The purpose of this thesis is the spectroscopic analysis of the degradation products formed on the pages of a XVI century codex, "De Divina Providentia".
The possibility of investigating natural degraded samples is very important because studies of ancient authentic material are very rare in the literature, where studies of artificially or accelerated degraded cellulose abound. The chromophores responsible for the browning, that often characterises ancient papers, haven't been yet identified: the degradation cellulose derivates are innumerable and it is very difficult to determine them as a whole.
The method used for the characterization of degradation products of the codex pages is innovative and is based on the analysis of aqueous extracts of the pages collected by washing the different sheets in bidistilled water, carried out during the pre-restoration phase.
At the time of the restoration, it was found a 50% level of browning of the sheets with different intensity up to an extreme level. The codex shows randomly widely darkened pages and perfectly preserved pages.
Our study, based on the combined application of spectroscopic techniques such as IR, Raman, NMR, UV-VIS and EPR, tries to determine the cause of the different degradation level of the codex pages and to identified the water soluble degradation products formed on the sheets.


Objective. To assess relationships between self-assessed control over life events, subjective beliefs about longevity, time and risk preference, and other factors on use of recommended care for diabetes mellitus (DM), self-assessed control of diabetes, general health, and laboratory measures of HbA1c levels. Data Sources. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and 2003 HRS Diabetes Study (HRS-DS). Study Design. We used logit and ordered logit analyses to assess use of recommended care, and subjective and objective measures of health outcomes. Data Collection. Secondary analysis of HRS and HRS-DS data. Principal Findings. Individuals with higher self-assessed control over life events and higher subjective probabilities of living 10 years engaged in more recommended DM care practices and had better self-assessed DM control and general health. However, these beliefs did not influence HbA1c levels. More highly educated and cognitively able persons were more likely to follow care recommendations. There were differences by race/ethnicity in health outcomes, but not in health investment among Hispanics. Conclusions. Individuals' beliefs about control over life events and longevity influenced health investment and subjective health outcomes, although these beliefs did not translate into differences in HbA1c levels. Hispanics may realize lower returns on health investments, at least for diabetes care.


Organic solar cells offer an opportunity to diversify renewable energy sources owing to their low technological cost. They are amenable to large surfaces and can easily be integrated into buildings. It is necessary, however, to improve their energy efficiency and durability for the development of a sustainable technology. In these devices, photovoltaic conversion is based on the separation of photogenerated charges at an interface between electron donor and acceptor materials, which imposes some constraints on the photoactive layer of the cells. In this paper, which includes some of our studies, we address optimization of the active layer: absorption and exciton dissociation steps, the open-circuit voltage and the active layer morphology. A promising direction proposed to improve the active layer morphology and cell efficiency is the incorporation of highly anisotropic nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes, which may facilitate charge transport to the electrodes. Dispersion and orientation of the nanotubes in the organic matrix are discussed and we suggest an ideal model polymer solar cell which will maximize performance of the cells by using carbon nanotubes in the active layer. Copyright (C) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry


The aim of this study was to find out the effects of pupil-teacher conflict on pupils' academic performance in four secondary schools in Chisamba District. The research used a qualitative research approach and a descriptive survey design. Semistructured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted on selected Grade 12 pupils, guidance and counselling teachers, disciplinary committee teachers. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted on head teachers and data was thematically analyzed under the following research questions; what were the causes of pupil-teacher conflict, what were the effects of pupil-teacher conflict on pupils' academic performance and how could the pupilteacher conflict in selected Chisamba District secondary schools be reduced? From the results of the study, it was evident that pupil-teacher conflict had a negative effect on pupils' academic performance. Three main themes emerged in this study namely: causes of pupil-teacher conflict, effects of pupil-teacher conflict on pupils' academic performance and strategies that may be imployed to reduce pupil-teacher conflict. Sub-themes emerged from these themes. Under causes of pupil-teacher conflict, the sub-themes were pupils' indiscipline, lack of respect between the teachers and pupils, lack of commitment to work by both the teachers and pupils. Other sub-themes were teachers' pursuit in implementing discipline, unfairness towards learners by some teachers, poor professional skills by some teachers and inability of some schools to meet pupils' needs. Under the effects of pupil-teacher conflict on pupils' academic performance, the following were the sub-themes; to start with conflict to some extent enhanced pupils' academic performance, teachers' service delivery and improved the behaviour of both the teachers and pupils in a quest to impress each other. By and large, conflict led to poor academic performance as pupils lost interest in the subject of the teacher they had a conflict with thereby losing the much needed concentration in that subject. Furthermore, the teachers, also lost interest and felt uncomfortable to be in a class where there were pupils they were not in good terms with thereby leading to ineffective service delivery. Pupil-teacher conflict also increased the rate of absenteeism in schools as pupils felt uncomfortable to be in classes where there were teachers they had conflict with. This therefore affected effective learning and teaching. On the theme of strategies to be employed to reduce pupil-teacher conflict, the following were the strategies that were came up iv with, the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) should enhance refresher courses or Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes to help teachers improve their professional skills. Furthermore, guidance and counselling should be taken seriously so that it may help improve pupils' altitudes and values towards school. Additionally, it was suggested that guidance and counselling should be made a subject like other subjects so that more time was allocated to it for pupils to benefit from it. The findings also suggested that government should improve funding to the MoGE so that schools are well funded to meet the needs of pupils which was also a source of pupil-teacher conflict. Teachers as well as pupils needed to improve their communication skills so as to reduce on the misunderstandings that usually arose as they interacted with each other. Colleges of education to be implored to train teachers in conflict resolution strategies to help reduce conflict in schools. A l l in all, these findings showed that, to understand the effects of pupil-teacher conflict on pupils' academic performance there was need to understand the causes of these conflict. It was also observed that it was important for all educational stakeholders to understand the theory of attachment which argued that children who had a good attachment with their caregivers when they were young were more likely to be less aggressive and achieved more academically than those who had a rough upbringing. The recommendations made were that the MoGE should employ teachers who were professional and also introduce refresher courses and enhance Continuous Profession Development (CPD) programmes. In addition, the MoGE should make guidance and counselling a subject in secondary schools to give guidance to pupils on acceptable behaviour that would promote good pupil-teacher relationship. The government should improve funding to the MoGE to help alleviate some of the challenges that schools face to reduce pupil-teacher conflict to ensure effective learning and teaching. Colleges of education should help to educate teachers on the importance of having a positive pupil-teacher relationship i f pupils' performance was to be enhanced.


This thesis is concerned with the development of new electrochemical methods for the visualization of ion fluxes at various interfaces. These techniques allow spatially resolved visualization and quantification of ion fluxes associated with various physiochemical and biological processes aiding to understand the mechanism and kinetics of such processes along with mapping the heterogeneity of such interfaces. In the first part of this thesis, a fast an inexpensive way to fabricate a nanoscale dual carbon electrode system was introduced. These electrode systems are well suited for detection and quantification of interfacial fluxes using scanning electrochemical microscopy because of their relatively small tip size enabling close positioning to an interface, while the small inter-electrode distance leads to high sensitivity. To enhance the capability of electrochemical scanning probe microscopy to simultaneous topography and potentiometric imaging of interfaces, a new pH-scanning ion conductance microscopy probe was developed and tested as a part of this thesis.

Further, a quad-barrel multifunctional electrochemical and ion conductance probe for voltammetric analysis and electrochemical imaging of interfaces was developed and characterized in this study. These probes are amenable to further functionalization thus offering opportunities for functional imaging of both conducting and insulating pristine surfaces along with the capability of assembling nanoscale electrochemical cells for high sensitivity measurements. The ability of these probes for performing single molecule electrochemical detection was also explored in this thesis. Weak acids constitute an important group of molecules transported passively across the cell membrane. Most of the weak acids upon reaching specific intracellular sites produce various pharmacological responses which are widely exploited in therapeutics. It is thus extremely timely to have available experimental methods to accurately determine their permeation rates across bilayer membranes.

A new method of forming lipid bilayers at the end of a glass pipet was reported in the later part of this thesis for quantitative passive permeation visualization. An attractive feature of all the techniques described herein is that they are very well-de ned and amenable to precise modelling of mass transport/reactivity. This was accomplished in this thesis using finite element modelling.


OBJECTIVE
To assess relations between discrete visual perceptual functions commonly affected in patients with neurodegenerative dementia and the performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).

BACKGROUND
Neuropsychologic measures are often used to predict IADL performances in dementia patients. Prior studies have focused on the contribution of higher-level memory and executive deficits to IADL. The relation between visuoperceptual dysfunction and IADL has not been studied systematically.

METHODS
Thirty-five elderly patients with neurodegenerative disorders, most diagnosed with probable Alzheimer disease, participated. Patients completed tasks tapping visual perceptual functions believed to be mediated by occipital lobe structures (shape discrimination), posterior inferotemporal regions (face, object form, and written word discrimination), and the dorsolateral parietal lobe (spatial localization). A knowledgeable caregiver rated IADL performance.

RESULTS
Object form discrimination, but not other visual perceptual functions, correlated significantly ( = 0.60) with performances of visually based IADL (e.g., misjudging distances, driving, and recognizing familiar people), but not with other IADL, when the variance attributable to dementia severity, language disturbance, and other visual perceptual abilities was controlled.

CONCLUSIONS
In contrast to prior investigations that have focused primarily on relations of memory and executive control deficits with IADL in neurologically impaired patients, the results of this study highlight the important contribution of bilateral inferotemporal visual perceptual systems for the performance of IADL in elderly patients with neurodegenerative dementia.


Increasing awareness and data availability has made statistical analysis an integral part of managerial decision making. Forecasting, in particular, has become an essential skill for all financial analysts, economists, marketing and accounting professionals. Arguably all business students should be educated in forecasting techniques with an emphasis on ARMA modeling. While statistical packages such as Eviews have increasingly become user friendly, the discussion and the im-plementation of the important diagnostic analysis of ARMA models in popular undergraduate textbooks has not been to-tally satisfactory. This paper succinctly outlines this important diagnostic step for ARMA modeling with Eviews, using monthly data on 3-month government Treasury bills rate for illustration. The presentation is accessible to readers with an intermediate level of statistics.


The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plans to introduce a single currency by 2010 in its six member states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This paper focuses on selected macroeconomic and institutional issues and key policy choices which are likely to arise during the process of monetary integration. The main findings are that (i) a supranational GCC monetary institution is required to conduct a single monetary and exchange rate policy geared to economic, monetary and financial conditions in the monetary union as a whole; (ii) GCC member states have already achieved a remarkable degree of monetary convergence, but fiscal convergence remains a challenge and needs to be supported by an appropriate fiscal policy framework; and (iii) there is currently a high degree of structural convergence, although this is expected to diminish in view of the process of diversification in GCC economies, which calls for adequate policy responses.


Tactics of Scientific Research (Sidman, 1960) provides a visionary treatise on single-case designs, their scientific underpinnings, and their critical role in understanding behavior. Since the foundational base was provided, single-case designs have proliferated especially in areas of application where they have been used to evaluate interventions with an extraordinary range of clients, settings, and target foci. This article highlights core features of single-case experimental designs, how key and ancillary features of the designs have evolved, the special strengths of the designs, and challenges that have impeded their integration in many areas where their contributions are sorely needed. The article ends by placing the methodological approach in the context of other research traditions. In this way, the discussion moves from the specific designs toward foundations and philosophy of science issues in keeping with the strengths of the person and book we are honoring.


Bioinspired slippery surfaces with excellent abilities, such as antifouling, anticorrosion, and drag reduction, have gained increasing attention due to their multifunction in chemistry, biology, and medicine. However, the present thermally responsive methods used for in situ paraffin-infused slippery surfaces (PISS) are usually based on a surface heat source or certain specific photothermal materials, which seriously hinders their practical applications. Herein, we present a kind of in situ PISS processed by femtosecond laser on nickel (Ni) foam with reversible droplet behavior between sliding and pinning controlled by a point heat source. By alternately loading and unloading the point heat source, switchable wettability for liquid droplets can be achieved. The reaction time of this smart surface to the temperature change is 4.47 ± 1.14 s. The relationship between droplet volumes and inclined angles on four different surfaces is quantitatively investigated. Furthermore, the as-prepared PISS display an impressive self-healing ability. In addition, by flexibly changing the action path of the point heat source, the droplet can realize the movement of different curves. This functional surface and in situ control method will be a promising candidate for manipulating droplet directional sliding behavior and smart temperature-responsive surfaces.


We determined the elimination characteristics of procalcitonin (PCT) during continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVHF) and the resulting effect on PCT plasma levels. A prospective study was conducted in patients with sepsis and acute oliguric renal failure, treated with CVVHF using a polysulfone membrane (Baxter Renaflo II PSHF 1200). Patients had sepsis and PCT plasma levels > 4 ng ml(-1) (n = 26). PCT was measured in the pre- and post-filter plasma and the ultrafiltrate at 0, 5, 10, and 15 min and 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24 h after setup of CVVHF. PCT sieving coefficient was 0.24. Elimination of PCT, however, depended on the duration of filtration, because filter adsorption was the main mechanism of PCT clearance during the first hour of hemofiltration, finally increasing to a clearance of PCT into the ultrafiltrate of 2.8-5.5 mL/min after 2 h. PCT plasma levels were not significantly altered during CVVHF (96% of the initial concentration after 24 h, P = 0.72). Similar to what has been observed with cytokines and other proteins of a comparable molecular weight, PCT is removed from the plasma during CVVHF, but plasma PCT levels are unchanged. Thus, PCT can be used as a diagnostic parameter even in patients with acute renal failure undergoing CVVHF.


The deregulation of the electricity industry has caused for the generation company (Genco) the need of tools for measuring and managing the risk, beyond the classical problem of generating unit scheduling. In this paper, a probabilistic framework for the problem of managing risk faced by Gencos trading in day-ahead energy market is proposed. In particular, a stochastic forecast of electricity price and the technical features of hydrothermal units are considered. The approach is based on an optimization procedure for maximizing expected profits in the presence of risk constraints. Conditional value at risk for the distribution of daily profit is used as risk measure.


Aromatic amines are of general interest in drug metabolism and some are a health hazard, particularly as bladder carcinogens. Conditions for the biological ring- and N-oxidation of aniline and its derivatives are reviewed. The metabolism of 2-naphthylamine and aminobiphenyls and the involvement of metabolites of aromatic amines in bladder cancer is discussed.


Immunoglobulin variable domains are generally thought of as well conserved platforms providing the base for antigen binding loops of highly varying sequence and structure. However, domain evolution must ensure a balance between optimizing antigen affinity and the requirements of a stable, cooperatively folding domain. Since random mutations can carry a significant penalty for domain stability, constraints are imposed both on the repertoire of germline sequences and on somatic amino acid replacements during affinity maturation. Analyzing these constraints in the conceptual framework of statistical mechanics, we have been able to predict stabilizing mutations in the McPC603 V kappa domain from sequence information alone with better than 60% success rate. The validity of this concept not only has far reaching implications for antibody engineering but may also be generalized to engineer other proteins for higher stability.


The leaf surface, or phylloplane, is a dynamic environment for its microbial inhabitants, which can be subjected to many environmental factors. Existing phylloplane studies have focused on differences in bacterial community structure between trees of the same species, in different geographical locations, or between trees of different species. Few studies have examined the spatial distribution of bacterial communities on the leaves of a single tree. In this study, leaf samples from different areas of the canopy were obtained from a single Magnolia grandiflora tree. Samples were taken from the high (3.5-4.0 m above the ground), middle (1.5 m), inner middle (1.5 m but close to the trunk), and low (0.5 m) portions of the tree canopy, following cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Following DNA extraction procedures, dual index barcoding was used to sequence the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Phylloplane communities were dominated by Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, which are common inhabitants of plants. Patterns in alpha and beta diversity suggested that the height from which the sample was taken had a strong influence on the shaping of communities, while cardinal direction was not a significant predictor of diversity. Interestingly, the inner leaves of the canopy had higher species abundance than the leaves on the outside of the canopy, which could suggest that the surrounding canopy protects the inner leaves from ultraviolent light, desiccation, or other factors that may limit bacterial growth.


Communicating about Duchenne muscular dystrophy and its prognosis can be difficult for affected children and their family. We focused on how physicians provide support to the mothers of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who have difficulty communicating about the condition with their child. The eligible participants were certified child neurologists of the Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Participants responded to questionnaires consisting of free descriptions of a vignette of a child with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a mother. We analyzed 263 responses of the participants. We found 4 themes on advising mothers, involving encouraging communication, family autonomy, supporting family, and considering the child's concerns. These results provide a better understanding of the communication between physicians and family members who need help sharing information with a child with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. These findings will assist clinical practitioners in supporting families and the affected children throughout the course of their illness.


The environmental characteristics of products have become increasingly important to consumers. The more closely a product's image matches the buyers' self-concept, the higher the purchase intention is for that product. Thus, Concerns related to the environment are evident in the increasingly environmentally conscious marketplace. Targeting consumers are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. The elaboration process of advertising data among consumers can take two separate routes depending on the level of involvement. This article discusses conceptualization of the ecological attitudes and knowledge will affect future purchase intention by Elaboration Likelihood Model, and the external price willingness which moderate the relationship.


Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made to bring environmental justice (EJ) considerations to the forefront of domestic environmental permitting, siting, and policy-making activities. When the increasingly coordinated voice of community grassroots organizations is combined with more focused EJ-oriented efforts on the part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state regulatory agencies, and permitted industries, EJ is no longer an afterthought in the context of most developmental and industrial activities. However, ensuring meaningful consideration of EJ issues in the decision making which surrounds these development and industrial activities — such that outcomes may change and true fairness and equity are promoted — requires accountability on all sides. EJ accountability can be promoted through a variety of mechanisms, including through regulation, policy, and law designed to require or promote environmental health and data reporting, community consultation and outreach, demographic studies, corporate personnel training, community capacity building, relevant combinations of local, state, or federal agency workgroups, and the application of EJ screening tools. This Article reflects on the important role state agencies play in promoting fairness and transparency via the process of limiting and managing discharges to the environment through permitting or otherwise authorizing industrial and other developmental activities. This Article looks at several U.S. state policies and procedures that promote the consideration of EJ in environmental siting and permitting. This Article concludes that these states can lead the way for others in showing how to ensure that EJ considerations are more than a mere check box exercise, and that systems with higher degrees of accountability are the most appropriate in an arena so subjective that it is prone to be given inconsistent or ineffective consideration such as EJ.


A. R. Wallace's name will always be linked with what was known as the Malay Archipelago, and thus it seems appropriate to reassess his contribution to Indonesian biogeography. Wallace is often regarded as the founder of 'dispersalist' biogeography. However, this simplified view seriously misrepresents Wallace's position, which was that animal and plant distributions in Indonesia could be understood in terms of the region's geological history. This view is contrasted with that of dispersalist biogeography, which is that present distributions are the result of unique events, that the present is a consequence of past accidents. The results of Wallace's work are outlined and are reinterpreted in the light of modern evidence about the tectonic development of this region. It is concluded that Wallace's observations are broadly intelligible in the light of what is known about Indonesia's geological history. There is much to gain by biogeographers and geologists working together more closely in Indonesia, for there are many outstanding problems that require resolution. This then is one future direction that may be taken as we stand at the crossroads.


The creation of new populations in conservation reserves plays an increasingly important role in reducing the extinction risk of endangered plants. We experimentally introduced seedlings of the federally endangered forb Astragalus bibullatus into protected limestone cedar glades in central Tennessee and tested how source population, transplant season, and glade site affected the demographic performance of transplants over 7 years. Plants derived from seed from three source populations survived at similar rates at introduced sites, but exhibited different germination rates in greenhouse cultivation trials. Even though glade sites were seemingly similar in abiotic conditions and in close proximity (<400 m), survival rates varied widely among sites. Plants introduced in the spring never produced seed and were nearly four times more likely to die than plants introduced in the fall. Within 3 years of outplanting, 20% of plants introduced in the fall produced seed, yet sexual reproduction ceased after the third year and only one seedling recruit was observed after 7 years of monitoring. This resulted in small subpopulations that were not self‐sustaining probably due to demographic stochasticity. In addition to highlighting the need for long‐term monitoring of introduced populations to draw appropriate conclusions, our study emphasizes the importance of properly timing outplantings with the appropriate seasons and having multiple introduction sites as a hedge against environmental variability. However, overcoming seed limitation during the early stages of population growth and determining "safe sites" for seedling recruitment remains a central challenge in introducing endemic plants into seemingly suitable but unoccupied habitat.


Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) produces (the feedstock for) a major part of the world's fuels, as well as chemical building blocks for, for example, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and specialty materials. ZSM-5 is the active ingredient in propyleneselective FCC catalyst systems and is stabilized or activated with phosphorus compounds. Despite this process being one of the largest-scale industrially applied catalytic processes, there is still considerable debate on the mechanism of activation, as well as on the interaction between phosphate and zeolite aluminum species. In this work, we use synchrotron-based powder XRD, neutron diffraction, and subsequent pair distribution function analysis to unequivocally corroborate the activation mechanism of phosphorus-based promotion in FCC catalysis and localize the phosphate groups inside the pore system of P-activated ZSM-5. We find local disorder in the zeolite T-O coordination, which could not be observed with traditional XRD analyses. Furthermore, we support these experimental findings with full periodic quantum-mechanical modeling (QMM) of the highly relevant, but often overlooked, combination of dealumination by hydrolysis (steaming) and phosphatation of the zeolite framework. We thereby show that phosphate can react with partially dislodged aluminum species that remain stable and are still tethered to their original framework position. Finally, by assessing all available literature postulations by the same periodic QMM and comparing them energetically with our obtained results, we can conclude that by accounting for the highly relevant inclusion of steaming prior to phosphatation, the two models resulting from this work rank among the three most relevant remaining models. This combined experimental and theoretical work fundamentally explains the activation and promotion mechanism of one of the world's most applied chemical processes?propylene-selective FCC.


A hallmark of cancer is unchecked cell division. Retinoblastoma protein (Rb) is a human tumor suppressor that guards a cell's entry into S phase by binding E2F transcription factors and keeping them inactive. Many growth-promoting stimuli increase expression of D-type cyclins, which bind to and activate cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). The cyclin D–bound CDK4/6 holoenzymes phosphorylate Rb, resulting in release of E2F, which in turn activates genes required for S phase entry and DNA replication. Numerous oncogenic aberrations converge at the CDK4/6–Rb pathway, providing a strong rationale for developing CDK4/6 inhibitors as cancer therapeutics. Ribociclib (LEE011) is a selective CDK4/6 inhibitor that has received FDA breakthrough therapy and priority review designations for treatment of hormone receptor–positive breast cancer in combination with letrozole and is being tested in additional clinical trials. Here we describe the preclinical selectivity profile of ribociclib in biochemical and cellular assays. Ribociclib inhibits both CDK4–cyclin D1 and CDK6–cyclin D3 kinase activity with nanomolar IC50s in biochemical assays. To comprehensively address the selectivity of ribociclib in direct comparison with 2 other clinical CDK4/6 inhibitors, palbociclib and abemaciclib, we made use of the KINOMEscan assay consisting of >450 kinase active site–directed competition-binding assays. We adjusted the test concentrations in the kinase-selectivity panel per the binding constants for CDK4 and CDK6 to account for the higher potency of abemaciclib. Data showed that both ribociclib and palbociclib have high selectivity for CDK4 (CDK6 was not covered in the panel), with very few distinct additional binding events detected. In contrast, abemaciclib is a much more promiscuous kinase inhibitor. Next, we sought to determine the relative potencies of the 3 inhibitors against CDK4 vs CDK6 in cellular assays. When testing different routinely used readouts of cellular viability, we found that assays that measured metabolic activity (eg, CTG) tended to underestimate the effects of CDK4/6 inhibition; thus, assays that either directly or indirectly assessed cell number were used instead. We first identified cancer cell lines primarily dependent on either CDK4 or CDK6 as judged by combined RNA expression analysis and shRNA or CRISPR-based functional assays. When determining IC50s of the 3 CDK4/6 inhibitors in these cell lines, we found that ribociclib and abemaciclib demonstrated greater activity in CDK4-dependent cells vs CDK6-dependent cells, whereas palbociclib was similarly active in both cell types. The high degree of CDK4 selectivity of ribociclib suggests that off-target kinase inhibition is an unlikely complication in patients. Moreover, the apparent preference for CDK4 over CDK6 could be an advantage in certain cancer types that are primarily dependent on CDK4. Citation Format: Ralph Tiedt, Scott Delach, Steven Kovats, Thomas Horn, Michael Acker, Barbara Schacher Engstler, Giordano Caponigro, Fei Su. Preclinical selectivity profile of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (LEE011) compared with that of palbociclib and abemaciclib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2346. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2346


Although conventional neuro-imaging of cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) supports preoperative evaluation, it is still difficult to visualise the detailed anatomical conformation of the AVM, the point of nidus, the feeding arteries or draining veins, and the three-dimensional configuration of nidus in the sulcus or gyrus. In the present study, we investigated the efficacy of enhanced three-dimensional surface MR angiography (surface MRA) and T2 reversed imaging (T2R imaging) in diagnosis and surgical planning for cerebral AVMs. Surface MRA clearly demonstrated nidus adjacent to eloquent area and three-dimensional figures of feeding arteries and draining veins. T2R imaging was useful to differentiate sulcal AVM from gyral AVM, and to estimate the depth of the nidus in the parenchyma. Although it has generally been assumed that nidus is present in the gyrus, T2R imaging clearly demonstrates that most of the nidus is in the sulcus and is possible to be dissected and removed without damaging parenchyma. Indeed, these imaging methods supply clinically relevant data that is difficult to obtain with conventional neuro-imaging and provide better details of lesions, informing surgical planning and decision-making.


AbstractThe closed pharmaceutical counseling room was so hard to be established for most of hospitals in China since limited space in the out-patient lobby, which dramatically affected the qualification of medication consultant. Few reports studied the importance of closed pharmaceutical counseling room construction.To investigate the necessary of closed pharmaceutical counseling room construction in the outpatient lobby.The closed pharmaceutical counseling room was established and equipped with hospital electronic information system, patient education flashes, and we-Chat in web. We collected the pharmaceutical counseling records before and after counseling room establishment and analyzed the results systematically.After the consulting venue transferred to the closed space, methods adopted by pharmacists in patient educations were diversification. Numbers of counseling people were increasing 4 folds after room establishment and questions were transferred from drug information supply to high professional pharmaceutical relation such as the usage of respiratory devices, drug–drug interaction, and so on.The alterations of consultant space provided a powerful platform on security, properly and suitable of patients' medication usage, keep the medication errors and poor compliance out of the serious consequence, and improve hospital satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary in outpatient lobby to develop the independent room for medication service.


Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy and consistency of corneal flap thickness in laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) with the Moria M2 single-use head 90 microkeratome. Methods The central corneal thickness of 72 (37 right, 35 left) eyes of 37 patients was measured by ultrasonic pachymetry preoperatively and intraoperatively after flap cut. The Moria M2 single-use head 90 microkeratome was used to create a superior hinged flap in all eyes. The right eyes were always operated on before the left eyes in each patient, using the same blade in all bilateral cases. All patients underwent LASIK for myopia and/or myopic astigmatism using VISX Star S4 platform. Results The mean preoperative spherical equivalent refraction was −3.55±2.30 D (range: −0.625 to −11.00 D), preoperative central corneal thickness by ultrasonic pachymetry was 541±26.82 µm (490–600 µm) and steepest K was 44.08±1.49 D (40–46.75 D) in all eyes. The mean flap thickness was 136.97±20.07 µm (106–192 µm), 131.2±19.5 µm (91–192 µm), and 134.16±19.85 µm (91–192 µm) in the right, left, and both eyes, respectively. A positive significant relationship was found between flap thickness and preoperative ultrasonic pachymetry thickness. No significant relationship was found between flap thickness and the age, preoperative spherical equivalent, and preoperative steepest K. The difference between the first and second eyes was not significant. There were no major intraoperative and postoperative complications in all eyes. Conclusion The Moria M2 single-use head 90 microkeratome cut relatively thicker flaps than were intended. The flap thickness range was quite wide. This was a disadvantage for the accuracy and consistency of corneal flap thickness.


SAP Certified Application Associate - Ariba Procure-to-Pay (P2P) These questions are similar to the ones asked in the actual Test. How should I know? I know, because although I have been working as an SAP Ariba consultant for many years, I have myself recently certified with the latest version of the Certification test. Before you start here are some Key Features of the Certification Exam. This certification exam verifies that the candidate has the knowledge required in the area of SAP Certified Application Associate - Ariba Procure-to-Pay (P2P). This certificate builds on basic consultant skills and experience that is then refined by practical experience during several projects. Candidates must also demonstrate understanding of P2P Software, Consulting, Integration, Ariba Process Knowledge, Best Practices and Procurement. The exam is Computer based and you have three hours to to answer 80 Questions. The Questions are (mostly) multiple choice type and there is NO penalty for an incorrect answer. Some of the Questions have more than one correct answer. You must get ALL the options correct for you to be awarded points. For questions with a single answer, the answers will have a button next to them. You will be able to select only one button. For questions with multiple answers, the answers will have a tick box next to them. This allows you to select multiple answers. You are not allowed to use any reference materials during the certification test (no access to online documentation or to any SAP system). Clearing the Certification will not automatically lead you to a job. However a Certification with some project experience will certainly open a lot of doors for you. So if you have little or no experience, you should get yourself certified, get some project experience, and then the whole of the SAP Consulting World open for you to explore. Helping you with the first step on you ladder to success is this book! Some UNIQUE features of this Book: - There is NO Other quality material in the market for this Certification exam. - The authors have themselves cleared the exam. - All questions are multiple choice format, similar the questions you will get in the actual exam. - Over 150 authentic questions, testing the exact same concepts that will be tested in Your exam!


Accurate traffic prediction is a key ingredient to enable traffic management like rerouting cars to reduce road congestion or regulating traffic via dynamic speed limits to maintain a steady flow. One way to represent traffic data is as temporally changing heatmaps visualizing attributes of traffic, such as speed and volume. In recent approaches, U-Net models have shown state of the art performance on traffic forecasting from such heatmaps. We propose to combine the U-Net architecture with graph layers which improves spatial generalization to unseen road networks compared to a Vanilla U-Net. In particular, we specialize existing graph operations to be sensitive to geographical topology and generalize pooling and upsampling operations to be applicable to graphs.


A generic methodology for cytosolic delivery of large supramolecular multiprotein complexes into living cells is described that takes advantage of the highly-controllable bottom-up fabrication of protein-decorated DNA nanostructures and the microfluidic "cell squeezing" technique. Therein, cells are deformed upon passage through a narrow constriction leading to formation of transient holes in the cell membrane that enable the diffusion of the protein-DNA nanostructures from the surrounding buffer into the cytosol. A diverse set of multiprotein complexes was assembled on DNA origami nanostructures using streptavidin and the sensitive glucose sensor protein FLIP as model systems. We demonstrate that our approach allows for the direct cytosolic delivery of these multifunctional protein complexes into the cytosol of HeLa cells. We also demonstrate that targeting groups can be incorporated into the protein-DNA nanoassemblies to enable their intracellular targeting to cytosolic compartments, such as the cytoskeleton or nucleus. We believe that this methodology will open up novel strategies for research in fundamental cell biology, such as the reverseengineering of the supramolecular machinery involved in gene regulation, cell signalling, or cell division. Furthermore, direct applications in immunotherapy can be foreseen.


A Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflow is developed to automate data transfer across software platforms and facilitate an iterative energy modeling practice. The workflow comprises a translation of Revit model geometry and parameters using a custom application for the automated export of an eQUEST input file. Revisions can be made in Revit and reimported into a revised version of the eQUEST file. This workflow further utilizes a shared web-based Access database of project information, which includes energy analysis parameters such as ventilation rates, internal loads, and use schedules that can be synchronized with Revit model parameters and subsequently fed into the eQUEST input file. Ultimately the workflow could expand to support other text-based input files and platforms.


Cell-specific magnetic resonance imaging, magnetization transfer imaging, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and diffusion-weighted imaging have all recently been applied to the study of multiple sclerosis. These techniques can give more accurate and pathologically specific estimates of the multiple sclerosis lesion burden than conventional magnetic resonance. Their extensive application should improve the understanding of the mechanisms leading to multiple sclerosis-related irreversible disability and help in the diagnostic work-out of patients with suspected multiple sclerosis.


BACKGROUND Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) has been shown to improve the overall survival of locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) patients with pathological complete response. However, the efficacy may be reduced due to chemoresistance mediated by P-glycoprotein (Pgp). This study aimed to explore the association between Pgp expression and patients' response to NACT.
METHODS A prospective cohort study was carried out from May 2018 to October 2019 at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital and Koja Hospital. Treatment-naïve LABC patients were consecutively enrolled in the study. Immunohistochemistry analysis of the biopsy samples was done to semi-quantitatively measure Pgp expression. The clinical response was evaluated after 3 cycles of NACT, while the pathological response was evaluated for subjects who underwent surgery post-NACT.
RESULTS Mean age of the subjects was 46.2 (9.6) years old, and most of the cases were invasive ductal (78%) and luminal B subtype (61%). Pgp was strongly expressed in 21/27 subjects (78%). There were no differences between Pgp-positive and -negative subjects for clinical response (relative risk [RR] 1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.33–4.01, p = 0.61) and pathological response (RR 1.3, 95% CI 0.8–1.9, p = 0.22). Other clinicopathologic variables were not associated with either clinical or pathological responses.
CONCLUSIONS These results showed that Pgp is expressed in most LABC patients, but its role as a predictive factor could not be established. However, due to the limited subjects and a lack of standardized Pgp measurement, careful consideration must be done when interpreting these results.


Objectives: The purpose of this biomechanical study was to determine whether a multidirectional fixed-angle plate with locking screws or with locking pegs in the distal fragment would optimize fixation of Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) type A3 distal radius fractures. Methods: Eight pairs of fresh–frozen human distal radii were used. Extra-articular distal radius fractures were created and stabilized with a multidirectional volar fixed-angle plate. The radii were randomized into 2 matched-paired groups. The distal fragment in Group I was stabilized with 7 locking screws. The distal fragment in Group II was fixed with 7 locking pegs. The proximal fragment in both groups was fixed with 3 screws. The specimens were tested under torsion and axial compression during static and cyclic tests. Finally, load-to-failure tests were performed under torsion. Results: After 1000 cycles, 99% of the median torsional stiffness remained in the group using screws, whereas only 76% of the median stiffness under torsion remained in the group using pegs (P = 0.018). Under axial compression, median stiffness remained at 93% in the group using screws after 1000 cycles compared with a median of 0% in the group using pegs (P = 0.018). Conclusions: This biomechanical study showed a statistically significant difference between the locking screw and locking smooth peg configuration with regard to stiffness of the constructs after 1000 cycles. The use of locking screws as opposed to smooth locking pegs for OTA type A3 extra-articular distal radius fractures optimizes construct stability.


Author(s): Baetscher, Diana Sybille | Advisor(s): Garza, John Carlos | Abstract: Larval dispersal is consequential for the structure and dynamics of populations and the distribution of species. Most benthic marine species inhabit patchily distributed habitat and larval dispersal is often the primary means of population connectivity. Studies suggest that gene flow is the product of conduits and barriers to dispersal, including oceanic and geographic features and a combination of physical and behavioral mechanisms that effect the relationship between larval supply and settlement. Tracking larval dispersal in the ocean is considered one of the great logistical challenges in marine ecology, with a substantial history of using genetic markers to study dispersal. Although most studies apply indirect methods that integrate information across generations, in highly dispersive populations and across fine spatial scales, genetic parentage analysis has seen increasing use, but with limited examples from temperate environments or along open-coastlines where currents dominate and larvae may be advected offshore. Here, I describe larval dispersal of nearshore rockfishes across a network of marine reserves along the open-coastline of central California, a temper- ate current-driven ecosystem and the site of a network of marine protected areas (MPAs). Rockfishes of the genus Sebastes form a marine species flock of more than 100 species and are a prominent component of the ichthyofauna in temperate ecosystems. Kelp rockfish (S. atrovirens) are part of this species flock and one of g50 species present in the Monterey Bay, California region. In Chapter 1, I describe the development of a novel set of statistically powerful microhaplotype markers for efficiently performing pedigree relationship inference in the kelp rockfish and demonstrate that the false positive rates for single parent-offspring and full-sibling analyses are orders of magnitude lower than relying on the most informative single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the same short-read sequence. In Chapter 2, I apply these new genetic markers to identify eight single parent-offspring pairs and 25 full siblings from thousands of samples of adult and juvenile rockfishes collected inside and outside of marine reserves. Dispersal between reserves and areas where fishing is allowed demonstrates the efficacy of the MPA network. Chapter 3 applies these microhaplotype markers to species identification of g50 rockfishes from the Northeast Pacific. Genetic assignment accuracy exceeds 99% and the species for which accuracy does not reach 100% are gopher (S. carnatus) and black-and-yellow (S. chrysomelas) rockfishes, sister species with evidence of ongoing gene flow. Phylogenetic analyses recovers relationships among species and subgenera concordant with previous studies. Finally, in Chapter 4, I analyze additional species of rockfishes obtained for the larval dispersal study and identify full siblings among juvenile gopher/black-and-yellow and copper rockfishes. Combining these data with results from Chapter 2, I compare the proportions of full sibling pairs among the species, finding the greatest proportion of full siblings sampled in the kelp rockfish. Collectively, these chapters provide valuable new genetic resources for studying rockfishes, describe the first direct observations of dispersal in rockfishes, and provide insight into the efficacy of a network of MPAs along an open-coastline.


The tetragonal paracrystalline surface protein array (A-layer) of the fish pathogenic bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida is a virulence factor and bacteria which are unable to produce A-layer are attenuated in their ability to kill fish. Ten independent mutants of Aeromonas salmonicida which were unable to produce A-layer were isolated by growth at 30 degrees C. These mutants displayed either reduced synthesis of the A-layer subunit, synthesis of a truncated subunit, or complete loss of the ability to produce the subunit protein. Restriction mapping and analysis by polymerase chain reaction showed that the mutations had resulted from insertion of two different insertion sequence (IS) elements into different sites in the A-layer subunit gene (vapA) and its promoter. Sequence comparisons indicated that ISAS1 is unique among reported IS elements. It is 1223 bp long with imperfect terminal inverted repeats of 22 bp and insertion resulted in a duplicated 8 bp target sequence in vapA. ISAS1 expressed a 42,000 molecular weight (M(r)) protein in mini-cells. ISAS2 was 1084 bp long, expressed proteins of M(r) 38,000 and 39,000 in vitro, had imperfect 29 bp terminal inverted repeats and had duplicated a 3 bp target sequence. Sequence comparisons indicated that ISAS2 was also unique to A. salmonicida; however, the proteins encoded by ISAS2 showed strong homology to the putative transposases encoded by the IS30 family of IS elements. Southern analyses showed that both ISAS1 and ISAS2 were restricted to A. salmonicida strains A449 and A450 where they were present in low copy number. The ability of these two IS elements to mutate the ability of A. salmonicida to produce its paracrystalline surface array provides a novel method for the attenuation of virulence.


In this paper, we analyze the problem of generating fluent English utterances from tabular data, focusing on the development of a sequence-to-sequence neural model which shows two major features: the ability to read and generate character-wise, and the ability to switch between generating and copying characters from the input: an essential feature when inputs contain rare words like proper names, telephone numbers, or foreign words. Working with characters instead of words is a challenge that can bring problems such as increasing the difficulty of the training phase and a bigger error probability during inference. Nevertheless, our work shows that these issues can be solved and efforts are repaid by the creation of a fully end-to-end system, whose inputs and outputs are not constrained to be part of a predefined vocabulary, like in word-based models. Furthermore, our copying technique is integrated with an innovative shift mechanism, which enhances the ability to produce outputs directly from inputs. We assess performance on the E2E dataset, the benchmark used for the E2E NLG challenge, and on a modified version of it, created to highlight the rare word copying capabilities of our model. The results demonstrate clear improvements over the baseline and promising performance compared to recent techniques in the literature.


Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) is the presumed causal agent of Huanglongbing, one of the most destructive diseases in citrus. However, the lipid metabolism component of host response to this pathogen has not been investigated well. Here, metabolic profiling of a variety of long-chain fatty acids and their oxidation products was first performed to elucidate altered host metabolic responses of disease. Fatty acid signals were found to decrease obviously in response to disease regardless of cultivar. Several lipid oxidation products strongly correlated with those fatty acids were also consistently reduced in the diseased group. Using a series of statistical methods and metabolic pathway mapping, we found significant markers contributing to the pathological symptoms and identified their internal relationships and metabolic network. Our findings suggest that the infection of CLas may cause the altered metabolism of long-chain fatty acids, possibly leading to manipulation of the host's defense derived from fatty acids.


Non-wetting surfaces are imperative to the survival of terrestrial and semi-aquatic insects as they afford resistance to wetting by rain and other liquid surfaces that insects may encounter. Thus, there is an evolutionary pay-off for these insects to adopt hydrophobic technologies, especially on contacting surfaces such as legs and wings. The cranefly is a weak flier, with many species typically found in wet/moist environments where they lay eggs. Water droplets placed on this insect's wings will spontaneously roll off the surface. In addition, the insect can stand on water bodies without its legs penetrating the water surface. The legs and wings of this insect possess thousands of tiny hairs with intricate surface topographies comprising a series of ridges running longitudinally along the long axis of the hair fibre. Here we demonstrate that this fine hair structure enhances the ability of the hairs to resist penetration into water bodies.


For much of this century we have known that tumours can occasionally regress spontaneously, bringing about "miracle cures." The list of such tumours is well known to the average medical examination candidate: renal cell carcinoma, neuroblastoma in infants, malignant melanoma. It is not very long. These are the cancers which will respond to biologically active substances such as interferon and interleukin, which we use in an attempt to activate the body's defence mechanisms against the tumour. Horizon looked at immunotherapy for malignant melanoma, and asked what we can learn from those with the disease who have spontaneously improved.

Survivors are extraordinary people, whether they have survived prisoner of war camps, advanced cancer, or any other catastrophe where, statistically speaking, they should have died. What causes them to survive when others succumb is not always clear. I prescribe tamoxifen tablets for a Turkish woman with lung, bone, and skin metastases from breast cancer and they disappear for four years. She brings me pistachio nuts when …


Introduction In this chapter we consider how the words of a language change. In previous chapters we have considered many changes that affect words. In Chapters 2 and 3 the discussion of sound change showed that the phonetic form of words can change, usually in a regular manner. In Chapters 4 and 5 we saw that the morphological composition of words can change as well. In Chapters 6 and 7 we saw that some words in specific constructions undergo grammaticalization and become grammatical morphemes. In Chapter 8 we saw that the particular constructions that words occur in can also change, which can affect the meaning of the words. Here we consider additional types of change in words or the lexicon. First, we discuss the ways in which languages acquire new words in Section 9.2. Then we consider how words change their meanings, spreading this discussion over several sections: first in Section 9.3 we discuss the nature of the categories that constitute word meaning, and then we treat the mechanism by which words change their meaning over time. In Section 9.4 we discuss some general tendencies in lexical semantic change, and then in Section 9.5 we discuss the way words that are formed by derivational affixes lose their compositional meaning. Finally, Section 9.6 adds a few comments about how old words are lost from a language.


A new technique using air arthrography followed by computed tomography enables identification of free osteocartilaginous fragments in the knee joint. Clinical examples with useful diagnostic information are presented, and potential pitfalls in the interpretation of this information are discussed.


Direct democracy allows citizens to undercut the will of their elected representatives. Yet, while the electorate has the final say in referendums, political parties are in a privileged position to influence voters' perceptions of the issue on the ballot. By developing a model on voting behaviour in referendums, this article examines how and to what extent parties can influence referendum outcomes. It argues that as pivotal information providers in referendum campaigns, political parties can influence the framing of and uncertainty associated with the ballot proposal and thus, in turn, affect voting behaviour. These propositions are evaluated empirically in a 'controlled comparison' of the two Danish referendums on the Maastricht Treaty, as these cases allow us to examine how changes in party strategies affect changes in referendum outcomes.


The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the paradigm of many people's lives, namely the emergence of human attitudes that are aware of their limitations and begin to build a spiritually disciplined life. Humans are starting to enter a new normal era, in this era, it is easier for humans to get various information related to spiritual disciplines from various religious concepts. The thoughts of John Wesly about spiritual discipline can be a model to help the lives of Christians in carrying out spiritual discipline. This study applies a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach in the background specifically to analyze reality and conduct a literature study approach for the theoretical basis. The results of this study show that the principles of John Wesly's spiritual discipline are discipline in prayer, digging the Bible, following the sacraments, and fasting as well as showing discipline in social life. Thus, the novelty of this research is the actualization of the implementation of spiritual discipline in the context of the new normal era.


Abstract : The Army is in the midst of a "Transformation," a transformation into the Army of the future, abandoning 20th Century concepts. We are molding a military force that's capabilities based and responsive to new enemies but still maintains the ability to successfully conduct traditional war. The creativity required to do this cannot be limited to technological innovation, but must extend into areas that will expand the accessibility of the Army. This requires a force that has the ability to support a broad spectrum of requirements ranging from a myriad of contingencies and peacekeeping missions to a major theater conflict. In order to maintain relevance, Army structure and manpower must be realigned to respond to a volatile international climate. This paper lays out the rationale for the creation of one Army that meets these requirements but does not emulate the integrated "one" Army that exists between the active component (AC), Army Reserve (USAR) and Army National Guard (ARNG). This proposal envisions one Army without components; spanning the full range of manpower availability; resources by one appropriation; an Army that has manpower flexibility; an Army that is sustained by a single database and a homogenous personnel support system and, most importantly, an Army that is based on capabilities required to support the National Military Strategy. Examples of mobilization challenges, cost constraints, time limitations and multiple deployments that are eroding U.S. military effectiveness, will make the case for a service that is composed of soldiers who serve based on the needs of the Army and its mission requirements not restricted by boundaries that component subdivisions (COMPOS) create.


Workplace deviant behavior refers to the behavior that employees intentionally implement, violate organizational norms, and threaten the well-being of their organization or other members in the organization.While most of researches focus on exploring the antecedents of workplace deviant behavior, we have limited knowledge about its consequences. In the very few studies on the outcomes of employee workplace deviant behavior, they mainly focus on recipients' perspective and reveal the negative impacts of employee workplace deviant behavior on colleagues and organizations. From the actor-centric perspective, the research on the impacts of employee workplace deviant behavior on themselves has been seriously ignored. For this reason, by taking the actor-centric perspective, this paper explores how and when employee workplace deviant behavior affects their emotional and behavioral outcomes.Based on the affective events theory, this paper explores the negative impacts of workplace deviant behavior on employee work engagement and its dynamics. The primary tenet of affective events theory is that the events experienced by workers will affect their emotional state, which will in turn affect their attitudes and behaviors. Negative events in the workplace are important emotional events that affect their emotional state. Based on this theory, this paper proposes that, as a negative work event, employee workplace deviant behavior may lead to their negative emotions and then weaken their work engagement. Furthermore, individual characteristics will affect the emotional experience and cognitive assessment process after taking actions. Therefore, this paper proposes that, for the unethical behavior such as workplace deviant behavior, employees' moral identity is an important boundary condition affecting the emotional and cognitive response of individuals to their own deviant behavior.In this study, we use the experience sampling method (ESM) by recruiting 67 participants to finish a research. By using the hierarchical linear model to analyze 323 daily observation data provided by 46 participants, the present study finds that employee workplace deviant behavior increases their negative affect and decreases work engagement. Moral identity plays a moderating role in the impacts of workplace deviant behavior on negative affect and work engagement, that is, the indirect effect of workplace deviant behavior on work engagement via negative affect is significant and negative for employees with high moral identity and does not exist for employees with low moral identity.This research makes several important theoretical contributions: First, by taking the actor-centric perspective, it explores the impacts of workplace deviant behavior on employees themselves. Second, it not only examines the potentially negative impacts of employee workplace deviant behavior on themselves, but also examines how and when the impacts unfold. Third, it finds a new behavioral factor that affects employee work engagement, and finds that employees' unethical behaviors may also reduce employee work engagement by inducing their own negative affect.


Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge can be improved by introducing a disintegration of excess activated sludge as a pretreatment process. The disintegration brings a deeper degradation of organic matter and less amount of output sludge for disposal, a higher production of biogas and consequently energy yield, in some cases suppression of digesters foaming and better dewaterability. The full-scale application of disintegration by a lysate-thickening centrifuge was monitored long term in three different WWTPs. The evaluation of contribution of disintegration to biogas production and digested sludge quality was assessed and operational experience is discussed. Increment of specific biogas production was evaluated in the range of 15-26%, organic matter in digested sludge significantly decreased to 48-49%. Results proved that the installation of a disintegrating centrifuge in WWTPs of different sizes and conditions would be useful and beneficial.


The proportions of fatty acids in lipids of subcutaneous adipose tissue was compared in closely age-matched, urban men from two populations with a great difference in mortality from arteriosclerosis, namely in 50 Americans and 56 Japanese aged 15-65 yr who had died suddenly and unexpectedly. Specimens from both groups were analyzed side by side for fatty acids by gas-liquid chromatography. Compared with Japanese, Americans had significantly (P<0.01) higher proportions of lauric (+ 0.2%), myristic (+ 0.4%), palmitic (+ 1.4%), stearic (+ 2.2%), and oleic (+ 5.3%) and lesser of palmitoleic (- 1.8%), linoleic (-6.3%), and linolenic (-0.4%) acids. Japanese had higher proportions of longer chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. The distributions of fatty acids for the groups at ages 35-44 yr had significant differences. With age, Americans showed significant increases of palmitic and oleic acids and decreases of lauric, myristic, stearic, and linoleic acids; Japanese showed no correlations of proportions of fatty acids with age. The significant correlations between per cent standard body weight and fatty acids in Americans were positive for palmitic and negative for lauric and stearic acids, and in Japanese, negative for myristic acid. The patterns of interacid correlations were dissimilar for the groups. These patterns may be stable characteristics of these groups providing further insight into their fatty acid metabolism. The relationships with the fatty acid compositions of the American and Japanese diets are discussed.


CONGENITAL HYPERTROPHIC PYLORIC STENOSIS i.~ a relatively common condition occurring once in every 2501 to 300 -0 live birth~. Because it is the most common lesion requiring surgical treatment in infancy, TM a~d has certain anaesthetic features of importance, it was decided to review the subject briefly and report our anaesthetic experience. The paper is based on 441 consecutive cases treated by operation at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, in the ),ears d957 to, 1960 inclusive. PATHOLOCY


Reinforcement learning (RL) has great potential in sequential decision-making. At present, the mainstream RL algorithms are data-driven, relying on millions of iterations and a large number of empirical data to learn a policy. Although data-driven RL may have excellent asymptotic performance, it usually yields slow convergence speed. As a comparison, model-driven RL employs a differentiable transition model to improve convergence speed, in which the policy gradient (PG) is calculated by using the backpropagation through time (BPTT) technique. However, such methods suffer from numerical instability, model error sensitivity and low computing efficiency, which may lead to poor policies. In this paper, a mixed policy gradient (MPG) method is proposed, which uses both empirical data and the transition model to construct the PG, so as to accelerate the convergence speed without losing the optimality guarantee. MPG contains two types of PG: 1) data-driven PG, which is obtained by directly calculating the derivative of the learned Q-value function with respect to actions, and 2) model-driven PG, which is calculated using BPTT based on the model-predictive return. We unify them by revealing the correlation between the upper bound of the unified PG error and the predictive horizon, where the data-driven PG is regraded as 0-step model-predictive return. Relying on that, MPG employs a rule-based method to adaptively adjust the weights of data-driven and model-driven PGs. In particular, to get a more accurate PG, the weight of the data-driven PG is designed to grow along the learning process while the other to decrease. Besides, an asynchronous learning framework is proposed to reduce the wall-clock time needed for each update iteration. Simulation results show that the MPG method achieves the best asymptotic performance and convergence speed compared with other baseline algorithms.


The main idea of "Quantum Chaos" studies is that Quantum Mechanics introduces two energy scales into the study of chaotic systems: One is obviously the mean level spacing $\Delta\propto\hbar^d$, where $d$ is the dimensionality; The other is $\Delta_b\propto\hbar$, which is known as the non-universal energy scale, or as the bandwidth, or as the Thouless energy. Associated with these two energy scales are two special quantum-mechanical (QM) regimes in the theory of driven system. These are the QM adiabatic regime, and the QM non-perturbative regime respectively. Otherwise Fermi golden rule applies, and linear response theory can be trusted. Demonstrations of this general idea, that had been published in 1999, have appeared in studies of wavepacket dynamics, survival probability, dissipation, quantum irreversibility, fidelity and dephasing.


Spectroelectrochemical sensors combine three modes of selectivity in a single device (electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and selective partitioning). A thin polymer film is coated onto the sensing platform in order to facilitate chemically selective transport to the electrode. The film is an essential part of the sensor because it provides an increase in selectivity and sensitivity by selectively preconcentrating the analyte. Here, we report the next step in the characterization of partially sulfonated polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-ran-butylene)block-polystyrene (SSEBS) films for the purpose of chemical sensing by examining the selectivity of the sensor fabricated with this novel thin film material. Binary mixtures using model analytes were used to demonstrate the sensor's ability to detect an analyte in the presence of a direct interference. The binary mixtures consisted of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Fe(CN)(6)(3-), Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Fe(bpy)(3)(2+), and Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Cu(bpy)(2)(2+). Demonstration of the selective partitioning mode using the Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Fe(CN)(6)(3-) mixture and absorption detection showed the SSEBS film's preference for Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) over Fe(CN)(6)(3-), and therefore, Fe(CN)(6)(3-) did not interfere with the sensor's response to Ru(bpy)(3)(2+). Furthermore, the importance of the use of three modes together was demonstrated by analysis of the Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Fe(bpy)(3)(2+) and the Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Cu(bpy)(2)(2+) test mixtures, where both selection of a specific wavelength for absorption and selection of a specific potential window were required to reduce or eliminate the signal from the interference. Finally, analysis of the Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/Fe(bpy)(3)(2+) test mixture was also demonstrated using fluorescence detection.


Basic restrictions for protecting against localized tissue heating induced from exposure to radiofrequency (RF) fields are typically specified as the specific energy absorption rate (SAR), which is mass averaged in recognition of the thermal diffusion properties of tissues. This article seeks to determine the most appropriate averaging mass (1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 g) and averaging shape (cube or sphere). We also consider an alternative metric, volumetric energy absorption rate (VAR), which uses volume averaging (over 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 cm3; cube and sphere). The SAR and VAR averaging approaches were compared by considering which was a better predictor of tissue temperature rise (ΔT) induced by near‐ and far‐field RF exposures (0.5–6 GHz), calculated in a detailed human body model. For the exposure scenarios that we examined, VAR is better correlated with ΔT than SAR, though not at a statistically significant level for most of the metric types we studied. However, as VAR offers substantive advantages in ease of assessment we recommend this metric over SAR. Averaging over a cube or a sphere provides equivalent levels of correlation with ΔT, and so we recommend choosing the averaging shape on the basis of which is easier to assess. The optimal averaging volume is 10 cm3 for VAR, and the optimal mass is 10 g for SAR. The correlation between VAR or SAR and ΔT diminishes substantially at 6 GHz, where incident power flux density may be a better exposure metric. Bioelectromagnetics 32:312–321, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The global smartphone brands were progressing aggressively over time. A sudden unexpected turbulent situation known as a global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) about a century later in the history of human civilization stops this progress. It makes the industry bound to fall behind. This study aims to review and analyze the impact of the present pandemic situation due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the global smartphone industry. It shows its competitive scenarios focusing on smartphone demand and supply. Thus, the study suggest a strategic approach to combat this situation. It is done by reviewing the latest literature published explicitly in 2020. The findings of this study reveal a significant negative impact of COVID-19 on global smartphone brands, primarily especially in the big markets of this industry, namely China, India, USA, Europe. Conversely, it can also positively impact the industry, especially in some developing countries. The positivity is seen due to the expanded demand for smartphones in some sectors like education, business, and entertainment media shifted online, triggering the user's need to purchase a new smart device. Lastly, based on the understanding of the current scenario, some strategic approaches are discussed, and appropriate solutions are given for the industry to cope up with the pandemic crisis and, at the same time, how to attain success. The strategic directions given at the end can be applied to the industry's sustainability and growth.


Purpose: Here we aimed to examine the association of breastfeeding (BF) with the metabolic syndrome (Mets) and its components among premenopausal parous Korean women.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 7,116 Korean women by using nationally representative data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, between 2010 and 2016. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed for examining the association of BF with Mets and its components.
Results: A total 7,116 women were selected for this study. Mets was present in 12.9% of the study participants. The prevalence of Mets in the BF group (12.38%) was lower than that of the non-BF group (14.69%) (p<0.05). The prevalence of hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia was significantly higher in the non-BF group compared to that of the BF group. For each of Mets components, the total cholestrol level and systolic blood pressure were significantly higher in the non-BF group, compared to those of the BF group (p<0.05). The BF group was associated with a decreased risk of Mets (odds ratio [OR], 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68-0.99). and lower risks of hypo-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterolemia (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62-0.68), compared to those of the non-BF group.
Conclusion: BF is an important factor in reducing the risks of Mets. These results provide fundamental evidence for the establishment of policies for promoting BF.


For pt.VIII see ibid., vol.3, no.7, p.919 (1977). The authors present the results of a shell-model investigation of the masses, spectra, Coulomb energies and beta decays of the mass-24 nuclei. They have used the effective interaction of Chung and Wildenthal together with an empirically-determined Coulomb interaction. The ab initio use of a reasonably good Coulomb interaction reveals the presence of quite large errors in the calculated energies of certain states and hence of serious imperfections in the nuclear effective interaction. The calculated Coulomb energy differences in the mass-24 system have been used to improve the empirical Coulomb matrix elements.


Individuals' subjective expectations are important in explaining heterogeneity in individual choices, but their elicitation poses challenges. In this paper, the authors present their findings from testing an innovative visual representation of an Internet survey in the context of individuals' Social Security expectations. Respondents were randomly divided into two groups: Half were administered the standard "percent chance" format; half were asked to allocate a total of 20 balls across seven bins to express what they believe the chances to be that their future Social Security benefits would fall into any one of those bins. The authors found that the main advantage of the visual format is that it generates usable answers for virtually all respondents. This suggests that the visual format is a viable alternative that leads to more complete data.


In this research, the effects of imperfections in a steel plate shear wall (SPSW) used to strengthen a reinforced concrete (RC) frame were numerically examined using nonlinear finite element analysis. Three types of structures were analysed in this study: SPSW only, a one-story RC frame with an SPSW infill, and a multi-story RC frame with an SPSW. It was determined that the initial imperfections of a thin SPSW cause a dramatic reduction in the yield and ultimate capacity of the SPSW when analysed individually; however, the presence of RC boundary frame members addresses an important role in eliminating this reduction. In contrast, it was found that the SPSW prevents the shear cracking in the RC frame joints. Based on this point, a higher RC frame capacity together with high initial stiffness and ductility are registered when an SPSW is applied, and equations for estimating the system capacity were derived through this study.


There is a tendency towards growing number of strokes in aging population. One of the most significant complications of stroke is post-stroke seizures (PSS), which cause nearly 11 % of all cases of epilepsy. The most important risk factors of seizures after stroke are severity of the stroke, involvement of the cortex and intracerebral hemorrhage. There are two mains forms of PSS — earlyand late-onset seizures. The pathogenesis of early-onset seizures is mainly due to cytotoxic and metabolic changes in the ischemic focus in contrast to late-onset seizures, which mostly occur as a result of persistent changes in nervous system excitability. There are following types of seizures in adult patients with post-stroke complications: simple partial, generalized tonic-clonic and generalized seizures. Evaluation of electroencephalography and computed tomography results is an important diagnostic tool of the first line. At the same time, brain magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography are the more preferable methods of neuroimaging due to their more informative grade in detecting cortical malformations, small lesions and cavernomas. Pharmacological management of PSS is traditionally divided into two main categories: prophylactic and symptomatic treatment. Prophylactic antiepileptic treatment in stroke patients, including those with intracerebral haemorrhage to prevent an attack, is not recommended by the American Heart Association and European Stroke Organisation guidelines. Some authors indicate that diuretics, in particular thiazides and furosemide, may be protective, reducing the risk of seizures. Carbamazepine, sodium valproate, lamotrigine, oxcarbazepine or gabapentin are the most used symptomatic drugs recommended as a first-line treatment.


We study varieties with a finitely generated Cox ring. In a first part, we generalize a combinatorial approach developed in earlier work for varieties with a torsion free divisor class group to the case of torsion. Then we turn to modifications, e.g., blow ups, and the question how the Cox ring changes under such maps. We answer this question for a certain class of modifications induced from modifications of ambient toric varieties. Moreover, we show that every variety with finitely generated Cox ring can be explicitly constructed in a finite series of toric ambient modifications from a combinatorially minimal one.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of our study was to analyse the relationship between fatty foci within the heart and the accompanying changes in the coronary arteries supplying the relevant heart chambers in a large group of patients referred to multi-slice computed tomography with electrocardiogram-gating examinations (ECG-MSCT) for various clinical reasons.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The ECG-MSCT examinations of 1,830 consecutive patients were analysed. The examinations were performed using 8-row (1,015 patients) and 64-row (815 patients) MSCT, in pre- and postcontrast scanning. In the group of patients with fatty foci within the heart the concomitant changes in the coronary arteries were assessed. It was analysed: the type of changes in the arteries; the relationship between the locations of the fatty deposits and the occurrence and type of changes in the coronary arteries.

RESULTS
In 200 (10.9%) subjects fatty foci within the heart (112 men; 88 women; mean age 57.8) were detected. The distribution of the fat was as follows: right ventricle (RV) - 32.5%, left ventricle (LV) - 22.0%, biventricular - 45.5%. One hundred and seventy-two patients had concomitant changes in the coronary arteries. In patients with normal coronary arteries, significantly more often fatty deposits were localised within RV. Fat was primarily located subendocardially in the LV in patients with atherosclerosis in the left anterior descending artery (p < 0.001), in the right coronary artery (RCA) (p = 0.003), and in the left circumflex artery (LCX) (p < 0.001). Subpericardial locations of fatty deposits in RV significantly correlated with RCA bridging (p < 0.02); the subpericardial location of fat in LV significantly correlated with LCX bridging (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Fatty replacement of the myocardium is common, occurring in up to 10% of diagnosed patients and the majority of this group had concomitant changes in the coronary arteries. However, in the group of patients without changes in the coronary arteries, the fatty deposits locate themselves significantly more frequently within the RV.


ABSTRACT Background Childhood trauma has been regarded as a risk factor for substance use disorder and resilience has been found to be a protective factor against the development of psychopathology in the face of adversity. Methods: A total of 93 male substance-dependent patients and 59 healthy male volunteers were included. Resilience was assessed using the Resilience Scale for Adults, childhood trauma using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and substance use with the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test. Results Childhood trauma was higher, resilience was lower in the patient group. After controlling for any effects of age, education and severity of childhood trauma, regression results showed that for every one-point increase in resilience, there was a concomitant 15.78% decrease in severity of substance use disorder. Substance-dependent patients with a history of suicide attempt had lower resilience scores than substance-dependent patients without a history of suicide attempt. Conclusions We conclude that resilience mitigates the severity of substance use disorder. Interventions to improve resilience might reduce the severity of substance use disorder and prevent suicide attempt in substance-dependent patients.


AIM
To establish a method for screening active substance with scavenging effects on superoxide anion in vitro by designed superoxide dismutase biosensor.

METHODS
The enzyme sensor was built by connecting the immobilized CuZnSOD with optical oxygen sensor through a special way. Superoxide anions were generated by auto-oxidation of pyrogallol. The auto-oxidation speed was examined before and after adding samples into the system, and the Vit C having the scavenging radical activities was served as a positive control.

RESULTS
The limit of biosensor detection was 7.0 U in activity, and lifetime of the immobilized enzyme in the reaction-cell was above 2 weeks. The scavenging effects on superoxide radicals of fifteen active substance were studied in vitro by the sensor, and some of them presented scavenging activities.

CONCLUSION
The signal from biosensor is stable, easy to be determined, and the kinetic information on scavenging superoxide radicals could be obtained directly. The biosensor system can be used for screening drugs simply and rapidly.


This paper is about linguistic justice issues in the post-colonial context of an Irish-speaking region in the south-west of Ireland, drawing on a study of political mobilization around the Irish-medium education policy of the region's secondary school. I explore how the incipient Irish state was involved in a nationalizing project of developing strategies to constitute the Irish polity into a particular nation bound by an language of 'archaic belonging'. Ithen examine how this nationalizing project was disrupted by structural shifts in the economic and demographic basis for the Irish-speaking communities on the Irish western seaboard. It is in this historical context that the Irish language emerges as a necessary nodal point around which political identity is formed. Local linguistic struggles are conceived as attempts to impose particular kinds of order on a field of meaning.


Several studies investigated the potential role of imaging modalities in prostate cancer patients in case of biochemical recurrence. However, the role of molecular imaging has not been well established yet. Considering the results of the literature and of our own experience, we tried to summarize the potential applications of 11C-choline PET/CT in prostate cancer patients in case of biochemical relapse for the detection of lymph node and distant recurrence.


Trimethylenemethane (TMM) is a non-Kekule molecule composed of four carbons, six hydrogens, and four π-orbitals. Therefore, TMM can only be expressed as resonance structures involving 1,3-diyls and zwitterions. The two degenerate nonbonding molecular orbitals in the Huckel molecular orbital of TTM indicate the existence of singlet and triplet electronic configurations, which play significant roles in the TMM chemistry.

TMMs were imaginary molecules until the late 1960's, and parent TMM was first isolated in a low-temperature matrix. It is stable for several weeks at 77 K, and is a ground-state triplet with a D3h-planar structure as assigned by ESR spectroscopy. The unique structures coupled with the complex electronic states of TMM derivatives have been topics of theoretical, mechanistic, and synthetic studies.

By analogy with the Diels-Alder reaction for the synthesis of six-membered rings through [4 + 2] cycloadditions, the use of TMM as a three-carbon unit for [3 + 2] cycloadditions appears to represent a viable synthetic possibility, because the four π-electron orbital system of TMM is theoretically suitable for the [4πs + 2πs] cycloaddition. As expected, however, rapid ring closure to methylenecyclopropane (MCP) is preferred to cycloaddition with a 2π acceptor. Therefore, for synthetic use, tailor-made derivatives of TMM and its equivalents need to be designed to achieve [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions.

The first breakthrough in the use of TMMs for [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions was reported in the reaction of isopropylidenecyclopentane-1,3-diyl, which has a considerable lifetime and reacts with electron-deficient alkenes.

Because the parent TMM gives methylenecyclopropane and many MCP derivatives undergo thermal isomerization, MCPs have been considered to serve as precursors for TMMs. However, direct evidence for the formation of TMMs from MCPs and their synthetic use as TMM precursors was rather scant until recently.

Since TMM species are generally too short-lived and too reactive to be used for organic synthesis, various attempts have been made to stabilize them with transition metal templates.

Efficient transition metal catalyzed TMM cycloaddition is achieved using MCPs and Ni(0) or Pd(0) catalysts. The reaction proceeds via ring opening of the MCP to form (methylene)metallacyclobutane-type intermediates.

More recently, Pd(0)-catalyzed reactions of [2-(acetoxymethyl)allyl]trimethyl-silane with 2π acceptors have emerged as a powerful method for cyclopentane synthesis. This reaction is considered to involve the zwitterionic TMM-Pd intermediate. The reaction serves well for the [3 + 2] cycloaddition to electron-deficient acceptors, and it has been applied to the synthesis of several cyclopentanoid natural products.

This review surveys the [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of TMMs and their metal complexes to 2π acceptors. The reactions are divided into five categories, defined by reaction types and precursors: (1) cycloadditions of free TMMs generated from diazenes, (2) cycloadditions of free TMMs generated from MCPs, (3) transition metal catalyzed reactions of MCPs, (4) transition metal catalyzed reactions of silylated allylic acetates, and (5) cycloaddition of stable TMM-metal complexes. Transformations that accomplish a net cycloaddition but require several steps using TMM equivalents are not covered. Various aspects of TMMs, including physical and synthetic chemistry, have already been reviewed.

Keywords:

cycloaddition;
trimethylenemethane (TMM);
structures;
dipolar TMM;
methylenecyclopropanes;
transition metal catalyzed reactions;
silylated allylic acetates;
metal complexes;
scope;
limitations;
diazenes;
intramolecular reactions;
intermolecular reactions;
generation;
regioselectivity;
sterospecificity;
stereoselectivity;
periselectivity;
synthetic applications;
mechanisms;
selectivities;
comparison of methods;
experimental conditions;
experimental procedures;
tabular survey


The aim of this study was to evaluate the action of commercial and non-commercial cellulase and pectinase on rice husk and Tifton 85 hay hydrolyses. The hydrolysis kinetics of the substrates with commercial cellulase and pectinase were evaluated and the hydrolysis at different temperature and agitation conditions was maximized using experimental design. The combined use of commercial and non-commercial enzymes under optimized conditions was evaluated. The pre-treatment of the residues was also investigated by milling and different concentrations of NaOH. Finally, the effect of the hydrolysis on the bromatological composition of the residues was evaluated. The best hydrolysis times of rice husk and Tifton 85 hay were 10 and 12h for commercial cellulase, 12 and 14h for non-commercial cellulase, 10 and 14h for commercial pectinase and 16 and 20h for non-commercial pectinase, respectively. The highest hydrolysis values were obtained using commercial cellulase with 1:50 (w:v enzyme:water) dilution rate, at 45ºC and 300 rpm agitation for both substrates, reaching 20.6% maximum percentage for Tifton 85 hay and 11.6% for rice husk. The combined use of commercial enzymes did not increase hydrolysis percentage. The pre-treatment using 7.5% NaOH and 0.5 mm grain size significantly increased the rice husk and Tifton 85 hay hydrolyses (60-80%), either using commercial cellulase or pectinase enzymes. The use of non-commercial enzymes provided 18-30% hydrolysis obtained from commercial ones. Bromatological analyzes indicated a reduction in neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber content for rice husk and Tifton 85 hay when using pectinases and commercial cellulases.


Objectives Socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to be associated with worse outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The impact of national health insurance on SLE outcomes has not been explored. Methods A retrospective inception cohort of patients older than 18 years with SLE diagnosed and followed in lupus clinics of two large tertiary medical centers were included. Patients were stratified into three groups by SES: lower 25th quantile, middle 25th‐75th quantile, and upper 75th quantile. Primary outcomes were all-cause mortality, development of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and score ≤ 4 on the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI 2K) at the last visit. Results We identified 617 patients (548 females, 88.8%) with a median follow-up of 15 years (range, 8.0–23.0). Compared to the middle and upper SES groups, the lower SES group was characterized by younger age at disease onset (31.5 years vs. 34.3 and 37.4 years, respectively, p = 0.011) and higher rate of lupus nephritis (42.7% vs. 35.7% and 23.8%, respectively, p = 0.002). In multivariate models, patients in the middle and upper SES groups had a significantly lower risk of mortality (HR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.24–0.82, p = 0.010) and ESKD (HR = 0.24; 95% CI, 0.08–0.73, p = 0.012), with no effect on the rate of SLEDAI 2K ≤ 4 (OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 0.92–2.40, p = 0.09). Conclusion Even within a health system that provides high and equal accessibility to medical care, low SES is associated with worse outcomes of SLE. Policymakers should focus on managing possible barriers that prevent patients of lower SES from obtaining optimal care.


SHORTER treatments of factor methods and results have appeared passim in previous issues of the REVIEW in the past 12 years. In the cycle dealing with research methods in education, the following articles deserve men tion: Vol. XII, December 1942, Chapter VII (Fa t tu ) ; Vol XV, December 1945, Chapter VII (Lorge); Vol. XVIII, December 1948, Chapter VIII (Fat tu) . Much greater attention has been paid to factor analysis in the cycle dealing with educational and psychological tests; the following articles may be consulted: Vol. XI, February 1941, Chapters II (Stuit), V (Traxler), and VIII (Flanagan); Vol. XIV, February 1944, Chapters IV (Sells), V (Traxler), and X (Conrad) ; Vol. XVII, February 1947, Chapters II (Findley, Turnbull, and Conrad), III (Carter), IV (Ellis), and VIII (Travers); and Vol. XX, February 1950, Chapters I (Segel and Gerberich), II (Cornell and Gillette), III (Stuit), IV (Traxler and Jacobs), and IX (Ebel). Since this is the first full-scale treatment of factor analysis which has appeared in the REVIEW since the December 1939 issue it seems wise to consider as a whole the work that has been done since that time, with particular attention to more recent developments. Our purpose is to present a basis for the evaluation of factor analysis as a research technic, with proper concern for results and applications.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.53523/ijoirVol8I1ID20 Abstract In this paper, the influence of blades number on the performance of pico wind turbine was investigated by using a small-motorized axial DC fan with a rated power of 4W. Fixed streaming air blower was used as a source of wind. Varying in wind speed was accomplished by changing the distance from the blower. A resistor equals to the turbine internal resistance was utilized as a load to collect the electrical power across the load at various wind speeds and for fans of different blades (1, 2, and 5). Values of the cut-in and cut-out speeds were extracted from the power plot. Rated power was recorded, as well. The results have shown that the rated power generated by turbine has decreased due to the reduction of blades number (i.e., reduction in solidity) from 2.6W for a 5-bladed turbine to 0.665W for a 2-bladed turbine and to 0.13W for a 1-bladed turbine. Moreover, the cut-in speed (initial electrical generating speed) has increased from 4.9m/s for 5-bladed to 8m/s for 2-bladed, then to 19.15m/s for 1-bladed. These results are explained by the balancing problems during rotation (polar asymmetrical rotor), and it is seen that the reduction of blades has made a sharp reduction in power coefficient.