Since the Single European Market (SEM) has been established, the free movement of goods has been facilitated not only by removing border formalities, but also by the technical harmonisation of national legislation in each member state. For the agri-food sector a particular concern is to guarantee the safety and integrity of products. In this respect, the European Commission has developed a stringent policy regarding food safety (sanitary and phytosanitary measures) and consumer information (quality measures). Strict regulation is therefore imposed for all agri-food products commercialised in the SEM, whether of European or third countries. In the case of EU enlargement, accession to the SEM is conditional upon the candidate countries accepting the obligations of the internal market, and therefore accepting these principles of free trade. Fulfilling the requirements for EU accession means for acceding countries not only costs related to adjustments of their production technologies in order to be consistent with the acquis communautaire, but also benefits. Particularly, there will be measurable gains for the new member states (NMS), that should benefit from the abolishment of the tariff barriers and the decreasing impact of the non-tariffs measures, once they have adopted the EU standards and from the reduction of the transaction costs. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of trade barriers on agri-food exports from Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) to the EU on the eve of their integration. Do the gradual tariff reduction and the convergence of production standards implied by the implementation of the acquis communautaire over the pre-accession period reduce the border effect of CECCs agri-food products when entering the European markets? At accession time do these countries enjoy equal access to the EU market as the old EU members do, or are they still in the same situation in terms of market access as any other third country? For answering these questions, a gravity modelling on disaggregated data of agri-food imports of the EU-15 in 1999 and 2004 is used. The model proposes an adaptation of the border effect methodology initiated by McCallum (1995) and widely used after (see among others Chen, 2004; Mayer and Zignago, 2005). More precisely, the principle of the analysis from the national borders to the external frontiers of the European Union was extended, assuming that the SEM is an integrated area with low trade barriers. In other words, the objective of the paper is to measure the impact of EU borders (called hereafter border effect) and assess the role of tariffs and non tariffs measures (NTMs) in the explanation of this effect. Hence, just before joining the SEM, do NMS still face a significant border effect at entry to the EU market? Has this effect been reduced over the period of preparation for EU accession ? Since most impediments to trade are difficult to measure, the model includes a global measure of trade resistances faced by CEECs at entry to the EU market (as defined by Mayer and Zignago (2005)). First, Results estimated for 1999 and 2004 show the magnitude of the border effect faced by trading partners at entry to the SEM. This effect is captured separately for three geographical zones: new member states (NMS: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), acceding countries (AC: Romania, Bulgaria) and rest of the world. For the three groups, the coefficient is significantly negative showing that all third countries exchange less with EU countries than EU members among themselves. Contrary to what might be expected, the border effect is highest for NMS. Second, the border effect is split between tariffs, the impact of NTMs and remaining trade resistance for third countries at entry to the EU market. Concerning the impact of tariffs, the results highlight the reduction in tariff elasticity for NMS whilst this coefficient remains stable for the rest of the world. It is noteworthy that tariffs no longer act as a trade barrier anymore in 2004 for NMS. This is an expected result, since tariffs for NMS were abolished in May 2004, the date of the EU enlargement. However, in 1999 the impact of tariffs was still high because the liberalisation process was far from complete. Regarding NTMs, three dummies indicating respectively whether sanitary, phytosanitary or quality measures exist are included in the model. Sanitary measures include veterinary measures for animals (breeding and production) designed to protect both animal and public health. Phytosanitary measures refer to standards defining the maximum residue level of pesticides. Quality measures cover the set of standards relating to product quality control, other than sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, for instance commercial characteristics such as freshness, calibration, labelling and conditioning. For NMS, the impact of NTMs on exports towards EU-15 should expectedly tend to be similar to those for the intra EU-15 trade at the moment of accession to the EU. Such a result in 2004 would clearly suggest the positive role of the acquis communautaire. The impact of NTMs on traded volume is not clear and according to the literature can both stimulate or reduce traded volume. In order to distinguish the decision to trade from the volume traded and to analyse impact of NTMs on those two steps, the gravity model proposed was estimated using the Heckman procedure. Obtained results show that for NMS, sanitary measures do not act as a barrier to trade at entry to the EU market and even significantly stimulate traded volume for NMS firms fulfilling sanitary requirements. For ACs these measures still act as barrier to trade, and once the barrier has been overcome, traded volume is lightly increasing. Phytosanitary measures do not act as barrier to trade at entry to the EU market for CEECs product (both from NMS and ACs) but still limit traded volume. These results call for two comments. The first comment deals with the CEECs fulfilments of the EU requirement (in other word, the adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire). Sanitary measures have been fulfilled in NMS leading to a non significant impact of such measures on decision to trade, whereas for ACs it was not the case, justifying therefore the transition period imposed by European authorities. Concerning phytosanitary measures, they do not act as trade barriers for CEECs product rather because the use level of pesticide is structurally low in those countries than because of the technological changes related to the implementation of the acquis communautaire. The second comment deals with the opposite impacts of sanitary and phytosanitary measures on traded volume. Results concerning sanitary measures is easily explained because the high degree of food safety policies integration in the EU. Since the BSE crisis the European authorities have harmonised their sanitary measures to a very high degree. The harmonisation is much more complete in the sanitary field than in the other. Fulfilment of the EU sanitary requirements by NMS firms therefore enhances their traded volume. Phytosanitary and quality measures, far from integration on the SEM, still limit traded volume. Even the intra EU-15 trade is concerned by the negative role of those measures both on the decision to trade and on the traded volume. Results also show border effect is not totally explained by tariffs and NTMs; remaining trade resistances are still significant. In other words, determinants other than tariffs and NTMs explain trade resistance at entry to the EU market. This is particularly true for NMS for which the border effect remains high. How can this remaining high level of trade resistance be explained? Among transition-related factors that impede trade and are difficult to measure, the low quality of transport infrastructures, the lack of expertise of foreign firms in doing business with these countries, as well as institutional uncertainties surrounding the transition process can be mentioned. The role of history also offers some explanations for the geographical orientation of CEECs traders away from the EU (trade flows between the Czech and Slovak Republics, between the Baltic states, and between Slovenia and former Yugoslavia still remain quite strong). This is what Anderson and van Wincoop call the multilateral trade resistances.


Glutathione (GSH, γ-L-Glutamyl-L-Cysteinyl Glycine) is a tripeptide of L-glutamate, L-cysteine and glycine. GSH in wine is derived from either grapes or yeast, during alcoholic fermentation. The GSH concentration in wine is very variable and depends on the environmental conditions as well as viticultural practices. During winemaking GSH has a significant role in oxidation prevention due to its unique redox and nucleophilic properties. Since GSH is very reactive it is highly important to prepare samples immediately and under inert conditions just prior to the determination of the GSH concentration. Therefore the aim of this research was to implement a method for the quantitative determination of GSH levels in grape juices (musts) made from different Austrian grape varieties and to investigate the influence of yeast on the GSH content in wine after aging. The results of this research have shown that monitoring with nitrogen gas, sulphur dioxide and freezing process at −25 ºC led to a good protective effect on the free glutathione amount in wine and grape samples. The GSH concentration in the samples was variable. Levels were ranging from non-detectable to up to 23.10 mg/l, and it showed that grape variety has no impact on GSH concentration in the must. Furthermore the results suggest that the choice of yeast has an impact on GSH content in wine even after 6 and 18 months of aging.


The purpose of this paper is to focus on analyzing its flexural behavior and the reinforcement effect under concentrated force at the two points of a symmetrical load after the 21 old and new different degrees of damage to prestressed concrete hollow slab is strengthened with CFRP by the different paste modes and paste quantities. It systematically the ultimate bearing capacity and failure mode after prestressed concrete hollow slab is strengthened. It also analyzes crack developments at failure, varieties of load-displacement curve during loading. The results showed that with concentrated force at the two points of a symmetrical load, its ultimate bearing capacity of different degrees of damage to prestressed concrete slab strengthened with CFRP can effectively improve varying the amount of different degrees, about 11.1%∼84.2%, the strengthening effect is obvious. With technical specification for strengthening concrete structures with carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminate, the conclusion can be drawn that it is more reasonable and economical to adopt respectively the 100 mm width of single-layer double width, the 75 mm width of single-layer three width and the 50 mm width of single-layer four width of CFRP for reinforcement slight damage, moderate damage and severe damage to old and new prestressed concrete hollow slab.


In this paper, we analyze the fundamental trade-off between information transfer and power gain by means of an information-theoretic framework in communications circuits. This analysis is of interest as many of today's applications require that maximum information and maximum signal power are extracted (or transferred) through the circuit at the same time for further processing so that a compromise concerning the signal spectral shape as well as the matching network has to be found. To this end, the optimization framework is applied to a two-port circuit, which is used as an abstraction for a broadband amplifier. Thereby, we characterize the involved Pareto bound by considering different optimization problems. The first one aims at optimizing the input power spectral density (PSD) as well as the source and load admittances, whereas the second approach assumes the PSD to be fixed and uniformly distributed within a fixed bandwidth and optimizes the source and load admittances only. Moreover, we will show that additional matching networks may help to improve the trade-off.


One explanation for successful plant invaders is that they evolved to be more competitive. An intuitive prediction of this Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA) hypothesis never previously tested is that invasive populations should outcompete their native ancestors in a common environment. We tested this idea in a diallel competition experiment with Alliaria petiolata where offspring from native and invasive populations were grown alone or in all pairwise combinations. While without competition, there were no differences between native and invasive populations, native populations outperformed invasive ones when competing against each other. Our results contradict the EICA hypothesis and we conclude that it does not not hold for Alliaria petiolata. Instead, we formulate a new ERCA (Evolutionary Reduced Competitive Ability) hypothesis: if there is less competition in the invasive range and competitive ability involves traits that have a fitness cost, then selection might act against it, thereby reducing intraspecific interactions too.


This paper describes a new approach for preprocessing grey-scale document images. The grey-scale image is first partitioned and analyzed using a set of image features to extract the quality and contents information in the given entity. Then, this data is classified using a neural network classifier to find and prioritize the need for image enhancement, if any. The classification information guides a special filter bank and their parameters to perform prefiltering operation to document image. In filtering, a control method is used to assure that no overfiltering occurs. The system behaviour and experiments are presented showing the performance of the developed techniques with tests performed with three different document databases.


The taxonomy of the causes of proof failures and a verification methodology called the hierarchical development methodology (HDM) are presented. The verification process is specified by describing the data that flows into the process, the analysis that is performed on the data, and the data that flows out of the process. It is discovered that in spite of the verification tools, there is always going to be a significant amount of analysis that must be done manually. Manual analysis of proof failures reveals that there are typically only a small number of distinct causes of the failure. Some failures are the propagation of a single error such as one in the data dictionary. Some failures occur because of conventions used in the verification methodology.<<ETX>>


Discovering transcription factor (TF) targets is necessary for the study of regulatory pathways, but it is hampered in plants by the lack of highly efficient predictive technology. This study is the first to establish a simple system for predicting TF targets in rice (Oryza sativa) leaf cells based on 10 × Genomics' single-cell RNA sequencing method. We effectively utilized the transient expression system to create the differential expression of a TF (OsNAC78) in each cell and sequenced all single cell transcriptomes. In total, 35 candidate targets having strong correlations with OsNAC78 expression were captured using expression profiles. Likewise, 78 potential differentially expressed genes were identified between clusters having the lowest and highest expression levels of OsNAC78. A gene overlapping analysis identified 19 genes as final candidate targets, and various assays indicated that Os01g0934800 and Os01g0949900 were OsNAC78 targets. Additionally, the cell profiles showed extremely similar expression trajectories between OsNAC78 and the two targets. The data presented here provide a high-resolution insight into predicting TF targets and offer a new application for single-cell RNA sequencing in plants.


This letter describes some positive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on dental education in India. The apex body of dental education, the Dental Council of India (DCI) has formulated some universal guidelines based on those of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about the use of personal protection and following sterilisation protocols adapted for use in dental clinics, hospitals and academic institutions of dental education in India(1). All individual dental clinics, hospitals and academic institutions have to follow stringent and mandatory sterilisation protocols, hence with the Covid-19 outbreak, some unethical practices of the dental profession such as inadequate sterilisation and improper waste management may be reversed (1,2). Emergency dental procedures also have to follow stringent sterilisation guidelines, to avoid aerosol-generating procedures (1). Dental professionals have been utilising teledentistry facilities during the pandemic which focus on emergency relief of dental pain and infection, and elective planning and scheduling of dental treatment (3).


We demonstrate physical random bit (PRB) generation from two chaotic optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) with silicon Mach-Zehnder and microring resonator modulators. The carrier-injection modulation and the beam interference provide the nonlinearity for the OEO. We digitalize the chaotic waveforms from the two OEOs at 40 GS/s with 8-bit resolution and use self-delay bitwise exclusive-or operation as a post-processing method. The randomness of the resulting 320 Gbps PRB sequences is verified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-22 statistical tests. With the progress of silicon photonic circuits, there is a potential to fabricate a monolithic chaotic OEO chip for compact PRB generation.


The paper examines Bhakti in light of the classical Indian depiction of emotions, viz. - the Rasa Theory. Bhakti is viewed as a movement in the emotional life of the aspirant, from minor devotional states (survival/pleasure/ego orientation), to major devotional states (love orientation). Drawing from Sri Aurobindo, a connection is then made between Bhakti and Psychic unfoldment. Devotional love provides the bedrock for a life lived in and from the Psychic. Further, years of observation, introspection, and reflection have lead me to conclude that one of the most essential pre-requisites for making an effective counselor/therapist is a groundedness in love, which ought to forever radiate from the being of the helping person. Traditionally in India, individuals turned to their gurus in times of crisis and suffering, and upon encountering the guru, the healing process began immediately because of the unconditional love and acceptance on the part of the guru, for the distressed individual. This paper thus focuses on the nature of (S)self work which takes one in the direction of becoming love (or more loving), and in this process better able to help others, and thereby also facilitate one's own evolution.


This article discusses the psychosocial challenges of widows in the Binga District in Zimbabwe. The feminist and ecological perspectives were used as theoretical frameworks to elucidate the various challenges faced by the widows in the district. Using a qualitative research approach which locates the participants in their cultural contexts and habitants, a phenomenological research design was employed. Aiming at providing a bifocal perspective on the psychosocial plight of widows, samples were drawn from populations of both widows and social service providers. Purposive sampling was used for selecting three categories of participants, namely ten widows for in-depth interviews, two focus group discussants with each group consisting of seven widows, and nine social service providers who were individually interviewed as key informants. Data were thematically analysed with predetermined themes and emerging themes. The results showed that widows in the Binga District were vulnerable and experienced intense psychosocial problems, which need systematic, interconnected, professional and localised social interventions.


Summary The concept of biodiversity, its introduction in conservation biology, and its evolution in the framework of systematic conservation planning, are analyzed. Attempts to quantify biodiversity and to find surrogate measures for it are described. It is shown that biodiversity originated as and remains a fundamentally normative concept. However, while attempts to reduce biodiversity conservation to the achievement of sustainability are misplaced, natural values other than biodiversity also merit promotion. Multi-criteria analysis can be used to capture necessary trade-offs between these values when they are in conflict. Moreover, given the possibility of trade-off analysis, socio-cultural values can also be integrated into habitat use decisions along with natural values. Thus biodiversity conservation can be integrated into more general framework of habitat use planning.


BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a member of hepadenaviridae family and has a circular partially double stranded DNA genome. HBV infection is one of the major health problems worldwide with more than 350 million people infected chronically (1). Infection with this virus may lead to chronic liver complications, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, viral factors and host immunity have principal roles in the progression of HBV infection toward chronic disease or complete clearance of the virus from the host body so strong and proper immune response can remove the virus. IL-27 is a member of IL-6 and IL-12 family; it can play as a pro-inflammatory cytokine which controls the infection by promoting Th1 responses (2). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the notable genomic markers in the immune system. The gene which encoding IL-27 has several SNPs; they can change IL-27 activity which may effect on HBV infection outcome. The aim of this study was to find association between IL-27 gene polymorphisms 964 A/G (rs153109), 2905 T/G (rs17855750) and chronic HBV infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study consisted of 144 chronic hepatitis B patients, 144 healthy subjects as control group and 61 HBV cleared individuals. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was applied to detect IL-27 gene polymorphism. DNA sequencing was employed on 5% of samples to verify genotyping results. RESULTS: Results showed that there were no significant differences between patients and healthy controls and also cleared group in neither genotype frequencies of IL-27 SNPs 964 A/G (p-value 0.35, AA = 47.2% of chronic patients, AA = 42.4% of control group, AA = 45.9% of cleared patients), and 2905 T/G (p-value 0.375, TT = 92.4% of chronic patients, TT = 92.4% control group, TT = 88.5% cleared patients); nor allele frequencies of 964 (p-value 0.453) and 2905. CONCLUSIONS: No association was detected in the genetic variants between IL-27 SNPs ( 964 A/G and 2905 T/G) and chronic hepatitis B infection. In addition, these SNPs may not be involved in susceptibility to chronic HBV infection; other SNPs from IL-27 may have possible influence on HBV infection progression into chronic disease. REFERENCES 1. El-Serag HB. Epidemiology of viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Gastroenterology 2012; 142(6): 1264–73. 2. Zhao H, Zhang Y, Xue F, Xu J, Fang Z. Interleukin-27 rs153109 polymorphism and the risk for immune thrombocytopenia. Autoimmunity 2013; 46(8): 509–12.


In this study, an ultrasonic nanocrystalline surface modification (UNSM) technique is applied to tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) to extend the service life of carbide parts used in press mold. The UNSM technique modifies the structure, reduces the surface roughness, increases the surface hardness, induces the compressive residual stress, and increases the wear resistance of materials by introducing severe plastic deformation. The surface roughness, hardness, and compressive residual stress of WC after UNSM treatment improve by about 42, 10, and 71%, respectively. A wear test under dry conditions is used to assess the effectiveness of the UNSM technique on the friction and wear behavior of WC. The UNSM technique is found to reduce the WC friction coefficient by approximately 21% and enhance the wear resistance by approximately 85%. The improved friction and wear behavior of WC may be mainly attributed to the increased hardness and compressive residual stress. Moreover, the WC specimen is treated by UNSM technique using three different WC, silicon nitride (Si3N4) and stainless steel (STS304) balls. The surface treated by WC balls shows the highest hardness when compared with treatment by stainless steel and silicon nitride balls. According to the obtained results, the UNSM technique is believed to increase the durability of the carbide component by improving the friction and wear behavior.


Access to free Highly Active AntiRetroviral Therapy (HAART) in Tanzania was launched in 2004. The capacity of Tanzanian patients to adhere to complex antiretroviral regimen is largely unknown. Ensuring high levels of adherence to (HAART) is a priority in treating people living with AIDS. A retrospective cross sectional study was carried out to determine the predictors, extent of adherence to HAART and adherence relationship to the prognosis among adult patients attending Mbeya Referral Hospital HIV/AIDS clinic in the period of November 2004 to July 2007. Adult patients documented to be HIV positive and enrolled for HAART for at least six months were eligible for entry into the study. All patients at terminal illnesses, General amnesia and those who refused to consent (refusal to participate) were excluded. Data on predictors of adherence and extent of adherence were obtained by interviewing patients using semi-structured questionnaires. CD4 counts of patients were collected from clinical records. A total of 318 randomly selected patients were recruited into the study. Of these 98.4% achieved 95-100 % adherence level and 1.6% achieved 80-94% adherence level. The result shown that 28.9% and 32.2% of patients who preferred going to a distant Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) facilities and were alcohol users, respectively, had less than 100% adherence. Patients age was observed to be positively correlated to drug adherence (rho=0.135, p 0.05).This study showed that, high levels of adherence required to implement successful HAART were achieved in a Tanzanian Mbeya Referral Hospital cohort. Patients preferred going to distant CTC facilities. Alcohol usage and young age observed as potential predictors of not achieving3maximum adherence. The low treatment failure rate that was observed had no correlation to the observed adherence.


Statins induce nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability by activating endothelial nitric oxide synthase via kinase- and calcium-dependent pathways in endothelial cells (ECs). However, their effect on the metabolism of L-arginine, the precursor for NO biosynthesis, and regulatory mechanism have not yet been investigated. In this study, we investigated the role of the autophagy–urea cycle-L-arginine pathway in simvastatin-mediated NO bioavailability in ECs. Griess's assay was used to determine the NO bioavailability. Protein expression was assessed using Western blot analysis. Further, immunocytochemistry was performed to observe autophagosome formation, while conventional assay kits were used to quantify the levels of different intermediate substrates of the urea cycle. In ECs, treatment with simvastatin induced the activation of autophagy flux, as evidenced by the increased levels of microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 II and autophagolysosome formation and decreased levels of p62. Inhibition of autophagy by ATG7 small interfering RNA (siRNA), chloroquine and bafilomycin A1 abolished simvastatin-induced NO bioavailability, EC proliferation, migration, and tube formation. Additionally, simvastatin increased the intermediate substrates levels of the urea cycle, including glutamate, acetyl-CoA, urea, and L-arginine, all of which were abrogated by chloroquine or bafilomycin A1. Genetic knockdown of argininosuccinate lyase using siRNA abrogated simvastatin-induced increase in NO bioavailability and EC-related functions. Moreover, inhibition of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) prevented simvastatin-induced activation of the autophagy–urea cycle pathway and NO production. Our findings suggest that simvastatin activates the autophagy–urea cycle pathway via TRPV1-AMPK signaling, which increases L-arginine bioavailability and ultimately promotes NO production in ECs.


Generation capacity expansion planning (GCEP) is the process of deciding on a set of optimal new investments in generation capacity to adequately supply future loads, while satisfying technical and reliability constraints. This paper shows the application of stochastic mixed-integer programming (SMIP) to account for hydrological uncertainty in GCEP for the Chilean Central Interconnected System, using a two-stage SMIP multi-period model with investments and optimal power flow (OPF). The substantial computational challenges posed by GCEP imply compromising between the detail of the stochastic hydrological variables and the detail of the OPF. We selected a subset of hydrological scenarios to represent the historical hydro variability using moment-based scenario reduction techniques. The tradeoff between modeling accuracy and computational complexity was explored both regarding the simplification of the MIP problem and the differences in the variables of interest. Using a simplified OPF model, we found the difference of using a subset of hydro scenarios to be small when compared with using a full representation of the stochastic variable. Overall, SMIP with scenario reduction provided optimal capacity expansion plans whose investment plus expected operational costs were between 1.3% and 1.9% cheaper than using a deterministic approach and proved to be more robust to hydro variability.


The present study has investigated the possibility to apply electrochemical oxidation in the treatment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) pollutants in water. The reaction kinetics of naphthalene, fluoranthene, and pyrene oxidation have been studied in a batch recirculation experimental setup applying a commercial one-compartment cell of tubular design with Ti/Pt(90)-Ir(10) anode. The rate of oxidation has been evaluated upon variations in current density, electrolyte composition and concentration. All three PAHs were degraded by direct anodic oxidation in 0.10 M Na(2)SO(4) electrolyte, and the removal rates were significantly enhanced by a factor of two to six in 0.10 M NaCl due to contribution from the indirect hypochlorite oxidation. Second order reaction kinetics was observed for the degradation of naphthalene in all electrolytes whereas fluoranthene and pyrene followed first order kinetics. Decreased current densities from 200 to 15 mA cm(-2) in the NaCl electrolyte also decreased the removal rates, but significantly enhanced the current efficiencies of the PAH oxidation, based on a defined current efficiency constant, k(q). This observation is believed to be due to the suppression of the water oxidation side reaction at lower applied voltages. A proof of concept study in real polluted water demonstrated the applicability of the electrochemical oxidation technique for larger scale use, where especially the indirect chloride mediated oxidation approach was a promising technique. However, the risk and extent of by-product formation needs to be studied in greater detail.


Poor sleep quality and sleep disorders are more prevalent in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) than in the general population. Poor sleep has been correlated with worse MS outcomes. Sleep efficiency (SE) is one of the most sensitive markers of sleep quality. There is very little written about SE and other polysomnography (PSG) parameters and MS measures.

 This is a retrospective review of 280 consecutive individuals with MS evaluated by PSGs and other standardized MS measures over 13 years at a comprehensive MS center. In addition, the cohort was assessed with 2 fatigue scales, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Expanded Disability Status Scale. A comparison of means test (independent t test) and r, or correlation coefficient, were used.

 The PSG measures of SE and Total Sleep Time were significantly different between a group of individuals with MS with a disease duration of more than 5 years vs a group of individuals with MS with a disease duration less then or equal to 5 years. Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea was 63%, higher than reported in the literature while the prevalence of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea was 33.4%, which was lower than reported.

 Longer disease duration as well as worse disability correlate with sleep quality as measured by SE.


High Energy Arcing Faults (HEAF) have the potential to cause extensive damage to the failed electrical components and distribution systems along with adjacent equipment and cables within the zone of influence (ZOI). Furthermore, the significant energy released during HEAF event can act as an ignition source to other components within the area of the HEAF. In Japan, during the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred in 2011, the seismic induced HEAF fire event, which induced the whole damage of the multiple high voltage switchgears, was observed in Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
 In response, in August 2017, the NRA (Nuclear Regular Authority) in Japan amended the safety requirement for the power supply to consider the influence of the successive fire due to the HEAF event (hereinafter HEAF fire event). Therefore, it is urgently necessary to establish the design criteria to prevent the HEAF fire event, and enhance the experiment data of the HEAF fire event. In order to estimate the total arc energy during the HEAF event and obtain the threshold value to prevent the HEAF fire for the existed non-arc proof electrical cabinets, several series of three-phase internal arc tests with high (6.9kV class) and low (480V class) voltage electrical cabinets were executed. We executed internal arc tests with full scale high/low voltage metal-enclosed switchgear components (non-arc proof type, copper bus conductor), and evaluated arc energy, the mechanical damage of the cabinet and the surrounding equipment due to the impulsive pressure and the possibility of successive fire occurrence. In case of high voltage switchgear, when the arcing energy exceeded 25.3MJ, successive fire was identified. Especially, in the case where the arc flash was discharged in the circuit breaker room, a 2-second arcing duration in a three-phase short-circuit current with 18.9kA (measured arcing energy over 40MJ) caused successive fire which required extinguishment. On the other hand, in case of low voltage power center, when the arcing energy exceeded 19MJ, successive fire was identified. According to these demonstrative tests, this paper presents the evaluation method to estimate total arc discharge energy during the HEAF event for high and low voltage electrical cabinets.


In this thesis a new methodology for the seismic risk assessment of masonry buildings is presented. It is based on a probabilistic approach, which makes it possible to determine seismic risk using various performance measures such as the probability of exceeding a certain damage state, the probability of exceeding a certain economic loss, the expected annual loss, and the loss dependent on a given seismic intensity. Using these performance measures engineers and project stakeholders can make informed decisions as to whether particular existing buildings should be repaired, strengthened, or replaced, or simply choose the best variant in the design of a new building. The methodology consists of four main steps: hazard analysis, structural analysis, damage analysis and loss analysis. The results from these four separate analyses are combined together in a probabilistic manner, using the total probability theorem, thus making it possible to explicitly take into account numerous uncertainties. However, in this study the main focus was on the modelling uncertainties, and on the aleatoric uncertainties which are due to record-to-record variability. A database of experimental data obtained in the testing of numerous masonry specimens was established, and analysed in order to define fragility functions for masonry elements failing in shear or flexure, while also evaluating the uncertainties in the limit-state deformations of the masonry walls. The possibility of reducing the impact of uncertain input parameters by means of non-destructive tests was also explored. By measuring its ambient and forced vibrations, the vibration periods of an old masonry building in Ljubljana were determined, and used to calibrate corresponding structural models. It was shown that such non-destructive experimental investigations can contribute to more reliable seismic performance assessments of buildings, even when the performance assessment procedure is based on a nonlinear method of analysis. In addition to the explicit consideration of uncertainties, damage to the components of buildings was also explicitly simulated on the basis of the relationship between the seismic intensity and the engineering demand parameters which were obtained by simplified nonlinear analysis. The latter consisted of pushover analysis, together with incremental dynamic analysis of a SDOF model. The applicability of the proposed methodology was demonstrated by means of examples of a residential and a commercial building, which were constructed from hollow clay bricks or solid bricks. Under the presumptions of this study, the expected annual loss for buildings constructed with hollow clay bricks was 60 €/100m2 of the gross floor area, and 125 €/100m2 in the case of buildings which were made from older material consisting of solid bricks. Disaggregation of the results showed that weaker earthquakes with lower intensities contribute significantly towards the expected annual losses. It was also found that nonstructural elements, which are key components in the loss assessment model, can contribute more than 50 % of the total loss. The modelling uncertainties have a large impact on the results of the pushover analysis and of those obtained by incremental dynamic analysis, as well as on the probability of exceeding damage states. However their impact on loss estimates is more pronounced in the case of the fragility and loss functions, seismic hazard, and the costs of replacing the building.


In this paper we present the Rydberg autoionization spectra of lead from to the ionization limit at excited from the 6p7f and intermediate levels. Term energies and FWHM of 40 lower n levels (n = 10 - 15) of the - 3 Rydberg series are reported for the first time.


Hadronic B decays offer rich opportunities for CP -violation studies. Decays of the type B → DX , where D represents a charmed meson ( D 0 , D ( ∗ )+ or D + s ), allow for a theoretically clean determination of the CKM triangle angle γ which provides a Standard Model benchmark of this quantity, robust against new physics effects. Decays into charmless final states, on the other hand, in general receive significant contributions from loop diagrams and are susceptible to the effects of new heavy particles. The trigger schemes of LHCb, and the particle identification provided by its RICH system, give the experiment high sensitivity to these decays. Signals will be shown from the present LHC run, and the measurement program with the 2010-2011 data set will be discussed.


It is well known that ω-limit sets are internally chain transitive and have weak incompressibility; the converse is not generally true, in either case. However, it has been shown that a set is weakly incompressible if and only if it is an abstract ω-limit set, and separately that in shifts of finite type, a set is internally chain transitive if and only if it is a (regular) ω-limit set. In this paper we generalise these and other results, proving that the characterization for shifts of finite type holds in a variety of topologically hyperbolic systems (defined in terms of expansive and shadowing properties), and also show that the notions of internal chain transitivity and weak incompressibility coincide in compact metric spaces.


Genome streamlining theory suggests that reduction of microbial genome size optimizes energy utilization in stressful environments. Although this hypothesis has been explored in several cases of low nutrient (oligotrophic) and high temperature environments, little work has been carried out on microorganisms from low pH environments and what has been reported is inconclusive. In this study, we performed a large-scale comparative genomics investigation of more than 260 bacterial high-quality genome sequences of acidophiles, together with genomes of their closest phylogenetic relatives that live at circum-neutral pH. A statistically supported correlation is reported between reduction of genome size and decreasing pH that we demonstrate is due to gene loss and reduced gene sizes. This trend is independent from other genome size constraints such as temperature and G+C content. Genome streamlining in the evolution of acidophilic Bacteria is thus supported by our results. Analyses of predicted COG categories and subcellular location predictions indicate that acidophiles have a lower representation of genes encoding extra-cellular proteins, signal transduction mechanisms and proteins with unknown function, but are enriched in inner membrane proteins, chaperones, basic metabolism, and core cellular functions. Contrary to other reports for genome streamlining, there was no significant change in paralog frequencies across pH. However, a detailed analysis of COG categories revealed a higher proportion of genes in acidophiles in the following categories: "Replication and repair", "Amino acid transport" and "Intracellular trafficking". This study brings increasing clarity regarding genomic adaptations of acidophiles to life at low pH while putting elements such as the reduction of average gene size under the spotlight of streamlining theory.


This article presents the development of an extended reality (XR) interactive wall design that employs augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (AR) to display digital content in educational and exhibition settings. A wall design printed with a number of conventional graphical elements was enhanced with AR and VR, including AR-based video, a 360 virtual environment and 3D-scanned materials. The early design of the XR interactive wall was tested several times in a university setting during academic events designed to demonstrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based content. This provided AR and VR experiences to participating visitors in an exhibition setting, where multimedia mobile devices were provided to aid these experiences. Inclusive design principles were employed, and elements integrated that allowed users (standing adults, children, wheelchair users) to view and interact with AR and VR content conveniently. After the initial introduction of the interactive wall design, the prototype was redesigned to fit both handheld and head-mount-device (HMD)-based mobile configurations. In this article we describe the prototype, a user experience study based on laboratory testing and directions for future work.


Intrudes attack is a critical threat to the Internet. Derived from the low layers, application layer based Intrudes attacks HTTP requests to affect victim resources are more undetectable. The case may be extremely serious when such attacks occur during the flash crowd event of a popular Website. Focusing on such new Intrudes attacks, this scheme is introduced. An Access Matrix is to capture the spatial temporal patterns of a flash crowd. Principal component analysis and independent component analysis are used in the multidimensional Access Matrix. A detector based on hidden semi Markov model is proposed to describe the dynamics of Access Matrix and to detect the attacks over the network layer. This model is used to detect the application layer Intrudes attacks which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.


A brake system in automobile is one of the important parts that directly affect the safety of passengers. Particularly, disk brake module is applied to almost all kinds of automobile brake system due to its remarkable braking power and braking distance. In the disk brake module of an automobile, the bolt for tire wheel is assembled to the disk brake hub by interference fit (bolt pressing process). The process induces small deformation whose range is within tens of ㎛ and this deformation may cause the runout badness of the whole disk brake module, and even braking problems such as judder or squeal phenomena which makes the loss of braking efficiency. In this study, bolt pressing fit into hub was simulated by ANSYSTM, a commercial structure analysis program. Also, the aspect and the cause of hub displacement were analyzed and the solution for decreasing runout of hub was proposed.


The methoxycyclophosphazenes [NP(OMe)2]n(n= 3–6) rearrange on heating to give oxocyclophosphazenes, [N(Me)PO(OMe)]n. Isomeric products are formed when n= 4–6. The 1H, 31P, and 13C n.m.r. data for the starting materials and the products are presented. The ethoxy- and n-propoxy-derivatives N3P3(OR)6 do not undergo the above rearrangement. The geminal derivatives N3P3R2(OMe)4(R = Ph or NHBut) on heating yield both fully and partially rearranged products, namely dioxophosphaz-1-enes and oxophosphazedienes, as shown by 270-MHz 1H n.m.r. spectroscopy. The non-geminal derivative N3P3(NMe2)2(OMe)4 gives only the fully rearranged product N3Me3P3(NMe2)2O3(OMe), whose structure has been established from its 1H and 31P n.m.r. spectra.


In this note some photographs of anode spot oscillations in helium are described, illustrating the formation of a striation from a `relaxation' oscillation of the spot. Observations are also reported of the effect of a gradual increase in tube current on the movement of the striations between a real anode and a virtual anode and their relation to the spot oscillations.


In 1759 William Hillary (1) described a chronic type of diarrhea associated with sore tongue, pallor and emaciation which he had observed in Barbadoes. A century later in 1864, Julien (2) stated that Cochin-China diarrhea was a specific condition different from ordinary dysenteries and diarrheas. In 1880 Manson (3) in Amoy, and Van der Burg (4) in Java described more fully the features of the disease that Hillary had observed. Since then sprue has been accepted as a peculiar tropical disease and described by many authors.
But although the clinical features of the disease are now so well known, there has never been any agreement as to its precise causation, and many of the earlier theories are completely discredited. The most prominent of these was moniliasis, but Ashford (5) the main protagonist of this theory, in later years regarded sprue as primarily caused by nutritional imbalance complicated by monilia infection.


Most real-world knowledge graphs, including Wikidata, DBpedia, and Yago are incomplete. Answering queries on such incomplete graphs is an important, but challenging problem. Recently, a number of approaches, including complex query decomposition (CQD), have been proposed to answer complex, multi-hop queries with conjunctions and disjunctions on such graphs. However, all state-of-the-art approaches only consider graphs consisting of entities and relations, neglecting literal values. In this paper, we propose LitCQD -- an approach to answer complex, multi-hop queries where both the query and the knowledge graph can contain numeric literal values: LitCQD can answer queries having numerical answers or having entity answers satisfying numerical constraints. For example, it allows to query (1)~persons living in New York having a certain age, and (2)~the average age of persons living in New York. We evaluate LitCQD on query types with and without literal values. To evaluate LitCQD, we generate complex, multi-hop queries and their expected answers on a version of the FB15k-237 dataset that was extended by literal values.


Seventeen papers based on talks and posters presented at 7IWSA are included in this book:

In "General constitutive relations for layered media," Schoenberg provides a combination of matrix algebra and group theory to offer a formalism for evaluating of the properties of the unique homogeneous anisotropic medium that is statically equivalent to a stationary distribution of homogeneous, but generally anisotropic, fine layers. The method is valid for systems representing fluid permeability, heat conductivity, and electrical properties such as electrical conductivity, dielectric permittivity, and magnetic permeability. Additionally, the formalism extends to higher dimensional elastic layered systems so that bi-anisotropic electromagnetic and piezoelectric layered systems can be studied.

"Upscaling: Elastic anisotropy from ultrasonic laboratory measurements to borehole seismic surveys," by Hornby, applies the equivalent media theory of Backus (1962) to resolve discrepancies in anisotropic parameters for transversely isotropic media derived from ultrasonic laboratory measurements and seismic-scale VSP surveys. Hornby argues that the inversion of laboratory experiments generally leads to larger values of the δ parameter of Thomsen (1986), as well as smaller values for the normalized anisotropy parameter η proposed by Alkalifah and Tsvankin (1994). The difference is attributed to the effect of fine-scale layering on the larger wavelength VSP measurements. Hornby tests this hypothesis by the upscaling of elastic constants determined from in-situ depth-continuous borehole measurements. Although borehole measurements cannot resolve the complete set of elastic constants, remaining parameters are estimated from representative laboratory measurements of borehole samples. The resulting values for the anisotropic parameters δ and η are comparable to those determined from the VSP survey with remaining differences attributed to the effect of unresolved finer-scale layering.

In "Can we separate the effects of anisotropy and structure from surface seismic data?" Kuehnel and Li offer a practical method of correcting traveltimes for reflections in transversely isotropic media. They present a method of decomposing the traveltime equation for a reflected wave in a transversely isotropic layer in terms of dip and anisotropy, based on the traveltime of individual wavetype using an iterative procedure applied to a ray-tracing code.

In " P -wave traveltime anomalies below a dipping anisotropic thrust sheet," Leslie and Lawton raise the awareness of the complications that can arise from this common subsurface configuration and begin to quantify the anisotropic effect in depth migration. Results from physical modeling and numerical ray tracing show that isotropic depth migration and velocity analysis produce significant artifacts in the synthetic data from such a model. Therefore, it is suggested that care be taken when using the isotropic assumption in depth migration even with the presence of mild anisotropy.


Wheel loaders are working machines used in excavation, load and carry operations in many different professional fields. In construction equipment machines, the movement towards electrically controlled hydraulic functions has raised ergonomic benefits. Larger possibilities of position adjustments of control units and larger degree of freedom in the design and form of the controls are now available. The full potential is however not fully put to use for the freedom of ergonomically design the control levers. Some world markets also ask for optional control levers for controlling attachments, such as buckets and snowplows, beside the traditionally used linear levers for etc. This thesis work purpose is to design an ergonomically optimized single lever concept, which is indented to be used to maneuver these hydraulically empowered attachments. It is part of an ongoing pre-study assigned to CPAC System AB regarding a single lever for wheel loaders. Needs and design heuristics were synthesized from theoretical research and ergonomic analysis that revealed issues present in the work situation. Several concept development iterations were made using the design heuristics as starting-point and elaborating the needs. Physical prototypes, such as mock-ups and finally a functional prototype that were tested in a real wheel loader, were used for evaluating the fulfillments of these needs. The outcome from the project is a single lever concept adapted for wheel loader usage and designed for fast implementation in current products.


Destruction of alveolar surfactant phospholipids by bacterial phospholipases is suggested to be a major virulence factor involved in bacterial pneumonia. Since Legionella pneumophila secretes phospholipase A, we analyzed phospholipid degradation in natural bovine surfactant by L. pneumophila. Phospholipids were reduced in amount after incubation with bacteria or culture supernatant of L. pneumophila serogroup 6. Free fatty acids and lysophosphatidylcholine were formed, the latter is known to be highly cytotoxic. Surface tension of surfactant as determined by pulsating bubble surfactometer increased significantly compared to the control. Phospholipase A activity seems to be a powerful agent of legionellae in causing lung disease.


There is much misinformation in the medical community regarding the thalidomide syndrome. Some physicians and scientists are unaware of the fact that organs other than the limbs were frequently affected. Some believe that thalidomide could produce any type of limb reduction defect. Most were aware of the very narrow period of early organogenesis during which the thalidomide-type malformations could be produced. Important features include the fact that limb reduction defects were primarily preaxial, included concomitant girdle hypoplasia when limb reductions were severe, were almost universally bilateral and did not include distal transverse-type defects often called "hemimelia". While it can be said that some spontaneous (non-thalidomide) malformations can mimic the thalidomide syndrome, it can also be said that many limb reduction defects can be determined not to have been produced by thalidomide. The risks of the various defects can be estimated following exposure, with most certainty for limb defects, with less certainty for other defects. Many defects were not associated with exposure to thalidomide such as cleft lip and severe mental retardation.


A new mesh-based algorithm to solve partial differential equations (PDEs) using quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) with random Gaussian function and random median filter is proposed in this paper. The random Gaussian function behaves as a mutation operator of QPSO to escape from local minima, and the random median filter accelerates the convergence of QPSO. It provides accurate results for Dirichlet boundary value problems of both linear and nonlinear single PDEs in two space dimensions.


In this paper, we propose a new family of interconnection networks, called cyclic networks (CNs), in which an intercluster connection is defined on a set of nodes whose addresses are cyclic shifts of one another. The node degrees of basic CNs are independent of system size, but can vary from a small constant (e.g., 3) to as large as required, thus providing flexibility and effective tradeoff between cost and performance. The diameters of suitably constructed CNs can be asymptotically optimal within their lower bounds, given the degrees. We show that packet routing and ascend/descend algorithms can be performed in /spl Theta/(log/sub d/ N) communication steps on some CNs with N nodes of degree /spl Theta/(d). Moreover CNs can also efficiently emulate homogeneous product networks (e.g., hypercubes and high dimensional meshes). As a consequence, we obtain a variety of efficient algorithms on such networks, thus proving the versatility of CNs.


We have prepared from the non-saponifiable matter of wheat germ oil thress aflophanates:

1. M.p. 250°. This is a possibly the allophante of β-amyrin. The alcohol regenrated from the allopohante has no vitamin E potency.

2. M.p. 138°, readily crystallizing in long needles. The analysis agree with values required by monollophantes of an alcohol, C39H50O2. The alcohol from this allophante apparenelly has some vitamin E potency, but less than that from the third allophanate.

3. M.p. 158-160°. From this allophanate, the alcohol—for which we propose the name α-tocopherol—when given in a single dose of 3 mg. always enables vitamin E-deficient rats to bear young. α-Tocopherol shows a characteristic absoption band at 2980 A., E1 per cent1 cm. = 90 ca. Treatment with methyl alcoholic silver nitrate converts it to a substance which has absorption bands at 2710 and 2620 A respectively, E1 per centcm. = 480 ca., and possesses and some vitamin E activity.

α-Tocopherol yields a crystaline p-nitrophenylurethane melting at 120-131°. Analyses of both the urethane and the allophanate indicate a provisional formula for α-tocopherol of C29H50O2


To the Editor. —Computerized tomography (CT) is undoubtedly one of the transcendental inventions in medicine. Its popularity derives from its superb resolution, specificity, and noninvasiveness. Coupled with contrast intensification, it has proved unequaled in the diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease. The technique is painless, results are readily available, and its cost is most competitive with other techniques capable of yielding similar information (ie, selective arteriography). The iodinated radiographic material infused when contrast is desired is the same used for intravenous pyelography, but the dosage is often higher. Therefore, the same potential complications, including acute oliguric renal failure, seen with any iodinated contrast medium 1 should be expected. During the past year, we have seen two diabetic patients with mild to moderate renal insufficiency in whom acute renal failure developed after CT scanning of the brain and contrast medium infusion. Both patients had had relatively stable renal function before the procedure, were and


An enantioselective synthesis of the potent anti-HIV nucleoside EFdA is presented. Key features of stereocontrol include construction of the fully substituted 4'-carbon via a biocatalytic desymmetrization of 2-hydroxy-2-((triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)propane-1,3-diyl diacetate and a Noyori-type asymmetric transfer hydrogenation to control the stereochemistry of the 3'-hydroxyl bearing carbon. The discovery of a selective crystallization of an N-silyl nucleoside intermediate enabled isolation of the desired β-anomer from the glycosylation step.


Human movements, besides entailing the presence of a body shape, comply with characteristic kinematic laws of motion. Psychophysical studies show that low-level motion perception is biased toward stimuli complying with these laws. However, the neuronal structures that are sensitive to the kinematic laws of observed bodily movements are still largely unknown. We investigated this issue by dissociating, by means of computer-generated characters, form and motion information during the observation of human movements. In a functional imaging experiment, we compared the levels of blood oxygen level-dependent activity elicited by human actions complying with or violating the kinematic laws of human movements. Actions complying with normal kinematic laws of motion differentially activated the left dorsal premotor and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as the medial frontal cortex. These findings suggest that the kinematic laws of human movements specifically modulate the responses of neuronal circuits also involved in action recognition and that are predominantly located in the left frontal lobe.


In this paper, new sufficient conditions for synchronization of non-identical discrete-time hyperchaotic maps is proposed for hyperchaotic cryptosystem communication. They use aggregation techniques for stability study associated to the Benrejeb arrow form matrix for system description. In addition, suitable choice of outputs feedback brings the problem of synchronization of two non-identical hyperchaotic maps to two identical hyperchaotic maps one. The considered case of synchronization of third order hyperchaotic Henon-Baier Klein maps shows the efficiency of the proposed approach to recover secure transmission of an image and a text.


Introduction Biliary sepsis and cholangitis are frequent complications of percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and biliary drainage (PTCBD). Due to bacterial resistance, biliary infection is often difficult to eradicate. The aims of this audit were to evaluate the frequency of bile sample collection during PTCBD for culture and antibiotic sensitivity tests. Further, whether antibiotic management of biliary infections post-procedure are appropriate. Methods A retrospective review of electronic patient records were conducted for 138 patients that underwent PTCBD for management of malignant biliary obstruction from 2012–2015 in the Interventional Radiology departments of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. Due to limitations of the electronic system, drug histories were only accessible from the 45 patients that underwent PTCBD in 2015.Abstract PTU-076 Figure 1 Breakdown of the number of samples cultured and sensitivities tested in patients that received antibiotics for infection following PTCBD in 2015 Results Of the 138 patients, 36% had samples cultured during the procedure. Of the positive bile samples, 61% had antibiotic sensitivities reported. Organisms identified included mixed faecal flora (33%), anaerobes (12%), aerobic gram-positive cocci (23%), aerobic gram-negative (14%), Pseudomonas (7%) and Candida (7%). In 2015, 53% that underwent PTCBD received antibiotics for biliary infection, of these, 46% had bile cultures and of the positive samples, 33% were tested for antibiotic sensitivity. Antibiotics administered included: amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (30%), metronidazole (33%), gentamycin (14%), piperacillin/tazobactam (9%), ceftriaxone (9%), ciprofloxacin (5%). Conclusion Thus, antibiotics to treat biliary infection following PTCBD are often prescribed without knowledge of the infective organism or its resistance and therefore may not be appropriate. Additionally, many of the treatments administered do not provide complete coverage of organisms identified in bile, notably Pseudomonas and Candida. Bile sample collection during PTCBD should become a standard procedure to delineate infective organisms and drug susceptibilities, hence driving a more targeted treatment in the event of biliary infection post-procedure, which may reduce mortality and costs associated with bacterial resistance. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


AbstractThe main objective of the work is to prepare catalysts based on nanoscale zero-valent iron supported on activated carbon (nZVI/AC) and to test their activity for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenol. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), ICP, and N2 adsorption–desorption, and their performance was evaluated in terms of phenol and TOC removal. The effect of the initial phenol concentration and initial pH on the oxidation process was investigated. Possible leaching of iron from the catalyst into the aqueous solution was also examined. The experimental results indicate that the catalytic activity toward phenol degradation was found to be enhanced by nZVI/AC catalysts compared to that of Fe/AC. In the range 150–1,000 mg/L, phenol conversion above 90% can be reached using these catalysts after only 15 min of the reaction, and using the stoichiometric hydrogen peroxide for complete mineralization. The leaching observed is less than 4% of t...


A pi-acceptor phosphine-electron-deficient olefin ligand was found effective in promoting Pd-catalyzed C(sp)-C(sp) cross-coupling reactions. The new protocol realized the cross-coupling of a broad scope of terminal alkynes and haloalkynes in good to excellent yields with high selectivities. Electron-rich alkynes, which are normally difficult substrates in Glaser couplings, could be employed as either nucleophiles or electrophiles. Alkynes bearing similar substituents, such as n-C5H11CCBr and n-C4H9CCH, which usually suffer from homocoupling side reactions under Cadiot-Chodkiewicz conditions, were successfully cross-coupled in the system. Preliminary kinetic studies revealed that the reaction rate was zero-order in the concentrations of both haloalkynes and terminal alkynes and first order in the loading of Pd(dba)2 and exhibited no obvious dependence on the loading of the copper salt. Control experiments with other phosphines such as PPh3 and DPPF as the ligand were carried out. All the kinetic evidence indicated that the phosphine-olefin ligand facilitated the reductive elimination in the catalytic cycle.


This study evaluated the clinical features, treatment and prognosis in Chinese patients with histological transformation (HT) from gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma to gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. We reviewed the medical records of 71 patients diagnosed with HT between 2001 and 2013, retrospectively. Patients had a median age of 56 years. The ratio of sex (male:female) was 1.3:1. The clinical course was often insidious, lacking specific clinical presentation. Macroscopically, the antrum was the most commonly involved site. Thirty-one patients (45%) presented at stage I, and 25 (35%) presented with local (18/71, 25%) or distant (7/71, 10%) nodal involvement. There were also stage IIE (9/71, 12%) and stage IV (6/71, 8%) patients with advanced stages. For all 71 patients, the 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) estimates were 50 and 56%, respectively. There was no statistical difference in 5-year PFS and OS estimates between patients receiving Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) containing eradication (HPE) (p=0.189) and those receiving non-HPE (p=0.359). Upon the Cox regression model, advanced stages were the only independent prognostic factors associated with shorter PFS, and m-IPI was independently associated with shorter PFS and OS. There was no specific clinical manifestation for patients with HT. HPE is thus a promising therapeutic approach for such patients. Moreover, advanced stages and m-IPI significantly influenced patient outcome.


Avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) is one of most prevalent pathogens causing systemic diseases called avian colibacillosis. During APEC infection, epithelial cells in the lung are the first cellular defense line against APEC infection and will produce cytokines and chemokines to initiate the immune response. Similarly, macrophages and heterophils will be quickly recruited to the site of infection to fight against the infection in the respiratory tract. Nevertheless, the exact role of these cells in controlling APEC infection is still unclear and therefore investigated in the studies described in this thesis.
 So far, the treatment of an APEC infection in chicken mainly depends on antibiotics, but increasing antibiotic resistance makes this less effective. Therefore, new anti-infectives are needed and host defense peptides (HDPs) such as cathelicidins are considered as a promising alternatives. In this thesis, we investigated the interaction of chicken macrophages and epithelial cells with avian pathogenic E.coli to establish an appropriate APEC infection model in vitro. Then, we investigated the immunomodulatory effect of CATH-B1 on the chicken macrophages. Furthermore, antiviral activity of chicken cathelicidins against influenza A virus was studied.
 In chapter 2, the interactions of chicken lung epithelial cells with APEC is described to understand the role of epithelial cells in APEC infections. The results showed APEC was able to adhere and subsequently invade cells from the chicken lung epithelial CLEC213 cell line exhibiting pneumocyte type II-like characteristics. Moreover, APEC infection resulted in a significant increase in IL-8 gene expression.
 In chapter 3, the interactions of macrophage HD11 cells with APEC is described to understand the role of macrophages in controlling APEC. The results showed APEC was phagocytosed and subsequenlt killed by HD11 cells, finally resulting in activation of HD11 cells by the release of NO and cytokines expression.
 In chapter 4, the establishment of a standardized culturing method of monocyte-derived macrophages is described. A 3-day culture was optimal to obtain pro-inflammatory M1-like macrophages. These cells were a homogenous population of flat, 'fried-egg' like shaped cells, similar to human M1 macrophages. Furthermore, LPS stimulation of the cultured cells induced gene expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 after 3 days of culture. Finally, it was shown that 3-day-cultured macrophages were able to phagocytose avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) and respond by nitric oxide production.
 In chapter 5, the immunomodulatory functions of CATH-B1 are described increasing our understanding of the function of this cathelicidin. CATH-B1 showed anti-inflammatory effect on APEC-infected or LPS-stimulated macrophages.
 In chapter 6, the anti-IAV activity of CATH-B1 is described exploring the possible use of cathelicidins in the development of anti-infective therapies. CATH-B1 has good antiviral activity against IAV by binding to the viral particle and thereby blocking viral entry.


Insulin is a principal metabolic hormone. It regulates a plethora of metabolic pathways in sensitive peripheral tissues. Recent studies show insulin signaling plays fundamental roles in the brain. Loss of insulin action in different neuronal and glial cells contributes to a variety of metabolic and behavioral abnormalities in mice. In particular, loss of astrocytic insulin signaling leads to impaired brain glucose sensing and increased depressive-like behavior in mice. How insulin signaling modulates astrocytic cellular functions and neural circuits is not completely known. Using next-generation RNA sequencing, we show that insulin triggers a robust transcriptional regulation on multiple metabolic pathways in primary astrocytes. As expected, insulin increased expression of genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis, important for supporting synaptic integrity and remodeling. Further, autophagy is a quintessential pathway subjected to insulin regulation, indicating the role of insulin action on proteostasis in astrocytes. Thus, insulin suppresses the expression of most critical genes involved in autophagy, including p62, Ulk1/2, several Atg genes. The inhibitory effect is potent, as 1 nM is sufficient to suppress gene expression. To determine whether insulin receptors (IR) are required for such regulation, we examined the insulin response in astrocytes without endogenous IR. IR loss only partially reverses insulin-dependent suppression of autophagic genes, indicating that insulin may act through closely related IGF-1 receptors in astrocytes.
 In summary, insulin potently suppresses autophagy in astrocytes through transcriptional regulation, indicating a potential important role of astrocytic insulin signaling on regulating proteostasis in accordance with systemic nutritional status. Impairment of this regulation in insulin resistance and diabetes may affect the modulation of neural circuits by astrocytes and contribute to neurological complications linked to diabetes.

 S.Geffken: None. C.Smith: None. H.Lee: None. W.Cai: None.

 KDK120740


GMFCS III=12; age 6.3–18 years; 66 male, 62 female) met inclusion criteria for the study. Fifty-nine patients had hemiplegic CP (GMFCS I=34, GMFCS II=25), while 69 patients had bilateral CP (GMFCS I=12, GMFCS II=45, GMFCS III=12). In children with hemiplegic CP, those classified as GMFCS I had less gait deviation as measured by GDI (p=0.002) and GPS (0.002) and higher SCALE scores (p=0.003) than those classified as GMFCS II, however there were no significant correlations between joint-specific SCALE scores and corresponding MAP score. Children with bilateral CP classified as GMFCS I had less gait deviation as measured by GDI and GPS than those classified as GMFCS II or III (p<0.001). Importantly, children with bilateral CP had jointspecific SCALE scores at the hip, knee, and ankle that significantly correlated with corresponding MAP scores (rs= 0.24 to 0.4; p<0.05). Conclusions/Significance: In children with CP, impaired SVMC as measured by lower SCALE correlates with great motor impairment as measured by GMFCS and increased gait deviation as measured by GDI and GPS. The joint specific SCALE score in children with bilateral CP, but not hemiplegic CP, correlates with joint specific gait deviation, suggesting the importance of considering SVMC when creating an individualized treatment plan for this subgroup of children. Future work will study the relationship between SVMC and outcomes following surgery to improve gait in children with bilateral CP.


Previous work puts forward a random edge rewiring method which is capable of improving the network robustness noticeably while it lacks further discussions about how to improve the robustness faster. In this study the detailed analysis of the structures of improved networks show that regenerating the edges between high-degree nodes can enhance the robustness against a targeted attack. Therefore, we propose a novel rewiring strategy based on regenerating more edges between high-degree nodes, called smart rewiring, which could speed up the increase of the robustness index effectively. The smart rewiring method also explains why positive degree-degree correlation could enhance network robustness.


We are environmentally exposed to countless synthetic chemicals on a daily basis, with an increasing number of these chemical exposures linked to adverse health effects. However, our understanding of the (patho)physiological effects of these chemicals remains poorly understood, due in part to a general lack of effort to systematically and comprehensively identify the direct interactions of environmental chemicals with biological macromolecules in mammalian systems in vivo. Here, we have used functional chemoproteomic and metabolomic platforms to broadly identify direct enzyme targets that are inhibited by widely used organophosphorus (OP) pesticides in vivo in mice and to determine metabolic alterations that are caused by these chemicals. We find that these pesticides directly inhibit over 20 serine hydrolases in vivo leading to widespread disruptions in lipid metabolism. Through identifying direct biological targets of OP pesticides, we show heretofore unrecognized modes of toxicity that may be associated with these agents and underscore the utility of using multidimensional profiling approaches to obtain a more complete understanding of toxicities associated with environmental chemicals.


Light scalar fields can naturally couple disformally to Standard Model fields without giving rise to the unacceptably large fifth forces usually associated with light scalars. We show that these scalar fields can still be studied and constrained through their interaction with photons, and focus particularly on changes to the Cosmic Microwave Background spectral distortions and violations of the distance duality relation. We then specialise our constraints to scalars which could play the role of pseudo-Goldstone quintessence.


Organizational decision-making research demonstrates an abundance of positive biases directed toward attractive individuals. However, recent research suggests that these favorable consequences of attractiveness do not hold when the person being evaluated is of the same sex as the evaluator. In the current study, participants evaluated prospective job candidates and indicated their desire to interact socially with the candidate. Results indicated positive responses toward attractive other-sex targets but not toward attractive same-sex targets. This pattern was moderated by participants' social comparison orientation: People who tended to engage in downward (rather than upward) social comparison displayed stronger reactions to attractive comparison targets. They indicated less desire to interact socially with attractive same-sex job candidates than those who tend to engage in upward social comparison.


The aim of the study was to investigate whether polymorphisms of the HLA class II, tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) genes influence the response to alpha-interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Twenty-seven sustained responders and 55 non-responders to alpha-interferon monotherapy were investigated. HLA-DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, TNFA, TNFB, TAP1 and TAP2 alleles were determined by PCR-based molecular techniques. Sustained virological response was defined as undetectable serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA for at least 3 years after the end of treatment. Probability (P) values were corrected for the number of alleles tested (Pc). Viral genotype 1b was more frequent in responders than in non-responders (56% vs. 26%, P = 0.009). HLA-DQB1*02 occurred less frequently in responders than in non-responders (14.8% vs. 29%, Pc not significant). HLA-DRB1*11 and DQB1*0602 were found in 22.2% and 9.3% of responders and in 10.9% and 1.8% of non-responders, respectively (Pc not significant). There was no difference in the distribution of TNF alleles in the two groups. Twenty-four (88.8%) responder patients as compared with 34 (61.8%) non-responders were TAP1*0101 homozygous (Pc not significant). Thus, in European Caucasoids with chronic hepatitis C, we could not demonstrate a strong association between HLA class II, TNF, and TAP gene polymorphisms and response to interferon treatment.


Background: The Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative (CNRC) is a trainee-led multi-centre collaboration made up of representatives from 12 of 14 neurosurgical centres with residency programs. To demonstrate the potential of this collaborative network, we gathered administrative operative data from each centre in order to provide a snapshot of the operative landscape in Canadian neurosurgery. Methods: Residents from each training program provided adult neurosurgical operative data for the 2014 calendar year, including the number of surgeries in the subcategories cranial, spinal, and peripheral nerve. Because some residency programs have surgeries distributed among more than one hospital, we calculated mean case load per residency program and per hospital. Results: Interim results from 6 neurosurgery residency programs are presented (with data from other programs forthcoming). Overall, there were on average 2,352 operative cases per residency program (n=6) and 1,176 operative cases per adult hospital (n=12). Among 5 programs with more detailed operative data, the mean numbers of cranial, spinal, peripheral nerve, and miscellaneous surgeries per residency program were 757 (47%), 487 (30%), 47 (3%), and 319 (20%) respectively. Conclusions: We show as a proof-of-concept that a trainee-led nation-wide research collaborative can generate meaningful data in a Canadian context.


Larval production and recruitment underpin the maintenance of coral populations, but these early life history stages are vulnerable to extreme variation in physical conditions. Environmental managers aim to minimise human impacts during significant periods of larval production and recruitment on reefs, but doing so requires knowledge of the modes and timing of coral reproduction. Most corals are hermaphroditic or gonochoric, with a brooding or broadcast spawning mode of reproduction. Brooding corals are a significant component of some reefs and produce larvae over consecutive months. Broadcast spawning corals are more common and display considerable variation in their patterns of spawning among reefs. Highly synchronous spawning can occur on reefs around Australia, particularly on the Great Barrier Reef. On Australia's remote north-west coast there have been fewer studies of coral reproduction. The recent industrial expansion into these regions has facilitated research, but the associated data are often contained within confidential reports. Here we combine information in this grey-literature with that available publicly to update our knowledge of coral reproduction in WA, for tens of thousands of corals and hundreds of species from over a dozen reefs spanning 20° of latitude. We identified broad patterns in coral reproduction, but more detailed insights were hindered by biased sampling; most studies focused on species of Acropora sampled over a few months at several reefs. Within the existing data, there was a latitudinal gradient in spawning activity among seasons, with mass spawning during autumn occurring on all reefs (but the temperate south-west). Participation in a smaller, multi-specific spawning during spring decreased from approximately one quarter of corals on the Kimberley Oceanic reefs to little participation at Ningaloo. Within these seasons, spawning was concentrated in March and/or April, and October and/or November, depending on the timing of the full moon. The timing of the full moon determined whether spawning was split over two months, which was common on tropical reefs. There were few data available for non-Acropora corals, which may have different patterns of reproduction. For example, the massive Porites seemed to spawn through spring to autumn on Kimberley Oceanic reefs and during summer in the Pilbara region, where other common corals (e.g. Turbinaria & Pavona) also displayed different patterns of reproduction to the Acropora. The brooding corals (Isopora & Seriatopora) on Kimberley Oceanic reefs appeared to planulate during many months, possibly with peaks from spring to autumn; a similar pattern is likely on other WA reefs. Gaps in knowledge were also due to the difficulty in identifying species and issues with methodology. We briefly discuss some of these issues and suggest an approach to quantifying variation in reproductive output throughout a year.


4669 Constitutive expression of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α is characteristic of malignant ovarian surface epithelium. We investigated the hypothesis that this autocrine action of TNF-α generates and sustains a network of other mediators that promote peritoneal cancer growth and spread. When compared with two ovarian cancer cell lines that did not make TNF-α, constitutive production of TNF-α was associated with greater release of the chemokines CCL2 and CXCL12, the cytokines IL-6 and MIF and the angiogenic factor VEGF, as well as increased surface expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4. TNF-α production was associated also with increased peritoneal dissemination when the ovarian cancer cells were xenografted. We next used RNA interference to generate stable knockdown of TNF-α in two different ovarian cancer cell lines. Production of CCL2, CXCL12, VEGF, IL-6, MIF, and expression of CXCR4, was decreased significantly in these cells compared with wild type or mock transfected cells, but in vitro growth rates were unaltered. Tumor growth and dissemination in vivo were significantly reduced when stable knockdown of TNF-α was achieved. Tumors derived from TNF-α knockdown cells were non-invasive and well-circumscribed and showed high levels of apoptosis, even in the smallest deposits. This was reflected in reduced vascularization of TNF-α knockdown tumors. Furthermore, culture supernatants from such cells failed to stimulate endothelial cell growth in vitro. We conclude that autocrine production of TNF-α by ovarian cancer cells stimulates a constitutive network of other inflammatory cytokines, angiogenic factors and chemokines that may act in an autocrine/paracrine manner to promote colonization of the peritoneum, and neovascularization of developing tumor deposits. CXCR4 is also a key player in the ovarian cancer inflammatory cytokine network and is regulated by TNF-α. Stable knockdown of this chemokine receptor in the same cells had similar actions to TNF-α knockdown. Again there was no effect on in vitro growth but reduced migration to CXCL12 and reduced in vitro production of CXCL12, TNF-α and IL-6. Intra- and extra-peritoneal colonisation by malignant cells was also reduced and survival of mice increased approximately two fold when CXCR4 knockdown cells were compared to parental lines or mock transfected cells. The number of circulating ovarian cancer cells capable of forming in vitro colonies was also profoundly inhibited by CXCR4 knockdown. Hence targeting two different but interrelated components of the autocrine inflammatory cytokine network of ovarian cancer can have similar consequences and inhibit peritoneal spread of this disease.


Temperature sensing is one of the oldest capabilities of living organisms, and is essential for sustaining life, because failure to avoid extreme noxious temperatures can result in tissue damage or death. A subset of members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel family is finely tuned to detect temperatures ranging from extreme cold to noxious heat, giving rise to thermoTRP channels. Structural and functional experiments have shown that thermoTRP channels are allosteric proteins, containing different domains that sense changes in temperature, among other stimuli, triggering pore opening. Although temperature-dependence is well characterized in thermoTRP channels, the molecular nature of temperature-sensing elements remains unknown. Importantly, thermoTRP channels are involved in pain sensation, related to pathological conditions. Here, we provide an overview of thermoTRP channel activation. We also discuss the structural and functional evidence supporting the existence of an intrinsic temperature sensor in this class of channels, and we explore the basic thermodynamic principles for channel activation. Finally, we give a view of their role in painful pathophysiological conditions.


VC-financed startups led by women perform worse than startups led by men. Do VCs influence this performance gap? To answer this question, I compare the gender gap in performance between startups initially financed by syndicates led by VCs with only male GPs and startups financed by syndicates led by VCs with female GPs. I find a much larger performance gap among startups financed by syndicates with only male lead GPs. I show this disparity is driven by differences in VCs' ability to evaluate female-led startups. These findings imply that VCs contributed to the performance gender gap in startups.


Mapping, or cartographic generalization in particular, is a process of producing maps at different levels of detail by retaining essential properties of the underlying geographic space. In this paper, we explore how mapping or cartographic generalization process can be guided by the underlying scaling of geographic space. Scaling refers to the fact that in a large geographic area small objects are far more common than large ones. In the corresponding probability density function, this scaling is reflected as a heavy tailed distribution such as a power law, lognormal, and exponential distribution. In essence, any heavy tailed distribution consists of the head of the distribution (with a low percentage of objects) and the tail of the distribution (with a high percentage of objects). We therefore suggest that the objective of the mapping process is to retain the objects in the head yet to eliminate those in the tail. We applied this selection principle to several generalization experiments, and found that the scaling of geographic space can indeed be a universal rule for mapping and cartographic generalization. We further relate the universal rule to T\"opfer's radical law (or trained cartographers' decision making in general), and illustrate several advantages of the universal rule compared to the radical law.


Sold-state sensors comprising several detector elements or highly integrated detector arrays play an important role in all spacecraft, be they manned vehicles or unmanned satellites. The author surveys the typical applications of these sensors. Sun sensors, earth sensors, and star trackers are used for attitude and orbit control of the vehicles. In rendezvous and docking maneuvers, microwave sensors, laser rangefinders, and optical sensors are used for the different phases. Depending on the mission requirements of the spacecraft, optoelectronic sensors (operating in the visible, near-IR, middle-IR, and far-IR) and sensors for X-ray and gamma -ray measurements are put to work. The exact, reliable operation of these sensors at all times is a prerequisite for the success of the mission.<<ETX>>


Benchmark calculations employing the correlation consistent basis sets of Dunning and co‐workers are reported for the following diatomic species: Al2, Si2, P2, S2, Cl2, SiS, PS, PN, PO, and SO. Internally contracted multireference configuration interaction (CMRCI) calculations (correlating valence electrons only) have been performed for each species. For Cl2, P2, and PN, calculations have also been carried out using Mo/ller–Plesset perturbation theory (MP2, MP3, MP4) and the singles and doubles coupled‐cluster method with and without perturbative triples [CCSD, CCSD(T)]. Spectroscopic constants and dissociation energies are reported for the ground state of each species. In addition, the low‐lying excited states of Al2 and Si2 have been investigated. Estimated complete basis set (CBS) limits for the dissociation energies, De, and other spectroscopic constants are obtained from simple exponential extrapolations of the computed quantities. At the CBS limit the root‐mean‐square (rms) error in De for the CMRCI...


This report concerns the attempt to demonstrate the practicability of using microsomal fractions (rat or Drosophila) for activating proteratogens in a Drosophila in vitro teratogen screening assay. Accordingly, a typical proteratogen (cyclophosphamide) was tested before and after microsomal activation and results compared with the drug directly on the in vitro assay. The effects of microsomal activation on known teratogens (thalidomide) and nonteratogens (acetaminophen) were also assayed in order to determine the specificity of the activation process. The results showed activation of the proteratogen into a teratogen occurred as in comparable systems. Activation was specific as teratogens and nonteratogens were not altered in the assay. These preliminary results represent the first direct demonstration that the Drosophila microsomal fraction is capable of bioactivating a proteratogen. This capability further extends the usefulness of the Drosophila embryonic culture assay as an in vitro screen for potential teratogens.


New teachers of students with significant disabilities are expected to use evidence-based practices that build academic and functional skills from their first day on the job. Yet, these teachers may struggle with applying information learned in their preservice coursework to their daily instructional practices. One widely accepted means of supporting new special educators is mentoring and coaching. However, geographic and time constraints often limit the amount and quality of mentoring and coaching. This article provides a framework of virtual coaching for supporting new teachers working with students with significant disabilities in a way that addresses these access to coaching issues and describes means of incorporating multiple, integrated online technologies.


Background/aim Control banding tools (CBT) offer an easy approach to identify risk management measures (RMMs) reducing worker exposure to hazardous substances. Intervention studies play an important role in monitoring the effectiveness of specific RMMs and their predicted potential to reduce exposure. We review a collection of published intervention studies comparing observed with CBT-predicted exposure changes. Methods Intervention studies published in English from 1999 up to January 2017 were considered for inclusion based on a systematic search of Pubmed. Events were defined as workplace interventions when they aimed at reducing occupational exposure to hazardous substances due to a change in or an introduction of RMMs or where reductions occurred as a side effect, e.g. due to changes in the production process. Where applicable, observed/monitored reductions in exposure are compared with predicted or anticipated exposure changes according to a qualitative CBT and the respective reduction factors and their estimated relative effectiveness for RMMs. Results In total 50 intervention studies have been included in this review with a very broad scope spanning a variety of approaches at a variety of workplaces in different industries including, but not limited to, studies in the metal industry, rubber manufacturing, bakeries, printing, on welding or dust in construction. Methods and findings varied considerably between the reviewed studies and hence limit the scope to directly compare results and subsequently the effectiveness of the different interventions. Overall the interventions reviewed have succeeded at reducing exposure levels. The comparison of observed exposure reductions with changes predicted according to CBT will facilitate an assessment and evaluation of the efficacy of RMMs. Conclusion There is evidence that decreases in workplace exposure levels followed a variety of interventions in a variety of industries underlining the benefits of implementing RMMs at workplaces. However, at this point neither a clear tendency regarding the best choice of RMMs/or classes of RMMs can be ascertained nor any specific recommendations for workplace risk assessment can be made.


A tissue infusion method was used to demonstrate nitrate reductase activity in the leaves of Vaccinium corymbosum L. grown with 3 N sources and in 2 pH regimes. Activity was not detectable by the extraction and assay of homogenized leaves of Kalmia latifolia L., Leucothoe catesbaei Gray, Malus sylvestris Mill., Pieris japonica D. Don., and Rhododendron catawbiense Michx. or in the roots of Leucothoe and Zea mays L., but it was detectable in both leaves and roots by the tissue infusion method.


This article examines the influence of three dimensions of religion—belonging (faith tradition membership), behaving (frequency of service attendance), and context (one's relationship to aggregate population characteristics)—on attitudes toward multiple forms of state-provided social protection, or welfare attitudes. To do so, this article uses data from 17 countries surveyed in the 2006 "Role of Government" wave of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). Results from mixed effects regression show that contextual effects are highly predictive of welfare attitudes. Nations that are more religiously heterogeneous are less supportive of state protection, while nations that are more homogeneous, particularly Catholic nations, are more supportive. Results hold net of fractionalization, political institutional measures, and economic characteristics. At the individual level, all three dimensions of religiosity are predictive of welfare attitudes. These patterns suggest that in rich Western democracies, religion continues to play an important role in structuring the moral economies.


Within the last few years there has been an increased interest in spiritual warfare and, along with it, the deliverance ministry. The increased visibility of this ministry has resulted in a plethora of books and tapes on the subject. The following is an outline of a presentation made at the 2007 American Association of Christian Counselor's World Conference in Nashville, TN. It is entitled Deliverance as a Part of the Therapeutic Process.