A series of Bi3+-doped TiO2 photocatalysts has been prepared via the propylene oxide (PO) assisted sol-gel method. The effect of Bi3+ doping on structural surface morphology and optical properties of the as-prepared photocatalysts was characterized using UV-Visible (UV-Vis) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller for determination of the specific surface area and porosity, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Increasing the Bi3+ doping percentage up to 10 mole percent, resulted in all as-prepared photocatalysts exhibiting pure anatase phase upon calcination at 400 °C for 3 hours. A red shift in optical band gap measurements was observed with increasing Bi3+ ion percent doping, which led to extension of the photocatalysts' activity to the visible region. The enhanced photocatalytic activity for removal of the pharmaceutical compound acetaminophen under UV-Vis light irradiation was demonstrated by comparing bismuth doped as-prepared photocatalysts with pure TiO2 photocatalysts prepared under the same conditions. Based on experimental conditions, the highest activity was achieved using 10 mole percent Bi3+-doped photocatalyst, where over a period of 4 hours more than 98% acetaminophen removal was achieved.


Microribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are small noncoding regulatory molecules encoded in the genome and generated through several processing steps. They recognise specific messenger RNAs and regulate their expression by cleavage or by translational inhibition. MiRNAs were only discovered approximately 10 years ago but it quickly became evident that they play an important role in development and stress responses. Initially it was thought that all miRNAs are conserved in plants because the technology only allowed to sequence the most abundant miRNAs. However, the development of next generation sequencing technologies allowed researchers to generate millions of sequencing reads in a sample, which resulted in the identification of the less abundant miRNAs. Analysis of large-scale sequencing data revealed that the number of nonconserved miRNAs is much larger than previously thought. This review focuses on the evolution of plant MIRNA genes from protein-coding genes by describing the difference between conserved and nonconserved MIRNA families.

Key Concepts:

MicroRNAs are small noncoding regulatory molecules.

Primary miRNA transcripts are folded into a stem–loop secondary structure, which is cleaved twice by DICER-LIKE1 releasing the microRNA duplex.

One strand of the microRNA duplex is incorporated into an ARGONAUTE complex and guides the complex to specific mRNAs.

The ARGONAUTE complex usually cleaves the target mRNA but it also suppresses the translation of noncleaved mRNAs.

Some MIRNA genes are ancient and conserved in all embryophytes but there are nonconserved MIRNA families that are only in angiosperms or specific to monocots or dicots. A large number of MIRNA families are even divergent between dicot families.

New MIRNA genes can potentially evolve from any inverted repeats but the most evidence exists for generation from inverse duplication of protein-coding genes followed by deletions and mutations.

Indirect evidence suggests rapid birth and death of MIRNA genes: approximately 1–3 MIRNA genes per million years in the Arabidopsis lineage.

Nonconserved MIRNA genes are weakly expressed, imprecisely processed, show uniform nucleotide divergence and many lack targets, suggesting that they are evolving neutrally.

Nonconserved MIRNA genes could be a source of 'regulatory diversity', which can be selected for if they acquire target genes and that is advantageous for the plant, maybe in a new environment.

Keywords:

microRNA;
evolution;
small noncoding RNA;
gene expression regulation;
siRNA


Advertisers who list their prior-approved CE programs in the Calendar of Events enjoy wider exposure for their approved programs because the $125 per listing fee includes a duplicate listing on the AANA website as well as a link directly to the online Calendar of Events in the bi-monthly Anesthesia E-ssential (the AANA's electronic newsletter). Additionally, the web address provided in the advertisement will be hyperlinked directly to the websites allowing viewers access to company and program information for more exposure and target-directed traffic. Go to http://www.aana.com/cecalendarofevents for specific deadline dates. The fee can be paid along with the CE Application submission. For additional information, contact Ann Carlson, Continuing Education Department, at (847) 655-1190.


Most general and group-specific eubacterial probes hybridised picoeukaryotes in
coastal waters (Brittany, France) and cultures of the dominant picoeukaryotes from this environment (Micromonas pusilla and Pelagomonas calceolata). This is either because they matched the 16S rRNA from organelles or because of the presence of symbiotic or antagonist intracellular bacteria. The general eubacterial probe (EUB338) hybridised 84% of the picoeukaryotes, while the group-specific probes hybridised 3, 16, 10 and 34% of the picoeukaryotes for cyanobacteria (CYA664), alphaproteobacteria (ALF968), gamma-proteobacteria (GAM42a) and Cytophaga-Flavo-Bacteria (CF319), respectively. The results show that the hybridisation of eukaryote 16S rRNA by prokaryote probes can lead to significant errors in prokaryote counts, in particular for less well-represented groups such as cyanobacteria, with errors of 17% in the studied sample. In addition, we revealed for the first time at this scale that up to 44% of the picoeukaryotes contained intracellular prokaryotes. This finding might have serious implications for understanding the functioning of the microbial loop. Finally, because SSU rRNA databases have significantly been extended in recent years, we showed that the
probe PLA886, which targets Planctomycete 16S rRNA, labelled 87% of the picoeukaryotes by hybridising their 18S rRNA. Consequently, the design of this probe should be refined for future studies, and the presence of similar changes in probe specificity should be checked regularly when using hybridisation-based techniques.


This study aims to evaluate the effect of selected entrepreneurial constraints on the perceived business success of small businesses. In this study the dependent variable, perceived business success is measured by two variables; business growth and existence of human capital. A 7 Likert scale structured questionnaires anchored on "1" strongly disagree and "7" strongly agree is used to source data from entrepreneurs. The convenience and snowball technique were used to source 300 entrepreneurs from the target population for data. Reliability of the measuring instrument was possible through the Cronbach alpha while the questionnaire was piloted for conceptual realities. In this study, the precise and individual constraints were operationalized as independent variables. Relationships between the independent variables and the perceived business success as dependent variable were investigated through multiple linear regression analysis. The outcomes of the study resolved that precise and individual constraints impact negatively on the perceived business success of small businesses and entrepreneurial activities. The findings further revealed adverse links between the independent and the dependent variable known as the perceived business success.


Comparison of the three limbic thalamic nucleic shows that in spite of some common features of organization and connections, these nuclei presumably play different functional roles. N. AV may be regarded as an important "on-line" functional link of the limbic circuit. N. AD, possibly serves as input from the specific auditory structures to the limbic system. N. AM may participate in regulation of the general level of activity together with unspecific thalamic nuclei.


3,4 Abstract: A simple and low cost machine vision system for fault detection and identification is envisaged. The proposed system works on a Beagle Board single board computer. The system can be used to detect cracks or texture differences in classifying objects, especially in food processing industries. It essentially uses a camera for the image capture and process the image in the Beagleboneblack. Currently an online machine vision system on a conveyor line is made up of several cameras that are networked to a single computer. The camera provides the images at high rates and the software on the computer does the processing and makes the decisions to reject the product or not. The goal of this project is to design a smart board level machine vision system using a beagleboneblack with its own image sensors/cameras. The system will have its own algorithms for common machine vision tasks and will be networked to a main system to get output results.


Track athletes aiming to compete at the highest level often must meet specific qualifying standards for middle and high school state championships, national collegiate championships, and ultimately, the Olympic Games. In this project, we aimed to address the best approach for achieving personal best times in track distance events. We used an existing mathematical model based on physiological attributes of world-record-setting elite runners to yield an optimal pacing approach. We then confirmed the validation of this energy depletion model using elite men's and women's gold medal performances at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. We hypothesized that the average pace of a field of high school athletes competing in 800 m, 1600 m, and 3200 m distance events at a championship track meet does not follow the optimal pacing profile. Instead, we believed many runners begin with a fast pace to stay within close range of the race leaders, while others start conservatively to save energy for the final stage of the race. We used official timing data to test our hypothesis against computational simulations. We found that the average pace could deviate from the theoretical optimal pace by as much as 4%, translating to a difference of 1-2 seconds every 200 meters. Our analysis helps middle and high school athletes understand how pacing can improve their personal best times and what training can be performed to improve their physiological capabilities.


Fluorophosphates Na2Fe1−xMnxPO4F/C (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.7, 1) composite were successfully synthesized via a sol–gel method. The structure, morphology and electrochemical performance of the as prepared materials were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and charge/discharge measurements. XRD results show that, consistent with Na2FePO4F, Na2Fe0.9Mn0.1PO4F (x = 0.1) crystallize in a two-dimensional (2D) layered structure with space groupPbcn. However, increasing the content of Mn to x ≥ 0.3 results in a structure transition of Na2Fe1−xMnxPO4F from the 2D layered structure of Na2FePO4F to the three-dimensional (3D) tunnel structure of Na2MnPO4F. SEM and TEM analysis indicates nanostructured primary particles (about tens of nanometres in diameter) are obtained for all samples due to uniform carbon distribution and low calcining temperature used. Na2FePO4F is able to deliver a reversible capacity of up to 182 mA h g−1 (about 1.46 electrons exchanged per unit formula) with good cycling stability. Compared with Na2FePO4F, partial replacement of Fe by Mn in Na2Fe1−xMnxPO4F increases the discharge voltage plateau. Similar to Na2FePO4F, iron-manganese mixed solid solution Na2Fe1−xMnxPO4F (x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.7) also show good cycling performance. Furthermore, Na2MnPO4F with high electrochemical activity was successfully prepared for the first time, which is able to deliver a discharge capacity of 98 mA h g−1. The good electrochemical performance of Na2Fe1−xMnxPO4F materials can be attributed to the distinctive improvement of ionic/electronic conduction of the materials by formation of nanostructure composite with carbon.


Introducti o n : Studies have revealed significant impacts of different external stimuli during sleep on dream content and have reported various incorporation rates. The present study was performed to evaluate possible effect of auditory stimulation with sophisticated method. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, fifteen healthy male volunteers, who were tested for having normal auditory sensation, slept for two consecutive nights on sleep laboratory and monitored by polysomnography device. Subjects were not informed about content and time in which the sound was played. Traffic ambience sound (40‐60 decibel for 1 minute) played during second Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep of experimental (second) night and self-written dream report has collected after second and fourth REM sleep of both nights. Dream reports were coded by two independent coders according the Hall and de castle coding rules. Results: Dreaming something related to traffic sound (according to coding rules) was reported significantly more in dream reports of second REM of experimental night (in which sound was played) in comparison to dream reports of second REM of control night(p=0.033). Direct incorporation of traffic sound was reported in 78% subjects. Conclusion: Our finding revealed that information processing of auditory stimuli continues during sleep and can affect dream content, much more than previously estimated. The evaluation of possible correlated EEG changes when dream has been affected by external auditory stimuli is needed in future studies.


The present study evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of the 2013/2014 trivalent surface antigen inactivated subunit seasonal influenza virus vaccine Fluvirin® in healthy adults (18 - ≤ 60 years) and elderly (>60 years). The vaccine contained 15 µg haemagglutinin protein from each of influenza A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09–like strain, A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)–like strain and B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like strain (B/Yamagata) as recommended by the WHO in the 2013/2014 Northern Hemisphere season. Antibody response to each influenza antigen after vaccination was measured prior to vaccination and 21 d after by single radial hemolysis (SRH) assay or hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay in accordance with Guidance CPMP/BWP/214/96. 125 subjects (61 adults and 64 elderly) were enrolled in the study. Pre-vaccination protective antibody levels (SRH area ≥ 25 mm2) against A(H1N1), A(H3N2) and the B strain were detected in 17%, 20% and 57% of adults and in 36%, 20% and 55% of elderly, respectively, Post-vaccination, SRH area ≥ 25 mm2 was detectable in 95%, 82% and 92% in adult and in 80%, 84% and 92% of the elderly subjects for A(H1N1), A(H3N2) and the B strain, respectively. Geometric mean ratio (GMR) was higher in adult subjects (2.62–7.62) than in elderly subjects (2.33–3.42). All three CHMP licensure criteria were met for all strains contained in the vaccine for both age groups. The most frequently reported solicited local and systemic reactions were pain at the injection side, headache and fatigue. In conclusion, the vaccine demonstrated a good immunogenicity and an acceptable safety profile in both adults and elderly.


Abstract Background. Aggressive fibromatosis (AF) is a locally invasive proliferative disease. The mainstay of treatment is surgery. Chemotherapy may be considered in inoperable AF following failure of hormonal therapy and/or NSAIDs. Material and methods. We conducted a retrospective search of the prospectively maintained Royal Marsden Hospital Sarcoma Unit database to identify patients with AF treated with chemotherapy between 1987 and 2009. Results. Thirty-nine patients, thirty one females and eight males, received one or more lines of chemotherapy. The most frequently employed chemotherapy regimens were methotrexate/vinblastine [MTX/VBL] (18) and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin [PLD] (14). MTX/VBL was administered weekly or every two weeks at MTX 50 mg and VBL 10 mg. Treatment duration ranged from three weeks to one year with a median of 4.5 months. Partial response (PR) was observed in 11% of cases, disease stabilisation (SD) in 60% and progressive disease (PD) in 22%. Time to progression ranged from one month to sixteen years. The main toxicities reported were mucositis (4), peripheral neuropathy (3), vomiting (3), and neutropenia (3). PLD was administered at 40–50 mg/m2 every four weeks, for up to six cycles. PR was achieved in 33% and in the remainder the disease was stable with no progression during treatment. Three (25%) patients have so far progressed after treatment. Symptomatic benefit, especially pain relief, was reported in 86% (12/14) of cases. Main toxicities included palmar plantar erythema (5) and mucositis (4). Discussion. MTX/VBL remains a useful combination but PLD is emerging as a well tolerated and effective systemic therapy in advanced AF.


Submucosal infiltration and the topical application of epinephrine as a vasoconstrictor produce excellent hemostasis during surgery. The hemodynamic effects of epinephrine have been documented in numerous studies. However, its metabolic effects (especially during surgery) have been seldom recognized clinically. We report two cases of significant metabolic effects (including lactic acidosis and hyperglycemia) as well as hemodynamic effects in healthy patients undergoing orthognathic surgery with general anesthesia. Epinephrine can induce glycolysis and pyruvate generation, which result in lactic acidosis, via β2-adrenergic receptors. Therefore, careful perioperative observation for changes in plasma lactate and glucose levels along with intensive monitoring of vital signs should be carried out when epinephrine is excessively used as a vasoconstrictor during surgery.


This paper studies low-complexity high-speed decoder architectures for quasi-cyclic low density parity check (QC-LDPC) codes. Algorithmic transformation and architectural level optimization are incorporated to reduce the critical path. Enhanced partially parallel decoding architectures are proposed to linearly increase the throughput of conventional partially parallel decoders through introducing a small percentage of extra hardware. Based on the proposed architectures, a (8176, 7154) Euclidian geometry-based QC-LDPC code decoder is implemented on Xilinx field programmable gate array (FPGA) Virtex-II 6000, where an efficient nonuniform quantization scheme is employed to reduce the size of memories storing soft messages. FPGA implementation results show that the proposed decoder can achieve a maximum (source data) decoding throughput of 172 Mb/s at 15 iterations


Introduction The use of telepractice, a method of delivering services through telecommunications technologies that provides two-way, synchronous audio and video signals in real-time, is becoming increasingly commonplace in early childhood education and intervention for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Although the use of telepractice has been validated in the health sector as a viable and effective alternative to in-person service provision, evidence to support its use in the delivery of family-centred early intervention is still emerging. The purpose of this scoping review was to describe the current use of telepractice in the delivery of family-centred early childhood intervention for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and their families. Method The review followed the framework outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute (2015), including an iterative three-step search strategy. Specific inclusion criteria and data extraction fields were outlined in advance. Results A total of 23 peer-reviewed publications were included in the review. Most publications (70%) provided anecdotal evidence of the challenges and benefits associated with telepractice. The remaining publications (30%) reported on research studies evaluating the effectiveness of early intervention delivered through telepractice. Of the 23 included papers, 18 viewed the use of telepractice positively while the remaining 5 reported mixed conclusions and the need for more data. Discussion Current evidence in the literature indicates that telepractice can be an effective model for delivering family-centred early intervention for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, more research is needed to substantiate the use of telepractice as a viable alternative to traditional in-person services, rather than being seen as supplemental to such services.


In this paper, we proposed a classification method based on a nature-inspired algorithm, i.e., modified artificial bee colony (MABC). This method was applied to electrocardiogram (ECG) heartbeat classification. ECG data was obtained from MITBIH database. Eight different types of heartbeats (N, j, V, F, f, A, a, and R) were analyzed. For a better classification result, both time domain and frequency domain features were used. Feature selection was done by divergence analysis. MABC classification accuracy and heartbeat sensitivity values were compared with the results of other methods. Among other classifiers, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM), and ant colony optimization (ACO) were the best performing ones, and therefore their results are presented. The MABC classifier achieved 97.18% accuracy on the analyzed dataset, as well as high sensitivity values for heartbeat types.


We give analytical and numerical solutions for the zero modes of the Dirac operator in topological SU(2) gauge backgrounds at nonzero chemical potential. Continuation from imaginary to real chemical potential is used to systematically derive analytical zero modes for calorons at arbitrary holonomy and, in particular limits, for instantons and dyons (magnetic monopoles). For the latter a spherical ansatz is explored as well. All the zero mode exhibit stronger peaks at the core and negative regions in their densities. We discuss the structure of the corresponding overlap matrix elements. For discretized calorons on the lattice we consider the staggered operator and show that it does possess (quartet quasi-)zero modes, whose eigenmodes agree very well with the continuum profiles, also for nonzero chemical potential.


Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, works depicting a post-human world have become a popular
 non-fiction genre. This kind of disanthropy is an extreme form of apocalyptic thinking. In this article, I
 examine one such disanthropic narrative, Alan Weisman's bestselling non-fiction book The World Without Us (2007), using the theoretical framework of narrative fictionality studies. The
 World Without Us falls between the conventional oppositional pairing of factual and fictional narratives. The book
 bases its rhetoric heavily on scientific facts – or at least on scientific expectations – especially in its use of interviews with
 scientists. Nevertheless, the core idea of a world without humans is inevitably fictional since the presence of readers makes the
 book's premise manifestly counterfactual and paradoxical. In my analysis, I adopt a rhetorical approach to fictionality and
 factuality to ask how particular techniques and strategies connected to fictionality and factuality are employed in Weisman's text
 in order to discuss the anxieties, desires, hopes, and fears of the possibility of human extinction.


Neuronal cell loss associated with neurodegeneration has recently been linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. Electron transport chain defects and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production are emerging as important players in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. Proper management of ROS and disposal of damaged cellular components are vital to the survival and function of neurons. Proteins involved in these pathways are often mutated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Huntington's disease. In this review, we will discuss the roles of ROS in normal physiology, how changes in ROS production affect neuronal survival in neurodegenerative diseases, and the recent advances in mitochondrial antioxidants as potential therapeutics.


This thesis reports on an investigation of the feasibility and usefulness of incorporating
dynamic management facilities for managing sensed context data in a distributed contextaware
mobile application. The investigation focuses on reducing the work required to
integrate new sensed context streams in an existing context aware architecture.
Current architectures require integration work for new streams and new contexts that
are encountered. This means of operation is acceptable for current fixed architectures.
However, as systems become more mobile the number of discoverable streams increases.
Without the ability to discover and use these new streams the functionality of any given
device will be limited to the streams that it knows how to decode.
The integration of new streams requires that the sensed context data be understood
by the current application. If the new source provides data of a type that an application
currently requires then the new source should be connected to the application without any
prior knowledge of the new source. If the type is similar and can be converted then this
stream too should be appropriated by the application.
Such applications are based on portable devices (phones, PDAs) for semi-autonomous
services that use data from sensors connected to the devices, plus data exchanged with
other such devices and remote servers. Such applications must handle input from a variety
of sensors, refining the data locally and managing its communication from the device in
volatile and unpredictable network conditions. The choice to focus on locally connected
sensory input allows for the introduction of privacy and access controls. This local control
can determine how the information is communicated to others.
This investigation focuses on the evaluation of three approaches to sensor data management.
The first system is characterised by its static management based on the pre-pended
metadata. This was the reference system. Developed for a mobile system, the data was
processed based on the attached metadata. The code that performed the processing was
static.
The second system was developed to move away from the static processing and introduce
a greater freedom of handling for the data stream, this resulted in a heavy weight
approach. The approach focused on pushing the processing of the data into a number of
networked nodes rather than the monolithic design of the previous system. By creating a
separate communication channel for the metadata it is possible to be more flexible with
the amount and type of data transmitted.
The final system pulled the benefits of the other systems together. By providing a
small management class that would load a separate handler based on the incoming data,
Dynamism was maximised whilst maintaining ease of code understanding.
The three systems were then compared to highlight their ability to dynamically manage
new sensed context. The evaluation took two approaches, the first is a quantitative
analysis of the code to understand the complexity of the relative three systems. This was done by evaluating what changes to the system were involved for the new context. The
second approach takes a qualitative view of the work required by the software engineer to
reconfigure the systems to provide support for a new data stream.
The evaluation highlights the various scenarios in which the three systems are most
suited. There is always a trade-o↵ in the development of a system. The three approaches
highlight this fact. The creation of a statically bound system can be quick to develop but
may need to be completely re-written if the requirements move too far. Alternatively a
highly dynamic system may be able to cope with new requirements but the developer time
to create such a system may be greater than the creation of several simpler systems.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the medical, socio-economic and geographical profiles of patients with rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) and the implications for the provision of patient-centred care.

SETTING
Thirteen districts across three South African provinces.

DESIGN
This descriptive study examined laboratory and healthcare facility records of 194 patients diagnosed with RR-TB in the third quarter of 2016.

RESULTS
The median age was 35 years; 120/194 (62%) of patients were male. Previous TB treatment was documented in 122/194 (63%) patients and 56/194 (29%) had a record of fluoroquinolone and/or second-line injectable resistance. Of 134 (69%) HIV-positive patients, viral loads were available for 68/134 (51%) (36/68 [53%] had viral loads of >1000 copies/ml) and CD4 counts were available for 92/134 (69%) (20/92 [22%] had CD4 <50 cells/mm3). Patients presented with varying other comorbidities, including hypertension (13/194, 7%) and mental health conditions (11/194, 6%). Of 194 patients, 44 (23%) were reported to be employed. Other socio-economic challenges included substance abuse (17/194, 9%) and ill family members (17/194, 9%). Respectively 13% and 42% of patients were estimated to travel more than 20 km to reach their diagnosing and treatment-initiating healthcare facility.

CONCLUSIONS
RR-TB patients had diverse medical and social challenges highlighting the need for integrated, differentiated and patient-centred healthcare to better address specific needs and underlying vulnerabilities of individual patients.


Aims: The clinical diagnosis of metabolic syndrome does not find any parameters to evaluate the insulin sensitivity (IS) or β -cell function. The evaluation of these parameters would detect early risk of developing metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between β -cell function and presence of metabolic syndrome in Mexican subjects. Material and methods: This study is part of the Mexican Survey on the Prevention of Diabetes (MexDiab Study) with headquarters in the city of Puebla, Mexico. The study comprised of 444 subjects of both genders, aged between 18 and 60 years and allocated into two study groups: (1) control group of individuals at metabolic balance without metabolic syndrome and (2) group composed of subjects with metabolic syndrome and diagnosed according to the criteria of the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Defection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults. Anthropometric, biochemical, and clinical assessments were carried out. Results: Average age of the subjects in the control group (n = 254) was 35.7 ± 11.5 years and 42.0 ± 10.7 years for subjects in the metabolic syndrome group (n = 190). Subjects at metabolic balance without metabolic syndrome showed decreased IS, increased insulin resistance (IR), and altered β -cell function. Individuals with metabolic syndrome showed a high prevalence ( P # 0.05) of family history of type 2 diabetes (T2D). This group also showed a significant metabolic imbalance with glucose and insulin levels and lipid profile outside the ranges considered safe to prevent the development of cardiovascular disease and T2D. Conclusion: The main finding in this study was the detection of altered β -cell function, decreased IS, an increased IR in subjects at metabolic balance, and the progressive deterioration of β -cell function and IS in subjects with metabolic syndrome as the number of features of metabolic syndrome increases. **P # 0.05, Mann–Whitney U test. Abbreviations: Tc, total cholesterol; hDL-c, cholesterol combined with high-density lipoprotein; LDL-c, cholesterol combined with low-density lipoprotein; VLDL-c, cholesterol combined with very low-density lipoprotein; TAg, triacylglycerides; cVi, castelli cardiovascular index.


ybersickness has been one of the main impediments to the widespread adoption of Virtual Reality for decades. It has been argued that several factors can influence the occurrence of cybersickness, such as technical factors, interaction design, but also users' demographics and their perceived presence. Yet, previous studies had comparably small sample sizes and demographically homogeneous samples; comparisons across studies (e.g., regarding demographic factors) are challenging due to the large variation in the studied virtual environments. In this paper, we address these limitations and report the results of a lab-in-the-field experiment on cybersickness with a large and heterogeneous sample of $N =837$ participants who navigated and interacted inside a virtual environment (ages 18–80, $M = 29.34, SD = 9.50$, 431 males, 400 females, 6 non-binaries and other). We found that female participants and participants with lower VR experience were more susceptible to experiencing higher levels of cybersickness. Participants' cybersickness levels increased with the time spent in VR and with the distance traversed in the virtual world up to a point, above which reported levels declined. We also found a link between higher levels of cybersickness and reduced head motion, as well as between lower levels of cybersickness and more head motion, which led them to explore more of the virtual environment. In contrast to past studies, we did not find any evidence suggesting an effect of age on cybersickness, nor a negative correlation between presence and cybersickness. Based on our results, we derived a model that achieves a mean classification accuracy of 67.1% for two levels of cybersickness using demographic, user experience, and behavioral data in VR.


Objective Dilated cardiomyopathy is the end result of chronic iron overload in patients with beta thalassemia major. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Carvedilol in patients with beta thalassemia major and dilated cardiomyopathy. Methods During a six-month period, fourteen patients with beta-thalassemia major and heart failure without diabetes mellitus referred to pediatric cardiology clinic enrolled in this double blind, randomly assigned study. All patients were on anti failure therapy with Digoxin, Captopril and Furosemide. Carvedilol was started at a dosage of 3.12 mg bid and for patients who had a systolic blood pressure >100 mmHg, heart rate >60/min and no signs of low cardiac output the dosage was increased every two weeks to a maximum of 25 mg bid. Clinical signs and symptoms, systolic and diastolic echocardiographic indexes and Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) data were collected from each patient. Findings Eight patients received Carvedilol (Group 1) and six received placebo (Group 2). The mean age of patients in Group1 and 2 were 16±0.7 years and 17±3 years respectively. Only one patent in Group 1 tolerated increasing Carvedilol dosage to more than 6.25 mg bid. Changes in New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification, Ejection fraction, End diastolic dimension changes, TDI systolic(S), early (Ea) and late (Aa) diastolic waves were not statistically significant in these two Groups (P>0.05). Pulse Doppler E/A wave ratio of mitral valve in Group1 and Group 2 changed from 1.1±0.37 m/s to 1.8±0.40 m/s and from 1.34±0.30 m/s to 2.6±0.23m/s respectively (P=0.04). Conclusion Patients with thalassemia and dilated cardiomyopathy have poor tolerance to increasing Carvedilol dosage and develop decreased systolic blood pressure during advancement of the drug dosage. Carvedilol can be effective in prevention of progression of diastolic dysfunction in these patients.


This paper assesses the economic effects of a hypothetical fuel levy imposed by South African provinces. The welfare effects of increasing the fuel levy by 10 per cent are negative but very small. Similarly, the marginal excess burdens for efficiency and equity (poverty) are quite low, suggesting much smaller impacts of the intervention on both economic activity and equity. Furthermore, a fiscal policy reform that raises fuel levy by 10 per cent is progressive as it has stronger negative effects on higher income households than on lower income households. A potential source of instability for the macroeconomy and total government revenue is the negative effect on economic activity induced by the fuel levy increase. The remedies suggested are that policymakers should make tax room elsewhere in the intergovernmental fiscal system to accommodate the fuel levy increase.


To demonstrate and support sustainability of large-scale infrastructure projects, life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a common tool used in the evaluation of environmental impact. However, LCA includes a number of phases, which are all associated with uncertainties. Decisions made without regard to these uncertainties may be suboptimal and/or misleading. The current paper discusses some important issues about how to deal with uncertainties in LCA. Two case studies are presented that shows the effect of including uncertainty in various parameters. The results show that a reduction in uncertainty due to manufacturing improvements can increase the reliability of the results significantly. It was also found that the uncertainty assumptions for parameters where data is not available have a large impact on the LCA-results. (Less)


An automated speaker recognition system for home service robots is proposed in this paper. In an uncontrolled environment, a speech classifier should be adaptive to different users and robust to noisy environments. It is usually observed that specific features and classifiers are more appropriate to parts of the problem domain than others; therefore, we propose a self-optimizing approach in which multiple feature extraction and classification techniques are simultaneously considered. The system uses a genetic algorithm to simultaneously select features and classifier, and the results from multiple classifiers are then combined using the Dempster-Shafer theory. The set of feature extractors used here includes linear-prediction coefficients, linear-prediction cepstral coefficients, mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, and bark-frequency cepstral coefficients, and the set of classifiers includes the Gaussian mixture model, support vector machines, C4.5 decision tree, k nearest neighbors, and multilayer perceptron neural network. The WEVER-R2 home service robot is used in a typical Korean home environment to collect speech signals for evaluating the performance of the proposed system for gender and age classification. Classification results show that the performance of the proposed method consistently outperforms the individual classifiers.


Large amounts of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere are taken up when the ocean alters the seawater carbonate system, which could have a significant impact on carbonate-rich sediments. Coral reef limestone is a special biogenic carbonate, which is mainly composed of calcium carbonate. When carbonate-rich rocks are brought into contact with a CO2 weak acid solution, they will be dissolved, which may affect the physical and mechanical properties of the rock. In this paper, the physical and chemical interactions between CO2, seawater and the framework structure reef limestone were studied based on an experiment conducted in a hydrothermal reactor. The solution was analyzed for dissolved Ca2+ concentration during the reaction, and the rock mass, effective volume (except for the volume of open pores), permeability, images from electron microscopy and X-ray microtomography were contrasted before and after immersion. The uniaxial compressive and tensile strength tests were conducted, respectively, to clarify the mechanical response of the rock after the reaction. The results indicate that dissolution occurred during the reaction, and the calcium ions of the solution were increased. The physical properties of the rock were changed, and the permeability significantly increased. Because the rocks were soaked for only 15 days, the total cumulative amount of calcium carbonate dissolved was less, and the mechanical properties were not affected.


This research concentrates on determining energy saving patterns that appear in the behavior of staff in Malaysian office buildings, and the variables that affect their behavior. There are two types of variables to be studied, including personalities and environmental factors. Johor Bahru's office buildings, Malaysia' workers have been chosen as a source of data for qualitative study. Additionally, descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression have been selected as means for further analyzing inputs, in order to accomplish the research objectives. The result indicates that there are two types of energy saving patterns, specifically Saver and Non-Saver. Based on the results, gender, age, education, income and personal characteristics have all been identified as factors that impact energy saving patterns. In terms of the environmental variable, it has been shown that environmental concern, environmental knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness, resource saving and income, are all major factors that affect energy-saving behaviors. The outcome of this study is crucial for facility management, in obtaining information related to personnel behavior, and adds to the possibility of improving energy saving and conservation in the workplace.


Diazotrophic (N2‐fixing) cyanobacteria provide the biological source of new nitrogen for large parts of the ocean. However, little is known about their sensitivity to global change. Here we show that the single most important nitrogen fixer in today's ocean, Trichodesmium, is strongly affected by changes in CO2 concentrations. Cell division rate doubled with rising CO2 (glacial to projected year 2100 levels) prompting lower carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cellular contents, and reduced cell dimensions. N2 fixation rates per unit of phosphorus utilization as well as C:P and N:P ratios more than doubled at high CO2, with no change in C:N ratios. This could enhance the productivity of N‐limited oligotrophic oceans, drive some of these areas into P limitation, and increase biological carbon sequestration in the ocean. The observed CO2 sensitivity of Trichodesmium could thereby provide a strong negative feedback to atmospheric CO2 increase.


Nanopores have been used in label-free single-molecule studies, including investigations of chemical reactions, nucleic acid analysis, and applications in sensing. Biological nanopores generally perform better than artificial nanopores as sensors, but they have disadvantages including a fixed diameter. Here we introduce a biological nanopore ClyA that is wide enough to sample and distinguish large analyte proteins, which enter the pore lumen. Remarkably, human and bovine thrombins, despite 86% sequence identity, elicit characteristic ionic current blockades, which at -50 mV differ in their main current levels by 26 ± 1 pA. The use of DNA aptamers or hirudin as ligands further distinguished the protein analytes. Finally, we constructed ClyA nanopores decorated with covalently attached aptamers. These nanopores selectively captured and internalized cognate protein analytes but excluded noncognate analytes, in a process that resembles transport by nuclear pores.


For imaging animals, small diameter tomographs are designed for increased sensitivity. As a consequence, it is desired to reconstruct a large fraction of the detector aperture. This is a challenge if resolution degradation, specially at the edge of the field-of-view, is to be minimized. Accounting for system-dependent resolution functions could therefore greatly enhance the image generation process in these tomographs. Monte Carlo techniques were used to simulate the high resolution animal tomograph MADPET and determine coincidence aperture functions (CAFs) as a function of position in field-of-view. Sinogram rebinning was applied with spatially varying CAFs followed by filtered backprojection. An analytical rebinning method based on the intrinsic resolution of the system was used for comparison. Furthermore, CAFs were implemented into iterative listmode reconstruction without sinogram rebinning. Simulated and measured line sources at positions within 88% of the system diameter were analyzed to determine image resolution. Image quality was assessed with a simulated and measured Derenzo-style structure phantom. Since no deconvolution methods were used for sinogram rebinning with simulated CAFs, this method could not improve resolution degradation. Nevertheless, it provided enhanced image quality by removing sampling artifacts introduced by common rebinning techniques. The use of Monte Carlo derived probability matrices combined with iterative-listmode reconstruction provided to be adequate to increase image quality and restore spatial resolution within 88% of the detector ring aperture in a small animal positron tomograph.


Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data acquired during the AMSR-Ice03 Arctic flights are used to observe and characterize the spectral behavior of sea ice roughness. Height distributions and roughness spectral densities are derived from surface profiles measured over a variety of sea ice types. The spectral densities are fit to Lorentzian curves to obtain the correlation length and root-mean-square height of roughness within the sampling bandpass of the LIDAR profiler. The utilization of these spectral parameters outside of their bandpass is also discussed


Hollow semiconductor oxide micro-/nanomaterials can provide significant advantages for gas sensing by facilitating the diffusion of target gases and the surface reaction. In this study, we report the synthesis of hollow NiFe2O4 microspindles through an as-developed metal–organic framework (MOF) route, which involves two steps: the preparation of Ni/Fe bimetallic MOF solid microspindle precursors and their subsequent transformation to the final materials via an annealing treatment in the air. The hollow NiFe2O4 microspindles were demonstrated to be composed of primary nano-building particles and abundant deep pores in the hollowed-out shells. Furthermore, in synergy with the large specific surface area, hollow interior, and abundant surface oxygen species, as expected, the gas sensor based on the hollow NiFe2O4 microspindles delivered a high sensitivity of 52.8 towards 200 ppm acetone vapor as well as good selectivity and cyclic stability at a low working temperature (120 °C). Finally, the sensing mechanism for the gas sensing behavior was also proposed. The high-performance sensing behavior towards acetone suggests that the as-fabricated sensor can be a promising candidate for environmental monitoring; thus, this study paves the way towards the efficient fabrication of advanced gas sensors on the basis of metal oxides derived from appropriate MOF precursors in the future.


The University of South Africa (Unisa) is one of the world's largest 'mega universities' with a population of more than 250 000 students. The Department of Marketing and Retail Management (DMRM) is one of six academic departments within the School of Management Sciences, which in turn is one of three Schools within the College of Economic and Management Sciences, the largest College within Unisa. One such challenge is to decide on what technology to use to deliver and support learning amongst the DMRM's students. The process of choosing one or more technologies to adopt as a preferred learning technology within the DMRM can either be done by drawing on the current thinking on this topic in the academic literature, by speaking with peers and other educational and technology experts, by asking the lecturers involved in the everyday delivery of this education, or by surveying students themselves. This study focuses on the lecturers' perspectives. The Unisa lecturer, after all, is the key driver behind the delivery of education within the DMRM and will be instrumental in the successful adoption of any technology decided on. Their views were obtained using the Delphi methodology and analysed using a Chi-square analysis. The findings suggest that a learning management system is considered by lecturers as the preferred technology to use. Keywords – learning technologies, higher education, learning management systems (LMS)


A retrospective study was conducted in order to determine the prevalence and concentration of alcohol in post-mortem blood samples sent for toxicological analysis in Cork City and County in 2003 and 2004. Post mortem reports of these deaths were reviewed for the presence or absence of alcohol at the time of autopsy, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at time of death, age and sex of the decedents. Of samples sent for blood alcohol analysis (BAA), 38.4% were positive for alcohol. Significant differences were found between the proportions of alcohol positive cases by cause of death. Alcohol positive cases were significantly younger (44.3 – 17.8 years) than alcohol negative cases (51.9 – 19.4years) and fifty two percent of drivers were positive for alcohol at the time of death. Awareness of the harmful and potentially fatal effects of alcohol should continue to be raised within the community, so as to prevent future fatalities.


Consistency is one of the fundamental issues of distributed computing. There are many competing consistency models, with subtly different power in principle. In practice, the well-known Consistency-Availability-Partition Tolerance trade-off translates to difficult choices between fault tolerance, performance, and programmability. The issues and trade-offs are particularly vexing at scale, with a large number of processes or a large shared database, and in the presence of high latency and failure-prone networks. It is clear that there is no one universally best solution. Possible approaches cover the whole spectrum between strong and eventual consistency. Strong consistency (total ordering via, for example, linearizability or serializability) provides familiar and intuitive semantics but requires slower and, in some contexts, fragile coordination. The unlimited parallelism allowed by weaker models such as eventual consistency promises high performance, but divergence and conflicts make it difficult to ensure useful application invariants, and meta-data is hard to keep in check. The research and development communities are actively exploring intermediate models (replicated data types, monotonic programming, CRDTs, LVars, causal consistency, red-blue consistency, invariant- and proof-based systems, etc.), designed to improve efficiency, programmability, and overall operation without negatively impacting scalability.

This workshop aims to investigate the principles and practice of weak consistency models for large-scale, distributed shared data systems. It brings together theoreticians and practitioners from different horizons: system development, distributed algorithms, concurrency, fault tolerance, databases, language and verification, including both academia and industry.


I take Reader's Digest as my object because Reader's Digest is a famous world-wide magazine, and it is easy to get Reader's Digest in bookstores and hotels. I take the advertisement as source of data because when I read some advertisements, I find difficulty to understand what the advertisements mean. This thesis deals with cohesion of language. Cohesion consists of unity and is manifested by recurrence chain. This study deals with cohesive devices in the advertisement of Reader's Digest in which each advertisement contains cohesive devices. The problems in this study are divided into two main types of cohesion, grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion. Each of them is applied in 14 advertisements. Dealing with that statement, the writer wants to investigate what types of cohesive devices that are used in the advertisement. The main theory that is used is the theory of Halliday and Hasan about cohesion (Halliday and Hasan 1976:6). The theory is about the grammatical cohesion, which can be conveyed through reference, conjunction, ellipsis and substitution; and lexical cohesion through reiteration and collocation. Dealing with research methodology, the writer used qualitative research. She collected the data taken from June up to August 1999 of the Reader's Digest's issues. She identified the cohesive device items with related item in the previous sentence and same sentence, the construction connected referred to by cohesive device. Next, she classified type of cohesion and type of cohesive devices. The results, in terms of grammatical cohesion, show that personal reference is the most dominant cohesive devices; in terms of lexical cohesion, co-hyponymy is the most dominant cohesive devices. Most presupposed item in the advertisements tends to refer to what is advertised. The advertisements in Reader's Digest tend to use grammatical cohesion rather than lexical cohesion.


Thrivability is a novel concept describing the intention to go beyond sustainability, allowing a system to flourish (Russell, 2010). For a society or organization to be thrivable, educated, responsible acting agents are needed. Traditional education focuses on (efficient) reproduction of existing organised bodies of information (Dewey, 1938). We argue that complex adaptive systems theory and chaos theory provide concepts well suited to inform the design of learning environments, in order to facilitate a thrivable organization. This learning is not linear and externally controlled, but happens in a chaotic, yet guided manner. After discussing the suitability of the theoretical body of these general approaches, we show how a concrete progressive education approach, called the Dalton-Plan pedagogy (Parkhurst, 1923, 2010), implements and supports these elements. By doing so, we show that the Dalton-Plan pedagogy is well suited for education of agents working in and for thrivable organizations. Support for teachers as part of this evolving learning system is provided by an e-learning environment.


To determine the mechanism by which hyperinsulinemia causes hypoglycemia in insulinoma patients, rates of glucose production and utilization, and circulating levels of insulin, glucagon, alanine, lactate, and glycerol were measured in 6 insulinoma patients during development of fasting hypoglycemia and in 8 normal volunteers studied over an identical interval. Initially, insulinoma patients had a greater plasma insulin (42 ± 9 versus 15 ± 1 μU/ml) and glucagon levels (214 ± 31 versus 158 ± 21 pg/ml) than normal subjects, P < 0.05, but their plasma glucose levels (81 ± 4 mg/dl) and rates of glucose production and utilization (1.71 ± 0.08 and 1.74 ± 0.08 mg/kg min, respectively) were not significantly different from those of normal subjects (93 ± 2 mg/dl, 1.93 / 0.11, and 1.92 ± 0.13 mg/kg · min, respectively). During a subsequent 8-h fast, glucose production and glucose utilization decreased in both groups, but more markedly in insulinoma patients. Since glucose utilization exceeded glucose production to a greater extent in insulinoma patients than in normal subjects, plasma glucose decreased to 44 ± 3 mg/dl in insulinoma patients, but only to 84 ± 1 mg/dl in normal subjects (P < 0.001). Glucose utilization in insulinoma patients never exceeded that of normal subjects. These results demonstrate that fasting hypoglycemia in the insulinoma patients is usually due to suppression of glucose production rather than to acceleration of glucose utilization, as is widely thought. A direct effect of insulin on the liver is probably responsible, since circulating levels of gluconeogenic precursors are normal and since plasma glucagon increases during development of hypoglycemia in insulinoma patients.


Summary We propose a joint model for cognitive decline and risk of dementia to describe the pre‐diagnosis phase of dementia. We aim to estimate the time when the cognitive evolution of subjects in the pre‐dementia phase becomes distinguishable from normal evolution and to study whether the shape of cognitive decline depends on educational level. The model combines a piecewise polynomial mixed model with a random changepoint for the evolution of the cognitive test and a log‐normal model depending on the random changepoint for the time to dementia. Parameters are estimated by maximum likelihood using a Newton–Raphson‐like algorithm. The expected cognitive evolution given age to dementia is then derived and the marginal distribution of dementia is estimated to check the log‐normal assumption.


It is well known that the structure information through the use of Spin Polarised LowEnergy Electron Diffraction (SPLEED) is highly sensitive to the interaction potentialbetween the primary electrons and the electrons of the target, especially to the exchangeinteraction. Since the electrons in SPLEED penetrate the surface only a few latticespacing, it is extremely sensitive to the spin structure of a magnetic surface. The earlystudy of Feder [1] on Fe(110) provides a strong indication in this direction. The mainobjective of this work is to use the insights of our recent work [2,3] to study the spinpolarisation of the exchange-correlation potential. The differential cross sections for electronscattering from atoms with net spin, namely nickel and iron, have been calculated togetherwith studying the energy/wave vector dependence of the exchange scattering from surfacesof nickel and iron in glasses by calculating differential cross sections and the spin asymmetryusing Dirac equation. Comparison of predictions with observed spin dependent scattering intensities in amorphous magnetic alloys will give insight into surface magnetisation in these systems[4].


BACKGROUND
Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common symptomatic primary immunodeficiency and is frequently complicated by interstitial lung disease (ILD) for which etiology is unknown and therapy inadequate.

METHODS
Medical record review implicated B cell dysregulation in CVID ILD progression. This was further studied in blood and lung samples using culture, cytometry, ELISA, and histology. Eleven CVID ILD patients were treated with rituximab and followed for 18 months.

RESULTS
Serum IgM increased in conjunction with ILD progression, a finding that reflected the extent of IgM production within B cell follicles in lung parenchyma. Targeting these pulmonary B cell follicles with rituximab ameliorated CVID ILD, but disease recurred in association with IgM elevation. Searching for a stimulus of this pulmonary B cell hyperplasia, we found B cell-activating factor (BAFF) increased in blood and lungs of progressive and post-rituximab CVID ILD patients and detected elevation of BAFF-producing monocytes in progressive ILD. This elevated BAFF interacts with naive B cells, as they are the predominant subset in progressive CVID ILD, expressing BAFF receptor (BAFF-R) within pulmonary B cell follicles and blood to promote Bcl-2 expression. Antiapoptotic Bcl-2 was linked with exclusion of apoptosis from B cell follicles in CVID ILD and increased survival of naive CVID B cells cultured with BAFF.

CONCLUSION
CVID ILD is driven by pulmonary B cell hyperplasia that is reflected by serum IgM elevation, ameliorated by rituximab, and bolstered by elevated BAFF-mediated apoptosis resistance via BAFF-R.

FUNDING
NIH, Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium, and Rare Disease Foundation.


This article describes the biological activities of essential oils of three species of Satureja. The choice of plants and activities studied was motivated by the frequent traditional use of Satureja abriquetti, Satureja atlantica and Satureja alpina by indigenous populations for the efficacy and virtues they discovered. The aim of the experiments is to prove the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of the essential oils of S. briquetti, S. atlantica and S. alpina. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by three different methods namely the free radical scavenging, the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power and the phosphomolybdenum method. The Carrageenan induced paw oedema in rats assay was used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of essential oils. In order to prove the antinociceptive activity, the plantar model was chosen. The three essential oils have interesting antioxidant powers, especially by the reductive and phosphomolybdenum methods where the activities of S. atlantica and S. alpina exceed that of S. briquetti. In order to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activities of essential oils, the dose used orally is 200 mg / kg. S. alpina represents the best anti-inflammatory profile with an inhibitory capacity of 91.4%. The essential oil of S. atlantica has a slightly higher antalgic power followed by S. briquetti and S. alpina respectively. The results obtained confirm the traditional therapeutic effects and the use of these plants by the autochthonous population of the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco.


Brown spot, caused by Bipolaris oryzae, is one of the most important diseases of rice and can cause a reduction in yield and grain quality. The effect of silicon (Si) on the resistance of rice grains to brown spot was investigated. Plants from cv. Oochikara and its mutant, defective in the Lsi1 transporter (lsi1 mutant), were grown in hydroponic culture either with Si (+Si; 2 mM) or without Si (-Si). Panicle inoculation with B. oryzae was carried out at the beginning of the milk-grain stage. Panicles were harvested at physiological grain maturity. The supply of Si significantly increased Si concentration in husks compared to -Si plants. Si concentration in husks from cv. Oochikara was up to three times greater than the lsi1 mutant. In the presence of Si, brown spot severity was reduced by 88% in grains from cv. Oochikara and by 53% in grains from lsi1 mutant. Brown spot severity was 77% lower for grains of cv. Oochikara than for the lsi1 mutant, both plant types were grown in the presence of Si. Panicle inoculation reduced significantly the following yield components: number of grains per panicle, the weight of 1000 grains and the percentage of filled grains. Si significantly increased these yield components, especially for inoculated panicles. Considering kernel quality, the panicle inoculation with B. oryzae significantly reduced the yield of husked kernel, yield of whole kernel and kernel diameter, especially for grains from -Si plants. For panicles from +Si plants, the kernel quality was improved under inoculation, compared to -Si plants. Results from this study show that Si improved rice yield and kernel quality in panicles inoculated with B. oryzae. Furthermore the functional Lsi1 gene contributed significantly for increasing the yield of whole kernel and kernel diameter, possibly due to the increasing Si concentration in husks.


We report on the analysis of high resolution X-ray spectra of two pre-main-sequence stars: TWA 5 (observed with XMM-Newton) and PZ Telescopii (observed with Chandra/HETGS). TWA 5 is a classical T Tauri star in the TW Hydrae association while PZ Tel is a rapidly rotating weak-lined T Tauri star in the beta-Pictoris moving group. For both stars we have reconstructed the emission measure distribution and derived the coronal abundances to check for possible patterns of the abundances related to the first ionization potential of the various elements. We have also derived estimates of the plasma density from the analysis of the He-like triplets. We compare the characteristics of our targets with those of other pre-main sequence stars previously analyzed by other authors: TW Hya, HD 98800 and HD 283572. Our findings suggest that X-ray emission from classical T Tauri and weak-lined T Tauri stars is produced in all cases by magnetically-heated coronae, except for TW Hya which has unique plasma temperatures and densities. Moreover we derive that TWA 5 has the same peculiar Ne/Fe abundance ratio as TW Hya.


This research focuses on teaching for thinking and educating for critical consciousness in third level students through the medium of modern literature. The objective of this research is education as the practice of freedom; a means by which students deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world, thus becoming what bell hooks refers to as enlightened witnesses (hooks 2000). This research takes a critical constructive action research approach which allowed me to refine my methods and gain further knowledge about my practice whilst enabling students to become more effective critical thinkers and more critically conscious citizens. Action research acknowledges the social character of knowledge and a key conclusion is that modern literature can provide a gateway to a shared understanding, through which students can learn to think critically and become more critically aware. Greene (1988) views literature as a culture's secular scripture, an inexhaustible source of multiple perspectives on the human condition and ways to live more fully in the world, and this research confirms the study of imaginative literature as one way in which we can assist in our students' existential quest to understand and construct a meaningful life.


Although wind and tidal turbines operate in turbulent shear flow, most theoretical results concerning turbine performance, such as the well-known Betz limit, assume the upstream velocity profile is uniform. To improve on these existing results we extend the classical actuator disc model in this paper to investigate the performance of an ideal turbine in steady, inviscid shear flow. The model is developed on the assumption that there is negligible lateral interaction in the flow passing through the disc and that the actuator applies a uniform resistance across its area. With these assumptions, solution of the model leads to two key results. First, for laterally unbounded shear flow, it is shown that the normalised power extracted is the same as that for an ideal turbine in uniform flow, if the average of the cube of the upstream velocity of the fluid passing through the turbine is used in the normalisation. Second, for a laterally bounded shear flow, it is shown that the same normalisation can be applied, but allowance must also be made for the fact that non-uniform flow bypassing the turbine alters the background pressure gradient and, in turn, the turbines 'effective blockage' (so that it may be greater or less than the geometric blockage, defined as the ratio of turbine disc area to cross-sectional area of the flow). Predictions based on the extended model agree well with numerical simulations approximating the incompressible Euler equations. The model may be used to improve interpretation of model-scale results for wind and tidal turbines in tunnels/flumes, to investigate the variation in force across a turbine and to update existing theoretical models of arrays of tidal turbines.


Purpose: To simulate a transphenoidal medial optic canal decompression and determine the anatomic effect on the optic nerve. Methods: A medial optic canal decompression was performed on 5 cadaveric optic canals within 12 hours of death. Two canals were decompressed under direct visualization and 3 were decompressed by a transphenoidal endoscopic approach. The optic canal was subsequently removed en bloc, beginning at the annulus of Zinn and extending to the optic chiasm. Each specimen was processed and examined grossly. Serial coronal step sections of the entire length of the intracanalicular optic nerve were assessed histologically. Results: Microscopic examination of the intracanalicular portion of optic nerve revealed incision in an extraocular muscle at the annulus, incomplete bone removal, fraying of the dural sheath, incomplete dural/arachnoid release, and incision in the pia and optic nerve. Conclusions: Transphenoidal medial wall decompression of the optic nerve canal with dural sheath opening may induce physical damage to the nerve. Any hypothetical value in dural-arachnoid sheath opening must be weighed against the potential for harm to the optic nerve caused by the surgical intervention.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an immune mediated, inflammatory disease affecting the liver as a result of environmental triggers in susceptible individuals leading to loss of self-tolerance. The immunopathogenesis of AIH is not fully understood, which limits targeted therapeutic options. Areas covered: In this review, the authors provide an overview of current practice in the management of AIH, which include induction therapy with corticosteroids (± thiopurines), followed by maintenance therapy. Lack of early response to treatment may serve as a predictor of those at risk of requiring treatment escalation to second- and third-line agents such as mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), calcineurin inhibitors or biologics. Evidence for third-line agents from small retrospective studies or individual centers are reviewed. The nuances of AIH treatment in pregnancy, overlap syndromes, and drug induced liver injury (DILI) warrant further consideration. Expert opinion: Augmenting the balance of regulatory T cells (Treg) and effector T cells is an appealing therapeutic target with a multitude of agents in development. Many of the challenges in AIH research are due to its rarity and lack of randomized data. Management of AIH should strive towards individualized care through risk stratification and use of the best therapeutic modality for each patient.


ObjectiveTo determine the efficacy of daily routine chest radiographs in intubated, mechanically ventilated patients. DesignWith approval of our Institutional Review Board, data were collected prospectively to compare bedside clinical assessment of the patient with the routine chest radiograph in determining the occurrence of new findings. Before review of the daily chest film, patients underwent careful evaluation of clinical and physiologic variables by critical care physicians, who then documented the new findings and the diagnostic and therapeutic interventions required. These results were compared with the interpretations of the daily chest film by radiologists blinded to the clinical assessment. Correlations were made of the new major (requiring immediate intervention) and new minor (abnormal but not requiring immediate intervention) findings noted by clinical assessment and chest radiography. SettingThis study was conducted in a tenbed medical/surgical ICU admitting 650 to 750 patients/yr, a majority of whom require intubation and mechanical ventilation. PatientsSeventy-seven episodes of intubation and mechanical ventilation in 74 patients were evaluated. Only patients with translaryngeal intubation and a requirement for mechanical ventilation beyond 24 hrs were considered for inclusion in this study. Major admitting diagnoses included malignancy, aspiration pneumonia, sepsis, liver failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and adult respiratory distress syndrome. InterventionsSpecific interventions were not made by study design; instead, clinical practice with and without the routine chest radiograph was compared. Measurements and Main ResultsThe measure of comparison between the chest radiograph and clinical assessment was the correlation between the two for a number of major and minor findings defined in advance. A total of 538 chest radiographs were examined; of these, 354 (65.8%) did not disclose either new major or new minor findings as defined. One hundred sixty-three radiographs disclosed only new minor findings, 40.5% of which were anticipated by bedside assessment. However, in 13 (17.6%, 95% confidence interval 9% to 26%) of our 74 patients, new major findings were discovered only by chest radiography. ConclusionsThese data demonstrate that, while a large percentage of radiographs will not disclose new findings, routine daily studies have a substantial impact on the management of intubated, mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU. These findings support the use of daily chest radiographs in critically ill patients. (Crit Care Med 1991; 19:689)


Estuaries are highly productive aquatic systems. Five rivers in Guayaguayare Bay were sampled for fish by seining. During the survey, 25 species in 21 families representing eight orders were collected or observed. The most abundant species, Mugil curema , accounted for 56% of total catch. For the majority of species encountered, the size-frequency distributions revealed populations comprised largely of subadults and juveniles. Dissimilarity of inventories between sites may be related to a combination of biotic and abiotic factors. It is proposed that each species is maintained over the entire coastline by a series of incompletely independent populations and that these estuaries collectively represent one large metacommunity.


Using biospecific chromatography on polylysocephamide, a toxic phospholipase possessing a presynaptic effect on neuromuscular preparations was isolated from the venom of the giant hornet Vespa orientalis. The enzyme was shown to possess a high hydrolytic activity towards 1-acyllysophosphatidylcholine within a narrow pH range (pH optimum 7.5). The enzyme activity was suppressed by detergents of various chemical composition. Lysophospholipase caused an intensive hemolysis of washed human erythrocytes. The catalytic and hemolytic functions of the enzyme were sensitive to metal ions, however, in a different degree. Ca2+ and Mn2+ activated, while Cu2+ and Zn2+ inhibited the enzyme. Mg2+ and Sr2+ had no effect on the enzyme activity.


This paper presents a new approach to represent an image by "verge points," which are defined as high-curvature points on the image surface. This representation offers a compact and reversible way to preserve the essence of the original image. Various applications, such as compression, edge detection, image enhancement, and image editing, can be achieved based on this representation. In this paper, the whole procedure for verge point representation is presented. Based on these verge points, image reconstruction can be easily achieved via iterative linear interpolation. These extracted verge points with compatible properties are further linked into verge curves to offer more compact representation. Progressive representation is also developed based on a multiscale extraction scheme. Some potential applications are then presented to demonstrate the versatility of this representation.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies suggested that RheothRx (poloxamer 188) reduces infarct size and improves left ventricular (LV) function in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We therefore evaluated the effects of various doses of RheothRx in 2948 patients presenting with AMI.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Patients were randomized to a control group (n = 963) or to receive RheothRx. Patients receiving RheothRx were allocated to receive a 1-hour bolus only (regimen A, n = 844), an additional 11-hour infusion at a low dose (target serum concentration of 0.5 mg/mL) (regimen Y, n = 490), or an additional 23-hour infusion at a low dose (regimen B, n = 483). Three higher doses (1-hour bolus+low-dose infusion for 47 hours, 1-hour bolus+high dose, target serum concentration of 1.0 mg/ml for 24 hours, or 1-hour bolus+high dose for 48 hours) were discontinued because of high rates of renal dysfunction (8.8%). Renal dysfunction was also observed at lower doses (regimen A, 3.1%; Y, 2.7%; and B, 4.1%) compared with the control patients (1.0%). There was no significant difference in the composite outcome of death, cardiogenic shock, or reinfarction at 35 days (all RheothRx, 13.6%; control, 12.7%). There was a higher incidence of sinus tachycardia (24.7% versus 21.6%, P = .02), atrial flutter (3.0% versus 1.3%, P = .019), atrial fibrillation (10.2% versus 7.3%, P = .082), pericarditis (6.6% versus 4.7%, P = .055), and clinical (21.9% versus 17.9%, P = .005) and radiological (15.3% versus 12.3%, P = .12) evidence of heart failure. This was associated with a lower LV ejection fraction (n = 1053) in treated patients (by = -0.02, P = .026), but there was little difference (P = .34) in infarct size (n = 1088).

CONCLUSIONS
In this study of nearly 3000 patients, RheothRx had no effect on mortality, reinfarction, or cardiogenic shock and an adverse effect on renal function, LV ejection fraction, and various clinical manifestations of LV dysfunction or heart failure.


The population of the Chinese white dolphin along Taiwan's west coast is under a range of threats. The designation of marine protected areas (MPA) is urgently required for their protection. However, conflicts between specific species conservation and fishing rights mean that the success of such a designation relies on the fishers' perceptions and awareness of an MPA. Designating offshore wind farms within MPAs can be a mechanism for minimizing conflicts between fisheries and conservation. The purpose of this study is to examine the potential for designating an offshore wind farm within an MPA for Chinese white dolphin conservation by exploring the attitudes of local fishers. This study used face-to-face questionnaires. The results show that the main challenges are conflicts of interest, insufficient science-based information, and inadequate law enforcement. Offshore wind farms could be a way to maximize the benefits for different stakeholders and positively impact the marine environment and ecosystem. This study makes feasible recommendations on how to improve conservation, promote renewable energy, and encourage sustainable fisheries.


Purpose
Nowadays, companies compete and win based on the capabilities they can leverage across their supply chains. With unpredictable and turbulent business environment, supply chains are seeking to customer knowledge as sources of competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a conceptual framework to investigate the roles of customer leverage (CL) on process innovation and the relationships to performance.

Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon the knowledge-based view, this study argues that CL is the sources of firms' process innovation. This study also posits that process innovation mediates the relationship between CL and performance based on transaction cost economics. This empirical study employed 650 manufacturers across different regions.

Findings
This study showed that strong association exists between a manufacturing firm's CL capability and its process innovation and performances. Process innovation play critical mediating roles in absorbing and transforming customer knowledge in supply chains. In a more dynamic market, CL strengthens the positive impacts on process innovation.

Research limitations/implications
This study further highlights the need to emphasize both strategic and CL capability in dynamic environments as these may be needed to enable the firm to seize market niches that may open up in such environments. Similarly, managers should emphasize CL capability and process changes in competitive environments as they are more difficult to imitate from competitors in regards of new product or services.

Practical implications
These results extend the limited existing research on global manufacturing context that the customer knowledge are effective sources for increasing innovative processes. The higher the market turbulence, the stronger the pressures for CL demanded by process innovation. The findings also confirm that process innovation plays a mediating role in absorbing and transforming customer knowledge in improving costs and financial measures. This is an important result that highlights the mechanism by which customer knowledge can influence a firm's bottom line.

Originality/value
This study examined the linkages between a marketing concept and operations and supply chain management.


Abstract
Stakeholder theory may be the Archimedes lever that allows defining a possible Economy for the Common Good; however, the theory's current level of development does not enable it to escape the criticism that considers it nothing more than shared egoism. The expansion of the concept of stakeholder, including not only groups that collaborate in the creation of value or which are actively impacted by the organisation, but also incorporating those affected by omission – non-stakeholders – would lead to the reconciliation of stakeholder theory and the common good. Nevertheless, to set it within corporate practice, besides having selfish and altruist incentives, would be of interest for the conceptual development of shapeholders, understood as the link between non-stakeholders' interests and needs, and firms.


We establish asymptotic normality of weighted sums of periodograms of a stationary linear process where weights depend on the sample size. Such sums appear in numerous statistical applications and can be regarded as a discretized versions of the quadratic forms involving integrals of weighted periodograms. Conditions for asymptotic normality of these weighted sums are simple and resemble Lindeberg-Feller condition for weighted sums of independent and identically distributed random variables. Our results are valid for short, long or negative memory processes. The proof is based on sharp bounds derived for Bartlett type approximation of these sums by the corresponding sums of weighted periodograms of independent and identically distributed random variables.


The vibration and instability of a beam which is Double-span Euler Beam with axial force is studied by transfer matrix method. The transfer matrix of transverse free vibration and axial compression of the beam is derived. Then based on the assembled transferring matrix, the effect of the position of intermediate support on the natural frequencies and Euler critical axial force of the beam is discussed, which offered a useful method to start research of vibration of complicated framework.


We previously reported reduced sperm concentration and motility in fertile men in a U.S. agrarian area (Columbia, MO) relative to men from U.S. urban centers (Minneapolis, MN; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY). In the present study we address the hypothesis that pesticides currently used in agriculture in the Midwest contributed to these differences in semen quality. We selected men in whom all semen parameters (concentration, percentage sperm with normal morphology, and percentage motile sperm) were low (cases) and men in whom all semen parameters were within normal limits (controls) within Missouri and Minnesota (sample sizes of 50 and 36, respectively) and measured metabolites of eight current-use pesticides in urine samples provided at the time of semen collection. All pesticide analyses were conducted blind with respect to center and case-control status. Pesticide metabolite levels were elevated in Missouri cases, compared with controls, for the herbicides alachlor and atrazine and for the insecticide diazinon [2-isopropoxy-4-methyl-pyrimidinol (IMPY)]; for Wilcoxon rank test, p = 0.0007, 0.012, and 0.0004 for alachlor, atrazine, and IMPY, respectively. Men from Missouri with high levels of alachlor or IMPY were significantly more likely to be cases than were men with low levels [odds ratios (ORs) = 30.0 and 16.7 for alachlor and IMPY, respectively], as were men with atrazine levels higher than the limit of detection (OR = 11.3). The herbicides 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and metolachlor were also associated with poor semen quality in some analyses, whereas acetochlor levels were lower in cases than in controls (p = 0.04). No significant associations were seen for any pesticides within Minnesota, where levels of agricultural pesticides were low, or for the insect repellent DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) or the malathion metabolite malathion dicarboxylic acid. These associations between current-use pesticides and reduced semen quality suggest that agricultural chemicals may have contributed to the reduction in semen quality in fertile men from mid-Missouri we reported previously.


Anti-cancer treatment has come a long way, and there probably is a long way to go before we can offer every patient a therapy that works, is safe, and affordable. Many paths may be pursued to ultimately achieve this goal, and precision oncology could be one of them: by matching treatment to specific characteristics of a patient, his or her tumor, and its micro-environment, higher response rates may be achieved whilst toxicity and unnecessary costs could be avoided. This thesis discusses several biomarker-based strategies to tailor treatment to specific tumor- or patient-characteristics, ultimately aimed at improving outcomes for individual patients. Part II is dedicated to tumor micro-environment, and how it may be employed to counteract chemotherapy resistance. It describes two prospective studies, both build on the observation that (A) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) mediate platinum-induced chemoresistance in mice, and that (B) indomethacin prevented this type of chemoresistance. Present research has demonstrated that translation to human cancer patients is safe and probably worthwhile, given that patients with advanced cancer have higher levels of circulating MSCs; especially once they have received systemic anti-cancer treatment. Part III focusses on biomarkers for targeted- and immunotherapy. It describes the set-up and first results of the Drug Rediscovery Protocol (DRUP), a nationwide, prospective, multi-drug and pan-tumor trial aimed at identifying new tumor type/molecular variant-combinations that are sensitive to approved anti-cancer drugs. Analysis of the first ~500 clinical case submissions showed that there are many patients (>50% in our dataset) whose molecular tumor profile can potentially be targeted by an already available anti-cancer drug, to which these patients would otherwise not have access. So far, one cohort (nivolumab for patients with MSI tumors) has completed accrual: clinical benefit was observed in twenty patients (67%), including eleven patients (37%) with an objective response. Yet, outside the context of clinical trials, most of these patients do currently not have access to nivolumab treatment. Negotiations with Dutch health authorities are therefore ongoing. Ideally, this will lead to nivolumab-reimbursement under the condition that further / confirmatory data will be gathered ("coverage with evidence development"). If successful, other DRUP cohorts will hopefully follow. Part IV discusses two aspects of precision oncology in daily practice. First, the relationship between somatic mutations and treatment consequences is complex and can't be fully captured by most currently used gene panels. Adequate interpretation of extensive tumor sequencing, on the other hand, requires expertise from clinical, pathological, biological, genetical and technical perspective. A new type of tumor board is therefore rising: the multidisciplinary genetic- or Molecular Tumor Board (MTB). Three recommendations were formulated that may serve as a roadmap for successful MTB implementation. We feel that standardization of MTB practice would not only prevent variation in quality of care, but would also help to move the emerging field of tumor sequencing forward. Second, the need for cross-disciplinary evidence development is addressed: anti-cancer treatment options now range from systemic therapies, to interventional radiology, and so forth. Evidence directly comparing across these modalities, however, is scarce.


Adam Smith was an eloquent man of considerable philosophical and historical learning. His most incisive and enduring observations are collected here on subjects ranging from political and economic history to morals, art, education, war, and the American colonies. Throughout, notes an admirer in the introduction, "his writing is blessedly free of that use of jargon (and mathematics) that characterizes most of the modern materials in economics. His ideas are expressed in a lucid, straightforward manner that makes them accessible to all."


lessness and ventilation.'-3 On this basis, we have seen two types of drug effect. Promethazine in normal subjects did not affect the ventilatory response to exercise but breathlessness was slightly reduced; thus the relation between breathlessness and ventilation was depressed towards the ventilation axis.' Codeine, on the other hand, caused statistically significant reductions in ventilation and in breathlessness such that the relation between these measures was unaffected.3 The complete analysis of our study on codeine has now been published3 and shows a more complex picture than that referred to earlier. Both drugs have only small effects and there is some interest in seeking agents with greater activity which might be helpful to the dyspnoeic patient. The more attractive profile would be that of an agent which dissociates breathlessness from the control of breathing. The report by Dr Johnson and others on the effects of dihydrocodeine on breathlessness in patients with the "pink puffer" syndrome and their earlier study4 do not explore the relation between breathlessness and ventilation. Thus we do not know if the reduction in breathlessness went hand in hand with effects on ventilation or whether there was a proportionally greater effect on breathlessness. We wish to suggest that such an analysis would help understanding ofhow dihydrocodeine produces its effects and would facilitate comparison with the effects of other drugs, including other opiates. R D STARK P A O'NEILL


Results are reported from a search for physics beyond the standard model in protonproton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √ s = 13 TeV. The search uses a signature of a single lepton, large jet and bottom quark jet multiplicities, and high sum of large-radius jet masses, without any requirement on the missing transverse momentum in an event. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. No significant excess beyond the prediction from standard model processes is observed. The results are interpreted in terms of upper limits on the production cross section for R-parity violating supersymmetric extensions of the standard model using a benchmark model of gluino pair production, in which each gluino decays promptly via g̃→ tbs. Gluinos with a mass below 1610 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. Submitted to Physics Letters B c © 2017 CERN for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration. CC-BY-4.0 license ∗See Appendix A for the list of collaboration members ar X iv :1 71 2. 08 92 0v 1 [ he pex ] 2 4 D ec 2 01 7


Abstract This paper addresses the issues of unstructured terrain modeling for the purpose of navigation with legged robots. We present an improved elevation grid concept adopted to the specific requirements of a small legged robot with limited perceptual capabilities. We propose an extension of the elevation grid update mechanism by incorporating a formal treatment of the spatial uncertainty. Moreover, this paper presents uncertainty models for a structured light RGB-D sensor and a stereo vision camera used to produce a dense depth map. The model for the uncertainty of the stereo vision camera is based on uncertainty propagation from calibration, through undistortion and rectification algorithms, allowing calculation of the uncertainty of measured 3D point coordinates. The proposed uncertainty models were used for the construction of a terrain elevation map using the Videre Design STOC stereo vision camera and Kinect-like range sensors. We provide experimental verification of the proposed mapping method, and a comparison with another recently published terrain mapping method for walking robots.


A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of feeding soybean meal (SBM) from low-phytate (LP) or traditional phytate (TP) soybeans on performance and excretions from growing swine. Ninety-six crossbred barrows (initial BW = 18 +/- 0.3 kg) were allocated by BW to 24 pens and fed 1 of 4 treatment diets: TP SBM without supplemental phytase; TP SBM plus 500 phytase units of phytase/kg, as-fed basis [Ronozyme P (CT) 2500; DSM Nutritional Products, Basel, Switzerland]; LP SBM (USDA-ARS breeding line CX1834-1) without supplemental phytase, and LP SBM plus phytase. All diets within a feeding phase were formulated to be isocaloric and have similar available Lys and nonphytin P content. Pens were assigned randomly to treatments at the beginning of each of the 4 feeding phases. An indigestible marker was added to the mash feed. Individual pig weights and fecal samples were collected, and feed disappearance by pen was recorded weekly. No phytase inclusion or SBM source effects were observed for pen ADG, ADFI, or G:F (P > 0.05). Total tract apparent digestibility of DM and OM was not different among treatment groups (P > 0.05). Apparent digestibility of P was greater for pigs fed diets containing the LP SBM (48.9 vs. 42.4%; P < 0.01) and less when diets included phytase (44.3 vs. 47.0%; P < 0.0001). Total P (tP) and water-soluble P (WSP) excreted were affected by dietary treatment (tP: 20.0, 18.0, 16.8, and 13.8 g/kg of feces DM, P < 0.01; and WSP: 10.9, 10.1, 9.1, and 8.5 g/kg, P < 0.01, for TP SBM without supplemental phytase, TP SBM plus 500 phytase units of phytase/kg, LP SBM without supplemental phytase, and LP SBM plus phytase diets, respectively). Inclusion of phytase decreased tP and WSP excreted (P < 0.01), as did use of LP SBM (P < 0.01). Diet effects on the fraction of excreted tP that was WSP were observed (P < 0.01); however, there was not a significant effect of SBM source. Inclusion of exogenous phytase in diets increased the proportion of tP that was excreted as WSP from 55% in diets without phytase to 59% in diets containing phytase. The findings suggest that there is a need for LP soybeans as a dietary component to minimize environmental impacts.


We all need to learn how to how to come back from difficult times. Failure tests our resiliency and confidence. Barry teaches the steps to bounce back during tough times we all will experience. Accept your failure and learn what you can, but then let it go and take another action that gives you another chance at success. Failure is inevitable- only by learning what you can and taking another small action can you get to another success.

Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He has had alot of success and failure over the last 30 years in his own entrepreneurial companies. Barry is the author of 6 best selling books, a motivational keynote speaker and the host of "The Small Business Radio Show". He frequently appears on American TV programs and is a member of the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.


Several members of the ABC-6 zeolite family, namely offretite, zeolite T, ZSM-34 and zeolite L, were synthesised with a view to studying the effect of synthetic parameters on the resulting crystal properties. A range of procedures for producing offretite and ZSM-34 were tested, and crystals with the optimal morphology, purity, crystallinity and size identified. A standard procedure for synthesising zeolite T was used, before the effect of systematically altering the cation concentration, Si/Al ratio and water content in the synthesis mixture was studied, and the optimal composition identified.Ex-situ AFM was used to study the morphology of the resulting crystals, as well as to determine information about surface features, such as the shape and height of terraces. This information could be used to infer the growth mechanism for each crystal. The AFM studies of zeolite L were compared with those of previous studies and found to agree. For offretite, zeolite T and ZSM-34, 1.2 nm high terraces elongated along the length of the {100} face of the crystals were observed. Where the crystals exhibited a micro-crystalline morphology without distinct faces HR-SEM was used to study their morphology and terracing. In-situ AFM was used to study the dissolution of the crystals in basic media. In each case the terraces were observed to dissolve primarily length-wise. The dissolution of terraces on zeolite T was considered in particular detail. The terrace height was measured during dissolution, and three distinct measurements were observed, 1.2, 0.8 and 0.2 nm. These heights were related to framework features. Lateral force AFM measurements were used to show the relationship between decreased terrace height and increased lateral deflection, indicating that dissolving areas of crystal exhibited increased tip-sample friction. The rate of dissolution of terraces on zeolite T was also considered. It was found that dissolution rate increased with increasing NaOH concentration, and with increasing tip-sample force in the AFM. These observations allowed order of reaction for the dissolution process of zeolite T to be estimated at 2.54. A magnesium substituted aluminophosphate ABC-6 family zeotype material, MgAPO-CJ60, was also synthesised and analysed. Solid-state NMR was used to determine the distribution of aluminium and phosphorous within the framework, which was found to be non-random.


Written in cookbook style, this book offers solutions to all common web development problems through recipes. Each recipe contains step-by-step instructions followed by the analysis of what was done in each task and other useful information. The book is designed so that you can read it chapter by chapter, or you can look at the list of recipes and refer to them in no particular order. This book is particularly written for web developers looking to transfer their knowledge from the ASP.NET Web Forms way of doing things to the ASP.NET MVC framework. As this book targets readers of various experience levels, you should be able to find recipes of a basic, intermediate, and advanced nature. Regardless of your experience level, each recipe will walk you through the solution in a step by step manner that anyone should be able to follow.