Nutritional environment in early life is a key factor for brain development and function. It is important to understand the relationship between nutrition in early life and academic achievement in adolescence. The birth cohort of the Pacific Islands Families (PIF) study was born in the year 2000. When their child was six weeks old, mothers were asked questions concerning food security over the past year. Two binary measures of food security were derived as previously used in PIF and also by the Ministry of Health (MOH). In 2020, records of academic achievement from the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) for 649 (317 female, 332 male) cohort members showed progressive achievement at levels 1, 2, and 3 of NCEA and allowed University Entrance (UE) to be assessed. The prevalence of food insecurity was not different for sex but high at 29% and 42% using the PIF and MOH definitions of food insecurity, respectively. More females (27%) than males (18%) achieved UE as their highest qualification, and more males (40%) than females (31%) achieved NCEA levels 1 or 2 as their highest qualification. UE was achieved by 25% of those born into food-secure households and 17% from food-insecure households. Logistic regression demonstrated that the odds of achieving UE were 1.8-fold (95% CI 1.2, 2.6, p = 0.003) higher in females than males and, independently, 1.6-fold (95% CI 1.1, 2.5 p = 0.026) higher if the household was food secure. This work emphasises the importance of maternal and early-life food security for subsequent academic achievement and the well-being of future generations.


Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy of surgical treatment of patients with bilateral cataract and different intervals between two operations. Material and methods. The authors analyzed the results of treatment of 486 patients with bilateral cataracts. The authors identified a possible favorable interval between first and second operations in case of bilateral cataract, which was based on the clinical, functional and immunological parameters. Results. Recommended time of surgery of the pair eye in 114 patients of the main group allow to reveal a high functional results (0.7-1.0) in 90.4% in the first and in 85.1% of cases in the pair eye, which contributed to the restoration of binocular function in 98% of cases after surgery as soon as possible. In all patients of the group in case of bilateral implantation of multifocal IOLs after surgery in both eyes clear vision at different distances in the shortest possible time were achieved. Selected dates of cataract surgery on both eyes allows to reduce the emotional cost, time and organizational problems in preparation for the operation, adding the benefits of quality of early rehabilitation after surgery on both eyes. Conclusion. Phacoemulsification with perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis were no later than 4 days after the operation on the first eye, if it was no complications after surgery and in post-operative period in the first eye.


We read with great interest the article by Chen et al. [1]. Haemothorax is an important finding in trauma patients, which may either be a self-limited condition or the evidence of a life-threatening injury to the thoracic or abdominal organs. We have encountered an extremely rare case of type B dissection in which the first finding was a right-sided haemothorax [2]. Considering the case presented by Chen et al., we would like to figure out the importance of the type and site of the surgical incision. In our experience, if the echocardiography does not reveal any significant cardiac injury or pericardial effusion in such a trauma patient, the easiest and safest approach is a lateral thoracotomy at the fifth intercostal space. This approach helps discriminate intra- and extra-thoracic etiologies of bleeding in such a patient. In case of a cardiac laceration or cardiopulmonary arrest, access to the heart or cannulation of the aorta and right atrium for the utilization of cardiopulmonary bypass is easy with or without a hemi-clamshell extension of the incision. The presented case could be a major pulmonary vessel branch or intercostal artery injury leading to massive right haemothorax in which the subxiphoid pericardial window or a full sternotomy will have a limited use, but a waste of time during an active bleeding. Even the cause of the right haemothorax is a cardiac injury; an uncontrolled subxiphoid access may lead to acute decompression and cardiopulmonary arrest as presented in this case. In this patient, considering the negative echocardiographic findings for a significant pericardial effusion, the mentioned surgical algorithm does not target the most frequent causes of a massive right haemothorax. In such cases we prefer a lateral thoracotomy with a hemi-clamshell extension towards midline when necessary. Such patients require prompt evaluation and surgical intervention is lifesaving in most of the cases.


Field and remote sensing data are used to examine the distribution of volcanism and fault geometry in the Ethiopian Rift between Omo-Chew Bahir rift and Tendaho graben during the Quaternary and evaluate their influence on the location and shape of individual vents as well as the development of alignments. The results of remote sensing, and field study of the total (2214) cone populations reveal that monogenetic vent alignments and the long axes of elongate cones are parallel to and spatially linked with mapped normal faults. This is consistent with the overall sub- latitudinal extension direction in the Quaternary deduced from fault slip analysis and earthquake focal mechanism solutions. Out of the rift axis, pre-existing faults were apparently reactivated and acted as conduits for magmatism to reach the surface, and hence vent clustering. On regional scales, vent clusters are located in Quaternary volcanic fields along the rift axis and in zones of reactivation of pre-Tertiary structures. Sixty two percent of the vents in the study area are part of nine regional vent alignments that vary in length from 48 to 68 km. On sub-regional scales, twelve clusters ranging in length from 10 to 30 km have been mapped. Locally, field structural data show that individual vents and short vent alignments, up to 10 km in length, occur along and adjacent to faults, particularly along fault segments, intersections, and bifurcations. The long axes of elongate volcanic cones also have trends generally parallel to the local faults.


Abstract

Introduction:
Breast milk is the best nutrition for growth and development of infants. Vitamin deficiency and anemia are the most common nutritional problem in less than 5 year old children that can damage their physical and mental development.

Method:
This study assess the relationship between family socioeconomic indices and the type of milk and the supplement consumption in 12 to 60 month's children in Qazvin in 2014.Data for this studywas collected by questionnarie and through interview. Data was analyzed by chi-square test and the correlation coefficient and logistic regression.

Results:
The results of the study of 891 children showed that 73.4 % of children were only breastfed , 18.9 % have used the formula with breast milk and 7.7% only have used formula. The mean duration of breast feeding in our study was 18.72 months. Our study showed that the duration of breast feeding was significantly increased by improving family income (P=0.003) and normal vaginal delivery (0.026).
 At the same time consumption of formula with breast milk in working mothers was significantly more than home care mothers (P=0.005) .
consumption of formula was significantly higher in mothers with cesarean delivery (P=0.050).

By increasing in birth order iron (P=0.030) and multivitamin(P=0.045) supplement were significantly started earlier in children.
By increasing theeducational level of mother , multivitamin supplement for the children was significantly started later (P=0.000) but the duration of iron supplement consumption was significantly increased in children (P=0.014).

Conclusion:
 According to the result of this study the type of milk , the multivitamin and mineral supplement consumption were associated with socioeconomic indices such as : family incomes , type of delivery , mothers job, birth order , family size and mothers education.


Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the 10th most common malignancy and 4th largest cancer killer in adults. Earlier tumor detection through screening of high risk groups, presumably to increase the percentage of cases resectable for cure in these cohorts, has emerged as a prominent strategy to combat this disease. This article examines the feasibility of this strategy in patients with hereditary pancreatic cancer (HPC) and hereditary pancreatitis (HP). Because of a variety of factors, specific cost projections for screening with HPC kindreds are problematic at best. Patients with HP exhibit a 53-fold increased risk of pancreatic cancer, with a cumulative risk of 40% by age 70. The authors discuss the modalities available to screen this cohort and subsequently perform a theoretical cost analysis. The authors' findings suggest that screening has the potential to be cost-effective only in hereditary pancreatitis patients = 50 years-of-age. The most cost-effective option will likely combine an initial serologic test with high sensitivity and a subsequent serologic or pancreatic juice test with sufficient specificity to act as a "gatekeeper" to imaging with endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). Banking of blood and pancreatic juice samples should be mandatory in any screening protocol. The lower tumor yield in other high-risk groups (e.g., non-hereditary chronic pancreatitis) will effectively preclude the use of such screening protocols. The vast majority of patients will continue to present with unresectable disease.


This paper focuses on design and development of intelligent based optimal secondary controller which could sustain with system dynamic conditions to maintain frequency and tie-line power exchange with in specified limits. For analysis purpose, a two area interconnected system comprising of thermal and hydro units in each area with system non linearity's like generation rate constraints (GRC) and governor dead band theory (GDB) are considered to get more practical approach. System frequency and tie-line variations are observed in MATLAB/ SIMULINK platform for 1% step load perturbation (SLP) in area-1. Proportional- integral (PI), proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and Fuzzy-PID controllers are employed as secondary controllers one at a time, whose gains are optimized with Grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm. Later, the system dynamic responses are investigated by incorporating superconducting magnetic energy storage devices (SMES) in both areas and static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) placed in series with the tie-line. Investigation reveals the superiority of fuzzy controller with coordinated performance of SMES and SSSC in mitigating frequency deviations and tie-line power variations. Finally, sensitivity analysis is carried out to test robustness of proposed coordinated control scheme.


This paper focuses on two mayoral-led public-private partnerships designed to renew good government in Cleveland, Ohio: Mayor George Voinovich's Operations Improvement Task Force (OITF) (1979–1982) and Mayor Frank Jackson's Operations Efficiency Task Force (OETF) (2006–2009). The Voinovich OITF public-private partnership enabled Cleveland to "come back" after the city's 1978 default. The Jackson OETF public-private partnership successfully rightsized Cleveland in relationship to its much smaller population needs during challenging economic times without disruptions in service. The authors use three data sources, including interviews with both mayors and their key partnership managers, to gain a complete inside picture of each mayoral-led public-private partnership. The paper concludes with the lessons learned and the governance implications of a mayoral-led public-private partnership in fostering a long-term (transformative) administrative change. This paper shows how both mayoral-led public-private partnerships quietly transformed Cleveland's government to meet the demands of fewer resources, greater complexity, more transparency, and more timely decisions in the delivery of public services to citizens.


The mechanism of the early stage of metastasis formation by sticky blood-born cancer cells is discussed. Abnormal platelet aggregation to circulating and lodged cancer cells, as well as alterations of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis play an important role. The reducing effect of several platelet aggregation inhibitors on cancer cell stickiness and tumor embolism mortality has been investigated in rats after intravenous transplantation of 1 X 10(6) Walker-256 carcinosarcoma cells. The tested substances diminished platelet aggregation to circulating cancer cells, leading to a dose-dependent inhibition of cancer cell lodgment to the endothelium. Furthermore, some of the substances prevented lethal pulmonary tumor cell embolism which was observed in 60% of the controls. These results are interpreted by assuming an inhibition of disseminated intravascular coagulation which occured after intravenous transplantation of Walker-256 carcinosarcoma. On this basis a clinical long-term study for metastasis prophylaxis was started more than 4 years ago with one of the tested substances, the dipyridamole derivative RA 233, in 40 patients with sarcoma or malignant lymphoma of the head and neck region. The provisional results obtained in matched pairs are discussed.


Lipid-related cancers cause a large number of deaths worldwide. Therefore, development of highly efficient Lipid droplets (LDs) fluorescent imaging probes will be beneficial to our understanding of lipid-related cancers by allowing us to track the metabolic process of LDs. In this work, a LDs-specific NIR (λmax = 698 nm) probe, namely BY1, was rationally designed and synthesized via a one-step reaction by integrating triphenylamine (electron–donor group) unit into the structure of rofecoxib. This integration strategy enabled the target BY1 to form a strong Donor–Acceptor (D-A) system and endowed BY1 with obvious aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect. Meanwhile, BY1 also showed observable solvent effect and reversible mechanochromatic luminescent property, which could be interpreted clearly via density functional theory (DFT) calculations, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (XPRD), and single crystal X-ray data analysis. More importantly, BY1 exhibited highly specific fluorescent imaging ability (Pearson's correlation = 0.97) towards lipid droplets in living HeLa cells with low cytotoxicity. These results demonstrated that BY1 is a new promising fluorescent probe for lipid droplets imaging, and it might be beneficial to facilitate biological research of lipid-related cancers.


An experiment was designed to quantify the specific genetic parameters which will describe the growth potential of a pig. The experiment was conducted in two stages. In the early stage, 11 unimproved crossbred pigs were serially slaughtered at 2, 13 and 23 days of age. In the later phase, 16 pigs were serially slaughtered at 80, 90 and 100 kg live weight. The chemical composition of each of the entire empty bodies was determined. Linear regression analyses were performed on body protein and lipid weights to determine the Gompertz growth parameter (B), mature body protein weight (Pm) and the lipid: protein ratio at maturity (LPRm) The B value for boars was 0-0107 (s.e. 0·00060) per day and for females 0·0120 (s.e. 0·00044) per day. Pm estimates were 38·7 kg and 28·4 kg whilst the LPRm ratios were 2·60 and 3·89 for boars and gilts respectively.


Rhynchostylis gigantea 'Cartoon', belonged to Rhynchostylis genus, generally blooms during December to February. The flower is beautiful with large purple spotted form on the petals, which is suitable for making the orchid pot. This study focused on studying the medium วารสารวิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี ปทีี่ 22 ฉบับที ่4 ตุลาคม ธันวาคม 2557 508 compositions for root induction of young orchid plantlet. The young orchid plantlets were transferred from sterile culture into MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with various concentrations of NAA and IBA for 20 weeks. The results showed that the combination of 2 mg/l of NAA and 3 mg/l of IBA and the combination of 3 mg/l of NAA and 2 mg/l of IBA are the most effective combinations for root induction of the orchid plantlets. The combination of 2 mg/l of NAA and 3 mg/l of IBA gave an average fresh weight of 0.36 g and average root number of 3.20 root with average root length of 2.83 cm, while the combination of 3 mg/l of NAA and 2 mg/l of IBA yielded an average fresh weight of 0.34 g and average root number of 1.70 root with average root length of 4.64 cm.


BACKGROUND
Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is known to induce several pathogenic responses in cardiovascular surgery. Children suffering from cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD) have been assumed to have a deficiency in their defence mechanisms. The preoperative clinical condition (hypoxemia and circulation disorders) could initiate post CPB inflammatory response. The nature of the participation of neutrophils and its time course in the post CPB inflammatory response, however, is less clear. THE AIM of our study was to investigate alterations in expression of adhesion molecules and L-selectin on neutrophils, and soluble adhesion molecules levels in CCHD children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
23 infants and children with congenital heart disease, scheduled for primary corrective surgical repair; were enrolled. Expression of CD11b. CD18, and CD62L on neutrophils was determined by cytometry. Additionally, serum concentrations of soluble ELAM-1, L-selectin were measured using enzyme-linked immunoassay. Blood samples of children with CCHD were collected at the following times: before anaesthesia, at the initiation of CPB, after 30 minutes of CPB, at the end of CPB, and 24 hours and 72 hours after surgery.

RESULTS
The expression of CD11b molecule on neutrophils was increased significantly at the start of CPB and returned to the baseline after 24 hrs. In all patients, preoperative CD11b expression on neutrophils correlated with hypoxemia. Reduced CD62L expression on neutrophils and soluble L-selectin concentration were observed at the end of CPB.

CONCLUSION
We conclude, that cardiac surgery with CPB has a suppressive effect on adhesion molecules expression in children with CCHD, These findings also suggest that the type of neutrophil response to cardiac surgery appears to depend on preoperative clinical condition.


The existing technologies of hot strip production in the mills of different generations are considered in the article on the basis of literary analysis, the major disadvantages are identified and development trends of wide-strip hot mills are determined. The outmoded and physically worn-out equipment is used in continuous wide-strip mills 1700 of Illich Iron and Steel Works in of Mariupol. To prolong the life of the equipment and the maintenance of competitiveness requires the equipment reconstruction and improving the technology of hot rolling of wide strips. The practical recommendations to improve the technology and mechanical equipment for the production of hot-rolled wide strips in condition of WSHM 1700 of Illich Iron and Steel Works in of Mariupol are proposed in the article. The proposed solutions will address the following actual tasks: the expansion of the product assortment, improving its quality with resource-saving and material-saving and, consequently, effectiveness increase of specific industrial enterprises.


The chicken ornithine transcarbamylase gene has been mapped to the short arm of the Z chromosome, near the centromere. Radioactive in situ hybridization was performed using a human cDNA clone, and chromosomes were scored for silver grain accumulation. This represents the first documented case of a mammalian X-linked gene also being sex-linked in an avian species. The significance of this finding in the context of sex chromosome evolution is briefly discussed. Further, differential sex-related OTC expression, whereby females (ZW) consistently produce higher levels of the enzyme than males (ZZ), must imply a peculiar mode of OTC transcription regulation.


We describe the general structure of the well known S255IR high mass star forming region, as revealed by our recent ALMA observations. The data indicate a physical relation exists between the major clumps SMA1 and SMA2. The driving source of the extended high velocity, well collimated bipolar outflow, is not the most pronounced disk-like SMA1 clump harboring a 20 M⊙ young star (S255 NIRS3), as was assumed earlier. Apparently, it is the less evolved SMA2 clump, which drives the outflow and contains a compact rotating structure (probably a disk). At the same time, the SMA1 clump drives another outflow, with a larger opening angle. The molecular line data do not show an outflow from the SMA3 clump (NIRS1), which was suggested by IR studies of this region.


Abstract Purpose To establish criterion and construct validity of a novel, clinically feasible assessment of lower-extremity dexterity for PD patients. Methods Thirty-three PD patients performed a unilateral lower-extremity dexterity task "off" and "on" dopaminergic medications with each leg. The task involves iteratively tapping targets with the foot in a specified pattern, and the measured outcome is the time to complete the movement sequence, with longer times indicating worse performance. We correlated leg movement time with standard, validated measures of gait (comfortable and maximal walk speeds), general mobility (timed up and go), upper-extremity dexterity (9-Hole Pegboard), and elements of the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). Results We found significant relationships between lower extremity dexterity and each of these tasks "off" and "on" medications. Task performance also captures known features of PD, including dopamine-mediated improvement in performance and asymmetrical symptom presentation. Conclusions This task provides a simple assessment of lower extremity function that correlates with validated measures of dexterity, gait, and mobility. It provides objective, continuous data, is inexpensive, requires little technical expertise/equipment, has a small physical footprint, and can be administered quickly. These features increase the feasibility of implementing this assessment tool in clinical settings. Implications for rehabilitation We introduce a novel task that captures lower extremity dexterity in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). The task is validated against gold standard measures of upper extremity dexterity, gait, and general mobility. Performance on the task is sensitive to known features of PD, including dopamine-mediated improvements and asymmetrical symptom presentation. The task is easy to implement and provides higher quality data compared to other common clinical assessments (e.g., MDS-UPDRS).


Bacillus anthracis is a gram-positive, aerobic, spore forming, and rod-shaped bacterium. Anthrax spores are introduced into macrophage by phagocytosis and multiply after germination. The anthrax spores infected in macrophage produce lethal toxin eventually caused cell death. In this study, we analyzed apoptosis and cytokine TNF-α and IL-12 secretion after the infection of spores of B. anthracis Sterne in the murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells and in the primary human macrophages. In murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells infected by spore of B. anthracis Sterne, the cells were markedly changed in secretion of TNF-α (482~6,213 pg/ml) by lethal toxin, and induced apoptosis. In case of RAW264.7 cells infected by formalin-inactivated spores of B. anthracis, the cells were not able to produce lethal toxin, which released lower level concentration of TNF-α (7.7~97.2 pg/ml), and rarely induced apoptosis. When primary human macrophage cells infected with spores of B. anthracis Sterne, they secreted TNF-α (5~16 pg/ml), and induced apoptosis about 1% of total cells. We presented that inducing apoptosis by spores of B. anthracis Sterne capable of expressing lethal toxin is related with the secretion of TNF-α in murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells. These studies revealed that human and murine macrophages has affected differently by anthrax lethal toxin produced by spores of B. anthracis Sterne.


An experimental prescribed burn was conducted in February 2011 in a Quercus cerris forest in the Cilento e Vallo di Diano National Park (Southern Italy) to analyze fire effects on vegetation and soil. Fuel fire behavior characteristics and were assessed to define the burning conditions that allowed a rate of fire spread between 0.10 and 0.22 m min-1, fireline intensity never below 50 kW m-1 and maximum flame temperatures in the litter of 600°C but the average residence time above 60°C and 300°C were 198 and 12 seconds, respectively. Litter fuel consumption ranged between 80% and 90%. The effect of fire on vegetation was evaluated in terms of floristic composition and structure by means of phytosociological and dendrometric samplings randomly located in burned and unburned plots two years after fire. The effect of fire on soil was evaluated by determining soil chemical (pH, water content, total and extractable organic C content, total and mineral N) and microbial properties (microbial biomass, soil potential respiration) in the 0-5 cm soil at different time since fire (3 hours, 30, 94, 209 and 394 days). Moreover, water holding capacity and bulk density were measured in burned and unburned plots at first sampling. Results on vegetation evidenced no significant differences in species richness and diversity, in both burned and unburned plots. No changes have been found in frequency and cover values of endemic species (Digitalis micrantha, Echinops ritro subsp. siculus, Lathyrus jordanii, Teucrium siculum). Woody species showed a great resilience with very low tree mortality. Sapling persistence by high sprouting rootstocks evidenced no significant difference in the abundance of some species (Quercus cerris, Acer campestre, Carpinus betulus, Crataegus monogyna) or an increase for few species (Ruscus aculeatus, Ilex aquifolium, Erica arborea, Fraxinus ornus, Sorbus torminalis, Carpinus orientalis) in burned plots. Results on soil showed that prescribed burning did not affect soil chemical and microbial properties, so indirect effects on plants deriving on effect of fire on soil may be excluded. Our findings highlight the sustainability of prescribed burning in Quercus cerris forests and support its future use as a management tool of fire risk reduction without significant impact on vegetation and soil.


Dam construction has long provided valuable economic benefits to Thailand in distributing low-priced electricity and supporting low-income farmers by providing them with free-flowing irrigation water; this promotes domestic consumption and investment. Even though many benefits are expected from dam construction, a dam project needs to be carefully evaluated using cost-benefit analysis (CBA) before approval. Decision-makers have to review the negative effects of the construction and operation of a dam. These effects are sometimes difficult to measure in monetary terms.


Hypertensive disorder in pregnancy is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality worldwide. Women who have had preeclampsia are at three to four times higher risk in later life of developing high blood pressure and heart disease. Soluble Flt-1 (sFlt-1) is elevated in preeclampsia and may remain high postpartum in women with a history of preeclampsia. Heme oxygenase-1 (Hmox1/HO-1) exerts protective effects against oxidative stimuli and is compromised in the placenta of pregnant women with preeclampsia. We hypothesized that sFlt-1 inhibits cardiac mitochondrial activity in HO-1 deficient mice. HO-1 haplo-insufficient mice (Hmox1+/−) were injected with adenovirus encoding sFlt-1 (Ad-sFlt-1) or control virus (Ad-CMV). Subsequently, they were treated daily with either placebo or MZe786 for six days, when the heart tissue was harvested to assess cardiac mitochondrial activity. Here, we show that the loss of HO-1 disturbed cardiac mitochondrial respiration and reduced mitochondrial biogenesis. The overexpression of sFlt-1 resulted in the inhibition of the cardiac mitochondrial activity in Hmox1+/− mice. The present study demonstrates that the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) releasing molecule, MZe786, rescues mitochondrial activity by stimulating cardiac mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant defense in Hmox1−/− mice and in Hmox1+/− mice exposed to a high sFlt-1 environment.


The molecular mobility of a MOF-5 metal-organic framework was investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy. Three relaxation processes were revealed. The temperature dependence of their relaxation rates follows an Arrhenius law. The process observed at lower temperatures is attributed to bending fluctuations of the edges of the cages involving the Zn-O clusters. The processes ("region II") at higher temperatures were assigned to fluctuations of phenyl rings in agreement with the NMR data found by Gould et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 3246). The carboxylate groups might also be involved. The rotational fluctuations of the phenyl rings leading to the low frequency part of relaxation region II might be hindered either by some solvent molecules entrapped in the cages or by an interpenetrated structure and have a broad distribution of activation energies. The high frequency part of region II corresponds nearly to a Debye-like process: This is explained by a well-defined structure of empty pores.


The demand of low latency applications has fostered interest in edge computing, a recent paradigm in which data is processed locally, at the edge of the network. The challenge of delivering services with low-latency and high bandwidth requirements has seen the flourishing of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) solutions that utilize ad-hoc data-driven statistical learning solutions to dynamically steer edge computing resources. In this paper, we propose RoPE, an architecture that adapts the routing strategy of the underlying edge network based on future available bandwidth. The bandwidth prediction method is a policy that we adjust dynamically based on the required time-to-solution and on the available data. An SDN controller keeps track of past link loads and takes a new route if the current path is predicted to be congested. We tested RoPE on different use case applications comparing different well-known prediction policies. Our evaluation results demonstrate that our adaptive solution outperforms other ad-hoc routing solutions and edge-based applications, in turn, benefit from adaptive routing, as long as the prediction is accurate and easy to obtain.


AS the first step of regeneration textile production, the influence of blending quality on the quality and product cost of hollow polyester staple fiber is very important. This model is based on the theories of material balance, energy conservation, the mathematical programming theory as well as physical and chemical reaction in the process of melt spinning. On the premise of considering the general constraint, the inherent relationship between physical changes in the production of polyester staple fibers and the constraints of technological requirements in the production of regenerated polyester staple fibers are included. Meanwhile, using the lowest cost of ingredients as the objective mathematical programming function, and the model is solved by NSGA. The ingredients table was output through the interface of logistics management information system to simulate the ingredients, which provided ideas for the research on the ingredients of waste plastics regeneration spinning.


Continuing the pattern of recent years, the largest numbers of confinements in 2000 were among mothers resident in the South Western Sydney (12,541, 14.5 per cent) and Western Sydney Health Areas (10,794, 12.5 per cent). These two health areas contributed over one quarter of the State's births. Eighty per cent of confinements were to mothers resident in the metropolitan Health Areas (including the Central Coast, Hunter and Illawarra Health Areas), and 19.1 per cent were to mothers resident in rural areas (Table 20).


The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of a change in context on inhibition in the incidence of binge eating. Eighteen experimentally naive Wistar rats were used and were divided into three groups. Each group began with a free access period of fifteen days and three days of food deprivation. The first experimental group was deprived in a different context than that of its home box and returned to it for a free access period of 15 days. The second group was deprived in its home box and placed in a different context with free access for 3 days post-deprivation and later returned to its home box for 12 days. The control group did not change context in any period. The results showed that the change in context modified food intake during post-deprivation period. The incidence of binge eating was inhibited by the change in context.


A dominant discourse in western higher education circles is currently concerned— even obsessed—with the marketisation of knowledge as a commodity to be purchased and traded [Healy (1998); Poole (1998); Richardson (1998)]. These developments are broadly allied with managerial changes that some have called 'steering at a distance' [Kickert (1991); Marceav (1993)] whereby the control by the state of individual higher education workers is maintained and intensified at the same time that pressure is applied to 'wean' universities from government funding. This paper explores a different kind of 'steering', the kind that is being engaged by Australian teacher educators confronted by developing competitiveness in higher education. We argue that these changes compel teacher educators to (re)negotiate their professionalisms; to re-examine their attitudes towards, and values within, education and its practices as they (individually and collectively) steer new courses through the state and the market. We illustrate our argument by referring to three critical incidents in the professional lives of teacher educators located within a globalised, multi-campus and provincial Australian university, yet with important implications also for teacher educators outside Australia. We posit the (re)negotiated professionalisms manifested in those incidents as a few among several potential kinds of steering by Australian teacher educators.


Graph transformer networks (GTN) are a variant of graph convolutional networks (GCN) that are targeted to heterogeneous graphs in which nodes and edges have associated type information that can be exploited to improve inference accuracy. GTNs learn important metapaths in the graph, create weighted edges for these metapaths, and use the resulting graph in a GCN. Currently, the only available implementation of GTNs uses dense matrix multiplication to find metapaths. Unfortunately, the space overhead of this approach can be large, so in practice it is used only for small graphs. In addition, the matrix-based implementation is not fine-grained enough to use random-walk based methods to optimize metapath finding. In this paper, we present a graph-based formulation and implementation of the GTN metapath finding problem. This graph-based formulation has two advantages over the matrix-based approach. First, it is more space efficient than the original GTN implementation and more compute-efficient for metapath sizes of practical interest. Second, it permits us to implement a sampling method that reduces the number of metapaths that must be enumerated, allowing the implementation to be used for larger graphs and larger metapath sizes. Experimental results show that our implementation is $6.5\times$ faster than the original GTN implementation on average for a metapath length of 4, and our sampling implementation is $155\times$ faster on average than this implementation without compromising on the accuracy of the GTN.


A flexible bis(pyridylcarbamate) receptor, 3-pyridyl-carbamic-acid-oxydi-1,2-ethanediylester (L2) and the anion complexes (1–3) of the doubly protonated ligand ([L2H2]2+) with Cl , S and Cl− are reported. The binding modes of [L2H2]2+ with the anions in 1–3 in the solid state are established by X-ray single crystal diffraction. Compounds 1 and 3 feature intriguing anionic polymer fashions. In compound 1, two zigzag perchlorate–water chains are encapsulated in the 1D channel constructed by 2+2 (2[L2H2]2++2Cl ) hydrogen-bonded macrocycles, while in 3 the chloride ions are trapped on the wall of the hydrogen-bonded 1D channel formed by two U-shaped ligands. For compound 2, the packing diagram displays a corrugated layer structure, with the sulphate ions and the water molecules located between the layers. Receptor L2 crystallises with perchlorate from the acid mixture HClO4, H2SO4 and HCl.


BACKGROUND: The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is primarily a water/food-born human pathogen that has recently emerged to cause chronic hepatitis and neuropathic symptoms in some population. HEV ORF1 gene encodes the non-structural/replicase polyprotein wherein the 0Xdomain0 still remains poorly defined. Cellular X-domain associated macrodomain protein/ADP-ribose-1"-monophosphatase (Appr-1"-pase) activities are already reported in corona, alpha and rubella viruses. OBJECTIVE: To investigated the regulatory role(s) of ORF1 X-domain sequences in HEV life cycle. METHODS: GenBank (NCBI) amino acid (a.a.) sequences of ORF1 X-domain of HEV strains representing the four genotypes, including genetically-related viruses, prokaryotic and eukaryotic sequences were analyzed (ClustalW 1.83). The evolutionary conservation of X-domain residues positions (ConSurf) and the secondary structure (PROFSec) were predicted. ORF1 X-domain a.a. (N806A, N809A, H812L, G815A, G816A and G817A) as well as sequential-nucleotide mutants were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis in SAR55 replicon (pSK-GFP). The mutantreplicon RNA were tested in human hepatoma S10-3 cells, and analyzed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry (FACS). RESULTS: In silico analysis showed a high degree of evolutionary conservation of X-domain a.a. positions wherein the N-terminus residues 0N806, N809, H812, G815, G816 and G8170 formed a potential catalytic-site homolog of CoV Appr-1"-pase. The structure prediction further revealed formation of b-3 sheet and a-2 heix by active-site residues, similar to published Appr-1"-pase structures. FACS analysis showed complete abrogation of HEV replication by G816A and G817A constructs compared to G815A mutant that replicated very poorly. Furthermore, while the N806A mutant retained RNA replication, N809A and H812L showed non-viability. The sequential mutation analysis revealed indispensability of X-domain nucleotides on virus replication. Taken together, our data strongly argue for an essential role of X-domain residues at post-translational level, indicating for its Appr-1"-pase activity. CONCLUSION: The regulatory/catalytic role of ORF1 Xdomain in HEV life cycle critically depends on the N-terminal 0N-N-H-G-G-G' segment/secondary-structure. Nevertheless, further biochemical or biophysical characterizations of HEV X-domain's Appr-1"-pase activity would only confirm its significance in virus biology or host-pathogenesis.


Background: The pregnant women and family may not have the necessary knowledge and skills to estimate nutrient value in food in line with dietary targets and the guidelines, i.e. they do not know whether or not they are consuming the right amount of nutrition needed during pregnancy. The aims of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to examine the impact of SISFORNUTRIMIL application on maternal eating behaviour and associated maternal factors such as weight gain, blood pressure, biochemical measurement, and pregnancy outcome.Methods: The study recruits 112 participants with eligible criteria during December 2019 to January 2020. The allocation of participants is 1:1 to the SISFORNUTRIMIL application user and non-user application, with criteria: singleton pregnancy (22-26 weeks), mother age between 20-35 years), have monthly income and literate. Both groups will receive 12-week standard health services from health professionals and received information about dietary diversity and food record. Particularly, intervention group could be access the SISFORNUTRIMIL on their devices, which provide necessary information about nutrition in pregnancy, food record and food choice includes total serving size calculation. In contrast, the control group only receive food information and food intake record by paper-based, and they should record and calculate the nutrition intake by traditionally. Discussion: This is the first randomized controlled trial to examine the SISFORNUTIMIL application. This mandate reflects keen interest and motivation for the proposed research study. This is in addition to the researcher's personal efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality rate as well as a general focus on pregnancy complication prevention than nutrition treatment. Thus, an investigation of eating behaviour and associated maternal needed to address this issue. Firstly, the results could extend the scope of knowledge about nutrition intervention to include the Indonesia pregnant women context as well as the Indonesia health ministry context. Secondly, this research could help to change individual health behaviour and activity undertaken by an individual who believes her-self to be healthy.Trial registration: ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN42690828. Date of registration: 22 October 2019.


Waste-activated sludge (WAS) processes are key technologies to treat wastewater: their effluents can meet stringent discharge standards, thus ensuring a minimum residual impact on the aquatic environment. The presence of heavy metals in the excess sludge poses, however, serious problems, and considerably hampers the final disposal alternatives, especially in the agricultural use (soil improvement/amendment). This article studies the effect of thermal hydrolysis and Fenton's peroxidation on the heavy metal content of the dewatered sludge. Acid thermal hydrolysis reduces the heavy metal content in the filter cake except for Cu, Hg, and Pb. Alkaline thermal hydrolysis releases Cu, Pb, and Cr. Fenton's peroxidation transfers Cd, Cu, and Ni from the filter cake into the filtrate. Land application of the residual cake can hence be reconsidered.


Large wood deposited in rivers provides ecological benefits for multiple trophic groups, but public perceptions of these deposits can be varied. In particular, flooding experiences linked to large wood debris could influence how the public and stakeholders view large wood deposited into the river ecosystem. Here, we assessed the perceptions towards large wood using groups of undergraduates, postgraduates and staff from a local university in Limpopo Province of South Africa. A survey was conducted using questionnaires, which were distributed online to a sample of 104 participants across these groups, using both visual (i.e. paired photographs of different river scenarios) and categorical questions. Large shares of respondents regularly used river systems recreationally (62.9%), with woodless systems perceived as being significantly more aesthetic, less dangerous and least in need of improvement. These perceptions, however, differed among university groups, with staff having stronger perceptions of aesthetics (median = 5.5, mean 5.4 ± 2.8), less dangerousness (median = 3.0, mean 4.2 ± 3.0) and naturalness (median = 6.0, mean 5.8 ± 2.6) towards systems with large wood. Correlation analyses indicated significant interrelatedness among perceptions of aesthetics, naturalness, danger and improvement needs. However, negative perceptions towards large wood in the river were generally not determined by any recent experience of flooding in the area, with large wood‐related dangers rather associated with leisure activities in rivers by students. These results highlight a need for passing on the knowledge of natural river systems with wood to people in Vhembe Biosphere Reserve and communities' scientists and assessing wider perceptions outside of the university context.


Background: Targeted therapeutic strategies are currently limited to patients with hormone receptors and/or HER2 positive disease in breast cancer (BCA) treatment. However, patients often develop resistance to these therapies. The ability to functionally profile a whole spectrum of pathway proteins (and their variants) in tumor may provide valuable information about the potential mechanism for drug resistance and evidence for rational selection of suitable targeted therapies. Here we report a comprehensive profile of HER1, HER2, p95HER2, HER3, cMET, IGF1R, PI3K, Shc, AKT and other signal transduction pathway proteins in BCA tissues and their matched adjacent normal tissues (ANTs). Methods: A multiplexed Collaborative Proximity ImmunoAssay (COPIA), antibody-microarray platform requiring co-localization of 2 detector antibodies on captured biomarker proteins has been used for comprehensive pathway analysis. Channeling events between 2 detector enzymes (glucose oxidase & horse radish peroxidase) in proximity enabled the profiling of the target biomarkers with extreme sensitivity and specificity, and a direct comparison to electrochemiluminescence based immunoassay platform (MSD) was performed for pathway proteins in tumor vs. ANTs for their expression and activation in samples collected from 20 BCA patients. Results: Three dilutions of lysate (10ug, 1ug, 0.1ug) were analyzed for quantitative differential pathway modulation for COPIA. - Substantially higher cytokeratin (CK) levels were found in 16/20 tumor samples when compared to paired-ANT; 3/20 samples showed high levels of CK in ANTs. Substantial levels of HER3 and IGF1R expression was detected in 9 and 5 tumor samples respectively. - Over-expression of HER2 with high degree of activation was found in 2 patients. In one of the HER2-overexpressing patients, HER3 was also highly expressed and moderately phosphorylated. Co-expression of cMET and IGF1R was evident as well. - A significant degree of HER2 phosphorylation was found in many patients with low level HER2 expression; this may be due to co-expression of high level of HER3 and other RTKs with trans-activational potential. Evidence of activated PI3K complex will be reported. - In direct comparison to MSD, COPIA detected activated pathway proteins in samples that were not detectable with MSD. MSD was sensitive enough to detect the very extreme cases. COPIA appeared to be a more desirable method for detection of protein expression and activation for samples with limited availability. The distinct pathway modulation in each patient (detected by COPIA) will be reported. Discussion: COPIA was used to detect the differential expression and phosphorylation of HER2, other RTKs and pathway proteins in 20 paired tumor and matched ANTs. As this platform requires magnitudes lower amounts of specimen, it can be used to profile tumors at different metastatic sites and could provide comprehensive metastatic profiles. The comprehensive functional pathway profiling of tumor specimen may provide insightful information for potential drug-resistant mechanisms and may guide appropriate selection of targeted drug-combinations or drug-sequencing. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-06-13.


This paper presents a study of whether transit-oriented development (TOD) helps reduce peak-hour congestion, a topic of ongoing public debate. Applying conventional four-step travel demand modeling techniques, the study simulates traffic outcomes in three TOD scenarios in the Austin, Texas, area, where a commuter rail line is under construction and TOD proposals are being developed. With TOD, the portion of congested roadway in the Austin region is estimated to decrease by nearly 770 lane miles. Daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are reduced by 10 to 12 million in the region, or by 3.5 to 4.5 person miles traveled (PMT) per person. This magnitude of congestion relief for peak-hour commuting indicates a potentially significant amount of savings in highway investments through TOD practice. No major modal shifts from driving to transit or non-motorized modes occur in the TOD scenario. Still, PMT for transit is estimated to grow significantly. TOD's role as a congestion relief strategy largely lies in the concentrated development that shortens average trip length and hence generates less VMT and PMT than low-density sprawl. The study results also reveal challenges facing TOD practice: the non-TOD area benefits more than the TOD area, although TOD improves congestion regionwide. Traffic conditions in the TOD area may actually worsen due to the TOD-based concentration of people and jobs. Promoting walking or biking to minimize local driving is thus critical for TOD to succeed.


A method for tracking on motion of small target is presented that is based on edge detection of image sequences. This approach detects the edge of small target of image sequences first and decides the position of centroid. According to the position tracking on motion of small target can be completed by least-square fit. The trajectory of tracking and collecting of small target is compared. The result implies that the tracking on small target comparing to experiment has little error and can achieve satisfactory effect.


A practical deterministic crossbar scheduler achieves almost full throughput without being heavily affected by short virtual output queues or traffic burstiness. Simple additions offer deterministic service guarantees and distribute the bandwidth of congested links in a weighted, fair manner. Input-queued crossbars are the common building blocks in Internet routers, data center and high-performance computing interconnects, and on-chip networks. These crossbars often contain no buffers, which saves valuable chip area. Arriving packets issue requests to a central scheduler. While waiting for the scheduler to grant their requests, packets wait at input packet buffers in front of the crossbar. To isolate traffic for different outputs, these input buffers are often organized as virtual output queues (VOQs).


Abstract Commentaries are informative essays dealing with viewpoints of statistical practice, statistical education, and other topics considered to be of general interest to the broad readership of The American Statistician. Commentaries are similar in spirit to Letters to the Editor, but they involve longer discussions of background, issues, and perspectives. All commentaries will be refereed for their merit and compatibility with these criteria.


True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) are an integral part of any application that involves information security. In this paper, a new digital TRNG is proposed where a Digital Nonlinear Oscillator (DNO) is used with the chaotic sampling of regular waveform method. While the DNO circuit harvests enough entropy using considerably fewer resources compared to conventional digital TRNG structures, the chaotic sampling of regular waveform method removes the need for post-processing, increasing the quality of the generated random data. The designed circuit is implemented on a Zedboard Zynq development kit and tested using the NIST 800-22 test suite. Test results show that the proposed TRNG successfully generates random bits with only 6 LUTs, 14 flip-flops, and with no postprocessing.


A field experiment was conducted during 2019-20 to evaluate the efficacy of pre and post-emergence herbicides and their combination against complex weed flora in wheat. Twelve treatments consisted with ten herbicidal treatments, pre-emergence application of pendimethalin 750 g/ha, metribuzin 210 g/ha, post-emergence application of sulfosulfuron 25 g/ha, clodinafop 60 g/ha, pendimethalin + metribuzin (1000+175 g/ha), pendimethalin fb sulfosulfuron (1000 fb 18 g/ha), sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron-methyl (30+2 g/ha), pinoxaden + metsulfuron-methyl (60+4 g/ha), mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron-methyl (12+2.4 g/ha) and clodinafop + metsulfuron-methyl (60+4 g/ha) along with two hand weeding at 30 & 60 DAS and weedy check, were tested in randomized block design with three replications. Two hand weedings recorded significantly reduced weed density and weed dry matter at 65 DAS with WCE of 96.22% and was similar to use of pendimethalin fb sulfosulfuron. This herbicide combination resulted in maximum plant height (100.98cm), number of effective spikes/m2 (283.56), number of grains/spike (61.92), test weight (39.41g), grain yield (4.26 t/ha), net return (Rs. 38936/ha) and B:C ratio (2.01) compared to other herbicide applications.


In this paper, we would study the applicability of neural networks to the recognition process of Korean stenographic character image, applying the classification function, which is the greatest merit of those of neural networks applied to the various parts so far, to the stenographic character recognition, relatively simple classification work. Korean stenographic recognition algorithms, which recognize the characters by using some methods, have a quantitative problem that despite the simplicity of the structure, a lot of basic characters are impossible to classify into a type. They also have qualitative one that it is not easy to classify characters for the delicacy of the character forms. Even though this is the result of experiment under the limited environment of the basic characters, this shows the possibility that the stenographic characters can be recognized effectively by neural network system. In this system, we got 90.86% recognition rate as an average.


Invasion of, development within, and exit from hepatocytes by Plasmodium is essential for the parasite to establish the malaria-causing erythrocytic cycle. Identification of signaling pathways that operate during the pre-erythrocytic cycle provides insights into a critical stage of infection and potential targets for chemoprevention of disease. Calcium Dependent Protein Kinases (CDPK) represent a kinase family that is present in Plasmodium but absent in mammals. We demonstrate that P. berghei homologs of CDPK1, CDPK4 and CDPK5 play overlapping but distinct roles in sporozoite invasion and parasite egress from hepatocytes. All three kinases are expressed in sporozoites. All three are required for optimal motility of sporozoites and consequently their invasion of hepatocytes. Increased cGMP compensates for the functional loss of CDPK1 and CDPK5 during sporozoite invasion but cannot overcome CDPK4's loss. CDPK1 and CDPK5 expression is downregulated after sporozoite invasion. CDPK5 reappears in a subset of late stage liver stages and is present in all merosomes. Chemical inhibition of CDPK4 and depletion of CDPK5 in liver stages suggests that these kinases play a role in the formation and/or release of merosomes from mature liver stages. Furthermore, depletion of CDPK5 in merosomes significantly delays a merosome-initiated erythrocytic cycle without affecting the infectivity of hepatic merozoites. These data suggest that CDPK5 is required for the release of hepatic merozoites from merosomes. Our work provides the first evidence that sporozoite invasion requires CDPK1 and CDPK5 and that the release of hepatic merozoites is a regulated process. Significance The malaria-parasite Plasmodium begins its mammalian cycle by infecting hepatocytes in the liver. A single parasite differentiates into tens of thousands of hepatic merozoites which exit the host cell in vesicles called merosomes. Hepatic merozoites initiate the first round of erythrocytic infection that leads to disease symptoms. We show that optimal invasion of liver cells by Plasmodium requires the action of three closely-related parasite kinases, CDPK1, 4 and 5. Loss of any of the three enzymes in the parasite significantly reduces infection of liver cells. CDPK5 is also required for the release of hepatic merozoites from merosomes and therefore for initiating the erythrocytic cycle. A better understanding of how these kinases function could lead to drugs that prevent malaria.


Radial distribution systems (RDS) have lines with high R/X ratios and hence Newton based methods were not reliable to solve their set of bus power balance equations. Historically, a recursive solution method using a set of voltage equations and its variants are very popular to determine a voltage solution of a RDS. Consequently, use of classical optimization was not possible. Recent developments in the last decade have created a system of equations that can be reliably solved using first order Newton Raphson method to determine a voltage solution of a RDS. This opens up the possibility of using classical optimization method for optimizing these systems. This paper uses this new load flow method to determine optimal setting of controllers in a RDS such that its real power losses are minimized and voltage magnitudes are acceptable. This method is completely described along with its theory. It is tested on popular RDS examples found in literature.


SATA has been widely used as the dominant hard disk storage technology. We tried to optimize the performance of SATA disks by devising a new cache algorithm that is aware of disk access time. To validate and test it, we implemented a simple but practical hard disk simulator. Real trace-driven simulations show that the proposed cache algorithm achieves up to 35 percent of improvement compared to LRU.


Despite the considerable literature on circadian entrainment, there is little information on this subject in diurnal mammals. Contributing to this lack of understanding is the problem of separating photic from nonphotic (behavioral) phase-resetting events in diurnal species. In the present study, photic phase resetting was obtained in diurnal common marmosets held under constant dim light (DimDim; <0.5 lx) by using a 20-s pulse of bright light to minimize time available for behavioral arousal. This stimulus elicited phase advances at circadian time (CT) 18-22 and phase delays at CT9-12. Daily presentation of these 20-s pulses produced entrainment with a phase angle of approximately 11 h (0 h = activity onset). Nonphotic phase resetting was obtained under DimDim with the use of a 1-h-induced activity pulse, consisting of intermittent cage agitation and water sprinkling, delivered in total darkness to minimize photic effects. This stimulus caused phase delays at CT20-24, and entrainment to a scheduled daily regimen of these pulses occurred with a phase angle of approximately 0 h. These results indicate that photic and nonphotic phase-response curves (PRCs) of marmosets are similar to those of nocturnal rodents and that nonphotic PRCs are keyed to the phase of the suprachiasmatic nucleus pacemaker, not to the phase of the activity-rest cycle.


A formula has been derived for the calculation of formative time lags in dry air with high applied overvoltages on the basis of temporal and spatial growth of ionization currents. The formula is then extended to a discharge in E×B fields by considering the influence of a crossed magnetic field on each of the parameters involved in the current build up process, according to the effective reduced electric field (EREF) concept. For the first time Somerville's formula for the loss of electrons to the cathode in a magnetic field has been shown to be applicable in the calculation of formative time lags. At zero magnetic field and low magnetic field strengths, the calculated formative time lags in dry air agree very well with the measure values. Calculated formative time lags over a range of magnetic field strengths and over voltages are presented. In a strong magnetic field and high overvoltages, the time lag calculations show that the secondary ionization coefficient is entirely due to photoelectric action at the cathode.


We consider consistent particle systems, which include independent random walkers, the symmetric exclusion and inclusion processes, as well as the dual of the KMP model. Consistent systems are such that the distribution obtained by first evolving n particles and then removing a particle at random is the same as the one given by a random removal of a particle at the initial time followed by evolution of the remaining n− 1 particles. We show that, for reversible systems, the property of consistency is equivalent to self-duality, thus obtaining a novel probabilistic interpretation of the self-duality property. We also show that when a particle system is consistent, adding independent absorbing sites preserves this property. As a consequence, for a consistent system with absorption, the particle absorption probabilities satisfy universal recurrence relations. Since particle systems with absorption are often dual to boundary-driven non-equilibrium systems, the consistency property implies recurrence relations for expectations of duality polynomials in non-equilibrium steady states. We illustrate these relations with several examples.


This action research has three objectives, comprising 1) To diagnose the current acceptance level of users on the core banking system, 2) To implement Organization Development Intervention (ODI), and 3) To examine the impact of pre-ODI and post-ODI in perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward the use, and behavioral intention to use. The research site is MMM Microfinance Company Ltd, Myanmar, involving three groups of participants, which are loan officers, accounting, and IT departments, totaling 30 people. This experimental research employs structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews for data collection, comprising two phases: pre-ODI and post-ODI Data analysis and treatments include the Pair sample T-test and Pearson Correlation test and the contents analysis of the interview's passages translated from Myanmar to the English language for coding. The key findings show a significant difference between the pre-ODI and the post-ODI for perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward use, and behavioral intention to use. Recommendations comprise developing the core banking software usage in the focal organization, analyzing demographic factors and the acceptance of technology, and the relation of organizational structure and technology acceptance.


ABSTRACT This paper is a narrative history of European placenaming in the 'fifth part of the world' or 'Oceania', focusing on the ambiguous toponym 'Polynesia'. The 'Southern World' remained little known and undifferentiated in 1756 when Charles de Brosses partitioned it into the geographical regions 'Polynesia', 'Australasia' (both neologisms), and 'Magellanica'. The term Polynesia is traced through its chameleon usages in Euro-US cartographies and geographies and shifting relationships with Australasia/Australia and Oceania, to its 20th-century global standardization to label the Polynesian triangle. The paper draws on the rich, ever-burgeoning resources of online map collections, especially in the National Library of Australia and the David Rumsey Map Collection. It also outlines the author's forensic efforts to identify innovation, genealogy, and anachronism in the historical trajectories of the toponym Polynesia.


I highly recommAnd Quickening as an extremely useful and practical guide. It reaffirms that personal and social change are intertwined; that each of us counts; that our lives do make a difference; and that, through involvement and by developing our skills, we can make an even greater difference. --ReverAnd Jesse L. Jackson, president and founder, National Rainbow Coalition An antidote to cynicism . . . an essential 'how-to' manual for anyone interested in translating values into positive results. --Ben Cohen, Ben & Jerry's Exploding the popular myths about public life, power, and self-interest that stop individuals from discovering the rewards of public involvement, this thoughtful resource offers practical advice from ordinary Americans on how to get more involved. Details guidelines anyone can use to master the skills required to be effective in public life.


Zero-hour graft biopsies are done following post-revascularisation after the vessel anastomosis during the kidney transplantation. We report here two cases of kidney recipients in whom mesangial immunoglobulin A (IgA) deposition was observed in zero-hour graft biopsies. The first case was a 47-year-old woman who underwent hemodialysis treatment due to the end stage renal failure (ESRF) secondary to polycystic kidney disease. She had kidney transplantation from a cadaveric donor on May 21, 2014 at our hospital. The second case was a 50-year-old woman. She also had ESRF secondary to polycystic kidney disease. She had preemptive kidney transplantation from a living donor on January 14, 2015 at our hospital. Zero-hour graft biopsies were done during the kidney transplantation in both of the cases. Mesangial matrix expansion and mesangial IgA deposition were observed. The second biopsy was done sixth months later due to proteinuria in our first case. A mild degree of mesangial matrix expansion was observed but mesangial IgA deposition had disappeared. Zero-hour graft biopsies are very important in the follow-up period of patients after kidney transplantation. They also allow us to understand whether the pathological findings that are observed in subsequent graft biopsies are of new onset or transmitted from the donor.


cutting had previously suggested that the area of the substantia innominata might be crucial for the success of the operation. In order to obtain a localized lesion in this region he has gone on to implant radioactive yttrium-90 seeds with a stereotactic device under radiological control. The short range of emanation of these seeds made the technique seem appropriate ; electrical and ultrasonic methods may refine it further when the optimal site of the lesion has been established. How far the operation achieves its therapeutic aim is more difficult to assess. By the yardsticks of mortality and postoperative complications the 90 patients in Knight's series are reported to have done very well, though the impact of the surgical operation on personality and working capacity have still to be assessed in detail. On the central issue of the clinical benefits derived from this complex procedure Knight is refreshingly definite: " The majority of patients suffering from depressive illness can be improved by surgical means when psychiatric treatment fails." Confirmation of so large a claim would be welcome in view of the distressing and often intractable nature of chronic affective disorders, but the effects of modified leucotomy on the course of these conditions are still controversial. The suggestive but inconclusive nature of the evidence from other studies has been discussed by J. L. T. Birley, who has concluded that " further evaluation of the operation can best be done-perhaps can only be done-by controlled clinical trials."3 A study of this type would demand the collaboration of physicians and surgeons at several centres if results were to be obtained within a reasonable time. The recently published Medical Research Council's clinical trial of treatments of acute depressive illnesses has shown both the feasibility and the value of such studies in this field.4 If surgical skill is not to outstrip clinical judgment the case for a controlled, and preferably prospective, investigation is a strong one.


The CD39 and CD73 ectonucleotidases hydrolyze extracellular ATP and ADP into immunosuppressive adenosine that binds adenosine receptor and inhibits T cell and NK cell responses. It has been demonstrated that CD39+ Tregs are increased in some human cancers and participate to immunosuppression. The importance of CD39+ Tregs in promoting tumor growth and metastasis has been evidenced in several models in vivo (for a review, see Bastid J et al., Oncogene, 2012). Here, we addressed whether CD39 is expressed by tumor cells and whether CD39+ tumor cells mediate suppression through the CD39-adenosine pathway. Immunohistochemical staining of normal and tumor tissues revealed that CD39 is upregulated in several types of human cancer. In cancer specimens, CD39 is expressed by infiltrating lymphocytes, tumor stroma and tumor cells, whereas its expression in normal samples is absent or weak and mostly limited to vascular endothelia. The expression of CD39 at the cell surface of tumor cells was further directly demonstrated by flow cytometry in human cancer cell lines. We evidenced that CD39+ tumor cells express functional CD39 and inhibit CD4 and CD8 T cell function in a CD39-dependant manner. Treatment with CD39-blocking antibodies was able to alleviate CD39+ tumor cell-mediated inhibition of CD4 and CD8 T cells in co-culture experiments. In conclusion, interfering with the CD39-adenosine pathway could represent a novel immunotherapy strategy for inhibiting Treg and tumor cell-mediated immunosuppression. Furthermore, these results support the ongoing development of CD39-blocking monoclonal antibodies as potential anticancer drugs. Citation Format: Anne Regairaz, Caroline Laheurte, Nathalie Bonnefoy, Jean-Francois Eliaou, Gilles Alberici, Armand Bensussan, Jeremy Bastid. CD39+ cancer cells mediate immunosuppression reverted by CD39-blocking antibodies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology: Multidisciplinary Science Driving Basic and Clinical Advances; Dec 2-5, 2012; Miami, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B3.


A patent ductus arteriosus is a functioning vascular connection between the aorta and the pulmonary artery. Through this channel passes a volume of blood, its magnitude determined by the size of the ductus and the pressure differential between the two vessels. In uncomplicated cases the flow is from aorta to pulmonary artery and not vice versa; therefore, the patient is not cyanotic. It has been shown that as much as several liters of oxygenated blood per minute leak from the peripheral to the pulmonary circulation. 1 This implies that a volume of blood far larger than normal is flowing through the pulmonary arteries, pulmonary capillaries, and pulmonary veins and through the left auricle, the left ventricle, and the proximal portion of the aorta. The systemic flow may be reduced to below the normal level or may be maintained by a sufficient increase in the output of the left ventricle. DISADVANTAGES


We quantify foreshock occurrence probabilities by applying the empirical technique of Jones (1985) to the western Nevada and eastern California earthquake catalog compiled by the University of Nevada, Reno, from 1934 through 1991. The foreshock occurrence rates depend heavily on the parameters used to remove aftershocks from the catalog. It is necessary to separate the Mammoth/Mono region from the rest of the catalog to determine the parameters that most effectively remove the aftershocks from the catalog. The probability that an M ≧ 3.0 earthquake will be followed by an earthquake of larger magnitude within 5 days and 10 km is 10% in the Mammoth/Mono region and 6% in the Nevada region, and seems to be independent of the magnitude of the proposed foreshock. The probability that an earthquake will be followed by another one at least one magnitude unit larger is 1 to 2% in each region. These probabilities imply that the occurrence of an earthquake M ≧ 4.0 increases the possibility of a damaging earthquake of M ≧ 5.0 by several orders of magnitude above the low background probability. Most mainshocks occur within a few hours after a possible foreshock, and the probability that a mainshock will still occur decreases logarithmically with time after the proposed foreshock. These foreshock properties are similar to those in southern California and in other parts of the world, with the exception that the Mammoth/Mono region, a volcanic area, exhibits more swarm-like behavior than does the southern California or Nevada region.


Abstract Large tabular icebergs derived from the glaciers which drain the north fringe of Greenland's Inland Iceoccur in many North Greenland fjords. Many have undulating surface topography resembling that of the ice islands calved from Ellesmere Island ice shelves. Semi-permanent sea ice in North Greenland fjords often prevents the escape of bergs, except in exceptional summers several decades apart, when the fjord ice melts completely and some bergs may reach the Arctic Ocean. Other possible sources for ice islands are small ice shelves and local glaciers along the north coast of Greenland.


Background Research on sexual violence by non-partners based on representative samples is scarce. The objectives of the study were (i) to analyse the prevalence of different forms of non-partner sexual violence in Spain and their perpetrators, (ii) to analyse the consequences of nonpartner sexual violence on mental health and (iii) to estimate the percentage of rapes that are reported to the police. Methods Data from the 2015 Spanish Survey on Violence against Women, a nationally representative sample of 10 171 women, were used. Three mutually exclusive categories of non-partner sexual violence were created to measure the effects of violence on health. Logistic regression


Poore, G.C.B., and Dworschak, P.C. (2018). The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77: 15–28. The synonymy of Axius (Neaxius) gundlachi var. orientalis De Man, 1925, with Axius (Neaxius?) euryrhynchus De Man, 1905, now Neaxiopsis euryrhynchus (De Man, 1905), is confirmed. The synonymy of Axia acantha (A. Milne Edwards, 1879), Eiconaxius taliliensis Borradaile, 1900, and Axius acanthus mauritianus Bouvier, 1914, is confirmed; they are a single species, Neaxius acanthus. They and a second species from the Indo-West Pacific, Neaxius trondlei Ngoc-Ho, 2005, are not synonyms of Neaxius glyptocercus (von Martens, 1868), as was proposed in Sakai's (2011) family synthesis. Instead, a second species (from southern Queensland, Australia, Fiji and French Polynesia) close to Neaxius glyptocercus from north-eastern Australia is diagnosed as Neaxius capricornicus sp. nov.


An enteric coated oral pharmaceutical formulation comprising as active ingredient a compound selected from the group of omeprazole, an alkaline salt of omeprazole, the (-)-enantiomer of omeprazole and an alkaline salt of the (-)-enantiomer of omeprazole, wherein the formulation comprises a core material of the active ingredient and optionally an alkaline reacting compound, the active ingredient is in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient, such as for instance a binding agent, and on said core material a separating layer and an enteric coating layer. A hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) of low viscosity with a specific cloud point is used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical formulations. Furthermore, the application describes the processes for their preparation and the use of the claimed formulations in medicine.


Heart failure is a progressive clinical syndrome that impacts patients' quality of life. New research findings and recommendations have made it necessary for the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association to revise the guidelines for the treatment of chronic heart failure. This article is a review of the current heart failure guidelines. By implementing these guidelines, health care providers can deliver quality care and improve outcomes for those patients with chronic heart failure.


The presence of heterogeneous deformation is a one of key issue in a prediction model of deformation texture development. Recently, not only local strain mapping but also crystallographic orientation mapping is possible to obtain within aluminum alloy by using synchrotron radiation. In this study, local strain mapping and orientation mapping were obtained by microtomography and three-dimensional X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation in Al–4Pb alloy. Simulation of deformation texture evolution has been performed based on crystal plasticity model. The simulation started from actual microstructure and the obtained local strain was applied. The simulation pro-duced similar microstructure to the actual one. Therefore, heterogeneous strain distribution is very important for the development of deformation texture.


The objectives of the present study were to investigate the drug-drug interactions between ketotifen fumarate and metformin hydrochloride. The in vitro results were correlated with in vivo model to see whether the desired drug concentration could attain into the blood stream or not. Finally attempts have been taken to find out the effects of these complexes on the liver and kidney. Each of the drugs absorption was analyzed in the UV-VIS region. The spectra of pure drugs as well as their 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 mixtures of ketotifen and metformin, were studied at pHs 2.0, 2.8, and 7.4. When ketotifen was mixed with metformin, a sharp change was observed in the curve at pHs 2.8 & 7.4 which indicated drug-drug interactions, whereas the absence of such particular breakdown in the curve of ketotifen and metformin mixture at pH 2.0 revealed the absence of drug interactions. The stability constant values (k = 1x10) for the particular interaction was determined by graphical representation of Ardon's plot. The stability constants of ketotifen and metformin were 0.05, 0.01 and 0.77 at pH 2.0, 2.8, 7.4 respectively. On the other hand, DSC of the samples (ketotifen, metformin and ketotifen-metformin mixture) were performed and observed that ketotifen-metformin complex exhibited a sharp new peak at 123.04C (-2.61 mW/mg). The Rf values of ketotifen (0.49) and metformin (0.51) was found to be completely different from ketotifen-metformin mixture (0.39) which conclude the stability of the complex for both mixtures. The results of investigation of hepatotoxicity of combination drug therapy were compared with single drug sample ketotifen. But the groups which receive the combination drug samples ketotifen and metforin (67.5 + 1.44 IU/L) showed a significant increase in SGPOT, and showed a significant decrease of ATPN levels ketotifen and metformin mixture (6.13 + 0.73 IU/L). Now we can conclude that the patients who had been suffering from diabetes should take a precaution during coadministration of ketotifen fumarate and metformin hydrochloride.


3D data representation becomes more popular, but the enormous points make the model reconstruction and the object recognition difficult. A simplification algorithm for 3D point cloud data integrating both the feature parameter and uniform spherical sampling is presented. At first, we define a feature parameter which includes the average distance parameter and the normal included angle parameter between the point and its neighboring points and point curvature parameter. Then we calculate the density of 3D point cloud data and define it as the feature threshold. We distinguish the feature from the non-feature points by comparing the feature parameter and the threshold. Then we simplify the non-feature points by uniform spherical sampling. The non-feature sampling result and the feature points will be used as the final simplification result. The experimental results demonstrate that our new approach might retain the sharp information of the 3D point cloud data.


Salem is the fifth largest city with a population of 7.54 lakhs (2011) in Tamil Nadu. Fast growth in population and vehicles in these centre have caused congestion in roads for movement of passengers and goods affecting economic development. Local Authorities faced with great difficulties to identify required various road improvement projects. Local authorities have inadequate funds to improve these road networks from all angles at any point of time. Repair or improvement works may have to be under taken on a basis which has to be decided based on socio-economic, administrative, technical, political factors etc., An efficient transportation network is the need of the present urban scenario to tackle the discussed problems. The identified road network selected for the study comprises 162 road links in Salem Corporation. Existing traffic condition, surface condition of carriageway, street lighting, footpath condition and drainage condition in the Salem Corporation area has been studied in detail. Traffic volume count survey was conducted on the idendified 162 road links in Salem Corporation. Identify the type of transport facilities required for the road links. In programming process, priorities are set for project implementation. Even in cases where a formal process of priority setting does not exist, the allocation of organizational and financial resources for the development of some projects over others is an implicit setting of prioriti es. In programming process, priorities are set for project implementation. Even in cases where a formal process of priority setting does not exist, the allocation of organizational and financial resources for the development of some projects over others is an implicit setting of priorities. The important tec hnique devised in this study is working out priority indices based on measures of current conditions of the facilities. There are two approaches for fixing the priorities to select road links to improve existing conditions. In the first approach priorities are fixed mainly based on hierarchy of road net work and considering location of road links with weightages assigned to the road links In the second approach priorities are fixed mainly based on location of road links and considering hierarchy of road net work with weightages assigned to the road links.


The distribution coefficients of glucose, maltose, and maltotriose on cation-exchange resin in Na(+) form with a divinylbenzene content of 4% were determined in the temperature range of 5 to 60°C. The coefficients increased with decreasing temperature. The temperature dependence of the distribution coefficient was analyzed based on the swelling pressure of the resin.


This paper addresses minimizing the makespan of the distributed permutation flow shop scheduling problem. In this problem, there are several parallel identical factories or flowshops each with series of similar machines. Each job should be allocated to one of the factories and all of the operations of the jobs should be performed in the allocated factory. This problem has recently gained attention and due to NP-Hard nature of the problem, metaheuristic algorithms have been proposed to tackle it. Majority of the proposed algorithms require large computational time which is the main drawback. In this study, a general variable neighborhood search algorithm (GVNS) is proposed where several time-saving schemes have been incorporated into it. Also, the GVNS uses the sophisticated method to change the shaking procedure or perturbation depending on the progress of the incumbent solution to prevent stagnation of the search. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms based on standard benchmark instances. Keywords—Distributed permutation flow shop, scheduling, makespan, general variable neighborhood search algorithm.


Intrauterine adhesions develop as a result of intrauterine trauma. The degree of adhesion formation and the impact of the adhesions on the contour of uterine cavity vary greatly. It has been reported that intra abdominal adhesions occur in 60–90% of women who have undergone major gynecological procedures. Hysteroscopy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of severe intrauterine adhesions. Effective methods for preventing adhesions, a variety of surgical techniques and agents have been advocated for the prevention of intrauterine adhesion formation. The present review indicates that there is still no single modality proven to be unequivocally effective in preventing post-operative adhesion formation either for laparoscopic or for hysteroscopic use. Hopefully, the increasing understanding of the future emphasis will probably be on a multimodality therapy, including the use of pharmacologic adjutants in conjunction with a barrier material tailored to the specific operative procedure and a precise surgical technique.


A 74-year-old woman with left-sided heart failure was admitted to our department with abnormal shadow in the right lung. Chest X-P and CT scans showed a tumor shadow measuring 2.5 cm in the right lower lobe and mediastinal lymphnode swelling. Cytological examination of needle biopsy specimen revealed small cell carcinoma (cT1N2M0). Elevations of tumor marker, NSE and CEA were noticed at 11.8 and 12.7 ng/ml, respectively. Considering complications including renal insufficiency and heart failure in the case, 2 courses of oral etoposide (25 mg/body) for 21 consecutive days were performed. The tumor shadow decreased remarkably in size and complete response (CR) was obtained. Side effects were all tolerable. A pharmacokinetic study of etoposide revealed serum etoposide levels of more than 1.0 microgram/ml on day 15. These results suggest that oral etoposide administration is an effective regimen in small cell lung cancer patients associated with renal insufficiency.


The study was conducted to evaluate the quality of durum wheat grain. For this reason, genetic resources are crucial for the identification of parents and the enrichment of the gene pool that can be used in the development of new varieties for better nutrition of people. For this purpose, 131 populations of landraces, 9 promising line and 5 new varieties were used. The experiment was set up in randomized blocks with 7 replications, according to the augmented (increased) experimental design in 2015-2016 growing season. In the study, we examined total nitrogen content, protein ratio, CIE (Commission Internationale Eclairage) wheat color analysis (L* brightness, b* jaundice, a* redness) of 145 genotypes of durum wheat seeds. According to analysis of variance, highly significant differences (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) were determined for total nitrogen, protein content and CIE L* value, while differences were not significant for b* value and a* value. The superiority of the genotypes was determined by the first two principal components (IPC1 (principle component) and IPC2) in order to create a two-dimensional GT biplot. The sum squares of the first two components were accounted by 45.34% (PC1) and 40.03% (PC2) for genotypes. The GT (genotype x trait) biplot indicated that 9 (nine) sectors occurred among genotypes and quality parameters. On the other hand, three groups occurred among the quality parameters based on the genotypes. The scatter plot demonstrated that there is a high correlation between b* jaundice, and a* redness. The results showed that cultivars and more landraces have general adaptability for all quality parameters, while some genotypes (G79, G78), (G22, G102), (G3) and (G121, G5) showed specific adaptation for N (nitrogen), PC (protein content) and L*, a* and b* values, respectively. According to the biplot techniques, G36 came forward with the N, P and a* value and desirable landraces, G5 for b* value, G30 stable line for all quality parameters, while (G128, G61) and the majority of promising lines (L4, L6) did not come forward with any quality parameters. The results of the study indicated that the majority of landraces can be used as parents to improve the quality of durum wheat varieties. The study indicated that GT biplot can be used to evaluate the genotypes graphically to select the best genotypes for parents to use in breeding programs.


Enhanced mass transport during the high temperature processing of ceramics by microwave heating, generally known as the 'microwave effect', has been observed by many researchers and some hypotheses have been proposed to explain it. However it is still a controversial issue, centring on temperature measurement accuracy. The primary goal for the present work was to achieve definitive evidence of the microwave effect via the microwave hybrid processing of ceramics using accurate temperature measurement.

Three temperature measurement techniques, viz. thermocouple, pyrometer and optical fibre thermometer, have been investigated to determine their accuracy during the hybrid microwave heating of ceramic materials. The experimental results, obtained from melting point measurement on vanadium pentoxide and the heating of three other materials with different loss factors and thermal conductivities, showed that the optical fibre thermometer was the best choice. An accuracy of ±2oC was obtained,
provided the probe had been calibrated and was protected from stray radiation from conventional heating elements.

Direct evidence for the microwave effect was sought from experiments involving the sintering and annealing of ceramics at different microwave power levels but using an identical temperature I time profile in each case. Sample temperature was monitored using optical fibre thermometry and sample size, composition and precursor powder size were all varied. Specifically, four main ceramics with different loss factors were investigated, viz. zinc oxide (very lossy), yttria stabilised zirconia (intermediate loss) and alumina and silica (low loss).

The results from the experiments showed that an increase in final density was observed for the samples that saw the highest microwave power level compared to

I

those sintered using pure conventional heating, nearly 25% in the largest case for zinc oxide with the highest loss factor among the four investigated materials. This was equivalent to an effective temperature increase of approximately 1OOoC. For the low
loss alumina samples, the increase was extremely small, with the yttria stabilised zirconia intermediate between the two. In addition, during annealing of fully dense ZnO ceramic pellets, enhanced grain growth was observed during hybrid heating compared to pure conventional heating. Temperature gradients within the samples, a major potential cause of the effect, were assessed using two different approaches and found to be


Sexual harassment has received a substantial amount of empirical attention over the past few decades, and this research has consistently shown that experiencing these behaviors has a detrimental effect on employees' well-being, job attitudes, and behaviors at work. However, these findings, and the conclusions that are drawn from them, make the implicit assumption that the empirical models used to examine sexual harassment are properly specified. This article presents evidence that properly specified aggregate construct models are more consistent with theoretical structures and definitions of sexual harassment and can result in different conclusions about the nomological network of harassment. Results from 3 large samples, 2 military and 1 from a civilian population, are used to illustrate the differences between aggregate construct and reflective indicator models of sexual harassment. These analyses suggested that the factor structure and the nomological network of sexual harassment differ when modeling harassment as an aggregate construct. The implications of these results for the continued study of sexual harassment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).


Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a cytokine with antiinflammatory effects. In a rabbit model of meningitis, IL-10 was given intracisternally or intravenously to evaluate the impact on inflammation induced by lipooligosaccharide (LOS), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), or Listeria monocytogenes. Intracisternal IL-10 in concentrations >1 microg significantly reduced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and lactate values in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Intravenous IL-10 (1 mg/kg) in two doses after intracisternal LOS significantly reduced CSF TNF-alpha and lactate. When Hib was used, animals were treated with ceftriaxone and dexamethasone with or without IL-10 (1 mg/kg). TNF-alpha was significantly reduced in animals treated with IL-10, dexamethasone, or both compared with levels in rabbits receiving ceftriaxone alone. Comparable results were obtained when L. monocytogenes was inoculated and animals were treated with ampicillin with or without IL-10, dexamethasone, or nothing. In conclusion, IL-10 modulates CSF TNF-alpha concentrations in experimental LOS, Hib, or L. monocytogenes meningitis. The maximal inhibitory effect was seen when IL-10 and dexamethasone were combined.


This work analyses the mooring and power cable dynamics in large-scale experimental tests carried out in the wave-current-tsunami flume (COCOTSU) facility at IHCantabria. The analysis is based on scaled elastic string models for a single chain-nylon mooring line and the dynamic cable of a 15MW floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) supported by a concrete semi-submersible platform (ActiveFloat) in Gran Canaria Island (Spain). Both scaled concepts in the 100 m deep site are developed within the framework of the project COREWIND. All the test campaign is planned to be fully monitored; hence two overlapped video cameras register the line kinematics while the tensions are recorded in its two extreme points.
 The most difficult characteristic to fix in an elastic material at laboratory scale is the combined reproduction of axial and bending stiffness. On the one hand, to replicate the real axial stiffness in a chain-nylon mooring line, the first problem lies in finding a material capable of doing it with an acceptable hysteresis. The second issue consists in knowing the axial stiffness of the selected elastic material for each imposed oscillation, as it depends on the loading velocity. On the other hand, the limiting mechanical characteristic of the lazy-wave cable is the bending stiffness. To make the bending stiffness tests, we have previously built our own three-point bending flexural tester. 25 materials have been characterised to identify the best one for testing. From this analysis a database of materials has been derived.
 For each of the configurations analysed, a set of 40 forced oscillation tests are planned to reproduce either mooring fairlead or power cable connector movements in surge. An initial tension-deformation test is followed by 28 combinations of harmonic excitations with two origins, two amplitudes and seven periods, and 11 irregular time series obtained from the resulting surge displacements of the platform when simulating in OpenFAST extreme and severe Design Load Cases 1.3, 1.6 and 6.1. Experimental data obtained are stored in an online repository to make it freely available to the wind energy sector. The ambitious reduced scale tests proposed provide enough cases to deliver a benchmarking database for numerical models calibration including forces at anchor and fairlead, as well as line shape.


A new species of Melanoplinae (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is described from Central Mexico: Pedies andreae sp. nov. Fontana, Mariño-Pérez, Woller and is added to the 12 existing species. Taxonomic placement of this species is justified based on distinct morphology and comparisons with congeneric species are provided. Additionally, species in this genus are associated with higher elevations (1,700 to 3,700 masl) that possess larger fluctuations in temperatures. We observed that females of P. andreae sp. nov. exhibit blue coloration on their abdomens and we discuss the possible reasons for this peculiar pigmentation. Interestingly, we did not observe this coloration in males. Finally, images are provided for three live previously described species of Pedies.


A programme monitoring the prevalence of Salmonella infections in egg production farms with different types of flock management was conducted over a period of 18 months. Three laying hen farms with floor pens and five farms with batteries were examined from September 1992 to March 1994. A total of 569 samples (293 feed and 276 faeces) were processed in parallel by fivefold fractional enrichment in Rappaport/Vasiliadis medium and in potassium tetrathionate crystal violet broth. By using such elaborate methods, high detection rates of Salmonella were obtained. Two thirds of all isolates were found in the third to fifth selective enrichment procedure. Salmonella (S.) Tennessee was the most common serovar isolated (from 24.5% of the samples) whereas S. Enteritidis was the second most common isolate (23.7%). Salmonella were isolated from 33.1% of the feed samples (97/293), a result which may stimulate further discussion on the prevention of potential contamination of feed stuff with Salmonella and other pathogens. The number of Salmonella isolations from floor pens was significantly higher than from batteries. As time progressed an increase in the number of Salmonella isolations occurred in samples taken from the floor pens. The development of a less costly routine monitoring programme to detect Salmonella in samples taken from barns with layer flocks is recommended.


Coronaviruses (CoV) are enveloped viruses and rely on the oligomerization of their nucleocapsid N protein to incorporate the positive-stranded genomic RNA into virions. It has been shown that the N protein is also present at the replication-transcription complexes (RTCs), the site of CoV replication. To learn about the crucial relationship of N protein and RTCs, we employed mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), a commonly used CoV model virus and found that N protein associates with RTCs through binding to non-structural protein 3 (nsp3) in a genomic RNA (gRNA)-independent manner. In particular, we identified multiple domains in the N protein that are required for interaction with nsp3, which are located in NTD and N2a regions of N protein. N protein variants carrying point mutations in these domains fail to be recruited to RTCs and have a dominant-negative effect on MHV infection by impairing virus replication and progeny production. Moreover, the N-nsp3 interaction plays a stimulatory role in CoV viral RNA transcription. Our results reveal that N protein recruitment to the RTCs plays an essential role in MHV life cycle.