This study aims to introduce a deep-rooted and essential component of authentic folk architecture typology in Anatolia, namely guestrooms/village rooms. The main aim of the study is to analyse traditional lifestyle and architectural structures under the effect of traditional rural lifestyle over a particular sampling area. The social functions of these buildings are limited not merely to housing guests, but also involve rather complex and joint spatial functions, such as providing room for public ceremonies, including weddings and funerals. However, it has been proven during the study process that these buildings, which are on the verge of disappearance, are generally not used for their intended purpose. It is also argued that although the social functions of these buildings are similar, they have their peculiarities in spatial arrangement. To this end, the authors undertook a detailed study of the researches concerning traditional Turkish houses and evaluated, both synchronically and diachronically, the architectural relationship and interactions of the sampled guestroom with the neighbouring dwelling culture. Moreover, other than the literature review, in situ research was conducted at the sample sites in Çallı village, Sivas province, and the social facilities and spatial features of these buildings were analysed. Field studies, interview and observation methods were used during the research. Furthermore, the plan and front elevation reliefs of one of the studied buildings were drawn. The similarities of the sitting plan and spatial structure, both in function and organisation, with divanhane (audience/council hall) and başoda (head room) of Anatolian Turkish houses were discussed over the deductions related to the spatial plan that was created using the aforementioned reliefs. Also, the possible extensions of Central Asian spatial tradition were interrogated and joint architectural details of Turkic spaces of entertainment and housing guests were scrutinised. Moreover, typological concordances were investigated after architectural and decorative interactions had been determined. In short, the cultural and spatial components of guesthouses were studied with a view to contribute to local and international sustainability of such buildings, which symbolise the productivity of rural lifestyle, to provide room for these in the architectural literature.


Many models of systems, important in practice have the form of an interconnection of a known linear model and an unknown nonlinear function. One example of such a system is a model of thermoacoustic instability affecting gas turbine engines and rockets (so-called thermoacoustic feedback loop). In this paper, we propose a computationally attractive algorithm for identifying static nonlinearity in a thermoacoustic feedback loop which is either in a limit cycle or is being, driven by Gaussian noise. The algorithm is based upon functional analytic treatment of the describing function method and lends itself nicely to a class of limit cycling or noise driven feedback systems where the nonlinearity is of a special type. We present examples as well as a simulations with the thermoacoustic feedback loop as an application of the identification algorithm.


Solvothermal reaction of aluminum alkoxides in various alcohols at 250-300 oC yielded alkyl derivatives of boehmite (alkoxyalumoxanes; AlO(OH)1-x(OR)x) in which alkyl groups were incorporated between the boehmite layers through the covalent bondings. In the present work, pore textures of aluminas prepared by calcination of the products were examined. The alumina obtained from the ethyl derivative of boehmite had a broad pore-size distribution, while the pore-size of the alumina obtained from the dodecyl derivative of boehmite distributed in a narrow range in the mesopore region. The mode pore diameter of the latter alumina increased with the increase in calcination temperature (600 oC, 39 Å; 800 oC, 54 Å; 1000 oC, 74 Å), but narrow pore-size distribution was maintained even after calcination at high temperatures.


The first iridium-catalyzed enantioselective vinylogous allylic alkylation of coumarins is presented. Using easily accessible linear allylic carbonates as the allylic electrophile, this reaction installs unfunctionalized allyl groups at the γ-position of 4-methylcoumarins in an exclusively branched-selective manner generally in high yields with an excellent level of enantioselectivity (up to 99 : 1 er).


4H-SiC SBDs have been commercialized for power application devices. However, the maximum current of these SBDs is 20A. In this work, we designed a JBS (junction barrier Schottky) diode structure and the fabrication processes to be optimized. The current and breakdown voltage were over 100 A and 660 V at Ir = 1 mA/cm2, respectively. The recovery characteristics of the JBS diode are much superior to those of the Si-FRD while it is comparable to those of the commercially available SiC-SBD at elevated temperatures up to 125°C..


This is the new landing page for MCSQuare. In the event MCSquare is unavailable, users on campus can still access this page to find the system they need to use


In the new environment of providing health care for a population and competing for contracts with other providers, information is the key to success. Hospital providers are using comparative data for internal improvement efforts and to market their efficiency and effectiveness to plans and employers. Health plans are using comparative data to monitor performance and to evaluate providers. Physician groups need to manage their own clinical information--or they may end up being managed by it.


Objective: The purpose of this phase I/II trial was to determine the maximal tolerated dose of CI-980, and determine efficacy against malignant glioma. Background: The CI-980 is a synthetic mitosis inhibitor that acts via the colchicine binding site on tubulin. Broad in vitro activity has been seen in a variety of human and murine tumor models. Phase I studies have demonstrated schedule dependent toxicity of CI-980. Dose-limiting toxicity was neurologic when CI-980 was given as a 24-hr infusion and hematologic when given over 72 hr at higher doses. Methods: Twenty-four patients ages 29–65 entered this study. Six patients were treated on the phase I arm at three escalating dose levels ranging from 10.5 to 13.5 mg/m2, given over 72 hr. Eighteen patients were then treated at the highest tolerated dose, 13.5 mg/m2 per cycle. Treatment response was based on serial MRI imaging characteristics. Results: The phase II study was stopped at the end of the first stage due to poor treatment response. There were no partial or complete responses, (0/24) 95% CI=0–14%. Four patients (4/24) had a best treatment response of stable disease/no change. Median time to progression for all patients was 6.4 weeks (95% CI: 6–9 weeks). Dose-limiting toxicity was grade 3–4 granulocytopenia. Three episodes of neurotoxicity manifested by a moderate cerebellar dysfunction were seen. Conclusions: These results fail to demonstrate the significant activity of CI-980 against recurrent glioma.


Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile is an endemic Mediterranean sea-grass distributed in the infralittoral zones, where it forms meadows playing a recognized ecological role in the coastal marine habitat. Although its use as a traditional herbal remedy is poorly documented, recent literature reports interesting pharmacological activities as antidiabetic, antioxidant and vasoprotective. Differently from previous literature, this study presents a hydrophilic extraction method that recovers metabolites that may be tested in biological buffers. We showed for the first time in the highly invasive HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cell line that our hydrophilic extract from P. oceanica was able to strongly decrease gene and protein expression of gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 and to directly inhibit in a dose-dependent manner gelatinolytic activity in vitro. Moreover, we have revealed that our extract strongly inhibited HT1080 cell migration and invasion. Biochemical analysis of the hydrophilic extract showed that catechins were the major constituents with minor contribution of gallic acid, ferulic acid and chlorogenic plus a fraction of uncharacterized phenols. However, if each individual compound was tested independently, none by itself was able to induce a direct inhibition of gelatinases as strong as that observed in total extract, opening up new routes to the identification of novel compounds. These results indicate that our hydrophilic extract from P. oceanica might be a source of new pharmacological natural products for treatment or prevention of several diseases related to an altered MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression.


Several mechanisms, dependent on the laser radiation and tissue parameters, affect laser tissue interaction. A common in vivo dose response experiment contains, for every parameter value, a few subjects, which are exposed to several doses. These experiments are commonly analyzed using probit models where for every parameter value, the measured data from all subjects are unified to be a single statistical batch. The analysis is then performed under the assumption that the batch responses are statistically independent and that they all originate from the same distribution. However, it is well known that even individuals, that have many common characteristics, may respond differently to equal drug dose or identical medical treatment. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that unaccounted subjects' dissimilarity may affect and bias the results of the statistical analysis. As a part of our study, on the stochastic characteristics of laser (ocular) tissue interactions, we reanalyzed the raw data of the U.S. Army Medical Research Detachment Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (USAMRD-WRAIR) spectral ED50's experiments. Some effects of specimen dissimilarity on the results of the experiment analysis will be presented and discussed.


Domestic violence has had a long tradition, both in Serbia and countries of the region. Owing to deep rooted patriarchal traditions, for centuries this socially pathological phenomenon has had many supporters and for a long time it was considered socially acceptable. Laws and bylaws adopted in the past decade have significantly improved the legal framework in protection of domestic violence victims. However, inefficiency of their application in practice, caused by slow and long resolution processes, and the issues of the very acts of domestic violence and custody, have led to an escalation in domestic violence. This is greatly enabled by the fact that false reports while the acts occur go unpunished, which makes it possible for real abusers to use this tactic and prolong the stress situation for the real victim, in some cases, for years. The aim of the authors is to do a comparative analysis of laws in the region and consequences of their application, therefore defining problems that present obstacles for adopted laws and suggest new solutions.


The problem of determining whether quadratic programming models possess either unique or multiple optimal solutions is important for empirical analyses which use a mathematical programming framework. Policy recommendations which disregard multiple optimal solutions (when they exist) are potentially incorrect and less than efficient. This paper proposes a strategy and the associated algorithm for finding all optimal solutions to any positive semidefinite linear complementarity problem. One of the main results is that the set of complementary solutions is convex. Although not obvious, this proposition is analogous to the well-known result in linear programming which states that any convex combination of optimal solutions is itself optimal. The importance of not overlooking multiple optimal solutions in empirical studies based on linear programming (LP) models was discussed by Paris in a recent


In this paper, based on some disciplinarians about the configuration design of Parallel Robot Mechanisms (PRM), the theory bases was established for parallel structural configuration design by developing different types of the partly degrees of freedom (DOF) parallel configuration designs. The new method to synthesize the partly DOF parallel mechanisms, called constraint accession, is provided to the classification of kinematical chains by use of screw theory. The active kinematical chains control the necessary DOF and the passive kinematical chains control the needless ones. In this paper, the relevant active and passive kinematical chains are put forward and the constraint chains are classified in detail. It is demonstrated by an example that new configurations can be obtained by assembling different kinematical limbs.


Safety in construction industry of Palestine still suffers from ignorance and lack of supervision. This low consideration of safety importance caused escalation of accident rate in construction projects. Also, construction productivity is not encouraging when low productivity is causing delays in construction projects. The objective of this paper is to identify the productivity factors that are most related to safety, and determine their relative importance as perceived by contractors. A questionnaire survey, based on 28 identified productivity factors, grouped into 7 major factor categories, was conducted. Responses from 61 personnel from contractors organizations suggest that the following are the most important factors related to safety: 'skillfulness of worker improves safety', 'demonstrating daily activities to workers before start contributes to improving safety', 'anticipated risks included in safety program in order to avoid accidents increases productivity', 'accidents frustrate workers and create absenteeism which decrease productivity', and 'when foremen allocate tasks to workers, they consider safety measures'. The results also indicated that 'worker problems' is the most important among productivity groups of factors followed by 'safety program, 'subcontractors, 'inspection', 'personal protective equipment', 'factors improving productivity' and 'local conditions'. Contractors are recommended to act strategically to protect workers by continuously identifying, evaluating, and mitigating hazardous conditions, risky activities, work locations and work condition on job site.


Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a constitutively active, ubiquitously expressed kinase that acts as a critical regulator of many signaling pathways. These pathways, when dysregulated, have been implicated in many human diseases, including bipolar disorder (BD), cancer, and diabetes. Over 100 putative GSK-3 substrates have been reported, based on direct kinase assays or genetic and pharmacological manipulation of GSK-3, in diverse cell types. Many more have been predicted based upon on the prevalence of the GSK-3 consensus sequence. As a result, there remains an unclear picture of the complete GSK-3 phosphoproteome. We have therefore used a large-scale mass spectrometry approach to analyze global changes in phosphorylation and describe the repertoire of GSK-3 substrates in a single cell type. For our studies, we used stable isotope labeling of amino acids in culture (SILAC) to compare the phosphoproteome of wild-type mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to ESCs completely lacking Gsk3a and Gsk3b expression (Gsk3 DKO). We used titanium oxide chromatography to enrich for phosphorylated peptides. From our analysis, we selected 65 phosphoproteins that exhibited significantly reduced phosphorylation in Gsk3 DKO ESCs as high-confidence candidate substrates of GSK-3. Our findings indicate that these candidate GSK-3 substrates can influence all levels of gene expression including chromatin modulators, transcription factors, RNA binding proteins, splicing factors, translational initiators and cell cycle regulators. Analysis of protein-protein interaction networks revealed enrichment of a cluster of proteins involved in alternative splicing. Our study is the first to discover a function for GSK-3 in alternative splicing. To further validate our top hits, we conducted in vitro kinase assays with recombinant proteins and identified the splicing factor RBM8A and an RNA processing protein NPM1 to be direct targets of GSK-3. Preliminary RNA sequencing results point to an overall increase in alternative splicing events when Gsk3 is deleted. Taken together, the research in this dissertation represents the first unbiased analysis of GSK-3 phosphorylation substrates in a single cell type and provides the first evidence of GSK-3 as a general regulator of alternative splicing. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Pharmacology First Advisor Peter S. Klein


The studies described herein relate to the co-ordination chemistry of l,3,5-tris(trifluoromethyl)benzene, Ar(^F)H. The unique combination of steric bulk and a highly electron-withdrawing nature found in the a- bound Ar(^F) ligand has already been exploited to stabilise a variety of unusual main group compounds including the surprisingly air- and moisture-stable diphosphene Ar(^F)P=Par(^F). Other examples are discussed in the introductory chapter, as is the increasingly active area of diphosphene research. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis and structural characterisation of six early σ-Ar(^F) transition metal complexes, Mo(N(^t)Bu)(_2)(Ar(^F))2, Cr(NAd)(_2)(Ar(^F))(_2), [Mo(NAr)(_2)(Ar(^F))Cl-LiCl(dme)](_2), V(Ar(^F))(_2)Cl(thf), V(Ar(^F))(_3)-O -Li(thf)(_3) and Cr(Ar(^F))(_2)(PMe(_3))(_2). The first five of these compounds exhibit the rare phenomenon of weak metal-fluorine interactions, which is discussed in terms of several structural factors such as tilting of the aryl ring towards the direction of the M-F interaction The co-ordination chemistry of the diphosphenes Ar(^F)p=PArF, Ar*P=PAr* and Ar*P=PArF (Ar* = 2,4,6-(^t)BuC6H3) is reported in chapter 3. Ar(^F)p=Par(^F) is shown to displace olefins from a bis(imido)molybdenum centre to generate complexes such as Mo(NR)(_2)(PMe)(_3)(Ti2-ArFp=PArF) (R = tBu, 2,6-iPr2C6H3). The crystal structure of Mo(NtBu)2(PMe)3(Ti2- ArFp=PArF) has been elucidated. Related investigations have focused on the co-ordination mode of the diphosphenes Ar*P=PAr* and Ar*P=PArFwith [Pt(PEt3)Cl2]2/ and a variety of Til-complexes has been spectroscopically observed. The development of phosphorus based analogue of the industrially important olefin metathesis reaction is detailed in chapter 4. The reaction of ArPCl2, [Ar = Ar(^F), Ar* and 2,6-(CF3)2-C6H3 (Ar(^f1)] with the halide abstractor W(PMe3)6 leads to the generation of ArP=PAr via a postulated [W]=PAr phosphinidene intermediate. The unsymmetrical diphosphene ArFp=PAr* has been synthesised analogously from a mixture of ArFPCl2 and Ar*PCl2 with W(PMe3)6- When Ar is small (2,4,6-iPr3C6H2, 2,4,6- Me3C6H2), ArPCl2 reacts with W(PMe3)6 to give three-membered tricyclophosphanes, [ArP](_3) π-bound complexes of the Ar(^F)H ligand have been synthesised via metal vapour synthesis experiments, carried out in collaboration with Prof. F.G.N. Cloke at Sussex University. Chapter 5 describes the preparation of the bis-arene complexes M(T|6-ArFH)2 (M=Cr, V, Nb) and Ru(Ti6-ArFH)(Ti4-ArFH).Full experimental details and characterising data for chapters 2-5 are collected in chapter 6.


Genome and metagenome comparisons based on large amounts of next generation sequencing (NGS) data pose significant challenges for alignment-based approaches due to the huge data size and the relatively short length of the reads. Alignment-free approaches based on the counts of word patterns in NGS data do not depend on the complete genome and are generally computationally efficient. Thus, they contribute significantly to genome and metagenome comparison. Recently, novel statistical approaches have been developed for the comparison of both long and shotgun sequences. These approaches have been applied to many problems including the comparison of gene regulatory regions, genome sequences, metagenomes, binning contigs in metagenomic data, identification of virus-host interactions, and detection of horizontal gene transfers. We provide an updated review of these applications and other related developments of word-count based approaches for alignment-free sequence analysis.


We report development, characterization, and testing of chemiresistive immunosensors based on single polypyrrole (Ppy) nanowire for highly sensitive, specific, label free, and direct detection of viruses. Bacteriophages T7 and MS2 were used as safe models for viruses for demonstration. Ppy nanowires were electrochemically polymerized into alumina template, and single nanowire based devices were assembled on a pair of gold electrodes by ac dielectrophoretic alignment and anchored using maskless electrodeposition. Anti-T7 or anti-MS2 antibodies were immobilized on single Ppy nanowire using EDC-NHS chemistry to fabricate nanobiosensor for the detection of corresponding bacteriophage. The biosensors showed excellent sensitivity with a lower detection limit of 10(-3) plaque forming unit (PFU) in 10 mM phosphate buffer, wide dynamic range and excellent selectivity. The immunosensors were successfully applied for the detection of phages in spiked untreated urban runoff water samples. The results show the potential of these sensors in health care, environmental monitoring, food safety and homeland security for sensitive, specific, rapid, and affordable detection of bioagents/pathogens.


Objective: Drug abuse is a worldwide problem that causes tremendous economic burden. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between drug abuse and the strength of the economic condition using gross domestic product (GDP) in Asian countries. Methods: Forty-two countries in Asia were included in this study. We analyzed the materials of database from the 2006 Report of United Nation Office on Drug and Crime, Website of World Bank, and data from Taiwan's Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice, Executive Yuan, Taiwan. Results: The number of cannabis use was found to be negatively correlated with GDP of 34 Asian countries, but the correlation had significant trend (r=-0.33, p=0.061, n=34). The abuse of amphetamine and GDP showed similar negative correlation but lack of statistical significance. The number of abusing Ecstasy was found to have positive correlation but without statistical significance (n=14 countries). The number of abusing opiate was found to be negatively correlated with GDP but with significant trend (r=-0.31, p=0.055, n=39). Opiate abuse was found to be significantly related to the low income level in Asian countries if Iran (where was an outlier in the number of opiate abuse) was excluded (r=0.42, p=0.009, n=38). Conclusion: Based on the results of present study, we suggest that people in low-income Asian countries, had a serious problem in opiate abuse. The results of the present study call for attentions to do more research on drug abuse and psychosocial issues in Asia.


The central questions that motivate this work, concern with understanding how do informal markets function outside the formal contract and property rights framework, and in doing so, what kinds of institutions do these markets develop. I attempt to answer these questions through case studies of three markets in India, namely, footwear cluster in Agra, coal-mines mafia in Dhanbad, and sex work (prostitution) in New Delhi. Locating the study of informal markets and institutions in broad literature of law and development, the thesis advances policy suggestions that would be useful in a general context of developing countries and their unregulated markets.
More than 90% of Indian workforce is informal, thus making it a very important economic impulse to be examined. Through primary fieldwork, I collect data in three Indian markets, and understand the micro-institutional framework that guides the functional order of transactions that lie 'outside the law.' In general, my findings reveal that every informal market is hinged on an intermediary, who in absorbing the otherwise high transaction costs at a price, affords stability to the market. For relevant policy interventions therefore, it is crucial that the intermediating institutions are examined carefully.
At a general level, the thesis narrates the importance of understanding local institutions in presence of global blueprints of law reforms. If law is an effective tool for development, then it has to adequately appreciate the heterogeneous institutions located within the market frameworks.


Abstract:Voluntary standards are key instruments to address sustainability concerns in value chains. The legitimacy of these initiatives has been debated, particularly related to acceptance by Global South stakeholders. The governance literature has predominantly argued that initiatives employing democratic approaches to governance are more likely to increase their legitimacy. In this article, we use a configurational approach to test this proposition in relation to standard acceptance by southern producers. A qualitative comparative analysis of eight cases was carried out, linking three elements of input legitimacy (inclusion, participation, and accountability) to the outcome of standard uptake in the Global South. While our findings suggest that an inclusive governance structure is important, overall, they show no evidence to explain the presence or absence of standard acceptance in the Global South. We conclude that theoretical assumptions about democratic legitimacy cannot be confirmed and argue for further opening up the scholarly debate to include conceptualizations, methods, and approaches inclusive of different ways of creating and perceiving legitimacy.


Compositionally graded ferroelectrics (cgFEs), which possess a spatial variation in material composition, exhibit anomalous or even unprecedented properties. Despite several breakthroughs having been achieved in experiments, there surprisingly is a lack of an effective simulation approach for cgFEs, thereby greatly hindering a deep understanding about underlying mechanisms hidden behind the observed phenomena. In this study, an improved phase field model is proposed for a cgFE made of PbZr(1−x)TixO3 based on the Ginzburg–Landau theory. The improved approach enables us to capture several key phenomena occurring in the cgFE PbZr0.8Ti0.2O3 ⇔ PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin film that are observed from experiments, such as the formation of needle-like domains with curved domain walls, ferroelastic switching under an electric field, and the voltage offset of the hysteresis loop. Results obtained from the improved approach indicate that the high elastic energy near the needle-tip of an a-domain gives rise to a deflection of the domain wall from the regular a/c domain wall, while the high concentration of the depolarization field shrinks a part of the a-domain near the needle-tip and terminates the a-domain within the cgFE thin film. These facilitate the stabilization of needle-like domains with curved domain walls in the cgFE thin film. Furthermore, the flexoelectricity is proven to play an important role in the voltage offset of the hysteresis loop. On the other hand, the ferroelectric switching process in the cgFE thin film exhibits a vastly different response in comparison to that in homogeneous ferroelectric thin films, including local switching initiation and formation and annihilation of vortex–antivortex pairs during the switching. The present study, therefore, provides an incisive approach for investigations on cgFEs, which may bring new understanding and unique insights into these complex materials, as well as novel potential applications.


In aerospace industry, the manufacturing of critical parts (high energy components) requires an important validation process to guarantee the quality of the produced parts, and thus their fatigue lifecycle. Globally, this validation consists in freezing the cutting conditions using metallurgical analysis or fatigue trials, and a test on the first article. This process is extremely complex and expensive. In this way establishing the correlation between the cutting conditions and the surface integrity will help us to optimize the manufacture of those parts. In this article, by the means of an experimental method, we define a domain of validation by combining the cutting conditions according to the classic criteria established by AFNOR E66-520 norm (Couple-Tool-Material) and the criteria of surface integrity for the drilling of a Nickel-base superalloy. The experimental device consists in drilling a Ø15.5 mm hole on a 3-axis milling centre instrumented by a 4 components Kistler dynamometer (Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz), a spindle power sensor "Watt-pilote" and three accelerometers placed following the directions X, Y and Z. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations, micro-hardness tests and topographic measurements with an optical profilometer, are carried out to characterize the metallurgical state of the holes manufactured. Finally, correlations were respectively made between the cutting conditions, the recorded signals and the metallurgical state of the holes.


Descriptive observations were conducted to record problem behavior displayed by participants and to record antecedents and consequences delivered by caregivers. Next, functional analyses were conducted to identify reinforcers for problem behavior. Then, using data from the descriptive observations, lag-sequential analyses were conducted to examine changes in the probability of environmental events across time in relation to occurrences of problem behavior. The results of the lag-sequential analyses were interpreted in light of the results of functional analyses. Results suggested that events identified as reinforcers in a functional analysis followed behavior in idiosyncratic ways: after a range of delays and frequencies. Thus, it is possible that naturally occurring reinforcement contingencies are arranged in ways different from those typically evaluated in applied research. Further, these complex response-stimulus relations can be represented by lag-sequential analyses. However, limitations to the lag-sequential analysis are evident.


The role of education as an agent or instrument of social change and social development is widely recognized today. Social change may take place – when humans need change. When the existing social system or network of social institutions fails to meet the existing human needs and when new materials suggest better ways of meeting human needs. Education is seen as a major vector in society, but that it is largely allocated a conservative role, since its main function is in the socialization of the young and the maintenance of the social order. During times of rapid social change, such as the second half of the 20th century, the role of education in the service of the nation is emphasized. When things are going well, especially economically, more experimentation with education is supported, and more idealistic goals are pursued, such as equity of educational opportunity. It is in the ideological and moral spheres, however, that education is most clearly expected to play a leading role. Social change takes place as a response to many types of changes that take place in the social and nonsocial environment. Education can initiate social changes by bringing about a change in outlook and attitude of man. It can bring about a change in the pattern of social relationships and thereby it may cause social changes.


Technology applications can make important contributions to improving learning outcomes in the domain of early literacy. However, to fully exploit the potential of educational technologies, teachers must have specific knowledge and skills. This study aimed to articulate the technological pedagogical content knowledge teachers need to make effective use of technology for early literacy. Through three rounds of expert consultation using a Delphi study approach, key priorities for the education of lower primary school teachers, especially those teaching kindergarten, were articulated. The results of the Delphi study show expert consensus on the importance of educating pre-service teachers about: electronic books and educative television; explicit goals and task-focused instructions using specific tools; how to shape technology-rich classroom interactions; and how to integrate computer activities in language teaching. Experts stress the importance of developing age-appropriate teaching skills and critical consideration of the value of technologies for specific learning goals. When this critical stance is lacking (e.g., using technology for entertainment, or substitution of existing activities), they recommend against technology use in kindergarten. These findings can help teacher education programs offer pre-service teachers adequate opportunities to develop the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge needed for effectively using technology in the domain of early literacy.


The Psychological Correlates of Endowment Effect: Individualism-Collectivism, Perspective Taking, and Real and Hypothetical Endowment Effects by Ulaş Başar Gezgin In this study conducted in Boğaziçi University with 121 participants, the psychological correlates of the endowment effect are probed. The endowment effect is the asymmetry between the amount that a given individual would like to pay for a certain good and the amount that this individual would like to accept to sell the same good. There are two types of endowment effect: The real endowment effect is the one observed in real or simulated economies, while the hypothetical endowment effect is the one exhibited for imaginary situations. Individualism-Collectivism and perspective taking are considered as psychological correlates of the endowment effect in this study. The study shows that there is at least some relationship between the real endowment effect and perspective taking and that individualism-collectivism is significantly correlated with perspective taking.


Increased extracellular chloride concentration mediated by a glial cell prevents a neuronal ending from forming microvilli. The AFD neuron is part of a thermotactic neural circuit in Caenorhabditis elegans that enables the animals to sense and migrate toward temperatures associated with past cultivation conditions. The receptive end of this neuron consists of microvilli and a single cilium. An AMsh glial cell surrounds this receptive end, as well as those of other neurons, such as the AWC neuron, which do not have this microvillar morphology. Singhvi et al. (see also Sun and Barres) found that microvillar extension required the increased Cl– concentrations around the receptive end of the AFD neuron mediated by the K/Cl cotransporter KCC-3 in the AMsh glial cell. KCC-3 localized to the part of the AMsh cell surrounding the microvillus of the AFD neuron. Worms with an inactivating mutation in kcc-3 exhibited defects in thermotaxis and the AFD neuron lacked microvilli. However, the receptive end of the AWC neuron was unaffected by this inactivating mutation. Culturing the worms on plates supplemented with KCl or introducing an inactivating mutation in the gene encoding the receptor guanylyl cyclase GCY-8, an enzyme that produces cGMP and that had substantial ligand-independent basal activity, rescued the AFD morphology defect. The extracellular domain of GCY-8 contained a conserved Cl– binding motif, and binding of Cl– to this motif inhibited the basal activity of GCY-8. Increasing cGMP concentrations in the AFD neuron by overexpressing constitutively active human guanylyl cyclases or inactivating phosphodiesterase-encoding genes blocked microvillar extension. Overexpression of the actin regulator WSP-1 rescued formation of microvilli in worms with a gain-of-function mutation in gcy-8, suggesting inhibition of WSP-1 by cGMP prevents microvillar extension. Thus, by altering the extracellular ionic microenvironment, the AMsh glial cell affects the shape and function of the receptive end of the AFD neuron. A. Singhvi, B. Liu, C. J. Friedman, J. Fong, Y. Lu, X.-Y. Huang, S. Shaham, A glial K/Cl transporter controls neuronal receptive ending shape by chloride inhibition of an rGC. Cell 165, 936–948 (2016). [PubMed] L. O. Sun, B. A. Barres, Glia get neurons in shape. Cell 165, 775–776 (2016). [PubMed]


In this paper, a practical orthotropic damage model is developed and tested for composite materials during crash. The model uses the Hashin's failure criteria in which the fibre and matrix failures are described explicitly, both in tension and compression. A linear softening degradation is proposed and a close-form solution of the corresponding damage parameter is provided. To reduce the mesh dependency, an embedded discontinuous element is proposed. It is a virtual embedded element in the sense that an actual element is divided into two zones, one elastic (undamaged) zone and one localization (damaged) zone. Their equivalence is preserved by constraining the kinematics and equilibrium equations. Since the damage zone is introduced into the element, the corresponding dissipated energy due to damage is fixed, independent of the element size. The numerical simulations using the developed damage model show a mesh objective result and correlate well with the energy dissipation in dynamic 3-point bending experiments. It is concluded that an accurate material calibration is crucial for the success of failure simulations. The traditional strain mapping cannot be applied to failure problems in which the strain distribution is highly non-uniform. Material parameter calibration should take into account the ratio of the failure zone and the gauge length. A practical approximation formula is provided.


Introduction: Cardiac remodelling is controlled by complex systems, including activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and signalling through MAP kinases and Ca2+-activated calcineurin. Whether Ang II, which increases [Ca2+]i and stimulates MAP kinases, mediates myocardial effects through calcineurin-dependent pathways remain unclear. We investigated effects of two calcineurin inhibitors, cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506) (10-10-10-6 mol/L, 20 mins) on activation of MAP kinases and on growth, pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory responses in Ang II-stimulated rat cardiac fibroblasts. Methods and Results: Ang II increased phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38MAPK (1.5-1.8-fold, p<0.05) without effect on JNK. FK506, but not CsA, attenuated Ang II-stimulated MAP kinase activation. Molecular indices of cell growth (proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)), fibrosis (fibronectin, pro-collagen) and inflammation (iNOS), were upregulated by Ang II (12 hrs). FK506 and CsA inhibited PCNA effects. Ang II-induced pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory responses were inhibited by CsA. Ang II receptors, AT1R and AT2R, were not influenced by calcineurin inhibitors. Our data indicate differential calcineurin inhibitor sensitivity of MAP kinases and cellular responses in Ang II-stimulated fibroblasts. p38MAP kinase and ERK1/2 are regulated in a FK506-sensitive manner, whereas fibrosis and inflammation are CsA-sensitive. Cell proliferation is inhibited by both FKC506 and CsA. These are post-receptor phenomena, since AT1R and AT2R status was unaltered by treatment. Conclusions: Our findings identify an important role for calcineurin in MAP kinase/growth/pro-fibrotic/pro-inflammatory signalling by Ang II in cardiac fibroblasts. Although both FK506 and CsA inhibit calcineurin, they exert differential effects on molecular and cellular responses. Such differences may contribute to variable clinical responses of these agents.


Antibiotic Overuse in the Geriatric Population by Kimberley Kelly MS, Walden University, December 2013 BS, The Ohio State University, 1986 Project Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University August 2018 Abstract The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are requiring long-term care facilities (LTCFs) to implement antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) to alleviate overuse of antibiotics in the nursing home population. Current research shows that the benefits of ASPs include improved patient outcomes, reduced adverse events related to Clostridium difficile (C-diff) infection, improvement in rates of antibiotic susceptibilities, and optimized resource utilization. ThisThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are requiring long-term care facilities (LTCFs) to implement antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) to alleviate overuse of antibiotics in the nursing home population. Current research shows that the benefits of ASPs include improved patient outcomes, reduced adverse events related to Clostridium difficile (C-diff) infection, improvement in rates of antibiotic susceptibilities, and optimized resource utilization. This project addressed the problem of antibiotic overuse and misuse in the geriatric population and whether the implementation of an ASP reduced the overuse of antibiotics, C-diff infection, and resistance rates in the LTCF. Application of the Johns Hopkins nursing model and Centers for Disease Control framework informed this project. An ASP was implemented by the organization. This project evaluated the program preASP and postASP over a 10-month period. A descriptive analysis was used to compare the number of new antibiotic starts, C-diff cases, and resistant cases before and after ASP implementation. The total number of cases of resistance declined from 12 to 10 cases after the ASP was implemented, which was a 16.67% decline. The number of monthly new antibiotic orders for the time period evaluated declined from 120 to 110 respectively, which was an 8.3% change. There was no change in the number of C-diff infections. The results demonstrated that implementing the ASP led to a decline in antibiotic misuse, overuse, and resistance cases. This project supports social change by expanding the healthcare team's knowledge regarding the project problem and informing future interventions to be implemented to help reduce antibiotic overuse and misuse in the geriatric population. Antibiotic Overuse in the Geriatric Population


This paper studies the political economy of pricing and investment for excludable and congestible public goods in a federal state. Although the model applies to many local congestible public facilities (such as libraries, museums and public swimming facilities), our main motivation is the problem of providing and pricing road infrastructure in federal states. The two-region model we develop allows for spill-overs between regions, it takes into account congestion, and it captures demand heterogeneity both between and within regions. Regional decisions are taken by majority voting; federal decisions are taken by a minimum winning coalition in a legislature of regionally elected representatives. We have the following results. First, when users form the majority in at least one region, decentralized decision making performs certainly better than centralized decision making if spill-overs are not too large. Centralized decisions may yield higher welfare than decentralization only if users have a large majority and the infrastructure in a given region is intensively used by both local and outside users. Second, if non-users form a majority in both regions, centralized decision making and decentralized decision making yield the same socially undesirable outcome, with prices that are much too high. Third, the performance of decentralized supply is strongly enhanced by local self-financing rules; this prevents potential exploitation of users within regions.


ABSTRACT The Cilento Group (Lower-Middle Miocene), the Monte Sacro Conglomerate (Upper Miocene), the Gorgoglione Formation (Upper Miocene), and the Crati submarine fan (Holocene) are four turbidite sequences deposited in northwest-southeast-trending thrust-top basins of the southern Apennines (Italy) foreland region. The Corigliano basin is a part of the modern Taranto Gulf foredeep basin that developed since the late Pleistocene. Sandstone detrital modes of the Miocene turbidite units are quartzofeldspathic (Petrofacies 1, 2a, 4, 5, 8; Q62F25L13), quartzolithic (Petrofacies 2b; Q60F16L24), and arkosic (Petrofacies 7; Q50F45L5, reflecting a collisional orogenic provenance. Volcanolithic sandstones (Petrofacies 3, Q23F11L66) suggest an important contribution also from a volcanic source area related to the convergent-continental-margin volcanism connected with the collisional tectonic regime that affected the western Mediterranean (e.g., Sardinia volcanic arc). Individual carbonatoclastic beds (hybrid arenite, biocalcarenite, and mudstone) are interbedded with sandstone units of the ilento Group. They have siliciclastic content of about 35% and are quartzofeldspathic (Petrofacies 6; Q53F23L24). These beds (0.10-65 m thick) record impulsive gravitational collapses of the carbonate-platform passive margin to the east and southeast. The petrologic parameters show a temporal evolution from metasedimentary to granitic-gneissic provenance ascribed to different tectonostratigraphic units of the Calabrian arc. Nine Miocene petrofacies suggest dynamic evolution of the source terranes from Laughian to Tortonian time. Facies, dispersal patterns, and petrologic parameters of the Miocene sandstones suggest a provenance from the northern and western margins of the basins. Comparison between the Holocene Crati Fan (Petrofacies 9; Q54F24L22) and Miocene detrital modes suggests that the sandstones of the Cilento Group, the Monte Sacro Conglomerate, and the Gorgoglione Formation were derived from unroofing of the thrusted basement block, transported by torrential-type, fluvio-deltaic systems and then funneled into a major turbidite dispersal system, analogous to the modern Crati submarine fan of the Corigliano thrust-top basin.


Good clinical practice (GCP) is a series of systematically developed ethical and quality standard of designing, registering, running, recording, and reporting of the clinical trials. Good clinical practice is very important regarding the trials usually performed on the vulnerable populations especially children and adolescents. The sensitivity of the issue is even higher in the children with psychiatric disorders. Usually, these children have little legal protection. Hence, the safety of interventions and the ethical considerations are among the most important issues in this field. The purpose of this chapter is to deal with above problems and globally applicable standards for the conduct of clinical trials on the under legal age subjects especially those with psychiatric disorders. Selection of trial subjects, ethical principles, regulatory requirements, protection of trial subjects, monitoring (compliance with the protocol), responsibilities of the investigator, and other require- ments to perform a clinically and ethically sound clinical trial in children and adolescents will be discussed in this chapter.


Cytogenetic abnormalities are established as important prognostic factor for Leukemia. After the first report of a ring chromosome in a case of human leukemia ring chromosomes have been infrequently (<10%) detected in hematopoietic neoplasias. However, ring chromosomes are part of complex karyotype associated with a poor prognosis. In this study we document a case of 21 years old Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) patient. Short term unstimulated bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood lymphocyte cultures were performed. The karyotype report was 46, XY, r (2)(p23-25q33-37). Fluorescence in-situ hybridization using WCP for chromosome 2 confirmed presence of ring chromosome 2. In most cases, there are no confirmatory reports on an association between a specific leukemia subtypes with ring chromosome. This case report may constitute a distinctive subtype. Further analysis of such cases is required to define complete disease entity.


BACKGROUND
Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) is commonly performed in patients with non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF), but because very long-term follow-up results of RFCA are limited, we investigated the 10-year RFCA outcomes of non-paroxysmal AF.Methods and Results: We retrospectively enrolled 100 patients (89 men, mean age 53.5±8.4years) with drug-refractory symptomatic non-paroxysmal AF who underwent 3D electroanatomic-guided RFCA. Procedural characteristics at index procedures and clinical outcomes were investigated. In the index procedures, all patients had pulmonary vein isolation, 56 (56.0%), 48 (48.0%), and 32 (32.0%) underwent additional linear, complex fractionated atrial electrogram (CFAE) and non-pulmonary vein (NPV) foci ablations, respectively. After 124.1±31.7 months, 16 (16%) patients remained in sinus rhythm after just 1 procedure (3 with antiarrhythmic drugs [AAD]) and after multiple (2.1±1.3) procedures in 53 (53.0%) patients (22 with AAD). Left atrial (LA) diameter (hazard ratio HR 1.061; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.020 to 1.103; P=0.003), presence of NPV triggers (HR 1.634; 95% CI 1.019 to 2.623; P=0.042) and undergoing CFAE ablation (HR 2.003; 95% CI 1.262 to 3.180; P=0.003) in the index procedure were independent predictors for recurrent atrial tachyarrhythmia.

CONCLUSIONS
The 10-year outcomes of single RFCA in non-paroxysmal AF were unsatisfactory. Enlarged LA, presence of NPV triggers, and undergoing CFAE ablation in the index procedure independently predicted single-procedure recurrence. Multiple procedures are required to achieve adequate rhythm control.


The digital age makes new forms of connection possible, enabling 'digital intimacies' including the many practices of communicating, producing and sharing intimate content ('sexting'; selfies; making, viewing and circulating sexual content; using hook-up apps; and searching online for advice about sex). Where young people engage in digital intimacies, policymakers have tended to respond with alarm and commissioned research premised on demonstrating negative outcomes. Young people's take up of technologies is contrasted with previous generations and ideas of 'healthy', 'natural' and 'normal' sexual development which ignores and marginalises diversity of sexuality and sexual expression, and leads to campaigns that seek to supervise and regulate youth sexuality. This in turn results in legislation and censorship with consequences including blocking websites for sexual abuse support and sexual education.
The government has suspended introduction of Age Verification for pornographic websites but is pressing ahead with its 'Online Harms' White Paper which plans for broader and more comprehensive regulatory frameworks in the interests of protecting children and young people in online spaces. The UK government has positioned itself as a world leader in developing new regulatory approaches to tackle online harms but the evidence base for those approaches is neither robust nor nuanced enough to respond to the increasing mediatisation of everyday life and sexual identity.
This briefing advocates for a broader recognition of young people's investments in digital intimacies, acknowledging what growing up and learning about sex in the digital age means for young people in order to inform future policy and practice. Policies that are informed by robust research and understandings that accommodate the nuanced practices of digital intimacy will provide the support that young people need and deserve as they navigate their media lives, develop awareness of ethical and unethical behaviour, and what is right for them.


Recently, we proposed a filter formulation for effective lesion detection in an attempt to increase the local S/N ratio of a lesion corresponding to the SPECT lesion detection limit. The filter function is composed of (1) an exactly-derived theoretical filter (that is a multiplication of a GAUSS filter whose resolution is determined by the estimated minimum detectable lesion size (MDLS) and an inverse detector system MTF), and (2) a designed Butterworth filter for controlling the extent to which the theoretical filter is followed before our filter switches to noise suppression. In this work, a frequency cut-off design by the Butterworth filter was made as a function of (MDLS/system resolution) ratio, with respect to a MDLS-dependent frequency point that was determined based on a simple object model. The simulation studies demonstrated better performance of our filter on lesion detectability over the conventional SPECT filters. Especially with this Butterworth filter design, we considerably reduced the potential hazards of our filter, that were observed in large system resolution cases as a form of structured noise for high-count and high-contrast cases, and as a form of excessive smoothing of image contrast for low count and low-contrast cases.


The paper summarizes results of a 5 year-long study on the use of a cytological method in clinical practice involving patients with allergic rhinitis and concomitant pathology of ENT organs. The Papanicolaou staining procedure was used for the first time to visualize and measure the content of eosinophils, goblet and mast cells the presence of which suggested local allergy. Eosinophils occurred but rarely (sometimes only 1-2 cells in the field of vision). Cocci, diplococci, and mucous cords were more common. Cytological findings were compared with results of clinical observations. It is concluded that cytological studies are of informative value when used for the study of allergic rhinitis.


The current paper introduces an approach to a development of Ambient Intelligence domainbased software systems from scratch. The presented approach is based on models. The paper also presents the domain-related models expressing different levels of abstractions and stages of the development. The approach refers to a Model-Driven Development of Ambient Intelligence which was suggested at AmI-07-Ambient Intelligence conference. The approach is presented as a standard with its feasible realization. It starts from modeling of a content of the future AmI-dedicated software system and concludes by mapping the graphical concepts into a final code. A process proving feasibility and correctness of the approach is provided through a dedicated research methodology. Its process comprises an identification of needs in a speedy development of the systems. It is followed by studying of the currently available techniques capable of supporting the development and an experimenting with them. It continues by finding a solution, verified by its validation and concludes by an identification of the further perspectives. The developed approach presents a common way of a communication amongst stakeholders participating in creating of AmI-based environments. Such communication involves the notations of AmI-Creator—a DomainSpecific Language of Ambient Intelligence domain. Every part of DSL corresponds to a demonstration of A-methodology expressing a step-by-step guidance for the development. The methodology comprises two parts dedicated to providing semantics for DSL through studying of Ambient Intelligence domain ontology; and development of actual environments. A validity of the working proposition is confirmed by three examples. The further challenges refer to an extension of the presented work by other frameworks and expansion to a development of different domains with complex organizations.


CNN for time series data implicitly assumes that the data are uniformly sampled, whereas many event-based and multi-modal data are nonuniform or have heterogeneous sampling rates. Directly applying regular CNN to nonuniform time series is ungrounded, because it is unable to recognize and extract common patterns from the nonuniform input signals. In this paper, we propose the Continuous CNN (CCNN), which estimates the inherent continuous inputs by interpolation, and performs continuous convolution on the continuous input. The interpolation and convolution kernels are learned in an end-to-end manner, and are able to learn useful patterns despite the nonuniform sampling rate. Results of several experiments verify that CCNN achieves a better performance on nonuniform data, and learns meaningful continuous kernels.1


Never before have so many scholars produced so much work--and never before have they seemed to have so little to say to one another, or to the public at large. This is the dilemma of the modern university, which today sets the pattern for virtually all scholarship. In his eloquent book, David Damrosch offers a lucid, often troubling assessment of the state of scholarship in our academic institutions, a look at how these institutions acquired their present complexion, and a proposal for reforms that can promote scholarly communication and so, perhaps, broader, more relevant scholarship."We Scholars" explores an academic culture in which disciplines are vigorously isolated and then further divided into specialized fields, making for a heady mix of scholarly alienation and disciplinary territorialism, a wealth of specialized inquiry and a poverty of general discussion. This pattern, however, is not necessary and immutable; rather, it stems from decisions made a century ago, when the American university assumed its modern form. Damrosch traces the political and economic assumptions behind these decisions and reveals their persisting effects on academic structures despite dramatic changes in the larger society. "We Scholars" makes a compelling case for a scholarly community more reflective of and attuned to today's needs. The author's call for cooperation as the basis for intellectual endeavor, both within and outside the academy, will resonate for anyone concerned with the present complexities and future possibilities of academic work.


We present here the preliminary results of the 32-item version of the reactivity to stress questionnaire. The sample consisted of 84 medical students. The mean score was 9.9. There were no sex difference in the total reactivity to stress index score or in any of the subscales.


Threats and violence at work is common in human service sectors. How this affects health and work of the employees is still being debated. We aimed to examine the associations between exposure to threats and violence and consequences in terms of overall workforce participation, sick-leave and permanent health benefits. In 2010, 5,333 Danish employees working in human service sectors filled in questionnaires about exposure to different kinds of threats and violence, including severity and frequency. Among these, 5,171 were not receiving any permanent health related transfer income at the time of the questionnaire, were then followed for 3.5 years in a population-based register of transfer incomes. Outcomes were overall workforce participation, sick-leave and permanent health benefits. The associations were analysed by logistic regression, adjusted for sector, gender, age and chronic disease. Of the population, 30% was on sick-leave at some point during follow-up, but only 65 persons (1.3%) received a permanent health benefit. Both severity of violence and threats was associated with new sick-leave episodes. Moreover, the severity of violence was associated with overall workforce participation. The frequency of both violence and threats was also associated with new sick-leave episodes. In general, only very few of the specific types of threats and violence were associated with the outcomes. None of the exposures was associated with permanent health benefits. The size of the study sample was too limited to reach sufficient precision in the estimates to analyse each sector separately. In addition, some types of violence and threats were rare and so were permanent health benefits. This may have caused us to miss potential associations. Frequent exposure to threats and violence in human service sectors was associated with new sick-leave episodes, and severity of the exposure was associated with overall work participation and new sick-leave episodes.


This study examines the influence of owner-manager demographic characteristics on attainment of their competencies in Tanzania, because there are scant empirical evidences on the same. The data used in this study were obtained through a survey of 392 small restaurant businesses from Ilala and Dodoma in Tanzania. Information was collected from the owner-managers of these entities by using structured questionnaires. Competencies of the owner-managers were measured subjectively by assessing their ability to perform entrepreneurial, managerial and functional works. Thus, the study uses Structural equation model to analyze the latent variable data collected. Study results have shown that among the demographic characteristics of the owner-manager, formal education and family background in doing business are more important in explaining how competent an owner-manager is in all three competencies. Furthermore, age of the owner-manager is very important in explaining how competent the owner-manager is in terms of managing the business while their industrial working experiences are more important in explaining the owner-manager ability to fulfill functional activities. These results imply that, whoever wants to operate the small restaurant business should try to understand their demographic characteristics. That is, to match themselves with the competencies of fulfilling entrepreneurial, managerial and functional activities or decide on any other way of compensating for their weaknesses for better business performances.


What, in the 21st century, is our vision of the "good society," and what are the obstacles to its realization? What is the ideal mix of equality and tradition, individual initiative and social welfare, economic prosperity and environmental responsibility, national unity and respect for diversity? Research suggests that liberals and conservatives differ considerably in the prioritization of these values, but nearly all of this research makes use of closed-ended responses to questionnaire items. To examine ideological similarities and dissimilarities in value expression and social representation when it comes to relatively open-ended communication in online social media networks, we used quantitative text-analytic methods to analyze more than 3.8 million messages sent by over 1 million Twitter users about what constitutes a good (vs. bad) society. Results revealed a fairly high degree of ideological divergence: Liberals were more likely to raise themes of social justice, global inequality, women's rights, racism, criminal justice, health care, poverty, progress, social change, personal growth, and environmental sustainability, whereas conservatives were more likely to mention religion, social order, business, capitalism, national symbols, immigration, and terrorism, as well as individual authorities and news organizations. There were also some areas of convergence: Liberals, moderates, and conservatives were equally likely to prioritize economic prosperity, family, community, and the pursuit of health, happiness, and freedom.


Bilirubin may be transported within intracellular membranes of the hepatocyte and may undergo membrane-membrane transfer to gain access to the conjugating enzyme UDP-glucuronyltransferase in the endoplasmic reticulum. We have demonstrated previously that the lipid composition of liposomal membranes incorporating bilirubin substrate influences the rate of transfer and glucuronidation of bilirubin by hepatic microsomes. To examine the mechanism(s) of substrate transfer, we incorporated radiolabelled bilirubin into small unilamellar model membranes of egg phosphatidylcholine or natural phospholipids in the proportions present in native hepatic microsomes. The rate at which bilirubin was transferred to rat liver microsomes and glucuronidated was then examined in the presence of various endogenous compounds that promote membrane fusion. For bilirubin substrate in membranes of egg phosphatidylcholine, the addition of Ca2+ (2 mM) increased the microsomal glucuronidation rate, whereas retinol enhanced microsomal conjugation rates for bilirubin in membranes of both lipid compositions. When the transfer of [3H]bilirubin from dual-labelled liposomes to microsomes was enhanced by Ca2+ or retinol, there was no associated increase in [14C]phospholipid transfer. Thus it appears likely that bilirubin is transferred to the endoplasmic reticulum by rapid cytosolic diffusion or membrane-membrane collisions, rather than by membrane fusion; this process may be modulated by changes in the lipid microenvironment of the substrate or the effective intracellular concentrations of Ca2+ or retinol. The observation that polymyxin B induced concomitant membrane-membrane transfer of [3H]bilirubin and [14C]phospholipid suggests that under certain circumstances membrane fusion or aggregation may promote the movement of lipophilic substrates in hepatocytes.


PowerPivot is an amazing new add-in for Excel 2013 that allows business intelligence pros to process large amounts data. Although it is simple to use in a demo environment, analysts are likely to run into real-life scenarios that are difficult to solve. This guide, dedicated solely to the PowerPivot tool, provides techniques and solutions to real-world problems, including showing the Top N customers by using slicer filters, comparing budget to actuals, drilling across data instead of through data, and joining data from two different sources in a single analysis.


ABSTRACT The protein domain arrangement known as the La-module, comprised of a La motif (LaM) followed by a linker and RNA recognition motif (RRM), is found in seven La-related proteins: LARP1, LARP1B, LARP3 (La protein), LARP4, LARP4B, LARP6, and LARP7 in humans. Several LARPs have been characterized for their distinct activity in a specific aspect of RNA metabolism. The La-modules vary among the LARPs in linker length and RRM subtype. The La-modules of La protein and LARP7 bind and protect nuclear RNAs with UUU-3ʹ tails from degradation by 3ʹ exonucleases. LARP4 is an mRNA poly(A) stabilization factor that binds poly(A) and the cytoplasmic poly(A)-binding protein PABPC1 (also known as PABP). LARP1 exhibits poly(A) length protection and mRNA stabilization similar to LARP4. Here, we show that these LARP1 activities are mediated by its La-module and dependent on a PAM2 motif that binds PABP. The isolated La-module of LARP1 is sufficient for PABP-dependent poly(A) length protection and mRNA stabilization in HEK293 cells. A point mutation in the PAM2 motif in the La-module impairs mRNA stabilization and PABP binding in vivo but does not impair oligo(A) RNA binding by the purified recombinant La-module in vitro. We characterize the unusual PAM2 sequence of LARP1 and show it may differentially affect stable and unstable mRNAs. The unique LARP1 La-module can function as an autonomous factor to confer poly(A) protection and stabilization to heterologous mRNAs.


The Warburg effect is a unique property of cancer cells, in which glycolysis is activated instead of mitochondrial respiration despite oxygen availability. However, recent studies found that the Warburg effect also mediates non-cancer disorders, including kidney disease. Currently, diabetes or glucose has been postulated to mediate the Warburg effect in the kidney, but it is of importance that the Warburg effect can be induced under nondiabetic conditions. Fructose is endogenously produced in several organs, including the kidney, under both physiological and pathological conditions. In the kidney, fructose is predominantly metabolized in the proximal tubules; under normal physiologic conditions, fructose is utilized as a substrate for gluconeogenesis and contributes to maintain systemic glucose concentration under starvation conditions. However, when present in excess, fructose likely becomes deleterious, possibly due in part to excessive uric acid, which is a by-product of fructose metabolism. A potential mechanism is that uric acid suppresses aconitase in the Krebs cycle and therefore reduces mitochondrial oxidation. Consequently, fructose favors glycolysis over mitochondrial respiration, a process that is similar to the Warburg effect in cancer cells. Activation of glycolysis also links to several side pathways, including the pentose phosphate pathway, hexosamine pathway, and lipid synthesis, to provide biosynthetic precursors as fuel for renal inflammation and fibrosis. We now hypothesize that fructose could be the mediator for the Warburg effect in the kidney and a potential mechanism for chronic kidney disease.


Pension is one of development stages that will be experienced by every worker, where at that time, one will experience both role and life pattern changes. The condition is often bringing a particular problem for the pension worker. The most prominent condition in pension period is the shifting from power condition to post-power condition with its entire attribute. Worker readiness
in dealing with pension period is upon the alert condition on worker to respond the arrival of pension period. It is affected by psychological factor and non-psychological factor, because self-adjustment on the surround world will give satisfaction. While, the objective is to make the pension workers of PT. Badak do not suffer post-power syndrome as they have pension. Purpose of this research is to know and to describe worker's readiness in dealing with pension period and also what factor giving contribution in dealing with pension period. This research uses non-experimental research design. Data collecting technique uses interview method. The research subjects are workers of PT. Badak NGL (Natural Gas Liquefaction) Bontang of East Kalimantan, who are going through pension preparation period (MPP) start in 2008 to 2009 based on the company data. The number of subjects used is 3 respondents. Data collecting is done at 07 April 2009 until 09 April 2009. From the research results, its obtained that PT. Badak NGL (Natural Gas Liquefaction) workers, who go through pension preparation period, basically has been ready to pension. But, from the obtained interview results, all three subjects have different readiness levels accordance with subjects' perspective and expectation on pension. 1st and 2nd subject has high readiness level because those two subjects have had a sufficient provision and aforethought about pension and it has been prepared long ago prior to pension period, both from psychological and non-psychological factor. While, the 3rd subject has low readiness level because he does not have enough provisions to undergo pension period from non-psychological factor. Beside, those three subjects have the same perspective about things that must be prepared when pension, i.e psychological factor and non-psychological factor.


This paper deals primarily with computer-assisted legal research. It attempts to sketch the current state of the art, mainly in the United States and Canada, with special reference to systems oriented towards the processing of legislative data. The author suggests a checklist of the main requirements the systems of the 80's will have to answer to, in order to fulfill the growing needs of the new computer-minded generations of law graduates. Along these lines, this paper deals also with the second generation systems dedicated to automated legal research ; these could be expected to show some form, albeit elementary, of humanlike intelligence. Four prototypes of such systems are considered; they are the American Bar Foundation's and Jeffrey Meldman's systems, as well as the well-known JUDITH and TAXMAN systems. The paper concludes on a glimpse of the Third Wave of computerized legal research, in the belief that the legal profession will meet the challenge of the computer age, will learn to live and work with this new technology, and will master the artificial but sometimes acute intelligence of our new friend, the Robot.


Background: Low back pain is a highly common condition in general population. Different mechanisms and causes are considered to be responsible for development of this condition. There is a controversy regarding the usefulness of MRI in low back pain. We aimed in this study to compare MRI findings between healthy subjects and low back pain patients.
Methods: In this case-control study at Shohadaye-e-Tajrish hospital in 2015, we compared lumbosacral MRI findings of 284 patients with clinical history of low back pain and/or radiculopathy with 59 age- and sex- matched subjects without clinical history of LBP or radiculopathy. The controls were randomly selected from the staff of the hospital. MRI scans were thoroughly reviewed by the experts and the related data were recorded and analyzed.
Results: Our data show that there is a strong association between low back pain and fat infiltration in that muscle as in the case group, there was a 39.2% rate of fat infiltration while in the control group, this rate was only 8.5% (p-value=0.000). Our data reveal that various types of degeneration and stenosis in lumbar spine associate with low back pain. Although these symptoms and findings are also found in healthy subjects but the difference of rates between low back pain and control groups, is statistically significant.
Conclusion: Our findings confirm the claim that LBP is significantly associated with degenerative changes observed in lumbosacral MRI as well as fat infiltration in multifidus muscle.


Day-ahead scheduling of electricity generation or unit commitment is an important and challenging optimization problem in power systems. Variability in net load arising from the increasing penetration of renewable technologies has motivated study of various classes of stochastic unit commitment models. In two-stage models, the generation schedule for the entire day is fixed while the dispatch is adapted to the uncertainty, whereas in multi-stage models the generation schedule is also allowed to dynamically adapt to the uncertainty realization. Multi-stage models provide more flexibility in the generation schedule; however, they require significantly higher computational effort than two-stage models. To justify this additional computational effort, we provide theoretical and empirical analyses of the value of multi-stage solution for risk-averse multi-stage stochastic unit commitment models. The value of multi-stage solution measures the relative advantage of multi-stage solutions over their two-stage counterparts. Our results indicate that, for unit commitment models, the value of multi-stage solution increases with the level of uncertainty and number of periods, and decreases with the degree of risk aversion of the decision maker.


ABSTRACT The multiple layers of exclusion that can be experienced by a child at school and the relationship of this to mental well-being is the focus of this paper. The relationship between specific mental health problems and school exclusion is discussed. Data gathered from 1648 English school-aged students in 2019 who participated in the OxWell school mental health and well-being survey and responded to the school exclusion question will be presented. Ninety-three pupils who self-reported having experienced school exclusion were compared to 1555 pupils in years 8, 10 and 12 who did not report experiencing school exclusion. More males were present in the excluded sample but apart from that the children share similar vulnerabilities for risk of mental health difficulties and risk of exclusion. Of note, a significantly higher proportion of those who had been excluded from school had experienced being bullied at school and reported that they felt their school dealt badly with bullying. They reported relatively good access to mental health support with a higher proportion of those excluded having accessed mental health support than those not excluded. The difficulties identified by the pupils need to be addressed in a variety of ways by school and health systems, and would benefit from the active involvement of young people in generating solutions. The discourse needs to move away from thinking about individuals to broader systems-level approaches to address pupil, family, school and community differences, difficulties and overall challenges of inclusion and acceptance.


Porphobilinogen deaminase (EC 126.96.36.199) has been purified to homogeneity (16,000-fold) from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana in yields of 8%. The deaminase is a monomer of M(r) 35,000, as shown by SDS/PAGE, and 31,000, using gel-filtration chromatography. The pure enzyme has a Vmax. of 4.5 mumol/h per mg and a Km of 17 +/- 4 microM. Determination of the pI and pH optimum revealed values of 5.2 and 8.0 respectively. The sequence of the N-terminus was found to be NH2-XVAVEQKTRTAI. The deaminase is heat-stable up to 70 degrees C and is inhibited by NH3 and hydroxylamine. The enzyme is inactivated by arginine-, histidine- and lysine-specific reagents. Incubation with the substrate analogue and suicide inhibitor, 2-bromoporphobilinogen, results in chain termination and in inactivation.


This article discusses French support for Zaïrian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko during the Shaba crises of 1977 and 1978. During both crises, "Katangan Gendarmes" based in neighboring Angola invaded Zaire's mineral-rich Shaba Province. Direct and indirect French military interventions, including an airborne assault on the mining city of Kolwezi in 1978, helped to defeat the invaders and save Mobutu's regime. The article shows that French policymakers were drawn to Mobutu because they saw him as a bulwark against Communist expansion in Central Africa. The large Cuban military presence in Angola fueled concerns among French leaders that the Shaba invasions were a Soviet- or Cuban-inspired plot to spread instability and influence into Zaïre and beyond. These fears, which were piqued by alarming reports from French intelligence, were substantially influenced by Mobutu himself, who successfully exploited French fears to gain a de facto security umbrella that allowed him to buck broader calls for reform.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the accuracy of tidal volume (VT) delivery among 5 different models of large-animal ventilators when tested at various settings for VT delivery, peak inspiratory flow (PIF) rate, and fresh gas flow (FGF) rate.

SAMPLE
4 different models of pneumatically powered ventilators and 1 electrically powered piston-driven ventilator.

PROCEDURES
After a leak flow check, each ventilator was tested 10 times for each experimental setting combination of 5 levels of preset VT, 3 PIF rates, and 4 FGF rates. A thermal mass flow and volume meter was used as the gold-standard method to measure delivered VT. In addition, circuit systems of rubber versus polyvinyl chloride breathing hoses were evaluated with the piston-driven ventilator. Differences between preset and delivered VT (volume error [ΔVT]) were calculated as a percentage of preset VT, and ANOVA was used to compare results across devices. Pearson correlation coefficient analyses and the coefficient of determination (r2) were used to assess potential associations between the ΔVT and the preset VT, PIF rate, and FGF rate.

RESULTS
For each combination of experimental settings, ventilators had ΔVT values that ranged from 1.2% to 22.2%. Mean ± SD ΔVT was 4.8 ± 2.5% for the piston-driven ventilator, compared with 6.6 ± 3.2%, 10.6 ± 2.9%, 13.8 ± 2.97%, and 15.2 ± 2.6% for the 4 pneumatic ventilators. The ΔVT increased with higher PIF rates (r2 = 0.69), decreased with higher FGF rates (r2 = 0.62), and decreased with higher preset VT (r2 = 0.58).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results indicated that the tested ventilators all had ΔVT but that the extent of each of ΔVT varied among ventilators. Close monitoring of delivered VT with external flow and volume meters is warranted, particularly when pneumatic ventilators are used or when very precise VT delivery is required.


With the US military's technological edge eroding, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has embarked on a path to renew its superiority through the implementation of its Third Offset Strategy. Implementationwill require a vibrant and innovative industrial base; however, external forces are actively shaping the US defense industrial base and limiting its capabilities. This brief explores some of these forces―including continued budgetary pressure, downward trends in research investment, a growing regulatory burden, and a reluctance to embrace globalization―and offers suggestions for a course of action for policymakers.


This paper presents a software framework which combines reactive collision avoidance control approach with path planning techniques for the purpose of safe navigation of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) operating in unknown environments. The system proposed leverages advantages of using a fast local sense-and-react type control which guarantees real-time execution with computationally demanding path planning algorithms which generate globally optimal plans. A number of probabilistic path planning algorithms based on Probabilistic Roadmaps and Rapidly-Exploring Random Trees have been integrated. Additionally, the system uses a reactive controller based on Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance (ORCA) for path execution and fast sense-and-avoid behavior. During the mission execution a 3D map representation of the environment is build incrementally and used for path planning. A prototype implementation on a small scale quad-rotor platform has been developed. The UAV used in the experiments was equipped with a structured-light depth sensor to obtain information about the environment in form of occupancy grid map. The system has been tested in a number of simulated missions as well as in real flights and the results of the evaluations are presented.


Mitochondrial dysfunction and resulting changes in adiposity have been observed in the offspring of animals fed a high fat (HF) diet. As iron is an important component of the mitochondria, we have studied the offspring of female rats fed complete (Con) or iron-deficient (FeD) rations for the duration of gestation to test for similar effects. The FeD offspring were ~12% smaller at weaning and remained so because of a persistent reduction in lean tissue mass. The offspring were fed a complete (stock) diet until 52 weeks of age after which some animals from each litter were fed a HF diet for a further 12 weeks. The HF diet increased body fat when compared with animals fed the stock diet, however, prenatal iron deficiency did not change the ratio of fat:lean in either the stock or HF diet groups. The HF diet caused triglyceride to accumulate in the liver, however, there was no effect of prenatal iron deficiency. The activity of the mitochondrial electron transport complexes was similar in all groups including those challenged with a HF diet. HF feeding increased the number of copies of mitochondrial DNA and the prevalence of the D-loop mutation, however, neither parameter was affected by prenatal iron deficiency. This study shows that the effects of prenatal iron deficiency differ from other models in that there is no persistent effect on hepatic mitochondria in aged animals exposed to an increased metabolic load.


Mechanically alloys in the Al–Mg binary system in the range of 5–50 at.% Mg were produced for prospective use as metallic additives for propellants and explosives. Structure and composition of the alloys were characterized by x-ray diffraction microscopy (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical alloys consisted of a supersaturated solid solution of Mg in the α aluminum phase, γ phase (Al_12Mg_17), and additional amorphous material. The strongest supersaturation of Mg in the α phase (20.8%) was observed for bulk Mg concentrations up to 40%. At 30% Mg, the γ phase formed in quantities detectable by XRD; it became the dominating phase for higher Mg concentrations. No β phase (Al_3Mg_2) was detected in the mechanical alloys. The observed Al solid solution generally had a lower Mg concentration than the bulk composition. Thermal stability and structural transitions were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. Several exothermic transitions, attributed to the crystallization of β and γ phases were observed. The present work provides the experimental basis for the development of detailed combustion and ignition models for these novel energetic materials.


Abstract : Purpose: Development and validation of a personalized breast cancer risk assessment model that includes automated measurement of breast density. Scope: Assemble a cohort of women with known breast cancer risk factors and digital mammogram files for women diagnosed with breast cancer using existing data sources and match them to controls (Harvey/Knaus). Validate and refine automated breast density software (Yaffe/Harvey). Build and validate the initial comprehensive model (Knaus/Yaffe/Harvey). Major Findings: During this second year, we have recruited over 3200 women (622 cases). Breast density measurement has been evaluated for accuracy using a second test set showing very good correlation with 2D methods, for precision using repeated measures with excellent correlation, and variation between vendors. A survey instrument was developed, vetted using focus groups, and administered (nearing completion) to evaluate screening knowledge, practices, and willingness to change practice.


This paper looks at how and why people help others in the online communities to which they belong. It begins with a discussion of the motivation to help both as it has been discussed as a trait of being human as well as a practice within online community. It discusses the importance of helpfulness for sustaining community life and the different motivations (both altruistic and personal interest) members have for offering help. It then reports on a study of an online group of independent game developers within the online community GameSalad. The study utilised a mixed method approach for data collection, including exploratory observation, online survey, and remote individual interviews. Data collection took place over a period of 11 months. The focus for this particular paper is that part of the study dealing with help and draws primarily on the interview data. Here five themes were identified: motivation; modes; preferences; effect; issues, each with a number of sub-themes. Some of the reasons for giving help were predictable from the literature. In particular, helpers were aware of the need to sustain the community and in many cases felt an obligation to offer help as a return or 'pay forward' for the help they had received in the past. Those giving help were motivated by community mindedness, empathy, self-confidence and sense of self. The paper goes on to throw new light on the strategies used for giving help and the circumstances under which help is more likely to be offered. In particular, while the giving of help depends on 'mood', this mood is generated when helpers feel they have the available time, relevant expertise in order to help but also when those asking for help have asked in an appropriate manner and provided sufficient contextualisation. Help was generally offered by signposting past debates and by producing bespoke artefacts to demonstrate particular features of the software. It is suggested that participation, and the giving of help, within a community is shaped by past patterns and traditions.


To date, forest carbon projects around the world have faced common challenges within what are nonetheless unique, country-specific legal and political systems. These issues include the role of land tenure in forest carbon projects, the importance of legal frameworks in clarifying the legal foundations for forest carbon projects (such as with respect to the right to carbon or the process under which forest carbon projects can be approved) and the need to properly address leakage, additionality, permanence, and community and biodiversity benefits within forest carbon project design. By addressing these issues, both international and national regulation has a role to play in creating the enabling conditions for private sector investment. This paper will provide an overview of the regulatory issues that need to be addressed to enable private sector investment into REDD+ projects by 1) outlining current international policy, noting the role of the private sector in REDD+ implementation and describing the voluntary market's role as a testing ground for early forest carbon projects; 2) discussing REDD+ implementation from a project-level perspective, including both the general and legal issues that need to be addressed in REDD+ project design; and 3) considering how these lessons (drawn largely from land-based forest carbon projects) apply to mangroves, peatlands and other wetlands as sites for implementing REDD+ activities.


Social network users connect and interact with one another to fulfil different kinds of social and information needs.When interaction ceases between two users, we say that their tie becomes dormant. While there are different underlying reasons of dormant ties, it is important to find means to revive such ties so as to maintain vibrancy in the relationships. In this work, we thus focus on designing an online experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of personalized social messages to revive dormant ties. The experiment carefully selects users with dormant ties so that no user gets mixed treatments and be affected by the responses of other users undergoing treatment. Our results show that personalized message content plays an important part in reviving dormant ties. Specifically, we find the message containing friend's recent activity information is more effective than that containing inter-friend activity information. We observe that the quality of engagement of at least 50% of the revived ties can effectively be restored to the level before the ties become dormant. We also observe that it is easier to revive dormant ties that involve users from the same country than those involving users from different countries.


A new kind of accelerating flat model with no dark energy that is fully dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) is investigated. The number of CDM particles is not conserved and the present accelerating stage is a consequence of the negative pressure describing the irreversible process of gravitational particle creation. A related work involving accelerating CDM cosmology has been discussed before the SNe observations [Lima, Abramo & Germano, Phys. Rev. D53, 4287 (1996)]. However, in order to have a transition from a decelerating to an accelerating regime at low redshifts, the matter creation rate proposed here includes a constant term of the order of the Hubble parameter. In this case, $H_0$ does not need to be small in order to solve the age problem and the transition happens even if the matter creation is negligible during the radiation and part of the matter dominated phase. Therefore, instead of the vacuum dominance at redshifts of the order of a few, the present accelerating stage in this sort of Einstein-de Sitter CDM cosmology is a consequence of the gravitational particle creation process. As an extra bonus, in the present scenario does not exist the coincidence problem that plagues models with dominance of dark energy. The model is able to harmonize a CDM picture with the present age of the universe, the latest measurements of the Hubble parameter and the Supernovae observations.


Security of passage of the Strait of Gibraltar is an imperative for the world community. To achieve this, there must be stability on the northern and southern shores of the Strait. Peace in the region is currently threatened by the "creeping jurisdiction" which both Spain and Morocco wish to exert over the waters of the Strait. Other factors which threaten stability are the historical rivalry which exists between Spain and the Islamic southern shore; the legacy of disputed sovereignty in the Crown Colony of Gibraltar and the Spanish Plazas in North Africa; the economic divide betwen the EC and Maghreb along the Strait axis; and the possible threat of militant Islam. Contentions also exist between Morocco and Algeria, eg the Western Saharan War. The re-establishment of a strong "power hierarchy" in the area must be supported by such international instruments as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982). The Crown Colony and the Spanish Plazas must be decolonized once Spain is firmly integrated into the EC and NATO, and once Morocco has reached a level of economic and political development that is condusive to closer ties with Western institutions.


For reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions, carbon capture and sequestration technologies benefit from the creation of new and efficient gas exchange systems. Vascularized systems provide a means of exchanging CO2 by providing high specific surface areas and patterned, intimate contact between capture fluids and gases. The well‐defined geometrical arrangement of fluid and gas channels, separated by semipermeable membranes, also provides a new platform for augmenting the function of liquid chemical solutions to carbon capture. In particular, the separation distance of the channels, or polymer membrane thickness, is closely related to the absorption rate as gases must permeate through the membrane before reacting with a fluid. Here, a study of the relationship between the membrane thickness in 3D microvascular contactors and absorption rates via a selective etching process is reported. By decreasing the membrane thickness, the mass transport rate of CO2 in the vascular contactor is increased by up to 160%.


Stressors induce an overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) that triggers several changes in the body as a response to stress. These changes include vasoconstriction and increase in heart rate, which results in raised blood pressure (BP). Etamicastat is a selective dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DβH) inhibitor that decreases norepinephrine levels in peripheral sympathetically innervated tissues.
 Cardiovascular parameters were measured after a single oral administration of etamicastat (30 mg/kg) 9 h post-administration in male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) by radio-telemetry or tail-cuff recording. Telemetered recording was performed in both restrained and unrestrained animals.
 Etamicastat treatment had no effect on heart rate (HR, beats/min) in any recording method. HR measured in unrestrained SHR instrumented with radio-telemetry probes (305±5) consistently yielded HR values significantly lower than restrained animals (362±11) or those recorded by tail-cuff (393±7). On the other hand, single-dose oral etamicastat treatment decrease in mean arterial pressure (MAP, mm Hg) was -14.0±2.0 from 153.3±4.0 in telemetered unrestrained animals, -26.1±5.1 from 182.8±6.4 in telemetry-implanted restrained SHR and -47.9±7.0 from 183.4±9.5 recorded by tail-cuff method. In addition, a power spectral analysis was performed to evaluate BP variability (BPV), in SHR implanted with radio-telemetry probes, at high frequency (HF: 1-2 Hz), low frequency (LF: 0.2-0.6 Hz) and very low frequency (VLF: 0.02-0.2 Hz). The stressor (i.e., cage restrainement) increased the ratio LF/HF-BPV in untreated SHR from 5.23±1.24 to 10.03±1.75, which results from the activation of the SNS. Treatment with etamicastat decreased the ratio LF/HF-BPV in stressed SHR from 10.03±1.75 to 4.46±0.68 and in non-stressed SHR from 5.23±1.24 to 2.23±0.39.
 In conclusion, etamicastat treatment reduces (1) high BP in SHR, (2) the stress-induced increase in SNS drive and (3) the stress-induced increase in BP.


We show that by using intuitive and accessible molecular features it is possible to predict the temperature-dependent second virial coefficient of organic and inorganic compounds with Gaussian process regression. In particular, we built a low dimensional representation of features based on intrinsic molecular properties, topology and physical properties relevant for the characterization of molecule-molecule interactions. The featurization was used to predict second virial coefficients in the interpolative regime with a relative error ⪅1% and to extrapolate the prediction to temperatures outside of the training range for each compound in the dataset with a relative error of 2.1%. Additionally, the model's predictive abilities were extended to organic molecules unseen in the training process, yielding a prediction with a relative error of 2.7%. Test molecules must be well-represented in the training set by instances of their families, which are high in variety. The method shows a generally better performance when compared to several semi-empirical procedures employed in the prediction of the quantity. Therefore, apart from being robust, the present Gaussian process regression model is extensible to a variety of organic and inorganic compounds.


INTRODUCTION
The aims of this study were two-fold; to investigate the validity and reliability of the Thai version of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) and to compare the characteristics of the interpersonal problems experienced in a non-clinical sample and psychiatric outpatients.

METHODS
A total of 689 subjects (452 non-clinical sample and 237 psychiatric outpatients) completed the IIP-32 and IIP-64, Symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90) and 16 Personality Factor (16 PF) Questionnaire, after which a four-week retest was carried out. Cronbach's alpha was used for internal consistency and the intra-class correlation coefficient was used to determine test-retest reliability. Factor analysis of the IIP sub-scales and Pearson's correlation were used for construct and concurrent validity.

RESULTS
Both versions of the IIP showed good internal consistency. Factor analysis revealed two factors that corresponded to the circumplex property. The expected correlation between the SCL-90 and 16 PF subscales reflected the level of concurrent validity. There was a significant difference in the cold, socially-inhibited and self-sacrificing subscales between the non-clinical and clinical samples, while major depressive disorder was found to have a significantly higher score in the subscales of the control dimension, i.e. the non-assertive, socially inhibited and self-sacrificing subscales, than the neurotic and non-clinical groups, whereas, the neurotic group differed from the normative sample in terms of the affiliation axis.

CONCLUSION
The IIP-64 and IIP-32 demonstrated their reliability and are suitable for use in either clinical or non-clinical setting.