In order to use the Iosipescu V-notch beam test for determining the in-plane shear strength of high strength 2D 2 × 2 biaxial braided composites, two modifications were made to the specimen geometry. First, they were tabbed to prevent buckling at the gage section and pinching of the specimen at grip sections. Tabbed specimens having gage sections of 0.50″, 0.35″, 0.188″ were studied. Also, to reduce the load required for failure, the shear area was decreased by deepening the V-notch. Failure modes of specimens having notch widths of 0.425″, 0.350″, 0.325″, and 0.300″ were examined. In this investigation, high toughness PR520 epoxy resin was selected to make panels by resin transfer molding (RTM). An initial study was conducted to find the best possible specimen geometry using ±45° braid. Then, both ±45° and ±60° braid angles were studied for the selected geometry. In order to investigate the cut direction effects on the ±60° braid in-plane shear modulus and the strength, the specimens were cut in both 0° and 90° directions of the panel. Tabbed specimens with a gage length of 0.188″ demonstrated the highest average shear strength. The notch width of 0.325″ produced acceptable failures. Thus, it was selected as the minimum notch width. Then, both ±45° and ±60° specimens having gage section of 0.188″ and notch width of 0.325″ were tested for shear properties. The tabs minimized the bending loads due to buckling and pinching of the specimens across the gage section. Modifications increased the in-plane shear strength by about 33–55% for ±45°. The 0° cut-direction specimens, which had ±30° fibers with respect to the loading path, had lower strength and modulus values than that of the 90° cut-direction specimens. Modulus results for ±60° specimens were close to analytical predictions regardless of the cut direction.


Metalloproteinases (MMPs) have an important role in tissue remodeling and have been shown to have an effect on tumor progression, invasion, metastasis formation, and apoptosis in several tumors, including mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare tumor arising from pleura and peritoneum and is frequently associated with asbestos exposure. We have performed a systematic search of PubMed.gov and ClinicalTrials.gov databases to retrieve and review three groups of studies: studies of MMPs expression in tumor tissue or body fluids in patients with mesothelioma, studies of MMPs genetic variability, and studies of MMPs as potential novel drug targets in mesothelioma. Several studies of MMPs in mesothelioma tissues reported a link between higher expression levels of commonly studied MMPs and clinical parameters, such as overall survival. Fewer studies have investigated genetic variability of MMP genes. Nevertheless, these studies suggested that certain genetic variants in MMP genes can have either protective or tumor-promoting effects on mesothelioma patients. MMPs have been also reported as novel drug targets, but so far no clinical trials of MMP inhibitors are registered in mesothelioma. In conclusion, MMPs play an important role in mesothelioma, but further studies are needed to elucidate the potentials of MMPs as biomarkers and drug targets in mesothelioma.


Summary Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is an important production species as well as one of the most studied fish models, particularly regarding nutritional physiology. Due to negative environmental impacts linked with rainbow trout farm effluents, significant restrictions have been established in numerous regions to reduce dietary phosphorus (P) outputs. However, questions have arisen regarding the link between abnormal skeletal development and mineralization and insufficient dietary P availability during rapid fish growth (juvenile fish). Despite significant work to understand the dynamics of P-deficiency and the resulting impact on tissue mineralization, the extent of the early responses in rainbow trout fed low-P diets is not well described. The aim of this study was to explore the early-responses of scales, vertebrae and carcass P and ash in rainbow trout fed low-P vs sufficient-P controls. Two practical diets (sufficient: 0.45% available P and deficient: 0.29% available P) were fed over a 5-week period to triploid rainbow trout (initial mass 60.8 1.6 g). Ash and P contents were used to assess mineral status of the different tissues. The relative loss of mineral and coefficient of variation were also calculated to compare the relative response and the inter-individual variability. After 4 weeks of P deprivation, no detectable effects were observed on growth performance, mortality or feed intake. However, as early as the second week onward, ash and P levels in scales and carcasses were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in fish fed a P-deficient diet compared to those fed a P-sufficient diet. At week 4, the reduction in mineralization reached 19.3 and 18.4% for P and ash contents in scales, respectively. By the same week, P and ash contents in carcasses reached 15.1 and 12.8%, respectively. Interestingly, the absence of significant mineral loss in vertebrae did not prevent the emergence of a high incidence of vertebral deformities in P-deficient fish (45.6 11.0%) when compared to P-sufficient fish (1.5 2.1%). The main vertebral deformities observed in Pdeficient trout were specific to impede bone matrix mineralization such as pronounced biconcave (35.5%) and undersized and widely spaced vertebral bodies (9.3%). For the scales compartment (ash and P status) and mineral parameter, the coefficients of variation showed a higher inter-individual variability in P-deficient vs P-sufficient fish, while no such effect was observed in carcass or vertebrae compartment. This study provides a useful comparison of various commonly-used indicators of bone mineral status as well as an approach to assess variability of fish response under low-dietary P level.


Primary Health Networks (PHNs) have been tasked with two key objectives to be achieved through commissioning. Public value aims can be achieved by developing operational capability in the context of an authorising environment. Public value will need to focus on system level outcomes from multiple perspectives, including a consumer perspective. The authorising environment will require policymakers to allow time for PHNs to mature into their role. It will require an environment of effective collaboration amongst multiple stakeholders including consumers. The operational capability will need to ensure highly competent managers and clinical leadership working in a symbiotic relationship. Although some Medicare Locals demonstrated commissioning capacity and capability, this will need to be scaled up at-pace in the new healthcare landscape in order for PHNs to optimally fulfil their roles.


This article explores theoretical literature on refugees, noting a significant distinction between an abstract body of work critiquing the politics of humanitarianism and an ethnographic literature focused on refugee subjects. As I argue, refugees should be seen not simply as "bare life" which has been removed from political life, but rather as political subjects whose subjectivities are shaped by the social environments in which they live. To illustrate this point, I draw on Liisa Malkki's Purity and exile and my own work on exile camps administered by the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) during Namibia's liberation struggle. Collectively, this and other ethnographic literature highlight limits to social theory which works with highly abstract notions of "the refugee" and suggests that more significant scholarly interventions are now to be made through carefully contextualised work, tracing political subjectivities, in particular refugee communities, and how these subjectivities have been abstracted.


ABSTRACT Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) strains cause a large spectrum of infections. The majority of ExPEC strains are closely related to the B2 or the D phylogenetic group. The aim of our study was to develop a protein-based vaccine against these ExPEC strains. To this end, we identified ExPEC-specific genomic regions, using a comparative genome analysis, between the nonpathogenic E. coli strain K-12 MG1655 and ExPEC strains C5 (meningitis isolate) and CFT073 (urinary tract infection isolate). The analysis of these genomic regions allowed the selection of 40 open reading frames, which are conserved among B2/D clinical isolates and encode proteins with putative outer membrane localization. These genes were cloned, and recombinant proteins were purified and assessed as vaccine candidates. After immunization of BALB/c mice, five proteins induced a significant protective immunity against a lethal challenge with a clinical E. coli strain of the B2 group. In passive immunization assays, antigen-specific antibodies afforded protection to naive mice against a lethal challenge. Three of these antigens were related to iron acquisition metabolism, an important virulence factor of the ExPEC, and two corresponded to new, uncharacterized proteins. Due to the large number of genetic differences that exists between commensal and pathogenic strains of E. coli, our results demonstrate that it is possible to identify targets that elicit protective immune responses specific to those strains. The five protective antigens could constitute the basis for a preventive subunit vaccine against diseases caused by ExPEC strains.


The IEEE Nuclear Engineering Committee has standards that address hardware issues. The IEEE Computer Society has standards addressing software. The P-7-4.3.2, IEEE standard criteria for digital computers in safety systems of nuclear power generating stations, which brings together standards from both groups to address the integration of computer hardware and software with noncomputer hardware, is discussed. P-7-4.3.2 is being developed to show the interrelationship of software and hardware requirements as they apply throughout the development process. The influence of system design development on system quality, system qualification, and system integrity, are described.<<ETX>>


Future machine-to-machine (M2M) communications need to support a massive number of devices communicating with each other with little or no human intervention. Random access techniques were originally proposed to enable M2M multiple access, but suffer from severe congestion and access delay in an M2M system with a large number of devices. In this paper, we propose a novel multiple access scheme for M2M communications based on the capacity-approaching analog fountain code to efficiently minimize the access delay and satisfy the delay requirement for each device. This is achieved by allowing M2M devices to transmit at the same time on the same channel in an optimal probabilistic manner based on their individual delay requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a near optimal rate performance and at the same time guarantees the delay requirements of the devices. We further propose a simple random access strategy and characterize the required overhead. Simulation results show that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the existing random access schemes currently used in long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) standard in terms of the access delay.


As a group, Indigenous Australians experience poorer health outcomes than other Australians, including in the area of sexual health. Indigenous Australians have substantially higher rates of STIs, BBVs and teen pregnancy than non-Indigenous Australians, particularly for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, infectious syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Efforts to reduce these high rates are compounded by the historical and social context of Indigenous Australians. Although many Australians may experience elements of shame and embarrassment when they access health services for STIs and BBVs, for many Indigenous Australians there also exists a mistrust of 'mainstream' (non-Indigenous specific) health services as a result of past injustices and racially differentiated treatment (Arabena 2006). Historically, Indigenous Australians diagnosed with an STI were segregated and placed into privately run hospitals ('lock hospitals') that were in poor condition. Sexual health education programs are one way of promoting sexual health for Indigenous Australians. PDF format: [673KB PDF] Rich text document format: [473KB RTF]


ABSTRACT This study aims to evaluate how the habitat of the Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei) has changed over the last nine decades in a reach of the River Duero in Toro (Zamora). The available physical habitat through different streamflows was quantified as the wetted area potentially usable by adult barbel with maximum preference (weighted usable area [WUA]). Historical time series of streamflows were used to generate a time series of habitat. Flow data were studied from 1912 to 2008, period being divided into three sub-periods. The sub-period 1912–1931 was considered as a natural regime of reference, and sub-periods 1942–1980 and 1981–2008 were altered. Data from 1931 to 1942 were missing. Uniform continuous under-threshold (UCUT) curves were developed for a set of WUA thresholds from 20% to 75% maximum WUA in the three different sub-periods. As Iberian barbel's life- history traits determine that habitat conditions become limiting during summer season, we have drawn UCUT curves using the values from July to September. In order to quantify the challenges to population resilience due to changes in habitat availability, an index of population fatigue was proposed (analogous to materials fatigue), which compares altered periods to natural one. This index was defined by the difference between the area that the UCUT curves in the altered and natural periods draw for each defined threshold and it is measured in days under thresholds. The index of population fatigue is calculated as an extension of Parasiewicz et al.'s (2012) concept of habitat stress days alteration, the HSDA, into an integrated HSDA (IHSDA). The greater the index value, the greater the alteration suffered. Results showed an increasing loss of habitat availability for common events related to natural conditions: 10 days for the first altered sub-period that became more evident (up to 18 days) in the last sub-period.


Uniprocessor schedulability theory made great strides, in part, due to the simplicity of composing the delay of a job from the execution times of higher-priority jobs that preempt it. In this paper, we bound the end-to-end delay of a job in a multistage pipeline as a function of higher-priority job execution times on different stages. We show that the end-to-end delay is bounded by that of a single virtual "bottleneck" stage plus a small additive component. This contribution effectively transforms the pipeline into a single stage system. The wealth of schedulability analysis techniques derived for uniprocessors can then be applied to decide the schedulability of the pipeline. The transformation does not require imposing artitifical per-stage deadlines, but rather models the pipeline as a whole and uses the end-to-end deadlines directly in the single-stage analysis. It also does not make assumptions on job arrival patterns or periodicity and thus can be applied to periodic and aperiodic tasks alike. We show through simulations that this approach outperforms previous pipeline schedulability tests except for very short pipelines or when deadlines are sufficiently large. The reason lies in the way we account for execution overlap among stages. We discuss how previous approaches account for overlap and point out interesting differences that lead to different performance advantages in different cases. We hope that the pipeline delay composition rule, derived in this paper, may be a step towards a general schedulability analysis foundation for large distributed systems.


A novel bioinspired control strategy design is proposed for generalized synchronization of nonlinear chaotic systems, combining the bioinspired stability theory, fuzzy modeling, and a novel, simple-form Lyapunov control function design of derived high efficient, heuristic and bioinspired controllers. Three main contributions are concluded: (1) apply the bioinspired stability theory to further analyze the stability of fuzzy error systems; the high performance of controllers has been shown in previous study by Li and Ge 2009, (2) a new Lyapunov control function based on bioinspired stability theory is designed to achieve synchronization without using traditional LMI method, which is a simple linear homogeneous function of states and the process of designing controller to synchronize two fuzzy chaotic systems becomes much simpler, and (3) three different situations of synchronization are proposed; classical master and slave Lorenz systems, slave Chen's system, and Rossler's system as functional system are illustrated to further show the effectiveness and feasibility of our novel strategy. The simulation results show that our novel control strategy can be applied to different and complicated control situations with high effectiveness.


Expanding distributed generation systems, advancing energy storage options and innovative approaches in the area of demand management open new doors in grid operation. Grid-responsive devices can be considered as Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and used to form Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). Because the aim is to benefit from many assets that have individual primary tasks and operational constraints, advanced planning and management approaches are needed. In this study SEAN, an advanced management system that can be used for coordinating huge number of DERs in VPP applications is proposed. The designed system is aimed to meet supply/demand mismatches, benefiting from various types of storage systems and controllable loads. As a response to an event happening on the grid, both pre-planned and real-time scheduling and coordination tasks are aimed to be handled. During the coordination process, calculations and control actions are tried to be kept as minimal as possible for effective operation.


Background: The choice of antimicrobial therapy for bloodstream infections is often empirical and based on the knowledge of local antimicrobial activity profiles of the most common bacteria causing such infections. Aims: The present study was aimed to investigate frequency of bacterial pathogens causing septicemia and their antimicrobial resistant pattern in hospital admitted patients. Settings and Design: It was a prospective study, conducted at Majeedia Hospital, Hamdard University, New Delhi, India. Material and Methods: We examined prospectively, 168 bacterial strains isolated from 186 clinically diagnosed septicemia cases admitted at a University Hospital in New Delhi, over a period of six months from July 2009 to December 2009. Antimicrobial susceptibility was performed according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, USA) guidelines. Results: The most frequently identified Gram-positive bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci 63.5%, Staphylococcus aureus 23.1%, enterococci 5.8% and alpha-haemolytic streptococci 5.8%. The most frequently Gram-negative bacteria identified were Acinetobacter species 31%, Salmonella typhi 24.1%, Escherichia coli 23.3% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 13.8%. Coagulase-negative staphylococci showed maximum resistance to cefaclor 57.1% and ampicillin 46.9%. Staphylococcus aureus showed maximum resistance to amoxicillin 100% and ampicillin 91.7%. Acinetobacter species showed maximum resistance to amoxicillin 89.7%, amoxiclav 87.1% and ampicillin 85.7%. Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae showed maximum resistance to ampicillin, 46.4%, 92%, 93.8% and 100%, respectively. Conclusions: Gram-negative pathogens predominated in bloodstream infections. Resistance to most of the antimicrobial agents for a number of pathogens implicated in bloodstream infections, especially in Gram-negative bacteria, has reached worrisome levels and continues to increase.


In a ruined castle in the Dark Realm prowls Kaymon the Gorgon Hound. Kaymon is one of six fearsome Beasts unleashed by the wicked wizard, Malvel, to capture the good Beasts of Avantia. Join Tom on his quest to save the good Beasts and avoid being captured himself...Don't miss: TORGOR THE MINOTAUR - SKOR THE WINGED STALLION - NARGA THE SEA MONSTER - TUSK THE MIGHTY MAMMOTH - STING THE SCORPION MAN


Background/Objectives: Middle aged men are confronted with unstable state, physically and psychologically. This study was confirmed the correlation among health behaviour, family function, and depression on them, which has been underestimated. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Convenience sampling was performed for selection of 190 middle-aged men residing in a large city. The sample size was estimated to be ≥110 using the G Power 3.1 program with the significance level of .05, the effect size of .3, and testability of .95. Of 220 questionnaires completed, 190 were used in analysis, with the exception of those with poor responses. Results: Statistically significant positive correlation was found between the subjects' health behaviour and family functions (r = .510, p<.001) and statistically significant negative correlation was found between their health behaviour and depression (r = -.473, p<.001) and between their family functions and depression (r = -.529, p<.001). Stepwise regression analysis was performed to determine the factors affecting depression of the subjects and the results are summarized in Table 3. Regarding goodness-of-fit of the regression model, F-value was 47.256, which was statistically significant (p<.001). R2 value was .329; that is, explanation power for the level of anxiety regarding death was 32.9%. The variables having a statistically significant impact on depression of the subjects were health behaviour (β = -.275, p<0.5) and family functions (β = -.388, p<0.5). Conclusion/Application: Putting the results together, depression of middle-aged men must not be underestimated any longer and systematic intervention should be made in their sociopsychological problems as an effort to lower the level of their depression; for example, by maintaining and promoting positive health behaviour and by developing a mental health program for the whole family.


The life-cycle performance of concrete bridges exposed to corrosion is investigated based on a set of time-variant probabilistic performance indicators including structural reliability, redundancy, robustness and resilience. The performance indicators are quantitatively evaluated based on a methodology for life-cycle nonlinear static and seismic analysis of deteriorating concrete structures under uncertainty. The methodology accounts for the diffusion process of aggressive agents, such as chlorides, and the mechanical damage coupled to diffusion, including corrosion of steel reinforcement and deterioration of concrete. The applicability of the proposed approach is shown through various examples, including the life-cycle reliability analysis and maintenance planning of a bridge pier, the redundancy and robustness evaluation of an arch bridge, and the seismic resilience assessment of a continuous box-girder bridge.


The advent of thin walled structural compression members high-lighted the reservoir of strength which exists beyond the initiation of a state of elastic instability in thin flat rectangular plates loaded in lengthwise compression. The evaluation of this post-critical strength generally called "maximum" strength has been attempted on a variety of semi-empirical bases and in a few cases on purely theoretical grounds. The thesis presents a theoretical treatment for the maximum strength of flat plates, developed by the author, using the concepts of the classical large deflection theory of plates and the deformation theory of plasticity. A variety of unloaded edge conditions ranging from free through elastically fixed to built-in conditions and their symmetrical and unsymmetrical combinations are considered. This theory, developed for single plates is then applied by the introduction of appropriate assumptions to the assessment of the maximum strength of structural sections regarded as an assembly of such plates. Computations connected with the theory were programmed and carried out by the author on a "DEUGE" digital computer. To check the results of the theory an extensive experimental programme covering the measurements of strains and deformations corresponding to the initiation of instability and progress to collapse was carried out. In connection with the experimental programme an original application of the Moire fringe technique was developed by the author for the determination of deflection variations, following an introductory review of the relevant published literature, the subject matter of the thesis is divided into six Sections. Section l presents the derivation of the basic large deflection equations by minimization of the energy integral effected by the use of Euler's equations, and a procedure for the approximate solution of the large deflection equation by Galerkin's method. This energy approach to the problem considered, and the generalization of Euler's equations for two variables with higher derivatives put forward in this thesis is, to the author's knowledge, original. In Section2 the approximate solutions of the large deflection equations and the results of elastic critical loads obtained thereby for two general cases of plates are presented. These are then compared with other available published results obtained by classical methods. The comparisons show excellent agreement. Section 3 presents an analytical method for the maximum load carried by compressed plates, based on the application of the deformation theory of plasticity to the plates analysed by means of the large deflection concept. The application of this method of analysis to the evaluation of the maximum load for plates with free/and/or elastically supported unloaded edges is to the author's knowledge presented here for the first time. In Section 4 the results obtained for single plates have been applied to evaluate the local instability and maximum stresses for box sections, lipped channels and plain channels. The experimental work performed is presented in Section 5. This covers tests in uniform compression of plain and lipped channel, square tube and equal angle sections. In addition to the results of the actual tests, the various auxiliary techniques such as an original application of the Moire fringe method are fully described. The mechanical properties inclusive of tensile and compressive yield, Young's Modulus E at zero and varying mean stress, have been evaluated for all the specimens used and are presented in full. Section 6 contains the comparison of the theoretical and experimental results with a relevant critical discussion. The main test concludes with a Summary indicating that generally good agreement has been obtained between the theory and the experiments, establishing the former as a rational and reliable analysis for the maximum strength in compression of single-plates and structural sections. This is followed by 7 Appendices and an extensive Bibliography. The Appendices contain those details of the theoretical and experimental investigations which have been considered too bulky for inclusion in the main test.


Effective separation of signal from noise (including physiological processes and head motion) is one of the chief challenges for improving the sensitivity and specificity of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) measurements and has a profound impact when these noise sources vary between populations. Independent component analysis (ICA) is an approach for addressing these challenges. Conventionally, due to the lower amount of temporal than spatial information in rs-fMRI data, spatial ICA (sICA) is the method of choice. However, with recent developments in accelerated fMRI acquisitions, the temporal information is becoming enriched to the point that the temporal ICA (tICA) has become more feasible. This is particularly relevant as physiological processes and motion exhibit very different spatial and temporal characteristics when it comes to rs-fMRI applications, leading us to conduct a comparison of the performance of sICA and tICA in addressing these types of noise. In this study, we embrace the novel practice of using theory (simulations) to guide our interpretation of empirical data. We find empirically that sICA can identify more noise-related signal components than tICA. However, on the merit of functional-connectivity results, we find that while sICA is more adept at reducing whole-brain motion effects, tICA performs better in dealing with physiological effects. These interpretations are corroborated by our simulation results. The overall message of this study is that if ICA denoising is to be used for rs-fMRI, there is merit in considering a hybrid approach in which physiological and motion-related noise are each corrected for using their respective best-suited ICA approach. Impact Statement Resting-state fMRI is influenced by low-frequency physiological noise and head motion. Independent component analysis (ICA) is becoming increasingly relied on for reducing these influences, but the utility of spatial and temporal ICA remains unclear. We conducted a comparison of the performance of these two ICA types, using physiological-noise and motion time courses as reference. We found that spatial ICA is more adept at reducing motion effects, while temporal ICA performs better in dealing with physiological effects. We believe these findings provide much-needed clarity on the role of ICA, and recommend using a hybrid of tICA and sICA as a paradigm shift in resting-state fMRI.


Today, customers expect to run triple-play services through BGP/MPLS
IP-VPNs. Some service providers will deploy services that request
Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees from a local Customer Edge (CE) to
a remote CE across the network. As a result, the application (e.g.,
voice, video, bandwidth-guaranteed data pipe, etc.) requirements for
an end-to-end QoS and reserving an adequate bandwidth continue to
increase. Service providers can use both an MPLS and an MPLS Traffic
Engineering (MPLS-TE) Label Switched Path (LSP) to meet their service
objectives. This document describes service-provider requirements for
supporting a customer Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) and RSVP-TE
over a BGP/MPLS IP-VPN. This document is not an Internet Standards
Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.


Simulated Kalman Filter (SKF) is an estimation-based optimization algorithm which is established based on the Kalman filtering framework. A variant of SKF which operates using one agent is called single-solution simulated Kalman filter (ssSKF). At present, there is no tutorial been published on ssSKF. One may find that the equations and flowchart of the algorithm is not easy to understand. Hence, this paper provides a tutorial on ssSKF algorithm that emphasizes on a numerical example for easy and intuitive explanations. This tutorial would be important to those who work on the fundamentals and applications of ssSKF as well as to students who are new to optimization research.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Global sleep dissatisfaction (GSD) is not part of the habitual insomnia symptoms in epidemiological studies. Furthermore, none of these studies has examined the relative importance of the various factors correlated to sleep dissatisfaction. This study aims to examine the links between GSD and insomnia and to find the factors contributing to GSD.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted in Germany (66 million inhabitants 15 years of age or older) with a representative sample of 4,115 subjects aged 15 years or older. Interviewers used the Sleep-EVAL system. The questionnaire covered several topics that were grouped into six classes of variables identified as potential factors associated with sleep dissatisfaction: sociodemographic descriptors, environmental factors, life habits, health status, psychological factors, sleep/wake factors.

SETTING
N/A.

PARTICIPANTS
A representative sample of 4,115 subjects aged 15 years or older

INTERVENTIONS
N/A.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
Overall, 7% of the subjects reported being GSD; 95.5% of them had at least one insomnia symptom. The duration of insomnia symptom(s) was 20 months longer in GSD subjects compared to insomnia subjects without GSD. The prevalence of GSD was higher in women than in men and increased with age. The most significant predictive factors for GSD were: 1) for sleep/wake schedule variables: night sleep duration less than 6 hours (OR: 4.0 and over) and sleep latency greater than 30 minutes. 2) for sociodemographic variables: age between 65 and 74 (OR: 6.7) 3) for health variables: Upper airway disease (OR: 7.1); 4) for mental health variables: anxiety symptoms (OR: 3.0); 5) for environmental factors: too hot bedroom (OR=2.5) 6) for life habit factors: the need of a particular object in order to fall asleep (OR: 2.4).

CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms that GSD is a better indicator of an underlying pathology than the classical insomnia symptoms alone: compared to insomniac subjects without GSD, subjects with GSD were two times more likely to report excessive daytime sleepiness, and eight times more likely to have a diagnosis of sleep or mental disorder. Furthermore, in car drivers, road accidents in the previous year were two times more frequent with GSD drivers as compared to insomnia drivers without GSD. Subjects with GSD were more than 10 times more likely to seek help for their sleep problems and five times more likely to use a sleep medication than insomnia subjects without GSD.


The paper brings together the information on different components of revenues and expenditures of the urban local bodies (ULBs) in Jharkhand and analyses their growth over a recent period. The performances of the ULBs are evaluated by estimating some indicators based on actual revenues and expenditures. The expenditures are also compared with the financial norms estimated for different urban services for Indian cities according to different size classes. An attempt to estimate the gross city product of each ULB in Jharkhand is also made. A broad comparison on finances and service delivery indicators of these ULBs with those in the ULBs of the eight adjacent districts of West Bengal is also attempted. We find that the revenue capacities estimated on an average can generate additional revenues of 77 per cent for the ULBs in Jharkhand. The increase in total revenues would be the highest (184 per cent) for the 1 lakh plus cities and the lowest (30 per cent) for the smallest size class of cities. We also find that on an average Jharkhand cities generate only 0.17 per cent of their Gross City Products as own revenues. The bigger cities are found to be relatively more constrained than the smaller ones. An overall analysis of finances on the basis of actuals in the ULBs of the two states reveals that West Bengal is in a comparatively better position than Jharkhand as far as the performance according to indicators related to finances are concerned. Out of eight indicators selected, the performance on an average is better in West Bengal in almost all of them. A close look at the dependency ratio on the higher tiers of the government as a percentage of transfers to total revenues reveal that on an average 91 per cent of the revenues in the ULBs of Jharkhand comes from transfers where transfers constitute grants in different forms of assistance. Whereas in West Bengal the average ratio is 61 per cent which also includes assigned revenues. While only 6 per cent of the expenditures can be covered by own revenues in Jharkhand, the ratio is about 37 per cent in West Bnegal. Own revenues can cover 19 per cent of revenue expenditures in Jharkhand whereas in West Bengal the ratio is 43 per cent. While Jharkhand covers 41 per cent of the revenue expenditure norms by their actual revenue expenditure, West Bengal on an average can only cover 36 per cent. A brief analysis in terms of some coverage indicators of municipal services, infrastructure, employment, socio-demographic indicators and some standard of living indicators show that the urban service delivery, in terms of some of the coverage indicators, are relatively better in most of the size classes and also on an average as a whole in West Bengal. We can generally conclude that the relatively better indicator in terms of finances and expenditure management in the ULBs of West Bengal has a somewhat positive impact on municipal service delivery too.


The preview frame of an online video plays a critical role for a user to quickly decide whether to watch the video. However, the preview frames of most online videos such as those shared on social media platforms are either selected heuristically (e.g., the first or middle frame of a video) or manually by users or experienced editors. In this paper, we investigate the challenging automatic preview frame selection task and formulae it as a classification problem. To our best knowledge, this is the one of the first attempts on this topic, since most existing key frame selection methods do not explicitly aim for selecting the best representative one only. Considering that a preview frame for an entire video should be informative in the context of the video story, attention catching, and of high visual quality, we propose three types of features to characterize each video frame: informativeness, attention, and aesthetics. Due to the imbalanced nature of training data (i.e., one preview frame only vs thousands of non-preview frames in a video), we utilize random forests to learn the features of preview frames and to classify each frame into preview frame or non-preview frame. In addition, we also increase the number of positive training samples by identifying frames which are visually similar to the preview frame. We evaluated our proposed method both quantitatively and qualitatively with a set of 180 news videos manually collected from the BBC news website. Experimental results indicate that our method is promising. We also investigated the contribution of each visual feature to guide future studies.


HIIT whole body (HWB)‐based exercise is a new calisthenics exercise programme approach that can be considered an effective and safe method to improve physical fitness and body composition. HWB is a method that can be applied to different populations and ages. The purpose of this study was to describe possible methodologies for performing physical training based on whole‐body exercise in healthy subjects. The HWB sessions consist of a repeated stimulus based on high‐intensity exercise that also include monitoring time to effort, time to recuperation and session time. The exercise intensity is related to the maximal number of movements possible in a given time; therefore, the exercise sessions can be characterized as maximal. The intensity can be recorded using ratings of perceived exertion. Weekly training frequency and exercise selection should be structured according to individual subject functional fitness. Using this simple method, there is potential for greater adherence to physical activity which can promote health benefits to all members of society.


OBJECTIVE
Regular insulin given with the evening meal could contribute to the risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia in adolescents with type 1 diabetes using a multiple injection regimen. To test this hypothesis, we compared glucodynamics and free insulin levels on two separate study nights.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
A total of 14 adolescents were recruited. On both nights, identical doses of regular insulin or insulin lispro were administered 30 min or 10 min, respectively, before the evening meal, using a double-blind randomized crossover study design. Doses of NPH insulin and carbohydrate content of the evening meal and snack were kept identical. Blood samples were taken every 15 min for blood glucose and every 60 min for free insulin and ketones.

RESULTS
After insulin lispro administration, glucose levels were significantly lower between the evening meal and the bedtime snack (analysis of variance [ANOVA] P = 0.02), and four hypoglycemic episodes were recorded. This corresponded to a higher (458 +/- 48 vs. 305 +/- 33 pmol/l, P = 0.02), earlier (64 +/- 4.6 vs. 103 +/- 12 min, P = 0.01), and shorter-lasting (245 +/- 21 vs. 365 +/- 39 min, P = 0.01) insulin peak in contrast to regular insulin. After the bedtime snack, glucose levels increased dramatically during the lispro night and stayed higher, up to 0300 in the morning (ANOVA P = 0.01), corresponding to lower mean insulin levels (146 +/- 20 vs. 184 +/- 27 pmol/l, P = 0.04). No differences were seen in glucose and insulin levels between 0300 and 0800. Four episodes of nocturnal hypoglycemia were documented after the bedtime snack during the regular insulin night, in contrast to one episode after insulin lispro. No differences in ketone levels were observed.

CONCLUSIONS
The replacement of regular insulin with insulin lispro may reduce the risk of late hypoglycemia, but redistribution of the evening carbohydrate may be needed to ensure good metabolic control and prevent early postprandial hypoglycemia.


Casta paintings are a collection of works that were predominantly produced in colonial Mexico. These paintings are a representation of the different classifications of race between Spaniards, Blacks, and Indigenous people. The paintings emphasize clothing and setting as a way to distinguish social and economic standings in regard to race. Casta paintings are more than racial documentation; they are a guide to understanding how ideas and beliefs on race came to be in Latin America. This article explores the origins of casta paintings and their long-lasting impact in Latin America. Casta paintings are investigated in books, academic journals, essays, and lectures. Principle sources include scholarship by Ilona Katzew and Magali Marie Carrera. A major focus is how casta paintings came to be and how the ideas that went into their formation are still present in Latin America.


Objective: To compare the use of vascular Doppler ultrasound with vein visualization and palpation for positioning peripherally inserted central catheters in children and to determine the influence of these methods on the success of the first puncture attempt, catheter positioning, and time required for the accomplishment. Design: A prospective randomized, controlled trial was conducted in a university hospital after ethical approval and was carried out among children (from birth to 18 yrs). Setting: São Paulo Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil. Patients: The sample comprises 42 peripherally inserted central catheters insertions allocated randomly into two groups: 1) an ultrasound group with 21 peripherally inserted central catheters guided by ultrasound; and 2) a control group with 21 catheters, in which the peripherally inserted central catheters were inserted using vein visualization and palpation. Interventions: The procedure was performed by two trained nurses using a standard protocol for peripherally inserted central catheter insertion and ultrasound use. Ultrasound group equipment was ILook25 (Sonosite, Bothell, WA) with a 25-mm, 10- to 15-MHz linear array transducer that reaches a 4-cm depth. Measurements and Main Results: Success in the first puncture attempt was higher (p = .003) in the ultrasound group (90.5%) than in the control group (47.6%). The catheter positioning success rate was 85.7% in the ultrasound group and 52.4% in the control group (p = .019). The median time spent on the procedure for the ultrasound group was 20 mins, whereas it was 50 mins for the control group (p = .001). Conclusion: The use of ultrasound increased the successful positioning of peripherally inserted central catheters in comparison with the venous anatomic landmark visualization and palpation technique and further optimized the time spent on the procedure.


The planned IceCube-Upgrade will enhance the capability of IceCube in the detection of GeV-scale neutrino physics and enable an improved measurement of the properties of the glacial ice. Three types of new optical sensors will be deployed during the Upgrade: PDOM, D-Egg, and mDOM. Since the design of the PDOM and D-Egg are very similar, the development of the front-end electronics for the two optical sensors has been merged. The photo-electron signals detected by the PMTs are digitized with high-speed ultra-low power ADCs and processed in an FPGA, before being sent to the data acquisition system located on the surface of the South-Pole glacier. The almost final revision of the front-end electronics is equipped with the common microcontroller unit and the communication daughter board for simplifying the communication scheme for the three different modules.
This contribution focuses on the design of the front-end electronics and presents first results from the performance tests.


Kant on sex gives most philosophers the following associations: a lifelong celibate philosopher; a natural teleological view of sexuality; a strange incorporation of this natural teleological account within his freedom-based moral theory; and a stark ethical condemnation of most sexual activity. Although this paper provides an interpretation of Kant's view on sexuality, it neither defends nor offers an apology for everything Kant says about sexuality. Rather, it aims to show that a reconsidered Kant-based account can utilize his many worthwhile insights and that by making Kant's account of sexuality more consistent with his own basic philosophical commitments, the result is a compelling approach to the complex and complicated phenomena of sexual love, sexual identity, and sexual orientation.


In this work we report on a combined macro, micro and nanoscale investigation where electronic transport properties through La⅔Sr⅓MnO3 (LSMO) microfabricated bridges, in which nano-sized resistive states are induced by using a conducting scanning probe microscope (C-SPM), are analyzed. The strategy intentionally avoids the standard capacitor-like geometry, thus allowing the study of the electronic transport properties of the locally modified region, and approaches the integration of functional oxides in low dimensional devices while providing macroscopic evidence of nanoscale resistive switching (RS). The metallic and ferromagnetic LSMO is locally modified from its low resistance state (LRS) to a high resistance state (HRS) when a bias voltage is applied on its surface through the conducting tip, which acts as a mobile electrode. Starting from a metallic oxide the electroforming process is not required, thus avoiding one of the major drawbacks for the implementation of memory devices based on RS phenomena. The application of a bias voltage generates an electric field that promotes charge depletion, leading to a strong increase of the resistance, i.e. to the HRS. This effect is not only confined to the outermost surface layer, its spatial extension and final HRS condition can be modulated by the magnitude and duration of the potential applied, opening the door to the implementation of multilevel devices. In addition, the half-metallic character, i.e. total spin polarization, of LSMO might allow the implementation of memory elements and active spintronic devices in the very same material. The stability of the HRS and LRS as a function of temperature, magnetic field and compliance current is also analyzed, allowing the characterization of the nature of the switching process and the active material.


Parasitic weeds are a serious problem in agricultural production, causing large crop losses in many parts of the world and particularly Africa. One of the most economically important parasitic weed is Striga. Striga weed is considered to be the greatest biological constraint to food production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This genus includes races; Striga hermonthica, S. asiatica, S. gesnerioides, S. aspera and S. forbesii that are considered to be most harmful to crops. Striga hermonthica is the most widespread among the species in the semi-arid tropical African zones. The wide geographical distribution set conditions for genetically structured populations. The genetic variations among the weed populations allow for quick breakdown of resistance in crops hence making control of the weed difficult. Efficient and effective control of S. hermonthica requires knowledge on inherent genetic variability within local and regional races of the weed. However, the genetic diversity and virulence of S. hermonthica ecotypes in Kenya and Uganda on selected sorghum varieties remain unknown. This study evaluated genetic diversity among seven S. hermonthica populations from locations in Kenya and Uganda using 5 primer sets of Expressed Sequence Tags – Simple Sequence Repeats (EST-SSR). The size of the amplified fragments ranged from 87 to 202 base-pairs. The total number of bands detected across all the primer combinations after correcting for repeatedness was 38. The genetic diversity among the seven populations was moderate as revealed by the Nei"s genetic distance values which ranged from 0.122 to 0.710 with an average of 0.33. AMOVA revealed low genetic differentiation among the populations (Fst = 0.100). This study also evaluated twelve sorghum varieties for their response to S. hermonthica infection. It was established that the varieties resistance responses to S. hermonthica varied widely. The phenotype of resistant interaction was characterized by inability of the weeds haustoria to penetrate the sorghums root endodermis due to intense necrosis and in rare cases the parasites radicle growing away from the host root. The resistant sorghum varieties were the Asareca W2, Asareca AG3, N13 and the Wild type which had low mean number of S. hermonthica plantlets growing on their roots (˂ 1.0) while the most susceptible varieties were Sap 027, Epurpur which had the highest mean number of S. hermonthica plantlets growing on their roots (˃8.0). According to Tukey"s Honest Significant Difference test, there was high significant difference in the means of number of Striga growing on the roots of sorghum varieties, Striga dry biomass and S. hermonthica length between the susceptible and resistant ones (P˂ 0.05). This knowledge holds great potentiality since resistant sorghum germplasm tested will be sourced and targeted to the seven specific geographical areas where virulence of the specific S. hermonthica populations was characterized.


Many of our narrators mentioned Nick Pasqual, a Filipino immigrant. Nick is a pioneering organic farmer who helped found both the California Certified Organic Farmers, and the Live Oak Farmers' Market at Green Acres School. Beginning in 1963, Nick sold vegetables (some of which he grew) at his stand in the Village Fair area of Aptos, California. His own vegetables were organic before the word was in popular or legal usage. When he had to close down the stand at the Village Fair, Nick helped organize the Live Oak Farmers' Market and until very recently, Nick and his wife, Velma, sold vegetables at the Aptos Farmers' Market at Cabrillo College. We had wanted to interview Nick, but he declined because of ill health (Nick is now in his late nineties). We are grateful to Allan Lonnberg of Cabrillo College, who granted us permission to reprint an excerpt of the transcript of the oral history he conducted with Nick in 2006; to Nick and Velma Pasqual who graciously agreed to the republication of this excerpt; and to Jerry Thomas, who called our attention to the existence of Lonnberg's oral history with Pasqual. The complete oral history with Nick Pasqual, entitled A Very Rough Road: The Life of Nick Pasqual, is available in the Special Collections Department of the UCSC Library.


In Morocco, Leishmania infantum species is the main causative agents of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). However, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) due to L. infantum has been reported sporadically. Moreover, the recent geographical expansion of L. infantum in the Mediterranean subregion leads us to suggest whether the nonsporadic cases of CL due to this species are present. In this context, this review is written to establish a retrospective study of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in northern Morocco between 1997 and 2018 and also to conduct a molecular study to identify the circulating species responsible for the recent cases of leishmaniases in this region. Data concerning leishmaniases cases were collected from the Epidemiology and Disease Control Directorate from 1997 to 2018. Human samples obtained from peripheral laboratories were examined using PCR-ITS1 method. The ITS1 products were subjected to digestion with the restriction endonuclease Mn1-I. Between 1997 and 2018, a total of 1,255 cases of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis were recorded in Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Region, i.e., 1.56% of the reported cases in Morocco (1,255/80,299). Concerning the geographical study covering the period 2007-2018, 79.5% (105/132) of the sectors were affected by leishmaniases. The molecular results showed that Humans were found to be infected with the L. infantum species with a high infection rate compared to L. tropica infection. Moreover, molecular characterization using ITS1 PCR-RFLP showed that the density of L. infantum was significantly higher (n = 68/81; 84%) than that of L. tropica (n = 13/81; 16%) (P-value 9.894e-10). While regarding visceral leishmaniasis, L. infantum was the only species responsible of this form. These findings of this study showed the emergence of L. infantum in Morocco and suggest that this species might be more prevalent than previously thought. Furthermore, the molecular determination of L. infantum will be helpful for control strategies by taking into consideration the reservoir of this species.


Systematic physical activity (PA) is crucial in preventing illnesses that can become life-threatening, such as colon and breast cancer, heart disease and ischemic stroke, cardio-respiratory disease, type II diabetes, and depression. Many theory–based interventions have been applied to achieve positive outcomes in an individual's behavioural change and the ability to engage in systematic PA. This systematic review investigates the influence of the Transtheoretical model of behaviour (TTM) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) on PA. A substantial search in Science Direct, Wiley Online Library databases and PubMed was performed to obtain articles about the topic. Data exportation was possible after the reviewers applied exclusion–inclusion criteria to estimate evidence quality. Empirical evidence was assessed with the CONSORT checklist to appraise the risk of bias. The primary search identified 195 studies. Of those, ten original studies were comprised. All studies indicated a positive influence of TPB and TTM on physical activity in non–health and healthy populations. In particular, it was found to have an impact on energy expenditure, balance and body strength. Theory-based interventions are notably effective in promoting physical activity behaviour. Researchers and health professionals must select and utilise interventions based on the above mentioned theories and aim to enhance PA behavioural change on individual and interpersonal factors. Although the positive outcomes of theory-based interventions on PA behaviour, it is necessary for further research to be conducted.


The trial-based functional analysis (FA) is a promising approach to identification of behavioral function and is especially suited for use in educational settings. Not all studies on trial-based FA have included teachers as therapists, and those studies that have, included minimal information on teacher training. The purpose of this study was to determine whether teachers trained via an in-service training would be able to conduct trial-based FAs with high procedural integrity. We trained four teachers to conduct trial-based FAs using a combination of didactic teaching and practice with feedback. All four teachers improved performance following training. Performance remained above baseline levels during an in situ maintenance condition, but for three of four teachers, additional feedback was required to recapture performance observed immediately following training.


Background: Chronic pulmonary hypertension (CPHT) has a great impact on both right-ventricular (RV) systolic and diastolic properties and the assessment of those properties is not always feasible by traditional echocardiographic examination. Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) interrogation of the tricuspid annulus (TA) identifies the pattern of TA motion (TAM) and can help to assess RV function when other methods are not feasible. Aims: To determine RV systolic and diastolic function in patients with CPHT using DTI parameters of the TA. Methods: Eighty-seven patients with CPHT and 90 normal controls were studied. DTI parameters were measured including early diastolic, late diastolic and systolic velocities and time velocity integrals (TVI) of the TAM at both its lateral and medial aspect. Results: Early diastolic and systolic velocities, the ratio of early to late diastolic velocities and TVI of TAM at both lateral and medial aspects were significantly decreased in patients with CPHT compared to controls. No significant differences were seen in late diastolic velocities and TVI in both groups. Systolic velocity of the TAM at both its lateral and medial aspects significantly correlated with RV systolic function as measured by fractional RV area change. Conclusions: DTI of the TAM can be used to assess RV systolic and diastolic properties in patients with CPHT.


This paper discusses the RF circuit and system design considerations for W-CDMA homodyne receiver on NF, IIP2, IIP3, LO/TX leakage, I-Q mismatch, DC offsets, etc. A zero-IF receiver front-end SiGe BiCMOS IC is designed, packaged and thoroughly characterized by a set of system-level performance tests across the full frequency band of operation. The measured worst-case cascaded NF for the receiver IC across all channels is 4.3 dB at the max. gain mode, and the in-band/out-of-band IIP2 and IIP3 are +37/+93 and -16.5/+5 dBm, respectively. The I/Q channels exhibit a small mismatch in magnitude (<0.1dB) and in phase (<1deg) without calibration. The receiver RF front-end (i.e., LNA+VGA+ I/Q mixers) draws ~45mW. The system tests results on BER, P1dB, IM2, IM3, and desensing show that the RFIC meets all of the necessary parameters of W-CDMA receiver system specs at room temperature with margin, validating the RF IC block-level circuit design and providing valuable RF-SoC design insights


The aim of this article was to give an accessible introduction to stable distributions for financial modeling. There is a real need to use better models for financial returns because the normal (or bell curve/Gaussian) model does not capture the large fluctuations seen in real assets. Stable laws are a class of heavy‐tailed probability distributions that can model large fluctuations and allow more general dependence structures. WIREs Comput Stat 2014, 6:45–55. doi: 10.1002/wics.1286


This paper provides a critical and contextualised exploration of assessment for learning (AfL) as an important area of scholarship in higher education, particularly in online learning environments. Although AfL can speak to a range of education discourses, the specific focus here is on the performativity and experiential learning discourses around individual and collective notions of AfL in online settings (e-AfL). We argue that e-AfL practices that emphasise performativity and are used primarily for technicist purposes impoverish their potential to promote learning. We explore the existential notion that e-AfL can transcend formulaic and procedural interpretations of formative assessment in higher education. Rich, divergent approaches to e-AfL can support students in higher education courses to develop their funds of identity, thereby enhancing learner reflexivity and agency.


Idiopathic scoliosis is a structural, lateral curvature of the spine for which no etiology has been established. Chronologically, idiopathic scoliosis can be categorized on the basis of the age of the patient at first identification of the deformity: infantile (birth to two years and eleven months), juvenile (three years to nine years and eleven months), and adolescent (ten years to seventeen years and eleven months). Thus, this article will describe the scoliotic deformities of patients who are at least three years of age but younger than ten years of age when the deformity is first identified. It has been demonstrated that spinal growth is fairly steady during this juvenile period1. For this reason, Dickson and Archer believed that true juvenile-onset scoliosis was rare enough not to warrant a separate category. They proposed a two-group classification that included early onset (five years of age or less) and late onset (six years of age and older) scoliosis2. In addition, patients who receive a diagnosis of scoliosis at five years of age or younger have a much higher chance of having a large curve develop, which may lead to pulmonary complications and cor pulmonale1,3. In this paper, we adhere to the classic age-at-onset definition as described by Dickson and Archer but do not describe adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Between 12% and 21% of patients with idiopathic scoliosis can be included in the category of juvenile idiopathic scoliosis4, the gradual transition period between infantile idiopathic scoliosis and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. This is certainly true with regard to sex predilection: the female-to-male ratio is 1:1 in children between three and six years of age, 2:1 to 4:1 overall in children who are at least three but less than ten years of age5, and 8:1 …


Since changing its algorithm in January 2018 to boost the content of family and friends over other content (including news), Facebook has signaled that it is less interested in news. However, the field is still trying to understand the long-term impacts of this change for news publishers. This is a problem because policymakers and legislators across the world are becoming concerned about the relationship between platforms and publishers. In particular, there are worries that platforms' ability to make unilateral decisions about how their algorithms operate may harm the economic sustainability of journalism. This article provides some clarity around the relationship between these two parties through a longitudinal study of the Australian news media sector's relationship with Facebook from 2014 to 2020, with a particular focus on the January 2018 algorithm change. We do this by analyzing Facebook data (2,082,804 posts from CrowdTangle) and external traffic data from 32 major Australian news outlets. These data are contextualized by additional desk research. We identify a range of trends including the decline of news sharing, the collapse in the performance of "social news," the variable position of social media as a source of referral traffic, and, most critically, the diffused nature of the 2018 algorithm change. Our approach cannot make direct causal inferences. We can only identify trends in on-platform performance and referral traffic, which we then contextualize with industry reportage. However, the data provide vital longitudinal insights into the performance and responses of individual media outlets, news categories, and the Australian media sector as a whole during a critical moment of algorithmic change.


There is strong evidence that chronic inflammation contributes to a number conditions prevalent with aging, including peripheral vascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, as well as Alzheimer's disease. Yet despite being responsible for mediating immune responses, the lymphatic vasculature has largely escaped attention of biomedical engineers, research scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and health care professionals. The reason for this may be because the lymphatics are difficult to directly visualize in tissues. Interstitial fluid, immune cells, and foreign particles form colorless "lymph" when entering the lymphatics through the initial lymphatics that are located under the epidermis and line all the major organs of the body. From there the lymph is transited through the collecting and conducting vessels, the latter of which consist of a series of "lymph hearts" or lymphangions that propel lymph through the main thoracic duct before emptying into the supraclavicular vein (Fig 1). Conventional lymphatic imaging employs the administration of contrast agents for visualizing the lymphatics and lymph nodes using intradermal administration of radiocolloid for lymphoscintigraphy, or using surgical procedures to inject gadolinium or iodinated contrast agents for magnetic resonance or CT imaging. These techniques are not routinely used and none are suitable for imaging the lymphatics in a mouse or rat, the predominant animal models used in discovery research. Beginning in 2005, we began imaging the dynamic activity of the lymphatics in humans following intradermal injection of indocyanine green, illumination of tissues with 1.9 mW/cm2 of 785 nm nearinfrared (NIR) light, and collection of the dim 830 nm NIR fluorescent (NIRF) light using a InGaAs Gen III intensifier coupled conventional CCD or sCMOS detector. Shortly thereafter, we began imaging lymphatic activity in animal models of human disease. Because of the sensitivity of the fluorescence technique, images can be acquired in 50 -200 ms to non-invasively visualize the dynamic lymphangion activity in vessels as deep as 3-4 centimeters for the first time in human adults. As a result of the rapid, "point-of-care" imaging offered by NIRF, we are able to image infants and children without the need for sedation (Greives, et al., Pediatrics, 2017).


The saccharide constituents of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Proteus spp. vary with the strain and contain unique components about which little is known. The biological activities of LPS and lipid A from S- and R-forms of 10 Proteus strains were examined. LPS from all S-form Proteus strains was lethal to D-(+)-galactosamine (GalN)-loaded, LPS-responsive, C3H/HeN mice, but not to LPS-hypo-responsive C3H/HeJ mice. P. vulgaris 025 LPS evoked strong anaphylactoid reactions in N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (MDP)-primed C3H/HeJ mice. LPS from S- and R-form Proteus strains induced production of nitric oxide (NO) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) by macrophages isolated from C3H/HeN but not C3H/HeJ mice. Lipid A from Proteus strains also induced NO and TNF production, although lipid A was less potent than LPS. The effects of LPS were mainly dependent on CD14; LPS-induced NO and TNF production in CD14+ J774.1 cells was significantly greater than in CD14-J7.DEF.3 cells. All LPS from Proteus strains, and especially from P. vulgaris 025, exhibited higher anti-complementary activity than LPS from Escherichia coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Polymyxin B inactivated proteus LPS in a dose-dependent manner, but these LPS preparations were more resistant to polymyxin B than E. coli LPS. CAP18(109-135), a granulocyte-derived peptide, inhibited proteus LPS endotoxicity only when the LPS:CAP18(109-135) ratio was appropriate, which suggests that CAP18(109-135) acts through a different mechanism than polymyxin B. The results indicate that LPS from Proteus spp. are potently endotoxic, but that the toxicity is different from that of LPS from E. coli or Salmonella spp. and even varies among different Proteus strains. The variation in biological activities among proteus LPS may be due to unique components within the respective LPS.


"Hot potato voice" is a characteristic sign of peritonsillar abscess and Peritonsillitis. Our findings show that the hot potato voice is the result of an underlying transient velopharyngeal insufficiency combined with muffled oral resonance. The hot potato voice should be distinguished from the muffled oral voice which can be occasionally encountered in cases of severe tonsillitis. The velopharyngeal insufficiency is the result of transient dysfunction of the palatal muscles on the affected side. Transient negative middle-ear pressure indicating eustachian tube dysfunction was found in few of the patients in whom concomitant sinusitis was also present. The clinical, nasendoscopic, and radiologic findings are analyzed and discussed. We believe that this phenomenon is valuable as a research tool for the investigation of the anatomy and physiology of the velopharyngeal valve.


Domain shift creates significant challenges for sequential decision making in healthcare since the target domain may be data-scarce and confounded. In this paper, we propose a method for off-policy transfer by modeling the underlying generative process with a causal mechanism. We use informative priors from the source domain to augment counterfactual trajectories in the target in a principled manner. We demonstrate how this addresses data-scarcity in the presence of unobserved confounding. The causal parametrization of our sampling procedure guarantees that counterfactual quantities can be estimated from scarce observational target data, maintaining intuitive stability properties. Policy learning in the target domain is further regularized via the source policy through KL-divergence. Through evaluation on a simulated sepsis treatment task, our counterfactual policy transfer procedure significantly improves the performance of a learned treatment policy when assumptions of "no-unobserved confounding" are relaxed.


In an 11-year old boy with a large coronary arteriovenous fistula between the left coronary artery and the right atrium, we achieved successful closure using a 10-8 Amplatzer Duct Occluder introduced from the right internal jugular vein. Angiography 6 weeks later showed complete occlusion of the fistula, with normal opacification of the left coronary arterial system. This technique may be used as an alternative to coils and surgery in selected patients.


PURPOSE
To investigate the effects of acute hyperglycemia on dexmedetomidine-induced preconditioning against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

METHODS
Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly arranged to the normoglycemic (NG) or hyperglycemic group (HG), with each group further divided into sham (no I/R injury), I/R (ischemia-reperfusion) and dex (given by dexmedetomidine) groups. Acute hyperglycemia was induced by intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of 25% glucose (3 g/kg) 45 min before ischemia. Dexmedetomidine (50 μg/kg, i.p.) was administrated 30 min before induction of ischemia. Renal function, histology, apoptosis, expression of Bax, Bcl-2 and phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) were detected.

RESULTS
I/R insult significantly increased the serum levels of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine, apoptotic tubular epithelial cells, expression of Bax and p-AKT, but decreased Bcl-2 expression. All these changes were further enhanced by hyperglycemia (p<0.05). In hyperglycemic condition, there was no statistically difference between the I/R group and Dex group in all the aforementioned detection indexes (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION
Acute hyperglycemia attenuates dexmedetomidine-induced preconditioning against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in non-diabetic rats.


The planning of urban microwave communication systems must consider the harmful interference these systems cause to existing links, and vice versa. Site shielding is an interference reduction technique wherein a building is used deliberately to shield a radio terminal from interfering signal. The site-shielding factor (SSF) is, however, influenced by the arrival of interference on paths caused by reflection and scatter from nearby buildings. Prediction models are needed to estimate the effects arising from the scatter. The paper develops prediction models based on a plane reflector and discusses experimental measurements aimed at the validation of these models. The paper describes the results of the initial stage of a continuing investigation into building scatter aimed at the formulation of a prediction procedure for site shielding suitable for radio system planning and coordination. >


Cattle farming has a long tradition in Thailand. The growing demand for high quality beef did lead to the introduction of exotic beef breeds causing an increased number of crossbred cattle. For the further improvement of beef quality, marketing strategies based on quality aspects have to be developed. Therefore more information about the meat quality of beef breeds and crosses in Thailand are needed. It was the aim of this study to assess the meat quality of the most famous beef cattle breeds (Brahmanand Charolaiscrossbred cattle) under practical farm conditions in northern Thailand. The study was conducted on a commercial beef cattle farm in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In total, 34 Brahmanand 34 Charolais-crossbred cattle were randomly selected and slaughtered at different body weights (500, 550 and 600 kg). After slaughtering, carcasses were chilled at 2–4oC for 24 h before a Longissimus dorsi muscle (Ld) was removed for subsequent meat quality evaluation. Ld from Brahman crossbreds had more moisture and less crude fat than that from Charolais. Compared to Charolais, the muscle of Brahman crossbreds had lower concentration of cholesterol and triglyceride. Ld from cattle slaughtered at 600 kg had higher concentrations of insoluble collagen when compared with animals slaughtered at 500 and 550 kg. Except for lightness (L* value) of meat which was similar between the genotypes, meat from Charolais crossbreds had more redness (a* value) and yellowness (b* value) than meat from Brahman. Drip loss and cooking loss were not affected by genotype. However thawing loss and grilling loss were higher for meat from Brahman crossbreds. Shear force value was lower for meat from Charolais crossbreds. It can be concluded from this study that meat from Charolais crossbreds had better quality than meat from Brahman crossbreds in terms of intramuscular fat, water holding capacity, tenderness and meat colour.


SIR,-Your leading article (6 April, p. 3) prempts me to report the clinical details of a patient referred to me this year. The patient, a 61-year-old man, had noticed progressive shortness of breath on exertion for 18 months. At about the same time he had been put on oxprenolol 40 mg three times a day for angina pectoris. He had no further chest pain but had begun to get breathless. He had had a productive cough for many years but this had improved when he stopped smoking three years ago. A chest x-ray suggested emphysema only. Ventilatory tests when the patient was seen on 14 February were FEV1 1-2 1. and FVC 2-4 1. These were unchanged after isoprenalin, aerosol. Oxprenolol was stopped on 19 February. On 8 April the FEV, was 1-2 1. and the FVC 2-5 1. After isoprenaline aerosol they were 1-6 1. and 3-1 1. respectively. Initial assessment suggested fixed (irreversible) airways obstruction. There was no left ventricular failure. On stopping oxprenolol the patient felt much better. The reversibility of airways obstruction was unexpected. It may be that beta-adrenergic blockage aggravates asymptomatic airways obstruction in patients other than those with bronchial asthma-a recognized contraindication, as mentioned in your article.-I am, etc,. AVINASH MITHAL Central Lincolnshire Chest Unit, Lincoln


The Lck protein tyrosine kinase associates noncovalently with the cytoplasmic domain of CD4. Upon ligand engagement of the TCR, CD4-associated Lck is rapidly activated and recruited to the TCR complex. Coupling of this complex to an intracellular signaling pathway may result in T cell proliferation. Previously, we reported that thymocytes from nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice (> or = 6 wk of age) exhibit a proliferative hyporesponsiveness after TCR stimulation, which is associated with defective TCR-mediated signaling along the protein kinase C/Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway of T cell activation. Here, we investigated whether differential association of Lck with TCR or CD4 mediates the control of NOD thymocyte hyporesponsiveness. We demonstrate that less CD4-associated Lck is recruited to the TCR in activated NOD thymocytes than in control thymocytes. This CD4-mediated sequestration of Lck from the TCR correlates with the increased binding of CD4-associated Lck through its Src homology 2 domain to free TCRzeta and CD3gamma epsilon chains on the plasma membrane. Sequestration of Lck by CD4 does not occur in activated thymocytes from 3-wk-old NOD mice and is only apparent in thymocytes from NOD mice >5 to 6 wk of age. This diminished recruitment of CD4-associated Lck to the TCR is not mediated by an increase in the amount of CD8-associated Lck. Thus, impaired recruitment of CD4-associated Lck to the TCR complex may represent an early event that results in deficient coupling of the TCR complex to downstream signaling events and gives rise to NOD thymocyte hyporesponsiveness.


False memories have a tendency to persist over time, while true memories decline. Research has also shown that: (1) false memories generated using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM; 1995) paradigm are more effective than true memories at priming insight-based problem solutions (compound remote associates task or CRAT) following a one-week delay; and (2) when valence is manipulated, false-negative memory rates increase over a delay interval. The current study examined the efficacy of true and false memory primes for positive and negative DRM lists on a set of CRATs. Two hundred and seventy participants studied either positive- or negative-themed DRM lists whose critical lures were also the solutions later CRATs that they attempted to solve either immediately or one week later. The critical lures were either generated by the participants (false memory) or included as part of the list (true memory). We found that false-negative memories were more effective problem-solving primes than true or positive memories particularly following a one-week delay.


Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are often used in the design process of s-shaped engine inlet ducts. The results of such simulations need to be compared with experimental data for validation purposes. In contrast to turbulence models, the numerical boundary conditions for turbulence (i.e. intensity and length scale) are rarely considered when CFD for s-duct simulations are validated. However, during earlier work at the Institute of Jet Propulsion it was found that numerical turbulence settings can have a significant influence on the aerodynamics in an engine inlet system. Hence, an experimental setup was established to evaluate these findings. The experimental results show that increasing free-stream turbulence significantly influences the internal duct flow and thus the distortion at the inlet plane of the compressor system. For the presented test case the mean total pressure loss at the compressor intake plane increases, which may have has a negative effect on compressor performance. On the other hand the distortion described by common descriptors is reduced, which is generally advantageous in terms of compressor stability. The results from the numerical simulations qualitatively agree with the experimentally obtained data.


With the development of network and the increasing informational requirement, E-commerce is required to expand its scope of service, including not only the transaction and cooperation among enterprises, but also the internal intra-enterprise management. In this paper, the history of e-commerce is reviewed and the limitations of present E-commerce mode are analyzed, and then SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) is introduced into the e-commerce for constructing SaaS-based e-commerce platform. In the end, some new arising security issues of this new platform are discussed with corresponding solutions to deal with these problems.


Nursing science, the base of knowledge underlying human behavior and social interaction, under normal and stressful conditions, across the life span, is distinguished from its inquiry (research). Inquiry and, especially, methodology have been afforded greater attention than science. The requirements for increased science are noted: communality, colleagueship, and competition among scientists and continuity and confirmation of scientific activity and evidence.


This study shows the effectiveness of the natural zeolite and its surface modified form in adsorbing arsenic from deep well water sources and irrigated waters in some rural areas in the Philippines. It aims to compare the arsenic adsorption efficiency between, pre-conditioned sodium modified natural [Na-Philippine natural zeolites (PNZ)] and surface-modified Na-PNZ (SM-PNZ) with varying concentrations of 100% and 330% of the external cation exchange capacity (ECEC) of the PNZ. Characterization of the adsorbents were conducted such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) (mineralogy using X-ray diffraction), XRF (chemical composition using X-ray fluorescence), Fourier-transform Infrared for functionalization test and wettability tests (contact angle and water penetration tests). Arsenic adsorption studies were conducted using the Atomic absorption spectroscopy to determine the arsenic uptake of the adsorbents at varying contact times. The results proved that the adsorbent modified with surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, at 100% ECEC has the highest arsenic uptake compared with Na-PNZ.


Introduction: Adolescent girls belong to vital age group, not only because they are the entrant population to motherhood but also because they are threshold between childhood and motherhood. The girls should be educated about significance of menstruation and development of secondary sexual characteristics, selection of sanitary menstrual absorbent and its proper disposal. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to assess the existing knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls and to determine the co-relation of knowledge and practice score among the adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: The study conducted was a descriptive cross sectional study done on 100 adolescent girls from class 9th to 12th of Govt. Girls School in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh (Convenience sampling). Prior to the commencement of the study, they were explained the purpose and nature of the study. Information on demographic variables which include age, class, type of family, education of mother, family income, age of menarche were collected from the participants. Results: The data on knowledge scores revealed that 29% had adequate knowledge about menstrual hygiene, 71% had inadequate knowledge about menstrual hygiene. The data revealed on practice scores revealed that 19%, 69%, 12% samples had poor, fair and good score of practices regarding menstrual hygiene respectively. Knowledge and practice scores of participants shows positive correlation between the two scores (*P < 0.001). Conclusion: Lack of information about menstrual hygiene can be attributed to various factors which need to be studied separately. The above findings reinforce the need to encourage safe and hygienic practices among the adolescent girls and bring them out of traditional beliefs, misconceptions and restrictions regarding menstruation. The investigators improved the general awareness about cause of menstruation and the organs involved. Use of sanitary napkins was promoted and various schemes regarding menstrual health were briefed to the students. Early awareness can prevent students from suffering from the various reproductive tract infections.


We analyze the monitoring efforts of a large active asset manager that involve high-level private meetings with portfolio firms that are unobservable to outsiders. Our analysis reveals the inner workings of the asset management organization based on detailed records of contacts with executives and board members of portfolio firms, internal analyst recommendations, voting decisions, and daily fund-level stock holdings. Private meetings generate pronounced trading patterns, with fund managers trading on and around meeting days and votes. Our results show that engagement with target firms generates insights and information advantages, increases trading and is associated with significant abnormal returns.


Background In 1992, a family with hereditary macrothrombocytopenia and progressive sensorineural hearing impairment without renal dysfunction was described. Recently, mutations in MYH9, a nonmuscle myosin heavy chain, have been found in several forms of hereditary macrothrombocytopenia. Hypothesis The hereditary macrothrombocytopenia and hearing loss in the previously reported family is due to a mutation in MYH9 gene. Methods Genomic DNA was extracted from the affected proband. Mutation screening of all MYH9 coding exons was carried out using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography. Abnormal results were followed by direct sequencing of the exon and comparison of the sequence with the normal MYH9 sequence. Results The results of denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography suggested a potential sequence alteration in exon 30 of MYH9. Direct sequence analysis of this exon in the affected individual identified a G to A single base pair transition at nucleotide 4270 altering codon 1424. This mutations leads to an amino acid change from aspartate (D) to asparagine (N) in the highly conserved coiled-coil domain. Conclusions A single base pair transition in MYH9, resulting in an amino acid substitution D1424N, is responsible for macrothrombocytopenia and hearing loss in the kindred under study. The presence of hearing impairment and the absence of renal symptoms, as reported in other families with the same MYH9 mutation, further highlights the role of genetic background in expression and modification of the affected phenotype.


Objectives:To test the hypothesis that nebulized epinephrine ameliorates pulmonary dysfunction by dual action—bronchodilation (&bgr;2-adrenergic receptor agonism) and attenuation of airway hyperemia (&agr;1-adrenergic receptor agonism) with minimal systemic effects. Design:Randomized, controlled, prospective, and large animal translational studies. Setting:University large animal ICU. Subjects:Twelve chronically instrumented sheep. Interventions:The animals were exposed to 40% total body surface area third degree skin flame burn and 48 breaths of cooled cotton smoke inhalation under deep anesthesia and analgesia. The animals were then placed on a mechanical ventilator, fluid resuscitated, and monitored for 48 hours in a conscious state. After the injury, sheep were randomized into two groups: 1) epinephrine, nebulized with 4 mg of epinephrine every 4 hours starting 1 hour post injury, n = 6; or 2) saline, nebulized with saline in the same manner, n = 6. Measurements and Main Results:Treatment with epinephrine had a significant reduction of the pulmonary transvascular fluid flux to water (p < 0.001) and protein (p < 0.05) when compared with saline treatment from 12 to 48 hours and 36 to 48 hours, respectively. Treatment with epinephrine also reduced the systemic accumulation of body fluids (p < 0.001) with a mean of 1,410 ± 560 mL at 48 hours compared with 3,284 ± 422 mL of the saline group. Hemoglobin levels were comparable between the groups. Changes in respiratory system dynamic compliance, mean airway pressure, PaO2/FiO2 ratio, and oxygenation index were also attenuated with epinephrine treatment. No considerable systemic effects were observed with epinephrine treatment. Conclusions:Nebulized epinephrine should be considered for use in future clinical studies of patients with burns and smoke inhalation injury.


Since mobile application market was open, developers have been seeking for strategies to maximize their profit. However, there is little research on user behavior of mobile applications for its short history. In this study, we conducted an exploratory study on mobile application users with actual usage data of Weather On. The result indicates positive relation between the premium conversion rate and the logarithm of the market wealth. It is observed that most of the users take only a short time to make a purchase or dropout decisions. Also, we suggest that push message can induce user responses in a positive or negative way.


BACKGROUND
Treatment of acute burn wounds with silver sulfadiazine (SSD) has raised concern about potential silver toxicity. Numerous adverse reactions and side effects have been reported and an increasing resistance to SSD, especially in Pseudomonas strains, have motivated researchers to search for an alternative wound dressing.

METHODS
Recently, a silver-coated wound dressing Acticoat (Smith & Nephew, Inc.) has become available for use in burn patients. It is a three-ply dressing, consisting of an inner rayon/polyester absorptive core between two layers of silver-coated, high-density polyethylene mesh. In a moist environment, the nanocrystals of silver are released and improve the microbial control in the wound.

RESULTS
After 1 week of local treatment with Acticoat in a young, previously healthy 17-year-old boy with 30% mixed depth burns, hepatotoxicity and argyria-like symptoms, a grayish discoloration of the patient's face, appeared. The silver levels in plasma (107 microg/kg) and urine (28 microg/kg) were clearly elevated, as well as the liver enzymes. As soon as the local application of Acticoat was aborted, the clinical symptoms and liver enzymes returned to the normal values.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report on silver toxicity in a patient with 30% burns who received Acticoat for local treatment. Due to substantial experiences with adverse SSD reactions and side effects, it is appropriate to keep the possibility of a toxic silver effect in burn patients treated with Acticoat silver-coated wound dressing in mind. The silver levels in plasma and/or urine should be monitored.


The banking industry has been tremendously influenced by technological advancements just like the other aspects of life. The emergence of e-banking has significantly redefined and transformed banks' operations. Technology is viewed as the major driving force in firms' performance success. All banks, irrespective of whether local or foreign are investing heavily on emerging technologies that assure customers' satisfaction, effective and efficient service delivery in e-banking. This is done in an effort to achieve reduction in operating costs, increase volumes of transactions processed and attraction of new clientele. The study aims at discerning impact of electronic banking on the financial performance of Deposits Money Banks in the Nigerian banking industry. The study relied on descriptive study. The study was centered on all the 21 Deposits Money Banks governed and licensed in Nigeria. The study made use of secondary data for the period 2013 to 2017 obtained from reports and publications. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) used to analyses the data's descriptive statistics. To determine the associations between the return on assets and the electronic banking variables (ATM value of transactions, mobile banking value of transactions and internet banking value of transactions), a multiple linear regression model was put to use. The study established that electronic banking has contributed positively to the financial performance of Nigeria's commercial banks. The study also showed that mobile, internet banking and use of ATM cards positively and significantly influenced the financial performance of Nigeria's Deposits Money Banks as measured by the return on assets. The study recommends that Deposits Money Banks in Nigeria increase their efforts towards adoption of e-banking to automate their service delivery to customers and that the banking industry's policy makers and regulators consider electronic banking as a major input when crafting guidelines to regulate the industry.


The Orange gene (Or gene) is known as a gene encoding the protein containing a cysteine-rich Zinc finger domain. The Or protein is an important component of the structure that involes in accumulation of carotenoids and enhancing the resistant ability of plant to enviromental stresses. In an attempt to improve the nutritional quality and resistance to adverse environmental conditions of maize, in this article, we present the results on cloning IbOr gene from the sweetpotato cultivar Hoang Long and constructing transformation vectors carrying cloned IbOr gene under control of Ubiquitin (Ubi) or Globulin 1 (Glo1) promoter. The cloned IbOr gene was 942 bp in size and had similarity level of 100% comparing to the IbOr gene that was deposited in GenBank with Accession number HQ828087.1. The IbOr gene from sweedpotato Hoang Long was registered in GenBank under Accession number KX792094.1. The deduced protein consisted of 313 amino acids having Zin finger domain of DnaJ and HSP40 proteins. We have also constructed two transformation vectors pCambia2300/Ubiquitin/IbOr/Nos and pCambia2300/Glo1/IbOr/Nos. These vectors were transformed successfully into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58. The presence of the target gene (IbOr) and promoter (Ubi or Glo1) in the A. tumefaciens strains were confirmed by colony-PCR amplification with respective specific primer pairs and digested by suitable restriction enzymes. These vectors will provide important materials for further gene transfer research for the expression of IbOr gene and production of transgenic maize with ability to accumulate high carotenoids.


Very little is known about the correlation between the radiobiological hypoxic fraction (rHF) and other measures of tumour oxygenation during fractionated irradiation. In the present study the rHF is determined in untreated human FaDu and GL squamous cell carcinoma in nude mice and in tumours irradiated with 10 fractions in 2 weeks and 20 fractions in 4 weeks, using tumour control as the experimental endpoint. The results were compared with measurements of the pO2, the interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) and the relative viable tumour area. In FaDu tumours the radiobiological hypoxic fractions (rHFs) before and during irradiation were not statistically different from 100%. Depending on the assumptions made for D0, the rHFs of GL tumours were between 0.2 and 4% or 30 and 53%. The median pO2 values were 2.8 mmHg for untreated FaDu tumours and 0.2 mmHg for GL tumours (p < 0.001). The median IFP values were 2.6 mmHg in FaDu and 5.3 mmHg in GL tumours (p = 0.01). No important changes in the pO2 and IFP values were observed during fractionated irradiation. The relative viable tumour area during irradiation decreased by 83% in FaDu tumours (p = 0.002) and by 54% in GL tumours (p = 0.003). It is concluded that differences in rHF exist between FaDu and GL tumours before and during fractionated irradiation and that these differences are not reflected by pO2 and IFP values and the relative viable tumour area.


In this paper we investigate whether specialist producers of Irish cereals were allocating land efficiently in a mean-variance sense during the 1993-2002 time period. We then expand the model to examine the potential implications on the land allocation decision of the 2002 EU Commission's proposed mid-term reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. One-year ahead rolling forecasts of conditional moments of Irish cereal prices are generated using a multivariate autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic model. These forecasts are used to construct expected efficient frontiers for each year between 1993 and 2002. Our findings indicate that in every year specialist producers of Irish cereals were allocating land efficiently ex ante. We also show that the proposed introduction of decoupled payments will change the efficient frontier facing Irish cereal producers and probably induce producers to allocate more land to the higher returning yet relatively riskier wheat crop.


Summary

1
This study examined annual differences in redshank Tringa totanus winter mortality caused by predation by Eurasian sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus over an 11-year period at a rocky shore in south-east Scotland.

2
Redshank numbers at the beginning of a winter showed no trend over the study period and winter mortality rates also showed no temporal trend. Mean winter mortality through predation by sparrowhawks was 30·6% for juveniles and 5·6% for adults.

3
The study demonstrated density-dependent winter mortality in both juvenile and adult redshanks due to predation by sparrowhawks. Wind speed was also positively associated with juvenile winter mortality but had a weaker influence on adult mortality. This apparent influence of wind speed on juvenile mortality was not confirmed by correlations between monthly juvenile mortality and weather variables (minimum temperature, rainfall and wind speed).

4
Density-dependent functions differed between adult and juvenile redshanks, consistent with differences in the competitiveness of the two age classes. It is suggested that individual differences in vulnerability to predation arose through differences in individual susceptibility to density-dependent competition during foraging. Companion studies indicated that as bird density increased more birds were forced to spend more time feeding in an area where risk of predation was high.