OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to study trends in utilization of imaging in emergency departments (ED) in relation to trends in ED visits and the specialties of the interpreting physicians. MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study was conducted with Medicare Part B Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary Master Files for 2004-2016 and Health Care Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data from 2006 to 2014. Yearly utilization was calculated per 1000 Medicare beneficiaries for different noninvasive imaging modalities performed during ED visits, and the specialties of the physicians making the interpretations were recorded. The number of ED visits by Medicare patients was obtained from the HCUP. RESULTS. The number of ED visits by Medicare fee-for-service patients increased 8.0% (from 20.0 million in 2006 to 21.6 million in 2014), and the total number of associated ED imaging examinations increased 38.4% (14.6 million to 20.2 million). The number of imaging examinations per ED visit was 0.73 in 2006, increasing to 0.94 by 2014. Utilization trends per 1000 Medicare fee-for-service enrollees in the ED for the major modalities were as follows: CT +153.0% (77.8 in 2004 to 196.7 in 2016), noncardiac ultrasound +134% (11.2 in 2004 to 26.2 in 2016), and radiography +30% (259 in 2004 to 336 in 2016). Utilization of MRI and nuclear medicine was very low. In 2016, radiologists interpreted 99.5% (CT), 99.2% (MRI), 98.0% (radiography), 87.6% (ultrasound), and 94.5% (nuclear medicine) of imaging examinations. CONCLUSION. Utilization of imaging in EDs is increasing not only in the Medicare population but also per ED visit. Radiologists strongly predominate in interpreting examinations in all modalities.


Low-energy heavy-ion fusion reactions are governed by quantum tunneling through the Coulomb barrier formed by the strong cancellation of the repulsive Coulomb force with the attractive nuclear interaction between the colliding nuclei. Extensive experimental as well as theoretical studies have revealed that fusion reactions are strongly influenced by couplings of the relative motion of the colliding nuclei to several nuclear intrinsic motions. Heavy-ion subbarrier fusion reactions thus provide a good opportunity to address the general problem of quantum tunneling in the presence of couplings, which has been a popular subject in recent decades in many branches of physics and chemistry. Here, we review theoretical aspects of heavy-ion subbarrier fusion reactions from the viewpoint of quantum tunneling in systems with many degrees of freedom. Particular emphases are put on the coupled-channels approach to fusion reactions and the barrier distribution representation for multichannel penetrability. We also discuss an application of the barrier distribution method to elucidate the mechanism of the dissociative adsorption of H2 molecules in surface science. Subject Index: 062, 211, 223, 226, 330


A combined preparation for influenza prevention (CPIP) consisting of an interferon inducer stimulating immunogenesis and killed influenza vaccine is proposed. Twenty five inducers-stimulators have been tested: polynucleotides, polysaccharide and lipopolysaccharide extracted from Salmonella typhosa. Intranasal administration of CPIP to laboratory animals markedly stimulates interferon, secretory, and circulating antibody synthesis. Resistance to fatal influenza infection develops within 18 hours after administration of CPIP and its intensity increases in the following 14 days (the observation period.


Background:The high incidence and mortality of lung cancer has been a widespread concern in the world, among which non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)accounts for more than 85% of lung cancer, and its 5-year prognosis is pretty poor. Accumulating studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its active ingredients have shown good anti-tumor activity. Based on the results of our previous high-throughput screening, it was the first time to find that Thevebioside (THB, an active ingredient from TCM) is sensitive to NSCLC cells, and then we will still the first to reveal the underling mechanism of its tumor suppressive activity.Methods: In this study, MTT and colony formation assay were used to detect cell growth. Annexin V/ propidium iodide, Hoechst 33342 were applied to test the process of cellular apoptosis or cell cycle arrest which determined by flow cytometry in NSCLC (A549 and H460) cells. qRT-PCR and Western blot was utilized to value the level of expression of SRC&(SRC1-3) and apoptosis related proteins. The ubiquitination degradation of SRC3 was through proteasome dependent pathway were examined by the usage of CHX and MG132 and the co-immunoprecipitation assay. The anticancer activity of THB, Neritaloside,Odoroside H and digoxin in vivo were monitored in nude mice by subcutaneous inoculation or intrapulmonary injection of A549 cells and then administrated these agents (2 mg/ kg or 4mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection three times a week for 30 days. Tumor growth was monitored by a luciferase living imaging system. Body weight of mice and tumor volume were measured weekly. The survival carve was recorded. Pathological histology of liver, kidney and heart were detected by H&E staining, and its functions were tested by ELISA. Results:THB effectively inhibits the outgrowth of NSCLC cells (A549 and H460) by inducing cellular apoptosis. SRC-3 was significantly down-regulated after THB treatment dependent on ubiquitin-proteasome-mediated degradation, which subsequently inhibited the AKT signaling pathway to promte apoptosis. Animal study supported in vitro results, showing THB had a good suppressive effect on tumor growth. Besides, it also indicated that THB without overt cytotoxic effect on liver, kidney and heart.Conclusion:THB , as an active extract from TCM,exerted inhibitory effect on tumor growth of NSCLC by down-regulating the expression of SCR-3 rely on the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation pathway, thereby inhibiting the AKT signaling to induce cellular apoptosis , with minimal toxicity.


Two novel dendrimer-derived compounds with pendant benzoxazine, named 0G benzoxazine (0G BOZ) and 1G benzoxazine (1G BOZ), were prepared using 0G poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) and 1G PAMAM, phenol, and paraformaldehyde. Effects of different generations of PAMAM on curing kinetics and thermal properties were investigated. Differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) measurements of the 0G BOZ and 1G BOZ were carried out at different heating rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 K/min. Kinetic analysis by Kissinger's and Ozawa's method revealed the activation energy (Ea) of 0G BOZ were 109.1 and 109.3 kJ mol−1, respectively, and those of 1G BOZ were 88.0 and 91.4 kJ mol−1. The autocatalytic kinetic model was found to be the best description of the investigated curing reactions. In addition, the predicted curves from our kinetic models fit well with the nonisothermal DSC thermograms. Thermogravimetrical analysis of cured resin of 0G BOZ and 1G BOZ showed that the char yields of 0G BOZ and 1G BOZ were 37.6 and 26.3%, respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013


Many developed countries have carried out New Public Management (NPM) types of public sector reform in the 1980's and 90's. The objectives are to improve the quality of public services, reduce the drain on the exchequer, improve the efficiency of public organizations, and create an environment conducive for private sector investment as a result of the reversal of socialist policies of the 1960's and 70's.


Several electrode materials have been developed to provide high energy density and a long calendar life at a low cost for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Iron (III) vanadate (FeVO4), a semiconductor material that follows insertion/extraction chemistry with a redox reaction and provides high theoretical capacity, is an auspicious choice of anode material for LIBs. The correlation is investigated between calcination temperatures, morphology, particle size, physicochemical properties, and their effect on the electrochemical performance of FeVO4 under different binders. The crystallite size, particle size, and tap density increase while the specific surface area (SBET) decreases upon increasing the calcination temperature (500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C). The specific capacities are reduced by increasing the calcination temperature and particle size. Furthermore, FeVO4 fabricated with different binders (35 wt.% PAA and 5 wt.% PVDF) and their electrochemical performance for LIBs was explored regarding the effectiveness of the PAA binder. FV500 (PAA and PVDF) initially delivered higher discharge/charge capacities of 1046.23/771.692 mAhg−1 and 1051.21/661.849 mAhg−1 compared to FV600 and FV700 at the current densities of 100 mAg−1, respectively. The intrinsic defects and presence of oxygen vacancy along with high surface area and smaller particle sizes efficiently enhanced the ionic and electronic conductivities and delivered high discharge/charge capacities for FeVO4 as an anode for LIBs.


Does the First Amendment limit common-law tort liability? New York Times Co. v. Sullivan said yes, but some argue this is a modern innovation. The Court's turn to original meaning, including in free speech cases, may make the issue significant again. This short article argues that constitutional constraints on speech-based civil liability have deep roots, going back to the Framing era. That aspect of the New York Times v. Sullivan holding is entirely consistent with original meaning. The Framers likely did view the proper scope of libel liability more broadly than recent First Amendment precedents allow. But this was because of a substantive judgment about which speech restrictions (civil or criminal) should be permitted -- not because of a judgment that civil liability simply didn't constitute state action, or that tort law was categorically immune from First Amendment scrutiny.


We demonstrate that a simple silver coated ball lens can be used to accurately measure the entire distribution of radiative transition rates of quantum dot nanocrystals. This simple and cost-effective implementation of Drexhage's method that uses nanometer-controlled optical mode density variations near a mirror, not only allows an extraction of calibrated ensemble-averaged rates, but for the first time also to quantify the full inhomogeneous dispersion of radiative and non radiative decay rates across thousands of nanocrystals. We apply the technique to novel ultrastable CdSe/CdS dot-in-rod emitters. The emitters are of large current interest due to their improved stability and reduced blinking. We retrieve a room-temperature ensemble average quantum efficiency of 0.87 ± 0.08 at a mean lifetime around 20 ns. We confirm a log-normal distribution of decay rates as often assumed in literature, and we show that the rate distribution-width, that amounts to about 30% of the mean decay rate, is strongly dependent on the local density of optical states.


In 2016, French regulatory bodies launched a new and ambitious monitoring program so called "prospective monitoring network", in view of improving and promoting knowledge acquired about the occurrence of contaminants in water environments. Among various actions supported by this program, a specific one is focused on non-target screening strategies. It aims, in particular to demonstrate and highlight the potential of suspect- and non-target screening approaches for retrospective analysis in connection with environmental specimen banking (either physical samples or digital data).
In fact, some mass spectral data banks have been recently built at the level of the research community but outside from conventional ESBs arena and without complete raw data storage, which reduce potential data reprocessing. Among its major advantages: retrospective analysis and elucidation of unknown compounds; alternatives to specimen banking of conventional matrix can be highlighted. As instance, a prototype of a 'Digital Sample Freezing Platform' has been developed by the NORMAN network, to host full scan liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry data, allowing for retrospective analysis of any environmental sample for a wide range of pollutants.
In this context the action of AQUAREF aims to address the following points, essential for improved design of ESBs for NTS applications and to ensure the exploitability of such ESB:
•Appropriate codification to allow an efficient data exchange
•Key metadata that have to be stored and made available
•Properties of samples and data, accessibility, promotion
•Metrological infrastructure: long term storage, QA/QC, SOP, …
The proposal will present French works that are currently performed by AQUAREF consortium (French Reference Laboratory for Water and Aquatic Environment).


Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical syndrome defined as a sudden onset of reduced kidney function manifested by increased serum creatinine or a reduction in urine output. This clinical syndrome has been called by 25 different names and at least 35 definitions. As a result of this deficiency of standardized definition, reported incidences of AKI in the ICU range from 1 to 25% with mortality rates between 15 and 60%. This lack of a uniform definition not only leads to the conflicting reports in the literature but is also a major obstacle for research in the field. The recent consensus definition which was proposed by the ADQI group and expanded by AKIN has brought the RIFLE criteria and staging into position as the standard definition and diagnosis of this syndrome. The RIFLE criteria have been extensively validated in more than 550,000 patients worldwide.


A convergent total synthesis of bacterial gyrase B/topoisomerase IV inhibitor kibdelomycin (a.k.a. amycolamicin) (1) was devised starting from inexpensive d-mannose and l-rhamnose, which were converted in new efficient ways to an N-acylated amycolose and an amykitanose derivative as late building blocks. For the former, we developed an expeditious, general method for the introduction of an α-aminoalkyl linkage into sugars via 3-Grignardation. The decalin core was built up in seven steps via an intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction. These building blocks could be assembled as published previously, making for a formal total synthesis of 1 in 2.8% overall yield. An alternative order of connecting the essential fragments was also made possible by the first protocol for the direct N-glycosylation of a 3-acyltetramic acid.


FLZ, a novel anti-Parkinson's disease (PD) candidate drug, has shown poor blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration based on the pharmacokinetic study using rat brain. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) are two important transporters obstructing substrates entry into the CNS as well as in relation to PD neuropathology. However, it is unclear whether P-gp and BCRP are involved in low BBB permeability of FLZ and what the differences of FLZ brain penetration are between normal and Parkinson's conditions. For this purpose, in vitro BBB models mimicking physiological and PD pathological-related BBB properties were constructed by C6 astroglial cells co-cultured with primary normal or PD rat cerebral microvessel endothelial cells (rCMECs) and in vitro permeability experiments of FLZ were carried out. High transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and low permeability for sodium fluorescein (NaF) confirmed the BBB functionality of the two models. Significantly greater expressions of P-gp and BCRP were detected in PD rCMECs associated with the lower in vitro BBB permeability of FLZ in pathological BBB model compared with physiological model. In transport studies only P-gp blocker effectively inhibited the efflux of FLZ, which was consistent with the in vivo permeability data. This result was also confirmed by ATPase assays, suggesting FLZ is a substrate for P-gp but not BCRP. The present study first established in vitro BBB models reproducing PD-related changes of BBB functions in vivo and demonstrated that poor brain penetration of FLZ and low BBB permeability were due to the P-gp transport.


Through the use of a 2-D model of a high-current vacuum arc discharge (VAD) in an axial magnetic field, the distribution of high-current VAD parameters in a plasma area was calculated for different boundary conditions on the cathode plasma boundary, the anode, and the side boundary of plasma. Calculations were made for different current and external magnetic field values. The cathode boundary of plasma was assumed as either equipotential or having specified current density distribution. The side boundary of plasma coincided with either the external ion trajectory or the boundary of the calculated area. In the case with a specified current density, potential distribution on the cathode plasma boundary was calculated. There is a significant difference in the distribution of high-current VAD parameters when calculations are made with the use of models having different boundary conditions. A possibility of different-boundary-condition application for the adequate description of a high-current VAD is discussed. A simple mathematical model has been used for a vivid interpretation of the obtained results.


Under acidic and mild-temperature conditions, 1-methyl-2-phenylindole was found to react with malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxyalkenals to yield a stable chromophore with intense maximal absorbance at 586 nm. The use of methanesulfonic acid results in optimal yields of chromophore produced from MDA as well as from 4-hydroxynonenal. By contrast, the use of hydrochloric acid results in an optimal yield of chromophore produced from MDA and a negligible reaction of 4-hydroxynonenal. Taking advantage of such chromogenic reactions, we developed a new colorimetric assay of lipid peroxidation. Using a methanesulfonic acid-based medium, MDA and 4-hydroxyalkenals can be measured at the 586 nm wavelength. However, the presence of endogenous inhibitors of the reaction with 4-hydroxyalkenals is common, and this means that the latter may be underestimated in some biological samples. The assay performed in a hydrochloric acid-based medium enables the specific measurement of MDA in the presence of 4-hydroxyalkenals. Upon hydrolysis of Schiff bases in hydrochloric acid (pH 1.5), either assay can be used to specifically measure the amount of total MDA in biological samples because 4-hydroxyalkenals undergo an irreversible cyclization reaction under the hydrochloric acid-based conditions of hydrolysis. The two assays were applied to the determination of the amount of MDA alone and of MDA and 4-hydroxyalkenals in an in vitro model of lipid peroxidation. This methodology was also used to clarify complex patterns of tissue-specific MDA production in vivo, following hydrolysis of Schiff bases, in rodents treated with doxorubicin.


OBJECTIVE
We aimed at studying the correlation between TGIF2 expression and clinicopathological features of cervical cancer (CCa). The relationship between TGIF2 and FCMR and its influence on the proliferation and metastasis of tumor cells were investigated using molecular biology techniques, so as to reveal the pathogenesis of CCa and provide a new target for clinical treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
TGIF2 expression in 60 pairs of cervical tumors and paracancerous tissues samples collected from CCa patients of our hospital was studied by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis, and the association between TGIF2 expression and the clinical indicators or prognosis of CCa patients were analyzed. CCa cells with TGIF2 knockdown were constructed using transfection technology. Changes in the biological phenotypes (proliferation, migration, invasion) of CCa cells C33-A and HeLa after TGIF2 knockdown were determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays. In addition, the effects of TGIF2/FCMR axis on CCa metastasis were further explored in nude mice in vivo.

RESULTS
Our data revealed a significant increase in TGIF2 mRNA expression in CCa tissue specimens compared to adjacent ones, and the increasing degree was positively correlated with the incidence of lymph node or distant metastasis of CCa patients. The results of CCK-8 and transwell suggested that knocking down TGIF2 effectively attenuated the proliferative ability and invasiveness of CCa cells. Luciferase assay confirmed that TGIF2 can directly bind to the DNA promoter of its target gene FCMR. Simultaneous transfection of sh-TGIF2 and sh-FCMR partially reversed the inhibitory effect of single transfection of TGIF2 knockdown on the malignant progression of CCa. Experiments in nude mice also suggested that TGIF2 could promote CCa tumorigenesis through the modulation of FCMR expression.

CONCLUSIONS
In summary, TGIF2 can promote the migration and proliferation ability of cervical cancer cells via down-regulating FCMR. Our study provides a new therapeutic target for the clinical treatment of cervical cancer.


The phenomenon of horn-like vortex in stator corner separation flow in an axial flow pump was first reported by Wang et al. (2020, "Investigation on the Horn-Like Vortices in Stator Corner Separation Flow in an Axial Flow Pump," ASME J. Fluids Eng., 142(7), p. 071208), and the associated external features were preliminarily presented. However, internal vortical characteristics of horn-like vortices, including the distributions of swirling strength, the deformation mechanism of vortex tube and the correlation with pressure fluctuation surge, are not revealed. In this paper, the newly developed vorticity decomposition approach is introduced, and thus more novel quantitative results are provided for the physics of horn-like vortex evolution in an axial flow pump. First, the distributions of absolute swirling strength, relative swirling strength and Liutex spectrum are presented to outline the vortical features of the horn-like vortex fields. Second, the deformation mechanism of the horn-like vortex tube is revealed. It is found that the horn-like vortex spatial evolution can be described by the deformation terms (Liutex stretching term, Liutex dilatation term, and curl term of the pseudo-Lamb vector) controlling the Liutex transport process. These terms constantly act on the horn-like vortex tube in an almost independent way, causing its continuous deformations in the transit process. Third, the quantitative correlation between horn-like vortex transit and pressure fluctuation surge is given. It is proved that periodic vortex transit can cause severe pressure fluctuation that is much larger than that induced by rotor–stator interaction. From multiple perspectives, a clearer evolution process of the horn-like vortex is outlined, which is conducive to controlling the corner separation flows and improving the stability of large-capacity and low-head pumping stations.


One-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) sensors have emerged as contenders for traditional surface plasmon resonance sensors, owing to their potential for the detection of bigger molecules and particles due to their higher interaction volume in the sensing medium. Two-dimensional layered nanomaterials, most notably graphene and dichalcogenides (e.g., MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, and WSe2), have shown higher refractive index sensitivity because of their absorption as well as adsorption property. The proposed configuration of 1DPC presented consists of alternate layers of the aforementioned nanomaterials and silicon. The performance parameters, namely the sensitivity, resolution, quality factor, and the evanescent field penetration depth, are calculated and compared with 1DPC having poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) in place of silicon. Increased shift in resonance angle and quality factor are observed by replacing PMMA with silicon, but at the cost of decreased resolution. Further, our results show that although the sensitivity and quality factor of the 1DPC sensor is less than that of the conventional surface plasmon resonance sensor (SPR) with a gold thin film, it has much higher resolution and penetration depth to make it suitable for large molecules.


Over the past 30 years, IBM has provided leadership in high density I/O density and count interconnects at both chip and package levels as has been necessary for processor chips in high end symmetrical multiple processor (SMP) servers. For example, IBM introduced multi-chip modules (MCMs) in the 1970's, thermal conduction modules (TCMs) in the 1980's, and advanced organic micro-via buildup-layer packages in the 1990's (Patel, 2005). Typically, MCMs are necessary to provide significant increases in bandwidth between chips on the module, compared to the alternative route of lower bandwidth resulting from chip-to-chip interconnects going through the printed circuit board (PCB) for single chip modules (SCMs). CMOS chip-to-package pad scaling gap has been growing compared to the package-to-printed circuit board (PCB) pad scaling, which is the reason for the I/O advantage of MCMs vs. SCMs. For example, today's mainstream IC-to-package flipchip bonding uses 0.1 mm square pads on 0.2 mm pitch, with 0.15 mm ramping up, while the package-to-PCB ball- or land grid array (BGA or LGA) pitch uses 1-mm pitch, an areal density as much as 64 times lower. However, even with the larger bandwidth advantage of MCMs, more complex chips such as multiprocessor cores and the need for higher bandwidth to memory cache require a relatively larger number of signal I/Os, as well as more power and ground I/Os. Faster I/O clocks further exacerbate the need for more package I/O by forcing the transition from previous single-ended I/Os to differential signal I/Os to satisfy the higher frequency bit error rate specifications on SMP buses. Our goal is to alleviate the I/O bottleneck at the packaging level in the most cost effective manner, while providing the lowest risk, most flexible development package. To this end, we present our work on an electrical LGA field replaceable package with optical components. These optical components enable larger I/O bandwidth density between the MCM and PCB than that allowed by a standard electrical package


Three dogs from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan were diagnosed with acute granulocytic anaplasmosis. Fever, lethargy, inappetence, vomiting, diarrhea, and lameness were reported. Lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and splenomegaly were identified in all dogs. Inclusions were identified within the cytoplasm of blood neutrophils, and infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction.


BACKGROUND
Despite current trend of targeted therapy development, cytotoxic agents are a mainstay of treatment of patients with breast cancer. We reviewed recent advances in cytotoxic therapy for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Medline searches were conducted for English language studies using the term 'MBC' and 'cytotoxic drugs'. The data search was restricted to the period 2000-2011.

RESULTS
Several novel cytotoxic compounds, all microtubule inhibitors, have been approved for clinical use in MBC: (i) nab-paclitaxel, reported to improve tumour response and decrease hypersensitivity reactions in comparison with other taxanes; (ii) ixabepilone, shown to have clinical benefit in taxane- and anthracycline-resistant disease and (iii) eribulin, shown to improve overall survival in heavily pre-treated patients, when compared with best available standard treatment. Agents, such as larotaxel, vinflunine, trabectidin and formulations, including cationic liposomal paclitaxel or paclitaxel poliglumex, are currently under evaluation in phase II/III trials.

CONCLUSION
Toxicity and chemotherapy resistance are still major limitations in the treatment of patients with MBC. Further research into new cytotoxic compounds is needed in order to maximise benefit, whilst minimising toxicity.


Like all of us, cells proceed through stages of life. In this whimsical review, aspects of several such stages, including birth, growth, aging, death, and "afterlife," are considered, with a special emphasis on cells of the immune system. Discussed along the way are asymmetric division of activated, naive cluster of differentiation 8+ T cells, c-Myc and polyamines in lymphocyte function and aging, cell survival after induction of cell death pathways, cell death consequences, and clearance of dead cells from surrounding tissues. This is offered in memory of the unique and wonderful Dr. Eli Sercarz.


Fishermen have different perceptions than management authorities of long-term trends in resource outcome. This complicates co-management between individual resource users and these authorities. In this study the capacity to perceive trends is formalised with the statistical power to detect a true trend. This power is larger where trends are steep, the variance around trends is small, the number of years in the series is large, and when a greater risk to wrongfully conclude for a trend is accepted (Type I error). In order to predict which trends and patterns are visible and for whom, variability in daily, monthly and annual catches is assessed and compared for different types of fish and fisheries. This study shows that inter-annual variability and the persistence therein are responsible for a 'governance dilemma' that is found in the choice between costly draconic measures with a large impact and thus public proof of their legitimacy rather than more feasible but less effective measures. Authorities have an 'administrative gain' over individual fishermen in the perception of time trends, because they use spatially aggregated data that contain less variability. Recommendations are given on how to overcome this difference in the capacity for trend perception by enlarging the 'evaluative capacity' of both fishermen and authorities, especially where the two cooperate in co-managing a fishery. These problems in trend perception exist as well in agriculture. For instance, variability of annual crop yield in rainfed agriculture is high, and downwards trends due to soil degradation therefore hard to perceive for the individual farmer. Finally, the example from 17th and 18th century whaling illustrates how cognitive limitations because of ignorance of graphical and statistical tools, together with extremely high inter-annual variability, also constrain the perception of time trends in resource outcome.


The role of the left ventricle in ICU patients with circulatory shock has long been considered. However, acute right ventricle (RV) dysfunction causes and aggravates many common critical diseases (acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary embolism, acute myocardial infarction, and postoperative cardiac surgery). Several supportive therapies, including mechanical ventilation and fluid management, can make RV dysfunction worse, potentially exacerbating shock. We briefly review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and recommendations to guide management of acute RV dysfunction in ICU patients. Our aim is to clarify the complex effects of mechanical ventilation, fluid therapy, vasoactive drug infusions, and other therapies to resuscitate the critical patient optimally.


A method is introduced for studying thermal relaxation in multiminima energy landscapes. All the configurations connected to a given energy minimum by paths never exceeding a chosen "energy lid" are found, each equipped with a set of pointers to its neighbours. This information defines a phase space pocket around the minimum, in which the master equation for the relaxation process is directly solved. As an example we analyse some instances of the Travelling-Salesman Problem. We find that i) the number of configurations accessible from a given suboptimal tour grows exponentially with the energy lid, ii) the density of states within the pocket also shows exponential growth, iii) the low-temperature dynamical behaviour is characterized by a sequence of local equilibrations in increasingly larger regions of phase space and finally iv) the propagator decays algebraically with a temperature-dependent exponent. These observations are related to both theoretical models and experimental findings on relaxation in complex systems.


OBJECTIVE
The relevance of both cognitive and interpersonal processes in predicting adjustment to potentially traumatic events has been highlighted in the literature. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether dysfunctional disclosure mediates the relationship between excessive negative appraisals and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology that is proposed in the cognitive PTSD model of Ehlers and Clark (2000).

METHOD
A sample of 134 emergency service workers was interviewed to gain in-depth information regarding their experience of potentially traumatic events, and the following social interactions. Additionally, participants responded to the Disclosure of Trauma Questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory, and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised.

RESULTS
Bootstrap mediation analyses revealed that the effect of negative trauma related appraisals on PTSD symptoms is partly mediated by dysfunctional disclosure. In particular, the two aspects of dysfunctional disclosure "reluctance to talk" and "excessive emotional reactions during disclosure" were of relevance in this model. The results remained stable even when controlling for potentially relevant sociodemographic and situational characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results stress the importance of not only cognitive factors, but also interpersonal behavior in the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms because we identified interpersonal risk factors (i.e., dysfunctional communicative strategies) to be relevant for PTSD elevation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


Efforts to develop treatments for diseases caused by nonsense mutations have focused on identification of small molecules that promote translational read-through of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) harboring nonsense stop codons to produce full-length proteins. However, to date, no small molecule read-through drug has received FDA approval, probably because of a lack of balance between efficacy and safety. Depletion of translation termination factors eukaryotic release factor (eRF) 1 and eRF3a in cells was shown to promote translational read-through of a luciferase reporter gene harboring a nonsense mutation. In this study, we identified antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) targeting translation termination factors and determined if ASO-mediated depletion of these factors could be a potentially effective and safe therapeutic approach for diseases caused by nonsense mutations. We found that ASO-mediated reduction of either eRF1 or eRF3a to 30%–40% of normal levels in the mouse liver is well tolerated. Hemophilia mice that express a mutant allele of human coagulation factor IX (FIX) containing nonsense mutation R338X were treated with eRF1- or eRF3a-ASO. We found that although eRF1- or eRF3a-ASO alone only elicited a moderate read-through effect on hFIX-R338X mRNA, both worked in synergy with geneticin, a small molecule read-through drug, demonstrating significantly increased production of functional full-length hFIX protein to levels that would rescue disease phenotypes in these mice. Overall our results indicate that modulating the translation termination pathway in the liver by ASOs may provide a novel approach to improving the efficacy of small molecule read-through drugs to treat human genetic diseases caused by nonsense mutations.


In situations where explicit communication is limited, a human collaborator is typically able to learn to: (i) infer the meaning behind their partner's actions and (ii) balance between taking actions that are exploitative given their current understanding of the state vs. those that can convey private information about the state to their partner. The first component of this learning process has been well-studied in multiagent systems, whereas the second — which is equally crucial for a successful collaboration — has not. In this work, we complete the learning process and introduce our novel algorithm, Policy-Belief-Iteration ("P-BIT"), which mimics both components mentioned above. A belief module models the other agent's private information by observing their actions, whilst a policy module makes use of the inferred private information to return a distribution over actions. They are mutually reinforced with an EM-like algorithm. We use a novel auxiliary reward to encourage information exchange by actions. We evaluate our approach on the non-competitive bidding problem from contract bridge and show that by selfplay agents are able to effectively collaborate with implicit communication, and P-BIT outperforms several meaningful baselines that have been considered.


Nowadays, when designing a bird-like flapping wing robot, single-section or two-foldable-section wing type is normally adopted to mimic the flexible wing, which is hard to simulate a real bird's flapping fly or gain well aerodynamic performance. In present work, a new flexible flapping wing vehicle, of which the flexibility of the wing is more authentic, is designed firstly, then the kinematic model is established and the kinematics analysis of the vehicle is carried out. Moreover aerodynamics is estimated using the strip theory, the wing's lift and thrust are calculated, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the new flexible wing and that of a two-foldable-section wing are compared.


Insulin resistance results in accumulation of triglyceride content and reduction of glycogen content in skeletal muscle. However, very few studies have measured lipid content and glycogen content in liver associated with insulin resistance. We studied the relationship between liver lipid content, liver glycogen, and insulin resistance in high-fat-fed rats, which are animal models of insulin resistance. High-fat-fed rats were hyperlipidemic, hyperglycemic, and hyperinsulinemic. Furthermore, the glucose infusion rates (GIR) were lower (normal rats, 10.35 +/- 1.66; high-fat-fed rats, 4.86 +/- 0.93 mg/kg/min; P <.01) and the triglyceride and cholesterol contents in liver were higher in the high-fat-fed rats than in normal rats. On the other hand, the glycogen content in liver was lower than in normal rats. There was an inverse relationship between liver triglyceride content and liver glycogen content. When the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activator NO-1886 was administered to the high-fat-fed rats at a daily dose of 50 mg/kg body weight for 10 weeks, GIR (9.87 +/- 3.76 mg/kg/min, P <.05 v high-fat-fed control group) improved, causing an improvement of the hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and hyperinsulinemia. Furthermore, NO-1886 decreased triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations and increased glycogen content in liver of the high-fat-fed rats. In this study, we found that insulin resistance caused fatty liver and reduced glycogen content in liver. Administration of the LPL activator NO-1886 improved the insulin resistance, resulting in an improvement in the relationship between triglyceride and glycogen content in liver of high-fat-fed rats.


THE HUMAN SKELETON During the twenty years which have elapsed since the first edition of The Anatonmy of the Human Skeleton6 was published it has taken its place as a standard work, and we welcome the latest edition of this excellent monograph. There is an increasing tendency in the teaching of anatomy to omit details of purely academic interest, and the medical student does not to-day devote as much time to bones as in the past. The fact remains, however, that a sound knowledge of osteology is an essential basis for the study of general anatomy, and we do not know of a better introduction to this study than Professor J. E. FRAZER's book. The present edition follows in detail the broad plan of its predecessors, the preliminary chapter-with its outline of the general structure and development of bones in relation to their surroundings and function-being particularly helpful to the student. Of the detailed descriptions of individual bones perhaps the most useful are those in the sections dealing with the limbs. The scheme adopted is to give a formal description of the bone, and thefi to build up on this the overlying fasciae and muscles. Full attention is paid to those factors, whether of development or of function, which are associated with the special characters of the bone concerned. These, and sundry points of comparative anatomy, are dealt with as they arise in the course of the 6 The Anatomy of the Hulman Skeleton. By J. E. Frazer, D.Sc., F.R.C.S. Third edition. London: J. and A. Churchill. 1933. (Pp. viii + 292; 219 figures. 28s.) description, and add much to the interest and the usefulness of the book. The text is supplemented by excellent illustrations, many of which are in colour, and the student is given a series of pictures of the same bones, from which he cannot fail, incidentally, to learn a good deal of general anatomy. This is a book we can recommend to all students of anatomy and to those interested in the mechanics of muscle action, while among those preparing for the higher examinations, such as the primary F.R.C.S., it has for long been deservedly popular.


Many people have written about the history of the Russian-American Company (RAC), some for scholars, others for a lay audience. Numerous writers have been Americans and Europeans who have had access to the records of the RAC that are held in the U.S. National Archives. But more records-preserved in Russia-were rarely accessible to Western scholars until the end of the Cold War. Dr. Andrei V. Grineev is one of the leading authorities on the history of Russian America. In the past two decades he has published two monographs, ten chapters in the three-volume Istoriya Russkoi Ameriki [The History of Russian America], and seventy-five articles in Russian, English, and Japanese. He writes not just about the Europeans who settled in Russia9s transoceanic territories but also about Native Americans. Many of his works are unique in that he draws on both the ethnography and history of Native Americans. With regard to Russian America, he deals not only with the policies of governments and companies but with individuals as well. In pursuit of this task, Grineev has now written a book about everyone who had connections with Russian America. It contains more than 5,800 biographical sketches and was published in 2009. In the work below, he analyzes the writings of scholars who have tried to unravel historical details about individuals, companies, and governments that related to the Russian-American Company. This article was translated from Russian. Since a great deal of Russian literature is cited, it is important to understand the form of transliteration used with these titles. For a detailed description of the transliteration, please see the Translator9s Note in the appendix.


Introduction: Basic behavioral guidance (BBG) skills help in delivery of quality health care in pediatric dentistry. The complex nature of these skills, warrants analyzing actions performed. An appropriate scientific way to do this is by "reflection." Hence, the present study was designed to introduce "reflection of action" as means for learning BBG skills by undergraduates in pediatric dentistry. Materials and Methods: Participants (dental undergraduate) performed oral prophylaxis (two visits) in pediatric patients (age 3–7 years) with application of BBG skills, under video recording. They were instructed regarding "reflection on action." The learners then reviewed own videos and wrote reflections. Reflections were assessed on Boud's 4R framework and feedback was given by the faculty. Reflective writing was repeated for a second visit. Knowledge of the learners in using reflections for learning was assessed by retrospective pretest posttest questionnaire. Video recordings were scored for BBG skills. Acceptability of the intervention was addressed by satisfaction questionnaire. Results: There was a significant improvement in the knowledge of participants in using reflections for learning these skills. All participants were able to "revisit" (R1 level under Boud's 4R framework) patient encounter in their written reflections. Sixteen participants exhibited shift toward higher levels in the next visit. Video scores of learners also improved significantly over both visits. Students were satisfied with the content, delivery, and relevance of the new educational intervention. Conclusion: The strong need of improving BBG skills in pediatric dentistry was met by "reflection on action." There was improvement in the knowledge of students in using reflections for learning and application of behavior guidance skills and was well accepted.


Objective: The present study aimed to characterize and quantify the total phenolics, flavonoids and tannins in a hydroethanolic crude extract (70% (v/v) (EB)) of the leaves of E. florida DC, as well as to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the extract against different species of micro-organisms. Methods: EB was characterized using a mass spectrometer equipped with a direct insertion device for in-stream injection (FIA). Quantitative analyses of major compounds were carried out by spectrophotometry. In addition, we evaluated the sensitivity profiles of different strains of yeast and bacteria against different concentrations of EB. Results: The classes found were in agreement with those described in the literature: flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids and saponins. EB showed levels of phenolic compounds, flavonoids and tannins equal to 25.82 mg gallic acid equivalents per gram of extract (EAG/g), 8.42 mg quercetin equivalents per gram of extract (EQ/g) and 7.30 mg tannic acid equivalents per gram of extract (AT/g), respectively. In the analysis of antimicrobial activity, EB was more active against yeasts but was not effective against the bacteria used in the test. Conclusion: We can conclude that E. florida DC has antimicrobial potential, due to the presence of bioactive secondary metabolites. Keywords: Phenolics, Micro-organisms, Mass spectrometer, Yeasts, Bacteria, Potential


The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has been routinely gathering science data since August 2008, surveying the full sky every three hours. The first Fermi-LAT catalog of sources detected above 10 GeV (1FHL) relied on three years of data to characterize the >10 GeV sky. The improved acceptance and point-spread function of the new Pass 8 event reconstruction and classification together with six years of observations now available allow the detection and characterization of sources directly above 50 GeV. This closes the gap between ground-based Cherenkov telescopes, which have excellent sensitivity but small fields of view and short duty cycles, and all-sky observations at GeV energies from orbit. In this contribution we present the second catalog of hard Fermi-LAT sources detected at >50GeV.


The lack of codes of ethics and codes of conduct in teaching practice is of international concern, with South African universities seemingly lagging behind in recent research. This study aimed to establish the status of ethical codes and procedures regarding teaching practice at South African universities, and what is included in such codes. Critical content analysis was conducted of the ethical policies posted on the universities' websites. The analysis revealed that most South African universities have not enacted dedicated ethical codes of conduct for teaching practice. It was also found that the elements included in the codes vary across universities. Due to the unique nature of ethical dilemmas relating to teaching practice, this is cause for grave concern. A lack of ethical codes poses potential risks for various role players in teaching practice. The concerns include but are not limited to, unethical relationships between pre-service teachers and staff members, unfair treatment of learners, and teaching incorrect information due to a lack of competence.
Key words: pre-service teachers, teaching practice, code of conduct, code of ethics


Tests performed with a remarkable number of inducers and pumps indicate that there exists a definite pattern of the manner in which the velocity of flow of the liquid and the peripheral velocity of the inlet tips affect the suction characteristics of a pump. Within certain limits, this pattern is unaffected by the shape of the blades, by the type of the pump, and by the flow rate. This consistency of behavior allows one to calculate the NPSH-requirements of a pump along its total working range, provided that the suction conditions are not disturbed by a particularly unfavorable blade geometry or by other effects.


The main goal of this paper is to present a first approach to an automatic detection of conceptual relations between two terms in specialised written text. Previous experiments on the basis of the manual analysis lead the authors to implement an automatic query strategy combining the term candidates proposed by an extractor together with a list of verbal syntactic patterns used for the relations refinement. Next step on the research will be the integration of the results into the term extractor in order to attain more restrictive pieces of information directly reused for the ontology building task.


This thesis analyses the issues of women, poverty and education. Education is viewed as a key factor enabling women to move out of poverty. This view is well established in the developing world where education plays a key role to improve life choices and opportunities for women and girls (United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, 2012). However, the influence and impact of education to improve the wellbeing of marginalised women in a developed country requires further exploration.  The interconnectedness of gendered poverty and education are explored through the stories of three Pākehā women living in Aotearoa New Zealand. Firstly, in order to understand these local experiences, the developing world literature is assessed to ascertain the global situation of women, poverty and education. Secondly, the relevant literature on women, poverty and education is examined and reflected as it relates to these concerns in Aotearoa New Zealand. Thirdly, the significance of the emergent themes is analysed as the general concerns became personal through the lived realities of three Pākehā women of low socioeconomic status.  The thesis is contained within a social constructivism framework and has been influenced by feminist methodologies. Semi structured interviews were conducted to gather knowledge and to gain insights into the reality of a marginalised Pākehā woman engaging with education to improve her self-worth and/or economic opportunities.  The research participants echoed the sentiments in the literature that their education outcomes were impacted by their family backgrounds, school experiences and there are societal perceptions concerning marginalised women with limited or no formal education. Adult education was investigated in a local context as this is the domain where women would engage with to change their education status. The arena of education including adult education in Aotearoa New Zealand is dominated by the neoliberal approach to education. Neoliberal policy in adult education does not serve the marginalised members of society nor does an education sector with a bias towards vocational outcomes. A repositioning of the adult education sector within a holistic framework which includes empowerment and improvement in the economic status of marginalised Pākehā women is required.


The "Nixon China Shock" (the July 15, 1971 statement by the U.S. President R. Nixon about the recent trip of his National Security Advisor H. Kissinger to the PRC and about the President's upcoming visit there) became one of the pivotal points in the history of Japanese foreign policy and contributed to Tokyo becoming more independent from Washington in its diplomatic course. Using the case of Japan's reaction to this event, the article explores the characteristic features of the foreign policy making process in post-war Japan and demonstrates the considerable influence of these features on the character of Japanese foreign policy of the so-called "1955 System" period (the prolonged and continuous dominance of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 1955-93). The paper shows the decentralization of the foreign policy making process, expressed in the limited ability of the Prime Minister to determine foreign policy, the presence of considerable internal contradictions in the MoFA of Japan, the factionalism of the ruling party, and the high degree of dependency of the government's policy course on the public opinion. It proves that these factors were one of the reasons for Japan's political leadership avoiding decisive actions to normalize relations with the PRC before the "Nixon shock", cautious that it might damage its relations with the U.S. and unable to discern the signs of upcoming U.S.-Chinese detente, and after this event, vice versa, making every effort to normalize its relations with Beijing as soon as possible, reaching this goal even before their American partners did. Given the historical importance of the "1955 System" for contemporary Japanese politics, the article's conclusions are significant for the understanding of the logic of Japan's domestic politics and foreign policy of the entire post-war period. Author declares the absence of conflict of interests.


Abstract For centuries, mohair weaving was one of the widespread handcrafts in Anatolia, but recently there has been a decline in spinning and weaving mohair thread. The purpose of this study is to document the hand spinning of mohair in two areas of Turkey, taking account of traditional methods, traditional mechanisms (survivals of Ottoman customs) for marketing of the thread, and the production of mohair fabric on handlooms in the homes of weavers. The mohair spinners are predominantly female, and following ancient tradition they wet the mohair in their mouths with their saliva prior to spinning it into yarn on distaff and spindle. This yarn is then sold to weavers, mostly by men, at the yarn market that for centuries has been set up in the district of Tosya every Monday after the noon prayer. The weavers make sashes and bath purses from mohair yarn at handlooms in their homes, and sell these in turn.


By taking into account the relative energy between the diquark and the quark in nucleons, the gravitational singularity in a black hole created from a collapsing neutron star can be removed; compatibility with quantum mechanics is restored. This black hole becomes a "black" neutron star. The negative relative energy identified as dark matter in the previous paper can account for the galaxy rotation curve. The positive relative energy identified as dark energy in the previous paper can explain the accelerating expansion of the universe. A possible scenario for cosmic ray generation is given.


The authors obtained equations of relation between stresses, deformations and internal forces for rectangular depressed shells, convenient for numerical calculation of the loading process. The problem is solved considering geometrical and physical nonlinearities.


CXC motif chemokine 10 (CXCL10) is a small cytokine belonging to the CXC chemokine family, and it is secreted by several cell types in response to IFN-γ and regulates immune responses through the recruitment and activation of lymphocytes. As CXCL10 is very important in T-cell immunity and infectious diseases, we studied the effect of natural selection on the CXCL10 locus. By sequencing 74 individuals from three human populations, we found a complex pattern of natural selection acting on the CXCL10 locus. We discovered a signature of balancing selection in the European population with a significant positive Tajima's D value (2.57, P=0.005) and an excess of intermediate frequency alleles. However, we observed an excess of high frequency-derived alleles and a significant Fay and Wu's test statistics (P=0.015) in the Chinese population, which suggests that recent selective sweeps under positive selection had occurred. Also, there are a lot of alleles showing great frequency difference among populations. These results demonstrate that local selection has shaped CXCL10 evolution and indicates that there exist different actions of natural selection on the CXCL10 locus in different populations. This study provides insights into the likely relative roles of natural selection and population history in shaping today's genetic variation at the CXCL10 locus, indicates the relationship between adaptation to past infection and predisposition to autoimmunity in modern populations, improves our understanding of CXCL10 evolution, and motivates further investigations of the role of CXCL10 in infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases.


Azido-IQ (2-azido-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline), a novel analog of the food mutagen and carcinogen IQ (2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline) was synthesized and characterized. Both thermolysis and photolysis of this azide yield a short-lived nitrene which can react as an electrophile either directly or via protonation to a nitrenium ion. Reaction of the nitrene/nitrenium ion with water produces N-hydroxy-IQ; reactions with nucleotides and with DNA (in vitro and in cells) produce adducts efficiently. Correspondingly, high frequencies of mutations are induced in Salmonella typhimurium by photolyzed azido-IQ. Comparative mutation assays with the S. typhimurium strains TA98 and the hydroxylamine-resistant TA98/1,8-DNP6 provide evidence for a novel mechanism of mutation, direct reaction of the nitrene or nitrene-derived nitrenium ion with DNA without involvement of the hydroxylamine. The photolysis of arylazides promises to be a very convenient and generally applicable non-enzymatic procedure for the cell-free or intracellular generation of short-lived and highly reactive electrophilic species which are assumed to be identical with the metabolically formed ultimate mutagens/carcinogens of arylamines and nitroarenes.


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Abstract We present the results of a study that explored the relationship between user-perceived security risk of online applications and the efforts associated with password use. Based on data that were collected from undergraduate students and analyzed using the Partial Least Square (PLS) method, we found that the reactions of users to efforts related with password strength differed from the reactions to efforts related with frequency of required password change. In general, long and complicated passwords appear to be more acceptable than passwords that need to be changed very often, in particular for applications that users perceive to be of high risk. The results of our study should be of interest to practitioners who need to balance organizational needs with individual user behavior when developing effective security strategies, and to researchers who are interested in the conceptualization of fit-variables. Keywords: online applications, user-perceptions, security, risk, password strategy, fit, empirical study, PLS-analysis


The last report on Turkey written by Professor Esin Örücü analysed the 2010 constitutional amendments. These reforms were perhaps the last step in Turkey's democratization process that had been going on for a long time, sometimes with determination, sometimes with hesitant steps, with the aim of harmonizing its political system with European values. Even though all political parties promised a new constitution on the eve of the 2011 general parliamentary elections, this attempt was not successful. But the principal events that destroyed the hopes of democratization were the Gezi Park protests in May-June 2013, and the major corruption allegations that were publicized on 17/25 December. The Gezi Park events were the scene of disproportionate use of the police force under the orders of the government. The corruption charges led the government to establish its control over the judiciary and the security forces in violation of the principles of the rule of law. Such violations were also observed in the process of presidential election that took place in 10 August 2014.These practices, before and after the election, were in violation not only of the constitution in force, but also of the European Convention of Human Rights and the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. In the process, many critical journalists and academics lost their jobs. Thus, a drift toward authoritarianism was observed starting with the elections of 2011.


Understanding when hydrates will nucleate has notable importance in the area of flow assurance. Attempts to model hydrate formation in subsea pipelines currently requires an arbitrary assignment of a nucleation subcooling. Previous studies showed that sII hydrate containing a model water-soluble former, tetrahydrofuran, would nucleate over a narrow temperature range of a few degrees with constant cooling. It is desirable to know if gas phase hydrate formers, which are typically more hydrophobic and hence have a very low solubility in water, also exhibit this nucleation behavior. In this study, differential scanning calorimetry has been applied to determine the hydrate nucleation point for gas phase hydrate formers. Constant cooling ramps and isothermal approaches were combined to explore the probability of hydrate nucleation. In the temperature ramping experiments, methane and xenon were used at various pressures and cooling rates. In both systems, hydrate nucleation occurred over a narrow temperature range (2-3°C). Using methane at lower pressures, ice nucleated before hydrate; whereas at higher pressures, hydrate formed first. A subcooling driving force of around 30°C was necessary for hydrate nucleation from both guest molecules. The cooling rates (0.5-3°C/min) did not show any statistically significant effect on the nucleation temperature for a given pressure. The isothermal method was used for a methane system with pure water and a water-in-West African crude emulsion. Two isotherms (-5 and -10°C) were used to determine nucleation time. In both systems, the time required for nucleation decreased with increased subcooling.


A ripple current reduction method is proposed that does not require additional switching devices. A current ripple that has twice the supply frequency of the power supply is generated in the dc part when a single-phase pulse width modulated inverter is used for a grid connection. The current ripple causes shortening of the lifetime of electrolytic capacitors, batteries, and fuel cells. The proposed circuit realizes a dc active filter function without increasing the number of switching devices, because the energy buffer capacitor is connected to the center tap of the isolation transformer. In addition, the buffer capacitor voltage is controlled by the common-mode voltage of the inverter. The features of the proposed circuit are described and Simulation results are presented.Simulation results proves the ripple reduction, to approximately 20% that of the conventional circuit.


In today's intense competitive business world, the customer is educated and smart and commands satisfaction in all services. This paper makes an attempt to understand the dimensions of service quality which affect customer satisfaction in banking services. A sample of 200 customers of the top 10 performing banks in the state of Haryana were selected with the help of random number table. The responses of the customers were analyzed with the help of factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. The study found that customer expectations and perceptions towards the service quality dimensions of tangibility, competency and empathy have more impact on customer satisfaction. The findings of this study will be useful to banks to better shape and focus their positions in the market and also to provide maximum satisfaction to the customers.


Isocitrate lyase plays a key role for survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the latent form during a chronic stage of infection. This enzyme is important for M. tuberculosis during steady stage growth when it converts isocitrate to succinate and glyoxylate. Then, the glyoxylate is condensed with acetyl-CoA to form malate by malate synthase. The carbon conserving glyoxylate pathway has not been observed in mammals; therefore, it has been determined as a potential drug target for discovery of a new antituberculosis agent. Novel active molecules should shorten the duration of therapy, prevent resistance development and eliminate latent disease. The review summarizes recent progresses in isocitrate lyase inhibitors, overviews structural analogues of several metabolic intermediates (3-nitropropionate, 3-bromopyruvate, itaconate, itaconic anhydride), peptide inhibitors, and recently developed inhibitors with various chemical structures. The largest inhibitory activity against isocitrate lyase (IC(50) of 0.10 ± 0.01 μM) and concomitantly a significant antimycobacterial activity has been presented by fluoroquinolone derivative 1-cyclopropyl-7-[3,5-dimethyl-4-(3-nitropropanoyl)piperazin-1-yl]-6-fluoro-8-methoxy-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acid, which has incorporated 3-nitropropionyl group as one of the structural analogue of succinate, a metabolic intermediate.


Within the construction process, we find a great deal of information that interests contractors, owners, designers, project managers and all people generally involved. The aim of this research was to organize all the information related to materials, products and parts, workers, equipment. This dossier (paper, study) is structured into five parts as follows: List of resources needed for the works; Resources analysis; Definition of the acceptance conditions for every working action related to the tasks and every production phase (initial, follow-up, final controls); Waste and emissions management; H&S aspects. Our model entails the identification of working actions in the following four processing stages: transport from storage (area) to processing area, preparation of materials needed for works, materials transportation to the installation area, implementation. The research was complemented by checks and tests performed on some companies involved in the project. Then all this information was entered in the BIM object. The aim was to manage operational information with the aid of BIM model. The sheet is configured as a valid support for an exhaustive analysis of the whole work process, both from a constructive, technologies, construction techniques and economic point of view, intended as a support to an early estimate and to a later accounting.


This paper proposes two classes of new pseudorandom number generators from block ciphers, called HTR and HBC. They are provably secure in the PRG-CIA (pseudorandom generator against chosen-input-attacks) sense, assuming that the underlying block cipher is a secure pseudorandom permutation (PRP). HTR is a parallel structure, while HBC is a cascade structure. Therefore, the implementation efficiency of HTR is higher than HBC. Moreover, for HTR and HBC, each recursion only invokes the underlying block cipher once, which results in a better performance than ANSI X9.17 PRNG (invoking two times) in the software and hardware implementation. We test the randomness of output sequences by an integrated software package provided by NIST, and obtain a perfect result that they have good pseudorandomness.


The importance of integrated diagnostic systems grows, increasing safety and reducing the cost of operating machines and structures. For serially manufactured machines and structures inexpensive monitoring systems are needed. One of the developed solutions could be the replacement of the calibrated accelerometers with piezoelectric films. Such configuration of the system implies the methods that allow monitoring and diagnostic with uncalibrated sensors. As the film sensitivity parameters are not specified, it is necessary to determine experimentally the characteristics of individual piezo films. The experimental study has been completed by testing a batch of 50 piezo films. Each tested film was glued to a thin metal specimen, which is dynamically loaded with tensile and compressive stresses at a fixed frequency and amplitude. The sensitivity factor of the piezo film was evaluated using dynamic tests followed by temperature control. The testing setup and testing methods are described. Data processing techniques with results of development are performed. The study allowed establishing the dependence of sensitivity of piezo-film sensors on temperature, the confidence interval for the linear regression coefficient for the investigated temperature range. The results allow recognizing the piezo electric films (PVDF) as the sensors acceptable for use in vibration diagnostics and structural monitoring systems.


The article characterizes the peanut (Arachis hypogaea) as an oilseed crop widely spread in the world. It describes its biological value as well as the chemical and fatty acid composition. The study proves the practical importance of developing and introducing new blended functional purpose oils for Ukrainian people. It has been shown that blended oils contain significant amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The use of blended oils will correct the deficiency of essential fatty acids in the diet of our country's population. It has been pointed out how promising it is to create new types of blended oils, with a balanced fatty acid composition, by combining peanut and linseed oils. The article describes the characteristics of the new blended peanut-linseed oils with additives made from vegetable raw materials. The evaluated parameters are the quality and safety of the new blended peanut-linseed oils with a garlic extract, rosehip extract, sorrel leaf extract, and black currant leaf extract. The fatty acid composition of the fat in the new blended oils has been studied to determine their quality. The safety assessment of the new oils with the additives from vegetable raw materials has been determined by the content of pesticides (HCH-gamma isomer, heptachlor, and DDT), mycotoxins (aflotoxin B1 and zearalenone), toxic elements (lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and zinc), iron, and radionuclides (cesium-137 and strontium-90). The results obtained confirm that the new blended oils are safe. The blended oils have a high biological value when the ratio of w-6 to w-3 fatty acids is 4.9:1, and the ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to polyunsaturated fatty acids is 1:1, which meets the standards of healthy nutrition. In terms of chemical and radiation safety, the new oils do not exceed the maximum permissible concentrations, confirming the safety of the newly developed oils.


Aging is associated with multiple neurodegenerative conditions that severely limit quality of life and shorten lifespan. Studies in rodents indicate that in addition to extending lifespan, the ketogenic diet improves cognitive function in aged animals, thus improving healthspan. To broadly investigate what mechanisms might be activated in the brain in response to ketogenic diet, we conducted transcriptome wide analysis on whole brain samples from 13-month-old mice, 26-month-old mice, and 26-month-old mice fed a ketogenic diet. We observed clear activation of inflammation and complement system pathways in the 26-month-old mice relative to the younger animals. Interestingly, ketogenic diet caused a modest but significant increase in the expression of SOX2-dependent oligodendrocyte/myelination markers.


Difficult doctor-patient relationships are a recognized aspect of modern healthcare, but the actual incidence, risk factors, ethical issues, and management strategies are less well-known. The author queried PubMed, ScienceDirect, and the Education Resources Information Center. The inclusion criteria consisted of the free-text terms "difficult patient" and "difficult client" and the Medical Subject Heading terms "patient participation" and "professional-patient relations" with searches further refined by focusing on adults, management, screening, and incidence among review and research articles published in academic journals in English. The author excluded articles focused on children, adolescents, and anger management. This study condenses a body of research spanning two decades and can help clinicians understand factors that contribute to difficult encounters, employ simple screening instruments, and implement management approaches that can minimize difficult encounters and maximize their successful resolutions. Based on the collected evidence, most doctor-patient relationships are trouble-free, but some, ranging between 10% and 20%, are dominated by difficulties of varying degrees and types.


A compilation and synthesis of information derived from plant databases and other sources on the occurrence, diversity and geographic distribution of actinorhizal plants in Africa is presented in this review. Actinorhizal plants are a specific group of non-leguminous, woody dicots having symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing root nodules that are induced on roots of actinorhizal plant species by soil actinomycetes of the genus Frankia. There is a lack of basic information on actinorhizal plants in Africa compared with other major land masses in the world. Results indicate that most, if not all, African countries and climatic regions have native or introduced actinorhizal species. A synthesis of available information indicates that there are six families, nine genera and 38 reported species of actinorhizal plants in Africa. Of these, 21 species are native and 17 are exotic. The families and corresponding number of species in each genus are: Betulaceae (native Alnus glutinosa (1), exotic Alnus (2)); Casuarinaceae (exotic Casuarina (5), exotic Allocasuarina (3), exotic Gymnostoma deplancheana (1)); Coriariaceae (native Coriaria myrtifolia (1)); Myricaceae (native Morella (19), exotic Morella cerifera (1)); Rhamnaceae (exotic Ceanothus caeruleus (1), exotic Colletia paradoxa (1)); and Elaeagnaceae (exotic Eleaegnus angustifolia (1)). Four reports of native, actinorhizal Ceanothus species in Africa found in the database were determined to be false, instead, being non-actinorhizal species. Widespread plantings of exotic Casuarinaceae have been introduced into tropical and arid zones of Africa as multipurpose trees, especially in arid regions where native species do not occur. There is a diverse assemblage of native species of Morella in Africa, mostly shrubs or small trees, which provide medicine, other useful chemicals and wildlife habitat. Many native Morella species are isolated in montane islands, apparently leading to greater speciation than in Eurasia from where the genus migrated into Africa. The current status and knowledge of African actinorhizal plants indicates a need to focus research on their biogeography, biology, ecology, genetics and use.


Subject of Research: The paper considers the problem of automatic term extraction from natural language texts (text mining). One of the first-priority problems in this topic is creation of domain thesaurus. Some well approved methods of terms extraction exist for alphabetic languages, for instance, the latent semantic analysis. Applying of these methods for hieroglyphic texts is challenged because of missing blanks between words. The sentences segmentation task in hieroglyphic languages is usually solved by dictionaries or by statistical methods, particularly, by means of a mutual information approach. Methods of sentences segmentation, as methods of terms extraction, separately, do not reach 100 percent accuracy and fullness, and their consistent applying just increases a number of errors. The aim of this work is improving the fullness and accuracy of domain terms extraction from hieroglyphic texts. Method: The proposed method lies in detection of repeating two, three or four symbol sequences in each sentence and correlation of occurrence frequencies for these sequences in domain and contrast documents collection. According to research carried out it was stated that a trivial ranging of all possible symbol sequences enables to extract satisfactory only frequently using terms. Filtering of symbol sequences by their ratio of frequencies in the domain and contrast collection gave the possibility to extract reliably frequently used terms and find satisfactory rare domain terms. Some results of terms extraction for the "Network technologies" domain from a Chinese text are presented in this paper. A set of articles from the newspaper "Renmin Ribao" was used as a contrast collection and some satisfactory results were obtained.


Aimed at the image process and disaster application of small satellite constellation of environment and disaster's monitoring and predicting (shorted for HJ-1), an image geometric correction system is designed. A high precision image matching algorithm of remote sensing image from many satellite sources towards HJ-1 is proposed in this paper. And a strict orbit model algorithm based on GCP and a collinearity equation is also proposed in this paper. The system has worked well and its precision and performance satisfied the disaster reduction.


Follak S., Aldrian U., Schwarz M. (2014): Spread dynamics of Abutilon theophrasti in Central Europe. Plant Protect. Sci., 50: 00–00. The spread pattern of Abutilon theophrasti (velvetleaf ) in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia was analysed based on an exhaustive distribution data set (389 records). Cumulative number of all records showed a continuous increase since its introduction in the 19th century and > 1970 its spread gained momentum with an exponential increase > 2000. In fields, the species remained rare until 2000. Since then, A. theophrasti has invaded fields much more frequently (78% of all records in fields > 2000) and it was mainly found in sugar beet and maize. Approximately a total of 188 000 ha of the agricultural area are currently at risk of being invaded. Given the on-going spread into fields, the results provide evidence that A. theophrasti may cause serious impacts. Control measures should focus on the prevention of spreading seeds and the establishment of new foci.


In this article old versus new production concepts (NPCs) and employment relation instruments, are studied, separately and in combination, to find out which yield high employee performance and low job strain. Therefore, in 2005, TNO conducted coupled surveys among 149 supervisors and employees. In the past decades, in reaction to dysfunctions of Tayloristic and professional bureaucratic production concepts and employment relations, several new forms of employment relations and NPCs, appeared. Examples are the Socio-technical NPC and customized employment relations. In this study both this NPC and customized employment relations - i.c. customized performance targets - demonstrate positive associations with employee performance. According to Socio-technical theory the design of employment relations is relatively unimportant, as human resources are mobilised primarily by the production concept. Our results for this NPC show the legitimacy of this assumption, because its high employee performance is irrespective of the employment relation instruments. On the contrary, in the other NPCs and in professional bureaucracies, the (employment relation) instruments of respectively an increased period needed for learning the job, and customized performance targets can compensate for the lower employee performance in these production concepts. The results do not show increased job strain, due to new production concepts, or new employment relations. production concepts, employment relations, labour productivity, socio-technical theory


Factorial pot experiments were conducted to compare the responses of GA-sensitive and GA-insensitive reduced height (Rht) alleles in wheat for susceptibility to heat and drought stress during booting and anthesis. Grain set (grains/spikelet) of near-isogenic lines (NILs) was assessed following three day transfers to controlled environments imposing day temperatures (t) from 20 to 40 °C. Transfers were during booting and/or anthesis and pots maintained at field capacity (FC) or had water withheld. Logistic responses (y = c/1+e -b(t -m) ) described declining grain set with increasing t, and t5 was that fitted to give a 5 % reduction in grain set. Averaged over NIL, t5 for anthesis at FC was 31.7 � 0.47 °C (S.E.M., 26 d.f.). Drought at anthesis reduced t5 by <2 °C. Maintaining FC at booting conferred considerable resistance to high temperatures (t5 = 33.9 °C) but booting was particularly heat susceptible without water (t5 = 26.5 °C). In one background (cv. Mercia), for NILs varying at the Rht-D1 locus, there was progressive reduction in t5 with dwarfing and reduced gibberellic acid (GA) sensitivity (Rht-D1a, tall, 32.7 � 0.72; Rht-D1b, semi-dwarf, 29.5 � 0.85; Rht-D1c, severe dwarf, 24.2 � 0.72). This trend was not evident for the Rht-B1 locus or for Rht-D1b in an alternative background (Maris Widgeon). The GA-sensitive severe dwarf Rht12 was more heat tolerant (t5 = 29.4 � 0.72) than the similarly statured GA-insensitive Rht-D1c. The GA-sensitive, semidwarfing Rht8 conferred greater drought tolerance in one experiment. Despite the effects of Rht-D1 alleles in Mercia on stress tolerance, the inconsistency of the effects over background and locus led to the conclusion that semidwarfing with GA-insensitivity did not necessarily increase sensitivity to stress at booting and flowering. In comparison with effects of semidwarfing alleles, responses to heat stress are much more dramatically affected by water availability and the precise growth stage at which the stress is experienced by the plants.


The Temple Scroll (11Q19) dedicates about two and a half columns to the Day of Atonement (25,10-27,10). The present study concentrates on the content of the transmitted text (25,10-16; 26-3-13, and 27,01-02.1-10), analyses its structure, and explains its development of thought. The focus of the text seems to be on the concept of the sin-offering. First, the sin-offering of a he-goat makes part of the common festival sacrifice. Second, the two rams belong as burnt-offering to the special sin-offering of the Feast. And third, a he-goat for YHWH is offered as a special sin-offering on the altar of burnt-offering, whereas, a second he-goat for Azazel bears all the sins of Israel and is sent out into the desert. Since the he-goat for Azazel does not get in touch with the altar of burnt-offering, it cannot be classified as a burnt-offering. Moreover, it shares only one major feature with the other sin-offerings, namely, to remove sins.


AIM
To assess the effectiveness of two different methods of dental health education (DHE) for improving oral hygiene among hearing impaired adolescents in school aged 11-20 years.

METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS
A randomized double blind controlled parallel time series trial was done among 178 hearing impaired adolescents. Considering existing literature, the required sample size was found to be 82 per group, at 95% confidence interval, design effect = 1, type I error = 5%, power of study = 80%, and 20% attrition rate. Two out of five schools were randomly selected. Different methods of DHE were used, schools were coded as School A (DHE using sign language by the investigator) and School B (DHE by conventional visual method, using only posters). The mean reduction in Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S), Plaque Index (PI), and Gingival Index (GI) scores was 1.13 ± 0.81, 0.66 ± 0.31, and 0.58 ± 0.32, respectively, in school A. The mean reductions seen in school B was 0.52 ± 0.89 in OHI-S, 0.44 ± 0.44 in PI, and 0.34 ± 0.32 in GI index (P-value < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Basic training of dental professionals in sign language is both effective and feasible, and brings about greater improvement in oral hygiene status and gingival health as compared to the conventional methods of health education.


Polydimethylsiloxane is a translucent and biologically inert silicone material used in sealants, biomedical implants and microscale lab-on-a-chip devices. Furthermore, in membrane technology, polydimethylsiloxane represents a material for separation barriers as it has high permeabilities for various gases. The facile handling of two component formulations with a silicone base material, a catalyst and a small molecular weight crosslinker makes it widely applicable for soft-lithographic replication of two-dimensional device geometries, such as microfluidic chips or micro-contact stamps. Here, we develop a new technique to directly print polydimethylsiloxane in a rapid prototyping device, circumventing the need for masks or sacrificial mold production. We create a three-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane membrane for gas-liquid-contacting based on a Schwarz-P triple-periodic minimal-surface, which is inaccessible with common machining techniques. Direct 3D-printing of polydimethylsiloxane enables rapid production of novel chip geometries for a manifold of lab-on-a-chip applications.


The alloplastic replacement of the medial collateral ligament of the knee of sheep by carbon fibers gave a strength comparable with the natural ligament. Coating of the fibers, e.g., with epoxy resin, leads to a reduced integration of the implant into the tissues. Physical and histologic results together with the intraosseus anchorage show that pure carbon fibers are a suitable material for alloplastic ligament replacement.


Inequality of contraceptive uses and the wives has become a problem, not only at the local, but also in and even global levels. This imbalance has occurred since the inception of family planning (Keluarga Berencana) program in the 1970's in which the target users of contraception has been always the women (wives). The low participation of husbands in contraceptive use in the family occurred to date. If this issue does not get immediate attention, then it is tantamount to depriving,women of their reproductive health rights, and allowing gender inequality to grow in the husband-wife relationship. This motivates the study concerning gender bias in the use of contraceptives among couples of childbearing-age, taking the location of Dawan Kaler village, Dawan district of Klungkung regency. This study examines one principle issue, namely: The factors influencing gender bias in contraceptive use among couples of childbearing-age in Dawan Kaler village, Dawan District of Klungkung regency. To uncover the problem above, this study uses qualitative methods employing data collection techniques by means of observation, in-depth interviews, documented study as well as focused group discussion (FGD). In analyzing the problems, the theories of hegemony and socialist feminism are used. The result of the study shows that the factors influencing the gender bias in the use of contraceptives among couples of childbearing-age in Dawan Kaler village include the patriarchal culture, traditions, the wives concerns over the use of contraceptives by the husbands, gender ideology, and the husband egotistical attitude that is difficult to change.


The wireless industry has experienced a significant growth in the past several years. There is an essential need for a light weight with a low profile and a good performance antenna for wireless application. In order to meet these demands, printed circuit patch antenna is one of the solutions to it. There are four feedings techniques for microstrip antennas which can be categorized as contacting feed and non-contacting feed. For contacting feed, there are microstrip feed and coaxial feed while non-contacting feed are proximity feed and aperture coupled feed. However, for microstrip feed and coaxial feed, the antennas are characterized by bandwidth limitation, which is about 1-2%. To overcome this problem, aperture coupled microstrip antenna (ACMA) was introduced by researchers for the purpose to improve the antenna performance features, especially its bandwidth. Their features have met the essential needs for wireless application which requires a light weight characteristics with a low profile and a good performance antenna. The structure consists of two substrates, one containing the radiating patch and other containing the feed network. A small aperture located under the patch allows coupling of the patch to the feed line which has the form of an open-circuited stub. The input impedance can be controlled by its size, position, and shape of the aperture and open-ended stub length. In this paper, the aperture coupled microstrip antenna with different aperture shape is investigated in terms of its return loss, bandwidth and radiation pattern. Every shape gives a different performance.


We aimed to evaluate the influence of surgical intervention on gestational and neonatal outcomes in women who underwent elective surgery in the second trimester of gestation because of an adnexal mass. We retrospectively reviewed the hospital records of women who underwent elective surgery for adnexal masses in the second trimester of gestation between 2006 and 2012. The ages of the women ranged between 17 and 33 years. Eight women underwent a laparotomy, and one woman, who aborted on the day of the operation, underwent a laparoscopy. Dermoid cysts, cystadenoma and borderline ovarian tumours were present in four, two and two of the women, respectively. Eight women had no complications after surgery and delivered healthy newborns at term. We concluded that elective surgery on an adnexal mass in the second trimester of gestation is safe for both the mother and the fetus.


Abstract Background For patients with early stage or medically inoperable lung cancer, stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a general accepted and effective treatment option. The role of SBRT in ultra-central tumors remains controversial. The aim of this single-center retrospective analysis was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of protracted SBRT with 60 Gy in 12 fractions (with a biological effective dose (BED10) of 90–150 Gy) for patients with ultra-central lung tumors. Materials and methods Patients with ultra-central lung tumors treated in our institution with 60 Gy in 12 fractions from January 2012 until April 2020 were included. Ultra-central tumors were defined as planning target volume (PTV) abutting or overlapping the main bronchi and/or trachea and/or esophagus. Data regarding patient-, tumor-, and treatment-related characteristics were evaluated. Results A total of 72 patients met the criteria for ultra-central tumor location. The PTV abutted the main bronchus, trachea or esophagus in 79%, 22% and 28% of cases, respectively. At a median follow-up of 19 months, 1- and 2-year local control rates were 98% and 85%, respectively. Overall survival rates at 1 and 2 years were 77% and 52%, respectively. Grade 3 or higher toxicity was observed in 21%, of which 10 patients (14% of total) died of bronchopulmonary hemorrhage. A significant difference between patients with or without grade ≥3 toxicity was found for the mean dose (D mean) to the main bronchus (p = 0.003), where a D mean BED3 of ≥91 Gy increased the risk of grade ≥3 toxicity significantly. Discussion A protracted SBRT regimen of 60 Gy in 12 fractions for ultra-central lung tumors leads to high local control rates with toxicity rates similar to previous series, but with substantial risk of fatal bronchopulmonary hemorrhage. Therefore, possible risk factors of bronchopulmonary hemorrhage such as dose to the main bronchus should be taken into account.


See video of the presentation. The Royal Society of Chemistry recognises that researchers are increasingly being mandated to publish Open Access (OA), but do not always have the funding to pay for it directly. Our presentation would outline the RSC's view on Open Access, and how as a society publisher we are supporting the funder-led evolution to Gold open access with a Gold for Gold initiative, ensuring academics can further increase the visibility of their quality research, and fulfil their funder mandate. The presentation will show how this initiative has been successfully piloted in the UK, which has been one of the first countries to mandate Open Access, and is now available to all our authors worldwide. The presentation will also cover some of the activities that the RSC is undertaking to support researchers with the dissemination of their research and to ensure the impact of this is maximised.


1. What is mental toughness? 2. How would you assess an athlete's mental toughness? 3. You've been asked by a sport organization to create an intervention or programme aimed at developing mental toughness in athletes. How would you approach this request for developing mental toughness (e.g., content, structure)? 4. What role do coaches play in the development of mental toughness? 5. Which coaching behaviours foster or forestall mental toughness development? LEARNING OBJECTIVES


In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) systems have been increasingly utilized in the labor market, with many employers relying on them in the context of human resources (HR) management. However, this increasing use has been found to have potential implications for perpetuating bias and discrimination. The BIAS project kicked off in November 2022 and is expected to develop an innovative technology (hereinafter: the Debiaser) to identify and mitigate biases in the recruitment process. For this purpose, an essential step is to gain a nuanced understanding of what constitutes AI bias and fairness in the labor market, based on cross-disciplinary and participatory approaches. What follows is a preliminary overview of the design and expected implementation of the project, as well as how our project aims to contribute to the existing literature on law, AI, bias, and fairness.


Fagan inspections are a structured review of development documents that consists of individual preparation, a meeting and rework by the author of the document. The meeting is used to log the defects found in preparation and to search for more defects. The effectiveness and efficiency of the meeting is typically low as compared to that of the preparation. The paper describes the use of an EMS to support the logging meeting of a total of 14 electronic inspections in Philips Medical Systems and Baan Company. The results indicate that the electronic logging meeting contributed much more to the overall result of the inspection than was the case in a traditional inspection. The results have implications, both for the software inspections and EMS. The implications for EMS as they are discussed in the paper are: the increased use of meeting metrics, the use of inspections as a guinea pig, and the benefits of fixed format input in an EMS.


The effect of radial electric fields on the convective heat transfer coefficient of a colloidal fluid (haematite in distilled water) has been studied as a function of various quantities such as time, electric field, pH value, colloidal concentration and orientation. The electroconvective heat transfer coefficient exhibits a 'timing' effect as well as an 'aging' effect. Whereas an AC field always enhances the heat transfer, a DC field produces an enhancement that is almost vertical in the vicinity of the origin. An increase in particle concentration increases the heat transfer coefficient, while a sharp rise in heat transfer coefficient is observed when the surface charge of the collidal particle is increased. Furthermore, the convective heat transfer coefficient increases when the inclination of the cylinder is changed from the horizontal to the vertical position.


The liver, through the production of iron hormone hepcidin, controls body iron levels. High liver iron levels and deregulated hepcidin expression are commonly observed in many liver diseases including highly prevalent genetic iron overload disorders. In spite of a number of breakthrough investigations into the signals that control hepcidin expression, little progress has been made towards investigations into intracellular signaling in the liver under excess of iron. This study examined hepatic signaling pathways underlying acquired and genetic iron overload conditions. Our data demonstrate that hepatic iron overload associates with a decline in the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) kinase (Mek1/2) pathway by selectively affecting the phosphorylation of Erk1/2. We propose that Mek1/2-Erk1/2 signaling is uncoupled from iron-Bmp-Smad-mediated hepcidin induction and that it may contribute to a number of liver pathologies in addition to toxic effects of iron. We believe that our findings will advance the understanding of cellular signaling events in the liver during iron overload of different etiologies.