Trace amines are a group of biogenic amines that are structurally and functionally close to classical monoamine neurotransmitters. Trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs) are emerging as promising targets for treating neuropsychiatric disorders. It has been documented that all TAARs, apart from TAAR1, function as olfactory receptors involved in sensing innate odors encoded by volatile amines. However, recently, brain expression and function of TAAR5 were also demonstrated. In this study, we assessed the behavior, brain neurochemistry, and electrophysiology changes in knock-out mice lacking Trace amine-associated receptor 2 (TAAR2) but expressing beta-Galactosidase mapping expression of TAAR2 receptors. As expected, we detected beta-Galactosidase staining in the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb. However, we also found staining in the deeper layers of the olfactory bulb and several brain regions, including the hippocampus, cerebellum, cortex, raphe nuclei, hypothalamus, and habenula, indicating that TAAR2 receptors are not only expressed in the olfactory system but are also present in the limbic brain areas that receive olfactory input. In behavioral experiments, TAAR2 knock-out (TAAR2-KO) mice showed increased locomotor activity and less immobility in the forced swim test, with no changes in anxiety level. Furthermore, TAAR2-KO mice showed alterations in brain electrophysiological activity—particularly, decreased spectral power of the cortex and striatum in the 0, 9–20 Hz range. TAAR2-KO mice also had elevated tissue dopamine levels in the striatum and an increased dopaminergic neuron number in the Substantia Nigra. In addition, an increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA level in the striatum and Monoamine Oxidase B (MAO-B) mRNA level in the striatum and midbrain was found in TAAR2-KO mice. Importantly, TAAR2-KO mice demonstrated an increased neuroblast-like and proliferating cell number in the subventricular and subgranular zone, indicating increased adult neurogenesis. These data indicate that in addition to its role in the innate olfaction of volatile amines, TAAR2 is expressed in limbic brain areas and regulates the brain dopamine system, neuronal electrophysiological activity, and adult neurogenesis. These findings further corroborated observations in TAAR1-KO and TAAR5-KO mice, indicating common for TAAR family pattern of expression in limbic brain areas and role in regulating monoamine levels and adult neurogenesis, but with variable involvement of each subtype of TAAR receptors in these functions.


Navigation safety on coastal waters is an extremely important issue. Fatigue is an important factor threatening navigation safety. Considering that the vessel type is an oil tanker, such a threat is not posed only to the crew but also to the environment. Most of the tankers navigating coastal waters are in the small tanker category. Therefore, this study examined the working and resting hours of the deck officers in the oil tankers navigating coastal waters. The study utilized the ISF Watchkeeper 3 program for assessing and interpreting the working periods. The study reached the conclusion that the first and second officers in particular are working under unsuitable conditions. To improve the working conditions of the deck officers, effects of additional cargo officer on board was investigated. This study is in quality of recommendation. The study elucidated that the cargo officer practice determines the working and resting hours of deck officers, in the work on the oil tankers, and compliance with the related conventions.


BACKGROUND
Bacteremia in sick foals is associated with survival, but the association of bacteremia and diarrhea is not reported.

HYPOTHESIS
Neonatal foals with diarrhea will commonly be bacteremic.

ANIMALS
One hundred and thirty-three neonatal foals.

METHODS
Records of all foals <30 days of age presenting with diarrhea between January 1990 and September 2007 were reviewed.

RESULTS
Sixty-six of 133 foals (50%) were bacteremic at admission, with 75 isolates from the 66 samples. The blood culture from a further 18 foals (13.5%) grew coryneform bacteria. Nine foals (6.8%) had 2 or more organisms grown on blood culture. One foal had 5 different organisms, interpreted as contamination. Forty-eight foals (36%) had no growth on admission blood cultures. No cultures isolated fungal organisms. Excluding coryneform bacteria, 43 isolates (57%) were Gram-negative organisms and 32 isolates (43%) were Gram-positive organisms. The most common isolate was Enterococcus spp. (22 isolates, 29%), followed by Pantoea agglomerans (13 isolates, 17%). IgG concentration at admission was not associated with blood culture status. Blood culture status was not associated with survival to hospital discharge.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Bacteremia is common in neonatal foals with diarrhea. Decisions regarding antimicrobial selection should be made with these differences in mind.


Abstract In this study, iron based and copper based sintered brake materials have been investigated. Iron and copper based brake materials have been produced by powder metallurgy method. Hardness, experimental and theoretical density, porosity measurements and metallographic analysis have been performed to examine microstructure. Pin-on-disc tests have been carried out to understand friction behavior, to get the average coefficient of friction and to calculate wear rates of specimens. Pin-on-disc tests have been done at different radiuses (4, 6 and 9 mm), at different velocities (85, 100 and mm × s−1) and under a load of around 6.5 N. Test results show that the specimens have high porosity (25 to 26 %) because of the production methods. The phases and porosities can be also observed by metallographic analysis. Iron based brake materials have a lower coefficient of friction and lower wear rates in comparison with copper based brake materials. But copper based brake materials have a more stable abrasion profile during test period.


The key step in the successful numerical solution of problems by application of finite element analysis (FEA) is the construction of suitable finite dimensional basis functions and basis subspaces. Engineers have a variety of element types to choose from when constructing models for FEA. We present and test a new and original element, the pyramidal element, that can be very practical for linking meshes of different types, that is to say hexahedrons, tetrahedrons and prisms. This element type is unused in finite element packages because of its unfamiliar property: its nonpolynomial shape functions. To validate these new elements with classic finite elements, we study a simple problem with the Flux3D package, meshed in different types of elements: a 3D cylindrical capacitor. Dirichlet conditions are applied to the internal surface and the external surface of the cylinder in order to create an electric field. The electrical potential V is used for the FE calculation.


The shipyard facility location selection (FLS) decision is a critical process that involves conflicting, qualitative, and quantitative criteria. Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) methods are used as a powerful tool to overcome this complex problem. Today, using these methods in an integrated way, more accurate, efficient, and systematic results are obtained in solving complex issues such as FLS, which contains an uncertain structure. This paper proposes a framework for the weighting of criteria and ranking potential feasible locations (alternatives) using the combination of fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methods. While fuzzy AHP determines the importance values of the criteria by pairwise comparisons, fuzzy TOPSIS prioritizes the alternatives using the relative weights obtained with Fuzzy AHP. The integration of these two techniques provides a robust approach considering the results obtained for the shipyard FLS decision. The applicability of the proposed method is expressed in Turkey by a case study of the shipyard FLS decision.


Objectives To evaluate the technical feasibility and safety of Robotic assisted Para aortic lymphadenectomy in comparison with Open surgery in terms of adequacy of staging, blood loss,lymph node harvest, hospital stay and complications. Methods A randomized prospective study was performed which included 180 patients diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma who were divided into two groups one open and other robotic. All patients underwent Type I Pan Hysterectomy + B/L Pelvic lymphadenectomy. The high risk patients (FIGO grade 3, Tumor > 2cm, pelvic node positive and >50% myoinvasion) were taken up for para aortic lymphadenectomy. The Para-Aortic node dissection was performedupto renal veins. The split and roll technique was used to perform the pre caval and pre aortic lymphadenectomy. Results Of 180 patients, 113 had high risk endometrial cancer (open 58 and Robotic 55).The average blood loss in open arm was 134.6ml vs 41.2ml in robotic arm. In open surgery on average 11.6 nodes were harvested when compared to 17.5 nodes in robotic arm. Duration of hospital stay for open group was 5.54 days vs 1.94 days for robotic arm. None of the patients in either arm had any major intra-operative or post-operative complications.23 patients in the open arm had prolonged ileus while 4 patients had ileus in robotic arm. 7 patients in open arm developed wound infection. Conclusions This study showed that robotic assisted para-aortic lymphadenectomy had equal oncologic outcome as compared to open technique. Minimal blood loss and less pain helped in shorter hospital stay and early return to normal activities.


The paper draws together a number of themes concerned with managerialism, the labour process and the attempt to shape an educational settlement in post-compulsory education and training (PCET) in England. In particular it examines the place of managerialism as a central plank in the PCET settlement in which there is an attempt to construct a social bloc organised around these interests. This discussion involves an examination of the relationship between globalisation, economic relations, technicisation and managerialism itself. This analysis sits alongside an exploration of the relationship between these and state provision of education and welfare. These notions lead into a discussion of values, entrepreneurship, creativity and subjectivity. It is argued that an education system that sees itself as committed to the development of the creative problem solver poses real questions as to whether the social formation can solve the problems of our time. Paradoxically, whilst capitalism requires the value-creating capacity of labour and education is charged to develop this, this capacity is nevertheless one that can be used to debunk capitalist relations.


Abstract. The Barents Sea is situated on a continental margin and was home to a large ice sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum. Studying the solid Earth response to the removal of this ice sheet (glacial isostatic adjustment; GIA) can give insight into the subsurface rheology of this region. However, because the region is currently covered by ocean, uplift measurements from the center of the former ice sheet are not available. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) gravity data have been shown to be able to constrain GIA. Here we analyze GRACE data for the period 2003–2015 in the Barents Sea and use the data to constrain GIA models for the region. We study the effect of uncertainty in non-tidal ocean mass models that are used to correct GRACE data and find that it should be taken into account when studying solid Earth signals in oceanic areas from GRACE. We compare GRACE-derived gravity disturbance rates with GIA model predictions for different ice deglaciation chronologies of the last glacial cycle and find that best-fitting models have an upper mantle viscosity equal or higher than 3×1020 Pa s. Following a similar procedure for Fennoscandia we find that the preferred upper mantle viscosity there is a factor 2 larger than in the Barents Sea for a range of lithospheric thickness values. This factor is shown to be consistent with the ratio of viscosities derived for both regions from global seismic models. The viscosity difference can serve as constraint for geodynamic models of the area.


The Class II Thermal Imaging Common Modules were originally developed for the U.K. Ministry of Defence as the basis of a number of high performance thermal imaging systems for use by the British Armed Forces. These systems are characterized by high spatial resolution, high thermal resolution and real time thermal image update rate. A TICM II thermal imaging system uses a cryogenically cooled eight element Cadmium- Mercury-Telluride (CMT) SPRITE (Signal PRocessing In The Element) detector which is mechanically scanned over the thermal scene to be viewed. The TALYTHERM system is based on a modified TICM II thermal image connected to an IBM PC-AT compatible computer having image processing hardware installed and running the T.E.M.P.S. (Thermal Emission Measurement and Processing System) software package for image processing and data analysis. The operation of a TICM II thermal imager is briefly described highlighting the use of the SPRITE detector which coupled with a serial/parallel scanning technique yields high temporal, spatial and thermal resolutions. The conversion of this military thermal image into thermography system is described, including a discussion of the modifications required to a standard imager. The technique for extracting temperature information from a real time thermal image and how this is implemented in a TALYTHERM system is described. The D.A.R.T. (Discrete Attenuation of Radiance Thermography) system which is based on an extensively modified TICM II thermal imager is also described. This system is capable of measuring temperatures up to 1000 degrees C whilst maintaining the temporal and spatial resolutions inherent in a TICM II imager. Finally applications of the TALYTHERM in areas such as NDT (Non Destructive Testing), medical research and military research are briefly described.


Candida albicans and related Candida species are common members of the normal flora in humans; however, they are opportunistic pathogens and may cause superficial or systemic disease. Candidaemia is the most extensively studied nosocomial invasive fungal infection, and recent data show that Candida species are the fourth most commonly recovered blood culture isolates. It is now clear that this kind of infection is often due to the formation of Candida biofilms on catheters and other indwelling medical devices. This project investigates the role of quorum sensing in Candida biofilm formation, and the effect of prostaglandins, COX inhibitors and the combined effect of COX inhibitors with antifungal agents on biofilm development. Additional investigations monitor prostaglandin production by planktonic cells and biofilms of Candida albicans. Quorum sensing is known to be involved in bacterial biofilm formation, and in Candida, two signal molecules (farnesol and tyrosol) were recently identified. In this study the effects of farnesol on germ-tube and biofilm formation were investigated. Farnesol totally prevented germ-tube formation and inhibited biofilm formation by 30 % when 1mM farnesol was added at an early stage. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that only yeast cells were formed in biofilms grown in the presence of farnesol. Supernatants from biofilms formed after 24h and 48h inhibited germ-tube formation by 10 % and 29 %, respectively, indicating that they contained farnesol or farnesol-like activity. It has been reported that planktonic cultures of C. albicans produce tyrosol, another quorum-sensing molecule. In this study, HPLC confirmed that tyrosol was produced by both planktonic cells and biofilms of C. albicans, and biofilms produced significantly higher levels of tyrosol than planktonic cells. Overall, the results demonstrated that biofilm development in C. albicans is under the control of at least two quorum-sensing molecules. Farnesol acts as a negative signal and inhibits hyphal production. Tyrosol acts as a positive signal and promotes hyphal production. Prostaglandins are now known to be produced by C. albicans and may play an important role in fungal colonization. Their synthesis in mammalian cells is decreased by inhibitors of the cyclooxygenase isoenzymes required for prostaglandin formation, hi this study, the effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (all cyclooxygenase inhibitors) on biofilm formation by three strains of C. albicans were investigated. Seven out of nine drugs tested at a concentration of 1 mM inhibited biofilm formation. Aspirin, etodolac and diclofenac produced the greatest effects, with aspirin causing up to 95% inhibition. Surviving cells had a wrinkled appearance, as judged by scanning electron microscopy, and consisted of both yeasts and hyphae. The effect of aspirin on viability of both biofilm and planktonic cells was pH dependent, with the greatest effect at pH 3 or in unbuffered yeast nitrogen base medium. The effect of aspirin on metabolic activity and viability of mature C. albicans biofilms was similarly pH dependent. At pH 3, aspirin inhibited metabolic activity of mature C. albicans biofilms more than fluconazole or a mixture of fluconazole and aspirin. This study also demonstrated that both biofilms and planktonic cells of C. albicans synthesize extracellular prostaglandin(s) during growth at 37°C, but biofilm cells secrete significantly more when production is determined on the basis of cell dry weight. Prostaglandin synthesis by both cell types was sensitive to the cyclooxygenase inhibitors aspirin, diclofenac and etodolac. A morphological mutant blocked in two signalling pathways (cph1/cph1 efg1/efg1) produced prostaglandin levels similar to those of the parent strain but formed yeast-only biofilms. Unicellular organisms such as fungi have been reported to interact with hormones, such as fungal sex hormones and mammalian hormones, hi this study the effect of several steroids including progesterone, corticosterone, dexamethasone, prednisolone, hydrocortisone and estradiol on C. albicans biofilm development was investigated. The results showed that biofilm formation was not affected by any of these compounds. However, at 1μM some steroids such as progesterone and dexamethasone inhibited germ-tube formation by more than 25%. At 100 to 1000 μM, all steroids inhibited germ-tube formation.


Background: Midwives' actions under service standards are useful in applying the norms and performance levels needed to achieve the desired results. Midwives in providing antenatal care will have a significant impact on antenatal care services

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. This study's population was 41 midwives who worked in the District of Kota Pinang, Labuhanbatu Selatan Regency (total sampling). The instrument used was a questionnaire about age, education, knowledge, attitudes, and midwives' actions in providing antenatal care. The bivariate analysis used exact fisher test and prevalent rate (PR).

Results: The exact fisher test results showed that the midwife's age (p = 0.192), education (p = 0.175), knowledge (p = 0.390) (PR = 2.311) were not related to the midwife's actions in antenatal care. The variable of midwife attitudes (p = 0.018) (PR = 5,500) was related to the actions of midwives in antenatal care.

Conclusion: A midwife who has a good attitude has a risk taking good actions than a midwife who has a bad attitude. It is hoped that the South Labuhanbatu Health Office will be more active in improving the skills of midwives in providing antenatal services with training on antenatal care..


It's Gromit the dog's birthday, and his friend Wallace gives him an unusual present - a pair of Techno-trousers. At first Wallace uses the trousers to take Gromit for walks, but when the penguin comes to stay, he uses them one night for something different - very different. This strange story won the Oscar(R) for Best Animated Short Film in 1993.


Introduction

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease with diverse gene expression patterns (GEP) across patients. This has led to the development of various signatures allowing virtual karyotyping, defining different clusters of patients, and prognostication by high risk signatures (e.g. EMC92/SKY92). Several GEP datasets exist, but may have scaling/offset differences (batch effects) in the data, e.g. due to differences in reagents used, location, etc. Batch wise normalization approaches can reduce batch effects, and have allowed successful validation of those signatures across independent datasets. Batch wise normalization requires groups of patients that have a similar distribution of clinical characteristics, and hence cannot be applied on single patients. Here we demonstrate the validity of applying GEP algorithms on single patients using the MMprofiler, enabling the application of GEP in a routine clinical setting.

Materials and Methods

The MMprofiler GEP assay is a standardized assay from bone marrow to data analysis and result reporting. It was used for 77 MM patients that were enrolled in the HOVON87/NMSG18 trial (73 patients) or HOVON95/EMN02 trial (4 patients). A representative reference set of 30 HOVON patients was selected from which normalization parameters were derived, to be used for normalization of a single sample against this HOVON reference dataset. The remaining 47 samples served as an independent set of samples. In addition, we have also used the publicly available GEP data from 247 patients (MRC-IX trial) as independent samples. This MRC-IX dataset has been produced using different reagents and sample work-up procedures. Therefore, it is likely that a batch effect will exist relative to the HOVON reference dataset, which may influence correctness of single sample analyses.

The GEP data from the 47 and 247 independent samples were normalized using two approaches. Firstly, by batch wise mean variance normalization (i.e. across the 47 and 247 patient batches separately). And secondly, by single sample normalization using the normalization parameters from the initial 30 HOVON samples. Subsequently, several classifiers (EMC92/SKY92 etc.) were applied to the data, and their results were compared between the two normalization approaches.

Results

[Figure 1][1] shows the EMC92/SKY92 scores that were obtained after batch normalization (x-axis) and single sample normalization (y-axis). For the 47 HOVON samples there is a high degree of concordance with data points close to the identity line (y=x). Only 2 out of the 47 samples would switch assignment, which is not unexpected since those 2 samples are really close to the threshold (e.g. might also switch due to technical variation). For the MRC-IX dataset, based on single sample normalization more patients would be predicted as high risk (87 (35.2%) instead of 52 (21.0%), see [Figure 1][1]), which is caused by a positive offset (i.e. intersect with the y-axis) due to the batch effect.

For the Virtual t(4;14) classifier, both datasets have a very high concordance with 0 out 47 HOVON samples, and 5 out of 247 MRC-IX samples (but really close to the threshold) switching assignment (see [Figure 1][1]). Hence, even in the presence of a potential batch effect in the MRC-IX dataset, the single sample predictions are accurate. These data suggest that single sample normalization of microarray GEP is possible but requires the strict standardization of the MMprofiler assay and algorithms.

Conclusions

Scores for the EMC92/SKY92 signature were nearly equivalent when derived from the data following single sample normalization and batch normalization in the Skyline generated data. In the external dataset, a much higher discrepancy was found, highlighting the need to use highly standardized methods to generate Affymetrix GeneChip results. Further validation of this method is planned, and will include replicate runs systematically controlled for various conditions.

Acknowledgements

This research was performed within the framework of CTMM, the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine, project BioCHIP grant 03O-102.

![Figure 1.][2]

Figure 1.
Scatterplots and confusion matrices of the batch (x-axis, columns) and single sample scores (y-axis, rows) of the EMC92/SKY92 signature (left), and Virtual t(4;14) classifier (right). Scores above/below the threshold correspond to high risk/standard risk (EMC92/SKY92) and positive/negative (Virtual t(4;14)).

Disclosures Van Vliet: SkylineDX: Employment. Dumee: SkylineDx: Employment. de Best: SkylineDx: Employment. Sonneveld: SkylineDx: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. van Beers: SkylineDX: Employment.

 [1]: #F1
 [2]: pending:yes


Different lines of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster show variation in the ability to discriminate between volatiles produced by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae under natural (nitrogen-limiting, YVN) or laboratory (sugar-limiting, YVL) conditions. Previous work in our laboratory uncovered a strong correlation between heightened sensitivity to YVN wild D. melanogaster lines that harbored a chimeric variant of the highly variable odorant receptor 22 (Or22) locus of D. melanogaster. We sought to determine if this trend held for an extended set of D. melanogaster lines, if observed variation within chimeric and non-chimeric lines could be explained by nucleotide polymorphisms and if replacing Or22 with a chimeric allele in a non-chimeric background could confer the enhanced ability to detect YVN. In parallel, we performed crosses of chimeric and non-chimeric fly lines and assayed the behavior of their progeny for enhanced sensitivity to YVN to assess the heritability of the Or22 locus. Ultimately, we found that, while the overall trend of increased sensitivity to YVN in chimeric lines persists, there are exceptions and variation that cannot be explained by sequence variation at the Or22 locus. In addition, we did not observe increased sensitivity for YVN upon replacing the Or22 allele in a non-chimeric line (OreR) with that from our most YVN-sensitive, chimeric line (ME). Though our results do not support our hypothesis that Or22 is the primary driver of sensitivity to YVN, Or22 remains an interesting locus in the context of fly-yeast ecology.


Ethnic minority entrepreneurship has been a growing research interest, however, little has been known about financial barriers to start up and run a business venture from the perspectives of UK ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs. The aim of this study is to explore the financial barriers of ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in starting up and running a business in the UK. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs who run businesses in the UK, this study has preliminarily found: 1) ethnic Chinese businesses in the UK have increasingly faced difficulties to get access to bank finance since the global financial crisis; 2) the difficulties are largely caused by a lack of communication and understanding between the entrepreneurs and financial institutions; 3) the traditional perceptions of Chinese businesses have disadvantaged ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in the UK when they apply for bank credits. This study offers a number of implications. For policy-makers, an understanding of the characteristics of ethnic Chinese businesses and financing barriers to ethnic Chinese in business start-ups and running is important for the development of policy that encourages and supports ethnic Chinese businesses. For banks in the UK to expand their business, there is a need to develop tailored products and services specifically for ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs.


In this work, we assessed the possible relation of ionospheric perturbations observed by Detection of Electro-Magnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions (DEMETER), Global Positioning System total electron content (GPS TEC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-derived outgoing longwave-Earth radiation (OLR), and atmospheric chemical potential (ACP) measurements, with volcanic and Saharan dust events identified by ground and satellite-based medium infrared/thermal infrared (MIR/TIR) observations. The results indicated that the Mt. Etna (Italy) volcanic activity of 2006 was probably responsible for the ionospheric perturbations revealed by DEMETER on 4 November and 6 December and by GPS TEC observations on 4 November and 12 December. This activity also affected the OLR (on 26 October; 6 and 23 November; and 2, 6, and 14 December) and ACP (on 31 October–1 November) analyses. Similarly, two massive Saharan dust episodes, detected by Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) using Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) optical data, probably caused the ionospheric anomalies recorded, based on DEMETER and GPS TEC observations, over the Mediterranean basin in May 2008. The study confirmed the perturbing effects of volcanic and dust events on tropospheric and ionospheric parameters. Further, it demonstrated the advantages of using independent satellite observations to investigate atmospheric phenomena, which may not always be well documented. The impact of this increased detection capacity in reducing false positives, in the framework of a short-term seismic hazard forecast based on the study of ionospheric and tropospheric anomalies, is also addressed.


The decisive influence on breakage strength of brittle materials such as the low expansion glass ceramic ZERODUR is the surface condition. For polished or etched surfaces it is essential if micro cracks are present and how deep they are. Ground surfaces have many micro cracks caused by the generation process. Here only the depths of the micro cracks are relevant. In any case presence and depths of micro cracks are statistical by nature. The Weibull distribution is the model used traditionally for the representation of such data sets. It is based on the weakest link ansatz. The use of the two or three parameter Weibull distribution for data representation and reliability prediction depends on the underlying crack generation mechanisms. Before choosing the model for a specific evaluation, some checks should be done. Is there only one mechanism present or is it to be expected that an additional mechanism might contribute deviating results? For ground surfaces the main mechanism is the diamond grains' action on the surface. However, grains breaking from their bonding might be moved by the tool across the surface introducing a slightly deeper crack. It is not to be expected that these scratches follow the same statistical distribution as the grinding process. Hence, their description with the same distribution parameters is not adequate. Before including them a dedicated discussion should be performed. If there is additional information available influencing the selection of the model, for example the existence of a maximum crack depth, this should be taken into account also. Micro cracks introduced by small diamond grains on tools working with limited forces cannot be arbitrarily deep. For data obtained with such surfaces the existence of a threshold breakage stress should be part of the hypothesis. This leads to the use of the three parameter Weibull distribution. A differentiation based on the data set alone without preexisting information is possible but requires a large data set. With only 20 specimens per sample such differentiation is not possible. This requires 100 specimens per set, the more the better. The validity of the statistical evaluation methods is discussed with several examples. These considerations are of special importance because of their consequences on the prognosis methods and results. Especially the use of the two parameter Weibull distribution for high strength surfaces has led to non-realistic results. Extrapolation down to low acceptable probability of failure covers a wide range without data points existing and is mainly influenced by the slope determined by the high strength specimens. In the past this misconception has prevented the use of brittle materials for stress loads, which they could have endured easily.


PAMELA and ATIC recently reported excesses in e ± cosmic rays. Since the interpretation in terms of DM annihilations was found to be not easily compatible with constraints from photon observations, we consider the DM decay hypothesis and find that it can explain the e ± excesses compatibly with all constraints, and can be tested by dedi-cated HESS observations of the Galactic Ridge. ATIC data indicate a DM mass of about 2 TeV: this mass naturally implies the observed DM abundance relative to ordinary matter if DM is a quasi-stable composite particle with a baryon-like matter asymmetry. Technicolor naturally yields these type of candidates.


The Action Group called 'Standardized methods across Permafrost Landscapes: from Arctic Soils to Hydrosystems' (SPLASH) is a community-driven effort aiming to provide a suite of standardized field strategies for sampling mineral and organic components in soils, sediments, and water across permafrost landscapes. This unified approach will allow data from different landscape interfaces, field locations and seasons to be shared and compared, thus improving our understanding of the processes occurring during lateral transport in circumpolar Arctic watersheds. Citation: Bouchard F, Agnan Y, Broder L, et al. The SPLASH Action Group – Towards standardized sampling strategies in permafrost science. Adv Polar Sci, 2020, 31 (3): 153-155, doi: 10.13679/j.advps.2020.0009 Note: Queries and discussions on this article should be made by E-mail directly with the corresponding author.


Summary 1. In modern crop production, each plant is often nearly genetically identical to its neighbours, allowing insect pests and pathogens to move easily from plant to plant and decimate crop fields. The associational resistance and enemies hypotheses predict that increasing plant diversity in agricultural fields will reduce pest abundance and damage. Ample research has supported these hypotheses by demonstrating that increased plant species diversity can improve insect pest management via bottom–up and top–down mechanisms. In spite of this support, diversification strategies that might contribute to improved pest control and yield have not been widely adopted owing to logistical and financial constraints. 2. Basic and applied research is increasingly demonstrating the value of intraspecific genetic diversity for improving ecosystem stability and function. Thus, a more practical way of diversifying crop fields may be to increase plant genotypic diversity by planting cultivar mixtures. Our objective is to review the literature documenting the benefits of genotypic diversity for natural and agricultural ecosystems and synthesize the evidence in support of intraspecific diversity as a viable pest management strategy for insect pests of field crops. We found strong support for wide-ranging benefits of genotypic diversity that improved plant fitness and productivity in natural and applied settings. 3. Multiple lines of evidence converge to support the potential of intraspecific variation to contribute to improve insect pest control. However, very little work has sought to develop empirical support or viable implementation practices in agricultural systems. Thus, implementation of this practice is limited. 4. Synthesis and applications. Intraspecific plant diversity can improve plant fitness via bottom–up and top–down effects on pest populations and niche partitioning. Further research is required to refine implementation practices and demonstrate value in terms of reduced pesticide use and increased yield. Growers can implement intraspecific crop diversity with minimal financial investment or changes in production practices. As the benefits of biodiversity for yield stability are increasingly recognized, intraspecific diversity is poised to become a prominent and sustainable management tactic.


The application of Social Accounting Matrices (SAM) is well established at the national level and provides a comprehensive economic framework. The procedure for developing national SAMs is extensively documented in literature. However, it can also be constructed for smaller economies, such as a village. Studies dealing with village SAMs are rare. In addition, there are hardly any guidelines for design. This gap will be addressed in this paper, which provides a manual for the construction of a village SAM. Theoretical principles and data requirements are discussed. A hypothetical village SAM is constructed by using numerical examples. Subsequently, the SAM of a real-world village case study from Zambia is analyzed. It is demonstrated how macroeconomic indicators can be calculated and microeconomic information obtained. Furthermore, a village SAM provides the database for scientific modelling approaches which are presented. Village SAMs are thus a useful management tool and support policy planning at local and regional level.


SUMMARY: This review presents the results of field studies conducted between 1987 and 1992 on the on reproductive biology and fecundity of the Bay of Biscay anchovy. Close to 100% of the anchovy population reach maturity during the reproductive season, although the smallest 1-year-old anchovy mature slightly later. At peak spawning, however, the reproductive output (numbers of eggs laid daily per unit body weight) of one year old anchovy is similar to that of older anchovy. Anchovy mainly spawn from 19:00 to 6:00 (GMT) with a peak at 00:00 (GMT). For the females spawning on a given night, the final maturation process of the spawning batch of oocytes starts the night before. The process of nuclear migration proceeds through the night and the first part of the following day. Oocytes start to hydrate early in the afternoon of the day of spawning. Hydration reaches its maximum intensity at dusk and in the early night. Gonads with postovulatory follicles can already be observed before dusk, indicating the start of spawning activities. Anchovy is a batch spawner with indeterminate fecundity. 'De novo' vitelogenesis proceeds in immature oocytes during the reproductive season. Annual fecundity is determined by both the number of eggs laid per spawning (batch fecundity) and the number of spawnings per season (frequency of spawning and duration of the spawning season). Batch fecundity presents an increasing pattern as the season advances, from ca. 200 eggs /g in April, to ca. 500 and ca. 650 eggs/g in May and June respectively. The fraction of females spawning per day ranges from 18 to 33%, and increases as the season progresses. This high spawning frequency may be related to the relatively short spawning season. Assuming a two month protracted spawning season, the total reproductive output of Bay of Biscay anchovy can range between ca 9,000 to ca. 11,000 eggs per unit gonad-free body weight (g).


To obtain the maximum yield of winter wheat, it is necessary to further optimize the existing cultivation technologies in the direction of their adaptation to changing environmental conditions. One of the areas of adaptation of plants to adverse abiotic factors is the active functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus, which depends on the amount of nutrients introduced. The influence of fertilizer application on the condition of the pigment complex of winter wheat plants in the conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine has been studied. Two varieties of winter wheat were selected for the study: Shestopalivka and Mason. The experiment scheme involved the application of fertilizers at sowing (K0; K12) and foliar treatment with various tank mixtures (urea; urea + magnesium sulfate; urea + magnesium sulfate + potassium monophosphate). The pigment content has been determined by grinding fresh leaves of winter wheat, followed by the addition of a solvent in the form of acetone. Measurements of pigments were performed using a spectrophotometer. According to the research results, it was established that before the foliar treatment the a-chlorophyll content and carotenoids was higher in the plant leaves of the Shestopalivka variety. At the same time, the b-chlorophyll content on the contrary was higher for plants of the Mason variety by 17%, which may be due to the adaptation of plants of this variety to lack of light. On the 3rd day after foliar treatment, a decrease in the pigment content in the plant leaves of all experimental variants has been observed, which was due to the active growth of the photosynthetic surface and a decrease in the total dry matter mass. There was no significant difference between the varieties of the content of photosynthetic pigments in this period. On the 10th day after foliar treatment, an increase in a- and b-chlorophyll content has been observed for both studied varieties, which may be the result of adaptation of the photosynthetic apparatus of winter wheat plants to lighting conditions. Foliar treatment of winter wheat plants with a tank mixture of urea with magnesium sulfate and potassium monophosphate contributed to a further increase in the content of a-chlorophyll by 12-23%, and b-chlorophyll by 5-37% depending on the variety compared to the control. The results of the research testify to the high efficiency of complex application of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizers for foliar treatment of winter wheat plants in the BBCH 31 stage, both against the background of pre-sowing application of potassium fertilizers and without it.


The development of the Czech agricultural trade after EU accession in 2004 is a reflexion of changing trade conditions (especially the entry on the EU single market and taking over the EU commitments to the WTO), effectiveness of the Czech agriculture and food industry. The main characteristics of the changes are the growth of the negative trade balance, a substantial increase of the trade turnover with EU countries to the detriment of the third countries and the growth of exports of agricultural raw materials accompanied with the growth of imports of more processed products. The main cause is the orientation of the Czech agriculture on products with a lower demand on labour quantity and quality and on simpler technologies, together with a lower effectiveness of domestic primary processors. Besides the global trade indicators, this development is documented by selected RCA indicators.


Background: Arsenic is a well-documented human carcinogen, and studies on urinary and skin cancers have shown that the carcinogenicity of ingested arsenic has cell-type specificity. To evaluate whether this is also true for lung cancers, we conducted a study on 243 townships in Taiwan. Methods: The arsenic levels were assessed using measurement reports from a previous survey, and the incidence of lung cancer was assessed using the data gathered by the National Cancer Registry Program. We analyzed data by regression models with multiple variables to describe exposure levels; each variable denoted the proportion of people in a specific exposure category in each township. An urbanization index and variables denoting the distribution of age in each township were also included in the model to adjust for effects of urbanization and age. Results: Among the three major cell types of lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma appeared to be associated with arsenic level in drinking water, and the association was more prominent at exposure level above 0.64 mg/L in both men and women. A 1% increase in the proportion of wells in this category was associated with an increase of 0.27 per 100,000 per year in the incidence of squamous cell lung cancer in men and 0.13 per 100,000 per year in women. Adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma were not associated with arsenic level in drinking water. Conclusions: The results suggested that the carcinogenicity of arsenic on lungs is cell-type specific, which is compatible with observations on urinary and skin cancers. Whereas data in the literature were limited, the association between adenocarcinoma and arsenic exposures through inhalation appeared to be stronger than that of squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, different exposure routes may give rise to different mechanisms in the carcinogenicity of arsenic.


Deep learning with a large number of parametersrequires distributed training, where model accuracy and runtimeare two important factors to be considered. However, there hasbeen no systematic study of the tradeoff between these two factorsduring the model training process. This paper presents Rudra, aparameter server based distributed computing framework tunedfor training large-scale deep neural networks. Using variants ofthe asynchronous stochastic gradient descent algorithm we studythe impact of synchronization protocol, stale gradient updates, minibatch size, learning rates, and number of learners on runtimeperformance and model accuracy. We introduce a new learningrate modulation strategy to counter the effect of stale gradientsand propose a new synchronization protocol that can effectivelybound the staleness in gradients, improve runtime performanceand achieve good model accuracy. Our empirical investigationreveals a principled approach for distributed training of neuralnetworks: the mini-batch size per learner should be reducedas more learners are added to the system to preserve the modelaccuracy. We validate this approach using commonly-used imageclassification benchmarks: CIFAR10 and ImageNet.


We present preliminary calculations towards radiative transitions in charmonium using anisotropic N f = 2+ 1 dynamical ensembles generated by the Hadron Spectrum Collaboration. With the use of newer technologies we aim to investigate transitions between states, including potential exotic charmonium states, lying higher in the spectrum than in previous studies. A crucial ingredient in this work is the use of variationally optimised interpolating operators which allow for a reliable determination of the three-point correlation functions needed. Using these operators, we perform first calculations of relevant three-point correlation functions before discussing future directions.


In recent years, a variety of explosive weapons become increasingly common used in regional military conflicts and terrorist bomb attacks. Meanwhile, the incidence of accidental explosion also showed an increase in the industries and daily life. The lung is the most labile organ and it is used to be severely injured organ in blast injury although even no signs of external injury could be observed on chest. Blast injury can present the symptoms such as lung rupture, bleeding, edema and emphysema. Respiratory dysfunction can affect oxygen supply to organs and systemic tissue, resulting in rapid and sustained hypoxemia and high mortality rate. Blast lung injury is characterized by respiratory disturbance and hypoxia. This article summarizes the etiology, pathogenesis, pathophysiological changes, diagnosis, and treatment of blast lung injury, with a hope to provide some useful clinical information.


Stochastic Boolean Satisfiability (SSAT) is a logical formalism to model decision problems with uncertainty, such as Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) for verification of probabilistic systems. SSAT, however, is limited by its descriptive power within the PSPACE complexity class. More complex problems, such as the NEXPTIME-complete Decentralized POMDP (Dec-POMDP), cannot be succinctly encoded with SSAT. To provide a logical formalism of such problems, we generalize the Dependency Quantified Boolean Formula (DQBF), a representative problem in the NEXPTIME-complete class, to its stochastic variant, named Dependency SSAT (DSSAT), and show that DSSAT is also NEXPTIME-complete. We demonstrate the potential applications of DSSAT to circuit synthesis of probabilistic and approximate design. Furthermore, to study the descriptive power of DSSAT, we establish a polynomial-time reduction from Dec-POMDP to DSSAT. With the theoretical foundations paved in this work, we hope to encourage the development of DSSAT solvers for potential broad applications.


This article describes the new organ allocation system for liver transplantation introduced in Switzerland on July 1, 2007. In its newly adopted transplantation law, Switzerland chose the MELD score (Model for end-stage liver disease), based on three laboratory values: total bilirubin, serum creatinine and INR. Advantages and limitations of the MELD score are discussed. Finally the West Switzerland joint liver transplantation program is briefly introduced.


A domain decomposition scheme based on the equivalence principle, similar to Huygens' principle, for integral equation solvers and the method of moments is introduced. The equivalence principle allows the replacement of unknown currents distributed in a volume in space by equivalence currents residing on the surface that bounds the volume. It also allows the dissociation of the solution of one region from that of another region. In this manner, problems of high complexity can be encapsulated by surfaces of simpler shapes using less unknowns. It can aid in parallel algorithms, reusability of solutions, as well as improving the condition number of a matrix system when disparate mesh or adaptive mesh are needed. The challenge arises when an equivalence surface intercepts a current-carrying conductor, because the breakup of the current into separate pieces gives rise to charge singularity. A junction basis can be used to mitigate this singularity. However, a better solution is to introduce a tap basis to model the current that intercepts with the equivalence surfaces. Using this scheme, the current continuity is conserved and the singularity of the charges is avoided. The solution is shown to be accurate


In this paper, we introduce the generalized p-Oresme sequences and we deal with, in detail, three special cases which we call them modified p-Oresme, p-Oresme-Lucas and p-Oresme sequences. We present Binet's formulas, generating functions, Simson formulas, and the summation formulas for these sequences. Moreover, we give some identities and matrices related with these sequences.


: WSN is one of the modern networks that use technologies and applications in public places. It consists of hundreds and thousands of tiny sensor nodes scattered in the network and has limited scope and range resources connected to the base stations. The specifications of these nodes are low cost and low energy and used for monitoring purposes. Since the sensors are small and many, it is easy to attack these networks. Therefore, there will be many potential attacks on the network of sensors, and among these attacks are jamming, sinkhole, eavesdropping, and other attacks. The sinkhole attack is the most attack that works to destroy paths by announcing the update of the fake routing related to it; the attack occurs through the compromised node (the malicious node) So that it announces a file containing the routing information and works to attract the rest of the nodes to do this routing the data towards it and then operating the sphere of influence. One of the effects of this attack is to reduce the overall network performance, and it can also be used to make another attack, such as a selective redirection attack and a spoofing attack. This paper aims to analyze and detect sinkhole attacks in wireless sensor networks.


Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is a correlation between the actuarial assumptions, of listed groups in Large Cap on the Nasdaq Stockholm, equity ratio and their pensionplans funding status.Method: The study is based on a quantitative research method, where the analysis of annual reports takes place. The quantitative research method has enabled the paper to perform related analyzes and comparisons of means between groups, for listed companies equity ratio and pension obligation, and the relation to its actuarial assumptions. Correlation measurements are made using a non-parametric method, Spearman's rho, then further tested using one-sided hypotheses t-test.Theory: The backbone of the thesis is presented using two theories, earnings management and the principal-agent theory. These theories are intertwined with the previous researches, which also dealt with the essay topic of earnings management in previous years and in other countries.Empirical: Correlation analyzes between the studied actuarial assumptions and corporate groups solidity and pension financial status is presentedusing tables and charts. These are further analyzed using hypothesis tests and scatterplots.Conclusion: All tests resulted in very weak correlation between the different variables and can there for not be classified as significant. The conclusion that companies, listed in Large Cap on Nasdaq Stockholm, tend to make its actuarial assumptions in order to try to achieve a certain equity ratio, or to try to get their unfunded pension plans seem more funded than they actually are, is not possible to make.


The article tries to present the history of the formation of the first Hungarian printed missal, the Missale to usum dominorum ultramontanorum. First, based on the results of specific literature, it specifies the purchaser of the edition: Antal Sankfalvi, prebendary of Vac, then ambassador in most places of King Matthias Corvinus. The second part of the study attempts to investigate the reasons for the release of the liturgical book, and try to find traces of the use of the missal. The author puts forward the hypothesis that the release of the missal results from a pure economic calculation and that the book was (also) used in the Archdiocese of Esztergom, accordingly the missal should be considered a Missale strigoniense.


I. INTRODUCTION From the founding of our nation, freedom of speech has been considered a sacrosanct right of citizens, but has never been absolute. The Supreme Court has "long recognized that the government may regulate certain categories of expression consistent with the Constitution."1 The categories of speech that fall outside of the scope of First Amendment protection include "a few limited areas, which are Of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.'"2 As a result, "true threats," or "threats of physical violence," are not protected by the First Amendment and may be proscribed by government.3 Although this rule appears straightforward, courts have found it difficult to distinguish between what does and does not constitute a true threat.4 The fine line between what is a true threat and what is protected speech was revisited by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Bqgdasarinn, in which the court found that a subjective intent analysis is required by the First Amendment in determining what constitutes a true threat.5 This Note argues that the Ninth Circuit erred in finding that a subjective intent analysis must be engrafted onto every true threat statute because the rationale for proscribing true threats from First Amendment protection originates from objective harm to others and not from the subjective intent of the individual. Therefore, the Supreme Court should resolve the split this decision creates among circuit courts by holding that Virginia v. Black does not automatically require a subjective intent analysis to determine what constitutes a true threat. Part II of this Note discusses the context and procedural background of Bagdasarian. Part III reviews the Bagdasarian majority opinion, while Part IV reviews the concurring opinion of Judge Wardlaw. Part V argues that the court erred in presuming that the First Amendment requires a subjective intent analysis to be grafted onto all true threat statutes. Part VI concludes this Note. II. CONTEXT & BACKGROUND On October 22, 2008, Walter Edward Bagdasarian joined a "Yahoo! Finance - American International Group" message board, where comments are posted by the public regarding "financial matters, AIG, and other topics."6 Under the username "californiaradial," Bagdasarian made a series of comments that were racially charged and that encouraged violence.7 At 1:15 a.m., Bagdasarian posted the first comment for which he would later be charged with a crime when he wrote under the subject heading "OBAMA,": "fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cai in the head soon"8 ("Bagdasarian's first statement"). This was followed six minutes later by another post under that same heading that "combined [Bagdasarian's] pro-bomb and anti-Obama rhetoric," by writing, "yea, the honest people have NO guns and the scum bags, niggars and drug fks do, thanx obombhaaaaa."9 At 1:35 a.m., Bagdasarian posted the second threat for which he was criminally charged by creating his own subject heading, "shoot the nig," and writing: "country fkd for another 4 years+, what nig has done ANYTHING right? ? ? ? long term? ? ? ? never in history . . . ." 10 ("Bagdasarian's second statement"). At this point, several other participants had endured enough of Bagdasarian's crude and violent comments, and a handful of participants fired back. "Dan757x" responded to Bagdasarian's Second Statement stating: "You've been reported by me, a good ole' white boy."11 The next post by "Freddie226" said, "I hope everyone reports this type of garbage."12 This was followed by "Sniper 1 agent" commenting, "[b]e advised Federal Law Enforcement is monitoring," and by "Brown.romaine," who warned: "I am reporting this post to the Secret Service."13 By 8:00 a.m. the next morning, Bagdasarian sought to excuse his earlier comments by claiming he was drunk. …


Simple Summary In this review, the genetic landscape of squamous cell carcinoma is related to the potential targets of indirubin-based small molecules in cancer therapy. Being a component of traditional Chinese medicine, indirubins are used to treat chronic or inflammatory diseases, and have received increasing attention in cancer treatment due to their proapoptotic and antiproliferative activity. Frequent genetic alterations of squamous cell carcinomas are summarized, and it is discussed how these may render tumors susceptible to indirubin-based small molecule inhibitors. Abstract Skin cancers are the most common malignancies in the world. Among the most frequent skin cancer entities, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) ranks second (~20%) after basal cell carcinoma (~77%). In early stages, a complete surgical removal of the affected tissue is carried out as standard therapy. To treat advanced and metastatic cancers, targeted therapies with small molecule inhibitors are gaining increasing attention. Small molecules are a heterogeneous group of protein regulators, which are produced by chemical synthesis or fermentation. The majority of them belong to the group of receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (RTKIs), which specifically bind to certain RTKs and directly influence the respective signaling pathway. Knowledge of characteristic molecular alterations in certain cancer entities, such as SCC, can help identify tumor-specific substances for targeted therapies. Most frequently, altered genes in SCC include TP53, NOTCH, EGFR, and CCND1. For example, the gene CCND1, which codes for cyclin D1 protein, is upregulated in nearly half of SCC cases and promotes proliferation of affected cells. A treatment with the small molecule 5′-nitroindirubin-monoxime (INO) leads to inhibition of cyclin D1 and thus inhibition of proliferation. As a component of Danggui Longhui Wan, a traditional Chinese medicine, indirubins are used to treat chronic diseases and have been shown to inhibit inflammatory reactions. Indirubins are pharmacologically relevant small molecules with proapoptotic and antiproliferative activity. In this review, we discuss the current literature on indirubin-based small molecules in cancer treatment. A special focus is on the molecular biology of squamous cell carcinomas, their alterations, and how these are rendered susceptible to indirubin-based small molecule inhibitors. The potential molecular mechanisms of the efficacy of indirubins in killing SCC cells will be discussed as well.


Objective. Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a rare disease in children that is treatable, but patients may suffer from long-term effects. Clinical trials are needed to find better treatments for affected patients. Among validated tools for evaluating disease activity clinically is the Disease Activity Score (DAS), but it is not routinely collected in all clinics. We developed a modified DAS (DASmod), which can be scored using data routinely collected by our clinical staff and has been used in previous studies. The aim of this study was to determine if our DASmod correlates with the validated DAS in patients with JDM. Methods. In this study, we used DASmod (scored 0–12) and DAS (scored 0–20) scores for patients with JDM in our clinic. We analyzed the correlation between the DASmod and the validated DAS. Results. For 51 patients seen in our JDM clinic, the median (IQR) DASmod score was 2.0 (0–4.0) and the DAS score was 3.0 (0–5.5). Scores on the 2 tools were highly positively correlated (r = 0.94, P < 0.001, 95% CI 0.89–0.96). The linear regression was significant [R2 = 0.88, F (1, 49) = 357.60, P < 0.001] and in this dataset, the tools can be used interchangeably with the regression equation: DAS score = –0.26 + 1.5*DASmod. Conclusion. If the regression equation from this dataset is successfully tested against future datasets, then further research collaborations between centers that collect different data related to disease activity in children with JDM will be facilitated.


Hyperspectral sensors are unfortunately plagued by relative high financial cost and they require large amounts of storage and computation. Too often, these factors limit their applicability in precision agriculture and in particular application requiring real-time signal processing. On the other hand, multispectral sensors are less expensive and require far less computational resources. If the task of the sensor or its platform is well known ahead of time, then it can be beneficial to design a multispectral sensor to accomplish the task as long as the performance is not degraded. In this article, we explore the design of a task specific multispectral sensor based on a new band grouping technique. Band grouping algorithms typically rely on a proximity measure to determine how similar (or dissimilar) the information contained in hyperspectral bands are to each other. Similar bands are then grouped. However, the proximity measure typically does not take into account the interactions of different band groups or how band groups will be used. The theory put forth in this article is unique because it makes global decisions for band groups by utilizing a performance measure to gauge the effectiveness of random partitionings at some given task, such as classification or anomaly detection. The band groups that are most correlated with good performance are then selected. Our technique is compared to the uniform partitioning technique using the Pecan1 data set. The results show that the overall accuracy is better with our technique when the same number  of band groups are selected.


ABSTRACT The authors present Little Earth, the result of collaboration between artist Jo Joelson and the Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group at the University of Leicester. The project draws on the historical research of Kristian Birkeland and C.T.R. Wilson to examine how developments in technology have affected the relationships between artists and scientists in observing and representing the natural world. The principal output of the project was a multi-channel video work representing a fictional dialogue between Birkeland and Wilson, projected onto the faces of a sculptural form inspired by contemporary spacecraft design.


Truly Ad Hoc wireless networks where a spontaneous formation of a network occurs and there is no prior knowledge of nodes to each other present significant security challenges, especially as entirely online configuration of nodes with encryption keys must be performed. Utilising threshold cryptography in this type of MANET can greatly increase the security by requiring servers to collaborate to form a single Certificate Authority (CA). In this type of CA responsibility for certificate services is shared between a threshold of servers, greatly increasing security and making attack against the CA considerably more difficult. Choosing which nodes to take on the role of a CA server can have a significant impact on the efficiency of the network, and the success of certificate requests. This research uses simulation to test different rules for choosing nodes to become servers based on their location within the network. Results show that choosing the best server location rules for particular configurations is essential in ensuring both robust security and efficient running of the network.


Making use of the dielectric permitivitty of a solid state plasma obtained from linearizing a quantum hydrodynamic equation, volume and surface waves in cold semibounded plasma-like media and thin layers of solid state plasmas are investigated in the presence and absence of an external magnetic field. It is shown that quantum oscillation of free charged particles and its spatial dispersion even in cold plasmas lead to new spectra of collective oscillations. Furthermore, a new volume ion-acoustic-type wave is obtained with a quadratic dependence on the wavenumber in the long-wavelength limit. Moreover, it is shown that quantum oscillation affects the surface wave spectrum and extends it to a wider frequency region.


Despite being second only to the adrenal gland in terms of relative vascular perfusion, the thyroid gland is a rare site of metastatic disease; but when thyroid metastases occur, long term survival has been reported to be dismal. Metastases to the thyroid are uncommon, but the number of cases seems to have increased in recent years. This increase may be related to more frequent use of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in suspected cases. In clinical papers, the incidence of metastases to thyroid is low and, according to various sources, amounts to 2-3% of all malignant tumors of the thyroid. Most commonly the primary tumor is located in the breast, bronchi, GIT (the colon, esophagus, or stomach) and kidney. Usually metastatic thyroid disease is identified upon autopsy, and only in sporadic cases. We present a case of breast Adenocarcinoma metastases to thyroid which was diagnosed on FNAC.


We propose a frequency-dependent sensitivity model for analog blocks and a noise injection model for digital blocks in application to early design planning of mixed-signal system-on-chips (MS-SOCs). We assume no precise layout information about IP cores is available. We also propose an empirical formula for separation-dependent coupling between large-area noisy ports and small-area sensitive ports for lightly-doped substrates that are preferred for mixed-signal circuits. The interaction between digital and analog blocks is incorporated into our floorplanner, which reduces the overall noise and the number of analog blocks with noise limit violations. Experimental results on examples created from MCNC floorplanning benchmarks are very encouraging.


ABSTRACT The spirocyclic ring structure is a feature of a number of naturally-occurring and synthetic products that possess interesting biologically activities. This thesis describes our efforts towards synthesising various spirocyclic heterocycles as potential cancer therapeutics targeting the cell-cycle. Three different spirocyclic scaffolds, A-C , were accessed through a variety of cycloaddition reactions and several of these were investigated for their cytostaticity and protein-inhibition properties. To gain further insights into the development of novel CDK2 inhibitors, part of this research was conducted at the Anti-Cancer Drug Design Initiative (ADDI) laboratory, University of Newcastle upon the Tyne, UK. This thesis is divided into three primary synthetic chemistry chapters, based upon discussion surrounding the main chemistries used to derive the various spirocyclic oxindole scaffolds of the types A-C . Chapter 2 describes the use of the phosphine-catalysed [3+2]-cycloaddition reaction to synthesise racemic and enantio-enriched versions of spirocycles of type A . Chapter 3 describes the use of the cyclopropanation reaction to synthesise spirocycles of type B . Lastly, Chapter 4 describes the employment of the [1,3]-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones to the synthesis of spirocycles of type C . A discussion on the CDK2 research, performed in the UK, towards a new synthetic strategy employing directed ortho metalation chemistry is then provided in Chapter 5. The cellular cytostaticity screening against the cancer cell lines, H460, MCF-7 and SF-268, and protein inhibition studies against the cell-cycle proteins CDK2, CDK5, gSK-3 and MDM2, for a range of the spirocycles synthesised in Chapters 2-4, is then given and discussed in Chapter 6. Final conclusions and future work are drawn together in Chapter 7. All synthetic methods and physical and spectroscopic data are provided for all compounds in Chapter 8. Lastly, an appendix including all X-ray crystal structures and their crystallographic data, and also a section on the biological testing procedures is provided.


In discussing Sherwood Anderson's treatment of sexuality, Ray White argues that it is Anderson's short stories, not his novels, that deserve high praise for helping to bring the "honest use of sex into American literature" (40). But to say "honest" is not necessarily to say "forthright," for Anderson sensed a mystery in human sexuality that defies an easy reduction. Two of Anderson's most complex stories - "The Man Who Became a Woman" and "I Want to Know Why" - treat this mystery with great subtlety. Of the two, "The Man Who Became a Woman" is usually considered the superior and more challenging story, but it seems to me that, properly understood, "I Want to Know Why" is an equally challenging and complex presentation of human sexuality. Kim Townsend's recent biography of Anderson illuminates Anderson's own confusions regarding this matter. Townsend notes the influence of Emma Anderson, Sherwood's mother, on the development of Anderson's sexuality. Anderson "would always think of her as Woman, a figure who inspired him to do good, to write. If he could not approach her when she was alive, he would approach her through his works" (Townsend 13). Anderson said of his mother, "[I] was in love with her all [my] life" (13). Yet while Anderson felt this feminine, softer, asexual impulse toward his mother as Woman, he also felt what for him was masculine and brutish desire to exploit women sexually. Townsend cites two occasions, one when Anderson was brought by a more experienced boy to watch through a window a girl "undress and warm herself in front of the stove before going to bed" (21). Anderson watched, and then, confused by the conflict between the beauty of the girl's body and his own sexual desires, he struck the boy and knocked him to the ground. The second occasion occurred years later when Anderson was visiting an operating room to observe an appendectomy on a young girl. Confronted with her nude body lying before him, he said he "wanted to grab the surgeon's arm ... [and tell him], |Don't. It's too beautiful. Don't cut it.' But he fled from the room instead" (Townsend 22). He later said that it seemed as if voice, much like his mother's, said to him in regard to women, "Men are such brutish beings. Don't you be one of them" (23). This conflict - the feeling that to admire a woman as beautiful seemed inevitably to invite the debasement of that beauty by man's sexual desires - turned Anderson to male friendships as an outlet for his need for spiritual communication. Anderson would have liked to think that this outlet precluded the possibility of sexuality. He tells the story of his first boyhood friend, Jim Moore, with whom he would go into the woods, "undress, play in the creek, and run naked among the trees" (19). On one occasion, however, when they were discovered by a man, they hid in the bushes, forced to lie with their bodies close together to avoid detection. Anderson said later that after the man passed they felt strange and put their clothes on and immediately turned their conversation to a boy they knew who had taken a girl into a barn and had sex with her. Both Anderson and Jim Moore instinctively felt that their awakened physical sensations had to be shifted from themselves - where it was unthinkable - to the "more natural" outlet of a boy with a girl, a man with a woman. They continued to discuss heterosexual love - more, Anderson said, than they really wanted to - all the time feeling increasingly uncomfortable in doing so, but both driven to do so because of the feeling that they must deny any possibility of homosexual attraction. They thus had to make women bear the burden of physical sexuality and thereby maintain in the purely masculine relationship a communication that would not be sullied by sexuality. It was as though with men, Anderson hoped, man could maintain a spiritual relationship that he desired with his mother and with Woman in the abstract. Years later, when Anderson was almost 60, he returned to this need for male friendship, writing Theodore Dreiser that American artists and writers need to build up "a relationship between man and man" (Townsend 304). …


Among 100 people who inject drugs enrolled in a peer mentorship intervention aiming to promote injection-related risk reduction behavior change, we evaluated the role of participation in a dyad session on reducing sharing of syringes and cookers in the past 6 months. Dyad participants (n = 69) invited an injection, sex partner, or family member to the study site to reinforce learnt behavior change tools by practicing communication skills and risk reduction lessons. In all, 31 participants did not participate in the dyad session. We descriptively assessed changes in sharing injection equipment between the 2 time points of pre- and postintervention using the tests of proportions by dyad participation. Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for sex was used with an interaction term (time points × dyad participation) to evaluate the dyad effect. Dyad participants reported reduced syringe and cooker sharing at postintervention (sharing syringe: 17% versus 39%, P < .05 and cooker: 32% versus 59%, P < .01). There was no difference between the dyad group's sharing injection equipment behavior after the intervention (sharing syringes: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.1-3.9 and cookers: aOR 0.72; 95% CI 0.1-3.5). The role of the dyad session alone on risk taking was not effective. With a small sample size, it is important to continue to evaluate the nature of peer-based dyadic experiences in future studies.


Protein kinase C (PKC) phosphorylates the C-terminus of the type 1 angiotensin II receptor (AT(1)), although the exact site(s) of phosphorylation are unidentified. In the present study, we examined the phosphorylation of epitope-tagged wild-type AT(1A) receptors, transiently expressed in Chinese hamster ovary K1 cells, in response to angiotensin II (AngII) and following selective activation and inhibition of PKC. This phosphorylation was compared with mutant receptors where C-terminal serine residues (Ser(331), Ser(338) and Ser(348)) within three putative PKC consensus sites were replaced with alanine, either individually or in combination. Stimulation by AngII or the phorbol ester PMA to activate PKC induced an increase in phosphorylation of the wild-type AT(1A) receptor, which was prevented by truncation of the receptor C-terminus to remove the last 34 amino acids, including Ser(331), Ser(338) and Ser(348). Whereas single alanine mutation (Ser(331)Ala, Ser(338)Ala and Ser(348)Ala) resulted in decreased receptor phosphorylation, no single mutant completely inhibited either AngII- or PMA-induced phosphorylation. Combined mutation of the three PKC consensus sites caused an approximate to 70 % reduction in PMA-mediated phosphorylation. The approximate to 60 % reduction in AngII (1 mu M)-induced phosphorylation of this triple mutant and the partial inhibition of wild-type receptor phosphorylation by bisindolylmaleimide, a specific PKC inhibitor, suggest a significant contribution of PKC to agonist-stimulated regulation. The ratio of PKC to total receptor phosphorylation was greatest at low doses of AngII (1 nM), consistent with the idea that PKC phosphorylates and regulates receptor function at low levels of stimulation, whereas phosphorylation by other kinases is more prevalent at high levels of agonist stimulation. To determine if a single PKC site is favoured when the contribution of PKC varies, the phosphorylation of wild-type and mutant receptors was examined over a range of AngII concentrations (0, 1, 10 and 100 nM). At all AngII concentrations, single mutation of Ser(331), Ser(338) or Ser348 was incapable of completely preventing receptor phosphorylation, suggesting no clear preference for PKC consensus-site utilization. Together, these results indicate a redundancy in PKC phosphorylation of the AT(1A) receptor, whereby all three consensus sites are utilized to some degree following homologous (AngII) and heterologous (PMA) stimulation. The contribution of PKC phosphorylation to receptor regulation is unclear, but multiple PKC phosphorylation of the AT(1A) receptor may allow independent and/or complementary events to occur at the three separate sites of the C-terminus.


This paper describes the MediaEval 2021 Predicting Media Memorability}task, which is in its 4th edition this year, as the prediction of short-term and long-term video memorability remains a challenging task. In 2021, two datasets of videos are used: first, a subset of the TRECVid 2019 Video-to-Text dataset; second, the Memento10K dataset in order to provide opportunities to explore cross-dataset generalisation. In addition, an Electroencephalography (EEG)-based prediction pilot subtask is introduced. In this paper, we outline the main aspects of the task and describe the datasets, evaluation metrics, and requirements for participants' submissions.


During amphibian metamorphosis, a complete remodeling of the phenotype takes place under complex hormonal control whose final effectors are thyroid hormones. This process implies the activation of coordinated programs of cell death, proliferation, migration, adhesion and differentiation. Inasmuch as the neural cell adhesion molecule N-CAM is thought to play a central role in the control of morphogenetic processes, we have studied by immunohistofluorescence and immunoblots the patterns of expression of N-CAM at different stages of Xenopus laevis metamorphosis. A scan was made of all major organs and appendages. Before the metamorphic climax, all neuronal cell bodies and processes express high levels of N-CAM. During the metamorphic climax, N-CAM expression decreases sharply on the cell bodies and processes of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) but remains high in the central nervous system (CNS). Towards the end of metamorphosis, the PNS and spinal nerves are virtually negative for N-CAM while the CNS is still positive. The optic and olfactory nerves, although myelinated, are still strongly positive for N-CAM. The lens and olfactory epithelia express N-CAM throughout metamorphosis. In the brain. N-CAM is present at all times as three polypeptides of 180, 140, and 120 X 10(3) Mr; before metamorphosis some of the N-CAM is in its polysialylated form. During metamorphosis and the subsequent growth of the animal, the amount of N-CAM decreases gradually. In all polypeptides, the polysialylated form is the first to disappear. Cardiac muscle expresses high level of N-CAM from its first formation throughout metamorphosis; in contrast, the level of N-CAM in skeletal muscle is high in newly formed muscles, but decreases rapidly after myoblast fusion. The liver of adult Xenopus contains large amounts of a 160 X 10(3) polypeptide that is recognized by polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against N-CAM. cDNA probes of Xenopus brain N-CAM recognize major transcripts of 9.2, 3.8 and 3.3 kb in Xenopus liver mRNA; these bands are different in size from those recognized in brain mRNA (9.5, 4.2 and 2.2 kb). Premetamorphic liver does not express the 160 X 10(3) form of N-CAM, which can be first detected at stage 59 and persists then through all the life of the animal. Expression of N-CAM in the liver can be induced in premetamorphic animals (stage 51-52) by a 48 h treatment with thyroxine. All hepatocytes are responsive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Stimulation of Gi-coupled receptors leads to the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAP kinases). In several cell types, this appears to be dependent on the activation of p21ras (Ras). Which G-protein subunit(s) (G alpha or the G beta gamma complex) primarily is responsible for triggering this signaling pathway, however, is unclear. We have demonstrated previously that the carboxyl terminus of the beta-adrenergic receptor kinase, containing its G beta gamma-binding domain, is a cellular G beta gamma antagonist capable of specifically distinguishing G alpha- and G beta gamma-mediated processes. Using this G beta gamma inhibitor, we studied Ras and MAP kinase activation through endogenous Gi-coupled receptors in Rat-1 fibroblasts and through receptors expressed by transiently transfected COS-7 cells. We report here that both Ras and MAP kinase activation in response to lysophosphatidic acid is markedly attenuated in Rat-1 cells stably transfected with a plasmid encoding this G beta gamma antagonist. Likewise in COS-7 cells transfected with plasmids encoding Gi-coupled receptors (alpha 2-adrenergic and M2 muscarinic), the activation of Ras and MAP kinase was significantly reduced in the presence of the coexpressed G beta gamma antagonist. Ras-MAP kinase activation mediated through a Gq-coupled receptor (alpha 1-adrenergic) or the tyrosine kinase epidermal growth factor receptor was unaltered by this G beta gamma antagonist. These results identify G beta gamma as the primary mediator of Ras activation and subsequent signaling via MAP kinase in response to stimulation of Gi-coupled receptors.


In improving the quality of one's soul there are three stages that are carried out. First, doing Dhikr or Ta'alluq on God, that is, one must try to remember and bind the consciousness of the heart and mind to Allah. Wherever a Muslim cannot be free from dhikr and thinking). Second, Takhalluq, a person consciously imitates the attributes of God so that a believer has noble qualities as His attributes. This process can also be referred to as the process of internalizing the nature of God into human beings. In this regard, the Sufis usually rely on the Hadith of the Prophet which reads, "Takhallaqu bi akhlaqi Allah". Third, tahaqquq, that is, a person must be able to actualize his awareness and capacity as a believer or religious person who himself has been "dominated" by the attributes of God so that it is reflected in his pure and noble behavior.


Twenty years ago, laparoscopic surgery entirely changed the traditional style of surgical operations. However, it was difficult to perform some interventions, particularly in restricted space or if acts of reconstruction are necessary. It was necessary to develop new technologies such robotic surgery. We detail the different technologies and we precise the place of the robotic surgery in oncological surgery. In conclusion, we believe that, in the near future as robotic technology continues to develop, it could replace traditional surgery not only in the treatment of benign diseases but also in malignant illnesses.


Guidelines include recommendations intended to optimize patient care; used appropriately, they make healthcare consistent and efficient. In most lower‐middle income countries (LMICs), there is a paucity of well‐designed guidelines; as a result, healthcare workers depend on guidelines developed in Higher Income Countries (HICs). However, local guidelines are more likely to be implemented because they are applicable to the specific environment; and consider factors such as availability of resources, specialized skills and local culture. If guidelines developed in HICs are to be implemented in LMICs, developers need to incorporate local experts in their development. Involvement of local stakeholders may improve the rates of implementation by identifying and removing barriers to implementation in LMICs. Another option is to encourage local experts to adapt them for use in LMICs; these guidelines may recommend strategies different from those used in HICs, but will be aimed at achieving the best practicable standard of care. Infrastructural deficits in LMICs could be improved by learning from and building on the successful response to the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome pandemic through interactions between HICs and LMICs. Similarly, collaborations between postgraduate medical colleges in both HICs and LMICs may help specialist doctors training in LMICs develop skills required for guideline development and implementation.


To study Na+-Ca2+ exchange, intracellular Na+ activity (aiNa), twitch tension, and transmembrane potential were simultaneously measured in canine cardiac Purkinje fibers driven at a constant rate (1 Hz) in the absence and presence of strophanthidin (5 X 10(-7) M) at normal, low, and high extracellular [Na+] ([Na+]o) or [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]o). Intracellular Ca2+ activity (aiCa) of the fibers was also measured in a normal Tyrode solution. Reductions of [Na+]o by 20, 40, and 60% decreased the ratio of extracellular Na+ activity (aoNa) and aiNa in the steady state but steeply increased twitch tension. This finding is consistent with the view that a decrease in aoNa/aiNa increases intracellular Ca2+ through Na+-Ca2+ exchange. In further agreement with this view, a Na+-free solution virtually depleted intracellular Na+ and increased the resting tension of the fibers. The slope of the relation of the logs of twitch tension and aiNa that was determined at normal [Na+]o and [Ca2+]o may reflect the properties of the Na+-Ca2+ exchange. Slope of log tension-aiNa relationship decreased when reducing [Na+]o or increasing [Ca2+]o had decreased the level of aiNa. On the other hand, the slope increased when a rise in [Na+]o or a reduction in [Ca2+]o had increased the level of aiNa. These results indicate that as the aiNa level increased, slope of tension-aiNa relation increased, which suggests that Na+-Ca2+ exchange may depend on level of aiNa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


LACERATIONS of the scalp may end with almost fatal complications. This is especially true if the patient has an unsuspected diabetes. Since the advent of sulfonamides, penicillin and other antibiotics, they may be slightly less serious, but 2 patients, recently admitted to this hospital, illustrate how poor is the outcome when the initial treatment is inadequate. Botterell and Jefferson 1 pointed out that Briesen found, in a review of over five thousand head injuries in Los Angeles, that the longest periods of hospitalization were due to septic wounds of the scalp. Another factor which they call attention to is "that an infected scalp wound makes it impossible to undertake exploratory punctures of the skull and dura as the later progress of the case may demand." In neither of our cases were exploratory punctures necessary, but it remains an important consideration. Case 1. —M. R., a 65 year old Iroquois


Neoantigen-targeting vaccines have achieved breakthrough success in cancer immunotherapy by eliciting immune responses against neoantigens, which are proteins uniquely produced by cancer cells. During the immune response, the interactions between peptides and major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) play an important role as peptides must be bound and presented by MHC to be recognised by the immune system. However, only limited experimentally determined peptide-MHC (pMHC) structures are available, and in-silico structure modelling is therefore used for studying their interactions. Current approaches mainly use Monte Carlo sampling and energy minimisation, and are often computationally expensive. On the other hand, the advent of large high-quality proteomic data sets has led to an unprecedented opportunity for deep learning-based methods with pMHC structure prediction becoming feasible with these trained protein folding models. In this work, we present a graph neural network-based model for pMHC structure prediction, which takes an amino acid-level pMHC graph and an atomic-level peptide graph as inputs and predicts the peptide backbone conformation. With a novel weighted reconstruction loss, the trained model achieved a similar accuracy to AlphaFold 2, requiring only 1.7M learnable parameters compared to 93M, representing a more than 98% reduction in the number of required parameters.


The objective of this study was to develop the best methodology for determining agricultural droughts in Lithuania. The currently used assessment methods do not always accurately reflect drought conditions in the country, especially in the first half of the growing season. For this purpose, the relevance of the currently used Hydrothermal Coefficient (HTC) and five drought indices widely used in other countries were reassessed. It was found that the methodologies applied in Lithuania and other countries are not completely suitable under current conditions. A new agricultural drought identification methodology using the Temperature–Precipitation Index (TPI) is proposed as a result of this study. Analysis of long-term changes (1961–2019) in reoccurrence of droughts was carried out. It was determined that the largest number of droughts in Lithuania was recorded in the last decade of the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st century. Despite the fact that there is a positive tendency in reoccurrence of droughts, the changes are not statistically significant.


Background: Vitiligo is an acquired de-pigmenting disorder of unknown aetiologyaffecting 1-2% of the world's population. It is a chronic skin disease, characterised by the appearance of white depigmented macules and patches due to loss of melanocytes. This disorder is common in all races, regardless of age and sex. The onset of the disease may vary from early infancy to old age. Objective : To determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with vitiligo. Design: This was a cross sectional descriptive study. Setting: Regional Dermatology Training Centre in Moshi, Tanzania. Subjects: One hundred and twenty two patients. Results: The male to female ratio was 1:1.8 and a median age of 24 years (range 3 to 87). The mean age at disease onset was 26.2 years (SD 19.5). The types of vitiligo observed were as follows: vitiligo vulgaris (50.8%) focal non segmental (23%) and Acrofacial (12.3%). Positive family history was noted in about 10% of the population studied. The commonest sites of initial onset were head and neck (41.8) and lower limbs (18.0%). The median body surface area affected was 6% (range 1 to 90%). Autoimmune diseases were noted in 17.2% of the patients. Atopic dermatitis (9.8%) was the most common associated disease. Conclusion: Vitiligo affects all ages with more females affected. Vitiligo vulgaris is the commonest type and few patients have first degree relatives with vitiligo.


Continuing education and professional development are professional obligations for dentists and dental associations, due to advances in science and research, the need to incorporate new knowledge to best manage oral health and diseases, technological developments and innovation affecting dentistry, increasing interaction between other health professions, better understanding of the bilateral relationship between oral health and general health, patient safety, quality of life, standards of care, evidence based dentistry, emerging public health challenges, and the needs, demands and expectations of individual patients and the global population.


In 2011 around 31.05 million of Indonesian children dropped out from the school and most of them were living in small and isolated island. Pahawang island located in Pesawaran District is one of islands in Lampung province that has a low level of education. Therefore we've initiative to built a reading house Rubah (Rumah Baca Harapan). The aims of this program were to collect both new and old books, create foster-sister program, youth and student empowerment, and create an ideal learning and education model in island. This program may able to be a model of non-formal education around islands of Indonesian archipelago.


Large DMOS transistors are key devices in many smart power ICs where they are often subject to self-heating. This can lead to excessive temperatures especially for shrinked devices in new technologies, asking for accurate modeling by electro-thermal simulations. Crucial for this turned out to be the correct description of the electrical DMOS behavior including its temperature dependency up to thermal runaway. Therefore, we propose a simple DMOS model suitable for electro-thermal simulations, being valid up to very high temperatures, even though device characteristics for moderate temperatures are sufficient for parameter extraction. Its validity will be shown by comparison to measurements up to thermal runaway.


Noting that from its very inception Organization laid claim to having a central interest in the ethics and politics of organization, in this article we review contributions to the Journal over the past 20 years in order to consider the ethical thinking that has developed. We suggest that there is a common thread of ethical interest that characterizes much of this work—one that clearly differentiates it from more conventional approaches to business ethics. While business ethics has as its locus of interest the ethicality of organizations themselves, central issues that have emerged in Organization concern how individuals might (or might not) maintain a valued experience of themselves as ethical subjects despite the behaviour of organizations, and how organizational arrangements might be politically contested in the name of ethics. We explore this in relation to a question that unites much of the study of ethics in Organization: how do we live (and work) together in a world beset by difference? We consider this question in terms of the issue of ethical subjectivity and the relation between an ethics of consensus and an ethics of difference. The article concludes much as the Journal started—with the proposal that ethics remains a pressing challenge for critical scholarship and practice.


Since the early 2010s, small drones have become key tools for environmental research around the globe. While critical voices have highlighted the threat of 'green securitisation' and surveillance in contexts where drones are deployed for nature conservation, Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) worldwide have also begun using drones – most often in alliance with non-governmental organisations or researchers – exploring this technology's potential to advance their own territorial, political and socio-ecological goals. Against this backdrop, this paper examines six different experiences in five countries where communities are using small drones in areas of high ecological and cultural diversity with international significance for nature conservation. We highlight the ways that communities deploy drones – both in terms of their motivations and actual use strategies. We also reflect upon the opportunities and barriers that IPLCs and their collaborators encounter in designing and implementing meaningful drone strategies, explicitly considering social, economic and political challenges. Finally, we consider the socio-ecological outcomes that community drone use enables across these sites along with the ways that drones engender more biocultural and territorial approaches to conservation through IPLC-led monitoring and mapping efforts. In conclusion, we suggest that effective, meaningful and appropriate deployment of drones, especially with IPLCs as protagonists in their use, can support nature conservation together with the recognition and protection of biocultural and territorial rights. Given the mounting demands for conservation to counter intertwined global socio-environmental crises, community drones may play a role in amplifying the voices and territorial visions of IPLCs.


An independent quality assurance program has been established by the Virology Committee of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group in the Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for monitoring polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) DNA that are performed by 11 laboratories participating in multicenter clinical trials in the United States. To perform HIV-1 DNA PCR for patients in AIDS Clinical Trials Group protocols, each laboratory was initially certified by correctly testing a coded certification panel consisting of eight well-defined clinical whole-blood specimens and 30 cell pellets containing 0, 2, 5, 10, 20, or 50 8E5/LAV cells per 125,000 uninfected peripheral blood mononuclear cells. PCR was performed by one of two standardized commercial assays for amplification and nonisotopic detection of HIV-1 proviral DNA. For continuing certification, each laboratory must correctly test eight coded whole-blood samples per quarter and run three or four coded cell pellets and HIV-1 DNA copy standards with every PCR assay in real time. The PCR results for the coded pellets on each run are entered into an encrypted computer file, which immediately assesses the validity of the run. To date, 10 of 11 laboratories have correctly tested all HIV-1-positive and -negative samples in the initial certification panel on their first or second attempt. Subsequently, 9 of these 11 laboratories have continued to maintain their certified status. The use of commercial HIV-1 DNA PCR assays and an external quality assurance program have ensured that results from different laboratories are comparable and that problems with sensitivity and specificity are quickly identified.