Concerns about new teachers' capacity to address diversity in their classrooms are growing in many parts of the West, and there is some consensus that one aspect of the problem is the narrow range of cultural and social backgrounds from which teacher candidates are drawn. Yet a minority of socially aware teachers, from all backgrounds, continue to join the profession, and attempt to teach in ways that address diversity and confront racism. Drawing on data from an on-going longitudinal study of progressive teachers in their early careers, this article explores the dilemmas and constraints faced by four student teachers on their final teaching practice. Focusing on the curriculum, it examines their different responses to the unexamined white norms and priorities in the material they are expected to teach. It concludes that while there is cause for optimism about some new teachers' understanding of and commitment to race equality and ethnic diversity, more attention needs to be paid to how schools respond to teachers who offer a challenge to hegemonic norms and practices. This work takes on a new significance in the context of recent government proposals to shift responsibility for initial teacher education in the UK from higher education institutions to the schools themselves.


An improved method of calculating the linewidth of a laser oscillator due to phase noise is proposed. The fluctuation in the output amplitude that leads to the phase diffusion is calculated as the amplified thermal and the quantum noise which are delta-correlated in time. The saturated gain distribution along the cavity axis that is consistent with the output coupling at the end surfaces is taken into account in calculating the amplification of the noises. The resulting linewidth formula differs somewhat from the conventional formula.


Background . Lupus Anticoagulants (LA) and Antiphospholipid Antibodies (APLA) are known to be associated with both arterial and venous thromboembolism (VTE). The implications of positive test results often include indefinite anticoagulant therapy and thus accurately identifying these patients is important. Current guidelines for laboratory testing of both LA and APLA, require that initial positive results are confirmed by repeat testing at least 12 weeks after initial positivity to be considered diagnostic. Repeat testing is not routinely performed once a patient is deemed to be positive. If repeat testing is performed years after initial confirmation and is negative, the clinical implications of this are not certain and there are no criteria to determine which patients can safely be considered negative. We aimed to determine the proportion of patients with positive LA or APLA who remained positive at least 2 years after initial confirmation. Methods . We retrospectively reviewed a cohort of patients with positive LA and APLA evaluated at the Thrombosis Clinic of the London Health Sciences Centre (London, Ontario, Canada) between 1998 and 2016 and who had repeat LA/APLA tests done at least 2 years after the initial LA/APLA positive confirmation. LA testing was done as per the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis criteria available at the time of testing, using dilute Russell viper venom time screening and confirmatory tests in all cases. APLA testing was done using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (Louisville APL Diagnostics Inc. or Inova Diagnostics Inc.), according to the manufacturers9 instructions. Results . We included 73 patients (39 [53.4%] female). The average age at diagnosis of LA or APLA was 49.3 years. The average follow-up was 103.1 months (range 24 to 218 months). At diagnosis, 57 (78%) patients had a VTE (26 deep vein thrombosis [DVT], 16 pulmonary embolism [PE], 17 both DVT and PE), 10 had a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) and 3 myocardial infarction (MI). Warfarin was the most common long-term anticoagulant used (66 of 73 patients). Nine patients were treated with rivaroxaban, 5 with LMWH, and 1 patient was treated with edoxaban. A total of 4 patients did not require anticoagulant therapy. Eleven (15.1%) patients suffered a recurrent thrombotic event while on anticoagulant therapy, (5 DVT, 5 PE, 1 DVT and PE). Nine of the recurrent events occurred while the patient was being treated with warfarin. Four of the 40 female patients suffered at least one miscarriage. One patient died while being followed due to complications from renal failure. The mean time between the first positive test and the first confirmatory test was 8.9 months (range 3 to 132), whereas the mean time between the first confirmatory test and the first repeat test was 68.9 months (range 24 to 207). Thirty-seven (50.6%) patients were negative on the second repeat test. All of them remained on anticoagulants. Conclusion . Our results suggest that up to 50% of patients became negative for LA and/or APLA at least 2 years after initial positivity, particularly if only one type of test was positive at diagnosis. The clinical relevance of this result is not certain including implications about discontinuing anticoagulant therapy. Further research in this relevant matter is warranted. Disclosures Lazo-Langner: Pfizer: Honoraria; Bayer: Honoraria; Daiichi Sankyo: Research Funding. Louzada: Pfizer: Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Bayer: Honoraria. Kovacs: Daiichi Sankyo Pharma: Research Funding; LEO Pharma: Honoraria; Bayer: Honoraria, Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding.


Abstract At a time when economics is giving intense scrutiny to the likely impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the global economy, this paper suggests the two disciplines face a common problem when it comes to uncertainty. It is argued that, despite the enormous achievements of AI systems, it would be a serious mistake to suppose that such systems, unaided by human intervention, are as yet any nearer to providing robust solutions to the problems posed by Keynesian uncertainty. Under the radically uncertain conditions, human decision-making (for all its problems) has proved relatively robust, while decision making relying solely on deterministic rules or probabilistic models is bound to be brittle. AI remains dependent on techniques that are seldom seen in human decision-making, including assumptions of fully enumerable spaces of future possibilities, which are rigorously computed over, and extensively searched. Discussion of alternative models of human decision making under uncertainty follows, suggesting a future research agenda in this area of common interest to AI and economics.


Neuroimaging based on O-[2-(18F)fluoroethyl]-l-tyrosine (FET)-PET provides additional information on tumor grade and extent compared with MRI. Dynamic PET for biopsy target selection further improves results but is often clinically impractical. Static FET-PET performed at two time-points may be a good compromise, but data on this approach are limited. The aim of this study was to compare the histology of lesions obtained from two challenging glioma patients with targets selected based on hybrid dual time-point FET-PET/MRI. Five neuronavigated tumor biopsies were performed in two difficult cases of suspected glioma. Lesions with (T1-CE) and without contrast enhancement (T1 and T2-FLAIR) on MRI were selected. Dual time-point FET-PET imaging was performed 5–15 min (PET10) and 45–60 min (PET60) after radionuclide injection. The most informative FET-PET/MRI images were coregistered with MRI in time of biopsy planning. Five biopsy targets (three from high uptake and two from moderate uptake FET areas) thought to represent the most malignant sites and tumor extent were selected. Histopathological findings were compared with FET-PET and MRI images. Increased FET uptake in the area of non-CE locations on MRI correlated well with high-grade gliomas localized as far as 3 cm from T1-CE foci. Selecting a target in the motor cortex based on FET kinetics defined by dual time-point PET resulted in a grade IV diagnosis after previous negative biopsies based on MRI. An additional grade III diagnosis was obtained from an area of glioma infiltration with moderate FET uptake (between 1 and 1.25 SUV). These findings seem to show that dual time-point FET-PET-based biopsies can provide additional and clinically useful information for glioma diagnosis. Selection of targets based on dual time-point images may be useful for determining the most malignant tumor areas and may therefore be useful for resection and radiotherapy planning.


During the past ten years, considerable interest has developed in the use of the HP-45 alloy for high-temperature furnace components, and this alloy has replaced the conventionally used HK-40 alloy in some critical applications. The wide use of the HP-45 alloy, however, has been retarded by the scarcity of long-time creep-rupture data. This paper presents the results of different research programs conducted at Battelle over the past several years and compares the properties of the HP-45 and HK-40 alloys. Included are comparisons of the short-time tensile and long-time creep-rupture properties, the effects of long-time exposure on the tensile and impact properties, the elastic properties, and the surface and microstructural stability of the two alloys. Creep-rupture comparisons are based upon the results of tests of up to 10 000-h duration at 871, 982, and 1093°C (1600, 1800, and 2000°F) on three commercially produced heats of each alloy.


With the increasing popularity of online chatting, stickers are becoming important in our online communication. Selecting appropriate stickers in open-domain dialogue requires a comprehensive understanding of both dialogues and stickers, as well as the relationship between the two types of modalities. To tackle these challenges, we propose a multitask learning method comprised of three auxiliary tasks to enhance the understanding of dialogue history, emotion and semantic meaning of stickers. Extensive experiments conducted on a recent challenging dataset show that our model can better combine the multimodal information and achieve significantly higher accuracy over strong baselines. Ablation study further verifies the effectiveness of each auxiliary task. Our code is available at https://github.com/nonstopfor/Sticker-Selection.


In order to serve the movement of passengers an unravel congestion, East Java Government plans to develop its infrastructure and revive the railway lines. Jombang has been selected as the entrance of Gerbangkertosusilo area and is a suitable place for investment. This research attempts to reveal the potential and the movement of passengers that would accur from bus to train, so that the movement probability value and utility value of the bus toward train can be obtained. The survey was conduted in Jombang Kepuhsari Bus Terminal and Babat Market using analytical methods of ststed Preference with variables of Travel Expense (AX1), Travel Time (AX2) and Frequensy of Departeru (AX3). From the results, a model that influence the selevtion of transportation modes is acknowledged, namely (Y=0,403 + 0.032 (AX3). (Y=0,377 + 0,000003076 AX1 + (0,033 AX2), and (Y= 0,346 + 0.00001356 AX1 – 0.031 AX2 + 0.007 AX2). The passengers has potential to switch from bus to train of intersection of the transport system, with a differenc of IDR 6.000,00 of travel expence variable. And variable of Travel Time of 60 minutes and 2 times Frequence Departure


The complicated nature of the physical crash processes of complex vehicle structures makes design optimization for crashworthiness a very challenging task. Moreover, large scale and highly nonlinear nature of crashworthiness simulations of vehicle structure make it impractical to conduct direct optimization on the full nonlinear model of the structure. The main objective of the thesis is to present a systematic and practical methodology to conduct vehicle crashworthiness design optimization efficiently at early stages of design. The thesis includes four main parts. In the first part, an efficient and practical methodology for design optimization of vehicle structures under frontal impact for crashworthiness improvement is presented. The proposed methodology is based on identifying the main vehicle structural part contributing most to the total amount of impact energy absorbed in the whole vehicle structure. The computationally efficient surrogate model of expensive nonlinear finite element simulation of this major vehicle part is developed and then integrated with gradient based optimization algorithm to maximize its absorbed impact energy while guarding against increase in its weight. In the second part, a methodology for deriving the important relation between minimum structural weight and maximum impact energy is presented. The proposed methodology is based on the principle of the Pareto front and multiobjective optimization. The methodology enables the designer to evaluate the crashworthiness performance of any suggested design easily and effectively. Moreover, the methodology provides different optimum designs from which the designer can easily select the optimum design variables to improve the performance of the initial design. In the third part, the crashworthiness behavior of simple thin walled structures and vehicle structural components made of magnesium due to its light weight is examined and a new methodology for material design optimization is presented. The proposed methodology adds material type as design variables to formal size design variables. Direct optimization using the genetic algorithm is conducted to find the optimum material combination and part's thicknesses to improve the crashworthiness performance of the vehicle structure. Finally in the fourth part, the effect of imperfection on crush elements performance is studied. Different imperfection configurations are proposed to improve the crashworthiness performance of crush elements. The genetic algorithm is directly combined with nonlinear finite elements models to search for optimum imperfection values. The results show that the crashworthiness performance of crush elements can be greatly improved through introduction of proper imperfection. Using the proposed methodologies, the current research presents a fundamental and systematic study to conduct design optimization of vehicle structures practically and efficiently.


AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) has been known for 5 years. The first few cases in Switzerland were observed in persons infected outside the country, but this has changed in the last 2 years. The infectious agent is transmitted by sexual intercourse and by sharing of blood contaminated needles and syringes of drug addicts, two factors which are also responsible for most of the virus transmissions in Switzerland. From some African countries there are reports of a high transmission rate probably caused by prostitution.


Solid waste challenge in developing countries, like Ethiopia, is aggravated by the malfunctioning of traditional waste management systems due to rapid development and the alarmingly increasing human population. Bule Hora Town, in Ethiopia, is among the most environmentally degraded environment due to the inappropriate traditional solid waste management system. Therefore, this study was intended to investigate the public awareness and concern to the ever worsening environmental pollution and why the traditional waste disposal systems can stay dominant in the town. Data were collected using door-to-door close-ended questionnaire by a simple random sampling technique.
The findings showed that plastics and festal; fruits, chat leaves and vegetables; and metals and cans respectively made 48(+5)%, 18 (+2)% and 11 (+3)% of the solid waste pool. Variations in the awareness and concern to various environmental degradation among different age groups was clearly seen where people under the age of forty showed better understanding. Response findings showed that the dominant solid waste disposal system is open air burning (42%) followed by open field dumping (36%) showing that the current solid waste management systems is traditional and inappropriate. Moreover, 50% of the respondent above age 40 and 30% of the respondents below age 40 believe that open solid waste burning is a good and long stayed tradition; and it is also undeniable that 35% of the older people related burning of solid waste, particularly during the month of December, has a religion background, which actually is not.


Abstract The growing amount of collected and processed data means that there is a need to control access to these resources. Very often, this type of control is carried out on the basis of bio-metric analysis. The article proposes a new user authentication method based on a spatial analysis of the movement of the finger's position. This movement creates a sequence of data that is registered by a motion recording device. The presented approach combines spatial analysis of the position of all fingers at the time. The proposed method is able to use the specific, often different movements of fingers of each user. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the method in biometric applications. In this paper, we also introduce an effective method of feature selection, based on the Hotelling T2 statistic. This approach allows selecting the best distinctive features of each object from a set of all objects in the database. It is possible thanks to the appropriate preparation of the input data.


Amphawa Floating Market has recently become one of the most popular markets in Thailand. There is no doubt that there are numerous tourists across the country and even the world that have come to visit this particular floating market. In the past, Amphawa city trademark was water transportation, and it was also rich in commerce and trade throughout Samutsongkhram Province. As time passed by, the government built-up the land and roads to modernize Samutsongkram, which led to the loss of water transportation, commerce, and trade. However, Amphawa is to be restore as a flawless floating market to preserve the community and people who live in that particular region. The most interesting aspects of Amphawa floating market are 1) the community has won the National and International Cultural Heritage Award, 2) it has excellent learning resources for the community, 3) it is surrounded by nearby tourist attractions, 4) travel is convenient and quick, 5) includes a number of fun activities in the area, 6) has guaranteed delicious cuisine, 7) is rich attractions and 8) includes the finest places to stay surrounded by nature. The findings reveal that the permanent existence of Amphawa Floating Market is due to the following factors: 1) full support from the government and private sectors at both local and national levels, 2) local leaders with vision cooperating with the community, 3) a capacity to maintain the true identity of the community by the locals residing on both sides of the canal, 4) the organizing of diverse activities all year round, 5) the local capacity to create and produce its own products and services with unique branding, 6) the community's ability to preserve its natural surroundings, 7) quick and convenient transportation from Bangkok, with several other tourist attractions nearby, 8) the provision of adequate local accommodation, reasonably priced and good service, good community infrastructure, and 9) an image of Samutsongkhram itself as a small, serene, and safe place.


Johne's disease, caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, is in the list B of OIE and requires certification of atleast breeding animals. Presently, India lacks diagnostic kits and reagents against Johne's disease. ELISA kit initially developed for screening of goats and sheep has been adapted to screen cattle. Prospective young bulls of best native milch breeds of cows (Hariana), belonging to farmers' herds were screened against Johne's disease (JD) by indigenous ELISA kit using protoplasmic antigen from novel 'Bison type' genotype of Map of goat origin. Young males to be used as breeding bulls and aged between 2.5 and 3.5 years were earmarked for purchase from Rohtak district of Hariana. Of the 23 bulls, none was strong positive, 20 (86.9%) were positive and 3 (13.0%) were low positive. However, none were suspected and negative. The sero-prevalence was 86.9% in young bulls of Hariana breed, in their native tract. In another study, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis was isolated from all the 5 categories of S/.P ratio in goats. Therefore, real prevalence of JD in bulls of Hariana breed may be still higher. High sero-prevalence of JD in the native tract of best Indian milch breed of cows is due to poor attention and low priority given to Johne's disease surveillance and control in the country.


Information technologies have undergone rapid development in the last decade and these developments especially affected the information and records management profession. Developments in information technologies have caused changes in the way of creating, storing, sending and sharing records in organisational structures, and traditional record management has been replaced by a modern understanding of record management. In this respect, the management of electronic records let important problems arise. This study focuses on the effects of information technologies on records management, and thus on electronic record management.


Software development teams need guidance on choosing security practices so they can develop code securely. The academic and practitioner literature on software development security practices is large, and expanding. However, published empirical evidence for security practice use in software development is limited and fragmented, making choosing appropriate practices difficult. Measurement frameworks offer a tool for collecting and comparing software engineering data. The goal of this work is to aid software practitioners in evaluating security practice use in the development process by defining and validating a measurement framework for software development security practice use and outcomes. We define the Security Practices Evaluation Framework (SP-EF), a measurement framework for software development security practices. We plan to evaluate the framework and ontology on historical data and industrial projects.


A mathematical formulation for a gravimetric approach to the univariate standard addition method (SAM) is presented that has general applicability for both liquids and solids. Using gravimetry rather than volumetry reduces the preparation time, increases design flexibility, and makes increased accuracy possible. SAM has most often been used with analytes in aqueous solutions that are aspirated into flames or plasmas and determined by absorption, emission, or mass spectrometric techniques. The formulation presented here shows that the method can also be applied to complex matrixes, such as distillate and residual fuel oils, using techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) or combustion combined with atomic fluorescence or absorption. These techniques, which can be subject to matrix-induced interferences, could realize the same benefits that have been demonstrated for dilute aqueous solutions.


Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has revolutionized the management of patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis and has become the standard of care for inoperable patients and the preferred therapy for those at increased surgical risk with peculiar clinical and anatomic features. Technology advances, growing experience and accumulating data prompted the update of the 2011 Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology (SICI-GISE) position paper on institutional and operator requirements to perform TAVI. The main objective of this document is to provide a guidance to assess the potential of institutions and operators to initiate and maintain an efficient TAVI program.


Prescribed fire has become a commonly used forest management tool for reducing the occurrence of severe wildfires, decreasing fuel loads and reestablishing the historic ecological influences of fire. Investigating population-level wildlife responses to prescribed fire is important for evaluating the effects of fire management on animals, but in order to predict and simulate wildlife responses to potential management actions, mechanistic studies that elucidate individual-level responses are also necessary. We used radio-frequency identification to investigate individual-level responses of western slimy salamanders Plethodon albagula to prescribed fire. We compared the salamander home-range sizes [minimum convex polygons (MCP)], movement behaviors, and activity levels before and after prescribed fire using a randomized block experiment. We initiated the study at three plots in 2011, and added two new plots in 2012. We captured, tagged and released ≥38 salamanders at each plot from May 2011–May 2012 (total N = 205). We recorded 918 total recaptures of 142 unique salamanders; 31% of tagged salamanders were never recaptured. Across all years and treatments, only 14% of relocations were surface-active (i.e. visually confirmed) salamanders; the others were underground. Following prescribed fire, the surface-active proportion of recaptures was nearly seven times greater in control versus burned areas, which indicates that P. albagula respond to post-prescribed fire conditions by spending more time belowground. We did not find evidence of direct mortality of salamanders from fires; the proportion of known-alive individuals did not differ between treatments. Maximum daily displacement was 43.3% higher among burn-area than control-area salamanders, and MCP varied in a similar pattern; this may indicate salamanders were attempting to find more hospitable microenvironments or other resources, such as prey. Together, these individual-level observations corroborate our findings from a population-level study of a congeneric terrestrial salamander and contribute to our understanding of the behavioral mechanisms underlying population dynamics.


Summary The Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner Automolus rufipectus is one of 19 endemic bird species found in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) in northern Colombia but until recently it was considered a sub-species of the Ruddy Foliage-gleaner Automolus rubiginosus. Consequently, published information on its distribution and ecology is lacking, and while it is classified as near- threatened, this designation was based on limited quantitative data. To improve our knowledge of the Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner's geographical distribution, elevation range, population density, habitat use and conservation status, we analysed both historical and recent site locality records and carried out variable distance transects within forested habitats and shade coffee plantations. We modelled the environmental niche of the species and subsequently estimated its extent of occurrence and area of occupancy, as well as population size. Our results consistently showed that the distribution of the Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner is more restricted than previously considered, both geographically and by elevation (we redefine elevation range as 600–1,875 m). This suggests that the species is more at risk of habitat transformation and combined with our estimates of population size (< 10,000 individuals), it is likely that the species will be uplisted to a higher threat category. More positively, and contrary to published accounts, we found that approximately 40% of the species' range lies within protected areas. Nevertheless, we recommend the implementation of strategies to maintain forest cover on the western flank of the SNSM and further research to better define the species' habitat needs and population dynamics.


Carbon and nitrogen isotope abundance values (δ 13 C and δ 15 N, respectively) were measured for the first time in the soft tissue, axial skeleton, and spicules of 4 Mediter- ranean gorgonians, 3 asymbiotic (Leptogorgia sarmentosa, Paramuricea clavata, and Eunicella verrucosa) and 1 symbiotic with autotrophic dinoflagellates (Eunicella singularis). The isotopic composition of their diet, i.e. zooplankton, particulate organic matter (POM), and sedimentary organic matter (SOM), was also measured to understand gorgonian feeding ecology. (1) Car- bon and nitrogen signatures of the symbiotic E. singularis tissue in summer differed signifi- cantly from the signatures of the other species; (2) carbon and nitrogen signatures of the axial skeleton were similar to those of the tissue, because the skeleton is primarily made of gorgonin secreted by the tissue; and (3) spicules had a high δ 13 C signature because they are made by a combination of 60 to 76% of respiratory CO2 and of external CO2, with a high δ 13 C signature. Comparison of the isotopic signatures of the gorgonian tissues and the food sources indicated that E. singularis and P. clavata had the same diet in both winter and summer, either zooplankton for E. singularis or POM and SOM for P. clavata. Conversely, L. sarmentosa and E. verrucosa shifted from zooplankton in winter to SOM in summer. These results bring insights into the feeding ecology of temperate gorgonians and explain their dis- tribution, abundance, and role in the flow of particulate matter between the water column and the benthos.


Guided by the theory of motivated information management, this study investigated the extent to which Singaporean college students' sexual health information-seeking behaviour could be accounted for by their anxiety of uncertainty discrepancy, their perceived outcomes of information seeking and their perceived confidence in seeking and coping with sexual health information acquired from their best friends. Taking into account that issue relevance may play a role in individuals' health decision-making, this study also examined the effect of perceived vulnerability on respondents' sexual health information-seeking behaviour. An online survey was conducted with 202 undergraduate students at a university in Singapore. Respondents were asked to report the frequency with which they sought four types of sexual health information from their best friends: unwanted pregnancy, abortion, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Survey data showed that respondents' uncertainty discrepancy was positively associated with their anxiety. Anxiety had negative effects on efficacy and outcome expectancy. Outcome expectancy was positively associated with efficacy. Both efficacy and perceived vulnerability accounted for a significant amount of variance in respondents' sexual health information-seeking behaviour. Findings from this study contribute to a better understanding of young adults' sexual health information behaviour in a Singapore context.


This paper describes a real-time 3D sound system implemented with the use of an embedded DSP. We develop a new headphone-based 3D sound algorithm by applying a source localization method using the head-related transfer function (HRTF). Localizing 5.1-channel data to the appropriate location using our algorithm generates the virtual 3D sound. The real-time implementation is achieved using a TMS320C6713 DSP chip. We describe the hardware design. As a result of a DSP implementation and a subjective listening test, this 3D sound system can be applied to mobile applications.


We present a new formulation for the air mass factor (AMF) to convert slant column measurements of optically thin atmospheric species from space into total vertical columns. Because of atmospheric scattering, the AMF depends on the vertical distribution of the species. We formulate the AMF as the integral of the relative vertical distribution (shape factor) of the species over the depth of the atmosphere, weighted by altitude- dependent coefficients (scattering weights) computed independently from a radiative transfer model. The scattering weights are readily tabulated, and one can then obtain the AMF for any observation scene by using shape factors from a three dimensional (3-D) atmospheric chemistry model for the period of observation. This approach subsequently allows objective evaluation of the 3-D model with the observed vertical columns, since the shape factor and the vertical column in the model represent two independent pieces of information. We demonstrate the AMF method by using slant column measurements of formaldehyde at 346 nm from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment satellite instrument over North America during July 1996. Shape factors are computed with the Global Earth Observing System CHEMistry (GEOS-CHEM) global 3-D model and are checked for consistency with the few available aircraft measurements. Scattering weights increase by an order of magnitude from the surface to the upper troposphere. The AMFs are typically 20-40% less over continents than over the oceans and are approximately half the values calculated in the absence of scattering. Model-induced errors in the AMF are estimated to be  10%. The GEOS-CHEM model captures 50% and 60% of the variances in the observed slant and vertical columns, respectively. Comparison of the simulated and observed vertical columns allows assessment of model bias.


Hyperglycemia during chemotherapy occurs in approximately 10% to 30% of patients. Glucocorticoids and L-asparaginase are well known to cause acute hyperglycemia during chemotherapy. Long-term hyperglycemia is also frequently observed, especially in patients with hematologic malignancies treated with L-asparaginase-based regimens and total body irradiation. Glucocorticoid-induced hyperglycemia often develops because of increased insulin resistance, diminished insulin secretion, and exaggerated hepatic glucose output. Screening strategies for this condition include random glucose testing, hemoglobin A1c testing, oral glucose loading, and fasting plasma glucose screens. The management of hyperglycemia starts with insulin or sulfonylurea, depending on the type, dose, and delivery of the glucocorticoid formulation. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors are associated with a high incidence of hyperglycemia, ranging from 13% to 50%. Immunotherapy, such as anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibody treatment, induces hyperglycemia with a prevalence of 0.1%. The proposed mechanism of immunotherapy-induced hyperglycemia is an autoimmune process (insulitis). Withdrawal of the PD-1 inhibitor is the primary treatment for severe hyperglycemia. The efficacy of glucocorticoid therapy is not fully established and the decision to resume PD-1 inhibitor therapy depends on the severity of the hyperglycemia. Diabetic patients should achieve optimized glycemic control before initiating treatment, and glucose levels should be monitored periodically in patients initiating mTOR inhibitor or PD-1 inhibitor therapy. With regard to hyperglycemia caused by anti-cancer therapy, frequent monitoring and proper management are important for promoting the efficacy of anti-cancer therapy and improving patients' quality of life.


Background. Recently, a gene polymorphism of the IL23R gene (Arg381Gln), which is a subunit of the receptor of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-23, was found to be strongly associated with Crohn's disease (Duerr et al.Science 2006). The exchange of arginine with glutamine at position 381 of IL23R causes a blockade of the IL-23 signaling pathway, which confers strong protection against Crohn's disease. Because IL-23 activity is participated in autoimmune diseases, we hypothesized that it might also be important in the development of GVHD reaction post allogeneic transplantation.

Methods .Here we evaluated 401 patients with their donors for the occurrence of the IL23R gene variant (Arg381Gln, 1142 G>A) by real-time PCR who underwent allogeneic transplantation.

Results. We analyzed the IL23 gene variant 1142 G>A in a cohort of 221 transplant recipients and their HLA-identical sibling donors and in a second cohort of 186 transplant recipients and their HLA- identical unrelated donors. A heterozygous Arg381Gln gene variant was found in 13,1% of patients and in 11,3% of donors. The donor's IL-23R genotype was significantly associated with a reduced risk of severe acute GVHD in both cohorts for patients after transplant. Analysis of all 407 transplant recipients showed that IL-23R (1142G>A, Arg381Gln) genotype of the donor were associated with a decreased risk of grade II-IV acute GVHD (31.6% compared to 51.0%, p=0.02) and severe acute GVHD III or IV (3.91% compared 23.4%, p=0.003). Death in remission was significantly lower in patients transplanted from donors with variante of IL23-R (11.7% versus 27.7%, p=0.028), whereas overall survival or relapse rates were not influenced significantly by the IL-23R genotype. The multivariate analysis including factors which influence the occurrence of severe acute GVHD as disease stage, age of patients (>or <40 years, gender constellation of recipient and donor, graft source, HLA-status (HLA-identical versus non-identical), donor constellation (sibling versus unrelated) confirmed that the gene variant of IL23R at the donor site confers protection against the occurrence of acute GVHD grade II-IV or severe acute GVHD grade III-IV. The association of IL23R mutation to GVHD was stronger than NOD2 mutations.

Conclusions. The results presented here suggest that IL-23 signaling pathway may play an important role in development of acute GVHD after transplant. Blockade of IL-23 signaling could be a rational therapeutic strategy for GVHD.


We present the DIScrete PERsistent Structures Extractor (DisPerSE), an open source software for the automatic and robust identification of structures in 2D and 3D noisy data sets. The software is designed to identify all sorts of topological structures, such as voids, peaks, sources, walls and filaments through segmentation, with a special emphasis put on the later ones. Based on discrete Morse theory, DisPerSE is able to deal directly with noisy datasets using the concept of persistence (a measure of the robustness of topological features) and can be applied indifferently to various sorts of data-sets defined over a possibly bounded manifold : 2D and 3D images, structured and unstructured grids, discrete point samples via the delaunay tesselation, Healpix tesselations of the sphere, ...
Although it was initially developed with cosmology in mind, various I/O formats have been implemented and the current version is quite versatile. It should therefore be useful for any application where a robust structure identification is required as well as for studying the topology of sampled functions (e.g. computing persistent Betti numbers).
DisPerSE can be downloaded directly from the website this http URL and a thorough online documentation is also available at the same address.


The useful life of agar in aerosol samplers is greatly extended by treatment with a dilute emulsion of oxyethylene docosanol. Growth of viable organisms is unaffected.


Lower Carno reservoir sits above Ebbw Vale in South Wales and provides raw water for supply to the local district. The reservoir was inspected in 2015 under the Reservoirs Act, 1975, resulting in various measures in the interests of safety. One of these measures was to take action to minimise uplift pressure beneath the masonry spillway chute. Investigations carried out in 2018 assessed the condition of the concrete beneath the masonry chute and identified the source of water upwelling in the channel. The concrete bedding beneath the channel floor had completely disintegrated, although the wall backing concrete was relatively intact. Reviewing the hydraulic loading on the structure identified that, even at moderate flows, the risk of plucking of masonry blocks and erosion of the embankment mitre posed a significant and credible threat to the safety of the reservoir. Hence the Undertaker, in conjunction with the qualified civil engineer (QCE), decided to drawdown the reservoir so that the spillway did not operate until works to safeguard the structure had been implemented. The paper describes the investigations, reservoir drawdown, dam safety management plan, key aspects of the spillway design and construction and wider implications for masonry chutes located on embankment dams.


Church and state authorithy: The Confessio Belgica and three church orders. In reformed churches the Bible is regarded as the norm of the norms. The confessions of faith of these churches are the second norm and subjected to the Bible. The church order is less powerful than the Bible and the confessions but of a higher status than the normal decisions of church assemblies. Therefore, the influence of the Belgic Confession on three church orders is an important issue in these churches. The author recommends four principles to understand the relation between the church and the state authority in article 36 of the Belgic Confession: both should honour God in their activities; both are guided by the Ten Commandments; both have their own internal law to fulfil the purpose as an institution; and both should respect and co-operate with one another. Although they are not in agreement on every aspect, these principles give the guidance to understand the main issue in all four documents which are investigated. The theme of this article is of a theological and church historical nature and a contribution on a well-discussed topic in reformed churches. Contribution: It should be important for the reformed churches in the Dutch tradition that a dynamic relationship exists between their confessions of faith and their church orders. While the Bible is the first and most important norm for church life, the confessions are the second most important. Church history shows that the relationship between the church and state is of utmost importance for the church, the quality of the confessions and the order of the church.


Objective: Informal caregivers (ICs) providing care for those at the end-of-life face physical, psycho-social, emotional, and/or financial challenges. However, there is a paucity of research towards the effectiveness of available interventions for this vulnerable population. The purpose of this scoping review was to investigate the availability and efficacy of interventions for ICs providing hospice and palliative/end-of-life care in Canada. Methods: Using Arksey and O'Malley's five step framework, a scoping review was conducted in the spring of 2020. Key electronic healthcare, social sciences, and grey literature databases were searched. Relevant publications from 2005 to 2019 were screened for inclusion criteria, and a thematic content analysis was conducted to summarize all key findings. Results: Initial searches yielded 145 results out of which 114 distinct articles were obtained. De-duplication and final screening yielded 28 sources which met inclusion criteria (22 peer-reviewed articles [78%] and 6 grey sources [22%]; 12 qualitative papers [42%]). Through thematic content analysis, four major themes were identified: [1] Direct financial support, [2] Direct psycho-sociospiritual support, [3] Indirect patient information provision/education, and [4] Indirect patient support. Conclusions: Healthcare practitioners should provide information on patient care and financial aid to ICs. Policies should aim to expand eligibility for and access to financial aid, in particular the Compassionate Care Benefits (CCB). Future research should focus on exploring other interventions, such as physical activities, to better support this vulnerable population. The results from this review will help inform and improve the well-being of ICs providing end-of-life care in Canada and beyond.