Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) and antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) are proteins found in a wide variety of organisms adapted to survive in freezing temperatures. These proteins are powerful ice recrystallization inhibitors (IRI), slowing or even stopping ice crystal growth. This property is of significant interest in the area of cryopreservation due to ice recrystallization upon thawing being the limiting factor in the recovery of many biological materials. The need for reliable cryopreservation is becoming more and more necessary in many clinical areas, including regenerative and transplant medicine, and protein based therapeutics.

The identification of new protein structures and sequences is crucially to understanding this ability. To this end l-type lectins, which show sequential homology to type 2 AFPs were explored and found to possess calcium dependant IRI activity. In addition, a secondary motif, amphipathicity was investigated. As many AFPs possess separate well defined hydrophilic/ hydrophobic domains this was thought to be a property of high importance. The antimicrobial peptide nisin A, which is amphipathic, was found to also possess cation dependant IRI activity. This identification demonstrates a new approach to identifying IRI active molecules and may further enhance our understanding of the mechanisms involved. As current "gold standard" methods for identification of IRI activity are relatively slow and time consuming signifying that the discovery of new IRI molecules is a slow process. In order to increase throughput of the discovery of novel IRI active molecules a gold nanoparticle assay was developed. Using this method serum proteins were discovered to possess weak but definite activity at higher concentrations. This is of particular interest as serum proteins such as fetal calf serum are commonly used in cryopreservation applications.

The isolation of these remarkable proteins from primary sources in significant quantities is difficult and not financially viable, while recombinant expression is complicated by glycosylation of AFGPs. Furthermore non-native proteins may cause immunogenic problems. Therefore synthetic mimetic such as polymers and small molecules are highly appealing. Using a biomimetic approach, amphipathic metallohelicies with alpha helical character similar to that of a type 1 AFP were evaluated for ice recrystallization inhibition. It was found that these metallohelices could be optimized to completely inhibit ice recrystallization, demonstrating that by creating materials which mimic AFPs similar properties can be engineered successfully. In addition, polyampholyte polymers (polymers possessing both positive and negative side chains) were synthesized, and demonstrated to possess IRI activity when the ratio of positive to negative side chains was roughly 1:1. These were then used to significantly enhance post-thaw recovery rates of red blood cells (RBCs). Polymers are appealing as they are highly tunable and can be used to mimic proteins in a wide variety of biological areas. Polyampholyte polymers and previously identified IRI polymer; polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), added to polyethylene glycol were found to be a highly efficient way of preserving proteins and antibodies under freezing conditions. The application of polyampholytes and other IRI active molecules are therefore highly attractive in the cryopreservation of a whole range of biological materials, potentially yielding widespread clinical benefits.


For the eROSITA X-ray telescope (extended Roentgen Survey with an imaging telescope array) aboard the new Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite an improved type of the pnCCD used for one of XMM-Newton cameras will be used. The eROSITA X-ray telescope instrument consists of seven mirror modules (Wolter-I optics) each having its own 384times384 pixel frame store pnCCD detector in the focal plane. The mission time of eROSITA including the all-sky survey as well as pointed observations will be in total about 5 years. For low noise and high speed performance the CCD is a column parallel device, therefore all 384 CCD channels are equipped with an on-chip JFET operated in source follower mode which are read out in parallel. The corresponding readout ASIC named CAMEX consists of 128 parallel readout channels each of which is equipped with an eight fold correlated double sampling filter. To fine tune the filter weighting function and therefore the noise and speed performance, we included a programmable RC low pass for bandwidth limitation. Each of the seven eROSITA modules uses three CAMEX ASICs. So a total of 21 readout ASICs are utilized. To make the module design easier and more robust against process and environment parameters these new chips feature integrated bias current DACs (digital analog converters) and include a digital sequencer for switch sequencing control. With the DACs the bias currents of the operational amplifiers can be set for each chip individually. The settings of switch control, gain, bandwidth, DAC and other operation modes are stored in digital registers. Programming is done over a simple serial interface. Noise performance achieved together with the pnCCD reaches 2 electrons ENC (equivalent noise charge) at a dynamic range of 2000 electrons.


HIV causes a chronic infection by evading immune eradication. A key element of HIV immune escape is the HIV-1 Nef protein. Nef causes a reduction in the level of cell surface major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) protein expression, thus protecting HIV-infected cells from anti-HIV cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) recognition and killing. Nef also reduces cell surface levels of the HIV receptor, CD4, by accelerating endocytosis. We show here that endocytosis is not required for Nef-mediated downmodulation of MHC-I molecules. The main effect of Nef is to block transport of MHC-I molecules to the cell surface, leading to accumulation in intracellular organelles. Furthermore, the effect of Nef on MHC-I molecules (but not on CD4) requires phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) activity. We propose that Nef diverts MHC-1 proteins into a PI 3-kinase-dependent transport pathway that prevents expression on the cell surface.


Objective: To characterize further the relationship between smoking history and Parkinson disease (PD) risk by considering temporal and qualitative features of smoking exposure, including duration, average intensity, and recentness, as well as the relative importance of smoking during different periods of life. Methods: We prospectively assessed incident PD from 1992 to 2001 among 79,977 women and 63,348 men participating in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort, according to their cigarette smoking status and lifetime smoking histories. Results: During follow-up, 413 participants had definite or probable PD confirmed by their treating neurologists or medical record review. Compared with never smokers, former smokers had a relative risk (RR) of 0.78 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.95) and current smokers had an RR of 0.27 (95% CI 0.13 to 0.56). On average, participants with more years smoked, more cigarettes per day, older age at quitting smoking, and fewer years since quitting smoking had lower PD risk. The relative risks and trends did not vary significantly by sex. The cumulative incidence of PD was lowest among participants who quit smoking at later ages. A 30% to 60% decreased risk of PD was apparent for smoking as early as 15 to 24 years before symptom onset, but not for smoking 25 or more years before onset. Conclusions: The lower risk of Parkinson disease among current and former smokers varied with smoking duration, intensity, and recentness. The dependence of this association on the timing of smoking during life is consistent with a biologic effect.


This webinar covers research projects in the realm of housing co-operative and governance:

1. Looking at the learning, skill-building and social ties that develop as individuals serve on the board of directors and engage in other ways in their housing co-operatives. This project was completed by analyzing data collected through the Co-operative Housing Programs Evaluation with the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada.

2. Looking at engagement of young members in their housing co-operatives. This project was undertaken by conducting qualitative interviews with young members, managers and directors.

Some information on the presenters:

Catherine Leviten-Reid is an assistant professor in the MBA in Community Economic Development program at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia. She does research on organizational form, housing, social care and governance.

Justin Ellerby has been involved in the California housing cooperative movement for 11 years. He served as the President of the North American Students of Cooperation, and also of a California-based solar community housing association, and earned his MBA in Community Economic Development at Cape Breton University.


Plasma fibronectin (Fn) and protease inhibitors (alpha 2-macroglobulin, alpha 2-MG, antithrombin, AT-III activity and content) were measured in 74 COPD patients and 53 normal controls. It was showed: (1) Fn, alpha 2-MG. AT-III activity were considerably decreased in COPD, when compare with that of controls; (2) there is a negative correlation between the value of PaCO2, r = -0.719, P less than 0.01. It indicated that the Fn, AT-III activity and alpha 2-MG are closely correlated with the extent and degree of respiratory decompensation. Dynamic changes of these parameters are of some prognostic significance in COPD.


High spin states in the odd-odd nucleus 124Cs have been investigated through the fusion-evaporation reaction 116Sn(11B, 3n)124Cs with a beam energy of 45 MeV. A new rotational band is established and assigned as the high-k configuration of πg9/2[404]9/2+⊗νh11/2[523]7/2−. Some structures linking to this band have also been observed. According to the results of the excitation energy systematics, the lowest level of this band is assigned as 9-, and the 8- isomer bandhead has not been observed. Another isomer with a half life of 6.3 s has also been observed with its new decay paths established. Its excitation energy is raised by 79 keV, but its Iπ is not changed.


Objective: To determine the effects of a phonological remediation reading and writing program in individuals with dyslexia, through behavioral and objective evaluations. Patients and Methods: Twenty children diagnosed with dyslexia, aged 8–14 years, were included in this study. Group I (GI) was composed of 10 children who took part in the program, and group II (GII) consisted of 10 subjects who did not take the remediation. The pre-testing evaluated phonological awareness, rapid naming, working memory, reading and writing of words and nonwords, thematic writing, and auditory evoked potential – P300. The type of stimulus used was the speech (20% of rare stimulus and 80% of frequent stimulus), intensity of 80 dBNa. The rare stimulus was the syllable /da/, and the frequent stimulus was the syllable /ba/. Next, the Phonological Reading and Writing Remediation Program was applied in 24 cumulative sessions, twice a week, each with a duration of 30 min. In the post-testing (at the end of the program), all the tests of the pre-testing were reapplied. Results: There was a statistically significant difference (between pre- and post-testing) in phonological awareness, rapid naming, working memory, thematic writing, writing and reading words and nonwords, as well as in the latency of the P3 component of P300 in GI, while GII maintained the same difficulties. Conclusion: The phonological remediation program showed to be a therapeutic method of fast beneficial effects in written language of individuals with dyslexia. However, the wide age range and the size of the sample could be considered a limitation of this study – it interferes with the generalization of results.


Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the third leading cause of death from cancer worldwide, and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway acts as the most common carcinogenic pathway in HCC. But few studies have reported the prognostic value of PI3K/AKT associated genes (PAGs) and their association with immune infiltration in HCC.Methods: The mRNA sequencing data and clinical information were gained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. The 105 PAGs gene sets were from the Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) website. The biological processes of differently expressed PAGs were explored by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. A four-gene prognostic signature (SFN, PRKAA2, PITX2 and CDK1) was built based on the multivariate analyses results. Its prognostic value was trained in TCGA database and tested in GEO database and ICGC database. The association between risk score and immune infiltration were explored by CIBERSORT method.Results: a total of nine differently expressed PAGs were identified. GO and KEGG revealed these genes were correlated with different carcinogenic pathways. The patients were divided into high-risk group and low-risk group according to the median risk score. The high-risk group had shorter survival time compared with the low-risk group in Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed the better prognostic value of risk score (ROC=0.736) compared with other clinicopathological characteristics (AUC ≤ 0.511). The consistent results were obtained in the GEO database and ICGC database. The nomogram predicted the 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival rates in HCC. The risk score was correlated with immune infiltration of monocytes and M0 macrophages, and the expression of immune checkpoints (PDCD1, CTLA4, TIM3 and TIGIT) were related to risk score. Conclusion: Our study established a novel four-gene prognostic signature by integrated bioinformatic analysis. It provided new insight into the immunotherapy targets and may direct the individualized treatment in HCC.


OBJECTIVE
To assess bone turnover status in osteopenic and osteoporotic postmenopausal females.

STUDY DESIGN
Cross-sectional analytical study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from January to December 2013.

METHODOLOGY
Across-sectional study was conducted on 203 postmenopausal females undergoing bone mineral density testing (BMD) by DXAscan. Patients with clinical history of any disorder or medications affecting bone turnover were excluded. Bone turnover was assessed with osteocalcin and β-CTx. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 19.

RESULTS
Mean age of the participants was 54 ±4.66 years with a mean BMI of 28.7 ±5.5 kg/m2. Mean β-CTx (0.28 ±0.24 ng/ml) and osteocalcin (21.5 ±10.6 ng/ml) levels were within the normal reference range. Subjects were grouped into normal (26.6%), osteopenic (44.8%), and osteoporotic (28.6%) based on the t-scores. Serum levels of osteocalcin and β-CTx between normal, osteopenic, and osteoporotic groups were not significantly different. β-CTx was negatively and significantly associated with only lumber spine BMD (r = -0.13, p=0.04). Positive association (< 0.0001) was noted between both markers in normal, osteopenic, and osteoporotic females. However, association of these markers with BMD in the 3 groups were not found. Multivariate linear regression showed a positive and significant effect of BMI on BMD (β= 0.332, p= < 0.0001). β-CTx had negative but significant effect on BMD (β= -0.155, p= 0.018) of postmenopausal women.

CONCLUSION
Association between baseline levels of BTM and rate of bone loss is variable and site dependent. β-CTx correlates better with BMD. However, role of osteocalcin in postmenopausal osteoporosis is uncertain and needs further investigation.


The X-ray polarization properties of the reflection nebulae in the Galactic center inform us about the direction of the illuminating source (through the polarization angle) and the cloud position along the line of sight (through the polarization degree). However, the detected polarization degree is expected to be lowered because the polarized emission of the clouds is mixed with the unpolarized diffuse emission that permeates the Galactic center region. In a real observation, also the morphological smearing of the source due to the point spread function and the unpolarized instrumental background contribute in diluting the polarization degree. So far, these effects have never been included in the estimation of the dilution. We evaluate the detectability of the X-ray polarization predicted for the MC2, Bridge-B2, G0.11-0.11, Sgr B2, Sgr C1, Sgr C2, and Sgr C3 molecular clouds with modern X-ray imaging polarimeters such as the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which is expected to launch in 2021, and the Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission (eXTP), whose launch is scheduled for 2027. We perform realistic simulations of X-ray polarimetric observations considering (with the aid of Chandra maps and spectra) the spatial, spectral, and polarization properties of all the diffuse emission and background components in each region of interest. We find that in the 4.0–8.0 keV band, where the emission of the molecular clouds outshines the other components, the dilution of the polarization degree, including the contribution due to the morphological smearing of the source, ranges between ~19% and ~55%. We conclude that for some distance values reported in the literature, the diluted polarization degree of G0.11-0.11, Sgr B2, Bridge-B2, Bridge-E, Sgr C1, and Sgr C3 may be detectable in a 2 Ms long IXPE observations. With the same exposure time, and considering the whole range of possible distances reported in the literature, the enhanced capabilities of eXTP may allow detecting the 4.0–8.0 keV of all the targets considered here.


Unusual, discrete palmar and plantar symptoms observed in thirty of forty-seven children with dermatitis herpetiformis are described. The diagnosis was verified in every case by the demonstration of granular IgA deposits in the skin. Forty-five of the children showed villous atrophy in jejunal biopsy specimens. In four cases extensive, exudative, bullous palmar symptoms, similar mild plantar changes, and healing with desquamation were observed. At least once during treatment we found very discrete, reddish-brown spots or small blisters on the flexor surface of the fingers and on the palms in thirty patients. Similar lesions occurred on the soles and plantar surface of the toes in only three patients. In asymptomatic patients and those treated with either a gluten-free diet or sulfone/sulfapyridine, the phenomenon was not manifest.


The sums of the cathode sheath and anode sheath voltages, , for atmospheric-pressure arcs in helium between non-thermionic electrodes of Fe, Cu and Ti, have been measured to be 20.4, 18.2 and 21.4 V respectively. These values are significantly higher than the values of in , argon and air, which all have a lower ionization potential. The values of strongly depend on the plasma ionization potential, but are almost independent of electrode work function, which suggests that cathode sheath ionization rather than field emission is a principal cathode process for electron formation.


This study aims to determine the level of efficiency analysis of beef cattle business in breeders. The research was conducted in Batui Sub-district, Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi in 2015, using completely randomized design (CRD), with control I, treatment II = 1 + supplemented feed 1.00% of body weight, treatment III = 1 + supplement feed 1,50% of body weight and treatment IV = 1 + supplemented feed 2.00% of body weight, according to the weight of the livestock. Primary data obtained from interviews on business units of beef cattle farmers, while secondary data obtained from the relevant agencies. The collected data were analyzed descriptively, qualitatively and economic analysis. The results showed that income on the implementation of supplemented feed of the highest concentrate feed was achieved at 2.00% supplementation level. The gain in control I is IDR13,680,-/head, R/C ratio 1.50 and B/C ratio 0.56, treatment II IDR19,380,-/head, R/C 2.15 and B/C 1.15, treatment III of IDR25,080,-/head, R/C ratio 2.26 and B/C ratio 1.26 and treatment IV of IDR28,500,-/head, R/C 2.44 and B/C 1.44. Financially, beef cattle business is profitable and shows the feasibility of cattle business deserve to be developed.


The C→A transformation of Pr2O3 has been examined. The transformation is sluggish and takes place at and above 750°C. C-Pr2O3 is oxidized at a lower temperature than the A-form and oxidation proceeds in two stages in both cases. A hydrate Pr2O3 H2O, formed by the interaction of C-Pr2O3 and water at relatively high temperature, is described and its behaviour compared with that of Pr(OH)3. The C-form undergoes hydration at 40°C while the A-form does not. All the observations have been explained in terms of the defect structure of C-Pr2O3.


After the 8ㆍ15 liberation, An Jae Hong advocated Neo-nationalism for constructing new nation in his main idea. 'New-nationalism' understood as neo-democracy, was comprehensively main word in An Jae Hong's political thought and its original meaning was derived from united nation-state as an ultra-class state. Neo-democracy that was premise word and synonym for neo-nationalism, had the intent of denying old democracy(bourgeois democracy and proletarian democracy) in Europe. An Jae Hong building nation-state in his purpose tried to solve the class conflict in all and focused on setting up an ultra-class state. It was a democracy nation that could realize the equality of economy, politics and education(culture) based on economical distribution. The building nation-state of An Jae Hong was the right proposal to embody the equality in economy, politics and education. As neo-nationalism understood the economical equality as the main element in the nation of neo-democracy, as much the economical problem took seriously its point in his advocating the theory of building nation-state. His supporting economic policy had its characteristic of reflecting the benefit on the middle class(small and medium size landholder and capitalist). This thesis tries to make clear his public symbiotics of nation image working specifically on the new nation in his building nation-state and about what his intended nation was. Here are described the problem of economic regime and forms of enterprise and worker's participation in management in order to explain An Jae Hong's political plan of economic equality. With this point of view this thesis studied agriculture with the method of industrial development and the policy for the farmers and workers examining the financial currency policy with other economic strategy.


The volatile components of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) tea produced by two different kinds of technological process separately namely: vacuum and water immersion were studied. It was shown by the sensory evaluation that the color of the soup and the extracted leaves of GABA tea were similar to that of the oolong tea, and the smell was similar to the aroma of cooked sweet red dates mixed with some of sour. In GABA tea, the contents of 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl phenol, methyl myristate, methyl laurate and methyl palmitate were higher than that of the normal green tea. The characteristic aroma constituents of the GABA tea made by vacuum treatment concluded methyl myristate, hexadecane, methyl laurate and methyl palmitate, while to the GABA tea made by water immersion, they were 2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl) -4-methylphenol and 1-octanol. Keywords: γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), GABA tea, volatile flavour compounds


Introduction: Vietnam has a nutrition transition leading to a rapid increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents whose lifestyles become more and more sedentary with lower levels of physical activity. Overweight and obesity among adolescents is growing with time in urban areas of Vietnam. Obesity in adolescence substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and their associated health deficiencies in adulthood. Additionally, obesity in adulthood is a high risk factor for chronic diseases. Objectives: Our study aimed at assessing the physical activities, the sedentary behaviors, and the dietary intake with regard to the prevalence of overweight and obesity among junior high school students (11-14 years) in urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Methods: A representative sample of 1,989 students aged 11-14 years was selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. 23 schools were randomly selected from the full list of all public junior high schools. In each selected school, 2 classes were chosen at random and all students from each selected class were examined. Age- and sex-adjusted overweight and obesity were defined using International Obesity Taskforce cut-offs. Physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and dietary intake were collected based on validated questionnaires for Vietnamese adolescents. Multiple logistic regressions were used to assess the predictive value of risk factors on prevalence of overweight or obesity. Results: The prevalences of overweight and obesity were 17.8% and 3.2%, respectively. From 2004 to 2010, the prevalence of overweight and obesity significantly increased from 11.7% and 2% to 17.8% and 3.2%, respectively (p = 0.001). The annual rate of change in obesity prevalence was +1.02% per year. 53.8% spent more than 2 h/day in small-screen recreations (boys/girls=63%/46%, 95%CI:[1.26-1.48], p = 0.001). Adolescents spent 1.5 h/day (median) in physical activity, with higher values for boys than girls (p = 0.001), and 33.9% were categorized as inactive. Total energy intake exceeded the Vietnam Recommended Dietary Allowances 2007. Using multiple logistic regression, high use of small-screen recreations at younger age was predictive of overweight and obesity (OR=1.59, 95%CI:[1.06-2.38], p = 0.02). Younger boys and inactivity were significantly associated with overweight or obesity prevalence. In girls, an inverse association was observed between dietary intake and overweight or obesity. Conclusions: In urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City, prevalence of overweight and obesity is still increasing among adolescents who have sedentary behaviors, few physical activities, and a total energy intake exceeding the Vietnam Recommended Dietary Allowances 2007. Public health programs should therefore be improved in order to promote good eating habits and physical activity among youths in Ho Chi Minh City.


Conventional planning and optimization of cellular networks for supporting the peak-time user demand leads to substantial wastage of electrical energy. Therefore, we propose an energy-aware dynamic network provisioning framework for realizing green mobile cellular systems by reducing energy consumption in access networks. Proposed mechanism allows base stations (BSs) to offload their entire traffic to the neighbors and thus allows some BSs to switch into sleep mode for saving energy. Four different traffic offloading schemes for redistributing users among the neighboring BSs are proposed and investigated. Flexible resource allocation is integrated in the system for maintaining quality of service (QoS) throughout the network. Furthermore, for avoiding the high complexity of the formulated generalized energy optimization problem, a heuristically guided algorithmic framework is developed. System performance is evaluated using extensive simulations demonstrating a substantial energy savings. Impact of the proposed network provisioning framework on the bandwidth utilization is also analyzed.


As markets fragment, product variety management becomes critical to remain profitable. Product variety management needs to be improved continuously, especially for highly customised products that are tailored to niche markets. In this paper, we propose a novel method – merge-based design – to help manage variety in a product family. The proposed method targets the already tailored (unique) components in an effort to reduce the number of variant components in the family. Merge-based design also facilitates customisation by enabling designers to reduce the non-value-adding variety within a family. The proposed method is described and then demonstrated using a case study that involves two existing internal structures from single-use cameras. Finally, a new custom camera that uses the resulting common structure and a different exterior casing is proposed to illustrate how the method facilitates customisation.


The stereochemical course of the enoyl reduction catalyzed by fatty acid synthetase was investigated using the enzymes from rat liver and Brevibacterium ammoniagenes. Deuterium-labeled fatty acids were synthesized by incubating the synthetases with either 4R-[4-2H1]- or 4S-[4-2H1]NADPH. The deuterium-labeled fatty acids thus produced were subjected to the action of a stereospecific enzyme, acyl-CoA oxidase. The deuterium-labeled fatty acids and 2,3-dehydroacyl thioesters, the products of acyl-CoA oxidase, were methylated and analyed for deuterium content by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. These experiments provided information to determine the configuration at the C-3 position of fatty acids formed by fatty acid synthetases. The results suggested that the stereochemistry of hydrogen (as hydride) incorporation from reduced pyridine nucleotides during enoyl reduction was different between rat liver and B. ammoniagenes synthetases: the enoyl reduction of rat liver enzyme involved the re-attack of hydride and that of B. ammoniagenes enzyme involved the si-attack of hydride.


Saethre-Chotzen syndrome is characterized primarily by facial and digital anomalies. This case report describes multiple dental anomalies in a patient with Saethre-Chotzen, not reported in previous descriptions of the syndrome. These features are teeth with broad, bulbous crowns, thin, narrow tapering roots, and diffuse pulp stones in the pulp chambers of all posterior teeth. These dental findings, along with being associated with the syndrome, may influence dental care for these patients.


The difficulties in negotiating a post-2012 regime of binding targets and timetables and the decisions of the US, Canada, and Russia on the Kyoto Protocol regime have led to pessimism about the future of the climate regime. Negotiation issues for different coalitions and actors are placed in a wider historical context by examining the key challenge facing the evolving long-term climate change negotiation process: the principled basis for the allocation of resources, responsibilities, rights, and risks between actors. Four theoretical approaches (problem structuring; negotiation theory; collective action and social practice models; legal theory) are applied to the climate regime. A principled approach is only a distributive approach from a narrow short-term perspective. It becomes an integrative approach from a longer-term perspective when it increases the pie, enhances the win–win opportunities and creates space for sustainable solutions to emerge. It is especially integrative when undertaken within the context of global rule of law, which is able to create predictable rules that apply to future global problems with different country interests. Will this happen? Climate justice movements and climate litigation have begun; statesmanship is still needed.


The October 23 2011 Van Earthquake is studied from an earthquake engineering point of view. Strong ground motion processing was performed to investigate features of the earthquake source, forward directivity effects during the rupture process as well as local site effects. Strong motion characteristics were investigated in terms of peak ground motion and spectral acceleration values. Directiviy effects were discussed in detail via elastic response spectra and wide band spectograms to see the high frequency energy distributions. Source parameters and slip distribution results of the earthquake which had been proposed by different researchers were summarized. Influence of the source parameters on structural response were shown by comparing elastic response spectra of Muradiye synthetic records which were performed by broadband strong motion simulations of the earthquake. It has been emphasized that characteristics of the earthquake rupture dynamics and their effects on structural design might be investigated from a multidisciplinary point of view. Seismotectonic calculations (e.g., slip pattern, rupture velocity) may be extended relating different engineering parameters (e.g., interstorey drifts, spectral accelerations) across different disciplines while using code based seismic design approaches. Current state of the art building codes still far from fully reflecting earthquake source related parameters into design rules. Some of those deficiencies and recent efforts to overcome these problems were also mentioned. Next generation ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) may be incorporated with certain site categories for site effects. Likewise in the 2011 Van Earthquake, Reverse/Oblique earthquakes indicate that GMPEs need to be feasible to a wider range of magnitudes and distances in engineering practice. Due to the reverse faulting with large slip and dip angles, vertical displacements along with directivity and fault normal effects might significantly affect the engineering structures. Main reason of excessive damage in the town of Ercis can be attributed to these factors. Such effects should be considered in advance through the establishment of vertical design spectra and effects might be incorporated in the available GMPEs.


Urolithiasis is the most common cause of non-obstetrical abdominal pain that requires hospitalization among pregnant patients. We are presenting a case of symptomatic right ureteric calculi. This was diagnosed during second trimester. The patient did not respond to conservative management and had to be treated surgically with good symptomatic improvement.


The technology of production planning and scheduling is one of the critical technologies that decide whether the automated manufacturing systems can get the expected economy. Job shop scheduling belongs to the special class of NP-hard problems. Most of the algorithms used to optimize this class of problems have an exponential time; that is, the computation time increases exponentially with problem size. In scheduling study, makespan is often considered as the main objective. In this paper, makespan, the due date request of the key jobs, the availability of the key machine, the average wait-time of the jobs, and the similarities between the jobs and so on are taken into accotmt based on the application of mechanical engineering. The job shop scheduling problem with multi-objectives is analyzed and studied by using genetic algorithms based on the mechanics of genetics and natural selection. In this research, the tactics of the coding and decoding and the design of the genetic operators, along with the description of the mathematic model of the multi-objective functions,are presented. Finally an illu-strative example is given to testify the validity of this algorithm.


Drought and salinity are the major abiotic stresses, which reduce agricultural productivity. In plants, 14-3-3s function as regulators of many target proteins through direct protein-protein interactions and play an important role during response to abiotic stresses. Here we report that CaMV 35S promoter driven overexpression of a Pyrus pyrifolia 14-3-3 gene, Pp14-3-3, improves drought and NaCl tolerance in T1 generation plants of transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Xanthi). Under drought and NaCl stresses, the Pp14-3-3 was largely expressed in T1 transgenic tobacco lines, and compared with the wild-type (WT), transgenic tobacco plants showed relatively normal growth condition. In addition, the levels of membrane lipid peroxidation in T1 transgenic lines were definitely lower than that in WT according to the significantly decreased content of malondialdehyde. Meanwhile, the T1 transgenic tobacco lines showed significantly slower superoxide anion production rate than the WT under abiotic stress. Moreover, both the glutathione S-transferase (GST) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities in T1 transgenic lines were markedly higher than those in WT. GSTs and APXs are important components of plant antioxidant system, and the results of present study suggested that Pp14-3-3 should play a crucial role in reducing oxidative damage caused by drought and salt stresses.


We have designed an inexpensive intelligent pedestrian counting system. The pedestrian counting system consists of several counters that can be connected together in a distributed fashion and communicate over the wireless channel. The motion pattern is recorded using a set of passive infrared (PIR) sensors. Each counter has one wireless sensor node that processes the PIR sensor data and transmits it to a base station. Then echo state network, a special kind of recurrent neural network, is used to predict the pedestrian count from the input pattern. The evaluation of the performance of such networks in a novel kind of application is one focus of this work. The counter gave a performance of 80.4% which is better than the commercially available low-priced pedestrian counters. The article reports the experiments we did for analyzing the counterperformance and lists the strengths and limitations of the current implementation. It will also report the preliminary test results obtained by substituting the PIR sensors with low-cost active IR distance sensors which can improve the counter performance further.


Abstract The Multicultural Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ) is a validated and easy-to-administer tool for assessing individuals' multicultural competencies (Narvaez & Hill, 2010). The current study examined the utility of the MEQ for assessing the impact of undergraduate diversity courses. A total of 137 students in six university-designated diversity courses participated in this study. The survey was administered in the first and the final week of the semester. Results of a mixed design ANOVA analysis showed students scored significantly higher on the survey at posttest. The MEQ is a valuable tool for higher education institutions interested in assessing the effectiveness of their diversity curriculum.


The proposed idea of this Application Geo Alert helps to frequent travelers at various places, this application helps to find the particular location on which they are currently stand and also introduce with favorite tourist spot when they are in front of that place by providing alert and when the user would like to know about to that spot he will have to simply tap on that alarm that provides the history of that spot, so the unknown city will become familiar to every visitor who visit first time or every time in any particular area. Here we present the requirements for location based alerts resulting from a qualitative analysis performed at small area in the city, and explain that how these results are influencing ongoing design of a more comprehensive location based alert system.


A formal approach to produce a model for the data-generating distribution based on partial knowledge is the well-known maximum entropy method. In this approach, partial knowledge about the data-generating distribution is formulated in terms of some information constraints and the model is obtained by maximizing the Shannon entropy under these constraints. Frequently, in reliability analysis the problem of interest is the lifetime beyond an age t. In such cases, the distribution of interest for computing uncertainty and information is the residual distribution. The information functions involving a residual life distribution depend on t, and hence are dynamic. The maximum dynamic entropy (MDE) model is the distribution with the density that maximizes the dynamic entropy for all t. We provide a result that relates the orderings of dynamic entropy and the hazard function for distributions with monotone densities. Applications include dynamic entropy ordering within some parametric families of distributions, orderings of distributions of lifetimes of systems and their components connected in series and parallel, record values, and formulation of constraints for the MDE model in terms of the evolution paths of the hazard function and mean residual lifetime function. In particular, we identify classes of distributions in which some well-known distributions, including the mixture of two exponential distributions and the mixture of two Pareto distributions, are the MDE models.


The most dramatic feature of life on Earth is our adaptation to the cycle of day and night. Throughout evolutionary time, almost all living organisms developed a molecular clock linked to the light-dark cycles of the sun. In present time, we know that this molecular clock is crucial to maintain metabolic and physiological homeostasis. Indeed, a dysregulated molecular clockwork is a major contributing factor to many metabolic diseases. In fact, the time of onset of acute myocardial infarction exhibits a circadian periodicity and recent studies have found that the light regulated circadian rhythm protein Period 2 (PER2) elicits endogenous cardioprotection from ischemia. Manipulating the molecular clockwork may prove beneficial during myocardial ischemia in humans. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules capable of silencing messenger RNA (mRNA) targets. MicroRNA dysregulation has been linked to cancer development, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, lipid metabolism, and impaired immunity. Therefore, microRNAs are gaining interest as putative novel disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets. To identify circadian microRNA-based cardioprotective pathways, a recent study evaluated transcriptional changes of PER2 dependent microRNAs during myocardial ischemia. Out of 352 most abundantly expressed microRNAs, miR-21 was amongst the top PER2 dependent microRNAs and was shown to mediate PER2 elicited cardioprotection. Further analysis suggested circadian entrainment via intense light therapy to be a potential strategy to enhance miR-21 activity in humans. In this review, we will focus on circadian microRNAs in the context of cardioprotection and will highlight new discoveries, which could lead to novel therapeutic concepts to treat myocardial ischemia.


The Supreme Court has never directly addressed whether, or under what circumstances, a writ of habeas corpus may be used to challenge the conditions of detention, as opposed to the fact or duration of detention. Consequently, a circuit split exists on habeas jurisdiction over conditions claims. The COVID-19 pandemic brought this issue into the spotlight as detained individuals fearing infection, serious illness, and death requested release through habeas petitions around the country. One of the factors that courts considered in deciding whether to exercise habeas jurisdiction was whether alternative remedies exist, through a civil rights or tort-based action. This Article examines that question in depth, focusing specifically on the availability of meaningful alternatives for detained noncitizens. The Article analyzes challenges for noncitizens in bringing civil rights actions under Section 1983 or Bivens, tort actions under the Federal Tort Claims Act and state tort laws, and actions for injunctive relief directly under the Fifth Amendment and under the Administrative Procedure Act. By demonstrating that meaningful alternatives to habeas are often illusory for detained noncitizens, the Article argues that courts should err on the side of exercising habeas jurisdiction instead of making cursory conclusions that alternative remedies can be pursued.


Open-ended evolution is considered to be caused by several factors, one of which would be co-evolution. Competitive co-evolution can give rise to the "Red Queen effect", where the fitness landscape of each population is continuously changed by the competing population. Therefore, if such continuous changes are captured, co-evolutionary progress would be measured. In this paper, we estimate features of competitive co-evolutionary fitness landscapes on a predator-prey problem in computer simulations and investigate the Red Queen effect on the fitness landscape. Two types of method were proposed to estimate features, ruggedness and neutrality. One was calculated based on accumulated data so far at each generation, and the other was based on accumulated data during a certain period. The results suggest to us that our method can track the progress of fitness landscapes on competitive co-evolutionary robotics.


—The ability to generalize to previously unseen tasks with little to no supervision is a key challenge in modern machine learning research. It is also a cornerstone of a future "General AI". Any artificially intelligent agent deployed in a real world application, must adapt on the fly to unknown environments.Researchers often rely on reinforcement and imitation learning to provide online adaptation to new tasks, through trial and error learning. However, this can be challenging for complex tasks which require many timesteps or large numbers of subtasks to complete. These "long horizon" tasks suffer from sample inefficiency and can require extremely long training times before the agent can learn to perform the necessary long-term planning. In this work, we introduce CASE which attempts to ad- dress these issues by training an Imitation Learning agent using adaptive "near future" subgoals. These subgoals are re- calculated at each step using compositional arithmetic in a learned latent representation space. In addition to improving learning efficiency for standard long-term tasks, this approach also makes it possible to perform one-shot generalization to previously unseen tasks, given only a single reference trajectory for the task in a different environment. Our experiments show that the proposed approach consistently outperforms the previous state-of-the-art compositional Imitation Learning approach by 30%.


Autonomous driving technology includes four links: perception, cognition, decision-making, and behaviour. The cognition plays a vital role as a bridge between perception and decision-making. In the cognition link, accurate identification of the intention and behaviour of surrounding vehicles is a necessary prerequisite for autonomous vehicles to make correct behaviour decisions, and it is conducive to reducing the driving risk of own vehicle. Different from driving style, driving tendency has the characteristics of dynamic and behavioural decision-making preference. Being able to identify the driving tendency of surrounding vehicles in real time will be more conducive to making reasonable behavioural decisions for own vehicle. Therefore, this paper takes the lane change trajectory data of passenger cars in the NGSIM open-source database as the research sample. Firstly, the problem of data imbalance is considered, and the imbalanced samples are sampled using the method of uniformly dividing the data set. Secondly, from the perspective of own vehicle, the characteristic indicators that can represent the tendency of the surrounding vehicles to change lanes are mined. Finally, the GRU deep learning algorithm is used to establish a real-time identification model for aggressive lane change behaviour. Compared with the traditional method, the method proposed in this paper can effectively identify the tendency of lane change behaviour of surrounding vehicles in the early stage of lane-changing behaviour and has higher recognition accuracy. The research results show that the real-time identification of the tendency of the lane change behaviour of the surrounding vehicles is beneficial to the assessment and quantification of the driving risk of own vehicle, and also provides a theoretical basis for the decision-making of own vehicle, which is of great significance to the safe driving of own vehicle.


Abstract Context: Mammary and placental 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (17βHSD1). Objective: To assess the impact of testosterone, tibolone, and black cohosh on purified mammary and placental 17βHSD1. Materials and methods: 17βHSD1 was purified from human mammary gland and placenta by column chromatography, its activity was monitored by a radioactive activity assay, and the degree of purification was determined by gel electrophoresis. Photometric cofactor transformation analysis was performed to assess 17βHSD1 activity without or in presence of testosterone, tibolone and black cohosh. Results: 17βHSD1 from both sources displayed a comparable basal activity. Testosterone and tibolone metabolites inhibited purified mammary and placental 17βHSD1 activity to a different extent, whereas black cohosh had no impact. Discussion: Studies on purified enzymes reveal the individual action of drugs on local regulatory mechanisms thus helping to develop more targeted therapeutic intervention. Conclusion: Testosterone, tibolone and black cohosh display a beneficial effect on local mammary estrogen metabolism by not affecting or decreasing local estradiol exposure.


Three experiments that were run concurrently at the Brookhaven AGS are reviewed and compared. The experiments searched for prompt neutrinos and penetrating neutral particles from a beam dump exposed to 4.2x101B 28 GeV/c protons. Some indications of unusual production mechanisms have been reported.


We describe a non-invasive and non-destructive approach for addressing problems associated with the complex geology of the shallow subsurface (depths <50 m). This novel method, 3-D ground-penetrating radar (georadar) mapping, combines the advantages of new and efficient means of acquiring georadar data with recent data processing innovations introduced by the petroleum exploration industry and image enhancement algorithms developed in several sciences. Using only measurements taken on the surface, 3-D georadar mapping has the potential to produce remarkably vivid images of the shallow underground. No other technique comes close to providing the details and resolution offered by 3-D georadar. To demonstrate its power, we present 3-D images of a 20,000 m3 volume of crystalline rock containing a system of thin sub-horizontal fractures intersected by a vertical fault


In this letter, we study the throughput achievable by an unlicensed sensor network operating over TV white space spectrum in presence of coexistence interference. Through the letter, we first analytically derive the achievable throughput as a function of the channel ordering. Then, we show that the problem of deriving the maximum expected throughput through exhaustive search is computationally unfeasible. Finally, we derive a computational-efficient algorithm characterized by polynomial-time complexity to compute the channel set maximizing the expected throughput and, stemming from this, we derive a closed-form expression of the maximum expected throughput. Numerical simulations validate the theoretical analysis.


Analysis, research and training about telecommunications in Africa focus on a few larger markets, though with growing interest in pan-African operators. At the other extreme lie the Small Island Developing States (SIDS): the Cape Verde Islands, the Union of the Comoros, Mauritius, Sao Tome & Principe and the Seychelles. These are literally on the margin, both geographically and in the functioning of their ICT markets, facing specific challenges in crafting courses towards their own information societies. They face disproportionate problems in creating and regulating properly functioning markets, notably in sustaining competition. Maintaining a policy unit in a ministry is expensive and difficult to justify, while a regulatory authority can be funded by taxing operators. Basic regulatory instruments (e.g., auctioning of spectrum, number portability and local loop unbundling) and some policy instruments (e.g., public consultations and parliamentary oversight committees) do not work easily on a very small scale. Some of the SIDS benefit from tourism and from this roaming revenues flow to the mobile operators. This paper synthesises the lessons from the African SIDS and identifies areas for further research.


The concepts of political leadership and political representation are applied to urban politics, and based on a case study of four mayors in Denmark, four mayoral representational functions are identified: "representative," "master of ceremonies," "local secretary of state," and "ombudsman." The four functions separate the mayor from the councillors who act only as representatives. With regard to representational focus (who is represented), the case study demonstrates that mayors have a much broader focus than councillors. The different functions and focuses of mayors and councillors are combined into two ideal types of representation, "leader style" and "legislator style."


A perovskite solar cell in the inverted configuration was modeled and simulated to investigate the impact of the cathode work function on the cell performance. The model utilized the drift-diffusion current equations, coupled with Poisson's equation and continuity equations to determine the J-V characteristics, the band diagram, and the external quantum efficiencies. It was found the power conversion efficiency (PCE) tended to decrease with the increasing work functions of the metal cathode. The device using low work function metal Ca delivered the best PCE of 16.7%, whereas the one with high work function Au possessed the lowest PCE of 0.3%. These results were in a close agreement with experiments in literature. Photovoltaic parameters (FF, Jsc, and Voc) showed the same tendency and were responsible for the PCE. The band diagram revealed the formation of Schottky barrier was the main reason for the reduction in Voc, and the external quantum efficiency spectrum showed the adverse effect of the Schottky barrier on the charge extraction.


Background: Diabetes is an increasingly important public health concern. Self-care behaviors should be improved to help diabetic patients better control the disease, highlighting the importance of understanding the factors that affect a diabetic patient's self-care behaviors. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to determine factors related to self-care behaviors in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) using the protection motivation theory (PMT). Methods: In general, 160 type 2 diabetic patients referring to Yazd Diabetes Research Center were randomly selected and included in this analytical cross-sectional study. The data were gathered by a reliable and valid questionnaire, which is a summary of a multi-question questionnaire. It included PMT constructs and demographic information through interviewing the patients. Finally, data were analyzed using t test, ANOVA, linear regression, and Pearson correlation tests. Results: The mean age of the patients and the mean self-care behaviors were 55.87±9.62 years and 37.56±12.94, respectively. In the regression model, perceived susceptibility (β=0.294, P<0.001) and protection motivation (β=0.247, P=0.003) were significant predictors of diabetes self-care behaviors. This model was able to explain 20% of the variance of these behaviors. Conclusion: PMT is effective in recognizing the determinants of diabetes self-care behaviors; therefore, to increase patients' motivation to adopt diabetes self-care behaviors, a framework similar to this theory can be used to design educational programs. It is suggested that other studies in the field of self-care be conducted with other educational models in different populations of patients, and their results be compared accordingly.


Abstract : In this paper I will examine the conditions on the positioning of non-reflexive clitic pronouns in Portuguese. I will argue that clitic pronouns can be reordered only inside the sentences where they are generated and that, consequently, they cannot be moved out their original sentences to be attached to a verb in a higher sentence. A grammar of clitic placement in Portuguese will be offered to generate only the grammatical sentences and to block the ungrammatical ones. I will argue also that those cases in Portuguese in which a pronoun originated in an embedded sentence appears in the surface structure as a clitic attached to a verb in the matrix sen tence do not get there via clitic movement, but by a different transformation, namely Raising from Subject to Object.


The forest harvesting is a most expensive system in forest management plans. The main objective of the harvesting is to minimize logging time, cost and damage. In order to correct management and minimize cost, all of the components of a system must be recognized. Primary transportation is a component of harvesting system, which is carried out using rubber-tired skidders and skid trails in Iran. Cross slope of skid trails is one of the effective factors on skidding time. In this study, the effects of the cross slope of skid trail on skidding time for loaded and unloaded skidder was investigated. After measuring the effective factors on skidding time, data were analyzed in SPSS software and then models were produced. Results showed that skidding time was a function of cross slope, number and volume of pieces. For unloaded skidder, the relation between cross slope and skidding time was incremental and for loaded skidder the relation between cross slope and skidding time was multiplier parabola. The skidding time increased with increasing the volume of pieces in all cross slope classes.


We investigate properties of some spherical fonctions defined on hyperbolic groups using boundary representations on the Gromov boundary endowed with the Patterson-Sullivan measure class. We prove sharp decay estimates for spherical functions as well as spectral inequalities associated with boundary representations. This point of view on the boundary allows us to view the so-called \emph{property RD} (also called \emph{Haagerup's inequality}) as a particular case of a more general behavior of spherical functions on hyperbolic groups. In particular, we give a constructive proof using a boundary unitary representation of a result due to de la Harpe and Jolissaint asserting that hyperbolic groups satisfy \emph{property RD}. Finally, we prove that the family of boundary representations studied in this paper, which can be regarded as a one parameter deformation of the boundary unitary representation, are slow growth representations acting on a Hilbert space admitting a proper $1$-cocycle.


Investigations of the fibre/matrix adhesion mechanisms with the application of butyl titanate as coupling agent cannot completely solve the effect of this titanium derivative. Different microscopic methods show that the formation of a fibre/matrix boundary layer with butyl titanate as resin additive does not take place. An improvement of the adhesion between fibre and matrix by improved chemical bonds cannot be responsible with this application of the coupling agent for the improved mechanical properties of the laminates. The atomic force microscopic results and the mechanical properties of the matrix with butyl titanate show that a modification of the stiffness of the matrix or the fibre/matrix interface with the application of the titanate does exist.


Background: Periodontitis is a disease that affects and destroys the tissues that support teeth. Tissue damage results from a prolonged inflammatory response to an ecological shift in the composition of subgingival biofilms. Three bacterial species that constitute the red complex group, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, and Treponema denticola, are considered the main pathogens involved in periodontitis. Materials and Methods: In the present study, a real-time polymerase chain reaction bases assay was designed to detect and quantify red complex species, then used to investigate 307 periodontal pocket samples from 127 periodontitis patients and 180 controls. Results: Significant higher prevalence of red complex species and increased amount of P. gingivalis and T. denticola were detected in periodontal pocket of periodontitis patients. Conclusions: Results demonstrated that the test is a valuable tool to improve diagnosis of periodontal disease.


Interpersonal Psychotherapy was conceived as a psychotherapeutic approach to treating Depression, but has since now been broadly used to treat many other disorders. It has also recently been adapted to delivery in the group setting, with both advantages and disadvantages as other group psychotherapies. This adaptation, first used by Wilfley and colleagues, maintained the main features of IPT, i.e. the central role of the interpersonal focus and identification of one (or two) out of four problem interpersonal areas (Grief; Role Transition; Role Disputes; Interpersonal Deficits). It also kept the active role of the therapist and individual patient within the group. To date, G-IPT has been used for several diseases (Eating Disorders not Otherwise Specified, Bulimia Nervosa, Depressive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) and several populations (Adolescents, Older People, Pregnant Women or "New-Mothers," Substance-abusing Female Prisoners). Although the overall quality of most of outcome studies is to date quite poor, the review of the current state of knowledge shows the G-IPT may be helpful and present a number of advantages to treat different psychiatric disorders in several populations of patients.


Background: In addition to lifestyle modifications, pharmacotherapy is often required to achieve glycemic goals. In clinical practice, optimal treatment is not consistently implemented, often due to inadequate adherence to recommended guidelines. Objective: To demonstrate the impact of a pharmacist-led diabetes clinical intervention program. Methods: A retrospective analysis using collected diabetes program clinical interventions from July 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 was performed. Members at least 18 years of age enrolled in a prescription plan administered by the pharmacy benefit manager with the pharmacist-led diabetes program who attempted to obtain diabetes medications were included in the analysis. A diabetes specialist reviewed members that did not meet previously established clinical algorithm programmed into the adjudication platform. Total number of clinical interventions and type of clinical intervention were described using descriptive statistics. Results: The diabetes specialist pharmacist reviewed a total of 85 interventions. Out of these interventions, approximately 34% did not require additional clinical information from the provider and the medication adjudicated. Of the remaining interventions, providers accepted 75% of the recommendations: 30% "Medication changed to cost-effective therapeutic equivalent", 27% "Medication discontinued", 9% "New medication initiated", and the remaining categories included "Medication dose decreased", "Medication dose increased", and "Medication dosing interval increased." Conclusion: The diabetes specialist pharmacist intervened to promote adherence to ADA guidelines and educate providers on patient specific factors such as medication adherence, polypharmacy, gaps-in-care, and financial considerations. Providers accepted recommendations 75% of the time, demonstrating willingness to collaborate with other clinicians to ensure optimal patient care. Disclosure J.M. Banks: None. P. Taddei-Allen: Advisory Panel; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S.


The use of deep pretrained bidirectional transformers has led to remarkable progress in learning multi-sentence representations for downstream language understanding tasks (Devlin et al., 2018). For tasks that make pairwise comparisons, e.g. matching a given context with a corresponding response, two approaches have permeated the literature. A Cross-encoder performs full self-attention over the pair; a Bi-encoder performs self-attention for each sequence separately, and the final representation is a function of the pair. While Cross-encoders nearly always outperform Bi-encoders on various tasks, both in our work and others' (Urbanek et al., 2019), they are orders of magnitude slower, which hampers their ability to perform real-time inference. In this work, we develop a new architecture, the Poly-encoder, that is designed to approach the performance of the Cross-encoder while maintaining reasonable computation time. Additionally, we explore two pretraining schemes with different datasets to determine how these affect the performance on our chosen dialogue tasks: ConvAI2 and DSTC7 Track 1. We show that our models achieve state-of-the-art results on both tasks; that the Poly-encoder is a suitable replacement for Bi-encoders and Cross-encoders; and that even better results can be obtained by pretraining on a large dialogue dataset.


The present study investigated the in vitro antibacterial, antibiofilm and anti-Quorum Sensing (anti-QS) activities of canine bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned media (cBM MSC CM) containing all secreted factors <30 K, using a disc diffusion test (DDT), spectrophotometric Crystal Violet Assay (SCVA) and Bioluminescence Assay (BA) with QS-reporter Escherichia coli JM109 pSB1142. The results show a sample-specific bacterial growth inhibition (zones varied between 7–30 mm), statistically significant modulation of biofilm-associated Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bioluminescence (0.391 ± 0.062 in the positive control to the lowest 0.150 ± 0.096 in the experimental group, cf. 11,714 ± 1362 to 7753 ± 700, given as average values of absorbance A550 ± SD versus average values of relative light units to growth RLU/A550 ± SD). The proteomic analysis performed in our previous experiment revealed the presence of several substances with documented antibacterial, antibiofilm and immunomodulatory properties (namely, apolipoprotein B and D; amyloid-β peptide; cathepsin B; protein S100-A4, galectin 3, CLEC3A, granulin, transferrin). This study highlights that cBM MSC CM may represent an important new approach to managing biofilm-associated and QS signal molecule-dependent bacterial infections. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous documentation of canine BM MSC CM associated with in vitro antibiofilm and anti-QS activity.


On the strength of a complaint of suspected resistance to closantel, a field strain of Haemonchus contortus was isolated from sheep on a farm near Pretoria and tested for resistance to the remedy, both without exposure to closantel in the laboratory (designated the "unselected" substrain of the parasite) and after a single selection with closantel (called the "selected" substrain). For comparative purpose a few sheep were treated with rafoxanide to ascertain whether the efficacy of this drug was unchanged. While the unselected substrain appeared to show only slight increased resistance to the residual effect of closantel drenched at a dosage rate of 5 mg/kg, there was a dramatic increase in resistance after one selection. The residual efficacy (determined by the modified NPM test of Groeneveld & Reinecke, 1969, as outlined by Reinecke, 1973), 13-14 days after treatment with closantel was reduced from the registered claim of the remedy in South Africa of greater than 80% effective in greater than 80% of the treated flock to "ineffective", or less than 50% effective in less than 50% of the treated flock. Furthermore, there also appeared to be a slight increase in the resistance of this substrain to rafoxanide, as its efficacy was reduced from 99-100% to about 92%. This sharp reduction in efficacy after a single selection with closantel seemed to indicate that the slight increase in resistance of the unselected substrain was probably due not to possible variation in the repeatability of the trail method but to repeated treatment with closantel on the farm.


An application of ecological psychology, based on the work of James J. Gibson, to electroacoustic music would consider the listener in relationship with both the work and the environment, in a dynamic and mutually informing relationship. This perspective is applied to various electroacoustic concert paradigms, demonstrating a wide range of listening experiences; the implications for electroacoustic music as a genre are examined. Several qualities of acousmatic music are used to explore some potential limitations of Gibson's theories. Finally, some relative strengths and weaknesses of ecological psychology are considered, as well as some potentially fruitful cooperations with other, somewhat divergent, theoretical approaches.


States write incomplete contracts when negotiating and concluding international treaties. Often, they delegate the interpretation of treaties to third-party adjudicators. Some treaties, especially in environmental law, do not institutionalize adjudication within the treaty regime but leave the interpretation to the states themselves. The possibility of auto-interpretation gives states utmost control over their own behaviour with the consequence that their commitment is less credible. Other treaties permit for third-party adjudication, modern international investment agreements (IIA) being one of them. But there are many ways in which states nevertheless control the content of their commitments, some of which are functionally substitutable. These range from exiting entire treaties to controlling the selection of arbitrators or issuing binding interpretations. Due to the extent of control possibilities states have, each of them can only be treated in a cursory fashion. The aim of this paper is to show the vast array of mechanisms and highlight their interactional effects, while staying descriptive and not assuming normatively that more control is better. This paper draws on economic contract theory and principal-agent-theory to frame the problem, it investigates whether, which, and how control mechanisms are used by states. This paper also shows how those can impact the interpretation of treaties considerably and discusses some cases in which the outcome of the case might have been different if certain control mechanisms would have been introduced in the respective applicable treaty. Furthermore it considers the limits to control by states building on consequentialist as well as deontological arguments.


Accumulating evidence suggests that a small population of cells termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) are crucial in tumor development and drug resistance, leading to cancer relapse and metastasis and eventually the failure of clinical cancer treatment. Therefore, targeting CSCs is a promising approach for anticancer therapies. Due to the drug resistance and adverse effects of currently used chemotherapies, traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) have recently received attention due to the relatively few side-effects. Thus, they have been used as important alternative remedies for various diseases, including cancer. Pien Tze Huang (PZH), a well-known TCM formula that was first prescribed more than 450 years ago in the Ming Dynasty, has been used in China and Southeast Asia for centuries as a folk remedy for various types of cancer. Previously, it was reported that PZH inhibits colon cancer growth via the promotion of cancer cell apoptosis and inhibition of cell proliferation and tumor angiogenesis, which is probably mediated by its regulatory effect on multiple intracellular signaling pathways. To elucidate the mechanism of the tumoricidal activity of PZH, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of PZH on CSCs that were isolated as the side population (SP) from the HT-29 colorectal cancer cell line. The results demonstrated that PZH significantly and dose-dependently reduced the percentage of the colorectal cancer stem-like SP cells, decreased the viability and sphere-forming capacity of HT-29 SP cells, indicating that PZH is potent in suppressing the growth of colorectal cancer stem cells. Moreover, PZH treatment in HT-29 SP cells markedly inhibited the mRNA levels of ABCB1 and ABCG2, which are members of the ABC transporter superfamily, thereby contributing to the SP phenotype and multi-drug resistance. Findings of the present study suggest that inhibiting the growth of CSCs is a potential mechanism by which PZH can be used in cancer treatment.


In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived as exceptions to the growing authoritarianism in the region owing to the far-reaching political changes triggered by the so-called Colour Revolutions a decade ago. This article examines Russia's reaction to political changes in Georgia and Ukraine in light of the interplay between the democracy-promotion policies implemented by the EU and US and domestic patterns of democratization. We argue that despite the relatively weak impact of EU and US policies vis-à-vis domestic structures, Russia has responded harshly to (what it perceives as) a Western expansionist agenda in pursuit of reasserting its own hegemonic position in the post-Soviet space. However, coercive pressure from Russia has also unintended, counterproductive effects. We argue that the pressure has actually made Georgia and Ukraine more determined to pursue their pro-Western orientation and has spawned democratization, thereby supporting the objectives of the Western democracy promoters.


Background: Isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency (ISOD) is the rarest types of life-threatening neurometabolic disorders characterized by neonatal intractable seizures and severe developmental delay with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. ISOD is extremely rare and till date only 32 mutations have been identified and reported worldwide. Germline mutation in SUOX gene causes ISOD. Methods: Here, we investigated a 5-days old Chinese female child, presented with intermittent tremor or seizures of limbs, neonatal encephalopathy, subarachnoid cyst and haemorrhage, dysplasia of corpus callosum, neonatal convulsion, respiratory failure, cardiac failure, hyperlactatemia, severe metabolic acidosis, hyperglycemia, hyperkalemia, moderate anemia, atrioventricular block and complete right bundle branch block. Results: Whole exome sequencing identified a novel homozygous transition (c.1227G>A) in exon 6 of the SUOX gene in the proband. This novel homozygous variant leads to the formation of a truncated sulfite oxidase (p.Trp409*) of 408 amino acids. Hence, it is a loss-of-function variant. Proband's father and mother is carrying this novel variant in a heterozygous state. This variant was not identified in 200 ethnically matched normal healthy control individuals. Conclusions: Our study not only expand the mutational spectrum of SUOX gene associated ISOD, but also strongly suggested the application of whole exome sequencing for identifying candidate genes and novel disease-causing mutations.


This paper discusses model order reduction of large sparse second-order index-3 differential algebraic equations (DAEs) by applying Iterative Rational Krylov Algorithm (IRKA). In general, such DAEs arise in constraint mechanics, multibody dynamics, mechatronics and many other branches of sciences and technologies. By deflecting the algebraic equations the second-order index-3 system can be altered into an equivalent standard second-order system. This can be done by projecting the system onto the null space of the constraint matrix. However, creating the projector is computationally expensive and it yields huge bottleneck during the implementation. This paper shows how to find a reduce order model without projecting the system onto the null space of the constraint matrix explicitly. To show the efficiency of the theoretical works we apply them to several data of second-order index-3 models and experimental resultants are discussed in the paper.


Digoxinlike materials (DLMs) are compounds found in animals that (1) cross-react with digoxin antibodies in specific radioimmunoassay procedures and (2) bind to Na+, K(+)-ATPase and inhibit its activity. DLMs may play a part in the regulation of electrolyte composition. We have determined DLM concentrations in breast cyst fluids and found that these fluids were a rich source of DLMs. Total DLMs were elevated in fluids with type 1 electrolyte composition (high K+ and low Na+ content) when compared to fluids with type 2 composition (low K+ and high Na+ content). Chromatographic studies showed that the basis for the increase was the presence of an additional DLM in the type 1 cyst fluids rather than an increased concentration of the same DLM present in both types of fluids. We propose that this additional DLM may have a role in the accumulation of K+ ions in type 1 fluids. In addition, 7 of 80 cyst fluid samples subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography had a large UV-absorbing peak at 6.4 minutes. Four of these samples were taken from women who later developed breast cancer; information on the subsequent medical history of the other 3 women was unavailable. We suggest that the presence of this material in cyst fluid may be a marker of risk for development of breast cancer.


Aromatic compounds (aminopurine, pyridine, quinoline, fluorene…) are excellent building blocks for the development of new drugs. Fluorenone and Fluorene containing natural products display diverse structural features due to their various ring junctions and chiral centers. Together with potential bioactivities, this family of natural products aroused considerable attention from synthetic chemists. They have interesting physicochemical properties and could be used as fluorescent probes1. They display also high therapeutic activities as anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-malarial, anti-myocardial or anti-Alzheimer2-7.

For example, Dendroflorin isolated from Dendrobium densiflorum, displays a high antioxidant activity. This compound is cytotoxic at 125.8 µg/mL and have an antimigratory effect at 1.0 µg/mL in 24h for H 460 cells (lungs cancer)3. Some 1,6-disubstituted fluorenones can also induce apoptosis and inhibited the tubulin polymerization in cells. They are active in the range of 0.15 to 0.29 µM for many cancer cells (T47D (breast), HCT 116 (colon), SNU 398 (carcinoma)) and represent thus interesting pharmacophore for the research of new anticancer drugs4. Isolated from the radix of Caulophyllum robustum Maxim, Caulophine has an anti-myocardial ischemia activity as a calcium antagonist5. Interestingly, some fluorenes have also shown a capacity to reduce the amyloid burden which induces severe neurodegeneration and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease6.

Thus, fluorenes are attractive scaffolds for the design of new therapeutic agents. In our laboratory, we focus in the design and the preparation of novel asymmetric 2,7,9-trisusbtituted fluorenes. Herein, we describe the first steps of a convergent synthesis able to lead to a new library of fluorene enantiopurs with high potential bioactivities.

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Legal Medicine is usually seen as a specialty that only "deals with cadavers"; however, the field entails much more than this: it aids in the science of norms, law, applying medical-biological knowledge, such that society can greatly improve in relation to justice. In daily practice, a specialist in legal medicine uses medical science to clarify facts that are of interest in judicial or administrative cases. Thus, it utilizes all aspects of medical knowledge, extrapolating, at times, to other areas of biological science. It functions as medical expertise of any nature that constitutes elements of proof that are fundamental, when the norms (penal, civil, administrative etc.) require medical knowledge to be established. The education of a medical expert requires, besides medical knowledge and an adequate understanding of the law, apprenticeship training and the domain of specific criteria, that establishes a link between medical and judicial parameters. In Brazil, this education is lacking and deformed. The principal objective of the residence program in Legal Medicine is to educate a professional capable of acting in the diverse segments that make up Legal Medicine, aiming to resolve judicial problems, in the area of medical expertise, as is shown in the present article.


The present study has been carried out to investigate the effects of an acaricide Fenazaquin on seed germination, shoot-root growth, total carbohydrate, free amino acid, protein content, mitotic division, chromosomal aberrations and micronuclei in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Presoaked seeds of barley were treated with various concentrations of fenazaquin viz. 25, 50, 100 and 200 ppmfor 6, 12 and 24 hr. The treated seeds were washed thoroughly with running tap water and allowed to germinate on moist filter paper in Petri dish at 25±1 C. After 120 hr, germination, growth, biochemical content and cytogenetic damages were analysed. The results showed except total carbohydrate content all the treated samples exhibited significant (P<0.05; P<0.01) reductions in seed germination, shoot-root growth, total protein, free amino acid content, mitotic index and increases in chromosomal aberrations and micronuclei. These remarkable findings suggest that the acaricide fenazaquin may cause potential toxic effects on the physiomorphology, cell division and genetic materials of barley.


Recommender systems have emerged in the past several years as an effective way to help people cope with the problem of information overload. Most research up to this point has focused on improving the accuracy of recommender systems. However, considering the range of userpsilas interests covered, recommendation diversity is also important. In this paper we propose a novel topic diversity metric which explores hierarchical domain knowledge, and evaluate the recommendation diversity of the two most classic collaborative filtering (CF) algorithm with movielens dataset.


In China, graduate students are facing heavy pressure from study, work and life. In order to change this situation, many colleges and universities have set up PE elective courses, but the proportion of elective courses is generally low, and the health status of students has not been fundamentally improved. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current situation and motivation of Postgraduates' physical exercise, and explore ways to attract more postgraduates to participate in physical exercise and promote their health. The study mainly adopts the methods of experiment and questionnaire. Two classes of students who chose PE elective courses are selected as the experimental objects. Students in Experimental class were given motivation stimulation, while another class were not. Sports stimulation includes combing family health history, inculcating the role through cases, monitoring students' physique, etc. The two classes had same exercise time (once a week, 90 minutes each time), same exercise method (intermittent cycle training for 16 weeks). In addition, this study uses Professor Chen Shanping's sports motivation scale to conduct a questionnaire survey on the graduate students participating in the experiment. Pearson analysis method in SPSS software was conducted to analyze the correlation between sports motivation and sports behavior. The students in the experimental class exercise better after class than those in the control class. Girls' physical and social motivation of physical exercise is much higher than boys, while boys' ability and motivation of physical exercise are significantly higher than boys. Different physical exercise motives have significant effects on physical exercise methods and physical exercise frequency. It is concluded that motivation stimulation is conducive to the formation of exercise behavior and there is a positive correlation between physical exercise motivation and physical exercise behavior.


Four mouth protectors are introduced, all manufactured by dentists familiar with small-scale technical work. Mouth protectors made of Erkoflex or Erkoloc sheets are moulded in an Erkopress device under a vacuum, while the TranSheet/Perform and TranSheet/LiteLine mouth protectors are constructed of a hard outer shell (Triad TranSheet, light-cured polyurethane dimethacrylate) and a soft inner part against the labial surface of the front teeth (Perform or LiteLine, both light-cured polyurethane dimethacrylate), thus minimizing the impact on individual teeth and better preventing dental traumas. The technical construction of the mouth protectors is illustrated, as is the need for instrumentation and its costs and the materials required to manufacture these mouth protectors.


The study aimed at the synthesis and antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) from organic extracts of Cola nitida and Cola acuminata leaf using zinc chloride (ZnCl2) and zinc acetate dihydrate [Zn(CH3COO)2∙2H2O] as precursors on selected Gram positive and Gram negative microbes: Staphylococcus aureus, Exiguobacterium aquaticum, (Gram +ve) and Escherichia coli, Klebsielia pneumonia, Acinetobacter baumanni (Gram –ve). Spherical and flake-like nanostructures were recorded by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for C. acuminata and C. nitida respectively for the two precursors used. The average particle size and crystallite size determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) for C. acuminata and C. nitida were in the range of 32.15-43.26 nm; 69.12-84.26 nm and 14.69-17.12 nm; 23.68-23.96nm respectively. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques were used to observe the purity and surface functional groups of the samples. Spectra peaks at 440-458 cm-1and 364-370 nm confirmed the presence of ZnO in the samples by FT-IR and UV-vis, whereas AAS at 213.9 nm wavelength further confirmed elemental zinc with a percentage atomic weight of 71.37% as against 69.50%, 18.8% and 11.1% for Zinc, Oxygen and Carbon by EDX. Data from the antibacterial activity studies show an increase in inhibition rate as concentration of the ZnO NPs increases in concentration from 25-1000 ppm. ZnO NPs from the two extracts recorded the highest inhibition rate in Acinetobacter baumanni of approximately 88% and 49% using ZnCl2and Zn(CH3COO)2∙2H2O respectively.


This invited review summarizes work presented in the Russell Ross lecture delivered at the 2012 proceedings of the American Heart Association. We begin with a brief overview of the structural, cellular, and molecular biology of Krüppel-like factors. We then focus on discoveries during the past decade, implicating Krüppel-like factors as key determinants of vascular cell function in atherosclerotic vascular disease.


This paper presents a novel auto white balance (AWB) algorithm for images based on an YCbCr color space. The proposed algorithm divides all the pixels into fourteen groups by Y luminance and CbCr color components. For accuracy, we employ an adaptive color samples that can obtain the sum of the accumulated pixels up to the standard group for estimating a degree of white objectpsilas color changes. The color samples are used for the adjustment of the relative amounts of red, green, and blue primary colors. In order to avoid a field-flicker noise of video streams, the proposed algorithm adopts infinite impulse response (IIR) filters that vary the operating speed of overall AWB system. The performance of the algorithm is also verified by implementing the hardware of the system.


In the course of fibrin formation, the D-domains of adjacent fibrin molecules within the fibrin polymer are covalently linked by factor XIIIa, leading to the formation of a D-domain dimer. Proteolysis of this cross-linked fibrin generates fibrin fragments D-dimer and E as terminal products. Fragment D-dimer therefore is an indicator for the proteolysis of cross-linked fibrin, whereas the monomeric fragment D can stem from fibrinogen and non-cross-linked fibrin. Various monoclonal antibodies have been prepared that distinguish between fragments D-dimer and D and allow the detection of fibrin derivatives in the presence of fibrinogen. These anti-D-dimer-antibodies have been shown to react with fragment D-dimer, but also detect dimeric D-domains within larger fibrin compounds, including cross-linked fibrin complexes generated in an early phase of coagulation activation. Assay systems for D-dimer antigen therefore may uncover intravascular clot formation early, by detection of fibrin complexes, and after completion of clot formation, by the detection of proteolytic fragments released from the particulate clot. Various trials have shown that low concentrations of D-dimer antigen in the blood exclude recent venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. Elevated levels may be caused by venous thrombotic disease, but also by a variety of other conditions, leading to intra- or extravascular fibrin formation. Assay systems include manual immunoagglutination assays, immunofiltration assays, microtiter plate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) systems, automated ELISA systems, and latex-enhanced photometric immunoassays. According to clinical studies, D-dimer assays may be the "first line" of technical screening in symptomatic outpatients with suspected venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, but further prospective management trials, and improved standardization of assay systems, are needed for the validation of this approach.


Gamification has been widely applied on modern education. Most of them are applied to stimulate learning motivation and improve learning efficiency for stu-dents. A successful game-based learning content development depends on both an adaptive educational activity planning and a high-quality game design. In edu-cational activity planning, the 5E learning cycle model presents a framework for constructive learning theories and is effectively used in education sciences. Thus, in this study, a proposed collaborative educational gamification authoring system, CeGAS, is recommended to teachers to realize their game-based learning/teaching planning activities based on the 5E learning cycle strategy. Using the CeGAS, rich experienced teachers could easily plan and conduct their educational activities without considering the complexity and difficulty of game implementation. As each experienced teacher follows the steps of the 5E learning cycle in the pro-posed script editing system, including engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation, an available and exclusive game-based learning con-tent with the 5E learning strategy will be developed. We are looking forward to achieving the goals of educational gamification with the educational game author-ing system.


Four out of 9 sheep, immune to heartwater and subsequently treated with gloxazone, showed a febrile reaction when they were challenged 6 months later, but the same number of untreated controls also developed this reaction. In a second group of treated immune animals challenged after 9 months, 8 out of 8 showed a febrile reaction, whereas only 3 out of 8 controls reacted. Furthermore, the blood of one of the 4 sheep that reacted to challenge at 6 months was infective to a susceptible sheep inoculated with it, whereas that of 4 out of the 8 challenged at 9 months was infective.


ABSTRACT Using the Shannon entropy, the space–time variability of rainfall and streamflow was assessed for daily rainfall and streamflow data for a 10-year period from 189 stations in the northeastern region of Brazil. Mean values of marginal entropy were computed for all observation stations and entropy maps were then constructed for delineating annual and seasonal characteristics of rainfall and streamflow. The Mann-Kendall test was used to evaluate the long-term trend in marginal entropy as well as relative entropy for two sample stations. The marginal entropy values of rainfall and streamflow were higher for locations and periods with the highest amounts of rainfall. The entropy values were higher where rainfall was higher. This was because the probability distributions of rainfall and the resulting streamflow were more uniform and less skewed. The Shannon entropy produced spatial patterns which led to a better understanding of rainfall and streamflow characteristics throughout the northeastern region of Brazil. The total relative entropy indicated that rainfall and streamflow carried the same information content at annual and rainy season time scales.


When a suspicious lower-extremity lesions is encountered, an appropriate biopsy should be performed. The lesion must then be excised with the proper margins and submitted for pathologic evaluation to ensure complete removal.


New product development is needed to meet the nutritional needs of the
people of Indonesia. "Sari fermentasi kedelai" is an innovative product that
contains nutrients and health benefits which more optimal than soymilk. Ease of
raw materials and production processes as well as the potential customers
support "sari fermentasi kedelai" as a business opportunity. The success of a new
product is affected by consumer acceptance. Understanding of consumer behavior
has also become an important provision for the marketing strategy. For that,
research on consumer acceptance and behavior that includes favorite flavor,
purchase intention, price sensitivity, attitude toward the content of a beverage,
and awareness on health is needed.
In this study, the test markets conducted experiments involving one
hundred adult respondents in Yogyakarta. Respondents were asked to fill out a
questionnaire to assess a product prototype with two flavors. A taste test was used
as a sensory evaluation using a 7-point hedonic scale. Purchase intention was
measured with a binomial scale. van Westendorp price sensitivity measurement
method was used to analyze the respondents' acceptance of the price. Attitude
towards the content of a beverage and awareness of health was tested using one
way ANOVA to determine differences in the preferences of the respondents based
on demographic factors, (gender, age, monthly income, diet, and exercise
frequency). The same test was also applied to determine taste preferences and
purchase intentions based on demographic factors.
Based on the test results, the optimum price range for "sari fermentasi
kedelai" original flavor is at Rp 4000,00 to Rp 5000,00 while the mocha coffee
flavors at a price of Rp 5000,00. Respondent gender was not a factor
differentiating the taste preferences of both prototypes, but the age of respondents
distinguish A mocha coffee flavor prototype. The same thing happened to age. A
healthy diet is important for the majority of respondents, as well as nutritional
content. The majority of respondents choose drinks with low content of fat and
sugar. The majority of consumers do not see the taste is more important than the
quality of the drinks, especially women. Preferences fermented soy-based drinks
have differences in terms of age, while the attention of the beverage composition
has a difference in terms of revenue. In general, respondents have the urge to
consume fermented soy extract.


Since the publication of Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford's (1950) classic study, considerable debate has developed concerning the political and ideological correlates of authoritarianism. This paper examines relationships between authoritarianism, on the one hand, and self-identification with ideological labels, attitudes toward political extremists, and party preferences, on the other hand. The survey data have been collected in Hungary between 1994 and 2002. Findings indicate that it is the center-right ideology and political orientation that attracts most authoritarians, yet authoritarian extreme-left also survives. The findings also show that liberal orientation and center-left identification constitute the political counter-pole of authoritarianism. Extreme-right supporters are found to be attracted only to particular aspects of authoritarianism.


Bone growth and development are products of the complex interactions of genetic and environmental factors. Longitudinal bone growth depends on the growth plate. The growth plate has 5 different zones-each with a different functional role-and is the final target organ for longitudinal growth. Bone length is affected by several systemic, local, and mechanical factors. All these regulation systems control the final length of bones in a complicated way. Despite its significance to bone stability, bone growth in width has not been studied as extensively as longitudinal bone growth. Bone growth in width is also controlled by genetic factors, but mechanical loading regulates periosteal apposition. In this article, we review the most recent data regarding bone growth from the embryonic age and analyze the factors that control bone growth. An understanding of this complex system is important in identifying metabolic and developmental bone diseases and fracture risk.