Treatment of mature heifers with recombinant bovine somatotropin (BST) increases the number of ovarian follicles of 2-5 mm in diameter. This study was carried out to investigate whether the increase in the number of small follicles induced by BST treatment can enhance the superovulatory response. In the first experiment, 24 heifers were assigned, in a randomized block design, to four treatment groups: 1) control; 2) BST; 3) pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG); 4) BST+PMSG. On Day 7 of the estrous cycle, animals in groups 2 and 4 received injections of 320 mg BST (in a sustained release formulation), while heifers in groups 1 and 3 received 10 ml saline. Five days later heifers in groups 3 and 4 were treated with a single dose of 2000 IU PMSG to induce superovulation. Embryos were recovered nonsurgically on Days 6-8 of the following cycle, and all heifers underwent laparoscopy on Day 9 to assess ovulation rate. In a second experiment, 24 heifers were assigned randomly to four treatment groups: 1) PMSG (1000 IU); 2) BST (320 mg) + PMSG (1000 IU); 3) PMSG (2000 IU); 4) BST (320 mg) + PMSG (2000 IU), and then treated as for experiment I. In both experiments, all heifers were scanned daily using real-time ultrasound from the day before BST injection until the day of ovulation to monitor dynamics of ovarian follicular growth and development, and blood samples were collected daily throughout the experimental period for measurement of peripheral progesterone, estradiol-17 beta, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This chapter proposes a new cluster-based secure routing scheme to detect and prevent intrusions in ad hoc networks. The proposed scheme combines both specification and anomaly detection techniques to provide an accurate detection of wide range of routing attacks. The proposed secure scheme provides an adaptive response mechanism to isolate malicious nodes from the network. A key advantage of the proposed secure scheme is its capacity to prevent wormhole and rushing attacks and its real-time detection of both known and unknown attacks which violate specification. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme shows high detection rate and low false positive rate compared to other security mechanisms.


Higher picture quality and better link utilization can be obtained using time compression multiplexing of color television signals in satellite channels instead of the conventional approach of frequency-division multiplexing. A time compression/expansion technique based on chirp transforms is proposed for such an application. The real-time chirp transform needed is realizable by surface acoustic wave devices. The processing itself introduces truncation distortion on the signal, but the distortion can be controlled to a negligible level by proper design of the chirp filter. Preliminary results are encouraging and indicate that the method is promising for future applications.


The most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of technical terms of gene technology and related disciplines, such as genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, pointing to the forefront of this modern and extremely rapidly evolving science. More than 2,500 new terms have been added to the previous 6,500 terms in the best-selling second edition. This dramatic increase reflects the unprecedented and literally explosive development of novel technologies, new insights in genic and genomic biology, and the worldwide marketing of such achievements. They also bear witness to current tendencies towards miniaturization and the increasing involvement of bioinformatics. Extensive explanations, comprehensive and simple diagrams and illustrations accompany the terms, providing outstanding access to the complexities of gene technology in its broadest sense. Moreover, the ever-growing jungle of acronyms and exotic jargon has been structured for less confusion and more translucence. Multiple cross-references enable a broad readership, layman and expert alike, to form networks linking the various terms in context and to understand relationships between gene technology and genetics, molecular genetics, biochemistry, biotechnology, microbiology and applied sciences. Seasoned researchers, newcomers, students, R & D officials, politicians, journalists and biotech company representatives will all benefit from this user-friendly dictionary in coping with the boom in this exciting science.


Despite the great number of studies devoted to neural stem/progenitor cell biology, the ultrastructural characteristics of these cells in vitro have not been fully studied. To determine the fine structure of hippocampal neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in culture, mouse fetal hippocampi (E18) were extracted, dissected, and cells were expanded as adherent monolayer culture. Electron microscopy revealed that NPCs had an immature phenotype, with a high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, small and scant organelles, underdeveloped endoplasmic reticulum, and many free ribosomes and polysomes. Our results may contribute to a better understanding of the fine structure and physiology of hippocampal NPCs in vitro. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:128–133, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Background Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (anti-NMDA) receptor encephalitis is a severe autoimmune disease characterized by complicated psychiatric and neurological symptoms and a difficult diagnosis. This disorder is commonly misdiagnosed, and diagnosis is often delayed. The clinical signs can mimic other psychiatric abnormalities, such as neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) that is usually caused by antipsychotic exposure. This fact raises the question of whether the symptoms common to NMS are due to anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis or established NMS. Cases presentation We describe a rare case of a 29-year-old male without psychiatric history who initially presented with a fever, altered consciousness, behavioral changes, rigidity, and elevated creatine kinase. He was initially diagnosed with NMS. NMS-like symptoms did not improve with active treatments and disappeared for a long period after discontinuing antipsychotics. The patient gradually developed a complicated disease progression, including speech impairment, mutism, and movement disorders, and symptom progression led to the final diagnosis of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. The related pathophysiological mechanisms, clinical features, and treatment of this disease are reviewed. Conclusion We highlight that the natural progress of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis can mimic the symptoms of NMS and NMS-like features could be due to anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis upon antipsychotic exposure, and not true NMS. Clinically, the suspicion of NMS may serve as a significant alarm to suspect anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and lead neurologists or psychiatrists to investigate such a diagnosis.


This study was undertaken to synthesize an interpolyelectrolyte complex (IPEC) of polymethacrylate (E100) and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) to form a polymeric hydrogel material for application in specialized oral drug delivery of sensitive levodopa. Computational modeling was employed to proffer insight into the interactions between the polymers. In addition, the reactional profile of NaCMC and polymethacrylate was elucidated using molecular mechanics energy relationships (MMER) and molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) by exploring the spatial disposition of NaCMC and E100 with respect to each other. Computational modeling revealed that the formation of the IPEC was due to strong ionic associations, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophilic interactions. The computational results corroborated well with the experimental and the analytical data.


Antiserum from a New Zealand White rabbit was raised against the saline-soluble fraction of homogenates of calf urinary bladder epithelium. After absorption, with human red blood cells, human, calf, and mouse sera, and nonepithelial organs, this antiserum was specific for all human epithelia tested. Further absorptions with nonurinary tract epithelia rendered the antiserum specific for urothelium. Species cross-reactivity was seen between the superficial cell layers of calf, human fetal, and adult bladder epithelia. The antigen appeared to be cytoplasmic and was also present (although to a lesser extent) in human bladder tumor biopsy specimens and human bladder tumor cell lines.


Media and popular culture have long interested people of all ages who seek out entertainment products in order to relax and escape. Television, movies, books, magazines, and other media can transport a person from a living room sofa to a world of high stakes intrigue, mysterious characters, magical creatures, and futuristic fantasies. But media is more than merely a tool to entertain and relax; media is also a powerful tool for learning. The images and stories we see in film and television teach us about other people, other places, and other value systems. At its highest level, a well told story, presented through effective media, can be a tool that teaches empathy and in doing so enhances the humanistic qualities of even casual watchers. At its worst, however, the media can teach viewers that violence, greed, and anti-social behaviors are not only commonplace but also acceptable. For lawyers, the media is an especially important representation of professional and personal experience; most of the United States population experiences lawyering and gathers information about lawyers — their values, habits, work-life structure, and language — from watching actors represent lawyers in film and television. For the public, and for beginning law students in particular, these representations can mislead and misinform. The processes by which viewers are learning from film and television are schema and transfer processes, and an increased awareness of those processes will help first year law professors and other members of the profession to dispel and reverse inaccurate cultural understandings and improper uses of "lawyering" language. This article will first lay out the basic theories of learning by schema and transfer and the ways in which viewers of legal stories are influenced — and indeed learn — through the process of viewing. The article will then focus on three broad, media-based misconceptions related to law school and practice: that law school is easy; that prosecutors, but not defense attorneys, are most valued by society; and that the language of the law requires a kind of legalese, or deliberately opaque and heightened language. Finally, the article will propose interventions that can be used at the law school level to dispel the misconceptions students have learned by consuming media and to help first year law students redefine the notion of effective legal language such that they are better able to write, think, and succeed.


Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) of aortic aneurysms and dissections involving the arch has evolved over the last two decades. Compared to conventional surgical methods, endovascular repair offers a less invasive treatment option with lower risk and faster recovery. Endografts used in TEVAR vary in design depending on the procedure and application. Novel endografts (e.g., branched stent-graft) were developed to ensure perfusion of blood to the supra-aortic vessels, but their haemodynamic performance and long-term durability have not been adequately studied. This review focuses on the use of computational modelling to study haemodynamics in commercially available endografts designed for complex aortic arch repair. First, we summarise the currently adopted workflow for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, including geometry reconstruction, boundary conditions, flow models, and haemodynamic metrics of interest. This is followed by a review of recently (2010-present) published CFD studies on complex aortic arch repair, using both idealized and patient-specific models. Finally, we introduce some of the promising techniques that can be potentially applied to predict post-operative outcomes.


Epidemics of infectious diseases especially dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and poliovirus are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in Pakistan. Risks associated with these outbreaks have drastic effects on the healthcare infrastructure and economy of the country. This report provides the current status of DENV, poliovirus, and CHIKV in Pakistan and further highlights the measures needed to control these infections.


This paper describes a multi-objective system for induction of fuzzy classifiers based on Fuzzy Pattern Trees. Fuzzy Pattern Trees is a tree-based hierarchical model, having as internal nodes, fuzzy logical operators and their leaves are composed by the combination of fuzzy terms and input attributes. For each class present in the problem a tree is created. Each tree will be a "logical class description" allowing the interpretation of the result. The construction method of the original trees was replaced by the Cartesian Genetic Programming, to explore the search space better. Two objectives guide the search: the accuracy of the classification and the interpretability. Therefore the NSGA II multi-objective algorithm was used for search solutions that contemplate both. The proposed Classifier was compared with Random Forests, Support Vector Machines and K Nearest Neighbors in several databases of the UCI Machine Learning Repository presenting a competitive and interpretable result. Another comparison made was the proposed model, and the Fuzzy Pattern Trees initially proposed. The proposed model showed competitive results and smaller trees.


The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a member of the PAS protein family, is found in organisms as diverse as Drosophila melanogaster, nematodes, and mammals. While several reviews have reported that AhR, once activated by agonist ligands, causes long-term effects such as modification of cell growth through cell cycle control, there is also recent evidence of its decisive role in immunosuppression. The most widely studied AhR agonist is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, which binds AhR with the highest known affinity, leading to profound suppression of both humoral and cellular immune responses, with praecox thymus involution, consequent thymocyte loss, and induction of T-cell apoptosis. Dioxin-AhR binding causes a decline in the number of dendritic cells and enhances apoptosis following their inappropriate activation. Dioxin-mediated activation of AhR also has a direct influence on the expansion of regulatory T-cells CD4+CD25+ FoxP3+ (T-regs) and an adverse affect on CD8+ T-cell responses. Dioxin released from industrial and waste incinerators over the last few decades has caused widespread contamination of food, leading to its accumulation in fatty tissue in animals and humans. The elimination half-life of dioxin in humans (7-10 years) may favor the potentially continuous and long-lasting activation of AhR, leading to perpetual immune suppression and facilitating the onset, growth, and diffusion of tumors, especially in young people. In the cancer immunoediting hypothesis, which subdivides the relationship between tumor and immune system into three phases: elimination, equilibrium, and escape, it is thought that dioxin accumulation may cause an inevitable shift toward tumor escape.


An increasing number of applications is proposed for the 24 GHz ISM-band, like automotive radar systems and short-range communication links. These applications demand for oscillators providing moderate output power of a few mW and moderate frequency stability of about 0.5%. The maximum oscillation frequency of low-cost off-theshelf transistors is too low for stable operation of a fundamental 24 GHz oscillator. Thus, we designed a 24 GHz first harmonic oscillator, where the power generated at the fundamental frequency (12 GHz) is reflected resulting in effective generation of output power at the first harmonic. We measured a radiated power from an integrated planar antenna of more than 1 mW. Though this oscillator provides superior frequency stability compared to fundamental oscillators, for some applications additional stabilization is required. As a low-cost measure, injection locking can be used to phase lock oscillators that provide sufficient stability in free running mode. Due to our harmonic oscillator concept injection locking has to be achieved at the first harmonic, since only the antenna is accessible for signal injection. We designed, fabricated and characterized a harmonic oscillator using the antenna as a port for injection locking. The locking range was measured versus various parameters. In addition, phase-noise improvement was investigated. A theoretical approach for the mechanism of first harmonic injection locking is presented.


Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a global threat associated to neurological disorders in adults and microcephaly in children born to infected mothers. No vaccine or drug is available against ZIKV. We herein report the anti‐ZIKV activity of 36 plant extracts containing polyphenols and/or triterpenes. ZIKV‐infected Vero CCL‐81 cells were treated with samples at non‐cytotoxic concentrations, determined by MTT and LDH assays. One third of the extracts elicited concentration‐dependent anti‐ZIKV effect, with viral loads reduction from 0.4 to 3.8 log units. The 12 active extracts were tested on ZIKV‐infected SH‐SY5Y cells and significant reductions of viral loads (in log units) were induced by Maytenus ilicifolia (4.5 log), Terminalia phaeocarpa (3.7 log), Maytenus rigida (1.7 log) and Echinodorus grandiflorus (1.7 log) extracts. Median cytotoxic concentration (CC50) of these extracts in Vero cells were higher than in SH‐SY5Y lineage. M. ilicifolia (IC50=16.8±10.3 μg/mL, SI=3.4) and T. phaeocarpa (IC50=22.0±6.8 μg/mL, SI=4.8) were the most active extracts. UPLC‐ESI‐MS/MS analysis of M. ilicifolia extract led to the identification of 7 triterpenes, of which lupeol and a mixture of friedelin/friedelinol showed no activity against ZIKV. The composition of T. phaeocarpa extract comprises phenolic acids, ellagitannins and flavonoids, as recently reported by us. In conclusion, the anti‐ZIKV activity of 12 plant extracts is here described for the first time and polyphenols and triterpenes were identified as the probable bioactive constituents of T. phaeocarpa and M. ilicifolia, respectively.


In this paper a hybrid algorithm named IPSO-VND is proposed and applied to solving the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (VRPSPD). The IPSO-VND algorithm combines two meta-heuristics: Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (IPSO) is used to find a group of excellent solutions, and then the Variable Neighborhood Descent (VND) is implemented to deeply search to achieve the optimal solution around these solutions. During the IPSO procedure, in order to make up for the change of a particle's position, a velocity component is added to the movement of any particle which has been optimized or made feasible. During the VND procedure, three different neighborhood structures: insertion, swap and cross are successively used. Computational results on the benchmark problems show that our IPSO-VND algorithm is effective.


Background: The current study was aimed to investigate the mechanisms of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in exacerbating post- myocardial infarction (MI) ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). Methods: Correlation between premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and serum AGEs concentrations was analyzed in a cohort consisted of 101 STEMI patients with culprit vessel of left anterior descending artery (LAD). Established MI rat model were treated with AGEs and/or anti- receptor for AGE (RAGE) antibody. Electrocardiography was used to record VAs. Myocytes were isolated from adjacent area around infracted region. Immunofluorescent stains were used to evaluate association between FKBP12.6 (FK506-bindingprotein 12.6) and ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2). Calcium sparks were evaluated by confocal microscope. Protein expression and phosphorylation were assessed by Western blotting. A colorimetric method was used to determine the enzymatic activity of calcineurin (CaN). [3H]-ryanodine binding assay was carried out to detect the RyR2 channel activity. Results: In the cohort study, significantly increased amount of (PVCs) were found in STEMI patients with diabetes (P<0.05). Serum AGEs concentration was significantly positively correlated with PVCs amount in STEMI patients (r=0.416, P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed serum AGEs concentration was independently and positively related to frequent PVCs (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.09-3.18, P=0.022). In the animal study, increased glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78) expression, protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK) phosphorylation, CaN enzymatic activity, FKBP12.6-RyR2 disassociation, RyR2 channel opening and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium releasing were found in MI animals exposed to AGEs, which were attenuated by anti-RAGE antibody treatment. This RAGE blocking also significantly lowered the VAs amount in MI animals exposed to AGEs. Conclusions: Hyper-activation of ER stress- mediated PERK/CaN/RyR2 signaling participated in AGEs- exacerbated post-MI VAs.


The metastable phase equilibria of substances in the disordered, liquid or amorphous, state are considered in T–P coordinates. Application of the thermodynamic model of pseudo-binary solutions is illustrated by means of calculated metastable T–P phase diagrams of water, carbon, and semiconducting compounds, GaSb and Ga38Sb38Ge24. All calculated diagrams include the equilibrium lines between the disordered phases terminating at the critical points and the stability boundaries of these phases, the spinodals. Depending on the mutual disposition of the elements of the stable and metastable T–P diagrams, two additional lines of metastable equilibria between the crystalline high-pressure phase and each of the metastable disordered phases can appear. These lines terminate at the points of intersection with spinodals. These special points are denoted as pseudo-critical points. A combined analysis of the stable and metastable diagrams gives a reasonable interpretation of the experimental data on the phase transformations and on the nature of the anomalous properties of the substances in question as well as allowing prediction of some new effects.


The Transcendental Meditation technique was provided to 27 nurses across levels and areas of the organization. Quantitative tools measured the effect on nurses' compassion fatigue and resilience. Paired-sample t test analyses revealed significant improvements in the phenomena studied. Further, resilience showed a large significant, inverse relationship with burnout. This study contributes new knowledge for an innovative self-care strategy to improve resilience and reduce compassion fatigue and burnout among nurses.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pentoxifylline (PTX), an antiplatelet agent, on the pharmacokinetics of rosiglitazone (RSG) in rats. Pharmacokinetic parameters of RSG were determined in rats after oral administration (3 mg/kg/day) in the presence and absence of PTX (10 mg/kg) 3 times daily. Compared to control animals, rats pretreated with PTX for 7 days had a decrease in RSG peak plasma concentration (Cmax) of 19% with no change in the values of the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC). Alternatively, rats coadministered single-dose PTX did not show any differences from control with regard to RSG Cmax and AUC parameters. The time to peak concentration (tmax) of RSG was significantly increased in rats pretreated with PTX under both single- and multiple-dose conditions, whereas the elimination half-life (t1/2) of RSG was increased only with multiple-dose PTX pretreatment. In conclusion, the presence of PTX was found to cause a slight decrease in the oral exposure of RSG in rats. Concurrent use of PTX with RSG therefore needs to be appropriately evaluated for proper dose adjustments in humans.


Comparative European research has established that public opposition to immigration is widespread and politically important. However, most existing research has suffered from a serious methodological shortcoming: it employs aggregate measures of attitudes to immigrants, which do not distinguish between different migrant groups. This paper corrects this shortcoming by examining disaggregated British attitudes to migration from seven different regions. I find evidence for a consistent hierarchy of preferences between immigrant groups, with white and culturally more proximate immigrant groups less opposed than non-white and culturally more distinct immigrants. The differences in attitudes to different migrant groups are very large, calling into question the reliability of analysis which employs aggregate measures of attitudes to overall immigration. Both total opposition to migration and discrimination between migrant groups decline during the period examined. This is the result of large generational differences in attitudes to immigrants, which are in turn the consequence of cohort differences in education levels, ethnic diversity and in particular value orientations. Younger Britons, who are on average less authoritarian and ethnocentric, oppose immigration less and regard different immigrant groups more equally.


White sucker (Catostomus commersoni) are widely distributed in North America and are often used in environmental monitoring. Whole organism characteristics of three white sucker populations determined to be resident (outside of spawning) within small sections of the Saint John River, New Brunswick, were studied in 2001 and 2002. Significant differences in performance characteristics were present among sites. The differences can be interpreted as either improved sucker performance at Florenceville (upstream site), or decreased performance at Woodstock. Without further investigation it is difficult to identify whether the apparent improved performance is a response to nutrient enrichment, or increased mortality associated with the recent prevalence of lesions. Confounding factors are also present. Daily water level fluctuations resulting from an upstream dam discharge may change habitat availability and/or diversity, thereby altering the fish community. Liver sizes in Saint John River white sucker are considerably larger than in fish collected in Ontario, but are not relative to nearby New Brunswick river populations. This has implications for the importance of reference site selection and understanding the natural variability within a species (intra-specific variation) on multiple spatial scales.


To the Editor.— Standing is almost a completely passive act. The line of gravity must fall behind the center of rotation of the hips, in front of the knees and ankles, and within the base of support. Stability of the hips is normally accomplished by balancing the force of gravity posteriorly, against the iliofemoral ligament anteriorly. The gravitational force is restrained by the posterior ligaments and capsule at the knee and by some contraction of triceps surae at the ankle. 1 Walking requires coordinated lower extremity muscle activity. Patterns of substitution in diseases with selective muscle loss can occur. This has been observed in conditions such as poliomyelitis. Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by loss of hip and knee extensor power, accompanied by hip flexion and abduction contracture and ankle equinus. By age 7 years, the majority of such patients show discernible quadriceps weakness, and most stop walking between


The aim of this article is to elucidate how nurses are positioned in Canadian news stories regarding their salaries. While the image of nursing in mass media has been widely studied, few studies explore how nurses are constructed in news stories. Drawing on ideas from institutional ethnography together with discourse analysis, this discussion highlights public textual discourses about nurses' salaries in Canadian news stories. The media discourse was found to distort the issues by focusing attention on nurses. Recognizing how these textual distortions mediate and construct messages is important in understanding how nurses and their work are constructed in the media. This discussion seeks to inform readers about how nurses are situated within commonly circulated discourses in the media. It also seeks to contribute to the literature about the nurse's image and how nurses and their work are portrayed in the public realm. It concludes by recommending increased awareness about how nurses are talked about in mass communication and the need to disrupt these messages and their underlying assumptions.


The presence of calcium in the fluid in which intestinal or kidney tissue is incubated is required for the tissue to respond to angiotensin. Everted sacs of rat colonic mucosa exhibited an increased rate of fluid transport in the presence of angiotensin; this response was lost when the serosal fluid, but not the mucosal fluid, was calcium-free. Angiotensin-stimulated transport was maintained when calcium was replaced with strontium or barium, but was lost when calcium was exchanged for magnesium. Similarly, calcium ions were required in the incubation fluid of rat kidney cortex slices to demonstrate angiotensin-enhanced sodium transport. These observations are discussed in relation to the possible roles of divalent cations in the mechanism of action of angiotensin.


Using freeform optical surfaces is a revolution in the field of imaging system design. Such systems have important applications in the area of virtual reality and augmented reality, light-field and high-performance cameras, microscopy, spectroscopy, and other applied physics researches. We propose a framework of starting points generation for freeform reflective imaging systems using back-propagation (BP) neural network based deep-learning. Good starting points of specific system specifications for optimization can be generated immediately using the network. The amount of time and human effort as well as the dependence on advanced design skills reduce significantly.


The amino acid composition and structure of the peptidoglycan from Heliobacillus mobilis was determined by one- and two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography of completely and partially hydrolysed cell wall preparations. The structure was found to be of the A3 gamma type, with L,L-diaminopimelate in position 3, D-alanine in position 4 and a glycine interpeptide bridge, as found in certain groups of Gram-positive bacteria including Clostridium perfringens and Nocardioides simplex. The presence of a Gram-positive type of cell wall in heliobacteria is consistent with their phylogenetic relationship to the 'low G + C' Gram-positive bacteria, as previously demonstrated by 16S rRNA sequencing.


There are many incentives that impact managers' disclosure decisions. This paper primarily examines one of these incentives - the capital market incentive. We offer a unique setting, the electric utility industry as it transitioned through deregulation, and we show a positive association between voluntary disclosure and deregulation in the post-regulation era. This paper also examines the consistency of four proxies used by accounting researchers to measure disclosure levels: analyst following, analyst forecast revisions, analyst forecast accuracy, and a self-constructed measure. Overall, our results provide empirical evidence that the deregulation of the electric utility industry is strongly associated with an increase in voluntary disclosure, providing additional evidence to support existing theories explaining firms' voluntary disclosure of information. We find mixed supporting evidence for the supplemental proxies. Our findings offer support to regulators that seek to justify the impact of deregulation on disclosure and capital market participants including analysts and firms.


In this study, an efficient ghost cell‐based immersed boundary method is used to perform direct numerical simulations of mass‐transfer processes in bidisperse arrays. Stationary spherical particles, with a size ratio of 1.5, are homogeneously distributed in a periodic domain in the spanwise directions. Simulations are performed over a range of solids volume fractions, volume fraction ratios of small‐to‐large particles, and Reynolds numbers. Through our studies, we find that large particles have a negative influence on the overall mass‐transfer performance; however, the performance of individual particle species is independent on the relative volume fraction ratios. We propose two correlations: (a) a refitted Gunn correlation for a better description of the interfacial transfer performance based on individual particle species; (b) a fractional calculation for a simple estimation of the overall performance in bidisperse systems using characteristics of individual particle species. We also investigate how well the overall mass‐transfer coefficient can be predicted by defining an appropriate equivalent diameter.


The thinning of tailings gradation during ore processing leads to a sizeable fall in the strength of cementitious paste backfill (CPB), increases operational risks, and encourages researchers to use alternative economic products. This study aims to increase the strength performance by improving CPB's gradation while cutting costs and reducing the sum of the binder employed per unit volume. An evolution of the slump/strength/structural properties of sand-substituted CPBs was explored experimentally. Samples were made with a fixed cement content (7 wt.%), diverse tailings/sand fractions (e.g., 100/0, 90/10, 80/20, 70/30, and 50/50), and diverse solid contents (e.g., 72 and 76 wt.%). After curing for 3–56 days, several experiments, such as slump, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were undertaken for the filling samples. The results demonstrate that adding sand to the backfill greatly increases CPB's strength (up to 99%), but the replacement rate of sand was limited to 30% due to its segregation effect. Microstructural tests reveal that CPB's void volume decreases as the added amount of sand increases. To sum up, it was concluded that calcareous sand made a major contribution to the filling strength, incorporating the effects of enhancing the fill gradation's readjustment and reducing the sum of cement being used in the unit volume for CPB manufacturing.


A detailed study of the elementary p(p,p ′ π + )n reaction is presented using the delta isobar model. In this model, in the first step one of the two protons in the initial state gets excited to ∆. This, in the second step, decays into a nucleon and a pion. For the pp → N∆ step the parametrized form of the DWBA t-matrix of Jain and Santra, which reproduces most of the available data on pp → n∆ ++ , is used. The cross-sections studied include the outgoing proton momentum spectra in coincidence with the pion, the outgoing pion momentum spectra and the integrated total cross-section. We find that all the calculated numbers are in good agreement with the corresponding measured cross sections.


We examined the 3'-flanking regions required for accurate 3'-end formation of wheat histone H3 mRNA using gene expression in transformed sunflower cells. The introduction of mutations into the conserved sequence AATGGAAATG in the 3'-flanking region of plant histone genes, located 22 bp upstream from the polyadenylation site of the wheat H3 gene (TH012), completely abolished the 3'-end formation of mRNA at the authentic 3' end without affecting the transcription efficiency. However, a 0.8 kbp sequence containing this motif could not produce a normal 3' end when joined to the 3' end of the nopaline synthase (NOS) gene instead of its 3' sequence. The results indicated that this conserved sequence is necessary but not sufficient for the 3'-end formation of H3 or NOS mRNA. Deletion of a 59 bp sequence, located 19 bp upstream from the AATGGAAATG sequence, also reduced the 3'-end formation efficiency by a factor of 10, compared with the efficiency in wild-type gene. We concluded that 3'-end formation of wheat histone H3 mRNA is regulated by multiple sequences including the AATGGAAATG motif.


Existing state-of-the-art saliency detection methods heavily rely on CNN-based architectures. Alternatively, we rethink this task from a convolution-free sequence-to-sequence perspective and predict saliency by modeling long-range dependencies, which can not be achieved by convolution. Specifically, we develop a novel unified model based on a pure transformer, namely, Visual Saliency Transformer (VST), for both RGB and RGB-D salient object detection (SOD). It takes image patches as inputs and leverages the transformer to propagate global contexts among image patches. Unlike conventional architectures used in Vision Transformer (ViT), we leverage multi-level token fusion and propose a new token upsampling method under the transformer framework to get high-resolution detection results. We also develop a token-based multi-task decoder to simultaneously perform saliency and boundary detection by introducing task-related tokens and a novel patch-task-attention mechanism. Experimental results show that our model outperforms existing methods on both RGB and RGB-D SOD benchmark datasets. Most importantly, our whole framework not only provides a new perspective for the SOD field but also shows a new paradigm for transformer-based dense prediction models. Code is available at https://github.com/nnizhang/VST.


Abstract Oaksford & Chater's (O&C's) account of deductive reasoning is parsimonious at a local level (because a rational model is used to explain a wide range of behavior) and at a global level (because their Bayesian approach connects to other areas of research). Their emphasis on environmental structure is especially important, and the power of their approach is seen at both the computational and algorithmic levels.


BACKGROUND
Mass-weighted aerodynamic particle-size distribution (APSD) is a key attribute for pharmaceutical products developed to deliver drugs to or through the lungs. In development and quality control, APSD is primarily determined using multistage cascade impactors. For impactor techniques, particle reentrainment is critical because it may lead to an overestimation of the respirable fraction. To avoid reentrainment, the collection surfaces need to be coated with a suitable material.

METHODS
In this study a method was developed to test flow dependence of particle reentrainment in the Next Generation Pharmaceutical Impactor (NGI) at flow rates ranging from 20 to 80 L/min, and was used to test three coating materials: glycerol coating, aqueous coating with, and without soaked filter paper. Uncoated cups were also tested. In the experimental setup a Vilnius Aerosol Generator generated a flow-independent dry powder aerosol, consisting of micronized insulin.

RESULTS
The glycerol coating was not well suited to reduce particle reentrainment at flows >or=40 L/min. The soaked filter paper coating was found to give nearly the same particle size distributions regardless of flow and was therefore judged to be the best of those tested. Using liquid only, without the filter paper, gave the same particle size distributions as soaked filter paper for flows <or=40 L/min, while at >or=60 L/min particle reentrainment increased with flow. However, for most applications liquid coating reduced particle reentrainment to an extent at which further reduction was irrelevant. Particle reentrainment was prevalent for uncoated cups at all flow rates tested.

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows the advantage of using a stable and flow-independent aerosol generation method to examine particle reentrainment at various flows through the NGI. For insulin dry powder, the use of an aqueous solution as cup coating, preferably with a filter, reduced particle reentrainment to a minimum. The results were confirmed in a study with a DPI.


This paper proposes a series of questions on how recent cities' eco-programs and design ideas could (or not) contribute towards reducing air pollution in future cities while creating vibrant and livable environments. Design Strategies related to a series of European, American and Asian cities affected by poor air quality condition, are critically discussed. Because effective policies to reduce carbon emissions take a long time to initiate, urban planners and architects have the unique opportunity to creatively re-examine city streets, landscape and buildings as active solutions to inspire sustainable living and combat poor air quality.


Abstract.
 The Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigroogularis is a little studied, regional endemic seabird restricted to the Arabian Gulf region threatened by anthropogenic disturbance. The global population is estimated at 110,000 breeding pairs. The Siniya Island colony, the largest in the United Arab Emirates (∼ 15,500 breeding pairs), was studied during the 2011 breeding season to determine baseline reproductive parameters and the effect of exotic trees on reproductive performance. Mean nesting density was 0.92 nests/m2 and shaded areas had significantly higher density (1.05/m2) compared to unshaded areas (0.75/m2). Mean clutch size was 2.4 eggs/nest and did not differ between shaded and unshaded areas. Mean egg volume was significantly higher in shaded (49.56 cm3) compared to unshaded areas (48.5 cm3). Hatching success was significantly higher in shaded (65.1%) compared to unshaded areas (46.6%). Fledging success was 65.6% and did not differ between shaded and unshaded areas. Chicks crèched under trees soon after leaving their nests and this likely increased fledging success, regardless of whether chicks came from shaded or unshaded areas. Overall reproductive success was 1.7 chicks/nest. Higher egg volumes and hatching success under shaded areas suggest that plantations had a beneficial effect on the cormorants on Siniya Island and could be of conservation value. Further studies are required to determine what habitat features linked with these trees specifically aid in enhancing reproductive performance.


Background Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is used as a bridge to revascularization in high-risk patients with ischemic heart disease. We reviewed our experiences of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) after ECLS in patients with cardiac arrest or refractory cardiogenic shock. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 4,616 patients who underwent CABG at our institution between May 2006 and February 2017. We identified patients who underwent CABG following ECLS for cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest. Twenty-three patients (0.5% of all CABG cases) were enrolled in the analysis. Their median age was 65 years (Q1–Q3, 58–77 years). Nine patients (39.1%) were diagnosed with ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Mechanical complications after acute myocardial infarction, including acute mitral regurgitation, left ventricular rupture, and ventricular septal defect, occurred in 9 patients (39.1%). Results The median time from cardiopulmonary resuscitation to ECLS initiation was 25 minutes (Q1–Q3, 18.5–28.5 minutes). Conventional CABG was performed in 10 patients (43.5%) who underwent concomitant intracardiac procedures. Postoperative ECLS was required in 16 patients (69.5%). The rate of successful ECLS weaning was 91.3% (n=21). There were 6 early mortalities (26.1%). Conclusion CABG after ECLS was very rare in real-world circumstances. Although the early mortality rate was high, the risk of mortality may be acceptable under such devastating circumstances.


Process mining techniques allow organizations to discover, monitor and improve their as-is processes by analyzing the process execution data, aka event data, recorded by their information systems. A recurrent task in process mining is querying. Querying allows users to get insights into specific executions of their processes and to retrieve relevant data. Existing process querying techniques require end users to be knowledgeable of the query language and the database schema. However, a key success factor for process analysis is to make querying accessible to business experts who may be inexperienced in database querying. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing a natural language interface (NLI) for querying event data. The interface allows users to formulate their questions in natural language and to automatically translate the questions into a structured query that can be executed over a database. We use graph based storage techniques, namely labeled property graphs, which allow to explicitly model event data relationships. As an executable query language, we use the Cypher language which is widely used for querying property graphs. The approach has been implemented and evaluated using a publicly available event log.


Greenspaces refers to urban and wetlands that contain vegetation, essentially spaces that are green. Because greenspaces are beneficial to reducing pollution, we investigated whether if there is a trend where planes tend to fly over greenspace near airports. We used flight data to generate the flight paths and satellite images and then processed them to find if there was an observable pattern between the location of greenspaces and flight paths. Our hypothesis was that each airport would show a different percentage of planes that fly over greenspace; we expected airports in the suburbs to have higher values, whereas airports near the cities to have lower values. To test the hypothesis, we used image processing functions such as Binarize and SetAlphaChannel from Wolfram Mathematica and statistical analysis in Mathematica. We observed that generally near airports, around 10–15% of total flight paths go over greenspaces. From our observations, we believe that increasing greenspaces near airports would reduce noise pollution and having more trees will absorb the carbon dioxide from planes, resulting in less pollution near airports.


A computationally simple formulation for the stationary surface temperature is developed to examine the thermal non-Newtonian EHD problem for line contacts under simple sliding conditions. Numerical results obtained are used to develop a formula for a thermal and non-Newtonian (Ree-Eyring) film thickness reduction factor. Results for the maximum surface temperature and traction coefficient are also presented. The thermal effects on film thickness and traction are found to be more pronounced for simple sliding than for combined sliding and rolling conditions


In his article: "Seeking Perfection: A Kantian Look at Genetic Engineering", Gunderson1 makes a scholarly attempt to assess how scientifi c eff orts at the improvement of the human specie, specifi cally, genetic engineering, can be supported from the Kantian perspective. He highlighted the basic tenets of Kant's moral philosophy and from these, affi rmed that genetic engineering fi nds support in the Kantian perspective even though limits abound. In this essay, our interest is to dwell on the issue of perfectibility of human nature which includes but is not limited to genetic engineering. We intend to explore Kant's anthropology with the view to ascertaining the extent to which it could be said to provide fertile ground, not just for genetic engineering but to the broader question of the perfectibility of human nature. If Kant's moral philosophy off ers supportive grounds for genetic engineering as Gunderson argues, can the same claim be made for his (Kant's) anthropology with regard,


Preschoolers' selective learning from adult versus peer models was investigated. Extending previous research, children from age 3 were shown to selectively learn simple rule games from adult rather than peer models. Furthermore, this selective learning was not confined to preferentially performing certain acts oneself, but more specifically had a normative dimension to it: children understood the way the adult demonstrated an act not only as the better one, but as the normatively appropriate/correct one. This was indicated in their spontaneous normative interventions (protest, critique, etc.) in response to third party acts deviating from the one demonstrated by the adult model. Various interpretations of these findings are discussed in the broader context of the development of children's social cognition and cultural learning.


Anonymity, forced or voluntary, has frequently cloaked the contributions of women to the life and thought of religious movements. Such was the case with Anne Dutton (1692–1765), an English evangelical, a "gentlewoman" who appears fleetingly in the records of the eighteenth century and only momentarily in later annals of pious women. In spite of some efforts to seek her out early in this century, Dutton has remained a relatively unknown figure in the history of English evangelicalism. In fact she was a prolific though elusive writer, credited by one source with nearly fifty distinct publications—religious pieces of diverse size and character. Anne Dutton became the friend, confidant and correspondent of many evangelical leaders and on more than one occasion directly assisted them in their pastoral activities. She was also the spirited opponent of others. This obscure, talented author defied powerful social conventions in her effort to rise above the backstage role commonly assigned to and accepted by women in the religious world of the eighteenth century.


Aims 1. To determine the variability of mutational profiles and sub-clonality in core-cut biopsies from ER+ BC and the impact of 2-weeks' AI therapy on these. 2. To identify mutations or patterns of mutations associated with poor anti-proliferative response to AI treatment. Background DNA alterations may lead to de novo and acquired resistance to medical therapies including AIs. Assessing this requires single time-point or sequential sampling usually with core-cuts but there is little information on their ability to represent mutational profiles or sub-clonal structure. We studied this in paired biopsies from ER+ BC primaries in 60 selected postmenopausal patients from the Peri-Operative Endocrine Therapy for Individualising Care (POETIC) trial (CRUK/07/015) before and after 2-weeks' non-steroidal AI or no AI (randomised 2:1). Methods DNA was extracted from RNAlater-preserved diagnostic and surgical 14-gauge core-cut samples and peripheral blood from 20 no AI (Control) and 40 AI-treated patients (15 poor and 25 good Ki67-responders [PR and GR, respectively]). Patients with low ER+ BC or unsuppressed estradiol on treatment were not considered. Exome sequencing (Illumina HiSeq 2000) achieved >60% coverage across the exome at 15x depth. Variants were validated by re-sequencing (median >100x) together with 79 genes of interest curated from COSMIC and selected publications. Statistically significant genes (SMGs) were determined using MuSiC. Sub-clonality was analysed by SciClone. Results Good quality exomes were obtained on 102 samples including 44 pairs (control n=14; PR n=10; GR n=20). There were 5684 mutations (including 3616 missense and 1322 silent) affecting 3261 genes. SMGs in this series were PIK3CA (35.3%), TP53 (27.5%), CDH1 (13.8%), HEATR7B2 (8.8%), GATA3 (5.9%), CENPF (5.9%), MAP3K1 (5.9%), MAP2K4 (4.9%), HTR1A (2.9%) and C22orf23 (1%). PR had more mutations than GR (median 65 vs 36, p=0.04). More PR than GR were HER2+ (5/14 vs 1/24, p=0.019) and/or TP53-mutated (5/10 vs 3/20, p=0.08) but similar proportions were PIK3CA-mutated. The correlation of diagnostic vs surgical variant allele frequencies was strong for the control (r=0.75) and treated (r=0.89) groups (for treated GR r=0.83; for treated PR r=0.65). In the treated group there were fewer mutations at surgery vs diagnosis (p Conclusion This is the largest reported study of exome reproducibility in ER+ BC for mutation profiles based on core-cut biopsy. Multiple sub-clones are identifiable in ER+ primary BC. In c.20% tumours, a single core-cut does not allow inference of all sub-clonal populations, probably due to spatial heterogeneity. TP53 mutations but not PIK3CA mutations are associated with PR. Large numbers of BC will be needed to identify any associations of lower frequency mutations with resistance. A trend to fewer mutations after just 2 weeks AI needs confirmation. Citation Format: Pascal Gellert, Corrinne V Segal, Qiong Gao, Tiandao Li, Christopher A Miller, Elaine Mardis, Lesley-Ann Martin, Christopher Holcombe, Anthony Skene, Judith Bliss, John Robertson, Ian Smith, Mitch Dowsett, POETIC Trial Management Group and Trialists. Exome sequencing of post-menopausal ER+ breast cancer (BC) treated pre-surgically with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in the POETIC trial (CRUK/07/015) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr S1-04.


Recruitment of bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli) in Chesapeake is related to variability in hydrological conditions and to abundance and spatial distribution of spawning stock biomass (SSB). Midwater-trawl surveys conducted for six years, over the entire 320-km length of the bay, provided information on anchovy SSB, annual spatial patterns of recruitment, and their relationships to variability in the estuarine environment. SSB of anchovy varied sixfold in 1995–2000; it alone explained little variability in young-of-the-year (YOY) recruitment level in October, which varied ninefold. Recruitments were low in 1995 and 1996 (47 and 31 Z 109) but higher in 1997–2000 (100 to 265 Z 109). During the recruitment process the YOY population migrated upbay before a subsequent fall-winter downbay migration. The extent of the downbay migration by maturing recruits was greatest in years of high freshwater input to the bay. Mean dissolved oxygen (DO) was more important than freshwater input in controlling distribution of SSB and shifts in SSB location between April– May (prespawning) and June–August (spawning) periods. Recruitments of bay anchovy were higher when mean DO was lowest in the downbay region during the spawning season. It is hypothesized that anchovy recruitment level is inversely related to mean DO concentration because low DO is associated with high plankton productivity in Chesapeake Bay. Additionally, low DO conditions may confine most bay anchovy spawners to the downbay region, where production of larvae and juveniles is enhanced. A modified Ricker stock-recruitment model indicated density-compensatory recruitment with respect to SSB and demonstrated the importance of spring-summer DO levels and spatial distribution of SSB as controllers of bay anchovy recruitment.


ABSTRACT An attempt is made to clarify the subdivision of the upper Ordovician strata in northwestern Alabama by the use of bryozoa and associated fauna. The upper Ordovician limestone exposed in northwestern Alabama (and extending into the northeastern Mississippi subsurface) contains abundant fossils, mainly bryozoa. These may be used to subdivide this section and to correlate the subdivisions with named units recognized in Tennessee. The upper part of the "Chickamauga" limestone, a catch-all term, may be divided into the Leipers and Fernvale formations on the basis of diagnostic bryozoan species. The Leipers formation is recognized by the diagnostic species Monticulipora molesta Nicholson and the absence of Richmond species. The Fernvale formation is distinguished by the presence of six species that are restricted to that formation out of twenty-four species identified. The writer recommends that the use of the name "Chickamauga" be avoided in favor of the more specific Leipers and Fernvale formations. The geographic area of study has been restricted to Limestone County, Alabama, which lies within a section of the Black Warrior Basin. Measured sections of six outcrops are presented as a columnar section. A description of the Fernvale and Leipers formations of northwestern Alabama is given with a list of Bryozoa species identified at each collecting locality.


Obesity is a very common and an increasing nutritional problem in Finland and in other western countries and also in circumpolar areas. Dietary factors like high intakes of fat and alcohol, and physical inactivity predispose to obesity. Childhood obesity increases the risk of obesity in adulthood. Obesity is associated with cardiovascular diseases, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and musculoskeletal disorders which cause work disability. Prevention of obesity should be more focused because treatment of obesity is difficult and the long-term result generally poor. Multidisciplinary co-work is needed to find out how the factors of childhood are related to obesity in adulthood.


A recent paper by Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth (2005) develops a model in which a firm's expected earnings and their growth determine its value. At least on its surface, the model appeals because it embeds the core principle used in investment practice and, further, generalizes the Constant Growth model (Gordon and Williams) without restricting the firm's dividend policy. This text reviews the valuation model and its properties. It also extends previous results by analyzing a number of issues not adequately covered in the original paper. These topics include the precise nature of dividend policy irrelevancy, how the model relates to other well-known valuation models, the role of accounting principles, and how it can be developed on the basis of an underlying information dynamics. A central result shows why the model should be accorded "benchmark" status.


We present a detailed analysis of spectrum use and radio environment dynamics based on extensive measurement campaigns in the two European metropolitan areas of Paris and London. Our focus is twofold. First, for the Paris case we focus on frequency bands assigned to cellular systems. In particular, we present extensive cross-correlational analyses describing the complex interdependencies in spectrum use between the various bands, together with their spatial correlation structures. Our results show that there are strong correlations in many instances, but these are not present in all regions and for all technologies. Second, we focus on characterizing the variability in spectrum use using novel methodology going beyond the classical spatial correlation analysis. For this, we carry out detailed measurements over different areas of London, using both moving measurement platforms as well as a stationary reference. The utilized measurement approach allows us to study the scales of variation in an area, which are important for secondary access systems and cognitive network types of deployments that have to understand and exploit those. Such deployments depend on various boundary conditions on the radio dynamics. Our major methodological contribution is that we do not only use a local average with the simplest spatial dependency measure (linear correlation), but we retain all the data and quantify spatial similarly using distribution-wide metrics. This approach also allows us to question how much information can indeed be shared from relay nodes or single nodes measurements that try to capture dynamics of larger operating regions.


Spinal disease due to intervertebral disc degeneration represents a serious medical problem which affects many people worldwide. Disc arthroplasty may be considered the future ''gold standard'' of back pain treatment, even if problems related to available disc prostheses are considered. Hence, the aim of the present study was to improve the artificial disc technology by proposing the engineering of a pilot-scale device production process for a total multi-component intervertebral disc prosthesis. The device is made up of a poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PHEMA/PMMA) (80/20 w/w) semi-interpenetrating polymer network (s-IPN) composite hydrogel reinforced with poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers as annulus/nucleus substitute, and two hydroxyapatite-reinforced polyethylene composite (HAPEX TM) endplates in order to anchor the multi-component device to the vertebral bodies. Static and dynamic—mechanical characterization show appropriate mechanical behavior. An example of engineering of a suitable pilot-scale device production process is also proposed in order to manufacture custom made implants.


The early results and late developments are presented of a consecutive series of 36 patients who underwent anastomosis of the ascending aorta to right pulmonary artery during a six-year period for a variety of congenital malformations associated with cyanosis and severe pulmonary stenosis or atresia. Twenty-six were infants under one year of age, and 16 of these were under one month of age at the time of operation. The early operative mortality of 22% was related to the severity of the anomaly and the young age of the patient. There were no early deaths in those aged three months or more. If the anastomosis was patent, symptomatic relief was good. However, the long-term mortality was 53%. Except for one baby who died of an associated congenital anomaly, the deaths were related to some consequence of the Waterston anastomosis that was unforeseen at the time of its employment. These included obliteration of the anastomosis, kinking of the anastomosis with partial or complete interruption of continuity between right and left pulmonary arteries, obliteration of the right pulmonary artery, progressive severe obstruction to right ventricular outflow and decreased flow to the left lung, as well as the complications of an excessive shunt with cardiac failure and pulmonary vascular obstructive disease. One or more subsequent palliative operations were required in nine symptomatic patients. Of the ten children with tetralogy of Fallot who underwent later open-heart repair, four died because of the difficulty in takedown of the Waterston and relief of the acquired stenosis or atresia of the right pulmonary artery and of the right ventricular outflow tract and hypoplasia of the left pulmonary artery. This mortality rate of 40% in these tetralogies contrasts with a concurrent mortality rate of less than 5% in a consecutive series of 50 patients with a tetralogy who had not had a previous Waterston procedure. We believe that this form of palliation should be reserved for those symptomatic, cyanotic newborns who are candidates for palliative rather than reparative surgery and who are not suitable for a Blalock-Taussig or Potts anastomosis.


Anemia commonly occurs in infants aged 12-24 months. One of the causes of anemia in infants is a lack of vitamin C and protein. This study aimed to determine the correlation between protein intake and vitamin C on the incidence of anemia in children under 12-24 months. This research uses an analytic study design with a cross-sectional design. Randomization was conducted to obtain a study sample consisting of 96 toddlers aged 12-24 months. The instrument uses FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) with bivariate (chi-square) and multivariate (multiple logistic regression) analysis. The univariate study results showed that out of 96 toddlers, 42 had anemia 42 (43.8%) and 54 did not (56.3%). Based on the bivariate test results, it was found that protein intake of the fulfilled hemoglobin levels had anemia 14.8% and those that were fulfilled did not experience anemia 85.2% with the result p = 0.000. Based on the fulfilled vitamin C intake, 18.9% anemia was fulfilled but 81.1% did not experience anemia with the result p = 0.001. Based on the multivariate test, protein intake was not fulfilled and had anemia p = 0.001, OR = 15.01. This study concludes that there is a relationship between protein and vitamin C intake on the incidence of anemia in infants, and protein intake that is not met will experience a 15xmore significant influence on the incidence of anemia in infants


In this paper we present Ane.m | a program for computations in representation theory of nite-dimensional and ane Lie algebras and describe implemented algorithms. The algorithms are based on the properties of weights and Weyl symmetry. Computation of weight multiplicities in irreducible and Verma modules, branching of representations and tensor product decomposition are the most important problems for us. These problems have numerous applications in physics and we provide some examples of these applications. The program is implemented in the popular computer algebra system Mathematica and works with nite-dimensional and ane Lie algebras.


We have studied monolayers of apolipoproteins CI and AII at the air/water interface, observing them along their isothermal compression processes with Brewster angle microscopy and using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The lateral order in Langmuir -Blodgett transferred proteins was also studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Previous studies have shown that APO CI consists of a chain with two amphiphilic R-helix motifs, whereas APO AII is formed by two identical polypeptide chains, bonded by a disulfide bridge at position 6, where each chain consists also of two amphiphilic R-helix motifs. Monolayers of these proteins exhibit a first-order phase transition between two condensed phases at relatively high values of the lateral pressure and at room temperature. AFM images and X-ray diffraction peaks show that the phase transitions correspond to a phase change from a two-dimensional disordered phase to a more ordered state, where an unusual solid phase is discovered. Here, in each protein chain, one R-helix is confined to the interface, whereas the otherR-helix is tilted toward the hydrophobic air.


Removal of ureteric calculi across the peritoneal cavity is direct, simple and safe. The usual indications for operative intervention prevail. A formal laparotomy is made, the small intestine packed away and the distended ureter with the contained stone is readily visible and/or palpable. A small incision in the posterior peritoneum is made over the stone or at a convenient site to which the stone can be milked. A minimal longitudinal incision in the ureter allows the stone to be removed easily. A bougie is passed into the bladder, the ureter closed with fine interrupted plain catgut sutures and the wound closed with drainage. The posterior peritoneum is not sutured to encourage any leak into the peritoneal cavity rather than the retroperitoneal tissues. The approach was first used by Kneise (1935). Textbooks by Thomson-Walker (1948), Turner & Rogers (1956) and Rob & Smith (1958) condemn the method because of the dangers of septic peritonitis and the difficulties of drainage. Boeminghaus (1954) and Nourse (1966) praise it. Cases have been written up by Robinson (1938), Michalowski & Modelski (1958) and Qvist et al. (1963). The peritoneum offers a good defence against sepsis. Little or no trouble is usually seen from the frequent peritoneal soiling in urinary diversion operations. The ureter is little dissected and undergoes minimal trauma. Stones at all levels can be removed, as can multiple stones by multiple incisions or milking them to the one incision.


Focuses on resource sharing in Kuwaiti libraries, which, due to many factors, has now become an economic and information provision necessity. Presents the results of a survey of 17 libraries in Kuwait. It was found not only that the current resource‐sharing activities are at a minimal level, but also that all libraries do not actively participate in these. However, librarians consider resource‐sharing very important for their libraries, are aware of its benefits, and know the hurdles in developing a resource‐sharing network. They are willing to participate in such a network if one was developed. Recommends that the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters should create a National Task Force to develop a detailed plan for a national resource‐sharing network. Proposes that the National Library should be designated as the coordinating agency for this network and suggests the establishment of a permanent national committee, with representation from all major libraries, to be responsible for policy making.


Sixty-two Armillaria luteobubalina Watling & Kiledisease centres were assessed along the coast from near Cervantes, 160 kmnorth-west of Perth, to Cape Arid, 120 km east of Esperance. Disease centresranged from 0.02 to 6.5 ha in size (mean ± s.e., 1.7 ± 0.2 ha).Most disease centres were active, with mainly old deaths occurring in only7% of centres. Impact was low in only 3% of centres. Diseasecentres mainly occurred on calcareous sands of Holocene dune systems.Susceptible hosts from the Proteaceae, Mimosaceae and Myrtaceae tended to bedominant small trees or shrubs and their death resulted in centres composedmainly of sedges or small shrubs and ground-cover species from a range offamilies. Percentage cover of susceptible plant species was significantly lessin disease centres than adjacent healthy areas. Cover of resistant speciestended to be greater in disease centres than adjacent healthy areas, althoughdifferences were not significant. In association with changes in communitystructure, infection resulted in more bare ground in disease centres thanamongst healthy vegetation. Infection had minimal effect on species richness.The mortality progress curve for the susceptible speciesDryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin increased at a meanapparent infection rate of 0.31 ± s.e. 0.12year-1. A disease centre extended at the rate of 0.004ha year-1 between 1964 and 1983 and 0.07 hayear-1 during the period 1981–1989. Diseaseextension per year was not correlated with yearly rainfall. Threatened taxakilled by A. luteobubalina included the rare andendangered Banksia brownii Baxter ex R.Br.,B. occidentalis R.Br. subsp.formosa Hopper, andB. verticillata R.Br. This is the first report ofdisease significantly altering the structure and composition of coastalvegetation of south-western Australia.Armillaria luteobubalina is a significant additional,and hitherto unrecognised, selection pressure on coastal dune vegetationcommunities, and an important consideration in their management andconservation.


The aim of this essay is to reformulate the identity of the genre of the Gospel of Mark as n proper interpretive model in the light of recent developments in literary theory and hermeneutics. In order to do so, a brief reception history of the gospel genre (as history; as kerygma, as narrative) is given and basic concepts of genre theory in relation to hermeneutics are discussed. Special attention is given to Fowler and Hirsh's ideas on the process of generic formation and identification. In this light, the genre of the Gospel of Mark is identified as 'narrative" (as broad genre) by taking the middle position between 'sui generis and parallel genre (to have similarities with the first century Graeco –Roman literature). According to Scholes and Kellogg (1966:12), narrative here means a literary form as 'an amalgamation of history, myth (kerygma) and fiction (narration)'. Especially if we apply appropriate mode concepts like history, kerygma, and drama to the broad genre of the Gospel as narrative the gospel genre can be identified as 'realistic narrative' or 'historical or historiographical narrative (history mode); 'kerygmatic or kerygmatized narrative' (kerygma mode); dramatic or scenic narrative' (drama mode). This generic perception exerts a dynamic influence on our reading experience on our reading experience by opening up many new possibilities in the interpretation of the Gospel of Mark.


A number of experimental studies have been performed to study the effect of geometric and aerodynamic parameters on the film cooling performance on the flat plate and turbine blade, however, the experimental investigations on a fully-cooled turbine vane is limited, especially at different density ratios. Consequently, an experiment on a fully-cooled turbine vane with multi-row film cooling holes was carried out to investigate the effect of mass flow ratio and density ratio on the film cooling performance, in which the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient was measured by transient liquid crystal. The mainstream inlet Reynolds number based on the inlet velocity and the true chord length is 120000 and the mainstream turbulence intensity is 15%, three mass flow ratios of 5.5%, 8.4% and 11% and two density ratios of 1.0 and 1.5 were tested. The air was selected as the mainstream, the air and carbon dioxide were independently selected as secondary flow to produce two density ratios of 1.0 and 1.5. The test vane is similar in geometry to a first stage turbine vane of a normal aeroengine. Two cavities were manufactured in the test vane to feed 18 rows of film cooling holes.
 Results show that with the mass flow ratio increasing for DR = 1.0 and 1.5, the film cooling effectiveness on pressure side gradually increases, however, that on the suction side gradually decreases. Generally, increased density ratio produces higher film cooling effectiveness because the injection momentum was reduced, however, the film cooling effectiveness on the suction side for DR = 1.5 is lower than that for DR = 1.0. The coolant outflow significantly enhances the surface heat transfer coefficient for 0 < S/C < 0.5 and S/C < −0.5. The heat transfer coefficient in the leading edge is less affected by the density ratio, however, the increase in density ratio reduces the heat transfer coefficient ratio in other regions, especially for large mass flow ratios.


The binding of drugs to plasma proteins is important to consider when concentrations in whole blood (eg, in forensic toxicology) are compared with therapeutic and toxic concentrations based on the analysis of plasma or serum. The plasma to whole blood distribution of diazepam (D) and its major metabolite nordiazepam (ND) was investigated under in vitro and ex vivo conditions. Studies in vitro were done by spiking whole blood with D and ND to give concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 μg/g. Venous blood was also obtained from hospital blood donors (n = 66) after informed consent. The hematocrit, hemoglobin, and water content of blood specimens were determined by routine procedures before D and ND were added to produce target concentrations of ~0.5 μg/g for each substance. The ex vivo work was done with blood specimens from hospital outpatients who were being medicated with D. Concentrations of D and ND were determined in body fluids by capillary column gas chromatography after adding prazepam as internal standard and solvent extraction with butyl acetate. The method limit of quantitation was 0.03 μg/g for both D and ND. The concentrations of D and ND were highest in plasma and lowest in erythrocytes. The plasma/blood (P/B) distribution ratios did not depend on drug concentration between 0.1 and 1.0 μg/g. The mean P/B ratios were 1.79:1 for D and 1.69:1 for ND when hematocrit was 45%. Furthermore, the P/B ratio for D (y) was positively correlated with blood hematocrit (x) and the regression equation was y = 0.636 + 0.025 x (r = 0.86, P < 0.001). A similar strong association was found between the P/B ratio and hematocrit for ND (r = 0.79). P/B ratios of D and ND, blood hematocrit, hemoglobin, and the water content differed between sexes (P < 0.001). The overall mean P/B ratios for D and ND were 1.69 ± 0.097 (± SD) and 1.62 ± 0.08 (P < 0.001, n = 66) respectively when the mean hematocrit was 42.9 ± 3.4 (± SD). For forensic purposes, it would be better to forgo making any conversion of a drug concentration measured in whole blood to that expected in plasma or serum; instead, therapeutic and toxic concentrations should be established for the actual specimens received.


Nanocrystalline SrS phosphors doped with Ce3+ ions at different concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mol%) are synthesized via the solid-state diffusion method (SSDM), which is suitable for the large-scale production of phosphors in industrial applications. The as-prepared samples are characterized using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The optical properties of these phosphors are analyzed using reflectance spectra, photoluminescence spectra and afterglow decay curves. The cubic structure of the SrS phosphor is confirmed by XRD analysis and the crystallite size calculated by Scherer's formula using XRD data shows the nanocrystalline nature of the phosphors. No phase change is observed with increasing concentrations of Ce3+ ions. The surface morphology of the prepared phosphors is determined by FESEM, which shows a sphere-like structure and good connectivity of the grains. The authenticity of the formation of nanocrystalline phosphors is examined by HRTEM analysis. Elemental compositional information for the prepared phosphors is gathered by EDX analysis. Photoluminescence studies reveal that the emission spectra of the prepared phosphor shows broad band emission centered at 458 and 550 nm due to the transition of electrons from the 5d → 4f energy levels. The afterglow decay characteristics of different as-synthesized SrS:Ce3+ nanophosphors are conceptually described. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Oscillating-water-column (OWC) devices are a very important type of wave energy converters which have been extensively studied over the years. Although most designs of OWC are based on floating or fixed structures exposed above the surface level, little is known from completely submerged systems which can benefit from reduced environmental loads and a simplified structural design. The submerged type of resonant duct consists of two OWCs separated by a weir and air chamber instead of the commonly used single column. Under conditions close to resonance, water flows from the first column into the second one, resulting in a positive flow through the system from which energy can be extracted by a hydro turbine. While existing work has looked at the study of the behaviour of one OWC, this paper addresses the dynamic interaction between the two water columns including the mass transfer mechanism as well as the associated change of momentum. A numerical time-domain model is used to obtain some initial results on the performance and response of the system for different design parameters. The model is derived from 1D conservation of mass and momentum equations, including hydrodynamic effects, adiabatic air compressibility and turbine induced damping. Preliminary results indicate that the mass transfer has an important effect both on the resonance amplification and on the phase between the motion of the two columns. Simulation results are presented for the system performance over several weir heights and regular wave conditions. Further work will continue in design optimization and experimental validation of the proposed model.


OBJECTIVE
Type 2 diabetes arises from the interaction of physiological and lifestyle risk factors. Our objective was to develop a model for predicting the risk of T2D, which could use various amounts of background information.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
We trained a survival analysis model on 8483 people from three large Finnish and Spanish data sets, to predict the time until incident T2D. All studies included anthropometric data, fasting laboratory values, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and information on co-morbidities and lifestyle habits. The variables were grouped into three sets reflecting different degrees of information availability. Scenario 1 included background and anthropometric information; Scenario 2 added routine laboratory tests; Scenario 3 also added results from an OGTT. Predictive performance of these models was compared with FINDRISC and Framingham risk scores.

RESULTS
The three models predicted T2D risk with an average integrated area under the ROC curve equal to 0.83, 0.87 and 0.90, respectively, compared with 0.80 and 0.75 obtained using the FINDRISC and Framingham risk scores. The results were validated on two independent cohorts. Glucose values and particularly 2-h glucose during OGTT (2h-PG) had highest predictive value. Smoking, marital and professional status, waist circumference, blood pressure, age and gender were also predictive.

CONCLUSIONS
Our models provide an estimation of patient's risk over time and outweigh FINDRISC and Framingham traditional scores for prediction of T2D risk. Of note, the models developed in Scenarios 1 and 2, only exploited variables easily available at general patient visits.


PURPOSE
To determine whether a deviation from linearity occurs in the .VO2-speed relationship, above the lactate threshold (LT) in running; and whether the length of the submaximal exercise bouts alters the magnitude of any deviation.

METHODS
Ten endurance-trained runners (N = 3 state level, N = 4 club level, and N = 3 recreational) (mean +/- SE; age 24.4 +/- 2.8 yr, mass 76.1 +/- 2.2 kg, .VO2 59.3 +/- 10.6 mL.kg-1.min-1) completed a .VO2, LT test and 10 x 4-min submaximal constant load exercise bouts. Data were evenly spread above and below LT, which was fitted by a dual linear regression model.

RESULTS
There was a significant decrease (51.4%) in slope of the .VO2-speed relationship above LT. The use of 3-min, in comparison with 4-min, submaximal data did not alter the slope of the .VO2-speed regression above LT. There was no significant difference in the .VO2max estimated from the .VO2-speed regression above LT (58.1 +/- 3.3 mL.kg-1.min-1) but a significant difference below LT (63.6 +/- 3.9 mL.kg-1.min-1) to that obtained during the .VO2max test.

CONCLUSION
Data from the current study suggest that the use of the linear regression of .VO2-speed data below the LT may potentially overestimate the prediction of .VO2 values above LT.


We propose a modified blind equalization method of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channels based on an autocorrelation matching (AM) principle. Different from the basic AM method, we list all the combinations of the received signals taken two at a time. For each of the combinations, the basic AM method is used to get an equalized output. Then these outputs are combined with a proper combining method, such as equal gain combining (EGC). In this way, the channel matrix is divided into some equivalent smaller matrixes, which may have smaller condition numbers, and the sensitivity to noise of system can be reduced. Simulation results show that this method can greatly improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of the system. The applications of the AM method are also considered.


Proximal imaging using tractor-mounted cameras is a simple and cost-effective method to acquire large quantities of data in orchards and vineyards. It can be used for the monitoring of vegetation and for the management of field operations such as the guidance of smart spraying systems for instance. One of the most prolific research subjects in arboriculture is fruit detection during the growing season. Estimations of fruit-load can be used for early yield assessments and for the monitoring of harvest and thinning. In addition, the visual aspects of fruits enable to appraise their growth and ripening status. This paper proposes a new approach for real-time fruit detection, combining a fast geometrical pre-processing whose output feeds a deep neural network (DNN) classifier. The first step is a radial Hough-like operator, which aims at identifying quickly the regions of interest, restricting the use of the DNNs to the most probably genuine candidates. The proposed method is generic enough to be applied on most near-spherical fruits. It was tested in two contexts: grapes and apples, with different varieties and phenological stages. In both cases the proposed method provided promising results. Correlation coefficients with manual counting and real harvest loads are up to 0.96 for grapes and up to 0.85 for apples.


Research in basic and clinical neuroscience of music conducted over the past decades has begun to uncover music's high potential as a tool for rehabilitation. Advances in our understanding of how music engages parallel brain networks underpinning sensory and motor processes, arousal, reward, and affective regulation, have laid a sound neuroscientific foundation for the development of theory-driven music interventions that have been systematically tested in clinical settings. Of particular significance in the context of motor rehabilitation is the notion that musical rhythms can entrain movement patterns in patients with movement-related disorders, serving as a continuous time reference that can help regulate movement timing and pace. To date, a significant number of clinical and experimental studies have tested the application of rhythm- and music-based interventions to improve motor functions following central nervous injury and/or degeneration. The goal of this review is to appraise the current state of knowledge on the effectiveness of music and rhythm to modulate movement spatiotemporal patterns and restore motor function. By organizing and providing a critical appraisal of a large body of research, we hope to provide a revised framework for future research on the effectiveness of rhythm- and music-based interventions to restore and (re)train motor function.


This is the fourth in a series of papers extending Martin-L\"of's meaning explanation of dependent type theory to higher-dimensional types. In this installment, we show how to define cubical type systems supporting a general schema of cubical inductive types, inductive types whose constructors may take dimension parameters and may have specified boundaries. Using this schema, we are able to specify and implement many of the higher inductive types which have been postulated in homotopy type theory, including homotopy pushouts, the torus, $W$-quotients, truncations, and arbitrary localizations. We also construct one indexed inductive type, the fiber family of a term. Using the fiber family, it is possible to define an identity type whose eliminator satisfies an exact computation rule on the reflexivity constructor. We believe that the techniques used to construct the fiber family could be straightforwardly combined with our schema for inductive types in order to give a schema for indexed cubical inductive types. The addition of higher inductive types and identity types makes computational higher type theory a model of homotopy type theory, capable of interpreting almost all of the constructions in the HoTT Book (with the exception of general indexed inductive types and inductive-inductive types). This is the first such model with an explicit canonicity theorem stating that all closed terms of boolean type evaluate either to true or to false.


Necrophagous insect species are widely used during death investigations primarily for the estimation of the minimum postmortem interval, since these species use decomposing organic matter for feeding, oviposition, and larval development. The development stages and successional colonization patterns provide important information for shorter or longer postmortem time intervals. Diptera species are the predominant taxa recovered from decomposed bodies. The temperature variance/seasonality is the main factor affecting the time presence and activity of these species. Other factors, such as geographical location, antemortem conditions, and cause of death, can influence the presence and succession of necrophagous entomofauna. Consequently, successional studies and information regarding species colonization patterns are needed for each geographical region to be used as reference data during death investigations. This study addressed the need to collect forensic entomological data for the State of North Dakota, within the first necrophagous entomofauna diversity report for the month of July 2022, using pig carcasses as human analogs. During the experimental period, 18 species of Diptera and Coleoptera were identified, with 10 new state records, while Calliphoridae was found to be the predominant family. The resulted data on necrophagous insect species diversity and dynamics from exposed pig carcasses will strengthen the current knowledge on forensic entomology in North Dakota and will serve as reference data to be used during death investigations in the Great Plains region.


We develop a novel lifting technique for nonlinear system identification based on the framework of the Koopman operator. The key idea is to identify the linear (infinite dimensional) Koopman operator in the lifted space of observables, instead of identifying the nonlinear system in the state space, a process which results in a linear method for nonlinear systems identification. The proposed lifting technique is an indirect method that does not require to compute time derivatives and is therefore well-suited to low-sampling rate data sets. Considering different finite-dimensional subspaces to approximate and identify the Koopman operator, we propose two numerical schemes: a main method and a dual method. The main method is a parametric identification technique that can accurately reconstruct the vector field of a broad class of systems. The dual method provides estimates of the vector field at the data points and is well-suited to identify high-dimensional systems with small datasets. This paper describes the two methods, provides theoretical convergence results, and illustrates the lifting techniques with several examples.


Objective To characterize the otoendoscopic features of traumatic tympanic membrane perforations (TMPs) with outward-migrating epithelium at the perforation edges and to evaluate the spontaneous healing outcome of this type of perforation. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Tertiary university hospital. Materials and Methods The clinical records of traumatic TMP patients who met the case selection criteria were retrieved and categorized based on the documented migration pathways of the proliferating epithelial cells at the perforation margins into 2 groups: centripetal migration and outward migration. The demographic data and spontaneous healing outcomes (ie, healing rate and time) of these 2 types of TMP were analyzed using the chi-square test or t-test. The otoendoscopic features were characterized. Results In all, 122 cases were analyzed. During the spontaneous healing process, perforations were associated with centripetal epithelial cell migration in 87 (71.3%) cases and with outward epithelial cell migration in 35 (28.7%) cases. The overall perforation closure rates at the end of 6 months were 97% and 94% for the centripetal and outward migration groups, respectively (P > 0.05). The average perforation closure times were 18.4 ± 3.7 and 37.6 ± 9.2 days, respectively (P < 0.05). Conclusions Although the outward epithelial migration did not affect the overall perforation spontaneous healing rate, it alone could not close the perforation. The prerequisite for eardrum healing is that the outward epithelium migration pattern evolves into a centripetal migration pattern. Consequently, outward epithelial migration prolonged substantially the time to traumatic eardrum perforation closure.


Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotionally-focused couple therapy (EFCT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in the quality of interpersonal relationships among couples with marital conflicts.
Materials and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and delayed follow-up. The study population consisted of 39 couples with marital conflicts referring to Behzisti counseling centers in Tayebad, Iran, within the second half of 2018 and first half of 2019. The participants, including 13 couples receiving EFCT, 13 couples receiving ACT, and 13 couples as the control group, were selected using convenience sampling. For the experimental groups, nine EFCT sessions and eight ACT sessions were held, and the control group was not subjected to any intervention. The research tools were Sanaeichr('39')s Marital Conflicts Questionnaire and Pierce's Quality of Interpersonal Relationships Questionnaire that the couples of the three groups completed in three stages, namely pretest, posttest, and follow-up. Repeated measures analysis of variance, Bonferroni test, and SPSS statistical software (version 23) were used to analyze the data.
Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that ACT was more effective in the quality of interpersonal relationships among couples with marital conflicts than EFCT (P<0.001).
Conclusion: The obtained results of the present study revealed that ACT was more effective than EFCT in the improvement of the quality of interpersonal relationships among couples with marital conflicts.


Background Seclusion is an intensive intervention employed in inpatient mental health units to guarantee safety when de-escalation methods have been exhausted. High rate of seclusion are associated with higher employee injury rate, lower staff engagement and increased patient length of stay. Objectives Our aim is to reduce seclusion rates in all admitted patients in inpatient psychiatry from a baseline of 136 to less than 110 per 1000 patient days by December 2016 and sustain for 12 months. Methods A multidisciplinary team developed an Aim and Key Driver Diagram focused on reducing seclusions. Evidence based interventions included milieu management techniques, proactive patient engagement and staff training on trauma informed approaches, physical deflection, and reinforcement principles. Other successful Plan-Do-Study-Act's (PDSA's) include small patient groups and skill-appropriate programming to reduce opportunities for escalating behaviours and increase patient success. Results By 1st quarter 2017, seclusion rates were reduced from 136 to 60 seclusions per 1000 patient days (56% reduction) and sustained for 12 months. In addition to seclusion rates, we achieved a 40% reduction in duration of seclusions, a 55% reduction in mechanical restraints and a 72% reduction in employee injuries. Conclusions Seclusion in children and adolescent mental health units can be significantly reduced through systematic application of quality improvement methodology to revise unit programming and address training and awareness issues. We implemented several effective and less-disruptive interventions while we established a new unit and trained inexperienced staff. These strategies may help impact care of patients in other child and adolescent mental health units.Abstract 846 Figure 1 Number of seclusions per 1000 patient days in T5A


Planning at the landscape scale in Britain has had limited application. The origins, implementations and likely outcomes of new approaches to nature planning in Britain in which the spatial scale of planning could be 'landscape enabled' are traced. These approaches are termed 'framework' strategies, within which 'ecological networks' can be developed in order better to reflect species' behaviour and to overcome the restrictions of designation-based nature conservation. Currently, planning structures are subject to change and debate: published planning documents and other sources are examined for a case study of the North West of England, where experiments in ecological networks are underway. Evidence is sought for the incorporation into new planning structures of key concepts relevant to the achievement of network implementation. Evaluation is made of likely critical 'pinch points' in implementation using experience of network planning in the Netherlands for comparison. These include availability of data on habitats and species, the relationship of planning to agriculture, and the need for co-operation from stakeholders.


Effects of acute compression for 2 hours around the sciatic nerve trunk at 30 or 80 mmHg on the regeneration potential in rat sciatic nerves were studied. Sham compression or mobilization was performed contralaterally. A week later a crush injury was inflicted proximal to the compressed segment. After another 3 or 6 days the length of axonal outgrowth was measured, using the pinch test technique. We found that compression at either level caused an increased length of axonal outgrowth compared to the mobilized or sham-compressed nerves. The results show that an acute compression at low pressures does have a conditioning lesion effect on peripheral nerves.


This study aimed to reveal relationship between the extensiveness of trichophytosis on the body and serum zinc levels in cattle. This study was carried out on 92 cattle with trichophytosis and 50 healthy ones. Serum zinc levels of healthy cattle were evaluated as control. The cattle with trichophytosis separated into 5 groups according to diffusiveness of the diseases. Experimental groups of this study were designed as follows; Group 1: up to 1 cm, Group 2: 1-5 cm, Group 3: 5-10 cm, Group 4: 10-20 cm and Group 5: widespread on the body. Serum zinc levels measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with flame system. In general, the mean level of Zn in trichophytosis groups (0.613±0.013 mg Zn/L) was statistically lower than healthy ones (0.900±0.017 mg Zn/L). A negative correlation was determined between the diffusiveness degree of trichophytosis and serum zinc levels (r = -0.772). Serum Zinc levels were statistically decreased from the control group to group 3. However, a stable course was observed from 3 to 5. Therefore, the value of group 3 (0.6 mgZn/L) was determined as a critical value for the cattle with trichophytosis. According to regression analysis results, it was observed that the extensiveness of the trichophytosis lesions affected the levels of serum Zn levels significantly (r2=59.6%). Consequently, serum zinc levels of cattle decreased in an inversely proportional manner to the diffusiveness degree of trichophytosis and stabilization was observed at the level of 0.6 mg Zn/L.


Competition Commission welcomes first judgment on pecuniary penalties in Hong Kong competition law regime* The Competition Commission (Commission) welcomes the judgment (Judgment) handed down by…