The use of HAART with double or triple drug combinations has significantly improved the survival of AIDS patients. However, the emergence of virus-drug resistance and both short- and long-term drug-related side effects are among the main reasons for continuing the development of new classes of effective anti-HIV drugs that target the replicative cycle at different sites. In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in understanding HIV-1 entry, a multistep process that comprises viral attachment, coreceptor interactions and fusion. The mechanistic insight gained from these studies has enabled the design of specific agents that can inhibit each step in the HIV entry process. The successful results from clinical trials with enfuvirtide (T-20), the first approved entry inhibitor, indicate that targeting of HIV entry will soon be an important component of antiretroviral therapy and further encourage the development of effective entry inhibitors. In this article the recent developments of therapeutic agents endowed with inhibitory properties against the binding of the HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120 to the CD4 receptor (e.g., PRO 542, BMS-378806, TNX-355, PRO 2000 and CV-N) are briefly outlined. Major focus is placed on the anti-HIV activity of cyclotriazadisulfonamides (CADA), a novel class of compounds with a unique mode of action by down-modulating the CD4 receptor in lymphocytic and monocytic cells.


Abstract Theoretical explanations suggest that insight might increase life satisfaction by helping individuals choose a suitable academic major, indicating that insight might facilitate life satisfaction through academic major satisfaction. The current study thus investigates the mediating role of academic major satisfaction in the potential relationship between insight and life satisfaction. The data collected from a sample of 206 undergraduate students majoring in education degree programs confirm that the relationship between insight and life satisfaction is fully mediated by academic major satisfaction, with a model explaining 23% of the total variance in life satisfaction. The findings have important implications for the design and implementation of career counselling and guidance services provided within high school and university settings, particularly in countries such as Turkey where career counselling services need improvement.


Phase I studies, as divided into two stages, were conducted in healthy volunteers with the ophthalmic solution of UF-021, a novel prostaglandin metabolite-related compound, that was reported to exhibit potent intraocular pressure (IOP)-reducing activity in various species of animals. In the first stage, the vehicle as well as UF-021 ophthalmic solutions at concentration of 0.03%, 0.06% and 0.09% were applied topically to the eyes of 8 healthy volunteers to determine their respective effects through observations on the IOP, and local ocular and systemic side effects. In the second stage, 2 dosages of UF-021 ophthalmic solution, 0.06% and 0.12%, were applied topically to 11 healthy volunteers to investigate the IOP-reducing activities and local ocular side effects. The results revealed that ophthalmic solutions of UF-021 at concentrations ranging from 0.03% to 0.12% reduced IOP in a dose-dependent manner with neither systemic nor local ocular controversial side effects at those dosage levels. In summary, UF-021 ophthalmic solutions, when administered to healthy volunteers through single instillation, reduced IOP significantly without causing any side effects.


To determine the association between polymorphism of UGT1A1 gene and idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia in Iranian neonates. Fifty neonates with idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia and Serum total bilirubin (STB) more that 15mg/dl and 50 neonates with idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia and Serum total bilirubin (STB) less than 15mg/dl enrolled in this study. Thymine-adenine (TA)  repeats in the promoter region of UGT1A1 gene investigated by means of  polymerase- chain reaction (PCR) DNA sequencing. Demographic characteristics did not differ significantly between groups while STB was higher in case group (17.5±1.9 vs. 10.4±1.8, p value<0.001). Among one hundred neonates evaluated in this study, TA6/6, TA6/7 and TA7/7 genotypes found in 52%, 42% and 6%, totally. TA6/7 and TA7/7 genotypes observed in case group more than the control group (P<0.001). STB levels were significantly higher in cases with TA6/7 and TA7/7 genotype pattern (P<0.001). Heterozygous and variant homozygous genotypes of the promoter region of UGT1A1 gene in healthy Iranian neonates with idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia should be considered.


Examining Supramolecular Exchange Microtubules are a natural example of a one-dimensional (1D) supramolecular structure. Synthetic examples of 1D fibrils often have monomers linked by weak noncovalent interactions that allow monomers to exchange in and out of the fibrils. Albertazzi et al. (p. 491) used a combination of super-resolution microscopy on individual fibrils and stochastic simulation to study monomer exchange in fibrils formed from stacked 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide motifs. Exchange did not require large-scale depolymerization and repolymerization, or reassembly of fragments, but proceeded through individual monomers exchanging homogeneously throughout the fibrils. One-dimensional supramolecular aggregates can swap constituent monomers through a homogeneous exchange mechanism. Supramolecular fibers are prominent structures in biology and chemistry. A quantitative understanding of molecular exchange pathways in these one-dimensional aggregates was obtained by a combination of super-resolution stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy and stochastic simulation. The potential of this methodology is demonstrated with a set of well-defined synthetic building blocks that self-assemble into supramolecular fibrils. Previous ensemble measurements hid all molecular phenomena underpinning monomer exchange, but the molecular pathway determined from single-aggregate studies revealed unexpected homogeneous exchange along the polymer backbone. These results pave the way for experimental investigation of the structure and exchange pathways of synthetic and natural supramolecular fibers.


Activation of the bradykinin B2 receptor in endothelial cells initiates a complex array of cellular responses mediated by diverse signaling pathways, including stimulation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade and activation of the endothelial isoform of nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS). Several protein kinases have been implicated in eNOS regulation, but the role of MAP kinases remains less well understood. We explored the interactions between eNOS and components of the MAP kinase pathway in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC). Using co-immunoprecipitation experiments, we isolated eNOS in a complex with the MAP kinases extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) as well as the protein kinases Raf-1 and Akt. Within minutes of adding bradykinin to BAEC, the eNOS-Raf-1-ERK-Akt heteromeric complex dissociated, and it subsequently reassociated following more prolonged agonist stimulation. Bradykinin treatment of BAEC led to the activation of ERK, associated with an increase in phosphorylation of eNOS; phosphorylation of eNOS by ERKin vitro significantly reduced eNOS enzyme activity. Evidence for the direct phosphorylation of eNOS by MAP kinase in BAEC came from "back-phosphorylation" experiments using [γ-32P]ATP and ERK in vitro to phosphorylate eNOS isolated from cells previously treated with bradykinin or the MAP kinase inhibitor PD98059. The ERK-catalyzedin vitro 32P phosphorylation of eNOS isolated from BAEC treated with bradykinin was significantly attenuated compared with untreated cells, indicating that bradykinin treatment led to the phosphorylation of ERK-sensitive sites in cells. Conversely, eNOS isolated from endothelial cells pretreated with the MAP kinase inhibitor PD98059 showed increased ERK-promoted phosphorylationin vitro. Taken together, our results suggest that bradykinin-induced activation of ERK leads to eNOS phosphorylation and enzyme inhibition, a process influenced by the reversible associations of members of the MAP kinase pathway with eNOS.


Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) were sampled from three sites located near Norwalk, New Haven, and Niantic, Connecticut, in Long Island Sound during February 1987, to evaluate the degree of chemical contamination and to determine possible effects of contaminant exposure. At each site, sediment and infaunal invertebrates were also collected and analyzed for trace metals and organic chemicals. Specimens of liver and kidney from winter flounder were examined for histopathological conditions, including the presence of macrophage aggregates in liver tissue. Liver samples were also analyzed for DNA damage (i.e., the formation of adducts between DNA and chemical contaminants). Blood samples were collected and analyzed for erythrocyte micronuclei. The sampling site near New Haven was determined to be the most affected site, from the standpoints of greater chemical contamination and possible effects on winter flounder. Concentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were highest in sediment from this site, and the highest prevalences of the histopathological changes and DNA alterations were also found in the livers of winter flounder from this site. No differences in the concentrations of contaminants in fish or in frequencies of erythrocyte micronuclei in fish blood were found between sites. None of the sites sampled had contaminant levels or prevalences of lesions as high as previously found at other East Coast locations (e.g., Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, Raritan Bay, New York). Overall, our results indicate moderate levels of pollution at two of the urban sites in Long Island Sound and provide a framework for expanded studies to better define the extent and impact of chemical pollution in Long Island Sound.


Aim: To study speech disorders encountered in routine ENT practice and the role of speech therapy in its effective management. Material and Methods: The present study was carried out on 60 patients, who were presented to the out patient department of E.N.T., M.P.SHAH MEDICAL COLEGE, JAMNAGAR (Gujarat),for speech disorders. The OPD and Indoor patients of the E.N.T. department, who had a speech defect prior to or following surgical interference for organic Otorhinolaryngologic disorders were also included in this study. Results: Speech disorders like Dyslalia, Dysglossia, Stuttering were prevalent in both the sexes and in every level of society, though the disorders were more prevalent in males as compared to females. Stuttering was the most common disorder encountered and speech therapy had encouraging results. All the ten patients of Dyslalia were subjected to appropriate articulation training, following which eight patients improved satisfactorily whereas two patients missed follow-up. All the eight Deaf-Mute patients were given auditory training and speech and language stimulation therapy, following which, two patients acquired satisfactory speech level. All seven patients of Dysglossia improved satisfactorily after tongue tie release surgery and appropriate speech therapy. Conclusion: With the advent of newer treatment modalities and improved coordination between ENT surgeons and speech-pathologists for correct diagnosis of speech disorders, speech therapy is suitably individualized according to the expectation of the patients and limitation of the speech pathologists. A fuller understanding of the effectiveness of speech therapy amongst the patients has developed and it has emerged as an acceptable modality of treatment of various speech disorders.


Objectives: Disabled people have a history of disadvantage, discrimination, and disempowerment that continues to present day. Despite strong critique and activism by disabled people, popular understandings of disability as necessarily tragic, medically based, and individualistic requiring 'fixing' persist among health professionals.  Recent research demonstrates that health professional students often harbour negative attitudes that may directly affect their relationships with and care provided to disabled clients (Sabin & Akyol, 2010; Scullion, 1999). Further, personal accounts and research evidence suggests that the relationship between healthcare providers and disabled people is often unsatisfactory (Sabin & Akyol, 2010; Seccombe, 2007; Scullion, 1999). Methods: Nursing education has a responsibility to ensure that nursing practice with disabled people is enabling rather than disabling (Scullion, 1999a, 1999b, 2000; Sabin & Akyol, 2010). A key strategy is to imbed within curricula opportunities for students to engage in the processes of critical thinking towards and analysis of disability and the experiences of disabled people. This poster describes an approach to teaching-learning in which critique of 'popular culture' nursing literature is used to support student exploration of messaging about disability. Results and Conclusions: The purpose and description of the assignment, authors' experiences, and outcomes for both teachers and learners will be presented. Application beyond nursing to other health professions will be described. References Sabin, H. & Akyol, A. D. (2010). Evaluation of nursing and medical students' attitudes towards people with disabilities. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19, 22712279. Scullion, P. A. (1999). Conceptualizing disability in nursing: Some evidence from students and their teachers. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29, 648657. Scullion, P. A. (2000). Enabling disabled people: Responsibilities of nursing education. British Journal of Nursing, 9(15), 1010-1015. Seccombe, J. A. (2007). Attitudes towards disability in an undergraduate nursing curriculum: A literature review. Nurse Education Today, 27, 459465.


For microscopic objects in the form of spheres of different radii have been calculated the functions of distribution of the cross sections radii, taking into account the dependence on the position of the plane of the slice. Taking into account this dependence, the distribution functions of the cross sections radii of the spheres whose radii were given by the normal distribution law with the variation of its parameters were calculated. It is found that the difference between the given distribution function of the radii of spheres and the distribution function of their sections in the plane of the slice depends on the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean value of the radii. Depending on this relation, two simple algorithms are proposed to reconstruct the distribution function of the radii of objects by the distribution function of the radii of their sections. It is shown that these algorithms can be used to correct the experimental curve of the size distribution of micro-objects in the form of ellipsoid.


Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is an inflammatory myeloid neoplasia with a highly variable clinical presentation affecting people of all ages. Mutations in BRAF V600E are the most identifiable molecular alteration in LCH although its incidence in pediatric patients with isolated pituitary stalk involvement is not well described. Pediatric patients with LCH and isolated pituitary stalk involvement typically present with central diabetes insipidus. Diagnosis requires a transcranial biopsy which often yields scant tissue. We sought to determine the prevalence of BRAF V600E mutations in patients with isolated pituitary stalk LCH using digital droplet polymerase chain reaction because this method requires minimal tumor DNA. We identified 8 patients with isolated pituitary stalk thickening who underwent a biopsy at Children's Hospital Colorado from January 2001 to December 2019, as well as 6 patients with systemic LCH diagnosed by biopsy in the same period as a comparison. Only one out of the 8 patients with isolated thickened pituitary stalk was found to have a detectable BRAF V600E mutation. Five out of the 6 patients with systemic LCH had a detectable BRAF V600E mutation. In our series, BRAF V600E mutations are rare in pediatric patients with LCH and isolated pituitary stalk involvement.


The invention relates to a pair of headphones with a photoelectric automatic power off function. The headphones comprise a headphone band and ear caps at two ends of the headphone band, wherein the headphone band is formed by connecting two half structures with a first rotating shaft, and an elastic band is connected to the connected part of the two half parts of the headphone band; the ear caps are rotationally arranged at two ends of the headphone band through a second rotating shaft; magnets and a photoelectric sensor are arranged on the inner side surface of each ear cap, an acceleration sensor is arranged in one ear cap, each photoelectric sensor and the acceleration sensor are connected with a radio module and a power supply through a MCU (micro control unit), and an output end of the radio module is connected with an audio output module; a setter is arranged in the side surface of one ear cap. The headphones occupy small space and are convenient to store; the photoelectric sensors are arranged, so that the automatic power off function of the headphones is realized, electric power waste is reduced, and the headphones are energy-saving and environment-friendly; the acceleration sensor is adopted to automatically adjust volume of the headphones, the optimal volume of the headphones is guaranteed in real time, and hearing protection for ears is facilitated; the independent setter is arranged to facilitate function setting of the headphones.


We investigate the hadroproduction of <{; and other heavy particles by taking account of QCD effect on scale breaking of the constituent distribution functions. It is clarified that the charm quark fusion mechanism dominates the <{; production in ISR energy region as well as the gluon fusion one. The ratio ri(</Jr)/ri(<{;), the<{;' production cross section and the beam ratios are calculated and compared with the experimental data. The productions of charmed hadrons and Y are also discussed.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of whole-body vibration on the improvement of functional performance in subacute stroke patients. Methods: Twenty subacute stroke patients were equally randomized to either a vibration or a control group and received 4-week conventional rehabilitation therapy and standing exercise. During the standing exercise, the vibration group received 10-minute whole-body vibration and the control group performed standing exercise without vibration. Outcome variable included the Korean version of Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the manual muscle test (MMT) of the paretic knee extensor, Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) of the paretic ankle plantar flexor spasticity, Functional Ambulation Category (FAC), and the Korean version of Modified Barthel Index (MBI) before and after 4-week intervention. Results: After the 4-week intervention, the difference in BBS between groups was significant, which was significantly larger in the vibration group than in the control group. Significant differences in FAC and MBI were also observed between groups. The change of the FAC, total MBI, and mobility MBI were significantly higher in the vibration group than in the control group. MMT and MAS did not show significant difference after intervention between groups. Differences in BBS were strongly positively correlated with FAC and mobility MBI, and were moderately correlated with both of total MBI and self-care MBI. Conclusion: Additional whole-body vibration intervention may efficiently improve balance control and ambulation in subacute stroke patients.


Objectives: To determine the impact that fibromyalgia (FM) has on quality of life; to compare the quality of life of patients with fibromyalgia with the healthy Spanish population and to
know the correlation and sensibility of two instruments of quality of life in FM. Method: A cross-sectional and observational study. Twenty-seven subjects joined in (25 women and 2 men) with a mean age of 50.5 years (SD 7.9), belonging to the Salmantina Association of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. The Spanish versions of the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) and the the Short-Form 36 (SF36) were used to study quality of life. Results: High scores were obtained in the "Energy", "Pain", "Sleep" and "Physical mobility" dimensions
of the NHP and low scores in the "Physical problems", "Pain", "Vitality" and "General health perception" dimensions of the SF-36. Statistical significant differences were found
in all dimensions comparing to the healthy Spanish population. The following dimensions were negatively statistically correlated: "Energy"(NHP)-"Vitality" (SF-36); "Pain"(NHP)-
"Physical function", "Pain and Vitality" (SF-36); "Physical mobility" (NHP)-"Physical function and Physical problems" (SF-36); "Emotional reactions" (NHP)- "Mental health",
"Emotional problems" and "General health" (SF-36). The SF-36 is more sensitive than the NHP to evaluate the deterioration of the fibromyalgia. Conclusions: The fibromyalgia produces a significant deterioration in quality of life that can be assessed by the dimensions of the NHP and the SF-36.


In this paper, I develop a Marxian model of market for money capital populated by capitalists equipped with equal money capital endowment but with heterogeneous linear production technology. Due to a maximization of return on equity, capitalists with relatively weak technology, yielding profit rate lower than interest rate, become a money capitalist (lender) and capitalists with relatively strong technology, yielding profit rate greater than interest rate, become an industrial capitalist (borrower). The equilibrium interest rate is derived by the associated demand and supply relation. In this context, Marx's notion of the role of credit system in an expanded reproduction of capital is understood in terms of an efficient reallocation of funds through credit market. From this setup of the model follow two essential relationships Marx establishes between the average profit rate and the interest rate: (i) that the profit (rate) sets a maximum limit of interest (rate), and (ii) that the two rates are correlated. Lastly, depending on the financial sector's leverage ratio, which is supported by its intermediation technology, the financial sector may be more or less profitable than the industrial sector. This result suggests that one aspect of the industrial-banking capitalists antagonism surrounding the division of profit into interest and profit of enterprise lies in the banking capitalists' strenuous efforts towards continuous innovations in financial intermediation technology.


This paper presents the results of analysis and tests conducted on the static bending strength of carbon fiber filament-wound (F.W.) cylindrical pipes and also the results of tests on fatigue flexural strength of the same F.W. pipes. The relation between the winding angles of F.W. pipes and their fracture strengths under pure bending is investigated. The analytical method of the fracture strength of F.W. pipe is as follows; the threedimensional stress components referring to the plane including fibers are analysed, taking account of the elastic failure prior to the overall fracture and then are compared with the fundamental strengths corresponding to the four kinds of fracture mechanisms of unidirectional fiber reinforced composites. As the results of the analysis, the fracture modes under pure bending of the helical winding pipe are determined in relation to its winding angle ; 1) Winding angle a Fracture caused by compression stress in the fiber direction. 2) Winding angle ƒ¿=15•K•`30•K, Fracture caused by tensile stress normal to fibers. 3) Winding angle ƒ¿=35•K•`50•K, Fracture caused by shear stress. 4) Winding angle ƒ¿=55•K•`90•K, Fracture caused by tensile stress normal to fibers. The static and fatigue flexural tests are done on carbon fiber F.W. pipes in which helical winding angles are ƒ¿=15•K, 25•K, 35•K, 45•K. By using a newly-devised chuck, the fatigue test of the F.W. cylindrical pipe was carried out successfully. The bending fracture test results on the fracture strength and fracture modes coincide with the analytical ones. The flexural fatigue test results which showed that the ratio of the flexural fatigue strength at 101 cycles to the static bending strength are about 0.3 for the helical winding angle ƒ¿=15•K, 25•K, and about 0.2 for ƒ¿=35•K, 45•K.


This edited volume seeks to provide guidance on how we can approach questions of governing and agency—particularly those who endeavour to embark on grounded empirical research— by rendering explicit some key challenges, tensions, dilemmas, and confluences that such endeavours elicit. Indeed, the contributions in this volume reflect the growing tendency in governmentality studies to shift focus to empirically grounded studies. The volume thus explicitly aims to move from theory to practice, and to step back from the more top-down governmentality studies approach to one that examines how one can/does study how relations of power affect lives, experience and agency.

This book offers insight into the intricate relations between the workings of governing and (the possibility for) people's agency on the one hand, and about the possible effects of our attempts to engage in such studies on the other. In numerous ways, and from different starting points, the contributions to this volume provide thoughtful insights into, and creative suggestions for, how to work with the methodological challenges of studying the agency of being governed.

This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, global governance and research methods.


In this interview, one of today's best-known French medievalists, Jean-Claude Schmitt, responds to various questions about his theoretical and methodological choices as well as the themes of his recent work. Schmitt is known as one of the main heirs of the anthropological history of Jacques Le Goff, and sums up his trajectory which resulted in a variety of work ranging from editing documents to work on medieval images, without ever losing sight of his commitment to questioning the beliefs of men and sojourns into the imagery of the Middle Ages in western culture.


Abstract This article provides new perspectives in interpreting the sartorial codes present in Orientalist portraits of European subjects. Art historians have traditionally implicated these works in the European imperialist project of appropriating, manipulating, and gaining mastery over the Orient. More recently, as part of a wider effort to challenge conventional portrayals of colonial encounters in purely confrontational, monolithic terms, portraits of Europeans in exotic dress have been seen as visual proof that certain Europeans may have 'crossed-over' or 'gone-native'. This article advances a third perspective. Analysing several portraits of Europeans with Indian connections during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it demonstrates the importance of analysing portraiture as an act of public performance. It shows that, in many cases, the performance of both artist and sitter alike were not intended for the colonial population, but for the spectators of colonialism situated 'back home' in Europe. Applying this new analytical approach to such an important and extensive genre of sources has far reaching implications both within the field of art history as well as within the broader domains of colonial history and contemporary East–West cultural studies. The interpretation of Western portrayals of the Orient – both visual and literary, both historical and contemporary – as active participants in an imperialist ideology must not eclipse the other, potentially less-charged, varied, and complex motivations of their participants.


PURPOSE
We conducted a phase III study to compare the survival impact of concurrent versus sequential treatment with radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT) in unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment arms. In the sequential arm, patients received induction CT with cisplatin (120 mg/m2) on days 1, 29, and 57, and vinorelbine (30 mg/m2/wk) from day 1 to day 78, followed by thoracic RT at a dose of 66 Gy in 33 fractions (2 Gy per fraction and 5 fractions per week). In the concurrent arm, the same RT was started on day 1 with two concurrent cycles of cisplatin 20 mg/m2/d and etoposide 50 mg/m2/d (days 1 to 5 and days 29 to 33); patients then received consolidation therapy with cisplatin 80 mg/m2 on days 78 and 106 and vinorelbine 30 mg/m2/wk from days 78 to 127.

RESULTS
Two hundred five patients were randomly assigned. Pretreatment characteristics were well balanced between the two arms. There were six toxic deaths in the sequential arm and 10 in the concurrent arm. Median survival was 14.5 months in the sequential arm and 16.3 months in the concurrent arm (log-rank test P = .24). Two-, 3-, and 4-year survival rates were better in the concurrent arm (39%, 25%, and 21%, respectively) than in the sequential arm (26%, 19%, and 14%, respectively). Esophageal toxicity was significantly more frequent in the concurrent arm than in the sequential arm (32% v 3%).

CONCLUSION
Although not statistically significant, clinically important differences in the median, 2-, 3-, and 4-year survival rates were observed, with a trend in favor of concurrent chemoradiation therapy, suggesting that is the optimal strategy for patients with locally advanced NSCLC.


This research sought to test the hypothesis that regulatory fit enhances people's feelings of autonomy. Regulatory fit can be created by prompting people to execute a task using means of task execution that fit (vs. do not fit) their preferred means of goal-pursuit. Assigning people to do a task using a particular means implies they do not exercise choice in applying their preferred means of goal-pursuit. Nevertheless, we reasoned that fitting task means would lead to higher feelings of autonomy while working on a task because, under conditions of regulatory fit, people are using the means that they would have chosen if they had been given choice. We conducted 10 experiments (total N = 3,124) to test the effect of regulatory fit versus regulatory non-fit on experienced autonomy and a meta-analysis of the effects supported our hypothesis for both promotion focus-based fit and prevention focus-based fit.


The World Congress of Communication for Development (WCCD) took place in Rome, at FAO's headquarters, late October 2006. Among all the international conferences on communication for development I have attended, this one was unique: it was organized by the World Bank, FAO and The Communication Initiative, institutions of very different nature that have little in common in their approach to development. With 700 hundred participants (government officials, international development organizations, NGOs and communication networks) from all regions in the world, the WCCD faced the risk of becoming a Tower of Babel where each delegate would speak his or her own language and ideas without caring much about what others would say. In fact, this is what often happens in international meetings, but it would have been sad if it happened during a communication conference, where dialogue is supposed to be central.


Cystic lymphangiomas are benign tumors originating mainly in the head and neck of the pediatric population. The authors report a rare case of cystic lymphangioma in the right elbow of an 8-month-old baby treated successfully by complete surgical resection.


Skull remains are the most commonly found material of marine mammals and the most likely to be kept in natural history collections. Morphology, relative size and growth of the skull in 83 South African fur seals, Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus, from the coast of southern Africa are described. The South African or Cape fur seal is very closely related to the Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus). Age structure of populations is important in understanding the conservation status of an animal population and the impacts of human activity upon the survival of viable wild populations of animal species. Skull measurements (n = 32 variables) were examined in relation to standard body length (SBL - defined as the length from the nose to the tail in a straight line with the animal on its back), condylobasal length (CBL) and chronological age (y) using linear regression. Animals ranged from 10 months to ≥ 12 y (12+ y). Twenty four animals were of known-age, while 39 were aged from counts of incremental lines observed in the dentine of tooth sections. Morphological observations were generally consistent with earlier studies. Condylobasal length was highly, positively correlated with SBL and age. Overall, skull variables grew at a slower rate than SBL, apart from height of mandible at meatus and angularis to coronoideus, which expressed isometry relative to SBL. Condylobasal length continued to increase until at least 12 y, with no obvious growth spurt between 8-10 y, when social maturity (full reproductive capacity) is attained. Mean CBL was 19.4% of SBL in yearlings; 15.5% in subadults, and 13.7% in adults. Apart from the dentition, all variables of the facial skeleton followed a somatic growth trajectory. Most variables expressed positive allometry relative to CBL, with greatest growth occurring in the vertical part of the mandible. Mastoid breadth, and gnathion to middle of occipital crest, expressed a strong secondary growth spurt at 10 y. Breadth of brain case, and basion to bend of pterygoid, followed a neural growth trajectory, scaling with negative slope relative to CBL. Sutures of the brain case (i.e., basioccipito-basisphenoid, occipito-parietal, interparietal and coronal) closed before those of the facial skeleton. Condylobasal length was found to be a 'rough indicator' of SBL and age group (adult, subadult), but not of absolute age. Suture age was not a good indicator of absolute age or age group. A comparison is finally made between skull data on the South African fur seal (A. pusillus pusillus) with available data on the Australian fur seal (A. pusillus doriferus).


Abstract prototyping (AP) is a pre-implementation testing approach in software engineering, based on low-fidelity prototypes. It supports demonstration and evolution of software concepts at an early stage. It allows designers to optimize the operation of the software and allows end users to understand how to work with the system. In this paper we survey various 'approaches', i.e. both the way of developing the content of AP and the manner of using them in software engineering. We developed a reasoning model intuitively and defined research questions to structure our review and this paper. Our objective was to get insights in the existing definitions, information contents, construction processes and application opportunities for AP. We have found that AP is simultaneously a challenging scientific and a complex practical issue, which usually raises a large number of sub-issues and questions. In addition we observed that there are multiple interpretations of AP which are disturbing a clear picture. Based on the findings we observed that it is possible to generalize the key constituents of AP and to integrate them into a simplified and application-independent AP methodology.


Synchrony of neural activity among cortical areas arises from functional coupling between those areas. Such a strong synchrony characterises the two mouse barrel fields (BFs) when the animal is deeply anaesthetised or asleep. In these conditions, neurons in the two hemispheres depolarise (up-state) and hyperpolarise to their resting potential (down-state) in a remarkably coordinated fashion. Callosal glutamatergic axons provide a means to functionally couple supra- and infragranular neurons of the two BFs. However, little is known about their relationship with the BF grid-like architecture: Are they able to influence the activity of barrel and/or septal neurons? Are there specific barrels more sensitive to the contralateral activity? To respond to these questions, we localised and counted the BF cells positive to c-Fos (c-Fos
 + ) resulting from a contralateral whiskers deprivation when mice were free to explore a novel environment. In layer 4, we found a greater number of c-Fos
 + cells in septa compared to barrels, which mainly localised in the posterior and lateral aspects of the sensory-deprived BF. To learn more about such interhemispheric recruitment, we studied the propagation of slow-oscillatory activity in anaesthetised mice. We performed whole-cell patch-clamp in the ipsilateral BF while recording LFPs in the contralateral BF. In the BF lateral region, neurons showed faster oscillatory cycles, shorter up-state duration and faster down-to-up transitions compared to neurons recorded in BF regions with a sparser c-Fos signal, suggesting the reception of extra inputs in the former. We thus propose that the lateral BF is a critical sub-region for BFs activity-coupling.


The 18O/16O and 13C/12C ratios of about 250 dolomite and limestone samples from the Malm of Southern Germany were measured and the results have been compared with information obtained from microscopic studies.The dolomites were formed by dolomitization of marine limy sediments, more or less penecontemporaneously with the precipitation of the calcitic sediments, i.e. during Jurassic time. During post-Jurassic time these dolomites were partly dedolomitized. The distinction between a centrifugal and centripetal dedolomitization was possible and both occurred under the influence of circulating fresh-water. Centripetal dedolomitization leads very often to the formation of saccharoidal limestones, a process which probably is still going on today.


The scientific article aims to explore the relationship between cultural identity and sustainable cultural tourism in the context of local and global. Important elements of cultural identity and heritage have been studied. Emphasis is placed on the attempts of local communities to develop their tangible and intangible cultural assets. The connection between cultural identity, sustainable cultural tourism and globalization is considered. The importance of the authentic characteristics of the destinations and the unique elements of their cultural identity is emphasized. The author defends the thesis that sustainable cultural tourism is the best model for local tourism development in a global context.


This study investigates opinions of Grade 12 students about the use of Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) animations in mathematics lessons. It explores the ways of making mathematics easier and more understandable for students by demonstrating whether or not GIF animations that emerged from the integration of technology into mathematics education appeal to students both visually and educationally, and how mathematics education can be made more visual and educational through GIF animations. Here, survey model was selected and used from research models. The research sample consisted of forty-one science students in two schools (Anatolian High School and Science High School) affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Igdir in the 2016-2017 academic year. 20 GIF animations taken from various local and foreign sites were used as materials. For data gathering, an evaluation form was used in which the participants were asked to assess whether the GIFs were educationally and visually competent, and if not, to express their reasons. The results revealed that five GIF animations were visually inadequate in general by students whereas ten GIF animations were found to be educationally inadequate. The students stated that the reasons for visual inadequacy were: containing foreign words, being too fast, being slow and boring, being colorless and not being understandable. The reasons for educational inadequacy were: not being academically clear and understandable, being confusing, lacking numerical values, writings not being in Turkish, and being irrelevant to everyday life. Students said that they encounter GIF animations more in social media, and were surprised to see GIF animations used in mathematics education, but after the application they thought that it would be useful.

 Key words: GIF, mathematics education, geometry, visuality, instructiveness.


Putting the right person in the right post and planning human resource development (human resource management: HRM) are important decision making tasks for managing company. The basis for HRM is the accurate grasp of the competency of human resources as intellectual capital. Our research goal is to realize human resource evaluations based on evidences by Embedded Technology Skill Standards ontology as indicators. This paper clarifies perception structure of our ontology based human resource model for conversion to relational data model and describes implement method of the system that can cooperatively works with other legacy database systems with no modification.


Objectives: Aerobic oral bacteria only rarely colonize the cleft nasal floor in patients with patent oronasal fistula. There are no studies that have investigated whether anaerobic oral flora colonize this site and whether attempting to culture them is useful for assessing the patency of oronasal fistulae in the clinic. Design: A prospective study of 13 patients with cleft with patent unilateral oronasal fistulae. Microbiological culture swabs were taken from the oral cavity and both nasal floors, with the unaffected side being used as a control. Following aerobic and anaerobic culture, bacterial isolates were identified and compared. Main Outcome Measure: A significant growth of anaerobic oral bacteria from the cleft nasal floor when compared with the unaffected side. Results: Aerobic oral flora was cultured from the oral cavity in all 13 patients. A light growth of aerobic oral flora was found in the cleft nasal floor in two patients, and anaerobic oral flora was cultured from the cleft nasal floor in the same two patients. No statistical correlation was found between growth of anaerobic flora and the cleft nasal floor (p 5 .48). Conclusions: Like aerobic oral flora, anaerobic oral bacteria would appear to only rarely colonize the cleft nasal floor in patients with oronasal fistulae. This additional investigation does not appear to be helpful in the assessment of oronasal fistulae in the clinic.


This study reports the clinical, ophtalmological and parasitological examination for onchocerciasis in 4 882 people, living in 23 villages located in 8 different areas of west Africa. The disease is hyperendemic in the whole sample and no major differences occur when comparing the indices of Onchocerca volvulus infection. However, all the complications (eye, skin and lymph node lesions) are less common in the four forest clusters than in to the four savanna clusters. The disease seems to be relatively well tolerated in areas where transmission of Onchocerca volvulus is carried out by Simulium species other than S. damnosum s.s. and S. sirbanum. The striking epidemiological differences of onchocerciasis is probably associated with several vector-parasite complexes, which may indicate the existence of different strains of O. volvulus.


The resonant transmission through a metallic Fabry-Perot cavity with the left handed material can be forbidden, due to the optical length cancellation by the left handed material and the penetration depth of the metallic mirror.


A patient presented with decreased hearing, secondary amenorrhea, vertigo, dry eyes, and progressive loss of vision. Because the differential diagnosis consisted of sarcoidosis and lymphoma, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy with indium-111-DTPA octreotide (In-111 pentetreotide) was performed. Increased uptake was observed in the parotid gland, bilateral orbits, nose, and the right knee. Remarkably, on clinical examination, no signs of arthritis of the right knee were observed. Additional tissue analysis of the right knee revealed the diagnosis of sarcoidosis leading to successful treatment with prednisolone, antimalarials, and azathioprine. This case underlines the diagnostic potential of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in patients with sarcoidosis, even in clinically unaffected tissue. Copyright


A method for the identification of grains in pressure die cast AZ91 and AM50 alloys was developed. The influence of an addition of process scrap and of the solidification rate on the grain size in castings was investigated. An optimum content of process scrap in the charge used for production of shaped castings was determined. A furnace for recycling of magnesium alloy process scrap was described.


Combinational circuits have become more vulnerable to soft errors (SEs) in each CMOS technology generation. Most of the prior studies use hardware redundancy in an attempt to harden the circuits against errors. However, redundancy increases the area and power consumption. Furthermore, the design constraints may not allow adding redundant resources to the final circuit. In this paper, we present a genetic algorithm (GA)-based design method to increase the reliability of combinational circuits. In this method, we use different versions of the same resources, each having different area, latency, and reliability values. The goal of GA-based method is to allocate the best available resources to the application nodes to maximize the reliability of the design under tight area and latency constraints. Our experimental results show that we achieve up to 19.90% (14.50% on average) reliability improvement against a heuristic method with no additional area overhead.


An interest in the connection between engagement and learning in education has a long tradition from Aristotle to, among others, Dewey and Freire. In recent years there has been increasing discussion of student engagement in the university. Much of this discussion emphasises the importance of economic competitiveness and the development of human capital in tertiary education policy. This thesis explores whether tertiary education policy aims are consistent with student engagement in Ireland and New Zealand. To critically evaluate this area of policy the thesis engages with the work of Dewey and Freire. For Dewey and Freire, engagement, learning and the formation of the student in education are inextricably linked. It is argued that the aims and purposes of tertiary education, in Irish and New Zealand, policies limit possibilities for students to engage in their education. For Freire education is always a political process, and it follows that contemporary policy outlines a particular political and ethical vision of the university. Explicitly, this thesis engages with three neoliberal policy ideas that are inconsistent with calls for student engagement: the market orientation of the aims and ends of education; the prominence of an instrumental form of skills education within tertiary education policy; and, the organisation of the university under managerialism.


Although cancer cell genetic instability contributes to characteristics that mediate tumorigenicity, it also contributes to the selective toxicity that some chemotherapy drugs have for cancer cells. This "synthetic lethality" (Nature 434:913, '05) can be enhanced by agents that inhibit DNA repair (Mol Onc 8:1429, '14; Proc AACR 57:3718, '16). To exploit this potential "Achilles heel", we tested the ability of a small molecule inhibitor of RAD51 to potentiate the cytotoxicity of established chemotherapy drugs. 2-(benzylsulfonyl)-1-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1,2-dihydroisoquinoline (IBR2) was obtained from Drs. J-W Zhu and W-H Lee (Univ. California - Irvine). IBR2 inhibits RAD51-mediated double-strand DNA break repair, but also enhances induction of apoptosis by the ABL inhibitor imatinib against K562 cells (EMBO Mol Med 5:353, '13). There is potential value of such synergistic interaction among other tumor types and with other drugs. IBR2-drug combinations were therefore examined across a spectrum of cancer cell lines from various tissues (AML, CML, carcinoma of breast, colon, stomach, lung, and head) representing a range of oncogenic drivers (ABL, c-kit, Raf, Ras, ER, mutant p53). Cells were exposed to IBR2 simultaneously with inhibitors of various tyrosine kinase receptors, DNA-damaging agents, or inhibitors of microtubule function. Cells were cultured in 96-well plates, exposed to drugs alone and in combination, and cell density determined by viability staining (alamarBlue or neutral red) 4 days later. Inhibition of proliferation by drug combinations was normalized to that of IBR2 alone. Depending on the drug sensitivity of the cell line, IBR2, at concentrations that inhibited proliferation between 0% and 75% as a single agent, enhanced toxicity of imatinib by up to 80%. IBR2 also greatly enhanced antiproliferative activity of regorafenib (targets RAF, kit, others), EGFR inhibitors erlotinib, gefitinib, afatinib and osimertinib, and microtubule inhibitor vincristine (VCR). However, IBR2 was antagonistic with VP-16, cisplatin, irinotecan, melphalan, and olaparib. To determine a possible mechanism of the observed synergy, the interaction between IBR2 and imatinib or VCR was compared with that between verapamil, a P-glycoprotein inhibitor, and the latter 2 drugs. The VCR-resistant head and neck cell line HN-5a/V15e was not cross-resistant to imatinib, but IBR2 enhanced imatinib toxicity in this cell line, its HN-5a parent, and HT-29 by up to 60%, much better than verapamil (up to 40% at similar concentrations, P Citation Format: Peter J. Ferguson, Mark D. Vincent, James Koropatnick. Synergistic anticancer activity of the RAD51 inhibitor IBR2 with inhibitors of receptor tyrosine kinases and microtubule protein [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2019. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2019


The influence of polydispersity on the phase equilibrium properties of a dipolar system with additional short-range (repulsive+attractive) interactions (modeled by a shifted Lennard-Jones pair potential) is studied by means of Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. The critical temperature and density as well as the magnetization at the critical point are calculated as a function of the applied magnetic field, and the obtained results are compared with the data determined in a monodisperse equivalent of the system.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate curative effects of elastic stable intramedullary nails in the treatment of stable and unstable fractures of femoral shaft in children and to guide its clinical application.

METHODS
From January 2008 to October 2010,44 children with femoral shaft fractures were treated,including 24 boys and 20 girls,ranging in age from 5 to 12 years, with an average of 7.4 years. Based on the fractures stable or not, the patients were divided into stable fractures group(group S) and unstable fractures group (group U). All the children received the same operation to fix broken femoral with elastic stable intramedullary nails and some children received traction or small splint protection after operation when reduction and fixation were considered unsatisfied or his/her weight beyond 30 kg. During the followed-up, the healing time, irritation of the soft tissue (ache, cyst, t al), malunion (angulation above 5 degree in X-ray), limb shortening or lengthening and excellent and good rate were observed.

RESULTS
All the patients were followed up,and the duration ranged from 5 to 19 months, with an average of 13 months. All the fractures were healed at the latest follow-up. The average healing time was 10.2 weeks (ranges, 8 to 14 weeks). The incidence rate of malunion was 23.8% in group U and the average angulation was 9 degree (6 to 12 degree), which was higher than those of patients in the group S (0%). The average healing time, limb shortening or lengthening, irritation of the soft tissue and the excellent and good rate between two groups had no significance differences, which were (10.6 +/- 1.3) vs. (9.9 +/- 1.2) weeks, 0 vs. 3 cases, 3 vs. 1 case and 2 vs. 4 cases respectively. In the group U, among 5 patients had malunion, 4 patients were not treated with traction or small splint protection,and the incidence was higher than those who were given traction or small splint protection.

CONCLUSION
Both the stable and unstable femoral shaft fractures in children treated with elastic stable intramedullary nails can receive well short-term curative effects. If given certain postoperative protection like as traction or small splint, the malunion incidence can be reduced.


Esterase activity and isoenzymes pattern of two cultivars of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), Coker 312 an embryogenic cultivar and ISA 205N a non embryogenic cultivar, were studied and compared during cell suspension cultures. The use of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis allowed the identification of isoenzymes that number increased with the successive stages of cell culture of the two cultivars. At the stage of embryogenic structures induction which occurs only in Coker 312 cell suspension, we noted the presence of two isoenzymes (y and z) identified as aryl esterase, while one isoenzyme (x) identified as choline esterase wasexclusively found in the cell suspensions of the non embryogenic cultivar ISA 205N. Esterase activity increased in cells of Coker 312 whereas it's remained constant in ISA 205N. These results suggested a great implication of esterase enzyme in the induction of embryogenic structures during cotton cell suspension cultures.

 Key words: Gossypium hirsutum L., cultivar, cell suspensions, embryogenic structures, Esterase; isoenzyme.


Local Image Descriptors (LID) aggregation models such as Bag of Words and Fisher Vectors represent an image based on the distribution of its LIDs given a global model, e.g. a visual codebook or a Gaussian Mixture. Inspired by Copula theory, in this paper we propose a LID-based feature that represents directly the behavior of the image LID distribution, without requiring to compute a global model. Following the definition of Copula, we represent the distribution of the image LIDs by describing, on one side, its marginals, and on the other side, a Copula function. The Copula defines the dependencies between the marginals and their mapping to a multivariate probability distribution function. We test the resulting feature for scene recognition and video retrieval (Trecvid data), showing that our approach outperforms, in both tasks, the Bag of Words and the Fisher Vectors Model.


The British Colossus computer was one of the most important tools in the wartime effort to break German codes. Based on interviews and on recently declassified documents, this article clarifies the roles played by Thomas Flowers, Alan Turing, William Tutte, and Max Newman in the events leading to the installation of the first Colossus at Bletchley Park, Britain's wartime code-breaking establishment, in December 1943.


Black-box zero-th order optimization is a central primitive for applications in fields as diverse as finance, physics, and engineering. In a common formulation of this problem, a designer sequentially attempts candidate solutions, receiving noisy feedback on the value of each attempt from the system. In this paper, we study scenarios in which feedback is also provided on the safety of the attempted solution, and the optimizer is constrained to limit the number of unsafe solutions that are tried throughout the optimization process. Focusing on methods based on Bayesian optimization (BO), prior art has introduced an optimization scheme -- referred to as SAFEOPT -- that is guaranteed not to select any unsafe solution with a controllable probability over feedback noise as long as strict assumptions on the safety constraint function are met. In this paper, a novel BO-based approach is introduced that satisfies safety requirements irrespective of properties of the constraint function. This strong theoretical guarantee is obtained at the cost of allowing for an arbitrary, controllable but non-zero, rate of violation of the safety constraint. The proposed method, referred to as SAFE-BOCP, builds on online conformal prediction (CP) and is specialized to the cases in which feedback on the safety constraint is either noiseless or noisy. Experimental results on synthetic and real-world data validate the advantages and flexibility of the proposed SAFE-BOCP.


Glutathione S-transferases (GST) are a large family of polymorphous proteins that play important roles in herbicide detoxification and stress response. Nicosulfuron is the most broadly used herbicide in maize fields, and it can cause different injuries to maize varieties, but little is studied about the systemic and comprehensive GST gene family responding to nicosulfuron stress in maize. In this research, pre-treatment with glutathione S-transferase inhibitor 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD-Cl) increased nicosulfuron phytotoxicity to both sensitive and tolerant maize genotypes. A total of 55 ZmGST genes belonging to six major sub-classes were identified in the maize genome and named according to the nomenclature system. Based on phylogenetic analyses, highly conserved gene structure and motif distribution were detected in the same class. Chromosome mapping results showed that ZmGST genes were distributed over the 10 chromosomes unevenly. There were thirteen and eight gene pairs identified as tandem and segmental duplication events, respectively, which played important roles in the expansion of the GST gene family in maize. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR analyses showed that there were great dissimilarities in ZmGST gene expression patterns between the tolerant and sensitive maize plants. More highly expressed ZmGST genes were found in the tolerant than in the sensitive without nicosulfuron stress. However, under 60 g a.i. ha−1 nicosulfuron stress, more ZmGST genes were significantly upregulated in HB41 than in HB09. This study provided experimental evidence showing that glutathione S-transferases were involved in nicosulfuron stress in maize. It will contribute to the further functional analysis of the GST gene family in maize.


Long a source of primary care in most countries, complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) has recently become a focus of interest in industrialised nations.1,2 Terms often used synonymously reflect conflicting perspectives. Proponents may prefer the terms holistic, natural, non-toxic, integrative, medecine douce (gentle medicine); opponents employ the words unproven, unscientific, fringe, non-traditional, or "Auβenseitermedizin" (outsiders' medicine). Perhaps the most neutral terms are "practiques paralleles" (parallel practices), unconventional, or complementary medicine. "Alternative medicine" is more widely used in the USA (it is also the term employed by Medline), "complementary medicine" in the UK. We consider the latter most accurate but bow to the current convention of referring to CAM.

The aim of this article is to provide a short general introduction to CAM. It is written predominantly with occupational and environmental healthcare professionals in mind; its aim is to familiarise them with this increasingly important topic.

Complementary therapies seem to have little in common other than their exclusion from the mainstream. Many supporters are convinced of the superiority and universal applicability of their treatment. CAM encompasses primary care systems of medicine (including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, which have unique diagnostic criteria and diverse therapeutic options), discrete therapies (shark cartilage, bee pollen, ozone therapy, etc) and almost everything in between. Besides comprising over 150 treatment modalities,3 CAM also embraces a large variety of diagnostic methods.4 A positive definition, describing CAM by what it is rather than by what it is not, has recently been adopted by the Cochrane Collaboration: CAM is diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention which complements mainstream medicine by contributing to a common whole, by satisfying a demand not met by orthodoxy or by diversifying the conceptual frameworks of medicine.4

Both in Europe5 and the USA6 CAM has enjoyed periods of popularity only to …


A slim Luneburg lens is proposed, which allows the lens to be incorporated into an antenna system through transformation electromagnetics. The transformed lens is then discretized and fed by a patch antenna to form a high-directive antenna system with low sidelobe levels and steering capabilities for wide angles and a large operating bandwidth. In this letter, we outline the design of transformed Luneburg lenses, which are validated via numerical simulations. Results demonstrate that a grounded slim lens antenna preserves its original properties of Luneburg lenses, while it can be made conformal to any platform.


This paper identifies and documents the main areas of discussions and 'recommendations' that were generated under the Access theme at the second Internet Governance Forum in Rio De Janeiro, November 2007. Whilst recognising that the IGF is currently viewed and operates primarily as a space for discussion, the paper finds that (specifically in the case of Access) it is also a space in which commonality of opinion occurs to the level at which 'recommendations' can be made and repeatedly asserted independently/individually in the workshops, and strategically reinforced at different levels of the IGF. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a space for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue, set up in 2006 as a direct response to the deliberations of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The forum was created to (amongst other things) discuss public policy issues related to key elements of internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the internet. Its structure, function and working are addressed in paragraphs 73 to 79 of the WSIS Tunis Agenda.


We show that a patch of charge on the surface of a thick insulator will spread in a self-similar fashion. We have calculated the corresponding charge density by a numerical approximation. Guided by these results, we deduce the exact analytic solution. The radius increases as the cube root of the time. Substituting appropriate values for the carrier mobility and charge density, we show that the time taken for the patch to double in size may be measured in weeks, in agreement with the stability observed in practice.


In this paper, the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) is optimized using the scattering in nanocrystals (NCs) of Zr-doped In2O3-δ. The effect of boundary scattering on the thermoelectric properties of the NCs was analyzed using the Boltzmann transport equation and Debye-Callaway model. A ZT map computed based on these theories determined the optimum material parameters to improve the transport properties of the NCs. A theoretically predicted enhancement in ZT of ∼40% can be reproduced experimentally, indicating that engineering of ZT using NCs is promising.


Purpose of review One-lung ventilation in the thoracic surgical patient can be achieved with the use of a double-lumen endotracheal tube or an independent bronchial blocker. A number of patients requiring lung isolation have a potentially difficult airway because of previous radiation to the neck or previous surgery to the tongue and larynx. This review will focus on the management of patients who have a difficult airway and require lung isolation. Recent findings Identification of the potentially difficult airway during the preoperative evaluation allows the preplanning and selection of the appropriate lung isolation device. Common devices used to achieve one-lung ventilation in patients with difficult airways include independent bronchial blockers (Arndt, Cohen, and Fuji Uniblocker). Summary In patients who require one-lung ventilation and who present with a difficult airway, the safest way to establish an airway is by placing a single-lumen endotracheal tube orally or nasotracheally while the patient is awake with the aid of a flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope. Lung isolation in these patients then is achieved by using an independent bronchial blocker; an alternative technique is to use a double-lumen endotracheal tube while using an airway catheter exchange technique. For the patient with a tracheostomy in place, an independent bronchial blocker is recommended.


Maspin has been known to regress tumors by inhibiting angiogenesis, however, its roles have been reported to be context and sequence-dependent. There are various proteins and cofactors that bind with maspin possibly explaining the conflicting roles of maspin. Moreover, maspin polymorphic forms have also been linked to tumor regression or survival, for instance, maspin with Ser at 176 (maspin-S176) promotes tumor while maspin with Pro at 176 (maspin-Pro176) has opposing roles in cancer pathogenesis. With the help of long molecular dynamic simulation, a possible link between polymorphic forms and tumor progression has been established. First, the maspin is dynamically stable with either amino acid at 176 position, secondly, differential contacts have been observed among various regions, thirdly, these contacts have significantly altered the electrostatic energetics of various residues, and finally, these altered electrostatics of maspin-S176 and maspin-P176 rewired the polar contacts that abolished the allosteric control in protein. By combining these factors, the altered electrostatics can substantially affect the localization, and the preference of maspin binding partners, thus, culminating in a different maspin-protein (cofactor)-interaction landscape that could have been manifested with conflicting reports in previous studies. Here, the underlying reason has been highlighted and discussed that could be helpful for better therapeutic manipulations. Significance Protein altered functions in response to mutations are well documented, however, a slight perturbation in structure can lead to dramatic effects that are being felt at longer distances are rare. Here, we have reported that the substitution of Pro to Ser at 176th position in Maspin can substantially alter the protein electrostatic interactions that can hamper the allosteric control. This could lead to different binding partners, localization preferences, and altered cytoplasmic retention duration resulting in functions that are not associated with normal protein. Moreover, the electrostatic attraction/repulsion can immensely affect the allosteric cohesion of protein resulting in unexpected outcomes.


Josephson circuits have been ideal systems to study complex non-linear dynamics which can lead to chaotic behavior and instabilities. More recently, Josephson circuits in the quantum regime, particularly in the presence of microwave drives, have demonstrated their ability to emulate a variety of Hamiltonians that are useful for the processing of quantum information. In this paper we show that these drives lead to an instability which results in the escape of the circuit mode into states that are not confined by the Josephson cosine potential. We observe this escape in a ubiquitous circuit: a transmon embedded in a 3D cavity. When the transmon occupies these free-particle-like states, the circuit behaves as though the junction had been removed, and all non-linearities are lost. This work deepens our understanding of strongly driven Josephson circuits, which is important for fundamental and application perspectives, such as the engineering of Hamiltonians by parametric pumping.


This article reports part of the findings of a study carried out to determine the causes, prevalence,  and  distribution  of  ocular  dis-orders  among  rural  primary  school  children in  Mopani  district  of  Limpopo  Province, South Africa. Three hundred and eighty eight children  aged  8  to  15  years  were  randomly selected from five randomly selected schools. Non-cycloplegic retinoscopy and auto-refrac-tion were performed on each child. The preva-lence of hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism was  73.1%,  2.5%  and  31.3%  respective-ly.  Hyperopia  (Nearest  spherical  equivalent power (FNSE) ranged from +0.75 to +3.50 D for the right and left eyes with means of +1.05 ±  0.35  D  and  +1.08  ±  0.34  D  respectively. Myopia (FNSE) ranged from –0.50 to –1.75 D for the right eye and –0.50 to –2.25 D for the left eye with means of –0.75 ± 0.55 D and –0.93 ± 0.55 D respectively. Regression model for myopia, shows that age had an odds ratio of  1.94  (1.15  to  3.26),  indicating  a  signifi-cant increased risk of myopia with increasing age.  Correcting  cylinders  for  the  right  eyes ranged from –0.25 to –4.50 D (mean = −0.67 ± 0.47 D) and for the left eyes from –0.25 to –2.50 D (mean = −0.60 ± 0.30 D). With-the-rule  (WTR)  astigmatism  (66.5%)  was  more common, followed by against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism (28.1%) and oblique (OBL) astig-matism  (5.4%).  With-the-rule  astigmatism was  more  common  in  females  than  males; ATR astigmatism and OBL astigmatism were common in males. Regular vision screening programmes,  appropriate  referral  and  vision correction  in  primary  schools  in  Mopani district  are  recommended  in  order  to  elimi-nate  refractive  errors  among  the  children.


Neoplastic lesions are common in African hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris). To our knowledge, so far mast cell tumour metastases have only been described in local lymph nodes. An African hedgehog was referred to the veterinary clinic. A nodule was located on the right part of the mandible. Based on the clinical trial, an abscess was suspected. Surgery was performed, but a histopathological examination was not undertaken. After few months, tumour recurrence was detected and, additionally, a second tumour was found on the metatarsal skin. Due to the deteriorating clinical condition of the patient, euthanasia was decided, and a post-mortem examination was performed. During the post-mortem examination, a spleen tumour was detected, and, furthermore, mesenteric lymph nodes, liver and lung sections were also collected. The histopathological examination confirmed mast cell tumour metastasis to the spleen and lymph nodes, additionally single mast cells were found in the liver. Interestingly, the histological picture of the tumour does not show high malignancy. To our knowledge, this is the first description of a mast cell tumour with metastases to the spleen and lymph in the African hedgehog.


The growing body of evidence linking intergenerational education and late-life cognitive decline is almost exclusively from high-income countries, despite rapid intergenerational changes in education in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We used data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (n = 8,822), a cohort of Mexican adults aged > 50 years (2001- 2018) to evaluate whether parental (none vs. any formal schooling), own (< primary school vs. primary completion), or adult child (< high school vs. high school completion) education was associated with verbal memory z-scores. We used linear mixed models with inverse probability of attrition weights. Educational attainment in all three generations was associated with baseline verbal memory scores, independent of the prior generation's education. Lower parental (ß= -0.005; 95% CI: -0.009, -0.002) and respondents' education (ß= -0.013; 95% CI: -0.017, -0.010) were associated with faster decline in delayed (not immediate) verbal memory z-scores. Associations between adult child education and respondent's verbal memory decline varied by exposure specification. Educational attainment of parents and adult children may influence the cognitive aging of middle-aged and older adults in LMICs. These results have important implications given recent structural shifts in educational attainment in many LMICs.


Background Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease affecting predominantly exocrine glands such as salivary and lacrimal glands. Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a new clinical concept of multi-organ diseases, which is characterized pathologically by the infiltration of IgG4-bearing plasma cells into involved organs. However, some pSS patients showed infiltration of IgG4+ plasma cells in exocrine glands. Objectives We aim to investigate the characteristics of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) patients with IgG4+ plasma cells in labial salivary glands (LSGs). Methods 336 patients with pSS were enrolled. The LSG tissues from pSS patients were stained with monoclonal antibodies to IgG4 and IgG. Patients were divided into three subgroups according to histopathologic infiltration degree of IgG4+ plasma cells. The clinical and serological characteristics of patients were compared. Results 336 patients were divided into three groups according to infiltration degree of IgG4+ plasma cells: slight-IgG4 group (n=194), moderate-IgG4 group (n=106) and high-IgG4 group (n=36). The results showed that the higher IgG4+ plasma cells expression, the lower positive rates of serum anti-SSA, anti-SSB, anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) and rheumatoid factor (RF). The comparison of extraglandular manifestations of three groups indicated that patients in high-IgG4 expression group showed a highest frequency of interstitial lung disease (30.6%) and tubulointerstitial nephritis (13.9%), whereas a lowest frequency of leucopaenia (13.9%), thrombocytopaenia (11.1%) and abnormal thyroidal function (0%). Conclusions The results showed that a considerable proportion of pSS patients could manifest abundant IgG4+ plasma cells infiltration in LSGs. These patients have unique laboratory and clinical characteristics. These findings may help further understand pSS, IgG4-RD, and the role of IgG4+ plasma cells in autoimmune diseases. References Giovelli RA, Santos MC, Serrano ΈV, Valim V. Clinical characteristics and biopsy accuracy in suspected cases of Sjögren's syndrome referred to labial salivary gland biopsy. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2015; 15;16:30. John HS, Yoh Z, Vikram D: IgG4-related disease. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:539–551. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Background Adoptive cell therapy utilizing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells has demonstrated a feasible, attractive "off-the-shelf" approach against numerous types of cancers. Successful tumor eradication depends primarily on providing optimized costimulatory signals capable of achieving robust CAR-T cell proliferation, persistence, and antitumor reactivity. Here, we assessed the capability of a novel CD30derived costimulatory domain, a known TNFR superfamily member involved in anti-apoptosis as well as cell activation and proliferation, to generate effective CAR-T cells. Methods We designed CD19-redirecting second-generation CARs incorporating the intracellular signaling domain of CD30 and evaluated the immune-phenotype, cytokine secretion, and real-time cytolytic activity of CAR-transduced T cells against CD19-expressing cells in comparison with other CARs containing CD28 or 4-1BB costimulatory domains. Subsequentially, their therapeutic efficacy was assessed with a pre-clinical Nalm-6-bearing xenogeneic model. We also engineered thirdgeneration CARs combining CD30 and either CD28 or 4-1BB and conducted multiple repeat in vitro experiments evaluating their proliferation and cytolytic functionality against CD19expressing tumors. Further, we tested the efficacy of third-generation CAR signaling after alteration with glypican-3 or mesothelin-targeting single chain fragment variable (scFv) domains. Results T cells activated by a CD30-z signaling-CAR displayed enhanced effector functions with similar levels of proliferation, cytolytic efficacies, and cytokine secretion in vitro against CD19-expressing cancer cells as those of other CARs with CD28 or 4-1BB costimulatory domain, which are currently in clinical use. Administration of CD30-containing CAR-T cells into tumor-bearing mice resulted in improved human T cell persistence and tumor regression in a xenogeneic allograft model, which was similar to those achieved with CD28or 41BB–signaling CAR-T cells. Furthermore, third-generation CARs including CD30 with either CD28 or 4-1BB costimulatory domain retained potent antitumor efficacies independent of their position. More significantly, CAR-T cells containing CD30-signaling revealed effective cytolytic activities against several solid cancer cell lines based on its scFv fragments. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the CD30-derived costimulatory domain could be an alternative for developing CAR-engineered therapeutics which may be applicable for various design of CAR constructs, with an emphasis on effectiveness against solid tumors.


With the rapid development of electronic information technology, electronic information technology is combined with other industries. It greatly promotes the development of other industries, improves production efficiency, and greatly improves the level of equipment, intelligence, automation and information. The utility model improves the production efficiency and reduces the labor cost. In the field of automatic irrigation, the gradual transition from traditional human irrigation to intelligent irrigation system based on Internet of Things is being realized. However, most of the current irrigation systems on the market can only achieve simple switching functions, cannot display the cumulative flow and wireless control functions, and the power consumption is relatively large. On the basis of fully understanding the application mechanism of agricultural Internet of Things and combining the characteristics of crop growth and water demand, this paper establishes an irrigation information acquisition and control model based on Internet of Things. From the aspects of hardware circuit configuration and software control program, the configuration display of agricultural intelligent irrigation system is constructed. The experiment of agricultural intelligent irrigation system is carried out. The results show that the experiment of this intelligent irrigation system is based on fuzzy control. Under the mechanism, the control relationship among non-linear soil moisture difference, air temperature and irrigation time is obtained. Under the condition of reliable and effective transmission of sensor data, when the error between the experimental value of soil moisture and irrigation water requirement and the actual measured value can be controlled within 1.5%, which meets the requirements of the realization of irrigation function of the system, it can provide ideas for the optimization of similar irrigation systems.


The interconnection of activities required for the design and construction of building and infrastructure involves the interplay between people, technology, situations, and decisions. It requires the astute coordination of labor, materials, and plant to realize the planned progress of work. Minimizing waste and maximizing value while continuous improvement is the concept of lean. Lean construction has proven to be an alternative for such improvements so as the satisfy client by creating customer value. Through its origins in the Toyota Production System, lean is now applied as an innovative way to manage the design and construction of projects with the use of tools which address project constraints, such as complexities and uncertainties, among others. This research is an effort to implement lean construction concept to the Sri Lankan road construction industry.


We present a systematic study of transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectra of hadrons
produced in $p+p$ and in heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. The hadron spectra in $p+p$ collisions can be explained by Tsallis distribution
with two parameters ($T$ and $q$). To explain the hadron spectra in heavy ion
collisions in a wider $p_T$ range we use a modified Tsallis function by
introducing an additional parameter ($\beta$) which accounts for collective
transverse flow. The new analytical function gives a very good description of both mesons
and baryons spectra at all centralities of $Au+Au$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV
and $Pb+Pb$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV. The parameter representing transverse collective flow increases with system size and is
found to be more for baryons than that for mesons in more central $Au+Au$ collisions. The non-thermalization parameter ($q$) decreases with centrality in heavy ion collisions
which gives an indication of thermalization in heavy ion collisions at both RHIC and LHC.


A review of the literature, together with a qualitative preliminary study (Testa & Emery, 2015), was the framework for development of a theoretical representation of the Nurse's Perception of the Relationship-Based Care Environment. This representation was the framework for item development of the Nurse's Perception of Relationship Based Care Environment scale. Psychometric analysis resulted in a five-component solution consistent with the theoretical representation. The 56-item scale as a whole and each of its components were found to be valid and reliable. The scale will allow for the assessment of nurses' relationships in the current health care environment.


This paper analyzes the statistical performance of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) effective-number-of-bit (ENOB) estimators provided by sine-fitting algorithms. Accurate expressions for the estimator bias and standard deviation that hold regardless of the overall ADC output noise characteristics are derived. These expressions are then particularized for ADC output noise composed of tones (both harmonics and spurious tones) and additive white noise. Two specific cases of ideal ADCs and ADCs affected by harmonics, spurious tones, and additive white Gaussian noise are also analyzed. In particular, it is shown that, for values of the number of acquired samples commonly used in ADC testing practice, the sine-fitting ENOB estimators are statistically optimal since they are almost Gaussian, unbiased, and efficient. The accuracies of all the derived expressions are verified through both computer simulations and experimental results.


A simple model of a homojunction solar cell is improved by taking into account the effect of photon recycling . The efficiency of converting solar radiation into electricity is studied as a function of the key variables. Some of these can be directly controlled, e.g. the semiconductor layer thickness and the surface recombination velocity. Other variables can be controlled indirectly, by doping, thermal treatments, etc: the internal efficiency of the radiative emission, the carrier lifetime and the minority carrier diffusion coefficient. For actual GaAs solar cells, taking photon recycling into consideration leads to an increase in efficiency of the order of 2%. The results we show are useful for the design and fabrication of solar cells based on wide-gap semiconductors.


The present paper reports the results of an investigation regarding the determination of bending strength and stiffness in full-size poles of Argentinean Eucalyptus grandis. The importance of accurately knowing the mechanical properties of this material has increased with the increasing demand of utility poles of this species and with the use of modern procedures aimed at achieving a reliable and economical structural design. For this purpose an empirical research project with two samples containing new, green, untreated poles was carried out according to the procedures adopted by both the American standard ASTM D 1036 (2005) and the Argentinean standard IRAM 9529 (2004) for cantilever bending tests. Sample 1 enclosed 14 year-old poles with nominal length of 12 m and Sample 2 enclosed 11 year-old poles with nominal length of 8 m. The results found for the average circumference taper were similar to the values adopted by the American standard ANSI 05.1 (2002) and knot dimensions as well as knot ratio compared well with those permitted by this standard. The mean value found for maximum fi bre stress at ground line reached 62.9 N/mm 2 for Sample 1 and 56.3 N/mm 2 for Sample 2. These strength results are relatively high in comparison with values reported for seasoned sawn timber of the same species and they compare well with those published by the American standard ANSI 05.1c (2004) for poles of different species. Both samples showed a coeffi cient of variation of 13 % for strength at ground line which is relatively low in comparison with those adopted by the American standard and may be considered an advantage of this material for structural purposes. The mean value found for modulus of elasticity reached 10935 N/mm 2 for Sample 1 and 9546 N/mm 2 for Sample 2, with a coeffi cient of variation of 14 % for both cases. Results also revealed signifi cant differences between mechanical properties values corresponding to the two samples containing poles with different sizes and age. The correlation coeffi cient between knot ratio and strength showed the insignifi cant values of 0.09 and 0.02 for Sample 1 and 2 respectively, and the corresponding results between modulus of elasticity and strength were 0.52 and 0.37.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between selected biomechanical, anthropometric, and training variables and runners afflicted with one of the following injuries: iliotibial (IT) band friction syndrome, shin splints, and plantar fasciitis. Competitive and recreational runners were divided into a non-injured control group (N = 19), an IT band friction syndrome injury group (N = 13), a shin splint injury group (N = 17), and a plantar fasciitis injury group (N = 15). Discriminant function analysis of the biomechanical data revealed two significant (P less than 0.05) discriminators between the control and shin splint groups; maximum pronation velocity and maximum pronation. Analysis of the anthropometric and training data revealed that plantar flexion range of motion was a significant (P less than 0.05) discriminator between the control and plantar fasciitis groups. In addition, analysis of the descriptive statistics (mean +/- SE) identified some non-significant (P greater than 0.05) trends between the injury and control groups: maximum pronation, total rearfoot movement, and maximum velocity of pronation were greater in the injury groups; the injury groups showed a trend toward a higher arch; dorsiflexion range of motion was less in the shin splint group; a greater percentage of injured runners had a leg length difference (greater than 0.64 cm); 20% more runners in the injury groups ran hills; and 20% more of the runners in the IT band friction syndrome group ran on crowned roads.


Point distributions are used to sample surfaces for a wide variety of applications within the fields of graphics and computational geometry, such as point-based graphics, remeshing and area/volume measurement. The quality of such point distributions is important, and quality criteria are often application dependent. Common quality criteria include visual appearance, an even distribution whilst avoiding aliasing and other artifacts, and minimisation of the number of points required to accurately sample a surface. Previous work suggests that discrepancy measures the uniformity of a point distribution and hence a point distribution of minimal discrepancy is expected to be of high quality. We investigate discrepancy as a measure of sampling quality, and present a novel approach for generating low-discrepancy point distributions on parameterised surfaces. Our approach uses the idea of converting the 2D sampling problem into a ID problem by adaptively mapping a space-filling curve onto the surface. A ID sequence is then generated and used to sample the surface along the curve. The sampling process takes into account the parametric mapping, employing a corrective approach similar to histogram equalisation, to ensure that it gives a 2D low-discrepancy point distribution on the surface. The local sampling density can be controlled by a user-defined density function, e.g. to preserve local features, or to achieve desired data reduction rates. Experiments show that our approach efficiently generates low-discrepancy distributions on arbitrary parametric surfaces, demonstrating nearly as good results as popular low-discrepancy sampling methods designed for particular surfaces like planes and spheres. We develop a generalised notion of the standard discrepancy measure, which considers a broader set of sample shapes used to compute the discrepancy. In this more thorough testing, our sampling approach produces results superior to popular distributions. We also demonstrate that the point distributions produced by our approach closely adhere to the blue noise criterion, compared to the popular low-discrepancy methods tested, which show high levels of structure, undesirable for visual representation. Furthermore, we present novel sampling algorithms to generate low-discrepancy distributions on triangle meshes. To sample the mesh, it is cut into a disc topology, and a parameterisation is generated. Our sampling algorithm can then be used to sample the parameterised mesh, using robust methods for computing discrete differential properties of the surface. After these pre-processing steps, the sampling density can be adjusted in real-time. Experiments also show that our sampling approach can accurately resample existing meshes with low discrepancy, demonstrating error rates when reducing the mesh complexity as good as the best results in the literature. We present three applications of our mesh sampling algorithm. We first describe a point- based graphics sampling approach, which includes a global hole-filling algorithm. We investigate the coverage of sample discs for this approach, demonstrating results superior to random sampling and a popular low-discrepancy method. Moreover, we develop levels of detail and view dependent rendering approaches, providing very fine-grained density control with distance and angle, and silhouette enhancement. We further discuss a triangle- based remeshing technique, producing high quality, topologically unaltered meshes. Finally, we describe a complete framework for sampling and painting engineering prototype models. This approach provides density control according to surface texture, and gives full dithering control of the point sample distribution. Results exhibit high quality point distributions for painting that are invariant to surface orientation or complexity. The main contributions of this thesis are novel algorithms to generate high-quality density- controlled point distributions on parametric surfaces and triangular meshes. Qualitative assessment and discrepancy measures and blue noise criteria show their high sampling quality in general. We introduce generalised discrepancy measures which indicate that the sampling quality of our approach is superior to other low-discrepancy sampling techniques. Moreover, we present novel approaches towards remeshing, point-based rendering and robotic painting of prototypes by adapting our sampling algorithms and demonstrate the overall good quality of the results for these specific applications.


Solution-processing of chalcogenide glass materials has many benefits for the fabrication of photonic devices. We report on the structural properties of Ge23Sb7S70 glass during solution-processing. The molecular and micro-structure of the bulk glass and the n-propylamine solution, as well as the spincoated thin films and post-irradiated films are analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. We find the vibrational spectral fingerprint of Ge4S10 4 -units in the amine solutions as well as in the spin-coated films, indicating a similar molecular structure of solutions and solution-processed films, which differs from the bulk glass. Moreover, the spin-coated films exhibit nanopores, and change their composition during irradiation such that sulfur escapes from the film while oxygen gets absorbed.


Alzheimer disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by cognitive decline and distinct neuropathology. The gene for alpha-2 macroglobulin (A2M) on chromosome 12 has two polymorphisms that, in some cases, are associated with Alzheimer disease. We examined these two polymorphisms in our families in the DNA Bank (a collection of DNA samples from families with Alzheimer disease in Texas). Using both association studies and sib transmission/disequilibrium tests, we found no association of the two polymorphisms with the disease in our collection. In addition, we did not find an association of the disease with the two polymorphisms in A2M in a small subset of National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) families. Thus, our studies do not support the A2M polymorphisms as a risk factor for Alzheimer disease.


Melancholias (endogenous depression) not only occur in previously psychically healthy individuals, but also in patients with neurotic and personality disorders, in addicted patients, schizophrenics, in brain-damaged patients and psychically ill geriatric patients, epileptics and mentally handicapped. This concurrence has received little attention in the past; dual diagnoses are still uncommon in psychiatry. The nosological, diagnostic and therapeutic implications are discussed.


Practitioners often argue that range names make spreadsheets easier to understand and use, akin to the role of good variable names in traditional programming languages, yet there is no supporting scientific evidence. The authors previously published experiments that disproved this theory in relation to debugging, and now turn their focus to development. This paper presents the results of two iterations of a new experiment, which measure the effect of range names on the correctness of, and the time it takes to develop, simple summation formulas. Our findings, supported by statistically significant results, show that formulas developed by non-experts using range names are more likely to contain errors and take longer to develop. Taking these findings with the findings from previous experiments, we conclude that range names do not improve the quality of spreadsheets developed by novice and intermediate users. This paper is important in that it finds that the choice of naming convention can have a significant impact on novice and intermediate users' performance in formula development, with less structured naming conventions resulting in poorer performance by users.


An international debate over student employment turns on the question of whether work generally helps or harms children's development. This article focuses on two indicators of child development that are goals in all education systems: math and science achievement. After reviewing the major theoretical perspectives on school achievement and employment, we propose a general framework for analyzing their relationship. We then present the results of our cross-national study. From the U.S., we use cross-sectional and longitudinal NELS data. In the U.S. and in 22 other nations, we use cross-sectional TIMSS data to examine the effects of after-school work during the eighth grade. Our findings from each investigation are consistent: For boys, and to a lesser extent for girls, there are negative effects on math and science achievement that are associated with adolescent employment, even after controlling for family background and, in the NELS, after controlling for prior achievement.


This study investigated whether stating the instructional objectives at the beginning of instruction would help students structure their own learning. Data came from 24 lessons taught by 13 secondary school teachers to 684 urban and rural adolescent students. Teachers taught different subject lessons in different classes. Students were exposed to four appropriate instructional objectives for one-third of each lesson. They were encouraged to use the objectives by being told that they were for that lesson. However, one randomly positioned objective was not used in that lesson. At the end of each lesson, students were asked to recall the four -objectives and identify which one was not used. Of the 235 students who remembered all four instructional objectives, 70 could not identify which instructional objective had not been used. The results suggest that memorization of all four objectives, without the ability to identify which one was not used during instruction, indicates that the instructional objectives were not being used as advance organizers for instruction by those 70 students with the highest recall ability. (Contains 40 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.


This paper presents an overview of the GimmeDaBlues app for iOS devices, by Sonicability Inc., which allows the user to play a jazz/blues quartet, playing trumpet and/or keyboard, while being automatically accompanied by a virtual bassist and drummer. The application can also be used as an educational tool as an automatic play-along generator, allowing the user to concentrate on style and timing issues, while the app automatically takes care of selecting the right notes and chords, or used as a handy mobile sketchbook, using the recording and exporting features. A brief survey on related musical apps currently available on the Apple App store will be presented, as well as ongoing developments to include in future versions.