Collaborative consumption—through sharing services—has been promoted as an important step in transforming current consumption patterns toward more sustainable practices. Whilst there are high expectations for sharing services, there are few studies on the potential environmental benefits and impacts of sharing services. This study aims to analyze the potential environmental impacts of a peer-to-peer (P2P) product sharing platform and potential integration with a package drop-off/pick-up service in the urban district of Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden. A life cycle approach is adopted, taking into account product lifetime and use, the potential replacement of conventional products and services, impacts from digital infrastructure and their impacts on the environment. The results indicate that there is significant potential for these sharing services to reduce environmental impacts associated with production and consumption; primarily through avoiding production and reducing the production impacts of new product purchases. The results also illustrate potential synergies to integrate with the package drop-off/pick up service; where the impacts from shared products are further reduced by reducing transportation impacts through improved logistics. However, the results are dependent upon, and sensitive to, a number of methodological choices and assumptions; highlighting the need for greater knowledge on the use environmental assessments of sharing services.


Health equity has long been an ideal, with roots in social medicine reaching back into the mid-nineteenth century when visionary public health leaders and social critics recognized that social and class inequalities led to inequities in health. The Constitution of the World Health Organization states that "the highest standards of health should be within reach of all, without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition". The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations states that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family" and that "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status". Various organizationsthe Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have frequently used the terms "health equity" and "inequity" in their statements of mission and purpose. In 1971, Julian Tudor Hart coined the Inverse Care Law: "The availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served." Other analysts have pointed out that medical care is only one of the requirements for good health, with income, education, nutrition, sanitation, and living and working conditions all being essential determinants of health. Margaret Whitehead has emphasized the difference between health differentials that are unavoidable, and those that are avoidable and preventable; the latter were health inequities and recognized as injustices. This essay traces the history of the idea of health equity and raises questions about the translation of the concept into practice.


Information technology has already transformed some areas of our lives, and has the prospect for transforming other sectors. This paper is about economic behaviors that anticipate technical progress, and how they may describe the housing price and construction boom of 2000-2006 and the bust thereafter. Specifically, I note that only a minority of housing output remains as an operating surplus for the structures' owners. It follows the prospect of productivity shocks to the mortgage and real estate industries have the potential to both move housing prices and non-residential consumption in the same direction, and that demand impulses are magnified in their effects on housing prices. A bust occurs when those impulses are realized later, or in a lesser magnitude, than originally anticipated. This view has testable implications for vacancy rates, net operating surplus, aggregate consumption patterns, net investment rates, and non-residential construction - all of which confirm the theory.


Physical activity (PA) is decreasing, with the work environment being particularly influential on reduction in PA. However, physically active lifestyles meeting or exceeding 150 minutes/week have been linked to reductions in multiple deleterious chronic health conditions. University educators are inundated with University work as well as promotional challenges that may act as barriers to achieving recommended daily levels of PA. Currently, very few research studies have evaluated PA among University faculty. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory investigation was to evaluate self-reported levels of PA among faculty members at Biola University. Eligible survey respondents (N = 138) were men (n = 72, 48.7 ± 11.7 years of age, 179.3 ± 8.5 centimeters in height, 86.3 ± 16.1 kilograms in weight, and an average body mass index (BMI) of 26.8 ± 4.6 kg/m2) and women (n = 66, 44.8 ± 11.7 years of age, 166.2 ± 8.2 centimeters in height, 69.3 ± 13.2 kilograms in weight, and an average body mass index (BMI) of 25.1 ± 4.8 kg/m2) faculty members from Biola University. Participants completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), using the SurveyMonkey® platform. Total daily sitting time and metabolic equivalent (MET) minute activity-specific (leisure, household, occupational, and transport) were calculated. One way ANOVAs revealed significant (p = 0.02) main effects for job title and total minutes of PA per week. The post-hoc analysis revealed that adjuncts were significantly more physically active than full professors. Although the only statistically significant differences were between adjuncts and full professors, we observed a downward trend in median physical activity. Independent measures t-tests revealed a significant (p = 0.004) difference between men and women for total minutes of PA per week. Women were significantly more physically active than men. Only 5.1% of faculty reported below 150 min of cumulative PA within a week. Total median PA for faculty was 3,133.5 MET*min/week. 52.9% of faculty reported a high categorical score above 3,000.0 MET*min/week of activity with a median of 4,757.0 MET*min/week. Of the four domains, leisure activity had the greatest median at 1,169.5 MET*min/week and active transport had the least at 462.0 MET*min/week. Faculty surveyed in this study exceeded the ACSM minimum weekly recommendations for PA and lower faculty ranks were the most active.


Waves in the superlattice (SL) contained inhomogeneities with anisotropic correlation properties are considered. The anisotropy of the correlations is characterized by the parameter , where and are the correlation wave numbers along the axis of the SL and in the plane of its layers, respectively ( and are the correlation radii). Dependencies of both the dynamic susceptibility and density of states at the continuous transition from the isotropic three-dimensional inhomogeneities ( ) to the one-dimensional ones ( ) have been obtained.


There has been considerable reform of the Australian natural gas industry. An element of this reform has been the introduction of 'contestability' — allowing customers to select their retailer of natural gas. The potential benefits and risks associated with this policy are presented and the key issues involved in the implementation of contestable natural gas market are explored. Aside from the potential risks, the policies that have been introduced in order to prevent potential difficulties are examined. It is found that, while increased retail competition is an important element of the reform process, the potential benefits are limited in the absence of further upstream reform.


This research investigates concepts of subject knowledge in English held by teachers acting as student mentors in primary schools, in an Initial Teacher Education and Training (ITET) partnership. A case study approach draws on evidence from documentary sources, interviews with mentors and tape-recorded conversations between mentors and student teachers, following the observation of English lessons.

During the past 25 years teachers' professional identities have been restructured through a series of Government interventions into the curriculum and teachers' working conditions, culminating in the introduction of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. It has been argued that these reforms have established a 'culture of compliance' within the teaching profession.

Government intervention has taken place in ITET, which has been regulated through OfSTED inspection. Since 1992 schools and Higher Education Institutions have been required to establish training partnerships. A National Curriculum for ITT was introduced in 1997.

It is suggested that opportunities for student teachers to learn through reflective practice are constrained by policy directives affecting ITET and primary schools.

The management of student teachers' learning, and the assessment of their progress is the responsibility of a designated student mentor. Previous research indicates that primary mentors do not place a high priority on supporting the development of student teachers' subject knowledge.

Evidence from the case study suggests primary mentors implicitly distinguish between different forms of subject knowledge for teaching. They hold a developmental model of learning to teach which seeks to move student teachers towards an awareness of the needs of learners. Mentors' conceptions of subject knowledge in English are circumscribed by the curriculum and pedagogical approaches recommended in the National Literacy Strategy. The subject specialism and personal interests of mentors are also a significant factor in these conceptions. Mentors who have entered the profession more recently appear to be more accepting of the content and approaches of the NLS.

Much of the literature on mentoring assumes an underpinning model of the reflective teacher. The mentoring practices examined in the case study were situated within the context of the school and delivery of the NLS requirements. It is suggested that it may be unrealistic to expect broader reflective discussion on curriculum issues within the current policy context and structures of school experience. A re-examination of the ways in which student teachers' experiences in schools are conceptualised and organised, in terms of professional learning, may thus be necessary.


Rodents can successfully learn multiple, novel stimulus-response associations after only a few repetitions when the contingencies predict reward. The circuits modified during such reinforcement learning to support decision making are not known, but the olfactory tubercle (OT) and posterior piriform cortex (pPC) are candidates for decoding reward category from olfactory sensory input and relaying this information to cognitive and motor areas. Here, we show that an explicit representation for reward category emerges in the OT within minutes of learning a novel odor-reward association, whereas the pPC lacks an explicit representation even after weeks of overtraining. The explicit reward category representation in OT is visible in the first sniff (50-100ms) of an odor on each trial, and precedes the motor action. Together, these results suggest that coding of stimulus information required for reward prediction does not occur within olfactory cortex, but rather in circuits involving the olfactory striatum.


While non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the mainstay of therapy for the management of acute pain and rheumatoid arthritis, toxicity associated with chronic administration limits their benefit-to-risk relationship in many patients. A series of studies is reviewed that assesses the relationship between cytokines released at the site of tissue injury and NSAID analgesia, and the in vivo selectivity of a selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor (celecoxib) in comparison to a dual COX-1/COX-2 inhibitor (ketorolac). Three replicate studies in the oral surgery model of acute pain used submucosal microdialysis sample collection for the measurement of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2; a product of both COX-1 and COX-2) and thromboxane B2 (as a biomarker for COX-1 activity) with parallel assessments of pain. The time course of PGE2 production was consistent with early release due to COX-1 activity followed by increased production 2-3 hours after surgery, consistent with COX-2 expression. Ketorolac 30 mg at pain onset suppressed both pain and peripheral PGE2 levels. Ketorolac 1 mg either at the site of injury or intramuscularly also produced analgesia but without any effect on peripheral PGE2 levels. Celecoxib selectively suppressed PGE2 but not TxB2 at time points consistent with COX-2 activity, while producing analgesia. These studies demonstrate the ability to assess the time course and selective effects of COX-2 inhibitors in vivo and suggest that suppression of COX-2 mediated PGE2 is temporally related to NSAID analgesia.


Th is paper examines the European Union's policy regarding internet regulation. EU policy is examined regarding its role in the debate about internet governance at internal and global levels primarily. Based on the document currently accepted by European institutions, the paper fi rst analyses the position of the European Union on key problems connected with the global debate on internet governance, such as the globalization of IANA and ICANN and increasing the role of other participants in the governance process. Th e paper attempts to reconstruct the current position of the European Union on internet governance and the vision and rules that the EU intends to promote on diff erent platforms of the global discussion on the future of the internet.


How do educators and parents determine when to offer and when to withhold guidance to best support learners? For centuries, this question has been at the heart of a fundamental inquiry for educators and researchers. Seeking to answer this question, this book presents a study of the impact of different timings of pedagogical intervention in second / foreign language education. In a set of comprehensible narratives, the author reviews a wide range of literature including the recent history of language teaching practices, cognitive psychology and neuroscience.The detailed descriptions of the preliminary studies leading to the main study show the process of identifying the problematic features for particular learner demographics, the composition and the selection of language-learning tasks, test material construction among other essential ellements for carrying out an empirical study. The research methods are tightly constrained producing clear outcomes both in qualitative and quantitative inquiries. The book provides original and practical information with illustrative examples for any language educator, researcher, or doctoral student.


Ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) studies recently discovered that increasing concentrations of NaClO$_4$ increase the fraction of $\alpha$-helical conformations of poly-L-lysine (PLL) in water solutions. In contrast, this $\alpha$-helical content increase does not occur for NaCl solutions. We used enhanced sampling molecular dynamics to explore the conformational space of PLL and to examine the effect of ions on PLL conformation. The free-energy landscapes of PLL in solutions were determined using the simulation data. The simulation results were also used to develop a molecular picture of ion-PLL interactions as well as the impact of ions on peptide hydration. The examination of pair interaction energies reveals the mechanisms whereby ions stabilize PLL conformations. ClO$_4$$^-$ increases the $\alpha$-helix conformation by decreasing the hydration of the peptide backbone which stabilizes the $\alpha$-helical intramolecular hydrogen bonds (H-bonds). This occurs because of the relatively large ClO$_4$$^-$ size and its tetrahedral structure. In contrast, the smaller Cl$^-$ negligibly impacts the peptide backbone hydration and does not stabilize intramolecular H-bonds. In summary the results reported here support the experimental observations and provide a molecular picture of the role ions play in PLL conformations in aqueous salt solutions.


The pantograph-catenary system is one of the most important ways to supply power for running trains. Electromechanical phenomena affect its economic operation. Because former research was mostly experimental, this paper presents a preliminary model for electromechanical interactions. In this model, electrical contact resistance and contact force are calculated in a defined contact interspace as finite cuboid elastic elements. On the assumption that the heights of all asperities follow the Gaussian distribution, a simulation is carried out and the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) the real contact area of the strip and contact wire can increase with the nominal contact area, but when the nominal contact area exceeds a value, the real contact area will no longer increase; 2) the growing contact force can enlarge the real contact area and reduce electrical contact resistance with its randomness; 3) pantograph sliding can be equivalent to contact elements disconnecting and connecting, which can explain why arc occurs more frequently in two conditions: when the contact force decreases and when the contact force is low.


Formation of new blood vessels occurs in many physiological states (during development of the embryo, cycling changes of the female reproductive tract), as well as in pathological processes (such as diabetic retinopathy and wound healing). Angiogenesis has been shown to be related to tumor formation, prognosis, and response to treatment in many tumor types. Intratumoral microvessels can be related to tumor behavior or hormone secretion in different endocrine tumors. For example, invasive prolactinomas are more vascular than noninvasive adenomas; a surgical approach is more successful in macroprolactinomas with lower microvessel density. A higher number of microvessels have been found in papillary thyroid carcinomas during recurrences. A correlation between microvessel count and prognosis in papillary and medullary thyroid carcinomas has been suggested. Several stimulating and inhibiting factors involved in the regulation of angiogenesis have been identified. Among them, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been shown to be critically involved in angiogenesis and also in the neovascularization of solid tumors. Dopamine agonists (already in clinical use for prolactinomas) have potent inhibitory actions on VEGF signaling, and thus may be a new tool in antiangiogenic therapy. Secretion of VEGF in the great majority of human pituitary adenomas is inhibited by dexamethasone. This suggests that glucocorticoids can be considered in the treatment of certain pituitary tumors. The cyclic nature of angiogenesis in the female reproductive tract indicates that stimulation or inhibition of paracrine angiogenic factors may lead to new approaches for being able to influence reproductive endocrine disorders. Experimental and clinical aspects of interactions between angiogenic factors and tumor growth of the endocrine system are also discussed. Microsc. Res. Tech. 60:98–106, 2003. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


It is common that the pre-precipitation phase with kinetics advantage is found during non-equilibrium transformation. The continuously changed stress in the transformation increases the complication of precipitation process. The stress induces Ll0 pre-precipitation phase in Ni75-Al12.5-V12.5 alloy is studied by microscope phase-field model in this paper. It is particularly show that Ll2 phase precipitates directly without stress. There is no Ll0 phase to be found in the disordered matrix. Oppositely, Ll0 phase precipitates firstly with stress, and then it turns into Ll2 phase. When stress is less, either or both above situations are observed. While stress is stronger, a large range of Ll0 phase precipitates firstly. Then a part of it dissolves. The rest turns into Ll2 phase. The precipitation of pre-precipitation phase accelerates the precipitation process. The larger the stress and the more Ll0 phase precipitation, the longer it exists and the shorter the induction period is.


F a century, most U.S. medical organizations opposed national health insurance. The endorsement by the American College of Physicians (ACP) of singlepayer reform marks a sea change from this unfortunate tradition (1, 2). Like their U.S. counterparts in an earlier era, many Canadian physicians feared, and fiercely opposed, singlepayer reform. "We were afraid it would destroy the profession . . . that our integrity would be destroyed . . . that the government would intrude on the private doctor– patient relationship," said E.W. Barootes, who as President of Saskatchewan's medical association led a 3-week doctors' strike in 1962 against that province's new singlepayer program (3). Yet despite a rocky start, most Canadians now embrace their single-payer system. Everyone is covered, and all doctors and hospitals are "in-network." Health costs, almost identical to U.S. levels in the 1960s, are now about 40% lower, with savings on administration accounting for half the difference (4). Although funding for some aspects of care has, in our view, been squeezed too tightly in Canada, physicians' incomes have not; Canadian internists' take-home pay averages about CAD$300 000. Canada's health outcomes surpass those of the United States, including for such conditions as cystic fibrosis, end-stage renal disease, and type 1 diabetes, whose outcomes reflect quality of care (5–7). Canada's generally positive experience is among the strands of evidence underpinning the ACP's endorsement. A single-payer reform that reduced insurance overhead to 2% (the level for Canada and traditional Medicare) could save more than $200 billion annually. In addition, our multipayer system imposes complexity and expense on providers; the Cleveland Clinic has 210 000 000 different prices (8). Singlesource payment could streamline reimbursement—for example, by replacing per patient hospital payment with global budgets and establishing uniform billing and documentation requirements. Hospitals and doctors could save billions on billing-related costs and repurpose those savings to expand care, making universal, first-dollar coverage affordable. Achieving universal coverage would be costlier under the "public choice" model the ACP co-endorses along with single payer. Multipayer systems incorporating for-profit insurers have not gleaned large administrative savings. For-profit insurers' overhead is high everywhere (9), and the persistence of multiple payers would hinder efforts to streamline providers' billingrelated work. Moreover, real-world experience with 2 public choice models—Medicare's Advantage program and the Consumer Oriented and Operated Plans (CO-OPs) under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)—warns that in health insurance competition, public option good guys finish last. Twenty-three CO-OPs offering plans on the ACA exchanges received $2.4 billion in federal start-up loans. Only 4, covering 150 000 enrollees, survive. New York's defunct CO-OP, like many others, attracted many expensively ill patients, in part because its network—unlike that of other exchange plans—included Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Iowa's CO-OP, which offered lower cost sharing for antiretrovirals than its competitors, reportedly enrolled 98% of all patients with HIV covered by Iowa's exchange plans. Although the ACA included special funding to compensate CO-OPs for high-risk enrollees, the losses far exceeded what Congress was willing to appropriate. Small start-ups, such as the CO-OPs, often succumb to deep-pocketed competitors. However, the traditional Medicare program—a large, well-established public option—also is losing out in competition with private (Medicare Advantage) plans, despite their 6-fold higher overhead and 6% higher total costs (after accounting for "cherry picking" and upcoding) (10). Medicare Advantage plans have flourished, because chicanery trumps efficiency. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses patients' diagnoses to risk adjust its payments to Medicare Advantage plans and minimize incentives for cherry picking. However, insurers game the risk-adjustment formulas by labeling enrollees with new (often clinically insignificant) diagnoses and recruiting lower-cost patients within a diagnostic category, such as minimally symptomatic patients carrying such diagnoses as osteoarthritis, asthma, or congestive heart failure. Plans also profit by "lemon dropping"—pushing out unprofitably ill enrollees. Imposing high copayments for chemotherapy agents and excluding specialized cancer providers from networks encourages oncology patients to disenroll. Seniors requiring nursing home stays or treatment for new-onset end-stage renal disease have transferred in droves from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare (11, 12). Moreover, Medicare Advantage plans that accumulate unprofitably ill seniors can, and do, pull out of entire counties, an option unavailable to their public option competitor. Private insurers have turned traditional Medicare (like the ACA's CO-OPs) into a de facto high-risk pool, despite regulations banning cherry picking and lemon dropping. Enforcement of those regulations, already overmatched by insurers' stratagems, will surely become harder. Google, part owner of Oscar, an insurance start-up, knows who's playing tennis and who's


How do seasonal successions influence the propagation dynamics of an age-structured invasive species? We investigate this problem by considering the scenario that the offsprings are reproduced in spring and then reach maturation in fall within the same year. For this purpose, a reaction-diffusion system is proposed, with yearly periodic time delay and spatially nonlocal response caused by the periodic developmental process. By appealing to the recently developed dynamical system theories, we obtain the invasion speed $c^*$ and its coincidence with the minimal speed of time periodic traveling waves. The characterizations of $c^*$ suggest that (i) time delay decreases the speed and its periodicity may further do so; (ii) the optimal time to slow down the invasion is the season without juveniles; (iii) the speed increases to infinity with the same order as the square root of the diffusion rate.


After a review of the literature elucidating the status quo for students experiencing homelessness, this article shares the results of a mixed methods study. With a phenomenological qualitative emphasis, the mixed methods study explored the perceptions of parents and children experiencing homelessness regarding their academic needs and the services they considered to be helpful. The researchers also examined archival data associated with an after school tutoring program offered at an agency that works with families experiencing homelessness. A paired samples t test indicated a significant difference the number of failed courses for participants in the tutoring program over a one-year period. Difference in grade point average was not significant over the same period of time. The article shares implications and recommendations for practice.


Abstract The fluorescent sensor (3) based on the 1,3-alternate conformation of the thiacalix[4]arene bearing the coumarin fluorophore, appended via an imino group, has been synthesised. Sensing properties were evaluated in terms of a colorimetric and fluorescence sensor for Zn2+ and F−. High selectivity and excellent sensitivity were exhibited, and 'off-on' optical behaviour in different media was observed. All changes were visible to the naked eye, whilst the presence of the Zn2+ and F− induces fluorescence enhancement and the formation of a 1:1 complex with 3. In addition, 3 exhibits low cytotoxicity and good cell permeability and can readily be employed for assessing the change of intracellular levels of Zn2+ and F−.


Whether administration of folic acid to children with malaria anemia is helpful is controversial. Therefore, we conducted a randomised, placebo-controlled trial of 14 days of treatment with folic acid (1 mg/d) in Zambian children with malaria anemia treated with either sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) or atovaquone/proguanil (AP). Among children who received SP, the prevalence of parasitemia was higher in children treated with folic acid than among those given placebo at days 3, 7, and 14 after the start of treatment, and the difference at day 3 was statistically significant (P = 0.013). Folic acid treatment had no effect on parasitemia in children treated with AP. Administration of folic acid led to a small increase in packed cell volume over that seen in the placebo group at days 14 and 28 after the start of treatment.


The authors explore how students describe and assess the impact of their participation in extracurricular activities. The basis of the study is 27 semi-structured in-depth interviews involving students of two Russian universities participating in the project 5—100 (National Research University and Federal University). Three key groups of positive consequences of extracurricular activity were singled out: gaining skills and competencies, expanding social ties, and professional self-determination.Students view the extra-curricular hours as a way to develop both their practical skills related to their professional activities and flexible skills which they consider to be useful in the job search after the graduation. Besides that, the extracurricular activity for them is a platform for acquiring social capital while interacting with a wider circle of people: other students, lecturers, university employees, and external environment.According to the students, combining their classroom activities with the extracurricular activities helps them make sure that they have made the right choice, gives an opportunity to try professional roles and duties, while still being students, and opens new career perspectives.


Recent studies on homeless adolescents suggest that the profiles of homeless adolescents are heterogeneous, and that certain clusters of homeless adolescents demonstrated resiliency and positive coping strategies. This study examined the relationship between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related risk factors and resiliency (survival skills) of homeless adolescents over a two-year period. Those who did not engage in unprotected sex reported significantly higher survival skills scores. Similarly, those who were monogamous during the study period reported significantly higher survival skills scores. However, there was a significant decline in survival skills scores after 6 months, regardless of the HIV-related risk factors. Findings from this study point to the urgent need to identify and target resilient adolescents early on to provide interventions to facilitate the transition to stable living situations before their resiliency deteriorates.


The way organic multistep synthesis is performed is changing due to the adoption of flow chemical techniques, which has enabled the development of improved methods to make complex molecules. The modular nature of the technique provides not only access to target molecules via linear flow approaches but also for the targeting of structural cores with single systems. This perspective article summarizes the state of the art of continuous multistep synthesis and discusses the main challenges and opportunities in this area.


This guide displays tools for students in TSL503 to complete assignments in their course. The guide gives search strategies for using Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA), other databases, and resources in the library.


We introduce a numerical approach to perform the effective (coarse-scale) bifurcation analysis of solutions of dissipative evolution equations with spatially varying coefficients. The advantage of this approach is that the `coarse model' (the averaged, effective equation) need not be explicitly constructed. The method only uses a time-integrator code for the detailed problem and judicious choices of initial data and integration times; the bifurcation computations are based on the so-called recursive projection method (Shroff and Keller 1993 SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 30 1099-120).


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1A) is a nuclear transcriptional coregulator that plays a major role in the control of metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis. We showed that a diabetes-linked single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP rs8192678) within the coding region of PPARGC1A gene (Gly482Ser) results in decreased protein stability and half-life in liver and beta-cell lines and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) . Our mass spectrometry data suggest that degradation of the S482 variant is mediated by phosphorylation at amino acid 482 when a serine is present. A kinome screen identified three potential kinases (NEK2, MARK4 and S6K2) that can modify this site. We found that mutation of the mouse homolog at the conserved site (serine to glycine) similarly stabilized mouse PGC1A. To study the physiological consequences of this SNP, we generated whole-body homozygous glycine (G/G) , serine (S/S) and heterozygous (S/G) mice. We analyzed various metabolic parameters in male (N=10-per genotype) and female (N=8-9) mice subjected to standard chow or high fat, high fructose diet (HFHF) for 14 or 24 weeks. We found that G/G male and female mice had increased caloric intake using metabolic cages without increased body weight. Male mice on a HFHF diet carrying a glycine allele (G/G or S/G) were more resistant to insulin in an insulin tolerance test (ITT) , secreted less insulin in response to a mixed-meal challenge and had decreased glucose uptake in muscle and adipose tissue. In line in humans, non-diabetic subjects with G/G (N=20) or G/S (N=22) variants oxidize more fat while those with S/S variant (N=6) oxidize more carbohydrate over 6-hours following the ingestion of a high-fat meal (68% fat, 18% carbohydrate) .
 In summary, these results demonstrate that differences in PGC1A stability associated with phosphorylation at site 482 may lead to differences in glucose and fat metabolism, which could explain the link between this SNP and metabolic diseases.

 M.Galipeau: None. M.Faraj: None. M.Oeffinger: None. F.C.Lynn: None. R.A.Screaton: None. T.Alquier: None. J.L.Estall: None. N.Jouvet: None. E.Courty: None. R.Vandenbeek: None. N.P.Khan: None. K.Bouyakdan: None. C.Nian: None. C.Iorio: None. D.D.Scott: None.

 CIHR (PJT-148771) CIHR (PJT-168853)


The Monitor of Cerebral Function, the first apparatus designed for continual cerebral monitoring for prolonged periods, is used frequently as an aid during revival. Due to its ease of operation and its straight-forward displaying of the data, it can supply continual information on the state of cerebral activity. Wem used it in various situations where there was a risk of cerebral circulatory insufficiency. Besides this role in the prevention of emergency, we used the M.C.F. as a diagnostic tool in the assessment of brain death. An early confirmation of the presence of stage IV allows of a more efficient removal and grafting of the kidneys. Finally, we also use the M.C.F. in the study of abnormalities of behaviour in patients whose revival to consciousness is slow.


Summary
Over the last decades, several approaches have been proposed in the literature to incorporate users' perceptions of travel costs, their bounded rationality, and risk-taking behaviors into network equilibrium modeling for traffic assignment problem. While theoretically advanced, these models often suffer from high complexity and computational cost and often involve parameters that are difficult to estimate. This study proposes an alternative approach where users' imprecise perceptions of travel times are endogenously constructed as fuzzy sets based on the probability distributions of random link travel times. Two decision rules are proposed accordingly to account for users' heterogeneous risk-taking behaviors, that is, optimistic and pessimistic rules. The proposed approach, namely, the multiclass fuzzy user equilibrium, can be formulated as a link-based variational inequality model. The model can be solved efficiently, and parameters involved can be either easily estimated or treated as factors for calibration against observed traffic flow data. Numerical examples show that the proposed model can be solved efficiently even for a large-scale network of Mashhad, Iran, with 2538 links and 7157 origin–destination pairs. The example also illustrates the calibration capability of the proposed model, highlighting that the model is able to produce much more accurate flow estimates compared with the Wardropian user equilibrium model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The objective of the study is to describe clinical characteristic in West Nusa Tenggara Province Referral Hospital in 2012. Observational design was established using hospital's record with ICD 10 codes A18.10 (tuberculosis of the spine). During 2012 found 19 cases of spondylitis tuberculosis (8 female, 11 male). Age interval between 9-60 years old. The accompanying conditions are: lung TB (4/19), anemia (2/19), severe malnutrition (3/19), sepsis (1/19), meningoencephalitis (1/19), compression fracture of the vertebrae (8/19). Laminectomy was done to 15 subject and antituberculosis drugs. The majority cases are male, all cases having accompanying conditions with compression fracture of vertebrae as most frequent condition. Majority of cases are need laminectomy.


This Research Agenda provides both a state-of-the-art review of existing research on city-regions, and expands on new research approaches. Expert contributors from across the globe explore key areas for reading city-regions, including: trade, services and people, regional differentiation, big data, global production networks, governance and policy, and regional development. The book focuses on developing a more integrated and systematic approach to reading city-regions as part of regeneration economics, identifying conceptual and methodological developments in this field of study.


This study uses the Q Method to examine how those living in former metal mining landscapes value this heritage and their preferences for the long-term management of mine waste. Such sites are often perceived as derelict or degraded, and of very little value. It is therefore assumed that their reuse, for example for development or recovery of metals, is likely to be beneficial. There are around 5,000 former metal mines in England and Wales, many of which are protected for their ecological, geological or cultural value. The Q Method is particularly suitable for issues where there is no consensus of opinion. We asked 38 residents of six mining areas in England and Wales to 'sort' a series of statements based on their resonance with the resident's perspective; this is the Q sort. The statements covered a range of opinions of the mining legacy, its value and options for its management with a particular focus on the potential for metal recovery from the wastes. Analysis of the Q sorts revealed five perspectives on the mining heritage. All placed a high value on the cultural and ecological value of this heritage, however, they differed in their priorities for long-term management. For example, emphasis was placed on either nature conservation, cultural heritage, water quality or the opportunity for job creation through reworking the mines. Cutting across these themes there were also differing perspectives on the role of experts and local people in shaping the future management of the wastes. This research suggests that the views of local people are nuanced; they value their mining heritage but opinion is split on the most effective way to manage these sites especially where there is an impact on water quality.


Leading indicators of failure have been developed based on high-frequency characteristics, and system-transfer function derived from resistance spectroscopy measurements during shock and vibration. The technique is intended for condition monitoring in high reliability applications where the knowledge of impending failure is critical and the risks in terms of loss-of-functionality are too high to bear. Previously, resistance spectroscopy measurements [Constable 1992, Lizzul 1994, Prassana 1995] have been used during thermal cycling tests to monitor damage progression due to thermo-mechanical stresses. The development of resistance spectroscopy based damage pre-cursors for prognostication under shock and vibration is new. In this paper, the high-frequency characteristics, and system transfer function based on resistance spectroscopy measurements have been correlated with the damage progression in electronics during shock and vibration. Packages being examined include ceramic area-array packages. Second level interconnect technologies examined include copper-reinforced solder column, SAC305 solder ball, and 90Pb10Sn high-lead solder ball. Assemblies have been subjected to 1500g, 0.5 ms pulse [JESD-B2111]. Continuity has been monitored in-situ during the shock test for identification of part-failure. Resistance spectroscopy based damage pre-cursors have been correlated with the optically measured transient strain based feature vectors. High speed cameras have been used to capture the transient strain histories during shock-impact. Statistical pattern recognition techniques have been used to identify damage initiation and progression and determine the statistical significance in variance between healthy and damaged assemblies. Models for healthy and damaged packages have been developed based on package characteristics. Data presented shows that high-frequency characteristics and system-transfer characteristics based on resistance spectroscopy measurements can be used for condition-monitoring, damage initiation and progression in electronic systems. A positive prognostic distance has been demonstrated for each of the interconnect technologies tested.


Insect fractionation and insect ingredient characterisation is of relevance in view of the increase in insect production and demand of insect ingredients worldwide. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of insect oils that were extracted from insects commercially reared in Europe. Oil was extracted from yellow mealworm, lesser mealworm, house cricket and Dubia cockroach by an aqueous based oil extraction method. These insect oils were physico-chemically characterised on the most important parameters for food applications, namely thermal behaviour (differential scanning calorimeter), colour (spectrophotometry) and aroma compounds (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). The amount and the composition of the un-extracted lipid fraction was determined by means of fatty acid (FA) profiling (gas chromatography with flame ionisation detector). Although no distinctive pattern was seen in all four species, it becomes clear from its FA profile that the extracted fat is more similar to the residue and cream fractions than to the pellet and supernatant. The amount of lipids that was not extracted was species dependent ranging from 40 to up to 82% of the total lipid content. Further work is needed to reduce the oil loss in this extraction. The extracted insect oil presented a wide range of melting peaks, from -30.7 to 22.7 °C, which makes them liquid-like at room temperature. Its thermal profile shows separated peaks showing that fat fractionation is feasible. Oil colour was bright yellow-reddish. Most oils had compounds related to pleasant aromas, except for Dubia cockroach. In the latter oil several acid compounds related to unpleasant aromas were identified. This study shows that yellow meal worm oil, lesser mealworm oil and cricket oil have characteristics desirable for table oils and for oils use as food ingredients.


Improvement in second-language (L2) perception has been posited to occur early in L2 learning when the L2 vocabulary is still small, whereas a large L2 vocabulary curtails perceptual learning (the perceptual assimilation model for SLA [PAM-L2]; Best & Tyler, 2007). This proposition is extended by suggesting that early L2 lexical development facilitates the establishment of phonological categories in a manner analogous to children's first-language (L1) acquisition before as opposed to after the vocabulary spurt. According to this view, L2 speech should be assimilated more consistently to L1 phonological categories and cross-boundary contrasts should be discriminated more accurately by learners with larger L2 vocabularies. To test this proposition, a novel whole-system approach to evaluate perception of L2 vowels in two experiments was applied. In Experiment 1, Japanese learners of Australian English (AusE) with less than 12 weeks of L2 learning in Australia completed labeling and goodness ratings on all AusE vowels, selecting from among all monomoraic and bimoraic Japanese vowels and vowel combinations. They also discriminated four L2 vowel contrasts, representing a range of PAM-L2 contrast types, and completed a L2 vocabulary size assessment. Learners with larger vocabularies had more consistent L2-L1 vowel assimilation and more accurate cross-boundary discrimination than those with smaller vocabularies, supporting the proposition that lexical development assists L2 phonological acquisition. Experiment 2 compared the perception of AusE vowels by Japanese learners after only 4–8 weeks in Australia with their perception after 6–8 months of L2 exposure. The results also supported the predicted positive association between L2 vocabulary size and L2 vowel perception rather than a general prediction of increased exposure duration leading to improved perception.


Windows have been a subject of interest for research in building industry due to their multifaceted and significant implications for indoor environmental quality and energy use. In this context, the present contribution explores the retrofit opportunity toward retrofit of casement windows via application of vacuum glazing. The first scenario included conductive and convective heat transfer processes. The second, more detailed scenario took, in addition, the effects of (long-wave) radiation phenomena into account. The main objective of the present contribution is thus to contrast the results obtained from primarily conductive and convective computations with those that involve a detailed coupled conductive, convective, and radiation simulation. The study benefits from a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model to evaluate the airflow patterns (temperature and velocity) within the window's interstitial space by assuming isothermal boundary conditions. Based on simulation results, the thermal performance of the retrofitted casement window (with vacuum glass applied as external pane) can be compared to the conventional construction. Thus, benefits in terms of reduced energy use and surface condensation risk can be documented.


There are countless collections of historical documents in archives and libraries that contain plenty of valuable information for historians and researchers. The extraction of this information has become a central task among the Document Analysis researches and practitioners. There is an increasing interest to digital preserve and provide access to these kind of documents. But only the digitalization is not enough for the researchers. The extraction and/or indexation of information of this documents has had an increased interest among researchers. In many cases, and in particular in historical manuscripts, the full transcription of these documents is extremely difficult due the inherent deficiencies: poor physical preservation, different writing styles, obsolete languages, etc. Word spotting has become a popular an efficient alternative to full transcription. It inherently involves a high level of degradation in the images. The search of words is holistically formulated as a visual search of a given query shape in a larger image, instead of recognising the input text and searching the query word with an ascii string comparison. But the performance of classical word spotting approaches depend on the degradation level of the images being unacceptable in many cases . In this thesis we have proposed a novel paradigm called contextual word spotting method that uses the contextual/semantic information to achieve acceptable results whereas classical word spotting does not reach. The contextual word spotting framework proposed in this thesis is a segmentation-based word spotting approach, so an efficient word segmentation is needed. Historical handwritten documents present some common difficulties that can increase the difficulties the extraction of the words. We have proposed a line segmentation approach that formulates the problem as finding the central part path in the area between two consecutive lines. This is solved as a graph traversal problem. A path finding algorithm is used to find the optimal path in a graph, previously computed, between the text lines. Once the text lines are extracted, words are localized inside the text lines using a word segmentation technique from the state of the art. Classical word spotting approaches can be improved using the contextual information of the documents. We have introduced a new framework, oriented to handwritten documents that present a highly structure, to extract information making use of context. The framework is an efficient tool for semi-automatic transcription that uses the contextual information to achieve better results than classical word spotting approaches. The contextual information is automatically discovered by recognizing repetitive structures and categorizing all the words according to semantic classes. The most frequent words in each semantic cluster are extracted and the same text is used to transcribe all them. The experimental results achieved in this thesis outperform classical word spotting approaches demonstrating the suitability of the proposed ensemble architecture for spotting words in historical handwritten documents using contextual information.


According to gerontological mobility research, appropriate settlement structures at the neighbourhood level and car availability are both playing a prominent role in the maintenance of mobility of elderly people. However, car availability is strongly connected to other individual attributes like age, health and gender. The paper presents empirical results from Germany, which support the thesis that car availability is not a cause for mobility, but rather a result of a specific life situation and way of life of elderly people, which is associated with a specific type of mobility. What is more, there is no evidence for a significant influence of settlement structures on mobility. The contribution is based on multiple regression analyses of leisure mobility of elderly people living in three different spatial contexts.


Somatic cell hybrids were produced between a myeloma cell line of MPC11 and spleen cells from AKR and BALB/c mice immunized with the PC-containing bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae R36A. Among the PC-specific hybridomas examined, 24 of 26 (92%) of BALB/c and 19 of 30 (57%) of AKR expressed idiotypic determinants and L chains characteristic of a major conserved clonotype in mice, the T15 clonotype. This compares favorably with percent of T15 idiotype-positive antibody and B cells found in the anti-PC repertoire of these two strains. Previous studies have described two genetic variants of the T15 clonotype L chain, Igk-Pcb (BALB/c) and Igk-Pca (AKR), which appear to be controlled by an autosomal locus linked to Ly-3. All of the T15-positive BALB/c hybridomas expressed L chains bearing the Vκ marker, IgK-Pc-B as expected. All of the T15-positive AKR hybridomas, except one, expressed the IgK-Pc-A marker. The exception was a hybridoma, F10-1 expressing a T15 clonotype L chain, Pc-"B," whose electrophoretic and antigenic characteristics were indistinguishable from Pc-B. The implication of this finding is discussed in relation to known examples of nonallelic behavior of immunoglobulin allotypes.


Background:Evidence that medical error is a systemic problem requiring systemic solutions continues to expand. Developing a "safety culture" is one potential strategy toward improving patient safety. A reliable and valid self-report measure of safety culture is needed that is both grounded in concrete behaviors and is positively related to patient safety. Objective:We sought to develop and test a self-report measure of safety organizing that captures the behaviors theorized to underlie a safety culture and demonstrates use for potentially improving patient safety as evidenced by fewer reported medication errors and patient falls. Subjects:A total of 1685 registered nurses from 125 nursing units in 13 hospitals in California, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio completed questionnaires between December 2003 and June 2004. Research Design:The authors conducted a cross-sectional assessment of factor structure, dimensionality, and construct validity. Results:The Safety Organizing Scale (SOS), a 9-item unidimensional measure of self-reported behaviors enabling a safety culture, was found to have high internal reliability and reflect theoretically derived and empirically observed content domains. The measure was shown to discriminate between related concepts like organizational commitment and trust, vary significantly within hospitals, and was negatively associated with reported medication errors and patient falls in the subsequent 6-month period. Conclusions:The SOS not only provides meaningful, behavioral insight into the enactment of a safety culture, but because of the association between SOS scores and reported medication errors and patient falls, it also provides information that may be useful to registered nurses, nurse managers, hospital administrators, and governmental agencies.


A derivative of the "Encyclopedia of Inland Waters", "Plankton of Inland Waters" covers protists, bacteria, fungi, algae, and zooplankton as well as the functional and system interactions of planktonic and attached forms in aquatic ecosystems. Because the articles are drawn from an encyclopedia, the articles are easily accessible to interested members of the public, such as conservationists and environmental decision makers. This title includes an up-to-date summary of global aquatic ecosystems and issues. It covers current environmental problems and management solutions. It features full-color figures and tables to support the text and aid in understanding.


: Purpose: The study's subject was a poorly recognized and relatively new initiative in the Polish countryside, the educational farms. The purpose of the work is to present the essence of educational farms and the idea of their creation and familiarize the functioning of farms associated with the National Network of Educational Farms. Design/Methodology/Approach: We used the survey technique in the research. We sent the questionnaire to the owners of all educational farms in Poland. We received a return from 79 farms. Findings: The main motive for establishing an educational homestead was the desire to arouse interest in the specificity of living and working in the countryside and rural folklore and traditions. The most important benefit was the income and the pleasure of working with children. The difficulties mainly were the lack of funds for establishing and developing an educational farm. The most frequently implemented goal was an education in the field of environmental and consumer awareness as well as the cultural heritage of villages. The participants of the classes were mainly children of pre-school and school-age. Classes on the cultural heritage of the countryside and arts and crafts enjoyed the greatest interest. Practical Implications: The presented results may be an inspiration and a valuable hint for farm owners who are considering or are at the stage of creating/modifying an educational farm as an undertaking to diversify their agricultural activity. Originality/value: The presented issues are very rarely undertaken in research. Existing studies were very general and not very detailed or were undertaken on a small research sample.


The growing interest in addressing the mental health needs of Chinese children through play therapy calls for an understanding of the cultural roots and norms of Chinese families. To help professionals succeed in this traditionally Western treatmen when providing cross-cultural play therapy, the authors make recommendations concerning the location and appearance of the play therapy facility, including its waiting room and playroom. They discuss the need for carefully introducing play therapy to Chinese parents and suggest Western and Chinese toys and play items that are therapeutically appropriate for Chinese children. The authors also propose an outdoor play area based on the therapeutic rationales of contemporary neuropsychology. With this culturally sensitive discussion, the authors seek more effective play therapy not only for the children living in Chinese societies—mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan—but also in countries with major Chinese child populations.


The Extended Ellett Line is a full-depth hydrographic section between Iceland, 60°N 20°W, Rockall and Scotland. The original Ellett Line across the Rockall Trough was first occupied in 1975 when measurements were attempted four times a year. In 1996 the line was extended to Iceland and since then has been occupied approximately annually. The data form a 35 year time series of the oceanic conditions west of the British Isles.

The section monitors the characteristics of the warm water inflow into the Nordic Seas and thence to the Arctic, and observes part of the returning cold water outflow with easurements of the Iceland-Scotland Overflow and the overflow of the Wyville-Thomson Ridge into the Rockall Trough.

The 2011 occupation, RRS Discovery cruise 365, was curtailed by both technical problems and bad weather. 45 of the 48 CTD stations were worked between the Iceland and Scotland shelf edges. Line G, part of the SAMS observation network of the Scottish continental shelf was partially completed, with 4 stations at the western end not worked. Samples were taken for CFC and SF6 analysis, DIC and alkalinity, inorganic nutrients, aluminium, POC, bacterial abundance and biomass, and for phytoplankton community structure. Plans to repeat stations, to collect validation data for the SAMS glider and to investigate eddies in the Rockall Trough had to be abandoned.


We introduce a generalization of the cavity, or Bethe-Peierls, method that allows to follow Gibbs states when an external parameter, e.g. the temperature, is adiabatically changed. This allows to obtain new quantitative results on the static and dynamic behavior of mean-field disordered systems such as models of glassy and amorphous materials or random constraint satisfaction problems. As a first application, we discuss the residual energy after a very slow annealing, the behavior of out-of-equilibrium states, and demonstrate the presence of temperature chaos in equilibrium. We also explore the energy landscape, and identify a new transition from a computationally easier canyons-dominated region to a harder valleys-dominated one.


This issue of The Ochsner Journal covers the spectrum of medical practice. Dr. Carl Lavie continues his contributions with an informative update on what's new in cardiovascular disease for those on the front lines. The Internet is being used for more and more activities in medicine, from electronic medical records and literature searches to social networking. It also offers the ability for distance, or online, education. This method of learning has advantages (cost, accessibility) as well as potential limitations. As any new technology or process also results in variable levels of acceptance or adoption, a study by Dr. Adams about how the medical school admission process currently values online courses proves particularly insightful. Pain remains a challenging and often frustrating clinical dilemma, especially in anatomically complex areas such as the groin. In this issue, Dr. Richardson and colleagues present an interesting discussion of treatment options. Case reports are often fascinating to read, but also they represent important contributions to the literature. We are especially pleased to have contributions from international contributors. Two short papers from Dr. Ha and colleagues, from Australia, present an unusual case of arteriovenous fistula in a joint and a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a peritoneal dialysis patient. Two reviews follow. Our Otolaryngology colleagues address the often confusing problem of vertigo, and then Drs. Reed and Kemmerly cover the increasingly important topic of hospital-acquired infections. Finally, we have an article on how dietary intake of nuts affects cardiovascular prognosis. With the support of our readers and contributors, The Ochsner Journal continues to expand and support the missions of the Ochsner Medical System. Please take the time to inform the editorial board and staff as to what you like about the journal as well as areas where you believe we can improve. On behalf of the editorial board, I would like to thank our contributors for their efforts. The Ochsner Journal 9:1, 2009 f Academic Division of Ochsner Clinic Foundation


Background Asthma is a chronic lung disease that affects nearly 25 million individuals in the United States. More research is needed into the potential for health care providers to leverage existing social media platforms to improve healthy behaviors and support individuals living with chronic health conditions. Objective In this study, we assessed the willingness of Instagram users with poorly controlled asthma to participate in a pilot randomized controlled trial that will use Instagram as a means of providing social and informational support. In addition, we explored the potential for adapting the principles of photovoice and digital storytelling to Instagram. Methods We conducted a survey study of Instagram users aged 18-40 years with poorly controlled asthma in the United States. Results Over 3 weeks of recruitment, 457 individuals completed the presurvey screener; 347 (75.9%) were excluded and 110 (24.1%) were eligible and agreed to participate in the study. Of the 110 individuals, 82 (74.5%) completed the study survey. The mean age of the respondents was 21 (SD 5.3) years. Among respondents, 56% (46/82) were female, 65% (53/82) were non-Hispanic White, and 72% (59/82) had at least some college education. The majority of respondents (67/82, 82%) indicated that they would be willing to participate in the proposed study. Conclusions Among young adult Instagram users with asthma, there is substantial interest in participating in a pilot randomized controlled trial that will use Instagram to connect participants with peers and a health coach to share information about self-management of asthma and build social connection.


This survey was to study whether and how dental professional assess dental-related function in older adults with cognitive impairment (OACI). An invitation was sent to 525 special-care dental professionals, followed by a reminder in 2 weeks. Thirteen percent of the targeted participants completed the survey. Among them, 88% completed a hospital dentistry, geriatric dentistry, or other postgraduate training program. Nearly 70% of the respondents considered somewhat to very difficult to assess dentally related function; 45% did not ever or did not regularly assess dental-related function for OACI. Dental-related functional assessments were often based on a subjective, unstructured approach. Only 6% of the respondents routinely used standard instruments to assess the patients' function. These results indicate that an objective functional assessment based on a standardized instrument has not been routinely incorporated into dental care for OACI, raising concerns for quality of care in this vulnerable population.


Abstract TwinsUK is the largest cohort of community-dwelling adult twins in the UK. The registry comprises over 14,000 volunteer twins (14,838 including mixed, single and triplets); it is predominantly female (82%) and middle-aged (mean age 59). In addition, over 1800 parents and siblings of twins are registered volunteers. During the last 27 years, TwinsUK has collected numerous questionnaire responses, physical/cognitive measures and biological measures on over 8500 subjects. Data were collected alongside four comprehensive phenotyping clinical visits to the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London. Such collection methods have resulted in very detailed longitudinal clinical, biochemical, behavioral, dietary and socioeconomic cohort characterization; it provides a multidisciplinary platform for the study of complex disease during the adult life course, including the process of healthy aging. The major strength of TwinsUK is the availability of several 'omic' technologies for a range of sample types from participants, which includes genomewide scans of single-nucleotide variants, next-generation sequencing, metabolomic profiles, microbiomics, exome sequencing, epigenetic markers, gene expression arrays, RNA sequencing and telomere length measures. TwinsUK facilitates and actively encourages sharing the 'TwinsUK' resource with the scientific community — interested researchers may request data via the TwinsUK website (http://twinsuk.ac.uk/resources-for-researchers/access-our-data/) for their own use or future collaboration with the study team. In addition, further cohort data collection is planned via the Wellcome Open Research gateway (https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/gateways). The current article presents an up-to-date report on the application of technological advances, new study procedures in the cohort and future direction of TwinsUK.


Many companies have adopted technology driven social learning platforms such as social CRM (crowdsourcing customer support from customers) to support knowledge sharing among customers. A number of these self-evolving online customer support communities have reported the emergence of a core-periphery knowledge sharing network structure. In this study, we investigate why such a structure emerges and its implications for knowledge sharing within the community. We propose a dynamic structural model with endogenized knowledge-sharing and network formation. Our model recognizes the dynamic and interdependent nature of knowledge-seeking-and-sharing decisions and allows them to be driven by knowledge increments and social status building in anticipation of future reciprocal rewards from peers. Applying this model to a fine grained panel data set from a social customer support forum for a telecom firm, we illustrate that a user in this community values being connected to other well connected individuals. As a result, a user is more inclined to answer questions of those who are in the core (well connected) than the ones who are in the periphery (not well connected). We find that users are taking into account the expected likelihood of their questions receiving a solution before asking a question. With the emergence of core-periphery network structure, the peripheral individuals are discouraged from asking questions as their expectation of receiving a solution to their question is very low. Thus, the core-periphery structure has created a barrier to knowledge flow to new customers who need the knowledge the most. Our counterfactuals show that hiding the identity of the knowledge seeker or making the individual contributions obsolete faster helps break the core-periphery structure and improves knowledge sharing in the community.


Medicinal plants are widely used in traditional medicine because plant secondary metabolites have been shown to benefit a broad spectrum of health conditions. Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis L., a member of the mint family, is native to Europe and is well known for its ability to reduce stress and anxiety, promote sleep, and ease pain and discomfort associated with digestion. In various plant species, strong anthocyanin induction is triggered by sucrose, but not by other sugars or osmotic stress; however, the mechanisms that induce anthocyanin accumulation in lemon balm leaves in response to sucrose and phytohormones remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms that lead to increased levels of flavonoids in lemon balm plants. We observed that sucrose significantly increases the level of flavonoids in lemon balm plants and that sucrose induction appears to be mediated by the phytohormones abscisic acid and ethylene. We also identified delphinidin as the anthocyanidin that is primarily enriched in leaves grown in high-sucrose medium. Finally, we observed that reactive oxygen species levels are positively correlated with sucrose-mediated anthocyanin accumulation. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the level of flavonoids in lemon balm can be increased significantly and that plants such as lemon balm could potentially be used to prevent diseases that have been purported to be caused by free radical damage. Chemical abbreviations used: ABA, (+)-cis, transabscissic acid; ACC, 1-aminocyclopropane-carboxylic acid; CHI, chalcone isomerase; CHS, chalcone synthase; DPPH, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl; GA, gibberellic acid; IAA, indole-3-acetic acid.


We propose a methodology for evaluating second language acquisition in the context of massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG). Careful examination of learning opportunities present in gaming requires us to direct our attention to the characteristics of MMORPGs and how these characteristics support learning. MMORPGs accommodate active learners who assume the role of characters they have selected, create immersive environments that promote the development of conceptual knowledge and engage players in social interaction among a community of players. Since MMORPGs support social interaction between players, MMORPGs serve as the catalyst for fostering students language proficiency as students interact in a foreign language while playing the game. For these reasons, we believe that MMORPGs embody an interesting and underutilized learning environment for second language acquisition. Based upon this premise, we introduce a game-language learning model and explore Sony Online Entertainments 3D game Ever Quest II as a pedagogical tool for students learning English as a second language.


This guide supports the courses taught at the Universities at Shady Grove in the Respiratory Therapy Program of Salisbury University.


Quality improvements (QI,) based on principles, practices, and tools developed in the manufacturing industry, is becoming a common approach in healthcare, as well as an increasing focus on patient involvement. Healthcare QI is driven by challenges such as future patients' demand for higher quality of care and their desire to have an amplified impact on their health situation and care. Additional challenges include rapid technical development; decreasing resources, and expansion in the elderly population. Patient involvement in QI is growing as a means to increase the quality of care in healthcare settings; however, the field is still short of practical examples and research.
This thesis explores the contributions and challenges of patient involvement in QI. The thesis is based on six appended papers, mainly based on action research (AR) in a specific hospital setting, where the research built on learning in action. Qualitative methods were predominantly used to generate the empirical material, although some quantitative methods were used.
The findings demonstrate that patient involvement in QI makes a difference because patients can identify improvement areas that healthcare professionals may not. In addition, patient involvement illuminates the importance of viewing care from a patient perspective, which may help overcome existing gaps in the organizational structure, such as separation into specialist functions like different wards. The improvements reported in the appended papers address both technical (service delivered) and functional (how service was delivered) quality of care. In addition, patient involvement demands new ways of defining quality in healthcare.
However, patient involvement in QI also presents challenges. First, patient involvement places patients and healthcare professionals in new roles as co-designers, which calls into question prevailing roles and relationships. Second, patient involvement in QI decreases power asymmetry in the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients. This power shift challenges healthcare professionals to revise their existing relationship to patients from one that creates value for patients to one that creates value with them.
The research in this thesis contributes to an emerging science of improvement in healthcare; it makes a methodological contribution to AR and its use in combination with patient involvement in QI; and it provides practical examples of patient involvement in QI that can be of practical value to healthcare professionals.


A composite material is made by combining two or more materials to get a unique combination of properties. Composites based on a polymer matrix have become more common and are widely used in many industries due to the advantageous properties offered by the polymers. Filling polymers with mineral dispersion has long been a practice in the plastic industry as a way to reduce overall production costs and enhance certain properties. Polymer Matrix Composites were prepared by blending vinyl ester resin with silane surface treated ZnO nanoparticles of various weight percentages. They were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and TGA- DTA. Measurement of mechanical properties like tensile strength, impact strength, flexural strength, hardness and physical properties like water absorption, density, specific gravity, etc. have been carried out. The effects of particle size, particle distribution on mechanical properties, thermal properties and physical properties have also been studied. The changes in the properties of the composites with and without coupling agent have been compared. The results of the studies reveal that surface treated composites found to have more significant improvement in overall properties than the untreated one.


BACKGROUND
Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in many parts of India and the incidence varies from 12 to 31/100,000, and is rising. Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) accounts for 30-35% of all cases of breast cancers in India. LABC continues to present a challenge and imposes a major health impact in our country.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We carried out a analysis of our LABC patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) at our hospital over a 10-year period, from January 1995 to December 2004. We analyzed the response to NACT, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS).

RESULTS
Patients with stages IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC were included. LABC comprised of 26.24% (609 patients) of new patients. One hundred and twenty-eight (31.1%) patients received NACT. Median age was 48 years and estrogen receptor was positive in 64%. Chemotherapy protocol was an FEC (5-Fluorouracil, Epirubicin, Cyclophosphamide) regimen in the following doses: Cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2, 5-FU 600 mg/m2, and Epirubicin 75 mg/m2 given every three weeks, six doses, followed by modified radical mastectomy (MRM) and locoregional radiotherapy. The overall response rate (complete response (CR) + partial response (PR)) was 84.4%, clinical CR (cCR) was 13.3% and pathological CR (pCR) was 7.8%. Median DFS and OS were 33 and 101 months, respectively. The disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) at five years were 41 and 58%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
This study analyzes the outcome in patients who received NACT, in the largest number of LABC patients from a single center in India, and our results are comparable to the results reported from other centers.


It appears to be more practical and effective to prevent carcinogenesis by targeting the tumor promotion stage. Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is strongly involved in carcinogenesis, especially the tumor promotion stage. Considerable interest has been focused on the chemoprevention activities of soyasaponin (SS), which are major phytochemicals found in soybeans and soy products. However, less is known about the preventive effects of SS (especially SS with different chemical structures) against tumor promoter-induced inhibition of GJIC. We investigated the protective effects of SS-A1, SS-A2, and SS-I against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced GJIC inhibition and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in Buffalo rat liver (BRL) cells. The present results clearly show for the first time that SS-A1, SS-A2, and SS-I prevent the H2O2-induced GJIC inhibition by scavenging ROS in BRL cells in a dose-dependent manner at the concentration range of from 25 to 100 μg/mL. Soyasaponins attenuated the H2O2-induced ROS through potentiating the activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. This may be an important mechanism by which SS protects against tumor promotion. In addition, various chemical structures of SS appear to exhibit different protective abilities against GJIC inhibition. This may partly attribute to their differences in ROS-scavenging activities.


The surface-modified Titanium alloy Ti6Al4V was obtained in the process of the double glow discharge plasma hydrogen-free carburizing. The high purity solid graphite as the source cathode supplied the carbon elements; pure titanium and its alloys were used as the cathode and argon as the working gas. At certain pressure and voltage, the glow discharge appeared between cathode and anode, source cathode and anode. The carbon plasma flux, including carbon atoms, ions, sputtered by argon ions diffused into the substrate, which depended on ions bombardment and thermal diffusion at a negative voltage. High purity solid graphite cathode was done in a honeycomb shape or grid shape. A layer with TiC and C phases was formed during the process. Surface hardness was increased by four times due to the presence of TiC and C phases, and wear resistance was enormously improved. The C concentration and hardness of alloying layer changed gradually with the depth. The corrosion properties of hydrogen-free carburized specimens were tested in the solution of 5% NaCl and 5% H2SO4, using electrochemical corrosion method. The results showed that the corrosion resistance of carburized specimens was significantly improved in 5% H2SO4 solution.


Possible violations of Lorentz invariance (LIV) have been investigated for a long time using the observed spectral lags of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, these generally have relied on using a single photon in the highest energy range. Furthermore, the search for LIV lags has been hindered by our ignorance concerning the intrinsic time lag in different energy bands. GRB 160625B, the only burst so far with a well-defined transition from positive lags to negative lags provides a unique opportunity to put new constraints on LIV. Using multi-photon energy bands we consider the contributions to the observed spectral lag from both the intrinsic time lag and the lag by LIV effects, and assuming the intrinsic time lag to have a positive dependence on the photon energy, we obtain robust limits on LIV by directly fitting the spectral lag data of GRB 160625B. Here we show that these robust limits on the quantum gravity energy scales are E QG , 1 ≥ 0.5 × 10 16 GeV for the linear, and E QG , 2 ≥ 1.4 × 10 7 GeV for the quadratic LIV effects, respectively. In addition, we give, for the first time, a reasonable formulation of the intrinsic energy-dependent time lag.


In this paper, simple analytical expression is presented for large amplitude thermo-mechanical free vibration analysis of asymmetrically laminated composite beams. Euler-Bernoulli assumptions together with Von Karman's strain-displacement relation are employed to derive the nonlinear governing partial differential equation (PDE) of motion. He's variational method is employed to obtain a simple and efficient approximate closed form solution of the nonlinear governing equation. Comparison between results of the present work and those available in literature shows the accuracy of presented technique. Some new results for the nonlinear natural frequencies of the laminated beams such as the effect of vibration amplitude, lay-up configuration and thermal loading are presented for future references.


Isolated canine parietal cells were used to evaluate inhibition of acid secretion by both endogenously synthesized and exogenously added prostaglandins (PGs). Uptake of [14C]aminopyrine by the parietal cells was used as an index of acid secretion. The effect of increasing endogenous PG synthesis was determined by incubating arachidonic acid with histamine-stimulated parietal cells. Arachidonic acid (10(-6) and 10(-5) M) was a potent inhibitor of histamine-stimulated acid secretion. This effect of arachidonic acid was totally abolished when the cells were pretreated with 100 microM indomethacin. The effect of exogenous, preformed PGs on histamine-stimulated acid secretion was evaluated by adding PGE2, PGI2, PGF2 alpha or PGD2 to parietal cells. PGE2 was the most potent inhibitor of acid secretion, with a 50% inhibition of maximal acid secretion (ID50) at 7.5 X 10(-8) M. PGI2 and PGF2 alpha also inhibited acid secretion, but at higher concentrations. The ID50 for PGI2 and PGF2 alpha was 10(-5) M. PGD2 was inactive at inhibiting acid secretion. We conclude that both endogenous and exogenous PGs inhibit acid secretion directly at the parietal cells and that PGE2 is most likely the PG produced locally to modulate parietal cell acid secretion.


The aim of this paper is to provide: (1) a detailed description of the higher order leaky modes of the much-used broadside-coupled microstrips, and (2) demonstrate the practical application of such leaky modes as an antenna. A representative broadside-coupled transmission-line structure is examined to elucidate the detail of leakage effects at higher order of multilayered three-dimensional microwave and millimeter-wave circuits. Two-layer cases are analyzed from a physical perspective and the total number of first higher order leaky modes is found to be equal to that of microstrips. One of the two first higher order leaky modes obtained in the two-layer case is weakly attenuated, while the other is strongly attenuated. A high-gain narrow-beam leaky-mode antenna using only the weakly attenuated leaky mode is designed and measured as an application of this broadside-coupled structure, exhibiting a marked beamwidth reduction of 60%. This antenna is the first Yagi-Uda-like array antenna that utilizes the higher order leaky modes of the microstrip, for which the three basic elements-driver, reflector, and director-are stacked in the broadside direction. The attenuation rate can be further reduced by adjusting the strip width of the director. The half-power beamwidth of the leaky-mode antenna applying two-layer broadside-coupled microstrips with a wider top microstrip is measured to be 2.10/spl deg/ at 25.20/spl deg/ from the broadside at 34 GHz.


Test oracles differentiate between the correct and incorrect system behavior. Automation of test oracles for visual output systems mainly involves image comparison, where a snapshot of the output is compared with respect to a reference image. Hereby, the captured snapshot can be subject to variations such as scaling and shifting. These variations lead to incorrect evaluations. Existing approaches employ computer vision techniques to address a specific set of variations. In this article, we introduce ADVISOR, an adjustable framework for test oracle automation of visual output systems. It allows the use of a flexible combination and configuration of computer vision techniques. We evaluated a set of valid configurations with a benchmark dataset collected during the tests of commercial digital TV systems. Some of these configurations achieved up to 3% better overall accuracy with respect to state-of-the-art tools. Further, we observed that there is no configuration that reaches the best accuracy for all types of image variations. We also empirically investigated the impact of significant parameters. One of them is a threshold regarding image matching score that determines the final verdict. This parameter is automatically tuned by offline training. We evaluated runtime performance as well. Results showed that differences among the ADVISOR configurations and state-of-the-art tools are in the order of seconds per image comparison.


A single injection of endotoxin, 4 hours after administration of 150 mg/kg of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), stimulated the recovery of bone marrow hemopoietic cells that form colonies in spleen (CFU-S) or in culture (GM-CFC), of erythropoiesis, and of platelet production. Corynebacterium parvum injections had similar effects. Endotoxin-free extracts of tissues (from pregnant mouse uterus, placenta, and embryo) which have a high content of the factor(s) capable of stimulating growth of GM-CFC in vitro also stimulated recovery of CFU-S and GM-CFC when given in single injections 4 hours after 5-FU. A striking effect of both endotoxin and tissue extracts was the acceleration of the regeneration of a particular subclass of granulocyte macrophage progenitors, those capable of forming large colonies (greater than 0.25 mm) in agar. The results indicate that recovery of hemopoiesis after depression by 5-FU can be stimulated not only by injection of bacterial products, but also by injection of endotoxin-free tissue extracts which contain high levels of hemopoietic regulators.


The recording areal density has continued increasing to nearly 1Tbpsi with Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR). However, it seems that the growth rate of a recording areal density is fairly reduced for the trilemma problem due to particulate magnetic recording principle. Of course, such alternative technologies or methods as energy assisted recording (HAMR, MAMR etc.) have been worked on with energy towards realizing the next generation recording system where they are still based on a particulate magnetic recording principle. Considering a magnetic recording (i.e. head/media system), STT and SOT are not suitable for magnetic recording principle. So in this paper we propose a new magnetic recording principle with voltage effect on magnetization-switching, especially Magnetoelectric Effect of Cr2O3 sesquioxide, that is to say that magnetic bits are written on Cr2O3 antiferromagnetic media by E(electric field)・H(magnetic field) product. Magnetoelectric (ME) effect has so far been paid attention to be applied to a nonvolatile memory (NVM). Cr2O3 is a typical sesquioxide with ME effect and its antiferromagnetic Neel temperature is TN =307 K, which is higher than RT. A robust isothermal electric control of exchange-bias at RT is actually reported for bulk Cr2O3 single crystal sample when both of electric field E = 0.02 [MV/cm] and magnetic field H = -1.54 [kOe] was applied [1]. But ME effect has not yet been clarified in Cr2O3 thin films because of its large leakage current and imperfect antiferromagnetic-ordering while ME effect like behavior up to 200K is reported to be observed in an ultrathin Cr2O3/Fe2O3 Nano-Oxide Layer (NOL) [2]. When considering the application of ME effect to magnetic recording technology with voltage-controlled magnetization switching, there are some problems except the above issue, which should be resolved. The first is to realize and design an effectually high exchange-bias filed between antiferromagnetic (AFM) Cr2O3 and ferromagnetic (FM) thin film multilayers in the higher temperature range than RT, which means higher Neel temperature (TN) and higher blocking temperature (TB), where the properly low coercive force of FM is also required. The second is to invest FM layer with a perpendicular anisotropy which is thought to be caused by both of the hybridization of FM 3d and O 2p orbitals and the magnetic coupling at the interface between FM and Cr2O3. The third is to confirm ME effect in the thin film Cr2O3 after getting Cr2O3 thin film which shows good electrical properties. In this paper, electrical and magnetic performances of the thin film Cr2O3/Fe2O3 sesquioxide were investigated. We successfully fabricated the Cr2O3 and Fe2O3 thin films with small leakage current and good magnetic properties. We successfully confirmed ME effect of Cr2O3 thin films (100nm~500nm) and the switching of both exchange bias field and residual magnetization using Co/Cr2O3 exchange bias bilayer with low FM layer coercivity (~20 Oe) structure, shown in Fig.2 under both of ME filed cooling and isothermal process conditions for the first time in the world [3],[4]. In addition, we succeeded in enhancing TM of Fe2O3 higher than 400K by Ir-doping where perpendicular-spin-alignment of Fe2O3 was also confirmed in both of Mossbauer spectroscopy and weak ferromagnetic moment measurement with SQUID magnetometer. These results support our new magnetic recording principle concept with voltage controlled magnetization switching of AFM Cr2O3 thin film above room temperature at the first step. In addition, we also propose low EH product writing with positive exchange coupling in Chromia/Co bilayer system where an induced weak ferromagnetic moment is also observed of antiferromagnetic Chromia. The related experimental results and phenomenologically analytical consideration will be discussed. This study was partially supported by ImPACT Program led by Council of Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), Cabinet Office of Government of Japan, and JST-ALCA Program.


Piecewise sparse linear regression models using factorized asymptotic Bayesian inference (a.k.a. FAB/HME) have recently been employed in practical applications in many industries as a core algorithm of the Heterogeneous Mixture Learning technology. Such applications include sales forecasting in retail stores, energy demand prediction of buildings for smart city, parts demand prediction to optimize inventory, and so on. This paper extends FAB/HME for classification and conducts the following two essential improvements. First, we derive a refined version of factorized information criterion which offers a better approximation of Bayesian marginal log-likelihood. Second, we introduce an analytic quadratic lower bounding technique in an EM-like iterative optimization process of FAB/HME, which drastically reduces computational cost. Experimental results show that advantages of our piecewise sparse linear classification over state-of-the-art piecewise linear models.


This book will benefit specialists in the field of education sciences and represents significant progress in knowledge production. The content focuses on the theory behind self-directed learning and explores strategies such as cooperative learning, problem-based learning, case-based teaching and large-group teaching that enhance self-directed learning and the use of blended learning in a self-directed learning environment. The book demonstrates how self-directed learning can be enhanced in mathematics, computer-science and life-science education and through the use of student tutors for geography. Digital technology could, for example, also be used in innovative ways for education in isiZulu folk poetry. In an environment of rapidly changing knowledge production, this book responds to the challenge of how to equip learners with the necessary skills to take responsibility for their own learning. The book presents innovative teaching and learning strategies for meeting the changing demands in education. Group activities, the responsibilities of learners and the obstacles that hinder their learning are analysed, and the way in which educators can support them is discussed. Educational values such as mutual trust are discussed, and self-directed assessment is explored. This is a timely collective work authored by experts who subscribe to the approach of self-directed learning.


Skeleton-based action recognition has become popular in recent years due to its efficiency and robustness. Most current methods adopt graph convolutional network (GCN) for topology modeling, but GCN-based methods are limited in long-distance correlation modeling and generalizability. In contrast, the potential of convolutional neural network (CNN) for topology modeling has not been fully explored. In this paper, we propose a novel CNN architecture, Temporal-Channel Topology Enhanced Network (TCTE-Net), to learn spatial and temporal topologies for skeleton-based action recognition. The TCTE-Net consists of two modules: the Temporal-Channel Focus module, which learns a temporal-channel focus matrix to identify the most critical feature representations, and the Dynamic Channel Topology Attention module, which dynamically learns spatial topological features, and fuses them with an attention mechanism to model long-distance channel-wise topology. We conduct experiments on NTU RGB+D, NTU RGB+D 120, and FineGym datasets. TCTE-Net shows state-of-the-art performance compared to CNN-based methods and achieves superior performance compared to GCN-based methods. The code is available at https://github.com/aikuniverse/TCTE-Net.


This thesis examines diegetic pre-composed music in three American lesbian feature films. Music in lesbian film is often selected to create cachet with the target audience. This cachet comes with accompanying "affiliating identifications" (Kassabian 2001) that allow music to be used in the films' construction of characters' identities. This thesis focuses specifically on riot grrrl and queercore musics (together "riot dyke" (Halberstam ([2003] 2008)) in three films: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (Maria Maggenti, 1995), All Over Me (Alex Sichel, 1997), and Itty Bitty Titty Committee (Jamie Babbit, 2007). By examining how diegetic riot dyke music is used to build characters' identities and contribute to the films' narratives I argue that in these films riot dyke music is presented as being central to certain queer identities and communities, and that this music creates opportunities for characters' personal growth and affirms characters' identities in adverse environments.


Radiation-engineered poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) nanogels are very interesting biocompatible nanocarriers for i.v. administration of therapeutics and contrast agents for bioimaging. The manufacturing process is fast and effective, it grants excellent control of particle size and simultaneous sterilization of the formed nanogels. Interestingly, primary amino groups and carboxyl groups, useful for (bio)conjugation, are also formed in a dose-dependent fashion. In this paper, by means of both numerical simulations and experiments, the origin of nanogel size control and functionalization is investigated. This understanding offers a new dimension for the design and production of radiation-sculptured multifunctional nanocarriers from aqueous solutions of polymers.


Trisomy 3q is a very rarely reported chromosomal disorder. Duplication of part of the long arm of human chromosome 3 causes a distinct and severe syndrome that leads to multiple congenital abnormalities. A 27 year-old pregnant woman was admitted to our clinic at 17 weeks of gestation. Prenatal sonography identified a fetus with an omphalocele that contained the liver and bowel, mild ventriculomegaly and polyhydramnios. Amniocentesis revealed the karyotype of 46, XY, der (3) (3qter→3q21: : 3pter→3qter). The pregnancy was subsequently terminated. Postnatally, the proband showed midfacial hypoplasia, micrognathia, hypoplastic 12th ribs, omphalocele and prominent heels. We reported this partial trisomy 3q case because he had less marked malformations compared to other reported cases and also different features such as an omphalocele and hypoplastic 12th rib which have not been described previously in an isolated Trisomy 3q case with this karyotype.


The information contained in patent databases can be used to perceive the innovation strategy of a region. This paper proposed measures on patent analysis as method of measuring the flow of industrial knowledge in a region. The use of Tech- mining applied to the patent and the utility models databases which content the innovation requested by the companies in the area, permits visualized the flow of industrial knowledge along the years. It is possible to detect of knowledge transfers from traditional emergent sectors to emergent business. Although the results of one specific region case may be not be generally applicable due to the size of the region, this paper proposed a useful tool for visualizing the industrial innovation knowledge using Patents as indicator and tech-mining as analyzed tool. The knowledge of the industrial innovation flows, enables the establishing of vital conclusions as regards the finding of a definition for the innovation strategy of a region.


A follow-up of 558 children and adolescents contacting the patients with tuberculosis who isolated bacteria was analyzed. In 46.5% of cases, the children and adolescents contacting the patients with tuberculosis were in the foci of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) in the source of infection. The patients from these foci fell ill with tuberculosis 3.4 times more frequently than those from the foci where the sources of infection isolated MBT susceptible to antituberculous drugs. Processes with bacterial isolation were detected in 47.7% of the ill children and adolescents, primary MBT resistance to antituberculous drugs being noted in 68.8% of cases. Preventive chemotherapy reduces the risk for children and adolescents contacting the patients with tuberculosis to fall ill by 7.6 times. Ineffective preventive chemotherapy performed in those contacting the patients was due to the use of MBT-resistant antituberculous drugs in the source of infection. The administration of the MBT-resistant drugs in the source of infection led to the same high incidence of tuberculosis in children and adolescents from the bacterial foci of tuberculous infection as in its absence.