factors that infl uence its development, helping in the decision-making process, aiming to reduce productivity losses. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the infl uence of the age of replanting on the yield and growth of eucalypt stands. The experiment was conducted in an area of CENIBRA S.A. Company, and established in a commercial plantation in August 2011. The application of herbicide and the ant control were performed in total area before planting. Seedlings of Eucalyptus urophylla × Eucalyptus grandis clones in 3.0 × 2.5 m spacing were used. Limestone (1,500 kg ha) was applied in total area before planting and 100 g plant-1 of NPK fertilizer (06-3006) was applied immediately after planting. Four months after the installation of the experiment, 300 kg ha of NPK (06-10-29) was applied. Treatments consisted of four dates of seedling replanting (0, 20, 40 and 80 days after planting) without complementary fertilization, and two treatments (replanting 40 and 80 days after planting) with supplementary fertilization (100g plant NPK 06-30-06). The individual volume of replanting trees was 46.6% lower than of non-replanted ones. Treatments with complementary planting fertilization did not diff er (p > 0.05) by the T-test. It is concluded that the longer the time between planting and replanting, the smaller the individual volume of the replanting trees and that the complementary fertilization in seedlings replanted does not favor their growth.


Objectives Elevated erythrocyte Na+–Li+ countertransport (SLC) rates are commonly found in essential hypertension. We have recently shown that human skin fibroblasts functionally express a phloretin-sensitive Na+–H+ exchange (NHE) which may also be similar to erythrocyte SLC because of amiloride-insensitivity. Design and methods We investigated whether elevations in fibroblast SLC parallel the known elevations in erythrocyte SLC and in cell NHE that characterize essential hypertension. Results Higher fibroblast SLC rates were found among hypertensive patients (n = 23, median 48.8 nmol Li+/mgprotein per min) than in 19 normotensive individuals of similar age and sex (median 14.8 nmol Li+/mgprotein per min, P = 0.0002). As expected, erythrocyte SLC was elevated in patients with hypertension (median 411 versus 329 μmol/lcell per h, P = 0.0273), but was not quantitatively related to fibroblast SLC. Finally, fibroblast NHE exchange activity was higher in essential hypertension (median Vmax 14.2 versus 7.6 mmol H+/lcell per min, P = 0.002), but was unrelated to fibroblast SLC. Conclusions These findings extend to human skin fibroblasts the notion of abnormal Li+ transport in essential hypertension, and appear to be in accordance with the hypothesis that fibroblast SLC may be independent of NHE. However, molecular studies will be required to understand whether distinct exchangers and/or regulation mechanisms underlie these dysregulations.


In most bacteria, cell division begins with the polymerization of the GTPase FtsZ at the mid-cell, which recruits the division machinery to initiate cell constriction. In the filamentous bacterium Streptomyces, cell division is positively controlled by SsgB, which recruits FtsZ to the future septum sites and promotes Z-ring formation. Here we show via site-saturated mutagenesis that various amino acid substitutions in the highly conserved SsgB protein result in the production of ectopically placed septa, that sever spores diagonally or along the long axis, perpendicular to the division plane. Ectopic septa were especially prominent when cells expressed SsgB variants with substitutions in residue E120. Biochemical analysis of SsgB variant E120G revealed that its interaction with - and polymerization of - FtsZ had been maintained. The crystal structure of S. coelicolor SsgB was resolved and the position of residue E120 suggests its requirement for maintaining the proper angle of helix α3, thus providing a likely explanation for the aberrant septa formed in SsgB E120 substitution mutants. Taken together, our work presents the first example of longitudinal division in a free living bacterium, which is explained entirely by changes in the FtsZ-recruiting protein SsgB.


There is very important to investigate long-term trend of soil chemical properties and quality index for sustainable agriculture and production of agricultural safety products. Monitoring on soil chemical properties in paddy soils was conducted as one cycle with 4 years from 1999 to 2007. Paddy soil samples were taken from 4,007, 1,970, 2,070 sites in 1999, 2003 and 2007, respectively. With these data, soil quality index (SQI) was evaluated by method that Yoon et al suggested in 2004. Chemical properties of paddy soils were 5.8 for pH, 24 g for organic matter, 132 mg for available phosphate, 0.29 cmol_c\; kg-1 for exchangeable potassium, 4.7 for exchangeable calcium, 1.3 for exchangeable magnesium and 126 mg for available silicate in 2007. Long-term change was shown that pH has increased gradually whereas exchangeable potassium has decreased. However, reasonably large changes were found. Exchangeable calcium and available silicate level in 1999 was 4.0 , 86 mg , but had risen to 4.7 , 126 mg in 2007, respectively. The change of paddy soils quality index was increased gradually and increasement of silicate quality index was higher than other quality indicators.


Cyclic neutropenia is a rare disease in which blood neutrophils periodically decrease and almost disappear, ensuing acute infections of variable severity. We report a 37 years old female presenting with severe abdominal pain, fever and neutropenia. During a surgical abdominal exploration, an acute ileitis was found. During a follow-up of 6.5 months, transient episodes of neutropenia (mean count of 0.33 x 10(9)/l), every 22-28 days, were detected. Coinciding with these episodes, band and segmented neutrophils disappeared from the bone marrow and its response to functional stimulation with prednisone was insufficient. No cyclical changes in lymphocytes, monocytes and packed red cell volume were observed. The episodes of severe transient neutropenia and infections persist after three years of follow up.


Neurons are structurally unique and have dendrites and axons that are vulnerable to injury. Some neurons in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) can regenerate their axons after injuries. However, most neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) fail to do so, resulting in irreversible neurological disorders. To understand the mechanisms of axon regeneration, various experimental models have been utilized in vivo and in vitro. Here, we collate the key experimental models that revealed the important mechanisms regulating axon regeneration and degeneration in different systems. We also discuss the advantages of experimenting with the rodent model, considering the application of these findings in understanding human diseases and for developing therapeutic methods.


Creating explanations for answers to science questions is a challenging task that requires multi-hop inference over a large set of fact sentences. This year, to refocus the Textgraphs Shared Task on the problem of gathering relevant statements (rather than solely finding a single 'correct path'), the WorldTree dataset was augmented with expert ratings of 'relevance' of statements to each overall explanation. Our system, which achieved second place on the Shared Task leaderboard, combines initial statement retrieval; language models trained to predict the relevance scores; and ensembling of a number of the resulting rankings. Our code implementation is made available at https://github.com/mdda/worldtree_corpus/tree/textgraphs_2021


Small cell osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare variant of OS that is composed of small cells resembling those of Ewing's sarcoma (ES) with recognizable osteoid. This type of tumor often creates difficulty in making a diagnosis when tissue samples do not include osteoid. The frequent sites are long bones and until now there have been no reported cases arising in the ribs. A case is reported here of small cell OS occurring in the ribs of a 37-year-old female with its aspiration cytologic and electron microscopic characteristics. In the cytologic smear, the small round neoplastic cells were individually scattered or arranged in small nests. The nuclei were hyperchromatic and oval with no visible nucleoli. Ultrastructurally, the nuclei had a round or oval euchromatic chromatin pattern and occasional nucleoli. The scanty cytoplasm contained a small quantity of organelles including either tubular or dilated cisternae of RER, a few mitochondria, and free or polyribosomes. Other organelles were absent. Although the electron microscope sample of this case did not include bone mineral (hydroxy apatite), the electron microscopic features of the tumor cells were unique and useful for exclusion of other small round cell neoplasms.


A skeleton kinetic scheme representing the simplest model for oscillatory chemical reactions in a closed vessel can be built around an autocatalytic feedback step precursor decay P → A k0p, uncatalysed step A → B k3a, autocatalysis A + 2B → 3B k1ab2, catalyst decay B → C k2b. The first intermediate A is formed via the slow decay of a reactant or precursor species P, initially in large excess. A is converted to B via two routes: a slow pseudo-first order process and a step in which B acts as its own catalyst. The autocatalyst B is then capable of a simple first order decay to a stable product C. The concentrations of the various species at first change steadily, with that of P decreasing while A, B and C increase. This period is followed by the onset and growth of oscillations in the concentrations of the intermediates A and B. The behaviour at long times, depends upon the uncatalysed conversion of A to B. Provided k3 is not taken as zero, the oscillations finally diminish in amplitude and die out leaving a steady decay of P, A and B until everything has been converted to C. The simplicity of the model allows the first self-consistent test of the 'pool chemical approximation', an approach commonly used in the analysis of mechanisms in closed systems in which the precursor concentration is assumed to be constant and set equal to its initial value. The results presented here reveal the range of applicability of the approximation and show clearly how and why it can break down to give unphysical predictions.


Regularization is a well-established technique in machine learning (ML) to achieve an optimal bias-variance trade-off which in turn reduces model complexity and enhances explainability. To this end, some hyper-parameters must be tuned, enabling the ML model to accurately fit the unseen data as well as the seen data. In this article, the authors argue that the regularization of hyper-parameters and quantification of costs and risks of false alarms are in reality two sides of the same coin, explainability. Incorrect or non-existent estimation of either quantities undermines the measurability of the economic value of using ML, to the extent that might make it practically useless.


Hartigan (1975) defines the number q of clusters in a d ‐variate statistical population as the number of connected components of the set {f > c}, where f denotes the underlying density function on Rd and c is a given constant. Some usual cluster algorithms treat q as an input which must be given in advance. The authors propose a method for estimating this parameter which is based on the computation of the number of connected components of an estimate of {f > c}. This set estimator is constructed as a union of balls with centres at an appropriate subsample which is selected via a nonparametric density estimator of f. The asymptotic behaviour of the proposed method is analyzed. A simulation study and an example with real data are also included.


Carbamylated darbepoetin is a promising pharmacological agent with universal cytoprotective activity. To assess the acute toxicity, the drug was administered to white laboratory mice and white laboratory rats subcutaneously (from 1000 to 5000 μg / kg) and intravenously (500 to 2500 μg / kg). There was no lethality and no phenotypic changes (including from the red blood sprout) in both species of animals. The study showed that the drug carbamylated darbepoetin (Pharmapark, Russia) belongs to the IV class of low-toxic drugs.


The 1.2-kb DNA fragment upstream of the linked beta-hbd (3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase) and adh1 (NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase) genes from Clostridium acetobutylicum P262 was sequenced. The upstream region contained an open reading frame (ORFB) which was found to have 44% amino acid identity to the fixB gene products of Rhizobium and Azorhizobium. The beta-hbd and ORFB genes were expressed during the acidogenic and solventogenic phases. The beta-hbd gene was transcribed on a single mRNA species of 2.0 kb, whereas the ORFB gene was transcribed on two species of mRNA of 2.0 and 3.5 kb, respectively. The adh1 gene was induced or derepressed at the pH breakpoint before the onset of solventogenesis and was transcribed on a single species of mRNA of 2.4 kb.


Over the past several decades, there has been a plethora of proposals that were developed in response to the ongoing debate on how best to solve the problems of the American health care delivery system. In the past decade, calls for modification of our health system have become even more resonant, as measures to control rising costs were unsuccessful and access to basic services was diminished for many Americans. The most recent addition to the list of proposals for modifying the health care system is the American Health Security Act of 1993, introduced by President Clinton in September 1993. This article will examine the position of the Clinton Administration on health reform and the core elements of the reform package.


The current literature reports a few papers regarding the prediction of heat release rate of a diesel engine fuelled with n-octanol blends using numerical methods. To address this gap, the main objective of presented study is to derive new correlations for estimating the variation in heat release rate of a diesel engine fuelled with diesel fuel and diesel fuel-biodiesel-n-octanol blends. For this purpose, three different ternary blends were prepared by varying the n-octanol concentration to 6% (OCT6), 8% (OCT8), and 10% (OCT10) by volume. The estimation of heat release rate was accomplished using the least-squares regression (sine, piecewise, and rational equations) and the function approximation (Padé approximation) methods. The ignition delay and peak heat release rate increased by 3.8462%, 5.9501% for OCT6; 7.6923%, 3.7125% for OCT8; and 8.9744%, 3.0755% for OCT10, respectively, compared to diesel fuel. The peak cylinder pressure of OCT6 and OCT8 was observed to be higher by 2.4378% and 1.3982%, respectively, whereas that of OCT10 is found to be lower by 1.9458%, compared to diesel fuel. Compared to the others, the suggested rational equation qualitatively and quantitatively achieved the best correlation with all experimental heat release rate data measured by both the author and some other authors.


Forests make up large ecosystems and by the uptake of carbon dioxide can play an important role in mitigating the greenhouse effect. In this study, mitigation of carbon emissions through carbon uptake and storage in forest biomass and the use of forest biofuel for fossil fuel substitution were considered. The analysis was performed for a 3.2 million hectare region in northern Sweden. The objective was to maximize net present value for harvested timber, biofuel production and carbon sequestration. A carbon price for build-up of carbon storage and for emissions from harvested forest products was introduced to achieve an economic value for carbon sequestration. Forest development was simulated using an optimizing stand-level planning model, and the solution for the whole region was found using linear programming. A range of carbon prices was used to study the effect on harvest levels and carbon sequestration. At a zero carbon price, the mean annual harvest level was 5.4 million m3, the mean annual carbon sequestration in forest biomass was 1.48 million tonnes and the mean annual replacement of carbon from fossil fuel with forest biofuel was 61 000 tonnes. Increasing the carbon price led to decreasing harvest levels of timber and decreasing harvest levels of forest biofuel. Also, thinning activities decreased more than clear-cut activities when the carbon prices increased. The level of carbon sequestration was governed by the harvest level and the site productivity. This led to varying results for different parts of the region.


Rate of proliferation and amino acid transport were assessed in simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed 3T3 cells by measurements of growth rate quotient and L-serine uptake via System ASC, respectively. Growth rate and cell density of the cultures were varied by modifying: (a) the number of cells initially plated; and (b) the period spent by the cells in culture. The growth rate quotient of SV40 3T3 cells was not correlated with cell density. Sparse cultures exhibited marked fluctuations in their growth rate as a function of time, whereas, under comparable conditions, crowded cultures retained some form of growth control by density. Transport activity by System ASC decreased as a function of increased cell density following a complex trend described by a double-exponential equation. The density-dependent decrease in amino acid transport was not accompanied by a parallel change in the rate of cell proliferation. These results indicate that alterations in amino acid transport are not linked with cell growth and suggest that an increase in transport activity is not a prerequisite for an optimal rate of proliferation in SV40-transformed 3T3 cells.


An issue that has received little treatment in the studies devoted to the only built work of Le Corbusier built in Latin America, maison Curutchet in La Plata, Argentina (1948-1953), is the role of the tree contained in that building. This essay aims to show that the management given by Le Corbusier to that issue is not accidental and that the relationship between the tree, the project and the built work has precedents in some works of this architect that date back to the 1920s. To demonstrate this fact it appeals to the compositional analysis of the project and the work, reading of the treatment of the topic in the previous investigations and the review of several publications on the mentioned house.


Purpose: Benign endobronchial tumors are rare entities that can be difficult to diagnose because they often present with non-specific symptoms and vague radiographic findings. The current study reviews the clinical, radiologic and pathologic features, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with benign endobronchial tumors. Methods: We examined the charts of all patients who presented with biopsy-proven benign endobronchial tumors at a tertiary-care academic medical center between 1993 and 2018. Pertinent clinicopathologic and radiologic data were analyzed, with particular attention paid to treatment modalities and mean overall patient survival. Results: A total of 28 cases were identified. The most common benign neoplasm was hamartoma (37%), followed by lipoma (19%), squamous papilloma (11%), pleomorphic adenoma (7%), mucin gland adenoma (7%), papillary adenoma (3%), hemangioma (3%), neurofibroma (3%), leiomyoma (3%), and papillomatosis (3%). Cough (58%), shortness of breath (44%), and hemoptysis (15%) were the most frequent presentations. Most cases demonstrated well-defined submucosal or pedunculated endobronchial lesions with segmental pneumonia or atelectasis on imaging. Histologic diagnosis was obtained by endobronchial resection in 43% of patients, thoracoscopic lobectomy in 36%, endobronchial biopsy in 18%, and thoracoscopic wedge resections in 3%. All procedures were performed with no intraoperative or in-hospital deaths (mean overall survival: 20.2 years). Conclusion: Benign endobronchial tumors typically present as well-defined submucosal and/or pedunculated lesions, and may lead to post-obstructive complications. Endobronchial resection is the preferred strategy for diagnosis and treatment of these tumors.


The Augmented Data Vortex Switch (ADV), an all-optical packet switched interconnection network has been proposed [1] in our earlier work to improve the fault tolerance and latency performance of the Data Vortex all optical packet switch proposed by Yang et. al [2]. The ADV switch shows improvement in fault tolerance and reliability over the DV switch in addition to enjoying the features of high capacity, high throughput and scalability. The latency performance of ADV under non faulty condition by means of numerical simulations has been evaluated. The results showed that the non faulty ADV switch with enhanced fault tolerance also improves the performance regarding latency, while maintaining nearly the same throughput. In our present work, with the help of a simple example of matrix calculation, we have evaluated the latency performance of the ADV under worst faulty condition. The results show that even with the worst faulty condition, the calculations can be performed without much degradation in latency. The idea behind this simple exercise is to represent the suitability of the high bandwidth, low latency, high throughput, highly scalable ADV interconnection network for applications where the system should be operational for maximum times, with minimal delay in response even under worst case faulty conditions.


Consider a single server queueing system with foxed batch service under multiple vacations with loss and feedback in which the arrival rate ? follows a Poisson process and the service time follows an exponential distribution with parameter ?. Assume that the system initially contain k customers when the server enters the system and starts the service in batch. The concept of feedback is incorporated in this model (i.e) after completion of the service, if this batch of customers dissatisfied then this batch may join the queue with probability q and with probability (1-q) leaves the system. This q is called a feedback probability. After completion of the service if he finds more than k customers in the queue then the first k customers will be taken for service and service will be given as a batch of size k and if he finds less than k customers in the queue then he leaves for a multiple vacation of exponential length ?. The impatient behaviour of customer is also studied in this model (i.e) the arriving customer may join the queue with probability p when the server is busy or in vacation. This probability p is called loss probability. This model is completely solved by constructing the generating function and Rouche's theorem is applied and we have derived the closed form solutions for probability of number of customers in the queue during the server busy and in vacation. Further we are providing the analytical solution for mean number of customers and variance of the system. Numerical studies have been done for analysis of mean and variance for various values of ?, µ, ?, p, q and k and also various particular cases of this model have been discussed. Keywords : Single Server , Batch Service, Loss and Feedback,  Multiple vacations, Steady state distribution.


The clinical course of 50 male patients with carcinoma of the breast was reviewed. The disease most commonly presented in the seventh decade of life. The clinical examination of the axilla proved to be inaccurate. Survival time was highly correlated with the pathologic stage of the lesion. The five year survival rate was 80 per cent for patients with Stage I disease and 67 per cent for those with Stage II disease. By contrast, only 25 percent of patients with Stage III disease were alive at five years and all of the patients with Stage IV disease had died of the disease by the five year point. It appears that the prognosis for male patients with carcinoma of the breast is good if the appropriate therapy is undertaken at an early stage.


NMR of 169Tm and NQR/NMR of 63/65Cu was applied to investigate the order of oxygen in the HTc superconductors of the type RBa2Cu3Ox. From the spectra of three different lattice sites, one for Tm and two for Cu, it is evident, that three ordered structures exist: tetra for x = 6.0, ortho-II for x = 6.5 and ortho-I for x = 7.0. No other ordered structures could be detected. A coexistence of ortho-I and -II is evident in a wide region between 6.6 and 6.8. The existence of extended domains of ortho-II is essential for the onset of superconductivity. In the tetragonal region below 6.3 we find mainly insulated oxygen ions in the Cu(1) plane; in superconducting samples of the 60 K plateau oxygen is ordered in chains of a mean length of about 12 oxygen ions. In the region of the 90 K plateau the chains become very long and the oxygen vacancies are clustered in empty fragments of chains.


BACKGROUND
(-)-Epicatechin (EC) is a naturally occurring compound which induces oxidative DNA damage in human acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells.

AIM
The aim of the study was to examine the influence of EC on the antileukaemic effect of etoposide in rats with AML.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Brown Norway rats with AML were treated with EC for 23 days and etoposide was administered for the last three days of the experiment. Bone marrow and splenic cell apoptosis was investigated by flow cytometry using annexin V-allophycocyanin staining. The oxidative status was investigated in homogenates of the liver.

RESULTS
EC was found to increase the in vivo apoptotic effect of etoposide resulting in the decrease of the percentage of leukaemia cells in EC-treated rats in comparison to those treated with etoposide only. Investigation of malondialdehyde and ferric ion-reducing ability of plasma levels indicated that EC increases the oxidative stress induced by etoposide in leukaemic rats.

CONCLUSION
EC can enhance the antileukaemia properties of etoposide in vivo through augmentation of oxidative stress.


The literature establishes that education drives economic performance, but the extent that education is associated with a country's competitiveness is empirically untested. Our study analyses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from 63 countries to ascertain education's role in explaining the competitiveness of a country. Strong correlations were found for reading and science (each 53% shared variance) and mathematics (50%). Educational achievement explains 54% of Competitiveness. Regional differences were found with East Asia performing strongly both academically and in competitiveness, ahead of Europe, the rest of Asia, and South/Central America. Anglo-Saxon countries rank second academically behind East Asia, but in terms of competitiveness, the Anglo-Saxon cluster ranks first. We show that Anglo-Saxon countries' leadership in education and competitiveness have been challenged by East Asia. Our diachronic analysis shows that together with Competitive Industrial Performance, the cultural dimensions of Uncertainty Avoidance, Long-term Orientation and Indulgence Restraint, Education contributes to improvements in Competitiveness. The strength of East Asia in educational achievement will have implications for the region's future competitiveness compared to Anglo-Saxon and European countries. Our empirical findings support theoretical arguments for education's role in driving competitiveness. For education policy, the study emphasizes the importance of investments in reading, science and mathematics education.


Purpose. To review the contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic (CEUS) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings in 25 patients with 26 hepatocellular adenomas (HCAs) and to compare imaging features with histopathologic results from resected specimen considering the new immunophenotypical classification. Material and Methods. Two abdominal radiologists reviewed retrospectively CEUS cineloops and MR images in 26 HCA. All pathological specimens were reviewed and classified into four subgroups (steatotic or HNF 1α mutated, inflammatory, atypical or β-catenin mutated, and unspecified). Inflammatory infiltrates were scored, steatosis, and telangiectasia semiquantitatively evaluated. Results. CEUS and MRI features are well correlated: among the 16 inflammatory HCA, 7/16 presented typical imaging features: hypersignal T2, strong arterial enhancement with a centripetal filling, persistent on delayed phase. 6 HCA were classified as steatotic with typical imaging features: a drop out signal, slight arterial enhancement, vanishing on late phase. Four HCA were classified as atypical with an HCC developed in one. Five lesions displayed important steatosis (>50%) without belonging to the HNF1α group. Conclusion. In half cases, inflammatory HCA have specific imaging features well correlated with the amount of telangiectasia and inflammatory infiltrates. An HCA with important amount of steatosis noticed on chemical shift images does not always belong to the HNF1α group.


Increased understanding of surface residue decomposition may improve cover crop management in no-till systems. Most decomposition studies of cover crop residues have been conducted with samples composed of a mixture of leaves and stems. Because leaves and stems have different composition, however, they would be expected to show different mineralization kinetics. The objective of this work was to study C and N mineralization from isloated stems, isolated leaves, and a mix of leaves and stems of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), rye (Secale cereale L.) oat (Avena sativa L.), and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.). Cecil loamy sand soil (clayey, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludult) was packed into acrylic plastic cylinders, adjusted to 55% water-filled porosity, treated with either leaves, stems, or a mix of both (1-cm pieces) on the surface, and incubated at 35°C for 160 d. Air samples for CO 2 and N 2 O determinations were taken periodically and NH 3 evolved was trapped during the first 16 d. Soil columns were leached periodically and leachates were analyzed for N (total and inorganic) and total C. The dynamics of C and N mineralization of a mix of leaves and stems was different from the patterns predicted from isolated leaves and isliated stems. These results indicate a strong interaction between stems and leaves during early stages of decomposition, which may be relevant for prodicting N mineralization from cover crop residues. The best predictors for N mineralization were residue C/N ratio and the reciprocal of residue N concentration


The relationship between brain areas based on neurotransmitter receptor and transporter molecule expression patterns may provide a link between brain structure and its function. Here, we studied the organization of the receptome, a measure of regional neurotransmitter receptor/transporter molecule (NTRM) similarity, derived from in vivo PET imaging studies of 19 different receptors and transporters. Nonlinear dimensionality reduction revealed three main spatial gradients of receptor similarity in the cortex. The first gradient differentiated the somato-motor network from the remaining cortex. The second gradient spanned between temporo-occipital and frontal anchors, differentiating visual and limbic networks from attention and control networks, and the third receptome gradient was anchored between the occipital and temporal cortices. In subcortical structures, the receptome delineated a striato-thalamic axis, separating functional communities. Moreover, we observed similar organizational principles underlying receptome differentiation in cortex and subcortex, indicating a link between subcortical and cortical NTRM patterning. Overall, we found that the cortical receptome shared key organizational traits with brain structure and function. Node-level correspondence of receptor similarity to functional, microstructural, and diffusion MRI-based measures decreased along a primary-to-transmodal gradient. Compared to primary and paralimbic regions, we observed higher receptomic diversification in unimodal and heteromodal regions, possibly supporting functional flexibility. In sum, we show how receptor similarity may form an additional organizational layer of human brain architecture, bridging brain structure and function.


-Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET) is a self configuring, agglomeration of wireless nodes with dynamically changing network topology that formed without using any pre installed infrastructure or any central administrator. Currently MANET technology is not deployed too much spacious hence research in this area is only simulation based. Many parameters are momentous for MANET performance like routing protocols, energy efficiency, security of network and mobility of nodes. This paper presents different mobility models that delineate the movement behaviors of different mobile nodes under different geographic conditions. Random Mobility Models depicts the behavior of MNs that can use random velocity and random direction with memory less behavior. Other models depict the behavior of MNs with spatial dependency, temporal dependency and various geographic restriction or obstacles. KeywordsAdhoc, MANET, MNs, Mobility Models


An amperometric trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) biosensor is reported, where TMAO reductase (TorA) and glucose oxidase (GOD) and catalase (Cat) were immobilized on the electrode surface, enabling measurements of mediated enzymatic TMAO reduction at low potential under ambient air conditions. The oxygen anti-interference membrane composed of GOD, Cat and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel, together with glucose concentration, was optimized until the O2 reduction current of a Clark-type electrode was completely suppressed for at least 3 h. For the preparation of the TMAO biosensor, Escherichia coli TorA was purified under anaerobic conditions and immobilized on the surface of a carbon electrode and covered by the optimized O2 scavenging membrane. The TMAO sensor operates at a potential of −0.8 V vs. Ag/AgCl (1 M KCl), where the reduction of methylviologen (MV) is recorded. The sensor signal depends linearly on TMAO concentrations between 2 µM and 15 mM, with a sensitivity of 2.75 ± 1.7 µA/mM. The developed biosensor is characterized by a response time of about 33 s and an operational stability over 3 weeks. Furthermore, measurements of TMAO concentration were performed in 10% human serum, where the lowest detectable concentration is of 10 µM TMAO.


The kinetics of the reaction of OH radicals with p-cymene has been studied in the temperature range of 243-898 K using a flow reactor combined with a quadrupole mass spectrometer: OH + p-cymene → products. The reaction rate constant was determined as a result of absolute measurements, from OH decay kinetics in excess of p-cymene and employing the relative rate method with OH reactions with n-pentane, n-heptane,1,3-dioxane, HBr, and Br2 as the reference ones. For the rate coefficient of the H atom abstraction channel, the expression k1b = (3.70 ± 0.42) × 10(-11) exp[-(772 ± 72)/T] was obtained over the temperature range of 381-898 K. The total rate constant (addition + abstraction) determined at T = 243-320 K was k1 = (1.82 ± 0.48) × 10(-12) exp[(607 ± 70)/T] or, in a biexponential form, k1 = k1a + k1b = 3.7 × 10(-11) exp(-772/T) + 6.3 × 10(-13) exp(856/T), independent of the pressure between 1 and 5 Torr of helium. In addition, our results indicate that the reaction pathway involving alkyl radical elimination upon initial addition of OH to p-cymene is most probably unimportant.


The purpose of the study is the analysis of the development of the theory and methods of ICT usage while teaching higher mathematics engineering students in the United States. It was determined following tasks: to analyze the problem source, to identify the state of its elaboration, to identify key trends in the development of theory and methods of ICT usage while teaching higher mathematics engineering students in the United States, the object of study – the use of ICT in teaching engineering students, the research methods are: analysis of scientific, educational, technical, historical sources; systematization and classification of scientific statements on the study; specification, comparison, analysis and synthesis, historical and pedagogical analysis of the sources to establish the chronological limits and implementation of ICT usage in educational practice of U.S. technical colleges.
In article was reviewed a modern ICT tools used in learning of fundamental subjects for future engineers in the United States, shown the evolution and convergence of ICT learning tools. Discussed experience of the «best practices» using online ICT in higher engineering education at United States. Some of these are static, while others are interactive or dynamic, giving mathematics learners opportunities to develop visualization skills, explore mathematical concepts, and obtain solutions to self-selected problems.
Among ICT tools are the following: tools to transmit audio and video data, tools to collaborate on projects, tools to support object-oriented practice. The analysis leads to the following conclusion: using cloud-based tools of learning mathematic has become the leading trend today. Therefore, university professors are widely considered to implement tools to assist the process of learning mathematics such properties as mobility, continuity and adaptability.


The aim of this article is to provide information on the systematic approach that has been developed for the measurement of natural radiation exposure and the characterisation of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in terms of occurrence and distribution in various industrial processes, including the produced waste from the mineral industries in Thailand. The approach can be adapted for various types of study areas. The importance of collaboration among research institutions is discussed. Some developments include 25 documents; the redesign of the field equipment, such as the gamma survey meter, for convenient access to conduct measurement in various study areas; the method to collect and analyse radon gas from a natural gas pipeline and the manganese dioxide fibre to adsorb radium on-site for laboratory analysis. The NORM project in Thailand has been carried out for more than 10 y to support the development of NORM regulation in Thailand. In the previous studies as well as current, international standards for action levels have been adopted for safety purpose.


This paper presents a new method to calculate stray capacitance of coil turns of magneto flux cumulative generator. The proposed method depends on the coil geometrical properties. The presented analysis in this paper is based on the calculation of capacitance between two adjacent turns and capacitance between the coil turns and the central cylindrical liner of the generator for a single-layer coil with N series turns having an integrated round cross section. Moreover, the effects of the insulating coating of winding, winding pitch, distance of coil turns to the central cylindrical liner on the stray capacitance, and the sensitivity analysis of effective parameters in the creation of stray capacitance between coil turns and also between coil turns and the central cylindrical liner are considered in this paper. Simulation results show that the proposed method is very useful for the designing geometrical structure of the magneto cumulative generator coil.


Abstract It has been suggested that weapon carrying by adolescents reflects status display, intra-sexual competition, and mating effort. We investigated links between weapon carrying, delinquency, personality, sensational interests, and mating effort in 121 adolescents (M:F = 62:59; mean age = 15.7 years, SD = 2.12). Logistic regression found four predictors of weapon carrying; aggressive identity (OR = .30, 95% CI=.16 – 0.57, p < .001); delinquency (OR = 1.11, 95% CI=1.04 – 1.19, p < .05); low conscientiousness (OR = .80, 95% CI = .68 – .95); and greater military interests (OR=1.22, 95% CI=1.03 – 1.45). Effects of gender, age, hostility, and mating effort on weapon carrying were subsumed by delinquency. These results suggest adolescent weapon carriers tend to be more irresponsible, delinquent, and have a greater interest in aggressive display. However, attitudes to weapon carrying did not explicitly reflect status display, which was primarily attributed to weapon carriers by non-weapon carriers.


Learning where and when Large ungulate migrations occur across continents and inspire curiosity about how these animals know when to leave and where to go. Jesmer et al. took advantage of regional extinctions and reintroductions of several North American ungulate species to determine the role of learning in migrations (see the Perspective by Festa-Bianchet). Reintroduced populations of bighorn sheep and moose did not migrate as historical herds had. However, after several decades, newly established herds were better able to track the emergence of vegetation in the environment and were increasingly migratory. Thus, newly introduced animals learned about their environment and shared the information through social exchange. Science, this issue p. 1023; see also p. 972 Bighorn sheep and moose learn their migration routes through culture and experience. Ungulate migrations are assumed to stem from learning and cultural transmission of information regarding seasonal distribution of forage, but this hypothesis has not been tested empirically. We compared the migratory propensities of bighorn sheep and moose translocated into novel habitats with those of historical populations that had persisted for hundreds of years. Whereas individuals from historical populations were largely migratory, translocated individuals initially were not. After multiple decades, however, translocated populations gained knowledge about surfing green waves of forage (tracking plant phenology) and increased their propensity to migrate. Our findings indicate that learning and cultural transmission are the primary mechanisms by which ungulate migrations evolve. Loss of migration will therefore expunge generations of knowledge about the locations of high-quality forage and likely suppress population abundance.


Disposition effect is a biased behavior of investor, which sells winners too early and rides losers too long. Retail investors may have a disposition effect compared to professional investor because retail investors may lack of expertise or their psychology are affected easily by external factors, such as weather, temperature, mood, etc. Recently, Taiwan suffers from air pollution problem. Does air pollution cause the retail investor's disposition effect? By using multiple regression analysis, this article investigates the relationship between air pollution and retail investor's disposition effect in Taiwan mutual fund market. We divide the market conditions into three states, bull, bear, and neutral. Empirical results revealed that although there is no significant correlation between air pollution and the disposition effect in the overall Taiwan mutual fund market, but the retailer investor's behavior is more conservative as the degree of air pollution increases under the bull and bear markets.


INTRODUCTION
Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC), as a continuous liquid-liquid partition chromatography with no solid support matrix, combined with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) was employed for systematic separation and purification of weak-chromophoric saponins from a highly valued and important traditional Chinese herbal medicine, Panax notoginseng.

OBJECTIVE
To separate and isolate high-purity saponins from extract of Panax notoginseng using CPC-ELSD with a simple and low toxicity solvent system.

METHODOLOGY
Samples were preparaed by extracting the root material with acetone, treated with n-butanol and then freeze-dried. CPC-ELSD was applied in the separation and detection of notoginsenoside and ginsenosides from extract of Panax notoginseng using a solvent system composed of ethyl acetate-n-butanol-water (1:1:2, v/v/v). The saponins were analysed and identified by their retention time with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ELSD, as well as electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS(n) ) in the negative and positive ion modes with the authentic standards.

RESULTS
A total of 9.6 mg of notoginsenoside R₁, 67.8 mg of ginsenoside Rg₁, 2.3 mg of Re and 286.5 mg of Rb₁ were purified from 487.2 mg of n-butanol extract of P. notoginseng. The purities of obtained saponins in a single run were assessed to be over 98% by HPLC-ELSD.

CONCLUSION
CPC-ELSD was proved to be a very fast and efficient tool for separation of high-purity dammarane saponins.


This article investigates the impact of associational participation of migrants on their political integration in Berlin. Using survey data, we focus on the individual level to see whether migrants who are active in German and/or ethnic organisations are better integrated politically. We test the social capital argument that participation in voluntary organisations is beneficial for political integration and investigate the empirical side of the often normatively‐based fear that ethnic self‐organisation is a danger to the integration of ethnic groups in the receiving society. We could not find a clear‐cut answer to this question. Participation in German organisations does indeed support integration, but the effects of participation in ethnic organisations are more ambiguous: migrants active in ethnic organisations are more politically active, but not more interested in German politics, than migrants who are not active in ethnic organisations. Furthermore, we conclude that the mechanisms behind the social capital argument are different for the ethnic groups under study.


Salicylamide has previously been shown to be teratogenic to the rat. Aims of the present study were to examine separate effects and interactions of salicylamide administration and protein restriction on development of the rat fetus. In experiments using Holtzman rats,the percentage of fetal resorptions was significantly increased by drug treatment and by protein restriction. Malformations were seen in fetuses from dams given the drug from the fifth to eleventh days of gestation; the inicdence of these malformations being independent of the diet. Factors affecting appearance of ossification centers included drug dosage, placental and fetal weight and litter size. Protein restriction had no significant effect on the development of centers of ossification. It is concluded that salicylamide, as well as protein restriction, produces adverse effects on pregnancy outcome in the rat.


Summary Asclepias syriaca is an invasive alien plant that has recently spread in Central Europe. The spatiotemporal spread of A. syriaca was reconstructed based on the distribution data for Austria. A. syriaca has increased in abundance and range, especially after the year 2005. At present, the species occurs primarily in eastern Austria (Vienna, Lower Austria), while it was rarely recorded in southern and western Austria. Further spread and range filling is probable. Moreover, the distribution of A. syriaca along roadsides and the role of road type and adjoining land use in facilitating its spread were studied in an area of high presence of the species in Lower Austria in 2018. It was shown that A. syriaca occurred regularly along roadsides and the chance of finding A. syriaca was higher along unpaved roads and along roadsides bordered by forests and grassland. The results indicate that the road network contributes to the spread of A. syriaca in the study area, most likely by providing suitable and well connected habitats. If A. syriaca densities are to be lowered, emphasis should be placed on both a proper roadside management (e.g., mowing regimes) and on the control of the species in the respective adjacent habitat.


Some research has considered whether faith-informed programs help persons with a previous incarceration navigate a life away from crime. Few studies considered whether offense category moderates this relationship. Building upon studies that found a strong association between a prior sexual conviction and participation in religion in prison, we assess whether time spent in humanist, spiritual, and religious (HSR) programs in prison is associated with reconviction, separately for persons convicted of a sex offense and any other offense. Our results revealed that a higher level of participation in HSR programs was associated with a lower likelihood and rate of reconviction; however, this effect was more pronounced for persons with a prior sexual conviction. Supplementary analyses revealed that the use of religion in an extrinsic manner was beneficial, suggesting this group may look to religion to gain social support and overcome rejection and loneliness. Extrinsic religiosity among other groups, however, was associated with an increased risk of reconviction.


CD19 CAR T-cell (CAR-19) therapy have elicited great clinical responses in B-cell malignancies. However, CD19-negative relapse has emerged as a major challenge for the long-term disease control post CAR-19 therapy and conferred a dismal outcome to these pts. Recently, co-targeting of CD19/CD20, CD19/CD22 or CD19/CD123 has been proposed as a strategic approach to overcome antigen loss relapse after CAR-19 therapy. However, the infusion scheme has not yet been defined, the efficacy to avoid antigen escape has not been tested, and its toxicity remains to be assessed. Furthermore, the impact of genetic abnormalities on the outcome post CAR T-cell therapy has not been fully elucidated.
 We conducted an open-label, single-center and single-arm pilot study of sequential infusion of third generation CAR T-cell "cocktail" comprising both anti-CD22 and anti-CD19 CAR T-cells, which was registered with Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR, number ChiCTR-OPN-16008526).
 Between March 2016 and January 2018, a total of 89 eligibility pts completed CAR-22/19 "cocktail" infusion and were included for analysis. Of 89 pts (median age 36 years; range, 9-71), 51 had refractory/relapsed (R/R) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and 38 had R/R B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). The cutoff date for data collection was April 30, 2018, with a median follow-up of 7.6 months (mos) for B-ALL and 5.4 mos for B-NHL.
 CAR-22 and CAR-19 cells were given separately in 2 divided doses (range, 1 to 4 for CAR-22, and 1 to 5 for CAR-19) with a dose-escalation infusion. Eighty-one pts firstly received CAR-22 infusion, and then CAR-19 infusion, while 8 pts received CAR-19 first and CAR-22 later. B-ALL pts received 2.73±1.19×106/kg CAR-22 and 2.61±1.45×106/kg CAR-19; B-NHL pts received instead higher doses, i.e. 5.28±2.44 ×106/kg CAR-22 and 5.14±2.06 ×106/kg CAR-19.
 Of the 50 evaluable B-ALL pts, 48 (96.0%) achieved complete remission (CR)/or CR with incomplete count recovery (CRi) at the day 30 assessment. By sensitive multi-parameter flow cytometry (MFC) assay, 47 (94.0%) achieved MRD-negative CR/CRi. At a median follow-up of 7.6 mos (range, 1.3 to 22.2), the progression-free survival (PFS) of all B-ALL pts was 12.0 mos and the overall survival (OS) was not reached. Of the 13 pts with Ph+ B-ALL, 6 of whom had T315I mutation, 11 (84.6%) achieved MRD-negative CR/CRi. The PFS was 15.4 months, and the OS was not reached at a median follow-up of 13.5 months (range, 3 to 22.5). Of the 6 pts with MLL translocations (mainly MLL-AF6), 66.7% were progression-free and the median PFS was not reached. However, among pts with Ph-like ALL, the PFS was only 4.6 months. A total of 23 pts relapsed, however, antigen loss of CD19 and CD22 was not detected by MFC. Forty-Seven pts (92.2%) experienced cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and 11 (21.6%) had severe CRS (≥ grade 3). Except for 1 pt, all the severe cases were reversible. Seven pts (13.7%) developed neurotoxicity.
 At a minimum follow-up of 3 months, the overall response rate (ORR) and CR rate in 36 evaluable B-NHL pts was 72.2% and 50%, respectively. At the cutoff date for data collection, 50.5% of all pts remained progression-free. A total of 8 pts (26.7%) had relapsed with a median PFS of 2.6 months. Re-biopsy and immunophenotyping was performed in 3 relapsed pts and antigen loss of CD19 or CD22 was not detected. At a median follow-up of 5.4 months (range, 3.0 to 16.2), both PFS and OS of all pts were not reached. Of the 9 pts with MYC translocation, 8 had a response and 7 maintained their responses with a median follow-up of 10.1 months, including all the 4 pts with "double-hit" lymphoma (concurrently carrying MYC and BCL2 or BCL6 translocations). Of the 10 pts with del(17p) or TP53 mutation, 8 (80.0%) had a clinical response. With a median follow-up of 5.3 months, the PFS was 3.3 months, and 45.0% of these pts were progression-free. All the B-NHL pts experienced CRS, but only 21.1% had severe (grade 3 or 4), but reversible CRS and 13.2% developed reversible neurotoxicity.
 In summary, our results indicated that infusion of third generation CD22/19 CAR T-cell "cocktail" is feasible and safe for pts with B-cell malignancies. Co-targeting to CD19/CD22 is a promising approach for overcoming antigen escape relapse of CAR-19 therapy, but this remain to be fully tested. The treatment response predictive value of distinct genetic subtypes for CAR T-cell therapy should be considered for selection of pts for personalized immunotherapy.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


[1] We study the influence of metamorphic dehydration reactions on the stability of slip in a one-dimensional, spring-slider model. The equations that govern the evolution of the velocity of sliding block and of pore pressure and temperature inside the slip zone are deduced from the mass and energy balance of the multiphases saturated medium and from the kinetics of the dehydration reaction. Such reactions induce two competing effects: a direct increase in pore pressure because they release fluid and a limit in temperature increase because part of the frictional heat is absorbed in the endothermic reactions. The effect of the chemical reaction on the stability of stationary slip is studied. Dehydration reactions increase the critical stiffness at which the system becomes unstable. Depending on the sign of the perturbations, it is shown that dehydration reactions can either (1) trigger a catastrophic increase of pore pressure at quasi-constant temperature leading to vanishing effective stress or (2) trigger an arrest of the fault. Numerical simulations demonstrate the crucial role of initial pore pressure and temperature in the slip zone prior to the onset of the chemical reaction on the subsequent evolution of the system. For highly pressurized fault zones, in which the creep motion of the fault is stable in absence of dehydration reactions, the onset of the reaction can trigger transient slip events induced by chemical pressurization. The magnitude of such events appears to be proportional to the reaction progress. We conclude that metamorphic dehydration reactions strongly modify the nucleation of unstable slip and are a possible origin for slow slip events in subduction zones.


Two models (a single-compartment and a two-compartment) capable of predicting the steady state performance of a dual-distributor-type fluidized bed rice husk gasifier under a wide range of operating conditions were developed using the ASPEN PLUS process simulator. The models were based on material balance, energy balance, and chemical equilibrium relations. The single-compartment model neglected the complex hydrodynamic conditions prevalent in the gasifier and has only a single parameter (overall carbon conversion) that can be used to improve the fit between predicted and experimental gas compositions. The two-compartment model takes into consideration these complex hydrodynamic conditions and has two parameters (carbon conversion in the core and annular regions) that can be independently adjusted to account for the effect of various operating and design conditions on the composition of the gasification products. The models could be used to predict the performance of the gasifier when operating on other b...


Activated T cells undergo changes during their transition to T cell blasts and, subsequently, via a phase of anergy, to apoptosis. For example, activated murine T cell blasts express the B-cell-specific CD45R isoform, B220, a marker also present on T cells in mice and humans with defective Fas-mediated apoptosis in vivo, suggesting a role for B220 up-regulation in the transition of activation to apoptosis. Human T cells, activated in vitro with superantigens and mitogens, also express B220 as they undergo blastogenesis and cell cycle progression. B220 expression peaks on T cells undergoing apoptosis. CD43-hexasaccharide glycoform expression and lectin binding profiles indicate that B220 expression is reflective of altered O-linked glycan biosynthesis found in specific T cell subsets transitioning through the phases of proliferation, anergy, and apoptosis. Potential implications of these alterations include changes in lymphocyte adhesion and trafficking and homeostasis through altered sensitivity to Fas-dependent and independent pathways of apoptosis.


SUMMARY Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that interacts with calcium storage organelles and induces calcium-dependent signalling in macrophages. This study was performed to determine whether Toxoplasma induces changes in intracellular calcium in these cells. Ratiometric imaging of live, Fura-2 loaded macrophages challenged with T. gondii revealed robust elevations in intracellular calcium. These elevations were late in onset, beginning 15–20 min after addition of parasites and occurred in up to 20% of macrophages in an imaging field. Further characterization of these events revealed that they follow from challenge with live T. gondii, but not heat-killed parasites or soluble Toxoplasma antigen (STAg). Parasite-induced calcium elevations derived from extracellular sources, and were independent of host recognition factors MyD88 and CCR5. These findings indicate that Toxoplasma gondii alters calcium homeostasis in macrophages and this activity is independent of known pathways involved in the innate recognition of this organism.


VISUALIZING CHANGES IN THE GENOMIC ORGANIZATION OF RETROTRANSPOSONS IN HELIANTHUS HYBRID SPECIES By Spencer Evan Staton A specific class of mobile DNA called Class I transposable elements, or retrotransposons, occupy a large fraction of the genomic DNA in the flowering plants (the Angiosperms). Given that there has been a 5.6 to 23.6-fold increase in copy number of Ty3/gypsy retrotransposons in the genomes of two hybrid sunflower species (Helianthus deserticola, H. paradoxus), I investigated whether these elements have invaded new regions of the hybrid genomes, relative to the parents (H. annuus, H. petiolaris). I use Fluorscence in situ Hybridization (FISH) to compare the genomic organization of these elements in the parents and hybrid species. Here I show a significant expansion of Ty3/gypsy retroelements around the centromeres of two hybrid sunflower species and that retrotransposons are dispersed throughout sunflower genomes. This observation is consistent with the idea that plant genomes accommodate large additions of DNA in primarily heterochromatic regions, and that large plant genomes contain many dispersed retroelements. VISUALIZING CHANGES IN THE GENOMIC ORGANIZATION OF RETROTRANSPOSONS IN HELIANTHUS HYBRID SPECIES


This presentation introduces an innovative, learner-directed Hawaiian language and culture program called Basic Hawaiian. This fun, intergenerational approach to Hawaiian language learning focuses on teaching Hawaiian the natural way, by visiting with and interacting with four virtual Hawaiian characters. Over a two year period, these four kukui, or guides, immerse learners in a Hawaiian language environment, introducing them to specific Hawaiian themes and topics, based on their individual interests and expertise. Collectively, this Hawaiian family shares over 1000 Hawaiian vocabulary, dozens of Hawaiian songs, chants, proverbs and Hawaiian language readings, and introduces learners to traditional protocol and other basic cultural knowledge and practices. Basic Hawaiian teaches learners not only how to communicate in Hawaiian and perpetuate our ancestor's way of speaking, but also their way of thinking and living. Basic Hawaiian is grounded in a distinctly Hawaiian Pedagogy of Aloha. Tested with thousands of Hawaiian students on multiple islands, this pedagogy confirms that when Hawaiian students feel safe, when they feel loved and respected, they become empowered to leave their comfort zones and attain unprecedented levels of excellence. Basic Hawaiian fosters learning in a safe, familial environment, by requiring each learner to join other interested Hawaiian language learners to form a small, 3-5 person family of learners. This learning 'ohana meets regularly to practice speaking Hawaiian and demonstrate their progress to others. As a 21st century approach to language learning, Basic Hawaiian integrates technology at a very high level. Learners discover Hawaiian language and culture via innovative online lessons, which can be practiced with accompanying i-Phone apps. In addition, learners get their hands dirty, practicing the language in the environment with their learning 'ohana. These small group activities, range from gathering lei materials in Hawaiian, to cooking in Hawaiian. By learning Hawaiian language and traditional Hawaiian cultural practices together, learners see the connections between culture and language, and how our language reflects our traditions and values. Basic Hawaiian wants to benefit Hawaiian families, communities and organizations by letting learners determine when, where , with whom and how fast they want to learn how to speak Hawaiian. While Basic Hawaiian is first and foremost a Hawaiian language revitalization effort, an ongoing research component is resulting in the acquisition of significant data that is being used to advance theories on Indigenous language acquisition, as well as the use of technology in language teaching.


Abstract. Interception is the storage and subsequent evaporation of rainfall by above-ground structures, including canopy and groundcover vegetation and surface litter. Accurately quantifying interception is critical for understanding how ecosystems partition incoming precipitation, but it is difficult and costly to measure, leading most studies to rely on modeled interception estimates. Moreover, forest interception estimates typically focus only on canopy storage, despite the potential for substantial interception by groundcover vegetation and surface litter. In this study, we developed an approach to quantify total interception losses (i.e., including forest canopy, understory, and surface litter layers) using measurements of shallow soil moisture dynamics during rainfall events. Across 36 pine and mixed forest stands in Florida (USA), we used soil moisture and rainfall data to estimate the interception storage capacity (βs), a parameter required to estimate total annual interception losses (Ia) relative to rainfall (R). Estimated values for βs (mean βs = 0.30 cm; 0.01 ≤ βs ≤ 0.62 cm) and Ia/R (mean Ia/R = 0.14; 0.06 ≤ Ia/R ≤ 0.21) were consistent with reported literature values for these ecosystems and were significantly predicted by forest structural attributes (leaf area index and percent groundcover), as well as other site variables (e.g., water table depth). The best-fit model was dominated by LAI and explained nearly 80 % of observed βs variation. These results suggest that whole-forest interception can be measured using a single near-surface soil moisture time series and highlight the variability in interception losses across a single forest type, underscoring the need for expanded empirical measurement. Potential cost savings and logistical advantages of this method relative to conventional, labor-intensive interception measurements may improve empirical estimation of this critical water budget element.


Background: Allergy results from inappropriate immune responses to normally innocuous proteins. More than 300 IgE-binding proteins have been cloned and shown to cover structurally and functionally heterogeneous protein families including enzymes, backbone and storage proteins as well as proteins with unknown function. Structurally related cross-reactive allergens are involved in the pathogenesis of important clinical syndromes. We found that phylogenetically highly conserved proteins, including human manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), are involved in IgE-mediated autoreactivity. Methods: MnSOD cloned from different phylogenetically distant species were produced as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli and used to study IgE-mediated cross-reactivity and proliferative responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of individuals sensitised to Aspergillus fumigatus MnSOD. Homology models of the three-dimensional structures of MnSOD from A. fumigatus, Drosophila melanogaster and Saccharomyces cerevisiae using the human MnSOD structure refined at 2.2 Å as template were constructed to identify conserved amino acid residues exposed to the solvent. Results: Cross-reactivity between the MnSOD at B and T cell level was demonstrated by inhibition experiments showing shared B cell epitopes and by the capability of the different MnSODs to induce proliferative responses in PBMCs of sensitised individuals. Structural modelling allowed to identify conserved residues exposed to the solvent. The identified residues are scattered over the sequence of the enzyme indicating putative conformational IgE-binding epitopes. Conclusions: The results obtained corroborate molecular mimicry as a plausible mechanism to explain autoreactivity to human MnSOD. Moreover, homology modelling provides a rational tool to identify conserved residues involved in defining cross-reactive B cell epitopes.


Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has recognized psychological abuse as a precursor of physical and sexual violence in intimate relationships. However, risk factors in predicting women's psychological abuse victimization in such a context are still unclear. The goal of the present work was to investigate the role of ambivalent sexism on psychological IPV victimization, by taking into account in the same study the effect of three additional social-psychological factors: women's (i) attitudes supportive of IPV, (ii) endorsement of legitimating myths of IPV, and (iii) acceptance of psychological aggression in intimate relationships. A total of 408 Italian young women (Mage = 23.87; SD = 2.39) involved in non-marital heterosexual romantic relationships completed measures aimed at assessing (i) hostile and benevolent sexism, (ii) attitudes supportive of IPV, (iii) legitimating myths of IPV, (iv) prevalence of psychological abuse experienced within the last 12 months, and performed a task developed ad hoc to measure, and (v) acceptance of psychological aggression in intimate relationships. Results showed that the effect of ambivalent sexism on participants' prevalence of psychological abuse was mediated by the endorsement of attitudes supportive of IPV and legitimating myths of IPV, as well as by acceptance of psychological aggression. Findings are discussed based on literature about ambivalent sexism, and attitudes and beliefs about IPV.


. Three companion systems, Claudien, ICL and Tilde, are presented. They use a common representation for examples and hypotheses: each example is represented by a relational database. This contrasts with the classical inductive logic programming systems such as Progol and Foil. It is argued that this representation is closer to attribute value learning and hence more natural. Furthermore, the three systems can be considered (cid:12)rst order upgrades of typical data mining systems, which induce association rules, classi(cid:12)cation rules or decision trees respectively.


Saethre-Chotzen, Crouzon, and Jackson-Weiss syndromes are craniosynostotic autosomal dominant conditions with a wide variability in expression. Saethre-Chotzen has been mapped to chromosome 7p by L. A. Brueton et al. (1992, J. Med. Genet. 29: 681-685), the Greig cephalopolysyndactyly gene was identified at 7p13 by A. Vortkamp et al. (1991, Nature 352: 539-540), and many cases of craniosynostosis have been associated with 7p deletions. We confirmed linkage of the Saethre-Chotzen syndrome locus to chromosome 7p. The tightest linkage was to locus D7S493 (Z = 5.04, theta = 0.00), and linkage and haplotype analyses refined the location of the gene to the region between D7S513 and D7S516. Jackson-Weiss and Crouzon syndrome loci were analyzed using markers spanning the entire 7p arm and were excluded, proving that they are nonallelic to Saethre-Chotzen, Greig cephalopolysyndactyly, and the del(7p) syndromes.


Tax avoidance is an effort by taxpayers to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in the tax law so that taxpayers can pay lower taxes. If tax evasion activities are carried out in accordance with tax laws, then these activities are legal and acceptable activities. This study aims to determine and analyze how much influence Tax Pressure (X1), Independent Commissioner (X2), has on Tax Avoidance (Y) in Construction, Property and Real Estate companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The method used in this study is quantitative using secondary data in the form of annual financial statements of construction, property and real estate companies in the 2016-2020 period. The analysis technique used is panel data regression. Based on the results of research and analysis of Financial Pressure (X1) which is proxied by ROA has a significant effect on Tax Avoidance in Construction, Property and Real Estate companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, and Independent Commissioners have no effect on Tax Avoidance in Construction, Property and Real Estate companies on the Stock Exchange. Indonesian Effect.


RGBT tracking usually suffers from various challenge factors, such as fast motion, scale variation, illumination variation, thermal crossover and occlusion, to name a few. Existing works often study fusion models to solve all challenges simultaneously, and it requires fusion models complex enough and training data large enough, which are usually difficult to be constructed in real-world scenarios. In this work, we disentangle the fusion process via the challenge attributes, and thus propose a novel Attribute-based Progressive Fusion Network (APFNet) to increase the fusion capacity with a small number of parameters while reducing the dependence on large-scale training data. In particular, we design five attribute-specific fusion branches to integrate RGB and thermal features under the challenges of thermal crossover, illumination variation, scale variation, occlusion and fast motion respectively. By disentangling the fusion process, we can use a small number of parameters for each branch to achieve robust fusion of different modalities and train each branch using the small training subset with the corresponding attribute annotation. Then, to adaptive fuse features of all branches, we design an aggregation fusion module based on SKNet. Finally, we also design an enhancement fusion transformer to strengthen the aggregated feature and modality-specific features. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our APFNet against other state-of-the-art methods.


Background: Women empowerment is a powerful determinant of their own, children's and their families' health. Perhaps, due to this fact, promotion of gender equality and empowering women was kept as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Objective: The present analysis was undertaken to study the effect of women empowerment on health of women, family planning and various health indicators of children.Methods: Available data from National Surveys in India, various research studies and evidences from published global studies were gathered and further analyzed.Results: Census 2011 (India) have shown that states having higher women literacy, like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra (75%), have better positive indicators of health than states like Rajasthan with 53 % literacy. NFHS -3 (India) showed that empowered women had better access to maternal services (76 %), more use of contraception (66.6%) and resultantly, had lower neonatal mortality (36%). As against this, for less empowered women, access to maternal services (72 %) is low, lesser use of contraception (44%) and relatively higher neonatal mortality (43%). A systematic analysis of 175 countries (Lancet, 2010) has established that increase in women education decreases under five child mortality.Conclusions: Investments in women's employment, health and education, are correlated with a range of positive outcomes, including greater economic growth and children's health and survival.


: Efavirenz (SUSTIVA, formerly DMP 266), is being made available to AIDS patients who are failing or are intolerant of their current regimen, and who have no other options available. Patients must have a CD4 count less than or equal to 50 within the last 90 days. Excluded concomitant medications and other restrictions are provided. Efavirenz should be used with at least one other antiviral to which the patient has not been exposed, and the failing regimen should be changed entirely. Patients may also be receiving treatment on other expanded access programs. Efavirenz will be provided at no charge, but patients may have to pay for blood work and any other expenses.


We present a novel approach to intrinsically mitigate the heat dissipated in Raman lasers due to the pump-Stokes quantum defect. We explain the principle of this so-called coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS)-based heat mitigation, which is based on decreasing the amount of phonons created in the Raman medium by increasing the ratio of the number of anti- Stokes photons to the number of Stokes photons coupled out of the Raman laser. In addition, we discuss the influence of heat sources, other than the quantum defect, of the CARS-related phase mismatch, and of backward Raman scattering on our CARS-based heat-mitigation technique. Furthermore, we explain how these heat-mitigation-affecting factors should be managed to enhance the effectiveness of our technique. Finally, to illustrate the feasibility of obtaining efficient CARS-based heat mitigation, we discuss to what extent the described effectiveness-enhancing methods can be applied to near- and mid-infrared silicon-based Raman lasers.


The information explosion on the internet makes high demand on search engine. But the existing search engines are not satisfying the user's needs. Most of the search engines returns irrelevant document in response to the user search query. Sometimes the search query may be imperfect description. For such imperfect query the search engine cannot retrieve relevant document to the user's needs inferring user search goal can improve search engine relevance and user search experience. In this paper propose a new method to infer user search goal by analysing search engine query logs. For better performance construct a feedback session from click through logs of search engine and map these sessions in to corresponding pseudo documents for clustering. By using clusters organize the search results according to the user relevance. By using CAP algorithm optimize the number of clusters and evaluate the performance of inferring user search goal.


The paper aims at discussing the major issues relating to the current transformation of special education systems to an inclusive system which has an impact on the area of speech and language therapy (SLT) intervention, conceived as a collaborative discipline that focuses not only on isolated speech disorders, but also on symptomatic speech disorders and related problems. It also describes the role of universities in the undergraduate education of speech and language therapists in the context of interdisciplinary collaboration and working with people with special needs.