Amphibian populations worldwide are experiencing declines and contaminants are hypothesized to be one of the leading contributors to these declines. In particular, the salinization of amphibian habitats is a global issue that has received relatively little attention. Of the recent studies that have emerged, the majority focus on single-species responses, and because these studies often vary in methodology, assessing tolerances across species can be challenging. Thus, one step toward a broader understanding of salt loading is to assess tolerances across multiple species using similar methodologies. Additionally, in nature, amphibians can face low, sublethal concentrations of increased salinity. Though not lethal, these low concentrations can have long-term impacts on amphibian traits such as mass or their responses to future stressors. To address these issues, we first compared relative salinity tolerances of three common frogs in central Texas (Incilius nebulifer, Gulf Coast Toad; Lithobates berlandieri, Rio Grande Leopard Frog; and Acris crepitans, Blanchard's Cricket Frogs). Next, we explored the effect of sublethal salinities on the mass of I. nebulifer. Finally, we investigated the potential for sublethal salinities to increase tolerance of I. nebulifer to a later exposure of lethal salinity concentrations (acclimation). We found that across the three amphibian species, A. crepitans tadpoles were the most tolerant, followed by L. berlandieri tadpoles, and then I. nebulifer tadpoles. Sublethal concentrations of salinity did not affect mass of I. nebulifer tadpoles. Finally, exposure to sublethal levels of salinity did not increase tolerance of I. nebulifer tadpoles to a later exposure of higher salinity concentrations. Instead, tadpoles exposed to sublethal concentrations of salinity died at a faster rate when exposed later to a higher salinity concentration. With the increasing potential for salt loading to amphibian habitats due to anthropogenic influences and global climate change, understanding the consequences of salinity across multiple species as well as the effects of sublethal concentrations has important implications for amphibian conservation.


In many countries, clientelist parties (or political machines) distribute selective benefits, especially to the poor, in direct exchange for electoral support. Many scholars view clientelism as a political strategy, but fail to distinguish between substantively different patterns of machine politics. Conflating distinct strategies of clientelism poses a serious threat to descriptive and causal inference. This study seeks to increase analytical differentiation of clientelism, building on fieldwork in Brazil, formal modeling, and econometric analyses of survey data.A fundamental, yet frequently overlooked, distinction lies between strategies of electoral and relational clientelism. Whereas electoral clientelism involves elite payoffs to citizens during campaigns, relational clientelism involves ongoing relationships beyond campaigns. Electoral clientelism m the primary focus of this study m delivers all benefits to citizens before voting, and involves the threat of opportunistic defection by citizens. By contrast, relational clientelism delivers at least some benefits to citizens after voting, and involves the threat of opportunistic defection by both citizens and elites. Scholars often conflate vote buying with other strategies of electoral clientelism. Much of what scholars interpret as vote buying (exchanging rewards for vote choices) may actually be turnout buying (exchanging rewards for turnout). This study advances research on clientelism by specifying and testing a mechanism by which parties can distribute benefits to mobilize supporters. Formal modeling suggests that turnout buying is incentive-compatible, and also provides several testable predictions: (1) machines focus rewards on strong supporters, (2) they target the poor, and (3) they offer rewards where they can most effectively monitor turnout. Although both strategies coexist, empirical tests suggest that Argentine survey data are more consistent with turnout buying than vote buying. Two other strategies of electoral clientelism are also frequently conflated with vote buying: double persuasion (exchanging rewards for vote choices and turnout) and negative turnout buying (exchanging rewards for abstention).Formal analysis in Chapter 4 m coauthored with Jordan Gans-Morse and Sebastian Mazzuca m suggests that political machines are most effective when combining multiple strategies of electoral clientelism. Machines adapt the size of clientelist benefits to citizens' political preferences and inclination to vote, and are willing to pay relatively more for vote buying because unlike other strategies it both adds votes for the machine and subtracts votes from the opposition. The model also suggests that machines tailor their mix of electoral clientelism to five characteristics of political environments: (1) compulsory voting, (2) machine support, (3) political polarization, (4) salience of political preferences, and (5) strength of ballot secrecy. The model's predictions are consistent with qualitative evidence from Argentina, Brazil and Russia.


Background: Online social networking websites have revolutionised communication in the postmodern era of today. Specifically, Instagram has witnessed a phenomenal growth, and the site is particularly popular with young consumers in South Africa. Instagram is seen by this cohort as a source of information to determine their tourism destinations. Objectives: This research examined how perceived usefulness of Instagram, perceived ease of use of Instagram and perceived credibility of Instagram influence attitude towards the use of Instagram, intent on using Instagram and actual use of Instagram to identify tourist destinations amongst young consumers. Method: A survey questionnaire was administered to 349 young student consumers who were based in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area of the Gauteng province, South Africa. A structural equation modelling procedure was utilised in testing the proposed relationships. Results: The results indicate that all the hypotheses suggested have been positive and significant. It is worth noting that there was the strongest connection between attitude towards Instagram for identifying travel destinations and intention to use Instagram for identifying travel destinations. Conclusion: Tourism organisation marketers may be able to devote time in researching the practicality of using Instagram to increase awareness of tourist locations.


The ability to control and measure the temperature of propagating microwave modes down to very low temperatures is indispensable for quantum information processing, and may open opportunities for studies of heat transport at the nanoscale, also in the quantum regime. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate primary thermometry of propagating microwaves using a transmon-type superconducting circuit. Our device operates continuously, with a sensitivity down to $4\times 10^{-4}$ photons/$\sqrt{\mbox{Hz}}$ and a bandwidth of 40 MHz. We measure the thermal occupation of the modes of a highly attenuated coaxial cable in a range of 0.001 to 0.4 thermal photons, corresponding to a temperature range from 35 mK to 210 mK at a frequency around 5 GHz. To increase the radiation temperature in a controlled fashion, we either inject calibrated, wideband digital noise, or heat the device and its environment. This thermometry scheme can find applications in benchmarking and characterization of cryogenic microwave setups, temperature measurements in hybrid quantum systems, and quantum thermodynamics.


This paper is devoted to the analysis of charged superselection sectors in the framework of the locally covariant quantum field theories. We shall analize sharply localizable charges, and use net-cohomology of J.E. Roberts as a main tool. We show that to any 4-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime it is attached a unique, up to equivalence, symmetric tensor C∗−category with conjugates (in case of finite statistics); to any embedding between different spacetimes, the corresponding categories can be embedded, contravariantly, in such a way that all the charged quantum numbers of sectors are preserved. This entails that to any spacetime is associated a unique gauge group, up to isomorphisms, and that to any embedding between two spacetimes there corresponds a group morphism between the related gauge groups. This form of covariance between sectors also brings to light the issue whether local and global sectors are the same. We conjecture this holds that at least on simply connected spacetimes. It is argued that the possible failure might be related to the presence of topological charges. Our analysis seems to describe theories which have a well defined short-distance asymptotic behaviour.


In demand of time Muslim library has been initiated from the very beginning of Islam like the ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Roman libraries. With the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (Sm.) a new epoch was started in the field of knowledge and science in Islam. From that very day with the appearance of Prophet (Sm.) the beginning of Islamic civilization get impetus and many institutions were established in the Muslim countries and renowned intellectuals and scholars of different fields were associated with those institutions. After this, when the Muslims came closer to the Persian literature and Greek sciences the Islamic library started its journey in the 7th century. So, for the acquisition of knowledge Muslim library has been initiated at Baghdad and later on Muslim Spain and Africa. In this process, as a strong opponent of the Abbasids the Fatimid rulers made tremendous steps in the field of establishing library and library management. As a strong opponent of the Abbasid the Fatimid established royal library and various public libraries. Various important functions such as, collection of books, preservation system, translation, cataloguing, inclusion and clarification of the books were practices in those libraries. Besides these, recruitment, promotion, management of archives and modern system of budgeting were also salient features of their library management. The current research is a humble attempt to find out the functioning, evolution and analyzing of the Fatimid royal, private and public libraries. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbayr.v2i1.20538 Journal of the Bangladesh Association of Young Researchers (JBAYR): Vol.2(1), 2012 & 2013: 21-32


Abstract Avian schistosomes belonging to the genus Austrobilharzia (Digenea: Schistosomatidae) are among the causative agents of cercarial dermatitis in humans. In this paper, ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA sequences were used to study schistosome cercariae from Kuwait Bay that have been identified morphologically as Austrobilharzia sp. Sequence comparison of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) 28S and 18S regions of the collected schistosome cercariae with corresponding sequences of other schistosomes in GenBank revealed high sequence similarity. This confirmed the morphological identification of schistosome cercariae from Kuwait Bay as belonging to the genus Austrobilharzia. The finding was further supported by the phylogenetic tree that was constructed based on the combined data set 18S-28S-mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCO1) sequences in which Austrobilharzia sp. clustered with A. terrigalensis and A. variglandis. Sequence comparison of the Austrobilharzia sp. from Kuwait Bay with A. variglandis and A. terrigalensis based on mtCO1 showed a variation of 10% and 11%, respectively. Since the sequence variation in the mtCO1 was within the interspecific range among trematodes, it seems that the Austrobilharzia species from Kuwait Bay is different from the two species reported in GenBank, A. terrigalensis and A. variglandis.


Background: The efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy combined with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody (mAb) remains controversial in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This meta-analysis aims to estimate the effect of adding panitumumab or cetuximab to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in RAS wild type mCRC patients for the first-line treatment. The primary tumor location is also considered into this meta-analysis. Methods: RCT studies were identified by a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library to October 2017, supplemented by manually retrieving ASCO, ESMO conference abstracts. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and pooled odds ratios (OR) for the overall response rate (ORR) were calculated by Review Manager 5.3. Results: The results indicated that the addition of anti-EGFR mAbs to FOLFOX regimen in RAS wild-type mCRC patients for the first-line treatment resulted in considerable improvements in PFS (HR = 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.59–0.82; P < .0001), OS (HR = 0.79; 95%CI: 0.67–0.92; P = .003), and ORR (OR = 2.56; 95% CI: 1.77–3.70; P < .00001) compared with chemotherapy alone. However, in RAS/BRAF wild patients, no significant differences were observed when anti-EGFR mAb was added to FLOX or XELOX regimen compared with chemotherapy alone with regard to OS and PFS, whereas FOLFOX+anti-EGFR mAb showed a marked superior OS and PFS (OS, HR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.61–0.98; P = .03; PFS, HR = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.57–0.82; P < .00001). A meta-analysis including TAILOR and PRIME study suggests that primary tumor location (PTL) predicted a survival benefit when adding the EGFR antibody to FOLFOX regimen in RAS-wild mCRC patients (OS, HR for left-sided: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.59–0.85; P = .0002 and HR for right-sided: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.65–1.25; P = .53). However, the HR for PFS and ORR still suggests a benefit from the addition of anti-EGFR mAb in right-sided mCRC patients. Conclusion: So these results suggest anti-EGFR mAb and oxaliplatin are good partners in the FOLFOX regimen. The addition of EGFR antibody to FOLFOX markedly improved efficacy in RAS-wild patients with left-sided mCRC. In RAS/BRAF-wild patients, the efficacy is similar. For patients with right-sided tumor, a benefit showing a trendency in favor of anti-EGFR mAb can still seen. The molecular characteristics behind the tumor location need to be more explored urgently.


Summary 4-Hydroxy-2,3-trans-nonenal (HNE), an aldehyde end-product of lipid peroxidation, potentiated aggregation and increased thromboxane A2 formation in platelets challenged with ADP, thrombin or the ionophore A23187. These effects were observed at HNE concentrations in the range 10-100 μM. Platelet responses to collagen, epinephrine and arachidonic acid were not affected by PINE. Concentrations of HNE in excess of 100 pM inhibited platelet activation. HNE increased the release of 3H-arachidonic acid from prelabelled platelet phospholipids in response to thrombin or ADR It is proposed that HNE may play an important role in controlling platelet function by regulating the activity of phospholipase A2.


The behaviour of 4 grapevine varieties - Cabernet franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay noir and Grolleau noir – was studied from 1988 to 1998 at the INRA experimental Station, in Montreuil-Bellay, France. Very contrasted climatic years occurred within this period. The study of some phenological stages allowed to classify the varieties in 2 groups of maturation : early for Gamay and Grolleau, late for Cabernets. The former had large berries (>2 g), the latter small berries ( 190 g/L and <170 g/L. For a same maturity index, titratable acidity of Gamay was higher than Grolleau, and Cabernet Sauvignon higher than Cabernet franc. Malic acid was identified as explaining better the acidity level. The anthocyanin content and polyphenolic index of late varieties was superior to those of the precocious ones. The variety and the climate of the vintage play an important role on final grape composition. Berry weight, sugar content, titratable acidity and malic acid could be explained by simple climatic variables, mainly temperature and rainfall during the vegetative cycle as well as wind velocity before harvest. For the phenolic compounds, the analysis looked more complex ; it seemed that the climatic variables had only a minor effect after veraison, but the role of each one of them before this stage is still to be understood.


In special applications in nuclear reactors and deep space environments, gallium nitride detectors are subject to irradiation by α-particles. Therefore, this work aims to explore the mechanism of the property change of GaN material, which is closely related to the application of semiconductor materials in detectors. This study applied molecular dynamics methods to the displacement damage of GaN under α-particle irradiation. A single α-particle-induced cascade collision at two incident energies (0.1 and 0.5 MeV) and multiple α-particle injections (by five and ten incident α-particles with injection doses of 2 × 1012 and 4 × 1012 ions/cm2, respectively) at room temperature (300 K) were simulated by LAMMPS code. The results show that the recombination efficiency of the material is about 32% under 0.1 MeV, and most of the defect clusters are located within 125 Å, while the recombination efficiency of 0.5 MeV is about 26%, and most of the defect clusters are outside 125 Å. However, under multiple α-particle injections, the material structure changes, the amorphous regions become larger and more numerous, the proportion of amorphous area is about 27.3% to 31.9%, while the material's self-repair ability is mostly exhausted.


The authors' aim was to introduce a simple, safe and reliable method for reconstruction of soft tissue defects after excision of carcinomas of the tongue, tongue base and posterior part of the floor of the mouth. The musculocutaneous flaps are options of larger soft tissue defects in the maxillofacial area. After excision of a tongue-tongue base tumour with mandibular splitting method a platysma myocutaneous flap was applied for reconstruction. The flap was taken from an appropriate place convenient to functional acceptions and was adapted anatomically into the defect. The result was that the patient healed primarily with undisturbed blood circulation of the flap. The functional rehabilitation period was short, the flap tolerated the irradiation. The authors observed that the use of the platysma island flap can be an option for reconstruction of defects after ablative surgery on the tongue-tongue base. This simple method worked reliable even after intra-arterial cytostatic treatment. The acceptable functional result depends on the placement of the island flap on the neck flap prepared for neck dissection.


Experiments were designed to characterize pre- and postjunctional muscarinic receptors in the canine saphenous vein. In rings contracted by 2-Hz electrical stimulation, acetylcholine produced concentration-dependent relaxations that result from prejunctional inhibition of norepinephrine release from adrenergic nerve endings (prejunctional effect). In quiescent preparations, acetylcholine caused concentration-dependent contractions (postjunctional effect). Both responses to acetylcholine were inhibited in a competitive manner by atropine, pirenzepine and gallamine. The affinity of atropine for pre- and postjunctional muscarinic receptors was similar (pKB = 8.7 and 9.2, respectively). However, gallamine displayed higher affinity for the prejunctional than for the postjunctional receptor (pKB = 6.1 and 4.7, respectively), whereas the converse was true for pirenzepine (pKB = 6.5 and 8.1). The data support the presence in the canine saphenous vein of two muscarinic receptor subtypes, M1 postjunctionally and M2 prejunctionally, which are distinguishable by selective antagonists.


This thesis describes a numerical study of binary boson stars within the context of an approximation to general relativity. The approximation we adopt places certain restrictions on the dynamical variables of general relativity (conformal flatness of the 3-metric), and on the time-slicing of the spacetime (maximal slicing). The resulting modeling problem requires the solution of a coupled nonlinear system of 4 hyperbolic, and 5 elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) in three space dimensions and time. We approximately solve this system as an initial-boundary value problem, using finite difference techniques and well known, computationally efficient numerical algorithms such as the multigrid method in the case of the elliptic equations. Careful attention is paid to the issue of code validation, and a key part of the thesis is the demonstration that, as the basic scale of finite difference discretization is reduced, our numerical code generates results that converge to a solution of the continuum system of PDEs as desired. The thesis concludes with a discussion of results from some initial explorations of the orbital dynamics of boson star binaries. In particular, we describe calculations in which motion of such a binary is followed for more than two orbital periods, which is a significant advance over previous studies. We also present results from computations in which the boson stars merge, and where there is evidence for black hole formation.


The article contains a literature review devoted to the history of the study of human leishmaniasis and one of the new pathogens — Leishmania martiniquensis . It is shown that leishmaniasis caused by this microorganism proceeds in the form of cutaneous, including diffuse in HIV-infected patients, and visceral leishmaniasis. The most typical clinical examples are given.


A crustal section is exposed across the Ailao Shan Tectonic Belt (ALTB) that is suggested to be the accommodation zone of southeastward extrusion of the Sundaland block during the Indian-Eurasian c...


We systematically study the device characteristics of the monolayer (ML) blue phosphorene metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) by using ab initio quantum-transport simulations. The ML blue phosphorene MOSFETs show superior performances with ultrashort-channel length. We first predict the ultrascaled ML blue phosphorene MOSFETs with proper doping concentration and underlap structures are compliant with the high-performance (HP) and low-power (LP) requirements of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors in the next decade in the aspects of the on-state current, delay time, and power dissipation. Encouragingly, the performances of the ML blue phosphorene MOSFETs are superior to that of the MOSFETs based on arsenene, antimonene, InSe, etc. in terms of the on-state current at similar device size. We also consider the electron-phonon scattering in 10.2 nm gate ML blue phosphorene MOSFET. It is found that the on-state current with the scattering of the blue phosphorene device is degraded by 25.4 and 23.6% for HP and LP applications, which can also fulfill the HP and LP application target. Therefore, we can deduce that ML blue phosphorene is an alternative channel material to silicon for ultrascaled FETs if the large-scale and high-quality blue phosphorene can be achieved.


Adolescent students? perceptions of parental influence in relation to mathematics education is an under-researched area, since most studies in this area focus on parental involvement in primary mathematics. This research study aims to fill this gap in the literature by exploring adolescent students? perceptions of parental influence on their dispositions towards studying mathematically-demanding courses in Higher Education (HE). This study employs mixed research methods to investigate students? perceptions of parental influence with a survey (N=563) and semi-structured interviews with six students and their parents. Additional interviews were conducted with three immigrant families in Cyprus. The study builds on Bourdieu?s theory of reproduction of social inequalities and extends some concepts of Bourdieu?s theoretical framework to discuss parental influence. The main findings of this research study are reported in three journal papers whilst the papers are under review for publication. The first paper of the thesis reports the analysis of the quantitative data of this study by combining Rasch analysis with statistical modelling. The statistical analysis showed that parental influence is not statistically significant for predicting students? mathematical dispositions in some models, when other background variables are included in the models. However, further statistical analysis showed that the effect of parental influence is mediated through students? choice of mathematics course and their mathematical inclination. The non-statistical significance of parental influence in some models was interpreted as a ?misrecognition? after Bourdieu (1980). The same phenomenon was noted in the second paper of the thesis, where students and their parents ?denied? parental influence during their interviews. This was again interpreted as ?misrecognition? and parental influence is conceptualised as a form of ?symbolic violence? that parents exercise on their children. Arguably, parents possess more capital in the family field and their influence on their children?s educational choices might be unconscious, thus students? misrecognise their parents? influence but they draw significantly on their family?s capital to make their choices for future studies in HE.Lastly, the third paper of the thesis explored cultural differences in students? perceptions of parental influence in England and Cyprus; stronger perceptions of parental influence were identified in immigrant students? interviews compared to indigenous students in both countries. Bourdieu?s (1977) concept of ?hysteresis? was adapted to theorise this phenomenon. Arguably, while immigrant students? habitus adjust to the new field, students become more reflective on their parents? influence because of the reflexivity the hysteresis effect entails.In all three papers Bourdieu?s theoretical framework was used to operationalise students? mathematical dispositions and to interpret the findings of this study. The main contributions to knowledge of this study is the operationalisation of students? mathematical habitus; the new theoretical conceptualisation of parental influence as a form of symbolic violence in the family field and the extension of the hysteresis effect to interpret immigrant students? stronger perceptions of their parents? influence.


Abstract copyright data collection owner. Qualitative data from 100 in-depth Interviews with 106 adults (including 6 couples) bereaved following a drug or alcohol-related death.
The research is being led by researchers in the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath who have experience in conducting research on bereavement. Other members of the research team are based at the University of Stirling and have experience in addiction studies. A bereaved family member will also be part of the research team. The study aims to make a significant contribution to the bereavement and substance misuse literature, raise awareness of issues faced by those suffering this type of loss and inform evidence-based practice guidelines.


Analog integrated circuit designs are often differential and require differential-to-single-ended hybrids for spectral measurements. This paper describes a broadband, high-frequency hybrid, whose output signal is proportional to the difference of two input ports, i.e., proportional to the differential signal. The main novelty of this hybrid is its high bandwidth (two to three decades). Such high bandwidth is obtained through combining broadband structures: a pair of broadband impedances are used to scale the two incoming signals; a symmetric structure of two identical broadband directional couplers and a power combiner are used afterwards to obtain the differential signal. The high bandwidths of both the impedances, the directional couplers, and the power combiner make it possible to obtain a differential coupling factor and a common-mode rejection ratio which is frequency insensitive over several decades in frequency. Measurements support the statement that bandwidths of more than three decades can be obtained using the proposed hybrid.


Background: Nutrition problem is a public health problem that the prevention can not be done with medical approach and health service only. Nutrition problem in addition is a syndrome of poverty that closely related to the problem of food security at the household level also concerns aspects of knowledge and behavior that are less supportive of lifestyle. Puskesmas Bulurokeng Makassar City in 2016, reported that there are 45 children under five suffering from malnutrition in Bulurokeng urban village.Objectives: The purpose of community service is to assess the change of body weight (TB), height (TB) and nutritional status of children under five in the education and giving of kelor leaf meal on the daily diet of children under five in Bulurokeng Urban Village in 2016. Number of children target infants as many as 29 children, intervention carried out for 1 month.Results: The number of cadres who participated in education as many as 5 people and 29 mothers who have a toddler. But at the end of the intervention, as many as 25 children under five could be collected for analysis. Kelor flour in children under five showed significant difference of weight gain (p = 0,001), but there was no difference in height change (p = 0,41) before and after intervention. The nutritional status of children under five does not change based on body weight index by age (BB / U), height by age (TB / U) and body weight by height (BB / TB).Conclusions: It takes about 3 months of moringa flour intervention on the child's food menu, in order to appear a significant change in nutritional status in children under five.Keyword: Moringa leaf flour, nutritional status.


This study investigates and analyzed the psychological effect of existence or non-existence of cut-flowers decoration in the conference place by the presenting eight colors of decorations (white, pink, blue, orange, red, green, purple, and yellow) to the participants, 103 numbers of genders. The measurement of psychological condition was carried out and compared with an attention recovery scale, profile of mood states (POMS) and semantic differential (SD method). In addition, paired t-test, One way ANAVA and Pearson's correlation analysis were used for the statistical analysis. As the result of investigation for the general awareness of cut-flower decoration, the most priority is its color tone and 57.3% of participants which is the highest portion answered that the amount of annual investment for cut-flower decoration is 20,000~99,000 Won. According to the result of comparison for three psychological indexes, the attention recovery scale was significantly higher in the area with cut-flower decoration than the area without it. In POMS, it showed the negative emotions, such as, tension-anxiety, depression, confusion was low while the positive emotion like vigor was significantly higher in the area with cut-flower decoration than the area without it. In addition, the participants could feel the pleasant, natural and clam significantly more in the conference place with cut-flower decoration than the area without it. The order of color preference of cut-flower was Green > White > Pink > Blue > Yellow > Purple > Orange > Red with significant difference. Also, as the result of investigation for the color sensibility of its tone of the cut-flower decoration in conference place with SD method, the participants could feel 'comfortable' and 'calm' the most with green, white and blue decoration while 'strong', 'vibrant', 'uneasy' of feeling was shown the most in red and orange decoration and 'warm', 'fancy' in yellow. Based on the result of this study, the workers can have positive psychological effects by having cut-flower decoration or using appropriate colors with cut-flower decoration in the uncomfortable area, such as, conference place.


Named an "Outstanding Academic Book" by Choice when it was published in 1998, Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief has since been widely recognized as one of the finest biographies of the great American poet. This superb work by Roger Lundin is now available in a revised edition that, in addition to incorporating text updates, aligns all citations of Dickinson's poems with the newly established standard edition of Dickinson's writing. Lundin looks chronologically at Dickinson's life, paying special attention to her experience of faith. He skillfully relates her personal development -- as it can be charted through her poems and letters -- to nineteenth-century American political, social, religious, and intellectual history. Series: Library of Religious Biography Series Editors: Mark A. Noll (series editor), Nathan O. Hatch (series editor), Allen C. Guelzo (series editor) The Library of Religious Biography is a series of original biographies on important religious figures throughout American and British history. The authors are well-known historians, each a recognized authority in the period of religious history in which his or her subject lived and worked. Grounded in solid research of both published and archival sources, these volumes link the lives of their subjects -- not always thought of as "religious" persons -- to the broader cultural contexts and religious issues that surrounded them. Each volume includes a bibliographical essay and an index to serve the needs of students, teachers, and researchers. Marked by careful scholarship yet free of footnotes and academic jargon, the books in this series are well-written narratives meant to be read and enjoyed as well as studied. Titles in this Series: Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody's Sister Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart Charles G. Finney and the Spirit of American Evangelicalism The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief Occupy until I Come: A. T. Pierson and the Evangelization of the World The Puritan as Yankee: A Life of Horace Bushnell Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Merton and the Monastic Vision William Ewart Gladstone: Faith and Politics in Victorian Britain


This guide lists resources for locating the full-text of plays published individually, in periodicals, as part of collections and anthologies, or online. Resources for monologues, play digests and synopses, and production histories are also listed.


The introductory part of this article presents an explanation of what is meant by the Greek New Testament word παράκλησις: and an indication of what is accepted by the author of this article as a valid method of studying Romans. The main indicative of Romans lies in the first part, 1:16 - 4:25. Special attention should thus be given to the introductory part before this main section. In deviations from the formal introduction to the letter Paul beforehand indicates what is to follow later in the letter The traditional exegesis of Romans 1:18 is not considered as correct in all aspects and reformed dogmatics built on Romans 1 should be reconsidered as far as sufficiency of revelation is concemed The second main section, Romans 5-8 is a consolation and an exhortation to Christians to persevere in faith. The third part, Romans 9-11, is an appeal to Jews to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. This part also contains an urgent warning to Christians from the Gentiles not to fall into covenant-automatism. The παράκλησις; of Romans 12:1 -15:13 is directed in first instance to the congregation in Rome. Though this paraclesis primarily concerns the congregation in Rome, it also touches upon the relation to the world and to authority, and it culminates in Romans 15:7 with an appeal that the diverse groups in the congregation in Rome should accept each other as Christ had accepted them. In the concluding part of the letter Paul's main issues are to get the Romans involved in his planned missionary work in Spain and the appeal that they should bring forth the fruit of their faith. The article concludes with some suggestions for sermons from Romans.


This work presents a novel derivation of the expressions that  describe the distortions of the CMB curve due to the interactions between photons and the electrons present in dilute ionized systems. In this approach, a simplified a one-dimensional evolution  equation for the photon number occupation is applied  in order to describe the aforemationed interaction. This methodology allows to emphasize the physical features ot the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect and suggests the existence of links between basic statistical physics and complex applications involving radiative processes.


Atopic myelitis is defined as myelitis with atopic diasthesis but the cause is still unknown. Toxocariasis is one of the common causes of hyperIgEaemia that may lead to neurologic manifestations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sero-prevalence of Toxocara specific IgG Ab among the atopic myelitis patients. We evaluated the medical records of 37 patients with atopic myelitis whose conditions were diagnosed between March 2001 and August 2007. Among them, the 33 sera were analyzed for specific serum IgG Ab to Toxocara excretory-secretory antigens (TES). All of 37 patients had hyperIgEaemia. Specific IgE to D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae was detected in 22 (64.7%) and 34 (100%) patients, respectively, of the 34 patients. Thirty-one of 33 patients (93.9%) were found to be positive by TES IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Based on the image findings of eosinophilic infiltrations in the lung and liver, 8 patients had positive results. These results inferred that the prevalence of toxocariasis was high in patients with atopic myelitis. Our results suggest that toxocariasis might be an important cause of atopic myelitis and Toxocara ELISA is essential for evaluating the causes of atopic myelitis.


Regular exercise that improves general physical fitness may lessen the risk of a heart attack and may increase one's capability of dealing with illness should it occur. Therefore, although a desk-bound editor, I elected to engage in a program of physical conditioning, and from the many programs widely publicized, selected that recommended by Kenneth H. Cooper. 1 Jogging in the early morning was pleasant during the summer, and the anticipation of reaching a goal, modestly set at a 3-km run each morning in 17 minutes, made the effort seem easy and worthwhile. Friends and family remarked on my improved appearance, I felt fitter and more energetic, and having reached the preset goal, I felt some smug satisfaction. However, the lovely summer mornings gave way to the dark, cold, and wet mornings of late fall, and the realization finally dawned that in pursuing a goal, it is much harder to stay than


Author(s): Comolli, Luis R.; Spakowitz, Andrew; Bustamante, Carlos | Abstract: Bacteriophage are viruses that attack bacteria. To successfully invade their host bacterium, a bacteriophage must succeed in packaging, transporting, and delivering its genome; these processes necessitate the precise manipulation of DNA throughout the virus life cycle. The exquisite control that a bacteriophage has over its DNA is desirable in many different biological and technological settings. Therefore, establishing a fundamental understanding of the underlying physical principles in DNA manipulation by a bacteriophage lends insight into the methods used by Nature to control DNA conformation and aids in determining how we can mimic such methods.The bacteriophage phi29 assembles its protein capsid particle before the DNA is packaged. The phi29 genome is then forced into the empty capsid by an ATP-driven protein motor. As the capsid is filled with DNA, the packaging motor works against the increasing resistance associated with compacting the long polymer chain to near-crystalline density into the relatively small cavity. We study the evolving structure of the DNA within the phi29 capsid. Cryo EM reconstruction of the packaged bacteriophage exhibits a layered DNA structure, indicative of local order within the particle. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we predict the conformation of the DNA on the interior of the viral capsid and the forces required to achieve this structure. The resulting density plot from simulations show good agreement with the EM results, and the predicted forces are consistent with previous single-molecule measurements of the packaging forces. Conformations from the Monte Carlo simulations tend to exhibit local layer ordering with frequent defects associated with chain segments jumping across layers. We discuss the impact that such defects have on the overall order and the resistance to DNA packaging and ejection.


Abstract Testosterone degrading enzymes are synthesized de novo by bacterium P. testosteroni to utilize testosterone-like steroids as the only source of carbon. RNA-synthesis of the whole lysate of testosterone-induced bacteria was found to be 15% reduced compared to the control, suggesting a cytoplasmatic factor which modulates chromatin associated RNA-polymerase activity.


This study focused on the definition of the concept of privatization of government enterprises and her legal mechanisms, and we have touched on the legal foundation for the privatization of government in Iraq , as well as the legal mechanisms which ends the ownership of the start of government enterprise and the mechanisms that doesn't end the  ownership of state for government  enterprise, in addition to the effect of  privatization on the situation of staff  in  government enterprises  and change the legal status after it is  privatization so as to indicate workers rights and assurances in the government enterprise that liable to privatization, and prejudice punishment of  workers' rights in government enterprises   after it is privatization, it was reached to rang of results and recommendations legislation of special law for the privatization that detailing all criminal and regulatory matters and workers on legislation to organization rules to protect the rights and assurances of workers in government enterprises


Ergonomics is an interdisciplinary science that aims to understand and analyze the interrelationships linked to man and his work environment. According to the functions performed by nursing professionals, the occurrence of occupational diseases can occur frequently, promoting the removal from work, since professional practice requires the handling of cargo, chemical substances, in addition to the presence of jobs without ergonomics. and adequate training of professionals. The objective of the study is to describe the existing risks due to the absence of ergonomics in nursing technicians, in a trauma ICU. An observational study was carried out, a series of cases with 37 nursing technicians, of both sexes, over the age of 18, who worked in the ICU sector of Hospital Ferreira Machado in Campos dos Goytacazes / RJ, in the period of July to December 2019. The volunteers answered a semi-structured interview and later the Nordic questionnaire was applied to assess musculoskeletal pain. The sample consisted of 72.97% females with a mean age of ± 42.4 years. The analysis of the Nordic questionnaire identified that the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in professionals appeared in 86.4% of professionals in the last 12 months. The main anatomical regions affected were the lumbar region (70.27%) and the ankles / feet region (54.05%). It is concluded that the nursing technicians had a high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the lumbar region, in the ankles, feet and upper back, and may have compromised the quality of life, as observed in the domains vitality, pain and general health.


Timely and accurate prediction of human movement in urban areas offers instructive insights into transportation management, public safety, and location-based services, to name a few. Yet, modeling urban mobility is challenging and complex because of the spatiotemporal dynamics of movement behavior and the influence of exogenous factors such as weather, holidays, and local events. In this paper, we use bus transportation as a proxy to mine spatiotemporal travel patterns. We propose a deep-learning-based urban mobility prediction model that collectively forecasts passenger flows between pairs of city regions in an origin-destination (OD) matrix. We first process OD matrices in a convolutional neural network to capture spatial correlations. Intermediate results are reconstructed into three multivariate time series: hourly, daily, and weekly time series. Each time series is aggregated in a long short-term memory (LSTM) network with a novel attention mechanism to guide the aggregation. In addition, our model is context-aware by using contextual embeddings learned from exogenous factors. We dynamically merge results from LSTM components and context embeddings in a late fusion network to make a final prediction. The proposed model is implemented and evaluated using a large-scale transportation data set of more than 200 million bus trips with a suite of Big Data technologies developed for data processing. Through performance comparison, we show that our approach achieves sizable accuracy improvements in urban mobility prediction. Our work has major implications for efficient transportation system design and performance improvement. The proposed deep neural network structure is generally applicable for sequential graph data prediction.


Abstract Heliotropium curassavicum L. (Boraginaceae) is a small desert perennial producing inflorescences visited by Hesperopsis gracielae (MacNeill) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), a skipper found along the lower Colorado River in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Flowers on H. curassavicum are white, with yellow centers that turn purple as flowers age, and absorb ultraviolet light. I found cymes supporting fewer yellow-centered flowers which contained greater masses of sugar. I compared attractions of H. gracielae adults to inflorescence models displaying the plant's floral colors. Skippers more-frequently approached or landed-on purple models compared with yellow models, and white models elicited fewer approaches than yellow or purple models. Attraction of sootywings to purple and yellow corresponded with numbers of purple- and yellow-centered flowers on inflorescences but not with masses of sugar in individual flowers. Models displaying yellow and purple together, or both colors plus white, elicited fewer approaches but equivalent landings compared with single-color models. Blocking ultraviolet light from multiple-color models greatly increased frequencies of responses, especially landings on models displaying white. Olfaction, tested by adding H. curassavicum inflorescences to multiple-color models, did not influence attraction. Each of the floral colors, especially purple, reflected by H. curassavicum inflorescences attract H. gracielae, whereas landings are most elicited by reflectance of all three colors without ultraviolet.


Anthropogenic disturbances greatly alter community composition and diversity. However, it remains largely unknown which underlying processes - colonizations, local extinctions or abundance changes - drive compositional changes in response to disturbance, and whether these processes are constrained by environmental gradients. Here, we investigated the processes underlying temporal turnover of vascular plant communities in boreal forests in response to silvicultural practices along a soil fertility gradient. Our analyses were based on long-term data from 1985 to 2006 covering up to 1700 sites across Finland. While average richness remained static, we found that silvicultural practices induced greatest turnover in the most fertile habitats. In recently disturbed sites, colonizations and species losses altered dominance structure of the communities, while the undisturbed old forests were characterized by stable dominant species even when the majority of species shifted their identity. We conclude that disturbance history and fertility constrain temporal turnover in boreal forest communities.


Introduction: Job stress is related to job satisfaction and personal performance, for example in medical sciences' jobs and it is considered as one of the components affecting on health and safety. So, this study was performed to determine the relationship between job stress and self-efficacy and public health of nurses and midwives in Besat Hospital. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study that examined 176 nurses and midwives working in Sanandaj Besat hospital by census in 2014. Data were collected using demographic information questionnaire, general health questionnaire (GHQ), hospital stress scale questionnare (HSS) and Scherer general self-efficacy. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS version 18 and descriptive statistics and statistical analysis t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: stress in the participants was higher than the average (mean 8/101 of 175 points). There was no significant relationship between job stress and sex, marital status, shift, level of education, type of employment; but it had a significant correlation with the kind of job statistically (P <0/05). In this study, the average levels of public health and self-efficacy was 9.24 and 93.9 respectively. There was a significant relationship between job stress and public health, also between job stress and public health (r = 0.42 p = 0.001), job stress and selfefficacy(r = 0.26 p = 0.001), public health and self efficacy (r = 0.48 p = 0.001) was positive correlation. Conclusion: Job stress can cause to mental disorders and loss of self-efficacy in nurses and midwives. Meanly, the public health of nurses and midwives was higher than critical point and their self-efficacy was more than the average. Interventional programs for preventing of job stress and disorders of public health in nurses and midwives can reduce the working pressure, long shifts and risk of biological agents and physical factors.


If dark matter (DM) is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) that is a thermal relic of the early Universe, then its total self-annihilation cross section is revealed by its present-day mass density. The canonical thermally averaged cross section for a generic WIMP is usually stated as 3*10^-26 cm^3s^-1, with unspecified uncertainty, and taken to be independent of WIMP mass. Recent searches for annihilation products of DM annihilation have just reached the sensitivity to exclude this canonical cross section for 100% branching ratio to certain final states and small WIMP masses. The ultimate goal is to probe all kinematically allowed final states as a function of mass and, if all states are adequately excluded, set a lower limit to the WIMP mass. Probing the low-mass region is further motivated due to recent hints for a light WIMP in direct and indirect searches. We revisit the thermal relic abundance calculation for a generic WIMP and show that the required cross section can be calculated precisely. It varies significantly with mass at masses below 10 GeV, reaching a maximum of 5.2*10^-26 cm^3s^-1 at masses around 0.3 GeV, and is 2.2*10^-26 cm^3s^-1 with feeble mass-dependence for masses above 10 GeV. These results, which differ significantly from the canonical value and have not been taken into account in searches for annihilation products from generic WIMPs, have a noticeable impact on the interpretation of present limits from Fermi-LAT and WMAP+ACT.


Abstract Geological studies along the southern margin of the Midland Valley of Scotland, together with previously published work, suggest a strike-slip model for its evolution during Silurian and Devonian times. The data emphasize the 'older Caledonian' influence and persistent, albeit intermittent, transcurrent activity along the Southern Upland Fault which is the boundary between the Midland Valley and Southern Upland terranes. A comparison of the geological characteristics of the Silurian and Devonian rocks in the southern Midland Valley with characteristics from strike-slip basins elsewhere suggests that the Midland Valley rocks were deposited and locally deformed under sinistral strike-slip regimes with two main episodes of transtension — the first acting in Llandovery—Wenlock times and the second in Lower Old Red Sandstone times. A strike-slip model involving transpression may explain why there is a strong unconformity between the Llandovery—Wenlock and the Lower Old Red Sandstone strata in the Pentland Hills and Girvan inliers but only a marked change in sedimentary facies at the equivalent horizon in the inliers of the central Midland Valley. The Lower Old Red Sandstone was probably deposited in a transtensional regime, but the succession is complicated by the widespread Lower Old Red Sandstone calc-alkaline magmatic event. The mid- Devonian deformation is also variable in its effects and the more easterly trend of the en echelon fold axes relative to the Southern Upland Fault trend is indicative of sinistral transpression. Carboniferous and older rocks were affected by smaller dextral movements on the Southern Upland Fault and related faults which started during Namurian times when a change to an overall dextral regime took place.


Great achievements for public health in this century include penicillin, oral contraception, vaccination and transplantation, but the greatest contribution to the health of Norwegians may have been made by social security and the welfare state policies. The beneficial effects of social security include: less social inequality, a factor which in itself makes for better health, some degree of financial security for people who are ill and unable to support themselves or their families, universal availability of medical and health services. This paper explores the ideas and sources from which present-day social security legislation stems. The emergence of state based welfare legislation was inspired by developments in Germany under Bismarck; accident insurance for industrial workers was the first to be introduced in 1894. Several periods of active social security legislation followed at times when labour unions and socialist ideas were strong, supported, to some degree, by radical clergy and public health doctors. Social democratic governments, inspired by the British Beveridge plan towards the end of World War II, took the lead during the long post-war period until the mid 1970s. The Scandinavian model of social security is based on universal coverage and a single payer system. However, since the 1980s, as in other countries of Northern Europe, the social security system has come under pressure from market liberalism. Now at the turn of the century, increasing social inequalities cause some concern for the future of the welfare state.


Le Miroir, published in Paris in 1833 by Hamdan ben Othman Khodja (c.1773–1842), was the first Algerian contribution to French public deliberation about France's emerging empire in North Africa. A work of a self-consciously liberal cosmopolitan, and modernizing, perspective, the Miroir was almost alone in French debates in making a principled argument for a complete French withdrawal from Algeria—what Khodja called a "liberal emancipation" of the country. The Miroir argued for an independent Algeria that might take its place in a nineteenth-century Europe of emerging nations, and that might engage with European states as a diplomatic equal. The work illustrates the constraints on those who sought to preserve some independence, discursive as well as political, in the face of European expansion, as well as the critical possibilities of liberal discourse at a moment when it was being marshaled in France and Britain in the service of empire.


Abstract. The aerosol optical characteristics in the urban area of Rome were retrieved over a period of 7 years from March to September 2010–2016. The impact of aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA), optical depth (AOD), estimated at 400 nm, and Ångström exponent on the ultraviolet (UV) index has been analyzed. Aerosol optical properties are provided by a PREDE-POM sun-sky radiometer of the ESR/SKYNET network and the UV index values were retrieved by a Brewer spectrophotometer both located in Rome. Chemical characterization of urban PM10 (particulate matter 10 micrometers or less in diameter) samples, collected during the URBan Sustainability Related to Observed and Monitored Aerosol (URBS ROMA) intensive filed campaign held in summer 2011 in the same site, was performed. PM macro-components were grouped in order to evaluate the contribution of the main macro-sources (SOIL, SEA, SECONDARY INORGANIC, ORGANICS and TRAFFIC) and the analysis of the modulation of their concentration was found to strongly affects the absorption capability of the atmosphere over Rome. The surface forcing efficiency, provided by the decreasing trend of UV index with AOD, which is the primary parameter affecting the surface irradiance, was found very significant, probably masking the dependence of UV index on SSA and Ångström exponents. Moreover it was found greater for larger particles and with a more pronounced slope at the smaller solar zenith angle. In Rome large particles are generally less absorbing since related to the presence of SOIL and SEA components in the atmosphere. The former contribution was found much higher in summer months because of the numerous episodes of Saharan dust transport.


In this paper, we propose intelligent fire learning and detection system using hybrid visual attention mechanism of human. Proposed fire learning system generates leaned data by learning process of fire and smoke images. The features used as learning feature are selected among many features which are extracted based on bottom-up visual attention mechanism of human, and these features are modified as learned data by calculating average and standard variation of them. Proposed fire detection system uses learned data which is generated in fire learning system and features of input image to detect fire.


Ribosomal frameshifting is defined as a shift in reading frame. During translation, a ribosomal frameshift (FS) can occur when the ribosome encounters a slippery sequence followed by a stable secondary structure. A slippery sequence specifically allows for the opportunity for tRNA repainring with the codons in the A- and P- sites of the ribosome. Retroviruses include programmed ribosomal frameshift (PRF) sites within their RNA, which increase viral genomic coding capacity by allowing translation of multiple reading frames from a single RNA. Human T-cell leukemia virus type-II (HTLV-II) uses PRF sites to translate its enzymatic proteins. These proteins are encoded in the pro and pol open reading frames.

The first HTLV-II PRF site is located at the end of the gag open reading frame and is described as the gag-pro PRF site. This FS site contains a heptanucleotide slippery sequence (AAAAAAC) followed by a stem-loop structure. Recently, a study showed that local stability of the secondary structure was correlated to frameshift efficiency in HIV-1. We hypothesize that local stability has greater control of frameshift efficiency than global stability in the gap-pro PRF site in HTLV-II. To test this hypothesis, five variant stem-loops were designed to decouple local and global stability. There variant frameshift sites were inserted into a dual-luciferase reporter plasmid using molecular cloning techniques. Successful cloning was verified by DNA sequencing. These plasmid DNAs will be used for in vitro transcription of RNA. The resulting RNAs will be purified and utilized in an in vitro translation assay to determine the frameshift efficiencies for each variant frameshift site. Finally, the frameshift efficiencies will be compared to each other to determine if local or global stability has a stronger effect on frameshift efficiency.


Due to the growing number of outbreaks of infection in hospital and nurseries, it becomes essential to set up a sanitation program that indicates that the appropriate chemical agent was chosen for application in the most effective way. Validating the effectiveness of decontamination and disinfection is an important and often challenging task. In order to study and compare the behavior of selected microorganisms, they were submitted to minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). The MIC intervals, which reduced bacteria populations over 6 log10, were: 59 to 156 mg/L of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs); 63 to 10000 mg/L of chlorhexidine; 1375 to 3250 mg/L of glutaraldehyde; 39 to 246 mg/L of formaldehyde; 43750 to 87500 mg/L of ethanol; 1250 to 6250 mg/L of iodine in polyvinyl-pyrolidone complexes, 150 to 4491 mg/L of chlorine-releasing-agents (CRAs) and 469 to 2500 mg/L of hydrogen peroxide. Chlorhexidine showed non inhibitory activity over germinating spores. A. calcoaceticus showed resistance to the majority of the agents tested, followed by E. cloacae and S. marcescens.


The innovations propelling the manufacturing industry towards Industry 4.0 have begun to maneuver into machine tools. Machine tool maintenance primarily concerns the feed drives used for workpiece and tool positioning. Condition monitoring of feed drives is the intermediate step between smart data acquisition and evaluating machine health through diagnostics and prognostics. This review outlines the techniques and methods that recent research presents for feed drive condition monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics. The methods are distinguished between being sensorless and sensor-based, as well as between signal-, model- and machine learning-based techniques. Close attention is given to the components of feed drives (ball screws, linear guideways and rotary axes) and the most notable parameters used for monitoring. Commercial and industry solutions to Industry 4.0 condition monitoring are described and detailed. The review is concluded with a brief summary and the observed research gaps.


The delay in the introduction of a lifetime cap on spending on long-term care will result in single and widowed homeowners with modest incomes who need care now or in the near future having to use up twice as much of their capital to pay for their care.


Antidepressant drugs are effective for about three in four people with depression. For reasons that are not understood, individual patients who do not respond to one drug often respond to another. Differences in mechanisms of action may thus be important in determining treatment success or failure. In addition to efficacy, drug side effect profile also determines treatment outcome. In general, the fewer or less severe the side effects of a drug, the greater the degree of compliance with treatment. A major consequence of the introduction of selective serotonin-specific antidepressants is greater patient acceptance due to fewer side effects. Still, some patients are unable to tolerate the nervousness, insomnia, or sexual dysfunction associated with these drugs. Drugs that are even more specific in that they act on specific serotonin receptor subtypes, rather than only by blocking serotonin uptake, may provide efficacy and fewer side effects for patients who do not respond to or tolerate less specific agents.


A hydrodynamical version of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is used to describe driven vibrations of a Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms in a magnetic trap. If the trap frequency is suddenly decreased, and later is suddenly returned to its initial value, the response of the condensate departs from the self-similar character that is obtained in the Thomas-Fermi approach. We show that the self-similar Thomas-Fermi modes are, in fact, unstable. Thus, the `quantum pressure' term in the hydrodynamic equations of motion can play a significant role in condensate excitation dynamics, even when its effect on ground-state properties is negligible.


Background: Several recent studies have reported significantly larger declines in relative physical fitness (PF) of patients with diabetes (DM) versus those without diabetes. In our study, we set out to establish that the presence of DM in obese patients with hypertension (HT) is linked to a significant decrease in physical activity (PA), and also to PF which is important for ensuring mobility, independence at an elderly age, and efficiency in everyday life. We also sought to demonstrate the protective role of PA and PF, and to show that more attention must be paid to the importance of both PA and PF in prevention and therapy of non-communicable diseases. The study assessed the relationships between the current level of PA and PA in childhood and the level of PF of obese people aged 40+ with co-existing HT.Methods: The study included 82 obese patients with co-existing HT in their history. In order to assess the level of PA we used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). PF was assessed by observing the performance of patients in seven selected tasks (Fitness Test): 30 Second Chair Stand, Handgrip Strength Test, Sit-and-Reach Test, One Leg Stand Test, Plank Test, Wall Squat Test, and 2-Minute Step-in-Place Test.Results: There was a significant differentiation in the amount of MET-min./week obtained for particular activities (vigorous, moderate, walking) by men (p=0.048) with significant grater amount of vigorous activity than moderate activity (p=0.024). When subjects were classified according to their IPAQ questionnaire category, 24.4% were classified as having a high level of PA, 45.1% a sufficient level, and 30.5% an insufficient level of PA. We noted that the higher the level of PA, the higher the PF – even in obese participants with HT. On the other hand, co-existing diabetes lowers almost all analyzed parameters, both biochemical and fitness ones. Conclusions: The analysed PF is probably not related directly to obesity of the participants or coexisting HT. On the other hand, the current PA level, the deficiency of which seems to be related to low PF and/or HT do seem to be related to the degree of PF.


ABSTRACT Personal grief rituals are beneficial in dealing with complicated grief, but challenging to design, as they require symbolic objects and actions meeting clients' emotional needs. The authors reported interviews with 10 therapists with expertise in both grief therapy and grief rituals. Findings indicate three types of rituals supporting honoring, letting go, and self transformation, with the latter being particularly complex. Outcomes also point to a taxonomy of ritual objects for framing and remembering ritual experience, and for capturing and processing grief. Besides symbolic possessions, the authors identified other types of ritual objects including transformational and future-oriented ones. Symbolic actions include creative craft of ritual objects, respectful handling, disposal, and symbolic play. They conclude with theoretical implications of these findings, and a reflection on their value for tailored, creative co-design of grief rituals. In particular, several implications for designing grief rituals were identified that include accounting for the client's need, selecting (or creating) the most appropriate objects and actions from the identified types, integrating principles of both grief and art/drama therapy, exploring clients' affinity for the ancient elements as medium of disposal in letting go rituals, and the value of technology for recording and reflecting on ritual experience.


This study considers the self-consistent formation and dynamics of electron clouds interacting with a background neutral gas through elastic and inelastic (ionization) collisions in coaxial geometries similar to gyrotron electron guns. These clouds remain axially trapped as the result of crossed magnetic field lines and electric equipotential lines creating potential wells similar to those used in Penning traps. Contrary to standard Penning traps, in this study, we consider a strong externally applied radial electric field which is of the same order as that of the space-charge field. In particular, the combination of coaxial geometry, strong radial electric fields, and electron collisions with the residual neutral gas (RNG) present in the chamber induce non-negligible radial particle transport and ionization. In this paper, the dynamics of the cloud density and currents resulting from electron–neutral collisions are studied using a 2D3V particle-in-cell code. Simulation results and parametric scans are hereby presented. Finally, a fluid model is derived to explain and predict the cloud peak density and peak radial current depending on the externally applied electric and magnetic fields, and on the RNG pressure.


Vancomycin and teicoplanin, two glycopeptides, are intravenous antibiotics of choice for severe cutaneous infections possibly due to Gram-positive bacteria resistant to other antibiotics. Dalbavancin, a new glycopeptide antibiotic closely related to teicoplanin, is authorised in the European Union for intravenous treatment of acute infections of the skin and soft tissues. Dalbavancin has not been assessed in patients with infections resistant to other glycopeptide antibiotics. Dalbavancin was similarly effective to comparator antibiotics, including vancomycin, in five trials including more than 2800 patients. Dalbavancin exposes patients to the same adverse effects as those of other glycopeptides: gastrointestinal disorders (including pseudomembranous colitis); hypersensitivity reactions (including anaphylaxis); cutaneous reactions; anaemia; and, probably, kidney failure. Dalbavancin is partly eliminated by the kidneys and may therefore interact with nephrotoxic drugs. Interactions with transport proteins such as P-glycoprotein have not been studied. Dalbavancin was shown to disrupt embryonic-fetal development in experimental animals. No data on pregnant women are available. The elimination half-life of dalbavancin is more than 10 days, allowing administration in two infusions one week apart. The slow elimination could complicate the management of serious adverse effects, as the drug remains in the body for several weeks. This also makes it more difficult to rapidly adapt treatment to the results of susceptibility tests.


One of the key variables in the optimization of the retrieval process is the logic imposed on a set of query terms. If the query is small, a combinatorial algorithm can be employed to identify search expressions having an optimal logical form. An experiment is described in which this was done for queries expressed against MEDLINE, for a variety of criterion variables. The method employed is useful not only for assisting in identifying optimal logical forms, as demonstrated, but also as an experimental control device to assist investigations into the effects of varying the set, and number, of search terms. The experiment also suggests several novel properties of effective searching against MEDLINE, for example that searching with four MeSH terms is likely to be more successful than searching with a lesser number of terms, provided search logic is optimal. The latter result is, surprisingly, true for both Precision and Recall, i.e., a tradeoff between the maximally attainable values of these variables fails to hold when the number of search terms varies in this range.


Although events such as the global financial crisis, natural disasters, or the COVID-19 pandemic have large impacts on entrepreneurship, the literature lacks a differentiated analysis of such events. This editorial highlights the importance of events which are discrete and bounded in space and time, unexpected, and strong enough to produce change that can lead to subsequent events. An event based approach is well suited to integrate context and time to predict entrepreneurial activity. We provide a more systematic description of events, their characteristics, and causal mechanisms to allow more holistic and generalizable analysis of the role of events in entrepreneurship.


Diet counseling is an integral part of anticipatory guidance during the infant oral health visit. Similar to dietary instructions for children of all ages, the primary emphasis is on sugar intake frequency. There are, however, other infant-specific dietary issues that must also be addressed during the infant oral health visit. Breast-feeding should be promoted during the first year of life, although ad libitum nocturnal breast-feeding should be discouraged after the first primary tooth erupts. Bottle-fed infants should not be put to sleep with the bottle. Weaning from the breast or the bottle should be encouraged by 12 to 14 months of age. Infants older than 6 months and with exposure to less than 0.3 ppm fluoride in their drinking water need dietary fluoride supplements of 0.25 mg fluoride per day. Only 4 to 6 oz of fruit juice should be consumed by infants per day. Infants should not be given powdered beverages or soda pop, as these drinks pose increased risk for dental caries. Iron-fortified infant cereals, along with breast milk or infant formula, should be consumed by infants who are at least 6 months of age. Cow's milk should be completely avoided in the first year of life and restricted to less than 24 oz per day in the second year of life. Parents should be cautioned regarding the potential of various foods to constitute a choking hazard for infants.


A new radiopharmaceutical, 68Ga-iron hydroxide colloid, for hepatic imaging by positron emission tomography (PET) was prepared from the eluate of a "Ge-68Ga solvent extraction generator. In rats, 84% of the administered dose of colloid localized in the liver and 4.6% accumulated in the spleen. Initial imaging studies in normal dogs showed close correspondence of the findings by PET and transmission computed tomography (CT). PET with 68Ga-colloid was performed in 10 patients with hepatic metastases demonstrated by conventional scintigraphy with 99mTc-sulfur colloid. All focal defects noted on the conventional scintigrams were easily identified and generally seen more clearly by PET. In one patient, lesions not identified on the initial 99mTc-sulfur colloid images were demonstrated by PET. The positron tomographic images were compared with those obtained by CT in 7 patients; the two studies showed comparable findings in 5 patients, whereas PET more clearly showed multiple lesions in 2. Our results suggest that PET is a suitable technique for obtaining high-contrast, cross-sectional images of large abdominal organs. Emission computed tomography with positron-emitting radionuclides shows promise as an important new tool for clinical research (1-4). Unfortunately, wide clinical application of positron-emission tomography (PET) is presently limited by the need for an expensive, hospital-based cyclotron facility and highly trained professional and technical personnel to synthesize the radiopharmaceuticals labeled with the very short-lived radionuclides 11c, 13N, 150 and 18 F that are employed most commonly in such studies. These difficulties may be circumvented in part by the use of a simple generator system that produces the positron-emitting radionuclide 68Ga (T1/2 = 68 min) from the long-lived parent 68Ge (T1/2 = 275 days) (5-7). A large number of radiopharmaceuticals of potential clinical interest may be prepared readily from the eluate of such a generator (6,8-11). In the present study, we have prepared and characterized a new radiopharmaceutical for liver imaging, 68Ga iron hydroxide colloid, and have evaluated this agent in patients with hepatic tumors by imaging with a positron tomographic scanner.


Objectives This study compared the Biodentine, MTA Repair HP, and Bio-C Repair bioceramics in terms of bond strength to dentin, failure mode, and compression. Materials and Methods Fifty-four slices obtained from the cervical third of 18 single-rooted human mandibular premolars were randomly distributed (n = 18). After insertion of the bioceramic materials, the push-out test was performed. The failure mode was analyzed using stereomicroscopy. Another set of cylindrically-shaped bioceramic samples (n = 10) was prepared for compressive strength testing. The normality of data distribution was analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests were used for the push-out test data, while compressive strength was analyzed with analysis of variance and the Tukey test, considering a significance level of 0.05. Results Biodentine presented a higher median bond strength value (14.79 MPa) than MTA Repair HP (8.84 MPa) and Bio-C Repair (3.48 MPa), with a significant difference only between Biodentine and Bio-C Repair. In the Biodentine group, the most frequent failure mode was mixed (61%), while in the MTA Repair HP and Bio-C Repair groups, it was adhesive (94% and 72%, respectively). Biodentine showed greater resistance to compression (29.59 ± 8.47 MPa) than MTA Repair HP (18.68 ± 7.40 MPa) and Bio-C Repair (19.96 ± 3.96 MPa) (p < 0.05). Conclusions Biodentine showed greater compressive strength than MTA Repair HP and Bio-C Repair, and greater bond strength than Bio-C Repair. The most frequent failure mode of Biodentine was mixed, while that of MTA Repair HP and Bio-C Repair was adhesive.


Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurological conditions, estimated to affect around 250 people per 100 000 in the UK. People with Parkinson's disease classically present with motor symptoms including bradykinesia, rigidity, rest tremor, and postural instability; however, non-motor symptoms may also be prominent, including depression, cognitive impairment, and autonomic disturbances. This article summarises the most recent update to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline for the diagnosis and management of Parkinson's disease in adults. This NICE guideline provides an update on most aspects of managing Parkinson's disease, incorporating knowledge generated by a series of recent, large scale, independently funded, randomised trials in Parkinson's therapy, and replaces guidance published in 2006. The update reflects emerging experience in areas such as impulse control disorders that may coexist with Parkinson's disease and provides recommendations on the use of treatments that may provide some relief from the distressing symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease. The guideline update has not changed the suggested approach to the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, communication with people with Parkinson's disease and their carers, pharmacological neuroprotective therapy, and interventions by Parkinson's disease nurse specialists. Recommendations, full details of evidence, and the NICE pathway are available via the NICE website (www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71). Recommendations


High levels of informality, from 70 percent to 80 percent in many developing country cities, increase poverty and make urbanization unsustainable. But it is not clear if this is due to lack of interest in more secure land rights or the high cost of traditional institutions. To find out, and see if formalization can help increase female empowerment, the authors conducted an information campaign about the importance of female land ownership in poor informal neighborhoods of Dar es Salaam and allowed randomly selected residents to get title at a discounted price, with possible additional discounts if a woman is on the title. The authors found that demand for title at affordable prices is very high and that, after the information campaign, many males added females to title applications even if they did not receive large fiscal incentives. These results can have far-reaching impacts for the most appropriate way to support urban infrastructure upgrading.


The widespread uptake of mobile technologies has witnessed a re‐structuring of the mobile market with major shifts in the predominance of particular firms and the emergence of new business models. These sociotechnical trends are significant in the ways that they are influencing and shaping the working lives of software professionals. Building on prior research investigating the persistent problems and practices of systems development, this paper examines mobile applications development and distribution. A qualitative study of 60 developers based in Sweden, the UK and the USA was analysed around the interrelated problems of diversity, knowledge and structure. The analysis revealed how platform‐based development in an evolving mobile market represents significant changes at the business environment level. These changes ripple through and accentuate ongoing trends and developments, intensifying the persistent problems and challenges facing software developers.


Representing short text is becoming extremely important for a variety of valuable applications. However, representing short text is critical yet challenging because it involves lots of informal words and typos (i.e. the noise problem) but only few vocabularies in each text (i.e. the sparsity problem). Most of existing work on representing short text relies on noise recognition and sparsity expansion. However, the noises in short text are with various forms and changing fast, but, most of the current methods may fail to adaptively recognize the noise. Also, it is hard to explicitly expand a sparse text to a high-quality dense text. In this paper, we tackle the noise and sparsity problems in short text representation by learning multi-grain noise-tolerant patterns and then embedding the most significant patterns in a text as its representation. To achieve this goal, we propose a bi-level multi-scale masked CNN-RNN network to embed the most significant multi-grain noise-tolerant relations among words and characters in a text into a dense vector space. Comprehensive experiments on five large real-world data sets demonstrate our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art competitors.


Colombia is marked by high levels of gender-based violence. In 2020, 630 women were murdered because of their gender. The number of these feminicides increased under the coronavirus lockdown that began in March 2020. Although the news media play a crucial role in shaping the public's notion of feminicides, empirical studies on the media's portrayal of feminicides in Colombia are scarce. The present study involved a quantitative content analysis of articles published in four Colombian newspapers to determine how they reported on feminicides from August 2019 to July 2020 (sample size: 139 articles, comprising 1798 paragraphs). The period under investigation allowed for a comparison of news coverage before and during the lockdown. By means of hierarchical cluster analysis, we identified four frames: "gender-based inequalities and discrimination against women", "perpetrators in front of the court", "prehistory and course of events of the feminicide", and "reactions of neighbors, eyewitnesses, and villagers to the feminicide". Our findings suggest that the four newspapers under investigation paint rather similar pictures of feminicides. We also found that the date an article was published in relation to the COVID-19 quarantine had little influence on the frequency at which the clusters appeared.


ive summarisation applies NLG methods to generate multilingual textual summaries (accompanied by multimedia if needed)from data. In MULTISENSOR, the starting point of the abstractive summarisation is the contents in the semantic repository, which are obtained from text documents using NLP and IE methods as part of WP2, and then integrated with data from other sources (images from multimedia documents, videos, social media, etc.) and enriched through reasoning as part of WP4 and WP5. With the purpose of reusing in WP6 the linguistic information and semantic data extracted from the texts in WP2, it has been agreed that all text analysis components produce annotated text as their output, and that these annotations are kept together with the analysed text as an annotated corpus. So far, the following annotations are foreseen: 1. Layout annotations (e.g. title, lead) detected by the generic crawler by Yahoo (WP7) using Boilerpipe or similar. 6 See https://code.google.com/p/boilerpipe/


Background Members of the TGF-β superfamily are characterized by a highly promiscuous ligand-receptor interaction as is readily apparent from the numeral discrepancy of only seven type I and five type II receptors available for more than 40 ligands. Structural and functional studies have been used to address the question of how specific signals can be deduced from a limited number of receptor combinations and to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the protein-protein recognition that allow such limited specificity. Principal Findings In this study we have investigated how an antigen binding antibody fragment (Fab) raised against the extracellular domain of the BMP receptor type IA (BMPR-IA) recognizes the receptor's BMP-2 binding epitope and thereby neutralizes BMP-2 receptor activation. The crystal structure of the complex of the BMPR-IA ectodomain bound to the Fab AbD1556 revealed that the contact surface of BMPR-IA overlaps extensively with the contact surface for BMP-2 interaction. Although the structural epitopes of BMPR-IA to both binding partners coincides, the structures of BMPR-IA in the two complexes differ significantly. In contrast to the structural differences, alanine-scanning mutagenesis of BMPR-IA showed that the functional determinants for binding to the antibody and BMP-2 are almost identical. Conclusions Comparing the structures of BMPR-IA bound to BMP-2 or bound to the Fab AbD1556 with the structure of unbound BMPR-IA shows that binding of BMPR-IA to its interaction partners follows a selection fit mechanism, possibly indicating that the ligand promiscuity of BMPR-IA is inherently encoded by structural adaptability. The functional and structural analysis of the BMPR-IA binding antibody AbD1556 mimicking the BMP-2 binding epitope may thus pave the way for the design of low-molecular weight synthetic receptor binders/inhibitors.


This paper demonstrates that there exist several different types of networks in the "interjacent marsh" between markets and hierarchies. Depending on the base of resource configuration and co-operation (task dimension), power characteristics and mechanisms for controlling opportunism (people dimension), and both the ability and need for change and flexibility (change dimension), these different types of networks may be identified. These specific networks have different logic's, and a 3-Dimensional model is suggested as an important tool for assessing potential partners when considering constructing a network, but also for assessing an already existing network as a part of an ongoing improvement strategy.


Patients with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) can be treated with targeted bcr-abl kinase inhibitors, such as imatinib. Recently, we reported that mononuclear cells obtained from individuals treated with imatinib often exhibit an increase in the enzyme activity of the antioxidant selenoprotein, glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Treatment of the bcr-abl positive cell line KU812 resulted in increased GPx enzyme and GPx1 protein levels in a dose (100-150 nM) and time (0-7 days) dependent manner, with a maximal increase of 3-fold. Imatinib-induced changes in other anti-oxidant enzymes were also assessed. Of these, no change in the levels of either catalase or GPx-4 were detected, although the levels of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) increased by a maximal level of 4-fold in imatinib-treated cells. Similar results were obtained in another bcr-abl positive, CML cell line, MEG-01. The elevation in the levels of these proteins occurred via a post-transcriptional mechanism as no increase in the steady state levels of the corresponding mRNA was detected by RT-PCR. The effect of imatinib was likely to be dependent on the presence of the bcr-abl fusion product as no changes in either GPx-1 or MnSOD were detected in either the immortalized lymphocyte cell line GM10832 or the prostate cancer-derived LNCaP human cell lines, neither of which contain bcr-abl. Since the mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) is a known protein substrate for the abl kinase, and mTOR activity can regulate protein translation, it was investigated whether inhibiting mTOR with rapamycin (1ng/ml) affected GPx-1 and MnSOD levels. Exposure of the KU812 and MEG-01 cells, as well as LNCaP and GM10832 with rapamycin resulted in increased GPx-1 protein and enzyme levels (2- to 4-fold), but had no measurable effects on MnSOD. These results indicate that imatinib, likely by the inhibition of bcr-abl, can post-transcriptionally enhance both GPx-1 and MnSOD levels, although by different mechanisms. These data may have therapeutic significance as both of these anti-oxidant enzymes may influence several different clinically relevant biological processes, including DNA damage susceptability, cell signaling and apoptosis. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 278. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-278


A large number of pharmaceuticals exhibit polymorphism; 23% steroids, 60% sulfonamides, and 70% of barbiturates have shown this property. In this study, we have investigated and compared a new technique termed as melt sonocrystallization (MSC) with melt and sonocrystallization (SC) for induction of polymorphism in progesterone (PRG). Polymorphs were characterized by DSC, XRD, FT-IR, and FT Raman spectroscopy. Melt sonocrystallized progesterone (MSC-PRG) contained both the polymorphs, more soluble form II along with less soluble form I, whereas melt progesterone (M-PRG) and sonocrystallized progesterone (SC-PRG) contained only form I. Improvement in dissolution characteristics of both the polymorphs were compared and form II was found to be more readily soluble than form I in deionized water. Reduction in mean particle size of PRG during SC was also determined using laser diffractometer. During stability testing (40°C/75% RH) for 1 month, metastable form II of MSC-PRG was found to be transformed into its more stable state. MSC technique was thus found as a useful tool for induction of polymorphism.


Abstract. We analyse the flood event of 8 July 2002 that caused overflows over portions of the lower reach of the Kifissos River/Canal. The storm covered only the lower basin area and was concentrated on the centre and the southwest side of Greater Athens. The issue that stirred the public opinion was whether the hydraulic works underway in lower Kifissos at that time were responsible for the overflows. We explore this issue with the hydrologic-hydraulic model of the Kifissos basin TELESIM. To shed light on the probable cause of the observed flooding, we ran TELESIM for two rain-field scenarios derived from the recorded point-rainfalls, computing flows for each scenario. Depth profiles for channel conditions without obstructions do not explain the observed flooding. With the channel taken as locally obstructed by flow-area reducing ramps plus bed-debris, estimated nominal overflows (bank-full level is threshold, but the water stays inside the channel) compare well with actual ones for the milder rainfall scenario. Hence, the simulations support as plausible the hypothesis that flow obstructions due to the construction caused the overflows.


Abstract Reduction of social loafing in the organization and increase of group synergy are integral objectives of human resource management, setting high requirements to the quality of managerial solutions. The purpose of this research is to develop managerial solutions that increase the effect of group synergy and reduce the spread of social loafing. The article analyses the concept of the social loafing phenomenon distinguishing the essential demotivators in work groups of organizations. The reasons of occurrence and existence of social loafing are analysed as well, differentiating them into groups. The authors also discuss beliefs and behaviour of employees in organizations that lead to the emergence and (or) suppression of the social loafing phenomenon. Based on a comparative and systemic logical analysis of scientific literature, as well as the results of empirical research, there are developed managerial solutions using the modelling method.


Alexander Woloch, in a pioneering 2003 study on literary characters and characterization, observed that narrative meaning emerges in the dynamic attention to and neglect of the characters, major and minor, who inhabit the same story but occupy different positions therein. This essay draws on Woloch's theory and methods to analyze the Standard Babylonian (SB) Epic of Gilgamesh, taking the women of the narrative as its case study. Aruru, Ninsun, Shamhat, Aya, Ishtar, the scorpion-man's woman, Shiduri, and Uta-napishti's wife are here examined not as flat or stock characters but rather as individual personalities who often transcend both their constrained narrative spaces and the gendered (mis)characterizations applied to them in the scholarship of recent decades. In paying the women of the SB Epic of Gilgamesh the attention they deserve, this study sheds new light not only on the composition's minor characters but also on its narrative structure and meaning.


The authors introduce a set of 1-forms M*Gamma =( alpha epsilon Lambda 1(TM):S*(LGamma alpha )=0), related to a second-order differential equation field Gamma , in order to find geometric conditions for this vector field to be a solution of the dynamics defined by a Lagrangian function. The results they get are compared with those of other previous approaches.


For most African countries, the issue of employment is one of the main challenges of inclusive growth. 11 million young people enter the labor market each year, while the sub-Saharan Africa labor market offers only 3 million jobs, a gap of around 8 million jobs per year (AfDB, 2017). From this study, we evaluate, using a multinomial logit model (MLM), the impact of human capital on the chances of access to employment in the labor market in Niger, with data from National Survey on Household Living Conditions and Agriculture ( ECVMA-2011 ). The results show that a significant increase in human capital allows to a skilled job in the Niger labor market. JEL Classification codes : E24, J23, J24, J4 Keywords : Human capital; skilled ; Unskilled ; Employment; Labor market ; MLM ; Niger.


Semi-flexible pavement consists of selected porous asphalt mixture filled with cementitious slurry. This new type of pavement has prospects to be designed as a high deformation resistant pavement (Setyawan et al, 2001). Porous asphalt, as the skeleton of the composite has been de-signed to have a porosity of 30% by selected the aggregates gradation, type of bitumen, bitumen content and fibre content. This investigation concerned with the design and properties of porous asphalt to be used as the skeleton for grouted macadam. The ranges of mixtures were evalu-ated by using different type of bitumen, bitumen content, filler addition and aggregate gradation. This investigation concluded that porous as-phalt manufactured by using specified gradation utilising 50-pen bitu-men is appropriate to be used as skeleton for grouted macadam.


In this paper, we consider a channel estimator in CDMA systems, where there exist both common pilot channel (CPICH) symbols, which is not power controlled signal, and the dedicated pilot symbols, which is power-controlled. Our proposed channel estimator estimates the channel by combining the CPICH symbols and dedicated pilot symbols. We derive the maximal likelihood (ML) estimator and present the approximate ML, which can be readily used for fast and accurate on-line channel estimation. We also derive the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the proposed method and compare it with the CRLB of the method using the common pilot channel symbols only. End-to-end full downlink SPW simulations have been run and we confirm that the significant gain can be achieved with a proposed estimator in a power-controlled CDMA system. The resulting algorithms can be applied to open loop and closed loop transmit diversity cases as well as single antenna case.


C260 Structural models are auto-build and structures are refined, verified and analyzed using semi-automated computational tools. Functional analysis is being performed using a newly developed ProFunc server. 3D models of relevant members of the sequence family are generated and their quality is assessed. Majority of the steps in the MCSG pipeline are tracked in near real time by the database. All the structures and their analysis are made available to the public using the MCSG database and web tools. The MCSG structure determination pipeline when combined with data collection facilities at third generation synchrotrons, advanced software and computing resources resulted in significant acceleration of structure determination of novel proteins. Using this pipeline the MCSG has determined 112 novel structures in 2004. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM62414 and by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, under contract W-31-109-Eng-38.


Abstract The main objective of this study was to determine the predictive capacity of different variables, organized based on Ecological theory (i.e., personal, interpersonal, social, and ideological), in the intensity of the subjective orgasm experience within the context of heterosexual relationships. The sample was composed of 1,300 adults (547 men, 753 women). The proposed model for men showed that more intense subjective orgasm experience was predicted by age, sexual sensations seeking, sexual satisfaction, and partner-focused sexual desire. The model for women showed that more intense subjective orgasm experience was predicted by age, erotophilia, sexual sensation seeking, partner-focused sexual desire, and sexual satisfaction.