Abstract This study aimed to investigate hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in military personnel in eastern China, which will provide a basis for the prevention of HBV infection. A total of 15,508 soldiers and 2386 officers were recruited from military camps in eastern China. The markers, deoxyribonucleic acid, serotypes, and genotypes of HBV in serum were detected and analyzed. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive rate was 0.44% in soldiers, in whom the low-level HBsAg accounted for 88.24%. The HBsAg positive rate was 1.72% in officers in whom the low-level HBsAg accounted for 12.20%. There were significant differences in the prevalence of high-level and low-level HBsAg, HBV serotypes, HBV DNA positive rate, and mean log HBV DNA between officers and soldiers (P < .05). Compared with the conventional method for HBV DNA extraction, the enrichment method for HBV DNA extraction could significantly improve the positive rate and quantification of HBV DNA by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (P < .05). Sequencing of S gene in HBV was used for the determination of serotype and genotype of HBV. The sequencing success rate was significantly different between soldiers and officers (P < .05) as well as between high-level HBsAg group and low-level HBsAg group (P < .05). Significant difference was also observed in the genotype distribution between soldiers and officers (P < .05). HBV infection displays a low prevalence and a low epidemic state, and the prevalence of low-level HBsAg is higher in soldiers. We should pay attention to improve the quality of conscription examination as well as emphasize the surveillance, prevention, and protection of HBV infection in military officers.


The broadband interference suppression performance of the minimum redundancy array (MRA) used in the linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) beamformer is studied in this paper. The ideal continuous-time, infinite-length filter instead of the realistic finite-order digital filter is assumed in the array processor. The expressions of the power spectrum of the beamformer output in different scenarios are derived to compute the mean output power. Several original properties of the performance of the MRA compared with that of the uniform linear array (ULA) are obtained by mathematical proofs and numerical studies.


Predators can influence a variety of prey traits, including behavior. Traits such as boldness, activity rate, and tendency to explore can all be shaped by predation risk. Our study examines the effects of predation on these behaviors by considering a natural system in which two sister species of livebearing fishes, Brachyrhaphis roseni and B. terrabensis, experience divergent predation environments. In February of 2013, we collected fish in the Río Chiriquí Nuevo drainage, Chiriquí, Panama, and conducted behavioral assays. Using open-field behavioral assays, we evaluated both juveniles and adults, and males and females, to determine if there were differences in behavior between ontogenetic stages or between sexes. We assessed boldness as 'time to emerge' from a shelter into a novel environment, and subsequently measured activity and exploration within that novel environment. We predicted that B. roseni (a species that co-occurs with predators) would be more bold, more active, and more prone to explore, than B. terrabensis (a species that does not co-occur with predators). In total, we tested 17 juveniles, 21 adult males, and 20 adult females of B. roseni, and 19 juveniles, 19 adult males, and 18 adult females of B. terrabensis. We collected all animals from streams in Chiriquí, Panama in February 2013, and tested them following a short acclimation period to laboratory conditions. As predicted, we found that predation environment was associated with several differences in behavior. Both adult and juvenile B. roseni were more active and more prone to explore than B. terrabensis. However, we found no differences in boldness in either adults or juveniles. We also found a significant interaction between 'sex' and 'species' as predictors of boldness and exploration, indicating that predation environment can affect behaviors of males and females differently in each species. Our work demonstrates the importance of considering sex and life history stage when evaluating the evolution of behavior.


The asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-nodulisporiviridin E, a fungal metabolite from Nodulisporium sp., was achieved in 16 steps. The synthesis features a convergent approach from two conventional fragments. An intramolecular Heck cyclization was applied to construct the C-ring and the all-carbon quaternary center at C-10. The furan E ring was installed by means of an intramolecular oxonium trapping reaction. This approach provides an advanced Michael acceptor, which might facilitate the preparation of various analogues and derivatives for biological studies.


Countries lack the infrastructure to deal with the drainage following flashfloods from localized downpours which may originate from localized evaporation or its combination with that from surroundings or from hurricanes. The natural distribution of water is the best and optimum for the globe. Among the world's riparian countries, India makes her territory both the sources and the sinks of river discharges by constructions of dams, reservoirs, barrages, weirs, etc. on international rivers and diversion of their courses within herself. Water confinement constructions make rivers silted heavily reducing their discharge capacities all through but more so in the downstream. The two catastrophic incidences – 2013 Uttarakhand and 2014 Jammu-Kashmir - presented in this article vouch for the curses of water confinement. Theoretical treatments have been provided for studying the impacts on the climatic variables for pre- and post-dam periods. Against the backdrop of these incidences, India has threatened her western neighbor of cutting off water supply which she has already done to the eastern neighbor. She, however, opens the gates of all dams and barrages built upstream of the river-silted eastern neighbor Bangladesh and floods that country causing irreparable losses of lives and properties, and adding misery to millions of people when India fails to accommodate excess water. On top of this confinement of river discharges within India, she has been working on the master plan of river networking. It is imperative for judges of international arbitration court, donors, World Bank, policy makers, etc. etc. to take lessons out of this study.

 Key words: Dams, reservoirs, evaporation, macrostate, microstate, extreme event, powerhouse, river basin, Ganges, Indus, Teesta, tributary, distributary, water piracy, upstream, downstream.


Natural concept modelling aims at representing numerically semantic knowledge; generally, experts are asked to provide examples of linguistic terms associated with numerical data descriptions. We propose to exploit directly non labelled databases to extract the concepts that enable a semantic description of the data. Our method consists in identifying the subgroups corresponding to the concepts and then representing them as fuzzy subsets. For the identification step, we propose an algorithm based on a conjugate iterative use of the single linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm and the fuzzy c-means, that explicitly takes into account both a separability objective and a compactness aim; the description step builds membership functions as generalized Gaussians. The adequacy of the results with spontaneous descriptions is illustrated on artificial and real databases.


Despite various reform efforts, Mexico has experienced economic stability but little growth. Today more than half of all Mexican workers are employed informally, and one out of every four is poor. Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes argues that incoherent social programs significantly contribute to this state of affairs and it suggests reforms to improve the situation. Over the past decade, Mexico has channeled an increasing number of resources into subsidizing the creation of low-productivity, informal jobs. These social programs have hampered growth, fostered illegality, and provided erratic protection to workers, trapping many in poverty. Informality has boxed Mexico into a dilemma: provide benefits to informal workers at the expense of lower growth and reduced productivity or leave millions of workers without benefits. Former finance official Santiago Levy proposes how to convert the existing system of social security for formal workers into universal social entitlements. He advocates eliminating wage-based social security contributions and raising consumption taxes on higher-income households to simultaneously increase the rate of growth of GDP, reduce inequality, and improve benefits for workers. Good Intentions , Bad Outcomes c onsiders whether Mexico can build on the success of Progresa-Oportunidades, a targeted poverty alleviation program that originated in Mexico and has been replicated in over 25 countries as well as in New York City. It sets forth a plan to reform social and economic policy, an essential element of a more equitable and sustainable development strategy for Mexico.


Abstract Context Comprehensive assessment of metabolism in maternal obesity and pregnancy disorders can provide information about the shared maternal-fetal milieu and give insight into both maternal long-term health and intergenerational transmission of disease burden. Objective To assess levels, profiles, and change in the levels of metabolic measures during pregnancies complicated by obesity, gestational diabetes (GDM), or hypertensive disorders. Design, Setting and Participants A secondary analysis of 2 study cohorts, PREDO and RADIEL, including 741 pregnant women. Main Outcome Measures We assessed 225 metabolic measures by nuclear magnetic resonance in blood samples collected at median 13 [interquartile range (IQR) 12.4-13.7], 20 (IQR 19.3-23.0), and 28 (27.0-35.0) weeks of gestation. Results Across all 3 time points women with obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30kg/m2] in comparison to normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.99 kg/m2) had significantly higher levels of most very-low-density lipoprotein-related measures, many fatty and most amino acids, and more adverse metabolic profiles. The change in the levels of most metabolic measures during pregnancy was smaller in obese than in normal weight women. GDM, preeclampsia, and chronic hypertension were associated with metabolic alterations similar to obesity. The associations of obesity held after adjustment for GDM and hypertensive disorders, but many of the associations with GDM and hypertensive disorders were rendered nonsignificant after adjustment for BMI and the other pregnancy disorders. Conclusions This study shows that the pregnancy-related metabolic change is smaller in women with obesity, who display metabolic perturbations already in early pregnancy. Metabolic alterations of obesity and pregnancy disorders resembled each other suggesting a shared metabolic origin.


The aim and goal of this work has been to design and implement a voltage reference network for a 12-bit PSAADC, Parallell Successive Analog to Digital Converter. A chip containing the design has been sent away for fabrication. Because of the long processing time, no measurement data are presented. The main specifications for the voltage reference generator is to generate stable reference voltages with low noise and a good PSRR. Efforts has also been made to minimize the power consumption.


What does it take from a distressed investing funds' perspective to be successful? How do you move up and gain prominence on their short list? How does a turnaround firm succeed in this changing market place and stay on the forefront of its new and changing referral sources? If your interest is being a player and a leader in today's market place, Jim Miller of Summit Investment Management and Robert Katz of Executive Sounding Board Associates Inc. outline the best opportunities to differentiate yourself, provide value and delineate the pitfalls to avoid.


The story of the fluid milk industry (a term which I shall not attempt to define) during the past half century is indeed a rewarding source of study, for in it we may observe the working of almost every economic phenomenon and every form of economic organisation. We see an industry beginning in a state of absolute laissez-faire, and developing successively into a voluntary combination for collective bargaining purposes, a compulsory combination with statutory powers and a state controlledindustry under a centralised authority, finishing as a combination of the two latter; and being affected by and reacting to booms and depression, "dumping", under and. over production, free trade and protection, rationalisation and discriminating market policy. A more eventful history can hardly be envisaged. It is inevitable that a work of this nature should be primarily factual and historical: the very structure of the work is chronological. Nevertheless it is intended that critical comment and contemporary opinion will be included wherever possible. The immediate subject of this work, we have said, will be fluid milk. It would be unrealistic, however, to attempt to divorce this from the other products of the dairying industry, both because of the degree of substitution existing between the products and of the complex nature of the marketing organisations which have beenEvolved. The decision to deal with England and Wales only rather than Great Britain as a whole was dictated by the desire for simplicity of treatment and the availability of statistics. Except in two or three instances (which are clearly indicated) the figures quoted refer only to England and Wales.


In seismic response analysis, total stress method is adopted mostly, but variation of the pore water pressure and the development process of the liquefaction are not considered in this method. Based on the dynamic analysis of two-dimensional effective stress proposed by Zhu-jiang Shen, combined with dynamic consolidation theory of Biot, the foundation liquefaction analysis of the diversion dike for nuclear power plant is performed by using effective stress dynamic analysis program, the liquefied range is given, as well as the permanent deformation. The obtained law can provide theoretical guidance for the similar project.


Objectives. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignancies. Recent studies investigated that B7-H4 is highly expressed in various cancers. We aimed at exploring the effect of B7-H4 siRNA on proliferation, invasion, and migration of LOVO cells which expressed B7-H4 notably. Design and Methods. Colon adenocarcinoma dataset was downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas. 35 colorectal cancer patients admitted to Shanghai Tongren Hospital were enrolled in this study. Cell proliferation and cell cycle distribution were identified by CCK8 and flow cytometry, respectively. Transwell assay was performed to detect the invasion and migration of LOVO cells. CXCL12/CXCR4 expression and JAK2/STAT3 phosphorylation were determined by real-time PCR and western blot. Results. B7-H4 expressed is elevated in colorectal cancer tissues than in the adjacent normal tissues. B7-H4 siRNA effectively inhibited the proliferation at 24 h and 48 h, arrested cell cycle at G0/G1, and suppressed cell invasion and migration. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that CXCL12/CXCR4 and JAK/STAT were correlative with the B7-H4 expression. Additionally, CXCL12/CXCR4 expression and JAK2/STAT3 phosphorylation were reduced. Conclusions. B7-H4 siRNA can effectively inhibit proliferation, invasion, and migration of LOVO cells by targeting CXCL12/CXCR4 and JAK2/STAT3 signaling, which can serve as a new target for colorectal carcinoma treatment.


Objective Genome wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses for Crohn's disease (CD) have not fully explained the heritability of CD, suggesting that additional loci are yet to be found and that the known loci may contain high effect rare risk variants that have thus far gone undetected by GWAS. While the cost of deep sequencing remains too high to analyse many samples, targeted sequencing of pooled DNA samples allows the efficient and cost effective capture of all variations in a target region. Design We performed pooled sequencing in 500 Korean CD cases and 1000 controls to evaluate the coding exon and 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions of 131 CD associated genes. The identified genetic variants were validated using genotyping in an independent set of 500 CD cases and 1000 controls. Results Pooled sequencing identified 30 common/low single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in 12 genes and 3 rare SNVs in 3 genes. Our results confirmed a significant association of CD with the following previously reported risk loci: rs3810936 in TNFSF15 (OR=1.83, p<2.2×10−16), rs76418789 in IL23R (OR=0.47, p=1.14×10−8) and rs2241880 in ATG16L1 (OR=1.30, p=5.28×10−6). In addition, novel loci were identified in TNFSF8 (rs3181374, OR=1.53, p=1.03×10−14), BTNL2 (rs28362680, OR=1.47, p=9.67×10−11), HLA-DQA2 (rs3208181, OR=1.36, p=4.66×10−6), STAT3 (rs1053004, OR=1.29, p=2.07×10−5), NFKBIA (rs2273650, OR=0.80, p=3.93×10−4), NKX2-3 (rs888208, OR=0.82, p=6.37×10−4) and DNAH12 (rs4462937, OR=1.13, p=3.17×10−2). A novel rare SNV, rs200735402 in CARD9, was shown to have a protective effect (OR=0.09, p=5.28×10−5). Conclusions Our deep resequencing of 131 CD associated genes confirmed 3 reported risk loci and identified 8 novel risk loci for CD in Koreans, providing new insights into the genetic architecture of CD.


143 WEDNESDAY MORNING, JANUARY 7, 1998 CONCOURSE, 9:00 TO 12:OO Session CU SOFT THIN FILMS (POSTER SESSION) Winston Win, Chair University of Texas, PRC-MER 1.203 R8625, Austin, TX 78712


This paper examines the Right of First Refusal clauses for 36 public REITs and Property Trusts in Singapore, one of the largest REIT markets in Asia Pacific. Until now, little study has been conducted on the topic of Right of First Refusal (ROFR), which has been widely employed to provide acquisition pipeline for Singapore REITs, as to whether this clause improves the IPO and aftermarket performance of REITs. This question leads to two issues: firstly, how much the REIT sponsors and investors recognize the ROFR clause in the IPO Price and First-day Closing Price respectively; and secondly, whether having a ROFR clause leads to sustained better aftermarket performance for REIT.Analysing the mean IPO Underpricing, NAV Premium and IPO Price/ NAV of all S-REITs show that on average, S-REITs with a ROFR clause is more underpriced as relative to NAV per unit than those without. With reference to the signaling hypothesis, this result supports the Sponsor Recognition Hypothesis that holding a ROFR clause enables more underpricing and hence is an indication of better quality REIT. The analysis also provides evidences to support that S-REITs with a ROFR clause achieve better initial return and higher NAV premium, although the statistical significance of the findings is low.Analyses of aftermarket adjusted return show no significant outperformance for S-REITs with a ROFR clause. However, it is found that S-REITs with explicitly-stated properties in their ROFR clause performed significantly worse than those without. This result is tested to account for potential wealth creation effect created through acquisitions of new properties, and the test result shows consistency with earlier findings. The study findings also reinforce the results of earlier literature on the determinants of IPO Underpricing and aftermarket Holding Period Return.The study findings also reinforce the results of earlier literature on the determinants of IPO Underpricing and aftermarket Holding Period Return.


Abstract The mission of NASA's GeneLab database (https://genelab.nasa.gov/) is to collect, curate, and provide access to the genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic (so-called 'omics') data from biospecimens flown in space or exposed to simulated space stressors, maximizing their utilization. This large collection of data enables the exploration of molecular network responses to space environments using a systems biology approach. We review here the various components of the GeneLab platform, including the new data repository web interface, and the GeneLab Online Data Entry (GEODE) web portal, which will support the expansion of the database in the future to include companion non-omics assay data. We discuss our design for GEODE, particularly how it promotes investigators providing more accurate metadata, reducing the curation effort required of GeneLab staff. We also introduce here a new GeneLab Application Programming Interface (API) specifically designed to support tools for the visualization of processed omics data. We review the outreach efforts by GeneLab to utilize the spaceflight data in the repository to generate novel discoveries and develop new hypotheses, including spearheading data analysis working groups, and a high school student training program. All these efforts are aimed ultimately at supporting precision risk management for human space exploration.


Turbine blades with ultra-low aspect ratio are not covered by loss correlations and the physics of merging secondary flows is only rarely investigated. Experimental investigations in a transonic cascade test-rig with 10 and 6 mm channel height, corresponding an aspect ratio of 0.23 and 0.13 will be presented. The measurement results are compared to numerical cascade simulations representing the same geometry. The influence of the gap flow is evaluated by using test-blades with and without tip clear-ance. The blade turning angle is varied between 70° (zero incidence) and 85° (15° inci-dence). Total and static pressure and total temperature have been measured at the inlet and far outlet. For this reason, a combined pressure/temperature probe was designed and used in the measurement campaign. Moreover, the density field has been determined by using conventional schlieren and background oriented schlieren techniques. Oil film painting was applied on the blades suction sides and end-walls to visualize the near wall shear stress and point out the penetration depth of the secondary flow. The present paper will describe the experimental and numerical setup, compare signif-icant results on both sides to show the CFD validity and finally point out the secondary flow behaviour and its interaction with the gap flow in the transonic ultra-low aspect ratio turbine cascade.


Reconfigurable platforms such as FPGAs and CPLDs are used to implement flexible and lightweight embedded systems often using soft-processors and a fixed instruction sequence stored in block memories. The bitstream format is proprietary for most vendors, however, in this work we demonstrate how to identify and extract block memory contents within the bitstream, allowing an adversary to learn and possibly modify the fixed instruction sequence. Manipulating the instruction sequence by inserting a Trojan in the bitstream as opposed to in the RTL code allows an adversary to bypass many verification steps. Moreover, the proposed Trojans only add extra instructions to the sequence to leak secret information, and do not change the original program behavior, making them virtually impossible to detect using functional tests. We present a case study where a Trojan is injected into a MIPS AES encryption program to leak internal state information by adding extra instructions from the available ones without changing the original program behavior.


The acylase activity of 113 actinomycetous strains and 71 bacterial strains was studied. A number of strains producing acylases, hydrolyzing phenoxymethylpenicillin was detected among the actinomycetous cultures and a number of strains producing acylases active against ampicillin and benzylpenicillin was detected among the bacterial cultures. These acylases may be used in production of semisynthetic beta-lactam antibiotics and their semiproducts.


1. The addition of frusemide or bumetanide to perfusion fluid inhibited the response of the isolated mesenteric vascular bed to noradrenaline. 2. Addition of prostaglandin E2 to the perfusion fluid completely restored the response to noradrenaline. 3. Inhibition of prostaglandin secretion by indomethacin with restoration of responses to noradrenaline by the addition of exogenous prostaglandin E2 prevented the inhibitory effect of frusemide or bumetanide on responses to noradrenaline. 4. The inhibitory effects of diuretics on responsiveness to noradrenaline is mediated by blockade of endogenous prostaglandin synthesis.


The factors influencing senescence in white clover (Trifolium repens L.) are of considerable importance to the pastoral sector of New Zealand's economy. The plant hormones, ethylene and the cytokinins, have been implicated as having opposing influences on senescence. This project focused on the cytokinins. The rate limiting step in cytokinin biosynthesis is catalysed by isopentenyl transferase (IPT) and the primary enzyme in the degradation of cytokinins is cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX). Both IPT and CKX genes are present as multi-gene families. A reduction in the level of active cytokinins either via a decrease in IPT expression, or an increase in CKX expression, or both, would implicate the cytokinins in developmental leaf senescence in white clover. White clover grows in a sequential pattern with leaves at all stages of development making it a good model for studying leaf development and senescence. A decrease in leaf chlorophyll is used as a marker for the onset of senescence. A micro-scale chlorophyll analysis was developed using the NanoDropTM thus allowing tissue from the same leaflet to be used for gene expression and chlorophyll measurements. The pattern of chlorophyll changes was similar to that shown by Hunter et al.(1999) and Yoo et al.(2003) in white clover stolons used for ethylene research. Reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and BLAST analysis was used to identify five putative IPT genes and seven putative CKX genes from white clover. RT-PCR demonstrated the expression of seven of these genes (TrIPT1. TrIPT13, TrIPT15 TrCKX1, TrCKX2, TrCKX6). Analysis with quantitative real-time PCR showed expression of TrCKX2 increased markedly during leaf expansion and was consistently high during senescence, suggesting a potential role for CKX in facilitating the progression of senescence.


Part 1 describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of small-molecule phosphatase inhibitors. The targets for the synthesized compounds are mainly Cdc25 phosphatases, which play a key role in regulating cell cycle and are often over-expressed in cancers. Highlights of the synthesis are the amide bond formation, the synthesis of secondary amines via o-Ns chemistry, the ring opening of the lactam by the amine, the preparation of various (iso)quinolinediones and the substitution reactions of (iso)quinolinediones with amines and thiols. The synthesis and reaction of isoquinonlinediones are particularly highlighted in the total synthesis of caulibugulones A-E. Biological assays established the (iso)quinolinediones as new phosphatase inhibitors with considerable selectivity against the Cdc25 family of DSPases.Part 2 describes the synthetic studies toward the total synthesis of parvistemonine, which represents one of the most challenging synthetic targets among Stemona alkaloids. The studies are mainly focused on the development of a fragmentation strategy aimed at the total synthesis of parvistemonine. Highlights of these studies are the synthesis of vinyl azides, the fragmentation reaction of tertiary alcohols and the use of the trimethylsilyl-methylene group as a directing group in the fragmentation reaction. These studies demonstrate a novel vinylogous azido alcohol fragmentation reaction in simple model systems and a regioselective fragmentation reaction of hydroxy indolines.


Expectations of what philanthropy can achieve have risen significantly in recent years, reflecting a substantial, but uneven, increase in global wealth and the rolling back of state services in anticipation that philanthropy will fill the void. In addition to this, experiments with entrepreneurial and venture philanthropy are producing novel intersections of the public, non-profit and private spheres, accompanied by new kinds of partnerships and hybrid organisational forms. The Routledge Companion to Philanthropy examines these changes and other challenges that philanthropists and philanthropic organisations face. With contributions from an international team of leading contemporary thinkers on philanthropy, this Companion provides an introduction to, and critical exploration of, philanthropy; discussing current theories, research and the diverse professional practices within the field from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The Routledge Companion to Philanthropy is a rich and valuable resource for students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers working in or interested in philanthropy.


Abstract:  Most evaluations of the effects of human activities on wild animals have focused on estimating changes in abundance and distribution of threatened species; however, ecosystem disturbances also affect aspects of animal behavior such as short‐term movement, activity budgets, and reproduction. It may take a long time for changes in behavior to manifest as changes in abundance or distribution. Therefore, it is important to have methods with which to detect short‐term behavioral responses to human activity. We used continuous acoustic and seismic monitoring to evaluate the short‐term effects of seismic prospecting for oil on forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in Gabon, Central Africa. We monitored changes in elephant abundance and activity as a function of the frequency and intensity of acoustic and seismic signals from dynamite detonation and human activity. Elephants did not flee the area being explored; the relative number of elephants increased in a seasonal pattern typical of elsewhere in the ecosystem. In the exploration area, however, they became more nocturnal. Neither the intensity nor the frequency of dynamite blasts affected the frequency of calling or the daily pattern of elephant activity. Nevertheless, the shift of activity to nocturnal hours became more pronounced as human activity neared each monitored area of forest. This change in activity pattern and its likely causes would not have been detected through standard monitoring methods, which are not sensitive to behavioral changes over short time scales (e.g., dung transects, point counts) or cover a limited area (e.g., camera traps). Simultaneous acoustic monitoring of animal communication, human, and environmental sounds allows the documentation of short‐term behavioral changes in response to human disturbance.


Organisms and ecological groups accumulate evidence to make decisions. Classic experiments and theoretical studies have explored this process when the correct choice is fixed during each trial. However, the natural world constantly changes. Using sequential analysis we derive a tractable model of evidence accumulation when the correct option changes in time. Our analysis shows that ideal observers discount prior evidence at a rate determined by the volatility of the environment, and that the dynamics of evidence accumulation is governed by the information gained over an average environmental epoch. A plausible neural implementation of an optimal observer in a changing environment shows that, in contrast to previous models, neural populations representing alternate choices are coupled through excitation.


NeuroscienceGuided by a passionate leader, a new research institute hopes to draw lessons from Buddhism to study altruism and make the world a better place. The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education will study the biological roots of benevolent behavior and investigate whether mental exercises derived from the centuries-old tradition of Buddhist compassion meditation--but stripped of religious trappings--can foster compassion in nonbelievers.


The bioavailability of solid drugs and the efficacy of their delivery systems are generally constrained by size, morphology and size distribution. As such these factors controls the solubility of the drugs in the body fluids. The micronization and microencapsulation of drugs with uniform size and uniform morphology are the two methods which requires an efficient novel technologies for producing a system which yields a controlled release of the drugs with enhanced biovailabilty within the therapeutic range. Supercritical fluid has great potential for utilizing it as the solvent or antisolvent in these processes. The fluid is supercritical when it is compressed beyond its critical pressure (Pc) and heated beyond its critical temperature (Tc). The technology has emerged as an important technique for particle manufacturing and has replaced the conventional recrystallization and milling processes mainly because of the quality and purity of the final particles. The remarkable properties of supercritical fluids are considered as continuously adjustable by changing the pressure and temperature to achieve solvating properties with gas and liquid characteristics without actually changing the chemical structure of the compound, that is the physicochemical properties of these fluids are in the intermediate state between gas and liquid, which impart high diffusivity comparable with gas and high solubility as a liquid. Supercritical carbon dioxide as noninflammable, nontoxic, in expensive and due to its mild critical temperature and critical pressure, it is rapidly using fluid for pharmaceutical particle formation, it reveals high solubility for non polar organic compounds but there is a limitation for dissolving polar, ionic or polymeric compounds for which supercritical fluids other than carbondioxide can be used. This review focusses on the characteristics of supercritical fluids, various techniques of paharmaceutical particle manufacturing using supercritical fluids and applications of Supercritical fluid for particle manufacturing.


Clinicians at the bedside are increasingly overwhelmed by an inundation of information and must rely largely on pattern recognition and professional experience to comprehend complex clinical data and treat their patients in a timely manner. Traditional decision support systems are based on rules and predictive models and often fail to take advantage of increasingly large digital clinical data stores available in real-time. We propose an alternative approach to delivering data-driven decision support based on an interactive system for exploring and visualizing a context of physiologically similar patients from a database. Here we present Sim•TwentyFive, a highly flexible, responsive, intuitive prototype with a comprehensive set of interaction techniques that effectively reduces the cognitive burden of querying, exploring, analyzing and comparing similar past patient episodes. Quantitative performance tests and anonymous summative evaluations from PICU physicians indicated that Sim•TwentyFive is an efficient, intuitive and clinically-useful tool.


The palaeobiota from a middle to late Holocene succession in Tom Thumbs Lagoon, N.S.W., Australia, reflects a range of environmental conditions caused by sea-level changes and active estuarine sedimentation. At the base of the succession (∼ −0.4 m AHD) a thin bed, containing molluscs dated at 6.7 ka B.P. by radiocarbon and amino acid racemisation, and foraminifers is indicative of open estuarine conditions. From +0.35 m AHD towards the top of the sequence the charophyte Lamprothamnium succinctum occurs in subrecent deposits. This species is characterised here by statistical measurements, and new characters are described and illustrated. The charophytes record a drop in sea level and the establishment of a lower salinity artificial wetland. The investigation has also established that decalcification in charophytes can be related to acidification produced by the release of organic acids, aggravated after 1928 by anthropogenic pollution.


Many density-based methods for blind signal separation employ one or more models for the unknown source distribution(s). This paper considers the issue of density model mismatch in maximum likelihood (ML)-type blind signal separation algorithms. We show that the score function nonlinearity, which was previously derived from the standpoint of statistical efficiency, is also the most robust in maintaining a separation solution for the ML algorithm class. We also consider the existence of a universally applicable nonlinearity for separating all signal types, deriving two results. First, among nonlinearities with a convergent Taylor series, a single fixed nonlinearity for universal separation using the natural gradient algorithm cannot exist. Second, among nonlinearities with a single adjustable parameter, a previously proposed threshold nonlinearity can separate all signals with symmetric amplitude distributions as long as the threshold parameter is properly chosen. The design of "difficult-to-separate" signal distributions is also discussed.


One of the fundamental differences in the behavior of human normal versus tumor cells is that most normal cells divide for a limited number of times (Hayflick Limit) whereas tumor cells can proliferate indefinitely (one of the hallmarks of cancer). It is widely believed that the biological function of cellular aging (senescence) is to serve as a mechanism for restricting cancer progression. It is now established that almost all advanced cancers express telomerase, and this provides the molecular mechanism for the bypass of both telomere-associated senescence. The following topics/questions will be discussed in this lecture. 1. Evidence that the telomere-based mechanism of cellular aging in human cells has held the test of time 2. The role of telomerase in bypassing telomere-based replicative senescence proves that the growth arrest of human cells with critically short telomeres is a key molecular basis of human cell aging 3. Progress in using telomerase inhibitors in targeting cancer 4. Development of accurate methods to quantitatively measure the shortest telomeres 5. Methods for safely using telomerase or telomerase activators for identifying and treating telomere diseases associated with aging? Goals and Objectives 1. To review the evidence that telomeres are a biomarker that is important in human aging and cancer. 2. To review the evidence that introduction of telomerase into normal cells does not lead to an increased risk of cancer and inhibition of telomerase can lead to cancer cell death 3. To review human diseases associated with telomere dysfunction and approaches to identifying and treating telomeropathies Citation Format: Jerry W. Shay. The role of telomeres and telomerase in aging and cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PL01-01.


This essay identifies obstacles to the inclusion of a competition law regime in the WTO and suggests changes that are likely to be necessary if competition law is to become an effective part of the WTO. Two obstacles have impeded inclusion of competition law in the WTO's legal regime and are likely to continue to do so. They are (i) a lack of confidence that the norms, practices and procedures of the WTO rest on a robust conception of community and (ii) uncertainty and concern about what form of competition law might be included and what its role in the WTO would be. In order to reduce the first of these obstacles, the institutions and members of the WTO will need to develop a conception of community that engenders widespread confidence in the WTO's basic modes of operation. Eliminating the second obstacle would require clarification of the kind of competition law that would be acceptable within the WTO, and this, in turn, is likely to require development of a form of competition law that is specifically designed for the WTO and that can elicit the long-term support of all categories of members. The essay suggests that the competition law issue is intricately interwoven with the future of the WTO. The changes that would be necessary to introduce and successfully implement competition law in the WTO are to a large extent the same as those that the institution will need to make if it is to enrich its role as an institution.


This guide provides useful resources and research steps for users searching for book publishers in Australia. Additionally, the guide provides useful resources that focus on independent book publishers.


Success in war depends on alignment between operations and strategy. Commonly, such alignment takes time as civilian and military leaders assess the effectiveness of operations and adjust them to ensure that strategic objectives are achieved. This article assesses prospects for the US-led campaign in Afghanistan. Drawing on extensive field research, the authors find that significant progress has been made at the operational level in four key areas: the approach to counterinsurgency operations, development of Afghan security forces, growth of Afghan sub-national governance and military momentum on the ground. However, the situation is bleak at the strategic level. The article identifies three strategic obstacles to campaign success: corruption in Afghan national government, war-weariness in NATO countries and insurgent safe havens in Pakistan. These strategic problems require political developments that are beyond the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). In other words, further progress at the operational level will not bring 'victory'. It concludes, therefore, that there is an operational-strategic disconnect at the heart of the ISAF campaign.


Network games provide a natural machinery to compactly represent strategic interactions among agents whose payoffs exhibit sparsity in their dependence on the actions of others. Besides encoding interaction sparsity, however, real networks often exhibit a multi-scale structure, in which agents can be grouped into communities, those communities further grouped, and so on, and where interactions among such groups may also exhibit sparsity. We present a general model of multi-scale network games that encodes such multi-level structure. We then develop several algorithmic approaches that leverage this multi-scale structure, and derive sufficient conditions for convergence of these to a Nash equilibrium. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed approaches enable orders of magnitude improvements in scalability when computing Nash equilibria in such games. For example, we can solve previously intractable instances involving up to 1 million agents in under 15 minutes.


Abstract The small GTPase Rheb was originally detected as an immediate early response protein whose expression was induced by NMDA-dependent synaptic activity in the brain. Rheb's activity is highly regulated by its GTPase activating protein (GAP), the tuberous sclerosis complex protein, which stimulates the conversion from the active, GTP-loaded into the inactive, GDP-loaded conformation. Rheb has been established as an evolutionarily conserved molecular switch protein regulating cellular growth, cell volume, cell cycle, autophagy, and amino acid uptake. The subcellular localization of Rheb and its interacting proteins critically regulate its activity and function. In stem cells, constitutive activation of Rheb enhances differentiation at the expense of self-renewal partially explaining the adverse effects of deregulated Rheb in the mammalian brain. In the context of various cellular stress conditions such as oxidative stress, ER-stress, death factor signaling, and cellular aging, Rheb activation surprisingly enhances rather than prevents cellular degeneration. This review addresses cell type- and cell state-specific function(s) of Rheb and mainly focuses on neurons and their surrounding glial cells. Mechanisms will be discussed in the context of therapy that interferes with Rheb's activity using the antibiotic rapamycin or low molecular weight compounds.


Using a high-pressure liquid chromatographic assay, we measured serum amiodarone concentrations serially in 122 patients treated with amiiodarone for 1.5–53 months (mean 9.3 months) for control of refractory symptomatic atrial or symptomatic and life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias. The atrial tachyarrhythmias were successfully controlled in 45 of 54 patients (83%) during a mean follow-up of 10.0 months. In the ventricular tachyarrhythmia group, which included 22 survivors of sudden cardiac death, 38 of 50 patients (76%) responded to amiodarone during a mean follow-up of 10.9 months. Although the mean serum amiodarone concentration did not differ between responders and nonresponders, eight responders relapsed when their serum concentration fell below 1.0 mg/I. Side effects resulted in withdrawal of amiodarone in only 10 of 122 patients (9%) despite a 30% overall incidence of side effects. Central nervous system and gastrointestinal side effects became more frequent with serum concentrations > 2.5 mg/l, although only central nervous system side effects achieved statistical significance. Absorption and disposition kinetics of a single oral 800-mg dose of amiodarone were studied in eight patients. Serum values were measured for 24 hours in five patients during maintenance therapy, and elimination kinetics after long-term therapy were evaluated in three patients. The tissue concentration of amiodarone was determined in two patients who died during long-term amiodarone therapy and an attempt was made in 14 patients to correlate serum concentrations with daily dosages during maintenance therapy. The pharmacokinetics of oral amiodarone support the practice of using high loading dosages until arrhythmia suppression or apparent steady state is achieved (usually 2–4 weeks), followed by low-dose maintenance therapy (200400 mg once a day) for treatment of symptomatic atrial and ventricular tachyarrhythmias.


PURPOSE: Historically, dynamic visual acuity (OVA) measurement relied on instruments that presented a moving target at a high velocity that was gradually slowed until the subject could correctly identify it (head stable, target moving). This type of testing, however, bears little resemblance to typical OVA stimuli encountered in daily life. The purpose of this project is to introduce preliminary normative data for a new device using a stationary stimulus viewed during calibrated head movements to measure OVA. This condition is much more representative of the OVA tasks encountered in everyday life. METHODS: Fifty-four subjects aged 23-57 years were evaluated using the inVisionTM system (NeuroCom® International, Inc.). The PC-based instrument presents a tumbling E stimulus when the subject achieves a given head movement velocity as monitored by a head-borne accelerometer. Subjects are instructed to move the head to and fro (as if to say "no") at differing velocities. When the target head velocity is reached, a tumbling E is presented on the computer monitor and the subject must make a forced choice regarding the orientation of the stimulus. Data were obtained for two protocols: OVA (head velocity is held constant and the stimulus size is gradually reduced) and gaze stabilization (stimulus size is held constant and head velocity is increased). RESULTS: The inVisionTM system demonstrated excellent testability, all fifty-four subjects were able to complete both test protocols. With increasing age, there appears to be a trend toward decreasing performance, but no statistical significant differences were found. Further testing involving older subjects is needed to uncover more definite trends with age. When the data were analyzed by refractive category, high myopes (>4.000) performed significantly poorer on the OVA test. There were no differences in this group based on static visual acuity, age, or type of correction. CONCLUSION: While the inVisionTM system is currently being used mostly in vestibular/ENT cl inical settings, it offers intriguing potential for utilization in optometric science. Previous studies have shown that OVA performance cannot be predicted by other tests commonly used in optometric patient evaluations, and our results suggest the same. Hence, this instrument may provide a unique new assessment tool to aid the clinician in the diagnosis and management of visual conditions that cannot be quantified using static methods of visual assessment.


Quantitative preference models are used to predict customer choices among design alternatives by collecting prior purchase data or survey answers. This paper examines how to improve the prediction accuracy of such models without collecting more data or changing the model. We propose to use features as an intermediary between the original customer-linked design variables and the preference model, transforming the original variables into a feature representation that captures the underlying design preference task more effectively. We apply this idea to automobile purchase decisions using three feature learning methods (principal component analysis (PCA), low rank and sparse matrix decomposition (LSD), and exponential sparse restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM)) and show that the use of features offers improvement in prediction accuracy using over 1 million real passenger vehicle purchase data. We then show that the interpretation and visualization of these feature representations may be used to help augment data-driven design decisions. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4033427]


Language is indispensable in the process of education. Education, on the other hand, language is universally acknowledged as a problem solver, which makes it paramount in the achievement of human developmental goals. It is also the key to transformation and sustainable development of any nation. Che Guevara in 1963 emphasized in his essay " Against Bureaucratism ", the need to turn society into a "big school", where success in studies translates to capacity building of the individual both economically and morally to the advantage of society. This is only possible in a society, whose doors are open to new languages and cultures, consequently attracting knowledge from other lands in order to better face the challenges that life has presented it with. Foreign language learners around the world are trained to view the acquisition of language as the acquisition of a skills. As such, the learners tend to be more flexible and adaptable to new situations, which is an asset in an ever-changing world. Using the socio-historical and descriptive approaches, this paper seeks to highlight the importance of the French language curriculum in education to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals as an essential complement to national strategies for job creation and enhancement, as well as human capital development. Keywords: French Language, Curriculum, Sustainable Development Goals, Knowledge-based Education, Educational System, Human Capital Development


This study is aimed to identify the effects of using cooperative learning to improve students' reading abilityin second semester English class of S1 PGPAUD of Open University Purwokerto. Reading comprehension is a skill to improve the general reading skills. The problems occur when the students sometimes cannot get a sense of the structure in reading text,content of a reading selection; identify text structure, and low participation. Concerning the problems of teaching reading in the class, there were two research questions used in this research. The first is 'to what extent is the effectiveness of cooperative learning in increasing students' reading ability?' the second is 'To what extent is the students' motivation, attitude and cooperation taught using cooperative learning?'. Based on research questions, the writer will formulate the objectives of the study, they were 'Tofind out the effectiveness of cooperative learning technique in increasing students reading skill at the second semester students of Early Childhood Teacher Education in Open University Purwokerto in 2014/2015 academic year. The second is 'To find out whether cooperative learning technique could enhance students' motivation, attitude and cooperation in reading class.'This research is concerned with cooperative learning method to improve the students' reading skill, motivation, attitude and cooperation. How this method can improve the students' reading ability in the classroom.Cooperative learning type in this class is used as group discussions. The design employed in this research was Classroom Action Research. The study was conducted at the second semester students in S1 PGPAUD Open University (UT) in Purwokerto. The class consists of 21 students. Observation, questionnaire, evaluation sheet and students' reading test are implemented as instruments to collect the data. To measure students' motivation, the writer using five observation aspects as the standard of assessment such as asking questions, answering question, active in discussion and share the information, comprehending text easily and enthusiastic in doing assignments. These five observation aspects measured when teaching learning activities in classroom. The teacher observed and took notes for each observation aspect. The observation is completed with reading test, in each cycle. In each cycle comprises four steps to observe and solve the teaching learning problems, they are: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting.As a result of this research, students show higher achievement and positive motivation after implementation of cooperative learning. Those are can be seen in the improvement result of each cycle. It is not possible to determine the effect of cooperative learning on student.
Key Words : Reading, Cooperative Learning, Classroom Action Research


More federal environmental laws were passed in the 1970s than in any previous decade of American history. It amounted to a complete rewrite of the statutory foundations of U.S. environmental management and policy. The Clean Air Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972) are the best known, but many important laws also were enacted in other environmental areas. For the public lands, there were five key laws--the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, signed on New Year Day, 1970); the Endangered Species Act (1973); the National Forest Management Act (1976); the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (1976); and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (technically not a 1970s law, since it was enacted in 1980, but largely written in the 1970s). This body of legislation set new goals and decision-making procedures for public land institutions that in many cases had been operating under statutory guidance dating back to the progressive era. The federal government owns about 30 percent of the land area of the United States. The largest amounts are managed by two agencies, the U.S. Forest Service in the Agriculture Department, created in 1905, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Interior Department, created in 1946. Significant federal lands are also managed by the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Defense Department (the Bureau of Indian Affairs is a trustee for tribal lands that are not a part of the federal lands). Historically, however, common usage limits the term "public lands" to those areas managed by the Forest Service and the BLM (Gates 1968; Dana and Fairfax 1980). The former include 192 million acres and the latter 264 million acres, mostly in the West, and in total equal to 20 percent of the U.S. land area. About half the coal reserves of the United States and large amounts of oil and gas lie under these public lands. Indeed, total mineral royalties from federally owned resources equaled $9.4 billion in FY 2005. The national forests, managed by the Forest Service, alone contain 46 percent of the softwood timber inventory of the United States (Pacific Northwest Research Station 2003). Since the 1960s, the traditional commercial uses of these resources have increasingly come into conflict with the protection of environmental assets. The use of public lands for hiking, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing, picnicking, and other recreational activities has soared since World War II. The public lands also contain many of the less populated mountain and desert areas of the nation, including many places now designated formally as wilderness areas. According to the law, the uses of the public lands are mainly to be decided as administrative decisions of the federal land agencies. The Forest Service and the BLM are legally guided by a management philosophy of "multiple use and sustained yield." In practice, however, the lands historically have been allocated to the groups with the greatest political influence (Anderson and Hill 1994). Cattle and sheep ranchers dominated the management of grazing lands; the most valuable forests were made available to timber companies; mining companies acquired mineral-rich lands; and so forth (Foss 1960; Wilkinson 1992). As they sought to challenge these arrangements, environmentalists faced a large political hurdle: How could they prevail against the traditional groups in order to win greater access for recreational and other environmentally-oriented uses? Moreover, environmentalists in some cases were not seeking a particular use of the lands but to minimize any kind of use at all. In a wilderness area, even recreational activities are to some extent a compromise with the goal of keeping the land as little touched by human hand as possible. When confronted in the 1960s and 1970s with growing environmental pressures, the Forest Service and BLM were forced to defend their decision-making processes in newly explicit terms. …


The strength of gravel soil of Yili's First Mine in different water contents was studied by multifunction static and dynamic triaxial test machine. The results show that (1)The yield limit decreases with the increasing of water content under steady confining pressure, and the greater the confining pressure, the greater the yield point of its axial in the same moisture conditions. (2)The expansion becomes into contraction with increasing moisture content. (3)Strength index of gravel soil becomes smaller with the increase of moisture content. The relationship between friction angle and water contents is . And the relationship between cohesion (or bite force) and water contents is . The results provide a theoretical basis for shaft design and construction of Yili's First Mine.


To investigate the absorption of ginsenosides Rg1and Rb1 in Bazhen Decoction at different intestine segments of rats and the influence of the drug solution concentration, pH, P-gp inhibitor on ones. The intestine cannulation was performed for in situ recirculation. The concentration of ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1, and phenol red in the flux were measured by the reversed phase HPLC and ultraviolet spectrophotometry, respectively. The absorption of ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1 in Bazhen Decoction in intestine of rat show first-order kinetics with the absorption mechanism of passive diffusion. Ginsenoside Rg1 has specific absorption locus of duodenum and ginsenoside Rb1 has specific absorption locus of jejunum. Meanwhile, ginsenoside Rb1 is the P-gp substrate, and could increase its fraction of bioavailability by corporation with P-gp inhibitor.


We propose the name Pseudomonas lundensis for a new species of gram-negative, polarly flagellated, chemoorganotrophic, rod-shaped bacteria that were isolated from refrigerated meat. Strains of P. lundensis are capable of respiratory but not fermentative metabolism; they grow at 0°C, produce fluorescent pigments, catalase, and cytochrome c oxidase, and possess an arginine dihydrolase system. The mean guanine-plus-cytosine content of the deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) of 12 strains was 59.1 mol% (standard deviation, 0.7 mol%). Numerical phenotypic studies performed with 60 strains and DNA-DNA hybridization experiments with 12 strains (data separately published) revealed a tight phenotypic and genotypic cluster. P. lundensis is related to Pseudomonas fragi and the Pseudomonas fluorescens DNA-DNA homology group, and characteristics which differentiate these organisms and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are given. The type strain is strain 138 of Molin and Ternstrom (= 573 = CCM 3503); it was isolated from beef and has a guanine-plus-cytosine content of 60 mol %.


Revenue management models traditionally assume that future demand is unknown, but can be represented by a stochastic process or a probability distribution. Demand is however often difficult to characterize, especially in new or nonstationary markets. In this paper, we develop robust formulations for the capacity allocation problem in revenue management, using the maximin and the minimax regret criteria, under general polyhedral uncertainty sets. Our approach encompasses the following open-loop controls: partitioned booking limits, nested fare classes by origin-destination pairs, Displacement-Adjusted Virtual Nesting, and fixed bid prices. We also characterize the optimal booking policy under interval uncertainty; while partitioned booking limits are optimal under the maximin criterion, some nesting is desirable under the minimax regret criterion. Our numerical analysis reveals that robust controls can outperform the classical heuristics for network revenue management, while achieving the best performance in the worst case. Our models are scalable to solve practical problems, because they combine efficient solution methods (small mixed-integer and linear optimization problems) with very modest data requirements.


Package electrical modeling is very critical for evaluating system level performance in high speed system design. The properties of the model, for example, the valid frequency range, the accuracy of the model and the complexity of the model, directly affect the simulation results and simulation time. The model should capture enough package electrical behavior to enable accurate signal and power integrity analysis and guide design improvements. This paper presents a thorough review of the challenges in package modeling related with both signal and power integrity. Feasible solutions are presented with practical package modeling examples.


Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis have bred in the Russian part of the Gulf of Finland since 1995. The species starting to breed in this area later than in the western Baltic Sea and North Sea regions, which were first colonised in the 1970s and early 1980s respectively. Since then, the breeding distribution has continued to expand through Lake Ladoga to Lake Onega in northwest Russia, which currently forms the north-easternmost limit of the range for of this temperate-breeding population. Nowadays, Barnacle Geese in the Russian part of the Gulf of Finland breed later than in other Baltic countries, including neighbouring Finland. The egg-laying period, which starts between 1 May–25 June and peaks during 11–25 May, is longer than for Barnacle Geese nesting in western parts of the temperate zone and also in comparison with those breeding in the Russian Arctic. The mean clutch size of 4.95 (s.e. ± 0.07) eggs is however larger than in other parts of the Baltic and in Arctic areas. Nests were found only on islands occupied by Herring Gulls Larus argentatus , which is the most common predator of Barnacle Goose eggs in the region. The Herring Gulls' egg-laying period lasted from April to June; thus, incubation of Barnacle Goose eggs occurs during the gulls' nesting and brood rearing period. It is suggested that anthropogenic disturbance could adversely affect Barnacle Goose breeding success in the Russian part of the Gulf of Finland, through tourist activity displacing geese from their nests at a time when the gulls are also breeding nearby. Specific features of the environment (late spring, predation risk and tourist activity) and the characteristics of this particular goose population (recent colonisation of the area, small population size and late breeding period) should be taken into account in developing conservation management programmes for geese in the region.


Treating rheumatoid arthritis is challenging enough as it is without the latest studies linking COX-2 inhibitors, often used as adjunct therapy, with an increased heart risk. These studies have left many RA patients and physicians a bit apprehensive about continuous high-dose therapy.


Power System Operation, 2nd ed.: R. H. MILLER (McGraw-Hill, 1983, 195 pp., £28.50) For many years, the first edition of this book was one of very few text-books considering the actual operation of a power system instead of its more technical aspects. Subsequently, other text books were produced but none has been entirely successful in providing the basics of power system operation for undergraduate and, especially, postgraduate students. Sadly, this second edition is no exception. This may be partly because of its intended readership which is stated as being 'dispatchers and other operating personnel'. There may be such a need in the U.S.A., but operators in Europe tend to be more highly qualified engineers. Consequently, the material appears to be treated at a very basic level. Certainly, most essential topics are included, as are one or two which could easily be omitted, but U.K. operators looking for a description of merit order will be disappointed. Despite this, it would be possible to recommend this book as a good introduction to power system operation, were it not for its ludicrous price! D. LIDGATE, Department ofElectrical Engineering and Electronics, UMIST


Achieving a major molecular response (MMR) is an important predictor of progression-free survival in chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with imatinib. This requires accurate measurement of BCR-ABL1 transcripts normalized to a control gene, as well as defining a level (BCR-ABL1/control gene ratio) that will correlate with sustained clinical response. To make these measurements comparable between laboratories, an international scale (IS) is necessary. A BCR-ABL1/control gene ratio of 0.10% represents MMR in the IS. In collaboration with an international reference laboratory in Adelaide, S.A., Australia, we have established and validated a lab-specific conversion factor for expressing BCR-ABL1 transcript levels in the IS. In this report, we explain the process and steps involved in obtaining a valid lab-specific conversion factor for expressing BCR-ABL1 transcript levels in the IS.


The Melanesia 2000 festival took place between the 3rd and 7th of September, 1975. It was the first festival that advocated for the position of Kanak arts, and was strongly supported by Jean-Marie Tjibaou. Many commentators have suggested that Melanesia 2000 helped fuel an indigenous cultural awakening in New Caledonia. This photo essay captures some key moments within the festival.


Abstract. An important element to keep track of global change is the atmosphere–water exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the ocean as it provides insight in how much CO2 is incorporated in the ocean (i.e. the ocean as a sink for CO2) or emitted to the atmosphere (i.e. the ocean as a source). To date, only few high-resolution observation sets are available to quantify the spatiotemporal variability of air–sea CO2 fluxes. In this study, we used observations of pCO2 collected daily at the ICOS station Thornton Buoy in the southern North Sea from February until December 2018 to calculate air–sea CO2 fluxes. Our results show a seasonal variability of the air–sea carbon flux, with the sea being a carbon sink from February until June switching to a carbon source in July and August, before switching back to a sink until December. We calculated that the sink was largest in April (−0.95 ± 0.90 mmol C m−2 d−1), while in August, the source was at its maximum (0.08 ± 0.13 mmol C m−2 d−1). On an annual basis, we found a sink for atmospheric CO2 of 130.19 ± 149.93 mmol C m−2 y−1. Apart from region- and basin-scale estimates of the air–sea CO2 flux, also local measurements are important to grasp local dynamics of the flux and its interactions with biogeochemical processes.


Eye tracking can be used in measuring point of gaze data that provides information concerning subject's focus of attention. The focus of subject's attention can be used as supportive evidence in studying cognitive processes. Despite the potential usefulness of eye tracking in psychology of programming research, there exists only few instances where eye tracking has actually been used. This paper presents an experiment in which we used three eye tracking devices to record subjects' points of gaze when they were studying short computer programs using a program animator. The results suggest that eye tracking can be used to collect relatively accurate data for the purposes of psychology of programming research. The results also revealed significant differences between the devices in the accuracy of the point of gaze data and in the times needed for setting up the monitoring process.


Companies are shortening software project schedules to introduce products more rapidly than competitors. At the same time, customers are demanding higher usability. Unfortunately, the goals of increased usability and decreased development time conflict with traditional usability engineering approaches. The design process always requires several rounds where interfaces confront users' needs and capabilities and are modified accordingly. This approach is called iterative design. Our experience indicates the need for at least two iterations, yielding three versions, before the product is good enough for release. However three or more iterations are better. The paper considers how parallel design costs more than traditional iterative design but produces results faster by using several designers independently and simultaneously. It is preferable when time-to-market is critical.


BACKGROUND Systemic vascular endothelial injury is a consequence of trauma (T)/hemorrhagic shock (HS) which results in disturbances of coagulation, inflammation, and endothelial barrier integrity. The effect of T/HS on the endothelium (endotheliopathy of trauma [EoT]) is of intense research interest and may lead to EoT-directed therapies. Administration of tranexamic acid (TXA) in trauma patients is associated with a survival benefit and fewer complications if given early after injury. Mechanisms for this protective effect include the antifibrinolytic and anti-inflammatory effects of TXA. We hypothesized that "early" administration of TXA would abrogate vascular endothelial cell activation and injury after T/HS. This was studied in vitro. METHODS Confluent human umbilical vein endothelial cells were exposed to hydrogen peroxide and/or epinephrine to stimulate post-T/HS oxidant exposure and/or sympathoadrenal activation. TXA was added 15 minutes, 60 minutes, or 120 minutes after H2O2 and/or epinephrine challenge. Endothelial cell injury was indexed by cell monolayer permeability, intracellular adhesion molecule expression, soluble thrombomodulin, syndecan release (marker for glycocalyx injury), tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and angiopoietin-2/angiopoietin-1 ratio (APO-2/APO-1). RESULTS Endothelial activation and injury as indexed by permeability, ICAM expression, soluble thrombomodulin were increased by H2O2 and/or epinephrine exposure. Biomarkers of endothelial coagulation profile (tPA/PAI-1) demonstrated a profibrinolytic profile (increased tPA and tPA/PAI-1 ratio) after challenge by H2O2 and/or epinephrine. Vascular "leakiness" as indexed by APO-2/APO-1 ratio was also evident. The most profound effects were noted with H2O2/epinephrine exposure. TXA administration within 60 minutes of H2O2/epinephrine challenge abolished the adverse effects noted on the endothelial–glycocalyx "double barrier." TXA administration after 60 minutes was not protective. CONCLUSION Antifibrinolytic and other protective effects of TXA administration on endothelial injury are time-dependent. This study supports the concept that the clinical efficacy of TXA administration requires "early administration."


C4-dicarboxylates and the C4-dicarboxylic amino acid l-aspartate support aerobic and anaerobic growth of Escherichia coli and related bacteria. In aerobic growth, succinate, fumarate, D- and L-malate, L-aspartate, and L-tartrate are metabolized by the citric acid cycle and associated reactions. Because of the interruption of the citric acid cycle under anaerobic conditions, anaerobic metabolism of C4-dicarboxylates depends on fumarate reduction to succinate (fumarate respiration). In some related bacteria (e.g., Klebsiella), utilization of C4-dicarboxylates, such as tartrate, is independent of fumarate respiration and uses a Na+-dependent membrane-bound oxaloacetate decarboxylase. Uptake of the C4-dicarboxylates into the bacteria (and anaerobic export of succinate) is achieved under aerobic and anaerobic conditions by different sets of secondary transporters. Expression of the genes for C4-dicarboxylate metabolism is induced in the presence of external C4-dicarboxylates by the membrane-bound DcuS-DcuR two-component system. Noncommon C4-dicarboxylates like l-tartrate or D-malate are perceived by cytoplasmic one-component sensors/transcriptional regulators. This article describes the pathways of aerobic and anaerobic C4-dicarboxylate metabolism and their regulation. The citric acid cycle, fumarate respiration, and fumarate reductase are covered in other articles and discussed here only in the context of C4-dicarboxylate metabolism. Recent aspects of C4-dicarboxylate metabolism like transport, sensing, and regulation will be treated in more detail. This article is an updated version of an article published in 2004 in EcoSal Plus. The update includes new literature, but, in particular, the sections on the metabolism of noncommon C4-dicarboxylates and their regulation, on the DcuS-DcuR regulatory system, and on succinate production by engineered E. coli are largely revised or new.


AIM: Codon 72 exon 4 polymorphism (Arg72Pro) of the p53 gene has been implicated in cancer risk. Our objective was to investigate the possible association between p53Arg72Pro polymorphism and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among Chinese population.METHODS: The p53 Arg72Pro genotypes were determined by PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis in 507 HCC cases and 541 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) for HCC and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)from unconditional logistic regression models were used to evaluate relative risks. Potential risk factors were included in the logistic regression models as covariates in the multivariate analyses on genotype and HCC.RESULTS: The frequencies for Pro and Arg alleles were 44.5%, 55.5% in HCC cases, and 40.3% and 59.7% in controls, respectively. The Pro allele was significantly associated with the presence of HCC (P = 0.05) and had a higher risk for HCC (OR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.00-1.41) as compared with the Arg allele. After adjusted for potential risk factors, Arg/Pro heterozygotes had an 1.21-fold increased risk (95% CI 0.82-1.78, P = 0.34) of HCC compared with Arg homozygotes, whereas the risk for Pro homozygotes was 1.79 (95% CI 1.06-3.01, P = 0.03) times higher than that for Arg homozygotes. Pro-allele carriers had a higher relative risk of HCC than the Arg-only carriers (adjusted OR = 1.33, 95% CI 0.92-1.92, P = 0.13), although the difference was not statistically significant.CONCLUSION: Homozygosity for Pro of p53 Arg72Pro is potentially one of the genetic risk factors for HCC in Chinese population. The p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism may be used as a stratification marker in screening individuals at a high risk of HCC.


Abstract. The stress variation induced by aquifer overdraft in sedimentary basins with shallow bedrock may cause rupture in the form of pre-existing fault activation or earth fissure generation. The process is causing major detrimental effects on a many areas in China and Mexico. Ruptures yield discontinuity in both displacement and stress field that classic continuous finite element (FE) models cannot address. Interface finite elements (IE), typically used in contact mechanics, may be of great help and are implemented herein to simulate the fault geomechanical behaviour. Two main approaches, i.e. Penalty and Lagrangian, are developed to enforce the contact condition on the element interface. The incorporation of IE incorporation into a three-dimensional (3-D) FE geomechanical simulator shows that the Lagrangian approach is numerically more robust and stable than the Penalty, thus providing more reliable solutions. Furthermore, the use of a Newton-Raphson scheme to deal with the non-linear elasto-plastic fault behaviour allows for quadratic convergence. The FE – IE model is applied to investigate the likely ground rupture in realistic 3-D geologic settings. The case studies are representative of the City of Wuxi in the Jiangsu Province (China), and of the City of Queretaro, Mexico, where significant land subsidence has been accompanied by the generation of several earth fissures jeopardizing the stability and integrity of the overland structures and infrastructure.


Introduction: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity are strongly associated with peripheral immune cell responses. Subsets of T cells in the circulation are correlated with the severity of the diseases, which may serve as novel targets for antidiabetic or obese treatment. Higher numbers of blood Th1, Th17 and Th22 cells of T helper cells were found in disease patients, while Th2 and Treg cells were in reverse correlation of the severity of the disease. FATZO mouse is a new generation of T2D mouse model with intact leptin signaling. The model is featured with slow onset of diabetes and obesity. Here, we aim to characterize the peripheral immune cell responses in FATZO mice for the use of preclinical drug development targeting diabetes or obesity related inflammation. Methods: Freshly collected blood from 12 FATZO mice at age 6, 12, 22 and 34 weeks were analyzed for the presence of monocytes, B, T, NK, NK-T, CD4+, CD8+ T cells and subsets of T helper cells (Th1, Th2, Th17, Th22, Treg) using FACS. Serum inflammatory cytokines such as IL1, IL2, IL6, IL17, TNFα and IFNγ were also measured. Results: FATZO mice developed obesity and hyperglycemia from age of 12 weeks. Concomitantly, higher numbers of leukocytes were noticed with an increase and decrease in frequency of B and NK cells respectively. Within T cells, numbers of CD4+ T cells decreased by 20%, while CD8+ T cells increased by 25%. When subsets of T helper cells were assessed, percentages of Th1 and Th17 cells significantly elevated during the development of diabetes and obesity, while frequencies of Th2 and Treg cells declined. Serum inflammatory cytokine measurements showed a tendency in higher levels of serum IL1a when the animals became diabetic. Conclusion: FATZO mice develop diabetes and obesity with changes in blood immune cell responses that closely mimic disease patients. The results suggest that FATZO might serve as an ideal model for preclinical research for the diabetes and obesity related inflammation. Disclosure G. Sun: None. W. Ye: Employee; Spouse/Partner; Crown Bioscience Inc.. X. An: None. Y. Xiao: None. Y. Wang: None.


Nonwoven fabrics are web structures of randomly-oriented fibres, bonded by means of mechanical, thermal or chemical techniques. This paper focuses on nonwovens manufactured with polymer-based fibres and bonded thermally. During thermal bonding of such fibres, as a hot calender with an engraved pattern contacts the fibre web, bond spots are formed by melting of the polymer material. As a result of this bonding process, a pattern of bond points connected with randomly oriented polymer-based fibres form the nonwoven web. Due to their manufacturing-induced composite microstructure and random orientation of fibres, nonwovens demonstrate a complex mechanical behaviour. Two distinct modelling approaches were introduced to simulate the non-trivial mechanical response of thermally bonded nonwovens based on their planar density. The first modelling approach was developed to simulate the mechanical behaviour of high-density nonwovens, and the respective fabric was modelled with shell elements with thicknesses identical to those of the bond points and the fibre matrix having distinct anisotropic mechanical properties. Random orientation of individual fibres was introduced into the model in terms of the orientation distribution function in order to determine the material's anisotropy. The second modelling approach was introduced to simulate low-density nonwovens, and it treated the nonwoven media as a structure composed of fibres acting as truss links between bond points.


LeeAnn B. Lands is an associate professor of History and Interdisciplinary Studies at Kennesaw State University. She received her degree in Engineering from the University of Florida in 1991 and a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech's School of History, Technology, and Society in 2001. Dr. Lands joined the faculty of Kennesaw State University in 2001 as the Coordinator of the Public History program. She held this position until 2006, when she became the Associate Coordinator of the American Studies program. From 2009 to 2010, Dr. Lands served as the Interim Director of the Master of Arts in American Studies. In 2006. she was the recipient of the Board of Regents' Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award for her project to document the historic African American Summer Hill community in Cartersville, Georgia. Dr. Lands also received the KSU Alumni Association Betty L. Siegel Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2010 and the KSU Foundation Distinguished Service Award in 2011. She also won a KSU Foundation Prize in 2010 for her book, The culture of property: Race, class, and housing landscapes in Atlanta, 1880-1950 (2009).


Dynamic analyses rely on the ability to identify points within or across executions. In spite of this being a core task for dynamic analyses, new solutions are frequently developed without an awareness of existing solutions, their strengths, their weaknesses, or their caveats. This paper surveys the existing approaches for identifying execution points and examines their analytical and empirical properties that researchers and developers should be aware of when using them within an analysis. In addition, based on limitations in precision, correctness, and efficiency for techniques that identify corresponding execution points across multiple executions, we designed and implemented a new technique, Precise Execution Point IDs. This technique avoids correctness and precision issues in prior solutions, enabling analyses that use our approach to also produce more correct results. Empirical comparison with the surveyed techniques shows that our approach has 25% overhead on average, several times less than existing solutions.


Widespread usage of composites in the advanced technologies, has led to the study of the failure modes by which these composites fail, as identification and hence the interpretation of these characteristic fracture features is necessary to provide valuable information in understanding of the failure behavior of composites. Hence, in this paper, our effort has been in the study of the fractographic features in the carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite laminates under compression loading. Microscopic study with the aid of scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been performed on failed composite fracture surfaces to identify the principal features due to compression loading. This research has led to the knowledge of the nature and origin of fracture, as well as understanding of how the fracture occurs, with an insight into the various characteristic features and its effect of these on the failure modes with the definition of overall crack propagation direction in case of compression loaded CFRP laminates. Also, a model explaining the damage zone leading to kink band formation has been discussed.

 Key words: CFRP, compression loading, fractography, SEM, damage zone model, kinking.


This meta‐analysis found that the emotional intelligence–organizational citizenship behavior relationship is stronger in long‐term oriented and restraint cultures. However, this relationship does not differ between individualistic and collectivistic cultures, masculine and feminine cultures, high uncertainty avoidance and low uncertainty avoidance cultures, and high power distance and low power distance cultures. The emotional intelligence–counterproductive work behavior relationship is stronger in collectivistic, feminine, high uncertainty avoidance, high power distance, long‐term oriented, and restraint cultures. Emotional intelligence–organizational citizenship behavior/counterproductive work behavior relationships are mediated by both state positive affect and state negative affect. Human resource development professionals from cultures where the effects of emotional intelligence are stronger are especially recommended to hire emotionally intelligent employees and/or provide emotional intelligence training to stimulate organizational citizenship behavior and to restrain counterproductive work behavior. Although there are important cross‐cultural differences, emotional intelligence universally encourages organizational citizenship behavior and almost universally diminishes counterproductive work behavior across cultures.


Snakes exhibit genotypic sex determination with female heterogamety (ZZ males and ZW females), and the state of sex chromosome differentiation also varies among lineages. To investigate the evolutionary history of homologous genes located in the non-recombining region of differentiated sex chromosomes in snakes, partial sequences of the gametologous CTNNB1 gene were analyzed for 12 species belonging to henophid (Cylindrophiidae, Xenopeltidae, and Pythonidae) and caenophid snakes (Viperidae, Elapidae, and Colubridae). Nonsynonymous/synonymous substitution ratios (Ka/Ks) in coding sequences were low (Ka/Ks < 1) between CTNNB1Z and CTNNB1W, suggesting that these two genes may have similar functional properties. However, frequencies of intron sequence substitutions and insertion-deletions were higher in CTNNB1Z than CTNNB1W, suggesting that Z-linked sequences evolved faster than W-linked sequences. Molecular phylogeny based on both intron and exon sequences showed the presence of two major clades: (1) Z-linked sequences of Caenophidia, and (2) W-linked sequences of Caenophidia clustered with Z-linked sequences of Henophidia, which suggests that the sequence divergence between CTNNB1Z and CTNNB1W in Caenophidia may have occurred by the cessation of recombination after the split from Henophidia.


Angle-resolved photoemission on underdoped La1.895Sr0.105CuO4 reveals that in the pseudogap phase, the dispersion has two branches located above and below the Fermi level with a minimum at the Fermi momentum. This is characteristic of the Bogoliubov dispersion in the superconducting state. We also observe that the superconducting and pseudogaps have the same d-wave form with the same amplitude. Our observations provide direct evidence for preformed Cooper pairs, implying that the pseudogap phase is a precursor to superconductivity.


The development of a system engineering environment called ABE, a Better Environment, as part of the strategic computing program of the US Dept. of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is described. The goal was to create technologies and methodologies for building cooperative, intelligent systems with modular, heterogeneous components. The motivating problems are discussed. The specific needs of intelligent-system developers that the work addressed and the key technical approaches that were adopted are examined. The ABE software system is described. As an example of the use of ABE, PMR, a system for plan monitoring and replanning, is presented. The lessons learned in developing ABE and the issues remaining to be addressed are discussed.<<ETX>>


Preface : The temperature of the rhetoric in the food-versus-fuel debate has been rising right along with the prices of corn and oil. Farm Foundation is not about heat or fueling fires. Our mission is to be a catalyst for sound public policy by providing objective information to foster deeper understanding of the complex issues before the food system today. We commissioned this paper to provide a comprehensive, objective assessment of the forces driving food prices. In recent months, much has been written in the academic and popular press about commodity prices, biofuels and food prices—often with varying perspectives and conclusions. Farm Foundation asked Wallace Tyner, Philip Abbot and Christopher Hurt, all of Purdue University, to review the literature and provide a comprehensive assessment of the forces driving food prices today. The three economists reviewed more than two dozen reports and studies, summarizing them in light of their own examination of the facts. As is true of many issues in the food system, the full story behind rapid increases in food prices is not a simple one. Today's food price levels are the result of complex interactions among multiple factors—including crude oil prices, exchange rates, growing demand for food and slowing growth in agricultural productivity—as well as the agricultural, energy and trade policy choices made by nations of the world. But one simple fact stands out: economic growth and rising human aspirations are putting ever greater pressure on the global resource base. The difficult challenge for public and private leaders is to identify policy choices that help the world deal with the very real problems created by today's rising food prices without jeopardizing aspirations for the future. It is the intent of Farm Foundation that the objective information provided in this report will help all stakeholders meet the challenge to address one of the most critical public policy issues facing the world today.


We derive exact filters for the state of a doubly stochastic AR process with parameters which vary according to a nonlinear function of a Gauss-Markov process. The observations consist of a discrete time Poisson process with rate a positive function of the Gauss-Markov process. The dimension of the sufficient statistic increases linearly with the number of observed events.


Smoldering multiple myeloma is a heterogeneous asymptomatic precursor to multiple myeloma. Since its identification in 1980, risk stratification models have been developed using two main stratification methods: clinical measurement-based and genetics-based. Clinical measurement models can be subdivided in three types: baseline measurements (performed at diagnosis), evolving measurements (performed over time during follow-up appointments), and imaging (for example, magnetic resonance imaging). Genetic approaches include gene expression profiling, DNA/RNA sequencing, and cytogenetics. It is important to accurately distinguish patients with indolent disease from those with aggressive disease, as clinical trials have shown that patients designated as "high-risk of progression" have improved outcomes when treated early. The risk stratification models, and clinical trials are discussed in this review.


This article deals with the characterization of the thermal-induced aging of soft polyurethane (PU) foams. There are studied thermal and mechanical properties by means of thermal analysis, tensile, compression and dynamic mechanical vibration testing. It was found in this study, that the increasing relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere leads to the initiation of the degradation processes. This is reflected in the observed decreased mechanical stiffness. It is attributed to the plasticization of the PU foams wall material. It is in agreement with the observed increase of the permanent deformation accompanied simultaneously with the decrease of Young's modulus of elasticity. The latter phenomenon is studied by the novel non-destructive forced oscillations vibration-damping testing, which is confirmed by observed lower mechanical stiffness thus indicating the loss of the elasticity induced by samples conditioning. In parallel, observed decreasing of the matrix hardness is confirming the loss of elastic mechanical performance as well. The effect of conditioning leads to the significant loss of the PU foam's thermal stability.


A framework for understanding the tectonothermal evolution of solid planetary bodies has historically been lacking owing to sparse observational constraints. Developments in simulating the physical interiors and tectonic behaviour of terrestrial planets have allowed insights into the relevant physics and important factors governing planetary behaviour. This contribution summarises the critical factors in determining a planet's tectonic regime, and the application of this framework to understanding terrestrial planet evolution. Advances in modelling have led to the identification of new, unmapped tectonic regimes, such as episodic convection, which has relevance to our understanding of the evolution of the early Earth, Venus and Saturn's moon Enceladus. Coupling of tectonic and atmospheric models for planetary evolution has contributed to our knowledge of Martian and Venusian degassing histories, and recent debate on the tectonic regime of exosolar planets informs outstanding questions on their habitability. Ultimately, a framework for terrestrial planet evolution will couple available cosmochemical, geochemical and astrophysical constraints into an emerging generation of simulation tools, facilitating the mapping of terrestrial planet behaviour over a wide parameter space.


We report the construction of a plasmid-based eDNA library made from microdissected cells derived from prostatic mtraepithelial neoplasia. Total RNA was extracted and converted to blunt-ended, double-stranded eDNA by oligo(dT)-mediated reverse transcription followed by linker addition. A linker-specific primer with UDG.compatible ends was used to amplify the eDNA and the resulting PCR product was subcloned. A total of 154 clones were sequenced and results indicated that 81.5% of the clones derived from either known genes, anonymous expressed sequence tags, or novel transcripts with very little redundancy of screened clones. These results demonstrate the feasibility of constructing complex repre sentative eDNA libraries from specific microdissected cell populations that represent microscopic precursor stages of cancer progression. This method should facilitate identification of transcripts specifically expressed in cells of a distinct histological origin and tumorlgemc stage.


Background: Premature infants are susceptible to various sources of stress that is compounded by stays in critical care units. The evidence to recommend stimulation to reduce such stress in neonates is limited. Purpose: Determine effects of intervention. Methods: 64 pre-term neonates were randomized into two groups. One group received kinesthetic stimulation including the Yakson touch technique in addition to standard care while the other received only standard care. Primary outcome measures were the differences in the sleep-wake pattern and vital parameters and the secondary outcome measures pain response of preterm. ABSS and PIPP are between baselines and immediately after an invasive procedure. Analysis was per protocol. Result:58 neonates completed the trials and were analyzed. In the intervention group, ABS score change from 54.8% (pre-test) to 64.4% (post-test) for sleep and 45.2% (pre) to 35.5% (post) for awake in experimental group. 70.4% (pre) to 11.1% (post) for sleep and 29.6% (pre) to 88.9% (post) in control group. In PIPP the p=0.73 for control group and p=0.001 for the experimental group. The behavioral status in experimental group with the p-value=0.001(<0.05). The heart rate p-value of 0.001(<0.05), the respiratory rate the p-value=0.005(<0.05); in oxygen saturation p-value 0.02(<0.05) Conclusion: The intervention has significant effect on management of sleep-wake pattern, stabilization of the vitals (heart-rate, respiratory-rate and oxygen saturation) and minimization of pain during the heel-prick. Implications for Practice: Neonatal nurses can Practice for early improvement in different aspects of pre-terms. Implications for Research: Studies can be conducted for neuro-behavioral improvement by using this therapy.


In the United States, concerns about adolescent pregnancy and its purported consequences—negative health effects for mother and child, the disintegration of the nuclear family, and overdependence on public resources—began to widely circulate in policy spheres and the news media in the 1970s, resulting in a proliferation of policies, programs, and services designed to address its prevention. Though national adolescent birth rates are currently at their lowest since reaching a peak in the early 1990s, this decline masks persistent and significant disparities between groups of young people by race, ethnicity, geography, and poverty level, reflecting a complex intersection of social and economic inequities and diverse sociocultural meanings attached to adolescent childbearing. Using ethnographic methods, the research described in this article examines the values and priorities undergirding the promotion of hormonal and long-acting reversible contraception for sexually active youth in New York City, an urban center of vast extremes in health, wealth, and opportunity, but which boasts extensive reproductive health services for young people, including confidential care and availability of free or low-cost contraception. It examines the interpretation of this strategy from the perspectives of reproductive health leaders and health care workers, highlighting the ways in which adolescence, sexual risk, and youth relationships are characterized. It also describes the needs and priorities identified by these participants with regard to contraceptive counseling and reproductive decision making, contextualized by the experiences of youth participants for whom this strategy is intended, elucidating the broader sociocultural contexts in which young women negotiate intimate relationships and contraceptive use. The utility of multilevel and holistic approaches to the study of reproductive health services for youth is discussed, along with implications for clinical practice and policy development.