This article offers an institutional approach to accountability in representative democracies. Theorising accountability comprises both settled polities with well-entrenched institutions and unsettled polities with weak or contested institutions, and it is argued that agency theory and formal principal–agent models giving priority to compliance and control usually make assumptions that are unlikely to apply to the latter type of polity. An institutional approach challenges principal–agent assumptions regarding what accountability means and implies, what is involved in demanding, rendering, assessing and responding to accounts and assigning accountability, and how accountability institutions work and change. Accountability is related to fundamental issues in democratic politics and the paper treats distributions of information, normative standards of assessment, authority and power relations as endogenous to democratic politics. The paper also holds that institutions affect actors' identities and roles through socialisation, internalisation and habitualisation, as well as through external incentives. An aspiration is to take a modest step towards understanding areas of application for competing approaches to democratic accountability.


The concept of radical surgery has experienced from vascular anatomy guidance, lymph node dissection guidance to en-bloc resection guidance. At present, the mesentery guided surgery has developed to a new level of understanding. There are many classical theories on the understanding of the mesentery, from "the mesentery is a wrapped composite structure" to "the mesentery is an organ" and then to "the generalized mesentery theory", but they do not clearly put forward the boundary mark of the mesentery. On the basis of various membrane anatomy theories at home and abroad, we summarized and defined three boundaries of mesenteric excision in radical resection of colorectal cancer. The lateral boundary of the mesentery is the intestinal resection boundary and its mesentery oriented by supplyvessel, the bottom boundary is the mesentery bed, and the central boundary is the degree of lymph node radical resection. Through the detailed description of the mesentery excision, it is helpful to accurately define the mesenteric margin in different stages of radical resection of tumors.


The article is devoted to the definition of the effectiveness of libraries activities and aims to offer workable methods of its evaluation. The solution of this problem is relevant for the management of the library industry. Clarification of the concept of "efficiency of library activities", "social efficiency", "economic efficiency", "organizational efficiency", "technological efficiency". Various options for measuring and calculating efficiency at the level of the library are set out. In order to discuss the proposed lists of indicators that can be used to determine the various types of efficiency of library activities. Particular attention is paid to the evaluation of social and organizational effectiveness as least developed in management theory as applied to specific activities of libraries. The methodology for calculating the composite efficiency index is described in details. This indicator, according to the authors of the article, can be used to make responsible managerial decisions, which are based on a comparative analysis of the activities of libraries that differ in status, resource base, user contingent, and targets. The proposed toolkit combines the results of an analysis of the activities by the elements. The specificity of the proposed solution is that it should be used in the calculation of individual indicators and composite indices of the effectiveness of the priorities of the tasks that lie in each period before the cultural sector as a whole and the specific objects to be solved – the objects of analysis.


Combining various data, applying comparative method (in particular, comparison with Antioch) and taking into consideration the history of earthquakes in this region the author reconstructs earlier periods of the history of Apamea. The plan of the city did not change since the foundation in the late 4th c. BC and was orthogonal, being organized around the north-south oriented street surrounded with columns. A series of exploration shafts extra muros discovered remains of a colonnaded street dated to ca. 100 BC, which must have been the continuation of the colonnade inside the city, known only for the later period of the considerable urban renewal that followed the disastrous earthquake of 115 AD. Recent research near the North Gate has shown that three constructions discovered there beneath the level of the 2nd c. AD colonnade (the exedra in honour of C. Ummidius Durmius, governor of Syria in 51-60; the water tower with a fragmented inscription telling of the construction of aqueduct by Emperor Claudius in 46/47; the monumental Nymphaeum) belong to the same period of construction which followed the earthquake of 47, when the city began to be called Claudia Apamea.


An analysis of an infinite array of aperture-coupled microstrip patch antennas is described; this type of element is well suited to integrated phased-array applications, offering several advantages over other array configurations. The solution uses the spectral-domain moment-method approach, and combines features of a previous solution of infinite arrays of probe-fed patches and a reciprocity analysis of single-aperture-coupled microstrip element. The theoretical analysis is described and data are presented for the active input impedance of several arrays. Experimental data from a waveguide simulator confirm the theory. >


Shanks' transformation is a well know sequence transformation for accelerating the convergence of scalar sequences. It has been extended to the case of sequences of vectors and sequences of square matrices satisfying a linear difference equation with scalar coefficients. In this paper, a more general extension to the matrix case where the matrices can be rectangular and satisfy a difference equation with matrix coefficients is proposed and studied. In the particular case of square matrices, the new transformation can be recursively implemented by the matrix $\varepsilon$-algorithm of Wynn. Then, the transformation is related to matrix Pad\'{e}-type and Pad\'{e} approximants. Numerical experiments showing the interest of this transformation end the paper.


Erythrocyte protein 4.1R is a multifunctional protein that binds to various membrane proteins and to phosphatidylserine. In the present study, we report two important observations concerning 4.1R-phosphatidylserine interaction. Biochemically, a major finding of the present study is that 4.1R binding to phosphatidylserine appears to be a two-step process in which 4.1R first interacts with serine head group of phosphatidylserine through the positively charged amino acids YKRS and subsequently forms a tight hydrophobic interaction with fatty acid moieties. 4.1R failed to dissociate from phosphatidylserine liposomes under high ionic strength but could be released specifically by phospholipase A2 but not by phospholipase C or D. Biochemical analyses showed that acyl chains were associated with 4.1R released by phospholipase A2. Importantly, the association of acyl chains with 4.1R impaired its ability to interact with calmodulin, band 3, and glycophorin C. Removal of acyl chains restored 4.1R binding. These data indicate that acyl chains of phosphatidylserine play an important role in its interaction with 4.1R and on 4.1R function. In terms of biological significance, we have obtained evidence that 4.1R-phosphatidylserine interaction may play an important role in cellular sorting of 4.1R.


Proposed is a novel affine projection sign algorithm with L0-norm cost to improve the convergence rate in a sparse system. The proposed algorithm is robust to impulsive noise due to L1-norm minimisation. It also ensures improved performance in terms of convergence rate owing to the L0-norm cost. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm improves the filter performance of sparse system identification.


AI provides a new method for massive simulated data calculations in molecular dynamics, materials, and other scientific computing fields. However, the complex structures and large-scale parameters of neural network models make them difficult to develop and train. The automatic parallel technology based on graph algorithms is one of the most promising methods to solve this problem, despite the low efficiency in the design, implementation, and execution of distributed parallel policies for large-scale neural network models. In this paper, we propose an adaptive distributed parallel training method based on the dynamic generation of critical DAG (directed acyclic graph) paths, called FD-DPS, to solve this efficiency problem. Firstly, the proposed model splits operators with the dimension of the tensor, which can expand the space available for model parallelism. Secondly, a dynamic critical path generation method is employed to determine node priority changes in the DAG of the neural network models. Finally, the model implements the optimal scheduling of critical paths based on the priority of the nodes, thereby improving the performance of parallel strategies. Our experiments show that FD-DPS can achieve 12.76% and 11.78% faster training on PnasNet_mobile and ResNet_200 models, respectively, compared with the MP-DPS and Fast methods.


Since its initial discovery as an allosteric factor regulating cellulose biosynthesis in Gluconacetobacter xylinus, the list of functional outputs regulated by c-di-GMP has grown. We have focused this article on one of these c-di-GMP-regulated processes, namely, biofilm formation in the organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The majority of diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases encoded in the P. aeruginosa genome still remain uncharacterized; thus, there is still a great deal to be learned about the link between c-di-GMP and biofilm formation in this microbe. In particular, while a number of c-di-GMP metabolizing enzymes have been identified that participate in reversible and irreversible attachment and biofilm maturation, there is a still a significant knowledge gap regarding the c-di-GMP output systems in this organism. Even for the well-characterized Pel system, where c-di-GMP-mediated transcriptional regulation is now well documented, how binding of c-di-GMP by PelD stimulates Pel production is not understood in any detail. Similarly, c-di-GMP-mediated control of swimming, swarming and twitching also remains to be elucidated. Thus, despite terrific advances in our understanding of P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and the role of c-di-GMP in this process since the last version of this book (indeed there was no chapter on c-di-GMP!) there is still much to learn.


Background: Reconstruction of Scalp defects is a challenging problem. The unique hair bearing characteristics of scalp impose unique reconstructive challenges for coverage of scalp defects. Size, location and depth of the defect determine the complexity of the procedure. Patients with large scalp defects require reconstruction with broad based large scalp flaps. Objective: To determine the outcome of use of bipedicle scalp flap for coverage of large scalp defects. Study Design: Prospective & Observational study. Settings: Department of Plastic Surgery, Lahore General Hospital and Jinnah Burn & Reconstructive Surgery Centre Lahore-Pakistan. Duration: March 2010 to February 2019. Methodology: Eighteen patients of both genders with scalp defects secondary to trauma, tumor excision and burn injury were operated. Defect size more than 25cm2 were included in the study. Those patients in which residual scalp tissue was traumatized or inadequate for scalp reconstruction were excluded from the study. The variables and outcome measures included size, location of defect, flap survival and donor site complications. Bipedicle flaps designed in different axis depending on location and size of the defect. Results: Out of 18 patients included in this study, 12(66.67%) were male and 6 (33.3%) female. Age ranged from 32 to 78years (mean 48.66). Size of the defect ranged from 5.2x10.4cm to 18x14cm. Postoperatively 14(77%) flaps survived completely while marginal flap necrosis and dehiscence seen in 2(11%) patients. Hospital stay on average was 11 days. Recovery was quick in all patients and wound healing was satisfactory. The mean follow up period was 8 months. Minor complications like hematoma seen in 1(5%) patient. In 3 (16%) patients there was partial graft loss at flap donor site that healed with conservative management. Conclusion: Bipedicle flap provides healthy, durable and hair bearing tissue with good cosmetic outcome. Large defects can be reconstructed with a simple technique.


In this paper, I present high-level speaker specific feature extraction considering intonation, linguistics rhythm, linguistics stress, prosodic features directly from speech signals. I assume that the rhythm is related to language units such as syllables and appears as changes in measurable parameters such as fundamental frequency (  ), duration, and energy. In this work, the syllable type features are selected as the basic unit for expressing the prosodic features. The approximate segmentation of continuous speech to syllable units is achieved by automatically locating the vowel starting point. The knowledge of high-level speaker's specific speakers is used as a reference for extracting the prosodic features of the speech signal. High-level speaker-specific features extracted using this method may be useful in applications such as speaker recognition where explicit phoneme/syllable boundaries are not readily available. The efficiency of the particular characteristics of the specific features used for automatic speaker recognition was evaluated on TIMIT and HTIMIT corpora initially sampled in the TIMIT at 16 kHz to 8 kHz. In summary, the experiment, the basic discriminating system, and the HMM system are formed on TIMIT corpus with a set of 48 phonemes. Proposed ASR system shows 1.99%, 2.10%,  2.16%  and  2.19 % of efficiency improvements compared to traditional ASR system for and of 16KHz TIMIT utterances.


ABSTRACT The paper describes two unusual lithologies that occur in a sequence of Mg-rich lacustrine sediments in northern Greece. The first is a laminated mudstone in which layers composed of magnesian smectite alternate with layers composed of an amorphous clay of similar chemical composition. The second lithology is a thin bed of mudstone in which the only crystalline constituent is hydrotalcite (a magnesium aluminum hydroxide), accompanied by amorphous high-magnesium clay. Hydrotalcite has not previously been recorded from sedimentary rocks except as a product of industrial pollution. The high-magnesium clay is considered to have formed by precipitation from Mg-rich lake water onto volcanic ash particles, whilst the hydrotalcite has filled the molds left by dissolution of volcanic glass within the clay-coated particles.


This paper gives first of all the definition of the work function of an electronic as well as an ionic conductor. FET-type gas sensors known from the literature are considered in view of this basic theory and the parameter of the work function which is responsible for the sensing properties is noticed. This appears not always to be possible for the various types of gas sensors, in this case the gas FET, the SGFET and the IGFET. In contrast to this ambiguity, the sensing parameters of the recently developed MOSFET, meant for application in an electrolyte, can clearly be identified. As an example an oxygen sensor based on the developed MOSFET is described.


This paper focuses on market potential by taking it as an indicator of market accessibility from a viewpoint of location-market connection, based on the analysis of district-level data in China. The results indicate that market potential index (MPI) degrades from the coastal areas to the inland areas. Furthermore, disparity of market potential between the coastal areas and the inland areas is still expanding unceasingly. Manufacturing industries concentrate in the regions with high market potential. A significant spatial correlation between market potential index and regional economic performance is observed at regional level. Such a spatial correlation has verified that market accessibility is one of the determinants of location choice for manufacturing industries. It also has revealed that there is a circulatory causality between market potential and regional development. The circulatory causality may spur the coastal areas to keep predominance in future and then lead to a continuous expansion of regional disparity. As the inter-regional economic exchange is significant to location-market connection, location analysis should take into account the inter-regional economic exchange. Western China is restricted to develop external linkage with the coastal areas due to long distance to the latter and expensive transport cost. Therefore, the western areas should make a point of expanding internal market to improve market accessibility.


Aim: The research aimed to test the association between the level of immunoglobulin G (IgG) in bovine colostrum and calf blood serum and to evaluate its relation to Cryptosporidium spp. invasion in calves. Materials and Methods: Fresh colostrum and fecal specimens from cows (n=114) as well as blood and fecal specimens from newborn calves (n=114) were collected in the dairy cattle farm. Investigated calves were separated from their mothers directly after birth and received 2 L of colostrum in two separate feedings within the first 24 h. Blood samples were taken from calves at the age of 2 days. Coprological samples were taken from calves at the age of 1, 10, and 15 days. Both colostrum and fecal samples from cows were taken on the 1st day after calf birth. Rectal fecal samples were collected separately from each calf and cow into plastic bags. The collected calf serum samples and bovine colostrum samples were tested for bovine IgG by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit bovine Ig. To record oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. in feces, the flotation method was used. Binomial logistic regression was performed to ascertain the effects of IgG in bovine colostrum and calf blood serum on the likelihood of Cryptosporidium spp. infection in calves. Results: The concentration of IgG in bovine colostrum was higher (70.7±26.6 g/L, mean±standard deviation) than that in calf blood serum (13.2±6.1 g/L); the statistically significant difference was 57.4 g/L (95% confidence interval, 52.4-62.4), t (124.872)=22.536, p<0.001. Mann–Whitney's U-test showed a significant difference between samples collected on days 10 and 15 of the experiment (U=1944, z=2.330, p=0.020). The higher number of oocysts in calf feces was recorded on day 15 (median=6.5) compared to day 10 (median=4). The prevalence of calf infection from days 10 to 15 increased from 26.3 to 45.6% and was at least 3 times higher than in cows. A statistically significant positive correlation was recorded between IgG concentration of cow colostrum and calf blood serum (r (114)=0.414, p=0.001), whereas a correlation between the concentration of IgG and the intensity of Cryptosporidium spp. infection was not recorded (p>0.05). The logistic regression model was not statistically significant (χ2(2)=0.013, p=0.99 (10 days) and χ2(2)=0.100, p=0.95 (15 days)). Conclusion: Mother passive transfer of immunity to the offspring through colostrum does not influence the susceptibility of calves to Cryptosporidium infestation.


The initiation step of DNA replication is the crucial determinant of proliferation in all organisms. This step depends on the specific interaction of DNA sequences present at origins of DNA replication and their cognate activators. We wished to explore the hypothesis that the presence of ectopic origin copies may interfere with proper genome duplication. Bacteriophage λ was used as a model system. To this end, the outcome of an infection of an E. coli strain harboring ectopic copies of the λ origin region was analyzed. By measuring the effect on the host growth, viral production, and electro-microscopic visualization of the resulting λ replicative intermediates, we concluded that the ectopic copies had prevented the normal initiation step of λ DNA replication. These results suggest that DNA decoys encoding viral origins could constitute effective tools to specifically arrest viral proliferation.


This study assessed the personality factors associated with self-reported delinquency. Respondents were 282 14-year-olds who were traced for follow-up 2 years later. The follow-up success rate was more than 80%. In line with previous work which has adopted a trait personality perspective to understanding antisocial and delinquent behaviours, it was predicted that psychoticism, extroversion, and low self-esteem as measured at Time 1 would be significant predictors of self-reported delinquency at Time 2. However, the results of structural equation modelling suggested that the three personality variables explained just over 16% of the variance of delinquency at Time 1, but only 6.61% of the variance of delinquency at Time 2. Alone, psychoticism explained 15.3% of the variance of delinquency at Time 1, but only 4.36% of the variance of delinquency at Time 2. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed and some suggestions for future research are made.


Bali Stait is a fishery potential strait which located between Java and Bali Island. Bali Strait has much nutriens, which the nutrients are source of food for fish, because the influence of Java Sea and Indian Ocean. Remote sensing technology is used to make maps of fishery potential areas to optimalize the fishery potential of Bali Strait. On this research, fishery potential area is identified by some parameters. The parameters are 0.2 mg/L – 1 mg/L  concentration of chlorophyll-a, 20oC - 30oC sea surface temperature and having ≥ 0.5oC front thermal. The parameters are obtained from data processing of MODIS satellite imagery. OC3M algoritm is used to process concentration of chlorophyll-a meanwhile sea surface temperature (SPL) is precessed by Minnet algoritm (2001).  The overlay results of both parameters are used to identify front thermal based on 4km x 4km sized fishing net (fishnet). The results of the research indicate that  the greatest number of fishery potential areas are happened on April 2012 which the numbers are about 45 fishery potential areas. Significant decreasing of fishery potential areas is happened on October 2012 with only one remaining area of fishery potential. On May 2013 fishery potential areas increase to 22 areas. The results show that Bali strait has more fishery potential areas on  April and May than October. Keywords: Chlorophyll-a, MODIS, Fishery Potential Area, Sea Surface Temperature


The induction of invertase from beetroot plants and wheat shoots was studied using the "ageing tissues" technique. It was found that ammonium sulfate at concentration 0.001 M enhances invertase induction. This effect of ammonium sulfate was not revealed when the preparations were pretreated by actidione, puromycin and chloramphenicol. A possibility of activation of invertase induction by ammonium sulfate is discussed.


Abstract Concerns about the burden that surveys place on respondents have a long history in the survey field. This article reviews existing conceptualizations and measurements of response burden in the survey literature. Instead of conceptualizing response burden as a one-time overall outcome, we expand the conceptual framework of response burden by positing response burden as reflecting a continuous evaluation of the requirements imposed on respondents throughout the survey process. We specifically distinguish response burden at three time points: initial burden at the time of the survey request, cumulative burden that respondents experience after starting the interview, and continuous burden for those asked to participate in a later round of interviews in a longitudinal setting. At each time point, survey and question features affect response burden. In addition, respondent characteristics can affect response burden directly, or they can moderate or mediate the relationship between survey and question characteristics and the end perception of burden. Our conceptual framework reflects the dynamic and complex interactive nature of response burden at different time points over the course of a survey. We show how this framework can be used to explain conflicting empirical findings and guide methodological research.


Vibrations of sulphur dioxide show two separate relaxation times. Values of r1 = 6.0 × 10-8 s for the vibrations of 519 cm-1 and r2 = 1.2 × 10-6 s for the vibrations of 1151 and 1361 cm-1 have been derived from new ultrasonic measurements, in fair agreement with earlier work. Molecules studied as possible vibration-translation catalysts included ethane, ethylene, water, and n-hexane. No enhanced efficiency of energy transfer was observed with ethylene. Ethane and water molecules were found to be only moderately efficient catalysts; proportionally, they exert a greater effect for processes associated with r1. Deuterium oxide is found to be somewhat more efficient than water. n-Hexane is highly efficient for both the r1 and r2 relaxation processes of sulphur dioxide. These observations are discussed in relation to various mechanisms for the catalysis of energy transfer.


The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the current state of child neurology education during pediatric residency provides adequate preparation for pediatric practice. A survey was sent to recent graduates from 3 pediatric residency programs to assess graduate experience, perceived level of competence, and desire for further education in child neurology. Responses from generalists versus subspecialists were compared. The response rate was 32%, half in general pediatric practice. Only 22% feel very confident in approaching patients with neurologic problems. This may represent the best-case scenario as graduates from these programs had required neurology experiences, whereas review of Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education–accredited residency curricula revealed that the majority of residencies do not. Pediatric neurologic problems are common, and pediatric residency graduates do encounter such problems in practice. The majority of pediatricians report some degree of confidence; however, some clear areas for improvement are apparent.


Transient rf phase shift due to beam loading in KEK linac was measured. The maximum phase shift of 4.2" was observed by a 130 m.4 beam of 4 uisec in length. The effects of the beam induced higher order modes on the phase shift were studied. The intensity of the induced TM011 mode was estimated by the amplitude of the wiggles in the phase shift. The results observed are consistent with the results of calculation based on the normal mode analysis.


We present a pedagogical discussions of the dynamical mean field (DMFA) and dynamical cluster (DCA) approximations and associated Monte Carlo and entropy‐based methods of Bayesian data analysis. The DMFA and DCA methods are developed as coarse‐graining approximations and the relationship between the cluster and lattice problems are detailed. The Hirsch‐Fye and continuous time Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algorithms are used to solve the cluster problem. The algorithms are discussed, together with methods for efficient measurements and the modifications required by the self‐consistency of the DMFA/DCA. Then, several principles of Bayesian data analysis are presented. When coupled with information theory, this analysis produces a precise and systematic way to analytically continue Matsubara‐time QMC results to real frequencies. We show how to use Bayesian inference to qualify the solution of the continuation and optimize the inputs. Besides developing the Bayesian formalism, we also present a detailed descript...


Many genes originally identified because of their role in embryonic development are also important in postnatal control of cell growth and differentiation. Mutations in some of these genes have been shown to cause cancer. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the skin is the most common cancer in humans. More than 750000 new cases are diagnosed annually, and the incidence is rising. BCCs are slow-growing, locally invasive tumors that rarely metastasize but can result in extensive morbidity through local recurrence and tissue destruction. Epidemiologic studies suggest that sunlight (particularly UVB radiation) is a strong risk factor for BCC formation, although other factors are also involved. The nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS), a rare genetic disorder, is characterized by predisposition to BCCs and other tumors as well as to a wide range of developmental defects. NBCCS maps to chromosome 9q22.3, and loss of heterozygosity at this site in both sporadic and hereditary BCCs suggests that it functions as a tumor suppressor. The gene for NBCCS was recently cloned and is the human homologue of the Drosophila gene "patched." Genetic studies in Drosophila show that patched is part of the hedgehog signaling pathway, which is important in determining embryonic patterning and cell fate in multiple structures of the developing embryo. Human patched is mutated in both hereditary and sporadic BCCs, and inactivation of this gene is probably a necessary, if not sufficient, step for BCC formation. Delineation of the biochemical pathway in which patched functions may lead to rational medical therapy for BCCs and possibly for other tumors associated with NBCCS.


Background: Patients with plasma cell dyscrasias are at an increased risk for infections due to their dysfunctional immune system. Each year these vulnerable patients are advised to receive the flu shot, but this vaccine has been shown to induce a serologic response that is not sufficiently protective in these patients. More effective methods for vaccinating patients with plasma cell dyscrasias are necessary. Methods: The Study of High-Dose Influenza Vaccine Efficacy by Repeated dosing IN Gammopathy patients (SHIVERING 1) Pilot Trial was implemented at the Yale Cancer Center during the 2014-2015 flu season. Patients with plasma cell dyscrasias (n=51) received the high-dose inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine followed by a booster dose of that same vaccine 30 days later. The SHIVERING 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, interventional trial was implemented at the Yale Cancer Center during the 2015-2016 flu season. The experimental arm (n=81) received the two dose regimen and the control arm (n=41) received the standard of care. In both trials, patients were followed throughout the flu season for evidence of flu infections, and sera was collected for hemagglutinin titer analysis and correlation with clinical characteristics and patient demographics. Results: SHIVERING 1 demonstrated that the double high-dose regimen was safe and resulted in significantly higher rates of seroprotection than have been previously reported. There were no grade 3 2 adverse events. The seroprotection rate increased from 4% at baseline, to 47% after the first vaccine, and to 65% after the second vaccine. SHIVERING 2 demonstrated significantly higher rates of seroprotection at day 60 and a lower rate of laboratory confirmed flu infections in the experimental arm versus the control arm. Analysis of the durability of serologic protection demonstrated a significant difference in HAI titer growth and direction between the two arms, with the standard of care arm experiencing a decline in HAI titer levels during the day 30 to day 60 interval following vaccine administration. Additionally, patients with early disease in the experimental arm were significantly more likely to remain seroprotected at study end than patients with advanced disease in the control arm. Finally, patients that are female and those that had undergone an autotransplant in the past were significantly more likely to remain seroprotected at study end. Conclusion: These trials suggest that a boosted high-dose influenza vaccine regimen is safe and results in lower rates of infection and higher rates of seroprotection in patients with plasma cell disorders. Patients with early stage disease are able to mount a more durable serologic response than patients with advanced disease. Larger studies will be needed to confirm these preliminary findings.


It is commonly believed that the Nordic countries, in general, and the Scandinavian countries, in particular, are so much alike that they constitute a common media system – often termed democratic-corporatist. But a review of recent studies on power and democracy in Sweden, Norway and Denmark shows that there is most probably no such thing as one uniform Nordic media model. It may be argued, however, that political and commercial preconditions make the Scandinavian media markets extremely suitable for comparative research. In order to do such research, without risking reproduction of prejudices and unwarranted generalizations, media researchers must pay close attention not only to media convergence, but also to divergence in terms of the political economy that constitutes the national framework surrounding media corporations and media regulators.


The author studies the performance of a high capacity metropolitan microcellular radio network using computer simulation. Packet reservation multiple access carriers are dynamically assigned or released depending on current teletraffic loading conditions. Significant performance improvements are obtained using a 2-stage costing strategy which attempts to balance call blocking probabilities against packet dropping rate, thereby leading to more efficient utilisation of channel resources. The author achieves 40 to 50% improvements over a fixed allocation scheme in terms of the blocking probability performance, by soft assigning carriers to the microcells and performing a 2-stage dynamic carrier allocation procedure based on a simple costing algorithm which attempts to pack co-carrier cells as closely as possible. >


For all new pharmaceuticals, an environmental risk assessment (ERA) has to be performed according to guidelines developed by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency. An important factor of this procedure is the assessment of the predicted environmental concentration in the aquatic environment, which is significantly influenced by the biodegradability of pharmaceuticals in sewage treatment plants. Established standardized methods for determining biodegradation under laboratory conditions apply to substance concentrations, which are much higherthan those expected in reality. Against this background, the laboratory scale sewage treatment plant (LSSTP), as described by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guideline No. 303A, was modified to construct a lossless system, which allows laboratory testing at realistic concentrations. To verify the experimental setup, the antibiotics benzylpenicillin, ceftriaxone, and trimethoprim were tested at low concentrations (microg/L) using 14C-labeled compounds. The results show that approximately 25% of benzylpenicillin was mineralized, whereas ceftriaxone and trimethoprim were not mineralized at all. Due to the high total recoveries of added radioactivity (> or =95%) and the fact that the findings comply with available literature data, the lossless operation of the test system could be proved. Consequently, the modified LSSTP is a suitable tool to determine more realistic biodegradation data required for the exposure assessment within the scope of an ERA for pharmaceuticals.


Quality protein maize (QPM) with the opaque-2 gene has double the amount of the essential amino acids (tryptophan and lysine) as compared to normal endosperm maize but the gene is associated with undesirable agronomic traits. The aim of this study was to generate genetic information for use in developing breeding strategies for QPM in Southern Africa. Specific objectives were: i) to study the combining ability and type of gene action controlling yield in crosses among QPM inbred lines from Mexico and Southern Africa ii) to determine the relationship between combining ability for grain yield of QPM hybrids and molecular genetic distances between the parent inbred lines. Seven QPM inbred lines were crossed in a diallel mating design. The genetic distances between the maize inbred lines was quantified by using 62 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The lines and the derived F1 hybrids were also evaluated for tryptophan and protein content. The F1 hybrids were evaluated in replicated trials at five locations. The quality of QPM inbred lines was variable with hybrids made up of high quality lines exhibiting high quality values. There was significant variation among the hybrids for yield and QPM traits. While both the general combining ability (GCA) and the specific combining ability (SCA) were significant, the GCA effects were found to be more important than SCA for yield in this study. QPM inbred line SC1 from Southern Africa had the highest GCA value and consistently appeared as one of the parents of the best yielding F1 hybrids. Preponderance of GCA effects indicated that additive gene effects were found to be more important in conferring high yield. Cluster analysis of the lines based on the SSR markers revealed five groups that were in conformity with pedigree information. The correlation between genetic similarity (GS) and SCA was not significant, low and negative (-0.035) suggesting low predictive value. As a result, use of SSR as a predictive tool for heterotic grouping in breeding maize hybrids should be confirmed by phenotypic data from the field evaluations.


As the new ccNUMA architecture became popular in recent years, parallel programming with compiler directives on these machines has evolved to accommodate new needs. In this study, we examine the effectiveness of OpenMP directives for parallelizing the NAS Parallel Benchmarks. Implementation details wil l be discussed and performance wil l be compared with the MPI implementation. We have demonstrated that OpenMP can achieve very good results for parallelization on a shared memory system, but effective use of memory and cache is very important.


In the Central Nervous System, stem cells are present in the normal brain and primary brain tumor, glioblasotoma multiforme (GBM). Both normal and oncogenic stem cells play central roles in organogenesis and tumorigenesis, respectively. Previously we identified that the mitotic kinase MELK binds and phosphorylates the oncogenic transcription factor FOXM1 to regulate the growth of both brain-derived and GBM-derived stem cells (GSCs). Here we demonstrate that the Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2), the lysine methyltransferase of Polycomb repressive complex 2, is the major transcriptional target of the MELK-FOXM1 complex in GSCs. PCR-based analysis of FOXM1 immunoprecipitated chromatin determined the binding of FOXM1 to the EZH2 promoter region to drive its transcriptional activity. This signaling is mediated through the protein complex formation of FOXM1 and MELK in a MELK kinase-dependent manner. The MELK-FOXM1 driven EZH2 signals are required to retain the immature stem cell trait and mesenchymal identity in GBM, as well as GSCs9 radiation resistant phenotype in a MELK kinase-dependent manner. Clinically, GBM tumors co-express MELK and EZH2 with significant elevation in post-irradiation recurrent tumors. This post-irradiation elevation of MELK and EZH2 was observed specifically in GSCs. Irradiation induces transformation of proneural (PN) GSCs into a Mesenchymal (Mes)-like GSC phenotype (PMT) that is highly resistant to radiation treatment, and inhibition of EZH2 by shRNA reverses the radiation-resistant phenotype of Mes GSCs. Elimination of MELK or FOXM1 by shRNA reduced EZH2 expression resulting in attenuated stemness and radiation resistance in vitro and in vivo. These phenotypes were completely restored by exogenous expression of EZH2. To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of the role of MELK-FOXM1-EZH2 signaling axis for maintenance of stem cell trait and PMT regulation in GSCs. Identification of the role of transcriptional regulator EZH2 in PMT by the mitotic kinase MELK and transcription factor FOXM1 complex sheds lights on a novel therapeutic target for aggressive cancers including GBM. Citation Format: Kaushal Joshi, Sunghak Kim, Jeongwu Lee, Ronald Waclaw, Lisa Salcini, Ichiro Nakano. The MELK/FOXM1 axis is a master regulator of proneural to mesenchymal transition (PMT) in glioma stem cells by controlling EZH2 transcriptional activity. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3039. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3039


Among several lifting style biorthogonal wavelets, Daubechies and Sweldens wavelets provide the maximum number of vanishing moments for the shortest filter length. In this research we propose a method to increase the number of vanishing moments at the expense of incorporating an autoregressive reconstruction operator. Each additional vanishing moment increases tha analysis filter sizes by one. Ten test images are used to test the developed decomposition structures according to subsample energies. It is observed that decompositions with increased vanishing moments significantly reduces detail subspace energies.


This paper investigates the strength of the quadriceps extensor femoris following partial meniscectomy by means of arthrotomy. Measurements were carried out on 30 patients using a velocity-controlled dynamometer. Follow-up ranged from three to twelve years. On clinical examination 17 patients revealed atrophy of the quadriceps, amounting to 1 cm in 12 patients and up to 2 cm in 5 patients. The average difference in muscular strength between the operated leg and the non-operated one totalled 11% in the cases of 1 cm atrophy and 19% in the 2 cm cases. Those patients who presented with no atrophy on the operated leg had an average loss of 4% in muscular strength, which is within the normal range. In addition, an interrelationship was established between measurements carried out at different angular velocities and the extent of quadriceps atrophy. The high percentage of patients showing a weakness of the quadriceps extensor femoris after a long follow-up period is most likely due to the severing of proprioceptors during surgery and to inadequate or lacking postoperative physiotherapy.


The article considers the features of changing operating characteristics of internal combustion engines with spark ignition on transition of the engine to gasoline-ethanol fuel and ways to improve energy and environmental performance of the engine.


Individuals with visceral leishmaniasis, or kala azar (KA) and individuals with post-KA dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) are considered to be reservoirs of transmission of Leishmania donovani in India. When intracellular amastigotes were used to assess the natural susceptibility that PKDL isolates and KA isolates have to sodium antimony gluconate (SAG), the mean ED(50) was found to be 12.0+/-2.49 and 11.0+/-1.38 microg/mL, respectively; and there was a significant correlation with the clinical response (r rank=0.99). All KA isolates, as well as a significant proportion (55%) of PKDL isolates from high-endemicity zones, were resistant to SAG. The median ED(50) for SAG-resistant PKDL isolates (20.0 microg/mL) was significantly higher (P<.05) than that for SAG-resistant KA isolates (15.7 microg/mL). SAG-resistant PKDL isolates may contribute to KA's increased refractoriness to SAG, via anthroponotic transmission of SAG-resistant strains.


Hitherto unknown, relatively labile gem-difluorinated vinyloxiranes were prepared by difluoro-Wittig reactions with alpha,beta-epoxyketones; for these vinyloxiranes alkyl groups were delivered at the fluorine-attached terminal carbon atom in an SN2' manner by RLi, while Me3Al and MeMgBr-CuCl (3: 1) introduced the Me group at the allylic epoxy carbon with retention and inversion of the original stereochemistry, respectively.


Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are obesity-related health alterations, featuring an ever-increasing prevalence. Besides inadequate feeding patterns, gut microbiota alterations stand out as potential contributors to these metabolic disturbances. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the administration of a probiotic (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG) effectively prevents diet-induced insulin resistance in rats and to compare these potential effects with those exerted by its heat-inactivated parabiotic. For this purpose, 34 male Wistar rats were fed a standard or a high-fat high-fructose diet, alone or supplemented with viable or heat-inactivated Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. The body and white adipose tissue weight increases, induced by the obesogenic diet, were prevented by probiotic and parabiotic administration. The trend towards higher basal glucose levels and significantly higher serum insulin concentration observed in the non-treated animals fed with the obesogenic diet were effectively reverted by both treatments. Similar results were also found for serum adiponectin and leptin, whose levels were brought back by the probiotic and parabiotic administration to values similar to those of the control animals. Noteworthily, parabiotic administration significantly reduced skeletal muscle triglyceride content and activated CPT-1b compared to the non-treated animals. Finally, both treatments enhanced Akt and AS160 phosphorylation in the skeletal muscle compared to the non-treated animals; however, only parabiotic administration increased GLUT-4 protein expression in this tissue. These results suggest that heat-inactivated Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG seem to be more effective than its probiotic of origin in preventing high-fat high-fructose diet-induced insulin resistance in rats.


Background: Vaccination programs are crucial in global efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Little has been reported regarding the attitudes and experiences of participants in the ongoing Malaysian vaccination program. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of side effects with the COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among vaccine-eligible and vaccinated individuals in Malaysia between May and July 2021. A self-administered 27-item questionnaire was developed and validated before distributing it through an online medium. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS version 22.Results: A total of 428 respondents completed the survey. More than half of the respondents (71.1%) were 18 to 45 years old, and 66.4% were females. A vast majority (98.6%) of the respondents had registered for the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program. A total of 20 participants (4.7%) expressed their concerns about either registering or receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, and the most reported concern was the uncertainty of vaccine safety. Among the study population, 332 participants (77.5%) received their vaccinations. About 50% received the Pfizer-BioNTech (Cominarty®) vaccine. A majority (76.8%) of the respondents experienced side effects following vaccination. Approximately 40% of the reported side effects occurred more with the second dose, particularly in those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (p < .0005). Pain at the injection site (61.1%) and tiredness (48.8%) were the most commonly reported side effects. Those who received Sinovac (CoronaVac®) vaccine were more likely to report fewer side effects than Pfizer-BioNTech (p = .012) and Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-S) groups (p = .001). The logistic regression showed that all age groups, except those aged ≥ 60 years, were more likely to exhibit vaccine-related side effects. Male participants (OR: 0.51, CI:0.27-0.93) and those who received the Sinovac (CoronaVac®) vaccine (OR: 0.08, CI:0.03-0.22) were at lower risk of experiencing vaccine-related side effects.Conclusions: the overall attitudes toward the national vaccination program were positive, with a vast majority registered to be vaccinated. Several differences in the experiences of vaccine-related side effects in terms of prevalence and number were attributed to age, gender, and received vaccine type.


Real time ultrasonic scanning with a Duplex scanner (A.T.L.) was used to study Dacron arterial grafts crossing the hip and knee joints in 27 patients (25 males, 2 females), mean age 61 years. Ultrasonic imaging of the grafts was rapid and demonstrated kinking during knee flexion in 83 percent of grafts anastomosed to the distal popliteal artery. Only 7 percent of grafts crossing the inguinal ligament kinked during 60° of hip flexion. Graft kinking during knee flexion may be a factor in acute thrombosis associated with long periods of immobility, such as during air travel.


Routing is a key step in transport planning and research. Nonetheless, researchers and practitioners often face challenges when performing this task due to long computation times and the cost of licensed software. R^5^ is a multimodal transport network router that offers multiple routing features, such as calculating travel times over a time window and returning multiple itineraries for origin/destination pairs. This paper describes r5r, an open-source R package that leverages R^5^ to efficiently compute travel time matrices and generate detailed itineraries between sets of origins and destinations at no expense using seamless parallel computing.


Osteoarthritis (OA) sometimes occurs as a consequence of repeated microtrauma involved in parafunction, which may lead to microfracture in the subchondral bone. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of subchondral osteoblasts in loading with repeated excessive mechanical stress on the metabolism of overlying chondrocytes. A high-magnitude cyclic tensile stress of 15 kPa (30 cycles min(-1)) was applied to the cultured osteoblasts obtained from porcine mandibular condyles. The chondrocytes in alginate beads were then co-cultured with mechanically stressed or unstressed osteoblasts. Chondrocytes co-cultured with unstressed osteoblasts showed a phenotypic shift to hypertrophic chondrocytes, characterized by decreased expression of type II collagen, aggrecan, Sry-related HMG box (SOX-9), and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) genes and increased expression of type X collagen and bone sialoprotein (BSP) genes, suggesting that the co-culture may change the chondrocyte differentiation to some extent. These changes were more distinct in chondrocytes co-cultured with excessively mechanically stressed osteoblasts. After co-culture with stressed osteoblasts, the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)1, MMP3 and MMP13 genes were also enhanced and the synthesis of DNA, proteoglycan and collagen were significantly decreased in chondrocytes. These results demonstrate that alterations in cartilage metabolism can be induced by stressed osteoblasts, indicating a possible explanation for the onset and progression of OA.


Waveguide photodetectors are considered as a promising candidate for high speed photodetection where the tradeoff between the transit time bandwidth and the quantum efficiency is overcome as the incident optical signal and the photogenerated carriers move in perpendicular directions. In WG-Avalanche Photodetectors (WG-APDs), the avalanche multiplication gain enhances the photocurrent of the photodiodes. In these photodiodes, the inaccuracies in the ionizations coefficients of the photogenerated electrons and holes and in the dimensions of the multiplication layer affect the multiplication gain of the device and its functionality. In this paper, a stochastic analysis of the multiplication gain of the WG - separated absorption multiplication-APDs is presented, that is based on Monte Carlo simulations and on the frequency response of the photodetector.


By monitoring the structural vibration and analyzing the modal parameter, hidden damage can be identified at an early stage, preventing abrupt failures for important structural components. However, the modal parameter has exhibited a low sensitivity to the interfacial damage, such as the delamination in the composite beam. In this paper, a signal-processing method is developed to increase the sensitivity of the modal parameter to the delamination. Both the first- and high-order modal parameters are transformed to an approximate waveform capacity dimension (AWCD). Based on the wave peaks of the modal parameters in the AWCD, the start and the end of the delamination can be accurately pinpointed. Since the AWCD method can highlight the delamination-related waveform features of the modal parameters, the delamination can be identified without referring to the baselines. Both analytical and experimental investigations demonstrate that the AWCD method can modify the waveforms of the modal parameters and lead to an accurate identification of the delamination in composite cantilever beams.


Strontium hexaferrite single domain particles embedded in the borate matrix were synthesized by the glass-ceramic method. The composites exhibit various morphologies depending on the initial glass composition and the thermal treatment conditions. The obtained materials contain magnetic particles with the average size ranging from tens to hundreds nanometers and with the magnetic properties changing from superparamagnetic to hard magnetic with record-high coercivities exceeding 10 kOe.


Through a careful documentation of an ongoing struggle for sanitation infrastructure in a neighbourhood facing intense gentrifying pressure—namely, Mohammed Nagar slum in Hyderabad—this paper shows how incomplete and fluid infrastructures can become sites through which an excess population can be purged outright in order to rebuild neighbourhood character. Mohammed Nagar slum is located in the Bholakpur ward of Hyderabad. Bholakpur has been a major site for informal waste segregation, recycling and processing in the city and region for the past three decades at least. As different constituents of the fragmented community consolidate their claims through opportunities thrown up by crumbling infrastructures, some resist metabolic processes that attempt to reproduce direly needed infrastructures. Others, facing acute deprivation, have to choose between staying put and moving out. Gentrification processes arising from new rent gaps emerging in cities due to high-end infrastructures, such as metro rail and shopping complexes, can be brutal and can trigger mechanisms by which bodies are revalued as legitimate claimants or otherwise. Populations that were once all associated with waste reinvent themselves, including some who can make it, and purging others who decidedly cannot make it into the new neighbourhood.


We report on the investigation of sodium coordination environments with solid-state ²³Na nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of various hydrates and solvates of sodium naproxen (SN), a commercially available anti-inflammatory drug sold over the counter as Aleve®, among other names. The ²³Na quadrupolar coupling constant is found to change significantly depending on the hydration state, and subtle changes in oxygen coordination environment about the sodium cations were apparent in the NMR spectra. High-resolution double-rotation NMR experiments are also performed on powdered samples to obtain solution-like ²³Na NMR spectra. Our attempts at crystallizing various solvates of SN have led to the characterization of the first crystal structure for the heminonahydrated form. The composition of commercial SN is also investigated and it is shown that Aleve® is composed of approximately 80% monohydrate solvate. Density-functional theory calculations, using the gauge-including projector-augmented-wave formalism, allow for the assignment of ²³Na NMR peaks to specific sodium sites in the reported X-ray crystal structure.


ABSTRACT The protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway plays a role in regulating growth and differentiation in the dimorphic fungus Mucor circinelloides. PKA holoenzyme is comprised of two catalytic (C) and two regulatory (R) subunits. In M. circinelloides, four genes encode the PKAR1, PKAR2, PKAR3, and PKAR4 isoforms of R subunits. We have constructed null mutants and demonstrate that each isoform has a different role in growth and differentiation. The most striking finding is that pkaR4 is an essential gene, because only heterokaryons were obtained in knockout experiments. Heterokaryons with low levels of wild-type nuclei showed an impediment in the emission of the germ tube, suggesting a pivotal role of this gene in germ tube emergence. The remaining null strains showed different alterations in germ tube emergence, sporulation, and volume of the mother cell. The pkaR2 null mutant showed an accelerated germ tube emission and was the only mutant that germinated under anaerobic conditions when glycine was used as a nitrogen source, suggesting that pkaR2 participates in germ tube emergence by repressing it. From the measurement of the mRNA and protein levels of each isoform in the wild-type and knockout strains, it can be concluded that the expression of each subunit has its own mechanism of differential regulation. The PKAR1 and PKAR2 isoforms are posttranslationally modified by ubiquitylation, suggesting another regulation point in the specificity of the signal transduction. The results indicate that each R isoform has a different role in M. circinelloides physiology, controlling the dimorphism and contributing to the specificity of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-PKA pathway.


This paper outlines results from a research effort which addressed a major issue: wood diaphragm and wall interaction in brick buildings. The work focused on the development of a finite element technique for modeling the dynamic friction and impact characteristics of a wood joist bearing on a brick wall. Results of the analysis of a typical historic brick building in California that was instrumented during the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 will be presented as a benchmark for the technique.


Hailing from suburban Los Angeles, raised by supportive parents, and educated at a boys-only parochial school, Darryl Henley had it all. He earned a history degree from UCLA, became a first-team All American for the Bruins in 1988, and was a rising star as the starting cornerback for the LA Rams in the early nineties. How Henley, in the space of three short years, went from golden NFL role model to federal inmate is one of the most bizarre stories in the annals of sport-stars-turned-criminal. The product of eight years of investigative research and over one hundred interviews, Intercepted takes us into Henley's fourth season in the NFL, when he met Rams cheerleader Tracy Donaho and bumped into a boyhood friend named Willie McGowan, a onetime youth-league standout who had since turned to drug trafficking. Henley, Donaho, and McGowan embark on a scheme to transport cocaine that lands Henley in federal prison, where he attempts to arrange a Mafia hit on the sentencing judge and Donaho, who had been the star witness against Henley at his trial. Detailing how one of the best and brightest of our professional athletes destroyed himself through temptation, arrogance, and anger at a justice system that he felt had failed him, Intercepted is also a cautionary tale about American culture, as disturbing as it is impossible to ignore.


With changes in human consumption from animal fats to vegetable oils, the search for seed types, often from unconventional vegetable sources has grown. Research on the chemical composition of both seed and oil for Brazilian Okra in South America is still incipient. In this study, flour and oil from organic Okra seeds (Abelmoschus esculentus L Moench), grown in northeastern Brazil were analyzed. Similar to Okra varieties from the Middle East and Central America, Brazilian Okra has significant amounts of protein (22.14%), lipids (14.01%), and high amounts of unsaturated lipids (66.32%), especially the oleic (20.38%) and linoleic acids (44.48%). Oil analysis through PDSC revealed an oxidation temperature of 175.2°C, which in combination with low amounts of peroxide, demonstrates its resistance to oxidation and favors its use for human consumption.


Functional tests are included in to the assessment of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). In the patients, the indices of resting ventricular function are poor predictors of exercise capacity. Spiroergometry is a cardiopulmonary exercise test using respiratory gas exchange analysis in assessing the functional status and prognosis in patients with CHF. It identifies individuals with poorest prognoses and can be used for optimal timing of cardiac transplantation. This paper provides objective determination of functional capacity in 17 patients with CHF and their comparison with New York Heart Association Classification.


Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) are new types of marketplaces leveraging Blockchain technology. They allow users to trade assets with Automatic Market Makers (AMM), using funds provided by liquidity providers, removing the need for order books. One such DEX, Uniswap v3, allows liquidity providers to allocate funds more efficiently by specifying an active price interval for their funds. This introduces the problem of finding an optimal strategy for choosing price intervals. We formalize this problem as an online learning problem with non-stochastic rewards. We use regret-minimization methods to show a liquidity provision strategy that guarantees a lower bound on the reward. This is true even for non-stochastic changes to asset pricing, and we express this bound in terms of the trading volume.


The COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on various aspects of Indonesia, especially the economy. The government has made countermeasures by issuing various policies and social programs. However, the implementation of policies is not necessarily followed by the attitude of the people who are not disciplined and indifferent. The role of higher education is very much needed to provide guidance with a humanist approach. Therefore, it is necessary to have a synergy of good cooperation between local governments and universities in facing obstacles in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. The research aims to analyze how the synergy between the government and universities is in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic cases in the community. The research was conducted with a qualitative approach. The data were obtained through literature review and interviews with the Provincial Government of Lampung and the University of Lampung. The results of the study show that the synergy between the government and universities is good. This is shown by interaction and mutual support. Where the government acts as a policy maker and facilitator, while universities act as a support for implementation through community service programs.

Received: 25 September 2020 / Accepted: 19 December 2020 / Published: 5 March 2021


The present study highlights the characterization of water bodies in different aquatic environments in relation to anthropogenic influences along the central west coast of India. The physico-chemical and biological data of water generated from these environments during the period 2006-2010 have been used to define the existing water quality and their productivity status. Multivariate Statistics, Water Quality Index (WQI) and Trophic State Index (TSI) overall categorized these aquatic bodies into two types; (i) Slightly Polluted and Mesotrophic (SPM) Water and (ii) Acceptable Quality and Mesotrophic (AM) Water. Accordingly, the coastal region from off Mahim to Virar along the Maharashtra coast and the Mandovi and Zuari Rivers in Goa fall into the SPM category, whereas the coastal regions off Gojiness and Bhogat in Jamnagar; Chapora and Terekhol Rivers in Goa and the coastal region from Mangalore-Suratkal in Karnataka fall into the AM category. The dominant contaminants affecting the water quality in each of these areas have been evaluated using R-mode factor analyses. It indicated an apparent North-South gradient of the surplus of inorganic nutrients such as nitrite (NO2), nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), ammonia (NH3), total phosphorous (TP), total nitrogen (TN), Petroleum hydrocarbons (PHc), Phenol, Fluoride, and the bacterial abundance. However, their elevated concentrations along the central coastal waters were found to be related to marked anthropogenic perturbations. Overall index of pollution (OIP) values were evaluated from water quality index (WQI) of each parameter, with respect to the standards provided by Central Pollution Control Board, India. The details have been discussed in the text of the paper.


We examine how the level and structure of CEO pay is influenced by the characteristics and past experience of the members of the compensation committee, and also how these characteristics and experiences affect the probability of committee appointment. Our main findings indicate that (1) CEO pay in the current firm is more likely to be above (or below) market if CEO pay in the committee-members' prior-firm experience was also above (or below) market; (2) the influence of this past experience diminishes over time as current year's pay decisions are more likely to be influenced by experience from recent past years than from experience further past; and (3) while new directors are more likely to be appointed to the compensation committee if they have prior compensation-committee experience, we find no evidence that new directors with experience with highly paid CEOs are more likely to be appointed to compensation committees, and also no evidence that that companies choose compensation committees with experiences matching the focal firm's pay philosophy. Overall, our paper extends the literature on board of directors affecting CEO pay, and also contributes to the literature on managerial styles and contagion.


Bayliss, Berenice G. (Washington State University, Pullman), and Elizabeth R. Hall. Plasma coagulation by organisms other than Staphylococcus aureus. J. Bacteriol. 89:101–105. 1965.—Approximately 200 organisms were investigated for their ability to clot human and rabbit plasma. Various anticoagulants were used in preparing the plasma: acid-citrate-dextrose, ethylenediaminetetraacetate, balanced oxalate, potassium and sodium oxalates, and heparin. Twelve organisms were found which coagulated citrated plasma in less than 8 hr: four strains of Streptococcus faecalis; two strains of S. faecalis var. zymogenes; three strains of S. faecalis var. liquefaciens; and one strain each of S. pyogenes, Escherichia coli, and Serratia marcescens. Six strains of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus were selected for use as controls. Experiments were performed to determine the mechanism by which these microorganisms coagulated citrated plasma. As this was the only plasma clotted, it was presumed that the citrate was utilized by the microorganisms, thereby releasing the calcium which was then made available so that normal physiological clotting could occur. To test this hypothesis, a chromatographic method was employed to determine the presence or absence of citrate. Coagulation tests, by use of increasing amounts of citrate, showed a linear relationship between the amount of citrate in the plasma and the coagulation time. It was demonstrated that the organisms must be actively metabolizing to clot citrated plasma. Proof for this was obtained by using a cell-free filtrate, to which thimerosal had been added to inhibit growth, instead of whole cultures for the coagulation test. Only the coagulase-positive staphylococci coagulated the citrated plasma under these conditions. From the results obtained, it was concluded that plasma coagulation by these organisms was by citrate utilization.


Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can lead to serious cardiac problems. HCM is often diagnosed by an expert using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) images obtained from patients. In this research, we aimed to develop a deep learning technique to automate HCM diagnosis. CMR images of 37421 healthy and 21846 HCM patients were obtained during two years. Images obtained from female patients form 53% of the collected dataset. The mean and standard deviation of the dataset patients' age are 48.2 and 19.5 years, respectively. Three experts inspected images and determined whether a case has HCM or not. New data augmentation was used to generate new images by employing color filtering on the existing ones. To classify the augmented images, we used a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time CNN is used for HCM diagnosis. We designed our CNN from scratch to reach acceptable diagnosis accuracy. Comparing the designed algorithm output with the experts' opinions, the method could achieve accuracy of 95.23%, recall of 97.90%, and specificity of 93.06% on the original dataset. The same performance metrics for the designed algorithm on the augmented dataset were 98.53%, 98.70%, and 95.21%, respectively. We have also experimented with different optimizers (e.g. Adadelta and Adagrad) and other data augmentation methods (e.g. height shift and rotation) to further evaluate the proposed method. Using our data augmentation method, accuracy of 98.53% were achieved which is higher than the best accuracy (95.83%) obtained by the other data augmentation methods which have been evaluated. The upper bound on difference between true error rate and empirical error rate of the proposed method has also been provided in order to present better performance analysis. The advantages of employing the proposed method are elimination of contrast agent and its complications, decreased CMR examination time, lower costs for patients and cardiac imaging centers.


Manufacturing practices for recombinant adeno‐associated viruses (AAV) have improved in the last decade through the development of new platforms in conjunction with better production and purification methods. In this review, we discuss the advantages and limitations of the most popular systems and methods employed with mammalian cell platforms. Methods and systems such as transient transfection, packaging and producer cells and adenovirus and herpes simplex virus are described. In terms of best production yields, they are comparable with about 104–105 vector genomes produced per cell but transient transfection of HEK293 cells is by far the most commonly used. For small‐scale productions, AAV can be directly purified from the producing cell lysate by ultracentrifugation on a CsCl or iodixanol‐step gradient whereas large‐scale purification requires a combination of multiple steps. Micro/macrofiltration (i.e. including tangential flow filtration and/or dead‐end filtration) and chromatography based‐methods are used for large‐scale purification. Purified AAV products must then be quantified and characterized to ensure quality. Recent purification methods and current analytical techniques are reviewed here. Finally, AAV technology is very promising, but manufacturing improvements are still required to meet the needs of affordable, safe and effective AAV vectors essential for licensing of gene therapy clinical protocols.


The prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and potential determinants were assessed in a random sample representative of the Belgian adult population. In total, 14,201 individuals (≥18 years) were invited by mail to provide saliva via an Oracol® swab. Survey weights were applied, and potential determinants were estimated using multivariable logistic regressions. Between March and August 2021, 2767 individuals participated in the first data collection. During this period, which coincided with the onset of the vaccination campaign, the seroprevalence in the population increased from 25.2% in March/April to 78.1% in July. Among the vaccinated there was an increase from 74,2% to 98.8%; among the unvaccinated, the seroprevalence remained stable (around 17%). Among the vaccinated, factors significantly associated with the presence of antibodies were: having at least one chronic disease (ORa 0.22 (95% CI 0.08–0.62)), having received an mRNA-type vaccine (ORa 5.38 (95% CI 1.72–16.80)), and having received an influenza vaccine in 2020–2021 (ORa 3.79 (95% CI 1.30–11.07)). Among the unvaccinated, having a non-O blood type (ORa 2.00 (95% CI 1.09–3.67)) and having one or more positive COVID-19 tests (ORa 11.04 (95% CI 4.69–26.02)) were significantly associated. This study provides a better understanding of vaccine- and/or natural-induced presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and factors that are associated with this presence.


We propose a normative strategic asset allocation model for long horizon sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). SWFs optimally choose asset allocation to smooth background shocks from persistent commodity prices and business cycles subject to a sustainable spending constraint. SWFs should have lower stock market exposure as they mature, and should use the SWF to smooth business cycle shocks, rather than commodity price shocks, in well-diversified economies. The government's taxation capacity, or consumption commitments, substantially affect asset allocation, and low real interest rates generate a "reaching for yield" portfolio behavior. Higher expected growth without a sustainability constraint generates a smaller SWF.


Routing security is one of the most important considerations in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Currently, more and more people pay attention to this issue. But most of the secure protocols must use public key and symmetric cryptographies which induce heavy load to nodes in the whole routing stage. In this paper, we propose an Efficiency Security Model of Routing (ESMR). In routing stage, ESMR only uses public key cryptography when new nodes enter the wireless sensor network and does not use symmetric cryptography at all. Through the security analyzing, we find our cryptography method only can resist the outside attackers, but it is helpless to inside attackers. Therefore, reputation mechanism is proposed against inside attackers in ESMR. The simulation result shows that the performance of ESMR is not as good as LEACH (Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy routing protocol) in no attacker environment, but it becomes better and better with the number of attackers increasing.


Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reproductive tract infections (RTIs) have existed worldwide since ancient time, causing significant morbidity and mortality. To maintain healthy sexual and reproductive life, it is highly essential to prevent STIs, RTIs and related illnesses. STIs are transmitted by swapping body fluids among people during sexual intercourse. The etiological agents for STIs are bacteria, virus and parasites for most cases, but proportions by different aetiology are changing. Various studies have shown that STIs are increasing, and its primary aetiology is changing worldwide. That should be considered seriously and needs necessary actions. Several factors related to hosts and disease-causing agents have identified to influence STIs' current strategies in the prevention and control program. The present assessment attempts to review the history, changing aetiology and antimicrobial resistance in STIs. This review has also highlighted the prevalence of STIs at the global level and their past and present trends in India, emphasising its future challenges and perspectives for making effective public health policies to prevent and control STIs.


The present study compares the realization of intervocalic voiceless stops and vowels surrounded by voiceless stops in conversational Spanish and French. Our data reveal significant differences in how these segments are realized in each language. Spanish voiceless stops tend to have shorter stop closures, display incomplete closures more often, and exhibit more voicing than French voiceless stops. As for vowels, more cases of complete devoicing and greater degrees of partial devoicing were found in French than in Spanish. Moreover, all French vowel types exhibit significantly lower F1 values than their Spanish counterparts. These findings indicate that the extent of reduction that a segment type can undergo in conversational speech can vary significantly across languages. Language differences in coarticulatory strategies and "base-of-articulation" are discussed as possible causes of our observations.


Traumatic aneurysm of superficial temporal artery is an uncommon lesion. Blunt traumas of war, firearm, motorized vehicle and sport injuries are common causes. In this case, traumatic aneurysm of superficial temporal artery that occurs after scalp trauma in 74 years old male patient, was reported. Patient who suffers from a mass in his forehead ten days after trauma was admitted to our clinic. Selective angiography of the right temporal artery was performed as traumatic aneurysm was suspected upon the findings of physical examination and cranial computerized tomography studies. The aneurysm was detected. The proximal and distal part of the aneurysm was ligated and it was totally removed under general anesthesia. The histopathological investigation confirmed the presence of the traumatic aneurysm. Especially in hairy skin injuries, traumatic lesions should be considered as an aneurysm. Diagnosis, treatment, and surgical strategy must be planned by the help of these informations.


Metallization is a common strategy employed to enhance the electrical and thermal conductivity of polymer matrix composite materials. Nevertheless, metallic deposition on polymer-based materials is challenging due to the inherent limitations related to high temperature exposure of the substrate. In this article, a new technique for the manufacturing of composite laminates and the subsequent metallization by cold spraying of metallic powder is presented. The composite manufacturing route is based on the production of thermoplastic-thermoset hybrid substrates and consisted of two main stages: in the first stage the partial impregnation of a reinforcement textile by a thermoplastic film was promoted by hot pressing compaction. Afterwards, the prepared lamina was vacuum bagged with other reinforcing layers and impregnated by the thermoset catalyzed resin by a vacuum infusion process. Finally, the thermoset and thermoplastic layers were co-cured to increase the adhesion of the substrate with the thermoplastic film. The metallization of composite laminate was obtained through the cold spraying technique, depositing powders on the thermoplastic surface layer. The effect of processing parameters on the coating deposition, quality and microstructure was reported and discussed.


AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a key cellular metabolic sensor, suppresses anabolic pathways, including lipogenesis and cholesterol biosynthesis, thereby maintaining energy homeostasis. Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is the master regulator of the evolutionarily conserved proteotoxic stress response (PSR), thereby preserving proteostasis in the face of environmental insults. In contrast to its beneficial role in enhancing survival under proteotoxic stress, it has been demonstrated that HSF1 acts as a potent pro-oncogenic factor. Our previous study has shown that metabolic stressors, via AMPK activation, inactivate HSF1 and disrupt proteostasis to suppress tumor growth. Interestingly, our new study now reveals that HSF1, in reciprocal, also suppresses AMPK activation. HSF1 does so independently of its canonical transcriptional action. Furthermore, Hsf1 deficiency promotes the interactions between AMPK and LKB1, a key upstream kinase activating AMPK. Congruent with the suppression of lipogenesis by AMPK, Hsf1 deficiency depletes cellular lipid content and reduces body fat mass in mice. Importantly, these defects can be largely rescued by either pharmacological or genetic inhibition of AMPK. At the molecular level, Hsf1 deficiency leads to inactivation of acetyl-CoA Carboxylase (ACC) and sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1c (SREBP1c), both of which are key players in de novo lipogenesis. In addition to impaired lipogenesis, Hsf1-deficient cells and mice display reduced cholesterol levels. Of particular interest, this defect leads to impaired cholesteroylation of sonic hedgehog (SHH), the best known signaling molecule undergoing this covalent modification. In consequence, SHH secreted by HSF1-deficient cells are less potent in activating its downstream signaling cascade, indicated by reduced DNA binding of GLI1, a transcription factor responding to activation of SHH signaling. Conversely, HSF1 overexpression increases the lipid content, cholesterol levels and the amount of cholesteroylated SHH proteins in xenografted melanomas. Taken together, our results reveal that HSF1, through AMPK suppression, promotes lipogenesis, cholesterol biosynthesis and protein lipidation, thereby supporting malignant growth. Citation Format: Kuo-Hui Su, Chengkai Dai. HSF1 suppresses AMPK to promote lipogenesis, cholesterol biosynthesis and protein lipidation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1829.


The thesis of this research is that the task of exposing the parallelism in a given application should be left to the algorithm designer, who has intimate knowledge of the application characteristics. On the other hand, the task of limiting the parallelism in a chosen parallel algorithm is best handled by the compiler or operating system for the target MPP machine. Toward this end, we have developed CASS (for Clustering And Scheduling System), a task management system that provides facilities for automatic granularity optimization and task scheduling of parallel programs on distributed memory parallel architectures. Our tool environment, CASS, consists of a two-phase method of compiler-lime scheduling in which task clustering is performed prior to the actual scheduling process. The clustering module identifies the optimal number of processing nodes that the program will require to obtain maximum performance on the target parallel machine. The scheduling module maps the clusters onto a fixed number of processors and determines the order of execution of tasks in each processor.


The response of 24 human subjects to local convective cooling, radiant cooling, and combined radiant and convective cooling was studied at 28°C and 50% relative humidity. The local cooling devices used were (1) a tabletop cooling fan, (2) personalized ventilation providing a stream of clean air, (3) radiant panels below and above the desk in front of the desk occupant, and (4) the same two radiant panels but with small fans blowing room air toward the upper panel to be cooled and redirected toward the person. A reference condition without cooling was also tested. The cooling devices significantly (p < 0.05) improved subjects' thermal comfort compared to the condition without cooling. The acceptability of the thermal environment was similar for all cooling devices. The acceptability of air movement and perceived air quality increased when local cooling methods were used. The best results were achieved with personalized ventilation or the tabletop fan. Only minimal improvement in perceived air quality was reported when the radiant panel was used alone, indicating that in a warm environment, local convective cooling is superior to local radiant cooling as a means of improving perceived air quality. The intensity of the reported sick building syndrome symptoms increased during the exposure time, with or without cooling devices in operation. Air movement had very little effect on sick building syndrome symptoms, but they increased when the pollution level was high. The lowest prevalence of symptoms was reported with personalized ventilation and with the radiant panel with attached fans, which also caused subjects to report less fatigue. Sick building syndrome symptoms increased most when the tabletop fan, generating movement of polluted room air, was in operation. The temperature of the inhaled air rather than any local cooling of the head was associated with sick building syndrome symptoms, although this needs further study. The most preferred cooling method was personalized ventilation for six subjects, fan for eight subjects, and radiant panel (or radiant panel + fans) for nine subjects.


Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal malignancy despite the recent clinical advancement. Since pancreatic cancer is often difficult to diagnose, there is an urgent need to develop minimally invasive biomarkers for detection. Epigenetic alterations have emerged as a common hallmark of many types of human cancers as well as pancreatic cancer. The presence of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in blood stream has been known and cfDNA possesses tumor-related genetic alterations as well as epigenetic alterations. Therefore, invention of blood-based DNA methylation biomarkers and their high-sensitive detection system might be a promising diagnostic tool for pancreatic cancer. In order to establish the diagnostic biomarkers, first, we performed genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of 38 EUS-FNA specimens of pancreatic cancer with clinical stage III-IV using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. We further analyzed the DNA methylation profiles of other types of tumors in the public database, TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas), and identified five marker genes, which were specifically methylated in pancreatic cancers. In addition, analysis of DNA methylation status of pancreas cancers comparing 10 normal tissues in TCGA data set revealed that 99% of tumors were methylated at least one of the five markers (sensitivity, 98.9%; specificity, 44%). We validated these methylation markers in different FNA sample set (n = 19) by bisulfite pyrosequencing or quantitative methylation specific PCR and found that 18/19 (95%) cases were methylated in at least one marker (AUC = 0.95). Finally, we performed methylation analysis in cfDNA from pancreatic cancer patients. From our preliminary data, we could detect aberrant DNA methylation in cfDNA from pancreatic cancer patients. We identified potential DNA methylation biomarkers for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancers and these markers might be applicable for detecting cancer in cfDNA. Citation Format: Keiko Shinjo, Keisuke Katsushima, Genta Nagae, Hiroyuki Aburatani, Kenji Yamao, Yutaka Kondo. Development of DNA methylation biomarkers for pancreatic cancer diagnosis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4448.


The present study, undertaken as a continuation of an earlier study on quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of grain protein content (GPC) in bread wheat (Prasad et al. 1999), includes the following: (1) identification of an additional molecular marker associated with GPC; (2) development of near-isogenic lines (NILs) for high GPC; and (3) the use of three sets of NILs (a total of 10 NILs) to validate the two available markers linked with QTL for GPC. A total of 114 sequence-tagged microsatellite site (STMS) primer pairs (that were not used in the previous study) were used for detection of polymorphism between the two parents (PH132, with high GPC; WL711, with low GPC) of a mapping population of 100 recombinant inbred lines (RILs). A total of 95 primer pairs gave amplification products, of which only 30 detected reproducible polymorphism between the parental genotypes. Bulked segregant analysis was conducted using these 30 primers on two bulks (each comprising eight RILs) representing the two extremes of the normal distribution. A solitary primer pair (WMC415) showed association with GPC, which was further confirmed through selective genotyping. Subsequently, 100 RILs were genotyped. A single-marker linear regression analysis showed significant association between the marker WMC415 and GPC, thus identifying a quantitative trait locus (designated as QGpcccsu-5A1), which explained 6.21% of the variation for GPC among the RILs. The above STMS marker, together with the STMS marker (WMC41) identified earlier, explains approximately 25% of the variation for GPC. In order to conduct validation of the above two available markers, 10 NILs were developed for high GPC using two genotypes (WL711 and HD2329) with low GPC as recipient parents and another two genotypes (PH132 and PH133) with high GPC as donor parents. NIL 2233 (with 11.7% GPC), derived from HD2329, when tried with WMC41 gave a characteristic amplification profile similar to that of its donor parent PH132, and NIL 2215 (with 11.9% GPC) derived from WL711, when tried with WMC415 gave an amplification profile that resembled its donor parent PH133. The remaining eight NILs with high GPC gave patterns similar to those of their corresponding recipient parents with both the markers, suggesting that either the QTL, other than those associated with the above markers, were actually transferred from the donor parents and contributed to high GPC in these NILs or that recombination had occurred between the markers identified and the corresponding QTL. Thus, the marker validation conducted using NILs, while demonstrating the utility of these two microsatellite markers for use in marker-assisted selection in plant breeding, also suggested that many more QTL exist that would need to be identified using closely linked molecular markers.


The study analyzed the efficiency in poultry feeds marketing in Osun State. A two-stage sampling technique was used to randomly select 100 respondents for the study. Primary data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, concentration ratio, operational efficiency and regression technique. The results show that the animal feed marketers in the study areas were adult but below 50 years of age, most of them were male (54%) and married (59%) and about 98% with formal education. The average year of experience in animal feed marketing was 8 years, and average monthly income was ₦ 65,000 (±29,864). With a concentration ratio of 30.2% the poultry feed market was adjudged to be of monopolistic competition type. Only 25% of the respondents achieved efficiency of 60% and above, denoting poor performance of firms. The factors that determined the efficiency in poultry feeds marketing were gender, marital status, number of shops operated, prices of layer mash, turkey mash, chicks feed and local feed. The study therefore, concluded that more women should be encouraged to venture into the business and that local feeds trading should be encouraged.


The macroscopic uniformity of deep etching into silicon by reactive ion etching (RIE) with a SF6−O2 plasma was studied. The spatial variation of the etch rate across a 4 inch wafer in a single wafer system is a function of the process parameters and the configuration of the etch chamber. It was found that, for a constant load of silicon exposed to the plasma, the etch rate variation can be controlled through the applied rf power, the chamber pressure, and the gas mixture. It was also found that the etch rate uniformity varies with the load of silicon exposed to the plasma. The result is a balance between the flux of neutral radicals and the flux of energetic ions to the surface. This balance is due to the RIE etch mechanism, which involves synergism between the two fluxes.


This study aims at defining a particular genre formula known to contemporaries as a Cortegaerdje — a guardroom scene. It was created and developed by a group of so-called minor masters in the Dutch Golden Age. The purpose is to reach an optimal agreement between a certain visual formula and this contemporary title or its variants. This is done through a systematic comparison with various martial and other relevant genre themes and assigning each its designated contemporary title.

The guardroom scene is a genre painting depicting an interior of a temporary nature, hosting soldiers and their camp followers passing the time in various activities. It is free of any violent action, and it usually appears respectable and in some cases even merry. It might, however, include the results of violent actions, such as beseeching hostages and booty. The guardroom scene usually does not revolve around a clear subject matter, but is a collection of motifs, anecdotes, and notions. The guardroom scene gave the middle-class man, nesting safely at home, a restrained drama devoid of violence while touching his social sensitivity.


Temporomandibular disorders are described in children from the age of 4. Their prevalence and severity increase strongly during the second decade, which corresponds to the period of orthodontic treatments. At this age the most common symptoms are joint clicking sounds (more than 70% of the cases), sometimes accompanied by episodes of intermittent locking. They would be favored by oral parafunctional activities (gum chewing, biting habits, bruxism...), ligamentous hyperlaxity and modification of the intra-articular space relations during growth. The questioning of the patient and his parents and clinical examination (muscular, articular and occlusal) are essential and very often sufficient for establishing the diagnosis. Even more than in the adult, the therapeutic attitude must rely on conservative and non-irreversible methods (explanations, suppression of the parafunctions, occlusal splints in the case of severe bruxism). These considerations are illustrated by the presentation of two representative clinical cases of temporomandibular disorders frequently encountered in children and adolescents.


A life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for determining the impact of a product or process on the environment. In such assessments, all steps in the life cycle of an artifact are taken into account, from raw materials to recycling or disposal. For calculating the environmental impact of packaging, it is important to take the life cycle of the packaging as well as the life cycle of the content (the product) into account, because these life cycles are strongly interrelated. A case study (the packaging of cheese) is used to substantiate these interrelations and the consequences thereof. Given the fact that different data sources, calculation methods, system boundaries and tools can be applied in life cycle assessments, the results are often ambiguous and non-decisive. The first step towards the development of adequate product/packaging combinations therefore relies on life cycle analyses that are appropriate and effective. Therefore, the focus of applied life cycle assessments must be in line with the specific field of expertise related to product/packaging combinations. This publication addresses the data sources, calculation methods, system boundaries and tools that are involved in the life cycle assessment for product/packaging combinations. It aims at showing how the outcomes of assessment vary with these aspects. The case study is used to illustrate the results.


In order to explore the possible mechanisms by which ethologically relevant sounds can be extracted from complex auditory environments, this study examined the effects of weak noise on the rate-intensity functions (RIFs) of neurons responding to tone burst in the inferior colliculus (IC) of nine mice (Mus musculus Km). Under free field stimuli conditions, a total of 112 IC neurons were recorded. RIFs with and without simultaneous presentation of weak noise, of which the intensity was relative to 5 dB below minimum threshold of tone burst, were measured in 44 IC neurons. By means of evaluating the changes of dynamic range (DR), slope of RIFs, and percent inhibition at different tone burst intensities evoked by the weak noise, three types of variations in RIFs were observed, i. e., inhibition (39/44, 88.6%), facilitation (2/44, 4.6%), and no effectiveness (3/44, 6.8%). Statistical analysis indicated that only inhibitory effect of weak noise was significant (P< 0.001, n = 39). The inhibitory effect of weak noise was greater at lower stimulus intensity of tone burst but decreased significantly with increased stimulus intensity (P< 0.0001, n = 39). In addition, the DR and slope of RIFs became narrower and steeper with weak noise presentation, respectively (P< 0.01, n = 31). The results from the present study suggest that weak noise exerts a dynamic modulatory action on acoustical intensity sensitivity of IC neurons, which possibly leads to a better understanding of neural mechanisms underlying the extraction of sound signals from natural auditory scenes.


Shrimp is one major commodities in industry fisheries with high economic value and market (high demand product). Shrimp is associated to issues of disease, one of which caused by bacteria. The amount of bacteria that attack shrimp is variable, depending on the cultivation. This research aims to understand the number and type of dominant pathogenic bacteria based on the system of extensive and intensive cultivation as well as to compare the number of pathogenic bacteria on both fishponds. The methods used in this research was comparative method by t-test of two independent samples. Samples were collected from two types of aquaculture: intensive and extensive. Three ponds were selected from each type of activity and 10 shrimps were collected from each of the selected pond as samples. The total samples collected were 60 shrimps. The observed parameters were the types of bacteria that exist in the digestive tract. The results show that the most common pathogenic bacteria are found in intensive cultivation. Intensive ponds have the number of bacteria of Mycobacterium sp. at 12 isolates, Clostridium sp. at 28 isolates, Flavobacterium sp. at 21 isolates, Acinetobacter sp. at 18 isolates, Vibrio sp. at 16 isolates, Pseudomonas sp. at 14 isolates, Bacillus sp. at 28 isolates, and Staphylococcus sp. at 9 isolates. Meanwhile, extensive ponds have the number of Mycobacterium sp. at 10 isolates, Clostridium sp. at 12 isolates, Flavobacterium sp. at 15 isolates, Acinetobacter sp. at 18 isolates, Vibrio sp. at 17 isolates, Pseudomonas sp. at 13 isolates, Bacillus sp. at 37 isolates, and Staphylococcus sp. at 18 isolates.