Undiscernible faults on seismic reflection profiles are referred to as subseismic faults. Although most subseismic faults are undetected, they play a significant role in understanding regional tectonic evolution and can influence the flow of oil and gas. The Songliao Basin in northeast China is a typical Meso-Cenozoic continental petroliferous basin characterized by stable sedimentation, rift-depression dual structure, and large-scale oil and gas production. However, the characteristics of subseismic faults and their effect on petroleum resources remain not well understood. We have examined findings from the SK-2 east borehole located in the Songliao Basin, which is the deepest (7018 m deep below the ground surface) continental scientific drilling borehole in East Asia. We identified 46 subseismic faults at 2900–4200 m depths based on the observations of core-scanning images, macro- and microstructures, and well-logging data. Macro- and microstructural analyses indicate that most of the subseismic faults in the borehole indicate normal slip. These observations suggest that these subseismic faults may form in response to regional extension in the Shahezi (K1sh) period. The cross-cutting relationships among several groups of sheared fault planes or elongated veins filled in the fractures likely reflect multistage faulting. The subseismic faults are considered to be related to the nearby larger scale faulting as interpreted on the seismic profile. The spatial correlation between the observed subseismic faults and elevated hydrocarbon concentrations documented by borehole mud gas logging suggests that the subseismic faults might have controlled gas migration in the study area.


A pH and glutathione (GSH) dual bio-relevant triggered supramolecular system is constructed through the non-covalent host–guest interactions between the adamantane (ADA) on camptothecin (CPT) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) on the side chain of the backbone of hyaluronic acid (HA). The obtained non-covalent supramolecular β-CD-g-OX-HA/ADA-CPT complex could further self-assemble into a stable uniform sphere micellar structure with constant drug loading content in the extracellular environment but is cleaved in the cytosol of the cancer cells due to the acidic environment and the presence of a high concentration of GSH, resulting in a synergistic-fast pH and GSH triggered drug releasing behavior. The cytotoxicity of the supramolecular β-CD-g-OX-HA/ADA-CPT micelles was investigated using Hep G2 cancer cells by MTT assays, which displayed that supramolecular β-CD-g-OX-HA/ADA-CPT micelles had exhibited enhanced cellular proliferation inhibition against Hep G2 cancer cells compared to the free CPT, while the β-CD-g-OX-HA had good cell compatibility. In vivo studies of the β-CD-g-OX-HA/ADA-CPT micelles showed a higher in vivo efficacy without side effects and also confirmed the compatibility of the β-CD-g-OX-HA. It is anticipated that this supramolecular complex will give the possibility to fabricate new types of bio-relevant triggered nanocarriers for cancer therapy.


BACKGROUND
Pelvic fracture is a severe and life-threatening injury that requires treatment by a dedicated team. One of the goals of a nationwide trauma system is to provide appropriate medical care for such injuries.

OBJECTIVES
To use pelvic fractures as a test case for the efficiency of the Israeli trauma system, as reflected in the experience of our medical center.

METHODS
Data were obtained from the medical charts of all cases of pelvic fractures admitted to our medical center between 1987 and 1999. We obtained demographic data, information on the cause of injury, fracture classification, co-injuries and Injury Severity Score, treatment strategies, and mortality rate.

RESULTS
Altogether, 808 patients with pelvic injuries were treated in our medical center. The most common cause of injury was motor vehicle accidents (51%). Pelvic fractures without acetabular involvement were diagnosed in 58% of patients and isolated acetabular fractures in 32%, while 10% sustained combined injuries to the pelvic ring and the acetabulum. The overall rate of operative stabilization was 34%. The majority of patients had associated injuries, mostly additional musculoskeletal injuries. Altogether, 13% were referred from Level II/III trauma centers. We observed an increase in the total number of local admissions, in the percentage of referred patients and in the percentage of operated patients during the study period. The observed mortality rate was 5%.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results show a more than twofold increase in the percentage of referred patients following the designation of a Level I trauma center. These referrals are due not only to the designation as a Level I trauma center, but also to the presence of a dedicated team of pelvic fracture specialists, available 24 hours a day. In addition, a larger percentage of patients undergo surgery for internal fixation of pelvic fractures, in accordance with current worldwide trends.


The progressive urbanism and population density of the modern world, along with the degradation of the natural environment, have caused a radical disappearance of vacant urban spaces. For this reason the importance of undeveloped, open spaces located in urban areas has increased. The development potential of empty spaces should be reasonably assessed, and thereby their use should be considered − as an element of compact urban fabric or a reserve of space for the future. The goal of the article is to discuss and evaluate the role of empty areas in cities in terms of economic, social and environmental impacts, as well as to provide a universal toolset in the field of spatial planning that can be utilized to secure the value, and maintain control over the management of empty spaces. The object of the study is Wroclaw with particular emphasis on undeveloped urban land. The research covered, depending on the available data, the period 2010-2018. The work uses a deductive method, simple statistical methods, results of research carried out so far and a reinterpretation of available scientific literature. The article is an introduction to considerations on the impact of empty urban spaces on the socio-economic development of modern cities.


This paper introduces hthreads, a unifying programming model for specifying application threads running within a hybrid computer processing unit (CPU)/field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) system. Presently accepted hybrid CPU/FPGA computational models-and access to these computational models via high level languages-focus on programming language extensions to increase accessibility and portability. However, this paper argues that new high-level programming models built on common software abstractions better address these goals. The hthreads system, in general, is unique within the reconfigurable computing community as it includes operating system and middleware layer abstractions that extend across the CPU/FPGA boundary. This enables all platform components to be abstracted into a unified multiprocessor architecture platform. Application programmers can then express their computations using threads specified from a single POSIX threads (pthreads) multithreaded application program and can then compile the threads to either run on the CPU or synthesize them to run within an FPGA. To enable this seamless framework, we have created the hardware thread interface (HWTI) component to provide an abstract, platform-independent compilation target for hardware-resident computations. The HWTI enables the use of standard thread communication and synchronization operations across the software/hardware boundary. Key operating system primitives have been mapped into hardware to provide threads running in both hardware and software uniform access to a set of sub-microsecond, minimal-jitter services. Migrating the operating system into hardware removes the potential bottleneck of routing all system service requests through a central CPU.


We consider the problem of a search engine trying to assign a sequence of search keywords to a set of competing bidders, each with a daily spending limit. The goal is to maximize the revenue generated by these keyword sales, bearing in mind that, as some bidders may eventually exceed their budget, not all keywords should be sold to the highest bidder. We assume that the sequence of keywords (or equivalently, of bids) is revealed on-line. Our concern will be the competitive ratio for this problem versus the off-line optimum.
 We extend the current literature on this problem by considering the setting where the keywords arrive in a random order. In this setting we are able to achieve a competitive ratio of 1-ε under some mild, but necessary, assumptions. In contrast, it is already known that when the keywords arrive in an adversarial order, the best competitive ratio is bounded away from 1. Our algorithm is motivated by PAC learning, and proceeds in two parts: a training phase, and an exploitation phase.


»Zeitgeschichte als transatlantisches Projekt: Autobiographische Überlegungen zur deutschen Frage«. This autobiographical retrospective discusses Konrad Jarausch's scholarship as an example of the topical and methodological development of contemporary history. In contrast to nationally bound scholars, his career in the United States and involvement in German debates illuminates the transatlantic connections of historicizing the recent past. The need to confront the Nazi dictatorship initially privileged political history, but the societal upheavals of the 1960 shifted interests towards quantitative methods and the new social history. The peaceful revolution of 1989 then challenged historians to establish a nuanced interpretation of the GDR in scholarship and memory culture. At the same time the cultural turn called for an engagement with postmodern methods of narratology, transforming theoretical approaches towards constructivism. The growing sensitivity towards the European and global embeddedness of the German past finally inspired a move towards transnational perspectives. This intellectual trajectory is therefore emblematic of successive changes which opened contemporary history towards a new plurality.


ABSTRACT This study presents animal fiber characterization and the influence of various fiber loadings on mechanical properties of sheep hair fiber-reinforced polymer (SHFRP) composites. The sheep hair fibers (SHF) characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and non-contact surface roughness machine. The functional group and chemical bond were analyzed using FTIR techniques. The crystallinity index and thermal stability of the SHF were characterized, using XRD and TGA techniques, respectively. The composites were fabricated using a compression molding technique and a varying weight percentage of 20, 30 and 40 fiber. The composite plates were cut into test samples according to ASTM standard methods for their mechanical (tensile, flexural and impact) behaviors to be extensively analyzed. The surface morphology of the fractured samples was examined with aid of an SEM. From the results obtained, it was evident that the SHFRP composite recorded a significantly increased tensile strength property when fiber loading was increased from 20 to 40 wt%. The optimum 40 wt% SHFRP composite sample recorded better flexural and impact strength, when compared with other counterparts. This was attributed to a better fiber-matrix interfacial adhesion, as established fromSEM micrographs.


Objective To observe the effect of Longzuan Tongbi Recipe (LTR) on Fas/FasL sys- tems in serum and synovium of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats. Methods Ten rats were randomly selected from 60 male Wistar rats as a normal control group. CIA model was prepared by injecting type II bovine collagen and incomplete Freund's adjuvant mixture in the rest 50 rats. After modeling rats were di- vided into the model group, the methotrexate (MTX) group, high, middle, and low dose LTR groups, 10 in each group. Normal saline was administered to rats in the model group by gastrogavage. MTX solution (0.27 mg/100 g) was administered to rats in the MTX group by gastrogavage, once per week for 4 succes- sive weeks. LTR (4.32, 2.16, 1.08 g/mL) was administered to rats in the 3 LTR groups by gastrogavage, twice per day for 30 successive days. Morphological changes of synovium were observed by HE staining. Expression levels of Fas/FasL in rat serum and synovium were quantitatively detected by ELISA. Results Normal synovium cells could be seen in the normal group. But they were obviously proliferated, fat cells in the lower synovium were reduced or deformed, fibroblasts were increased in the model group, accompa- nied with infiltration of lymphocytes and monocytes. All these changes were more obviously alleviated in the MTX group, and the 3 LTR groups. Compared withI the normal control group, Fas expression level in- creased in rat serum and synovium, serum FasL expression level decreased in the model group (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). Compared with the model group, Fas expression level decreased in rat serum and synovium in the MTX group, high and middle dose LTR groups; Fas expression level in rat serum increased in the MTX group and 3 LTR groups; Fas expression level in synovium increased in the MTX group, high and middle dose LTR groups (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). Compared with the MTX group, Fas expression level in serum of the low dose LTR group, and Fas expression level in synovium of low and middle dose LTR groups was elevat- ed; Fas expression level in serum and synovium of the high dose LTR group was reduced; FasL expres- sion level in serum and synovium of low and middle dose LTR groups was reduced; FasL expression level in serum and synovium increased of the high dose LTR group (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). Conclusion LTR could control and treat rheumatoid arthritis, and its mechanism might lie in regulating. Fas/FasL systems media- ted cell apoptosis, and relieving pathological reaction of rheumatoid arthritis.


Theories and policies for the maintenance and renewal of water supply systems are required. The occurrence of water distribution pipe breakage and water leakage is influenced by pipe material, size and age as well as soil characteristics and transportation. The water leakage has to be discovered as soon as possible from the viewpoint of minimizing water loss. However, it costs more to increase inspections for water leakage. In this study, the model to determine the optimal inspection interval for water leakage of the water distribution network was examined. The optimal inspection interval was estimated to minimize the total cost of inspection, pipe repair and lost water. The developed model was applied to a water distribution area whose water main is 486 kilometres long. The area was divided into sub-area of 250 metres square. Those sub-areas were classified into 6 groups according to pipe break rate. The optimal inspection interval was obtained for each group and its validity examined by numerical simulation.


This chapter reviews the therapeutic armamentarium available for the treatment of cardiovascular disease during pregnancy. The management does not differ markedly from that of the non-pregnant population. Few drugs are absolutely contraindicated, although, for many, safety data are limited and caution is recommended. The potential risks to the fetus must be weighed against maternal benefit and the well-being of the pregnancy. Women of childbearing age requiring long-term medication should be offered pre-pregnancy counselling, and other non-pharmacological avenues, such as radio-frequency ablation for supraventricular arrhythmias, should be explored.


Non-invasive measurements of right and left ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF, LVEF) by multiple-gated equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography were performed in 18 control subjects, 16 patients with angina pectoris, and 45 patients with hypoxic chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The mean RVEF in the control subjects was 0.62 +/- 0.09 (SD), which was not significantly different from the mean RVEF in the patients with angina (0.60 +/- 0.09), but was significantly higher (p less than 0.01) than the mean value in patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema (0.45 +/- 0.11). LVEF was not significantly different in the groups studied. There was a significant correlation between LVEF and RVEF only in patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema (p less than 0.001). Those patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema who had clinical evidence of cor pulmonale at the time of the study had significantly lower values of RVEF and LVEF (p less than 0.001) than patients with no previous cor pulmonale or those who had had cor pulmonale in the past. There was a significant correlation between RVEF and arterial oxygen (p less than 0.01) and carbon dioxide tensions (p less than 0.05). Reduced RVEF in patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema may be an early indicator of the development of cor pulmonale and may be useful as a non-invasive method of assessing the effects of therapeutic interventions.


Abstract:The article explores patterns of democratic backsliding in postaccession Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on "constitutional retrogression" in Bulgaria. It shows that the political marginalization of the middle class has led to diminished social demand for the rule of law, which has in tum facilitated the silencing of independent media and the capture of key components of the judiciary by oligarchic networks bent upon embedding economic illiberalism in Bulgarian society. This article also introduces the concept of "soft decisionism," a personalistic form of governing practiced by incumbent Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.


The paper analyzed the attitude of students of federal university of technology Owerri towards a career in Agriculture with a view to  understanding the effect on future manpower needs for Nigeria Agricultural Development. Fifty final year student were randomly selected from the five departments in the school of Agric and Agricultural technology (SAAT). Data were collected with the aid of questionnaire. Data analyses were achieved using simple descriptive statistics as percentages frequency tables, mean and ranking.  results of the study shows that majority (68%) of the undergraduate were within the age bracket of 21 and 25 years old and had urban background. There was a significant relationship among the Attitude of Agricultural undergraduates towards a career in Agriculture and their socio – economic and farm related characteristics at 5% level of significance. There is need for and adequate reorientation programmes for youths especially the agricultural undergraduate towards making a career in agriculture as well as professionalizing agriculture thereby as a professional career Key Words: Attitude Of Students Of Federal University Of Technology


Food hygiene in Japanese-style confectionery factories is hard to practice because the businesses are small. In a supporting system of voluntary-based hygienic management in this field, we microbiologically investigated the production processes of "Monaka" in a workshop in Tokyo. We microbiologically assessed the processing environments as well as the products in the workshop, then proposed some improvements in the production of the confectionery. After the improvements, microbial contamination of the processing environments was reduced and no microbial contamination was found in the sugared bean, or "An" produced, though the product "Monaka" was still contaminated, especially by molds. It was clarified that the molds came from contaminated baked wheat shells, or "Kawa" and further that the wheat shells were contaminated by molds during storage.


Stress levels experienced by individuals in the workplace are highly prevalent and well documented. Self-compassion has been suggested as an approach that may support the health and wellbeing of individuals and enable them to stay well at work. Self-compassion is understood as, compassion directed inward, relating to oneself as the object of care and concern when faced with difficulty (Neff, 2003b). There is a growing body of research suggesting that interventions to develop self-compassion may impact positively on the health and wellbeing of a working population. The first study in this thesis, a systematic literature review, seeks to consolidate this literature in order to examine the potential benefits of interventions to develop self-compassion in workplace-based samples. This review was conducted using a systematic approach as outlined by Briner and Denyer (2012) which included several sifts of the resultant literature. Following this protocol, the review identified 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria which showed promising evidence to suggest that self-compassion can be developed and benefit the health and wellbeing of employees. The included studies varied in content, delivery mode and quality which hindered firm conclusions being drawn as to the most effective intervention. The studies also offered limited insights in terms of the mechanisms that may increase self-compassion and improve health and wellbeing. Interestingly, only four of the 12 included studies considered an intervention that explicitly focused on the core components of self-compassion (self-kindness/common humanity/mindfulness) as defined by Neff (2003b).

Healthcare professionals are well documented in the literature as experiencing high levels of stress and burnout accompanied by reduced mental wellbeing. The second study in this thesis looked to test a novel, self-guided online intervention developed by the author based on the three core components of self-compassion; and assess the efficacy of the intervention on the health and wellbeing of a healthcare professional sample. Building on the study limitations identified in the systematic review, this study employed a randomised controlled trial. The study aimed to evaluate the veracity of the intervention by considering mental wellbeing, stress and burnout variables, and the self-compassion levels of participants, pre, post and one-month following their attendance on the programme. The healthcare professional sample (n=230) was drawn from several NHS Trusts around the UK and of these, 190 participants completed the baseline measures. To ensure robust evaluation of the intervention, a randomised waitlist control trial design was utilised. The results showed that the intervention group (n=54) significantly improved on measures of self-compassion (including the six additional subscales), mental wellbeing, stress and burnout immediately after the intervention and that these improvements were maintained at one-month follow up relative to the waitlist control group (n=60). These findings suggest that the intervention utilised in this study shows promise in terms of developing self-compassion and benefitting the health and wellbeing of a healthcare professional population. The implications of the study findings, for both research and practice, are discussed.


Three-dimensional (3D) digitization of manufactured objects has been investigated for several years and consequently, many techniques have been proposed. Even if some techniques have been successfully commercialized, most of them assume a diffuse or near diffuse reflectance of the object's surface, and difficulties remain for the acquisition of "optically non cooperative" surfaces, such as transparent or specular ones. To address such surfaces, we propose a non-conventional technique, called "Scanning from Heating" (SfH). In contrast to classical active triangulation techniques that acquire the reflection of visible light, we measure the thermal emission of the heated surface. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate, by using the experimental setup designed for specular (transparent or not) objects, how this method allows reconstruction both of internal and external surfaces of glass objects from a unique measure. .


Structured interviews were used to explore 10th grade teachers' understanding of students' attitudes and values toward physical education and physical activity as a variable in students' probability of dropping physical education and adolescent obesity. When asked how school-based physical education could help combat the problem of students dropping physical education, teachers suggested providing a greater range of choices among activities and providing further opportunity for positive experiences in physical education. Furthermore, teachers stated that the greatest barriers to students who are overweight and/or poorly skilled from enjoying physical education were their feelings of being humiliated, ridiculed, embarrassed, and discriminated against. Teachers demonstrated a lucid understanding of students' attitudes and values, as well as of more debilitating barriers, to increasing physical activity. Notwithstanding, if physical educators are to provide a safe and encouraging environment, they must acknowledge that what they do, or choose not to do, may have an enduring impact on students. Although teachers are unable to do much about extracurricular physical activity, they can do something about the physical education offered in schools. Results of the study suggest that teachers must offer more activities from which students may choose including sports that do not demand highly developed motor skills, but still emphasize fitness and health.


Workers are organized into trade unions in order to attain a higher bargaining power in the face of their employers. It is a fundamental human right for workers to be organized into to trade union. The operations and performance of trade union though is influenced by several factors. This research explored the factors affecting the performance of trade unions in post primary level of the educational sector. The general objective was to analyze the factors that affect the performance of post primary trade unions in the education sector. A case study of Kitui County. The specific objectives were to determine how union leadership affected the performance of trade unions in post primary education institutions, to find out how financial factors affected the performance of trade unions in post primary level of educational sector, to determine how multi-unionism influenced the 'performance of trade unions in post primary level of educational sector and lastly, to determine how constitutional changes affected the performance of this trade unions. The research questions were obtained from the specific objectives and they sought to answers on how union leadership, union revenue, multi-unionism and constitutional changes influenced the performance of trade unions in post primary level of education in Kitui county. The research design used was descriptive which involved the use of the design as a strategy for collecting and analyzing data that answered the research questions. The target population was 525 individuals; out of this 500 were union members and 25 were union leaders. The members were drawn from primary, secondary and tertiary institution in Kitui County. Stratified sampling design was used to select the sample and random sampling was used to get 'specific members and leaders. A questionnaire was administered to each of the two groups. This questionnaire consisted of both structured and open ended questions to give qualitative and quantitative data. Data ~' collected from field was analyzed using descriptive statistics in which frequencies and percentages were used. SPSS was used to analyze the data and to determine whether the independent variables are related to the dependent variable. Data was presented in tables, pie charts and graphs. Qualitative data was coded and themes that related to research questions in the study were identified. Qualitative data was interpreted by attaching significance to themes and patterns observed. The study provided recommendation performance and growth of trade unions.


We suggest a model for metaphor interpretation using word embeddings trained over a relatively large corpus. Our system handles nominal metaphors, like "time is money". It generates a ranked list of potential interpretations of given metaphors. Candidate meanings are drawn from collocations of the topic ("time") and vehicle ("money") components, automatically extracted from a dependency-parsed corpus. We explore adding candidates derived from word association norms (common human responses to cues). Our ranking procedure considers similarity between candidate interpretations and metaphor components, measured in a semantic vector space. Lastly, a clustering algorithm removes semantically related duplicates, thereby allowing other candidate interpretations to attain higher rank. We evaluate using a set of annotated metaphors.


A visionary approach to transparency Cataracts are the most common cause of vision loss, especially in our ever-increasing elderly population. Cataracts arise when crystallin, a major protein component of the eye lens, begins to aggregate, which causes the lens to become cloudy. Makley et al. explored whether small molecules that reverse this aggregation might have therapeutic potential for treating cataracts, which normally require surgery (see the Perspective by Quinlan). They used a screening method that monitors the effect of ligands on temperature-dependent protein unfolding and identified several compounds that bind and stabilize the soluble form of crystallin. In proof-of-concept studies, one of these compounds improved lens transparency in mice. Science, this issue p. 674; see also p. 636 A compound that reverses the molecular cause of cataract formation improves eye lens transparency in mice. [Also see Perspective by Quinlan] Cataracts reduce vision in 50% of individuals over 70 years of age and are a common form of blindness worldwide. Cataracts are caused when damage to the major lens crystallin proteins causes their misfolding and aggregation into insoluble amyloids. Using a thermal stability assay, we identified a class of molecules that bind α-crystallins (cryAA and cryAB) and reversed their aggregation in vitro. The most promising compound improved lens transparency in the R49C cryAA and R120G cryAB mouse models of hereditary cataract. It also partially restored protein solubility in the lenses of aged mice in vivo and in human lenses ex vivo. These findings suggest an approach to treating cataracts by stabilizing α-crystallins.


The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present two challenges for integrated planning and implementation at the national level. One is that policies and plans need to identify and accommodate interconnectivities amongst the SDGs. Second is the need to balance the three dimensions: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. This paper uses network analysis to explore interconnectivity and balance of the Sri Lankan policies or plans in relation to SDG 7, that advocates clean energy security. The findings suggest that the selected policies or plans are not only clearly linked to SDG 7, but also shows strong connectivity to SDG 1 (poverty), 10 (inequality), 11 (cities) and 12 (sustainable consumption and production) as well as other SDGs. This emphasises the need to recognise sectoral cross links for an integrated plan. In terms of balance there is a skew towards the environmental dimension over the economic and social dimensions. There are also conflicts between the environmental and economic dimensions that need to be acknowledged and reconciled, while more focus is needed to meet the objective of energy for all. Lastly the paper shows that network analysis can assist policymakers and planners to move towards building an integrated approach to develop sustainable policies and plans.


Ad-hoc network is set up with multiple wireless devices without any infrastructure. Its employment is favored in many environments. Quality of Service (QoS) is one of the main issues for any network and due to bandwidth constraint and dynamic topology of mobile ad hoc networks, supporting Quality of Service (QoS) is extremely a challenging task. It is modeled as a multi-layer problem and is considered in both Medium Access Control (MAC) and routing layers for ad hoc networks. Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is one of the most used and popular reactive routing protocols in ad-hoc networks. This paper proposed a new protocol 'QoS based AODV' (QAODV) which is a modified version of AODV.


The NIRSpec instrument of JWST can be operated in multi-object (MOS), long-slit, and integral field mode with spectral resolutions from 100 to 2700. Its MOS mode uses about a quarter of a million individually addressable mini-slits for object selection, covering a field of view of 9 square-arcminute. We have developed a procedure to optimize a parametric model of the instrument that provides the basis for the extraction of wavelength calibrated spectra from NIRSpec data, from any of the apertures and for all the modes. Here, we summarize the steps undertaken to optimize the instrument model parameters using the data acquired during the latest cryo-vacuum campaign of the JWST Integrated Science Instrument Module, recently carried out at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The calibrated parametric model is able to reproduce the spatial and spectral position of the input spectra with an intrinsic accuracy (1-sigma, RMS) ~ 1/10 of a pixel in spatial and spectral direction for all the modes. The overall wavelength calibration accuracy (RMS) of the model as measured on the extracted spectra is better than 1/20 of a resolution element for all of the grating-based spectral modes and at the level of 1/14 of a resolution element for the prism. These results are well within the allocations for the model in the overall spatial and spectral calibration budget of NIRSpec.


BACKGROUND
Millions of people worldwide are suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD), and there are only symptomatic treatments available for this disease. Thus, there is a great need to identify drugs capable of arresting or reversing AD. Constituents of the spice turmeric, in particular, curcuminoids, seem to be very promising, as evident from in vitro experiments and tests using animal models of AD. However, most of the clinical trials did not reveal any beneficial effects of curcuminoids in the treatment of AD. These controversies, including conflicting results of clinical trials, are thought to be related to bioavailability of curcuminoids, which is low unless it is enhanced by developing a special formulation. However, there is growing evidence suggesting that other reasons may be of even greater importance, but these avenues are less explored.

OBJECTIVE
Review relevant literature, and analyze potential reasons for the controversial results.

METHODOLOGY
Recent in vitro and preclinical studies; clinical trials (without a limiting period) were searched in PubMed and Google Scholar.

RESULTS
While recent in vitro and preclinical studies confirm the therapeutic potential of curcuminoids in the treatment of AD and cognitive dysfunctions, results of corresponding clinical trials remain rather controversial.

CONCLUSION
The controversial results obtained in the clinical trials may be in part due to particularities of the curcuminoid formulations other than bioavailability. Namely, it seems likely that the various formulations differ in terms of their minor turmeric constituent(s). We hypothesize that these distinctions may be of key importance for efficacy of the particular formulation in clinical trials. A testable approach addressing this hypothesis is suggested.


Abstract A growing literature indicates that organizational and work demands place pressure on the partners and families of volunteer workers as it does on paid workers. This study evaluated a conceptual model integrating work–family conflict and stress crossover theoretical frameworks, to investigate the mechanisms by which emergency service volunteer work, specifically, predicts outcomes for the partners of volunteers. Matched data from 102 couples in which one partner was an Australian emergency services volunteer – firefighter, ambulance officer or emergency rescue volunteer – were analysed using structural equation modelling analyses. Findings suggested that one mechanism by which inter-role conflict related to partner adjustment was through elevated withdrawn marital behaviour and decreased intimacy reported by the couple, which indirectly affected partners' distress. This finding regarding withdrawn behaviour appears to be novel and may also be applicable to paid workers. Alternative mechanisms involving role overload and angry marital behaviour were not supported. These findings extend limited research which has adapted organizational theory to understand processes affecting volunteer workers, and advance conceptual accounts of the mechanisms through which the partners and families of workers are impacted by inter-role conflict.


Background Hypertension guidelines advise aggressive blood pressure (BP) lowering in patients with diabetes or high cardiovascular risk, but supporting evidence is limited. We analysed the impact of BP on cardiovascular events in well treated high-risk patients enrolled in a large clinical trial (Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in combination with Ramipril Global Endpoint Trial). Methods Twenty-five thousand five hundred and eighty-eight patients with atherosclerotic disease or diabetes with organ damage, tolerant to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, were randomized to ramipril, telmisartan or both. We related the primary composite outcome and its components to: baseline SBP; SBP changes from baseline to event; and average in-trial SBP. Results The risk of myocardial infarction did not increase with baseline SBP and was unaffected by subsequent SBP change. In contrast, stroke risk progressively increased with baseline SBP (P for trend <0.0001) and decreased with reduction. In patients with baseline SBP less than 130 mmHg, adjusted for several covariates, cardiovascular mortality increased with further SBP reduction (P < 0.0001). A J-curve (nadir around 130 mmHg) occurred in the relationship between in-treatment SBP and all outcomes except stroke. Conclusion In high-risk patients, the benefits from SBP lowering below 130 mmHg are driven mostly by a reduction of stroke; myocardial infarction is unaffected and cardiovascular mortality is unchanged or increased. Future trials should be designed to test the value of SBP lowering in high-risk patients with SBP in the range of 130–150 mmHg.


Introduction: Anticoagulant therapy in cirrhotic patients has traditionally centered around low molecular weight heparin or vitamin K antagonists. Antifactor Xa activity and synthesis of antithrombin is negatively correlated with the severity of liver disease, and the international normalized ratio is often prolonged at baseline, which limits the monitoring of these agents. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) do not require laboratory monitoring which makes these agents a potentially favorable alternative. However, due to their metabolism partly in liver, apixaban and rivaroxaban have been avoided in severe liver disease. Methods: Patients with diagnosed cirrhosis that received at least one dose of apixaban or rivaroxaban from April 2016 through June 2020 at the University of Louisville Hospital were included. Data collected included: reason for admission, Child-Pugh classification, renal function, team initiating DOAC, if this was a home medication or new start and if another anticoagulant was utilized prior to DOAC initiation, indication and dosing. The clinical efficacy outcome [new venous thromboembolic event (VTE)], and clinical safety outcome [bleeding event] were analyzed for the admission of initiation as well as any further admission post initiation. Results: 41 patients with cirrhosis were placed on apixaban or rivaroxaban between April 2016 and June 2020. Of these, 29.3% were placed on a DOAC outside of prescribing recommendations from FDA product labeling based on Child-Pugh Classification. The incidence of thrombotic events in this subpopulation was 8.3% (n5 1/12). The incidence of bleeding events in this subpopulation was 16.6% (n5 2/12). Overall, in cirrhotic patients placed on DOACs in this evaluation, the rate of thrombotic events was 7.3% (n 5 3/41) and the rate of bleeding events was 4.8% (n-2/41). In the APLIFY trial comparing the efficacy and safety of apixaban with enoxaparin/warfarin therapy in acute VTE, the incidence of VTE or VTE-related death on apixaban was 2.3% and the incidence of bleeding events was 15%. Conclusion: The ability to utilize DOACs in severe liver dysfunction is appealing as monitoring or administration may be difficult with traditional anticoagulants like warfarin or low-molecular-weight heparins. Further clinical trials are needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the use of DOACs in this patient population as this medication evaluation was limited by its retrospective design and small sample size.


Using the effective non-Markovian measure proposed by Breuer et al. recently, we study the memory effect of a central qubit system coupled to a spin chain environment with Dzyaloshinskii—Moriya interaction in a transverse field. It is discovered that the central qubit system presents different memory effects in different environment phases with the different oscillatory behaviors of the decoherence factor. Moreover, it is revealed that the Dzyaloshinskii—Moriya interaction has a prominent influence on the memory effect of a central qubit system via modifying the amplitude and period of the decoherence factor under certain conditions.


The dose-response relationships of ipratropium bromide were assessed by two different techniques in two groups of 10 male patients with partially reversible airways obstruction. In a randomised double-blind fashion on four days, 10 patients were given 40 μg, 80 μg, or 120 μg of ipratropium bromide or placebo from identical containers. Baseline FEV1 and vital capacity were measured and the measurements repeated after 40 minutes, one, two, four, and six hours, and any symptoms were elicited. In the second study, each patient received cumulative doses of 40 μg, 80 μg, and 120 μg. Baseline FEV1 was obtained and repeated 35 minutes after each dose. The peak increase of the FEV1 was comparable in both studies. The FEV1 was slightly greater after 120 μg than after 40 μg. Although this reached statistical significance only in the first study, it was concluded that the cumulative dose-response technique was suitable for determining the peak response. However, this technique was unsuitable for assessing duration of effect, which could be examined only in the first study. After 120 μg of ipratropium bromide, the FEV1 was significantly greater than after 40 μg at each time interval and it was greater than 80 μg at six hours (p<0·05). No significant side effects were noted in either study. When prolonged effective bronchodilation is sought, a dose of 120 μg of ipratropium bromide may be preferable to the recommended dose of 40 μg.


Adolescents are the future of the European Union. They are the ones who will make strategic decisions and shape relations among the member countries. In order to manage political and economic challenges and to create Europe of knowledge, the significance of education and promotion of the European identity among young people has to be emphasized. The purpose of this research was to become acquainted with the opinions of the younger generation on the EU member countries, foreigners living there and the European economy during/after crisis. The tasks were to ask students, who spent at least 3 months abroad, to share their views on how they were treated by foreigners while staying abroad, and what they frankly think about the other European countries and their inhabitants. They also commented on the development of European identity and their potential place of residence in the future. The primary methods used in the study were a survey and a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results. A survey was conducted in May 2011 among 100 of Polish students who took part in European student exchange programmes (e.g. Erasmus or Leonardo da Vinci). The study included 13 detailed questions, both open and closed. It helped in pinpointing the pros and cons of the system. What is more, it highlighted the advantages of seeking challenges abroad and temporary change of environment. It may also be useful in eliminating the possible drawbacks mentioned by respondents. The results of this research are particularly significant for economists because they forecast possible migrations in the nearest future due to distinct and fast development of the European identity. The vast majority of the young people feel responsible not only for their country of birth but also for the whole Union as well. They tend to name themselves Europeans as often as Poles. They are not guided by stereotypes and treat foreigners as individuals without generalizing. The young generation is not afraid to work abroad and/or with foreigners, and even looks forward to it. People become better educated, aware of who they want to be, more creative and innovative. Because of constantly improving level of languages, development of the European Research Area, transfer of knowledge and open access to information, it happens that particular institutions, enterprises or smaller companies exchange among one another products, services and employees. The results lead to certain conclusions. Despite the fact that the European educational policy was so heavily criticized, it appears that it has at least one reason to be valued for – the development of European identity among young people. The economic growth may be based on culture. The success of the European Union and its strategies depends on well-informed citizens who understand, support, identify and feel responsible for all actions undertaken by UE. That is why, there is a need for new models of communication and cooperation between EU institutions, the economy and European citizens. The globalization leads to constant integration of the European countries, societies and economies. Because of the Internet the distance is no longer a problem, that is why people may easily maintain relations with foreigners after returning to their country. It makes them pay more attention to their behavior and tendencies. In other words, it makes them more responsible European citizens. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.6.1521


The Malicious Email Tracking (MET) system is an online "behavior-based" security system employing anomaly detection techniques to detect deviations from a system's or user's normal email behavior, rather than solely by attempting to identify known attacks against a system via signature-based methods. The Email Mining Toolkit (EMT) is an offline data analysis system designed to assist a security analyst compute, visualize and test models of email behavior for use in MET. In this paper, we enumerate the features implemented in the EMT system.


Image-based Computer Vision techniques have become increasingly popular for documenting archaeological trenches. Such techniques provide a means for reconstructing the 3D geometry using only equipment that is already part of the archaeological documentation workflow, namely a digital camera, a computer and a total station for transforming the 3D model into the reference coordinate system used at the excavation site. This paper presents a scene reconstruction pipeline suitable for image-based 3D documentation of archaeological trenches. However, the main contribution lies in the post-processing of the data which enriches the geometry (= the spatial aspects) with temporal and semantic information. In the post-processing step the model is first classified coarsly to locate the trench boundaries (profiles) by clustering the surface triangles according to their orientation and position. The profiles are usually perpendicular to each other and can therefore be found by searching the clusters. Next, the models of different excavation layers from the same trench are registered against each other by establishing keypoint correspondences between them. These keypoints are restricted to the profiles located in the previous step as these only grow in size and remain relatively static throughout the excavation. The observation that the profiles only grow in size can be exploited to perform an automatic temporal ordering of the single models. This incorporates temporal aspects and allows to reproduce the single steps of the excavation virtually. Since the models of the single layers are registered against each other, it is sufficient to transform only one of them to the reference coordinate system from the excavation site using 3D points aquired with a total station. The transformation can then be applied to all remaining models accordingly. This allows measuring in the models and correlating them with other spatial data. Finally, the geometry is augmented with semantic information by classifying it into archaeological entities (finds and features) in addition to the profiles that have been located in the first post-processing step. The basis for this classification are CAD plans which are produced directly on-site using a total station. As these 2D drawings reside in the site's coordinate system, they can be related to the 3D geometry of the trench. Since the drawing has a lower dimensionality as the model, problems arising at perpendicular surfaces and protruding objects need to be handled explicitely. The innovation of this paper lies in the holistic approach of combining spatial, temporal and semantic aspects of archaeological trenches into a unified frame. Augmenting the geometry with semantic and temporal information allows archaeologists to carry out the interpretation of the finds and features directly in 3D space.


Although the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 held that providers of P2P file sharing software could be liable for contributory copyright infringement, millions of people continue to illegally download music and movies in spite of the threat of litigation from the RIAA. The paper argues that the entertainment industry has never been in the forefront of technological innovation, while copyright laws prohibiting P2P are regarded as lacking legitimacy, much like Prohibition in the 1920's and speeding and public morality laws today. Since enforcement of the law is leading to invasions of privacy, the stifling of technological innovation, and the criminalization of otherwise law abiding citizens, the time has come to legalize P2P as some countries have done.


Cytosine methylation (5mC) is vital for cellular function, and yet 5mC sites are also commonly mutated in the genome. In this study, we analyse the genomes of over 900 cancer samples, together with tissue type-specific methylation and replication timing data. We describe a strong mutation-methylation association in colorectal cancers with microsatellite instability (MSI) or with Polymerase epsilon (POLE) exonuclease domain mutation. We describe a potential role for mismatch repair in the correction of mismatches resulting from deamination of 5mC, and propose a mutator phenotype to exist in POLE-mutant cancers specifically at 5mC sites. We also associate POLE-mutant hotspot coding mutations in APC and TP53 with CpG methylation. Analysing mutations across additional cancer types, we identify nucleotide excision repair- and AID/APOBEC-induced processes to underlie differential mutation-methylation associations in certain cancer subtypes. This study reveals differential associations vital for accurately mapping regional variation in mutation density and pinpointing driver mutations in cancer.


This study focuses on the technology practices of teacher educators in further education (FE) colleges as a site for the negotiation of professional identity. As the culture of performativity and accountability has grown across the English education system, FE has become progressively standardised, centrally mandated and regulated. This has led to debates about teacher professional autonomy and the underlying values of an education system ostensibly oriented towards neoliberalist consumer markets. Policymakers present both the professionalisation of the FE workforce and the effective use of technology as crucial to achieving educational objectives. However, amid substantial interventions into FE teacher education and practice, decisions about educational technology use are seemingly entrusted to teaching professionals. Drawing on the analytical resources of sociocultural and sociomaterial theory, this qualitative case study of three teacher education teams explores how teacher educators negotiate professional identity within the figured worlds of FE. Although underrepresented in research, the literature indicates that this group has an important role in achieving government objectives for improved learner outcomes. This study's findings suggest that teacher educators identify with the key discourses of their context and professional role to different degrees, and seek to reconcile competing versions of professionalism. Teacher educator work is replete with technology and the appearance of professional choice in many technology practices is illusory. This is found to affect perceptions of technology as integral to teacher educator expertise and the extent to which technology is used in the politically desired ways. Adding to the growing body of research on teacher educator professionalism and higher education (HE) in FE contexts, this thesis foregrounds the influence of the FE culture and conditions of employment on the (re)formation of teacher educator professional identity and demonstrates the potential of technology practices as an access point for further identity research.


Transparent authentication (TA) schemes are those in which a user is authenticated by a verifier without requiring explicit user interaction. Those schemes promise high usability and security simultaneously. Many TA schemes rely on the received signal strength as an indicator for the proximity of a user device (prover). However, such implicit proximity verification is not secure against an adversary who can relay messages. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for thwarting relay attacks in TA schemes: the prover permits access to authentication credentials only if it can confirm that it is near the verifier. We present TRec, a system for relay-resilient transparent authentication in which the prover does proximity verification by identifying its approach trajectory to the intended verifier and comparing it with known authorized reference trajectories. Trajectories are measured using low-cost sensors commonly available on personal devices. We demonstrate the security of TRec against a class of adversaries and its ease-of-use by analyzing empirical data, collected using a TRec prototype. TRec is efficient and can be easily integrated into existing TA schemes.


The trans-MnIII(salen)(OH2)2+ undergoes reversible aqua ligand substitution by HOX− (H2salen = N,N′-bis(salicylidene)ethane-1,2-diamine; HOX− = −O–COCO2H) with k1/dm3 mol−1 s−1 (k−1/s−1) = 11.8 ± 0.7 (0.255 ± 0.02), ΔH≠/kJ mol−1 = 54.6 ± 0.8 (64.2 ± 6.7), ΔS≠/J K−1 mol−1 = −41.2 ± 2.6 (−40.8 ± 22.7) at 25.0 °C and I = 0.3 mol dm−3. The low values of the activation enthalpy and nearly the same and negative values of the activation entropy are ascribed to an associative transition state for this interchange process (Ia mechanism). The redox reaction that follows involves several paths and the products are MnII and CO2 identified by ESR spectroscopy and conventional test, respectively. The rate retardation by acrylamide monomer with no perceptible polymerization during the course of the redox reaction supports the involvement of the radical intermediate, C2O4−˙ (= CO2 + CO2−˙) which succeeds in reducing MnIII species much faster than the dimerisation of its congener, CO2−˙ in keeping with the stoichiometry, |[ΔMnIII]/Δ[OX]| = 2. The trans-[MnIII(salen)(OH2)(HOX) and its conjugate base, trans-MnIII(salen)(OH2)(OX)− are virtually inert to intramolecular reduction of the MnIII centre by the bound oxalate species but undergo facile electron transfer by H2OX, HOX− and very slowly by OX2− following the reactivity sequence, kH2OX > kHOX ⋙ kOX and featuring second order kinetics. The rate retardation by the anionic micelles of SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and rate enhancement by N3− provide supportive evidence in favor of the proposed mechanistic pathways. The structure optimization of trans-MnIII(salen)(OH2)(HOX) (A), trans-MnIII(salen)(HOX)2− (B), trans-MnIII(salen)(OH2)(OX)− (C), trans-MnIII(salen)(OH2)(H2OX)+ (E1), and trans-MnIII(salen)(HOX)(H2OX) (E2) {all high spin MnIII(d4)} by Density Functional Theory (DFT) reveals that the structural trans-effect of the unidentately bonded OX2− in C is the strongest and MnIII assumes five coordination with the H2O molecule (displaced from the MnIII centre), hydrogen bonded to the phenoxide oxygen moiety. The computational study highlights different modes of H-bonding in structures A–E. The activation parameters for the redox reactions, A + HOX− and A + H2OX, ΔH≠/kJ mol−1 (ΔS≠/J K−1 mol−1): 42.5 ± 6.2, (−106 ± 20) and 71.7 ± 7.7 (+12 ± 25), respectively, are indicative of different degrees of ordering and reorganization of bonds as expected in the case of a proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) process.


This paper presents Flow-Aware Routing Protocol (FARP), a new routing strategy designed to improve load balancing and scalability in mobile ad hoc networks. FARP is a hop-by-hop routing protocol, which introduces a flow-aware route discovery strategy to reduce the number of control overheads propagating through the network and distributes the flow of data through least congested nodes to balance the network traffic. FARP was implemented in Glomosim and compared with AODV. To investigate the load distribution capability of FARP new performance metrics were introduced to measure the data packet flow distribution capability of the each routing protocol. The simulation results obtained illustrate that FARP achieves high levels of throughput, reduces the level of control overheads during route discovery and distributes the network load more evenly between nodes when compared to AODV. This paper also describes a number of Alternative strategies and improvements for the FARP. I. INTRODUCTION


RNA polymerase has to plow through sticky spots along a DNA strand to transcribe messenger RNA. How it does so has always been something of a mystery. As it turns out, the polymerase has one of the biggest motors around. Force measurements of the enzyme show it generates more power than even "traditional" motor proteins, and the measurement technique—which involves a trap known as an "optical tweezers"—may soon allow scientists to look at interactions between the enzyme and the DNA substrate in real-time.


People called night owls habitually have late bedtimes and late times of arising, sometimes suffering a heritable circadian disturbance called delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Those with DSPS, those with more severe progressively-late non-24-hour sleep-wake cycles, and those with bipolar disorder may share genetic tendencies for slowed or delayed circadian cycles. We searched for polymorphisms associated with DSPS in a case-control study of DSPS research participants and a separate study of Sleep Center patients undergoing polysomnography. In 45 participants, we resequenced portions of 15 circadian genes to identify unknown polymorphisms that might be associated with DSPS, non-24-hour rhythms, or bipolar comorbidities. We then genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in both larger samples, using Illumina Golden Gate assays. Associations of SNPs with the DSPS phenotype and with the morningness-eveningness parametric phenotype were computed for both samples, then combined for meta-analyses. Delayed sleep and "eveningness" were inversely associated with loci in circadian genes NFIL3 (rs2482705) and RORC (rs3828057). A group of haplotypes overlapping BHLHE40 was associated with non-24-hour sleep-wake cycles, and less robustly, with delayed sleep and bipolar disorder (e.g., rs34883305, rs34870629, rs74439275, and rs3750275 were associated with n=37, p=4.58E-09, Bonferroni p=2.95E-06). Bright light and melatonin can palliate circadian disorders, and genetics may clarify the underlying circadian photoperiodic mechanisms. After further replication and identification of the causal polymorphisms, these findings may point to future treatments for DSPS, non-24-hour rhythms, and possibly bipolar disorder or depression.


Summary ‐ Several Heterodera species can reduce the yield of wheat and barley, among which H. avenae, H. filipjevi and H. latipons are economically the most important. Their identification, based on morphological characteristics, is not straightforward but can be made easier using molecular techniques. In this study, we developed species-specific primers for the detection of H. latipons. The actin gene of eight Heterodera species was partially sequenced and, after purifying and sequencing the PCR products, all sequences were aligned to find unique sites. The alignment showed moderate to very high similarities between the species. However, a small fragment of the actin gene was suitable for the construction of a potentially useful species-specific primer for H. latipons. The optimised PCR was subsequently tested with several populations of 14 Heterodera species and a single population of Punctodera punctata. Heterodera latipons was represented by 16 populations originating from six different countries. The primer set (Hlat-act), designed using AlleleID 7.73, was shown to be very specific. To test its sensitivity further, the PCR was conducted on DNA extracted from five second-stage juveniles (J2) of H. latipons mixed with five or 100 J2 belonging to H. avenae. The PCR was able to detect up to 1:10 dilution of the DNA obtained from five J2. The results showed that a specific and sensitive H. latipons species-specific PCR was constructed.


Abbreviated neuropsychological protocols are increasingly utilized secondary to time-constraints within research and healthcare settings, yet normative data for these abbreviated instruments are lacking. We present geriatric performances and normative data for the Boston Naming Test 30-item even version (BNT-30). Data were utilized from the BU-ADCC registry (n = 441, ages 55–98) and included 219 normal controls (NC), 155 participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 67 participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The NC group (M = 28.7, SD = 1.8) significantly outperformed both MCI (M = 26.2, SD = 4.4) and AD (M = 22.1, SD = 4.8) groups, and the MCI group outperformed the AD group. Normative data generated for the NC participants revealed a significant between-group difference for sex (males M = 29.1, SD = 1.7; females M = 28.4, SD = 1.8) and race (White M = 28.8, SD = 1.7; African American M = 27.5, SD = 2.1). The racial disparity remained even after adjusting for education level (p = .002) and literacy (p < .001). ANOVAs for the NC group were non-significant for age but significant for education level (p = .001). Geriatric normative data therefore suggest that sex, race, and education are all associated with naming performance, and these variables should be taken into consideration when interpreting geriatric BNT-30 performance.


The properties of TiN films deposited by magnetron sputtering are related to their deposition conditions. The elaboration of our films has been carried out by RF-Magnetron Sputtering (13.56 MHz) from a titanium metallic target in reactive N2/Ar gas mixture. The main variables investigated are the composition of the Ar/N2 gas mixture, the total pressure, the deposition time, the discharge power but in this work the attention is given to the effect of the substrate bias voltage. A study is carried out the effects of these variations on the film growth rates, the film thickness and the properties of TiN films. The deposited films were characterized by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and observed by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM).


Purpose: To compare the results of open radical prostatectomy (OP) and robotic prostatectomy (RP) for a single surgeon's experience of 219 radical prostatectomy cases. Materials and Methods: Between June 2002 and June 2007, 133 patients underwent OP and between July 2005 and June 2007, 86 patients underwent RP. To compare the surgeon's experience-related differences, we divided the OP cases into 73 early cases (OP-I) and 60 late cases (OP-II), and the RP cases into 30 early cases (RP-I) and 56 late cases (RP-II). The clinical characteristics, perioperative results, and early clinical outcomes were evaluated. Results: There were no significant differences in the preoperative characteristics between the four groups. For the RP cases, the mean estimated blood loss was decreased, a normal diet was started earlier, the mean duration of hospital stay and the mean duration of bladder catheterization was shorter than for the OP cases. The frequency of intraoperative complications significantly decreased in the RP-II group as compared to the RP-I group. Although there was no significant statistical difference in the positive surgical margin rates between the four groups, the rates were slightly decreased in the RP-II group. The recovery period of continence was shorter in the RP-II group than in the OP group and for patients 60 years or older, recovery of potency was also better in the RP-II group than the OP group. Conclusions: Our results suggest that RP at the hands of an experienced surgeon may decrease the positive surgical margin rate to some degree. Additionally, performance of RP may lead to a shorter duration of bladder catheterization and hospital stay and a better recovery of continence and potency than obtainable by OP. (Korean J Urol 2008;49:221-226) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏


Development Credit Agreement—Petroleum and Power Engineering Project (with schedules and General Conditions Applicable to Development Credit Agreements dated 1 January 1985). Signed at Washington on 29 November 1990


Background: Action research is used to bring about systematic change at the same time as developing fresh understanding about the change strategy and its impact. It has been around since the 1940s in a variety of forms and for different purposes. It is increasingly used as a practice development research strategy in healthcare professions. Aim and objectives: The aim is to provide an overview of action research to enable understanding of the flow and the cumulative, interactive nature of action research and its evolution. The objectives of the paper are practical, historical and paradigmatic in nature. Methods: Drawing on personal and others' development and on experience of action research, the paper is a blend of scholarly writing, practical examples and the metaphor of a tidal river estuary. The metaphor uses continuous reshaping of sandbanks to symbolise the coming together and moving apart of different streams of action research. Exposition: The origins and evolution of action research, with its different purposes, orientations and emphases, are shown through an analysis and critique of different definitions of action research over time. With differences identified, common characteristics of action research and the creation of action hypotheses are set out, followed by the history and evolution of action research, separated into four major modes. Paradigmatic origins and assumptions of these modes are critiqued. Conclusion and implications for practice development research: In common with all researchers, practice development researchers need to consider carefully which paradigmatic assumptions are most relevant to their questions and purposes because those assumptions will help them to locate their work in an appropriate specific or blended research paradigm. The choice of paradigm will affect everything they do and are, so the choice needs to be made from an informed and embodied position.


The experiences of multinational engagements in Kosovo in the late 1990s, and then more recently Afghanistan from 2001 and Iraq from 2003, have led to a political debate about the linkage between legality and legitimacy. At the heart of contemporary political and academic discourses about war are questions about the scope and content of the law of armed conflict. Considerably less attention has been given to another mode of regulating warfare, namely Rules of Engagement (ROE), despite their operational significance. This article seeks to begin to bridge this knowledge gap by examining ROE as a means to achieving greater legal accountability for the use of force against civilians. To that end, the article aims to do two things: first, to use examples from the US and the multinational context to develop a typology of the various issues that might affect ROE adversely in a legal accountability perspective, either as a background context or through the deployment and use of ROE itself; and second, to look at ways of rearticulating ROE, setting them on a path toward a more standardized and judicialized form of accountability.


Within the ventilation principle of buildings, the outdoor air is considered as a source of fresh, "clean" air. Outdoor air quality monitoring by environmental agencies, academic research projects and a broad range of citizen science projects show that this is not always the case. Although the outdoor air quality in our cities already improved, the concentrations of certain pollutants, especially particulate matter and peak pollutions of ozone (and its precursors nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds), remain problematic. Ventilation systems may play a role in the introduction of these outdoor air pollutants into the indoor air, with potential adverse effects on the indoor air quality and the health of residents. The filters that are present in certain mechanical ventilation systems are primarily present to protect the system and its components against fouling, but have the potential to improve the quality of the supplied air. In the context of indoor air quality, the aim of this project is to investigate: what role do mechanical ventilation systems play in the penetration of outdoor air pollutants? | to what extent is conventional air filtration sufficient? | what is the effectiveness and added value of advanced filtration and electrostatic precipitation as an innovative technique? These research questions will be answered from a bottom-up research approach, including in-laboratory experiments on filters as a first step. The novelty of our research approach lies in the fact that: the measurements are carried out with the real-life pollutant load of the Brussels outdoor air, the filtration efficiency for particulate matter is considered in a measuring range of 10nm-10μm and is based on number concentrations, the filtration efficiency is monitored in function of time and the collection and penetration of chemical pollutants (O3, NOX and VOC) is also considered. This paper presents the first results of the in-laboratory measurement part. For this part, a test setup consisting of twelve parallel test lines equipped with either one or two different air filters/ -cleaning devices in cascade was installed in our Brussels-based laboratory. The selected filters allow a comparison between different filter classes (G3,G4,F7,F9,H10), or combinations of them, and also of different types within the same class (wireframe, folded panel, bag type). Furthermore, two filters containing active carbon and two electrostatic precipitators are included in the test setup. This paper shows time resolved data including the filter efficiency and pressure drop on the filters/devices included in the test setup. The preliminary results on filter efficiency indicate a large difference in performance between different filter types within the same filter class and point to a high performance of the electrostatic precipitators within the full measuring range.


Left recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy usually results from invasion or compression of the nerve caused by diseases localized within the aortopulmonary window. This study reports the case of a 76-yr-old male with vocal cord paralysis due to lymph node involvement by silicosis. This rare entity was identified by video-mediastinoscopy, which revealed a granulomatous and fibrosed recurrent lymph node encasing the nerve. The nerve was dissected and released from scar tissues. Progressive clinical improvement was observed followed by total and durable recovery of the voice after 15 weeks follow-up.


As predicted, computing has become the fastest growing services in recent years and has acquired a new dimension in the form of cloud computing. It is greatly influenced by merging of internet with computing, sharing of resources and combining the advancements in technologies that paved to various cloud offerings. The fundamental guidelines of cloud computing model are computing, storage, Security & programming as an administrator. But the size of computation & demand for higher computation is growing very rapidly which is causing an uneven and heavy workload on cloud resources. Due to this rapidly increase of data, there is the need of security as per the increasing demand. But due to this increasing cloud demand, security of cloud data has become a problem for the future. So, here we are discussing about the security issues in the cloud data, service and deployment models.


Unlike most countries, China regulates internal migration. Public benefits, access to good quality housing, schools, health care, and attractive employment opportunities are available only to those who have local registration (Hukou). Coincident with the deepening of economic reforms, Hukou has gradually been relaxed since the 1980s, helping to explain an extraordinary surge of migration within China. In this study of interprovincial Chinese migration, we address two questions. First, what is a sensible way of incorporating Hukou into theoretical and empirical models of internal migration? Second, to what extent has Hukou influenced the scale and structure of migration? We incorporate two alternative measures of Hukou into a modified gravity model – the unregistered migrant's: (i) perceived probability of securing Hukou; and (ii) perceived probability of securing employment opportunities available only to those with Hukou. In contrast to previous studies, our model includes a much wider variety of control especially important for the Chinese case. Analyzing the relationship between Hukou and migration using census data for 1985-90, 1995-2000 and 2000-05, we find that migration is very sensitive to Hukou, with the greatest sensitivity occurring during the middle period.


Chondrocyte-based tissue engineering therapies require in vitro cell expansion, which is associated with loss of phenotype, decrease in synthesis of collagen type II and increase in synthesis of collagen type I. Another major obstacle in clinical translation of chondrocyte-based therapies is the lack of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the cartilage substitutes. Macromolecular crowding (MMC) is a biophysical phenomenon, based on the excluded volume effect, known to dramatically increase tissue-specific ECM deposition during in vitro culture and to modulate cell phenotype and stem cell differentiation. The effect of MMC in chondrogenesis has not been well investigated as yet. Herein, we hypothesized that MMC will increase hyaline ECM deposition in chondrocytes and favour chondrogenic, as opposed to osteogenic and adipogenic, differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs).
In early passage (3) human chondrocytes, MMC increased, albeit not significantly, both collagen type I and collagen type II deposition. In late passage (7) chondrocytes, re-differentiated using a commercial medium, MMC significantly increased collagen type I deposition, whilst almost no collagen type II was detected. These data suggested that the commercial medium used was not able to correctly restore cell phenotype and that the optimal medium for expansion of adult chondrocytes is still elusive.
MMC was then assessed in the pre-condition and/or differentiation media of human BMSCs. A moderate increase in collagen type II and chondroitin sulphate, a lower increase in collagen type I and collagen type X and an unaffected Sox-9 expression were detected, suggesting that carrageenan, the highly sulphated crowder used, enhanced chondrogenesis. Osteogenesis was also enhanced, as evidenced by increased mineralisation, collagen type I deposition and osteopontin expression. Adipogenesis was not affected.
Collectively, these data provide further knowledge on the use of MMC for the modulation of chondrogenic phenotype maintenance and stem cell differentiation.%%%%2020-01-31


Modular generation system, which consists of modular power conditioning converters, is an effective solution to integrate renewable energy sources with conventional utility grid to improve reliability and efficiency, especially for photovoltaic generation. A distributed control strategy based on improved DC bus signaling is proposed for modular photovoltaic(PV) generation system with battery energy storage elements. In this paper, the modular PV generation system is composed of three modular DC/DC converters for photovoltaic arrays, two grid-connected DC/AC converters, one DC/DC converter for battery charging/discharging and local loads, which is available of either grid-connected operation or islanding operation. By using the proposed control strategy, the operations of modular PV generation system are categorized into four modes: islanding with battery discharging, grid-connected rectification, grid-connected inversion and islanding with constant voltage generation. The power balance of the system under extreme conditions such as the islanding operation with full-charged battery is taken into account in this control strategy. The DC bus voltage level is employed as an information carrier to distinguish different modes and determine mode switching. Control methods of modular DC/DC converters, battery converter and grid-connected converter are addressed. An autonomous control method for modular DC/DC converters is proposed to realize smooth switching between constant voltage operation and MPPT operation, which enables the DC bus voltage regulation capability of modular DC/DC converters. Seamless switching of battery converter between charging and discharging and that of grid-connected converter between rectification and inversion are ensured by the proposed control methods. Experiments verify the practical feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.


This report presents work done in the field of linear and nonlinear system identification on robots. The subject of study has been a new parallel manipulator called Gantry-Tau. The work shall be seen as one of the first steps in the dynamical analysis of the robot. All practical work presented in the report was conducted on a prototype situated at University of Queensland. The actuators have been analysed and modelled with the aim to gain knowledge of weaknesses and dynamical behaviour. The analysis resulted in a study of nonlinear grey-box identification of hysteresis in the drive train of the actuators. A very compact nonlinear hysteresis model was used together with a three-step identification procedure. The results show that a model of the nonlinear system can be successfully identified from measurement data.Finally a method for estimation of parameters in the model for the inverse dynamics of the leg structure has been investigated. It turns out that the investigated method is not able to give accurate estimates. This is thought to be a result of unmodelled behaviour in the system and noisy data.


Decreasing weight while expanding or keeping up quality of items is getting the chance to be very imperative research issue in this present day world. Composite materials are one of the material families which are pulling in analysts and being arrangements of such issue. In this paper we depict outline and investigation of composite leaf spring. The goal is to think about the stresses and weight sparing of composite leaf spring with that of steel leaf spring. The plan requirement is firmness. The Vehicle Industry has awesome enthusiasm for supplanting of steel leaf spring with that of composite leaf spring, since the composite materials has high quality to weight proportion, great consumption resistance. The material chose was glass fiber fortified polymer (E-glass/epoxy), carbon epoxy and graphite epoxy is utilized against regular steel. The outline parameters were chosen and dissected with the goal of limiting weight of the composite leaf spring when contrasted with the steel leaf spring. The leaf spring was displayed in catiav5r20 and the investigation was finished utilizing ANSYS 17.02 programming.


BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION OF TRAINABLE MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN by Cheryl Mayo Frair, Doctor of Philosophy Utah State University, 1969 Major Professor: Dr. Marvin F. Daley Department: Psychology In Experiment I, contingency management was employed with five non-institutionalized trainable retardates (mean MA=4.l, CA=9.9, and language age=2.6) in a classroom situation. Empirically determined high probability behaviors were displayed as colored cartoon figures in a reinforcement menu. Tasks from the Peabody Language Development Kit defined the behavior strengthened during 15 one-hour sessions. A quantity of low probability task behavior had to occur in order for subjects to emit 4 minutes of high probability reinforcing activity. Through contingency management, amount of task per reinforcement was shaped from a low ratio to a high ratio. Significant gains in language age (p<.01) were obtained. A posttest administered 6 months after termination of the experiment indicated the gains in language age were maintained. In Experiment II, the five children of Experiment I and another trainable retardate served as subjects. Dependent upon the behavioral change desired of the subject in the classroom situation, each subject had to meet the criterion of increasing or decreasing the specified behavior to receive the reinforcement menu and engage in 4 minutes of high probability reinforcing activity. Contingency management vii over 15 one-hour sessions was successful in reducing and possibly extinquishing the rate of aggressive acts, delays in starting work, shouting, leaving the desk during lessons, and refusing to obey teacher instructions. Frequency of task relevant vocalizations was also increased by this technique. During an unsystematic observation of the subjects 6 months after termination of the experiment, the undesirable behaviors occurred once an hour on the average, a rate far below the baseline frequency. Task relevant vocalizations which had been shaped to a high frequency during the experiment were emitted at a rate higher than the rate obtained during the baseline period. (57 pages) CHAPTER


The socio-political and economic structure of Nigeria is being threatened by youth incivility, while civic virtues in all spheres of life are declining gradually. This study examined the effects of the 5E instructional model on the performance of students in Civic Education. Two research questions were raised with corresponding hypotheses. Two intact classes in two different schools were selected for this study from the available secondary schools. 77 students participated in the study in which the experimental group consisted of  39 students while the control group had 38 students. A 50-item multiple-choice objective test titled Civic Education Performance Test (CEPT) was used for collecting data. The validated CEPT was tested for reliability, and a value of 0.68 was obtained. Analysis of Covariance was employed in determining the significant difference between the two groups. The results indicated that there was the statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest mean scores of students taught Civic Education using 5E instructional model. Thus, the study recommended that Teachers should expose students to 5E instructional model in the classroom to develop students' generic skills


The Jersey Devil: A Political Animal By Brian Regal Abstract The Jersey Devil ranks as the most popular legend in the folklore of the Garden State. In the dark forbidding Pine Barrens, a witch known as Mother Leeds gave birth to a "child with horse-like head, bat-like wings, clawed hands and hooved feet." It flew off into the woods to take up a career haunting and harassing travelers. The only element of the legend with historical connection is the reference to the Leeds family (indeed, it was originally known as the Leeds' Devil). The story has become layered down with myths and variations obscuring the original events that gave rise to it.  A reappraisal of the story is in order. Far from being a tale of a monstrous birth gone horribly awry, the story comes not from a blaspheming mother, but colonial era political intrigues, Quaker religious in-fighting, astrology, rumor mongering, almanac publishing, a cross-dressing Royal Governor, and a future Founding Father.


These days Internet is widely used by users to satisfy various information needs with accurate results. However, ambiguous query/topic submitted to search engine doesn't satisfy user information needs, because different users may have different information needs on diverse aspects upon submission of same query/topic to search engine. So discovering different user search goals becomes complicated. The evaluation and depiction of user search goals can be very useful in improving search engine relevance and user knowledge. A novel approach for inferring user search goals by analyzing user query logs from various search engines. The proposed approach is used to discover different user search goals for a query by clustering the user feedback sessions. Feedback sessions are constructed from click through logs of various search engines. The method first generates pseudodocuments to better represent feedback sessions for clustering. Finally, clustering pseudo-documents to discover different user search goals and depict them with some keywords. Then these user search goals are used to restructure the web search results.


We introduce a neural reading comprehension model that integrates external commonsense knowledge, encoded as a key-value memory, in a cloze-style setting. Instead of relying only on document-to-question interaction or discrete features as in prior work, our model attends to relevant external knowledge and combines this knowledge with the context representation before inferring the answer. This allows the model to attract and imply knowledge from an external knowledge source that is not explicitly stated in the text, but that is relevant for inferring the answer. Our model improves results over a very strong baseline on a hard Common Nouns dataset, making it a strong competitor of much more complex models. By including knowledge explicitly, our model can also provide evidence about the background knowledge used in the RC process.


Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a genetic vascular disorder arising from endothelial cell (EC) proliferation and hypervascularization, for which no cure exists. Because HHT is caused by loss-of-function mutations in BMP9-ALK1-Smad1/5/8 signaling, interventions aimed at activating this pathway are of therapeutic value. By screening FDA-approved drug libraries, we identified tacrolimus (FK-506) as a potent activator of Smad1/5/8 in BMP9-challenged reporter cells. In primary ECs, tacrolimus activated Smad1/5/8 to oppose the pro-angiogenic gene expression signature associated with ALK1 loss-of-function, by notably reducing Dll4 expression. In these cells, tacrolimus also inhibited Akt and p38 stimulation by VEGF. In the BMP9/10-immunodepleted postnatal retina—a mouse model of HHT vascular pathology—tacrolimus activated endothelial Smad1/5/8 and prevented the Dll4 overexpression and hypervascularization associated with this model. Finally, tacrolimus stimulated Smad1/5/8 in cells transfected with BMP9-unresponsive ALK1 HHT mutants and in HHT patient blood outgrowth ECs. We propose that tacrolimus repurposing has therapeutic potential in HHT.


Giant congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) are rare, congenital, disfiguring lesions with a risk of degeneration to malignant melanoma. Giant CMN are associated with an increased risk of malignant degeneration. In a minority of cases, patients with giant CMN may have associated neurocutaneous melanosis with leptomeningeal involvement. Giant CMN of the trunk pose difficult diagnostic and reconstructive problems requiring complex multistage treatment. For high-risk cases, diagnostic evaluation in the form of neuro-imaging is an essential component of the planning phase. Although nonsurgical options for the treatment of giant CMN have been advocated, these modalities may decrease the burden of nevus cells but do not result in complete removal of these cells. The ability to monitor nevus cells that remain after nonsurgical management of giant CMN remains questionable. These nonsurgical options include dermabrasion, laser ablation, and chemical peel. In contrast, direct excision of the nevus is the mainstay of treatment of nonsurgical management of giant CMN. There are numerous surgical options to resurface the resultant cutaneous defect after excision of the nevus. The simplest of these options consists of serial excision and direct closure of the defect in stages. However, if the defect cannot be closed by direct cutaneous advancement, other options for wound resurfacing include split- or full-thickness skin graft, tissue expansion, and free tissue transfer. Tissue expansion should be viewed as a category of treatment options because expanders can be used to create an expanded full-thickness skin graft, local expanded flaps adjacent to the lesion, or expansion of a free tissue donor site. Given the diversity of reconstructive options that use tissue expansion, these techniques have evolved as the primary treatment method for giant CMN of the trunk. The authors outline an approach to the evaluation of giant CMN of the trunk, review the risks of melanoma and of neurocutaneous melanosis, describe their preferred treatment regimen, and offer a treatment algorithm for giant CMN of the trunk.


Studies on the germination and the nature of dormancy of achenes of Polygonum persicaria were carried out. The release from dormancy was investigated by physical and chemical treatments, environmental factors (temperature and light) and the application of plant hormones. The imposition of dormancy on non-dormant achenes was examined by prolonged dark incubation at supraoptimal temperature, and also by drying treatments. The physical (surgical) treatments, such as cutting the tip of achenes or removal of the pericarp, promoted germination of unchilled achenes, while chemical treatments with calcium hypochlorite, and nitrogenous compounds such as nitrates, thiourea, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, and respiratory inhibitors like cyanide and azide, failed to break the dormancy of unchilled achenes. However, unchilled achenes responded positively to treatment with nitrite and hydrogen peroxide, giving an enhanced and significant germination. Treatment with environmental factors such as temperature and light (white or red) on unchilled achenes illustrated that the population consists of at least four physiological polymorphic components, namely. Dark; Light; Alternating Temperature (dark), and Alternating Temperature plus Light subpopulations. Stratification treatment resulting in complete dark germination when transferred to higher temperature is more effective at 4°C than 10°C. Germination is enhanced at alternating temperatures in the dark in contrast to constant temperatures. However, a high temperature of 40°C is lethal for germination. Exogenous application of GA3, GA4+7, ethylene or nonanoic acid (C9) did not influence the germination of unchilled achenes. In contrast, kinetin appears to promote germination. Moreover, combined treatments of red light and kinetin with or without GA3 gave the greatest germination. Results from applying G3 during or after stratification did not indicate the involvement of gibberellin during or after chilling. Also, treatment with growth retardants (B995, CCC, AMO 1618, and Ancymidol) argue against gibberellin involvement during or after stratification. The results of applying ABA during stratification or germination indicated that growth processes, i.e. radicle elongation, are inhibited and not germination sensu stricto. The results of, prolonged dark incubation at supraoptimal temperature at 40°C indicated that the effect could be considered as thermo inhibition rather than thermodormancy. However, drying treatment induces secondary dormancy.


Abstract This research examines the distributional characteristics of Czech ř in terms of the number of contacts (periods). The traditional claim that this consonant is produced with two or more contacts is challenged by the empirical evidence of ř realized in connected speech (newsreading style). The results of the study show that the most common variant of the (ř) variable is a one-contact alveolar sound, with the multiple-contact realization of ř being extremely rare. The role of eight linguistic variables is assessed in order to find out which factors are most likely to influence the number of contacts of Czech ř. Some questions are discussed concerning its current definition as a trill.


Small radar detection and tracking systems, in par- ticular radar guided missile systems, are of great utility because of their all-weather performance and their long range capabilities. A major drawback with these systems results from the relatively simple data that they collect and the difficulty in using these data for target classification and identification purposes. We examine a technique which employs the statistics of the tracking data used by many missile seekers and which creates a cross-range target structure map that can be expressed as a function of the target's down-range extent. These data consist of ordinary azimuth-elevation angle-of-arrival measurements collected from a small set of (unknown) aspects presented by the target as it maneuvers. The method requires a minimal computational burden and may hold the potential to be used for automatic (machine-based) target classification in realistic (time and data limited) environments.


Treatment of cultured bovine carotid artery endothelial cells with 0.1 &mgr;M human plasmin has been reported to induce a receptor-mediated short burst of arachidonate release, which is a pertussis toxin-sensitive and extracellular calcium-dependent reaction. Plasmin-induced calcium influx in cells was significantly inhibited by pretreatment with pertussis toxin, indicating that the former was coupled with a pertussis toxin-sensitive guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP)-binding protein. Plasmin significantly induced the formation of lysophosphatidylcholine but not lysophosphatidylethanolamine. A cellular phospholipase A(2) with an arachidonyl specificity at the sn-2 position of phosphatidylcholine, which required submicromolar calcium, was identified as a cytosolic phospholipase A(2) by immunoblot analysis. By a cell-free enzyme activity assay and immunoblot analysis, plasmin was found to induce a translocation of the cytosolic phospholipase A(2) from the cytosol to the membrane. Taken together, the results suggest that plasmin bound to its putative receptor and activated a GTP-binding protein coupled to calcium influx channel, followed by translocation and activation of cytosolic phospholipase A(2) in endothelial cells. Copyright 1996 S. Karger AG, Basel


BACKGROUND
Moderate riboflavin deficiency is prevalent in certain population groups in affluent countries, but the functional significance of this deficiency is not clear. Studies have indicated a role for riboflavin in the absorption and use of iron.

OBJECTIVE
We investigated the effect of riboflavin supplementation on hematologic status in a group of moderately riboflavin-deficient women aged 19-25 y in the United Kingdom.

DESIGN
One hundred twenty-three women with biochemical evidence of riboflavin deficiency [erythrocyte glutathione reductase activation coefficient (EGRAC) >1.40] were randomly assigned to receive 2 or 4 mg riboflavin or a placebo for 8 wk. Measurements of hematologic status were made pre- and postsupplementation, and dietary intakes were also assessed; iron absorption was measured in a subgroup of women.

RESULTS
One hundred nineteen women completed the intervention. The use of a riboflavin supplement for 8 wk elicited a significant improvement in riboflavin status with a dose response (P < 0.0001). For women who received supplemental riboflavin, an increase in hemoglobin status correlated with improved riboflavin status (P < 0.02). Women in the lowest tertile of riboflavin status at baseline (EGRAC >1.65) showed a significantly greater increase in hemoglobin status in response to the supplement than did women in the first and second tertiles (P < 0.01). Dietary iron intake and iron absorption did not change during the study.

CONCLUSIONS
Moderately poor riboflavin status can affect iron status: the lower the riboflavin status, the greater the hematologic benefits of improving status. The results also suggest that consideration should be given to raising the currently accepted EGRAC threshold for deficiency. This trial was registered at controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN35811298.


The comparative effects of nickel (Ni2+) and arsenite (As(III)) on two diazotrophic cyanobacterial species were investigated in terms of photosynthetic attributes. Both metals demonstrated inhibitory effects on growth, pigments (chl a and phycocyanin) and photosystem II (PS II) photochemistry. However As(III) exerted severe effects as compared to Ni reflected by (1) reduced growth (2) significant inhibition of chl a and phycocyanin, (3) reduction in maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII and (4) depleted plastoquinone pool, thus suggesting it as more toxic. Moreover, comparative analysis of two species also demonstrated interspecies variation in terms of stress adaptive strategies reflected through higher sensitivity of Anabaena doliolum over Anabaena PCC7120. Thus the study recommends application of A. PCC7120 as biofertilizer in Ni and As(III) contaminated paddy fields.

 Key words: Anabaena sp. PCC7120, Anabaena doliolum, Nickel, As(III), maximal photochemical yield (Fv/Fm).