The VaNTH Engineering Research Center (www.vanth.org) has developed an authoring system for electronic courseware (CAPE) that links to a learning management system (eLMS). The system provides formative feedback, adaptive delivery, and feedback to the instructor about student conceptions. We used the system to deliver two problems in a biomedical engineering systems physiology course. Half the class (treatment) used CAPE/eLMS and the other half (control) completed the problems in a traditional paper-and-pencil format. This study evaluated students' performance on the problems and on summative (exam) questions as well as students' perceptions. Students enjoyed one of the problems more and the other less via the CAPE/eLMS system. Students in control and treatment groups performed equally well on summative assessments. Technical and programming difficulties have been addressed and more data will be collected in Spring, 2007. The tentative conclusion is that an adaptive learning system can be beneficial, but the benefits may be problem-dependent to some extent.


Current carbon measurement strategies leave spatiotemporal gaps that hinder the scientific understanding of the oceanic carbon biogeochemical cycle. Data products and models are subject to bias because they rely on data that inadequately capture mesoscale spatiotemporal (kilometers and days to weeks) changes. High-resolution measurement strategies need to be implemented to adequately evaluate the global ocean carbon cycle. To augment the spatial and temporal coverage of ocean–atmosphere carbon measurements, an Autonomous Surface Vehicle CO2 (ASVCO2) system was developed. From 2011 to 2018, ASVCO2 systems were deployed on seven Wave Glider and Saildrone missions along the U.S. Pacific and Australia's Tasmanian coastlines and in the tropical Pacific Ocean to evaluate the viability of the sensors and their applicability to carbon cycle research. Here we illustrate that the ASVCO2 systems are capable of long-term oceanic deployment and robust collection of air and seawater pCO2 within ±2 μatm based on comparisons with established shipboard underway systems, with previously described Moored Autonomous pCO2 (MAPCO2) systems, and with companion ASVCO2 systems deployed side by side.


This paper presents an integrated steady-state model simulating the condenser of the seawater greenhouse in Oman. The developed model is capable of predicting the outlet air temperature and humidity, the outlet seawater temperature and the condensation rate. Validation experiments showed a good conformity between the predicted and measured values within the calibration ranges at high and low air flowrates. The mean predictive error ( PE ) for the predicted condensation rate was 15.25 and 22.67 ml/min at high and low flowrates, respectively and the index of agreement ( IA ) was 0.96 and 0.98, respectively. The model also accurately predicted the outlet humidity ratio with PE values of -0.00006 and -0.00018 kg/kg for high and low air flowrates, respectively and IA values of 1.00 and 0.99, respectively. The model showed a small discrepancy between the measured and predicted outlet air temperature but yet with an PE value of 0.35 and 2.44 o C at high and low air flowrates, respectively and IA values of 0.92 and 0.86, respectively. This discrepancy was not due to an inaccuracy related to the simulation but rather due to an inaccuracy related to measurements caused by the non-horizontal airflow pattern. The accuracy of the model to predict the outlet seawater temperature was excellent with an PE of -0.33 and -0.10 o C for high and low air flowrates, respectively and IA values of 0.98 and 0.99, respectively. Model's accuracy was also evaluated using three additional statistical prediction indicators; coefficient of determination, mean absolute predictive error and root mean square error. It was found that all prediction indicators for high and low air flowrates were very good.


Real-time performance of adaptive digital signal processing algorithms is required in many applications but it often means a high computational load for many conventional processors. In this paper, we present a configurable hardware architecture for adaptive processing of noisy signals for target detection based on Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) algorithms. The architecture has been designed to deal with parallel/pipeline processing and to be configured for three version of CFAR algorithms, the Cell-Average, the Max and the Min CFAR. The proposed architecture has been implemented on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device providing good performance improvements over software implementations. FPGA implementation results are presented and discussed.


Since the position of 'rector' is the highest in Icelandic universities, taking over such a role is a major challenge as well as a sensitive change process for the individual and for the organisation. This paper introduces a change leadership model, i.e., the Oroboros Leadership Model. The research questions are: (1) Is it possible to provide academic leaders with a tool or a method that helps them guarantee their success in socializing within their university and to be better able to implement their vision? (2) Is academic leadership different from leadership in other contexts? (3) Is managing/leading universities different than managing/leading other organisations? To answer these questions, a qualitative research was conducted in which all university rectors in Iceland were asked questions about themselves, universities and the Oroboros Leadership Model. The conclusion is that a change leadership model like the one introduced in this paper could be very beneficial to leaders as they take on their new roles. 1 Reykjavik University, School of Science and Engineering, Reykjavik, Iceland, email@example.com


Abstract Forced population migration is not a modern phenomenon. It is often an integral part of totalitarian policies and has been used repeatedly to ensure the survival of political regimes or achieve specific political ambitions. Violent migration is present practically throughout history when considering the time scope and everywhere, practically in all continents of the world, with a specter of variations depending on the context imposed by the political circumstances, we can encounter it under different names. These variations have also reflections in the terminology used, among others, they are also indicators that speak of the different methods applied in order to achieve particular policies. Individuals, families, or even whole peoples are forced to migrate violently, abandon their homes and leave behind them all their lives, including the material goods created up to that moment. Seen from a normal retrospective, forced migration represents the culmination of a regime's goals to dominate the territory without hindrance from any possible resistance. This fact has brought so many tragedies to humanity, and even worse, it has often ended with "legitimization" by international treaties or has even been the product of inter-state agreements. Forced population migration has clearly brought to the surface the evil purpose and has revealed territorial ambitions.


Pro‐active ageing management is becoming more and more important for the economical and safe operation of industrial plants. A key element for a pro‐active ageing management approach is to apply in situ corrosion monitoring. The electrochemical noise (EN) technique is an example of a promising method, especially for monitoring localised corrosion phenomena. Currently, research work on the EN technique is carried out in several laboratories worldwide for different kind of industrial applications but also for the investigation of corrosion mechanisms. A prerequisite for performing serious research on the EN measurement technique is a careful evaluation of the measuring system, even if commercially available EN measurement instruments are used. Therefore, testing on well‐defined dummy cells should always be a preliminary step to assess the baseline noise of the EN measurement equipment and to ensure data validity. For this purpose a guideline has been developed by the European Cooperative Group on Corrosion Monitoring of Nuclear Materials (ECG‐COMON 1 ) as an outcome from round‐robin testing on EN. The current guideline describes a simple procedure for the performance and evaluation of EN measurement equipment using dummy cells.


Sarcopenia, loss of muscle mass and function, is mainly observed in elderly people. In this study, we investigated whether fermented rice germ extract (FRGE) has some effects on the mouse gastrocnemius muscle by using behavioral and morphological analyses, Western blotting, and a murine model of immobilization-induced muscle atrophy. Daily oral FRGE administration increased muscle weight and strength. In addition, myofiber size in gastrocnemius muscle of FRGE-treated mice was increased as revealed by morphological quantification. Activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling, which inhibits protein synthesis and stimulates protein degradation in gastrocnemius muscle, was significantly attenuated in the FRGE-treated mice compared with control mice. Expression level of forkhead box 3a (FOXO3a) protein was also significantly decreased in the FRGE-treated group. Moreover, the decrease in mean myofiber cross-sectional area in immobilized hindlimb in vehicle-treated mice was inhibited by FRGE treatment in histological analysis. In conclusion, FRGE increased the strength and weight of gastrocnemius muscle and myofiber size, and reduced immobilization-induced muscle atrophy in mice. These findings indicated that FRGE might be beneficial in preventing motor dysfunction in a range of conditions, including sarcopenia.


In this work, a parallel and distributed solution for 3-Dimensional time-domain finite element method (TDFEM) analysis system was presented. The MPI (Message Passing Interface) was the programming model of choice for scientific applications running on large-scale clusters. Therefore, SuperLU of an MPI version so called SuperLU_DIST, to be used on distributed memory machines, was employed for speeding up the computation of the electric field and radiation patterns of 3-Dimensional electromagnetic radiation problems. Second order Lagrange interpolation polynomials was utilized in this TDFEM approach for temporal discretization, and the open-region was truncated by Sacks PML (perfectly matched layer). Two dipole array antennas and a diamond antenna are computed in numerical results section. We analyze the performance of the parallel and distributed TDFEM using MPI library while executing SuperLU, and compared with those from the original TDFEM by using UMFPACK solvers.


This article provides an introduction to schizophrenia, outlining its signs and symptoms, causes and possible prognosis for patients. It also considers a range of therapeutic approaches to treatment.


In The Third Life of Grange Coneland, Alice Walker distinctly stretches out the customs, natural features, and folk heritage of the South in which she portrays how black women strive toward self-realization in a hostile environment (Perkins 2037). Most of the time, Walker?s black women in the novel, Margaret, Mem, and Josie are perpetually faced, both, to physical and emotional battle in their own home. They abide in an unfavorable world where slavery, and violence as well as brutality really reach the peak. Nevertheless, the black female characters here are manifested as strong heroines who possess solid inner power so that they arc capable to front such a pathetic condition. An outstanding black critics, Arthur P. Davis identifies that inner power as their survival technique, a technique that is always applied by all minority groups. He asserts that survival technique always exists in black literature from the eighteenth century down to the present (Davis 673). This thesis would analyze how Margaret, Mem, and Josie cope with their own men?s brutality and why they carry on such the same way as well as analyze the difference of their style in their same way in coping with their men?s oppression. Therefore, this thesis employs Davis? survival technique as the principal theory to analyze Margaret, Mem, and Josie?s deportment in facing their inimical neighborhood. Furthermore, literary theory of conflict, of characterization, and of setting would be the other devices used in the analysis. Theories of psychology would also be included in this thesis since it closely related to the black women?s characters, a weighty element which constitutes the influential factor in providing a deep and relevant analysis at the end, it is discovered that the female characters, Margaret, Mem, and Josie are those who everlastingly accept all their severe anguish caused by their own men?s brutality. The dissimilarity of human characters and of unpleasant experiences they have, understandably, creates variant reactions while accepting their men?s bad conduct .


It is now well established that bilinguals have both languages activated to some degree at all times. This cross-language activation has been documented in several research paradigms, including picture naming, reading, and electrophysiological studies. What is less well understood is how the degree a language is activated can vary in different language environments or contexts. Furthermore, when investigating effects of order of acquisition and language dominance, past research has been mixed, as the two variables are often conflated. In this dissertation, I test how degree of cross-language activation can vary according to context by examining phonetic productions in code-switching speech. Both spontaneous speech and scripted speech are analyzed. Follow-up perception experiments are conducted to see if listeners are able to anticipate language switches, potentially due to the phonetic cues in the signal. Additionally, by focusing on early bilinguals who are L1 Spanish but English dominant, I am able to see what plays a greater role in cross-language activation, order of acquisition or language dominance. I find that speakers do have intermediate phonetic productions in code-switching contexts relative to monolingual contexts. Effects are larger and more consistent in English than Spanish. Similar effects are found in speech perception. Listeners are able to anticipate language switches from English to Spanish but not Spanish to English. Together these results suggest that language dominance is a more important factor than order of acquisition in cross-language activation for early bilinguals. Future models on bilingual language organization and access should take into account both context and language dominance when modeling degrees of cross-language activation.


This study aims at describing the implementation of teaching vocabulary through Direct Method and the teaching result. In achieving the objectives, the researcher applies an action research involving four procedures or phases namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The research was held in SDN 1 Tulas Karangdowo Klaten. The researcher
takes 28 students of the sixth year as the subject of the study. There are three cycles in this research in which each cycle is conducted in one meeting. The data are the narratives of teaching vocabulary using Direct Method. And the data are taken from the event, documents, and information.
The result of the research shows that: (1) there are 25 (89,29%) students who increased their English vocabulary achievement; (2) there are 2 (7,14%) students who decreased their English vocabulary achievement and (3) there is 1 (3,57%) student who has static achievement. Overall, the researcher concludes that teaching English through Direct
Method is appropriate and quite effective for the sixth year students of SDN 1 Tulas Karangdowo Klaten. They do not feel bored easily and more relaxed in the classroom, because the teacher used colorful pictures and real thing as the media.


BACKGROUND
The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) is administered biennially to adolescents; it covers knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about risk and protective factors.

PURPOSE
This study explored 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students' attitudes and beliefs about current trends regarding drugs, alcohol, and mental health.

METHODS
We asked persons a series of questions in semi-structured focus groups (102 participants) while they were being presented with the PAYS data.

RESULTS
Participants expressed significant insight on root causes of risk behaviors. They recommended a decreased emphasis on grades and class rank, and recommended addressing mental health stigma, educating about vaping and marijuana effects, and obtaining support from families, schools, and communities.

CONCLUSION
Youth expressed interest in being an integral part of the planning and decision-making efforts that impact them. Our results support the Whole School, Community, and Child (WSCC) model.


The enigma of genetic diversity and genome organization and evolution in nature has been investigated in plants and animals at the Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Israel, during the period 1974–1997. The major problem investigated was how much of the genetic diversity at single and multilocus structures is adaptive, processed by natural selection, and contributes to differences in fitness? Genetic diversity was found in different degrees among and within the numerous species tested at both the protein and DNA levels. Its organization in nature, at all scales, global, regional, and local, is nonrandom, heavily structured, frequently displays parallel trends in unrelated taxa, is positively correlated with abiotic and biotic ecological diversity and environmental stress, and is negatively correlated with population size. These results are inconsistent with the predictions of the neutral theory of molecular evolution and appear to be primarily driven by natural selection. Critical laboratory experiments using marine organisms show that inorganic and organic pollutants cause fast differential mortality, indicating that allozyme genotypes are selected by the environment. Theoretically, spatial and temporal ecological variation are of prime importance in maintaining genetic diversity in natural populations, particularly in dynamically cycling environments that can generate complex supercycles, T-cycles and chaotic-like behavior. This mode of multilocus dynamics exceeds the potential for maintaining genetic polymorphism under ordinary selection models. It may represent a novel evolutionary mechanism increasing genetic polymorphism over long time periods. Likewise, the genetic interaction between multiple species can drive the evolution of genetic diversity in nature. Modern molecular ecological-genetics and computational techniques of biomolecular sequence comparisons through ecological-genomics could highlight the origin, maintenance, abundance, structure and function of genetic polymorphisms and comparative genome evolution in dynamically changing environments. Critical studies are needed to identify, measure, and estimate the kind, degree and stage of operation of the major evolutionary forces, natural selection, migration, mutation, recombination, and genetic drift. J. Exp. Zool. 282:95–119, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


Akt is a well-established protein that regulates cell growth, survival and             anti-apoptotic mechanisms. In this study, we demonstrated that hydrogen peroxide             (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress regulates the activity of the anti-apoptotic protein             Akt via the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation system. H2O2 induced cytotoxicity             in PC12 cells and decreased the cellular protein and phosphorylation levels of             Akt in a concentration- and exposure time-dependent manner. This downregulation             was blocked by the proteasome inhibitor MG132 and the Akt-specific inhibitor LY294002.             In addition, an in vivo ubiquitination assay revealed that the degradation of             Akt was mediated by the ubiquitin-mediated proteasome pathway and further demonstrated             that this ubiquitination was dependent on the phosphorylation status of Akt. Furthermore,             the exogenously overexpressed active form of Akt, but not its inactive form, induced             resistance to H2O2-mediated cell death. These results suggested that H2O2-induced             cytotoxicity was mediated by active Akt degradation.


Collisions between paused transcription elongation complexes and replication forks inevitably happen, which may lead to collapse of replication fork and could be detrimental to cells. Bacterial transcription factor DksA and its cofactor alarmone ppGpp were proposed to contribute to prevention of such collisions, although the mechanism of this activity remains elusive. Here we show that DksA/ppGpp do not destabilise transcription elongation complexes or inhibit their backtracking, as was proposed earlier. Instead, we show, both in vitro and in vivo, that DksA/ppGpp increase fidelity of transcription elongation by slowing down misincorporation events. As misincorporation events cause temporary pauses, contribution to fidelity suggests the mechanism by which DksA/ppGpp contribute to prevention of collisions of transcription elongation complexes with replication forks. DksA is only the second known accessory factor, after transcription factor Gre, that increases fidelity of RNA synthesis in bacteria.


Background The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea is higher in women after menopause. This is suggested to be a result of an altered sex hormone balance but has so far not been confirmed in a population-based study. Objective To investigate whether serum concentration of estrogens and progesterone are associated with the prevalence of sleep apnea symptoms in middle-aged women of the general population. Methods We analyzed data from 774 women (40–67 years) from 15 study centers in seven countries participating in the second follow-up of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (2010–2012). Multiple logistic regression models were fitted with self-reported symptoms of sleep apnea as outcomes and serum concentrations of various estrogens and progesterone as predictors. All analyses were adjusted for relevant covariates including age, BMI, education, study center, smoking habits, and reproductive age. Results Among all included women, a doubling of serum concentrations of estrone and progesterone was associated with 19% respectively 9% decreased odds of snoring. Among snorers, a doubling of the concentrations of 17β-estradiol, estrone and estrone 3-sulfate was associated with 18%, 23% and 17% decreased odds of breathing irregularly, and a doubling of the progesterone concentration was further associated with 12% decreased odds of waking up suddenly with a chocking sensation. Other evaluated associations were not statistically significant. Conclusions Middle-aged women with low serum estrogen and progesterone levels are more likely to snore and report symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea.


The exceptional nutritional values of milk have long been recognized. However, important drawbacks of milk and dairy products are their relatively high cholesterol contents and their low proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Hypersensitivity to milk proteins can also draw the public away from fluid milk consumption. The nonpathogenic ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila has a unique set of enzymes that converts cholesterol into provitamin D3 and related compounds. It also contains delta 12 fatty acid desaturases and releases various hydrolases, including proteases, lipases, and phospholipases. We investigated the potential use of these peculiar traits to improve milk by short-term incubation with live ciliate suspensions. We found that cholesterol can be reduced to 50% of its initial content in whole milk by a 12-h period of incubation with T. thermophila cells, mostly by conversion to delta 7-desaturated cholesterol derivatives, including provitamin D3. In addition, a considerable increase in gamma-linolenate (18:3, n-6) takes place. The protein profile is markedly changed by proteolysis, with a striking reduction of casein and enhancement in total amino acid content. Despite these changes, no marked alterations in flavor or odor were observed at the end of 12 h of incubation. Thus, Tetrahymena appeared ideally suited to correct for milk draw-backs, making this important source of nutrients more acceptable to the health-conscious public.


Organisms live in constantly changing environments in which, the nature, severity and frequency of the environmental stresses are very variable. Organisms possess multiple strategies for coping with the environmental fluctuations. One such strategy is modulation of mutation rates as a function of the degree of adaptation to the environment. When adaptation is limited by the available genetic variability, natural selection favors cells having high mutation rates in bacterial populations. High mutation rates can be advantageous because they increase the probability of generation of beneficial mutations. Constitutive mutator alleles are carried to high frequency through hitchhiking with beneficial mutations they generate. However, once the adaptation is achieved, the cost of deleterious mutations generated by constitutive mutator alleles reduces cellular fitness. For this reason, the possibility of adapting the mutation rate to environmental conditions is interesting from an evolutionary point of view. Stress-induced mutagenesis allows rapid adaptation to complex environmental challenges without compromising the population fitness because it reduces the overall cost of a high mutation rate. Here we review the molecular mechanisms involved in the control of modulation of mutation rates in bacteria.


The blood-brain barrier (BBB) transport and equilibration of opioids with different physico-chemical properties and similar structures - codeine, morphine, morphine3-glucuronide (M3G) and morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) - were investigated in rats and mice using microdialysis. The influences of active efflux pumps, P-glycoprotein (Pgp) and multidrug resistance protein (MRP1), on the BBB transport of morphine and M3G were studied. Modeling of the BBB transport was performed in NONMEM to estimate the intlux and efflux clearances (CLin and CLout). Simulations were performed on the different possible transport processes at the BBB: passive diffusion, influx hindrance, active efflux, or a combination of influx hindrance and active efflux.Codeine was rapidly transported into the brain and quickly reached BBB equilibration with an unbound area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) ratio of brain extracellular fluid (ECF) to blood of 1.0 ± 0.2. The unbound morphine concentration ratio of brain ECF to blood at the end of infusion was 0.5 ± 0.4 in mdrla (+/+) mice and 0.9 ± 0.4 in mdrla (-/-) mice lacking Pgp. The brain ECF-to-blood unbound steady-state concentration ratio of M6G was 0.22± 0.09, while it was 0.10 ± 0.04 for M3G. The ratio for M3G was increased to 0.16 ± 0.05 during co-administration of probenecid, an inhibitor of MRP1. From the modeling analysis, it was shown that CLout of M3G and M6G (1.15 and 2.17 μl/min*g-brain, respectively) were significantly higher than the CLin (0.11 and 0.35 μl/min*g-brain, respectively). These results indicate that the BBB transport of codeine is dominated by passive diffusion, that Pgp contributes to lower the brain concentration of morphine, that MRP1 is involved in the BBB transport of M3G. and that one or both active efflux pumps are active on M6G.All studied opioids had similar half-lives in blood (20-24 min). Longer half-lives were found in brain ECF for M6G (58 ± 17 min) and M3G (81 ± 25 min). Codeine's half-life was similar to that in blood (brain 24 ± 5 min VS. blood 26 ± 3 min. Together with the need for two compartments in the modeling to describe the concentration-time profiles in the brain for M3G and M6G, this indicates that the redistribution within the brain is the rate-limiting step for the elimination of M3G and M6G from the. brain, not the BBB transport itself.Simulations showed that influx hindrance is mom efficient in restraining the drug transport into the brain than active efflux, and it does not affect the half-life in brain. The most powerful mechanism to lower brain concentration is a combination of influx hindrance and active efflux processes, which is the most physiologically plausible process.


O-linked N-acetyl-glucosamine transferase (OGT) is an enzyme that catalyzes addition of the O-GlcNAc modification to a wide range of intracellular proteins. The O-GlcNAc modification is a product of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, which requires glucose and glutamine as substrates. Uptake of both of these nutrients is often up-regulated in cancer, which in turn leads to an increase in the total protein O-GlcNAcylation. Increased OGT expression has also been reported in most cancer types, including the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women, breast cancer. Many of the breast cancers rely on estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) for proliferation and have shown a strong response to the ERα inhibition, most commonly achieved by treatment with tamoxifen. However, while efficient, prolonged exposure to tamoxifen commonly causes resistance and relapse of the disease. It is therefore vital to uncover mechanisms which contribute to the resistance in order to develop adequate treatment strategy for these patients. Here, we have investigated the effect of targeting OGT in an isogenic pair of ERα-positive tamoxifen-sensitive MCF7 and tamoxifen-resistant TAMR breast cancer cell lines. OGT inhibition decreased viability and triggered cell death in both cell lines. These responses were associated with over 50% reduction in ERα expression in both MCF7 and TAMR cells. Reduced O-GlcNAcylation has previously been reported to induce endoplasmic reticulum stress and activation of transcription factor C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), which promotes cell death. Targeting OGT resulted in a strong increase of CHOP expression, which appeared more prominent in the TAMR cells. Finally, targeting OGT induced a very pronounced cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase in the TAMR cells, while the MCF7 cell lined showed a very modest response. Taken together, these results indicate that targeting OGT leads to a differential response in the tamoxifen-sensitive and resistant breast cancer cells. Currently, we are using an expanded panel of tamoxifen-resistant cell lines to perform expression microarrays, metabolic flux assays and DNA damage response analysis in order to uncover the cause of the differential response to OGT targeting. This may help us identify potential therapeutic combinations that might be suitable for treatment of tamoxifen-resistant cancers. Citation Format: Anna Barkovskaya, Lina Prasmickaite, Ian G. Mills, Gunhild M. Maelandsmo, Siver A. Moestue, Harri M. Itkonen. Inhibition of O-GlcNAc transferase in tamoxifen resistant breast cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3737.


In the article, I have proposed an analysis of the health of the rural population of Romania, compared to urban areas, also to look at the access of this population to health services and quality of offered medical services. On the background of the pandemic, the gaps between rural and urban areas, in terms of access of sick people to medical care has become a real challenge, as vast majority of the hospitals that treated COVID 19 patients were situated in urban areas. Also, rural people have lower access to sanitary utilities, as water facilities and toilets inside the house were important in terms of keeping the hygiene. Despite the factors that were disadvantaging rural part as co-morbidities, lack of family doctors in some communities, or hard access to sanitation and medical services, it seems the main factor that contribute to spread of COVID 19 disease was the density of population, that was higher in urban. That cand be seen that crowded communities were at highest risk of coronavirus disease and increase of mortality during pandemic. The additional mortality in 2021, compared to 2020 was higher in urban than in rural area. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.


Describes two specimens of mineralized plant stems collected in the vicinity of Savigne-sur-Lathan, Indre-et-Loire, France, which could definitely be assigned to Palmoxylon ligerinum. One was found in a loose block on the surface of beds attributed to the Bartonian (Eocene); the other is a reworked fragment found in Vindobonian (Miocene) deposits. Discussion of the affinities and stratigraphic distribution (upper Cretaceous?-Tertiary) of P. ligerinum is included.


In object-oriented software development, requirements of different stakeholders are often manifested in use case models which complement the static domain model by dynamic and functional requirements. In the course of development, these requirements are analyzed and integrated to produce a consistent overall requirements specification. Iterations of the model may be triggered by conflicts between requirements of different parties. However, due to the diversity, incompleteness, and informal nature, in particular of functional and dynamic requirements, such conflicts are difficult to find. Formal approaches to requirements engineering, often based on logic ' attack these problems, but require highly specialized experts to write and reason about such specifications. We propose a formal interpretation of use case models consisting of UML use case, activity, and collaboration diagrams. The formalization, which is based on concepts from the theory of graph transformation, allows to make precise the notions of conflict and dependency between functional requirements expressed by different use cases. Then, use case models can be statically analyzed, and conflicts or dependencies detected by the analysis can be communicated to the modeler by annotating the model. An implementation of the static analysis within a graph transformation tool is presented.


In this paper, we consider the problem of searching a network for intruders. We propose a strategy for capturing the intruder in the popular interconnection topology, the star network. According to the proposed strategy, a team of collaborative software agents are responsible for capturing a hostile intruder (e.g. a virus). These agents asynchronously move along the network links and the intruder has the capability of escaping arbitrarily fast.


Hydrocephalus is a prevalent condition among newborns leading to substantial neurocognitive and motor impairment. Novel therapies are needed to supplant invasive surgeries, but identifying targetable cells and pathways remains a hurdle to devising alternative pharmacological options. Multiciliated ependymal cells (MECs) promote cerebrospinal fluid flow within brain ventricles, and their dysfunction is associated with various forms of hydrocephalus. Here we show that an acute exposure to TNF-α strongly impairs the conversion of ependymal cell radial glial progenitors (ecRGPs) into MECs. Inhibition of MEC differentiation was correlated with elevated expression levels of notch pathway effectors normally downregulated prior to the transition of ecRGPs into MECs. TNF-α inhibited Multicilin gene upregulation along with downstream genes critical for centriole amplification and multicilia formation, resulting in cells with greatly diminished basal bodies and multicilia. Treatment with notch inhibitor DBZ, either in parallel with TNF-α or sequentially days later, rescued MEC differentiation and expression of genes required for multicilia formation. These results provide a rationale for how TNFα can impair MEC development, and they offer a targetable pathway to the treatment of some forms of hydrocephalus.


In this work, we analyze the effect of predistortion techniques on the focusing profile of Fresnel Zone Plates (FZPs) in ultrasound applications. This novel predistortion method is based on either increasing or decreasing the width of some of the FZP Fresnel rings by a certain amount. We investigate how the magnitude of the predistortion, as well as the number and location of the predistorted rings, influences the lens focusing profile. This focusing profile can be affected in different ways depending on the area of the lens where the predistortion is applied. It is shown that when the inner area of the lens, closer to its center, is predistorted, this technique allows the control of the focal depth at the main focus. However, when the predistortion is applied to an area farther from the center of the lens, the acoustic intensity distribution among the main focus and the closest adjacent secondary foci can be tailored at a certain degree. This predistortion technique shows great potential and can be used to control, modify and shape the FZP focusing profile in both industrial and therapeutic applications.


Although pair programming is becoming more prevalent in software development, and a number of reports have been written about it [10] [13], few have addressed the manner in which pairing actually takes place [12]. Even fewer consider the methods used to manage issues such as role change or the communication of complex issues. This paper highlights the way resources designed for individuals are re-appropriated and augmented by pair programmers to facilitate collaboration. It also illustrates that pair verbalisations can augment the benefits of the collocated team, providing examples from ethnographic studies of pair programmers 'in the wild'.


This article is about forest governance in India and presents a unique, federalism perspective on the subject. While forest governance and federalism have both been deeply researched in academic scholarship, there is little work that deals with the linkages between the two. In addressing this gap in scholarship, the article explains forest federalism through a focus on three dimensions. The first is the Constitutional construct of the forest sector, and its interpretations through legislative provisions. The second is the administrative, financial and institutional linkages between the Centre and States, including the influence of the Indian Forest Service. The third looks at vertical and horizontal asymmetries in the sector, and the ways in which these relate to administrative and resource concerns in federal functioning. The paper concludes with a reflection on the relevance of forest federalism in on-going international environmental debates.


This paper presents MEPP, an open source platform for 3D mesh processing. This platform already contains a large set of processing tools from classical ones (simplification, subdivision, segmentation) to more technical algorithms (compression, watermarking, Boolean operation, perceptual metrics, etc.). Its main objective is to allow a quick start for both users and developers by providing highly detailed tutorials and simple integration mechanisms, through a modular architecture where components are implemented as dynamic plugins.


A continuing experimental model study relating to the seismic resistance of large multi-span curved overcrossings is reported. A brief description of the microconcrete model, a 1/30 true- scale version of a hypothetical prototype, which was tested on the 20 ft x 20 ft (6.1 m) Shaking Table at the University of California, is given. The response of the model is described for a series of simulated seismic excitations applied (i) horizontally in the asymmetric longitudinal direction, and (ii) horizontally in the symmetric direction, both alone and also with simultaneous vertical excitation. The influence of expansion joint design on the seismic behaviour is the main parameter studied, with emphasis on the need for joint restrainers of adequate ductility, to effectively tie adjacent girders together. However, because of the severe damage caused by impacting at the expansion joints during moderately strong excitation, it is concluded that expansion joints should ideally be omitted from such structures.


The initiation of a planar detonation via deflagration to detonation transition is studied in a reactive mixture confined between two infinite parallel plane walls. The mixture is ignited by bulk power deposition of limited duration in a thin layer adjacent to the left-hand wall. A combustion wave starts to propagate into the reactant, supported by expansion of the burned hot gases. Compression waves generated ahead of the combustion front coalesce quickly to form a shock wave strong enough to trigger considerable chemical reaction. This newly started reaction evolves into a reaction centre in which the chemical heat release rate increases rapidly. The subsequent explosion of the reaction centre creates compression waves that steepen to form a new shock. The strengthened lead shock ignites a new strongly coupled reaction zone that supports the formation of an initially overdriven detonation. Subsequently, the wave decays to an oscillating planar detonation with mean properties of a Chapman-Jouguet wave.


This paper investigates the response of high strength concrete (HSC) beams subjected to reversed cyclic loading using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), glass fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRP), and hybrid FRP/steel bars as bottom tensile reinforcement. Five HSC beams with a rectangular cross-section were prepared and poured using with a 28-day concrete compressive strength of 60 MPa (8.7 ksi). A displacement-controlled reversed cyclic loading has been applied to all the beams. The test setup has been designed to represent seismic effect on structures. Flexural capacity, concrete and reinforcement steel strains, cracking behavior, and ductility results were obtained. The hybrid steel/FRP has shown an improved performance in terms of flexural capacity, strains, and ductility. While the inclusion of FRP grids reduces the flexural capacity, this can be improved by adding more layers of FRP. Overall, the nominal moment of the hybrid sections were the highest between all beams. The ACI 318 code's empirical equations showed close results in terms of the tensile strength of the FRP. The ACI 440R has shown overestimated nominal moment values compared to the experimental results.


The purpose of this article is to present the analysis of
accounting problems related to the development of new
accounting rules and guidelines throughout the world and to
provide suggestions for professional accounting education.
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) published by
the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are
becoming the most important financial reporting standards in
the world. Application of IFRS requires a high level of
professional knowledge by accounting staff. Currently, there is
significant progress in accounting throughout the world and
accounting is becoming more sophisticated. Analysis of these
developments and the interchange of experience are in progress
in various countries. New methods and accounting applications,
as well as the practical application of accounting principles,
are being developed. Knowledge of the predictive ability of
financial statements is necessary for useful communication
among accounting information users. As accounting is undergoing
continuous development both in Europe and in the world, it must
react to the development of national and multinational economic
environments. Nowadays, the value of education and the demand
for university education are rising. Consequently, new
education forms are invoked by changes in position of schools
within the system, by the change of graduates' profile, and of
teachers' and students' position. The main goal of this article
is to identify options for development of accounting education.
The goal of accounting education is to produce competent
professional accountants who can meet the expectations of their
communities and the challenges they will face in the future.


The main goal of quarry restoration is to convert degraded, unproductive areas into new, self‐sustaining ecosystems that develop into highly natural environments. With the aim to individuate the best practices for restoring limestone quarries, we investigated the short‐term effects on vegetation features and economic advantages of three restoration approaches. These approaches included tree and shrub planting, no herb layer, or a commercial seed mixture or hayseed. The different approaches were tested in a limestone quarry within the Botticino extractive basin (N‐Italy). A donor grassland area of hayseed and a quarry area that had undergone spontaneous revegetation over a decade were used as control areas. We surveyed the vegetation plots to investigate the structure and the productivity of the herbaceous layers; collecting data on plant species cover, the mean plant height, the tree and shrubs mortality and biomass enabled us to perform gradient analysis. The main differences between the sites were due to biotic factors; specifically, vegetation cover was affected quite differently by the different restoration approaches. Restoration with commercial seed mixture resulted primarily in dense stands of Lolium perenne that caused an increase in shrub and tree mortality. Cost–benefit analysis showed that despite hayseed being the most expensive approach in terms of cost and time, it ensured higher species diversity, vegetation structure and greening. Our results highlighted that autochthonous plant materials can improve excavation‐areas restoration by both contrasting the colonisation of non‐native species and increasing natural regeneration and biodiversity levels. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Recently there has been considerable interest in the use of NdBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ (NBCO) as an alternative thin-film material to YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ (YBCO) for device applications. This is due to the its potentially superior surface and structural properties. However the development of NBCO Josephson junctions and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) has been found difficult worldwide due to the degradation in the transition temperature upon patterning. This effect appears to be target dependent. By careful patterning and annealing of samples we have been able to obtain working NBCO Josephson junctions and SQUIDs at 77 K. Here we report on their electrical and noise characteristics.


1. In unanaesthetized rabbits, haemorrhage was simulated by inflating a cuff placed round the inferior vena cava so that cardiac output fell at a constant rate of approximately 8% of its resting value per minute. The circulatory responses were measured after injections into the fourth ventricle of saline vehicle, selective opioid antagonists, selective opioid agonists, and agonist‐antagonist mixtures. Three sets of experiments were done to determine if a specific subtype of opiate receptor within the central nervous system is responsible for the circulatory decompensation that occurs during simulated haemorrhage. 2. In six rabbits the effects of ascending doses of the antagonists naloxone (mu‐selective), Mr 2266 (kappa‐ and mu‐selective), ICI 174864 (delta‐selective) and nor‐binaltorphimine (kappa‐selective) were tested. In three rabbits the effects of the antagonist naloxone, the agonists HTyr‐D‐Ala‐Gly‐MePhe‐NH(CH2)2OH (DAGO, mu‐selective), U 50488H (kappa‐selective), and [D‐Pen2,D‐Pen5]‐enkephalin (DPDPE, delta‐selective), and combinations of these agonists with naloxone were tested. In four rabbits the dose‐related effects of DAGO on respiratory, as well as circulatory, functions were examined. 3. After injecting saline vehicle, the circulatory response to simulated haemorrhage had two phases. During the first phase, systemic vascular conductance fell, heart rate rose, and mean arterial pressure fell by only approximately 10 mmHg. A second, decompensatory, phase began when cardiac output had fallen to approximately 50% of its resting level. At this point, there was an abrupt rise in systemic vascular conductance and a fall in mean arterial pressure to less than or equal to 40 mmHg. 4. The lower range of doses of naloxone (3‐30 nmol), Mr 2266 (10‐100 nmol), ICI 174864 (10‐30 nmol), and all doses of nor‐binaltorphimine (1‐100 nmol), were without effect on the circulatory response to stimulated haemorrhage. Higher doses of naloxone (30‐100 nmol), Mr 2266 (100‐300 nmol) and ICI 174864 (30‐100 nmol) abolished the decompensatory phase. The relative order of antagonist potency was ICI 174864 greater than or equal to naloxone greater than Mr 2266 greater than or equal to nor‐binaltorphimine. 5. In the second set of experiments, the critical dose of naloxone necessary to prevent circulatory decompensation during simulated haemorrhage was 30‐150 nmol. The delta‐agonist DPDPE (50 nmol) did not affect the haemodynamic response to simulated haemorrhage, but it did block the effect of naloxone on the response.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Necessity plays a key role in the birth of new ideas and innovations that are very rewarding at the time of need. Usually Ambu bag is used for intrahospital transfer of critically ill patients. We report the successful use of modified bain circuit to transfer these patients. Transport of critically ill patients is an established practice in today's field of emergency medicine. Many potential problems may be avoided by optimization of the patient's condition before transport. Despite all efforts taken to minimize any complication arising during transport, we still have a long way to go and a Herculean task ahead of us. New innovations and ideas happen all the time. Some are planned and others not. Necessity plays a key role in the birth of new inventions that are very rewarding at the time of need. We report the successful use of modified bain circuit for transport of such critically ill patients. Ambu bag is generally used for transport of such patients but there is risk of hypoxemia because Ambu bag can not provide 100% oxygen if needed. We removed the connector from modified bain circuit that is usually attached at the patient end of bain circuit and attached it at the machine end of this circuit. Oxygen supply from transport oxygen cylinder was attached to other end of this connector through a flow meter. During transport patients were ventilated in spontaneous/assisted/controlled mode by adjusting the APL Valve of bain circuit and pressing the bag of bain circuit by resuscitator. Ambu bag still must be available if by chance oxygen cylinder got emptied. As this system could provide nearly 100% oxygen during transport of these patients so it may decrease the complications of transport arising due to hypoxemia in these patients. Figure 1 References 1. Ahmad Elsharydah: Manual Resuscitators (Ambu Bags) Can Ventilate The Lungs Adequately Despite Big Subatmospheric Pressure In The Breathing Circuit. The Internet Journal of Anesthesiology. 2003. Volume 7 Number 2. Modified Bain Circuit Used To Transport Critically Ill Patients 2 of 2 Author Information Parveen Goyal, MBBS DA DNB(Std) Senior resident Anesthesia, PGIMS Rohtak Ruchi Goyal, MBBS, MD Assistant professor, PGIMS Rohtak Jatin Lal, MBBS MD Assistant professor, Pt. B. D. Sharma PGIMS


Although hemangiomas are common in the head and neck area, they are uncommon in the temporal bone. External auditory canal (EAC) hemangiomas are a relatively uncommon otologic condition. In the English literature, only 29 cases of temporal bone hemangioma have been reported. We also present the case of a 32-year-old male patient who presented with an 8-month history of decreased hearing, tinnitus, and aural fullness on the right side. Otoscopic examination of the right ear revealed a smooth, oval, well-circumscribed, reddish, pulsatile, nontender mass, which was about 1 cm in diameter and occupied two-thirds of the EAC. It was soft in consistency, compressible, and appeared to be arising from the right posterior-superior portion of the bony canal wall; the tympanic membrane seemed to be uninvolved. The patient had mild conductive hearing loss of the right ear with an average air-bone gap of 20 dB; the left side was normal. High-resolution contrast-enhanced computed tomographic scanning of the temporal bone showed well-defined, rounded, homogenously enhancing lesions at the posterior-superior aspect of right EAC measuring 0.7 × 0.8 cm. Angiography was performed and there was evidence of vascular blush in the region of the right EAC. Three blood vessels were identified and embolized. The mass was completely removed by the endaural approach, and a retroauricular skin graft to restore cutaneous integrity was not required. Histopathology indicated a capillary hemangioma without cytological atypia or mitotic activity. There was no recurrence 1 year after the surgery.


Post-hurricane damage assessment is crucial towards managing resource allocations and executing an effective response. Traditionally, this evaluation is performed through field reconnaissance, which is slow, hazardous, and arduous. Instead, in this paper we furthered the idea of implementing deep learning through convolutional neural networks in order to classify post-hurricane satellite imagery of buildings as 'Flooded/Damaged' or 'Undamaged'. The experimentation was conducted employing a dataset containing post-hurricane satellite imagery from the Greater Houston area after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. This paper implemented three convolutional neural network model architectures paired with additional model considerations in order to achieve high accuracies (over 99%), reinforcing the effective use of machine learning in post-hurricane disaster assessment.


Silent speech interfaces (SSIs) enable speech recognition and synthesis in the absence of an acoustic signal. Yet, the archetypal SSI fails to convey the expressive attributes of prosody such as pitch and loudness, leading to lexical ambiguities. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of using surface electromyography (sEMG) as an approach for predicting continuous acoustic estimates of prosody. Ten participants performed a series of vocal tasks including sustained vowels, phrases, and monologues while acoustic data was recorded simultaneously with sEMG activity from muscles of the face and neck. A battery of time-, frequency-, and cepstral-domain features extracted from the sEMG signals were used to train deep regression neural networks to predict fundamental frequency and intensity contours from the acoustic signals. We achieved an average accuracy of 0.01 ST and precision of 0.56 ST for the estimation of fundamental frequency, and an average accuracy of 0.21 dB SPL and precision of 3.25 dB SPL for the estimation of intensity. This work highlights the importance of using sEMG as an alternative means of detecting prosody and shows promise for improving SSIs in future development.


Raw bio-oil was pretreated and tested for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) using three types of the commercial catalysts (HT-36, HT2300, and HT951T) to improve physio-chemical properties and enhance hydrocarbon yields. The three catalysts prompted different levels of hydrodeoxygenation, and the organic phase products (OLPs) yields were 25.30, 27.83, and 13.05 wt%, respectively. Moreover, OLPs had lower water content, total acid numbers (TAN), and O content as well as higher heating value (HHV), C, and H contents. For the three catalysts, HT-36 had the best HDO effects, resulting in 34.8% hydrocarbon production with improved HHV, water content value and TAN as well as element contents. The different level of HDO depended on the catalyst components, structure, and morphology. This research is beneficial for the selection and preparation of effective catalysts for bio-oil upgrading.


Aim: The transitivity of osimertinib to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is of clinical concern. A quantitative LC-MS/MS method for the determination of osimertinib in human plasma and CSF was developed to evaluate its transitivity. Results: The calibration range was 40-1000 nM in plasma and 0.8-100 nM in CSF. Accuracy and precision were within 15%. Osimertinib in the CSF but not in plasma strongly adsorbed onto the storage container. The mean adsorbed loss of osimertinib was 45.5% in CSF. Nonspecific binding in CSF was decreased by protein addition (mean loss = 5.8%). Conclusion: A robust validated method was developed for the quantification of osimertinib in human plasma and CSF.


Harnessing industrial microorganisms to utilize renewable feedstocks and meanwhile produce biofuels, bulk chemicals, food ingredients, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, industrial enzymes, etc. is the basis for successful biological industries. Robust traits of industrial microorganisms including high yield and productivity as well as stress tolerance are controlled by sophisticated genetic regulatory networks. Engineering robustness of industrial microorganisms requires systematic and global perturbations at the genome-wide scale to accelerate the accumulation of diversified genotypic mutations, thus generating desirable phenotypes. We review heve the mechanisms of genetic regulation and stress response in robust industrial organisms, the global perturbations and multiplex accelerated evolution at the genome-wide scale, as well as the global perturbation of cellular redox balance. In the future, based on system biology and synthetic biology, more efforts should be further devoted to understanding the mechanisms behind robust traits in industrial microorganisms under industrial niches for modeling and prediction as well as systematic engineering.


The quark-meson coupling model, based on a mean-field description of nonoverlapping nucleon bags bound by the self-consistent exchange of $\ensuremath{\sigma}$, $\ensuremath{\omega}$, and $\ensuremath{\rho}$ mesons, is extended to investigate the change of hadron properties in finite nuclei. Relativistic Hartree equations for spherical nuclei have been derived from a relativistic quark model of the structure of bound nucleons and mesons. Using this unified, self-consistent description of both infinite nuclear matter and finite nuclei, we investigate the properties of some closed-shell nuclei and study the changes in the hadron masses of the nonstrange vector mesons, the hyperons, and the nucleon in those nuclei. We find a new, simple scaling relation for the changes of the hadron masses, which can be described in terms of the number of nonstrange quarks in the hadron and the value of the scalar mean field in a nucleus.


Vertebrate genomes replicate according to a precise temporal program strongly correlated with their organization into A/B compartments. Until now, the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment of early‐replicating domains remain largely unknown. We defined two minimal cis‐element modules containing a strong replication origin and chromatin modifier binding sites capable of shifting a targeted mid‐late‐replicating region for earlier replication. The two origins overlap with a constitutive or a silent tissue‐specific promoter. When inserted side‐by‐side, these modules advance replication timing over a 250 kb region through the cooperation with one endogenous origin located 30 kb away. Moreover, when inserted at two chromosomal sites separated by 30 kb, these two modules come into close physical proximity and form an early‐replicating domain establishing more contacts with active A compartments. The synergy depends on the presence of the active promoter/origin. Our results show that clustering of strong origins located at active promoters can establish early‐replicating domains.


ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) pathogens have characteristic multiple-drug resistance and cause an increasing number of nosocomial infections worldwide. Peptide-based therapeutics to treat ESKAPE infections might be an alternative to conventional antibiotics. Histatin 5 (Hst 5) is a salivary cationic histidine-rich peptide produced only in humans and higher primates. It has high antifungal activity against Candida albicans through an energy-dependent, non-lytic process; but its bactericidal effects are less known. We found Hst 5 has bactericidal activity against S. aureus (60–70% killing) and A. baumannii (85–90% killing) in 10 and 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer (NaPB), while killing of >99% of P. aeruginosa, 60–80% E. cloacae and 20–60% of E. faecium was found in 10 mM NaPB. Hst 5 killed 60% of biofilm cells of P. aeruginosa, but had reduced activity against biofilms of S. aureus and A. baumannii. Hst 5 killed 20% of K. pneumonia biofilm cells but not planktonic cells. Binding and uptake studies using FITC-labeled Hst 5 showed E. faecium and E. cloacae killing required Hst 5 internalization and was energy dependent, while bactericidal activity was rapid against P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii suggesting membrane disruption. Hst 5-mediated killing of S. aureus was both non-lytic and energy independent. Additionally, we found that spermidine conjugated Hst 5 (Hst5-Spd) had improved killing activity against E. faecium, E. cloacae, and A. baumannii. Hst 5 or its derivative has antibacterial activity against five out of six ESKAPE pathogens and may be an alternative treatment for these infections.


The effects of irreversible electroporation (IRE) on the proliferation, migration, invasion and adhesion of human cervical cancer cell lines HeLa and SiHa were investigated in the present study. HeLa and SiHa cells were divided into a treatment group and control group. The treatment group cells were exposed to electric pulses at 16 pulses, 1 Hz frequency for 100 µsec with 1,000 V/cm strength. Cellular proliferation was determined 24 h after treatment using a Cell Counting Kit‑8 (CCK‑8) assay and carboxyfluorescein diacetate‑succinimidyl ester (CFDA‑SE) labeling assay. The different phases of the cell cycle were detected using flow cytometry. Wound healing, Transwell invasion and Matrigel adhesion assays were performed to evaluate the migration, invasion and adhesion abilities of HeLa and SiHa cells. The expression levels of metastasis‑associated proteins were determined by western blot analysis. CCK‑8 and CFSE labeling assays indicated that the inhibition of cellular proliferation occurs in cells treated with IRE. Additionally, cell cycle progression was arrested at the G1/S phase. A western blot analysis indicated that the expression levels of p53 and p21 proteins were increased, whilst those of cyclin‑dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) proteins were decreased. However, wound healing, invasion and adhesion assays indicated that cellular migration, invasion and adhesion abilities were not significantly altered following exposure to IRE. IRE was not observed to promote the migration, invasion or adhesion capacity of HeLa and SiHa cells. However, IRE may inhibit the capacity of cells to proliferate and their progression through the cell cycle in vitro. Preliminary evidence suggests that the underlying mechanism involves increased expression levels of p53 and p21 and decreased expression levels of CDK2 and PCNA.


Structural alterations in long‐range amygdala connections are proposed to crucially underlie several neuropsychiatric disorders. While progress has been made in elucidating the function of these connections, our understanding of their structure in humans remains sparse and non‐systematic. Harnessing diffusion‐weighted imaging and probabilistic tractography in humans, we investigate connections between two main amygdala nucleus groups, thalamic nuclei, and cortex. We first parcellated amygdala into deep (basolateral) and superficial (centrocortical) nucleus groups, and thalamus into six subregions, using previously established protocols based on connectivity. Cortex was parcellated based on T1‐weighted images. We found substantial amygdala connections to thalamus, with different patterns for the two amygdala nuclei. Crucially, we describe direct subcortical connections between amygdala and paraventricular thalamus. Different from rodents but similar to non‐human primates, these are more pronounced for basolateral than centrocortical amygdala. Substantial white‐matter connectivity between amygdala and visual pulvinar is also more pronounced for basolateral amygdala. Furthermore, we establish detailed connectivity profiles for basolateral and centrocortical amygdala to cortical regions. These exhibit cascadic connections with sensory cortices as suggested previously based on tracer methods in non‐human animals. We propose that the quantitative connectivity profiles provided here may guide future work on normal and pathological function of human amygdala. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3927–3940, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This study seeks to advance previous research by linking top management team (TMT) processes to organizational ambidexterity, and highlights the importance of environmental dynamism as a boundary condition on the effectiveness of TMTs in promoting balance between exploratory and exploitative learning. The findings from multiple respondents (245 TMT members, including the CEO of the SBUs, and 883 employees) in 101 small-sized strategic business units (SBUs) with a defined product line indicate that TMT behavioral integration helps build ambidexterity, but that the influence of TMT behavioral integration on ambidexterity is stronger when the task environment is characterized by a high level of dynamism. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the conditions under which behaviorally integrated TMTs are able to pursue an ambidextrous orientation in relatively small-sized units


Non-proline cis peptide bond is rarely found in proteins. The recent surveys revealed that this unusual peptide configuration is by no means a curiosity, but overwhelmingly occurs at functionally important sites. However one still doubts whether it is related to crystal packing interactions, since all non-proline cis peptide bonds identified so far are from crystal structures. A toxin BmK M1 from the scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch have been crystallized as a dimer in space group P2(subscript 1)2(subscript 1)2(subscript 1) with unit-cell dimensions α=76.39A, b=52.77A, c=27.l2A. This dimeric structure was solved by molecular replacement and refined to R=0.109 for all reflections at a resolution of 1.4A. The extensively refined structure definitely shows that the cis peptide bond Pro9-His10 equally occurs in both molecule A and molecule B in the dimer. The observation manifested that this striking non-proline cis peptide is not related to crystal packing, but caused by certain intrinsic factors. The detailed analyses and comparison with the structure of BmK M8, which is homologous to M1 but has trans peptide bond 9-10, showed that the five-residue reverse (8~12) with a consensus sequence (-KPXNC-) may be the intrinsic structural element for the cis form of this peptide bond. A pair of well organized main-chain hydrogen bond between residues 10 in cis unit and 64 at C-terminus forms main tertiary interactions to stabilize this energetically unfavorable peptide bond.


This paper describes the final phase of a study that validates a group of generic attributes of graduates of Australian undergraduate degree programs with majors in Information Systems (IS). 105 academics from all Australian universities that offer IS undergraduate degree programs of study and 53 member of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) took part in this study. A three round Delphi questionnaire was used. The results of this study are compared with a previous study of generic attributes conducted by the authors in Queensland, Australia. Differences between academics and industry are identified. The top three attributes in each study are the same, although the order is reversed in the national study. Some of these include the higher ranking of interpersonal skills, teamwork, and knowledge of the IS discipline by academics compared with the higher ranking of industry of self-motivation and the ability to learn independently. Other major findings include the high ratings of the attributes of team participation and the commitment to further learning and intellectual development. Oral and written communications are significantly rated as more important than a comprehensive knowledge of IS. This study has a very strong overall correlation with the previous Queensland study.


HIV infection continues to spread throughout the world without any end insight, and is still the fastest increasing cause of mortality. The majority of HIV-infected patients have HIV-associated oral mucosal lesions at different stages of the disease. In many patients, oral lesions could be the first sign of their HIV infection. Therefore, knowledge of HIV infection has become a critically important requirement for professionals responsible for oral health care delivery and early detection of HIV infection. Oral candidiasis (OC), hairy leukoplakia (HL), and Kaposi sarcoma (KS) are the most common oral lesions strongly associated with HIV infection. Both pseudomembranous and erythematous OC occur in over 95% of HIV-infected patients throughout the oral cavity, highly related to a reversed CD4/CD8 cell ratio. Attached gingiva would be a unique site of OC, only occurring in HIV-infected patients. Because of decreased gastric acid secretion in most HIV-infected patients, fluconazole, the antifungal drug that can be absorbed easily despite the gastric pH change, would be the best choice for systemic antifungal treatment. HL primarily occurs in HIV-infected male patients on the lateral border of the tongue. However, similar-appearing changes can also occur in HIV-negative persons. HL is not related to precancerous leukoplakia or dysplasia. Our latest study indicated that the infection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) might not be the definitive criteria for the diagnosis of HL and that the reciprocal activation of EBV and HIV within the epithelium may be the critical event in the development of HL. Our study demonstrated that CD4-bearing oral mucosal Langerhans cells (LC) could be the target of HIV infection, the effector to alter LC number and its antigen processing capability, as well as the vector to pass the virus to submucosal memory T cells, which would be responsible for the second pathway of HIV transmission through mucosal contact with HIV. HIV-associated depletion of LC would lead to impairment of the oral mucosal surveillant system, resulting in opportunistic oral mucosal lesions, such as OC and HL. KS has been the most common tumor associated with HIV infection and has been one of the AIDS defining diseases. The latest study indicated that this tumor is related to opportunistic infection of human herpes simplex virus 8. Because of its reactive type nature clinically and histologically, KS has now been considered a pseudomalignancy. Intralesional injection of cytotoxic drugs has been effective in treatment. Since HIV-infected patients have demonstrated a higher propensity for developing allergic and adverse reactions to antibiotics, bleeding tendency and slow wound healing after dental surgery, decreased levels of neutrophil counts, and xerostomia, a modified dental therapy would be essential for management of HIV-infected dental patients. In addition, concerns about HIV transmission from patient to dentist, dentist to patient, and between patients should be clarified.


It is shown that the gravitational and inertial masses of a photon or, indeed, of any body are equal. Motion past and free fall onto a center of gravitational attraction are considered.


The Institute for Analysis and Scientific Computing at Vienna University of Technology (Vienna UT) has created models to simulate lecture room reservations, in order to test strategies for increasing the efficiency of utilisation, increasing booking fairness and perceived capacity without need to add more lecture rooms. Thus, the produced system had to satisfy some tough constraints: (1.) It had to be flexible and multifunctional, meaning that a dynamic code structure was needed so that program logic could depend on the imported data, but simulation algorithms would stay data-independent. (2.) The presentation logic had to be customized to fit the usability needs of the client, who would perform the simulation experiments himself. To report on both programming techniques and architectural decisions that enabled us to achieve these constraints is thus the main goal of this paper.


The FTC entered into a consent decree with Hospira Inc. and Mayne Pharma Ltd. on May 21, 2007 imposing divestitures on the firms prior to clearing their merger. The consent decree required Mayne…


This book consists of 139 reports and abstracts of papers presented at the First International Congress on Medical Photography, Dusseldorf, September, 1960. The remarkable advances in endoscopic photography are reflected in the numerous papers on the subject and the high quality of the results. Other subjects covered include time lapse cinematography, macrophotography, roentgencinematography, and operating room techniques. Of particular interest to dermatologists are 2 papers on the photography of fluorescent subjects. Both recommend 35 mm. high speed Ektachrome with Wratten 2B and 2E filters. The details of the photographic technique for the study of nail growth are given in a short paper by R. Morton. L. Heigl emphasizes the quality of lighting to record acne or other skin lesions. F. Ehring discusses histophotography of the living skin. Only 36 papers are in English, the remainder being French or German. Most of the equipment described is of European origin, and some


System-on-Chip (SoC) can be considered as a particular case of embedded systems and has rapidly became a de-facto solution for implement- ing these complex systems. However, due to the continuous exponential rise in SoC's design complexity, there is a critical need to find new seamless method- ologies and tools to handle the SoC co-design aspects. This paper addresses this issue and proposes a novel SoC co-design methodology based on Model Driven Engineering (MDE) and the MARTE (Modeling and Analysis of Real-Time and Embedded Systems) standard proposed by OMG (Object Management Group), in order to raise the design abstraction levels. Extensions of this standard have enabled us to move from high level specifications to execution platforms such as reconfigurable FPGAs; and allow to implement the notion of Partial Dy- namic Reconfiguration supported by current FPGAs. The overall objective is to carry out system modeling at a high abstraction level expressed in UML (Unified Modeling Language); and afterwards, transform these high level mod- els into detailed enriched lower level models in order to automatically generate the necessary code for final FPGA synthesis.


In all types of rotating machinery application, misalignment is the major concern with machinery health monitoring. Usually, misalignment effects are seen at coupling, bearing and at support. Coupling misalignment is responsible for as more as 49% of all costs related to rotating machinery collapse. Precise aligning coupling can prevent a huge number of machinery collapses and reduce much of the unplanned downtime that results in a loss of production. Vibration analysis is the important tool for fault diagnosis in rotating machinery. In this paper, Vibration analysis using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum is used to identify misalignment condition. From phase and magnitude, the fault type and position are commonly showed. Phase is of good importance and it is a strong tool that allows distinguishing which of many possible pump breakdowns dominate. The analysis of phase relations enables to diagnose the dominant cause of the breakdown before the corrective action is performed. Experimental results prove that FFT is an important solution for fault diagnosis and phase completes the explanation with how the pump vibrates. The FFT result confirmed that the vibration level became within acceptable condition after correcting misalignment deviation in Khayyam pump station. Overall vibration in Khayyam pump station level was decreased by 2.86 times in axial direction, 3.71times in vertical direction and 4.09 times in horizontal direction after applying alignment process. So, good alignment processing leads to increasing the operating life span of rotating machinery.


To overcome multi-drug resistance (MDR) caused by malfunction of genes in chemotherapy, we synthesize RNA nanoparticles (RNA NPs) as a "two-in-one" siRNA delivery system for MDR1 siRNA and BCL2 siRNA by using rolling circle transcription and base-pairing with folate-DNA-cholesterol fragments. The resulting RNA nanoparticles (Dsi RNPs), which contain multiple tandem copies of two siRNA sequences, form the self-assembled structure with about 100 nm of diameter, and simultaneously suppress pump and non-pump phenotypes in the same cancer cells. Using Dsi RNPs, we show that there exists an optimal time point within the window of time at which the synchronous silencing of MDR1 and BCL2 gene markedly enhances the chemosensitivity of MDR cancer cells to doxorubicin. Accordingly, a two-step sequential treatment of MDR cancer cells with Dsi RNPs and doxorubicin leads to the optimal synergistic cancer suppression. Finally, we demonstrate that such a synergism is attributed to the synchronous silencing of both genes, as well as to the precisely controlled timings of drugs and Dsi RNPs treatment. RNA NPs exhibit the folate receptor-specific cellular uptake, lowering the risk of severe adverse side effects. Also, RNA NPs do not induce innate immunostimulatory response and their highly condensed structure reveals the enhanced stability against nuclease attack in bloodstream. Therefore, RNA NPs delivery system provides an alternative tool as a two-in-one siRNA carrier that is suitable for the spatial-temporal synchronization of double gene silencing, and also, Dsi RNPs have great potential as combination chemotherapeutics with traditional anticancer drugs for suppression of MDR cancer. Citation Format: Hyung Jun Ahn. RNA nanoparticles as a two-in-one siRNA delivery carrier synergistically suppress drug-resistance cancer via combination therapy with doxorubicin. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2139.


The present investigation highlights the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI)-coated graphene oxide doped with SrTiO3 nanocube nanocomposites through facile in situ oxidative polymerization method for the efficient removal of carcinogenic dyes, namely, the cationic dye methylene blue (MB) and the anionic dye methyl orange (MO). The presence of oxygenated functional groups comprised of hydroxyl and epoxy groups in graphene oxide (GO) and nitrogen-containing functionalities such as imine groups and amine groups in polyaniline work synergistically to impart cationic and anionic nature to the synthesised nanocomposite, whereas SrTiO3 nanocubes act as spacers aiding in segregation of GO sheets, thereby increasing the effective surface area of nanocomposite. The synthesised nanocomposites were characterised by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adsorption efficiencies of graphene oxide (GO), PANI homopolymer, and SrTiO3 nanocubes-doped nanocomposites were assessed by monitoring the adsorption of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes from aqueous solution. The adsorption efficiency of nanocomposites doped with SrTiO3 nanocubes were found to be of higher magnitude as compared with undoped nanocomposite. Moreover, the nanocomposite with 2 wt % SrTiO3 with respect to graphene oxide demonstrated excellent adsorption behaviour with 99% and 91% removal of MB and MO, respectively, in a very short duration of time.


Chromolaena odorata is a species of flowering shrub in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It is native to North America, from Florida and Texasto Mexico and the Caribbean, and has been introduced to tropical Asia, west Africa, and parts of Australia. It is used as a traditional medicine in Indonesia. The young leaves are crushed, and the resulting liquid can be used to treat skin wounds. According to traditional healing in yucatan, the boiled roots of Chromolaena odorata are used for urinary retention and leaves are used to cure malaria, gonorrhea, ulcers and blood in urine. The kani tribals of Kouthalai in Tirunelvelli hills used the leaves extract to cure skin diseases, poison bites, wounds and rheumatism. Following various folk claims for the ailment of various diseases, efforts have been made by the researchers to verify the efficacy of this weed through scientific biological screenings. A scrutiny of the literature revealed some notable pharmacological activities of the shrub like anthelmintic, Antimalerial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antispasmodic, antioxidant, antigonorrheal, antimycobacterial, insecticidal, fungicidal, wound healing, diuretic, blood coagulation, antibacterial. The present review is an attempt to highlight the various ethnobotanical and traditional uses as well as the phytochemical and pharmacological reports on Chromolaena odorata L.


Multimedia applications like video on demand, distance learning, internet video broadcast, etc. will play a fundamental role in future broadband networks. A common aspect of such applications is the transmission of video streams that require a sustained relatively high bandwidth with stringent requirements of quality of service. In this paper various original algorithms for evaluating, in a video distribution system, a statistical estimation of aggregate bandwidth needed by a given number of smoothed video streams are proposed and discussed. The variable bit rate traffic generated by each video stream is characterized by its marginal distribution and by conditional probabilities between rates of temporary closed streams. The developed iterative algorithms evaluate an upper and lower bound of needed bandwidth for guaranteeing a given loss probability. The obtained results are compared with simulations and with other results, based on similar assumptions, already presented in the literature. Some considerations on the developed algorithms are made, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Surgery with either partial or radical nephrectomy remains the standard of care for localized primary renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, most RCCs are detected in an older age group, and some may have multiple comorbidities that preclude surgery. Thermal ablation (TA) with radiofrequency ablation (RFA), cryoablation (CA), or microwave ablation (MWA) is considered an alternative to extirpative surgical procedures for select patients with small renal tumors. There is more than 90% post-ablation local control in carefully selected patients with reported complication rates of less than 10%. Most thermal ablation require only a single procedure. More recently, stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) has emerged as an attractive noninvasive treatment modality for elderly patients with comorbidities and localized RCC. It has shown more than 90% local control rates for both small and relatively larger tumors (> 4 cm). Modest post-SABR renal function decline has been observed. Despite most patients presenting with mild or moderate chronic kidney disease there is less than a 5% chance of progression to end-stage renal disease. This article aims to summarize the key evidence and ablative treatment's optimal patient selection, efficacy, and toxicity.


Abstract Historical sites may be found in nearly all small towns in Poland. Some are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the role of these resources in the broader set of elements shaping the tourism potential of towns, and also to illustrate the regional differences among small towns in Poland in terms of their potential to develop a local or regional tourism sector. The study provides a typology of towns based on local natural and landscape elements, cultural heritage resources as well as hotels and other tourist accommodations. The statistical data discussed in this paper was obtained from the Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland for the period 2012–2014, while historical sites were chosen from the National Heritage Board of Poland. The study covers all small towns in Poland and has shown unequivocally that the presence of a historical site is not necessarily a factor in the overall development of a local tourism sector. The cultural resources appear to be an undervalued asset, which can be used to develop a local tourism sector, especially in towns which are searching for new development paths.


Abstract Fifty-one patients underwent a study approved by the Food and Drug Administration for laser-assisted liposuction in five plastic surgery centers. The YAG laser fiber is contained within the cannula, shears off the fat cleanly, and coagulates blood vessels as the fat is drawn into the cannula. Hemoglobin decrease was relatively modest after surgery, and patients were able to return to work at 6 days and light exercise at 7 days. Contralateral studies showed a slight benefit for the laser side at both 1 and 8 weeks for ecchymosis, pain and discomfort, and edema. Lipocrit studies were inconsistent. The investigators concluded that no clear benefit was demonstrated with the laser. The Food and Drug Administration did not approve the technique, and the sponsoring laser company has not pursued the study.


Curves are presented which show the amplitudes of some reflection records, plotted as a function of time, for several widely separated areas. It is shown that amplitude ratios of the order of 1000:1 occur on records in a time interval of two seconds. After correcting for divergence of the recorded waves, it is found that their amplitude decreases exponentially with time. The usable length of record as a function of the size of charge was investigated for one shot hole.


A complex system is made up of many components with many interactions. So the design of systems such as simulation systems, cooperative systems or assistance systems includes a very accurate modelling of interactional and communicational levels. The agent-based approach provides an adapted abstraction level for this problem. After having studied the organizational context and communicative capacities of agentbased systems, to simulate the reorganization of a flexible manufacturing, to regulate an urban transport system, and to simulate an epidemic detection system, our thoughts on the interactional level were inspired by human-machine interface models, especially those in "cognitive engineering". To provide a general framework for agent-based complex systems modelling, we then proposed a scale of four behaviours that agents may adopt in their complex systems (reactive, routine, cognitive, and collective). To complete the description of multi-level agent models, which is the focus of this paper, we illustrate our modelling and discuss our ongoing work on each level.


To the Editor.— A recent case report (Archives1981;38:780-781) described a patient with opsoclonic cerebellopathy that apparently responded to therapy with thiamine hydrochloride. This syndrome has, in some cases, also been reported to respond to corticotropin. 1-3 I observed the gradual, complete, spontaneous remission of this disease in. young child who received no therapy. Report of a Case.— A 2-year-old boy was admitted to the hospital shortly after the onset of ataxia. Medical and family histories were unremarkable. Results of a general examination were normal. There were no dysmorphic features, and his intelligence was appropriate for his age. The fundi were normal. The child had severe truncal and limb ataxia to such degree that he could not walk or sit without titubation. There was also obvious opsoclonus, with random, prominent, conjugate eye movements. Otherwise, his cranial nerves, reflexes, and strength were normal. The following laboratory results and levels were normal


A method for forming a semiconductor memory device with buried contacts. A substrate (100) is provided, wherein the substrate has recessed gates (118) and deep trench capacitor devices (102) therein. Protrusions (120) of the recessed gates and upper portions (104) of the deep trench capacitor devices are revealed. Spacers (124) are formed on sidewalls of the upper portions and the protrusions. Buried portions of conductive material (130) are formed in spaces between the spacers. The substrate, the spacers and the buried portions to form parallel shallow trenches are patterned to form parallel shallow trenches (132) for defining active regions. A layer of dielectric material is formed in the shallow trenches, wherein some of the buried portions serve as buried contacts.


There is evidence that religiosity and self-esteem are positively related, while self-esteem and religiosity in turn predict successful social adaptation. Moreover, self-esteem has been shown to be directly related to social adaptation in vulnerable contexts. In this registered report study, we tested the hypothesis that religiosity has a positive influence on social adaptation for people living in vulnerable contexts and that self-esteem is a mediator of this relationship. Evidence from this study indicates that neither there is any effect of religiosity on social adaptation nor on self-esteem, independent of whether people live in vulnerable contexts or not.


Studies on the factors concerned in the production of hemorrhagic diathesis characterizing patients who have jaundice have been discussed in previous papers.1Numerous other investigators have demonstrated definitely that cholemic bleeding is caused by a deficiency of prothrombin in the circulating blood and that both this deficiency and the hemorrhagic state associated with it can be corrected by the administration of concentrates containing the fat-soluble antihemorrhagic vitamin K, together with bile salts to insure absorption of the vitamin. The early clinical application of this knowledge concerning vitamin K was begun independently in the United States by Warner and his associates2at the University of Iowa and by us, and abroad by Dam and his co-worker3in Copenhagen. During the past two years we have continued our observations on this problem, several lines of investigation having been pursued. We have endeavored to determine the reliability of vitamin K


Round-robin (RR) tests carried out under the direction of the Technical Committee 4, "Polymers, Polymer Composites and Adhesives," of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS TC4) showed that the multispecimen methodology employed for the construction of the crack growth resistance curve (J vs crack extension, Δa) of polymers often does not provide reliable data because of the uncertainties associated with the measurement of Δa. With this in mind, the ESIS TC4 attention has been more recently focused on the analysis of a testing scheme based on the load separation criterion, which does not require the measurement of Δa. With the aim to employ this new approach into a standardized procedure, the degree of reproducibility of the results obtainable with the application of this testing scheme to ductile polymers has been assessed by means of multilaboratory RR testing exercises that started in 2011. An ESIS TC4 reference draft protocol was prepared and 10 laboratories participated in the RR activities. The present work describes the load separation criterion-based testing procedure recently examined by ESIS TC4 and gives a summary of the results obtained in the RR activities, which appear encouraging.


St. Francis is undoubtedly one of the most popular Christian saints. There are two different biographies of St. Francis. The biography by Thomas da Celano is a historical description of St. Francis` life although written according to the medieval hagiographical canons. St. Bonaventure was a theologian and philosopher first of all. He shows us St. Francis as a perfect follower of Jesus. The other biographies relied heavily on Vita prima, Vita secunda or Legenda maior. Notwithstanding the first biographies based on the very first documents and contemporary relations, some questions still linger. Nevertheless, St. Francis message is clear: equality of all before God, everyone is called for the evangelical life, evangelism through good example rather than through words alone. Important is an emulation the radical poverty of Jesus, fidelity and obedience to the Church, which is represented and guided by pope.


Over the past decade, there has been an unprecedented boom in the application of big data derived from location‐aware technology in GIScience. However, reflections on data quality lead to concerns about inaccurate or even erroneous spatial analysis results. This article contributes a meta‐analysis of big data‐enabled social sensing in spatial analysis. Big data‐enabled research has substantially enhanced our understanding of human population distribution and dynamics, land use, travel behavior, movement patterns, and spatial social networks from city to country to global levels. However, the effectiveness of big data‐enabled social sensing can be undermined by five critical issues related to research design: data volume, spatial coverage, locational information quality, and representativeness across socioeconomic and demographic groups. We suggest a framework for addressing the inherent bias in spatial big data at multiple stages of the research lifecycle and applying them to appropriate topics and scales of applications.


Collaborative consumption is an emerging socio-economic model based on sharing, bartering, gifting, swapping, renting, lending and borrowing, enabled by new technologies and peer communities. When providing access to underutilised or idle assets, it promotes efficient use of resources, reduces their environmental burden and can rebuild social capital. For this potential to bring economic interests in line with positive environmental and social impact, collaborative consumption has been considered a promising approach towards more sustainable consumption. Nevertheless, its market uptake is still quite limited and further research is necessary to identify and understand the conditions that could support its wider introduction and scaling up. This thesis investigates how consumers' values may contribute to the acceptance, adoption and diffusion of collaborative consumption. Drawing from two different, if not contrasting, theoretical perspectives to understand consumer behaviour – social psychology and social practice theory – the research explores the possibility that individual values influence, and are influenced by, the 'meaning' element of social practices, thereby facilitating or hindering participation. The examination was conducted through mixed methods research using Ecomodo, a UK-based online community marketplace for lending and borrowing, as a case study. Initial quantitative data collection and analysis was conducted to measure 63 Ecomodo users' values through Schwartz's Portrait Value Questionnaire. These results were followed up with 10 semi-structured interviews facilitated by a series of visual prompts. Findings suggest that variation between the values held by users of Ecomodo and by a representative sample of the UK population may be partly responsible for Ecomodo's failure to become mainstream. In particular, the research found that there is a mutual relationship between individual values and the meanings that underlie practices (e.g. lending and borrowing). However, considerations around 4 'value', the perceived convenience and practicality of a certain behaviour/practice, also play a role in determining participation in collaborative consumption. This led to the advancement of the Individual-Practice Framework, which complements approaches from social practice theory with insights from social psychology, as a configuration able to offer an alternative perspective to understand consumer behaviour. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications for sustainable design and possible practical applications of this framework.


The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential use of first-generation (G1) polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers as drug carriers to enhance the permeability, hence oral absorption, of drugs that are substrates for P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux transporters. G1 PAMAM dendrimer-based prodrugs of the water-insoluble P-gp substrate terfenadine (Ter) were synthesized using succinic acid (suc) or succinyl-diethylene glycol (suc-deg) as a linker/spacer (to yield G1-suc-Ter and G1-suc-deg-Ter, respectively). In addition, the permeability of G1-suc-deg-Ter was enhanced by attaching two lauroyl chains (L) to the dendrimer surface (L2-G1-suc-deg-Ter). All of the G1 dendrimer-terfenadine prodrugs were more hydrophilic than the parent drug, as evaluated by drug partitioning between 1-octanol and phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 (log K(app)). The influence of the dendrimer prodrugs on the integrity and viability of human Caucasian colon adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2) was determined by measuring the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme, respectively. The LDH assay indicated that the dendrimer prodrugs had no impact on the viability of Caco-2 cells up to a concentration of 1 mM. However, the IC(50) of the prodrugs was lower than that of G1 PAMAM dendrimer because of the high toxicity of terfenadine. Measurements of the transport of dendrimer prodrugs across monolayers of Caco-2 cells showed an increase of the apparent permeability coefficient (P(app)) of terfenadine in both apical-to-basolateral (A --> B) and basolateral-to-apical (B --> A) directions after its conjugation to G1 PAMAM dendrimer. The A --> B P(app) of the dendrimer prodrugs was significantly greater than B --> A P(app). The surface-modified dendrimer prodrug L2-G1-suc-deg-Ter showed the highest A --> B permeability among the conjugates.