The organizational theory approach to public administration emphasizes that organizational features of public bureaucracies shape civil servants' role perceptions and opinions. This study brings forward a novel refinement of this theoretical framework by arguing that such processes of organizational resocialization require intertemporal consistency of the organizational environment. We empirically test this proposition by combining individual‐level longitudinal data from a panel of Norwegian civil servants (1986–2016; N ≈ 375) with information about organizational changes in ministerial structures since 1945. Using individuals' task portfolio as our main organizational "influencer" of interest, we confirm that the impact of individuals' task portfolio on their role perceptions only strengthens over time for individuals working in ministries with a high level of organizational stability. This finding adds an important scope condition—namely, intertemporal stability—to the traditional organizational theory argument about what shapes civil servants' role perceptions and opinions.


This study describes the properties of thermoplastic polymer composites based on polyethylene (of low and high density) and ethylene-propylene copolymers using various types of conifer needles (pine, spruce, fir, and cedar) as fillers. For the needles, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and TGA/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA/FTIR) were performed to investigate their structures and thermal resistance, as required for the composite processing methods. Moreover, structural differences were studied for the analyzed fillers and composite materials (FTIR). The results were compared with the values obtained for composites with conifer wood flour. Composites with conifer needles (pine) had increased water absorption and similar strength properties. However, irrespective of the degree of filling, composites with pine needles were positively characterized by the highest melt mass flow rate (MFR) values and showed a slightly better impact resistance than composites filled with other flours. Thus, shredded coniferous needles with sufficient thermal resistance could be successfully used as fillers in composites. This conclusion was based on thermoplastic polymers as an alternative and/or supplement to the wood flour used in the manufacture of wood-polymer composites.


Abstract:  Cutaneous mastocytosis in children has an indolent course and undergoes spontaneous regression. Many triggering factors may cause mast cell degranulation and clinical manifestations. Knowledge of these factors is important for patients and their families. We report a case of exacerbation of urticaria pigmentosa due to mast cell degranulation caused by Enterobius vermicularis, which has not been reported before as a triggering factor.


In this article we determine the role of different musical features for the human categorization of folk songs into tune families in a large collection of Dutch folk songs. Through an annotation study we investigate the relation between musical features, perceived similarity and human categorization in music. We introduce a newly developed annotation method which is used to create an annotation data set for 360 folk song melodies in 26 tune families. This dataset delivers valuable information on the contribution of musical features to the process of categorization which is based on assessing the similarity between melodies. The analysis of the annotation data set reveals that the importance of single musical features for assessing similarity varies both between and within tune families. In general, the recurrence of short characteristic motifs is most relevant for the perception of similarity between songs belonging to the same tune family. Global melodic features often used for the description of melodies (such as melodic contour) play a less important role. The annotation data set is a valuable resource for further research on melodic similarity and can be used as enriched "ground truth" to test various kinds of retrieval algorithms in Music Information Retrieval. Our annotation study exemplifies that assessing similarity is crucial for human categorization processes, which has been questioned within Cognitive Science in the context of rule-based approaches to categorization.


Abstract: This essay examines the origins of physician-patient privilege in the United States. It concentrates an 1828 New York law that protected medical confidentiality in the courtroom—the first statutory guarantee of physician-patient privilege—as well as the rapid spread of privilege statutes throughout the nineteenth century. Using the published notes of the authors of New York's influential statute alongside other primary sources, I argue that these early statutes are best explained as the result of nineteenth-century efforts to codify American law. The medical profession took little note of physician-patient privilege until much later, indicating that privilege emerged not as a protection of doctors' professional status, nor as a means of protecting patients in the courtroom, but rather as an inadvertent offshoot of attempts to streamline and simply judicial proceedings. It is perhaps because of these unsystematic origins that physician-patient privilege still remains such an unevenly applied rule in American courtrooms.


Background : Close monitoring of renal function is recommended before and during treatment with the iron chelators deferasirox and deferoxamine (DFO), by assessment of serum creatinine (SCr) and estimated creatinine clearance. To identify patients at increased risk for acute kidney injury while on therapy, efforts are focused on protein biomarkers to predict changes in renal function before SCr increases and to understand the pathophysiology involved. Alpha-1 microglobulin (alpha1M), beta-2 microglobulin (beta2M), retinol-binding protein (RBP), and (urinary) cystatin C increases may reflect proximal tubular dysfunction. Changes in kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), lipocalin-2 (also called NGAL), N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (NAG), clusterin, osteopontin, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) may reflect localized pathological processes in the renal nephron. KIM-1 is upregulated dramatically upon epithelial injury and is specific for the proximal tubule. Urinary total protein, microalbumin, and immunoglobulin G (IgG) may reflect either glomerular or tubular injury. The current exploratory analysis assessed 19 renal protein biomarkers as early indicators for an increased risk of acute renal dysfunction in chelated, transfusion-dependent patients with β-thal or other anemias. Objectives were to explore: 1) changes in biomarker profiles over time; 2) correlations between baseline biomarker levels and changes in SCr during treatment; 3) the correlation of changes in biomarker levels with changes in SCr during treatment; 4) correlations between early biomarker changes during treatment with subsequent changes in serum creatinine. Methods : Archived urine samples collected at baseline and every 3-6 months during two deferasirox clinical trials (comparative 1-year 107 study of β-thal patients randomized to deferasirox or DFO; non-comparative 2-year 108 study including β-thal or other anemia [MDS, DBA, rare anemias] patients, excluding SCD) were used. All patients enrolled were aged ≥2 years, received at least 8 blood transfusions/year, and had LIC ≥2 mg Fe/g dw. No patient had baseline SCr >upper limit normal. Patients at risk of acute renal dysfunction were defined as having SCr increased >33% from baseline on ≥2 consecutive visits during the trials. ROC curves were generated by treatment and by underlying disease to determine whether urinary renal markers at baseline (pre-treatment) or change from baseline could predict an increased risk of acute renal dysfunction. Results: 586 β-thal patient samples were assessed from the comparative trial (n=296 deferasirox, n=290 DFO) and 184 from the non-comparative trial (n=85 β-thal; n=99 other non-β-thal anemias [MDS, n=47; DBA, n=30; other rare anemias, n=22]). No significant progressive changes in any renal biomarkers were observed; including acute renal injury (KIM-1, NGAL) and inflammatory (clusterin, osteopontin) biomarkers. Biomarker levels at baseline showed little/no correlation with changes in SCr. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were 0.45-0.60, suggesting limited predictive value for urinary renal biomarkers at baseline (pre-treatment) to predict an increased risk of acute renal dysfunction (1.0 = a perfect test, 0.5 = no better than a random test). Weak, though consistent positive correlations were identified between logged fold-change from baseline for biomarkers of renal protein reabsorption and glomerular filtration (alpha1M, beta2M, RBP, microalbumin, total protein, IgG) versus relative change in SCr from baseline over time (r=0.1-0.3) across patient groups. Better associations were identified in non-β-thal patients. Confirmed increase in SCr had the most association with RBP (Fig 1A) and beta2M (Fig 1B) in deferasirox- and DFO-treated patients, respectively. In the non-comparative trial, AUC values were 0.4-0.6 for β-thal patients; most association with NGAL (Fig 1C). In patients with other anemias, nine renal biomarkers had AUCs >0.6; most association with alpha1M (Fig 1D). Conclusions: Without definitive associations with SCr, findings do not support the clinical utility of any of the 19 renal protein biomarkers assessed for monitoring kidney function. The absence of progressive renal biomarker changes at the population level indicates that chelation therapy with deferasirox or DFO did not lead to acute/chronic or progressive renal dysfunction in these studies. Disclosures Cappellini: Vifor: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Sanofi-Genzyme: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Speakers Bureau. Quebe-Fehling: Novartis: Employment. Dieterle: Novartis: Employment. Porter: Bluebird Bio: Consultancy; Agios Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria; Shire: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Celegene: Consultancy.


Based on theory of constitution in Traditional Chinese Medicine,by analyzing the characteristics of constitution in menopausal women,this study intends to research how to apply preventive acupuncture moxibustion based on identification of constitutions so as to prevent the occurrence of disease,relieve current disease damage and delay aging.


Asthma is common in Thai children with a prevalence of about 4%. A prospective study of 2,000 Thai asthmatic children showed boys to be more frequently affected than girls, and fifty percent of patients experienced their first attack within the first 2 years of life. Attacks usually occurred in winter and the rainy season. 63.15% of patients had asthma associated with other allergic diseases and 79.25% had a family history of allergic diseases. Positive skin tests to important antigens were noted in 93.7% of cases, and house dust was the most common. Pharmacokinetic studies of theophylline were made in Thai asthmatic children after oral administration revealed that the elimination half‐life of theophylline was longer than that observed in subjects in Western countries. Long‐term follow up of 247 Thai asthmatic children revealed that in 37.2% of patients, symptoms ceased at the age of 15 years. The factors which indicated a favorable prognosis included male sex, mild or moderate illness, negative skin tests or positive skin tests to only a few allergens.


In 2015, South Carolina passed the Domestic Violence Reform Act giving officers increased arrest discretion and rescinding mandatory arrest laws for intimate partner violence (IPV). Analyses using incident reports (2016/2017) from South Carolina show that officers primarily rely on the presence of five variables to determine arrest: children, injury, property destruction, offender at scene, and weapons. Cases with Black female victims are more likely to result in arrest, suggesting that Black males are being criminalized. We conclude that officers are reluctant to use individual discretion and rely on a form of structured discretion provided by administrators that shapes local culture and decision-making.


Normal brain function requires a tightly regulated balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmissions. γ-Aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA ) receptors represent the major class of inhibitory ion channels in the mammalian brain. Dysregulation of these receptors and/or their associated pathways is strongly implicated in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. To date, hundreds of different GABAA receptor subunit variants have been associated with epilepsy, making them a prominent cause of genetically linked epilepsy. While identifying these genetic variants is crucial for accurate diagnosis and effective genetic counselling, it does not necessarily lead to improved personalised treatment options. This is because the identification of a variant does not reveal how the function of GABAA receptors is affected. Genetic variants in GABAA receptor subunits can cause complex changes to receptor properties resulting in various degrees of gain-of-function, loss-of-function or a combination of both. Understanding how variants affect the function of GABAA receptors therefore represents an important first step in the ongoing development of precision therapies. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that functional data are produced using methodologies that allow genetic variants to be classified using clinical guidelines such as those developed by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. This article will review the current knowledge in the field and provide recommendations for future functional analysis of genetic GABAA receptor variants.


This undergraduate dissertation investigates the effect that Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) have had on the current availability of skills in the UK construction industry and the effect it is likely to have in the future. The review of literature surrounding the subject identified skills shortages as a problem within the industry. The published literature also showed contrasting views on how effective MMC is seen to be at addressing this problem of skill availability. In order to determine the severity of these skills shortages and whether MMC is seen as a solution to this problem, construction industry opinion was collected through the use of a survey. The data was then analysed to determine industry opinion on the subject, as well as opinion regarding how successful MMC is likely to be at addressing skill availability issues in the future. The data showed an overall opinion slightly in favour of MMC being effective at addressing skills shortages, however to date it was deemed to be ineffective because MMC usage is not currently widespread enough to have a significant impact on this problem. This study revealed widespread opinion that MMC is likely to help address skills shortages in the future. However, the effectiveness of MMC at addressing skill availability is directly dependant on greater uptake of these methods within the UK construction industry.


In this work, we proposed a novel three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructure based on porous graphene/nickel foam (GNF) and gas-phase deposited Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Ag NPs with high density were directly deposited on the surface of 3D GNF by performing a novel cluster beam deposition approach. In comparison with traditional Ag substrate (SiO2/Ag), such hot-spots enriched 3D nanostructure showed extremely high electromagnetic field enhancement under incident light irradiation which could be used as a sensitive chemical sensor based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed nanostructure showed superior SERS performance in terms of Raman signal reproducibility and sensitivity for the probe molecules. 3D full-wave simulation showed that the enhanced SERS performance in this 3D hierarchical plasmonic nanostructure was mainly obtained from the hot-spots between Ag NPs and the near-field coupling between Ag NPs and GNF scaffolds. This work can provide a novel assembled SERS substrate as a SERS-based chemical sensor in practical applications.


OBJECTIVE
To study the inhibitory effect of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on the pulmonary metastasis of melanoma B16 cells.

METHODS
Mice melanoma cells B16 were injected into the vein of the eye socket of C57BL/6J mice. The lung tissue weight and the B16 melanoma lung metastasis nodules were examined after intraperitoneal injection of As2O3. The microvessel density in the pulmonary metastatic tumor nodules was observed using HE staining and immunohistochemistry analysis for VIII-R Ag. The cell adhesion rate was detected using CellTiter 96 Aqueous One reagent.

RESULTS
As2O3 could significantly inhibit the pulmonary metastasis of B16 melanoma. The lung weight, the pulmonary metastasis nodules, and microvessels per visual field of the experimental group and the control group were 0.139+/-0.013 g and 0.353+/-0.070 g, 20.42+/-1.78 and 61.42+/-3.09, 3.25+/-0.75 and 7.50+/-1.45, respectively (all P<0.01). As2O3 showed significant effect on the cell adhesion rate, showing statistical difference between the two groups (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
As2O3 had significant antitumor metastasis effect. It might be correlated with inhibiting angiogenesis and enhancing the cell adhesion.


This article describes the first successful induction of meiotic gynogenesis in Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) using heterologous sperm of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) with DNA inactivated by means of UV-irradiation at 4800 J/m(2). The cold shock at 6 degrees C (duration of 20 min) started in the nineth minute after fertilization was found as efficient in retaining the second polar body and producing meiotic diploids. Successful induction of meiotic gynogenesis was confirmed by the microsatellite DNA analysis, which revealed only maternal inheritance in gynogenetic offspring. Ploidy of gynogenetic offspring was verified by the application of active nucleoli counting analysis.


Rollover accident is one of the serious traffic accident and rollover accident takes high portion of all accident. The most common type of rollover is a tripped rollover which occupy 95% of all type of single-vehicle rollover. Tripped rollover occurs when a vehicle leaves normal road way and tripped by loose gravel, soil of fixed object such as guard rail, curbs and ditches. And the rest of the type of rollover is un-tripped rollover. An un-tripped rollovers that occurs during high-speed collision avoidance maneuvers. In this paper, presents the explanation of the un-tripped rollover test method and procedure, additionally this paper deals with various occurrence in the un-tripped test such as occurring excessive tire camber in the un-tripped test, tire side-wall contact with road surface and roll oscillation. And this paper analyzes the analysis of the roll rate amplitude in specific frequency through the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and the roll angle at the steering reverse timing which is the Fishhook test roll rate feedback time. Finally, this paper analyzes the relations between the estimated steady state roll gain and rollover stability.


Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Editors and authors.- List of figures and tables.- INTRODUCTION.- 1. Local, national, and global in the Asia-Pacific Simon Marginson, Sarjit Kaur and Erlenawati Sawir.- PART I. GLOBAL AND ASIA-PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES.- 2. Asia-Pacific universities in the global space: Visions of university presidents Simon Marginson.- 3. The Confucian Model of higher education in East Asia and Singapore Simon Marginson.- 4. The disappearing role of education finance policies in higher education access: Panel data analysis of twenty-one Asia-Pacific countries in a global setting Lijing Yang.- 5. Transnational higher education in the Asia-Pacific region: From distance education to the branch campus Christopher Ziguras and Grant McBurnie.- 6. International student mobility in the Asia-Pacific: From globalization to regional integration? Christopher Ziguras and Grant McBurnie.- PART II. LOCAL ASIA-PACIFIC STRATEGIES.- 7. Advanced global strategy in China: The case of Tsinghua Rui Yang.- 8. Negotiating globalization: The Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia David Howes and David Ford.- 9. Universiti Sains Malaysia: Its strategic response to globalization Sarjit Kaur, Morshidi Sirat and Norpisah Mat Isa.- 10. Globalization, resources and strategies: A comparison of Universitas Indonesia and the Australian National University.- Simon Marginson and Erlenawati Sawir.- PART III. NATIONAL ASIA-PACIFIC STRATEGIES.- 11. Addressing the global challenges in higher education: The Malaysian strategic plan Gurnam Kaur Sidhu and Sarjit Kaur.- 12. Academics as agents of internationalization and literacy: Malaysian responses and future challenges: Koo Yew Lie and Vincent Pang.- 13. The global schoolhouse: Governing Singapore's knowledge economy aspirations Ravinder Sidhu, Ho Kong Chong and Brenda Yeoh.- 14. Strategies for higher education reform in Thailand Nattuvud Pimpa.- 15. National policies in skilled labour and the cross-border student market, with a focus on Vietnam Cate Gribble.- 16. Two-way flows of higher education students in mainland China in a global market: Trends, characteristics and problems Mei Li and Yongjun Zhang.- 17. The internationalization of Japanese higher education: Policy rebates and realities Akiyoshi Yonezawa.- 18. Internationalization of Japanese universities: The current status and future directions Kazuhiro Kudo and Hiroko Hashimoto.- 19. Higher education in Papua New Guinea: the need for a change towards globalization Ravinder Rena_20. Global position and position-taking in higher education: The case of Australia: Simon Marginson.- PART IV. NEIGHBOURING CASES.- 21. India amidst a global competition for its talent: A critical perspective on policy for higher and university education Binod Khadria.- 22. National and global challenges to higher education in Saudi Arabia: Current development and future strategies Abdullah A. S. Al-Mubaraki.- CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.- 23. Regional dynamism and regional inequality Simon Marginson, Sarjit Kaur and Erlenawati Sawir.- Index


A group of wildlife biologists from the USDA Forest Service (FS) and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MFWP) have compiled recommendations for elk (Cervus elaphus) habitat management. While we focus on elk habitat considerations in this effort, we do not advocate for single species management. We advocate for ecologically appropriate habitat management under an umbrella of landscape scale ecosystem management, which focuses on providing a range of habitats to support all fauna native to the landscape, including elk. The recommendations are based on the most current available information and the collective experiences of these biologists. They considered contemporary issues and circumstances such as increases in recreation of all types on these National Forests, changes in the numbers and distribution of elk, the restoration of large predators, the current mountain pine beetle epidemic, and small and large fires on the Custer, Helena, Lewis and Clark, and Gallatin National Forests in the Northern Region of the FS.  The shared goal of the two agencies is to provide for elk and other big game on National Forest System (NFS) lands throughout the year, recognizing that with the multiple use mandate of the FS, management for elk will be one of many considerations on NFS lands. The overview and recommendations address an appropriate elk analysis unit, management of cover and recreation on winter ranges, security during the archery and rifle hunting seasons, motorized route management relative to habitat effectiveness, cover on spring-summer-fall ranges, cover patch size, and forage considerations.


Author(s): Wilson, Samuel Johnson | Advisor(s): Send, Uwe | Abstract: Understanding oceanic chlorophyll dynamics requires new measurement methods and novel analyses. Moored irradiance sensors provide long time series of diffuse attenuation, and through a technique developed here, can provide estimates of average chlorophyll concentration between the sensors. This technique is applied to the California Current Ecosystem moorings, where simultaneous current measurements coupled with the chlorophyll time series describe chlorophyll transport. Cross-shore transport events occur on timescales longer than 25 days in the offshore site, and account for offshore chlorophyll transport of 31.20 g/(day) per meter of coastline. In the near shore site, successive upwelling events transport large amounts of chlorophyll offshore, while single upwelling events do not. In total, events account for 94.80 g/(day) offshore chlorophyll transport per meter of coastline at this site. The method is then applied to recover 9 years of 0-9m chlorophyll concentration estimates in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. This region is dominated by a spring chlorophyll bloom, and the chlorophyll model used describes interannual variability in the initiation of this event by 25 days or more. During the bloom, hiatuses can occur where the 0-9m chlorophyll concentration decreases due to mixing, and they are often associated with Spring cooling events. The date of the last cooling event in January to April is a significant determinant of the delay in the 0-9m signature of the Spring Chlorophyll Bloom.


There are several nonsurgical alternatives to treat radicular pain in degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. Epidural steroid injections have been used for several decades, but the different studies have shown variable effects. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified nine systematic reviews including seven pertinent randomized controlled trials. We concluded epidural steroid injection probably leads to little or no effect on reducing radicular pain of spinal stenosis.


We present the results of magnetization measurements performed on the ferro-ferrimagnetic (Ni0.38Mn0.62)3[Cr(CN)6]2.zH2O molecule-based magnet under pressures up to 0.8 GPa. Both antiferromagnetic JAF and ferromagnetic interaction JF are present in this magnet and temperature dependence of magnetization μ(T) exhibits the compensation temperature Tcomp at which the sign of the magnetization is reversed. Our results indicate that JAF dominates. The Curie temperature TC of the magnet increases with applied pressure, dTC/dp = 10.6 KGPa-1, due to strengthened JAF. The increase of the JAF is attributed to the enhanced value of the single electron overlapping integral S and the energy gap Δ of the mixed molecular orbitals t2g (Mn2+) and t2g (CrIII) induced by pressure. Magnetization processes are also affected by pressure: magnetization saturates at higher magnetic field and saturated magnetization is reduced. The compensation temperature Tcomp decreases under pressure.


This paper attempts to activate a large scale shopping district (shotengai) using new internet techniques. Recently decline of shotengai is a serious problem by development of large shopping centers. We made a new approach with internet techniques to activate shotengai, which is a typical Japanese shopping district. The Osu Shotengai is one of the most famous shotengai in Nagoya, Japan, which includes about 400 stores. We developed Osu shotengai official web site, called "At Osu." First, the information of 400 stores in Osu shotengai, which includes 9 streets, was collected. Then we created an interactive "Information Visualization System" to put fresh information of shotengai on the web site in real time. It includes "Comment Upload System," where store owners can upload their comments and informing news directly on the web site. Further, we developed a new approach to stimulate store owners motivations for participating in the web site. And we also mention about an attractive and interactive web design using twitters to get opinions of users. By developing the new web site, the number of visitors of "At Osu" has increased rapidly. Many articles about this new approach to activate shotengai with a web site were published in newspapers or magazines and we have receives many inquiries.


This study explores an extreme heat flux limit of microcooler for GaN-based HEMTs (high electron mobile transistors) which have local power densities exceeding 30 kW/cm2 using both solid conduction simulation and single-phase/two-phase conjugate simulations. Solid conduction simulation models are developed for full geometry of the microcooler to account for the overall thermal resistances from GaN HEMT to working fluid. This allows investigating the temperature distribution of the suggested microcooler. Parametric studies are also performed to investigate the impact of geometries and heat transfer coefficients on the junction temperature. The solid conduction simulation results using COMSOL Multiphysics agree well with single-cell ANSYS Fluent simulation results.Separately, fluid-solid conjugate CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation models provide the detailed flow information in the microchannel using a single-channel geometry with symmetry boundary conditions. Single-phase CFD simulations obtain the lower bound of total pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient at the microchannel walls for a mass velocity range of G = 6000–24000 kg/m2-s. The local temperatures and velocity distributions are reported that can help with identifying the locations of the maximum velocity and recirculation regions that are susceptible to dryouts. Two additional alternative tapered inlet designs are proposed to alleviate the significant pressure loss at the entrance of the SiC channel. The impact of the tapered inlet designs on pressure drops and heat transfer coefficients is also investigated.Two-phase simulations in microchannel are conducted using Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method embedded in ANSYS Fluent to investigate two-phase flow patterns, flow boiling, and temperature distributions within the GaN HEMT device and SiC etched mircochannels. A user-defined function (UDF) accounts for the phase change process due to boiling at the microchannel walls. The results show that the time relaxation factor, ri has a strongly influence on both numerical convergence and flow solutions.© 2015 ASME


Phase field methods have been widely used to study phase transitions and polarization switching in ferroelectric thin films. In this paper, we develop an efficient numerical scheme for the variational phase field model based on variational forms of the electrostatic energy and the relaxation dynamics of the polarization vector. The spatial discretization combines the Fourier spectral method with the finite difference method to handle three-dimensional mixed boundary conditions. It allows for an efficient semi-implicit discretization for the time integration of the relaxation dynamics. This method avoids explicitly solving the electrostatic equilibrium equation (a Poisson equation) and eliminates the use of associated Lagrange multipliers. We present several numerical examples including phase transitions and polarization switching processes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Quadtree and octree decomposition of multicolored images is often used to solve problems of image processing. This paper describes a θ(1) time algorithm for the decomposition of the images into quadtree and octree on a mesh connected computer. Images will be stored in the MCC of the same size, at one pixel per processing element (PE). Certain applications of the algorithm are also described namely, the computation of such geometric properties as the area and perimeter. The complexity of these algorithms depends on the hierarchical data structure. They are carried out in O(log2 m + log m) times on an n × n MCC, where m = n/k, and k is the size of the smallest homogeneous quadrant in the image.


Abstract Four groups of about seventy 2-week-old broiler chickens were challenged with a Clostridium perfringens Type A isolate. Inclusion of avoparcin at 20 ppm in feed prevented necrotic enteritis in one group, but 10 ppm was only marginally effective. Bacitracin at 110 ppm also prevented the disease. Necrotic enteritis was successfully reproduced in untreated control birds.


Translational Research in Coronary Artery Disease: Pathophysiology to Treatment covers the entire spectrum of basic science, genetics, drug treatment, and interventions for coronary artery disease. With an emphasis on vascular biology, this reference fully explains the fundamental aspects of coronary artery disease pathophysiology. Included are important topics, including endothelial function, endothelial injury, and endothelial repair in various disease states, vascular smooth muscle function and its interaction with the endothelium, and the interrelationship between inflammatory biology and vascular function. By providing this synthesis of current research literature, this reference allows the cardiovascular scientist and practitioner to access everything they need from one source.Provides a concise summary of recent developments in coronary and vascular research, including previously unpublished dataSummarizes in-depth discussions of the pathobiology and novel treatment strategies for coronary artery diseaseProvides access to an accompanying website that contains photos and videos of noninvasive diagnostic modalities for evaluation of coronary artery disease


This system uses Freescale i.MX283 chip as the main control core of the control panel and LPC824 as the main control core of the light control point. ZigBee communication local area network is built. The ZigBee network is used to search all the nodes and display them on the control interface stably. The controller can selectively control the node and communicate with ZigBee. It supports simple and convenient human-computer interaction interface. The control panel can control RGB lamps of lamp control nodes as follows: control the light on and off, adjust the brightness of the light, toggle the color of the light, control the gradient of the light, control the flashing of RGB lamp, control timing switch of RGB lamp, realize the scene effect of the light, etc. After testing, the system is stable and applied to many lighting control occasions.


Abstract A detailed understanding of the molecular and immunological changes that occur longitudinally across tumors exposed to immune checkpoint inhibitors is a significant knowledge gap in oncology. To address this unmet need, we created a statewide biospecimen collection and clinical informatics system to enable longitudinal tumor and immune profiling and to enhance translational research. The Texas Immuno-Oncology Biorepository (TIOB) consents patients to collect, process, store, and analyze serial biospecimens of tissue, blood, urine, and stool from a diverse population of over 100,000 cancer patients treated each year across the Baylor Scott & White Health system. Here we sought to demonstrate that these samples were fit for purpose with regard to downstream multi-omic assays. Plasma, urine, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and stool samples from 11 enrolled patients were collected from various cancer types. RNA isolated from extracellular vesicles derived from plasma and urine was sufficient for transcriptomics. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells demonstrated excellent yield and viability. Ten of 11 stool samples produced RNA quality to enable microbiome characterization. Sample acquisition and processing methods are known to impact sample quality and performance. We demonstrate that consistent acquisition methodology, sample preparation, and sample storage employed by the TIOB can produce high-quality specimens, suited for employment in a wide array of multi-omic platforms, enabling comprehensive immune and molecular profiling.


A small bodied, free-living marine nematode, Rhynchonema dighaensis sp. nov., is described from the intertidal sand of the east coast of India. It is characterized by having a small buccal cavity, longer left spicule and symmetrical dorsal gubernaculum apophysis. Other species of the genus are discussed with their type locality. A modified key has been prepared for species of Rhynchonema with an illustrated guide. Species of Rhynchonema primarily differ from each other by the shape and size of the spicules, shape of the gubernaculum and dorsal apophysis, size of the buccal cavity and position of the amphid.


Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a neuromodulation technique using electricity, proposed for the first time by Shealy in 1967, as an alternative to neuroablation. Technological improvements in the last 20 years (percutaneous electrodes, single and dual leads, octopolar electrodes, high energy internal pulse generators) have allowed to obtain good results with SCS in various clinical situations of chronic pain. The main clinical indications to SCS are: vascular pain--refractory angina and peripheral vascular diseases (PVD); rachidian pain--failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), degenerative low back leg pain (LBLP), nerve root lesions, incomplete spine lesions, spinal stenosis; neuropathic pain; chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type 1 and type 2; perineal pain and urological diseases (urge-incontinence, interstitial cystitis). There are important differences between Europe and USA in the SCS use in various indications, especially about PVD. Really, in Europe this technique has been widely used and, finally, there are prospective studies establishing the utility of SCS in: limb survival; pain control; regression to Fontaine stage II; improvement of free interval of claudication. All of this is going to change the attitude towards SCS in USA, where the amputation incidence for critical ischaemia is considerably higher than in Europe. An indication to SCS not very mentioned in literature and that seems to have good results is LBLP due to acquired or mixed (constitutional-acquired) spinal stenosis. In this situation SCS seems to improve notably pain control and quality of life index of patients.


Today we can observe the trend of the rising role of knowledge and intangible assets, which is stipulated by the new stage of economic development, i.e. economy of information society. The issue of the information society development is directly connected with technological innovation. The article shows the essence of information society, its principle determining factors, including human capital, innovation potential, informationcommunication infrastructure, information security, information environment, etc. The author analyzes dynamics of these factors in our country and makes international comparisons. It brings us to the conclusion that Russia is lagging behind the world leaders by key indicators. Apart from that, developing economy of information society in our country is mainly identified with the use of information technologies without taking into account social components. It is underlined that the essential role in this process should be attributed to institute of trust. The author puts forward the hypothesis about future changes in economy and society, in production processes and in man himself and proposes a set of steps aimed at intensifying the process of developing economy of information society in the country and discusses the related prospects.


Authors examined attitudes towards diversity among college students who participated in a civic type living-learning program. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the differences in students in a civic type living-learning program and a comparison group in undergraduate student understanding and appreciation of diversity. A construct of attitudes toward diversity was measured prior to matriculation and at the end of the first and third semesters of college. Students did not differ in their attitudes towards diversity from prior to matriculation to the end of the third semester. Nor did living-learning students differ from a comparison sample of students in the construct of attitudes toward diversity. The authors discuss several possible reasons for the lack of significant differences— such as attitudes toward diversity generally do not change easily, relative to behaviors; the attrition inherent in a longitudinal study limited sample size; the general difficulty of quantifying significant outcomes of living-learning programs; the importance of allowing sufficient time for reflection (i.e., longer than the first 2 years of college) to reevaluate and then change one's attitudes; and the need to distinguish between understanding of and appreciation for diversity. Implications for educators are to enhance their understanding of diversity development in order to provide the best learning experience for students, and to measure small cumulative effects of diversity education over time periods longer than 2 years.


OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the central auditory pathways in workers with noise-induced tinnitus with normal hearing thresholds, compared the auditory brainstem response results in groups with and without tinnitus and correlated the tinnitus location to the auditory brainstem response findings in individuals with a history of occupational noise exposure. METHOD: Sixty individuals participated in the study and the following procedures were performed: anamnesis, immittance measures, pure-tone air conduction thresholds at all frequencies between 0.25–8 kHz and auditory brainstem response. RESULTS: The mean auditory brainstem response latencies were lower in the Control group than in the Tinnitus group, but no significant differences between the groups were observed. Qualitative analysis showed more alterations in the lower brainstem in the Tinnitus group. The strongest relationship between tinnitus location and auditory brainstem response alterations was detected in individuals with bilateral tinnitus and bilateral auditory brainstem response alterations compared with patients with unilateral alterations. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest the occurrence of a possible dysfunction in the central auditory nervous system (brainstem) in individuals with noise-induced tinnitus and a normal hearing threshold.


The UK's EU referendum is making waves in the Nordic countries. The vote could give a boost to Euro-critical parties across the region. However, it seems unlikely that EU members Denmark, Finland and Sweden will head for the exit in the foreseeable future or that non-members Norway and Iceland will loosen their ties with the EU to any significant extent. Nonetheless, with the UK's exit, the Nordic countries face the prospect of losing one of their key allies within the EU and will be compelled to rethink their positions in and towards the Union. There are already initial signs of adjustment – based on sometimes shared and sometimes divergent priorities. If the five countries are able to capitalise on their commonalities, Nordic cooperation in the context of an EU-27 may well gain traction.


Introduction: The major research data and findings related to aging among persons with developmental disabilities are discussed. Topics addressed include prevalence and mortality rates, as well as the effects of aging on the sensory systems, the neuromusculoskeletal system and the cardiopulmonary system. The discussion also focuses on the clinical implications of these changes among aging individuals with developmental disabilities. Conclusion: Although the individual needs of persons with developmental disabilities vary greatly, knowledge of the effects of aging on this group of individuals can facilitate more effective healthcare by physical therapists for all adults with developmental disabilities.


Objective: To delineate and discuss the literature about TMD in the context of dental implantology. Methods: The PRISMA-ScR and Joanna Briggs guidelines for scoping reviews were used as methodological parameters. In vivo studies published in the English language showing interplay between dental implant therapy and TMD were included. A systematic screen strategy was applied in two platforms to obtain a broad range of relevant literature published in English. Results: The literature review indicated that prolonged surgical procedure may be a risk for TMD. Conversely, implant-supported prostheses were found to contribute to the mitigation of some TMD aspects. Empirical principles for the best practice in implant dentistry concerning the TMD were discussed in the present study. Conclusion: The included clinical studies suggest that factors associated with the implant placement, such as long duration of surgical procedures, may represent risk factors for TMD. They also indicate long-term benefits of implant-supported restorations.


Finite element simulations of two centrifuge tests on the same cantilever retaining wall model holding liquefiable backfill were conducted using the Biot formulation‐based program DIANA–SWANDYNE II. To demonstrate the effects due to different pore fluids in seismic centrifuge experiments, water was used as the pore fluid in one experiment whereas a substitute pore fluid was used in the second experiment. The cantilever wall model parameters were determined by comparing simulations with measurements from free‐vibration tests performed on the model wall without backfill. The initial stress conditions for dynamic analysis for the soil backfill were obtained by simulating static loads on the retaining wall from the soil backfill. Level‐ground centrifuge model results were used to select the parameters of the Pastor–Zienkiewicz mark III constitutive model used in the dynamic simulations of the soil. The effects due to different pore fluids were captured well by the simulations. The magnitudes of excess pore pressures in the soil, lateral thrust and its line of action on the wall, and wall bending strains, deflections, and accelerations were predicted well. Predictions of settlements and accelerations in the backfill were less satisfactory. Relatively high levels of Rayleigh damping were needed to be used in the retaining wall simulations in order to obtain numerically stable results, which is one of the shortcomings of the model. The procedure may be used for engineering purpose dealing with seismic analysis of flexible retaining walls where lateral pressures, bending strains and deflections in the wall are typically of importance. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is two folded: firstly to do a content analysis on how consumers older than 55 years (Zoomers) are portrayed in advertisements in the largest Swedish magazines, and secondly, to uncover what perceptions of this portrayal that older and younger consumers have. Background: The population of the world is growing older, and thus older consumers (+55) are a large and rapidly growing group of the population which also are strong in purchasing power. Research indicates that older consumers are neglected in advertisement, which might be due to a low participation rate of older models in adverts. Some researchers indicate that this is due to a fear among advertisers to use older models in advertisement since it could alienate younger consumers from purchasing the products. Previous research is ambiguous concerning the effectiveness of using older models in adverts. Therefore, this thesis will examine how Zoomers are portrayed in adverts and what perceptions older and younger consumers have on this portrayal. Method: The purpose of this thesis was fulfilled by conducting a magazine content analysis of adverts, and by conducting focus groups with Zoomers respectively consumers aged 20-30 years. To analyze the results, theories with a base in psychology and advertising was used, e.g. the cognitive age theory, the key concept theory and the self-discrepancy theory. Conclusion: Zoomers are included in 14 percent of Swedish adverts and are portrayed in a positive manner, which is a portrayal both older and younger consumers are content with. Zoomers want to be included more frequently and indications are discovered that younger consumers might be positive to an increased use of older models in adverts when trust is essential.


Summary Platelets, which are released by megakaryocytes, play key roles in haemostasis, angiogenesis, immunity, tissue regeneration and wound healing. The scarcity of clinical cures for life threatening platelet diseases is in a large part due to limited insight into the mechanisms that control the developmental process of megakaryocytes and the mechanisms that govern the production of platelets within the bone marrow. To overcome these limitations, functional human tissue models have been developed and studied to extrapolate ex vivo outcomes for new insight on bone marrow functions in vivo. There are many challenges that these models must overcome, from faithfully mimicking the physiological composition and functions of bone marrow, to the collection of the platelets generated and validation of their viability and function for human use. The overall goal is to identify innovative instruments to study mechanisms of platelet release, diseases related to platelet production and new therapeutic targets starting from human progenitor cells.


Because of the importance of microorganisms as participants in ecosystems on the Earth, the International Union of Biological Sciences in cooperation with the international Union of Microbiological Societies have urged the initiation of a global diversity survey, provisionally called MICROBIAL DIVERSITY 21, aimed at the ultimate full identification of all species (10). The cataloguing of soil bacteria requires: 1) the estimation of microbial diversity in soil on a global scale; 2) the development of standard systems for sampling, identification and quantification of all known bacterial forms in any terrestrial habitat. The focus of our review is current taxonomic knowledge of soil inhabitants as a prerequisite for the inventory of microbial communities.


The presence of undesirable dominating signals in geophysical experimental data is a challenge in many subfields. One remarkable example is surface gravimetry, where frequencies from Earth tides correspond to time-series fluctuations up to a thousand times larger than the phenomena of major interest, such as hydrological gravity effects or co-seismic gravity changes. This work discusses general methods for the removal of unwanted dominating signals by applying them to 8 long-period gravity time-series of the International Geodynamics and Earth Tides Service, equivalent to the acquisition from 8 instruments in 5 locations representative of the network. We compare three different conceptual approaches for tide removal: frequency filtering, physical modelling, and data-based modelling. Each approach reveals a different limitation to be considered depending on the intended application. Vestiges of tides remain in the residues for the modelling procedures, whereas the signal was distorted in different ways by the filtering and data-based procedures. The linear techniques employed were power spectral density, spectrogram, cross-correlation, and classical harmonics decomposition, while the system dynamics was analysed by state-space reconstruction and estimation of the largest Lyapunov exponent. Although the tides could not be completely eliminated, they were sufficiently reduced to allow observation of geophysical events of interest above the 10 nm s-2 level, exemplified by a hydrology-related event of 60 nm s-2. The implementations adopted for each conceptual approach are general, so that their principles could be applied to other kinds of data affected by undesired signals composed mainly by periodic or quasi-periodic components.


The circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology is better alternative to be adopted for generating power than PC fired boiler technology due to several advantages in which mainly fuel flexibility, environmentally friendly and low cost compared to combination of PC fired boiler with FGD for similar environmental performance. Unlike PC fired boilers, CFB boilers are suitable for low grade fuels like lignite. The huge availability of lignite in India reduces the import cost of bituminous coal which is regularly supplied as a fuel for PC fired boilers from other countries. The objective of the present paper is that the study of gas solid behaviour in 210 MW CFB riser by using mathematical equations. In this study, the key parameters of hydrodynamics (suspension density, local voidage, pressure drop) which are affecting the design and performance of CFB boiler are studied at different height levels of riser. Three Indian lignite samples (Tamilnadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan) which are successfully used in commercial operations of CFB boiler in India are assumed for this study with two mean particle diameters. This work is also determined and compared the heat transfer coefficients of boiler elements (water wall, wing wall and furnace superheater) placed in the riser.


Hydrophobicity is a useful concept to rationalize the role played by amino acid residues in terms of buried or exposed conformation with regard to the aqueous environment in proteins. The relationship of this concept with distinct approaches to represent the molecular surface is analyzed by computing reliable surface areas for three definitions namely the van der Waals, solvent-accessible, and solvent-excluded molecular surfaces. The surface areas are obtained for all of the naturally occurring amino acids by first setting a proper reference standard state and then calculating their values for a database of proteins containing a total of 4297 residues. Despite the great differences in these molecular surfaces, proper indexes are here defined for handling the information of interest to study the hydrophobic behavior of amino acids provided by such surfaces.


Alternative fuels may be an effective means for decreasing America's dependence on imported oil; creating new jobs; and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, exhaust toxics, and ozone-forming hydrocarbons. However, data regarding in-use fuel economy and maintenance characteristics of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) have been limited in availability. This study was undertaken to compare the operating and maintenance characteristics of bi-fuel vehicles (which use liquefied petroleum gas, or propane, as the primary fuel) to those of nominally identical gasoline vehicles. In Texas, liquefied petroleum gas is one of the most widely used alternative fuels. The largest fleet in Texas, operated by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), has hundred of bi-fuel (LPG and gasoline) vehicles operating in normal daily service. The project was conducted over a 2-year period, including 18 months (April 1997-September 1998) of data collection on operations, maintenance, and fuel consumption of the vehicles under study. This report summarizes the project and its results.


The highly efficient and stereocontrolled dimerization of 1,2,3,8-tetrahydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indoles was successfully developed with I2 as the oxidant, which allowed the rapid synthesis of meso- and rac-chimonanthines, (+)-WIN 64821 and (+)-WIN 64745 in the highest overall yields to date via the oxidation–oxidation–reduction sequence.


Evidence is accumulating on the role of teams in shaping a variety of business outcomes, but our knowledge on the effect of teamwork on organizational innovation is still evolving. This study examines whether the extent to which two staff groups are organized in teams (production staff and management/administrative staff) affects organizational innovation and whether human resource management (HRM) systems, which can be of facilitating or constraining nature, enhance the teamwork/innovation relationships. Hypotheses were tested with lagged and longitudinal data derived from 18 to 45 organizations from the UK manufacturing sector. Results suggest that the more widespread the use of teamwork in organizations, the higher the level of organizational innovation. Furthermore, this effect depends, particularly for production teams, on the overall quality of the HRM systems that exist in their organizations. Teamwork/innovation relationships are further moderated (for management and administrative teams) by an HRM practice that provides teams with time for thoughtful reflection. Thus, HRM systems can be of more or less facilitating or constraining nature for teams in organizations.


Mechanochemistry is flourishing in materials science, but a characterization of the related processes is difficult to achieve. Recently, the use of plastic jars in shaker mills has enabled in situ X-ray powder diffraction studies at high-energy beamlines. This paper describes an easy way to design and manufacture these jars by three-dimensional (3D) printing. A modified wall thickness and the use of a thin-walled sampling groove and a two-chamber design, where the milling and diffraction take place in two communicating volumes, allow for a reduced background/absorption and higher angular resolution, with the prospect for use at lower-energy beamlines. 3D-printed polylactic acid jars show good mechanical strength and they are also more resistant to solvents than jars made of polymethyl methacrylate. The source files for printing the jars are available as supporting information.


Yemen today faces a lot of challenges as war, poverty, terrorism and corruption. Corruption in Procurement in Yemen, as in any other country also, is one of the most important causes of the un-efficient delivery of public services and the waste of public funds. Therefore, Procurement AntiCorruption plays a key role in the development of the national economy in Yemen. Abuse of power in procurement, Bribery and kickbacks , Nepotism and favoritism, Collusion and bid rigging, and Misuse of public fund are some of the various manifestation of the corruption in procurement. This paper describes the procurement practice in Yemen and the constraints facing the fight against corruption in the procurement. The Enhancing of the procurement system in Yemen becomes now a priority to avoid corruption on the one hand , and to improve the infrastructure services of the people in Yemen, on the other. For a sustainable and Corruption-free procurement, HATC strategies on the short and medium term are addressed at the end of the paper and also some key recommendations.


Sickle cell disease (SCD) in pregnancy is uncommon in Malaysia. We present a case of sickle cell disease in pregnancy with maternal and fetal complications. The patient presented with acute pain crisis and hemolysis in the third trimester. Despite thromboprophylaxis, she developed deep vein thrombosis. The pregnancy was further complicated by severe pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction which require preterm caesarean section. The baby was admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit due to prematurity and low birth weight. Multidisciplinary approach in managing pregnant patient with SCD is essential in achieving good obstetrics outcome.


Covering the soil surface with opaque plastic sheets to kill vegetation is referred to as tarping and is used by small-scale and organic growers to control weeds before planting crops. There are few published studies on tarping, and here we present a review of the literature in combination with observations from two on-farm case studies, one carried out in northern California and the other in northwestern Washington. An advantage of tarping is that it enables growers to control weeds without herbicides or tillage equipment, which can be cost-prohibitive for small-scale growers. Tarping is also suitable for no- or reduced-tillage systems, which is a primary goal for many small-scale and organic growers. Silage tarps that are 5 to 6 mils thick and black on one side and white on the other are most commonly used for tarping, are readily available new or used from some local agricultural suppliers or online, and can be reused for six or more seasons. Tarps are placed with the black side up to warm the soil, which encourages weed seed germination. When the soil is tilled and then tarped, a 3-week period with sufficient soil temperature and moisture is sufficient to kill emergent weeds in the top ≈1 inch of soil and provides a 95% to 100% weed-free surface at tarp removal. When a tarp is applied from autumn until spring to a plot that has established weeds, winter annual weeds can be controlled for several weeks after tarp removal, and then soil disturbance results in germination of additional weed seeds. For established perennial weeds, it may be necessary to extend the tarp application time to several months during critical weed growth phases or a full year to break the vegetative life cycle. Tarping does not reduce the weed seed bank, thus minimal soil disturbance after tarp removal is needed to maintain a reduced weed population during the cropping period.


The paper at hand aimes at identifying the assumptions that lead to the results presented in an article by Michael Macy and Yoshimichi Sato published in PNAS. In answer to a failed replication, the authors provided the source code of their model and here the results of carefully studying that code are presented. The main finding is that the simulation program implements an assumption that is most probably an unwilling, unintended, and unwanted implication of the code. This implied assumption is never mentioned in Macy and Sato's article and if the authors wanted to program what they describe in their article then it is due to a programming error. After introducing the reader to the discussion, data that stem from a new replication based on the assumptions extracted from the source code is compared with the results published in Macy and Sato's original article. The replicated results are sufficiently similar to serve as a strong indicator that this new replication implements the same relevant assumptions as the original model. Afterwards it is shown that a removal of the dubious assumption leads to results that are dramatically different from those published in Macy and Sato's PNAS article.


Group velocity dispersion of explosion-generated seismic surface waves with periods ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 sec is used to investigate shallow crustal structure of eastern and central Tennessee. Several modes of both Rayleigh and Love waves can be identified and separated on the seismograms of seven SARSN regional network stations by zero-phase digital filtering. Dispersion data for sinusoidal wave motion were based on digitized zero-crossing times.
 By forward modeling, we find that a wave guide of at least two layers over a half-space can adequately represent our particular multi-mode, narrow-band observations. In a layered section about 3 km thick, lower velocities characterize outcropping clastic rocks of the Cumberland plateau, and higher velocities correspond to shallow carbonate rocks of the Nashville Dome. Half-space shear velocities of about 3.9 km/sec appear to represent lower Paleozoic carbonate lithology deeper than 2 to 4 km on most of the observed paths.
 Our best data, interpreted jointly with earlier data of Oliver and Ewing (1958) and of Chen et al. (1989), have a composite period range of 0.2 to 40 sec, but they represent different Appalachian paths. Group velocities over this broad spectrum are satisfied by a complex model with two low-velocity layers. The uniqueness of this model cannot be demonstrated, but it represents important hypotheses concerning regional geologic features that can be tested more rigorously by improved surface-wave dispersion data.


ABSTRACT Falcipain-2, a cysteine protease and essential hemoglobinase ofPlasmodium falciparum, is a potential antimalarial drug target. We compared the falcipain-2 sequences and sensitivities to cysteine protease inhibitors of five parasite strains that differ markedly in sensitivity to established antimalarial drugs. The sequence of falcipain-2 was highly conserved, and the sensitivities of all of the strains to falcipain-2 inhibitors were very similar. Thus, cross-resistance between cysteine protease inhibitors and other antimalarial agents is not expected in parasites that are now circulating and falcipain-2 remains a promising chemotherapeutic target.


Author(s): Samandari-Rad, Jeren | Advisor(s): Hughey, Richard | Abstract: Design variability due to inter-die (D2D) and intra-die (WID) process variations has the potential to significantly reduce the maximum operating frequency and the effective yield of high-performance chips in future process technology generations. This variability manifests itself by increasing the access-time variance and mean of fabricated chips. This thesis proposes a new hybrid analytical-empirical model, called VAR-TX, that exhaustively computes and compares all feasible architectures subject to D2D and WID process variations (PV). Based on its computation, VAR-TX predicts the optimal architecture that provides minimum access-time and minimum access-time variation for yield enhancement in future 16-nm on-chip conventional six-transistor static random access memories (6T-SRAMs) of given input specifications and given area and power constraints. The given specifications include SRAM size and shape, number of columns, and word-size. In addition, this thesis reviews 6T-cell design challenges and the main causes for failure. Also provided are several newly designed or modified circuits that are crucial for SRAM stability, reliability, robustness, speed, and reduced power consumption. This thesis also compares the impact of D2D and WID variations on access-time for 16-nm SRAM with the 45-nm and 180-nm nodes and demonstrates that the drastic increase in the 1- and 3-sigma of the smaller nodes is mainly due to the increase in the WID variations. A considerable number of simulation results regarding access-time, leakage current, and dynamic power are presented and analyzed throughout this thesis to help predict the impact of process, operation, and temperature variations on SRAM variability, as well. Finally, the VAR-TX model argues previously published works that suggest that square SRAM always produces minimum delays and it significantly extends and enhances the older models by adding both an extra dimension of architectural consideration and additional device parameter fluctuation to the analysis, while producing delay estimates within 8\% of Hspice results.


OBJECTIVE
Whole human genome oligo microarrays were employed to systematically investigate the mRNA expression profile of 5-HT synthetase, transporter, receptor, and factors in 5-HT signaling pathway in peripheral blood karyocytes from pulmonary embolism (PE) patients.

METHODS
A total of 20 PE patients and 20 healthy subjects matched in gender and age were recruited. The human genome microarrays were performed to detect the mRNA expression profile of 5-HT synthetase, transporter, receptor, and factors in 5-HT signal pathway of two groups. The random variance model corrected t-test was used for analysis.

RESULTS
Our results showed (1) tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH1)-related gene expression was markedly down-regulated in PE patients (P < 0.01); (2) monoamine oxidases (MAO)-related gene (MAOB) expression was significantly up-regulated in PE patients (P < 0.01); (3) the expression of 17 genes of 7 5-HT receptors showed a down-regulated tendency in PE patients, and significant difference was observed in the expression of HTR1E, HTR3B, HTR4 and HTR5A between them (P < 0.05); (4) the expression of DalDAG-GEF I, Tubby, PKA and EPAC in 5-HT signal pathways was dramatically up-regulated in PE patients (P < 0.05); the expression of SPA1, RIAM, RAPL, Talin, PKC, PLC and Pyk2 was remarkably up-regulated in PE patients (P < 0.05); (5) the expression of integrin genes ITGA2B, ITGB1 and ITGB3 was significantly up-regulated in PE patients (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
In PE patients, the expression of TPH1 and HTR4 was down-regulated as a negative feedback; the MAOB expression was up-regulated. Consistent with the expression of 5-HTR1E and 5-HTR4 and the abnormally activated Tubby, the expression of integrins in platelets was activated.


In order to clarify the mechanism of polyol-induced stabilization of protein, the thermal denaturation of lysozyme was studied at pH 4 in aqueous mixtures of some polyols (ethylene glycol, glycerol, erythritol, xylitol, and sorbitol) by a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The denaturation temperature, Td, increased with increasing the polyol concentration and the number of hydroxymethyl groups per polyol molecule. The calorimetric enthalpy or denaturation, delta H cal, increased with the increase in polyol concentration, but it was not significantly affected by the chain length of the polyol: delta H cal was about 30 kcal/mol larger in 30% (w/w) aqueous polyols than in water. The standard thermodynamic parameters for denaturation, delta G degrees, delta S degrees, and delta H degrees, which were calculated for glycerol and sorbitol systems using Td and delta H cal and assuming a constant heat capacity change, were an increasing function of polyol concentration. According to the thermodynamics of three component systems, it appeared that one or two polyol molecules are preferentially excluded from the domain of this protein on thermal denaturation. These thermodynamic data support the hypothesis that the thermal stabilization of lysozyme by polyols is due to a preferential solvent interaction effect which strengthens the hydrophobic interaction of the protein.


BACKGROUND
Disposable pipette extraction with reversed-phase sorbent is proposed for the fast and simple GC determination of the antipsychotic drugs chlorpromazine, olanzapine, clozapine and biperiden - an anticholinergic drug - in human urine. The method was validated and successfully applied to postmortem urine samples. The analytical run was 11 min and lidocaine was used as the internal standard.

RESULTS
The developed method showed good linearity, over the range of 0.34 to 5 ng/µl, for all compounds. The within-day and between-day precision and accuracy assays revealed values ≤15%, while the recoveries ranged from 85 to 120%. LOD and LOQ ranged from 0.28 to 0.42 ng/µl and from 0.85 to 3.58 ng/µl, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The developed method is a user-friendly technique, which is simple and fast.


This paper aims to provide a compendium of basic information that is easy to read and grasp and readily available for consultation by: students, engineers, and researchers who are not yet much experienced in stress corrosion cracking (SCC) testing but need such information for furthering their knowledge on the subject. SCC has been reaffirmed as an unpredictable dangerous form of corrosion that is often inevitable in engineering service of equipment, vessels, vehicles, buildings, etc.; even with their high technological designs. Proper SCC testing is noted to be crucial for providing threshold tensile stress information for reliable environmental SCC prevention of critical engineering structural components in service. Various standard techniques of SCC testing from the literatures have been reviewed, elucidated with few recent previous researches by some practitioners, and presented. The review has shown that basically, SCC testing involves procurement of test materials in wrought form, and production of specimens to consistent dimensions and uniform smooth surface finish. Other noted essential issues involved in SCC testing are removal of residual stresses in specimens before testing them, and chemical composition and morphological characterization of specimens before and after exposing them in the test environment for determined durations. The paper shows that about 90% of SCC tests are done under constant elastic tensile strain or load with smooth bent beam, U-bend, C-rings, and precracked tensile specimens against strain rate techniques. In order to obtain better applicable test results, it is advisable to always conduct tests with a given material type under different elastic stresses in each given environment using two or more different standard specimen preparation, characterization, and straining techniques to get optimal tensile stresses or strains by overall analysis of results. Keyword: Calamity prevention, Corrosive environments, Proper test information, Structural components protection, Tensile SCC threshold stresses. Cite This Article: Guma, T. N., Ajayi, E. O., and Mohammed, M. H. (2020). Standard Techniques of Stress Corrosion Cracking Testing: A Review. Journal of Newviews in Engineering and Technology (JNET), 2 (1), 58-72.


Patient-centered care is both a goal in itself and a tool for enhancing health outcomes. The application of patient-centered care in health care services globally however is diverse. This article reports on a study that sought to introduce patient-centered care. The aim of this study is to explore the process of providing patient-centered care in critical care units. The study used a grounded theory method. Data were collected on 5 critical care units in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Purposive and theoretical sampling directed the collection of data using 29 semistructured interviews with 27 participants (nurses, patients, and physician). Data obtained were analyzed according to the analysis stages of grounded theory and constant comparison to identify the concepts, context, and process of the study. The core category of this grounded theory is "humanizing care," which consisted of 4 interrelated phases, including patient acceptance, purposeful patient assessment and identification, understanding patients, and patient empowerment. A core category of humanizing care integrated the theory. Humanizing care was an outcome and process. Patient-centered care is a dynamic and multifaceted process provided according to the nurses' understanding of the concept. Patient-centered care does not involve repeating routine tasks; rather, it requires an all-embracing understanding of the patients and showing respect for their values, needs, and preferences.


Although the teleworking literature continues to raise concerns regarding the adverse consequences of professional isolation, researchers have not examined its impact on work outcomes. Consequently, the authors first examine professional isolation's direct impact on job performance and turnover intentions among teleworkers and then investigate the contingent role of 3 salient work-mode-related factors. Survey data from a matched sample of 261 professional-level teleworkers and their managers revealed that professional isolation negatively impacts job performance and, contrary to expectations, reduces turnover intentions. Moreover, professional isolation's impact on these work outcomes is increased by the amount of time spent teleworking, whereas more face-to-face interactions and access to communication-enhancing technology tend to decrease its impact. On the basis of these findings, an agenda for future research on professional isolation is offered that takes into account telework's growing popularity as a work modality.


Automated knowledge acquisition is an important re. search area to solve the bottleneck problem in developing ezpert systems. For this purpose, several methods of inductive learning, such as induction of decision trees, AQ method, and neural networks, have been introduced. However, most of the approaches focus on inducing rules which classifT/ cases correctly. On the contrary, medical experts also learn other information which is important for medical diagnostic procedures from databases. In this paper, a rule-induction system, called PRIMEROSE3( Probabilistic Rule Induction Method based on Rough Sets version 3.0), is introduced. This program first analyzes the statistical characteristies of attribute.value pairs from training samples, then determines what kind of diagnosing model can be applied to the training samples. Then, it extracts not only classification rules for differential diagnosis, but also other medical knowledge needed for other diagnostic procedures in a selected diagnosing model. PRIMEROSE3 is evaluated on three kinds of clinical databases and the induced results arc compared with domain knowledge acquired from medical experts, including classification rules. The experimental results show that our proposed method correctly not only selects a diagnosing model, but also extracts domain knowledge.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Background: In tamoxifen (TAM) treated patients, both CYP2D6 metabolism and low steady state concentrations of endoxifen (END), the active metabolite of TAM, have been associated with a higher risk of recurrence (Madlensky L, Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2011; 89(5):718-25). END drug development is ongoing at Mayo and NCI, and our previous data demonstrated that 1) END had high oral bioavailability in mice and yielded plasma concentrations and total exposure 20-fold greater as compared to an equivalent oral dose of TAM (MM Ames et al, Cancer Res 2011;70(8 Suppl 1):Abstract nr 3603) and 2) END is superior to TAM in both HER2 (Reinicke AACR 2011) and aromatase expressing (Goetz, SABC 2011) MCF-7 xenograft models. While subcutaneous (SQ) TAM is used by most researchers to study and develop models of TAM resistance, little is known about 1) whether murine and human TAM pharmacokinetics are comparable and 2) whether the route of administration affects concentrations of the active metabolites. Therefore, we conducted murine pharmacokinetic studies evaluating both the oral and SQ administration of TAM and END. Results: Following administration of TAM, concentrations of the active metabolites (END and 4-hydroxy TAM [4HT]) were therapeutic (Cmax- END 35.9 nM, 4HT 62.8 nM) only after a 0.5 mg oral dose of TAM. In contrast, following all doses of SQ TAM, concentrations of the active metabolites (END and 4HT) were sub-therapeutic (Cmax- END 5.2 nM; 4HT 18.7 nM). In contrast to humans, the Cmax of N-desmethyl TAM, the most abundant human TAM metabolite, was 80 nM) were detected in plasma at every dose and both dosing routes. Comparable END and TAM plasma concentrations were achieved with a 0.0625 mg SQ END and a 0.5 mg SQ TAM, respectively. Conclusions: Our data strongly suggest that SQ dosing of TAM results in non-therapeutic concentrations of the active hydroxylated metabolites, and may be a simple pharmacokinetic factor influencing response and resistance in a murine in vivo xenograft model. Given the nonlinear pharmacokinetics and differences in metabolism, the dose and route of END must be carefully selected for comparative studies with TAM. These data support the ongoing human studies designed to bypass the need for TAM metabolism by the direct administration of END. Supported by the Mayo Comprehensive Cancer Center Grant (CA15083) and the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SPORE (CA 116201; MMA, JMR, MPG).

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3781. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3781


Studies across multiple languages show that overt morphological priming leads to a speed-up only for transparent derivations but not for opaque derivations. However, in a recent experiment for German, Smolka et al. (2014) show comparable speed-ups for transparent and opaque derivations, and conclude that German behaves unlike other Indo-European languages and organizes its mental lexicon by morphemes rather than lemmas. In this paper we present a computational analysis of the German results. A distributional similarity model, extended with knowledge about morphological families and without any notion of morphemes, is able to account for all main findings of Smolka et al. We believe that this puts into question the call for German-specific mechanisms. Instead, our model suggests that cross-lingual differences between morphological systems underlie the experimentally observed differences. 1 Semantic and Morphological Priming Priming is a general property of human language processing: it refers to the speed-up effect that a stimulus can have on subsequent processing (Meyer and Schvaneveldt, 1971). This effect is assumed to result from an activation (in a broad sense) of mental representations, and priming is a popular method to investigate properties of the mental lexicon. The original study by Meyer and Schvaneveldt established lexical priming (nurse → doctor), but priming effects have also been identified on other linguistic levels, such as syntactic priming (Bock, 1986) and morphological priming (Kempley and Morton, 1982). A recent study by Smolka et al. (2014) investigated overt morphological priming on prefix verbs in German, where the base verb and derived verb can be semantically related (transparent derivation: schliesen – abschliesen (close – lock)) or not (opaque derivation: fuhren – verfuhren (lead – seduce)). Experiment 1, an overt visual priming experiment (300 ms SOA) involved 40 six-tuples that paired up a base verb with five prefix verbs of five prime types (see Figure 1). The verbs were normed carefully, e.g., for association, to exclude confounding factors. The authors reported three main findings: (a), no priming for Form and Unrelated; (b), no priming for Synonymy; (c), significant priming of the same strength for both Transparent and Opaque Derivation. These findings suggest that morphological priming on German prefix verbs use a mechanism that is different from lexical priming, which assumes that the strength of the semantic relatedness is the main determinant of priming – i.e., lexical priming would predict finding (a), but neither (b) nor (c). The findings by Smolka et al. are also at odds with overt priming patterns found in similar experimental setups for other languages such as French (Meunier and Longtin, 2007) and Dutch (Schriefers et al., 1991), where patterns were found to be indeed consistent with lexical priming. Smolka et al. (2014) interpret this divergence as evidence for a German Sonderweg: the typological properties of German (separable prefixes, morphological richness, many opaque derivations) are taken to suggest a morpheme-based organization of the mental lexicon more similar to Semitic languages like Hebrew or Arabic than to other Indo-European languages. Our paper investigates this claim on the computational level. We present a simple model of corpusbased word similarity, extended with a database of morphological families, that is able to predict the three main findings by Smolka et al. outlined above. The ability of the model to do so, even though it operates completely at the word level without any notion of morphemes, may put into question Smolka Copyright c © by the paper's authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes. In Vito Pirrelli, Claudia Marzi, Marcello Ferro (eds.): Word Structure and Word Usage. Proceedings of the NetWordS Final Conference, Pisa, March 30-April 1, 2015, published at http://ceur-ws.org


Evaluation of the genetic diversity among populations is an essential prerequisite for the preservation of endangered species. Thousands of new accessions are introduced into germplasm institutes each year, thereby necessitating assessment of their molecular diversity before elimination of the redundant genotypes. Of the protocols that facilitate the assessment of molecular diversity, SSRPs (simple sequence repeat polymorphisms) or microsatellite variation is the preferred system since it detects a large number of DNA polymorphisms with relatively simple technical complexity. The paucity of information on DNA sequences has limited their widespread utilization in the assessment of genetic diversity of minor or neglected crop species. However, recent advancements in DNA sequencing and PCR technologies in conjunction with sophisticated computer software have facilitated the development of SSRP markers in minor crops. This review examines the development and molecular nature of SSR markers, and their utilization in many aspects of plant genetics and ecology.


The Pareto distribution has been widely used to model data in numerous areas including actuarial science, climatology, economics, finance, and reliability. The exponential weighted moving average (EWMA) chart with variable sample size and sampling interval (VSSI) is quicker than EWMA chart, EWMA chart with variable sample size (VSS), and EWMA chart with variable sampling interval (VSI) in detecting the mean shifts of a normal process. In this study, we present an EWMA‐VSSI chart to monitor the Pareto data with estimated parameters. The average time to signal (ATS) is computed by using the Markov chain approach. The results indicate that the proposed chart performs better than the other EWMA charts with fixed sample size, VSS, and VSI in terms of ATS. The design parameters of the proposed control charts are given in order to expedite the use of the chart by practitioners. Two examples are used to illustrate the application of the proposed control charts.


This investigation studied 1)the correlations among pre-service child care teachers' behavioral characteristics, social suppor t and self-efficacy, and 2)the mediating effects of pre-service child care teachers' behavioral characteristics and social support on self-efficacy. The subjects were 240 pre-service child care teachers working at S-center for nursery teacher education or I-center for nursery teacher education in the Incheon area. The findings are as follows. First, the relationships among pre-se rvice child care teachers' behavioral characteristics, social support and self-efficacy were examined by showing correlations. Secon d, we found that in terms of the mediating role of social support in the relationship between pre- service child care teachers' behavioral characteristics and self-efficacy, type D and type S show self-efficacy; they also have a direct impact on the social support indirectly affected through. Thus, social support can b e seen as having a partial mediating effect.


Background It is critical for intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to develop resilient coping strategies to cope with workplace adversities. The coping strategies will mitigate the development of maladaptive psychological disorders prone to working in a stressful environment. Objectives The aim of this study is to analyse previous literature conducted on strategies that enhance resilience in ICU nurses to cope with workplace adversities beyond the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study was conducted by examining all available global literature in the context of the aim of the study. Method An integrative literature review was chosen for the study. Purposive sampling method was used to select the relevant databases to answer the review question, namely Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, Medline and Nursing/Academic Edition. The search terms used were 'strategies', 'resilience', 'intensive care unit nurses', 'coping', 'workplace adversities', 'beyond COVID-19' and post 'COVID-19'. Results Three themes emerged from the study, namely promoting personal attributes, effective relational support and active psychological support. Conclusion Enhancing resilience among ICU nurses requires both intentional individualised care from the ICU nurses and a systematic approach by nursing management that will meet the psychological needs of ICU nurses when working in a stressful ICU environment. Contribution The findings of the review have highlighted specific strategies of improving resilience in ICU nurses, which can ultimately create a safe working environment in the ICU.


Abstract. Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link; Fabaceae) is a problematic invasive plant in many countries, and while attention has been paid to traits that make it a successful invader, there has been less focus on the properties of ecosystems that it invades. We conducted an experiment in a New Zealand montane shrubland with tussock grasses that has been invaded by Scotch broom to determine features that rendered it susceptible to invasion. We planted broom seedlings into the shrubland (control) and into three treatments: (1) resident shrubs removed, (2) tussocks removed and (3) shrubs and tussocks removed. We measured broom seedling mortality and growth over two growing seasons. The site was grazed by sheep in the first season, and scarcely grazed in the second, wetter season. Survivorship across all treatments after 19 months was 42%, and was lowest where shrubs were retained but tussocks removed. Broom seedlings grew taller and had greater leaf areas in treatments that retained shrubs. Neighbouring (within 49 cm) shrubs had no effects on survivorship or growth of broom seedlings. Neighbouring tussocks increased survivorship of broom seedlings but depressed their growth. Grazing by sheep was the most important determinant of survivorship and growth of broom seedlings, and effects were uniform regardless of experimental treatments. Initial high mortality of seedlings (48% in the first 3 months) was due to grazing, and height growth was often negative during periods of grazing. In the second growing season when the site was less grazed and there was greater rainfall, there was a rapid increase in height across all treatments. Continued grazing of the site by sheep is likely to be the chief means of retarding the invasion.


Zanthoxylum rhesta is a spice tree normally found in the Western Ghats and Asian countries, its fruits are commonly incorporated in regional cuisines as flavoring agents. In this study, the edible nature of this plant has been exploited to establish its pro-apoptotic and anti-angiogenic properties. ZRCP (Zanthoxylum rhesta crude protein) was tested against cell lines of different origins, among these cell lines breast cancer cell line, MCF-7 showed the highest cytotoxicity and was carried for further assays. ZRCP was analyzed for both, in vitro and in vivo effects. This study was supported by assays like MTT assay, apoptotic studies by Giemsa staining, wound healing assay and colony formation assay. The study reflected the pro-apoptotic and anti-angiogenic properties of ZRCP. ZRCP caused apoptosis in MCF-7 cells and also restricted cell growth thus not permitting the cells to proliferate any further. ZRCP also exhibited anti-angiogenic activity in vivo and in vivo. ZRCP exhibited promising activity in vitro and in vivo assays performed, this provided promising facts about the utility of crude protein obtained from Z. rhesta as a pro-apoptotic and anti-angiogenic agent of natural origin.


Twitter is an ocean of sentiments; users can express their opinion freely on a wide variety of topics. The unique characteristics that twitter holds introduce a different level of challenge in the field of sentiment analysis. Identifying the topic or the target of the expressed opinion is the aim of this study; Opinion target recognition is a task that has not been considered yet in Arabic Language. In this paper we propose a method to extract the opinion target from tweets written in Arabic language. The task is carried out in three phases. Phase 1: preprocess the tweet to delete unnecessary entities like mentions and URLs. Phase 2: construct a feature set from tweet words to be used in the classifying phase; these features are part-of-speech, Named entities, English words, tweet hash tags and part-of-speech pattern. Phase 3: Three classifiers are trained using the extracted features, to assign each word in the tweet to be either an opinion target or not, these classifiers are: Naive Bayes, Support vector machine and k-nearest neighbor, with an F-Measure result reaching 91%. 500 tweets are used for the experiment, where the opinion target was manually tagged. Finally, a comparison between the results of each model is conducted.


Solutions of calcium chloride, calcium gluconate and calcium lactate containing 0.25 mgm. or less of calcium per kilogram of body weight may be injected intracisternally in dogs without the occurrence of pronounced toxic reactions. Larger doses cause pronounced respiratory depression and 0.40 mgm. of calcium per kilogram of body weight was found to be a lethal dose in all instances. The simultaneous injection of magnesium chloride and calcium chloride did not increase the tolerance of dogs to calcium chloride.

No pronounced differences were found in the rate of disappearance from the cerebrospinal fluid of intracisternally injected calcium chloride, calcium gluconate and calcium lactate, although in some instances the calcium level remained considerably elevated for several hours.


NK cells maintain self-tolerance through expression of inhibitory receptors that bind MHC class I (MHC-I) molecules. MHC-I can exist on the cell surface in several different forms, including "peptide-receptive" or PR-MHC-I that can bind exogenous peptide. PR-MHC-I molecules are short lived and, for H-2Kb, comprise ∼10% of total MHC-I. In the present study, we confirm that signaling through the mouse NK inhibitory receptor Ly49C requires the presence of PR-Kb and that this signaling is prevented when PR-Kb is ablated by pulsing with a peptide that can bind to it with high affinity. Although crystallographic data indicate that Ly49C can engage H-2Kb loaded with high-affinity peptide, our data suggest that this interaction does not generate an inhibitory signal. We also show that no signaling occurs when the PR-Kb complex has mouse β2-microglobulin (β2m) replaced with human β2m, although replacement with bovine β2m has no effect. Furthermore, we show that β2m exchange occurs preferentially in the PR-Kb component of total H-2Kb. These conclusions were reached in studies modulating the sensitivity to lysis of both NK-resistant syngeneic lymphoblasts and NK-sensitive RMA-S tumor cells. We also show, using an in vivo model of lymphocyte recirculation, that engrafted lymphocytes are unable to survive NK attack when otherwise syngeneic lymphocytes express human β2m. These findings suggest a qualitative extension of the "missing self" hypothesis to include NK inhibitory receptors that are restricted to the recognition of unstable forms of MHC-I, thus enabling NK cells to respond more quickly to events that decrease MHC-I synthesis.


This work, resulting in whole or in part from Department of the Air Force contract FA8650-05M-3505, has been submitted to AIAA for publication in the 2006 AIAA Guidance Navigation, and Control Conference Proceedings. If this work is published, AIAA may assert copyright. The United States has for itself and others acting on its behalf an unlimited, paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose the work by or on behalf of the Government. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner.


This survey reports on the DNA identification and occurrence of Culex torrentium and Cx. pipiens s.s. in Belgium. These native disease-vector mosquito species are morphologically difficult to separate, and the biotypes of Cx. pipiens s.s. are morphologically indistinguishable. Culex torrentium and Cx. pipiens s.s. were identified using the COI and ACE2 loci. We recorded 1248 Cx. pipiens s.s. and 401 Cx. torrentium specimens from 24 locations in Belgium (collected between 2017 and 2019). Culex pipiens biotypes pipiens and molestus, and their hybrids, were differentiated using fragment-size analysis of the CQ11 locus (956 pipiens and 227 molestus biotype specimens, 29 hybrids). Hybrids were observed at 13 out of 16 sympatric sites. These results confirm that both species are widespread in Belgium, but while Cx. torrentium revealed many COI haplotypes, Cx. pipiens s.s. showed only one abundant haplotype. This latter observation may either reflect a recent population-wide demographic or range expansion, or a recent bottleneck, possibly linked to a Wolbachia infection. Finally, new evidence is provided for the asymmetric but limited introgression of the molestus biotype into the pipiens biotype.


Background The aim of this study was to document in real life the characteristics and management of hepatitis C patients treated with pegylated interferon-α2a and ribavirin, and the efficacy of treatment (sustained virological response [SVR]). Methods This observational study enrolled hepatitis C patients initiating pegylated interferon-α2a and ribavirin treatment. Results A total of 2,066 patients were included, of which 70% were treatment-naive, 53% had genotype (G) 1 and 38% G2 or G3 infection, and 35% had an F3–F4 Metavir score. In total, 18% of patients treated for 24 weeks and 39% of patients treated for 48 weeks prematurely stopped treatment, mainly because of side effects. The SVR rate (intent-to-treat population) was 39%: 43% in naive patients and 31% in treatment-failure patients. In the complete case analysis population, this was 49%: 54% in naive patients and 37% in treatment-failure patients. Among naive patients, the SVR rate was 42% in G1 carriers and 69% in G2 or G3 carriers. The SVR rate was 69% in naive G1 patients without fibrosis (F0; versus 44% in F1–F2 versus 31% in F3–F4; P<0.001). In naive patients, G2 or G3, low viral load (<800,000 IU/ml) and age ≤40 years were predictive factors for SVR. In treatment-failure patients, low viral load, no or low fibrosis stage (F0–F1) and no treatment modification were predictive factors of SVR. Conclusions In patients treated in a real-life setting, adherence to therapy, SVR rates, predictive factors of SVR and safety results were close to those observed in randomized trials. A high SVR in G1 naive patients with no fibrosis warrants further study and might suggest earlier treatment.


This review is a critical survey and evaluation of the recent literature relevant as medical background for a discussion of hygienic threshold values for hexane. Polyneuropathy and maculopathy, as well as subclinical effects, e.g., functional disturbances (conduction velocity of the motor and sensory nerves), are included.