The welfare of farm animals is a policy area that has increased greatly in importance in recent years. When deciding whether a proposed policy should be implemented, it can be useful for policymakers to compare the costs of the proposed improvement with the perceived benefits. The costs are relatively straightforward to calculate but little is known about the benefits. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), a direct survey-based method, can be used to shed some light on this. This approach elicits the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the provision of some public good or service. This paper reports the results of a contingent valuation study of the value of welfare improvements for growing pigs. Attitudes and opinions with regard to farm animal welfare are explored and WTP elicited for various pig welfare improvements including increases in space allowance, environmental enrichment and research into improved pig housing design. The results reveal a positive WTP for these improvements. However, it is also noteworthy that a significant proportion of the general public is willing to pay nothing for these improvements. Overall, the study illustrates the usefulness of the CVM approach as a tool for policymakers in assessing the merits of possible policy initiatives affecting the welfare of animals.


: The successful hybridization of remote representatives of Anatidae family lies within intra- and interspecific combinations. The hybrid progeny obtained in such crosses is fertile and can be used in the future breeding work. The more remote crosses are accompanied by various indices of fecundation of eggs, growth of hybrid embryos, hatching of little ones and fertility of hybrid progeny. The stage of their occurrences is determined by propinquity of initial species.


A dynamic systenl for integrating natural language and vision is presented, specifically aimed toward supporting an interpretative model and a set of conceptual tools, which may consistently represent those qualitatively different aspects of natural language, which are opaque and therefore difficult to identifi'. Qualitative reasoning about conmmnication via natural language is being proposed as to allow identification and consistent definition of different values of each conununicative action performed and reflecting upon texts, text segn~ents and text maits. A visual representation system and a highly articulated and precise terminolo~' are being used in order to explicitate results of observation of close relationships existing between language and visual perception phenomena as well as relevant concretions. Ternfinology coming from vision is also being redefined as to adapt to precise definition of very specific natural language problems at various levels of complexity such as ambiguity, context dependency and non systematicity. CPP-TRS (To~ffoni, 1989-94) means precisely Communicative Positiomng Program-Text Representation Systems; the main concept the new framework is based upon is that tex't processing can be effectively enhanced ~' first recognizing various and qualitatively different kinds of knowledge representation processes, which are involved and then visualizing them consistently. Based on a very simple syntax. CPP-TRS is aimed toward representing and conveying comnmnicative function, intention and turn-taking vistmlly.


This study evaluates the concept of using zerovalent iron (ZVI) powder or nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) particles in combination with a low frequency (150 kHz) AC electromagnetic field (AC EMF) to effectively remove trichloroethylene (TCE) from groundwater and saturated soils. ZVI and NZVI are ferromagnetic, which can induce heat under applied AC EMF. The heat generated by ZVI and NZVI induction can increase the rate of dechlorination, according to Arrhenius' equation, and increase the rate of TCE desorption from TCE-sorbed soil. Both dechlorination and TCE desorption enhance the overall TCE removal rate. We evaluated this novel concept in laboratory batch reactors. We found that both ZVI and NZVI can induce heat under applied AC EMF up to 120 °C in 20 min. Using ZVI and NZVI with AC EMF enhanced dechlorination of dissolved TCE (no soil) up to 4.96-fold. In addition to increasing the temperature by ZVI and NZVI induction heating, AC EMF increased intrinsic ZVI and NZVI reactivity, ostensibly due to accelerated corrosion, as demonstrated by the increased ORP. In a soil-water-TCE system, NZVI together with AC EMF thermally enhanced desorption of TCE from soil and increased the degradation of TCE up to 5.36-fold compared to the absence of AC EMF. For the first time, this study indicates the potential for ZVI and NZVI coupled with AC EMF as a combined remediation technique for increasing the rate and completeness of in situ cleanup of adsorbed phase contaminants.


Title: Evaluation of wear dental composites Background and Aim: Sufficient polymerization is a critical factor to obtain optimum physical properties and clinical efficacy of resin restorations. The aim of this study was to evaluate wear rates of composite resins polymerized by two different systems Light Emitting Diodes (LED) to and Halogen lamps. Materials and Methods: In this laboratory study, 20 specimens of A3 Tetric Ceram composite were placed in brass molds of 2 * 10 * 10 mm dimensions and cured for 40 seconds with 1 mm distance from surface. 10 specimens were cured with LED and the other 10 were cured with Halogen unit. A device with the ability to apply force was developed in order to test the wear of composites. After storage in distilled water for 10 days, the specimens were placed in the wear testing machine. A chrome cobalt stylus with 1.12 mm diameter was applied against the specimens surfaces with a load of 2 kg. The weight of each samples before and after 5000, 10000, 20000, 40000, 80000 and 120000 cycles was measured using an electronic balance with precision of 10 -4 grams. Data were analyzed using t test and paired t test. P<0.05 was considered as the limit of significance. Results: Mean weight in both groups had statistically significant difference before and after all cycles (P<0.05). In halogen group 5000 and 10000 cycles led to significant difference with 40000, 80000 & 120000 cycles (P<0.05). In LED group 20000 cycles had significant difference with both 5000 and 120000 cycles (P>0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, LED and halogen light curing units resulted in a similar wear rate in composite resin restorations.


Since the 1980s, religion has been most visible in American public life when issues of sexuality and reproduction are at stake. Paradoxically, however, the voices that speak most loudly in the name of religion are often unschooled in religious history, world religions, theology, or ethics. As a result, religion in America is misrepresented as anxiously and obsessively concerned with sex, and as uniformly supporting the conservative agenda of 'family values.' This volume corrects that distortion in American public discourse. Its thirteen previously unpublished articles introduce scholarly perspectives on issues including the family, gay rights, abortion, welfare policy, prostitution, and assisted reproduction. They richly display the complexities and conflicts that exist not only between but within America's various religious traditions-for example, the pro-choice strain within Christian history, the support of many religious denominations for gay rights, and the criticism of patriarchal family structures within religious communities past and present. In these essays, contributors put forth views of sexual ethics that are just and compassionate, respectful of cultural pluralism, and attentive to democratic processes. Thorougly researched, lucidly written, and carefully argues, this anthology will debunk the claims of the Religious Right to be the only 'religious' word on sexuality in America.


Natural disasters and climate change are fast emerging as the most defining challenges of the 21st century. Indias unique geo-climatic condition makes it highly susceptible to climate change and natural disasters. The country has observed significant anomaly in natural variability of temperature and rainfall patterns and has experienced more frequent and lethal disasters in recent decades. Almost unanimous but uneven temperature rise over the Indian subcontinent has propelled more energy in regional and local climate systems, and thus, has magnified climate anomalies and frequency as well as severity of natural disasters. The paper investigates the climate change and natural disasters propensities and highlights the climate change-disaster linkage in Indian context. It also identifies vulnerable areas and suggests some policy measures which may be of great help in reducing the impact of these catastrophes on society.


The link between innovation and employment is at the center of the policy debate. This paper sheds light on how labor market regulations affect the relationship between different types of innovation and employment in Latin America. We estimate the model developed by Harrison et al. (2014) using Enterprise Surveys for 14 Latin American countries. We find that: (i) product innovations have a positive impact on employment growth; (ii) process innovations do not affect employment growth; (iii) more rigid labor market regulations (minimum wages and severance payments) reduce the effects of innovation.


Objective: To determine the efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab in the treatment of vitreous hemorrhage secondary to proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Study Design: Quasi-experimental study.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at PNS Shifa Hospital, Karachi Pakistan, from Sep 2018 to Feb 2019.
Methodology: The study included 131 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy who presented with vitreous hemorrhage. Vitreous hemorrhage was graded into mild-moderate or severe. Patients were randomized into two groups: the bevacizumab group was treated with three intravitreal injections of bevacizumab given on monthly intervals and the control group which was observed. Vitrectomy was performed if the patient had non resolving hemorrhage by four months or developed tractional retinal detachment during study period.
Results: Mean age of patients was 51.8±7.4 and 52.6±6.7 in treatment and control group respectively. Percentage of patients with vision of less than 6/60 in treatment group reduced from (58.7%) at baseline to (33%) at 4 months. Patients with mild to moderate VH who were subjected to intravitreal bevacizumab had significantly less chance of undergoing PPV at 4 months (4.76%) as compared with control group (20%). Improvement in visual acuity was also statistically significant at 4 months (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Intravitreal bevacizumab can be effective in diabetic retinopathy related mild to moderate vitreous hemorrhage in terms of improving the vision, reducing the rate of requirement for vitrectomy and completing panretinal laser photocoagulation


While variations across countries in the experiences of mass unemployment have been extensively analysed, the even more striking variation over time is much less well understood. This paper argues that the capacity of a nation to maintain full employment by means of ''Keynesian'' fiscal and monetary policies is constrained no longer so much by the need to contain inflationary pressures (where the wage setting arrangements of corporatist countries are an advantage) as by the growth of international trade and capital mobility. It is argued that traditional corporatist institutions are not well-suited to these developments.


Background The transition to university education challenges each student to work independently and in groups, and to develop a critical, evidence-based approach to study1 . Our institution has subscribed to a commercial, on-line, learning system 2 to facilitate first years in rising to these challenges. We integrated this on-line material in a module where Radiography students are introduced to working in a professional health care environment. Our aims were to guide students in assimilating effective approaches to study and to prepare them for the clinical environment. The challenge we then faced was how to align the assessment with the combination of graduate attributes and professional awareness that we were aiming to develop. METHOD We wanted the main assessment to bring together the various module components. We were partly guided by design principles prevailing in our institution that encourage peer review, supported collaborative learning and matched sequencing of learning material and student activities (O'Neill et al, 2011). A stronger influence was the desire to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the skills and attributes they were learning. Since literature concerning graduate skills and radiographic practice places great emphasis on teamwork, a group assignment was highly desirable. An assignment utilising facilities within our VLE was also attractive, because an essential transferable skill for graduate Radiographers is the ability to study and work electronically. Finally, we wanted to expand the students' professional awareness by provoking them to think about their chosen degree subject in a wide context. These considerations steered us towards a group essay addressing a given aspect of Radiography (thereby encompassing collaboration on professional knowledge) that was developed in a directed series of stages (thereby matched to the online learning material) within a Wiki resource in our Blackboard VLE (thereby encouraging online working and peer review). RESULTS & DISCUSSION Ten First Year student groups used Wiki pages in Blackboard to plan, develop and present an essay on an aspect of Radiography. Staff input was limited to providing a title concept and one initial paper addressing an aspect of Radiography (different for each group), then to facilitate the first group discussion of the given concept. The development process and resultant essays consistently showed evidence of academic enquiry, critical thinking and emerging professional awareness. At the module close, each group reflected on the exercise, and without exception commented on the value of the learning experience. Whilst the development of transferable study skills is widely supported in literature, it has been our own career experience that students are frequently anticipated to develop these skills without explicit teaching input. The outcome can be that students reach a mixed level of expertise that ill prepares them for the CPD requirements of a health care career. Experience with this module has shown that explicit activities that are mapped to desirable attributes can accelerate the development of graduate skills and professional awareness very early in a degree programme


Boron-doped graphene quantum dots (BGQDs) have been synthesized by a one-step, facile and low temperature method through the hydrothermal treatment of glucose as the precursor in the presence of boric acid. The as-obtained BGQDs possess a high B-doping content up to 4.25% of uniform nm-size. Interestingly, the effect of different types of B–C bond species on the ORR catalytic activity has been investigated to clarify the origin of the electrochemical reduction of O2. Further, the composite of the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and BGQD (G-BGQDs) was also prepared as a metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The G-BGQD composites exhibit a significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity, including a positive onset potential and a high current density with a one step, four-electron pathway toward the ORR, comparable to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Among various B–C bond structures in BGQDs, the graphite-like BC3 structure is considered to be an important site for the ORR by improving the electric conductivity and electrocatalytic activity of BGQDs, which is also confirmed by a DFT study. In addition, the G-BGQD composites show an outstanding long-term operational stability and high tolerance to the methanol crossover effect, which are comparable to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. These results demonstrate that the synthesized BGQD, as metal-free catalyst materials, may be inexpensive and efficient electrocatalysts for the replacement of Pt-based catalysts toward the ORR and other electrochemical applications.


The study aimed to measure the degree of organizational loyalty among faculty members at Kuwait University. The study used analytical descriptive survey method, and developed a questionnaire comprising (20) items which was administered to a sample comprising (183) faculty members. The study revealed that the degree of organizational loyalty is medium with a mean (3.01). Also, the study revealed no statistically significant differences among the respondents due to the study variables: gender, nationality, age, years of experience, type of college, and academic rank. In the light of these results, the study provided a number of practical recommendations and suggestions for further studies, i.e. instilling the spirit of teamwork and responsibility towards the university and nation, evaluating the performance of faculty members, promoting organizational loyalty by holding training courses, deepening religious awareness, paying more attention to factors that regulate work environment, conducting similar studies in other institutions, and other studies to reveal the relationship of organizational loyalty with personal characteristics, job satisfaction, and organizational justice.


Diclofenac sodium, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug inspite of its absorption throughout the G. I tract irritates the G. I wall and is more likely to cause ulcer in stomach. In the present work so as to protect from gastric ulcer, Diclofenac sodium was formulated as delayed release through enteric coating. All the physical parameters like hardness, friability were found to be within the limits through wet granulation process while showing good flow properties. Drug and excepients were confirmed to be standard without any incompatibility by authenticated DSC samples. Disintegrating time (DT) was found to be matched in F4 as that of core innovator. F 11 tablets, which were coated with Eudragit polymers showed better release characteristics compared to that of HPMC and CAP. The optimized formulation F11 were subjected to stability studies as per ICH guidelines, which were found to be intact without any deterioration for 3 months in comparison to innovator sample. All the results were found to be in correlation, by which the stable delayed release Eudragit enteric coated tablets can be subjected for further in vivo studies.


We study the problem of network embeddings in 2-D array architectures in which each row and column of processors are interconnected by a bus. These architectures are especially attractive if optical buses are used that allow simultaneous access by multiple processors through either wavelength division multiplexing or message pipelining, thus overcoming the bottlenecks caused by the exclusive access of buses. In particular, we define S-trees to include both binary X-trees and pyramids, and present two embeddings of X-trees into 2-D processor arrays with spanning buses. The first embedding has the property that all neighboring nodes in X-trees are mapped to the same bus in the target array, thus allowing any two neighbors in the embedded S-trees to communicate with each other in one routing step. The disadvantage of this embedding is its relatively high expansion cost. In contrast, the second embedding has an expansion cost approaching unity, but does not map all neighboring nodes in X-trees to the same bus. These embeddings allow all algorithms designed for binary trees, pyramids, as well as X-trees to be executed on the target arrays. >


Due to the difficulty in obtaining a 24 h urine collection in children, a random sample of urine is often used to calculate the urine calcium to creatinine ratio. Also, urinary calcium excretion might be influenced by genetic, geographic area, etc. we decided to evaluate the urinary calcium, creatinine, sodium and potassium excretion in healthy children with 1-7 years and determine age-related reference values for urine calcium to creatinine and sodium to potassium ratio in Andimeshk City in Khozestan Province of Iran.  From 1155 healthy children (528 boys and 627 girls) with ages between 1-7 years, that referred to check-up to Imam Ali Hospital in Andimeshk, between January and December 2008, urine sample was collected and calcium, creatinine, sodium and potassium were measured.  From 1155 healthy children, 528 (45.7%) were boys and 627 (54.3%) were girls. Mean ± SD ratio of urine calcium to creatinine in all children was 0.165±0.115. This ratio was 0.168±0.114 and 0.163±0.093 for boys and girls, respectively, but not significant (p=0.37). Also, the mean ± SD ratio of urine sodium to potassium in all children was 1.981±1.322. This ratio was 1.982±0.912 and 1.980±1.108 for boys and girls, respectively, it was higher in boys than girls, but not significant (p=0.28). Because of warm climate in Khuzestan Province in Iran and relatively, high quantities of solutes in children's urine of this region, suggested that more investigation is done and prevalence of kidney's stone will particularize.

 Key words: Hypercalciuria, calcium, creatinine, sodium, potassium.


Ni-P, Ni-Co-P and Ni-W-P layers were obtained in galvanostatic conditions, at the current density jdep= 0.200 A cm-2. The X-ray diffraction method was used to determine phase composition of the layers and the atomic absorption spectrometry was applied to specify their chemical composition. A metallographic, stereoscopic and tunneling microscope and also Form Talysurf-type profilograph were used for cross-section and surface morphology characterization of the layers. The behaviour of obtained layers was investigated in the processes of hydrogen and oxygen evolution from 5 M KOH using voltammetry method. It was ascertained that, introduction of cobalt or tungsten into Ni-P matrix, lead to obtain the layers about very developed surface. Thus obtained layers may be useful in application as electrode materials in electrochemistry.


Development of appropriate land management techniques to attain sustainability and increase the N use efficiency of crops in the tropics has been gaining momentum. The nitrous oxides (N2Os) affect global climate change and its contribution from N and C management systems is of great significance. Thus, N transformations and N2O emission during maize-groundnut crop rotation managed with various N sources were studied. Accumulation of nitrate (NO3 –) and its disappearance happened immediately after addition of various N sources, showing liming effect. The mineral N retained for 2–4 weeks depending on the type and amount of N application. The chicken manure showed rapid nitrification in the first week after application during the fallow period, leading to a maximum N2O flux of 9889 μg N2O-N m–2 day– 1. The same plots showed a residual effect by emitting the highest N2O (4053 μg N2O-N m–2 day– 1) during maize cultivation supplied with a halfrate of N fertilizer. Application of N fertilizer only or in combination with crop residues exhibited either lowered fluxes or caused a sink during the groundnut and fallow periods due to small availability of substrates and/or low water-filled pore space (<40%). The annual N2O emission ranged from 1.41 to 3.94 kg N2O-N ha–1; the highest was estimated from the chicken manure plus crop residues and half-rate of inorganic N-amended plots. Results indicates a greater influence of chicken manure on the N transformations and thereby N2O emission.


SUMMARY Difference geophysical tomography (e.g. radar, resistivity and seismic) is used increasingly for imaging fluid flow and mass transport associated with natural and engineered hydrologic phenomena, including tracer experiments, in situ remediation and aquifer storage and recovery. Tomographic data are collected over time, inverted and differenced against a background image to produce 'snapshots' revealing changes to the system; these snapshots readily provide qualitative information on the location and morphology of plumes of injected tracer, remedial amendment or stored water. In principle, geometric moments (i.e. total mass, centres of mass, spread, etc.) calculated from difference tomograms can provide further quantitative insight into the rates of advection, dispersion and mass transfer; however, recent work has shown that moments calculated from tomograms are commonly biased, as they are strongly affected by the subjective choice of regularization criteria. Conventional approaches to regularization (Tikhonov) and parametrization (image pixels) result in tomograms which are subject to artefacts such as smearing or pixel estimates taking on the sign opposite to that expected for the plume under study. Here, we demonstrate a novel parametrization for imaging plumes associated with hydrologic phenomena. Capitalizing on the mathematical analogy between moment-based descriptors of plumes and the moment-based parameters of probability distributions, we design an inverse problem that (1) is overdetermined and computationally efficient because the image is described by only a few parameters, (2) produces tomograms consistent with expected plume behaviour (e.g. changes of one sign relative to the background image), (3) yields parameter estimates that are readily interpreted for plume morphology and offer direct insight into hydrologic processes and (4) requires comparatively few data to achieve reasonable model estimates. We demonstrate the approach in a series of numerical examples basedonstraight-raydifference-attenuationradarmonitoringofthetransportofanionictracer, and show that the methodology outlined here is particularly effective when limited data are available.


In this paper, I defend the possible consent interpretation of Kant's formula of humanity from objections according to which it has counterintuitive implications. I do this in two ways. First, I argue that to a great extent, the supposed counterintuitive implications rest on a misunderstanding of the possible consent interpretation. Second, I argue that to the extent that these supposed counterintuitive implications do not rest on a misunderstanding of the possible consent interpretation, they are not counterintuitive at all.


This roadmap, through the contributions of ten groups worldwide, contains different techniques, methods and materials devoted to sensing in nanomedicine. Optics is used in different ways in the detection schemes. Raman, fluorescence and infrared spectroscopies, plasmonics, second harmonic generation and optical tweezers are all used in applications from single molecule detection (both in highly diluted and in highly concentrated solutions) to single cell manipulation. In general, each optical scheme, through device miniaturization and electromagnetic field localization, exploits an intrinsic optical enhancement mechanism in order to increase the sensitivity and selectivity of the device with respect to the complex molecular construct. The materials used for detection include nanoparticles and nanostructures fabricated with different 2D and 3D lithographic methods. It is shown that sensitivity to a single molecule is already accessible whether the system under study is a single cell or a multitude of cells in a molecular mixture. Throughout the roadmap there is an attempt to foresee and to suggest future directions in this interdisciplinary field.


In Reply.— Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a relatively recently described syndrome 1 manifesting two major clinical features (congenital heart block and/or lupus dermatitis), several minor clinical features (including thrombocytopenia in 10% of those observed), and a serologic marker, the Ro antibody system (SSA). While definitive criteria for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus exists, this is not the case for the more recently described NLE syndrome. The object of our report was to stress evaluation of infants with thrombocytopenia of undetermined cause, and their mothers, for Ro antibody. We stressed the absence of the two major features of NLE and the presence of the Ro antibody system in our two infants. Our report "suggests that thrombocytopenia in our patients is a manifestation of the NLE syndrome." The authors felt it presumptive to make the diagnosis of NLE in the absence of complete heart block and lupus dermatitis. Our experience in


A pole-projection approach is proposed as a useful tool for multi-objective robust control design. Different load conditions or nonlinearities are considered in the design by simultaneously stabilizing a set of linear models. The idea is to repeatedly project the poles for each model (one at a time) to a generalized stability region until all models are stabilized. Similarly, pole projections are also performed for an auxiliary set of models. Stability of the latter gives guaranteed bounds on different sensitivity functions for the former. The method solves a benchmark problem for which a controller of lower complexity than has been reported before is obtained.


cDNA clones encoding the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) were isolated from a cDNA library prepared from fast skeletal muscle of the carp Cyprinus carpio L. Two types of cDNA clone encoding carp RLC were found with identical deduced amino acid sequences. The two mRNAs differed in the number of polyadenylation signals prior to the poly(A) tail in the 3' non-coding region. The two mRNA species, with approximate sizes of 1.4 and 0.8 kilobases, were also observed in northern blot analysis. Carp were acclimated for a minimum of 5 weeks to either 10 degreesC or 30 degreesC (14 h:10 h light:dark photoperiod). The total levels of mRNA transcripts coding for the RLC and myosin heavy chain were, respectively, 3.3 and 3.9 times higher in cold- than in warm-acclimated fish. Differences in the levels of RLC in mRNA transcripts were largely due to the concentration of the 1.4 kilobase mRNA species.


New and reinterpreted isotopic data for crystalline rocks ex- posed in the Wasatch Range require a reevaluation of Precambrian crustal boundaries in Utah. Crystalline rocks of the Santaquin Com- plex underwent metamorphism prior to ca. 1670 Ma, consistent with Sr and Nd isotope data. Mafic to intermediate rocks have major element, trace element, and isotope ratios indicative of derivation in an arc accreted to the Archean craton in Proterozoic time, requiring the crustal suture to be north of the Santaquin Complex. Farther north, the Farmington Canyon Complex has been considered Ar- chean based on published Nd model ages and discordant U/Pb zir- con ages. However, Nd model ages and zircons could be inherited from sedimentary protoliths. U/Pb and electron microprobe ages of monazite have a mode at 1650 to 1700 Ma, concordant with the Santaquin Complex, and lack inheritance. We propose that the Farmington Canyon Complex was first cratonized from Archean- derived sediments in the Proterozoic, requiring a crustal suture to be north of it as well. Accretion ages of arc terranes in southeastern Wyoming are ;60-100 m.y. older than in Utah. Thus, a serious reevaluation of basement architecture in Utah is needed and a pre- viously unrecognized temporal complexity of accretion is indicated.


This paper addresses a type of wicked problem in the design of information systems in the context of G2G e-Government information systems. These problems, called power issues, have all of the characteristics of wicked problems; however, they are differentiated from them because their roots are based in power. The Power Perspectives Framework from Bradshaw-Camball and Murray is utilized in the context of these G2G systems to provide a framework for the identification and classification of power issues and Courtney's DSS paradigm is extended to assist in resolving them by incorporating the power perspective into the methodology.


We present the first evaluation of a recently developed silicon-strip detector for photon-counting dual-energy breast tomosynthesis. The detector is well suited for tomosynthesis with high dose efficiency and intrinsic scatter rejection. A method was developed for measuring the spatial resolution of a system based on the detector in terms of the three-dimensional modulation transfer function (MTF). The measurements agreed well with theoretical expectations, and it was seen that depth resolution was won at the cost of a slightly decreased lateral resolution. This may be a justifiable trade-off as clinical images acquired with the system indicate improved conspicuity of breast lesions. The photon-counting detector enables dual-energy subtraction imaging with electronic spectrumsplitting. This improved the detectability of iodine in phantom measurements, and the detector was found to be stable over typical clinical acquisition times. A model of the energy resolution showed that further improvements are within reach by optimization of the detector.


In response to widespread global degradation of mangrove forests, many initiatives have been undertaken to reforest degraded sites. However, many of these replantings are mono- specific, raising questions regarding habitat change and reduced ecological functions in mangrove plantations compared to natural mixed mangrove forests. The main objective of this study was to determine whether colonising mangrove juveniles can be recruited into the adult tree layer and thus enhance the structural complexity of previously reforested monospecific stands. Vegetation structure of originally monospecific replanted mangrove stands (Sonneratia alba and Rhizophora mucronata) that were 8 yr old was assessed. Instantaneous juvenile (seedling/sapling) diversity and abundance were determined. Adjacent natural stands were used as reference sites. The R. mucronata stand had the same species richness as its natural reference and thus had a higher Complexity Index due to recruitment of non-planted species into the adult tree population than in a previous assessment when it was monospecific. Juvenile species richness and diversity were similar between the R. mucronata stands (reforested and natural); however, the total juvenile density was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the natural stand (7390 ± 660 juveniles ha -1 ) than in the reforested stand (2048 ± 667 juveniles ha -1 ). In contrast, the adult vegetation layer of the S. alba reforested stand remained monospecific, suggesting 100% mortality of previously observed non-planted mangrove juveniles. Many replanted mangroves around the globe are monocultures and are thus likely to have low thresholds to pertur- bations, as they do not benefit from the 'portfolio effect' provided in mixed species stands. Successful recruitment of non-planted species into replanted monospecific mangroves stands may therefore enhance ecosystem productivity and stability. However, more research needs to be conducted on traits of different mangrove species and their contribution to ecosystem productivity and sensitivities to environmental perturbations.


This paper contributes to the body of work within the social studies of childhood on creative visual methods and the emerging critique on the participatory assumptions of child-centred creative visual methodology. Drawing on ethnographically informed research with a group of children aged 8–12 years which utilised a range of creative methods including child-led video and photography, the paper provides a methodological focus on the children's interactions with the adult research team, each other and with the children whom they filmed, interviewed and photographed. The paper suggests that attention to the dynamics between children as researchers and participants is essential for understanding how children's voices are made (and diminished) in child-led creative visual methods. Methodological attention to the ways in which children's voices are differently (and unequally) heard in the research encounter is essential for evaluating what such methods bring to research with children and challenges theorisations of a singular children's voice suggested in the literature.


This paper is a review of what is known about the turnover of melanin in iris, choroid, and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of the adult vertebrate eye. Differences in size and structure of choroideal and retinal pigment epithelial melanin granules are shown by electron micrographs. The classical stages of melanin synthesis, including the premelanosome, are shown in the RPE of adult hamsters that had been exposed to in- tense light. Degradation or synthesis of melanin also seem to occur in the melanocytes of the choroid in these animals. It is postulated that all three pigmented eye tissues (iris, RPE, and choroid) of adult vertebrates form melanin granules in vivo. However, nothing is known about the amount of this turnover.


Progesterone inhibits the transcription of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) in murine macrophages. The effect of female sex steroids on the regulation of the human iNOS gene, which shares no identity in the 5' and 3' non-coding regions with its murine homolog, is unknown. Pretreatment of the human enterocytic cells DLD-1 and Caco-2BBe with estradiol or dexamethasone had no effect on NO production induced by IL-1beta, LPS, and IFN-gamma. In contrast, NO production was inhibited by progesterone when administered as a pre-treatment or as a post-treatment 6 h after cytokine exposure (IC50 in DLD-1 and Caco-2BBe cells = 66 and 45 microM). Progesterone pre-treatment inhibited cytokine-induced iNOS mRNA expression by 66% and 58% in DLD-1 and Caco-2BBe cells, respectively. Nuclear run-on analysis demonstrated that progesterone did not inhibit cytokine-induced iNOS transcription. These data imply that progesterone inhibits iNOS mRNA expression at a post-transcriptional level, which is the dominant mode of iNOS regulation in human enterocytes. Since iNOS-derived NO production has been related to the inflammatory and tumorigenic response of progesterone-receptor bearing tissues, the repression of iNOS mRNA expression by a female sex steroid could play an important role in the regulation of a broad range of physiologic processes.


On West Indian islands, as elsewhere in the world, ants are a very important component of virtually every terrestrial ecosystem. Nonetheless, the ants of most West Indian islands have remained largely unknown and unstudied. Now several destructive exotic ant species are spreading through the region, threatening native biodiversity. Here, we have compiled published and unpublished ant records and collected new specimens to document the diversity of ants on the island of Grenada. Our investigations increased the list of ant taxa known from the island to 82 (65 New World and 17 Old World species). Of these, 71 species are represented among specimens we collected, whereas 11 are New World species known from Grenada solely on the basis of earlier records. Some species recorded earlier, including at least nine not seen for more than 100 years, may now be extinct on Grenada. Grenada has more New World ant species than are known for Barbados (46), a neighboring island that has 34% more land area. Factors that may contribute to this difference include: 1) during low sea levels 15,000 years ago, Grenada was part of a larger island about 10 times Grenada's current size; 2) Grenada is more mountainous than Barbados; and 3) Grenada has more remaining forest cover than Barbados (50.0% vs. 14.7%). Conversely, Grenada has fewer Old World ant species than are known for Barbados (24). Factors that may contribute to this difference include: 1) lower human population density, 2) lower levels of imported lumber products, and 3) lower tourism levels. Records for only four of the 17 Old World exotic ants found in Grenada date to before 1995. Major tramp ant species that are known from the West Indies but have not yet been recorded from Grenada include Old World species such as the pharaoh ant (Monomorium pharaonis), the African big-headed ant (Pheidole megacephala), and the difficult white-footed ant (Technomyrmex difficilis), as well as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta).


In the present study, particles in cell method, a Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is used to simulate the flow in an inhaler. The number of uncertain parameters, including properties of particles, fluidizing agents' properties, initial/boundary conditions, and numerical parameters related to PIC simulations, is fourteen. The residence time of 280 PIC simulations for different values of the uncertain parameters is used to test/train a data-driven framework. The values of the uncertain parameters are generated via the Latin Hypercube Sampling method and a normal distribution. The trained algorithm is used to predict the residence time for various unknown parameters. This framework is used to carry out the sensitivity analysis to find the most influential settings on the residence time of the particles in the inhaler. The optimum parameters of the influential parameters for a given residence time is calculated via the data-driven framework.


This thesis concerns energy efficient protocols for harvested wireless sensor networks. It is a part of an industrial Internet of Things project. STMicroelectronics started the GreenNet project with the objective to develop and design a new generation of harvesting smart objects to be integrated in the Internet of Things. The GreenNet platform is novel with respect to the existing solutions due to its small size that implies a small energy buffer and small harvesting capabilities. This aspect makes the standard protocols and precedent solutions not directly applicable on this extremely low power platform. In this dissertation, we analyse standard protocols and existing solutions to identify their issues in the gn platform. Then, we provide protocol and algorithm adaptations to make feasible the concept of auto configurable and sustainable networks of GreenNet nodes. We proposed MCBT, an energy efficient protocol for the bootstrap procedure. It enables low power nodes to be enrolled in mh mc wireless sensor networks thanks to the network support for enrolling new nodes. It represents an energy efficient solution that extends the standard protocol. We proposed STADA, a sustainable algorithm to adapt the node activity according to the available energy and traffic conditions. STADA is based on a weighted function that takes into account the energy present in the battery, the energy harvesting rate, and network traffic. In this way, the algorithm takes into account all main parameters to adapt the energy consumption and improve the node performance. To make the harvested network more efficient according to light variations, we proposed a novel metric that makes the path choice a simple process. With the Expected Delay, we synthesize all network parameters in a single monotonic variable that facilitates the path choice in mh harvesting wireless sensor networks. All proposed solutions are designed to work with standard beacon-enabled IEEE 802.15.4 protocols and are easily portable on the future version of IEEE 802.15.4e. We validated the proposed protocols with emulations and simulations. The evaluation results shown better performance in terms of energy consumption and quality of service.


The Universita Politecnica delle Marche is charged of the study, survey and documentation of the Chan towers in Vietnam. The towers are spread near the coastline from latitude 16° 30', to latitude of 10° 56'. The Champa civilization flourished from 8 th century till 17 th century produced the Cham towers, places of religious worship. The ancient Cham people created a developed culture expressed in the architecture in the towers, which were Buddhist temples. Roughly there are six different architectonic styles and two different layouts in plan. One lay-out is that one main tower is surrounded by smaller service buildings, like walls, doors, gates; the other layout is a set of three aligned towers. We carried out the documentation with three different techniques, laser scanning, dense point clouds generation with SfM (Structure from Motion) algorithm, and mainly by Panoramic Spherical Photogrammetry (PSP). Laser scanning is indeed the best instrument but sometimes its availability is very limited for different practical and logistic reasons. The point cloud generation produced good results, but it has some problems and limitations of management too. On the other hand PSP is very quick technique in the taking phase, but the restitution is rather slow. PSP is suitable for a good metric documentation, making the Cham tower project the main project of documentation executed with spherical photogrammetry.


Judicial review judgments of the High Court of Australia have made frequent use of foreign cases. Looking at 246 of those judgments since 1980 reveals that four in every ten have used a foreign case. Looking more closely, three patterns are identifiable. The first pattern is the frequent use of a foreign case without providing a reason. The second pattern is the common use of certain foreign courts, most notably from the United Kingdom. The third pattern is the increased use of foreign cases when the disposition is against the governor. Broad structures and underlying approaches in judicial review and Australian law explain these patterns. These include a High Court statement on the use of foreign cases, the openness of Australian law, the normative foundations of judicial review, the quilt of legalities and legitimising judicial review.


We report, for what we believe is the first time, the design and the fabrication of an active optical switch working at 2050 nm. The switch uses a lithium niobate crystal and is fully packaged. It is based on a three-section alternating Δβ configuration. It is dedicated to differential absorption lidar (DIAL) and atmospheric gas monitoring.


The measurement and utilization of the respiration rate or oxygen uptake rate (OUR) is very important in activated sludge system control. It provides information about the plant loading, activated sludge quality and can indicate the presence of toxic elements that can poison the system. The existing methods for continuously measuring and estimating the respiration rate have, generally, a long sampling interval of a few minutes. An alternative respiration rate meter with much shorter response time is proposed. The results of simulation studies, as well as experimental results of a microcontroller based data acquisition system connected to a PC, around a laboratory scale biological reactor are presented.


Ecosystems are under threat from anthropogenic and natural disturbances, yet little is known about how these disturbances alter mutualistic interactions. Many mutualistic interactions are highly context dependent and dynamic due to "ongoing" partner choice, impeding our understanding of how disturbances might influence mutualistic systems. Previously we showed that in the absence of additional known mechanisms of competitive coexistence, mutualistic fungi can coexist in a system where the plant community associates dynamically with two empirically defined arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal types: a cheap kind that provides low nutrient benefits, and an expensive type that provides high nutrient benefits. We built on this framework to ask how disturbances of different types, frequencies, amplitudes, and predictabilities alter ongoing partner choice and thereby influence the coexistence of mutualists. We found that the effects of disturbances depend on the type, amplitude, and predictability of disturbances and, to a lesser extent, on their frequency. Disturbance can disrupt mutualist coexistence by enabling hosts more efficiently to exclude partners that behave as parasites. Disturbance can also promote coexistence by altering the strength and direction of consumer-resource interactions. Predicting the effects of disturbance on the mutualist community therefore requires us to understand better the consumer-resource relationships under various environmental conditions. We show how, through such context-dependent effects, disturbance and ongoing partner choice can together generate relative nonlinearity and investment in future benefit, introducing fluctuation-dependent mechanisms of competitive coexistence. Our findings support a broadening of the conceptual framework regarding disturbances and competition to include fluctuation-dependent mechanisms alongside the spatiotemporal intermediate disturbance hypothesis.


Some amphibian retinal ganglion cells die during optic nerve regeneration. Here we have investigated whether ganglion cell death in the frog Litoria moorei is associated with the lesion site. For one experimental series, the optic nerve lesion extended for 0.15 mm; in the other, it extended for 1.5 mm. The extent of ganglion cell death was estimated from cresyl violet‐stained whole mounts at 24 weeks post lesion. In other animals, individual regenerating axons were visualised in the optic nerve by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labelling from 1 day to 24 weeks post lesion; counterstaining with cresyl violet allowed examination of cells that repopulated the lesion site. Ganglion cell numbers fell significantly more after an extensive than after a localised lesion, long‐term losses being 50% and 34%, respectively (P < 0.05). Regenerating axons were delayed in their passage across the cell‐poor extensive lesion compared with the relatively cell‐rich localised lesion. The differing rates of regeneration between series were matched by greater delay after extensive lesion in the return of visually guided behaviour as assessed by optokinetic horizontal head nystagmus. We suggest that delays in regeneration after an extensive lesion exacerbate ganglion cell death, indicating that conditions within the lesion are associated with the death of some ganglion cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 446:276–287, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Cloud-management stacks have become an increasingly important element in cloud computing, serving as the resource manager of cloud platforms. While the functionality of this emerging layer has been constantly expanding, its fault resilience remains under-studied. This paper presents a systematic study of the fault resilience of OpenStack---a popular open source cloud-management stack. We have built a prototype fault-injection framework targeting service communications during the processing of external requests, both among OpenStack services and between OpenStack and external services, and have thus far uncovered 23 bugs in two versions of OpenStack. Our findings shed light on defects in the design and implementation of state-of-the-art cloud-management stacks from a fault-resilience perspective.


Background and Aim of the Work: Frailty is a
state of reduced physiological reserve and is associated with increased
susceptibility to disability. It is associated with a high morbidity and
mortality. The aim of this work is to assess the association between the levels
of homocystiene and C-reactive protein and frailty and to examine the ability
of homocystiene as a new marker to detect frailty. Subjects and Methods: A
total number of 104 elderly subjects (above 60 years old) were included in
this study and they were subjected to history, examination, comprehensive
geriatric assessment, and laboratory investigations including: C-reactive
protein (CRP) and Homocystiene (Hcy). The patients were divided into frail and
non-frail groups using Fried's criteria as applied by Avila-Funes et al.,
2008 and each group included 52 patients. Results: There was no significant
difference between the two groups as regards age gender or smoking habits. But
there were higher levels of CRP (>10 mg/dl) and homocystiene (>12 mmol/l)
among frail cases and by comparing both homocystiene was more sensitive in detection
of frailty. Conclusion: Frailty was associated with eleveted homocystiene and
CRP and homocystiene is more specific than CRP in detection of frailty.


The aim of this study was to explore what dentition and oral health mean to adult dental care patients' well-being. Qualitative, taped interviews were conducted with 15 participants (over 20 years of age), who were patients at private and public dental health care units in the western part of Sweden. The constant comparative method of grounded theory was used. The interviews were consecutively analyzed in hierarchical coding processes until saturation was achieved. A conceptual model was generated illuminating the meaning of dentition and oral health for the participant's well-being. The core category of the model, struggling to optimize one's self-esteem, was related to four categories, which further described the psychosocial process of increasing one's self-esteem and contributing to well-being. These categories were labelled investing in oneself, being attractive to others, being able to socialize and showing ones social belonging. People who are satisfied with their teeth in terms of function and appearance seem to have developed an optimized self-esteem, which contributes to the well-being in individuals. Consequently, inequalities in oral health according to social belonging may lead to inequalities in self-esteem and well-being.


Dynamical black-hole scenarios have been developed in loop quantum gravity in various ways, combining results from mini and midisuperspace models. In the past, the underlying geometry of space-time has often been expressed in terms of line elements with metric components that differ from the classical solutions of general relativity, motivated by modified equations of motion and constraints. However, recent results have shown by explicit calculations that most of these constructions violate general covariance and slicing independence. The proposed line elements and black-hole models are therefore ruled out. The only known possibility to escape this sentence is to derive not only modified metric components but also a new space-time structure which is covariant in a generalized sense. Formally, such a derivation is made available by an analysis of the constraints of canonical gravity, which generate deformations of hypersurfaces in space-time, or generalized versions if the constraints are consistently modified. A generic consequence of consistent modifications in effective theories suggested by loop quantum gravity is signature change at high density. Signature change is an important ingredient in long-term models of black holes that aim to determine what might happen after a black hole has evaporated. Because this effect changes the causal structure of space-time, it has crucial implications for black-hole models that have been missed in several older constructions, for instance in models based on bouncing black-hole interiors. Such models are ruled out by signature change even if their underlying space-times are made consistent using generalized covariance. The causal nature of signature change brings in a new internal consistency condition, given by the requirement of deterministic behavior at low curvature. Even a causally disconnected interior transition, opening back up into the former exterior as some kind of astrophysical white hole, is then ruled out. New versions consistent with both generalized covariance and low-curvature determinism are introduced here, showing a remarkable similarity with models developed in other approaches, such as the final-state proposal or the no-transition principle obtained from the gauge-gravity correspondence.


Hot Jupiter (HJ) type exoplanets are expected to produce strong radio emission in the MHz range via the Electron Cyclotron Maser Instability (ECMI). To date, no repeatable detections have been made. To explain the absence of observational results, we conduct 3D adaptive mess refinement (AMR) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the magnetic interactions between a solar type star and HJ using the publicly available code PLUTO. The results are used to calculate the efficiency of the ECMI at producing detectable radio emission from the planets magnetosphere. We also calculate the frequency of the ECMI emission, providing an upper and lower bounds, placing it at the limits of detectability due to Earth's ionospheric cutoff of $\sim 10 \ \mathrm{MHz}$. The incident kinetic and magnetic power available to the ECMI is also determined and a flux of $0.069 \ \mathrm{mJy}$ for an observer at $10 \ \mathrm{pc}$ is calculated. The magnetosphere is also characterized and an analysis of the bow shock which forms upstream of the planet is conducted. This shock corresponds to the thin shell model for a colliding wind system. A result consistent with a colliding wind system. The simulation results show that the ECMI process is completely inhibited by the planets expanding atmosphere, due to absorption of UV radiation form the host star. The density, velocity, temperature and magnetic field of the planetary wind are found to result in a magnetosphere where the plasma frequency is raised above that due to the ECMI process making the planet undetectable at radio MHz frequencies.


Knowledge graphs encode semantics that describes resources in terms of several aspects, e.g., neighbors, class hierarchies, or node degrees. Assessing relatedness of knowledge graph entities is crucial for several data-driven tasks, e.g., ranking, clustering, or link discovery. However, existing similarity measures consider aspects in isolation when determining entity relatedness. We address the problem of similarity assessment between knowledge graph entities, and devise GADES. GADES relies on aspect similarities and computes a similarity measure as the combination of these similarity values. We empirically evaluate the accuracy of GADES on knowledge graphs from different domains, e.g., proteins, and news. Experiment results indicate that GADES exhibits higher correlation with gold standards than studied existing approaches. Thus, these results suggest that similarity measures should not consider aspects in isolation, but combinations of them to precisely determine relatedness.


The general idea of treating monopoly and monopsony similarly under the antitrust laws is supported by economic theory but is somewhat more complicated when one attempts to apply existing legal standards. The focus here is on some of the stickier issues that arise when antitrust is applied to monopsony. This analysis starts with a short review of monopsony theory. The purpose is to provide a context for the specific issues that are addressed in the following sections. The first complication concerns what is called the "all none supply curve." This amounts to an argument that in some circumstances, monopsony may not be harmful. It then explores questions left open by Weyerhaeuser, issues of antitrust standing (a decision about those eligible to bring a private action based on a monopsony theory), the treatment of cooperative buying, and, finally, the treatment of monopsony in the context of some practices to which the application of United States antitrust law is currently somewhat muddled.


Illicit sexual relationship and drinking of alcoholic drinks were brought into statistically significant "competitive" relationship in a testing examination of 957 men and women on the basis of the system analysis of the secured findings, which fact has a peculiar effect on both the age of the start of sexual life and the first occurrence of being infected with a venereal disease. Established in the above examination was also the character of correlation between the rate and ways for formation of types of drinking alcoholic drinks and level of education, age, and social status.


Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease is a form of a benign necrotizing lymphadenitis which is most commonly misdiagnosed as tuberculosis and or lymphoma, usually more common among young adults in Asia. It is a benign disease but can mimic a lot of other disease processes spanning infectious, rheumatologic and even hematologic malignancies. Our patient presented with prolonged fever and lymphadenopathy. Initial considerations were lymphoma and a nonspecific viral infection. A CT scan showed diffuse cervical lymphadenopathy with lacrimal gland involvement. An excisional lymph node biopsy was done which revealed Kikuchi disease. Patient was given steroids with immediate response with defervescence. Kikuchi is a disease with many mimics and a complete workup is needed to exclude serious disease like malignancy.


This paper outlines a vision for community-driven sensing of our environment. At its core, community sensing is a dynamic new form of mobile geosensor network. We believe that community sensing networks, in order to be widely deployable and sustainable, need to follow utilitarian approaches towards sensing and data management. Current projects exploring community sensing have paid less attention to these underlying fundamental principles. We illustrate this vision through OpenSense -- a large project that aims to explore community sensing driven by air pollution monitoring.


Background/Objectives: Electronic Health Record are unique electronic documents composed of information like patient history records, demographics, prescribed medications, laboratory reports and computerized tomography etc. to pertaining the patient health care. The main objective of the paper is to review the present adoption rate of EHR in India with respect to global market. Methods/Statistical Analysis: EHR is the key component for the clinical decision support system .To review the current scenario of adaption rate of EHR, bibliographic learning was obtained from many hospital sources. In addition, contact was made with EHR vendors. Findings: During the pilot study of about seven month, around twenty major hospitals encounters in which successfully the EHR system has been implemented. Globally the adoption rate of EHR in major countries are China (96%), Brazil (92%), France (85%), and Russia (93%) in this respect. In year of 2020, globally Market of electronic health records will place at US$25.98 billion as per the reporting of CAGR. Interoperability standards issues; lack of funds; shortage of suitable governance health policies are the major barriers in adoption of EHR in India. Application/Improvements: Adoption and implementation of EHR should be made mandatory in large sized and medium sized hospitals. In upcoming years EHR system require to incorporated a framework of standards, latest tools and consolidation of system providers.


This study focuses on isolation and purification of some halotolerant streptomycetes from soil and sea water of western region, KSA as a source of salt tolerance gene(s). A few numbers (32) of streptomycetes-like colonies (SLC) were isolated and purified from two regions. From Jeddah, a number of 22 out of the 32 SLC were obtained, distributed between the sea water 12 (54.55%) and sea sediment soil 6 (27.27%).From Taif-soil, only 10 SLC were isolated. Results show that 31 SLC were grown on 3.5% salt, while, in the presence of 7.0% salt, 2, 3, 18, and 4 showed abundant (+++), moderate (++), weak (+), and in doubt (±) growth, respectively. Only five SLC were not able to grow at 7% salt. At the level of 10.5% salt, the number of SLC was decreased up to 4 (2 (+++), 1 (++) and 1(+)). In either 14% or 21% salt, four isolates were varied in their ability in growth as moderate or weak growth was recorded. These isolates were considered as halotolerant as they were able to grow in either the presence or normal growth medium. The four isolates which tolerate 14% salt (isolates 4 and 6) and 21% salt (isolates 2 and 8) were completely identified. The streptomycete isolate 2 appeared to be related to Streptomyces cirratus . Comparing the cultural, morphological and physiological characteristics of Streptomyces isolate 4 and 6, they were very likely to be strains of S. rishiriensis and S. alboflavus , respectively. Streptomyces isolate 8 was identified as a strain of S. luteogriseus . The nucleotide sequences of 16S rRNA gene was partially determined using the DNA template of the Streptomyces isolate 8. Results show that a final sequence of about 1462 nts was obtained and compared with eight universal Streptomyces and bacterial strains. This isolate could be classified as a new species of gray Streptomyces , and it was suggested to be named a new halotolerant Streptomyces sp. TSA-KSA strain (GenBank AB731746). Keywords : Streptomyces , halotolerant, identification, 16S rRNA, Taif, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(19), pp. 2565-2574


This paper addresses the problem of feature selection in the reinforcement learning (RL) of the dialog policies of spoken dialog systems. A statistical dialog manager selects the system actions the system should take based on the features derived from the current dialog state and/or the system's belief state. When defining the features used by the system for training the dialog policy, however, finding a set of actually effective features from potentially useful ones is not obvious. In addition, the selection should be done simultaneously with the optimization of the dialog policy. In this paper, we propose an incremental feature selection method for the optimization of a dialog policy by RL, in which improvement of the dialog policy and the feature selection are conducted simultaneously. Experiments in dialog policy optimization by RL with a user simulator demonstrated the following: 1) that the proposed method can find a better dialog policy with fewer policy iterations and 2) the learning speed is comparable with the case where feature selection is conducted in advance.


: In this report, we employed the solid-phase synthetic approach to prepare variously substituted dihydropteridinones, tetrahydropyrrolopteridinones, and pyrimidodiazepinones, using a versatile building block-4,6-dichloro-5-nitropyrimidine. All these compounds are pharmacologically significant scaffolds of the great importance of medicinal chemists. The fast and efficient synthetic methodology is highly desirable for defining their structure-activity relationship (SAR) and optimiz-ing pharmacokinetic properties. Our research efforts utilize simple synthetic methods to generate a library of analogues for future SAR studies. The efficiency of our approach was exemplified in various pteridinones as well as pyrimidodiazepinones.


An early described hypothetical scheme is confirmed on transformation of non-covalent polynucleotide-protein interactions into covalent under the treatment of CD phage with O-methylhydroxylamine. 4 proteins are revealed, which have been covalently bound to cytosine of DNA during modification process. Fractionation of these proteins in polyacrylamide gel in the presence of sodium dodecylsulphate has revealed that three of them migrate as head structural proteins, and the rest--as internal phage CD protein. Possible mechanisms of the effect of phage protein on the reaction of DNA cytosine residues with O-methylhydroxylamine are discussed.


It has been proposed that recognition can form the basis of simple but ecologically rational decision strategies (Gigerenzer & Goldstein, 1996). Borges, Goldstein, Ortmann, & Gigerenzer (1999) found that constructing share portfolios based on simple name recognition alone often yielded better returns than the market index. We describe four studies with seven samples of participants from three countries (total N = 319) in which the returns of recognized and unrecognized shares from several stock markets were tracked over various periods of time. We find no support for the claim that a simple strategy of name recognition can be used as a general strategy to select stocks that yield better-than-average returns. However, there was some suggestion in the data that recognition performs better when the market is falling and worse when it is rising. A follow-up study indicated that the absence of an overall recognition effect could not easily be attributed to our reliance on student participants or smaller samples than Borges et al. (1999) had used. We conclude that, with respect to changes in value, selecting stocks on the basis of name recognition is a near-random method of portfolio construction that offers little, if any, benefit to the personal investor.


This study explored senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers' sense-making in the context of her or his Modern Yoga teacher-training programs. Through senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers' sense-making of her or his interpretations and applications of non-Western Yoga philosophies and traditions, meaning-making was generated. Sense-making here denotes the participants' understandings, while meaning-making refers to the understandings that I generated as the researcher. The term Modern Yoga is used in this study to represent a Western understanding and application of non-Western Yoga philosophies and traditions that are referred to here as Premodern Yoga. The aim of this research was to construct a greater understanding and appreciation of senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers' considerations when conceptualising, planning and implementing Yoga teacher-training. The research questions focused upon the senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers' spiritual-ethical reflections and her or his pedagogical and curriculum priorities. This research contributes significantly to the body of scholarship related to the pedagogical and curriculum world of Yoga teacher-training and Yoga teaching.

In this trans-philosophical, transnational and transcultural research project, I have sought to disrupt various dichotomous understandings. These binaries were considered under two broader umbrella binaries: East-West and Mind-Body. I drew upon the Sanskrit language to construct neologisms to provide me with a scaffold with which to disrupt the limitations and preferential treatment of either/or thinking of Western and non-Western philosophies and meaning-making, while revealing contextually rich, non-binaristic meaning-making. These neologisms represent an intended important contribution to theoretical and methodological knowledge. The conceptualising and methodological application of these research neologisms afford researchers an insight into re-appreciating traditional research nomenclature.

In this study, face-to-face interviews were conducted in Australia and the United States of America with seven senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers during two dedicated excursions. With the intention of disrupting an East-West binary thinking, I constructed a contextually derived interpretation of narrative research that I have
called the citta-kosha-narrative-restructuring model. This model draws upon the Eastern Yogic construct of kosha and a Western academic way of knowing via narrative research. The kosha model represents the integral, interconnected and interpermeating understanding of the human body. Consequently, this citta-kosha-narrative-re-structuring explored the interview transcripts through five lenses: body, energy, mind, intellectual discernment and spiritual consciousness. The citta-kosha-narrative-re-structuring model represents a further contribution to theoretical and methodological knowledge.

Considering the axiological nature of Yoga and Yoga teaching, the study emphasised ethical considerations and decision-making. Specific compounded Sanskrit terms were used to construct more nuanced, contextually specific ethical deliberations for this study. The emphasis on axiology and ethical considerations and decision-making, and the construction of neologisms to reflect this emphasis, represent a contribution to theoretical and methodological knowledge. The conceptualising and operationalising of the six new terms for ethical deliberation demonstrate the possibility of reconsidering ethical considerations in research.

The findings from this research provide new theoretical insights into the spiritual-ethical considerations of Western Modern Yoga teacher-trainers, highlighting that, although cultural context and nomenclature have shifted from those of Premodern Yoga teachers, the practice and instruction of Yoga still revolve around consciousness development and the union of perceived disconnections. This significant finding supports the argument that Modern Yoga, although it has been influenced by transnational, transcultural, trans-philosophical and syncretic forces, is still perceived and taught as a spiritual practice.

Further, the study identified new theoretical and practice-based insights regarding the participants' pedagogical and curricular priorities. The findings included the pedagogical importance of language considerations, oration and physical demonstration; the curriculum priorities of developing intention, facilitating reflexivity and creating an embodied, self-discerning Yoga practice; and the importance of incorporating other knowledge in Yoga teacher-training programs. These significant insights provide foundational understandings for future academic discourse in the field of Yoga pedagogy and curriculum design.

In summary, this study has drawn upon Eastern philosophical and theoretical knowledge to interpret senior Western teacher-trainers' understanding and application of an Eastern Spiritual tradition. Through a trans-philosophical lens, key insights surrounding the pedagogical and curricular priorities of Modern Yoga teacher-training have been established. The challenging of many previously unconsidered binary constructs has effectively rendered Modern Yoga's pedagogical and curriculum considerations and concerns more academically responsive and theoretically informed. The construction and application of Sanskrit ethical neologisms function as both an ethical barometer for researcher trustworthiness and an analytical data lens, demonstrating the benefit of this trans-philosophical theoretical and methodological approach. The utilisation of the Eastern Yoga kosha model, transposed into an analytical narrative research model, highlights the theoretical and methodological effectiveness of merging Eastern and Western knowledge. The successful construction and application of the Sanskrit neologisms and the citta-kosha-narrative-restructuring framework reinforce the study's efficacy and potential for innovation for future trans-philosophical research.


AIM--To investigate the association of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and carcinoma of the conjunctiva in Africa, and the role of human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV-16). METHODS--Patients in Uganda and Malawi presenting to eye clinics with lesions suspicious of carcinoma were studied. Pathological confirmation of eye lesions was sought. HIV testing of patients who were biopsied and, in Uganda, of matched case control subjects was carried out as was testing of a sample of fixed biopsies for HPV-16 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The HIV-1 serology, histopathology of conjunctival biopsies (conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), invasive carcinoma, other lesions), and prevalence of HPV-16 infection were determined. RESULTS--Of Ugandan patients, 27/38 (71%) with carcinoma (27 invasive carcinoma, 11, CIN) were HIV positive compared with 12/76 (16%) of controls (odds ratio 13, 95% confidence interval 5-38). The calculated population aetiological fraction of carcinoma associated with HIV was 66%. Of 32 Malawian patients (20 invasive carcinoma, 12 CIN), 25/29 tested (86%) were HIV positive. HPV-16 infection was found in 7/20 (35%) of carcinoma samples, 0/9 pingueculae, and 2/6 conjunctivitis samples. CONCLUSIONS--HIV infection is strongly associated with an apparent increase in the incidence of conjunctival carcinoma in Africa. While ultraviolet light is probably the prime risk factor and HPV-16 is implicated in a proportion of cases, the interactions of ultraviolet light, HIV, HPVs, and other factors are unclear in the pathogenesis of carcinoma. The disease represents another model of multifactorial epithelial carcinogenesis.


Conventional non-destructive techniques for inspection of weld in pipelines require significant test time and high cost. In order to overcome these drawbacks in conventional NDT techniques, various techniques using ultrasonic guided waves have been developed and applied to the pipeline inspection. Recently, a fast calculation technique for guided wave propagation using a semi-analytical finite element method (SAFEM), PIPE WAVE ver.1.0, has been developed by T. Takahiro et al [1]. In this paper, the calculation of torsional mode propagation in a pipe using PIPE WAVE ver. 1.0 is introduced as a preliminary study and the application of the torsional mode of ultrasonic guided waves to long range pipe inspection is presented.. The characteristics and setup of a long range guided wave inspection system and experimental results in pipes of various diameters are introduced. The experimental results in mock-up pipes with cluster type detects show that the limit of detectable wall thickness reduction with this guided wave system is 2~3% in the pipe cross section area and the wall thickness reduction of 5% in cross section area can be detected when actual detection level is used. Therefore, the applicability of the ultrasonic guided wave technique to long range pipeline inspection for wall thickness reduction is verified.


Traditionally the type of robot used in the workplace consisted mainly o f the fixed arm variety. Any mobile robots that were commercially available required that the environment be altered to accommodate them. This involved the installation of guide lanes or some form of sensor units placed at various locations around the workplace to facilitate the robot in determining its position within the environment.

Such approaches are costly and limit the use of robots to environments where these methods are feasible. The inadequacies in this technology has led to research into autonomous mobile robots that offer greater flexibility and do not require changes in the enviromnent. There are many technical issues to be addressed in designing such a robot. These stem from the necessity that the robot must be able to navigate through an environment unaided. Other problems such as the cost of the vehicle must be considered so that prospective customers will not be put off.

This thesis discusses the strategies taken in addressing the problems associated with navigation in an obstacle strewn environment. Such issues include position estimation, path planning, obstacle avoidance and the acquisition and interpretation of sensor information. It also discusses the suitability of fuzzy logic for controlling a robot.

A graphical user interface runs on the PC which communicates with the robot over a radio link. The robot uses a fuzzy logic controller to follow a planned path and avoid unknown obstacles by controlling the velocity and steering angle o f the drive unit. It is a tracked vehicle which is suitable for indoor use only. The results of path planning and the robots attempts at following the paths and avoiding obstacles are illustrated and discussed.


The recent emergence of advanced manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing and an increased demand on the integrity of components have motivated research on the application of x-ray computed tomography (CT) for dimensional quality control. While CT has shown significant empirical potential for this purpose, there is a need for metrological research to accelerate the acceptance of CT as a measuring instrument. The accuracy in CT-based measurements is vulnerable to the instrument geometrical configuration during data acquisition, namely the relative position and orientation of x-ray source, rotation stage, and detector. Consistency between the actual instrument geometry and the corresponding parameters used in the reconstruction algorithm is critical. Currently available procedures provide users with only estimates of geometrical parameters. Quantification and propagation of uncertainty in the measured geometrical parameters must be considered to provide a complete uncertainty analysis and to establish confidence intervals for CT dimensional measurements. In this paper, we propose a computationally inexpensive model to approximate the influence of errors in CT geometrical parameters on dimensional measurement results. We use surface points extracted from a computer-aided design (CAD) model to model discrepancies in the radiographic image coordinates assigned to the projected edges between an aligned system and a system with misalignments. The efficacy of the proposed method was confirmed on simulated and experimental data in the presence of various geometrical uncertainty contributors.


One of the subjects that must be taken by elementary school students are teaching science. Because these subjects allows students to be able to think logically and critically about the events that occur daily. The impression that arise about some of the students in science subjects is negative, because it can not be denied due to the teaching of science has tergesernya way towards more abstract. Cartoon education is a medium of learning in teaching science. Cartoon favored by students packed in cartoon form in accordance with the concept of education in science (IPA), unwittingly by the students while they watched cartoons such education they are learning and at the same time as entertainment. This study aims to determine the influence of educational cartoon impressions of student perceptions about teaching science (science). The research subject is taken in accordance with the prescribed criteria, namely the fifth grade primary school students aged 10 to 12 years in 08 DAU Jetis SD Muhammadiyah Malang. Using a purposive sampling technique in determining the research subject. For the experimental group was a class 5a with the number of 33 students. And as the control group is the class of 5b with the number of 32 students. data collection using a scale of student perceptions about teaching science. From the data analysis using t test analysis technique test obtained by value t value = 2.836 and p = 0.006 where p <0.01. which means that there is significant effect of experimental group students' perceptions about eye pelajran Science (science). It can be concluded that the educational cartoon movie has a very significant influence on student perceptions about teaching science (science). Students who receive treatment watching cartoon shows education is more positively influence perceptions of teaching science (science) of the students who did not watch educational cartoons.


The aerial part of higher plants is derived from the SAM. In Arabidopsis thaliana, STM is the gene required to initiate and maintain the meristem. To understand how STM is regulated during developmental processes, an EMS-mutagenesis screen was carried out to isolate the gene(s) that affects STM expression. A line containing a quarter of plants with expanded GUS activity in shoot tips was isolated, and based on the genetic mapping, the mutant locus was confirmed to be allelic to tornado2 (trn2). Previous studies (Cnops, et al., 2000; Olmos et al., 2003) showed that TRN2 gene encodes a tetraspanin-like protein and its mutation causes dwarf plants, twisted lateral organs and inflorescence shoots, and abnormal development of roots. However, its functions in the SAM have not been described. In this study, it was showed that trn2 mutants have an enlarged SAM within excess STM transcripts. TRN2 is expressed not only in all types of meristems, which overlaps with STM expression patterns, but also in lateral organ primordia and in incipient vascular tissues. This expression pattern of TRN2 is compatible with the higher accumulation of STM transcripts in mutants and the pleiotropic phenotype of trn2 plants. Besides, WUS expression is not affected whereas the amount of CLV3 transcript is decreased in mutants. Genetic interactions showed that trn2 partially rescued stm phenotype and acts epistatically to wus and clv3, though there was no additive phenotype found in trn2 and wus or clv3 double mutants during the vegetative phase, trn2 mutation restored the carpels development in wus-1 background and made flowers to become trn2-like but still have supernumerary carpels in the clv3-2 background. Since the central zone (CZ) is not increased relative to the enlarged SAM, the increase of the periphery zone (PZ) could account for the enlargement of the SAM. Taken together, these results suggest that TRN2 functions in limiting the meristem activity, and loss of function of TRN2 protein causes more cells undifferentiated and increases the meristematic activity.


This paper reports on the eco-friendly synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using the seaweed Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh extract. Biological synthesis for nanoparticle using plants is gaining considerable interest among researchers as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional physical and chemical methods, as this approach eliminates the use of toxic chemicals. Synthesized AuNPs was monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy and was found to be complete within 30 min. Confirmation of elemental gold was carried out by elemental mapping using different physical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The bio reduced AuNPs exhibited remarkably good anti-bacterial activity against pathogens specifically Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20 mm) which is more susceptible. The elaborate experimental evidences support that the seaweed Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh extract can provide an environmentally benign rapid route for synthesis of AuNPs that can be applied for various purposes.


PURPOSE
This article presents a review of the literature on biomechanical factors affecting the treatment outcome of prosthetic treatment of structurally compromised dentitions, with the main emphasis on often-compromised endodontically treated teeth.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Articles cited in a MEDLINE/PubMed search were reviewed with a focus on factors influencing the risk for fatigue failures.

RESULTS
Technical failures in connection with fixed prosthodontics are often caused by fatigue fractures. The abutments, cement, and reconstruction are all subjected to stress caused by occlusal forces, and fatigue fracture may occur at the weakest point or where the maximum stress occurs. The weakest point is frequently in connection with endodontically treated teeth restored with posts and cores.

CONCLUSION
The literature points to nonaxial forces as a risk for fatigue fracture of teeth, cement, and restorative material. Favorable occlusal prosthesis design is probably more important for survival of structurally compromised endodontically treated teeth than is the type of post used.


The ART-adherence club model described here provides patient-friendly access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for clinically stable patients. It reduces the burden that stable patients place on healthcare facilities, increasing clinical human resources for new patients, and those clinically unstable and at risk of failing treatment. In the model, 30 patients are allocated to an ART club. The group meets either at a facility or community venue for less than an hour every 2 months. Group meetings are facilitated by a lay club facilitator who provides a quick clinical assessment, referral where necessary, and dispenses pre-packed ART. From January 2011 to December 2012, after adoption for phased rollout by the Western Cape Government, more than 600 ART clubs were established in Cape Town, providing ART care to over 16 000 patients. This extensive, rapid rollout demonstrates active buy-in from patients and facility staff. South Africa should consider a similar model for national rollout.


Both PU and PC increased maize yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and partial factor productivity from applied N (PFPN), relative to CK. PC increased maize yield more than PU, and had higher soil organic carbon (SOC) content than PU, which was mainly due to the decline in SOC stocks in the 250–2000, 53–250, and <53 μm soil aggregates. The soil bacterial community structure was driven by SOC, C: N ratio, total nitrogen (TN), pH, microaggregates, clay and silt in CK, and by larger macroaggregates and mean weight diameter in PC and PU. Both PC and PU significantly changed soil bacterial community beta diversity, and decreased both positive and negative links of the co-occurrence network, relative to CK. Better soil nutrient conditions in PC explained the small number of positive and negative links between soil bacteria. Our results suggest PM improves maize yield, water and nitrogen use efficiency, and soil aggregate stability while alleviating bacterial competition. However, the reduction of SOC and pH caused by PM still needs our attention. PC alleviates the decline of soil fertility and soil acidification and has higher yield relative to PU. Therefore, we proposed PC is a potential agricultural measure that can replace PU on the Loess Plateau.


ABSTRACT The mass migration from Syria has been a major turning point and an important 'game changer' in EU-Turkey relations, as it marks a watershed in immigration and asylum between two periods: from 1999 to 2011 and from 2011 to the present. During the first period, the EU was one of the driving forces of change in Turkey's immigration and asylum policy, along with significant migration movements from the Middle East. Although EU demands were largely implemented due to the country's changing migration profile, there was also ongoing resistance and reluctance towards the EU, thus a certain degree of conditionality. With the Syrian mass migration in 2011, however, and in particular the so-called 'European refugee crisis' in 2015, Turkey started to use migration as a foreign policy tool with which to oppose EU conditionality.


: Intelligent intrusion detection systems can only be built if there is availability of an effective data set. A data set with a sizable amount of quality data which mimics the real time can only help to train and test an intrusion detection system. The NSL-KDD data set is a refined version of its predecessor KDD"99 data set. In this paper the NSL-KDD data set is analysed and used to study the effectiveness of the various classification algorithms in detecting the anomalies in the network traffic patterns. We have also analysed the relationship of the protocols available in the commonly used network protocol stack with the attacks used by intruders to generate anomalous network traffic. The analysis is done using classification algorithms available in the data mining tool WEKA. The study has exposed many facts about the bonding between the protocols and network attacks.


[Abstract] The study aimed at identifying the importance of the internal control and its adaptation with the development of the use of information technology and its effect on the reliability of financial statements of commercial banks. The population of the study consisted of all commercial banks. Questionnaires were distributed among them; the researcher designed the questionnaire to target financial managers, internal auditors, and computer section employees who worked at these banks; 122 questionnaires were distributed. The hypotheses of the study were tested using the appropriate statistical methods, which are Cronbach Alpha, standards deviations and means, and One Sample T-(Test).The results showed a high level of adaptation of internal control systems with the development of the use of information technology and its effect on the reliability of financial statements of the commercial banks. The average level of the hypothesis states that "the adaptation of the internal control systems with the development of the use of information technology in the commercial banks do lead to have high reliability financial statements." The results showed the average level of the hypothesis, which states "there are no difficulties for the adaptation of the internal control systems with the use of information technology in the commercial banks." The study has several recommendations, including the need to control and supervise the banks' compliance with banking sector legislation or regulations to improve the reliability of financial statements issued by those banks. [Keywords] internal control system; commercial bank; financial statement; IT; audit; reliability Preamble Information Technology (IT) has significantly been developed during the past 20 years, and the number of the institutions that heavily rely on the Computer Systems in the electronic operation of their statements has also increased. At the present time, most of the commercial banks use the computer-dependent ΓΓ in operating their data, archiving them and delivering the same to their users, especially the accounting Information Systems, which are significantly using IT. However, using ΓΓ methods has its own troubles, as it might lead to ease of tampering with accounting information, which is difficult to detect unless the internal control systems keep pace with the technological developments and are able to detect and to prevent occurrence of manipulation, which necessitates more attention from internal control and interest in the security and safety of information. Furthermore, internal controls must be consolidated with the electronic systems in light of the huge development in the data electronic processing. This means there needs to be a sound internal control system within the data electronic entry units where the opportunity of detecting errors is minimized because the electronic systems are unable to detect errors unless certain measures and rules are set up for data entry, processing, and retrieving. That entails development of control methods over the data entry and operation and control over outputs. Since ΓΓ involves many risks and challenges, most notably, inter alia, absence of documentary authentication and difficulty in pursuing processes and absence of qualified professional staff members, the development and adaptation of control procedures and instruments to meet these challenges imposed by the use of IT in the banks' accounting systems is necessary. Research Problem The impact of IT on the internal control system, together with the accompanying challenges and difficulties facing these systems, like the absence of the documentary authentication and the difficulty in pursuing the operations in the absence of the qualified professional staff members, has necessitated the confrontation of these challenges: adapting internal control systems to be compatible with the development of ΓΓ and to take control over the security and safety of information, including the inputs and outputs in the electronic systems, to oversee the impact of ΓΓ on the internal control systems. …


The Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project (JFAST) endeavored to establish the stress state on the shallow subduction megathrust that slipped during the M9 Tohoku earthquake. Borehole breakout data from the drill hole can constrain both the orientation and magnitude of the principal stresses. Here we reanalyze those data to refine our understanding of the stress state on the fault. In particular, we (1) improve the identification of breakouts, (2) consider a fuller range of stress states consistent with the data, and (3) incorporate new and more robust laboratory constraints on rock strength. The original conclusion that the region is in a normal faulting regime after the earthquake is strengthened by the new analysis. The combined analysis suggests that the earthquake released sufficient elastic strain energy to reset the local stress field.


Workplace giving campaigns, like the Combined Federal Campaign, have increased in participation and prominence in recent years. Organizations across all sectors of society frequently encourage employees to voluntarily donate either directly or through payroll deduction. In the nascent research on workplace giving, there has been relatively little focus on how employee attributes, especially motivational and organizational commitment traits, might be related to voluntary participation in workplace giving campaigns. In our article, we explore the role of these factors in an employee's decision to participate in workplace giving campaigns. Using data from a large, public university, we examine two distinct aspects of participation: (a) the decision to participate in a workplace giving campaign and (b) how much those who participated chose to give. Our analyses demonstrate that these decisions reflect two motivational processes that must be considered in examining the determinants of individual workplace giving behavior. Answering these questions will help deepen our understanding of employee workplace giving in its increasing prominence as a tool of social partnership.


Protein therapeutics like insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues are currently used as injectable medications for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. An orally administered protein therapeutic is predicted to increase patient adherence to medication and bring a patient closer to metabolic norms through direct effects on hepatic glucose production. The major problem facing oral delivery of protein therapeutics is gastrointestinal tract hydrolysis/proteolysis and the inability to passage the enterocyte. Herein we report the potential use of vitamin B12 for the oral delivery of protein therapeutics. We first investigated the ability of insulin to accommodate the attachment of B12 at the B1 vs. B29 amino acid position. The insulinotropic profile of both conjugates was evaluated in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Oral administration of the conjugates produced significant drops in blood glucose levels, compared to an orally administered insulin control, but no significant difference was observed between conjugates. We also report, for the first time, a dose dependent response of a B12-insulin conjugate. We then explored the implications of B12 conjugation on the biological activity of the potent peptide glucagon-like peptide-1 (7-36) amide, with a K34R amino acid substitution. Various in vitro bioassays utilizing human embryonic kidney cells and human pancreatic islets were conducted and indicated B12 has a minimally negative effect on GLP-1 biological activity. Finally we modified the structure of B12 for future conjugation work. The modification of the 5'hydroxyl group of the ribose unit of B12 to a carboxylic acid is predicted to benefit the field of B12 conjugation significantly with the ability to produce higher yielding and more stable B12 conjugates. The Path to an Orally Administered Protein Therapeutic for the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus