Menstrual disorder is a common fact includes menstrual irregularity, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, oligomenorrhea, polymenorrhea and other related symptoms. Realizing the fact, the present investigation was carried out to determine the prevalence of menstrual disorders among female overweight and obese students and their association with different life style factors. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 70 overweight students from Patuakhali science and Technology University, Bangladesh through self-administered structural questionnaires. The data were collected on hemoglobin level (g/dl); menstrual pattern viz. menstrual cycle length, duration and flow; lifestyle factors including junk food consumption and dietary pattern. The statistical test was carried out using SPSS V16. The hemoglobin level test ensured that 20% students were non-anemic, 44.3% were mild anemic and 35.7 % were moderate anemic and the mean hemoglobin level was 10.12g/dL. The most commonly observed menstrual disorders among students were dysmenorrhea (47.1%), irregular menstruation (11.4%), menorrhagia (1.4%) and oligomenorrhea (11%). It was observed that 1.4% had scanty flow, 65.7% had normal flow whereas 32.9% had heavy flow of blood. However, the mean flow was 31.6ml. The habit of junk food consumption was found in 88.6% of the respondents and 24.3% of the students practice dieting. Additionally, the respondents who didn't consume junk foods had regular cycle length although about 88.6% students had regular menstruation cycle and 78.2% had normal duration of flow. Most of the respondents were in moderate dietary diversity score (10.5%) because they maintain a diet chart. The hemoglobin levels ensured that 80% students were found clinically anemic. Thus the study concluded that obesity made the students susceptible to anemia.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2018, 4(3): 259-266


Since the 1980s, prosperity gospel Christianity has exploded in its size and influence, with global television ministries like Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Daystar Television Network, and The Word Network expanding the reach of the American-born religion to every nation. Most popularly called the Faith movement many may recognize this form of Christianity by a variety of other labels, such as the Gospel of Wealth and Health, Word of Faith, Prosperity Theology, Name it and Claim it, Seed-Faith, Abundant Life, or the more derisive Blab it and Grab it. Most observers associate the Faith movement with two teachings: first, God grants all his faithful followers physical health and financial prosperity; second, believers claim their divine right to wealth and health through positive confession, financial offerings, and the persistent faith that God must fulfill his promises. Promises of total transformation, concern over exploitation, and controversies over Biblical interpretation have made the prosperity gospel a topic of scholarly and popular interest. This article explores the history of the prosperity gospel, with particular emphasis on understanding the largest and most visible of these traditions, the Faith movement. Throughout, I will highlight scholarly literature critical for understanding the contemporary and historic development of the prosperity gospel and ministries that have coalesced around its optimistic message. As I explore relevant works on New Thought, African American religions, and the Faith movement, I hope to provide insight into central questions, possible pitfalls, and under-investigated dimensions of the American prosperity gospel, and finally to gesture towards fruitful avenues for future inquiry.


The present paper describes the dependency of jitter variance on the PLL normalized noise bandwidth, bL, applying a linearized model of a PLL. The timing circuit consists of a square-law device, a pre-filter, and a PLL arranged in tandem. The transmission systems are PAM, ASK, and QAM for a root roll-off bandlimiting scheme. An additive white Gaussian noise exists at the receive filter input The pre-filter and PLL are referred to as the extractor. The SN and NN components of jitter variance are proportional to bL, whereas the SS component is proportional to the square of bL. The mechanism of this discrepancy is clarified through a detailed discussion of the relationships among the jitter source PSD, the extractor transfer function characteristics, and the jitter PSD. This proportional relation holds for any transmission system, any SNR, and any roll-off factor considered herein.


This article proposes that the 'teaching/practice schools' formally affiliated to initial teacher education programmes at universities, can be utilised more optimally as research sites by student teachers. The argument is put forward with reference to the role that such schools have played historically in teacher education in the United States (US), and more recently, in the successful Finnish teacher education system, in which research is highly valued as a requisite part of a teaching qualification. The authors propose that the single component of these schools, which has historically distinguished them from schools for work integrated learning (WIL), is that they are also research spaces and have retained some of the 'lab' character of earlier schools, such as the one established by John Dewey. In such schools, the authors argue, students learn to be reflective practitioners by positioning themselves as researchers, who reflect on practice in a research-rich environment. In a pilot study, the authors found that university and school personnel hold different views about research in the schools. The article recommends that careful consideration be given to the research function in these public schools as part of teacher training. Keywords : activity systems; Dewey; experimental schools; Finland; lab schools; practice schools; practitioner research;reflective practice; teacher education; teaching schools


Human Resources (HR) is a very valuable asset or large investment that will become the main determinant of an organization or business. The right Human Resource Management (HR) for an organization or company will be a key factor and achieve maximum success. Excellent companies have strong human resources who can compete in the world and bring more success to the company. To increase the output to be achieved in a company, in this case the Probolinggo Port Authority and Harbormaster Office, it is necessary to pay attention to the discipline of its employees. Such as making KIP so that all employees can complete their tasks on time and according to what the company wants. The Probolinggo Port Authority and Harbormaster Office need to increase the knowledge of its employees to increase knowledge and experience in the work that the employee does. It is necessary to have regular training in 1 month in order to get maximum results. The Probolinggo Port Authority and Harbormaster Office need to create strict regulations, so that employees can obey the rules and not be careless in doing a job. And if the employee commits a violation, then there are consequences that must be accepted by the perpetrator to make the perpetrator more deterrent and more thorough and disciplined in his work.


During hemorrhagic shock, increased uptake of NH3 from the gut with inadequate compensation by the liver results in hyperammonemia. The effect on brain metabolism of acute hyperammonemia alone, as compared with normocapnic hypoxia, was investigated in 11 pentobarbital anesthetized (30 mg/kg) dogs. These animals were paralyzed (pancuronium bromide) and artificially ventilated to maintain the end-tidal fraction of FETCO2) CO2 constant. Arterial blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were obtained following control, 30-minute hypoxia, 60-minute NH3 infusion, and 30-minute hypoxia combined with NH3 infusion. These were analyzed for PaO2, PCO2, pH, and NH3. CSF samples were further analyzed for glutamine, urea, lactate, pyruvate, and citrate. There were no significant changes in urea or citrate. Glutamine, lactate, and the lactate/pyruvate ratio were significantly elevated by hypoxia and by NH3 infusion. (formula: see text). Thus, an acute NH3 load is capable of disrupting aerobic glycolytic metabolism. Hence, hyperammonemia may affect brain function during shock.


2995 BACKGROUND: Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a common cytogenetic abnormality in ALL and found in 25% to 50% in adult patients and 3% to 5% in paediatric patients. It is associated with poor outcome in children as well as in adults. This preliminary study is reported to define the frequency of prevalence of the BCR-ABL fusion subtypes in our paediatric ALL patients by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and to ascertain the prognostic significance of t9:22 translocation, rate of complete remission and probability of event-free, overall survival according to standard prognostic factors and type of treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty paediatric ALL patients (2-15 years age) treated at our center between 2004 and 2007 comprised the study group. The diagnosis of patients was based on typical morphological criteria of marrow aspirate and biopsy specimens. ALL patients were treated with BFM induction regimen prednisone, vincristine, daunorubicine, asparaginase, methotrexate followed by courses of consolidation, CNS prophylaxis, reinduction and maintenance therapy. RESULTS: Among the patients included in this study, BCR-ABL fusion oncogene was present in 15 of 60 patients (25%). High incidence of BCR-ABL fusion oncogene was observed in paediatric patients as against reported from west where the frequency was 3-5%. The age of patients range from 2-15 years (median, 7 years).Comparison of clinical features between BCR/ABL positive and negative children showed no significant differences regarding WBC, percentage of blasts, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly and age. The type of breakpoint (m-BCR/p190: n= 10; M-BCR/p210: n=6) showed no correlation with clinical parameters. BCR-ABL+ patients were also characterized by higher median white bloodcell (WBC) counts (6.7x103/µLversus 74x103//µL P = .0001). A statistically significant difference in the initial responserate to induction therapy was observed. A complete remission(CR) was achieved in 36 of 45 (80%) BCR-ABL- patients and 10 of 15 (66%) BCR-ABL+ patients (P = .001). With the available therapeutic protocol, the presence of a BCR-ABL fusion predicted (P = .001)a lower survival. The Kaplan Meier estimate of event free survival (EFS) of BCR/ABL negative ALL patients was 75% at 2 years, whereas EFS of positive patients was 25%. Multivariate analysis confirmed WBC count and BCR-ABL resultand failure to achieve complete remission within four week as independent prognostic factors CONCLUSION: This study emphasizes that BCR-ABL gene fusion is an independent prognostic factor in ALL patients. High prevalence of this genetic identity was observed in our patients as compared to other reports. Identification and characterization of this genetic entity in ALL at diagnosis is crucial for understanding the nature of adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and for deciding optimal treatment


The characterization of time‐dependent brittle creep, promoted by chemically active pore fluids, is fundamental to our understanding of the long‐term evolution and dynamics of the Earth's crust. Here we report results from a study of the influence of temperature on both short‐term strength and time‐dependent brittle creep in three sandstones under triaxial stress conditions. We show that an increase in temperature from 20° to 75°C significantly enhances stress corrosion cracking in all three sandstones, leading to (1) a systematic reduction in strength during constant strain rate experiments and (2) an increase by several orders of magnitude in brittle creep strain rates during stress‐stepping creep experiments. We also show that a conventional creep experiment performed at 75°C exhibits a qualitatively similar three‐stage brittle creep curve as that observed at ambient temperature. Extrapolation of our results suggests that temperature is likely to be the dominant influence on the evolution of creep strain rate with depth in the shallow crust.


In HeLa and HEp2, cell lines derived from human carcinoma, application of cytochalasin D (CD) is followed in minutes by generalized cell contraction and zeiosis. Simultaneously, actin, myosin and tropomyosin, mostly from cables, become relocated in condensed masses. Most of these occupy the bases of the zeiotic knobs protruding at the cell surface. In contrast to most nontransformed cell types, in these cells both the protrusions and the contractile proteins are concomitantly translocated centripetally to the cell apex to form an aggregate of zeiotic knobs and a subjacent, membrane-associated, actin-based microfilamentous cap containing tropomyosin and myosin. The redistribution of these contractile proteins is antagonized by pretreatment with inhibitors of energy metabolism, or with cyclic adenine nucleotide. The centripetal movement appears to be guided by microtubules, which tend a radiate toward apical aggregates. Under the influence of CD 10 nm filaments associate in bundles. These processes are rapidly reversed after withdrawal of CD. The changes in distribution of actin, myosin and tropomyosin in relation to cell surface structures are considered in terms of the hypothesis that CD induces contraction of the microfilament apparatus of the cortex which, at least in part, remains tethered to plasma membrane.


There is a paucity of literature characterizing response to varying levels of feed intake in goats. A controlled experiment was designed at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) with purebred goats, to measure feed intake, and its subsequent effects on growth of different goat genotypes when raised intensively. Two goat populations, the Spanish (SP) and the Tennessee Stiff-legged (TS) were fed three levels: 100% or ad libitum, 85% and 70% of ad libitum, of the same ration containing 180 g CP/kg and 65% ME. Daily feed intake, bi-weekly growth weights, orts and faeces were collected until yearling age. Feed intake, in intermediate sized SP (67.7 kg), was equal to that of small sized TS (66.7 kg), at 13 months. Feed efficiency calculated for SP and TS breeds, respectively, from weaning to six months was 0.122 vs. 0.167 kg and from 9 to 13 months was 0.088 vs. 0.104 kg), and differed significantly from each other. This implies that the TS breed was more efficient in converting feed into weight gain compared to the SP breed. Knowledge of the interaction between feed intake, genotype and subsequently, body composition changes will help characterize growth curves in goats.


Hand ischemia is a rare complication of diabetes and some other chronic vascular diseases. Critical hand ischemia causes painful limbs and disability and requires urgent revascularization. There have been a few reports of successful trans-brachial percutaneous angioplasty in the upper extremity in the radial or ulnar artery. Herein, we report the results of the endovascular treatment of a 68-year-old diabetic patient with an ischemic hand ulcer due to the severe stenotic lesions of the infra-brachial arteries. The patient underwent successful angioplasty via the retrograde trans-femoral technique to avoid the drawbacks. At the first week of post-procedural follow-up, the patient's finger was warm with a well–healing wound and reduced pain. In the next two months, he had no complaint of pain or active ulceration; the ulcer was well healed, and the hand was warm. The present case shows that history taking and physical examination should be followed by upper-extremity arteriography for the evaluation of hand ischemia. The trans-femoral approach enabled us to perform percutaneous catheterization for both diagnostic and interventional purposes. Not only is this strategy useful even for the severe stenotic disease of the distal parts of below-the-elbow arteries but also it avoids the unpleasant complications of antegrade brachial cannulation.


Abstract: Over the past two centuries, perennial grass cover has declined and shrub density has increased in many arid grasslands. These changes in vegetation, characteristic of desertification, are thought to have occurred often following prolonged periods of intense grazing by domestic livestock. At many such sites, however, the subsequent removal of livestock grazing for up to 20 years has not resulted in increased grass cover. The apparent stability of vegetation following the cessation of livestock grazing has led to the hypothesis that desertified arid grasslands exist in alternate stable states of either grassland or shrubland over timescales relevant to management. To better understand the timescale of grass recovery in historic arid grasslands dominated by shrubs, we examined the vegetation at two nearby desertified sites that differed in the length of time since livestock removal. There was little difference between the site ungrazed for 20 years and the shrub‐dominated vegetation on the other side of the exclusion fence. At a site ungrazed for 39 years there was significantly higher perennial grass cover inside the exclusion fence than outside, and nearly all the increase had occurred over the past 20 years. These data suggest that there may be time lags of 20 years or more in the response of perennial grasses to removal of livestock in historic grassland ecosystems dominated by shrubs.


Bartter's syndrome is a constellation of symptoms characterized by hyper‐reninemic hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, elevated renin and aldosterone, low or normal blood pressure, and hyperplasia of the juxtaglomerular apparatus. So far, five gene mutations in proteins regulating the sodium chloride transport in the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop have been described. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the presentation of hypomagnesemia in some of these patients remains unclear. Claudins are a family of transmembranous proteins within the tight junctions that have been shown to be important for the paracellular movement of ions. Mutations in claudin‐16 have been identified in patients with familial hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis. To test the hypothesis that mutations in claudin genes may be involved in the altered magnesium and calcium transport in Bartter's syndrome, we began to examine the genes of claudins known to be present in renal tubules in four pediatric patients with Bartter's syndrome. All four patients were African Americans with hypomagnesemia and hypercalciuria. In this study, we did not find any mutation in the coding regions of claudin‐2, ‐3, ‐4, ‐7, ‐8, ‐10, ‐11, or ‐16 genes in these patients. However, all patients had a single nucleotide substitution of C for T at the position of 451 of claudin‐8 gene sequence that changes amino acid residue from serine to proline at the position of 151 in the second extracellular domain of claudin‐8 protein. The significance of this known single nucleotide polymorphism remains to be determined.


The performance of simulated annealing is compared to that of other Monte Carlo methods for optimization. Our experiments show that these other methods often perform better


Quantum correlations in observables of multiple systems not only are of fundamental interest, but also play a key role in quantum information processing. As a signature of these correlations, the violation of Bell inequalities has not been demonstrated with multipartite hybrid entanglement involving both continuous and discrete variables. Here we create a five-partite entangled state with three superconducting transmon qubits and two photonic qubits, each encoded in the mesoscopic field of a microwave cavity. We reveal the quantum correlations among these distinct elements by joint Wigner tomography of the two cavity fields conditional on the detection of the qubits and by test of a five-partite Bell inequality. The measured Bell signal is 8.381±0.038, surpassing the bound of 8 for a four-partite entanglement imposed by quantum correlations by 10 standard deviations, demonstrating the genuine five-partite entanglement in a hybrid quantum system.


A 22-year-old woman was admitted unwell with headache, fever and encephalopathy. She was born in the UK to parents from Hong Kong. She had a past history of asthma, perennial rhinitis and atopic dermatitis for which she took a budesonide 100 μg turbohaler and beclomethasone nasal spray. Three weeks before admission she had returned from holiday in Valencia and shortly after her return developed a 'flu-like illness followed by worsening asthma symptoms. Despite increasing usage of her corticosteroid turbohaler to eight puffs a day, her cough and wheeze worsened. Her GP prescribed a 5-day course of prednisolone 50 mg daily (approximately 1 mg/kg). Her asthma symptoms improved but she developed a headache 2 days after finishing the corticosteroid course. Over the next 5 days she became more unwell with worsening headache …


The growth of mobile banking in developing countries started capturing the attention of the researcher's business entrepreneurs, planners and governments for better utilization and extension of services to a large section of society. The research in mobile banking applications and its usability is growing very fast. The rapid transition and rollover of banks' branches towards core banking solution is yielding the transformation, evolution and integration of different entities to collaborate and integrate the business strategy on the various fronts such as micro finance institutions, postal services, insurance, telecom service providers etc. This paper is an attempt to study the mobile money order evolution, present status of Indian Postal Money Order, analyse the trend and suggest the approaches for increasing the efficiency of Indian Postal Money Order by using mobile banking as medium to integrate banking sectors with India Post. The proposed mobile money order for India Post would enhance the efficiency of present money order in terms of number of factors such as business growth, convenience, reduced transaction costs, social and economic developments and many more.


abstract:The audience for the performances by Dickens's characters in Our Mutual Friend is usually taken to be the reader. This article argues that this relationship is inscribed in the novel by the character-audience relationship within the fiction, which draws us into reconsidering the nature of spectatorship in our reading and in our lives. Those who enable the rule of money would appropriate the power of the audience for themselves and make others helpless spectators of their own lives. Society seems caught in an eternal present that deprives characters of choice and change. Dickens unlocks time through his use of wonder, which encompasses both realism and fantasy, and which shapes the two central romance narratives. In each of them, a triangular relationship between the lovers and a character acting as a catalyst (one benign, the other malign) affords a new temporal perspective that makes change possible, along with a new sense of individual and social identity. For the reader, the two perspectives are incompatible, and since each involves and questions our own spectatorship in the very act of reading, we are driven to choose for ourselves. We must make a decision about time and performance that will have real consequences in our lives.


Understanding spatial and temporal variability patterns of crop yield and their relationship with soil properties can provide decision support to optimize crop management. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the spatial and temporal variability of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) lint yield over different growing seasons; (2) evaluate the relationship between spatial and temporal yield patterns and apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa). This study was conducted in eight production fields, six with 50 ha and two with 25 ha, on the Southern High Plains (SHP) from 2000 to 2003. Cotton yield and ECa data were collected using a yield monitor and an ECa mapping system, respectively. The amount and pattern of spatial and temporal yield variability varied with the field. Fields with high variability in ECa exhibited a stronger association between spatial and temporal yield patterns and ECa, indicating that soil properties related to ECa were major factors influencing yield variability. The application of ECa for site-specific management is limited to fields with high spatial variability and with a strong association between yield spatial and temporal patterns and ECa variation patterns. For fields with low variability in yield, spatial and temporal yield patterns might be more influenced by weather or other factors in different growing seasons. Fields with high spatial variability and a clear temporal stability pattern have great potential for long-term site-specific management of crop inputs. For unstable yield, however, long-term management practices are difficult to implement. For these fields with unstable yield patterns, within season site-specific management can be a better choice. Variable rate application of water, plant growth regulators, nitrogen, harvest aids may be implemented based on the spatial variability of crop growth conditions at specific times.


The article provides a theoretical generalization and proposes a new solution to the scientific problem relating to the improvement of management accounting of the main business processes of trading enterprises. An important component of management accounting reporting is budget execution report, built on the basis of accounting data on expenses for the main business processes. The proposed form of the "Expense budget execution report prepared by the purchasing department" allows obtaining reliable and timely information to optimize costs and evaluate the effectiveness of the structural units of trading enterprises. For each business process of trading enterprises, there are inherent indicators that characterize the effectiveness of their activities. It is proved that in the management accounting system it is advisable to use both financial and non-financial indicators in absolute and relative terms. Taking into account the peculiarities of trade, a list of key financial (absolute, relative) and non-financial (absolute, relative) indicators for the business processes of procurement, transportation, storage, and sale of goods has been developed. This allows for the efficient use of a balanced scorecard to streamline operational processes, establish relationships, monitor, and regulate the operational activities of trading enterprises.


ABSTRACT Endoscopic placement of the plastic stent has been adopted as an initial treatment for chronic pancreatitis with pancreatic duct stricture. Stent fracture while attempting removal is one of the complications of stent exchange. The use of the unilateral-flange stent in these patients has never been reported. We investigated the outcomes associated with the use of this stent with regard to stent exchange and stent-related adverse events. From 2011 to 2015, 9 patients with chronic pancreatitis and main pancreatic duct (MPD) stricture treated with the unilateral-flange stent were included. Eleven endoscopic treatment sessions, 53 endoscopic stent deployments or exchange procedures were analyzed. Technical success rate was 100%. Forty-eight stents were exchanged on a regular basis in 1 to 6-month intervals. Another 5 stent exchange procedures were urgently performed due to stent obstruction and caused pancreatitis (n=2), symptomatic external stent migration (n=2), and concurrent cholangitis (n=1). The rate of symptomatic migration was 3.7%. The mean duration for stent exchange was 29 minutes and no stent fracture occurred during the procedure. Of 11 endoscopic treatment sessions, 7 were successful, 3 were changed to the metallic stents, and 1 was lost to follow-up. According to this study, unilateral-flange stent placement for benign MPD stricture is technically feasible and effective. Stent removal during the exchange period is unchallenging and without stent fracture.


Combining international and domestic perspectives, this book analyzes the transformation of the Ottoman Empire over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It views privatization of state lands and the increase of domestic and foreign trade as key factors in the rise of a Muslim middle class, which, increasingly aware of its economic interests and communal roots, then attempted to reshape the government to reflect its ideals.


The introduction of systemic chemotherapy improved significantly the prognosis of osteosarcoma. Despite this success, approximately 30–40% of patients will relapse. Cytotoxic drugs have been shown to induce apoptosis in the target cells independent of their primary effects. The underlying molecular mechanisms and the intracellular mediators, however, are still largely unknown. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to identify drug‐regulated genes in osteosarcoma cells useful as prognostic factors and for the development of new therapeutic strategies. Using suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) the gene expression pattern of untreated Saos‐2 cells was compared to cells treated with cisplatin, methotrexate and doxorubicin, respectively. We identified 8 genes that are regulated >2‐fold in drug‐treated osteosarcoma cell lines. Expression of ferritin light chain, rhoA, inosine monophosphatdgehydrogenase II, ribonucleotide reductase M2, pro2000 and pro1859 were increased after drug treatment, whereas prohibitin and α‐actinin expressions were significantly downregulated. Differential expression of the identified genes was verified by Northern blot analysis of 3 different osteosarcoma cell lines. In addition, the effects on chemosensitivity of 4 selected genes was analyzed by overexpression of recombinant constructs in Saos‐2 cells and subsequent quantification of drug‐induced apoptosis. Overexpression of prohibitin and rhoA reduced significantly drug sensitivity to approximately 52% and 59% indicating a crucial role in the modulation of drug‐induced cell death. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The concentrations of free amino acids were measured in lithium-heparinat-plasma with a standardized quality controlled analytical procedure in 200 healthy persons (blood donors). The distribution of the measured values were statistically evaluated in the total group and differentiated in the male and female subcollective. The absolute total concentrations of the free amino acids vary in a broad range between 1.7 and 4.4 mmol/l. This large range is also seen for the single amino acid. In a new system for documentation and interpretation of analytical data the measured values are collected and mean, median, standard deviation, mini-max-range and 95% confidence interval are automatically computed. On this basis of data a physiological reference range is defined. The broad variability of the absolute concentrations is not found in the relative composition of the pattern. The relations of the amino acid concentrations which are important for the quality of the cellular support are very constant. Their importance is caused by the fact that only few different transport systems exist for at least 20 amino acids, which means that the different amino acids are competing at the same system for cellular uptake. The essential of the results in this study is that the liver guarantees the constancy of the physiological pattern also in cases where the exogenous supply differs from the characteristics of elimination of the single amino acid from blood. Only when the oxidative capacity of the liver is insufficient as in pathological states like infections pathological concentrations are found. In these cases the true change is undiscovered when the absolute concentrations are considered, because the insufficient functions of the liver causes initially high total concentrations. For the interpretation of an analysis of amino acids in blood plasma two main criteria are necessary: the total concentration of amino acid characterizes the quantitative support while the concentration pattern determines the quality of the cellular uptake.


In this project we examine the possibilities of bringing the gesture recognition to Windows Phone and Surface tablet devices by integrating Kinect to the aforementioned devices. We will demonstrate this by designing a physiotherapy application. In physiotherapy exercises, it is very important and critical to the patient to do the exercises as accurately as possible. So our physiotherapy application should have the ability to give feedback to the users in order for them to do the exercises correctly. For this purpose, we decided to render 3D arrows that show users how to adjust incorrectly positioned limbs. One way to do this is to use 3D animation on top of the skeleton image from the Kinect, so the user will know how and how much he or she should change the angle of the wrong joint to correct the position. This paper presents an approach for modeling shapes in an open source 3D application, Blender, and subsequently importing and animating those shapes in an interactive application created in the Microsoft XNA framework.


Introduction : Tumor metastasis significantly impacts the survival rate of gastric cancer (GC) patients. Increasing evidence has suggested that numerous microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with tumor metastasis and could be potential candidate cancer biomarkers or therapeutic targets. Materials and Methods : Early GC cases were collected and divided into two groups according to the lymphatic metastasis (LM) situation. The microarray analysis was carried out to screen out differentially expressed miRNAs in the two groups, which were further evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The roles of miR-1202 on GC cells were determined through cell growth assay, cell migration assay in vitro and pulmonary metastasis assay in the mouse model. Bioinformatics analysis was used to explore the potential mechanisms of miR-1202-mediated biological effects. Results : MiR-1202 was first identified to be the most differentially expressed miRNA in GC patients with metastasis and those without metastasis. The overexpression of miR-1202 promoted GC cell migration in vivo whereas the knockdown of miR-1202 suppressed this process. However, miR-1202 did not affect GC cell growth or cell cycle distribution. The overexpression of miR-1202 promoted pulmonary metastasis and colonization after the tail-vein injection of GC cells. Pathways related to cell adhesion, collagen fibril organization, and positive regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade might be involved in miR-1202-mediated biological effects. Conclusion : Our results demonstrated a positive role of miR-1202 in regulating GC cell metastasis. MiR-1202 might be developed as a novel biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for GC metastasis.


Cross flow and coolant maldistribution are the common design challenges for impingement cooling in modern gas turbine. This paper reports a novel multi-stage impingement cooling scheme for combustor liner. The design concept and general working mechanism are introduced in the Part I paper. This Part II paper presents the design flexibilities and optimization strategies. Conjugate heat transfer (CHT) analysis was conducted at a range of Reynolds numbers to assess the thermal performance, loss penalty, and the working mechanism behind. The results show that varying the jet hole diameter in each cooling stage can be an effective design optimization strategy in balancing the cooling requirement and loss penalty. Inter-stage bypass design is also another design flexibility offered by the multi-stage scheme to regulate the cooling air consumption at different stages. With these optimization strategies, the target surface temperature and local gradient can be effectively reduced with reasonable pressure loss with 50% reduction in the cooling air consumption compared to conventional single-stage impingement design. This multi-stage impingement concept can be practically applied to gas turbine combustor liner and turbine blade cooling.


: alpha-Latrotoxin, a main toxic component of the Latrodectus mactans tredecimguttatus venom is a large polypeptide with molecular weight of 130 KDa. A rapid method is suggested for isolating this protein using high-effective liquid chromatography on chromatograph FPLC ("Pharmacia", Sweden). The isolated protein does not differ from the previously described alpha-latrotoxin in the main physicochemical parameters as well as in physiological properties.


Protozoan communities at three beaches on the Cantabrian Sea were studied. Four stations along a transect of 150 m at each beach were chosen for this study. The following parameters were measured: temperature, pH, oxidation–reduction potential, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, granulometry and amount of organic matter. Four groups of protozoa (ciliates, non-dinoflagellate flagellates, dinoflagellates and sarcodines) were analysed for their abundance and diversity, as well as the influence of the measured parameters on the communities. Temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen were the main factors responsible for seasonal differences. Temperature increased at the beginning of spring and summer, coinciding with growth of the protozoan community. Flagellates and dinoflagellates increased during spring and early summer. The amount of organic matter subsequently rose. The final step of this succession was the development of the ciliate community. A comparison between the same areas in 1989 and in the present study was carried out.


The SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) results have influenced clinical practice but have also generated discussion regarding the validity, generalizability, and importance of the findings. Following the SPRINT primary results manuscript in 2015, additional results and analyses of the data have addressed these concerns. The primary objective of this article is to respond to key questions that have been raised.


Analytical expressions for the power spectral densities of intensity and frequency noise of single-mode semiconductor lasers operating in a regime of injection locking are derived by appropriately taking into account the spontaneous emission processes into the lasing modes of both the master and slave lasers. They show how the noise spectra of the slave are influenced by the value of the injected power, by the difference between the emission frequencies of the master and slave optical cavities, and how they are correlated to the noise properties of both the master and the free-running slave. In particular, the very low frequency part of the frequency noise of the slave turns out to coincide with that of the master within a certain frequency region whose range increases as the values of the injected signal does, too. We also present measurements of the power spectral densities obtained by means of an experimental apparatus similar to that described in [1] and show how the experimental results are accounted for by the present theory.


Tomato paste is processed in industrial factories by means of systems and equipment that are mostly made of metal (mainly steel AISI 304). A lifelong problem in producing tomato paste is the entering of heavy metals into the tomato paste due to the reaction between the tomato juice and the metal surface. Heavy metals, even in small quantities in tomato paste, endanger human health. Nano coating is widely considered among the best methods of control and prevention of corrosion. The aim of this research is to study the effect of Titanium Oxide (TiO2) nanoparticle coating in constructing corrosion-resistant equipment in tomato paste production. The steel samples AISI304 were covered with a thin layer of Titanium Oxide nanoparticle using electrophoretic. A corrosion simulator system was developed to measure the rate corrosion. The tests were conducted in a completely randomized factorial design with two factors and three replications. Tomato juice solution was tested in three temperature levels of 60, 70 and 80 °C and four coating voltages of 0, 10, 15 and 20 Volt. Results showed that Titanium Oxide nanoparticle coating significantly increased the corrosion resistance of AISI 304 steel in reacting with tomato juice. Increasing in temperature from 60 to 80 °C enhanced the rate of corrosion in all samples to 46.2%. Samples with coating voltages of 10, 15 and 20 Volt decreased the corrosion speed to 85.2%, 79% and 67.6%, respectively.


In this work, we propose a PRivAcy-Diversity-Aware Team Formation framework, namely PRADA-TF, that can be deployed based on the trust relationships between users in online social networks (OSNs). Our proposed PRADA-TF is mainly designed to reflect team members' domain expertise and privacy preserving preferences when a task requires a wide range of diverse domain expertise for its successful completion. The proposed PRADA-TF aims to form a team for maximizing its productivity based on members' characteristics in their diversity, privacy preserving, and information sharing. We leveraged a game theory called Mechanism Design in order for a mechanism designer as a team leader to select team members that can maximize the team's social welfare, which is the sum of all team members' utilities considering team productivity, members' privacy preserving, and potential privacy loss caused by information sharing. To screen a set of candidate teams in the OSN, we built an expert social network based on real coauthorship datasets (i.e., Netscience) with 1,590 scientists. We used the semi-synthetic datasets to construct a trust network based on a belief model called Subjective Logic and identified trustworthy users as candidate team members. Via our extensive simulation experiments, we compared the seven different TF schemes, including our proposed and existing TF algorithms, and analyzed the key factors that can significantly impact the expected and actual social welfare, expected and actual potential privacy loss, and team diversity of a selected team.


The box counting dimension is widely used for the image processing task. In this paper, The key problems involved in the computation of differential box counting are discussed, which are the range of linear scales and the precise number of boxes, etc, then the precise computing method for box counting dimension is presented. Experiments have been performed on three kinds of images, i.e., synthetic noise images, natural textured images and infrared smoke screen jamming images. The results show that, compared with the traditional differential box counting dimension, the proposed approach not only has more precise estimated value of fractal dimension, but also consumes less computational time.


Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common adult leukemia in the western world, remains an incurable B-cell malignancy. It is characterized by the accumulation of malignant mature B cells in the blood, lymph nodes, spleen and bone marrow. CLL cells display up-regulated B cell receptor (BCR) activation, which maintains B cell survival and proliferation through transmitting microenvironmental stimuli. Due to aberrant regulation of the BCR, CLL cells display constitutively activated survival and proliferation pathways, such as phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) and Bruton9s tyrosine kinase (BTK) pathways. Small molecules that target such kinases in the BCR pathway have shown significant clinical activity in CLL patients. The PI3K p110δ inhibitor, idelalisib, was granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA in relapsed CLL and the BTK inhibitor, ibrutinib, has received approval by FDA for treatment of relapsed CLL. However, patients still relapse on these therapies. Here we use pharmacologic and genetic approaches to further characterize the role of PI3K signaling in the leukemia pathogenesis in the CLL cell and in the microenvironment. We describe that a PI3K p110δ and p110γ inhibitor, IPI-145, which is in late stage clinical development, attenuates pro-survival signals in the OSU-CLL cell line and primary human and murine CLL cells and promotes apoptosis and downstream pathway inactivation in primary human and murine CLL cells in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. To examine the cytotoxicity of IPI-145 in normal immune cells, we incubated whole blood from CLL patients with 0.25-5 μM IPI-145 for 48 hours and analyzed by flow cytometry for absolute count of live CD3+ T cells, CD56+ NK cells and CD19+ B cells. T cells and NK cells were sensitive to IPI-145, displaying about 20% decrease in viability at concentrations greater than 0.5μM, however the B cell population showed about 50% decrease in viability. To specifically examine normal B cells, we isolated CD19+ B cells from healthy volunteer blood and incubated with 1 μM IPI-145 for 48 hours and observed no cytotoxicity, despite observing a significant decrease in CLL cells viability under the same conditions. Additionally, IPI-145 is highly effective at reducing downstream PI3K signaling in a B cell line with the ibrutinib resistance conferring BTK C481S mutation. Genetically we show that the PI3K p110δ-inactivating and the TCL1 leukemia murine models can be utilized to further explore the differential role of PI3K p110δ in leukemic cell and microenvironment. Our study indicates that systemic disruption of PI3K p110δ function in the TCL1 mouse significantly prevents spontaneous leukemia development, indicating that PI3K p110δ is a critical kinase for CLL disease initiation and expansion. Moreover, inactivation of PI3K p110δ in the microenvironment showed a dose dependent effect in delaying leukemia engraftment. This suggests that PI3K p110δ activity is also critical in the non-B cell compartment for leukemia progression. While our group has focused on the role of PI3K p110δ, we continue to examine the role of PI3K p110γ using the PI3K p110δ and p110γ inhibitor, IPI-145. This study provides solid rationale for ongoing clinical development of IPI-145 in CLL patients. Additionally, as IPI-145 can continue to inhibit the PI3K/AKT pathway in the setting of a C481S BTK mutation, it provides justification for clinical studies of this agent in this subset of patients. Citation Format: Amy J. Johnson, Shuai Dong, Daphne Guinn, Jason A. Dubovsky, Yiming Zhong, Amy Lehman, Jeff Kutok, Jennifer A. Woyach, John C. Byrd. Pharmacologic inhibition with IPI-145 and genetic inhibition of PI3K p110δ antagonizes intrinsic and extrinsic survival signals in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Targeting the PI3K-mTOR Network in Cancer; Sep 14-17, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(7 Suppl):Abstract nr B44.


The formation and reinforcement of autocratic ideology about the participation of youth in family decision-making are investigated in a secondary analysis of data from five nations which vary widely in cultural and institutional support for this belief: the U.S., Great Britain, West Germany, Mexico, and Italy. Parent-youth relations, education, residential patterns, and work settings were found to be related to autocratic ideology in each nation. Examination of autocratic and democratic family orientations in relation to ideological perspectives in other areas-politics, intergroup relations, education, and economics-indicated substantial consistency only among middle-class men.


In order to investigate the relative orientations of spiral galaxies in pairs, the distribution of the angle between the spin-vectors for a new sample of 40 binary spiral galaxies is determined. From this distribution it is found, contrary to an earlier result obtained by Helou (1984), that there is no indication of a correlation between the orientations of spiral galaxies in pairs. Also the distributions of the relative position angles for a sample of pairs are determined. The data disagree with a simple model for isolated pairs based on tidal torques. A division of the sample into isolated and less-isolated pairs suggests that this disagreement is due to insufficient dynamical isolation during galaxy formation. The magnitude of the orbital angular momentum is compared with that of the internal angular momentum of the galaxies for our sample as a whole. We find that the orbital angular momentum is typically 4 times larger than the internal angular momentum. This is interpreted as an indication that the pairs in this sample were not dynamically isolated at the time they formed and that this is the reason why no correlation between the spin-vectors is observed. We suggest that pairs for which the spin-vectors were correlated had low orbital angular momentum and have merged. Consequently, studying the relative orientation of the spin-vectors in present day binary spiral galaxies will not give strong constraints on the models for the origin of galactic angular momentum.


Aims/Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes following open biliary bypass for benign biliary and pancreatic diseases. Method Sixty-four patients (M: F=34:30) aged 15 to 89 years (median age: 54 years) underwent biliary bypass for benign diseases between 2001 and 2011. Indications for surgery were choledocholithiasis (n=18), chronic pancreatitis (n=18), iatrogenic bile duct injury (n=12), distal bile duct strictures (n=11), choledochal cyst (n=2) and other causes (n=3). Thirty-eight patients (60%) had prior surgical or endoscopic intervention. Results Sixty hepaticojejunostomies and four choledochoduodenostomies were performed. Additional procedures during the same surgery included cholecystectomy (n=25), drainage of pseudocyst (n=4), gastroenterostomy (n=4), pancreatic biopsy (n=4), liver biopsy (n=4), cyst gastrostomy (n=2) and pancreatic necrosectomy (n=2). Postoperative complications were encountered in 12 patients – bile leak (n=2), bleeding (n=2), chest infection (n=2), MI (n =1), superficial surgical site infection (n=4) and superficial wound dehiscence (n=1). Three patients required further surgery–bile leak (n=1), bleeding (n=2). Two patients (3%) died of organ failure-one following biliary bypass for cholangitis; and one following ligation of a bleeding pseudo aneurysm. Five patients developed recurrent cholangitis requiring oral antibiotics. Conclusion In the era of minimally invasive options, open biliary bypass remains a very effective, reliable and safe option in the management of benign conditions of the biliary system and pancreas.


High-frame-rate and high-resolution 3D medical ultrasound imaging imposes high requirements on the involved processing hardware. Several thousands of analog signals need to be processed in many steps to obtain a final image. Fully digital beamforming makes it possible to achieve high image quality coupled with extreme flexibility. Unfortunately, digital beamforming imposes staggering requirements on main memory bandwidth caused by the loading of off-chip stored beamforming delays. In this paper we present the first fully-digital integrated beamformer that is able to compute 269.3 M focal points (FP) per second from 10 000 receive channels, and which does not require off-chip main memory. This is enabled by our novel delay approximation circuit that exploits temporal correlation between subsequent computations and thereby allows to compute the delays for beamforming online. To estimate the area and power requirements, the complete system was designed and the beamformer core was evaluated for a 130 nm CMOS technology. The estimated complexity per channel is 37.2 kGE and the corresponding power dissipation was estimated with 48 mW.


In this paper, we prove that the norm closure of all linear combinations of two unitary operators is equal to the norm closure of all invertible operators in B(H). We apply the results to frame representations and give some simple and alternative proofs of the propositions in "P. G. Casazza, Every frame is a sum of three (but not two) orthonormal bases-and other frame representations, J. Fourier Anal. Appl., 4(6)(1998), 727-732."


3 Abstract: Four different levels of antioxidant (Oxygun ) at 0, 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg were added to the ® ground, processed viz, cooked, autoclaved, extruded and raw hatchery waste. Samples were stored for 50 days and analyzed for peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid value (TBA) and free fatty acids (FFA) with 10- days of storage interval. Linear increase was observed in PV, FFA and TBA values of all treatments throughout the storage period. Comparison within raw hatchery waste (RHW), cooked HW, autoclaved HW and extruded HW revealed that extrusion was found to be the most effective processing technique to check fat oxidation, followed by autoclaving and simple cooking whereas unprocessed HW showed maximum fat deterioration. PV, FFA and TBA decreased with all levels of antioxidant addition when compared with control group. Significantly highest (p<0.05) levels of PV, FFA and TBA were observed in control group while least degradation of fat was observed in extruded samples with 300 mg/kg of antioxidant addition. All the processing techniques and antioxidant addition checked the fat rancidity throughout the storage period, compared to control group, however synergistic effect of extrusion and 300 mg/kg of antioxidant addition was found to be most appropriate to keep the samples highly acceptable for 50 days storage period.


: The article covers results of metabolic syndrome epidemiology studies in patients with occupational diseases. The authors compared occurrence of metabolic syndrome for various diagnostic criteria, analyzed prevalence of metabolic syndrome in individuals with various length of service in hazardous conditions, defined main clinical types of the metabolic syndrome manifestation in patients with occupational diseases.


Background Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have high proliferation potential and can generate differentiated progeny of all three embryonic germ layers. However, the derivation of hESCs from early embryos raises technical and ethical limitations for their use in research and the clinic. Engineered stem cells, known as iPSCs, generated from somatic cells by transduction of defined reprogramming transcription factors, typically OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC, open a new avenue to avoid the controversy of using hESCs. Objectives The purpose of this study was to test the in vitro chondrogenic potential and in vivo capacity for cartilage regeneration of human iPS (hiPS) cells. Methods Cell culture and differentiation of EB We used the hiPSC line (SBI, cat# SC802A-1) generated by direct delivery of four proteins fused to a cell penetrating peptide. Analysis for condrogenic differentiation After 21 days of in vitro culture, pellets were analyzed for DNA contents, GAG amount, and the expression of chondrogenic markers. Transplantation The hiPS-pellets or alginate-hiPSCs constructs were implanted in the osteochondral defect model rat. The rats received daily injections of cyclosporin A to suppress immune responses in rats. After 6 weeks, the rats were sacrificed. Results Mesodermal markers increased in EB while undifferentiated ES markers disappeared. After 21 days of chondrogenic culture in micromass pellets, GAG analysis showed that proteoglycan production was significantly greater in chondrogenic pellets than in undifferentiated hiPSCs and EBs. Safranin-O staining demonstrated that the cells in chondrogenic pellets took on the appearance of immature chondrocytes and secreted extracellular matrix. The chondrogenic marker gene and protein expression increased after 21days of pellet culture. The chondrogenic pellets derived from hiPS cells have very low expression of hypertrophic or osteogenic markers. Also, hiPS cells underwent good chondrogenic differentiation in PLGA scaffold or alginate gel as well. When hiPS cells in either pellet state or in alginate hydrogel were implanted in the osteochondral defects created on the patellar groove of immunosuppressed rats, the defects implanted with chondro-induced hiPS cells showed a significantly better quality of cartilage repair than the control defects. Conclusions In conclusion, this study provides a proof-of-principle strategy for using hiPSCs as a cell source for cartilage tissue engineering. While successful in vitro induction of chondrogenesis with improved biochemical characteristics were obtained from hiPS cells, the working mechanisms in the implantation of hiPS cells and strategies for further improvement of in vivo cartilage repair with hiPS cells should be investigated in future studies. References Wei Y, Zeng W, Wan R, Wang J, Zhou Q, Qiu S, Singh SR. Chondrogenic differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells from osteoarthritic chondrocytes in alginate matrix. Eur Cell Mater. 2012 Jan 12;23:1-12. Kawaguchi J, Mee PJ, Smith AG. Osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of embryonic stem cells in response to specific growth factors. Bone. 2005 May;36(5):758-69. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Summary The essay presents the recent developments in nonprofit human service organizations that belong to the "third sector." The author describes and analyzes the changing context of human services, in which a new division of labor has emerged between the government and nongovernmental organizations, including nonprofit and for-profit service providers. "Demand and supply" theories are presented, in order to explain the mission, goals, and roles of nonprofit human service providers and their contribution to the state economy. Finally, the author explores the extent to which these organizations actualize their ideology in a society characterized by growing inequality, and by widening social and economic gaps between "haves" and "have nots."


In this paper, we establish strong and \Delta$-convergence theorems of modified three-step iterations for total asymptotically nonexpansive mapping which is wider than the class asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in the framework of CAT(0) spaces. Our results extend and generalize the corresponding results of Chang {\it et al}. [Demiclosed principle and $\Delta$-convergence theorems for total asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in CAT(0) spaces, Appl. Math. Comput. 219(5)(2012), 2611-2617], Nanjaras and Panyanak [Demiclosed principle for asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in CAT(0) spaces, Fixed Point Theory Appl. Vol. 2010, Art. ID 268780], and many others.


This article reviews and evaluates the literature on policy networks and policy communities that has emerged in the comparative public policy field. It argues that these concepts are important innovations because they suggest a renewed attempt to be both encompassing and discriminating in describing the policy process: encompassing because they refer to actors and relationships in the policy process that take us beyond political-bureaucratic relationships; discriminating because they suggest the presence of many communities and different types of networks. Yet if the concepts are going to continue to make a contribution, some problems must be resolved. The article suggests three that are particularly important: network and community concepts encounter obstacles in incorporating the influence of ma-cropolitical institutions and the power of political discourse; they have some difficulty in accommodating the internationalization of many policy domains; they have not addressed well the issues of policy innovation and policy change.


A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of hypocholesteramic herbal preparation AbanaTM and garlic paste on lipid profile and production performance in layers. A total of one hundred and eighty BV-300 commercial layers of about 48 weeks age were randomly distributed into 18 groups of 10 layer birds in each. Six dietary treatments with the diet supplemented with AbanaTM at 80 mg/kg body weight and 120 mg/kg body weight and garlic paste at 0.5 % individually and in combination were formulated for three periods of 28 days each. Each dietary treatment was offered to three groups of layers reared in individual cages for 28 days in each period. All the birds received similar management practices except the dietary treatments. The feed intake and body weight gains were recorded every 28 days. At the end of every 28 days the serum and egg yolk was collected form each replicate, pooled and analysed for High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglycerides in serum and cholesterol level in egg yolk. Results indicated that there was reduction in the egg yolk cholesterol level but was not significant. Thus, in future research has to be conducted with AbanaTM at levels higher than what was used during this research, which may result in significant reduction of egg yolk cholesterol.


The experiment on present investigation was conducted for assessment of genetic variability during kharif 2018 and 2019, at Crop Research Farm, Nawabganj and Seed Multiplication Farm Bojha, Chandra Sheker Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (U.P.) India under four environments taking into consideration of high to normal salt stress condition. The experimental materials comprising of 100 genotypes and six standard check varieties (PUSA36, CSR10, CSR36, CSR43, IR64, Usar Dhan 3), grown in Augmented Randomized Block Design with replications of check. Observations were obtained for. Days to 50% flowering, Days to maturity, Plant height (cm), Stress score at vegetative stage, Panicle bearing tillers/ plant, Panicle length (cm), Spikelets/ panicle, Number of grains/panicle, Spikelet fertility (%), Biological yield /plant, Grain yield / plant (g), Harvest index (%), Stress score at reproductive phase,1000- grains weight. Analysis of variance for augmented design in pooled over environment of the environment showed the significant pattern for all fourteen traits. The Analysis of variance revealed the highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters under study. The genotypes exhibited a wide range of variability for most of the traits. From the study, it is clear that the traits like Stress score at vegetative stage, stress score at reproductive phase and Grain yield/ plant exhibiting highest values of PCV, GCV. It is highly recommended to select these traits except Spikelet fertility to attain increased yield Days to maturity, 1000-grain weight followed by plant height, Panicle length, Biological yield/plant exhibiting low values of variance hence these traits are ineffective to attain gain by practicing selection. The genotypes IL 773 followed by IL444, IL 105, IL 277, IL 891, IL 125, IL 344, IL 1121 and IL655 produced high grain yield plant-1 and these lines constituted significant group for higher grain yield/plant. The most of the genotypes also showed high to very high mean performance for several other yield components. The superior lines identified for grain yield and other characters may be used as donor parents in hybridization programme under Alkalinity for improving the characters for which they showed high mean performance.


Background: The intergenerational continuity of undernutrition is influenced by shared genetic, household socio-economic and cultural resources which will be associated with the mother and the child nutritional status, possibly to the same degree. Provided that this assumption is valid, assessing maternal nutritional status will provide an effective screening tool for their children nutrition status. Objective: To examine whether maternal undernutrition indicators can be used as a proxy indicator of their offspring's undernutrition. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2011). An analytical sample of 8,505 children whose mothers are not pregnant and live with their biological mothers was included. The bivariate associations between nutritional indices of the mother and the children were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficients. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and area under Roc curves were calculated. We performed ROC regression analysis to determine factor that affects the accuracy of maternal underweight as a screening tool. We further performed rocreg postestimation to determine where exactly the test performed best. Results: Mean BMI of mothers with stunted children was 20.01 (95% CI: 19.86–20.16), whereas that mothers with no stunted children was 20.46 (95% CI: 20.31– 20.62). Similarly, children who experienced underweight or wasting had mothers who had consistently lower BMI than those who did not (p <0.001). The sensitivity of maternal underweight (defined by BMI < 18.5 kg/m) as a predictor of child's nutritional status (<-2 z-scores) is low, failing to reach 50% for any of the child nutrition indices. In the roc regression analysis, maternal BMI(<18.5 kg/m) became a more accurate predictor of wasting among children whose mother are older (β = -0.014, p=0.002) and higher parity(β= -0.035, p <0.001), and among children who are not currently breastfeeding (β= -0.042, p = 0.006) and from richer households (β= -0.037, p <0.001). Conclusion: Our study provides evidence that maternal undernutrition indicators are less informative in predicting their offspring's undernutrition, although maternal BMI (<18.5kg/m) may be a better measure of wasting among children whose mothers gave birth to four children and among children from richest households.


Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major comorbidity and the leading cause of death among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)1. Objectives To compare the demographics, patterns of medication use, and disease activity in RA patients with and without CVD at cohort entry and 12 months of follow-up. Methods Physician and patient-reported data were collected from the Ontario Best Practices Research Initiative Rheumatoid Arthritis Registry (OBRI- RA), a clinical registry of RA patients followed in routine care. CVD was defined as the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), congestive heart failure (CHF), hypertension (HTN), arrhythmia, stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), and/or other heart disorders upon entering the registry. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, socioeconomic status and treatment regimens were compared between CVD and non-CVD patients at cohort entry using Chi- square and t-tests. Mean disease activity and functional status scores at cohort entry and 12 months of follow-up were estimated by generalized linear regression, adjusting for confounders, including age, sex, smoking, socioeconomic factors, disease activity at cohort entry (for 12-month follow-up analyses only), and RA duration. Results Among 2226 RA patients, 360 (16.2%) had CVD at cohort entry. Among which, 101 (28.1%) had CAD, 51 (14.2%) had arrhythmia, 12 (3.3%) had CHF, 28 (7.8%) had CVA, 8 (2.2%) had PE, and 160 (44.4%) had other/unspecified CVD. Patients with CVD were older (66.7±10.1 vs. 53.6±12.9yrs, p<0.0001), had longer RA duration (10.6±11.8 vs. 8.1±9.0yrs, p<0.0001) and more extra-articular features (35.0% vs. 26.3%, p<0.05). Male sex, lower education and income, lack of private insurance, and smokers were more frequent among CVD patients (p<0.001 for all). CVD patients were more frequently treated with glucocorticoids (34.9% vs. 28.3%, p<0.05) but less frequently with NSAIDs (29.9% vs. 49.3%, p<0.05). After adjusting for confounders, patients with CVD had higher RADAI and HAQ-DI, but similar DAS28, CDAI, or SDAI scores at cohort entry, and at 12 months, CVD patients were more likely to have significantly higher DAS28 and ESR than patients without CVD. Conclusions At cohort entry, RA patients with CVD have worse disease activity (RADAI) and functional status (HAQ-DI). At 12 months of follow-up, disease activity (DAS28) remained worse among CVD patients. The higher ESR found in CVD patients may suggest heightened systemic inflammation1. The lower use of NSAIDS may be due to their known CVD risks, but the higher utilization of glucocorticoids may require further investigation. References Choy E, Ganeshalingam K, Semb AG, et al. Cardiovascular risk in rheumatoid arthritis: recent advances in the understanding of the pivotal role of inflammation, risk predictors and the impact of treatment. Rheumatology (2014) 53 (12):2143-2154. Acknowledgements Dr. Bombardier holds a Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer for Musculoskeletal Care and a Pfizer Research Chair in Rheumatology. We also thank the OBRI investigators for ongoing data collection for the OBRI registry. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is fundamental to system inference for stochastic systems. In some generality, MLE will converge to the correct model in the infinite data limit. In the context of physical approaches to system inference, such as Boltzmann machines, MLE requires the arduous computation of partition functions summing over all configurations, both observed and unobserved. We present a conceptually transparent data-driven inference computation based on a reweighting of observed configuration frequencies that allows us to recast the inference problem as a simpler calculation. Modeling our approach on the high-temperature limit of statistical physics, we reweight the frequencies of observed configurations by multiplying with reciprocals of Boltzmann weights and update the Boltzmann weights iteratively to make these products close to the high-temperature limit of the Boltzmann weights. This converts the required partition function computation in the reweighted MLE to a tractable leading-order high-temperature term. We show that this is a convex optimization at each step. Then, for systems with a large number of degrees of freedom where other approaches are intractable, we demonstrate that this data-driven algorithm gives accurate inference with both synthetic data and two real-world examples.


While parental loss in childhood has intrigued psychiatrists for most of this century, it has only recently been the subject of acceptable empiric research. Early psychoanalytic writers were preoccupied with the psychological significance of the traumatic loss itself and noted that depression specifically was the likely outcome. Bowlby, 1 however, suggested that a range of disorders, including depression, anxiety, and antisocial personality, may be associated with childhood loss; there are now many empiric studies that seem to support this. Bowlby 2 further defined what he believed to be the toxic element of childhood loss, moving the emphasis toward the disruption of the ongoing attachment to the parent. Later Rutter 3,4 concluded that separation from a parent and subsequent loss of attachment in itself is not the critical factor. It is increasingly apparent that parental separation or loss in childhood can embrace a range of other adverse experiences, and it may


Human development is a process of change that occurs throughout life. In adulthood, there are many changes
in as such as cognitive, socio-emotional and physical changes. Body image is an individual experience in the
form of perceptions of body shape and weight, as well as behaviours that lead to an individual's evaluation
of his physical appearance. Body image in women is very influential on their psychological factors such as
self-esteem, self-compassion and psychological well-being. Sample of this research consisted of as many as
100 female excersicer. The research was conducted in Lapangan Merdeka, Lapangan Cadika, and Lapangan
Teladan, Medan. Data were analysed by using simple logistic regression test and multiple logistic regression.
The results of bivariate analysis found, the variables of self-esteem and self-compassion have an influence
on body image in female exercisers with the value p<0.05. From the results of multivariate analysis, it is
obtained that the value p>0.05, which means there is no relationship between self-esteem, self-compassion,
and psychological well-being to body image. The results show that there is no relationship between self
esteem, self-compassion and psychological well-being to body image in female exerciser, these variables
do not have a dominant influence meaning, all the three variables have the same influence on body image.
Further findings show that self-esteem has a greater influence to body image on female exerciser.


In her recent work, the Deleuzian feminist critic Rosi Braidotti suggests that, because of a reduction of flesh to discourse and "psy chic foreclosure" to "social repression" (Metamorphoses, 42), Judith But ler's work not only loses sight of "the embodied nature of the subject" (43) but also, more important, is unable to theorize the kinds of radical "metamorphoses" that Braidotti seeks to think. Such inability to con ceptualize transformation is noteworthy in a project whose central concern, according to Braidotti, is to identify "how effective change can be achieved" (42). While affirming the differences in their intel lectual trajectories, Butler, in a brief response to Braidotti in Undoing Gender (2004), also carefully notes their compatibilities: "I am also looking for the new," she reminds her colleague, "for possibilities that emerge from failed dialectics and that exceed the dialectic itself" (198).1 With this argument?that newness can be conceptualized through a reworked or resignified dialectic?Butler exhibits her theoretical and political project's remarkable consistency. It returns us to the culmi nation of the narrative of her first book, Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France (1987), where she discovers in the Foucauldian understanding of power and production a "dialectic gone awry," "unmoored from both the subject and its teleological con clusion" (222). Instead of leading to the sublated whole of a synthesis, in Foucault "binary oppositions ... tend to create effects that are thor oughly unforeseen, to multiply and proliferate into new forms of power that cannot be adequately explained within the terms of binary oppositions" (224). Butler's subsequent work can be seen as an effort to trace such unforeseeable "futural imaginings" (Bodies, 228). For her, a dialectic at once operative and derailed allows this "unknown future" to emerge (Undoing Gender, 180). Butler's project thus seems to approximate Braidotti's, which seeks


The process of chemical vapor deposition of Mo and Mo-С coatings was studied by means of thermal decomposition of molybdenum hexacarbonyl. The kinetics of the coating growth in the range of 480 °C–540 °C and the pressure in the reaction volume from 9 Pa to 16 Pa were explored. The dependences of coating growth rate, the magnitudes of their microhardness on the parameters of their obtaining, as well as the changes in the morphology of the coating surface, roughness, and structure, were established. The tribological properties of the obtained coatings coupled with bronze Br.Su3H3S20F0.2 were explored at the friction machine 2070 SMT-1 according to the "cube–roller" scheme in a load interval of 0.2–1.4 kN. The lubrication during determining the friction coefficients was carried out by immersion of the movable counter body into a bath with fuel TC-1, GOST 10227-86. It was necessary to conduct such research because there is insufficient information when it comes to the specific equipment and peculiarities of the object onto which a coating is applied. When developing the process of coating application on specific components, techniques, and means to ensure the uniformity of parts heating and precursor feeding to their surface were tested. As a result of the conducted studies, we obtained the regions of parameters of obtaining coatings with different structure, rate, hardness, as well as the patterns of changes in these characteristics at the change of the basic parameters of the process of obtaining such coatings. Depending on application conditions, coatings may have hardness from ~11,000 MPa to 18,000 MPa at a growth rate from 50 μm/h to 170 μm/h. The mean values of the friction coefficient of coatings with different microstructure and microhardness were 0.101 at the load of 0.2 kN and 0.077 at the load of 1.4 kN. Based on the conducted research, it was possible to develop the process of applying the metal and metal-carbide molybdenum-based CVD coatings in regards to the components of the assembly and engine construction, which can serve as the basis for the development of industrial technologies


European Union budget is the most important instrument which affects the quantum of expenses and incomes of all the political fields of the Community. European Union budget cannot be compared with a national budget, because of its significant characteristics. This paper intends to reveal these peculiarities and the principles that govern the manner in which this budget works (unity, universality, equilibrium between incomes and expenses and annuity) in order to ensure the transparency of the control activity.


The phonological vowel and consonant length distinctions in languages such as Hungarian may provide a constraint on the degree to which prosodic structure can influence speech segment duration. Here we show that, like many other languages, Hungarian does mark prosodic structure with durational variation, in particular, utterance-final lengthening. There is an influence of phonological vowel length on the locus of utterance-final lengthening: long and short vowels are lengthened in absolute-final syllables; long vowels are also lengthened in penultimate syllables. Lengthening within pitchaccented words, observed in languages such as English, appears absent, however. Furthermore, we do not find support for the inverse relationship between word length and stressed vowel duration suggested by previous studies.


In this paper, we propose a model‐driven approach allowing to build reconfigurable distributed real‐time embedded (DRE) systems. The constant growth of the complexity and the required autonomy of embedded software systems management give the dynamic reconfiguration a big importance. New challenges to apply the dynamic reconfiguration at model level as well as runtime support level are required. In this direction, the development of reconfigurable DRE systems according to traditional processes is not applicable. New methods are required to build and to supply reconfigurable embedded software architectures. In this context, we propose an model‐driven engineering based approach that enables to design reconfigurable DRE systems with execution framework support. This approach leads the designer to specify step by step his/her system from a model to another one more refined until the targeted model is reached. This targeted model is related to a specific platform leading to the generation of the most part of the system implementation. We also develop a new middleware that supports reconfigurable DRE systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Giovanni Sercambi's collection of novellas is another step in the development of the genre: although it ostensibly follows the path outlined by the Decameron, a number of innovations can be found that give it a special place. The author-narrator enjoys a privileged position in the artistic world of the work, fitting into the framing narrative as one of the characters acting to create a narrative situation as "realistic" as possible. His role as narrator and author of the book is formalised within the narrative itself. The purpose of the novella's narrative evolves throughout the collection from consolation during the long journey at the beginning of the collection to a lesson contained in the examples worthy of emulation. The traveling party, which voluntarily agrees to obey certain rules, can be seen as a model of society in miniature, and its formation as a political and social project based on Christian morality. The path, into which the fellowship embarks, therefore, far from aiming only at physical survival, also aims at salvation from spiritual death, becoming a symbol of man's way of life. The titles of the novellas are also a novelty in the novelistic tradition, which will have almost no precedents in the next two centuries.


Although the Bangsamoro peace-process in the Southern Philippines has been valued for its gender commitments and potential to build just and sustainable peace, discrimination of the Bangsamoro peoples and other minorities prevail. This thesis uncovers how women peace advocates understand social justice and its remedies in the context of the Bangsamoro peace-process, and which opportunities they have to advance a transformative agenda for justice in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Hence, it contributes to critical debates on development and opportunities for social transformation amid conflict and peace. The research builds on a qualitative case study design, where in-depth interviews with women peace advocates and opinion pieces on the topic have been analysed. By employing Nancy Fraser's theories on social justice and social transformation, this study concludes the following: i) Conceptions of social injustice voiced by women peace advocates in the context of the Bangsamoro peace-process are deeply interrelated and power-laden, and span over economic, political, and sociocultural dimensions, and; ii) Although women's peace agendas struggle to find heft in challenging the hegemonic order purveyed by the Philippine government, they nevertheless show a strive to contribute to a broader movement demanding an alternative paradigm of peace and development.


An understanding of soil organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics is essential for efficient and environmentally sustainable agricultural production. This thesis includes model studies of C mineralization at regional/national level with annual time steps, N balances at field level with annual time steps, and N dynamics at 34 locations within a single field with daily time steps. The same model family (ICBM) was used in all studies. Generally, carbon stocks in mineral soils increased from southern to northern Sweden and were near steady state. Temperature, crop type, and animal density were the main drivers for C fluxes at the regional scale. The inclusion of the changes in soil N stocks in field N balance sheets were necessary for obtaining unbiased estimates of N use efficiency or N surplus. Without these changes in soil N stocks, N surplus in low input systems was underestimated and was overestimated in systems with increasing soil organic matter. The model explained 56% of the total variation in apparent net N mineralization estimated for 34 locations within one field during two growing seasons; however, for a single year, only a small proportion of the variation could be explained. The sources of uncertainty in both measurements and the model at different scales in time and space were addressed, as the precision of available measurements limited model testing and the estimation of critical model parameters. From a decision support perspective, commonly available field data are usually sufficient for models such as ICBM/N in the long-term predicting of the effects of agricultural management on C and N stocks at the field or the regional scale. However, more detailed information and models that are more complex are required for short-term applications at small spatial scales, for example for decision support in a precision farming context.


CaO-based slag used in hot metal pretreatment and converters in steelmaking processes typically con-tains dispersed gas phases. This is called foaming slag, which is known to degrade the quality of slag. The rheological behavior of this slag is dependent on the dispersed part of the gas phase. This gas is generated by the chemical reaction between the hot metal and the slag. In this study, simulated foaming slag was prepared by reacting sodium hydrogen carbonate and oxalic acid in glycerol, which disperses carbon diox-ide. Next, we systematically investigated the effects of the volume fraction of the dispersed gas phase and the proportion of glycerol on the viscosity and bubble diameter. According to the model used in this study, the bubbles were smaller than those in the model in which the gas was directly dispersed. The bubble size increased as the gas phase ratio and liquid viscosity increased, likely because the bubble growth is pro-moted by increase in the gas phase ratio and liquid phase viscosity, and the frequency with which the bubbles contact one other. The increase of the gas phase ratio at low liquid-phase viscosity and low shear rate caused an increase in both apparent viscosity and relative viscosity, which was obtained by dividing the apparent viscosity by liquid-phase viscosity. However, these increases in viscosity were not observed at a high shear rate. This is likely because the mechanism of bubble diffusion and flow is affected by the liquid-phase viscosity and shear rate. We found that the model in this study exemplified a Herschel-Bulkley fluid. In addition, we proposed an equation for measuring viscosity from the gas phase ratio.


We consider the effect of a wave of mixed-mode data collection (telephone and face-to-face), in an otherwise face-to-face survey, on panel attrition and the extent to which this effect is dependent on the nature of the mode-switch protocol. Findings are reported from an experiment on a survey in which the objective is to interview each adult member of the household. One protocol involves making extended efforts to interview each household member by telephone before switching to face-to-face, while the other involves switching a household to face-to-face as soon as it is apparent that an interviewer visit will be needed for at least one household member. With both protocols response rate at the mixed-mode wave is lower than with face-to-face single mode data collection, but with the protocol involving extended efforts this response differential is eroded over the following two waves, while with the other protocol the difference remains.


There is unanimity that criminal drug suppliers have to be taken on. But who will take on the legal drug suppliers? Professor Joe Barry writes:

The recent killings in North Inner City Dublin have sparked much debate about illicit drugs, their control and the harms they wreak in many communities.

It is timely to examine the demand for and supply of all classes of psychoactive substances and how we are addressing them in Ireland.....


Hypercholesterolemia has long loomed large amidst the various risk factors for coronary disease. A vast amount of effort and expense has gone into the study of its cause, mechanism, epidemiology, and possible correction by diet and drugs. Even now, despite recent doubts, the plasma cholesterol level is believed by many to be a reliable atherogenic index. With increasing understanding of the metabolism and transport of cholesterol, this simplistic index gave way to a sophisticated schema in which the low-density β-lipoprotein cholesterol level, rather than the total plasma cholesterol level became a key to atherogenesis. However, the lipoprotein story did not end there. A new contender, high-density α-lipoprotein cholesterol, entered the atherogenic arena. A number of investigators recently reexamined the effect of this lipoprotein on atherogenesis—an effect observed by Barr et al 1 in 1951 but ignored since that time. In contrast with the atherogenic β-lipoprotein, the high-density α-lipoprotein appears to


The Baldwin effect is known as a possible scenario of interactions between evolution and learning caused by the balances between benefit and cost of learning. It is still controversial how learning can affect evolution on rugged fitness landscapes because previous studies merely focused on a process in which the population reaches a local optimum through a single occurrence of this effect, even though there exist a lot of local optimums on the landscape. Our purpose is to clarify whether and how learning can facilitate the adaptive evolution of population on rugged fitness landscapes in view of the repeated occurrences of the Baldwin effect. For this purpose, we constructed a simple fitness function that represents a multi-modal fitness landscape in which there is a trade-off between the adaptivity of individual and the strength of the epistatic interactions among its phenotypes. Phenotypic plasticity is introduced into our model, in which whether each phenotype is plastic or not is genetically defined and plastic phenotypes can be adjusted by learning. The evolutionary experiments clearly showed that the Baldwin effect repeatedly occurred through the evolutionary process of the population on this landscape, and facilitated its adaptive evolution as a whole


STUDY OBJECTIVES
To define anatomic landmarks that can be used to predict insertions of the diaphragm on chest radiographs and to estimate diaphragm length.

DESIGN
Prospective clinical trial with a parallel group design.

SETTING
Laboratory investigations in normal volunteers recruited by advertisement and in emphysema outpatients being evaluated for elective bilateral lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS).

PATIENTS
Twenty-six normal subjects classified into young and older age groups, with a third group of 13 emphysema patients matched for age and sex with the older group.

MEASUREMENTS
Identification and between-group comparisons were made of anatomic landmarks on anteroposterior and lateral chest radiographs obtained at total lung capacity. Predicted landmarks were generated from normal subjects. Within-subject and between-group comparisons were made of diaphragm length index (DLI) based on observed anatomic landmarks (DLIobs) and diaphragm length index based on predicted anatomic landmarks (DLIpred) at functional residual capacity.

RESULTS
Anatomic landmarks were not different between the three groups or between male and female subjects, and were not different before and after LVRS in emphysema patients. No difference was found between DLIobs and DLIpred in normal subjects and emphysema patients, but both were smaller in emphysema patients than in normal subjects and increased after LVRS in emphysema patients.

CONCLUSION
This study validates the use of anatomic landmarks to estimate DLI. Using these landmarks simplifies the determination of diaphragmatic lengths and could be a useful tool for the evaluation of the functional capacity of the diaphragm, and possibly as a prognostic indicator of patients who are candidates for LVRS.


Medicinal signaling cell (MSC)-based products represent emerging treatments in various therapeutic areas including cardiometabolic, inflammation, autoimmunity, orthopedics, wound healing and oncology. Exploring innovation beyond minimally manipulated plastic-adherent ex vivo expanded allogeneic MSCs enables product delineation. Product delineation is on the critical path to maximize clinical benefits and market access. An innovation framework is presented here along various innovation dimensions comprising composition-of-matter by means of positive cell surface markers, formulation varying for example the cell dose or the preservation mode and medium, manufacturing to adapt the secretome of MSCs to the condition of interest, the mode of delivery and corresponding delivery devices, as well as molecular engineering and biomarkers. The rationale of the innovation space thus described applies generally to all cell-based therapies.


The Minnesota Road Research Project (MnROAD) was constructed in 19901993 as a full-scale pavement testing facility. Several different cells were built with various materials, mix designs, and structural designs. Two different asphalt binders were used during the original construction: PG 58-28 and PG 64-22. The sections have all shown various degrees of low temperature cracking. In general the cells with stiffer binder (PG 64-22) experienced a higher number and greater severity of thermal cracks than those with the softer binder. The ride quality of the pavements has been adversely affected by the deterioration of the low temperature cracks. In 1999 three cells were reconstructed on the Low Volume Road as a study specifically examining low temperature cracking. These sections were designed using the exact same Superpave mix design except for the asphalt binder type, which differed at the low temperature performance grade. The performance grades for Cells 33, 34, and 35 were PG 58-28, 58-34, and 58-40 respectively. After several years in service these sections have begun to show marked differences in performance. Cell 35 has shown the most cracking, even though it has the softest grade at -40. The cracks on Cell 35 do not look like typical thermal cracks, while Cell 33 exhibits the expected typical thermal cracks. Cell 34 had virtually no distress after six years.


This research is about the information behaviour of organizational members in different contexts while dealing with the work tasks. The objectives of the research are to provide an understanding of information seeking, using, and sharing through illuminating answers to "How is organizations' information behaviour shaped with regard to time pressure and task complexity?" and "How do organisational members process information in collaborative settings and decide for the next actions in stable vs. unstable environments?" questions.
In work settings, tasks are commonly carried out in groups; information is processed in collaborative manner and affected by situational factors (time and complexity). However, relatively small number of articles presents collaborative information behaviour and its link to situational factors. To contribute to the existing literature, the research aims to explore collaborative information behaviour while carrying out tasks in varying complexity and under time pressure.
The research uses qualitative methodology. Data have been collected from Cihan News Agency-Istanbul (CIHAN) and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Disaster Coordination Centre (AKOM) through field observations and interviews. It is a cross case study exploring the differences and commonalities of the information behaviour in two different contexts and two different situations.
The interview transcripts and field observation have been interpreted to explain the decision making mode of the organisational members in dynamic environments and the way they process information; and grounded theory approach is used to construct collaborative information behaviour model for the CIHAN and AKOM contexts.
Information behaviour models, which are illuminating collaborative information behaviour (CIB), have been introduced as the first contribution of the research. Time pressure and varying task complexity shape the model through illuminating barriers to access information and complex needs of the tasks carried out. The second contribution lies in clarifying the interaction between information behaviour and decision making type (intuitive vs analytical) under time pressure. Time pressure and the nature of the work tasks drive organisational members to use intuition or analytical mode.
Activity Theory has been used as the theoretical framework and methodological tool for the research. Activity Theory has been used to investigate individual information behaviour in the literature. Use of Activity Theory to investigate collaborative information behaviour is the methodological contribution.


Hope and Mental well being are important for an individual's life and same goes for the cancer patients. The aim of the present study is to see the hope and mental well being among male and female cancer patients. The hypotheses of the study was to examine that there will be no difference between male and female cancer patient on hope and on mental well being. The sample of this study included 60 subjects (30 male and 30 female subjects) selected by purposive sampling from Aligarh district of U.P. In this study two inventories were used viz., Herth Hope Index and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental well-being scale. Investigator used mean, standard deviation and t-test, and in order to draw out the results. A quantitative approach was used by the researcher to conduct this study; data collection and data analysis were done using this approach.  The results of the study are that there exists no difference found between male and female cancer patients on hope, and there exist no difference between male and female cancer patients on mental well-being.


Trichomoniasis, simply, is a sexually transmitted disease typically asymptomatic in men and resulting in vaginitis with a copious, frothy discharge and itching in women, caused by Trichomonasvaginalis . The study was conducted in Babylon Province during the period from October 2017 to June 2018 in AL-Hilla Teaching Hospital and AL-Zahra Hospital, to diagnosis Trichomonasvaginalis and toll like receptor 4usingpolymerase chain reaction. The relationship of TLR4 receptor with levels of some immunoglobulin and cytokines was investigated by immunological method. A total of (125) blood and fluid vagina samples were taken from women aged between (15-45) Years. The results showed that the total infection percent of T. vaginalis at a rate of (13.6 %) in PCR technique. And the total of TLR4 at a rate of  (86.66%). The results revealed that a significant elevation (P<0.01) in serum concentration of pro inflammatory cytokines interleukin (4), and immunoglobulin E and A in T. vaginalis infection patients in compared to healthy control group. The result showed the association between IgE, IL4 and TLR4 receptor of patients. Keywords: Genes; Immunoglobulin's; Cytokines; Infected women .


Cell culture optimization of in-vitro cell culture for tissue engineering, pharmacological or metabolic studies require a large number of experiments to be conducted under varying conditions. In this paper we describe a high-throughput bioreactor system that allows conducting parallel experiments in a simulated in vivo-like environment. Our bioreactors consist in a mixing device controlled by an embedded system that regulates the insertion of gas in the culture medium in order to control its pH. Each culture system possesses of an autonomous control system able to ensure an optimal environment for cells. A computer communicates with the embedded system to acquire data and setup experiment variables. With this apparatus we can perform a high- throughput experiment controlling with several bioreactors working in parallel. In this paper we discuss the architecture of the system, and some experimental results are presented.