Mobile tourism or m-tourism can assist and help tourists anywhere and anytime face the overload of information that may appear in their smartphones. Indeed, these mobile users find difficulties in the choice of points of interest (POIs) that may interest them during their discovery of a new environment (a city, a university campus ...). In order to reduce the number of POIs to visit, the recommendation systems (RS) represent a good solution to guide each tourist towards personalized paths close to his instantaneous location during his visit. In this article, we focus on (1) the detection of the spatiotemporal context of the tourist to filter the POIs and (2) the use of the previous notations of the places. These two criteria make it possible to integrate the evolutionary context of the visit in order to predict incrementally the most relevant transitions to be borrowed by the tourists without profile. These predictions are calculated using collaborative filtering algorithms that require the collection of traces of tourists to better refine the recommendation of POIs. In our software prototype, we have adapted the SLOPE ONE algorithm to our context of discovering the city of Chlef to avoid problems like data scarcity, cold start and scalability. In order to validate the use of this prototype, we conducted experiments by tourists in order to calculate indicators to assess the relevance of the recommendations provided by our system.


Macromolecules embedded within a nanoporous matrix experience entropic trapping (ET) when their dimensions become close to the average pore size—a regime distinguished by emergence of anomalous transport behavior. But these phenomena have not been widely explored in hydrogel matrices because it has not been clear how they are linked to the underlying complex heterogeneous nanopore morphology. Here we introduce a theoretical model that establishes this connection, and describe microchip DNA electrophoresis experiments guided by these insights that demonstrate how ET effects can be exploited to yield a surprising trend of increasing resolving power with DNA size (the opposite of what is conventionally observed).


The study presents the application of combined micro-Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (micro-SORS) and confocal X-ray fluorescence (confocal XRF) to the non-destructive investigation of micrometer scale stratified painted systems. Micro-SORS can be applied in situations where a high turbidity of layers prevents the acquisition of conventional Raman signals from depth and in the presence of Raman scattering compounds, facilitating highly chemically specific (molecular) characterization of the layers. In contrast, confocal XRF provides elemental information on a well-defined volume at a given depth. In this study, selected specimens have been analysed with both methods; molecular and elemental data have been compared and integrated for a comprehensive characterization of the stratigraphy. This dual approach represents a new analytical modality in the area of Cultural Heritage and is also beneficial in areas where non-destructive interrogation of thin layers and films is required.


A group of unusual, large, rectangular ceramic tiles excavated from the abbey church of Bordesley (Worcestershire) is presented. These tiles were handmade locally, using the sgraffiato technique, and have part of two inscriptions in English. The larger inscription, which combines Lombardie capitals with black letter, was commemorative. The stratigraphie context suggests that the tiles were originally laid in the retrochoir in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth century as part of a tiled setting over a grave. A review of examples of other special purpose tiles made using the sgraffiato technique illustrates the adaption of this technique for individual funerary memorials.


A soft tissue is smeared on the surface of an araldite plate, and after fixation is coated by an araldite film. After examination with the light microscope, the araldite slide may be distributed for histological or ultrathin serial processing. The method provides an adequate conservation of cellular structures.


Self-regulated learning (SRL) skills are crucial to improving learner achievement, to supporting effective lifelong learning, and to developing the capability to overcome learning difficulties arising from a disadvantaged environment. However, only a few South African studies address the development of SRL skills of secondary school learners. By means of participatory action research (PAR), this study aimed to foster SRL of Grade 10 learners in a selected secondary school in an  underprivileged urban environment. An intervention programme consisting of 10 action research cycles was implemented with 35 learners over the course of 10 weeks. The study implemented quantitative and qualitative data collection methods using a study skills inventory, learner diaries, weekly class discussions and interviews. A statistically significant improvement in learners' SRL skills, time management, attitudes, motivation and certain cognitive strategies was observed and reported by learners. However, a key finding was that additional support was  needed to improve learners' meta-cognitive skills. Keywords: meta-cognition; participatory action research; secondary school learners; self-regulated learning; study strategies


A conceptual design of an industrial production plant for activated carbon was developed to process 31.25 tons/day of industrial waste nutshells as the raw material and produce 6.6 ton/day of activated carbon using steam as an activation agent. The design considered the cost of the main equipment, the purchase price of the nutshells, basic services, and operation. A sensitivity analysis was developed, considering the price of the finished product and the volume of raw material processing varied up to ±25%. Furthermore, the total annual cost of the product was determined based on the production of 2100 tons/year of activated carbon. Two cash flows were developed and projected to periods of 10 years and 15 years of production, using a tax rate of 27%, a low discount rate (LDR) of 10% per year, and without external financing. For a 10-year production project, the net present value (NPV) was USD 2,785,624, the internal return rate (IRR) 21%, the return on investment (ROI) 25%, and the discounted payback period (DPP) after the fifth year. Considering a project with 15 years of production, the NPV was USD 4,519,482, the IRR at 23%, the ROI 24%, and the DPP after the fifth year of production.


For community engagement to be successful, the interests of the community must be taken into account and researchers must become facilitators. Patience is required. Meaningful and sustainable relationships that have been developed over time promote mutual learning and capacity building among the partners (Elders, community members, health care providers, and researchers). In addition, community engagement leads to the sharing of available resources (eg, human, time, and financial) and to a sustained commitment by the partners. This mutual commitment makes future projects easier to develop and complete. Thus, authentic transformative health development, informed by participatory health research, becomes an ongoing process.


Using data from the GALAH pilot survey, we determine properties of the Galactic thin and thick discs near the solar neighbourhood. The data cover a small range of Galactocentric radius (7.9 ≲ R_GC ≲ 9.5 kpc), but extend up to 4 kpc in height from the Galactic plane, and several kpc in the direction of Galactic anti-rotation (at longitude 260° ≤ l ≤ 280°). This allows us to reliably measure the vertical density and abundance profiles of the chemically and kinematically defined `thick' and `thin' discs of the Galaxy. The thin disc (low-α population) exhibits a steep negative vertical metallicity gradient, at d[M/H]/dz = -0.18 ± 0.01 dex kpc-1, which is broadly consistent with previous studies. In contrast, its vertical α-abundance profile is almost flat, with a gradient of d[α/M]/dz = 0.008 ± 0.002 dex kpc-1. The steep vertical metallicity gradient of the low-α population is in agreement with models where radial migration has a major role in the evolution of the thin disc. The thick disc (high-α population) has a weaker vertical metallicity gradient d[M/H]/dz = -0.058 ± 0.003 dex kpc-1. The α-abundance of the thick disc is nearly constant with height, d[α/M]/dz = 0.007 ± 0.002 dex kpc-1. The negative gradient in metallicity and the small gradient in [α/M] indicate that the high-α population experienced a settling phase, but also formed prior to the onset of major Type Ia supernova enrichment. We explore the implications of the distinct α-enrichments and narrow [α/M] range of the sub- populations in the context of thick disc formation.


Corals are able to conserve and recycle inorganic nutrients in a generally nutrient poor environment due to their photosynthesizing symbionts. However it has been demonstrated that sponges are the main producers of nitrogenous nutrients in coral reefs contributing to a greater extent to the nutrient recycling than corals. The present study examined if sponges support corals in terms of nutrient supply. The study further investigated if sponges have an influence on the "well-being" of corals by releasing additional nutrients.
Corals and sponges were incubated separately and together in either artificial seawater or artificial seawater enriched with cyanobacteria and nutrients (ammonium and nitrate). Changes in dissolved inorganic nutrients, in total dissolved nitrogen and dissolved organic nitrogen as well as in dissolved and total organic carbon were measured and compared between the different treatments. Furthermore, particulate matter on filters of the water samples was analysed for its carbon and nitrogen contents and ratios. According to the carbon and nitrogen measurements, sponges ingested cyanobacteria while the carbon and nitrogen ratios of the corals are not indicative of a consumption of cyanobaceria. An accumulation of nitrate was detected when sponges alone were incubated in water enriched with cyanobacteria and nutrients. This accumulation was not found in incubations of corals alone. When both organisms were incubated together a slight elevation in nitrate and nitrite concentrations occurred. Besides, the maximum electron transport rate of the coral symbionts was significantly higher in the presence of a sponge. These results indicate that sponges are able to convert the added cyanobacteria to nutrients and that corals may directly benefit from the additional nutrients released by the sponges.


[1] During 1960–2010, the air temperature in the arid region of northwest China had a significant rising trend (P < 0.001), at a rate of 0.343°C/decade, higher than the average of China (0.25°C/decade) and that of the entire globe (0.13°C/decade) for the same period. Based on the analysis of the data from 74 meteorological stations in the region for 1960–2010, we found that among the four seasons the temperature change of winter has been playing the most important role in the yearly change in this region. We also found that the winter temperature in this region has a strong association with the Siberian High (correlation coefficient: R = −0.715) and the greenhouse gas emission (R = 0.51), and between the two the former is stronger. We thus suggest that the weakening of the Siberian High during the 1980s to 1990s on top of the steady increasing of the greenhouse emission is the main reason for the higher rate of the temperature rise in the arid region of the northwest China.


Charting the life and career of needlework instructor and periodical contributor Matilda Marian Pullan (1819-1862), this essay demonstrates the importance of examining Victorian women writers' professional trajectories in the context of their private lives. Biographical research reveals a profound disconnect between the middle-class discourse of domesticity and respectability that Pullan adopted in public and the unconventional circumstances, events, and choices that shaped her private life. Pressed to generate her own income, Pullan cleverly responded to the market demands of the mid-Victorian periodical press by becoming one of its most prolific contributors of needlework patterns. A quintessentially feminine accomplishment, needlework enabled Pullan to support herself through early widowhood, illegitimate birth, and spousal separation without losing her genteel status.


The Sikh diaspora, along with the Jewish Diaspora, is perhaps one of the only religious diasporas in the world. The Sikhs are scattered across the globe today. This article is an attempt to outline the reasons for Sikh migration out of Punjab and the role played by the colonial rulers in that migration. It traces the process of migration of Sikhs and their emergence as a diaspora.


Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in burn patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study eliciting the risk factors in burn patients who developed thromboembolism. The study took place at the Adult Burn Unit, King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Charts of all patients admitted to the burn unit from January 2010 to December 2016 were reviewed. Only patients 16 years of age and older were included. The research team with a consultant plastic surgeon developed the data sheet. A total of 304 patient records met the inclusion criteria. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors for developing VTE. Results: Out of the entire study group of 304 patients, the majority (88.8%) of the participants received prophylactic anticoagulation. Twelve patients (3.9%) developed VTE. All patients who developed VTE received prophylactic anticoagulation. Age, gender, body mass index, and degree of burn were not risk factors for VTE. However, electric burns were found to be an independent significant risk factor for developing VTE using a multivariate logistic regression. Conclusion: Conclusion: Electric burns were found to be the only independent significant risk factor of developing VTE.


Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content is one of the important factors to measure the quality of meat. However, conventional chemical analysis methods for measuring TVB-N contents are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and are destructive procedures. The objective of this study is to investigate the possibility of fluorescence hyperspectral imaging techniques for determination of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) in beef meat. High intensity LED lights at 365 nm and 405 nm were used as the excitation for acquiring fluorescence images. Prediction algorithms based on simple band-ratio, partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) have been developed. This study shows that fluorescence hyperspectral imaging system has a good potential for rapid measurement of TVB-N content in meat.


The effect of high energy electron irradiation on the electrical and optical properties of n-GaN is studied. Hall and photoluminescence measurements are carried out on the samples irradiated with different doses. The results obtained from Hall measurements show that electron concentration and mobility are proportional to electron irradiation doses. The PL results show that the near-band-edge intensity and yellow luminescence intensity decrease continually with the increasing electron irradiation. However, it is found that the ratio of the yellow luminescence intensity to the near-band-edge intensity increases with the increasing of electron irradiation dose. To interpret this phenomenon, we propose two theoretical models based on the charge transport mechanism and rate equations, respectively, and they are in good agreement with the experimental observations.


Background Diagnosis of Rhupus bases on the combination of inflammatory symmetrical erosive polyarthritis and clinical features of SLE. For patients whose disease is resistant to or dependent on corticosteroids, methotrexate (MTX) and azathioprine (AZA), anti-TNF have been used as steroid-sparing second-line treatment with conflicting results. While MTX seems to be effective in controlling symptoms, data on AZA remains controversial, while the TNF-blocking agents proved to be ineffective in inducing or maintaining disease remission. Objectives Two cases of refractory Rhupus who were at high risk of long lasting high dose of CS and were successfully treated with humanised anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, Tocilizumab (TCZ), given monthly at the dose of 8 mg/kg. Methods Two women 59 and 51 year-old were treated. Disease duration was 14 and 19 years, respectively. They were refractory or intolerant to several agents, including Hydroxychloroquine, Sulfosalazina, Methotrexate, Leflunomide, Mycophenolate Mofetil, anti-TNF agents, Abatacept, and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies. The patients weregiven monthly infusions of Tocilizumab with dramatic improvement in symptoms already after the first dose. Results Twenty-three and eleven months later both patients remain in complete clinical remission with normal values of Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate and C Reactive Protein, negative anti-DNA, no swollen or painful joints, and negative power doppler sonography. Conclusions In conclusion, TCZ could be a steroid-sparing agent in patients with Rhupus, and could be considered as a therapeutic option for patients who do not respond to standard therapy. References K Maeshima, K Ishii, M Torigoe, C Imada, M Iwakura, H Hamasaki, M Akamine, M Haranaka and H Yoshimatsu. Successful tocilizumab and tacrolimus treatment in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis complicated by systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus. 2012; 21: 1003–1006. Bannwarth B, Richez C. Clinical safety of tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2011;10:123-31. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


This article aims to examine the Middle East-oriented neo-Ottomanist policies in Turkish foreign policy during the JDP era and to explain the reason for the failure of neo-Ottomanism through Turkey's mediation in the reconciliation process between Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian politics. It is argued that Turkey's neo-Ottomanist foreign policy failed due to the presence of other regional and global actors competing for influence in the Middle East. When Turkey's neo-Ottomanist policies conflicted with the interests of the other states seeking influence, Turkey could not achieve its neo-Ottomanist goals. The article shows Turkey's mediation efforts in the intra-Palestinian reconciliation process as an example to this failure. In the Palestinian reconciliation process, Turkey played a mediator role for years and supported each reconciliation attempt, in accordance with its neo-Ottomanist agenda. However, as two strong actors in the Palestinian politics, the US and Israel, opposed this reconciliation and blocked all reconciliation attempts between Hamas and Fatah, Turkey's efforts were not enough to bring the process to a permanent solution.


A sensitive liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric (LC/ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the identification and quantification of two antihepatotoxic coumarinolignoids cleomiscosin A and cleomiscosin B in different extracts of the seeds of Cleome viscosa. The separation of cleomiscosin A and cleomiscosin B was achieved on an RP(18) column using a solvent system consisting of a mixture of acetonitrile-methanol (1:2, v/v) and acetonitrile-water-formic acid (5:95:0.3, v/v) as a mobile phase in a gradient elution mode. A multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) method was developed for quantification of cleomiscosin A and cleomiscosin B in the seed extracts of Cleome viscosa. On the basis of signal-to-noise ratio of 3, the limit of detection in MRM mode for cleomiscosin A and cleomiscosin B were 1.0 and 4.0 ng/mL respectively. The method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy and precision for 6 days. The method developed was found to be useful for identification and quantification of cleomiscosin A and cleomiscosin B in the different extracts of the seeds of Cleome viscosa.


The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of dietary Zn deficiency on the ex vivo cytokine production (IL-2, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), IL-6 and IL-10) of isolated thymocytes and splenocytes after mitogenic stimulation with concavalin A and to explore the role of corticosterone in this regulation. Weanling rats were assigned to one of four dietary treatments for 3 weeks: Zn-deficient ( < 1 mg Zn/kg diet, ad libitum), pair-fed (30 mg Zn/kg diet, limited to amount of feed as consumed by the Zn-deficient group), marginally Zn-deficient (10 mg Zn/kg diet, ad libitum) and control (30 mg Zn/kg diet, ad libitum). Thymocytes and splenocytes were isolated for cytokine stimulation and determination of T-cell phenotypes. Serum corticosterone concentrations were determined by ELISA. The Zn-deficient and pair-fed groups had 14-fold higher serum corticosterone concentrations compared with the marginally Zn-deficient and control groups (P < 0·0001). The proportions of thymocyte subsets were not altered in the Zn-deficient, pair-fed or marginally Zn-deficient groups; however, thymocyte IL-2 and IL-6 production in these groups was 33–54 % lower compared with the control group (P < 0·05). The Zn-deficient group had an 18–28 % lower proportion of new T-cells (TCRαβ+CD90+), but no difference in the proportion of new T-cells that were cytotoxic or helper. The Zn-deficient group had a 49–62 % lower production of Th1 cytokines (IL-2), but no difference in the production of Th2 cytokines (IL-6, IL-10) by stimulated splenocytes compared with the pair-fed, marginally Zn-deficient and control groups (P < 0·01). These results indicate that Zn status is associated with altered cytokine production, while in vivo corticosterone concentrations are not associated with ex vivo cytokine production.


Background
This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of lobectomy operations without using a stapler for bronchial closure.

Methods
Between December 2014 and August 2018, a total of 108 patients (72 males, 36 females; mean age 62.1±9.8 years; range, 19 to 83 years) with primary lung cancer who underwent lobar resection with robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery were included in this study. Primary bronchial closure (n=7) and sleeve anastomosis (n=9) were performed in some cases. These 16 patients were compared with other lobectomy cases (n=92) who had bronchial stapling for bronchial closure.

Results
There was no statistically significant difference in the mean duration of operation, amount of intraoperative bleeding, length of postoperative stay in the hospital, and morbidity and readmission rates between the two groups (p=0.3, p=0.5, p=0.06, p=0.4, and p=0.63, respectively). No bronchial fistula developed in any of the patients.

Conclusion
Primary bronchial closure and sleeve anastomosis can be safely performed with robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery without conversion to thoracotomy, or a larger assistance incision with a similar success rate of the stapled bronchus.


: The Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, to be held in Washington, D.C., January 22-26, cannot accommodate hundreds of scientists, doctors, HIV patients, and others who wish to attend due to the limited space at the meeting site. Already, concerns have been raised that limiting the number of conference participants could adversely affect AIDS care in 1997 because doctors and researchers will be unable to discuss new findings together. Furthermore, since financial analysts and venture capitalists were not allowed to register for the meeting, investment in AIDS research may slide since analysts will not see how new findings are met. Restrictions on reporting, meanwhile, will limit how much data available is to the public. Heightened public interest in AIDS, as a consequence of positive reports on treatment in 1996, will increase demands of the mainstream media, who also face limited access. Thus far, some 500 doctors and researchers are on the waiting list, with many more having had their applications returned; 130 HIV-infected individuals were turned away when 150 applied for only 20 scholarship slots; and many more did not even apply because they were informed that the conference was full.


"Our Changing Planet" is a series of 90-second television episodes whose purpose is to enhance public understanding of the global environment and the changes it is undergoing. The hope is that with this deeper understanding, people will appreciate the need to modify behaviors that produce negative environmental effects.

The episodes are produced by the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, with partial funding from NASA. To date, 40 episodes have been created and distributed to 46 public television stations across the United States by the National Educational Telecommunications Association.


In this essay I argue that Malone-France's anti-realistic interpretation of the Hartshorne-Peirce theory of possibles can be challenged in a number of ways. While his interpretation does suggest that there are in fact two distinct accounts of possibility in Hartshorne's philosophy, one that is vulnerable to an antirealistic interpretation and one that is not, Hartshorne does have a consistent and defensible doctrine of possibles. I argue that Whitehead's contrasting "non-protean" theory of possibles or "eternal objects" has its own set of conundrums to face, including problems with the coherence of the notion of the completeness of eternal objects and problems with infinite regresses. Whether Whitehead's or Hartshorne's account of possibles is correct, I concur with Malone-France that the Molinist doctrine of divine knowledge of future contingents is flawed.


Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) perfuses the brain and spinal cord. CSF contains peptides and proteins important for brain physiology and potentially also relevant to brain pathology. High‐throughput endogeneous peptide profiling by MS is an emerging approach for disease diagnosis and biomarker discovery. A magnetic bead‐based method for off‐line serum peptide capture coupled to MALDI‐TOF‐MS has been introduced recently. In this study, we optimize the peptide capture method for profiling of CSF and investigate the effect of a number of preanalytical variables. The CSF profiles contain ∼100 reliably detected peptides at m/z 800–4000 with reproducible ion intensities (average 7% CV). The investigated preanalytical variables include: time at room temperature (RT) before storage, storage temperature, freeze‐thawing cycles, and blood contamination. The CSF peptidome (<20 kDa) is relatively stable and can withstand a few hours at RT and several freeze‐thaw cycles. Several peptides sensitive to storage at −20°C, including Cystatin C, were assigned based on mass or identified by MS/MS. Hemoglobin α and β chains were detected in blood contaminated samples, at levels invisible to the eye (0.01%). These peptides may be used for quality control in a MALDI‐TOF‐MS screening strategy to select high quality samples for in‐depth proteomics analysis in disease studies.


Selecting a subset from many potential explanatory variables in linear regressions has long been the subject of research interest, and the matter is made more important in the era of big data when many more variables become available/accessible. Of late, the l_1-norm penalty based techniques such as Lasso of Tibshirani (1996) have become very popular. However, the variable selection problem in its natural setting is a zero-norm penalty problem, i.e., a penalty on the number of variables as opposed to the l_1-norm of the regression coefficients. The popularity of the l_1-norm penalty or its variants has more to do with computational considerations, because selection with the zero-norm penalty is a highly demanding combinatory optimization problem when the number of potential variables becomes large. We devise a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method as a practical and reliable tool for zero-norm variable selection problems, and selecting, say, best 20 out of 1,000 potential variables can, for example, be completed with a typical multi-core desktop computer in a couple of minutes. The methodological essence is to understand that the selection problem is equivalent to the task of sampling from a discrete probability function de fined over all possible combinations comprising, say, k regressors out of p>=k potential variables, where the peak of this function corresponds to the optimal combination. The solution technique sets out to sequentially generate samples, and after a while the final sample represents the target probability function. With the fi nal SMC sample in place, we deploy the extreme value theory to assess how likely and to what extent the maximum R2 has been achieved. We also demonstrate through a simulation study the method's reliability and superiority vis-a-vis the adaptive Lasso.


We prove to all orders of the loop expansion the low energy theorems of hidden local symmetries in four-dimensional nonlinear sigma models based on the coset space G/H, with G and H being arbitrary compact groups. Although the models are non-renormalizable, the proof is done in an analogous manner to the renormalization proof of gauge theories and two-dimensional nonlinear sigma models by restricting ourselves to the operators with two derivatives (counting a hidden gauge boson field as one derivative), i.e., with dimension 2, which are the only operators relevant to the low energy limit. Through loop-wise mathematical induction based on the Ward-Takahashi identity for the BRS symmetry, we solve renormalization equation for the effective action up to dimension-2 terms plus terms with the relevant BRS sources. We then show that all the quantum corrections to the dimension-2 operators, including the finite parts as well as the divergent ones, can be entirely absorbed into a re-definition (renormalization) of the parameters and the fields in the dimension-2 part of the tree-levei Lagrangian.


Abstract. Fringe projection technique has been widely used for three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement. However, it remains challenging to achieve high-speed measurement. A two-wavelength phase-shifting profilometry method with only four patterns is presented. Specifically, all these four patterns contain two wavelength components. The short wavelength component was used to compute the wrapped phase map, while the long one was used to unwrap the wrapped phase map. The performance of the proposed method was validated by both simulation study and experimental results.


One of the greatest drivers of historical nutrient and sediment transport into the Gulf of Mexico is the unprecedented scale and intensity of land use change in the Mississippi River Basin. These landscape changes are linked to enhanced fluxes of carbon and nitrogen pollution from the Mississippi River, and persistent eutrophication and hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Increased terrestrial runoff is one hypothesis for recent enrichment in bulk nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values, a tracer for nutrient source, observed in a Gulf of Mexico deep‐sea coral record. However, unambiguously linking anthropogenic land use change to whole scale shifts in downstream Gulf of Mexico biogeochemical cycles is difficult. Here we present a novel approach, coupling a new tracer of agro‐industrialization to a multiproxy record of nutrient loading in long‐lived deep‐sea corals collected in the Gulf of Mexico. We found that coral bulk δ15N values are enriched over the last 150–200 years relative to the last millennia, and compound‐specific amino acid δ15N data indicate a strong increase in baseline δ15N of nitrate as the primary cause. Coral rhenium (Re) values are also strongly elevated during this period, suggesting that 34% of Re is of anthropogenic origin, consistent with Re enrichment in major world rivers. However, there are no pre‐anthropogenic measurements of Re to confirm this observation. For the first time, an unprecedented record of natural and anthropogenic Re variability is documented through coral Re records. Taken together, these novel proxies link upstream changes in water quality to impacts on the deep‐sea coral ecosystem.


Background To generate unbiased estimates for data collected using respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a number of assumptions need to be met: individuals recruit randomly from their social network and people can accurately report their eligible network size. However, research has shown that these assumptions are often violated. Methods This study used baseline data from Crew 450, a longitudinal study of young men who have sex with men in Chicago who were recruited via a modified form of RDS and its network substudy, in which a subset of 175 participants reported details on the composition and characteristics of their social network at either 1 or 2 years postbaseline. Results Nearly two-thirds of participants reported giving coupons to at least one alter (64%), and 56.3% believed their alter(s) used the coupons. Frequency of communication, closeness and type of relationship played a major role in determining coupon distribution. Participants whose alters used coupons were significantly less likely to describe the strength of their relationship as 'not at all close' (OR=0.08; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.36) compared with 'very close' and to communicate weekly (OR=0.20; 95% CI 0.08 to 0.49) or 1–6 times in the past 6 months (OR=0.18; 95% CI 0.06 to 0.59). Conclusions Contrary to RDS assumptions, we found that relationship characteristics played a significant role when individuals decided to whom they would give coupons.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

The dried flower buds of clove (Syzygium aromaticum syn Eugenia aromaticum or caryophyllata) belonging to family Myrtaceae are used as a spice worldwide. Clove has been reported to exhibit antimicrobial, anti-viral, anesthetic, insecticidal, anti-convulsant, anti-oxidative and free radical scavenging activities. Eugenol, an active component of essential oil isolated from clove has anti-mutagenic, anti-genotoxic and anti-inflammatory properties. It also restricts DMBA induced skin carcinogenesis in mice. Aqueous extract of clove was effective in reducing the incidence of hyperplasia, dysplasia, and carcinoma in situ in benzo[a]pyrene induced lung carcinoma in mice. However, there are no reports on the effects of clove on human cancers.

In this study we have analyzed the inhibitory effects of the aqueous extract of clove (CAE) on breast cancer using in vitro studies like cell growth, cell migration, three-dimensional capillary tube formation / morphogenesis and apoptosis; and in vivo studies like breast tumor growth in nude mice. Our results indicate that CAE inhibited the growth and proliferation of breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231, MCF10ADCIS.com, and MCF10AEIII 8 cells in a dose dependent manner. In addition, it also reduced cell migration towards Matrigel. CAE also inhibited the enzymatic activity of the Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), which was analyzed by using two substrates, namely galectin-3 and a fluorescence-quenched substrate MOCAcPLGLA2pr(Dnp)AR-NH2. Cell cycle analysis of MCF10ADCIS.com cells using flow cytometry after propidium iodide (PI) staining indicated an arrest mainly in S-phase. We also observed an inhibition of DNA synthesis in CAE-treated MCF10ADCIS.com cells by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation. Expressions of apoptosis-related proteins, poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP), caspase-3 and caspase-8 remained unchanged after CAE treatment, but CDK2, CDK4, cyclin A and cyclin D2 were down-regulated in treated cells indicating that CAE might affect tumor growth by inducing cell cycle arrest but not apoptosis. There was a 50% reduction in tumor volume in nude mice injected with MCF10ADCIS.com cells that received CAE extract in their drinking water compared to the control mice. The expression of proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and tumor progression markers (PCNA, TUNEL, p63, CD31, smooth muscle actin, collagen IV, MMP-2 are being investigated in the xenografts. The results suggest that CAE may be explored further as a novel inhibitor of breast cancer.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5588. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5588


The Red-headed Wood Pigeon Columba janthina nitens is endemic to the Ogasawara Islands, an oceanic island chain located 1000 km south of the main islands of Japan. The subspecies is at high risk of extinction because of its small population size and restricted habitat range. We undertook genetic analyses of this pigeon using sequences of a portion of the mitochondrial control region and five microsatellite markers to estimate the genetic characteristics of two wild populations from the Bonin and Volcano Islands, as well as one captive breeding population. The genetic diversity of the wild individuals was exceptionally low in both the mitochondria (nucleotide diversity = 0.00105) and at the microsatellite (3.2 alleles per locus and HE = 0.12) loci. Higher numbers of microsatellite genotypes were observed in the Volcano Islands population than in the Bonin Islands population, which may be because of the relatively low impact of human disturbance. The most common mitochondrial haplotypes and microsatellite alleles observed in the two wild populations were completely fixed in the captive population. Our results suggest that the genetic diversity of the captive population needs to be increased. However, introduction of a wild individual into a captive population can lead to a decreased genetic diversity in the wild population and therefore should be done with caution. The genetic differentiation between the Bonin and the Volcano island groups was low, and the populations of the two island groups should be regarded as a single evolutionarily significant unit. However, special consideration is required for habitat conservation in the Volcano Islands, which may be functioning as a sanctuary for the Red-headed Wood Pigeon. For the long-term conservation of threatened bird species that live on remote oceanic islands, determination of management units considering gene flow caused by their flying capacity and maintenance of genetically suitable wild and captive populations are essential.


Rationale – Personal financial planning is a formal process of outlining one's life goals and managing finances accordingly. Hence, it involves an efficient and effective allocation of one's income and other resources, such that the needs, wants and desires of the individual are fulfilled. Financial literacy still being low in India, and a formal training on the same, still being in the nascent stage, there is a dearth of research in this area. The research aims to throw light on the financial planning process followed by individuals and whether it differs in males and females. Purpose – The basic aim of this study is to gain an insight into the income allocation pattern of individuals and the various reasons for which investments are made. The study also tries to find out preferred investment avenues and whether males and females exhibit different preferences for the same. Finally, the researchers want to know whether a formal financial planning process is followed by individuals and how it differs based on gender differences. Design/Methodology/Approach - The study was conducted in the Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, and a sample size of 196 respondents was selected on judgmental basis to meet the objective of the study. The response rate was 78% (n=150) which is considered to be acceptable for a research study. The sample size was equally split between males and females. The survey was carried out in June- July, 2013. Analysis has been done by using multivariate technique like Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Findings - It is found that a major portion of the income is spent on consumption needs, followed by savings. The income allocation is almost equal between investment and maintenance of emergency funds. The major purpose of investment is to meet the children' needs followed by saving for own house and tax saving. The most popular investment instrument is Fixed deposits, which to a certain extent shows that people try to use safer avenues for meeting their investment needs. For the remaining instruments, males and females differed as males preferred insurance policies, bullion and stock markets for placing their funds while females were interested in bullion and PPF more. Regarding the dimensions of personal finance planning process, there is a difference between males and females as far as satisfaction from current savings, maximizing tax efficiency in planning for investments and insurance coverage is concerned. However, there is no significant difference between males and females in the other three components, namely; framing of the financial objective, knowledge of investment avenues and planning and determining of retirement income.


In the paper the existence and continuous dependence of a kind of minimax solution to the dual Hamilton-Jacobi equations is proved. The main diculties which appear here are a special type of the boundary conditions and the transversality conditions which that solution must satisfy. That type of problems come from optimal control and game theory.


In this study, the body weight after shearing, the greasy wool yield and, the clean fleece percentage of "Red Karaman" ewes in different raising conditions were investigated. Animal material consisted of a total of 248 head of Red Karaman ewes in different flocks maintained in the villages of Alican (n= 50), Boyuncuk (n= 50), Bozbulut (n= 48), Çiçekli (n= 50) and, Yukarısızma (n= 50). Red Karaman ewes were sheared using shearing scissors at the beginning of June and beginning of July. Each of body weight of ewes after shearing and ewes' greasy fleece was weighed using electronic digital weighing scale. Fleece samples were taken from area of the last rib on the right shoulder of 12 head of ewes in each flock. Then, analysis of clean fleece percentage was performed in the laboratory. For Red Karaman ewes, the effect of shearing age on greasy wool yield was not significant but the effect of body weight after shearing on greasy wool yield was significant (p<0.01) in all villages. When all the farms were generally evaluated, the effect of shearing age and the farm on greasy wool yield was found insignificant but the effect of live weight after shearing was statistically significant (p<0.01). Least-squares means for greasy wool yield of Red Karaman ewes raised in Alican, Boyuncuk, Bozbulut, Çiçekli and, Yukarısızma villages were 1.51±0.05, 1.45±0.05, 1.39±0.05, 1.41±0.05 and, 1.20±0.06 kg, respectively. General least-squares mean for greasy wool yield of Red Karaman ewes was 1.41±0.021 kg. Effect of age on live weight after shearing in all villages was significant (p<0.01). The averages of body weight after shearing in Alican, Boyuncuk, Bozbulut, Çiçekli and, Yukarısızma villages were found as 54.26±0.96, 51.78±0.74, 52.96±0.76, 51.76±0.68 and, 58.22±0.86 kg, respectively. The average of live weight after shearing in all the villages was found as 53.80±0.40 kg. General mean for clean fleece percentage Red Karaman ewes was found as 64.55±5.80% in all the farms.


† Photovoltaic (PV) systems are solar energy supply systems, which either supply power directly to an electrical equipment or feed energy into the public electricity grid. This paper focuses on the latest development of modelling and control of grid connected photovoltaic energy conversion system. In the photovoltaic system, power electronic conversion is necessary to improve the efficiency of PV panels and system stability. In these systems, the backstage power circuit consists of a high step-up DC-to-DC converter and a full-bridge inverter to convert DC to AC, as the grid voltage is AC in nature. Modelling of photovoltaic systems include modelling of SPV array, power electronics inverter/converter based on MATLAB/SIMULINK. This present control algorithm of a single-phase grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system including the PV array and the electronic power conditioning (PCS) system, based on the MATLAB/Simulink software. It also discussed advances in MPP tracking technologies, the synchronization of the inverter and the connection to the grid.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the temporality produced by journalistic practice and the ways journalism has a privilege to build a specific type of social experience of the present time. This inquiry carries out a historical journey, but it is not our purpose to present a history of press in the sense of a history of institutions, particular genres and languages. Instead, this investigation develops a historical study in order to identify social temporal phenomena produced by journalism, and to express them in the form of descriptive categories, which give regularity to a diversity of temporal phenomena: instantaneity, simultaneity, periodicity, novelty, and public disclosure. Besides, we consider this work a theoretical study that uses historical elements to analyze, through a sociological approach, fundamental aspects of a social constitution of journalistic temporality.


As quality and profitability have become inseparable concepts, a growing number of service firms have considered quality their top priority in maintaining competitiveness. Commitment to service quality, however, is nothing more than lip service, unless management develops reliable service quality standards. Perhaps one of the best ways of developing such standards is to compare the firm's service performance with that of the service leader and reassess its service performance continuously through competitive benchmarking. In an effort to establish practical guidelines for competitive benchmarking, proposes the use of an analytic hierarchy process and a competitive gap analysis. These methods can help the service manager to formulate viable service improvement strategies in the increasingly competitive service industry. Illustrates the usefulness of the proposed benchmarking methodology using the case of Korean luxury hotels.


Introduction Health technology assessment (HTA) is value-laden. Consideration of ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI), and patient values (ELSI+), is challenged by lack of conceptual clarity and the multi-disciplinary nature of ELSI + . This study used concept mapping to identify key concepts in the ELSI+ domain and their interrelationships. Methods We conducted a scoping review using Medline and EMBASE (2000-2016, English language) with search terms related to ethics, legal/law, social/society/patient, "ELSI", and HTA/technology/assessment. Items from the review and additional items from an expert brainstorming session were consolidated into 80 ELSI+-related statements which were entered into Concept Systems® Global MAX software. Participants (N = 38; 36 percent researchers, 21 percent academics; 42 percent self-identified as HTA experts) sorted the statements into thematic groups that made sense to them, and rated the statements on their importance in decision-making about adoption of technologies in Canada: 1 (not at all important), 5 (extremely important), 2, 3, and 4 (unlabeled). We used Concept Systems® Global MAX software to create and analyze concept maps with four to 16 clusters, which were reviewed by the study team. Results We selected the map with five clusters because its clusters represented different concepts and the statements within each cluster represented the same concept. Based on the concepts, we named these clusters: patient preferences and experiences, patient quality of life and function, patient burden/harm, fairness, and organizational. The highest mean importance ratings were for the statements in the patient burden/harm (3.82) and organizational (3.92) clusters. Conclusions This study suggests an alternative approach to conceptualize the domains originally described as "ELSI+". We identified clusters of relevant concepts that focus on patient perspectives (preferences, experiences, quality of life, function), burden and harm, fairness (individual and societal), and organizational issues. Basing ELSI+ on conceptual consonance, rather than academic disciplines or traditions, provides a framework for coherent consideration of ELSI+ in HTA.


Abstract This study investigates the first-order Himalayan mountain topography from the perspective of deep-crustal flow patterns in the Indo-Asia collision zone. Using a thin-viscous-sheet model we theoretically predict that flat hinterland topography with a stable elevation (Type I) can develop only when the lithospheric slab underthrusts with a threshold velocity (Vs*). For Vs>Vs*, the hinterland continuously gains in elevation, leading to Type II topography. This type is characterized by varying first-order surface slopes, but always facing the mountain front. Conversely, the elevated hinterland masses undergo gravity-driven subsidence, forming a topography (Type III) with characteristic backward surface slopes when Vs<Vs*. We evaluate Vs* as a function of: (i) the regional slope of the initial first-order surface topography (α); (ii) the angle of underthrusting (β); and (iii) the relative width of foreland plain (λ), assuming little effects of surface erosion. Our model shows two characteristic deep-crustal flow patterns: corner flow and vortex flow. The corner flow pattern, described by upwardly pointed hyperbolic streamlines, is responsible for Type II topography. Conversely, the vortex flow leads to Type III, whereas the transition between the two gives rise to Type I. This corner-to-vortex type flow transition commences on decreasing Vs.


The aim of this study was to assess how managerial traits and interpersonal support help explain advancement in management up to upper manager, taking into account performance-based factors and formal promotion opportunities. Beyond human capital and promotion opportunities, managerial aspirations and gender similarity added to the explanation of entry into lower management where they were most important — and to advancing to middle manager, and gender similarity added to the explanation of advancing to upper manager.


ABSTRACT Chitosan and nanoparticle silver are both materials with demonstrated antimicrobial properties and have been proposed singly or in combination as constituents of antimicrobial burn dressings. Here, we show that they combine synergistically to inhibit the in vitro growth of Gram-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, and Acinetobacter baumannii), as judged by bioluminescence monitoring and isobolographic analysis, and also produce synergistic killing after 30 min of incubation, as measured by a CFU assay. The hypothesized explanation involves chitosan-mediated permeabilization of bacterial cells, allowing better penetration of silver ions into the cell. A dressing composed of freeze-dried chitosan acetate incorporating nanoparticle silver was compared with a dressing of chitosan acetate alone in an in vivo burn model infected with bioluminescent P. aeruginosa. The survival rates of mice treated with silver-chitosan or regular chitosan or left untreated were 64.3% (P = 0.0082 versus regular chitosan and P = 0.0003 versus the control), 21.4%, and 0%, respectively. Most of the fatalities occurred between 2 and 5 days postinfection. Silver-chitosan dressings effectively controlled the development of systemic sepsis, as shown by blood culture. These data suggest that a dressing combining chitosan acetate with silver leads to improved antimicrobial efficacy against fatal burn infections.


Fiber optic-based chemical sensors are created by coating fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) with the glassy polymer cellulose acetate (CA). CA is a polymeric matrix capable of localizing or concentrating chemical constituents within its structure. Some typical properties of CA include good rigidity (high modulus) and high transparency. With CA acting as a sensor element, immersion of the gratings in various chemical solutions causes the polymer to expand and mechanically strain the glass fiber. This elongation of the fiber sections containing the grating causes a corresponding change in the periodicity of the grating that subsequently results in a change in the Bragg-reflected wavelengths. A high-resolution tunable fiber ring laser interrogator is used to obtain room-temperature reflectance spectrograms from two fiber gratings at two different wavelengths - 1540nm and 1550nm. The graphical representation from this device enables the display of spectral shape, and not merely shifts in FBG central wavelength, thereby allowing for more comprehensive analysis of how different physical conditions cause the reflectance profile to move and alter overall form. Wavelength shifts on the order of 1 to 80 pm in the FBG transition edges and changes in spectral shape are observed in both sensors upon immersion in a diverse selection of chemical analytes.


Indonesia as a paradise for narcotics distribution in Southeast Asia is inseparable from the influence of the Golden Triangle Syndicate, which is a narcotics distribution syndicate in accordance with the golden triangle line that covers three countries, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. All in various narcotics cases revealed by the National Narcotics Agency or the Police as if the state was made helpless, some convicts who can be behind bars with Correctional Institutions (Lapas) are able to connect narcotics distribution in Indonesia. Therefore, it is necessary to uncover strategies through the role of Justice Collaborator but they are not easy to implement. This study discusses how to request remission rights for narcotics prisoners with Juctice Collaborator status in Lapas Class III Pohuwato. The research method used in this study is the normative-empirical legal research method. The results of the study show that remission is a right for inmates so that it cannot be eliminated, but it can be limited by the additional requirements that must be fulfilled, namely becoming a Justice Collaborator. From 28 narcotics prisoners, only 8 people get remission. As for prisoners who have not received remission, they are constrained in a letter of justice collaborator from investigators / prosecutors.


Ultrastructural immunocytochemistry with anti-insulin antiserum allowed the detection of insulin antigenic sites localized at the inner aspect of the cisternae of the Golgi apparatus in pancreatic B-cells. By contrast, in secretory granules released from the Golgi apparatus, insulin antigenic sites were localized over the granule content but not on the membrane. The demonstration of insulin antigenic sites at the level of the Golgi membranes is compatible with the presence of specific insulin receptors and/or charge interactions between the insulin and the membrane. Binding at this level could in turn be involved in the sorting out of insulin polypeptides destined to be concentrated in secretory granules.


Implementation of drug user rehabilitation program by BNN of the Karimun Regency. Drug users in Karimun Regency have increased and should receive special attention. Based on Karimun Police Satresnarkoba data in early 2019 the total number of narcotics cases has reached 42 cases and the number of patients in 2019 who were rehabilitated was only 46, therefore the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Karimun is required to carry out a rehabilitation program. The purpose of this study was to determine the rehabilitation process carried out by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) of Karimun Regency. To get accurate information the researcher selected the informant, the head of the BNN, the head of the Rehabilitation section, the head of the rehabilitation Clinic, the beneficiaries of rehabilitation and the community. This research is a descriptive qualitative research, data collection techniques used Observation, Interview and Documentation. Data analysis techniques used are data reduction, data presentation and conclusion drawing. This research uses the Van Metter and Van horn theory, based on the results of the research on the implementation of the rehabilitation program for drug users by BNN Karimun Regency has been going well for outpatient rehabilitation programs but for outpatient rehabilitation can not be implemented due to lack of capacity and rehabilitation programs carried out at this time only running for three years, in the outpatient rehabilitation process there are obstacles in the indicators of Resources, namely human resources and budget resources.


A new liquid-crystalline phase has been discovered in a broad temperature region between the cholesteric and smectic-A phases for the mixture of cholesterylnonanoate and nonyloxybenzoic acid. This phase is a helical smectic A with local smectic ordering, helical macrostructure, significant rigidity in shear deformations and ability for formation of nonspherical dispersed drops.


The presence of supraventricular tachycardia is the leading cause of inappropriate shock in ICD recipients, and it can be a significant cause of morbidity, psychological distress and worsened clinical outcome. Modern pacing and ICD systems offer a number of discriminators that are integrated into algorithms to differentiate sustained ventricular tachycardia from supraventricular tachycardia. These algorithms can be adapted and optimised for each individual patient to ensure that only those arrhythmias that need treatment through the use of an ICD, are actually treated. This review summarises the single- and dual-chamber discriminators that can be used in the detection and classification of tachyarrhythmias.


BACKGROUND
Gefitinib is well-known as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting non-small-lung-cancer (NSCLC) containing EGFR mutations. However, its effectiveness in treating mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) without such EGFR mutations suggests additional targets.

OBJECTIVE
The CRTC1-MAML2 (C1-M2) fusion typical for MEC has been proposed to be a gefitinib target.

METHOD
To test this hypothesis, we developed a set of siRNAs to down-regulate C1-M2 expression. Deep-sequencing transcriptome analysis revealed that gefitinib extensively inhibited transcription of genes in JAK-STAT and MAPK/ERK pathways.

RESULTS
Both siC1-M2 and gefitinib inhibited the phosphorylation of multiple signaling kinases in these signaling pathways, indicating that gefitinib inhibited JAK-STAT and MAPK/ERK pathways activated by C1-M2 fusion. Moreover, gefitinib inhibition of EGFR and MAPK/ERK was more effective than that of AKT, JAK2 and STATs, and their dependence on C1-M2 could be uncoupled. Taken together, our results suggest that gefitinib simultaneously represses phosphorylation of multiple key signaling proteins which are activated in MEC, in part by C1-M2 fusion. Gefitinib-repressed kinase phosphorylation explains the transcriptional repression of genes in JAK-STAT and MAPK/ERK pathways.

CONCLUSION
These findings provide new insights into the efficacy of gefitinib in treating mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and suggest that a combination of gefitinib and other inhibitors specifically against C1-M2 fusion could be more effective.


Visual object tracking is a fundamental and challenging task in many high-level vision and robotics applications. It is typically formulated by estimating the target appearance model between consecutive frames. Discriminative correlation filters (DCFs) and their variants have achieved promising speed and accuracy for visual tracking in many challenging scenarios. However, because of the unwanted boundary effects and lack of geometric constraints, these methods suffer from performance degradation. In the current work, we propose hierarchical spatiotemporal graph-regularized correlation filters for robust object tracking. The target sample is decomposed into a large number of deep channels, which are then used to construct a spatial graph such that each graph node corresponds to a particular target location across all channels. Such a graph effectively captures the spatial structure of the target object. In order to capture the temporal structure of the target object, the information in the deep channels obtained from a temporal window is compressed using the principal component analysis, and then, a temporal graph is constructed such that each graph node corresponds to a particular target location in the temporal dimension. Both spatial and temporal graphs span different subspaces such that the target and the background become linearly separable. The learned correlation filter is constrained to act as an eigenvector of the Laplacian of these spatiotemporal graphs. We propose a novel objective function that incorporates these spatiotemporal constraints into the DCFs framework. We solve the objective function using alternating direction methods of multipliers such that each subproblem has a closed-form solution. We evaluate our proposed algorithm on six challenging benchmark datasets and compare it with 33 existing state-of-the art trackers. Our results demonstrate an excellent performance of the proposed algorithm compared to the existing trackers.


Relaxants for endotracheal intubation A useful monitor for time intervals On reading Dr Valerie M.F. Hey's article on 'Relaxants for endotracheal intubation' (Anaesthesia (1973) 28, 32), I am somewhat surprised that today, with all the electronic monitors which we have at our disposal, anesthesists are still using a hand-operated stop watch in order to compare the onset of action of tubocurarine and other relaxants. In 1971, at the conference of the Israel Society of Anesthesiologists,' I described the use of a transducer the size of a pin head, which can be placed in the connection of the endotracheal tube and which will record the pattern and rate of respiration during anaesthesia. With the help of this monitor i t is possible to record the time which passes between giving


As both experimental and theoretical studies in atomic physics move towards more complex atoms and more sophisticated methods, the design and characterization of atomic beam sources is becoming important as specific requirements emerge. This is especially the case when both electron impact and laser excitation are combined. The design of an oven is presented here together with characterization of the atomic beam parameters of importance to both electron impact and laser excitation experiments. The oven is designed and tested using calcium but is relevant for a range of atoms. In this study the oven was tested at temperatures up to 710 °C.


We have previously demonstrated that Ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation of Lewis donor bone marrow (BM) allografts prevents graft versus host disease (GVHD) in ACI recipients while allowing full engraftment. In a one-way GVHD model of parent to Lewis X BN (F1) rats, the site and mechanism of the action of UVB irradiation was assessed by adding nonirradiated isolated cell subsets, isolated by monoclonal antibodies (Mab) to cell surface markers, to the reconstituting UVB-irradiated bone marrow inoculum. GVHD was assessed primarily on clinical grounds by observation of posture, alopecia, skin erythema, and weight loss. The addition of nonirradiated spleen cells or non-UVB-irradiated T-cell subsets (both CD4 and CD8 positive) to the otherwise UVB-irradiated donor inoculum consistently resulted in acute GVHD. In contrast, UVB irradiation of these cells resulted in full engraftment without acute GVHD. Mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) assays confirmed responsiveness by BM transplanted hosts to third party stimulators while coculture assays failed to show any in vitro suppressor activity in the host. We conclude that UVB acts on both the T-lymphocyte and antigen presenting cell (APC) subsets to prevent acute GVHD. We also propose a model to explain tolerance based on clonal anergy produced by modified antigen presentation by UVB-irradiated APC's or by a modified response to processed antigen.


In focal kidney disease, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) using 2nd generation contrast enhancement allows continuous dynamic assessment of the arterial, venous and late perfusion phases of the renal parenchyma, as well as of focal lesions. CEUS is particularly useful in cases of an uncertain diagnosis after the performance of unenhanced ultrasound (US) and echocolorDoppler (ECD) (e.g. dromedary humps, hypertrophic column of Bertin, outcomes of pyelonephritis), and for differential diagnosis of simple cysts with a suspicious appearance (e.g. cysts with a dense content, calcified cysts) and complex cysts of Bosniak types 2, 3 and 4. Instead, lesions shown to be solid at unenhanced US must be directly evaluated by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), both to gain a panoramic view and because CEUS is often unable to reveal the precise nature of such lesions. In agreement with the literature, this experience (18 cases) confirms the utility of CEUS in the diagnosis of renal pseudolesions and complex cystic formations, reducing both the risk of radiation exposure and the use of the more costly CT and MRI methodologies.


In order to disrupt hegemonic thinking, the foundation of biases on which this thinking is built must first be confronted. I became increasingly aware of the detrimental impact of implicit bias during a research project I conducted in a children's literature course with preservice teachers. In this research project, I analysed the responses of the preservice teachers to a cosmopolitan approach to reading children's literature. A cosmopolitan approach in literacy invites a reflexive consideration of personal perspectives and an opening towards learning from the perspectives of others (Hansen, 2017). In encouraging the ideals of a cosmopolitan approach to literacy, I encountered areas of resistance from the preservice teachers. These instances of resistance were often rooted in implicit bias. During the final stages of completing my research, the picturebook Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña (2021) was released. Milo Imagines the World reveals how deeply held ideologies and biases impact perceptions of reality. An awareness of how biases impact one's perception of reality is an important factor in developing greater self-awareness and combating hegemonic thinking. In this article, I provide a critical analysis of the various forms of bias encountered during my research along with a reflective exploration of the picturebook Milo Imagines the World. This picturebook and analysis provide a context for better understanding the subtle pervasiveness of biases that often contribute to the maintenance of hegemonic thinking.


The past two decades have seen many advances in tissue viability. Our knowledge of the processes involved in wound healing has increased vastly, and as a result many products and techniques have been developed to speed it up. However, patients with wounds, and the professionals who care for them, still experience a number of challenges.


The field of international relations (IR) theory is something of a misnomer; since it is constituted by two distinct, though not unrelated, scholarly enterprises. Its core consists of first order theorizing about the structure and dynamics of the international system, and as such it attempts to contribute directly to our understanding of world politics in the form of substantive theories like realism, liberalism, and so on. The proliferation of such theories in recent years, however, has been a cause for some disciplinary concern (or celebration as the case may be), not least because the substantive disagreements between them are as often over what kinds of questions and answers are important or legitimate as they are over the 'facts of the matter'. This has helped open the door since the mid-1980s to a wave of second order or meta-theorizing in the field. The objective of this type of theorizing is also to increase our understanding of world politics, but it does so indirectly by focusing on the ontological and epistemological issues of what constitute important or legitimate questions and answers for IR scholarship, rather than on the structure and dynamics of the international system per se.


We propose a new local, deterministic and parameter-free algorithm that detects fuzzy and crisp overlapping communities in a weighted network and simultaneously reveals their hierarchy. Using a local fitness function, the algorithm greedily expands natural communities of seeds until the whole graph is covered. The hierarchy of communities is obtained analytically by calculating resolution levels at which communities grow rather than numerically by testing different resolution levels. This analytic procedure is not only more exact than its numerical alternatives such as LFM and GCE but also much faster. Critical resolution levels can be identified by searching for intervals in which large changes of the resolution do not lead to growth of communities. We tested our algorithm on benchmark graphs and on a network of 492 papers in information science. Combined with a specific post-processing, the algorithm gives much more precise results on LFR benchmarks with high overlap compared to other algorithms and performs very similarly to GCE.


PURPOSE
To compare two groups of patients with infective endocarditis, the drug addicts and non-drug addicts. We attempted to set particularities among the various aspects that involve the patient with endocarditis, due to the concurrent chronic use of cocaine intravenously.

METHODS
Twenty nine patients, group B, whose clinical diagnose was compatible with infective endocarditis, with risk factor of parenteral toxicomania by cocaine were treated at Institute "Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia" and Hospital "Emilio Ribas" in São Paulo, from 1984 to 1990. The data obtained for etiological agents, previous cardiac pathology, affected heart structures, affected heart side and clinical-surgical evolutions of group B were compared to group A (193 patients), which was also composed of patients with endocarditis, without chronic endovenous use of cocaine antecedent. The data obtained were analysed comparatively according to the chi square with Yates correction.

RESULTS
Male gender (89.7%) was predominate in group B towards group A (57.0%); (p < 0.01). Previous cardiopathy, either congenital or acquired, as antecedent proning to endocarditis, was found in 89.1% of patients in group A, significantly higher than 17.2% of patients group B (p < 0.001). Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent agent, which accounted for endocarditis of group B in 86.4% of the cases, significantly higher when compared to 23.9% of cases of group A (p < 0.01). Streptococcus viridans was the most frequent etiological agent for endocarditis of group A (44.8%), significantly higher than group B (4.5%), (p < 0.01). In concern to the affected structures, the tricuspid valve was most affected in group B (65.5%), significantly higher than group A (4.7%) p < 0.001. The mitral valve was significantly more affected in group A (45.1%) in comparison to group B (6.9%), (p < 0.05). In group A 82 patients (42.5%) required surgical treatment and this occurred in 3 patients of group b (10.3%), (p < 0.05). No significant statistical difference was found as for the general mortality (clinical and surgical) in both groups.

CONCLUSION
a) presence of previous cardiac disease was lower suggesting permanent contamination blood flow by pathologic agents, mainly of those found in the skin as S. aureus; b) right side of the heart is most frequently affected, specially the tricuspid valve even without previous damage.


The tip structure of conventionally used drip injection apparatus for chemical grouting has the defect that the chemical grouts flow upwards to the ground surface frequently, which reduces the accuracy and efficiency of injection significantly. Normally, cement and bentonite are used for sealing the gap between injection tube and drill hole, the performance of which is not satisfactory. In this study, a balloon cover injection tip (called BCIT) has been developed. The special tip structure of the injection tube prohibits the chemical grout flowing upward to the ground surface. In particular, BCIT can implement down-to-up chemical grouting due to its soft and tight attachment with the drill hole sides. The main advantage of the BCIT is its simplicity, portability, adaptability, and accurate injection quantity management. Further, this can be used effectively for small-scale strengthening and preservation of historical remains with complicated geographic features without spoiling their appearance. In the laboratory, the feasibility of BCIT apparatus has been verified by chemical grouting in model ground, which simulates the practical condition of Funasako kiln sites. A soil hardness tester was used to evaluate the strength of the solidified body.


A case of pilar tumour of the scalp, treated by local excision and radiotherapy, later metastasised to the neck. The variable histological growth patterns of the primary tumour and its metastases are described. It is concluded that the pilar tumour is a genuine neoplasm of the hair follicle that is occasionally capable of malignant behaviour.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of spruce biomass extract to control grey mould ( Botrytis cinerea) development in field-grown strawberries. The study was performed in a commercial strawberry plantation for two years and also according to EPPO guidlines. In contrast to the laboratory investigation, the efficiency of spruce biomass extract for grey mould control on strawberries in field conditions was not convincing, possibly due to weather conditions that did not favour mould development. A better level of control was observed when lower concentrations of spruce biomass extract were used. The only treatment that significantly reduced the amount of rotted fruits, compared to untreated control was 0.5% spruce biomass extract used once a week in 2013. However, significant reduction of leaf spot diseases by the extract applications in 1 and 2% concentrations was observed.


OBJECTIVE
Endoscopic images of the colonic mucosal venous structure in eight cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices and in eight noncirrhotic subjects were analyzed to qualitatively determine whether or not the vasculature be altered by persisting portal hypertension.

METHODS
On the endoscopic images, a venous network consisting of confluent venous branches draining into one penetrating vein was as a whole defined as one "venous unit." For each venous unit, the area of vein bed was calculated by means of an image processor. Each venous network was idealized to be a graphic representation consisting of lines (venous routes) and dots (origins, terminations, branching or anastomosing), on which two topological variables, the total number of zero-dimensional cells (a0) and the Betti number of dimension-1 (beta 1[K]), signifying the complexity and the number of venous anastomoses, respectively, were determined.

RESULTS
The area of vein bed (mean +/- SD) was significantly greater (p < 0.01) for the cirrhotic patients (41 +/- 37 mm2) than for the noncirrhotic subjects (24 +/- 12 mm2). The a0 was also greater (p < 0.01) for the patients (68 +/- 29) than for the noncirrhotic subjects (42 +/- 17). The beta 1[K] for the patients was significantly greater (p < 0.01) for the cirrhotic subjects (7.1 +/- 4.4) than for the noncirrhotic subjects (2.6 +/- 2.9).

CONCLUSION
The image processing and topological analysis of the colonic mucosal veins demonstrated that persistent portal hypertension alters the colonic mucosal venous structure by increasing the caliber of the veins and the number of merges (branching or anastomosing) between them.


This is the first full account of the life of John Cairncross which draws on recently released security service files as well as private papers, family correspondence and interviews with family members, friends and former colleagues. It challenges previous second hand accounts of Cairncross's life, notably that he was a dedicated communist, acting in collaboration with other members of the Cambridge spy ring, while providing the first detailed account of his post-espionage life.


AIMS
The transcription factor FoxO3 contributes to anti-hypertrophic signalling in the heart presumably by regulating autophagic-lysosomal and ubiquitin-proteasomal pathways. We wanted to study FoxO3 function in the adult heart in vivo by expressing a constitutively active mutant of FoxO3 in transgenic mice.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We generated transgenic mice in which a tetracycline-regulated constitutively active FoxO3 transgene (FoxO3-CA) is controlled by the heart-specific α-myosin heavy chain promoter. Cardiac-specific expression in adult mice resulted in a decrease in heart weight by 25% and a reduction in stroke volume and cardiac output. The decrease in heart size was due to a reduction in the size of individual cardiomyocytes, whereas there was no evidence for increased cell death. FoxO3 activation was accompanied by the initiation of a foetal gene programme with increased expression of β-myosin heavy chain and natriuretic peptides, and by the activation of AKT and mammalian target of rapamycin signalling. As shown by electron microscopy, FoxO3-CA massively stimulated destruction of sarcomeres and autophagy, and induced expression of LC3-II and BNIP3. When FoxO3-CA expression was shut off in affected mice, cardiac atrophy and dysfunction as well as molecular markers were normalized within 1 month. FoxO3-CA expression did not counteract hypertrophy induced by transverse aortic constriction.

CONCLUSION
Heart-specific expression of constitutively active FoxO3 leads to reversible heart atrophy. The reversibility of the phenotype suggests a remarkable ability of the adult myocardium to respond to different regulatory cues.


A unique and wide-ranging analysis of the aesthetic and emotional impact of lighting in cinema. Lara Thompson looks at the way light informs the cinematic experience, from constructing star identities, sculpting natural light and creating imaginary worlds, to the seductive power of darkness, fading representations of the past and arresting twilight encounters.

This groundbreaking and accessible introductory study investigates the way illumination has transcended its diffuse functional boundaries and been elevated to a position of narrative and emotional importance, transforming it from an unobtrusive element of film style to an expressive and essential component. It includes analyses of over fifty renowned international films, discussed in inventive and illuminating combinations, from cinema's earliest moments to its most recent digital manifestations.


In 1994, nutritional facts panels became mandatory for processed foods to improve consumer access to nutritional information and to promote healthy food choices. Recent applied work is reviewed here in terms of how consumers value and respond to nutritional labels. We first summarize the health and nutritional links found in the literature and frame this discussion in terms of the obesity policy debate. Second, we discuss several approaches that have been used to empirically investigate consumer responses to nutritional labels: (a) surveys, (b) nonexperimental approaches utilizing revealed preferences, and (c) experiment-based approaches. We conclude with a discussion and suggest avenues of future research.


After parenchymal loss, the liver regenerates restoring normal mass and metabolic function. Prevailing theories on triggering events leading to regeneration include humoral, metabolic, and flow-mediated mechanisms, the latter emphasizing the importance of shear stress mediated nitric oxide regulation. We aimed to investigate whether the grade of resection and hence the portal venous pressure and sinusoidal shear stress increase would be reflected in the gene expression profiles in the liver remnant by using a global porcine cDNA microarray chip with approximately 23,000 genes represented. Six pig livers were resected with 62% (low portal pressure resection) and 75% (high portal pressure resection), resulting in a portal venous pressure increase from a baseline of 6.1-8.2 and 12 mmHg, respectively. By sampling consecutive biopsies from the liver remnants, we found differentially expressed genes in the high portal pressure resection group to have functions related primarily to apoptosis, nitric oxide metabolism and oxidative stress, whereas differentially expressed genes in the low portal pressure resection group potentially regulate the cell cycle. Common to both groups was the upregulation of genes regulating inflammation, transport, cell proliferation, development, and protein metabolism. Also common to both groups was both up- and downregulation of genes regulating cell-cell signaling, signal transduction, cell adhesion, and translation. Genes regulating the metabolism of lipids, hormones, amines, and alcohol were downregulated in both groups. In conclusion, the genetic regenerative response in the liver remnant to varies according to the level of resection.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the clinical performance through the Korean Medical Licensing Examination clinical skills assessment (KMLE CSA) this survey was done.

METHODS
A survey of 130 interns and residents (46 applicants and 84 non-applicants for the KMLE CSA) at a university hospital in Seoul was conducted in January and February 2012. The data were gathered using a structured and self-administered questionnaire. For the items that assessed the clinical performance of these subjects, we selected 15 items that are mostly frequently used by Delphi's technique, and difficult procedural skills based on the results of medical students' performance. We also used subcomponents of the clinical problems test of the KMLE CSA.

RESULTS
The total score on the KMLE CSA improved by 1.33 points (a perfect score is 10), 1.49 points for procedural skills, and 0.84 points for clinical problems by multiple regression analysis. The variables that influenced clinical skills were sex (females had 0.86 more points than males), experience in military or public services (1.04 points higher than persons without experience), and type of school (graduates of medical school had 1.41 more points than graduates of professional graduate school).

CONCLUSION
Implementation of the KMLE CSA improved the clinical performance of medical graduates.


Tracking by natural language specification is a new rising research topic that aims at locating the target object in the video sequence based on its language description. Compared with traditional bounding box (BBox) based tracking, this setting guides object tracking with high-level semantic information, addresses the ambiguity of BBox, and links local and global search organically together. Those benefits may bring more flexible, robust and accurate tracking performance in practical scenarios. However, existing natural language initialized trackers are developed and compared on benchmark datasets proposed for tracking-by-BBox, which can't reflect the true power of tracking-by-language. In this work, we propose a new benchmark specifically dedicated to the tracking-by-language, including a large scale dataset, strong and diverse baseline methods. Specifically, we collect 2k video sequences (contains a total of 1,244,340 frames, 663 words) and split 1300/700 for the train/testing respectively. We densely annotate one sentence in English and corresponding bounding boxes of the target object for each video. We also introduce two new challenges into TNL2K for the object tracking task, i.e., adversarial samples and modality switch. A strong baseline method based on an adaptive local-global-search scheme is proposed for future works to compare. We believe this benchmark will greatly boost related researches on natural language guided tracking.


The rise of pro-social behavior in the modern era in diverse forms at all levels of the social good, individual, group, corporation deemed to have not succeeded in creating a growing social transformation. The concept of sincere look at the failure of transformation caused by tilting motif of a transcendental interest [254] Kontemplasi, Volume 04 Nomor 02, Desember 2016 to dwell on the motives toward selfishnes. Meanwhile, the concept of social awareness accused Gemeinschaftsgefuhl or failure due to strong motive personal excellence, as well as the existence of discrepancies between the motives of social awareness in a way or purpose (result) is expected. Social care emphasizes the importance of the way (method) and the objectives are verified by the results in the form of the success of all people in the community are ideal. Despite differences realm that limits the extent to which a behavior can be tested, sincere and social care have the same value that prosocial behavior can not be understood as a response to the positive consequences as well as the paradigm behavioristis Skinnerian, but the liberation of man from the attributes of affirmation of personal excellence. Keywords: Social concern, Ikhlas, Pro-social


We report on an Yb-doped all-polarization maintaining fiber mode-locked laser based on nonlinear-amplifying-loop mirror and 3 × 3 coupler. Thanks to this coupler inducing a non-reciprocal phase-bias, the mode-locked regime can be easily achieved at the high repetition rate of 52 MHz. The cavity delivers an average power of 62 mW corresponding to a pulse energy of 1.2 nJ. We have finally demonstrated an extra-cavity nonlinear spectral stage induced by the propagation along a standard nonlinear fiber. The pulse can be then compressed down to 178 fs via a grating compressor and the corresponding peak power is then around 6 kW.


Sustainability of large transport infrastructure projects is directly linked with the working conditions and procedures in construction and maintenance. Furthermore, safety is one of the most crucial performance indicators for transport infrastructure operators, dealing with management priorities, policies and measures closely related to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). This issue is extremely important especially for public private partnerships (PPP), extensively adopted in transport sector in many regions, where detailed contacts and OHS provisions should be considered. By a systemic analysis, this research identifies the key management factors influence safety performance in the PPP/concession projects and the management comprehensives over those factors. The survey analysis framework for the evaluation of OHS management performance for large transport operators are breakdown, promoting the structure and the expected outcomes toward sustainable management of transport infrastructure. The application is the Greek motorways concessions projects that implemented in the last decade. The research outputs provide key messages to planners, managers, decision makers, and stakeholders over large transport infrastructure sustainable development, promoting OHS performance aspects should be taken into consideration in operation management contacts and highlighting the link between OHS, level of safety, and sustainability. The case study structure and outputs are valuable for comparisons with similar cases, provide the framework for using in other places and/or cases and stimulate the interest for further research.


This study attempts to understand how Islamic microfinance as a financial inclusion strategy can be applied in alleviating poverty and maintain sustainable development in Nigeria. It analyses the principles of Islamic finance and conceptualizes its operational details to see the linkage between the real economies and sustainable development. The survey conducted in Ogun State, a sub national government of Nigeria reveal that notwithstanding the current upsurge in religious tension in Nigeria, religion is not a hindering factor to the implementation of Islamic microfinance. It also showed that Islamic microfinance in concert with the right fiscal and monetary policies framework, will contribute positively to poverty alleviation in Nigeria.


Today, fixatives from natural raw materials are gradually replacing fixatives synthesized from chemicals. The arm of this research is the study of same useful resin in Vietnam for fixative substance in blending fragrance. We obtained Benzoin resin from Styrax tonkenensis Pierre plant in Ha Giang province, Canarium resin from Canarium Album L. in Dak Nong district, Dak Lak province, and Agarwood pulp of Aquilaria crassna plant in Binh Thuan province Vietnam. The material used in the experiment for the natural fragrance was taken from the project of Vietnam essential oils and related natural products. The method of this process is resin extraction by volatile solvents. The resin is dissolved in alcohol 96% and the distilled alcohol is removed to obtain absolute. The method of assessment of product quality in this study is using the olfactory to assess the odour of samples over time. Benzoin resin, Canarium resin, and Agarwood resin of Vietnam are useful fixatives in blending fragrance. The fixative ability of Benzoin resin absolute is not equal to the ability of Agarwood resin absolute but better than the ability of Canarium resin absolute. Through research and experiment, we can see Benzoin resin, Canarium resin and Agarwood resin are precious. They can be used as a good fixative in aromatherapy. This is a natural resin, a kind of resource available in Vietnam. Therefore, it is recommended for further research, exploitation, and effective use of this resource.


There is renewed interest in the application of gypsum to agricultural lands, particularly of gypsum produced during flue gas desulfurization (FGD) at coal-burning power plants. We studied the effects of land application of FGD gypsum to corn ( L.) in watersheds draining to the Great Lakes. The FGD gypsum was surface applied at 11 sites at rates of 0, 1120, 2240, and 4480 kg ha after planting to 3-m by 7.6-m field plots. Approximately 12 wk after application, penetration resistance and hydraulic conductivity were measured in situ, and samples were collected for determination of bulk density and aggregate stability. No treatment effect was detected for penetration resistance or hydraulic conductivity. A positive treatment effect was seen for bulk density at only 2 of 10 sites tested. Aggregate stability reacted similarly across all sites and was decreased with the highest application of FGD gypsum, whereas the lower rates were not different from the control. Overall, there were few beneficial effects of the FGD gypsum to soil physical properties in the year of application.


Abstract During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries observational seismologists recorded primarily the earthquake-induced translational wave field, while the rotational motion still remains poorly observed and investigated. We aim to further understand the rotational ground motion and its relation to the translational wave field, with a special emphasis on the near field, a few wavelengths away from the hypocenter, where damage related to rotational motion might need to be considered. A broad picture of the available values of rotational amplitudes and their variability is obtained by gathering most of the published data on strong rotational motion. To obtain a more detailed picture we perform a large scale 3D numerical study of a strike-slip event in the Grenoble valley where a combination of topographic, source, and site effects produces a realistic wave field. We analyzed the synthetic dataset in terms of the rotational and translational peak amplitudes and their dependence on two effects: nonlinear soil behavior and source directivity. On a soft soil deposit, we observe peak ground rotation of 1 mrad and the peak ground rotation rate of 10 mrad/sec, for an M w  6.0 event. Those values show a strong dependence on the hypocenter location, the local site conditions, and the topographical features, inducing a variability of almost one order of magnitude in a range of distances of 20 km. Finally, we compare our numerical results in terms of peak ground velocity (PGV) versus peak ground rotation (PG ω ) with field data obtained at similar scenarios (e.g., Parkfield) by array techniques to investigate the relation between translational and rotational amplitudes expected in the near field for shallow, medium-sized earthquakes. Results of our numerical simulation fit reasonably well with those observed in past studies. Furthermore, the spatial variations of the PGV/PG ω ratio show a trend, which is correlated with the velocity structure of the model under study.


Background Adherence to therapy is critical to achieve and sustain management targets and optimal outcomes in treating patients (pts) with immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID). Pts' beliefs about the necessity of treatment and concerns about potential adverse effects could strongly influence adherence. However, knowledge about such beliefs and concerns in pts with IMIDs is quite limited. Objectives Conduct a multi-country cross-sectional study exploring pts' beliefs, concerns, attitudes and adherence toward TNF inhibitors (TNFi) and selected conventional therapies used either alone or in combination across multiple IMIDs. Methods In the ALIGN study, adults age ≥18 y diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or psoriasis (PsO) who were receiving conventional therapy and/or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (including TNFi) were recruited by specialists at different disease stages. Pts completed validated questionnaires such as the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) and short Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-4) at a single visit. Analyses of BMQ specific scores, MMAS-4 scores and pts' attitudes toward their medications are presented. Results 7328 pts were recruited, including 7197 in 33 countries (Western Europe/Canada, 56.8%; Eastern Europe/Middle East, 19.8%; Latin America, 12.8%; Asia Pacific, 10.6%) who met eligibility criteria. Eligible pts had RA (27.5%), AS (11.3%), PsA (8.9%), CD (17.3%), UC (8.8%) or PsO (26.2%). Mean age was 47.5 y (range, 38.0 in CD to 54.8 in RA). Mean disease duration was 11.7 y (range, 8.1 in UC to 18.7 in PsO). The largest proportion of pts received conventional therapies (40.3%), followed by TNFi mono- (32.0%) and combination therapy (27.7%). An attitudinal analysis combining BMQ necessity and concern scores revealed that most pts were either "accepting" (high necessity/low concern) or "ambivalent" (high necessity/high concern) toward their medication irrespective of disease or treatment type. Adherence across disease types was generally higher in pts receiving TNFi with or without conventional therapy (range of mean MMAS-4 scores, 3.4–3.7; 0–1 = low adherence, 2–3 = medium adherence, 4 = high adherence), vs pts receiving conventional mono- (2.6–3.3) or combination therapy (2.8–3.4). Across all treatment types, high adherence according to MMAS-4 analysis was consistently lower among "ambivalent" pts (46.1–69.0%) vs "accepting" pts (55.8%−77.6%) according to combined BMQ scores (Table). Conclusions Compared with "accepting" pts, "ambivalent" pts appeared to be less often highly adherent (MMAS-4 score=4), which could negatively affect treatment efficacy. The high percentage of "ambivalent" pts across disease types reveals the need to better explore pts' concerns about medication during routine consultations and to address any erroneous beliefs regarding benefit-risk of treatments to avoid potential nonadherence. Acknowledgements AbbVie funded the study and the analysis, and approved the abstract for submission. Jennifer Han, MS, of Complete Publication Solutions, Horsham, PA, provided writing assistance. Disclosure of Interest P. Michetti Grant/research support: MSD AG Switzerland, Consultant for: MSD, AbbVie, Abbott, UCB, Delenex, Vifor, Speakers bureau: MSD, UCB, Abbott, J. Weinman Employee of: Atlantis Healthcare, U. Mrowietz Grant/research support: Abbott/AbbVie, Almirall-Hermal, Amgen, BASF, Biogen Idec, Celgene, Centocor, Eli Lilly, Forward Pharma, Galderma, Janssen, Leo Pharma, Medac, MSD, Miltenyi Biotech, Novartis, Pfizer, Teva, VBL, Xenoport., Consultant for: Abbott/AbbVie, Almirall-Hermal, Amgen, BASF, Biogen Idec, Celgene, Centocor, Eli Lilly, Forward Pharma, Galderma, Janssen, Leo Pharma, Medac, MSD, Miltenyi Biotech, Novartis, Pfizer, Teva, VBL, Xenoport., Speakers bureau: Abbott/AbbVie, Almirall-Hermal, Amgen, BASF, Biogen Idec, Celgene, Centocor, Eli Lilly, Forward Pharma, Galderma, Janssen, Leo Pharma, Medac, MSD, Miltenyi Biotech, Novartis, Pfizer, Teva, VBL, Xenoport., J. Smolen Grant/research support: Abbott/AbbVie, Consultant for: Abbott/AbbVie, D. Schremmer Employee of: GKM Gesellschaft fuer Therapieforschung mbH, N. Tundia Shareholder of: AbbVie, Employee of: AbbVie, F. Gillas Shareholder of: AbbVie, Employee of: AbbVie, N. Selenko-Gebauer Shareholder of: AbbVie, Employee of: AbbVie DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2030