Chili is an important vegetable fruit but is commonly attacked by anthracnose disease during field or storage. A current practical method to control this disease is through synthetic fungicides. Although it shows the effective result, repetitive application of chemical fungicides may build up resistant pathogens, expose the risk to human health, and be regarded as not eco-friendly to the environment. This study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity of several extracts and their potential to control Colletotrichum sp. in harvested chili. For this purpose, several plant extracts namely garlic, ginger, dragon fruit peel (DFP), and milk were used with the concentration ranged from 5 to 20%. All these extracts and milk were tested through in vitro antifungal assay and in vivo antifungal assay directly on the detached chili. The results show that garlic, ginger, and DFP were able to significantly inhibit the fungal pathogen of Colletotrichum sp. through in vitro study with p<0.05. Based on in vivo study, the only chili treated with 20% garlic extract, 20% ginger extract, and fungicide recorded a significantly lower percentage of disease severity (ds) as compared to the other extracts. Both 20% garlic and 20% ginger extracts showed good potential to inhibit the fungal pathogen. Therefore, the application of natural extracts should be focused and practically used as a control strategy in integrated pest management for plant disease, especially in chili production. This control measure is expected to reduce yield losses, operational cost while mitigating the environmental contamination due to overdose chemical residue.


The changing concept of warfare and civil defense during the last decade has stimulated a re-evaluation of diagnostic methods employed in medical bacteriology. The expeditious laboratory diagnosis of communicable diseases occurring epidemiologically has become a matter of great importance. For example, epidemics of dysentery encountered in the Armed Forces may be unprecedented in size; Hardy et al. (1952) following such an experience have emphasized the pressing need for acceleration in the diagnosis of enteric infections. Investigations of epidemics or sporadic outbreaks of bacillary dysentery, infantile diarrhea, typhoid and paratyphoid fevers are complicated by the slowness of the usual bacteriologic procedures and the complexity of conventional identification systems. Indeed, newer knowledge regarding the biochemical and serologic characteristics of the enteric pathogens has served to lengthen the conventional diagnostic methods used to characterize them. In effect, the old and sometimes superfluous techniques continue to be used plus the newer systems which could have, partially at least, replaced them. This report describes a rapid and economic procedure which combines the desirable features of a boosterscreening system reported by Sanders (1953) with the practical utility of the paper disc techniques described by Soto (1949) and Snyder (1954). The method described will (a) reduce over-all laboratory time required for the definitive identification to less than 24 hr; (b) enhance the probability of detecting multiple bacterial serotypes; (c) provide a simple and economic procedure easily adapted to the working structure of all laboratories.


A 63-year-old black woman, admitted to Charity Hospital, New Orleans, for treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure, was found clinically and histopathologically to have Hansen's disease. She had lived most of her life in Orleans Parish and had no known contact as a source of her infection.


A low-power, low voltage capacitance to pulse duration converter with intrinsic low sensitivity to temperature and parasitic capacitances is presented. The circuit uses a dual clock chopper modulation, which significantly lowers the effects of device mismatch. An effective resolution of 7.2 bits with 3.8 uA supply current and operation down to 0.9 Vdd are demonstrated by means of electrical simulations performed on a prototype designed with the UMC 0.18 um process.


How to deliver the drug to the target area at the right time and at the right concentration is still a challenge in cancer therapy. In this study, we present a facile strategy to control drug release by precisely controlling the thermo-sensitivity of the nanocarriers to the variation of environmental temperature. One type of thermoresponsive Pluronic F127-poly(d,l-lactic acid) (F127-PLA, abbreviated as FP) copolymer micelles was developed and decorated with folate (FA) for active targeting. FP100 micelles assembled from FP with PLA segment having polymerization degree of 100 had a low critical solution temperature of 39.2 °C close to body temperature. At 37 °C, little amount of encapsulated anticancer drug DOX is released from the FP100 micelles, while at a slightly elevated temperature (40 °C), the shrinkage of thermoresponsive segments causes a rapid release of DOX and instantly increases the drug concentration locally. The cytocompatibility analysis and cellular uptake efficiency were characterized with the fibroblast cell line NIH 3T3 and human cervix adenocarcinoma cell line HeLa. The results demonstrate that this copolymer has excellent cytocompatibility, and FA-decorated FP100 micelles present much better efficiency of cellular uptake and higher cytotoxicity to folate receptor (FR)-overexpressed HeLa cells. In particular, under hyperthermia (40 °C) the cytotoxicity of DOX-loaded FA-FP100 micelles against HeLa cells was significantly more obvious than that upon normothermia (37 °C). Therefore, these temperature-responsive micelles have great potential as a drug vehicle for cancer therapy.


A deterministic finite automaton (DFA) is composite if its language can be decomposed into an intersection of languages of smaller DFAs. Otherwise, A is prime. This notion of primality was introduced by Kupferman and Mosheiff in 2013, and while they proved that we can decide whether a DFA is composite, the precise complexity of this problem is still open, with a doubly-exponential gap between the upper and lower bounds. In this work, we focus on permutation DFAs, i.e., those for which the transition monoid is a group. We provide an NP algorithm to decide whether a permutation DFA is composite, and show that the difficulty of this problem comes from the number of non-accepting states of the instance: we give a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm with the number of rejecting states as the parameter. Moreover, we investigate the class of commutative permutation DFAs. Their structural properties allow us to decide compositionality in NLOGSPACE, and even in LOGSPACE if the alphabet size is fixed. Despite this low complexity, we show that complex behaviors still arise in this class: we provide a family of composite DFAs each requiring polynomially many factors with respect to its size. We also consider the variant of the problem that asks whether a DFA is k-factor composite, that is, decomposable into k smaller DFAs, for some given integer k. We show that, for commutative permutation DFAs, restricting the number of factors makes the decision computationally harder, and yields a problem with tight bounds: it is NP-complete. Finally, we show that in general, this problem is in PSPACE, and it is in LOGSPACE for DFAs with a singleton alphabet.


The paper investigates the enormity of hitches tied to transiting from manual-based electoral systems to the electronic voting system and determine whether hurdles with the electronic voting system could be sufficient enough to prevent Nigeria from adopting it to enhance her democratic governance in the 21st century. This enquiry was prompted on the ground that there are mixed reactions from different individuals, scholars and societies that the Nigerian state is not ripe for electronic voting and as such may not be able to sustain it if it eventually steps into full adoption of electronic voting system. Therefore, they argue that the status quo ante should be maintained. However, available documentary evidence and cases drawn from other climes where electronic voting has been practised across the globe show that the cost-saving potential of electronic voting is limitless, it eliminates electoral frauds, votes are completed and submitted online, thereby saving ample time, it restricts movement, which eventually eliminates voter apathy caused by fear of violence, etc. On the other hand, most scholars are overwhelmingly inclined to the opinion that the electronic voting system is capable of exacerbating the digital divide as it is lopsided in affecting the turnout of certain groups of citizens. This implies that e-voting will favour only well-educated and wealthy people to the detriment of the downtrodden in the society. The paper however concludes that the Achilles' heel of transiting from manual to the electronic voting system identified are tangential and could be surmounted with the passage of time through sensitization and awareness creation.


Macroautophagy is an evolutionally conserved membrane trafficking pathway that delivers intracellular materials to lysosomes for degradation and recycling. Rab7, as a member of the Rab GTPase superfamily, has a unique role in the regulation of macroautophagy, especially in modulating autophagy flux. The functional states of Rab7 generally switch between GTP‐bound and GDP‐bound states under the control of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase‐activating proteins (GAPs). Activated GTP‐Rab7 is capable of regulating autophagosome formation, autophagosome transportation along microtubules, endosome and autophagosome maturation, as well as lysosome biogenesis via interacting with its effector molecules. Rab7‐mediated macroautophagy is closely associated with various pathological processes of several neurologic diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth type 2B disease, and cerebral ischemic diseases. Considering that macroautophagy can be the prime therapeutic target in certain nervous system diseases, in‐depth study of Rab7 in the regulation of macroautophagy may be helpful to identify novel strategies for the treatment of autophagy‐related neurologic diseases. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Abstract Bulbophyllum reflexipetalum, a new species from Motuo County, Southeast Xizang, China, is described and illustrated here. This new species belongs to Bulbophyllum sect. Umbellata Bentham & J. D. Hooker, and it is morphologically similar to B. umbellatum Lindley, B. guttulatum (J. D. Hooker) N. P. Balakrishnan and B. salweenensis X.H. Jin, but is distinguished from them by having reflexed petals, base of dorsal sepal with 1 dentate on each side, lip with significantly revolute margin, adaxially with dark brown spots or patches and one longitudinal groove.


The aim of this experience has been to evaluate cytosecretory correlations between total peptic activity in gastric juice and gastric peptic cell mass (chief cells and fundic-antral mucopeptic cells) in normal subjects. Gastric peptic cell mass and total peptic activity do not change depending on sex. Concerning age, in spite of a significant decrease of gastric peptic cell mass, peptic activity does not significantly decrease. This apparent disagreement between decreasing anatomic data and functional data, remaining unchanged, may be explained by analyzing the behaviour of fundic and antral peptic cell masses in detail. A difference emerges in the behaviour of chief and mucopeptic cells. The first decrease significantly after 50 years, while the second ones do not show variations, regardless of their fundic and antral location. In particular, fundic mucopeptic cell component increase, but not significantly. The lack of variation in peptic activity in gastric juice after 50 years may be assumed to be connected with the unchanged integrity of mucopeptic cells.


Iatrogenic dural puncture (IDP) is a known complication of epidural anesthesia. While operator experience is certainly critical in preventing inadvertent dural punctures, it can happen even in the hands of a skilled operator. Often, IDP presents as post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) without the involvement of cranial nerves; however, infrequent excessive loss of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can lead to intracranial hypotension causing compression of the cranial nerves, in particular, the abducens nerve. Here, we describe the case of a patient who suffered from an atypical headache with neurological sequalea from an IDP. Epidural blood patch (EBP) is an effective treatment for PDPH, especially in cases that are not responsive to conservative therapy. However, it may be the first line of defense in patients with neurological symptoms arising from low intracranial hypotension. In our case report, as well as others reported in the literature, there was a complete resolution of the neurological symptoms after the EBP was placed.


Objectives The efficacy and safety of omalizumab for the treatment of severe persistent allergic asthma have been demonstrated in randomised controlled clinical trials. However, there are limited "real world" data on its effects on healthcare resource utilisation or health-related quality of life (QoL) in UK clinical practice. Methods A 10 centre retrospective observational study (APEX) compared 12 months pre- vs 12 months post-omalizumab initiation in patients aged =12 years with severe persistent allergic asthma. All patients received =1 dose of omalizumab. Patients who had received omalizumab in a clinical trial were excluded. Hospital records were reviewed to obtain data on hospital resource use and routinely used QoL measures for example, Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) at baseline (pre-omalizumab), 16 weeks and up to 12 months following omalizumab initiation. Results Mean in-patient hospital admissions fell by 61% from 1.30 to 0.51 (p<0.001) and mean in-patient bed days fell by 70% from 9.10 to 2.74 (p<0.001) per patient. In the subgroup of patients hospitalised for asthma in the 12 months pre-omalizumab (n=81), mean in-patient hospital admissions fell by 70% from 2.19 to 0.65 (p<0.001) and mean in-patient bed days fell by 74% from 14.86 to 3.83 (p<0.001) per patient. Similarly, mean Accident and Emergency department attendances fell by 70% from 1.52 per patient in the 12 months pre-omalizumab to 0.46 in the 12 months post-omalizumab (p<0.001). Other resource use, such as outpatient attendances (excluding visits made solely for omalizumab administration), nurse appointments and telephone consultations remained unchanged following omalizumab initiation. QoL data were not available for all patients at every time point. However, where data were available, mean AQLQ scores increased from 3.09 at baseline to 5.01 at 16 weeks (n=90) and to 5.22 at 12 months (n=29). Conclusions Treatment with omalizumab is associated with a clinically and statistically significant reduction in unplanned hospital resource utilisation and improvements in patients' QoL.


This paper presents recent developments and approaches (using GPS technology and real-time double-integration) to obtain displacements and, in turn, drift ratios, in real -time or near real-time to meet the needs of the engineering and user community in seismic monitoring and assessing the functionality and damage condition of structures. Drift ratios computed in near real -time allow technical assessment of the damage condition of a building . Relevant parameters, such as the type of connections and story structural characteri stics (including geometry) are used in computing drifts corresponding to several pre-selected threshold stages of damage. Thus, drift ratios determined from real-time monitoring can be compared to pre-computed threshold drift ratios. The approaches described herein can be used for performance evaluation of structures and can be considered as building health-monitoring applications.


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is amongst the most common chronic bacterial infection in humans. Pediatric patients appear to differ from their adult counterparts in terms of the prevalence, the complication rate, and the rate of antibiotic resistance. In this report, we present an 18-year-old man without any past medical history who was evaluated after an episode of syncope. Evaluation revealed a case of chronic H. pylori gastritis leading to gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and weight loss, and his syncope was the byproduct of symptomatic anemia and physical exertion. Pediatricians should think of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) in evaluating poor weight gain/feeding in younger patients, and abdominal pain in older patients. Early diagnosis can prevent complications such as perforation, bleeding and obstruction. Endoscopy is the gold standard of diagnosis for H. pylori infection. Noninvasive testing with urease breath test and stool antigen test is reserved for post-treatment testing only. Treatment consists of a 14-day course of a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) and amoxicillin. A third agent, either clarithromycin or metronidazole, is added depending on regional resistance patterns. Testing for eradication at least 4 weeks later is recommended. This case serves as a reminder to primary care providers to be aware of H. pylori infection, diagnosis, treatment and complications.


Home > Printer-friendly PDF > Resumes and CVs Resumes and CVs Resumes and CVs are documents that summarize and highlight education, experiences, and activities relevant to career goals. A well-constructed resume documents skills and helps convince an employer about skills and qualifications for the job or internship. A CV documents graduate research and teaching experience as well as publications and presentations. The resume or CV usually is the gateway to an interview.


The issue that how to deal with the heterogeneous, distributed and dynamics data is one of the hot topics recently. In this paper, a new data processing mechanism is proposed based on the cooperation of distributed data management (Co-DDM) and the cooperation of task scheduling (Co-TS). The cooperative processing flow is also designed with the analysis of the member role, sharing object, cooperative activity and event. Finally, an experimental case is analyzed to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method and the empirical results show that the mechanism is much more available for data processing in cloud computing.


This paper provides an overview of a computationally eecient method for synthesizing supervisory controllers for discrete event systems (DES). The DES plant and controller are described by Petri nets which provide a useful linear algebraic model for both control analysis and synthesis. It is shown how a set of linear constraints on the plant's behavior can be enforced, accounting for possibly uncontrollable or unobservable transitions in the plant net, using techniques from Petri net theory, integer programming, and linear systems. The paper is written as a tutorial introduction to the approach. Several results presented here have been reported elsewhere in the literature.


An important problem which is a source of concern for most academicians and clinical investigators is the role of the medical school and of the academician-investigator in developing, refining, and delivering the fruits of biologic research. Doctor Louis Fieser, inventor of Napalm, said, "An inventor cannot be responsible for how other people use his inventions." I would paraphrase this thought by saying that a clinical investigator cannot be irresponsible about the non-use of his discoveries. I would like to start with a concrete problem—how to accomplish the management of patients with end-stage renal disease when research has developed not one, but two, effective modes of therapy which are capable of adding years to useful life and rehabilitating a substantial fraction—perhaps even a majority— of those who are treated. Although the problem may seem specialized at first glance, it contains all of the ethical and economic conflicts which apply to other


Constrictive pericarditis is a disease where loss of pericardial elasticity and restriction of filling of the cardiac chambers occurs. It is most often seen as an associated symptom of heart failure. Pericardiectomy provides effective treatment for patients with symptomatic constrictive pericarditis, although high rates of morbidity and mortality are related to the procedure. We present a case with extensive calcification, massive caseous necrosis and an important impairment of right ventricular function successfully operated in our institution.


The exponential increase in leakage, the device parameter variations, and the aggressive power management techniques will severely impact IC testing methods. Test technology faces new challenges as faults with increasingly complex behavior become predominant. Design approaches aimed at fixing some of the undesirable effects of nanometric technologies could jeopardize current test approaches. In this article, we explore test considerations for scaled CMOS circuits in the nanometer regime and describe possible solutions to many of these challenges, including statistical timing and delay test, I/sub DDQ/ test under exponentially increasing leakage, and power or thermal management architectures.


Understanding selection's impact on the genome is a major theme in biology. Functionally neutral genetic regions can be affected indirectly by natural selection, via their statistical association with genes under direct selection. The genomic extent of such indirect selection, particularly across loci not physically linked to those under direct selection, remains poorly understood, as does the time scale at which indirect selection occurs. Here, we use field experiments and genomic data in stick insects, deer mice and stickleback fish to show that widespread statistical associations with genes known to affect fitness cause many genetic loci across the genome to be impacted indirectly by selection. This includes regions physically distant from those directly under selection. Then, focusing on the stick insect system, we show that statistical associations between SNPs and other unknown, causal variants result in additional indirect selection in general and specifically within genomic regions of physically linked loci. This widespread indirect selection necessarily makes aspects of evolution more predictable. Thus, natural selection combines with chance genetic associations to affect genome‐wide evolution across linked and unlinked loci and even in modest‐sized populations. This process has implications for the application of evolutionary principles in basic and applied science.


Natalizumab is currently one of the best options for treatment of patients with Multiple Sclerosis who have failed traditional prior therapies. However, prolonged use, prior immunosuppressive therapy and anti-JCV antibody status have been associated with increased risk of developing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The evaluation of these conditions has been used to estimate risks of PML in these patients, and distinct (sometimes extreme) approaches are used to avoid the PML onset. At this time, the biggest issue facing the use of Natalizumab is how to get a balance between the risks and the benefits of the treatment. Hence, strategies for monitor JCV-positive patients undergoing Natalizumab treatment are deeply necessary. To illustrate it, we monitored JCV/DNA in blood and urine of a patient receiving Natalizumab for 12 months. We also bring to discussion the effectiveness of the current methods used for risk evaluation, and the real implications of viral reactivation.


Pseudo functional K Longest Path Per Gate (KLPG) test (PKLPG) is proposed to generate delay tests that test the longest paths while having power supply noise similar to that seen during normal functional operation. Our experimental results show that PKLPG is more vulnerable to under-testing than traditional two-cycle transition fault test. In this work, a simulation-based X'Filling method, Bit-Flip, is proposed to maximize the power supply noise during PKLPG test. Given a set of partially-specified scan patterns, random filling is done and then an iterative procedure is invoked to flip some of the filled bits, to increase the effective weighted switching activity (WSA). Experimental results on both compacted and uncompacted test patterns are presented. The results demonstrate that our method can significantly increase effective WSA while limiting the fill rate.


We present a generalized synthesis procedure for designing low-profile frequency selective surfaces (FSS) with bandpass responses of odd-order (N = 3,5,7,...). The FSSs designed using this technique use a combination of resonant and non-resonant sub-wavelength constituting unit cells with unit cell dimensions and periodicities in the order of 0.15 λ0, where λ0 is the free space wavelength. The main advantage of using this technique, compared to traditional FSS design techniques, is that it allows for the design of low-profile and ultrathin FSSs that can provide sharp frequency selectivity. An Nth order FSS designed using this technique typically has an electrical thickness in the order of ~ (N - 1) λ0/50 which is significantly smaller than the overall thickness of a traditionally designed Nth order FSS (~ (N - 1) λ0/4). The proposed synthesis procedure is validated for two FSS prototypes having third- and fifth-order bandpass responses. Principles of operation, detailed synthesis procedure, and implementation guidelines for this type of FSS are presented and discussed in this communication.


The article considers the features of urging hashtags that functioned in Facebook and Twitter social networks during the Euromaidan. The role of hashtags in times of revolutions has been identified, and it has been noted that hashtags help uncensored revolutionaries to disseminate information among their compatriots and the world community, attract the attention of the world media, and encourage people to support and join them. The paper considers syntactic features of urging hashtags, it is indicated that in the vast majority of cases such hashtags are located at the end of the post, although some may be located in the middle of the post. In addition the paper mentions publications consisting of some hashtags, among which are urging hashtags. Studying urging hashtags as sentences, the author singled out the following types: simple and complex, two-syllable and one-syllable, common and uncommon, complete and incomplete, complicated and non-complicated. Moreover, it has been noted that urging hashtags have a motivating modality. In regards of the peculiarities of the graphics of urging hashtags, the author points out the difference in spelling of the same words to create a different visual effect. Due to the fact that the hashtags use no spaces, the addressers wrote the sentence in one word, and in order to visually separate the words, the beginning of a word was capitalized or words were hyphenated. In addition, attention is drawn to punctuation and apostrophes: authors did not use those in the posts, because they "break" the words, after which the statement ceases to be the one single hashtag. In order to spread urging hashtags not only in the Ukrainian-speaking space, but also among the world audience, the addressers published urging hashtags in both Ukrainian and English, while the use of urging hashtags in Ukrainian remains more frequent.


Objectives: Negative attributions pertain to judgments of intent, hostility, and blame regarding others' behaviors. This study compared negative attributions made by people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) and examined the degree to which these negative attributions predicted angry ratings in response to situations. Setting: Outpatient rehabilitation hospital. Participants: Forty-six adults with moderate to severe TBI and 49 healthy controls. Design: Cross-sectional study using a quasi-experimental research design. Main Measures: In response to hypothetical scenarios, participants rated how irritated and angry they would be, and how intentional, hostile, and blameworthy they perceived characters' behaviors. There were 3 scenario types differentiated by the portrayal of characters' actions: benign, ambiguous, or hostile. All scenarios theoretically resulted in unpleasant outcomes for participants. Results: Participants with TBI had significantly higher ratings for feeling "irritated" and "angry" and attributions of "intent," "hostility," and "blame" compared with healthy controls for all scenario types. Negative attribution ratings accounted for 72.4% and 65.3% of the anger rating variance for participants with and without TBI, respectively. Conclusion: People with TBI may have negative attribution bias, in which they disproportionately judge the intent, hostility, and blameworthiness of others' behaviors. These attributions contributed to their ratings of feeling angry. This suggests that participants with TBI who have anger problems should be evaluated for this bias, and anger treatments should possibly aim to alter negative attributions. However, before implementing clinical practice changes, there is a need for replication with larger samples, and further investigation of the characteristics associated with negative attribution bias.


SysRepoAnalysis is an open-source, multi-user web tool that allows online analysis of git repositories by extracting historical information from source code files over time, using mining software repository techniques. Such data can be useful for the development team to find critical areas of the code repository that have a high maintenance effort over time. The main metrics used are cyclomatic complexity, accumulation of LOC modifications (based on code-churn), and frequency of occurrence of files in commits over time. In addition, we use the composition of these metrics to find very complex source code files that are frequently modified and have many LOCs changed over time. Besides, to calculate these metrics, the tool allows the generation and display of a treemap of the repository's directory and file structure and the rendering of a heatmap based on the metric chosen to be analyzed. Such features can be useful in helping the development team to find critical source code files or areas that contain such files. In this way, it can help the development team to make decisions regarding the choice of candidate files for refactorings that can generate a high maintenance effort. Among the main features of SysRepoAnalysis, we can highlight: control of user authentication and authorization, cloning and asynchronous analysis of user repositories (via message broker using producers and consumers), historical analysis and export of modified commits and files, calculation and export of results of the analyzed metrics and treemap generation of the repository's directory and file structure, as well as the rendering of heatmap based on the metric chosen to be analyzed. The source code tool is published in GitHub repository1 and there is a presentation about the tool in Video2 3


In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition to perform a good normal approximation for the Monte Carlo evaluation of highly reliable Markovian systems. We have recourse to simulation because of the frequent huge state space in practical systems. Literature has focused on the property of bounded relative error. In the same way, we can focus on bounded normal approximation. We see that the set of systems with bounded normal approximation is (strictly) included in the set of systems with bounded relative error.


p14(ARF) is a putative tumor suppressor gene thought to modify the levels of p53. CpG sites within the 5'-flanking region and exon 1beta of p14(ARF) are targets of aberrant methylation and transcriptional silencing in human colorectal cancer (CRC). Here we have developed methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSPCR) methods to detect methylation of CpG sites in p14(ARF) in CRC cell lines and primary CRC tumors, and correlated p14(ARF) mRNA expression with methylation in CRC cell lines using competitive quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction methods. Ten CRC cell lines were studied; three (DLD-1, HCT15 and SW48) showed extensive methylation and six (Colo320, SW480, HT29, Caco2, SW837 and WiDr) were unmethylated; the other cell line, LoVo, showed partial methylation that affected exon 1beta but not the immediate upstream CpG sites. p14(ARF) mRNA was expressed at extremely low levels in fully methylated cell lines and at 10(4)- to 10(5)-fold higher levels in unmethylated cell lines. p14(ARF) expression in the partially methylated LoVo cell line was intermediate. Treatment of LoVo cells with 2 microM 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine for 72 h was associated with marked (100-fold) induction of mRNA levels. Of 119 primary CRCs, 18% contained p14(ARF) methylation, although partial methylation was the most common pattern observed (in 67% of methylated tumors). Methylation of p14(ARF) was often accompanied by p16(INK4a) methylation; however, 50% of p14(ARF) methylated tumors contained unmethylated p16(INK4a). Methylation at p14(ARF) was associated with female gender, greater age, proximal anatomic location and poor differentiation, but not stage at diagnosis. A two-step MSPCR method for assaying p14(ARF) methylation in human tumors is described.


Treatment of parturient rats with 100 micrograms oestradiol/day caused a significant retardation of uterine involution and collagen breakdown. The post-partum uterus had a peroxidase activity of 180 mumol H2O2 reduced/min per uterus. Treatment with oestradiol caused an eight- to tenfold increase in this activity within 3--4 days. Treatment of rats with 4 mg cortisol/day commencing 3 days prepartum had no effect on uterine peroxidase acitvity but it blocked the oestradiol-induced increase in peroxidase. Cortisol had no effect on collagen breakdown and did not reverse the inhibition of collagen breakdown produced by oestradiol. It is postulated that the effects of oestradiol on peroxidase activity are mediated by uterine epithelial cells but that oestradiol effects on collagen breakdown may be mediated by another cell type.


Race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) are social categories that capture differential exposure to conditions of life that have health consequences. Race/ethnicity and SES are linked to each other, but race matters for health even after SES is considered. This commentary considers the complex ways in which race combines with SES to affect health. There is a need for greater attention to understanding how risks and resources in the social environment are systematically patterned by race, ethnicity and SES, and how they combine to influence cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes. Future research needs to examine how the levels, timing and accumulation of institutional and interpersonal racism combine with other toxic exposures, over the life-course, to influence the onset and course of illness. There is also an urgent need for research that seeks to build the science base that will identify the multilevel interventions that are likely to enhance the health of all, even while they improve the health of disadvantaged groups more rapidly than the rest of the population so that inequities in health can be reduced and ultimately eliminated. We also need sustained research attention to identifying how to build the political support to reduce the large shortfalls in health. (PsycINFO Database Record


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and interaction, and restricted interests and behavior patterns. These characteristics are considered as a continuous distribution in the general population. People with ASD show atypical temporal processing in multisensory integration. Regarding the flash-beep illusion, which refers to how a single flash can be illusorily perceived as multiple flashes when multiple auditory beeps are concurrently presented, some studies reported that people with ASD have a wider temporal binding window and greater integration than typically developed people; others found the opposite or inconsistent tendencies. Here, we investigated the relationships between the manner of the flash-beep illusion and the various dimensions of ASD traits by estimating the degree of typically developed participants' ASD traits including five subscales using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. We found that stronger ASD traits of communication and social skill were associated with a wider and narrower temporal binding window respectively. These results suggest that specific ASD traits are differently involved in the particular temporal binding processes of audiovisual integration.


Photovoltaic (PV) power plant is one of the most important renewable power generation methods, which is rapidly developing. One of the weak points of PV power plants is the negative effects of increasing the cells temperature on their power generation. In this study, a simple and low cost method is proposed to reduce the temperature of these panels. The use of fins has been proven in many industrial applications and here it is used as coolant of PV panel. This experiment was performed in maximum operating temperature of photovoltaic modules which is known as 85°C. By using numbers of aluminum fins on the back surface of photovoltaic panels under two different irradiation, the temperature reduction up to 7.4 °C was observed, and this reduction leads to 2.72 % increasing in efficiency. Finally, an economical assessment of the offered cases based on output power of PV panels carried out, which shows a suitable economic justifiability.


After a prolonged period of using the cortico-centric models of brain function, scientists developed a parallel perspective with an emphasis on all neural structures of the brain. Therefore, the present study aims to create a valid and reliable assessment based on the parallel perspective of brain function. First, a basic assessment was made. Then, a sample size of 183 participants was recruited from graduates and undergraduates at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad over a 2-year period (2020 and 2021). The measures were the Neural Circuits Questionnaire (NCQ) and the Demographic Data Questionnaire. Data analyses were performed by using exploratory factor analysis. Using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, cutting points for the quality index of the questionnaire were calculated. The results showed that the questionnaire has a three-factor structure and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.617. Based on the ROC curve, the valid range for the quality index is 10.5-15.5. The cerebro-cerebellar index is higher for Ph.D. students than for students with lower degrees (F = 8.60, p = 0.001). In conclusion, it appears that the Neural Circuits Questionnaire is a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess cognitive function following the parallel perspective of brain function.


A possible autocrine effect of interleukin-6 (IL-6) on the growth and differentiation of the tumor cells of 55 B-cell lymphomas was examined. Interleukin-6 was detected in a few types of B-cell lymphomas, including polymorphic immunocytoma (PI), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and immunoblastic lymphoma (IBL) with or without plasmacytoid differentiation. In PI and in IBL with plasmacytoid differentiation (IBL-P), IL-6 was detected only in immunoglobulin-containing plasmacytoid cells, and it was absent from most proliferating (Ki-67/PCNA-positive) lymphoma cells. In SLL, IL-6 was not observed in lymphoplasmacytoid cells; instead, IL-6 was observed in transformed (Ki-67/PCNA-positive) tumor cells in proliferation centers. The lymphoplasmacytoid cells in SLL exhibited a phenotype (IL-6/glutathione-S-transferase-pi [GST-pi]-negative), different from that of normal plasma cells (IL-6-negative/GST-pi-positive) and from the plasmacytoid cells (IL-6/GST-pi-positive) in PI and IBL-P. In IBL without obvious plasmacytoid differentiation, IL-6 was detected in most tumor cells that were highly proliferative (Ki-67/PCNA-positive). In this study, IL-6 was undetectable in most lymphomas related to follicular centers, in lymphoblastic lymphoma, in small noncleaved cell lymphomas of the Burkitt and non-Burkitt types, and in diffuse large cell lymphoma. This finding is compatible with a previous finding that IL-6 mRNA was absent from follicular center cells in reactive lymphoid tissues. The functions of IL-6 in these lymphomas may be quite diverse. It appears that IL-6, as an autocrine factor, is responsible for the plasmacytoid differentiation of lymphoma cells in IP and some IBL (IBL-P). The differentiation of lymphoplasmacytoid lymphoma cells in SLL, however, may not be mediated by an autocrine IL-6 mechanism. Interleukin-6 may provide a growth signal, rather than acting as a differentiation factor, for some IBL cells and for some transformed tumor cells in proliferation centers in SLL.


Although Coxiella burnetii is considered to be an obligate intracellular
bacterium and grows in embryonated eggs, laboratory animals and cell culture,
recently it has been grown in cell-free media and on agar plates. This current
study was conducted to compare four cell lines for their yield of C. burnetii. Four different isolates of C. burnetii (Henzerling, Arandale, Cumberland and Timony) were grown in DH82, L929, Vero
and XTC-2 cell lines. The DH82 and
XTC-2 cells lines produced the highest C. burnetii yield which was slightly less than
the yields achieved in recently published studies using cell free media. The
Arandale isolate of C. burnetii produced
a significantly higher yield in DH82 cells compared to XTC-2 cells (P 0.03).


• We assess stream temperature and energy fluxes under 3 riparian vegetation types. • Stream temperature varies significantly between different vegetation types. • Net energy fluxes are greatest in open grassland and lowest in coniferous


Dopamine (DA) uptake through the neuronal plasma membrane DA transporter (DAT) is essential for the maintenance of normal DA homeostasis in the brain. The DAT‐mediated re‐uptake system limits not only the intensity but also the duration of DA actions at presynaptic and postsynaptic receptors. This protein is the primary target for cocaine and amphetamine, both highly addictive and major substances of abuse worldwide. DAT is also the molecular target for therapeutic agents used in the treatment of mental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression. Given the role played by the DAT in regulation of DA neurotransmission and its contribution to the abuse potential of psychostimulants, it becomes not only important but also necessary to understand the functional regulation of this protein. To investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with DAT function and regulation, our laboratory and others have embarked on a systematic search for DAT protein–protein interactions. Recently, a growing number of proteins have been shown to interact with DAT. These novel interactions might be important in the assembly, targeting, trafficking and/or regulation of transporter function. In this review, I summarize the main findings obtained from the characterization of DAT‐interacting proteins and discuss the functional implications of these novel interactions. Based on these new data, I propose to use the term DAT proteome to explain how interacting proteins regulate DAT function. These novel interactions might help define new mechanisms associated with the function of the transporter.


Security protocols play more and more important role with widely use in many applications nowadays. They are designed to provide security properties for users who wish to exchange messages over unsecured medium. There are many tools were designed to specify and verify security protocols such as Casper/FDR, ProVerif or AVISPA. While most of the existing tools focus on secrecy and authentication properties. few supports properties like anonymity and privacy, which are crucial in many protocols such as in electronic voting systems or anonymous online transactions. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, there is still not have a fully automatic tool using formal methods to verify these two properties. In this paper, we introduce a framework for specifying security protocols in the Labeled Transition System (LTS) semantics model and give the formal definition for three existing types of anonymity and privacy properties using this model. We also come up with the verification algorithms for verification and implement all the ideas in a module SeVe inside PAT model checker.


Neurovascular compression syndromes (NVC) result from a compression of the entry/exit zone of cranial nerves by a vessel at the surface of the brainstem. Surgical intervention planning (SIP) for NVC enables a comprehensive spatial understanding of the patient specific anatomy. Specifically, brainstem, vessels and nerves are segmented in NVC SIP. To support segmentation for NVC SIP, we propose a wizardbased user guidance. The SIP-NVC-Wizard guides the user through the patient's individual anatomy and segmentations, and translates the parameter tuning into adequate medical terminology. We were able to show pathological nerve-vessel-contact in ten NVC cases producing results comparable to conventional NVC SIP, and performed a pilot-study to evaluate usability and functionality of the proposed wizard. With the SIP-NVC-Wizard our subjects were able to perform a NVC SIP without any knowledge in image processing. Anatomical beginners showed a steep learning curve. Time was reduced to 34 minutes compared to 1-2 hours for conventional NVC SIP.


Sarcoma of the uterus is very rare malignant tumor originating from uterine muscle or connective tissue. We have experienced 20 cases of uterine sarcoma from January 1991 to June 1998. The results were as follows: 1. The pathologic types were 13 cases(65.0%) of leiomyosarcoma, 5 cases(25.0%) of malignant mixed Mullerian tumor, 1 case of rhabdomyosarcoma, and 1 case of angiosarcoma. 2. The average age and parity was 50.2 and 3.7. The chief complaints were irregular vaginal bleeding(35.0%), lower abdominal pain(25.0%), and abdominal mass(25.0%). 3. Nine cases(45.0%) were FIGO stage I, 1 case(5.0%) was stage II, 6 cases(30.0%) were stage III, and 4 cases(20.0%) were stage IV. 4. The survival was from 1.5 months to over 130 months(median 16.5 months), and there was no correlation between survival and FIGO stage or pathologic type. The correlation between survival and number of mitotic figure was incalcurable. 5. CA 125 levels were serially measured as a tumor marker in monitoring patients and the positive rate was 40%. Further study was needed to make a conclusion for usefulness of CA 125 as a tumor marker.


The area-wide (AW) control of the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), OFF) was tested, using the conditions defined by Lindquist, in Juan-Nan area of Mei-Shan township, Chia-Yi county, where wax apple is the major crop with significant economical importance. Growers in this area show a common interest in wax apple production, hence are highly cooperative in managing the fruit fly population. All available OFF control techniques have been utilized, e.g., methyl eugenol bait for male annihilation; protein bait for female fly control; bagging of the fruits; and thorough field sanitation in all wax apple orchards. A well organized OFF density monitoring program was established with 12 monitoring sites, which covered 500 ha testing area. By using 3D aero-photos display system, control planning and farmer education were conducted under the AW control scheme. In two years of AW control practice, the OFF population droped below the economic threshold and fruit production was in excellent quality with a financial gain of NT$ 4 million ($122,000) in 2005. In 2006, the OFF population density was further reduced 50% from that of 2005, and the estimated economic gain on fruit value combining with the saving of pest control cost exceeded NT$ 9 million ($286,000). The evaluation of the AW control program also included a survry of farmers' inputs, which concluded a score of 4.0 in the scale of 1 to 5. The control practice covering 500 ha was considered small in the AW control model for OFF, as if did not have any buffer zone established. Despite the high mobility of OFF, no serious re-invasion problem from the adjacent area occurred due to the scarcity of alternative hosts in that area. This study, though confirmed the AW control requirements as proposed by Lindquist, recommends the requirements supplemented with such additional elements as effective control tactics, continuous farmer education, new and available technologies.


study.Spirometry was done to assess the FEV1 and patients were subjected to 2 Minute Walk Test (2MWT) according to standard protocols. Patients were classified according to the GOLD guideline using the refined ABCD criteria. Ethical consideration: Clearance of the Institutional Ethics Committee was obtained prior to commencement of the study. Statistical Analysis: The results were analysed using statistical software SPSS Version 19.0. Results: The mean distance covered in 2 min (2MWD) by males was 117.10 m and females was 106.96 m and the difference was statistically significant. The 2 MWD was compared with the refined ABCD assessment tool. Each component of ABCD assessment both individually and combined showed statistically significant correlation with 2 MWD. A positive correlation was found between FEV1 and 2 MWD (P < 0.001). Negative correlation was found between 2MWD and each component of Refined COPD assessment tool like GOLD Grading,MMRC,CAT Score,Hospital admissions and GOLD Grouping(P < 0.001). Conclusion: 2 Minute Walk test can be used as an effective tool in screening COPD and also to assess severity of the disease in areas where access to spirometry is restricted.


This paper presents a compact structure of recursive discrete Fourier transform (RDFT) with prime factor (PF) and common factor (CF) algorithms to calculate variable-length DFT coefficients. Low-power optimizations in VLSI implementation are applied to the proposed RDFT design. In the algorithm, for 256-point DFT computation, the results show that the proposed method greatly reduces the number of multiplications/additions/computational cycles by 97.40/94.31/46.50% compared to a recent approach. In chip realization, the core size and chip size are, respectively, 0.84 × 0.84 and 1.38 × 1.38 mm. The power consumption for the 288and 256-point DFT computations are, respectively, 10.2 (or 0.1051) and 11.5 (or 0.1176) mW at 25 (or 0.273) MHz simulated by NanoSim. It would be more efficient and more suitable than previous works for DRM and DRM applications.


A thesis submitted to the Faculty Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Social Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2016


ABSTRACT This study aims at investigating the influencing factors on hospital resilience. For this purpose, a systematic review of the literature was conducted. Six databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, SAGE, EBSCO, Google Scholar, and PubMed were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2018. Sixteen studies were selected based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. Content analysis revealed 22 influencing factors were included in a framework with 2 dimensions: (1) phases of the hospital resilience process (preparation, response, and recovery/growth) and (2) the key components of the hospital (staff, infrastructure, management, and logistics). Considering the factors that emerged from this research, suggestions were made to improve hospital resilience. The results of this research will enable a hospital manager to develop better plans for hospital preparedness, as well as perform more effectively before, during, and after disasters.


In order to better understand the role of transcription in cellular processing of damage in specific DNA sequences, we have used an in vitro differentiation system to modulate the activity of the MYC gene. When human HL60 promyelocytic cells differentiate in vitro, the transcriptional activity of the MYC gene is down-regulated. We have shown that in the expressed MYC gene, 56% of UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) are removed within 18 h and the transcribed strand is selectively repaired. However, late in differentiation, when the MYC gene is maximally down-regulated, only 15% of the CPDs are removed within the same period. During early differentiation, the MYC gene is regulated by a block to transcription elongation at the 5' end of the first intron. Our results reveal no significant difference in the rate of CPD removal between the restriction fragments upstream and downstream of this elongation block. Furthermore, both strands of each fragment exhibit similar repair characteristics. In contrast, the constitutively expressed FMS gene exhibits proficient removal of CPD in both the differentiated and undifferentiated cells. Furthermore, the repair appears to be more proficient at the 5' end (exon 1) than in the 3' end of the gene about 35 kilobases downstream from exon 1. Since efficient repair of the active FMS gene is maintained in the differentiated cells the loss of repair competence seen in MYC is more likely associated with its reduced transcriptional activity than with a decrease in the overall repair capacity of the terminally differentiated cells.


There are many scenarios where there is a need for (semi) automated methods and tools to identify, characterize and exploit information resources, especially those that may have been discovered through obscure means. These information resources are retrieved from environments where there is little to no prior knowledge of the information sources, and from environments where there are unavailable models and uncooperative modelers. The key to this capability is developing techniques for crafting an understanding of the content and context of an information resource, and ultimately reconstructing the meaning and intent of the resource. Our approach to inferring meaning and intent is to gather the implicit semantics available in data source schemas, to build associations between the contents of the data source and the semantics described and defined in ontologies, and to glean additional semantic clues captured from an analysis of a set of queries submitted to the data source.


depthmapX软件;环境设计 ABSTRACT Decoding the relationship between crime and place has been the focus of researchers in both design and social fields for a few decades. Space syntax theory offers the possibility of examining the configuration characteristics of the environment and their potential influences on people's activities and crime patterns; however, its implementation in landscape architecture has been limited. This study responds to such a gap by exploring the effectiveness of applying space syntax theory to predict safety levels in a park in Cairo, Egypt. depthmapX was used to analyze the spatial configuration of the park. Crime records from 2019 were collected through site observation and staff interviews, and analyzed using ArcGIS 10.3 software. Results indicated a strong correlation between space depth / integration / connectivity and crime pattern distribution. The park visibility graphs indicated the different impacts of vegetation (evergreen tree / deciduous trees) in summer and winter on visual connectivity and crime types. The research concluded that applying space syntax theory to landscape architecture is challenging; nevertheless, it represents a promising approach to predict committing crimes in urban parks, and the findings can be adopted to enhance park conceptual designs to achieve higher safety level.


The major problem observed during the muga cocoon reeling process is the filament breaks due to improper cooking or softening of sericin joints. With highlighting the associated pessimistic attributes of conventional soda based cooking method, this work focuses on developing a new formulation that can improvise the efficiency and uniformity of muga cocoon cooking process. Subsequently, the SoPs (Standard operating procedures) of the newly developed formulation were optimized based on intensive laboratory trials in comparison to conventional soda based cooking method. It was evident from the documented results that the formulation significantly contributed to the reelability of muga cocoons by reducing breakages (upto 20-25%) during the reeling process and improving the raw silk recovery (by 6-10%). The duration of cocoon cooking drastically reduced from traditional 10-15 mins (as in case of soda based cooking) to 3-5 mins. along with uniform cooking. The cooking solution constituting the formulation could be reused effectively for 2-3 times thereby supporting the economical conservation of materials involved.


In order to understand the level and distribution of (220)Rn concentrations in soil-gas in the high-radiation-background area, an (220)Rn survey was carried out for the first time using a RAD7 portable radon monitor at 67 locations covering a total area of 1800 km(2) in the South of China. (220)Rn concentrations were significantly different from that in the surface areas covered by the weathered granite of Yanshan Period or Quaternary sediments. The (220)Rn concentrations varied between 6.65 and 461 kBq m(-3) and the averages were 294.42 ± 81.36 and 23.30 ± 25.84 kBq m(-3) for weathered granite products and sediments, respectively. A high positive correlation between (220)Rn concentrations and (232)Th activity concentrations was found. (220)Rn concentrations had no statistically significant variations from depths of 20-140 cm with an interval of 20 cm. It is worth paying attention to the problem of such a high soil (220)Rn concentration in Zhuhai City and Zhongshan City.


The mucin-hypersecreting biliary papillomatosis is a premalignant neoplasm characterized by intraductal papillary proliferation involving extensive areas of the intrahepatic and/or extrahepatic bile duct. We report a case of mucin-hypersecreting biliary papillomatosis manifested as obstructive jaundice and diagnosed only by microscopy, with a review of literatures. A 74-year-old female, who had a past history of cholecystectomy about 13 years ago, was admitted to our hospital with jaundice. A CT scan showed marked dilatation of intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile duct without intraductal filling defect or extrabiliary mass. During endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, mucin extrusion from the duodenal major papilla and dilated common bile duct with amorphous filling defects was noted. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage for cholangioscopy was failed. In the operation field, there was a lot of mucin but was no visible mass at the common bile duct with bare eyes and cholangioscopy. However, papilloma was detected at the random biopsy specimen by microscopy. The patient underwent partial resection of common bile duct and choledocho-jejunal anastomosis.


Author(s): Veldhuis, Niek | Abstract: Funding from the Stahl Endowment in 2018 was used for adding more material to the Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Lexical Lists (DCCLT). Lexical texts are lists of words and lists of cuneiform signs that were used by ancient Mesopotamian scribes and scholars to teach and document the complex cuneiform writing system. These texts play an important role in the study of the history of education and scholarship, but are also of crucial and foundational importance for the decipherment of cuneiform and the reconstruction of Sumerian vocabulary. Last year's effort added, among other things, important bilingual lists of hides and leather objects and of metal objects. The editions are freely available through the internet; the data can also be downloaded in JSON format for re-use (for instance in Computational Text Analysis).


UNLABELLED
In general experienced hands, the inferior parathyroid glands, localized in the thymus or low extrathymus are the main cause or surgical therapeutic failure. When they could not be approached through cervicotomy, or when they were diagnosed after surgery the sternotomy or the angiographic ablation were chosen as treatment. The limited number of thoracoscopic approach whit good results published so far, moved us to use this method.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Patient of 49 years with a 7 year secondary hiperprathyroidism due to CRI. After a sub total parathyroidectomy with bilateral thimectomy, the patient did not present clinical or laboratory improvement. Through a thoracic centellogram sixth MIBI, NMR and CAT, a tumor in the middle mediastinum was fond. The mediastinal structures have been easily identified through a left thoracoscopic approach. At the level of the aortopulmonary window, a tumoral mass is located and, with a simple dissection, et is easily extracted in bag. The biopsy through freezing confirms the parathyroid etiology of the gland.

RESULT
Clinical and laboratory evolution has been favorable, with hospital discharged at the 3 day, and being asymptomatic after two years.

CONCLUSION
The hipersecretant parathyroid glands, located in middle mediastinum, that can not be approach through cervicotomy, can be successfully approach through thoracoscopic technique.


This article attempts to answer the question of whether the external debt stock and associated servicing always  discourage domestic investments in less-developed countries as claimed by some authors.Use was made  of a comparative modeling approach involving multiple log-linear regression, distributed lag and autoregressive models. Comparative estimation methods were also employed, including the OLS. Cochrane-Orcutt,   Maximum   Likelihood,   and   instrumental   variable  techniques  against   time-series annual Nigerian data .fi·Oin  1970 through 2001. The results, among others, indicate that both external debt stock and debt sercive are not always  disincentives  to domestic  investments.  The debt service  (deht burden)  variable particularly  holds some positive effects for  Nigeria domestic  investments  especially when such payments attract furrther capital inflow and the externally -borowwed funds are put to best economic uses. In this light,.developing countries may have  to change their orientation  which is biased towards debt forgiveness- and see some good in debt-senicing as a proper management strategy


This paper argues that Marx's Theses on Feuerbach offer a tremendous and yet neglected resource for work in political ecology and the production of nature. Whilst not calling for a dramatic shift in the way in which such work is conducted, the paper shows how the Theses offer a firm and concise foundation on which to base the ontological and epistemological claims of work on the politicised environment. Ontologically, nature is a differentiated unity, best understood as sensuous activity or practice. This fits well with Smith's claims that nature is produced, whilst not limiting production to capitalist activity. Environments are thereby made up of everyday activity. Subverting the apparent anthropocentrism of this claim, the paper shows how (as Gramsci recognised) the Theses on Feuerbach have an incipient sense of the socio-natural. Post-humanist critiques of Smith's (humanist) production of nature thesis are thereby disrupted. Production realises a differentiated unity of socio-natural relations. Epistemologically, the paper demonstrates how the Theses push political ecologists to construct knowledge claims from practical activity. An ecological politics thereby emerges from the situated knowledges of different actors. Building on this, the paper argues that Marx's 'notes to himself' give us a sense of possible worlds and possible ecologies beyond the topsy-turvy one we have made in the present. Through the concept of praxis evinced in the Theses, a vision of the engaged scholar activist, committed to learning about the world through changing it (and vice-versa), emerges.


ABSTRACT We study the relationship between two distinct dimensions of social capital (bridging and bonding social capital) and the personal performances of individuals: their reported subjective well-being (SWB) and earnings. A theoretical model is put forward which explains the sources and dynamics of social capital formation. It predicts an inverse U-shaped relationship between any type of social capital and SWB, an inverse U-shaped relationship between bridging social capital and earnings, and an unambiguously negative impact of bonding social capital on earnings. The key predictions of the model are confirmed using cross-section survey data from the 2005 wave of the 'Social Diagnosis' survey program conducted in Poland. Very low levels of bridging social capital observed in Poland imply that it is unambiguously beneficial to invest in it: both SWB of individuals and their earnings would increase in such case.


Up to 70% of atopic asthmatics have a positive skin test to the dust mite allergen Der p 1. Reduction of dust mite numbers by lowering room humidity control is one suggested technique for reducing dust mite allergen levels to clinically acceptable levels. Trials of this technique in temperate climates have reported mixed results. It has been speculated that one reason for this is that humidity changes in room ambient air are not tightly linked to humidity changes in the dust mite microenvironment (in the base of carpets, bedding, furniture etc.).


Children experience medical interventions and hospitalizations every day. These settings are often characterized as strange and unfamiliar for children, may require some separations from established attachment figures, and have the potential to be extremely stressful. Many children turn to transitional objects such as soft stuffed animals or blankets to facilitate comfort in these environments, as these objects soothe and calm children when they are experiencing anxiety-like symptoms. Child life specialists work as a part of multidisciplinary healthcare teams, with a central role of identifying effective coping strategies for children who are experiencing stress. For many children, this coping mechanism may be the use of a transitional object. Currently, there is limited research examining children's use of transitional objects in healthcare settings or how child life specialists advocate for children's use of transitional objects in healthcare settings. The purpose of this study was to examine how child life specialists advocate for the use of transitional objects in pediatric healthcare settings. Using an exploratory design, the current study explored the current policies in medical settings that guide the use of transitional objects, as well as the practices of child life specialists when they encounter a child with a transitional object. Participants answered questions about how the policies at their setting are created, questions about their level of knowledge about transitional objects, and situational questions regarding their practices with transitional objects. Responses from 24 participants were analyzed through descriptive statics and thematic analysis. Results of the study revealed that only five of the 24 participants reported that their setting did not have any policies guiding the use of transitional objects. The majority of participants (n= 14) reported that they felt mostly knowledgeable about transitional objects, the majority of participants (n= 21) also believed transitional objects to be extremely important in stressful settings. Overall, participants revealed that they were willing to advocate for children's need to have access to transitional objects in healthcare settings.


Similar molecules or materials have comparable composition, structure, and other properties thus making them difficult to discriminate for purposes of detection. Although the species may be spectrally similar, they each could have significantly different (quantum) dynamical behavior for detection. Optimal dynamic discrimination (ODD) aims to maximally draw out the differences among similar species by manipulating their molecular dynamics with optimized radiation resources. The highest degrees of discrimination arise upon exploiting control of the quantum dynamics of the species. Theoretical analysis shows that quantum systems differing even infinitesimally in character may be distinguished by means of their dynamics when acted upon by a suitably shaped control field. Simulations have demonstrated the capabilities of optimal discrimination in the presence of laser-pulse noise, signal detection errors, and imperfect signal detection resolution. Recent experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of ODD.


Recent developments in the gender and politics literature suggest that studying the substantive representation of women is much more complicated than counting the number of women present in a particular political institution and judging the actions of women representatives against a 'feminist' shopping list of demands. In brief, the substantive representation of women is no longer considered to be restricted to what happens in our parliaments or only by what women representatives do therein. Furthermore, what constitutes women's issues and interests – that which is to be represented – can also no longer be considered straightforwardly 'out there' to simply be acted upon by representatives; they are constructed as part of the representative process. Acknowledgement of the diversity and likely contested nature of claims to act 'for women' coincides with an emerging appreciation that the claims for women made by conservative representatives need to be brought more explicitly into our analytic frameworks and empirical studies. Together, these points not only undermine any assumption that the substantive representation of women equals the feminist substantive representation of women; they also raise the possibility of non- and anti-feminist representative claims and actions 'for' women. Against this backdrop, we review recent developments within the sub-field of the substantive representation of women literature and offer some reflections and suggestions about how to take conservatism seriously when studying the substantive representation of women both conceptually and empirically.


: The preparation of a series of 2-(1H-imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-substituted carboxylic acids of benzo[b]furan, benzo-[b]thiophene, indole, and naphthalene is described. All compounds showed a similar level of activity as TxA2 synthetase inhibitors in vitro, having IC50 values between 1 and 7 X 10(-8) M. In the cases examined, compounds had, at most, only negligible activity against PGI2 synthetase, cyclooxygenase, and steroid 11 beta-hydroxylase. The benzo[b]thiophenes generally showed the greatest potency in vivo, and compounds 72, 73, and 75 caused almost complete inhibition of thromboxane production for 6 h after oral administration of 0.5 mg/kg to conscious dogs. In the case of 73 and 75, thromboxane production was still inhibited by 80% after 24 h.


This report describes an investigation of ground-water flow and water quality in the sand aquifer of the Long Beach Peninsula. The peninsula is located in the southwestern corner of the State of Washington, is about 27 miles long, and has an average width of about 1.5 miles. It is surrounded by seawater, by the Pacific Ocean on the west and Willapa Bay on the east. Water supplies on the peninsula are derived mostly from a local water-table aquifer composed largely of sand. The recent growth of population on the peninsula and the projected future growth have created concerns about the quantity and quality of the ground-water resource. Some issues include declining ground-water levels from increased pumpage, and groundwater contamination from seawater intrusion, pesticides or fertilizers from cranberrygrowing areas, and septic-system effluent. The ground-water system of the Long Beach Peninsula consists of a sand aquifer with some lenses of silt and clay that may act as confining beds in local areas. Data are lacking or inconsistent to define a confining bed that extends throughout the peninsula. Hydraulic conductivity calculated from slug tests in 58 shallow wells ranged from 10 to 37 feet per day with a median of 22 feet per day. Average annual ground-water recharge by infiltration and percolation of precipitation is estimated to be about 58 inches or 111,000 acre-feet, which is 72 percent of the average annual precipitation of 80 inches. Average annual ground-water discharge is estimated to be about 30,200 acre-feet to the Pacific Ocean, 56,000 acre-feet to Willapa Bay, and 24,800 acre-feet to surface-water drainage channels. Ground-water movement is generally perpendicular to the spine of the peninsula. A ground-water divide occurs along a northsouth line and ground water flows west or east from the divide toward the Pacific Ocean or Willapa Bay. There does not appear to have been any long-term decline of the water table of the sand aquifer from 1974-92. Ground-water levels measured at three eastwest cross sections in 1974-75 were at about the same altitude as water levels measured in 1992. Relatively accurate individual regression relations were developed at 45 wells with ground-water altitude as a response variable and cumulative precipitation for 4 months as an explanatory variable. The average coefficient of determination for all individual relations was 0.77, with a range of 0.11 to 0.89. Some empirical frequency or probability relations for precipitation and ground-water levels were used to estimate how often the maximum water levels measured in this study would be expected to occur in the future. These water levels reflected the lowerthan-average precipitation that occurred during the study. Assuming that the annual maximum precipitation for 4 consecutive months is random and independent, the historical record of precipitation is representative of the future distribution of precipitation, and the relation between precipitation and water levels is accurate and stationary; a probability analysis of the historical record indicates that in any one year in the future there is a probability of 70 percent that the maximum water levels measured in wells during the winter of 1991-92 would be equaled or exceeded. Here's how you know Ground-w t r fl w an water quality in the sand aquifer of Long Beach Peninsula, Washington The shallow ground water had generally low dissolved-solids concentrations in July 1992, with a median concentration of 92 milligrams per liter (mg/L) and a range of 56 to 218 mg/L. Sodium was the dominant cation and bicarbonate was the dominant anion. The distribution of hardness of the water samples was 84 percent with soft water and 16 percent with moderately hard water. The water quality of the shallow ground water was generally good, with a few small to moderate problems. A natural problem is locally high concentrations of dissolved iron. About 30 percent of the water samples had dissolved-iron concentrations of greater than 0.3 mg/L, which is the secondary maximum contaminant level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. No appreciable amount of seawater has intruded into the sand aquifer. The samples of shallow ground water collected in July 1992 had a median chloride concentration of 15 mg/L and a maximum concentration of 52 mg/L. The heavy average annual precipitation of about 80 inches, large average annual ground-water recharge of about 58 inches or 111,000 acre-feet, and small ground-water withdrawal rate (about 780 acre-feet per year in 1992) combine to maintain a thick freshwater lens of ground water that prevents seawater intrusion throughout the year. Agricultural activities do not appear to have appreciably affected the quality of shallow ground water on the Long Beach Peninsula. The concentration of nitrate in ground water was not significantly higher near cranberry-growing areas, and no sample of ground water or surface water had concentrations of selected pesticides or associated compounds that were above the analytical detection limits. Of the seven ground-water samples in which bacteria were detected, only one sample appeared to be related to agriculture; that sample was from a well located in an area where cattle graze for part of the year. Septic systems probably caused an increase in the concentration of nitrate in shallow ground water in areas of higher population density. Concentrations of nitrate were significantly related to population density. However, the concentrations were not generally high; median concentrations of nitrate increased from less than 0.05 mg/L in areas of low population density to 0.74 mg/L in areas of high density. Septic systems did not cause regional bacterial contamination of the ground water. Bacteria were detected in seven ground-water samples; however, only two of those samples were from wells that are close to septic systems. A limited amount of historical water-quality data is available for the peninsula; therefore, it is difficult to assess long-term changes. From 1968-92, chloride concentrations and values of specific conductance appear to have remained stable. Likewise, it appears that nitrate concentrations did not change from 1987-92.


Using empirical market data from brand rivalry in a retail ground-coffee market, we model each idiosyncratic brand's pricing behavior using the restriction that marketing strategies depend only on profit-relevant state variables, and use the genetic algorithm to search for coevolved equilibria, where each profit-maximizing brand manager is a stimulus-response automaton, responding to past prices in the asymmetric oligopolistic market. This chapter is part of a growing study of repeated interactions and oligopolistic behavior using the GA.


We propose and demonstrate a pulsed-incoherent-light-injected Fabry-Perot laser diode (FP-LD) which generates incoherent return-to-zero (RZ) signals for wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical networks. For the generation of the RZ signals, we first convert the continuous-wave (CW) amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) into an ASE pulse train with a pulse carver, spectrum-slice it into multiple channels with a waveguide grating router, and then inject them into FP-LDs for data modulation. Thanks to a wide slicing bandwidth of the injected incoherent light, the spectral linewidth of the generated RZ signals is determined by the slicing bandwidth, without being affected by the use of the RZ format. Thus, compared to incoherent non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signals generated with CW-ASE-injected FP-LDs, the RZ signals have a similar spectral linewidth but a wide timing margin between adjacent bits. Thus, the proposed transmitter can offer better dispersion tolerance than the NRZ signals. For example, our experimental demonstration performed at 1.25 Gb/s shows approximately 50% higher dispersion tolerance than the NRZ signals generated with CW ASE-injected FP-LDs. Despite the large slicing bandwidth of 0.67 nm for the injected ASE, we were able to transmit 1.25-Gb/s signals over 45-km standard single-mode fiber without dispersion compensation. The receiver sensitivity is also improved by 1.5 dB by using the RZ format.


Lifetime extension is a key design issue for wireless sensor networks (WSN) with battery-operated nodes. Compared with direct transmission, transmission power can be significantly reduced by cooperative communication, because it can effectively mitigate multi-path fading by introducing space diversity. In this paper, BER analysis for M-PSK and M-QAM modulation in non-cooperative and cooperative situations is firstly presented. Then power is optimally allocated to source and relay nodes with the objective of minimizing the total transmission power under the average BER constraint. Based on these works, a new distributed cooperative MAC protocol is proposed to improve the lifetime of WSN. In this protocol, both channel state information (CSI) and residual energy information (REI) of sensor nodes are considered to choose the cooperative nodes. Simulation results show that when the access point (AP) is above a certain height, the proposed cooperative protocol can significantly prolong network lifetime compared with non-cooperative MAC protocols.


A thermodynamic analysis is proposed to investigate the entropy generation in process heaters. It is found that the major portion of the exergy losses occur in the stack. It is also found that the excess air decreases the first law efficiency while the second law efficiency remains nearly constant. Although the first law efficiency is found to be of the order of 70-90%, the second law efficiency has been calculated to be low, in the range of 30-40%. In this regard, stack gas temperature is found to be an important parameter for improving the second law efficiency.


The aim of this work is to present a theoretical study of a vertical junction silicon solar cell under monochromatic illumination. By solving the continuity equation and using a one-dimensional model in frequency modulation, we derive the analytical expressions of both excess minority carrier density and photovoltage. Based on these expressions, the solar cell capacitance was calculated; we then exhibited the effects of both illumination wavelength and incidence angle on the solar cell capacitance.


Yuan and Feng [Eur. Phys. J. Plus 138:70, 2023] recently proposed a modification of the nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiment performed by Danan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111:240402, 2013] and argued that photons give"contradictory"answers about where they have been, when traces are locally imprinted on them in different ways. They concluded that their results are comprehensible from what they call the"three-path interference viewpoint", but difficult to explain from the"discontinuous trajectory"viewpoint advocated by Danan et al. We argue that the weak trace approach (the basis of the"discontinuous trajectory"viewpoint) provides a consistent explanation of the Yuan-Feng experiment. The contradictory messages of the photons are just another example of photons lying about where they have been when the experimental method of Danan et al. is applied in an inappropriate setup.


The National Diabetes Data Group's definition of insulin dependent diabetes misleadingly talks of "predominant onset in youth."1 Over 40 years ago Lawrence wrote that many diabetic patients aged over 70 were insulin deficient.2 It has recently been shown in Denmark that the annual incidence of insulin dependent diabetes after the age of 30 is 8.2 per 100 000 and is remarkably constant from the fourth to the ninth decade; thus at least 44% of all cases are diagnosed after the age of 30.3 We report on two patients who developed insulin dependent diabetes at the ages of 88 and 93.

### CASE 1

An 88 year old woman presented with a five month history of lethargy, weight loss, and nocturia. She was found to be hypothyroid, with a high titre of thyroid autoantibodies. One of her seven siblings had developed diabetes of uncertain type at the age of 75 and a granddaughter had Graves' disease. A month later she became thirsty, was found to have diabetes, and was treated with glibenclamide 5 mg twice daily by her general practitioner. She was referred to us three months later with a random blood glucose concentration of 15.1 mmol/l and a haemoglobin A1 concentration of 11.6% (normal range 5.0%-7.5%). Apart from bilateral cataracts there were no diabetic complications, but she had a body mass index of 23 kg/m2 and was …


Starch as one of the most abundant, renewable, low cost and biodegradable carbohydrate polymers world wide, suffers fromsome drawbacks, the most outstanding is a lakes of properties of synthetic polymers. So, modification of starch by graft co polymerization will provide a substantial modification route to alter physical and chemical properties of starch thereby enlarges the range of its utilization. by attaching a flexible synthetic polymer onto the rigid natural polysaccharides backbone without greatly changing the latter. In addition to the main disadvantageous of the above technique are the high % of homopolymer and lower % grafting. At this point, our research team directed the work towards how to maximize the graft yields and graft reaction efficiency % and minimize to lower extent the homopolymer % as well as enhancing the water solubility of the prepared copolymers. Based on the results obtained, appropriate conditions for graftingMAAonto pregelled starch were established and the graft yield is higher under the following conditions: using 10mmol/L potassiumpersulfate, 8mmol/L TMEDA, 50% MAA concentration (based on weight of substrate), liquor ratio, 10, reaction time, 60min; and polymerization temperature, 60i'°C.On the other hand, grafting enhanced significantly by adding Fe3+, Cu2+ and Li1+in the grafting media and follows the order Fe3+> Cu2+> Li1+, in addition to the solubility%. Approximately 37.5%graft yield and 75%graft reaction efficiency as well as 25%homopolymerizationwere obtained whenmethacrylic acid was graft co polymerized onto pregelled starch as a reactive carbohydrate polymer using a newredox initiation systemnamelyKPS / TMEDAredox pair. Grafting was also enhanced significantly by adding Fe3+, Cu2+ and Li1+in the grafting media and follows the order Fe3+> Cu2+> Li1+. Furthermore, notable enhancement in solubility%of grafted samples with lower graft yields than that of higher one.


Summary Plasma levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF) are increased in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Various studies aimed to elucidate the relation of VWF with thrombo - embolic cardiovascular events, ischaemic stroke as well as with peripheral arterial occlusive disease. In the general population, there is only a weak association between VWF levels and future cardiovascular events or stroke. In contrast, VWF levels are predictive in patients with documented vascular disease. Those patients with increased VWF suffer a higher incidence of major adverse cardiac events including death. The extent of the VWF release and its levels independently predict clinical outcome in patients with acute coronary syndromes. Elevated VWF levels have also been observed in patients with atrial fibrillation compared to controls and predict outcome. This may at least in part be attributable to the association of VWF with underlying cardiovascular risk factors. Hence, VWF correlates with Framingham and CHADS stroke risk stratification score and can be used as a marker in patients with AF. However, VWF is not only a predictor; it also plays a crucial role in thrombogenesis. This fact has made VWF a promising target for research into new antiplatelet therapies that specifically inhibit VWF. This review focuses on the role of VWF in ACS, ischaemic stroke and peripheral arterial disease and the relevance of therapeutic interventions targeting VWF for ACS patients.


In the UK, Latin is often seen as an elitist subject taught largely at feepaying schools. Over the past generation, however, great strides have been made in opening up the subject to students from all backgrounds. A major hindrance to widening access to Latin at university level is that the language can often prove challenging for students. Data collected for this article reveal that only 77% of Latin students on beginners' modules in UK universities achieved a pass. Or in other words, nearly a quarter of students embarking on the study of Latin either fail or withdraw from their module. This article seeks to investigate the problems of retention and progression in support of the battle to make the study of Latin sustainable and accessible in higher education. By analysing survey responses from 29 UK universities offering beginners' Latin modules, it explores the impact of factors such as module weighting and duration, contact hours, class sizes, textbooks and assessment methods. In so doing, it breaks new ground in its rigorous statistical analysis of a significant set of quantitative data in an effort to improve our understanding of successful ancient language teaching, tackle realworld issues of retention, and promote student success. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 29 November 2021 Accepted 25 January 2023


In micro or nano flows a slip boundary condition is often needed to account for the special flow situation that occurs at this level of refinement. A common model used in the Finite Volume Method (FVM) is the Navier-Slip model which is based on the velocity gradient at the wall. It can be implemented very easily for a Navier-Stokes (NS) Solver.Instead of directly solving the Navier-Stokes equations, the Lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) models the fluid on a particle basis. It models the streaming and interaction of particles statistically. The pressure and the velocity can be calculated at every time step from the current particle distribution functions. The resulting fields are solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. Boundary conditions in LBM always not only have to define values for the macroscopic variables but also for the particle distribution function. Therefore a slip model cannot be implemented in the same way as in a FVM-NS solver. An additional problem is the structure of the grid. Curved boundaries or boundaries that are non-parallel to the grid have to be approximated by a stair-like step profile. While this is no problem for no-slip boundaries, any other velocity boundary condition such as a slip condition is difficult to implement.In this paper we will present two different implementations of slip boundary conditions for the Lattice-Boltzmann approach. One will be an implementation that takes advantage of the microscopic nature of the method as it works on a particle basis. The other one is based on the Navier-Slip model. We will compare their applicability for different amounts of slip and different shapes of walls relative to the numerical grid. We will also show what limits the slip rate and give an outlook of how this can be avoided.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The effect of in-hospital education on the adoption of home dialysis (peritoneal dialysis [PD] and home hemodialysis [HHD]) after an unplanned dialysis start is unknown.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
Clinical demographics of consecutive patients acutely initiating hemodialysis (HD) from January 2005 to December 2009 were abstracted using institutional electronic records. All patients received multimedia chronic kidney disease education by the same advanced care nurse practitioner before discharge from the hospital. Clinical characteristics of patients choosing home dialysis or staying on in-center HD were compared.

RESULTS
Between 2005 and 2009, 228 patients acutely started renal replacement therapy (RRT) at the center. Seventy-one patients chose home dialysis (49 patients adopted PD and 22 adopted HHD), 132 chose to remain on in-center HD, and 25 died before discharge from the hospital. Patients adopting home dialysis tended to be younger than in-center HD patients (55 ± 18 [home dialysis] versus 59 ± 16 [in center] years; P=0.09) and were similar in gender distribution (49% [home dialysis] versus 56% [in center] male; P=0.2). Patients adopting home dialysis were more likely to have a failed kidney transplant (24% [home dialysis] versus 12% [in center]; P=0.045) and less likely to have ischemic nephropathy (9% [home dialysis] versus 21% [in center]; P=0.03). The distribution of comorbid conditions was different between patients adopting home dialysis and in-center HD.

CONCLUSIONS
Home dialysis is feasible after urgent dialysis start. Education should be promoted among patient experiencing acute-start dialysis.


We study responses to subjective retirement income replacement rate expectations questions in a survey of Dutch employees. One out of three respondents is unable to provide probabilities satisfying the requirements of a cumulative distribution function. We show that using probabilistic survey questions yields an endogenous sample selection when these individuals are removed from the sample, biasing the results toward more pessimistic expectations and excess uncertainty in the replacement rate. These biases are most prevalent for less-educated individuals.


This paper introduces a new approach of a radio frequency (RF)-wireless fluid level detection system. The relative geometrical variation of the floating tag inside an automobile fluid container is identified. Significant fuel consumption of automobiles will be reduced by the substitution of RF-links as well as the complexity of engine carrier. To achieve the objective of this research, a sender circuit with dipole antenna and two passive ultrahigh frequency UHF)-tags with identical electrical rates are used. Considering the feasibility in automobile engine carriers, the sender circuit parameters and prototype model of automobile fluid level detection system are designed.


A health risk assessment is an essential tool to assess effects of polluting facilities on vulnerable populations. The Durham-York Energy Centre is the first incinerator built in Ontario in over 20 years and it has caused public controversy due to the health effects of such facilities. The proponents conducted a human health risk assessment (HHRA) according to best practices to effectively protect the public. The objective of this thesis is to establish a HHRA best practice framework for vulnerable populations, particularly pregnant women and fetuses, to confirm if best practices were achieved and determine whether this group was adequately considered in the HHRA. Analysis ultimately showed that the Durham-York HHRA complied with most best practices but the failure to identify pregnant women and fetuses as a vulnerable population lead to some important deficiencies and omissions in the assessment.


In this work we introduce PRIN-3D (PRoto-code for Internal flows modeled by Navier-Stokes equations in 3-Dimensions), a new high level algebraic language (Matlab R ⃝) based code, by discussing some fundamental aspects regarding its basic solving kernel and by describing the design of an innovative advection scheme. The main focus was on designing a memory and computationally efficient code that, due to the typical conciseness of the Matlab coding language, could allow for fast and effective implementation of new models or algorithms. Innovative numerical methods are discussed in the paper. The pressure equation is derived with a quasi-segregation technique leading to an iterative scheme obtained within the framework of a global preconditioning procedure. Different levels of parallelization are obtainable by exploiting special pressure variable ordering patterns that lead to a block-structured Poisson-like matrix. Moreover, the new advection scheme has the potential of a controllable artificial diffusivity. Preliminary results are shown including a fully three-dimensional internal laminar flow evolving in a relatively complex geometry and a 3D methane-air flame simulated with the aid of libraries based on the Flamelet model. AMS subject classifications: 65M10, 78A48, 76M99.


This study was performed to investigate the effect of lysine-limited diets containing different levels of L-camitine on body weight and lipid metabolism in obesity-induced adult rats. Eight-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 90) were raised for one month with high fat diet (40% fat as calorie) to induce obesity. After induction of obesity, rats weighing 739.5g were randomly blocked into three groups according to the-body weight and raised for eight weeks with control diet (Co), 50% lysine-limited diet (-L), 50% lysine limitation with 0.3% pivalate diet (-L+P). Each of three groups was allotted to 0.0% L-carnitine (0.0% CT), 0.5% L-carnitine (0.5% CT) and 2.5% L-carnitine (2.5% CT) groups, respectively. The levels of AST, ALT, total protein and albumin in plasma were within the normal range. Daily food intake and calorie intake tended to be lower in 2.5% CT groups than those of other groups regardless lysine limitation or pivalate intake. And body weight gain and calorie efficiency ratio (weight gain (g) /calorie intake (100 ㎉)) were significantly the lowest in 2.5% CT groups among all experimental groups regardless of lysine limitation or pivalate intake. The weights of perirenal, epididymal fat pads and brown adipose tissue in 2.5% CT groups were significantly lower than 0.0% CT groups. Plasma total lipid, triglyceride, total cholesterol concentrations in all groups were not significant by experimental compound. HDL-cholesterol concentrations in -L+P+2.5% CT group were highest in -L +P groups. Levels of hepatic total lipid, triglyceride and total cholesterol in 2.5% CT groups were tend to be lower those than in 0.0% CT groups regardless of dietary lysine limitation and pivalate intake. Fecal total lipid excretions of 2.5% CT groups were significantly lower than in 0.0% CT groups in all experimental groups. But fecal triglyceride excretions of 2.5% CT groups were significantly higher than 0.0% CT groups regardless of lysine limitation and pivalate. In conclusion, there was no difference on body weight and lipid metabolism by dietary lysine limitation and pivalate intake. And feeding of 2.5% L-carnitine was more effective than feeding of 0.5% L-carnitine and 0.0% L-carnitine in reduction of body weight, body fat and lipid metabolism. (Korean J Nutrition 40(2): 118~129, 2007)


Based on experience of researching for a PhD and many years working in information policy, this article provides practical tips to guide anyone wishing to interview experts as part of their research. It takes a common-sense approach to the whole process, starting with the initial decisions to be made, types of interviews, how to get your interviewees on board, prioritisation of interviewees, venues and timing. It then takes you through recording and managing the interviews, and finally covers transcription and wrapping up. The need for careful planning and flexibility are stressed. A checklist of 42 tips to help you plan your interviews is appended.


Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is extensively used to increasing the in vivo and in vitro stability of liposomes. However, PEGylated liposomes also produce some negative effects with further research, such as low cellular uptake, poor "endosomal escape" of pH sensitive liposome (PSL) and accelerated blood clearance (ABC) phenomenon, and this situation is referred as the "PEG dilemma". "PEG dilemma" posed severe challenges for the targeted delivery of PEGylated liposomes-loaded anticancer drugs, effective intracellular release of PEGylated PSL-encapsulated gene and protein drugs, and repeated administration of PEGylated liposomes. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the "PEG dilemma". This review focused on the definition, classification of "PEG dilemma", and discussed several possible approaches to overcome "PEG dilemma".