Abstract Two new compounds, deacetylisowortmins A (1) and B (2), were isolated from Talaromyces wortmannii LGT-4. Their structures were established by 1D and 2D NMR spectra, as well as comparison of the experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra. Monoamine oxidase and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of 1 and 2 were also evaluated.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the technology and nursing services that would be required to care for intensive care unit (ICU) low-risk monitor admissions in an intermediate unit.

DESIGN
Prospective, multicenter, inception cohort analysis.

SETTING
Forty U.S. hospitals with > 200 beds, including 26 hospitals that were randomly selected and 14 that volunteered for the study.

PATIENTS
A sample of 8,040 ICU patients admitted to the ICU for monitoring, who received no active life-support treatment on ICU day 1.

INTERVENTIONS
None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Demographic, physiologic, and treatment information were obtained during ICU days 1 to 7. A previously validated multivariate equation was used to identify 6,180 monitor admissions at low (< 10%) risk for receiving active treatment during their entire ICU stay. We used daily Therapeutic intervention Scoring System (TISS) data to identify the equipment, type and amount of nursing care, and the types of active treatment that would have been used had these ICU patients been admitted to an intermediate care unit. Mean day-1 ICU TISS scores were as follows: 16.4 for all patients; 18.3 for surgical patients; and 13.5 for medical admissions. Concentrated nursing care accounted for 89% and technologic monitoring for 11% of day-1 TISS points. Surgical admissions had a 2.8-day mean ICU length of stay and received an average of 16.5 TISS points per patient per day. Medical admissions had a 2.7-day mean ICU length of stay and received an average of 12.3 TISS points per patient per day. Subsequent active life-support therapy was received by 4.4% of these ICU low-risk monitor admissions.

CONCLUSIONS
The services received by ICU low-risk monitor admissions provide insight regarding the equipment and nursing care that might be required, and the kinds of emergencies that might occur, if these patients were cared for in medical and surgical intermediate care units. Our data suggest that if ICU low-risk monitor patients were admitted to an intermediate care unit, they would mainly require concentrated nursing care (nurse/patient ratio of 1:3 to 1:4) and limited technologic monitoring.


While we would like agents that can coordinate with humans, current algorithms such as self-play and population-based training create agents that can coordinate with themselves. Agents that assume their partner to be optimal or similar to them can converge to coordination protocols that fail to understand and be understood by humans. To demonstrate this, we introduce a simple environment that requires challenging coordination, based on the popular game Overcooked, and learn a simple model that mimics human play. We evaluate the performance of agents trained via self-play and population-based training. These agents perform very well when paired with themselves, but when paired with our human model, they are significantly worse than agents designed to play with the human model. An experiment with a planning algorithm yields the same conclusion, though only when the human-aware planner is given the exact human model that it is playing with. A user study with real humans shows this pattern as well, though less strongly. Qualitatively, we find that the gains come from having the agent adapt to the human's gameplay. Given this result, we suggest several approaches for designing agents that learn about humans in order to better coordinate with them. Code is available at https://github.com/HumanCompatibleAI/overcooked_ai.


Objectives Pancreatic cancer (PaC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Multiple studies have investigated the epidemiology and the association between PaC and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) use, revealing mixed results. Using a large database, we sought to investigate the epidemiology of PaC. Methods Using a commercial database (Explorys Inc, Cleveland, Ohio), which includes electronic health record data from 26 major integrated US health care systems, all patients 18 years and older diagnosed with PaC for 5 years were identified based on Systematized Nomenclature Of Medicine—Clinical Terms. We determined the prevalence of PaC and the potential associated factors using univariable and multivariable analysis. Results Of the 32,970,850 individuals, we identified 30,250 individuals with PaC with an overall prevalence of 0.08%. Individuals with PaC were more likely to be males, seniors (age, >65 years), and White, compared with patients without PaC. In subgroup analysis of chronic pancreatitis, individuals on ASA, individuals >65 years, White, and White males were less likely to have PaC, and non-White females were more likely to have PaC. Conclusions This is the largest population-based study evaluating the epidemiology of PaC. We observed a protective association of ASA on a subgroup of patients with PaC and chronic pancreatitis.


A Late Proterozoic ophiolite in the South Carpathian-Balkan region has a total surface-outcrop area of 400 km 2 . It is a complete ophiolitic section that includes mid-ocean ridge basalts, indicating that it was formed in a large ocean. The oceanic crust is unconformably overlain by an ensimatic island arc of Cambrian age. The ophiolite-island-arc assemblage was obducted over the Moesian platform during Early Ordovician time. Both sequences are now incorporated in a continental block as a result of intracontinental convergence, which took place in Variscan time. The ophiolite is situated along the Thracian suture, which divides the Moesian platform and the Thracian continental fragment. This suture is part of a larger one, referred to as the South European suture, that is situated between the Thracian massif and the Adriatic plate to the southwest and the Moesian platform, Bohemian, and Central French massif to the northeast.


We present a direct comparison between interface-resolved and one-way-coupled point-particle direct numerical simulations (DNS) of gravity-free turbulent channel flow laden with small inertial particles, with high particle-to-fluid density ratio and diameter of approximately three viscous units. The most dilute flow considered, solid volume fraction $O(10^{-5})$, shows the particle feedback on the flow to be negligible, whereas differences with respect to the unladen case, notably a drag increase of approximately 10 %, are found for a volume fraction $O(10^{-4})$. This is attributed to a dense layer of particles at the wall, caused by turbophoresis, flowing with large particle-to-fluid apparent slip velocity. The most dilute case is therefore taken as the benchmark for assessing the validity of a widely used point-particle model, where the particle dynamics results only from inertial and nonlinear drag forces. In the bulk of the channel, the first- and second-order moments of the particle velocity from the point-particle DNS agree well with those from the interface-resolved DNS. Close to the wall, however, most of the statistics show major qualitative differences. We show that this difference originates from the strong shear-induced lift force acting on the particles in the near-wall region. This mechanism is well captured by the lift force model due to Saffman (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 22 (2), 1965, pp. 385–400), while other widely used, more elaborate, approaches aiming at extending the lift model for a wider range of particle Reynolds numbers can actually underpredict the magnitude of the near-wall particle velocity fluctuations for the cases analysed here.


Background and Aims Endoscopic resection is safe and effective to remove early neoplasia (ie,high-grade intra-epithelial neoplasia/early cancer) in Barrett's oesophagus. To prevent metachronous lesions during follow-up, the remaining Barrett's oesophagus can be removed by stepwise radical endoscopic resection (SRER). The aim was to evaluate the combined experience in four tertiary referral centres with SRER to eradicate Barrett's oesophagus with early neoplasia. Methods Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Four tertiary referral centres. Participants: 169 patients (151 males, age 64 years (IQR 57–71), Barrett's oesophagus 3 cm (IQR 2–5)) with early neoplasia in Barrett's oesophagus ≤5 cm, without deep submucosal infiltration or lymph node metastases, treated by SRER between January 2000 and September 2006. Intervention: Endoscopic resection every 4–8 weeks, until complete endoscopic and histological eradication of Barrett's oesophagus and neoplasia. Results According to intention-to-treat analysis complete eradication of all neoplasia and all intestinal metaplasia by the end of the treatment phase was reached in 97.6% (165/169) and 85.2% (144/169) of patients, respectively. One patient had progression of neoplasia during treatment and died of metastasised adenocarcinoma (0.6%). After median follow-up of 32 months (IQR 19–49), complete eradication of neoplasia and intestinal metaplasia was sustained in 95.3% (161/169) and 80.5% (136/169) of patients, respectively. Acute, severe complications occurred in 1.2% of patients, and 49.7% of patients developed symptomatic stenosis. Conclusions SRER of Barrett's oesophagus ≤5 cm containing early neoplasia appears to be an effective treatment modality with a low rate of recurrent lesions during follow-up. The procedure, however, is technically demanding and is associated with oesophageal stenosis in half of the patients.


Manganese phosphate conversion coating was prepared by adding addition agent towards phosphate bath. The structure was investigated using SEM/EDX, and the anti-corrosion performance was evaluated by electrochemical technique. It was found that the film presented in crystal structure, and the crystalloid grain transformed from large grain toward small particles upon the addition. The corrosion resistance was studied by polarization curves and EIS in 3.5%NaCl. Polarization curves showed that the corrosion potential of the coating shifted remarkably towards positive direction comparing with that of AZ91 substrate. EIS results indicated that the radius of the capacity impedance for phosphate film increased distinctly, which validated the excellent anti-corrosion performance of the film.


We have screened chromosome arm 3L for ethyl methanesulfonate−induced mutations that disrupt localization of fluorescently labeled gurken (grk) messenger (m)RNA, whose transport along microtubules establishes both major body axes of the developing Drosophila oocyte. Rapid identification of causative mutations by single-nucleotide polymorphism recombinational mapping and whole-genomic sequencing allowed us to define nine complementation groups affecting grk mRNA localization and other aspects of oogenesis, including alleles of elg1, scaf6, quemao, nudE, Tsc2/gigas, rasp, and Chd5/Wrb, and several null alleles of the armitage Piwi-pathway gene. Analysis of a newly induced kinesin light chain allele shows that kinesin motor activity is required for both efficient grk mRNA localization and oocyte centrosome integrity. We also show that initiation of the dorsoanterior localization of grk mRNA precedes centrosome localization, suggesting that microtubule self-organization contributes to breaking axial symmetry to generate a unique dorsoventral axis.


Research  background  and  hypothesis. The  efficacy  of  athlete's  sport  performance  depends  on  the  targeted training in certain periods, organization, management, individual adaptation of an athlete to the loads of training and competitions.  Research aim of this work was to determine the impact of intensive training on sport performance of 14–15 year old athletes in rhythmic gymnastics and their optimization.  Research methods. The experiment resulted in modeling two different training programs and establishing the structure of the content of the training programs, as well as athletes' sports performance. The training loads protocols registered the time for choreography, element mastering, competitive routines and athletic training in each training session. The efficacy of the training programs was established registering the realization of competitive activities under competitive conditions according to the number of points received by the gymnast of each training program and according to the place won. When we tried to establish if the training sessions and competitive loads matched the specificity of competitive activities, we registered the changes in the athletes' heart rate during different training sessions.Research  results.  Training  of  athletes  in  two  training  programs  was  different  –  their  training  loads  were  not significantly different – from 672 to 697 hours a year, as well as the indices of the training days – from 5.4 to 5.6 days a week, but the training content differed significantly. In most effective training program choreographic training dominated (30.9%). Statistically significant differences (p  < 0.05) were found in the indices of explosive strength and muscular power, specific endurance and coordination movement abilities. At the beginning of the season and at the end of it the realization of the body movement technique performing routines with different tools was not different (p > 0.05). Discussion and conclusion. Sports performance of 14–15-year-old athletes in rhythmic gymnastics was mostly influenced  by  the  time  for  mastering  competitive  routines  (r  =  0.836);  however,  the  research  did  not  establish differences  in  intensifying  training.  Besides  the  importance  of  integral  athletic  fitness,  explosive  strength,  and strength endurance, the research established the significance of aerobic fitness (r  = 0.704) for sports performance. Moreover, the significance of body composition indices increased in comparison with previous training years: body height (r = –0.819), body weight (r = –0.657), and BMI (r = –0.836).Keywords: rhythmic gymnastics, training, performance, metamodel.


A developmentally regulated, 160-kDa trypomastigote surface glycoprotein was previously shown to bind the third component of complement and to inhibit activation of the alternative complement pathway, thus providing the parasites a means of avoiding the lytic effects of complement. We now show that this complement regulatory protein (CRP) binds human C4b, a component of the classical pathway C3 convertase, and may therefore also act to restrict classical complement activation. Characterization of the extent of carbohydrate modification of the protein revealed extensive N-linked glycosylation and no apparent O-linked sugars. The CRP purified from parasites treated with an inhibitor of N-linked glycosylation exhibited a decreased binding affinity for C3b compared with that of the fully glycosylated protein. We have previously shown that the protein was anchored to the membrane via a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol linkage and was spontaneously shed from the parasite surface. The spontaneous release of CRP from the parasite surface may augment the protection of the parasites from complement-mediated lysis by the removal of complement-CRP complexes. The majority of the shed CRP had an apparent molecular mass of 160 kDa and lacked the glycolipid anchor, whereas the membrane form was recovered with the glycolipid anchor attached and had an apparent molecular mass of 185 kDa. Both the membrane form (185 kDa) and the soluble form (160 kDa) retained binding affinity for C3b. Evidence is presented to indicate that the conversion of the 185-kDa membrane form to the 160-kDa form is the result of cleavage by an endogenous phospholipase C.


It has been shown that between living and surviving receptors of a central and local origin there is similarity in a number of morphological, reactive and tinctorial properties as well as in their response to tissue fixation. At the same time these structures possess a number of specific properties making them different from one another.


In the study of ocean wave impact on structures, one often uses Froude scaling since the dominant force is gravity. However the presence of trapped or entrained air in the water can significantly modify wave impacts. When air is entrained in water in the form of small bubbles, the acoustic properties in the water change dramatically and for example the speed of sound in the mixture is much smaller than in pure water, and even smaller than in pure air. While some work has been done to study small-amplitude disturbances in such mixtures, little work has been done on large disturbances in air-water mixtures. We propose a basic two-fluid model in which both fluids share the same velocities. It is shown that this model can successfully mimic water wave impacts on coastal structures. Even though this is a model without interface, waves can occur. Their dispersion relation is discussed and the formal limit of pure phases (interfacial waves) is considered. The governing equations are discretized by a second-order finite volume method. Numerical results are presented. It is shown that this basic model can be used to study violent aerated flows, especially by providing fast qualitative estimates.


In the past decade, Russia has emerged as an important player in the global economy. In the Goldman Sachs "Dreaming with the BRICs" Report, Jim O'Neil contends that "over the next 50 years, Brazil, Russia, India and China – the BRICs economies – could become a much larger force in the world economy." By 2050, Russia's "GDP per capita is by far the highest in the group, and comparable to the G6. Russia's economy overtakes Italy in 2018; France in 2024; UK in 2027 and Germany in 2028." In line with this, foreign direct investment into Russia has skyrocketed (Exhibit 1). As more and more foreign companies are starting to look at Russia, it is becoming important to understand how to negotiate with its inhabitants. In this paper, we determine if business negotiations between Russians and Americans are different from business negotiations between Americans and Americans by employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. While there is a risk of stereotyping, we hope to shed some light on the intricacies of negotiations in order to help prepare Western business professionals interested in this fast-growing market.


Considerable participation of women in socio-economic, political and cultural set-up of the society is the pre requisite for the development of an economy. It is the fact that the economies which used the growth of agricultural sector as a base for their development path towards industrial and service sector growth shifted their surplus labour from agricultural sector to these sectors. Punjab has a different story regarding rural female employment. After green revolution, the state recorded tremendous agricultural growth. But this achievement in agriculture did not contribute in terms of female participation in economic activities and even this remarkable growth upto 1980's in agriculture sector brought a sharp decline of female work participation in farm-sector. In the nineties when major economic reforms were introduced in Indian economy, the major sectoral shift was noticed in employment which in result brought a rapid shrink in the number of agricultural workers in the state. Census 2011 figures present a gloomy situation for the gender equality in work participation in Punjab. Punjab continued backward for providing equal employment opportunities for the women. High mechanisation of agriculture and low growth of a nonagriculture sector made the situation worse for women to get employment. It is high time for a gender sensitive employment generation strategy to secure the socioeconomic interests of females in the state.


By the second decade of life asthma symptoms often abate and it may seem that patients with mild asthma have "outgrown" the disease. Unfortunately this is likely to be the exception rather than the rule. Although the severity of asthma symptoms fluctuates with time, the inherited tendency towards respiratory symptoms never disappears and many teenagers who seem to be free of symptoms do, in fact, have persistent asthma. During symptom-free periods subclinical, but nevertheless significant, airways obstruction and/or bronchial hyperresponsiveness may be present. It is not unusual for adults who have been asymptomatic for a number of years to redevelope asthma symptoms. Indeed, much of the so-called adult onset asthma has its roots in childhood. Levison concluded that, in these subjects, it is often not the asthma that is outgrown but the paediatrician. The more severe astham is in childhood the more likely it is that the disease will persist in adulthood. A complete list of the characteristics of the disease in childhood, and the potential risk factors associated with an unfavourable prognosis, such as pulmonary function and bronchial responsiveness and markers of airway inflammation, is therefore needed. As properly matched and controlled prospective long term studies have not been published it has not been possible to evaluate the effects on prognosis of any single class of antiasthma agent. Such studies are needed to find out if it is possible to alter the natural history of the disease. In theory modern asthma treatments, because they are able to improve symptoms and underlying disease phenomena, are also beneficial in the long term prognosis of childhood asthma. The majority of patients with persistent asthma included in the currently available studies were not receiving adequate treatment. Since compliance with therapeutic regimens in asthma, especially in adolescence, is low, a monitoring system is needed to guarantee adequate follow up and treatment during and beyond puberty.


The article examines critical factors that determined the impact, reception, and implementation of Vatican II in Africa. Drawing on historical accounts, the author identifies and analyzes personalities, contexts, and issues that conditioned and shaped Africa's participation in the council. Looking back 50 years, he argues that while the continent's participation was negligible, shaped by a combination of events and attitudes that either facilitated or hampered reception, concrete examples abound of how the council generated impetus for growth, renewal, and reform in inculturation, interreligious dialogue, theological reflection, and ecclesial collaboration in Africa.


Cyclic di-GMP (cdG) is a ubiquitous second messenger in bacteria, regulating transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes and allosterically controlling protein function. While the mechanisms of cdG metabolism are well understood, the downstream targets of this molecule are poorly characterised.
To understand the role of cdG signalling in plant-associated species, cdG-capture compound pull-down experiments were performed to identify potential binding proteins in Pseudomonas fluorescens. One of the top targets identified was the flagella export AAA+ ATPase FliI, which was shown to bind specifically and tightly to cdG. FliI-cdG interaction was demonstrated for diverse bacterial FliI homologs. Excitingly, high-affinity binding was observed for the type-III secretion system (T3SS) homolog, HrcN and the type-VI ATPase, ClpB2. A combination of techniques was used to predict the FliI cdG binding site at the interface between two FliI subunits.
Although the addition of cdG inhibits the ATPase activity of both FliI and HrcN in vitro, this occurs at a non-physiological cdG concentration suggesting that this does not represent the in vivo role of binding. However, when cdG concentrations are artificially increased, the export of flagellin subunits is significantly reduced, suggesting a link between cdG binding and protein export. Changes in the in vitro multimerization state of the protein were also observed upon the addition of cdG.
As part of this study, novel and highly specific tools for nucleotide-protein interactions were developed and existing biochemistry techniques were optimised. These assays were
employed to characterise cdG binding to four more proteins, which were identified as cdG binders.
The results generated in this study broaden the existing knowledge about cdG binding protein diversity. The identification of FliI as a cdG binder suggests a novel cdG-dependent control mechanism for the function of bacterial export pathways including the flagellum and the T3SS, through allosteric interaction with export ATPase proteins.


The liverwort Aneura pinguis is represented in Europe by 4 cryptic species (A, B, C and D). They differ in morphology and ecological preferences. Three molecular marker systems (RAPD, ISJ and katG) were used to identify particular cryptic species. Ten samples of 4 cryptic species of A. pinguis and 2 samples of A. maxima (as an outgroup) were analysed. The 18 primers representing 3 different DNA marker categories revealed 147 bands, and 56 of them were species-specific. Among the cryptic species of A. pinguis, the greatest number of 21 specific bands was observed in species D, compared to 8 in species C. 7 in species B, 5 in species A, and 15 in A. maxima. The value of genetic similarity between analysed populations at the intraspecific level was I=0.90. In contrast, the I value between particular studied cryptic species ranged from 0.385 to 0.690. The similarities showed that species C and D are the most distinct, whereas species A and B are the most similar. The results of DNA analysis are consistent with earlier enzymatic data and support the division of A. pinguis into 4 cryptic species.


Introduction: Resistance to sliding and tipping of a restoration must be considered at the time of treatment planning. Some factors have influence in resistance such as type of occlusion, size of occlusal table in comparison with cervix, and place and amount of occlusal forces. When the occlusal table of a restoration is wide and the cervical part is narrow, it is very probable that the line of action of an applied force on marginal ridges passes outside the margins of the restoration and produce destructive torque and causes dislodgment of the restoration. Leverage is probably the predominant factor in the dislodgment of cemented superstructure of implant supported prosthesis, that results in disruption of the cement film. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of finishing line form on cement microleakage in implant supported prosthesis following occlusal forces in cusp to marginal ridge occlusion. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 90 metal models were made similar to implant abutment with three types of finishing lines (Shoulder, Sloping shoulder, and Knife edge). Ninety crowns were made from base metal alloy with the occlusal table similar to mandibular first molar and cemented on the models. All specimens were subjected to 1000 thermocycles between 5°c and 55oc, with a dwell time of 15 seconds. Each group was divided into 2 subgroups. The subgroups were subjected to 50000 masticatory cycles(equal to 3 months of mastication) with 60 and 100 N occlusal forces on the marginal ridge. All samples were then immersed in 5 basic foshin solution for 24 hours and mounted in polyester to be sectioned vertically. Microleakage was measured under a microscope with magnification of 40 times. The results were analyzed using One-Way & Two-Way ANOVA and t-test. Results: There was no difference in microleakage rate between 3 forms of finishing lines. The interaction between finishing lines and occlusal force of 60 N showed significant difference (P= 0.0182<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the least microleakage was observed in shoulder finishing line.


To the Editor. —The article on quinidine-induced hepatitis by Knobler et al 1 is interesting and important. Curiously, no mention is made of the reason why quinidine was given to 1500 patients in a ten-year period at their hospital. Hopefully, the recovery that occurred after cessation of the drug will not encourage its use. Indeed, although quinidine is widely used (and has been for a long time) in the prevention and treatment of various arrhythmias, it use remains moot, and adverse effects continue to be emphasized. 2 Yet, it is certain that in most, if not all, instances the use of quinidine can be avoided.


Definition of damage caused through land clogging constitutes a significant share in the total amount of environmental offenses that are considered by courts in Ukraine and their investigations are the most difficult in this category. Majority of losses from land clogging are determined as significant amounts considered according to the Criminal Code of Ukraine as grave or especially grave consequences of environmental legislation violations. From the point of view of legal mechanism, the definition of damage caused through clogging of land resources is based on the branch Methodology for determining the amount of damage caused through pollution and clogging land resources by means of violation of environmental legislation, approved by order of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources No 171 from 27.10.1997 (as amended). Failure to comply with legislation on the protection and rational use of land resources resulting in land clogging is determined according to this Methodology. This Methodology is applied in case of violations revealed during the state supervision (control) of economic activities to comply with environmental (land) legislation by economic entities (according to the Law of Ukraine "On the Main Principles of State Supervision (Control) in the Area of Commercial Activity"). Employees of the State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine use the Methodology in particular to calculate the amount of compensation for damage caused to the state as a result of land clogging. Analysis of an expert practice of using the Methodology demonstrates its low arbitrage effect, since a significant part of the claims brought forward to debtors for compensation of damages or charges are not satisfied by the judicial authorities. Comprehensive methodology developed at KhRIFE makes possible to obtain correct from a legal point of view, complete, objective, scientifically, technically and economically justified answers to questions related to the calculation of the damage caused through land clogging. Разработанная в Харьковском НИИСЭ Комплексная методика дает возможность получить корректные с правовой точки зрения, полные, объективные, научно, технически и экономически обоснованные ответы на вопросы, которые касаются расчетов размера вреда, обусловленного засорением земельных ресурсов.


This paper studies linear set-dynamics driven by random convex compact sets (RCCSs), where the parameter matrix evolves according to an underlying Markovian random process taking values in a finite set. We derive dynamics of the expectations of the associated reach sets. We establish that such expectations evolve according to coupled deterministic set-dynamics. We provide sufficient conditions for the convergence of the reach sets expectations. We also give conditions under which the reach sets remain asymptotically bounded with probability one. As an illustrative example, we apply our results to evaluate the expectations of the reach sets associated to the position of a quadrotor.


A 78-year-old woman with metastatic low-grade serous ovarian cancer presented with rapidly progressive exertional dyspnoea and hypoxia, and was found to have new-onset severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) by right heart catheterisation. A diagnosis of pulmonary tumour thrombotic microangiopathy (PTTM) was made at autopsy. PTTM is a rare complication of advanced cancer that often presents as rapidly progressive PH or acute hypoxic respiratory failure. Widespread tumour cell emboli in the pulmonary arteries and arterioles are hypothesised to induce fibrocellular subintimal proliferation and microthrombi, leading to increased pulmonary vascular resistance and PH. PTTM arising from serous ovarian cancer is exceedingly rare, with only two previously reported cases. A discussion of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of PTTM is presented.


This paper deals with how various discourses impact on girls and boys positions asactive and engaged mathematics learners in a first grade classroom. Students andteachers may themselves adopt a position exercising a specific discourse, or theymay assign positions to others. The discursive practices in this classroomencouraged the boys' positions as engaged mathematics learners more than the girlseven though girls' experiences from out of school were valued as starting points forlearning mathematics


Aesthetics, as both a variety of practices and a field of research, has now begun a journey toward society and more applied thinking – that is, how can art, art thinking, and different forms of sensuousness interact with or interfere in societal contexts. In this special issue of InFormation we explore the frame of a possible contemporary art didactics, where knowledge production and dispersion in and through art and aesthetics are promoted. Here the qualities of responding to societal needs and challenges are negotiated with the particular qualities of art. The field of didactics is often tied to specific teaching methods, but can also be seen as a more general theory of learning. With the term 'contemporary art didactics', we want to propose a relational field of communication and interaction based on aesthetic activity and competence. In addition, we seek to emphasize the contemporary quality and engagement of this activity and competence. In this first article by the editor of the issue, some of the related discussions on application, autonomy and criticality are presented alongside a proposition to formulate certain specific art based qualities.


Powder neutron diffraction and magnetometry studies have been conducted to investigate the crystallographic and magnetic structure of Bi0.8La0.2Fe0.5Mn0. 5O3. The compound stabilizes in the Imma orthorhombic crystal symmetry in the measured temperature range of 5 to 380 K, with a transition to antiferromagnetic order at TN≈240 K. The spin cycloid present for BiFeO3 is found to be absent with 50% Mn3+ cation substitution, leading to G-type antiferromagnetic order with an enhanced out-of-plane canted ferromagnetic component, evident from measurable weak-ferromagnetic hysteresis. Structural modifications do not solely explain this behavior, indicating that modified electron exchange interactions must be taken into account. A classical spin simulation was developed to investigate the effect of random substitution in a disordered pseudocubic perovskite. The calculations took into account the nearest-neighbor, next-nearestneighbor, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, along with the local spin anisotropy. Using this framework to extend the established Hamiltonian model for BiFeO3, we show that only certain types of perturbations at a magnetic defect and the surrounding molecular fields trigger a simultaneous collapse of cycloidal order and the emergence of the long-range weak-ferromagnetic component. By adopting values for the Mn molecular fields appropriate for REMnO3 (RE= rare earth), simulations of BiMn0.5Fe0.5O3 exhibit the key magnetic properties of our experimental observations.


Crowds and Party extends the energies of the riotous crowds of the last five years into an argument for the political party. Rejecting emphases on individuals and multitudes, Jodi Dean argues that we rethink the collective subject of politics. When crowds appear in spaces unauthorized by capital and the state, such as in the Occupy movement in New York, London and across the world, they create a gap of possibility. But too many on the left remain stuck in this beautiful moment of possibility--they argue for more of the same fragmentation into issues and identities as if this had not been the form of the last thirty years of left defeat. In Crowds and Party, Dean argues that previous discussions of the party have missed its affective dimensions, the way it operates as a knot of unconscious processes, and binds people together. Now, Dean shows how we can see the party as an organization that holds a space for communist political subjectivity and can reinvigorate political practice.


Being a caregiver for an ill or disabled loved one is widely recognized as a threat to the caregiver's quality of life. Nonetheless, research indicates that helping behavior, broadly construed, promotes well-being. Could helping behavior in a caregiving context promote well-being as well? In the present study, we used ecological momentary assessment to measure active helping behavior and both positive and negative affect in 73 spouse caregivers. Results indicate that when controlling for care recipient illness status and functional impairment and caregiver "on call" caregiving time, active helping predicted greater caregiver positive affect--especially for individuals who perceived themselves as interdependent with their spouse. In addition, although both helping and on-call time predicted greater negative affect for caregivers who perceived low interdependence, helping was unrelated to negative affect among caregivers perceiving high interdependence. Helping valued loved ones may promote caregivers' well-being.


A semicrystalline copolyimide derived from 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (s-BPDA), 1,3-bis-(4-aminophenoxy)benzene (TPER), and 4,4′-oxydianiline (4,4′-ODA), end capped with phthalic anhydride (PA), was synthesized. Glass fiber reinforced composite was also prepared by impregnating powdery glass fiber with poly(amic acid) followed by solution imidization techniques. This copolyimide displayed a glass transition temperature of 202°C and a melting temperature of 373°C by differential scanning colorimeter (DSC). Crystallization and melting behaviors were investigated under nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization conditions. Double exothermic peaks were found by DSC when the copolyimide was cooled from the melt and multiple melting behaviors can be observed after the coployimide had been isothermally crystallized at different temperatures. Mechanical properties were investigated by dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA) and tensile experiments. The samples were cured at different temperatures and then tested at different temperatures. Results indicated that the copolyimide and the composite showed excellent mechanical properties. Additionally, this copolyimide also showed lower melt viscosity by rheological analysis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40345.


A social pyramid is show to be the unique steady state social structure when agents gain utility from being early adopters of subsequently popular trends. The environment is related to a majority game, but introduces the importance of the timing of adoption. Utility derived from making a popular choice independent of timing is demonstrated as essential to support the hierarchy. The proposed environment is relevant to a number of settings in which leadership and timing of decisions are important or where being perceived as a trend setter is rewarded. The leadership position can be self-reinforcing. For a professional critic, for example, a cult-of personality can dictate popular tastes, such as in art, food, and wine markets. A social hierarchy can also apply to the introduction of new products or ideas including academic research and financial market analysts.


AIM: To evaluate the immediate and long-term results in a series of patients with highly symptomatic polycystic liver disease (PLD) treated by combined hepatic resection with cystic fenestration.METHODS: We reviewed our recent experience with a combined hepatic resection-fenestration procedure in seven highly symptomatic patients with PLD. Clinical data, liver manifestation of computed tomography (CT), and morbidity were recorded pre- and post-operation. Follow-up was made by clinical and CT examinations in all patients.RESULTS: Symptomatic relief and reduction in abdominal girth were obtained in all patients during an average followup period of 20.4 mo. CT scans confirmed post-resection hypertrophy of the spared liver and lack of significant cyst progression. All patients had mild to severe ascites. Two patients were complicated with pleural effusion.CONCLUSION: Some highly symptomatic patients with massive PLD may benefit from combined hepatic resection and fenestration at acceptable risk. To stitch the dissected hepatic ligaments could prevent the instable remnant liver from kinking and collapsing.


Foreign exchange (FX) markets see a transaction volume of over $2 trillion per day. A number of standard ways of conducting business have been developed in the FX industry. However, current FX specifications are informal and their business semantics unclear. The resulting implementations tend to be complex and compliance with the standards unverifiable. This results in potential loss of value due to incompatible business processes and possible trades not consummated. This paper validates a formal, protocol-based approach by specifying foreign exchange processes as standardized by the TWIST consortium. The proposed approach formalizes a small, core set of foreign exchange interaction protocols on which the desired processes can be based. The core protocols can be composed to yield a large variety of possible processes. Each protocol is rigorously defined in terms of the commitments undertaken and manipulated by the parties involved. By contrast, traditional approaches as used in the current TWIST specification lead to redundancy in specification and difficulty in understanding the import of the interactions involved. In addition, our approach discovered interesting business scenarios that traditional approaches would have missed.


Sacral neurons reassigned The autonomic nervous system regulates the function of internal organs such as the gut. The parasympathetic and sympathetic arms of this system tend to operate antagonistically. Espinosa-Medina et al. used anatomical and molecular analyses to reevaluate the assignment of neurons in the sacral autonomic nervous system (see the Perspective by Adameyko). Previously categorized as parasympathetic, these neurons are now identified as sympathetic. The results resolve a persistent confusion about how the two systems developed and open the avenue to more predictable outcomes in developing treatments targeted to the pelvic autonomic nervous system. Science, this issue p. 893; see also p. 833 Contrary to a century-old dogma, the pelvic nerves and ganglia do not belong to the parasympathetic nervous system but to the sympathetic one. A kinship between cranial and pelvic visceral nerves of vertebrates has been accepted for a century. Accordingly, sacral preganglionic neurons are considered parasympathetic, as are their targets in the pelvic ganglia that prominently control rectal, bladder, and genital functions. Here, we uncover 15 phenotypic and ontogenetic features that distinguish pre- and postganglionic neurons of the cranial parasympathetic outflow from those of the thoracolumbar sympathetic outflow in mice. By every single one, the sacral outflow is indistinguishable from the thoracolumbar outflow. Thus, the parasympathetic nervous system receives input from cranial nerves exclusively and the sympathetic nervous system from spinal nerves, thoracic to sacral inclusively. This simplified, bipartite architecture offers a new framework to understand pelvic neurophysiology as well as development and evolution of the autonomic nervous system.


Partially premixed combustion (PPC) can be applied to decrease emissions and increase fuel efficiency in direct injection, compression ignition (DICI) combustion engines. PPC is strongly influenced by the mixing of fuel and oxidizer, which for a given fuel is controlled mainly by (a) the fuel injection, (b) the in-cylinder flow, and (c) the geometry and dynamics of the engine. As the injection timings can vary over a wide range in PPC combustion, detailed knowledge of the in-cylinder flow over the whole intake and compression strokes can improve our understanding of PPC combustion. In computational fluid dynamics (CFD) the in-cylinder flow is sometimes simplified and modeled as a solid-body rotation profile at some time prior to injection to produce a realistic flow field at the moment of injection. In real engines, the in-cylinder flow motion is governed by the intake manifold, the valve motion, and the engine geometry. The deviation of the real in-cylinder flow from a solid body rotation flow field varies with different piston positions. This paper reports on an CFD study of the formation and development of a real engine in-cylinder flow field in an optical light duty PPC engine from the opening of the intake valve at -360 CAD ATDC up to 20 CAD ATDC in a motored case (without fuel injection). The focus is put on the analysis of the temporal and spatial development of the swirl flow motion. The resulting flow field of the simulation is compared with the results from CFD simulation of an initial axially symmetric (sector-mesh) flow in the cylinder. The adequateness of sector type mesh including solid-body rotation assumption as an initial flow is analyzed. (Less)


Abstract Thirteen fractions of ambient dust were investigated in Zabrze, a typical urban area in the central part of Upper Silesia (Poland), during a heating season. Fifteen PAH and Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, As, Se, Cd, Pb contents of each fraction were determined. The dust was sampled with use of a cascade impactor and chemically analyzed with an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (PANalytical Epsilon 5) and a gas chromatograph with a flame ionisation detector (Perkin Elmer Clarus 500). The concentrations of PM1 and the PM1-related PAH and elements were much higher than the ones of the coarse dust (PM2.5-10) and the substances contained in it. The concentrations of total PAH and carcinogenic PAH were very high (the concentrations of PM1-, PM2.5-, and PM10-related BaP were 16.08, 19.19, 19.32 ng m-3, respectively). The municipal emission, resulted mainly from hard coal combustion processes, appeared to be the main factor affecting the air quality in Zabrze in winter.


For over forty years, environmental awareness and concerns about the environmental impact of products, services, and business practices have influenced consumer decision-making, corporate advertising, and marketing strategies. As the purchasing power of green consumers has grown, the instances of marketers making false or misleading advertising claims about environmental benefits - "greenwashing" - have multiplied from an occasional irritant to a ubiquitous practice with major ramifications for the struggle to mitigate climate change. Throughout, the paradigm for investigating, studying, and combating greenwashing has been to focus on claims by companies engaged in marketing consumer products to individual consumers and the effects of those claims on consumers. That was justifiable because, until fairly recently, nearly all instances of greenwashing involved those straightforward linear scenarios, and the vast majority of greenwashing legal actions were brought by or on behalf of individual green consumers. But that view of greenwashing has become antiquated and is too narrow to account for greenwashing activity today. Now that we are in the midst of the first sustained clean tech revolution, there is greatly increased commerce in green technologies, and much of the commerce is business-to-business as clean tech companies market and sell renewable energy generation equipment such as wind turbines and solar panels to green commercial "consumers" such as developers and installers. The clean tech boom has given rise to a spate of lawsuits involving alleged false and deceptive representations about the genuineness, reliability, and efficiency of green technology equipment and related services. The limited historical view of greenwashing misses this new species of cases entirely, perpetuating a significant greenwashing "blind spot" and leading to a gross underestimation of the scope and impact of greenwashing activity today. This article argues that we need a new paradigm that takes a broader view of the phenomenon of greenwashing. Specifically, we should look beyond the traditional paradigm of greenwashing, which is limited to deceptive marketing of consumer products to individual consumers, and contemplate a wider variety of cases that include representations made to green commercial consumers and legal actions brought by and on behalf of commercial consumers. By changing the greenwashing paradigm in this way and defining it more expansively to reflect the commercial realities of the clean tech revolution, we will eliminate the blind spot and provide the broader vantage point necessary to identify and understand new instances of greenwashing.


In Lhasa city, because of the abundant solar radiation, different direction walls absorb very different amount of solar energy. For the more efficient using of solar radiation, this difference should be reflected in the insulation design. By analysis on the typical year climate data, the absorption of solar radiation of different direction walls is clear. Compared with the inland city, Lhasa has more abundant solar energy and the bigger difference of direction, which means, the non-balance insulation is meaningful. The local test verifies the result of south and north room's big difference thermal environment in the target building. By analyzing the permissible value of net heat loss by the envelope, the suggested limited value of overall heat transfer coefficient is proposed.


This paper develops a conceptual framework that allows for a consistent and coherent treatment of knowledge spillovers from FDI. In this framework, three aspects play a crucial role. First, FDI is a general notion that actually comprises a host of different investment types. Second, the number and nature of the knowledge spillover transfer channels differs per type of FDI. Third, the fact that knowledge spillovers only accrue when there is a sufficient absorptive capacity in the host country. Confronting empirical research on knowledge spillovers with these observations reveals that they have largely been ignored. We argue that this is the reason for the extremely mixed evidence on knowledge spillovers, and that the empirical research strategy should be altered in order to take proper account of theoretical notions.


An electronic fringe counter for use with optical interferometers is described. Provision is made for automatic counting of integral fringes, interpolation to within 1/200 wavelength or approximately 10−7 inch, and indication of the direction of motion of the interferometer plates. Automatic interpolation is achieved by vibrating one plate of the interferometer and analyzing the resulting ac signals from a photomultiplier exposed to a portion of the fringes in the image plane of the optical system. The use of an ac analyzer eliminates troublesome dc drifts associated with photoelectronic circuits and provides an oscilloscope display of the phase progression from fringe to fringe.


In order to provide a basis for bid decision, the paper constructed bidding price game model based on game analyzing characteristics in bidding and analyzed string bid phenomenon in bidding by this model, then found the root in this phenomenon. In addition, how to improve the probability of winning a bid by estimating the project cost accurately was discussed, thus, it was beneficial to contractor for bidding price exactly. Finally, how to strength the competitiveness of bidder was proposed. So bidding price game model is a bidding price decision model that can instruct contractor bidding and provide a reference to prohibit string bid behavior.


This paper presents a numerical study of the behavior of a planar version of traditional soft surfaces. The application of these structures, although limited to one direction, can be enough for many applications where the directions along which the waves must be suppressed are clearly defined. The proposed soft surface is compact and its design is flexible due to the different parameters of the structure. This work analyzes the effects of all these parameters in both the position and size of the bandgap or stop band. Also a practical application to reduce mutual coupling in patch antennas is presented. The work is supported by experimental results.


This study assesses performance objectives defined in the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC) in order to make a realistic evaluation related to heavy damage and collapse reasons of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings that experienced severe earthquakes in Turkey. A series of three-dimensional RC buildings with different characteristics and representing low-rise structures damaged and collapsed in the earthquake areas is designed according to Turkish codes (Turkish Design Standards and Turkish Earthquake Code). Pushover analyses are carried out to determine nonlinear behavior of the buildings under earthquake loads. Building performances are determined by using the displacement coefficients method, which is a commonly used nonlinear static evaluation procedure for different seismic hazard levels defined in the TEC. The stipulated performance objectives in the TEC are checked in terms of plastic rotations and maximum story drift. From the results of this research, it can be concluded that low-rise RC buildings designed according to Turkish codes sufficiently provide for the performance objectives stipulated in the TEC. Reasons for the heavy damages and collapses of RC buildings during severe earthquakes are explained by commonly occurring themes (i.e., project errors, poor quality of construction, modifications of buildings, etc.).


While multilingual pretrained language models (LMs) fine-tuned on a single language have shown substantial cross-lingual task transfer capabilities, there is still a wide performance gap in semantic parsing tasks when target language supervision is available. In this paper, we propose a novel Translate-and-Fill (TaF) method to produce silver training data for a multilingual semantic parser. This method simplifies the popular Translate-Align-Project (TAP) pipeline and consists of a sequence-to-sequence filler model that constructs a full parse conditioned on an utterance and a view of the same parse. Our filler is trained on English data only but can accurately complete instances in other languages (i.e., translations of the English training utterances), in a zero-shot fashion. Experimental results on three multilingual semantic parsing datasets show that data augmentation with TaF reaches accuracies competitive with similar systems which rely on traditional alignment techniques.


Papaya a crop with potential for expansion IS sensitive to drought and
waterlogging. Although in Malaysia irrigation is provided to supplement the uneven
rainfall distribution, reliable data on crop evapotranspiration are required to design a
proper irrigation system so as to apply the correct amount of water at the right time.
An experiment was conducted to determine the actual evapotranspiration (ET)
of papaya plant and the effect of irrigation intervals on crop growth. Papaya
seedlings were transplanted into containers and observed for about 38 weeks under
glass. They were irrigated through emitters at irrigation intervals of 1, 2, 4 and 8
days. ET varied between the four treatments. The daily-irrigated plants gave the
highest ET, an average of 5.9 mm/day, and those with an 8-day interval, the lowest,
an average of 3.1 mm/day. The plant height, number of leaves and girth
measurements did not show a marked difference. However, flowering occurred only
in plants subjected to daily and 2-day irrigation intervals and not in the other
treatments.


Determining the macroevolutionary importance of plant chemistry on herbivore host shifts is critical to understanding the evolution of insect-plant interactions. Molecular phylogenies of the ancient and speciose Blepharida (Coleoptera)-Bursera (Burseraceae) system were reconstructed and terpenoid chemical profiles for the plant species obtained. Statistical analyses show that the historical patterns of host shifts strongly correspond to the patterns of host chemical similarity, indicating that plant chemistry has played a significant role in the evolution of host shifts by phytophagous insects.


Objective Palliative care (PC) in heart failure (HF) is beneficial and recommended in international HF guidelines. However, there is a perception that PC is underutilised in HF in the UK. This exploratory study aims to investigate, from a PC perspective, this perceived underutilisation and identify problems with current practice that may impact on the provision of PC in HF throughout the UK. Methods A prospective survey was electronically sent to PC doctors and nurses via the UK Association for Palliative Medicine and adult PC teams listed in the UK Hospice directory. Results We received 499 responses (42%—PC consultants). Although PC provision for patients with HF was widespread, burden on PC services was low (47% received less than 10 referrals annually). While PC was acknowledged to have a role in end-stage HF, there were differing views about the optimal model of care. Levels of interdisciplinary collaboration (58%) and mutual education (36%) were low. There were frequent reports that end-of-life matters were not addressed by cardiology prior to PC referral. Moreover, 24% of respondents experienced difficulties with implantable cardioverter defibrillator deactivation. Conclusions Low HF referrals despite widespread availability of PC services and insufficient efforts by cardiology to address PC issues may contribute to the perception that PC is underutilised in HF. The challenges facing PC and HF identified here need to be further investigated and addressed. These findings will hopefully promote awareness of PC issues in HF and encourage debate on how to improve PC support for this population.


With more than thirty-five million copies in print, the Little House series, written in the 1930s and 1940s by Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, has been a spectacular commercial success. What is it about this eight-volume serial novel for children that accounts for its enduring power? And what does the popularity of these books tell us about the currents of American culture? Ann Romines interweaves personal observation with scholarly analysis to address these questions. Writing from a feminist perspective and drawing on the resources of gender studies, cultural studies, and new historicist reading, she examines both the content of the novels and the process of their creation. She explores the relationship between mother and daughter working as collaborative authors and calls into question our assumptions about plot, juvenile fiction, and constructions of gender on the nineteenth-century frontier and in the Depression years when the Little House books were written. This is a book that will appeal both to scholars and to general readers who might welcome an engaging and accessible companion volume to the Little House novels.


BACKGROUND
Few studies have investigated the epidemiologic features of clinically defined subgroups of anotia/microtia.

METHODS
Data on cases of anotia and/or microtia among 1999-2005 deliveries were obtained from the Texas Birth Defects Registry, a population-based active surveillance system. We determined crude and adjusted associations between selected factors and seven clinical subgroups of anotia/microtia.

RESULTS
In total, 742 cases were diagnosed with anotia and/or microtia, corresponding to a prevalence of 2.86 per 10,000 live births. Of those, 45% had no other major birth defect ("isolated"), 77% were unilateral, and 22% bilateral. Anotia alone made up 6%, whereas microtia made up 94%. Birth prevalence was higher with increasing maternal age and among Mexico-born Hispanics. Compared to white mothers, Hispanic mothers were two-to-three times more likely to have infants with all but the syndromic and bilateral groups (adjusted prevalence ratios [aPRs] = 2.05-2.61). Non-Hispanic blacks had significantly lower risk for total anotia/microtia, and for the isolated, unilateral, and microtia subgroups (aPRs = 0.42-0.64). Less educated mothers were three-to-four times more likely to have children with anotia (aPRs = 2.98 for less than high school, 3.97 for high school graduates). Males were more likely to be born with total anotia/microtia and with syndromic, unilateral, and microtia subtypes (aPRs = 1.27-1.41).

CONCLUSIONS
In Texas, most anotia/microtia cases were in the unilateral and microtia groups, and 45% were isolated. Several clinical subgroups exhibited higher prevalence in males and among older mothers. Relative to whites, blacks were at lower risk and Hispanics (especially Mexico-born mothers) were at higher risk for selected types of anotia/microtia.


This study was carried out during the period from March to August 2018. Published literatures and some unpublished data were collected from different sources and analyzed. It was found that the community people do not have good understanding and adequate participation on the sustainability of water supply systems. They only have interests in the regular flow in taps. They are also less aware in the regular repair and maintenance of water supply systems. Furthermore, the expectation of community is always financial support from local body and donor agency. The governance part of water user's committee was also found unsatisfactory. Thus, the people should be provided with capacity development trainings for the sustainable development of community water supply system. similarly, implementation of water safety plan, and regular monitoring from local body are crucial activities that should be given high emphasis for the sustainability of rural water supply system.


The chemical composition of Nepata nuda essential oil was hydrodistilled and characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and altogether 24 components were detected. The main constituents were trans-caryophyllene (23.9%), isopulegone (12.6%), cis-sabinol (10.1%), and β-pinene (10.0%). Antimicrobial activity of the oil against Gram-positive and -negative bacteria and fungus, was determined by the disc diffusion assay. The oil showed antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella typhi. The antioxidant activity of the essential oil was investigated using 2,2-diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and the �-carotene-linoleic acid test. butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was employed as a positive control. The essential oil of N. nuda showed weak antioxidant activities. The results suggest that N. nuda essential oil could be a natural antibacterial agent.


This study aims to produce a type of concrete with both good thermal and mechanical properties by using environmentally friendly and low cost materials. In addition, the resistance of this concrete to fire conditions was investigated. The experimental work comprises two parts. In the first part, recycled glass was used as a partial replacement for natural sand (at proportions 20%, 40% and 60%) together with basalt fibre having different volume fractions (0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%). The results obtained from the experimental work showed that the optimum content is 20% glass and at 28 days, there was a 4.23% and 15% enhancement in the compressive strength and the splitting tensile strength respectively. Above 20% glass there was a slight reduction (6.6% and 22%) in the compressive strength and the splitting tensile strength when 60% glass was used. The results also showed that when glass sand and basalt fibre content increase, there is a decrease in the thermal conductivity range from 4.35% to 50% at temperature levels between 60oC to 600oC. The structural behaviour of this type of concrete was investigated in the second part of this study by carrying out small-scale slab tests at ambient and elevated temperatures. The results show that there is an increase in the load carrying capacity above the theoretical yield line load, due to membrane action, for all percentages of glass and volume fractions of basalt fibre ranging from 1.35 to 1.68 for the slab tested at ambient temperature and from 3.13 to 3.26 for the slabs tested at elevated temperature. Also the slabs with higher glass sand and basalt fibre content had a higher load enhancement and failed at a higher displacement compared to the control mix.A comparison between the simplified method and the finite element software package ABAQUS showed that the ABAQUS model gives reasonable predictions for the load?vertical displacement and the temperature?displacement relationships at both ambient and elevated temperature conditions, while the simplified method gives conservative predictions for the maximum allowable vertical displacement for the slab at elevated temperature. A parametric study showed that a 10 mm cover depth is the optimum depth as well as the reinforcement temperature predicted reduced with increasing load ratio (applied load/yield line load).


Abstract Objectives Herbal medicines, as a treatment method, have received a great deal of attention. The effects of two herbal medicines namely Zingiber officinale and Echinacea on alleviation of clinical symptoms and hospitalization rate of suspected COVID-19 outpatients were examined. Methods A clinical trial with 100 suspected COVID-19 outpatients as participants was conducted. The participants were allocated randomly to two groups of 50 members. The intervention group received concurrent Zingiber officinale (Tablet Vomigone 500 mg II tds) and Echinacea (Tablet Rucoldup I tds) for seven days in addition to the standard treatment. The control group only received the standard treatment (Hydroxychloroquine). After seven days, alleviation of clinical symptoms and hospitalization rate were examined. In addition, 14 days after treatment, the hospitalization was assessed again by telephone follow up. Results The two groups were identical in terms of basic characteristics. Improvement level as to coughing, dyspnea, and muscle pain was higher in the intervention group (p value <0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the other symptoms. In addition, the hospitalization rate in the intervention and control groups were 2 and 6% respectively, which are not significantly different (p value >0.05). Conclusions Taking into account the efficiency and trivial side-effects of Zingiber officinale and Echinacea, using them for alleviation and control of the clinical symptoms in COVID-19 outpatients is recommended.


The semiconductor industry standard computer-aided-design (CAD) tool Cadence has been calibrated for a 3 /spl mu/m Niobium technology in order to design and build superconductive single flux quantum (SFQ) circuits. The top-down design methodology includes Verilog functional simulation, schematic capture, graphic layout, functional verification, design rule checking, electrical rule checking, and layout-vs.-schematic verification. This design framework has been used successfully at the University of Rochester in designing more than 15 elementary SFQ cells and three large scale digital and mixed-signal SFQ circuits, demonstrating significant improvement in both design efficiency and accuracy.


Total dissolved and labile concentrations of Cd(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Pb(II) were determined at six locations of the Bourgas Gulf of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Solid phase extraction procedure based on monodisperse, submicrometer silica spheres modified with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane followed by the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) was developed and applied to quantify the total dissolved metal concentrations in sea water. Quantitative sorption of Cd, Cu, Ni and Pb was achieved in the pH range 7.5–8, for 30 min, adsorbed elements were easily eluted with 2 mL 2 mol L−1 HNO3. Since the optimal pH for quantitative sorption coincides with typical pH of Black Sea water (7.9–8.2), on-site pre-concentration of the analytes without any additional treatment was possible. Detection limits achieved for total dissolved metal quantification were: Cd 0.002 µg L−1, Cu 0.005 µg L−1, Ni 0.03 µg L−1, Pb 0.02 µg L−1 and relative standard deviations varied from 5–13% for all studied elements (for typical Cd, Cu, Ni and Pb concentrations in Black Sea water). Open pore diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique was employed for in-situ sampling and pre-concentration of the sea water and in combination with ETAAS was used to determine the proportion of dynamic (mobile and kinetically labile) species of Cd(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Pb(II) in the sea water. Obtained results showed strong complexation for Cu and Pb with sea water dissolved organic matter. The ratios between DGT-labile and total dissolved concentrations found for Cu(II) and Pb(II) were in the range 0.2–0.4. For Cd and Ni, these ratios varied from 0.6 to 0.8, suggesting higher degree of free and kinetically labile species of these metals in sea water.


Objectives:Several recent publications have suggested an association between the administration of gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents and the occurrence of Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF), an acquired disorder marked by skin thickening and fibrosis occurring in patients with severe renal dysfunction. The aim of this study was to establish a preclinical experimental setting to investigate the possible link between NSF and Gd-based contrast agents, and specifically the role of Gd and/or depletion of endogenous metal ions as possible triggers for NSF. Materials and Methods:Thirty-five healthy male rats received repeated intravenous injections of Magnevist (gadopentetate dimeglumine; Gd-DTPA), Omniscan (gadodiamide; Gd-DTPA-BMA), or gadodiamide without caldiamide at a dose of 2.5 mmol Gd/kg body weight over at least 20 days to simulate the exposure to Gd-containing contrast agents in patients with severe renal dysfunction. In addition, caldiamide (the excess ligand in Omniscan) and Gd-ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (Gd-EDTA) as a positive control, and saline as a negative control were studied. Histopathologic and immunohistochemical analysis of the skin was performed. Gd and zinc concentrations were measured in skin, femur, and liver tissue by atomic emission spectrometry. Results:Rats receiving Gd-EDTA, gadodiamide without caldiamide, and Omniscan developed epidermal ulceration and acanthosis, dermo-epidermal clefts, minimal-to-slight dermal fibrosis, and increased dermal infiltration of different cells, partly positive for CD34 fibrocytes. No such NSF-like macroscopic lesions were observed in the saline, caldiamide, and Magnevist groups. High Gd concentrations in the skin were found in the Gd-EDTA, gadodiamide without caldiamide, and Omniscan groups. In the Magnevist group, Gd levels in the skin were 10-times lower than in the Omniscan-treated animals but elevated compared with saline. Conclusions:A preclinical experimental setting has been established where NSF-like lesions could be observed. The link between the application of Gd-based contrast media and the induction of NSF-like lesions was established. The data indicate that the observed skin lesions are related to the release of Gd and not to the depletion of endogenous ions. The investigations further suggest potential importance of the stability of Gd-based contrast agents.


This study investigated the spatial-temporal gait patterns and motor strategy in children with and without Down syndrome (DS) when walking from the level ground to the stairs. Six children with DS and eleven typically developing (TD) children aged 5-11 years from the greater Atlanta participated in this study. A full body 35 marker set and a Vicon motion capture system were used for data collection. Three three-step wooden staircases with the riser height of 17 cm (LS), 24 cm (MS), and 31 cm (HS) were randomly presented to the subjects. We examined anticipatory locomotor adjustments in spatial-temporal gait parameters (i.e. step width, step length, step time, step velocity, stance time) while the subject approached a staircase. While going up the stairs, we examined the aforementioned gait parameters and included other variables such as vertical toe clearance and horizontal toe velocity above the edge of stairs. In addition, we categorized motor strategies that were adopted to negotiate a staircase. A series of mixed ANOVA with repeated measures were conducted on each spatial-temporal gait parameter. Our results demonstrated that children with DS displayed some anticipatory locomotor adjustments while approaching a staircase, but the pattern was different from those in TD children. Specifically, while approaching a staircase, TD children maintained a similar step length and velocity but decreased step width, whereas children with DS decreased step length and velocity but maintained step width. While going up a staircase, children with DS chose a crawling strategy more often, and displayed a wider step width and a lower horizontal toe velocity than TD children. Further, children with DS produced a higher toe clearance ("overshooting") from the leading limb than TD children under the LS condition and a lower toe clearance ("undershooting") under the HS condition. Our results suggest that children with DS aged 5-11 years are able to display some anticipatory locomotor adjustments while negotiating a staircase, but still developmentally behind TD children. These findings allow us to understand motor function and the environmentally related locomotion adaptations in children with DS. INDEX WORDS: Down syndrome, Gait pattern, Anticipatory locomotor adjustment, Adaptive locomotion, Motor strategy SPATIAL-TEMPORAL GAIT PATTERN AND MOTOR STRATEGY IN CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT DOWN SYNDROME WHILE WALKING FROM LEVEL SURFACE TO STAIRS


PURPOSE
To determine the genomic organization of the zebrafish crx gene and to evaluate if mutations in crx are responsible for the retinal degeneration phenotype in the zebrafish (Danio rerio) mutants niezerka (nie(m743)) and mikre oko (mok(m632)).

METHODS
Overlapping fragments were PCR amplified from genomic DNA isolated from homozygous mutant embryos and wild-type siblings (sibs). Amplicons were sequenced and sequence data assembled into contigs. Genomic organization was determined by alignment of contigs with published cDNA sequences and zebrafish genomic sequence from Sanger and Ensembl databases. Linkage analysis used DNA from mapping panels of single homozygous mutant animals with mixed genetic backgrounds.

RESULTS
The analysis indicated that the zebrafish crx gene consisted of three exons and 2 introns, and spans 3.8 kb of genomic DNA. The splice junctions were all located within the coding region. Highly repetitive sequences present in non-coding regions of crx and extended tetra-nucleotide repeats in intronic regions were associated with sequence variation between different strains. Homozygous mok(m632) or nie(m743) mutants and their respective wild-type sibs, showed identical patterns of heterozygosity and sequence variations within each line. No mutation in crx were identified in homozygous mok(m632) or nie(m743). Consistent with the absence of identified mutations, linkage analysis excluded linkage of the mutant phenotypes to crx.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite the presence of sequence variations in their respective genetic backgrounds, within each line the sequence of crx was identical. Consistent with the absence of mutations, further analysis excluded linkage of the mutant phenotypes to crx. Analysis is in progress to map these loci and identify the genes responsible for the retinal degeneration phenotype in these mutant lines.


As VLSI technology continues to advance, the aggressive scaling of transistor size not only dramatically increases the power consumption of a processor chip, but also significantly decreases the reliability of the chip. While Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) techniques have been shown very effective in power reduction, they can adversely affect the reliability and stability of computing systems. In this paper, we present an online power management approach to schedule real-time tasks on a single processor platform to minimize the energy consumption without compromising the overall system reliability. The proposed algorithm recycles the reserved redundant resources dynamically and thus can reduce the energy consumption more effectively. As shown in our simulation study, by exploiting the run-time dynamics, we proposed technique can significantly outperform the previous work in energy savings.


Lithography simulation is a critical step in VLSI design and optimization for manufacturability. Existing solutions for highly accurate lithography simulation with rigorous models are computationally expensive and slow, even when equipped with various approximation techniques. Recently, machine learning has provided alternative solutions for lithography simulation tasks such as coarse-grained edge placement error regression and complete contour prediction. However, the impact of these learning-based methods has been limited due to restrictive usage scenarios or low simulation accuracy. To tackle these concerns, we introduce an dual-band optics-inspired neural network design that considers the optical physics underlying lithography. To the best of our knowledge, our approach yields the first published via/metal layer contour simulation at 1nm2/pixel resolution with any tile size. Compared to previous machine learning based solutions, we demonstrate that our framework can be trained much faster and offers a significant improvement on efficiency and image quality with 20× smaller model size. We also achieve 85× simulation speedup over traditional lithography simulator with ~ 1% accuracy loss.


Pseudomonas sp. N.C.I.B. 9816 strain 11, when grown on salicylate in the presence of dibenzo[1,4]dioxan, accumulated cis-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydrodibenzo[1,4]dioxan and 2-hydroxydibenzo[1,4]dioxan in the culture medium. Each metabolite was isolated in crystalline form and identified by a variety of conventional chemical techniques. Crude cell extracts prepared from the parental strain grown with naphthalene oxidized cis-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydrodibenzo[1,4]dioxan under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions to 1,2-dihydroxydibenzo[1,4]dioxan. Further degradation of this metabolite was not detected.


The SasA-RpaA two-component system constitutes a key output pathway of the cyanobacterial Kai circadian oscillator. To date, rhythm of phycobilisome associated (rpaA) is the only gene other than kaiA, kaiB, and kaiC, which encode the oscillator itself, whose mutation causes completely arrhythmic gene expression. Here we report a unique transposon insertion allele in a small ORF located immediately upstream of rpaA in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 termed crm (for circadian rhythmicity modulator), which results in arrhythmic promoter activity but does not affect steady-state levels of RpaA. The crm ORF complements the defect when expressed in trans, but only if it can be translated, suggesting that crm encodes a small protein. The crm1 insertion allele phenotypes are distinct from those of an rpaA null; crm1 mutants are able to grow in a light:dark cycle and have no detectable oscillations of KaiC phosphorylation, whereas low-amplitude KaiC phosphorylation rhythms persist in the absence of RpaA. Levels of phosphorylated RpaA in vivo measured over time are significantly altered compared with WT in the crm1 mutant as well as in the absence of KaiC. Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that the Crm polypeptide modulates a circadian-specific activity of RpaA.


This study seeks to focus on an assessment of the Social and economic impact of policies adopted by a World Bank-supported rural development scheme to develop improved rice production in North-Central Sierra Leone: The Northern Area Integrated Agricultural Development Project (lADP). Particular attention is paid to an examination of the spatial impact of the project, flecause lADP is designed to promote' development for 'smaller' and 'poorer' farmers, attention is focused on separating different groups of farmers and attempting to measure their responses to, and potential for participation in the process of rural transformation. Allocation of infrastructural facilities within the project area is intended by project planners to facilitate project activities in 'difficult' areas and to open up hitherto 'remote' communities to the exchange sector of the economy. This study attempts to argue the point that there is little evidence of any correlation between the pattern of resource allocation and 'need' defined in terms of population concentration, agricultural resource potentials and/or inadequacy of existing facilities. The following typify some of the detailed conclusions derived from this study: (a) The effect of lADP credit policy is to increasingly direct available loan capital to 'wealthier' farmers who are committed to a process of transition from farming to merchant capital - dominated trading sectors of the national economy. (b) That farm labour supply imposes a greater constraint on efforts to increase agricultural output than the supply of suitable farmland. Labour shortages are widespread and reflect the heavy outmigration of young males to urban c entres. (c) Labour 'companies' or work groups supply significant amounts of farm labour inputs in the study area. The existence of these work groups acts to stratify the rural communities into three categories of peasants: 'poor' 'rriddle and 'wealthy' peasants. (d) The distribution of project farmers shows a reaspnabh' even response over the project area. Spatial allocation of project infrastructure has, however, tended to produce an anomalous pattern. Consequently, there are some inadequacies in the emerging spatial structure. (e) Overall the results emphasise the need to take account of farmers' views and understanding of the process of agrarian change.


: A count of the tick species Ixodes persulcatus Schulze, 1930 was carried out in the "Denezhkin Kamen" Nature Reserve and adjacent territories (the Severoural'sk and Ivdel' Districts of the Sverdlovsk Region, the Northern Urals geographical province) in the 2005. The abundance and distribution of unengorged adults has been evaluated on an area of 22.5 square kilometers (N 60 degrees 27'-60 degrees 30' E 059 degrees 38'-059 degrees 42'). The area includes proportionally main landscape and vegetation elements of the region studied, from mountain analogues of the middle and northern taiga up to tundra. One tick species, I. persulcatus, has been collected by flagging with the abundance from 0.4 up to 6.8 (average 1.6 +/- 0.9) specimens per flag-hour. The observed values of abundance are classified into three classes (I - ticks are absent, II - 1-2 specimens, and III - 3-7 specimens per flag-hour). The class I amounts 20, II - 75, and III - 5% of the area examined. It has been revealed by the expert evaluation of the 2003-2004 and counts of the 2005 that ticks occur stably in the Northern Ural, reaching N 61 degrees and 400 m above sea level. The level of the species abundance remained constant till the middle of summer. In this period the activity of ticks dependent on the weather optimum only.


PURPOSE
To examine rural status and social factors as predictors of self-rated health in community-dwelling adults in the United States.

METHODS
This study uses multinomial logistic and cumulative logistic models to evaluate the associations of interest in the 2006 U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a cross-sectional survey of 347,709 noninstitutionalized adults.

FINDINGS
Self-rated health was poorer among rural residents, compared to urban residents (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.54, 1.90). However, underlying risk factors such as obesity, low income, and low educational attainment were found to vary by rural status and account for the observed increased risk (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.94, 1.12). There was little evidence of effect modification by rural status, though the association between obesity and self-rated health was stronger among urban residents (OR = 2.50, 95% CI: 2.38, 2.64) than among rural residents (OR = 2.18, 95% CI: 2.03, 2.34).

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that differences in self-rated health by rural status were attributable to differential distributions of participant characteristics and not due to differential effects of those characteristics.


: Family physicians and general practitioners see the majority of patients with uncomplicated rheumatic disease, yet information on database collection and clinical judgment in such practices is limited. Trained patients with uncomplicated rheumatic disease (standardized patients) were used to evaluate these abilities in 26 family physicians at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in blinded, but previously consented to, brief new encounters. Ability to formulate an assessment and to plan was evaluated as well as ability to collect diagnostic information. Few physicians explored the psychosocial impact of the illness (4 percent) or the role of depression (0 percent). In the brief encounter with a localized complaint, little inquiry was directed to systemic disease (46 percent). Physicians more uniformly asked about the chief complaint (96 percent) and time of onset (88 percent). Physical examination items most commonly omitted were evaluation of systemic joint involvement (69 percent) and muscle wasting in the involved area (59 percent). Referral occurred on 15 percent of encounters and patient education occurred in 62 percent. Three quarters of physicians developed an adequate assessment and virtually all developed an adequate patient care plan.


The problem of detecting a few anomalous processes among a large number of M processes is considered. At each time, aggregated observations can be taken from a chosen subset of processes, where the chosen subset conforms to a given binary tree structure. The random observations are i.i.d. over time with a general distribution that may depend on the size of the chosen subset and the number of anomalous processes in the subset. The objective is a sequential search strategy that minimizes the sample complexity (i.e., the expected number of observations which represents detection delay) subject to a reliability constraint. A sequential test that results in a biased random walk on the tree is developed and is shown to be asymptotically optimal in terms of detection accuracy. Furthermore, it achieves the optimal logarithmic-order sample complexity in M provided that the Kullback-Liebler divergence between aggregated observations in the presence and the absence of anomalous processes are bounded away from zero at all levels of the tree structure as M approaches infinity. Sufficient conditions on the decaying rate of the aggregated observations to pure noise under which a sublinear scaling in M is preserved are also identified for the Bernoulli case.


The paper presents a fully adaptive proximal extrapolated gradient method for monotone variational inequalities. The proposed method uses fully non-monotonic and adaptive step sizes, that are computed using two previous iterates as an approximation of the locally Lipschitz constant without running a linesearch. Thus, it has almost the same low computational cost as classic proximal gradient algorithm, each iteration requires only one evaluation of a monotone mapping and a proximal operator. The method exhibits an ergodic O(1/N) convergence rate and R-linear rate under a strong monotonicity assumption of the mapping. Applying the method to unconstrained optimization and fixed point problems, it is sufficient for convergence of iterates that the step sizes are estimated only by the local curvature of mapping, without any constraints on step size's increasing rate. The numerical experiments illustrate the improvements in efficiency from the low computational cost and fully non-monotonic and adaptive step sizes.


One effective means of computing NP-hard problems is provided by fixed-parameter tractable (fpt-) algorithms. An fpt-algorithm is an algorithm whose running time is polynomial in the input size and superpolynomial only as a function of an input parameter. Provided that the parameter is small enough, an fpt-algorithm runs fast even for large inputs. In this paper, we report on an investigation of the evolvability of fpt-algorithms via Genetic Programming (GP). The problem used in this investigation is the NP-hard 2D-Euclidean Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), which is known to be fpt if the number of points not on the convex hull is taken as the parameter. The algorithm evolved in our GP study turns out to have clear characteristics of an fpt-algorithm. The results suggest GP can be utilized for generating fpt-algorithms for NP-hard problems in general, as well as for discovering input parameters that could be used to develop fpt-algorithms.


The inevitable and omnipresent workplace conflict remains a major theme of occupational psychology and organizational behavior. The proponents of its badness are many but from Dutsch(1973) a group of researchers starts their voyage of finding empirical evidences for its beneficial existence. The academic debate is still on. This review analyze the pros and cons of the arguments of both sides and it was concluded that neither all types of conflict are bad nor it can be concluded as final verdict that positive outcomes of conflict are circumstantial and exceptions not the rules. It needs pre-post, longitudinal, multi-variable and more comprehensive studies to analyze conflict thoroughly. Directions for future research are also discussed.


Exploring Parliament offers a fresh perspective on an ancient institution. It provides a real-life insight into the inner workings, impact, and relevance of twenty-first century Parliament. Short academic and practitioner chapters are combined with relevant and practical case studies, to provide an introduction to Parliament's structures, people, and practices. As well as covering the broader structure of UK Parliament, this text explains the role of small parties in law-making, the design and space of Parliament, and offers illuminating case studies on highly topical areas such as the Backbench Business Committee, the Hillsborough Inquiry and recent pieces of legislation such as the Assisted Dying Bill.


The rural population in developing countries depends on agriculture. However, in many of these countries, agricultural productivity remains low with episodes of famines in drought-prone areas. One of the options to increase agricultural productivity is through adoption and use of improved agricultural technologies and management systems. Being a relatively high risk business due to factors related to production, marketing and finance, agriculture requires to devise risk mitigating strategies. Several models used to evaluate the adoption of agricultural technologies focus mainly on assessing the ex-post impact of technology without necessarily quantifying the profit and risk associated with the adoption of technologies. This paper introduces a farm simulation model (FARMSIM) that attempts to evaluate the potential economic and nutritional impacts of new agricultural technologies before they are adopted (ex-ante). FARMSIM is a Monte Carlo simulation model that simultaneously evaluates a baseline and an alternative farming technology. In this study, the model is used to analyze the impact of adoption of small scale irrigation technologies and fertilizers on the farm income and nutrition of smallholder farmers in Robit kebele, Amhara region of Ethiopia. The farming technologies under study comprise water lifting technologies (pulley and tank, rope and washer pump, gasoline/diesel motor pump and a solar pump) and use of fertilizers. The key output variables (KOVs) are the probability of positive annual net cash income and ending cash reserves, probability of positive net present value and a benefit cost ratio greater than one. For nutrition, the KOVs relate to the probability of consumption exceeding average daily minimum requirements of an adult for calories, protein, fat, calcium, iron, and vitamin A. The application of recommended fertilizers on grain and vegetable crops, alongside the use of irrigation to grow vegetables and fodder using a motor pump had the highest net present value compared to other scenarios. Similar results were observed for the net cash farm income and the ending cash reserves. However, the most feasible and profitable scenario is the one under the pulley system which had the highest benefit cost ratio. Solar pump system had the lowest benefit cost ratio due most likely to high initial investment cost. As for the nutrition, the simulation results show an increase in quantities available to the farm family of all nutrition variables under all alternative scenarios. However, the daily minimum requirements per adult equivalent were met only for calories, proteins, iron and vitamin A but deficiencies were observed for fat and calcium.


Kalla on Oland is used as a point of departure in a discussion of the so-called defensive churches or multi-functional churches at the Baltic Sea. The categorization of medieval society into four separate spheres, the church, the castle, the town and the countryside, is criticised as having created a heterogenous group of deviant churches. The deviant churches have been interpreted in three competitive perspectives: 1) defense, 2) profane function and 3) symbolic form. However, to understand the deviant churches it is necessary to combine the perspectives. The multi-functional churches represented a fusion, where the sacred and the profane were integrated. The whole point was, that a broad specter of functions such as hostelry, residence and store were made sacred by being integrated in the church building or church yard. Most of the multi-functional churches at the Baltic Sea belong to the period c. 1170-1240 and might be connected to the Danish empire, the crusades and the Saint Canute Guilds. When peace broke down in the 1240s, some of the multi-functional churches were symbolically fortified as also several towns and many manors. (Less)


A novel search-based approach to software quality modeling with multiple software project repositories is presented. Training a software quality model with only one software measurement and defect data set may not effectively encapsulate quality trends of the development organization. The inclusion of additional software projects during the training process can provide a cross-project perspective on software quality modeling and prediction. The genetic-programming-based approach includes three strategies for modeling with multiple software projects: Baseline Classifier, Validation Classifier, and Validation-and-Voting Classifier. The latter is shown to provide better generalization and more robust software quality models. This is based on a case study of software metrics and defect data from seven real-world systems. A second case study considers 17 different (nonevolutionary) machine learners for modeling with multiple software data sets. Both case studies use a similar majority-voting approach for predicting fault-proneness class of program modules. It is shown that the total cost of misclassification of the search-based software quality models is consistently lower than those of the non-search-based models. This study provides clear guidance to practitioners interested in exploiting their organization's software measurement data repositories for improved software quality modeling.


Sleep is a restorative behavior essential for health. Poor sleep has been linked to adverse health outcomes among older adults; however, we know little about the social processes that affect sleep. Using innovative actigraphy data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 727), we considered the role of marriage, positive marital relationship support, and negative marital relationship strain on older adults' (ages 62–90) self-reported and actigraph-measured sleep characteristics. We found that married older adults had better actigraph-estimated but not self-reported sleep characteristics than the unmarried. However, among the married, those who reported more negative aspects of their marital relationship reported more insomnia symptoms, with the association reduced when psychosocial characteristics were added to the model. The married who reported more positive aspects of their marital relationship showed better actigraph-estimated sleep characteristics; taking characteristics of the physical and mental health and home environment into account reduced this association.


Bronchial asthma is an inflammatory disorder in which genetic and environmental factors play an important role. Several susceptible genes have been identified using whole genome scan and candidate gene approaches. Tumor necrosis factor alpha, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, is one such gene that figures prominently in such investigations. The secreted levels of this cytokine are under genetic control and attributed to the presence of single nucleotide polymorphism G-308 A in the promoter region of its gene. However, the association of this polymorphism varies from population to population. As there are no data available on North Indians, the present study aims to fill this void. For this, 366 subjects (155 asthmatic and 211 normal control subject) were genotyped using Amplification Refractory Mutation System Analysis (ARMS-PCR) and agarose gel electrophoresis. The distribution of G/A alleles between the two groups revealed statistically significant differences (p = 0.016). Furthermore, the asthma patients categorized on the basis of pattern (Seasonal versus Perennial) and age of onset of disease (Childhood versus Late Onset) revealed significant association with only seasonal (p = 0.021) and late onset asthmatic groups (p = 0.039). The data from the present study strongly suggest an association between TNF-alpha and asthma in the North Indian population.