Abstract Background Endometriosis are defined as a progesterone-resistance disease. Two progesterone receptor (PR) isoforms, namely PR-A and PR-B, mediate the special effects of progesterone. One of the most effective polymorphism in the promoter region of PGR is the +331G/A. Objective The differential expression level of PR isoforms due to +331G/A polymorphism may be able to influence the function of progesterone and reduce the susceptibility of endometriosis. Materials and Methods This analytic, case-control study was carried out at Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran. Whole-blood samples were collected from 98 infertile women undergoing laparoscopy for endometriosis and 102 healthy fertile women. After DNA extraction, genotype frequencies were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Then, RNA was extracted from the selected eutopic tissue samples of endometriosis patients. Analysis of PR-A and PR-B mRNA expressions were performed using Real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results The frequency distribution of GG, GA genotypes in +331G/A polymorphism was 98.04%, 1.96% in the patients and 97.96%, 2.04% in the control groups, respectively (p = 0.968). Although our data did not show any significant association with +331G/A in the patient and control groups, we were able to demonstrate significantly higher expression level of PR-B and no significant lower expression level of PR-A isoforms in patients by favoring GA to GG genotypes (p = 0.017, p = 0.731, respectively). Conclusion Our findings show that patients with GA genotypes had a higher expression level of PR-B compared to patients with GG genotypes.


An instrument has been constructed in which colors seen under various conditions of direct viewing by the left eye can be matched for color appearance by adjusting the proportions of a red, green and blue mixture seen by the right eye in the center of an adapting field of 1000 ft-L at a color temperature of 4000°K. The instrument has been used for measuring the appearance of the colors of a chart under various viewing conditions ranging from bright sunlight out of doors to ordinary tungsten room lighting. It was found that adaptation only partially corrected for changes in the color and intensity of adapting illuminations, and, in addition, colors lost saturation markedly as the adapting intensity was lowered. It was also found that, if viewed by tungsten light in a dark room, a color reproduction having the same spectral reflectance curves as the original would appear to be appreciably more orange, darker, and less saturated than the original when viewed in sunlight.


Summary: EEG monitoring was performed on a group of ten children, aged 3 days to 13 years, during admission to the Paediatric Clinic at the University of Bologna for seizures. Diazepam was injected by rectal route as an anticonvulsant, using a dose of 0.5‐1 mg/kg in the first nine children, whereas an intravenous bolus was administered to the last child. The main aim of this study was to document the time taken for the drug to reach the brain and to modify the electrical activity. We observed significant EEG changes between 1 and 9.30 min and, in particular, the appearance of fast activity over one or both hemispheres after rectal diazepam. The EEG results confirm the clinical efficacy of rectal diazepam.


This paper analyzes the impact of horizontal differentiation on the sustainability of collusionwhen firms charge delivered prices. Gupta and Venkatu (2002) show that differentiationhinders collusion if firms employ standard grim trigger punishments. The reason is thatcompetitive profits are higher the higher the degree of differentiation, which weakensdeterrence. We show that the results change dramatically if collusion is sustained by optimalpunishments instead, since these yield minmax profits irrespectively of the degree ofdifferentiation.A high degree of differentiation then tends to facilitate collusion by rendering deviations lessprofitable. Excessive differentiation sometimes hinders collusion, however, because it alsoimplies high transportation costs for a successful cartel.


Abstract Two problems regarding the use of rotating hydraulic channel flow models are addressed. The first concerns the difficulties encountered when trying to identify the "potential" depth for a flow of uniform (but nonzero) potential vorticity in a practical situation. Guidelines are given to cheek whether a chosen value of the potential depth is consistent with the rotating hydraulic theory. The second problem deals with the applicability of the so-called zero potential vorticity approximation. It is shown that the accuracy of this approximation depends on the ratio of the channel width to the Rossby radius of deformation (based on the potential depth) and the ratio of the fluid depth to the potential depth. To establish when this simplified model yields an accurate approximation of a flow of constant (but nonzero) potential vorticity, the two models are compared for a variety of channel geometries.


Ethnopharmacological relevanceAnemia is a very serious condition in Zambia. One of the plants that has been used traditionally is Phyllanthus muellerianus where different parts of shrub are used to treat a number of diseases in Zambian folklore medicine. Earlier studies have investigated medicinal properties of its aqueous root extracts. This study evaluated the effect of P. muellerianus roots on the hematological indices of albino rats and determined its phytochemical profile. Aim of the studyTo carry out phytochemical screening of the root extract and assess the ant-anemic effect of the aqueous extract on laboratory rats with tail-bled induced anemia Materials and MethodsThirty-six male albino rats placed in six groups were used for the study. The groups comprised the 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg plant extract, Ranferon (200 mg/kg) positive control, anemic non treated control and a normal (non-anemic) control. Anemia, induced through bleeding of the rats, was defined as hemoglobin (Hb) levels less than 12 g/dL. The anti-anemic potential of the plant was determined by comparing its effect on the hematological parameters of rats on treatment to that of the control group.ResultsAfter treatment, rats on the 400 mg/kg plant extract dose showed the greatest increase in the mean values for Hb, Packed cell volume (PCV) and RBC count were 43.3±1.2%, 15.4±0.3 g/dL and 6.3±0.3 x106 /mL respectively, when compared to the negative control group (P < 0.05). Phytochemical screening revealed positive results for alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, steroids, triterpenoids and tannins with varying amounts.Conclusions. The aqueous root extract of P. muellerianus was efficacious against anemia in a dose-dependent manner. The phytochemical compositions seem to be responsible for its hematopoietic properties. Thus, the root decoction of P. muellerianus is useful in alleviating anemia and the results lend credence to its use in traditional medicine in the management of anemia.


The popular idea that play exists within its own world separate from ordinary life (Caillois 2001, Csikzentmihalyi 1971, Riezler 1941) is commonly attributed to the writing of Johan Huizinga in his theorising of characteristics of play (1970). This theory, that play involves a 'stepping out of real life' (Huizinga 1970: 26) applies easily to organised forms of play, such as sporting events, board games, playground games and theatrical presentations or artistic play in which there are often set places – buildings, areas or environments – in which these activities occur; there are rules of engagement that, at the very least, set parameters for how the play activity will begin or function and there are other elements that set aside the activity from ordinary life, for example a physical or imagined arena in which the activity takes place and the integration of costumes or special clothing, as well as a range of specific gestures, actions and phrases that constitute part of the language used during play.

Since 2009, I have been engaged in an on-going research practice that involves me making playful use of street furniture, objects, paving and architecture in public, urban settings. The type of play is best described as free, improvised and vernacular, representing an interventionist approach not bound by specific rules, assigned to specific areas or that has any recognisable prior language. It is play that operates 'within the world' and not so much 'a world of its own'.

Concepts of a play world suggest that play separates the player from ordinary life, detaching them from reality. It suggests that play and games function as an escape or release from the ordinary. Stephen Nachmanovitch presents a different perspective, likening play worlds to parallel universes because they operate within 'alternate time-streams that work according to their own laws and patterns different from the everyday' (2009: 15). Nachmanovitch suggests that play, as an imaginative faculty, might have an effect upon the development and progression of a 'real' or ordinary world. In my own experience, the relationship between an ordinary and play world is not one of distance from, but rather of perforation into.

Using my practice as case study, this presentation explores these ideas, presenting an argument that play might be understood as a practice that functions through inter-ordinary rhythms; of the body and of spaces and places.


Abstract Objective: The aim of this article is to compare the gravitational powder blend loading method to the tablet press and manual loading in terms of their influence on tablets' critical quality attributes (CQA). Significance: The results of the study can be of practical relevance to the pharmaceutical industry in the area of direct compression of low-dose formulations, which could be prone to content uniformity (CU) issues. Methods: In the preliminary study, particle size distribution (PSD) and surface energy of raw materials were determined using laser diffraction method and inverse gas chromatography, respectively. For trials purpose, a formulation containing two pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) was used. Tablet samples were collected during the compression progress to analyze their CQAs, namely assay and CU. Results: Results obtained during trials indicate that tested direct compression powder blend is sensitive to applied powder handling method. Mild increase in both APIs content was observed during manual scooping. Gravitational approach (based on discharge into the drum) resulted in a decrease in CU, which is connected to a more pronounced assay increase at the end of tableting than in the case of manual loading. Conclusions: The correct design of blend transfer over single unit processes is an important issue and should be investigated during the development phase since it may influence the final product CQAs. The manual scooping method, although simplistic, can be a temporary solution to improve the results of API's content and uniformity when compared to industrial gravitational transfer.


Fuzhuan brick tea, a kind of dark tea consumed mainly in the border regions of Southwestern and Northwestern China since the 1860s, is produced from the leaves of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis by microbial fermentation. From this special fermented tea, a new norisoprenoid, 3R,9R-oxido-5-megastigmene, was isolated, together with α-linolenic acid, strictin, isovitexin, astragalin, (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin, (−)-epicatechin gallate, (+)-gallocatechin, (−)-epigallocatechin, (−)-epigallocatechin gallate and gallic acid. The structures of the compounds were identified by spectroscopic means. The new compound didn't show any inhibition activity against the tested enteric pathogenic microorganisms at a concentration of 800 μg/mL by the hole plate diffusion method.


We study a scaling and coordinate transformation to physically simulate quantum three-body collinear chemical reactions of the type A+BC → AB+C by the motion of a single ultracold atom or a weakly interacting Bose–Einstein condensate on an L-shaped waveguide. We determine its feasibility with current technology and its limitations. As an example we work out the parameters to model the reaction F+H2 → H+HF by the propagation of ultracold lithium atoms.


The economic costs of the policy requiring bycatch reduction devices (BRD) on the shrimp harvesting sector and consumer sectors in the Gulf of Mexico were analyzed using simulation modeling. Three survival rates of shrimp that escape from the fisheye BRD (Penaeus duorarum P aztecus, and P setiferus) were used. As the survival rate of shrimp lost through the fisheye BRD decreased, gulfwide losses, in terms of changes in producer and consumer surplus from the base simulation, increased significantly. The most likely scenarios that represent the Gulf shrimp fishery are survival rates of 50% and 0%. Under 50% and 0% survival of shrimp that escape, the impact of BRDs in the Gulf of Mexico in terms of total economic losses to society ranges from $44.9 million to $65.7 million. The simulation shows that BRD policy has a negative impact on shrimp fishermen with 35-year present value rent ranging from US$11.5 million to $15.2 million.


Abundant, diversified algal assemblages comprising more than 25 species of Dasycladales are described from Barremian-Aptian limestone deposits of the Tirgan Formation in NE Iran. New species are described: one of them possibly belongs to a new endosporate genus, tentatively assigned the Triploporellaceae; two others, Clypeina ? sp. 1 and Rajkaella ? sp. 1, are left in open nomenclature. The widely distributed, locally abundant Montiella ? elitzae is revisited, because of the presence of a complete, exceptionally well preserved specimen. Yet to be demonstrated, the species is a junior synonym of Turkmenaria adducta Maslov, also originally described from the Kopet Dagh. Other species found in the Arkan section have already been reported from remote locations, primarily in Europe, in areas corresponding to the Northern and/or Southern Tethyan domains. Some of them are known only from the Hauterivian and/or the Barremian, excluding the Aptian, thus dating the lower part of the Arkan section as Barremian, but not excluding the Late Hauterivian.


Abstract Background: The information on whether long-term psychotherapy is superior in comparison with short-term therapies during a long time-perspective in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorder is incomplete. Aims: The present study addresses this question in a clinical trial with an exceptionally long follow-up. Methods: In the Helsinki Psychotherapy Study, 326 outpatients with mood or anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and two types of short-term psychotherapy (short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and solution-focused therapy) and were followed up for 5 years from the start of treatment. The outcome measures were psychiatric symptoms measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Symptom Check List, anxiety scale (SCL-90-Anx), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and Symptom Check List, Global Severity Index (SCL-90-GSI), and working ability measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI), the Work-subscale (SAS-Work) of the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-SR) and the Perceived Psychological Functioning Scale (PPF). Furthermore, remission variables based on changes in psychiatric symptoms and use of auxiliary treatment, were used. Results: After the 5-year follow-up, the rate of recovery from psychiatric symptoms and the work ability improvement rate remained higher in the long-term therapy group, whereas no differences in the effectiveness of the two short-term therapies of different modalities were found. Conclusions: Long-term psychotherapy is more effective than short-term therapy during a long follow-up, suggesting the need for a careful evaluation of suitability to short-term therapy. More research on the long-term effects of psychotherapy in large-scale studies is still needed, however.


Experiments were carried out to determine whether lysosomal enzymes had the ability to adversely affect the viability of human gingival fibroblasts. These studies were accomplished in vitro using lysosomal enzymes derived from human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The results strongly indicated that under the conditions of these experiments, lysosomal enzymes were incapable of mediating cell destruction. In fact, the only measurable effect was to release the cells from their growth surface in a manner similar to other known proteases. Even this capability was not expressed in the presence of naturally occurring inhibitors which are widely distributed in many body fluids, such as serum and inflammatory exudates. These results suggest that PMN leukocyte granule enzymes may not contribute significantly as mediators of the cellular destruction observed in inflammatory diseases in general, and inflammatory periodontal disease in particular.


The provision of secure networks and services is becoming more critical with the continuing growth of online services and prevalent hacks against systems. In particular, at the national level, countries must protect their critical infrastructure from malicious attacks. Central to this is the requirement to have an adequate pool of industry professionals who are well-versed in cybersecurity. These skillsets must be built and maintained in a structured manner and have a roadmap of lifelong learning for sustainability. A wide range of cybersecurity certification schemes are available; however, many are either prohibitively expensive to build large pools of professionals or have assessment mechanisms that do not measure individual abilities practically. This paper presents an approach to define a structured framework for building core critical skills in cybersecurity that is in line with industry requirements, provides a lifelong learning roadmap, incorporates professionalism and has a practical, competency-based assessment mechanism.


God-oriente d spiritual psychotherapy (God-OSP) is an approach based on Islamic resources. Its basic assumption is the development of perceptual filed to the origin of being and resurrection, in addition to self and objective existence, activating the spiritual dimension, creating monotheistic attitude, providing the ground for the treatment and change of clients with psychological problems. The aim of this research is to study the effect of God-OSP on psychspiritual development (PSD) as a criteria of mental and spiritual health. The method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design in the clinical clients. The sample of this study included 20 clients being selected by voluntarily sampling. All of them had anxiety problems. All of them, in addition to clinical interviews by clinicians and receiving a diagnosis of anxiety, took the psychospiritual development questioner (PSDQ). Then, they entered the spiritual group therapy. After 45 weekly sessions of treatment, they were tested again, and the obtained data were analyzed.The findings showed that the clinical signs of low level of psychological development associated with psychological disorders were significantly reduced under the effect of God-OSP. In the other words, the signs of the egocentric faith and the transitional faith (ambivalence) decrease. On the other hand, the signs of Reconstructed Faith and Transcendent Faith significantly increase. But, at the dogmatic stage (second stage), the subjects did not change significantly. The findings of this study confirmed the two basic assumptions that spiritual therapy not only reduces the clinical signs associated with low levels of development but also provides the basis for transcendent human growth and development. This interactive effect increases the effectiveness of spiritual therapy and reduces the rate of recurrence based on clinical self-reports.


World cultural landscape heritage (WCLH), recognized as combinations of cultural relic and natural landscape with outstanding significance and universal value, is unique in terms of differing from the human deliberate creativity of general cultural heritage and the "de-artificialization" of natural heritage. So far, the management of WCLH has become increasingly standardized. However, with the prevalence of heritage resources development activities like heritage tourism, the phenomenon of "urbanization", "commercialization", "artificialization" and other issues have gradually emerged in WCLH sites. Such that, the management issues of WCLH have turned increasingly serious, leading to intense concerns about unsustainable development of WCLH. Drawing inspirations from management effectiveness (ME) evaluation research of protected areas and acknowledging the uniqueness of WCLH, this study constructs a WCLH ME evaluation system of four general criteria (management foundation, management system, management measures and management performance), sixteen factors and thirty-four indicators. The evaluation system is applied and verified through an empirical study of five existing WCLH sites of China. The empirical results show that the ME of Chinese WCLH is at "good" level. Specifically, the management of Chinese WCLH is overall impressive in indicators of management planning making, heritage protection performance and economic performance, but shows deficiency in indicators of protection fee, management infrastructure, management assessment, management institution, social performance, etc. In the final, this study discusses the management issues of respective heritage sites so as to provide suggestions and inspirations for the development, protection and management of the sites and other cultural landscapes in China and even the world.


Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disorder that affects the skin and the neurological, ocular and skeletal systems. Many are unaware of the extent of pulmonary involvement, including lung cysts and emphysematous bullae, which enhances the risk of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP). We report the case of an 18-year-old male with NF1 who presented with acute dyspnoea and chest pain due to a right-sided pneumothorax caused by the rupture of lung apical bullae. The patient received supplemental oxygen and a chest tube of 18F was inserted, with a complete resolution of the pneumothorax. He was discharged on the third day of hospital stay. This case highlights the importance of considering SSP as a possible clinical manifestation and complication of NF1. Early recognition and appropriate management of this condition can prevent serious complications and improve patient outcomes. LEARNING POINTS NF1 is a genetic disease that results in cutaneous conditions, including neurofibroma, axillary, inguinal lentigines and café au lait spots. In some cases (5–20%) it can also affect the lungs, causing neurofibroma, infiltrative and cystic lesions, emphysema or bullae, leading to chronic respiratory failure. SSP is a clinical presentation of NF1 caused by the rupture of lung cysts or bullae, with an unclear relationship to smoking. Early diagnosis of pulmonary manifestations in patients with NF1 is crucial as surgical removal of lung cysts and bullae seems to prevent recurrence of SSP.


In IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN), it is very hard to meet QoS requirements (throughput, delay and loss rate) of multimedia traffic by using distributed coordination function (DCF). In order to support QoS in WLAN, enhanced IEEE 802.11 medium access control (MAC) protocol is discussed in IEEE 802.11 Task Group E. IEEE 802.11e uses the rather complex hybrid coordination function (HCF). In this paper, we propose a simple multipolling DCF (MPDCF) mechanism with the advantages of high channel efficiency and QoS support. In our proposed mechanism, an AP can decide the transmission order and duration of QoS-sensitive wireless stations and poll the stations whenever it needs based on the controlled backoff procedure. We propose a scheduling algorithm using the proposed MPDCF to serve real-time traffic with constant and variable bit rates. The simulation results show that QoS requirements of the traffic can be satisfied and the channel utilization is also increased with our scheduling mechanism


The examination was carried out in a group of 20 patients with decadent renal failure (14 males and 6 females) from 16 to 51 years of age (average 32 years) undergoing the therapy of repeated haemodialysis (HD) during a period from 1.5 to 72 months. The HD procedure was performed by the use of the cuprophan dialyze (Gambro). The samples were taken on an empty stomach, before HD and then in the 20th 60th and 120th minute of HD. The absolute number of lymphocytes and their subpopulations were determined by means of rosette tests. In the patients with uraemia, the absolute number of lymphocytes and their subpopulations in the peripheral blood was significantly lower than in healthy persons selected appropriately with respect to sex and age. In the initial phase of HD the authors found a significant decrease in the absolute number of the whole population of lymphocytes, and also their sub-populations T, B, TM and an increase in the absolute number of subpopulation TG. These changes were of transient character and became normalized almost completely in the 120th minute of the procedure.


ABSTRACT In this study, seasonality and interannual variability of snow depth at two stations (Hornsund and Barentsburg) located in western Spitsbergen are investigated. For this purpose, the novel Moving Average over Shifting Horizon method combined with trend estimation was used. The Hornsund and Barentsburg stations exhibit similar snow depth trends during early autumn and late spring when statistically significant decreases were estimated at both stations (for August 1984–July 2016). In the remaining period, there are differences in outcomes between stations. The results for Barentsburg from October till the end of May are characterised by the lack of a trend while at Hornsund decreases of snow depth were estimated. The largest changes occur in May when the snow depth was at its maximum. Differences in the estimated tendencies were explained with the help of a trend analysis for air temperature and precipitation. An analysis of maximum snow depth, snow onset date, snow disappearance date and snow-cover duration is included. The results of the assessment depend on the location, with a lack of statistically significant changes in Barentsburg, and later snow onset date, shorter duration and decrease of maximum depth in Hornsund.


The ultrasound examination is the integral part of diagnostic procedure in endophthalmitis. During the ultrasound examination we may follow the organization of opacities in the vitreous, membranes formation, the thickening of the choroid, posterior vitreous membrane detachment, detachment of the choroid, the retinal detachment, chorideal abscess or granuloma, the edema of the optic nerve head and thickening of sclera. Not all of these ultrasound findings are always present. In our retrospective study, ultrasound findings of 17 eyes of 17 patients hospitalized at the Department of Ophthalmology at the School of Medicine, Palacký University in Olomouc during the period September 1999 - December 2002, were followed. Ultrasound findings in all eyes were evaluated and the final central visual acuity (VA) was followed. In eyes with VA 6/60 (20/200 or 0.1) or worse, the posterior vitreous membrane was not at all or only partially detached. In this group the finding of choroid thickening was more common. The finding of incomplete or absent posterior vitreous membrane detachment, and/or the thickening of the choroid might be prognostic unfavorable ultrasound finding in endophthalmitis.


In this paper, the development of an in-house computer code for the thermal analysis of satellites is discussed. The code is based on Thermal Network Method (TNM) in conjunction with Method of Lines (MOL) for the solution of energy equation. The view factors required for the computation of radiative exchange factors which are used in TNM are calculated by a newly developed module based on Monte-Carlo Ray Tracing Technique. The predictive accuracy of the code including the new module was assessed on a realistic test problem involving a satellite orbiting the earth at an altitude of 700 km. Comparison of transient results obtained by the in-house code and a commercial thermal analysis software package (Thermica-SINDA/G) has shown that the in-house code predictions mimic the ones obtained by Thermica-SINDA/G very accurately.


More than half of Caenorhabditis elegans pre-mRNAs lose their original 5′ ends in a process termed "trans-splicing" in which the RNA extending from the transcription start site (TSS) to the site of trans-splicing of the primary transcript, termed the "outron," is replaced with a 22-nt spliced leader. This complicates the mapping of TSSs, leading to a lack of available TSS mapping data for these genes. We used growth at low temperature and nuclear isolation to enrich for transcripts still containing outrons, applying a modified SAGE capture procedure and high-throughput sequencing to characterize 5′ termini in this transcript population. We report from this data both a landscape of 5′-end utilization for C. elegans and a representative collection of TSSs for 7351 trans-spliced genes. TSS distributions for individual genes were often dispersed, with a greater average number of TSSs for trans-spliced genes, suggesting that trans-splicing may remove selective pressure for a single TSS. Upstream of newly defined TSSs, we observed well-known motifs (including TATAA-box and SP1) as well as novel motifs. Several of these motifs showed association with tissue-specific expression and/or conservation among six worm species. Comparing TSS features between trans-spliced and non-trans-spliced genes, we found stronger signals among outron TSSs for preferentially positioning of flanking nucleosomes and for downstream Pol II enrichment. Our data provide an enabling resource for both experimental and theoretical analysis of gene structure and function in C. elegans.


Using primary survey data, factors influencing preferences of international graduate students in the United States as to whether they prefer to stay in the United States or go back to their home country to start their careers are examined employing discrete choice analysis. Career opportunities and social climate are critical factors. Students prefer to start their careers in the country where they have more and better career opportunities, receive higher salaries, and have increased civil liberties. Differences between students who are sure and those who are not sure as to where they prefer to start their career are noted.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency for educational purposes by evaluating the videos published on YouTube channel, which is an open source video sharing platform, for robotic right hemicolectomy procedure.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We searched YouTube website to choose video clips that included information about robotic right hemicolec- tomy for right colon cancer. All videos were analyzed according to the criteria like quality of videos, quality of teaching, and modified Laparoscopic Surgery Video Educational Guidelines.

RESULTS
There were 16 complete mesocolic excision and 56 noncomplete mesocolic excision videos in the study. According to the Likert scale, calculated complete mesocolic excision scores were analyzed better than the noncomplete mesocolic excision group and this difference was statistically significant (P < .0001). The teaching quality scores of complete mesocolic excision videos were higher than noncomplete mesocolic excision group and this result was statistically significant (P = .02). The videos were scored according to the modified Laparoscopic Surgery Video Educational Guideline, and the score difference was statistically significant between complete mesocolic excision and noncomplete mesocolic excision videos (P < .001). The video power index was higher (mean 5.52 ± 15.56 vs. mean 1.66 ± 3.41) in the complete mesocolic excision group, but there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (P = .086).

CONCLUSIONS
Most of the robotic right hemicolectomy videos on the YouTube platform are insufficient in terms of educational capaci- ties. Complete mesocolic excision-containing videos are slightly superior in this respect to noncomplete mesocolic excision videos, as considering a new technique can make video presenters more attentive. In our opinion, if the images presented to the video platforms are to be used for educational purposes, they must undergo a certain evaluation and screening process.


In this study, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is used to evaluate the characteristics of college students' entrepreneurial psychology, and a prediction model of college students' entrepreneurial psychology characteristics is established, which is simulated by Matlab to achieve good validity. Based on the research on the characteristics of college students' entrepreneurial psychology, this study proposes a design method of indicators and parameters for evaluating the characteristics of college students' entrepreneurial psychology. In this study, the genetic algorithm is used to optimize the BP neural network. The optimized neural network greatly improves the global search and local search capabilities. The performance of the model is tested through simulation tests. Through the simulation comparison test between the improved model and the standard model, the results show that the model can predict the entrepreneurial psychological characteristics of college students. By comparing the improved BP neural network algorithm with the original algorithm simulation experiment, the improved BP neural network improves the sensitivity by 20%, the specificity by 5%, and the accuracy by 8%.


Purpose of the Study. Acute lower respiratory tract infection is the most common condition treated in primary care. Many physicians still prescribe antibiotics; however, systematic reviews of the use of antibiotics are small and have diverse conclusions. This study evaluated the effectiveness of 3 prescribing strategies and an information leaflet for acute lower respiratory tract infection. Study Population. A randomized, controlled trial conducted from August 18, 1998, to July 30, 2003, of 807 patients presenting to a primary care setting with acute uncomplicated lower respiratory tract infection. Patients were assigned to 1 of 6 groups by a factorial design: leaflet or no leaflet and 1 of 3 antibiotic groups (immediate antibiotics, no offer of antibiotics, and delayed antibiotics). Methods. Three strategies, immediate antibiotics (n = 262), a delayed antibiotic prescription (n = 272), and no offer of antibiotics (n = 273), were prescribed. Approximately half of the patients in each group received an information leaflet (129 for immediate antibiotics, 136 for delayed antibiotic prescription, and 140 for no antibiotics). Results. A total of 562 patients (70%) returned complete diaries, and 78 (10%) provided information about both symptom duration and severity. Cough rated at least "a slight problem" lasted a mean of 11.7 days (25% of the patients had a cough lasting ≥17 days). An information leaflet had no effect on the main outcomes. Compared with no offer of antibiotics, other strategies did not alter cough duration (delayed prescription, 0.75 days; 95% confidence interval: −0.37–1.88; immediate prescription, 0.11 days; 95% confidence interval: −1.01–1.24) or other primary outcomes. Compared with those in the immediate-antibiotic group, slightly fewer patients in the delayed-prescription and control groups used antibiotics (96%, 20%, and 16%, respectively; P < .001), fewer patients were "very satisfied" (86%, 77%, and 72%, respectively; P = .005), and fewer patients believed in the effectiveness of antibiotics (75%, 40%, and 47%, respectively; P < .001). There were lower reattendances within a month with antibiotics (mean attendances for no antibiotics: 0.19; delayed prescription: 0.12; immediate prescription: 0.11; P = .04) and higher attendance with a leaflet (mean attendances for no leaflet: 0.11; mean attendances for leaflet: 0.17; P = .02). Conclusions. No offer or a delayed offer of antibiotics for acute uncomplicated lower respiratory tract infection is acceptable, associated with little difference in symptom resolution, and is likely to considerably reduce antibiotic use and beliefs in the effectiveness of antibiotics. Reviewer Comments. This is good that we do not need yet another patient-information leaflet. I have always liked the "delayed-offer" approach, because it is a compromise to the patient, and most of the time they get better and never need the drug.


Owing to the omnidirectional perfect transmission and omnidirectional zero phase accumulation properties, S-type optical nihility media (ONM) have been utilized to design hyperlenses, optical waveguides, field concentrators and field rotators. Under the multiple interference mechanism, for conventional all-dielectric one-dimensional photonic crystals (1DPCs), all the transmittance peaks within the passband will shift towards short wavelengths (blueshift) with the increase in incident angle. Therefore, effective ONM cannot be realized in all-dielectric 1DPCs because the perfect transmission and zero phase accumulation conditions at the wavelength of the transmittance peak can only be satisfied at a specific incident angle. However, in a 1DPC composed of alternating dielectric and hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) layers, one can realize a stopband of which one band edge is redshifted. At the same time, a transmittance peak in the passband is blueshifted. Therefore, between the redshift band edge and the blueshift transmittance peak, one can obtain an angle-independent transmittance peak. The HMM layer is mimicked by a dielectric/doped semiconductor multilayer. At the wavelength of the angle-independent transmittance peak, perfect transmission and zero phase accumulation conditions can be satisfied at any incident angle. Our work provides a route, under the current experimental conditions, to realize an effective S-type ONM by a simple one-dimensional structure in the near-infrared range.


Newer varieties of occupational lung diseases primarily due to the vast increase in industrial technology have been reported recently. Preeminent among such newer agents are vinyl chloride (VC) and polyvinyl chloride. Very few cases have been reported, in Europe only, with descriptive histopathologic changes. To our knowledge, no pathologic studies of VC exposure have been described in the American literature. The biopsy abnormalities in our patients disclosed desquamation of alveolar macrophages into the alveolar lumina and minor interstitial and alveolar inflammatory changes. Pulmonary function abnormalities included restrictive insufficiency. Preventive therapy consists of the avoidance of further exposures, frequent industrial hygiene monitoring, and total avoidance of tobacco smoke, as well as associated atmospheric pollutants. Thus far, none of these patients has exhibited evidence of pulmonary neoplasms. All three patients survived their occupational injuries, and two are still disabled to varying degrees. Urine and blood levels of phthalic acid derivatives were elevated in two patients, the exact significance of which is not fully known. It probably represents a toxicologic response, but must be further pursued before conclusions can be reached.


under yarious conditions (from 40C to 50eC for up to 7 days). The specMc degradation of RJP-1 was proportional to storage temperature and storage period. RJP-1 was purified to homogeneity and characterized as a monomeric glycoprotein with a molecular mass of 57 kDa. These res"lts suggest that 57-kDa protein in RJ can be used as a marker for freshness of RJ, reflecting the conditions under which RJ has been stored.


Nanotechnology is increasingly being applied in many emerging technologies, ranging from metamaterials to next-generation nanodrugs. A key ingredient for its success is the ability to specifically tailor ultrafast nanoscale light–matter interactions over very large areas. Unfortunately, dynamic imaging by ultrafast nanoscopy so far remains limited to very small 2D areas. This shortcoming prevents connecting single-particle observations with large-scale functionality. Here, we address this experimental challenge by combining concepts of ultrafast spectroscopy, wide-field nanoscopy, and digital holography. We introduce an ultrafast holographic transient microscope for wide-field transient nanoscale imaging with high frequency all-optical signal demodulation. We simultaneously record ultrafast transient dynamics of many individual nano-objects and demonstrate time-resolved spectroscopy of gold nanoparticles over a large volume irrespective of their x–y–z position. Our results pave the way to single-shot 3D microscopy of 2D and 3D materials on arbitrary time scales from femtosecond carrier dynamics in optoelectronic materials to millisecond dynamics in complex tissues.


The yield of essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from aerial parts of Micromeria thymifolia (Scop.) Fritsch varied from 0.3% to 0.5% (V/m) during the vegetation period. The oils were characterised by a very high content of oxygenated monoterpenes (90.2-96.5%). Other components were monoterpene hydrocarbons and sesquiter-penes. Piperitenone oxide, pulegone and piperitone were identified as the major components of the investigated oils (GC, GC-MS). Significant seasonal variations in the relative amounts of the main components were confirmed. A continuous reduction in the oxide fraction with an accompanying increase in the proportion of ketones was observed.


BACKGROUND
Cost analysis in laboratories represents a necessary phase in their scientific progression.

AIM
To calculate indirect cost and thus total cost per sample of various tests at Hematopathology laboratory (HPL).

SETTINGS AND DESIGN
Activity-based costing (ABC) method is used to calculate per cost test of the hematopathology laboratory.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Information is collected from registers, purchase orders, annual maintenance contracts (AMCs), payrolls, account books, hospital bills and registers along with informal interviews with hospital staff.

RESULTS
Cost per test decreases as total number of samples increases. Maximum annual expense at the HPL is on reagents and consumables followed by manpower. Cost per test is higher for specialized tests which interpret morphological or flow data and are done by a pathologist.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite several limitations and assumptions, this was an attempt to understand how the resources are consumed in a large size government-run laboratory. The rate structure needs to be revised for most of the tests, mainly for complete blood counts (CBC), bone marrow examination, coagulation tests and Immunophenotyping. This costing exercise is laboratory specific and each laboratory needs to do its own costing. Such an exercise may help a laboratory redesign its costing structure or at least understand the economics involved in the laboratory management.


AbstractIn this paper, I engage in the debate on the definition of the cyborg. I identify the two defining components of the traditional definition of the cyborg: (a) the symbiotic relationship between human nature and technology; and (b) the embodiment of a superhuman or inhuman feature or ability. Then, I trace these two components in the scholarly debate on the cyborg. To conclude, I explore the role the scholarly view of the cyborg plays in the debate on cyborg-athletes in the philosophy of sport.


Development plans lie at the heart of the British planning system. The concept of planning is inseparably linked to the image of a development plan which, in one form or another, has been a part of the statutory planning system since 1909. The changes to the planning legislation in the early 1990s gave development plans a renewed importance, with the concept of a 'plan-led' system of control serving to reinforce the relationship between planning and plans once more. Within this context, this paper questions the extent to which the role of development plans in the planning system has ever been satisfactorily clarified. It takes a historical look at development plans (in England and Wales) since the early 1900s and explores the debates which have surrounded their purpose, preparation, product and implementation. A number of key issues relating to the development plan system are then identified, which have arisen at intervals over the last 50 years and which continue to arise in the contemporary system. In the light of this, the paper suggests some key questions that now need to be addressed if the development plan puzzle is to be solved.


Alaska is among northern high‐latitude regions where accelerated climate change is expected to impact streamflow properties, including seasonality and primary flow drivers. Evaluating changes to streamflow, including flood characteristics, across this large and diverse environment can be improved by identifying the distribution and influence of flow drivers. Using metrics of mean monthly streamflow data from 253 streamgages, seasonal flow regimes were clustered to guide identification of seasonal flow drivers and form hydrologic groups for identification of peak‐flow populations. Nine seasonally distinct subclasses described variability within three classes dominated by (mostly fall) rainfall, (spring) snowmelt, and (summer) high‐elevation melt. The most glacierized basins exclusively grouped into high‐elevation melt subclasses, and less glacierized basins sometimes exhibited seasonal patterns aligned with rainfall‐dominated and snowmelt‐dominated regimes. Peak‐flow populations varied by subclass from dominant rainfall or dominant snowmelt to mixed rainfall–snowmelt or mixed rainfall, snowmelt, and high‐elevation melt. Within subclasses, rainfall generated higher mean peak flows (relative to mean annual flow) than snowmelt or high‐elevation melt. Seasonal flow regimes showed clear but complex associations with basin characteristics, primarily elevation and winter temperature, and with geographic location. These dependencies provided elevation‐based analogies for changes associated with warming and insights for seasonal flow regime prediction and hydrologic region delineation. These results provide a spatially comprehensive perspective on seasonal streamflow drivers across Alaska from historical data and serve as an important historical basis for analysis.


BACKGROUND
Unstructured regions in proteins can vary from several amino acid residues to a completely disordered sequence. Since such regions play an important role in the protein functioning, much attention is being paid to their prediction. Special different programs are available for this purpose; however, predictions obtained vary from protein to protein.

OBJECTIVE
In this article, our motivation is the investigation of the high prediction accuracy of flexible loops in G-proteins family with FoldUnfold program due to crucial functions associated with these regions.

METHOD
For prediction of loops in the G-proteins we used programs as RONN, DisEMBL, Glob- Plot2, IUPred, PONDR, FoldIndex, MobiDB and FoldUnfold. As a criterion of reliability of predicting disordered regions, we have chosen comparison with the regions known from the 3D structures. Collection, data analysis and statistical analysis were performed using Python 3.3. and R version 3.2.0.

RESULTS
For 23 G-proteins, the FoldUnfold program predicts loops with the average precision of 60-80%. It is seen that our program enables better prediction of loop positions than other programs. Statistically significant weak negative correlation exists between the average number of closed residues according to the FoldUnfold program and the Debye-Waller factors. Investigations of the G-proteins with the posttranslational modifications revealed additional flexible properties of the residues involved in the attachment of fatty acids.

CONCLUSION
Our research demonstrates additional possibilities and the high prediction accuracy of the FoldUnfold program for prediction of flexible regions and characteristics of individual residues in different protein family.


The estimation of reservoir parameters from seismic observations is one of the main objectives in reservoir characterization. However, the forward model relating petrophysical properties of rocks to observed seismic data is highly nonlinear, and solving the relevant inverse problem is a challenging task. We present a novel inversion method for jointly estimating elastic and petrophysical parameters of rocks from prestack seismic data. We combine a full rock-physics model and the exact Zoeppritz equation as the forward model. To overcome the ill-conditioning of the inverse problem and address the complex prior distribution of model parameters given lithofacies variations, we introduce a regularization term based on the prior Gaussian mixture model under Bayesian framework. The objective function is optimized by the fast simulated annealing algorithm, during which the Gaussian mixture-based regularization terms are adaptively and iteratively adjusted by the maximum likelihood estimator, allowing the posterior distribution to be more consistent with the observed seismic data. The adaptive regularization method improves the accuracy of petrophysical parameters compared to the sequential inversion and non-adaptive regularization methods, and the inversion result can be used for indicating gas-saturated areas when applied to field data.


Cloud computing is one of the most popular technology recent years due to its ability to deliver every IT resource in the internet as a service. no matter industry, academia, or users, they all have greatly interest in cloud computing. Many IT giants such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM have successfully applied their Clouds with different technologies and architectures. at present, the common viewpoint is that merging SOA and cloud computing together will bring about infinite development space. This paper discusses cloud computing and the eventual goal to make a uniform cloud computing architecture based on SOA that will allow people to move from one cloud provider to another with ease.


We study a phenomenological model for the continuous double auction, whose aggregate order process is equivalent to two independent queues. The continuous double auction defines a continuous-time random walk for trade prices. The conditions for ergodicity of the auction are derived and, as a consequence, three possible regimes in the behavior of prices and logarithmic returns are observed. In the ergodic regime, prices are unstable and one can observe a heteroskedastic behavior in the logarithmic returns. On the contrary, non-ergodicity triggers stability of prices, even if two different regimes can be seen.


Background In recent years, potential biological markers of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and LN activity have been intensely sought for. Among them, it seems that monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) has a prominent place as a marker of LN activity. Objectives Our aim in this paper was to investigate the level of MCP-1 in the serum and urine of SLE patients and to establish its correlation with SLE and LN activity. Methods The study involved 72 patients with SLE, hospitalized in the Rheumatology Clinic, Institute "Niška Banja", during 2011, in whom the diagnose was made using the criteria of the ARA revised in 1997, 27 with LN and 45 without signs of LN, as well as 30 healthy individuals. The Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was used to assess the disease activity. In addition to other standard laboratory and immunological analyses, the level of MCP-1 was determined in SLE patients and controls in their serum and urine samples using the sandwich enzyme immunosorbent assay method, in accordance with the manufacturer's directions (R&D Systems, Inc. Minneapolis, USA). Results The examinees in the investigated group were aged 46.4±9.3 years on the average. Average age of control subjects was 44.7±9.5 years. In SLE group there were 66 (91.7%) women and 6 (8.3%) men, and in control group 27 (90%) women and 3 (10%) men. Average disease duration in the studied group was 11.2±8.1 years. Average SLEDAI value was 10.9±6.9, with a median of 8. Our investigation showed that mean MCP-1 values in the sera of SLE patients were significantly higher compared to average values in controls (728.7±879.7 pg/ml vs. 225.9±42.0 pg/ml; p<0.001). Mean values of MCP-1 in the urine of SLE patients were also significantly higher, regardless of disease activity, renal involvement, and treatment used, compared to healthy controls (179.2±181.5 pg/ml vs. 94.7±31.6 pg/ml; p<0.01). For the cut-off of >266.7 pg/ml the specificity and sensitivity of serum MCP-1 for SLE diagnosis was 90% and 77.8% respectively (95% CI 0.817-0.946; AUC 0.894), and for the cut-off of >166.0 pg/ml the specificity and sensitivity of urine MCP-1 was 100% and 44.4% respectively (95% CI 0.588-0.776; AUC 0.688). Our results demonstrated that the urinary and not serum MCP-1 was in a positive correlation with proteinuria (r=0.839; p<0.001) and in negative correlation with glomerular filtration assessed using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formula (r=-0.293; p<0.05). Both serum and urinary MCP-1 demonstrated a positive correlation with SLEDAI (r=0.318; p<0.01 and r=0.431; p<0.001). Conclusions Serum and urine MCP-1 can be an indicant of global SLE activity. Urine MCP-1 can be a marker of LN activity, since it is in correlation with renal damage and function parameters – in a positive correlation with proteinuria, and in negative one with glomerular filtration. Future longitudinal studies of this cytokine in a larger number of SLE patients could perhaps provide us with some conclusive answers about the significance of MCP-1 determination in early detection of subclinical forms of LN, predictions of disease relapses, and timely treatment of SLE patients. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3854


A series of batch and continuous flow experiments were run in orde.r to assess the potential for contamination of groundwater by organic material leached from in situ spent shale. The specific objectives of these experiments were to 1) estimate the concentration of organic material present in leachate derived from various types of in situ spent shale, and 2) identify variables that affect the concentration of organic material in leachate. Concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC) as high as SO milligrams per liter were detected during experimentation. Factors that significantly influenced the concentration of organic material present·in leach8te included 1) retorting conditions associated with spent shale, 2) spent shale particle size, 3) water temperature, and 4) leaching time.


Solid lipid microparticles (SLMs) loaded with ketoprofen were prepared by single emulsion-solvent evaporation method, in which glyceryl monostearate and Tween 80 were employed. The particle size was found to be 99.80±2.1μm. Microparticles observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed spherical shape. The entrapment efficiency (EE %) and drug loading capacity (DL %) were found to be 72.60±1.6 % and 17.98±0.7% respectively. Results of stability evaluation showed relatively long term stability after storage at 4˚C for 3 months. The in-vivo study revealed slightly better per cent inhibition of pain i.e. 74% in comparison with 68% produced by plain drug. ABSTRACT Solid lipid microparticles (SLMs) loaded with ketoprofen were prepared by single emulsion-solvent evaporation method, in which glyceryl monostearate and Tween 80 were employed. The particle size was found to be 99.80±2.1μm. Microparticles observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed spherical shape. The entrapment efficiency (EE %) and drug loading capacity (DL %) were found to be 72.60±1.6 % and 17.98±0.7% respectively. Results of stability evaluation showed relatively long term stability after storage at 4˚C for 3 months. The in-vivo study revealed slightly better per cent inhibition of pain i.e. 74% in comparison with 68% produced by plain drug. RESUMEN Las micropartículas lipídicas sólidas (MLS) cargadas con ketoprofeno se prepararon a través del método de evaporación del disolvente en emulsión simple, en el que se ha utilizado monoestearato de glicerilo y Tween 80. El


BACKGROUND
Numerous studies suggest overprescribing of antibiotics for respiratory tract indications (RTIs), without really authenticating inappropriate prescription; the strict criteria of guideline recommendations were not taken into account as information on specific diagnoses, patient characteristics and disease severity was not available.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to quantify and qualify inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for RTIs.

METHODS
This is an observational study of the (antibiotic) management of patients with RTIs, using a detailed registration of RTI consultations by general practitioners (GPs). Consultations of which all necessary information was available were benchmarked to the prescribing guidelines for acute otitis media (AOM), acute sore throat, rhinosinusitis or acute cough. Levels of overprescribing for these indications and factors associated with overprescribing were determined.

RESULTS
The overall antibiotic prescribing rate was 38%. Of these prescriptions, 46% were not indicated by the guidelines. Relative overprescribing was highest for throat (including tonsillitis) and lowest for ear consultations (including AOM). Absolute overprescribing was highest for lower RTIs (including bronchitis). Overprescribing was highest for patients between 18 and 65 years of age, when GPs felt patients' pressure for an antibiotic treatment, for patients presenting with fever and with complaints longer than 1 week. Underprescribing was observed in <4% of the consultations without a prescription.

CONCLUSION
Awareness of indications and patient groups provoking antibiotic overprescribing can help in the development of targeted strategies to improve GPs' prescribing routines for RTIs.


This article explores in a systematic manner the different components of the democratic legitimacy of the Union from the standpoint of deliberative democratic theory. Contrary to standard accounts, it is claimed that the democratic deficit must be disaggregated, given that the Union has not only several shortcomings, but also some democratic surpluses. On the one hand, the Union was created to tackle the democratic deficit of nation states, and has been partially successful in mending the mismatch between the scope of application of their legal systems and the geographical reach of the consequences of legal decisions. Moreover, the European legal order is based on a synthetic constitutional law, which reflects the common constitutional traditions of the Member States, which lend democratic legitimacy to the whole European legal order. On the other hand, the lack of a democratically written and ratified constitution is a central part of the democratic challenge of the Union. But equally important is the structural bias in favour of certain material legal results, which stems from the interplay of the division of competences and the plurality of law-making procedures.


Abstract:  Currently, measuring the local tensile strength in inhomogeneous materials is not standardised, nor accepted techniques are available despite such technique would be beneficial in a variety of technological applications. Thus, this work introduces an innovative method for assessing stress–strain properties at a sub‐millimeter scale and illustrates the potential of the technique by evaluating the strength of a sub‐region in the HAZ from welded steels pipes. The method employs a fully instrumented stage inside a scanning electron microscope that stretches small tensile specimens (2.0 mm × 0.5 mm cross‐section, 12.5 mm gage length) while registering detailed images of the deformed region. The specimens, cut from full‐scale welds, include in their gage length weld metal, base metal and HAZ and have an 85 μm period grid of evaporated lead on their surface to visualise the deformation. Upon straining, local strain is determined by correlating sequential images of the specimen surface with an open source code for particle image velocimetry. The calculated local strain within the HAZ and the load values recorded during testing are converted into a local stress–strain response. The results for two different heat inputs agree with usual, but indirect and less accurate assessments procedures, including local hardness measurements and notched bar testing.


Using highly cross-linked polystyrene-supported chiral phosphine-phosphite (R, S)-BINAPHOS-Rh(I) complexes, olefins were hydroformylated to give the corresponding iso-aldehydes in high ee's in benzene suspension. The efficiency in catalytic activity and selectivity is at the highest level among the heterogeneous catalysis recorded to date. In a batch equipped with a fixed bed of a polystyrene-supported (R,S)-BINAPHOS-Rh(I), gaseous substrates, cis-2-butene and 3, 3, 3-trifluoropropene, were smoothly converted into the corresponding iso-aldehydes with high selectivities (100 % regioselectivity and 80 % ee for cis-2-butene, 93 % regioselectivity and 90 % ee for 3, 3, 3-trifluoropropene) under vapor-phase reaction conditions. When the asymmetric hydroformylation of 3, 3, 3-trifluoropropene was carried out in a continuous vapor-flow column reactor, 2-trifluoromethylpropanal was obtained with 95 % regioselectivity and 90 % ee. Such less volatile olefins as styrene, vinyl acetate, 1-alkenes, polyfluorinated alkenes, were also converted into the corresponding aldehydes with high selectivities comparable to those obtained under homogeneous conditions, when they were injected through scCO2-flow column reactor in a stepwise manner. Substituents were incorporated at the phenyl groups of (R, S)-BINAPHOS. Using Rh catalysts complexed by 3-methoxy substituted ligand, olefins were hydroformylated to give iso-aldehydes, whose regioand enantioselectivities were improved as compared with the unsubstituted ligand. Asymmetric hydroformylation of styrene with Rh(I)-(un)substituted ligands was monitored by in situ high pressure IR to disclose the aldehyde-production rate was robs = kobs [Rh] 1.0 [styrene] 0.6 [ligand] -0.1Pco0.9 (kobs: a constant under isothermal conditions). Higher catalytic activity observed with 3-methoxy substituted ligand compared to that with normal ones is attributed to higher concentration of an active species. An alkoxy-substituted ligand was incorporated into polystyrene, and the resulting polymer-supported (R,S)-BINAPHOS-Rh(I) complex was successfully used for asymmetric hydroformylation of various olefins.


2 Abstract: The contribution of low-protein and cassava-cyanide intake in the aetiology of tropical pancreatitis was investigated in male albino Wistar rats fed for 28 days with cassava diet containing 50 mg CN kg DM 1 and 3% protein supplement, using acceptable biochemical methods. Assay for pancreatic amylase activity (indicator for pancreatic dysfunction) in blood of both control and cassava-cyanide fed groups indicated 9.43% and13.57% rise in activity of this enzyme in the latter above the former after 14 and 28 days respectively. Increases activity of some hepatic enzymes in the blood were also measured. Depletion of whole blood glutathione of the test animals by 57.33 and 84.38% after 14 and 28 days respectively above that of control was also observed. There was non-significant increase (p>0.05) in plasma malonaldehyde (lipid peroxidation status) of the cassava-cyanide fed group when compared to the control. Significant decreases in plasma albumin and elation in blood and urine thiocyanate levels were also measured. The results are discussed from toxicological and mechanism of action points of views.


*The first author perfonned main part ofhis research while working as a post-doctoral fellow of Academy of Finland at Signal Processing Labo ratory, Helsinki University ofTechnology. We derive a complex form of the unconstrained and con strained Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRB) of composite real parameters formed by stacking the real and imaginary part of the complex parameters. The derived complex constrai ned and unconstrained CRB is easy to calculate and pos sesses similar structure as in the real parameter case but with the real covariance, Jacobian and the Fisher informa tion matrix replaced by complex matrices with analogous interpretations. The advantage of the complex CRB is that it is oftentimes easier to calculate than its real form. It is highlighted that a statistic that attains a bound on the com plex covariance matrix alone do not necessarily attain the CRB since complex covariance matrix does not provide a full second-order description of a complex statistic since also the pseudo-covariance matrix is needed. Our deriva tions also lead to some new insights and theory that are sim ilar to real CRB theory.


Liberalization in the financial markets and the accelerated capital movement after the 1980s are significant factors which caused Turkey to become sensitive to external shocks. Turkey has confronted four different crises since 1990 and both financial and real sectors of the economy have been affected to a considerable degree. The requirement of a proper crisis and risk management has become unavoidable in order to sustain operations efficiently for the companies operating in countries such as Turkey, which face crises within every decennium. The companies which can manage this process successfully, especially during times of crisis, will not only be able to increase the efficiency with the recovery in the economy but will also decrease the duration of the crisis by minimizing its negative effects. In this article, the effects of financial crises on the fiscal performance (efficiency) of companies traded on Borsa Istanbul were determined using Data Envelopment Analysis and some solutions were offered to the companies with the aim of helping them to improve their efficiency.


CALIFORNIA, NORMALLY A BELLWETHER STATE, ITS trends and culture spreading as fast as buzz on the latest Steven Soderbergh flick, was a late arrival to the modern school accountability movement. Even the 1994 federal Title I reforms, which required states to develop the three major prongs of an effective accountability system (academic standards, tests linked to the standards, and a mixture of assistance and sanctions for low-performing schools) did little to stimulate California into action. In fact, it wasn't until the results of the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading were released that the state got serious about accountability. California's absolutely disastrous performance--it tied Louisiana for last place among the 37 participating states--was a source of deep embarrassment to a state that had long prided itself on its K-12 public schools and the University of California's eight undergraduate campuses, arguably the finest system of public universities in the world. Analysts have cited a legion of reasons for the state's slide in achievement: the steady leaching of resources from the schools that was the inevitable result of the infamous 1970s property-tax revolt led by Howard Jarvis; a long period of economic woes caused by layoffs in the defense industry; curriculum experiments with" whole language" reading instruction and" new math" that were at best a distraction and at worst quite damaging; a school finance lawsuit that led to a dramatic increase in the state's authority over school budgets and operations; and a massive influx of new students and non-English-speaking immigrants that almost surely depressed test scores, Whatever the reasons, the result was a sharp drop in the public's and policymakers' confidence in the abilities and, indeed, the motivation of local educators. A political coalition and consensus developed around the ideas that accurate information on student and school performance is needed in order to hold educators accountable and that educators ca n't be trusted to work hard without the existence of positive and negative state incentives. Since then, California has developed the basic foundations of a coherent accountability system. Nevertheless, despite the progress, many aspects have yet to fall into place at the school level, and there is always the danger that the underlying political coalition will collapse and rake the accountability system down with it. Education reform generally, and in California especially, seems to follow a pattern of raking one step up and two steps back, as successions in leadership and shifts in the political winds lead to the dismantling of earlier reforms and the layering on of new ones. This is certainly true of the accountability movement in California, which has a tortured history of reform and retrenchment that for years left the state with no real measure of how its students were performing. So the question is, Will California stay the accountability course this time? Will the system survive the almost inevitably low passage rates that will occur when the state shifts to a new high-school exit test this y ear? Will the state not only punish low-performing schools, but also give them the resources and technical assistance necessary to build solid academic programs? And will the new provisions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) hamper or support California's efforts to improve schools? Experiments Gone Awry California may be a latecomer to the modern accountability movement, but the state has been no stranger to the idea that standardized tests ought to be used to gauge school performance. California state officials began to lose confidence in local school authorities and teachers as early as the 1960s. This concern culminated in the California Assessment Program (CAP), which was first administered in 1972. The program required each student to take a sample of questions from an overall test, a method called "matrix sampling. …


Some physicists say that the universe has originated from nothing and required no external agent for its creation. However, since time, space and gravitation cannot have any separate existence from matter, the total time, space and gravitation of the universe will also remain zero. Therefore, we can say that there is definitely some substance in this universe due to the presence of which the total space and the total time of the universe always remain zero. But what is this substance? Whence has it originated? What are its properties? These are the questions that need to be answered. I suggest that the substance should have light-like properties and be all pervading. Further, it should not be absorbed, repelled, attracted or deflected by any known particle of this universe.


&NA; Primary malignant brain tumors are fatal, with 90% of patients having these tumors dying within two years following diagnosis. Cranial interstitial radiation therapy, a technique under investigation to control these tumors, involves implantation of radioactive iodine 125 seeds into the tumor bed by stereotaxic technique. The interstitial radiation technique, monitoring of radiation, and nursing care of patients are discussed. Case histories are presented, along with discussion of results attained using this therapy, and its future.


This study presents an Ex-Post Facto analysis of diseases of wild juvenile and adults of Litopenaeus setiferus collected from a field survey at the Natural Protected Area of Terminos lagoon, southern Mexico. The objective of the present approach was to determine if sampling site and/or shrimp age were contributing risk factors for disease between juvenile and adult shrimp; if there was a determined period of time in a year cycle when diseases were more critical, and if the analysis would help to decision- making considering what population would pose less risk of disease-carrying when withdrawn for experimental purposes; all under an after-the-fact (ex-post facto) approach. We identified that juvenile shrimp were at more risk of contracting some diseases in the estuarine environment and June, July and August months, were found to be a critical period when colonizing and parasitic diseases maintained a significant high prevalence in the shrimp population. These assumptions may help for decision-making when wild shrimp have to be withdrawn from their natural environment for research purposes.


In this paper, we discuss flat programmable multi-level diffractive lenses (PMDL) enabled by phase change materials working in the near-infrared and visible ranges. The high real part refractive index contrast (Δn ∼ 0.6) of Sb2S3 between amorphous and crystalline states, and extremely low losses in the near-infrared, enable the PMDL to effectively shift the lens focus when the phase of the material is altered between its crystalline and amorphous states. In the visible band, although losses can become significant as the wavelength is reduced, the lenses can still provide good performance as a result of their relatively small thickness (∼ 1.5λ to 3λ). The PMDL consists of Sb2S3 concentric rings with equal width and varying heights embedded in a glass substrate. The height of each concentric ring was optimized by a modified direct binary search algorithm. The proposed designs show the possibility of realizing programmable lenses at design wavelengths from the near-infrared (850 nm) up to the blue (450 nm) through engineering PMDLs with Sb2S3. Operation at these short wavelengths, to the best of our knowledge, has not been studied so far in reconfigurable lenses with phase-change materials. Therefore, our results open a wider range of applications for phase-change materials, and show the prospect of Sb2S3 for such applications. The proposed lenses are polarization insensitive and can have the potential to be applied in dual-functionality devices, optical imaging, and biomedical science.


The development of ultra-intense high-energy (≫1 J) short (<1 ps) laser pulses in the last decade has enabled the acceleration of high-energy short-pulse proton beams. A key parameter for enhancing the acceleration regime is the laser-to-target absorption, which heavily depends on the target structure and material. In this work, we present the realization of a nanostructured target with a sub-laser wavelength nano-layer in the front surface as a possible candidate for improving the absorption. The nanostructured film was realized by a simpler and cheaper method than using conventional lithographic techniques: A colloidal solution of metallic or semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) was produced by laser ablation and, after a heating and sonication process, was spray-dried on the front surface of an aluminum target. The obtained nanostructured film with a thickness of 1 μm appears, at morphological and chemical analysis, uniformly nanostructured and distributed on the target surface without the presence of oxides or external contaminants. Finally, the size of the NPs can be tuned from tens to hundreds of nanometers simply by varying the growth parameters (i.e., irradiation time, fluence, and laser beam energy).


Psychologists are frequently called on to mentor students, trainees, and early faculty in various aspects associated with research. Little formal training is provided to mentors on how to effectively and successfully mentor trainees at the various developmental levels of the training process. The authors apply a developmental focus to the mentoring relationship. The literature on research mentoring is reviewed, including a review of mentorship with women and ethnic minorities. The multiple roles and functions of mentorship for clinical researchers and research scientists also are explored. Finally, the authors provide a list of the top 6 skills and behaviors that enable successful mentoring.


Effects of displacement and ionization damage on the impulse response of a high-bandwidth low breakdown voltage Si Avalanche Photodiode was investigated using a picosecond laser system. Damage was generated using either Co60 gamma-irradiation or by scanning the device with an MeV ion microbeam. No shift in the impulse response characteristics and gain was observed for gamma doses as high as 100 kGy(Si). However, dark current measurements for irradiations with biases close to typical operating levels, exhibited enhanced ionization damage orders of magnitude higher than for no bias. Displacement damage introduced by the microbeam was used to differentiate between ionization damage in the guard ring isolation oxide and bulk damage. The absence of any marked change in the impulse response is discussed, as are possible mechanisms for the enhanced ionization damage


Mutational analysis of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene was performed in 98 unrelated CF chromosomes from 49 Lithuanian CF patients through a combined approach in which the p.F508del mutation was first screened by allele-specific PCR while CFTR mutations in nonp.F508del chromosomes have been screened for by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis. A CFTR mutation was characterized in 62.2% of CF chromosomes, two of which (2.0%) have been previously shown to carry a large gene deletion CFTRdele2,3(21 kb). The most frequent Lithuanian CF mutation is p.F508del (52.0%). Seven CFTR mutations, p.N1303K (2.0%), p.R75Q (1.0%), p.G314R (1.0%), p.R553X (4.2%), p.W1282X (1.0%), and g.3944delGT (1.0%), accounted for 10.1% of Lithuanian CF chromosomes. It was not possible to characterize 35.8% of the CF Lithuanian chromosomes. Analysis of intron 8 (TG)mTn and M470V polymorphic loci did not permit the characterization of the CFTR dysfunction underlying the CF phenotype in the patients for which no CFTR mutation was identified. Thus, screening of the eight CFTR mutations identified in this study and of the large deletion CFTRdele2,3(21 kb) allows the implementation of an early molecular or confirmatory CF diagnosis for 65% of Lithuanian CF chromosomes.


The following notes were collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1830, but some additions were made at a subsequent visit to the Forest of Dean. It is desirable that I should acknowledge the several authorities from whom information has been obtained. From occasional intercourse with the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, I derived the little knowledge which gave rise to these notes. The memoir by Professor Buckland and the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, on the south-western coal district of England; as well as that by T. Weaver, Esq., on part of Gloucestershire; and the section of the Forest of Dean by D. Mushet, Esq.*, have served as foundations to the map † and the notes. Charles Bathurst, Esq., of Lydney Park, supplied the minute observations respecting that neighbourhood, particularly those relating to the fault between Lydney and Denbigh Lodge. D. Mushet, Esq. and Mr. Henry James, of the Forest of Dean and Lydney, greatly assisted me, not only in marking the outcrop of the beds of coal, but in pointing out where the best information could be obtained. Mr. Moses Teague, of Parkend, supplied the outcrop of the two upper beds of coal from actual observation; and the accuracy of the northern curve of the same beds was confirmed by Mr. James Bennett, of Drybrook, who has extensive works on the spot. From information supplied by Aaron Hale, of Coleford Meend, have been laid down the fault from Worcester Lodge to Bury Hill, and the probable range of


Background: This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the RinasciMENTE program, an Internet-based self-help intervention based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) principles and techniques in supporting individuals experiencing psychological impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) design with random allocation at the level of individual will be conducted to compare the impact of the RinasciMENTE program with a waiting list control in improving the psychological functioning of the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A minimum sample of 128 participants experiencing mild/subthreshold levels of psychological symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic will be recruited. After the initial screening, participants will be randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control condition. The program will last 2 months, during which participants will receive 8 weekly CBT treatment modules. The impact of the RinasciMENTE program on selected primary and secondary psychological outcomes will be tested at the end of the intervention (2 months), 6- and 12-month follow-up. Discussion: We expect people to show an increased level of psychological functioning, and to acquire the skills and self-confidence necessary to deal with the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and its related social isolation during and following the pandemic. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0497903 Registered on 28 May 2021.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that occurs mostly in middle-aged and older adults. Its main pathological feature is the progressive death of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons. As the world's population ages, the number of PD patients is increasing. In this study, we explored the relationship between PD and the cell cycle. In this study, we collected two independent PD transcriptomic datasets, GSE54536 and GSE6613, from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to identify dysregulated pathways in PD samples. Gene expression was verified by qPCR in PD patients. Nineteen pathways were negatively enriched in both the GSE54536 and GSE6613 datasets. Seven of these 19 pathways were cell cycle-related pathways, including the M/G1 transition, S phase, G1/S transition, mitotic G1-G1/S phases, CDT1 association with the CDC6 ORC origin complex, cell cycle checkpoints and synthesis of DNA. Next, we found that eight genes (PSMA4, PSMB1, PSMC5, PSMD11, MCM4, RPA1, POLE, and PSME4) were mainly enriched in the GSE54536 and GSE6613 datasets. In GSE54536, PSMA4, PSMB1, PSMC5, and PSME4 could significantly predict the occurrence of PD, whereas, in GSE6613, RPA1 and PSME4 could significantly predict the occurrence of PD. Only PSME4 showed significant results in both datasets. Finally, we assessed blood samples from PD patients and controls. Compared with the control samples, the PD samples had lower mRNA levels of PSME4. In summary,these findings can significantly enhance our understanding of the causes and potential molecular mechanisms of PD; the cell cycle signaling pathways and PSME4 may be therapeutic targets for PD.


Comparing the economic performances between UK and Euroland, the appropriate and obvious question should be: why does not Euroland replace its euro with the British pound? However, economy does not represent all the interests of the human beings. They believe in values beyond the economy. Right! It may well be that Euroland citizens, once with the euro, feel much more confiance in themselves, as part of a larger world, as they trust the monetary and political decision makers of the EU Institutions. If that was the truth, the European integration process should proceed just like a ball thrown against standing skittle-pins waiting to be got down! Unfortunately, that is not the case. The authors try to point out some reasons to understand those British people who love to look at the euro experience, sitting in their armchairs and, above all, without loosing their national pound.


A gradient ion-air reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography method was developed for simultaneous determination of 5 whitening agents (ascorbic acid (AA), magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP), kojic acid (KA), arbutin (ART) and hydroquinone (HQ)). The gradient elution was performed using Inertsil ODS-3V column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm). The analytes were detected by ultraviolet light absorption at the wavelength of 270 nm, the flow rate was set at 1.0 mL/min, and the sample injection volume was 10 μL. The buffer solution contains 50 mM sodium phosphate monobasic dihydrate and 2 mM n-hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide at pH 4.5. The precision of the proposed method, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) (%), was determined by the analysis of each compound. The RSD range was from 0.23 to 0.55%. The calibration curves were found to be linear in 8.12-40.6 μg/mL (KA), 12.44-62.20 μg/mL (ART), 8.28-41.40 μg/mL (HQ), 8.16-40.80 μg/mL (MAP) and 4.251.80 μg/mL (AA). The correlation coefficient of linear regression analysis (R) was within the range of 0.9968 0.9997. The analytical results were satisfied for these 5 whitening agents. The recoveries ranging from 96.97% to 101.22% for lotion, and from 97.17 to 100.80% for cream, were obtained at both low and high concentrations. The proposed method is suitable for routine analysis of the 5 whitening agents in commercial cosmetic products, or examined the allowable amount of whitening agents for the Department of Health.


The Thai Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo was basically similar to that of the 1992 World Expo in Spain; both exhibited traditional elements of Thai architecture without any modern transformation. The inappropriate application of past Thai characteristics in contemporary architecture, particularly in buildings of national significance, has been widely criticized. Yet, there have been no obvious architectural solutions to the demand for a modern Thai architectural identity. This research is undertaken with the following objectives: 1) To investigate the appropriateness of current Thai architectural identity in modern society; 2) To seek guidelines for the creation of a modern Thai architectural identity, taking into consideration various determining factors, especially the concept of green architecture and glocalization; 3) To suggest development approaches for sustaining the creation of identity; 4) To extend the outcome of the development of a modern Thai architectural identity toward opportunities for supporting the creative economy. Thus, in this study physical surveys of buildings with various Thai 1 Professor, Dr. Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand characteristics, together with document research, were conducted with the intention of setting up information bases for further formation of theoretical and analytical frameworks, as well as guidelines for the creation and development of a Thai architectural identity for a modern society, through modeling investigations. It is expected that this research will reveal that the various applications of Thai architectural characteristics are not particularly appropriate to the context of present society; neither the traditional and applied Thai architectural styles nor the abstraction of aesthetic feature approach.ion of aesthetic feature approach. These findings will point towards the reinvention of a modern Thai architectural identity amid the trend of global architecture. Current factors––economic, social, cultural and technological––in the modern world have to converge with past deep-rooted cultural factors in an attempt to create a Thai architectural identity. In this context, there have to be interrelationships between appearance and inherent wisdom. Concurrently, various approaches have to be investigated to promote the sustainable development of identity: for example, the generation of public consciousness, the reform of the education system, the establishment of an Institute for Research and Development of Modern Thai Architectural Identity, the stimulation of concern for identity among practitioners, and the support and spirit enhancement of those with outstanding achievements in design and research. This research will also identify opportunities for the output of the creation of a Thai architectural identity to support the growth of the creative economy. Finally, a series of research questions to be comprehensively addressed in the future are


Label distribution offers more information about label polysemy than logical label. There are presently two approaches to obtaining label distributions: LDL (label distribution learning) and LE (label enhancement). In LDL, experts must annotate training instances with label distributions, and a predictive function is trained on this training set to obtain label distributions. In LE, experts must annotate instances with logical labels, and label distributions are recovered from them. However, LDL is limited by expensive annotations, and LE has no performance guarantee. Therefore, we investigate how to predict label distribution from TMLR (tie-allowed multi-label ranking) which is a compromise on annotation cost but has good performance guarantees. On the one hand, we theoretically dissect the relationship between TMLR and label distribution. We define EAE (expected approximation error) to quantify the quality of an annotation, provide EAE bounds for TMLR, and derive the optimal range of label distributions corresponding to a given TMLR annotation. On the other hand, we propose a framework for predicting label distribution from TMLR via conditional Dirichlet mixtures. This framework blends the procedures of recovering and learning label distributions end-to-end and allows us to effortlessly encode our knowledge by a semi-adaptive scoring function. Extensive experiments validate our proposal.


A new species of the genus Leporinus is described from the rio Araguaia, in Mato Grosso and Goias states, Brazil. The new species has the dental formula 4/3, a unique feature within the genus; all other species of Leporinus have dental formulae 3/3, 3/4 or 4/4. In addition, the new species can also be distinguished by the following combination of characters: 36 to 37 scales in the lateral line, 4/4.5 or 4/5 series of scales in the transversal line, 16 circumpeduncular scale series, anal fin surpassing base of lower caudal-fin rays and three blotches along the lateral line. The new species shares with L. parae and L. lacustris a rather deep body, terminal mouth, long anal fin, three small dark blotches on the lateral line, the latter two, particularly the last one, usually fading, and preference for lentic habitats. Comments on the taxonomy and distribution of the species L. parae and L. lacustris are provided.


Wave-like gas-solid flow in a horizontal pipe has been investigated experimentally. The aim of the investigation was to develop a non-intrusive measuring technique for monitoring the transition from a dilute phase flow to wave-like flow and to measure the properties of wave-like flow. When a gas-solid mixture flows in a wave-like manner though the pipeline of a pneumatic conveying system the solids concentration varies, both axially and radially, with time. As a result, the pressure measured at any location will fluctuate and the difference between measuring points, both axially and radially, can be used to determine the nature of the flow. Previous workers have concentrated on individual pressure measurements and axial pressure differences. In this work the radial pressure difference has been examined. This has been compared with axial pressure measurements and those obtained using capacitance sensors. These techniques have been used to determine both wavelength and velocity. A three-dimensonal numerical model, which is based on the two-fluid theory, was also used to obtain a better understanding of the flow field characteristics.


In recent years, the number of cases of acute poisoning has increased in China, yet; currently, there is no detailed report published that addresses acute poisoning in the mainland of China. We collected biological samples from 466 cases of suspected acute poisoning at the hospitals in Shanghai, China, and examined them using spectroscopy, chromatography and chromatography/mass spectrometry. Of the 466 cases, 230 cases (100 men and 130 women) were positively confirmed as acute poisonings. There were 80 types of compounds identified in this study. Medications were the most frequent substances identified, and the other substances included pesticides, multiple compounds, volatile compounds, natural toxins, and others. The results of this study indicate a need for strengthening the education about and management of the rational and safe use of drugs in Shanghai.


History of education has acknowledges for more than a century the remarkable impact of Swedish sloyd in educational systems world-wide; fewer Swedish educational phenomena have had the international attention that sloyd once had. To its merits sloyd had in its early development what could be considered in current terms one the most efficient systems of disseminating results ever seen in the educational arena. The study of the particular features of the development of Swedish sloyd has attracted scholars from different contexts internationally. Despite this list of merits the Swedish sloyd of today still lacks acknowledgement among Swedish academic community.Latest research works in this field has contributed to uncover different dimensions of what has to an extent remained as "black box" in the educational discourse (sloyd as an educational and socio-psychological phenomenon). Researches with historiographic basis have indeed call attention upon a subject that for some remains a sort of "educational archaeology" and to others a remarkable educational phenomenon worth to be scrutinised on the light of current educational and sociological epistemologies. This paper is large in questions but short in answers; it essentially approaches the crisis in research on sloyd aiming to contribute to discussing the need for researching the history of sloyd beyond the frames of historiography and the relevance to move beyond what the author considers and impasse in the academic development of the subject


Rapidly development of mobile-payment application is dues to the combination of mobile communication and Internet. The combination of J2ME and J2EE technology provides a good solution for mobile- payment. The characteristics of J2ME and J2EE is researched based on mobile- payment platform, and a whole series of solutions are proposed, these solutions can be applied into mobile commerce system of passenger transportation and logistics, and so on. Analyzing and designing the structures function of the mobile- payment system, including J2EE server-tier and J2ME client-tier. At the same time, connecting the database by JDBC and the security of the system, it will give some highlights on the construction of Chinese mobile commerce.


Morphogenesis is the process that gives shapes to organisms from an embryonic stage through a sequence of cell divisions. Starting from a simple embryonic cell, the controlled division and transformation of the cells into different types leads to the creation of a complex organism. The growth of complex organisms is completely autonomic, and is one of the best examples of self-organizing systems found in nature. In comparison, computer networks of today are much more static and require significant human intervention in order to take on the form that is desired. However, emerging technologies, such as server and network virtualization, enable an architecture where complex computer systems can also develop by following the morphogenesis paradigm. In this paper, we present the benefits of morphogenesis in a distributed data center based computing environment, and we describe the architecture of a computer network that self-organizes using the principles of morphogenesis.


Objective This study has investigated the antimicrobial activity of extracts of indigenous wild mushrooms against selected organisms. Methods Thirty-five (35) indigenous wild mushrooms were collected from Arabuko-Sokoke and Kakamega National Reserve Forests, Kenya. All mushrooms were identified and their contents were extracted and screened for their antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli (clinical isolate), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 13883), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (clinical isolate), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), MRSA (ATCC 33591), Candida albicans (clinical isolate), and Candida parapsilosis (ATCC 90018) using tetrazolium microtiter plate bioassay method. Results Of the 35 tested mushroom extracts, extracts of three (3) mushrooms, namely, Trametes spp. (Arabuko-Sokoke forest), Trametes, and Microporus spp. (Kakamega forest), have shown promising antimicrobial activities against the tested organisms. The S. aureus (ATCC 25923), P. aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (ATCC 33591) were the most susceptible to chloroform extract of Trametes spp. collected from Arabuko-Sokoke forest. Of the tested organisms, S. aureus (ATCC 25923) was the most susceptible whereas E. coli was the most resistant organism to the hot water extract of Trametes spp. collected from Arabuko-Sokoke forest. Chloroform extract of Microporus spp. has shown the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus (ATCC 25923), MRSA (ATCC 33591), and K. pneumoniae (ATCC 13883) but limited activity against E.coli. All extracts of the three wild mushrooms have shown the most antibacterial activities against S. aureus (ATCC 25923). Conclusion The present study has shown that the extracts of the three wild mushrooms have shown promising antimicrobial activities against the tested organisms.