This study investigates the usefulness of morningness–eveningness and emotion dysregulation for better understanding of social anxiety dimensions. Specifically, associations between morningness–eveningness and incremental validity of emotion dysregulation as a predictor of social anxiety were examined. Data were obtained from a sample of normal students (N=510). Results of regression analyses showed that morningness was a significant predictor of social anxiety variables. Dimensions of emotion dysregulation had multiple associations with facets from social anxiety. Emotion dysregulation was found to be a positive predictor of social anxiety. The results expand the understanding of social anxiety and indicate how the domains of morningness–eveningness and emotion regulation could explain social anxiety in a normal population.


Ad hoc wireless networks operate without any infrastructure where a node can be a source and a router at the same time. This indispensably requires high throughput and low delay performance throughout the wireless network coverage span, particularly under heavy traffic conditions. Recent research on using multiple antennas in beam-forming or multiplexing modes over a wireless channel has shown promising results in terms of high throughput and low delay. Directional antennas have shown to increase spatial reuse by allowing multiple transmitters and receivers to communicate using directional beams as long as they do not significantly interfere with each other. However, directional antenna performance asymptotically approaches the omni-directional performance in a high density ad hoc network. Simulation results in QualNet validate that average throughput and packet corruption ratio of directional antenna approach omni-directional performance.


This paper demonstrates how the use of product analysis combined with process data can provide information about the product quality impact of high-level process decisions. A specific case study involving the warpage of two PWB designs as they move through a reflow oven is presented. A new approximate thermal model is derived which analyzes processing rate dependent warpage, an important metric of product quality for ovens with edge support conveyance systems. Agreement between the theoretical model and prior published experimental results was found to be strongly dependent on the precise temperature dependent material property values used, underlining the need to have accurate thermo-mechanical characterizations of PWB constituent materials. A set of property values based on data published in the literature was assembled which provided a fair match to experimental results, giving sufficient confidence to apply the model predictively. For the case study presented, the model predicts a 10% decrease in processing time will increase board warpage by at most 11.5%. This case study illustrates how product analysis can arm production managers with the information they need to make informed, effective decisions which trade off the economic gains realizable by implementing process improvements against the product quality impact of those improvements.


Primary malignant melanoma of the central nervous system (CNS) is exceedingly rare. The earliest description by Virchow in 1859 has been followed by approximately 50 autopsy-proven cases reported in the literature. These tumors are considered to arise from leptomeningeal melanocytes whose embryonic origin is neural crest tissue. Given the rarity of primary CNS melanoma, the diagnosis requires a thorough search to exclude a dermatologic, ocular, or visceral site of tumor origin. We report an unusual case of primary CNS melanoma in a patient with painful, progressive cranial polyneuropathy that eluded antemortem diagnosis despite extensive clinical, radiographical, and laboratory investigations.


Key points Policy, top–down support, educational working groups, customer data, and a central accessibility team have helped mature web accessibility at Elsevier ScienceDirect. Collaboration groups are essential for gathering feedback from users with disabilities and experts in the field. Many of the lessons learned from the first accessibility user study in 2001 are still relevant today. Alt text for figures is a challenge for publishers, and using authors or machine learning to provide text descriptions may be a solution. Accessibility is not an achievement to be won and done but a culture paradigm that integrates inclusive design into the very early phases of a product.


By the temporal Uncertainty principle, chemical systems may be described in terms of 'kinetic' or 'thermodynamic' complementary formulations, based on rate or equilibrium constants, and free energy changes respectively. Thereby, the paradox of the dichotomous formulations of the Curtin-Hammett principle is resolved. A new formulation of the principle is suggested, and a fundamental conflict with transition state theory is indicated.


The cell wall is essential for viability of fungi and is an effective drug target in pathogens such as Candida albicans. The contribution of post‐transcriptional gene regulators to cell wall integrity in C. albicans is unknown. We show that the C. albicans Ccr4‐Pop2 mRNA deadenylase, a regulator of mRNA stability and translation, is required for cell wall integrity. The ccr4/pop2 mutants display reduced wall β‐glucans and sensitivity to the echinocandin caspofungin. Moreover, the deadenylase mutants are compromised for filamentation and virulence. We demonstrate that defective cell walls in the ccr4/pop2 mutants are linked to dysfunctional mitochondria and phospholipid imbalance. To further understand mitochondrial function in cell wall integrity, we screened a Saccharomyces cerevisiae collection of mitochondrial mutants. We identify several mitochondrial proteins required for caspofungin tolerance and find a connection between mitochondrial phospholipid homeostasis and caspofungin sensitivity. We focus on the mitochondrial outer membrane SAM complex subunit Sam37, demonstrating that it is required for both trafficking of phospholipids between the ER and mitochondria and cell wall integrity. Moreover, in C. albicans also Sam37 is essential for caspofungin tolerance. Our study provides the basis for an integrative view of mitochondrial function in fungal cell wall biogenesis and resistance to echinocandin antifungal drugs.


CONTEXT & OBJECTIVE
Chronic glucocorticoid (GC) overexposure, resulting from endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) or exogenous GC therapy, causes several adverse outcomes, including persistent central fat accumulation associated with a low-grade inflammation. However, no previous multi-omics studies in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) from patients exposed to high levels of unsuppressed GC during active CS or after remission are available yet.

METHODS
We employed a translational approach combining high-throughput data on endogenous CS patients and a reversible CS mouse model. We performed RNA-seq and ChIP-seq on histone modifications (H3K4me3, H3K27ac and H3K27me3) to identify persistent transcriptional and epigenetic signatures in VAT produced during active CS and maintained after remission.

RESULTS
VAT dysfunction was associated with low-grade pro-inflammatory status, macrophage infiltration and extracellular matrix remodeling. Most notably, chronic hypercortisolism caused a persistent circadian rhythm disruption in VAT through core clock genes modulation. Importantly, changes in the levels of two histone modifications associated to gene transcriptional activation (H3K4me3 and H3K27ac) correlated with the observed differences in gene expression during active CS and after CS remission.

CONCLUSION
We identified for the first time, the persistent transcriptional and epigenetic signatures induced by hypercortisolism in VAT, providing a novel integrated view of molecular components driving the long-term VAT impairment associated with CS.


We study the problem of planning Pareto-optimal journeys in public transit networks. Most existing algorithms and speed-up techniques work by computing subjourneys to intermediary stops until the destination is reached. In contrast, the trip-based model focuses on trips and transfers between them, constructing journeys as a sequence of trips. In this paper, we develop a speed-up technique for this model inspired by principles behind existing state-of-the-art speed-up techniques, Transfer Pattern and Hub Labelling. The resulting algorithm allows us to compute Pareto-optimal (with respect to arrival time and number of transfers) 24-hour profiles on very large real-world networks in less than half a millisecond. Compared to the current state of the art for bicriteria queries on public transit networks, this is up to two orders of magnitude faster, while increasing preprocessing overhead by at most one order of magnitude.


This article asks whether Uyghurs should be considered an Indigenous people. In doing so, it highlights the contested issues this question raises and seeks to initiate a more comprehensive debate on the question among Uyghurs themselves, who ultimately decide the appropriateness of such identification. The Chinese state is implementing an intense campaign against Uyghurs that bears striking resemblance to those historically waged by other settler-colonial regimes against the Indigenous peoples they displaced. Embracing indigeneity could serve as a useful strategy for at least contextualizing Uyghurs' present repression and dispossession, but Uyghurs in the diaspora are ambivalent about the concept. The article examines both why Uyghurs can be considered an Indigenous people under UN criteria and why they are reticent to embrace this status. While Uyghurs' ultimate acceptance of indigeneity as a means of self-identification would require the participation of all Uyghurs, including those living in the PRC who are currently unable to engage in such discussions, we argue that even a limited debate on the relevance of indigeneity to their identity among Uyghurs in exile would widen the possibilities of responses to the acts of repression, erasure, and dispossession carried out against their people inside China.


In the current fast growing rate of mobile phone users, Telecomm Subscriber Management System (TSMS) leads to a good management of subscribers' number by indicating the most current status of a subscriber number in telecommunication world. It helps to improve the management of subscriber numbers efficiently and also it helps to increase the revenue generated event (RGE) by the subscriber where lies the goals and objectives of any mobile telecommunication operators. This work is an automation of manual processes whereby we validate data first to ensure that there is no redundant data then we proceed to the subscriber classification. In Parallel there are several concerns that this project will provide an efficient improvement of subscriber number management that helps the telecommunication company to make significant profit in order to ensure its success in the market. There are problems are : inefficient subscriber's number management which is leading to difficulties in identifying subscriber number's status as well difficulties to clarify the usage of the block that have owned the company. There are several research papers that have been discussed about this. This work is a significant enhancement of resealed methods procedures of the researches and studies done previously. The implementation of this system will help the company in keeping the database updated, will reduce missing data and data redundancy as well as data inconsistency and unreliable data in the database as well as it has great advantages in their profit margin improvement.


This chapter discusses Collaborative Information Seeking (CIS) from an educational perspective. Our core claim is that CIS has the potential to bring together rich collaborative, and multimodal, contexts in which important learning processes may take place. We thus see CIS as more than just an activity with potential to 'speed up' information seeking, or contribute to effective division of labour. This claim is independent of the particular classroom subject, or the form of technological mediation; rather, the chapter provides a focus on some key considerations in collaborative learning that should be of interest to both educators and those interested in the 'benefits' of CIS. This chapter first outlines our broad educational interest in elements of CIS, connecting that to the focal points of CIS research. We go on to highlight the importance of dialogue as a tool for learning, before discussing the complexities of understanding 'success' in CIS tasks, and then specifically the role that dialogue has played so far in CIS research. We conclude with a call to researchers in both CIS and education to explore the nature of learning in CIS contexts, making use of a rich understanding of the importance of dialogue to create meaning together.


Starting from the quantum group , we construct operator invariants of 3-cobordisms with spin structure, satisfying the requirements of a topological quantum field theory and refining the Reshetikhin–Turaev and Turaev–Viro models. We establish the relationship between these two refined theories.


Reservoir computing architectures known as echo state networks (ESNs) have been shown to have exceptional predictive capabilities when trained on chaotic systems. However, ESN models are often seen as black-box predictors that lack interpretability. We show that the parameters governing the dynamics of a complex nonlinear system can be encoded in the learned readout layer of an ESN. We can extract these dynamical parameters by examining the geometry of the readout layer weights through principal component analysis. We demonstrate this approach by extracting the values of three dynamical parameters ( σ , ρ , β ) from a dataset of Lorenz systems where all three parameters are varying among different trajectories. Our proposed method not only demonstrates the interpretability of the ESN readout layer but also provides a computationally inexpensive, unsupervised data-driven approach for identifying uncontrolled variables affecting real-world data from nonlinear dynamical systems.


Childbearing Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program The simulation facilitators at Baylor University Medical Center recognized the need to create best practice surrounding maternal codes; therefore, a new process for annual Mock Code was developed that used the concept of simulation‐based learning. Proposed Change For the past 5 years our facility used simulation‐based learning that focused on high‐risk obstetric events; however, we still performed Mock Codes on the unit in a didactic type format with skills check‐off. Following a maternal code on our unit, we incorporated simulation concepts with a hands‐on approach, which focused on documentation, communication, full use of the defibrillator, and crash cart knowledge. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation Because maternal codes are rare, staff were not comfortable with the different aspects of the defibrillator/automated external defibrillator (AED). In addition, staff were not accustomed to using the code documentation sheet. The Perinatal Simulation Team developed an anaphylactic syndrome of pregnancy or amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) scenario and recorded it. Using this video, we were able to debrief our entire staff regarding the processes they viewed. Initially, we made them serve as the documenter and record what they observed as the video played. We then had them discuss and compare documentation to gain an understanding of the importance of speaking up to ensure all necessary information is gathered during a code. Then we reviewed the tape again, this time debriefing the scenario and addressing teamwork, communication, and technical skills. Following this discussion, we ran a simulation scenario that mimicked what they just watched. They had to perform CPR, place the pads from the defibrillator/AED and deliver shock as advised, print the EKG strip from the defibrillator, change from AED mode to defibrillator mode, increase joules as requested, draw up code medications, retrieve any necessary equipment or supplies from the crash cart, prepare for a STAT bedside delivery, document the code events, and communicate appropriately to the medical team. Our training increased staff confidence, knowledge of the crash cart and defibrillator, and awareness of communication needs during the maternal code. Implications for Nursing Practice When applying the science of simulation by creating a unique learning experience, nurses' confidence level, knowledge, and skills in recognizing the signs and symptoms of AFE can be improved. The use of simulation also improves the nurses' ability to use the defibrillator, draw up code medications, serve as documenter, and effectively use closed‐loop communication in a code situation.


Domain adaptation is a sub-field of transfer learning that aims at bridging the dissimilarity gap between different domains by transferring and re-using the knowledge obtained in the source domain to the target domain. Many methods have been proposed to resolve this problem, using techniques such as generative adversarial networks (GAN), but the complexity of such methods makes it hard to use them in different problems, as fine-tuning such networks is usually a time-consuming task. In this paper, we propose a method for unsupervised domain adaptation that is both simple and effective. Our model (referred to as TripNet) harnesses the idea of a discriminator and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to push the encoder to generate domain-invariant features that are category-informative. At the same time, pseudo-labelling is used for the target data to train the classifier and to bring the same classes from both domains together. We evaluate TripNet against several existing, state-of-the-art methods on three image classification tasks: Digit classification (MNIST, SVHN, and USPC datasets), object recognition (Office31 dataset), and traffic sign recognition (GTSRB and Synthetic Signs datasets). Our experimental results demonstrate that (i) TripNet beats almost all existing methods (having a similar simple model like it) on all of these tasks; and (ii) for models that are significantly more complex (or hard to train) than TripNet, it even beats their performance in some cases. Hence, the results confirm the effectiveness of using TripNet for unsupervised domain adaptation in image classification.


Abstract This paper considers the use of multiple proxy measures for an unobserved variable and contrasts the approach taken in the measurement error literature to that of the model specification literature. We find that including all available proxy variables in the regression minimizes the bias on coefficients of correctly measured variables in the regression. We derive a set of bounds for all parameters in the model, and compare these results to extreme bounds analysis. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the performance of our bounds relative to extreme bounds. We conclude with an empirical example from the cross-country growth literature in which human capital is measured through three proxy variables: literacy rates, and enrollment in primary and secondary school, and show that our approach yields results that contrast sharply with extreme bounds analysis.


Music production is a complex activity that involves nearly every function in the brain. Whether skills transfer from musical training to other cognitive abilities is a growing area of research. There is evidence to suggest that musical training in children and adult musicians is associated with an improvement in a variety of executive functions (EFs). This study examined whether those associations are also present during adolescence, and whether there is a relationship between the time spent in musical training and EF. Adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 completed three tests of EF: Tower of Hanoi to assess working memory, Wisconsin Card Sort Test to assess cognitive flexibility, and Stroop Color Word Task to assess inhibition. They also completed a musical experience questionnaire, including their lifetime musical practice hours. Adolescent musicians were found to have improved inhibitory control (as measured by the Stroop Task) relative to nonmusicians and inhibition correlated with musical practice time. No other elements of EF were found to be associated with musical training. These findings suggest that the impact of musical training may not be the same for all EFs, and that there may be unique associations between this type of training and inhibitory control.


Sirs, We read with interest the paper by Horrocks et al. (1983) excluding congenital adrenal hyperplasia as a cause of polycystic ovarian syndrome. However, we believe that congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to steroid 3b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3b-HSD) deficiency has not been ruled out. Although the authors indicate a deficiency of 3P-HSD is present, they attribute it to the high oestrogen levels which inhibit 3P-HSD. Rather, we propose that the enzyme defect demonstrated may be genetic, representing an allelic form of the severe congenital defect. To test for this milder form of 3P-HSD deficiency, the steroid A517-hydroxypregnenolone should be measured, as well as DHEA. Recently, Bongiovanni has suggested that the late onset form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 3b-HSD deficiency may be a common cause of pubertal virilism and PCO. Maria. I. New and Sonya Pang, Department of Pediatrics, The New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center, 525 East 68th Street, New York, N Y 10021, USA


Abstract Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is an immunosuppressive virus which primarily infects IgM B-cells in the bursa of Fabricius. Flow cytometric analysis was used to phenotype B-cell populations in the bursa and spleen following IBDV infection. In the bursa, two IgM B-cell subpopulations, designated as A and B, were identified based on cell size and granularity. While both subpopulations differentially expressed IgM and Bu-1b surface markers, both groups displayed major histocompatibility complex class II surface antigens at equal levels. Following IBDV challenge of nonvaccinated birds, the B subpopulation was significantly reduced between 7 and 21 days postchallenge compared to either nonchallenged birds or vaccinated–challenged birds. However, the reduction of subpopulation B in the bursa, following IBDV exposure, did not reduce the levels of total serum IgA, IgG, and IgM, nor did it affect IgG and IgA B-cells in the spleen. Phenotypic analysis of the subpopulations identified differential expression of Lewisx, IgM, Bu-1b, and MUI78 surface antigens between the subpopulations. Overall, these are the first studies to identify two distinct IgM B-cell subpopulations in the chicken bursa, and the first to describe the decrease in the IgM B-cell population relative to IgA and IgG B-cells following IBDV infection.


We consider the problem of optimally supporting a collection of thermostatically controlled inertial loads in a smart microgrid environment. One key consideration is to reduce the need for costly nonrenewable reserves, while also meeting the consumer requirements specific to inertial thermal loads at the same time. Several models studied for optimal demand response leads to a response that is synchronized over the collection of loads, which is undesirable since synchronized response entails high demand fluctuations. We propose a model with an additional feature of stochastic variations in end user requirements. We show that employing a cost function that additionally penalizes the error in adhering to end user requirements leads to an optimal demand response that is de-synchronized over the collection of homogeneous loads. That is, identical thermal loads are intentionally staggered so as to hedge against future uncertainty of consumer preferences. We show that such desynchronization is related to the concavity of the cost-to-go function in the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. We provide a simple heuristic to approximate the optimal policy. We also illustrate the results on a simple numerical example.


Mitochondrial dysfunction has been attributed to many disease indications, including metabolic, cardiovascular, neoplastic, and neurodegenerative diseases. Dynamin related protein 1 (DRP1) is crucial in regulating mitochondrial fission and maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis. MiD49 is a dynamic peripheral protein receptor on the surface of the mitochondrial membrane that recruits DRP1 protein to induce mitochondrial binary fission. By targeting the protein-protein interaction of DRP1/MiD49, we have discovered a novel and potent allosteric DRP1 inhibitor that inhibits mitochondria fragmentation in vitro. X-ray cocrystal structure revealed that it locked the closed DRP1 conformation by induced dimerization.


Next to Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease constitutes the second most widespread neurological disorder, primarily affecting the older population. Its symptoms are noticeable with advancing age including tremors, postural imbalance, and slow movements, and over time, these symptoms get aggravated, progressing to osteoporosis, osteopenia, and risk of fractures. These symptoms correlate to low bone density and hence weakened bones; thus, vitamin D proves to be an intricate component of the pathogenesis of the disease. Moreover, lower serum concentrations of vitamin D have been found in diseased subjects. Supplementation with vitamin D can retard the aggravation of non-motor as well as motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease that include cognitive improvement along with the decline in risk of fractures. Also, vitamin D is extremely crucial for brain functioning, targeting dopaminergic neurons, and almost the entire functioning of the brain is affected. However, further exploration is required to determine the toxic dose of vitamin D in Parkinson's subjects. This "sunshine vitamin" surely can be a ray of sunshine for neurologically diseased subjects.


Economic RecoveryLast week, the White House announced that the massive stimulus package approved this winter has created or saved more than 150,000 jobs in its first 100 days. The next 100 days will add another 600,000 jobs, predicted Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, whose office is responsible for tracking the impact of the nation's $787 billion spending spree, known officially as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In fact, no data on job creation yet exist. The numbers come from economic models.


Battery storage is emerging as a key component of intelligent green electricitiy systems. The battery is monetized through market participation, which usually involves bidding. Bidding is a multi-objective optimization problem, involving targets such as maximizing market compensation and minimizing penalties for failing to provide the service and costs for battery aging. In this article, battery participation is investigated on primary frequency reserve markets. Reinforcement learning is applied for the optimization. In previous research, only simplified formulations of battery aging have been used in the reinforcement learning formulation, so it is unclear how the optimizer would perform with a real battery. In this article, a physics-based battery aging model is used to assess the aging. The contribution of this article is a methodology involving a realistic battery simulation to assess the performance of the trained RL agent with respect to battery aging in order to inform the selection of the weighting of the aging term in the RL reward formula. The RL agent performs day-ahead bidding on the Finnish Frequency Containment Reserves for Normal Operation market, with the objective of maximizing market compensation, minimizing market penalties and minimizing aging costs.


Kurdistan, has translated a selection of such tales, mostly of specifically Jewish (Biblical, Midrashic, legendary) content but, inevitably, not including any of those tales common to Kurds and Jews which ' vary in length from an hour's telling to instalments filling several long winter nights '. To that extent the selection is rather unrepresentative. Even of the 25 short folktales included, only a few—such as ' The Carpenter, the Tailor and the Rabbi (or Mullah) ', AT 945/11—are widely known among Kurds too, and this seems to be the case also with the 276 proverbs included. These and the tales were mostly related in NeoAramaic, or retold in modern Hebrew, but language was seldom a barrier between the different communities in Kurdistan of yore, and certainly not to professional Jewish storytellers, ' some of the best . . . sought after by Jews and Muslims alike '. Another, Kurdish version of the story of the Jews' vain search for the buried Sword of Redemption, whose finder ' would bring salvation to his people ', with persons and places named, is found in the as yet unpublished collection of Basile Nikitine—written down during the First World War, in a now lost world. It, however, ends in the gruesome murder of the tricked Jews, and with these words: ' The story of " the Jew who found his sword " is famous in Kurdistan. If a humble peasant fellow throws his weight about they quote this proverb about him '.


Si-rich oxide/SiO 2 multilayer films with different N 2 O flow rates have been deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique, and Si quantum dot (Si-QD)/SiO 2 multilayer films are obtained by 1100 °C annealing. Steady photoluminescence (PL) spectra show that the main optical emission mechanism changes from quantum confinement effect of Si-QDs to interface defect states with increasing the flow rate of N 2 O. Curve fittings of time-resolved PL spectra show that two log-normal decay time distribution bands are obtained, and both the most frequent life-times decrease with increasing the flow rate of N 2 O, while increase with the red shift of detecting wavelength. Analyses indicate that defect states density and size distribution of Si-QDs strongly influence the PL decay properties.


Diabetes was induced in adult female and male mRen2.Lewis rats at 11 wk of age with a single dose of streptozotocin (STZ at 65mg/kg ip) dissolved in 0.1 M citrate buffer (diabetic); the control group received a single dose of 0.1 M citrate buffer pH 4.5 (nondiabetic). The rats were followed for 4 weeks without insulin replacement. Kidney cortex was lysed and centrifuged at 100,000g to generate cytosolic and membrane fractions. The cortical fractions were probed with antibodies to the Receptor levels for GPR30 in the membrane fractions and ER-α in both membrane and cytosolic fractions were quantified by protein immunoblot. Following detection, membranes were reprobed with mouse monoclonal anti-β-actin (1:5,000; Sigma) as a loading control, and bands were quantified by MCID densitometry software. All measurements are expressed as means ± SE. An unpaired Student's t -test compared GPR30 and ER-α protein expression between the control and diabetic group as well as females and males groups in both cytosol and membranes fractions. The expression of GPR30 tended to be higher in both the intact female [0.40 ± 0.17 vs. 1.04 ± 0.29] and the male [0.32 ± 0.18 vs 0.61 ± 0.13] diabetic mRen2.Lewis rats. and increased in both diabetic females and males GPR30 showed higher levels in control females than males [1.21 ± 0.49 vs 0.76 ± 0.39]; however, it decreased in diabetic females compared to males [0.79 ± 0.27 vs 1.03 ± 0.27]. Moreover, the ER-α receptor in the cytosolic fraction was lower in the diabetics females [3.68 ± 1.30 vs 1.36 ± 0.27], but remained unchanged in males [2.09 ± 0.23 vs 2.33 ± 0.39]. The same happened in the membrane fractions where there was not difference between controls and diabetics males [0.73 ± 0.16 vs 0.63 ± 0.40] while in diabetic females the ER-α receptor levels increased [0.97 ± 0.17 vs 1.27 ± 0.06]. Cortical content of ER-α in the cytosol was significantly increased in control females compared to control males [1.06 ± 0.14 vs 0.47 ± 0.04; p = 0.007], although it remained unchanged between diabetic females and males [1.26 ± 0.24 vs 1.44 ± 0.62].


In recent months increasing use has been made of reserpine, chlorpromazine, and combined reserpine-chlorpromazine therapy in psychiatric disorders. As these therapies have gained in popularity, there has been an urgent need for adequate comparative studies in order to determine the indications for each therapy. It was with this purpose in mind that the present study, which has extended over a 20-month period, was undertaken. Subjects This study was conducted in a hospital building housing 740 chronically disturbed psychotic female patients. Three comparable groups of 150 patients each were selected. They were chosen chiefly for their excited, hyperactive, assaultive, or destructive behavior, regardless of diagnosis, age, duration of illness, or previous treatment. One group of 150 patients was treated with reserpine alone for three to six months. Another group of 150 patients was treated with combined reserpine-chlorpromazine for three to seven months. The findings in these two groups have been reported


Rotation of a spacecraft to induce artificial gravity will result in a number of unusual mechanical and perceptual phenomena. The nature of the unusual forces observed in artificial gravity is such that their effects are mediated by the position, orientation, and direction of motion of the astronaut. Thus, under artificial gravity, crew station design may have a significant impact on the performance of a space station crew. The effects on performance of the unusual forces resulting from artificial gravity are discussed. General guidelines are presented to aid the designer in floor layout and in the design and orientation of crew stations and translation aids. Some possible mission constraints resulting from incomplete or radius-specific adaptation are discussed.


The institutions that define the sequence of delegations that democracy entails have systematic effects on public policy. Democratic states that systematically provide public goods are typically seen as having three characteristics: they are decisive; they have the administrative capacity to implement whatever decisions they make; and they are only responsive to broad public interests. We investigate the two primary ways in which democratic states are said to fail in this regard: through an inability to decide or to pursue a consistent policy; and through the excessive influence of interest groups, which reduces public policy to an allocation of pork and a chase after rents. The first is a problem of state indecisiveness, the latter a defect in the nature of accountability, with too much responsiveness to special interests and too little responsiveness to general interests. More specifically, we argue that political actors' incentives are significantly influenced by the rules regulating electoral competition, while their capabilities are determined jointly by their electoral success and the constitutionally stipulated powers of the various governmental posts that are at stake (either directly or indirectly) in elections. Different combinations of capabilities and incentives--Are governmental powers separated, with different actors controlling different institutional veto points? Are governmental powers unified in a single post or body, with a single actor controlling that post or body?--systematically affect the degree to which the state can act decisively and the degree to which it is responsive to broad public as opposed to narrow special interests.


Filling of cavities in the uterine wall during hysterography was observed in 54 of 320 surgically excised specimens in which metal threads had been inserted at different levels for identification. Adenomyosis may have accounted for these cavities in 24%. Cavities secondary to adenomyosis in one part of the uterus coexisted when cavities not etiologically related to the disease in another part. Adenomyosis is generally not involved in the pathogenesis of cavities in the lower half of the uterus and does not account for cavities of more than 5 mm in diameter.


Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a relatively new method of examining the liver. Attempts have been made to optimize the method by developing new imaging techniques and introducing new contrast agents. The new imaging techniques have improved the image quality by shortening the examination time, reducing motion artifacts, and improving contrast-to-noise ratio. Contrast agents have improved the diagnosis of focal hepatic lesions in MR imaging in several ways. Extracellular gadolinium chelates have significantly improved the characterization of lesions, and can be optimally used as a problem-solving method for differentiating focal lesions of an unknown nature that have already been detected by other imaging modalities or by unenhanced MR imaging. Hepatobiliary and macrophage monocytic phagocytic system (MMPS)-targeted contrast agents have improved the detection of hepatic lesions. These agents are best used for preoperative evaluation of the exact number of lesions in patients with primary or secondary hepatic neoplasms.


Microbial mats formed by Cyanobacteria of the genus Phormidium produce the neurotoxin anatoxin-a that has been linked to animal deaths. Blooms of planktonic Cyanobacteria have long been of concern in lakes, but recognition of potential harmful impacts of riverine benthic cyanobacterial mats is more recent. Consequently little is known about the diversity of the biosynthetic capacities of cyanobacterial species and associated microbes in mats throughout river networks. Here we performed metagenomic sequencing for 22 Phormidium-dominated microbial mats collected across the Eel River network in Northern California to investigate cyanobacterial and co-occurring microbial assemblage diversity, probe their metabolic potential and evaluate their capacities for toxin production. We genomically defined four Cyanobacterial species clusters that occur throughout the river network, three of which have not been described previously. From the genomes of seven strains from one species group we describe the first anatoxin-a operon from the genus Phormidium. Community composition within the mat appears to be associated with the presence of Cyanobacteria capable of producing anatoxin-a. Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and novel Verrucomicrobia dominated the microbial assemblages. Interestingly, some mats also contained organisms from candidate phyla such as Canditatus Kapabacteria, as well as Absconditabacteria (SR1), Parcubacteria (OD1) and Peregrinibacteria (PER) within the Candidate Phyla Radiation. Oxygenic photosynthesis and carbon respiration were the most common metabolisms detected in mats but other metabolic capacities include aerobic anoxygenic photosynthesis, sulfur compound oxidation and breakdown of urea. The results reveal the diversity of metabolisms fueling the growth of mats, and a relationship between microbial assemblage composition and the distribution of anatoxin-a producing cyanobacteria within freshwater Phormidium mats in river networks.


Objective To evaluate the increased rate of cesarean section in recent decades and natural desire of women probably due to social, economic& cultural issues in our country. While that in many cases, vaginal delivery can be replaced by unnecessary cesarean. In the absence of need the trend of cesarean section has implications for both future healthy populations and the equitable distribution of maternity resources. The aim of the present study was to investigate demographic factors associated with the choice of delivery method. Materials and methods In this descriptive cross- sectional study with a random sampling, 283 pregnant women who were referred for control of pregnancy to two primary health care centers two health base were interviewed by Completing the questionnaire. After gathering information data by SPSS software &via descriptive statistical indicators were analyzed. Results 35/7% of pregnant women who were studied willing to perform cesarean section. There was a significant relationship between the having a history of cesarean section and referral place for control of pregnancy with selection of the labor type (P < 0.001). While There was no significant relationship between the Demographic factors as age, educational level& job of pregnant women &Their husbands with Select the type of delivery (P > 0.001). The reasons for selection of cesarean section were fear of labor pain, Prevention of genital rupture & physician recommendation. Conclusion The rate of selecting cesarean section is higher than acceptable World Health Organization. Therefore, careful planning should be done to raise awareness, improve attitudes and change false beliefs in pregnant women & their husbands by health service's personnel.


"The research reported here evaluates whether students come to the UK mainly for educational reasons, and therefore perceive their stay as temporary, or whether emigration for study is being used as part of a conscious strategy by people intending to become future labour migrants.... The simplest interpretation of the results appears to be that migration, experienced as a result of international moves for study purposes, does not influence planning of further migration moves. But the research also indicates that migration for education is closely tied to other types of population redistribution and should be treated by population geographers as an integral part of international migration systems." Data were collected by questionnaire survey from 349 engineering students at Hong Kong universities and 82 Hong Kong students studying engineering in the UK.


The properties of multiayer Fe/[NiFe/Cu]30 wire arrays were investigated by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) technique. The arrays with wire density of 250 line/mm and 500 line/mm were fabricated utilizing laser hologram lithography and ion beam etching. In the wire array samples, optical peak occurs at higher field than the acoustic peaks and the exchange coupling between the NiFe layers is therefore antiferromagnetic. The optical peak along the easy axis lies closer to its acoustic counterpart than that along the hard axis. For wire arrays the paramagnetic resonance of the Cu layers is much stronger than the continuous film. This shows the degradation of the layer structure after the array fabrication.


The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is an x-ray free-electron laser project presently in a commissioning phase at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We report here on very low-emittance measurements made at low bunch charge, and a few femtosecond bunch length produced by the LCLS bunch compressors. Start-to-end simulations associated with these beam parameters show the possibilities of generating hundreds of GW at 1.5 A x-ray wavelength and nearly a single longitudinally coherent spike at 1.5 nm with 2-fs duration.


This study analyses the migration pattern of the Tarok people to their contemporary homeland, Langtang, in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. The framework is that the Tarok people are part of the Benue-Congo ethno-linguistic phylum. This conclusion is based on the assertion that the contemporary language that the Tarok people speak is of the Benue-Congo phylum. However, others of the Chadic ethno-linguistic phyla such as the Ngas, Boghom, Tel (Montol) and Yiwom joined the Benue-Congo Phylum and are given the full status of Tarokness. Also, Jukun, which are of the Benue Congo group, joined the Tarok and are given the same status as that of the Chadic. The study concludes that what is called the Tarok people are actually a consortium of many ethno-linguistic groups that mongrelized and gave birth to the Tarok people. This is because even though the cognate of the Tarok language is of the Benue-Congo phylum, their morphemes are a combination of the Benue Congo and Chadic ethno linguistic phylum.


Introduction:The overall survival (OS) for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) continues to improve with advances in therapies such as second-generation proteasome inhibitors (PI), immunomodulatory agents (IMiDs) and monoclonal antibodies. Advanced therapeutics (eg chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cells), immunotherapies and 3rd generation agents are also under evaluation. Therefore, interest in Phase 1 clinical trials has increased as patients may benefit from exposure to a novel therapy. Also, increasingly data has been used to obtain breakthrough designation from regulatory authorities as part of accelerated approvals. However, these therapies have unproven efficacy, may cause potentially severe toxicities and patients may receive sub-optimal doses. We therefore analysed the outcomes of our patients and to complement this performed a meta-analysis of publicly available Phase I MM trials.
 Methods: This was a retrospective review of patients with MM enrolled onto phase I and I/II trials at the NIHR/UCLH Clinical Research Facility, London, UK. Patients received at least one dose of study drug, AEs were graded by CTCAE 4.0 and response criteria evaluated as per protocol. Individual-patient survival data were analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method and survival curves compared with the log-rank test. A meta-analysis using Medline, EMBASE and clinicaltrials.gov was performed to identify abstracts/papers reporting phase I trials from January 2016 to December 2017. Data was extracted by two independent reviewers using the same inclusion and exclusion criteria with significant overlap to ensure inter-observer consistency. Meta-analyses of Overall Response Rate (ORR) were performed using random-effect models.
 Results: 50 patients were enrolled onto 7 phase I or I/II clinical trials between March 2012 to June 2018 at the NIHR/UCLH Clinical Research Facility. 6 participated in 2 trials (each trial entry considered a separate event). IMPs were: monoclonal antibody (Mab) (1), HDAC inhibitor (1), immune-modulator (1), proteasome pathway inhibitors (2), kinase pathway inhibitor (1), epigenetic modifier (1). 3 trials were monotherapy and 4 as combinations. The median age was 54 years (33-73), 46% were female. The median time from diagnosis to trial entry was 58.5m (IQR 36-104.5) and median prior lines of therapy was 3 (0-7). Patients received a median of 10 cycles (1-34) over a median duration of 176 days (IQR 112-425). Study withdrawal was due to progressive disease (50%), autograft (16.1%), toxicity (12.5%), completion of study (12.5%) and other (3.6%) (Table 1).
 30.4% of patients experienced G3-4 toxicity and 28.6% had dose interruptions of ≥7 days. The overall response rate (≥PR) was 55.3%, ≥VGPR: 26.7% (see Table 1).The median PFS was 14.2 m (95% CI:7.6-15.9) and OS 37.3m (95% CI:29.2-not reached) with a median follow-up of 26.5m. Median OS for those with < 4 prior lines was better (48.1m) vs those ≥ 4 prior lines (30.6m, p-value log-rank test=0.03). Those with adverse risk cytogenetics appeared to do worse vs standard risk: PFS 14.2 vs 7.6m (log rank not significant); OS 37.3 vs 30.6m (log rank: not significant). Most patients (80.3%) received further treatment after trial (12.5% received another trial, 46.4% chemotherapy; 21.4%: autograft). 8.9% were managed expectantly and 5.4% palliated.
 110 trial abstracts & publications were selected for meta-analysis that included 3222 patients with a median age of 64 years (30-75), 42% female, median 4 prior lines. 64.6% of reports were combination studies. 17% targeted the proteasome, 17% were MAbs, 10.9% were epigenetic modifiers, 5.5% were cellular therapies and 24.6% were other small molecule inhibitors (Table 2).
 The overall response rate across all studies was 52.2% (95% CI 46-58.2). Higher responses were described for immunotherapy studies: BCMA CAR-T cells, 74.2% (95%CI 42.3- 91.8) and monoclonal antibodies, 64.2% (95% CI 56.2- 71.4). PFS and OS was not consistently reported across studies.
 Conclusions: Patients derive benefit from phase 1 trials with clinically significant responses reported from this single centre and meta-analysis. Additionally, most received further treatment after. The best responses were reported for immunotherapy studies. Despite this, in our data there was an overall trend for worse outcomes for adverse risk cytogenetics and for those treated later in their disease course.

 Townsend: Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria. Yong:Takeda: Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Popat:Amgen: Honoraria.


Faraday waves form on the surface of a fluid which is subject to vertical forcing, and are researched in a large range of applications. Some examples are the formation of ordered wave patterns and the controlled walking or orbiting of droplets (Couder et al. (2005); Saylor and Kinard (2005)). Moreover, recent studies discovered the existence of a horizontal velocity field at  the fluid surface, called Faraday flow, which was shown to exhibit an inverse energy cascade and thus properties of two-dimensional turbulence (von Kameke et al., 2011, 2013; Francois et al., 2013). Additionally, three-dimensionality effects have been part of recent investigations in quasi-2D flows (both electromagnetically-driven (Kelley and Ouellette, 2011; Martell et al., 2019) or produced by parametrically-excited waves (Francois et al., 2014; Xia and Francois, 2017)). Furthermore, the occurrence of an inverse cascade in thick layers is also subject of current studies on the coexistence of 2D and 3D turbulence (Biferale et al., 2012; Kokot et al., 2017; Biferale et al., 2017). By performing 2D PIV measurements at horizontal planes beneath the Faraday waves, we recently showed that pronounced three dimensional flows occur in the bulk, with much larger spatial and temporal scales than those on the surface (Colombi et al., 2021), when the system is not shallow in comparison to typical length scales of the surface flow (fluid thickness exceeding half the Faraday wavelength λF). This in turn reveals that an inverse energy cascade and aspects of a confined 2D turbulence can coexist with a three dimensional bulk flow. In this work, 2D PIV measurements of the velocity fields are carried out at a vertical cross-section xz-plane and at four distinct horizontal xy-planes at different depths in Faraday waves. The results reveal that small and fast vertical jets penetrate from the surface into the bulk with fast accelerating bursts and strong momentum transport in the z−direction. Furthermore, the fraction of flow kinetic energy in the vertical direction is found to peak inside a layer of approximately 10 mm (one Faraday wavelength) below the fluid surface.


The vegetative growth and yield of strawberry in relation to irrigation levels and soil mulches are still not well known, mainly for different environmental conditions. Two experiments were carried out in Atibaia, SP, Brazil, during 1995, one in a protected environment and the other in an open field, to evaluate the cultivar Campinas IAC-2712, under different irrigation levels and soil mulches (black and clear polyethylene). Three water potential levels in the soil were used in order to define irrigation time, corresponding to -0.010 (N1), -0.035 (N2), and -0.070 (N3) MPa, measured through tensiometers installed at the 10 cm depth. A 2 × 3 factorial arrangement was adopted, as randomized complete block, with 5 replicates. In the protected cultivation, the irrigation levels of -0.010 and -0.035 MPa and the clear plastic mulch favored the vegetative growth, evaluated through plant height, maximum horizontal dimension of the plant, leaf area index, as well as by total marketable fruit yield and its components (mean number and weight of fruits per plant). In the open field cultivation, no effect of treatments due to rainfall were observed.


Abstract West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito‐borne virus of a re‐emergence importance with a wide range of vertebrate hosts. Granted, it causes asymptomatic infection, but fatal cases and neurologic disorders were also recorded, especially in humans, horses and some exposed birds. The virus is globally spread and birds are considered an amplifying and reservoir host of WNV, helping to spread the disease due to their close contact with main hosts. In this study, we aimed to detect the presence of antibodies against WNV in backyard hens that were reared in the western Anatolian part of Turkey. A total of 480 chicken sera were randomly collected from six provinces in the west of Turkey (Mugla, Izmir, Aydin, Afyonkarahisar, Kutahya and Manisa) with 80 samples from each province (40 in spring and 40 in fall seasons). They were tested by using a competitive ELISA method to identify the specific avian antibodies of IgG that produced against the WNV envelope proteins (pr‐E). Twelve of 480 (2.5%) sera were found seropositive, three of these positive sera were detected from the Izmir province (3.75%) collected in the spring session and the other nine positive sera were detected from the Mugla province (11.25%) collected in the fall session. Both of these provinces are located seaside and have suitable climate conditions for vectors of infection. The results indicated that WNV infection is in circulation in these provinces, and that may put the other susceptible vertebrates under risk of infection.


Family businesses and their internationalization have attracted increasing attention. Over the years, scholars have attempted to shed light on different characteristics of family firms that support their successful internationalization. In this research, we focus on familiness and investigate how familiness plays a role in the process of internationalization. Familiness refers to competencies and capabilities that are created in family firms because of the interaction between family and business. To answer this question, we have employed a qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews to collect data from seven family businesses from an emerging economy that were operating internationally. Built upon the social capital theory, our findings shed light on how the nature of family relationships in terms of different aspects of cognitive, relational, and structural dimensions facilitate the internationalization of family firms.


The telegrapher's equations have been derived electrodynamically for the transmission line of two linear parallel conductors separated by a dielectric layer and excited by an electromagnetic field. The line coupling to a plane electromagnetic wave is illustrated for an arbitrary orientation of Poynting's vector and various polarization angles. The results are compared with the ones of other papers. The role of the magnetic field, while exciting the line, is clarified. The equations obtained in the paper are solved analytically in the case of the line excitation source being an electromagnetic pulse of arbitrary form.


Governments must be able to speak, but what should be the status of their speech under the First Amendment? In The Many Faces of Government Speech, seven different forms, or typologies, of government speech are described and analyzed in detail. The typologies are: government programs expressing a specific message; government programs expressing a general or diffuse message; government control of a communication medium; government messages required to be spoken by a private speaker; government preferences for some messages over others; government control of information in its possession; and government speech through private messages attributed to it. These typologies are explored in detail through eight paradigmatic cases involving government speech claims. The exploration focuses on the precise nature of the expressive activity claimed by government; the nature of any free speech claim that government can make with respect to the activity; the risks that various forms of expressive government action present to private speakers and First Amendment values; and the Constitutional status of government speech. The article concludes that government speech embraces a broad array of government actions and that acting expressively is a valid and indeed essential role for government. Yet there is no practical need or constitutional justification for treating government speech as speech protected by the First Amendment. Without any special First Amendment right the government possesses ample constitutional authority to act expressively. Instead, the important First Amendment question concerns the limits that should be placed on government speech. The article concludes that the limits are threefold: distortion of the private marketplace for expression; displacement of private speech through conversion or alteration of meaning; and deception about who authored a message.


In the era of continuous research and development the clinician has a plethora of options to choose the restorative material. The choice of the type of restoration largely depends on factors including the amount of remaining tooth structure, the size of the defect, aesthetic requirements, longevity of restoration, need for retention, financial considerations. This article highlights the key factors to be considered while making a choice of the type of restoration and the restoration material.

Keywords: Direct restorations, Indirect restorations, Inlay, Onlay, Longevity of restoration .


Objective: Australian rural fire crews safeguard the nation against the annual devastation of wildfire. We have previously reported that experienced firefighters identified seven physically demanding tasks for Australian rural fire crews suppressing wildfires. These firefighters rated the operational importance, typical duration, core fitness components, and likely frequency of the seven tasks. The intensity of these duties remains unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify the oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR) and movement speed responses during simulations of these physically demanding wildfire suppression tasks.
Method: Twenty six rural firefighters (20 men, six women) performed up to seven tasks, during which time their HR and movement speed were recorded. The VO2 for each task was also calculated from the analysis of expired air collected in Douglas bags. Firefighters' HR and movement speed were measured using HR monitors and portable global positioning system units, respectively.
Results: The hose work tasks elicited a VO2 of 21-27 mL·kg-1·min-1 and peak HR of 77-87% age-predicted maximal HR (HRmax). Hand tool tasks were accompanied by VO2 of 28-34 mL·kg-1·min-1 and peak HR of 85-95%HRmax. Firefighters' movement speed spanned 0.2 ± 0.1 to 1.8 ± 0.2 m·s-1 across the seven tasks. The cardiovascular responses in the hand tool tasks were, in most cases, higher (P<0.05) than during those elicited by the hose work tasks.
Conclusions: The cardiovascular responses elicited during simulations of physically demanding wildfire suppression approximated those reported for similar tasks in urban and forestry fire fighting jurisdictions. The findings may prompt Australian rural fire agencies to consider cardiovascular disease risk screening and physical selection testing to ensure that healthy and fit firefighters are deployed to the fire ground.


The acute bronchospasmolytic effect of nitroglycerin was clinically and experimentally tested and confirmed in 92 patients with chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathies. It is longer provable than the cardiocirculatory and haemodynamic effect, respectively, of nitroglycerin and in its intensiveness depends on the initial value, the degree of bronchial obstruction. The average increase of the ventilation parameters FEV1 and FVK achieved by the perlinqual application of 0.4 mg nitroglycerin during the first thirty minutes corresponds approximately to the broncholytic effect of 0.6 mg inhalatively given isoprenalin. In comparison with the efficacy of adrenalin, alupent, ephedrine, euphyllin, methyl ephedrine, prednisolone and papaverin, which were controlled during 2 hours and graduated in its succession, at the end of the test a "lower" mean position between euphyllin and methyl ephedrine belongs to nitroglycerin. Concerning the frequency of positive tests nitroglycerin is to equalize to prednisolone and methyl ephedrine and more favourable than papaverin.


Abstract Background Despite the prevalence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults hospitalized with acute respiratory infections, guidelines for the diagnosis and management of RSV have not been established. This analysis evaluated the role and timeliness of RSV diagnostic testing and its potential impact on clinical outcomes. Methods We analyzed individual patient data from hospitalized adults with confirmed RSV infections during 2 North American RSV seasons. Participating physicians reported clinical, virologic diagnosis, and outcome variables using a standardized online case form. Results Across 32 US states, 132 physicians reported 379 RSV cases. Polymerase chain reaction–based diagnostics were the most common type of test ordered (94.2%) with <5% ordered specifically to diagnose RSV. Most tests (67.6%) were ordered in hospital wards or intensive care units. Overall, 47.4%, 30.9%, and 21.7% of patients had RSV diagnosed <12, 12‒24, and >24 hours after hospital admission, respectively. Later diagnosis was associated with longer hospital stays (n = 145; R = +0.191; P < .05) and greater antibiotic use. Conclusion Diagnosis of RSV infection in hospitalized adults is often delayed, which may affect clinical management and outcomes. Our findings indicate the need to improve the diagnostic strategies in this patient population.


Lee et al. present a study analysing and evaluating the simulations of the ACCMIP with respect to black carbon. Overall, this is a well-done model intercomparison and evaluation study. The evaluation using various data sources goes as deep as possible in the limits of one paper investigating several models, and the conclusions include a discussion of the resulting black carbon – albedo forcing and its uncertainty range. The manuscript is generally well written, with a good choice of Tables and Figures. My main suggestion is to include the statistical model-data comparisons now tabulated in detail in the Supplementary Material in a summarised form in the main manuscript.


Studies of recent Antarctic glacial-marine sediments have enabled us to delineate facies associations that reflect the influence of fundamental glaciologic and glacio-isostatic processes on continental-margin deposition. Glacial-marine deposits can be broadly categorized as representing three sedimentary provinces. These are (1) the grounded shelf province--that portion of the continental shelf where sediments have been deposited by grounded ice at some time during glaciation; (2) the nongrounded shelf-upper-slope province; and (3) the middle to lower slope-rise province. Sediments in the grounded shelf province consist predominantly of orthotills deposited by grounded ice, related till-flow deposits, and paratills deposited from floating ice. Glacial erosion and deposition by subglacial streams are also important processes. Seaward of the maximum grounding line, on the nongrounded shelf and upper slope, deposition is primarily by floating ice. However, substantial sediment reworking occurs, forming coarse residual deposits and sediments enriched in fine-grained material. From a sedimentologic standpoint, distinction between the outer shelf and upper slope is problematic. The middle to lower slope and continental rise may be dissected by submarine canyons or may be nonchannelized. Gravity-flow deposits are commonplace. Laminated muds, perhaps deposited by contour currents, are also widespread. The boundary separating the two slope provinces is related to a zone of glacio-isostatically induced slumping where sediment gravity flows are generated, and perhaps to the shallowest depth at which contour currents occur. These facies associations are useful in characterizing older sequences; they have been used to interpret several ancient glacial-marine sequences. End_of_Article - Last_Page 483------------


New Lithuanian lexis can be accessed in the Database of Lithuanian Neologisms (DN), containing about 5674 lexicographic units (as of 6 April 2020). The current article examines 197 nouns representing neoclassical word formation. Borrowings, including nouns, formed from foreign elements were excluded from the analysis. The aim of the study was to identify the most common types of neoclassical word formation attested in the DN and to explore their role in creating stylistically connoted nouns. The analysis of the nouns under study provided the following results: 1. Neoclassical word formation is not a common strategy in the DN (197 nouns have been found). However, translations make up a substantial part (46). 2. The most productive type of neoclassical word formation in the DN is compounding (90), followed by suffixation (88). Neoclassical prefixes (19) are less common. 3. As the data of the DN show, neoclassical word formation is not a common means of wordplay. Neoclassical suffixes (30), such as -izmas, -(i)acija ir -oidas, are more common in building nouns that display emotive-expressive functions. Sixteen stylistically connoted nouns exemplify neoclassical compounding and four nouns are built by prefixation. 4. Wider implications about neoclassical word formation and its most productive types could be drawn by extending the current research based on the data from the DN.


We examine the signatures of internal structure emerged from quasistatic shear responses of granular materials based on three-dimensional discrete element simulations. Granular assemblies consisting of spheres or nonspherical particles of different polydispersity are sheared from different initial densities and under different loading conditions (drained or undrained) steadily to reach the critical state (a state featured by constant stress and constant volume). The radial distribution function used to measure the packing structure is found to remain almost unchanged during the shearing process, regardless of the initial states or loading conditions of an assembly. Its specific form, however, varies with polydispersities in both grain size and grain shape. Set Voronoi tessellation is employed to examine the characteristics of local volume and anisotropy, and deformation. The local inverse solid fraction and anisotropy index are found following inverse Weibull and log-normal distributions, respectively, which are unique at the critical states. With further normalization, an invariant distribution for local volume and anisotropy is observed whose function can be determined by the polydispersities in both particle size and grain shape but bears no relevance to initial densities or loading conditions (or paths). An invariant Gaussian distribution is found for the local deformation for spherical packings, but no invariant distribution can be found for nonspherical packings where the distribution of normalized local volumetric strain is dependent on initial states.


This article outlines four techniques through which the National Park Service manages the spirituality of park visitors: 1) the maintenance of bodily discipline; 2) evocation of the natural sublime; 3) implication of global interconnectedness; and 4) facilitation of individual differentiation. These techniques work together to construct spirituality as a private investment in the public space of the park. I argue that the National Park Service thus creates structural links between the individuality of visitors and a certain way of organizing the parks, a way that appears natural and is highly managed by the state. In this way a private, individualistic nature spirituality takes on the character of public religion.


Background: Adolescence is a very important phase of growth and maturity, but is often related with mental and behavioural problems. However, very few attempts are made to understand the magnitude of adolescent health problems; hence the current study was planned. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study conducted among arts, commerce and science college students from Sangli, (Maharashtra) India; by using cluster random sampling. Due ethical considerations and written consent were undertaken. The study tool was self-administered questionnaire with inventories like SPIN, DASS-21 and PSST-A. Analysis was done using percentages and chi-square test. Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS-22 were used for analysis. Results: Eight hundred one (67.5%) students had psychological problems with anxiety being the commonest. Menstrual problems were reported by 413 (58.4%) female students. Psychological problems were associated with menstrual problems. Conclusions: Majority of students had some psychological problem. Menstrual problems were present in more than 50% female students. There is unmet need for proper guidance and help regarding health .


In this paper we develop a robot localization technique that incorporates discrete context measurements, in addition to standard continuous state measurements. Context measurements provide binary information about detected events in the robot's environment, e.g., a building is recognized using image processing or a known radio station is received. Such measurements can only be detected from certain positions and can, therefore, be correlated with the robot's state. We investigate two specific examples where context measurements are especially useful – an urban localization scenario where GPS measurements are not reliable as well as the capture of the RQ-170 Sentinel drone in Iran, where GPS measurements were spoofed. By focusing on a specific class of probability of context detection functions, we derive a closed-form Gaussian mixture filter that is precise, captures context, and has the theoretical properties of the Kalman filter. Finally, we provide simulations of the urban localization scenario with an unmanned ground vehicle and show that the proposed context-aware filter is more robust and more accurate than the conventional extended Kalman filter, which only uses continuous measurements.


Recidivism is a growing problem in the world – in Nigeria and Kwara State inclusive. Therefore, this study investigated solutions to recidivism as perceived by prison officers in Kwara State. The contributions of moderating variables of gender, religion and years in service were also investigated. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised all the prison officers estimated at 615 in Kwara State. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select 250 prison officers from all the five prison centers in Kwara State.  A questionnaire that was designed by the researchers served as the instrument for data collection. The validity and reliability of the instrument were duly established. The data were analysed using percentages, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that recidivism rate will be drastically reduced if prison rehabilitation programmes are being handled by professionally trained rehabilitation counsellor, if ex-convicts are assisted to utilize the entrepreneurial skills acquired in prison, and if there is a periodic evaluation of prison reformation and rehabilitation programme to ensure that the goals are being achieved. The findings further revealed significant differences in solutions to recidivism as perceived by Prison Officers in Kwara State based on religion and years in service but no significant difference was found based on gender. The findings imply that counsellors need to beam their searchlight into issues of crime, imprisonment and recidivism; counselors in-training need to be trained on strategies for rendering rehabilitation services to prison inmates.


Mechanical properties of thermomechanically fabricated D03 Fe-33Al and B2 Fe-38Al intermetallic alloys containing Zr were investigated by means of tensile test and microhardness measurement. The Zr-added ternary alloys showed fine-grained microstructure containing large (Fe,Al)12Zr τ1 phase particles, while the binary alloy showed a single-phase microstructure consisted of coarse recrystallized grains. By introducing the large τ1 phase particles to Fe-Al matrix, tensile strength at room temperature as well as at high temperature (873K) was enhanced but tensile ductility at both temperatures decreased. On the other hand, it was found that vacancy hardening which was significant in the alloys with high contents of Al (i.e., Fe-38Al) was reduced by the large τ1 phase particles.


The goal of the work presented in this paper is to demonstrate that the electric field inside a Mode Stirred Reverberation Chamber (MSRC) can be evaluated with short monopoles, mounted on the walls of the MSRC. Indeed, the electric (E) field amplitude inside a MSRC can be deduced from power measurement realized with monopole if one takes into account the statistical laws followed by the power and the components of the E field. The results obtained with this method are compared to measurements performed with conventional methods using E field probes (direct measurement) or matched antennas (indirect measurement) installed inside the working volume. The good agreement of these comparisons validates the proposed method.


Background

COPD Patients may experience reduced physical activity and quality of life due to decreased pulmonary function. The purpose of this study is to analysis the level of pulmonary function, physical activity, and quality of life of COPD in South Korea.
Methods

This study collected the published data of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2015-2018. Out of a total of 31,648 COPD patients, the data of 121 patients were analyzed. For the pulmonary function, the data of forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV6, and peak expiratory flow were collected. Physical activity was identified as frequency and duration of high/medium intensity, walking days, and strengthening exercise per week. For the quality of life (QoL), EQ-5D-3L were collected, and the frequency and index of the Korean version were collected.
Results

In the health-related characteristics, the prevalence of hypertension and asthma in COPD was relatively higher compared to other diseases. In pulmonary function, the predicted FEV1 and FEV1/FVC ratios were lower than age and weighted matched normal values. COPD showed to perform very low levels of high/medium physical activity and sitting time was confirmed to be more than 8 hours a day. In QoL, it was found that the highest reporting rate of some problems was the "pain and discomfort".
Conclusion

It was confirmed that COPD showed lower predicted FEV1 and FEV1/FVC ratios than age and weight-matched normal pulmonary function. Also, they had lowered physical activities and longer sitting time per day.


To design appropriate method for treatment planning it is necessary to know the precise radiation dose absorbed by any internal organ in human body. This paper will provide a method for calculating retention, absorbed dose, committed equivalent dose and committed effective doses due to acute ingestion of 1 Bq of Ra-226 in the gastro intestinal (GI) tract of Bangladeshi people for different age groups. Calculations are done by using "Internal Radiation Dose Assessment (IRDA)" software which has been developed in Visual Basic language. GI tract consists of four tissue compartments, e.g. stomach (ST), small intestine (SI), upper large intestine (ULI) and lower large intestine (LLI). One hour after the ingestion, the retention and absorbed dose show the trend ST > SI > ULI > LLI. For tissue compartments the variation of the committed equivalent dose pattern is LLI > ULI > ST > SI for the radionuclide. The variation of absorbed dose, committed equivalent dose and committed effective dose with respect to age follow the pattern: 1 year> 10years > adult female > adult male. The highest committed effective dose is found in the GI tract of 1 year old child. For other age groups these values are slightly less than those for 1 year old child. Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 19(1): 38-42, January 2016


Breeding rootstocks for fruit crops is slower than scion breeding in the same species. This is due to the testing requirements of rootstocks that reduce the opportunity for comprehensive fi rst tests on individual plants and to expand- ing selection criteria for rootstocks. Rootstock breeding is a relatively new discipline of fruit crop improvement and novel functions of rootstocks still are being understood and developed; this increases the requirements of rootstocks without diminishing the testing requirements.


AbstractThe city of Monrovia has played a pivotal role in the war in Liberia. Despite the fact that rural conflicts have ultimately made their way to the capital, the city's population has tripled. And despite the urban violence Monrovia has still offered displaced populations a more secure refuge than the hinterland which continues to be ravaged by armed bands. This exodus from the countryside has had important political consequences. Links with Monrovia have provided groups from the interior with access to a site of political power historically monopolized by the coastal elites. Once in the the city, squatters from rural areas and towns outside the capital have not been content to remain a silent majority. On several occasions they have taken to the streets to demonstrate for peace. Their representation in the city is now permanent, a development that has important consequences not only for the reconstruction of Monrovia but for the entire country.


This paper presents a new local binocular stereo algorithm which takes into consideration plane fitting at the per-pixel level. Two disparity calculation passes are used. The first pass assumes that surfaces in the scene are fronto-parallel and generates an initial disparity map, from which the disparity plane orientations of all pixels are extracted and refined. In the second pass, the cost aggregation for each pixel is conducted along the estimated disparity plane orientations, rather than the fronto-parallel ones. Large window size with adaptive support weights is used to ensure the effectiveness of the slanted surface modeling. The disparity search space is also quantized at sub-pixel level to improve the accuracy of the disparity results. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of our presented approach.


The safety movement in healthcare approaches patient safety mainly by reducing uncertainty to prevent possible errors. This article is concerned with how this approach relates to other modes of conceptualising patient safety. Following the work of Georges Canguilhem, I argue that, depending on how we conceptualise knowing, acting and error, a different mode of patient safety is possible: one that involves 'living with uncertainty'. Through ethnographic research on daily clinical work in Dutch primary care facilities, I show that the assumption that clinical work can be made safe by reducing errors not only is problematic, it also creates new forms of 'unsafety'. My observations at general practitioners' out-of-hours service units and other primary care facilities display a 'continuous stream of knowing and acting' in which care professionals adopt specific practices that avoid contradictions between uncertainty and safety. Although these practices differed in the various locations I studied, there were some common dimensions of 'living with uncertainty'. By problematising the conceptions of safety and errors as antonyms I suggest that a reappraisal is in order, particularly of the notion of errors in healthcare. Keeping and protecting room for errors in a situated way is crucial for knowing and acting in a field riddled with uncertainty and dealing with human life.


User-oriented research in the game industry is undergoing a change from relying on informal user-testing methods adapted directly from productivity software development to integrating modern approaches to usability- and user experience testing. Gameplay metrics analysis form one of these techniques, being based on instrumentation methods in HCI. Gameplay metrics are instrumentation data about the user behavior and user-game interaction, and can be collected during testing, production and the live period of the lifetime of a digital game. The use of instrumentation data is relatively new to commercial game development, and remains a relatively unexplored method of user research. In this paper, the focus is on utilizing game metrics for informing the analysis of gameplay during commercial game production as well as in research contexts. A series of case studies are presented, focusing on the major commercial game titles Kane & Lynch and Fragile Alliance.


Nowadays there is a wide market for cocoa butter equivalents, substitutes and improvers for the confectionery and dairy industries. An urgent task is the development of operational instrumental methods for cocoa butter and its substitutes quality control. Thermophysical parameters are among the most important characteristics of the fat phase for the food technology. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is becoming one of the most promising methods for analytical control of fat and oil products. Thermophysical data (temperatures of the maximums of endothermic peaks and their areas) for cocoa butter and chocolate glaze typical samples applied at dairy processing enterprises of the Central black soil region for the production of chocolate glazed curd bars were obtained in the work performed with its help. DSC data were compared with chromatographic data on triglyceride composition of the fat phase of cocoa butter, cocoa butter equivalents, lauric and non-lauric substitutes, and POP and SOS cocoa butter improvers. It was shown that the DSC method can control the quality of cocoa butter and chocolate glaze, identify chocolate products of different origin and triglyceride composition. Melting thermograms obtained by DSC are highly sensitive to the fat phase triglyceride composition. DSC allows reliable identification of samples of cocoa butter and glaze by melting curves in the temperature range from -100 to +50 ° C. It was found that the main melting peak of cocoa butter and its substitutes, due to the presence of a certain set of triglycerides, is observed in the temperature range from -5 to +30 °C. When examining glazes, the melting peak changes: it bifurcates, expands or narrows. Additional application of computer separation of the unseparated peaks superposition on the DSC melting curves increases the information content of the method and improves the reliability of the fat phase identification. The DSC method is characterized by sample preparation simplicity, has good reproducibility and other metrological characteristics and can be an independent method for fat and oil products identifying and quality control..


We propose a decision-theoretic model akin to that of Savage [17] that is useful for defining causal effects. Within this framework, we define what it means for a decision maker (DM) to act as if the relation between two variables is causal. Next, we provide axioms on preferences that are equivalent to the existence of a (unique) directed acyclic graph (DAG) that represents the DM's preferences. The notion of representation has two components: the graph factorizes the conditional independence properties of the DM's subjective beliefs, and arrows point from cause to effect. Finally, we explore the connection between our representation and models used in the statistical causality literature (for example, that of Pearl [14]).


Agroforest systems are highly discussed as new and innovative land use systems for arable land in temperate regions. They are recommended due to their beneficial impact on several ecosystem functions and for the general diversification of the cultured landscapes. Tree rows, known as alley cropping systems, are one of the most frequent applications. In May 2016 earthworm communities were sampled in an agroforest system in Reiffenhausen south of Gottingen using an electrical extraction system. Asking for the impact of tree rows on the spatial distribution of earthworms, sampling was done in distances of 0, 1, and 4.5m from the alleys (willow on grassland and poplar on cropland). Also grassland and cropland with no trees were sampled as a control. At Reiffenhausen we obtained 6 different species covering all ecological groups of earthworms. Abundances indicated a step gradient for earthworm numbers in the combination of poplar with cropland with decreasing numbers with increasing distance. However, the gradient was not indicated for willow rows on grassland. An effect of hypnotized earthworm supporting factors like litter entry and shading couldn't be fully confirmed. More data is needed to value agroforest systems for their impact on key organisms and key functions of soil biota.


Azospirillum brasilense plays an important role in biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in grasses. However, further studies are needed to define how much mineral N can be applied while simultaneously maintaining BNF contribution and maximizing crop yield and to determine the impact of these practices on soil fertility. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effect of inoculation with A. brasilense, in conjunction with varying N doses and sources in a Cerrado soil, on soil chemical attributes after two years of irrigated wheat production. The experiment was initiated in Selviria - MS under no-tillage production in an Oxisol in 2014 and 2015. The experimental design was a randomized block design with four replications, and treatments were arranged in a 2 x 5 x 2 factorial arrangement as follows: two N sources (urea and Super N - urea with inhibitor of the enzyme urease NBPT (N - (n-butyl thiophosphoric triamide))), five N rates (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1), and with or without seed inoculation with A. brasilense. The increase in N rates did not influence the chemical soil attributes. Super N acidified the soil more compared to urea. A. brasilense inoculation reduced the effect of soil acidification in intensive irrigated wheat cultivation; however, the base extraction was higher, resulting in a lower soil CEC after cultivation with inoculation. Therefore, the cultivation of wheat inoculated with A. brasilense was not harmful to soil fertility because it did not reduce the base saturation and organic matter content (P, K, Ca, Mg, and S).


The content of this 3rd edition marketing research textbook is practical and up to date and is based on an applied and managerially focused approach. Australian an New Zealand research and examples have been thoroughly intergrated into every chapter.


ABSTRACTIntroduction: Many patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) experience psychological issues affecting their ability to cope and manage their disease. Unfortunately, healthcare providers, including nurses, often report a lack of resources to provide sufficient support. During short and busy consultations, nurses and physicians often focus on etiology, diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment of the disease, while patients are more concerned with the consequences and impact on their daily life and family relations. The study aimed to find out forms of family support to improve the quality of live T2DM.Methods: Articles were framework using POCOT searching Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar databases, limited to the last 5 years and framework using POCOT. The articles were from 2015 to 2020 and the language used was English. The study focused on family support and Diabetic Mellitus type 2 (T2DM).Results: From 359 articles, 15 articles were included, most of the findings of the studies showed that family plays an important role in increasing self-efficacy so it contributes to blood sugar control which supports T2DM patients' quality of life. The support that has been carried out by the family includes communication in the patient's treatment program, diet and blood sugar check, motivation in physical activity, support for medical expenses, accompanying them for controls. Patients with higher perceived diabetes-specific family and friend support had healthier behaviors.Conclusion: Family support helps improve the quality of life and reduce physical and psychological complications in people with T2DM.


Fossil plants were discovered by geologists in the dolomite quarry on Strázsa Hill, west of Zsámbék, central Hungary, during December, 2020. The analysis of the plant remains and subsequent field studies suggest that the fossil plants are preserved in sediments of the Mány Member of the Törökbálint Formation and the sandy-clayey layers overlying Mesozoic dolomites were formed during the Oligocene. The fossil plant assemblage includes a small number of taxa with a relatively high frequency of gymnosperms. Among the gymnosperms taxodiaceous twigs, assigned to ?Taxodium, are dominant. Angiosperms are represented by the family Lauraceae (Daphnogene and Laurophyllum), Betulaceae (cf. Alnus), Ulmaceae (cf. Ulmaceae gen. et sp.), and "Rhamnus" warthae, a taxon with unknown systematic relations and a putative endemic element of the Intra-Carpathian area of the Central Paratethyan region. The flora is dominated by gymnosperms and "Rhamnus" warthae, other taxa are present but at lower frequency. Although the plant fossils of Zsámbék represent wetland vegetation types, less suitable for climate reconstruction, the relatively high ratio of lauraceous elements suggests a frostfree, warm climate. The floristic composition of the Zsámbék flora is clearly comparable to other late Oligocene floras of Hungary, therefore earlier climate estimates based on other similar-aged floras may also be considered for Zsámbék.


The study opted to: 1) Investigate differences between cooperative and competitive learning modes in the extent to which they affect English language achievement; 2) Find gender, intra-gender, and inter-gender differences in English language achievement within and across the cooperative, competitive, and control group learning conditions; and 3) Study the relationship between students' motivation to learn the English language and English language achievement. The cooperative and competitive learning groups were used as treatment groups while the control group was the individualized learning group. An English language test was administered to 120 secondary school grade nine students. The 12-item mini-Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (Mini-AMTB) was administered to the students. Different parametric tests were used in the pre-test and post-test data analysis. Post-test data analysis results revealed that cooperative learners significantly outperformed both competitive learners and the control group, but the control group significantly outperformed competitive learners. The gender difference in English language achievement was not significant. The cooperative learning (CL) mode was favored by both male and female students but more favored by males. The five aggregate measures of the mini-AMTB (Integrativeness, Motivational Intensity, Attitudes towards the Learning Situation, Instrumental Orientation, and Parental Encouragement) produced significant positive correlations with English language achievement; however, Language Anxiety negatively and significantly correlated with English language achievement. The CL mode, with its effective CL technique, was recommended to be researched and applied by trained teachers to improve student achievement. Its implications for teacher training were also given. Treatment of second language motivation was recommended as an important issue in second language learning.


The increasing weather volatility derived from the climate change phenomenon emphasises that meteorological risk should not be left to chance anymore by the practitioners of nature-based activities. This fact, jointly to the recent appearance of weather index-based policies, has implied a relevant change in the previous risk management panorama, where loss-based insurance was the only available alternative to mitigate weather risk exposure. By insuring the cause or event instead of the effect, this instrument reduces management costs and avoids the important drawbacks of moral hazard and adverse selection. Given these benefits, the present work approaches different issues related to the valuation and application of this insurance modality, whose assessment may be insightful from both the supply- and demand-side point of view. Chapter 2 starts by reviewing the most relevant literature on weather modelling and pricing, as several techniques, such as Historical Burn Analysis, Index Value and Daily Simulation, are applied at different stages of this thesis. Next, Chapter 3, based on previous findings, analyses some of the current rainfall-geared products pricing and operational challenges. Chapter 4 addresses then a different research line, appraising the possibility of applying weather insurance in tourism. This industry application is followed by three sector studies in Chapter 5, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7, with a focus on fishing, winery and agriculture respectively. All of them use data retrieved from meteorological stations, except for Chapter 7, where satellite-based data are employed as a mean to reduce geographical basis risk. These empirical applications assess the hedging effectiveness that may be attained from the implementation of the insurance modality considered, using different criteria, such as semi-variance and expected shortfall, and methodologies, such as multiple linear regressions and the most novel approach of copulas. Monte Carlo simulations are generated in this part of the thesis to increase the accuracy of the results. Finally, Chapter 8 ends up by addressing a relevant issue for potential suppliers, which is the analysis of the risk that the trade of this modality would entail if offered at a country level. The conclusions of this evaluation are also derived from the copula approach. The overall outcomes of this thesis point at weather index-based insurance as a good and promising alternative that can be effectively priced and applied to mitigate the meteorological exposure of different activities.


The student-centered learning (SCL) approach is an approach to education that focuses on learners and their needs, rather than relying upon the input of the teacher's. The present paper examines how the SCL approach is integrated as a learner-centered paradigm into finance courses offered at a business school in a research university in Malaysia. Specifically, this paper identifies how a learner-centered environment is integrated into teaching methods, learning activities and evaluation tools. Since the adoption of the SCL approach is partly to cater for the needs of the research university, the analysis of the courses is supported with responses from the respective lecturers. This study finds that the lecturers of the five courses examined have used active/interactive learning and group project approaches as standard teaching methods under the SCL approach which includes projects, class discussion and presentation. Alongside these standard methods, some of the courses use additional methods under the SCL approach, including real life experiential learning and case studies. For example, students of the Investment and Portfolio Analysis course are exposed to the real world investment decision making by investing funds in selected stocks listed on Bursa Malaysia. In terms of course evaluations, the courses place greater weight on continuous assessment based on group projects and presentations, while reduce the emphasis on examinations. Overall, implementing the SCL approach requires a careful design of the learning process, which includes the classroom setting; flexibility of the curriculum; teaching methods; evaluation policies; and course content. In general, the study demonstrates that SCL has great potential to function as an effective learning tool in an environment where the labor market demands generically skilled job candidates and in which universities are demanding further resources to be devoted to efforts relating to research and publications.


Acknowledgments Introduction. Colonialism: Familiar Territory 1. Sexuality, Medicine, and Imperialism: The International Traffic in Prostitution Policy 2. Sex and Citizenship: The Politics of Prostitution in Puerto Rico, 1898--1918 3. Debating Reproduction: Birth Control, Eugenics, and Overpopulation in Puerto Rico, 1920--1940 4. Demon Mothers in the Social Laboratory: Development, Overpopulation, and "the Pill," 1940--1960 5. The Politics of Sterilization, 1937--1974 6. "I like to be in America": Postwar Puerto Rican Migration, the Culture of Poverty, and the Moynihan Report Epilogue. Ghosts, Cyborgs, and Why Puerto Rico Is the Most Important Place in the World Notes Bibliography Index


Natural Killer (NK) cell mediated immune surveillance is important in preventing and controlling malignancies. However, tumours ultimately evade NK cells, enhancing their survival and progression. The immunosuppressive cytokine TGF-β is an established, potent inhibitor of NK cell mediated anti-tumour immunity. Genetically manipulating NK cells to resist the actions of TGF-β is a potential route by which to enhance NK cell-mediated immunotherapy. However, NK cells are notoriously difficult to manipulate with conventional viral vectors or transfection techniques and alternative methodologies are required to achieve this. I have explored the ability of several virus vectors to transduce primary human NK cells, with a chimaeric adenovirus (Ad) vector proving the most promising. Replacing the Ad5 fibre with that from Ad35 (forming Ad5f35) generated a vector capable of efficient transduction of primary human NK cells and the NK cell lines, YT, NKL and NK92. Ad5F35 utilises CD46 as an entry receptor and NK cell transduction by Ad5f35 was CD46 dependent.
The Ad5f35 vector provides a route to genetically manipulate NK cells. Transfection experiments in non-lymphoid cells showed that expression of a dominant negative TGF-β receptor II or inhibitory SMADs (SMAD7) inhibit the TGF-β signalling pathway. Using recombination-based methods in E.coli, an Ad5f35 vector was constructed to deliver the dominant negative TGF-β receptor II into mammalian cells. High expression and inhibitory activity was achieved in non-lymphoid cells, but expression in NK cells was low and activity reduced. Nevertheless, the Ad5f35 system clearly has potential for future applications in NK cells, including the development of NK cell based cellular therapies.