By March 2020, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) had spread globally and COVID (coronavirus disease)-19 had been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The low number of cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan as of May 2020 highlights the effectiveness of nonpharmaceutical measures to contain spread of the virus. Most (79.4%) of the COVID-19 cases in Taiwan have been imported. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, transmission of the SARS-CoV virus was reported in airplane cabins, and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has also been reported in aircraft. It is therefore important to detect imported cases at airports during the containment stage to fight COVID-19. However, the efficacy of airport sentinel surveillance for COVID-19 has not clearly been identified. Since 2003 (the year of the SARS epidemic), noncontact infrared thermometer-based screening systems have been used for rapid, noncontact surveillance for febrile passengers arriving at all international airports in Taiwan. Cases of dengue are recorded in Taiwan every year, with the dengue strain in Taiwan being the same as the epidemic strain in southeast Asia. Therefore, febrile passengers coming from dengue-endemic countries to Kaohsiung International Airport (KIA) have been requested to receive testing for dengue since 2007. From 2007 to 2010, 3.3% to 14% of dengue cases in Taiwan were detected by fever surveillance measures at airports. From 2018 to 2019, there were 11 720 175 inbound passengers at KIA, of whom 1218 (0.01%) were identified as being febrile by the system. A total of 776 cases were tested for dengue, and 13 (1.675%) were positive (data from Kaohsiung Health Bureau). The early detection of imported tropical diseases, including dengue, with fever surveillance at airports lowers the risk of dengue transmission to the community. As mentioned, the airport fever surveillance protocol was initiated due to the SARS outbreak in 2003. However, COVID-19 can be transmitted by people who have mild or asymptomatic infections, which makes the syndromic detection of COVID-19 cases difficult. In 2020, COVID-19 screening stations were set up at airports close to hospitals to provide services for travelers from COVID-19 endemic areas. The Taiwan Public Health authority also set up temporary on-site COVID-19 screening stations in international airports when the number of imported cases was high. The airport COVID-19 screening station at KIA ran from February 26 to March 17. A total of 129 persons were sampled, none of whom were positive. However, 138 (39.3%) of the 351 imported cases in Taiwan were detected at the screening station in Taoyuan International Airport, which is the main gateway of international travel in Taiwan (data from June 5, 2020: https:// at.cdc.tw/8EM667). These findings revealed that sentinel surveillance at airports detected 3.3% to 14% of dengue cases and 29.2% of imported COVID19 cases in Taiwan, even though a high number of passengers were screened and the positive rate of symptomatic passengers was low. In addition to sentinel surveillance, other interventions at airports such as onboard quarantine announcements and home quarantine notices delivered to each passenger highlight the multidisciplinary measures at national gates required to effectively prevent the spread of SARSCoV-2, especially during the containment stage of pandemic control.


During N2-O2 simulated saturation at a depih of 36.5 m the frequency, amplitude and index of a waves decreased and the activities of β and θ wave increased on the EEGs at rest. After the pressure was decompressed to normal, they could recover to the predive level. During the air excursion diving at depths of 60 and 70 m , the paramenters of EEG approximated to those of N2-O2 exposure. But at that time of the air excursion diving at a depth of 75 m they appeared the maximum. This showed that the changes related to the nitrogen partial pressure. There was an increase in slow waves during the simulated N2-O2 saturation. The activities of slow wave decreased on the EEGs in case of hyperventilation. The photic scimulation to the eyes caused the slow wave to disappear, and a rhythm could recover temporarily. When the photic stimulation was over the slow rhythm reappeared on the EEG. All the changes in EEG indicated that the encephalon function of the human body showed a gradual adaptation process during the exposure to N2-O2 at a depth of 36.5 m for 26 days.


Although sleep problems at young ages are well investigated, the prevalence of bad sleepers and the determinants of sleep quality perception remain unexplored in these populations. For this purpose, we addressed these issues in a sample of children (n = 307), preadolescents (n = 717), and adolescents (n = 406) who completed the School Sleep Habits Survey, addressing sleep quality perception, sleep habits, sleep features, daytime behavior and sleep disturbances, circadian preference, and dreaming. The sample was split in "good sleepers" and "bad sleepers", based on the answer to the question item assessing overall subjective sleep quality. Being a bad sleeper was reported by 11.7% of the sample, with significant between-groups differences (children: 8.3%; preadolescents: 11.3%; adolescents: 15.3%; p = 0.01). At all ages, relative to good sleepers, bad sleepers showed higher eveningness, sleepiness, and depression, longer sleep latency, more frequent insufficient sleep, nocturnal awakenings, sleep–wake behavioral problems, and unpleasant dreams (all p's ≤ 0.01). Sleep quality perception was predicted: in children, by depressed mood, eveningness, and unpleasant dreams (all p's ≤ 0.01); in preadolescents, by sleep latency, awakening frequency, depressed mood, sufficiency of sleep, and unpleasant dreams (all p's < 0.01); in adolescents, by awakening frequency, depressed mood, and sufficiency of sleep (all p's < 0.001). In children, bad subjective sleep quality appears to be mainly determined by daytime psychological features, for example, depressed mood, whereas at later ages, sleep characteristics, such as frequent awakenings, add to the former determinants. This could depend on (a) the appearance, with increasing age, of objective sleep modifications and (b) a greater attention paid by adolescents to their sleep characteristics.


Summary The Middle Devonian was a period of peak Palaeozoic faunal diversity (if numbers of known marine genera and families are taken as a guide), yet by the middle of the Upper Devonian large numbers of formerly abundant groups had become extinct. It was an extremely impoverished fauna which survived to give rise to Carboniferous stocks. The pattern and timing of these extinctions is examined, as far as published data allow, for the major ecological regimes, in the light of the analysis and dating of facies movements which formed the subject of a previous Address (House, 1975). Near-shore vagrant groups seem less affected by these changes than faunas of shelf and basinal environments. Transgressions near the Lower/Middle Devonian boundary led to the widespread establishment of equable carbonate regimes in tropical regions which allowed substantial faunal diversification. Transgressions in the early Upper Devonian led to the progressive attenuation of reef complexes and to their near global termination before the close of the Frasnian. Many specialised reef and associated organisms became extinct as a result. It is argued that once the protecting influence of platform edge carbonates was lost, the effect on organisms living in the shelf environments was considerable, especially among suspension feeders. This may be an explanation for the extinction of several major brachiopod groups near the Frasnian/Famennian boundary. Changes near the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary led to the extinction of the clymenid ammonoids and the phacopid trilobites. The need for future multidisciplinary and international cooperation in the study of these problems is stressed.


During the 1st and 2nd stages of the commissioning of the upgrade project of the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC II), which started on Nov. 12, 2006 and Oct. 24, 2007, respectively, we got the luminosity one tenth of its design value, provided beams to synchrotron radiation users for about 4 months, and studied beam dynamics as well. In this paper, some beam dynamics studies on the storage rings and their preliminary results are given.


A 42-year-old man came to the emergency department because of acute pain on the left side of the chest. Physical examination, ECG and blood tests revealed no abnormalities. With a CT scan of the thorax we made the diagnosis: 'pericardial fat necrosis'. This is a very rare, self-limiting disease.


Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws) is the main forest tree species cultivated in Patagonia without irrigation. Its productive potentiality and the surface available for afforestation with it indicate the species will continue to be among the first forest tree alternatives in the region, what makes essential to assure the availability of seeds with adequate genetic quality. In the last decade, a set of commercial stands acted as seed sources although they have never been genetically tested. The aim of the present study is to evaluate those stands by testing their progeny. In this first report we present the results at the nursery stage. We as sayed 31 local seed sources in two sites. Total height and stem diameter at the root collar were measured in two-year-old seedlings. Provenance X site interaction was shown by means of ANOVA, and also differences among seed sources within each site. Rankings were subsequently built for each trial and trait separately. Pair-wise comparisons were performed, and homogeneous groups were built. Genotypic stability of each seed


With the fast growth of mobile computing and Web technologies, offensive language has become more prevalent on social networking platforms. Since offensive language identification in local languages is essential to moderate the social media content, in this paper we work with three Dravidian languages, namely Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada, that are under-resourced. We present an evaluation task at FIRE 2020- HASOC-DravidianCodeMix and DravidianLangTech at EACL 2021, designed to provide a framework for comparing different approaches to this problem. This paper describes the data creation, defines the task, lists the participating systems, and discusses various methods.


Abstract. Road furniture semantic labelling is vital for large scale mapping and autonomous driving systems. Much research has been investigated on road furniture interpretation in both 2D images and 3D point clouds. Precise interpretation of road furniture in mobile laser scanning data still remains unexplored. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to interpret road furniture based on their logical relations and functionalities. Our work represents the most detailed interpretation of road furniture in mobile laser scanning data. 93.3 % of poles are correctly extracted and all of them are correctly recognised. 94.3 % of street light heads are detected and 76.9 % of them are correctly identified. Despite errors arising from the recognition of other components, our framework provides a promising solution to automatically map road furniture at a detailed level in urban environments.


Allele specific polymerase chain reaction (Standard PCR) is being widely used to amplify Wolbachia DNA from arthropods. Preliminary tests with Wolbachia allele-specific polymerase chain reaction suggested that the assays were prone to false negative results in insects. Standard PCR frequently produced false negative results, perhaps due to low titer Wolbachia DNA mixed with host genomic DNA. On the other hand, another PCR protocol, Long PCR which uses proof reading enzyme consistently amplified Wolbachia DNA and revealed that 49% of 35 arthropod species tested positive for Wolbachia which is considerably higher than the rate of 31% obtained in Standard PCR. An attempt has been made in this study to compare both Standard and Long PCR and to evaluate Long PCR as a technique for amplifying Wolbachia DNA from a diverse array of arthropods.


Visible and near infrared extinction spectra of gold nanorod regular arrays exhibit several bands assigned to high multipolar order plasmon resonances. These up to ninth order multipolar resonances generate surface enhanced Raman scattering spectra with typically 5 x 10(4) enhancement which is of similar magnitude as those obtained for dipolar excitations.


Introduction: We herein report a case of idiopathic unilateral external torsion of the tibia treated with Taylor spatial frame (TSF) fixation combined with performance of the wake-up test under anesthesia. The wake-up test is performed toward the end of a surgical procedure after all corrections have been made and hardware has been placed. The patient is slowly awakened and asked to move their feet. After recovery from anesthesia, patients do not remember performing this test. Case Report: A 17-year-old Japanese male patient complained of a gait disturbance because of external torsion of his foot. The patient was determined to have lateral tibial torsion with a pre-operative foot progression angle of 40.8°. Deformity correction using the TSF was considered to be safe. The tibia was derotated by −34.8°, and the patient had a post-operative foot progression angle of 7.0°. His symptoms and signs improved after derotation osteotomy at the low tibial portion. Two years postoperatively, the patient exhibited no leg length discrepancy or rotation malalignment of the lower extremities as measured both clinically and radiographically. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on the combined use of the TSF and wake-up test for acute correction of idiopathic external torsion of the tibia. Intraoperative use of the wake-up test with subsequent TSF fixation is effective and safe for acute correction of limb deformities.


The objective of this presentation is to evaluate recent patterns in the local treatment of breast cancer in the United States. We will concentrate on 3 specific trends: 1) mastectomy/breast-conserving surgery (BCS) rates; 2) contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) rates; and 3) use of radiation therapy (RT) after BCS. Although some single-institutional studies have reported that mastectomy rates have recently increased, a recent population-based study reported that the rates of BCS have remained stable or slightly increased over the past decade in the United States. Both single-institutional and population-based studies have reported that CPM rates have markedly increased in recent years. On the other hand, unilateral mastectomy rates have decreased. Despite the potential benefit of RT after BCS, population-based studies indicate that an increasing number of women are not receiving RT after BCS, particularly high-risk women. These trends have important potential untoward consequences, including overtreatment for some patients and undertreatment for others. Several strategies are being developed to ensure adequate local therapy for breast cancer patients. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr MS2-1.


EntoSim is a software aimed to collect different physiologically based models describing the life cycle of ectotherms and, more specifically, of insect pests. It is developed in an open-source framework including the ROOT's software libraries in a C/C++ programming language, with the purpose of an easy diffusion and compatibility. EntoSim could be used in model development and validation and in decision making frameworks, to support farmers and technicians to formulate low-impact control strategies. The growing availability, in literature, of physiologically based models and their utilisation in plant protection, led to explore the latest computer technologies that could be applied in entomology. This led to a significant revision of the EntoSim philosophy and structure. This work, therefore, aims to describe this conceptual and operational change, and its implications on EntoSim in order to: i) increase the number of options available to the users, ii) simplify the software development and iii) increase software dissemination and adoption. These three points led to the addition of two more population density models within EntoSim, and to the creation of the first Docker image available in a public repository for entomological purposes, to make its deployment faster. In this regard, the code structure was reorganised in modules corresponding to each EntoSim function; the graphical part was developed and implemented using Python language so that results are visualized directly in a web browser page. All the EntoSim dependencies were included into a Docker image, using Linux CentOS as base operating system.


Abstract Our purpose was to summarize the literature on the diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of orthopaedic special tests for the talocrual ligaments and to assess the diagnostic accuracy of clinical tests used to diagnose talocrual joint ligament injuries. A systematic search of eight electronic databases was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Retrieved articles were screened by title, abstract and full text. Studies that met all inclusion criteria were assessed using the QUADAS tool. Specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated. The search retrieved 3283 articles of which a final total of five met the inclusion criteria. All five articles assessed the anterior drawer test (ADT), while two articles also assessed the talar tilt test (TTT). Specificity for the ADT assessed by arthrography ranged from 67.3 to 93.9 and sensitivity from 12 to 89.0, with minimal to small + LR and minimal to moderate –LR post-test probability. The TTT was also found to have a high specificity but low sensitivity. The ADT and TTT may have utility in the early diagnosis of ankle-ligament injuries especially when they are positive and associated with clinical findings. They should not be relied upon when returning negative results, suggesting further assessment may be warranted. Despite their common clinical use, there is limited literature available on the validity of common clinical tests of ankle stability and more research is required to further evaluate their accuracy.


Nanostructured titania was synthesized by colloidal and polymeric sol-gel routes. Stable colloidal and polymeric titania sols were prepared by adjusting the proper values of the acid/alkoxide and the water/alkoxide molar ratios. The properties of sols were determined by dynamic light scattering technique and synthesized titania was characterized by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, optical microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The results showed particle size distribution of colloidal sol 10-50 nm compared to polymeric one which was 0.5-2 nm. Phase analysis of the colloidal sample revealed anatase as the major phase up to 550 °C, while the polymeric route resulted only anatase phase up to 750 °C. On the basis of results, titania prepared by the polymeric route showed better thermal stability against phase transformation than the sample prepared by the colloidal route. Also, microstructural studies showed that titania nanopowder can be produced by both sol-gel routes.


Western European national policies increasingly portray diversity as negative and migrants as 'others' who do not belong to the national community. This article examines how local governments articulate alternative discourses of belonging based on residents' shared membership in the civic life of the city. In a Dutch case study, the ways in which local policymakers diverge from exclusionary national narratives are examined. It is argued that discourses about urban citizenship offer opportunities for the inclusion of migrants by drawing new boundaries between 'good' citizens and those who are unwilling to participate.


The medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) is a progenitor domain in the subpallium that produces both locally-projecting interneurons which undergo tangential migration in structures such as the cortex as well as long-range projection neurons that occupy subcortical nuclei. Very little is known about the transcriptional mechanisms specifying the migratory behavior and axonal projection patterns of these two broad classes of MGE-derived neurons. In this study, we identify St18 as a novel transcriptional determinant specifying projection neuron fate in the MGE lineage. St18 is transiently expressed in the MGE subventricular zone (SVZ) and mantle, and we assessed its function using an ES cell-based model of MGE development. Induction of St18 is sufficient to direct ES-derived MGE neurons to adopt a projection neuron-like identity as defined by migration and morphology. Using genetic loss-of-function in mice, we find that St18 is required for the production of globus pallidus pars externa (GPe) prototypic projection neurons. Single cell RNA sequencing revealed that St18 regulates MGE output of specific neuronal populations: in the absence of St18, we observe a large expansion of cortical interneurons at the expense of putative GPe neurons. Through gene expression analysis we identified a downstream effector of St18, Cbx7, which is a component of Polycomb repressor complex 1. We find that Cbx7 is essential for projection neuron-like migration and is not involved in St18-mediated projection neuron-like morphology. Our results characterize a novel transcriptional determinant that directs GPe prototypic projection neuron identity. Further, we identified a downstream target of St18, Cbx7, which regulates only the migratory behavior of long-range projection neurons, suggesting that specific features of MGE projection neuron identity may be governed in a compartmentalized fashion by distinct transcriptional modules downstream of St18.


Current rates and levels of global urbanization processes are unprecedented in history and threaten to put acute stress on remote ecosystems as well as on the capacity of social, economic and ecological systems in cities to deliver the necessary services for human wellbeing. By 2050, the world population is expected to increase to 9.3 billion from 7.1 billion in 2013. During this same period, urban populations will increase to 6.3 billion from 3.6 billion. As urban populations will consume most of the planets ecosystem services (Grimm et al., 2008), experiences and attitudes of urban dwellers are potentially pivotal in a time when democracies desperately seek a transition towards a sustainable stewardship of the biosphere (Colding & Barthel, 2013). The gravity of the issue is about whether urban citizens of tomorrow will be willing to support something they no longer regard as directly relevant to their lives (Bendt et al., 2013). It has been suggested that the early stages of childhood are critical time-windows for the development of an emotional bond with nature and lifelong commitments (Chawla, 1998; Kellert, 2002). Alarmingly, urbanization seems to sever perceived and experienced relations between people and nature as modern life-styles are adopted and as the accessibility to physically engage with natural environments is reduced (Stokes, 2006; Theodori et al., 1998). The literature specifies that absence of first hand nature experiences hinder development of cognitive and emotional frames, which in turn underpin attitudes and pro-environmental behavior (Schultz 2000; Dunlap et al. 2000; Kals et al., 1999). This alienation process has been termed the 'extinction-of-experience' (Miller, 2005; Pyle, 1978), a sort of ongoing generational amnesia among city peoples about their relationships to, and dependence upon, diverse ecosystems (Kahn, 2002; Barthel et al. 2013). Does the design of green spaces in metropolitan landscape have a role in the establishment of cognitive and emotional attributes of urban citizens that go in line with pro-environmental behaviour? Colding and Barthel (2013) recognized the need for thinking about 'cognitive resilience building' in relation to the above issue, and they hence put tremendous responsibility on the professions of urban scholars, designers and planners for producing urban spaces that can foster potentials for producing positive affections towards diverse ecosystems. This session will discuss the spatial and temporal scales at which nature experiences in cities occur, and how such knowledge may help urban developers to include nature experiences in the built environment, and in the daily routines of urban dwellers. We welcome contributions that critically examine the observed and potential role of accessibility, quality and frequency of people to engage with natural environments in cities, and how such interactions may play ∗Speaker †Corresponding author: firstname.lastname@example.com sciencesconf.org:resilience2014:24183 a role for the development of cognitive frames, affections and social memories about peoples relations to non-humans species, ecosystems and ultimately to the Biosphere. We aim for a broad coverage of empirical cases and invite historians, architects, ecologists, geographers, anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists as well as other scholars to participate in the session and submit a paper proposal.


The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the largest anti-poverty program in the U.S. In 1993, the EITC benefit levels were changed significantly based on the number of children in the family such that families with two or more children experienced an exogenous expansion in their incomes. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort, we employ a triple differences plus Fixed-Effects framework to examine the effect of this change on the probability of smoking among low-educated mothers. We find that the probability of smoking for white and Hispanic low-educated mothers of two or more children decreased statistically significantly relative to those with only one child, and the results are robust to various specification tests. These results provide new evidence on the protective effect of income on health through changes in health behaviors, and therefore have important policy implications.


Future climate change is expected to significantly alter the growth of vegetation in grassland systems, in terms of length of the growing season, forage production, and climate-altering gas emissions. The main objective of this work was, therefore, to simulate the future impacts of foreseen climate change in the context of two pastoral systems in the central Italian Apennines and test different adaptation strategies to cope with these changes. The PaSim simulation model was, therefore, used for this purpose. After calibration by comparison with observed data of aboveground biomass (AGB) and leaf area index (LAI), simulations were able to produce various future outputs, such as length of growing season, AGB, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for two time windows (i.e., 2011–2040 and 2041–2070) using 14 global climate models (GCMs) for the generation of future climate data, according to RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios under business-as-usual management (BaU). As a result of increasing temperatures, the fertilizing effect of CO2, and a similar trend in water content between present and future, simulations showed a lengthening of the season (i.e., mean increase: +8.5 and 14 days under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively, for the period 2011–2040, +19 and 31.5 days under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively, for the period 2041–2070) and a rise in forage production (i.e., mean biomass peak increase of the two test sites under BaU: +53.7% and 62.75% for RCP4.5. and RCP8.5, respectively, in the 2011–2040 period, +115.3% and 176.9% in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 in 2041–2070, respectively,). Subsequently, three different alternative management strategies were tested: a 20% rise in animal stocking rate (+20 GI), a 15% increase in grazing length (+15 GL), and a combination of these two management factors (+20 GI×15 GL). Simulation results on alternative management strategies suggest that the favorable conditions for forage production could support the increase in animal stocking rate and grazing length of alternative management strategies (i.e., +20 GI, +15 GL, +20 GI×15 GL). Under future projections, net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and nitrogen oxide (N2O) emissions decreased, whereas methane (CH4) rose. The simulated GHG future changes varied in magnitude according to the different adaptation strategies tested. The development and assessment of adaptation strategies for extensive pastures of the Central Apennines provide a basis for appropriate agricultural policy and optimal land management in response to the ongoing climate change.


Chronic kidney disease—mineral and bone disease (CKD—MBD) is associated with uraemic bone disease, vascular calcification, reduced quality of life and reduced survival. This study evaluated the efficacy of parathyroidectomy (PTX) with autotransplantation in improving short-term and long-term outcomes. Dialysis patients who underwent PTX showed significantly more favourable biochemical parameters after PTX. These changes were accompanied by a lower coronary artery calcification score, reduced thickness of the intimae media and comparable bone mineral density measures compared with control dialysis patients who did not undergo PTX. Despite the risk of a substantially lower intact parathyroid hormone level postoperatively that might lead to adynamic bone disease, none of the patients reported clinical signs of this disease, such as bone pain or fractures. In conclusion, PTX with autotransplantation led to improvement of CKD—MBD so may be considered in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism that is resistant to treatment with vitamin D analogues and calcimimetics.


This paper proposes efficient hardware architecture to accelerate the deblocking filter for H. 264/JVT/AVC. Deblocking filter operations could be fulfilled for real-time with high clock frequency in the previous method, because loading, storing and filtering operations are processed on different cycles. This paper proposes a new architecture that executes loading/storing operations and filtering operations concurrently. The experimental result shows that the proposed architecture can save 38% of the total consuming cycle compared to the conventional method, and the new architecture makes the deblocking filter operation with the possibility of real time


Certain gambling operators now provide social responsibility tools to help players gamble more responsibly. One such innovation is the use of pop-up messages that aim to give feedback to the players about the time and money they have thus far spent gambling. Most studies of this innovation have been conducted in laboratory settings, and although controlled studies are indeed more reliable than real-world studies, the non-ecological validity of laboratory studies is still an issue. This study investigated the effects of a slot machine pop-up message in a real gambling environment by comparing the behavioural tracking data of two representative random samples of 400,000 gambling sessions before and after the pop-up message was introduced. The study comprised approximately 200,000 gamblers. The results indicated that, following the viewing of a pop-up message after 1000 consecutive gambles on an online slot machine game, nine times more gamblers ceased their gambling session than did those gamblers who had not viewed the message. The data suggest that pop-up messages can influence a small number of gamblers to cease their playing session, and that pop-ups appear to be another potentially helpful social responsibility tool in reducing excessive play within session.


The condition of coastal communities, including the Pasangkayu area, in terms of the Expected Years of Schooling (EYS), is still very vulnerable. This study aims to analyze the key factors of increasing the EYS of the community in the coastal countryside of Pasangkayu Regency. The Matrix of Cross Impact Multiplications Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) methods were used in this study. Respondents are experts sourced from the government, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and communities in the Coastal Village of Pasangkayu Regency. The results showed that the key factor in increasing the EYS in Coastal Village, Pasangkayu Regency was helping parents. The economic condition of coastal rural communities is still vulnerable, so helping people and being able to go to school is a key factor in increasing the EYS. Institutions related to coastal villages are advised to develop work programs that support research results, namely by increasing the old expectations of coastal community schools through these key factors. One way is to develop a school model for fishermen's children. The strategy is carried out by mobilizing teachers to teach non-formal schools for fishermen's children. Supported by the Education Office in equivalence of diplomas with formal education. EYS, can be increased through the increasing number of elderly school-age population who continue to higher education.


Two new fern species from Sarawak, Antrophyum hovenkampii and Pteris hovenkampii are described in memory of renownedpteridologist, Peter Hans Hovenkamp. Their relationships are inferred using morphological comparisons and molecular phylogenetic analyses. A description, photographs of key characters, distribution map, and habitat description of both new species are provided. Keys to all known species of Antrophyum and Pteris in Borneo are also included.


The killing capacity of extracts from Viscum album L., widely used as an adjuvant in complementary cancer therapy, is dependent on the content of toxic proteins, especially the mistletoe lectins (ML). Although one may expect a homogeneous distribution of 'receptors' for these proteins on the cell surface, the sensitivity of cells to the ML-mediated cytotoxicity obviously differs, as the galNAc-binding ML III in contrast to the gal-binding ML I selectively killed CD8+ lymphocytes with a 'memory' phenotype (CD62Llo), while CD19+ B cells remained almost unaffected. B cells hardly bind ML III but did bind the gal-specific ML I. In accordance with these observations, in leukaemic B cells from patients with B chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and the human IgE-secreting myeloma cell line U-266 a strong induction of apoptosis-associated mitochondrial Apo2.7 molecules was observed after treatment with ML I and less effectively by ML III, while in the leukaemic T cell line Molt-4 both ML were strong inductors of apoptosis. In the light of these findings, the possible impact of ML I- and ML III-rich mistletoe extracts in the treatment of B cell neoplasia has to be carefully investigated.


This paper investigated the possibility of estimating 3D lower limb joint kinematics during five popular rehabilitation exercises of the hip and knee joints based on the data collected from a single inertial measurement unit located on the shank. The leg was modeled as a four-degree-of-freedom serial chain, and the relevant joint angles were represented by Fourier series. A least square approach based on the minimization of the difference between the measured and estimated 3D linear accelerations and angular velocities was used to solve the related analytical problem. The approach was validated on ten healthy young volunteers (ten trials each), comparing the proposed approach with the measurements collected through a stereophotogrammetric system. The average root mean square differences between the estimated joint angles and those reconstructed with the stereophotogrammetric system were inferior than 3.2° with correlation coefficients higher than 0.85.


GaN nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy are usually assumed free of strain in spite of different individual luminescence signatures. To ascertain this usual assumption, the c/a of a GaN NW assembly has been characterized using both X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, with scaling the measurement down to the single NW. Free-standing single NWs have been observed free of strain—defined as [c/a−(c/a)o]/(c/a)o—within the experimental accuracy amounting to 1.25 × 10−4. However, in the general case, a significant portion of the NWs is coalesced, generating an average tensile strain that can be partly released by detaching the NWs from their substrates. It is concluded that at the scale of the single NW, the free surface and the residual doping do not generate a significant strain and only coalescence does.


A glycoprotein resembling the major zymogen granules membrane-associated glycoprotein (GP-2) from the exocrine rat pancreas was detected in a 200 000 g sedimentable subfraction from pancreatic secretion. This glycoprotein had a slightly smaller molecular weight than GP-2 (70 000 D versus 75 000 D), gave a line of identity with GP-2 in a double immunodiffusion test against anti GP-2, and tryptic peptide charts of both glycoproteins were largely similar. Immunofluorescence cytochemistry showed that GP-2 antigens were exclusively located in the exocrine pancreas, where they were preferentially found in the perimeter of secretory granules and in the acinar lumina. These results suggest the possibility of loss of GP-2 from exocrine cells during secretion and raise doubts as to the status of GP-2 as a true membrane glycoprotein.


Photosynthetic carbon assimilation and associated CO(2)-dependent O(2) evolution by chloroplasts isolated from pea shoots and spinach leaves is almost completely inhibited by 10mm-dl-glyceraldehyde. The inhibitor is without appreciable effect on photosynthetic electron transport, photophosphorylation, the carboxylation of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate or the reduction of 3-phosphoglycerate, but apparently blocks the conversion of triose phosphate into ribulose 1,5-diphosphate.


Abstract Most studies on weed population dynamics in farming systems have focused on the effects of different weed control strategies. Those studies usually assume that farmers, operating within a particular system, have a uniform management style. However, it is likely that weed management decision making also varies between farmers that operate within a system. In this study, the relationship between weed management behavior and the outcome of that behavior within an organic farming system is studied. It is hypothesized that differences in weed pressure between organic farms can be related to differences in farmers' weed management behavior. We explore which weed and general management factors are of main influence on the weed pressure, and investigate the influence of farmer's beliefs and knowledge on weed control techniques and the observed weed pressure. Preventive measures and timing of main soil tillage operation were identified as the weed management factors most influential for weed pressure. With the increasing number of preventive measures applied, weed pressure decreased, with a stale seedbed being the most important preventive measure. The weed pressure increased with the number of days after September 1st on which the main tillage operation was carried out. Because of this postponement of the tillage treatments, the growing season of weeds was extended and more species were able to reproduce before winter, thereby enhancing weed pressure. Field size, rather than weed pressure, determined the number of hand-weeding hours per ha; with increasing field size the amount of hand weeding per surface area was reduced. On farms with lower weed pressures a higher percentage of competitive crops were grown than on farms with higher weed pressures. The farmer's beliefs and knowledge on weed control techniques differed between farmers with different weed pressures. Market-oriented growers had a higher on-farm weed pressure than crop-growth–oriented growers. It was concluded that studies on weed management behavior and the effect of that behavior can lead to a better understanding of farming systems and to more effective weed management in those systems.


Background Autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) are characterized by a strong genetic susceptibility from the Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) locus. Additionally, disorders of epigenetic processes, in particular non-random X chromosome inactivation (XCI), have been reported in many female-predominant autoimmune diseases. Here we test the hypothesis that women with RA or SSc who are strongly genetically predisposed are less susceptible to XCI bias. Methods Using methylation sensitive genotyping of the androgen receptor (AR) gene, XCI profiles were performed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 161 women with RA, 96 women with SSc and 100 healthy women. HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 were genotyped. Presence of specific autoantibodies was documented for patients. XCI skewing was defined as having a ratio ≥ 80:20 of cells inactivating the same X chromosome. Results 110 women with RA, 68 women with SSc, and 69 controls were informative for the AR polymorphism. Among them 40.9% of RA patients and 36.8% of SSc patients had skewed XCI compared to 17.4% of healthy women (P = 0.002 and 0.018, respectively). Presence of RA-susceptibility alleles coding for the "shared epitope" correlated with higher skewing among RA patients (P = 0.002) and such correlation was not observed in other women, healthy or with SSc. Presence of SSc-susceptibility alleles did not correlate with XCI patterns among SSc patients. Conclusion Data demonstrate XCI skewing in both RA and SSc compared to healthy women. Unexpectedly, skewed XCI occurs more often in women with RA carrying the shared epitope, which usually reflects severe disease. This reinforces the view that loss of mosaicism in peripheral blood may be a consequence of chronic autoimmunity.


Block copolymers generally have peculiar morphological characteristics, such as strong phase separation. They have been actively applied to polymer electrolyte membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) to obtain well-defined hydrophilic regions and water channels as a proton pathway. Although molecular simulation tools are advantageous to investigate the mechanism of water channel formation based on the chemical structure and property relationships, classical molecular dynamics simulation has limitations regarding the model size and time scale, and these issues need to be addressed. In this study, we investigated the morphology of sulfonated block copolymers synthesized for PEM applications using a mesoscale simulation based on the dynamic mean-field density functional method, widely applied to investigate macroscopic systems such as polymer blends, micelles, and multi-block/grafting copolymers. Despite the similar solubility parameters of the monomers in our block-copolymer models, very different morphologies in our 3D mesoscale models were obtained. The model with sulfonated monomers, in which the number of sulfonic acid groups is twice that of the other model, showed better phase separation and water channel formation, despite the short length of its hydrophilic block. In conclusion, this unexpected behavior indicates that the role of water molecules is important in making PEM mesoscale models well-equilibrated in the mesoscale simulation, which results in the strong phase separation between hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions and the ensuing well-defined water channel. PEM synthesis supports the conclusion that using the sulfonated monomers with a high sulfonation degree (32.5 mS/cm) will be more effective than using the long hydrophilic block with a low sulfonation degree (25.2 mS/cm).


This paper presents a novel parallel addressing scheme for voltage-programmed active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays which provides high precision recovery of the threshold voltage shift. As a result, the uniformity over the panel is significantly improved. In addition, a new pixel circuit is presented that is capable of providing a predictably higher current as the pixel ages, so as to compensate for the OLED luminance degradation


The large diversity of membrane separation processes results in a different optimization of membrane materials and structures for each process. In this article, the extent to which a single membrane type can be used in gas separation, pervaporation, and nanofiltration has been investigated. Interpretation of transport and separation properties has led to the conclusion that the membrane SolSep 3360 is a multifunctional membrane fulfilling all requirements for the three separation processes. This can be achieved by keeping a good balance between the thickness of the top layer, sterical hindrance during transport, and the effect of hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity.


Broad consensus exists that the ability of political actors to make credible commitments is key to development. An important and little-explored determinant of the credibility of political commitments is the existence of organizations that facilitate citizen collective action to sanction political actors who renege. This paper focuses on one essential organization, the political party. Three measures of political parties are used to assess cross-country differences in the degree to which politicians facilitate the ability of citizens to act in their collective interest. Each of these measures is associated with superior development outcomes, above and beyond the effects of competitive elections. These results have implications for understanding the extraordinary economic success of some East Asian countries and notable lags among others. East Asian nondemocracies exhibit more institutionalized ruling parties than other nondemocracies, while East Asian democracies exhibit equally or less institutionalized parties. The evidence suggests that greater research and policy emphasis be placed on the organizational characteristics of countries that allow citizens to hold leaders accountable.


Fish express two different chitinases, acidic fish chitinase-1 (AFCase-1) and acidic fish chitinase-2 (AFCase-2), in the stomach. AFCase-1 and AFCase-2 have different degradation patterns, as fish efficiently degrade chitin ingested as food. For a comparison with the enzymatic properties and the primary structures of chitinase isozymes obtained previously from the stomach of demersal fish, in this study, we purified chitinase isozymes from the stomach of Japanese sardine Sardinops melanostictus, a surface fish that feeds on plankton, characterized the properties of these isozymes, and cloned the cDNAs encoding chitinases. We also predicted 3D structure models using the primary structures of S. melanostictus stomach chitinases. Two chitinase isozymes, SmeChiA (45 kDa) and SmeChiB (56 kDa), were purified from the stomach of S. melanostictus. Moreover, two cDNAs, SmeChi-1 encoding SmeChiA, and SmeChi-2 encoding SmeChiB were cloned. The linker regions of the deduced amino acid sequences of SmeChi-1 and SmeChi-2 (SmeChi-1 and SmeChi-2) are the longest among the fish stomach chitinases. In the cleavage pattern groups toward short substrates and the phylogenetic tree analysis, SmeChi-1 and SmeChi-2 were classified into AFCase-1 and AFCase-2, respectively. SmeChi-1 and SmeChi-2 had catalytic domains that consisted of a TIM-barrel (β/α)8–fold structure and a deep substrate-binding cleft. This is the first study showing the 3D structure models of fish stomach chitinases.


A simple conceptual design process that runs in a virtual environment is described. The design process consists of three stages. In each of the first two stages used to create, and after that, elaborate the model, techniques specifically suited to these tasks, are available. In the third stage, using 3D printing technology, a physical prototype is obtained from the digital model. In the creation phase, an initial model is sketched directly in the virtual environment, by drawing a network of curves, and by fitting in surfaces. In the elaboration phase, virtual clay modeling techniques are used, which resemble the way designers work on such materials in reality. The model is converted into a volume representation at the transition into the elaboration phase, thus there is no need for a hybrid representation.


Psoriasis is a common inflammatory disease with multiple known triggers. We report the case of a patient whose psoriasis was triggered by tetanus and diphtheria immunization (Td vaccine). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of psoriasis triggered by the Td vaccine. Authors speculate about the involved mechanisms.


In most laboratories CCK-8(s) has been found to be the biologically active form of CCK-8 in the CNS. The role of CCK-8(ns) has scarcely been investigated and is poorly understood. CCK-8(s) exerts a transmitter and/or modulator role in this projection. CCK-8(ns), on the other hand, profoundly affects DA-ergic neurotransmission in the nigrostriatal DA-ergic projection. The octapeptide modulates the turnover and release of DA from this neuron population. DA-mediated behavioral reactions are also modulated by CCK-8(ns). We should emphasize that the biological importance of CCK-8(ns) in the CNS has hitherto generally been neglected. Our results point to the equivalence of CCK-8(s) and CCK-8(ns) in the CNS in most biological tests. In some cases the latter compound is the more potent one. In most of these tests the C-terminal fragment (tetragastrin = CCK-4) also proved to be active. It is most likely that a brain receptor population exists which can bind both forms of CCK-8 and even CCK-4. Nevertheless, the CNS could contain binding sites which bind only CCK-8(s) as a ligand. We have found that an unidentified sulfotransferase of the brain can sulfate CCK-8(ns) and thereby provide a ligand for the special receptors of CCK-8(s). It is likely that CCK modulates the turnover and release of DA, and vice versa. Theoretically, different biochemical mechanisms could exist for interactions between CCK octapeptides and DA. We have focused our investigations on the enzymic sulfation-desulfation processes of both CCK-8 and DA and have devised a hypothetical model for the possible interactions. Both CCK-8(ns) and DA could be sulfated in vivo, this enzymic reaction generally requiring active sulfate (PAPS). These two compounds could compete for the limited pool of PAPS, and thus CCK-8 and DA could mutually regulate their levels in the same cell by influencing one of the metabolic (DA) or synthetic (CCK-8(s)) pathways. CCK-8(s) also might provide the O-sulfate group for DA by enzymic transformation, and, conversely, DA-O-sulfate may sulfate CCK-8(ns) in a similar way. These trans-sulfation processes could also mutually determine the concentrations of DA and CCK-8 co-existing in one cell. Experiments to prove these models are planned.


We previously showed that the mixed haplotype Aβz/Aαd major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules function as restricting element for autoreactive T‐cell clones derived from autoimmune prone (NZB×NZW)F1 (B/WF1) mice. Subsequent analysis revealed that some of these Aβz/Aαd‐restricted autoreactive T‐cell clones were pathogenic upon transfer to pre‐autoimmune B/WF1 mice. In this paper, we analysed the peptide‐binding motif of Aβz/Aαd class II molecules. Amino acid‐sequencing analysis of peptides eluted from purified Aβz/Aαd molecules revealed several sequences, including one that corresponds to murine l‐plastin 588–601. Synthetic 18‐mer l‐plastin 588–605 peptide (SMARKIGARVYALPEDLV, as described by the amino acid single letter code) was demonstrated to bind to Aβz/Aαd MHC class II molecules on transfectant B lymphoma cells (TAβz). A competitive binding inhibition assay using truncation peptides revealed the core sequence for binding resides in 591Arg to 601Pro. Binding inhibition assay using substitution peptides, each having substitution to the other 19 residues at positions from 590Ala to 601Pro, revealed four major anchor sites 592Lys (p1), 594Gly (p3), 595Ala (p4), 597Val (p6) and one minor anchor site 600Leu (p9). Positively charged residues are not allowed at p3 and negatively charged residues are not allowed at p4 and p6. Relatively large hydrophobic residues (Leu, Ile) are not tolerated at p3 and p4. Met and Trp are not tolerated at p6. Based on these findings, the characteristics of peptides recognized by autoreactive T cells in B/WF1 mice are discussed.


Under the classical linear regression model assumptions, fixed effects estimates properly control for time-invariant unobservables and produce unbiased estimates. However, they often rely on limited data variability and present high standard errors. We present an innovative methodology that complements longitudinal data with other sources of unpaired data to increase estimation efficiency. The methodology assumes that the are no time varying unobservables correlated with the observables and with the fixed effects. We apply the methodology to three sets of Leaving Standard Measurement Study data from Nicaragua and estimate a household consumption model. We find that, if the correlation between observables and unobservables does not vary across time, our methodology has the potential to lead to unbiased and more efficient estimates.


This paper proposed a distributed Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) algorithm for a team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that can learn to cooperate to provide a full coverage of an unknown field of interest while minimizing the overlapping sections among their field of views. Two challenges in MARL for such a system are discussed in the paper: firstly, the complex dynamic of the joint-actions of the UAV team, that will be solved using game-theoretic correlated equilibrium, and secondly, the challenge in huge dimensional state space will be tackled with an efficient space-reduced representation of the value function table. We also provided our experimental results in details with both simulation and physical implementation to show that the UAVs can successfully learn to accomplish the task without the need of a mathematical model. This paper can serve as an efficient framework for using MARL to enable UAV team to work in an environment where its model is unavailable. In the future, we are interested in accounting for the stochastic aspect of the problem and technical aspects of a real-world deployment, where uncertainties, such as wind and other dynamics of the environment presents.


Significance: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being administered to cutaneous wounds with the goal of accelerating wound closure and promoting regeneration instead of scar formation. An ongoing challenge for cell-based therapies is achieving effective and optimal targeted delivery and engraftment at the site of injury. Contributing to this challenge is our incomplete understanding of endogenous MSC homing to sites of injury. Recent Advances: Chemokines and their receptors are now recognized as important mediators of stem cell homing. To date, the most studied chemokine-chemokine receptor axis in MSC homing to wounds is CXCL12-CXCR4 but recent work suggests that CCL27-CCR10 and CCL21-CCR7 may also be involved. Critical Issues: Strategies to enhance chemokine-mediated MSC homing to wounds are using a variety of approaches to amplify the chemokine signal at the wound site and/or overexpress specific chemokine receptors on the surface of the MSC. Future Directions: Harnessing chemokine signaling may enhance the therapeutic effects of stem cell therapy by increasing the number of both exogenous and endogenous stem cells recruited to the site of injury. Alternatively, chemokine-based therapies directly targeting endogenous stem cells may circumvent the need for the time-consuming and costly isolation and expansion of autologous stem cells prior to therapeutic administration.


Distributing sensing and data gathering tasks to a dominating set is an attractive choice in wireless sensors networks since it helps prolong network lifetime by engaging such a subset of nodes for these tasks and letting other nodes go into energy-efficient sleep mode. Because they are busy all the time for sensing, processsing, and transmitting data, nodes in the dominating set quickly run out of energy. One possible way to overcome this situation is to find a number of dominating sets among the nodes of the network and use them one by one iteratively. In this paper, we investigate the problem of finding the maximum number of disjoint dominating sets called the domatic partition problem in unit disk graphs. Although the domatic partition problem is NP-hard in general graphs, it is unknown whether the same is true for unit disk graphs. However, we present an algorithm towards solving this problem (approximately) together with experimental results and give a conjecture based on our results about the maximum number of disjoint dominating sets in unit disk graphs.


Š��� M., M���������� M., Š������ V., H���������� M., H��������� P., K���� J. (2004): Powdery mildew resistance in some Aegilops species. Plant Protect. Sci., 40: 87–93. Resistance to powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis (DC.) E. O. Speer f.sp. tritici Em. Marchal) in Aegilops crassa Boiss., Ae. ventricosa Tausch, Ae. biuncialis Vis., Ae. triuncialis L. and Ae. cylindrica Host was tested at the stage of primary leaves in the years 2000 and 2001. All plants of Ae. ventricosa, Ae. biuncialis and sample No. 9 of Ae. cylindrica repeatedly showed a susceptible reaction after being inoculated by all powdery mildew isolates used. In contrast, plants of Ae. crassa, sample No. 8 of Ae. cylindrica and all samples (No. 13, 21, 22, 24 and 26) of Ae. triuncialis were resistant to all isolates. Samples No. 5, 6, 7, 19 and 23 of Ae. cylindrica contained resistant and susceptible plants in both years. Virulence to these samples ranged from 3% to 18%. Cluster analysis using DNA microsatellite markers showed that the accessions are arranged in groups based on taxonomic relationship but not on basis of resistance. Plants susceptible to powdery mildew at the juvenile stage showed satisfactory adult plant resistance.


The aim of our longitudinal study was to evaluate bone mass in girls affected by central precocious puberty (CPP) that have reached final height, treated with GnRH agonist triptorelin (GnRHa), with or without calcium supplementation. We studied 48 Caucasian females affected by CPP (age at diagnosis, 7.19 +/- 0.96 yr), randomly assigned to two groups: group A (n = 21) treated with GnRHa and group B (n = 27) treated with GnRHa plus calcium gluconolactate and carbonate (1 g calcium/day in two doses) for at least 2 yr. Auxological parameters (standing height, weight, body mass index) and bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine [L2-L4, anteroposterior (AP)-BMD; lateral BMD; volumetric (v)BMD)] by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry were evaluated at the beginning [chronological age (CA), 7.29 +/- 0.91 yr; bone age (BA), 8.80 +/- 1.24 yr] and end of treatment (CA, 11.27 +/- 0.97 yr; BA, 12.35 +/- 0.43 yr) and at final height (CA, 16.17 +/- 1.9 yr; BA, 16.93 +/- 0.98 yr, in each case >15 yr). Total bone mineral content, total BMD, and fat percentage were evaluated at the end of the study period using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Final height was significantly higher than predicted height at diagnosis (159.9 +/- 6.3 cm vs. 152.9 +/- 9.6 cm; P < 0.05). Body mass index and fat percentage were not statistically different from control values. Densitometric values at final evaluation in groups A and B together were lower than in controls, but the differences were not statistically significant. The vBMD was significantly higher in group B than in group A at the end of treatment period (0.213 +/- 0.022 g/cm(3) vs. 0.192 +/- 0.021 g/cm(3); P < 0.01) and at final evaluation (0.246 +/- 0.023 g/cm(3) vs. 0.227 +/- 0.024 g/cm(3); P < 0.05). The percentage change (Delta%) between the start and end of treatment period in AP-BMD and vBMD was significantly higher in group B than in group A (Delta% AP-BMD: 20.36% +/- 1.10% vs. 16.16% +/- 1.90%, P < 0.01; Delta% vBMD: 19.08% +/- 3.52% vs. 9.26% +/- 5.15%; P < 0.01) and also between the start of treatment and final evaluation (Delta% AP-BMD: 61.23% +/- 1.61% vs. 56.97% +/- 1.45%, P < 0.01; Delta% vBMD: 36.69% +/- 5.01% vs. 28.01% +/- 5.76%, P < 0.01). In all our females with CPP treated with GnRHa, bone densitometric parameters were in the normal range for age and sex. However, bone mass achievement seemed to be better preserved in the group of patients supplemented with calcium.


A study was carried out on 2,020 students (54% from University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB) and 46% from Federal
College of Education, FCE, Osiele; using structured questionnaires and focus group discussions to assess comparative health
knowledge, risk factors, attitude and practices associated with intestinal helminths. 59.5% (FCE Osiele) and 49% (UNAAB)
reside in the school hostel. Of the 40.5% (FCE Osiele) and 51% (UNAAB) that stay off-campus, 17.2% and 15.7% reside in
accommodation with toilet facility, while respondents without access to toilet facility defaecate in bushes. Most respondents
(81.9% in FCE Osiele, and 79.5% in UNAAB), use water for anal cleaning. 65% and 59.6% in FCE Osiele and UNAAB use
water and soap to wash hands after defaecation. 35% and 37.2% respondents in FCE Osiele and UNAAB had passed out
worms before, however, T-test paired analysis did not show any relationship between hand washing and the passage of
worms (t = 6.895, p = 0.092). T-test analysis on causes of worm infection, revealed a significant relationship between knowledge
on causes of worm infection and passage of worms (t = 243.0 and p = 0.03). 48.1% and 61% in FCE Osiele and UNAAB had
received medical treatment for worm infection. 85.8% and 84% in FCE Osiele and UNAAB believed that persons can be
reinfected after treatment. However, regular de-worming (43.3%) and maintenance of good hygiene habits (41.4%) are
factors in prevention. Due to the possible disease conditions that may arise from drinking contaminated water, 43.4%
respondents resort to drinking pure water in sachet regularly, 50.8% drink it irregularly while 5.8% drinks it at parties. 77.8%
of respondents disposed off the empty sachets in the dustbins within the school environment, and 22.2% dispose off the
sachets indiscriminately. Government, they believed can contribute greatly to good water and environmental sanitation life
of its citizens through health education (46.6%), regular environmental sanitation practices (29.9%), and the provision of
social amenities (23.6%) for the good of the people. Keywords :health knowledge, risk factors, intestinal helminths, Abeokuta. Nigerian Journal of Parasitology Vol. 27 2006: pp.76-80


Edible coating is extensively applied for fresh produce preservation. In the present study, Aloe vera gel (AV) alone or combined with sage essential oil (EO; 0.1% or 0.5%) was used as fruit edible coating in tomatoes. Following treatments, tomatoes were stored at 11 °C and 90% relative humidity (RH) up to 14 days and analyzed for quality maintenance compared with uncoated fruits (control). Results showed that both AV and EO decreased decay symptoms with more pronounced effects on low EO concentration (i.e., 0.1%). The application of 10% of AV coating decreased fruit ethylene emission while EO (0.1% and 0.5%) application increased ethylene emission and respiration rates. AV coating decreased acidity, β-carotene, lycopene content and maintained fruit firmness. High levels of EO (0.5%) increased weight loss but decreased fruits' redness, chroma, total soluble solids, acidity, β-carotene and lycopene content. Total phenolic content and antioxidants maintained or increased during storage when treated with AV and/or EO. Low levels of EO (0.1%) maintained or improved fruit quality characteristics during storage, and this was mirrored by the sensory evaluation preference (including the AV application) and quality related attributes.


A reweighted l 1 -norm minimisation algorithm for high-resolution direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation under unknown mutual coupling is proposed in this Letter. First, the proposed method forms a new block representation model by parameterising the steering vector. Then, a reweighted l 1 -norm constraint based on the new data model is proposed, in which the principle of a novel multiple signals classification (MUSIC)-like algorithm is used to construct a weighted matrix. Finally, the DOAs can be achieved by the recovered sparse matrix. Owing to the use of the whole received data and reweighted procedure, the performance of the proposed method is better than the state-of-the-art methods. Extensive simulation experiments confirm that the above inference is correct.


The drought of summer 2018, which affected much of Northern Europe, resulted in low river flows, biodiversity loss and threats to water supplies. In some regions, like the Scottish Highlands, the summer drought followed two consecutive, anomalously dry, winter periods. Here, we examine how the drought, and its antecedent conditions, affected soil moisture, groundwater storage, and low flows in the Bruntland Burn; a sub‐catchment of the Girnock Burn long‐term observatory in the Scottish Cairngorm Mountains. Fifty years of rainfall‐runoff observations and long‐term modelling studies in the Girnock provided unique contextualisation of this extreme event in relation to more usual summer storage dynamics. Whilst summer precipitation in 2018 was only 63% of the long‐term mean, soil moisture storage across much of the catchment were less than half of their summer average and seasonal groundwater levels were 0.5 m lower than normal. Hydrometric and isotopic observations showed that ~100 mm of river flows during the summer (May‐Sept) were sustained almost entirely by groundwater drainage, representing ~30% of evapotranspiration that occurred over the same period. A key reason that the summer drought was so severe was because the preceding two winters were also dry and failed to adequately replenish catchment soil moisture and groundwater stores. As a result, the drought had the biggest catchment storage deficits for over a decade, and likely since 1975–1976. Despite this, recovery was rapid in autumn/winter 2018, with soil and groundwater stores returning to normal winter values, along with stream flows. The study emphasizes how long‐term data from experimental sites are key to understanding the non‐linear flux‐storage interactions in catchments and the "memory effects" that govern the evolution of, and recovery from, droughts. This is invaluable both in terms of (a) giving insights into hydrological behaviours that will become more common water resource management problems in the future under climate change and (b) providing extreme data to challenge hydrological models.


Centralized audit management and lean audit processes are quickly becoming a necessity to contain rising costs. Organizations adopt these approaches to improve productivity, reduce operational expense, and mitigate risk through denial prevention. Centralized teams will be in position to conduct presubmission reviews of all documents before they go out to auditors and to capitalize on technology and data to reduce costs.


The aim of the paper is to present a first attempt in using the techniques associated to the Regulatory Impact Analysis in order to enhance the qualitative and quantitative study of the following issue: a preliminary analysis of the regulatory intervention level in the process of smart meters implementation in Brazilian low voltage consumers. Along the text, the drivers that motivate the analysis are presented as well as the possible regulatory scenarios that will be evaluated in terms of assessed costs and benefits. Finally, according to the Net Present Value of each option, a preliminary conclusion is presented, which can be considered a basis for further and deeper evaluation.


Study Design: A prospective multicenter study. Objective: To investigate the effect of preoperative symptom duration on neurological recovery for the treatment of cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). Summary of Background Data: The optimal timing to perform surgery in the setting of cervical OPLL remains unknown. It is important to know the influence of symptom duration on postoperative outcomes to facilitate discussions regarding the timing of surgery. Patients and Methods: The study included 395 patients (291 men and 104 women; mean age, 63.7 ± 11.4 yr): 204 were treated with laminoplasty, 90 with posterior decompression and fusion, 85 with anterior decompression and fusion, and 16 with other procedures. The Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score and patient-reported outcomes of the JOA Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire were used to assess clinical outcomes preoperatively and 2 years after surgery. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with the achievement of minimum clinically important difference (MCID) after surgery. Results: The recovery rate was significantly lower in the group with symptom duration of ≥5 years compared with the groups with durations of <0.5 years, 0.5 to 1 year, and 1 to 2 years. Improvement of JOA Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire in the upper extremity function score (P < 0.001), lower extremity function (P = 0.039), quality of life (P = 0.053), and bladder function (P = 0.034) were all decreased when the symptom duration exceeded 2 years. Duration of symptoms (P = 0.001), age (P < 0.001), and body mass index (P < 0.001) were significantly associated with the achievement of MCID. The cutoff value we established for symptom duration was 23 months (area under the curve, 0.616; sensitivity, 67.4%; specificity, 53.5%). Conclusions: Symptom duration had a significant impact on neurological recovery and patient-reported outcome measures in this series of patients undergoing surgery for cervical OPLL. Patients with symptom duration exceeding 23 months may be at greater risk of failing to achieve MCID after surgery. Level of Evidence. 3.


By charge neutralization of carboxylic acid groups in graphene oxide (GO) with Cs(2)CO(3) to afford Cesium-neutralized GO (GO-Cs), GO derivatives with appropriate modification are used as both hole- and electron-extraction layers for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. The normal and inverted devices based on GO hole- and GO-Cs electron-extraction layers both outperform the corresponding standard BHJ solar cells.


The pattern recognition method is applied to the related power system problems of security analysis and security constrained optimum power dispatch. Various techniques, such as box data creation and wafer structure, the method of search, short-term load trend prediction, feature reduction, and on-line training set creation, have been developed to achieve high evaluation accuracies as well as computational savings. The formulation of the method used is discussed, and several study cases are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of its possible implementation in real systems. These study cases include an application of the method to evaluate post-contingency voltage prediction in the Hong Kong transmission network and the optimum power dispatch in typical IEEE networks. >


Introduction: Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is most common nosocomial infection accounting for 40% of all institutionally acquired infections and is significantly associated with increased morbidity and health care costs. The study was undertaken to identify the incidence of CAUTI, the causative organisms and their antibiotic sensitivity and biofilm production by Escherichia coli in patients with urinary catheter for more than 24 hours. Materials and Methods: The study included 250 hospitalized patients who catheterized for more than 24 hours. The urine sample aspirated from the port of catheter and subjected to wet mount and Gram staining and inoculated on blood agar, MacConkey agar and CLED media by standard loop method. The isolates with significant counts (≥10CFU/ml) were identified and antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion methods as per CLSI guidelines. Escherichia coli isolates were tested for biofilm production qualitatively by Tube method and Congo Red Agar method. Results: The present study showed CAUTI in 27.2% of the catheterized patients. Escherichia coli was the most common organism isolated (33.8%).The most effective antibiotics against Gram negative isolates were Imipenem (95.23%) and against Gram positive isolates were Vancomycin and Linezolid (100% each). 91.6% Escherichia coli isolates were biofilm producers. Conclusion: The Study showed that the duration of catheterization (≥6 days) is the most important predisposing factor for developing CAUTI. Escherichia coli is the most common organism causing CAUTI. The high incidence of resistance to conventional antibiotic such as Ampicillin, Co-trimoxazole and Ciprofloxacin among the pathogens causing CAUTI.


Lossless audio compression is likely to play an important part in music distribution over the Internet, DVD audio, digital audio archiving, and mixing. The article is a survey and a classification of the current state-of-the-art lossless audio compression algorithms. This study finds that lossless audio coders have reached a limit in what can be achieved for lossless compression of audio. It also describes a new lossless audio coder called AudioPak, which low algorithmic complexity and performs well or even better than most of the lossless audio coders that have been described in the literature.


An orientation effect in the K absorption of highly polarized synchrotron radiation in a gallium single crystal, first described in an earlier paper, is now more precisely interpreted by making use of a special treatment of the spectral plots, thus expanding the possibilities of the EXAFS technique. We conclude that the positions of the minima and maxima of the absorption spectrum are almost completely determined by the first 7 neighbours of the absorbing atom.


Background: The importance of intracochlear pressure during cochlear electrode insertion for the preservation of residual hearing has been widely discussed. Various aspects of pre-insertional, intra-insertional, and post-insertional relevant conditions affect intracochlear pressure. The fluid situation at the round window during electrode insertion has been shown to be an influential factor. Aims/Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare various insertion techniques in terms of the fluid situation at the round window. Material and Methods: We performed insertion of cochlear implant electrodes in a curled artificial cochlear model. We placed and fixed the pressure sensor at the tip of the cochlea. In parallel to the insertions, we evaluated the maximum amplitude of intracochlear pressure under four different fluid conditions at the round window: (1) hyaluronic acid; (2) moisturized electrode, dry middle ear; (3) middle ear filled with fluid (underwater); and (4) moisturized electrode, wet middle ear, indirectly inserted. Results: We observed that the insertional intracochlear pressure is dependent on the fluid situation in front of the round window. The lowest amplitude changes were observed for the moisturized electrode indirectly inserted in a wet middle ear (0.13 mmHg ± 0.07), and the highest values were observed for insertion through hyaluronic acid in front of the round window (0.64 mmHg ± 0.31). Conclusions: The fluid state in front of the round window influences the intracochlear pressure value during cochlear implant electrode insertion in our model. Indirect insertion of a moisturized electrode through a wet middle ear experimentally generated the lowest pressure values. Hyaluronic acid in front of the round window leads to high intracochlear pressure in our non-validated artificial model.


BACKGROUND: Urticaria affects one in every five persons in the population. OBJECTIVES: This study was done to study the risk factors, clinical presentation, and management practices among patients with urticaria. METHODS: Information from the medical case records of confirmed cases of urticaria at a government and private tertiary care hospital over the recent 4 years were recorded in a semi-structured pro forma. RESULTS: Mean age of 115 patients was 31.2 ± 20.7 years. Majority of patients (69, 60%) had acute urticaria. The most common risk factors of urticaria in this study were allergy to food substances (27, 23.5%) and allergy to medications (18, 15.6%), followed by insect bites (16, 13.9%). Family history of urticaria was present in 8 (7%) patients. The most common symptom in urticaria was pruritus (68, 59.1%) and the most common sign was hives (40, 34.8%). Lesions were present all over the body in 52 (45.2%) and were bilateral in distribution in 59 (51.3%) patients. Sixty-eight (59.1%) and 69 (60%) urticaria patients were prescribed nonsedating and second-generation antihistamine (sgAH) drugs, respectively. Among chronic urticaria (CU) cases, 35 (76.1%) each received nonsedating and sgAH. Systemic steroids and topical steroid creams were prescribed in 21 (18.3%) and 7 (6.1%) urticaria patients, respectively. Mean duration of application of the topical steroid creams was 10 ± 4.8 days. Leukotriene antagonists were used in the management of greater proportion of patients (54.5%) with dermographism in comparison to 16.1% without dermographism (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The study reported few important risk factors and certain common clinical presentation in urticaria. Second-generation nonsedating type of antihistamine drugs was the most preferred drug for the management of urticaria.


BACKGROUND/AIM
To examine gender differences in the major psychopathologic features in agoraphobia with panic disorder.

METHOD
The study was conducted as a clinical study. The sample consisted of 119 patients, 32 men (26.9%) and 87 women (73.1%) with the basic diagnosis of agoraphobia with panic disorder. All the patients were evaluated with the clinical instruments suitable for the assessment of various clinical features associated with agoraphobia with panic disorder--questionnaires (the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 90, the Panic Appraisal Inventory, the Fear Questionnaire, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory), and the clinical rating scale (the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale). After the data collection, the sample was divided into two groups by the gender. Then the groups were compared.

RESULTS
There were no differences between the genders in the global psychopathologic features (the age at the onset of a disorder, duration of a disorder, severity and frequency of panic attacks, intensity of general psychiatric symptoms, intensity of general anxiety and depression). The women, howerer, reported a subjective perception of a more severe agoraphobic avoidance and males were significantly more likely than the females to anticipate the serious somatic consequences of panic attacks and worry about somatic health.

CONCLUSION
There were a few gender specific psychopathologic features in patients with agoraphobia with panic disorder, so further studies would be necessary to come to a more precise conclusion.


Background:  Hemorrhoids are usually managed by surgical hemorrhoidectomy which is associated with postoperative pain, long hospital stay and a longer convalescence. Stapled hemorrhoidopexy is a newer alternative for the treatment of hemorrhoids. In this study, the two methods were compared for short term outcomes. Methods: Hundred patients having grade 3 or 4 hemorrhoids and who fulfilled the criteria were included in the study from June 2012 to May 2014. Fifty patients underwent stapled hemorrhoidopexy and other fifty underwent open hemorrhoidectomy. All patients were reviewed immediately after surgery and at 1, 3, 6 weeks and 6 months post-operatively. The two groups were compared for duration of surgery, hospital stay, return to work and post-operative complications. Results:  The mean (S.D.) age was 40.06 (10.33) in our study. The majority of patients in the study were males and had grade 4 haemorrhoids. Stapled hemorrhoidopexy group had shorter duration of surgery, less postoperative pain and need for analgesia, shorter duration of hospital stay and earlier return to work and a high patient satisfaction as compared with open hemorrhoidectomy group. There were no major post-operative complications, recurrence, residual prolapse or incontinence in the follow up period of six months in the stapled group. Conclusions:  Stapled hemorrhoidopexy is a safer alternative to open hemorrhoidectomy with many short-term benefits.


Protective multilayer coatings are designed with each layer providing distinctive features to reduce the transport of water, ions, and oxygen from the environment to the substrate. The topcoat provides the barrier against the environment whereas the basecoat/primer provides adhesion to the substrate and additional protection such as galvanic or passivation. The change in the coating capacitance during the ingress or egress of water is associated with the change in the dielectric property of the coating due to the large difference between the relative dielectrics of water and coating. The coating capacitance during wetting and drying can be monitored using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy response of a high frequency signal applied to the coating. The evolution of water uptake during wetting and water loss during drying associated with a two-layer coating is presented. Embedded electrodes were used to access the primer and a hydrophil ic room temperature ionic liquid was used to simulate drying while maintaining a non-aqueous electrical contact to the coating. The wetting and drying behaviors of epoxy, urethane, and epoxy primer/urethane topcoat coatings were experimentally measured. Mathematical models were developed based on Fick's second law for water transport in single-layer and two-layer coatings. Comparison of measured and simulated water uptake demonstrated that the assumptions used in the single-layer model were appropriate while the assumptions used for transport across the interface between the layers in the two- layer coating were inadequate.


The safety of staff, customers and of general Public in general viewed as one of the most important requirements in the urban transit. The maintenance computerization system for car of urban transit is a part of standardization and development of urban transit system, and We have been performed the establishment of maintenance computerization system from 2001 to 2005. The RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety) estimation for maintenance computerization system are utilized in a variety of computerization system for user's convenience and safety in maintenance. Ever since its inception though, the urban transit has searched for ways to improve reliability, availability, maintainability and safety of the railway subsystem. Provision of a reliable maintenance system include RAMS of the vehicles plays a very important role in achieving a safe system.


Porosities in the scale layer and wavy scale-steel interfaces are two common artefacts generated during metallographic preparation of oxide scale samples. This paper presents the techniques used by the authors to effectively remove porosities in the scale and reduce the waviness of the scale-steel interface so that the true scale structures can be examined. The techniques have been successfully applied to the examination of oxide scales on hot-rolled steel with various thicknesses and structures.


Wastewaters from textile industry contain various pollutants including a high content of organic matter, surfactants, additives and dyes. Dyes have obtained notoriety as hazardous substances, because most of them are toxic and considered to be resistant to biodegradation. Recently, advanced oxidation processes (AOP) have received considerable attention because it is possible to degrade organic compounds and color from wastewaters. This study was performed to investigate the removal of COD and color for Reactive yellow 16 using Fenton oxidation. The comparisons of removal efficiencies were made among Fenton, Photo Fenton and Sono Fenton process. Removal of COD and color of 80% & 90%, 90% & 98%, and 82% & 95% can be achieved by Fenton, Photo Fenton and Sono Fenton process. The results showed that H2O2/Fe 2+ /UV process was more effective in COD and color removal.


The studies of emotion function and emotional disorders complement one another. In this article, the authors outline relations between the social functions of emotion and four psychological disorders. The authors first present a social-functional account of emotion and argue that emotions help coordinate social interactions through their informative, evocative, and incentive functions. They then review evidence concerning the emotional and social problems related to depression, schizophrenia, social anxiety, and borderline personality disorder and consider how the emotional disturbances related to these disorders disrupt interactions and relationships, thus contributing further to the maintenance of the disorder. They conclude by discussing research strategies relevant to the study of emotion, social interaction, and psychopathology.


: A Ti bearing interstitial-free steel was finishing rolled in the ferrite region with and without lubrication and microstructures, mechanical properties and textures evolution during warm rolling and subsequent annealing were investigated by OM, SEM, tensile test and ODF. The results show that the surface microstructure of the as-rolled specimen without lubrication is composed of dense shear bands, while the microstructures of the central layer of the as-rolled specimen without lubrication and the whole cross section of the as-rolled specimen with lubrication are elongated ferrite. Short-time annealing can make the non-lubricated rolling sample recrystallize, but the lubricated rolling sample cannot. After complete recrystallization, the microstructure of the surface layer of the as-annealed specimen without lubrication is finer than that of the center layer of the as-annealed specimen without lubrication and the whole section of the as-annealed specimen with lubrication. The mechanical properties of as-annealed sample without lubrication change significantly in the initial annealing stage, while that of as-annealed sample with lubrication remain unchanged until the end stage of annealing. The surface layers of the as-rolled samples have strong Goss component and weak γ fibre components, while the central layers have strong γ fibre components and moderate rotated cubic components. As annealing proceeds, the Goss components of the surface layer decrease and the γ fibre components increase. The rotated cubic components in the central layer are gradually transformed into γ texture.


We have cloned the fire ant glucose transporter 8 (GLUT8) cDNA providing the first molecular characterization of a GLUT8 in insects. Glucose is a poly-alcohol and, due to its high hydrophilicity, cannot move across cell membranes. GLUT8 is a putative facilitative transporter for the cellular import and export of glucose. The complete 2,974-bp cDNA encodes a 501-residue protein with a predicted molecular mass of 54.8 kDa. Transcripts were detected in the brain, midgut, hindgut, Malpighian tubule, fat body, ovary, and testis. The highest transcriptional expression was found in fat body. Northern blot analysis revealed different transcript sizes in mated queen brains, alate female ovaries, and male testes. We propose that four other sequences obtained from insect genome projects from the honey bee Apis mellifera (ENSAPMP00000006624), the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae (EAA11842), and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (AAQ23604 and AAM52591) are likely the orthologues of the fire ant GLUT8. Phylogenetic relationships in insect glucose transporters are presented.


A review of various methods of phase and frequency synchronization of active MMIC based transmit/receive modules is presented, and particular emphasis is placed on the synchronization of oscillators through the use of an indirect subharmonic optical injection locking technique. In this approach, the nonlinear behavior of large-signal modulated laser diodes and solid-state oscillators is exploited to extend the bandwidth of the synchronizing link to the millimeter-wave frequency range. Experimental results of the phase and frequency coherency of two 21.5 GHz FET oscillators are reported. Optimum performance is achieved at a subharmonic factor of 1/4, with a locking range of 84 MHz and a phase noise degradation of only 14 dB. The phase coherency measurement of two injection-locked oscillators points to a phase shift, which is introduced as a result of the frequency detuning between the slave and master oscillator signals. A scheme to correct for this phase error is presented. >


This paper addresses the construction and structuring of a technological niche – i.e. a protected space where promising but still underperforming technologies are stabilized and articulated with societal needs – and discusses the processes that influence niche development and may enable niche breakout. In theoretical terms the paper is grounded on the multi-level approach to sustainability transitions, and particularly on the niche literature. But it also attempts to address the limitations of this literature in what concerns the spatial dimension of niche development. It is argued that technological niches can transcend the narrow territorial boundaries to which they are often confined, and encompass communities and actions that span several spatial levels, without losing some territorial embeddedness. It is further proposed that these features shape the niche trajectory and, therefore, need to be explicitly considered by the niche theoretical framework. To address this problem the paper builds on and extends the socio-cognitive perspective to technology development, introducing a further dimension – space – which broadens the concept of technological niche and permits to better capture the complexity of niche behaviour. This extended framework is applied to the case of an emerging renewable energy technology – wave energy which exhibits a particularly slow and non-linear development trajectory. The empirical analysis starts by examining how an "overall niche space" in wave energy was spatially constructed over time. Then it investigates in greater detail the niche development processes that took place in Portugal, a country that was among the pioneers in the field, and whose actors have been, from very early stages, engaged in the activities conducted at various spatial levels. Through this combined analysis, the paper seeks to understand whether and how niche development is shaped by processes taking place at different spatial levels. More specifically it investigates the interplay between territorial and relational elements in niche development, and how these different dynamics influence the performance of the niche processes and impact on the overall niche trajectory. The results confirm the niche multi-spatial dynamics, showing that it is shaped by the interplay between a niche relational space constructed by actors' actions and interactions on/across levels, and the territorial effects introduced by these actors' embeddedness in particular geographical and institutional settings. They contribute to a more precise understanding of the processes that can accelerate or slow down the trajectory of a technological niche. In addition, the results shed some light into the niche activities conducted in/originating from a specific territorial setting Portugal offering some insights into the behaviour of key actors and its implications for the positioning of the country in the emerging field, which can be relevant for the formulation of strategies and policies for this area.


Accuracies of survival models for life expectancy prediction as well as critical-care applications are significantly compromised due to the sparsity of samples and extreme imbalance between the survival (usually, the majority) and mortality class sizes. While a recent random survival forest (RSF) model overcomes the limitations of the proportional hazard assumption, an imbalance in the data results in an underestimation (overestimation) of the hazard of the mortality (survival) classes. A balanced random survival forests (BRSF) model, based on training the RSF model with data generated from a synthetic minority sampling scheme is presented to address this gap. Theoretical results on the effect of balancing on prediction accuracies in BRSF are reported. Benchmarking studies were conducted using five datasets with different levels of class imbalance from public repositories and an imbalanced dataset of 267 acute cardiac patients, collected at the Heart, Artery, and Vein Center of Fresno, CA. Investigations suggest that BRSF provides an improved discriminatory strength between the survival and the mortality classes. It outperformed both optimized Cox (without and with balancing) and RSF with an average reduction of 55\% in the prediction error over the next best alternative.


Among the tools and processes that are used to inform decisions makers on the long-term challenges raised by energy transition, numerical models are at the forefront. Whether led at the global, continental, country or local level, they help projecting the future operational conditions of our energy systems. However the possibility of addressing the sustainability challenge by a change in our lifestyle rather than technical solutions often remains outside the scope of such models. This paper makes proposals to improve the consideration of lifestyles in the quantitative foresight exercises. They contain a set of key determinants of mobility, housing, spatial planning or the organization terms of the productive sectors (industry, agriculture, services). Our methodology uses a statistical model of the dynamic of changes in lifestyle patterns to derive energy service demands. A set of three lifestyles anticipated for France in 2050 are then designed and discussed.


The main purpose of this study is to depict the causal relationship among Market Orientation(MO), Marketing Capabilities(MC), and Organizational Performance(OP) with the moderating effect of Environmental Turbulence(ET), especially comparatively highlighting the differences between Korail and Subway firms. Findings show that there partly existed significant interactions effects between ET and MO in case of subway firms, whereas Korail did not reveal any significant results. When considering the strong relationship between MO and MC shown in the subway firms' case, it can be inferred that subway firms continuously have attempted to adapt to the external environment facing them more flexibly and actively over their counterpart, by which the degree of their MC became positively enhanced over Korail. These results give us some implication that MO should be internalized and also MC should get a higher consideration than ever throughout the railway public enterprises in order to strengthen their performance.


Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) are the main cause of cold-like illnesses, and currently no vaccine or antiviral therapies against HRVs are available to prevent or mitigate HRV infection. There are more than 150 antigenically heterogeneous HRV serotypes, with ∼90 HRVs belonging to major group species A and B. Development of small animal models that are susceptible to infection with major group HRVs would be beneficial for vaccine research. Previously, we showed that the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) is semi-permissive to HRV16 (major group, species HRV-A virus) infection, replicating in the upper and lower respiratory tracts with measurable pathology, mucus production, and expression of inflammatory mediators. Herein, we report that intranasal infection of cotton rats with HRV14 (major group, species HRV-B virus) results in isolation of infectious virus from the nose and lung. Similar to HRV16, intramuscular immunization with live HRV14 induces homologous protection that correlated with high levels of serum neutralizing antibodies. Vaccination and challenge experiments with HRV14 and HRV16 to evaluate the development of cross-protective immunity demonstrate that intramuscular immunization with live HRV16 significantly protects animals against HRV14 challenge. Determination of the immunological mechanisms involved in heterologous protection and further characterization of infection with other major HRV serotypes in the cotton rat could enhance the robustness of the model to define heterotypic relationships between this diverse group of viruses and thereby increase its potential for development of a multi-serotype HRV vaccine.


In contemporary knowledge landscapes, interdisciplinary communication is crucial. In many cases, the interaction among experts of different fields is challenging, especially with regard to controversial definitions at the intersection of law, science, and bioethics. We analyze the legal definitions of the term "embryo" as the result of legal, ethical, as well as scientific implications, at the intertwining of social changes and scientific advancements. We show how embryo is a complex word, which may be interpreted in different ways. Taking into account the latest research advances on early stage embryo development, we focus on the delicate roles of law in balancing differing claims of scientific investigation and bio-ethic concerns. We conclude that sensitive ethical definitions are the synthesis of often competing interests among different disciplines. Moreover, human feelings toward controversial biology innovations should be taken into account.


Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) n = 1 kink mode with n the toroidal mode number is studied and the operational beta limit, constrained by the mode, is calculated for the equilibrium of HL-2A by using the GATO code. Approximately the same beta limit is obtained for configurations with a value of the axial safety factor q0 both larger and less than 1. Without the stabilization of the conducting wall, the beta limit is found to be 0.821% corresponding to a normalized beta value of ?cN = 2.56 for a typical HL-2A discharge with a plasma current Ip = 0.245 MA, and the scaling of ?cN ~constant is confirmed.