Computing 3D high lift flows has been a challenge to the CFD community because of three important reasons: complex physics, complex geometries and large computational requirements. In the recent years, considerable progress has been made in understanding the suitability of various CFD solvers in computing 3D high lift flows, through the systematic studies carried out under High Lift Prediction workshops. The primary focus of these workshops is to assess the ability of the CFD solvers to predict CLmax and αmax associated with the high lift flows, apart from the predictability of lift and drag of such flows in the linear region. Now there is a reasonable consensus in the community about the ability of the CFD solvers to predict these quantities and fresh efforts to further understand the ability of the CFD solvers to predict more complex physics associated with these flows have already begun.
The goal of this thesis is to assess the capability of the computational methods in predicting such complex flow phenomena associated with the 3D High-Lift systems. For evaluation NASA three element Trapezoidal wing configuration which poses a challenging task in numerical modeling was selected. Unstructured data based 3D RANS solver HiFUN (HiFUN stands for High Resolution Flow Solver for UNstructured Meshes) is used in investigating the high lift flow. The computations were run fully turbulent, using the one equation Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model.
A summary of the results obtained using the flow solver HiFUN for the 3D High lift NASA Trapezoidal wing are presented. Hybrid unstructured grids have been used for the computations. Grid converged solution obtained for the clean wing and the wing with support brackets, are compared with experimental data. The ability of the solver to predict critical design parameters associated with the high lift flow, such as αmax and CLmax is demonstrated. The utility of the CFD tools, in predicting change in aerodynamic parameters in response to perturbational changes in the configuration is brought out. The solutions obtained for the high lift configuration from two variants of the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model are compared. To check the unsteadiness in the flow, particularly near stall, unsteady simulations were performed on static grid. Lastly, hysteresis on lower leg of lift curve is discussed, the results obtained for quasi-steady and dynamic unsteady simulations are presented. Inferences from the study on useful design practices pertaining to the 3D high lift flow simulations are summarized.


We analyze machine learning algorithms for stock selection. Our study builds on weekly data for the historical constituents of the S&P500 over the period from January 1999 to March 2021 and builds on typical equity factors, additional firm fundamentals, and technical indicators. A variety of machine learning models are trained on the binary classification task to predict whether a specific stock outperforms or underperforms the cross‐sectional median return over the subsequent week. We analyze weekly trading strategies that invest in stocks with the highest predicted outperformance probability. Our empirical results show substantial and significant outperformance of machine learning‐based stock selection models compared to an equally weighted benchmark. Interestingly, we find more simplistic regularized logistic regression models to perform similarly well compared to more complex machine learning models. The results are robust when applied to the STOXX Europe 600 as alternative asset universe.


Malaspina Glacier, located on the coast of southern Alaska, is the world's largest piedmont glacier. A narrow ice‐cored foreland zone undergoing rapid thermokarst erosion separates the glacier from the relatively warm waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Glacier‐wide thinning rates for Malaspina are greater than 1 m/yr, and previous geophysical investigations indicated that bed elevation exceeds 300 m below sea level in some places. These observations together give rise to the question of glacial stability. To address this question, glacier evolution models are dependent upon detailed observations of Malaspina's subglacial topography. Here, we map 2,000 line‐km of the glacier's bed using airborne radar sounding data collected by NASA's Operation IceBridge. When compared to gridded radar measurements, we find that glaciological models overestimate Malaspina's volume by more than 30%. While we report a mean bed elevation 100 m greater than previous models, we find that Malaspina inhabits a broad basin largely grounded below sea level. Several subglacial channels dissect the glacier's bed: the most prominent of these channels extends at least 35 km up‐glacier from the terminus toward the throat of Seward Glacier. Provided continued foreland erosion, an ice‐ocean connection may promote rapid retreat along these overdeepened subglacial channels, with a global sea‐level rise potential of 1.4 mm.


There are several different types and sizes of community pharmacies ranging from large chains to small individually owned pharmacies. Community pharmacies are located in supermarkets, drugstores, big box stores, and even shopping malls in neighborhoods across North Carolina. Pharmacists are the most accessible health professionals and the ones that many patients see most frequently. Many pharmacists provide services long after other health care professionals' offices have closed. The traditional role of the pharmacist—the health care professional who dispenses prescriptions written by doctors—is changing. In recent years many pharmacists have developed services to help manage highly complex patient populations and improve health care outcomes. The profiles below highlight four innovative community pharmacies in North Carolina that show the potential community pharmacies have to improve quality, outcomes, and cost of care.


Laparoendoscopic single site (LESS) has recently gained momentum as feasible techniques for minimal access surgery. Our aim is to describe the current status of laparoendoscopic single site (LESS) in pelvic surgery. A comprehensive revision of the literature in LESS pelvic surgery was performed. References for this manuscript were obtained by performing a review of the available literature in PubMed from 01-01-01 to 30-11-11. References outside the search period were obtained selected manuscript΄s bibliography. Search terms included: pelvic anatomy, less in gynecology, single port colectomy, urological less, single port, single site, NOTES, LESS and single incision. 314 manuscripts were initially identified. Out of these, 46 manuscripts were selected based in their pelvic anatomy or surgical content; including experimental experience, clinical series and literature reviews. LESS drastically limit the surgeon's ability to perform in the operative field and the latter becomes hardened by the lack of space in anatomical location like the pelvis. Potential advantages of LESS are gained with the understanding that the surgical procedure is more technically challenging. Pelvic surgical procedures related to colorectal surgery, gynecology and urology have been performed with LESS technique and information available is mostly represented by case reports and short case series. Comparative series remain few. LESS pelvic surgery remain in its very beginning and due to the very specific anatomical conditions further development of LESS surgery in the mentioned area can be clearly be facilitated by using robotic technology. Standardization ad reproducibility of techniques are mandatory to further develop LESS in the surgical arena..


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to compare activPAL algorithm-estimated values for time in bed (TIB), wake time (WT) and bedtime (BT) against self-report and an algorithm developed by van der Berg and colleagues. Secondary analyses of baseline data from the Community Activity for Prevention Study (CAPs) were used in which adults ≥ 18 years wore the activPAL for seven days. Mixed-effects models compared differences between TIB, WT, and BT for all three methods. Bland-Altman plots examined agreement and the two-one-sided test examined equivalence. activPAL was not equivalent to self-report or van der Berg in estimating TIB, but was equivalent to self-report for estimating BT, and was equivalent to van der Berg for estimating WT. The activPAL algorithm requires adjustments before researchers can use it to estimate TIB. However, researchers can use activPAL's option to manually enter self-reported BT and WT to estimate TIB and better understand 24-hour movement patterns.


We have developed an in vitro transcription system for Neurospora crassa mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and used it to identify transcription initiation sites at the 5' ends of the genes encoding the mitochondrial small and large rRNA and cytochrome b (cob). The in vitro transcription start sites correspond to previously mapped 5' ends of major in vivo transcripts of these genes. Sequences around the three transcription initiation sites define a 15-nucleotide consensus sequence, 5'-TTAGARA(T/G)G(T/G)ARTRR-3', all or part of which appears to be an element of an N. crassa mtDNA promoter. A somewhat looser 11-nucleotide consensus sequence, 5'-TTAGARR(T/G)R(T/G)A-3', was derived by including two additional promoters identified recently. Group I extranuclear mutants, such as [poky] and [SG-3], have a 4-base-pair (bp) deletion in the consensus sequence at the 5' end of the mitochondrial small rRNA and are grossly deficient in mitochondrial small rRNA (R. A. Akins and A. M. Lambowitz, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:3791-3795, 1984). We show here that the 4-bp deletion in the consensus sequence decreases in vitro transcription from this site by more than 99%. N. crassa mtDNA is similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae mtDNA in having multiple promoters, including separate promoters for the genes encoding the mitochondrial small and large rRNAs. Our results suggest that the primary effect of the 4-bp deletion in group I extranuclear mutants is to inhibit transcription of the mitochondrial small rRNA, leading to severe deficiency of mitochondrial small rRNA and small ribosomal subunits.


The experiment is conducted on MM-1000 friction test machine, which tests friction wear property of copper-based brake materials by powder metallurgy at different brake speeds. It shows that the coefficient of friction and wear volume are greatly influenced by brake speed. When the brake speed is 4000 r/min, which is a bit higher, the material still has a higher coefficient of friction with 0.47. When the brake speed is over 4000r/min, the coefficient of friction decreased rapidly. When the brake speed is 3000r/min, the material's wear is in its minimum. That is to say no matter how higher or lower the brake speed is the wear volume is bigger relatively. With the brake speed of the lower one it mainly refers to fatigue wear; while of higher one it mainly refers to abradant and oxidation wear.


Augmented reality (AR) adds virtual graphics, sounds or data to a real-world environment. Future Head-Up Displays in vehicles will enable AR images to be presented at varying depths, potentially enabling additional cues to be provided to drivers to facilitate task performance. In order to correctly position such AR imagery, it is necessary to know at what point the virtual image is discriminable in depth from a real-world object. In a two-alternative forced-choice psychophysical depth judgment task, 40 observers judged if an AR image (a green diamond) appeared in front or behind a static 'pedestrian' target. Depth thresholds for the AR image were tested with the pedestrian target at 5m, 10m, 20m and 25m and at six locations relative to the pedestrian. The AR image was presented at different heights in the visual field, (above, middle and below the real-world target) and across the horizontal plane (left, middle, right of the real-world target). Participants were more likely to report that the AR image was presented in front of the target rather than behind. Inconsistent with previous findings, no overall effects of height or horizontal position were found. Depth thresholds scaled with distance, with larger thresholds at further distances. Findings also showed large individual differences and slow response times (above 2.5s average), suggesting of difficulties judging AR in depth. Recommendations are made regarding where a HUD image should be located in depth if a designer wishes users to reliably perceive the image to be in front/alongside or behind a real-world object.


Retinal vascular events may occur as rare complications of glaucoma procedures due to various factors, including exacerbation of ischemia in patients with pre-existing vascular comorbidities, toxic effect of mitomycin-C, and decompression retinopathy. We present the case of a 47-year-old hypertensive male who underwent trabeculectomy for advanced glaucoma in his right eye. At 3 weeks postoperatively, he presented with a drop in visual acuity to light perception with a spike in intraocular pressure. On examination, there was increased bleb vascularity as well as rubeosis. Fundoscopy revealed findings consistent with both central retinal artery occlusion and central retinal vein occlusion. Combined central retinal artery and vein occlusion is a rare retinal vascular condition. Neovascular glaucoma can occur as a sequelae of the ischemic process in the retina. Despite treatment, there is a poor visual prognosis, with the affected eye usually becoming blind from optic atrophy and neovascularization.


The present study was conducted to find the prevalence of Extended spectrum b Lactamase (ESBL) producing strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) and Escherichia coli (E. Coli) in different clinical samples received at the Department of Microbiology, Medical College Baroda. A total of 187 clinical isolates (106 of K. pneumoniae and 81 of E. Coli) were tested for resistance to any one of the three Third generation cephalosporins (3GC) namely cefotaxime, ceftazidime and ceftriaxone. 100 isolates (57 of K. pneumoniae and 43 of E. Coli) were found to be resistant to at least one of the 3GC tested. These were then tested for ESBL production by Double Disc Diffusion Synergy Test (DDST) using Ceftriaxone, Ceftazidime, and Cefotaxime along with Augmentin as well as by the MIC reduction test. ESBL was detected in 53 isolates (33 K. pneumoniae and 20 E. coli). Using the interpretative guidelines of the NCCLS, 24% to 27% of the ESBL isolates would have been reported to be susceptible to the 3GC by routine antimicrobial susceptibility methods. DDST was found to be a useful, simple and cost effective test for the detection of ESBL producing strains.


Detecting emotion from dialogue is a challenge that has not yet been extensively surveyed. One could consider the emotion of each dialogue turn to be independent, but in this paper, we introduce a hierarchical approach to classify emotion, hypothesizing that the current emotional state depends on previous latent emotions. We benchmark several feature-based classifiers using pre-trained word and emotion embeddings, state-of-the-art end-to-end neural network models, and Gaussian processes for automatic hyper-parameter search. In our experiments, hierarchical architectures consistently give significant improvements, and our best model achieves a 76.77% F1-score on the test set.


Recent evidences suggest that the activity of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) contributes to the tumorigenic potential of pancreatic cancer cells through modulation of cell proliferation and survival. However, further investigations are needed to identify GSK3-dependent mechanisms involved in the control of pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and survival. This study was undertaken to provide further support for a role of GSK3 in pancreatic cancer cell growth as well as to identify new cellular and molecular mechanisms involved. Herein, we demonstrate that prolonged inhibition of GSK3 triggers an apoptotic response only in human pancreatic cancer cells but not in human non-transformed pancreatic epithelial cells. We show that prolonged inhibition of GSK3 activity increases Bim messenger RNA and protein expressions. Moreover, we provide evidence that activation of the c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is necessary for the GSK3 inhibition-mediated increase in Bim expression and apoptotic response. Finally, we demonstrate that concomitant inhibition of GSK3 potentiates the death ligand-induced apoptotic response in pancreatic cancer cells but not in non-transformed pancreatic epithelial cells and that this effect also requires JNK activity. Considering that different approaches leading to stimulation of death receptor signaling are under clinical trials for treatment of unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer, inhibition of GSK3 could represent an attractive new avenue to improve their effectiveness.


There is widespread international concern that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and some ethnic minorities are less likely to continue education or training after compulsory schooling, or are less likely to follow the highest-status and prestigious routes. Based on work done in the UK, this paper presents the results of a systematic review of evidence from 1996 to 2011. The review identified only 14 intervention studies with a robust evaluation, intended to encourage participation and retention in post-compulsory education for disadvantaged ethnic minority groups. Of these, the most promising approaches were the use of extrinsic motivation for behaviour and attendance (payment by results), and the close personal engagement of adult mentors. Both were tried in the USA, and so the paper concludes that they should be adapted for contexts elsewhere, including the UK, and tested carefully. Given limitations of funding for research, other approaches should not receive priority.


The high-mass microquasar Cygnus X-3 has been recently detected in a flaring state by the gamma-ray satellites Fermi and Agile. In the present contribution, we study the high-energy emission from Cygnus X-3 through a model based on the interaction of clumps from the Wolf-Rayet wind with the jet. The clumps inside the jet act as obstacles in which shocks are formed leading to particle acceleration and non-thermal emission. We model the high energy emission produced by the interaction of one clump with the jet and briefly discus the possibility of many clumps interacting with the jet. From the characteristics of the considered scenario, the produced emission could be flare-like due to discontinuous clump penetration, with the GeV long-term activity explained by changes in the wind properties.


PURPOSE
The aim of the present research was to evaluate the regeneration effect of injectable-platelet rich fibrin (I-PRF) in lateral sinus lift.

METHODS
A total of 46 cases, who lost their single posterior tooth with residual bone height of 3-5 mm, who needed lateral sinus lift, were treated in our hospital for implantation from June 2014 to Jun 2015. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. In group A, Bio-oss was used as a sole grafting material to fill the sinus; in group B, Bio-oss was used in combination with I-PRF to fill the sinus. Cone-beam CT (CBCT) was taken preoperatively, the residual bone height (RBH) was measured. The new formed bone height (NFBH) was measured immediately, 6 months and 12 months after surgery. ISQ values of implants were taken 4 months, 6 months postoperatively. SPSS 20.0 software was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS
All cases achieved primary healing, no infection or dehiscence was found. No significant difference of the RBH and NFBH was found between pre-operation or 12 months postoperatively, while significant difference was found immediately and 6 months postoperatively. The value of ISQ in group A was significantly higher than that in group B at 4 months(P<0.05), and there was no significant difference between 2 groups 6 months after operation(P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
I-PRF is a safe and reliable material in sinus lift, which can effectively shorten the healing time and enhance the effect of osteogenesis.


This paper describes a modeling approach SAGM (Similarity for Adaptive Guidance Model) that provides adaptive and recursive guidance for software process development. This approach, in accordance to developer needs, allowsspecific tailored guidance regarding the profile of developers. A profile is partially or completely defined from a model of developers, through their roles, their qualifications, and through the relationships between the context of the current activity a nd the model of the defined activities. This approach aims to define the generic profile of development context and a similarity measure that evaluates the similarities between the profiles created from the model of developers and those of the development team involved in the execution of a software process. This is to identify the profiles classification and to deduce the appropriate type of assistance to developers (that can be corrective, constructive or specific).


Purpose: In order to maintain corrected nasal tip projection, strong support is important. Authors used calvarial bone graft method for this purpose. Patients were followed up about permanency of the bone graft for a long time. Methods: From 1995 to 1998, author performed calvarial bone graft on 30 adult patients with secondary cleft lip and nose deformity. Patients were observed for 34 months. There were no specific complications, and results were satisfactory. We could confirm the permanence of the calvarial bone graft in 3 patients by photography and radiologic studies for 10 years follow-up. Results: None of the patients showed size change or displacement. But the portion of graft facing the tip was absorbed resulting in loss of tip projection and short nose in two patients. One patient had fracture on the middle of the graft. This caused depression from lower portion of the dorsum to the tip. Conclusion: Despite of autogenous grafts such as calvarial bone, absorption of the bone may occur when compressed with tension for a long period. And the graft in the nasal tip not having any contact with the nasal bone may cause absorption of the graft.


The decreasing cost of implementation and increasing regulatory incentive to lower energy use have led to an increased adoption of distributed energy resources in recent years. This increased adoption has been further fueled by a surge in energy consciousness and the expansion of energy-saving products and technologies. To lower reliance on the electrical grid and fully realize the benefits of distributed energy resources, many consumers have also elected to use battery systems to store generated energy. For owners of multiple buildings, or multiple owners willing to share the operational cost, building clusters may be formed to more effectively take advantage of these distributed resources and storage systems. The implementation of these systems in existing buildings introduces the question of what makes a "good" building cluster. Furthermore, the scalable nature of distributed energy sources and storage systems create countless possibilities for system configuration. Through comparison of unique two-building clusters from a stock of five buildings with a given distributed energy resource (in this case, a solar photovoltaic panel array) and energy storage system, we develop a fundamental understanding of the underlying factors that allow building clusters to be less reliant on the utility grid and make better use of energy generation and storage systems.


Component-based software engineering offers a way to solve complex systems by dividing it into well-defined modules. Adaptation mechanisms are crucial to enable run-time reconfiguration and to improve system's performance. The practicality of achieving interoperability remains a challenge for rapidly process operational requirements allowing components to work together with others. It must maintain the behavior and data integrity, while improves the answer time. A common set of ";building codes"; is proposed in this paper as a framework adopted for data interoperability among Real-Time System (RTS) components to replace gateways. It implements generic behavioral models for monitoring and controlling system composed of dynamic service servers, service invokers, a common protocol class, a component class, a message class, and a use case class. The target system might be adjusted to the framework, allowing the software components to have high degrees of cost-effective reuse. The framework was validated by building a control station prototype system, which controls UAV missions at run-time, while self-adapting service servers according to external events. The stakeholder requirements are monitored such that the software behavior can be verified at run-time.


In work the morpholofical and functional characteristic of old age animals lymph node in the conditions of ecological crisis and after carrying out an ozone correction is presented. In the conditions of ecological crisis signs of lymphoid tissue – a sclerosis, changes of cytology and area of structurally functional zones of the lymph node responsible for a drainage and immunity amplify. It is shown that after an ozone application structural and immune answer of lymph node zones with optimization of its sinus system is modulated. It proves expediency of ozone therapy application for increase the immune and drainage functions of old age animals lymph node on the phone of ecological trouble.


Experiments with pigeons and rats on concurrent-chains schedules examined a paradoxical effect reported by R. A. Preston and E. Fantino (1991). One schedule in the concurrent chain had a variable-interval (VI) 60-s initial link, and its terminal link was a 10-s delay to food. The other schedule had an initial link that ranged from VI 60 s to VI 2 s, and its terminal link was a 20-s delay to food. The paradoxical effect--a decrease in preference for the 20-s delay as its initial link was shortened--was found in some conditions but not in others. An analysis of response-reinforcer delays suggested that the paradoxical effect occurred in conditions in which responding on the short VI schedule almost always led to the 20-s delay, eliminating the possibility of switching to the alternative with the shorter delay.


The accumulation of metal ions in organisms and the presence of heavy metals in water cause adverse effects on ecosystems and result in numerous human health issues such as cancer and neurogenerative diseases. Therefore, the development of novel platforms for metal-scavenging and rapid metal detection for in situ applications are of high importance. Here, this challenge is tackled by taking advantage of the metal chelation ability of a melanin-inspired material in combination with the near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence response of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) to surface binding. SWCNTs are functionalized by a melanin-like substance, obtained by enzymatic oxidative polymerization of a fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl-tyrosine (FmocY) precursor. The resulting multicomponent system (SWCNT-FmocYOx) serves as a metal-ion scavenging platform that concurrently reports on metal binding with optical signal transduction. Upon binding of a library of mostly divalent transition metal-ions, the fluorescence emission of the functionalized SWCNTs is modulated, showing a concentration-dependent response with a limit of detection in the nanomolar range. Metal-binding and removal from water of up to 98% are further shown via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The SWCNT-FmocYOx hybrid system presents a novel platform with NIR optical signal for real-time feedback on metal-ion scavenging.


In this paper, a discretization error compensation method in a motor drive system by using direct torque control (DTC) is proposed. Similar to a conventional current control system, DTC allows an efficient drive and a wide range drive. Furthermore, it has the advantage that its control system can be simple and theoretically it can realize sensorless position control. Therefore, a reference flux vector calculator (RFVC) DTC is studied as a system for the ultra‐high‐speed drive control of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). In high‐speed drive, we revealed that a discretization error in the DTC generates an error in the instruction magnetic flux and stator magnetic flux. In addition, we revealed that current detection timing generates an error in the estimated torque and real torque. Then, we propose a compensation method to cancel the flux and torque error focusing on the phase of the stator magnetic flux and experimentally verifying its effectiveness.


Medicinal plants are an age-old source of therapeutic agents to cure human disease. Nigella sativa is used for edible and medicinal purposes in many countries. In this study, biochemical and physiological responses of N. sativa to cadmium (Cd) toxicity were investigated. Experiments were performed to study individual and combined effects of exogenous silicon (Si) applied at 60, 120, and 180 mM in the form of sodium silicate nonahydrate (Na2SiO3•9H2O) on Cd phytotoxicity in plants grown in perlite containing different concentrations of cadmium nitrate (CdN2O6). Cadmium treatment (120 μM) decreased chlorophyll and carotenoid content, dry weight, relative water content, and root and shoot fresh weights compared with the control while proline content and lipid peroxidation increased relative to the control. Black cumin is able to accumulate Cd, but Si is also able to mitigate the negative consequences on growth and yield parameters.


Single-crystal intensity measurements on Mg2Si were checked for simultaneous diffraction by rotating the crystal around the scattering vector. The integrated intensity was measured as a function of the azimuthal angle. For some weak reflexions Umweganregung peaks were found exactly in the position of the crystal that one would normally use without consideration of multiple diffraction. If ignored, these effects lead to significant errors in the electron density distribution calculated from the experimental structure factors.


Structural reliability of electrical panels installed in naval vessels is of critical importance from the structural performance viewpoint. The electrical panels may be exposed to vibration and fatigue loadings from internal and external sources as well as wave loadings that result into fatigue crack and fracture due to the decrease of fatigue strength. In this regard, electrical outfitting equipments on naval vessels are required to comply with capabilities against vibration and shock tests, normally tested according to Military Standard. This study introduces the effect of post welding treatment, such as toe grinding as well as post welding heat treatment (PWHT), are examined through a series of fatigue and impact tests according to military standards. On the other hand, the use of elastic mounts that are capable of isolating and mitigating shock and vibration toward electrical panels are investigated. Both experimental and numerical results are presented based on the analysis according to military standards.


The effect of gamma irradiation on the features of aluminum-substituted barium hexagonal ferrite particles BaAlxFe12−xO19 with 0 ≤ x ≤ 3.5 has been studied. Optical absorption measurements have been performed and the results reflected a great dependence of the fundamental absorption edge on the radiation dose. It is found that the calculated optical band gap (Eg) increases due to an increase in the homogeneity with an increase in the Al content. Increasing the radiation dose up to 1 MGy induces a direct transition and consequently decreases the energy gap. This behavior is associated with the generation of excess electronic localized states. Moreover, the characteristic features of the irradiated samples have been studied using a scanning electron microscope. Also, all samples were characterized using the X-ray diffraction technique, and the values of crystal size, microstrain and dislocation density were calculated. On the other hand, the magnetic behavior of the samples was studied using a vibrating sample magnetometer technique after each radiation dose. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and the magneton number (nB) decrease with an increase in the Al3+ substitution and at the same time decrease with the radiation dose 250 kGy to 1 MGy.


Distant metastasis is one of the most common causes for failure in treatment of advanced NSCLC, and it is a key factor to determine the patients' prognosis. This study aims to screen the microRNAs associated with non-small cell lung cancer metastasis, so as to provide theoretical basis for investigating their roles in non-small cell lung cancer metastasis. In this study, the fluorescent transfected human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines H460 developed tumors subcutaneously, which were then in situ transplanted into the left lung of nude mice to obtain the tissue specimens of primary tumor and metastatic tumor. The differentially expressed microRNAs associated with non-small cell lung cancer metastasis were identified using the microRNA microarray and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis, and bioinformatics analysis of the microRNAs was performed. The microarray analysis results revealed that 17 microRNAs with up-regulated expression and 7 with down-regulated expression between the non-small cell lung cancer metastatic primary loci and the non-metastatic primary loci (Group A), while 20 microRNAs with up-regulated expression (ratio > 1.5 times, P < 0.05) and 16 with down-regulated expression (ratio < 0.65 times, P < 0.05) between the non-small cell lung cancer metastatic loci and the metastatic primary loci (Group B). RT-PCR validation and bioinformatics analysis of some microRNAs identified 2 microRNAs with up-regulated expression, miR-10b and miR-144, and 3 microRNAs with down-regulated expression, miR-9, miR-31 and miR-34b in Group A; and 4 microRNAs with down-regulated expression, miR-25, miR-92a, miR-202 and miR-326 in Group B, which may be mediated by transcription factors activator protein 1 (AP-1), p53, STATs and NF-κB, regulate cell development, proliferation and cycle, DNA and RNA metabolism and signal transduction pathway, and promote tumor growth and metastasis through the effects on target genes like RARβ, RASSF1 and E2F-1. In conclusion, there are differences in microRNA expression between the non-small cell lung cancer metastatic and non-metastatic tissues, which provides experimental basis for exploring the mechanism of non-small cell lung cancer metastasis and provides a potential idea for molecular diagnosis and treatment, as well as prognosis.


As winners of the "genetic lottery", beautiful people have several advantages over their life course: they earn more, find better jobs, and are happier than their peers. We investigate whether good-looking individuals are willing to share their fortune by supporting income redistribution. Using German data, we show that beauty is associated with lower support for redistribution. Furthermore, we show that attractive individuals are more likely to believe that income should be based solely on individual achievements. To check whether the set of questions used to measure taste for redistribution captures the underlying preferences, we then investigate a possible correlation between voting behavior and beauty. We show that beauty correlates with voting for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) thus suggesting that the correlation between beauty and preferences for redistribution is channeled through party affiliation. Our findings resist to a broad set of robustness checks. A plausible mechanism that drives our findings is the self-serving bias, that is to say: people tend to attribute success to their own merit and failure to external factors. Overall, our results suggest that benefiting from random luck, such as winning the "genetic lottery", reduces taste for redistribution.


Leflunomide is a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis due to its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. This study aimed to investigate the histological effect of leflunomide on the fundic gastric mucosa of adult male albino rat and the possible ameliorative role of the non-essential amino acid l-arginine. Fifty adult male albino rats were divided randomly into four main groups, group I (control group), group II treated with leflunomide, group III received the L-arginine and group IV received the leflunomide and the l-arginine concomitantly. The four groups were subdivided into two subgroups; the first received the drugs for two weeks and the second received the drugs for four weeks. At the end of the experiment, all rats were sacrificed; the fundic mucosa was dissected out and processed for light and electron microscopic study. Paraffin sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid Schiff (PAS), Mallory trichrome and immunohistochemically for PCNA antibody. Leflunomide treated (group II) showed sloughing and desquamation of epithelial cells, superficial ulceration, and inflammatory cellular infiltration. Electron microscopic examination revealed absence of apical microvilli and coalescence of secretory granules. L-arginine ameliorated to some extent the histological changes occurred by leflunomide. It can be concluded that leflunomide exerts some histological changes on fundic gastric mucosa and co-administration of l-arginine had ameliorating effects on the histological changes.


Drug design is a critical step in the drug discovery process, where promising drug molecules are engineered to be later evaluated preclinically and perhaps clinically. Phenotypic drug design has again gained traction. Cancer cell lines, a frequently adopted in vitro model for phenotype drug design, can be used to evaluate the drug resistance level (lack of inhibitory activity, for example) of a large number of molecules, and discard those that are the least likely to become drug candidates. By reusing these datasets, supervised learning models have been built to predict drug resistance on cancer cell lines. Usually, these methods have assigned reliability to the whole model rather than reliability to individual predictions (molecules). In problems such as drug design, accurately achieving the latter would revolutionize decision making. Conformal prediction is a model-agnostic method to assign reliability to each model prediction. In this study, we investigated the impact of conformal prediction on the prediction of inhibitory activity of molecules on a given cancer cell line. This analysis was carried out in each of the 60 cell lines from the NCI-60 panel to understand the variability of the results across cancer types. We also discussed the im-plications of predicting the molecules considered most potent. In addition, we investigated how the further subdivision of the training set to build conformal prediction models may affect the results obtained. Overall, we observed that those molecules deemed most reliable by conformal prediction are substantially better predicted than those that are not. This suggest that such computational tools are promising to guide phenotypic drug design.


Introduction: Open defecation behavior can be a means of spreading disease. A person's defecation behavior can be influenced by supporting factors provided by health workers, the socio-cultural environment and access to healthy latrine facilities. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of families, community leaders, health workers and the socio-cultural environment on defecating behavior in ODF and non-ODF villages. Methods: This study used quantitative and qualitative observational analytic. The study design was cross sectional design. All people who live on the banks of railway in non ODF and ODF villages were the population in this study. A total of 68 peoples were sampled who determined by themethod proportional random sampling. The independent variables were family support, sanitarian support, community leaders support, the health department team support, socio-culture and population density. The dependent variable was defecation activity. Data were collected by field observation and questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using the Mann Whitney Test. Results and Discussion: There was no difference in family support (p = 0.661), community leaders support (p = 0.122), the health department team support (p = 0.555). However, there were differences in sanitarian officers support (p = 0.000), the socio-cultural environment (p = 0.000) and the population density in non ODF villages is higher than in ODF villages. Conclusion: There were differences in sanitarian officers support, the socio-cultural environment and population density between non ODF and ODF villages.


A 44‐year‐old man died of disseminated choriocarcinoma. The esophagus was verified as the apparent primary source at postmortem examination. The esophageal tumor, but not the metastases, also contained well‐differentiated adenocarcinoma. Similar cases of mixed adenocarcinoma and choriocarcinoma have been reported to occur in the stomach. We believe that the basic lesion was an adenocarcinoma which underwent metaplasia to form cells morphologically and functionally indistinguishable from trophoblasts. This explanation would supplant the traditional idea of "embryonic rests" as the source of extragenital choriocarcinomas of the viscera. The literature is reviewed on the uncommon involvement of the gastrointestinal tract by choriocarcinoma.


We present a patient displaying a systemic anaphylactic reaction after local infiltration of orgotein. An IgE-mediated mechanism was demonstrated with skin tests and specific IgE measurement. It is concluded that orgotein can rarely cause IgE-mediated anaphylaxis.


We present TwitterMonitor, a system that performs trend detection over the Twitter stream. The system identifies emerging topics (i.e. 'trends') on Twitter in real time and provides meaningful analytics that synthesize an accurate description of each topic. Users interact with the system by ordering the identified trends using different criteria and submitting their own description for each trend. We discuss the motivation for trend detection over social media streams and the challenges that lie therein. We then describe our approach to trend detection, as well as the architecture of TwitterMonitor. Finally, we lay out our demonstration scenario.


By operating at large zenith angles, an atmospheric Cerenkov detector can become a powerful telescope for PeV gamma-ray astronomy, attaining an effective detection area many times larger than any existing (or planned) particle-detector array. The large detection area is essential for observing the transient behaviour of the known PeV sources. These ultra-high-energy gamma rays are of special interest because they presumably arise from interactions of nuclei which have been accelerated near a neutron star or other compact object. Although a detector's counting rate decreases with zenith angle (because the threshold energy increases), detection sensitivity to a faint source will increase if the source spectrum is sufficiently flat. Cygnus X-3 is an example. A very sensitive Cerenkov detector can attain the enormous detection area associated with observations with a large zenith angle and still have a threshold energy below the extragalactic cut-off at 100 TeV.


A Triple-foil differential Plunger for Exotic
Nuclei (TPEN) has been developed to measure the lifetimes of
excited states in nuclei with small production cross sections. TPEN
utilises one target foil and two degrader foils to make
differential lifetime measurements by directly determining the
decay function and its derivative at a single plunger distance
setting. The direct measurement of the decay function and its
derivative removes the requirement to measure gamma-ray intensities
at several target-to-degrader distances, thereby reducing the
beam-time required relative to a conventional plunger with a
single-degrader foil. This thesis describes the construction and
subsequent commissioning of TPEN with the lifetime measurement of
the first excited 4+ state in 156Dy using this differential
lifetime technique. The 46(2) ps measured lifetime of the 4+ was
found to be in good agreement with the 45.6(5) ps deduced from a
previous high-statistics experiment using a conventional two-foil
plunger. A comparison between the present work with TPEN and using
conventional two-foil plungers reveals that TPEN achieves the same
statistical accuracy with a 4-fold reduction in beamtime with this
particular 24Mg(136Xe,4n) reaction. TPEN therefore opens up new
opportunities to study exotic nuclei with lower production cross
sections that were previously inaccessible.


This paper presents experimental investigations into the principle, connection schemes, and the use of a metal oxide varistor (MOV) in transformer winding inner protection. Experiments have been carried out on model transformer and on practical extremely high voltage transformers with standard lightning impulse voltage and oscillatory impulse voltage being applied. Results with and without MOV in parallel with transformer windings from experiments proved the effectiveness of the use of MOV in transformer inner protection.


Objectives. Locally advanced cervix cancer represents a therapeutic challenge with a delicate balance between effect and toxicity. Consequently, there is an obvious need for new prognostic parameters with a perspective of a more individualized treatment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible prognostic importance of epidermal growth factor receptor and cyclooxygenase-2 expression in locally advanced cervix cancer. Methods. The study included 91 patients with cervix cancer, FIGO stages IIb-IVa, and were treated with curative intent according to the Nordic Cervix Cancer protocol (NOCECA). The median observation time was 7 years. Epidermal growth factor receptor and cyclooxygenase-2 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry using commercially available antibodies. The tumor marker expression was evaluated according to a semi-quantitative scoring system with a positive score when more than 10% of the tumor cells were moderately or strongly stained. Results. Epidermal growth factor receptor and cyclooxygenase-2 over-expression was found in 22% and 18% of the patients, respectively. The survival differed according to epidermal growth factor receptor and cyclooxygenase-2 over-expression as calculated by Kaplan-Meier plots and log-rank test (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0084 respectively). A multivariate Cox Regression analysis identified each tumor marker as an independent prognostic factor. Conclusion. The results clearly indicate epidermal growth factor receptor and cyclooxygenase-2 hold important prognostic information, markedly appearing with a long-term observation. We found that both parameters were independent prognostic factors, and to further clarify this matter our retrospective analysis should be confirmed in a prospective study with more patients.


Due to the fi nancial crises from 2008 to 2012, unconventional monetary policy caused an environment of record low interest rates around the world. Maintaining the low interest rate policy might be reasonable for the ECB in the short run in order to fi ght the fragmentation of the fi nancial market and the risk of defl ation in the Eurozone. Some authors argue that permanently low interest rates lead to wrong incentives in the fi nancial market for debtors and creditors alike. They fear potential risks for fi scal policy and fi nancial stability in Germany and recommend macroprudential measures beyond the Basel III framework and a beginning exit of the ECB from its unconventional monetary policy. Others warn against overburdening monetary policy. They fi nd rather that effective fi nancial market regulation and proper fi scal rules and institutions are required to secure fi nancial market stability and the sustainability of public debt and that a premature exit from accommodating monetary policies would do more harm than good. They argue that monetary policy alone will not solve Europe's problems. The differing recommendations are mainly based on differing assessments of the European business cycle. JEL Classifi cation: E52, E58, H63


Surgical and conservative treatments, based on historic and current concepts, are presented for management of Freiberg's disease and dislocation of the second metatarsophalangeal joint. A preliminary review of the interpositional arthroplasty used at the University of Texas Health Science Center is presented.


From the perspective of individual resource and social capital, this paper aims to explain how employees' political skill affect their job satisfaction and turnover intention, through the mediating role of popularity. Using a sample of 237 dyad surveys from supervisors and employees in the Yangtze River Delta of China, we found that: 1) political skill is positively correlated with job satisfaction and negatively correlated with turnover intention, and that these correlations are partially mediated by individual popularity; 2) positive affect (PA) moderates the relationship between political skill and job satisfaction, and negative affect (NA) moderates the relationship between political skill and turnover intention. The implications of our findings and future research directions are discussed.


Objectives To assess the incidence rate of relapses and to analyze the risk of relapses in patients with Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) treated with and without Methotrexate (MTX), in clinical practice. Other factors associated were also investigated. Methods An inception cohort of GCA was assembled in the out-patient clinic at Hospital Clinico San Carlos, including patients from the date of diagnosis (Jan-1991 until Sept-2013), and followed-up until Sept-2014. Main outcome: relapses defined as after an objective improvement, patient has again symptoms or signs of GCA with high ESR and the need to increase corticosteroids at least 10mg. The independent variable was exposure to MTX over time. Covariables: Sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment. Incidence rates of relapses (IR) per 100 patient-years with their 95% confidence intervals [CI] were estimated using survival techniques. Time of exposure comprised the period from diagnosis until: lost of follow-up, main outcome, exposure to MTX or the end of the study. MTX influence on IR was analyzed by multivariable Cox models. Results 168 patients were included (675 patient-years). 80% of them were female, with a mean age of 76±7 years. 65% of the patients were on MTX, with mean dose of 10 mg/week. 31% of patients had relapses with an IR of 12 [9.6–14.9]. The median number of relapses was 1 [1–2], with a median lag time of 1.6 [0.6–6.3] years. In the multivariate analysis, exposure to MTX had less risk of flaring compared to those never on MTX (p<0.05). Other variables included in the final model were: visual alterations, constitutional symptoms or malaise at clinical presentation of GCA. Conclusions The use of MTX seems to decrease the risk of recurrences. We also found other factors influencing on flares. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Motion of a biped in the sagittal plane is represented by a three-link planar model with torque actuators at every joint. With this model a method is proposed by which postural stability and four motions of the biped can be realized: sitting down, standing up, bending, and squatting. The method is used to derive open loop and feedback torques. Open loop torques are derived from the records of a man performing each of these four motions. The feedback torques are derived as linear sums of the sensed angles and angular rates. This work is relevant to estimating internal feedback gains in the human body solely from remote and external measurements.


In reviewing the results of our analyses of European temperature and precipitation data, we see patterns that are similar to those discovered in our prior studies of the United States and the British Isles: precipitation begins to increase at about the time that Northern Hemispheric SO2 emissions began their rapid ascension, while prior upward trends of surface-air temperature are dramatically truncated. We also find that surface-air temperature trends of different localities over the past three-and-a-half decades are closely tied to the amount of aerosol sulphates in the atmosphere above them. The wide range and thrust of these several observations, along with their theoretical expectation, provides strong support for the premise that anthropo-generated climate change is indeed occurring in Europe, but that it may well be SO2-induced rather than CO2-induced.


Does privatization of state–owned enterprises result in economic performance? This paper seeks to evaluate theoretically and empirically the impact of privatization on economic growth in Nigeria. Using error correlation model (ECM), it was discovered that privatization has not impacted positively on economic growth in Nigeria, and this was blamed on a lot of factors like political instability and inadequacy of the past policies to achieve good result. Therefore, we recommended that it will be highly necessary to create a supportive enabling environment if we must achieve growth.


The demand for a clean production process of adipic acid (AA) can be achieved by developing a synthetic route using H2O2 as the oxidant. In this paper, a green process with a recyclable catalyst system consisting of H2WO4, H2SO4 and H3PO4 was developed for the production of AA via catalytic oxidation of cyclohexene. A continuous-flow reactor was set up for the optimization of the reaction parameters and developing the industrial operation of this green process. The mixture of H2SO4 and H3PO4 as acidic promoter displays a significant improvement in the activity of catalyst and the stability of H2O2. The catalyst could be recovered and reused 20 times, and no significant loss of catalytic performance can be observed. The effect of Fe3+ ion as a possible contaminant has no serious negative effect on this reaction, and the 316L stainless steel and glass-lined steel were selected as appropriate equipment material. Calorimetry and the scale-up in batch reactor demonstrate that the reaction could be operated safely on scale. The process was scaled up in a continuous-flow pilot plant, with excellent yield (94.7%) and purity (99.0%). Some advantages such as the solvent-, phase-transfer-catalyst-, and organic additive-free and low-cost light up the application of this process in the industrial production of AA.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Uremic metabolic acidosis is only partially corrected in many hemodialysis patients, and low serum bicarbonate predicts higher death risk. This study determined the comparative efficacy of peritoneal dialysis in correcting uremic metabolic acidosis and the association of serum bicarbonate and death risk with the two therapies.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
Data were obtained from 121,351 prevalent ESRD patients (peritoneal dialysis, 10,400; hemodialysis, 110,951) treated in DaVita facilities between July 1, 2001 and June 30, 2006, with follow-up through June of 2007.

RESULTS
Serum bicarbonate was <22 mEq/L in 25% and 40% of peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis patients, respectively. Thus, peritoneal dialysis patients were substantially less likely to have lower serum bicarbonate (adjusted odds ratio<20 mEq/L, 0.45 [0.42, 0.49]; <22 mEq/L, 0.41 [0.39, 0.43]). Time-averaged serum bicarbonate<19 mEq/L was associated with an 18% and 25% higher risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively, in prevalent peritoneal dialysis patients (reference group: serum bicarbonate between 24 and <25 mEq/L). In analyses using the entire cohort of peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis patients, the adjusted risk for all-cause mortality was higher in most subgroups with serum bicarbonate<22 mEq/L, irrespective of dialysis modality.

CONCLUSIONS
The measured bicarbonate is significantly higher in peritoneal dialysis patients, suggesting that the therapy provides a more complete correction of metabolic acidosis than intermittent hemodialysis. Survival data suggest maintaining serum bicarbonate>22 mEq/L for all ESRD patients, irrespective of dialysis modality.


We report results from geoarchaeological investigations at Cuncaicha rock shelter (4480 m above sea level) in the high Andes of southern Peru. Using field observations, geomorphological, micromorphological, micro‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon ages, and archaeological data, we analyzed the entire stratigraphic sequence to determine depositional and postdepositional processes and agents to assess the impact of bioturbation and to correlate the deposits with regional paleoenvironmental information. The archaeological record is represented well on a microscale, and bioturbation has not destroyed the stratigraphic integrity. The Terminal Pleistocene sediments that contain the oldest archaeological material at the site, dating to ~12.3–11.1 ka, are especially well preserved and capped by a layer of tufa. Depositional changes from autochthonous carbonate precipitation during the Terminal Pleistocene toward allochthonous aeolian sedimentation in the Early Holocene reflect changing environmental and climatic conditions. Formation of a soil during the Late‐Middle Holocene caused postdepositional alterations and likely correlates to variable environmental conditions. We use these results to formulate a site formation model for Cuncaicha rock shelter that integrates archaeological, chronological, and paleoenvironmental data.


While disclosures relating to various forms of Internet advertising are well established and follow specific formats, endorsement marketing disclosures are often open-ended in nature and written by individual publishers. Because such marketing often appears as part of publishers' actual content, ensuring that it is adequately disclosed is critical so that end-users can identify it as such. In this paper, we characterize disclosures relating to affiliate marketing---a type of endorsement based marketing---on two popular social media platforms: YouTube & Pinterest. We find that only roughly one-tenth of affiliate content on both platforms contains disclosures. Based on our findings, we make policy recommendations geared towards various stakeholders in the affiliate marketing industry, highlighting how both social media platforms and affiliate companies can enable better disclosure practices.


Objectives: The objectives of this study were to use the heterogeneity of the patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model to characterize the surviving population for de novo mediators of chemotherapy resistance, and subsequently target pathways contributing to that resistance. Methods: Tumors removed during primary tumor-reductive surgery were implanted directly into SCID mice, either subcutaneously and intraperitoneally. Mice with PDX tumors were treated with combination carboplatin/paclitaxel for 4 weeks. In addition, chemoresistant models were developed by treatment until complete response was achieved, and recurrent tumors retreated until resistant. Patient tumors, developing PDX tumors, and post-chemo surviving residual tumors were subjected to qPCR arrays, RNA-Seq, Methyl-Seq, and proteomic analysis; and IHC for Ki-67 and cancer stem cell markers CD133, ALDH1, and CD44. The Pol-I inhibitor CX-5461 was used to treat five PDX models. Results: At the mRNA level, the original patient tumors were similar to PDX tumors in mice as assessed by an 84-oncogene expression panel. Subcutaneous and intraperitoneal tumors were also remarkably similar. Patient responses correlated well with responses in mice. Proteomic analysis identified 14,023 unique proteins, of which approximately 30% were murine, and 70% were human in each sample. A total of 1,202 of human proteins were found to be differently expressed (p-value Conclusion: The ovarian-PDX model exhibits consistent molecular and biologic similarity to patient tumors. Post-chemo tumors reveal multiple pathways to be consistently altered. Taking this information back to the PDX model demonstrated that inhibition of ribosomal RNA synthesis was highly effective, offering a novel opportunity to preferentially target the chemoresistant population in ovarian cancer. Citation Format: Zachary Dobbin, Robert Cornelison, Ashwini K. Katre, David A. Schneider, Karen Watters, Fabian Coscia, Ernst Lengyel, Aaron Buechlein, Fang Fang, Kenneth Nephew, Charles N. Landen, Jr.. Identification and targeting mediators of chemoresistance using the patient-derived xenograft model of ovarian cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Patient-Derived Cancer Models: Present and Future Applications from Basic Science to the Clinic; Feb 11-14, 2016; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2016;22(16_Suppl):Abstract nr B39.


The individual and cumulative effects of drought stress (DS) and heat stress (HS) are the primary cause of grain yield (GY) reduction in a rainfed agricultural system. Crop failures due to DS and HS are predicted to increase in the coming years due to increasingly severe weather events. Plant available silicon (Si, H4SiO4) has been widely reported for its beneficial effects on plant development, productivity, and attenuating physiological and biochemical impairments caused by various abiotic stresses. The current study investigated the impact of pre-sowing Si treatment on six contrasting wheat cultivars (four drought and heat stress-tolerant and two drought and heat stress-susceptible) under individual and combined effects of drought and heat stress at an early grain-filling stage. DS, HS, and drought-heat combined stress (DHS) significantly (p < 0.05) altered morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes in susceptible and tolerant wheat cultivars. However, results showed that Si treatment significantly improved various stress-affected morpho-physiological and biochemical traits, including GY (>40%) and yield components. Si treatment significantly (p < 0.001) increased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging antioxidant activities at the cellular level, which is linked with higher abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. With Si treatment, osmolytes concentration increased significantly by >50% in tolerant and susceptible wheat cultivars. Similarly, computational water stress indices (canopy temperature, crop water stress index, and canopy temperature depression) also improved with Si treatment under DS, HS, and DHS in susceptible and tolerant wheat cultivars. The study concludes that Si treatment has the potential to mitigate the detrimental effects of individual and combined stress of DS, HS, and DHS at an early grain-filling stage in susceptible and tolerant wheat cultivars in a controlled environment. These findings also provide a foundation for future research to investigate Si-induced tolerance mechanisms in susceptible and tolerant wheat cultivars at the molecular level.


With the discovery of the quantum Hall effect the SI units ampere, volt, and ohm may be realized with high accuracy by performing four fundamental-constant determinations requiring only a consistent set of laboratory electrical units. Accurate values in SI units for most other constants, including the Avogadro and fine-structure constants, may also be obtained from the same measurements.


A population genetic model with a single locus at which balancing selection acts and many linked loci at which neutral mutations can occur is analysed using the coalescent approach. The model incorporates geographic subdivision with migration, as well as mutation, recombination, and genetic drift of neutral variation. It is found that geographic subdivision can affect genetic variation even with high rates of migration, providing that selection is strong enough to maintain different allele frequencies at the selected locus. Published sequence data from the alcohol dehydrogenase locus of Drosophila melanogaster are found to fit the proposed model slightly better than a similar model without subdivision.


OBJECTIVE
To carry out a systematic review of the evidence relating asbestos exposure to the risk of laryngeal cancer.

METHOD
All identified studies of asbestos workers providing data on laryngeal disease were reviewed, together with studies of laryngeal cancers giving epidemiological or experimental evidence of associated exposures.

RESULTS
Confounding due to smoking and alcohol intake, and to a lesser extent diet and socio-economic factors, creates a major difficulty over the identification of any asbestos or other occupational effect. Not only are smoking and alcohol independently associated with large increases in relative risk (RR) of laryngeal cancer, but also have a synergistic effect with each other. Few of the studies provide details of either habit. Among 24 prospective studies for which a standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was available, nine had an SMR at or below unity, and among a further 11 without an SMR for comparison, in only one was there a clear excess risk. In 17 retrospective studies, only two showed a significantly increased RR. Evidence from animal experiments, studies of associations with pleural plaques, and autopsy findings also appear negative or inconclusive.

CONCLUSION
The evidence does not indicate that asbestos exposure increases the RR of laryngeal cancer.


In this paper we use the microscopic "double well-cluster shell model" to discuss the existence of spurious states of motion of the center of mass during nuclear fission and heavy ion reactions. We outline the derivation of the general formulae with which the ,wave functions of the motion of the center of mass can be separated. Taking Be8 as an example, the existence of the spurious states is illustrated, and the components of these states and their corrections to the energy matrix elements are quantitatively evaluated.
Through the analysis of the results of Be8 mentioned above, we conclude: although the propartion of the spurious states is only several per cent, their corrections to the fission barrier are significant, even larger then the corrections due to coulomb energy, and it is necessary to take them into account in accurate quantitative calculations. For a heavier nucleus, or higher excited states, the spurious states of the motion of the center of mass should be considered in more detail.


This is the first of four planned reports from a multiyear study focusing on the TIF grants awarded in 2010. It examines grantees' implementation experiences and intermediate educator outcomes near the end of the first year of program implementation, before the first pay-for-performance payouts to teachers and principals.


We examine positive or negative real balance effect (or so-called Pigou effect) by falls in the nominal wage rate and the prices of the goods in situations where there is involuntary unemployment using a three-generations overlapping generations model with childhood period and pay-as-you go pension system for the older generation consumers. We will show that if the net savings of the younger generation consumers are larger than their debts due to consumption in their childhood period, there exists positive real balance effect and the employment increases by a fall in the nominal wage rate; on the other hand, if the net savings of the younger generation consumers are smaller than their debts, there exists negative real balance effect and the employment decreases by a fall in the nominal wage rate.


The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw the spread of iatrochemistry. In the second half of the seventeenth century, European iatrochemical knowledge was introduced into the Ottoman Empire through translations from Latin into Arabic. This study addresses the adoption and adaptation of this new knowledge by examining these works, as well as the medical compendium of Dāwūd al-Anṭākī and the only book written by Ibn Sallūm himself. European medical texts underwent a transformation process on a textual as well as on a conceptual level, especially regarding Paracelsism. Even before that, Dāwūd al-Anṭākī's book already contains alchemical procedures and mineral remedies for internal application, which might be described as a precursor of medical chemistry.


The role of managed forests will be essential in addressing the challenges of climate change mitigation by adaptive forest management and enhancement of carbon sinks. The first step is the quantification of the forest carbon budget at large scales, which is an issue at the center of forest landscape ecology. In the aim of estimating regional-scale carbon budgets of Eucalyptus plantations in south-eastern Brazil, the G'Day ecosystem model was combined with remotely-sensed estimates of leaf area index. The spatialization potential of G'Day was assessed through simulations on 16 stands, which encompassed a large range of age and fertility levels. In parallel, the leaf area index (LAI), a key model variable, was obtained for the 16 sites by inversions of MODIS remotely-sensed reflectance time series. These inversions involved the coupling of a hybrid- type canopy radiative transfer model with a soil reflectance model and a leaf reflectance and transmittance model. The inverted LAI was highly variable, both seasonally and interannually. The inverted LAI is used as a forcing variable of G'Day. Results show that the G'Day model is efficient at simulating stand biomass over a wide range of values. Stem biomass increments are also fairly well simulated at different ages, and improved when we use the inverted LAI. A limitation is that inter-stand variability in biomass increment is not well reproduced for the oldest stands. We will discuss the implications of our work for the carbon budget monitoring of Eucalyptus plantations at large scales.


bjective :The maintenance of the correction of kyphotic deformity is one of the difficult problem in tuberculous spondylitis after anterior debriment and fusion with tricortical bone graft. The goal of this study is to find out the efficacy of titanium mesh cage impacted with autogenous bone chip in tuberculous spondylitis treated with anterior intervertebral fusion. Materials and Method :Twelve patients were treated with anterior intervertebral fusion using titanium mesh cage for tuberculous spondylitis from January 1996 to June 1999. We analized the changes in the correction of kyphotic deformity, changes of ESR and CRP, fusion state and recurrence after anterior intervertebral fusion with titanium mesh cage. symptoms were improved in all twelve patients without any neurologic complications. The mean kyphotic angle corrected was 7.3 degrees immediately after operation, but the loss of correction of kyphotic angle was 2.2 degrees after 3 months and 2.6 degrees after 6 months. We found that the loss of correction of kyphotic deformity occurred mainly within the first 3 months after surgery. Only one patient, suffered from acute hepatic failure after first operation and had an insufficient anti-tuberculous medication therapy, showed recurrence of tuberculous spondylitis after 6 months. The patient underwent a second operation with posterior fixation procedure with good outcome. The changes of ESR and CRP were not specifically important factor to reveal recurrence of tuberculosis of the spine in our series. Conclusion :The surgical procedure of tuberculous spondylitis using titanium mesh cage with bone chip seems to be an effective procedure to minimize loss of the correction of kyphotic deformity without any aggravating inflamma tory change and recurrence with titanium mesh cage, when sufficient debridement and anti-tuberculous chemotherapy are achieved.


Electrocardiograph (ECG) interpretation is a complex subject that requires considerable experience. However, an understanding of the principles underlying generation of the ECG can make this learning process easier. This knowledge is necessary if interpretation is to be founded on understanding rather than being a pattern recognition-based process. The aim of this article is to introduce the practitioner to the basic processes and mechanisms that govern formation of the normal ECG. These principles will largely be applied to the normal ECG and include cardiac anatomy applied to the ECG, how the ECG leads look at the heart and how the normal ECG waveform is formed. Examples of how the ECG changes when the underlying mechanisms are disturbed will also be given. Together, this knowledge should help the practitioner to have a clearer understanding of interpreting the abnormalities seen on an ECG.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of Semen descurainiae and Captopril on CYP11B1, CYP11B2 and TGF-beta1 mRNA expression of heart tissue in rats treated with Abdominal Aortic Banding.

METHODS
Ventricular remodeling was induced by abdominal aortic banding (AAB) in rats. After 30 days' treatment, the ratios of LVW/BW (left ventricle weight/body weight), HW/BW (heart weight/body weight) were calculated; Then the CYP11B, CYP11B2 and TGF-beta1 mRNA expression of left ventricle were detected by Real-time PCR, respectively.

RESULTS
The experimental data demonstrated that Semen descurainiae decreased the indexes of LVW/BW and HW/BW, down-regulated CYP11B, CYP11B2 and TGF-beta1 mRNA expression in left ventricle (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
Semen desceurainiae can significantly inhibit the experimental ventricular remodeling; the mechanism is related to its ability to attenuate the mRNA expression of CYP11B1, CYP11B2 and TGF-beta1 in left ventricle. The inhibition of aldosterone key gene expression by Semen descurainiae may contribute to its effect on restraint cardiac remodeling.


Existing studies of maintenance skills mainly follow one of two traditions: that within the framework of the labour process debate and that of the need for (new) maintenance skills for organizational and national competitiveness. This article intends to broaden the framework of analysis concerning maintenance skills which has so far been fragmented and narrowly focused. Drawing on findings from an indepth case study of five manufacturing firms through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey, this article argues that maintenance workers have a more important role to play in technological change than is commonly assumed by their managers and by writers on maintenance work. Instead of being passive recipients of, or a source of resistance to, technological change, they can, and are willing to, facilitate and initiate technological change in their organizations. However, this enabling role is conditioned by organizational factors such as management style, product market, organization of maintenance work, human resource practices, and type of technological/equipment to be maintained. This article concludes that the valuable potential of maintenance employees is rarely appropriated by firms, many of which are enthusiastically seeking additional competitiveness.


This study investigated the implementation of Ujian Khas Bahasa Inggeris as the entrance examination for Diploma in English candidates in one of the local universities in Malaysia. It was conducted with the intention to evaluate the suitability of the test paper with its purpose. This test paper measures the candidates' proficiency in the English language using grammar and vocabulary items, reading comprehension items and essay writing. For this study, the researchers focused on only vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension items. Educators use Bloom Taxonomy to determine the difficulty level of the items when constructing test papers; so for this study, the taxonomy is also used to establish the level of difficulty of the items. The Form 5 syllabus of the English Language was used to help in determining the items' difficulty in the entrance test by referring to the specifications of level for the learning outcomes. The researchers looked at the order of the items in the entry test, to see if the items were arranged from the easiest to the most difficult. The percentages for the Lower Order Thinking (LOT) and Higher Order Thinking (HOT) items and the ratio of the easy, medium and difficult items were calculated. The findings showed that some of the items in the entrance examination need to be revised to ensure the reliability of the instruments in measuring the candidates' language proficiency.


Diethyldithiocarbamate reacted with superoxide dismutase from bovine erythrocytes. Changes in both optical and esr spectra, which accompanied this reaction, indicated involvement of the Cu(II). The reaction was accelerated by raising the concentrations of the reactants, elevating the temperature, and lowering the pH, in the range 10.2 to 5.5, and it was independent of the presence of oxygen. During the first phase of this reaction the Cu(II).diethyldithiocarbamate complex remained bound to the enzyme and the catalytic activity did not diminish. There followed a second and slower process which was accompanied by the appearance of colloidal Cu(II).chelate complex and by a loss of activity which could be restored by the addition of CuSO4. All of the observations are accomodated by a model in which 1 diethyldithiocarbamate molecule reacts/copper center, with retention of activity, in Phase I, while a second diethyldithiocarbamate displaces the copper, with a loss of activity, in Phase II.


This is the language manual for OPTIMIX, the optimizer generator. OPTIMIX can be used to generate program analyses and transformations. Its input language is based on DATALOG and graph rewriting. Especially two new classes of graph rewrite systems are used: edge addition rewrite systems (EARS) and exhaustive graph rewrite systems (XGRS).


Background: Premature canities is a common yet unfathomed disorder. The evidence for the role of micronutrient deficiency in premature canities is not well established. Aim: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the micronutrient levels in Indian patients with premature canities as compared to controls. Materials and Methods: We conducted a case–control study in 52 self-reporting patients with premature canities (<20 years age). Micronutrient levels including serum Vitamin B12, biotin, and folic acid were assessed and compared among the patients and controls. Results: We observed that mean serum Vitamin B12 (198.07 ± 88.98 pg/ml in cases vs. 343.07 ± 143.06 pg/ml in controls, P = 0.000), folic acid (6.22 ± 2.46 ng/ml in cases vs. 8.49 ± 4.18 ng/ml in controls, P = 0.01), and biotin (252.71 ± 18.79 pg/ml in cases vs. 266.47 ± 30.44 pg/ml in controls, P = 0.013) levels were significantly lower in cases as compared to the controls. Conclusion: In view of the dark hair and many prevailing myths, premature canities is a significant problem in Asians with profound psychosocial impact. This study unveils the association with Vitamin B12, folic acid, and biotin deficiencies. Larger studies are recommended to arrive on a logical conclusion.


This paper presents requirements and a software framework for a humanoid robot aimed at speech interaction in a real world environment. We believe that for effective speech interaction with humans in the real world, not only is speech understanding and response generation required, but also other behavioral competencies are of paramount importance. Nodding, filler insertion, face tracking, and reactions to environmental stimuli during interaction are examples of such behaviors. In this paper, we discuss the importance of those competencies, termed" Naturalness Support Behavior", and list the requirements for their implementation. A layered framework that satisfies the requirements is proposed. The system is integrated into the EGO architecture, which is the behavior control architecture for the Sony humanoid robot QRIO SDR-4XII. We also present preliminary experimental results of speech interaction based on the proposed ideas and conducted on QRIO.


603 The polyamine biosynthetic pathway is a therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer because cellular proliferation requires an increased level of polyamine biosynthesis. Methylthioadenosine (MTA) is a by-product of the reaction catalyzed by both spermidine and spermine synthases and the only means of metabolizing MTA in mammals is phosphorolysis by methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP). Inhibition of MTAP may cause feedback inhibition of polyamine synthesis. MethylthioDADMeImmucillinA (MT-DADMe-ImmA) is a chemically stable analogue for the proposed transition state of human MTAP and is a slow onset inhibitor with a dissociation constant of 86 pM. The effects of MT-DADMe-ImmA were examined in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines (FaDu & SCC25), prostate carcinoma (PC3) and normal human fibroblast (GM02037) cell lines. The effect of drug [MTA (20 μM) + MT-DADMe-ImmA (1 μM)] was examined for cell survival (WST-1 assay), clonogenic survival, morphological analysis with Hoechst staining, cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry and apoptotic assays. Control cells were treated with the inhibitor (MT-DADMe-ImmA) alone or the substrate (MTA) alone. In contrast to controls, MT-DAD-MeImmA + MTA induced a significant G2/M arrest (60% as compared to 8% in untreated cells), followed by apoptosis in FaDu cells (30% in drug-treated vs 6% in controls) within 4-6 days. Furthermore, treatment with MTAP inhibitors induced significant mitochondrial damage as confirmed by DiOC6 staining in these cells. In contrast to FaDu cells, SCC25 and PC3 cells underwent significant growth inhibition only after 8-16 days of treatment. To determine whether the inhibition was selective for malignant cells, normal human fibroblast cells (GM02037) were treated with MT-DADMe-ImmA for several weeks. No cytotoxicity was observed. Thus, MT-DADMe-ImmA is a novel transition-state inhbitor of MTAP for the treatment of human head and neck and prostate carcinoma.


If Coronavirus (COVID-19) is not predicted, managed, and controlled timely, the health systems of any country and their people will face serious problems. Predictive models can be helpful in health resource management and prevent outbreak and death caused by COVID-19. The present study aimed at predicting mortality in patients with COVID-19 based on data mining techniques. To do this study, the mortality factors of COVID-19 patients were first identified based on different studies. These factors were confirmed by specialist physicians. Based on the confirmed factors, the data of COVID-19 patients were extracted from 850 medical records. Decision tree (J48), MLP, KNN, random forest, and SVM data mining models were used for prediction. The models were evaluated based on accuracy, precision, specificity, sensitivity, and the ROC curve. According to the results, the most effective factor used to predict the death of COVID-19 patients was dyspnea. Based on ROC (1.000), accuracy (99.23%), precision (99.74%), sensitivity (98.25%) and specificity (99.84%), the random forest was the best model in predicting of mortality than other models. After the random forest, KNN5, MLP, and J48 models were ranked next, respectively. Data analysis of COVID-19 patients can be a suitable and practical tool for predicting the mortality of these patients. Given the sensitivity of medical science concerning maintaining human life and lack of specialized human resources in the health system, using the proposed models can increase the chances of successful treatment, prevent early death and reduce the costs associated with long treatments for patients, hospitals and the insurance industry.


There are presented data of sensitivity to a range of antibiotics of the main microorganisms related with the problem "recurrent bacterial vaginosis". G. vaginalis are sensitive in 34% to metronidazole, and 82% to clindamycin. Atopobium spp. and HP/+/Lactobacillus spp. are resistant to metronidazole and sensitive to clindamycin.


Ruby is a free and powerful programming language that can be used to develop programs to meet nearly any programming challenge, including scripting, application programming and Web development. This new text teaches Ruby programming through a lively hands-on approach and a focus on game development. Students begin by learning the fundamentals of computer programming and will move on to mastering the concepts and principles involved in Ruby programming. Topics covered include formulating regular expressions, basic debugging techniques, and performing file and folder administration. For those students interested in learning how to do Web development with Ruby using Ruby on Rails, this book also provides the necessary prerequisite foundation and introduction.


Taxi plays a crucial role in the transportation system because of the characteristic that can be hailed conveniently. Most of the taxi drivers obtain passengers by hunting on the road or waiting in a fixed taxi queuing point; however these methods have poor performance, high vacancy rate, and several critical problems such as air pollution and foul up traffic. This study proposed a taxi carrying management system by using location based services and zone queuing techniques on Internet of things. The proposed system allows drivers to both hunt on the road and wait in a queuing zone. A queuing table is used in the control center and neighbor tables are used in RSUs for zone queuing establishment. Joining and leaving mechanisms are developed for zone queuing management. To enhance service efficiency and quality, we present a scheme to prevent the ping-pong effect which is based on the location based services, a hunting rate calculation scheme, and a path planning service for taxi drivers according to the history carrying record. PRISM is used to simulate the proposed system, and the results indicated that our scheme outperforms the waiting and hunting models in terms of number of customers, vacancy rate, and profit.


Radio frequency plasma etching of a selected number of dental materials , including glass fi lled polymeric composites, alumina reinforced ceramic , glass ionomer, and zinc oxide eugenol enhanced microstructural detail for scanning electron microscopy analyses. All four plasmas, argon , oxygen , carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), and CF4 + 4% 0 2 , proved effective, but the latter was the most effective. The etching of all materials , except the ceramic, was accomplished by the selective removal of a polymeric component. For the glass filled composites , this involved removal of the Bis-GMA matrix resin, leaving the filler particles in relief. For a microfilled composite, excellent delineation of the microfine particles contained within the prepolymerized polymer blocks was obtained , while for a hybrid composite, delineation of a bimodal particle distribution was revealed. For glass ionomer material , plasma etching enhanced the delineation between the silica gel lined unreacted glass particles and the polyacrylate matrix, as well as clearly defining regions in the matrix that were totally polysalt in nature. For a resin filled zinc oxide eugenol material, plasma etching removed the resin, leaving behind a porous material made-up of zinc oxide particles held together in a matrix partly composed of crystallites.


Issues of self-reliant development or ownership have been discussed ever since developing countries gained their political independence. The issues have been particularly keen in small, isolated island economies where resource bases are extremely limited. The paper examines key approaches to the issues such as balance of payments, industrial structure and environmental sustainability.The paper attempts to provide an answer to small islands' seemingly eternal questions: how can we achieve economic self-reliance? Or more specifically, how we can achieve sustainable development without relying heavily on external aid? Every conscientious planner now recognizes that the past process of economic development through deepening dependency on external aid is not only unsustainable in the long run, but also the process is inconsistent with the strategy of self-reliance.A diversified development model has been proposed for Okinawa. The model is intended to make full use of island's strategic locatio natural and hum an resources capacity and capability, and aspirations. It would compete in global market because it is designed to harness island's comparative advantages in tourism through promoting tourism-related "niche" industries.


Adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic devices can operate under extremely low bit energy approaching the thermal limit by varying their potential energy adiabatically using ac bias currents. We have proposed an on-chip ac power source, which is composed of a Josephson relaxation oscillator and a superconducting LC resonator in order to drive AQFP circuits at 5 GHz or higher frequencies. We herein experimentally confirmed the correct switching operation of an AQFP gate at 4.94 GHz using the proposed on-chip ac power source. Furthermore, we confirmed that the ac power source can drive approximately 800 AQFP gates.


Game theory (GT) has been used with significant success to formulate, and either design or optimize, the operation of many representative communications and networking scenarios. The games in these scenarios involve, as usual, diverse players with conflicting goals. This paper primarily surveys the literature that has applied theoretical games to wireless networks, emphasizing use cases of upcoming multiaccess edge computing (MEC). MEC is relatively new and offers cloud services at the network periphery, aiming to reduce service latency backhaul load, and enhance relevant operational aspects such as quality of experience or security. Our presentation of GT is focused on the major challenges imposed by MEC services over the wireless resources. The survey is divided into classical and evolutionary games. Then, our discussion proceeds to more specific aspects which have a considerable impact on the game's usefulness, namely, rational versus evolving strategies, cooperation among players, available game information, the way the game is played (single turn, repeated), the game's model evaluation, and how the model results can be applied for both optimizing resource-constrained resources and balancing diverse tradeoffs in real edge networking scenarios. Finally, we reflect on lessons learned, highlighting future trends and research directions for applying theoretical model games in upcoming MEC services, considering both network design issues and usage scenarios.


Four weeks high dose spironolactone treatment (Aldactone Searle, 100 mg q. i. d.) significantly enhanced the TSH (delta max. 8.5 +/- 4.1 vs. 4.6 +/- 3.1 microunits/ml, P less than 0.05) and T3 (delta max. 32 +/- 27 vs. 11 +/- 16 ng/100 ml, P less than 0.05) responses to an intravenous TRH/LH-RH bolus injection in 6 eumenorrhoeic euthyroid hypertensive women, without affecting basal serum TSH, T3 or T4 levels or the basal and stimulated LH, FSH and prolactin values (P greater than 0.10). The mean serum testosterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone and oestradiol levels were also similar before and during therapy. Spironolactone, possibly by virtue of its antiandrogenic action, may exert its enhancing effect on pituitary-thyroid function by modulating the levels of receptors for TRH in the thyrotrophs or by altering the T3 receptor in the pituitary permitting a greater response to TRH.


Minimizing the stress that nurses experience after a promotion requires an understanding of the dynamics of fledgling managers. Middle roles such as theirs are inherently difficult. We need to be aware of what can happen in moving up the ladder--factors such as loneliness, other unmet needs and unclear job descriptions evoke unique stresses. Knowing these factors, nursing administrators can plan their programs to better support their managers in transition.


A new saxicolous Orthotrichum species, O. dagestanicum sp. nov. is described from the southern part of Dagestan Republic (Eastern Caucasus). The combination of hyaline and serrulate leaf apices composed of elongate thick-walled cells, strongly 8ribbed capsules, immersed stomata that are not strongly covered by subsidiary cells, and paired exostome teeth indicate its affinity to O. vittii F.Lara et al., endemic of Iberian Peninsula, and O. garretii Grout & Flowers from U.S.A., Utah. However, 8 non-appendiculate endostome segments differ it from both species.


Data on farm characteristics and the results of the first herd test for brucellosis were collected for 74 reactor and 74 negative herds in Wellington County, Ontario. Each reactor herd was classified as either probably infected or probably not infected using the occurrence of abortions prior to the first herd test or during the testing period, the total number of cattle removed and/or the spread of reactors within the herd as criteria of infection. Statistical techniques were used to select variables which were good "discriminators" between probably infected and noninfected herds. In general, reactor herds were primarily dairy herds and were somewhat larger than negative herds. The presence of only single suspicious reactors on the first test appeared to be a good predictor of lack of infection with Brucella abortus. Among the 37 farms in this category the single reactor was removed from only eight farms and no evidence o fthe spread of infection was observed. The presence of one or more positive reactors on the first herd test appeared to be a good predictor of the presence of infection. Of the 24 farms in this category, evidence of the spread of infection was present in ten farms and seven of these ten farms were eventually depopulated. The brucella milk ring test appeared to be the most effective means of identifying infected herds under the conditions present in Wellington County.


Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the role of body dissatisfaction (BD) – conceived here as predicting, predicted and mediating variable – in relation to media influence, body mass index (BMI) and body modification strategies among adolescents, with particular attention to gender differences. Specifically, we investigate, through a multivariated model, the direct and mediated effect of internalization and pressure to conform to aesthetic ideals and BMI on engagement in body modification behaviours, namely eating problems, attitudes toward cosmetic surgery, body art and physical activity. A questionnaire designed to assess all these dimensions was administered to 843 Italian adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years. The findings confirm the available evidence on BD as predicted by a number of sociocultural and personal variables, and as predictive of adolescents' bodily attitudes and behaviours. Gendered differences in behaviours considered as 'ways out' from discomforting feelings about physical appearance are discussed.


In this study, the crude ethyl acetate extract of Lonchocarpus cyanescens has been used in the fabrication of a photoelectrochemical cell which produced light conversion efficiency of 0.37%. The result demonstrates the potential of the cheap, eco-friendly natural product as a promising alternative sensitizer.


INTRODUCTION Information Technology (IT) has played an important role in the professional services sector for many years. Professional firms such as accountants, lawyers and management consultants have used IT to increase internal efficiencies, and the expertise gained has enabled some of them to offer IT-related professional advice to their clients. Over time, IT has increased in sophistication and we have now entered the Internet or electronic age (e-age) where the letter 'e' precedes commerce, business, government, learning and so forth. The emergence of the World Wide Web (Web) on the Internet has created even greater scope for professional firms to manage their internal affairs more efficiently and effectively, and to improve client services. The purpose of this chapter is to provide small professional services practices with an understanding of how to enter the e-age by building an e-practice. It proceeds by mapping the progress that needs to be made in moving from a previous stage of organizational development to one that is suitable for the 'virtual age.' In the transition to the mature stage of development, they need to re-engineer their practices to offer online services and to maximize their intellectual capital through technology-enabled knowledge management. The chapter will focus on firms that are of a small to medium size because they constitute the greatest number in the professional services sector and reflect unique challenges. Much of the content is based on research carried out into small and medium accounting firms. However, the findings and discussions may have validity for other service disciplines such as law, management consulting and financial


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Sleep disturbance is the primary clinical morbidity of restless legs syndrome (RLS). To date, sleep disturbance in RLS has been measured in (1) clinical samples with polysomnography (PSG) or (2) population-based samples by self-report. The objective of this study was to analyze sleep by PSG in a population-based sample with symptoms of RLS.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional observational study.

SETTING
Community-based.

PARTICIPANTS
3433 older men and women.

INTERVENTIONS
None.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
RLS was evaluated using an 8-item self-administered questionnaire based on NIH diagnostic criteria and required symptoms occurring > or = five times per month and associated with at least moderate distress. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was determined using the SF-36. Unattended, in-home PSG was performed. Data were assessed using general linear models with adjustment for demographic, health-related variables, and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). Subjects with RLS had longer adjusted mean sleep latency (39.8 vs 26.4 min, P < 0.0001) and higher arousal index (20.1 vs 18.0, P = 0.0145) than those without RLS. Sleep latency increased progressively as the frequency of RLS symptoms increased from 5-15 days per month to 6-7 days per week. No differences in sleep stage percentages were observed between participants with and without RLS. Subjects with RLS also reported poorer HRQOL in all physical domains as well as in the Mental Health and Vitality domains.

CONCLUSIONS
These novel PSG data from a nonclinical, community-based sample of individuals with RLS document sleep disturbance in the home even in individuals with intermittent symptoms.