Cloud providers (CPs) rely on server consolidation (the allocation of several virtual machines [VMs] on the same physical server) to minimize their costs. Maximizing the consolidation level is thus become 1 of the major goals of cloud providers. This is a challenging task because it requires the ability of estimating, in a resource contention scenario, multidimensional resource demands for multitier cloud applications that must meet service‐level agreements (SLAs) in face of nonstationary workloads. In this paper, we cope with the problem of jointly allocating CPU and memory capacity to (a) precisely estimate their capacity required by each VM to meet its SLAs and (b) coordinate their allocation to limit the negative effects due to the interactions of dynamic allocation mechanisms, which, if ignored, can lead to SLA violations. We tackle this problem by devising FCMS, a feedback fuzzy controller that is able to dynamically adjust the CPU and memory capacity allocated to each VM in a coordinated way, to precisely match the needs induced by the incoming workload. By means of an extensive experimental evaluation, we show that FCMS is able to achieve the above goals and works better than existing state‐of‐the‐art alternative solution in all the considered experimental scenarios.


Genetic Algorithms are biologically inspired optimisation algorithms. Performance of genetic algorithms largely depends on type of genetic operators - Selection, Crossover, Mutation and Replacement used in it. The paper focuses on different selection and replacement operators. Selection operator is used to select the individuals from a population to create a mating pool which will participate in reproduction process. Replacement operator decides which individuals stay in a population and which are replaced by removing or replacing some offspring or parent individuals. The paper focuses on three selection operators - Roulette Wheel Selection, Rank Selection and Annealed Selection. Annealed selection is the new approach which blends the exploitative nature of roulette wheel and exploratory nature of rank selection. Generational and µ+λ replacement operators are implemented in this paper. Implementation is carried out using MATLAB code on two test problems - Benchmark TSP Eil51 problem and Benchmark DeJong's Sphere Function (F1). The paper compares the performance of genetic algorithm using The paper compares the performance of genetic algorithm using these three selection approaches with generational replacement and µ+λ replacement. The results are optimistic and clearly demonstrate that the genetic algorithm with µ+λ replacement is better than the one with generational replacement. Out of the three selection operators, annealed selection outperforms the other two.


Health is one of the most important factors in one's life and it becomes a key concern among older adults across the globe. This may be a unique feature across different geographical regions of the world. Much has been written on the subjective health of older populations across many countries with a view to understanding the overall health situation among older adults. These studies are solely concentrated on either an individual country or a specific region within the country. More research is needed on global, regional as well as country perspectives to understand the health status and to tease out the common factors associated with the self-reported health. This will better enable cross-cultural comparisons. The principle aim of this study has been to investigate the correlates of self-rated health or self-reported health (SRH) among older adults both in Malaysia and Singapore. It examines how older adults perceive their own health and what factors are associated with the reporting of an individual's own health status. The study uses data collected in the HSBC Bank Ltd. global ageing study. Popularly known as the Future of Retirement Survey 2007, data were collected from 21,233 individuals aged between 40 and 79 years across 21 countries and territories in five major regions of the world. It is the largest global ageing survey of its kind that investigates attitudes towards later life, ageing and retirement. Each individual was asked a battery of structured questions regarding their socio-economic status, health conditions, social networks, saving and investments, and preparedness for retirement. In the present study, we found that health inequalities exist among older adults across the globe and that Singaporean adults enjoy healthier life than Malaysians. There exists a strong positive relationship between chronological age and poorer health outcome. Our analysis also demonstrates that the two countries have almost consistent results with regard to the influences of selected covariates on individual health. For example, poorer health is more prevalent among people with lower education; widowed, divorced and separated group; and those working in a blue collar occupation. These findings enhance our knowledge of older persons' health status, and in turn will be useful in making effective policy formulations for the governments of Malaysia and Singapore. Finally, some policy recommendations are made and future research directions are suggested.


This paper estimates and decomposes the impact of export opportunities on countries' employment by using a global input-output analysis, focusing on the U.S., China, and Japan. The greater they export, the greater employment in the exporting countries. However, we first document that the number of jobs created per exports varies substantially across destination countries. We find that exports from sectors with higher domestic value-added contents such as natural resource, textile, and service sectors lead to a greater employment effect. As a result, cross-country differences in sectoral compositions of exports explain a large part of the variations in the employment effects across destination countries. Time series changes in the employment effect of exports come from changes in (1) the labor-to-output ratio, (2) input-output linkages, and (3) sectoral compositions in exports. Results suggest that the first channel worked to reduce the employment effect in all of the three countries we focused but the directions of the last two channels are different across the countries.


The aim of this study was to assess the potential of the probiotic Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 [GanedenBC30] (BC30) to aid in protein digestion of alimentary plant proteins. To test this, three plant proteins, from pea, soy and rice, were digested in a validated in vitro model of the stomach and small intestine (TIM-1) in the absence and in the presence of BC30. Samples were taken from the TIM-1 fractions that mimic uptake of amino acids by the host and analysed for α-amino nitrogen (AAN) and total nitrogen (TN). Both were increased by BC30 for all three plant proteins sources. The ratio of TN/AAN indicated that for pea protein digestion was increased by BC30, but the degree of polymerisation of the liberated small peptides and free amino acids was not changed. For soy and rice, however, BC30 showed a 2-fold reduction in the TN/AAN ratio, indicating that the liberated digestion products formed during digestion in the presence of BC30 were shorter peptides and more free amino acids, than those liberated in the absence of BC30. As BC30 increased protein digestion and uptake in the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract, it consequently also reduced the amount of protein that would be delivered to the colon, which could there be fermented into toxic metabolites by the gut microbiota. Thus, the enhanced protein digestion by BC30 showed a dual benefit: enhanced amino acid bioavailability from plant proteins in the upper GI tract, and a healthier environment in the colon.


Due to the stochastic nature and complexity of flow, as well as the existence of hydrological uncertainties, predicting streamflow in dam reservoirs, especially in semi-arid and arid areas, is essential for the optimal and timely use of surface water resources. In this research, daily streamflow to the Ermenek hydroelectric dam reservoir located in Turkey is simulated using deep recurrent neural network (RNN) architectures, including bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU), long short-term memory (LSTM), and simple recurrent neural networks (simple RNN). For this purpose, daily observational flow data are used during the period 2012–2018, and all models are coded in Python software programming language. Only delays of streamflow time series are used as the input of models. Then, based on the correlation coefficient (CC), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NS), results of deep-learning architectures are compared with one another and with an artificial neural network (ANN) with two hidden layers. Results indicate that the accuracy of deep-learning RNN methods are better and more accurate than ANN. Among methods used in deep learning, the LSTM method has the best accuracy, namely, the simulated streamflow to the dam reservoir with 90% accuracy in the training stage and 87% accuracy in the testing stage. However, the accuracies of ANN in training and testing stages are 86% and 85%, respectively. Considering that the Ermenek Dam is used for hydroelectric purposes and energy production, modeling inflow in the most realistic way may lead to an increase in energy production and income by optimizing water management. Hence, multi-percentage improvements can be extremely useful. According to results, deep-learning methods of RNNs can be used for estimating streamflow to the Ermenek Dam reservoir due to their accuracy.


Primary objective: This study was designed to compare the short-term effects of infrared (IR) and therapeutic ultrasound (US) on clinical and electrophysiological measures of spasticity and range of motion (ROM) in hemiplegic patients with plantar flexor muscle spasticity. Research design: A cross-sectional, single centre trial. Interventions: Ultrasound and Infrared were used. Methods and procedures: Twenty-one patients (13 males and eight females) aged 27–78 years (mean ± SD: 60.4 ± 13.2) were randomly assigned into either the US or IR treatment groups. The IR and US were delivered for 20 and 10 minutes, respectively. The H-reflex, Ashworth scale (AS) and ROM were collected before, immediately after and 15 minutes after the end of the treatment. Main outcomes and results: Both groups were statistically similar on all variables at the beginning of the study. Results indicated that the dependent variables were not significantly different between groups at the end of study. The use of IR and US was not associated with significant reductions of H-reflex and Ashworth scores. A significant main effect for time on active and passive ROM was obtained. Conclusions: It was concluded neither IR nor US reduced electrophysiological or clinical measures of spasticity in this sample of patients.


Polymer grafting of polystyrene (PS) on nitrogen-doped multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNx) was successfully obtained by a "grafting from" technique. The production method involves the immobilization of initiators, using wet chemistry, onto the nanotube surface, followed by an in situ surface-initiated polymerization. The polymer-grafting carbon nanotubes synthesis includes the free radical functionalization of CNx and the "controlled/living" Nitroxide Mediated Radical Polymerization (NMRP). The obtained products were studied using several microscopic techniques as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The characterization also includes thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and electron spin resonance (ESR), among others. The analyzed samples were also compared with solutions fabricated by physical blending of the polymer and CNx nanotubes. These results indicate that the nanotube radical functionalization, the chemical grafting, and the polymerization reaction were obtained over CNx when NMRP method was successfully used, giving rise to a uniform PS layer of several nanometers grafted on the outer surface of the CNx nanotubes. Several properties of the PS-grafted CNx nanotubes were also studied. It is shown that the production method leads to a narrower distribution of the external diameters. Moreover, their solubilization in organic solvents is greatly improved. Finally, the dispersion of PS-grafted CNx into a PS matrix is studied to determine the differences in filler dispersion and interfacial adhesion strength, in comparison with nanocomposites elaborated with as-produced CNx.


This paper describes some of the results of a detailed farm-level survey of 32 small-scale cotton farmers in the Makhathini Flats region of South Africa. The aim was to assess and measure some of the impacts (especially in terms of savings in pesticide and labour as well as benefits to human health) attributable to the use of insect-tolerant Bt cotton. The study reveals a direct cost benefit for Bt growers of SAR416 ($51) per hectare per season due to a reduction in the number of insecticide applications. Cost savings emerged in the form of lower requirements for pesticide, but also important were reduced requirements for water and labour. The reduction -in the number of sprays was particularly beneficial to women who do some spraying and children who collect water and assist in spraying. The increasing adoption rate of Bt cotton appears to have a health benefit measured in terms of reported rates of accidental insecticide poisoning. These appear to be declining as the uptake of Bt cotton increases. However, the understanding of refugia and their management by local farmers are deficient and need improving. Finally, Bt cotton growers emerge as more resilient in absorbing price fluctuations.


Semiconductor microcavities have been used in important studies of several areas for technological or purely scientific purposes. However, the definition of the optimal parameters for the fabrication of microcavities is a difficult task. Moreover, some uncertainties related to the growth process can change the device features. These problems cannot be experimentally controlled, hindering the development of theoretical models. In this work we present a theoretical model to simulate the microcavities and also propose an evolutionary approach to optimize the device under uncertainty in order to ensure the growth with the desired features. Thus, based on the reflectance spectra of a AlxGa1-xAs semiconductor microcavity, the aluminum concentrations, x, and the number of layers that compose the heterostructure were optimized. This set of parameters may offer increased robustness in the growth process, while providing a considerable quality factor and the desired position of the cavity resonance, achieving the device's operation limits. The device was optimized considering the cavity resonance between 700nm and 2000nm, where the results indicate that the proposed algorithm is able to find satisfactory solutions, minimizing the problems caused by inaccuracy in the growth process.


Based on a previous ensiling study in glass silos of various pomegranate pulp (PP) mixtures, fresh pomegranate pulp (PP) was mixed with drier feeds including soy hulls and corn silage (40:35:25 on DM basis) and ensiled in 32 pressed bales (700 kg each) wrapped with stretch polyethylene film. This ensiled pomegranate pulp mixture (PPM) was included in lactating cow total mixed ration (TMR) at a level of 20% of DM (PPM-TMR). Performance and digestion experiment was conducted with two groups of 21 milking cows each, fed individually one of the two TMR: 1. Control TMR without ensiled PPM; 2. Experimental TMR which contained 20% ensiled PPM, including 8% PP as corn grain replacer. Voluntary DM intake of cows fed the control TMR was 5·04% higher than that of the PPM cows. In vivo digestibility of DM, OM, NDF, CP and fat were significantly higher in the control cows compared with the PPM group, but methane production in the rumen fluid was 25% lower in the PPM cows. A slightly higher milk yield (by 2·2%) observed in the control cows; however, milk fat content was 5·9% higher in the PPM cows. This was reflected in similar yield of energy corrected milk (ECM) and 3·97% increase in production efficiency (ECM/DM intake) of the PPM cows compared with the control ones. Welfare of the cows, as assessed by length of daily recumbence time, was in the normal range for both groups. Body weight gain was also similar in both groups. Data suggest that the level of 8% PP in the PPM-TMR used in this study was probably too high for lactating cows and should be lowered to 4% in order to achieve better performance.


Abstract Context Establishing an empathic bond of trust with patients is a characteristic that physicians need, because patients feel that physicians are more caring if they sense that they are empathetic. Former cross-sectional studies have shown an erosion of cognitive empathy as medical students progress through their education. Objectives This study aims to measure the changes in student cognitive empathy as they progress through their undergraduate osteopathic medical education. Cognitive empathy scores are compared to the nationwide norms established by the Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE) study by Mohammadreza Hojat, PhD, and colleagues. Methods During orientation to medical school, and at the beginning of each subsequent academic year, and just before graduation, the graduating classes of 2017–2019 participated in this longitudinal study by filling out the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student Version (JSE-S). A total of 345/459 Osteopathic Medical Student (OMS) I-IV students (75.2 % of the graduates) filled out the forms for all five time points. Desired specialty choice and sex were also collected. Specialty choice was divided into Core and Non-Core groups. Core specialties are "people-oriented" and have a large amount of patient contact and continuity of care, while Non-Core specialties are "technical- or procedure-oriented" and have little or no patient contact and/or continuity of care. Results Men selecting Non-Core specialties had significant drops in JSE-S scores (p=0.001); whereas men who selected the Core specialties did not have a significant decrease. For women, there was no significant drop in JSE-S scores for those selecting either Core or Non-Core specialties. When compared to POMEE norm data, none of the Campbell University School of Medicine students had JSE-S scores that were above the 50th percentile. Conclusions Students selecting Core specialties do a better job of maintaining their cognitive empathy, which aids their ability to establish an empathic bond of trust with patients, when compared to students who desire Non-Core specialties. JSE-S scores not above the POMEE 50th percentile is concerning and indicate either a curricular change to better enhance empathic communication skills and/or better applicant selection.


Surfactant protein (SP) C metabolism was evaluated in vivo by measurements of the clearance of bovine native SP-C (nSP-C) and a recombinant SP-C (rSP-C) in rabbits and mice and in vitro by the uptake into MLE-12 cells. rSP-C is the 34-amino acid human sequence with phenylalanine instead of cysteine in positions 4 and 5 and isoleucine instead of methionine in position 32. Alveolar clearances of iodinated SP-C and rSP-C after tracheal instillation were similar and slower than those for dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPC) in the rabbit. nSP-C and rSP-C were cleared from rabbit lungs similarly to DPC, each with a half-life ( t 1/2) of ∼11 h. In mice, the clearance of rSP-C from the lungs was slower ( t 1/2 28 h) than the clearance of DPC ( t 1/2 12 h). Liposome-associated dinitrophenyl-labeled rSP-C was taken up by MLE-12 cells, and the uptake was inhibited by excess nSP-C. The pattern of inhibition of dinitrophenyl-rSP-C uptake by SP-B, but not by SP-A, was similar to that previously reported for nSP-C. Clearance kinetics of nSP-C were similar to previous measurements of pulmonary clearance of SP-B in rabbits and mice. rSP-C has clearance kinetics and uptake by cells similar to those of nSP-C.


Evidence on the exact mechanism linking in utero shocks with early-childhood outcomes remains scarce because biological factors are often tangled with changes in parental inputs. This paper addresses this issue by exploiting exogenous variation in the ocean's productivity resulting from water acidification, a consequence of climate change that is negatively affecting marine life and has been largely ignored in the literature. Ocean acidification provides a unique setting to study prenatal nutritional deprivation as water chemistry affects fish stocks, but is not directly observed or felt by mothers. This isolates the channel of transmission to the availability of resources. We estimate the causal impact of the ocean's acidity while in utero on early-childhood mortality and development at a global scale, analyzing more than 1.5 million geocoded births taking place over the last 50 years in 36 developing countries. We compare children, including siblings, born in the same location but on different dates, controlling for a set of high-dimensional fixed effects. In coastal areas, a 0.01 unit increase in acidity causes 2 additional neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births. Using a novel measure of fishing pressure that combines local and industrial fishing, we show that the effect is strictly related to reduced access to nutrients during gestation. We find no evidence of parental adaptation on other inputs. Deprivation selectively affects the weakest children, creating small differences in child development. These results provide the first quantitative evidence linking the exploitation of renewable natural resources with malnutrition and neonatal selection. JEL codes: I15, H51, Q54, Q2.


Solar Water Heater (SWH) is one of the most successful solar thermal technology applications in Nepal. About 30,000 sets of SWHs have already been installed throughout the country. In a study conducted in 1998, it was estimated that more than 10,000 m 2 of SWHs had been installed with a capacity of around 200,000 liters/day. However, until now, locally manufactures solar water heaters are still under very poor condition. Thermo siphon is the only technology manufactured and sold at commercial stage. The performance standard of solar water heaters is very low. Although the technology is popular in the country, there is an urgent need to take measures on improving the current technology. The existing technology has not been assessed so far in terms of efficiency, low-cost design and extended lifetime measures. The use of SWHs in rural and in high altitude areas still lack attention. Government policy, standardization of the manufacturing technology, and lack of awareness among the public and the beneficiaries, are other vital issues which should be addressed.


Only one of the 5000 extant louse species (Phthiraptera) and no species of flea (Siphonaptera), parasitic helminth (Platyhelminthes), parasitic nematode (Nemata), mite, or tick (Acari) is listed as threatened by the IUCN, despite impassioned pleas for parasite conservation beginning more than a decade ago. Although they should be conserved for their own sake, past arguments, highlighting the intrinsic and utilitarian value of parasites, have not translated into increased attention by scientists or conservation managers, at least by the standard of listing for protection. Here, the use of estimated genealogies and population genetic patterns of parasites to illuminate their hosts' evolutionary and demographic history is advocated. Parasite DNA generally evolves more rapidly than their hosts', which renders it an underexploited resource for conservation biologists, particularly in cases where the hosts' genealogy or degree of population genetic structure is difficult to measure directly. Moreover, parasite gene flow may occur during host dispersal irrespective of host gene flow, revealing host movement through space and time. Parasite ecology and evolution may thus become another tool for the management of endangered vertebrate populations. This will result in the recognition of new host records, parasite species and cryptic lineages, which will help lift the veil of ignorance with respect to parasite biodiversity.


Studies of parathyroid hormone-like peptide (PLP) have demonstrated that PLP gene expression is inducible by serum, growth factors, and cycloheximide. Rapid induction of PLP gene expression has also been observed following the induction of cell differentiation. These features of PLP gene expression are consistent with a role for PLP in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. To understand the biology of PLP in developing cells and tissues, we have studied the distribution of PLP gene expression in the fetal and neonatal rat. PLP was localized by immunocytochemistry to skin, vascular smooth muscle, skeletal muscle, heart, liver, kidney, lung, and gastrointestinal tract in Day 14 fetal rat. By Day 18 PLP immunopositivity was also detected in both fetal pituitary and adrenal medulla, as well as in endocrine pancreas. Whereas few PLP-immunopositive cells were detected in Day 14 brain, scattered areas of PLP immunopositivity were evident in Day 18 brain, in regions such as the choroid plexus. Immunostaining for PLP was also detected in Day 18 tissues that were positive on Day 14. The pattern of staining in fetal testis, where PLP was strongly localized to seminiferous tubules, differed from adult testis, where PLP was localized predominantly in Leydig cells. PLP was localized to the hepatocytes but not to the hematopoietic elements in fetal liver. Neonatal hepatocytes were weakly PLP immunopositive, and PLP was not detected in adult rat liver. Northern blot analysis demonstrated the presence of a single 1.4-kilobase PLP mRNA transcript in fetal brain, liver, heart, lung, and intestine. The results of these studies demonstrate that the PLP gene is widely expressed in a diverse number of fetal rat tissues. The cellular and tissue localization of PLP immunopositivity remains fairly constant in the transition from fetal to neonatal and adult tissues except in the testis, where a cellular switch in PLP-producing cells occurs, and the liver, where PLP gene expression is progressively extinguished postnatally.


ABSTRACT This research-based essay presents evidence concerning the leading dimensions that make an empirical communication research article interesting. Based on a survey to editorial boards (EBs) of 16 communication journals, five different categories of interest were found: counterintuitive, foundational, new approach, quality and exemplarity, and insightful and practical. By outlining these categories, the article provides illustrative examples of interesting studies, aiming to stimulate the research community to better assess the potentiality of their contributions, and thus elevating the likelihood of being influential and appealing. To contextualize these findings, the study also provides evidence from EBs regarding the research system itself, arguing that there is a gap between the current robustness of empirical developments and the apathy about them showed by some field's forefathers. The article finally reflects on the social division of academics based on the research nature of their studies, suggesting that the 'empirical' term has lost its original meaning of evidenced-based research and became shorthand for most quantitative work, made by 'social scientists'.


Experimental observations indicate that the magnitude of biological excess P uptake is linked strongly to the magnitude of P release in the anaerobic reactor. A theory describing the kinetics of P release is presented in terms of the readily biodegradable COD in the influent, the non-polyP heterotrophic mass, the anaerobic mass fraction and the reactor flow regime. Observed P release conforms well to that predicted over a wide range of wastewater characteristics and process conditions.


We present spectroscopic observations of the dust- and gas-enshrouded, polluted, single white dwarf star SDSS J104341.53+085558.2 (hereafter SDSS J1043+0855). Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph far-ultraviolet spectra combined with deep Keck HIRES optical spectroscopy reveal the elements C, O, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Ca, Fe, and Ni and enable useful limits for Sc, Ti, V, Cr, and Mn in the photosphere of SDSS J1043+0855. From this suite of elements we determine that the parent body being accreted by SDSS J1043+0855 is similar to the silicate Moon or the outer layers of Earth in that it is rocky and iron-poor. Combining this with comparison to other heavily polluted white dwarf stars, we are able to identify the material being accreted by SDSS J1043+0855 as likely to have come from the outermost layers of a differentiated object. Furthermore, we present evidence that some polluted white dwarfs (including SDSS J1043+0855) allow us to examine the structure of differentiated extrasolar rocky bodies. Enhanced levels of carbon in the body polluting SDSS J1043+0855 relative to the Earth–Moon system can be explained with a model where a significant amount of the accreted rocky minerals took the form of carbonates; specifically, through this model the accreted material could be up to 9% calcium-carbonate by mass.


The work explores the use of time-resolved tomographic PIV measurements to study a flapping-wing model, the related vortex generation mechanisms and the effect of wing flexibility on the clap-and-fling movement in particular. An experimental setup is designed and realized in a water tank by use of a single wing model and a mirror plate to simulate the wing interaction that is involved in clap-and-fling motion. The wing model used in the experiments has the same planform with the DelFly II wings and consists of a rigid leading edge and an isotropic polyester film. The thickness of the polyester film was changed in order to investigate the influence of flexibility. A similarity analysis based on the two-dimensional dynamic beam equation was performed to compare aeroelastic characteristics of flapping-wing motion in-air and in-water conditions. Based on the experimental results, the evolution of vortical structures during the clap-and-peel motion is explained. The general effects of flexibility on vortex formations and interactions are discussed. It was observed that the flexibility affects the behavior and orientation of the vortices in relation to the deformation of the wing and interaction with the mirror plate.


Orthopedic surgical judgment and a decision-making process in peace is a topic that has been discussed and written about for decades, but the wartime surgical judgment is something that cannot be predicted or prepared for. There is no wartime surgery class in any medical school worldwide that can prepare a surgeon for his/her work under a wartime environment applying all of their knowledge, skill and effort to achieve the best possible result for a patient. With this short note, authors would like to raise awareness on all surgical and medical staff worldwide working under wartime conditions and giving their super-human efforts to save patients.


Enzymes are biological catalyst involve in different biochemical reactions. But over activation of these biomolecules can cause disease thus different inhibitors and knockout therapies are use in current clinical practice. Carbonic anhydrases (CAs), a group of ubiquitously expressed metalloenzymes, are involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes, including gluconeogenesis, lipogenesis, ureagenesis, tumorigenicity and the growth and virulence of various pathogens. In addition to the established role of CA inhibitors (CAIs) as diuretics and antiglaucoma drugs, it has recently emerged that CAIs could have potential as novel anti-obesity, anticancer and anti-infective drugs. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that CA activation may provide a novel therapy for Alzheimer's disease. This article discusses the biological rationale for the novel uses of inhibitors or activators of CA activity in multiple diseases, and highlights progress in the development of specific modulators of the relevant CA isoforms, some of which are now being evaluated in clinical trials.


Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) display an elevated risk of thrombosis. Thrombosis occurs in cardiovascular events, such as venous thromboembolism, stroke, and acute coronary syndrome, and is a cause of hemodialysis vascular access dysfunction. CKD leads to the accumulation of uremic toxins, which exerts toxic effects on blood and the vessel wall. Some uremic toxins result from tryptophan metabolization in the gut through the indolic and the kynurenine pathways. An increasing number of studies are highlighting the link between such uremic toxins and thrombosis in CKD. In this review, we describe the thrombotic mechanisms induced by tryptophan-derived uremic toxins (TDUT). These mechanisms include an increase in plasma levels of procoagulant factors, induction of platelet hyperactivity, induction of endothelial dysfunction/ impairment of endothelial healing, decrease in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, and production of procoagulant microparticles. We focus on one important prothrombotic mechanism: The induction of tissue factor (TF), the initiator of the extrinsic pathway of the blood coagulation. This induction occurs via a new pathway, dependent on the transcription factor Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), the receptor of TDUT in cells. A better understanding of the prothrombotic mechanisms of uremic toxins could help to find novel therapeutic targets to prevent thrombosis in CKD.


The acquisition of competences for the development of computer programs is one of the main challenges faced by computer science students. As a result of not being able to develop the abilities needed (for example, abstraction), students drop out the subjects and sometimes even the course. There is a need to study the causes of student success (or failure) in introductory curricular units to check for behaviours or characteristics that may be determinant and thus try to prevent and change said causes. The students of one programming curricular unit were invited to answer four surveys. We use machine learning techniques to try to predict the students' grades based on the answers obtained on the surveys. The results obtained enable us to plan the semester accordingly, by anticipating how many students might need extra support. We hope to increase the students' motivation and, with this, increase their interest on the subject. This way we aim to accomplish our ultimate goal: reducing the drop out and increasing the overall average student performance.


The aims of this study were to evaluate patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) with regards to dysanapsis (airway size relative to lung size) and to demonstrate the differences between the patients with and without extrathoracic airway obstruction. The study population consisted of 15 patients with OSAS and 14 age and body mass index (BMI) matched control subjects. OSAS patients and control subjects showed similar characteristics in FEV(1), FEV(1)/FVC, FEF(25-75), and FEF(25-75)/FVC ratios. Expiration reserve volume was significantly higher in the control group than in OSAS patients (p<0.01). Six patients exhibited extrathoracic airway obstruction while awake. Of these, three had also a sawtooth pattern in their flow-volume curves. The remaining nine patients had no extrathoracic airway obstruction and had lower apnea-hypopnea indexes (AHI) than the obstruction group (p<0.05). OSAS patients and age- and BMI-matched healthy controls had similar characteristics in terms of dysanapsis. In addition, there was no relation between the FEF(25-75)/FVC ratio and AHI, MinO(2), and MeanO(2). Extrathoracic airway obstruction may be a feature of only severe OSAS patients.


Abstract The spatial distribution of a scalar undergoing advection and diffusion is impacted by the velocity variability sampled by tracer particles. In spatially structured velocity fields, such as porous medium flows, Lagrangian velocities along streamlines are often characterized by a well-defined correlation length and can thus be described by spatial-Markov processes. Diffusion, on the other hand, is generally modelled as a temporal process, making it challenging to capture advective and diffusive dynamics in a single framework. We develop a description of transport based on a spatial-Markov velocity process along Lagrangian particle trajectories, incorporating the effect of diffusion as a local averaging process in velocity space. The impact of flow structure on this diffusive averaging is quantified through an effective shear rate. The latter is fully determined by the point statistics of velocity magnitudes together with characteristic longitudinal and transverse length scales associated with the flow field. For infinite longitudinal correlation length, our framework recovers Taylor dispersion, and in the absence of diffusion it reduces to a standard spatial-Markov velocity model. We derive dynamical equations governing the evolution of particle position and velocity and obtain scaling laws for the dependence of longitudinal dispersion on Péclet number. These results provide new insights into the role of shear and diffusion on dispersion processes in heterogeneous media.


According to Lavoisier, 'Life is combustion'. But to what extent humans adapt to changes in food intake through adaptive thermogenesis – by turning down the rate of heat production during energy deficit (so as to conserve energy) or turning it up during overnutrition (so as to dissipate excess calories) – has been one of the most controversial issues in nutritional sciences over the past 100 years. The debate nowadays is not whether adaptive thermogenesis exists or not, but rather about its quantitative importance in weight homoeostasis and its clinical relevance to the pathogenesis and management of obesity. Such uncertainties are likely to persist in the foreseeable future primarily because of limitations to unobtrusively measure changes in energy expenditure and body composition with high enough accuracy and precision, particularly when even small inter‐individual variations in thermogenesis can, in dynamic systems and over the long term, be important in the determining weight maintenance in some and obesity and weight regain in others. This paper reviews the considerable body of evidence, albeit fragmentary, suggesting the existence of quantitatively important adaptive thermogenesis in several compartments of energy expenditure in response to altered food intake. It then discusses the various limitations that lead to over‐ or underestimations in its assessment, including definitional and semantics, technical and methodological, analytical and statistical. While the role of adaptive thermogenesis in human weight regulation is likely to remain more a concept than a strictly 'quantifiable' entity in the foreseeable future, the evolution of this concept continues to fuel exciting hypothesis‐driven mechanistic research which contributes to advance knowledge in human metabolism and which is bound to result in improved strategies for the management of a healthy body weight.


The implementation of standardized grading production practices within the mass market has been challenging for scholars experimenting with zero-waste apparel design. The purpose of this research was to test the efficacy of the Carrico Zero-waste Banded Grading (CZWBG) technique, which utilizes bands inserted in strategic locations as a method of grading zero-waste patterns across various consumer categories. An additional purpose was to evaluate the ways in which this grading approach affected the aesthetic outcomes of garments across a size run, and to determine whether this method affected the overall design process of the designers involved. Through experimental research design, six design scholars successfully tested and incorporated the CZWBG technique in zero-waste one or two-piece apparel item(s), subsequently developing three sizes in an industry-specified size range for their product category. Each design was cut from zero-waste patterns in a mid-range size and graded up and down one–two sizes using an industry-standardized grading scale. The grading was achieved by varying the widths and lengths of strategically inserted bands of fabric or trim. The designers utilized various grading methods, textiles, pattern development methods, and size runs, showing that the CZWBG technique can successfully be applied across multiple consumer categories in the apparel industry.


Cloud computing is a new way of delivering computing resources and services. Many managers and experts believe that it can improve health care services, benefit health care research, and change the face of health information technology. However, as with any innovation, cloud computing should be rigorously evaluated before its widespread adoption. This paper discusses the concept and its current place in health care, and uses 4 aspects (management, technology, security, and legal) to evaluate the opportunities and challenges of this computing model. Strategic planning that could be used by a health organization to determine its direction, strategy, and resource allocation when it has decided to migrate from traditional to cloud-based health services is also discussed.


Background: Pericardial effusion can be a life-threatening condition and urgent drainage is then life-saving but no consensus exists as to the preferential use of a percutaneous drainage (PCD) or a surgical drainage (SD) approach.

Method and Results: All patients admitted for symptomatic pericardial effusion in 2018 in our tertiary Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (Toulouse, France) were prospectively included. In- hospital complications, length of stay, 6-months mortality and recurrences have been collected and compared according to the procedure (PCD vs. SD). One hundred and twenty nine patients were admitted for pericardial effusion and 92 were drained: 54 (59%) and 38 (41%) by a surgical and percutaneous procedure, respectively. In- hospital complications were the same between the 2 procedures (7% for SD group and 15% for PCD; p = 0.39). However, duration of hospitalization was shorter for patients treated by PCD (5.9±4.4 versus 8.2±4.9 days; p = 0.02). Six-month mortality (22% for SD versus 37% for PCD; p = 0.12) or recurrences (11% for PCD versus 24% for SD; p = 0.11) were not different.

Conclusion: In case of symptomatic non-iatrogenic pericardial effusions, PCD is an efficient and reliable less invasive technique. Its possible and wide availability, and its shorter length of hospitalization justifies its use as first line therapy in trained team especially for cancer patients.


Governing the cooperatives' management by payment systems turns out to be a non-trivial problem due to the specific characteristics of the legal structure. Evaluating the management's performance is complicated by the business relations between members and their cooperative. A relative performance payment can make a significant contribution to the reduction of target inconsistencies between the members and the management of cooperatives. It is based on the idea that for evaluating the performance of a manager not only the company's results of its "own" company are used, but also the competitors' or industry's results. There are three advantages of a relative performance evaluation: • The inclusion of the results of other companies allows reducing systematic arising risks of the compensation scheme for the CEO. • The compensation scheme can include the cooperative's profit for the evaluation of the market success and a comparison of the purchase prices for the members´ products in order to measure the member value. This will lead the CEO's decisions and labor effort toward members´ aims. • The members can use the compensation scheme as a strategic variable to reduce competition intensity between the cooperatives. The paper considers the incentive characteristics of linear contracts based on relative performance evaluation for CEOs under the specific requirements of cooperatives. The analysis includes a comparison of different compensation schemes and their utility for cooperatives in several market scenarios.


: Ongoing monitoring of frail elders may be an effective way to reduce rehospitalization rates. The VNA Risk Reduction Project was a demonstration program designed to test this hypothesis. Two hundred and sixty one previously hospitalized patients were randomly assigned to two treatment groups. The nursing group received monthly monitoring visits while the telephone group received calls by volunteers approximately twice per month. The comparison between the two service groups shows that the nursing group visited at least twice had fewer hospitalizations and the same length of stay as the telephone group. The findings suggest that ongoing monitoring can reduce costs and improve the quality of care.


Accuracy in radiotherapy is of vital importance for individual patient treatment and for clinical trials on which patient treatments. There is a continuous demand for improvement of dosimetry methods and adaption of dosimetry (primary) standards for new applications, including the introduction of new treatment modalities (e.g. FFF) and reference conditions (e.g. magnetic fields in MRgRT). For primary standard dosimetry laboratories (PSDLs), it is generally not feasible to acquire such modalities. Therefore, it is strongly desired that Dw measurements with primary standards can be performed on-site in clinical beams for new treatment modalities. In this study, a transportable absorbed dose to water primary standard, a water calorimeter, was developed for operation on-site in various beam geometries including MRI-incorporated treatment machines. The relative combined standard uncertainty (k = 1) for Dw measurements with the new standard in 60Co and MV-photons was 0.37 % (k = 1). Calibrations were carried out with a standard uncertainty of 0.42 % and kQ-factors are determined with a standard uncertainty of 0.40 %. An international key comparison with the BIPM (BIPM.RI(I)-K6) resulted in registration of related calibration measurement capabilities in the BIPM key comparison database (KCDB). This provided the required evidence for international acceptance of the water calorimeter as the Dutch absorbed dose to water primary standard for accelerator photon beams, ensuring acceptance of its measurement results through the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement, CIPM MRA. Measurements with the new primary standard were performed in FFF-cFF beam pairs at 6 MV and 10 MV of an Elekta Versa HD for a selection of three different Farmer-type ion chambers. Based on these measurements and with the equipment described, it was concluded that the kQ factors provided by current codes of practice can be applied for flattening filter free beams without additional correction. However, an ion chamber volume averaging correction must be applied. Commissioning of the calorimeter in the 7 MV-photon beam of a pre-clinical MRI-linac in a 1.5 T magnetic field showed that the calorimeter corrections are either independent of magnetic field or can be determined in a magnetic field. The uncertainty for measurement of Dw with a water calorimeter in a 1.5 T magnetic field was estimated to be the same as under conventional reference conditions. Therefore, the VSL water calorimeter can be applied as a primary standard for Dw in magnetic fields and is currently the only primary standard operable in a magnetic field that provides direct access to the international traceability framework. For the first time ion chamber correction factors, kQ and kB, were directly measured in an MRI-linac. It was concluded that calculated and measured results in existing literature agree with the new values. The values in this study are currently the only available measured values for kQ and kB in an MRI-linac that are directly linked to the international traceability framework for the quantity absorbed dose to water, Dw. The new primary standard and its application stimulates the development of new measurement methods and contributes to a safe introduction of future radiation techniques.


In this contribution we describe recent results on the generation and control of temporal localized structures in a passively mode-locked Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser mounted in an external cavity closed by a resonant saturable absorber mirror. When the cavity roundtrip is much larger than the medium timescales, this system exhibits a temporal aspect-ratio large enough to host pulses which can be individually addressed. These localized pulses have been proposed as information bits and the possibility of their manipulation opens interesting perspectives for information processing. We will show that a modulation of the pumping current leads to control the position and the speed of the localized pulses within the cavity. In addition to pin the pulses at well-defined positions, which enables clocking the bit flow, the pulses can be driven to collide one against the other, thus unveiling the purely repulsive mutual interaction.


Religion and spirituality are deeply rooted in traditional African American culture. Data suggest that African American adolescents maintain higher baseline rates of religious activities and beliefs than their peers (Bachman, Johnston, & O'Malley, 2005; Smith, Faris, Denton, & Regnerus, 2003). Recognizing these data, this article examines strategies for helping school counselors enhance their multicultural counseling competence through the integration of African American adolescents' value orientations and belief systems in counseling aimed to maximize academic, career, and personal/social development.


One of the important cellular factors involved in the regulation of the host antimicrobial response is the immediate early response transcription factor NF-κB (nuclear factor κB). Human pathogenic micro-organisms trigger cellular signal transduction pathways that induce NF-κB, but pathogens have also found ways to overcome the inflammatory response through active manipulation of NF-κB regulators. Exploration of the mechanisms that influence NF-κB activity could contribute to a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of microbial infections and could be important for potential therapeutic intervention that may be relevant in a wide variety of inflammatory diseases.


The production of secondary metabolites is a fundamental way that bacteria interact with their environments, yet little is known about the fitness benefits conferred by specific molecules or the dynamics influencing the distribution of biosynthetic gene clusters among bacterial lineages. This dissertation consists of six chapters that address these topics in an unusual class of secondary metabolites called hybrid isoprenoids (HIs). The first chapter introduces microbial chemical ecology and secondary metabolism, followed by four research-oriented chapters and a summary chapter. Chapter 2 presents a literature review of the distribution of HI production within the actinobacterial genus Streptomyces. Reports of HI production were phylogenetically very scattered, with the exception of a putative marine Streptomyces lineage called the 'MAR4' clade. Following from this, Chapter 3 presents an in-depth study of the phylogenetic diversity of the MAR4 clade. Sequence data from a variety of sources led to a considerable expansion of the MAR4 clade, and representative strains were shown to produce 1-4 classes of HI molecules, an ability that is unmatched elsewhere in the streptomycetes. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of 120 Streptomyces genomes, including 12 MAR4 strains, which provides strong support for the hypothesis that this clade is enriched in gene clusters for HI production. Phylogenetic analysis of a HI biosynthesis gene suggest that vertical inheritance, horizontal gene transfer, duplication followed by functional divergence, and gene rearrangements have all contributed to the striking number of HI gene clusters found in MAR4 genomes. The final research chapter addresses the fact that none of these molecules have an experimentally characterized natural function, which is a major obstacle to understanding the unusual distribution of HI gene clusters. Because many HIs resemble characterized electron shuttles, the hypothesis that they function in redox cycling was explored. A redox- active pigment that was upregulated in low-oxygen conditions was isolated from a MAR4 strain. This compound was identified as an intermediate in a HI gene cluster, which largely goes to completion in aerobic culture. This provides an unusual example of how a single biosynthetic cluster can be used to generate products with distinct properties depending on culture conditions


This research was aimed at to analyse the direct and indirect effects of the cultural integration on the capability and the sustainable competitive excellence. This was an exploratory study, and the investigation applied the correlational study, with the quantitative approach, whileas the research model was survey. Sample taken through a non-probability sampling, and the selection of the sample  using judg- ment sampling. The amount of sample was 124 entrepreneurs. The data was ana- lysed by applying inferential statistics measure, namely the path analysis. The re- search result shows that the Moluccan culture has significant direct effect on the capability. And the cultural integration influences sustainable competitive excel- lence of the small-scale and micro businesses. Capability influences sustainable competitive excellence of the Moluccans small-scale and micro businesses. Capa- bility mediates the effects of cultural integration on sustainable competitive excel- lence.     Keywords : Culture, Capability, Sustainable competitive excellence.


BACKGROUND
The association between leukapheresis (LK) as a treatment option for hyperleukocytosis (HL) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains controversial.

METHODS
Data were extracted from the electronic medical record for 2801 patients with AML between April 2009 and December 2019. LK was performed when the leukocyte count was ≥100 × 109 /L at the time initial bone marrow examination.

RESULTS
A comparison between the patients with HL in the non-LK (n = 1579) and LK (n = 208) groups revealed survival probabilities (%) of 93.2% and 90.4% (P = .130) for day 30 (D30), 85.4% and 84.2% (P = .196) for D60, and 83.6% and 80.8% (P = .258) for D90, respectively. After propensity score matching, a comparison between the patients with HL in the non-LK (n = 192) and LK (n = 192) groups revealed survival probabilities (%) of 83.9% and 91.2% (P = .030) for D30, 75.0% and 84.9% (P = .015) for day 60 (D60), and 62.4% and 81.3% (P = .034) for day 90 (D90), respectively. After D150, the observed effect of LK appeared to be mitigated without a survival benefit.

DISCUSSION
LK was associated with improved early survival outcomes at D30, D60, and D90 among patients with AML exhibiting HL. Thus, it may be considered a treatment option for reducing cell mass in such patients.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The purpose of our retrospective study was to investigate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of clot removal therapy by aspiration and extraction for patients with acute stroke with embolic internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion.

METHODS
Of 814 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to our institution from March 2003 to April 2005, clot removal therapy was performed for 14. Inclusion criteria were patients (1) presenting within 6 hours of onset of cardioembolic stroke, (2) with serious neurologic symptoms defined by a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of at least 11, (3) without extensive high signal intensity on diffusion-weighted MR images but with decreased ipsilateral hemispheric cerebral blood flow on perfusion-weighted images (perfusion/diffusion mismatch), and (4) with total ICA occlusion on angiograms. We removed clots by aspiration and extraction with a microsnare through either a guiding or balloon guide catheter. Radiographic results, 7-day NIHSS, 3-month modified Rankin Scale, and procedure-related complications were evaluated.

RESULTS
Of 10 patients treated with the balloon guide catheter to temporarily interrupt proximal flow, 7 obtained complete or partial recanalization. The 4 patients treated with the guiding catheter had no recanalization. Of the 7 patients with recanalization, 6 had favorable 7-day neurologic and 3-month functional outcome; all showed anatomic crossflow via the anterior communicating artery. A procedure-related complication, distal embolization into the ipsilateral anterior cerebral artery, occurred in 1 patient.

CONCLUSION
Balloon guide catheter-assisted clot removal therapy for embolic ICA occlusion may provide a high recanalization rate and good clinical outcome in patients with anatomic crossflow.


With the rapid prevalence of smart mobile devices and the dramatic proliferation of location-based social networks (LBSNs), location-based recommendation has become an important means to help people discover attractive and interesting points of interest (POIs). However, the extreme sparsity of user-POI matrix and cold-start issue create severe challenges, causing CF-based methods to degrade significantly in their recommendation performance. Moreover, location-based recommendation requires spatiotemporal context awareness and dynamic tracking of the user's latest preferences in a real-time manner. To address these challenges, we stand on recent advances in embedding learning techniques and propose a generic graph-based embedding model, called GE, in this paper. GE jointly captures the sequential effect, geographical influence, temporal cyclic effect and semantic effect in a unified way by embedding the four corresponding relational graphs (POI-POI, POI-Region, POI-Time and POI-Word)into a shared low dimensional space. Then, to support the real-time recommendation, we develop a novel time-decay method to dynamically compute the user's latest preferences based on the embedding of his/her checked-in POIs learnt in the latent space. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the performance of our model on two real large-scale datasets, and the experimental results show its superiority over other competitors, especially in recommending cold-start POIs. Besides, we study the contribution of each factor to improve location-based recommendation and find that both sequential effect and temporal cyclic effect play more important roles than geographical influence and semantic effect.


Topics such as polis formation and synoikismos have a rich background in classical studies, history, and archaeology. Such studies have mainly focused on the attestations of synoikismos events in literary sources and inscriptions. The archaeological side of such processes has not always been given equal weight. This paper presents a more encompassing view on patterns of synoikismos and polis formation by incorporating and assessing archaeological evidence in a model of push-pull interactions between local communities and the Hellenistic kingdoms in southwest Anatolia. This model will be applied on a case study of the origin of polis at Sagalassos and its relation with the nearby settlement at Düzen Tepe during its formative years in the Early to Middle Hellenistic period (3rd–2nd centuries b.c.). It will then situate this case in its wider context of settlement patterns and community formation in southwest Anatolia, focusing on the ancient regions of Pisidia, Lycia, and Pamphylia. The paper suggests that interactions between local communities and overarching central administrations offered suitable stimuli that resulted in local communities starting to participate in wider dynamics of economic and political importance. This ultimately resulted in observed patterns of polis formation and a potential synoikismos.


A hyperbolic material (HM) is an optical material that exhibits a unique property of having anisotropy with simultaneously different signs of the permittivity tensor components. Such a property leads to novel optical phenomena. HM can host highly localized bulk plasmon polaritons and directional surface waves with the large wavevectors required in various applications in nano-guiding, sensing, and imaging. Research on HMs has been intensified in the last decade thanks to progress in nanofabrication and advances with two-dimensional materials. This paper reviews the recent developments in novel structures and materials with hyperbolic materials such as metasurfaces, hypercrystals, waveguides, and cavities. Furthermore, various applications that take advantage of the unique optical phenomena of HMs are covered, including negative refraction and photonic spin Hall effect for optical signal sorting, super-resolution, refractive index sensing, and mid-infrared vibrational spectroscopy.


Swedish postwar aid to Germany from 1945 to 1954 is described and analyzed, especially as an expression of Swedish attitudes developed over a long period of societal evolution.As early as 1943/44 both Swedish voluntary agencies and the Swedish government began to plan program of postwar aid to Germany. Older and more recent attitudes to Germany, the views of Germans living in exile in Sweden and the intentions of the Western allies toward a conquered Germany were central in determining the nature and scope of Swedish aid. Programs incorporated the values of traditional Christian charity, secularized philanthropy and applied methods developed for emergency aid abroad and for social assistance at home. The new concept of the welfare state, strong in Sweden at the time, led to aid also being aimed toward long-term socio-political goals. Children, young people, mothers, refugees, displaced persons and what was regarded as the German elite were the main recipients of various aid efforts. In the atmosphere of the Cold War, aid came to be increasingly directed to West Germany.Postwar aid, with Germany as the main non-Scandinavian recipient, was Sweden's first experience as a long-term aid donor. While the efforts of voluntary agencies were concentrated abroad, the Swedish welfare state developed rapidly at home, leaving no room for privately sponsored social work. Even after 1950/54, therefore, the work of Swedish voluntary agencies was directed at needs abroad, mainly to so-called undeveloped countries outside Europe. The premises underlying such aid and its contents were largely the same as for postwar aid to Germany.


Splanchnic mesoderm in the region described as the second heart field (SHF) is marked by Islet1 expression in the mouse embryo. The anterior part of this region expresses a number of markers, including Fgf10, and the contribution of these cells to outflow tract and right ventricular myocardium has been established. We now show that the posterior region also has myocardial potential, giving rise specifically to differentiated cells of the atria. This conclusion is based on explant experiments using endogenous and transgenic markers and on DiI labelling, followed by embryo culture. Progenitor cells in the right or left posterior SHF contribute to the right or left common atrium, respectively. Explant experiments with transgenic embryos, in which the transgene marks the right atrium, show that atrial progenitor cells acquire right-left identity between the 4- and 6-somite stages, at the time when Pitx2c is first expressed. Manipulation of Pitx2c, by gain- and loss-of-function, shows that it represses the transgenic marker of right atrial identity. A repressive effect is also seen on the proliferation of cells in the left sinus venosus and in cultured explants from the left side of the posterior SHF. This report provides new insights into the contribution of the SHF to atrial myocardium and the effect of Pitx2c on the formation of the left atrium.


This study investigated the effect of rural-urban migration on food security of rural households in Kwande local government area of Benue State, Nigeria. Using multistage sampling technique and a semi-structured questionnaire as instrument, data for the study was collected from a sample of three hundred and eighty four (389) rural dwellers in the state. The study revealed the major causes and determined the effect of rural-urban migration of the food security of Kwande local government area and suggested measures to reduce the rate of rural-urban migration. Given that the F- statistics of 98.094 is significant at 1% level of significance, it implies that the computed F- value was higher than the F-tabulated value of (1.94) at 5% level of significance and (2.51) at 1% level of significance. Therefore, and the alternative hypothesis which states that factors such as search for job, quest for skill acquisition, search foe better education, quest for marriage, insecurity, social amenities, and natural disasters are the determining factors of rural urban migration was accepted. Therefore, the study concluded that reduction rural-urban migration and improvement in food security are dependent on these factors. Based on the effects of rural-urban migration, it was recommended that government/policy makers come up with policies that would lead to increased rural development and farm mechanization.


Context: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is associated with moderate intensity postoperative pain especially in the early postoperative period. Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block has been shown to reduce pain scores and analgesic requirements after abdominal surgery. Aims: We hypothesized that a subcostal TAP block with ropivacaine and dexmedetomidine will prolong the duration of postoperative analgesia following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Settings and Design: This prospective, randomized study was done in 60 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery done at a tertiary care institution. Subjects and Methods: Sixty patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomized into two groups to receive either bilateral ultrasonography-guided subcostal TAP blocks with 18 mL 0.375% ropivacaine and 2 ml of normal saline (n = 30, Group R) or 18 ml. 375% ropivacaine with 0.5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine 2 mL (n = 30, Group RD). Numerical rating scale was measured postoperatively to primarily assess the pain severity and analgesic requirement for the first 24 h, hemodynamic parameters, and adverse effects were recorded. Statistical Analysis Used: Categorical data were analyzed using Chi-square test/Fisher's exact test and quantitative data were analyzed using Student's t-test and the Mann–Whitney U-test. Results: The study group (Group RD) had significantly prolonged postoperative analgesia (485.6 min) as compared to Group R (289.83 min). Moreover, consumption of morphine over 24-h period is significantly less in Group RD (14.5 mg) as compared to Group R (28.5 mg). Conclusions: Addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine in TAP block prolongs postoperative analgesia and reduces opioid consumption without any major adverse effects.


We study the effect of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on the decreased labor share of income distribution in the source country. We develop a general equilibrium model that features a heterogeneous firms and non-parametric production function, with augmented foreign factors to capture foreign employment First-order approximation points out that the differences in the factor demand elasticities are key parameters for the implication to the labor share. To identify them, we develop a method-of-moments estimator that leverages foreign factor augmentation shocks. We then apply the method to a unique natural experiment, the 2011 Thailand Floods and study the impact on Japanese multinational firms. We employ uniquely combined Japanese firm- and foreign affiliate- level datasets. The estimate indicates that foreign factor augmentation increased capital demand in Japan more than labor demand, which suggests that the foreign factor augmentation reduced the labor share in Japan.


In spite of its broad-based, even global, recognition, higher education in the United States is currently being targeted by a diverse number of right-wing forces, which have high jacked political power and have waged a focused campaign to undermine the principles of academic freedom, sacrifice critical pedagogical practice in the name of patriotic correctness, and dismantle the university as a bastion of autonomy, independent thought, and uncorrupted inquiry. Ironically, by adopting the vocabulary of individual rights, academic freedom, balance, and tolerance, private advocacy groups and individuals such as the American Council for Trustees and Alumni and David Horowitz are waging a campaign designed not merely to counter dissent but to destroy it and in doing so to eliminate all of those remaining public spaces, spheres, and institutions that nourish and sustain a democratic civil society. The article argues that there is much more at stake in the current assault on the university than the issue of academic freedom. First and foremost is the concerted attempt by right-wing extremists and corporate interests to strip the professoriate of any authority, render critical pedagogy as merely an instrumental task, eliminate tenure as a protection for teacher authority, and remove critical reason from any vestige of civic courage, engaged citizenship, and social responsibility. The article offers both a critique and some suggestions about how such an attack can be collectively resisted, especially by those of us working in the universities. There is a central focus in the article on the importance of both developing a theoretical framework for engaging critical pedagogy and developing a defense for its use in the classroom as part of a broader project of connecting education to democratic values, identities, public spaces, and relationships.


Conditions are given to guarantee the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the Zakai equation associated with the nonlinear filtering of diffusion processes. The conditions permit stronger than polynomial growth of the coefficients, and depend instead on the relative growth rates. The results are derived by adapting, through a sequence of exponential transformations, the classical existence and uniqueness theorems for parabolic PDE's due to Besala to the "robust" form of the Zakai equation. In this process we also obtain sharp estimates for the tail behavior of the conditional density. Examples, including observations through a polynomial sensor and estimation of the state of a "bilinear" system, are worked out in detail. Our results are compared to those of Fleming and Mitter, Pardoux, and Sussmann who, among others, have obtained existence and uniqueness theorems for a more limited class of problems by different methods.


Background: Much of the activities for the prevention and management of diarrhoea should occur or be initiated at home. In addition, management is guided by clinical and metabolic state. This work was designed to examine some prehospital management practices and the metabolic state of children with diarrhoea in Calabar, Nigeria. Methodology: Prospective study of the pre-presentation management, clinical and metabolic states of children with diarrhoea presenting at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar from April to November 2016. History was used to determine prepresentation management while blood glucose and electrolytes were determined before initiation of treatment. Results: Forty-four children aged 4 – 13years, mean 18.65 ± 17.37months were recruited into the study. Forty (90.91%) had acute watery diarrhoea and 4 (9.09%) had dysentery. Of these, 72.27%had oral electrolyte solutions at home and nine (20.45%) zinc. Twelve (27.27%) had mild, 26 (45.4%) moderate and 3 (6.82%) severe dehydration. Twenty (63.64%) had metabolic acidosis, 18(40.91%) hyponatraemia and 18(40.9%) azotaemia suggesting Acute Kidney Injury. Two (4.50%) had hypoglycaemia while 16(36.30%) had hypozincaemia. Conclusion: A majority of children with diarrhoea have oral electrolytes solution before presentation in the hospital and all had continued feeding. There is a high proportion with hyponatremia and more than a third hadazotaemia. Modality of treatment at home did not seem to affect these parameters, perhaps because all subjects had continued feeding. Further studies on the appropriateness of low osmolarity ORS in this environment and renal function of children with diarrhoeaare recommended. Key Word: Diarrhoea, Prehospital Management, electrolytes


This study provides evidence on the relationship between governance quality and economic growth. We use the six Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) published by the World Bank and a sample of 29 countries (23 developed countries and 6 emerging economies) covering the period. To account for the potential endogeneity problem, we employ panel GMM estimators. The analysis proceeds in three stages. Firstly, we examine the effect of these six governance indicators on economic growth for the whole sample. Next, we apply a principal component analysis (PCA) to these indicators to construct a global governance index (GGI) and test its impact on economic growth. Finally, to examine the effect of the GGI on economic growth in emerging economies relative to developed countries, we introduce an interaction dummy variable. The results show a positive relationship between governance quality and economic growth in both developed and emerging economies. Moreover, the contribution of the GGI to the economic growth of emerging economies is more than that of developed ones.


The aim of our research is to determine - on the grounds of the facts of an average dairy family farm – the necessary economic size to provide subsistence for a four member family, which solely has income from this activity. Our study used three different calculation models. The models featured considerable differences. In the first one the primary aim of the producer is to survive, therefore the achieved gross income in farming includes neither amortization costs, nor the arising costs of repair and maintenance. On the contrary, the primary aim of the second model is to keep up the technology and the stock, which could fulfil the requirements of simple reproduction. The third model assumes a technological development corresponding with 10% of the invested asset value besides consolidation, thus ensuring the potential of reproduction on an increasing scale. The above mentioned calculations cover the period of several years. The studied years show differences in terms of the buying up price of milk, aid for milk production and the price of used inputs. Our study compared farm sizes with the viable plant size defined according to the Standard Gross Margin. As for the SGM a farm is already viable with 10 dairy cows and their progenies. However, our calculations show that a 10 cowed farm is not able to provide sufficient income for a four member family, if their aim is not only survival, but also simple or enlarged reproduction. The calculations reveal that among the fast changing market conditions of the dairy sector minimal farm size cannot be determined solely on the basis of profit figures in a given year, as in many cases it might lead to the exhaustion of reserves.


Background. Legionnaires' Disease (LD) is a mild to severe, potentially lethal, respiratory syndrome caused by members of the Legionella genus, in particular L. pneumophila serogroup (sg) 1 alone causes about 95% of culture confirmed cases. The infection is usually acquired by inhalation of aerosols originating from contaminated fresh water sources, consequently typing of both clinical and environmental isolates is crucial to rapidly identify the possible source and prevent further cases. Legionellae are difficult to isolate by culture, moreover as respiratory samples are not available for up to 65% patients, alternative techniques are needed to diagnose LD and maximise the amount of typing data that can be obtained to aid investigations. Urinary antigen detection and serology provide very limited information regarding the infecting strain, while the advent of PCR and Sanger sequencing has allowed reliable diagnostic and typing methods to be introduced.

Objectives. The aim of this study was to improve existing diagnostic and typing molecular assays, and to develop new ones to further standardise diagnostic and typing procedures across members of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Study Group for Legionella Infections (ESGLI). Utility of the assays was assessed in both routine and outbreak scenarios.

Methods. A wide range of both in silico and in vitro experiments were used to design and validate specific oligonucleotides to improve detection and typing of L. pneumophila. Genomic DNA was manually extracted and prepared for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) using Illumina platforms. A bioinformatic approach was used to design a WGS based typing scheme and decipher the evolution of L. pneumophila sg1 Sequence Type (ST) 47, a major disease-causing strain.

Results. A real-time PCR detecting L. pneumophila and sg1 specific targets was validated with international colleagues and made available to ESGLI members. Sequence based typing was improved and expanded, and specific typing guidelines produced. A 50 gene core-genome MLST was identified as the best approach to improve the current typing method. ST47 was shown to be a 'chimera' between ST109 and ST62, and a specific real-time PCR was designed to detect this strain.

Conclusions. The results of this study allowed researchers to obtain faster and more accurate diagnosis of LD, and L. pneumophila typing data from both isolates and primary samples. A metagenomics approach is presently under evaluation to obtain typing results by WGS directly from clinical and environmental samples.


This Comment critiques the say-on-pay law and the repercussions that resulted during the 2011 proxy season. Part II of this Comment discusses the events leading up to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. Part III examines the say-on-pay precursors along with the Dodd-Frank Act say-on-pay provision. Part IV analyzes the results from the 2011 proxy season and the critiques that arose from its completion. Part V discusses the say-on-pay litigation resulting from negative say-on-pay feedback, including whether Congress intended for shareholders to pursue this type of action. Part VI and VII conclude this Comment by analyzing the impact of the poorly drafted law and proposes that Congress should repeal it. If, however, Congress refuses to repeal the law, Congress should amend it and insert new language that provides guidance for corporations and limitations on abusers of the law, such as shareholders.


ABSTRACT This article presents a review of qualitative research on interprofessional cooperation between regular teachers and special educators published from 2005 to 2019. The aim of the review was to gain knowledge about how different forms of cooperation take shape and about factors at multiple levels that facilitate or constrain cooperation as a means of achieving inclusion. In total, 25 studies were selected. The results are discussed in relation to Thomas Skrtic's theory of bureaucracies within the school organisation in order to compare and analyse different forms of interprofessional cooperation and schools' organisations of special educational work. Cooperative teaching, special educational consultations and mixed forms of cooperation were found to entail different benefits and challenges related to communication and the cooperating actors' roles. Facilitating factors included personal chemistry, an equal distribution of power and responsibilities and support from the school management through provision of professional development and adequate planning time. In several studies, a flexible cooperation was argued to be hindered by curricular constraints and standardised testing. Education policy is therefore emphasised in this review as important for understanding the conditions under which school staff are responsible for inclusion.


Serum selenium concentration was determined for 426 inhabitants of Khabarovsk land, Jewish district and several towns of Sakhalin, Sakha republic, Magadan and Kamchatka regions. Concentration range was found to be 69,4-116,9 microg/L with the lowest values being typical for Komsomolsk-na-Amure and Nikolaevsk-na-Amure (about 70 microg/L), the highest - for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (125 microg/L). Mean selenium consumption for Khabarovsk residents was 80,9 microg/L, cereals, meat and fish being the main selenium sources (33,30 and 29% respectively).


During the past years, the three-dimensional printing (3DP) has become a dominant rapid prototyping (RP) technology due to its very viable process in terms of cost, speed, and sales of related equipment. Nowadays, numerous 3DP based RP services are available. Because of the capability, service quality, and pricing of the services varies, how to select a suitable 3DP based RP service provider is very critical to the companies being engaged in new product developments. However, the issue was seldom studied. To resolve this problem, a hybrid multiple-criteria decision making (HMCDM) framework for evaluating and enhancing an appropriate 3DP based RP service provider based on the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) based Network Process (DNP) as well as VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) was proposed. The analytic framework was verified as feasible by an empirical study based on the opinions being provided by 3DP and RP experts. The well-verified framework can serve as the basis of future evaluation, selection, and enhancement of 3DP based RP service providers.


The diffraction of X-waves from a screen containing two slits is investigated. It is shown that when the peak of the incident X-wave hits the screen midway between the slits, two pulses are generated from each slit. These pulses follow laterally skewed trajectories relative to the direction of propagation of the incident X-wave along the central axis of the configuration. One of the two pulses converges on the central axis and the other diverges away from it. A geometrical construction explaining the behavior of these pulses is provided. It is shown that the trajectory of each radiated pulse can be deduced from the intersection of two curved wavefronts emanating from the two edges of each slit. The pulses converging on the central axis meet at a certain range, thus suggesting a novel focusing scheme.


As the use of smartphones increases, Android, as a Linux-based open source mobile operating system (OS), has become the most popular mobile OS in time. Due to the widespread use of Android, malware developers mostly target Android devices and users. Malware detection systems to be developed for Android devices are important for this reason. Machine learning methods are being increasingly used for detection and analysis of Android malware. This study presents a method for detecting Android malware using feature selection with genetic algorithm (GA). Three different classifier methods with different feature subsets that were selected using GA were implemented for detecting and analyzing Android malware comparatively. A combination of Support Vector Machines and a GA yielded the best accuracy result of 98.45% with the 16 selected permissions using the dataset of 1740 samples consisting of 1119 malwares and 621 benign samples.


Primary malignant tumors of the trachea are rare; and they follow up such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease incorrect diagnoses. Tracheal tumors are rare and the incidence less than 0,01% and the majority of squamous cell carcinoma. Very few cases of primary lymphoma of the trachea have been reported so far. 72 years old male patient admitted to our clinic with complaints of shortness of breath, bronchoscopy showed a mass obstructing the tracheal lumen of the al)most complete. Diode laser and coring was performed for emergency desobstruction. There was no another focus of the patient9ssystemic screening whose pathological result is B-cell lymphoma. Reported due to a rare tracheal tumor.


Interpretation of some experimental data of temperature-dependent transport properties of a solid material has led to a hypothesis that some renormalization has occurred to the electron hopping integral, making it decrease as temperature increases up to some limit. Such a renormalization may be attributed to the effect of coupling of electrons with anharmonic phonons. Namely, the presence of anharmonic vibration of two adjacent atoms yields an increase of their equilibrium distance as temperature increases, this in turn weakens the electron hopping integral connecting the two atomic sites. Despite that the above qualitative picture is pretty clear, little has been explored on the detail of how such an electron hopping integral evolves as a function of temperature. Motivated by this issue, here, we propose a tight-binding model incorporating the presence of anharmonic phonons and electron-phonon coupling, and solve it using Green function technique. We define the renormalized electron hopping integral from the band width of the interacting system, and perform self-consistent calculations to demonstrate the evolution of the electron hopping integral as a function of equilibrium distance between adjacent atoms and temperature.


Recently, support vector machines (SVMs) have proven to have great potential for classification of remotely sensed hyperspectral data acquired in a large number of spectral bands. Due to Hughes' phenomenon, conventional parametric classifiers fail to classify such a high dimensional dataset. In the past, neural networks and decision tree classifiers, which are nonparametric in nature, have frequently been used for classification of multispectral remote sensing data. These, however, have marked limitations when applied to hyperspectral data. In this paper, we present the results of applying SVMs for a 16-class classification of an AVIRIS image and compare its performance with decision tree, back propagation (BP) and radial basis function (RBF) neural network classifiers. There are a number of parameters that may affect the accuracy of SVM based classifiers. The best values of these parameters have been selected on the basis of a set of hypotheses and experiments. All the SVM classifications have been performed using an in-house code developed in a Matlab environment. The Kappa coefficient of agreement has been used to assess the accuracy of classification. The differences in classification accuracy have been statistically evaluated using a pairwise Z-test. SVM classification using a polynomial kernel of degree 2 produced an accuracy of 96.94% whereas the accuracies achieved by decision tree, BP and RBF neural network classifiers were 74.75%, 38.03% and 95.30% respectively. This clearly illustrates that the accuracy of the SVM classifier is significantly higher than decision tree and BP neural network classifiers at 95% confidence level. Although, the improvement in SVM classification accuracy with respect to the RBF neural network classifier was not statistically significant, the SVM classifier was more computationally efficient than the RBF classifier for hyperspectral image classification.


Objectives: The main objective of this paper is to prevent the structures from blast loading and familiarize with design methods followed as per UFC guidelines. To prevent from these extreme loads we have adopted alternate path method for design. Methodology: Blast loads are generally dynamic in nature, so that it varies with time comprising of two phases namely positive phase and negative phase. In this paper for analysis of structure, we have considered only positive phase for the analysis. The load is applied as a triangular impulse loading as a time history variant neglecting the negative phase of the loading. The numerical model of this structure is created and analysed using the STADD. Pro software. The load values required for the model are obtained from IS:4991, the blast parameter values are found for a standoff distance of 20m,30m and 40m by varying charge weight as 100KG, 500KG and 1000KG. Analysis is carried out for different grades of concrete in STADD. Pro and results are compared and analysed. Progressive collapse is also checked by providing plastic hinges in the structure as per FEMA 356 provisions using SAP2000 as per UFC guidelines. Findings: The alternate approach followed shows the structure is safe by removing columns at different positions. The results obtained shows the plastic hinges formed in the corner column are higher compared to any internal columns. Improvements: Further improvements adopted can be by applying special design for reinforcements apart from general design.


Ex vivo gene therapy of primary myopathies, based on autologous transplantation of genetically modified myogenic cells, is seriously limited by the number of primary myogenic cells that can be isolated, expanded, transduced, and reimplanted into the patient's muscles. We explored the possibility of using the MyoD gene to induce myogenic conversion of nonmuscle, primary cells in a quantitatively relevant fashion. Primary human and murine fibroblasts from skin, muscle, or bone marrow were infected by an E1-deleted adenoviral vector carrying a retroviral long terminal repeat-promoted MyoD cDNA. Expression of MyoD caused irreversible withdrawal from the cell cycle and myogenic differentiation in the majority (from 60 to 90%) of cultured fibroblasts, as defined by activation of muscle-specific genes, fusion into contractile myotubes, and appearance of ultrastructurally normal sarcomagenesis in culture. 24 h after adenoviral exposure, MyoD-converted cultures were injected into regenerating muscle of immunodeficient (severe combined immunodeficiency/beige) mice, where they gave rise to beta-galactosidase positive, centrally nucleated fibers expressing human myosin heavy chains. Fibers originating from converted fibroblasts were indistinguishable from those obtained by injection of control cultures of lacZ-transduced satellite cells. MyoD-converted murine fibroblasts participated to muscle regeneration also in immunocompetent, syngeneic mice. Although antibodies from these mice bound to adenoviral infected cells in vitro, no inflammatory infiltrate was present in the graft site throughout the 3-wk study period. These data support the feasibility of an alternative approach to gene therapy of primary myopathies, based on implantation of large numbers of genetically modified primary fibroblasts massively converted to myogenesis by adenoviral delivery of MyoD ex vivo.


This volume focuses on the theme of Technology and Youth; advancements in communication and leisure technologies over the past decade have radically transformed the role of technology in the lives of youth. Around the globe, children and adolescents are often seen as being the first to embrace new technologies, such as new forms of social media. Having a cell phone, once regarded as an adult technology, has become a necessity within youth culture in many societies. Even video games, once limited to stand-alone computers, have become a venue for social gatherings of youth. The rapid pace of technological advancement has brought about profound changes in the very nature of childhood and adolescence.This volume of examines the role of technology in the lives of children and adolescents. Topics addressed include: cyberbullying, video games and aggressive behavior, online gaming and the development of social skills, sexuality, child pornography, virtual communities for children, social networking and peer relations, and other related issues.


Abstract The immediate post partum period may be particularly important for the developing relationship between mother and infant; little is as yet known, however, of the long‐term effects of hospital practice during this period. This study examines the effect of extra contact during the first hour following delivery. An extra skin to skin contact and suckling contact was given to 22 primiparous mothers and their infants. One control group of 20 primiparous mothers and infants and a second one of 20 multiparous mothers and infants was given routine care immediately after birth. All mothers and infants were healthy with normal pregnancies and deliveries. At 36 hours a first observation was made of maternal and infant behaviour during breast feeding in all three groups. At this stage primiparae with extra contact showed behaviour much more like the behaviour of multiparae with routine care. Infants of primiparae with routine care cried most frequently. The behaviour of mothers of boys differed more from group to group than did that of mothers of girls.


To the Editor: Davidson has noted a transient increase in brain tumour incidence in adults in Western Australia over the period 1982-1992. 1 It is not clear why he decided to restrict his analysis to those aged 15 and over. Although an increase in incidence of a cancer suggests the possibility of an external cause, it is unwise to attribute it to a specific cause without some definite evidence. As childhood cancers often have a short period from induction to clinical presentation, they may sometimes serve as an early warning system of an environmental carcinogen. We therefore examined the incidence of gliomas in children aged 0-14 years in Australia. The Australian Paediatric Cancer Registry (APCR) collects data on childhood cancers in Australia." All brain tumours, both benign and malignant, are registered by the APCR, but for this study only gliomas diagnosed between 1977 and 1995 were included; 1026 males and 852 females were diagnosed during this period. (Two other patients whose age was uncertain and two patients whose sex was not known were excluded.) Age-standardised rates were calculated, standardised to the 1986 Australian population. There was an increase in the incidence of gliomas during this period (Figure) and this was statistically significant (P=0.00014). Davidson has suggested that the increase in incidence which he observed in adult brain tumours might be attributable to the increasing use of mobile phones, although the only evidence for this was the fact that mobile phones were introduced in Australia near the beginning of the period he


It is the contention of this study that the nature of fisheries imposes specific biological and economic imperatives on any system of fisheries management, and that unless these imperatives are heeded in formulating such a system fisheries will decline and fishing industries collapse. Throughout the period under review the rationale behind UK policy on limits lay outside the fisheries sector, and a structurally-imposed subordination to policy considerations external to fisheries resulted in somewhat inappropriate arrangements in fisheries management. The principal determinant of the UK position on limits policy was the preoccupation at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the view that extensions of coastal state, jurisdiction threatened navigational rights.

This inappropriateness resulted from the weakness of the fisheries constituency, both absolutely and relative to other lobbies with conflicting interests and needs. In addition, on many issues, opinion within the fishing industry was divided, and the signals conveyed to government were conflicting or misleading. Moreover, political debate on fisheries questions was inappropriate and ill-informed. Positions adopted, whether by political parties or individual MPs, were largely defined by considerations external to fisheries: these were generally either related to maintenance of employment, or were the direct consequences of MPs' attitudes to NATO or to the European Economic Community (EEC).

The inappropriateness of the fisheries regime led to the decline and collapse of many fish stocks and to recurrent economic crises within the fishing industries of many states. These fisheries crises combined with other factors to make the seaward extension of their jurisdiction appear more attractive to many governments. This process took place in the United Kingdom also, since during the period the nature of UK government interests in relation to marine policy changed: the merchant navy declined, marine pollution aroused public concern and the offshore oil-fields were developed. The Royal Navy retreated to a regional posture, and so freedoms of navigation declined in importance. The actions of OPEC and OAPEC over oil supplies raised the importance to the government of maximising the extent of the continental shelf under UK control.

In addition, major changes took place in the nature of the fisheries constituency. It rose from operating at a low level, and fairly ineffectively to operating at a high level and effectively. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that the fishing industry was able to gain a unity of purpose on fisheries limits (though on little else) because its principal actor, the "deep sea" fleet, declined in importance, and its remnant was forced to seek fishing grounds nearer home. Fluctuations in the market for fish and a quadrupling of oil prices led to severe financial losses, and in addition the "deep sea" fleet's habitual grounds disappeared as other states extended their fisheries jurisdiction to include them. A second and much more telling reason for the rise in the industry's effectiveness, was that two high policy issues arose on which the interests of the fishing industry accorded neatly with that of two powerful political coalitions: those who wished at all costs to prevent the SNP's capturing more than half of the Scottish parliamentary seats, and those who opposed either the principle of or the arrangements for UK membership of the EEC.

Whitehall's initial reaction to such changes was to make adjustments within the framework of existing high policy, and where possible with a minimum of institutional innovation, with the result that new fisheries policies, although more appropriate to the specific imperatives of fisheries than were the old policies, were maintained and contained within administrative arrangements which had been formulated for reasons other than fisheries. Several years of instability and decline resulted, until finally at the beginning of 1983 the rudiments of a new equilibrium were established, one which attempted at least to take cognizance of fisheries biology and economics.