Introduction. The work of medical personnel in the extreme conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic is related to the impact of nervous and emotional labor tension, high visual loads, which contributes to the formation of fatigue and overwork and requires the attention of labor physiologists.
The study aims to substantiate the methodology of physiological assessment of functional fatigue of medical workers during work in a covid hospital to determine the duration of periods of work in a pandemic.
Materials and methods. Comprehensive physiological and hygienic studies of the medical staff of the covid hospital during 6 months of work were aimed at a physiological study of the state of the cardiovascular system with the study of the characteristics of the response to stress loads (ECG registration on a 12-channel electrocardiograph and continuously using Holter monitoring, determination of the vegetative Kerdo index and Kvass endurance coefficient), the study of psychological conditions, hygienic assessment of the intensity of the labor process. The researchers have studied the physiological state of the central nervous system and the visual analyzer according to generally accepted methods. The authors have studied the features of neurohumoral regulation (the main mediator of the stress-implementing system — cortisol) in medical workers. We have carried out a total of 1728 measurements of psychophysiological indicators. The scientists carried out statistical data processing of the received data using statistical programs Statistika 10, Microsoft Excel 2010.
Results. The researchers found that indicators of the functional state of the cardiovascular system, reflecting the degree of adaptation of the body of medical workers to industrial activity, can be used to determine physiologically justified work periods in a pandemic, further accumulation of scientific data and risk assessment of medical workers. After four months of work in medical organizations with COVID-19, the formation of an unfavorable functional state in medical personnel is reflected in changes in ECG and systemic blood pressure, increased detrenability of the cardiovascular system, the predominance of sympathetic influences.
Limitations. There are quantitative restrictions due to the number of medical staff of the hospital with COVID-19.
Conclusion. Pronounced loads on the visual analyzer when watching video terminal screens against the background of nervous and emotional labor tension are the leading professional factors and determine the formation of the functional state of overwork (third degree) in the medical staff of the hospital with COVID-19.
Ethics. The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health (Protocol No. 4 of 04/14/2021).


The finding of lipid accumulation in the liver, so-called hepatic steatosis or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is a common condition frequently found in healthy subjects. Its prevalence, in fact, has been estimated by magnetic resonance studies to be about 35% in the general population and 75% in obese persons. Nevertheless, its presence generates liver damage only in a small percentage of subjects not affected by other liver diseases. It should be defined as a "co-factor" capable of affecting severity and progression, and also therapeutic perspectives, of liver diseases to which it is associated. Herein we will evaluate the impact of hepatic steatosis and obesity on the most common liver diseases: chronic viral hepatitis C and B, and alcoholic liver disease.


Oyster microbiomes are integral to healthy function and can be altered by climate change conditions. Genetic variation among oysters is known to influence the response of oysters to climate change and may ameliorate any adverse effects on oyster microbiome, however, this remains unstudied. Nine full-sibling selected breeding lines of the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) were exposed to predicted warming (ambient = 24°C, elevated = 28°C) and ocean acidification (ambient pCO2 = 400, elevated pCO2 = 1000 µatm) for four weeks. The haemolymph bacterial microbiome was characterised using 16S rRNA (V3-V4) gene sequencing and varied among oyster lines in the control (ambient pCO2, 24°C) treatment. Microbiomes were also altered by climate change dependent on oyster lines. Bacterial α-diversity increased in response to elevated pCO2 in two selected lines, while bacterial β-diversity was significantly altered by combinations of elevated pCO2 and temperature in four selected lines. Climate change treatments caused shifts in the abundance of multiple Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) driving change in the microbiome of some selected lines. We show that oyster genetic background may influence the Sydney rock oyster haemolymph microbiome under climate change and that future assisted evolution breeding programs to enhance resilience should consider the oyster microbiome.


We evolve simple neural network controllers in swimming robots in order to test the hypothesis that, given distinct dimensions of control for the tail structure, evolution will favor the emergence of modular neural networks as most likely to enhance fitness (successful light harvesting). Evolution does lead to improved fitness, but this does not appear to result from increases in modularity. However, an unexpected result highlights the importance of embodiment for the evolution of the agent. The output of the neural network controller is high frequency with many extreme excursions, but the actual movements of the tail are damped by the physics of the body as it interacts with the aquatic environment. Subsequent simulations establish the role of these physical parameters in dampening noisy network controller output. Thus, morphology can increase evolvability by acting as a low pass filter of high-frequency controller dynamics.


ABSTRACT Francisella bacteria cause severe disease in both vertebrates and invertebrates and include one of the most infectious human pathogens. Mammalian cell lines have mainly been used to study the mechanisms by which Francisella manipulates its host to replicate within a large variety of hosts and cell types, including macrophages. Here, we describe the establishment of a genetically and biochemically tractable infection model: the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum combined with the fish pathogen Francisella noatunensis subsp. noatunensis. Phagocytosed F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis interacts with the endosomal pathway and escapes further phagosomal maturation by translocating into the host cell cytosol. F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis lacking IglC, a known virulence determinant required for Francisella intracellular replication, follows the normal phagosomal maturation and does not grow in Dictyostelium. The attenuation of the F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis ΔiglC mutant was confirmed in a zebrafish embryo model, where growth of F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis ΔiglC was restricted. In Dictyostelium, F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis interacts with the autophagic machinery. The intracellular bacteria colocalize with autophagic markers, and when autophagy is impaired (Dictyostelium Δatg1), F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis accumulates within Dictyostelium cells. Altogether, the Dictyostelium-F. noatunensis subsp. noatunensis infection model recapitulates the course of infection described in other host systems. The genetic and biochemical tractability of the system allows new approaches to elucidate the dynamic interactions between pathogenic Francisella and its host organism.


: In particular with respect to infant nutrition knowledge of the current contents of trans fatty acids (TFA) and of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA in human milk lipids is of interest. After pre-separation by Ag-TLC 11 trans-C18:1 isomers could be quantified by GC with a mean total content of 2.40 +/- 0.60 wt% in samples from 40 German women. For the positional isomers t4, t5, t6-8, t9, t10, t11, t12, t13, t14, t15 and t16 contents of 0.02, 0.02, 0.21, 0.37, 0.32, 0.68, 0.23, 0.15, 0.18, 0.09 and 0.14 wt% were established, with vaccenic acid being the predominant isomer. Further, small trans-C14:1 and trans-C16:1 contents of 0.08% and 0.15% on average were found. As the trans-C18:1 isomers also the trans-C16:1 isomers of human milk lipids could for the first time be baseline-resolved by GC to a great extent. Moreover, besides a mean CLA (c9,t11) content of 0.40 +/- 0.09% further 6 cis/trans isomers of linoleic acid with a total content of 1.07 +/- 0.56% on average (w/o CLA) were determined. Further, 4 trans isomers of alpha-linolenic acid could be baseline-resolved exhibiting a total content of 0.11%. Altogether German human milk lipids on average were found to contain 3.81 +/- 0.97% TFA with a range of 2.38-6.03%. Direct connections between the dietary intake of trans-C18:1 isomers and the composition of human milk lipids could be established. The major fatty acids exhibited the following contents (wt%): C4: 0.16, C6: 0.18, C8: 0.06, C10: 0.58, C12: 3.12, C14: 6.43, C16: 25.28, C18: 7.41, C18: 1 (total): 33.67, C18: 2 (total): 10.63 and alpha-C18: 3:0.87.


In a truly multiscale analysis of multilayered composites, the underlying phenomena are represented and their effect on the overall behavior is determined considering the interaction between the different phases and between the laminas. The analysis gets more involved when multiple phenomena are considered since in this case not only the direct effects play a role but also the coupled effects contribute to the distribution of the local fields and the overall response. In a fibrous composite laminate reinforced with piezoelectric filaments, for example, passing an electric field in the fibers generates stresses and strains which propagate through the composite medium due to constraints that exist both at the micromechanical, ply level, and the macromechanical, laminate level. Pyroelectricity is another coupling phenomenon in which a temperature change is caused by an electric field, and hence leads to changes in the stress and strain fields throughout the composite medium.The above phenomena have been considered by the authors in a unified, transformation field analysis (TFA) approach in which stresses and strains which cannot be removed by mechanical unloading are treated as transformation fields. Due to mutual constraints of the phases and the bonded plies, local transformations generate stresses at the micro and macro levels, which are computed by means of influence functions which depend on material geometry and properties. Treatment of damage follows the same scheme but the transformation fields are instead determined such that the local stresses in the affected phase are removed.In the present paper, implementation of the TFA approach in a general purpose finite element code is described. This expands the multiscale analysis outlined above to composite structures where complex geometries can be modeled and the effect of local phenomena can be considered. This naturally comes at a much larger cost of the computations compared to finite element analysis with homogenized models but the benefit of obtaining a more realistic response is clear. Moreover, the availability of high performance computing and parallel processing overcomes the computation time barrier. In the present paper however, simple examples of laminated structures are given as proof of concept in which the results are compared to those of standalone routines. Since the TFA approach centers on treating the composite medium as elastic with induced local transformations, implementation in the finite element framework does not require generation of an overall instantaneous stiffness matrix, which saves tremendously on the computation time. Instead, overall transformation strains, or stresses, are computed through a multiscale model, which is implemented as a user routine, and treated in the general finite element solution as nonmechanical strains in the same way thermal strains are treated.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The editors of the Journal of Cultural Economy are excited to announce a new review feature: the Review Exchange. From time to time, we will ask two authors to review one another's monographs; they will then have the opportunity to respond in an open-access forum on the Journal of Cultural Economy website. In our inaugural Review Exchange, Stuart Kirsch and Fabiana Li, authors of two important books on the politics of mining, reflect on the environmental damage wrought by extractive industries, the social movements mobilized in response, and the role of knowledge in navigating the resulting conflicts.


Tropical expansion is potentially an amplifier of coastal change in the subtropics, through directional wave climate shifts. The storm wave climate and directional wave power distribution along the Southeast Australian Shelf (SEAS) is investigated with respect to tropical extent. Forty years of storm wave observations from nine midshelf wave buoys are evaluated using synoptic storm wave typing. A robust latitudinal and along-shelf gradient in storm wave types and wave propagation patterns exists. The tropical origin storms produce a shore-normal propagation pattern along the SEAS, reduce the connectivity of coastal compartments through minor headland bypassing events or episodically reversing the net northward transport. In contrast, the extratropical origin storms produce a shore-oblique propagation pattern from the Southern Tasman to the Coral Sea, and are an important control on the connectivity of regional longshore sand transport through episodic major headland bypassing events between compartments, and the maintenance of down-drift coastlines in dynamic equilibrium. Future climate change projections indicate that the recent trend in the expansion of the latitudinal extent of the tropics in the south-west Pacific region will continue throughout this century. The combined impacts of a projected 2.5° poleward shift on the storm wave climate is a significant reduction in net northward longshore sand transport and the efficiency of headland bypassing events. On the North and Central Coasts of New South Wales we project a ∼30% reduction in longshore sand transport for the dominant extratropical-origin storm events, together with a ∼5% increase in reversed (net southward) longshore sand transport for tropical-origin storm events.


Creative and compelling theoretical formulations of the archive have emerged from a host of disciplines in the last decade. Derrida and Foucault, as well as many other humanists and social scientists, have initiated a broadly interdisciplinary conversation about the nature of the archive. This literature suggests a confluence of interests among scholars, archivists, and librarians that is fueled by a shared preoccupation with the function and fate of the historical and scholarly record. The following essay provides an exploration and overview of this archival discourse.


The object of the present research work is the optimization of soil-washing processes applied to heavy metal contaminated soils. The work focuses on the whole cycle of these treatments, including the possible recovery and the proper disposal of the used washing solution. Both the design and the exploitation of a soil washing treatment are investigated, in order to maximize their efficacy, in terms of cost and process efficiency. At this aim process parameters and reactor configurations are studied in details through lab-scale tests, and the observed kinetics are simulated through mathematical modeling. Soil samples used for the experimental activity were collected from an agricultural field located in Southern Italy, mainly contaminated by copper. Among several Aminopolycarboxylate (APC) chelating agents, Ethylenediamine-N,N'-disuccinic acid (EDDS) was selected, for its recognized biodegradability, widely reported in literature works, and its efficiency as extracting agent towards several heavy metals, including Cu. Literature review allowed determining the two most important process parameters to be investigated for washing optimization. The two parameters were identified as EDDS : Cu molar ratio and liquid to soil ratio (L/S). In order to investigate the effect of these parameters on process kinetics and Cu extraction yield, batch washing tests in continuous-stirred tank reactor configuration (CSTR) were carried out. EDDS : Cu molar ratio increase was found to be able to enhance process efficiency more than L/S increase. Batch tests clearly displayed a first fast kinetic step at the beginning of the treatment, followed by a second slower kinetic extraction step, which lasted until the end of the treatment. According to this observation, an empirical mathematical model based on two-kinetic terms was formulated. Model parameters were firstly calibrated and then validated using two different sets of experimental data. The derived mathematical model was useful to assess the validity of the two-kinetic steps process hypothesis, and to provide a tool for process efficiency prediction depending on EDDS : Cu molar ratio and treatment time length. Exploitation costs of the process were minimized studying different treatment configurations. In details two Plug-Flow configurations were analyzed and compared to the CSTR one. The two Plug-Flow configurations were simulated using several reactors in series, varying the detention time of the reactors, and fractionating the injection of the washing solution. Achieved results displayed improvements in terms of Cu extraction yield and process kinetic for the tested Plug-Flow conditions compared to the CSTR one, and showed that the use of a Plug-Flow reactor allows to reduce the amount of required washing solution. Finally, an electrochemical process was tested for the treatment and the recovery of the spent EDDS solution. Batch tests were carried out to optimize electrochemical process parameters (e.g. current density, washing solution pH and conductivity). The recovered solution was also used for a multi-washing test. Results proved the effectiveness of the electrochemical treatment for EDDS solution recovery and its potential application as technique for EDDS-enhanced soil washing costs reduction


The Plio-Pleistocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere continental ice-sheet development is known to have profoundly affected the global climate system. Evidence for early continental glaciation is preserved in sediments throughout the North Atlantic Ocean, where ice-rafted detritus (IRD) layers attest to the calving of sediment-loaded icebergs from circum-Atlantic ice sheets. So far, Early-Pleistocene IRD deposition has been attributed to the presence of high-latitudinal ice sheets, whereas the existence and extent of ice accumulation in more temperate, mid-latitudinal regions remains enigmatic. Here we present results from the multiproxy provenance analysis of a unique, Pleistocene-Holocene IRD sequence from the Irish NE Atlantic continental margin. There, the Challenger coral carbonate mound (IODP Expedition 307 site U1317) preserved an Early-Pleistocene record of 16 distinctive IRD events, deposited between ca 2.6 and 1.7 Ma. Strong and complex IRD signals are also identified during the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (ca 1.2 to 0.65 Ma) and throughout the Middle-Late Pleistocene interval. Radiogenic isotope source-fingerprinting, in combination with coarse lithic component analysis, indicates a dominant sediment source in the nearby BritisheIrish Isles, even for the oldest, EarlyPleistocene IRD deposits. Hence, our findings demonstrate, for the first time, repeated and substantial (i.e. marine-terminating) ice accumulation on the BritisheIrish Isles since the beginning of the Pleistocene. Contemporaneous expansion of both highand mid-latitudinal ice sheets in the North Atlantic region is therefore implied at the onset of the Pleistocene. Moreover, it suggests the recurrent establishment of (climatically) favourable conditions for ice sheet inception, growth and instability in midlatitudinal regions, even in the earliest stages of Northern Hemisphere glacial expansion and in an obliquity-driven climate system. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


We investigate fluid-to-particle conversion using the usual Cooper-Frye approach but with more general local equilibrium distributions than the Boltzmann or Bose/Fermi distributions typically used. Even though we study ideal fluids (i.e., shear stress and bulk pressure are zero everywhere), we find a suppression of elliptic flow (v2) at high transverse momenta (pT>1.5 GeV/c), relative to results obtained with the traditional Boltzmann distributions. The non-viscous suppression shows qualitatively similar features to the well-known shear viscous suppression of v2; for example, it increases with pT, and it is smaller for heavier species as seen in self-consistent kinetic theory calculations. Our results question whether all of the v2 suppression seen in the data can be attributed to viscous effects, and indicate that shear viscosities extracted from RHIC and LHC elliptic flow data might be overestimated.


This study aims to explore the experiences of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in teaching productive skills during emergency distance learning (ERT) and the COVID-19 pandemic and their recommendations for teaching productive skills online. Phenomenological inquiry, which is one of the qualitative designs, was employed to conduct the study. It took place in the 2020-2021 academic year in Turkey. Participants of the study consisted of 16 English as a Foreign Language teachers. Convenience sampling was executed to designate the study participants. The main data collection tool was semi-structured interview questions and data was collected via individual interviews, a focus group interview and via form by e-mail. Content analysis was administered in the data analysis process. Study results explored teachers mostly agreed on the fact that online education had its advantages such as easy materials access and online tools and some disadvantages such as lack of interaction, lack of scaffolding, internet access problems and learner-related problems. Also, they stated that it was hard to engage learners during the process, so they used games, authentic materials, videos, discussions and web 2.0 tools to provide engagement. Teachers discovered new online platforms and tools to make their lessons efficient. They mostly suggested changing the assessment style, making participation compulsory and conducting activities that can engage learners in the learning-teaching process. Consequently, it was seen that teaching productive skills in ERT was challenging in terms of student participation; however, teachers found solutions to it and they thought it was not a bad idea to teach productive skills online, especially speaking. Accordingly, hybrid education can be considered in the future in teaching English and teaching productive skills.


Introduction Emergency doctors must make decisions for many patients in a limited time. Various emergency cases are not compatible with routine conditions as described in textbooks, so doctors use clinical decision making (CDM) processes to act in the best possible way. In the present work, these processes and some of the related factors were assessed. Methods Decisions made by doctors were studied via patient medical records, doctors' notes and interviews with decision-making doctors from the Emergency Department of Rasul-Akram Hospital, Tehran, Iran. All doctors were unaware of this research, and they had previously studied CDM processes as part of their training curriculum. A total of 10 day and 10 night shifts (240 h) between 1 March 2010 and 30 May 2010 were considered for the study. Results Rule-based, event-driven, knowledge-based and skill-based decisions, respectively, were the most frequent processes used by doctors in 726 first visits. It was also found that 7% of decisions were not made on a known CDM basis, that all of them were for non-urgent and 'standard' patients, and that most patients who were non-urgent were referred to first-year postgraduates. Skill-based decisions were not applied in very urgent cases; 107 out of 726 decisions on first visits had shifted to knowledge-based process by the time of final treatment decisions. For final treatment decisions, rule-based and knowledge-based processes were more frequently used than other CDM processes. Conclusions The rule-based process is the most common CDM process used by emergency doctors, perhaps because of the minimisation of human error in this process. CDM choice may be influenced by triage level, treatment room and doctors' educational levels. Revealing and studying these factors may help shift decisions to the best possible decision making levels, defining a model in future research.


Intensive forestry practises in the Swedish landscape have led to the loss and fragmentation of stable old-growth habitats. We investigated relationships between landscape composition at multiple scales and the composition of saproxylic beetle assemblages in nine clear-cut, mature managed and old-growth spruce-dominated forest stands in the central boreal zone of Sweden. We set out fresh spruce and birch logs and created spruce snags in 2001–2002 to experimentally test the effects of coarse woody debris (CWD) type and forest management on the composition of early and late successional, and red-listed saproxylic beetle assemblages. We examined effects of CWD availability at 100 m, and landscape composition at 1 and 10 km on saproxylic beetle abundances. Additionally, we tested whether assemblage similarity decreased with increasing distance between sites. We collected beetles from the experimental logs using eclector and window traps in four periods during 2003. CWD was measured and landscape composition data was obtained from maps of remotely sensed data. The composition of saproxylic beetles differed among different CWD substrates and between clear-cuts and the older stand types, however differences between mature managed and old-growth forests were significant only for red-listed species. Assemblage similarities for red-listed species on clear-cuts were more different at greater distances apart, indicating that they have more localised distributions. CWD availability within 100 m of the study sites was rarely important in determining the abundance of species, suggesting that early successional saproxylic beetles can disperse further than this distance. At a larger scale, a large area of suitable stand types within both 1 and 10 km resulted in greater abundances in the study sites for several common and habitat-specific species. The availability of suitable habitat at scales of 1–10 km is thus likely to be important in the survival of many saproxylic species in forestry-fragmented areas.


INTRODUCTION
Endodontic infections are very prevalent and have a polymicrobial etiology characterized by complex interrelationships between endodontic microorganisms and the host defenses. Proteomic analysis of endodontic infections can provide global insights into the invasion, pathogenicity mechanisms, and multifactorial interactions existing between root canal bacteria and the host in the initiation and progression of apical periodontitis. The purpose of this study was to apply proteomic techniques such as liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the identification of proteins of bacterial origin present in endodontic infections.

METHODS
Endodontic specimens were aseptically obtained from seven patients with root canal infections. Protein mixtures were subjected to tryptic in-solution digestion and analysed by reverse-phase nano-LC-MS/MS followed by a database search.

RESULTS
Proteins, mainly of cell wall or membrane origin, from endodontic bacteria especially Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Treponema denticola were identified from all the samples tested. Identified proteins included adhesins, autolysins, proteases, virulence factors, and antibiotic-resistance proteins.

CONCLUSIONS
LC-MS/MS offers a sensitive analytical platform to study the disease processes in the root canal environment. The array of proteins expressed in endodontic infections reflects the complex microbial presence and highlights the bacterial species involved in the inflammatory process.


in subcutaneous tissue, and an intrathoracic lipoma is relatively rare. Methods: We operated a case of a rapidly growing intrathoracic chest wall type lipoma. Results: A 19-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of an abnormal shadow on his chest X-ray in a routine medical checkup. This was not detected 4 years ago. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed an intrathoracic fat density mass about 9 cm in diameter arising from the left chest wall near the diaphragm. Chest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the smooth-shaped mass with a thin partition inside. The mass was high intensity on both T1 and T2 imaging. A benign intrathoracic lipoma was likely on imaging findings, but a liposarcoma could not be ruled out. The tumour was resected by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for diagnosis and treatment. The surgery was done via two ports VATS. The tumour originated from the parietal pleura, and no invasion to the chest wall was detected. In pathological findings, there were a number of mature adipocytes while no immature adipocytes were detected. There were no malignant findings, and the resected tumour was finally diagnosed as benign lipoma. The postoperative course was uneventful. One year has passed since he underwent the operation, he has had no evidence of recurrence. Conclusions: We report a case of a rapidly growing intrathoracic chest wall type lipoma resected by VATS.


Background NFkB, an important transcriptional factor, has been reported to play a significant role in the coordinated transcription of cytokine and adhesion molecule genes. Therefore, blocking the NFkB may attenuate ischemia reperfusion injury in the myocardium. For blocking transcriptional factors, gene therapy, such as cis element decoy, appears to be an innovative and useful therapy. This study aimed to prove the efficacy of cis element decoy against NFkB binding site for myocardial protection. Methods and Results Rat hearts were transfected with fluorescence isothiocyanate-labeled cis element decoy against NFkB (NF)-binding site (NF group, n=6) and scrambled decoy (SD) group (n=6) by coronary infusion of hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-liposome during cardioplegic arrest. Both the NF and SD groups showed marked FITC-staining in the nuclei of myocytes, demonstrating the efficacy of gene transfer into the nuclei of cardiac myocytcs as compared with the control group transfected with empty liposomes. After 3 days of transfection, the NF group showed significantly higher percentages of recovery of left ventricular developed pressure (NF versus SD, 87±11 versus 54±12%) and coronary flow (97±16 versus 61±15%) than did the control hearts when exposed to ischemia (30 minutes, 37°C) and reperfusion (30 minutes, 37°C). The NF group showed a significantly lower percentage of neutrophil adherence to endothelial cells (38±6 versus 81±%) and a lower tissue level of interleukin-8 (109±48 versus 210±55 ng/mg) than did the SD group. Conclusion The hearts transfected with cis element decoy against NFkB binding site showed significant improvement in tolerance against ischemia-reperfusion injury in association with the inhibition of neutrophil adherence and tissue IL-8 production. This suggests that NFkB plays a significant role in ischemia-reperfusion injury. This method, using in vivo gene transfection of cis element decoy against NFkB binding site, appears to be a novel and future strategy for myocardial protection.


Breakthroughs in transformer-based models have revolutionized not only the NLP field, but also vision and multimodal systems. However, although visualization and interpretability tools have become available for NLP models, internal mechanisms of vision and multimodal transformers remain largely opaque. With the success of these transformers, it is increasingly critical to understand their inner workings, as unraveling these black-boxes will lead to more capable and trustworthy models. To contribute to this quest, we propose VL-InterpreT, which provides novel interactive visualizations for interpreting the attentions and hidden representations in multimodal transformers. VL-InterpreT is a task agnostic and integrated tool that (1) tracks a variety of statistics in attention heads throughout all layers for both vision and language components, (2) visualizes cross-modal and intra-modal attentions through easily readable heatmaps, and (3) plots the hidden representations of vision and language tokens as they pass through the transformer layers. In this paper, we demonstrate the functionalities of VL-InterpreT through the analysis of KD-VLP, an end-to-end pretraining vision-language multimodal transformer-based model, in the tasks of Visual Commonsense Reasoning (VCR) and WebQA, two visual question answering benchmarks. Furthermore, we also present a few interesting findings about multimodal transformer behaviors that were learned through our tool.


A CAMEL FOR THE SHOGUN

ABSTRACT

On August 24, 1803, a half century before the visit of Matthew Perry, a ship flying the Stars and Stripes sailed boldly into the forbidden harbor of Nagasaki, fired several salutes, and splashed anchor. Her skipper, William Robert Stewart, had brought gifts for the shogun, – a camel, a water buffalo, and a donkey. He had come, he said, to get a trade agreement with Japan for American commerce.

Stewart's identity has long mystified historians. Contemporary American and Japanese accounts say nothing about his background. Stamford Raffles and some Dutch sources allege that he was an Englishman masquerading as an American. This paper will reveal Stewart's identity and explore his relations with the Dutch East India Company.

Records at various locations in New York confirm that he was indeed an American. Surprisingly, they also reveal that he had been aboard the sloop "Experiment" on its historic voyage to Canton in 1785. Since then he had been active in the China trade.

In 1797, during the Napoleonic Wars, the DEI in Batavia had chartered Stewart's brig to make the annual voyage to Deshima, since their own vessels were subject to seizure by the British. As the U.S. was neutral, he would fly the American flag until reaching Nagasaki, and then raise the Dutch colors to enter the harbor.
For details of Stewart's several voyages we have consulted, among other sources, The Deshima Dagregister, records maintained by the Dutch in their outpost at Nagasaki.

When Stewart arrived, Deshima was rife with corruption. Hemmij, the Opperhoofd (Chief), had secretly agreed to supply the Daimyo of Satsuma with an, illegal cargo and involved Stewart in the plot. The story is murky and bizarre. Hemmij died under mysterious circumstances and Deshima was razed by fire. Subsequently Stewart lost the Company's cargoes in several questionable shipwrecks. He was arrested and interned on Java, and somehow he managed to escape, possibly on an American vessel.

By 1803, when Stewart reappeared at Deshima to seek an opening for American trade, the DEI's monopoly of trade was already under challenge in Amsterdam, while some voices at Yedo were advocating more openness to the West.

On another level, the Japanese distrusted the Russians in Siberia and the British in India. Since the Americans had defeated the British in war, would the Shogun consider them a useful counterweight to the British?
The panicked officials on Deshima hastened to the Governor of Nagasaki with claims that Stewart was an English agent.

The Bugyo readily accepted the Dutch accusations. Possibly he himself had had a part in the Hemmij scheme and wanted it swept under the rug. Deciding not to involve the Shogun, he ordered the American to leave Deshima and never return. At this point Stewart disappears from published history.

Documents in New York reveal that he ultimately married into a socially prominent and politically powerful New York family. In 1818 he died of yellow fever in New Orleans, while pursuing a private law suit. Opposing counsel was Thomas Jefferson.


Recent rapid development of wireless communication technologies and portable mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones and wireless sensors bring the best out of mobile computing, particularly Mobile Ad-hoc Sensor Networks (MASNETs). MASNETs are types of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) that are designed to consider energy in mind because they have severe resource constraints due to their lack of processing power, limited memory, and bandwidth as in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Hence, they have the characteristics, requirements, and limitations of both MANETs and WSNs. There are many potential applications of MASNETs such as a real-time target tracking and an ocean temperature monitoring. In these applications, mobility is the fundamental characteristic of the sensor nodes, and it poses many challenges to the routing algorithm. One of the greatest challenge is to provide a routing algorithm that is capable of dynamically changing its topology in the mobile environment with minimal consumption of energy. In MASNETs, the main reason of the topology change is because of the movement of mobile sensor nodes and not the node failure due to energy depletion. Since these sensor nodes are limited in power supply and have low radio frequency coverage, they easily lose their connection with neighbours, and face difficulties in updating their routing tables. The switching process from one coverage area to another consumes more energy. This network must be able to adaptively alter the routing paths to minimize the effects of variable wireless link quality, topological changes, and transmission power levels on energy consumption of the network. Hence, nodes prefer to use as little transmission power as necessary and transmit control packets as infrequently as possible in energy constrained MASNETs. Therefore, in this thesis we propose a new dynamic energy-aware routing algorithm based on the transmission power control (TPC). This method effectively decreases the average percentage of packet loss and reduces the average total energy consumption which indirectly prolong the network lifetime of MASNETs. To validate the proposed protocol, we ran the simulation on the Avrora simulator and varied speed, density, and route update interval of mobile nodes. Finally, the performance of the proposed routing algorithm was measured and compared against the basic Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing algorithm in MASNETs.


Rectal leiomyosarcoma is a rare neoplasm, and no standard therapeutic strategy has been established, other than surgical resection. The prognosis of advanced leiomyosarcoma in the rectum is poor. We describe a case of a 47-year-old man with a locally advanced rectal leiomyosarcoma who presented with anal bleeding and lower abdominal pain. After discussions by a multidisciplinary team (MDT), the patient received preoperative pelvic short-course radiotherapy followed by laparoscopic-assisted abdominoperineal resection. Adjuvant chemotherapy with doxorubicin and ifosfamide was administered postoperatively. Local recurrence was detected 13 months after the resection. The patient received chemotherapy with gemcitabine and docetaxel followed by radioactive particle implantation. Thereafter, apatinib was administered to gain systemic control. The patient died 24 months after the diagnosis. This case report draws attention to treatment with multidisciplinary therapy, as discussed by MDT, for rare locally advanced rectal leiomyosarcoma.


Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) has been widely applied for disease diagnosis. However, the 5 min signal length for HRV analysis is needed. Method: A signal processing procedure for very short-term photoplethysmography (PPG) signal for fever detection and autoregulation assessment was proposed. The Time-Shift Multiscale Entropy Analysis (TSME) was applied to instantaneous pulse rate time series (iPR) and normalized by the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of all scales to calculate novel indices. A total of 33 subjects were recruited for the study. Fifteen participants whose body temperatures were higher than 37.9 °C were served as the fever group. Others were served as the non-fever group. The total 15 s PPG signal with 200 sampling rates was used for iPR calculation. Result: The CDF value of entropy on the scale k = 19 (CDF(E(k = 19))) of iPR had the lowest p-value calculated by the Weltch t-test between two groups (p < 0.001). The Spearman correlation r between CDF(E(k = 19)) and body temperature is −0.757, 0.287, and −0.830 in all subjects, the non-fever group and the Fever group, respectively. The area under the curve, calculated from the receiver operating characteristic of CDF(E(k = 19)) of iPR is 0.915. Conclusion: The entropy of iPR is useful for detecting fever. Moreover, a short-term PPG signal is suitable to develop real-time applications, and multiscale entropy provides different scales of information for daily healthcare.


According to the Digccurr Project Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge and Competencies, future digital curators will need sufficient technical skills to address the challenges presented by digital curation (Lee et al. 2007). In addition, interviews with Digccurr advisory board members identify a specific need to recruit individuals with technical backgrounds. Students pursing majors in computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE) possess sufficient technical skills included in the Digccurr matrix. In this study, a group of CS students and CE students will be interviewed about their current career plans and reactions to three digital curation job postings. Data will provide information that can inform recruitment of individuals that possess the skills needed to conduct digital curation work.


Efficient, realistic face animation is still a challenge. A system is proposed that yields realistic visemes for speech animation. This paper discusses the extraction of these visemes. It starts from real 3D face dynamics, observed at frame rate for thousands of points on the faces of speaking actors. A generic 3D mesh is fitted to the data throughout 3D time sequences. This is based on a combination of morphing and tracking techniques. The actual animation is the subject of a companion paper.


A small rubber particle protein homolog plays dual roles as positive factors in post-germination growth and the drought stress tolerance response Lipid droplets (LDs) act as repositories for fatty acids and sterols, which are used for various cellular processes such as energy production and membrane and hormone synthesis. LD-associated proteins play important roles in seed development and germination, but their functions in postgermination growth are not well understood. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) contains three SRP homologs (SRP1, SRP2, and SRP3) that share sequence identities with small rubber particle proteins of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). In this report, the possible cellular roles of SRPs in postgermination growth and the drought tolerance response were investigated. Arabidopsis SRPs appeared to be LD-associated proteins and displayed polymerization properties in vivo and in vitro. SRP-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis plants (35S:SRP1, 35S:SRP2, and 35S:SRP3) exhibited higher vegetative and reproductive growth and markedly better tolerance to drought stress than wild-type Arabidopsis. In addition, constitutive over-expression of SRPs resulted in increased numbers of large LDs in postgermination seedlings. In contrast, single (srp1, 35S:SRP2-RNAi, and srp3) and triple (35S:SRP2-RNAi/srp1srp3) loss-of-function mutant lines exhibited the opposite phenotypes. Our results suggest that Arabidopsis SRPs play dual roles as positive factors in postgermination growth and the drought stress tolerance response. The possible relationships between LD-associated proteins and the drought stress response are discussed.


Beginning in the 1980s, it has been shown how parallels of today's 'contemporary legends' can be found in ancient literature. Polygenetic convergences, literary influences, but also real continuities can be evoked to explain the analogies between the modern stories of the crocodiles in the New York sewers, of the vanishing hitchhiker, of the devil in the ballroom, of the inventor of the water engine, and narratives in Aelianus, Phlegon, Lucian, Petronius and others. Here, we will also discuss possible parallels, unnoticed so far, between the story of the 'son of Polycritus' by Phlegon of Tralles and the 'contemporary legend' of the newborn boy who prophesies misfortunes, and between the story (probably already in John Malalas' Chronicle ) of the dissemination of vipers and lions along the Roman borders by emperor Decius, and the contemporary rumor concerning the unwary release of vipers and wolves by State agencies or ecologist organizations.


abstract:This article offers a close reading of the figurative language used to represent suffering in literary testimonies of the Nazi concentration camps. It begins with an overview of the debate over the legitimacy of figurative language in representations of the Holocaust and considers the arguments against metaphor by scholars in the field of pain research and Holocaust studies. Bringing into dialogue the disciplines of pain studies and Holocaust studies, the article advances the claim that figurative language is an effective means of expressing suffering and that an analysis of this language is valuable for understanding the experiences of the victims of Nazism. The article subsequently presents a comparative analysis of Se questo è un uomo (1947) by Primo Levi, Le grand voyage (1963) by Jorge Semprún, and K.L. Reich (1963) by Joaquim Amat-Piniella. It identifies two patterns in the representation of suffering by these author-survivors: first, the use of zoomorphic metaphors to describe bodily pain and, second, the depiction of anthropomorphized landscapes to portray psychological anguish.


Parks College of Engineering and Aviation of Saint Louis University has a tradition of offering an outstanding aerospace engineering education to prepare students at the undergraduate and graduate level for careers in commercial aviation, defense systems, and space systems fields. Courses are offered across the engineering spectrum (aerospace, electrical and computer engineering, and physics departments) ranging from an introduction to aerospace engineering to spacecraft design, spacecraft communications, and space physics. Students participate in courses that include orbital mechanics, space dynamics, spacecraft engineering, and space systems. Senior capstone project work is also included. A separate Astronautics Engineering track as well as a Minor in Space Systems Engineering for non-aerospace engineering students is currently being developed. A, number of student-driven space systems projects are in process that involve design, development, and test of small satellites similar to those recently highlighted in the March 2009 Systems article entitled The First one Hundred University-Class Spacecraft 1981 - 2008. Reference identifies student spacecraft launched over the past 27 years.


We investigate a linear, fully coupled thermoelasticity problem for a highly heterogeneous, two‐phase medium. The medium in question consists of a connected matrix with disconnected, initially periodically distributed inclusions separated by a sharp interface undergoing an a priori known interface movement because of phase transformations. After transforming the moving geometry to an ϵ‐periodic, fixed reference domain, we establish the well‐posedness of the model and derive a number of ϵ‐independent a priori estimates. Via a two‐scale convergence argument, we then show that the ϵ‐dependent solutions converge to solutions of a corresponding upscaled model with distributed time‐dependent microstructures. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This article discusses the nature of interprofessional ethics and some of the ethical issues and challenges that arise when practitioners from different professions work closely together in the fields of health and social care. The article draws on materials from a conference on this theme, covering issues of confidentiality and information sharing in practice and research with vulnerable people; challenges for teaching and learning about ethics in interprofessional settings; the potential of virtue ethics and an ethic of care for understanding and handling ethical issues in interprofessional practice; and the extent to which interprofessional working may be about surveillance and control. It concludes that the need to understand and handle ethical issues in interprofessional working is contributing to the revitalisation of professional ethics as a dynamic field of study.


Introduction: The rationale for use of drugs during pregnancy requires a careful assessment as in addition to the mother, the health and life of her unborn child is
also at stake. Careful consideration of the benefit to the mother and the risk to the fetus is required when prescribing drugs during pregnancy. Recommendation to
avoid all drugs during pregnancy is unrealistic and may be dangerous. Evidence available shows that physicians prescribe surprisingly large number of drugs.
Objective: To evaluate the patterns of drug prescriptions to pregnant women in tertiary care government hospital . Methods: All pregnant women [509] attending
antenatal clinic for consecutive two months in a government hospital were included in the study, after taking individual written informed consent. Each patient
after the antenatal check up was interviewed and information documented in a specific data collection format designed for the study. Results and discussion:
Majority of the respondents [74.5%] were illiterate. But in spite of illiteracy the women were fairly well informed about some of the crucial issues in pregnancy
like periodicity of antenatal check up, need to take some drug supplements during pregnancy and to avoid certain drugs. Majority of the respondents [57.2%] said
that they do not indulge in self medication. All essential supplements were supplied free of cost by the state and all patients were prescribed the required medication.
Drugs like Albendazole and ciprofloxacin which are not considered very safe in pregnancy were used 24 and three patients respectively.


Objective: This study examines the effect of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy on salivary cortisol levels. Design: Prospective case series over six weeks duration. The trial consisted of establishment of each individual's baseline cortisol level, a two week treatment period (4 treatments), and a two week post treatment period. Setting: Macquarie University Chiropractic Research Centre. Participants: Nine subjects (six male, three female), employed in a large corporation, volunteered to the trial of spinal manipulative therapy. Main Outcome Measures: Saliva samples were analysed using an Amerlex Radioimmunoassay Kit to determine the cortisol concentrations present. Results: Statistical interpretation, after exclusion of an apparent outlying subject, revealed results of statistical significance (p<0.001) for reduction of salivary cortisol over the complete five week study. In addition, there was no apparent alteration in salivary cortisol levels immediately preceding and 15 minutes after spinal manipulative therapy. Conclusion: The initial evidence is inconclusive, however, the potential relationship demands further investigation. Additional research is necessary in measuring the physiological effects of Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy. This method is currently being used in a larger randomised controlled trial.


The study aimed at assessing the degree to which stakeholder participation in a project influences its sustainability. The main objective of the study was to assess the role of stakeholders" participation in promoting sustainability of donor funded project. A cross sectional descriptive research design was used with a sample size of 70 stakeholders. Being a qualitative study heavily influenced by the interpretivist philosophy, data were analyzed through content analysis and SPSS version 16.0. The study found that in order for stakeholders" participation to be effective in promoting sustainability of donor funded projects it should be initiated from the beginning of the project. The study also found that the major role of stakeholders" participation in donor funded projects was mainly in the form of Resource mobilization, Collaboration and partnership, Material contribution, and citizen control.
Keywords: Sustainability, Stakeholder participation and Donor funded projects


Maassab, H. F. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), and J. A. Veronelli. Characteristics of serially propagated monkey kidney cell cultures with persistent rubella infection. J. Bacteriol. 91:436–441. 1966.—A persistent infection of LLC-MK2 cells with rubella virus has been established and maintained for over 3 years. This "carrier culture," designated as LLC-MK2-RAL, possesses distinct morphological and biological characteristics when compared with the original uninfected LLC-MK2 line. The mechanism of viral persistance has not been entirely elucidated, but available data suggest a regulated infection with transmission of the virus directly from cell to cell or through cell division. Interferon was isolated from RAL (rubella-associated line) culture, which explains partly the wide spectrum of resistance to superinfecting viruses. Amantadine, although inhibiting cultures of LLC-MK2 cells infected with rubella virus, failed to cure the "carrier culture."


The field of sample enrichment is currently receiving a large amount of attention because it is essential to reduce the time required for many laboratory processes. Dielectrophoresis, or the motion of a polarized particle in the presence of a non-uniform electric field, has emerged as a promising method for biological sample concentration. By relying upon electrical properties that are intrinsic to a cell or microparticle, dielectrophoretic concentration avoids the need for sample preparation procedures which can greatly reduce the throughput of a system. Contactless Dielectrophoresis (cDEP) is a promising manifestation of dielectrophoresis in which the electrode structures that provide the non-uniform electric field are physically separated from the sample by a thin dielectric barrier. This work presents two methods for providing the high-voltage and high-frequency signal necessary to generate a non-uniform electric field in the sample channel of a cDEP device. The first method, an oscillator-based system, was able to produce DEP trapping and pearl-chaining of THP-1 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells in a cDEP device. The second method presented here utilizes an amplifier and transformer combination to generate very high voltages over a wide range of frequencies. Finally, electrorotation, or the spin imparted to a particle due to a rotating electric field has proven to be an extremely useful analysis of a cell's dielectric properties. A wideband, computer controlled function generator, outputting four sinusoidal waveforms in quadrature is presented. This device was able to produce outputs with the proper alignment over the range of 10 Hz to 100MHz.


The influence of van der Waals (vdW) and Casimir forces on the stability of the electrostatic torsional nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) actuators is analyzed in the paper. With the consideration of vdW and Casimir effects, the dependence of the critical tilting angle and pull-in voltage on the sizes of structure is investigated. The influence of vdW torque is compared with that of Casimir torque. The modified coefficients of vdW and Casimir torques on the pull-in voltage are, respectively, calculated. When the gap is sufficiently small, pull-in can still take place with arbitrary small angle perturbation because of the action of vdW and Casimir torques even if there is not electrostatic torque. And the critical pull-in gaps for two cases are, respectively, derived.


Computer models of the individual components of the peripheral auditory system – the outer, middle, and inner ears and the auditory nerve – have been developed in the past, with varying level of detail, breadth, and faithfulness of the underlying parameters. Building on previous work, we advance the modeling of the ear by presenting a complete, physiologically justified, bottom-up computer model based on up-to-date experimental data that integrates all of these parts together seamlessly. The detailed bottom-up design of the present model allows for the investigation of partial hearing mechanisms and their defects, including genetic, molecular, and microscopic factors. Also, thanks to the completeness of the model, one can study microscopic effects in the context of their implications on hearing as a whole, enabling the correlation with neural recordings and non-invasive psychoacoustic methods. Such a model is instrumental for advancing quantitative understanding of the mechanism of hearing, for investigating various forms of deafness, as well as for devising next generation hearing aids and cochlear implants.


In future optical networks that employ wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), the use of optical switching technologies on a burst or packet level, combined with advanced modulation formats would achieve greater spectral efficiency and utilize the existing bandwidth more efficiently. All-optical wavelength converters are expected to be one of the key components in these broadband networks. They can be used at the network nodes to avoid contention and to dynamically allocate wavelengths to ensure optimum use of fiber bandwidth.

In this work, a reconfigurable wavelength converter comprising of a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) as the nonlinear element and a fast-switching sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector (SG-DBR) tunable laser as one of the pumps is developed. The wavelength conversion of 12.5-Gbaud quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and Pol-Mul QPSK signals with switching time of tens of nanoseconds is experimentally achieved. Although the tunable DBR lasers can achieve ns tuning time, they present relatively large phase noise. The phase noise transfer from the pump to the converted signal can have a deleterious effect on signal quality and cause a performance penalty with phase modulated signals. To overcome the phase noise transfer issue, a wavelength converter using tunable dual-correlated pumps provided by the combination of a single-section quantum dash passively mode-locked laser (QD-PMLL) and a programmable tunable optical filter is designed and the wavelength conversion of QPSK and 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signals at 12.5 GBaud is experimentally investigated. Nonlinear distortion of the wavelength converted signal caused by gain saturation effects in the SOA can significantly degrade the signal quality and cause difficulties for the practical wavelength conversion of sig nal data with advanced modulation formats. In this work, the machine learning clustering based nonlinearity compensation method is proposed to improve the tolerance to nonlinear distortion in an
SOA based wavelength conversion system with 16 QAM and 64 QAM signals.


Since the maintenance and repairing costs of mechanical systems, such as structures and rotating machines are significantly high, one way to reduce these costs is to consider some approaches before any operational work to check for damages in such systems. In this study, a new method is presented for damage detection of offshore jacket structures in the presence of various uncertainties, such as modeling errors, measurement errors and environmental noises, based on the simulated model and intact state of the real model. In the proposed method, real intact structure data is used to update the simulated model parameters. Some parts of the signal that are not related to the nature of the system are removed using the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition method. Frequency data is extracted from the vibrational signals using the frequency domain decomposition method. A deep auto-encoder neural network is designed to learn the damage-sensitive features from the frequency data and to damage detection of the structure. In order to train the proposed deep network, frequency data of the simulated model and real intact state are used; then the frequency data of the real structure is used to test the proposed deep network. The results show that the proposed method is capable for damage detection of the offshore jacket structure with more accurate results than the other comparative methods. ................................. Available Online:


This study aims at assessment of the role of the selected individual and contextual determinants of mortality among Lithuanian males. The study uses the census-linked data for 2001-2005 covering 6.6 million person years and 72.5 thousand deaths for males aged 30-74. Random intercept Poisson regression was used to capture unobserved regional effects. The study found that the contextual variables were associated with individual mortality risks. In particular, unfavourable socioeconomic structures of municipalities were related to elevated mortality risk at the individual level. However, after controlling for selected major individual characteristics these area-level effects either became small or statistically insignificant. Interestingly, the share of divorced males had an opposite effect on mortality as compared to the same characteristic at the individual level. The results suggest that the regional variation in male mortality risk in Lithuania can be largely explained by the variation in the individual-level characteristics.


Despite increasing interest by deploying SoS (Systems of Systems) to manag promote agility within their businesses, there research areas that are currently underdevelo is the role of standards within organisation operate and share systems within SoS. The p what standards should be chosen, or in Instead, it explores the information that ne and modelled, to reason about the standar systems of a SoS adhere to; and to provide a which to promote discussion of the incom inevitably arise within large SoS. The pap approach taken using a running example bas chain SoS for RAF Nimrod aircraft, in lig investigations into the explosion of an aircr paper concludes that the interaction of standa a complex issue, but that a methodology to dis analyse problems can be developed to furthe this area.


Objectives To examine gun storage practices and factors influencing those practices among gun owners. Methods We conducted a nationally representative online survey of US gun owners (n = 1444) in 2016 to assess gun storage practices and attitudes, factors influencing storage practices, and groups that might effectively communicate regarding safe storage. We generated descriptive statistics by using cross-tabulations and used logistic regression to estimate characteristics that influenced safe storage practices. Results Forty-six percent of gun owners reported safely storing all of their guns. Factors associated with higher odds of reporting safe storage were having a child in the home (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03, 2.03), only owning handguns (AOR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.24, 2.73), and reporting that storage decisions were influenced by a gun safety course (AOR = 2.05; 95% CI = 1.54, 2.74) or discussions with family members (AOR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.05, 1.86). Gun owners ranked law enforcement, hunting or outdoors groups, active-duty military, and the National Rifle Association as most effective in communicating safe storage practices. Conclusions Public health campaigns to promote safe gun storage should consider partnering with groups that garner respect among gun owners for their experience with safe use of guns.


ABSTRACT The Whooping Crane (Grus americana) is a federally endangered species in the United States and Canada that relies on wetland, grassland, and cropland habitat during its long migration between wintering grounds in coastal Texas, USA, and breeding sites in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada. We combined opportunistic Whooping Crane sightings with landscape data to identify correlates of Whooping Crane occurrence along the migration corridor in North Dakota and South Dakota, USA. Whooping Cranes selected landscapes characterized by diverse wetland communities and upland foraging opportunities. Model performance substantially improved when variables related to detection were included, emphasizing the importance of accounting for biases associated with detection and reporting of birds in opportunistic datasets. We created a predictive map showing relative probability of occurrence across the study region by applying our model to GIS data layers; validation using independent, unbiased locations from birds equipped with platform transmitting terminals indicated that our final model adequately predicted habitat use by migrant Whooping Cranes. The probability map demonstrated that existing conservation efforts have protected much top-tier Whooping Crane habitat, especially in the portions of North Dakota and South Dakota that lie east of the Missouri River. Our results can support species recovery by informing prioritization for acquisition and restoration of landscapes that provide safe roosting and foraging habitats. Our results can also guide the siting of structures such as wind towers and electrical transmission and distribution lines, which pose a strike and mortality risk to migrating Whooping Cranes.


Emerging infectious diseases are a global threat. In countries like Brazil, where biodiversity is high and public health conditions in terms of infrastructure and medical care are often precarious, emerging diseases are particularly worrisome. The lack of monitoring strategies to identify pathogens with the potential to cause outbreaks or epidemics is another problem in Brazil and other developing countries. In this article, we present the history of the Sabiá virus (SABV), a pathogen that was described in the 1990s in Brazil. Several aspects of the biology and ecology of the SABV remain unknown. The SABV has the potential to cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. To date, four cases of human infections have been reported worldwide; two were naturally acquired (both in Brazil), whereas the other two were linked to occupational exposure in the laboratory environment (one in Brazil and one in the USA). In this review, we summarize the basic biological and ecological characteristics of the SABV. This is the first work to gather all available data on the historical aspects involving the cases of SABV infection along with an update on its characteristic features.


Normal movement is essential for a child's healthy physical, cognitive and social development. Accurate data on the incidence of disorders of motor functioning in children is needed if appropriate public health initiatives are to be implemented. We used data from the Bavarian Pre- School Morbidity Survey (BPMS) to look at the rates of motor impairments in thirteen consecutive cohorts of children entering primary school, from 1997 to 2009. We explored prevalence rates of motor impairments and its sub domains over thirteen years. We utilised a retrospective crosssectional study design to assess the prevalence of impairments over thirteen consecutive cohorts of German children beginning school, from 1997 to 2009. A total of 13088 children were assessed for physical impairment using a standardised medical assessment. We subdivided motor functioning into three separate sub-areas of functioning: gross motor, fine motor and graph-motor (drawing) skills. There was a dramatic increase in the rates of motor impairments in children over the thirteen year period. The prevalence of one or more motor impairments rose from 8.15 to 42.44% for boys and from 2.12 to 17.21% for girls over the study period. Mostly, children were having increasing difficulties with fine motor tasks and tasks involving writing and drawing, while gross motor functioning was less affected. The rapid and dramatic increases in motor problems over the 13 years are concerning and warrant further exploration. We suspect that children, increasingly exposed to modern technologies, may be losing certain fine motor skills, especially those relating to hand written language and drawing. Such changes may indicate significant changes in modern child development which warrant exploration and intervention. Alternatively, our results may indicate that traditional tests of motor functioning, which use drawing and pencils, may be outdated in a modern world where the need to use pen and paper is increasingly unnecessary. Tests of motor functioning may need to be updated and new norms developed.


Diabodies are the recombinant bispecific antibodies (BsAbs), constructed from heterogeneous single-chain antibodies. Usually, diabodies have been prepared from bacterial periplasmic fraction using a co-expression vector (i.e. genes encoding two chains were tandemly located under the same promoter). Some diabodies, however, cannot be expressed as a soluble material owing to inclusion body formation, which limits the utilization of diabodies in various fields. Here we report an improved method for the construction of diabodies using a refolding system. As a model, a bispecific diabody binding to adenocarcinoma-associated antigen MUC1 and to CD3 on T cells was studied. One chain consisted of a VH specific for MUC1 linked to a VL specific for CD3 with a short polypeptide linker (GGGGS). The second was composed of a VL specific for MUC1 linked to a VH specific for CD3. The two hetero scFvs were independently obtained from intracellular insoluble fractions of Escherichia coli, purified, mixed stoichiometrically (at an equivalent molar ratio of 1:1) and refolded. The refolded two hetero scFv has a hetero-dimeric structure, with complete specificity for both target cells [i.e. MUC1 positive cells and CD3 positive lymphokine-activated killer cells with a T cell phenotype (T-LAK)]. Evaluation of the in vitro efficacy of T-LAK with the diabody by growth inhibition assay of cancer cells demonstrated maximum growth inhibition of cancer cells to reach approximately 98% at an effector:target ratio (E:T ratio) of 10, almost identical with that with anti-MUC1xanti-CD3 chemically synthesized BsAbs (c-BsAbs). This is the first report of the construction of a diabody using a refolding system.


Believability is a hard concept to define in video games. It depends on how and what one considers to be "believable", which is often very subjective. In previous years, several researchers have tried to find ways of assessing such concepts in games through Turing Tests on agents, which were programmed to behave like a human instead of focusing only on winning. Examples are the Mario AI Competition and the 2K BotPrize. Given the small pool of explored parameters and a focus on programming the bots rather than the assessment, in this paper we present work examining different methods of evaluating believability in video games. We explore believability through recorded gameplay and allow judges to analyze it. However, we use different parameters - such as ranking rather than binary answers - for asking how human-like the presented behaviours are. The objective of this study is to analyze the different ways believability can be assessed, for humans and non-player characters (NPCs) by comparing how results between them and scores are affected in both when changing the parameters. In order to provide a more general analysis, the study is carried out using two different racing games rather than one. Results show that these parameters have indeed changed the overall results of the study and how important it is to be able to generalize these concepts in game AI, given how clear it is that believability is dependent on genre, game and even the design of the questionnaire.


Background: Total pancreatectomy is an obligatory surgical procedure in locally advanced or centrally located pancreatic neoplasms to achieve complete tumour clearance. Owing to sound understanding of tumour biology and evolution in intervention technique and improved postoperative care, nowadays the indications of total pancreatectomy have taken a significant change. Aim: To review the indications of total pancreatectomy and its advantages and disadvantages under current perspectives. Method: Major databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus and the Cochrane Library, were searched for studies of total pancreatectomy and the results reported by various authors were summarized. Results: The indications of total pancreatectomy in subjects diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis were classified into four subgroups, including "Tumour", "Trouble", "Technical difficulties" and "Therapy-refractory pain". Today, total pancreatectomy has more specific and different indications than before. Currently, IPMN (intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm) seems to have the most essential indication quantitatively. Morbidity and mortality related to total pancreatectomy are more profoundly decreased than before due to improvements in the operative techniques and post-operative managements. Some of the metabolic disorders are reported as major disadvantages of total pancreatectomy. Conclusion: Despite the disadvantages of total pancreatectomy, it remains an inevitable procedure for subjects with chronic pancreatitis, improvements in operative techniques and postoperative management ensuring long-term survival, a better quality of life, and diminished mortality and morbidity rates.


Most of the current abstractive text summarization models are based on the sequence-to-sequence model (Seq2Seq). The source content of social media is long and noisy, so it is difficult for Seq2Seq to learn an accurate semantic representation. Compared with the source content, the annotated summary is short and well written. Moreover, it shares the same meaning as the source content. In this work, we supervise the learning of the representation of the source content with that of the summary. In implementation, we regard a summary autoencoder as an assistant supervisor of Seq2Seq. Following previous work, we evaluate our model on a popular Chinese social media dataset. Experimental results show that our model achieves the state-of-the-art performances on the benchmark dataset.


The uncertainty of income earned by farmers, namely crop failure with a very high risk, will cause financial problems in their families. The target or respondents of this study are farmers who live in Lahat Regency, South Sumatera. Initial findings indicate that the level of financial inclusion of farmers in the Lahat Regency is still quite low. The purpose of this study is to analyze the level of farmers' financial literacy, identify the components of farmers' financial literacy, and analyze the factors that affect the level of farmers' financial literacy. The research method applied is descriptive analysis and multiple regression. The analysis showed that most of the literate farmers were in the moderately literate category of 47.2 percent and the least of the farmers in the less literate category was 24.5 percent. The financial attitude component gave the largest contribution to the farmers' financial literacy index, which was 0.73. Besides, the factor affecting the level of financial literacy of farmers is education. The policy implication resulting from this research is the existence of a structured promotion and training of financial literacy for farmers by local governments. In addition, campaigning for the importance of being educated and inviting educated people to start running agricultural business activities.


We investigate the effect of a global change in the ionizing continuum level on the behavior of the strong optical broad emission lines seen in spectra of the nuclear emission-line regions of active galactic nuclei (AGN), including the Balmer lines, He I λ5876, and He II λ4686. Unlike most of the prominent heavy element lines found in the UV, the optical hydrogen and helium recombination lines' emissivities are strongly dependent on the incident continuum flux, since these lines arise out of excited states whose optical depths depend on the incident flux of photons. Using photoionization calculations we determine the luminosity-dependent responsivities, η(r, L(t)) = ∆ log Lline/∆log Lcont, of these lines for a general model of the broad emission line region (BLR), with the purpose of establishing them as important probes of the physical conditions within the BLR of AGNs. The dependence of these lines' emissivities on the incident photon flux invokes a dependence in their responsivities on distance from the central continuum source. In particular, the responsivities of these lines are generally anticorrelated with the incident photon flux. Thus, their responsivities vary with distance within the BLR for a fixed continuum luminosity and change with time as the continuum source varies. Consequently, after correcting for light-travel-time effects the response of the Balmer and optical helium lines should generally be strongest during low continuum luminosity states. Responsivity that depends on photon flux and continuum state may explain a number of outstanding problems currently under investigation in broad-line variability studies of these and other emission lines. These include the origin of the intrinsic Baldwin effect, measurements of luminosity-dependent lags (a "breathing" BLR) and luminosity-dependent variations in: integrated broad emission-line flux ratios (including He II λ4686/Hβ), broad line profile shapes, and radial velocity-dependent intensity ratios. The broad Hα/Hβ and He I/Hβ flux ratios and the Balmer emission-line responsivity are observed to decrease from the line center to the line wings. These, along with our findings, lead to the conclusion that the BLR velocity field diminishes with increasing distance from the central continuum source. This is consistent with recent reverberation studies that find a relationship between the emission-line lag and rms profile width for multiple lines in individual AGN, which implies that the velocity field is dominated by a central massive object. Finally, the responsivity of ionization-bounded clouds can account for much of the observed behavior of the optical recombination lines (e.g., the weak response of the Balmer line wings) previously attributed to a substantial contribution from matter-bounded clouds at small BLR radii. Subject headings: galaxies: active—galaxies: nuclei—galaxies: Seyfert— (galaxies:) quasars: emission lines—line: formation—line: profiles 1


Static load tests are conducted for two outer-plated steel-concrete continuous composite beams. Performance of the tested beams, including the load-deflection curve,load-strain curve,load-moment curve, plastic-hinge region and the crack of concrete flange of specimens, is analyzed. The test results indicate that effective cooperation can be achieved by the shear connector between the concrete part and the outer-plated steel beam; the composite beams have good overall performance. The concrete filling inside the U-shaped steel beam enhances the global and local stability of the outer-plated steel beam. At the bearing capacity limit state, the plastic strain on sections of both the negative and positive maximum moment develops fully so that ideal plastic hinges are formed relatively. At the serviceability limit state, the deformation and the crack width of continuous composite beams can be controlled effectively.


Iatrogenic Tracheo Esophageal Fistula (TEF) in adults is a rare complication occurring secondary to trauma and prolonged intubation. There is very scarce data regarding its airway management and that too is from the paediatric age group. We describe the case of a young male undergoing TEF repair. We started with routine tracheal intubation but during surgery our tracheal tube was hindering surgical repair. So we used intermittent ventilation by passing the tracheal tube distal to the fistula and then pulling it back and providing clear surgical field during apnoea. It was done several times until the repair was completed successfully. Different airway management techniques are described in literature with the most common being oral intubation and placement of cuff distal to the fistula. However it may need to be modified according to the situation. We used a different technique for ventilation and will discuss it's pros and cons.


Abstract Weather derivatives are financial instruments that can be used by organizations or individuals to hedge risks associated with adverse weather conditions. Weather conditions can directly decrease profits by affecting the volume of sales or costs. This paper develops a methodology for temperature option pricing in equatorial regions. In this approach, temperature is forecast by combining deterministic and stochastic models. We find that forecasting daily temperature with a model that combines a truncated third-order Fourier series with a mean reversion stochastic process proves the most accurate for pricing the options. The methodology is calibrated with data gathered in Bogotá, Colombia, using Monte Carlo simulations.


Vehicle-to-vehicle (VTV) wireless communications have many envisioned applications in traffic safety and congestion avoidance, but the development of suitable communications systems and standards requires accurate models for the VTV propagation channel. In this paper, we present a new wideband multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) model for VTV channels based on extensive MIMO channel measurements performed at 5.2 GHz in highway and rural environments in Lund, Sweden. The measured channel characteristics, in particular the nonstationarity of the channel statistics, motivate the use of a geometry-based stochastic channel model (GSCM) instead of the classical tapped-delay line model. We introduce generalizations of the generic GSCM approach and techniques for parameterizing it from measurements and find it suitable to distinguish between diffuse and discrete scattering contributions. The time-variant contribution from discrete scatterers is tracked over time and delay using a high resolution algorithm, and our observations motivate their power being modeled as a combination of a (deterministic) distance decay and a slowly varying stochastic process. The paper gives a full parameterization of the channel model and supplies an implementation recipe for simulations. The model is verified by comparison of MIMO antenna correlations derived from the channel model to those obtained directly from the measurements.


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Purpose:  To compare the effectiveness of intra-vitreal Diclofenac-Sodium (IV-D) versus intra-vitreal Triamcinolone Acetonide (IV-T) in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME).
Study Design:  Quasi experimental study.
Place and Duration of Study:  Qazi Hussain Medical Complex, Nowshera from October 2020 to April 2021.
Methods:  We recruited 40 eyes with diabetic macular edema (DME). Two groups were made. One group was assigned to 4 mg/0.1 cc of IV-T and the other group received 0.5 mg/0.1 cc of IV-D. There were 20 eyes in each group. Pre and post-opbest corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intra-ocular pressure (IOP), and central subfield thickness of macula (CSFT) were documented and analysed in both groups. The patients were followed up for 3 months after injection.
Results:  Both treatment arms displayed marked decrease in CSFT (IV-T with p = 0.03 and IV-D with p = 0.02), but the difference between groups were not statistically significant. Statistically significant improvement in BCVA was seen in IV-T from the baseline (p = 0.04). However, difference between the two groups regarding BCVA was not statistically significant. Transient increase in IOP occurred in 20% of IV-T. In IV-D reduction in IOP was observed that achieved the level of statistical significance (p = 0.03).
Conclusion:  IV-D was better in management of DME in terms of IOP after intravitreal injection and IV-T showed superior results in BCVA. However, both IV-T and IV-D showed similar efficacy in reduction of CSFT.


Introduction Two genotypes are described for Trichomonas vaginalis (TV). TV genotype I seems to be more susceptible to metronidazole, but also more prone to TV virus (TVV) infection, than type II. The release of TVV during treatment may in itself be pathogenic. Four TVV genotypes have been described, but epidemiological studies are rare as culturing TV ahead of TVV detection is laborious. We therefore developed a sensitive method to detect and type TVV in TV positive clinical samples directly. Methods TV positive samples (by NAAT) were collected from two Public Health Laboratories in the Netherlands, from 2012 to 2016. TV was typed using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) of 7 household genes. MLST profiles were put into a minimum spanning tree together with reference strains and so allocated a genotype. TVV RNA was detected using nested reverse-transcriptase PCR with newly designed primers and visualised on gel. Results We included 157 clinical samples from 151 clients (most were female; n=133, 87%). In total, 120 samples were genotyped for TV; TV genotype I was most common (n=65;54%). Over half of these samples were found positive for TVV RNA (n=65; 54%). Most TVV infections were found in TV genotype I (n=49; 75%). The amplified products for TVV1, TVV2 and TVV3 were respectively 97 bp, 290 bp and 156 bp and sequencing showed high identity with TVV genomes; TVV1-C344 (93%), TVV2-OC3 (89%) and TVV3-UR1 (85%), supporting specificity of the primers for these targets. TVV1 was most prevalent (n=45; 41%), followed by TVV3 (n=34;31%) and finally TVV2 (n=31; 28%). Co-infections occurred in 60% of TVV positive samples. TVV4 was not found at all. Sensitivity for TVV detection still needs to be established using TV samples with a known TVV (genotype) status. Conclusion TVV detection can be performed directly on clinical samples using nested RT-PCR. TVV infection occurs most frequently in TV type I parasites as in agreement with previous findings. This opens the way for molecular epidemiological studies to gain insight into the role of TVV in TV pathogenicity.


Poor soil fertility and lack of high yielding certified varieties are of the major potato production tribulations in Eritrea. Top soils are continually removed due to water run-off and thus soil fertility and productivity has declined as a result. An experiment was designed to assess the response of potato varieties to different levels of potassium application at Hamelmalo Agricultural College, Eritrea. Three varieties (Ajiba, Zafira and Picasso) and five potassium levels (0, 75, 150, 225 and 300 kg K2O/ha) along with all possible interactions were used. Experimental design following factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in three replications was employed. Data was collected on yield and tuber quality parameters. The result of the study indicated that there were significant variations in the performances of varieties in terms of yield and quality parameters in which Ajiba was found to be more responsive and high yielding. Tuber number, tuber diameter, tuber weight per plant, total yield, total soluble solids, specific gravity and tuber moisture content showed significant differences due to the application of potassium. As a result, the highest tuber weight (1.14 kg/plant) and yield (49.38 tones/ha) were recorded from Ajiba treated with 300 kg K2O/ha. The result further revealed that there is a promising profit return by investing more on potassium application upto 300 kg K2O/ha. It is, thus, recommended that potassium fertilizers should be introduced to optimize productivity in Hamelmalo area, Eritrea.


The morbidity and lethality of AL amyloidosis is caused by the deposition of lg light chains as fibrillar amyloid protein in vital organs, disrupting their function, and not by the generally low burden of clonal plasma cells that produce the paraproteins. Survival of patients with AL amyloidosis is no more than 1 to 2 years from the time of diagnosis with current management approaches. Clearly, more effective therapies are needed for this rapidly lethal disease. Five patients were treated with dose-intensive melphalan and blood stem cell support and followed for a period of 1 year. Patients were diagnosed with AL amyloidosis by tissue biopsy and categorized by performance status and organ involvement. Their plasma cell dyscrasias were evaluated with immunofixation electrophoresis of serum and urine specimens, quantitative serum lgs, and immunohistochemical staining of bone marrow biopsy specimens. After treatment with dose-intensive intravenous melphalan followed by infusion of autologous growth-factor-mobilized blood stem cells, clinical evaluations and plasma cell studies were repeated at 3 and 12 months. Three men and 2 women aged 38 to 53 years were treated. Median performance status (SWOG) was 2 (1 to 3), and clinical presentations included nephrotic syndrome (n = 1), symptomatic cardiomyopathy (n = 1), gastrointestinal involvement with polyneuropathy (n = 2), and hepatomegaly (n = 1). With a median follow-up of 13 months (12 to 17 months), all five patients are well and have shown stable or improved performance status and clinical remission of organ-related dysfunction, including a 50% reduction in daily proteinuria with no change in creatinine, reversal of symptoms of cardiomyopathy and reductions of posterior wall and septal thickening, reversal of polyneuropathy and gastric atony, and resolution of hepatomegaly by computed tomographic scan. In 3 of the 5 patients (60%) at 12 months after treatment, plasma cell dyscrasias could not be detected. Dose-intensive chemotherapy with intravenous melphalan and growth-factor-mobilized blood stem cell support is feasible therapy for patients with AL amyloidosis, even when there is clinical evidence of cardiac involvement. At least some patients with AL amyloidosis achieve complete remission of their plasma cell dyscrasia, improvement in performance status, and clinical remission of organ-specific disease after this form of treatment.


The goal of this dissertation is to motivate a cognitive based view of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) propagation. In doing so, it advocates that the literature requires a more in-depth view of how organisational members choose to instigate or participate in entrepreneurial behaviour within the organisation confines. In addition to what organisational contextual factors bear on this decision making process. As such I move away from the top-down organisational level of analysis perspective that dominates the field and re-focus on the 'individual in CE.' To achieve this, I draw on socio-cognitive perspectives and the growing body of work on cognitive mechanisms in entrepreneurship research (Baron, 1998). Specifically, I utilise the entrepreneurial cognition entrepreneurial intentions (EI) as the best predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour and the EI formation model Shapero's Entrepreneurial Event (SEE), (Krueger, 1993; Shapero, 1982) to understand how organisational members choose to act entrepreneurially.

This research is interpretive in nature. A qualitative single case study with 3 embedded units and two data collection phases was employed to explore the Large East Midlands Trust (LEMT), a large acute hospital in the publically funded National Health Service (NHS). LEMT represents an unconventional setting for CE research, which is traditionally conducted in the private sector. However, the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis has compelled public institutions such as the NHS to become more entrepreneurial (DH, 2010; Darzi, 2008). The main analytical techniques employed are within-case and cross-unit pattern analysis to elicit findings on this unusual organisational context and how its members are moved from CE inaction to CE action.

The findings of this research indicate that top-down inducements do not move LEMT's organisational members to CE action. Primarily, because there is an underlying cognitive infrastructure represented by organisational member's multiple social identities: (1) NHS identity and (2) professional identity that impede the emergence of CE. Probing these NHS and professional identities further revealed them to be resistant to change. However, my findings indicate that if interrupted by a precipitating event, professional identity can be reformed via identity work processes, which facilitate the emergence of CE activity.


objective of this study was to investigate the effect of sex of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix Japonica) on fattening performance and carcass characteristics. The quail chicks were divided into three groups, made up of 96 males or 92 females or 36 individuals of each sex, resulting in a total of 256 chicks. The chicks in the groups were raised using the same feeding regime (24% CP, 2900 kcal/kg ME) and housing conditions for 42 days. There were significant (P<0.01) differences between male and female groups in weekly live body weight (lbw) gain values on day 35, in average live body weight gain on days 35 and 42, and in lbw gain values between days 14 and 42. Slaughter weight and liver weight were significantly different between groups (P<0.01). The differences between the two sex in mixed group in average body weight gain, average lbw on days 35 and 42, average lbw gain, lbw gain between days 14 and 42, slaughter weight, hot carcass yield, and liver weight were found significant (P<0.01). Lbw, lbw gain, feed consumption, slaughter weight, hot carcass yield, weights of heart, liver and giblets were higher in female quails while feed conversion rate was lower. As a result, these data suggest that separate raising of male and female Japnese quails might be more advantageous.


Interest in the subject of wealth inequality has been stimulated by the recent work of economist Thomas Piketty in his best-selling book 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century', with the charity Oxfam having also been very vocal about this issue through their 'Level it Up' campaign. This briefing paper looks at data on wealth inequality from the Office for National Statistics, Thomas Piketty's dataset and the Credit Suisse dataset frequently cited by Oxfam. It is certainly true that wealth tends to be more unevenly distributed than income (a fact true across all major countries), but the way that this subject is discussed is often misleading. Wealth inequality is low in the UK by historical standards, has not been rising rapidly in the UK in recent years, or indeed over the past generation, and is actually lower than in most other developed countries. There remains a debate about the true level of inequality of wealth in the UK, but the trends do not conform to the story of unprecedented or exploding inequality that are frequently implied in the media.


In the absence to date of any specific pre-emptive federal regulation of blockchain distributed ledger technology in fintech, smart contracts, or other uses, this paper discusses early state legislation including Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, New York, Nevada and Vermont. While the list comprises usual suspects for early adoption of disruptive technology regulation, especially of its real-time aspects that were recognized in In re Dole Food Co (Del. Ch. Feb. 15, 2017), the mechanics of blockchain are still evolving and restrictive regulations appear both premature and at risk of expedited obsolescence. Before expanding to general record-keeping transactions, blockchain was first used in bitcoin, a virtual currency. Then, blockchain evolved towards self-executing smart contracts using ethereum technology and may eventually reach an "Internet of Agreements." While its promise for applications like virtual currencies and payments is obvious and vigorously explored by major financial institutions, blockchain's real strength lies in authentication and keeping records up-to-date, especially for valuable, highly liquid assets like securities. Key developments for blockchain's regulation and implementation in an evidentiary context occurred in Arizona (recognition of smart contracts), Vermont (blockchain as evidence), Chicago (real estate records), and, most importantly, Delaware (pending initiative authorizing registration of shares of Delaware companies in blockchain form). Since 64 percent of Fortune 500 companies and over 1 million entities are incorporated in Delaware, an enactment of Delaware's initiative will change regulatory landscape for securities by setting precedent in the most important corporate jurisdiction of the U.S. Other states competing for corporate taxes and fees would be sure to follow.


ABSTRACT Metabolic Disorders and Adiposity in a Rural population. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to verify the prevalence of over-weight and central adiposity (CA) in a sample of 287 adult subjects that lived in a rural community of Minas Gerais State. Means lipids, lipoproteins, glu-cose and blood pressure levels were compared according adiposity catego-ries using One-way ANOVA and Tukey tests. Prevalence of overweight was 24.8% (37.4% for female; 11.5% for male). CA was verified in 28.1% of the in-dividuals (50.3% for female; 4.3% for male). The associations between CA and overweight with the metabolic disorders: arterial hypertension (AH), dyslipi-demia and hyperglycemia were estimated. Subjects with CA presented higher mean values of blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, fasting glucose, and lower mean values of HDL. CA was associated with AH, dyslipi-demia and hyperglycemia. Associations between overweight and AH, dys-lipidemia and hyperglycemia were also verified. These results confirm the potential effect of body composition shifting, especially at the abdominal level, on lipids, glucose metabolism and on blood pressure levels in rural populations.