Today, all organizations in the world should recognize the importance and need to take into account concepts such as: ethical, moral, ethical programs, ethical behavior, social responsibility, equity and also try to implement in their organizational culture. So tackling business ethics and social responsibility is an issue today, not only theoretically but also in that of practice. This article explains how several important dimensions of organizational culture may influence the effectiveness and ethics initiatives in the corporate responsibility shock.


A proteomics approach was used to study the proteins associated with chinch bug infested corn seedlings. Ex- amination of two-dimensional gels revealed the presence of more than 600 high quality protein spots each from chinch bug-infested and healthy corn seedlings. A total of 31 protein spots was selected for matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis. Among the protein spots selected, 13 were from infested plants, 10 from healthy plants, and four each from healthy and infested plants having differential expressions. Peptide mass finger- printing revealed that each spot analyzed represents a different protein. Thirty-nine percent of the proteins had confirmed identity and the rest were tentatively identified. Among 13 proteins analyzed from infested seedlings most were related to defense, cell rescue, virulence and metabolism. Some of these proteins related to metabolism and protein synthesis were down-regulated in the infested seedlings. All proteins except one from infested corn seedlings seem to be activated in the plant system because of the chinch bug-induced stresses including osmotic, oxidative and acid stresses, and wounding.


The objective of this research paper is to examine the association between Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and teachers' Job Satisfaction (JS) of private academic institutions in Olongapo City, Philippines. The investigators used a descriptive-correla-tion research design among 170 conveniently chosen respondents. The study used an adopted and modified research instrument wherein the gathered data underwent descriptive and inferential analysis. The study revealed that private academic institutions practice recruitment and selection processes, evaluate employee performance, provide training and development, appropriate compensation, career planning opportunities, and employee safety, health, and welfare. Furthermore, respondents were satisfied with their su-pervisors, coworkers, working conditions, compensation and re-sponsibilities; job itself, advancement, security, and recognition. Inferential analysis revealed that the association between HRM practices and job satisfaction is highly significant. The investigators used human resources management practices and job satisfaction to de-velop a teacher retention framework based on these results.


Abstract
This study examines the influence of marketing strategies on export ventures undertaken by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) established in emerging countries and in Brazil specifically. We aim to determine whether a direct relationship exists between marketing strategies and internationalization performance results and to evaluate the influence of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) on export marketing strategy (EMS) and performance. A conceptual model based on the work of Cavusgil and Zou (1994) is developed and used to analyze MSE characteristics (firm and products), EMS, EM, and export marketing performance. An empirical survey was conducted on 173 Brazilian MSEs across various sectors, and data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. The results highlight the importance of marketing activities in shaping MSE export performance, mainly by adapting prices to targeted markets, thereby improving product competitiveness. The study also emphasizes the importance of company international competence (expertise) and EM as influencers of export performance. The study contributes to the field through its application of the EM construct, by adapting the conceptual MSE model and by filling empirical gaps knowledge. The results will guide MSE management strategies that will be critical to the Brazilian economy and to other emerging countries.


In this second installment of the series, we look at the internal kinematics of the multiple stellar populations of the globular cluster ω Centauri in one of the parallel Hubble Space Telescope (HST) fields, located at about 3.5 half-light radii from the center of the cluster. Thanks to the over 15 yr long baseline and the exquisite astrometric precision of the HST cameras, well-measured stars in our proper-motion catalog have errors as low as ∼10 μas yr−1, and the catalog itself extends to near the hydrogen-burning limit of the cluster. We show that second-generation (2G) stars are significantly more radially anisotropic than first-generation (1G) stars. The latter are instead consistent with an isotropic velocity distribution. In addition, 1G stars have excess systemic rotation in the plane of the sky with respect to 2G stars. We show that the six populations below the main-sequence (MS) knee identified in our first paper are associated with the five main population groups recently isolated on the upper MS in the core of cluster. Furthermore, we find both 1G and 2G stars in the field to be far from being in energy equipartition, with for the former and for the latter, where η is defined so that the velocity dispersion scales with stellar mass as . The kinematical differences reported here can help constrain the formation mechanisms for the multiple stellar populations in ω Centauri and other globular clusters. We make our astro-photometric catalog publicly available.


Mazoit J-X, Bonnichon P, Manceau I, Ozier Y. Bispectral index changes following etomidate induction of general anaesthesia and orotracheal intubation. British Journal of Anaesthesia 2003; 91: 341–6. 4 Doenicke AW, Roizen MF, Kugler J, Kroll H, Foss J, Ostwald P. Reducing myoclonus after etomidate. Anesthesiology 1999; 90: 113–9. 5 Dahaba AA. Different conditions that could result in the Bispectral Index indicating an incorrect hypnotic state. Anesthesia and Analgesia 2005; 101: 765–73.


BACKGROUND
It has been suggested that hormone therapy may help counter undesirable changes in body composition in older women.

OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to test whether estrogen plus progestin (E+P) therapy favorably affects age-related changes in body composition in postmenopausal women.

DESIGN
The substudy was composed of 835 women from the estrogen plus progestin trial of the Women's Health Initiative who were randomly assigned to receive either E+P therapy (n = 437) or placebo (n = 398). The women had a mean age of 63.1 y and, on average, were 13.8 y past menopause. More than 17% of the participants were from an ethnic minority. No significant differences in baseline body composition (measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) by intervention assignment were observed.

RESULTS
After 3 y of intervention, the women who received active E+P therapy lost less lean soft tissue mass (-0.04 kg) than did the women who received placebo (-0.44 kg; P = 0.001). Additionally, the women in the E+P group had less upper-body fat distribution than did the women in the placebo group (change in ratio of trunk to leg fat mass: -0.025 for the E+P group and 0.004 for the placebo group; P = 0.003). A sensitivity analysis, which was conducted on the women who took > or = 80% of the study medication during the intervention period, corroborated the findings from the intent-to-treat analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
A 3-y E+P intervention significantly reduced both the loss of lean soft tissue mass and the ratio of trunk to leg fat mass in postmenopausal women. However, the effect sizes were small, and whether these changes in body composition lead to significant health benefits remains to be confirmed.


.e lens for monitoring the rubber conveyor belt is easy to adhere to a large number of water droplets, which seriously affects the image quality and then affects the effect of fault monitoring. In this paper, a new method for detecting and removing water droplets on rubber conveyor belts based on the attentive generative adversarial network is proposed to solve this problem. First, the water droplet image of the rubber conveyor belt is input into the generative network composed of a cyclic visual attentive network and an autoencoder with skip connections, and an image of removing water droplets and an attention map for detecting the position of the water droplet are generated..en, the generated image of removing water droplets is evaluated by the attentive discriminant network to assess the local consistency of the water droplet recovery area. In order to better learn the water droplet regions and the surrounding structures during the training, the image morphology is added to the precise water droplet regions. A dewatered rubber conveyor belt image is generated by increasing the number of circular visual attention network layers and the number of skip connection layers of the autoencoder. Finally, a large number of comparative experiments prove the effectiveness of the water droplet image removal algorithm proposed in this paper, which outperforms of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Discriminative Sparse Coding (DSC), Layer Prior (LP), and Attention Generative Adversarial Network (ATTGAN).


Background: The 2019 novel coronavirus disease is an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in the end of Dec, 2019. The older patients complicated with underlying diseases are reported more likely to have clinical symptoms. But its secondary lesion is rarely reported. Case presentation: We reported two cases of coronavirus infected pneumonia with acute ischemic stroke in patients at their middle-age. In both 2019 coronavirus diseases cases, neurological physical examination are normal before infection. Lymphocytopenia and high expression of cytokines and D-dimer were found from serum clinical laboratory test at admission. The dysarthria and limb muscle weakness are initial manifestations in one week after 2019 novel coronavirus infection. The head CT and head/neck arterial CTA showed small-vessel occlusion. The patients were diagnosed with coronavirus diseases with secondary acute ischemic stroke. They were treated with tirofiban and followed up with daily aspirin and atorvastatin. Conclusion: The present cases suggested that secondary ischemic stroke, which mainly manifested as small-vessel occlusion, should be considered for coronavirus disease patients with prompt diagnosis and treatment.


The economics of organizations is replete with the pitfalls of monetary rewards and punishments to motivate workers. If economic incentives do not work, what does? This paper proposes that workers' self-image as jobholders, coupled with their ideal as to how their job should be done, can be a major work incentive. It shows how such identities can flatten reward schedules, as they solve "principal-agent" problem. The paper also identifies and explores a new tradeoff: supervisors may provide information to principals, but create rifts within the workforce and reduce employees' intrinsic work incentives. We motivate the theory with examples from the classic sociology of military and civilian organizations.


: A case of circumferential dentigerous cyst is presented, with a review of the literature. This lesion occurs when the tooth is exfoliated through the cystic epithelium surrounding a crown, so that the cyst remains within the cervical third. When these teeth are extracted without previous diagnosis, the cyst could become residual. In all dentigerous cyst, the microscopic features must be determined, since some reports mention their eventual transformation in an ameloblastoma or, even worse, in a squamous-cell carcinoma.


The general packet radio service (GPRS) is a new bearer service for GSM that greatly improves and simplifies wireless access to packet data networks, e.g., to the Internet. It applies a packet radio principle to transfer user data packets in an efficient way between mobile stations and external packet data networks. This tutorial gives an introduction to GPRS. The article discusses the system architecture and its basic functionality. It explains the offered services, the session and mobility management, the routing, the GPRS air interface including channel coding, and the GPRS protocol architecture. Finally, an interworking example between GPRS and IP networks is shown.


In the framework of the Paris Agreement implementation, financial transfers remain a major point of negotiation for addressing equity concerns raised by the ambitious climate objectives. In complement to the theoretical, experimental and numerical studies that have examined the role of transfers in facilitating coalitions, we conduct the first empirical analysis of their impact on national carbon emission reductions. We build on the existing literature to develop a conceptual framework which models continuous national emission choices in the presence of financial transfers. We infer an equation of the impact of mitigation and adaptation finance on national emissions of recipient countries. We test the derived hypothesis using carbon emissions data of non-OECD countries in the last 20 years. We find that public adaptation and mitigation finance tend to increase emissions. Private mitigation finance seems to reduce them only after five years following the transfers.


Abstract. Ensuring sustainable strategies to manage water resources in karst reservoirs requires a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for conduits formation in the rock mass and the development of detection methods for these hydrological and geochemical processes. In this study, we monitored the electrical conductivity of two limestone core samples during controlled dissolution experiments. We interpret the results with a physics-based model describing the porous medium as effective structural parameters that are tortuosity and constrictivity. We obtain that constrictivity is more affected by calcite dissolution compared to tortuosity. Based on our experimental results and data sets from the literature, we show that the characteristic Johnson length is a valuable structural witness of calcite dissolution impact linking electrical and hydrological properties.


Nowadays, two of the more important challenges for the humanity are the climate change
and the management of the energy. For this reason the performance of a machine for the
conversion of renewable energy has been studied in this thesis. Specifically, the GAMM
Francis turbine runner working at its best efficiency point under cavitation conditions has
been analysed using CFX (Ansys®).
Firstly, a slice of the 3D fluid domain has been made, using SolidWorks®, benefiting of the
runner axisymmetry and thus decreasing the computational power needed. In order to take
into account the runner rotation relative to the incoming flow field, three different domains
have been defined. Two of the domains have been considered to be still and the other one
has been considered to be in rotation around the turbine axis ensuring a model closer to the
reality, which has permitted to study the relative and absolute velocity fields.
Then, a uniform incoming flow has been simulated through the runner blades under
different levels of static pressure at the draft tube outlet boundary condition. The pressure
has been gradually decreased, and consequently the sigma coefficient of cavitation, until
the vapour pressure has been reached inside the runner. Thus, the onset of blade cavitation
and its growth has been studied while keeping the remaining parameters unchanged.
Based on the numerical results, the value of the torque, the pressure coefficient and the
shape, localization and size of the cavity have been analysed according to the sigma
coefficient.
To finish a sensitivity study of the empirical parameters that the cavitation model takes into
account has been carried out based on their impact on the cavitation results.


While mucosal (MH) and transmural healing (TH) predict relevant clinical outcomes in Crohn's disease (CD), little is known about the real significance and clinical impact of deep remission (DR). The aim of this study was to better explore the concept of DR, towards a direct correlation between MH, TH and biomarkers.

 A real-world observational longitudinal study was performed to evaluate the rate of clinical remission (CR), MH and TH, and the fecal calprotectin (FC)/C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in all consecutive patients with CD undergoing maintenance treatment with biologics. A ROC curve was constructed to define the best FC and CRP cut-offs associated with MH and TH. Finally, CD patients achieving CR, MH and TH, in association with the target FC and CRP values, were considered in DR.

 Among, 118 CD patients, CR, MH and TH were achieved in, 74 (62.7%), 52 (44.1%) and, 38 patients (32.2%), respectively. After, 2 years, the mean FC levels decreased from, 494 ±, 515.4 μg/gr to, 260 ±, 354.9 μg/gr (p<0.01). Using the ROC curve analysis, a FC cut-off value of, 94 μg/gr was associated with both MH (sensitivity, 94.2%, specificity, 84.8%, PPV, 83.05%, NPV, 94.92%, AUC, 0.95) and TH (sensitivity, 92.1%, specificity, 70%, PPV, 64.4%, NPV, 94.9%, AUC, 0.88). The MH/FC and TH/FC k of agreement was, 0.81 (p<0.01) and, 0.58 (p<0.01), respectively. CRP <, 5 mg/L was associated with both MH (sensitivity, 96.1%, specificity, 62.1%, PPV, 66.7%, NPV, 95.35%, AUC, 0.85) and TH (sensitivity, 97.4%, specificity, 52.5%, PPV, 52%, NPV, 95.35%, AUC, 0.78). When considering CD patients with concomitant CR, MH and TH associated with a FC level <, 94 μg/gr and CRP <, 5 mg/L, DR was identified in, 33 patients (27.9%).

 A FC cut-off of, 94 μg/gr and a normal CRP could be included in the definition of DR in association with CR, MH and TH. Thus, DR can be achieved in approximately, 30% of CD patients during maintenance treatment with biologics.


Restoration of riparian and wet meadow ecosystems in semiarid rangelands of the western United States is a high priority given their ecological and hydrological importance in the region. However, traditional restoration approaches are often intensive and costly, limiting the extent over which they can be applied. Practitioners are increasingly trying new restoration techniques that are more cost‐effective, less intensive, and can more practically scale up to the scope of degradation. Unfortunately, practitioners typically lack resources to undertake outcome‐based evaluations necessary to judge the efficacy of these techniques. In this study, we use freely available, satellite remote sensing to explore changes in vegetation productivity (normalized difference vegetation index) of three distinct, low‐tech, riparian and wet meadow restoration projects. Case studies are presented that range in geographic location (Colorado, Oregon, and Nevada), restoration practice (Zeedyk structures, beaver dam analogs, and grazing management), and time since implementation. Restoration practices resulted in increased vegetation productivity of up to 25% and increased annual persistence of productive vegetation. Improvements in productivity with time since restoration suggest that elevated resilience may further enhance wildlife habitat and increase forage production. Long‐term, documented outcomes of conservation are rare; we hope our findings empower practitioners to further monitor and explore the use of low‐tech methods for restoration of ecohydrologic processes at meaningful spatial scales.


A review of phagocytic cells-polymorphonuclear leukocytes and monocytes-in the inflammatory process is presented. Examples of phagocyte defect-related pathology serve as a framework for understanding the role of these cells in periodontal infection. The role of alterations in neutrophil function in localized juvenile periodontitis is presented as a model system for understanding periodontal pathology as a result of host-related functional abnormalities. Two topical alternative hypotheses for periodontal breakdown are presented in which macrophage control of the chronic lesion is altered by an absence of T cells or the influence of bacterial superantigens.


Abstract During biodiversity surveys in Khammouan Province, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, specimens of an unknown species of hystricognathous rodent were discovered in local markets being sold for food; local hunters explaining that these rock rats were trapped in the nearby limestone karst. These specimens are described here on the basis of their unique combination of external and craniodental features as members of a new family, genus and species, using comparative morphological and molecular data. Phylogenetic analyses of morphological data and of 12S rRNA and cytochrome b are presented on selected taxa from all suborders of Rodentia. The results of the molecular and morphological analyses are compared and provide the basis for a discussion of relationships of the new taxon within the Rodentia and Hystricognatha. The disjunct distribution of hystricognaths is recognised as problematic, with most families occurring in the main distributional area of South America, several others in Africa and only one family distributed in Africa and Asia. The presence of an additional hystricognath family in Southeast Asia poses interesting questions and consideration is given to the way in which this new taxon fits into the theories of the biogeographical and evolutionary history of other hystricognaths. Features of possible ecomorphological significance are briefly discussed, such as the apparent adaptations to a rock dwelling existence evident in various features of the external morphology and comparisons are made to the morphology of other known saxicolous rodents.


Regional autonomy requires region creativity development to gain Regional Income. To be able to compete with other region, Pekalongan Municipality Publicizes Pekalongan City Branding with Batik as the core icon.
The aim of this reseach is to find out what strategy is used by Division of Public Relation and Protocol of Pekalongan Municipality in promoting Pekalongan City Branding by Relation Media.
In the effort to deal with the problem of observation, the writer observes based on Kotler Theory (1993:355) that states " keberhasilan bauran promosi dipengaruhi
stategi apa yang digunakan oleh perusahaan/instansi yaitu dengan menggunakan stategi mendorong (push strategy) dan strategi menarik (pull strategy)". The type of reseach is descriptive qualitative. For obtaining valid data and complete information from the head and staff of Public Relation and Protocol of Pekalongan Municipality as the spokespersons, the writer uses interview guide.
Based on the observation, the writer found what stategy is used by this division in promoting Pekalongan City Branding by Relation Media. In fact, this division promotes it by these step : Determine the goals, decide the objects, supported program arrangement, building good relation with mass media, reduce obstruction.
In carrying out its strategy, this division gives profound concern to mass media for it has an important role for succeeding Pekalongan City Branding Promotion by its broadcast. Besides that, mass media is an effective media to send out information to public, especially Pekalongan people.
Further more, this division creates some other some other ways to build good relation with mass media, such as giving private room for journalists, press release, media clipping, gathering and press tour. In other side, this division also emphasizes large great scale exhibition by involving mosh of Pekalongan people so that mass media can expose it.
The writer's suggestions for Pekalongan Municipality Public Relation and Protocol Division are creating many more Batik-based activities/exhibition and preserving good relation with mass media to gain positive support in any announcement.
Keywords : strategy of public relations, media relations


Introduction
Static stretching (SS) is a recovery intervention often used in elite football for assisting in the reduction of muscle soreness post-exercise, and in research as a control for comparing alternative recovery interventions. However, its effects on elite young footballers has received little attention, and therefore the aim of this study was to assess the effects of static stretching on muscle recovery following competitive soccer matches in elite young footballers.

Methods
Participants used in this study were recruited from a professional football academy from the Barclays' Premier League. Participants were male (16 ± 1 years) and of elite standard. Using a controlled cross-over design, participants completed a total of 6 competitive soccer matches followed by one of two recovery interventions (static stretching or passive recovery). The recovery interventions were conducted immediately following completion of competitive soccer matches. The static stretching protocol was administered comprising 7, 15 second stretches on lower body muscles whilst the passive recovery protocol comprised 10 minutes passive seating. Assessments used to measure muscle damage were taken before, within 30 minutes after, and 48hours post match and consisted of muscle oedema, Creatine Kinase (CK) assessment, countermovement jump (CMJ) height and perceived muscle soreness. In order to maintain control, players were excluded from individual games if they failed to complete a minimum of 80% of the competitive soccer match.

Results
When comparing the effects of recovery interventions over time, results showed that competitive soccer matches had a significant effect on markers of muscle damage, with almost all indicators showing significant differences for pre and immediately-post competitive match for recovery interventions, with only gastrocnemius oedema assessment showing no significant difference. Additionally, significant differences between pre- and 48 hours post-exercise assessments were found in perceived soreness, CK values and CMJ performance.
When comparing the effects of recovery interventions between conditions, the only difference observed was between CK which demonstrated improved levels of recovery in the static stretching group at 48 hours following exercise.

Discussion
The findings from this study demonstrate that competitive soccer matches provide strenuous exercise, inducing muscle damage which may have detrimental effects on future performance. This is demonstrated by the reduction in CMJ performance and elevation in CK and muscle soreness at 48 hours post-exercise. Furthermore, there is limited evidence to suggest that a static stretching protocol would assist in the reduction in muscle damage post-exercise, with only CK showing improved effects. The improved effects of static stretching on CK are unclear, however may be linked to the idea that static stretching assists in the removal of muscle oedema following exercise. Additionally, it may be possible that due to the elite standard of participants, they have a heightened level of CK removal post-exercise.


Abstract Cardiovascular effects of IV administered ketamine (10 mg/kg) and midazolam (0.5 mg/kg) were determined in 12 healthy isoflurane-anesthetized (1.7% end-tidal concentration) dogs. Six dogs received a ketamine-midazolam combination (K-M) as a bolus over 30 seconds and 6 dogs received K-M as an infusion over 15 minutes. Ketamine-midazolam combination as a bolus and an infusion caused early significant (P < 0.05) reductions in mean systemic blood pressure, cardiac index, and stroke index, which returned to baseline values near the end of the study. Heart rate decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in dogs of the infusion group and returned to the baseline value near the end of the study. One dog died after K-M bolus administration. Mean maximal decreases from baseline for systemic blood pressure, cardiac index, and stroke index were significantly (P < 0.05) greater in dogs of the bolus group than in dogs of the infusion group; therefore, cardiovascular effects of K-M after infusion were less severe than those after bolus. Base excess and pHa decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in the infusion group, although similar changes occurred in both groups. Four dogs were maintained with 1.7% end-tidal isoflurane to determine temporal effects of isoflurane; these dogs did not receive K-M. Increases in heart rate, cardiac index, stroke index, and left and right ventricular stroke work indexes were significant (P < 0.05) at various sample collection intervals, particularly during the later stages of the study. Isoflurane anesthesia effectively blocked the cardiostimulatory properties of K-M.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The Abbey of St. Gallen was the foremost centre for the study of the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville in the Carolingian period. Not only can more than twenty early medieval manuscripts transmitting material from the Etymologiaebe associated with Carolingian St. Gallen, but its scriptorium also produced two scholarly redactions of Isidore's encyclopaedia in the second half of the ninth century. The prototype codices of these two redactions survive today in Swiss libraries, one as Zofingen, Stadtbibliothek, Pa 32, the other as St. Gallen,Stiftsbibliothek, MS 231 – 232. The first redaction represents an attemptto enrich the Etymologiae by incorporating Isidore's De natura rerum into the encyclopaedia. The second redaction is the result of a collation of four sets of manuscripts of the Etymologiae, some of which survive today and bear collationmarks and variant readings inserted into the margins. While none of the many hands that were involved in the collation and copying of the two redactions can be attributed to any of the known scholars active at St. Gallen in the ninth century, the redactions seem to have been produced over the course of several decades under the auspices of the praepositus and later abbot Hartmut.
Keywords: Isidore of Seville, the Etymologiae, St. Gallen, Carolingian manuscripts, Hartmut of St. Gallen, medieval textual criticism, critical signs, Carolingian scholarship


The OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program is part of the Oregon Department of Transportation's 10-year, $3 billion Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA) program. In 2003, the Oregon Legislature enacted the third Oregon Transportation Investment Act, or OTIA III. The package includes $1.3 billion for bridges on the state highway system. During the next eight to 10 years, ODOT's OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program will repair or replace hundreds of aging bridges on major corridors throughout Oregon. Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners (OBDP) is a private-sector firm that has contracted with the Oregon Department of Transportation to manage the $1.3 billion state bridge program. OBDP, a joint venture formed by HDR Engineering Inc. and Fluor Enterprises Inc., will ensure quality projects at least cost and manage engineering, environmental, financial, safety, and other aspects of the state bridge program. During the first 12 months of execution, OBDP has developed a framework to integrate the myriad of tools previously developed by ODOT for the Program, including environmental-performance standards, a joint batched-programmatic biological opinion, environmental and engineering baseline reports, a comprehensive mitigation and conservation strategy, and a web-based GIS. The purpose of this framework is to identify environmental concerns early in the project-development process and communicate these concerns to design teams and regulatory agencies to promote environmental stewardship through impact avoidance and minimization. Innovative and creative use of technology has been a keystone to the framework. Environmental professionals input the relevant environmental data for a project in a comprehensive, online Pre-Construction Assessment (PCA) that links to a GIS database. The data are used to identify project challenges (e.g., archaeological sites or wetlands within the project footprint) and compile electronic reports to the regulatory agencies. Environmental metrics (such as exempted T and E species "take" and wetland mitigation debits/credits) are tracked using the GIS database. One system meets the needs of multiple stakeholders. Three "levels" of the PCA have been developed that coincide with the stages of project development. The initial submittal (Level 1 PCA) identifies critical environmental concerns and permitting constraints. The second submittal (Level 2 PCA) outlines the solutions to the earlier concerns. The final submittal (Level 3 PCA) includes the project specifications necessary to comply with the Program-specific and standard environmental permits. Phasing the submittals in this way allows early and continuous communication between the design teams and the regulatory agencies, thereby promoting environmental stewardship through collaboration and coordination. This electronic system allows the OBDP Environmental Team to verify that each environmental regulation is addressed, identify environmentally sensitive projects and project elements, track critical environmental metrics, and communicate with the regulatory community. The technological component of this framework has been a cornerstone of the Environmental Management System (EMS) developed for the Program. This system can be easily applied to other programs within ODOT and other DOTs.


Hereditary diseases have to be considered in the differential diagnosis of many kidney diseases. The kidney can be affected by systemic metabolic diseases such as primary hyperoxaluria or Fabry's disease. Inborn errors of the coagulation cascade or the complement system may cause familiar forms of the hemolytic uremic syndrome. Of central interest are hereditary cystic kidney diseases with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease as its most prominent example. Hereditary forms of the nephrotic syndrome are usually caused by abnormalities of podocyte function. Alport's syndrome is a classical example of a basement membrane disease. Of special interest are hereditary defects in tubular transport mechanisms such as carrier defects affecting sodium reabsorption along the tubulus.


In the band theory of ferromagnetism there is a relative shift in the position of majority and minority spin bands due to the self-consistent field due to opposite spin electrons. In the simplest realization, the Stoner model, the majority and minority spin bands are rigidly shifted with respect to each other. Here we consider models at the opposite extreme, where there is no overall shift of the energy bands. Instead, upon spin polarization one of the bands broadens relative to the other. Ferromagnetism is driven by the resulting gain in kinetic energy. A signature of this class of mechanisms is that a transfer of spectral weight in optical absorption from high to low frequencies occurs upon spin polarization. We show that such models arise from generalized tight binding models that include off-diagonal matrix elements of the Coulomb interaction. For certain parameter ranges it is also found that reentrant ferromagnetism occurs. We examine properties of these models at zero and finite temperatures, and discuss their possible relevance to real materials.


Outsourcing is a management strategy that is gradually proving its worth in library and information science. The purpose of this study was to investigate the outsourcing of ICT services in selected public university libraries in Kenya in order to establish the challenges facing libraries in outsourcing ICT services. The study adopted a multicase study strategy in four selected public university libraries in Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to identify respondents. Data collection was done using a semi-structured interview schedule. The findings reveal that public university libraries in Kenya outsource ICT services such as Internet, e resources and derive benefits such as cost cutting, knowledge and skills acquisition and economies of scale. The study noted that ICT policies and procurement laws are inadequate in guiding the outsourcing processes. The study found that ICT service processes had various challenges such as high cost and loss of control of the services due to relying heavily on the vendors. The study concluded that there was a need for the library management to be conversant with outsourcing procedures, such as negotiation of contracts, to gain more from outsourced ICT services. The study recommended that the university libraries develop, review and implement ICT outsourcing policies. The university management should involve librarians in the outsourcing process and implementation. Keywords: Information Communication Technology, Information Systems, Outsourcing, ICT Outsourcing, Public Procurement Act, Public University Libraries


This study demonstrates a new process technology for synthesizing thin films which should be applicable to a variety of implantable devices of different substrate composition and geometries. This new technology, termed the plasma polymerization/vapor deposition (PP/VD) technology, combines the features of surface cleaning, surface treatment, and hermetic encapsulation into a series of in situ vacuum processes. This PP/VD process has produced functional hermetic encapsulating polymer films with a total thickness of 5 microns, independent of the composition, dimensions or geometry of the substrates. CMOS integrated circuits coated by this process and immersed in Ringer's solution and tested for a year, demonstrated unchanging device performance parameters characteristic of hermetically encapsulated integrated circuits.


Despite the efforts of recent decades to reduce gender inequality, sexism is still prevalent among adolescents. The objective of this study was to identify the main socioeconomic characteristics, personal experiences, resources, and competencies associated with sexism in a sample of adolescents from different European countries. Baseline data from the Lights4Violence project included 1555 students ages 12-17 from secondary schools in six European countries (Spain, Italy, Romania, United Kingdom, Portugal, and Poland). Linear regression models were carried out, stratified by sex for benevolent (BS) and hostile (HS) dimensions of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. The average age of the sample was 14.3 years (SD = 1.5), 59.3% were girls. Boys scored higher on the measure of sexism (mean BS = 29.7; HS = 29.1) than girls (BS = 27.5, HS = 23.0; p < .001). Girls whose mothers had a university degree reported lower BS (β = -0.113; p = .023) (reference: lower education). Girls who had experienced dating violence reported higher HS (β = .080; p = .010) than those who had never been in an intimate relationship. For both sexes, high aggressiveness was associated with high levels of HS, and high aggressiveness was related to high levels of BS in boys. High assertiveness was associated with high levels of BS in both sexes and with high levels of HS in boys. A high level of problem-solving ability was associated with lower HS in both sexes. The study reinforces the need to invest in school programs aimed at preventing dating violence and promoting positive youth development.


. The article analyzes the influence of various types of fine arts on the creative development of older preschool children. The article includes different approaches to the interpretation of key concepts: «creativity» (in particular, artistic creativity, which is interpreted as the highest form of aesthetic activity), «creative abilities», «creative imagination». The concept of children's creativity is characterized, which has such features as: spontaneous character; connection with game activity; getting the necessary information or impressions about the object or phenomenon; partial influence of an adult. The criteria for the development of creative imagination are defined, such as the ability to convey the shape of the object, mastering various drawing techniques, demonstrating emotional attitude to the created image through the selection of the color gamut of the image, the ability to correctly place the composition of objects on a sheet, the emotionality of the created image, object or phenomenon, elaboration of the image, dynamic artistic image. The characteristics of creative abilities are revealed, as well as the factors that impede their development. It has been established that fine arts influence to a great extent the development of creativity of older preschool children. The programs of development of senior preschool children «Confident start» and the program of development of the preschool child «Ukrainian preschool» are analyzed. According to the program «Confident start» a number of tasks of visual activity are defined, which are realized by involving children in different types of visual activity: drawing; molding; applique; designing. Guided by the program «Ukrainian Preschool» the influence of drawing on the development of creativity of preschool children was characterized, the necessity of using different drawing techniques (drawing with wax, filling with cooking salt, drawing with a dry brush on a wet background, etc.); features of modeling of senior preschoolers and its influence on the emotional and sensual sphere of the child are revealed; work on application and design is analyzed.


Introduction Heart Failure mortality is high -7% if patients are under the care of Cardiologists, or 11% if under general physicians (according to the national heart failure audit in 2013). It is unclear whether cardiologists are 'cherry-picking' patients who are less frail with fewer co-morbidities. Hypothesis and Aim Cardiologists select patients who are less frail with fewer co-morbidities. We also aimed to compare the compliance to NICE quality standard and length of stay between patients admitted to general medical wards, cardiology ward in the Lancashire Cardiac Centre, and an Acute Cardiac Ward (ACW)-'Ward 19', led by Consultant Cardiologists, supported by a team of Cardiology juniors and nurses, adjacent to our Acute Medical Unit (AMU) in the District General Hospital (DGH) part of the Trust. Methodology The study was carried out in Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The data was collected from 99 patients admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Data was collected retrospectively (random sample from 2016-8). Results There is no significant difference in Derby Frailty Index between patients admitted to DGH wards, the ACW and Tertiary Cardiac Centre wards. The Rockwood frailty score was slightly higher in the DGH wards compared with the ACW, but not significantly different with the tertiary centre wards. More co-morbidities were observed in patients in the DGH wards compared with the ACW but not significantly different compared with the tertiary centre. However, there is no significant difference in the age of patients, or proportion of patient on palliative care. Importantly, the proportion of people who suffered 'falls'/ reduced mobility was not significantly different between the groups. Thus, our observation that more patients in Cardiology/ACW were receiving MRA could not be explained by lower blood pressure for instance. Limitations There is significant difference in terms of heart failure treatment received in patients admitted under general medicine vs cardiology. However, tendency to falls in 1/3 of DGH patients may be a clinically important reason that may contribute to lower use of MRA in DGH (even though the small study has not found a statistically significant difference in % of patients who suffer falls). Notably, 13% DGH patients were discharged without echocardiography. Tendency for DGH wards to have higher frailty score, also multiple markers of frailty–incontinence, confusion, falls/reduced mobility (though not statistically significant) does suggest the cohort is more frail. Equally, they are probably appropriately placed for the MDT delivery of comprehensive geriatric assessment. The key is to ensure they receive cardiology/HF specialist input. Conclusion We have found no definitive evidence to suggest Cardiologists are cherry-picking patients, in terms of age, creatinine, Derby Frailty index, falls, reduced mobility and palliative care. Patients in the ACW were slightly less frail (Rockwood score) with fewer comorbidities, but the proportion of patients who fall and BP is similar to DGH patients. Despite that, more Cardiology patients are on appropriate HF medication than DGH patients. More research is required to test whether it is possible to safely reduce the length of stay in patients in Cardiac wards and whether frail heart failure patients may cope with outpatient based therapy for acute decompensation. Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest


This report reviews the findings of staff satisfaction surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019 following the creation of a transformative and revolutionary approach to tertiary education in Australia, namely the creation of a new First Year College at Victoria University. Lectures were abolished from all units; class sizes were reduced; class timetabling was dramatically changed to allow for greater student study flexibility and accessibility; learning and teaching professional staff numbers were increased and facilities were built and repurposed. This report discusses the staff satisfaction and challenges encountered by staff in 2018 and 2019 providing quantitative and qualitative data. This data revealed high levels of satisfaction along with concerns about workload and related issues. Variations between 2018 and 2019 indicate that despite an increase in overall satisfaction, staff were concerned about awards and recognition, involvement in decisions that affected them, and receiving support to conduct their roles. The First Year College implemented a series of measures to address the issues raised in the 2018 survey. Further measures are recommended following the 2019 survey as well as future surveys that include stress levels and other psychological markers.


This paper investigates the use of ATM for cluster based computing. The need for a native ATM API is discussed as well as the performance of message passing libraries (MPL) that are written to use such an API to exploit the advantages of a high-speed network for cluster-based computing. The MPLs offer a standard interface, such as PVM or MPI, and interoperate with existing TCP/IP and UDP/IP based versions in addition to the ATM API environment. The interoperability extensions made to two MPLs, MPI and Prowess, are described with a hybrid environment of both ATM and TCP-based legacy network technology. The native ATM API is described in this paper which supports cluster based computing that may be geographically distributed. Furthermore, this API provides a reliable transport interface to the MPL which has been optimized for an ATM environment. The transport protocol is a low-state design that optimizes the performance based on the available bandwidth, buffer constraints, propagation delay characteristics, and security requirements of a particular connection, and will rapidly evolve if the connection characteristics change.


The cross-linked UHMWPE mixed with Vitamin E (VE) was prepared by hot press and then irradiated with gamma radial of 100 kGy does. The scratch hardness, micro-hardness and cross-linking density of cross-linked UHMWPE was measured. The tribilogical behavior also was examined. The experimental results indicated that the scratch hardness and micro-hardness of irradiation virgin and NC/UHMWPE are higher than that of virgin UHMWPE. Mixing VE decreased the cross-linking density of irradiated UHMWPE. Friction coefficients of virgin and cross-linked UHMWPE were seldom affected by irradiation and mixing VE. It was ranged from 0.35 to 0.37. Wear rate of virgin and cross-linked UHMWPE were strongly influenced by irradiation and mixing VE. Wear rate had an inverse proportional to the scratch hardness. The cross-linking and mixing VE in UHMWPE change the severity of adhesive wear of UHMWPE. For virgin UHMWPE, irradiated virgin UHMWPE and 0.1wt%VE/UHMWPE, the severity of adhesive wear was gradually decreased. Besides adhesion, poluging was the wear mechanism of irradiated 0.3wt%VE/UHMWPE.


Ergonomic are known as the study of work. It helps the worker to fit with the environment of the workplace for example the tools, equipments and the work station. Poor ergonomic practice can affect the performance of the worker and the quality of the product besides can cause loss to the company. This study have three main purpose which is to establish the optimal set up of the dynamic RULA analysis in UTHM, to compare the performance of static RULA analysis with the current dynamic RULA analysis and to identify the effect of current working posture to the musculoskeletal disorder of the university. The ergonomic tools that are use in this study are Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) and Rapid upper limb assessment (RULA). Besides that, motion captures system and Kinect camera is use for 3D dynamic RULA analysis. Besides that, 2D static analysis and 3D dynamic analysis must run the experiment and record the video of the subject motion simultaneously to ensure the similarity in terms of result obtain. Thus, this research finds that the 3D dynamic analysis is more accurate compare with the 2D static analysis. This can be proved by comparing the length of the joint point of 2D static analysis and 3D dynamic analysis with the actual length. 3D dynamic method provided 3 axes while the other method only provided 2 axes. Besides that, 3D dynamic method are analyze by the program while 2D static method are analyze manually by the user that not entirely accurate. The result for comparing the performance of the 2D static analysis and 3D dynamic analysis shows that the respondent 1 and 2 have high risk to get neck pain based on the 3D dynamic analysis RULA score. CMDQ analysis shows that the body part of respondent 1 and 2 that are most probably affected by the MSD is leg.


The article is devoted to a child of the social welfare system; it shows opportunities and threats in the process of education and upbringing. Among the threats indicated in the article and listed in the catalogue of social welfare, there is another group of inhibitors, i.e. some macro-social (outside a family) and micro-social (inside a family) threats, the influence of which on a child is often not perceived and sometimes even underestimated. An element being often beyond a family system, and which results from effects of a macro-system, was shown in the part of the discussion concerning opportunities in the process of education and upbringing of children and youth. Culture, because it is discussed here, was identified as a tool that favours an internal tendency for development, for growth, for a productive life of a child. Own observations and conclusions that were drawn on the basis of direct contacts with clients of social welfare were the material basis. Only those threads have been selected that directly influence the functioning of children at schools and in the environment.


Several open-source 3D modeling software tools have recently been featured to reconstruct a 3D imagebased model using Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms such as +IDonBlender. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate the accuracy of the models extracted from this tool to prove effectiveness for different applications. This paper aims to evaluate the +IDonBlender methodology tool in rehabilitating facial deformations. +IDonBlender is an add-on tool programmed within Blender software and designed for medical applications. In this research, two individuals from different genders have volunteered to contribute to this study, one with severe facial deformation and the other is healthy with no defects. To assess the robustness of the derived digital model from the +IDonBlender methodology, Agisoft Metashape was used to process the data and create a reference model for comparison purposes. Various scenarios were followed for evaluation: (i) scaling the model based on reference ground truth points, (ii) scaling the model based on known real distance between two reference points, and (iii) cloud-to-mesh (C2M) analysis was applied to individual scenarios to assess the accuracy of the +IDonBlender model through cloud compare analysis. Next, the density analysis of the model was also used to investigate the model resolution for further post-processing and prototyping. The results show that the variation between the tested and the reference models in terms of coordinates and distance measurements was (0.470 mm) and (0.471mm), respectively. Despite the fact that the +IDonBlender model resolution was lower than the Metashape model, the overall results delivered acceptable geometric error values. Therefore, following visual and statistical point clouds data analysis, one can claim the robustness of the +IDonBlender 3D modeling tool for maxillofacial rehabilitation, surgical planning and other clinical applications.


Female safety and their reproductive health at workplace has been a great challenge for organizations all over the world. Addressing pregnancy-related health issues in the workplace is important in order to formulate appropriate strategies to promote and protect maternal and infant health. As there has been a lot of study and surveys about occupational reproductive hazards but a large number of possible risks still require further analysis and some need modifications. This review will mainly focus on the ill effects of various factors on the pregnant women at workplace.


The manner and method of our teaching is likely to be influenced by our own personal experiences. These can include not only our experiences of how we were taught as students, but also our experiences as practicing professionals. Our teaching is also likely to be affected by our responses to a variety of demands and expectations from others, including those of the institutions for which we work, the students that we teach, and the employers of our graduates. The extent to which we can design activities and assessments in undergraduate degree subjects which can aid in preparing students for work is one particular curriculum issue that might usefully be informed by prior personal experience with a resultant impact upon the demands and expectations of institutions, students and the employers of graduates.

In this paper the author explains how work related activities and assessments can be infused into an otherwise content-rich and conceptually dry law subject to provide a realistic, interesting and work related contextual basis for the material. These activities and assessments, some of which are informed and influenced by prior practical experiences of the author, include referral to, and a detailed discussion of, insolvency documentation for court procedures, as well as requiring students to assume a practical role for various purposes. The use of on-line discussion boards to promote critical thought about change in the law from both practical and policy perspectives, and the provision of a variety of guest speakers to emphasis the range of practical viewpoints that influence the law of insolvency, will also be discussed.


The study of consciousness has today moved beyond neurobiology and cognitive models. In the past few years, there has been a surge of research into various newer areas. The present article looks at the non-neurobiological and non-cognitive theories regarding this complex phenomenon, especially ones that self-psychology, self-theory, artificial intelligence, quantum physics, visual cognitive science and philosophy have to offer. Self-psychology has proposed the need to understand the self and its development, and the ramifications of the self for morality and empathy, which will help us understand consciousness better. There have been inroads made from the fields of computer science, machine technology and artificial intelligence, including robotics, into understanding the consciousness of these machines and their implications for human consciousness. These areas are explored. Visual cortex and emotional theories along with their implications are discussed. The phylogeny and evolution of the phenomenon of consciousness is also highlighted, with theories on the emergence of consciousness in fetal and neonatal life. Quantum physics and its insights into the mind, along with the implications of consciousness and physics and their interface are debated. The role of neurophilosophy to understand human consciousness, the functions of such a concept, embodiment, the dark side of consciousness, future research needs and limitations of a scientific theory of consciousness complete the review. The importance and salient features of each theory are discussed along with certain pitfalls, if present. A need for the integration of various theories to understand consciousness from a holistic perspective is stressed.


A four-dimensional ensemble variational assimilation system for FY-3A satellite data is constructed using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD)-based ensemble four-dimensional variational (4DVar) assimilation method (referred to as POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System). Using the community radiative transfer model (CRTM) as the observation operator for satellite data, ensemble samples are mapped to the observation space and observation perturbations are generated. The observation perturbations matrix of satellite data is then decomposed to obtain the orthogonal eigenvectors and the eigenvalues for the observation perturbations matrix. The observation perturbations matrix and model perturbations matrix are transformed using orthogonal eigenvectors as basis functions and an explicit expression for the analysis increment is obtained. The expression includes the flow-dependent background error covariance and avoids the difficulty of solving the adjoint model for four-dimensional variational assimilation. In order to evaluate the capability of POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System, single observation experiments and observation system simulation experiments (OSSEs) for FY-3A MWHS and MWTS sensor data were designed to simulate a large-scale precipitation event occurring over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The results of single observation experiments show that POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System can assimilate satellite data correctly, and the background error covariance of POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System has obvious flow-dependent characteristics. The results of the OSSEs show that the root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) of the assimilation analysis field with respect to the "true" field are lower than those of the background field, which indicates that the POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System can assimilate satellite data effectively. The sensitivity of the POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System to the percentage of truncated eigenvalues, the number of ensemble members, assimilation time window length, and the horizontal localization scale (which are key parameters for POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System) was tested in sensitivity experiments. These experiments show that if the percentage of truncated eigenvalues for POD decomposition is more than 80%, POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System has strong assimilation skill. Increasing the number of initial ensemble members has little influence on the assimilation ability of POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System. But, increasing the number of the physical ensemble members can clearly increase the assimilation ability. The assimilation skill of POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System is optimal when the length of the assimilation time window is 5 h or 3 h and the horizontal localization scale is 500 km or above. The assimilation ability of POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System is preliminarily tested by single observation experiments and OSSEs. The results show that it is feasible to assimilate satellite data using the POD-4DEnVar method. In the future, a variety of real satellite data and a variety of mesoscale weather cases will be used to further verify the stability of POD-4DEnVar Satellite Assimilation System.


MANIFESTATIONS of pulmonary disease in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus reflect a spectrum of etiologic processes ranging from collagen vascular pneumonitis to bacterial, tuberculous, and fungal pneumonitis. 1-3 The use of chronic adrenocorticoid therapy predisposes to uncommon infectious pneumonitides which are difficult to distinguish clinically from the primary pulmonary disease of lupus. This case report illustrates the association of systemic lupus erythematosus with an infrequently encountered pathogen, Nocardia asteroides . Previous reports have noted this association on only three occasions. 4-6 Report of Case A 27-year-old man entering the New York Hospital on Sept 16, 1965, had a nine-year history of Raynaud's phenomenon, and a persistent malar erythematous rash for five years. In July 1965, he developed malaise, generalized lymphadenopathy, anemia, and albuminuria. No diagnosis was ascertained during hospitalization elsewhere. One week after discharge on July 2, 1965, a high fever and pleuritic pain in the right side of the


Abstract Numerous religious texts were printed that would have been censored, elsewhere including Jewish religious texts. Yet freedom had its limits. In August 1701, Amsterdam's judiciary council ordered the books authored by the Danish visionary Oliger Paulli, who
 advocated for a new religion uniting Jews and Christians, to be destroyed. In addition, the council sentenced Paulli to twelve years, imprisonment and later to permanent banishment, while two of his printers received hefty fines for printing his books. While earlier accounts have explained
 Paulli's arrest by pointing to his heretical ideas, Paulli had publicly been advocating his views without causing scandal for years. The present chapter explores an alternate reason for his arrest, focusing on his printing connections that year, which caused Amsterdam's authorities
 to associate Paulli with some of Amsterdam's most outspoken religious dissenters and critics of religious authority.


Mechanisms of aggregate disruption and the measurement techniques used to quantify them for different aggregate sizes affect the relation of aggregate stability to soil erodibility and to basic soil properties. We evaluated two different techniques of aggregate stability analysis that gave either a settling velocity or stability of aggregates parameter for different sized aggregates which we compared with interrill erodibility for 10 clay soils. We compared the differences in these parameters from slow wetting to reduce slaking to air-dried aggregates and compared these differences to soil properties. Aggregate settling velocity and stability and soil interrill erodibility were strongly affected by clay mineralogy and physical-chemical properties. The mechanism of aggregate disruption was dependent on clay type. Slaking during fast wetting was important in kaolinitic/oxidic soils, whereas highly smectitic clay increased particle dispersion and slaking on swelling, with a consequent reduction in size and speed of settling aggregates. Swelling of clays may have overridden any reduction in slaking by slow capillary prewetting of illite or smectite (with no kaolinite) soils, causing aggregate instability with both slow and fast wetting procedures. Correlation analysis showed that 4.76- to 8-mm aggregates with a high slaking index also demonstrated more slaking under wet sieving and slower fall velocity. Interrill erodibility had greater correlation with the mean weight diameter (MWD) of stable aggregates in the 1- to 2-mm size class, than for the whole soil (aggregates < 8 mm), and no correlation was observed with any of the slaking indexes involving wet sieving or settling in water. Multiple regression analysis indicated that 89% of the variability in erodibility for prewetted soil was explained by MWD of prewetted 1- to 2-mm stable aggregates (MWD W ), available water content, and fall velocity of 1- to 2-mm dry aggregates, while 96% of the variability in erodibility for dry soil was explained by MWD W for 1- to 2-mm prewetted aggregates, water dispersible clay, and fall velocity for 1- to 2-mm dry aggregates. The interrill erodibility, for dry and wet soil, was greatest for the highly smectitic and least for the high-clay kaolinitic/oxidic, both under annual crops. The higher erodibility and lack of slaking reduction effect on our prewetted soil under simulated rainfall is explained by a confounding effect of high water table, high steady-state runoff and slaking.


Novel Eubacterium-like isolates, strains 12-3T and KV43-B, which were isolated from the periodontal pocket of an adult patient with periodontal disease and necrotic dental pulp, respectively, were studied taxonomically and phylogenetically. The morphological and differential biochemical characteristics of these organisms are also described in this paper. These organisms were Gram-positive, anaerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria that were inert in most of the conventional biochemical tests and closely resembled members of asaccharolytic oral Eubacterium species. On the other hand, protein profiles of whole cells in SDS-PAGE and Western immunoblotting reaction analysis distinguished these isolates from strains of the previously described genus Eubacterium. The G+C content of the DNAs from the novel isolates was 50 and 51 mol%, respectively. The levels of DNA-DNA relatedness to other asaccharolytic oral Eubacterium species, including Eubacterium brachy, Eubacterium lentum, Eubacterium nodatum, Eubacterium timidum, Eubacterium saphenum, Eubacterium minutum and Eubacterium exiguum, was less than 11%. These organisms also exhibited a very low level of reassociation with the DNA of Eubacterium limosum, the type species of the genus Eubacterium. The results of 16S rDNA sequence comparisons revealed that these organisms represent a novel lineage distinct from all previously described genera of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria. On the basis of our results, it is suggested that strains 12-3T and KV43-B should be classified in a new genus and species, for which the name Cryptobacterium curtum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Cryptobacterium curtum is 12-3T (= ATCC 700683T).


In this conceptual article we posit that, if the African university is to locate itself in the 21st century, the precedence of local needs over global demands ought to be central to its agenda. The university space in Africa is a contested arena in which participants are claiming their dominant space in terms of knowledge production, control and responding to local needs. Standing on the one side is the university's commitment to promote transformation by producing knowledge relevant and being responsive to local needs, with the fulfilment of the global demand for knowledge for the global market on the other. This creates an anomaly in the competing demands in university practices that lead to the polarisation of the role of the university. In this article we submit to Guy's (2009, p. 1) assertion that the global and the local are best understood as the two opposite sides of the same distinction, which assists in describing various elements of social movements, inequalities, crises and identities.


In the thesis, a proposed route choice model is tested on the empirical observation data. The model gives link specific errors to the links in the network, which allows natural correlation structure among paths. Indirect inference method is used to consistently estimate the route choice model, and a logit model is chosen to be the auxiliary model. The observation data with multiple OD pairs was collected in the Borlange, a city located in the middle part of Sweden. Two main experiments are carried out, one with only one attribute, length to be specific in the route choice model and the other with two attributes, namely length and speed bump dummy. The final estimates of parameters have positive signs as anticipated and the magnitudes are reasonable. In addition, judging from the estimated binding functions, parameters in the cost function have negative effect on utility in the logti model and the parameter in the logit model are more apparently affected by its indirectly inferred parameter in the route choice model than the others do. Some other trials of the model are also carried out, but the estimates are not satisfying. This may be due to lack of attributes in the route choice model and further suggestion on better defined model is given out. A Monte Carlo experiment is also carried out to test the efficiency of model with unfixed scale parameter to the random term in the route choice model.


Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are composite materials in which the properties are varied continuously from one face to the other via a compositional gradient. Functionally graded structures can be found in nature as evident in the cross-sections of bone, teeth and many plant stems, for example bamboo. Initially conceived for the purpose of thermal barrier coatings on spaceplanes, FGMs are finding more applications in other fields such as in polymers, biomedical and semiconductors. In this review, we take a look at two kinds of ceramics, carbon-carbon and fused silica, their properties and processing methods, as well as the possibility of incorporating them in a functionally graded material for use in high-temperature applications. Both carbon and fused silica have similarly low thermal expansion coefficients which will (1) allow the degree of thermal mismatch between the graded layers to be minimized and; (2) reduce the thermomechanical shock that will occur in the presence of a steep temperature gradient.


Abstract The objective of this paper is to demonstrate a new simulation technique which allows fast and automatic generation of temperature fields as input for subsequent thermomechanical welding simulation. The basic idea is to decompose the process model into an empirical part based on neural networks and a phenomenological part that describes the physical phenomena. The strength of this composite modelling approach is the automatic calibration of mathematical models against experimental data without the need for manual interference by an experienced user. As an example for typical applications in laser beam and GMA–laser hybrid welding, it is shown that even 3D heat conduction models of a low complexity can approximate measured temperature fields with a sufficient accuracy. In general, any derivation of model fitting parameters from the real process adds uncertainties to the simulation independent of the complexity of the underlying phenomenological model. The modelling technique presented hybridises empirical and phenomenological models. It reduces the model uncertainties by exploiting additional information which keeps normally hidden in the data measured when the model calibration is performed against few experimental data sets. In contrast, here the optimal model parameter set corresponding to a given process parameter is computed by means of an empirical submodel based on relatively large set of experimental data. The approach allows making a contribution to an efficient compensation of modelling inaccuracies and lack of knowledge about thermophysical material properties or boundary conditions. Two illustrating examples are provided.


We consider a generalized Thirring model in 0+1 dimensions at finite density. In order to deal with the resulting sign problem we employ stochastic quantization, i.e., a complex Langevin evolution. We investigate the convergence properties of this approach and check in which parameter regions complex Langevin evolutions are applicable in this setting. To this end we derive numerous analytical results and compare directly with numerical results. In addition we employ indirect indicators to check for correctness. Finally we interpret and discuss our findings.


Gadolinium zirconate (GZ) is considered as a promising top coat candidate for high temperature (>1200 °C) thermal barrier coating (TBC) applications. Suspension plasma spray (SPS) technique has shown the capability to generate a wide range of microstructures which includes the more desirable columnar microstructure. In this study, GZ single layer TBCs were deposited by axial SPS process. The variable parameters include the standoff distance, solid load content of the suspension and input power. The cross section and top surface of the as sprayed TBCs were analyzed by SEM. The phase content in the as sprayed TBCs was analyzed by XRD. The porosity content of the as sprayed TBCs was measured using image analysis. In the SEM analysis, it was observed that a lower solid load content in the suspension favored the formation of a columnar microstructure. Additionally, at lower solid load content, increase in standoff distance resulted in columnar microstructure with high porosity content in the TBC. However, with higher solid content suspension and alteration of input power, only a dense vertical cracked microstructure can be obtained.


Recently it has seemed to be more important clarifying the vital prerequisites for the formation of Virtual Organisations than discussing theoretical aspects of their eventual appearance. Great significance has to be attributed to information and communication technologies when examining these conditions. Often, they even have the status as "enablers". According to the transaction-cost theory organisations come into existence when the coordination of transactions through hierarchies is more advantageous than the coordination through markets. It shall be elucidated why Virtual Organisations are considered inter-median forms of organisation between the two poles of market and hierarchy. The figure of Virtual Organisations will be compared with other similar forms of organisation. Different forms of transactions shall be developed and, with reference to the key topic, be standardised. Despite the basically empirical limitations of the transactioncost theory, the distinguishing features are the use of diverse information and communication technologies. A scheme for analysis is developed to evaluate the contributions of existing and future information and communication systems to the formation of Virtual Organisations. Technologies like Internet, multi-media communication systems and Electronic Data Interchange will be discussed in detail.


While the students perform labs and get results, they do not take the time to carefully analyze the results and draw conclusions that relate the lab to the concepts that are being learned. The focus is on completing the lab itself and it is difficult to get them to draw connections to the concepts and use the scientific language in their conclusion writing. This classroom research project investigated whether explicitly teaching a conclusion writing framework increased students' capability to draw conclusions from the lab work as well as increase their understandings of the concepts. The claim-evidence-reasoning framework was used to teach the students conclusion writing protocol and help analyze data. After the framework was introduced, the students practiced with it. Then it was integrated into daily activities, like labs and journal check-ins. Data collection methods included lab reports, journals, conclusion practice, surveys, interviews, and a pre/post assessment. The data collection methods were aimed at determining if students' ability to analyze data and provide appropriate scientific reasoning improved, along with gauging their attitudes towards learning and understanding of the scientific concepts. There was no strong connection found between the use of the framework and students' ability to understand the concepts. The use of the framework did improve students' ability to make a claim and use evidence within conclusion writing, but the students' still struggled with the reasoning section. There was a shift towards students feeling more capable of using evidence and reasoning in their conclusion writing, but this did not translate to student confidence in conclusion writing.


To improve the properties of silica truck tire tread compounds, especially abrasion resistance, the effect of vinyl-contents in Butadiene Rubber (BR) or Solution Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) as secondary polymers in silica-filled Natural Rubber (NR) compounds at a ratio of 80/20 phr, is investigated in the first part. By increasing the vinyl-content in BR in combination with NR, a better Payne effect, 300% modulus, reinforcement index, tan delta at -20oC and 0oC are obtained, whereas tensile strength, elongation at break and DIN abrasion resistance index decrease with increasing vinyl-content. Increasing vinyl-contents in SSBR show improvements in Payne effect, 300% modulus, tan delta at -20oC and 0oC and a little in DIN abrasion resistance index. The combination of secondary filler and polymer in silica-filled NR are covered in the second part of the present study. Silica/Carbon Black (CB)-filled NR/BR and NR/SSBR, resp. silica/OrganoClay (OC)-filled NR/BR and NR/SSBR show positive effects on the scorch time, optimum cure time, with slightly changed Payne effect, tensile properties, tan delta at -20oC and 0oC, and DIN abrasion resistance as compared to the compound with CB N134. The use of OC shows enhancement in Payne effect and tan delta at 60oC, indicative of a reduced filler-filler network and consequently lower rolling resistance of the tire tread compound compared to the compound without OC.


The dissertation consists of four essays that treat different aspects or the evaluation of public policy. Two essays are applications of the travel cost method. In the first of these, recreational travel to the Swedish coast is studied to obtain estimates of the social benefits from reduced eutrophication of the sea. The second travel cost essay attempts at estimating how the probability that a woman will undergo mammographic screening for breast cancer is affected by the distance she has to travel to undergo such an examination. Using these estimated probabilities, the woman's valuation of the examination is obtained. The two other essays deal with automobile taxation. One essay analyzes how taxation and the Swedish eco-labeling system of automobiles have affected the sale of different car models. The last essay treats the effects of taxes and of scrappage premiums on the life length of cars.


Psoriatic arthritis is an inflammatory arthritis affecting a fifth of patients with skin psoriasis. Inflammation of the joints and tendons causes pain, stiffness, reduced function and disability. Work disability is increasingly recognised as an important, patient centred, functional measure of disease yet little is known about work disability in psoriatic arthritis. The overall aim of my thesis is to examine patient reported work disability in psoriatic arthritis by undertaking the following; • A systematic review of the relevant literature • Classification of a cohort of patients to study • Validation of a commonly used work outcome measure used in other rheumatic diseases • Selection of a suitable measure of structural damage to inflamed joints for investigating the associations of work disability in longitudinal observational studies. The results of the systematic review identified limited data reporting high levels of work disability associated with a wide variety of disease and non-disease related factors. The review also identified the lack of a validated outcome measure for use in psoriatic arthritis. I report the classification of a large single centre longitudinal cohort of patients with psoriatic arthritis and evidence supporting the retrospective application of a psoriatic arthritis classification criterion. Subsequently I report a preliminary validation study of the work productivity and activity impairment questionnaire to measure work disability in psoriatic arthritis and a further study comparing the existing measures of structural damage in psoriatic arthritis. Finally I developed and supervised a multicentre observational study to examine the associations of work disability in psoriatic arthritis. The study identified reduced work effectiveness to be associated with measures of disease activity, whereas unemployment was associated with recent disease onset, greater age and worse physical function. The study will provide a valuable cohort for prospective study of work disability and the effect of medical treatment and will form part of my planned post-doctoral studies.


Abstract. We show that the near infrared solar absorption spectra recorded in the framework of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) can be used to derive the vertical distribution of tropospheric water vapour. The resolution of the TCCON spectra of 0.02 cm−1 is sufficient for retrieving lower and middle/upper tropospheric water vapour concentrations with a vertical resolution of about 3 and 8 km, respectively. We document the good quality of the remotely-sensed profiles by comparisons with coincident in-situ Vaisala RS92 radiosonde measurements. Due to the high measurement frequency, the TCCON water vapour profile data offer novel opportunities for estimating the water vapour variability at different timescales and altitudes.


According to data obtained from epidemiological and experimental survey, serum HDL level is known to be correlated conversely with the incidence of atherosclerosis. Experimental data collected in this article explained part of its mechanism, which is described in four parts as follows: 1. The result of 3 successive experiments on experimental atherosclerosis in tree shrews (total of 96 animals available including 40 as the controls) showed that the serum HDL level had been kept persistantly to 69-88% of the total serum lipoproteins even after a high cholesterol intake for 32 weeks. The incidence of atheromatous lesions developed was only 0-9%, but the incidence of gall stone was very high, 48-84% by gross examination by the end of these experiments. 2. HDL are also capable of (1) promotion of monocyte migration activity; (2) enhancement of cholesterol clearance rate of aortic smooth muscle cells originally isolated from either rabbits or tree shrews; (3) inhibition of 20% of LDL degradation but with no inhibitory effect obtained on Ac-LDL degradation in the endothelial cells; (4) presence of specific binding sites for apo E free HDL on the surface of aortic smooth muscle cells from either rabbits or tree shrews which recognizes apo A1 as a ligand. 3. Data from 2 successive experiments in rabbits showed that HDL lipoproteins (mainly apo A1) possess an inhibitory effect on the development of atheromatous plaques, but not a very strong one. 4. The colesterol clearance effect of smooth muscle cells was markedly enhanced by apo A1/phospholipid liposomes (the apo A1 used was isolated from either rabbit's or tree shrew's serum) in vitro.


Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) represent a novel paradigm in neutrophil-mediated immunity. NETs are believed to constitute a highly conserved antimicrobial strategy comprising decondensed nuclear DNA and associated histones that are extruded into the extracellular space. Associated with the web-like strands of DNA is an array of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which facilitate the extracellular destruction of microorganisms that become entrapped within the NETs. NETs can be released by cells that remain viable or following a unique form of programmed cell death known as NETosis, which is dependent on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the decondensing of the nuclear DNA catalyzed by peptidyl arginine deiminase-4. NETs are produced in response to a range of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa, as well as host-derived mediators. NET release is, however, not without cost, as the concomitant release of cytotoxic molecules can also cause host tissue damage. This is evidenced by a number of immune-mediated diseases, in which excess or dysfunctional NET production, bacterial NET evasion, and decreased NET removal are associated with disease pathogenesis. Periodontitis is the most prevalent infectious-inflammatory disease of humans, characterized by a dysregulated neutrophilic response to specific bacterial species within the subgingival plaque biofilm. Neutrophils are the predominant inflammatory cell involved in periodontitis and have previously been found to exhibit hyperactivity and hyperreactivity in terms of ROS production in chronic periodontitis patients. However, the contribution of ROS-dependent NET formation to periodontal health or disease remains unclear. In this focused review, we discuss the mechanisms, stimuli, and requirements for NET production; the ability of NET-DNA and NET-associated AMPs to entrap and kill pathogens; and the potential immunogenicity of NETs in disease. We also speculate on the potential role of NETs in the pathogenesis of periodontitis.


To fabricate thermal spraying coatings with good reproducibility, it is necessary to improve the process of the equalization of both thermal history and impacting behavior of the particles. In this study, the characteristics of the solution type plasma spraying using the hollow-cathode type torch are investigated. The physical and mechanical properties that are different from usual thermal spraying coatings are described. By using solutions including metal ingredients in a state of ion, colloid or sol, thinner coating that cannot be made by conventional plasma spraying methods is formed on various substrates. The coatings are uniform in appearance.


1 Stibe CMH, Lees AJ, Kempster PA, Stern GM. Subcutaneous apomorphine in parkinsonian on-off oscillations. Lancet 1988;i:403-6. 2 Ray-Chaudhuri K, Critchley P, Abbott RJ, Pye IF, Millac PAH. Subcutaneous apomorphine for on-off oscillations in Parkinson's disease. Lancet 1988;ii:1260. 3 Horowski R. Psychiatric side effects ofhigh dose lisuride therapy in parkinsonism. Lancet 1986;ii:510. 4 Strian F, Micheler E, Beukert 0. Tremor inhibition in parkinson syndrome after apomorphine administration under L-dopa and decarboxylase inhibitor basic therapy. Pharmakopsychiat 1972;5:198-205. 5 Chiara DG, Gessa GL. Pharmacology and neurochemistry of apomorphine. In: Gara Hini S, Goldin A, Hawking F, Kapin IJ, eds. Advances in pharmacology and chemotherapy, Vol 15. London Academic press, 1978, 87-160.


Background: Epigenetic regulation plays a significant role in oncogenesis of different organs. However, the role of methylation in thyroid carcinoma is largely unexplored. Methods: We carried out a genome-wide methylation assay for a total of 40 thyroid carcinoma patients (m=12, f=28) and compared them with corresponding normal thyroid tissue from the same individual using Illumina's Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. Histologically, a total of 29 patients had papillary carcinoma (PC), 4 had follicular carcinoma (FC) and 7 had follicular variant of papillary carcinoma (FVPC). The methylation assay covered a total of 485,577 loci across the genome of which 150,254 are on CpG island, 112,067 are on shore (0-2kb from CpG island), 47,144 are on shelf (2-4 kb from CpG island) and the rest 176,112 are in the deep sea (>4kb from the CpG island). Result: We used mixed model 3-way ANOVA to identify differentially methylated loci (DML) between tumor and corresponding normal tissue, where the beta value (degree of methylation) was adjusted for person to person variation and gender. In PC and FVPC, we identified a total of 1151 and 150 tumor related DML respectively that were significant at FDR 0.05 and absolute difference of methylation (Δ beta) of 0.2. In FC, none was significant after the correction for multiple testing. Comparing the list of DML from PC and FVPC, we identified (a) 35 DML which were common in all histological types of thyroid cancer, (b) 115 DML that were specific to FVPC and (c) 1116 DML that were specific to PC. It was seen that irrespective of the histological type, Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 (TGFB1) gene was hypermethylated in thyroid carcinoma. The Neuralized Homolog 1B (NEURL1B) gene was specifically hypermethylated in FVPC. A number of genes were specifically differentially methylated only in PC including BCL7C, LPAR5, ACOX3 and also micro RNA 762 among others. In case of the common DML (those are found in all histological types), a large proportion (77.14%) were in the deep sea. In the same line among the PC specific DML, similar proportion were also in the deep sea (70.07%). But among the FVPC specific DML, considerable proportion were on the CpG island and shores (46.95%) indicating the significance of changes in the promoter methylation status in this particular histological subtype of thyroid carcinoma. Conclusion: For the first time, we present comprehensive genome-wide methylation profile in thyroid carcinoma and our data suggests that differential methylation may be associated with different histological subtypes. Citation Format: Farzana Jasmine, Mosiur Rahman, Shantanu Roy, Mohammed Kamal, Habibul Ahsan, Muhammad G. Kibriya. Genome-wide methylation profile in thyroid carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A55.


In this study, a novel technology of microwave-assisted-demulsification–dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (MAD–DLLME) was developed for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environmental water samples, which was followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The key to MAD–DLLME is based on the formation of an emulsion, where target analytes can partition between two phases, and subsequently employing microwave irradiation to achieve phase separation. To the best of our knowledge, it's the first time that microwave-assisted-demulsification has been introduced into sample preparation technology. Under the optimal conditions, the response of the proposed method was found to be linear in the concentration range of 0.05–10.0 μg L−1 for most target analytes. The limits of detection for S/N = 3 ranged between 0.3 and 7.1 ng L−1, and relative standard deviations (RSDs) were in the range of 1.1–6.7%. Finally, water samples collected from West Lake and the Qiantang River (Hangzhou, China) were used for verification of the applicability of the developed method, which was demonstrated to be rapid, simple, efficient, reliable, and environmentally friendly.


Reducing adolescent pregnancy is a global public health priority and enabling contraceptive use is one way to achieve this. Broader determinants of contraceptive use, such as poverty, education and social norms, can affect knowledge, attitudes, motivation and ability to access and use contraception. Structural interventions aim to address these broader determinants and include cash transfer interventions, interventions to encourage participation in school, empowerment interventions and interventions aiming to change social norms. We conducted an evidence synthesis to explore a) what structural interventions have been evaluated for their effect on adolescent contraceptive use in low- and middle-income countries and b) how such interventions may work.


We have examined the distribution of the pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide type I receptor (PAC1R) in the ewe hypothalamus by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. PAC1R mRNA was highly expressed in the mediobasal hypothalamus of the ewe, particularly in the arcuate nucleus and ventromedial hypothalamus, compared to other hypothalamic regions. Similar results were obtained from immunohistochemistry using a specific PAC1R antibody. Intense immunolabelling was observed in the arcuate nucleus, external zone of the median eminence and ventromedial hypothalamus. Only relatively weak immunolabelling was observed in other hypothalamic regions, including the paraventricular nucleus and supraoptic nucleus. In the ewe, PACAP acts via the arcuate nucleus to suppress prolactin secretion. Therefore we examined whether PAC1R was present on the tuberoinfundibular dopamine (TIDA) neurones in this nucleus. Dual immunofluorescence labelling for PAC1R and tyrosine hydroxylase revealed that 21.2 ± 1.7% of dopaminergic neurones in the arcuate nucleus (A12 cell group) also stained for PAC1R. By contrast, other hypothalamic dopaminergic cell groups (A11, A13, A14 and A15) exhibited little (< 3%) or no colocalization. Overall, our results indicate that, in the ewe hypothalamus, PAC1R is most concentrated in the arcuate nucleus, where it is localized on a substantial proportion of dopaminergic neurones. These observations, together with previous in vivo studies, suggest that PACAP could act directly on TIDA neurones via PAC1R to increase dopamine release and consequently inhibit prolactin secretion in the sheep.


ABSTRACT To meet their growing interest and to counteract the increase of diet-related diseases worldwide, the field-to-fork concept comprises opportunities for providing consumers with nutritious and health-beneficial food. Although health-beneficial effects have been ascribed to specific food compounds, most often in vivo human evidence and/or accepted health/nutrient claims are lacking. Part I of this review gives an overview of possible sources of macronutrients, micronutrients and other compounds (e.g. secondary metabolites) with proven in vivo human health-beneficial effects and/or health/nutrition EFSA claims. More importantly, it focuses on opportunities within the primary production to obtain/increase/maintain sufficient amounts of such compounds: (i) crop choice, breeding, crop husbandry and environment, harvesting/storage for plant-derived products, (ii) breeding stock selection, feeding strategies and animal husbandry for animal-derived products. However, providing food commodities/products with sufficient amounts of such nutrients is one thing, but aspects like, for example, bioavailability and interindividual variability play a role as well. As such, a balanced diet should be aimed at by means of differentiation within the dietary pattern while considering foods as a whole rather than a sum of compounds. Within this concept, all factors/actors of the agriculture-food-health trichotomy should be integrated as much as possible to provide consumers with health-beneficial food commodities/products.


The present study was designed to explore the anti-cell proliferative efficacy of ferulic acid by analysing the expression pattern of cell proliferative markers, proliferating cellular nuclear antigen (PCNA) and cyclin D1, in the buccal mucosa of golden Syrian hamsters treated with 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA). Oral squamous cell carcinomas developed in the buccal pouch of hamsters using topical application of 0.5% DMBA three times a week for 14 weeks. Immunohistochemical (PCNA) and RT-PCR (Cyclin D1) analysis revealed over expression of PCNA and cyclin D1 in the buccal mucosa of hamsters treated with DMBA alone (tumor bearing hamsters). Oral administration of ferulic acid at a dose of 40 mg/kg bw to hamsters treated with DMBA not only completely prevented the tumor formation but also down regulated the expression of PCNA and cyclin D1. The results of the present study thus suggests that ferulic acid might have inhibited tumor formation in the buccal mucosa of hamsters treated with DMBA through its anti-cell proliferative potential as evidenced by decreased expression of PCNA and cyclin D1.


To evaluate Knoop microhardness and diametral compression strength at different polymerization times. A total of 80 cylindrical samples with Filtek resinTM One Bulk Fill were made to perform the in vitro study, using half of total samples (n=40) for each test and divided equally between groups (n=10). All samples were made according to ISO 4049 using 2 mm thickness Teflon matrix and a central orifice with 4 mm diameter. Four different times of light-curing in Standard mode suggested by the light-unit manufacturer were selected, therefore, group 1 samples (G1) were light-cured for 5 seconds; group 2 (G2) for 10 seconds; group 3 (G3) for 15 seconds, and group 4 (G4) for 20 seconds. A radiant display, which means a power in mW/cm2 by time in seconds was expressed in Joules (J). The samples were stored in a dark container with distilled water at a temperature of 37°C for 48 hours before testing. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with T-Test (LSD) of multiple comparisons of the mean values of Knoop hardness and diametral compression strength was performed, with significance index α=0.05. Regarding the Knoop microhardness test, G1 (35.73 ± 6.2) presented the lowest values, followed by G2, while G3 and G4 did not present statistical differences between them. For the diametral compression test, G1 (1387.76 ± 190.51) obtained the lowest value when compared to the other groups. G2, G3, and G4 did not present significant statistical differences. The different polymerization times influenced the Knoop microhardness and the diametral compression strength of Bulk Fill resin.