Competition from annual grasses and yellow starthistle can severely reduce perennial grass forage production and quality in pasture and rangeland. The purpose of this study was to determine yellow starthistle and weedy annual grass control by imazapic applied alone or in combination with picloram, and smooth brome tolerance to these treatments. Sixty days after treatment (DAT) imazapic applied at 70 and 140 g ae/ha reduced annual grass (downy brome, medusahead, and annual bluegrass) plant density and biomass by 66 to 76% compared with the untreated control. Picloram applied at 280 and 420 g ae/ha reduced yellow starthistle plant density and biomass by over 93%. Imazapic applied at 70 and 140 g/ha reduced smooth brome biomass by 79 to 95% at 60 DAT. Picloram did not affect the density or the biomass of annual grasses or smooth brome, whereas imazapic did not markedly affect the density or the biomass of yellow starthistle. Downy brome control increased to a maximum of 97% with increasing imazapic dose (maximum of 280 g/ha) at 30, 60, and 90 DAT. Nomenclature: Ammonium salt of imazapic; potassium salt of picloram; annual bluegrass, Poa annua L. #3 POAAN; downy brome, Bromus tectorum L. # BROTE; medusahead, Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski. # ELYCM; smooth brome, Bromus inermis Leyss. # BROIN; yellow starthistle, Centaurea solstitialis L. # CENSO. Additional index words: Herbicide tolerance. Abbreviations: DAT, days after treatment; OM, organic matter; POST, postemergence.


This paper presents the results from a preliminary inventory of natural and man-made hazards and/or disasters in Brazil. The data were collected from previous studies, aerial photographs, satellite images and field studies. The data were obtained to evaluate the spatial distribution of natural and man-made hazards and disasters in different cities and states and to delimit the areas that have been the most affected during the last 50 years. A total of 28 different types of hazards/disasters were identified in Brazil; flooding, gravitational mass movements, continental and coastal erosion, silting and sinkholes are the more frequent, expensive, socially devastating and fatal types of hazards/disasters. Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul and Espirito Santo are the states most often affected by these hazards and disasters and thus experience the largest economic and social costs and the most casualties. Eight zones in which natural and anthropogenic hazards and associated disasters have occurred most frequently are described in this study. Among these, the coastal zone (zone 2) and mountainous regions in Eastern Brazil (zone 8) were found to have been intensely affected by hazards/disasters, with frequencies ranging from annual (e.g., flooding) to once every five years (e.g., high-magnitude gravitational mass movements). The greatest economic and social losses and the highest reported fatalities in Brazil have occurred in these two zones.


PURPOSE
Whole body insulin sensitivity (Si) typically improves following aerobic exercise training; however, individual responses can be highly variable. The purpose of this study was to use global gene expression to identify skeletal muscle genes that correlate with exercise-induced Si changes.

METHODS
Longitudinal cohorts from the Studies of Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Defined Exercise (STRRIDE) were utilized as Discovery (Affymetrix) and Confirmation (Illumina) of vastus lateralis gene expression profiles. Discovery (n=39; 21 men) and Confirmation (n=42; 19 men) cohorts were matched for age (52 ± 8 vs. 51 ± 10 yr), BMI (30.4 ± 2.8 vs. 29.7 ± 2.8 kg*m), and VO2max (30.4 ± 2.8 vs. 29.7 ± 2.8 mL/kg/min). Si was determined via intravenous glucose tolerance test pre- and post-training. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients determined relationships between a) baseline and b) training-induced changes in gene expression and %ΔSi after training.

RESULTS
Expression of 2454 (Discovery) and 1778 genes (Confirmation) at baseline were significantly (P<0.05) correlated to %ΔSi; 112 genes overlapped. Pathway analyses identified Ca-signaling-related transcripts in this 112-gene list. Expression changes of 1384 (Discovery) and 1288 genes (Confirmation) following training were significantly (P<0.05) correlated to %ΔSi; 33 genes overlapped, representing contractile apparatus of skeletal and smooth muscle genes. Pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase regulatory subunit (PDPR) expression at baseline (p=0.01, r=0.41) and post-training (p=0.01, r=0.43) were both correlated with %ΔSi.

CONCLUSION
Exercise-induced adaptations in skeletal muscle Si are related to baseline levels of Ca-regulating transcripts, which may prime the muscle for adaptation. Relationships between %ΔSi and PDPR, a regulatory subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, indicate that the Si response is strongly related to key steps in metabolic regulation.


The importance of Pseudocrenilabrus philander as an ornamental
fish, has received attention due to its opalescence blue and
pale yellow colour. This fish species is already utilised by
subsistence fishermen in the Limpopo Province as additional
source of protein and they are valuelable in behavioral and
evolutionary research. Eighty-six specimens of P. philander
(Mean total length = 5.46) were collected during summer period
in November 2013 and February 2014 and during winter in July
and August 2014 from Nwanedi River (South Africa) and and Bubi
River (Zimbabwe), respectively. Fish were sacrified by severing
the spinal cord. Gill arches were dissected out and fixed in
10% neutral buffered formalin for histopathology. Standard
methods were followed for histology and slides were stained
with Maematoxylin and Eosin. All parasites found were isolated
from different organs and fixed by appropriate methods.
Morphometric evaluations revealed the presence of six pecies of
monogeans, Enterogyrus coronatus, Cichlidogyrus tilapiae,
Cichlidogyrus philander and Cichlidogyrus spp and Gyrodactylus
sp.; three species of digenean metacercariae, Petasiger sp.,
Clinostomum sp. and Neodiplostomum sp.; eight species of
cestode larvea of Neogryporhynchus spp., Paradilepis scolesica,
Paradilepis sp., Parvitaenia macropeos, Parvitania spp. and
Valipora minuta; and L3 stage larvae of five nematode species,
Procamallanus sp., Camallanus spp. and Contracaecum sp.
Petasiger sp. and C. philander had a prevalence of 55% and
67.5%, respectively. Petasiger sp. caused swelling and aneurysm
of primary and secondyry lamellae, respectively while C.
philander caused epithelia erosion, hyperplasia and focal
lamellar fusion.


In infectious disease epidemiology, the instantaneous reproduction number Rt is a time-varying parameter defined as the average number of secondary infections generated by an infected individual at time t. It is therefore a crucial epidemiological statistic that assists public health decision makers in the management of an epidemic. We present a new Bayesian tool (EpiLPS) for robust estimation of the time-varying reproduction number. The proposed methodology smooths the epidemic curve and allows to obtain (approximate) point estimates and credible intervals of Rt by employing the renewal equation, using Bayesian P-splines coupled with Laplace approximations of the conditional posterior of the spline vector. Two alternative approaches for inference are presented: (1) an approach based on a maximum a posteriori argument for the model hyperparameters, delivering estimates of Rt in only a few seconds; and (2) an approach based on a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) scheme with underlying Langevin dynamics for efficient sampling of the posterior target distribution. Case counts per unit of time are assumed to follow a negative binomial distribution to account for potential overdispersion in the data that would not be captured by a classic Poisson model. Furthermore, after smoothing the epidemic curve, a "plug-in'' estimate of the reproduction number can be obtained from the renewal equation yielding a closed form expression of Rt as a function of the spline parameters. The approach is extremely fast and free of arbitrary smoothing assumptions. EpiLPS is applied on data of SARS-CoV-1 in Hong-Kong (2003), influenza A H1N1 (2009) in the USA and on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2020-2021) for Belgium, Portugal, Denmark and France.


This study explores the presence of technology-related research in HRD, identifies what the research addressed, and analyzes how the research was addressed. We reviewed 1,675 papers in five publications. During the seven-year period examined, 169 articles were technology-related. Through a content analysis, we identified the topics of those articles, methodological approaches, organizational settings represented in the research, the fields of the researchers, and the papers' orientation toward research and practice. In comparison to the total articles in each publication, the highest percentage of technology research was published in conference proceedings.


In recent years, 3D spatial crowdsourcing platforms become popular, in which users and workers travel together to their assigned workplaces for services, such as InterestingSport1 and Nanguache2. A typical problem over 3D spatial crowdsourcing platforms is to match users with suitable workers and workplaces. Existing studies all ignored that the workers and users assigned to the same workplace should arrive almost at the same time, which is very practical in the real world. Thus, in this paper, we propose a new Simultaneous Arrival Matching (SAM), which enables workers and users to arrive at their assigned workplace within a given tolerant time. We find that the new considered arriving time constraint breaks the monotonic additivity of the result set. Thus, it brings a large challenge in designing effective and efficient algorithms for the SAM. We design Sliding Window algorithm and Threshold Scanning algorithm to solve the SAM. We conduct the experiments on real and synthetic datasets, experimental results show the effectiveness and efficiency of our algorithms.


This article aims to explain the widespread attention to contemporary protesting artists among Western audiences by focusing on the case of Pussy Riot. Social movement scholarship provides a first step into understanding how Pussy Riot legitimately protests Russian politics through its punk performances. It then turns to the concept of cosmopolitanism as a performance in everyday life to explain Pussy Riot's appeal among Western audiences. By collecting and analyzing 9001 tweets through a thematic hashtag analysis and topic modeling, this article analyzes how audiences talk about Pussy Riot and shows how Twitter affords users to perform cosmopolitan selves by sharing their ideas and experiences on Pussy Riot with others. Although we distinguish between four types of cosmopolitan selves, the results clearly show Pussy Riot is mainly reflected upon in a media context: Twitter users predominantly talk about Pussy Riot's media appearances rather than readily engage with its explicit political advocacy.


We present an overview of solar sounding rocket instruments developed jointly by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) is an EUV (19.3 nm) imaging telescope which was flown successfully in July 2012. The Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP) is a Lyman Alpha (121.6 nm) spectropolarimeter developed jointly with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and scheduled for launch in 2015. The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrograph is a soft X-ray (0.5-1.2 keV) stigmatic spectrograph designed to achieve 5 arcsecond spatial resolution along the slit.


Globalization and its accompanying international movements of capital significantly affect the real estate markets. For instance, they strengthen the trend towards creating consistent standards for asset valuation, including real estate. An expression of the trend is the International Valuation Standards (IVS). According to the IVS, property valuers operating in the emerging markets cannot disobey fundamental terms and rules within the commonly applied valuation principles. Their implementation becomes therefore an objective necessity. Regarding general definitions and rules, the National Valuation Standards (NVS) should evolve towards the IVS. Compared with the National Valuation Standards operative in Poland, the 7th edition of the International Valuation Standards is expected to bring in the following important changes: * to introduce a single definition of the market value. The fundamental and integral part of an appraisal process is the notion of the highest and best use of a property; * to indicate the replacement value as a method for arriving at the market value. // Both the changes are revolutionary for todayis community of property valuers in Poland. The paper aims to: * identify areas, where the effects of implementing the IVS will appear;* assess IVS implementation impacts on the evolution of market values of real estate, capital allocation and the use of real estate by investors, creditors, as well as property valuers, etc.; * indicate the directions of NVS modifications, as well as the pace of implementation of the changes. // The paper is built on four research methods: * an analysis and evaluation of the literature of the subject; * SWOT analysis; * a case study; * a questionnaire survey targeted to property valuers. // The first method allows to identify the scope of the changes, the second method indicates the weak and strong points of the implemented changes, as well as threats and opportunities. The third method, seeking the value of a postindustrial property using first property valuation methods used in Poland today and then the IVS rules, allows to estimate the effects of the changes, whereas the fourth method presenting opinions shared by the community of property valuers provides a ground for formulating a thesis about the pace of changes to be implemented.


Chandraprabha Vati (CPV), a multi-ingredient phyto formulation, is widely used in Ayurveda for the treatment of liver and kidney disorders. In this study, we attempt to elucidate the mode of action of CPV. We specifically focus on the effects of CPV on the transcriptional regulation of Pregnane-X-Receptor (PXR) and its subsequent effects on interleukins, Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ (PPARγ) and type 4 Glucose Transporter (GLUT4). Our results show that CPV up-regulates PXR moderately in contrast to its individual ingredients such as chebulinic acid or linalool that down regulate PXR. Further, the expression of Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), the gene involved in drug elimination, is only moderately up-regulated by CPV, again in contrast to the effect of some of its ingredients. CPV down regulates the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and upregulates the levels of PPARγ, which in turn upregulates GLUT4 expression. These together suggest that the therapeutic properties of CPV can be attributed to its multi-pronged action, viz., prevention of inflammation, moderate expression of PXR that activates several downstream pathways and tight regulation of CYP3A4 thereby slowing down the elimination of the chemical constituents. In addition, these results emphasize on the need for multi-ingredient approach towards designing effective therapeutic formulations.


Frederic Stanley Kipping was born on 16 August 1863 at Higher Broughton in Manchester. He was the eldest son of James Stanley and Julia Kipping and had two brothers and four sisters. His father held a post in the Manchester branch of the Bank of England of which his paternal grandfather was head. His grandfather on his mother's side was C. A. Duval, a Manchester artist of considerable reputation. James Stanley Kipping played chess against many of the champions of his time, including Paul Murphy, whom he defeated on one occasion when this World Champion was playing a number of opponents simultaneously. F. S. Kipping regarded himself as only a moderate player, but his eldest son, C. S. Kipping, Headmaster of Wednesbury High School, inherited his grandfather's skill and is a composer of chess problems of worldwide repute and has edited various chess journals. Kipping early acquired that interest in open-air life which was never to leave him. His father owned a small farm near Higher Broughton, which was at that time practically in the open country. Here he made himself generally useful and gained a fair knowledge of animals and practical agriculture. In the early days the Kipping children had a governess, but at the age of eleven Frederic Stanley entered Manchester Grammar School on the same day as Herbert Brereton Baker. (It is remarkable that both these boys became Longstaff Medallists of the Chemical Society.) He had already become interested in chemistry through his father's friend and neighbour, J. Carter Bell, the public analyst for Cheshire, who showed him various simple precipitation reactions in inorganic chemistry, and advised his father to make him an analytical chemist. No doubt at this time that honourable profession was still generally regarded from the Dickensian point of view, so clearly indicated in Our mutual friend.


Women generally perform the majority of domestic labor despite changes in demographics and household income allocations, contributing to relational conflict and prompting the use of communication strategies to reallocate tasks. This study examines the strategies individuals use to reduce personal or increase partner domestic labor performance. Married individuals (N = 228) responded to a questionnaire assessing perception of hours spent on household tasks, global equity, relationship length, and equity-restoring and equity-resistance strategies specific to domestic labor. Data indicate that perception of time spent on household tasks is related to equity-restoring and equity-resistance strategies. Global assessment of relational underbenefitedness or overbenefitedness was not associated with equity-restoring and equity-resisting strategies when characterized as a continuous variable; however, significant results occurred when equity was characterized categorically, highlighting the importance of methodological choices in equity research. Marriage length was negatively associated in a curvilinear function with the use of equity-restoring and equity-resistance strategies.


Both kriging and nonparametric regression smoothing can model a nonstationary regression function with spatially correlated errors. However comparisons have mainly been based on ordinary kriging and smoothing with uncorrelated errors. Ordinary kriging attributes smoothness of the response to spatial autocorrelation whereas nonparametric regression attributes trends to a smooth regression function. For spatial processes it is reasonable to suppose that the response is due to both trend and autocorrelation. This article reviews methodology for nonparametric regression with autocorrelated errors which is a natural compromise between the two methods. Re-analysis of the one-dimensional stationary spatial data ofLaslett (1994) and a clearly nonstationary time series demonstrates the rather surprising result that for these data, ordinary kriging outperforms more computationally intensive models including both universal kriging and correlated splines for spatial prediction. For estimating the regression function, nonparametric regression provides adaptive estimation, but the autocorrelation must be accounted for in selecting the smoothing parameter.


Three dilemmas emerging from the critical literature on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) were explored in this study of workplace conflict resolution. The study found that most practitioners and industrial relations experts surveyed believed that ADR practitioners would take measures to circumvent the dilemmas, should they arise. These measures include applying appropriate standards and laws to ADR decisions; balancing power between disputants; and not exercising bias in order to obtain future work. In other words, the skills and attributes of ADR practitioners were represented by the surveyed population as being vital to delivering key qualities of ADR such as fairness and independence. However, three case studies of workplace mediation demonstrated that these normative traits were not met by the reality of ADR practice. The study raises training and accreditation issues for workplace ADR practitioners and questions the quality of workplace justice for disputants.


This is the third in a series undertaken by the American Diabetes Association Committee on Professional Education. The purposes of the series are to make available, in condensed and simplified form, the current thinking of major authorities on the primary problems of diabetes mellitus, and to present recent advances in the field. The format has been selected with the idea of making this book useful as a general guide to the practicing physician. It is equally helpful as a learning and reference resource for students or physicians-in-training regardless of specialty. I found this volume to meet these purposes adequately and then some. In the five years since the last volume, there has been tremendous growth and progress in the understanding of the nature of insulin, the pathophysiology of diabetes and diabetic vascular disease, the possible long-term effects of therapy, and the association of diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipoproteinemia. This has been


Aluminumhydroxy-smectite (AHS), known also as pillared clay, has some specific c...haracteristics such as: wide specific surface area, high basal spacing, and stable at significant high temperature. The AHS was produced from smectite and polymer aluminum-hydroxy. In industrial sector, this product can be used as cracking-catalyst, absorber, and molecular sieve up to 500°C. Similar product can be constructed from vermiculite, and the aluminumhydroxy-vermiculite (AHV) is predicted have a better thermal stability than AHS due to higher charge density of vermiculite that adsorb more aluminumhydroxy than that of smectite. Related to the above background the objectives of the research were to study the effects of cation valence in the interlayer space of vermiculite using Li and Ml ions in the formation process and the chemical characteristics of AHV. Liand Mg-vermiculites with different particle sizes are reacted with polymer aluminum-hydroxy' at 100°C temperature. Solution of 2% Locron was used as source of aluminum-hydroxy. The products were characterized chemically and mineralogica/~v. The chemical characteristic includes total chemical analysis, whereas the mineralogical characteristic comprises basal spacing identification that was measured with X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The results indicated that the AHV producedfrom Li-vermiculite showed peaks of 1.86 nm and 1.41-1.45 nm with increasing intensity of the 1.86 nm peaks as the particle size was finer. The AHV produced from Mg-vermiculite showed only peak of 1.45 nm, whereas the 1.84 nm peak can on~v be identified as a shoulder. The AHV with peak of 1.86 nm (AHV-I.86) can keep its basal spacing to 1.68 nm after 3 hours heating at temperature of 700°C, whereas the AHV-I.45 nm shrinkages to 1.10/0.98 nm at the same treatments. Chemical analysis showed that the inter/oyer space of the AHV-I.86 consists more aluminum-hydroxy than that of the AHV-I.45. Ratio o(OH/AI o(the interlayer aluminum-hydroxy in the AHV-1.86 was 2.57, whereas that of the AHV-I.45 was 2.40.


Detailed studies of Devonian tectonic slices and related
thrusts in Moravian Karst have been done in the past (Rez &
Melichar 2002). In this paper, we present northern continuation
of these thrusts as well as their relation to the other thrusts
of different age in the central part of the Moravian Karst. The
investigated area consists of Devonian limestone and
Carboniferrous siliciclastic rocks that were affected by
thrusting. It is possible to distinguish: 1) older mostly
bedding paralel variscan thrusts with ramps. These older
thrusts were affected by 2) relatively younger variscan
thrusts. The direction of the younger thrusts is mostly oblique
to the older thrusts and bedding. 3) Moreover, certain parts of
the variscan thrusts with adequate orientation were reactivated
during Tertiary by reverse faulting (See Figure 1 for
understanding). While the variscan thrusting was related to
shear like collision of Moldanubian block with block of
Brunovistulicum, the Tertiary reverse faulting was related to
Alpine tectonic proceses.


Abstract A new ionic conjugated polymer, poly(2-ethynyl-N-perfluorohexylpyridinium iodide) (PEPFHPI), was synthesized via the non-catalyst polymerization of 2-ethynylpyridine using perfluorohexyl iodide. The polymerization proceeded homogeneously to provide a moderate yield of polymer. The molecular structure of PEPFHPI was identified by such instrumental methods as IR, NMR, and UV-visible spectroscopies to have a conjugated polymer backbone system with N-perfluorohexylpyridinium iodide as substituents. The electro-optical and electrochemical properties of polymer were measured and discussed. Comparing absorption spectrum and cyclic voltammetry data, this polymer had the HOMO and LUMO values of 4.81 and 2.68 eV, which means the band gap of 2.13 eV.


Sparfloxacin is a broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic commonly used for various bacterial corneal infections. Topical use of fluoroquinolones is considered to be safe leading to their widespread use. Common indications include blepharitis, conjunctivitis and corneal ulcers. However, unsupervised prolonged use is associated with deposition of crystalline material in the epithelial and anterior stromal layers of the cornea. These may be associated with significant visual symptoms including diminution of vision and glare/photophobia. We present a case of a 40-year-old man who was treated with topical 0.3% sparfloxacin unsupervised for a long time. The patient developed significant visual impairment due to diffuse epitheliopathy. Cessation of the drug was slowly followed by reversal of manifestations and normalisation of corneal morphology.


The present study was carried out to detect the active constitutions extracted from Rosmarinus oficinalis leaves by 70% methanol, the dried weight of aqueous extract (F1) were 12%(w:w) contain polyphenols represented by phenols, flavonoids and coumarins as a major compounds , while the dried weight of organic extract, [chloroform(F2)] was 2.8%(w:w) represented as terpenoids, tannins and coumarins detected by qualitative chemical analysis. Antimicrobial activity of Polyphenols and terpenoids were tested against four pathogenic bacteria isolates including: Escherichia coli; Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus ,which grown on Mueller Hinton agar (MHA) plates and then treated with different concentrations of rosemary extract (F1) and (F2) ranged from 0.15-1.2mg/ml, the results revealed that the higher inhibition zone obtained by F1 were 35mm in S. aureus, 24mm in B. cereus and lowest inhibition were 16mm in E. coli and P. aeruginosa at concentration 1.2mg/ml, and the inhibition were depends on extract concentrations. The MIC value of F1 was 600 µg/ml against S. aureus, 1200 µg/ml against B. cereus and 2400 µg/ml against E. coli and P. aeruginosa, while the MICS values of F2 were 2400 µg/ml against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa, and 4800 µg/ml against E. coli and B. cereus. Furthermore calculating index fractional inhibitory concentration (∑FIC) of rosemary extracts (F1 or/and F2), the ∑FICA ranged from synergistic to additional on E. coli and P. aeruginosa respectively, antagonistic on S. aueras and B. cereus, while the ∑FICB index showed synergistic effects on all tested organisms except the additional effect on P. aeurginosa on the basis of resultant zone of inhibition. The anticancer effects of (F1) were used on three cell lines, human larynx epidermoid carcinoma (Hep-2), mammary adenocarcinoma (AMN-3), rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) and one normal cell line, Rat embryo fibroblast (REF) at different concentrations ranged from 62.5-1000 µg/ml. The highest inhibition rate (IR) was 82.41%, 85% on RD, 52.62%, 75.48% on Hep2, 39.14% and 49.75% on AMN-3 at concentrations 500 and 1000µg/ml after 72h exposure time respectively, while IR of Ref cell line exhibit low inhibition rate ranging from 5.8 to 15.7% after 72h in the same conditions.


Background: Cleft palate fistulas of the anterior hard palate following previous repair are a challenging surgical problem. In addition to nasal regurgitation and potential adverse effects on speech, these fistulas may necessitate obturation with a removable dental prosthesis and can mitigate a fixed prosthodontic dental reconstruction. The authors present a method of repair using cancellous bone graft and only native palatal mucosa. Methods: The authors carried out a retrospective review of 27 consecutive patients who underwent anterior palate fistula repair performed by a single surgeon over an 8-year period. Results: The authors performed 29 fistula closure procedures using cancellous bone on 27 consecutive patients. Twenty-three (85 percent) of the initial 27 palatal fistula repairs in this study resulted in complete closure of the fistula. Two of the four patients who had incomplete closure went on to have a second operation using exactly the same technique, and complete closure was achieved. The remaining two patients in whom only partial closure was achieved were asymptomatic and no further treatment was necessary. All patients had an improvement in fistula symptoms after surgery. All patients who were using removable dentures/obturators were restored with fixed dental restorations supported by osseointegrated implants or fixed conventional bridges. Conclusions: This relatively simple method achieves reliable closure of most anterior hard palate fistulas and can be repeated if necessary. This technique removes the necessity of obturation of the defect with a removable prosthesis and in some cases facilitates the placement of dental implants. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.


Objective: This study aims to determine if outpatient opioid prescriptions are associated with future SUD diagnoses and overdose in injured adolescents 5 years following hospital discharge. Summary of Background Data: Approximately, 1 in 8 adolescents are diagnosed with an SUD and 1 in 10 experience an overdose in the 5 years following injury. State laws have become more restrictive on opioid prescribing by acute care providers for treating pain, however, prescriptions from other outpatient providers are still often obtained. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients ages 12–18 admitted to 2 level I trauma centers. Demographic and clinical data contained in trauma registries were linked to a regional database containing 5 years of electronic health records and prescription data. Regression models assessed whether number of outpatient opioid prescription fills after discharge at different time points in recovery were associated with a new SUD diagnosis or overdose, while controlling for demographic and injury characteristics, and depression and posttraumatic stress disorder diagnoses. Results: We linked 669 patients (90.9%) from trauma registries to a regional health information exchange database. Each prescription opioid refill in the first 3 months after discharge increased the likelihood of new SUD diagnoses by 55% (odds ratio: 1.55, confidence interval: 1.04–2.32). Odds of overdose increased with ongoing opioid use over 2–4 years post-discharge (P = 0.016–0.025). Conclusions: Short-term outpatient opioid prescribing over the first few months of recovery had the largest effect on developing an SUD, while long-term prescription use over multiple years was associated with a future overdose.


Asymptotic approaches are traditionally used to calculate confidence intervals for intraclass correlation coefficient in a clustered binary study. When sample size is small to medium, or correlation or response rate is near the boundary, asymptotic intervals often do not have satisfactory performance with regard to coverage. We propose using the importance sampling method to construct the profile confidence limits for the intraclass correlation coefficient. Importance sampling is a simulation based approach to reduce the variance of the estimated parameter. Four existing asymptotic limits are used as statistical quantities for sample space ordering in the importance sampling method. Simulation studies are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed accurate intervals with regard to coverage and interval width. Simulation results indicate that the accurate intervals based on the asymptotic limits by Fleiss and Cuzick generally have shorter width than others in many cases, while the accurate intervals based on Zou and Donner asymptotic limits outperform others when correlation and response rate are close to their boundaries.


The paper analyses mortality rates due to malignant neoplasms and resultant socioeconomic losses, the risk of having and dying of these diseases throughout the coming life, the average longevity among cancer patients. These summarized indicators are considered by the authors as criteria for planning, managing, and implementing anticancer measures in the community.


We introduce a class of models for random constraint satisfaction problems. This class includes and generalizes many previously studied models. We characterize those models from our class which are asymptotically interesting in the sense that the limiting probability of satisfiability changes significantly as the number of constraints increases. We also discuss models which exhibit a sharp threshold for satisfiability in the sense that the limiting probability jumps from 0 to 1 suddenly as the number of constraints increases.


Emotional overcoming and sports performance: a perspective of sports psychology This review has aimed to deal with the subject of the influence of emotional processes in sports performance in athletic competition. It begins with general approach to the definition of the emotion concept and aims to study the problem regarding emotional overcoming and flow state in sports competition. It seems that emotional factors act in some athletes as levers that facilitate their performance and in others as inhibitory and weakening mechanisms of it. However, there are few results supported by scientific research regarding the importance and function of emotions in sports. Moreover, knowledge about emotional processes and their relationship to sports performance is still very elementary and there is still much research left to be done in this area. Nonetheless, there is enough scientific evidence to support intervention on key aspects of emotional management in sports training. It is concluded that, in this context, sports psychology occur a place in improving the performance of the individual athlete in both training as well as competition situations. The task of the sports psychologist is to help strengthen said process. © 2008 Revista Andaluza de Medicina del Deporte.


ABSTRACT In 2015, Danish-Palestinian Omar El-Hussein shot and killed two men in Copenhagen, before being killed himself by the police. Danish media immediately classified El-Hussein's actions as 'a terrorist attack', and they became the object of extreme concern to the Danish public. In the following days, the two murder sites were momentarily turned into public memorial spaces. When the site of the killing of El-Hussein also became a site of mourning, however, it prompted a negative reaction from politicians and the white majority public. While the mixed reactions to publicly mourning a murderer are understandable, they also reveal something about the racialized conditions of public mourning. Reading the different acts of publicly mourning El-Hussein, the article investigates the ways in which public sites of grief are outlined by racialized economies. This article builds upon Butler's argument that public mourning forms as indicative of which lives are considered lives at all. However, we argue that such an analysis must consider the racialized logics of the performativity of public mourning: Thus, while non-white grief seems not to be recognized as grief at all, white grief tends to reiterate the racialized processes that outline white lives as grievable at the expense of non-white lives.


The bioactivity of dietary polyphenols depends upon gastrointestinal and hepatic metabolism of secondary microbial phenolic metabolites generated via colonic microbiota-mediated biotransformation. A polyphenol-rich potato extract (PRPE) containing chlorogenic, caffeic, and ferulic acids and rutin was digested in a dynamic multi-reactor gastrointestinal simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem (GI model). Simulated digestion showed extensive degradation of the parent compounds and the generation of microbial phenolic metabolites. To characterize the transport and metabolism of microbial phenolic metabolites following digestion, a co-culture of intestinal Caco-2 and hepatic HepG2 cells was exposed to the PRPE-derived digests obtained from the colonic vessels. Following a 2 h incubation of the digesta with the Caco-2/HepG2 co-cultures, approximately 10–15% of ferulic, dihydrocaffeic, and dihydroferulic acids and 3–5% of 3-hydroxybenzoic, 3-hydroxyphenylpropionic, and coumaric acids were observed in the basolateral side, whereas 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, phenylpropanoic acid, and cinnamic acid were not detected. Subsequent HepG2 cellular metabolism led to major increases in ferulic, dihydrocaffeic, 3-hydroxyphenylpropionic, and coumaric acids ranging from 160–370%. These findings highlight the importance of hepatic metabolism towards the generation of secondary metabolites of polyphenols despite low selective Caco-2 cellular uptake of microbial phenolic metabolites.


A fuzzy model is proposed to analyze the effectiveness of test pairs targeting path delay faults. This model is accurate enough to rank nonrobust tests by accounting for conditions not considered in existing models. It remains fully consistent with the traditional test robustness analysis. Finally, it also provides a coverage metric to be used to rank whole test sets. The proposed model has been implemented in a logic level path delay fault simulator. Its accuracy has been validated, for a set of combinational benchmarks, by means of a Monte Carlo logic-level event-driven path delay fault simulator.


The molecular susceptibility and the atomic contributions including the basin and surface components calculated at the RHF/6-31+G(d)//6-31+G(d) level of theory along with vector current densities obtained at the 6-31++G(d,p)//6-31+G(d) and 6-31+G(d)//6-31+G(d) levels are reported for benzene (1) and correlated - the agreement is excellent - with the results obtained by Keith and Bader with the 6-311++G(2d,2p) basis. This validates our similar studies on the bicyclo[3.2.1]octa-3,6-dien-2-yl anion (2) - initially considered to be a bishomoaromatic species - its parent hydrocarbon bicyclo[3.2.1]octa-2,5-diene (3), the bicyclo[3.2.1]oct-3-ene-2-yl anion (4), and 5, the lithium complex of 2. While a magnetic susceptibility exhalation is found in going from 4 to 2, the increase in atomic surface contribution to Δχ arises predominately (42.6%) from the ethenyl bridge carbons C6 and C7, with C2 + C4 and C3 exhibiting substantially smaller increases (27.4 and 8.3%, respectively). This result, in conjunction with t...


This research investigated empirically the qualities of improved soil management practices (ISMPs) most likely to lead to land user adoption. Land users' perceptions of soil‐related constraints were investigated in two hillside districts of eastern Uganda. The research looked at land user rationale for adopting and adapting specific ISMPs at the end of a two‐year period of increased advice and support. Land user engagement with soil management improved markedly after this period of support and multifunctionality, that is, provision of a number of different products or benefits, was seen to be a common characteristic of those ISMPs taken up by land users. It is argued that in the search for 'best‐bet' ISMPs, multifunctionality may be a particularly relevant and easily measurable indicator of likely adoption of a practice by land users. The research also demonstrates the value of supporting land users in their efforts to adapt ISMPs to fit with their own circumstances. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is expressed in endothelial cells and regulates angiogenic signal transduction under both physiological and pathological conditions. VEGFR2 turnover at the plasma membrane (PM) is regulated by its transport through endocytic and secretory transport pathways. Short-range cargo trafficking along actin filaments is commonly regulated by motor proteins of myosin superfamily. In the current study, performed in primary human endothelial cells, we demonstrate that unconventional myosin 1c (Myo1c; class I family member) regulates the localization of VEGFR2 at the PM. We further demonstrate that the recruitment of VEGFR2 to the PM and its colocalization with Myo1c and caveolin-1 occur in response to VEGF-A (VEGF) stimulation. In addition, VEGF-induced delivery of VEGFR2 to the cell surface requires Myo1c; surface VEGFR2 levels are reduced in the absence of Myo1c and, more importantly, are restored by the overexpression of wild-type but not mutant Myo1c. Subcellular density gradient fractionation revealed that partitioning of VEGFR2 into caveolin-1- and Myo1c-enriched membrane fractions is dependent on VEGF stimulation. Myo1c depletion resulted in increased VEGF-induced VEGFR2 transport to the lysosomes for degradation and was rescued by applying either brefeldin A, which blocks trafficking between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi complex, or dynasore, an inhibitor of dynamin-mediated endocytosis. Myo1c depletion also reduced VEGF-induced VEGFR2 phosphorylation at Y1175 and phosphorylation-dependent activation of ERK1/2 and c-Src kinase, leading to reduced cell proliferation and cell migration. This is the first report demonstrating that Myo1c is an important mediator of VEGF-induced VEGFR2 delivery to the cell surface and plays a role in angiogenic signaling.


Dealing with complexity is becoming increasingly difficult for organizations, due to limited replicable abilities, once management performance was remunerated by successful decisions on the marketplace. The competitive advantage, based upon current documented organizational management expertise, deployed into patterns of competitive behavior, prove to be unsustainable. Therefore, we assist to a relative emergency of strategic intelligence adjustment framework, to channel the managerial capability mechanisms, from current detective orientation capabilities toward anticipatory ones. Based upon exploitation of an organizational profiling database, we try our contribution to this challenging debate, by formulating recommendations for strategic adjustment and prototype testing of the potential solutions, through a designed transition matrix from market oriented to vision oriented organizations.


Abstract A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate "liming"; potential of different green manures. Ground leafy materials of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) and guinea grass (Panicum maximum) were added at 0, 5, 10 and 20 g/kg to an Ultisol having a soil‐water pH 4.0, KCl‐extractable Al = 7.6 cmoLc/kg, Al saturation = 50% and soil‐solution Al = 2.2 mM. Treatments with Ca(OH)2 were established for comparison. Sesbania cochinchinensis, an Al‐sensitive tree legume, was grown for 4 weeks as a test crop. Biomass production and chemical composition of the soil indicated that (i) cowpea and leucaena were more effective than guinea grass in detoxifying Al; for example, the additions of 10 g manure per kg soil were equivalent to 1.8 cmol(OH)/kg for guinea grass, 3.4 for cowpea and 4.2 for leucaena (at least on a short‐term basis), (ii) reduction of soluble Al at increased pH as a result of manure additions was the major mechanism for Al detoxification, and (iii) complexation of...


The industrial waste, especially that without waste water management instalations caused soil resources degradation. The waste type that has potential to degrade the soil is toxic material, including the heavy metals. Mercury (Hg) is one of the toxic and dangerous heavy metal, which threaten crop, animal, and human health. All types of mercury compound are toxic for human. The mercury is one of the most toxic metal ion to soil biota. Generally, mercury availablility in soil for crop is low, and it tends to accunulate in rootzone. This indicated that the rootzone is a barrier to mercury uptake. The organic material can be used to adsorp the heavy metals. The material have functional array that is active to adsorp the heavy metal if it is ionized. The research was conducted in Soil Research Institute green house using factorial randomized block 3 x 4, with three replications. The first factor is Leaching (without leaching, leached with 1-2 litre pot-1 each three days). The second factor is organic matter (control;cow manure 1,181.47 g pot-1; chicken manure 741.62 g pot-1; straw compost 1,102.29 g pot-1). The research showed that the heavy metal polutions did not affect the rice (IR-64) growth and yield. Organic matter and leaching affect the mercury contents in produced rice. The Hg content from analysis of percolated water is not significantly different. The most effective treatment to lower the mercury content in rice to the level of "Dirjen POM" (0.05 ppm or 50 ppb) is leaching with 1-2 litre water thatreached 14 ppb and 23 ppb; without leaching reached 25 ppb. Chicken manure with 1 litre water gained 34 ppb and 37 ppb. Organic matter addition with combination of leaching can decrease the Hg content to less the level.


The principal aim of this paper is to determine the minimal dimension that a nerve of the cover of the sphere S by the open sets not containing a pair of antipodal points could have, and also to determine the minimal cardinality of such cover (or the minimal number of vertices of its nerve). In particular, our result provides the complete answer to the question posed by Micha Perles (see [6]). Our results could be seen as the extensions of the Lyusternik-Schnirel'man version of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. As a consequence, we also obtain the improved lower bound for the local chromatic number of certain class of graphs.


Introduction In the experiments on the absorption of normal and cancer rat plasma fractionated with zinc hydroxide powder, described in the preceding paper (1), it was found that the absorption curves of normal rat plasma treated with zinc hydroxide powder were practically identical between the wavelengths of 2900 A and 3400 A while those of cancer rat plasma, similarly treated, deviated from the normal, the deviation being roughly proportional to the size of the tumor growth. In the present study, on human plasma, the same technic was employed to determine whether a similar difference exists. Results Absorption curves typical of those obtained are shown in Fig. 1; these were obtained from a healthy subject, Case 26. Curve A is that of undiluted plasma; curve B of plasma diluted five times; curve C of plasma diluted five times and treated with 0.1 gm. of zinc hydroxide powder per 5 c.c. of diluted plasma, and curve D of plasma diluted twenty times. Such determinations were made on 12 cancer and 7 normal plasmas. A careful examination of these curves was made to discover any possible correlation between the shape of the curves and the pathological condition of the subject. The height of the band at approximately 2780 A, which is a rough measure of the protein content, varied over a wide range in both cancer and normal plasmas, and nothing peculiar to the cancerous condition could be detected. The extinction coefficients in the region of 2900 A to 3100 A of plasma after treatment with 0.1 gm. of zinc hydroxide powder (curve C) gave no consistent values for these human specimens as was the case for rats (1). The ratio of the maximum extinction coefficient of the plasma treated with zinc hydroxide powder (curve C) to that of the untreated plasma of the same dilution (curve B) for the 2800 A band was, however, found to be greater for normal plasmas than for cancer plasmas. The work, therefore, was continued along this line.


We propose a pre-processing pipeline for the de-tection and restoration of distorted frames in phase-contrast microscopy time-series images. The analysis is based on the average intensity values of the frames within any given time- series image. The extent of the correction of intensity variation in frames is determined by the normalization of the difference between the current frame's average intensity and the median of average intensity of all frames. Our restoration algorithm preserves regional trans-passing pixels, does not cause new distortions, and increases the histogram similarity between the distorted and non-distorted frames. The algorithm was validated on 15,395 time-series image frames from 27 experiments and the results were found to be visually and quantitatively accurate.


This paper describes a new microwave diagnostic tool for nondestructive evaluation. The approach, developed in the spatial domain, is based on the numerical computation of the inhomogeneous Green's function in order to fully exploit all the available a priori information of the domain under test. The heavy reduction of the computational complexity of the proposed procedure (with respect to standard procedures based on the free-space Green's function) is also achieved by means of a customized hybrid-coded genetic algorithm. In order to assess the effectiveness of the method, the results of several simulations are presented and discussed.


Maximum likelihood transformation-adaptation techniques have proven successful, but it is believed that faster convergence to speaker dependent (SD) performance can be achieved if we incorporate some form of a-priori knowledge in the adaptation process. In this paper, instead of estimating one linear transform per class of models for each new speaker, we transform the speaker-independent (SI) models using multiple linear transforms and a weight vector. To reduce the number of adaptation parameters, the multiple linear transforms are generated from training speakers and the adaptation parameters consist of a single weight vector per class. This can be seen as incorporating a-priori knowledge to our estimation process. Experiments conducted on the Spoken Language Translator database in the Swedish language using SRI's DECIPHER/sup TM/ system, show that the new method outperforms maximum likelihood linear regression on very limited adaptation data.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction into the inertial motion analysis field, focusing its attention on the analysis that is performed using modern mechatronic inertial motion capture systems, highlighting both the advantages and drawbacks of using such a system and outlining the main constituent elements of these systems as well as the necessary steps to be carried out in order to be able to accomplish such analysis. A modern mechatronic inertial motion analysis system's evolution it's based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) sensory network, each of which contains a combination of accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer. The signals from these MEMS are processed, by a microcontroller, using advanced algorithms in order to provide accurate data regarding body's segments kinematics, global positioning and magnetic field. Those data are being transferred to a biomechanical model for the analysis. Despite its tremendous advantages, such as portability and real-time analysis capabilities, over alternative motion analysis systems, such as optical or mechanical systems, that based on external transmitters and/or video camera networks, restricting their use to special laboratory conditions and/or large workspace, mechatronic inertial systems are not based on an external infrastructure, they present a major disadvantage, namely the positional drift. The estimation of the human subject body's segments positions and orientation, absolutely requires an initial calibration procedure, called "sensor to segment calibration", that starts from the positional and orientation information received from the MEMS network, which are then transferred onto a biomechanical (scaled) model of the human body.


Engineering a bioartificial heart has become a possibility in part because of the regenerative medicine approaches to repairing or replacing damaged organs that have evolved over the past two decades. With the advent of inducible pluripotent stem cell technology, it is now possible to generate personalized cells that make the concept of autologous tissue engineering imaginable. Scaffolds that provide form, function, and biological cues to cells likewise potentially enable the engineering of biocompatible vascularized solid organs. Decellularized organs or tissue matrices retain organ complexity and structure at the macro and micro scales, contain biologically active molecules that support cell phenotype and function, and are vascularized allowing full thickness tissue generation. There is also dynamic reciprocity between the extracellular matrix and cells, which does not occur with synthetic scaffolds and allows both to evolve as functional need changes, making it a unique scaffold. Yet, building a whole heart from decellularized scaffolds and cells requires delivering hundreds of billions of multiple types of cardiac cells appropriately and providing a milieu where they can survive and mature. We propose a novel type of in vivo organ engineering utilizing pre-clinical models where decellularized hearts are heterotopically transplanted with the intent to harness the capability of the body to at least in part repopulate the scaffold. By adding load and electrical input, possibly via temporary mechanical assistance, we posit that vascular and parenchymal cell maturation can occur. In this study, we implanted porcine decellularized hearts acutely and chronically in living recipients in a heterotopic position. We demonstrated that the surgical procedure is critical to prevent coagulation and to increase graft patency. We also demonstrated that short-term implantation promotes endothelial cell adhesion to the vessel lumens and that long-term implantation also promotes tissue formation with evidence of cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells present within the graft. Utilizing endogenous repair capabilities of the recipient in response to a naked ECM, we allowed the transplanted scaffold to direct host cells-both organizationally and functionally. Thus, the scaffold provided necessary cues for cell organization and remodeling within the transplanted organ. Future work would involve culturing partially recellularized engineered organs in bioreactors where mechanical and electrical stimulation can be controlled to promote organ development and then transplanting these after a minimal level of maturation has been achieved.


Taurinuria is characteristic of the immature rat. The excessive taurine loss could be the result of brush border or basal lateral membrane immaturity. The beta-amino acid, taurine, and D-glucose were examined using isolated brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV), slices and tubules prepared from 28-day-old rats. In BBMV, taurine accumulation was inversely proportional to osmolarity, indicating uptake rather than binding, and taurine accumulation was Na+-dependent. BBMV from 28-day rats did not accumulate D-glucose to the same degree as in adult BBMV, and the initial rate of uptake was slower. Taurine uptake had a similar Km and Vmax in BBMV from immature rats. Despite similarities in the kinetics of taurine uptake, higher urinary taurine concentrations are found in younger rats. The efflux of taurine from slices and tubules was much slower than in adults and probably accounts for the taurinuria of young animals. A diet low in methionine and taurine (LTD) given for seven days resulted in a lower excretion and fractional excretion of taurine than in animals fed a normal sulfur amino acid diet (NTD). A high-taurine diet (HTD) causes excessive taurinuria. These patterns of excretion are reflected at the brush border membrane surface with greater uptake after the LTD and reduced uptake after the HTD. A kinetic analysis of adult and 28-day-old animal BBMV reveals that the Vmax of accumulation is altered by diet, whereas the Km remains unchanged. The Vmax is higher in BBMV from LTD animals and lower in BBMV from HTD animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


OBJECTIVE: It is challenging to differentiate mediastinal lymph node enlargement caused by tuberculosis (TB) and sarcoidosis as both diseases may cause granulomatous inflammation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) as possible markers in the differential diagnosis of Stage I sarcoidosis and TB lymphadenopathy in patients who present with mediastinal lymph nodes and no parenchymal involvement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 19 TB, 55 sarcoidosis, and 32 control patients, whose clinical records were available, were included in this retrospective study. All patients had a granulomatous reaction revealed on their lymph node biopsy specimen. The complete blood count at the time of diagnosis was included in the study. RESULTS: NLR and PLR were both significantly increased in Stage 1 sarcoidosis patients compared to controls while only PLR was significantly increased in the TB group (for sarcoidosis, NLR P < 0.001 and PLR P < 0.001; for TB, NLR P = 0.12; PLR P = 0.017). There were neither significant differences in serum NLR nor PLR between sarcoidosis and TB groups. CONCLUSION: Although NLR and PLR are useful tools to differentiate Stage 1 sarcoidosis from controls and PLR may be used to differentiate TB lymphadenopathy from controls, these parameters may not be used to differentiate between Stage 1 sarcoidosis and TB lymphadenopathy.


Volumetric shrinkage critical state induced by desiccation of compacted earth treated and improved with Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and utilized as pavement foundation has been investigated in the laboratory. The critical state study was important to determine at what level of earth improvement with the biomass material can be considered safe in terms of shrinkage behavior of treated soft soil utilized in pavement construction. Rice Husk (RH) is an agricultural waste discharged during rice production and is disposed on landfills. It causes land pollution in places like Abakaliki and Ebonyi State, Nigeria as whole where rice farming is the predominant occupation. Ground and soil improvement with the use of rice husk ash has contributed in the management of solid waste in the developing countries where rice production is a common occupation with its attendant solid waste generation. However, the use of biomass-based binders like RHA has reduced the rate at which oxides of carbon are released into the atmosphere, which contribute to greenhouse emission effects. This exercise is an environmentally conscious procedure that keeps the environment safe from the hazards of carbon and its oxides. the preliminary investigation on the test soil showed that it is classified as an A-7-6 soil group according to AASHTO classification. The index properties showed that the soil was highly plastic with high clay content. The RHA was utilized at the rate of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% by weight of treated solid to improve the soil volumetric shrinkage induced desiccation at molding moisture conditions of 2% dry, 0%, 2% wet, and 4% wet of optimum moisture. This was necessary to establish the behavior of hydraulically bound foundation materials subjected to dry and wet conditions during the rise and fall of water tables. Results of the laboratory investigation have shown that at 2% dry of optimum moisture, the volumetric shrinkage (VS) behavior performed best and reduced below the critical line of 4% at 8% by weight addition of RHA and maintained that consistent reduction at 10% addition of RHA. Generally, the critical point was achieved at 8% by weight addition of RHA at all the molding moisture conditions. This is an indication that at molding moisture conditions between -2% to 4%, 8% by weight addition of the admixture, RHA can be utilized as an environmentally conscious construction material to improve the VS of soils for use as hydraulically bound materials in pavement foundation construction.


Transport of ionic species solvated in electrolytes depends on temperature. This dependence is much stronger in nanofluidics than large scale since the surface charge also varies with temperature. In this work, we introduce a new tool for the modulation of ionic transport inside nanochannels based on the effect of temperature. This effect can be used in the gating of nanochannels with comparable effectiveness as other gating mechanisms.


This paper studies the effect of market distortions in the manufacturing sector in Morocco. Recent microdata are used to calculate the extent of resource misallocation associated to these distortions and the potential total factor productivity (TFP) gain resulting from their removal. Market distortions in the manufacturing sector in Morocco are higher compared with developed countries and slightly more important compared with other developing countries, such as China and India. These distortions decreased between 2007 and 2013. Full liberalization would raise TFP by about 84 percent. If distortions are removed to the level of selected developed countries with better resource allocation, the increase in TFP would be of 56 percent. The paper also finds that industries that are more opened to competition (international and domestic) such as machinery and textiles industries present lower levels of market distortions compared with more protected industries with relatively little competition, such as the food industry. Besides, a higher level of TFP can be achieved if more resources are allocated to "young" and "small" firms. The main results of the paper are robust to an alternative estimation that uses a different methodological framework with a less extensive theoretical framework. The paper discusses policies to further limit the extent of product and factor market distortions in Morocco.


AIMS
We investigated the association between weekly alcohol consumption and binge drinking and the risk of unemployment, sickness absence and disability pension.

DESIGN
Prospective register-based cohort study.

SETTING
Denmark.

PARTICIPANTS
A sample of 17 690 men and women, aged 18-60 years from the Danish Health and Morbidity Survey in 2000, 2005 and 2010 participated in the study. Participants worked the entire year prior to baseline.

MEASUREMENTS
Administrative registers were used to obtain information on unemployment, sickness absence and disability pension during a 5-year follow-up period. Data were analysed by multivariate Cox regression model with random effect (frailty) adjusted for cohabitation status, educational level, Charlson comorbidity index, smoking habits, calendar year and geographic region.

FINDINGS
Among males, adjusted hazards ratios (HR) of unemployment were 1.24 (95% CI 1.05-1.46, P = 0.01), 1.28 (95% CI 1.04-1.59, P =0.02) and 1.48 (95% CI 1.21-1.81, P = 0.00) respectively, for abstainers and those with alcohol consumption of 21-27 and ≥ 28 drinks per week when compared with individuals who had 1-13 drinks per week. Corresponding HRs for sickness absence were 1.16 (95% CI 1.02-1.33, P = 0.03), 1.02 (95% CI 0.85-1.23, P = 0.84), and 1.23 (95 % CI 1.04-1.46, P = 0.02). Male abstainers had increased HR for subsequently receiving disability pension. Female abstainers had increased HR of unemployment, sickness absence and disability pension compared to women with moderate alcohol consumption. Binge drinking was associated with higher HR of unemployment compared to non-binge drinking in women: HR of 1.21 (95 % CI 1.03-1.41, P = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS
In Danish men aged 18-60, alcohol abstinence and heavy consumption is associated with increased subsequent risk of unemployment and sickness absence compared with low consumption. In Danish women abstainers have increased risk of unemployment, sickness absence and disability pension, while binge drinkers are more likely to become unemployed subsequently.


Large epidemiological trails shown that hypercholesterolemia is one of the main risk factor of ischemic heart disease (IHD). Correction of the hypercholesterolemia with GmGKoA reductase inhibitors (statins) essentially reduces IHD morbidity and mortality. The lower serum level of low density lipoprotein is - the lower risk of cardiovascular diseases and their complications are. Efficacy and safety of atorvastatin therapy in high doses is discussed in patients with IHD and dyslipidemia. Atorvastatin in high doses is more effective than standard therapy for prevention of cardiovascular complications. Atorvastatin is also effective in patients with recurrent cardiovascular events. Atorvastatin in high doses is safe and well tolerated. Serious side effects due to atorvastatin use (myopathy and rhabdomyolysis) are very rare. Generic atorvastatin 80 mg OD in ATLANTIC study was effective and safe. However efficacy and safety of other atorvastatin generics in dose of 80 mg OD is not well studied and it is necessary further studies.


Metal complex of Zn (II) has been synthesized with 5-methoxy-2[(4methoxy-3, 5dimethyl-2- pyridinyl) methyl sulfinyl]–1H–benzimidazole , a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). Formation of new complex (C17H19N3O3S)2 Zn has been supported by elemental analysis, conductivity measurements and spectral studies including IR,1H NMR,UV, magnetic susceptibility, XRD and SEM studies . The molar conductance measurements of the complex in DMSO indicate that the complex is nonelectrolytic in nature. Analytical data and stochiometry suggest ligand metal ratio of 2:1 for Zn(II) complex. The spectroscopic results show the involvement of C=N and S=O groups in coordination to the central metal ion. Based on spectral studies, tetrahedral geometry has been proposed for the complex. The ligand and its complex were tested for their antibacterial and antifungal activities against bacteria Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aureus and fungi Aspergillus Niger and A. flavous. It is observed that the complex is a better bactericidal agent than the parent drug.


This research studies the incidence of the type of substrate, soluble or particulate, in the emergence, development, and inhibition of bulking in activated sludge systems. It was evaluated using the sludge volume index (SVI), mixing liquor-suspended solids (MLSS), microscopic analysis of biomass, and effluent suspended solids (ESS). In the first experiment, four sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were fed with soluble substrate at a fixed mass, while the mass of the particulate substrate varied, as those (saccharose mass/flour mass) ratios were 3:1, 3:2, 3:3 and 3:4., with a deficit ranging from 20 to 30% compared to the ratio recommended. The four SBRs have similar MLSS, IVL, and ESS. From day 30, with a deficit from 80 to 90%, the influents have ratios 1/1 and 1/2 until 48 days. The SBRs present IVL between 600 and 730 mL/g and ESS from 370 to 440 mg/L; unlike influents with ratios 1/3 and 1/4, they present IVL between 170 and 185 mL/g, and ESS from 260 to 270 mg/L. The favorable effect of particulate matter is categorical. In the second set of experiments, two SBRs were studied: SBR 1 fed with saccharose, and SBR 2 with flour; there is a lack of nutrients causing bulking in SBRs. Once the nutrient deficiency condition is changed in day 11 to excess, after 22 days, the SVI was 190 mL/g, ESS was 360 mg/L, and MLSS was 2000 mg/L for influents with saccharose; the influent with flour, with an SVI of 80 mL/g, ESS of 100 mg/L, and MLSS of 4000 mg/L, shows faster and more consistent recovery with the particulate substrate. Therefore, the proposal is to add particulate substrate-like flour to active sludge plants facing bulking. It is a clean, innocuous and sustainable alternative to processes that use chemical reagents.


We investigate the X-ray absorption structure of oxygen in the interstellar medium by analyzing XMM-Newton observations of the low-mass X-ray binary Sco X-1. Simple models based on the O i atomic photoabsorption cross section from different sources are used to fit the data and evaluate the impact of the atomic data on the interpretation of the observations. We show that relatively small differences in the atomic calculations can yield spurious results, and that the most complete and accurate set of atomic cross sections successfully reproduce the observed data in the 21.0–24.5 Å wavelength region of the spectrum. Our fits indicate that the absorption is mainly due to neutral gas with an ionization parameter of ξ = 10−4 erg cm s−1 and an oxygen column density of NO ≈ (8–10) × 1017 cm−2. The models are able to reproduce both the K edge and the Kα absorption line from O i which are the two main features in this region. We find no conclusive evidence for absorption by anything other than atomic oxygen.


Trellis-coded modulation (TCM) is well-known for achieving coding gain in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) without any bandwidth or power expansion. This property makes it a very attractive scheme to be used in the mobile fading environment where both bandwidth and power are precious resources. The possibility of applying TCM in the presence of additive noise and frequency-selective fading are considered. In particular, various receiver structures with moderate complexity are investigated together with the Ungerboeck's (1982) 8-PSK TCM schemes. The simulation results show that with the proper choice of soft-output algorithm, a coding gain of 4 dB to 6 dB can be achieved at a bit error rate level of 10/sup -3/.


Environmental pollution is increasing in parallel with the increase in the world population. Azo dyes are one of the most important causes of environmental pollution. Microbial electrochemical cells are biotechnological systems that generate energy from renewable sources such as electricity. This study investigated simultaneous electricity generation with the decolorization of two different azo dyes in microbial fuel cells. And also, changes in pH values, chemical oxygen demand analysis, hourly color removal rate, dye spectral scanning were investigated. Reactive Yellow 145 dye with a concentration of 10 mg/L, 20 mg/L, and 40 mg/L, and Ponceau S dye with 20 mg/L and 40 mg/L concentration were tested in microbial fuel cells, respectively. Results indicate that the maximum voltage obtained was 0.11 V at the same time as the 100% decolorization rate in Reactive Yellow 145 and was achieved at a concentration of 10 mg/L also, the maximum voltage obtained was 0.24 V at the same time as the 100% decolorization rate in Ponceau S. It was achieved at a concentration of 20 mg/L. In conclusion, microbial fuel cells appear to be promising tools in treating textile azo dye wastewaters, and computational methods can be applied to estimate the degradation mechanisms of complex organic molecules found in wastewaters.


Evidence of acute pancreatitis was sought in 35 patients with fulminant hepatic failure. Total amylase was raised in 22 patients and isoenzyme separation showed a distinct P3 isoenzyme (indicative of pancreatitis) in 14. In four patients with marked hyperamylasaemia (greater than 1000 U/l) the predominant isoenzyme was the salivary fraction. Pancreatic lipase was abnormally raised (greater than 200 U/l) in 34 patients but exceeded 1000 U/l in 12 of the 14 with a distinct P3 isoenzyme. Thus on the basis of a distinct P3 isoenzyme of amylase and an increased pancreatic lipase activity evidence of pancreatitis was found in 34% of patients in this series.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Objectives: To compare acetabular fracture reoperation rates within 1 year of surgery in methamphetamine ("meth") abusers and abstainers. Design: Retrospective database analysis. Setting: Level 1 academic trauma facility, 2008–2018. Patients/Participants: Three hundred seventy-one patients who underwent unilateral traumatic acetabular open reduction internal fixation during the study period, 36 of whom abused methamphetamines through self-report or toxicology. One hundred four were excluded for indeterminate abuse histories. Intervention: Open reduction internal fixation. Main Outcome Measurements: Reoperation resulting from major surgical complications, including hematoma, seroma, deep wound infection, failure of fixation, or arthrosis with conversion to arthroplasty. Results: More than 10% of our cohort used meth, representing patients who were a mean 8 years younger and sustained a higher rate of high-energy mechanisms than sober peers. Meth abusers had a greater than 2-fold reoperation rate at 90 days and 1 year compared with abstainers (17% vs. 7% and 25% vs. 11%, respectively). The adjusted odds ratio of 1-year reoperation in meth users was 3.2 (confidence interval 1.2–8.5, P = 0.03). The adjusted 1-year survival of native hip after acetabular fractures in meth users approaches 55%. Conclusions: Methamphetamine use is a nonmodifiable factor associated with a 3-fold increase in adjusted odds for 1-year reoperation after surgical fixation of acetabular fractures. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) is a carbapenemase increasingly reported worldwide in Enterobacteriaceae. The aim of this study was to analyze the virulence of several KPC-2-producing K. pneumoniae isolates. The studied strains were (i) five KPC-2 clinical strains from different geographical origins, belonging to different ST-types and possessing plasmids of different incompatibility groups; (ii) seven transformants obtained after electroporation of either these natural KPC plasmids or a recombinant plasmid harboring only the bla KPC-2 gene into reference strains K. pneumoniae ATCC10031/CIP53153; and (iii) five clinical strains cured of plasmids. The virulence of K. pneumoniae isolates was evaluated in the Caenorhabditis elegans model. The clinical KPC producers and transformants were significantly less virulent (LT50: 5.5 days) than K. pneumoniae reference strain (LT50: 4.3 days) (p<0.01). However, the worldwide spread KPC-2 positive K. pneumoniae ST258 strains and reference strains containing plasmids extracted from K. pneumoniae ST258 strains had a higher virulence than KPC-2 strains belonging to other ST types (LT50: 5 days vs. 6 days, p<0.01). The increased virulence observed in cured strains confirmed this trend. The bla KPC-2 gene itself was not associated to increased virulence.


To assess gender-, pubertal-, age-related differences in change from baseline height standard deviation score (ΔHSDS), data from 5,797 growth hormone (GH) na¨ıve pediatric patients (<18 years) with growth hormone deficiency (GHD), multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (MPHD), Turner syndrome (TS), small for gestational age (SGA), Noonan syndrome (NS), and idiopathic short stature (ISS) were obtained from the ANSWER (American Norditropin Studies: Web-enabled Research) Program registry. For patients with SGA, ΔHSDS at year 1 was significantly greater for males versus females (P = .016), but no other gender differences were observed. For patients with GHD, ΔHSDS was greater in prepubertal than in pubertal patients. Younger patients for both genders (<11 years for boys; <10 years for girls) showed a greater ΔHSDS (P < .05 for GHD, MPHD, and ISS). Overall, positive ΔHSDSs were observed in all patients, with greater growth responses in younger prepubertal children, emphasizing the importance of starting GH treatment early.


Current knowledge indicates that total urinary arsenic is not a suitable biomarker of exposure to toxic, i.e., inorganic, arsenic (iAs), whereas measurement of iAs and its methylated metabolites in urine using speciation analysis provides much more reliable estimates of exposure. The relative proportions of urinary iAs, monomethylarsonate (MA), and dimethylarsinate (DMA) can be used as a measure of methylation capacity, provided that there are no confounding factors such as consumption of food rich in DMA or containing As compounds metabolized to DMA.We analyzed by gradient elution anion-exchange HPLC-ICP-MS (high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) urine samples from 153 residents in Latium (central Italy) chronically exposed to iAs via water and food. Excluding 26 subjects that excreted high concentrations of arsenobetaine (AB) (≥50 μg As/L) due to seafood consumption, iAs and related metabolites summed up about 75 % of total urinary As as measured by ICP-MS. AB and other organoarsenic compounds were detected at low concentrations in all urine samples. Considering all subjects, the sum of iAs and metabolites ranged 2–72 μg/L and relative proportions were iAs 14 %, MA 13 %, and DMA 72 % (median values), with a wide individual variability.In addition to the above arsenocompounds, the analytical method used in this study enabled the detection of dimethylthioarsinic acid (DMTA), which was found to be present in 33 % of the samples at concentrations ranging mostly from trace amounts to ~6 μg As/L. We found that part of the certified DMA content of human urine reference material SRM 2669 was present as DMTA. Four unknown arsenicals were also detected as minor species in a small proportion of samples.


Abstract:In response to the lack of culturally sustaining pedagogies for Black students in linguistics, we created an online Introduction to Linguistics course designed as part of a specially funded research program that serves Black undergraduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as well as Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). In recognition of the fact that conventional introductory linguistics courses often alienate Black students, the course was designed to center Black language and culture in every lesson. We describe the rationale for and implementation of the course, as well as the impact of the model on students and instructors. The course's Black-centered content as well as its online synchronous and asynchronous teaching model can be adapted for other teaching contexts as a way to recruit Black students into linguistics and to offer linguistics courses to students at universities, especially HBCUs, that do not have linguistics programs. The work is particularly relevant as linguists seek to be inclusive in their teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and work toward the greater inclusion of Black people in every aspect of linguistics due to the heightened awareness of anti-Blackness in higher education and specifically in language studies.


An 80-year-old man with MDS-refractory anemia (RA) suffered transformation to a leukemic state after 18 months. The karyotype of the bone marrow cells was 47, XY, +8 in 8 cells among 20 dividing cells analyzed. Combination therapy of 150 micrograms of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and 250 mg of cytarabine ocfosfate (SPAC) for 3 weeks had no beneficial effect. Then, the patient was subjected to low-dose (2 mg daily) melphalan therapy. Gradual and concurrent improvement in anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia occurred, and the patient became free of transfusions at 2 weeks after the treatment began. Since then, his performance status has improved from grade 4 on his diagnosis of AML to grade 2. Cytogenetic analysis was normal in all 20 dividing cells in the bone marrow examination and melphalan had no adverse effect. Recently, several reports of low dose chemotherapy for elderly patients or high risk leukemia have been described, and have sustained for the QOL therapy. In the present case, low-dose melphalan therapy was effective and, moreover the abnormal karyotype of trisomy eight had disappeared.


Laser interferometers have become an important instrument for the measurement of displacement. In future, there is likely to be ever greater importance set on those measuring tasks which use sensors taking up very little space. One solution, proposed here, is a standing-wave interferometer, with a novel photoelectric detector. The latter is 'partially transparent and photoelectrically active', and scans the intensity profile of an optical standing-wave pattern. Arranging two of these transparent photoelectric detectors on the optical axis of the standing wave with the phase shifted permits bidirectional fringe counting. The transparent photoelectric detectors are basically pin-photodiodes with transparent contacts. Two sets of measurements were obtained, the first on a single transparent photoelectric detector and the second on a pair of transparent photoelectric detectors in the standing-wave pattern, and the results are discussed. It is shown that two phase-shifted photoelectric signals (sine and cosine) from two transparent photodetectors in different spatial positions on the optical axis of the standing wave can be received, and that the phase relation between the signals is a function of the distance.


The paper argues for an approach to the topic of illegally obtained evidence that focuses on the institutional design of the criminal justice system, in order to highlight some issues that otherwise remain ignored. Using the analytical tools developed by the rationalist theory of evidence law, the paper examines the implications of a criminal court divided into two tribunals, both professionals, one in charge of the admission of evidence and the other functioning as trial court. By using the Chilean criminal procedure as a case study, the paper criticizes the transplant of exceptions to the exclusionary rule, and the prohibition of assessment of illegally obtained evidence.


This paper assumes the standard optimal income tax model of Mirrlees (Review of Economic Studies, 1971). It gives fairly mild conditions under which the optimal nonlinear labor income tax profile derived under maximin has higher marginal tax rates than the ones derived with welfarist criteria that sum over the population any concave transformation of individual utilities. This strict dominance result is always valid close to the bounds of the skill distribution and almost everywhere (except at the upper bound) when quasilinear-in-consumption preferences are assumed.


An important but hitherto unstudied aspect of the women's movement in Britain
between 1900 and 1935 was the appearance of organisations of Freemasons which
admitted women. This thesis is a case study of one such body, the Honourable
Fraternity of Antient Masonry (HFAM). The roots of women's Freemasonry reach
back to the eighteenth-century French Lodges of Adoption. In 1902, the social
reformer and Theosophist Annie Besant established a lodge of the French-based
International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain, in London. In 1908, the
clergyman William Cobb led a secession from Besant's Order and created the
HFAM, which under the charismatic leadership of Cobb and his successor Marion
Halsey, became the largest British Masonic Order admitting women.
An analysis of HFAM's social composition shows the dominance of aristocratic
women during the period before 1914 and illustrates the functioning of social
networks in support of the women's movement. HFAM mobilised these networks
to support the campaign for women's suffrage. An innovative social experiment by
the HFAM was the establishment in 1916 of the Halsey Training College to train
secondary school teachers. With the expansion of the social basis of HFAM's
membership after the First World War, HFAM's organisation of its philanthropic
activities changed with the establishment of its Bureau of Service. This smaller-scale
but more diverse social programme undertook effective work at a local level but
ultimately proved unsustainable. The HFAM illustrates many structural issues of the
women's movement: the importance of quasi-religions such as Theosophy; the
leadership of aristocratic women; the importance of male support; and the effect of
a shift to more local activities and a wider middle class membership after the First
World War. In particular, the HFAM provides new perspectives on interpretations
of the idea of the complementarity of the sexes within the women's movement to
1935.


Multi-storey timber buildings up to 6 and more floors are increasingly built in many European countries. The challenge with these buildings can be that with traditional intermediate floor constructions in timber it can be difficult to fulfill the standard requirements and even when they are met, low frequency transmission can still cause complaints. Additionally it is difficult to develop appropriate light weight floor constructions since it is well known that the correlation between the standardized evaluation methods using the tapping machine and the human perception of impact noise can be poor, especially in buildings with light weight structures. In the AcuWood project, measurements and recordings on different intermediate timber floor constructions in the laboratory and the field were performed covering a wide range of modern intermediate timber floor constructions. Additionally, one intermediate concrete floor with different floor coverings was included in the study. Besides the standardized tapping machine, the modified tapping machine and the Japanese rubber ball and "real" sources were employed. Subjective ratings from listening tests were correlated to many technical single number descriptors including the standardized descriptors and non-standardized proposals. It was found that the Japanese rubber ball represents walking noise in its characteristics and spectrum best, taking into account the practical requirement of a strong enough excitation for building measurements. The standardized tapping machine, with an appropriate single number descriptor, L′nT,w + CI,50-2500 or slightly better, L′nT,w Hagberg 03, leads also to an acceptably high determination coefficient between the descriptor and the subjective ratings. Additionally, the study delivered data, from which proposals for requirements for the suggested single number ratings are deduced, based on the subjective ratings.


Spherical NiPt@C nanoalloys encapsulated in carbon shells are synthesized by means of high-pressure chemical vapour deposition. Upon variation of the synthesis parameters, both the alloy core composition and the particle size of the resulting spherical NixPt1−x@C nanocapsules can be controlled. The sublimation temperatures of the Ni- and Pt-precursors are found to be key to control the alloy composition and diameter. Depending on the synthesis parameters, the diameters of the cores are tuneable in the range of 3–15 nm while the carbon coatings for all conditions are 1–2 nm. The core particle size decreases linearly upon increasing either of the sublimation temperatures while the Ni and Pt content, respectively, increase linearly with the related precursor temperature. Accordingly, the magnetic properties of the nanoalloys, i.e. magnetization, remanent magnetization and critical field, are well controlled by the two sublimation temperatures. As compared to bulk NiPt, our data show an increase of Stoner enhancement by nanoscaling as ferromagnetism appears in the Pt rich NiPt nanoalloy which is not observed for the related bulk alloys. The magneto-crystalline anisotropy constants K are in the range of 0.3–4 × 105 J m−3 underlining that NiPt@C is a stable, highly magnetic functional nanomaterial.


A virtual backbone is a promising architecture for broadcast communication in wireless ad hoc networks. When nodes use constant and identical transmission power, energy-efficient broadcasting amounts to minimizing the size of the backbone. In this paper we present a class of distributed pruning algorithms for the purpose of finding a virtual backbone of small size. In our algorithm design, the control of global network connectivity is carried out in a distributed manner. Specifically, every node is responsible for monitoring the connectivity between its one-hop neighbors. Nodes make pruning decisions based on this connectivity information. Our pruning algorithms do not require knowledge of global network topology or geographical locations of nodes. Moreover, the amount of control messages involved in making pruning decisions can be significantly reduced if nodes are allowed to rejoin the backbone when necessary. Our computational experiments demonstrate that our pruning algorithms perform very well in terms of generating a small-sized backbone. In addition, we discuss algorithm extensions that allows us to design energy-efficient broadcasting protocols for mobile ad hoc networking


This study sought to examine the challenges of social and spill-over benefits as motivating factors to investment in formal education in selected countries of Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The main argument in the paper is that investment in education is serious business and is an imperative led by the fact that education holds returns and externalities to society at large. The study was premised on human capital theory. A desk research design that reviewed secondary data from local and international publications on social and spill over benefits of education was adopted focusing on Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The findings indicate that education is considered as a key sector not only in the selected countries but also in other developing nations. It was also evident that priority was placed mostly on primary and secondary education gauged by the considerable public financial resource allocation to these sectors. The major challenges include limited financial ability, competitive needs, and national global trends, amongst others. The study concluded that although these countries were striving to become democratic, self-reliant and middle income nations by conquering long terms set visions, it is imperative to invest substantially in TVET and higher education. It was recommended that there was need for concerted efforts among the private sector, local community and any further potential stakeholder to support these governments' efforts as they also enjoy the educational returns. The way forward for Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda is to put in place strong institutions that effectively and rationally ensure the prudent use of all available resources towards maximum educational outputs [259 words].


The evolution of Android smartphone has increased the importance of touchscreen capabilities as user interaction as well as user input method. However, due to the limitation of Android architecture, every touch event may not create its corresponding display update all the times. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposes a novel technique of Touch Event Handling Block (TEHB) with capability of virtual touch event generation and low pass filters. TEHB is implemented on Android 2.2 and its performance simulations show that TEHB can achieve more performance gain than conventional triggering method.


The surgical and postoperative complications of cataract extraction in 29 patients with Fuchs syndrome (heterochromic cyclitis) are reviewed. Visual acuity of 20/40 or better was achieved by 25 of the 28 patients for whom complete follow-up information had been recorded. No vitreous hemorrhages were noted, and there was only one case of transient postoperative hyphemia. In eight cases, vitreous opacities persisted after surgery and accounted for minimal impairment of visual acuity. Only one severe complication was encountered: one patient lost vitreous at the time of surgery, and the final result was glaucoma, retinal detachment, and a sightless eye. Cataract surgery in patients with Fuchs syndrome appears to be only slightly more complicated than routine surgery for senile cataracts. Elective removal of cataractous lenses in patients with this disease should not be delayed because of fear of a poor prognosis.


It is well-known that there are large disparities in academic achievement between children of different socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. This study examines the evolution of disparities in literacy skills between adults of different SES backgrounds. It compares countries' patterns in the evolution of disparities in literacy by SES background as cohorts age and asks which patterns of educational and labour force participation predict a narrowing rather than a widening of these disparities. Since there is no international longitudinal study of skills across the entire adult life span, this study uses three cross-sectional international adult studies (International Adult Literacy Survey, Adult Literacy and Lifeskills and Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) and matches birth years to create synthetic cohorts. Results indicate that there is large cross-national variation in the evolution of skills disparities associated with SES background. Disparities in literacy proficiency tend to widen when SES disparities in high school completion, professional and blue-collar employment increase. Disparities narrow when workers exit the labour force, a finding that is explained by the large inequalities in the employment experiences of individuals from different SES backgrounds, measured by differences in use of literacy skills at work. These results help to explain cross-national variation in the evolution of skills disparities by SES background, which has implications for policies aimed at closing skills gaps over the life course.


In this article was investigated it the reasons which the requests and outburst to the credits have diminished for that the Agrario Bank of Colombia in the Zonal Soata makes an offer – Boyaca integrated with the process on duty to the customer. The questions formulated in the opinion poll and in the interview took on the basis of the dynamics of the offer of finance charges earned credit lines for little producers that develop in her zonal Soata once 2013 were accomplished during the year and that they are presented and offered by the commercial advisers of the bank, some appreciations that customers manifest in written form in the suggestion box, complaints and claims in every one of the offices of zonal study. In the results the reasons which inhabitants and present-day customers of the municipalities of the zonal one have not consented for to the service and credit lines for little producers even though they count on a bottom of guarantees give the appearance of being that offers them the state.


In this study, the internal flow pattern of a sessile microdroplet undergoing a lateral vibration was analyzed by using both the experimental and CFD simulation methods. By initially staining the droplet partially with fluorescent dye, the main flow inside the laterally vibrating microdrop was experimentally demonstrated to be that the main fluid flows downward along the central axis and ascends upward along the surface to form two counterflow circuits. Experimental evaluation of fluid mixing inside the droplets verified that the internal flowing velocity is dependent on the vibrating frequency, the main fluid flows faster at the resonant modes. CFD simulation using the VOF-CSF model showed that extra flow circuits exit inside the oscillating droplet besides the main flow. The diffusion of substrate momentum within the Stokes layer results in the two flow circuits near the bottom substrate, and the Laplace force due to the droplet deformation induces the two counter-current flow circuits near the surfaces of the microdroplet.


Histone deacetylase inhibitors have attracted considerable attention because of their ability to overcome the differentiation block in leukemic blasts, an effect achieved either alone or in combination with differentiating agents, such as all-trans retinoic acid. We have previously reported favorable effects of the potent histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid in combination with all-trans retinoic acid in patients with advanced acute myeloid leukemia leading to blast cell reduction and improvement of hemoglobin. These effects were accompanied by hypergranulocytosis most likely due to an enhancement of nonleukemic myelopoiesis and the suppression of malignant hematopoiesis rather than enforced differentiation of the leukemic cells. These data prompted us to investigate the effect of valproic acid on normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Here we show that valproic acid increases both proliferation and self-renewal of HSC. It accelerates cell cycle progression of HSC accompanied by a down-regulation of p21(cip-1/waf-1). Furthermore, valproic acid inhibits GSK3beta by phosphorylation on Ser9 accompanied by an activation of the Wnt signaling pathway as well as by an up-regulation of HoxB4, a target gene of Wnt signaling. Both are known to directly stimulate the proliferation of HSC and to expand the HSC pool. In summary, we here show that valproic acid, known to induce differentiation or apoptosis in leukemic blasts, stimulates the proliferation of normal HSC, an effect with a potential effect on its future role in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.