The Fennec research program involves a diverse range of observations and modelling activities which were designed to tackle the data sparse regions of the Sahara desert. This area can be considered as one of the final frontiers in observational challenge for climate scientists. Weather and climate prediction models show significant systematic errors over the Sahara desert manifested as differences in radiation reaching and leaving the surface, surface temperature, winds, and in representation of the boundary layer. The remoteness of this hostile environment means that it has never been the subject of concentrated surface and airborne observations which are required to reduce these uncertainties. During June 2011 and June 2012 over 200 hours of scientific flying was carried by the UK BAe146 FAAM aircraft, and in 2011 the UK aircraft flew a number of coordinated missions with the SAFIRE Falcon D-20 aircraft. These joint missions permitted extended temporal coverage of specific atmospheric features in the region not possible with a single aircraft. The second season of flying in June 2012 was subjected to two dominant weather regimes. Initially the operating region was dominated by maritime flow, which was then replaced by the climatological deep Saharan heat low pressure system which was in place throughout the 2011 IOP. This has provided opportunities to compare these different regimes and the transition between them. We will outline the advantages of using an aircraft as observational platforms, the ability to link together spatial and temporal features across the vast arena of the Sahara which are simply not accessible through fixed ground sites or even satellites. We will provide details of the comprehensive instrumentation payload, overview of the flight schedule & meteorology behind flights in both 2011 and 2012. We report some of the key findings which were only accessible to us through the use of airborne platforms. These include the first observations of heat flux profile in the Saharan Boundary layer, detailed vertical profiles of mineral dust size distribution both near-field and following various periods of atmospheric transport, insitu sampling of an aged haboob, and coordinated remote sensing LIDAR and radiation measurements with insitu observations (only possible with two aircraft).


We have examined the spatial relationship between the mossy fiber and climbing fiber projections to crus IIa in the lateral hemispheres of the rat cerebellum. Experiments were performed in ketamine/xylazine anesthetized rats using extracellular recordings and high‐density micromapping techniques. Responses were elicited using small, tactile stimuli applied to the perioral and forelimb regions at a rate of 0.5 Hz. In our first series of experiments we demonstrate that the primary (i.e., strongest) receptive field for a single Purkinje cell's complex spike is similar to the primary receptive field of the granule cells immediately subjacent to that Purkinje cell. In our second series of experiments we demonstrate that the granule cell region most strongly activated by a particular peripheral stimulus is immediately subjacent to the Purkinje cells whose complex spikes are also activated most strongly by the same stimulus. The region of climbing fibers activated by a localized peripheral stimulus is "patchy"; it clearly does not conform to the notion of a continuous microzone. These results support original observations first reported in the 1960s using evoked potential recording techniques that the mossy fiber and climbing fiber pathways converge in cerebellar cortex. However, we extend this earlier work to show that the two pathways converge at the level of single Purkinje cells. Many cerebellar theories assume that mossy fiber and climbing fiber pathways carry information from different peripheral locations or different modalities to cerebellar Purkinje cells. Our results appear to contradict this basic assumption for at least the tactile regions of the lateral hemispheres. J. Comp. Neurol. 429:59–70, 2001. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract:This article explores how the Chilean state identified and categorized working men, women, and children during the Great Depression. Ideas of "employable" and "unemployable" as well as "deserving" and "undeserving" poor influenced how the government distributed relief, organized public-work projects, and eventually dismantled its emergency programs in 1932–34. But this was not an uncontested process. This article also sheds light on working families' demands and how they shaped welfare policies and limited the state's ability to influence and transform society. This article is based on archival documentation from Chile's Department of Labor and local governments as well as memoirs, theses, and articles written by relief workers.


OBJECTIVE
The real effects of mud-bath applications on the inflammatory process are still not clarified. We studied these effects on rat adjuvant-induced arthritis.

METHODS
Arthritis was induced in 30 rats by subplantar injection of Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) into the right hind paw. Ten days after FCA injection, the rats were randomized in 3 groups of 10 each: the first one was submitted to a cycle of mud-bath applications, the second one was treated with indomethacin, the third one received only saline per os (control group). The paw volume, measured by plethysmometry, and the serum levels of TNFalpha and IL-1beta were considered as evaluation parameters.

RESULTS
FCA injection caused a progressive enhancement of paw volume and a rapid increase of TNFalpha and IL-1beta serum levels. After the randomization, mud-bath applications reduced inflammation and at the end of the treatment the paw volume and the TNFa and IL-1beta serum levels were significantly tapered in comparison to the controls (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
The results of the study suggest an anti-inflammatory effect of mud-bath applications on adjuvant arthritis in rats. These results could explain the beneficial effects of thermal treatments observed in some inflammatory rheumatic diseases.


30MnB5 hot stamping steel was quenched and tempered at diferent temperatures. The effects of tempering temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,energy dispersive spectroscopy,and tensile testing. The best mechanical properties were obtained after the steel being tempered at 200 ℃ for 2 min,which are the tensile strength of 1774 MPa,the total elongation of 8%,and the product of tensile strength and elongation more than 14 GPa·%. It can meet the requirement for automotive structural parts after hot stamping. The mechanical properties non-monotonically change with tempering temperature. The microstructure of the steel tempered at 200 ℃ is lath martensite and e-carbides,and the dislocation density decreases slightly. The e-carbide particles with the size of about 100 nm in length are needle-like distributed in martensite laths and pinned with dislocations. When the tempering temperature increases,the recovery and recrystallization of lath martensite occur,the lath boundary becomes more and more obscure,and the dislocation density decreases sharply. Furthermore,some of the lath martensite transforms into equiaxed ferrite,and the e-carbides gradually convert into low-boundary-layer-energy spheroidal cementite,which is coarsened to about 200 nm. Owing to these,the interaction between carbides and dislocations largely weakens.


Objective: Evolving pressure on surgical education necessitates safe and efficient learning of techniques. We evaluated the effect of training year using anatomic, percutaneous fluoroscopy guided and computer navigated techniques on the accuracy of pedicle screw placement to attempt to determine if different modalities may be better suited for different levels of training. Methods: All instrumented thoracic and lumbar cases performed at Detroit Medical Center by the Neurosurgery Service between August 2012 and June 2013 were included.Cases had hardware verified by post-operative CT. Hardware placement was graded according to Mirza SK et al., grade 0 (within pedicle), grade 1 (< 2 mm breach), grade 2 (> 2 mm breach) , and grade 3 (extrapedicular). Pedicle screws were reviewed independently by a resident and attending surgeon. Rates of pedicle breach, EBL, length of case, pedicle size and pedicle starting point were all reviewed. Pedicles were analyzed on PACS system in axial views, using sagittal views to identify the correct level. Results: A total of 306 pedicle screws were evaluated in 36 patients. The overall rate of accurate pedicle screw placement among residents defined as Grade 0 or 1 placement was 86.8%.Fluoroscopically placed screws had significantly less breaches than anatomic screws 11% vs 20% (p = 0.03). Fluoroscopic cases had significantly less medial breeches (20%) than anatomic (50%) (p < 0.05) and computer assisted cases (73%) (p < 0.05). EBL values for fluoroscopic, anatomic and Body Tom cases were 425 cc, 720 cc, and 816 cc respectively. Resident level was found to be inversely proportional to breech rate (R squared 0.45). We did not see any clear difference in breach rate for resident level in different modalities. Conclusion: Supervised neurosurgical residents can place pedicle screws within published rates of acceptable breach. Interestingly our study revealed an inverse relationship between resident experience and pedicle screw accuracy. Fluoroscopic placement of pedicle screws compared to computer assisted and anatomic techniques results in lower medial breach rate and may be better suited for junior level residents.


An aerosol application procedure involving one or more commercially available silicone-based products was developed to create hydrophobic surfaces that enable analysis of otherwise wettable, absorbent surfaces using a liquid microjunction surface sampling probe/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry system. The treatment process resulted in a hydrophobic surface that enabled formation of the requisite probe-to-surface liquid microjunction for sampling and allowed efficient extraction of the analytes from the surface, but did not contribute significant chemical background in the mass spectra. The utility of this treatment process was demonstrated with the treatment of wettable high-performance thin layer chromatography plates, post-plate development, and their subsequent analysis with the sampling probe. The surface treatment process for different surface types was described and explained and the effectiveness of the treatment and subsequent analysis was illustrated using alkaloids from goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) root separated on a normal phase silica gel 60 F(254S) plate and peptides from protein tryptic digests separated on a ProteoChrom HPTLC Silica gel 60 F(254S) plate and a ProteoChrom HPTLC Cellulose sheet. This simple surface treatment process significantly expands the analytical surfaces that can be analyzed with the liquid microjunction surface sampling probe, and therefore, also expands the analytical utility of this liquid extraction based surface sampling approach.


Abstract The widespread of the COVID-19 disease, caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), had severely affected the entire world. Unfortunately, no successful vaccines or antiviral drugs are currently available which leaves the scientific community under huge pressure to tackle this pandemic. Among the identified promising druggable targets, specific to this virus, is the main protease (Mpro) enzyme, which is vital for viral replication, transcription and packaging within the host cells. In this study, selective inhibition of the Mpro was sought via thorough analysis of its available structural data in the Protein Data Bank. To this end, COVID-19 Mpro crystal complexes were explored and the key interacting residues (KIRs) within its active site, that are expected to be vital for effective ligand binding, were identified. Based on these KIRs, 3D pharmacophore models were generated and used in virtual screening of different databases. Retrieved hits were docked into the active site of the enzyme and their MM-PBSA based free binding energies were calculated. Finally, ADMET descriptors were calculated to aid the selection of top scoring hits with best ADMET properties. Nine compounds with different chemotypes were identified as potential Mpro inhibitors. Further, MD simulations of a virtual complex of Mpro with one of the promising hits revealed stable binding which is indicative of good inhibitory potential. The identified compounds in this study are expected to support the global drug discovery efforts in fighting against this highly contagious virus by narrowing the searchable chemical space for potential effective therapeutics. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma


Background: Diabetes mellitus, an endocrine disease, is a major health concern all over the world. Litchi chinensis Gaertn. and Glycine max (L.) Merr have been traditionally used in Chinese medicines for the treatment of various disorders. The present study was carried out to explore the antioxidant and antihyperglycemic potential of ethyl acetate and hydroethanolic extracts of L. chinensis fruit pericarp and G. max seed coats. Methods: Phytoconstituents of ethyl acetate and hydroethanolic extracts of L. chinensis fruit pericarp and G. max seed coat were investigated using preliminary qualitative techniques. In vitro and in vivo antioxidant potential of ethyl acetate and hydroethanolic extracts was assessed using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) free radical scavenging, reducing power assays, total phenol content, glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). In vivo antihyperglycemic activity was assessed using alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Blood glucose levels were evaluated on 0, 7th, 14th, and 28th day of the study. Results: Hydroethanolic extracts of both plants exhibited superior antioxidant activity to ethyl acetate extract. A marked increase in levels of serum glucose was observed in diabetic rats. Ethyl acetate and hydroalcoholic extract treatment for 28 days accounted for decreased blood glucose levels in hyperglycemic rats. Conclusions: The present study suggests that ethyl acetate and hydroethanolic extracts of L. chinensis fruit pericarp and G. max seed coats possess potent antioxidant antihyperglycemic activities and have potential as a therapeutic agent in diabetes.


In this paper, we propose to incorporate the widely used Multiple Layer Perceptron (MLP) features and discriminative training (DT) into our recent data-sampling based ensemble acoustic models to further improve the quality of the individual models as well as the diversity among the models. We also propose applying speaker-model distance based speaker clustering for data sampling to construct ensembles of acoustic models for speaker independent speech recognition. By using these methods on the speaker independent TIMIT phone recognition task, we have obtained a phoneme recognition accuracy of 77.1% on the TIMIT complete test set, an absolute improvement of 5.4% over our conventional HMM baseline system, making this one of the best reported results on the TIMIT continuous phoneme recognition task.


This paper presents a model on contagion in nancial markets. We use a bank run framework as a mechanism to initiate a crisis and argues that liquidity crunch and imperfect information are the key culprits for a crisis to be contagious. The model proposes that a crisis is more likely to be contagious when (1) banks have similar cost-effciency structures (clustering) and (2) a large fraction of the investment is in the illiquid sector (illiquidity). The latter is an endogenous decision made by the banks. It increases with (1) the prospect of the risky asset (risk-return trade-off) and (2) the fraction of patient consumers (liquidity demand).


The article starts from the premise that approaches to the teaching of English can only be assessed in the particular settings where they may be used. Cultures of learning, teachers' and students' beliefs and prevailing material conditions will all have a bearing on how a particular approach is received. In the case study reported on here, four teachers implemented a consciousness-raising (CR)approach to grammar instruction with nearly 200 students in years 7, 8 and 9 of a Lebanese secondary school. The teachers' and students' reactions to the particular set of activities trialled were recorded in teacher diaries and reports and through interviews with the teachers and their coordinator, and discussions with the participating students. Both teachers and students felt generally positive towards the approach. The prevailing culture of learning, which encourages learner autonomy and an analytical approach to language, seems to have contributed. It was found, however, that in order to avoid discrepancies in the use of metalanguage and classifications and to allow insights from CR to be used in language production-for-practice, CR would need to be an integral part of the regular integrated skills syllabus.


Abstract Climatic fluctuation is often cited as a major factor in the collapse of Maya civilisation during the Terminal Classic Period (e.g. Luzzadder-Beach et al. 2016). Evidence of how people dealt or failed to deal with it has only recently become a more widespread focus for archaeologists. Investigations at Xcoch in the Puuc Hills show the various ways in which resident populations sought to manage water stores when faced with a climate prone to drought and other meteorological extremes. The study also presents results from the analysis of nearby speleothem laminae, which indicate that severe episodes of flooding and droughts may have contributed to a collapse in the population around AD 850.


The new Basel III regulations are likely to make long-term financing more expensive, which will affect the financing of capital-intensive renewable energy technologies, because they typically rely on long-term financing. In addition, the capital and liquidity requirements of Basel III are likely to limit the amount of capital available for renewable energy financing from banks in the future. Together, these are threats to renewable energy deployment because limited financing may prevent the financing of some projects and because more expensive loans are likely to make a number of projects uninteresting financially. A potential solution is proposed here, which requires financing capital-intensive energy projects, pooling these investments into a portfolio and selling down the portfolio in tranches to various types of investors. The benefit of this solution for banks is that it will allow them to maintain the financing of capital intensive renewable energy projects, while complying more easily with Basel III.


The pharmacist's role developed rapidly to meet the needs of health systems. The careful dispensing prescription drugs and the advice founded on self-medication, remain vitally important part of the service provided by pharmacists, who recognize that enjoys the same importance advise other health professionals on the safe and rational use drugs such as accepting responsibility for ensuring that medicines are used safely and effectively by those who are excused, to achieve maximum therapeutic benefit from treatment. This activity contributes both to the welfare of the individual and the general improvement of public health. These developments set the activities for the practice of pharmacy, whose origins were reflected in different meetings to define the role of the pharmacist in the health team, which has been analyzed in various global activities of the World Health Organization, prominent among them the meeting held in New Delhi in December 1988, following up on this one, held in Tokyo, Japan, in September 1993 and later in Vancouver in 1997, whose findings led to establish the knowledge, skills and responsibilities pharmacist in relation to the care needs of the patient and the community.


The first ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) in Portugal dates from 2008 when 11 people reported CFP symptoms after consuming a 30 kg amberjack caught around the Selvagens Islands (Madeira Archipelago). Since then, 49 human poisonings have been reported. The emergence of a new threat challenged scientists and regulators, as methods for toxic microalgae analyses and ciguatoxin (CTX) detection were not implemented. To minimise the risk of ciguatera, the Madeira Archipelago authorities interdicted fisheries in Selvagens Islands and banned the capture of amberjacks weighing more than 10 kg in the entire region of Madeira Archipelago. The accurate identification and quantification of the benthic toxin-producing algae species spreading to new areas require efforts in terms of both microscopy and molecular techniques. Two ciguatera-causing dinoflagellates, Gambierdiscus excentricus and Gambierdiscus australes, were identified in the Madeira Island and Selvagens sub-archipelago, respectively. Regarding the CTX analysis (N2a cell-based assay and LC-MS) in fish, the results indicate that the Selvagens Islands are a ciguatera risk area and that fish vectoring CTX are not limited to top predator species. Nevertheless, advances and improvements in screening methods for the fast detection of toxicity in seafood along with certified reference material and sensitive and selective targeted analytical methods for the determination of CTX content are still pending. This study aims to revise the occurrence of ciguatera cases in the Madeira Archipelago since its first detection in 2008, to discuss the risk management strategy that was implemented, and to provide a summary of the available data on the bioaccumulation of CTX in marine fish throughout the marine food web, taking into consideration their ecological significance, ecosystem dynamics, and fisheries relevance.


Let \({\mathscr{V}}\) be a variety related to the second row of the Freudenthal-Tits Magic square in \(N\)-dimensional projective space over an arbitrary field. We show that there exist \(M\leq N\) quadrics intersecting precisely in \({\mathscr{V}}\) if and only if there exists a subspace of projective dimension \(N-M\) in the secant variety disjoint from the Severi variety. We present some examples of such subspaces of relatively large dimension. In particular, over the real numbers we show that the Cartan variety (related to the exceptional group \({E_6}\)\((\mathbb R)\)) is the set-theoretic intersection of 15 quadrics.


OBJECTIVE
We conducted a prospective multisite examination of sexual offender risk and treatment change on a large federal Canadian sample of 676 treated sex offenders followed up for an average of 6.31 years post release.

METHOD
The present study featured the clinical application of a risk assessment and treatment planning tool, the Violence Risk Scale-Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO; Wong, Olver, Nicholaichuk, & Gordon, 2003). The VRS-SO was rated pre- and posttreatment by sex offender treatment providers on the sample of men who were attending institutionally based sex offender programs across the 5 regions of the Correctional Service of Canada. The Static-99 (Hanson & Thornton, 1999) was also rated as part of routine services, and the Static-99R was used for substantive analyses.

RESULTS
The VRS-SO dynamic factors and the Static-99R demonstrated significant predictive accuracy for sexual, violent, and general recidivism (area under the curve = .65 to .78). Significant pre-post changes on the VRS-SO dynamic factors were observed, ranging from small to moderate in magnitude (d = 0.22 to 0.62) across low, moderate, and high intensity programs. The change scores, in turn, were associated with decreases in the 3 recidivism outcomes; the majority of relationships examined attained significance after partialing out of pretreatment scores. Cox regression survival analyses, controlling for pretreatment risk, further demonstrated change scores to have associations with postrelease recidivism outcomes to varying degrees.

CONCLUSIONS
The results are consistent with the dynamic nature of sexual violence risk and suggest that risk-relevant changes associated with participation in sexual offender treatment are linked to reductions in sexual offender recidivism.


Nowadays, the prevalence of atopic diseases in so-called developed countries is estimated to exceed 30%. Furthermore, it may reach over 50% in two generations. Based on such facts, the so-called "atopic predisposition" can not be defined as an abnormal genotype consisting of certain "atopic gene(s)" possessed by a minority of unfortunate people. Rather, the gene(s) that cause atopic diseases reside in the common human gene repertoire, and several environmental factors would cause the overexpression of some constitutive gene(s), leading to the development of atopic diseases. The author considers that overexpression and production of Th2 cytokines, especially IL-5, may be a key event. The recent prevalence of atopic diseases in developed countries may be mediated by a change of Th2 polarization due to modern retrogression of environmental factors such as bacterial and viral infections that favor Th1 polarization. The "atopic trait" might be actually an "atopic phenotype" rather than an "atopic genotype". In other words, the atopic trait seems not to be a genotype that decides the development of an atopic disease on an all or nothing basis, but a phenotype that determines the susceptibility to the disease. Of course, the familial nature of atopic diseases is undeniable, but this does not necessarily indicate the genetic nature of atopic diseases. For example, if a parent suffers from tuberculosis, the possibility that the children will develop tuberculosis markedly increased. However, tuberculosis is a truly infectious disease. In this article, several environmental factors those may affect the recent sharp increase of atopic diseases are discussed.


Cultures of embryonic fibroblasts from Balb/c or CBA/J mice were given 12-h pulses of 14C-galactose, or were double-labelled with 3H-galactose and 35H-sulfate. The time course of the rates of labelling of glycosaminoglycans--galactose label was found in the uronic acid moiety--was studied in synchronously and asynchronously growing cultures. Partial synchrony was achieved by trypsinising quiescent, confluent cells and subsequent transfer of cells to new cultures with fresh medium. Synchrony was monitored by measurement of thymidine uptake in parallel cultures. The distribution of label in the hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, and heparan sulfate fractions from cells and culture media was determined at each time point. Peaks of DNA synthesis were accompanied by or followed 12 h later by a maximal rate of labelling with galactose of secreted glycosaminoglycans, and with the exception of hyaluronic acid--also of cellular glycosaminoglycans. The rate of labelling with galactose of glycosphingolipids in parallel cultures followed a different time course. In double-label experiments the rates of labelling of glycosaminoglycan sulfates with 3H-galactose and 35S-sulfate did not go parallel. In older, quiescent cultures the labelling rate with galactose decreased while the sulfation rate increased. It is discussed that the labelling rate with galactose is indicative of the biosynthetic rate of the glycosaminoglycans. The conclusion is reached that glycosaminoglycans are preferentially synthesized and secreted after the S phase of the cell cycle.


MicroRNA-494 (miR-494) expression is aberrant in various types of human cancer. However, the prognostic value of miR-494 in pancreatic cancer remains unclear. The level of miR-494 expression was determined in 99 pairs of primary pancreatic cancer and their corresponding, adjacent non-tumor tissues by using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. We also analyzed the associations between miR-494 expression and clinicopathological features. The survival correlations were analyzed by using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model. The level of miR-494 expression was significantly downregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues (mean relative expression level ± SD, 0.48 ± 0.11) as compared to matched adjacent normal tissues (1.80 ± 0.28, P < 0.05). We found significant correlations between the miR-494 expression levels and TNM stage (P = 0.009), lymphatic invasion (P = 0.036), vascular invasion (P = 0.011), distant metastasis (P = 0.007), and tumor grade (P = 0.031). Pancreatic cancer patients with a low miR-494 expression level had a shorter overall survival than those with a high miR-494 expression level (P < 0.05). Reduced miR-494 expression in pancreatic cancer tissues is correlated with tumor progression and might be an independent, poor prognostic factor for patients with pancreatic cancer.


The (dimethylamino) halogenosilanes SiH2X(NMe2)(X = Cl, Br, or I) have monomeric structures in the gas phase, with the three bonds at nitrogen close to coplanarity, but not exactly so; SiHCl2(NMe2) is also monomeric, with the nitrogen apparently planar. The conformations about the Si–N bonds suggest that repulsions between the nitrogen lone pair and the halogen atom(s) on Si are important. Dichloro(dimethylamino)silane retains its monomeric structure in the crystal at 94 K, and the molecular parameters are close to those found for the gas phase; molecules are associated only very loosely through bridging Cl atoms. In strong contrast, the crystal structure of monochloro(dimethylamino)silane at 116 K shows it to consist of dimers in the solid state, in which two strongly-distorted monomer units are linked through their nitrogen and silicon atoms in a four-membered ring. The two bonds to nitrogen formed by each silicon are not equivalent [bond lengths 181.3(13) and 205.4(13) pm; cf. 168.7(2) pm in the gas-phase monomer], but the silicon atoms are clearly five-co-ordinate, with the five bonded groups defining a trigonal bipyramid; Cl and one of the two nitrogen atoms occupy apical positions, The nitrogen atoms are four-co-ordinate, with roughly tetrahedral bond angles. The structure is compared with that of dimethylaminosilane itself, which forms a cyclic pentamer in the crystal.


Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) velocity quantification is addressed in part I of this thesis. In simple MR imaging, data is collected and tissue densities are displayed as images. Moving tissue creates signals which appear as artifacts in the images. In velocity imaging, more data is collected and phase differences are used to quantify the velocity of tissue components. The problem is described and a novel formulation of a regularized, nonlinear inverse problem is proposed. Both Tikhonov and Total Variation Regularization are discussed. Results of numerical simulations show that significant noise reduction is possible. The method is firstly verified with MATLAB. A number of experiments are carried out with different regularization parameters, different magnetic fields and different noise levels. The experiments show that the stronger the complex noise is, the stronger the magnetic field requires for estimating the velocity. The regularization parameter also plays an important role in the experiments. Given the noise level and with an appropriate value of regularization parameter, the estimated velocity converges to ideal velocity very quickly. A proof-of-concept implementation on the Cell BE processor is described, quantifying the performance potential of this platform. The second part of this thesis concerns the evaluation of an elementary function library. Since CBE SPU is designed for compute intensive applications, the well developed Math functions can help developer program and save time to take care other details. Dr. Anand's research group in McMaster developed 28 math functions for CBE SPU. The test tools for accuracy and performance were developed on CBE. The functions were tuned while testing. The functions are either competitive or an addition to the existing SDKl.l SPU math functions.


Abstract Anterior knee pain (AKP) is a common presenting complaint for pediatricians and orthopaedic surgeons and is often seen in young athletes. AKP is multifactorial and has a broad differential diagnosis. The growth changes, biomechanics, and anatomy around the knee add to the complexity of diagnosis and treatment of AKP. Common causes of AKP include Osgood–Schlatter's disease, patellar tendinitis, and patellofemoral instability. In the diagnosis of AKP, it is important to rule out serious and morbid causes of pain, including infection and tumor. It is crucial to complete a detailed history and physical examination and obtain appropriate imaging studies. In general, the majority of patients will respond to nonoperative measures targeted to correct neuromuscular control and kinetic chain dysfunction.


An inquiry was sent to Portuguese G.P.s all over the country, in order to characterize their professional satisfaction. Through 41 questions, divided into 11 different areas, several factors of satisfaction concerning their work in Health Centers were analyzed, such as working conditions and the professional team work relationship, as well as salaries. According to the results, we may conclude that there is a general deep dissatisfaction among these G.P.s, and a great percentage of them declared they would even change their career if circumstances allowed them.


The development of novel photothermal ablation agents as cancer nanotheranostics has received a great deal of attention in recent decades. Biocompatible fucoidan (Fu) is used as the coating material for gold nanorods (AuNRs) and subsequently conjugated with monoclonal antibodies against epidermal growth factor receptor (anti-EGFR) as novel photothermal ablation agents for cancer nanotheranostics because of their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity, water solubility, photostability, ease of surface modification, strongly enhanced absorption in near-infrared (NIR) regions, target specificity, minimal invasiveness, fast recovery, and prevention of damage to normal tissues. Anti-EGFR Fu-AuNRs have an average particle size of 96.37 ± 3.73 nm. Under 808 nm NIR laser at 2 W/cm2 for 5 min, the temperature of the solution containing anti-EGFR Fu-AuNRs (30 μg/mL) increased by 52.1 °C. The anti-EGFR Fu-AuNRs exhibited high efficiency for the ablation of MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro. In vivo photothermal ablation exhibited that tumor tissues fully recovered without recurrence and finally were reconstructed with normal tissues by the 808 nm NIR laser irradiation after injection of anti-EGFR Fu-AuNRs. These results suggest that the anti-EGFR Fu-AuNRs would be novel photoablation agents for future cancer nanotheranostics.


The Maltese population has been repeatedly shown to have high mean blood lead levels irrespective of age. This study confirms that these higher levels also occur in Maltese children. A definite correlation is shown between high blood lead levels and the environment of the subjects studied, being statistically higher in individuals living on the urbanized larger island. A statistical correlation has been shown between hand-wipe specimens taken from children playing in a playground and the traffic density of the area. A similar statistical correlation between playground, street and household dust to traffic density has also been identified.


Purpose: To evaluate the preclinical effects, and preclinical and clinical ocular and systemic pharmacokinetics of a new topical, non-preserved ocular anesthetic, AG-920 (articaine ophthalmic solution). Methods: Five studies: one in vitro melanin binding study; three studies in rabbits receiving an ocular dose of AG-920 evaluating corneal sensitivity, ocular tolerability, and systemic exposure to articaine and its inactive metabolite, articainic acid; and one clinical study in 14 healthy adult volunteers receiving an ocular dose of AG-920, with blood samples over 24 h. A liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) method was used to detect both parent and metabolite with a lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of 0.1 and 0.2 ng/mL, respectively. Results: Melanin binding of articaine was up to 7.4%. A decrease in corneal sensitivity was noted for 20 min post-treatment in all active groups, and returned to baseline by 60 min post-dose. No dose-response relationship was observed. Concentrations of articaine in ocular matrices generally peaked early and then decreased over time. Both parent and metabolite were observed in blood at early time points. There were no ocular safety issues with AG-920. Conclusions: These early stage development studies showed that AG-920 was well tolerated in the standard preclinical models and did not cause any toxicity. AG-920 ophthalmic solution elicited a rapid onset and potentially clinically useful duration of corneal anesthesia. The studies supported the clinical evaluation of the 8% strength. Registered with clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04759339.


The role of endothelin, a powerful vasoconstrictor, was studied in coronary spasm. A methylergonovine stress test was performed in patients with normal coronary angiography. Patients who developed spasm (Group I, n = 6) were compared with those who did not (Group II, n = 6). Plasma endothelin was measured at 8, 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 4, 7, 9, 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. The stress test was carried out at 17 hours and an additional endothelin measurement was performed during spasm in positive cases. The clinical characteristics of the two groups were comparable especially with regards to cardiovascular risk factors. Except for the value recorded during coronary spasm, the plasma endothelin levels were significantly higher in the group with coronary spasm. A time-dependent variation was observed in both groups with higher endothelin levels in the morning. In group I the plasma endothelin levels were higher under basal conditions and during spasm in patients with spastic angina.


Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a permissive mitogen for cultured chondrocytes and has been localized in the specific zones of the epiphyseal growth plate. In this study, we demonstrate that bFGF present in cartilage originates from within the cellular constituents of this tissue. Utilizing reverse transcription coupled to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), bFGF mRNA was found in extracts of cartilage tissue. Immunocytochemical studies revealed that bFGF was present intracellularly in freshly isolated proliferative chondrocytes and in the extracellular matrix (ECM) after 24 h of culture. Western blot analysis of protein extracts from isolated proliferative chondrocytes identified a bFGF immunoreactive species with a molecular weight of approximately 18 kDa. In situ hybridization confirmed the presence of bFGF mRNA in freshly isolated proliferative chondrocytes. The bFGF in the ECM seemed to be sequestered and not available for biological activity, since these cells still required exogenous bFGF for cell proliferation. This sequestered bFGF could be released to stimulate cell proliferation when cultures were treated with plasmin, a proteolytic enzyme. These data support the hypothesis that bFGF is synthesized by chondrocytes and functions as an autocrine/paracrine mitogen via its deposition into the ECM with subsequent release from the ECM of cartilage being a critical step in biological activity. In addition, the study provides further evidence that locally produced bFGF plays an important role in normal growth and development of cartilage tissue. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


We are concerned, herein, with the conception and the design of printed UWB antennas and with the analysis of their performances through figures of merit. State of the art gives the opportunity to exploit some empirical considerations about the shape and the methodology of conception. A simple structure is simulated by means of CST microwave studio to show the possibility of fulfilling, at a defined level, UWB antenna requirements such as matching, fidelity and quasi-isotropy of the radiation pattern with a simple micro-strip design and a standard technology


A number of observational studies have reported a connection between various lower atmospheric parameters and a range of geomagnetic and solar coronal indices. The bulk of the Sun's magnetised plasma energy is absorbed in the high‐latitude upper atmosphere, far removed from the troposphere and the stratosphere, so a physical mechanism which accounts for these correlations has proved elusive. In this paper, a mechanistic three‐dimensional model of the atmosphere between 10 and 130 km has been developed to demonstrate that high energy particles from the solar wind can perturb the winter stratosphere significantly. Planetary waves provide an effective means of coupling solar‐induced changes in the thermosphere down to the stratosphere. A qualitatively similar response to forcing by increasing solar ultraviolet radiation was obtained even though there was no in situ forcing in the stratosphere.


SUMMARY An attempt was made to correlate serological relationships determined by the pili, the flagella and the O-somatic antigens of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and to make a preliminary assessment of use of the pilus antigen as an epidemiological marker. A method is described for the preparation of antiserum specific for the 'normal' PSA pili of P. aeruginosa. A high titre of pilus antibodies was obtained by immunizing rabbits with mutants whose pili had lost their ability to retract into the cell. The 'normal' form of the organism, with retractile pili, was poorly agglutinated by high-titre anti-pilus serum, but suspensions of it that had been treated with osmium tetroxide showed greatly increased agglutinability. Antibody labelling for electron microscopy was used to determine the serological relations of pili and of flagella for P. aeruginosa strains belonging to different serological groups as defined by O-somatic antigens. The distribution of pilar and flagellar antigens among strains was not correlated with the O-somatic serotype. A strain of P. aeruginosa carrying a drug-resistance plasmid had fewer 'normal' PSA pili than the background strain. Pseudomonas aeruginosa normally possesses thin polar pili (fimbriae) which constitute one of the classes of heat-labile antigens of the organism. A previous study of the flagellar antigens (Pitt & Bradley, 1975), which are also heat-labile, was an essential preliminary to the development of a useful typing system based on heat-labile antigens. The present work extends this to the pilus antigens. The principle object is to define serological differences determined by pili, flagella, and heat-stable O-somatic antigens. In order to make this comparison, it has been necessary to develop a method for preparing specific antisera against pili, free from flagellar and O-somatic antibodies. Many studies have been made of P. aeruginosa pili; two basic types of pili have so far been established: (1) the 'normal' polar pili mentioned above (Bradley, 1966), to be called PSA pili for convenience and (2) the non-polar pili determined by the intergeneric P-group drug-resistance plasmid RP1, called RP1 pili (Bradley, 1974a; C. H. To & C. C. Brinton, in preparation). Non-polar pili have also been found in association with the P. aeruginosa-specific drug-resistance plasmid R130 (L. E. Bryan, University of Alberta, Canada, personal communication), but they are still under study and little is known about them. Since the present work is principally aimed at evaluating the usefulness of pilus antigens as serological markers, emphasis has been placed on PSA pili, though obviously the presence of R-factor-determined pili cannot be ignored. There are two ways of observing the serological relationships of bacterial appendages such as pili: either qualitatively by the direct observation of adsorbed antibodies in the electron microscope (Lawn, 1967), or quantitatively by conventional agglutination tests. In this work we have used the first method to define different serological types of pilus, and the second to study in detail the reactions of antibodies specific to the pilus. Although the injection into rabbits of formolized suspensions of P. aeruginosa results in the formation of flagellar antibody in high titre, the antibody response to the pili is poor (Pitt & Bradley, 1975). The pilus is in the form of a long thin filament consisting of polymerized pilus protein or pilin. It has been demonstrated (Bradley, 1972a) that under certain influences, such as chemical action or bacteriophage adsorption (see below), the filaments withdraw into the cell, the pilin probably being depolymerized by a mechanism at the base. Certain P. aeruginosa mutants that lack the ability to retract their pili (Bradley, 1972a, 1974b) have many more filaments than do normal strains. We now show that these mutants are valuable in producing high-titre antiserum. Other mutants without pili have been isolated (Bradley, 1972b), and absorption of sera with these organisms removes antibodies to other components of the cell. Certain bacteriophages use P. aeruginosa pili as receptors (Bradley, 1966, 1973a, b, 1974a; Bradley & Pitt, 1974). One aspect of the present work has been to determine whether the phage-sensitivity pattern varies with pili of different serological types.


ABSTRACT Many animal species show aggression to gain mating partners and to protect territories and other resources from competitors. Both male and female fruit flies of the species Drosophila melanogaster exhibit aggression in same-sex pairings, but the strategies used are sexually dimorphic. We have begun to explore the biological basis for the differing aggression strategies, and the cues promoting one form of aggression over the other. Here, we describe a line of genetically masculinized females that switch between male and female aggression patterns based on the sexual identity of their opponents. When these masculinized females are paired with more aggressive opponents, they increase the amount of male-like aggression they use, but do not alter the level of female aggression. This suggests that male aggression may be more highly responsive to behavioral cues than female aggression. Although the masculinized females of this line show opponent-dependent changes in aggression and courtship behavior, locomotor activity and sleep are unaffected. Thus, the driver line used may specifically masculinize neurons involved in social behavior. A discussion of possible different roles of male and female aggression in fruit flies is included here. These results can serve as precursors to future experiments aimed at elucidating the circuitry and triggering cues underlying sexually dimorphic aggressive behavior. Summary: Genetically masculinized female Drosophila melanogaster change their fighting strategy depending on the sexual identity of their opponents. With more aggressive flies, these females adapt to higher intensity levels.


The diversity rationale the Supreme Court articulated in Grutter v. Bollinger encompassed two different sorts of educational benefits produced by student-body diversity. First, discourse benefits accrue from the exchange of diverse viewpoints and experiences on campus. Such benefits may have lasting effects beyond school, as minority and majority students alike apply lessons from school to life at large. This was the diversity rationale championed by Justice Powell's opinion in Bakke. Second, and in a departure from Powell's understanding of diversity in Bakke, the Grutter Court acknowledged that our multi-racial society realizes leadership benefits when minority graduates of top universities assume leadership positions in nationally important non-educational institutions like the military, Congress, leading U.S. corporations, and the federal judiciary. From this perspective, the presence of a diverse student body at an educational unit is important not so much for discourse on campus and its societal reverberations, but because the school serves as a gatekeeper institution to nationally sensitive leadership. The leadership-benefit concept of diversity was notably advanced by an amicus brief in Grutter filed by retired military officers. There is marked variation in the extent to which higher educational institutions seek to, and in fact, confer these two sorts of benefits. Liberal-arts colleges represent the strongest case for the discourse benefits of student-body diversity. The selective military academies, whose graduates become commissioned officers of an institution quintessential to national interests, represent the strongest case for the gate-keeping leadership benefits of diversity. Undergraduate institutions, however, cannot stake as persuasive a claim to leadership benefits, because positions of national leadership in America today increasingly require graduate or professional education, the providers of which can correspondingly stake stronger claims to leadership benefits. The compelling interest test as formulated in Grutter should take account of this variation in mission and causation, with the consequence that student-body diversity might not suffice as a compelling government interest in every single higher educational context.


In order to investigate the effects of laser trabeculoplasty (LT) on diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP) variations in 36 eyes of 30 cases with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in which medical treatment was terminated, the IOP curves, recorded 24 h before as well as 24 h and 12 weeks after LT were compared. Twelve weeks after LT, significant IOP decreases were observed: 36.42% in the mean IOP, 29.77% in the mean peak IOP and 50.04% in the mean pressure range. LT might therefore have beneficial effects on the diurnal IOP variations in cases with POAG.


Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to look at the impact of globalisation on workspace management. Specifically, it seeks to identify the key attributes in affecting productivity and creativity in workplace. Design/methodology/approach:The authors evaluates the literature that categorises office occupiersi preferences. The occupier perspective of office provision is fully explored. Office occupier segmentation and analytical tools are identified. Findings: This paper establishes that the office occupier's cultural background has an impact on how they work. The design of the office environment will have an impact on productivity and creativity. The findings from this paper will enhance the design of future workplace. Originality/value: This paper will demonstrate that a greater understanding of office occupiersi and usersi preferences adds to the organizationsi knowledge. This additional knowledge enables the opportunity to provide space to support the well-being and productivity of the individual space users. Paper Type: Research paper


ABSTRACT Purpose: To increase knowledge/awareness on family impact (FI) after acquired brain injury (ABI) in rehabilitation settings, it is essential to investigate the associations between patient-functioning and impact on families. This has been explored in hospital-based cohorts, but not in rehabilitation settings. Methods: A cross-sectional, multi-center study among parents of children/young adults (aged 5–24 years) with ABI referred to rehabilitation was performed. Patient/injury/family-characteristics were noted, and parents completed the PedsQL™Family-Impact-Module and PedsQL™generic-core-4.0 to assess FI and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Univariate- and multivariable-regression analyses were performed to investigate associations between HRQoL/patient/injury/family-related factors and FI. Results: 246 families participated; patients' median age was 14 year (IQR 11–16), 65 had non-traumatic-brain-injury (nTBI) (26%), 127 were female. FI was found to be considerable (median FIM-score 71.9, IQR:60–85). Especially referral to rehabilitation >6 months after onset, diminished patients' mental/emotional health and HRQoL (child/family factors), and premorbid problems were associated with higher FI. Conclusions: In this rehabilitation cohort, pediatric ABI caused considerably higher FI than in hospital-based studies with referral to rehabilitation >6 months, diminished child/family factors and presence of premorbid problems increasing FI. Assessing and monitoring FI and its associated factors enables professionals to individualize treatment, psychoeducation, support and follow-up.


Variable behavior on all time scales seems to be ubiquitous phenomenon in almost all classes of active galactic nuclei. This work deals with two topics. One being detection of microvariability (intra-night variability) in the sources which are obscured and were believed to be non variable - type 2 quasars. The detection of a variable behavior in obscured sources is challenging as the detection is hampered by the low contrast between the presumably variable nucleus and the host galaxy. The second part deals with comparing of the variable behavior with larger amplitudes amongst two types of unobscured quasars: core dominated radio loud quasars (CRLQ) and radio quiet quasars (RQQ).
Microvariability studies of obscured quasars are the focus of chapters 2 and 3. We have explored the possibility to search for short, small amplitude variations, with statistical tests, namely the F-test and one-way analysis of variance, ANOVA. The data for our sample were obtained during two observing runs, one using the 1.5 m telescope at San Pedro M\'artir observatory in Mexico and another one with Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) at Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma. Both samples were observed in optical wavelengths.
The fourth chapter is dedicated to a study independent on the previous two chapters, which studies data set obtained during a year long campaign carried out at San Pedro M\'artir observatory. The data set contains observations of a paired set of unobscured CRLQ and RQQ. The observations were obtained in a weekly cadence, in optical wavelengths, thus focusing on a low frequency observations. We used Bartels test to search for variability in this case.
As a result, we report detection of microvariability phenomenon in a subset of targets observed during the microvariability campaigns described in chapters 2 and 3. It is a result previously unaccounted for in obscured type 2 quasars. We explore possible explanations such as structure in the obscuring medium. In the second part of the thesis, we focused no comparing whether it is more likely that CRLQ are variable than RQQ. We have conducted this study on a set of targets which was studied previously. The previous study focused on a similar comparison on high frequencies. We have confirmed the results of the previous study using low frequency observations and report no statistically significant difference between RQQ and CRLQ. We have demonstrated feasibility of different statistical tests in variability studies.\\


Abstract Here we present the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Procambarus clarkii (Decapoda: Cambaridae) and provide its annotation. The complete mt genome was determined to be 15 929 bp and contains 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNA genes, and a D-loop region. The nucleotide composition was biased toward A + T nucleotides (72.91%) and the AT skew of this mt genome was slightly negative. All the 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure, with the exception of trnS1 (AGN). About 13 PCGs were initiated by ATN codons, except for cox1 and nad2 genes which were initiated by ACG and GTG, respectively. Six of the 13 PCGs harbor the incomplete termination codon by T or TA. The D-loop region of the mt genome was 1188 bp in length and the A + T content was 81.08%. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the placement of P. clarkii was within the Cambaridae. This mt genome sequence will provide a better understanding for crayfish evolution in the future.


OBJECTIVES
As waiting times for a heart transplant (HTx) increase, the decision of whether a patient should have a high urgent (HU) listing or mechanical circulatory support becomes crucial for further prognosis. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics that predict failure of an HU listing (death/delisting due to urgent mechanical circulatory support implant or poor clinical condition), the 5-year survival rate, the 1-year post-transplant survival rate and the prognostic accuracy of the cardiac allocation score of patients on the HU list.

METHODS
A total of 447 patients who were on the HU list at our institution between 2005 and 2016 were analysed and stratified according to occurrence of therapy failure or reception of an HTx.

RESULTS
A total of 114 patients suffered from HU listing failure after a median HU time of 31.5 (15-69) days; 320 patients had a primary HTx after a median time of 51.5 (26-90) days on the HU list; 13 patients were excluded from data analysis because of an ongoing HU listing or delisting due to improvement in their haemodynamic condition. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, blood group 0 [odds ratio (OR) 2.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43-4.3; P = 0.001], INTERMACS Class 1 or 2 (OR 5.1, 95% CI 2.7-9.4; P < 0.001), vasoactive inotropic score (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.09-1.27; P < 0.001) and brain natriuretic peptide levels (OR 1.00, 95% CI 1.00-1.00; P = 0.001) were identified as independent predictors of HU listing failure. Cardiac allocation score was not independently associated with listing failure. Estimated 5-year and 1-year post-HTx survival rates were similar in the primary HTx group and in patients receiving an HTx after HU therapy failure (P = 0.48 and P = 0.7, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
INTERMACS levels 1 and 2 and vasoactive inotropic score were the strongest predictors of HU listing failure.


Plant diseases are characterized by wilting, moldy coatings, rusts, blotches, scabs and rotted tissue. They are often encouraged by wet weather, poor drainage or inadequate airflow. Some fungal problems can be controlled by reducing high moisture conditions and by cutting away diseased plant parts. In most cases however, a fungicide will be required. The organic fungicides we offer are least-toxic and earth-friendly. For best results apply early, before diseases become aggravated.` An excellent organic fungicide, Sulfur Plant Fungicide is a finely ground wettable powder containing 90% elemental sulfur, Control diseases of fruits, vegetables and flowers and effective against powdery mildew, rust, scab, brown rot, rose black spot and many more. There is large number of chemical compounds for the protection of crops available commercially in the market but their effects depends on the climate, type of soil, and other physical parameters. The interactions of proposed fungicides with the macromolecule of the parasite are dependent on the stereochemistry of these compounds. In order to design more effective synthetic fungicides, it is necessary to analysis the three dimensional structure of these compounds and if possible the receptor molecule .Recently it has been observed that some of the fungicides are loosing their effects. if their structures are known, So analogous compounds can be designed as substitute.


Libyan EFL classrooms represent the main exposure to English (L2) for secondary school students in Libya. Classroom interaction using the L2 is essential for Communicative Language Teaching, which has been adopted by the Libyan authorities for developing the communicative competence (CC) of learners, albeit with limited success. Communication strategies (CSs), required for strategic competence, a component of CC, can potentially enhance L2 communication, interaction and learning in the Libyan secondary school classroom. The use and teaching of CSs, adopted in many educational contexts have not been investigated in the Libyan classroom. Hence, this research examined the role of CSs in the Libyan EFL classroom in developing CC. This research investigated the content of the teaching materials (instances of CSs and types of tasks available), the teachers and students' perceptions about CSs (use, awareness, and teaching), the implementation of tasks and activities in their classrooms, and the Libyan teachers' understanding of CSs. A pragmatic paradigm guided MMR approach. It produced three data sets: a quantitative content analysis of the classroom materials (English for Libya), a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the 55 teachers and 52 student questionnaires, and a qualitative content analysis of the ten teacher interviews.
The findings suggested that there exist difficulties in the Libyan classroom with regard to developing a declarative knowledge of CSs and encouraging the use of CSs in natural situations due to mismatches between the curriculum's aims and the teachers' perceptions and practices. The different course book materials lack explicit content for teaching and learning CSs, focus on linguistic knowledge and lack interesting communicative tasks and listening content. Also, there are difficulties related to implementing interactive communicative tasks due to contextual factors, the students' levels and abilities, and the over reliance on the L1. Libyan students and teachers seem to lack interest in the materials due to their inauthenticity and focus on form. The knowledge of CSs is limited or unavailable from the teachers' education. The use and teaching of CSs appear to be limited and unconscious. This research offers a pedagogical CSs framework that could help to link CSs theory to CST in practice, which may have implications for materials designers, and may help to identify recommendations to the Libyan educational authorities.


The use of straw mulching has been demonstrated to decrease soil loss and to improve soil moisture and soil organic matter content in conjunction with papaya (Carica papaya) cultivation. Mulching may also benefit soil biota. In this study, mulching was demonstrated to significantly (P < 0.05) improve arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation of papaya roots (by a factor of 2.4), but decreased spore density and species diversity (by a factor of 1.5), compared with cultivation in bare ground. The genera Glomus, Acaulospora, Gigaspora and Sclerocystis dominated in both mulched and bare ground systems. The increased mycorrhizal activity in the mulched treatments was matched by an increase in leaf phosphorus in 1995 but not in 1997.


Introduction: Intimate partner violence is an important worldwide problem. During pregnancy this phenomenon can start or exacerbate with serious implications for the pregnancy outcome. This type of violence can also have serious consequences in the physical and mental health of both, mother and child. The aim of this study is to characterize women who are victims of intimate partner violence during pregnancy to contribute to promote the development of early intervention strategies as soon as the risk factors are recognized. Material and methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of selected medico-legal reports of victims of intimate partner violence, submitted for forensic assessment at the north services of the National Institute of Legal Medicine of Portugal, during the period between 2005 and 2010. It includes two groups with 49 cases each: one group with women who were pregnant at the moment of the abuse and another group with non pregnant women (control). Results: Over this period, 11263 suspected female victims of intimate partner violence were examined; 0.44% (n=49) of them were pregnant. In the pregnant group most women were single (67.3%), while in the non pregnant group most were married (51%) at the time of the abuse; statistical significant differences have been found (p=0.025). Regarding the professional status, the majority of victims of the pregnant group were unemployed (38.8%). With respect to the number of children, significant statistical differences were found between the two groups (p=0.003). In the pregnant group it was found that a larger number of women had no previous children. The pregnant group also showed a higher number of women with only one previous pregnancy (p=0.022). The non pregnant group showed significant differences for the duration of abuse: "less than one year" when compared with "more than one year" (p=0.02). The majority of the victims reported multiple mechanisms of abuse. They were mainly punching, pushing, slapping and kicking (49%, 40.8%, 36.7% and 34.7%, respectively) in the pregnant group case. For the non pregnant group, the same mechanisms were the most frequents (53.1%, 32.7%, 26.5% and 28.6%, respectively). Both in the pregnant group and in non pregnant group face and limbs are the anatomical areas more frequently injured, with no significantly statistical differences, but in pregnant group there is description of injuries at the torso in 14.3% of the cases, while in non pregnant group only the thorax has been involved. No significant statistical differences were found between both groups with regard to demands for medical care after abuse (p=0.539). Conclusions: Intimate partner violence in pregnancy is probably underreported. Women victims of intimate partner violence during pregnancy are mostly unmarried compared with non pregnant and there seems to be a predominance of abuse in women who are pregnant for the first time. Further studies are necessary to better characterize the medico-legal aspects in this kind of situations.


We considered a data matrix with N = 3300 rows (objects, genes) and d = 13 columns representing variables (traits) measured for each object (identifled gene). The 13 characteristics were obtained from so called 'spider-plots' constructed for each gene. Our goal was to flnd a latent structure in the data and possibly reduce the dimensionality of the data. To achieve this goal we used the methods of ordinary principal components (PC), probabilistic principal components (PPCA) and feed forward neural networks (multi-layer perceptrons). We got some evidence, that H=6 latent variables explain the essential features of the data. Our results are the following: a) First six principal components explain 0.8844 of total variance, however have no interesting interpretation; b) First 6 probabilistic principal components with rotation varimax explain 78.53 % of total variance of the data and have a very interesting interpretation: the set of the primary 12 variables is reduced to 3 double factors, each factor expressed by 2 latent variables; thus we found a meaningful latent structure with a parsimonious representation. c) The multi-layer perceptron with architecture 13{6{13 explains about 88.40 % of total variance, moreover, the matrix of weights, after permuting the columns, yields the same interesting interpretation as the PPCA. Thus a neural network (perceptron) is able to reduce the dimensionality and yield a parsimonious representation of the original variables, similar to that yielded by the PPCA. This { to our knowledge { was not noticed before.


This paper considers a decentralized mixed H2/H∞ control problem for uncertain interconnected systems. The uncertainties are assumed to be value-bounded, and exist in system, control input and interconnection matrix of subsystems. A nonlinear matrix inequality (NMI) condition is derived for a robust decentralized H2/H∞ controller to exist, which achieves H2/H∞ cost performance. It is proposed to solve the NMI iteratively by the idea of homotopy, where some of the variables are fixed alternately on each iteration to reduce the NMI to a linear matrix inequality (LMI). A decentralized controller for the nominal system is computed first by imposing structural constraints on the coefficient matrices gradually. Then, the decentralized controller is modified again gradually to cope with the uncertainties.


Cooperative Reduction Selective redox transformation remains a general challenge in chemical synthesis. All too often, the most readily available precursor to a compound must be over-reduced (or over-oxidized) and then carefully coaxed back to a desired intermediate state. Such is the case with the synthesis of cyclohexanone, which is mass-produced for use in the preparation of nylon: Access by direct reduction of phenol is plagued by the rapid addition of too many hydrogen atoms to the substrate, producing an alcohol (cyclohexanol) in place of the ketone. Liu et al. (p. 1250) have discovered that the unexpected cooperation of supported palladium and a Lewis acid such as aluminum trichloride—two catalysts widely used alone but rarely in concert—facilitates highly selective conversion of phenol to cyclohexanone near room temperature. The key appears to be inhibition of the undesired ketone-to-alcohol reduction step by the Lewis acid. The cooperation of two common catalysts unexpectedly facilitates selective synthesis of a commodity chemical compound. Cyclohexanone is an industrially important intermediate in the synthesis of materials such as nylon, but preparing it efficiently through direct hydrogenation of phenol is hindered by over-reduction to cyclohexanol. Here we report that a previously unappreciated combination of two common commercial catalysts―nanoparticulate palladium (supported on carbon, alumina, or NaY zeolite) and a Lewis acid such as AlCl3―synergistically promotes this reaction. Conversion exceeding 99.9% was achieved with >99.9% selectivity within 7 hours at 1.0-megapascal hydrogen pressure and 50°C. The reaction was accelerated at higher temperature or in a compressed CO2 solvent medium. Preliminary kinetic and spectroscopic studies suggest that the Lewis acid sequentially enhances the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone and then inhibits further hydrogenation of the ketone.


The performance and the sensitivity of the neural correlator based on integral pulse frequency modulation (IPFM) are analyzed. The performance of the neural correlator is evaluated and shown to match many psychophysical test results. The behavior of the neural coder is expressed in terms of a stochastic nonlinear law. An analytical optimality condition for the mean-spike firing rate is derived. Numerical comparison between optimal and neurophysiological values shows that natural systems meet the optimality condition. >


We present a silicon slot waveguide with metallic gratings embedded on the silicon surface in the slot region. The dependence of the optical coupling between two silicon wires on the width of the metal gap and the slot size are studied in detail. The results show that the optical field in the slot region with metallic gratings is significantly enhanced compared with the traditional slot waveguide due to the surface plasmon polaritons coupling on metallic gratings. The extraordinary optical confinement is attributed to the low effective dielectric constant of metallic gratings. The effective dielectric constant decreases with the increasing wavelength, and reaches the minimum when the width of the metal gap is about 0.01 times the wavelength.


At the 2007 Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium Conference on Utility Computing, Grids and Virtualization, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Networks & Information Integration (OSD NII) presented a roadmap for transformation of the Global Information Grid (GIG) to the Net-Centric Environment (NCE). The planned transformation includes a federation of distributed computing resources, available when and where they are needed, and it will be built on such technologies as grid computing, server clustering and virtualization. The Grid Enabled Services Infrastructure (GESI) meets OSD NII roadmap requirements as it currently performs mission critical operations at a government


Abstract

Doping use is among the most important threats of modern competitive and amateur sports, with increasingly more competitive and recreational athletes using performance and image enhancing drugs. Over the last decade, a large body of evidence has shown that social-cognitive theories can be usefully applied to better understand the psychological processes underlying doping use, and researchers in this area have called for behaviour change interventions. Health risk communication represents an important area for intervention and is especially pertinent to the moral and health risk associated with doping use, and self-affirmation theory presents a relevant framework for communicating health and moral messages against doping use. The present thesis examined, for the first time, the effectiveness of self-affirmation manipulations in changing key social cognitive variables that have been associated with doping use in competitive and recreational sports.
For that purpose, three experimental studies were conducted. Study 1 investigated the effects of a self-affirmation intervention on the decision making process towards doping use among 60 exercisers who self-reported nutritional supplement use - a known risk factor for doping use. Participants in the intervention group engaged in a kindness affirmation task and control participants were asked to respond to questions on a range of unrelated issues. Both groups completed a set of social cognitive variables derived from the theory of planned behaviour. Independent samples t-tests showed significant differences between the experimental and control groups in moral norms, descriptive norms, and anticipated regret. Situational temptation and anticipated regret significantly predicted doping use intentions.
Study 2 was designed to test the effect of self-affirmation on the decision making process towards doping use among 60 elite athletes privately admitting doping use. The same manipulation with study 1 was used. After the manipulation participants read a message about the health and moral hazards of doping use, and completed measures of intentions and attitudes towards doping use, social and moral norms, self-efficacy beliefs, and anticipated regret. The results of the analyses showed that self-affirmed athletes reported weaker intentions and situational temptation scores as compared to non-affirmed participants. In addition, the self-affirmation manipulation demonstrated a significant effect on doping use intentions over and above the effect of the social-cognitive variables.
Study 3 investigated whether self-affirmation induces message acceptance through mental construal in recreational exercisers who admitted doping use. Participants were exposed to the same manipulation and message used in study 1. After reading the message they completed the Construal Level Identification Form, a measure of message acceptance, and the measures of social-cognitive variables assessed in study 1. The results of the analyses did not indicate statistically significant effects.
It was concluded that the effect of self-affirmation manipulation and social cognition on doping use intentions varies to a notable extend implying a different mechanism associated with the formation of doping use intentions among dopers and non-dopers, as well as among competitive athletes and exercisers. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for doping-related prevention interventions.


Supported phospholipid bilayers (SPBs) are useful for studying cell adhesion, cell-cell interactions, protein-lipid interactions, protein crystallization, and applications in biosensor and biomaterial areas. We have recently reported that SPBs could be formed on titanium dioxide, an important biomaterial, from vesicles containing anionic phospholipid phosphatidyl serine (PS) in the presence of calcium. Here, we show that the mobility of the fluorescently labeled PS present in these bilayers is severely restricted, whereas that of the zwitterionic phosphatidyl choline is not affected. Removal of calcium alleviated the restriction on the mobility of PS. Both components were found to be mobile in SPBs of identical compositions prepared in the presence of calcium on silica. To explain these results, we propose that, on TiO2, PS is trapped in the proximal leaflet of the bilayers. This proposal is supported by the results of protein adsorption experiments carried out on bilayers containing various amounts of PS prepared on silica and titania.


PURPOSE
2-[(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) is potentially useful in assessing lymph nodes and detecting distant metastases in women with primary breast cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Women diagnosed with operable breast cancer within 3 months underwent FDG-PET at one of five Ontario study centers followed by axillary lymph node assessment (ALNA) consisting of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone if sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) were negative, SLNB with axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) if SLNB or PET was positive, or ALND alone if SLNs were not identified.

RESULTS
Between January 2005 and March 2007, 325 analyzable women entered this study. Sentinel nodes were found for 312 (96%) of 325 women and were positive for tumor in 90 (29%) of 312. ALND was positive in seven additional women. Using ALNA as the gold standard, sensitivity for PET was 23.7% (95% CI, 15.9% to 33.6%), specificity was 99.6% (95% CI, 97.2% to 99.9%), positive predictive value was 95.8% (95% CI, 76.9% to 99.8%), negative predictive value was 75.4% (95% CI, 70.1% to 80.1%), and prevalence was 29.8% (95% CI, 25.0% to 35.2%). Using logistic regression, tumor size was predictive for prevalence of tumor in the axilla and for PET sensitivity. PET scan was suspicious for distant metastases in 13 patients; three (0.9%) were confirmed as metastatic disease and 10 (3.0%) were false positive.

CONCLUSION
FDG-PET is not sufficiently sensitive to detect positive axillary lymph nodes, nor is it sufficiently specific to appropriately identify distant metastases. However, the very high positive predictive value (96%) suggests that PET when positive is indicative of disease in axillary nodes, which may influence surgical care.


The city of Beirut has been heavily destroyed during and after the civil war. A private company, Solidere s.a.l., attempts to rebuild the City Center in a way heavily contested by observers who fear the loss of the city's memory because of Solidere's focus on luxury offices, shops, and apartments. This paper reviews some aspects of the project in the light of its attempt to both surpass the sectarian lines dividing Beirut and to reorient the City Center and the town with it towards international networks within the Arab world and the Lebanese diaspora. Using a George Spencer-Brown modeling of Solidere to reconstruct the project with respect to second-order observers getting caught up within their mutual orientation towards each other the paper asks whether there is a chance to replace the city's altogether too narrow if understandable focus on the region's conflicts, big investors' money, and a street wary of one-sided advantages with an acknowledgement of Beirut's uncertain future. Such an acknowledgement, or so it seems, would have a rather more civilizing impact on the city than its current focus on the history of Beirut and its divergent memories.


Despite the fact that hormonal combination used in huge Wpmen's Health Initiative (WHI) is not common all over the world, and treated population is, because of age, in risk per se, study results have consternated not only lay users, but prescribers too. Namely, increased cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease risk associated with long term use of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) have rapidly declined the number of women treated with HT (either estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestogen). Considering recent position statements from leading organizations dealing with menopause, individualization of therapy and lower dosage HT becomes the state of the art. Not only WHI, but also results of other studies published during past few years, have induced curiosity for non-estrogen containing treatments in climacteric medicine. This review shows not only mandatory list of possibilities, but also emphasises which of the alternative and complementary treatments are evidence based regarding published randomized controlled trials.


We establish a geometric condition that determines when a type III von Neumann algebra arises from a foliation whose holonomy becomes affine with respect to a suitable transverse coordinate system. Under such an assumption the Godbillon-Vey class of the foliation becomes trivial in contrast to the case considered in Connes's famous theorem.


Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are produced by rapidly thermally quenching supercooled liquid metal alloys below the glass transition temperature at rates much faster than the critical cooling rate R(c) below which crystallization occurs. The glass-forming ability of BMGs increases with decreasing R(c), and thus good glass-formers possess small values of R(c). We perform molecular dynamics simulations of binary Lennard-Jones (LJ) mixtures to quantify how key parameters, such as the stoichiometry, particle size difference, attraction strength, and heat of mixing, influence the glass-formability of model BMGs. For binary LJ mixtures, we find that the best glass-forming mixtures possess atomic size ratios (small to large) less than 0.92 and stoichiometries near 50:50 by number. In addition, weaker attractive interactions between the smaller atoms facilitate glass formation, whereas negative heats of mixing (in the experimentally relevant regime) do not change R(c) significantly. These results are tempered by the fact that the slowest cooling rates achieved in our simulations correspond to ~10(11) K/s, which is several orders of magnitude higher than R(c) for typical BMGs. Despite this, our studies represent a first step in the development of computational methods for quantitatively predicting glass-formability.


The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental impacts of building activities in South Africa (SA). To achieve the objectives of the study, a critical review of literature was done which was followed by the use of a questionnaire to collect primary data on the possible barriers to the adoption of LCA methodology for buildings. Five major environmental impacts were identified from literature, which were subsequently explored with the use of the questionnaire survey. The questionnaires were distributed to the construction professional team (i.e., Quantity Surveyors, Architects, Facilities Managers, Construction Managers, Civil Engineers, and Site Engineers) in the South African construction industry. Findings from the study revealed that all the stages of a building cause environmental impacts. Although, for some of the identified environmental impacts caused by building activities participants where neutral for example, that building activities lead to "Loss of Marine Life". A comparison was done between the years of experience and the view on what the environmental impacts are and it was found that participants with more years of experience agree more that building activities causes environmental impacts as compared to participants with less years of experience, in the construction industry. The factor that was highly agreed upon by participants with more years of experience is Building Materials. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on the environmental impacts of buildings across their life cycle in the South African construction industry. The study therefore is valuable to the SA construction industry, built environment, infrastructure development, and/or sustainable urban development.


The rate of convergence of the distribution of order statistics to the corresponding extreme-value distribution may be characterized by the uniform and total variation metrics. de Haan and Resnick [4] derived the convergence rate when the second order generalized regularly varying function has second order derivatives. In this paper, based on the properties of the generalized regular variation and the second order generalized variation and characterized by uniform and total variation metrics, the convergence rates of the distribution of the largest order statistic are obtained under weaker conditions.


An analytic I-V model for lightly doped drain (LDD) MOSFET devices is presented. In this model, the n-region is considered to be a modified buried-channel MOSFET device, and the channel region is considered to be an intrinsic enhancement-mode MOSFET device. Combining the models of these two regions, the drain current in the linear/saturation regions and the saturation voltage can be calculated directly from the terminal voltages. In addition, the parameters used in the channel region can be extracted by a series of least square fittings. According to comparisons between the experimental data measured from the test transistors and the theoretical calculations, the developed I-V model is shown to be valid for wide ranges of channel lengths.


INTRODUCTION Thyroid peroxidase activity inhibiting immunoglobulins (anti-TPO Ab) is a sign of autoimmune process in the thyroid gland. Association of hyperthyroidism and diabetes mellitus has been classically described. However, hypometabolic state, as a consequence of hypothyroidism, is not frequently linked with the biological activity of insulin. CASE DESCRIPTION A 51-year old man was admitted to the Clinic with unregulated diabetes, untreated for 5 yrs. Insulin therapy was introduced one year before, with 96 units on admission. He had bowel movements every three days. BH 176cm, BW 120kg, a puffy face and swollen body. Fundus examination did not show specific diabetic leasions. Hepatic steatosis was present on ultrasound examination. Occlusion of coronary arteries and superficial femoral artreries was present on angiography, and stenosis of carotid artreies on doppler duplex examination. HbA1c 14.7%. TSH 85.7 mlU/l, FT4 1.6 pmol/l, FT3 1.4. Anti TPO Ab >600 IU/ml, triglycerides 2.26 mmol/l, HDL 1.15, cholesterolemia 10.0. Levothyroxine substitution was introduced starting with 25 mgr, gradually increasing up to 75 mgr. The need for insulin gradually decreased and finally it was switched to glibenclamide 5mg +0+2.5 mg. On discharge his FBG was 7.0 mmol/l. HOMA -B 52.3, HOMA-R 9.8. DISCUSSION We can conclude that in our patient secondary obesity caused deterioration of diabetes. After introduction of substitution therapy with levothyroxine, decrease of insulin resistance and of cholesterol level was established. The duration of undiagnosed hypothyroidism can be a matter of speculation. However, the beneficial effect of normalized metabolism on atherosclerotic process will be obvious in the future.


This paper succinctly illustrates challenges encountered when modelling systems mathematically. Mathematical modelling entirely entails math symbols,numbers and relations forming a functional equation. These mathematical equations can representany system of interests, also provides ease computer simulations. Mathematical models are extensively utilized in different field s i.e. engineering, by scientists, and analysts to give a clear understanding of the problem . Modelling contributed a lot since inversion of the concept. Simple and complex structures erected as a result of modelling. In that sense modelling is an important part of engineering. It can be referred to as the primary building block of every system. A complex model however is not an ideal solution. Engineers have to be cautious not to discard all information as this might render the designed model useless– as detailed in this paper the model should be simple with all necessary and relevant data. Basically the purpose of thispaper is to show the importance and clearly explain in detail challenges encountered when modelling


A low-temperature polarization-resolved magneto-photoluminescence experiment is performed on individual PbS/CdS core/shell quantum dots (QDs). The experiment enables a direct measurement of the exciton Landé g factor and the anisotropic zero-field splitting of the lowest emissive bright exciton triplet in PbS/CdS QDs. While anisotropic splittings of individual QDs distribute randomly in 104-325 μeV range, the exciton Landé g factors increase from 0.95 to 2.70 as the emission energy of the QD increases from 1.0 to 1.2 eV. The tight-binding calculations allow to rationalize these trends as a direct consequence of reducing a cubic symmetry of QD via addition/removal of a few (<70) atoms from the surfaces of the PbS core. Furthermore, it is observed that while right (σ  + ) and left (σ   - ) circularly polarized photoluminescence (PL) peaks split linearly with magnetic field as expected for Zeeman effect, the energy splitting between X and Y linearly polarized PL peaks remains nearly unchanged. The theoretical study reveals rich and complex magnetic field-induced interplay of bright triplet and dark exciton states explaining this puzzling behavior. These findings fill the missing gaps in the understanding of lead salt QDs and provide foundation for development of classical and quantum light sources operating at telecommunication wavelengths.


This chapter discusses the development of narrative approaches in the study of identity formation and change in educational linguistics. Narrative approaches are promising for examining identity because they allow researchers to study how people position themselves in relation to larger societal structures and macrolevel discourses. Narratives can be analyzed to study identities as they relate to ideological topics such as beliefs and attitudes, and they are especially well suited for identifying the discursive positions that individuals take up in the stories they tell when making sense of their own and others' lives. In educational linguistics, narratives have become increasingly used to understand how people negotiate their identities in classrooms and in their everyday life. The analysis of narrative encompasses both life history autobiographic narratives as well as more interactionally contextualized narratives that take place in educational contexts. Those who are interested in developing an understanding of how people view their own and others' experiences will find narrative analysis a worthwhile undertaking. Researchers who want to investigate the role of narratives in co-constructing experience through collaborative storytelling will also find narrative analysis to be a very useful approach.


Choledochal cysts are malformations of the biliary ductal system, which rarely occur in infancy. In neonates and infants, choledochal cysts are congenital, may be associated with distal biliary atresia and typically presents with cholestatic jaundice and acholic stools characteristic of biliary obstruction. In older children and adults, it may be acquired in association with an anomalous pancreaticobiliary union and presents with any combination of intermittent jaundice, abdominal pain, and a palpable abdominal mass. Early detection of choledochal cysts is important in the prevention of the fatal complications of biliary obstruction. Here, we present two cases of congenital choledochal cyst in which the patients were 9 weeks old and 7 weeks old respectively. Both of them presented with jaundice, acholic stools, and hepatomegaly. Combined use of sonography, computed tomography and hepatobiliary scintigraphy demonstrated the presence of choledochal cysts. Thereafter, they underwent surgical excision of the cysts with Roux-en-Y reconstruction of the biliary tree; the results were successful.


OBJECTIVE
Vitamin D deficiency rickets often causes growth retardation, impaired bone formation and hypocalcemia in children. It is well known that rickets is mainly caused by vitamin D deficiency, but whether there is hereditary susceptibility of children to develop vitamin D deficiency rickets is unknown. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene has been used as one of genetic markers in studying the metabolic diseases of bone. The present study aimed to explore the hereditary susceptibility of children to develop rickets through studying the association between VDR gene start codon polymorphism and vitamin D deficiency rickets,

METHODS
The subjects were selected from Kunming city, every subject was of Han ethnic group. The subjects were composed of two groups, the patient group consisted of 48 children with active vitamin D deficiency rickets which was diagnosed clinically and confirmed radiologically; the control group was composed of 92 normal children. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), DNA sequence analysis and genetic analysis methods were used. A restriction fragment length polymorphism in the start codon of VDR gene (FokI) was tested in both groups.

RESULTS
VDR gene start codon polymorphism was tested successfully for every subject. Frequencies of FF, Ff and ff genotypes were 46%, 33% and 21% in the rickets group, and 22%, 52% and 26% in the control group, respectively. A significant difference was found in the frequency distribution of VDR genotype between two groups (chi(2) = 8.912, P = 0.012). In the patient group, Ff and ff genotypes were less common than control group, but the FF genotype was more common than control group (OR = 3.046), indicating that FF genotype may be significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency rickets. Moreover, VDR allele frequencies of FokI polymorphism also showed significant difference between the two groups (chi(2) = 5.451, P = 0.020), F alleles were more common in patient group than in control group. DNA sequence analysis identified that the start codon of F allele was mutated from ATG to ACG.

CONCLUSION
There is an association between VDR gene start codon polymorphism and vitamin D deficiency rickets. This study suggested the possibility that VDR gene polymorphism might be important in determining an individual's susceptibility to development of vitamin D deficiency rickets.


A novel laser-plasma-based source of relativistic electrons is described. It involves a combination of orthogonally directed laser beams, which are focused in a plasma. One beam excites a wake-eld electron plasma wave. Another locally alters the trajectory of some of the electrons in such a way that they can be accelerated and trapped by the wave. With currently-available table-top terawatt lasers, a single ultrashort-duration electron bunch can be accelerated to multi-MeV energies in a fraction of a millimeter, with femtosecond synchronization between the light pulse, the electron bunch and the plasma wave. Both analytical and numerical-simulation results are presented.


A brief review of the current status of hyperscaling relations is given, and some new results for finite size systems are presented.


Iran. Abstract Introduction : Obesity leads to an increase in oxidative stress and insulin resistance.Flaxseed consumption is increasingly incorporated into the diet of individuals, in purpose of weight reduction.There are limited data on efficacy of flaxseed on improving anthropometric indices.The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of flaxseed on anthropometric and oxidative stress indexes in overweight and obese prediabeticindividuals. Methods: This study was conducted among 99prediabeticparticipants with body mass index(BMI)25-34.9.They are assigned randomly to three groups:high dose flaxseed(HD) and low dose flaxseed(LD) as intervention groups and third group as control group(C).HD receiveddaily 40 g milled flaxseed,LD receiveddaily 20 g flaxseed for 12 week and C group received no intervention.Anthropometric indicesand MDAwere measured before and after intervention. Result: 92 individuals remained at the end of 12 th week for analysis.Weight, BMI and waist circumstancesdecreased in intervention groups compared to the control group and baseline(p<0/005).Although significant differences observed in MDA in HDand C group, but this difference was not significantbetween intervention groups and control. Conclusion: The result of present study demonstrated that consumption of both dose of flaxseed (daily 20 g and 40 g) can lower weight,BMI and waist circumstancesinprediabetic patients, but it's not dose-dependent, but flaxseed has no significant effect on oxidative stress in


Cooling load reduction was analysed of a ventilation system adopting a regenerative evaporative cooler. The regenerative evaporative cooler is a kind of indirect evaporative cooler which cools the air down to its inlet dewpoint temperature in principle without change in the humidity ratio. The regenerative evaporative cooler was found able to cool the ventilation air to 18~21℃ when the outdoor condition ranges 25~35℃ and 0.01~0.02 ㎏/㎏. When the outdoor humidity ratio is lower than 0.018 kg/kg, the regenerative evaporative cooler was found to provide cooling performance enough to compensate the ventilation load completely and to supply additional cooling as well. Energy simulation during the summer was carried out for a typical office building with the ventilation system using the regenerative evaporative cooler. The results showed that the seasonal cooling load can be reduced by about 40% by applying the regenerative evaporative cooler as a ventilation conditioner. The reduction was found to increase as the outdoor temperature increases and the outdoor humidity ratio decreases.


In several arenas of application, it is becoming increasingly common to consider time series of curves or functions. Many inferential procedures employed in the analysis of such data involve the long‐run covariance function or operator, which is analogous to the long‐run covariance matrix familiar to finite‐dimensional time‐series analysis and econometrics. This function may be naturally estimated using a smoothed periodogram type estimator evaluated at frequency zero that relies on the choice of a bandwidth parameter. Motivated by a number of prior contributions in the finite‐dimensional setting, in particular Newey and West ( ), we propose a bandwidth selection method that aims to minimize the estimator's asymptotic mean‐squared normed error (AMSNE) in L2[0,1]2. As the AMSNE depends on unknown population quantities including the long‐run covariance function itself, estimates for these are plugged in in an initial step after which the estimated AMSNE can be minimized to produce an empirical optimal bandwidth. We show that the bandwidth produced in this way is asymptotically consistent with the AMSNE optimal bandwidth, with quantifiable rates, under mild stationarity and moment conditions. These results and the efficacy of the proposed methodology are evaluated by means of a comprehensive simulation study, from which we can offer practical advice on how to select the bandwidth parameter in this setting.