An ambient condition copper wire catalyzed method for the synthesis of crystalline polyaniline has been developed here. The products are well crystallized without amorphous trails in the XRD pattern. The growth mechanism has been analyzed indicating that copper is oxidized in acetic acid by oxygen and then reduced in the polymerization process. The proposed catalytic method provides a facile route for the synthesis of highly crystallized polyaniline.


OBJECTIVE
This work investigates cortical thickness (CT) and gyrification patterns in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) before and after short-term weight restoration using graph theory tools.

METHODS
38 female adolescents with AN underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline and after - on average - 3.5 months following short-term weight restoration while 53 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were scanned once. Graph measures were compared between groups and longitudinally within the AN group. Associations with clinical measures such as age of onset, duration of illness, BMI standard deviation score (BMI-SDS), and longitudinal weight changes were tested via stepwise regression.

RESULTS
Cortical thickness graphs of patients with acute AN displayed lower modularity and small-world index (SWI) than HCs. Modularity recovered after weight gain. Reduced global efficiency and SWI were observed in patients at baseline compared to HCs based on gyrification networks. Significant associations between local clustering of CT at admission and BMI-SDS, and clustering/global efficiency of gyrification and duration of illness emerged.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate a shift towards less organised CT networks in patients with acute AN. After weight recovery, the disarrangement seems to be partially reduced. However, longer-term follow-ups are needed to determine whether cortical organizational patterns fully return to normal.


Abstract Laboratory and greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of chemical treatments applied to Palmer amaranth seeds or gynoecious plants that retain seeds to determine seed germination and quality. Treatments applied to physiologically mature Palmer amaranth seed included acifluorfen, dicamba, ethephon, flumioxazin, fomesafen, halosulfuron, linuron, metribuzin, oryzalin, pendimethalin, pyroxasulfone, S-metolachlor, saflufenacil, trifluralin, and 2,4-D plus crop oil concentrate applied at 1× and 2× the suggested use rates from the manufacturer. Germination was reduced by 20% when 2,4-D was used, 15% when dicamba was used, and 13% when halosulfuron and pyroxasulfone were used. Use of dicamba, ethephon, halosulfuron, oryzalin, trifluralin, and 2,4-D resulted in decreased seedling length by an average of at least 50%. Due to the observed effect of dicamba, ethephon, halosulfuron, oryzalin, trifluralin, and 2,4-D, these treatments were applied to gynoecious Palmer amaranth inflorescence at the 2× registered application rates to evaluate their effects on progeny seed. Dicamba use resulted in a 24% decrease in seed germination, whereas all other treatment results were similar to those of the control. Crush tests showed that seed viability was greater than 95%, thus dicamba did not have a strong effect on seed viability. No treatments applied to Palmer amaranth inflorescence affected average seedling length; therefore, chemical treatments did not affect the quality of seeds that germinated. Nomenclature: acifluorfen; dicamba; ethephon; flumioxazin; fomesafen; halosulfuron; linuron; metribuzin; oryzalin; pendimethalin; pyroxasulfone; S-metolachlor; saflufenacil; trifluralin; 2,4-D; Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson; AMAPA


The paper presents the research results relating to the peculiarities of gender interaction in the higher vocational education, defined as being inconsistent and contradictory. The methodological basis incorporates the studies by the Russian and foreign scientists taking the androgyny as the optimal model of gender interaction. The authors present their model of gender behavior integrating the best traits of feminine and masculine behavior in professional sphere, and based on the analysis of such concepts of gender pedagogy as gender asymmetry, the gender stereotype, the gender display, and their manifestations in educational process.


Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran Determining the genetic diversity amongst the populations of honey bee is one of the essential and important aims in race breeding of this useful insect. In the present study, the genetic diversity of the intergenic region COI–COII of mtDNA of the honey bee populations in the South of Iran has been studied. We used the PCR-RFLP technique, and 60 worker honey bees were collected from 6 provinces (Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Fars, Hormozgan, Bushehr and Khuzestan) of Iran. Their DNA were extracted using a salting out method. To do PCR, 25 microliters of one pair of primers plus mtDNA were used. To ascertain the results of PCR, the PCR products were electrophoresed using 1.5% Agarose Gel. Thereafter, the DraI restriction enzyme was used for enzymatic digestion of the PCR product. The result of this digestion was to produce 4 diverse pieces (44, 55, 64 and 430 bp) of enzymatic restriction fragment patterns. The results obtained from this study showed that using DraI restriction enzyme digestion, the honey bee populations in the South of Iran belonged to the C mtDNA lineage (this honey bee race group consists of Central Mediterranean and South East European honey bee populations). Another result obtained from this study indicated the absence of genetic diversity between the samples collected from the South of Iran.


Understanding the interaction between a new derivative, its financing and the wider balance sheet during pricing is critical for dealer profitability. For this purpose we extend a single period structural balance sheet model developed in Andersen, Duffie and Song to include equity financing before deriving consistent firm and shareholder break even prices. The former is given by the risk neutral expectation of the derivative cash flow in all scenarios including dealer default, discounted at the risk-free rate. The latter on the other hand is given by a dealer survival measure expectation of the derivative cash flow, including at counterparty default, discounted at the dealer weighted average rate of capital. This discounting rate is partially determined by the minimum amount to equity funding required by regulators. We next show how the shareholder break even price can be split into funding and capital valuation adjustments. All results are valid whether the dealer chooses to hedge the derivative or not.


Public debate rages around the world as to if and when a woman has a right to access abortion services. Though abortion policy has become more permissive over time in various places, there are still many countries with severe restrictions. The variety in state abortion policies at the state and regional levels reflects the different religious, cultural, and political attitudes toward this issue.
 Literature on this topic engages with larger theoretical debates within the study of public policy. That includes definitions of morality policy and determinants of feminist policy. Researchers continue to search for the ideal way to compare permissiveness of abortion policy in light of the extensive variation, conditions, and caveats that exist within abortion legislation. A number of variables, including female political representation, dominant religious groups in the country, and women's movements have emerged as central correlates with permissiveness of abortion policy. The difference between de jure abortion law and de facto access also constitutes an important part of abortion policy research.


An increase in the amount of hair thinning presented by women has been the subject of many articles recently in both the medical and lay press. 1-3 After seeing a considerable number of these patients, particularly an interesting group whose complaint was localized patches of alopecia, I began to search for a common denominator to explain this phenomenon. Questioning these women, as to a source of trauma or injury to their scalps, they admitted to the use of brush rollers to set their hair, anchoring the roller to the scalp with a large plastic pin, provided by the manufacturer, or with a large bobby pin (Fig. 1). A relationship could be established of (1) use of brush rollers; (2) injury to the scalp with the anchoring pin; (3) development of patchy baldness. The patches of alopecia of this group of patients was typically in the midline of the scalp extending


Abstract Microbial biofilms are ubiquitous. In marine and freshwater ecosystems, microbe–mineral interactions sustain biogeochemical cycles, while biofilms found on plants and animals can range from pathogens to commensals. Moreover, biofouling and biocorrosion represent significant challenges to industry. Bioprocessing is an opportunity to take advantage of biofilms and harness their utility as a chassis for biocommodity production. Electrochemical bioreactors have numerous potential applications, including wastewater treatment and commodity production. The literature examining these applications has demonstrated that the cell–surface interface is vital to facilitating these processes. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the state of knowledge regarding biofilms' role in bioprocessing. This mini-review discusses bacterial biofilm formation, cell–surface redox interactions, and the role of microbial electron transfer in bioprocesses. It also highlights some current goals and challenges with respect to microbe-mediated bioprocessing and future perspectives.


Understanding the contrasting biochemical changes in different plant parts in response to drought can help to formulate smart strategies to develop drought tolerant genotypes. The current study used metabolomics and physiological approaches to understand the differential biochemical changes coupled with physiological adjustments in leaves and roots to cope with drought stress in two wheat genotypes, LA754 (drought tolerant) and AGS2038 (drought sensitive). The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and physiological trait estimation were performed in the roots and leaves after drought imposition. Drought induced reduction was observed in all physiological and yield related traits. In LA754, higher numbers of metabolites were altered in leaves (45) compared to roots (20) which indicates that plants allocated more resources to leaves in tolerant genotype. In addition, the metabolic components of the root were less affected by the stress which supports the idea that the roots are more drought tolerant than the leaf or shoot. In AGS2038, thirty and twenty eight metabolites were altered in the leaves and roots, respectively. This indicates that the sensitive genotype compromised resource allocation to leaves, rather allocated more towards roots. Tryptophan, valine, citric acid, fumaric acid, and malic acid showed higher accumulation in leaf in LA754, but decreased in the root, while glyceric acid was highly accumulated in the root, but not in the leaf. The results demonstrated that the roots and shoots have a different metabolic composition, and shoot metabolome is more variable than the root metabolome. Though the present study demonstrated that the metabolic response of shoots to drought contrasts with that of roots, some growth metabolites (protein, sugar, etc) showed a mirror increase in both parts. Protein synthesis and energy cycle was active in both organs, and the organs were metabolically activated to enhance water uptake and maintain growth to mitigate the effect of drought.


Hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy requires the use of integrating retroviral vectors in order to stably transmit a therapeutic gene to mature blood cells. Human clinical trials have shown that some vector integration events lead to disrupted regulation of proto-oncogenes resulting in disordered hematopoiesis including T-cell leukemia. Newer vectors have been designed to decrease the incidence of these adverse events but require appropriate pre-clinical assays to demonstrate safety. We have used two distinct mouse serial transplant assays to evaluate the safety of a self-inactivating lentiviral vector intended for use in X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) gene therapy trials. These experiments entailed 28 months of total follow-up and included 386 mice. There were no cases in which the XSCID lentiviral vector clearly caused hematopoietic malignancies, although a single case of B cell malignancy was observed that contained the lentiviral vector as a likely passenger event. In contrast, a SFFV-DsRed γ-retroviral vector resulted in clonal transformation events in multiple secondary recipients. Non-specific pathology not related to vector insertions was noted including T cell leukemias arising from irradiated recipient cells. Overall, this comprehensive study of mouse transplant safety assays demonstrate the relative safety of the XSCID lentiviral vector but also highlight the limitations of these assays.


The aim of the present study was to assess the alterations in cardiac Ca2+ homeostasis induced by hypertension using electrically paced right ventricular strips from Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). 2 Basal contractile force was higher in SHR than in WKY. Similarly, the beta-adrenoceptor agonist isoprenaline (10 nM-10 microM) induced a concentration-dependent positive inotropic effect that was higher in SHR than in WKY, which was in turn inhibited by the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol (1 microM) in both strains. 3 Preincubation of strips with the L-type Ca2+ channel blockers, nifedipine (1 microM) or verapamil (10 microM), markedly inhibited the isoprenaline response, the inhibition being higher in SHR than in WKY. However, this inhibition was minor by the T-type Ca2+ channel blocker mibefradil (10 microM). 4 Bay K 8644 (10 nM-10 microM), a L-type Ca2+ channel activator induced a concentration-dependent positive inotropic effect, that was greater in SHR than WKY. 5 Nifedipine and verapamil (both 0.1 nM-10 microM) inhibited in a concentration-dependent way the inotropic effect induced by 0.3 microM isoprenaline or 1 microM Bay K 8644. The inhibition was higher in SHR than in WKY. Mibefradil (0.1 nM-10 microM) only clearly inhibited the isoprenaline and Bay K 8644 inotropic effects at 10 microM in both strains. 6 The inhibitor of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release, ryanodine (10 nM-10 microM), was a more effective depressor of isoprenaline-induced response in SHR than in WKY. 7 These results suggest that cardiac Ca2+ homeostasis in SHR ventricular strips is altered compared with those of WKY, showing an increased Ca2+ entry through L-type Ca2+ channels and release from sarcoplasmic reticulum; the participation of T-type Ca2+ channels are irrelevant in this tissue.


We present a novel smart transmission technique with seamless handoff mechanism to achieve ubiquitous connectivity using multiple on-chip radios targeting remote health monitoring applications. For the first time to the best of our knowledge, a system architecture for low-power ubiquitously connected multiparametric remote health monitoring system is proposed in this paper. The architecture proposed uses a generic adaptive rule engine for classifying the collected multiparametric data from patient and smartly transmit the data when only needed. The on-chip seamless handoff mechanism proposed aids for the ubiquitous connectivity with a very good energy savings by intelligent controlling of the multiple on-chip radios. The performance analysis of the proposed on-chip seamless handoff mechanism along with adaptive rule engine-based smart transmission mechanism achieves on an average of 50.39% of energy saving and 51.01% reduction in duty cycle of transmitter taken over 20 users compared with the continuous transmission. From the hardware complexity analysis made on the proposed seamless handoff controller and adaptive rule engine concludes that they require only 2082 CMOS transistors for real-time implementation.


The health physics and medical services at A.E.R.E. were developed to meet Harwell's needs as a large establishment whose primary function is to carry out scientific research. The organization which evolved has proved in practice to be a flexible and efficient system for giving advice and help to individual research workers in control of radiation hazards. (auth)


We introduced and validated a method to encase guiding optical coherence tomography (OCT) probes into clinically relevant 36G polyimide subretinal injection (SI) cannulas. Modified SI cannulas presented consistent flow capacity and tolerated the typical mechanical stress encountered in clinical use without significant loss of sensitivity. We also developed an approach that uses a micromanipulator, modified SI cannulas, and an intuitive graphical user interface to enable precise SI. We tested the system using ex-vivo porcine eyes and we found a high SI success ratio 95.0% (95% CI: 83.1-99.4). We also found that 75% of the injected volume ends up at the subretinal space. Finally, we showed that this approach can be applied to transform commercial 40G SI cannulas to guided cannulas. The modified cannulas and guiding approach can enable precise and reproducible SI of novel gene and cell therapies targeting retinal diseases.


Care of the growing number of liver transplant recipients will increasingly fall on the referring centres. Thus, there is a need to define more clearly the demographic, clinical and laboratory profiles of liver transplant recipients, particularly in the setting of a centre where a liver transplantation program does not exist. The present study documented these features in 37 patients attending an adult ambulatory care clinic in an urban, nonliver transplant centre. Mean +/- SD age of the study population was 44 +/- 11.9 years. Twenty-one patients (57%) were male. Annual enrolment in the clinic increased from three patients at the completion of the clinic's first year (1988) to 16 patients in the final year of the study (1993). Time between the transplantation procedure and the patient's return to the referring centre decreased from a mean of 12 weeks in 1988 to four weeks in 1993. During those seven years no patient required an unscheduled return to the transplant centre for surgical complications or problems associated with immuno-suppressive therapy. In conclusion, these data provide a profile of liver transplant patients attending a nonliver transplant centre for follow-up and support the concept that nontransplant centres are capable of providing safe and, in terms of travel, less expensive care for liver transplant recipients.


An algorithm for the numerical solution of general systems of complex linear equations in the $l_\infty $, or Chebyshev, norm is presented. The objective is to find complex values for the unknowns so that the maximum magnitude residual of the system is a minimum. The unknowns are required to satisfy certain convex constraints; in particular, bounds on the magnitudes of the unknowns are imposed. In the algorithm presented here, this problem is replaced by a linear program generated in such a way that the relative error between its solution and a solution of the original problem can be estimated. The maximum relative error can easily be made as small as desired by selecting an appropriate linear program. Order of magnitude improvements in both computation time and computer storage requirements in an implementation of the simplex algorithm to this linear program are presented. Three numerical examples are included, one of which is a complex function approximation problem.


Abstract
For most students in school, social studies are considered difficult subjects, although not a few enjoy this lesson. Many of the school students, especially elementary schools, are the basic level of all education that children will undergo complaining about social studies. They consider IPS as a difficult and tedious lesson. Moreover, if they get a score below the average. If this situation continues to the level of education, then, throughout their education they consider Ips to be the scariest lesson. In fact, IPS is actually an exciting lesson especially for elementary students.
In general, this activity aims to determine the role of the Jigsaw type cooperative learning model in improving the learning achievement of fifth grade students and to find out how the impact of using the Jigsaw type cooperative learning model on student achievement in social studies learning. The benefit of this activity is to provide information about the use of the Jigsaw type cooperative learning model in social studies learning.
To achieve the objectives set in the study used a descriptive qualitative method by using observational data analysis and social studies learning data to increase from the initial cycle to the second cycle. In the initial cycle = 59.4, Cycle I = 75.4, Cycle II = 79.04. Thus, it can be concluded that the use of the Jigsaw type cooperative learning method in social studies learning can increase the fifth grade students of MI Darul Ulum, East Toba Village, Sokobanah District, Sampang Regency.

Keywords: Cooperative Model, Type Jigsaw


The most important factor of the traffic accident on the wet road is a tire slip caused by hydroplaning. Meanwhile, hydroplaning characteristics are influenced very greatly by the vehicle velocity, so it is very important to reveal the relation between hydroplaning and the vehicle velocity. Since the experiment study is considerably limited, recently the numerical simulation using finite element method(FEM) and finite volume method(FVM) is widely adopted. In this paper, the effect of the vehicle velocity on the hydroplaning characteristics is investigated through the hydroplaning analysis using MSC/Dytran.


We propose Roadscape-based Route Recommender System (R3), which provides diversified roadscapebased routes. Given starting and destination points, R3 provides four types of roadscape-based routes: rural-, mountainous-, waterside-, and urban-prior routes. To reduce the computational cost, we propose a coarse-to-fine route search approach that consists of a roadscape-based clustering method, roadscape cluster graph, coarse-grained route search, and fine-grained route search. We evaluated the performance of R3 using network data for real roads. The experimental results qualitatively show the validity of the generated roadscape clusters by comparing them with Google satellite maps and Google Street View images. The results also show the validity of the roadscape-based route recommendations. Furthermore, the results show that using a coarse-grained route search can significantly reduce the route search time. Finally, we quantitatively evaluate R3 from the perspective of users. The results show that R3 can appropriately recommend roadscape-based routes for given scenarios.


Feature selection aims to nd ways to single out the subset of features which best represents the phenomenon at hand and improves performance. This paper presents an approach based on evolutionary computation and the associative paradigm for classi cation. A wrapperstyle search guided by a genetic algorithm uses the Hybrid Associative Classi er to evaluate candidate solutions and thus approximate the optimal feature subset for di erent data sets. The results suggest that this is a feasible approach for feature selection, obtaining solutions equal or similar to the optimal solution while evaluating a relatively small fraction of the search space.


PURPOSE
In radiation therapy, measurement of off-axis and peripheral dose is a tedious task. The dose distribution along the beam central axis give only part of the information required for an accurate dose description inside the patient. Dose distributions in 2-D and 3-D are determined with central axis data in conjunction with off-axis dose profiles. Combining a central axis dose distribution with off-axis data results in volume dose matrix that provides 2-D and 3-D information on dose distribution. By considering the importance of these two parameters this study investigates and compares the off axis and peripheral dose measurement using Ionization chamber, MOSFET, Radiochromic film and EDR2 film.

METHODS
In the measurement of off-axis and peripheral doses 0.6cc farmer type chamber, EDR-2 film, MD-55 radiochromic film and MOSFET detectors were used for both 6MV and 15MV beams. The off-axis and peripheral dose was measured at every 1 cm interval by changing the position of the couch without disturbing the other experimental setup in particular, the phantom with detector position.

RESULTS
Readings were obtained for both 6MV and 15MV photon beams at SSD technique for various field size using MOSFET, Ionization chamber and Radiochromic film. The results shows the percentage difference between various detectors for various field sizes. For Peripheral dose measurement were taken from the edge of the field size and for off axis it is measured form central axis dose.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, our study shows that no detector is ideal and only a comparison between different detectors highlights the weaknesses of each detector. MOSFET provides adequate dose assessment in off-axis and peripheral regions in 6MV and 15MV photon beams. Film dosimetry in general a convenient method to generate one- and two-dimensional dose distributions. The result of this indicates that MOSFET is flexible tool for relative dosimetry as films.


The Paris Climate Agreement can be seen as illustrating the evolution of how legal norms are enforced in international law. While the Agreement benefits from a carefully thought-out enforcement mechanism in the international legal order, with techniques that encourage compliance rather than sanction non-compliance, its enforcement is also supported by domestic legal orders. Indeed, the Paris Agreement benefits from both hard and soft enforcement mechanisms. Here, all techniques and all actors have a role to play. This contribution shows that in order to discern the enforcement mechanisms attached to a legal instrument, it is sometimes necessary to take a global and complex look at all legal orders, techniques and actors, since they can act in a complementary manner.


Measuring perceived service quality continues to be a controversial topic in management literature. Brady and Cronin's (2001) hierarchical and multidimensional model overcame several limitations of previously proposed models. Nevertheless, Brady and Cronin's conceptualisation has been the object of substantial criticism. This research describes the most important limitations of the Brady and Cronin's (2001) model, pointing out some newly identified drawbacks to this kind of conceptualisation and to using the methodology for analysing service quality models. To overcome these shortcomings, a new procedure is proposed, based on the proper identification of service quality attributes and on the study of unobserved heterogeneity in customer perceptions. An application of this procedure to the insurance industry shows the possible advantages of using this method for studying perceived quality in services. The results of the empirical study confirm the presence of several latent classes formed by customers with disparate service quality perceptions.


Asia's sports-mediascapes are increasingly globalized and regionalized, as are the roles played specifically by global sports in the processes of reconstituting national imaginaries among local populations as they undergo the larger experience of globalization. As such, the thesis of "glocalization" developed by Roland Robertson informs the essays in this special issue that tackle recent trends in sports culture in Asian localities, engaged in a global arena. As Asian locales host mega sporting events and new mediscapes for the glocal sports industry, glocal sports fan, and the glocal athlete, the essays in this special issue propose crucial concerns for the discipline of sports studies.


Adenocarcinomas are malignant tumors with glandular growth and/or supposed intracellular mucin as identified by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) positivity. Gastric signet ring cell carcinomas are classified as diffuse type. A proportion of diffuse-type adenocarcinomas have previously been suggested to be of neuroendocrine origin. In the present study we examined gastric signet ring cell carcinomas for neuroendocrine differentiation. Of 11 gastric signet ring cell carcinomas, 8 contained areas with PAS-positive signet ring cells that also were immunoreactive for one or several neuroendocrine markers: synaptophysin, chromogranin A, and histidine decarboxylase, the latter an enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cell marker. Whereas PAS positivity was located in the central cytoplasm, neuroendocrine immunoreactivity was often located as a rim surrounding an otherwise non-immunoreactive cytoplasm, presumed to represent the area with PAS-positive material. These findings indicate that signet ring cell carcinomas could be of neuroendocrine origin. We propose that signet ring cell carcinomas develop by gradual dedifferentiation from ECL cells via signet ring cells with neuroendocrine immunoreactivity toward signet ring cells where the cytoplasm mainly consists of PAS-positive material. This finding could have implications for the classification and understanding of gastric carcinogenesis.


The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric proprieties of the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II (PDMS-2) (FOLIO; FEWELL, 2000), using a Portuguese sample group. The Portuguese version of PDMS-2 was applied, according to the manual guidelines of PDMS-2, to 540 children, aged 36 to 71 months from fifteen preschools. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (S-Bχ2=3.3, p=.349; CFI =1.0, NFI =.99, NNFI=.99, RMSEA =.013) support that the Portuguese version presents a model of two factors (Fine and Gross Motor) as does the original version. Most of the subtests showed a good internal consistency (α = .76 to .95) and good test-retest reliability (ICC = .85 to .95).  These findings indicate that the Portuguese version PDMS-2 is an accurate and valid tool to assess the gross and fine motor skills of Portuguese preschoolers.


Mounting scientific evidence documents that bereavement by suicide can have a powerful and sometimes devastating impact on survivors. Accordingly, the Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention in the United States has recently worked to formulate national guidelines to mitigate the harmful after-effects of suicide in social and family systems. The present article addresses one of four strategic directions addressed by the Task Force, namely the development of goals and objectives for surveillance, research and evaluation of the impact of suicide loss. Recommendations range from methodological guidelines for the conduct of future studies to specific content areas of research relevant to the design and implementation of public health, peer support and professional psychotherapeutic attention for communities, families and individuals affected by suicide loss.


The syntheses of a series of 3, 5-diaryl-4H-1, 2, 4 -triazole derivatives are described. A total of six new compounds were synthesized and characterized by IR, PMR, MS spectral data and elemental analyses. All newly synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity against S. aureus, E. coli, B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa . Compounds containing aryl substituents at position six and the 1, 2, 4- triaz ole moiety at position one or two showed reasonable antibacterial activity.


In a linear stochastic bandit model, each arm is a vector in an Euclidean space and the observed return at each time step is an unknown linear function of the chosen arm at that time step. In this paper, we investigate the problem of learning the best arm in a linear stochastic bandit model, where each arm's expected reward is an unknown linear function of the projection of the arm onto a subspace. We call this the projection reward. Unlike the classical linear bandit problem in which the observed return corresponds to the reward, the projection reward at each time step is unobservable. Such a model is useful in recommendation applications where the observed return includes corruption by each individual's biases, which we wish to exclude in the learned model. In the case where there are finitely many arms, we develop a strategy to achieve $O(|\bbD|\log n)$ regret, where $n$ is the number of time steps and $|\bbD|$ is the number of arms. In the case where each arm is chosen from an infinite compact set, our strategy achieves $O(n^{2/3}(\log{n})^{1/2})$ regret. Experiments verify the efficiency of our strategy.


Fifteen wethers (average BW 45.0 kg), fitted with abomasal and ileal cannulas, were fed a 70% concentrate diet alone or supplemented with 23 ppm of lasalocid or 23 ppm of monensin, DM basis. Wethers were fed 398 g of DM twice daily during a 10-d preliminary period, a 10-d total collection period, and a 6-d digesta collection period. During the total collection period, feed, feces, and urine were collected daily and composited. During the digesta collection, abomasal and ileal digesta and feces were collected at 12-h intervals, advancing 2 h each day, and composited. Feeding lasalocid and monensin increased (P < .01) urinary Mg excretion 17% and 19%, respectively. Lasalocid and monensin did not alter Ca and P metabolism. Feeding lasalocid decreased (P < .05) urinary excretion of Na 29%, whereas feeding monensin tended (P < .10) to increase it, compared with sheep fed the control diet. The effects of lasalocid and monensin were different for several variables compared with controls. Lasalocid and monensin altered absorption at different sites, overall absorption, and retention of minerals in sheep.


From Introduction: "Scattered throughout the Colorado Front Range, there are many small copper deposits, believed to be of pre-Cambrian age. The have been widely prospected but have produced little or no ore. In one of these, the Copper King mine, near Gold Hill, Colo., nickel was discovered in 1930, and development in the following years has exposed some 25,000 tons of ore containing from 2 to 3 percent of nickel. No other nickel deposit is known in the Front Range, but a somewhat similar deposit has been opened in Gem mine, near Canon City and about 120 miles south of Gold Hill."


A robust dual color images watermarking algorithm is designed based on quaternion discrete fractional angular transform (QDFrAT) and genetic algorithm. To guarantee the watermark security, the original color watermark image is encrypted with a 4D hyperchaotic system. A pure quaternion matrix is acquired by performing the discrete wavelet transform (DWT), the block division and the discrete cosine transform on the original color cover image. The quaternion matrix is op-erated by the QDFrAT to improve the robustness and the security of the watermarking scheme with the optimal transform angle and the fractional order. Then the singular value matrix is obtained by the quaternion singular value decomposition (QSVD) to further enhance the scheme's stability. The encryption watermark is also processed by DWT and QSVD. Afterward, the singular value matrix of the encryption watermark is embedded into the singular value matrix of the host image by the optimal scaling factor. Moreover, the values to balance imperceptibility and robustness are optimized with a genetic algorithm. It is shown that the proposed color image watermarking scheme performs well in imperceptibility, security, robustness and embedding capacity.


Background: Preconditioning intensity, donor choice and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for advanced myelofibrosis (MF) have not been fully elucidated. Methods: Thirty-five patients with advanced MF were treated with reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allo-HCT. We searched for matched sibling donors first, followed by matched or mismatched unrelated donors and familial mismatched donors. Preconditioning regimen consisted of fludarabine (total 150 mg/m2) and busulfan (total 6.4 mg/kg) with total body irradiation ⩽400cGy. Results: All showed engraftments, but four showed either leukemic relapse or delayed graft failure. Two-year overall survival (OS) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) was 60.0% and 29.9%, respectively. Acute GVHD was observed in 19 patients, and grade III–IV acute GVHD (eight grade III and four grade IV) was higher in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched donor HCT compared with HLA-matched HCT (70% versus 20%). Chronic GVHD was observed in 16 patients, and a cumulative incidence of severe chronic GVHD was 33% in HLA-mismatched donor HCT and 7.7% in HLA-matched HCT. Significant hepatic GVHD was observed in nine patients (five acute, four chronic) and six of them died. Multivariate analysis revealed inferior OS in HLA-mismatched donor HCT (hazard ratio (HR) = 6.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6–25.7, p = 0.009) and in patients with high ferritin level at the time of pre-conditioning period (HR = 7.22, 95% CI 1.9–27.5, p = 0.004), which were related to higher incidence of hepatic GVHD with high NRM rate. Conclusion: RIC allo-HCT can be a valid choice providing graft-versus-fibrosis effect for advanced MF patients. However, HLA-mismatched donor and high pre-HCT ferritin level related to fatal hepatic GVHD should be regarded as poor-risk parameters.


A detailed investigation of various physical contributions to the refractive index change due to injection of free carriers and their effect on the wavelength tuning in a three-section InGaAsP/InP semiconductor tunable laser diode (TLD) is carried out using Crosslight PICS3D software. A comprehensive numerical model of a TLD is presented with the wavelength tuning based on a simultaneous consideration of optical and free carrier transport phenomena. The main difference of our study from most of the previous works is that the investigation is applied to the operating multisection active device rather than to a device with a predetermined refractive index change used as the input parameter. The only inputs in our model are the injection currents at the contacts of each section. We have demonstrated possibility of 30 nm discontinuous and 15 nm continuous tuning in the optimized TLD. We study the influence of design parameters, such as the coupling coefficient κ and Bragg section length L, on the tuning performance of the Bragg section of the TLD. The tuning performance of the TLD depends strongly on the mutual positions of the peak gain wavelength and the Bragg wavelength at the beginning of the tuning. The tuning range is strongly affected by the material composition of the Bragg grating. We found that wavelength tuning saturation may take place in typical devices in spite of the continuing change of the effective refractive index with the current injection. It is shown that with careful design optimization and selection of κ and L, the saturation effect can be completely eliminated and the tuning range of the TLD can be increased up to two to three times.


Background/Aims: Vascular smooth muscle cells contribute both to the structure and function of arteries, but are also involved in pathologic changes that accompany inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. Since inflammation is associated with oxidant stress, we examined the uptake and cellular effects of the antioxidant vitamin ascorbic acid in cultured A10 vascular smooth muscle cells. Methods/Results: A10 cells concentrated ascorbate against a gradient in a sodium-dependent manner, most likely on the sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter type 2 (SVCT2) ascorbate transporter, which was present in immunoblots of cell extracts. Although ascorbate did not affect A10 cell proliferation, it stimulated radiolabeled proline incorporation and type I collagen synthesis. The latter was evident in the cells as increases in proα1(I) collagen and conversion of proα1(I) and proα2(I) collagen to mature forms that were released from the cells and deposited as extracellular matrix. Intracellular type I procollagen maturation was optimal at intracellular ascorbate concentrations of 200 μM and below, which were readily achieved by culture of the cells at plasma physiologic ascorbate concentrations. Conclusion: These results show that the SVCT2 facilitates ascorbate uptake by vascular smooth muscle cells, which in turn increases both the synthesis and maturation of type I collagen.


ABSTRACT Currently, a national TEEB study is being conducted in Germany. However, it lacks an overall estimation of ecosystem service value (ESV) at the national level. In this paper, we estimate the ESV in Germany based on the national land cover data and the unit value transfer method and examine the relationships between ESV and gross domestic product (GDP). The results indicate that the total ESV amounts to 248,895 million US$/yr, accounting for 7.91% of the sum of ESV and GDP. Cropland with 111,704 million US$/yr makes the largest contribution to the total ESV, and the second largest state, Lower Saxony, has the greatest ESV of 60,346 million US$/yr. In addition, a spatial pattern that distinguishes four regions in terms of the relationship between ESV and GDP at the district level is identified. This study illustrates the overall status of ecosystem services at the current point of time in Germany, raises public awareness about the magnitude of these services relative to other services captured in GDP, and implies suggestions for future research and ecological policy.


When investigating lateral violence in the Indigenous Australian arts sector, I was struck by three key findings. The first was a confirmation by way of confidential disclosures as to how widespread it is. The second was general reluctance to come forward for fear of retribution primarily in the form of further loss of opportunity and loss of funding. However the third was the lack of knowledge around the definition of lateral violence and the blatant acts of emotional and financial abuse that litter the whole spectrum of the Indigenous arts sector. The third finding also created misunderstanding in that it was felt by some that raising the profile of lateral violence in the Indigenous arts, was in itself an act of lateral violence against the Indigenous community and in effect diminishing the impacts of government, colonisation and racism.


Randomized clinical trials are typically conducted to compare the efficacy (benefits) and side effects (risks) of two or more treatments. One can use results from such trials to decide on a preferable treatment that reflects one's own evaluation of the benefits and risks. To facilitate the necessary decision making, we propose in this paper three measures for simultaneously assessing benefits and risks. All three measures use weights that reflect the relative importance of the various treatment outcomes to an individual. Two of them carry the flavour of benefit/risk ratios, while the third generalizes Hilden's measure which incorporates patients' preferences. The proposed measures and procedures are illustrated using data from a phase III clinical trial of antihypertensive compounds.


The Handbook on the History of European Banks combines a comprehensive overview with extensive and detailed empirical analysis on the development of European banking and the subsequent impact of banks on national economies. This important reference work presents a breadth of detailed information and major insights into the history of banking in Europe, including specially commissioned chapters on the banking history of all the countries of the European Community, as well as Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia.


Since 2002, an estimated 6 million Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland. The world has witnessed the largest voluntary repatriation program in recorded history (Kronenfeld, 2011), with over 4.6 million returnees assisted by the Government of Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). While in 2002 Afghanistan was synonymous with return, in 2012 Afghanistan is synonymous with a stalling voluntary repatriation process, growing numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and trends of mixed migration, with families, men, and unaccompanied children leaving Afghanistan legally or irregularly in the hope of a better life elsewhere. In 2012, 'hope' is no longer synonymous with Afghanistan, nor with return, but with life outside of 'home', outside of Afghanistan. In a context of transition and changing migration patterns, increasing emphasis is nevertheless being placed on policies of return to and reintegration into Afghanistan. Central to this question of return is access to land, and the resources available on the lands where returnees settle. This paper discusses the return of refugees to Afghanistan and the strained relationship between refugee return, land allocation and reintegration, with reference to research conducted in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2012.


Much of the confusion in the discussion of these topics reflects differences of nomenclature not of fact, and a failure to relate the wide variation in severity both of reflux and of renal damage to their long-term implications. In this article, significant bacteriuria denotes the presence of actively multiplying organisms in the urinary tract and is indicated in girls by a pure growth of at least 105 organisms/ml on culturing two consecutive clean, fresh specimens of urine. Lesser counts may be significant in boys, as is any growth on culture of bladder urine obtained by suprapubic aspiration. Reflux is the backflow of urine from bladder to ureter. It is considered to be abnormal and varies in aetiology, severity, and prognosis. The 'renal damage' discussed is the scarring of chronic pyelonephritis, which is recognizable morphologically and radiologically by the irregular distribution of coarse scars with deformity or frank clubbing of a calyx directly associated with thinning of the overlying renal tissue. There is usually a reduction in renal size (Hodson, 1965). (Some authors have classified as chronic pyelonephritis kidneys which fail to show all three of these features and this has made the comparison of different studies more difficult.) The regular association of these findings with reflux has led to the introduction of the term 'reflux nephropathy' (Bailey, 1973), but until the precise mechanical role of reflux is more firmly established the use of the term 'chronic pyelonephritis' is perhaps preferable. Chronic pyelonephritis varies in degree from the unilateral single polar scar to more extensive scarring (which if bilateral may lead to impaired renal function), and to the small shrunken kidney usually found to have severe associated reflux and often hypertension. The association of bacteriuria with renal scarring is well known. Up to 25% of such children investigated, whether seen in hospital or discovered during screening programmes, are found to have some degree of renal scarring though this is likely to be of serious significance in no more than 10%. 20% of the University College Hospital series of children with chronic pyelonephritis had raised blood pressure and 10% had some degree of renal failure (Smellie et al., 1975). Similarly, children with coarsely scarred kidneys almost invariably have reflux. In a few, established chronic pyelonephritis has been reported in the absence of reflux, but in these the possibility that previously existing reflux had already disappeared cannot be excluded. The occasional persistence of paraureteric saccules or the finding of patulous ureteric orifices on cystoscopy in such children support this view. However, vascular, mechanical, or immunological factors as well as infection may contribute to the formation and progression of renal scars; and hypertension, obstruction, or areas of renal dysplasia as well as reflux may be important in individual children.


Haloperidol is first generation antipsychotic used to treat psychosis. Its usage during pregnancy benefits psychotic mother and is indispensable for treating psychiatric emergency situations. Objectives: To evaluate the effects of haloperidol on development of centrilobular vein and portal triad of liver given to albino rats during intrauterine period. Study Design: Experimental study. Setting: PPGMI Animal House, Lahore. Period: July to September 2017. Materials & Methods: Pregnant female rats were randomly divided into three groups A,B and C ,15 rats in each group. Group B & C were given haloperidol in a dose of 0.4mg/kg and 0.8mg/kg body weight by intraperitoneal route whereas group A was considered as control group. Hysterotomy was done on 21st day of gestation and pups were removed. Pups of group A, B and C were designated as A1, B1 and C1. They were grossly examined for any abnormality and liver was removed after dissection. Slides were made and stained to evaluate changes in detailed histological study of centrilobular veins and portal triads. Results: Comparison of centrilobular vein and portal triad of group B1 and C1 with control A1 revealed that there is significant congestion seen in centrilobular veins of group B1 and C1 with P value ≤ 0.001 and signs of inflammation are present in experimental groups where were significant as compared to control group A1 with P value ≤ 0.001. Conclusion: Haloperidol, given during intrauterine life is responsible for initiating cell injury sequelae in the developing liver of fetal albino rats and must be given with caution if necessary.


It is very important to investigate air pollutants and emissions emitted from open burning in order to control nonpoint sources effectively. In this study, we utilized incineration simulator proposed by U.S. EPA and investigated concentrations of TSP, PM10, PM2.5 from woods and household wastes burning to calculate emission factors and build emission inventories. The results of experiment with 15 kg of woods and 3 kg of household wastes using the incineration simulator were as follows: in case of woods burning, TSP concentration was , PM10 concentration was , PM2.5 concentration was , respectively; in case of household wastes burning, TSP concentration was , PM10 concentration was , PM2.5 concentration was , respectively. Concentrations from household burning, as stated above, were higher than those from woods burning. Emission factors (EFs) for woods and household wastes burning were calculated as 2.45 and 6.75 g/kg for TSP, 0.86 and 5.45 g/kg for PM10, 0.78 and 4.81 g/kg for PM2.5, respectively. EFs of TSP, PM10, PM2.5 calculated from household wastes burning were higher than those of woods burning. When we added PM emissions from woods burning and household wastes burning to Korean National Emission Inventory named as Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS), CAPSS annual emissions of TSP, PM10, PM2.5 were increased by 0.08~0.26% (An increase rate for TSP, PM10, PM2.5 were 0.08~0.10%, 0.16~0.20% and 0.18~0.26%, respectively). Note that we assumed that the 1% of household wastes is emitted by open burning.


Despite the widespread use of virtualization technologies in education the problem of individual selection of virtualization tools for teaching certain courses, including teaching operating systems to Bachelors of Computer Science, remains scarcely studied. Research of operating systems teaching process to Bachelors of Computer Science found a range of issues in using virtualization technologies. These are as listed: hardware and software failures; low performance of virtualized operating systems; lack of adapted instructions; dependence on specific computer laboratories; unequal conditions of independent work with virtualized operating systems. Comparison of Bachelors of Computer Science scores in Operating Systems course which included studying Linux and Windows operating systems and also Fundamentals of Operating Systems Theory, resulted in general lower level of learning outcomes in Linux compared to the ones of the entire academic subject. A survey of Ukrainian teachers of Operating Systems course shows a number of differences in teaching process. It includes differences in teachers' experience of using virtualization technologies, variety of virtualization technologies applied during the course, factors estimation for selecting virtualization tools. The article proposes the methodology of using unix-like operating systems virtualization technologies in professional training of Bachelors of Computer Science based on the variable approach to using mentioned technologies. The approach involves combining several virtualization tools in the frames of one course of Operating Systems to meet specific features of teaching the course as well as individual students' needs and ensures hardware and software fault tolerance. Didactic model underlying the proposed methodology is described in the article. Experimental results on methodology effectiveness are provided.


Neurons recruit numerous mechanisms to facilitate the development of synaptic connections. However, little is known about activity-dependent mechanisms that control the timing and fidelity of this process. Here we describe a novel pathway used by neurons to regulate glutamate receptors at maturing central synapses. This pathway relies on communication between neurons and astrocytes and the ability of astrocytes to release the factor SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine). SPARC expression is dynamically regulated and plays a critical role in determining the level of synaptic AMPARs. SPARC ablation in mice increases excitatory synapse function, causes an abnormal accumulation of surface AMPARs at synapses, and impairs synaptic plasticity during development. We further demonstrate that SPARC inhibits the properties of neuronal β3-integrin complexes, which are intimately coupled to AMPAR stabilization at synapses. Thus neuron–glial signals control glutamate receptor levels at developing synapses to enable activity-driven modifications of synaptic strength.


The cerebral arterial system shows a wide spectrum of variations. Minor degrees of anatomic differences can be seen in almost all patients. Recognition of these anatomic variants is essential for the following: evaluating collateral circulation; some anatomic variants may mimic pathology; increased risk for aneurysm formation with some variants (e.g. fenestration, persistent trigeminal artery); dealing with pathologies that can arise with these variations; and for preoperative planning. The anterior and posterior groups of intracranial circulation show numerous anastomoses that play a major role in maintaining adequate blood supply to the cerebral parenchyma. This review focuses on the imaging features of these variants as seen on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging with relevant digital subtraction angiography imaging. We also present some case illustrations where understanding of these variants contributed to providing appropriate management.


During the interwar years, Japanese industrialisation accelerated alongside the expansion of industrial exports to regional markets. Trade blocs in the interwar years were used as an instrument of imperial power to foster exports and as a substitute for productivity to encourage industrial production. The historiography on Japanese industrialisation in the interwar years describes heavy industries' interests in obtaining access to wider markets to increase economies of scale and reduce unit costs. However, this literature provides no quantitative evidence that proves the success of those mechanisms in expanding exports. In this paper we scrutinise how Japan—a relatively poor country—used colonial as well as informal power interventions to expand regional markets for its exports, especially for the most intensive human capital sector of the industrializing economy.


Arenaviruses are rodent-borne RNA viruses, and some have the capacity to cause hemorrhagic fever and death in infected individuals and thus have been identified as a potential bioterrorism threat. Ribavirin and supportive care are currently the approved therapeutic options for individuals suffering from arenavirus-induced hemorrhagic fever. However, new research has suggested that immune plasma treatment or kinase inhibitors may provide a therapeutic option for treating arenavirus infections in humans. This article puts forth a perspective as to the potential use of kinase inhibitors as an antiviral therapeutic for arenavirus infections.


This paper focuses on the study of the order of power series that are linear combinations of a given finite set of power series. The order of a formal power series, known as , is defined as the minimum exponent of x that has a non-zero coefficient in f(x). Our first result is that the order of the Wronskian of these power series is equivalent up to a polynomial factor, to the maximum order which occurs in the linear combination of these power series. This implies that the Wronskian approach used in (Kayal and Saha, TOCT'2012) to upper bound the order of sum of square roots is optimal up to a polynomial blowup. We also demonstrate similar upper bounds, similar to those of (Kayal and Saha, TOCT'2012), for the order of power series in a variety of other scenarios. We also solve a special case of the inequality testing problem outlined in (Etessami et al., TOCT'2014). In the second part of the paper, we study the equality variant of the sum of square roots problem, which is decidable in polynomial time due to (Blömer, FOCS'1991). We investigate a natural generalization of this problem when the input integers are given as straight line programs. Under the assumption of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis (GRH), we show that this problem can be reduced to the so-called "one dimensional" variant. We identify the key mathematical challenges for solving this "one dimensional" variant.


Starting in the mid 1990s, Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown aetiology (CKDu) was discovered among the rice paddy farmers in the North Central Province (NCP) of Sri Lanka in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Districts. The disease has now spread to neighboring districts in the North Western, Eastern, and Uva as well as the Central and Northern Provinces. The CKDu prevalent area covers approximately 17,000 km with a predominantly rural population of 2.5 million. There is scientific consensus that this fatal disease in Sri Lanka is not related to known causes commonly identified with kidney disease, such as, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, or other factors such as snake bite. Many studies are ongoing to find the causative factor/s to this disease. This study was conducted with the intention of finding single/multiple causative factors which contributes to the disease incidence in the North Central Province with special reference to Padaviya Division which was identified as a high intense division for the disease by Ministry of Health. From the 15 Grama Niladhari (GN) Divisions 4 divisions were selected for the study (Sudarshanagama, Ruwanpura, Buddangala and Parakramapura) based on their relatively high disease prevalence. 30% of the households were selected from each GN Division randomly and a questionnaire was administered. In addition to this key informant surveys were carried out with priests of temples, Grama Niladhari, School teachers and Principals, leaders of farmer organisations, shop owners and keepers selling agrochemicals etc. Water samples were collected from selected wells for analysis of heavy metals. The results showed that similar trends were prevalent in the causative factors in all the GN Divisions although the percentage of disease incidence varied slightly (Parakramapura-33%; Sudarshanagama-35%; Ruwanpura-16%; Buddangala-40%). Of the respondents having the disease 94% had used well water for drinking prior to the disease and had been using it for more than 20 years. 88% of the affected persons used aluminum utensils for their cooking. The age of the affected ranged from 37 to 83 years with the mediun of 63. Significant difference was not seen among the gender. About 82% of the affected personnel were farmers who had used agrochemicals in their farming practices. A significant relationship was shown between the income level and disease incidence (82% were drawing less than Rs. 10,000/month). Persons who had hypertension were more prone to the disease while prior diabetes conditions did not show a relationship. People consuming alcohol and tobacco were more prone to the disease. Those who had snake bites previously were not shown to be susceptible while usage of ayurvedic drugs showed a weaker relationship. The well water samples taken from the affected areas showed elevated concentrations of Cadmium and Lead compared with the drinking water standards stipulated by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. It can therefore be concluded that multiple factors contribute to the prevalence of CKDu such as occupation, income level, drinking water source, type of utensils used and personnel habits but the most prominent ones were drinking water quality, utensils used for cooking and farming occupations using agrochemicals. Keywords: Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown, Agrochemicals, Cadmium, Lead


The appeal of computer games may be enhanced by vision-based user inputs. The high speed and low cost requirements for near-term, mass-market game applications make system design challenging. The response time of the vision interface should be less than a video frame time and the interface should cost less than $50 U.S. We meet these constraints with algorithms tailored to particular hardware. We have developed a special detector, called the artificial retina chip, which allows for fast, on-chip image processing. We describe two algorithms, based on image moments and orientation histograms, which exploit the capabilities of the chip to provide interactive response to the player's hand or body positions at 10 msec frame time and at low-cost. We show several possible game interactions.


ABSTRACT This paper addresses peace education focusing on how place-based experiences and collective memories stimulate local mobilisation for refugees fleeing from war. The Arctic Migration Route, located above 69th degree north, became an alternative to dangerous boat trips on the Mediterranean Sea, for people seeking safety and protection in the fall of 2015. During a few months, over 5,500 people from 35 nations, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran came to a municipality in north Norway with 10,000 inhabitants. The paper demonstrates how global conflicts far away, have important local consequences across borders and huge distances. Interviews with local authorities, teachers, voluntary workers constitute the main empirical material. By combining theories of place-based experiences and collective memories with phenomenology of practice, geographical location, collective and cultural memories across generations, are analysed as important driving forces for the local mobilization to help refugees. This approach opens for a wider perspective on learning, showing how climate, culture and history have important role as material and sociocultural education in this arctic border region in the north of Norway. Based on empirical data from a small local school, the paper will document how a local community can find solutions to globally produced problems.


In this study of modernist aesthetics, Beryl Schlossman reveals how for such writers as Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, and Charles Baudelaire, the Orient came to symbolize the highest aspirations of literary representation. She demonstrates that through allegory, modernism became a style itself, a style that married the ancient and the modern and that emerged as both a cause and an effect, both an ideal construct and an textual materiality, all symbolized by the Orient—land of style, place of plurality, and site of the coexistence of holy lands.

Toward the end of Remembrance of Things Past, the narrator describes the act of creating a work of art as a conversion of sensation into a spiritual equivalent. By means of such allegories of "conversion," Schlossman shows, the modernist artist disappeared within the work of art and left behind the trace of his sublime vocation, a vocation in which he was transformed, in Schlossman's words, "into a kind of priest kneeling at the altar of beauty before the masked divinity of representation."

The author shows how allegory—the representation of the symbolic as something real—was adapted by modernist writers to reflect subjectivity while masking an authorial origin. She reveals how modernist allegory arose, as Walter Benjamin suggests, at the crossroads of history, sociology, economics, urban architecture, and art—providing a kind of map of capitalism—and was produced through the eyes of a melancholic gazing at a "monument of absence."


Soil moisture and vegetation growth are the most important and direct index for drought. The interpreting to vegetation and spectrum analysis of soil are two important elements in the judgment of drought. Recently, Abduwasit Ghulam and other researchers, on the basis of the spatial distribution characters of soil moisture in near infrared spectrum, adopt the expansion analysis method and establish PDI. Later, vegetation index is introduced by establishing a new drought monitoring method MPDI after comprehensively considering about the soil moisture and vegetation growth characters. The article, directing against the drought in different periods of Henan Province, adopts the MODIS image data to undertake PDI and MPDI calculations and compares with the soil moisture data with that of the same period, concluding that: PDI and MPDI are closely related with the original data from land observation, among which the relations between MPDI and 0-20cm calculation is the closest; PDI and MPDI are all close to the drought situation concluded from the calculation of bared land and the early growth period of vegetations; MPDI is more suitable for the areas with vegetations.


SUMMARY This Part I study, in conjunction with Part 11, develops a method to determine, within specified uncertainty bounds, the seismic moment, and thus moment magnitude, of all earthquakes of stable continental regions (SCR) for which instrumental or intensity data exist. Its basis is polynomial regression analysis using a database of SCR earthquakes with direct seismic moment determination. The independent variables include modern teleseismic magnitudes and regional magnitudes (Part I), and isoseismal areas or number of recording stations (Part 11). Part I11 is an application of the methodology of Parts I and I1 to several major historical earthquakes. All data used in the regressions are assigned individual uncertainties estimated from the literature or from experience; formal confidence limits (68 per cent or 95 per cent) on both the regression formulas and the predicted seismic moment values are then possible via error propagation analysis. The most complete development is for the teleseismic magnitudes M, and mb. For both, the final regression for log(M,) is a quadratic formula that closely emulates the relationship between amplitude magnitudes and log(M,) expected from dislocation theory and source-scaling arguments. Regressions are also derived for the regional magnitudes mLg and M,, because there are many SCR events, mainly pre- 1964, that have no teleseismic magnitudes. Prediction uncertainties from teleseismic magnitudes in moment magnitude units are in the AO.18-0.28 range, and from regional magnitudes in the kO.23-0.38 range over a wide magnitude band. Finally, the methodology developed here is generic, even though the database is specific. Application to plate-boundary, oceanic intraplate, or active continental intraplate regions should be straightforward.


In vitro studies of the transport of colloidal particles by the cornea were carried out on intact corneas of adult rabbits in a chamber described by Donn, Maurice, and Mills (2) in which the epithelial or the endothelial surface of the cornea was exposed to thorium dioxide or saccharated iron oxide under various conditions. These studies confirmed the results of previous work in vivo and allowed modification of the experimental conditions. Particles are pinocytosed at the apical surface of the corneal endothelium and carried around the terminal bar in membrane-bounded vesicles. Basal to the terminal bar these vesicles fuse with the lateral cell margin and their contents are released into the intercellular space, in which they appear to be carried by a one-way flow down to Descemet's membrane and the corneal stroma. Indications that the endothelial transport is an active process are presented by the different pathways of transport into or out of the corneal stroma, as well as by the approximately 70 per cent reduction in transport activity at low temperatures.


In this article, we propose a unified framework to instantly generate a safe optimal control action for a new task from existing controllers on multiagent systems. The control action composition is achieved by taking a weighted mixture of the existing controllers according to the contribution of each component task. Instead of sophisticatedly tuning the cost parameters and other hyperparameters for safe and reliable behavior in the optimal control framework, the safety of each single-task solution is guaranteed using the control barrier functions (CBFs) for high relative degree stochastic systems, which constrains the system state within a known safe operation region where it originates from. Linearity of CBF constraints in control ensures the feasibility of safe control action composition. The discussed framework can immediately provide reliable solutions to new tasks by taking a weighted mixture of solved component-task actions and satisfying some CBF constraints, instead of performing an extensive sampling to compute a new controller. Our results are verified and demonstrated on both a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and two cooperative UAV teams in an environment with obstacles.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic, neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system and is found predominantly in elderly populations. As amyloid b protein (Ab) is one of the key players responsible for the pathogenesis of AD, we sought to investigate the protective effects of fisetin in an Ab1-42-induced rat model of AD. In this model, the protective effects of fisetin on learning and memory impairment induced by Ab1-42 were determined via the Morris water maze and passive avoidance test. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity, anti-inflammation, and apoptosis effect of fisetin were investigated using biochemical and immunohistochemical methods. The results showed that intragastric (i.g.) administration of fisetin (100, 50, and 25 mg/kg) improved previous learning and memory impairments in Ab1-42-treated rats. Hippocampal tissue from these fisetin-treated rats revealed that the activities of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were markedly enhanced, and that the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were significantly reduced. Meanwhile, fisetin also significantly attenuated Ab1-42-induced cholinergic dysfunction such as elevated the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and reduced the activity of acetylcholine esterase (AChE). In addition, hippocampal tissue obtained from fisetin-treated rats revealed a reversal of Ab1-42-induced effects on apoptotic pathway protein (caspase-3) expression and inflammatory response of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). This indicated that the amount of degenerating hippocampal neurons with apoptotic features was dramatically reduced after treatment with fisetin. Collectively, these findings suggest that fisetin has potential as a treatment agent for Alzheimer's disease and that its effects occur through several mechanisms, including inhibition of oxidative stress, adjustments to previous cholinergic dysfunction, anti-inflammatory actions, and decreased apoptotic activity.


We extend Ueda's peak set theorem for subdiagonal subalgebras of tracial finite von Neumann algebras, to sigma-finite von Neumann algebras (that is, von Neumann algebras with a faithful state; which includes those on a separable Hilbert space, or with separable predual.) To achieve this extension completely new strategies had to be invented at certain key points, ultimately resulting in a more operator algebraic proof of the result. Ueda showed in the case of finite von Neumann algebras that his peak set theorem is the fountainhead of many other very elegant results, like the uniqueness of the predual of such subalgebras, a highly refined F and M Riesz type theorem, and a Gleason-Whitney theorem. The same is true in our more general setting, and indeed we obtain a quite strong variant of the last mentioned theorem. We also show that set theoretic issues dash hopes for extending the theorem to some other large general classes of von Neumann algebras, for example finite or semi-finite ones. Indeed certain cases of Ueda's peak set theorem, for a von Neumann algebra M, may be seen as `set theoretic statements' about M that require the sets to not be `too large'.


Superconductivity up to 105K has been achieved in the Tl-V-Sr-Ca-Cu-O and Tl-V-Sr-Ca-Y-Cu-O systems. The partial substitution of vanadium for thallium in the crystal lattice stabilizes the TlSr2CaCu2O7 phase and enhances superconductivity up to 80K. Importantly, 20% of Y3+ replacement of Ca2+ sites in the (Tl,V)Sr2CaCu2Oy compound reduces the excess hole concentration and increases superconductivity by about 20K.


This study examined the types of physical activity (PA) retirement community residents report and the effects of PA and depressive symptoms on functional limitations. Elders (N = 38) enrolled in a 2-year sensor technology study in senior housing completed regular assessments of functional limitations and depressive symptoms with the Short Physical Performance Battery and Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively. Evaluation of reported PA using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly coincided with 12-month functional limitation testing. Subjects were 69% female with mean age of 85 years. Individuals reporting greater PA had significantly fewer functional limitations at 12 months. In multiple regression analysis, baseline functional limitations explained 66% of the variance in 12-month functional limitations, while current PA explained an additional 5%. Although PA explained a small amount of variance in 12-month functional limitations, as a modifiable behavior, PA should be championed and supported to help ameliorate functional limitations in older adults.


An attempt was made to unravel further the mechanism by which high dietary concentrations of ascorbic acid influence copper metabolism. The addition of ascorbic acid to the diet of rats caused about a twofold increase in plasma ascorbate concentrations and reduced group mean plasma and tissue concentrations of Cu. The effect of 10 g ascorbic acid/kg diet was greater than that of 1 g/kg. Ascorbic acid feeding reduced blood haemoglobin concentrations and packed cell volume values. Dietary ascorbic acid caused a significant decrease in apparent Cu absorption from the intestine. Ascorbate, intravenously administered together with 64Cu, caused an increase in 64Cu in the liver. Ascorbate, at concentrations occurring in plasma after ascorbic acid feeding, promoted the uptake of 64Cu by isolated hepatocytes. Thus, ascorbate stimulated the efficiency of hepatic uptake of Cu. Ascorbate, intravenously administered together with 64Cu, stimulated accumulation of 64Cu in bile of rats with a bile duct cannula. In rats fed on ascorbic acid, intravenously administered 64Cu was recovered in bile at increased rates. Dietary ascorbic acid enhanced the recovery of intraperitoneally administered 64Cu in faeces. The ascorbate-induced stimulation of biliary 64Cu excretion may reflect an increased hepatic uptake of 64Cu and be caused by an increased specific activity of Cu in liver pools. It is suggested that dietary ascorbic acid reduces tissue Cu concentrations primarily by interfering with intestinal Cu absorption. Ascorbate increases the efficiency of hepatic uptake of Cu, but this effect may not be causatively related with the reduced tissue Cu concentrations after ascorbic acid feeding


This paper examines the problematic concept of dead language as exemplified by the Hebrew language. The first section presents a brief history of the concept of dead language in European linguistic thought. Originating in Italy of the 15th century, the term became common in European linguistic writings during the 16th to 18th centuries as an epithet for Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew. During the Haskala (Jewish Enlightenment) in the 19th century it was adopted by Jewish intellectuals and was current in linguistic controversies throughout the 20th century. Sections 2 and 3 show the key role the label dead as applied to Hebrew played in wide-spread polemics on Jewish language choice in Russia during the first quarter of the 20th century (§ 2) and in the discourse about a Hebrew "revival" in Palestine at the same period (§ 3). Later works on the history of Hebrew published in the 19th and 20th centuries proposed novel conceptualizations but nevertheless followed the idea of the "deadness" of the Hebrew language of previous periods, discussed in § 4. Examples of Hebrew usage which contradict Hebrew's functioning exclusively as a language of religion and high-level writings are provided in § 5. The last section is a humble attempt to outline a possible direction for a description of Hebrew language history, avoiding the problematic term dead language and other related terms. Refs 69.


Objective: We evaluated the efficacy of intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring (MEP) and a novel laser light imaging system to simultaneously visualize visual light and near-infrared fluorescence for indocyanine green angiography (dual-image VA [DIVA]) in aneurysm surgery. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and five patients who underwent aneurysm surgery were intra-operatively monitored with a direct transcortical electrical stimulation MEP (DCS -MEP), and 104 patients were monitored with a transcranial electrical stimulation MEP (TES - MEP). The TES - MEP threshold was measured before temporary interruption of the cerebral artery or aneurysm clipping as the threshold can fluctuate throughout surgery. Recently, we also performed a number of surgeries using a newly developed laser light in conjunction with the DIVA system. Results: In 4 cases, the DCS - MEP and TES - MEP signals disappeared during surgery and did not re-cover. As a result, these patients developed permanent hemiparesis. Two cases developed transient postoperative hemiparesis even though the DCS - MEP and TES - MEP did not change. The MEP monitoring could not detect intraoperative ischemia except for in the pyramidal tract. The laser light, in conjunction with the DIVA system, clearly showed the blood flow in the perforating arteries with the cranial structures in the background. Conclusions: MEP monitoring is essential in aneurysm surgery, but it cannot predict ischemia apart from that in the pyramidal tract. The laser light, in conjunction with the DIVA system, was useful in avoiding ischemic complications.


We present fitting formulae for the dynamical ejecta properties and remnant disk masses from the largest to date sample of numerical relativity simulations. The considered data include some of the latest simulations with microphysical nuclear equations of state (EOS) and neutrino transport as well as other results with polytropic EOS available in the literature. Our analysis indicates that the broad features of the dynamical ejecta and disk properties can be captured by fitting expressions, that depend on mass ratio and reduced tidal parameter. The comparative analysis of literature data shows that microphysics and neutrino absorption have a significant impact on the dynamical ejecta properties. Microphysical nuclear EOS lead to average velocities smaller than polytropic EOS, while including neutrino absorption results in larger average ejecta masses and electron fractions. Hence, microphysics and neutrino transport are necessary to obtain quantitative models of the ejecta in terms of the binary parameters.


In this work we used a combination of immunogold labelling (IGL) and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) to detect the presence of a protein on the cell surface. To achieve this purpose we chose as experimental system 3T3 Swiss Albino Mouse Fibroblasts and galectin‐3. This protein, whose sub‐cellular distribution is still under discussion, is involved in a large number of cell physiological and pathological processes. IGL technique has been utilised by many authors in combination with SEM and TEM to obtain the identification/localisation of receptors and antigens, both in cells and tissues. ESEM represents an important tool in biomedical research, since it does not require any severe processing of the sample, lowering the risk of generating artefacts and interfere with IGL procedure. The absence of metal coating could yield further advantages for our purpose as the labelling detection is based on the atomic number difference between Nanogold spheres and the biological material. Using the gaseous secondary electron detector (GSED) compositional contrast is easily revealed by the backscattered electrons component of the signal. In spite of this fact, only few published papers present a combination of ESEM and IGL. Hereby we present our method, optimised to improve the intensity and the specificity of the labelling signal, in order to obtain a semi‐quantitative evaluation of the labelling signal. J. Cell. Physiol. 214: 769–776, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


To maintain or adjust posture under the challenges of gravity and increased self-weight, or the effects of light, snow, and slope, plants have the ability to develop a special type of tissue called reaction tissue. The formation of reaction tissue is a result of plant evolution and adaptation. The identification and study of plant reaction tissue are of great significance for understanding the systematics and evolution of plants, the processing and utilization of plant-based materials, and the exploration of new biomimetic materials and biological templates. Trees' reaction tissues have been studied for many years, and recently, many new findings regarding these tissues have been reported. However, reaction tissue requires further detailed exploration, particularly due to their complex and diverse nature. Moreover, the reaction tissues in gymnosperms, vines, herbs, etc., which display unique biomechanical behavior, have also garnered the attention of research. After summarizing the existing literature, this paper provides an outline of the reaction tissues in woody plants and non-woody plants, and lays emphasis on alternations in the cell wall structure of the xylem in softwood and hardwood. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reference for the further exploration and study of reaction tissues with great diversity.


A study on the impact of personal traits on piggery management in Dima Hasao district was carried out by contacting fifty pig farmers each from two developmental blocks namely Diyungbra and Jatinga in Assam. It was found that majority i.e. about 80 per cent of the respondents in Block I, Block II and pooled sample occupied medium category management/health care practices. Further, they showed that 100 per cent, 86 per cent and 93 per cent of the respondents provided clean water for the purpose of drinking, 100 per cent in all categories adopted castration or spaying of piglets, 94 per cent, 100 per cent and 97 per cent practiced weaning of piglets and 0 per cent, 2 per cent and 1 per cent practiced deworming of piglets in Block I, Block II and pooled sample respectively. In relational analysis management/health care was positively and high significantly (p<0.01) related to education (0.52**), occupation (0.29**) and total time spent (0.34**). Management/health care was negatively and high significantly (p<0.01) related to credibility of information sources (-0.38**).


Abstract In 1924, the Morton Salt Company began nationwide distribution of iodine-fortified salt. Access to iodine, a key determinant of cognitive ability, rose sharply. We compare outcomes for cohorts exposed in utero with those of slightly older, unexposed cohorts, across states with high versus low baseline iodine deficiency. Income increased by 11%, labor force participation rose 0.68 percentage points, and full-time work went up 0.9 percentage points due to increased iodine availability. These impacts were largely driven by changes in the economic outcomes of young women. In later adulthood, both men and women had higher family incomes due to iodization.


A thermal-convection loop of Fe-12 Cr-1 Mo VW steel circulated pure lithium between 500 and 350/sup 0/C for 10,088 h. Periodic weighings of coupons at different temperatures around the loop revealed small weight losses and corrosion rates. Surface analysis showed a relatively thin corrosion layer with an underlying carbide-free zone and some depletion of chromium from the hottest specimen. While some mass transfer of chromium and nickel was detected, this mechanism did not strongly influence the weight loss process as it does with austenitic steels. Therefore, it appeared that reactions with carbon and nitrogen must be the dominant corrosion processes such that weight loss was maximized at the lowest temperature (350/sup 0/C). Overall, the lithium-steel reactions in the temperature range of this experiment were relatively sluggish and the corrosion was not severe.


Abstract 1155

Introduction: Although a great deal is known about the properties and functions of fibrin(ogen), very little is known about the lateral nanostructure of the fibrin fibers composing clots. This structure is important as it controls both the Young and Poisson moduli of the fibers, i.e. the overall mechanical properties of the clot. However, a quantitative characterization of the lateral nanostructure of fibrin fibers is still lacking, as well as its dependence on environmental parameters and anticoagulant molecules. This nanostructure was investigated with the help of Small Angle X-Ray Spectra (SAXS) obtained at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, and a newly developped light spectrometry technique (Yeromonahos et al. BioPhys. J., to appear). As we used purified fibrinogen essentially devoid of any coagulation factors, or antithrombin, only the effect of molecular interactions between Heparins, Thrombin and Fibrin(ogen) and their effects on the fibrin fibers nanostructure were observed.

Materials: Experiments were performed with purified human thrombin and fibrinogen, purchased respectively from Cryopep and LFB, France. Clots were prepared from mixtures that contained 0.1–1mg/ml fibrinogen and 0.1–1.25 IU/ml thrombin. Polymerization was carried out during 90 minutes in HEPES buffer at 300 mOsm.

Results and discussions: At low Fg concentrations ([Fg]=0.1mg/ml), results show that the nanostructure of the clot is quasi cristalline. At [IIa]=1.25 IU/ml, when increasing [Fg] up to 1mg/ml, the average radius increases significantly (52 n to 83 nm) while the number of protofibrils stays constant, in perfect agreement with existing small angle light scattering and dynamic light scattering data. This means that the density of the fibers decreases for increasing [Fg], the fibers looking more and more hollow. In standard conditions ([Fg]=1mg/ml, [IIa]=1.25 IU) the fibers contain half as much protofibrils as would crystalline ones, their inner lateral nanostructure being a fractal as suggested by SAXS spectra (df=1.5). On the other hand, at [Fg]=1mg/ml, decreasing [IIa] from 1.25 to 0.1 UI/ml leads to an increase of the average radius (25%) and density (35%) of the fibers.

The effect on the fibrin clot nanostructure of unfractionated heparin (UFH), enoxaparine (LMWH), and pentasaccharide was studied using the light spectrometry method. No significant effect of pentasaccharide was found, indicating that this molecule acts mainly on the enzymatic cascade and not on IIa or on fibrin(ogen). As expected, the UFH has a strong structural effect. At low concentrations ( [UHF]>0.1 UI/ml, however, there is a brutal drop in the protein quantity inside the fibers, the clot no longer forming at around 1UI/ml. These effects can be interpreted as the consequences of the formation of thrombin-fibrin monomers-heparin and thrombin-fibrin oligomers-heparin complexes.

The effect of LMWH is more progressive and subtle. At low concentrations ([LMWH]<0.1UI/ml), no effect on the structure is observed. When [LMWH] is increased by a factor 100 (0.1<[LMWH]<10 UI/ml), while the radius of the fibers stays constant (70nm), the density slowly decreases by a factor of 2. While cleaved FpA also decreased significantly, the main effect of [LMWH] on the nanostructure of the clot, and hence on its mechanical properties, is not similar to a decrease in [IIa].

In conclusion, we have shown how the reaction parameters ([Fg] and [IIa]) control the nanostructure of the fibrin clot. The addition of UFH, in absence of factor Xa and antithrombin, has a clear structural effect through the inhibition of IIa, probably due to the formation of heparin complexes. Enoxaparin, unlike heparin, has a progressive structural effect that cannot be reduced to an anti-IIa effect. Indeed, it produces clots that are more and more hollow, which should decrease their strength and help for their lysis. Understanding the way these molecules acts may open the way to new molecules altering the structure and mechanical properties of the clot, but not its generation.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Kernelized Gram matrix $W$ constructed from data points $\{x_i\}_{i=1}^N$ as $W_{ij}= k_0( \frac{ \| x_i - x_j \|^2} {\sigma ^2} ) $ is widely used in graph-based geometric data analysis and unsupervised learning. An important question is how to choose the kernel bandwidth $\sigma $, and a common practice called self-tuned kernel adaptively sets a $\sigma _i$ at each point $x_i$ by the $k$-nearest neighbor (kNN) distance. When $x_i$s are sampled from a $d$-dimensional manifold embedded in a possibly high-dimensional space, unlike with fixed-bandwidth kernels, theoretical results of graph Laplacian convergence with self-tuned kernels have been incomplete. This paper proves the convergence of graph Laplacian operator $L_N$ to manifold (weighted-)Laplacian for a new family of kNN self-tuned kernels $W^{(\alpha )}_{ij} = k_0( \frac{ \| x_i - x_j \|^2}{ \epsilon \hat{\rho }(x_i) \hat{\rho }(x_j)})/\hat{\rho }(x_i)^\alpha \hat{\rho }(x_j)^\alpha $, where $\hat{\rho }$ is the estimated bandwidth function by kNN and the limiting operator is also parametrized by $\alpha $. When $\alpha = 1$, the limiting operator is the weighted manifold Laplacian $\varDelta _p$. Specifically, we prove the point-wise convergence of $L_N f $ and convergence of the graph Dirichlet form with rates. Our analysis is based on first establishing a $C^0$ consistency for $\hat{\rho }$ which bounds the relative estimation error $|\hat{\rho } - \bar{\rho }|/\bar{\rho }$ uniformly with high probability, where $\bar{\rho } = p^{-1/d}$ and $p$ is the data density function. Our theoretical results reveal the advantage of the self-tuned kernel over the fixed-bandwidth kernel via smaller variance error in low-density regions. In the algorithm, no prior knowledge of $d$ or data density is needed. The theoretical results are supported by numerical experiments on simulated data and hand-written digit image data.


Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to establish the association between a healthy lifestyle that includes following a healthy diet, consuming moderate alcohol amount, being physically active, maintaining a healthy BMI and never smoking and cognitive decline in community dwelling Lebanese older adults. Methods A secondary cross-sectional data analysis was conducted on 502 community dwelling Lebanese older adults aged ≥65 years old and their informants. Cognitive decline was assessed using the validated arabic versions of the RUDAS, IQCODE and 10/66DRG. Healthy lifestyle index (HLI) was based on 5 components: diet, BMI, alcohol, physical activity and smoking with a score ranging from 0-20. The score was divided into quartiles and 3 categories created: Low adherence (Q1: 0–8), moderate adherence (Q2-Q3: 8–11) and high adherence (Q4: ≥12 points). Logistic regressions were performed to assess the relationship between HLI and prevalence of cognitive decline while adjusting for confounding factors. Results The final sample size included 432 participants with an average age of 72.4 years and constituted of 56.7% females. One third were cognitively declined and they were more likely to be females (p = 0.002), older in age (p = 0.002), had lower levels of education (p = 0.008), took more medications (p = 0.027), were less socially active (p = 0.02) and in general they followed a less healthy lifestyle. Participants in the highest HLI category had a significantly lower prevalence of cognitive decline as demonstrated by RUDAS (p< 0.0001) and IQCODE (p< 0.0001), but not by 10/66DRG (p = 0.069). Lastly, participants with the highest adherence to HLI had a 77% lower prevalence of cognitive decline when assessed by RUDAS (OR: 0.23, 95%CI: 0.12-0.45, p< 0.0001), but this association was not significant when assessed by IQCODE and 10/66 DRG. Conclusions The results showed that a healthy lifestyle might contribute to a lower prevalence of cognitive decline in older adults. Longitudinal prospective studies should be performed to assess the effect of adherence to a healthy lifestyle on cognition at early and late-life stages. Funding Sources The study was funded by the Fogarty International Center, American National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Aging, grant No. 1R21AG039333-01, under the program 'Brain Disorders in the Developing World: Research across the Lifespan (BRAIN).


Abstract Background Right ventricular aneurysms (RVAs) are rare. We present a case with a combined RVA and right ventricular pericardial fistula resulting in a pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. The RVA was detected 47 days after the patient suffered a gunshot wound. This report adds to the body of scarce literature on RVA aetiology, diagnoses, and treatment. Case summary A 30-year-old male patient presented with worsening respiratory distress over a 7-day period with clinical signs of cardiac tamponade following a history of a gunshot (with associated liver laceration, pulmonary embolism, right nephrectomy, and sepsis) 47 days prior. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a large circumferential pericardial effusion and an RVA. The patient was emergently taken for surgical repair of the RVA. Discussion Our case presents a delayed presentation of a gunshot heart and an aetiology with indications of and against a true aneurysm. It brings attention to possible complications of penetrating precordial injuries, with the need for consideration and possible evaluation at follow-up. The literature on the operative excision of RVA is reviewed and various aetiological factors and consequences are discussed.


This study dealt with analysis of the study units in the textbook Horizons for 9th-grade students studying English in mixed ability classes. The study sought to examine the variety in the cognitive level represented by the WH-questions in the textbook according to Bloom's taxonomy. The study also attempted to examine the extent in which the WH-questions in the textbook emphasize high-level thinking, and whether the textbook aided students in developing cognitive skills.The study attempted to answer the following question:To what extent are the WH-questions in the six levels of the cognitive domain varied or frequent in the textbook of Horizons? Content analysis was conducted for the six study units in the textbook Horizons. The researcher chose the question as the unit for analysis for his research. The question is defined as a WH-question - in other words - a question beginning with a wh-word and ending with a question mark.The questions were collected, listed, and analyzed according to Bloom's Taxonomy: low order thinking skills: knowledge, comprehension, and application, and high order thinking skills: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The researcher then calculated the percentage and frequencies in which each level of cognition appeared for each separate unit and for all six units combined. The results indicated that the research tools used by the two analysts were valid and reliable. The results showed that 244 questions emphasized levels of cognition representing lower order thinking skills, while only 137 questions emphasized the three higher order thinking skills. The questions in the Horizons textbook place a great deal of emphasis upon comprehension, which is one of the lower order thinking skills. Additional studies are recommended in the area of content analysis of English instruction textbooks intended for various age levels in the Arab Sector. Such studies would shed light upon the role of textbooks in developing cognitive skills among Arab students.


In the present paper, the Nonlinear Harmonic (NLH) method implemented in Fine/Turbo code has been evaluated for unsteady rotor-rotor interaction analysis. Strengths and weaknesses of the NLH method are highlighted through direct comparison with experimental data and time-domain unsteady simulation for the NWPU counter-rotating research compressor (CRRC) at the design and off-design conditions. The rotor-rotor interactions were studied in detail to advance the understanding of the flow physics involved. Based on the unsteady simulation, deterministic stresses were computed and compared to the NLH method to analyze distinct sources of unsteadiness and their effect on the time-averaged flow field. For the present case, the NLH method is about one order magnitude faster than the direct time-domain method. Keywords-Counter-rotating; Rotor-rotor Interaction; Harmonic; Deterministic Stress