Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a major activator of fibrinolysis, which also attenuates the pro-inflammatory activity of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and in vivo in mice. The activity of tPA as an LPS response modifier is independent of its proteinase activity and instead, dependent on the N-methyl-D-aspartate Receptor (NMDA-R), which is expressed by BMDMs. The major Toll-like receptor (TLR) for LPS is TLR4. Herein, we show that enzymatically-inactive (EI) tPA blocks the response of mouse BMDMs to selective TLR2 and TLR9 agonists, rapidly reversing IκBα phosphorylation and inhibiting expression of TNFα, CCL2, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6. The activity of EI-tPA was replicated by activated α2-macroglobulin, which like EI-tPA, signals through an NMDA-R-dependent pathway. EI-tPA failed to inhibit cytokine expression by BMDMs in response to agonists that target the Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs), NOD1 and NOD2, providing evidence for specificity in the function of EI-tPA. Macrophages isolated from the peritoneal space (PMs), without adding eliciting agents, expressed decreased levels of cell-surface NMDA-R compared with BMDMs. These cells were unresponsive to EI-tPA in the presence of LPS. However, when PMs were treated with CSF-1, the abundance of cell-surface NMDA-R increased and the ability of EI-tPA to neutralize the response to LPS was established. We conclude that the anti-inflammatory activity of EI-tPA is selective for TLRs but not all PRRs. The ability of macrophages to respond to EI-tPA depends on the availability of cell surface NMDA-R, which may be macrophage differentiation-state dependent.


Pregnancy causes abrupt thymic atrophy. This atrophy is characterized by a severe decrease in the number of all thymocyte subsets and qualitative (but not quantitative) changes in thymic epithelial cells (TECs). Pregnancy-related thymic involution is triggered by progesterone-induced functional changes affecting mainly cortical TECs (cTECs). Remarkably, this severe involution is rapidly corrected following parturition. We postulated that understanding the mechanisms of pregnancy-related thymic changes could provide novel insights into signaling pathways regulating TEC function. When we analyzed genes whose expression in TECs was modified during late pregnancy, we found a strong enrichment in genes bearing KLF4 transcription factor binding motifs. We, therefore, engineered a Psmb11-iCre : Klf4lox/lox mouse model to study the impact of TEC-specific Klf4 deletion in steady-state conditions and during late pregnancy. Under steady-state conditions, Klf4 deletion had a minimal effect on TEC subsets and did not affect thymic architecture. However, pregnancy-induced thymic involution was much more pronounced in pregnant females lacking Klf4 expression in TECs. These mice displayed a substantial ablation of TECs with a more pronounced loss of thymocytes. Transcriptomic and phenotypic analyses of Klf4 -/- TECs revealed that Klf4 maintains cTEC numbers by supporting cell survival and preventing epithelial-to-mesenchymal plasticity during late pregnancy. We conclude that Klf4 is essential for preserving TEC's integrity and mitigating thymic involution during late pregnancy.


Recent research on organizational mortality controls for the effect of age-varying organizational size and yields divergent results. Some studies find that ageing lowers mortality rates; others find the opposite pattern. The authors argue that this divergence reflects partly an overly simple specification of the effects of age and size. They argue that the effects of size on mortality rates differ by age group. Using complete data on organizational populations of automobile manufacturers in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, they find that specifications with such age-variation improve over the usual specifications. The results for the American, French, and German populations indicate that age dependence is negative for the largest organizations and positive for small ones. The pattern is the reverse in the British population


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to examine differences in socio-economic standing and ill health between the two communities in Northern Ireland.

METHODS
This was a descriptive epidemiological study. Deaths from 1991 to 1995 inclusive were used to calculate standardized mortality rates (SMR, under 75 years) at small level using the 1991 Census population estimates. The standardized limiting long-term illness ratios (SIR) were based on the appropriate Census question. Regression models were tested with SMR and SIR as dependent variables and a wide range of socio-economic indicators, including income support and family credit uptake, as independent predictors.

RESULTS
Northern Ireland is a very polarized society. More than 60 per cent of the population live in areas which have more than 80 per cent of one religion. Areas with a preponderance of Catholics tend to be more deprived. Unemployment rates, percentage renting, car availability, and education attainment are all worse in Catholic areas. However, there is considerable heterogeneity between areas with similar levels of religious affiliation and the overall pattern varies with the indicator chosen. SMRs rise stepwise with increasing percentage of Catholics. SIRs increase with increasing polarization of areas, but this is much more marked in those with a predominantly Catholic affiliation. Altogether 46.8 per cent of the variance in SMR and 77.9 per cent of that of SIRs could be explained by socio-economic variables alone. Denomination did not have any residual predictive value.

CONCLUSIONS
Policy-makers should continue to periodically monitor for differences between the two communities including any differences in service accessibility and uptake. Efforts should be directed towards reducing the inequalities in health for all sections of the community.


Business process management aims to align the business processes of an organisation with customers' needs. Doing this is of particular importance for services and requires a good understanding of interactions among the stakeholders involved in service provision and consumption. Several business modelling languages have been proposed, such as Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN), Business Process Executable Language (BPEL) and Web Services Choreography Description Language (WS-CDL). Although these languages provide good support for process modelling, their consideration of the customer's point of view seems to be insufficient. On the other hand, visualisations of customer journeys for the purpose of conceptualisation of new services have been successfully used in the area of service design. Our hypothesis is that a visual language presenting the customer journey through a service might be useful for aligning business processes of service providers with customers' needs and, in turn, contribute to the delivery of better services. We propose Service Journey Modelling Language (SJML) and report our first experience with it.


With the recent attention and focus on quantitative methods for species delimitation, an overlooked but equally important issue regards what has actually been delimited. This study investigates the apparent arbitrariness of some taxonomic distinctions, and in particular how species and subspecies are assigned. Specifically, we use a recently developed Bayesian model-based approach to show that in the Hercules beetles (genus Dynastes) there is no statistical difference in the probability that putative taxa represent different species, irrespective of whether they were given species or subspecies designations. By considering multiple data types, as opposed to relying exclusively on genetic data alone, we also show that both previously recognized species and subspecies represent a variety of points along the speciation spectrum (i.e., previously recognized species are not systematically further along the continuum than subspecies). For example, based on evolutionary models of divergence, some taxa are statistically distinguishable on more than one axis of differentiation (e.g., along both phenotypic and genetic dimensions), whereas other taxa can only be delimited statistically from a single data type. Because both phenotypic and genetic data are analyzed in a common Bayesian framework, our study provides a framework for investigating whether disagreements in species boundaries among data types reflect (i) actual discordance with the actual history of lineage splitting, or instead (ii) differences among data types in the amount of time required for differentiation to become apparent among the delimited taxa. We discuss what the answers to these questions imply about what characters are used to delimit species, as well as the diverse processes involved in the origin and maintenance of species boundaries. With this in mind, we then reflect more generally on how quantitative methods for species delimitation are used to assign taxonomic status.


The high (HTGR) and very high (VHTR) temperature nuclear reactors are the most innovative designs and belong to the most advanced fourth generation gas-cooled reactor technology. These types of reactors are designed to have an outlet temperature between 800-1000° C for the HTGR and the VHTR respectively. Such systems are able to generate electrical energy and supply process heat in a broad spectrum of high-temperature and energy-intensive non-electric and thermal processes. In this paper, a numerical analysis of the high temperature HTGR/VHTR combined cycle with co-production of hydrogen and electricity is conducted. The presented cycle consists of three subsidiary circuits with gas turbine and two steam turbines for electric energy generation, and two heat exchangers for hydrogen production at high or medium temperature. The results show that such a combination allows a significant increase of thermal efficiency to about 50% at the reactor outlet temperature of 1273 K and a decrease in cost of hydrogen production.


Since the employment of microwave energy for defrosting biological tissues and for microwave-aided diagnosis in cryosurgery is very promising, the problem of ensuring the match between the contact antennas (applicators) and the frozen biological object has become a pressing one. It is for this reason that investigations were aimed at the study of the dielectric properties of the dog's muscular and fatty tissues in a temperature range of +20 to -30 degrees C including the phase transition of the samples to the solid state. The investigations were performed in a waveguide device using a short-circuit method. During the investigation possible error was estimated. The experiment provides for the reduction of the error caused by the waveguide linear expansion.


Serious illnesses such as strokes and heart attacks can be triggered by high levels of cholesterol in human blood that exceeds ideal conditions, where the ideal cholesterol level is below 200 mg/dL. To find out cholesterol levels need a long process because the patient must go through a blood sugar test that requires the patient to undergo fasting for 10–12 hours first before the test. Iridology is a branch of science that studies human iris and its relation to the wellness of human internal organs. The method can be used as an alternative for medical analysis. Iridology thus can be used to assess the conditions of organs, body construction, and other psychological conditions. This paper proposes a cholesterol detection system based on the iris image processing using Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). GLCM is used as the feature extraction method of the image, while SVM acts as the classifier of the features. In addition to GLCM and SVM, this paper also construct a preprocessing method which consist of image resizing, segmentation, and color image to gray level conversion of the iris image. These steps are necessary before the GLCM feature extraction step can be applied. In principle, the GLCM method is a construction of a matrix containing the information about the proximity position of gray level images pixels. The output of GLCM is fed to the SVM that relies on the best hyperplane. Thus, SVM performs as a separator of two data classes of the input space. From the simulation results, the system built was able to detect excess cholesterol levels through iris image and classify into three classes, namely: non–cholesterol (< 200 ), risk of cholesterol (200–239 ) and high cholesterol (> 240 ). The accuracy rate obtained was 94.67% with an average computation time of 0.0696 . It was using each of the 75 training and test data, with the second-order parameters used are contrast–correlation–energy–homogeneity, pixel distance = 1, quantization level = 8, Polynomial kernel types and One Against One Multiclass. Iris has specific advantages which can record all organ conditions, body construction and psychological conditions. Therefore, Iridology as a science based on the arrangement of iris fibers can be an alternative for medical analysis. In this paper proposes a cholesterol detection system through the iris using Gray Level Co-occurence Matrix and Support Vector Machine. Input system is an iris image that will be processed by pre-processing and then extracted features with the Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix method which is a matrix containing information about position the proximity of pixels that have a certain gray level. And then classified with the Support Vector Machine method that relies on the best hyper lane which functions as a separator of two data classes in the input space. From the simulation results, the system built was able to detect excess cholesterol levels through iris image and classify into three classes are: risk of cholesterol, high cholesterol and non–cholesterol with an accuracy rate of 96.47% and average computation time was 0.0696 using each of the 75 training and test data, with the second-order parameters used are contrast–correlation–energy–homogeneity, pixel distance = 1, quantization level = 8, Polynomial kernel types and One Against One Multiclass.


This is a story of raging egos, brutal power struggles and fraught decision making, from the best-selling author of Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis. Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood is probably the most brazenly honest and wickedly funny book about parenting ever written. Michael Lewis thought he'd seen it all. He'd worked in the city. He knew how to deal with the worst excesses of human behaviour. He had cojones. Right? Wrong. He was about to become a father: 'If you remembered what new parenthood was actually like you wouldn't go around lying to people about how wonderful it is, and you certainly wouldn't ever do it twice.' Here Lewis reveals his own unique take on new-found paternity: from discovering your three-year-old loves swearing to the ethics of taking your offspring gambling at the races, from toilet-training to the inevitable tantrums - of both parent and child - and the gradual realization that, despite everything, he's becoming hooked: 'I know for a fact that my children are insane. Or, at any rate, I know that if an adult behaved as my children do, he would be institutionalized. Is it possible that they are contagious?' "Lewis is the finest storyteller of our generation." (Malcolm Gladwell).


The interferon (IFN)-alpha/beta-producing cells (IPCs) are localized predominantly in the spleen, in particular in the marginal zones (MZ), in C57BL/6 mice injected intravenously (i.v.) with UV-inactivated herpes simplex virus (HSV). We defined the phenotype of these murine IPCs using simultaneous immunohistochemical labelling of intracellular IFN-alpha/beta and various surface antigens. We found that the IPCs in the MZ are not dendritic cells because they did not express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II and CD11c molecules. Furthermore, they did not express antigenic markers typical for T cells, B cells or red pulp macrophages. In contrast, the majority of IPCs were stained by the anti-sialoadhesin monoclonal antibody (MoAb) SER-4, which is specific for marginal metallophilic macrophages. In addition, a minor part of the IPCs with a more outward localization in the MZ were stained by a MoAb specific for MZ macrophages. We conclude that the massive IFN-alpha/beta production in the MZ of the spleen upon in vivo stimulation by HSV is mainly exerted by marginal metallophilic macrophages and to a lesser extent by MZ macrophages.


How art therapy is perceived and portrayed by the general public, especially those seeking mental health services remains a pressing issue. Social media is becoming a recognised way to share attitudes and beliefs in a public forum. To begin exploration on the topic of external perceptions of the art therapy profession, an inquiry into the use of social media for discussing art therapy was conducted. The aims of the study were to acknowledge general public opinion of art therapy through examining how art therapy was discussed in social forums. Thirteen relevant websites were identified and then further examined, using content analysis to reveal multiple themes. Based upon the findings, a number of implications were created to help expand the development of art therapy as a profession in this technologically savvy age Keywords: Art therapy, health literacy, mental health, profession, perceptions, social media


Universities and higher education institutions play an important role in achieving a sustainable future through their teaching and by undertaking cutting edge research to combat climate change. There have been several efforts towards a sustainable future and achieving carbon neutrality at higher education institutions in Australia and around the world. This study has reviewed the sustainability strategies of numerous universities in Australia and has identified as study cases six universities that are committed to and leading the implementation of initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality. The initiatives implemented at the selected universities were classified into eight "sustainability categories", namely, built environment, energy, food and gardens, GHG emissions, natural environment, resource and waste management, transport, and water. Among the selected leading universities in sustainability, Charles Sturt University and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) are the only universities in Australia certified as carbon neutral. An interesting aspect of this review is the way in which universities are implementing sustainability initiatives in line with their mission and strategies. Despite striving towards the same end goal of achieving carbon neutrality, different institutions offer individually unique approaches towards sustainability. For example, UTAS values the creation, expansion and dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of continual learning, which is clearly demonstrated through its initiatives and policies. The findings in this review are critical in identifying those institutions of higher education which are role models in their strong commitment to achieving carbon neutrality. Such role model universities can pave the way for similar climate action at other universities.


Residual stresses are produced in weldments due to mismatching and non-uniform distributions of plastic and thermal strains. Attempts were made to analyze the residual stresses distributions produced in the TIG welding process using 2d and 3d finite element analyses. No attempts were made to find the optimum shape of grooves and gas flow rate to minimize the tensile residual stresses in the weldments, yet. In this paper, the effects of geometry configurations and inert gas flow rate on the residual stress distributions are presented using the thermo-elastoplastic constitutive equations and compared with the x-ray diffraction method. In this study, convection due to both air and inert gas flow rate along with conduction and radiation are considered.


Background: Blood leukocytes from patients with solid tumors exhibit complex and distinct cancer-associated patterns of DNA methylation. However, the biologic mechanisms underlying these patterns remain poorly understood. Because epigenetic biomarkers offer significant clinical potential for cancer detection, we sought to address a mechanistic gap in recently published works, hypothesizing that blood-based epigenetic variation may be due to shifts in leukocyte populations. Methods: We identified differentially methylated regions (DMR) among leukocyte subtypes using epigenome-wide DNA methylation profiling of purified peripheral blood leukocyte subtypes from healthy donors. These leukocyte-tagging DMRs were then evaluated using epigenome-wide blood methylation data from three independent case-control studies of different cancers. Results: A substantial proportion of the top 50 leukocyte DMRs were significantly differentially methylated among head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cases and ovarian cancer cases compared with cancer-free controls (48 and 47 of 50, respectively). Methylation classes derived from leukocyte DMRs were significantly associated cancer case status (P < 0.001, P < 0.03, and P < 0.001) for all three cancer types: HNSCC, bladder cancer, and ovarian cancer, respectively and predicted cancer status with a high degree of accuracy (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.82, 0.83, and 0.67). Conclusions: These results suggest that shifts in leukocyte subpopulations may account for a considerable proportion of variability in peripheral blood DNA methylation patterns of solid tumors. Impact: This illustrates the potential use of DNA methylation profiles for identifying shifts in leukocyte populations representative of disease, and that such profiles may represent powerful new diagnostic tools, applicable to a range of solid tumors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 21(8); 1293–302. ©2012 AACR.


The linear cofactor difference extrema of metaloxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) drain current are presented in this paper and their application to extract MOSFET parameters is demonstrated. The extrema of the characteristic drain current are obtained by the applying the linear cofactor difference operator to the drain current versus gate voltage curve in the linear region. These extrema can be directly used to find the threshold voltage and mobility of a MOSFET. The method has been tested with experimentally fabricated MOSFETs and simulation data obtained by the device simulator DESSIS-ISE. The results agree well with those obtained with the standard second-derivative method, which demonstrates the validity of the method presented.


The problems and prospects of regional economic cooperation or
 integration in Asia are today a hotly debated subject, discussed at very
 different levels in different quarters. In an ECAFE paper entitled "The
 . Scope for Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia and the Far East",1
 the view was advanced that cooperation implying coordination of economic
 policy as a whole is already on Asia's agenda of practical politics.
 After the economic rationale of cooperation in varied forms had been
 considered in a general way, an appeal was directed to policy-makers in
 the Asian region to establish a suitable framework for cooperation
 within which concrete blueprints of cooperative schemes could be worked
 out. It is significant that, at the Conference of Asian Economic
 Planners which discussed that paper among others, there was no
 disagreement in principle about the need for increased economic
 cooperation among the countries in Asia and the Far East. There was
 disagreement only as to what extent of cooperation in relation to the
 time perspective and what practical forms of it were most
 desirable—matters concerning which the Conference was by its nature
 prevented from making a decision and into which further exploration
 could be made through intergovernmental consultation.


The aim of this study was to investigate the factor structure and to conduct an item analysis of the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale (CES–D) among people with arthritis from the UK. This 20-item self-report scale was designed by Radloff in 1977 to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. Data were drawn from a national study and collected through self-administered questionnaires mailed to participants, each of whom had a confirmed diagnosis of arthritis. Reliability and structure of the scale were examined using standard item analysis, internal consistency (Cronbach alpha), and principal components analysis. A four-dimensional structure was identified: Self-worth, Depressed Affect, Positive Affect, and Somatic Disturbance; three items loaded on two factors and were excluded from consideration. Comparisons with previous studies indicated some differences in the subscales and showed that, in this sample, two subscales might be artifacts of measurement. In samples of people with arthritis from the UK, use of the total score may not reflect accurate depressive symptomatology and the subscale scores should be used with caution.


Business vision is often achieved through projects execution. In this context, two approaches can contribute decisively to avoid wasting resources and to increase the level of success of projects: success management and knowledge management. Although recognized as important, their joint use is practically unexplored, neither in the literature nor in organizations. The purpose of this work is to propose an integrative model of these two approaches, in order to increase the maturity of the processes and to promote the success of projects. As a result of a research in progress, a integrated model is proposed, considering success management and knowledge management practices. The work contributes with a new perspective to the management of success, allowing its results to be integrated into the general body of knowledge of the organization on the basis of a continuous cycle of evolution.


THE INFLUENCE OF HABITAT SUITABILITY, LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE, AND SEED DISPERSERS ON INVASION OF AN EXOTIC PLANT SPECIES, LONICERA MAACKII (RUPR) HERDER, AMUR HONEYSUCKLE by Anne M. Bartuszevige Although invasive plants are recognized as a major ecological problem, little is known of the relative importance of plant community characteristics versus landscape context in determining invasibility of communities. For animal-dispersed plants, invasion patterns may be influenced by landscape features that influence movement of seed dispersers. In this study, I investigated the relative importance of community and landscape features in the invasion of Lonicera maackii in woodlots in southwest Ohio. I also determined the bird species responsible for seed dispersal of this plant and the timing of fruit loss. I regressed Lonicera maackii presence and density separately against community and landscape characteristics quantified from 30 woodlots. Presence of L. maackii was significantly negatively associated with distance from the nearest town. Density of L. maackii was significantly positively related to amount of edge in the landscape and significantly negatively related to total tree basal area, number of native woody species, and sapling shade tolerance index. Analysis of seeds recovered from feces of birds mist-netted near fruiting L. maackii shrubs revealed four native and one exotic bird species dispersed viable L. maackii seeds. I performed feeding trials to determine the effect of gut passage on L. maackii seeds. Germination was inhibited by passage through Cedar Waxwings, but not through American Robins. Radiotracked American Robins moved mostly along woodlot edges and fencerows, leading me to project that most viable seeds would be defecated in such habitats. I used fruit traps to determine the timing of fruit loss (abscission + removal). Fruit loss from L. maackii shrubs was significantly related to winter temperature and precipitation. Fruit removal by frugivores was greater in cold temperatures and low precipitation. In general there was no effect of temperature and precipitation on fruit abscission. This study shows that L. maackii invades through expansion of multiple foci and is facilitated by bird dispersal. Through bird dispersal, L. maackii is able to navigate the landscape and invade new suitable habitats. The interaction of L. maackii and American Robins involves a positive feedback loop, in which seeds are defecated in highly suitable habitat where the birds also forage on L. maackii fruits. THE INFLUENCE OF HABITAT SUITABILITY, LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE, AND SEED DISPERSERS ON INVASION OF AN EXOTIC PLANT SPECIES, LONICERA MAACKII (RUPR) HERDER, AMUR HONEYSUCKLE


La Louisiane est fondamentalement refractaire aux dommages-interets punitifs. Cette position s'illustre evidemment par son droit substantiel, mais n'est pas sans repercussion sur son systeme de conflits de lois. Si le legislateur louisianais n'est pas alle jusqu'a adopter une clause d'ordre public, il a insere dans le Code civil de Louisiane une disposition visant a restreindre les cas ou le juge louisianais pourra allouer des dommages-interets punitifs. Au-dela de la presentation de cette norme originale, l'article permet une reflexion sur les interets en presence lorsque surgit un conflit de lois en matiere de dommages-interets punitifs. There is perhaps no better laboratory to scrutinize punitive damages than Louisiana. As a civil law island surrounded by common law jurisdictions, it shares some compensation principles that are decidedly civilian, and others that are clearly influenced by its American neighbors. Likewise, Louisiana's geography has given rise to a sophisticated, and well-exercised, system for addressing conflicts of laws. Here, the intersection of divergent principles of compensation provokes an inquiry into the validity of the "full compensation" theory. The conflicts analysis in the context of delicts and quasi-delicts, and especially in the context of punitive damages, is complex and involves a plurality of norms of the Louisiana Civil Code (La. Civ. Code). The general inquiry under Louisiana's conflicts analysis is the determination of the state whose policies would be most seriously impaired if its law were not applied to that issue. The central provision is La. Civ. Code art. 3515, which states: Except as otherwise provided in this Book, an issue in a case having contacts with other states is governed by the law of the state whose policies would be most seriously impaired if its law were not applied to that issue. That state is determined by evaluating the strength and pertinence of the relevant policies of all involved states in the light of: (1) the relationship of each state to the parties and the dispute; and (2) the policies and needs of the interstate and international systems, including the policies of upholding the justified expectations of parties and of minimizing the adverse consequences that might follow from subjecting a party to the law of more than one state. Analyzing this article with other Code articles and Louisiana case-law, the authors conclude that the likelihood that a Louisiana court will enforce a foreign punitive damage law is low, given that the conflicts analysis weighs heavily in favor of a determination that the tortfeasor has more contacts with Louisiana than elsewhere. The general policy prohibiting punitive damages greatly influences every factor of the conflicts analysis except for those factors that clearly weigh in favor of applying the law of another state. So long as Louisiana holds on to the belief that punitive damages are per se incompatible with the theory of full compensation, the conflicts analysis for punitive damages will seldom result in the imposition of the law of another state.


The present study evaluated the effect of impactable signs that used the yield-symbol as approved by the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) in the 2003 Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Impactable yield signs are low- costsignsconstructed of flexible material. The signs wereinstalled in the medians adjacent to crosswalks at selected non-signalized intersections to instruct drivers to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians. This paperexamines the effect on safety characteristics of the intersections of these signs at three stop-sign controlled intersections in San Francisco over two follow up periods. Since these signs were installed recently, there were no post-installation crash data for comparison with the pre-installation crash data.As such, surrogate measures, including (a) driver yielding behavior, (b) conflicts among drivers and pedestrians crossing the intersection, (c) waiting time for pedestrians, and (d) time taken by pedestrians to cross a given crosswalk were documented. Previous studies have indicated that impactable yield signs are effective in increasing the rate of drivers yielding to pedestrians. Video recordings were taken at the intersection pre- and post-installation to observe any changes in behavior. Analyses of these recordings yielded data for baselineand the first and second follow-up periods respectively. Testing the first and second follow-up data against the baseline data reveal that, a substantial increasein yielding behavior by drivers occurred immediately after installationas well as during the second follow-up period. No significant effect was observed in any other variables.


ABSTRACT Microbial communities in ultra-high-pressure (UHP) rocks and drilling fluids from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project were characterized. The rocks had a porosity of 1 to 3.5% and a permeability of ∼0.5 mDarcy. Abundant fluid and gas inclusions were present in the minerals. The rocks contained significant amounts of Fe2O3, FeO, P2O5, and nitrate (3 to 16 ppm). Acridine orange direct counting and phospholipid fatty acid analysis indicated that the total counts in the rocks and the fluids were 5.2 × 103 to 2.4 × 104 cells/g and 3.5 × 108 to 4.2 × 109 cells/g, respectively. Enrichment assays resulted in successful growth of thermophilic and alkaliphilic bacteria from the fluids, and some of these bacteria reduced Fe(III) to magnetite. 16S rRNA gene analyses indicated that the rocks were dominated by sequences similar to sequences of Proteobacteria and that most organisms were related to nitrate reducers from a saline, alkaline, cold habitat; however, some phylotypes were either members of a novel lineage or closely related to uncultured clones. The bacterial communities in the fluids were more diverse and included Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, gram-positive bacteria, Planctomycetes, and Candidatus taxa. The archaeal diversity was lower, and most sequences were not related to any known cultivated species. Some archaeal sequences were 90 to 95% similar to sequences recovered from ocean sediments or other subsurface environments. Some archaeal sequences from the drilling fluids were >93% similar to sequences of Sulfolobus solfataricus, and the thermophilic nature was consistent with the in situ temperature. We inferred that the microbes in the UHP rocks reside in fluid and gas inclusions, whereas those in the drilling fluids may be derived from subsurface fluids.


ABSTRACT This editorial introduction presents an overview of the themes explored in the symposium on 'Deliberative Systems in Theory and Practice'. The concept of 'deliberative system' has gained renewed attention among deliberative democrats. A systemic approach to deliberative democracy opens up a new way of thinking about public deliberation. However, as the key protagonists responsible for the systemic resurgence acknowledge, the framework requires greater theoretical critical scrutiny and empirical investigation. The symposium will contribute to this endeavor by bringing together cutting edge research on the theory and practice of deliberative systems. This introduction offers a brief outline and review of the existing systemic approaches to deliberation, articulating the overlaps and differences and reflecting on the prospects and problems of each. In doing so, we take a generational approach that delineates the development of deliberative democracy into three generations, and argue that the focus on deliberative systems has implications that are so significant for the examination of theory and practice that it heralds a fourth generation for deliberative democracy. We conclude this introduction by providing a brief synopsis of each paper and highlighting the significance of the debates for critical policy studies.


The purpose of this research study is to examine theoretical findings and, based on them, to identify the career choice factors that affect Latvian and UK secondary school students' occupational interests. The research was based on the theoretical concepts of the occupational interests, and the data gained from a survey of Latvian and UK secondary school students. The results of the research indicate that the most essential factors that help individuals to choose a career is to understand their own interests and explore their own capabilities. Also, learning experience and parents' advice is important for them. The occupational interests of the students, who were interviewed, are not harmonized with the demand in the economy.


The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) mandates the exploration of new approaches to coordinated health care delivery—such as patient-centered medical homes, accountable care organizations, and disease management programs—in which reimbursement is aligned with desired outcomes. PPACA does not, however, delineate a standardized approach to improve the delivery process or a specific means to quantify performance for value-based reimbursement; these details are left to administrative agencies to develop and implement. The authors propose that coordinated care can be implemented more effectively and performance quantified more accurately by using personalized health planning, which employs individualized strategic health planning and care relevant to the patient's specific needs. Personalized health plans, developed by providers in collaboration with their patients, quantify patients' health and health risks over time, identify strategies to mitigate risks and/or treat disease, deliver personalized care, engage patients in their care, and measure outcomes. Personalized health planning is a core clinical process that can standardize coordinated care approaches while providing the data needed for performance-based reimbursement. The authors argue that academic health centers have a significant opportunity to lead true health care reform by adopting personalized health planning to coordinate care delivery while conducting the research and education necessary to enable its broad clinical application.


Electricity spot prices are subject to transitory sharp movements commonly referred to as spikes. The paper aims at assessing their effects on model based inferences and predictions, with reference to the Nord Pool power exchange. We identify a spike as a price value which deviates substantially from the normal price, where the latter is defined as the expectation arising from a model accounting for long memory at the zero and at the weekly seasonal frequencies, given the knowledge of the past realizations. Hence, a spike is associated to a time series innovation with size larger than a specified threshold. The latter regulates the robustness of the estimates of the underlying price level and it is chosen by a data driven procedure that focuses on the ability to predict future prices. The normal price is computed by a modified Kalman filter, which robustifies the inferences by cleaning the spikes, i.e. shrinking an observation deviating substantially from the normal price towards the one-step-ahead prediction. Our empirical application illustrates the effects of the spikes on the estimates of the parameters governing the persistence of the series; moreover, a real time rolling forecasting exercise is used to establish the amount of cleaning for optimizing the predicting accuracy at different horizons.


Synovial joints are unique biological tribosystems that allow a person to perform a wide range of movements with minimal energy consumption. In recent years, they have been increasingly called "smart friction units" due to their ability to self-repair and adapt to changing operating conditions. However, in reality, the elements of the internal structure of the joints under the influence of many factors can degrade rather quickly, leading to serious disease such as osteoarthritis. According to the World Health Organization, osteoarthritis is already one of the 10 most disabling diseases in developed countries. In this regard, at present, fundamental research on synovial joints remains highly relevant. Despite the fact that the synovial joints have already been studied fully, many issues related to their operating, prevention, development of pathology, diagnosis and treatment require more detailed consideration. In this article, we discuss the urgent problems that need to be solved for the development of new pharmacological agents, biomaterials, scaffolds, implants and rehabilitation devices for the prevention, rehabilitation and improvement of the treatment effectiveness of synovial joints at various stages of osteoarthritis.


Objective To compare three groups of men who have sex with men (MSM)—men who had attended a sex party in the past year (45.2%); men who had been to a sex party more than a year ago (23.3%); and men who had never been to one (31.5%)—on socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics. Method In spring 2012, 2063 sexually active MSM in the USA were recruited using banner advertising on a sexual networking website to complete an online survey about their sexual behaviour and attendance at sex parties. Results A significantly higher proportion of past year attendees were HIV-positive (28.1%), single (31.7%), demonstrated sexual compulsivity symptomology (39.2%), recently used drugs (67.8%), averaged the greatest number of recent male partners (Mdn=15, <90 days), and had greater instances of recent unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with male partners (median=3, <90 days). Adjusting for covariates, those having been to a sex party in the last year were significantly more likely than others to report UAI. Free lubricant (93.4%) and condoms (81.0%) were the most desirable services/products men wanted at sex parties. More than half of men having been to a sex party expressed interest in free rapid HIV testing at sex parties (52.8%); however, few considered it acceptable to see 'medical providers' (11.7%) and 'peer outreach workers' (9.5%) at sex parties. Conclusions MSM who have attended a sex party in the last year are appropriate candidates for targeted HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention. Collaborating with event promoters presents valuable opportunities to provide condoms, lubricant and HIV/STI testing.


Macrophages accumulate within stromal tissue subjacent to the luminal epithelium in the mouse uterus during early pregnancy after seminal fluid exposure at coitus. To investigate their role in regulating epithelial cell expression of fucosylated structures required for embryo attachment and implantation, fucosyltransferase enzymes Fut1, Fut2 (Enzyme Commission number [EC] 18.104.22.168), and Fut4 (EC 22.214.171.124) and Muc1 and Muc4 mRNAs were quantified by quantitative real-time PCR in uterine epithelial cells after laser capture microdissection in situ or after epithelial cell coculture with macrophages or macrophage-secreted factors. When uterine macrophage recruitment was impaired by mating with seminal plasma-deficient males, epithelial cell Fut2 expression on Day 3.5 postcoitus (pc) was reduced compared to intact-mated controls. Epithelial cell Fut2 was upregulated in vitro by coculture with macrophages or macrophage-conditioned medium (MCM). Macrophage-derived cytokines LIF, IL1B, and IL12 replicated the effect of MCM on Fut2 mRNA expression, and MCM-stimulated expression was inhibited by anti-LIF and anti-IL1B neutralizing antibodies. The effects of acute macrophage depletion on fucosylated structures detected with lectins Ulex europaeus 1 (UEA-1) and Lotus tetragonolobus purpureas (LTP), or LewisX immunoreactivity, were quantified in vivo in Cd11b-dtr transgenic mice. Depletion of macrophages caused a 30% reduction in luminal epithelial UEA-1 staining and a 67% reduction in LewisX staining in uterine tissues of mice hormonally treated to mimic early pregnancy. Together, these data demonstrate that uterine epithelial Fut2 mRNA expression and terminal fucosylation of embryo attachment ligands is regulated in preparation for implantation by factors including LIF and IL1B secreted from macrophages recruited during the inflammatory response to insemination.


3D scene reconstruction and digitalization without occlusions serves as an essential task for robots to work in complex indoor environment. To meet the demand of dealing with complex computation caused by large-scale environment, a fast voxelization algorithm is proposed for indoor environment modeling and reconstruction. This algorithm can automatically search partition strategy which divides the 3D range data into unified blocks represented as voxels. Compared with the octrees, the proposed algorithm is much faster and easier to be applied in multiple scans registration and reconstruction, which can reduce the computational cost significantly. Since the 26-neighborhood and parent-child models are constructed in the proposed voxelization algorithm, it makes large-scale environment digitalization much easier to be accomplished in a more efficient way. The experiment results show that the algorithm is effective for large-scale scene reconstruction.


Mobile Adhoc networks are gaining popularity in today's dynamic environment. These are characterized by high mobility, infrastructureless, self organizing, quick deployability and resource constrained networks. The network depends on cooperation among nodes for any communication. High mobility and dynamic architecture of mobile adhoc network make it vulnerable to security issues. Trust plays an important role for reliable and secured routing. To deal with the security issues in MANETS various trust models, reputation models and improved routing protocols are there but very less focus is given to the mobility pattern and dynamics of trust. In this paper, we modified the existing AODV routing protocol incorporating the trust dynamics and load balancing to deal with congestion and ensure secure routing in cyclic mobile Adhoc network. Fair Initialization and management of trust values is also considered during designing of this paper. The simulation is done using simulator NS2. Proposed work shows improvement over standard AODV protocol in terms of various network performance parameters.


Histological, histochemical, and electron microscopic studies of tissues of the fundus oculi in 111 eyes with senile maculopathy revealed amyloid in the nodules. Bruch's membrane, and between the basal membrane of retinal pigmented epithelium and the internal collagen layer of Bruch's membrane in the center of the fundus oculi. The detected amyloid incorporations are referred to senile amyloidosis and reliably differ from amyloid in generalized amyloidosis. Comparative analysis of morphologic changes in tissues of the macular and paramacular areas of the fundus oculi and of the incidence of amyloid incorporations in them permit us to propose that accumulation of local senile amyloid is conductive to development and aggravation of senile maculopathy. A relationship between the degree of pigmented epithelium degeneration and accumulation of amyloid in the fundus oculi was revealed. The authors put forward a hypothesis of the pathogenesis of some stages of senile maculopathy, in which the principal role in the formation and deposition of abnormal protein, amyloid, is played by degenerative cells of pigmented epithelium. It is followed by amyloid destruction of Bruch's membrane and accumulation of amyloid under it and the basal membrane of pigmented epithelium. this in its turn, promoting neovascularization and formation of fibrovascular membrane.


Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are a key aspect of coronal and interplanetary dynamics. They can inject large amounts of mass and magnetic fields into the heliosphere, causing major geomagnetic storms and interplanetary shocks, a key source of solar energetic particles. Studies over the past decade using the excellent data sets from the SOHO, TRACE, Wind, ACE and other spacecraft and ground-based instruments have improved our knowledge of the origins and early development of CMEs at the Sun and how they affect space weather at Earth. I review some key coronal properties of CMEs, their source regions, their manifestations in the solar wind, and their geoeffectiveness. Halo-like CMEs are of special interest for space weather because they suggest the launch of a geoeffective disturbance toward Earth. However, their correspondence to geomagnetic storms varies over the solar cycle. Although CMEs are involved with the largest storms at all phases of the cycle, recurrent features such as interaction regions and high speed wind streams can also be geoeffective. A new heliospheric experiment, the Solar Mass Ejection Imager, has completed its first year in orbit and I give some early results.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html


Synopsis The graptolite Lapworthograptus (formerly Cyrtograptus) grayae is redescribed. Evidence for branching is reassessed: two specimens (one the type) show somewhat equivocal evidence for the development of secondary branching, and in both instances the secondary 'cladia' appear to come from the upper part of the protheca, rather than from the thecal aperture as is normal. The distal thecae are folded back on themselves, with everted apertures which face proximally to proximo-dorsally; they are unlike those of the other branched monograptid genera Cyrtograptus, Diversograptus, Sinodiversograptus or Barrandeograptus. They resemble rather those of the monograptid species singularis and knockensis, and these graptolites are here assigned to the genus Lapworthograptus Bouček and Přibyl, 1952 (type species L. grayae). The genus Prochnygraptus Přibyl and Štorch, 1985 (type species P. singularis) therefore becomes a junior synonym of Lapworthograptus. L. grayae, knockensis and singularis occupy a shorter, and younger stratigraphic interval than previously thought, the crenulata to spiralis Biozones of the upper Telychian. Thus derivation of these species from previously postulated upper Aeronian ancestors seems unlikely. Lapwortho-graptus may have a streptograptid origin or, alternatively, could have originated via a Monograptus crispus–Monograptus wimani lineage late in the Telychian; this is suggested by an indication that grayae has biform thecae, as some isolated proximal ends bearing enrolled thecae, associated with the type and other material, may belong to this species.


Since 1986 the Netherlands Centre for Monitoring of Adverse Reactions to Drugs has received 16 reports concerning psychic effects attributed to the use of deptropine citrate (Brontine) in children ranging from one to ten years of age. Within 1 to 3 days after starting treatment with a daily dose of 0.6-3 mg, hallucinations appeared in 7 children, aggressive behaviour and/or agitation in 6 children, ataxia in 2 children, and anxiety in 1 child. In none of these cases could another cause be found. In one patient symptoms persisted during the whole 15-month period of treatment. All patients recovered rapidly after discontinuation of deptropine citrate. As it probably concerns a dose-dependent effect and because most patients had been prescribed a daily dose of 0.06 mg/kg body weight, it is strongly advised to exceed the recommended daily dose of 0.03 mg/kg body weight as little as possible.


Objective: This study aimed to determine the associations of working hour characteristics with short (1–3 days) sickness absence (SA) among retail workers. Methods: As part of "RetailHours-project", 4046 employees of 338 Finnish retail stores were included. Registry-based data on working hour characteristics and short SA were utilized. A case-crossover design was used and the odds ratios (OR) were controlled for the clustering effect and working hour characteristics. Results: There were strong dose–response relationships between percent of short (<11 hours) shift intervals and short SA among part- and full-time workers, men and women, and younger and older workers. Compared to workers without short shift intervals, the risk of SA was 1.47 times [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–1.68] higher among workers who had short shift intervals <10% of work times, 2.39 times (95% CI 2.03–2.82) higher among workers who had 10–25% of work times, and 4.03 times (CI 2.34–6.93) higher among workers who had short shift intervals >25% of work times. Weekly working hours >40 hours were associated with SA among part-time workers [odds ratio (OR) 2.22, CI 1.65–2.98], women (OR 1.62, CI 1.27–2.07) and among workers <30 years of age (OR 1.68, CI 1.20–2.35) as well as among workers aged ≥30 years (OR 1.43, CI 1.07–1.92). Furthermore, working mainly night shifts was associated with SA among full-time workers (OR 2.41, 95% CI 0.99–5.86) and women (OR 1.72, CI 1.02–2.89). Conclusions: A short shift interval is an important risk factor for short SA. Improving intervals between shifts and shortening long weekly working hours could reduce the risk of short SA among retail workers.


OBJECTIVES
Nutritional assessment in HIV infected patients must be a main objective in the treatment of this disease. The main objective of our work was to study the nutritional status with biochemical and anthropometrical parameters in a group of HIV infected patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 119 patients were evaluated. In all patients the next parameters were assessed: age, sex, treatment with anti-retroviral drugs, performed an anthropometric evaluation (weight, height, tricipital skinfold, arm circumference, arm muscular circumference and body mass index) and biochemical evaluation (albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, total proteins, triglycerides, cholesterol, lymphocytes and count of CD4).

RESULTS
Patients had an average age 37.9 +/- 9.9 years, weight 64.5 +/- 13.2 kg and body mass index 22.5 +/- 3.5. The values of total proteins, albumin, prealbumin y transferrin were all normal, only patients with AIDS had low levels of transferrin (262.5 +/- 49.2 mg/dl vs 277.8 +/- 87.5; p < 0.05). Percentil distribution of anthropometric parameters showed a deep depletion in muscular protein compartment, 53.1% of patients had skinfold under P 50, 91.8% had arm circumference under P 50, and 91.8% arm muscular circumference under P 50. High levels of triglycerides were detected in 30.5%, these levels are related with the HIV phase and the number of antiretroviral drugs.

CONCLUSION
Nutritional status in HIV infected patients is good in our population, only a deep depletion in muscular proteic compartment was detected. Transferrin was decreased in AIDS patients. High levels of triglycerides were secondary to the number of antiretroviral drug taking by patients.


In order to improve the sensing-properties of carbon nanotube based composite for potential applications in chemical sensors, CNTs/PANi core/shell-structured nanowires were prepared with in-situ polymerization approach. A series of characterizations was carried out by TEM (transmission electron microscopy), the Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra, and so on. A chemical prototype sensor was constructed based on CNTs/PANi core/shell-structured nanowires and interdigital-structured electrodes on flexible polymer substrate. The gas-sensing behaviors of the sensor to some gases operating at room temperature were examined. Results showed that the sensitivity of CNTs/PANi core/shell-structured nanowires was increased dramaticly compared with pure carbon nanotube materials. This provides a carbon nanotube based composite materials with enhanced gas-sensitivity, which would have potential applications in some chemical sensors.


Bottled drinking water was a concept introduced to Sri Lanka in 1980's and new brands are often introduced to the market as it has become a highly moving product so that the health ministry stepped in to the regulation of bottled water and it has become mandatory for the manufacturing companies to register the products under the food act No 26. The specification given in SLSI standards regarding bottled drinking water (SLS 894) can be applied to determine the microbial quality of bottled drinking water just after filling. The SLS specification 894 cannot be applied to determine microbial quality of bottles available in market months after manufacturing. Even though it is very important to consider the consumer's point of view, at the time of consumption, no microbial specification is provided in the standard 894.There is a possibility of chemical and microbial changes occurring within the content of water during its shelf period .One of the main objectives, of the project was to establish a permissible limit for the Total Plate Count (TPC as CFU per ml) at any time of storage. Determination of shelf life by accelerating and incubating samples at an elevated temperature was another objective of the project. Along with the above mentioned objectives a quality evaluation of selected fifteen brands were carried out with relevance to the chemical and microbial parameters. The focused parameters were TPC, fecal Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Algae count, pH, total nitrate, total nitrite, conductivity, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Free ammonia. Out of the fifteen brands, randomly selected four brands were evaluated according to the Q10 principle to determine the accelerated shelf life. After the incubation period at 420 C, all four brands showed a decrease in the CFU compared to the initial counts and 84% of analyzed chemical parameters were approximate with the initial values. Algae were detected in one of the brands and the same brand exceeded the COD limit (max 10 mg/l) after the incubation period. The CFU obtained for the fifteen brands ranged from 36 to 3200 and the permissible CFU range was decided as 87.362 to 1184.170. Around 94% of the selected brands were within the permissible chemical limits while one of the brands exceeded the COD limit (10 mg/l). Since most of the chemical parameters were not deviated from the limits stated in SLS 894, it is concluded that microbial parameters are crucial compared to the chemical parameters in the bottled water industry. Keywords: Bottled water, Accelerated shelf life, Permissible limits, Chemical and microbial


This paper presents LOGOS, a method of spatial verification for visual localization that is robust in the presence of a high proportion of outliers. LOGOS uses scale and orientation information from local neighbourhoods of features to determine which points are likely to be inliers. The inlier points can be used for secondary localization verification and pose estimation. LOGOS is demonstrated on a number of benchmark localization datasets and outperforms RANSAC as a method of outlier removal and localization verification in scenarios that require robustness to many outliers.


The authors report the use and the outcome of claritromycin associated with pyrimethamine in the treatment of toxoplasma encephalites in two patients with AIDS. Both patients had the diagnosis stablished on clinical grounds, positive sorology (IgG) for toxoplasmosis and computed-tomographic (CT) scan of the brain showing lesions consistent with T. gondii encephalitis. The two patients were initially treated with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, which was changed to clindamycin due to allergic reactions. These reactions (skin rash) occurred with clindamycin as well and the patients were treated with claritromycin and pyrimethamine. The scheduled regimens were 1.5 to 2 g of clarithromycin plus 25 mg of pyrimethamine. The clinical response was very good in both cases with regression of neurologic signs and encephalitic abnormalities observed on CT scan. The authors suggest that clarithromycin associated with pyrimethamine may be an alternative treatment for toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients, who cannot receive or tolerate sulfa treatment.


Load sensitive faults cause a program to fail when it is executed under a heavy load or over a long period of time, but may have no detrimental effect under small loads or short executions. In addition to testing the functionality of these programs, testing how well they perform under stress is very important. Current approaches to stress, or load, testing treat the system as a black box, generating test data based on parameters specified by the tester within an operational profile. In this paper, we advocate a structural approach to load testing. There exist many structural testing methods; however, their main goal is generating test data for executing all statements, branches, definition-use pairs, or paths of a program at least once, without consideration for executing any particular path extensively.Our initial work has focused on the identification of potentially load sensitive modules based on a static analysis of the module's code, and then limiting the stress testing to the regions of the modules that could be the potential causes of the load sensitivity. This analysis will be incorporated into a testing tool for structural load testing which takes a program as input, and automatically determines whether that program needs to be load tested, and if so, automatically generates test data for structural load testing of the program.


How muscle diversity is generated in the vertebrate body is poorly understood. In the limb, dorsal and ventral muscle masses constitute the first myogenic diversification, as each gives rise to distinct muscles. Myogenesis initiates after muscle precursor cells (MPCs) have migrated from the somites to the limb bud and populated the prospective muscle masses. Here, we show that Sonic hedgehog (Shh) from the zone of polarizing activity (ZPA) drives myogenesis specifically within the ventral muscle mass. Shh directly induces ventral MPCs to initiate Myf5 transcription and myogenesis through essential Gli-binding sites located in the Myf5 limb enhancer. In the absence of Shh signaling, myogenesis is delayed, MPCs fail to migrate distally, and ventral paw muscles fail to form. Thus, Shh production in the limb ZPA is essential for the spatiotemporal control of myogenesis and coordinates muscle and skeletal development by acting directly to regulate the formation of specific ventral muscles.


The impacts of 2 greenhouse gas emissions scenarios (one from the IPCC and one from Greenpeace International) on the occurrence of extreme daily temperature events are considered at several sites in the UK. For each site, a number of probability distributions were tested for goodness-offit to 1961-87 observed daily maximum and minimum temperature data using the KolmogorovSmirnov test. The parameters of the best-fitting distributions were then perturbed to take into account clunate change, both mean and variability. Probabilities of the occurrence of particular temperature threshold events were calculated for both present and future climates. Changes in climate variability were considered in 3 ways: (1) by assuming the present variance stays the same in the future; (2) by imposing standardised percent changes in variance; and (3) by imposing variance changes derived from the UK Meteorological Office high resolution GCM equilibrium climate change experiment. Results presented for 2 contrasting sites illustrate the importance of including changes in variability in climate change studies. Specific results depend on the site and threshold temperature chosen and on the distribution characteristics. However, for example, at Fortrose the 1961-87 mean maximum temperature in July is below 20°C. With increases in global-mean temperature, the probability of this threshold being exceeded increases, although the rate of increase depends on the variance change being considered. The largest rate of increase in probability occurs with a 20% per "C increase in variance. The approach described here has been used in one component of a climate change scenario generator for the UK developed for the UK Ministry of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food.


The influence of incorporated cesium 137 (the absorbed doses of 0.26-0.08 Gy) on the erythrocyte membrane structure has been investigated. It has been shown that chronic internal exposure to gamma radiation causes structural reorganization of erythrocyte membranes at remote postirradiation times (in 3 and 6 months) that influences the annular membrane lipid.


Tabletops have been used to support a range of colocated activities, from games to image sorting. However, their limited display space and resolution can restrict the kinds of collaborative interactions that take place. Our research is concerned with how to extend the tabletop by integrating it with other spaces and artifacts in the physical world. Our goal is to design workspaces that support a wider range of collaborative tasks, determining which are well suited to the tabletop and which are better performed using physical representations and spaces. We describe a physicaldigital space that we built for this purpose and then a study that compared how groups collaborate on a design task when using this versus solely the tabletop. The findings showed that extending the tabletop into a physical space enabled groups to collaborate more easily and flexibly.


In this work, a super-resolution approach based on generative adversary network (GAN) was used to interpolate (up-sample) ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) echo data along the lateral (perpendicular to the acoustic beam direction) direction before motion estimation. Our primary objective was to investigate the feasibility of using a GAN-based super-solution approach to improve lateral resolution in the RF data as a means of improving strain image quality in quasi-static ultrasound strain elastography (QUSE). Unlike natural scene photographs, axial (parallel to the acoustic beam direction) resolution is significantly higher than that of lateral resolution in ultrasound RF data. To better handle RF data, we first modified a super-resolution generative adversary network (SRGAN) model developed by the computer vision community. We named the modified SRGAN model as super-resolution radio-frequency neural network (SRRFNN) model. Our preliminary experiments showed that, compared with axial strain elastograms obtained using the original ultrasound RF data, axial strain elastograms using ultrasound RF data up-sampled by the proposed SRRFNN model were improved. Based on the Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, such improvements were statistically significant ( $p < 0.05$ ) for large deformation (3-5%). Also, the proposed SRRFNN model outperformed a commonly-used method (i.e. bi-cubic interpolation used in MATLAB [Mathworks Inc., MA, USA]) in terms of improving axial strain elastograms. We concluded that applying the proposed (SRRFNN) model was feasible and good-quality strain elastography data could be obtained in in vivo tumor-bearing breast ultrasound data.


A.M. Macgregor (1888-1961) is remembered for his enormous contribution to geology. His maps changed the course of geological thinking in southern Africa. Following in his footsteps we examine aspects of our current understanding of the geological evolution of the Zimbabwe Craton and, using new SHRIMP U-Pb ages of zircons from felsic volcanic and plutonic rocks from northern Zimbabwe and unpublished data related to the seminal paper by Wilson et al. (1995), a synthesis is proposed for the formation of the Neoarchaean greenstones. The data suggest marked differences (lithostratigraphy, geochemistry and isotope data, mineral endowment and deformational history), between Eastern and Western Successions, which indicate fundamentally different geodynamic environments of formation. The Eastern Succession within the southcentral part of the craton, largely unchanged in terms of stratigraphy, is reminiscent of a rift-type setting with the Manjeri Formation sediments and overlying ca. 2 745 Ma Reliance Formation komatiite magmatism being important time markers. In contrast, the Western Succession is reminiscent of a convergent margin subduction-accretion system with bimodal mafic-felsic volcanism and accompanying sedimentation constrained to between 2 715 and 2 683 Ma. At ca. 2 670 Ma, a tectonic switch likely marks the onset of deposition of Shamvaian felsic volcanism and sedimentation. The Shamvaian resembles pull-apart basin successions and is dominated by deposition of a coarse clastic sedimentary succession, with deposition likely constrained to between 2 672 and 2 647 Ma. The late tectonic emplacement of small, juvenile multiphase stocks, ranging in composition from gabbroic to granodioritic was associated with gold ± molybdenum mineralisation. Their emplacement at 2 647 Ma provides an upper age limit to the timespan of Shamvaian deposition. Amongst the youngest granites are the extensive, largely tabular late- to post-tectonic ca. 2 620 to 2 600 Ma Chilimanzi Suite granites. These granites are characterised by evolved isotopic systems and have been related to crustal relaxation and anatexis following deformation events. After their emplacement, the Zimbabwe Craton cooled and stabilised, with further deformation partitioned into lower-grade, strike-slip shear zones, and at ca. 2 575 Ma the craton was cut by the Great Dyke, its satellite dykes and related fractures.


Design of Induction Motor Drive Without Velocity Sensor Using Current Vector Controller with Full and Reduced Observer Moving to DQ Axis. The observer is used in estimation velocity sensor usually in α-β axis, therefore this situation will need an extra transformation when we want to add compensator because the flux model is in direct and quadrature-axis dq. Every used the transformation to make possible emerge an error. So in this simulation is used a method to estimate the velocity of induction motor drive with observer that is moved to dq-axis. The model of actual motor used is in alfa-beta axis, but the observer use the motor models in rotor flux oriented control (RFOC).This matter, also to prove that the different models of motor drives can be used between the actual and estimated one. The simulation results with C-MEX S-function Matlab/Simulink 6.5 to show that the full order observer in dq axis gives better performance than the reduced order observer.


We first discuss the requirements for community information sharing. We then propose an information representation called weak information structures to integrate heterogeneous information such as static information (e.g. local sites information) and dynamic information created in word-of-mouth communication. The weak information structures connects various information media without defining the semantics rigorously. By leaving the interpretation of the semantics to tacit human background knowledge, it becomes compact and robust. We have developed an information sharing system for community called InfoCommon which provides people with intelligent assistance for exchanging and sharing knowledge and ideas. We have evaluated InfoCommon at the ICMAS'96 Mobile Assistant Project.


Objective: to analyze the post exercise cardiovascular effects of different resistance exercise protocols for trunk and upper limbs. Methods: Fifteen males (22.3 ± 0.9 years) underwent three experimental sessions randomly: control session (C), resistance exercise session at 50% of one repetition maximum (1-RM) (E50%), and resistance exercise session at 70% of 1-RM (E70%). Three sets of 12, 9 and 6 repetitions were performed for each exercise. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and rate pressure product (RPP) were measured before and during 90 minutes after each session. Results: Systolic BP decreased (P<.05) and diastolic BP increased (P<.05) similarly after C, E50% and E70%. However, HR and RPP decreased after C (P<.01), maintained after E50%, and increased after E70% (P<.01). Conclusions: The resistance exercise intensity did not influence post-exercise BP responses, however, cardiac overload was greater after E70%


Particle swarm optimization is a recently invented high-performance optimizer that is very easy to understand and implement. It is similar in some ways to genetic algorithms or evolutionary algorithms, but requires less computational bookkeeping and generally only a few lines of code. In this paper, a particle swarm optimizer is implemented and compared to a genetic algorithm for phased array synthesis of a far-field sidelobe notch, using amplitude-only, phase-only, and complex tapering. The results show that some optimization scenarios are better suited to one method versus the other (i.e., particle swarm optimization performs better in some cases while genetic algorithms perform better in others), which implies that the two methods traverse the problem hyperspace differently. The particle swarm optimizer shares the ability of the genetic algorithm to handle arbitrary nonlinear cost functions, but with a much simpler implementation it clearly demonstrates good possibilities for widespread use in electromagnetic optimization.


In today's IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs (WLANs), e.g., the popular IEEE 802.11 b, stations support multiple transmission rates, and use them adaptively depending on the underlying channel condition via link adaptation. It has been known that when some stations use low transmission rates due to bad channel conditions, the performance of the stations using high rates is heavily degraded, and this phenomenon is often referred to as performance anomaly. In this paper, we model the WLAN incorporating stations with multiple transmission rates in order to demonstrate the performance anomaly analytically. Note that all the previously proposed models of the IEEE 802.11 assume a single transmission rate. We also develop possible remedies to improve the performance. Our solution is basically to control the access parameters such as the initial backoff window, the frame size, and the maximum backoff stage, depending on the employed transmission rate. Throughout simulations, we demonstrate that our analytical model is accurate, and the proposed mechanism can indeed provide the remedies to the performance anomaly by increasing the aggregate throughput up to six times.


Explicit equations are obtained to convert Cartesian coordinates to elliptic coordinates, based on which a function in elliptic coordinates can be readily mapped in physical space. Application to Kirchhoff vortex shows that its elliptical core induces two counter-rotating irrotational eddies.


Mutations in the DJ-1 gene cause early-onset autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease (PD), although the role of DJ-1 in the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons is unresolved. Here we show that the major interacting-proteins with DJ-1 in dopaminergic neuronal cells are the nuclear proteins p54nrb and pyrimidine tract-binding protein-associated splicing factor (PSF), two multifunctional regulators of transcription and RNA metabolism. PD-associated DJ-1 mutants exhibit decreased nuclear distribution and increased mitochondrial localization, resulting in diminished co-localization with co-activator p54nrb and repressor PSF. Unlike pathogenic DJ-1 mutants, wild-type DJ-1 acts to inhibit the transcriptional silencing activity of the PSF. In addition, the transcriptional silencer PSF induces neuronal apoptosis, which can be reversed by wild-type DJ-1 but to a lesser extent by PD-associated DJ-1 mutants. DJ-1-specific small interfering RNA sensitizes cells to PSF-induced apoptosis. Both DJ-1 and p54nrb block oxidative stress and mutant alpha-synuclein-induced cell death. Thus, DJ-1 is a neuroprotective transcriptional co-activator that may act in concert with p54nrb and PSF to regulate the expression of a neuroprotective genetic program. Mutations that impair the transcriptional co-activator function of DJ-1 render dopaminergic neurons vulnerable to apoptosis and may contribute to the pathogenesis of PD.


Edukasi: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pengajaran provides a vital forum for exchanging ideas in order to enrich the theories and practices of English education in Indonesia and across the globe. The journal focuses, but not limited to, on the following topics: English language teaching, language teaching and learning, language teaching methodologies, pedagogical techniques, teaching and curricular practices, curriculum development and teaching methods,program, syllabus, and materials design, second and foreign language teaching and learning, language education, teacher education and professional development, teacher training, crosscultural studies, bilingual and multilingual education, translation, language teaching for specific purposes, new technologies in language teaching, and testing and evaluation. It provides an academic platform for teachers, lecturers, and researchers to contribute innovative work in the field.


Despite considerable research and constant pressure from global media, the exploitation of workers has been a persistent problem in the Bangladesh garment industry. The industry's working conditions are the subject of continuous inquiry, yet the root cause for the continuation of the exploitation and how it shapes individual experiences remain unexplored. The aim of this study was to explore the root cause of exploitation in the Bangladesh garment industry. This study found that pressures from powerful external and internal actors lead to the perpetuation of exploitation. The study provided recommendations on how to improve the situation by exerting pressures properly.


Three young raccoons (Procyon lotor), two from Michigan and one from Arizona, died suddenly from acute infections. Intranuclear inclusion bodies and viral particles typical of herpesvirus were seen in liver cells from all three. Inclusions also were seen in the nuclei of endothelial cells in the lung, liver, glomeruli and reticuloendothelial cells of the spleen. The source of the infection was not determined, but possible transmission from other species could not be ruled out.


In the face of the total destruction of European Jewry, three Yiddish poets — Yitshak Katzenelson in Warsaw, Simkhe-Bunem Shayevitsh in Lodz, and Abraham Sutzkever in Vilna — underwent a period of radical self-confrontation, whereupon each poet assumed the mantle of prophecy. Rather than merely mimic Bialik, however, each poet subverted his poetic legacy in different ways. By combining the lyric and epic, the present and ancient past, sorrow and rage, the fate of the individual and that of the people as a whole, they repudiated Bialik's romantic agony. Whereas heretofore, only the male poet could arrogate to himself the voice of a biblical prophet, the ghetto poets, each in his own way, broke down the internal barrier between male and female victims and voices. And finally, it was the very scope of the catastrophe that made it imperative for the surviving poet to adopt such a commensurate literary genre: monumental, high rhetorical, and nationally significant.


Participant attentiveness may represent a major concern for all researchers using online self-report survey data, as findings from non-diligent participants add noise and can significantly decrease results reliability. Therefore, attention checks have become a popular method in survey design across social sciences to capture careless or insufficient-effort of respondents, thus increasing quality of samples and the internal validity of the research. The aim of this note is to offer an overview and categorization of the different techniques adopted to flag inattentive respondents and present the potential drawbacks of not considering the issue in social sciences research.


The modelling of nominal product geometry by computer-aided design tools has gained immense attention in industry during the last decades and is nowadays an integral part of the virtual product development process. However, the established geometry representation schemes for CAD imply severe drawbacks regarding the modelling of geometric part deviations, which are inevitably observed on every manufactured artefact. As a response, the concept of Skin Model Shapes, which stems from international standards for geometric product specification and verification, has been developed as a novel approach for the consideration of product shape variability. It employs discrete geometry methods and computational techniques, such as point clouds, surface meshes and geometric processing, to model shape variability and to facilitate the communication of geometric product information throughout the product design, manufacturing, and inspection processes. This paper highlights the foundations of this concept, demonstrates its potentials for the representation of product geometry considering geometric variations along the product lifecycle, and illustrates main applications in the context of computer aided product and process development. In this regard, a focus is laid upon recent results and contributions, such as contact modelling, tolerance analysis, and motion tolerancing based on Skin Model Shapes. Furthermore, challenges for future research, such as the application to complex shapes and compliant parts, as well as the consideration of novel manufacturing processes, are discussed.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


ABSTRACT The NS2 and SH genes of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have been separately deleted from a recombinant wild-type RSV strain, A2 (M. N. Teng and P. L. Collins, J. Virol. 73:466–473, 1998; A. Bukreyev et al., J. Virol. 71:8973–8982, 1997; and this study). The resulting viruses, designated rA2ΔNS2 and rA2ΔSH, were administered to chimpanzees to evaluate their levels of attenuation and immunogenicity. Recombinant virus rA2ΔNS2 replicated to moderate levels in the upper respiratory tract, was highly attenuated in the lower respiratory tract, and induced significant resistance to challenge with wild-type RSV. The replication of rA2ΔSH virus was only moderately reduced in the lower, but not the upper, respiratory tract. However, chimpanzees infected with either virus developed significantly less rhinorrhea than those infected with wild-type RSV. These findings demonstrate that a recombinant RSV mutant lacking either the NS2 or SH gene is attenuated and indicate that these deletions may be useful as attenuating mutations in new, live recombinant RSV vaccine candidates for both pediatric and elderly populations. The ΔSH mutation was incorporated into a recombinant form of thecpts248/404 vaccine candidate, was evaluated for safety in seronegative chimpanzees, and can now be evaluated as a vaccine for humans.


In the present study, the magnetic field effects of the elastic response of the polymeric piezoelectric cylinder reinforced with the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are studied. The cylinder is subjected to an internal pressure, a constant electric potential difference at the inner and outer surfaces, and the thermal and magnetic fields. The Mori-Tanaka model is used for obtaining the equivalent material properties of the cylinder. The governing differential equation of the cylinder is derived and solved analytically based on the charge and equilibrium relations. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the magnetic field on the stresses, the electric potential, and the radial displacement distributions of the polymeric piezoelectric cylinder. The presented results indicate that the existence of the magnetic field can reduce the stresses of the nanocomposite cylinder.


The use of forward osmosis (FO) for water purification purposes has gained extensive attention in recent years. In this review, we first discuss the advantages, challenges and various applications of FO, as well as the challenges in selecting the proper draw solution for FO, after which we focus on transport limitations in FO processes. Despite recent advances in membrane development for FO, there is still room for improvement of its selective layer and support. For many applications spiral wound membrane will not suffice. Furthermore, a defect-free selective layer is a prerequisite for FO membranes to ensure low solute passage, while a support with low internal concentration polarization is necessary for a high water flux. Due to challenges affiliated to interfacial polymerization (IP) on non-planar geometries, we discuss alternative approaches to IP to form the selective layer. We also explain that, when provided with a defect-free selective layer with good rejection, the membrane support has a dominant influence on the performance of an FO membrane, which can be estimated by the structural parameter (S). We emphasize the necessity of finding a new method to determine S, but also that predominantly the thickness of the support is the major parameter that needs to be optimized.


Background: Insured women in Ghana are more likely to use maternity care services than their uninsured counterparts. To improve service quality among insured women in Ghana, better understanding of the factors that predict quality standards of primary health care services is essential. Objective: To examine predictors of health care service quality among insured women under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana. Methods: Data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic Health Survey was analysed. Cluster analysis was applied to construct a dependent variable; service care quality. Socio-demographic/background characteristics were used as independent variables. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed followed by multiple regression to predict service quality among the insured population of women aged 15–49 years. SPSS version 21 was used during the clustering while STATA version 14 was used to perform the inferential and regression analyses. Findings: A total of 5,457 women with valid health insurance were included in the analysis. Overall, geographical region of respondents was significant to expressions of insured service quality (χ2 = 495.4, p ≤ 0.001). Literacy levels were significant at χ2 = 69.232 and p < 0.001 for service quality. On place of residence, the estimation showed urban residency to be more positively correlated with indicating quality ratings of health services compared to rural residency (χ2 = 70.29, p < 0.001). Highest educational level had the highest predictive influence (coefficient = 0.15) on women's views about the quality of health care services. Conclusions: A health insurance system that shifts towards introducing valued-based care models for patients, insurers, and health care providers could be supportive in improving the quality of healthcare delivered to Ghanaians.


A severe storm caused floods and landslides in the Balkan region in May 2014. In response to the disaster, geophysical and geotechnical surveys were organized as a Geoscientists without Borders® (GwB) project of SEG. It took place in eight landslide prone areas in Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina in three phases in 2015 and 2016. The seismic and electric resistivity surveys were conducted and the results were interpreted in conjunction with the geotechnical inspection. The surveys identified the size of a potential landslide layer by S-wave velocity distribution and particular high-risk locations by electric resistivity anomalies. This interpretation enhanced the geotechnical observation. From the result, several countermeasures were recommended to suit the budgetary restrictions of local governments. Among them, the survey results in the Lopare locality are presented as an example. The project was organized by the Association of Geophysicists and Environmentalists of Serbia (AGES) involving many scientists, engineers, students, government staff and local communities. As well as technical achievements, significance of the project includes: providing students with opportunities to have practical experience of geophysical surveys and to learn outside the classroom; bringing together the participants from different racial, political, religious and educational backgrounds. All were made aware of the importance of humanitarian expert work. We assessed the effectiveness of the GwB project using the guidelines of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC). One of the important outcomes of the assessment is that such a volunteer geoscientific survey cannot stand alone. It is more effective if incorporated in the overall recovery and prevention programs.


MAX phases are etched using an ionic liquid-water mixture to produce titanium carbide MXenes. The process avoids the use of any acid. Hydrolysis of the fluorine-containing ionic liquid leads to the selective removal of Al, while the ionic liquid is intercalated in-between the transition metal carbide layers.


Examining dental students' career development plans contributes to understanding of their professional expectations and planning of human resource for health within a health system. This study aimed to investigate the career development plans of Dental students at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). A cross-sectional study was performed by utilizing self-administered questionnaires, as data collecting tools. The questionnaires were distributed to all Dental students who participated in the study in 2014 (n=100). In the survey, s tudents were asked about their socio-demographic characteristics, career development plans, future intensions and their areas of choice for their future career. The survey revealed that most students had decisive thoughts and sufficient knowledge about their future career. Majority of the students planned to practice as Dental professionals in Tanzania (39%), particularly in urban areas (chosen by 83%). Also, many students (72%) preferred to become prospective clinical scientists, especially in the fields of "Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery" and "Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics". In the survey, the role of socio-demographic factors on students' career development plans was also identified. Where, most female students compared to males reported that they prefer to work in urban areas. Additionally, many older students than younger ones favored to pursue clinical sciences in future. Although this study showed various perspectives regarding career development plans of Dental students in Tanzania, Universities need to ascertain professional counseling sessions and mentorship programs so that most students will be able to make informed decisions on their future career. Ultimately, the understanding of Dental students' career development plans will facilitate planning of human resource for oral health and ensure their availability in many areas of Tanzania.


Accurate heritability estimates for fitness-related traits are required to predict an organism's ability to respond to global change. Heritability estimates are theoretically expected to be inflated if, due to limited dispersal, individuals that share genes are also likely to share similar environments. However, if relatives occupy similar environments due, at least partly, to genetic variation for habitat selection, then accounting for environmental similarity in quantitative genetic models may result in diminished heritability estimates in wild populations. This potential issue has been pointed out in the literature, but has not been evaluated by empirical studies. Here, we investigate whether environmental similarity among individuals can be partly explained by genetic variation for habitat selection, and how this link potentially blurs estimates for heritability in fitness-related traits. Using intensive GPS-monitoring, we quantified home-range habitat composition for 293 roe deer inhabiting a heterogeneous landscape to assess environmental similarity. To investigate if environmental similarity might harbour genetic variation, we combined genome-wide data in a quantitative genetic framework to evaluate genetic variation for home-range habitat composition, which is partly the result of habitat selection at settlement. Finally, we explored how environmental similarity affects heritability estimates for behaviours related to the risk avoidance-resource acquisition trade-off (i.e. being in open habitat, distance to roads) and proxies of individual performance (i.e. body mass, hind foot length). We found substantial heritability for home-range habitat composition, with estimates ranging from 0.40 (proportion of meadows) to 0.85 (proportion of refuge habitat). Accounting for similarity in habitat composition between relatives decreased the heritability estimates for both behavioural and morphological traits (reduction ranging from 55% to 100% and from 22% to 41%, respectively). As a consequence, only half of these heritability estimates remained significantly different from zero. Our results show that similar genotypes occupy similar environments, which could lead to heritable variation being incorrectly attributed to environmental effects. To accurately distinguish the sources of phenotypic variation and predict the ability of organisms to respond to global change, it is necessary to develop quantitative genetic studies investigating the mechanisms underpinning environmental similarity among relatives.


Process synthesis is one of the most important activities in chemical process design. In the past decades, development in process synthesis has been dominantly targeted for petrochemical or petroleum-based industries. However, in recent years, the industries have been searching for alternative sustainable resources to replace fossil fuels. Biomass has been identified as one of the most promising alternatives. Biomass can be used to produce fuel, energy and chemicals in an integrated biorefinery. In order to synthesise and design an integrated biorefinery, many researchers have extended and modified current available process synthesis approaches, in which they have been mainly developed based on petrochemical industries. Although these reported approaches are useful in designing the integrated biorefinery; however, they are mainly mathematical optimisation approaches which require either high computational efforts or intensive modelling of the system. Based on the literature, there are limited works on developing hierarchical approach that can provide guidance for designer to synthesise an integrated biorefinery systemically. Due to the diversification in compositions and characteristics of biomass feedstock, as well as limited physical and chemical properties of biomass, additional considerations are required to modify the current available hierarchical approaches for integrated biorefinery synthesis. In this work, a well-established hierarchical decomposition approach is extended for synthesis of integrated biorefinery. The revised hierarchical approach now includes a new level, which is known as "characterisation and standardisation of biomass". Besides, appropriate modifications are also made on the other levels (i.e. level 2- 6) to accommodate the requirements of synthesis of integrated biorefinery.


OBJECTIVES
To determine patient, clinical, and hospital factors associated with receiving total hip arthroplasty (THA) and hemiarthroplasty (HA) in the United States.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective, cross-sectional study.

METHODS
Hospital discharge records with a principal diagnosis of hip fracture and primary hip arthroplasty or no surgery were identified from the 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample data set of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Patient (age, sex, race, income, payer), clinical (comorbidities, severity, fracture type), hospital (region, location, teaching status, bed size, ownership), and outcome (receipt of THA or HA) variables were extracted and weighted for the analyses. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted and significance was set at P < .05.

RESULTS
A total of 92,861, 15,489, and 9863 discharges occurred for HA, no surgery, and THA, respectively. Compared with no surgery, THA or HA was significantly more likely in patients who were aged > 50 years, white, and female; had > $39,000 income; lived in a medium-metro or noncore county; had comorbidities (anemia, hypertension); and had intracapsular fracture. THA or HA was significantly more likely in urban, privately owned hospitals with > 249 beds. Compared with no surgery, THA was significantly more likely in nonteaching hospitals, the Northeast region, and in private insurance or self-pay patients with moderate to severe fractures; HA was more likely in teaching hospitals, in the South and West, and in Medicare patients with minor fractures.

CONCLUSIONS
Similarities and differences in patient, clinical, and hospital factors associated with surgical treatments of hip fracture warrant the attention of providers and payers.