Growing interest in the research community has been shown in clinical neuroscience to assess neurotransmitter profiling both in healthy and diseased subjects. A large body of research in this field focuses on schizophrenia to characterise its glutamatergic level according to the most recent hypothesis of NMDA (N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid) receptors hypofunction.
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is able to detect some of the most common neurotransmitters but a number of issues, such as low signal to noise ratio (SNR), spectra overlapping and line broadening prevents MRS from being clinically relevant for neuropsychiatry.
Four important aims were considered relevant for this work.
Firstly, we aimed to compare the reliability of conventional and timing-optimized sequences for the detection and measurement of most of the visible metabolites and, in particular, for glutamate (Glu), glutamine (GIn) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) to assess the best available sequence for a study in schizophrenia.
Secondly, we also intended to investigate whether glutamatergic activity might predict the oscillatory activity and how this link might survive or not in schizophrenia. Thirdly, we wanted to study whether the well known animal model of schizophrenia, the rearing in isolation model, exacerbates the effect of ketamine and determines more profound changes on neurotransmitter profile in rats.
Fourthly, a further goal focuses on the improved data acquisition and on the data processing to reliably resolve GABA and to be able to quantify a wider range of metabolites.
To address those points five studies were performed.
The first work (Chapter 3) describes a study of reproducibility on sequences which have been reported in the literature to be capable to detect Glu and GIn. The study was performed on 14 healthy subjects by scanning them twice and repositioning between the two scans. The absolute percentage difference was then computed to assess the accuracy per sequence and metabolite. A good compromise was found in PRESS sequence (TE=80 ms) which was exploited subsequently for the following study on schizophrenic patients (Chapter 4). Twenty-seven early stage schizophrenic patients and twenty-three aged-matched controls were recruited to undergo a protocol including, in two separate sessions, MRS and electroencephalography (EEG). Anterior Cingulate Cortex Glu was found to predict the induced theta activity in healthy controls but not in patients. Furthermore, the NAA values have also been found to be reduced in schizophrenia and linked to N100, an Event Related Potential (ERP) which is well known to be decreased in schizophrenia.
Following on from the findings of the study on the early stage of schizophrenia, further investigations were undertaken to study the psychotic state occurring in the disease via a functional MRS, where 25mg/kg of ketamine (NMDA antagonist) injection was administered to two groups of rats. The two groups were group-housed and reared in isolation. This work was able to show increase of prefrontal GIn levels in both groups but showed a selective GABA decrease only in isolated rats. It would have been very interesting to be able to detect GABA changes in the study at 3T but the used protocol did not allow its accurate quantification.
Simulations and reliability tests (Chapter 6)were then utilized to optimize a standard sequence to obtain an accurate and reliable GABA concentration. The optimized sequence reproduces the quantification with 12% of accuracy.
The preliminary results of the last study (Chapter 7) give an evidence of the potential of combined use of Monte Carlo, Levenberg-Marquardt and NNLS methods embedded in a novel fitting approach for two-dimensional spectra.
The three appendices at the end of this work illustrate the details of some of the algorithms and softwares used throughout the studies.


Load balancing algorithms are an essential component of parallel computing reducing the response time of applications. Frequently, balancing algorithms have a centralized behavior requiring a lot of messages to operate, thus causing scalability problems. A solution to improve scalability is to define a decentralized algorithm, avoiding the generation of bottlenecks. DLML (Data List Management Library) is a tool that, in a transparent way, allows the parallel processing of data that are organized through a List. One drawback of this tool is the global bidding algorithm used to distribute the data (work) generated during the execution. In this paper two load balancing algorithms for DLML handling partial information are proposed. The first algorithm considers a logical Torus topology and the second one follows a Binary Tree topology for communications. Results show how the scalability of DLML was improved, using two clusters of 40 and 1024 processing units, and executing dynamic and static applications.


Background: Several diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers are being explored in heart failure. GDF-15 belongs to the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) cytokine family that is highly up regulated in inflammatory conditions. We undertook this systematic review to summarize the current evidence on the utility of GDF-15 as a biomarker in heart failure. Design and Methods: Multiple electronic databases for studies that reported the association between GDF- 15 and heart failure were searched using different electronic databases such as MEDLINE, Science Direct, Springer Link, Scopus, Cochrane Reviews, and Google Scholar using pre-defined inclusion- exclusion criteria. Results: Twenty one original studies were identified that included data from 20,920 study participants. GDF 15 was found to be a strong prognosticator of all-cause mortality in heart failure patients. Several studies found the benefit of using GDF-15 as a component of a multi-biomarker strategy in prognosticating patients with heart failure. Conclusion: More studies are warranted to elucidate the molecular pathways involving GDF-15 and to see how knowledge about GDF-15 can be used to make therapeutic decisions in the clinic.


The aim of this study was to develop Physics teaching material in the form of contextual learning approach module on the Measurement of Physics Units material for 10th Grade Senior High School students that fulfilled good criteria.
The study, which used qualitative approach supported by quantitative data, was a developing study based on a model developed by Borg and Gall. The developing procedure of this study included: (1) Research and collecting some information, (2) Planning, (3) Developing of products draft, (4) Initial field try out, (5) Revising the result of initial field try out, and (6) Main field try out. The data collecting techniques used in this study were questionnaire and observation. The data collected came from some validators, including 2 expert university-level lectures, 2 teachers as reviewers and 2 peer reviewers and also the respondents, which consisted of 10 students of Public Senior High School 1 Simo and 30 students from five Senior High Schools, including Public Senior High School 1 Simo, Public Senior High School Karanggede, Public Senior High School 2 Boyolali, Bhineka Karya Senior High School Simo, and Public Senior High School 2 Simo. The qualitative data were analyzed by using standard score assessment developed by Saifudin Azwar, which was divided into five categories. The qualitative data analysis technique used in this study was interactive model of Miles and Huberman through data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusion stages.
Based on the result of data analysis and discussion, it could be concluded that: The developing of Physics teaching material in the form of the Measurement of 10th grade Physics Units Module, generally had been extremely appropriate with a conformity of the validation result to the experts, peer reviewers, and reviewers in the content, language and picture, presentation, and graphical suitability. The validation result showed that expert I and expert II had given total score 92 (Very Good), reviewer I and II, each gave score 86 and 85 (Very Good), whereas peer reviewer I gave score 82 (Good) and peer reviewer II gave 98 (Very Good). The result of initial and main field showed very good results. It was proven from 4 students, who gave good score and 6 students, who gave very good scores in the initial field try out that was administered to 10 students, and 7 students that gave good score and 23 students that gave very good score in the main field try out, which was administered to 30 students.


A nonmechanical approach to the construction of complex three-dimensional interconnect arrays has been developed with the use of conducting polymer dendrites. Electrically independent connections between pairs of wires in an array were successfully grown through alternating-current electrochemical polymerization of poly(3-methylthiophene), without mechanical or optical masking steps. The electrically active links were insulated by subsequent electropolymerization of 4-vinylpyridine or 2-methylthiophene or by the dip-coating of the connections in a polystyrene solution.


The site fidelity of 470 colour-ringed Common Guillemots Uria aalge with at least 1 year of breeding experience was followed on the Isle of May from 1982 to 1993. On average, 85.7% of birds recorded breeding at a site in any year were present at the same site in the following season. Of those which did not retain their site, 35% had moved to another site, 25% were nonbreeders and 40% were not seen. Site- fidelity of birds which returned to the colony the next year was 91%. There were no significant age or sex effects, but there were significant (and unexplained) year and area effects. Most birds which changed sites moved less than 2 m. Some birds which obtained a new site improved their nesting success, but many others became nonbreeders; it is speculated that the former chose to move site, whilst the latter had been evicted.


ABSTRACT In the southern Ahnet Basin of Algeria a unique Middle Devonian underwater scenery is revealed, which consists of 191 mud mounds, 15 mud ridges, and 2 mud "atolls" distributed over nine discrete areas of a shallow-pelagic carbonate shelf. All the buildups are totally exhumed, thus perfectly exhibiting their original morphologies, slope angles, elevations, and the pattern of the onlapping strata as well as their relationship to the surrounding off-buildup sequences. Types of buildups include (1) small mud mounds (1-5 m high, 10-20 m diameter), (2) large mud mounds (up to 40 m high, up to 200 m diameter), (3) lens-shaped mounds(1-30 m thick, 10-15° slopes), (4) mud ridges (up to 100 m high, 150-8500 m long) and (5) semicircular mud "atolls" (2500-2800 m long, 20-30 m high). The buil ups were constructed during a short time span in the early Givetian (part of the Lower varcus zone), probably not exceeding a few hundred thousand years. Sedimentation rates in coeval off-buildup areas were at least 3-10 times lower. The lithology of the buildups is a massive boundstone with a high proportion of irregular, spar-filled cavities (stromatactis) but only very scattered potential frame builders. The carbonate mud is considered to be an in situ, cyanobacterial precipitate, although evidence of such is poor. Organic components of the buildups are not significantly different from those of the off-buildup lithologies, and include numerous crinoid ossicles, some tabulate and solitary rugose corals, brachiopods, mollusc debris, trilobites, and very rare sponge spicule and bryozoans. The total absence of stromatoporoids, large tabulate and colonial rugose corals, green algae, and micritic envelopes around grains suggests growth of the buildups in the lower part of the photic zone (100-200 m). They are onlapped by a discontinuous sequence, a few meters thick, of skeletal packstones and grainstones, and locally, orthoceratid floatstones that were deposited later in the Givetian. A widespread rise of sea level in the early Frasnian buried both buildups and adjacent areas under shales and siltstones. Postdepositional alteration of the mud buildups includes: (1) formation of stromatactis cavities, probably by dewatering and internal erosion, (2) cementation of stromatactis cavities and interparticle pore spaces by early high-Mg calcite and late, blocky low Mg calcite, (3) neomorphic transformation of Mg-calcitic mud and aragonitic skeletal debris, (4) occasional formation of neptunian dikes, (5) slight erosion of buildup surfaces, (6) compaction and slumping of onlapping capping beds, and (7) local dolomitization. The formation and growth of the mud build-ups is envisaged as a sequence of stages starting with patchy coral thickets evolving into small mud mounds that coalesced into larger mounds. By continuous vertical and lateral growth, closely spaced mounds amalgamated into mud ridges and mud "atolls". Regular NW-SE and N-S patterns of some mound rows and ridges show a relationship of buildup formation to rejuvenated late Precambrian tectonic lineaments, which reappear in the Hercynian orogeny. The isotopic signature of matrix and early ements of mound rocks, however, does not support the idea of fluid migration and hydrothermal CO2 supply during buildup growth.


Animals play a special role in Indian culture. In opposition to deities, they help to frame the human community. Indian philosophy assumes the basic unity of animals and humans and in everyday life animals symbolize various ideas and sentiments. In the realm of Indian art, animals appear everywhere. In this splendid and unique collection of photographs, Stella Snead captures the extraordinary vitality, intelligence, and variety of animals in Indian sculpture found at sites from prehistory through the eighteenth century. Here are cats, peacocks, mongooses, anteaters, cows, hyenas, and tigers, as well as such fantastic creatures as double-bodied lions and elephants with fish tails. Collected from all areas of India, these photographs include images from famous Indian monuments, and museum collections, as well as images from remote sites, some of which have never before been published. Wendy Doniger's essay explores and explains the four worlds or dimensions that animals occupy in Indian thought: nature, the human world, the divine world, and the world of fantasy. George Michell places Indian sculptures of animals in their architectural and art historical context. His chronological survey identifies the location and the subject of the animals photographed and describes the artistic activity of the regions and period from which the photographs are drawn. This beautifully illustrated book will appeal to a wide audience: to those interested in Asian studies, art, architecture, and animals, and to those drawn to Snead's powerful photographs, which capture both the idiosyncratic genius of tiny details and the grand sweep of cosmic symbols.


INTRODUCTION
Although genital tuberculosis is a condition that is prevalent worldwide, it is still a diagnostic dilemma. This study aimed to find an effective diagnostic modality for the condition.

METHODS
A total of 100 infertile women were clinically evaluated with haemoglobin estimation, total and differential count, Mantoux test, tubercle bacilli enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (TB ELISA), hysterosalpingography, pelvic ultrasonography, laparohysteroscopy, premenstrual endometrial biopsy for histopathology, culture and tubercle bacilli polymerase chain reaction (TBPCR). The womens' Day 2 hormonal profile (luteinising, follicle-stimulating, prolactin and thyroidstimulating hormones) and their husbands' semen analysis were also conducted.

RESULTS
A total of 58 women had primary infertility and 42 had secondary infertility. Female factor infertility was present in 63 percent of the cases (mostly tubal; 45.97 percent). 26 women tested positive for endometrial TBPCR. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Mantoux test, TB ELISA and hysterosalpingography were found to have high negative predictive value (greater than 80 percent), while the positive predictive value was 35-45 percent. Laparoscopy findings were suggestive of tuberculosis in 13 percent of the women, out of which 83.3 percent were positive for endometrial TBPCR. Hysteroscopy revealed intrauterine adhesions in 34.8 percent of the women, with 68.8 percent being positive for tubercular bacilli.

CONCLUSION
Our study established that in cases of genital tuberculosis, the use of expensive endometrial TBPCR tests may be avoided with a detailed workup, which would also help in the institution of anti-tubercular treatment in early disease, thus enhancing the chance of pregnancy.


The text-that of the 1901 Sussex Edition-is fully annotated and accompanied by three maps that help students place the novel in geographical and historical contexts. "Backgrounds" explores the novel's complicated issues of multiculturalism, imperialism, and racism, allowing readers to glimpse Kipling's personal thoughts about British expansionism. Included are two short stories, poems, and letters by Kipling, as well as autobiographical and biographical memoirs and contemporary reviews of Kim. "Criticism" collects fourteen wide-ranging assessments of the novel by Noel Annan, Irving Howe, Edward Said, Ian Baucom, A. Michael Matin, John A. McClure, Anne Parry, Michael Hollington, Parama Roy, Sara Suleri, Patrick Williams, Suvir Kaul, Mark Kinkead-Weekes, and Zohreh T. Sullivan. A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.


The hormonal basis for the metabolic paradox of relative hypoglycemia despite insulinopenia and insulin resistance in chronic nutritional deprivation was studied in weanling rats restricted to 60% of ad libitum intake over 8 wk (n = 12 each). Lower insulin and glucagon levels were observed in both peripheral and portal blood (P = 0.0016) in the malnourished rats on multivariate analysis of variance, indicating decreased islet secretion. Peripheral and portal hormone levels were proportionately similar, indicating that hepatic extraction was not altered. Despite relative hypoglycemia, glucose turnover rate, total glucose mass, and volume of distribution of glucose were not altered. This indicates that the sum total of the effects of malnutrition on the various hormonal influences controlling glucose turnover had resulted in the establishment of a new dynamic equilibrium associated with lower plasma glucose levels. It is concluded that fasting glucose levels are sustained at a lower level in chronic malnutrition by an adaptive process that includes insulin resistance and insulinopenia, counterbalanced not only by glucagon resistance, as shown earlier, but also by decreased glucagon secretion.


Range of motion (ROM) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an important variable in determining clinical outcome. Recent design modifications have been aimed at improving final motion. The posterior stabilized total knee prosthesis was introduced as a modification of the total condylar design, changing the center of curvature of the femoral component to allow greater ROM. In this study, all primary TKAs performed at the authors' institution from July 1982 until December 1986 were reviewed to determine the effect of this design modification on outcome. A total condylar (TC) group comprised 51 arthroplasties and was compared to 53 arthroplasties in a posterior stabilized (PSTC) group. the postoperative protocol was identical in both groups. The mean postoperative flexion was 11 better in the PSTC group; however, the mean preoperative flexion had initially been 10 degrees better in the PSTC group. The maximum flexion achieved by any patient in both groups was similar, but the TC group actually gained slightly more arc of motion. The better motion in the PSTC group may be secondary to better motion preoperatively and not implant design in this series. The more limited the preoperative ROM, the greater the quadriceps stiffness is likely to be, which is an important determinant of postoperative flexion. Review of the literature supports present observations that a group with less mean preoperative motion paradoxically gains a slightly greater increment of flexion. Differences in flexion after TKA are difficult to attribute to design in either the current study or by a review of the literature. This is because determinants of flexion after TKA are multifactorial and outcome data limited, notwithstanding the similarities among modern prostheses.


Resistance to change has long been recognised as a critically important factor that can influence the success or otherwise of implementing any 'technological innovation. Information technology (IT) focused interventions, for example, business process re-engineering (BPR) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), are often quoted as examples of costly failures, with reported levels of dissatisfaction ·with strategic IT investments ranging from 20-70 percent and that employee resistance was to blame. The intention of this chapter is to rethink resistance. The author suggests that resistance remains to this day a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that continues to affect the outcomes of change, both negatively and positively. Although research has procured a solid understanding of resistance- and the benefits that can accrue to an organisation through its proper utilisation, it appears that the classical adversarial approach remains the dominant means ofmanaging resistance because such learning is not reflected in modern management techniques. The author concludes that as companies in every industry are now translating the power and possibilities 0/ e-business into strategic and operational realities, newapproaches in change managementare required to help organisations to understand the complex dynamics o/technological innovation and especially the multifaceted nature o/resistance.


This paper conducts a cohort analysis of labor participation in urban Mexico in recent decades. The rates analyzed are the labor force participation, the unemployment rate, and the employment shares of the formal and informal salaried sectors, as well as of self-employment. These rates are decomposed into age, cohort, and time effects. The life cycle patterns of labor force participation and formal employment follow a standard inverted U-shape. Younger workers are more likely to participate in the informal salaried sector, while self-employment increases monotonically with age. However, significant informal salaried employment is also observed among older unskilled workers and women of different ages. Strong countercyclical variations are observed for the informal salaried sector, while the opposite occurs for the formal sector. Self-employment fluctuations are for the most part acyclical. These facts support a mixed view of the labor markets whereby some informal sector workers are rationed out of the formal sector, while others go into this sector voluntarily. The analysis also indicates that the female labor force is countercyclical, suggesting the existence of an "added worker" effect. Long-run generational effects show a steadily rising participation in the informal sector with a corresponding decline in formality among newer generations of salaried workers. Some preliminary explanations for this fact are discussed.


Amongst today's increasingly diverse range of mature age students are those who enrol in the New Opportunities for Women programme at TAFE. This course is designed, principally, to increase the confidence of women who are contemplating returning to formal education or to re-enter the workforce. Women who enrol in NOW come from a variety of socio-economic and educational backgrounds. This research explores the factors in their learning lives that might motivate women to enrol in such a programme. The study is grounded in the experiences of a small group of women who had completed the NOW programme. The research focuses on the educational issues the women had faced both prior to enrolment and during the course itself. In particular, the research focus is on their parents' expectations and teachers' attitudes; their parents' involvement in their education; the parenting style the women experienced; and being girls at school. Data was gathered by interview and participants' reflections on their learning experiences helped to elucidate the learner 'scripts' the women had followed throughout their lives. The analysis of these reflections was informed by Baumrind's (1967) theory of parenting styles– authoritative, authoritarian or permissive – and their association with academic success. While this analysis showed very diverse experiences and motivations, the findings concurred with the literature on parenting styles and academic achievement. However, this study also found that while these women had continued to follow the learner 'scripts' that had been assigned to them as children, the later intervention of authoritative teaching in a safe and sympathetic environment allowed them, as adults, to rewrite their scripts and achieve academic success. There are some common threads in the findings that have relevance for teachers who work with students from similar learning backgrounds, and generate some insights into the notion of parent-teacher partnership.


LOCATION The Belknap Mountains are on the southwestern shore of Lake Winnepesaukee, in central New Hampshire. The district of which the geology has been mapped is slightly over one hundred square miles in area and includes adjacent parts of the Winnepesaukee, Gilmanton, Alton, and Wolfeboro topographic sheets.

IMPORTANCE OF THE AREA AND SCOPE OF THIS PAPER The Belknap area is of particular interest to the petrographer and structural geologist. The structure is that of a ring-dike complex; and, although similar features have been observed and described elsewhere in New Hampshire, notably in the Ossipee Mountains,[1][1] the Percy area,[2][2] and the Franconia quadrangle,[3][3] many features are better exposed in the Belknap area. The lithologic sequence is more readily determined, and the exposures are better. The rocks are largely igneous; the most unusual are those belonging to the White Mountain (alkaline) magma series,[4][4] which includes gabbro, diorite, monzodiorite, syenite, quartz syenite, . . .

 [1]: #fn-3
 [2]: #fn-4
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 [4]: #fn-6


The ocean circulation is a cause and consequence of fluid scale interactions ranging from millimeters to more than 10,000 km. Although the wind field produces a large energy input to the ocean, all but approximately 10% appears to be dissipated within about 100 m of the sea surface, rendering observations of the energy divergence necessary to maintain the full water-column flow difficult. Attention thus shifts to the physically different kinetic energy (KE) reservoirs of the circulation and their maintenance, dissipation, and possible influence on the very small scales representing irreversible molecular mixing. Oceanic KE is dominated by the geostrophic eddy field, and depending on the vertical structure (barotropic versus low-mode baroclinic), direct and inverse energy cascades are possible. The pathways toward dissipation of the dominant geostrophic eddy KE depend crucially on the direction of the cascade but are difficult to quantify because of serious observational difficulties for wavelengths shorte...


The p16/CDKN2A tumor suppressor gene is known to be inactivated in up to 98% of human pancreatic cancer specimens and represents a potential target for novel therapeutic intervention. Chemically induced pancreatic tumors in Syrian golden hamsters have been demonstrated to share many morphologic and biological similarities with human pancreatic tumors and this model may be appropriate for studying therapies targeting p16/CDKN2A. The purpose of this study was to investigate the fundamental biochemistry of hamster P16 protein. Using both in vivo and in vitro approaches, the CDK4 binding affinity, kinase inhibitory activity, and thermodynamic stability of hamster and human P16 proteins were evaluated. Furthermore, a structural model of hamster P16 protein was generated. These studies demonstrate that hamster P16 protein is biochemically indistinguishable from human P16 protein. From a biochemical perspective, these data strongly support the study of p16-related pancreatic oncogenesis and cancer therapies in the hamster model. 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.


Different kinds of emotional phenomena are related in a different way with the workings of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Emotional reactions (phasic emotions), which appear on the basis of a cognitive loading (mental representation, recognition, play, prognostication, watching movies, reading of emotionally colored texts or separate words and so on) and which are tested with the help of electrophysiological methods, activate different regions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain depending on the complexity and novelty of emotiogenic situations as well as on the degree of subject's emotional tension. The tonic emotions individual background-mood, on which depends the emotional estimation (negative of positive) of the presented stimuli or events, are determined mostly by a prolonged, relatively stable, tonic activation of each hemisphere connected with subjects' individual characteristics. The predominance of the left hemisphere activity creates positive emotional background, whereas the predominance of the right hemisphere creates negative background.


Web applications have become very popular today in a variety of domains. Given the varied nature of client-side environments and browser configurations, it is difficult to completely test or debug the client-side code of web applications in-house. There are tools that facilitate functional testing on various browsers, but they cannot mimic all of the possible client-side environments. In modern web browsers, the client-side code can interact with numerous web services to get more data and even to update itself, which can in turn affect the behavior of the client in unforeseen ways. In these situations, monitoring the client-side code allows for gathering valuable runtime information about its behavior. In this paper, we propose a general technique for performing such monitoring. We also present a preliminary evaluation of the technique where we discuss its efficiency, effectiveness, and possible application scenarios.


Decreasing the mathematical learning gap between students with disabilities and their neurotypical peers has been a priority for educators and researchers for years. Teachers require an easily implemented intervention to improve students' comprehension of algebraic concepts. Algebra tiles are an intervention that has been frequently used to improve students' understanding of abstract math concepts. This study used a quasi-experimental design with a preand post-test to examine the impact of algebra tiles on students' understanding of distributive property and evaluating expressions. The treatment group received direct instruction and algebra tiles for a five-week period. Independent and paired samples t-tests were conducted to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the means of both groups on the post-test. The results of this study suggest that there were no significant differences in the final achievement of both groups. However, both group's scores improved from preto post-test with statistically significant scores. Therefore, although using algebra tiles increased students' scores they were not statistically more beneficial than direct instruction. Future studies should continue looking for ways that will allow student with disabilities access to the general education curriculum.


OBJECTIVES
Rehabilitation of patients following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been widely studied; however, research into early rehabilitation after CABG is sparse. The aim of this trial was to assess the impact of early rehabilitation, compared with usual care in patients following CABG.

DESIGN
Randomized controlled trial.

PATIENTS
A total of 326 patients treated with CABG.

METHODS
Patients treated with CABG were randomized 1:1 to 4 weeks of comprehensive early rehabilitation or usual care. The primary outcome was the Six Minute Walk Test (6MWT). Secondary outcomes were mental health and physical activity (Medical Outcome Study Short Form; SF-12); anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HADS); physical and emotional scores; sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI); pain (Örebro Musculoskeletal Screening Questionnaire; ÖMSQ) and muscle endurance (Sit-To-Stand test).

RESULTS
Sixteen patients dropped out. No significant differences between groups in the primary outcome (6MWT) were found after 4 weeks (p = 0.27). For secondary outcomes the odds ratio of HADS-D ≥ 8 decreased in favour of the experimental intervention (p = 0.04). There was non-adherence to parts of the intervention. Per-protocol analysis showed differences between groups for the 6MWT (p = 0.02) and the Sit-To-Stand test (p = 0.046).

CONCLUSION
In general, the intervention had no effect on the 6MWT, or secondary outcomes, except for depressive symptoms. However, in adherent participants, the intervention had a positive effect for the primary and several secondary outcomes.


We present a computational model for the mammalian circadian clock based on the intertwined positive and negative regulatory loops involving the Per, Cry, Bmal1, Clock, and Rev-Erb α genes. In agreement with experimental observations, the model can give rise to sustained circadian oscillations in continuous darkness, characterized by an antiphase relationship between Per/Cry/Rev-Erbα and Bmal1 mRNAs. Sustained oscillations correspond to the rhythms autonomously generated by suprachiasmatic nuclei. For other parameter values, damped oscillations can also be obtained in the model. These oscillations, which transform into sustained oscillations when coupled to a periodic signal, correspond to rhythms produced by peripheral tissues. When incorporating the light-induced expression of the Per gene, the model accounts for entrainment of the oscillations by light-dark cycles. Simulations show that the phase of the oscillations can then vary by several hours with relatively minor changes in parameter values. Such a lability of the phase could account for physiological disorders related to circadian rhythms in humans, such as advanced or delayed sleep phase syndrome, whereas the lack of entrainment by light-dark cycles can be related to the non-24h sleep-wake syndrome. The model uncovers the possible existence of multiple sources of oscillatory behavior. Thus, in conditions where the indirect negative autoregulation of Per and Cry expression is inoperative, the model indicates the possibility that sustained oscillations might still arise from the negative autoregulation of Bmal1 expression.


A significant number of studies evidence girls' lack of participation in physical education. This study used feminist poststructuralism to examine the ways in which high school girls participated in or resisted physical education. Using qualitative research methods, researchers collected field notes, informal interviews, and formal interviews with the teacher and 15 female students. In contrast to previous studies, girls in this study enjoyed and valued physical activity. As active agents, they chose to participate in or resist specific physical activities through their negotiations of gender relations. Physical education classes emerged as a contested terrain in which girls supported the notion of equal opportunity in physical activity but perceived limits on their choices in physical education as compared to male peers.


Abstract Background and Objectives : Leukemia is highly prevalent among children, and affects the family in addition to the child's life. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of training emotional intelligence on the quality of life of mothers of children with leukemia. Materials and Methods : The present quasi-experimental pretest-posttest uncontrolled study was conducted on 35 mothers of children with leukemia selected by convenient sampling from those attending selected hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using mothers' and children's demographic details and the Persian version of Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer questionnaire. Participants were assessed over 4 two-hour educational sessions using group discussion method (5 to 8 people). Two weeks after the intervention, questionnaires were completed by mothers again. Results : The results obtained using paired t and Wilcoxon tests showed significant reductions in the scores of mothers' quality of life two weeks after intervention in disruptiveness, and mental, physical, and financial concern dimensions (P<0.005) and a significant increase in positive adaptation dimension (P<0.005). Conclusion : The results obtained showed that training emotional intelligence skills can improve the quality of life of mothers of children with leukemia. It is therefore recommended that these skills be taught to mothers in order to improve their quality of life. Keywords : Emotional Intelligence, Quality of Life, Mothers, Children, Leukemia


Through this article, we try to propose the design of notification system that runs on the Android operating system. This notification will be used for the academic announcement in the campus environment. The current announcement system only depends on the web portal, phones, groups in social media or short message system. The use of web portals and phones still has many limitations. Our proposed notification system can meet the needs of academic announcement broadcast quickly and massively. In the end, this will cut the cost that stakeholders need to operate the academic announcement system in the campus environment. The design of smart notification system that we proposed in the future will be integrated with the academic information system.


This paper is focused on a new solution for congestion evasion in ad hoc multicast routing that referred as Congestion Evasion Multicast Routing short CEMR. CEMR is aimed at Congestion Evasion in Multicast Mobile Ad hoc routing protocol. The current MAC level routing strategy is independent which can work with any multicast routing protocol irrespective of tree or mesh structure. During the study of CEMR performance, the CEMR tested along with On-Demand Multicast Routing Protocol where simulation results proved that CEMR raises the performance of ODMRP in order of magnitude.


In the present work, we review the properties of some stem cell types, namely embryonic, hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells, which present the most significant interest for use in medicine. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of both self-maintenance and differentiation into mature specialized cells. According to their origin, stem cells can be classified as embryonic and somatic ones. The first ones can be indefinitely maintained in culture, and possess the ability to differentiate into all cells of the adult organism. The second ones possess the limited capacity to differentiate and, probably, a limited proliferative potential. For therapeutic use, important but hotly debated is the plasticity of somatic stem cells, i.e. context-dependent differentiation into "non-related" cell types. It is assumed that the differentiation of the majority of stem cell types proceeds according to the principle of stepwise hierarchical maturation through the stage of intermediate rapidly proliferating progenitor cells. The use of stem cells in medicine is mostly at the preclinical stage now. Despite the fact that embryonic stem cells are highly promising as therapeutic agents, a number of circumstances substantially limits their therapeutic use in the near future. At the same time, approaches involving autotransplantation of hematopoietic or mesenchymal stem cells are beginning to be applied successfully in the clinical trials for treatment of limb ischaemia and myocardial infarction. It is clear that despite a large number of problems and unsolved questions, the use of stem cells in medicine promises a dramatic progress in the treatment of many severe diseases.


The objectives of the present study are to determine the role of students' attitude and how science curriculum influences their intention to learn science subjects. A quantitative correlational research design was used. Data were collected through the survey method by using a questionnaire distributed randomly to 341 secondary school students of seven post-basic schools from Al-Sharkiyaha North governorate in Oman. The data were analysed using SPSS version 23.0. Pearson correlation findings revealed that students' attitude and science curriculum had a significant positive relationship in enhancing students' intention to learn science in post-basic education. This study offers insights for policymakers, school administrators and teachers on understanding the role of students' attitude towards learning science subjects, and the nature and design of the science curriculum on students' intention to continue learning science subjects in post-secondary education. The findings indicated that by employing effective instructional strategies and engaging curriculum, school teachers could facilitate students to develop positive intentions to continue learning science subjects in post-secondary education.


Intense flares that occur at late times relative to the prompt phase have been observed by the Swift satellite in the X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Here, we present a detailed analysis on the fall back accretion process to explain the intense flare phase in the very early X-ray afterglow light curves. To reproduce the afterglow at late times, we resort to the external shock by engaging energy injections. By applying our model to GRBs 080810, 081028 and 091029, we show that their X-ray afterglow light curves can be reproduced well. We then apply our model to the ultralong Swift GRB 111209A, which is the longest burst ever observed. The very early X-ray afterglow of GRB 111209A showed many interesting features, such as a significant bump observed at around 2000 s after the Swift/BAT trigger. We assume two constant energy injection processes in our model. These can explain the observed plateau at X-ray wavelength in the relatively early stage (8.0 x 10(3) s) and a second X-ray plateau and optical rebrightening at about 10(5) s. Our analysis supports the scenario that a significant amount of material may fall back towards the central engine after the prompt phase, causing an enhanced and long-lived mass accretion rate powering a Poynting-flux-dominated outflow.


Skutterudite materials have received great attention because their promising properties for thermoelectric (TE) applications. Among the family of skutterudites, CoSb3 has been intensively investigated due to its large electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. However, its thermal conductivity is too high to make it an effective TE material. Nanostructuring of CoSb3 has the desirable effects of reducing its lattice thermal conductivity as the point imperfections or grain boundaries can scatter phonons (heat carrier) more effectively than electrons (charge carrier). In this study, nanostructured CoSb3 was synthesized by solvothermal routes using CoCl2·6H2O and SbCl3 as precursors dissolved in anhydrous ethanol with the reaction temperature kept at 240°C. In addition to the CoSb3 phase, other Co-Sb compounds were also formed during the reaction process. In this paper, we investigated the effects of processing parameters, such as concentration of CoCl2·6H2O, SbCl3 and NaBH4 in ethanol and thermal duration of solvothermal synthesis, on the yield of CoSb3 phase.


Introduction: We aimed to investigate the effect of right bundle branch block (RBBB) on perfusion and functional parameters in dipyridamole stress/rest Tc99m-MIBI gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (GSPECT) which may be helpful in interpretation of myocardial perfusion imaging. Methods: We studied 73 patients with low pre-test likelihood of coronary artery disease in two groups: 38 patients with RBBB and 35 subjects with normal ECG. Both groups underwent two-day dipyridamole stress–rest Tc99m-MIBI GSPECT. Two groups were matched. There was no significant difference in sex and age variable between two groups. Results: Visual calculated SSS and SRS in all patients were between 0 and 3. Regarding the prone images, diaphragmatic attenuation and breast attenuation, all patients GSPECT findings were within normal limits. There was no significant difference in TID ratio between two groups: RBBB group: TID ratio= 1.02±0.16 and control group: TID ratio= 0.96±0.14 (P=0.09). There was no significant difference in left ventricular end-systolic volume, end-diastolic volume, ejection fraction, summed stress and rest motion & thickening scores between RBB patients group and control group. No regional LV wall motion abnormality was noticed in any patient in either group. Conclusion: High normality rate of the LV myocardial perfusion and functional indices in the presence of RBBB was noticed in gated Dipyridamole stress/rest Tc-99m sestamibi myocardial perfusion SPECT. No remarkable false positive perfusion findings or abnormal LV functional indices acquired by GSPECT in this group of patients.


Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987) was one of the most respected writers in the French language. Best known as the author of Memoirs of Hadrian and The Abyss, she was awarded countless literary honors, culminating in her election in 1980 to the Academie Francaise (she was the first woman to be so honored). Yourcenar described her writing as the "passionate reconstitution, at once detailed and free, of a moment or a man out of the past." As complex, erudite, and intriguing as her work, Yourcenar's own life has resisted its own passionate reconstitution until now, in part because of the writer's deliberate elusiveness, even in her autobiographical trilogy. Here, in its intricate and often contradictory detail, is Marguerite Yourcenar's story, one in which loss and learning intertwined almost from the first and in which love assumed a strangely paradoxical place. Drawing on letters, diaries, and interviews with Yourcenar's friends, colleagues, and lovers, Josyane Savigneau's biography paints an intimate portrait of an artist who lived according to her own, occasionally contrary, terms: a French woman ardently in love with her native tongue, yet who lived half her life in New England; an avid seductress of women, who spent nearly forty years with one woman, yet fell in love early and late in her life with two young men; a powerful female writer whose most memorable protagonists were male, from Alexis of her first novel to the later historical characters Hadrian and Zeno. Savigneau weaves these and other contraries of Yourcenar's life into a vibrant and engrossing pattern. Editor of "Le Monde des Livres, " the literary pages of France's most influential newspaper, Savigneau first met Marguerite Yourcenar on assignment in 1984. What began as a professional relationship gradually turned into a friendship. Savigneau's personal insights into that life enrich this exhaustively documented text. Following the lead set by Yourcenar in her memoir Dear Departed, the biographer f


Cholesteric liquid crystals, consisting of chiral molecules, form self-assembled periodic structures exhibiting a photonic bandgap. Their selective reflectivity makes them well suited for a variety of applications; their optical response is therefore of considerable interest. The reflectance and transmittance of finite cholesteric cells is usually calculated numerically. Evanescent modes in the bandgap make the calculations challenging; existing matrix propagation methods cannot describe the reflection and transmission coefficients of thick cholesteric cells accurately. Here we present analytic solutions for the electromagnetic fields in cholesteric cells of finite thickness, and use them to calculate the transmission and reflection spectra. The use of analytic solutions allows for the accurate description of arbitrarily thick cholesteric cells, which would not be possible with only direct numerical methods.


In this paper, we describe the concatenation of Turbo/Convolutional codes with transmit and receive diversity schemes by using Space-Time Block Code. It is shown that, by using two transmit antennas and one/or two receive antenna, large coding gain for the bit error rate is achieved over the system without diversity. Simulation results show that, by using systems with transmit and receive diversity, high gain can be achieved with very low complexity. It turns out that at BER = 10-4, the gain of 9 dB can be achieved for system using STTD transmit diversity only (without using any channel codes) and 2 dB gain can be achieved over channel coding systems using hard-decision decoding with much lower complexity. The most important conclusion is that, using soft-decision decoding systems enhanced with transmit diversity can provide very high coding gain; e.g., in convolutional coded system using soft-decision Viterbi decoder, the coding gain is 12 dB over uncoded system and 5 dB over hard-decision decoding in flat fading channel, while the coding gain is about 13 dB for turbo coded systems using soft-decision decoding based on SOVA algorithm with transmit diversity and the coding gain is 15 dB if the decoder is based on Log-MAP algorithm. In systems using transmit and receive diversity, the coding gain is much higher, e.g., for convolutional-coded systems, the coding gain is 20 dB, while for turbo-coded systems using SOVA and Log-MAP algorithms, the coding gain are a little more than 20 dB and 21 dB, respectively.


Ultrasound scanning performed on a patient to exclude a liver abscess was negative, but demonstrated a fluid-filled lesion situated at the lower pole of the right kidney. This was confirmed on excretory urography and angiography, and aspiration produced typical amoebic pus. THe evidence for this diagnosis and the probably route of infection are discussed. The literature on renal amoebiasis is reviewed.


Milling and co-milling are well known techniques that have potential to enhance the solubility and/or dissolution rate of poorly soluble drugs. There are broadly two aims for this project. The first was to develop an understanding of how individual and combination of techniques may be used to explore the impact of milling on particle characteristics (including phase changes, fractures and change in particle size) as a function of milling time/speed, for a range of single powder materials. Anhydrous (lactose, sucrose), monohydrate (lactose) and dihydrate (trehalose) excipients and a poorly soluble drug (ibuprofen), were chosen as model substrates. Each material was micronized by ball-milling (for various time durations and milling speeds) and then characterized by a range of techniques, specifically, SEM, DSC, TGA, THz and dielectric spectroscopy. The second aim of the project was to investigate the impact of milling and co-milling on the solubility and dissolution rate of ibuprofen after co-milling with a variety of excipients (polymer and surfactants). The principle findings of this programme of work can be summarized as follows: i) ball milling of lactose monohydrate produces nano-structured systems with a mixture of damaged crystals and amorphous phase, that can be characterised by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS), ii) THz spectroscopy provides estimates for residual crystallinity in lactose monohydrate that were much lower than the estimates from the thermal techniques. Such estimates of residual crystallinity are considered to be more reliable given the fact that the spectroscopic measurement characterizes the material in its native state, whereas thermal techniques require a heating process, which tend to induce de-vitrification and mutarotation of lactose. In case of anhydrous materials, while there was agreement between thermal and THz techniques at long milling times, it was shown that the THz technique was susceptible to moisture absorption and crystallization at short milling times, iii) In the molecular dynamics of milled sugars studied by DRS, the structural relaxation is not visible in the vicinity of glass transition, however the secondary relaxation (β) process is equally capable and provided molecular dynamics in term of activation energy changes. The activation energies of beta process of both lactose and sucrose are least affected by milling time, but the higher activation energies for sucrose as compared with lactose show that sucrose has lower propensity to recrystallize than lactose during post milling storage, iv) Ibuprofen can be assayed by UV-method in the presence of interfering (in absorption) substance by applying multivariate method involving the calculation of concentration factors and v) Co-milling with soluplus has increased the in the solubility of ibuprofen by ~20% and dissolution rate ~50% in 30 min, while these values are ~5% and 30%, respectively in case of co-milling with HPMC.


Quantification of biofilm formation by 40 Listeria monocytogenes strains from wara soft cheese and its processing environment was assessed on glass vials surfaces. Attachement to glass surface was quantified using a crystal violet binding assay. All the 40 strains produced biofilms after 48 and 72 h incubation at 37oC. No biofilms were formed at 24 h incubation but biofilm formation increased with incubation period in 20 out of the 40 strains. R2 values obtained were 0.0166 and 0.1193 respectively for biofilm formation between 24 and 48 h and 24 and 72 h incubation periods, respectively (P-values of 0.05*). L. monocytogenes strains isolated from wara cheese were generally sensitive to augmentin, streptomycin, claforan, erythromycin, gentamycin, septrin, tarivid, and rocephine and were highly resistant to nitrofuran, fortum, zinnat, and tetracycline. The enhancement of biofilm formation in L. monocytogenes strains from 'wara' in this study suggests a relationship with pathogenicity in foodborne isolates. The transfer of antibiotic resistant L. monocytogenes to human via the food chain is a significant health concern.


Purpose
In the past 25 years, employer and internal branding have grown significantly. Prior reviews tended to focus on either one of these domains. This study aims to map the intellectual structure of research on both employer branding and internal branding, thereby identifying impactful authors and journals, current and evolving themes and avenues for future research.

Design/methodology/approach
Using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny software packages, a bibliometric analysis of 739 articles was conducted using various methods such as citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, cluster analysis, keyword analysis and three-field plot. The Scopus results were further validated using 297 articles produced by the Web of Science data set. It ensured the robustness of the results and generalizability of the findings across bibliometric data sets.

Findings
The findings first report the impactful articles, authors and institutions of employer and internal branding research, along with popular keywords used in this area. Next, the analysis reveals four major clusters and seven subthemes (i.e. employer brand and job seekers, employer brand and employees, employer brand and international human resource management (HRM), third-party employer branding, internal branding – conceptualization/review, internal branding – antecedents and consequences, internal brand management). Early research focused more on "corporate brandings," whereas current research deals more with "employer branding: antecedents and consequences," "employer branding conceptualization/review," and "internal branding" and its subthemes. The employer and internal branding clusters have evolved largely independent from each other. This study offers future research directions and practical implications per cluster.

Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of both employer and internal branding research.


Background: The association of the normal physiological cycle to the structural pattern of microbiota in reproductive tract of women at reproductive age has not been extensively explored. This study was undertaken to determine whether the vaginal microbes of women at childbearing age is different among groups defined by urogenital tract infections, childbearing history and menstrual cycle, respectively.Results: This was a multiple case-control study of women at childbearing age who were assigned to case or control groups according to their states of urogenital tract infections. The participants were also grouped by childbearing history and menstrual cycle. Samples of vaginal swabs were collected and stored at -70℃ until assayed. The V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA genes were amplified using PCR and sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. We tested the hypothesis of whether the relative abundance of microbial species in vaginal microbiota was different between women with different urogenital tract infections, childbearing history and menstrual cycle. We showed that the vaginal microbial richness(Alpha diversity measured by PD_whole tree) was decreased in normal women(without reproductive tract infections) than in those with bacterial vaginosis (BV), and decreased in pregnant women than in other groups of non-pregnancy. Similarly, women from groups of normal and in pregnancy had lower beta diversity on measure of unweighted_unifrac distance in comparison to those of uninfected and non-pregnant. The top 10 genus relative abundance, especially that Lactobacillus was the most dominant genus with the relative abundance of 71.55% among all samples, did not differ significantly between groups of childbearing history and menstrual cycle analyzed by ANOVA and nonparametric kruskal_wallis.Lactobacillus iners and Lactobacillus helveticus have the most abundance, totally account for 97.92% relative abundance of genus Lactobacillus. It is proposed that a higher L.helveticus/L.iners ratio is more likely to present in normal women than in the infected and in pregnant than in non-pregnant, although this comparison lacks statistical significance.Conclusions: The relative abundance of dominant bacterial taxa in vaginal microbial communities of women at childbearing age, characterized with 16S rRNA gene sequence and QIIME based analysis, were not different among groups of childbearing history and menstrual cycle. Women from groups of in pregnancy and without reproductive tract infections had lower alpha and beta diversity. The compositional ratio of the main lactobacillus species may shift depending on the normal physiological cycle and reproductive tract infections.


Deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy has become an essential tool for treating a range of brain disorders. In the resting state, DBS is known to regularize spike activity in and downstream of the stimulated brain target, which in turn has been hypothesized to create informational lesions. Here, we specifically test this hypothesis using repetitive joint articulations in two non-human Primates while recording single-unit activity in the sensorimotor globus pallidus and motor thalamus before, during, and after DBS in the globus pallidus (GP) GP-DBS resulted in: (1) stimulus-entrained firing patterns in globus pallidus, (2) a monophasic stimulus-entrained firing pattern in motor thalamus, and (3) a complete or partial loss of responsiveness to joint position, velocity, or acceleration in globus pallidus (75%, 12/16 cells) and in the pallidal receiving area of motor thalamus (ventralis lateralis pars oralis, VLo) (38%, 21/55 cells). Despite loss of kinematic tuning, cells in the globus pallidus (63%, 10/16 cells) and VLo (84%, 46/55 cells) still responded to one or more aspects of joint movement during GP-DBS. Further, modulated kinematic tuning did not always necessitate modulation in firing patterns (2/12 cells in globus pallidus; 13/23 cells in VLo), and regularized firing patterns did not always correspond to altered responses to joint articulation (3/4 cells in globus pallidus, 11/33 cells in VLo). In this context, DBS therapy appears to function as an amalgam of network modulating and network lesioning therapies.


Phenolic acids are one of the most important factors that influence microbial community structure. Investigating the dynamic changes of phenolic acids and their relationship with the microbial community structure in plantation soils with different tree species could contribute to better understanding and revealing the mechanisms of microbial community changes under afforestation restoration in coal-mining subsidence areas. In this study, plantations of three conifer and one deciduous species (Pinus koraiensis, Larix gmelinii, Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica, and Populus ussuriensis) were established on abandoned coal-mining subsidence areas in Baoshan District, Shuangyashan City. The contents of soil phenols, 11 types of phenolic acids, and microbial communities in all plots were determined. The results showed that the contents of soil complex phenol in plantations were significantly higher than that of abandoned land overall. Specifically, soils in larch and poplar plantations had higher contents of complex phenol, while soils in larch and Korean pine plantations had greater contents of total phenol. Moreover, soil in the P. koraiensis plantation had a higher content of water-soluble phenol compared with abandoned lands. The determination of 11 phenolic acids indicated that the contents of ferulic acid, abietic acid, β-sitosterol, oleanolic acid, shikimic acid, linoleic acid, and stearic acid were higher in plantation soils. Although soil phenol contents were not related with soil microbial biomass, the individual phenolic acids showed a significant relationship with soil microbes. Ferulic acid, abietic acid, and β-sitosterol showed significant promoting effects on soil microbial biomass, and they showed positive correlations with fungi and fungi/bacteria ratio. These three phenolic acids had higher contents in the poplar plantation, suggesting that poplar affo-restation had a beneficial effect on soil quality in coal-mining subsidence areas.


Peer-to-peer networking offers unique advantages that will make it a more effective alternative to several existing client-server e-commerce applications, if it can mature into a secure and reliable technology. The paper discusses the advantages of P2P networks: load balancing; dynamic information repositories; fault tolerance; content-based addressing and improved searches. It also considers the disadvantages of P2P.


It is well known that clinicians experience distress and grief in response to their patients' suffering. Oncologists and palliative care specialists are no exception since they commonly experience patient loss and are often affected by unprocessed grief. These emotions can compromise clinicians' personal well-being, since unexamined emotions may lead to burnout, moral distress, compassion fatigue, and poor clinical decisions which adversely affect patient care. One approach to mitigate this harm is self-care, defined as a cadre of activities performed independently by an individual to promote and maintain personal well-being throughout life. This article emphasizes the importance of having a self-care and self-awareness plan when caring for patients with life-limiting cancer and discusses validated methods to increase self-care, enhance self-awareness and improve patient care.


Spermine synthase, a propylamine transferase, which catalyses the biosynthesis of spermine from S-methyladenosylhomocystemine and spermidine has been purified to an apparent homogeneity (about 6000-fold) from bovine brain using spermine-Sepharose affinity chromatography. The enzyme preparation was free from S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase and spermidine synthase activities. The molecular Stokes radius of the enzyme was calculated to be 4.16 nm. The enzyme has an apparent molecular weight of approximately 88 000, composing of two subunits of equal size. The enzyme showed a broad pH optimum between 7.0 and 8.0 and an acidic isoelectric point at pH 5.10. The apparent Km values for S-methyladenosylhomocysteamine was 0.6 microM and about 60 microM for spermidine. The enzyme showed strict specificity to spermidine as the propylamine acceptor. Both the reaction products, spermine and 5'-methylthioadenosine inhibited the enzyme activity, methylthioadenosine being a powerful competitive inhibitor with respect to S-methyladenosylhomocysteamine (Ki value of about 0.3 microM). Putrescine also inhibited competitively with respect to spermidine (Ki value of about 1.7 mM). Spermine synthase had no requirements for metal or other cofactors.


Increasing life expectancy has led to a global rise in late-life diseases. Quality of Life (QOL) is important for healthy life expectancy. The active ageing framework serves as a guide for policymakers to design policies that enhance the QOL of older people. This study aims to determine the association between awareness of active ageing and QOL. The Malay version of the 26-item WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was utilised along with the 14-item Active Ageing Awareness Questionnaire (AAAQ). A total of 532 participants had a mean (SD) age of 50.2 (5.9), were largely ethnic Malay (96.2%), female (52.8%), and comprised largely of low-income households (65.4%). The median (IQR) AAAQ score was 71.4 (19.1). The hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed significant positive association between AAAQ and the QOL domains of physical (β = 0.154, p < 0.001), psychological (β = 0.196, p < 0.001), social relationship (β = 0.175, p < 0.001), and environment (β = 0.145, p < 0.001) after adjusting for all covariates. Awareness of active ageing was found to have a positive effect on all domains of QOL among pre-elder employees, and thus, we recommend that policies to improve active ageing awareness should be implemented for healthy life expectancy in ageing populations.


Deaths associated with injected street preparations of heroin increased substantially in the District of Columbia between April 1979 and December 1982. The 1981 population-based mortality rate (17.4 per 100,000) is possibly the highest ever reported. A case-control study based on toxicologic analyses of postmortem blood samples indicates that concentrations of both heroin and ethanol are substantial risk factors for heroin-related deaths. Analyses of the composition of street-level preparations of heroin and quarterly mortality indicate that the quantity of heroin in packages sold on the street, the price of heroin in these packages, and the quinine weight per package each predict deaths equally as well. An increase in the causal use of heroin in combination with ethanol and quinine is the probable cause of this epidemic.


The Karhunen-Loeve Expansion (K-L expansion) is a bi-orthogonal stochastic process expansion. In the field of stochastic process, the Karhunen-Loeve expansion decomposes the process into a series of orthogonal functions with the random coefficients. The essential idea of the expansion is to solve the Fredholm integral equation, associated with the covariance kernel of the process, which defines a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS). This either has an analytical solution or special numerical methods are needed. This thesis applies the Karhunen-Loeve expansion to some fields of statistics. The first two chapters review the theoretical background of the Karhunen-Loeve expansion and introduce the numerical methods, including the integral method and the expansion method, when the analytical solution to the expansion is unavailable. Chapter 3 applies the theory of the Karhunen-Loeve expansion to the field of the design experiment using a criteria called "maximum entropy sampling". Under such setting, a type of duality is set up between maximum entropy sampling and the D- optimal design of the classical optimal design. Chapter 4 uses the Karhunen-Loeve expansion to calculate the conditional mean and variance for a given set of observations, with application to prediction. Chapter 5 extends the theory of the Karhunen- Loeve expansion from the univariate setting to the multivariate setting: multivariate space, univariate time. Adaptations of numerical methods of Chapter 2 are also provided for the multivariate setting, with a full matrix development. Chapter 6 applies the numerical method developed in Chapter 5 to the emerging area of multivariate functional data analysis with a detailed example on a trivariate autoregressive process.


Farquharson, S. M. (1976). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 51, 3. Growth patterns and nutrition in Nepali children. A growth survey of four groups of Nepali children from birth to 12 years was undertaken and the growth patterns related to diet. The patterns are those of children suffering from malnutrition in the second and third year and not those of a genetically small race. Diet histories showed inadequacies of diet, mostly preventable, occurring during the same period. Privileged children within the groups showed a different pattern and a significantly better growth.


The PAUSE (Picosat and Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Systems Engineering) project, currently under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California and the University of California at Los Angeles, is a high-altitude balloon-based aerobot which carries a gondola outfitted with various instruments. An aerobot is a robot designed to fly in the atmosphere of planets and moons, providing extensive regional access while gathering high resolution data. Aerobots have a multitude of applications such as mapping a terrestrial surface, ground surveillance, and in-situ atmospheric composition surveying. The latest version of PAUSE was deployed from Oregon where it successfully relayed live GPS, temperature, altitude, velocity, battery status, images, and magnetometer data to multiple ground stations. The goals of PAUSE are to demonstrate that existing technologies can be used for Aero-Robotic exploration and to develop new technology where existing options prove unsatisfactory.


Although transport related social exclusion has been identified through zonal accessibility measures in the recent past, the debate has shifted from zonal to individual level measures. One way to identify disadvantaged individuals is to measure their size of participation in society (activity spaces). After reviewing existing literature, this paper has found two approaches to measure the activity spaces. One approach is based on the time-geographic potential path area (PPA) concept. The size of the PPA has largely been used as an indicator to the size of potential activity spaces and consequently individual accessibility. The limitations of the PPA concept have been identified in this paper and it is argued cannot be applied as a measure of social exclusion. The other approach is based on individuals' actual travel activity participation called actual activity spaces. The size of actual activity spaces possesses a good potential measure of social exclusion. However, the indicators to measure the size of actual activity spaces are multidimensional representing the different aspects of social exclusion. The development of a unified approach has therefore been found to be important. This paper has developed a participation index (PI) using the different dimensions of actual activity spaces encountered. A framework has also been developed to operationalise the concept in GIS. The framework, on the one hand, will visualize individuals' actual travel behaviour in real geographic space; on the other hand, it will calculate the size of their participation in society.


In the past, scientists focused on the development of antidotes (mainly anticholinergics in combination with reactivators of inhibited acetylcholinesterase-oximes) to increase the number of surviving nerve agent-intoxicated individuals. Recently, they are interested in antidotes able not only to protect nerve agent-poisoned men from lethal toxic effects but also to improve their life quality by improvement of their central cognitive functions. In our study, the water maze was used to measure spatial working learning and memory in the case of tabun-induced cognitive impairment in albino Wistar rats. Antidotal treatment consisted of atropine alone or a combination of atropine with an oxime (obidoxime, trimedoxime or oxime HI-6). Our results suggest that atropine alone is not sufficient as a treatment for saving cognitive functions impaired by tabun. On the other hand, the addition of oxime to atropine contributes to improvement of cognitive performance in tabun-poisoned rats regardless of type of oxime.


We present a 4 × 4 array of digital silicon photomultipliers (D-SiPMs) capable of timestamping up to 48 photons per D-SiPM and we show the advantage of generating multiple timestamps in the context of positron emission tomography (PET). The D-SiPMs have a pitch of 800 μm and comprise 416 pixels each; the timing resolution achieved by the SiPMs is 179 ps FWHM, while each pixel has a fill factor of up to 57 % and a single-photon timing resolution of 114 ps.


The location of new establishments is a major issue from the perspective of economic activity and the analysis of the territory. Although both its determinants and consequences are multiple and complex, most studies are focused on single factors or aggregate approaches. This paper presents an agent-based model (ABM) with the main objective to analyze, with high spatial accuracy, the effects of public policies on the behaviour and performance of firms. The starting point is the building, trough statistical matching techniques making use of microdata sources, of a database that replicates the attributes and location of all individuals and companies that are located in a specific spatial context. Then, individual behaviours are established for both companies and human beings who are interacting according to their preferences and endowments. Individuals are an essential part of the model as they operate as consumers, workers and entrepreneurs, conditioning the carrying out of firms, their entries and closures. In addition to these agents we include a raster of locations, built through with downscaling techniques, that includes for each cell the number of individuals, establishments or land use as well as other key variables such as distance to transport networks, land price or GDP generated. Patterns of mobility and consumption are identified with the matching of several sources of data and the building of relationships between agents. Furthermore, the current situation of different policies is displayed, in order to measure properly the changes later introduced to do simulations. Then we are able to forecast the growth of agglomeration economies and simulate the impact of changes in public policies on SMEs location and performance. A new contribution of this work is the inclusion of a complete modeling of entrepreneurial activity, from the generation of the idea to the decision of the location and the final implementation of the project. That is, it is possible a more realistic approach to the behaviour of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in which location decisions is related more to personal conditions of the employer that to business efficiency criteria. The model is implemented in MASON and the results are presented in stochastic terms thus enabling a better assessment of both policy outcomes and their risks. JEL: L25, L26, R12, R58 Keywords: Agent-based model, entrepreneurship, business location


PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of conscious and unconscious processes on risky investment intention. In this framework, the effect of individual cultural values and phantasy on risky investment intentions was investigated. In addition, the mediating role of phantasy in the relationship between individual cultural values and risky investment intentions was also analyzed.Design/methodology/approachData were collected between May 14, 2020 and June 01, 2020, when our graduate students voluntarily shared the online survey link on their social networks. In this way, 1,934 people in total answered the questionnaire. To test the study model, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using the AMOS program. In addition, ANOVA and independent sample t-test analyses were conducted using the SPSS program to analyze whether individual cultural values and risky investment intent differ according to demographic variables.FindingsAccording to the analysis results, power distance, collectivism, masculinity and long-term orientation are seen as antecedents of phantasy. While a positive relationship was found between power distance, collectivism and risky investment intention, a negative relationship was found between uncertainty avoidance and risky investment intention. Statistical findings regarding the mediating effect of phantasy on the relationship between individual cultural values and risky investment intentions were also determined. In addition to these, the differences in individual cultural values and risky investment intentions according to age, education level, sex and marital status were investigated. Individuals with the highest uncertainty avoidance level were in the 41–50 age group. Individuals with the highest long-term orientation level were individuals aged 41 and over. Individuals with the lowest risky investment intentions were in the +51 age group. Collectivism and power distance did not differ according to age. There were no differences in the relevant variables according to the level of education. Males have higher levels of risky investment intention, power distance, masculinity and collectivism than females, and married individuals have higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and collectivism than singles.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the impact of conscious and unconscious processes on risky investment intentions together. On the other hand, the number of studies empirically investigating the relationship between phantasy and risky investment intention is quite limited, and the authors have also provided the findings for the existence of a relationship between these two variables.


Background Traffic crashes (MVC) injure many people and affects victims' everyday lives and productivity. Traumatic experiences are common, but only a minority of survivors develops chronic emotional problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The objective of this cross sectional study is to determine the quality of life (QoL) and PTSD among traffic crash survivors. Methods A total of 108 traffic crash survivors from the Orthopaedic Clinic of two leading public hospitals in Selangor, Malaysia (Serdang Hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital) participated. Each respondent was interviewed face to face using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire to measure QoL and Impact Event Scale (IES) to measure the level of PTSD. Results The results found that 82.4% of the respondents developed PTSD and 56.5% of the respondents had poor QoL. There is significant difference exists in social relationship domain with the level of PTSD (p < 0.05). There is also a significant difference between overall QoL score and the level of PTSD among the respondents (p < 0.05). The result also showed a significant difference between age (p = 0.044), race (p = 0.013) and educational level (p = 0.002) with the mean score of QoL. However, there was no significant association between age, gender, marital status and educational level with the level of PTSD. QoL score was found to be significantly correlated with PTSD (p = 0.030). Conclusions In conclusion, traffic crash involvement is a leading cause to PTSD. Decrements in QoL have been associated with both chronic pain and also PTSD. Hence, greater attentions need to be given for those traffic crash survivors who developed PTSD symptoms.


Rapid measurement of a fatty acid supplement in poultry feed formulations was performed using near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy with chemometric analysis. A standard feed formulation was amended with up to 10 wt% fatty acid supplement containing Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) and scanned from 10,000 cm -1 to 4000 cm . Spectra were evaluated by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to detect outliers followed by -1 Partial Least Square (PLS) regression. Models were developed with first derivative spectra. A typical dataset of 36 spectra was subdivided with 30 spectra used for model calibration and 6 spectra for the validation set. The PLS model produced a regression coefficient of 0.98314 with an RMSEC value of 0.44772. This technique provided a rapid method to analyze the amount of fatty acids in supplemented feeds.


AbstractPrior to studying an instructional text, college students were given either a topically relevant outline or a topically irrelevant (control) outline and asked to generate propositions about the topics by drawing upon their existing knowledge. The results indicate that comprehension was highest among those students who activated relevant prior knowledge before text study, and who were again provided with an outline of that knowledge during testing. The measure of comprehension used here was total meaningful recall: It included text propositions plus valid elaborations based on the interaction of text information and students' existing knowledge. The results of conceptual clustering analyses suggest that organization was one of the mechanisms by which topical outlines increased meaningful recall. Additional analyses conducted only on the elaborations indicate that students produced more of them during long-term (six week) recall than during immediate recall.


As imatinib becomes generic, physicians treating patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) worldwide face doubts regarding the efficacy and toxicity of generics. There are many studies, mostly retrospective in nature, from different countries with different outcomes. Since generics differ from nation to nation, at least one of the possible reasons for these contradictory findings could be attributed to this fact. To date, all of the studies from Turkey show that both the efficacy and tolerability of generics are comparable to those of the original molecule. We have read with great interest the report of a study by Klil-Drori et al. from Canada, in which the authors compared generic and branded imatinib among patients with CML in chronic phase (CML-CP), focusing on nonpersistence of treatment as the primary outcome. They clearly showed that the duration of use of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in patients with CML-CP was significantly shorter among generic imatinib users than among those taking the branded originator, and intolerance was the main reason for this higher nonpersistence. Although this report presents some very important findings, for our point of view, there are some aspects that need to be underlined. The authors stated within the text and in their Online Supplementary Table S1 that some previous studies including ours did not show the rates for TKI cessation due to intolerance among cases receiving generics. However, in the paper published in the British Journal of Haematology, it was stated that there was no switch to second-generation TKI due to intolerance in patients taking generics, and only three patients receiving generics needed a dose reduction due to toxicity. Similarly, in the article published in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia, in which we compared early molecular responses and long-term outcomes in patients taking generic imatinib or Glivec, nine patients out of a total of 43 cases receiving generics were switched to a second-generation TKI for any reason (failure or toxicity). Of these nine cases who had a TKI switch, seven did so because of treatment failure and the other two because of intolerance. In both of these studies, the percentages of patients who needed a switch to a second-generation TKI were similar for both generic and original imatinib, although the median durations of follow-up of Glivec users were significantly longer than those of generic imatinib users in both studies. TKI treatment can be associated with toxicities, which might result in temporary and/or permanent discontinuation of this therapy. Interruption of TKI therapy can also translate into less favourable outcomes. Since there is a growing number of studies among patients receiving generic imatinib from different countries with contradictory results, as the authors suggested, further comparative work on the tolerability of generics is still needed.


Chemokines are components of the skin microenvironment, which enable immune cell chemotaxis. Traditionally, transcription factors involved in inflammatory signaling (eg, NFκB) are important mediators of chemokine expression. To what extent xenobiotics and their associated receptors control chemokine expression is poorly understood. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor known to mediate physiological responses in the skin through the regulation of genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, epidermal differentiation, and immunity. Here, we demonstrate that AHR activation within primary mouse keratinocytes regulates the expression of a neutrophil directing chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 5 (Cxcl5). AHR-mediated regulation of Cxcl5 is because of direct transcriptional activity upon treatment with AHR agonists such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Additionally, AHR mediates enhanced induction of Cxcl5 upon exposure to an agonist and the inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1 beta. This synergy is confined primarily to keratinocytes, as dermal fibroblasts did not achieve the same level of combinatorial induction. AHR-specific antagonists were able to reduce basal and induced levels of Cxcl5, demonstrating the potential for pharmacological intervention. Exposure of C57BL/6 J mice to ultraviolet (UV) light followed by topical treatment with the AHR agonist formylindolo(3,2-b)carbazole (FICZ) significantly induced Cxcl5 expression in skin compared with UV alone, and this response was absent in Ahr-/- mice. These results establish AHR as an important mediator of Cxcl5, with implications for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases.


This study explores the adoption of open innovation (OI) practices in medium-sized and large firms in a sector characterised by low levels of external collaborations. Many firms struggle to adopt OI practices (O'Connell, 2011); the processes that lead to the adoption of OI practices are unclear (Mortara and Minshall, 2011); and the degree of open innovation, as measured by the number of external collaborations, in Irish firms is low (Vahter et al., 2012). This inductive study is based on case studies of a significant innovation in four medium-sized (€50m to €500m) and four large (Revenue above €500m) firms from the food sector in Ireland. In each of the firms, multiple senior managers (CEOs, innovation managers and marketing managers) were interviewed about the origin of the innovative idea; the management of the innovation; and the role of external partners and customers in the innovation process. Within and cross case analysis finds that the adoption of OI innovation practices are most common at the early stage of the innovation value chain (IVC); that managerial perceptions of competitive threats appear to limit the extent to which firms adopt OI practices at the conversion stage of the IVC; that at the diffusion stage OI practices are largely limited to collaborations with customers; and managers regard external interactions for market
orientation as being open in their innovation processes. In terms of the process of adoption, the smaller firms in this study are characterised by ad-hoc adoption of OI practices, while in the larger firms there is some evidence of more 'conscious adoption' of OI practices (Mortara and Minshall, 2011). Contributions include an argument that OI practices differ by stages of the innovation process; that managerial perceptions limit the adoption of OI practices; that market orientation
may be regarded as a subset of open innovation; and the development of emerging work that explores the adoption of OI in non-'high-tech' contexts.


[From the introduction]. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of "uncertainty over ultimate membership" on Schimmelfening and Sedelmeier model of conditionality as a factor that explains Europeanization. It is with this in mind that this paper will examine the "limits of conditionality" with a particular emphasis on Turkish accession. Turkey constitutes a unique case. The prospect of Turkish membership has generated a debate in which a vocal group of actors in Europe resists eventual membership. This in turn is impacting on Turkish public policy makers cost-benefit analysis. At a time when academic interest in Turkish accession in general and Turkey's "Europeanization" is increasing an effort to achieve a better understanding of the limits of conditionality is called for. The paper is divided into three sections. The first part offers a brief analysis of Turkey's "Europeanization" under the influence of the EU's political conditionality for starting accession negotiations. This was a period during which it is possible to argue that Schimmelfening and Sedelmeier "external incentive model" actually helps one to understand and explain the drastic transformation that Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy went through. The second section on the other hand focuses on how the model becomes inadequate to explain the manner in which policy makers in Turkey began to resist certain critical reforms once accession negotiations started. The paper looks in particular at the issue of asylum as a very specific area in which Turkey has to adopt EU rules and implement them. This section will offer a brief analysis of the evolution of the Turkish asylum system and show how Turkish decision makers have reached a point where they are ready to adopt EU rules and requirements but stop short of doing so. The final section attempts to demonstrate how in a very specific policy area the erosion of the EU's credibility in respect to Turkey's ultimate membership is actually weakening the capacity of "conditionality" to induce "rule adoption". The paper will conclude that the uncertainty over eventual EU membership and mistrust is keeping public policy makers' calculation of "governmental adoption costs" prohibitively high while at the same time the Turkish asylum system is itself going through a kind of "Europeanization".


Soil hydraulic properties (SHPs) play an important role in land‐surface models, but their spatial distribution is poorly known, and it is not feasible to make field measurements of SHPs everywhere they are needed. In addition, the scale SHPs are measured on (10 cm) is substantially smaller than the scale at which land‐surface models are run (>1 km). As a result, land‐surface models need landscape hydraulic properties (LHPs), not SHPs. We present a method for identifying LHPs from MODIS surface temperatures. We calibrated LHPs in the Noah land‐surface model using MODIS surface temperatures in 2005 at 14 sites from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) using locally observed forcing data from 2005. We then used observed flux data during this same time period for model verification. Next, we determined LHPs from MODIS surface temperature at five sites using High Resolution Land Data Assimilation forcing data from 2002. We then used these LHPS to run Noah with 2005 ARM forcing data and compared the output to the same observed 2005 fluxes. Fitting LHPs to MODIS data decreases the error in modeled latent heat flux from 98 W/m2 to 67 W/m2. Fitting LHPs to these same latent heat flux measurements decreases the error to 50 W/m2. Therefore, two thirds of the parameter estimation improvement from calibration to in situ flux data can be achieved using remotely sensed surface temperature. These results are insensitive to errors in other parameters. For example, changing albedo by 0.1 changes the saturated conductivity (Ks) by 10% and the van Genuchten "m" parameter by 1%. However, changing minimum canopy resistance by 40 s/m produced a significant but mutually compensating change in both Ks and "m."


Abstract. We developed a coupled salt and water balance model to represent the stream salinity generation process following land use changes. The conceptual model consists of three main components with five stores: (i) Dry, Wet and Subsurface Stores, (ii) a saturated Groundwater Store and (iii) a transient Stream zone Store. The Dry and Wet Stores represent the salt and water movement in the unsaturated zone and also the near-stream dynamic saturated areas, responsible for the generation of salt flux associated with surface runoff and interflow. The unsaturated Subsurface Store represents the salt bulge and the salt fluxes. The Groundwater Store comes into play when the groundwater level is at or above the stream invert and quantifies the salt fluxes to the Stream zone Store. In the stream zone module, we consider a "free mixing" between the salt brought about by surface runoff, interflow and groundwater flow. Salt accumulation on the surface due to evaporation and its flushing by initial winter flow is also incorporated in the Stream zone Store. The salt balance model was calibrated sequentially following successful application of the water balance model. Initial salt stores were estimated from measured salt profile data. We incorporated two lumped parameters to represent the complex chemical processes like diffusion-dilution-dispersion and salt fluxes due to preferential flow. The model has performed very well in simulating stream salinity generation processes observed at Ernies and Lemon experimental catchments in south west of Western Australia. The simulated and observed stream salinity and salt loads compare very well throughout the study period with NSE of 0.7 and 0.4 for Ernies and Lemon catchment respectively. The model slightly over predicted annual stream salt load by 6.2% and 6.8%.


Along the coast of North Carolina development has put tremendous stress on already delicate natural systems. Consisting almost entirely of barrier islands this region is highly dynamic and subject to a variety of acute and chronic natural hazards. In order to continue to enjoy these areas for recreation and reap the economic benefits that they bring it will be essential to strike a balance between human activity and nature. This can only be accomplished through effective planning and coastal management. It is argued here that resilient coastal communities result from the combination of relatively low natural vulnerability as well as planning and management strategies aimed at effectively adapting to different types of hazards. Taking both vulnerability and planning into account a resilience index has been devised and is used to compare three different communities along the North Carolina coast. The results suggest that traditional mitigation strategies are insufficient and that more adaptive approaches will be necessary to sustain these communities.


We intend to present the results of an on-going study started in pandemic concerning dentophobia as a health problem. Our aim was to correlate the level of health education with the feeling of fear of dentistry and anxiety in young population during the pandemic. We used an anonymous online questionnaire on a group of 45 subjects aged 18-55. The results of this on-going study up to this stage show that despite the pandemic, there is a concern of young adults about about oral hygiene and dental issues as part of the overall health of the subjects investigated. The need to implement psycho-educational dentistry programs still exists.


Sugarcane silage (SS) is generally susceptible to yeast action, resulting in dry matter losses due to high soluble carbohydrate concentration. We evaluated the effects of adding corn grain and microbial inoculant at ensiling on fermentative profile, losses, chemical composition and degradation of silages. Forty experimental silos (PVC tubing) were assigned at random to a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement with: (1) 5 corn additions at ensiling: CONT straight sugarcane silage; GC2 sugarcane with ground corn (processed through a 2 mm sieve) added at ensiling; GC8 sugarcane with ground corn (processed through an 8 mm sieve) added at ensiling; WC sugarcane with whole corn grain added at ensiling; and RCS rehydrated corn ensiled without sugarcane; and (2) 2 microbial inoculant additions at ensiling: 0 and 8 mg of commercial inoculant per kg of feed. Corn grain was added at the rate of 100 g per kg of fresh sugarcane. Adding corn grain to sugarcane at ensiling improved SS fermentation and silage chemical composition. There was no benefit from grinding the grain before adding it to sugarcane. Microbial inoculant had little effect on SS fermentation. Studies comparing corn grain with other energy sources, e.g. molasses or cassava, for addition at ensiling sugarcane seem warranted along with feeding studies with livestock to assess intake and subsequent performance. The overall benefits of adding the energy sources at ensiling versus feeding them directly to animals with untreated sugarcane silage should be determined.


This dissertation consists of three empirical studies on the entry and evolution of foreign firms in a new market. The common thread through these three essays is a focus on the scope of the foreign firm in a host country, and on how this scope is shaped by local firms and environments. The first essay examines the effect of the technology capability of the local Indian firm on the choice between contractual and equity governance modes in strategic alliances between Indian and foreign firms. The second and third essays study the entry behaviour of foreign firms into various segments of the US automobile industry focusing on how these entry decisions are shaped by competition and mutualism from other firms in the segment. Across the three essays, the thesis thus examines the scope of the foreign firm both in terms of its economic boundaries – what it 'makes' and what it 'buys'-, as well as in terms of its product-market footprint – the product segments it occupies in the host country.