We prove the well-posedness of entropy weak solutions for a class of scalar conservation laws with non-local flux arising in traffic modeling. We approximate the problem by a Lax-Friedrichs scheme and we provide L ∞ and BV estimates for the sequence of approximate solutions. Stability with respect to the initial data is obtained from the entropy condition through the doubling of variable technique. The limit model as the kernel support tends to infinity is also studied.


Bio-based carboxyl-terminated hyperbranched crosslinkers have been synthesised by the facile esterification reaction of glycerol with succinic anhydride (Gly-SA). The Gly-SA crosslinking molecules have a large number of terminal carboxyl groups, which can crosslink through the epoxide of epoxidised soybean oil (ESO), making a highly flexible transparent film with excellent oxidative resistance. The effect of different molecular weights of Gly-SA cured ESO on the thermal and mechanical properties of the resulting films was also investigated. This study demonstrated that an increase in the molecular weights of Gly-SA, led to a decrease in the curing rate of mixtures, whilst the glass transition temperature (Tg) of Gly-SA cured ESO increased due to the incorporation of the bulky crosslinker. The use of a Gly-SA crosslinker prepared at 150 °C, resulted in a film (EGS150) with a tensile strength 13 times greater than of the control film, exhibited more than a 220% increase in elongation at break and the Young's modulus quadrupled compared to the value obtained for the control sample. It is noteworthy that the tensile strength and elongation at break improved with increasing Gly-SA chain length, suggesting the pre-polymerised crosslinkers contribute to the enhanced mechanical properties of the materials.


Ethacizin is a phenothiazine derivative antiarrhythmic agent that blocks sodium current. The cell-attached patch clamp of single adult rat ventricular cells was used to investigate mechanisms of use-dependent block of sodium current. Under control conditions peak open probability, first latency, fraction of null sweeps, mean open time and single channel current amplitude were not different at both 1 and 4 Hz. Ethacizin (5 microM) caused a significant decrease in the peak open probability, a significant increase in the first latency and an increase in the fraction of null sweeps at 4 Hz compared with 1 Hz; mean open time and single channel current amplitude were unchanged. These observations support a model of antiarrhythmic action which proposes complete block of single channel conductance resulting from drug binding. A "runs analysis" revealed nonrandom clustering of null traces in the presence of ethacizin and no clustering in control patches. Increasing stimulation frequency makes this nonrandom behavior more apparent. We conclude that the relatively slow cycling of a few channels between blocked and unblocked states induces null sweeps clustering. The implications of these findings for mechanisms of drug block of the Na channel are discussed.


Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is considered to be the most common epithelial malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity. Despite advancements in diagnosis and therapeutics the clinical outcome of the disease has not improved much which may be attributed to tumor biology and heterogeneity. Bone invasion by cancer cells is currently staged as a moderately advanced disease. However, many low-grade carcinomas such as verrucous carcinoma and carcinoma cuniculatum show body invasion but less nodal metastases and better overall survival. The present study was orchestrated to analyze if bone invasion in OSCC has any impact on regional nodal metastases and survival. Materials and methods A total of 122 cases of OSCC who underwent excision and neck dissection were retrieved and included. These cases were then divided into two study groups. Group I comprised 56 OSCC cases with bone involvement and 66 cases with no bony involvement. The bone invasion was correlated with nodal metastases, survival and pattern of invasion. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results There was no statistically significant correlation between bone invasion with either nodal metastases or pattern of invasion, however, the worst pattern of invasion (WPOI)-4,5 showed a statistically higher incidence of nodal involvement in OSCC. No statistical difference was noted in overall survival between the two groups. Conclusion The worst pattern of invasion and not bone involvement, depicts nodal metastases in OSCC and thus, deserves consideration while staging and treatment planning.


The present work is part of a series of studies conducted by the authors on analytical models of avascular tumour growth that exhibit both geometrical anisotropy and physical inhomogeneity. In particular, we consider a tumour structure formed in distinct ellipsoidal regions occupied by cell populations at a certain stage of their biological cycle. The cancer cells receive nutrient by diffusion from an inhomogeneous supply and they are subject to also an inhomogeneous pressure field imposed by the tumour microenvironment. It is proved that the lack of symmetry is strongly connected to a special condition that should hold between the data imposed by the tumour's surrounding medium, in order for the ellipsoidal growth to be realizable, a feature already present in other non-symmetrical yet more degenerate models. The nutrient and the inhibitor concentration, as well as the pressure field, are provided in analytical fashion via closed-form series solutions in terms of ellipsoidal eigenfunctions, while their behaviour is demonstrated by indicative plots. The evolution equation of all the tumour's ellipsoidal interfaces is postulated in ellipsoidal terms and a numerical implementation is provided in view of its solution. From the mathematical point of view, the ellipsoidal system is the most general coordinate system that the Laplace operator, which dominates the mathematical models of avascular growth, enjoys spectral decomposition. Therefore, we consider the ellipsoidal model presented in this work, as the most general analytic model describing the avascular growth in inhomogeneous environment. Additionally, due to the intrinsic degrees of freedom inherited to the model by the ellipsoidal geometry, the ellipsoidal model presented can be adapted to a very populous class of avascular tumours, varying in figure and in orientation.


IObjective: With the current rate of medical professional training, it is estimated there will be a lack of 45,000
primary care physicians by 2020. Student-run medical clinics (110 nation-wide) may help to fill this need,
as well as educate medical students, and have been proposed as a tool to foster student interest in primary
care. The impact of involvement with student-run clinics on medical student career choice is unknown.
Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, 12-item, anonymous, web-based survey of 2,060 current/former
medical students from the New York Medical College classes of 2005-2015 was conducted. The survey
assessed basic demographic information, level of participation with the student-run clinic (La Casita de la Salud),
current/future career choice, and self-perceived determinants of career choice. Results: Participation with
La Casita was not significantly associated with primary care career choice (50.21% vs. 49.79%; P = 0.659).
Of the participants who went into primary care, 26% reported that their experience with La Casita influenced
their decision to enter the primary care field and 11% changed their initial career intentions to that of primary
care. Those who entered pediatrics and emergency medicine were more likely to have participated with La
Casita than not (66% vs. 34%; P = 0.01 and 71% vs. 29%; P < 0.01, respectively). Conclusions: Participation
with a student-run clinic may not affect the career choice of an overall medical school class, but it does play
an influential role for a minority of students. Student-run clinics may also serve to offer an additional provider
source to communities that have limited physician access.


(1) Ca ions play an extremely important role in the fertilization of Clupea eggs. When the eggs are repeatedly washed in an isotonic Ca-free Ringer's solution (M/4.5 NaCl 100 parts+M/4.5 KCl 3.5 parts+M/6.7 MgCl2 2.4 parts, pH 7.6 by NaHCO3) and inseminated in such a solution, not a single one is fertilized. However, if a few drops of CaCl2 solution are added to this solution, all the eggs are fertilized at once, In one experiment, the eggs and sperm were kept overnight in the Ca-free Ringer's solution. The next morning all the eggs were intact and not a single one was fertilized. At that time a few drops of CaCl2 solution were added to this solution and instantly all the eggs were fertilized and began to cleave at the proper time. Thus, the fertilization of the Clupea egg is closely dependent on Ca ions in the surrounding medium. It has been found that the failure of fertilization in the Ca-free Ringer's solution results from the fact that the spermatozoa fail to enter the micropyle. As pointed out previously (YANAGIMACHI '57: Zool . Mag. 66; Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 23), the Clupea spermatozoa are rendered extremely active in the micropyle area of the mature egg. When Ca ions are lacking in the surrounding medium, the spermatozoa are not activated: the spermatozoa are quiescent even if they are brought to the micropyle area of the egg, so that not a single spermatozoon enters the micropyle. It is only when a sufficient amount of Ca ions is present in the medium, that the spermatozoa are activated and enter the micropyle. It has been shown that Mg ions can be substituted for Ca ions, though the former must be in higher concentration than the latter. Data on fertilization of the eggs in the solutions containing various amounts of Ca ions and Mg ions are shown in Tables 1 and 2. (2) Ca ions are necessary for parthenogenetic activation of the eggs. When the eggs are repeatedly washed in the Ca-free Ringer's solution and pricked with a fine glass needle, not a single egg is activated. The same is true when the eggs are treated with an isotonic solution of sodium oxalate (a Ca precipitant) for 15 minutes or longer. When such eggs are transferred into the isotonic Ringer's solution containing Ca ions, all the eggs are instantly activated without further pricking. Thus, the activation by pricking seems to depend on the presence of Ca ions. The eggs are also activated by chemical agents, such as saponin. In this case, too, the


Well-expressed endogenous circadian rhythms in Acetabularia acetabulum were spectrally analyzed and recorded in time-period distributions. The stability of the circadian periods under constant conditions and their changes could be monitored continually in step sizes close to the circadian period length. The resolution of period estimates of the circadian component was increased by a factor of approximately 4-10 by adapting analyzed interval lengths to full period sizes of the corresponding main component. Methodological aspects of the applied algorithms are discussed by means of examples that measure the temperature dependency of the circadian period.


Trendsetter Presentation https://doi.org/10.26188/22106807.v1

As an enthusiastic online teacher for more than two decades, I have learned a great deal over the years. This presentation will highlight a few selected lessons, from early realisations to covid-inspired learning. I will share a little of what I have learned from working with esteemed collaborators, including a glimpse of university students' online learning experiences, and insights into developing online teaching in higher education through continuing professional learning.
On the basis of research and experience, this presentation will draw parallels between learning online and learning to teach online. Key themes discussed will include diversity, agency, social learning, creativity, and continuity.
Participants will be invited to reflect upon their own experiences and epiphanies as online teachers and learners.


To gain insight into the molecular mechanism of RNA editing, we have characterized the low psii accumulation66 (lpa66) Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant, which displays a high chlorophyll fluorescence phenotype. Its perturbed chlorophyll fluorescence is reflected in reduced levels of photosystem II (PSII) proteins. In vivo protein labeling showed that synthesis rates of the PSII reaction center protein D1/D2 were lower, and turnover rates of PSII core proteins higher, than in wild-type counterparts. The assembly of newly synthesized proteins into PSII occurs in the lpa66 mutant but with reduced efficiency compared with the wild type. LPA66 encodes a chloroplast protein of the pentatricopeptide repeat family. In lpa66 mutants, editing of psbF that converts serine to phenylalanine is specifically impaired. Thus, LPA66 is specifically required for editing the psbF transcripts in Arabidopsis, and the amino acid alternation due to lack of editing strongly affects the efficiency of the assembly of PSII complexes.


This paper explores why firms should include sustainable development considerations in supply chains as a means of improving social and environmental impacts of production systems. The recognition of financial, social and environmental elements however creates greater complexity, which makes optimisation approaches to sustainable supply chain problems infeasible. We frame our analysis using Kauffman's (1993) NK theory, with interactions among financial, social and environmental elements identified through empirical research conducted in Brazilian oil and gas, sugarcane ethanol and biodiesel supply chains. We use a matrix of interactions (Baldwin and Clark 1999) as a template, allowing for the identification of key financial, social and environmental elements and their interconnections within and between supply chains. We contribute by arguing that firms focusing on individual sustainable development elements independently are unlikely to find satisfactory solutions to their sustainable supply chain problems. We further argue that certain sectors have a propensity to be socially exclusive, whereas others are potentially socially inclusive; in such cases, firms operating in exclusive sectors may be able to find satisfactory solutions to their broader sustainability strategies by investing in the social and environmental performance of other supply chains.


The rotating components such as turbine rotors in service are generally subjected to multiaxial cyclic loading conditions. The prediction of fatigue life for turbine rotor components under complex multiaxial loading conditions is very important to prevent the fatigue failures in service. In this paper, axial and torsional low cycle fatigue tests were preformed for 3.5NiCrMo steels serviced low pressure turbine rotor of nuclear power plant. Several methods to predict biaxial fatigue life such as Tresca, von Mises and Brown & Miller's critical plane approach were evaluated to correlate the experimental results for serviced NiCrMoV steel. The fracture mode and fatigue characteristics of NiCrMoV steel were discussed based on the results of fatigue tests performed under the axial and torsional test conditions. In particular, the Brown and Miller's critical plane approach was found to best correlate the experimental data with predictions being within a factor of 2.


The most popular rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum 1792) production technologies include both an extensive method with the flow through system (FTS) and an intensive method with the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Their impact on the fish was evaluated with a morphological assessment of the gills, as these are organs susceptible to environmental changes. Trout of 350 - 500 g body mass were caught for trial in spring and autumn, with 36 fish originating from 3 fish farms with the FTS system and an equal number from 3 RAS fish farms (n = 6). The fish were macroscopically examined and the gills were investigated microscopically (haematoxylin and eosin staining). Hypertrophy and hyperplasia were most commonly detected, amounting to 89% of all structural abnormalities. These lesions were slightly more common in the FTS, especially in autumn, whereas the changes to the blood vessels in the gills were observed more frequently in the rainbow trout from the RAS system than in the fish obtained from the FTS technology (the difference was statistically significant). The morphological lesions in the mucous cells of the gills were detected at a comparable severity regardless of the technology or production season. The predominantly low values of the histopathologic indices, which described the microscopic lesions in the gills of fish from the FTS and RAS systems, showed that the examined organ was most often free of lesions or demonstrated only minor morphological damage regardless of the production technology.


Two clinically identical cases of young, pregnant women, presented with exocervical polypoid masses are described. Because of beginning delivery in both cases, the diagnoses are made on frozen sections. In the first case histological examination reveals microglandular endocervical hyperplasia. A successful delivery by caesarian section and no more operations is performed. In the second case, an endocervical adenocarcinoma is diagnosed and after a successful delivery by caesarian section, a laparohysterectomy with bilateral adnexectomy and lymph node dissection is performed. Detailed histological examination of the endocervical neoplasm discloses a well differentiated papillary villoglandular adenocarcinoma, containing minor elements of more aggressive serous carcinoma, which may adversely affect the outcome. Three consequent recurrences are found in this patient for a period of 5 years and 3 months after the operation.


Biodiversity crisis is one of the many crises that started at the turn of the millennia. Concrete form of expression is still disputed, but there is a relatively high consensus regarding the high rate of degradation and the urgent need for action. The strategy of action outlines a strong economic component, together with the recognition of market mechanisms as the most effective policies to protect biodiversity. In this context, biodiversity and ecosystem services are natural assets that play a key role in economic strategies and technological development to promote development and prosperity. Developing and strengthening policies for transition to an economy based on efficient use of resources is the way forward. To emphasize the co-viability specific to the connection economyecosystem services, scientific approach aimed on one hand how to implement policies for nature conservation and on the other hand, the concepts underlying the economic expression of ecosystem services' value, in the context of current technology. Following the analysis of business opportunities associated with changes in ecosystem services was concluded that development of market mechanisms for nature conservation is a trend that is increasingly stronger individualized within recent years. Although there are still many controversial issues that have already given rise to an obvious bias, international organizations and national governments have initiated and implemented in cooperation or independently such mechanisms. Consequently, they created the conditions for convergence between private interests and social interests of nature conservation, so there are opportunities for ongoing business development which leads, among other things, the positive effects on biodiversity. Finally, points out that markets fail to quantify the value of most ecosystem services. Existing price signals reflect at best, only a proportion of the total amount corresponding provision of food, water or fuel. Keywords—ecosystem services, economic evaluation, nature


We discuss the syntax and semantics of relational Horn logic (RHL) and partial Horn logic (PHL). RHL is an extension of the Datalog programming language that allows introducing and equating variables in conclusions. PHL is a syntactic extension of RHL by partial functions and one of the many equivalent notions of essentially algebraic theory. Our main contribution is a new construction of free models. We associate to RHL and PHL sequents classifying morphisms, which enable us to characterize logical satisfaction using lifting properties. We then obtain free and weakly free models using the small object argument. The small object argument can be understood as an abstract generalization of Datalog evaluation. It underpins the implementation of the Eqlog Datalog engine, which computes free models of PHL theories.


This report presents the thermal-hydraulic design criteria (THDC) developed for the tungsten neutron source (TNS). The THDC are developed for the normal operations, operational transients, and design-basis accidents. The requirements of the safety analyses are incorporated into the design criteria, consistent with the integrated safety management and the safety-by-design philosophy implemented throughout the APT design process. The phenomenology limiting the thermal-hydraulic design and the confidence level requirements for each limit are discussed. The overall philosophy of the uncertainty analyses and the confidence level requirements also are presented. Different sets of criteria are developed for normal operations, operational transients, anticipated accidents, unlikely accidents, extremely unlikely accidents, and accidents during TNS replacement. In general, the philosophy is to use the strictest criteria for the high-frequency events. The criteria is relaxed as the event frequencies become smaller. The THDC must be considered as a guide for the design philosophy and not as a hard limit. When achievable, design margins greater than those required by the THDC must be used. However, if a specific event sequence cannot meet the THDC, expensive design changes are not necessary if the single event sequence results in sufficient margin to safety criteria and does not challenge the plant availability or investment protection considerations.


PURPOSE
Radiotherapy for childhood cancer is associated with elevated subsequent neoplasm (SN) risk, but the contribution of rare variants in DNA damage response and radiation sensitivity genes to SN risk is unknown.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We conducted whole-exome sequencing in a cohort of childhood cancer survivors originally diagnosed during 1970 to 1986 (mean follow-up, 32.7 years), with reconstruction of doses to body regions from radiotherapy records. We identified patients who developed SN types previously reported to be related to radiotherapy (RT-SNs; eg, basal cell carcinoma [BCC], breast cancer, meningioma, thyroid cancer, sarcoma) and matched controls (sex, childhood cancer type/diagnosis, age, SN location, radiation dose, survival). Conditional logistic regression assessed SN risk associated with potentially protein-damaging rare variants (SnpEff, ClinVar) in 476 DNA damage response or radiation sensitivity genes with exact permutation-based P values using a Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold of P < 8.06 × 10-5.

RESULTS
Among 5,105 childhood cancer survivors of European descent, 1,108 (21.7%) developed at least 1 RT-SN. Out-of-field RT-SN risk, excluding BCC, was associated with homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene variants (patient cases, 23.2%; controls, 10.8%; odds ratio [OR], 2.6; 95% CI, 1.7 to 3.9; P = 4.79 × 10-5), most notably but nonsignificantly for FANCM (patient cases, 4.0%; matched controls, 0.6%; P = 9.64 × 10-5). HRR variants were not associated with likely in/near-field RT-SNs, excluding BCC (patient cases, 12.7%; matched controls, 12.9%; P = .92). Irrespective of radiation dose, risk for RT-SNs was also associated with EXO1 variants (patient cases, 1.8%; controls, 0.4%; P = 3.31 × 10-5), another gene implicated in DNA double-strand break repair.

CONCLUSION
In this large-scale discovery study, we identified novel associations between RT-SN risk after childhood cancer and potentially protein-damaging rare variants in genes involved in DNA double-strand break repair, particularly HRR. With replication, these results could affect screening recommendations for childhood cancer survivors and risk-benefit assessments of treatment approaches.


Land cover/land use categories are relevant components in land management. Understanding how land cover/land use change over time is necessary to assess the consequences of humans and natural stressors on the earth's environment and resources. The aim of the study was to map and monitor the spatial and temporal change in land cover/land use for the periods of 1977, 1991 and 2016 and to predict change detection areas in Davidson County, Tennessee. The land cover/land use categories were classified using maximum likelihood algorithm and post classification comparison change detection analysis was performed. Classified image differencing technique was also used to predict change detection areas in Geographic Information System. The land cover/land use categories were successfully classified with a kappa value of about 78%. The land cover/land use classes changed significantly from 1977 to 2016 in Davidson County, Tennessee. Wetlands and bare land had a net decrease on average of about 97% between 1977 and 2016 whereas; developed areas and forest had a net increase on average of around 40% between 1977 and 2016. Urbanization appeared to be one of the main drivers of the change in land cover/land use.  This information could be used in land management and planning by environmental managers, policy makers and other stakeholders.


Rootkits are a powerful tool in a Digital Age arsenal. By manipulating the most crucial asset of all, information, they can turn computers against their users. This article explains the core concepts of rootkits for a reader who is not necessarily a computer security professional. By understanding what they are and how they work, we can consider their practical applications and legal implications.


It is commonly accepted that quality testing is the integral part of system engineering. Recent research highlights the need of shifting testing of a system to the earliest phases of engineering in order to reduce the number of errors resulting from miscommunicated and/or wrongly specified requirements. Information and Computer Science education might need to adapt to such needs. This paper explores the perspectives and benefits of testing-based teaching of requirements engineering. Model Driven Engineering (MDE) is known to promote the early testing perspective through fast prototyping of a prospective system contributing in this way to semantic validation of requirements. Our previous research presents empirically validated positive results on the learning effectiveness of modelbased requirements engineering in combination with adapted MDE-prototyping method within an educational context to test the requirements and to test the requirements testability. Despite these positive results, our observation of the prototype testing patterns of novice analysts suggest that combining this prototypebased learning with the teaching of testing skills, such combined approach can result in even better learning outcomes.


The number of Hungarian pig population was 3.2 million in February 2010, 150 thousand less than in the previous year. This included 226 thousand brood sows, 54 thousand less than in the previous year, and this number is expected to fall further next year. In the past two years the number of brood sows decreased to a larger extent in economic organizations than in private farms (KSH, 2010). Despite the rising costs of feedingstuffs, producer prices for slaughter pigs have decreased, therefore private farms with small herds of brood sows have sold their breeding animals for slaughterhouses. However, economic organizations mostly tried to restructure their production and place emphasis on plant production, thus improving their situation. These market changes indicate that the sector continues to scale down, production shrinks, market losses are continuous within the sector and vulnerability threaten the players of the product cycle increasingly.


The Studies of the Environmental Effects of Disturbances in the Subarctic (SEEDS) experimental spill was conducted on a simulated pipeline right-of-way and trench. A total of 3273 L of Norman Wells crude oil was released over a 24 h period at a depth of 100 cm in a simulation of a rupture from a subsurface pipeline. Absorptive qualities of the surface vegetation and organic soil layers in an undisturbed forest produce rates of flow and area of Contamination values much lower than the SEEDS experiment. Furthermore, the area of contamination (672.75 m2) was greater than experiments in which the amount of oil and rates of pumping were larger. This resulted from the presence of surface water, a depressed mineral soildominated simulated pipeline trench, a cleared right-of-way and slow pumping rates. The SEEDS experiment was a more valid analogue of crude41 spills associated with a buried pipeline in a subarctic environment.


Hydrocolloid gel particles of micron and sub-micron size are particularly attractive for use in many applications in the food, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, due to their biocompatibility, perception as "natural" materials, and soft-solid texture. Industrial applications for such particles include uses as texturizers in confectionery and cosmetic products, slow-release encapsulation agents for flavors, nutrients, and pharmaceutical products, and thickeners in soups and sauces. Properties such as particle size, hardness, shape, texture, and molecular release rates can be important for individual applications. In addition, product formats will determine specific needs for physical form (e.g. dry or wet) and compatibility with other components. The diverse range of potential applications for hydrocolloid gel particles provide a driver for understanding-led tailoring of raw material and process conditions. This review introduces some of the materials that are used to form hydrocolloid gel particles and the corresponding gel formation mechanisms. One issue of importance in the production of hydrocolloid gel particles is the control of particle properties, such as release profiles, strength, and detectability within products. An alternative technique to traditional methods of hydrocolloid gel particle production is evaluated and a model for control of particle size, and subsequently other particle properties, is proposed. Key properties of hydrocolloid gel particles are identified and characterization methods for evaluating these properties are described.


Slavery is an unjust institution. Indeed, slavery is often seen to be a paradigmatic case of injustice. Despite this, there is little agreement on how to best explain the injustice of slavery. In this dissertation I examine and reject three main explanations of the injustice of slavery: that slavery is unjust because slaves lack freedom, that slavery is unjust because slaves are alienated from their social world, and that slavery is unjust because slaves lack self-respect. Such explanations are unable to explain the injustice of slavery itself because they cannot identify all cases of slavery as unjust. Instead, I argue that slavery is unjust because it makes it impossible for slaves to realise both their interest in self-respect and their interest in being at home in the world. Slavery is not the only institution, however, that places people in this dilemma; any institution that treats some people as inferior to others will be unjust for the same reason, although not necessarily to the same extent. Thus the explanation of the injustice of slavery also provides us with an explanation of the importance of political equality.


A new type of compact K-band frequency-controlled beam-steering array utilizing fixed progressive delay lines in combination with passive double-balanced MMIC mixers integrated with quasi-Yagi antenna elements is presented. The beam steering is carried out by simply changing the frequency of the LO and IF signals at the same time such that the radiation frequency keeps constant. The K-band (20 GHz) four-element array fabricated on the Alumina substrate demonstrates 40 degree scanning with an LO frequency change from 22 to 26.2 GHz by the short delay lines installed in the LO line and ensures broadband data transmission with well-defined radiation patterns.


Cocoa is a major source of employment, smallholder farmers' incomes, and export revenue in Ghana. However, by 2010 institutional constraints throughout the value chain were failing to sustain bean quality and cocoa production. A national-level innovation platform, comprising key public and private actors in the cocoa sector, was established in 2010 to analyse and act to address this concern. The members' initial inquiries revealed that: farmers indirectly were paying for the national mass spraying and Hi-Tech input programmes, both provided free at the point of delivery. As the largest components in the cost structure, these programmes to a large extent accounted for the low price paid to farmers for their beans; a volatile exchange rate regime meant that often the prevailing rate was not equal to its equilibrium level; policies that heavily taxed cocoa were destroying farmers' expectation of long-term profitability. This paper draws on data recorded from the beginning 2009 to end 2013 by means of theory-guided process tracing (TGPT), to show how the platform contributed to increased prices for farmers, to subsequent reform of the input supply arrangements, and to changes to the mass spraying programme. The key causal mechanisms identified are policy learning and progressive amendment of existing institutions. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for the role of an innovation platform.


Changes in structural coupling between the Mn cluster and a putative histidine ligand during the S-state cycling of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) have been detected directly by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in photosystem (PS) II core particles from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, in which histidine residues were selectively labeled with l-[(15)N(3)]histidine. The bands sensitive to the histidine-specific isotope labeling appeared at 1120-1090 cm(-)(1) in the spectra induced upon the first-, second-, and fourth-flash illumination, for the S(2)/S(1), S(3)/S(2), and S(1)/S(0) differences, at similar frequencies with different sign and/or intensity depending on the respective S-state transitions. However, no distinctive band was observed in the third-flash induced spectrum for the S(0)/S(3) difference. The results indicate that a single histidine residue coupled with the structural changes of the OEC during the S-state cycling is responsible for the observed histidine bands, in which the histidine modes changed during the S(0)-to-S(1) transition are reversed upon the S(1)-to-S(2) and S(2)-to-S(3) transitions. The 1186(+)/1178(-) cm(-)(1) bands affected by l-[(15)N(3)]histidine labeling were observed only for the S(2)/S(1) difference, but those affected by universal (15)N labeling appeared prominently showing a clear S-state dependency. Possible origins of these bands and changes in the histidine modes during the S-state cycling are discussed.


Recently we found while we were synthesising a cationic surfactant that a synthetic intermediate, 4,4′-bis{1-[2-(N,N-dimethylamino)]ethoxy}azobenzene, produced gold-coloured crystals [Matsumoto et al., J. Oleo Sci., 59, (2010) 151]. Here we describe how an azobenzene derivative, bis[4-(ethoxycarbonylmethoxy)phenyl]diazene, also forms gold-coloured crystals after recrystallisation from a mixture of acetone and water. The profile of the specular reflectance as a function of wavelength for the crystals is very similar to that for metallic gold plate, indicating that the crystals have a golden colour. The maximum specular reflectance of the crystals is 16%. Atomic force microscopy observation shows that the crystals have flat surfaces. X-ray diffraction measurements demonstrate the presence of a periodic structure in the crystals, which indicates that monolayers (lamellar structure) consisting of azobenzene molecules with a thickness of 1.42 nm are stacked in the crystals. The gold-coloured crystals are tolerant of ultraviolet light irradiation. The gold-coloured crystals may be useful as a substitute for conventional metallic pigments in specific coating applications.


As a result of improved hospital information-technology infrastructure and declining costs of storage media, vast amounts of physiological waveform and trend data can now be continuously collected and archived from bedside monitors in operating rooms, intensive care units, or even regular hospital rooms. The real-time or off-line processing of such volumes of high-resolution data, in attempts to turn raw data into clinically actionable information, poses significant challenges. However, it also presents researchers — and eventually clinicians — with unprecedented opportunities to move beyond the traditional individual-channel analysis of waveform data, and towards an integrative patient-monitoring framework, with likely improvements in patient care and safety. We outline some of the challenges and opportunities, and propose strategies for model-based integration of physiological data to improve patient monitoring.


Mass customization (MC) is a business practice that aims to provide customers with customized products and services at near mass production efficiency. To achieve the aim, a number of methods to implementing MC are proposed. However, most of them require changes in entire process of the company, which make companies hesitate to implement MC even if it is essential to survive. In this paper, we proposed alternatives to partially implement MC for quick adaptation of MC. The base line assumption is not to change the production lines. The pros and cons of alternatives are given by qualitative and quantitative evaluation. Especially, by giving radar chart analysis of the quantitative measures, we give insight on the changes in the business performance measures, such as time to market and cost. Proposed alternatives are based on sub-processes such as purchasing raw materials, production process changes and packaging for efficient logistics. In this way, companies are able to provide customized products with small changing of the current manufacturing system. The process and benefit of the proposed strategy is verified by real world cases of a Korean health food company.


This study demonstrates the combined effect of quorum quenching (QQ) and backwashing on biofouling control in MBR treating real wastewater. The quorum quenching mechanism is an emerging biological technique using Rhodococcus sp. entrapped in polymer coated sodium alginate beads whereas, backwashing is a distinguished physical technique for biofouling control. Two parallel semi-pilot scale MBRs i.e., QQ-MBR (quorum quenching MBR) with cellentrapping beads (CEBs) and C-MBR (conventional MBR) with vacant CEBs at 0.5% effective volume of the bioreactor, were monitored for comparative performance evaluation. In the first phase, both the MBRs were operated without backwashing having operational cycle of eight min filtration and two min relaxation and in the second phase; MBRs were operated with backwashing having operation cycle of eight min filtration, one min relaxation and one min backwashing. QQ-MBR with backwashing exhibited greater biofouling control capability and elongated filtration duration with respect to QQ-MBR without backwashing. Comparatively less soluble EPS concentrations were detected in QQ-MBR as compare to C-MBR in both modes of operation while backwashing contributed to retard the rapid increase in trans-membrane pressure (TMP) also known as TMP jump. Study reveals the novelty of successful application of combined influence of permeate backflushing technique and QQ (anti-biofouling) strategy in MBR and potential use for full scale applications.


The question of the effect of anesthetics on the kidney has long been one of interest, and it seemed to us that an investigation of this by means of the phenolsulphonephthalein test of Rowntree and Geraghty would be of considerable interest. No extensive investigation of the subject in this manner has come to our attention, though a brief report is given by Sanford 1 who did the test in a series of cases of ether and gas-oxygen anesthesia, doing it first twenty-four hours before operation and again within a few hours afterward. He says : The cases of gas anesthesia gave almost the same output of phthalein after anesthesia as before, showing apparently no effect on the kidney from the anesthetic. The ether cases have been rather contradictory. In short anesthetics the output of the drug was almost doubled after ether, and in long operations it was generally diminished.


In this paper, we describe Salticus, a web crawler that learns from us ers web browsing activity. Salticus enables users to build a personal digital library by collecting documents and generalizing over the user's choices.


AIMS
It is recommended that women with gestational diabetes (GDM) should have a 6-week postnatal oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). As this test may be unpleasant, time-consuming and has resource implications, we evaluated whether the 6-week postnatal fasting glucose could be used to determine which women should undergo an OGTT.

METHODS
All women with GDM, diagnosed according to the World Health Organization criteria, who were delivered at the Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton between May 2000 and May 2002, were recommended to have an OGTT. The results of the fasting plasma glucose concentration were assessed in relation to the 2-h glucose value.

RESULTS
One-hundred and fifty-two women with GDM were delivered. Thirty (19.7%) women refused an OGTT or failed to attend. In the 122 OGTTs, three (2.4%; 95% confidence interval 0.8, 7) women had diabetes, three had impaired glucose tolerance and four had impaired fasting glycaemia. No woman with a normal test had fasting glucose of > or =6.0 mmol/l. Fasting glucose was correlated with the 2-h glucose (r=0.62, P<0.0001). Only 10 (8.1%) of the OGTTs would have been performed if only women with fasting glucose of > or =6.0 mmol/l underwent the test. The sensitivity and specificity of this approach for the diagnosis of postnatal diabetes is 100% and 94%, respectively. Linear regression methods indicate that it would miss fewer than three in 10 000 cases.

CONCLUSIONS
In our population, a 6-week postnatal fasting plasma glucose is useful in determining which women with gestational diabetes should undergo an OGTT. Consequently we now perform OGTT only in women whose postnatal fasting plasma glucose is > or =6.0 mmol/l.


Mobile smartphones had improved communication in society via the social media. Most of the smartphone users face were locked on the smartphone screen. That was a significant challenge for the positive and negative impacts. The study focuses on identifying different dynamic factors among the impacts on smartphone users with age group between 15 to 49 years at Ahlone Township. In this study, a two-stage random sampling was used to obtain the sample respondents. A face to face interviewing method, was applied to collect data from 356 respondents at randomly selected wards. The interview questions were constructed by a five-point Likert scale and offline data collection tools (KoBoToolbox) was used. According to factor analysis, it was found that the main impact of smartphones are "Social", "Health", "Communication and Emotional", "Addiction" and "Negative Impact". Although almost all the respondents suffer from health-related symptoms, two symptoms namely Tinnitus and Occiput pain were associated with frequent usage to the smartphone. Moreover, the study recommended to provide health knowledge and educational awareness to the public. Further researches on identified factors, using other models are be recommended.


The notion of "spirituality" is very popular in the contemporary times and therethrough is an ambiguous. The abundant literature of the object presents different conceptions of the spirituality, so we can qualify them as a "new spirituality". The atheistic spirituality (or the spirituality without God) and the psychology of spirituality are the most distinguishes among them. The common feature of them is to base on written in human nature the ability to a transcendency. Also Karol Wojtyla in that ability to the autotranscendency sees the essence of spirituality, which manifests oneself in wide understanding of the culture and of the civilization. The author of the article proposes to name this basic form of spirituality which has its source in human nature the anthropogenical spirituality. If the ability to autotranscendency has a soteriological direction, it becomes then the religious spirituality. The Christian spirituality is her special form by virtue of the supernatural factor. Because its character is "from above", it is not reducible to other form of spirituality. Contained in the last part of the article the methodological proposal admits to solve, from one side, the possible tension between different symptoms of the "new spirituality", especially the spirituality without God, and the Christian spirituality. From the second side, it forbids to put an equals sign between them. On the background of different symptoms of "the new spirituality" and the psychology of spirituality, the Christian spirituality appears as a particularly remarkable the proposal of the transcendency and of the fulfilling of the human spirit.


We studied the kinetics of nontemplated nucleotide addition by the reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) using model substrates derived from the 3' end of HIV-1 minus-strand strong-stop DNA. The addition of a nontemplated nucleotide was highly dependent on the nature of the base (fastest addition with dATP), type of nucleoside, and pH of the reaction buffer. The salt concentration, presence or absence of nucleocapsid protein, and nature of the blunt-ended duplex (DNA/DNA versus RNA/DNA) had only limited effects. The efficiency and base specificity were strongly affected by the sequence at the 3' end of the blunt-ended duplex. In every case, nontemplated nucleotide addition was much slower than templated polymerization. The K(d) for the incoming dNTP with an RT bound to a blunt-ended duplex was at least 1000-fold higher than with a duplex with a template overhang. At concentrations normally found in vivo, ATP can compete with dNTPs for binding to the polymerase active site and reduce the efficiency of nontemplated nucleotide addition. Although a stable ternary complex RT/DNA/dNTP could be readily detected by gel retardation assays if the DNA had a template overhang, stable ternary complexes were not observed with a blunt-ended duplex substrate. At in vivo concentrations of dNTPs (5-10 microM), nontemplated nucleotide addition occurred, but it was very inefficient and the rate of nontemplated polymerization is at least 10000-fold slower than the rate of templated polymerization. We could conclude that, in vivo, the unfavorable binding of the incoming dNTP, low concentration of dNTPs, the presence of a large concentration of ATP, and the inability to form a stable ternary complex prior to the polymerization step collaborate to reduce the efficiency of nontemplated nucleotide addition.


To the Editor. —We were most interested in the recent article by Ms Bengtson and colleagues 1 that reported that about 90% of coronary angiographies and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries performed in southwestern Sweden were judged appropriate and about 2% inappropriate. They concluded that "the percentage of these patients [ie, referred for inappropriate or uncertain indications] is similar to the percentage recently reported from New York State." A review of the methods used, however, raises several additional questions. First, although their appropriateness criteria are well described, the method by which these criteria were established is not addressed. Are these criteria applicable and generalizable within Sweden? Comparing their criteria with those established by a multispecialty national Swedish expert panel 2 shows their criteria to be, in general, more liberal (ie, judging more cases to be appropriate). Without knowing the specific clinical details for each case, it is difficult to


【The performance of a deep water drillship, is investigated with the view of the characteristics of the thrusters and the resistance increasement due to moonpooi. The model tests have been performed to obtain the resistance of two drillships with the moonpooi open and closed including shape changes of moonpool step. To design the DP system, thrust forces of azimuth thrusters have been measured during azimuthing at zero speed condition. Thrusters, azimuthing under the bottom of ship, have the interactions of the other thrusters due to flow changes made by other thrusters, and the existence of ship hull makes the thrust deduction higher than when the thrust operates by itself. The resistance increasement due to the moonpooi is highly dependent on the step height of the moonpool and the draft. It is found that the height of moonpool step can reduce the resistance increasement by moonpool.】


Observations of thermospheric parameters, made from the Dynamics Explorer 2 (DE 2) spacecraft during three successive orbital crossings of a quiescent dusk sector auroral arc, have been compared with the predictions of three fine-grid auroral arc models. DE 2 measured the ion and neutral winds, electron and neutral temperatures, neutral composition, and energetic auroral electron spectra (5 eV to 32 keV) at ∼320 km altitude. These observations were at high spatial and temporal resolution, suitable for comparisons with the models. The observed zonal and meridional neutral winds near the arc were greater than the model predictions, probably because of the presence of stronger electric fields and higher ion and neutral densities during the observations than were used in the models. The measured vertical winds were also larger than the corresponding model values. The DE 2 composition measurements showed a local increase of the N2/O ratio in the arc, which is interpreted to be a result of the upward motion of N2-rich air. A reduction in the measured neutral temperature of ∼100 K in the arc, relative to temperatures on either side, was found for all three arc crossings. Of the three theoretical models examined, only one shows any tendency for the neutral thermospheric temperature to drop in the auroral arc, and the decrease calculated is significantly less than the observed temperature change. A simple calculation of the adiabatic cooling effect of the observed upward motion yields a temperature drop of ∼160 K, comparable with the observed temperature reduction (∼100 K).


We present a technique for recovering the spectrum of a non-Markovian bosonic bath and/or non-Markovian noises coupled to a harmonic oscillator. The treatment is valid under the conditions that the environment is large and hot compared to the oscillator, and that its temporal autocorrelation functions are symmetric with respect to time translation and reflection-criteria which we consider fairly minimal. We model a demonstration of the technique as deployed in the experimental scenario of a nanosphere levitated in a Paul trap, and show that it would effectively probe the spectrum of an electric field noise source from 10^{2} to 10^{6}  Hz with a resolution inversely proportional to the measurement time. This technique may be deployed in quantum sensing, metrology, computing, and in experimental probes of foundational questions.


The word 'mural' is derived from the Latin word 'murus', meaning 'wall'. Murals refer to paintings embellished on visual components like the wall, ceiling, or other huge lasting surfaces. The murals of Kerala unfathomably stand out for their prominence in beauty, clarity and symmetry with unmatchable linear accuracy. The tradition of mural painting in Kerala is unique in the world, and it is extremely rich with symbolism. Made only with natural mineral pigments, the colours represent the qualities of the three gunas- sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva is purity, which is usually represented by the colour green; the figures painted with green are those for whom knowledge is the chief characteristic. Those in whom rajas, the spur to activity, is predominant, are painted in golden yellow. Tamas, inertia, the least pure is, curiously, represented by white. The traditional colours used in this art are red ochre, yellow, green, blue, white and black. Sometimes blue is also used. This traditional style mural art form uses natural pigments and vegetable colours. The subjects for the painting, derived from various Vedic texts, are not a fanciful representation but drawn from the description in the invocatory verses or dhyana slokas. Flora and fauna and other aspects of nature are pictured as backdrops, in highly stylized manners. Keywords : Mural, Painting, Natural, Style, Vegetable colour, Vedic Texts


A Monte Carlo computing procedure is presented for evaluating the set of parameters which characterize the superhyperfine interaction in electron-nuclear spin coupled systems. The method is illustrated in the determination of the components T/sub /// and Tperpendicular to of the interaction tensor Tto or from together with the linewidth Delta Hp-p of each of the superhyperfine transitions present in the electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum given by a cubic Gd3+ centre in CaF2 recorded at room temperature. The different steps followed to simulate the 'annealing' of the system are described in detail together with the shortcuts proposed in order to minimize the computing time taken for the procedure to converge to the best set of parameters. This method is applicable even if no good estimates are available for the initial set of parameters as these are usually taken as zero. This modern approach to the complicated problem of fitting the superhyperfine structure to the theoretical expressions is shown to be the best alternative and even if it is time consuming it can be easily run on a microcomputer.


One key step studying interactions of microplastics with our ecological system is to identify plastics within environmental samples. Aging processes and surface contamination especially with biofilms impede this characterization. A complex and time-consuming cleaning procedure is a common solution for this problem. However, it implies an artificial change of sample composition with a risk of losing important information or even damaging microplastic particles. In the present work, we introduce a new chemometric approach to identify heavily weathered and contaminated microplastics without any cleaning. The main idea of this concept is based on an automated curve fitting of most relevant vibrational bands to calculate a highly characteristic fingerprint that contains all vibrational band area ratios. This new data set will be used to estimate the similarity of samples and reference standards for identification. A total of 300 individual naturally weathered plastic particles were measured with Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection mode (FT-IR ATR) and identified successfully with the new method. To that end, all samples were compared with a selection of common reference plastics and bio polymers. As it turns out, the accuracy of identification rises significantly from 76% by means of conventional library searching algorithms to 96% by identifying microplastics with our new method. Therefore, the new approach can be a useful tool to compare and describe similarities of FT-IR spectra of microplastics, which may improve further research studies on this topic.


Objective:Group IIA secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IIA), released during inflammation, is increased in severe sepsis, and plasma levels are inversely related to survival. In a previous study, a selective inhibitor of sPLA2-IIA (LY315920NA/S-5920) was well tolerated and appeared to improve survival in a subgroup of patients who received the drug within 24 hrs of first sepsis-induced organ failure. This study was designed to determine whether improvement in survival could be confirmed in a larger patient population meeting the characteristics of that subgroup. Design:Multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trial of LY315920NA/S-5920 in patients with severe sepsis. Setting:Seventy-five institutions worldwide. Patients:A total of 373 patients with at least two sepsis-induced organ failures. Interventions:Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive LY315920NA/S-5920 (target plasma concentration of 800 ng/mL; n = 188) or placebo (n = 185). Study medication was administered as a continuous intravenous infusion for 168 hrs. Measurements and Main Results:The study was terminated after data on 250 patients suggested a significant improvement in 28-day all-cause mortality would not be found if the trial continued as planned. The mortality rate was 39.4% in the LY315920NA/S-5920 group, compared with 31.9% in the placebo group (p = .092). The negative trend in mortality was most pronounced among patients with cardiovascular failure at baseline (41.6% vs. 28.7%; p = .008) and patients whose culture data at baseline were negative (42.9% vs. 22.7%; p = .045). The negative trend in mortality is not explained by adverse events, microbiology, or laboratory data. Conclusions:Continuous 7-day infusion of an inhibitor of sPLA2-IIA had no beneficial effect on 28-day all-cause mortality among severe sepsis patients with at least two organ failures. This study did not confirm earlier promising subgroup results with LY315920NA/S-5920, which provides a reminder that subgroup effects should be viewed cautiously, especially when primary effects are not significant.


s, 11th AAP 2018, Malaysia The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society | Volume 18 | Supplement 1 | October 2018 S9 OSC5: Vertical Dimension of Rest Measurement using Phonetic Method and Digital Photo Analysis Gratia Trifena Susanto1, Haryo Mustiko Dipoyono2, Murti Indrastuti2 1Faculty of Dentistry, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2Prosthodontic Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the vertical dimension of rest (VDR) measurement using phonetic and digital photo analysis methods. Materials and Methods: Forty dentate subjects with a mean age of 21 were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were subjects with Angle class I malocclusion, with normal overjet and overbite, no history of wearing orthodontics appliances and no face deformities or asymmetry. Phonetic method to assess the VDR was by measuring the distance between 2 points, one at the tip of nose and the other at the chin using digital Vernier calliper. This was measured while the subject pronounced the letter m. In the photo analysis method, subjects were photographed with a distance of 56 cm from the tip of the nose to the lens while the subjects pronounced the letter m. Measurement on the the photograph was made using Corel Draw X5 application. Results: The results of independent sample t-test showed no significant differences between vertical dimension of rest measurement from phonetic and photo analysis method. Conclusion: There was no difference in the VDR measurement between phonetic and photo analysis methods. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244593 OSC6: An Audit on the Efficiency of Chair-mounted LED Light Curing Units in Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Jumanah Magroub Ali Babiker, Tong Wah Lim, Tengku Fazrina Tengku Mohd Ariff Centre for Restorative Dentistry Studies, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia. Objective: Composite resin restorations could fail due to ineffective polymerization. The aim of this clinical audit was to measure the irradiance of chair-mounted LED Light Curing Units (LCUs) in the Faculty of Dentistry, University Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: The irradiance of 119 chair-mounted LCUs was measured using digital LED radiometer (SDI LED Radiometer, SDI, Germany) by placing the light cure tip on the sensor of the radiometer for 10 seconds. Three readings per unit were recorded and the mean irradiance calculated. Details of LCUs including baseline values, location, serial number of LCUs body, date of purchase and last maintenance were documented. In addition, the tips were also evaluated qualitatively. The individual unit irradiance was analysed by comparing recorded value against the baseline suggested by manufacturer. The gold standard was to have all LCUs irradiance within ± 10% of the manufacturer specification. Results: The chair-mounted LCU consist of 105 on basic dental unit (BDU) and 14 on specialist dental unit (SDU) of which each category has a different baseline value. Only 8% of the LCUs complied the gold standard. 98% (n=103) of LCU on BDUs exceeded the gold standard compared to only 28% of the LCU on SDUs. The mean irradiance for chairmounted BDUs was 1435mW/cm2 which was 144% relative to the manufacturer specification compared to SDUs (86%). Qualitative observation found cracked, damaged and resin contamination of LCU tips. Conclusion: The mean irradiance of chair-mounted LCUs on BDUs exceeded manufacturer specification. However, lesser mean irradiance was observed for SDUs. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244595 OSC7: Development of Prescale Film for Occlusal Force Analysis: A Pilot Study Rostam Iffendi Idris1, Noor Izzati Tasri1, Siti Fatimah Yusof1, Yoshinobu Shoji2, Tong Wah Lim1 1Centre for Restorative Dentistry Studies, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia, 2Center for Oral and Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia. Aim: The aim of this study was to devise and optimise a design of pressure sensitive sheet known as Prescale film (Fujifilm Corp. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) for occlusal force analysis at the dental office and to compare occlusal forces using Prescale film with and without disposable polyethylene (PE) sleeve.


Kendall's tau, τ, is a correlation measure of association based on ranks of scores rather than raw scores. It is based on the number of swaps needed to put the second variable into exactly the same or exactly the opposite order to the first variable. It is applicable if either or both variables are direct rankings, or only ordinal. It is also applicable when both variables are metric but not normally distributed, or when the relation between the variables is monotonic, but nonlinear. Methods for calculating τ and procedures for hypothesis testing are provided. Kendall's τ is compared with Spearman's ρ and Pearson's r.

Keywords:

association;
correlation;
rank;
ordinal;
Pearson


Abstract. Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the Indian subcontinent have increased during the last 20 years along with rapid economic growth; however, there remains a paucity of GHG measurements for policy-relevant research. In northern India and Bangladesh, agricultural activities are
considered to play an important role in GHG concentrations in the atmosphere. We performed weekly air sampling at Nainital (NTL) in northern India and Comilla (CLA) in Bangladesh from 2006 and 2012, respectively. Air
samples were analyzed for dry-air gas mole fractions of CO2, CH4, CO, H2, N2O, and SF6 and carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios of CO2 (δ13C-CO2 and δ18O-CO2). Regional characteristics of these components over the Indo-Gangetic Plain
are discussed compared to data from other Indian sites and Mauna Loa, Hawaii (MLO), which is representative of marine background air. We found that the CO2 mole fraction at CLA had two seasonal minima in
February–March and September, corresponding to crop cultivation activities
that depend on regional climatic conditions. Although NTL had only one clear
minimum in September, the carbon isotopic signature suggested that photosynthetic CO2 absorption by crops cultivated in each season
contributes differently to lower CO2 mole fractions at both sites. The
CH4 mole fraction of NTL and CLA in August–October showed high values (i.e., sometimes over 4000 ppb at CLA), mainly due to the influence of CH4 emissions from the paddy fields. High CH4 mole fractions
sustained over months at CLA were a characteristic feature on the Indo-Gangetic Plain, which were affected by both the local emission and air mass transport. The CO mole fractions at NTL were also high and showed peaks
in May and October, while CLA had much higher peaks in October–March due to the influence of human activities such as emissions from biomass burning and
brick production. The N2O mole fractions at NTL and CLA increased in
June–August and November–February, which coincided with the application of
nitrogen fertilizer and the burning of biomass such as the harvest residues
and dung for domestic cooking. Based on H2 seasonal variation at both
sites, it appeared that the emissions in this region were related to biomass
burning in addition to production from the reaction of OH and CH4. The
SF6 mole fraction was similar to that at MLO, suggesting that there
were few anthropogenic SF6 emission sources in the district. The variability of the CO2 growth rate at NTL was different from the variability in the CO2 growth rate at MLO, which is more closely linked
to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In addition, the growth rates of the CH4 and SF6 mole fractions at NTL showed an anticorrelation with those at MLO, indicating that the frequency of
southerly air masses strongly influenced these mole fractions. These findings showed that rather large regional climatic conditions considerably
controlled interannual variations in GHGs, δ13C-CO2, and
δ18O-CO2 through changes in precipitation and air mass.


A study was carried out to evaluate a new quantitative analytical technique for determination of plasma carotenoids in poultry. Plasma carotenoides were extracted and measured from 30 blood samples of male Cobb broilers. The new technique was efficient in detecting plasma carotenoids of chickens and also showed advantages upon those techniques currently in use such as the form of presentation of results, use of a compatible solvent, and the scanning method for reading. The new technique did not increase the cost of the analysis.


The drying characteristics of porous materials immersed in the fluidized bed of fluidizing particles with superheated steam were examined. A B-1 brick ball, in which the gas diffusion was governed by Knudsen diffusion, was used as the drying sample and the glass beads (0.12 mm in diameter) were used as the fluidizing particles. N2 gas was also used as the drying gas for the comparison. N2 gas was the substitute of air. The temperature of the fluidized bed and the mass velocity of drying gas were changed, respectively. The theoretical analysis including the convective gas transfer in the sample and condensation of the steam in the sample was also preformed.There is a period when the temperature of the sample center is almost constant in the fluidized bed drying with superheated steam and with hot air. The temperature of the sample center in superheated steam is higher than that in hot air. In the case of superheated steam, the temperature during the period when the temperature of the sample center is almost constant is equal to the boiling point of water. When the mass transfer resistance in a sample is large, the temperature in the sample increases because of the increment of the pressure in the sample. This phenomenon was confirmed by the calculated pressure in the sample. The effect of the bed temperature on the drying characteristics is significant, while that of the mass velocity of drying gas is very slight.


BRAF mutations are driver events in a number of cancers including thyroid cancer and melanoma. The most common, BRAF V600E, alters normal BRAF protein activity in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway by constitutively activating BRAF and inducing proliferative signaling and tumor growth. Small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting tumors with the V600E mutation have been evaluated in clinical trials and are now approved for melanoma. While BRAF missense mutations have been extensively characterized for oncogenic potential and actionability in genomically-guided therapy, BRAF gene fusions have been underappreciated for not only their functional role in cancer but also in differential drug response. More recently, data suggest that alternative approaches may be needed for treatment of patients with BRAF fusion-containing tumors. We have identified two novel BRAF fusions in tumors from patients with papillary thyroid cancer and melanoma. Both fusions result in an in-frame fusion of a novel gene partner at the 5' end of the fusion, an intact BRAF kinase domain at the 3' end, and loss of the BRAF auto-inhibitory domain. We hypothesized that these novel BRAF fusions act as oncogenic drivers, and the mechanism of BRAF activation differs from that caused by V600E mutations and may be fusion partner-specific. These fusions have been engineered in the laboratory and tested for tumorigenic potential and functional activity. BRAF fusion expression in non-transformed cells induces colony formation similar to the V600E mutation indicating tumorigenic potential. These BRAF fusions also constitutively activate the MAPK pathway in the absence of stimulation as demonstrated by phosphorylated ERK and MEK proteins. Additionally, BRAF fusion-expressing cells form tumors in vivo similarly to the BRAF V600E-expressing cells. These tumors are highly proliferative as demonstrated by strong Ki67 immunohistochemical staining and display MAPK pathway activation as evidenced by phosphorylated ERK. BRAF fusion-expressing cells have differential sensitivity to MAPK pathway inhibitors compared to cells with the V600E mutation as measured by reduced MAPK signaling. Inhibition of the MAPK pathway is relevant in targeting BRAF fusion-containing cells but may not follow the same paradigm as point mutations. Collectively, our data suggest that BRAF fusions are functional and represent novel therapeutic targets, but may need an alternative approach as compared to tumors with BRAF missense mutations. Citation Format: Sonia C. Dolfi, Ann Silk, Bhavna Paratala, Whitney Petrosky, Srilatha Simhadri, Atul Kulkarni, Shridar Ganesan, Kim M. Hirshfield. Novel oncogenic BRAF fusions and impact on targeted therapies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4129. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4129


Heart failure is a leading cause of mortality, yet our understanding of the genetic interactions underlying this disease remains incomplete. Here, we harvested 1352 healthy and failing human hearts directly from transplant center operating rooms, and obtained genome-wide genotyping and gene expression measurements for a subset of 313. We built failing and non-failing cardiac regulatory gene networks, revealing important regulators and cardiac expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). PPP1R3A emerged as a novel regulator whose network connectivity changed significantly between health and disease. Time-course RNA sequencing after PPP1R3A knock-down validated network-based predictions of metabolic pathway expression, increased cardiomyocyte size, and perturbed respiratory metabolism. Mice lacking PPP1R3A were protected against pressure-overload heart failure. We present a global gene interaction map of the human heart failure transition, identify new cardiac eQTLs, and demonstrate the discovery potential of disease-specific networks through the description of PPP1R3A as a novel central protective regulator in heart failure.


Neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases are the most significant among the main reasons leading to the cognitive impairment of the elderly. Vascular cognitive impairment is not limited to only dementia, representing a heterogeneous group both in pathogenic and clinical terms. The article dwells upon new principles of vascular cognitive impairment's classification and the review of their possible therapeutic correction that was conducted. The article includes the results of the 12-week open therapeutic (randomized with the control group) study of efficiency and safety of vitrum memory for patients with mild vascular cognitive impairment. It is shown that the therapy significantly improved the state of neurodynamic and regulatory functions of the patients with I--II stage dyscirculatory encephalopathy.


Triazole amine was identified as an effective directing group in promoting C-H alkynylation under silver-free conditions. No other external oxidant was required, and the alkynylation products were received in good to excellent yields. X-ray crystallographic analysis confirmed a direct C-H activation intermediate. Other typical directing groups, including pyridine amine (PIP) and 8-aminoquinoline (QA), gave almost no reaction under identical conditions, which highlighted the unique reactivity of the triazole directing group in direct C-H functionalization.


In several OECD countries age-targeted wage subsidies have been introduced to increase the employment of older workers, but evidence on their effectiveness is scarce. This paper examines the effects of a permanent wage cost subsidy in Belgium on the employment rate, working time and hourly wage. We estimate these effects by integrating Inverse Probability Weighting in a, possibly trend-adjusted, Difference-in-Differences of endogenously sampled repeated cross sections. We find small positive short-run impacts on working time and larger ones on the employment rate, but only for employees at high risk of leaving to early retirement. The wage is not affected.


The S-shaped three-stage production function, popular in teaching economics and farm management, is often motivated in the context of yield response to fertilization and illustrated using a third degree polynomial specification (cubic). Indeed, the cubic model is used as basis for fertilization recommendations and norm setting in Denmark. Yet, contemporary agricultural economic and agronomic knowledge favors non-linear response with plateau (NLRP) specifications. An analysis, based on fitting the cubic to yield/nitrogen data sets from 40 Danish winter wheat field trials, did not in a single case reveal a three-stage response pattern. It is interesting, however, that in the majority of 40 estimations, the cubic exhibited or strongly suggested an NLRP-like pattern within the domain of measured nitrogen application. Thus, the flexible cubic often works well for the purpose of norm setting when care is taken to avoid extrapolation outside the data domain. *Bruce R. Beattie is Professor and Jorgen R. Mortensen is Bartley P. Cardon Research Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721-0023. Leif Knudsen is Plant Nutrition Chief Adviser, Danish Agricultural Advisory Service, Skejby, Denmark


Summary 1. Many restoration projects aim to transform degraded vegetation into mature native plant communities. The recovery of the structure and properties of reference native plant communities is acknowledged as a landmark of restoration, and the success of restoration practices is measured in terms of community metrics. Nurse-assisted planting has been proposed as a promising technique for the restoration of Mediterranean and arid vegetation based on its success at seedling establishment rather than on the recovery of reference community properties. We investigate the adequacy of this restoration practice by shifting the focus of restoration from the species to the community level. 2. In contrast to previous studies in the Mediterranean region, we assessed the efficacy of several management techniques, including nurse-based planting, in the recovery of the structure and prop erties of mature native reference communities. In a burned area of southern Spain, we applied widely used community analysis tools (rarefaction and species accumulation curves, Chao 2 rich ness estimator, species evenness and beta diversity) to compare the profiles of a reference native community and the community achieved through different management practices: traditional planting, nurse-based planting and controls where natural regeneration was allowed to occur. 3. Our results showed that post-fire establishment of planted seedlings was higher under the canopy of nurses than in open ground. More importantly, nurse-based restoration increased the species richness and evenness of tall-shrubs and trees as well as the life-form diversity, with the restored community approaching the reference community in terms of both composition and structure of the bank of juveniles. 4. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that in contrast to traditional reforestation, where diversity is constrained by the elimination of pioneer and regenerated tall-shrubs, nurse-based restoration contributes to accelerated recovery of important community structure and properties. Thus, it should be used preferentially over traditional reforestation in Mediterranean mountains where restoration of native communities, and not merely tree establishment, is dictated under current habitat directives.


In this introductory article to our special issue on newsmaking in Russia, we provide a context for how the study of journalism evolved in Russia in contrast to Europe and the US. This brief historical overview helps make sense of the specific trajectory of journalism studies: from normative Cold War perspectives to a highly diverse and vibrant field that considers journalistic agency, the interplay of commercialisation and media control and the complexities of a rapidly changing media environment. The contributions to this special issue present nuanced approaches to self-censorship, the impact of digital technologies and political intervention.


Previous work on Entity Linking has focused on resources targeting non-nested proper named entity mentions, often in data from Wikipedia, i.e. Wikification. In this paper, we present and evaluate WikiGUM, a fully wikified dataset, covering all mentions of named entities, including their non-named and pronominal mentions, as well as mentions nested within other mentions. The dataset covers a broad range of 12 written and spoken genres, most of which have not been included in Entity Linking efforts to date, leading to poor performance by a pretrained SOTA system in our evaluation. The availability of a variety of other annotations for the same data also enables further research on entities in context.


Emotional stimuli naturally draw our attention. In emotional distraction paradigms, such stimuli can interrupt performance on a simple cognitive task. There are, however, individual differences in the extent to which emotional distractors impact performance. Previous research has found that highly psychopathic people perform better than others in these tasks, indicating that they are less distracted by emotional stimuli. We tested two separate accounts of the cognitive differences in psychopathy. Emotional processing accounts believe the deficit is specific to processing of aversive stimuli. Conversely, the Attention deficit accounts suggest the deficit is rather ineffective processing of peripheral information. To tease these hypotheses apart we investigated emotional distraction using positive and negative peripheral distractors. Negative distraction but not positive distraction should be reduced if emotional processing accounts are correct; all types of distraction should be reduced for Attention-deficit accounts. The current study employs an emotional distraction paradigm that includes peripheral task-irrelevant distractors that vary in valence and arousal. We measured trait psychopathy using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory in a university sample and grouped participants into low, intermediate, or high Fearless Dominance groups. Participants (N = 83) were instructed to ignore distracting images (positive, negative, or neutral) in the periphery while completing a simple perceptual task at fixation. Participants low in Fearless Dominance showed greater distraction by emotional stimuli than neutral stimuli. In contrast, those high in Fearless Dominance showed no greater distraction by emotional than neutral stimuli. The findings suggest there is no fear-specific deficit in psychopathy, instead, we see an overall decrease in emotional distraction for those high in Fearless Dominance. This finding also supports attention-deficit accounts, however, distraction by neutral stimuli was not associated with Fearless Dominance indicating the reduced distraction is specific to emotional stimuli.


ABSTRACT Identification and determination of heavy metal ions Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb on the dust street around Malioboro area have been done. Malioboro area is one of the shopping centre and pedestrian tourism place in Yogyakarta that is the most crowded area. In summer season, Malioboro was not pleasant to visit caused by dry and hot climate, crowded and smell of exhausted automobile. These reason have been used to select Malioboro as a place for collecting dust sample. The dust has been obtained from five different locations such as location A station Tugu, location B Mall Matahari, location C governor office, location D pasar Bringharjo and location E cross section of pos office. The dust sample was analyzed to identify and determine its metal ions contain Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. The result of this experiment show that the highest concentration of ion metals at each location are Cu 656,75I¼g/g at location A , Fe 548,16I¼g/g at location B, Fe 420,16I¼g/g at location C, Pb 729,16I¼g/g at location D and Fe 652,16µg/g at location E Key words: Dust sample, Malioboro street, Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry


Mapping the proteome Proteins function in the context of their environment, so an understanding of cellular processes requires a knowledge of protein localization. Thul et al. used immunofluorescence microscopy to map 12,003 human proteins at a single-cell level into 30 cellular compartments and substructures (see the Perspective by Horwitz and Johnson). They validated their results by mass spectroscopy and used them to model and refine protein-protein interaction networks. The cellular proteome is highly spatiotemporally regulated. Many proteins localize to multiple compartments, and many show cell-to-cell variation in their expression patterns. Presented as an interactive database called the Cell Atlas, this work provides an important resource for ongoing efforts to understand human biology. Science, this issue p. eaal3321; see also p. 806 The image-based Cell Atlas of 12,003 proteins and 13 organelles reveals proteins that exhibit multiple localizations and single-cell variation. INTRODUCTION A complete view of human biology can only be achieved by studying the molecular components of its smallest functional unit, the cell. Cells are internally organized into compartments called organelles. The spatial partitioning provided by organelles creates an enclosed environment or surface for chemical reactions tailored to fulfill specific functions. These functions are tightly linked to a specific set of proteins. Therefore, resolving the subcellular location of the human proteome provides information about the function of the organelle and its underlying cellular mechanisms. We present a subcellular map of the human proteome, called the Cell Atlas, to facilitate functional exploration of individual proteins and their role in human biology and disease. RATIONALE Immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy was used to systematically resolve the spatial distribution of human proteins in cultivated cell lines and map them to cellular compartments and substructures with single-cell resolution. This approach allowed definition of the precise location of a majority of the human proteins in their cellular context and exploration of single-cell variations in protein expression patterns. The proteome-wide information about protein spatial distribution was validated with an orthogonal proteomics method, and the results were integrated into existing network models of protein-protein interactions for increased accuracy. RESULTS We report a high-resolution characterization of the spatial subcellular distribution of the human proteome based on more than 80,000 confocal IF images. A total of 12,003 proteins targeted by 13,993 antibodies were classified into one or several of 30 cellular compartments and substructures, altogether defining the proteomes of 13 major organelles. The organelles with the largest proteomes were the nucleus and its substructures (6245 proteins), such as bodies and speckles, and the cytosol (4279 proteins). However, smaller organelles such as the midbody, rods and rings, and nucleoli also showed a larger diversity than previously recognized. Intriguingly, about half of all proteins were localized to multiple compartments, showing that there is a shared pool of proteins even among functionally unrelated organelles. Single-cell analysis revealed 1855 proteins with variation in their expression pattern, either in terms of expression levels or spatial distribution. Last, the spatial information was used to refine biological networks. Our location-pruned network that restricts protein interaction to the same organelle improved the accuracy of the human interactome model. The analysis also included transcriptomics data for all putative protein-coding genes (19,628) in 56 human cell lines of various origins. On average, cell lines expressed 11,490 genes, with half of them (6295) being expressed across all samples, suggesting a "housekeeping" role. CONCLUSION The cellular proteome is compartmentalized and spatiotemporally regulated to a high degree. The high-resolution subcellular map of the human proteome that we provide describes this cellular complexity, with many multilocalizing proteins and single-cell variations. The map is presented as an interactive database called the Cell Atlas, part of the Human Protein Atlas (www.proteinatlas.org). The Cell Atlas constitutes a key resource for a holistic understanding of the human cell and its complex underlying molecular machinery, as well as a major step toward modeling the human cell. Creation of an image-based map of the human subcellular proteome. The subcellular locations of 12,003 proteins were determined by IF microscopy in cell lines of various origins. High-resolution IF images such as those shown above enabled mapping of proteins to distinct subcellular structures. This resulted in the definition of the proteomes of 13 major cellular organelles, revealing multilocalizing proteins, as well as expression variability on a single-cell level. Resolving the spatial distribution of the human proteome at a subcellular level can greatly increase our understanding of human biology and disease. Here we present a comprehensive image-based map of subcellular protein distribution, the Cell Atlas, built by integrating transcriptomics and antibody-based immunofluorescence microscopy with validation by mass spectrometry. Mapping the in situ localization of 12,003 human proteins at a single-cell level to 30 subcellular structures enabled the definition of the proteomes of 13 major organelles. Exploration of the proteomes revealed single-cell variations in abundance or spatial distribution and localization of about half of the proteins to multiple compartments. This subcellular map can be used to refine existing protein-protein interaction networks and provides an important resource to deconvolute the highly complex architecture of the human cell.


The 1607-B1 Septic System includes a septic tank, drain field, and associated connecting pipelines and influent sanitary sewer lines. This septic system serviced the former 1701-B Badgehouse, 1720-B Patrol Building/Change Room, and the 1709-B Fire Headquarters. The 1607-B1 waste site received unknown amounts of nonhazardous, nonradioactive sanitary sewage from these facilities during its operational history from 1944 to approximately 1970. In accordance with this evaluation, the confirmatory sampling results support a reclassification of this site to No Action. The current site conditions achieve the remedial action objectives and the corresponding remedial action goals established in the Remaining Sites ROD. The results of confirmatory sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.


At the intersection between social sciences and network theory, the aim of this presentation is that of illustrating an entropy-based, data-driven approach to infer communities of Twitter users and looking at their interactions within a specific discussion. Amongst the various kind of interactions, the retweets have been chosen as a particularly insightful relational mechanism featured by Twitter. Our approach is based on a Shannon entropy maximization under certain constraints which guarantees that the procedure is unbiased and suitable for being applied to any properly-defined Twitter discussions.
One of the main results of our analysis is the operational definition of "discursive communities" as groups of users who share significantly-similar retweeting patterns. Comparing the observed bipartite network of users retweeting activities with the outcome of a properly-defined benchmark model, i.e. the Bipartite Configuration Model (BiCM), our inference method validate the similarity in the online activity of Twitter users who share the same contents, published by the accounts of public figures, to infer the presence of users communities with supposedly common features. The discursive communities recovered by our method display a coherent picture of its users behavior, in terms of retweeting and mentioning activities; besides, these communities are consistent with the political coalitions and sensitive to the dynamics characterizing the relationship within and between these coalitions as well.
A second core result of our analysis concerns the study of the mechanisms that shape the Twitter discussions characterizing the aforementioned discursive communities. By monitoring, on a daily and a monthly basis, the structural evolution of the community-generated semantic networks, the users in each community are observed to be characterized by a significantly different online behavior, thus inducing semantic networks with diverse topological structures.


We develop a numerical simulator to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE) to simulate strong field ionization of a single electron under the influence of a one-dimensional separable potential. We use the split-step method to solve TDSE, obtain the ground state using the imaginary time method and benchmark it with the exact diagonalization of Hamiltonian. We perform the stability analysis in both real-time and imaginary-time propagation and obtain the fact that the usual model of separable orbital is not suitable in this method and demonstrate how a Gaussian model can solve this issue. Finally, we perform a comparative analysis between the analytical ground state and an adapted version of ground state adjusted according to the time-step of TDSE to justify the origin of the numerical error.


In some people an attack of migraine may be provoked by heading a football or a blow on the face in a rugby tackle. The attack is sometimes alarming and clearly cannot be explained on a basis of trauma alone. Some people only have attacks in this particular circumstance but the majority have spontaneous episodes at other times. The presentation is usually in childhood or early adult life. The syndrome is discussed in relation to reports of seven patients to illustrate the variations which include migraine without headache and persistent features after the attack. The condition is benign but may cause the patient to give up playing football.


Automatic socio-political and crisis event detection has been a challenge for natural language processing as well as social and political science communities, due to the diversity and nuance in such events and high accuracy requirements. In this paper, we propose an approach which can handle both document and cross-sentence level event detection in a multilingual setting using pretrained transformer models. Our approach became the winning solution in document level predictions and secured the 3rd place in cross-sentence level predictions for the English language. We could also achieve competitive results for other languages to prove the effectiveness and universality of our approach.


Mixed infections are thought to have a major influence on the evolution of parasite virulence. During a mixed infection, higher within-host parasite growth is favored under the assumption that it is critical to the competitive success of the parasite. As within-host parasite growth may also increase damage to the host, a positive correlation is predicted between virulence and competitive success. However, when parasites must kill their hosts in order be transmitted, parasites may spend energy on directly attacking their host, even at the cost of their within-host growth. In such systems, a negative correlation between virulence and competitive success may arise. We examined virulence and competitive ability in three sympatric species of obligately killing nematode parasites in the genus Steinernema. These nematodes exist in a mutualistic symbiosis with bacteria in the genus Xenorhabdus. Together the nematodes and their bacteria kill the insect host soon after infection, with reproduction of both species occurring mainly after host death. We found significant differences among the three nematode species in the speed of host killing. The nematode species with the lowest and highest levels of virulence were associated with the same species of Xenorhabdus, indicating that nematode traits, rather than the bacterial symbionts, may be responsible for the differences in virulence. In mixed infections, host mortality rate closely matched that associated with the more virulent species, and the more virulent species was found to be exclusively transmitted from the majority of coinfected hosts. Thus, despite the requirement of rapid host death, virulence appears to be positively correlated with competitive success in this system. These findings support a mechanistic link between parasite growth and both anti-competitor and anti-host factors.


The technology of formal software verification has made spectacular advances, but how much does it actually benefit the development of practical software? Considerable disagreement remains about the practicality of building systems with mechanically-checked proofs of correctness. Is this prospect confined to a few expensive, life-critical projects, or can the idea be applied to a wide segment of the software industry? To help answer this question, the present survey examines a range of projects, in various application areas, that have produced formally verified systems and deployed them for actual use. It considers the technologies used, the form of verification applied, the results obtained, and the lessons that can be drawn for the software industry at large and its ability to benefit from formal verification techniques and tools. Note: a short version of this paper is also available, covering in detail only a subset of the considered systems. The present version is intended for full reference.


The author describes ways in which the nurse can help the elderly person master the developmental stage of integrity versus despair through the use of a life-review process. The author asserts that using the life-review process highlights the elderly person's assets rather than deficits.


Western efforts to control trade and technological relations with communist countries affect many interests and political groups in both Eastern and Western blocs. Although there is general agreement within the Western alliance that government-imposed controls are necessary to prevent material having military importance from falling in the hands of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, there is considerable controversy over the specifics: the exact definition of "militarily significant" material, how the Western nations should administer controls, the implications of glasnost, and other matters.


This study examined putative subtypes of pathological gamblers (PGs) based on the Pathways model, and it also evaluated whether the subtypes would benefit differentially from treatment. Treatment-seeking PGs (N = 229) were categorized into Pathways subtypes based on scores from questionnaires assessing anxiety, depression, and impulsivity. The Addiction Severity Index-Gambling assessed severity of gambling problems at baseline, posttreatment, and 12-month follow-up. Compared with behaviorally conditioned (BC) gamblers, emotionally vulnerable (EV) gamblers had higher psychiatric and gambling severity, and were more likely to have a parent with a psychiatric history. Antisocial impulsive (AI) gamblers also had elevated gambling and psychiatric severity relative to BC gamblers. They were more likely to have antisocial personality disorder and had the highest legal and family/social severity scores. They were also most likely to have a history of substance abuse treatment, history of inpatient psychiatric treatment, and a parent with a substance use or gambling problem. AI and EV gamblers experienced greater gambling severity throughout treatment than BC gamblers, but all three subtypes demonstrated similar patterns of treatment response. Thus, the three Pathways subtypes differ on some baseline characteristics, but subtyping did not predict treatment outcomes beyond a simple association with problem gambling severity.