INTRODUCTION
Investigational drug service (IDS) oversees and manages use of investigational products. There is limited data on utility of pharmacy services in clinical trial conduct and outcomes, specifically on the value of a decentralized IDS pharmacist.

METHODS
This is a quasi-experimental study conducted in an oncology clinical trial infusion unit. A retrospective chart review was done to reflect current practice from January through June 2022. A decentralized IDS pharmacist was piloted in December 2022. Data collected included number and types of consults, personnel requesting the consult, and intervention performed. A satisfaction questionnaire was conducted after the pilot program.

RESULTS
A total of 16.3% (173 of 1062 patient visits) of pharmacy consults were completed in the centralized IDS pharmacy model, while 44.5% (81 of 182 patient visits) of pharmacy consults were completed during the decentralized IDS pharmacist pilot, p < .001. Decentralized IDS pharmacist completed 77% (62/81) of the consults during the pilot period. Most common types of consults were toxicity management (20%), electronic medical record issues (17%), and tubing and drug administration issues (16%). More than 80% of respondents to the satisfaction questionnaire responded that implementation of a decentralized IDS pharmacist is acceptable, appropriate, and feasible.

CONCLUSION
This pilot study demonstrated that a decentralized IDS pharmacist in an oncology clinical trial infusion unit improved accessibility to an IDS pharmacist, increased pharmacy consults relevant to patient care and optimized centralized pharmacists medication distribution workflow. Further studies are needed to evaluate patient benefits from implementing decentralized IDS pharmacist in direct patient care activities.


Tsaiya ducks and Leghorn hens are the two major laying birds raised in Taiwan. They are all excellent egg layers. Tsaiya ducks are small in body size (1.3 kg) with bigger egg weight (65 g) and stronger eggshell breaking strength than eggs from hens. The eggshell consists mainly of calcium carbonate, hence calcium plays an important role in the eggshell formation. Magnesium is also present in eggshell in small amounts, which may have effect on maintaining eggshell quality. In comparison studies, it was shown that the duck eggshells contained higher calcium and lower magnesium content than chicken eggshells. The eggshell magnesium content was not affected by the dietary magnesium levels (690-2380 ppm) in ducks, but in hens, it increased linearly with dietary magnesium levels. The palisade layer (5000×) of the eggshell was found to have a compact form for ducks while there are many hallow vesicles in chicken eggshells. The eggshell magnesium deposition model is different for ducks and hens with ducks having a one-peak and hens having a two-peak model. The calcium deposition model is similar for both birds. Both the carbonic anhydrase specific activity and total activity in the shell gland mucosa of ducks are higher than those in hens. Ducks retain higher magnesium and lower calcium in the shell gland mucosa and secret less magnesium and more calcium into the shell gland lumen for eggshell deposition. The ATPase specific activity is maintained fairly constant during the eggshell forming stage, indicating continuous calcium transport into the shell gland lumen for eggshell formation. The magnesium content in duck eggshells is much lower than that in hens indicating that the magnesium content in the eggshell may have an effect on eggshell quality. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2003. Vol. 16, No. 2 : 290-296)


Backgrounds: Gastrointestinal bleeding such as hematemesis or melena are common conditions in clinical practice and endoscopic service. The mortality rate due to gastrointestinal bleeding is relatively high. In this study, we evaluate the causes of hematemesis melena for the last 5 years and the factors associated with the bleeding. Methods: The study was done retrospectively. We obtained data from medical record of patients that performed endoscopy of upper gastrointestinal tract in Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal medicine, Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital (Jakarta, Indonesia) during the period of 2001 to 2005. Results: Of 4.154 patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy from 2001 to 2005, we found that 837 patients (20.1%) were due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding. They were 552 male (65.9%) and 285 female patients (34.1%). Mean age of male patients was 52.7 ± 15.82 years, while for female patients was 54.46 ± 17.6 years. Of 837 patients who came due to hematemesis were 150 patients (17.9%), melena were 310 patients (37.8%), both melena and hematemesis were 371 patients (44.3%), 557 cases (66.5 %) due to non varices. Endoscopic results showed that 280 cases (33.4%) were due to esophageal varices. In general, this study had demonstrated that esophageal varices was the most frequent cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. We found 229 cases of esophageal varices were coincidence with portal hypertensive gastropathy. While ulcer was found in 225 cases (26.9%) and most of them were gastric ulcer (51.1%). Of gastrointestinal bleeding caused by esophageal varices, most were grade III in 138 cases (49.3%). The incidence of bleeding of bleeding were found more frequently in patients age group of 40 - 60 years (389 cases; 46.5%), > 60 years (305 cases; 36.2%), 60 years, most were caused by ulcer (37.4%). In this study, we also found that cancer as the cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in 26 cases (3.1%). Gastrointestinal cancer comprised of gastric cancer in 15 cases (57.7%), duodenal cancer in 7 cases (26.9%), and esophageal cancer in 4 patients (15.4%). Conclusion: The most frequent cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding was esophageal varices and usually had reached stage III. The non variceal cause of bleeding was gastric cancer. Upper gastrointestinal malignancy was also found to be the etiology of bleeding in this study. Keywords : upper gastrointestinal bleeding, endoscopy


The elements in the small-signal equivalent circuit model of a microwave GaAs MESFET have been related to the device parameters (i.e., device structure, semiconductor properties, and operating point) by device theories. This equivalent circuit is experimentally verified by small-signal 3-GHz microwave measurements at room and liquid-nitrogen temperatures. The method used for determining the values of equivalent circuit parameters is briefly described.


The interaction between Hfq and RNA is central to multiple regulatory processes. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have found a missense mutation in Hfq (V43R) which strongly affects2 the RNA binding capacity of the Hfq protein and its ability to stimulate poly(A) tail elongation by poly(A)-polymerase in vitro. In vivo, overexpression of this Hfq variant fails to stimulate rpoS–lacZ expression and does not restore a normal growth rate in hfq null mutant. Cells in which the wild-type gene has been replaced by the hfqV43R allele exhibit a phenotype intermediate between those of the wild-type and of the hfq minus or null strains. This missense mutation derepresses Hfq synthesis. However, not all Hfq functions are affected by this mutation. For example, HfqV43R represses OppA synthesis as strongly as the wild-type protein. The dominant negative effect of the V43R mutation over the wild-type allele suggests that hexamers containing variant and genuine subunits are presumably not functional. Finally, molecular dynamics studies indicate that the V43R substitution mainly changes the position of the K56 and Y55 side chains involved in the Hfq–RNA interaction but has probably no effect on the folding and the oligomerization of the protein.


SUMMARY The sequence of 1232 nucleotides from the 3' region of the plum pox virus (PPV) RNA has been determined. This sequence contains one long open reading frame (ORF). The sequence of the 17 amino-terminal amino acids of the PPV capsid protein was determined chemically. An identical amino acid sequence was found in the translation product of the large ORF, starting at amino acid - 330, which is alanine. Our data suggest that the PPV capsid protein, like that of other potyviruses, is a product of the maturation of a large polyprotein. The putative cleavage site is at a glutamine-alanine dipeptide. The capsid protein gene consists of 990 nucleotides and corresponds to a region coding for 330 amino acids which have a combined calculated Mr of 36593. The adjacent 3' untranslated region is of 215 nucleotides and ends in a polyadenylate tract. PPV capsid protein molecules are thus larger than those of the other potyviruses that have been characterized. The amino acid sequence of PPV coat protein is 47 to 60~ homologous to other potyvirus coat proteins and most of the variations are in the amino-terminal region.


The large‐scale numerical simulation of fluid flow is described as a discipline within the field of software engineering. As an example of such work, a vortex flowfield is analysed for its essential physical flow features, an appropriate mathematical description is presented (the Euler equations with an artificial viscosity model), a numerical algorithm to solve the mathematical equations is described, and the programming methodology which allows us to attain a very high degree of vectorization on the CYBER 205 is discussed. Four simulated flowfields with vorticity shed from wing edges are computed with up to as many as one million grid points and verify the realism of the simulation model. The computed solutions show all the qualitative features that are expected in these flows. The twisted cranked‐and‐cropped delta case is one where the leading‐edge vortex is highly stretched and unstable, displaying ultimately inviscid large‐scale turbulent‐like phenomena.


Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration is a key parameter to describe water quality in marine and freshwater environments. Nowadays, several products with Chl-a have derived from satellite imagery, but they are not available or reliable sometimes for coastal and/or small water bodies. Thus, in the last decade several methods have been described to estimate Chl-a with high-resolution (30 m) satellite imagery, such as Landsat, but a standardized method to estimate Chl-a from Landsat imagery has not been accepted yet. Therefore, this study evaluated the predictive performance of regression models (Simple Linear Regression [SLR], Multiple Linear Regression [MLR] and Generalized Additive Models [GAMs]) to estimate Chl-a based on Landsat imagery, using in situ Chl-a data collected (synchronized with the overpass of Landsat 8 satellite) and spectral reflectance in the visible light portion (bands 1–4) and near infrared (band 5). These bands were selected because of Chl-a absorbance/reflectance properties in these wavelengths. According to goodness of fit, GAM outperformed SLR and MLR. However, the model validation showed that MLR performed better in predicting log-transformed Chl-a. Thus, MLR, constructed by using four spectral bands (1, 2, 3, and 5), was considered the best method to predict Chl-a. The coefficients of this model suggested that log-transformed Chl-a concentration had a positive linear relationship with bands 1 (coastal/aerosol), 3 (green), and 5 (NIR). On the other hand, band 2 (blue) suggested a negative relationship, which implied high coherence with Chl-a absorbance/reflectance properties measured in the laboratory, indicating that Landsat 8 images could be applied effectively to estimate Chl-a concentrations in coastal environments.


The position of the piston in pneumatic cylinder with aluminum wall can be measured by external inductance sensor without modifications of the aluminum piston and massive iron piston rod. For frequencies below 20 Hz the inductance is increasing with inserting rod due to the rod permeability. This mode has disadvantage of slow response to piston movement and also high temperature sensitivity. At the frequency of 45 Hz the inductance is position independent, as the permeability effect is compensated by the eddy current effect. At higher frequencies eddy current effects in the rod prevail, the inductance is decreasing with inserting rod. In this mode the sensitivity is smaller but the sensor response is fast and temperature stability is better. We show that FEM simulation of this sensor using measured material properties gives accurate results, which is important for the sensor optimization such as designing the winding geometry for the best linearity.


A device for practicing golf putting strokes includes signal members embedded in the putting surface to detect improper movements of the head of the putting club. Each signal member includes a light source and a coacting sensor which detects the light from the coacting light source when it is reflected from the bottom surface of the putter head. The central bottom surface area of the putter head is covered with a non-reflecting surface, while the remaining bottom surface area of the club head is covered with a reflecting substance such as aluminum.


We argue that Gorz's work offers a nuanced engagement with alienation that is instructive for contemporary social theory. In keeping with Gorz's broader politics, we contend that the utility of his framing of alienation derives from his insistence that progressive critique must challenge the ideal of productivism. We start the paper by presenting a sympathetic reconstruction of Gorz's understanding of alienation. Next, we explicitly detail the strengths his approach carries for furthering sociological research today. We then reinforce this point by arguing that Gorz's work offers particularly valuable theoretical resources for contemporary Frankfurt School Critical Theory, in which the study of alienation has been somehow hampered by the ascent of 'recognition theory'. While not sharing all the methodological commitments of first-generation Critical Theorists, Gorz was well versed in Frankfurt School scholarship and is therefore an apposite interlocutor to engage 'third-generation' Critical Theory. Gorz's insights are thus shown to be important for furthering contemporary social theory, and in particular, for helping to combat the unsustainable productivism of neoliberal capitalism.


Domestic revenue mobilization has received growing attention in recent years as it has crucial national and international dimensions for sub-Saharan African (SSA) and East African countries. In most countries, tax has not increased with increasing development expenditures. In place, the share of tax revenue to gross domestic product (GDP) is declining and countries constantly rely on foreign   capital inflow as a major source of the government budget. Thus, equally tax revenue is key for economic development, the study thought to empirically examine the key determinants of tax revenue in East African countries using a novel dataset ranging from 1992 to 2015 by employing panel data cointegration approach. Panel unit root test of stationarity based on the LLC, IPS and ADF test of stationarity shows that all variables are cointegrated of order one, I(1), except the variable inflation which is stationary at level. The model estimation was done using the FGLS and the dynamic panel data GMM model. The long run estimated equation from the FGLS results indicates that per capita GDP, foreign aid, trade openness, share of agriculture, share of industry and share of services have positive contribution for tax revenue of East African countries over the study period. On the other hand, urbanization, official exchange rate and rate of inflation have negative impact on the tax revenue to GDP ratio of the region. From the short run, PVECM one period lagged tax revenue and urbanization has negative impact on the current period tax revenue while two period lagged urbanization and official exchange rate has positive impact. Thus, the robust result of the study calls for an indication that tax revenue increases under stable macroeconomic environment. Hence, East African countries should therefore better pursue economic policies that at least reveal low inflation rate and favorable trade policies. Moreover, the countries are required to set prudent macroeconomic policy environment which create economic integrations among different sectors, mobilizes domestic resource and improve external trade policies to make each country's growth sustainable on the basis of domestic resource mobilizations. The cumulative effects lead to improved tax revenue collection of the region.

 Key words: Tax revenue, multivariate panel cointegration, East African countries.


In the last couple of years, the LHC has released precise measurements of elastic proton-proton scattering which has become an important guide in the search for selecting phenomenological models and theoretical approaches to understand, in a deeper level, the theory of strong interactions. In this thesis, through the formulation of two models compatible with analyticity and unitarity constraints, we study some aspects concerning the Physics behind hadronic interactions. In particular, we investigate the proton-proton and the antiproton-proton elastic scattering at high energies using a Regge theory-based model, where the increase of the total cross section is attributed to the exchange of a colorless state having the quantum numbers of the vacuum, and using a model based on the Quantum-Chromodynamics-improved parton model, where the increase of the total cross section is in turn associated with semihard scatterings of partons in the hadrons.


AIM
The purpose of this retrospective chart review study was to determine if the length of residents' comprehensive dental care rotations in a general practice residency affected late cancellations, broken appointments, completion of treatment, timeliness of recall visits, emergency visits, and the need for redo of restorations and prostheses.

METHODS
Patients who presented for comprehensive care from 2010 to 2013, during which residents had 3- to 4-month dental clinic rotations, comprised Group 1, and patients who presented for comprehensive care from 2013 to 2016, during which residents had 11-month dental clinic rotations, comprised Group 2. Subjects were excluded if they only presented for emergency care, they had only one visit, or their care was delivered in both time periods. There were 105 patients in Group 1 and 55 patients in Group 2.

RESULTS
The statistically significant results were that Group 1 patients had more late cancellations and broken appointments and failed to reach recall status more often than Group 2 patients, and that Group 1 patients had fewer emergency visits.

CONCLUSION
Within the limitations of this retrospective study, the results suggest that short block rotations have an adverse effect on resident experience and outcomes of patient care in a hospital outpatient setting.


We consider the off-policy estimation problem of estimating the expected reward of a target policy using samples collected by a different behavior policy. Importance sampling (IS) has been a key technique to derive (nearly) unbiased estimators, but is known to suffer from an excessively high variance in long-horizon problems. In the extreme case of in infinite-horizon problems, the variance of an IS-based estimator may even be unbounded. In this paper, we propose a new off-policy estimation method that applies IS directly on the stationary state-visitation distributions to avoid the exploding variance issue faced by existing estimators.Our key contribution is a novel approach to estimating the density ratio of two stationary distributions, with trajectories sampled from only the behavior distribution. We develop a mini-max loss function for the estimation problem, and derive a closed-form solution for the case of RKHS. We support our method with both theoretical and empirical analyses.


This paper undertakes a study of the nature of the force associated with the local U (1) gauge symmetry of a non-relativistic quantum particle. To ensure invariance under local U (1) symmetry, a matter field must couple to a gauge field. We show that such a gauge field necessarily satisfies the Maxwell equations, whether the matter field coupled to it is relativistic or non-relativistic. This result suggests that the structure of the Maxwell equations is determined by gauge symmetry rather than the symmetry transformation properties of space-time. In order to assess the validity of this notion, we examine the transformation properties of the coupled matter and gauge fields under Galilean transformations. Our main technical result is the Galilean invariance of the full equations of motion of the U (1) gauge field.


The ability of patients to understand health-related text is important for optimal health outcomes. A system that can automatically annotate medical entities could help patients better understand health-related text. Such a system would also accelerate manual data annotation for this low-resource domain as well as assist in downstream medical NLP tasks such as finding textual similarity, identifying conflicting medical advice, and aspect-based sentiment analysis. In this work, we investigate a state-of-the-art entity set expansion model, BootstrapNet, for the task of medical entity classification on a new dataset of medical advice text. We also propose EP SBERT, a simple model that utilizes Sentence-BERT embeddings of entities and context patterns to more effectively capture the semantics of the entities. Our experiments show that EP SBERT significantly outperforms a random classifier baseline, outperforms the more complex BootstrapNet by 5.2 F1 points, and achieves a 5-fold cross validated weighted F1 score of 0.835. Further experiments show that EP SBERT achieves a weighted F1 score of 0.870 when we remove a peripheral class whose inclusion is nonessential to the problem formulation, and a weighted F1 score of 0.949 when using top-2 evaluation. This makes us confident that EP SBERT can be useful when building human-in-the-loop data annotation tools. Finally, we perform an extensive error analysis of EP SBERT, identifying two core challenges and future work. Our code will be made available at https://github.com/garrettjohnston99/EP-SBERT.


Whether repetition and lag improve the recognition of movement patterns was investigated. Recognition memory was tested for one repetition, two-repetitions massed, and two-repetitions distributed with movement patterns at lags of 3, 5, 7, and 13. Recognition performance was examined both immediately afterwards and following a 48 hour delay. Both repetition and lag effects failed to be demonstrated, providing some support for the claim that memory is unaffected by repetition at a constant level of processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). There was, as expected, a significant decrease in recognition memory following the retention interval, but this appeared unrelated to repetition or lag.


Background: In the field of development aid, social equity is an emerging issue that concerns the evaluation community in its theoretical and practical dimensions.
Purpose: A widely held belief is that evaluators do not apply theory. In this paper, we intend to verify this statement about equity in the field of cooperation projects.
Setting: Not applicable.
Intervention: Not applicable.
Research Design: We considered equity-focused approaches and found three common factors: stakeholder participation, attention to context, and focus on marginalized groups. These elements operate as screening criteria in identifying equity issues in a case study.
Data Collection and Analysis: The paper examines a practical experience of Italian cooperation. This involved a review of evaluations reports completed between 2013 and 2014. The reports are analyzed according to the three screening criteria.
Findings: The use of the three criteria has proved its worth in grasping the issues of equity neglected and often not recognized in reports. Once again a gap emerges between theory and practice. The availability of theoretical approaches is not sufficient. The paper, therefore, proposes a reflection on the responsibility of evaluation towards social justice.
Keywords: social equity; development aid; theory and practice gap.


It's common these days to talk about liberal democracy. Yet it wasn't that way in the past. At least until the mid-19th century, the terms liberalism and democracy were in conflict. The first called attention to liberties and gave special emphasis to economic freedom. Liberalism's defenders rejected democracy because they believed that the search for equality under governments of the majorities would call liberal principles into question. Democracy and liberalism were only able to join hands on the basis of mutual concessions, but it was democracy that conceded the most ground. Liberalism was forced to accept universal suffrage and, later, the fact that the limits of the minimum state would be surpassed as social policies were formulated and a significant number of public enterprises emerged. For democrats, the bloodletting was far greater. Democracy was reduced from a conception of social organization based on ethical principles, in which equality played a central role, to a set of rules or procedures for the distribution of political power. Nevertheless, at first glance it appeared that the liberals suffered the greatest defeats, having lost even the name itself, as they took refuge under the simple denomination of democrats. The lost prestige of the industrial revolution, because of the atrocities committed by the defenders of laissez faire, was an important factor in the liberals' retreat. A little later, faced with the rising influence of socialist ideology, liberals and democrats ended up joining forces against what they considered the common enemy. From that point on, democrat tended to be synonymous with liberal and liberal tended to be synonymous with defender of laissez faire. Locke, Montesquieu, Hobbes, de Tocqueville, and even more so Rousseau, would be abandoned for Adam Smith. The imprecisions of the last century are still with us. To define oneself as a democrat can mean at least two very different visions: either a defender of liberty with the accent on economic freedom, or a defender of liberty with emphasis on equality. I think the positions of George Bush, when he applauds Latin America's advances in terms of economic freedom and democracy, are closer to the first vision, while the democratic demands of "Lula" in Brazil or of the FMLN in El Salvador are identified more with the second. Liberals will accept democracy so long as universal suffrage does not call into question the social organization of the economy or development projects. The majority should not interfere in the key point of all freedoms: the economy. Thus the paradox of peoples who vote and elect, and vote and elect again, yet never achieve any influence over substantive questions that would improve the conditions of their lives. The problems between liberalism and democracy tend to sharpen when social demands grow and civil society manages to broaden social benefits and reduce inequities in the distribution of wealth. From the liberal perspective, these are moments when democracy becomes ungovernable. We are faced with an "overload" that the system must remedy by limiting democracy, social benefits, and wages. As the population comes to understand and accept the new situation, liberalism and democracy will again join hands. Otherwise it is liberalism -- a liberalism bold in economics and conservative in politics -- that will impose itself. Against these positions there are others within liberalism that are more concerned with social and political problems and that do not view this concern as conflicting with democracy. Moreover, they consider democracy to be a desirable political goal, although limited to procedural issues. They seek a "minimal" democracy. They are also concerned about crude liberalism's view of the market as the ultimate judge in determining the distribution of material wealth. Progressive sectors of liberalism even go so far as to express sympathies with socialism. …


Plasma cell granuloma is a tumor-like disease characterized by non-neoplastic polyclonal proliferation of plasma cells and other mononuclear cells. This disease occurs most frequently in the lung and upper respiratory tract, while the involvement of the central nervous system is very rare. A 44-year-old female patient presented with nausea and progressive visual disturbance. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the mass along the right tentorium with low signal intensity in the T2 weighted image (T2WI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence, and an isosignal intensity in T1 weighted image (T1WI), the latter of which was enhanced after administration of gadolinium-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-DTPA). The thickest portion of the tentorium was partially excised via the combined suboccipital and infratentorial approach. The histopathological examination indicated a diagnosis of plasma cell granuloma. Postoperative steroid therapy was administered for remnant tumor control. Although a follow up MRI scan taken 20 months after the operation showed a slight decrease in tumor size, the lesion had extended to the falx and left frontal convexity along with parenchymal edema at 32 months after the operation and the clinical status was aggravated. The mass was removed from the left frontal convexity. Radiation therapy was given, together with steroid administration.


This study, supported by the Challenge Program Water and Food (CPWF-Project 35), demonstrates the case of multiple-use of water through seasonal aquaculture interventions for improved rice–fish production systems in the Bangladesh floodplains. The project focused on community-based fish culture initiatives, increasingly adopted in the agro-ecological zones of the major floodplains of the Padma, Testa, and Brahmaputra basin. The productivity of water and fish is used as an indicator to explain this case. We hypothesize that seasonal aquaculture supported by the management of floodplains for multiple-use of water can significantly increase the productivity of rice–fish systems. Recognizing the need for innovative ways to manage human-dominated landscapes and climate-sensitive ecosystems such as floodplains, we have analysed seasonal aquaculture interventions along with local adaptation of water management strategies, including the consideration of groundwater mechanisms. The results, supported by quantitative analysis and qualitative arguments, demonstrate the significant contribution of seasonal aquaculture in improving the rice–fish production systems of the selected floodplain sites. This was achieved through the increased productivity of water and fish and the reduction of the risk posed by arsenic contamination. The study is also illustrative of the diversification in livelihood-generating activities to cope with the extended period of flooding cycle in the region. We highlight the value of multiple resource-use approaches to enhance the social and ecological resilience of floodplains, and the need to re-consider basin water management options to recognize the water requirements of other sources of food such as fish produced by capture fisheries and aquaculture.


Crowdsourcing has been identified as a valuable paradigm in the open design movement. In engineering design, it offers various benefits, such as the generation of diverse ideas and the involvement of consumers. Despite the potential benefits, there are many ways in which crowdsourcing initiatives may fail. An example of such a failure is when a previously successful initiative for a large organization fails to attract a suitable number of participants with diverse expertise for a start-up. Consequently, the start-up does not receive good sets of ideas, both in quantity and variety. Such failures of crowdsourcing initiatives are common due to the lack of appropriate design of crowdsourcing initiatives based on the organizational characteristics such as its size. While frameworks and guidelines exist for the design of crowdsourcing initiatives, whether these are useful for all sizes of organizations, is yet to be determined. Large organizations such as Procter & Gamble and NASA, now conduct crowdsourcing initiatives regularly. Furthermore, start-ups are emerging that leverage crowdsourcing as an integral part of their business model. On the contrary, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have fallen behind in the adoption of crowdsourcing processes. In this paper, we aim to identify the challenges associated with crowdsourcing and how and whether these differ according to organizational size. We present the results of an interview study with industry professionals from five organizations of varying sizes, and yield key challenges associated with the application of crowdsourcing. This paper discusses suggested support mechanisms for crowdsourcing in SMEs and directions for further research for crowdsourcing in engineering design.


In this paper, an analytical model for the vertical electric field distribution and optimization of a high voltage-reduced bulk field (REBULF) lateral double-diffused metal—oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) transistor is presented. The dependences of the breakdown voltage on the buried n-layer depth, thickness, and doping concentration are discussed in detail. The REBULF criterion and the optimal vertical electric field distribution condition are derived on the basis of the optimization of the electric field distribution. The breakdown voltage of the REBULF LDMOS transistor is always higher than that of a single reduced surface field (RESURF) LDMOS transistor, and both analytical and numerical results show that it is better to make a thick n-layer buried deep into the p-substrate.


Research interest towards wireless mesh network has improved drastically. WMN is emerging as promising technology for many useful applications. Many efforts have been conducted to maximize network throughput in multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh network. Most current approaches are based on either purely static or purely dynamic. Channel allocation plays major role to maximize the network throughput. In hybrid channel allocation, every mesh node is equipped with static and dynamic interfaces. In turn, Interference and Congestion Aware Routing Protocol (ICAR) in hybrid network with both static and dynamic links, which are capable of balancing the channel usage in network, is proposed. ICAR balances the channel usage of network. Simulation results show the reduced packet delay without degrading the network throughput. Hybrid architecture performs better to changing traffic than pure static architecture, which achieves lower delay than existing approaches for hybrid networks. Keywords--Wireless mesh network, channel allocation, Multiradio Multi channel, network throughput.


Blood samples from 217 unrelated individuals belonging to two endogamous populations, Kotas and Badagas of the Nilgiri Hills, South India, were screened for glyoxalase I and esterase D polymorphisms using mixed starch-agarose gel electrophoresis. The GLO1*1 gene frequency estimates were 0.1887 and 0.1982 for Kotas and Badagas. The ESD*1 gene frequency estimates were 0.7123 and 0.7568 for Kotas and Badagas, respectively. The results are compared with those available for other Indian populations.


Literacy level and educational attainment are vital indicators of development of any society. In spite of many socio-economic securities provided to scheduled castes in the constitution and by the government, scheduled castes are still comparatively illiterates and less educated than general category. This could be attributed to a variety of reasons such as early age marriage, high female illiteracy due to importance to male child, child labour, superstition, dominance of higher castes, and deprivation from socio-economic status etc. Education is an important variable affecting demographic behavior concerning marriage, fertility, mortality, migration as well as participation in labour force. In a number of research studies, a clear cut negative relationship has been established between the educational level of women and fertility. The age of females at marriage is also affected by the educational attainment of females. Even infant mortality is found to be affected by the educational status of mother. Thus there is a need to study on literacy and educational attainment of scheduled castes of Maldah district and to give suggestions for their educational development.

 Key words: Scheduled castes, literacy, and educational attainment.


Angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma (AFH) is a rare soft tissue tumor that arises primarily in the extremities of young adults. Recurrent gene fusions involving EWSR1 with members of the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) family have been reported in a diverse group of tumors, including AFH. AFH-like lesions have been reported to occur intracranially and the reported cases show low proliferation indices, frequently have a connection with the dura, and show recurrent EWSR1 rearrangements. These tumors have been termed intracranial myxoid mesenchymal tumor with EWSR1-CREB family gene fusions. A literature search identified 11 reported cases of intracranial AFH-like lesions with an EWSR1 rearrangement. Here, we report a case of intracranial myxoid mesenchymal tumor with an EWSR1-ATF1 fusion in an adult patient, and review the existing literature on this recently described entity.


Abstract Stakeholders in the transportation industry have been concerned with sustainability. However, transportation decision makers have had difficulty in incorporating sustainability into transportation infrastructure decisions in an objective manner. This paper illustrates the utilization of a new framework, referred to as the dynamic index for national advancement (DINA) framework, for quantifying sustainable development. The framework utilizes an overarching objective of happiness, and dissects into monetary and time elements. A dynamic simulation model composed of three main engines, an economic, an environmental, and a social engine, is used to assist in the calculations. The individual output of each of these engines is investigated using real data. The study introduces a case study in which two transportation alternatives are compared using the DINA framework and a traditional multi criteria decision making approach. Furthermore, a hypothetical example is introduced and solved using the dynamic simulation model.


: Application of commercial marketing techniques has not only increased awareness, acceptability, and use of modern contraceptives in developing countries, but also overcome logistic problems in service delivery. The ability of contraceptive social marketing to reach large numbers and to treat contraceptives as common consumer products has helped to diminish social and religious constraints associated with family planning. Each contraceptive social marketing program is built around a theme tailored to meet specific cultural, social, and management requirements. The primary target populations are those who cannot afford regular commercial products and those who are not adequately reached by government programs. In countries such as Sri Lanka and Jamaica, profit is not a primary sales objective and retail prices are highly subsidized to make products affordable to low-income people. In contrast, the Colombian and Thai programs use contraceptive social marketing to help offset the operating costs of rural community-based programs and seek profits. The most impressive contraceptive social marketing sales performances have been recorded in Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, and Jamaica. The main reason contraceptive social marketing is more cost-efficient than other modes of contraceptive distribution is that the cost of product delivery is assumed by the commercial system. Although there has been some interest in making these programs self-sufficient financially, this step has tended to undermine the purpose of serving lower income groups.


Background: The chronic inflammatory skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa (acne inversa), characterized by hair follicle or apocrine gland infection, causes recurrent superficial nodules and abscesses in axillary, mammary, and perianal regions. Chronic reoccurrence results in fistula formation, causing scarring and fibrosis. Surgical excision of affected skin tissue with adequate free margins is the gold standard treatment to prevent recurrence. This case series describes 6 cases of radical excision of localized axillary hidradenitis suppurativa, with immediate or delayed perforator-based propeller flap defect closure. Methods: All patients presenting for surgical treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa between 2016 and 2018 were identified from the hospital database. Only patients with hidradenitis suppurativa confined to the axilla were included. Patients with simple abscess incisions, recurrence after previous grafting/flap surgery, and extension of the disease outside the axilla region were excluded. Patient demographics, size of defect, complications, time of follow-up, recurrences, and level of patient satisfaction were documented. Results: Six patients with localized axillary hidradenitis suppurativa were identified, with 8 propeller flap surgeries performed. Defect size was assessed by pathologic examination of excised specimens, ranging from 11–18 cm × 6–14 cm × 0.5–2 cm (length × width × depth). Seven of the eight wounds healed primarily. Functional and aesthetic results were satisfactory and there were no recurrences. The only observed complication was venous congestion following 1 flap procedure. Conclusion: These findings confirm that the propeller flap procedure can be effective for immediate or delayed defect closure after radical excision of localized axillary hidradenitis suppurativa, providing that no perifocal signs of infection are present after debridement.


Abstract Although several studies have analysed spatial or temporal variation in the size of eggs in waterfowl (Anseriformes), no study has analysed variation throughout the breeding range of a species. Chubut Steamer Ducks (Tachyeres leucocephalus) are flightless marine waterfowl endemic to a small section of coastline in Patagonia, Argentina. We partitioned and analysed sources of variation in the size of 989 Chubut Steamer Duck eggs, from 175 clutches, obtained during the breeding seasons of 1998 and 2004–08 at 31 islands throughout the range of the species. In relation to other Anseriformes, we found a low level of variation (coefficient of variation = 6.4%) at the species level. Most variation in the size of eggs were within clutches (59.0%) and among clutches (34.5%); variation between islands within geographical areas accounted for only 6.5% of variation, and there was no variation among geographical areas. Variation in size of eggs was not related to year, apparent clutch-size or latitude. The low variation at the species level and the lack of variation in size of eggs between geographical areas could be a consequence of the low genetic diversity and restricted distribution of the species. This study highlights the potential importance of variation in egg-size for understanding ecological processes linked to the natural history of avian species.


Two field experiments were carried out in 2006 and 2007 in central Italy (42°57'N, 12°22'E, 165 m a.s.l.) in order to investigate the influence of site, planting densities/spacings and cutting cycles on the biomass production of four poplar clones [(Populus – generosa) – Populus nigra "Monviso" and "AF6", Populus – canadensis "AF2", Populus deltoides – Populus – canadensis "SIRIO"] selected for SRF. Hardwood cuttings of each clone were planted at two different densities and planting designs: a) low density = 5500 cuttings ha-1 were placed in a single-row design; b) high density = 11000 cuttings ha-1 were placed in a coupled-row design, and were tested with two cutting cycles: one-year cycle and two-year cycle. The experimental design was a split-plot with three replicates. The initial survival of clones was recorded after the establishment period. The number of shoots per plant (stool) was determined after the first growing season. Plant height (height of the main stem), main stem diameter at a height of 1 m and of 1.3 m above the ground and biomass production were measured from each plot, every year at harvesting time at the end of the growing season. Plant samples were also taken in order to assess humidity content, lower and higher heating values (LHV and HHV) and ash content of poplar biomass. All poplar clones showed a very high stool survival with values ranged from 95% to 99%. Monviso and AF2 can be advisable thanks to the higher biomass production than AF6 and Sirio. Considering planting density, low density (5500 plants ha-1) seems to be more advisable than high density (11000 plants ha-1) in order to obtain good biomass production with low planting cost. Considering cutting cycles, two-year cutting cycle allows higher biomass production (5.8 odt ha-1 year-1) than oneyear cutting cycle (4.7 odt ha-1 year-1), regardless of clones or density. Concerning main stem height and diameter some interesting equations were found in order to explain the relationship between them or with biomass production. In particular, a functional relationship between dry biomass production and stool diameter, appropriate for this climatic area and environmental conditions, was found. Analysis concerning wood energy content showed a good quality of poplar biomass thanks to high HHV and LHV values (an average of 19.7 MJ Kg-1 and 19.4 MJ Kg-1), low ash content (an average 3.6%) and low biomass humidity at harvest (an average 54%).


BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that play a pivotal role in the central dogma of molecular biology by regulating gene expression. Alterations in the expression pattern of miRNAs are seen to be linked with several human diseases including autoimmune diseases such as pediatric type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the miRNAs coding genes can influence pancreatic development and insulin secretion. We contemplated a relation between miR-21 expression level as well as miR-21 rs1292037 SNP and pediatric T1DM.ResultsThe heterozygous T/C genotype was seen to be more common amongst T1DM patients than amongst controls (OR = 2.74 (1.78-4.27), P<0.0001). The C allele was more frequent in patients than in control subjects (OR = 1.36 (1.03-0.8), P = 0.02). miR-21 expression was seen to be upregulated in patients compared to the controls by more than twofold (p<0.0001). In the study population, miR-21 was found to be significantly upregulated when carrying the T/C genotype. ConclusionsWe report that the miR-21 rs1292037 variant is related to T1DM. Our study also suggests that the miR-21 expression level is upregulated in T1DM patients compared to the control subjects.


As higher education becomes increasingly borderless, with technological innovations and globalisation allowing higher education institutions to reach beyond their own geopolitical boundaries, different stakeholder groups have a range of expectations regarding the meaning of an 'international' curriculum. These expectations may differ starkly from the hype and rhetoric of the discourses of the internationalisation of higher education. Often these expectations and assumptions result in specific claims regarding curriculum design, development and delivery.
Students are registering to study with overseas institutions which offer programmes often developed within considerably different cultures and contexts than the students' own. Institutions offering 'international' qualifications are in danger of (and often accused of) prescribing Anglophone epistemologies as universally true and applicable. Such curricula may result in cultures losing their distinctive features or becoming syncretistic mixtures of cultural practices dislocated from their original locations.
This paper shares the findings of a research project in the context of a large distance learning Business School in which 500 students, faculty, tutors and employers were surveyed regarding their expectations of an MBA with a stated claim of providing students with an 'international' learning experience. The findings reveal that the different stakeholder groups have very different views of what they expect from both an international business curriculum and an international mix of students. While all stakeholders stated several advantages of being exposed to diverse contexts (local and global, private and public) and different cultures; students and sponsors considered the 'international' nature of the curriculum to be less important than tutors and faculty. The findings will be of interest to faculty, curriculum and instructional designers, tutors, employers and higher education management.


A high-sensitivity silicon-on-insulator (SOI) metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) photodetector compatible with conventional silicon technology is proposed. Its operation principle is based on that of a lateral bipolar transistor in spite of an SOI MOS device structure. Photodetectors with narrow base width or short channel length have high current gain which is attributed to a self-biased effect under illumination. Current gain as high as 100 has been achieved for the device with a channel length of 1.0 µm. Measured intrinsic response time for optical pulses is 19 µs for the photodetector with a channel length of 0.7 µm.


Feature Selection the process of finding the optimal subset for a given supplied data. In this paper we discuss about basic concepts and applications of Rough Set Theory in Feature Selection. The main advantage of Rough Set Feature Selection is it requires no additional parameters other than the original data. Rough Set is especially useful for domains where data collected are imprecise or incomplete about the domain objects. In this paper Quick-Reduct Algorithm is used to reduce the number of genes from gene expression data.


During metazoan development, the cell cycle is remodelled to coordinate proliferation with differentiation. Developmental cues cause dramatic changes in the number and timing of replication initiation events, but the mechanisms and physiological importance of such changes are poorly understood. Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) is important for regulating S-phase length in many metazoa, and here we show in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that an essential function of CDK during early embryogenesis is to regulate the interactions between three replication initiation factors SLD-3, SLD-2 and MUS-101 (Dpb11/TopBP1). Mutations that bypass the requirement for CDK to generate interactions between these factors is sufficient for viability in the absence of CyclinE/Cdk2, demonstrating that this is a critical embryonic function of this cyclin/CDK complex. Both SLD-2 and SLD-3 are asymmetrically localised in the early embryo and the levels of these proteins inversely correlate with S-phase length. We also show that SLD-2 asymmetry is determined by direct interaction with the polarity protein PKC-3. This study explains the essential function of CDK for replication initiation in a metazoan and provides the first direct molecular mechanism through which polarization of the embryo is coordinated with DNA replication initiation. Author Summary How and when a cell divides changes as the cell assumes different fates. How these changes in cell division are brought about are poorly understood, but are critical to ensure that cells do not over-proliferate leading to cancer. The nematode C. elegans is an excellent system to study the role of cell cycle changes during animal development. Here we show that two factors SLD-2 and SLD-3 are critical to control the decision to begin genome duplication. We show that these factors are differently distributed to different cell lineages in the early embryo, which may be a key event in determining the cell cycle rate in these cells. For the first time we show that, PKC-3, a key component of the machinery that determines the front (anterior) from the back (posterior) of the embryo directly controls SLD-2 distribution, which might explain how the polarisation of the embryo causes changes in the proliferation of different cell lineages. As PKC-3 is frequently mutated in human cancers, how this factor controls cell proliferation may be important to understand tumour progression.


Abstract:  Setting aside entire ecosystems in reserves is an efficient way to maintain biodiversity because large numbers of species are protected, but ecosystem conservation constitutes a coarse filter that does not address some species. A complementary, fine‐filter approach is also required to provide tailored management for some species (e.g., those subject to direct exploitation). Mesofilter conservation is another complementary approach that focuses on conserving critical elements of ecosystems that are important to many species, especially those likely to be overlooked by fine‐filter approaches, such as invertebrates, fungi, and nonvascular plants. Critical elements include structures such as logs, snags, pools, springs, streams, reefs, and hedgerows, and processes such as fires and floods. Mesofilter conservation is particularly appropriate for seminatural ecosystems that are managed for both biodiversity and commodity production (e.g., forests managed for timber, grasslands managed for livestock forage, and aquatic ecosystems managed for fisheries) and is relevant to managing some agricultural and urban environments for biodiversity.


A form of statistical interaction term of one-dimensional anyons is introduced, based on which one-dimensional anyon models are theoretically realized, and the statistical transmutation between bosons (or fermions) and anyons is established in quantum mechanics formalism. Two kinds of anyon models which are being studied are recovered and reexplained naturally in our formalism.


The thesis of this study was to evaluate and identify what obstacles that are preventing the Municipality of Nybro from a functional internal communication. A part of the thesis was also, after the evaluation, to define what communicative actions that has to be taken in the Municipality of Nybro to create a unified communication platform. Using a qualitative approach and interviews, the question asked was: "What is stopping the Municipality of Nybro from having the organizational control over the internal communicative condicions?" The theoretical framework can mostly be found in internal communication and strategic communication but also in place marketing and public relations from an internal perspective. After a comparison between strategic documents from the Municipality of Nybro, interviews with the municipal and the theoretical approach, the results show that the municipality lacks a solid message platform, a working internal communication and an established identity. The communicative actions that the Municipality of Nybro needs to take are that they have to see themselves as a brand and find the qualities that describe the municipality in a positive way. They also need to work on internal communication and create a common identity and a common message platform to succeed in taking control over the internal communicative conditions.


A man with systemic lupus erythematosus receiving chronic steroid therapy presented with headache, fever and panophthalmitis. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis was consistent with syphilitic meningitis. This represents the first reported case of syphilitic meningitis in a lupus patient. Our case report highlights the need to remain alert for unusual manifestations of syphilis in immunosuppressed patients.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Azacytidine is a nucleosidic analog used for treating a variety of haematological malignancies. Azacytidine pharmacokinetics is dependent upon a liver detoxification step driven by cytidine deaminase (CDA). CDA is affected by several genetic polymorphisms leading to a wide inter-individual variability in resulting enzymatic activities. In particurlar, dysregulated CDA has been associated with life-threatening toxicities with several nucleosidic analogs such as after cytarabine, capecitabine and gemcitabine intake. However, little is known about the impact of CDA deficiency on the clinical outcome of patients treated with azacytidine. In our institute, a lethal toxicity after pancytopenia has been observed with a 82-years old female patient upon aza-cytidine intake. CDA deficiency was evidenced after retrospective phenotyping (functional activity was found to be reduced by 65% as compared with standard CDA values: 1.2 VS. 3.5 U/mg), thus strongly suggesting that impaired ability to detoxify azacytidine could be the culprit indeed for this case. To further establish the exact role CDA-deficiency could have played in this toxic-death, a non-clinical study was undertaken in rodents. To mimic CDA deficiency, 8 mice were pre-treated with 100 mg/kg of tetrahydrouridine I.P. before being administered with 24 mg/kg of azacytidine. Another group of 8 mice received 24 mg/kg azacytidine only, and were therefore considered as control-CDA. Four mice were used as untreated controls when evaluating tolerance to the treatment. Neutrophils were monitored by flow-cytometry before and after treatment over 10 days as a surrogate marker for global azacytidine-related toxicities. CDA was measured using the same test than the one used at bedside and showed that the two groups differed markedly in their CDA phenotypes (ie, 7.7 VS. 0.98 U/mg) and that deep CDA deficiency (Poor Metabolizer: PM status) was achieved indeed in THU-treated animals. Pharmacokinetics study was carried out on a satellite group (T10, T20, T40 and T60 min) by revered-phase HPLC-UV analysis and showed a marked overexposure in azacytidine plasma levels in PM animals displaying CDA-deficiency. In full line with this observation, longer and deeper neutropenia was observed in this PM subset, as compared with the mice with normal CDA activity treated with the same dosage of azacytidine. Overall, our experimental data strongly support the hypothesis that CDA deficiency is a condition associated with increased risk to undergo life-threatening toxicities after azacytidine treatment. Detecting PM patients should help to secure the use of azacytidine at bedside.

Citation Format: Raphaelle Fanciullino, Cindy Serdjebi, Severine Mollard, Regis Costello, L'Houcine Ouafik, Joseph Ciccolini, Cedric Mercier. Cytidine deaminase deficiency and severe toxicities upon aza-cytidine intake: Clinical observations and experimental evidences. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2208. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2208


The concentration of collagen in the human uterine cervix decreases during pregnancy. This change contributes to the ripening process, which facilitates cervical dilatation during labor. It has been suggested that cervical collagen is partly degraded at term and after delivery. In order to evaluate this hypothesis we investigated the proportion of intact to degraded collagen after solubilization of about 86% of the collagen with pepsin in acetic acid. Total collagen was quantitated as hydroxyproline whereas intact collagen was estimated by SDS-gel electrophoresis. The proportion of intact collagen to total collagen did not change during pregnancy and delivery. Furthermore it was similar to that of intact standard collagen. Thus, even if the concentration of collagen is diminished during pregnancy as a result of increased collagenolytic activity, there is no indication of a qualitative change of the remaining collagen.


The IBM CICS/ESA® transaction processing subsystem has been enhanced in a way that enables transparent exploitation of Parallel Sysplex™ technology, even by existing large-scale applications. This paper describes how CICS/ESA takes advantage of and integrates new Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) features to provide an external view of the sysplex as a single entity with workload-sensitive routing algorithms for passing work requests between nodes of the sysplex. Sysplex-wide access is provided to application scratch-pad data, to security data, and to database and file data with complete integrity.


Filter caches have been proposed to decrease the energy consumption on embedded systems. However, the achievement in energy is usually acquired with a loss in performance. This work investigates a novel filter cache architecture that outperforms a traditional one, while maintaining the energy advantages. The performance gain is achieved by only allocating the data with a high reuse potential into the cache. Initial experimental results with several multimedia applications show a performance improvement of 5.4x in average.


The low-cost disk drives, which are increasingly being adopted in today's data storage systems, have higher capacity but lower reliability, which leads to more frequent rebuilds and to a higher risk of unrecoverable or latent media errors. An intra-disk redundancy scheme has been proposed to cope with such errors and enhance the reliability of RAID systems. Empirical field results recently reported in the literature, however, suggest that the extent to which unrecoverable media errors occur is higher than the data sheet specifications provided by the disk manufacturers. Our results demonstrate that the reliability improvement due to intradisk redundancy is adversely affected because of the increase in the number of unrecoverable errors. We demonstrate that, by revising the parameter choice of the intradisk redundancy scheme, we can obtain essentially the same reliability as that of a system operating without unrecoverable sector errors. The I/O and throughput performance are evaluated by means of analysis and event-driven simulations. The effects of the spatial locality of errors and of the error-burst length distribution on the system reliability are also investigated.


In this study, we quantified interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations in amniotic fluid at term and preterm labour, and determined the gestational tissue source of IL-6. In addition, aspects of the regulatory mechanisms involved in IL-6 release at the time of term labour and in response to bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), have been established. IL-6 concentrations were 2-fold higher in amniotic fluid collected at term compared with preterm gestation, with an additional 2-fold increase in association with term labour. IL-6 was released from all choriodecidual and placental explants but was detected in only 33% of amniotic explant cultures of tissues obtained before labour onset. In contrast, IL-6 was detected in all amniotic, choriodecidual and placental cultures of tissues obtained after term labour onset and delivery, and the mean IL-6 release was significantly higher than that measured in explant cultures of both amniotic (80-fold increase, P < 0.0001) and choriodecidual (3-fold increase, P < 0.02) but not placental explants taken at the time of elective Caesarean section at term before labour onset. LPS significantly (P < 0.05) increased the release of IL-6 from human choriodecidual and placental explants but not amniotic explants, in a time- and dose-dependent manner. IL-6 is a physiological constituent of amniotic fluid and its production by gestational tissues is differentially regulated by LPS and spontaneous labour onset and delivery.


: A 4-month-old female Gelbvieh calf regurgitated 3 to 9 minutes after eating hay but not after eating grain or drinking water. A fiberoptic endoscopic examination and positive-contrast radiography revealed megaesophagus. The calf was euthanatized, and necropsy revealed a dilated esophagus (12 cm long) proximal to the thoracic inlet. Histologically, the major portion of the muscular layers of the esophagus was replaced by fat cells.


Abstract. The Arctic Ocean plays an important role in the global climate system, where sea ice regulates the exchange of heat, moisture and momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean. A comprehensive analysis and forecast of the Arctic ocean system requires a detailed numerical ocean and sea ice coupled model supplemented by assimilation of observational data at appropriate time scales. A new operative ocean – ice state forecast system was developed and implemented. It consists of the INMIO4.1 ocean general circulation model and the CICE5.1 sea ice dynamics and thermodynamics model with common spatial resolution of 0.25°. For the exchange of boundary conditions and service actions (data storage, time synchronization, etc.), the coupled model uses the Compact Modeling Framework (CMF3.0). Data assimilation is implemented in the form of the Data Assimilation Service (DAS) based on the Ensemble Optimal Interpolation (EnOI) method. This technique allows to simultaneously correct the ocean (temperature, salinity, surface level) and ice (concentration) model fields in the DAS service, so they are coordinated not only through the exchange of boundary conditions, but already at the stage of data assimilation (i.e. strong coupling data assimilation). Experiments with the INMIO – CICE model show that the developed algorithm provides a significant improvement in the accuracy of forecasting the state of the ice field in the Arctic Ocean.


Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare neurological disorder mostly caused by a genetic variation in MECP2. Various RTT causing and benign variants in MECP2 have been identified and due to the advent of sequencing in clinical diagnosis new variants are identified daily. Making new MECP2 variants and the related phenotypes available provides data for better understanding of disease mechanisms and faster identification of variants for diagnosis. This is, however, currently hampered by the lack of interoperability between genotype-phenotype databases. Here, we demonstrate on the example of MECP2 in RTT that by making the genotype-phenotype data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), we can facilitate prioritization and analysis of variants. In total, 10,968 MECP2 variants were successfully integrated. Among these variants 863 unique confirmed RTT causing and 209 unique confirmed benign variants were found. This dataset was used for comparison of pathogenicity predicting tools, protein consequences, and identification of ambiguous variants. Prediction tools generally recognised the RTT causing and benign variants, however, there was a broad range of overlap. 19 variants were identified, which were annotated as both, disease-causing and benign suggesting that there are more disease-causing factors than a mutation contributing to the disease development.


The Paris Agreement prioritised international bottom-up climate negotiations. Meanwhile, research has asserted the coal exit as a prerequisite for Paris-consistent pathways. The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), an opt-in initiative toward phasing-out coal-fired electricity by mid-century, embodies both paradigms but currently encompasses just 5% of global coal demand. To assess its long-term prospects against Paris-consistent pathways, we couple the energy-economy model REMIND to an empirical coalition accession model and demonstrate a novel scenario analysis technique, Dynamic Policy Evaluation (DPE). Capturing co-evolutionary feedbacks between policy uptake and global energy markets, we simulate nationally-and-temporally-fragmented PPCA accession and analyse its sensitivity to coalition growth, sectoral ambition, and Covid-19-related uncertainty. Surprisingly, we find that virtually-global PPCA participation achieves <3% of 1.5oC-consistent coal declines, as non-electric consumption remains unregulated. In contrast, our median-estimate scenario (82% accession) assuming economy-wide coverage achieves ~53% efficacy (virtually-global: ~85%), suggesting that the PPCA should prioritise policy ambition over coalition expansion.


This study aims to determine the relationship between self-concept and social anxiety in male prisoners of narcotics cases in Padang Class II A Correctional Institution. The independent variables in this study are self concept and the dependent variable is social anxiety. The measuring instruments used in this study are self concept scale and social anxiety scale. The sampling technique in this study used a simple random sampling technique. The sample in this study were 84 male prisoners of narcotics cases at the Padang Class II A Correctional Institution. Test for validity and reliability in this study using thetechnique Cronbach Alpha. The results of the validity coefficient on the self-concept scale move from rix = 0.310 to rix = 0.779 with a reliability coefficient of α = 0.944 while on the social anxiety scale moves from rix = 0.340 to rix = 0.847 with a reliability coefficient of α = 0.945 . Based on data analysis, the correlation value is -0.567 with a significance level of 0.000, which means the hypothesis is accepted. This shows that there is a significant relationship between self concept and social anxiety in male prisoners of narcotics cases at the Padang Class II A Correctional Institution.


Due to ambiguity in the market orientation and performance relationship, the basic aim of the study to investigate the nature of relationship exists between market orientation and performance of the manufacturing SMEs in India. Data for this study were collected from the 388 managers/owners of SMEs indulged in the manufacturing sector through well-established scales. The utilized scale's reliability and validity were assessed through CFA, and various hypotheses related to the environmental moderators and innovation mediation was tested. This study is relevant for owners/managers and policymakers responsible for improving the performance of small and medium enterprises, working in the manufacturing sector. The study necessitates the significance of catering express needs of customers to boost up the effect of market orientation on performance. The study tested the relationship between the market orientation and performance relationship at the disaggregated level. The important insight about the direct, indirect, and the moderated relationship was reported in the study.


Focuses on the relationships and interactions between banks and corporate clients. Explores the possibility of approaching the bank‐company relationship from a different angle. Today banks are facing more aggressive competition and unlimited opportunities. It has become of paramount importance for banks to restructure the relationships with their corporate clients. Our theoretical framework can be traced back to two major theoretical models from outside the bank marketing literature, i.e. the Interaction Approach and the New Concept of Marketing. Empirical data were collected by means of questionnaires. A total of 300 questionnaires were mailed to a random choice of different companies in Sweden. Responses were received from 179 companies (60 per cent). Identifies a large number of factors which influence the interactive relationship between banks and companies.


AIMS
Limited data exist on the efficacy of catheter ablation (CA) for sport-related atrial fibrillation (AF). Impact of sports practice resumption post-CA remains unknown. We aimed to determine AF CA efficacy in athletes vs. non-athletes, and to assess the impact of sport practice resumption.

METHODS AND RESULTS
From 1153 first-time AF CA performed between 2009 and 2017, 73 athletes were matched with 73 sedentary patients based on age, sex, and closest CA procedure date. Athletes were defined as performing ≥6 h/week of vigorous sports to achieve ≥2000 h accumulated lifetime sports activity. They were mostly males (93.2%) with a mean age of 55 ± 9.8 years. Before CA, athletes practiced 10.2 ± 3.9 h/week of vigorous exercise vs. 4.6 ± 3.4 after CA. Within first year after CA, physical activity was stopped in 12 (16.4%) athletes, lowered in 45 (61.9%), and resumed at same intensity in 16 (21.9%). Athletes and non-athletes suffered from same AF recurrence rates during 5-year follow-up after CA: 38 (52.0%) vs. 35 (47.9%), respectively [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) on age, body mass index (BMI), obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), 1.17 (0.70-1.97, P = 0.54)]. No significant impact of physical activity resumption status was found regarding AF recurrence rates at 1-year and beyond (P = 0.60). Procedure effectiveness was significantly lower in athletes with non-paroxysmal AF [adjusted on age, BMI, reduced LVEF, and OSA HR 2.36 (confidence interval 1.19-4.70), P = 0.01].

CONCLUSION
Sports practice before and after CA has no significant impact on AF recurrence rates in athletes within 5-year after AF CA.


We describe here a protein staining method in polyacrylamide gels with a new staining dye, 1-(2-hydroxy-4-sulfo-1-naphthylazo)-2-hydroxy-3-naphthoic acid (calconcarboxylic acid, NN). This method can be performed by both simultaneous and postelectrophoretic staining techniques. Simultaneous staining using 0.01% of NN in upper reservoir buffer eliminates the poststaining step, and thus enables detection of the proteins more rapidly and simply. In poststaining, proteins can be stained by a 30-min incubation of a polyacrylamide gel in 40% methanol/7% acetic acid solution of 0.05% NN. These techniques produced protein staining patterns identical to the ones obtained by the conventional poststaining with Coomassie blue R-250 (CB). NN staining can detect as little as 10 ng of bovine serum albumin by poststaining and 25 ng by simultaneous staining, compared to 50 ng detectable by CB poststaining. In comparing the relationship between band intensity and amount of protein, NN staining gave better linearity than CB staining.


The paper aims to study the influence of the institutional environment on the international expansion of SMEs from China; the study is based on 134 SMEs operating in Jiangsu Province, China. Data from these companies were analysed using multivariate regressions, and the models used the firms' export intensity as dependent variables. Seven models were run for the following variables, limited access to financial resources, inefficiencies in logistics and distribution in the home market, transport and insurance costs and payment collection methods, assistance from the government, adverse regulatory framework, state ownership, and public procurement. The results show that access to financial resources, distribution inefficiencies, payment methods, and exchange rates influence the internationalisation of Jiangsu's SMEs. The paper concludes with an analysis of these findings compared with those in previous works.


Impeachment of the Regional Head in the middle of the term of office in Law no. 23 of 2014 is designed in several models. Each has different reasons and procedures. Differences in reasons and procedures are closely linked to the relation between the Center and the Region in the unitary state system and impeachment models in the presidential government system. This study aims: (1) To describe the system of impeachment of the Regional Head directly elected by the people. (2) Formulate an impeachment model of the Regional Head in the unitary state system in line with the President's impeachment in the presidential government system. This research is a normative law research conducted by examining library materials or secondary data. The material of this research is the primary law material that is the legislation concerning the impeachment of the Regional Head. Impeachment design of Regional Head in Law no. 23 of 2014 contains a weakness in the form of procedural deviations at the level of implementation and the incision of authority between the Central Government and the Regional Government. The reason lies in the removal of reasons for impeachment away from the characteristics of impeachment of President/Vice President in presidential system.


As the potential economic and environmental benefits of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) become apparent and as strong interest develops among automakers, seamless integration of PEVs to the grid will be a critical step to encourage utility support for PEV commercialization. Technological barriers continue to fall, but taking advantage of opportunities to increase revenue and improve power system efficiency using PEVs will require active participation by utilities and OEMs in how the vehicles are introduced to customers. PEVs are transformational in that they introduce electricity as a meaningful automotive fuel to a potentially very large market. This paper will focus on some of the most pressing technical issues associated with the act of plugging these vehicles into the electric grid. This paper presents key impact results using the EPRI study methodology [1] for one representative Hydro-Québec distribution feeders. This study is part of the multiyear collaborative project geared towards evaluating the localized impacts of plug-in electric vehicles on individual utility's distribution systems.


Planetary rovers play a significant role in surface explorations on the Moon and/or Mars. However, because of wheel slippage, the wheels of planetary rovers can get stuck in loose soil, and the exploration mission may fail because of this situation. To avoid slippage and increase the wheels' drawbar pull, the wheels of planetary rovers typically have parallel fins called lugs on their surface. In this study, we conducted experiments using two-wheeled testbeds in a sandbox to provide a quantitative confirmation of the influence of lugs on the traversability of planetary rovers. In this paper, we report the results of the experiments, and discuss the influence of lugs on the traversability of planetary rovers.


Glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its relative neurturin (NTN) are both potent trophic factors for motoneurons. They exert their biological effects by activating the RET tyrosine kinase in the presence of a GPI-linked coreceptor, either GFR alpha 1 (considered to be the favored coreceptor for GDNF) or GFR alpha 2 (the preferred NTN coreceptor). By whole-mount in situ hybridization on embryonic rat spinal cord, we demonstrate that, whereas Ret is expressed by nearly all motoneurons, Gfra1 and Gfra2 exhibit complementary and sometimes overlapping patterns of expression. In the brachial and sacral regions, the majority of motoneurons express Gfra1 but only a minority express Gfra2. Accordingly, most motoneurons purified from each region are kept alive in culture by GDNF. However, brachial motoneurons respond poorly to NTN, whereas NTN maintains as many sacral motoneurons as does GDNF. Thus, spinal motoneurons are highly heterogeneous in their expression of receptors for neurotrophic factors of the GDNF family, but their differing responses to NTN are not correlated with expression levels of Gfra1 or Gfra2.


Following their political and economic independence in 1989, a group of ten Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) embarked on major institutional reforms to modernise their economies in order to become an integral part of the global economy. This chapter provides an overview of the main institutional reforms undertaken in the CEEs and their effects on export competitiveness. The chapter focuses on selected meso and macro institutional reforms, namely price liberalisation, competition policy, trade and foreign exchange, privatisation, and corporate governance. The results show that institutional reforms in the CEEs were rapid and generally successful. All CEEs became members of the European Union (EU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Institutional reforms contributed significantly to improved efficiency and growth in the export sector. The results also suggest that further reforms are needed to improve competition policy and corporate governance, both of which are still below the standards found in Western industrialised countries.


Abstract Recent fieldwork in the Shoal Creek drainage of the Tennessee River drainage in Tennessee has uncovered the presence of a new species of crayfish in the formerly monotypic genus Barbicambarus. The new species differs from the type species in possessing a median carina, less dense setae on the antennae, a less angular central projection, a spine at the dorsodistal margin of the merus of the cheliped, and a high level of divergence in the COI gene region. Collecting efforts have so far found the new taxon at only two locations and it is thought to be rare.


Let $f$ be a function on a finite field $F$. The decomposition of the generalized Fermat variety $X$ defined by the multivariate polynomial of degree $n$, $\phi(x,y,z)=f(x)+f(y)+f(z)$ in $\Bbb{P}^3(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_2)$, plays a crucial role in the study of almost perfect non-linear (APN) functions and exceptional APN functions. Their structure depends fundamentally on the Fermat varieties corresponding to the monomial functions of exceptional degrees $n=2^k+1$ and $n=2^{2k}-2^k+1$ (Gold and Kasami-Welch numbers, respectively). Very important results for these have been obtained by Janwa, McGuire and Wilson in [12,13]. In this paper we study $X$ related to the Kasami-Welch degree monomials and its decomposition into absolutely irreducible components. We show that, in this decomposition, the components intersect transversally at a singular point.
This structural fact implies that the corresponding generalized Fermat hypersurfaces, related to Kasami-Welch degree polynomial families, are absolutely irreducible. In particular, we prove that if $f(x)=x^{2^{2k}-2^k+1}+h(x)$, where ${\rm deg}(h)\equiv 3{\pmod 4}$, then the corresponding APN multivariate hypersurface is absolutely irreducible, and hence $f(x)$ is not exceptional APN function. We also prove conditional result in the case when ${\rm deg}(h)\equiv 5{\pmod 8}$. Since for odd degree $f(x)$, the conjecture needs to be resolved only for the Gold degree and the Kasami-Welch degree cases our results contribute substantially to the proof of the conjecture on exceptional APN functions---in the hardest case: the Kasami-Welch degree.


Different studies have shown that the effect of eucalyptus trees on soil physicochemical properties is variable, which indicates that more investigations that focus on different specific geographical locations and eucalyptus tree species are required. The objectives of this study was to evaluate the status of soil nutrients under four eucalyptus tree species planted in hedgerow system in comparison with that in its adjacent open land. To achieve these objectives, soil samples were taken from a soil depth of 0-20 cm from 15-20 spots by using auger and composited for respective treatments. Each soil samples analyzed at Teppi soil laboratory following standard procedures. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and treatments separation were made by using Least Significance Difference (LSD) at 95% probability level. The analysis result indicated that there were no significance differences between Eucalyptus tree species and its adjacent open land in the level of soil nutrients (total N, available P, pH, OM, soil moisture and OC) (p<0.05). The only significant difference recorded between Eucalyptus tree species and its adjacent open land in the level of sand percentage whereas non-significant difference was noticed between the treatments on the level of silt and clay percentage in the study. Finally, the results indicate that the eucalyptus tree species established in hedgerow system on clay soil in high rainfall area have no significant impact on soil physicochemical properties under short rotation period of the tree species.
Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 10(2): 7-14, December 2020


Cell isolation method may have effects on the characteristics of the cells isolated from porcine umbilical cords. As stem cells age or approach senescence, it is hypothesized that their properties change. We expect that isolation method and age of cells will have effects on the phenotype of porcine umbilical cord (PUC) cells during in vitro expansion. We investigated the effects of three isolation methods on PUC population doublings, ability to produce colony forming units (CFU), and amount of ganglioside GD2 (GD2) expression over eleven passages. Isolation methods were explant (Exp) in which the Wharton"s Jelly was removed from cords, minced and plated, enzyme digest (Dig), and stomacher assisted enzyme digestion (Stom). Cell isolates were analyzed for GD2 expression, CFU, and population doublings at early (3), middle (7), and late (11) passage. The Exp method produced greater (P<0.05) population doublings and more (P<0.05) CFU at passage 7. Explant isolates also were numerically more likely to survive to passage 11 (9/9 isolates vs 5/9 for Dig and 7/9 for Stom). In contrast, the percent cells expressing GD2 was greater (P<0.05) for Stom isolates than Exp isolates at passage 11. There were no trends for increased passage number to decreased population doubling, CFU formation, or percent GD2 positive cells. In summary, our results indicate that the Exp isolation method produced the greatest number of population doublings over 11 passages and there were minimal effects of isolation method on CFU and GD2 expression. Although Exp may be more difficult to scale up to isolate all of the PUCs in a cord, it provided greater in vitro expansion than the enzyme methods in our experiment and may provide the most cells for biotechnological and biomedical applications.


Objectives Previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the relationship between obesity and the antiaging humoral factor klotho. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the association of anthropometric measurements, weight history change, and vitamin D status with serum klotho levels. Methods The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data were used to compare sex-specific logarithm transformed serum klotho levels across standardized anthropometric measurements and weight change history in subjects aged 40–79 years. The baseline measured height, and self-reported weight were used to calculate the body mass index (BMI) at two-time intervals: age 25 and ten years before the measured BMI. Subjects were then categorized as never obese, obese to nonobese, nonobese to obese, and always obese. Results Of 4,971 participants, the prevalence of general obesity was 41%, and abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥88 cm) was present in 75% of women. Overall, lower serum klotho levels were seen in older adults, men, nonsmokers, alcohol users, and those with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 ml/min. Multivariate models demonstrated that general and abdominal obesity in women was inversely associated with serum klotho levels. Moreover, women who developed obesity from age 25 and ten years before the baseline BMI had significantly lower mean klotho levels at 765.0 and 757.4 pg/ml compared with 820.5 pg/ml (p < 0.05) among those that were never obese, respectively. In contrast, serum klotho levels did not significantly differ among men, irrespective of their weight history. In a subanalysis, higher klotho levels were seen in participants with an adequate vitamin D status (≥50 nmol/L) than their overweight and obese counterparts (p < 0.05). Conclusions Obesity among women was significantly and inversely associated with serum klotho levels. Similarly, women who developed obesity during their lifetime had consistently lower klotho levels than their never-obese counterparts.


Traffic queues and delay are the most difficult things to model, yet they are the most crucial for forecasting traffic levels, for defining the routes people take and for moderating travel demand. The biggest determinant of traffic queues and delay is the flow history of the junction. For many assignment models this goes back well before the start of the time period being assigned and continues well after the assignment model time period finishes - especially when forecasting the much higher level of congestion in the future. Yet the authors persist in modelling the peak hour. During the modelled time period, levels of queuing and delay are not spread evenly and nor are the traffic levels - they usually grow near the beginning and decline towards the end. But this pattern is not homogeneous throughout the study area - some roads peak much earlier, some much later and some don't peak at all - motorways in particular exhibit different characteristics to main roads and both are often different to minor roads. The study area of many large models is so large that it can take considerably more than an hour to traverse it. Traffic which starts at the edge of the study area (maybe commuting to the centre) may not even get to the centre within the modelled hour and if they do, some would have started earlier and be in-transit when the modelled hour starts. Models normally assume that traffic follows a homogeneous temporal-spatial pattern - yet it is its very heterogeneity which has the biggest effect on queuing and delay. The authors would argue that to model traffic queuing and delay successfully, our assignment models need to model the whole day as a continuum. They have developed a methodology to do just that: In this, traffic is divided into half hourly (or a shorter user defined period) origin-destination trip matrices which are sliced into time slices of demand for assignment (e.g. slices of 1 minute or so using a spatial-temporal template to mirror the heterogeneity). Paths are built at 10 minute intervals (e.g. 7.00, 7.10, 7.20 etc) keeping track of the clock time (see note 1) at each junction the path passes through. The delay at each junction turning movement is stored for every 10 minute period throughout the day on the basis of the clock time. As the path passes through each junction, the delay experienced by traffic passing through the junction at that clock time, is added-on to the path. Similarly link times are held in 10 minute clock-time bins and accumulated by the path. For one minute time slices and 10 minute paths, the ten time slices are assigned to those paths, keeping track of the actual clock time when the time slice goes through the junction. This is so that the traffic in that time slice can be added to the turning volume at that junction at the clock time it passes through the junction. All traffic is therefore assigned to the network experiencing the junction delay and link speed which it would experience at the time of day when it passed through the junction or along the link. At the end of the assignment, the ten minute bins of traffic are put through ARCADY/ PICADY/ OSCADY to calculate the queues and delays. The traffic on the network at the end of the assignment 'day' is held in a 'Too Late' matrix from which to start the next day. This approach leads to questions about convergence. Do Wardrop's principals still relate to this type of model? Is convergence to an equilibrium point achievable? The paper examines these issues. The precise methodology is more fully described in the paper which also describes its implementation and the results from a case study. Incorporating outputs from this type of assignment model into a demand model is also explored. The methodology leads to providing a different skim or cost for each individual traveller which fits will into the discrete choice modelling framework and particularly lends itself towards activity based models using household microsimulation. It may also have application for improving our representation of journey time reliability.


Compiler automatic optimization and parallelization techniques are well suited for some classes of simulation or signal processing applications, however they usually don't take into account neither domain-specific knowledge nor the possibility to change or to remove some computations to achieve "good enough" results. Quite differently, production simulation and signal processing codes have adaptive capabilities: they are designed to compute precise results only where it matters if the complete problem is not tractable or if the computation time must be short. In this work, we present a new way to provide adaptive capabilities to compute-intensive codes automatically, inspired by Adaptive Mesh Refinement, a classical numerical analysis technique to achieve precise computation only in pertinent areas. It relies on domain-specific knowledge provided through special pragmas by the programmer in the input code and on polyhedral compilation techniques, to continuously regenerate at runtime a code that performs heavy computations only where it matters at every moment. A case study on a fluid simulation application shows that our strategy enables dramatic computation savings in the optimized portion of the application while maintaining good precision, with a minimal effort from the programmer.


ABSTRACT Objective Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a chronic mental health condition with symptoms typically emerging in early adolescence. Despite the onset in adolescence, most self-report BDD severity measures have not been validated with adolescent and young adult samples. The Dysmorphic Concerns Questionnaire (DCQ) was developed to assess dysmorphic concern and to date has only been psychometrically validated in adult samples. The aim of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the DCQ to ensure it is suitable for clinical use with adolescent and young adult patients. Method One hundred and ninety-five individuals aged 12–21 years (M = 18.25, SD = 2.51; 59% female) participated in the study. Results The DCQ demonstrated a unidimensional construct [χ2 (14) = 24.59, p = .04; RMSEA =.06, SRMR =.02 and CFI =.99], with good internal consistency (α = .88). The DCQ also showed high convergent validity with measures of BDD symptomatology, however, divergent validity was not supported in this study. Known-groups validity of the DCQ was established, with a large effect size (d = 1.28). Conclusions These findings indicate that the DCQ is a brief, reliable, and valid measure that is appropriate to screen for symptoms of BDD in adolescent and young adults and to monitor symptom change during treatment. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental health condition which results in significant functional impairment. The Dysmorphic Concerns Questionnaire (DCQ) is a psychometrically sound measure of dysmorphic concern. Body dysmorphic disorder commonly occurs in adolescence. What this topic adds: (1) This is the first study to evaluate the psychometric properties of the DCQ in a sample of adolescents and young adults. (2) The psychometric properties of the DCQ are similar in adult and adolescent/young adult samples. (3) The DCQ is appropriate to use with adolescent and young adult patients.


This Handbook provides evidence-based information to the reader regarding the dynamics of HRM in this important region. The book is developed into three parts - contextual and functional issues such as societal and cultural perspectives, performance management and talent management; country-specific HRM covering the GCC, Levant and North African nations; and emerging themes such as HR issues related to domestic workers, labour localisation, expatriate management, CSR, Wasta, foreign and public sector firms. Covered under 23 chapters, the systematic analysis highlights the main forces determining HRM systems in the region.


VoIP networks are cost efficient solutions for providing voice services and value added voice based services to both public and enterprise level users. The security of VoIP network is of major importance, since malicious usage can lead to major security incidents and associated costs. In this paper we present a security management framework for VoIP. This framework is capable to perform advanced security assessment tasks for such a network. This paper describe our developed tool, highlights some of its key components and presents some of the learned experience while implementing the framework on a internal testbed.


We have synthesized a filler-reinforced silorane composite that has potential applications in orthopaedic surgery, such as for a bone stabilizer. The purpose of the present work was to develop a method for estimating four properties of this material; namely, maximum exotherm temperature, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and fracture toughness. The method involved the use of mixture design-of-experiments and regression analysis of results obtained using 23 formulations of the composite. We validated the estimation method by showing that, for each of four composite formulations that were not included in the method development, the value of each of the aforementioned properties was not significantly different from that obtained experimentally. Our estimation method has the potential for use in the development of a wide range of orthopaedic materials.


Based on Fermi's golden rule and the theory of Boltzmann collision term approximation, the hole scattering mechanism related to stress and orientation in Si-based strained materials was studied in-depth. The results show that: (1) the total hole scattering rates in Si-based strained materials decrease obviously under strain; (2) the turn is Si/(111)Si1−xGex > Si/(101)Si1−xGex > Si1−xGex/(111)Si > Si1−xGex/(101)Si > Si/(001)Si1−xGex > Si1−xGex/(001)Si when Ge fraction is about 0.2; (3) the decreasing total hole scattering rates of in strained materials with the increasing stress is mainly caused the decreasing acoustic phonon scattering rate under strain. The theoretical conclusions obtained could provide important references for researching the hole mobility and the understanding of Si-based materials or other physical strained materials.


In order to investigate the theoretical limits in lossy coding of sources with mixed distribution, the asymptotic behavior of the rate-distortion function of a source vector with mixed distribution is derived. The source distribution is a nite mixture of components such that under each component distribution a certain subset of the coordinates has a discrete distribution while the remaining coordinates have a joint density. The expected number of coordinates with a joint density is shown to equal the rate-distortion dimension of the source vector. Also, the small distortion asymptotic behavior of the rate-distortion function of a special but interesting class of stationary information sources is determined.