Intracellular recordings were made from nerve fibers in the posterior ampullary nerve near the neuroepithelium. Calyx-bearing afferents were identified by their distinctive efferent-mediated responses. Such fibers receive inputs from both type I and type II hair cells. Type II inputs are made by synapses on the outer face of the calyx ending and on the boutons of dimorphic fibers. Quantal activity, consisting of brief mEPSPs, is reduced by lowering the external concentration of Ca2+ and blocked by the AMPA-receptor antagonist CNQX. Poisson statistics govern the timing of mEPSPs, which occur at high rates (250-2,500/s) in the absence of mechanical stimulation. Excitation produced by canal-duct indentation can increase mEPSP rates to nearly 5,000/s. As the rate increases, mEPSPs can change from a monophasic depolarization to a biphasic depolarizing-hyperpolarizing sequence, both of whose components are blocked by CNQX. Blockers of voltage-gated currents affect mEPSP size, which is decreased by TTX and is increased by linopirdine. mEPSP size decreases severalfold after impalement. The size decrease, although it may be triggered by the depolarization occurring during impalement, persists even at hyperpolarized membrane potentials. Nonquantal transmission is indicated by shot-noise calculations and by the presence of voltage modulations after quantal activity is abolished pharmacologically. An ultrastructural study shows that inner-face inputs from type I hair cells outnumber outer-face inputs from type II hair cells by an almost 6:1 ratio.


Electrification of remote rural areas which do not have accessibility to the national electricity grid is an important issue for many developing countries. The most common solution is using diesel generator to generate electricity. However, this solution has disadvantages such as global warming and high fuel and maintenance cost. This is one of the reason why people are finding the alternative energy sources which are sustainable, renewable and environmental friendly. But, some of the renewable energy sources are seasonal and not available at all time. To overcome this issue, hybrid renewable energy system is utilized with combination of more than one renewable energy sources. This project is aimed to develop a model for hybrid power system optimization using Excel solver with simplex linear programing solving method. The objective function of this model is to find the best combination of energy resources available in the particular area to satisfy the energy needs in the certain area with the lowest cost estimation. The types of energy sources which will be considered are solar energy, wind energy, biomass and hydropower. The model has been developed and validated with the result from another researcher. The result from this model differ 5% to 10% compared with the result that is obtained by Izadyar, Ong, Chong, Mojumder, & Leong using HOMER software. This model gives the optimization result of best hybrid energy configuration at Langkawi, Malaysia which are 9% solar energy, 34% wind energy and 57% hydropower. The error is because this model is using linear programing solving method, which in the reality is not possible and the model used might have some differences with HOMER software. Case study has been done in this project. Kota Kinabalu is chosen to be simulated in the model. The optimization result shows that the best combination is 79% solar energy and 21% wind energy. This program could be improved in the future by using nonlinear programing solving method to increase the accuracy of the program.


Forest roads can be major sources of soil erosion from forest watersheds. Sediments from forest roads are a concern due to their potential delivery to stream systems resulting in degradation of water quality. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) was used to predict erosion from forest road components under different management practices. WEPP estimates are compared to measured erosion rates in the southern Appalachians from 24 road sideslope erosion plots on the Talladega National Forest and three road sections on the Chattahoochee National Forest. The first study was conducted to investigate four road sideslope management practices which included RECP (rolled erosion control product) treatment, two vegetation mixtures, and an untreated condition. Sediment yield from treatments was compared to untreated (bare soil) southern Appalachian road sideslopes over the 8-year period. The rate of soil loss was greatest during the first 6 months and decreased thereafter for treated cutand fillslopes. Mean sediment yield from treated slopes was less than 0.01 t/ha/mm of precipitation. Erosion rates and runoff observed from erosion plots for each management condition over an eight year period were compared to WEPP predictions. Relationships were also developed for soil loss over the study period for treated slopes and the control. These relationships revealed that sediment yield during the first year accounted for 60 to 90 percent of cumulative total sediment yield over the eight year period for the treatments. In the second study, soil erosion from three road sections was compared to WEPP predictions for eight storms of varying size. WEPP predictions were in agreement with measured erosion rates for the forest road components in the investigations. The applicability of WEPP to model these southern Appalachian forest roads was evaluated with a model efficiency statistic using the observed field experiment data.


Gravitons relate to gravitational waves as photons to electromagnetic waves, but with the important difference that Einstein gravity is intrinsically nonlinear. This could lead in principle to the decay of a graviton into many collinear gravitons of smaller frequency, but such a process is found to have a very small probability. Another possibility is the decay of gravitons by interaction with a class of vacuum fluctuations made of weakly-bound couples of virtual masses. In this case the final state is a continuum of excited and Lorentz-boosted bound states. We estimate the decay probability by evaluating the relevant matrix elements and phase space volume, with a suitable cut-off. The calculation also leads to further insights into the properties of these vacuum fluctuations. We find that the probability of this decay process is also very small, and compatible with the existence of gravitational waves with very long propagation range. Subject Classification: 04.20.-q Classical general relativity. 04.60.-m Quantum gravity


Paclitaxel, a naturally occurring antimitotic agent, has shown efficacy in the treatment of certain solid tumors, particularly metastatic breast carcinoma and drug-refractory ovarian cancers. Recent studies have demonstrated that paclitaxel, in addition to its effects on microtubules and cell cycle arrest, possesses significant cell-killing activity in solid tumor cells by the induction of apoptosis. However, the mechanism by which paclitaxel leads to cell death and its relationship with paclitaxel-induced mitotic arrest is presently unclear. In this study, we attempted to determine whether pre-arresting tumor cells at other phases of the cell cycle could affect paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. We found that 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), another antineoplastic agent that usually arrests tumor cells at the G1-S phase of the cell cycle, could significantly repress the cell-killing activity of paclitaxel in solid tumor cells, even when it was added simultaneously with paclitaxel. Further studies indicated that 5-FU actually inhibits the cytotoxic effects of paclitaxel on both mitotic arrest and apoptotic cell death, suggesting that 5-FU might interfere with paclitaxel cytotoxicity at an early stage, probably by preventing tumor cells from entering G2-M phase. Because recent clinical trials have used a combination of paclitaxel and 5-FU in the treatment of metastatic breast cancers, our results also suggest that the combination of these two drugs might not be as valuable in clinical chemotherapy.


Developments of ultra fine pitch and high density solder microbumps and assembly process for low cost 3D stacking technologies are discussed in this paper. The solder microbumps developed in this work consist of Cu and Sn, which are electroplated in sequential with total thickness of 10µm; The under bump metallurgy (UBM) pads used here is electroless plated nickel and immersion gold (ENIG) with thickness of 2µm. Accordingly, joining of the two Si chips can be conducted by joining CuSn solder microbumps to ENIG UBM pads or CuSn solder microbumps to CuSn solder microbumps. The first joining can only be done with chip to chip assembly whereas the second joining has the potential for chip to wafer assembly. Assembly of the Si chips is conducted with the FC150 flip chip bonder at different temperatures, times, and pressures and the optimized bonding conditions are obtained. After assembly, underfill process is carried out to fill the gap and a void free underfilling is achieved using an underfill material with fine filler size.


Objectives: The general problematic of social science research is located in individualized explanations of social and collectively based phenomena. This is due to methodological issues inherent in the way social research is conducted. Research on ingroup bias via the renowned minimal group studies is an exemplar of this general problem and is examined in this study. This research argued that explaining ingroup bias in terms of individuals' psychological needs is insufficient. This is because the original paper and pencil test failed to account for the effects of social interaction and how the interaction unfolds over time. Consequently, the old problem of ingroup bias was revisited using a new technology: the Virtual Interaction Application (VIAPPL).

Design: A within-subjects and between-groups experimental design was used.

Methods: VIAPPL was used to replicate the original study but in a way that demonstrated how ingroup bias was produced in interaction over time. This was facilitated by the 'Give and Get' game, where participants allocated tokens to one another in a simulated game-like environment. A repeated measures ANOVA and social network analyses were used to

analyse the data.

Results: As predicted, 1) ingroup bias was found most likely to be manifest in social interaction characterised by group categorization, and 2) more ingroup bias was expressed when the group interaction is visible to those participating in the interaction. Ingroup bias did not amplify as the group interaction unfolded over time. However, there was evidence proving that ingroup bias is not static, as was previously thought. Instead, it changed by increasing and decreasing as the rounds of the game advanced. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that 1) participants distributed their tokens fairly when they acted with and without a group membership, 2) observing the interaction informed the way tokens were allocated in both individual and group conditions, and 3) reciprocity was not operant in the interaction.

Conclusions: This study introduced a new framework for studies in the minimal group paradigm (MGP) that allowed participants to interact in a virtual environment and enabled both traditional ANOVA methods and social network analyses. By rendering social interaction visible in the MGP, this study moved beyond an individualized explanation of social interaction by offering a social explanation of the behaviours manifested.


In the past two years we have experienced a "perfect storm" in the confluence of a stock market bubble, tax laws that favored stock-based incentive compensation, increased focus on quarterly earnings and short-term stock market movements, research reports written by conflicted analysts, audits performed by accountants focused on growing their consulting businesses, and our traditional board deference to an imperial CEO. A failure to address these problems could have indicated a failed system and indeed the U.S. system showed strains, but then it corrected quickly. For the most part, the recent reforms remind us of what we have considered all along to be priorities, including accurate books and records; full and fair disclosure; and fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and good faith. Reforms in countries and regions as diverse as the United States, the European Union, the Russian Federation, and even China, have a remarkably similar emphasis on director independence, clarification of board and audit committee oversight responsibilities, and management accountability for accurate disclosure. While reform efforts are important, as a practical matter, corporate governance has to be exercised by individuals within a perimeter of ambiguity and discretion that is necessary to foster entrepreneurial activity. In the final analysis, investors all over the world must rely on leading businessmen and women to conduct themselves ethically and honestly in the interests of shareholders.


This article presents a systemic-functional linguistic analysis of two writing samples of the University of California Analytical Writing Placement (AWP) Examination written by English language learners (ELLs). The analysis shows the linguistic features utilized in the two writing samples, one that received a passing score and one that received a failing score. The article describes some of the grammatical resources which are functional for expository writing, which are divided under three main categories: textual, interpersonal, and ideational resources. Following this brief description is the analysis of both essays in terms of these resources.. The configuration of grammatical features used in the essays make up the detached style of essay 1 and the more personal style of essay 2. These grammatical features include the textual resources of thematic choices and development, clause-combining strategies (connectors), and lexical cohesion; interpersonal resources of interpersonal metaphors of modality; and ideational resources of nominalization and abstractions as ideational metaphors. Implications for educational practice and recommendations for educators based on the analysis are provided.


In this study, we looked for evidence of directional or stabilizing/disruptive selection on plant size and on the level of damage (resistance) caused by four types of herbivores in the annual morning glory Ipomoea purpurea. Selection was estimated by standard phenotypic regression analysis and by regression on breeding values. The phenotypic regression analysis revealed directional selection for all five characters (i.e., plant size and resistance to four types of herbivores) and indicated that plant size and resistance to corn‐earworm damage were subject to stabilizing selection. By contrast, the analysis using breeding values revealed directional selection only for plant size and resistance to corn earworms, while none of the characters examined indicated stabilizing or disruptive selection. These results suggest that intermediate levels of damage in I. purpurea are, in general, not maintained by stabilizing selection. Rather, they may reflect either 1) a transient state that exists while directional selection pushes the population toward complete resistance (or, in one case, total absence of resistance) or 2) the evolution of susceptibility to damage by genetic drift.


For many species, adaptation of various physiological characteristics to the seasonally changing environment is vital in their survival and reproductive fecundity. Such seasonal alterations in physiology can affect growth, food intake, energy balance and gonadal activity, as well as the secretion of the pituitary hormone prolactin. The current suggested model of seasonal prolactin regulation dictates that the melatonin-responsive pars tuberalis (PT) of the anterior pituitary gland translates the photoperiodic input (measurement of day length) into a seasonal signal, which controls prolactin release. The primary aims of this study were to investigate the downstream decoding mechanisms of the melatonin signal and the currently uncharacterized factors, named ?tuberalins?, which are considered to be released by the PT and involved in the seasonal entrainment process. The most likely candidates believed to have a key role in the seasonal regulation of prolactin, as the PT-derived tuberalins, are Substance P and Neurokinin A, members of a group of bioactive peptides known as neurokinins. These molecules, which have previously been shown to have an effect on prolactin release, are encoded by the TAC1 (tachykinin, precursor 1) gene, which was recently identified as being strongly activated by ?summer like? long photoperiods (LP) within the ovine PT.In the present study, the Fischer 344/NHsd (F344/NHsd) rat, a photoperiod-sensitive laboratory strain that responds to ?winter like? short photoperiods (SP) by decreasing its body weight, food intake, testes weight and the secretion of pituitary prolactin, was used as a model species to investigate the potential involvement of neurokinins in the seasonal regulation of prolactin. The action of the neurokinins Substance P and Neurokinin A was tested with the help of a transgenic F344 rat, which expresses the reporter gene luciferase under the control of the prolactin promoter, providing a tool for studying prolactin regulation. An in vitro reporter system was set up using transgenic F344 tissue, and this revealed no effect of the neurokinins on prolactin promoter activity. In situ hybridization studies revealed a lack of TAC1 mRNA expression in the PT region of the F344/NHsd rat. These results do not support a role for neurokinins in the seasonal regulation of prolactin in the rat, suggesting a possible divergence in the seasonal pathway of prolactin regulation between species. Nonetheless, the expression of TAC1 was found to be regulated by photoperiod in other key areas of the brain, including the ependymal layer of the third ventricle of the hypothalamus, which has previously been associated with seasonal adaptations in body weight and reproduction. Furthermore, the in situ hybridization studies reveal the LP-activated expression of Eyes absent 3 (Eya3), a transcription factor-encoding gene, in the PT of the F344/NHsd rat, and this finding is similarly revealed in the Syrian hamster, a strongly seasonal species. Recent studies in seasonal birds and mammals have identified Eya3 as the first common strongly activated gene in the PT, following exposure to LP and suggested that it may have a key role as a master regulator of seasonal responses. The novel finding of Eya3 up-regulation in the rat under LP further highlights the conserved nature of Eya3 expression in photoperiodic species and presents the F344/NHsd laboratory rat as a valuable rodent model in the study of photoperiodism.


Should prayer be allowed in public schools? Should biology be taught according to Darwin or to the book of Genesis? Why is polygamy against the law? These are just a few of the questions that touch our lives directly and emerge out of the separation of church and state. In this volume, one of the most distinguished scholars of American religious history traces the complicated relationship of church and state from the early colonial period, through the unique American experiment in religious liberty after the Revolution, to the ongoing debate over religious issues in our schools and communities. Edwin Gaustad relates entertaining and edifying accounts of headline-grabbing court trials involving polygamy, witchcraft, and church taxation. He quotes moving passages from the speeches and writings of American Presidents and Supreme Court justices to prove that, to paraphrase Michelangelo, 'religious liberty is made up of a series of trifles, but religious liberty is no trifle'. General Editors: Jon Butler and Harry S. Stout, both at Yale University Religion in American Life explores the evolution, character, and dynamics of religion in America from 1500 to the present day. Written by distinguished religious historians, these books weave together the varying stories that compose the religious fabric of the United States, from Puritanism to alternative religious practices. Primary source material coupled with handsome illustrations and lucid text make these books essential in any exploration of Americas diverse nature. Each book includes a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and index.


OBJECTIVE
To report long-term risks for total, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality associated with incident diabetes (using current diagnostic criteria) and with incident nonfatal CVD (NF-CVD).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
A total of 11645 participants without diabetes or CVD at baseline from the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial who survived to the end of the trial were grouped by during-trial incident diabetes and/or NF-CVD events: neither diabetes nor NF-CVD, diabetes only, NF-CVD only, or both diabetes and NF-CVD. Incident diabetes was defined by use of hypoglycemic agents or fasting glucose >or=126 mg/dl at any time over the 6 trial years. Proportional hazards models tested group differences in mortality over 18 post-trial years.

RESULTS
Among 3859 total deaths were 1846 from CVD and 1277 from CHD, with death rates per 10000 person-years of 203, 97, and 67, respectively. Multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for total mortality were 2.75 (P < 0.0001) for those with NF-CVD and diabetes both, 1.92 (P < 0.0001) for those with NF-CVD only, and 1.49 (P < 0.0001) for those with diabetes only, relative to neither diabetes nor NF-CVD. NF-CVD was associated with a higher hazard of death than diabetes for total (HR 1.29, P = 0.0004), CVD (HR 1.76, P < 0.0001), and CHD (HR 1.88, P < 0.0001) mortality. Only the subgroup of participants on hypoglycemic agents showed an equivalent risk of total mortality relative to participants with NF-CVD (HR 0.93, P = 0.54).

CONCLUSIONS
Current diabetes diagnostic criteria conferred significantly increased total, CVD, and CHD mortality risks independent of the impact of NF-CVD. NF-CVD was more strongly predictive of mortality.


BACKGROUND
Post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) is a relatively common complication of lumbar punctures for spinal anesthesia or neurologic diagnosis. For many years, a high number of drugs has been evaluated to treat PDPH, yet there is a minority to prevent this complication. The lateral decubitus position instead of sitting position during lumbar puncture has become an interesting approach because of its feasibility and patient satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES
In this meta-analysis we hypothesized that lateral decubitus position is an effective manner to prophylactically reduce the incidence of PDPH.

STUDY DESIGN
This meta-analysis pooled all data published in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the impact of position (sitting versus lateral decubitus) during lumbar puncture and the incidence of PDPH.

SETTINGS
This work was performed at Universidad del Valle, in Cali, Colombia, in collaboration with the Department of Anesthesiology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

METHODS
Our group searched in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar for relevant RCTs, dating from 1990 to July 2016, that compared the sitting and lateral decubitus position with regards to the incidence of PDPH in adult patients (age > 18 years) undergoing lumbar puncture for spinal anesthesia or neurologic diagnosis.

RESULTS
Literature search identified 7 eligible RCTs (6 on spinal anesthesia and only one on neurologic diagnosis) with 1,101 patients, of which 557 had lumbar punctures in lateral decubitus position and 544 in sitting position. Only 3 (out of 7) RCTs favored the lateral decubitus position to significantly reduce the PDPH. Meta-analysis showed that the lateral decubitus position was associated with a significant reduction of the incidence of PDPH (risk ratio [RR] = 0.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.44-0.86, P = 0.004, I2 = 25%, P for heterogeneity = 0.24) compared with the sitting position. Subgroup analysis showed that lateral decubitus position is also associated with reduction of PDPH in spinal anesthesia (RR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.50-0.95, I2 = 0%, P for heterogeneity = 0.42). We found no statistically significant association between lateral decubitus position and successful placement of spinal needle at first attempt (RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.92-1.09, P = 0.94, I2 = 73%, P for heterogeneity = 0.01). There was no evidence of publication bias in our analyses (Egger's bias = -0.05, P = 0.96).

LIMITATIONS
The low number of RCTs might be an important limitation on our results.

CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that lateral decubitus position during lumbar puncture seems to be a good alternative for preventing PDPH. Further research should focus on the new prophylactic alternatives to reduce the incidence of PDPH.


Under Dutch Law juridical acts may conflict ? by their mere accomplishment, their content, or their purport ? with a statute, good morals, or public order. This may be a ground for nullity, produce other effects, or have no consequences at all. Though not conflicting with law in such a way, a juridical act will not be (fully) enforceable, if a performance under an act would result in a violation of statute, good morals, or public order. The Dutch condictio indebiti also covers performances other than giving money or any other property, e.g. services rendered. The Dutch Law of Restitution is remarkable in that generally both parties may reclaim what they performed on an illegal contract. Under the 1992 Civil Code, unlike beforehand, there is now some room for the in pari delicto defence, albeit very little. Only where a particular performance made by one party is so repugnant that it defies assessment of its value, this party may, sometimes, avail itself of this defence against the condictio indebiti of the other party. If a contract, though not null, is not enforceable but has nevertheless given rise to performances, condictiones indebiti may equally lie.


The Human Rights Council received well the 'protect, respect, remedy' framework that the SRSG for business and human rights, John Ruggie, presented in 2008 and his mandate was renewed for another 3 years. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights is defined narrowly for abuses linked to business activities only. In the same time, the SRSG remarks that conduct in the form of both acts and omissions can fail the responsibility to respect. This article analyses how the SRSG has dealt with a special type of culpable business conduct (omissions as opposed to commissions) of a special business actor (the controlling entity within a business group as opposed to mere affiliates or independent businesses). On what legitimate grounds should the omissions of parent companies be deemed blameworthy and to what extent are issues that the SRSG has not properly differentiated from other cases of business misconduct. The SRSG relies on the concept of "complicity", which he employs to explain cases of corporate involvement in third parties' misconduct and took note of jurisprudence, but the incorporation of those insights is partial and the conceptualization is half-baked. An assessment of SRSG's reports reveals that they lack a proper scheme of attribution to deal with situations where harm caused by third parties gets attributed to the inactive parent company. The result is a hole at the heart of the responsibility to respect. This article explains the problem and considers ways forward to strengthening the foundation of the responsibility to respect in order to go forward in clarifying its scope. (Less)


This paper considers an RLC transfer-function synthesis based on an extension of a real part decomposition technique as applied to the synthesis of a class of driving-point immitances. The basic concept is due to a valuable relationship between the short-circuit parameters existing in the network (connected as a two-terminal-pair network) realized for a driving-point admittance function by the real part decomposition technique using its simplest decomposition form. The synthesis procedure involves defining a suitable half-admittance matrix from the prescribed transfer function, such that a network can be realized by the real part decomposition technique alone. While the procedure represents merely a further exploitation of the real part decomposition technique, it is, however, extremely simple to apply, and can be considered an alternative to the already existing RLC transfer-function synthesis procedures.


Background: Childhood obesity affects 19.3% of children ages 2 to 19 years in the US, and 25.6% of Hispanic children. Study objectives were to (1) assess the feasibility of monitoring physical activity and daily caloric intake in children ages 3 to 6 years, (2) assess whether known obesity risk factors apply to this age-group, and (3) explore the factors that may contribute to the higher prevalence of obesity in Hispanic preschooler. Methods: Children ages 3 to 6 years were recruited at well child visits (n = 37, 65% male, 30% Hispanic). Parents completed a questionnaire (child's physical activity and screen time) along with a detailed dietary assessment. Children were provided with a fitness tracker worn for 5 days. Fisher's exact test, t test/Wilcoxon rank sum tests were conducted. Results: Thirty-four (92%) participants produced usable activity data. Baseline dietary recall was completed by 35 (97%) of the parents and 25 (68%) completed the second unassisted dietary recall. Mean body mass index of the study sample was 60th percentile, 12 (32%) classified as over-weight/obese. Children with overweight/obesity showed no significant difference in mean daily calories compared with those without (1403.9 vs 1406.1 Kcal/day, P = .980) or daily hours of screen time (1.5 6 1.1 vs 1.7 6 0.8, P = .442). Children with overweight/obesity had fewer mean daily steps compared with those without overweight/obesity (8038 6 2685 vs 10038 6 2599 P = .051). Discussion: Findings indicate that pedometer activity tracking can be used in children 3 to 6 years old and that decreased physical activity correlates more closely to preschool overweight/obesity than caloric intake. ( J Am Board Fam Med 2022;00:000–000.) Surveys and Questionnaires


Abstract A considerable effort has been devoted to retrieve systematically information for genes and proteins as well as relationships between them. Despite the importance of chemical compounds and drugs as a central bio-entity in pharmacological and biological research, only a limited number of freely available chemical text-mining/search engine technologies are currently accessible. Here we present LimTox (Literature Mining for Toxicology), a web-based online biomedical search tool with special focus on adverse hepatobiliary reactions. It integrates a range of text mining, named entity recognition and information extraction components. LimTox relies on machine-learning, rule-based, pattern-based and term lookup strategies. This system processes scientific abstracts, a set of full text articles and medical agency assessment reports. Although the main focus of LimTox is on adverse liver events, it enables also basic searches for other organ level toxicity associations (nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, thyrotoxicity and phospholipidosis). This tool supports specialized search queries for: chemical compounds/drugs, genes (with additional emphasis on key enzymes in drug metabolism, namely P450 cytochromes—CYPs) and biochemical liver markers. The LimTox website is free and open to all users and there is no login requirement. LimTox can be accessed at: http://limtox.bioinfo.cnio.es


NCS mice gained weight rapidly when fed a gluten diet deficient in several amino acids, but their weight gain on the same regimen was very much retarded if they were given antibacterial drugs, even for a short period of time. This retardation of growth could not be entirely corrected by supplementing the gluten diet with lysine and threonine. The decrease in growth rate brought about by antibacterial drugs could probably be traced to the alteration in intestinal flora resulting from drug treatment. The intensity and duration of both types of changes were related to the dose of drug administered, and to the length of the treatment period. Whatever the nutritional regimen, treatment with penicillin caused a retardation of weight gain in NCS mice. The retardation was more pronounced, and longer lasting, when the animals were fed semisynthetic regimens (containing casein or gluten) than when they were fed crude diets (pellets) containing natural materials of ill defined composition. These differences probably had their origin in the fact that the changes in fecal flora induced by the drugs were profoundly influenced by the composition of the diet. Antibacterial drugs which retarded weight gain of Swiss NCS mice, in contrast increased weight gain in ordinary Swiss mice raised under usual conditions. It is probable that this difference in response to the antibacterial drugs resulted from the fact that ordinary Swiss mice have a much more complex intestinal flora than NCS animals.


In this paper, a multiple level fusion framework to apply into the automatic speaker recognition system in order to improve its performance is presented. Based on the framework, different multiple level fusion methods, such as a strong multiple level fusion and three weak multiple level fusions, are defined in this paper. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed framework, two-feature combination scheme would be considered. After investigating the availability of strong and weak multiple level fusions for this scheme, the framework adopts a weak multiple level fusion method which combines two level fusions, ie matching-score fusion and decisionmaking fusion. In the matching-score level, a commonly used method called the score vector fusion is adopted. In the decision-making level, the kernel combination, also known as Multiple Kernel Learning is chosen. These two techniques can be embedded into many automatic speaker recognition systems. Throughout the evaluation by NIST 2001 corpus, two sets of experiments were conducted that the results of the two-feature combination scheme by the multiple level fusions are better than the traditional matching-score level fusion and unimodal methods. It is demonstrated that the multiple level fusion framework is an effective method to fuse the features for speaker recognition applications.


Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Fortunately, cardiovascular mortality has been decreasing in high-income countries, but the rate is still increasing in some middle-income and low-income countries. Even within the Asian region, cardiovascular disease mortality is decreasing in some countries but increasing in others. However, population ageing is common to all Asian countries, and East Asia is among the most aged region in the world. Accordingly, cardiovascular disease prevention in the elderly is becoming more and more important public health issue in East Asia. Hypertension control is the key strategy for decreasing cardiovascular disease, because hypertension is the most contributing and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Hypertension is defined as elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) and/or elevated diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Thus it can be further classified into three subtypes; isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH), and systolic-diastolic hypertension (SDH). It is known that relative frequency of ISH is increasing with age, because of progressively increasing SBP and decreasing SBP after age 60. It has been shown that SBP is more closely associated with cardiovascular risk than DBP. Moreover, there has been some evidence showing that the linear relationship between SBP and cardiovascular disease is more prominent in East Asian people than in Caucasian populations. In spite of our efforts to prevent hypertension, the absolute number of older people with hypertension, especially ISH, is expected to increase in East Asia because of the rapid population ageing. Future study of hypertension needs to be performed to find subtype-specific prevention and management strategies.


Spiking neural networks (SNN) have recently emerged as alternatives to traditional neural networks, owing to energy efficiency benefits and capacity to capture biological neuronal mechanisms. However, the classic backpropagation algorithm for training traditional networks has been notoriously difficult to apply to SNN due to the hard-thresholding and discontinuities at spike times. Therefore, a large majority of prior work believes exact gradients for SNN w.r.t. their weights do not exist and has focused on approx-imation methods to produce surrogate gradients. In this paper, (1) by applying the implicit function theorem to SNN at the discrete spike times, we prove that, albeit being non-differentiable in time, SNNs have well-defined gradients w.r.t. their weights, and (2) we propose a novel training algorithm, called forward propagation (FP), that computes exact gradients for SNN. FP ex-ploits the causality structure between the spikes and allows us to parallelize computation forward in time. It can be used with other algorithms that simulate the forward pass, and it also provides insights on why other related algorithms such as Hebbian learning and also recently-proposed surrogate gradient methods may perform well.


In this work, we focus on the most crucial units in a chemical technology, the chemical reactors. Using a commercially available CFD software package, COMSOL Multiphysics, 3D mathematical models of a batch reactor with different impeller geometries have been investigated. The reasonable agreement between the experimental and simulation results indicates the validity of the developed CFD model. The effect of the impeller design, e. g. number of blades on the mixing efficiency is evaluated based on the simulation studies. The proposed measure to determine the energy efficiency of mixing (i. e. mixing index) is based on the calculated velocity field and energy usage. The information about the homogeneity of the mixed phase in the system can be extracted from the developed velocity field. Hence, we proposed histograms of velocity fluctuations on a logarithmic scale as an efficient tool to measure the achieved homogeneity of the phase in case of different impellers and rotational speeds.


AbstractIntroduction Persons with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups in every society and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has introduced Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) with the intention of decreasing this vulnerability. In Oaxaca, Mexico, the Pina Palmera CBR program is working with persons with disabilities from rural communities to improve their quality of life.Objective The objectives of this qualitative study were to explore what motivates people to engage in the Pina Palmera CBR program, the expected and perceived benefits of participation, and future hopes and ideas for the program among program participants and their family members.Method Data was collected in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico during November-December 2014, in the form of 8 semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data collected in the interviews was done by using thematic analysis.Findings The analysis of the data resulted in four themes regarding motivations for and perceived benefits of participation: Pina Palmera is a place for learning, You feel part of a group in Pina Palmera, Pina Palmera is improving the situation for persons with disabilities, and No other place works like Pina Palmera.Conclusion That Pina Palmera is a place where you get opportunities to learn, that one feels a part of a group, and that the program is different from other options in the way they work can make them an important resource for persons with disabilities in Oaxaca, decreasing problems with unemployment, discrimination, and lacking governmental support for persons with disabilities.


The AGDISP Aerial Spray Simulation Model is used to predict the deposition of spray material released from an aircraft. The prediction is based on a well-defined set of input parameter values (e.g., release height, and droplet size) as well as constant data (e.g., aircraft and nozzle type). But, for a given deposition, what are the optimal parameter values? This problem is considered to be a parametric design problem or more generally a configuration problem. Attempting to optimize a configuration based on some set of constraints is known to be extremely difficult (NP-Hard). We use the popular Genetic Algorithm to heuristically search for an optimal or near-optimal set of input parameters needed to achieve a certain aerial spray deposition. Having this knowledge can benefit forest managers substantially, especially regarding such issues as cost, environmental safety, and forest treatment accuracy.


Energy Management Control System (EMCS) data are an underutilized source of information on the performance of commercial buildings. Newer EMCS's have the ability and storage capacity to trend large amounts of data and perform preliminary analyses; however, these features often receive little or no use, as operators are generally not trained in data management, visualization, and analysis. Whole-building hourly electric-utility data are another readily available and underutilized source of information. This paper outlines the use of EMCS and utility data to evaluate the performance of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, California, a large office building operated by the Federal General Services Administration (GSA). The project began as an exploratory effort at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to examine the procedures operators were using to obtain information and operate their buildings. Trending capabilities were available, but in limited use by the operators. LBNL worked with the building operators to use EMCS to trend one-minute data for over one-hundred points. Hourly electricity-use data were also used to understand usage patterns and peak demand. The paper describes LBNL's key findings in the following areas: Characterization of cooling plant operations; Characterization of economizer performance; Analysis of annual energy use and peak demand operations; Techniques, strengths, and shortcomings of EMCS data analysis; Future plans at the building for web-based remote monitoring and diagnostics. These findings have helped GSA develop strategies for peak demand reduction in this and other GSA buildings. Such activities are of great interest in California and elsewhere, where electricity reliability and demand are currently problematic. Overall, though the building's energy use is fairly low, significant energy savings are available by improving the existing EMCS control strategies.


Extreme mountain climbers and patients with stable but severe ventilatory insufficiency (e.g. obesitas hypoventilation-syndrome, scoliosis) sometimes experience a state of severe hypoxemia without any or only mild subjective disturbances. Organ failure is never observed in these periods. On the other hand there are two well documented studies concerning long term oxygen therapy (LTOT) that have shown in hypoxemic COPD-patients (pO 2 lower then 55 mm Hg) a doubling the life expectancy under oxygen. This contradiction can be elucidated if the influence of oxygen on the ventilation is taken into account. These study patients treated with LTOT all had more or less hypercapnia (hypoventilation) due to an overload of their respiratory pump. Oxygen reduces the ventilation (seen as hypercapnia) which leads to an unloading of the respiratory muscles. Later studies to LTOT found a positive correlation between the extent of stable hypercapnia and life expectancy. In this article the physiopathologic background of this findings are discussed. The main parameter of the regulator for the oxygen transport is not pO 2 but the oxygen content. The oxygen content multiplied by cardiac output determines the extent of oxygen delivery. Many regulatory systems (e.g. polyglobuly or expression of oxygen resistant isoenzymes of the respiratory chain) are involved to compensate the hypoxemia associated with hypoventilation which prevents an organ threatening hypoxia. This pathophysiologic finding has important impact on intensive care medicine, which usually takes only pO 2 into account for therapeutic decisions (e. g. high FiO 2 and high pressure support). This sometimes leads to "overtreatment", with possible harm to the patient.


The paper is based on the recent writings about the demoscenes, published in European countries, in order to examine Yugoslav demos from the late 80s/early 90s, adjusting the approach from similar publications that regard the demoscene as a kind of digital art, made by communities of groups or individuals dedicated to advanced programming or hacking/cracking/sharing/reusing of the existing software. Although the hackers and their works analyzed in this text were members of the groups mainly focused on the graphics programming, music in most of their demos was also made with special attention. Another evidence that hackers on Yugoslav demoscene did not take sound aspects of their demos lightly, were the so-called musical discs, ie. Music compilations created specifically for the demonstration of sound capabilities of the hardware of the machine for which they were made. This paper covers the scene for Commodore 64 computer, since this part of Yugoslav demoscene was the most widespread. Main part of the text is dedicated to the analysis of the music from the collective demo works, as well as musical disks devoted to a single composer. Special attention was paid to magazines on disks published by prominent C64 groups and articles that expose details about demo-making techniques of the time, especially those dedicated to music.


This paper discusses the institutional persistence of systems of national laboratories (SNLs) that unlike other public and private research organizations appear to have experienced only minor institutional shifts in recent years. Although national laboratories started as time-limited mission-oriented projects, most of them have remained in operation as continuously renewed multi-purpose organizations. By comparing the SNLs in Germany and the USA, this paper discusses the relationship between the system and the organizational level and concludes that incremental organizational rearrangements have enabled the institutional persistence of SNLs despite considerable changes in their political and funding environments. The paper applies recent advances in institutional theory and thus contributes to a better understanding of institutional change in path-dependent public R&D systems. Copyright The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: firstname.lastname@example.com, Oxford University Press.


Numerous hypothetical particles have been predicted which might possibly make up the dark matter content of the Universe. One class of these particle candidates includes warm dark matter (WDM) particles, which have large early-time thermal velocities that serve to erase small-scale perturbations. This creates a cutoff in the linear power spectrum - the scale of which depends on the mass of the WDM particle - and results in a suppression in the numbers of low mass halos. Since the number of satellite galaxies around Milky Way-mass host galaxies is sensitive to this cutoff, we can use the number of satellites actually observed around our own galaxy as a test of different WDM models (such as sterile neutrinos).
First, we explore the simplest case of a thermal relic WDM particle (and alter- natively a sterile neutrino produced via non-resonant oscillations). We use the galform semi-analytic model of galaxy formation to compare predicted satel- lite luminosity functions to Milky Way data and determine a lower bound on the WDM particle mass. This depends strongly on the Milky Way halo mass, and to some extent, on the baryonic physics assumed. For our fiducial model we find that for a thermal relic particle mass of 3.3 keV (the 2σ lower limit from an anal- ysis of the Lyman-α forest by Viel et al.) the Milky Way halo mass is required to be > 1.4 × 1012 M⊙. For this same fiducial model, we also find that all WDM particle masses are ruled out (at 95% confidence) if the Milky Way halo mass is smaller than 1.0 × 1012 M⊙, while if the mass of the Galactic halo is less than 1.8 ×1012 M⊙, only WDM relic particle masses larger than 2 keV are allowed.
Next, we consider models in which some of the WDM particles are resonantly produced sterile neutrinos, which behave "colder" than the non-resonantly pro- duced population also being generated. This model of sterile neutrino darkmatter is well-motivated theoretically, and is also in less conflict with current Lyman-α bounds. This scenario then becomes a two-parameter problem involving both the particle mass and the resonant fraction. We repeat the satellite abundance test applied to this new problem to rule out parts of the parameter space for different Milky Way halo masses. Focusing on a 7 keV sterile neutrino particle which may have been hinted at by recent observations, we find that if the Milky Way halo mass is 2 × 1012 M⊙ then most cases are allowed, but if the mass is 1 × 1012 M⊙ then this particle is likely ruled out.


First-order diffraction from thin crystals of photorefractive Bi12SiO20 and Bi12TiO20 is investigated for application to real-time holographic interferometry. Enhancement of the first-order diffracted beam is achieved through the application of a square-wave alternating electric field to the crystals. Results of the dependence of first-order diffraction on experimental parameters are presented and are discussed in relation to the limits that they impose on the design of a real-time holographic interferometer. The resultant interferometer is applied to produce double-exposure interferograms of a simple object.


Multimodal few-shot learning is challenging due to the large domain gap between vision and language modalities. Existing methods are trying to communicate visual concepts as prompts to frozen language models, but rely on hand-engineered task induction to reduce the hypothesis space. To make the whole process learnable, we introduce a multimodal meta-learning approach. Specifically, our approach decomposes the training of the model into a set of related multimodal few-shot tasks. We define a meta-mapper network, acting as a meta-learner, to efficiently bridge frozen large-scale vision and language models and leverage their already learned capacity. By updating the learnable parameters only of the meta-mapper, it learns to accrue shared meta-knowledge among these tasks. Thus, it can rapidly adapt to newly presented samples with only a few gradient updates. Importantly, it induces the task in a completely data-driven manner, with no need for a hand-engineered task induction. We evaluate our approach on recently proposed multimodal few-shot benchmarks, measuring how rapidly the model can bind novel visual concepts to words and answer visual questions by observing only a limited set of labeled examples. The experimental results show that our meta-learning approach outperforms the baseline across multiple datasets and various training settings while being computationally more efficient.


Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of infrared diode laser on pain reduction during canine initial retraction. Methods: Twelve patients in need of canine retraction were selected. The canines were retracted with closed NiTi coil springs activated to 150 g per side. One canine of each patient was randomly selected for laser irradiation immediately after activation and after 3 and 7 days. The contralateral canines were taken as control group and were submitted only to simulation of laser application. Diode laser (ArGaAl) was employed at wavelength of 780 nm, power of 20 mW and energy density in the target tissue of 5 J/cm2, for 10 seconds per point, delivering an energy of 0.2 J per point and total energy (TE) of 2 J. The analgesic effect was evaluated with aid of a visual analogue scale (VAS), on which the patients indicated 0 to 10 according to the pain experienced at 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after coil spring activation and laser application. The procedure was repeated after one month, upon reactivation of canine retraction. Results and Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference between irradiated side (LG) and control side (CG). Thus, utilization of infrared diode laser (780 nm) according to the present protocol was not statistically effective to reduce pain sensitivity caused by orthodontic movement. Abstract


This paper suggests a blueprint for research initiatives between academia and industry. It is meant to stimulate the discussion of the benefits arising from such collaborative work between researchers in universities and practitioners in the field. We show how both rigour and relevance can be ensured in such a collaborative setting. The paper presents a generic model (the CBR Model), developed over eight years and successfully implemented in an existing longitudinal collaboration. The model consists of four different key areas (funding, topic, cooperation, interpretation) as well as three layers relating to time intervals ((yearly, medium term (3 years), long term). The model is designed to provide researchers with a guideline for setting up similar collaborative arrangements between researchers and industry partners.


In many regional pharmacokinetic experiments and models, the anatomical boundaries of the heart and kidney are intrinsically assumed to be barriers for drug diffusion such that these organs can be represented as one or more compartments. To test this, an experimental preparation was developed in which the heart and kidney of anaesthetized sheep were surrounded with 0.9% saline. The rate of drug diffusion from the surface of the organs into the saline was examined during constant-rate i.v. drug infusions. It was found that the maximum clearances of lidocaine and procainamide into the pericardial saline were 10-3-1 1.6 and 0-6-2.1 ml min-I respectively, and the values for the kidney were 0.3-0-6, 0.1-1.0 and 0.4-1-3 ml min-', for lidocaine, procainamide, and meperidine respectively. These corresponded to calculated times of 4-481 min to reach the steady-state saline concentration depending on the drug and the organ. The steady-state ratio of the saline concentrations over the arterial blood drug concentrations usually ranged from 0.5-1.0. It is concluded that drugs can rapidly enter regions of low or no perfusion surrounding these organs, and that the concept of treating the heart and kidney as compartments may not be valid in certain 'worst-case' situations.


: The presence of a right atrial thrombus is a recognized predictive factor of high mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism. In this report we describe two cases in which a free-floating thrombus in the right atrium was demonstrated by echocardiography; it resolved rapidly in both cases after thrombolytic therapy which resulted in a rapid clinical improvement and favorable outcome. During the acute phase of pulmonary embolism, a dilated right ventricle, a dilated pulmonary artery, a left ventricle of small size and paradoxical motion of the interventricular septum can be detected by echocardiography. In cases of massive pulmonary embolism or when there is doubt regarding the diagnosis, this noninvasive method serves to guide diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. In the special case where a right atrial thrombus is detected by echocardiography, thrombolytic therapy seems warranted.


This article reframes the contemporary legal and ethical debates generated by pregnant women who resist medical advice. Presently known as "maternal-fetal conflicts," these dilemmas arise in contexts ranging from religious refusals of blood transfusions to cocaine addiction. The vast literature discussing these conflicts focuses entirely on the competing rights of mothers and fetuses, and overwhelmingly concludes that the mother's rights prevail. Entirely absent from this analysis is one of the primary parties to these conflicts - the doctor. As a result, the doctor's role in generating these conflicts is eclipsed, and one scarcely notices that these scenarios all are linked by the fact that each instance of "maternal-fetal conflict" represents a dramatic violation of the legal and ethical norms that govern doctor-patient relationships. After resituating these conflicts to accurately reflect doctors' roles, this article uses principles of fiduciary law to evaluate the legality of their actions. Finally, this article articulates a set of legal strategies designed to prevent, or at least to remedy, the harms caused when doctors attempt to impose their will upon their pregnant patients. By proposing an alternative paradigm for the analysis of "maternal-fetal conflicts," this article casts new light on the regulation of pregnancy and motherhood. More importantly, it offers a pragmatic resolution to the medical, ethical and legal dilemmas that, over the course of the past two decades, have increasingly perplexed judges, lawyers, and scholars.


: Aim:The aim of the study is to evaluate radiographically the development of mandibular 1st molar development based on nollas stage of tooth development in 3-6 year old female children. Materials And Methods: The study includes 8 female children of age 3-6 years. The data was collected from patients records and the data was analysed betweenjune 2019 and march 2020, Saveetha Dental College And Hospital,Chennai. Data was recorded by evaluating IOPA and OPG of 36 and 46. After the evaluation based on nollas stages the values were tabulated and documented. The data was then transferred to SPSS software and chi square test was performed to evaluate the significance. Results: In this study molar development in 3-6 years female children was maximum at the age of 6 years. Lower left molar showed a faster rate of development. When dental age is compared to the nollas stage maximum maturation was present at stage 9 of nollas stage of tooth development. Conclusion: From the study we can conclude that Nollas method can be used to assess the dental maturity. It can be used as an adjunct to the radiological examination for calcification of teeth.


: 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is formed by reducing sugars in honey in acidic environments by the Maillard reaction and is known as a carcinogenic, mutagenic and genotoxic compound. The aim of this study is to investigate the toxic HMF content of unbranded flower honey samples sold under the sun under inappropriate conditions and unsupervised on the highway sides and to make an evaluation in terms of food safety. The quality of the analysis results was guaranteed by participating in an international proficiency test. Analysis was performed on a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) device with Diode Array Detector (DAD) and Refractive Index (RI) detectors-The HMF levels of 5 honey samples were determined to exceed the legal limit (40 mg kg -1 ). It is revealed by the current study that the honey sold on the roadside is not safe in terms of toxic HMF. In addition, 5 samples were not found to comply with the regulation in terms of glucose + fructose content and 2 samples in terms of fructose/glucose ratio. Thus, it has also been determined that these honeys are not reliable in terms of purity.


Abstract Breast surgery is exceedingly common and may result in significant acute as well as chronic pain. Numerous options exist for the control of perioperative breast pain, including several newly described regional anesthesia techniques, but anesthesiologists have an insufficient understanding of the anatomy of the breast, the anatomic structures disrupted by the various breast surgeries, and the theoretical and experimental evidence supporting the use of the various analgesic options. In this article, we review the anatomy of the breast, common breast surgeries and their potential anatomic sources of pain, and analgesic techniques for managing perioperative pain. We performed a systematic review of the evidence for these analgesic techniques, including intercostal block, epidural administration, paravertebral block, brachial plexus block, and novel peripheral nerve blocks.


In dogs exposed to 100 percent oxygen at 3 atmospheres absolute pressure for more than 4 hours, a characteristic retinal lesion, manifested as the cytoid-body change, occurs. The selectivity of this injury suggests that the eye may be used as a sensitive indicator and as a site for study of oxygen toxicity. The cytoid body, an entity of disputed genesis, was produced experimentally for the first time.


We present the status of ongoing work toward the development of a biomedical information system at the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, a research and development division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). For any class of biomedical images, the problems confronting the researcher in image indexing are (a) developing robust algorithms for localizing and identifying anatomy relevant for that image class and relevant to the indexing goals, (b) developing algorithms for labeling the segmented anatomy based on its pathology, (c) developing a suitable indexing and similarity matching method for visual data, and (d) associating the text information on the imaged person, indexed separately, for query and retrieval along with the visual information. We are in the process of building a content-based image retrieval system which supports hybrid image and text queries and includes a biomedical image database. The paper describes this prototype CBIR2 system and the algorithms used in it. Image shapebased retrieval is done by image example and user sketch of the vertebrae on the spine x-ray images from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data.


Interactants' non-reciprocal use of Japanese speech styles, i.e., the addressee honorific masu form and the non-honorific plain form, is frequently treated as the salient feature constituting speakers' hierarchical identities. The hierarchical identities in question in this study are senpai-koohai 'senior-junior'relationships among Japanese college students. The paper presents analyses that demonstrate that the construction of these hierarchical relationships depends on context. The data derive from nine hours of audio recordings of dyadic and multiparty interactions among college students at the meetings of an extracurricular club. Conceptualizing on-stage and off-stage as frames of talk that function as context in this data set, the study finds that hierarchical identities are not foregrounded during on-stage talk, but can be foregrounded during off-stage talk when the participants' club roles are not foregrounded; the use of non-reciprocal speech styles that lead to hierarchical identity construction is observed in this situation. On the other hand, hierarchical identities are backgrounded during on-stage talk when the participants' club roles are foregrounded. The use of the addressee honorific masu form in this situation indexes that the speaker is engaged in a club role, such as discussion leader or participant.


AIMS
To evaluate the validity of the COPE index (CI) carer assessment tool within a study exploring perceptions of carer support, health, and wellbeing. To assess the utility and acceptability of the CI with health practitioners and informal carers of people with dementia, following the European COPE protocol.

METHODS
Research interviews (one pre- and two post-CI assessment) recorded demographic characteristics of carer (n = 45) and care recipient, formal (service) and informal support use and satisfaction, self-reported health, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), Burden Interview, Caregiver Competence, and Personal Gain. COPE Index assessment was undertaken by referring health practitioners (n = 12).

RESULTS
Construct validity of the CI compared positively with findings reported in the literature. Psychological morbidity in carers (33%) was often undiagnosed; 19% of carers presented a more positive perception of their health to the health practitioner than to the researcher; diagnosis of care recipients was not always clear to carers (25%). COPE Index assessment improved both communication and understanding of carers' needs and was evaluated positively by most carers and health practitioners.

CONCLUSIONS
The COPE Index is an easily administered and generally acceptable tool that may be useful for initiating more comprehensive assessment of dementia carers' needs.


A short cut review was carried out to see if 'finger' thoracostomy was a safe and effective procedure to use in the pre-hospital setting in patients with traumatic cardiac arrest. Three relevant papers were found describing the use of this technique in the pre-hospital setting. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. Finger thoracostomy appears to be an acceptable and effective technique for trained physicians in the pre-hospital setting.


We report on a single-step fabrication procedure of borosilicate glass micropores surrounded by a smooth microcrater. By inserting a thin air-gap between a borosilicate glass substrate and a reflective layer, we achieve dual-sided laser ablation of the device. The resultant crater provides a smoother, curved surface onto which cells settle during planar patch clamping. Gigaohm seals, which are more easily achievable on these devices as compared to conventional micropores, are achieved by patch clamping human embryonic kidney (HEK 293) cells. Further, the microcraters show enhanced mechanical stability of the planar patch clamped cells during perfusion. We integrate polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic devices with the microcraters and use passive pumping to perfuse the cells. We find that passive pumping increases the pressure within the device by 1.85 Pa. However, due to the enhanced stability of the microcrater, fluidic shearing reduces the seal resistance by only 6.8 MΩ on average, which is less than one percent of the gigaohm seal resistance.


Depth restoration, the task of correcting depth noise and artifacts, has recently risen in popularity due to the increase in commodity depth cameras. When assessing the quality of existing methods, most researchers resort to the popular Middlebury dataset, however, this dataset was not created for depth enhancement, and therefore lacks the option of comparing genuine low-quality depth images with their high-quality, ground-truth counterparts. To address this shortcoming, we present the Depth Restoration Occlusionless Temporal (DROT) dataset. This dataset offers real depth sensor input coupled with registered pixel-to-pixel color images, and the ground-truth depth to which we wish to compare. Our dataset includes not only Kinect 1 and Kinect 2 data, but also an Intel R200 sensor intended for integration into hand-held devices. Beyond this, we present a new temporal depth-restoration method. Utilizing multiple frames, we create a number of possibilities for an initial degraded depth map, which allows us to arrive at a more educated decision when refining depth images. Evaluating this method with our dataset shows significant benefits, particularly for overcoming real sensor-noise artifacts.


The bacterial flagellar motor is a cell-envelope-embedded macromolecular machine that functions as a propeller to move the cell. Rather than being an invariant machine, the flagellar motor exhibits significant variability between species, allowing bacteria to adapt to, and thrive in, a wide range of environments. For instance, different torque-generating stator modules allow motors to operate in conditions with different pH and sodium concentrations and some motors are adapted to drive motility in high-viscosity environments. How such diversity evolved is unknown. Here we use electron cryo-tomography to determine the in situ macromolecular structures of the flagellar motors of three Gammaproteobacteria species: Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, providing the first views of intact motors with dual stator systems. Complementing our imaging with bioinformatics analysis, we find a correlation between the stator system of the motor and its structural complexity. Motors with a single H+-driven stator system have only the core P- and L-rings in their periplasm; those with dual H+-driven stator systems have an extra component elaborating their P-ring; and motors with Na+- (or dual Na+-H+)- driven stator systems have additional rings surrounding both their P- and L-rings. Our results suggest an evolution of structural complexity that may have enabled pathogenic bacteria like L. pneumophila and P. aeruginosa to colonize higher-viscosity environments in animal hosts.


A new clocking system is proposed in which the clock is transmitted as almost complete standing wave along a guarded transmission line. The line and the guard are driven with signals of almost the same shape. Simulation shows that the skew is reduced to 1/50 in bipolar and 1/20 in CMOS circuits.


The objective of this study was to define the nature, magnitude, and mechanisms of histamine-induced leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions in postcapillary venules of the rat mesentery using intravital microscopic techniques. Superfusion of the mesentery with histamine (10(-7)-10(-5) M) resulted in a dose-related increase in the number of rolling leukocytes, a reduction in rolling velocity, and an increased clearance of FITC-labeled rat albumin from blood to superfusate. The histamine-induced recruitment of rolling leukocytes and increased albumin clearance were prevented by histamine H1 (hydroxyzine, diphenhydramine) but not H2 (cimetidine) receptor antagonists. Because histamine induces expression of the adhesion molecule P-selectin in cultured endothelial cells, a monoclonal antibody directed against rat P-selectin and soluble sialyl-LewisX oligosaccharide (the carbohydrate ligand to P-selectin) were also tested as inhibitors. Both were effective in preventing the histamine-induced recruitment of rolling leukocytes, but neither agent attenuated the increased albumin clearance. These observations suggest that (a) histamine recruits rolling leukocytes and increases albumin leakage in postcapillary venules via H1 receptor activation, (b) histamine-induced recruitment of rolling leukocytes is mediated in part by P-selectin expressed on the endothelial cell surface, and (c) the histamine-induced vascular albumin leakage is unrelated to leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion. Our results are consistent with the view that histamine may act as a mediator of acute inflammatory reactions.


Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis) is widespread in nature, mainly found in soil, water, and the flora of human gastrointestinal tract. The current study was attempted to investigate the effects of Mr. Trivedi's biofield energy treatment on P. mirabilis both in lyophilized as well as revived state for antimicrobial susceptibility, biochemical characteristics, and biotype. P. mirabilis cells were procured from MicroBioLogics Inc., USA, in a sealed pack bearing the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC 25933) number and stored according to the recommended storage protocol until needed for experiments. Two sets of ATCC samples were taken in this experiment and denoted as A and B. The ATCC A sample was revived and divided into two parts Gr.I (control) and Gr.II (revived); likewise, the ATCC B was labeled as Gr.III (lyophilized). Group II and III were given with biofield treatment. All experimental parameters were studied using automated MicroScan Walk-Away® system. The result of antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration showed 6.67% and 9.38% alteration, respectively in treated cells of P. mirabilis as compared to the control. In addition, the overall biochemical reactions were significantly altered (42.42%) in the treated groups with respect to the control. Moreover, biotype number was changed in the treated cells, Gr. II, day 5 (40061546) and day 10 (77365764), while without alteration of organism as compared to the control (40061544; Proteus mirabilis). The results suggested that biofield treatment has an impact on P. mirabilis in revived state predominately.


BACKGROUND
Physical exercise in addition to standard care (SC) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is now a common practice in many care units. However, exercises can cover a wide range of interventions, and the specific effects of different interventions still deserve to be further investigated.

AIM
The aim of this study was to compare the effects of 12 weeks of two different types of physical exercises with SC in patients suffering from PD.

DESIGN
Pseudo-randomized controlled trial.

SETTING
University laboratory for outcomes, University Hospital Centre for interventions.

POPULATION
Fifty-two outpatients suffering from mild to moderate PD at baseline.

METHODS
Participants were allocated to three groups: the strength training (ST) group performed individualized upper and lower limbs strength training, the aerobic training (AE) group performed tailored gradual aerobic cycling, and the third group received SC. The effects of the interventions on body function were assessed by measuring isokinetic concentric peak torque for knee extension and flexion, peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and peak work load (PWL) during an incremental maximal cycling test. Changes in mobility were evaluated from spatial-temporal gait features measured by mean of an accelerometer system and the Six-Minute Walk Distance (6MWD) Test. We used questionnaires to estimate health-related quality of life and habitual physical activity.

RESULTS
No significant changes in any outcome measures occurred in the SC group. More than 80% of the participants adequately completed the AE and the ST interventions. The ST group significantly improved all peak torque measures (P≤0.01), except knee extension in the least affected side (P=0.13). This group also improved the PWL (P=0.009) and 6mwd (P=0.03). The AE group improved the VO2peak (P=0.02) and PWL (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Physical fitness in patients with PD rapidly improved in compliance with training specificities, but better fitness hardly translated into better mobility and health-related quality of life.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT
Physiotherapists can efficiently propose physical conditioning to patients with mild to moderate PD, but these interventions are insufficient to improve gait and participation. Notwithstanding, ST is an efficient intervention for improving walking capacity.


OBJECTIVE
To study the distribution, the expression and the significance of TGF-beta(1), b-FGF, IL-8, IL-13 and IFN-gamma in different lung tissue compartments in usual interstitial pneumonia/idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (UIP/IPF) and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP).

METHODS
Specimens were obtained by open or video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsy from patients with UIP (n = 5) and NSIP (n = 8). Control specimens were obtained by surgical lobectomy from patients with primary lung cancer (n = 5). The distribution of these cytokines in lung tissues was observed by semi-quantitative method using immunohistochemical staining.

RESULTS
TGF-beta(1), IL-8 and b-FGF were localized in alveolar epithelial cells, alveolar macrophages, and the bronchial epithelium. Overall intensity of TGF-beta(1), IL-8 and b-FGF expression in UIP was stronger in comparison with NSIP. IL-13 was distributed in alveolar epithelial cells, alveolar macrophages and interstitial mononuclear cells. Its expression in UIP was similar to that in NSIP. IFN-gamma was expressed mainly in interstitial mononuclear cells. Its expression in NSIP was stronger than that in UIP. The ratio of IL-13 to IFN-gamma in UIP (2.18 +/- 0.76) was significantly higher than that in NSIP (0.95 +/- 0.28) or that in the control (0.91 +/- 0.16) (P < 0.05, UIP versus NSIP or control), whereas the ratio of IL-13 to IFN-gamma in NSIP was similar to that in the control. In normal lungs, only alveolar macrophages expressed these cytokines.

CONCLUSION
The different expression of TGF-beta(1), IL-8 and b-FGF in UIP and NSIP and the balance of IL-13/IFN-gamma may be involved in the different pathogenesis in these two diseases.


Background: Anemia is the most common medical disorder observed among pregnant women, its incidence being particularly high in many underdeveloped tropical countries where it remains a major contributing factor to maternal morbidity, and it is also associated with high perinatal mortality rates.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of anemia during pregnancy and its associated factors among pregnant females.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional primary health-care-based study, which included pregnant females attending antenatal care clinic at Rusaifah primary health care center in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia, during 2013–2014 through a checklist especially designed by the investigator.

Results: The prevalence of anemia was 28%, 49.5%, and 37% in the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively. Anemia was mostly of mild type and was significantly associated with age of the last child, age of pregnant women in the first trimester, and birth weight of the outcome child.

Conclusion: Anemia was found to be high in this study population and was associated with several factors. This indicates the necessity to improve the quality and quantity of food rich in iron for pregnant women through health education.


The successful management of an extensive non-atherosclerotic ilio-femoro-popliteal aneurysm is described. This very rare aneurysm developed at the site of an old penetrating lower thigh wound caused by an infected arrow. To the best of our knowledge this is the first reported case in English literature.


Among approximately 20,000 apparently healthy subjects whose serum cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) values were screened at a health examination, those with the most pronounced hyperlipidaemia have been selected for further studies. Thus, 188 males and 126 females, aged 30-65 years, with asymptomatic primary hyperlipoproteinaemia (HLP) and 59 male and 69 female controls with non-elevated serum lipids were studied with regard to frequency of ST segment depressions during exercise to near maximal heart rate. Furthermore, the concentrations of cholesterol and TG were determined in the lipoprotein (LP) classes very low (VLDL), low (LDL) and high (HDL) density LP, separated by preparative ultracentrifugation. From the LP analysis each subject's HLP was classified according to the typing system of HLP recommended by the WHO. The frequency of ST depressions (Minnesota code 4.1-4.3 as well as 4.1-4.4) increased with age, was higher in females than in males and was increased in all types of HLP in males. The percentage frequencies of ST depressions 4.1-4.4 in the various types of HLP were (male/female, p against controls): controls 16/36, type IIA 50 (p less than 0.01)/56, type IIB 64 (p less than 0.01)/75 (p less than 0.01)/75 (p less than 0.05), type III 67 (p less than 0.01)/33 and type IV HLP 40 (p less than 0.01/53. There was no significant difference in the frequencies of ST depressions in subjects with "high" and "low" BP (hypertensives were excluded from the study) or in subjects with "high" and "low" k-value for the i.v. glucose tolerance. Non-smokers had a tendency to higher frequencies of ST depressions than smokers. The association between different LPs and other "risk factors" and the occurrence of ST depressions in HLP were studied further with multiple regression analysis. Invariably age was the best predictor of ST depressions. The LP fraction giving the highest correlation coefficient was LDL cholesterol in both sexes. VLDL TG and LDL TG were also positively and significantly associated with ST depressions. HDL cholesterol was negatively but insignificantly correlated to ST depressions. When age and LDL cholesterol had been entered into the multiple regression, the only factor giving further significance was VLDL TG in males. Probability tables for the occurrence of ST depressions considering age and different levels of LDL cholesterol and VLDL TG were given. The importance of simultaneous consideration of both VLDL TG and LDL cholesterol in ST segment depression was evident from the tables. Of other "risk factors" (BP, glucose tollerance, smoking, ESR) entered into the regression together with only age and the LPs, only ESR contributed with borderline significance to ST depressions.


The use of dental morphology to estimate ancestry has become more prevalent within forensic anthropology, and several new methods have been published (e.g., Edgar 2005, 2013; Irish 2015; Scott et al. 2018). While these methods represent great advances, they are lacking in modern Asian reference samples. As such, they may be unable to adequately differentiate Asian individuals from those who express similar dental morphology (i.e., Hispanics and Native Americans). This study explores dental morphological population variation of various skeletal samples in an effort to suggest areas of improvement for methods of ancestry estimation. Biological distance analyses were conducted on dental morphological data from a Mexican skeletal collection housed at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City ( n = 88), Hispanic dental casts housed at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque ( n = 71), a Japanese skeletal sample at Chiba University in Chiba, Japan ( n = 96), and a comparative global data set collected by T. Hanihara. Clear patterns emerge that align with the Sinodont/Sundadont dental variation, where Native American samples cluster with East Asian samples (Sinodont) and Southeast Asian groups cluster with Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia (Sundadont). The two Hispanic samples are found to be distinct from these Asian samples and cluster with Macro-European and West African samples. These results highlight the complexity of Asian and Asian-derived populations and underscore the need for appropriate references samples in method creation.


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The crystalline basement of the southern Calabrian-Peloritani nappe pile edifice (Aspromonte Massif and Peloritani Mountains) consists of several tectonic slices, which were stacked during the Miocene Apennine thrust sheet emplacement (Fig. 1). The two lowermost tectonic slices of this nappe-edifice, here called respectively AspromontePeloritani Unit and Samo-Africo Complex, tectonically overlap along a thick Late Oligocene mylonitic shear zone, which involves both remnants of the Hercynian chain and Alpine metamorphic rocks (Figs. 1–2). A structural and petrological study was employed to reconstruct both the entire P–T evolution of the two units and the kinematics of orogenic transport, which characterise the Late Oligocene mylonitic stage. P–T estimates were made using an integrated approach derived from conventional thermobarometry, computation of metamorphic equilibria in the NaCaKFMASH system, and an analysis of the deformation behaviour of quartz, feldspar and garnet. The shear event marks the beginning of the joint structural and metamorphic history. Prior to this event, the two units had undergone very different tectonometamorphic evolutions. The upper unit (Aspromonte-Peloritani Unit) underwent pre-mylonitic HT–LP Variscan polyphase retrograde metamorphism (peak conditions 0.39–0.5 GPa; 650°–675 °C). By contrast, the deeper Samo-Africo Complex underwent pre-mylonitic LT–HP metamorphism (peak conditions 0.98–1.2 GPa; 480°–560 °C), linked to crustal thickening of an Early Alpine age. Syn-mylonitic P–T estimates confirm the beginning of the joint tectonometamorphic history, evolving from 500° to 350 °C with P ranging from 0.775 to 0.325 GPa. This event, linked to Late Oligocene Alpine shearing, developed during the uplift and exhumation of the crystalline basement rocks along a deep-seated compressional shear zone. The above results lead us to suggest a new geodynamic scenario for the southern sector of the Calabrian Peloritani Orogen: Following subduction of the Aspromonte-Peloritani Unit and the Samo-Africo Complex these two units were extruded along the collisional suture. In this tectonic reconstruction, the Samo-Africo Complex is interpreted as a post-Variscan sedimentary succession involved in a complete Alpine orogenic cycle, consisting of an Early Alpine crustal thickening stage and a Late Alpine Africa-verging compressional shear stage.


tive reversed phase HPLC. These structures were established by III, MS. 1H-NMR and, when possible, '3C-NMR and chemical methods. Certain fractions of the ether extract demonstrated strong cytotoxic activity with cultured P-388 cells.


SIALOLITHIASIS, the formation of a calculus in the major and minor salivary glands or ducts, is a rare entity in children. At the present time 11 documented cases of submaxillary gland sialolithiasis in children have been reported.1-5In all these cases, the salivary calculus was found either near or in the orifice of Wharton's duct. It was removed by either milking or simple intraoral incision of the duct. Sialolithiasis in adults is a relatively common disease. The submaxillary gland is the most common site of calculus formation. Levy et al2in their review of 180 patients with salivary calculi noted that 144 patients had calculi in the submaxillary gland. The average age of these patients was 48 and their youngest patient was 12. Hardy1in his review of submaxillary calculus disease found 20 patients with this disease; his youngest patient was 15 years old. Submaxillary gland obstruction


Girgis and Milner described an interesting presentation of lactic acidosis in a patient with life-threatening asthma. However, we think that the metabolic disturbance was not necessarily caused by intravenous infusion of salbutamol. We have recently observed a similar case of a 36-year-old female patient who was admitted to a High Dependency Unit with a severe asthma attack. The patient, who was otherwise normally fit and well, received a standard regime of nebulised salbutamol and atrovent followed by intravenous aminophylline and magnesium. She was tachycardic with a heart rate of around 140 bpm and therefore we decided not to use i.v. salbutamol. Interestingly, her arterial blood gas sample taken on admission showed a picture of compensated metabolic acidosis with pH 7.39, PCO2 3.51 KPa, PO2 18.4 kPa, bicarbonate 15.0 mmol.l, BE)8.4, and lactate 6.6 mmol.l on 10 L of oxygen. Physical examination, apart from severe bronchospasm and tachycardia, was unremarkable. The patient continued to receive regular b2-agonists, i.v steroids and aminophylline with a good response. Blood gases taken regularly showed a gradual fall in lactate and improvement in base deficit with both parameters returning to normal levels 6 h later. The commonest cause of lactic acidosis is tissue hypoxia especially if associated with strenuous exercise [1]. Lactic acidosis is not uncommon in severe asthma [2]. Bronchospasm causing tissue hypoxia and increased work of breathing leads to lactate accumulation.


In this work we report the most recent high-temperature long-term reliability results of the 600 V/14 A, 4H-SiC vertical-channel junction field-effect transistors (VJFETs). Two groups (A and B) devices were subjected to different thermal and electrical stresses. One device (Group A) reached 12,000 hours of continuous switching without a single failure. Four devices in Group A were thermally stressed at 250 °C over 4,670 hours in air, for which standard deviation of the specific on-resistance (RONSP) in linear region at gate bias (VGS) of 3 V were < 4.1% throughout the entire duration time. The off-state characteristics were evaluated by high temperature reverse bias (HTRB) tests. Three devices (Group A) were biased at 50% rated BVDS at 250 °C for 2,278 hours. A higher reverse bias at 80 % rated BVDS was then applied to 14 devices (group B) at 200 °C for 1,000 hours. Variations of the leakage current were negligible throughout the entire HTRB test for all tested devices.


Model predictive control based wave power extraction algorithms have been developed and found promising for wave energy converters. Although mostly proven by simulation studies, model predictive control based algorithms have shown to outperform classical wave power extraction algorithms such as linear damping and reactive control. Prediction models and objective functions have, however, often been simplified a lot by for example, excluding power take-off system losses. Furthermore, discrete fluid power forces systems has never been validated experimentally in published research. In this paper a model predictive control based wave power extraction algorithm is designed for a discrete fluid power power take-off system. The loss models included in the objective function are based on physical models of the losses associated with discrete force shifts and throttling. The developed wave power extraction algorithm directly includes the quantized force output and the losses models of the discrete fluid power system. The experimental validation of the wave power extraction algorithm developed in the paper shown an increase of 14.6% in yearly harvested energy when compared to a reactive control algorithm.


Excerpt] Talent management organizations are increasingly deriving insights from data to make better decisions. Their use of data analytics is advancing from descriptive to predictive and prescriptive analytics. Descriptive analytics is the most basic form, providing the hindsight view of what happened and laying the foundation for turning data into information. More advanced uses are predictive (advanced forecasts and the ability to model future results) and prescriptive ("the top-tier of analytics that leverage machine learning techniques ... to both interpret data and recommend actions") analytics (1). Appendix A illustrates these differences. This report summarizes our most relevant findings about how both academic researchers and HR practitioners are successfully using data analytics to inform decision-making in workforce issues, with a focus on executive assessment and selection.


At Legacy, we provide new construction, commercial and residential heating or air conditioning, full service maintenance, as well as plumbing and electrical services. This combination of capabilities makes it easy for us to deliver comprehensive solutions—from large commercial new construction projects to residential maintenance—Legacy's full service, people first attitude provides value, quality and a consistent, positive overall experience.


The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate changes in neurologic abnormalities in 212 preterm and 128 full-term children. Preterm infants with severe medical complications were considered at high risk, while those with milder complications were considered at low risk for neurodevelopmental abnormality. The patterns of change in neurologic status for the high- and low-risk preterm and term groups across 6, 12, 24, 40, and 54 months of age were compared using growth modeling analysis. As expected, the term group showed minimal change, while the two preterm groups demonstrated complex, nonlinear patterns of change in neurologic abnormalities. While the results demonstrate improvement over time in both groups of preterm infants, 35% of the children in the high-risk group had neurologic scores in the borderline or abnormal range at 54 months. These findings demonstrate that neurologic deficits are still evident at preschool age in some preterm children and that these deficits are related to the severity of neonatal complications. (J Child Neurol 1999;14:502-508).


International and domestic environmental law has evolved quite rapidly in the last few decades. At the international level the Stockholm and Rio Declarations paved the way for a broad based consensus of the international community on environmental issues and principles. At the Domestic level also many states have incorporated environmental protection in their constitutions and even more states are doing the same at least in their domestic legislations. In this process of evolution environmental law has unleashed a number of novel principles such as; the participatory principle, the polluter pays principle, the precautionary principle, the intergenerational and intra-generational principles, the prevention principle, the sustainable development principle and so on. Keywords—Environment, human rights, international, protection.


Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have been regarded as exemplary of nonsense as a genre. The present article is based on a detailed research of how generic nonsense manifests itself on the verbal level of the text. The chosen method of investigation involved a cross-cultural approach since it facilitated an immediate comparison between the effects of established nonsense-making procedures in the source text (the original) and the changed verbalizations of several target texts (the translations). This article presents an example of the textual analysis that established a hierarchical analytical model: verbalizing procedures as formal categories create nonsense stylemes as elements of nonsense discourse. The analysis carried out confirmed that the selected Slovene translations no longer belonged to generic nonsense on account of transformed verbalizations that disregard the existing structure of the original text. At the same time, the analysis also showed the extent to which translation as an act of cross-cultural communication was influenced by the change in cultural and literary contexts: the adaptations carried out in Slovene translations were determined by the absence of nonsense tradition in Slovene literature since the nonsense phenomena (established in the analysis) have so far not been recognized as such.


Using a survey of dairy farmers in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida, this study examines labor patterns on U.S. dairy farms by analyzing employment of nonfamily and immigrant labor, as well as labor precarity and contingency. We build upon and connect two divergent theoretical frames: first, the contradictory class location of family farmers, and second, the neoliberal rise of precarious and contingent labor. We move beyond the family/nonfamily farm binary often found in examinations of the class location of family farmers, including the interplay of family and nonfamily labor, demonstrating that farm size is an equally important component of labor relations to farm ownership structure. Farms' labor relations more accurately exist on a continuum between "family" and "industrial" that reflects both ownership structure and farm size. Extending the study of precarious and contingent labor into the agricultural sector, we suggest that high rates of overtime work may be a unique form of labor precarity in agriculture, not just part-time work. Scholars must acknowledge that labor precarity and contingency may take different forms across diverse sectors.


Children's theory of mind (ToM) unfolds reliably through a sequence of conceptual milestones including, but not limited to, false belief. Sequences vary with culture, one observed previously in Western cultures (Australia, the United States) and another in two non-Western cultures, China and Iran. Two explanations for cross-cultural sequence differences have been suggested: (a) collectivism versus individualism or (b) authoritarian versus authoritative parenting. However, neither has been directly tested empirically. Our goal was to do so. Children (n = 122, aged 4-6) in Indonesia (a collectivist culture) took Wellman and Liu's ToM Scale. Their mothers completed two self-report measures evaluating their attitudes to (a) collectivism/individualism and (b) authoritarian versus authoritative parenting. Indonesian mothers preferred collectivism to individualism and authoritativeness to authoritarianism. Child ToM was negatively correlated with authoritarianism but unrelated to other parental attitudes. ToM Scale sequences differed significantly between Javanese and Sundanese children in Indonesia and by city of residence but not with collectivism/individualism or parenting style. Javanese children (primarily from Jakarta) matched the Western ToM Scale sequence, whereas Sundanese children (primarily from Bogor) matched the Chinese/Iranian sequence. Findings highlight benefits of going beyond broad characterizations to directly examine how culture, ethnicity, and parenting relate to ToM sequences and development.