Stress-induced dopaminergic (DAergic) neuronal death in the midbrain region is the primary cause of Parkinson's disease (PD). From the discovery of L-dopa, multiple drugs were discovered to improve lifestyle of PD patients, but they failed due to their multiple side effects. Tinospora cordifolia (Tc), a medicinal herb has been used in traditional medicines to treat neurodegenerative diseases. In our previous study, the neuroprotective role of Tc against MPTP intoxicated Parkinsonian mice was reported. Here, we further explore the neuroprotective molecular mechanisms of Tc in Rotenone (ROT) intoxicated mouse model through proteomics approach. Mice were pretreated with Tc extract by oral administration, followed by ROT-intoxication. Behavioral tests were performed to check motor functions of mice. Protein was isolated, and label free quantification (LFQ) was carried out to identify differentially expressed protein (DEPs) in control vs. PD and PD vs. treatment group. In this study, we report 800 DEPs in control vs. PD and 133 in PD vs. Treatment group. In silico tools clearly demonstrate significant enrichment of biochemical and molecular pathways with DEPs which are known to be important for PD progression including mitochondrial gene expression, PD pathways, TGF-β signaling, Alzheimer's disease etc. This results were further validated by qRT-PCR and found that the expression of target gene were identical to the proteomics data. This study provides a novel insight for the disease progression as well new therapeutic tagets. More importantly, it demonstrates that Tc exerts the therapeutic effects through the regulation of multiple pathways to protect DAergic neurons.


Invoking a broad catalog of applicable Bahá'í principles, this paper presents the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of a Bahá'í approach to economic growth and disparity and then maps these concepts onto an applied framework of economic rights and responsibilities. The framework that emerges thus both conceptualizes the underlying virtues that govern economic prosperity in a Bahá'í model and shows how these principles might lead to normative prescriptions for economic rights and responsibilities. The paper concludes that the Bahá'í principles dealing with economic prosperity expand the theory and practice of economic justice and give rise to individual and institutional rights and responsibilities that go beyond the imperatives of conventional models of welfare.


In order to precise the hormonal pattern of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) at its state phase, we assessed serum estradiol (E2), triiodothyronine (T3), LH and FSH, the maximum increments of their response to 100 microgram LHRH (delta LH and delta FSH) and the ratio of these increments (delta LH/delta FSH). These data were compared with those obtained in 10 normal women assessed at the early follicular phase (Student's test). Furthermore in 20 cases, we assessed LH and FSH during 5 days after a 20 mg IV injection of PREMARIN. E2, T3, LH and FSH are often decreased in AN. On the average, this decrease is very significant for the 3 first ones (p less than 0.001), and slightly significant for FSH (p less than 0,05). The LHRH-response is variable, with an inversion of the LH/FSH ratio as before the puberty in 56% of the cases. On the average, FSH-response is increased (p less than 0,05), and LH-response is normal. The response is delayed for the both gonadotropins. After PREMARIN, the 2 gonadotropins rarely clearly decrease (twice for LH and 5 times for FSH). There is a LH peak only in 3 cases. In order to specify the origin of these anomalies, we searched correlations between 11 hormonal data and some somatic parameters : weight, time, menstrual antecedents. We found 26 statistically significant correlations (12 times p less than 0,05- 5 times p less than 0,001- 9 times p less than 0,001). The following correlations are significant : E2 and LH, E2 and the maximal decrease of LH after PREMARIN (negative correlation), T3 and FSH, delta LH, and delta FSH, duration of the amenorrhea and T3, FSH and delta FSH, the weight and delta LH, the weight and delta LH/delta FSH, weight/height and delta LH/delta FSH, the menstrual antecedents and FSH. So, somatic factors strongly influence the hormonal pattern at the AN-state phase. The weight-decrease, the T3-decrease, and above all the E2-decrease which is independent of the previous ones seem to be the determining elements of the AN-hormonal pattern at this phase.


D-amino acid oxidase (DAO) is a flavoenzyme catalyzing the oxidation of D-amino acid (AA)s. In the kidney, its expression is detected in proximal tubules, and DAO is considered to play a role in the conversion of D-form AAs to α-keto acids. LLC-PK1 cells, a pig renal proximal tubule cell line, were used to elucidate the regulation of DAO protein synthesis and degradation. In this study, we showed that trypsinization of LLC-PK1 cells in culture system rapidly reduced the intracellular DAO protein level to approximately 33.9% of that before treatment, even within 30 min. Furthermore, we observed that the DAO protein level was decreased when LLC-PK1 cells were subjected to AA starvation. To determine the degradation pathway, we treated the cells with chloroquine and MG132. DAO degradation was found to be inhibited by chloroquine, but not by MG132 treatment. We next examined whether or not DAO was degraded by autophagy. We found that AA starvation led to an increased accumulation of LC3-II, suggesting that DAO protein is degraded by autophagy due to AA starvation conditions. Furthermore, treatment with cycloheximide inhibited DAO protein degradation. Taken together, DAO protein is degraded by autophagy under starvation. The present study revealed the potential dynamics of DAO correlated with renal pathophysiology.


ABSTRACT Introduction: The important role of MYC in tumorigenesis makes it particularly important to design MYC modulators. Over the past decade, researchers have raised a number of strategies for designing MYC modulators, some of which are already in clinical trials. This paper aims to review the patents of MYC modulators. Areas covered: The important biological relevance of c-MYC and the regulation pathways related to c-MYC are briefly introduced. Base on that, the MYC modulators reported in published patents and references primarily for cancer treatment are outlined, highlighting the structures and biological activities. Expert opinion: There has been a growing awareness of finding and designing MYC modulators as novel anticancer drugs over recent years. Patents involving the discovery, synthesis, and application of MYC modulators are particularly important for further development in this field. Although finding direct MYC inhibitors or binders is challenging, MYC cannot be simply defined as an undruggable target. There is still substantial evidence proving the concept that MYC modulators can benefit to the treatment of both human hematological malignancies and solid tumors. More efforts should be taken to improve the activity and specificity of MYC modulators.


The young woman was walking to 1 't'he mailbox for the umpteenth time, strolling down her driveway with Jenny, her pet Jenday Conure on her shoulder. Suddenly, there was a loud roar from the street and the parrot took off at full speed right into the side of a large delivery truck. The woman rushed to the pavement where Jenny lay motionless. Panic stricken and weeping, she believed her pet was dead. In tears, she buried it. Checking the nest box, one breeder discovered the two-week-old Redfronted Kakariki babies cold, dirty, unfed and apparently dead. As the remains of the box were being scraped into the trash can, the keeper happened to look down and see a leg clinch. Scooping up the failing chick, it was fed a drop of electrolyte every hour for 24 hours and brought literally back to life! Physical mishap and heat loss are just two of the many instances which may cause our pets or breeder birds to go into shock - one of the body's ways of preparing for death. In fact, avian species have such an active shock mechanism that sometimes a bird literally seems to "give up on life'.' Canaries, for example, are noted for going into shock or heart failure when netted and held for toenail clipping. The message of this report is don't give up hope. Begin treatment of your pet immediately and sustain your efforts until well after you are convinced the bird has truly died. Tens if not hundreds of our domesticated feathered friends can be saved each year in this country by such endeavors! My pet Sun Conure was a feisty twoyear-ol d who always loved to fly around the bird room in the store and coax some of the larger parrots into screaming matches. One day, I noticed him just out of reach of "Rebel", a large male imported African Grey Parrot. The next instant, the Sun's teasing screeches were cut short and I turned to see him flutter to the floor. He wobbled once and fell off the sand box into the aisle. I reached him just in time to see his eyes roll up in their sockets. He went limp. A telltale loss of feathers showed where the Grey had reached over and bit the conure through the neck. Shock took hold and I believed he had died. I bundled him up in a towel with his head out and rocked him, gently stroked his head, talked in his ear. No response, eyes shut, heart beat and breathing were not noticeable. I went to the bathroom and got one drop of lukewarm water to put in his lower mandible. Still no reaction. "Come on, baby. Come back to me," I urged. Four minutes went by. Abruptly, the pet Sun Conure came to with a screech. He bit my finger very hard and bolted from the towel in flight. Though there was blood seeping from his nostrils, when I recovered him he was out of shock. He had obviously lost all track of time between being bit and coming awake. (Incidentally, we ended up treating the internal bleeding with an emergency medicine prepared by a local herbalist in weak tea form for normal treatment of bleeding ulcers. The pet Sun was fine in a few days). As I look back, the most dangerous time was when this parrot was still in shock. His circulation and body functions had shut down to the barest minimum. Dr. Chuck Galvin, an experienced avian vet with Veterinary Hospital of Ignacio, California, explained that shock is a general term for the physical state brought on by many different factors: trauma such as a cat attack or flying into a window pane, emotional stress such as a stranger handling a pet or a hand gripping finches, anemia due to blood loss or malnutrition, infections and the toxic state they create inside the body, and thermal loss due to cold. "We treated an eclectus parrot that flew away and ended up in a cold stream," Galvin remembered. "It was unconscious and in shock. We gave it warmth and put it in a padded area in case it thrashed when it awoke. It took over half an hour to return to normal." It is important for bird owners to not panic and to treat shock carefully, Dr. Galvin emphasized. Place the bird in a warm (about 85°F), quiet place. To do the least is sometimes the smartest. Do not be in a hurry to rush the bird off to the vet.


Concerns about fiscal imbalances in Europe and the United States have led to intense debates about whether governments should dramatically cut spending or increase taxes to reduce government debt — a course of action often called fiscal "austerity." But is austerity likely to hurt economic growth? That question has not been definitively answered — but even if austerity is costly in the short run, it may provide long-run benefits.


Introduction and objectives Randomised controlled trials of vitamin D to prevent acute respiratory infection have yielded mixed results. We conducted an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis to identify factors that may explain this heterogeneity. Methods We performed an IPD meta-analysis of 25 trials of vitamin D supplementation with incidence of acute respiratory infection as a pre-specified outcome (total 11,321 participants, aged 0 to 95 years). We used one-step logistic regression with random effects adjusting for age, sex, study duration and clustering by study. Pre-specified sub-group analyses were done to determine whether effects of vitamin D on risk of acute respiratory infection varied according to baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentration or dosing regimen. Results IPD were obtained for 10,933/11,321 (96.6%) participants. Vitamin D supplementation reduced risk of acute respiratory infection among all participants (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81 to 0.96, P = 0.003; P for heterogeneity < 0.001). Sub-group analysis revealed a strong protective effect among individuals with baseline 25(OH) D < 25 nmol/L (aOR 0.62, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.83, P = 0.002), not seen among those with higher levels (aOR 0.91, 95% CI: 0.78 to 1.05; Pinteraction = 0.01). A protective effect was also seen in individuals receiving daily or weekly vitamin D without additional bolus doses (aOR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.91, P < 0.001), but not in those receiving one or more bolus doses (aOR 0.97, 95% CI: 0.86 to 1.10, Pinteraction = 0.05). Vitamin D did not influence the proportion of participants experiencing at least one serious adverse event (aOR 0.98, 95% CI: 0.80 to 1.20, P = 0.83). The body of evidence contributing to these analyses was assessed as being of high quality. Conclusions Vitamin D supplementation was safe, and it protected against acute respiratory infection overall. Very deficient individuals and those not receiving bolus doses experienced the most benefit.


Background: The objective of this study was to detect the urinary level of dimethoate, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), and bisphenol A (BPA) in the first-year Hohai University students of different geographic origins.Methods: First-morning urine samples were collected from 540 healthy freshmen aged 17 to 19. Toxin levels were measured using β-glucuronidase hydrolysis followed by a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based method. Geometric means (GM) are presented by BMI (Body Mass Index) and different locations for these three toxins in a volume-based and creatinine-standardized way.Results: GM concentration of dimethoate, BPA and BaP were 9.47 µg/L (10.80 µg/g creatinine), 3.54 µg/L (4.04 µg/g creatinine) and 0.34 ng/L (0.39 ng/g creatinine), respectively. The GM concentration of dimethoate in males was significantly higher than that in females. The BMI higher than 23.9 had a higher GM concentration of dimethoate, BPA, and BaP. The inhabitant in the Southwest of China had a significantly lower GM concentration of dimethoate, BPA, and BaP than those who live in other locations of China.Conclusion: The average level of environmental toxins accumulation in freshmen is relatively high and differs in the youth who live in different regions. Besides, obesity is correlated to higher toxins levels in youth.


Abstract The paper presents basic guidelines on developing a flexible modeling complex for operator support systems of a nuclear power plant unit with the VVER-type (water-moderator / water-coolant) reactor, as well as models of calculating the dynamics of neutron and physical processes of the VVER-1000 (1000 megawatt) reactor in order of application within the flexible modeling complex (FMC).


Surface roughness can reduce the performance of a system of fluid mechanics due to an increase in frictional resistance. The ship hull, which is overgrown by biofouling, experiences a drag penalty which causes energy wastage and increased emission levels. The phenomenon of fluid flow that passes over a rough surface still has many questions, one of which is the phenomenon of frictional resistance on heterogeneous roughness in the streamwise direction. In the ship hull, biofouling generally grows heterogeneous along the hull with many factors. RANSE-based Computational Fluid Dynamics was used to investigate the friction resistance for heterogeneous roughness phenomenon. The modified wall-function method represented equivalent sand grain roughness (ks) and a roughness function were applied together with k-epsilon turbulence model to simulate rough wall turbulent boundary layer flow. As the heterogeneous roughness, three different ks values were denoted as P (ks = 81.25 μm), Q (ks = 325.00 μm) and R (ks = 568.75 μm), and they are arranged by all possible combinations. The combined roughness, whether homogeneous (PPP, QQQ, or RRR) and inhomogeneous (PQR, PRQ, QPR, etc.), results in unique skin friction values. The step-change in the height of the heterogeneous roughness produced a sudden change in the local skin friction coefficient in the form of overshoot or undershoot, followed by a relaxation where the inhomogeneous local skin friction is slowly returning to the homogeneous local one, which was explained in more detail by plotting the distribution of the mean velocity profile near the step-up or step-down. The order of roughness arrangement in a streamwise heterogenous roughness pattern plays a key role in generating overall skin friction with values increasing in the following order: PQR < PRQ < QPR < QRP < RPQ < RQP. Those inhomogeneous cases with three different values of ks can be represented by a single value (being like homogeneous) by the calculations provided in this paper.


his article intends to reflect upon the influence of Marxist ideas over Vygotsky and, consequently, over his production. It also hopes to support a better comprehension of the historical-cultural perspective, concerning: method of investigation of reality, psychological development, constitution of men and levels of development postulated by them.


BACKGROUND: Many acne patients improve after exposure to sunlight and there are many reports about the efficacy of blue light phototherapy on acne lesions. OBJECTIVES - The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of blue light treatment versus topical benzoyl peroxide 5% formulation in patients with acne grades II and III. METHODS - Sixty volunteers with facial acne were included and evaluated in 5 visits: the first one for screening, another 3 held on days 7, 14 and 28 of treatment, and the last one after 14 days of the end of treatment. Thirty of them were irradiated with Blue Light (8 times, twice a week) and the other thirty were treated with topical Benzoyl Peroxide 5% formulation, auto-applied twice a day, every day. We assessed the severity of acne by counting the lesions and analyzing the photographs. RESULTS - The improvement achieved by the blue light was the same as the one with benzoyl peroxide, regardless of the type of lesion (p 0.05). Otherwise, the side effects were less frequent in the group treated with blue light. CONCLUSIONS - Blue light irradiation was as effective as Benzoyl Peroxide in acne treatment grades II and III but there were fewer side effects.


Today, in addition to the traditional unpaid labour required for maintaining a household, which involves growing food and securing water and fuel supplies, women increasingly take on paid work outside the home to augment personal and family income. The world over, these dual responsibilities respectively termed "reproductive" and "productive" by social scientists always play a vital role in human economic activity. Although women as workers have traditionally been regarded as dependent adjuncts of their husbands, partners on closet male kin, the rapid influx of women into labour markets worldwide over the past three decades has become a key factor in the growing independence of women, economically, socially and legally. Increasingly too, their 'household' work, long taken for granted, is being acknowledged as a central contribution to society's wealth.


We consider a team of heterogeneous robots, which are deployed within a common workspace to gather different types of data. The robots have different roles due to different capabilities: some gather data from the workspace (source robots) and others receive data from source robots and upload them to a data center (relay robots). The data-gathering tasks are specified locally to each source robot as high-level linear temporal logic formulas, which capture the different types of data that need to be gathered at different regions of interest. All robots have a limited buffer to store the data. Thus, the data gathered by source robots should be transferred to relay robots before their buffers overflow, respecting at the same time a limited communication range for all robots. The main contribution of this work is a distributed motion coordination and intermittent communication scheme that guarantees the satisfaction of all local tasks, while obeying the above constraints. The robot motion and interrobot communication are closely coupled and coordinated during runtime by scheduling intermittent meeting events to facilitate the local plan execution. We present both numerical simulations and experimental studies to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method over existing approaches that predominantly require all-time network connectivity.


Hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons act to sense and coordinate the brain's responses to metabolic cues. One neuronal network that is very sensitive to metabolic status is that controlling fertility. In this study, we investigated the impact of neuropeptides released by NPY and POMC neurons on the cellular excitability of GnRH neurons, the final output cells of the brain controlling fertility. The majority (∼70%) of GnRH neurons were activated by α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and this resulted from the direct postsynaptic activation of melanocortin receptor 3 and melanocortin receptor 4. A small population of GnRH neurons (∼15%) was excited by cocaine and amphetamine-regulated transcript or inhibited by β-endorphin. Agouti-related peptide, released by NPY neurons, was found to have variable inhibitory (∼10%) and stimulatory (∼25%) effects upon subpopulations of GnRH neurons. A variety of NPY and pancreatic polypeptide analogs was used to examine potential NPY interactions with GnRH neurons. Although porcine NPY (Y1/Y2/Y5 agonist) directly inhibited the firing of approximately 45% of GnRH neurons, [Leu(31),Pro(34)]-NPY (Y1/Y4/Y5 agonist) could excite (56%) or inhibit (19%). Experiments with further agonists indicated that Y1 receptors were responsible for suppressing GnRH neuron activity, whereas postsynaptic Y4 receptors were stimulatory. These results show that the activity of GnRH neurons is regulated in a complex manner by neuropeptides released by POMC and NPY neurons. This provides a direct route through which different metabolic cues can regulate fertility.


Abstract Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease, is endemic and widespread in Wisconsin. Research in the northeastern United States has revealed a positive association between Babesia microti, the main pathogen that causes babesiosis in humans, and Bo. burgdorferi in humans and in ticks. This study was conducted to examine associations between the disease agents in the Upper midwestern United States. Ixodes scapularis Say nymphs (N = 2,858) collected between 2015 and 2017 from nine locations in Wisconsin were tested for Babesia spp. and Borrelia spp. using real-time PCR.Two species of Babesia were detected; Ba. microti and Babesia odocoilei (a parasite of members of the family Cervidae). Prevalence of infection at the nine locations ranged from 0 to 13% for Ba. microti, 11 to 31% for Bo. burgdorferi sensu stricto, and 5.7 to 26% for Ba. odocoilei. Coinfection of nymphs with Bo. burgdorferi and Ba. odocoilei was detected in eight of the nine locations and significant positive associations were observed in two of the eight locations.The prevalence of nymphal coinfection with both and Bo. burgdorferi and Ba. microti ranged from 0.81 to 6.5%. These two pathogens were significantly positively associated in one of the five locations where both pathogens were detected. In the other four locations, the observed prevalence of coinfection was higher than expected in all but one site-year. Clinics and healthcare providers should be aware of the association between Ba. microti and Bo. burgdorferi pathogens when treating patients who report tick bites.


Transferrin (Tf) is required for proliferation of most cells, because cellular iron uptake is mainly mediated by binding of Tf to its specific cell surface receptors (TfR). The acute-phase protein alpha 1-antitrypsin (alpha 1-AT) completely inhibits binding of diferric Tf to TfRs on human skin fibroblasts in a dose-dependent fashion. The inhibition is competitive as proved in equilibrium saturation binding and kinetic studies. In saturation binding experiments alpha 1-AT apparently increased the dissociation constant (KD), but did not change the maximal density of binding sites (Bmax). As shown in kinetic studies, this reduction of the affinity of Tf to its receptor caused by alpha 1-AT was due to a decrease of the association rate constant (k + 1), whereas the dissociation rate constant (k - 1) remained unchanged. Furthermore, alpha 1-AT almost completely prevented internalization of the Tf-TfR complex. These interactions demonstrated biological implication, as alpha 1-AT reduced the proliferation of human fibroblasts up to maximal 30% of control. The inhibitory potency of alpha 1-AT was already seen in physiologic concentrations; the maximal effect, however, was achieved at concentrations above the normal range, which are attained in the course of inflammation and infection. Therefore, we suppose that alpha 1-AT as an endogenous factor modulates the complex mechanism of fibrogenesis not only by its known antiproteolytic function but also by inhibiting the proliferation of fibroblasts.


Background and aim: In our study we aimed to compare laparoscopic intracorporeal knotting technique (base of the appendix was ligated with 20 cm of 2.0 silk) in patients with complicated acute appendicitis (CAA) and noncomplicated acute appendicitis. Patients and methods: Ninety patients (female/male: 40/50, age ranging from 16 to 60 years, median age and interquartile range [IQR]: 25 [20; 32] years) who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy were included in the study. The patients were evaluated for the type of acute appendicitis, duration of operation, duration of hospital stay, and postoperative complications. Results: The number of cases diagnosed as CAA was 28 (31.1%), and the number of noncomplicated cases was 62 (68.9%). We found that there was no significant difference in postoperative complication rates between complicated and noncomplicated appendicitis cases. Incision site infection was seen in seven cases (7.8%) and ileus was seen in two cases (2.2%). Bleeding, intra-abdominal abscess, and appendix stump leakage were not observed in any of the cases. Median and IQR duration of operation were 42 (35; 52) minutes and median and IQR duration of hospital stay were detected as 2 (1; 2) (range 1–10) days. Conclusion: Laparoscopic intracorporeal knotting technique may be a safe, effective, and reliable technique as the materials needed for closing the appendix stumps are easily available for both CAA cases and noncomplicated cases. compare laparoscopic intracorporeal knotting technique (LIKT) in patients with complicated acute appendicitis (CAA) and noncomplicated acute appendicitis (NCAA).


This article concerns a security system which enables the detection of undesirable agents, intruders in a multi_agent system. The intruders are identi_ed on the basis of their behavior which is determined by actions they undertook. The process of behavior evaluation is distributed _ each agent makes autonomous behavior evaluation of other agents. In order to distinguish if an agent is good or bad (an intruder), results of behavior evaluations of this agent have to be collected and processed. The problem of collecting and processing of the results of distributed behavior evaluation is the main topic of this article. The conception of storing agents' behavior evaluation results obtained during earlier periods of time is presented. The decision about an agent is undertaken on the basis of the analysis of the gathered results of his behavior evaluation.


Image segmentation is an important tool in image processing and can serve as an efficient front end to sophisticated algorithms. In this paper we present a noise tolerant color image segmentation using pixel wise support vector machine classification(SVM).Firstly the pixel level color feature and texture feature of the image ,which is used as input of SVM model (classifier) are extracted through the local homogeneity model and gabor filter. Then the SVM model (classifier) is trained by using PFCM which works efficiently even for noisy images with the extracted pixel level features. Finally the color image is segmented with the trained SVM model (classifier).Experimental evidence shows that the proposed method has a very effective segmentation results and computational behavior. The clustering techniques for color image segmentation using FCM and PFCM are being analyzed. The objective of this paper is to compare the clustering techniques for color images using peak –signal to noise ratio (PSNR), Accuracy, convergence rate, specificity and sensitivity.


[1] AGU Chapman Conference on Atmospheric Gravity Waves and Their Effects on General Circulation and Climate; Honolulu, Hawaii, 28 February to 4 March 2011; Atmospheric gravity waves account for a significant fraction of the observed variability in the atmosphere with periods from tens of minutes to tens of hours. The wind and temperature variances associated with high-frequency gravity waves are generally observed to increase with height from near the ground up to the lower thermosphere, and studies of gravity waves in the upper atmosphere have been a staple of middle and upper atmospheric dynamics for many years. Gravity waves act to exchange mean horizontal momentum between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere and among different layers of the atmosphere, and so they play a role in forcing global-scale atmospheric circulation. Recent work on dynamical coupling of the troposphere with the middle atmosphere has made it clear that gravity waves have a significant influence on the general circulation even in the lower atmosphere, and so global climate simulation models need to adequately treat the effects of atmospheric gravity waves that are not explicitly resolved.


The current study was aimed to compare the susceptibility to deltamethrin in female adult Anopheles gambiae s.l. from Dogbo district with their F1 progeny susceptibility in South-Western Benin, West Africa. Larvae and pupae of Anopheles gambiae s.l. populations were collected from the breeding sites in Couffo department in 2020 and reared up for obtaining F1 progeny. Female adult An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes were also collected from window traps put on windows of rooms in Dogbo district surveyed. An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes were collected from March to July and August to November 2020 during the rainy season in the locations of Ayomi, Dévé, Honton, Lokogohoué, Madjrè and Totchangni. Female adult An. gambiae species collected from window traps were morphologically identified using morphological keys and then transferred into mosquito cages for WHO bioassays performed with impregnated papers of deltamethrin (0.05%). WHO bioassays were also performed with F1 progeny. The physiological age of female adult An. gambiae s.l. collected from window traps was determined through dissection using Detinova method. The results showed that the mortality rates recorded with female adult An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes collected from window traps were higher than those obtained with their F1 progeny An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes obtained after reproduction of parent mosquitoes. The current study clearly shows that changes in mosquito physiology occur with senescence.


The investigation of the rotating stall phenomenon appearing in the HYDRODYNA pump-turbine reduced scale model is carried out by performing a large-scale large eddy simulation (LES) computation using a mesh featuring approximately 85 x 10(6) elements. The internal flow is computed for the pump-turbine operated at 76% of the best efficiency point (BEP) in pumping mode, for which previous experimental research evidenced four rotating stall cells. To achieve an adequate resolution near the wall, the Reynolds number is decreased by a factor of 25 than that of the experiment, by assuming that the flow of our interest is not strongly affected by the Reynolds number. The computations are performed on the supercomputer PRIMEHPC FX10 of the University of Tokyo using the overset finite-element open source code FrontFlow/blue with the dynamic Smagorinsky turbulence model. It is shown that the rotating stall phenomenon is accurately simulated using the LES approach. The results show an excellent agreement with available experimental data from the reduced scale model tested at the EPFL Laboratory for hydraulic machines. The number of stall cells as well as the propagation speed agree well with the experiment. Detailed investigations on the computed flow fields have clarified the propagation mechanism of the stall cells.


Electromyographic (EMG) activity of the leg muscles and the ground reaction forces were recorded in 17 elite male middle-distance runners, who performed isometric maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) as well as running at different speeds. Electromyograms were recorded from the gluteus maximus, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior. The results indicated that the averaged EMG (aEMG) activities of all the muscles studied increased (P < 0.05) with increasing running speed, especially in the pre-contact and braking phases. At higher speeds, the aEMG activities of the gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris and gluteus maximus exceeded 100% MVC in these same phases. These results suggest that maximal voluntary contractions cannot be used as an indicator of the full activation potential of human skeletal muscle. Furthermore, the present results suggest that increased pre-contact EMG potentiates the functional role of stretch reflexes, which subsequently increases tendomuscular stiffness and enhances force production in the braking and/or propulsive phases in running. Furthermore, a more powerful force production in the optimal direction for increasing running speed effectively requires increased EMG activity of the two-joint muscles (biceps femoris, rectus femoris and gastrocnemius) during the entire running cycle.


The research investigates how the major character conflict occurs to get his love in Nora Robert's "Table for Two". The study analyzes the novel in terms of its structural elements and based on the individual psychological approach.  Structural elements of novel is character and characterization, setting, plot, point of view, style, and theme. The object of the study is the personality of the major character of Summer Lyndon. The data sources are literary data. Those are divided in two categories,  primary data sources and secondary data sources. The primary data source is the novel it self. The secondary data some to are books and other sources which support the researcher in analyzing this research. The method of data collection of the study is library research. The technique of data analysis is descriptive analysis. Structural elements of novel is character and characterization, setting, plot, point of view, style, and theme. By adler's Psychological approach is individual psychology is some that attemps to understand to exsperiences and behavior of  each person as an organized entity. The outcome of the study shows that the conflict for getting love can change the personality. It is reflected in the major character's personality when she wants to get her love again from her boyfriend. Item Type: Karya ilmiah (Skripsi) Uncontrolled


Abstract This paper consists of two parts. Part I, dealing with the first half of the twentieth century, begins with some introductory words on the pre-eminence of German accounting research during the first half of the twentieth century, and offers a survey of the most important theories of accounts classes that prevailed during the first two decades or longer. Following World War I, the issue of hyperinflation in Austria and Germany stimulated a considerable amount of original accounting research. Afterwards, a series of competing Bilanztheorien (accounting or balance sheet theories), discussed in the text, dominated the scene. Separate sections or sub-sections are devoted to charts and master-charts of accounts in German accounting theory, as well as to cost accounting and the writing of accounting history. Part II offers a survey of the second half of the twentieth century (occasionally with comparisons to research in the English language literature). Dynamic accounting, developed during the first half of the twentieth century, became the basis of a pagatoric (cash-based) accounting theory. In the 1970s and early 1980s relatively little attention was paid to inflation accounting, apart from research in capital maintenance. Accounting theories shifted towards the present value approach, and empirical studies began in the early 1960s and gathered momentum in the last two decades of the century. German accounting legislation was strongly influenced by the dominance of codified law, and by the standardization attempts within the European Economic Community. Consolidated statement presentation and auditing research also became prominent, while cost and managerial accounting continued to be major research areas. Competing costing approaches dominated the field, often based on production theoretical concepts. Marginal costing (occasionally together with mathematical programming) was further developed and a closer connection between cost accounting and investment theory was established. The introduction of information theory (and the closely related agency theory) into the German literature greatly influenced recent German accounting research. Historical research was, in contrast to the first half of the century, of minor importance.


A total of twenty four maize genotypes comprising nine inbreds, six open pollinated, four synthetic and five hybrids were tested for tolerance to artificial infestation of Striga asiatica using seeds of the pest as inoculum source. Yields varied directly with tolerance level and reduction in plant height was observed with increase in age of the maize plants between 8 and 10 weeks after planting in most of the genotypes. Although, stem girth was not significantly different under striga infestation, plant height and leaf-area at 8 - 10 weeks were significantly different in the infested maize plants. Striga emergence counts was significant with marked effect on yield, while Striga damage rating ranged between two and four in tolerant genotypes and between five to nine among susceptible ones. Two inbreds (EV8485-Y and EV8725-100-2) STR, one hybrid (9044-27-Y) and one synthetic (NEW STR-1-W) were found to be tolerant to Striga asiatica . The tolerant maize genotypes may be desirable for introduction to S. asiatica endemic regions of Southern Guinea Savanna. Key words: Maize genotype; artificial infestation; Striga asiatica, tolerance level Moor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol.4(2) 2003: 210-217


Explores the theology behind the absolute nature of the Sanctity of Life Doctrine, and challenges the doctrine's rigid stance. Presents theological principles that support a sanctity of death ethic. Discusses a hypothetical case to demonstrate how those principles can impact pastoral care


The progress of nanotechnology has encouraged scientists to continuously pursue new electrode materials for forming improved electrochemical platforms for sensing. In this study, an environmentally friendly reducing agent and optimum time were utilized to synthesize solvothermal-assisted reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) that can be easily exfoliated in a coating solution and substituted on the microelectrode surface. Series connected distributed sensing electrodes were fabricated and patterned with TRGO decorated platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs), chitosan–enzyme composites, and Nafion, which were integrated onto the modified surface for effective glucose detection. The developed biosensor demonstrated good current response to glucose with a high sensitivity, short response time, and low detection limit of 41.18 μA mM−1 cm−2, 5 s, and 0.0019 mM, respectively. The interference phenomena, reproducibility and the durability of the biosensor, were also examined. In addition, glucose levels in human urine were tested for a practical assessment of the proposed biosensor, and the results indicate that the sensor had superior urine glucose recognition. These results reveal that this noble nanostructured electrode with high surface area and electrocatalytic activity offers great promise for use in enzymatic biosensor applications.


This article presents and overviews the CHIMERA program package, which provides a user‐friendly graphical interface between quantum chemistry and chemical kinetics programs. CHIMERA facilitates calculations of rate constants for gas‐phase reactions using transition state and Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus theories. The program includes computational modules for simulation of gas‐phase kinetics using simplified reactor models and for computation of chemical equilibria. The review includes a description of the theory implemented in the code, the program description, the general strategy of calculations using CHIMERA, and illustrative examples of the program application. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 14: 1375–1389, 2002


Background Social determinants of health (SDoH), such as geographic neighborhoods, access to health care, education, and social structure, are important factors affecting people's health and health outcomes. The SDoH of patients are scarcely documented in a discrete format in electronic health records (EHRs) but are often available in free-text clinical narratives such as physician notes. Innovative methods like natural language processing (NLP) are being developed to identify and extract SDoH from EHRs, but it is imperative that the input of key stakeholders is included as NLP systems are designed. Objective This study aims to understand the feasibility, challenges, and benefits of developing an NLP system to uncover SDoH from clinical narratives by conducting interviews with key stakeholders: (1) oncologists, (2) data analysts, (3) citizen scientists, and (4) patient navigators. Methods Individuals who frequently work with SDoH data were invited to participate in semistructured interviews. All interviews were recorded and subsequently transcribed. After coding transcripts and developing a codebook, the constant comparative method was used to generate themes. Results A total of 16 participants were interviewed (5 data analysts, 4 patient navigators, 4 physicians, and 3 citizen scientists). Three main themes emerged, accompanied by subthemes. The first theme, importance and approaches to obtaining SDoH, describes how every participant (n=16, 100%) regarded SDoH as important. In particular, proximity to the hospital and income levels were frequently relied upon. Communication about SDoH typically occurs during the initial conversation with the oncologist, but more personal information is often acquired by patient navigators. The second theme, SDoH exists in numerous forms, exemplified how SDoH arises during informal communication and can be difficult to enter into the EHR. The final theme, incorporating SDoH into health services research, addresses how more informed SDoH can be collected. One strategy is to empower patients so they are aware about the importance of SDoH, as well as employing NLP techniques to make narrative data available in a discrete format, which can provide oncologists with actionable data summaries. Conclusions Extracting SDoH from EHRs was considered valuable and necessary, but obstacles such as narrative data format can make the process difficult. NLP can be a potential solution, but as the technology is developed, it is important to consider how key stakeholders document SDoH, apply the NLP systems, and use the extracted SDoH in health outcome studies.


Artefacts are induced during the preparation of specimens for electron microscopic characterization. The present work is a study of the artefacts induced on worn surfaces and wear debris specimens of AA6061-B4C-Gr hybrid composites. The worn surfaces are prepared using routines such as Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling and ion milling. Apart from these routines, a novel trial is made to prepare the worn surface using femtosecond laser machining. The wear debris is pelletized and sectioned using ultramicrotome. In femtosecond laser machining, FIB milling and ion milling operations, melting and re-solidification of ablated debris, re-deposition and melting of sputtered debris and formation of the amorphous layer, respectively are the major artefacts that diminish the accuracy of the inferences made on the microstructural characteristics of the specimen. In ultramicrotomy, knife marks, tearing of sections and absence of wear debris distribution reduce the effectiveness of the routine, making it impossible to derive any substantial inference from the micrographs.


Microalgae are microorganisms which converts sunlight and carbon dioxide to useful biomass. It consists of high-valued contents such as protein, carbohydrates, lipids and pigments which can yield various industrial products: nutraceuticals, animal feeds, and biofuels. Since the Philippines was found to have an abundance of microalgae species due to its tropical climate and archipelagic nature, a strategic multicriteria site selection decision structure must first be established for potential deployment of cultivation and processing locations involving multiple industries. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was utilized to develop the strategic decision structure of the study. A survey from a panel of stakeholders was conducted to identify the prioritization between criteria via pairwise comparison method. The results revealed the preferred regions of the Philippines suitable for an anticipatory microalgal industry. The developed decision structure aims to aid policy makers and stakeholders for the deployment of the emerging industry. Future work involves the consideration of uncertainty of judgment from the panel of stakeholders.


This study investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of chromium from chromium picolinate source on the performance, carcass traits of broilers. Three hundred sixty one day old commercial male broilers (Ross 308) were randomly allocated to one of 24 floor pens in a completely randomized design with six treatment and four replicate groups and fifteen chicks per each pen. Dietary treatments consisted of 0 (control), 400, 800, 1200, 1600 and 2000 μg Cr per kg of basal diet. Feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured during 1 to 21, 21 to 42 and 1 to 42 days of age. At 42 days of age two birds from each pen were selected and after weighing slaughtered and dissected manually. Carcass yield, liver, abdominal fat, pancreas, thighs and breast weight declared as percentage of live body weight. The results showed that performance of broilers was not affected by dietary supplemental chromium. Also supplementation of broiler diet didn't influence carcass traits. Nevertheless there is a non significant increase in liver and pancreas weight while increasing the Cr content of the diet. It can be concluded that chromium content of the basal starter and finisher diet and drinking water is adequate to normal requirement of broilers under such experimental conditions and supplementing of Cr may not be essential.


Surveillance in wide-area spatial environments is characterised by complex spatial layouts, large state space, and the use of multiple cameras/sensors. To solve this problem, there is a need for representing the dynamic and noisy data in the tracking tasks, and dealing with them at different levels of detail. This requirement is particularly suited to the layered dynamic probabilistic network (LDPN), a special type of dynamic probabilistic network. In this paper, we propose the use of LDPN as the integrated framework for tracking in wide-area environments. We illustrate, with the help of a synthetic tracking scenario, how the parameters of the LDPN can be estimated from training data, and then used to draw predictions and answer queries about unseen tracks at various levels of detail.


An experiment was carried out in 2006 to investigate the effects of different irrigation regimes (I1, I2, I3 and I4 for irrigation after 80, 110, 140 and 170 mm evaporation from class A pan, respectively) on ground cover, yield and yield components of four chickpea cultivars (Arman, ILC and Jam from kabuli type and Pirooz from desi type) in the field. In most stages of crop growth and development, the ground cover of ILC under different irrigation regimes was higher than that of the other cultivars. The ground cover of all chickpea cultivars was reduced, as water deficit severity increased. Grain yield and yield components were significantly affected by irrigation regimes. Mean grains per plant, 1000 grain weight and grain yield per unit area for I4 were significantly lower than those for other irrigation regimes, but these traits did not differ significantly among I1, I2 and I3. Thus, irrigation after 140 mm evaporation from class A pan could be a suitable irrigation regime for chickpea cultivars, when water resources are limited. Grains per plant did not differ significantly among chickpea cultivars. In comparison, the largest and the smallest grains were obtained from ILC and Pirooz, respectively. In general, mean 1000 grain weight of kabuli type cultivars was higher than that of desi type cultivar. The superiority of ILC in ground cover and 1000 grain weight resulted in higher grain yield, compared to other cultivars. However, no significant differences in grain yield of Arman, Jam and Pirooz were observed. Interaction of cultivar x irrigation for ground cover, grain weight and grain yield per unit area was not significant, indicating that ILC was a superior cultivar under both well and limited irrigation conditions.


To the Editor. —The articles on drug legalization and prohibition 1 were timely and important. Legalization would save many lives and untold dollars that would be much better spent on treatment. However, nowhere is there any mention of the clinical paradigm of legalization, which might actually be acceptable to voters and their representatives. The American people do not want to see their parks full of drug users, nor do they want their young children exposed to drug taking. A reasonable way to avoid all this would be to have the legalized drugs available only in clinics set in the areas of highest drug use. A dose would be taken only in the presence of staff and not be allowed to be removed from the clinic. The price of drugs would be comparatively inexpensive, and thus put the drug dealers out of business. The cost would be much less than our


Stroke-related sleep disorders (SSD) are common symptoms after stroke, which are common but easily ignored. Studies have shown that sleep disorders in stroke patients would have negative impact on prognosis. However, there is still a lack of consensus and guidance on SSD evaluation and management worldwide. This consensus proposes the concept of SSD based on systemic literature review and discussion with experts. It comprises recommendations of assessment and management for all types of SSD, including insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep apnea, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, restless leg syndrome/periodic limb movements of sleep, circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders. The purpose of this consensus is to provide a standard reference of SSD management.


Information quality reflects the level of the corporation management. In order to assess the information quality, one has to consider different factors in all views. This paper presents an information quality maturity model (IQMM), which grades the information quality maturity into initial level, basic level, repeatable level, quantitative management and optimized level from four different prospective, i.e. human resources, information resources, corporation activities and evaluation parameters. Then, this paper analyses the key activities involved in information management at each level in this model, and finally, based on a corporation in China, this paper evaluate its information quality maturity. The result shows that IQMM can help enterprise to understand their information status, and the information quality level can be used to provide the decision support for the informational programming in corporation.


This article examines the recycling of a colonial memorial to African veterans in Dakar, Senegal. This act of appropriation by the Senegalese government radically transformed the significance of the memorial and reconfigured the city's memoryscape. Whilst the Senegalese government thus reclaimed colonial history as constitutive for the postcolony, it simultaneously underwrote a postcolonial claim for recognition. The article examines this case as indicative for a wider trend to claims for recognition for which recyclia seem to lend themselves par excellence. As objects of mimetic appropriation, colonial memorials can be seen as the objets trouvés of the postcolony.


Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the current state of the use of digital technologies by the categorized hotel accommodation providers in the Municipality of Bar. The concept of SMART tourism and the use of digital technologies in tourism implies networking of tourist content throughout the country towards getting "smart experience" from local community and creating "smart business ecosystem". Hotels at the locations need to take advantage of new technologies and include various business, sociocultural, psychological and educational components. Following was analysed: the quality of the internet presence, the level of networking with the local tourist businesses, the use of logistic innovations in tourism and the intensity of the use of social networks. The goal was to identify the level of current digital recognition and the degree of use of information technologies to point out the unused potential for the development of entrepreneurship in the hotel industry.


Few studies in the field of construction management examine factors affecting large-scale photovoltaic (PV) installation costs. Recently, National Renewable Energy Lab discovered that non-module hardware and non-hardware costs, which mainly take place during the installation phase, account for an increasing percentage of large-scale solar PV project price in the United States. This study conducted interviews with solar PV practitioners representing various business sectors, and performed a time and motion study on large-scale projects to identify key factors that affect PV installation costs. This data enabled the identification and assessment of key factors such as crew sizing, tool/equipment selection, prefabrication and PV module size, which contributed to the design of an analytical tool for the planning of large-scale solar PV projects. 3D computer simulation tools embedded with schedule data (4D simulation tools) are proposed to assist communication and visualization of plans and planning decisions. The analytical tool supports the evaluation of project specific variables which need to be reconciled in the planning process. Lean theory was used in several simulations to test where waste occurs, (such area as material delivery, travel on site, etc.). Techniques used in Lean Production in the AEC Industry and Short Interval Production Schedule are presented to demonstrate the opportunity in optimization of the installation procedure of large-scale PV projects through selection of various module dimensions. An example of application of the analytical tool is presented in which the impact of using large-format PV modules is compared with using normalsized PV modules during on-site installation of a large-scale PV system. The results of this research make contributions in the field of PV design and construction planning that can be built upon to support continued efforts to address the need to reduce the capital costs of PV electricity generation.


Biodiversity is a multifaceted concept that often eludes simple operational definitions. As a result, a variety of definitions have been proposed each with varying levels of complexity and scope. While different definitions of biodiversity exist, the basic unit of measurement for the vast majority of studies is conducted at the species level. Traditional approaches to measuring species richness provide useful, yet spatially constrained information. Remote sensing offers the opportunity for large area characterizations of biodiversity in a systematic, repeatable, and spatially exhaustive manner. Based on this review we examine the potential for a national biodiversity monitoring system for Canada driven by remote sensing, a country approaching 1 billion ha in area, with the aim of producing recommendations that are transferable for regional or continental applications. A combination of direct and indirect approaches is proposed, with four selected key indicators of diversity that can be derived from Earth observation data: productivity, disturbance, topography, and land cover. Monitoring these indicators through time at an ecosystem level has the potential to provide a national early warning system, indicating where areas of potential biodiversity change may be occurring. We believe the large area biodiversity monitoring system as outlined would provide an initial stratification of key areas where regional and local scale analysis can be focused, while also providing context-specific information for species collection data.


The purpose of this work is to implement a novel active radar system for single access point two-dimensional localization system based on 802.11 wireless local-area networks (WLAN). The active radar employes the 802.11 Fine Time Measurement (FTM) Round Trip Time (RTT) as specified in the 2016 update of WIFI Standard to calculate the ranging distance and acquires two channels of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to estimate the azimuthal angle. In this way, real-time two-dimensional localization of Wi-Fi RTT-compatible mobile Internet of Things devices is demonstrated using a single access point operating in the 2.4GHz band. The experimental results performed in anechoic chamber and in a real environment point up a mean positioning error below one meter within a Field of View (FoV) of 60° and distances up to 14 meters, with an acquisition time below 0.5 seconds.


Background: Constipation is one of the most common pediatric disorders, especially in developed population, which categorized to organic or functional (non-organic) constipation. Furthermore, obesity is a growing chronic pediatric problem that could cause any compromise in weight and height. The aim of this study is the evaluation of probable relation between obesity and pediatric functional constipation. Methods: This study was conducted as a case-control investigation on 2-14-years-old children those referred to Baqiyatallah University clinic during 2009-2011. The constipated children with organic causes were excluded. The control group of children was those who had not any disorders affecting on height and weight. Quantitative variables were expressed by mean and standard deviation and the correlation was tested with chi2 through SPSS version 17. Results: A total of 259 children (male 51.7%) consisting 124 cases and 135 controls were enrolled. The mean age in constipated and normal children was 69.47 ± 35.03 and 74.15 ± 39.68, respectively. BMI over 95% in the control group was 11.9% and in the constipated group was 17.7% that the difference was not statistically significant either (P = 0.188). The only significant association was found between obesity and the duration of constipation and also age (P = 0.008, 0.042, respectively). Conclusion: Although we found a significant relationship between duration of constipation and obesity, there was not a clear association between obesity and presence of constipation. Furthermore, we suggest extended cohort or clinical trial study regarding to the regional nutritional and growth patterns to confirm weight decrease or increase the effect on defecation.


India, world's largest democracy, has witnessed enormous development in information technology over past few years. It has become a necessity to share personal information for every service, from getting a mobile phone connection to registering for online banking. India being a collectivist society (one of the developing countries part of BRIC nations), has different expectations of privacy than other developed nations. The concept of privacy in India has not been investigated in detail, and we also lack empirical data with respect to privacy perceptions among Indian citizens. Recent developments in the Indian scenario e.g. privacy bill, UID project signify a need for privacy awareness and understanding in Indian masses. It is also important for policy makers to comprehend sentiments and opinion of masses for structuring effective laws and policies for the citizens of India. Our study focuses on understanding privacy perceptions and expectations of Indian citizens. In the first phase, we conducted interviews among 20 participants and 4 focus group discussions with 31 participants, to collect qualitative data about the privacy perceptions. In the second phase, we developed a survey questionnaire to collect quantitative data. We collected responses (10,427) from various cities in India. We hope the understanding developed through the responses collected during the study, helps decision makers and technology developers in producing customizable solutions and laws for Indian users. Also, it will help us in identifying conflicting nature of users in their expectations and practices on privacy matters. Key takeaways from this research work are stated below; these are drawn from the interviews, focus group discussions, and surveys that we conducted to study the privacy perceptions in India. As far as our knowledge goes, this is the largest ever study on privacy perceptions in India, we also believe that, this is the case around the world too. The main intent for this technical report is to give the raw data that we collected, and some preliminary analysis without delving deeper into the analysis and implications of the conclusions. We hope the reader will read the report by referring to the appropriate appendixes, as referred in the report. We are working on an academic paper with this data.General Privacy: Participants related to communication privacy and Internet privacy mostly, when asked about the first reactions for the word privacy. Participants showed more concerns about privacy through mobile phones, and Internet than other forms of privacy issues (physical, territorial, work place, etc.). Majority of the participants felt passwords to be the most protected Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and then, financial information (bank, credit card details). In comparison to this, religion, mobile phone number, and health related information were rated as less protected PII. Privacy awareness about issues in public places was low. Participants were not aware of various privacy issues related to cameras in public places, and others taking pictures in public places. Mobile Phones: Mobile phones are becoming the next destination for storing private information. Participants stored personal information like passwords, credit card numbers, Permanent Account Number (PAN), PINs, etc. Privacy seems to be the primary concern for not storing personal information on the mobile phones for the rest. Majority of the participants felt comfortable with the protection provided by the mobile service providers. Most participants tend to delete the information on phone (e.g. contacts, messages, videos, audios, etc.) before discarding the devices. Privacy invasion through somebody specifically taking picture of the individual is of more concern than pictures/videos taken through CCTV and the likes. Internet and Online Social Media: About 40% of the participants would "never" save/share personal information in/through emails. Privacy seems to be the primary reason for this behavior. Survey participants were more aware about privacy policies and tend to read these policies more than the earlier study in 2004. Minority of the participants had "no privacy concerns" with online social networks. Majority of the participants felt pictures to be the most privacy invasive data on the OSNs. About 5% of the survey participants tend to accept friend requests from strangers or people whom they don't know, but just have common friends. This behavior seems to be same even with the third party applications. Financial Privacy: Participants were aware of privacy issues related to financial data; thanks to various financial frauds and thefts that has created the awareness. About 15% of the survey respondents felt that the credit cards should display personal information like name, date of birth, and phone number. About 80% of the survey respondents were aware of identity theft issue through credit cards. About 65% of the survey respondents felt that they were comfortable to use the ATM center with more than one machine in it. Government: Citizens have misinformed mental models of the privacy situation; e.g. Participants felt there were privacy laws where as there is no privacy law in India. About 17% of the survey participants said that personal information collected by UID and NATGIRD projects will not be misused. Trust in the government has reduced from 2004.


Abu Shaar is a small exhumed carbonate platform of lower to middle Miocene age on a horst of Precambrian crystalline rock along the western side of the Gulf of Suez. The reef-rimmed complex is entirely dolomite but with exquisitely preserved primary and diagenetic microfabrics. Similar platforms, some of which contain hydrocarbons, are buried beneath evaporites in the Gulf. The platform developed in three stages, defined as local members of the Rudeis Formation. The first stage records deposition during progressive marine onlap as aprons of mixed terrigenous-carbonate sediments evolved into a wide reef-rimmed platform. Synsedimentary platform-margin collapse subsequently removed the most seaward portions of the reefs along the eastern Gulf-facing margin. These truncation surfaces were then covered by a second phase of reef growth and deposition of fore-reef carbonates. The third and final stage, deposited following a sea level drop and subaerial exposure, is a series of well-bedded peritidal carbonates that become progressively more evaporitic upward. Fore-reef facies are again truncated by synsedimentary slope failure. Former evaporites are now recorded as collapse breccias, contorted bedding, black chert nodules, and evaporite molds. Porosity is mainly secondary as vugs and molds and is highest in platform interior facies. These more porous sediments contained more aragonitic components originally and were less affected by submarine cementation. In contrast, the higher degree of synsedimentary lithification of platform-margin reef and fore-reef sediments is comparable with what is commonly observed in modern reef-dominated platform margins.


The present work shows the application of the temperature‐correlated mobility theory for the optimization of the separation and peak alignment of the main lignans from water extracts of traditional Chinese medicine Schisandra Chinensis Fructus as well as its prescription Yuye Decoction (Jade Fluid Decoction; YYD). This is the first application of this theory for MEKC separations, and the data presentation allows a much easier peak tracking and thereby identification of the analytes. Most interestingly, the data obtained and presented in the mobility scale at 298 K, show that Schisantherin A, which is easily mistaken as one of the analytes using traditional time scale, was actually not detected in Schisandra Chinensis Fructus and Yuye Decoction (Jade Fluid Decoction) water extracts. This proves the value of the temperature‐correlated mobility scale for method optimization of complex samples. Thus, in the temperature‐correlated mobility scale, the optimization of the system conditions for the MEKC separations can easily be achieved by correcting for viscosity changes. Also, the influence of the operating temperature can be monitored in a more distinct way.


The connection patterns of neural circuits form a complex network. How signaling in these circuits manifests as complex cognition and adaptive behaviour remains the central question in neuroscience. Concomitant advances in connectomics and artificial intelligence open fundamentally new opportunities to understand how connection patterns shape computational capacity in biological brain networks. Reservoir computing is a versatile paradigm that uses nonlinear dynamics of high-dimensional dynamical systems to perform computations and approximate cognitive functions. Here we present conn2res: an open-source Python toolbox for implementing biological neural networks as artificial neural networks. conn2res is modular, allowing arbitrary architectures and arbitrary dynamics to be imposed. The toolbox allows researchers to input connectomes reconstructed using multiple techniques, from tract tracing to noninvasive diffusion imaging, and to impose multiple dynamical systems, from simple spiking neurons to memristive dynamics. The versatility of the conn2res toolbox allows us to ask new questions at the confluence of neuroscience and artificial intelligence. By reconceptualizing function as computation, conn2res sets the stage for a more mechanistic understanding of structure-function relationships in brain networks.


The artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) plays a pivotal role in Zn anode stabilization but its long-term effectiveness at high rates is still challenged. Herein, to achieve superior long-life and high-rate Zn anode, an exquisite electrolyte additive, lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB), is proposed to in-situ derive a highly Zn2+-conductive SEI and to dynamically patrol its cycling-initiated defects. Profiting from the as-constructed real-time, automatic SEI repairing mechanism, the Zn anode can be cycled with distinct reversibility over 1800 h at an ultrahigh current density of 50 mA cm-2, presenting a record-high cumulative capacity up to 45 Ah cm-2. The superiority of the formulated electrolyte is further demonstrated in the Zn||MnO2 and Zn||NaV3O8 full batteries, even when tested under harsh conditions (limited Zn supply (N/P≈3), 2500 cycles). This work brings inspiration for developing fast-charging Zn batteries toward grid-scale storage of renewable energy sources.


Oxygen levels are unequal in different living geographical locations of human and related to normal physiology of health. The reduction of oxygen level in the body can lead to a variety of diseases, such as stroke caused by cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. In the recent years, many studies have elucidated the molecular and cellular mechanisms of organism response to different oxygen concentrations by using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as model organism. C. elegans can escape hypoxia or hyperoxia and adapt to the ambient oxygen environments, and there are different response and regulation mechanisms in different degrees of hypoxia environment. In this paper, recent advances in the reaction of nematodes to different oxygen concentrations and the underlying mechanism were reviewed.


Photographs are a major aspect of high school science textbooks, which dominate classroom approaches to teaching and learning. It is thus surprising that the function of photographs and their relation to captions and texts have not been the topic of analysis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence, function, and structure of photographs in high school science. Our motivating research question was, "What can students learn from textbooks when they study photographs?" To answer this and several subordinate questions, we selected and analyzed four Brazilian biology textbooks. We focus on the use of photographs and the relation among them, various types of texts, and the subject matter presented. Our analysis reveals that the structural elements of text, caption, and photographs and the relations among them differ across the textbooks and at times even within the same book. This, of course, will influence readers' interpretations of the photographs changing their role in the text. The results of our study have implications for textbook authors and textbook readers. We suggest that future studies may focus on students' and teachers' interpretation of photographs in real time. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 1089–1114, 2003


Regular low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been applied for the first time to a low-cost spectrum-sliced wavelength division multiplex system. The Gaussian approximation of the noise in such system has been commonly used in previous studies, and there is a standard LDPC for symmetric additive white Gaussian noise channels. However, in the system considered here, the actual noise character is asymmetric and is chi-square distributed. Owing to the specific channel property, an adaptive decoding algorithm based on the precise chi-square noise statistics has been proposed and proved to outperform decoding with conventional Gaussian approximations. Simulations are conducted for various code rates. The results show that such a forward error correction scheme provides significant coding gain for a dedicated system in terms of improving the overall transmission capacity and available power budget.


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 05 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Nitrogen is an essential macromolecule necessary for suitable growth and development of plants by playing a vital role in biochemical and physiological functions throughout the life cycle. Early node 93 (ENOD93-1) gene is well known for significantly responding to both N induction and N reduction in plants, but little is known about the structure and function of the ENOD93-1 protein in cereal crops. In this study, a putative ortholog of rice OsENOD93-1 gene was identified in the wheat genome. BLASTP analysis showed the OsENOD93-1 shared the 80% similarity with wheat TRIAE_CS42_4AL_TGACv1_ 288261_AA0942630.1 scaffold. Present study describes the location of TaENOD93-1 gene on4AL chromosome of wheat. MicroRNA target analysis revealed that TaENOD93-1 gene targeting by miR6201. Phylogeny tree suggested that identified putative ortholog shared the evolutionary relationship with monocots. The three dimensional structure of TaENOD93-1 protein was predicted using computer-aided molecular modeling technique followed by structure evaluation using Ramachandran plot. The primary goal of this study was to mapping the chromosomal location and functional annotation of TaENOD93-1 gene in wheat using bioinformatics approach. The identification of putative ortholog of OsENOD93-1 gene in wheat has opened up new opportunities to improve the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in wheat through molecular breeding approach. K e y w o r d s Nitrogen, Early node, In-


In order to overcome the omitted information problem of small-scale Vector Autoregression (VAR) models, this study combines the VAR methodology with dynamic factor analysis and assesses the effects of monetary policy shocks in the euro area in the period during which there is a single monetary policy. Using the Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR) approach of Bernanke et al. (2005), we summarize the information contained in a large set of macroeconomic time series with a small number of estimated factors and use them as regressors in recursive VARs to evaluate the impact of the nonsystematic component of the European Central Bank's (ECB's) actions. Overall, our results suggest that the inclusion of factors in the VAR allows us to obtain a more coherent picture of the effects of monetary policy innovations, both by achieving responses easier to understand from the theoretical point of view and by increasing the precision of such responses. Moreover, this framework allows us to compute impulse-response functions for all the variables included in the panel, thereby providing a more complete depiction of the effects of policy disturbances. However, the extra information generated by the FAVAR also delivers some puzzling responses, in particular those relating to exchange rates.


The modern Phillips curve is about the
relationship between the average rates of inflation and unemployment. We will
provide additional empirical evidence in the US economy from 1948:01 to 2013:03
that helps demonstrate why such a relationship has been built on a wrong
methodology, as revealed in Ma [1]. An erroneous approach can lead to a misunderstanding of business
cycles and a wrongful implementation of monetary policy. In particular, the way
how the two rates may evolve is now at a critical moment for the Fed to
decide if an exit from its quantitative easing should be initiated.


Enlightened Sentiments reassesses the Enlightenment's liberal legacies by revisiting the wide-ranging development of eighteenth-century letters known as "sentimentalism." Nazar argues that the recent retrieval of sentimentalism as a predominantly affective culture of sensibility elides its critical motif of moral and aesthetic judgment, and underrates its contributions to the key Enlightenment norm of autonomy. Drawing upon novelists from Samuel Richardson to Jane Austen, and theorists of judgment from David Hume to Hannah Arendt, she contends that sentimental judgment complicates received understandings of liberal ethics as grounded in the opposition of reason and feeling, and autonomy and sociability, and as such, implies a powerful counter-challenge to postmodernist critiques of modernity as the harbinger principally of instrumentalist reason and disciplinary power.


Certain structural and environmental factors other than technical combination of resources and firm size are hypothesized to affect medical practice output. Four groups of variables related to physician attributes and activities, practice organization and patient characteristics, community characteristics, and factors specific to medical groups are examined by regression for correlation with two measures of practice output: gross revenue and total patient visits. Some tentative conclusions are discussed in relation to policies that might increase practice output.


Background: pathophysiological changes such as low cardiac output (LCO) impact pharmacokinetics, but its extent may be different throughout pediatrics compared to adults. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling enables further exploration. Methods: A validated propofol model was used to simulate the impact of LCO on propofol clearance across age groups using the PBPK platform, Simcyp® (version 19). The hepatic and renal extraction ratio of propofol was then determined in all age groups. Subsequently, manual infusion dose explorations were conducted under LCO conditions, targeting a 3 µg/mL (80–125%) propofol concentration range. Results: Both hepatic and renal extraction ratios increased from neonates, infants, children to adolescents and adults. The relative change in clearance following CO reductions increased with age, with the least impact of LCO in neonates. The predicted concentration remained within the 3 µg/mL (80–125%) range under normal CO and LCO (up to 30%) conditions in all age groups. When CO was reduced by 40–50%, a dose reduction of 15% is warranted in neonates, infants and children, and 25% in adolescents and adults. Conclusions: PBPK-driven, the impact of reduced CO on propofol clearance is predicted to be age-dependent, and proportionally greater in adults. Consequently, age group-specific dose reductions for propofol are required in LCO conditions.


We propose a filtering framework for multitarget tracking that is based on the probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter and data association using graph matching. This framework can be combined with any object detectors that generate positional and dimensional information of objects of interest. The PHD filter compensates for missing detections and removes noise and clutter. Moreover, this filter reduces the growth in complexity with the number of targets from exponential to linear by propagating the first-order moment of the multitarget posterior, instead of the full posterior. In order to account for the nature of the PHD propagation, we propose a novel particle resampling strategy and we adapt dynamic and observation models to cope with varying object scales. The proposed resampling strategy allows us to use the PHD filter when a priori knowledge of the scene is not available. Moreover, the dynamic and observation models are not limited to the PHD filter and can be applied to any Bayesian tracker that can handle state-dependent variances. Extensive experimental results on a large video surveillance dataset using a standard evaluation protocol show that the proposed filtering framework improves the accuracy of the tracker, especially in cluttered scenes.


The importance of frequency for phonological phenomena has long been noticed in the literature. However, frequency information available for phonological units in Portuguese is scarce, non-replicable, corpus dependent, and hard to obtain due to the non-existence of a free tool for public use. This paper describes FreP, a new electronic tool that provides frequency counts of phonological units at the word-level and below from Portuguese written text: namely, major classes of segments, syllables and syllable types, phonological clitics, clitic types and size, prosodic words and their shape, word stress location, and syllable type by position within the word and/or status relative to word stress. Useful applications of FreP in general linguistics, phonology, language acquisition and development, speech evaluation and therapy are also described. Forthcoming extensions of the tool include the ability to extract frequency information for different varieties of Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese in particular, and the ability to provide a SAMPA output from the written text, together with the frequency of segmental features, like manner, place of articulation and laryngeal features. Updated information on FreP can be found at http://www.fl.ul.pt/LaboratorioFonetica/FreP.


Purpose: The purpose of this report is to present a systematic review of the literature to compare knee kinematics and clinical outcomes after single-bundle versus double-bundle posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Methods: Systematic review of the literature by PubMed search, reference review, and search of Arthroscopy identified the relevant biomechanical and clinical studies. The studies were critically evaluated to determine potential advantages of single-bundle or doublebundle reconstructions in anteroposterior stability, graft tension, rotational stability, and functional outcome. Results: Biomechanical comparisons evaluating anteroposterior stability described either no difference or increased stability with double-bundle reconstructions. Comparing these results is complicated by differential graft choices, tensioning techniques, and tunnel anatomy. Biomechanical studies of graft tension describe conflicting results regarding the optimal reconstruction technique. Recent studies of rotational stability suggest no advantage of double-bundle reconstruction in the setting of concomitant posterolateral corner repair but suggest a possible advantage in the setting of subtle posterolateral corner injury. Three retrospective clinical studies of single- and double-bundle reconstructions with methodologic limitations described no difference in clinical outcome. Conclusions: The superiority of single-bundle or double-bundle posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction remains uncertain. Key Words: Double bundle—Single bundle—Posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.


The use of the automatic elaboration of pictures for the evaluation of microscopic pictures gives the possibility to automise histological and cytological routine examinations and to improve the recognition of morphological findings by quantitative investigations in the medical morphological diagnostics. The effective practical use of the method is bound to certain device-technical prerequisites which are mentioned in short. At the same time a survey of the principal possibilities in the medical morphological diagnostics is given. By the analysis of the digitalised pictures of cells, cell organelles and other tissue structures reproducible quantitative data on outline and texture as well as on the special arrangement of the objects present in the picture are obtained. On the basis of these characteristics it is possible to identify cells, to find perhaps existing subgroupings in cell populations or to perform an automatic preselection of the material to be investigated. At the instance of the normal white differential blood picture the modern possibilities and limits of the method are described.


Multiculturalism has been advanced as an alternative to normative assimilation theory. Multiculturalists argue that it provides a more nuanced solution to the incorporation of immigrants in immigrant driven societies such as the United States. However, rising nationalism and fears of separatism have raised questions about the efficacy of multiculturalism and reinvigorated assimilationists. But, debates between multiculturalists and assimilationists are largely stalemated discussions of how society might best incorporate new arrivals, because they ignore the fundamental issue of very large marginalized groups. This paper will argue that the debates might better be directed to issues of inequality and marginalization as the central issues of incorporation. While all immigrants are to some extent marginalized, the large and growing undocumented population (especially in the US) challenges the notion of how incorporation will proceed at all. Both assimilation and multiculturalism assume a legal basis to society and the recognition of shared political values and the respect for national consensus but the growing number of undocumented (unauthorized or illegal immigrants) are in effect outside of either the assimilationist or the multicultural model. They are often outside of the formal labor markets, residentially isolated, and have poor of non-existent skills. They are unlikely to be able to acquire the economic and cultural gains that will led to assimilation, or enable them to participate in a multi-cultural society. They are more likely to live separate lives and thus increase the divisions within society. I use data on undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles to illustrate the vulnerability, marginality and the problems encountered by these immigrants and use this to extrapolate to issues of assimilation and multiculturalism.


Abstract The link between abdominal surgery and venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been well established with recent evidence exploring the optimal VTE risk reducing strategy. However, despite these strategies pulmonary embolisms (PEs) do occur, which in the immediate post-operative setting creates a dilemma; to treat the VTE with anticoagulation but balance against the risk of hemorrhage. Treatment guidelines often do not include post-operative patients leaving the decision up to the treating physician to weigh the relative risks on an individual basis. We present a 59-year-old lady who developed a life-threatening submassive PE within 9 h of an emergency laparotomy for a perforated rectal cancer. She was treated with systemic thrombolysis after alternative interventions had been excluded. She responded well to therapy with no major bleeding. She was successfully discharged home after a short period of inpatient rehabilitation.


Abstract High-tech biomedical advances have led to increases both in the number of mice used for research and in exchanges of mice and/or their tissues between institutions. The latter are associated with the risk of dissemination of infectious agents. Because of the lack of international standardization of health surveillance programs, health certificates for imported rodents may be informative but may not address the needs of the importing facility. Preservation of mouse germ-plasm is achieved by cryopreservation of spermatozoa, embryos, or ovaries, and embryonic stem cells are used for the production of genetically engineered mice. After embryo transfer, recipients and rederived pups that test negative in microbiological screening for relevant microorganisms are released into full barrier holding areas. However, current research shows that embryos may also transmit microorganisms, especially viruses, to the recipient mice. In this article, we discuss regulations and practical issues in the shipping of live mice and mouse tissues, including spermatozoa, embryos, ovaries, and embryonic stem cells, and review work on microbial contamination of these biological materials. In addition, we present ways to reduce the risk of transmission of pathogens to mice under routine conditions.


Purpose of this work is the development of an automatic classification system which could be useful for radiologists in the investigation of breast cancer. The software has been designed in the framework of the MAGIC-5 collaboration. In the automatic classification system the suspicious regions with high probability to include a lesion are extracted from the image as regions of interest (ROIs). Each ROI is characterized by some features based on morphological lesion differences. Some classifiers as a Feed Forward Neural Network, a K-Nearest Neighbours and a Support Vector Machine are used to distinguish the pathological records from the healthy ones. The results obtained in terms of sensitivity (percentage of pathological ROIs correctly classified) and specificity (percentage of non-pathological ROIs correctly classified) will be presented through the Receive Operating Characteristic curve (ROC). In particular the best performances are 88% ± 1 of area under ROC curve obtained with the Feed Forward Neural Network. Keywords—Neural Networks, K-Nearest Neighbours, Support Vector Machine, Computer Aided Diagnosis.


When British women demanded the vote in the years before the First World War, they promised to use political rights to remake their country and their world. This is the story of Eleanor Rathbone, the woman who best fulfilled that pledge. Rathbone cut her political teeth in the suffrage movement in Liverpool, spent two decades crafting social programmes for poor women and children, and was for seventeen years their advocate in the House of Commons. She also played a critical role in imperial policymaking and in the opposition to appeasement. In the last decade of her life she sought to rescue Spanish republicans and Jews threatened by Hitler's rise to power. In this important book, Susan Pedersen illuminates both the public and private sides of Rathbone's life while restoring her to her rightful place as the most sophisticated feminist thinker and most effective British woman politician of the first half of the twentieth century.


The modern music festival is a site of interaction between up to hundreds of thousands of people, artists, vendors, musicians and technologies. Audiences travel thousands of miles and invest huge amounts of time, energy and money to attend them. Despite the increasing commercial demand for music festivals and the budding recognition of their social value to festivalgoers, humancentered design methods have not been applied to explore ways to increase the value of music festival experiences for audiences. The purpose of this project was twofold. First, I planned to develop a nuanced human-centered understanding of music festival audience experience. Based on that understanding, I then planned to design a solution that enhances meaningful, positive experiences for festivalgoers, especially during the periods of anticipation before and reflection after events. By combining insights pulled from research in music psychology, positive psychology and current neuroscience on happiness with qualitative data gathered from my own human-centered design research methods, I developed several robust conceptual models for the complex realities of audience experience at music festivals. Based those models, I then developed a web-based platform called Neverfade that acts both as a music festival history archive and a virtual space where individuals can curate, save and share their own music festival experiences.


Streptomyces cell death, which occurs as the bacteria develop fruiting bodies and form spores, has been dismissed as nonspecific autolysis caused by cell wall degradation. Now Miguélez et al. (page 515) show that the cell death is complex: it occurs at two different times in two different locations and as a series of defined steps that leave the cell wall intact. Streptomyces grow first along and through their growth medium, as multinucleoid hyphae. This substrate mycelium subsequently forms stalks that rise above the growth medium. Parts of the aerial hyphae septate to form spores. Cell death occurs in two major waves. As aerial hyphae are growing, nucleoids at the level of the growth medium begin degenerating. Sporulation then starts, by which time the substrate mycelium is dead and a second death process is starting in the aerial hyphae, from the bottom up. Two days later all cells are either dead or spores. The first sign of degeneration is a loosening of the fibrillar DNA structure. The nucleoid and then cytoplasm become less electron-dense, ending with a nucleoid that is electron-translucent and has fibrillar structure. Only at the end of this process does the plasma membrane retract from the cell wall and form vesicles. The cell wall is left intact, probably as both a mechanical support and nutrient conductor for the aerial hyphae. A genetic dissection of the death process would seem to be the next logical step. This may uncover a link to programmed cell death in other organisms, as the Streptomyces genome contains distant relatives of some mammalian apoptosis genes (Aravind, L., V.M. Dixit, and E.V. Koonin. 1999. Trends Biochem. Sci. 24:47–53).


Six pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) composites were subjected to three or more cycles of selection in multilocational yield trials and downy mildew disease nurseries in India. The base and selected populations were tested (a) over four years at three locations in India (11° to 29°N), (b) under terminal-drought and optimal moisture conditions for two years, and (c) under induced downy mildew infections to determine the impacts of selection on grain yield, agronomic traits, and resistance to downy mildew (Sclerospora graminicola Sacc. Schroet.). Mean grain yield increases for four composites undergoing three to six cycles of selection ranged between 23 to 94 kg ha-1 cycle-1 (0.9 to 4.9 % cycle-1) which, averaged over composites, amounted to 3.3 % cycle-1. Yield gains were generally expressed at all test locations and under both terminal-drought and optimal moisture environments. The gains in grain yield were associated with increases of both biomass and harvest index without extending the growth duration except in the earliest composite. Susceptibility to downy mildew remained below 10 % in all selected populations. Thus, the effectiveness of recurrent selection for increasing yield and yield stability of pearl millet is clearly demonstrated.


Results: Many diseases in stomatology are closely related to social and psychological factors. Through investigation and research, it is found that patients with periodontitis have obvious emotional disorders. In addition, psychosocial factors may also affect a person's oral health attitude and even oral health behavior, and then indirectly affect oral health. Psychological intervention, also known as behavior correction, establishes healthy behavior by learning, adjusting or changing individual abnormal psychological and physical symptoms. It can be seen from the study that after psychological intervention, the average scores of SAS and SDS in the intervention group decreased significantly, and the difference was statistically significant compared with the control group. It shows that after psychological intervention, the mental health status of the respondents in the intervention group has been significantly improved. Conclusions: Psychosocial factors directly or indirectly affect the oral health status of elderly hospitalized children. The psychosocial factors should not be ignored in the oral prevention of hospitalized children. This study also has a certain reference value for the prevention of oral diseases in children of other ages.


Very little is known about the communicative practices of men who transgress gender and sexual norms in East Africa, particularly along the Swahili Coast, where the majority of Swahili speakers are Sunni Muslims. In Zanzibar Town, Tanzania, the valorization of verbal discretion, the widespread belief that sodomy is a religious taboo, and the real risk of negative sanctions for transgressing sexual norms usually prevent open discussion of sexuality. Through discourse analysis of a conversation about Popobawa, a supernatural sodomist, with a man who transgresses Zanzibari gender norms, this essay examines how transgressive identities can be revealed in discreet ways while respecting Zanzibari discursive norms and discusses the difference between widely used Swahili terms for transgressive men (hanithi, basha, and shoga) and the newer borrowed term magays. Some of the communicative practices discussed are similar to secret "gay" languages in other contexts, but talk about spirits, and about Popobawa in particular, offers a unique way for transgressive men to respect local conversational norms while discreetly revealing their own identities and desires.