The study examines and identifies the perceived favourable conditions needed for employees readiness to support improvements. In the context of Brunei, readiness research in public service organisations is underrepresented if not, non-existent. There is a need for a more comprehensive study that integrates the combined perspective of the interrelated conceptual elements of readiness, its climate and the organisation. Four key findings were identified based on 119 interviews and 665 surveys. Firstly, it was found that as employees self-organise to cope with chaos, an unintended conducive climate that is specific to the Brunei context evolves out of employees readiness to adapt and survive. Secondly, the essential climatic factors that trigger the minimum level of employee readiness are identified. Thirdly, the influential climatic factors that further amplify a higher level of employee readiness are identified. Finally, based on the shared multilevel perspective of employees, the statistical analysis result confirm the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between the identified climatic factors and employees readiness in terms of the way employees believe in, feel about and act towards improvement. Supported by qualitative findings, the essential climatic factors were identified as being communication, participation, clear task roles and responsibility, and top management s trust in subordinates. Similarly, the influential climatic factors were identified as being efficacy, organisational trust, organisational trusts in top management and top management support and participation. It is concluded that employees readiness can be incrementally developed towards improvement success; however, the contextual conditions need to be recognised and well-tailored. The development of a novel conceptual framework and model demonstrates how employees multidimensional readiness can be triggered and influenced to support improvements in a complex and adaptive organisation.


In this paper, we describe some of the methods used at KTH Mechanics in the field of turbulence simulations. High performance computing (HPC) resources, including the dedicated system "Ekman" with 10000 cores at KTH, are employed to perform some of the largest turbulence simulations with up to 10 billion grid points. The results are used to assess the fidelity of such types of simulations by comparing in detail to wind tunnel experiments, excellent agreement is obtained in general. Simulations can thus be considered numerical experiments, and are subject to the same scrutiny as "real" experimental data. Validated simulation data is extremely valuable as it may provide unprecedented insight into the turbulence dynamics. However, given the large size of the computations, the massively parallel simulation codes, post processing tools and storage solutions have to be specifically adapted, making turbulence simulations an interdisplinary area of e-Science.


Fifteen patients with midsystolic clicks associated with mitral valve prolapse were studied in order to assess changed in ausculatatory findings produced by pacing-induced variations in cardiac rate, rhythm, and conduction. As the heart rate was increased in stepwise intervals to the maximum possible extent by right atrial pacing (RAP) in 14 patients, the interval between the Q wave and the click (Q-C) decreased in all cases (21 plus or minus msec/10 beats/min; P smaller than 0.001). In two patients, RAP at rates of and above 118 and 159 per minute, respectively, resulted in disappearance of the click. During right ventricular pacing (RVP) without evidence of atrioventricular (A-V) dissociation on the surface ECG in ten patients, the click was inaudible at all pacing rates in three instances. In all seven of the cases in which the click was audible at the lowest rate of RVP with VA conduction, Q-C was greater and C-S2 less than that in sinus rhythm. As the rate of RVP was increased, Q-C was noted to decrease (26 plus or minus 4 msec/10 beats/min) and C-S2 to increase (19 plus or minus 7 msec/10 beats/min) in all patients. In three patients in whom RVP induced atrioventricular dissociation, the click was seen only in beats closely preceded by a P wave. In ten of 11 patients the click occurred earlier in systole with a postextrasystolic or post tachycardia beat as compared to its appearance after a sinus beat when a shorter preceding diastolic filling period was present (P smaller than 0.001). In the eleventh patient a loud systolic murmur was present during a postextrasystolic cycles. It is concluded that pacing-induced rhythm disturbances can result in disappearance of a midsystolic click or can alter its timing and cause it to mimic sonic phenomena seen in other disease states. The possibility of similar changes taking place as a result of spontaneously occurring disturbances of rate, rhythm, and conduction should be recognized in order that the possible diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse not be overlooked.


Background and the Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study was formulate and systemsystematic evaluation in-vitro and in-vivo behaviour of Glipizide mucoadhesive microspheres using 32 full factorial design. Methods: Concentration of Polycarbophil and Sodium Alginate were selected as independent variables and the effects were checked on dependent variables like swelling index, mucoadhesion, drug entrapment efficiency and T75. In vivo studies were also performed to determine hypoglycemic activity of the mucoadhesive microspheres. Results: The best batch exhibited drug entrapment efficiency of 75%, swelling index of 1.8 and mucoadhesion was 100%. The drug release from the microspheres was also sustained for more than 9 hrs. Conclusion: The concentration of polycarbophil and sodium alginate had highly significant effects on dependent variables. In-vivo testing demonstrated a significant hypoglycemic effect of glipizide.


The application of new technologies in the road transport system is seen as one of the key challenges to ensure safe and efficient driving through the increasingly overloaded road infrastructure. One of the most recent developments in this respect is the implementation of co-operative traffic management systems and the establishment of a bidirectional wireless infrastructure to vehicle (I2V) communication link for transmission of 'legal binding' messages into the vehicle (e.g. speed limit, lane change, weather warning). The quality of these messages - in respect to time, accuracy, and content - relies on the quality and process performance within the whole service chain. Hereby especially for complex services covering weather warnings resulting in slippery road surfaces including driving restrictions for the driver (e.g. speed reduction, alternative routing) a complex service chain needs to fulfill highest quality criteria to ensure a precise, accurate, and timely driver information.


Summary Introduction: A few patients with asymmetric palatine tonsils have lymphoma; but most lymphomas in palatine tonsils evolve with tonsillar asymmetry. Objective: To report the profile of patients and histopathological changes in patients submitted to adenotonsillectomy/tonsillectomy with disproportional palatine tonsils. Method: Retrospective study based on data analysis from the Pathologic Anatomy Service Database and in the review of reports of patients submitted to adenotonsillectomy and tonsillectomy with palatine tonsils asymmetry during the period from October 1999 through October 2009 at the Clinical Hospital (HC) of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). Results: 50 patients took part, aged between 3 to 53 years old, mean age of 14.05 years. The anatomopathological exam confirmed 48 patients (96%) with lymphoid hyperplasia and 2 cases of lymphoma (4%). These included men aged from 40 to 53 yeas with complaint of unilateral increase of the tonsil, one of whom had other symptoms (asthenia and weight loss). Upon physical examination: tonsils disproportion without involvement of other organs or lymph nodes. Conclusion: Our study is according to the literature as regards the fact the lymphomas are more common in men, the patient is the first one to notice the increase in volume and the asymmetry is larger than 2 degrees between palatine tonsils in cases of lymphoma. Although it is rare, even in the presence of differences, there are chances for the asymmetry to evolve to a malignant profile. The need for anatomopathological evaluation of a part must be considered along with other clinical data that suggests a malignant profile.


The study was designed to characterize ajwa flesh and pits and make their comparison with locally available date cultivars. Correlation between proximate characteristics and within different minerals was analyzed while cluster analysis technique was used to evaluate similarity between sugar contents of date varieties. The results indicated ajwa flesh as richest source of moisture (22.8 %), ash (3.22 %), glucose (54.5%), fructose (52.03%), maltose (22.5%), and galactose (12 .2%) contents while ajwa pits have highest amounts of crude fat (7.8%), crude fiber(51%), TDF(53.9%), IDF(34.6), and SDF(19.5%). Highly significant correlation of crude fat with crude fiber and crude protein was observed while crude protein also exhibited positive correlation with crude fiber. Date flesh was found better source of mineral as compared to pits whereas potassium was found rich in both parts. Highly significant negative correlation of Na and positive correlation of Zn and Ca with all other minerals was observed. Cluster analysis of sugar suggests highest similarity of fructose, maltose and galactose and least similarity of sucrose under cluster III and cluster I. The work identifies variability among flesh and pits of ajwa date and local date varieties for their nutritional traits that can be used in fortification of different food products.


A study of locomotion performance of different suspension types was conducted in order to find the rover that matches best any given mission requirements. Two modeling approaches were chosen to evaluate the performance on hard ground and obstacles, as well as on loose soil and inclined planes. A number of metrics were defined which precisely specify what qualifies as good or bad performance. The simulations revealed significant differences between the various configurations for important metrics like torque, power or velocity. These results were used to characterize the performance of each rover and put it in relation to the weighted mission requirements. The sum of the performances multiplied by the weight factors of the requirements was taken as the measure for how good a rover fits the mission needs. This study has shown that a four wheeled rover can be a valuable alternative to the rocker bogie but only in very specific missions.


Recently, an unusual case of autoerotic death in which a man died of hypoxia after having enclosed himself in plastic was reported in this Journal (1). We present a second case showing many similarities to the one published previously.


Currently, Kenya depends mainly on oil, geothermal energy and hydro resources for electricity production, however all three have associated issues. Oil-based electricity generation is environmentally harmful, expensive and a burden to the national trade balance. The rivers for hydropower and their tributaries are found in arid and semi-arid areas with erratic rainfall leading to problems of supply security, and geothermal exploitation has cost and risk issues amongst others. Given these problems and the fact that Kenya has a significant yet underexploited potential for photo voltaic (PV)-based power generation, the limited—although growing—exploitation of solar PV in Kenya is explored in this paper as a means of diversifying and stabilising electricity supply. The potential for integration of PV into the Kenyan electricity generation mix is analysed together with the sociotechnical, economic, political, and institutional and policy barriers, which limit PV integration. We argue that these barriers can be overcome with improved and more robust policy regulations, additional investments in research and development, and improved coordination of the use of different renewable energy sources. Most noticeably, storage solutions and other elements of flexibility need to be incorporated to balance the intermittent character of electricity generation based on solar PV.


Amelanotic/hypomelanotic melanoma (AHM) is an uncommon type of melanoma that presents with no or scanty melanin and is thus prone to be misdiagnosed clinically. AHM has been associated with aggressive pathological features, including increased mitotic index, which relate to worse survival. Therefore, early diagnosis of AHM is indicated to improve the survival of affected patients. In this issue of the BJD, Lan et al. review the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) in diagnosing AHM using histopathology as the gold standard. Seven studies on the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy and three on RCM were included. The pooled sensitivities for diagnosing AHM were 0 61 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0 37– 0 81] and 0 67 (95% CI 0 51–0 81) for dermoscopy and RCM, respectively. High sensitivity of diagnostic tools is preferable for the purpose of screening for early cancer. Nevertheless, the data suggest that the performance of both dermoscopy and RCM in early diagnosis of AHM is unsatisfactory and they may miss one-third or more of affected cases. On the other hand, the pooled specificities for diagnosing AHM were 0 90 (95% CI 0 74–0 97) and 0 89 (95% CI 0 88–0 92) for dermoscopy and RCM, respectively. The high specificities of dermoscopy and RCM could arguably prevent unnecessary biopsies; however, this may not always be true as biopsy may still be indicated to avoid missing AHM, given the aforementioned low sensitivity. Lan et al. also found limited evidence from three included studies that suggests a higher accuracy of RCM than dermoscopy in early diagnosis of AHM, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (relative pooled diagnostic odds ratio 4 69, 95% CI 0 81–27 3). Even if there is adequate evidence confirming the superiority of RCM in early diagnosis of AHM, the current high costs, time consumption and limited access to RCM instruments may limit its feasibility in the real-world setting. In summary, the evidence suggests that the current value of dermoscopy and RCM in early diagnosis of AHM is limited by their unsatisfactory sensitivity. To promote their clinical use in early diagnosis of AHM, further studies analysing the respective sensitivities and specificities of various diagnostic criteria for AHM, for example structureless pattern under dermoscopy and epidermal round pagetoid cells under RCM, are warranted. Also, cost reduction of RCM instruments associated with future technical advances is required to promote its use in early diagnosis of AHM. Therefore, wide use of either dermoscopy or RCM in early diagnosis of AHM still appears to be a long way off. Acknowledgments: I thank Dr Hsi Yen (Department of Dermatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou) for preparing the audio version of this commentary.


Metastatic disease, myeloma, and lymphoma are the most common malignant spinal tumors. Hemangioma is the most common benign tumor of the spine. Other primary osseous lesions of the spine are more unusual but may exhibit characteristic imaging features that can help the radiologist develop a differential diagnosis. Radiologic evaluation of a patient who presents with osseous vertebral lesions often includes radiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Because of the complex anatomy of the vertebrae, CT is more useful than conventional radiography for evaluating lesion location and analyzing bone destruction and condensation. The diagnosis of spinal tumors is based on patient age, topographic features of the tumor, and lesion pattern as seen at CT and MR imaging. A systematic approach is useful for recognizing tumors of the spine with characteristic features such as bone island, osteoid osteoma, osteochondroma, chondrosarcoma, vertebral angioma, and aneurysmal bone cyst. In the remaining cases, the differential diagnosis may include other primary spinal tumors, vertebral metastases and major nontumoral lesions simulating a vertebral tumor, Paget disease, spondylitis, echinococcal infection, and aseptic osteitis. In many cases, vertebral biopsy is warranted to guide treatment.


When customers buy goods or services from business entities they are usually given a receipt that is known with the name fiscal or tax coupon, which, among the others, contains details about the value of the transaction. In some countries, the fiscal coupons can be collected during a certain period of time and, at the end of the collection period, they can be handed over to the tax authorities in exchange for a reward, whose price depends on the number of collected coupons and the sum of their values. From the optimization perspective, this incentive becomes interesting when, both the number of coupons and the sum of their value is large. Hence, in this paper, we model this problem in mathematical terms and devise a test set that can be used for benchmarking purposes. Furthermore, we solve this problem by means of two metaheuristics, namely Genetic Algorithms and Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure. Finally, we evaluate the proposed algorithms by comparing their results against the relaxed versions of the proposed problem. The computational experiments indicate that both approaches are competitive, as they can be used to solve realistic problems in a matter of few seconds by utilizing standard personal computers.


Human–computer interaction technology, and the automatic classification of a person's mental state, are of interest to multiple industries. In this paper, the fusion of sensing modalities that monitor the oxygenation of the human prefrontal cortex (PFC) and cardiovascular physiology was evaluated to differentiate between rest, mental arithmetic, and N-back memory tasks. A flexible headband to measure near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for quantifying PFC oxygenation, and forehead photo-plethysmography for assessing peripheral cardiovascular activity was designed. Physiological signals such as the electrocardiogram and seismocardiogram were collected, along with the measurements obtained using the headband. The setup was tested and validated with a total of 16 human subjects performing a series of arithmetic and N-back memory tasks. Features extracted were related to cardiac and peripheral sympathetic activity, vasomotor tone, pulse wave propagation, and oxygenation. Machine learning techniques were utilized to classify rest, arithmetic, and N-back tasks, using leave-one-subject-out cross validation. Macro-averaged accuracy of 85%, precision of 84%, recall rate of 83%, and F1 score of 80% were obtained from the classification of the three states. Statistical analyses on the subject-based results demonstrate that the fusion of NIRS and peripheral cardiovascular sensing significantly improves the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores, compared to using NIRS sensing alone. Moreover, the fusion significantly improves the precision compared to peripheral cardiovascular sensing alone. The results of this paper can be used in the future to design a multi-modal wearable sensing system for classifying mental state for applications such as acute stress detection.


BACKGROUND
Capecitabine (Xeloda) is a fluoropyrimidine which is transformed to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) at the tumor site. The aim of the present study was to estimate the efficacy of this agent in pretreated patients with advanced breast and colorectal cancer, and to determine the response rate and adverse reactions.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Forty-two patients (median age 65 years, range 27-80 years), 24 with breast cancer, 17 with colorectal cancer and one with a pancreatic islet tumor were included. Capecitabine was administered at a dose of 1200 mg/m2 twice daily for two weeks every 21 days. No other agent or supportive treatment was planned.

RESULTS
A partial response was observed in 29.16% of the patients with breast cancer and in 11.76% of the patients with colorectal cancer. Stable disease was observed in 58.33% and 70.59% of the breast cancer and colorectal patients, respectively. Adverse reactions were very mild with respect to myelotoxicity and GI tract toxicity. Grade 3 hand-foot syndrome was observed in three patients (7.14%). Hypertriglyceridemia, an unusual side-effect, was observed in 5/12 patients who were tested for serum cholesterol triglycerides.

CONCLUSION
Capecitabine is a well tolerated treatment with low toxicity, rendering a partial response in 29.16% and 11.76% of patients with breast and colorectal cancer, respectively.


There is a growing international consensus that efforts to develop a global prevention culture should be reinforced in order to reduce the unacceptably high number of work accidents and occupational diseases worldwide. It is at the same time recognised that business performance is highly depending on a healthy and motivated workforce. The ISSA has on this background developed a new prevention concept, called 'Vision Zero', which is based on the belief that all accidents and diseases at work can be prevented. The ISSA's Vision Zero approach is flexible and can be adjusted to any workplace, company or industry. A global Vision Zero campaign was launched at the XXI World Congress for Safety and Health at Work in September 2017 in Singapore, which aims to mobilise business leaders to integrate safety, health and well-being at work in their core management function as well as company culture. To this end the ISSA has developed a Vision Zero Guide that outlines a roadmap with 7 Golden Rules to help improve a company's safety and health performance as well as practical checklists and training materials. More than 700 Companies and OSH-organisations from more than 90 countries have since its launch joined the campaign as Vision Zero Companies or Partners.


Improving content and consistency on developmental disabilities in undergraduate medical curricula has been recommended as a means of improving health outcomes for people with developmental disabilities. Although often the subject of studies in Western countries, little is known about content on developmental disabilities in undergraduate curricula in developing countries. A study was undertaken to: (1) explore content and experience with developmental disabilities received in undergraduate training by medical practitioners in Malaysia; and (2) explore perceptions of their role in the identification and management of developmental disabilities in practice. Comparisons were made according to location of training. Data were collected using a 107-item questionnaire that was administered to 230 newly graduated house officers on their first rotations in seven public hospitals in Peninsula Malaysia. Deficits and inconsistencies were indicated in both content and experience of developmental disabilities during training. Uncertainty about their role in the identification and management of developmental disabilities was evident. Greater inconsistencies and deficits were evident for respondents trained in Eastern and Middle Eastern countries compared with those trained in Malaysia and Western countries. Results suggest a need for increased content, consistency, and intentional exposure in relation to developmental disabilities during undergraduate training across all training settings.


The fatwa or decision of Bahtsul Masail which gave the status of non-Muslim Indonesians given the status of ḥarbi fī dzimmati tta'mīn was corrected by the Nahdlatul Ulama National Conference in Banjar City, West Java in 2019. Using a legal contextuality within the framework of the Imam Syafi'i school of thought, Nahdlatul Ulama 'stated Indonesian non-Muslims as non-Muslims are ordinary citizens who are the same as Muslim citizens and are not included in one of the four categories of kafirs in the schools with all the legal consequences. Contextualization as an effort to understand a law according to its context is carried out so that the law of fiqh madzhab in its application adapts to the changing and different context of reality. Ignorance of changes and differences in context will result in the application of the law of fiqh madzhab which violates the school itself.maḥall al-ḥukmi and ahl al-ḥukmi. The results of the National Conference as a correction to the different previous fatwas were carried out as a necessity so that the application of the law of fiqh madzhab was correct in its application. Not to change the law of the school of fiqh. The four categories of kafir remain in the madzhab as a kulli concept. But implementing it must be appropriatemaḥall al-ḥukmi her.And non-Muslims in Indonesia are not maḥall al-ḥukmi is right for the concept.


We have studied the gas-phase photolysis of 4-oxo-2-pentenal by laser photolysis combined with cavity ring-down spectroscopy. Absorption cross sections of cis- and trans-4-oxo-2-pentenal have been measured in the 190-460 nm region. The product channel following 193, 248, 308, and 351 nm photolysis of 4-oxo-2-pentenal was investigated. The HCO radical is a photodissociation product of 4-oxo-2-pentenal only at 193 and 248 nm. The HCO quantum yields from the photolysis of a mainly trans-4-oxo-2-pentenal sample are 0.13 +/- 0.02 and 0.014 +/- 0.003 at 193 and 248 nm, where errors quoted (1sigma) represent experimental scatter. The HCO quantum yields from the photolysis of a mainly cis-4-oxo-2-pentenal sample are 0.078 +/- 0.012 and 0.018 +/- 0.007 at 193 and 248 nm, where errors quoted (1sigma) represent experimental scatter. The end-products from 193, 248, 308, and 351 nm photolysis of 4-oxo-2-pentenal (the 4-oxo-2-pentenal sample had a tran/cis ratio of 1.062:1) have been determined by FTIR. Ethane, methyl vinyl ketone, and 5-methyl-3H-furan-2-one have been observed, suggesting the occurrence of 4-oxo-2-pentenal photolysis pathways such as CH(3)COCH=CHCHO + hnu --> CH(3) + COCH=CHCHO, CH(3)COCH=CHCHO + hnu --> CH(3)COCH=CH(2) + CO, and CH(3)COCH=CHCHO + hnu --> 5-methyl-3H-furan-2-one. The estimated yields for the CH(3) + COCH=CHCHO channel are about 25%, 33%, 31%, and 23% at 193, 248, 308, and 351 nm, respectively. The absolute uncertainties in the determination of CH(3) + COCH=CHCHO yields are within 55% at 193 nm, and 65% at 248, 308, and 351 nm. The estimated yields for the CH(3)COCH=CH(2) + CO channel are about 25%, 23%, 40%, and 33% at 193, 248, 308, and 351 nm, respectively. The absolute uncertainties in the determination of CH(3)COCH=CH(2) yields are within 80% at 193 and 248 nm and 65% at 308 and 351 nm. The estimated yields for the 5-methyl-3H-furan-2-one channel are about 1.2%, 2.1%, 5.3%, and 5.5% at 193, 248, 308, and 351 nm, respectively. The absolute uncertainties in the determination of 5-methyl-3H-furan-2-one yields are about 23%, 86%, 40%, and 46% at 193, 248, 308, and 351 nm. Results from our investigation indicate that photolysis is a dominant removal pathway for 4-oxo-2-pentenal degradation in the atmosphere.


: The cooling of hen incubated eggs to 28 degrees C brings to disconnection of oxidative phosphorylation in brain on the 12th day of development. The addition of DNP (5 x 10(-5) M) takes off the cooling effect.


We consider the problem of feasibility determination in a stochastic setting. In particular, we wish to determine whether a system belongs to a given set ¿ based on a performance measure estimated through Monte Carlo simulation. Our contribution is two-fold: (i) we characterize fractional allocations that are asymptotically optimal; and (ii) we provide an easily implementable algorithm, rooted in stochastic approximation theory, that results in sampling allocations that provably achieve in the limit the same performance as the optimal allocations. The finite-time behavior of the algorithm is also illustrated on two small examples.


There is a great diversity of clustering and community detection algorithms, which are key components of many data analysis and exploration systems. To the best of our knowledge, however, there does not exist yet any uniform benchmarking framework, which is publicly available and suitable for the parallel benchmarking of diverse clustering algorithms on a wide range of synthetic and real-world datasets. In this paper, we introduce Clubmark, a new extensible framework that aims to fill this gap by providing a parallel isolation benchmarking platform for clustering algorithms and their evaluation on NUMA servers. Clubmark allows for fine-grained control over various execution variables (timeouts, memory consumption, CPU affinity and cache policy) and supports the evaluation of a wide range of clustering algorithms including multi-level, hierarchical and overlapping clustering techniques on both weighted and unweighted input networks with built-in evaluation of several extrinsic and intrinsic measures. Our framework is open-source and provides a consistent and systematic way to execute, evaluate and profile clustering techniques considering a number of aspects that are often missing in state-of-the-art frameworks and benchmarking systems.


A sub-ppm-sensitive nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sensing circuit with improved humid air stability was realized incorporating UV-ozone treatment on a poly(bisdodecylquaterthiophene) (PQT-12)/polystyrene (PS) blend film. The circuit consisted of a pair of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) in series, one OFET with and one without this treatment. In contrast to most previous OFET sensors, the readout was obtained from the voltage Vout at a point between the OFETs. The circuit showed a low detection limit (200 ppb) towards NO2, and greatly reduced voltage drift in the humid environment compared to the current drift of the circuit or the individual OFETs because of the balance of conductance drifts on either side of the readout point, which differs from the existing OFET based sensors. By using Vout as the detection parameter, the sensitivity of the circuit approaches 25% and 400% for NO2 concentration of 200 ppb and 20 ppm, respectively. Moreover, the Vout is substantial enough to be easily measured by a voltmeter, which could remove the need for complex equipment (semiconductor analyzer system) for the sensing test. We thus demonstrate a simplified approach to stabilized OFET circuits that could be used in printable, flexible or wearable sensors.


The existing model for ethical review of medical research consists primarily of regulations designed to prevent exploitation of participants. This model may fail when reviewing other ethical obligations, particularly the responsibility to provide valuable knowledge to society. Such failure is most apparent in developing countries, in which many stakeholders lack incentives or power to uphold society's interests. An alternative ethical model is that of partnership, which actively involves all partners during ethical review and aims to secure partners' best interests through compromise. Unlike the existing "regulatory" model, the partnership model effectively addresses ethical obligations to provide positive benefits to society. For the partnership model to be effective, power must be shared among partners; thus, the partnership model can be harmonised with the "regulatory" model through explicit consideration of power structures. One opportunity for crafting power balance in developing countries is apparent in "implementation trials"—randomised trials motivated by and integrated into the implementation of long term public health interventions. Given the failings of the existing ethical review model, alternative models—for example, partnership—and means to balance power—for example, implementation trials—must be explored to ensure that medical research provides knowledge of value to societies in the developing world.


The invariant imbedding procedure with a modified planar wave-splitting process is applied to the dissipative wave equation for a smooth stratified medium. The imbedding equations for R0 and R2, respectively the zeroth and second moments of the kernel of the reflection operator, are obtained. A linearization of the nonlinear imbedding equation for R0 is given, which greatly simplifies the numerical procedure and improves the speed one order in the direct and inverse problems. Numerical results are given for the direct problem, and for the inverse problem where the zeroth and second transverse moments of the reflection data are given on one side.


The human Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) family comprises four members, namely, FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, and FGFR4, that are involved in various biological activities including cell proliferation, survival, migration and differentiation. Several aberrations in the FGFR signaling pathway, owing to mutations or gene amplification events, have been identified in various types of cancers. Hence, recent research has focused on developing strategies involving therapeutic targeting of FGFRs. Current FGFR inhibitors at various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development include either small molecule inhibitors of tyrosine kinases or monoclonal antibodies, with only a few peptide- based inhibitors in the pipeline. Here, we provide a protocol using phage display technology to screen small peptides as antagonists of FGFR2. Briefly, a library of phage-displayed peptides was incubated in a plate coated with FGFR2. Subsequently, unbound phage was washed off by TBST (TBS + 0.1% [v/v] Tween-20), and bound phage was eluted with 0.2 M glycine-HCl buffer (pH 2.2). The eluted phage was further amplified and used as input for the next round of biopanning. Following three rounds of biopanning, the peptide sequences of individual phage clones were identified by DNA sequencing. Finally, the screened peptides were synthesized and analyzed for affinity and biological activity.


As today's hardware architecture becomes more and more complicated, it is getting harder to modify or improve the microarchitecture of a design in register transfer level (RTL). Consequently, traditional methods we have used to develop a design are not capable of coping with complex designs. In this paper, we suggest a way of designing complex digital logic circuits with a soft and advanced type of SystemVerilog at an electronic system level. We apply the concept of design-and-reuse with a high level of abstraction to implement elliptic curve crypto-processor server farms. With the concept of the superior level of abstraction to the RTL used with the traditional HDL design, we successfully achieved the soft implementation of the crypto-processor server farms as well as robust test bench code with trivial effort in the same simulation environment. Otherwise, it could have required error-prone Verilog simulations for the hardware IPs and other time-consuming jobs such as C/SystemC verification for the software, sacrificing more time and effort. In the design of the elliptic curve cryptography processor engine, we propose a 3X faster GF(2m) serial multiplication architecture.


Abstract. Airborne geophysics is a promising method for investigating landslides. Here we present a case study of multisensor airborne geophysical survey at the catastrophic landslide Stože near Log pod Mangrtom in Slovenia, which was conducted in the framework of the European FP7th Project "SafeLand". Based on the survey itself and achieved results, we discuss applicability, limits, and benefits and costs of the method for investigating landslides in steep alpine terrains. Despite of several operational constraints, the airborne electromagnetic survey of the area well presented the lithological pattern and water saturation. The high resistivity regions mostly indicated drained slope scree and landslide mass, drained and loosened material of the moraine deposit in the tension zone of the landslide with present cracks and cavities. The minima of the resistivity pattern were attributed to the outcrop of marls rich in clay, to water-saturated moraine deposit above impermeable marls in the tension zone, and to water-saturated porous alluvial gravel and landslide scree along the Koritnica River. The magnetic survey proved to be inapplicable for such a small and rough area. The Potassium and Thorium maps, on the other hand, both well identified the regions of tension inside the landslide zone, outcrops of marls and dolomite, clay-rich colluvium, weathered zones along a regional tectonic fault, and alluvial deposits and deposits of debris flows, and the minima of the 137Cs clearly revealed the zones of material removal due to recent mass movements.


Pakistan Abstract Line x tester analysis, involving four lines and four testers were made in sunflower for four parameters. The variance due to GCA and SCA showed that gene action was predominantly additive for days to first flowering (DFF), days to hundred percent flowering (DH%F) and plant height (PH), whereas predominance of non-additive genetic effect was discovered for days to maturity (DM). Both additive and non-additive genetic interaction was important for morpho-physiological characters in sunflower. The line TS-18 was the best general combiner for characters like DFF and PH, whereas line TS-17 was the best general combiner for DH%F and DM. The tester R-25 proved to be the best general combiner for DFF, DH%F and DM, whereas the tester 291RGI proved to be the best general combiner for PH. The SCA estimates were highest in cross TS-335 x TR-9 for DFF, TS-18 x R-25 for DH%F and DM. For PH, the best SCA cross was TS-18 x 291RGI. The best GCA parents as TS-17, TS-18, R-25 and 291RGI are recommended, which may be exploited for varietal improvement in different cross combination especially in synthetic production, whereas the three best SCA crosses are recommended to be the best hybrids for cultivation and be included in the national uniformity yield trial for its exploration in multilocation. Additive type of gene action was observed for DFF, DH%F and PH. These characters may further be improved through simple selection method in early generation, whereas non-additive type of gene action was observed for DM, which is desirable for heterosis breeding and may be exploited in hybrid seed


Despite the broad array of research that exists on the Hispanic health paradox, no single explanation has been marked as the dominant reason for the disparities in life expectancy that exist between Mexican Americans and other Hispanic and non-Hispanic ethnic groups. This indicates that researchers must adopt a more open perspective that examines the influence of multidimensional factors that integrate culture, religious tradition, and lifestyle. The purpose of the current study is to 1) readily define the paradox and provide a thorough review of existing literature on the topic; 2) suggest a transition from exploring statistical explanations of the paradox to critically assessing health-related behaviors and influences such as familial support when trying to explain the paradox in the context of certain Hispanic ethnic groups; 3) elucidate sociocultural factors unique to Mexican American communities and their implications on Mexican health outcomes; and 4) consider avenues for further research concerning life expectancy and the paradox. The Mexican American health paradox is related to observable health-related influences, rather than statistical misrepresentation. Familial structure is one component that results in better physical health among members of this ethnic group. Still, similar familial bonding in Cuban American and Native American culture has not resulted in similar health outcomes, indicating additional factors behind the health advantage. The presence of an alternative-health care system with a more emotionally significant practitioner-client relationship appears to be the main factor that separates Mexican Americans from the other ethnic groups. In turn, this distinctive system, referred to as curanderismo, has a positive impact on both physical and mental health, and is bolstered by consistent family systems. By capturing the Hispanic health paradox in a holistic analysis of the existing explanations in current literature and specific ethnic characteristics, this project begins to conceptualize which factors have a greater contribution to the advantageous health outcomes of Mexican Americans relative to other influences. It also indicates the possible usefulness of sociocultural factors in explaining the paradox in the context of other Hispanic ethnic groups as well.


. We prove the existence of hypersurfaces with prescribed boundary whose Weingarten curvature equals a given function that depends on the normal of the hypersurface.


Random embedding has been applied with empirical success to large-scale black-box optimization problems with low effective dimensions. This paper proposes the EmbeddedHunter algorithm, which incorporates the technique in a hierarchical stochastic bandit setting, following the optimism in the face of uncertainty principle and breaking away from the multiple-run framework in which random embedding has been conventionally applied similar to stochastic black-box optimization solvers. Our proposition is motivated by the bounded mean variation in the objective value for a low-dimensional point projected randomly into the decision space of Lipschitz-continuous problems. In essence, the EmbeddedHunter algorithm expands optimistically a partitioning tree over a low-dimensional — equal to the effective dimension of the problem —search space based on a bounded number of random embeddings of sampled points from the low-dimensional space. In contrast to the probabilistic theoretical guarantees of multiple-run random-embedding algorithms, the finite-time analysis of the proposed algorithm presents a theoretical upper bound on the regret as a function of the algorithm's number of iterations. Furthermore, numerical experiments were conducted to validate its performance. The results show a clear performance gain over recently proposed random embedding methods for large-scale problems, provided the intrinsic dimensionality is low.


This study was carried out to investigate the effect of incorporating germination as a unit operation in cowpea food processing, on the flatulence factors attributed to the oligosaccharides component of cowpea. A substantial proportion of the dry matter of cowpea was lost on germination and processing. Germination produced significant reductions in the oligosaccharides of cowpea during sprouting and processing, which in turn reduces the flatulence factor in the cowpea meal. This being an anti nutritional factor in legume was found to have been totally eliminated . Germination in our findings can easily be incorporated as a unit operation in legume processing to eliminate anti nutritional factors in legumes especially cowpeas. It was also found to aid in reducing trypsin inhibitors in cowpeas by our findings.


The immediate early gene c-fos is part of the activator protein-1 transcription factor and has been postulated to participate in the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. To test this hypothesis in vivo, we generated mice with a nervous system-specific c-fos knock-out using the Cre-loxP system. Adult mice lacking c-Fos in the CNS (c-fosΔCNS) showed normal general and emotional behavior but were specifically impaired in hippocampus-dependent spatial and associative learning tasks. These learning deficits correlated with a reduction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses. The magnitude of LTP was restored by a repeated tetanization procedure, suggesting impaired LTP induction in c-fosΔCNS mice. This rescue was blocked by a selective inhibitor of NR2B-type NMDA receptors. This blockade was compensated in wild-type mice by NR2A-type NMDA receptor-activated signaling pathways, thus indicating that these pathways are compromised in c-fosΔCNS mice. In summary, our data suggest a role for c-Fos in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory as well as in NMDA receptor-dependent LTP formation.


Background/Context This study contributes to our growing understanding of coaches' role in district reform by introducing instructional-coach teams as a potentially important concept for understanding coaching activities that support systemic reform. Prior research shows that instructional coaches leverage their position between the district office and schools to coordinate policy implementation. This study builds on that analysis by adding a group dimension to instructional coaching at the district level. No other study to date has focused on the collective behaviors of coaches that facilitate reform efforts. Purpose/Objective/RQ/Focus of Study The purpose of this study is to examine the practices of effective instructional-coach teams and conceptualize the role of coach teams in district reform. Research Design I used cross-case analysis that relied on social-network, questionnaire, interview, and observational methods as sources of evidence to analyze how instructional coaches work together to build capacities for district reform. I identified two successful district-level coach teams with an explicit mandate to support reform efforts that were, however, operating in very different district contexts. The focus of this analysis was to identify and compare the circumstances that present in both cases and help explain why these districts have effective coach teams. Findings My findings describe how coach teams develop institutional capacities that enable districts to respond to policy demands. I find that differences in curriculum policy, district reform context, and professional collaboration are associated with differences in the teams' relational structures. I link these differences to common process gains resulting from the collective working of coach teams. I found three important process gains: intranet systems, collaborative problem-solving, and collective expertise. Although both teams produced all three, they implemented process gains in very different ways. Conclusions/Recommendations This comparative study demonstrates the conceptual utility of instructional-coach teams for understanding the link between coaching and systemic district reform. More theory and research are needed to better understand the behaviors of teams of educators, and particularly instructional coaches, engaged in collective work to support district reform.


Textured bismuth titanate, Bi4Ti3O12 (BiT), was produced by templated grain growth (TGG). Molten-salt-synthesized BiT platelets were dispersed in a matrix of 200 nm BiT powder and aligned by tape casting. Highly textured BiT was obtained with the use of only 5 vol% template particles by sintering at 1000°C for 1 h. The uniformity of the through-thickness texture is much higher than reported in the literature for BiT tapes cast with 100% platelets. Initial platelet alignment is shown to increase because of frequent interaction with the fine powder particles during tape casting. By avoiding pressure densification techniques and using only a small portion of anisometric particles, TGG is a low-cost option for fabricating textured ceramics.


This paper analyzes the presence of positive and negative motor signs in people with cerebral palsy (CP). Positive motor signs are those that lead to involuntarily increased frequency or magnitude of muscle activity. Negative motor signs describe insufficient muscle activity or insufficient control of muscle activity. In this paper, a head-mounted alternative computer interface based on inertial technology was used to assess motor signs in seven users with CP. Task performance and control of posture was related to the impairment. There are no significant differences between users with CP and healthy control participants in the frequency domain of the head movement. Results suggest that this kind of motor disorders is not related to positive motor signs. Moreover, a control mode based on posture more than on movements is not optimum; an alternative control mode must be specially designed for users with poor postural control.


This study aimed to design and develop a network-based college enrolment system which would serve as a tool in facilitating the enrolment procedure in Paete Science and Business College in Laguna. Iterative Model was used in developing the proposed system. On the other hand, Likert Scale was utilized to interpret the results of the system evaluation which was based on the answers of the respondents. It was found out that the proposed system was acceptable to the users based on the criteria presented in the evaluation of the system in terms of its content, usability, and functionality. The study recommended that this proposed system, network-based college enrolment system, should be adopted and implemented.


Sallie McFague uses the common creation story (or the postmodern scientific understanding of the earth and the cosmos as remythologised by ecological theologians such as Thomas Berry and Anne Primaves) to reinterpret the various phases in the Christian story, namely creation, sin, redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ, human agency and eschatology. She uses especially the metaphor of the Body of God to reinterpret the Christian story. To comprehend the significance of this central metaphor, one needs to investigate McFague's fine comprehension of metaphorical language, sacraments and thought processes as these relate to the (renewal of) worldviews. This also enables one to understand the confluence of sacramental theology and agential theology in her praxis-orientated methodology.


Neuroscience's knowledge offers the possibility of understanding the proposals of the humanistic psychotherapy from the perspective of the brain activity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the neuropsychological processes that are activated along a session of psychotherapy and its effects on welfare. On the basis of contributions from authors recognized as Cozolino (2006, 2010), Siegel (2010, 2015) and Grawe (2007), we have studied the main neural correlates promoted through five classic proposals of a humanistic psychotherapy session: to) the experience of therapeutic relationship following Rogers (1951/1981; 1961/2000); b) the indication of directing attention on the here and now; (c) the indication of not judging the experience or to one same; d) the proposal to experience in the here and now situations that need to be integrated, which implies a state of optimal stress; e) the process of puting words to the therapeutic experience, i.e. of verbalizing. Each one of these instructions promotes a brain activity that modifies the connections in and between various neural networks, mainly those located in the amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex and orbitomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The study of the neural processes generated from psychotherapeutic interactions is a source of information of great interest for the development of psychotherapeutic knowledge.


As one of the best suppliers of energy and the necessary substances in human's nutrition, honey has numerous consumers all over the world. There are some protein compounds in honey in addition to sugars, lipids and mineral compounds. Relative quantity of proteins in honey compound is considered as a quality index. Determination of the quantity of plant origin (pollen) and animal origin (honey bee) of the proteins of honey is an important but unknown issue. Knowing this ratio can be an index for quality control of honey. In this research, 6 honey "unifloral" samples were collected from "Sirachal" region located in Karaj-Chaloos Road, 40 km from North of Karaj in different months. After a quantity of each honey sample was diluted with water, pollens were counted in 10 gram of each sample using optical microscope. Total quantity of proteins in each sample was specified through method of "Bradford". Electrophorus profile of pollen proteins used by bees, pollens in honey and honey proteins were prepared and compared through electrophorus method of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis. Statistical study of tests results and repeating them was done by T test. The results showed that honey collected in June-July has the most quantity of pollen (680000 in each 10 g honey). Average of the whole pollen proteins that were mostly used by honey bees is 35.91±5.56 of the dry weight of the pollens. Honey collected in June-July with the most amounts of pollens has the most quantity of total protein means 0.99% of the total weight of the pollen and honey collected in Aug.-Sep. with the least amount of pollen (147000 in each 10 g) has the least quantity of total protein means 0.37% of the total weight of the pollen. Average protein of the whole honey during hive establishment is 0.64±0.26% and average quantity of pollen proteins of honey in this period is 0.24±0.14%. Since proteins are among very valuable compounds in human's nutrition and plays vital role on growth and health of cells, quantity of the whole protein of honey is one of the quality indices and since based on the tests carried out in this research, about 1/3 of proteins of honey penetrate it through pollens, ratio of pollen proteins to total proteins of honey can be considered as a new index for examination of honey quality.


SIR, We wondered whether your readers could throw any light on a curious clinical observation. A 67-year-old woman of Croat parentage, brought up in Egypt, presented 10 years ago with several cutaneous nodules on her right lower leg; histology of one of these showed Kaposi's sarcoma. The course ofthe disease and its limitation to the leg have been typical of the classical Mediterranean form of the disease. No active treatment has been necessary. Her lymphocyte subsets have been normal. Last year she was started on a 14-day course of etridronate disodium 400 mg for osteoporosis and within a week she noticed that all her nodules had shrunk and some had disappeared. This was confirmed, as was the observation that the Kaposi nodules recurred in the 76-day period between eourses of etridronate. Etridronate has a direct inhibitory effect on osteoelasts although the exact mechanism of action is not known. Presumably it has the potential to act on other cell types but we know of no recorded effect on immune status. We would be interested to hear of any similar experiences or possible explanations.


A case of community-acquired Achromobacter xylosoxidans bacteremia in a patient with metastatic breast carcinoma is described. The patient's home drinking water was identified as the source of her bacteremia. The case represents the first in which a community-acquired infection due to this organism has been attributed to a documented water source.


Rooftop variable-air-volume (VAV) systems are used to provide comfort in a wide range of building types and climates. This system consists of a packaged rooftop air conditioner that serves several individually-controlled zones. Each zone has a VAV terminal unit that is controlled by a temperature sensor in the zone. This EN discusses HVAC system control strategies that can be used to save energy in rooftop VAV systems. Optimal Start/Stop. In some buildings, a simple time clock or time-of-day schedule is used to start and stop the HVAC system. During hours when the building is expected to be unoccupied, the system is shut off and the temperature is allowed to drift away from the occupied setpoint. The time at which the system starts again in the morning is typically set to ensure that the indoor temperature reaches the desired occupied setpoint prior to occupancy on either the coldest or warmest morning of the year. As a result, for most days, the system starts much earlier than needed. In turn, this increases the number of operating hours and system energy use. An alternative approach is a strategy called optimal start. This strategy utilizes a building automation system (BAS) to determine the length of time required to bring each zone from current temperature to the occupied setpoint temperature. The system waits as long as possible before starting, so that the temperature in each zone reaches occupied setpoint just in time for occupancy (Figure 1). This optimal starting time is determined using the difference between actual zone temperature and occupied setpoint. It compares this difference with the historical performance of how quickly the zone has been able to warm up or cool down. The optimal start strategy reduces the number of system operating hours and saves energy by avoiding the need to maintain the indoor temperature at occupied setpoint even though the building is unoccupied. A related strategy is optimal stop. As mentioned earlier, at the end of the occupied period, the system is shut off and the temperature is allowed to drift away from occupied setpoint. However, the building occupants may not mind if the indoor temperature drifts just a few degrees before they leave for the day. Optimal stop uses the BAS to determine how early heating and cooling can be shut off for each zone, so that the indoor temperature drifts only a few degrees from occupied setpoint (Figure 1). In …


Effective training of deep neural networks can be challenging, and there remain many open questions on how to best learn these models. Recently developed methods to improve neural network training examine teaching: providing learned information during the training process to improve downstream model performance. In this paper, we take steps towards extending the scope of teaching. We propose a flexible teaching framework using commentaries, meta-learned information helpful for training on a particular task or dataset. We present an efficient and scalable gradient-based method to learn commentaries, leveraging recent work on implicit differentiation. We explore diverse applications of commentaries, from learning weights for individual training examples, to parameterizing label-dependent data augmentation policies, to representing attention masks that highlight salient image regions. In these settings, we find that commentaries can improve training speed and/or performance and also provide fundamental insights about the dataset and training process.


Aims Atherosclerosis underlies most cardiovascular diseases, among which acute coronary syndrome (ACS) caused by plaque rupture (PR) often leads to death. Immune-related GTPases (IRGM/Irgm1) have been extensively studied in inflammatory diseases, but their role in atherosclerosis is unclear. Determining how IRGM/Irgm1 promotes atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability will provide information for new biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets. Methods and results We identified ruptured and unruptured plaques by optical coherence tomography, and found that serum IRGM was highly expressed in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in PR. We used ApoE-/-Irgm1+/+, ApoE-/-Irgm1+/- mice and chimeric mice to establish a model of advanced atherosclerosis. The results of pathological experiments showed that Irgm1 caused plaque necrosis. The ratio of neutral lipids and cholesterol crystals increases, while the content of collagen fibers decreases, aggravating the destabilization of atherosclerotic plaques. In vitro, we used multiple approaches to confirm that Irgm1 promotes macrophage apoptosis by promoting the production of reactive oxygen species and activating the MAPK signaling pathway. Conclusions IRGM may be a potential risk factor for PR. Mechanistic studies have shown that IRGM/Irgm1 contributes to the formation and rupture of fragile plaques. This is partly mediated by the induction of macrophage apoptosis via the MAPK signaling pathway. IRGM may offer new strategies for early treatment of ACS. Translation view Our findings indicate that IRGM/Irgm1 contributes to formation and rupture of vulnerable plaques. It suggests that IRGM may provide a new target for the early treatment of ACS.


A new species of calcareous nannoplankton Ceratolithus rugosus is described, and emended descriptions of two other species of this genus are presented. The worldwide occurrence and partial overlap in the sequence of ranges of these taxa are helpful in age assignment of late Miocene to Holocene strata. A new species Peritrachelina joidesa of late Eocene to middle Oligocene age is also described.


In this paper, we study the consensus problem of multi-agent systems in which each agent adopts the same linear model that can be of any order. We consider the case where only the relative output error between the neighboring agents can be measured. In order to solve the consensus problem, two kinds of decentralized control laws are designed. We first show that a static output error feedback control can solve the consensus problem if some further constraints on the system model is imposed. Then we use an observer based approach to design a dynamic output error feedback consensus control. We note that with the observer based approach, some information exchange between the agents is needed unless the associated adjacent graph is completely connected.


Cultural competency has been lauded as an effective, direct intervention to address health care disparity issues, and there is much empirical and clinical evidence to support the utility of cultural competency training. The major criticism of this evidence is the paucity of content validation studies of the competency construct itself. This literature review addresses what has been repeatedly identified as a critical empirical need – clarification of the cultural competency process in the professional development of mental health care providers working with health care disparity populations. In this literature review, the proposed concept of cultural attunement has 5 elements that signify a relevant skills training model for developing multicultural sensitivity and awareness. The call for research is clear: the cultural attunement concept needs to be operationally defined and measured, which can then lead to the design of a training model directed at enhancing the cultural competency performance of mental health counselors.


Background: Patients with diarrhoea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) suffer from loose frequent stools with associated urgency and fear of incontinence. Relief from these symptoms is an important unmet need. The 5-HT3 receptor antagonist Alosetron has been shown to increase stool consistency, decrease urgency and reduce abdominal pain leading to a global increase in satisfaction with treatment [1]. Its use is restricted following an increased incidence of ischaemic colitis and this agent is not available in Europe.

The serine proteases family of proteolytic enzymes have been identified as the source of increased faecal proteolytic activity in patients with IBS. These enzymes may be mechanistically important via their action on the Protease activated receptor (PAR) -2, inducing increases in permeability and hypersensitivity.

Aims: To assess the efficacy of the commonly prescribed 5-HT3 antagonist Ondansetron, in patients with IBS-D and to identify biomarkers that might allow us to predict response defining an Ondansetron responsive endophenotype of IBS.

To structurally characterise faecal serine proteases and define the impact of treatment with Ondansetron.

Methods: 120 patients meeting Rome III criteria for IBS-D entered a randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over study of 5 weeks of Ondansetron 4mg versus placebo with dose titration allowed up to two tablets thrice daily in the first 3 weeks. Patients completed daily bowel symptom diaries documenting stool consistency using the Bristol Stool Form Score (BSFS). Gut transit and small bowel water content were measured in the last week of each treatment. The primary endpoint was average stool consistency in the last 2 weeks of treatment.

Faecal samples were obtained from 30 healthy volunteers (HV) and 79 IBS-D patients participating in a trial of Ondansetron versus placebo. Colonic transit was measured using radio-opaque markers. Faecal serine proteases (FSP) were purified from faecal extracts using Benzamidine-Sepharose affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE profiled components were identified using trypsinolysis and tandem-mass-spectrometry. Functional protease activity in faecal extracts was measured using a colourimetric assay based upon the proteolysis of azo-casein.

Results: Ondansetron significantly improved stool consistency In the intention to treat analysis n= 101, with a 1.39 (95% CI1.20-1.58)point decrease on the Bristol stool form scale whilst taking Ondansetron compared to a 0.51 (95% CI 0.32-0.72) point reduction whilst taking placebo p=<0.0001. Compared to placebo patients on Ondansetron experienced fewer days with urgency (p=0.01), lower urgency scores (P<0.001), reduced frequency of defecation (p=0.001) and less bloating (p=0. 25) although pain scores did not change significantly.

Protein analysis identified the most abundant FSPs as being of human origin and likely pancreatic juice derived. Functional assays showed increased FSP and faecal amylase in IBS-D compared to HV. Those with higher amylase had significantly higher FSP and greater anxiety. FSP activity correlated negatively with whole gut transit in IBS-D (Spearman r=-0.32, p=0.005) and HV (r=-0.55, p=0.014), but was not affected by treatment with Ondansetron.

Conclusions: Ondansetron is an effective and well tolerated treatment in patients with IBS-D with a low number of side effects. It slows whole gut transit, but without a demonstrable difference in small bowel water content. Clinical rather than biochemical indicators predicted responsiveness to Ondansetron best. Patients with less severe symptoms are more likely to respond well to Ondansetron which should prove a useful addition to the current rather limited therapies available for this important group of patients.

Previous reports that FSP activity is elevated in some patients with IBS-D has been confirmed. We have increased our understanding of this phenomenon by characterising the proteins responsible for the serine protease activity, showing that most of this activity is likely due to human pancreatic enzymes.


The engineering of a complex production automation system involves experts from several backgrounds, such as mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. The production automation expert knowledge is embedded in their tools and data models, which are, unfortunately, insufficiently integrated across the expert disciplines, due to semantically heterogeneous data structures and terminologies. Traditional integration approaches to data integration using a common repository are limited as they require an agreement on a common data schema by all project stakeholders. This paper introduces the Engineering Knowledge Base EKB, a semantic-web-based framework, which supports the efficient integration of information originating from different expert domains without a complete common data schema. The authors evaluate the proposed approach with data from real-world use cases from the production automation domain on data exchange between tools and model checking across tools. Major results are that the EKB framework supports stronger semantic mapping mechanisms than a common repository and is more efficient if data definitions evolve frequently.


The traditional transhumance grazing system on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is being replaced by a system in which pastoralists are allocated fixed areas for grazing. In this context, we conducted experiments to evaluate a possible change to seasonal grazing of young animals for weight gain, and the effects of grazing management (continuous grazing (CG) vs rotational grazing (RG)) and stocking rate (SR) on the performance and behaviour of Oura-type Tibetan sheep. In Experiment 1 (June–December 2014), 72 Tibetan sheep (initial bodyweight (BW) 32.2 ± 3.37 kg) were allocated to one of three treatments: (1) CG24 – eight sheep grazed continuously in a single 2-ha plot for the entire duration of the experiment; (2) RG24 – eight sheep grazed in a 1-ha plot from June to September (growing season), and then moved to a new plot for September–December grazing (early cold season); (3) RG48 – eight sheep grazed in a 0.5-ha plot, but otherwise as for RG24. All treatments had three replicates. In Experiment 2 (September–December 2014), 48 Tibetan sheep (initial BW 46.3 ± 1.62 kg) were used to repeat the RG24 and RG48 treatments imposed in the early cold season of the Experiment 1. In both experiments, increasing SR significantly reduced bodyweight gain (BWG) per head and increased BWG per ha in the RG treatments. In Experiment 1, RG, compared with CG, did not significantly affect BWG per head, BWG per ha, or feed utilisation efficiency. In both experiments weight gain was small or negative in the early cold season. These results indicate that removal of sheep at the onset of the cold season will be important for retention of the weight gain achieved in the growing season but choice between a CG and RG grazing system is unimportant for the production efficiency in the proposed grazing system of Tibetan sheep.


Inherited bleeding and platelet disorders (BPD) are highly heterogeneous and their diagnosis involves a combination of clinical investigations, laboratory tests, and genetic screening. This review will outline some of the challenges that geneticists and experts in clinical hemostasis face when implementing high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) for patient care. We will provide an overview of the strengths and limitations of the different HTS techniques that can be used to diagnose BPD. An HTS test is cost‐efficient and expected to increase the diagnostic rate with a possibility to detect unexpected diagnoses and decrease the turnaround time to diagnose patients. On the other hand, technical shortcomings, variant interpretation difficulties, and ethical issues related to HTS for BPD will also be documented. Delivering a genetic diagnosis to patients is highly desirable to improve clinical management and allow family counseling, but making incorrect assumptions about variants and providing insufficient information to patients before initiating the test could be harmful. Data‐sharing and improved HTS guidelines are essential to limit these major drawbacks of HTS.


Nuclear medicine is directly involved in both the diagnosis and treatment of benign thy- roid disease. Thyroid scintigraphy (most commonly with technetium-99 m pertechne-tate) should be used as the imaging modality of choice for assessment of thyrotoxicosis, since it demonstrates the functional state of the thyroid gland. An adequate understand-ing of the pathophysiological mechanisms and characteristics of the patient is essential, as well as the different treatments of thyroid disorders that present with hyperthyroid ism ( Graves' disease , toxic multinodular goiter, and toxic adenoma-Plummer's disease). Therapeutic modalities include antithyroid drugs, radioiodine and surgery. Antithyroid drugs are the first line of therapy and regarding the use of radioiodine, current recom - mendations consider it a safe and effective therapeutic alternative in hyperthyroidism. Finally, we highlight the existence of some special situations (children, pregnancy, thy- roid eye disease, chronic renal failure and dialysis patients) and the importance of radiation protection measures to the patient, the public and professionals.


A rotary wiper was developed to apply herbicides selectively to weeds beneath horticultural crops such as fruit trees and ornamentals. Herbicide is delivered internally through a circular pipe manifold imbedded in a rotary polyurethane foam disk, thus avoiding herbicide drift. A free-wheeling bumper wheel, larger than the wiper disk, is mounted just above the disk causing it to move around a tree trunk or shrub on contact. The rotary wiper effectively applied herbicides to weeds within the row of fruit trees.


Abstract In 1984 Pepsi-Cola released two groundbreaking commercials for its "Choice of a New Generation" campaign. Marketers reimagined Pepsi's product alongside superstar Michael Jackson's most iconic visual "symbols" and composed a slogan to be sung over fragments of the backing-track to his then-hit song, "Billie Jean." Although merely replacing Jackson's original lyrics about lust and revenge with a family-oriented slogan had the potential to change meaning potentials the song held in other contexts, it was the re-working of Jackson's celebrity image and omission of key musical structures present within the original that allowed "Billie Jean" to acquire new meanings in the commercials. On the album, careful voice leading practices that pivot precariously between the natural and flat-VI underpin the score's complex harmonic structures to reinforce Jackson's cautionary tale. Pepsi's commercials, on the other hand, skillfully pick "Billie Jean" apart, extract its most memorable themes, and stitch the fragments back together. Consequently, when paired with Pepsi's overtly positive images, the reworked track noticeably diffuses the tension expressed in the original. By incorporating formal musical analysis, musicological inquiry, and formative cultural theory on advertising, MTV, and musical meaning in multimedia, this article contributes to growing discussions about pre-existing popular music's roles in advertising.


To obtain a deeper understanding about a society, it is important to look beyond the formal production of history and literature and consider fables, songs, folk poems, and proverbs which can reflect dimensions of the society that are usually neglected or forgotten about. Focusing on popular literature and folk art as a source of epistemological knowledge contributes to the construction of counter-narratives in Yemen. One of the major proponents of popular literature whose works serve as a key to understanding the conceptual worlds of the Yemeni people is the poet ʻAbd Allāh al-Baraddūnī (1929–1999). This blind scholar explored various types of popular literature and folk art in order to highlight the knowledge that generally is not documented but is an essential part of everyday life. Each of his genres has the ability to provide us with insights about Yemeni society such as forgotten historical events, the role of women in society, cultural beliefs, customs, practices, and historical events and circumstances that the society had to face. It is argued that, by focusing on the subaltern and marginal, al-Baraddūnī was anticipating trends in Western social science scholarship that have been apparent since the 1970s.


Abstract. At wavelengths longwards of the sensitivity of silicon, hybrid structured mercury–cadmium–telluride (HgCdTe) detectors show promise to enable extremely precise radial velocity (RV) measurements of late-type stars. The most advanced near-infrared (NIR) detector commercially available is the HAWAII series (HxRG) of NIR detectors. While the quantum efficiency of such devices has been shown to be ≈90  %  , the noise characteristics of these devices, and how they relate to RV measurements, have yet to be quantified. We characterize the various noise sources generated by H4RG arrays using numerical simulations. We present recent results using our end-to-end spectrograph simulator in combination with the HxRG Noise Generator, which emulates the effects of read noise, parameterized by white noise, correlated and uncorrelated pink (1  /  f) noise, alternating column noise, and picture frame noise. The effects of nonlinear pixel response, dark current, persistence, and interpixel capacitance on RV precision are also considered. Our results have implications for RV error budgets and instrument noise floors that can be achieved with NIR Doppler spectrographs that utilize this kind of detector.


Introduction: Microcephaly is a clinical finding that can arise from congenital anomalies or emerge after childbirth. Maternal infections acquired during pregnancy can result in characteristic brain damage in the newborn (NB), which may be visible even in the fetal stage. Objective: To describe the epidemiological profile of newborns with reported microcephaly and diagnosed with congenital infections in the state of Rio Grande do Sul between 2015 and 2017. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out on data collected from the Public Health Event Registry as well as from medical records. The investigation included serologies for toxoplasmosis and rubella; polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Zika virus (ZIKV) in the blood and cytomegalovirus in the urine; non-treponemal tests for syphilis; and brain imaging tests. Results: Of the 257 reported cases of microcephaly, 39 were diagnosed with congenital infections. Severe microcephaly was identified in 13 patients (33.3%) and 51.3% of the cases showed alterations in brain imaging tests. In relation to the diagnosis of congenital infections, three patients (7.7%) were diagnosed with ZIKV, nine (23.1%) with cytomegalovirus, nine (23.1%) with toxoplasmosis, and 18 (46.1%) with congenital syphilis. The three cases of ZIKV showed calcification in brain imaging tests, signs of arthrogryposis, excess occipital skin and irritability, characterizing the typical phenotype of ZIKV infection. Conclusion: Most cases of congenital infection had severe neurological lesions, particularly the cases of ZIKV, which can cause neurodevelopmental delays and sequelae in these infants throughout early childhood. Keywords: Microcephaly; Congenital Infection; Zika Virus


The decline in neighbourhood quality results in neighbourhood dissatisfaction which contributes the mobility intention among households. This study aims to investigate the mobility intention among families of low and medium income group in Penang and to examine the potential of neighbourhood attributes in improving their lives by determining the main factors of location as well as social and physical characteristics. The data from the surveys collect with ranking by the calculation of the importance index. The study found households preferred the safe neighbourhood with less crime rate, enough parking spaces, and good security


For both student and professional design teams, the design and development process requires that collaborators build and retain knowledge through discussions, creating documents and sharing artifacts. Key to supporting these knowledge building activities is the development of an infrastructure that supports effective knowledge management. This paper presents the framework for an information management technology called DesignWebs, which assimilates the product structures from the evolving set of documents and discussions about an engineering artifact. A DesignWeb enables users to see evolving connections between concepts by using a navigable web-based interface that synthesizes the design knowledge from multiple sources of information.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


ABSTRACT A key area of interest is the way in which early years educators' perceptions about the concept of gender may influence their practice in relation to how children's ideas about gender might be supported and reinforced. However, this area has received little attention in the highly gender-segregated context of Pakistan. Understanding evidence-based issues related to gender in Pakistan is thus crucial to overcoming educational barriers. This article explored Pakistani female pre-primary teachers' perceptions and practices related to gender in the early years. Interview and observation data were collected with seven teachers in one urban, co-education school and were analysed thematically. Results indicated that teachers' perceptions reflect the complex and multifaceted dimensions of gender within the gradually shifting, but still traditional, cultures of Pakistani society. For the most part, female teachers' views are rooted in dominant patriarchal ideologies, for example, of boys as active and assertive and girls as passive and quiet. However, in a few instances such as in children's academic performance and play, their perceptions reflect attempts to push gender boundaries which challenge patriarchal ideologies. Teachers' gender perceptions have significant implications for young children's development and understanding of gender roles in Pakistan.


Fabry-Anderson disease is a lysosomal storage disease caused by deficiency of the enzyme alpha-galactosidase. This enzymatic defect results in the accumulation of glycosphingolipid into different lines cells. Usually the deficiency is complete, resulting in a multisystem disorder, with injury in different organs, predominantly heart, kidney and nervous system. However, in some patients the enzymatic deficit is partial and causes diverse clinical variants of the disease (renal or cardiac variety), this cause a difficult diagnostic and the absence of real epidemiology data. This review is about the epidemiology, the metabolic defect of this disease, it's molecular and genetics bases, the different forms of clinical presentation and the enzyme replacement therapy.


Demographic analysis indicated the preponderance of adolescents and young men from workers' families. Analyzing the distribution of young men by follow-up groups showed that the largest number of young men in the workers' families belong to Group 2 (61.3%), those in the employees' families to Group 3 (46.7%). Analyzing the follow-up groups by the level of education revealed as follows: the higher level of education is, the more attention the young men pay to their health. The lowest medical education was noted in follow-up Group 3. Most adolescents belong to the basic group of physical fitness (88.3%), 6.7% in the preparatory group; 3.7%; in the special one. 1.3% need therapeutic exercises. At the same time, assessing exercise tolerance (88.3%) indicated an excellent physical development only in 9%, good, satisfactory, and bad physical development in 53.6, 32.4, and 5.1%, respectively.


ABSTRACT The digital transformation taking place in all areas of life has led to a massive increase in digital data – in particular, related to the places where and the ways how we live. To facilitate an exploration of the new opportunities arising from this development the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP) has been set-up. This enabling instrument represents a virtual environment that combines open access to multi-source data repositories with dedicated data processing, analysis and visualisation functionalities. Moreover, it includes mechanisms for the development and sharing of technology and knowledge. After an introduction of the underlying methodical concept, this paper introduces four selected use cases that were carried out on the basis of U-TEP: two technology-driven applications implemented by users from the remote sensing and software engineering community (generation of cloud-free mosaics, processing of drone data) and two examples related to concrete use scenarios defined by planners and decision makers (data analytics related to global urbanization, monitoring of regional land-use dynamics). The experiences from U-TEP's pre-operations phase show that the system can effectively support the derivation of new data, facts and empirical evidence that helps scientists and decision-makers to implement improved strategies for sustainable urban development.


This paper introduces a rule-based classification of single-word and compound verbs into a statistical machine translation approach. By substituting verb forms by the lemma of their head verb, the data sparseness problem caused by highly-inflected languages can be successfully addressed. On the other hand, the information of seen verb forms can be used to generate new translations for unseen verb forms. Translation results for an English to Spanish task are reported, producing a significant performance improvement.


ABSTRACT An international survey of geoscience education has been carried out jointly by UNESCO and the International Geoscience Education Organisation (IGEO) to address the question of 'How does school-level Earth science education compare across the globe? The survey gathered data from experts in 51 countries, comprising more than half the global population. Most countries (75%) had national standards covering Earth science but these were not followed or are absent in more than half the countries surveyed. Only around 25% of the countries with standardised assessments have Earth science-specific questions. Most teachers of Earth science are non-specialist teachers, whilst support of these teachers through courses and professional development is generally low, with very little financial support provided. Earth science teaching materials are reported to be generally of moderate to poor quality. However, there is good support globally for informal Earth science education and there are enthusiastic groups of educators attempting to address the rather bleak formal education situation. Strategies being used include the publication of an international syllabus with free-to-download supporting textbooks, websites of high-quality interactive teaching materials, national champions promoting interactive geoscience education, and global support for these initiatives.


Reaction of Ph2PCl with R(NH2)n (n = 1, 2 or 4) in the presence of NEt3 affords a
series of mono-, di-, tetra- and octadentate (phosphino)amines, {Ph2PN(H)}nR or
{(Ph2P)2N}nR (n =1, 2 or 4; R = functionalised aromatic group bearing methyl, keto,
ester, ether, vinyl or thiazole substituents). Oxidation of these new (phosphino)amines
with sulfur, selenium or hydrogen peroxide yields the corresponding phosphorus(V)
compounds. Mixed phosphorus(III)/phosphorus(V) compounds containing P(III) and
E donor centres are also described. The coordination chemistry of these new ligands
towards various transition-metal centres (e.g. ruthenium, rhodium, palladium,
platinum and gold) have been extensively studied. Thermal C–H activation of
[PtMe2{PPh2N(H)R}2] or [RhCl2(η5-C5Me5){Ph2PN(H)R}] affords first examples of
orthometallated (phosphino)amine complexes containing a five-membered ring M–P–N–C–C metalloring. Characterisation of a number of these novel compounds was
achieved using single crystal X-ray analysis, revealing, in many cases, the presence of
an intramolecular N–H···O hydrogen bond. [Continues.]


Double circuit transmission lines are frequently subjected to a variety of technical problems from the perspective of protection engineering. These problems are mainly due to the mutual coupling effects between adjacent circuits of the line. A new fault location approach for double circuit transmission lines is introduced. It depends only on the data extracted from one end of the line. This practically facilitates implementing and developing this approach, as it needs no information from the other end. The approach is based on modifying the apparent impedance method using modal transformation. Depending on modal transformation the coupled equations of the transmission line are converted into decoupled ones. This greatly eliminates the mutual effects resulting in an accurate estimation for the fault distance in a straightforward manner. Also, the effects of prefault currents, charging currents, and the unknown fault resistance on the estimation accuracy are compensated. The proposed approach was tested via digital simulation using ATP-EMTP in conjunction with MATLAB. Applied test results corroborate the superior performance of the proposed approach.


The gene encoding the regulatory subunit (RKA1) of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) of Yarrowia lipolytica was isolated to analyze the role of the PKA pathway in the dimorphic transition of the fungus. The gene encoded a protein of 397 amino acids that exhibits significant homology to fungal PKA regulatory subunits. Attempts to disrupt the gene by double homologous recombination, or the Pop-in Pop-out technique, were unsuccessful. The gene could be mutated only in merodiploids constructed with an autonomous replicating plasmid. Loss of the plasmid occurred with growth under nonselective conditions in the whole population of merodiploids carrying the mutation in the plasmid, but in merodiploids with the mutation at the chromosome, a resistant population prevailed. These data suggest that RKA1 is essential in Y. lipolytica. cAMP addition inhibited the dimorphic transition of the parental strain, but merodiploids carrying several copies of RKA1 were more resistant to cAMP. These results, and the observation that RKA1 was upregulated in mycelial cells, indicate that an active PKA pathway promotes yeast-like growth and opposes mycelial development. This behavior is in contrast to that of Candida albicans, where the PKA pathway favors hyphal growth.


Systematics and taxonomy of bats is based in part on the morphological characteristics of the teeth and dental formulas.  However, sometimes dental abnormalities appear that involve changes in the shape and number of teeth which can lead to erroneous taxonomic identifications.  Numerous cases of dental anomalies have been reported for all groups of mammals, especially bats, the group with the most dental anomalies reported.  This note presents a rare case of bilateral hyperdontia in Carollia brevicauda , for which only cases of oligodontia had previously been registered.  The dental anomaly was found in a male specimen of silky short-tailed bat from the middle basin Rio Guayuriba, Acacias, Meta, Colombia.  The unusual individual shows an additional incisor annexed to each normal external incisor in the maxilla, with separate alveoli, for a total of 6 upper incisors, two more than normal.  The extra teeth have a morphology similar to the external incisors characteristic of the species, short and rounded, and are located between the canine and the second (external) upper incisor on each side of the head.  No other specimen among 66 individuals of the same species showed a dental anomaly.  This is the first record of bilateral hyperdontia for C. brevicauda .  This dental anomaly may be due to an isolated mutation in this individual, because no other specimens with this type of anomaly were found in the study area.


A broad zone of intra-plate volcanism occurs for some 3000 km along eastern Australia. Mafic lavas dominate, and include the following types (with frequency % occurrence, based on 1757 analyses): Leucitites (21), melilitites, nephelinites, and analcimites (5-4), basanites (12-7), alkali basalts (7-0), ne- hawaiites and hawaiites (44-4), transitional basalts and Ol-tholeiites (17-4), and Q-tholeiites (11-0). These lavas are erupted through a wide variety of crustal-tectonic environments, from Proterozoic to Mesozoic. Marked differences in chemistry exist between the lavas erupted from central volcano provinces (in which most 'evolved' lava types occur) and lava-field provinces, the former exhibiting greater isotopic variability and evidence for more extensive crystal fractionation (AFC). More evolved lava types include mugearites, benmoreites, icelandites, peralkaline and non-peralkaline trachytes and phonolites, comendites, low-silica and high-silica rhyolites. Marked regional differences exist with respect to distribution of various lava types; northern Queensland and Tasmania, for example, apparently have very few strongly evolved lavas, the latter region also containing a disproportionately high percentage of nephelinites. Trace element geochemistry of the mafic lavas is very variable, but typically continental; the lavas are enriched in incompatible elements, but enrichment varies greatly, being extreme in the leucitites, melilitites, and nephelinites, and slight (relative to MORB) in certain Q-tholeiites. It is shown that the patterns of the more extreme incompatible element enrichments are consistent with recent work on extraction of small melt fractions. Nevertheless, marked source inhomogeneities are indicated by the data, believed to be lithospheric; arc-modified lithosphere is suggested as a source for at least some lava field tholeiites. It is clear, however, that the majority of lavas have been modified by some degree of low-medium pressure crystal fractionation processes (olivine ±augite ± plagioclase ± Fe-Ti oxides). The critical role of fractional crystallization is even more apparent in the chemistry of the intermediate and silicic lavas, which exhibit dual patterns of progressive and ultimately extreme element enrichment (e.g., Pb, Th) and depletion (e.g., Mg, V, Ni, Cr, Sr, Ba, Eu). These patterns are readily modelled by Rayleigh fractionation, but require elevated K values, appropriate to silicic magmas; continually varying Ks are also indicated by some data sets. The mafic lavas exhibit a wide, but continuous variation of isotopic compositions, there being marked regional differences, but with the leucitite exception, no particular compositional ranges characterize particular compositional types. Correlations are observed between Sr, Nd, and to a less extent Pb isotopic compositions with, for example, Bh/Th, Ba/Nb, and mg-ratios. Much of the observed geochemical-isotope data, excepting the most undersaturated lavas, can be modelled in terms of AFC processes, utilizing upper and lower crustal models. The isotopic data of the alkaline Tasmanian lavas are distinctive and are interpreted as asthenospheric; these compositions, and those of rare magnesian alkaline lavas from elsewhere in the region, suggest a mixed mantle source containing a component approaching the 'St. Helena-type'. The leucitites have a marked DUPAL isotopic signature, and it is noted that these occur above an interpreted Proterozoic rift system, suggesting a lithospheric source. Isotopic and geochemical data for the trachytes and low-silica rhyolites are consistent with AFC processes, with variable assimilation, modelled in terms of upper crustal components. The high-silica rhyolites are isotopically distinctive, and are interpreted as local upper crustal melts, but modified by subsequent crystal-liquid fractionation.