Inquiry skill is the most important factor in the development of the scientific processes of prospective science teachers. The objective of this study is to research the effect of using inquiry-based activities on the development of scientific process skills of prospective science teachers. The research group of the study consists of students studying in their third year of science teaching department at Ordu University (n=32). Inquiry-based activities were conducted on prospective teachers for three months within the nature of the science course. Mixed research design, which uses quantitative and qualitative research methods together, was used in this study. As the quantitative data collection tool, a 36-item of scientific process skills scale, which had Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of .70, was used as pre-testpost-test. SPSS 17 program was used for data analysis and "t-test for dependent samples" was conducted. In the qualitative part of our research, "content analysis" approach was used. Descriptive analysis was conducted on the content of interviews with prospective teachers and observation reports. It was concluded through quantitative and qualitative research analyses that inquiry-based science activities significantly increased scientific process skills of prospective science teachers positively. It is recommended that researchers who conduct studies to increase scientific process skills should use inquiry-based activities.


The effect of conditioning downforce during pad break-in, and its impact on the evolution of pad surface micro-texture was investigated. Two different conditioning downforces were used to break-in pads. Pad samples were extracted after certain break-in times and analyzed for their topography and contact area using confocal microscopy. Results showed that the pad-wafer contact area and contact density decreased with conditioning downforce. Break-in at the higher conditioning downforce helped in reaching faster stabilized values of the analyzed micro-texture parameters. The evolution of these parameters was different for the two different downforces, however as break-in time increased past 30 minutes, mean summit height and mean summit curvature began to approach approximately the same value. These results indicated that, for the particular disc used in this study, a change in the magnitude of downforce during pad break-in caused a change in break-in time and stable values for some micro-texture parameters. However, a change in the magnitude of downforce during break-in only resulted in a change in break-in time for other micro-texture parameters. The work underscored the need for conducting such tests with different conditioners in order to develop a better understanding of the role downforce plays on the evolution of the micro-texture. © 2018


The potential of initiators for continuous activator regeneration atom transfer radical polymerization (ICAR ATRP) for the synthesis of well-defined poly(n-butyl acrylate) is analyzed by means of simulations. The kinetic model accounts for reactivity differences between secondary and tertiary macrospecies and considers the possible influence of diffusional limitations. CuBr2 is used as transition metal salt and the commercially available N,N,N′,N″,N″-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine as ligand. For targeted chain lengths (TCLs) up to 1000, the ICAR ATRP can be performed relatively quickly, and with ppm levels of ATRP catalyst. For moderate TCLs, slightly higher ppm levels are required if excellent control over chain length is also desired. In all cases, limited loss of end-group functionality (EGF) results.


Using wheat germ acid phosphatase and sodium orthovanadate as a competitive inhibitor, a novel method for analyzing reversible inhibition was carried out. Our alternative approach involves plotting the initial velocity at which product is formed as a function of the ratio of substrate concentration to inhibitor concentration at a constant enzyme concentration and constant assay conditions. The concept of initial concentrations driving equilibrium leads to the chosen axes. Three apparent constants can be derived from this plot: Kmax, Kmin, and Kinflect. Kmax and Kmin represent the substrate to inhibitor concentration ratio for complete inhibition and minimal inhibition, respectively. Kinflect represents the substrate to inhibitor concentration ratio at which the enzyme-substrate complex is equal to the inhibitory complex. These constants can be interpolated from the graph or calculated using the first and second derivative of the plot. We conclude that a steeper slope and a shift of the line to the right (increased x-axis values) would indicate a better inhibitor. Since initial velocity is not a linear function of the substrate/inhibitor ratio, this means that inhibition changes more quickly with the change in the [S]/ [I] ratio. When preincubating the enzyme with substrate before the addition of inhibitor, preincubating the enzyme with inhibitor before the addition of substrate or with concurrent addition of both substrate and inhibitor, modest changes in the slopes and y-intercepts were obtained. This plot appears useful for known competitive and non-competitive inhibitors and may have general applicability.


PURPOSE There is a shortage of rural primary care personnel with expertise in team care for patients with common mental disorders. Building the workforce for this population is a national priority. We investigated the feasibility of regular systematic case reviews through telepsychiatric consultation, within collaborative care for depression, as a continuous training and workforce development strategy in rural clinics. METHODS We developed and pilot-tested a qualitative interview guide based on a conceptual model of training and learning. We conducted individual semistructured interviews in 2018 with diverse clinical and nonclinical staff at 3 rural primary care sites in Washington state that used ongoing collaborative care and telepsychiatric consultation. Two qualitative researchers independently analyzed transcripts with iterative input from other research team members. RESULTS A total of 17 clinical, support, and administrative staff completed interviews. Participants' feedback supported the view that telepsychiatric case review-based consultation enhanced skills of diverse clinical team members over time, even those who had not directly participated in case reviews. All interviewees identified specific ways in which the consultations improved their capacity to identify and treat psychiatric disorders. Perceived benefits in implementation and sustainability included fidelity of the care process, team resilience despite member turnover, and enhanced capacity to use quality improvement methods. CONCLUSIONS Weekly systematic case reviews using telepsychiatric consultation served both as a model for patient care and as a training and workforce development strategy in rural primary care sites delivering collaborative care. These are important benefits to consider in implementing the collaborative care model of behavioral health integration.


Background:Utilization trends and health effects of infliximab and adalimumab in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are incompletely understood. We aimed to describe utilization trends of these 2 anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, determine the correlation between utilization with rates of hospitalization and surgery and describe differences in use between adults and children. Methods:Longitudinal data were analyzed for drug utilization, hospitalization, and abdominal surgery. Descriptive statistics were used to show trends, and utilization quotients were compared for standardization. Multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed the association between drug use and rates of hospitalization and surgery. Results:Four hundred thirty-eight pediatric and 2514 adult patients with IBD generated a total of 51,882 inpatient and outpatient encounters, representing 1185 Crohn's disease, 1531 ulcerative colitis, and 236 indeterminate colitis patients. From 2007 through 2012, utilization quotients declined for hospitalization but remained unchanged for surgery; adalimumab saw a 3-fold increase, despite continued dominance of infliximab. Median band and mean fitted plots showed downward hospitalization trends from 2006 to 2012. Utilization of infliximab peaked in 2008, Q4 with gradual decline to 2012, Q2; and adalimumab showed moderate increased utilization since 2007, Q1. Use of infliximab (odds ratio [OR], 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70–0.83) and adalimumab (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.72–0.87) was associated with decreased hospitalization risk but not associated with reduced abdominal surgery risk. Children had increased hospitalization (OR, 2.68; 95% CI, 2.49–2.88) but decreased risk for abdominal surgery (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.46–0.70). Conclusions:Current infliximab use remains substantially greater than adalimumab use, despite recent increased use of adalimumab. Although trends for hospitalization for IBD are decreasing, it is not reflected in abdominal surgery rates in a tertiary IBD referral center.


Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a major role in the regulation of electrochemical synapses at neuromuscular junctions. During the early stages of Paracentrotus lividus development, the nicotinic receptor-like molecules are found and localized by use of the specific blocker, -bungarotoxin, and by α-7 subunit immunoreactivity. Both the methods identify and localize the nicotinic receptor-like molecules at the sites where active changes in ionic intracellular concentration take place. These are well known to lead either fertilization, sperm propulsion or co-ordinated ciliary movement. After neural differentiation, immunoreactivity for the α-7 subunit is localized mainly in ganglia, ectoderm ciliary bands and in the motile cells forming the gut wall. Both α-bungarotoxin binding sites and α-7 subunits are also localized at the cells linked to the skeletal rods, performing the small movements which drive the swimming direction in the water column. The localization of these molecules paves the way to a speculation on their function and possible role in neurogenesis as well as neurodegeneration.


This article discusses the reading of francophone literature aimed at developing (inter)cultural competence in the language classroom. The distinction of the three approaches: experiential, literary and discursive, has made it possible to grasp the mechanisms and resources that the corresponding modes of reading literary texts are likely to mobilize and transform in the learner. This theoretical framework was applied to the analysis of learners' opinions written after the reading of Fatou Diome's Le ventre de l'Atlantique. From the perspective of the development of (inter)cultural competences, the analysis made it possible to see, among other things, how the learners understand the culture represented in the book.


The settler colonial lens deficit approach to Indigenous peoples' health constructs us as ill, which sets the stage for our eventual erasure. In contrast to this deficit-based approach, in this paper I employed an Anishinaabeg research paradigm and followed Anishinaabeg protocols to understand how Anishinaabeg women are creating wellbeing for themselves, their families, and communities through engaging in physical activity. Based on seven interviews with Anishinaabeg women who are engaged in decolonized physicality, the Anishinaabeg women participants promote gwesayjitodoon indo bimaadiziiwin, which means to transform oneself into a better life. The participants showed how if one can apply the concept of gwesayjitodoon indo bimaadiziiwin to his or her physical activity, it has potential to enact broader community wellbeing that can confront the settler colonial deficit lens that requires Indigenous peoples' erasure, and through which Aboriginal health research has for too long been examined.


Vaccinating pregnant women in order to protect them, the fetus, and the child has become universal in no way at all. Prejudice in health professionals add to fears of women and their families. Both these feelings are not supported by even the smallest scientific data. Harmlessness for the mother and the child has been observed for seasonal, pandemic, or quadrivalent influenza, mono, combined polysaccharide or conjugated meningococcal or pneumococcal, tetanus toxoid, acellular pertussis, human papillomavirus, cholera, hepatitis A, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, anthrax, smallpox, yellow fever, mumps, measles and rubella combined, typhoid fever, inactivated or attenuated polio vaccines, and Bacillus Calmétte Guerin vaccines. Instead, the beneficial effects of influenza vaccine for the mother and the child as well as of pertussis vaccine for the child have been demonstrated. Obstetrician-gynecologists, general practitioners, and midwives must incorporate vaccination into their standard clinical care. Strong communication strategies effective at reducing parental vaccine hesitancy and approval of regulatory agencies for use of vaccines during pregnancy are needed. It must be clear that the lack of pre-licensure studies in pregnant women and, consequently, the lack of a statement about the use of the vaccine in pregnant women does not preclude its use in pregnancy.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the aetiological agent of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), is a re-emerging threat to global public health. TB continues to account for in excess of 2 million deaths annually with mortality and morbidity set to rise over the next decade as a consequence of the global HTV/AIDS pandemic. Many of the problems associated with treating this ancient disease are related to the intrinsic drug resistance of the causal organism, a factor that is compounded by the relatively small number of effective chemotherapeutic agents available. The current situation is further exacerbated by the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in certain parts of south-east Asia and eastern Europe. The global spread of such strains, fuelled by the increased availability of air travel, represents a serious threat to even the rich, industrialised nations of the West since successful treatment of MDR-TB requires the use of expensive and highly toxic drugs. These various factors miderline the urgent need for new and effective TB drug treatments. The development of such agents will undoubtedly require a much-improved understanding of M tuberculosis at the most basic biochemical and genetic levels. To this end the completion of the TB genome sequencing project in 1998 represents a major breakthrough. The genome provides not only a detailed blueprint of every potential drug target that might be used in treatment of the disease, but also every conceivable drug resistance mechanism employed by the organism to evade our current treatments. Active efflux is one of the key strategies used by microorganisms to avoid the deleterious effects of xenotoxic compounds, such transport processes being catalysed by an array of membrane-associated proteins. The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters have been identified as one of the largest and most widely distributed families of such transmembrane transport systems. Virtually ubiquitous in nature, ABC transporters have been found in the genomes of every organism from the simplest archaea through to man. Whilst the vast majority of ABC transporters mediate standard cellular processes such as nutrient acquisition, a significant number have been shown to exhibit a broad substrate range and the capability to transport structurally diverse molecules. It is the expression of these broad-substrate transporters that is most commonly linked with drug resistance phenotypes. Little is currently known about the contribution of ABC transporter systems to the intrinsic drug resistance of M tuberculosis. In fact, despite the presence of a large number of ABC transporters in the genome, very little is known about the biological role of any M. tuberculosis ABC transporter. Against this background it was the remit of this thesis to investigate the structure and function of just one such system. The M tuberculosis drrABC operon was identified during the genome sequencing project as encoding a potential antibiotic resistance mechanism. The basis of this assumption was a significant level of sequence homology between the drrABC genes and those encoding a known antibiotic efflux ABC transporter from the evolutionarily related organism Streptomyces peucetius. The overall experimental strategy adopted was to clone and over-express the three genes of the drrABC operon in a non-pathogenic heterologous host (E. coli). It was hoped that this approach might generate large enough quantities of the individual proteins to investigate not only the biological function of the DrrABC transporter but also the structure of isolated components. Expression of the mycobacterial genes in E. coli proved to be a challenging undertaking, differences in the genetics of the host and donor organisms making co-expression of all three genes impossible. Expression of the individual proteins in isolation was somewhat more successful, with the ATP-binding sub-unit of the transporter, the DrrA protein, over-expressed and purified as a catalytically active fusion protein. The membrane- associated DrrB protein was successfully expressed in E. coli yet proved highly unstable and resistant to extraction from the membrane. The same problems applied to the second membrane-bound component of the transporter, DrrC. Issues of low expression and protein instability are not uncommon when working with membrane proteins and it appears that the M tuberculosis DrrB and C proteins are no different in this respect. The over-expression and purification of DrrA allowed a partial characterisation of the catalytic activity of the protein using traditional biochemical methods. As a cation- dependent ATPase DrrA was shown to exhibit biological activity broadly consistent with a role as the catalytic sub-unit of an ABC transporter. As such DrrA is only the second M tuberculosis protein for which such activity has been demonstrated. The exact biological function of the DrrABC transporter remains a matter of some doubt. Research by one group of scientists suggest that the transporter is indeed a functional antibiotic efflux mechanism, whilst another group argue that its primary role is the transmembrane transport of an important mycobacterial cell wall component. Whilst these two roles are not mutually exclusive, they do suggest that DrrABC may yet prove to be an attractive target for drug intervention. Unambiguous demonstration of the roles of this transporter, and the many other M tuberculosis transmembrane transport systems, will require a great deal of further research and the development of improved expression systems.


The phenomenon of dynamically induced anomalous diffusion is both the classical and quantum kicked rotor is investigated in this dissertation. We discuss the capability of the quantum mechanical version of the system to reproduce for extended periods the corresponding classical chaotic behavior.


An experiment was carried out on 135 guinea-pigs (21 were used as controls and the rest subcutaneously infected with virulent M. tuberculosis culture. The latter were divided into 4 groups depending on the treatment regimen. The experiment was conducted for 3 months. The content of prostaglandins (PG) E and F2 alpha in the lung tissue was measured by radio-immunoassay. It was found that a spontaneous development of tuberculosis in the guinea-pigs was accompanied by phasic changes of PG. The period of a relative resistance was followed by an initial short-term drop or PGF2 alpha and a subsequent decrease of PGE/PGF2 alpha. During a swift progression of inflammatory and necrotic changes there was a congruous growth of both types of PG, with PGF in abundance. In the preterminal period of the disease, an irrepressible PGE growth was observed. With chemotherapy, the PG content in the lung tissue was normalized not later than in a month. Indomethacin++ used at the beginning of infection before chemotherapy has a persisting aftereffect as a consecutive drop of PGE and PGE/PGF2 alpha at first and PGF2 alpha later on. The administration of indometacin concurrently with chemotherapeutic drugs produced a similar, but less marked effect. The prescription of indometacin both at early stages and simultaneously with chemotherapy could improve a morphologic outcome of the disease, stimulating proliferative reactions of the lymphoid system, as well as resolution and repair processes.


The development of mixed reality (MR) applications typically requires a substantial amount of effort and programming skills. This is due to the fact that no standard interfaces and devices exist. Therefore, user interface elements and interaction techniques typically have to be implemented individually. In this paper we present our approach for supporting the development of mixed reality applications and interaction techniques using the concept of interactive bits. We developed this via a component-based approach allowing for modeling interaction techniques, object behaviors, virtual devices through to entire MR applications. We show how this process can be significantly enhanced by using a visual programming environment. Finally we present a set of typical examples demonstrating the potential of the approach.


Summary The term malware, in the area related to computer science, is used to define malicious code which is designed and written to execute attacks on software systems. In this paper, after a quick review of malact ontology, malware ontology is presented. Malwares include viruses, worms, botnets, spywares, backdoors, trojan horses, rootkits and exploits. In this paper malwares are grouped based on four attributes. These attributes include: Objective, operational status, establishment status and communication status. Then by analyzing malware and their characteristics, we propose malware ontology. The ontology is used to represent the concepts and their relationships in network security. One of the usages of ontology is information sharing and reuse in semantic web. In this paper, by proposing malware ontology, we presented the semantic relation map between concepts of this area which is used in semantic based search engines in incident area and CERT portals. Because malwares have similar characteristics, there is no clear boundary between their concepts so fuzzy logic is used to represent malware relationships. Malware relationships are presented in five categories: very weak relations, weak relations, moderate relations, good relations and very good relations and weights are assigned to them. If search is done on any concept (nodes) in the graph, the amount of the relationship with other concepts is calculated and based on the search demand and level of relationship, search is done on other related concepts.


The advent of AIDS and its close relation with the studies of human sexuality point to the importance of gender issues for successful prevention to face this epidemic. The approach that is strongly focused on the use of male condoms shows that besides the knowledge of the body and sexuality, power relations between men and women need to be revised so that strategies that emphasize safer sex can be incorporated to everyday sexual relations. This article results from a research conducted among adolescents from both genders, aged 17 and 19, in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. It is intended to help us understand how they think about sexuality and prevention against HIV infection, indicating situations in which they engage in preventive behaviors and when they are neglectful in face of their peculiar situation of vulnerability.


DNA polymerase from unpurified extracts of either infected or serumtreated resting mouse embryo cells was bound to double-stranded polyoma DNA and the complex could be separated from the free enzyme and other protein by zone centrifugation through sucrose gradients. Addition of extract to component I (supercoiled) polyoma DNA converted the DNA to a slower sedimenting form, but had little effect on the sedimentation rate of a mixture of components II and III. DNA extracted from the complex formed from extract and component I had properties indicating that both strands of the DNA were unbroken.


OBJECTIVE Oligodendroglioma is a rare primary CNS neoplasm in the pediatric population, and only a limited number of studies in the literature have characterized this entity. Existing studies are limited by small sample sizes and discrepant interstudy findings in identified prognostic factors. In the present study, the authors aimed to increase the statistical power in evaluating for potential prognostic factors of pediatric oligodendrogliomas and sought to reconcile the discrepant findings present among existing studies by performing an individual-patient-data (IPD) meta-analysis and using multiple imputation to address data not directly available from existing studies. METHODS A systematic search was performed, and all studies found to be related to pediatric oligodendrogliomas and associated outcomes were screened for inclusion. Each study was searched for specific demographic and clinical characteristics of each patient and the duration of event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). Given that certain demographic and clinical information of each patient was not available within all studies, a multivariable imputation via chained equations model was used to impute missing data after the mechanism of missing data was determined. The primary end points of interest were hazard ratios for EFS and OS, as calculated by the Cox proportional-hazards model. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. The multivariate model was adjusted for age, sex, tumor grade, mixed pathologies, extent of resection, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, tumor location, and initial presentation. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS A systematic search identified 24 studies with both time-to-event and IPD characteristics available, and a total of 237 individual cases were available for analysis. A median of 19.4% of the values among clinical, demographic, and outcome variables in the compiled 237 cases were missing. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed subtotal resection (p = 0.007 [EFS] and 0.043 [OS]), initial presentation of headache (p = 0.006 [EFS] and 0.004 [OS]), mixed pathologies (p = 0.005 [EFS] and 0.049 [OS]), and location of the tumor in the parietal lobe (p = 0.044 [EFS] and 0.030 [OS]) to be significant predictors of tumor progression or recurrence and death. CONCLUSIONS The use of IPD meta-analysis provides a valuable means for increasing statistical power in investigations of disease entities with a very low incidence. Missing data are common in research, and multiple imputation is a flexible and valid approach for addressing this issue, when it is used conscientiously. Undergoing subtotal resection, having a parietal tumor, having tumors with mixed pathologies, and suffering headaches at the time of diagnosis portended a poorer prognosis in pediatric patients with oligodendroglioma.


In this paper we introduce a new distribution for modeling positive data with high kurtosis. This distribution can be seen as an extension of the exponentiated Rayleigh distribution. This extension builds on the quotient of two independent random variables, one exponentiated Rayleigh in the numerator and Beta(q, 1) in the denominator with q > 0. It is called the slashed exponentiated Rayleigh random variable. There is evidence that the distribution of this new variable can be more flexible in terms of modeling the kurtosis regarding the exponentiated Rayleigh distribution. The properties of this distribution are studied and the parameter estimates are calculated using the maximum likelihood method. An application with real data reveals good performance of this new distribution.


Severe plastic deformation (SPD) has been widely studied in order to enhance the strength and ductility of metallic materials. Among various SPD processing techniques, high-pressure torsion (HPT) can be applied to various brittle materials including semiconductors. In this overview, we report on the HPT processing of Si, Ge, and compound semiconductor GaAs. When crystalline Si was subjected to HPT, metastable body-centered-cubic (bcc) Si-III and rhombohedral Si-XII as well as amorphous regions were formed. After annealing, Si-III and SiXII reversely transformed to diamond-cubic Si-I. No appreciable photoluminescence (PL) peak was observed from the as-HPT processed samples while a broad PL peak originating from Si-I nanograins appeared after annealing. The electrical resistivity was increased just after compression without anvil rotation, but it decreased after HPT-processing because of the formation of semimetallic Si-III. In the case of Ge, metastable tetragonal Ge-III was formed by room-temperature HPT processing. A broad PL peak originating from diamond-cubic Ge-I nanograins was observed after annealing. The metastable bcc Ge-IV was observed in the cryogenic-HPT-processed samples. In the case of GaAs, no metastable phase was observed in the HPT-processed samples. A strong PL peak associated with the bandgap disappeared after HPT processing. An additional PL peak in the visible light region appeared after annealing. These results suggested that noble properties such as optical and electrical properties can be obtained by applying HPT processing to semiconductor materials. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MF201907]


A state-space approach to estimating intermodulation distortion in bandpass Gm-C filters with fully balanced, weakly nonlinear transconductors is introduced. It results in compact analytic expressions applicable to Gm-C filters of any order. For verifying the theory, two Gm-C filters with fully balanced weakly nonlinear transconductors have been designed using Cadence. They have been simulated in SpectreS as well as modeled and simulated in Simulink. Theory and simulation results are found in good agreement


Coastal hypoxia is increasing worldwide in response to human-caused changes in global climate and biogeochemical cycles. In this paper, we view anthropogenic trends in coastal hypoxia through the lens of disturbance ecology and complexity theory. Complexity theory provides a framework for describing how estuaries and other coastal aquatic ecosystems respond to hypoxia by understanding feedback loops. Can it also be valuable in understanding how these ecosystems behave under shifting (i.e., unnatural) disturbance regimes? When viewed as a disturbance regime, shifts in the spatial (areal extent and fragmentation) and temporal (frequency and duration of events) characteristics of coastal hypoxia can be used to track changes into a non-stationary future. Here, we consider options for increasing the resilience of coastal aquatic ecosystems to future, unnatural hypoxic regimes. To start, we define desirable states as ecosystems with long trophic chains and slow nutrient and carbon dynamics that produce many ecosystem services. We then work backward to describe circumstances dominated by positive feedbacks that can lead ecosystems toward an undesirable state (i.e., depauperate communities and chemically reduced sediments). Processes of degradation and recovery can be understood in the context of island biogeography whereby species diversity in habitats fragmented by hypoxia is determined by the balance between rapid local extinction, slow recolonization from the edges of hypoxic patches, and opportunities for ecological succession during between disturbance events. We review potential future changes associated with changing global climate and highlight ways to enhance coastal resilience. In addition to efforts to slow climate change, potential interventions include reduced nutrient and carbon loadings from rivers, restoration of aquatic vegetation, and managing for key species, including those that promote sediment oxygenation, that enhance water clarity, or that promote grazing on epiphytic algae through top-down control.


Specialised insect–plant associations, and the presence of other organisms that specifically target this interaction, represent relatively ancient ecological interactions. These types of associations are characterised by non‐random geographical range correspondence, especially in the presence of narrow resource use. However, empirical studies rarely investigate how spatial relationships between insects and their host plants contribute to phenotypic interactions resulting from host shifting. This is important because geographic range discontinuities highlight biotic or abiotic conditions that might interfere with ecological interactions and how species diversify. In this study, we test the null hypothesis that the geographic range of the galling genus Kladothrips corresponds with their Acacia hosts. We then evaluate whether ecological characteristics of Acacia are related to evolutionary constraints on Kladothrips host use. The results indicated discontinuities between spatial distribution models of Acacia and the hosts that support Kladothrips. Temperature, precipitation and edaphic variables contributed strongly to these differences and reveal Kladothrips gall Acacia hosts present in harsh, arid environments. However, Acacia are distributed throughout all Australia's diverse biomes including mesic, arid and monsoonal regions. Discontinuities in spatial correspondence between Acacia and Kladothrips suggest biotic and abiotic pressures limiting ecological interactions are present in mesic and hydric climates. Acacia hosts observed to support Kladothrips share strong spatial model equivalency, but not necessarily close phylogenetic relatedness. Co‐phylogenetic analyses indicated contrasting host use conservatism between Acacia sections. The results of this study support the hypothesis that specialised associations between insects and plants are a function of varying climatic and evolutionary constraints over the geographic range of the host lineage. These findings agree with the premise that ecological constraints underlie evolutionary patterns of host use.


Monte Carlo integration is a technique for numerically estimating a definite integral by stochastically sampling its integrand. These samples can be averaged to make an improved estimate, and the progressive estimates form a sequence that converges to the integral value on the limit. Unfortunately, the sequence of Monte Carlo estimates converges at a rate of O(), where n denotes the sample count, effectively slowing down as more samples are drawn. To overcome this, we can apply sequence transformation, which transforms one converging sequence into another with the goal of accelerating the rate of convergence. However, analytically finding such a transformation for Monte Carlo estimates can be challenging, due to both the stochastic nature of the sequence, and the complexity of the integrand. In this paper, we propose to leverage neural networks to learn sequence transformations that improve the convergence of the progressive estimates of Monte Carlo integration. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on several canonical 1D integration problems as well as applications in light transport simulation.


ABSTRACT In recent years, interest in the different ways in which military employment affects individuals' work-life balance (WLB) has grown. At the same time, research on military organizations and personnel has increasingly included time-related factors such as deploy-to-dwell (D2D) ratios to help explain adverse health effects of overseas deployments. The aim of this article is to explore connections between organizational systems for regulating deployment frequency and dwell (or respite) time with a particular focus on potential consequences for work-life balance. We focus on personal and organizational factors that shape the nature and outcome of work-life balance, including stress, mental health problems, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. To explore these links, we first provide an overview of research on the impact of deploy-to-dwell ratios on mental health and social relations. We then turn to the regulation and organization of deployment and dwell time in Scandinavia. Here, the ambition is to identify potential sources of work-life conflict and associated effects for deployed personnel. The results provide a basis for further research into time-related effects of military deployments.


Background Not much attention has been paid to listening to the opinions of patients in most scientific studies on Spondyloarthritis, despite their opinions playing an increasingly important role in decision-making alongside clinical and public health criteria. Objectives To assess the opinions of patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) using qualitative information. Methods A sample of 680 patients diagnosed with ax-SpA was interviewed during 2016 as part of the Spanish Atlas, which aims to promote early referral and improve healthcare and the use of effective treatments in patients with ax-SpA. The Atlas is a CEADE initiative (Spanish Coordinator of Patients with ax-SpA in Spain) developed by the University of Seville and Max Weber Institute in collaboration with GRESSER (Spanish Rheumatology Society spondyloarthritis study group). Responses to qualitative items about patients' hopes and fears for their disease and their personal aims regarding their treatment were analysed. Results 53% were females, mean age 46 years and 77.1% were HLA-B27+. The five main hopes of patients are: stopping the disease, dream of a cure, elimination of pain, improve their quality of life and live without limitations. Additionally, patients has expectations on the medical research outcomes. Thus, 81% of patients hope that the research will make possible to find the cause and a cure for ax-SpA, developing more efficient biologic therapies (11%), and finding new techniques or medication (8%). The following stand out among drug treatment-related concerns: having more effective treatments (32%), sustaining the results of biologic therapies (29%), being able to start on biologics (8%), the public health system funding non-drug treatments for AS (8%), eliminating secondary effects (15%), reducing prices (4%), and correct use (4%). With respect to their fears, patients stated that their main concern was mobility loss (31%), followed by loss of independence (23%), disability (22%), stiffness (12%), structural damage (3%), organ damage (3%), other illnesses and diseases related (3%), physical decline (3%), and sight loss (1%). Patients who expressed fear regarding their disease listed their greatest concern was that they would not overcome or tolerate pain (56%), followed by the fear that the disease would develop (32%), along with apprehension about flare-ups (7%), and tiredness (5%). With respect to patients' personal objectives in terms of their treatments, they highlighted the wish that their treatment would, first, help them to reduce and eliminate pain, increasing their in mobility, improved quality of life, the avoidance of structural damage and the disease eventually being cured. Conclusions Analysis of patient opinion using qualitative information has enabled the identification of important concerns for patients such as discovering the cause of the disease, reducing pain and structural damage, loss of self-sufficiency and disability. Acknowledgements This project has been supported by Novartis. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Objectives:The goals of this study were: 1) to examine the prevalence of cytotoxin-associated protein (CagA), vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA), and the vacuolating cytotoxin activity (VCA) in vitro of infecting Helicobacter pylori isolates and 2) to clarify the relation between the expression of these virulence factors and the occurrence of peptic ulceration.Methods:One hundred sixty-seven clinical isolates of H. pylori from patients with peptic ulcer disease (gastric ulcer, 62 cases; duodenal ulcer, 48 cases) and nonulcer dyspepsia (57 cases) were studied regarding their genetic and phenotypic properties.Results:Type 1 bacteria, which had both CagA and VCA, and type 2 bacteria, which did not express either CagA or VCA, represented 62.9% and 7.8%, respectively; the remaining 29.4% had an intermediate phenotype, expressing either CagA independent of the presence of VCA (CagA+VCA−) or vice versa (CagA−VCA+). CagA+VCA− and CagA−VCA+ bacteria represented 17.4% and 12.0%, respectively, both of which were more numerous than the type 2 category. The proportion of the CagA-positive isolates was significantly higher in both the duodenal ulcer (97.9%) and gastric ulcer (83.9%) patients than in the non-ulcer dyspepsia patients (61.4%) (p < 0.01). On the other hand, the proportion of VacA/VCA-positive isolates was not significantly different between peptic ulcer disease and non-ulcer dyspepsia.Conclusions:The currently used classification of this bacterium based on the concomitant expression of CagA and VacA/VCA into the two major types is not adequate. The CagA-positive phenotype thus may be important as a virulence marker for peptic ulcer disease independent of the presence of VacA/VCA.


The dynamic impact behaviour of water droplets on plant surfaces was investigated based on a multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The study was conducted using the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) approach. The static contact angle of water droplets on leaf surfaces of different plants (apple, pear, leek and cabbage) was measured and found to vary between 54.9 and 138.2°. Impact experiments were conducted by monitoring the flow and impact characteristics of water droplets on leaves in still air with a high speed camera. Droplets were generated by an agricultural flat fan spray nozzle moving across the leaf at constant speed. The nozzle produced droplets with diameters ranging from 20.6 up to 550.8 μm, and droplet velocity values near the impact between 0.03 and 13.2 m s(-1). The CFD model was capable of predicting the observed dynamic impact behaviour of droplets on the plant surfaces. The fate of the droplets after the impact process for adhesion, bouncing or splashing was accurately predicted for Weber numbers (We) in the range of 0.007 to 1096 and droplet Reynolds numbers (Re) between 5 to 8000. The process was highly dependent on the surface and droplet flow characteristics during the impact. Combinations of We, Re and Ohnesorge (Oh) numbers defined the droplet maximum spread factor, the number of secondary droplets generated as a result of the splashing process and the transition between the different impact outcomes. These criteria can then be used in field scale spray deposition and drift models to better understand agricultural spray operations.


Summarizes part of the findings of the author′s research into the popularity of management ideas. Taking a historical perspective, the six families of popular management ideas of the last century – bureaucracy, scientific management, classical management, human relations, neo‐human relations and guru theory were identified. Following an analysis of these ideas, 12 recurring features which are found in the majority of them were discovered. These features were labelled communicability, changeable human nature, individual focus, control, steps and principles, universal application, applicability, authorization, self‐confirmation, unitary perspective, contribution‐ownership potential and leadership focus. Defines and describes each characteristic briefly, and relates it to the action which management consultants need to take if they are successfully to influence managers to adopt their ideas and prescriptions.


During live events like conferences or exhibitions, people nowadays share their opinions, mutimedia contents, suggestions, related materials, and reports through social networking platforms, such as Twitter. However, live events also feature inherent complexity, in the sense that they comprise multiple parallel sessions or happenings (e.g., in a conference you have several sessions in different rooms). The focus of this research is to improve the experience of (local or remote) attendees, by exploiting the contents shared on the social networks. The framework gathers in realtime the tweets related to the event, analyses them and links them to the specific sub-events they refer to. Attendees have an holistic view on what is happening and where, so as to get help when deciding what sub-event to attend. To achieve its goal, the application consumes data from different data sources: Twitter, the official event schedule, plus domain specific content (for instance, in case of a computer science conference, DBLP and Google Scholar). Such data is analyzed through a combination of semantic web, crowdsourcing (e.g., by soliciting further inputs from attendees), and machine learning techniques (including NLP and NER) for building a rich content base for the event. The paradigm is shown at work on some past conferences in the CS domain (WWW 2013)


The factors affecting the direction of evolutionary pathways and the reproducibility of adaptive responses were investigated under closely related but non–identical conditions. Replicate chemostat cultures of Escherichia coli were compared when adapting to partial or severe glucose limitation. Four independent populations used a reproducible sequence of early mutational changes under both conditions, with rpoS mutations always occurring first before mgl. However, there were interesting differences in the timing of mutational sweeps: rpoS mutations appeared in a clock–like fashion under both partial and severe glucose limitation, while mgl sweeps arose under both conditions but at different times. Interestingly, malT and mlc mutations appeared only under severe limitation. Even though the ancestors were genotypically identical, the semi–differentiated properties of bacteria growing with mild or severe glucose limitation sent the populations in characteristic directions. Mutation supply and the fitness contribution of mutations were estimated and demonstrated to be potential influences in the choice of particular adaptation pathways under severe and mild glucose limitation. Predicting all the mutations fixed in adapting populations is beyond our current understanding of evolutionary processes, but the interplay between ancestor physiology and the initiation of adaptation pathways is demonstrated and definable in bacterial populations.


Faced with a $16 million budget shortfall, the Vancouver school trustees, who have a mandate to meet the needs of their students, have lobbied for more provincial funding to avoid draconian service cuts. The government has refused the request, and its special advisor to the Vancouver School Board criticizes trustees for engaging in "advocacy" rather than making "cost containment" first priority. The clash between Vancouver trustees and the ministry of education is not "just politics." Rather, education policy in BC reflects the key features of neoliberal globalization, not the least of which is the principle that more and more of our collective wealth is devoted to maximizing private profits rather than serving public needs. British Columbia is home to one of the most politically successful neoliberal governments in the world, but fortunately it is also a place to look for models of mass resistance to the neoliberal agenda. One of the most important examples of resistance to the common-nonsense of neoliberalism in the past decade is the British Columbia teachers' 2005 strike, which united student, parent, and educator interests in resisting the neoliberal onslaught on education in the public interest.


From September 1997 to June 2000 148 scorpions (118 findings) from the province and city of Buenos Aires were sent to the INPB and the CeNDIE. The species involved were Tityus trivittatus (32/33 found in the city) and Bothriurus bonariensis (81/85 found in the province around the city). The population spontaneous report of both species increased from January 1999 to May 2000. The climatic, spatial and social variables that could be involved in these phenomena were analyzed. The influence of the media was essential for the 'peak' generation. However, the amount of findings or accident by scorpions, as well as the area of the city colonized by T. trivittatus, have shown a progressive increase during the last decades.


Creating Spatial Computing (SComp) artifacts (including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Ambient Intelligent artifacts) is a rapidly-emerging domain in need of new design methodologies. In this paper, we examine whether and how ethics are procedurally integrated into the creations of SComp artifacts. After an introduction to terminology — including a reframed definition of Spatial Computing — findings of interviews with Spatial Computing practitioners are shared. The interviews indicated an awareness among professionals about the inordinate vulnerability of SComp artifacts, and about the need for — and the lack thereof — processes and tests to mitigate negative effects of SComp artifacts. Results from the domain expert interviews are integrated into a proposed framework: The Framework for Ethical Spatial Computing Design Engineering. Our framework serves to support researchers and practitioners in devising new methodologies unique to Spatial Computing by highlighting considerations central to the creation of ethical artifacts. The framework integrates the findings from the in-depth interview study and builds on existing models in Design Process, Methods, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Research that highlight important barriers and opportunities between research and practice. It maps the three-phases journey consisted of (1) Enablers, (2) Synthesizers, and (3) SComp Artifacts. We trust that our work sheds light on considerations necessary to the creation of ethical Spatial Computing artifacts.


While Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to introduce disruptive innovations in our society, it is foreseen that the used communication technology is the key factor that can unlock their potential. To this end, the upcoming generation of mobile networks, 5G-and-beyond, are envisioned to be the communication standards to support diverse UAV applications. This will also enable UAVs to benefit from the limitless progress achieved in mobile systems. To facilitate the support of UAV services in 5G-and-beyond networks, this article introduces a framework that links the mobile telecommunication domain to the UAV domain. The proposed framework reflects an operational view enabling UAV operators to prepare and deploy their applications over different 5G mobile telecommunication networks. Moreover, the framework allows UAV operators to customize mobile systems in accordance with the specifications of their target services and to constantly receive analytical and statistical data on their running applications. Furthermore, in order to ensure network services (dedicated to UAV applications) over heterogeneous mobile systems, this article also discusses the federation of 5G networks.


Minimal processing promotes browning of some vegetal tissues due to cell membrane disruption, which results in the release of oxidative enzymes. This study evaluated the efficiency of citric acid, ascorbic acid, sodium metabisulfite and L-cysteine hydrochloride to retard enzymatic browning of minimally processed fruit salad and enriched this product with Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5. Control treatment was fruit salad immersed in water. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and color (L*, a*, b*, index color - CI, browning index - BI, c*, and h°) were analyzed. The viability of L. acidophilus was also evaluated using Rogosa agar in fruit salads containing anti-browning compounds in higher concentrations. PPO presented a significant difference among control and fruit salad treated with ascorbic acid and L-cysteine hydrochloride, indicating the highest anti-browning activity of these compounds. The fruit color was affected by processing and storage time, with a reduction in the values of L* over time. Values of a*, c*, h° angle and CI indicated a predominance of red color in the fruit salad. Salads containing anti-browning compounds in higher concentrations presented viability of L. acidophilus above 7.43 log CFU/g up to the fifth day of storage, indicating that the product can be promised as probiotic. Thus, the fruit salad treated with anti-browning compounds has potential use as a probiotic carrier.

 Key words: Fresh-cut fruits, color, ascorbic acid, vegetable matrix, probiotic culture.


ICF syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive immunoglobulin deficiency, sometimes combined with defective cellular immunity. Other features that are frequently observed in ICF syndrome patients include facial dysmorphism, developmental delay, and recurrent infections. The most diagnostic feature of ICF syndrome is the branching of chromosomes 1, 9, and 16 due to pericentromeric instability. Positional candidate cloning recently discovered the de novo DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B) as the responsible gene by identifying seven different mutations in nine ICF patients. DNMT3B specifically methylates repeat sequences adjacent to the centromeres of chromosome 1, 9, and 16. Our panel of 14 ICF patients was subjected to mutation analysis in the DNMT3B gene. Mutations in DNMT3B were discovered in only nine of our 14 ICF patients. Moreover, two ICF patients from consanguineous families who did not show autozygosity (i.e. homozygosity by descent) for the DNMT3B locus did not reveal DNMT3B mutations, suggesting genetic heterogeneity for this disease. Mutation analysis revealed 11 different mutations, including seven novel ones: eight different missense mutations, two different nonsense mutations, and a splice‐site mutation leading to the insertion of three aa's. The missense mutations occurred in or near the catalytic domain of DNMT3B protein, indicating a possible interference with the normal functioning of the enzyme. However, none of the ICF patients was homozygous for a nonsense allele, suggesting that absence of this enzyme is not compatible with life. Compound heterozygosity for a missense and a nonsense mutation did not seem to correlate with a more severe phenotype. Hum Mutat 16:509–517, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This paper presents a proposal for an efficient software CAVLC decoder architecture in H.264/AVC based on level length extraction (LLE). Especially, level-decoding in a CAVLC decoder is addressed. Its features are summarized in two parts: higher efficient pipeline processing of level decoding, and simultaneous multiple calculations of multiple level codes separated from level decoding loop using Single Instruction Multiple data (SIMD) instruction. The former is achieved by separating Level calculation from Level parsing based on the LLE scheme, and removing branch operations in the level decoding loop. These improve the pipelineprocessing efficiency. The latter removes Level calculation from the level decoding loop, and uses multiple Level calculations based on SIMD instruction. The proposed schemes emphasize the software architecture. They are therefore applicable to general computers. Consequently, they can also be integrated with other CAVLC opimization schemes for CoeffToken, TotalZeros, and RunBefore syntax elements. Based on results of evaluation experiments, we confirmed that the improved pipeline processing achieved 22% faster decoding speed compared with the conventional method, which used only the LLE scheme. The SIMD-based Level calculation also achieved a 38% faster decoder than before by integrating with the former part.


To reduce the angular velocity fluctuation of the input shaft to a machine, we deduced that a machine under the combined action of the inertia and the load may keep running smoothly if the equivalent kinetic energy (EKE) of the machine is constant during its operation. Furthermore, we introduced a novel type of flywheels with variable equivalent mass moment of inertia (VEMMoI) and without fixed connection with the input shaft to the machine. The kinetic energy fluctuation of the flywheel is used to dynamically decrease the EKE fluctuation of the original machine, thereby realizing smooth machine operation. Three types of flywheels with VEMMoI driven by a two-link dyad, a pair of noncircular gears and a planet cam respectively were designed as examples. The velocity fluctuation of the machine is significantly reduced. In the second and the third examples, in particular, the input shaft may rotate at a constant rate, since its angular velocity fluctuation is eliminated completely in principle.


In line with Nation and Snowling's (1997, 1999) position, two experiments with first-grade children (mean age : 6;9) examined the hypothesis that less-skilled comprehenders in a reading task have language difficulties in high-level processes, such as processing of anaphors. Reading and listening comprehension were measured by means of a global test. With skilled and less-skilled comprehenders in the reading test, the on-line processing of three types of anaphor (repeated noun, general noun and pronoun) was investigated in a listening situation, by means of an error-detection paradigm. Error-detection performance was better and faster if the anaphor was solved. In experiment 1, two types of errors were used : phonological errors and phonologico- semantic errors. In experiment 2, only phonological errors were used, the phonemic distance between the phoneme- source and the phoneme-target in the non-word being low or high.

In the two experiments, reading comprehension and listening comprehension were strongly correlated. Less-skilled comprehenders showed markedly lower oral performance than skilled comprehenders. In experiment 1, the percentage of detection was lower in less-skilled comprehenders and detection time was similar in the two groups. For phondogico- semantic errors, detection time was longer for general nouns in less-skilled comprehenders. In experiment 2, the percentage of detection was lower and detection time was longer in less-skilled comprehenders, for low and high distant errors. Performance did not vary as a function of type of anaphor, for skilled or for less-skilled comprehenders. These data did not support the hypothesis that less-skilled comprehenders have an impairment in on-line processing of anaphors in a listening situation. However, a qualitative analysis showed specific difficulties in less-skilled comprehenders. Results were interpreted in terms of the « quality » of lexical representations (Perfetti & Hart, 2001) . The paradigm used for investigating the processing of anaphors was discussed.


The purpose of this paper is to propose theoretical foundations on the impact of transfer scheme, e.g. Community Agricultural Policy, on income inequality within European Countries. First, we show that ex-post inequality (in the after-transfer distribution) may increase if either initial aggregate income or the amount of fiscal contributions are sufficiently high. Second according to welfare ordering, we characterize a multi-factor decomposition of the Atkinson index to gauge the impact of each income source on the inequality profile. Third, we introduce a methodology to construct a cooperative game played by different income factors (as net incomes and/or incoming transfers) explicitly measuring the cost of inequality across the population in terms of welfare loss. We finally rely on Banzhaf and Shapley values to determine the marginal contributions of each factor to overall inequality.


Introduction: For patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), time is myocardium. The sooner STEMI patients receive a definitive intervention, the better their outcomes. The first point of contact with the healthcare system for STEMI patients is either via Emergency Medical Services (EMS), or self-transportation to an Emergency Department (ED). Despite a reduced time to definitive intervention, STEMI patients who use EMS have increased mortality compared to those who self-transport. In an effort to optimize STEMI care pathways, we characterized variations in modes of presentation of STEMI patients in our region. Methods: This study used a retrospective cohort design from a regional STEMI registry. Patients presenting to Hamilton Health Sciences between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2018 meeting STEMI criteria were included in our analyses. Self-transport patients were analyzed from two academic EDs in Hamilton, Ontario. One hospital was PCI capable and the other, non-PCI capable. Patients transferred from other health regions were excluded from our analyses. Dichotomous variables were compared using χ2 tests. Group means were compared using the Student t-test. Results: Eight hundred and seventy-one patients were included in the analysis, including 675 EMS users, and 196 self-transporting to EDs. Patients self-transporting to EDs were younger (61.5 v. 64.6 y, p < 0.002) and more often male (82.6 v. 69.2%, p < 0.0002) compared to EMS users. There was a non-significant trend towards an increased rate of all STEMI patients self-transporting in the summer months compared to the winter (63 of 215 in summer v. 41 of 185 in winter, 29.3 v. 22.2%, p = 0.10). Comparative analysis between both hospitals yielded an increased rate of self-transportation to the PCI-capable hospital in the summer months compared to winter (46 v. 28, 23.2 v. 16.3%, p = 0.09), but not the other hospital (18 v. 13, 10.6 v. 8.3%, p = 0.57). The majority of self-transporting patients came from postal codes bordering each hospital, and the different rates of self-transportation between hospitals were not associated with recent specialist follow up at those sites. Conclusion: Seasonal trends in modes of presentation in STEMI patients may present an opportunity to optimize STEMI care pathways through resource utilization and patient education. A larger dataset and possible multicenter analysis should be done to determine if significance is obtained with larger sample size.


Background: The identification, situation, background, assessment and recommendation (ISBAR) is a handoff tool that plays an important role in transferring responsibility and accountability in patient care from outgoing shifts to incoming shifts. Many researchers believe that handoff is very important among nurses. Nurses had the responsibility to ensure patients' correct information which were shared among themselves during handoff. It also delivers the best patient care by improving the transfer of clinical information globally and systematically.
Purpose: The aim of the study is to determine nurse's perception and compliance on ISBAR tool for handoff communication in tertiary hospital, Dammam.
Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in oncology unit at King Fahad Tertiary Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Total sample size was 70. Questionnaire was the instrument tool in the study to measure nurse's perception and compliance on ISBAR tools.
Result: The overall perception mean score achieved was 38.64±1.455 and compliance score was 7.73±0.588. This showed nurses had good perception and compliance on ISBAR tools and none of them had poor perception and compliance regarding the same. There was statistically significant relationship (P=0.000) between perception and compliance on ISBAR tools.
Conclusion: ISBAR is reliable and effective handoff communication tools to promote patient safety. However, continuous education should be maintained to ensure all nurses competent in ISBAR tool. Further studies will be necessary to evaluate relationship between nurses' perception and compliance on ISBAR tool.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the joint position sense of the lower extremities and its relationship with motor function in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and typically developing (TD) children.

METHODS
A total of 56 participants were recruited; 28 children with DCD (age 10.86±1.07 years; 13 females, 15 males) and 28 TD children (age 10.96±1.18 years; 12 females, 16 males). Knee and ankle joint position sense were assessed using a Biodex isokinetic dynamometer. Joint position acuity was measured by position error (PE) and position error variability (PEV). Motor function was examined using the 2nd edition of Movement Assessment Battery for children (MABC-2) and quantified via sub-scores from 3 MABC-2 domains.

RESULTS
Both PE and PEV at knee and ankle joints were significantly greater in children with DCD compared with TD children. In addition, both PE and PEV were significantly greater at the ankle joints than the knee joints in children with DCD. For children with DCD only, joint position acuity in the lower extremities significantly and negatively correlated with MABC-2 balance sub-score.

CONCLUSION
This study verifies that lower limb proprioception is impaired in children with DCD. Also, children with DCD displayed greater proprioceptive deficits at the ankle compared with the knee joint. Children with DCD who had poorer joint position acuity, i.e. greater PE and PEV, in the lower extremities tended to perform less well in balance function.


Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is extensively used in machining of exotic conductive materials when precision is of prime importance. Conventional machining in Beryllium copper alloy is difficult due to its hardness. WEDM is treated as a challenging one because improvement of more than one machining performance measures viz. material removal rate (MRR), surface finish (SF) are sought to obtain precision in work. An attempt to determine parameters setting is proposed. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the Analysis of variance (ANOVA) are adopted to determine the significant factors that could affect the machining performance such as material removal rate, surface finish etc. In this study, pulse ON time, pulse OFF time, pulse duration and servo feed are considered as control parameters. It has been observed that a combination of factors for optimization of each performance measure is different. In this paper, the relationship between control factors and responses like MRR and SF are established by means of regression analysis, resulting in a valid mathematical model. The study also demonstrates that the WEDM process parameters are optimized to achieve better material removal rate and surface finish simultaneously.


Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women in US. A non-receptor tyrosine kinase named Protein Tyrosine Kinase 6 (PTK6) has been identified in the majority of human breast cancers, but the roles of PTK6 in breast tumorigenesis was unclear. In this thesis, we studied the functions of PTK6 in normal mammary glands and in breast tumors.
PTK6 was not detected in normal human mammary gland previously, but we discovered PTK6 expression in the mammary gland epithelial cells of all the patient samples we studied, and PTK6 may be playing kinase independent roles because it was not active. In contrast, we discovered that PTK6 was often activated in high grade human breast tumors.
PTK6 is not expressed in normal mouse mammary gland. We generated transgenic mouse that expressed human PTK6 in the mammary glands, and we detected a 2.4-fold increase in breast tumor formation in all the transgenic lines. In the mammary glands and the breast tumors from transgenic animals, we detected constitutive activation of ectopic PTK6 and STAT3, a PTK6 substrates that regulates pro-survival signaling. STAT3 activation may have contributed to increased breast tumor formation.
ERBB2 (B2) is a known breast tumor oncogene. To study the synergistic effect of PTK6 and B2 on breast tumorigenesis, we crossed the PTK6 mice with the B2 mice. A higher proliferation rate was observed in B2/PTK6 tumors but it was counteracted by increased apoptosis. In addition, endogenous mouse PTK6 was induced in both B2 and B2/PTK6 tumors and may have partially masked the effect of ectopic human PTK6.
To evaluate the importance of endogenous mouse PTK6 induction, we crossed B2 mice with Ptk6 null (Ptk6-/-) mice, and observed a significant delay in breast tumor initiation. We found that proliferation rates of mammary gland epithelium were much lower in B2, Ptk6-/- mice. Also, levels of activated FAK and p130Cas, two PTK6 substrates that play roles in cell migration, were decreased in B2, Ptk6 -/- tumors, suggesting that disrupting PTK6 expression may decrease the metastasis potential of breast tumors.
In addition, we found out that knockdown of PTK6 increased trastuzumab-induced growth inhibition in ERBB2 overexpressing cell line and sensitized breast cancer cells to chemotherapy and irradiation treatment.


This article aims to highlight the particularity of assisted suicide in Switzerland. Compared with other contemporary forms of dying around the world, which are mainly medicalized, the implementation of assisted suicide in Switzerland is carried out by volunteer associations. The political culture pertaining to assisted suicide reflects the reluctance of medicine to recognize the practice. But its legitimacy is not only a question of justice and rights. It is based on a process of social recognition, advanced by a citizen's movement, and debated in the public sphere. Through the history of one particular francophone association for the right to die with dignity, the article examines the Swiss way of regulating this manner of dying.


Costello, Down, and Mehta (2020) trace their slider intervention to deviations from the credit line amount recommended by a credit scoring model. The deviations are followed by larger delinquency declines and bigger sales orders, and Costello et al. interpret these results using discretion-based theories. However, incremental deviations are concentrated on newer clients rather than those the lender has accumulated soft information about. Deviations also appear larger for public than private borrowers. My discussion evaluates whether these results align with discretion-based theories, and explores alternative interpretations based on salience and unique aspects of the trade credit setting. Differences in interpretation aside, the evidence is informative about technological advances in commercial lending. I conclude with an overview of several recent advances and discuss the implications for lending research.


We report a facile method to produce a magnetically separable graphene oxide--magnetite nanocomposite (GO--Fe3O4) and its adsorption performance in methylene blue (MB) removal from aqueous solution. The GO--Fe3O4 nanocomposite was synthesized by a solution-phase self-assembly method including the incorporation of monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) and GO in a dimethylformamide/chloroform mixture under sonication. The successfully decorating GO sheet with monodisperse Fe3O4 NPs was proved by TEM study. ICP--OES data of the GO--Fe3O4 nanocomposite show that the GO--Fe3O4 nanocomposite consists of 21 wt% Fe3O4 NPs, which is sufficient for its magnetic separation from aqueous solution. The spectroscopic studies reveal that the GO--Fe3O4 nanocomposite is a highly efficient adsorbent for MB removal from aqueous solution, providing an adsorption capacity of 172.6 mg/g, and the equilibrium for MB adsorption is attained in \sim 70 min. Moreover, it is a magnetically separable and reusable material for MB removal from water, preserving 87% of its initial efficiency after 5 successive runs.


SUMMARY Shoulder syndrome after neck dissection is a well known entity, but its incidence and prognostic factors influencing recovery have not been clearly assessed due to the heterogeneity of possible evaluations. The University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) Shoulder Scale, the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) and the Simple Shoulder Test (SST) are three English-language questionnaires commonly used to test shoulder impairment. An Italian version of these scales is not available. The aim of the present study was to translate, culturally adapt and validate an Italian version of UCLA Shoulder Scale, SPADI and SST. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the SPADI, the UCLA shoulder scale and the SST was performed according to the international guidelines. Sixty-six patients treated with neck dissection for head and neck cancer were called to draw up these scales. Forty patients completed the same questionnaires a second time one week after the first to test the reproducibility of the Italian versions. All the English-speaking Italian patients (n = 11) were asked to complete both the English and the Italian versions of the three questionnaires to validate the scales. No major problems regarding the content or the language were found during the translation of the 3 questionnaires. For all three scales, Cronbach's α was > 0.89. The Pearson correlation coefficient was r > 0.91. With respect to validity, there was a significant correlation between the Italian and the English versions of all three scales. This study shows that the Italian versions of UCLA Shoulder Scale, SPADI and SST are valid instruments for the evaluation of shoulder dysfunction after neck dissection in Italian patients.


Old age has always been with us. The ancient Egyptians and the author of the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes were familiar with the common disabilities of later life. Survival into what we still regard as old age was not unusual in classical Greece (1). The average length of human life has increased over the centuries as living conditions have improved and childhood mortality has fallen; the maximum lifespan of our species is determined largely by our genes and will be the same as it ever was.

View this table:

Old age in classical Greece

Doctors and philosophers of antiquity commented on age associated illness. Hippocrates noted conditions common in later life, and Aristotle offered a theory of aging based on loss of heat. Two thousand years were to pass before anything better was written on the subject. Francis Bacon proposed a scientific programme of epidemiological investigations into the longevity of people living in different places and under different conditions.1 He also noted that the pursuit of knowledge depended on "the fresh examination of particulars," advice that underlaid the systematic observation of nature that complemented the active experimentation advocated by his contemporary William Harvey.

During the 18th and 19th centuries several physicians wrote specifically about the diseases of later life and their treatment. These included Cheyne2 and Day3 in Britain and Rush4 in the United States. Charcot's lectures on the medicine of old age aroused scientific interest in the field and became available in English translation in 1881.5 The word "geriatrics" was invented by Ignatz L Nascher, a Vienna-born immigrant to the United States in 1909.6 (It is not clear who is to blame for the barbarous miscoining of "gerontology"—the study of old men—for "geratology"—the study of old age.) Nascher's initiative provided a stimulus for social and biological …


Introduction: • Leatherside chub are a threatened species and little has been studied concerning how to optimally raise them in a controlled environment. • Leatherside's are susceptible to fungal growth. This makes it difficult to balance how much feed to give the fry for their optimal development. Giving them an excess of feed can cause fungal blooms, which can kill the fry. • Our goal was to better understand how much feed fry will eat at different stages of development without creating an excess of feed leading to fungal growth.


Soil microorganisms play an important role in the sustainability of soil vitality and productivity. In agricultural production, nutrients needed by plants are converted into useful form for plants by microorganisms. Intensive agricultural activities on agricultural soils are a serious threat to soil microorganisms and threaten the sustainability of agriculture in the long run. Soil treatment practices are known to be effective on soil microbial flora. This study was carried out in vertisol soil in Diyarbakır to investigate the effectiveness of conventional tillage, reduced tillage and direct seeding practices on soil microbial flora in the 2016-2017 winter wheat sowing period. Soil samples were taken from the rhizosphere of the wheat plant during the sowing time and flag leaf phenological period. Dilution technique was applied to the samples to determine live bacteria quantities. As a result of the study, it was determined that different tillage practices have a significant effect on soil bacterial count. It was determined that direct seeding (NT) application was significantly increased the number of soil bacteria compared to conventional tillage (CT) and reduced tillage (RT) treatments (p<0.001).


Recently, savings initiatives for young people have been garnering increasing attention within the development community for their perceived potential to promote both youth development and financial inclusion. This paper surveys current practice to better understand the diverse range of youth savings initiatives under way in developing countries, and the actors promoting them in a range of forms for various objectives. It also gathers the little evidence available on the extent to which such savings initiatives are fulfilling their perceived dual development potential. The paper ends with key questions that must be answered with further research and practical experimentation, before this development potential can be confirmed.


The improvement of manoeuvrability and agility is a substantial requirement of modern fighter aircraft. Today rolling rates of 200°/s and more will be achieved especially by unstable design of the aircraft. Most of today's and probably future fighter aircraft will be Delta-Wing-Configurations. The flow field of such configurations is dominated by vortices developing by flow separation at the wings and the fuselage. The delay in time of vortex position and condition to the on flow conditions of the manoeuvring aircraft can lead to significant phase shifts in the distribution of loads. In this case reliable results for the analysis of flight properties can only be obtained by a non-linear integration of the unsteady stationary aerodynamic and real flight movement. Today this can only be realised by flight tests and not during the design period. Flight tests as well as modifications after the definition phase lead normally to a substantial increase in cost and time. To help decrease these post-definition-phase modifications, it is useful to have a numerical tool which enables aircraft designers to analyse and evaluate the dynamic behaviour of their designs during the design phase itself. To accomplish this task, a simulation tool which can simulate the dynamic behaviour of aircraft has been designed within the DLR project AeroSUM-"Aerodynamic Simulation of Unsteady Manoeuvres". The main objective of the current simulations is the coupling between the aerodynamic and flight-mechanic interactions. The software package which is used for these simulations is divided into several modules, all of which are communicating through a central computational interface. The computational interface manages both the data- and work-flow between the software modules. The numerical simulation of the flow-field is performed with an unstructured, time accurate Navier-Stokes flow solver, TAU, which has been developed by DLR. For the Simulation of configurations with moveable control panels, the chimera technique for unstructured meshes is implemented within the TAU-Code. For the coupling between the aerodynamics and flight-mechanics, the simulation tool SIMPACK is used, which contains the flight mechanic equations and is used as a GUI for the simulation environment. For the validation of the results of the numerical simulation software, comparisons to experimental data will be performed. The experimental data will be obtained from extensive wind-tunnel testing of a generic delta-wing aircraft model, see Figure 1 and 2. The AeroSUM wind-tunnel model is a cropped-delta-wing configuration consisting of a fuselage and wings with trailing edge flaps. It is specially designed for testing in the "Transonic Wind-Tunnel Gottingen (TWG)". The experimental set-up is capable of simulating both controlled and free-to-roll manoeuvres, at various angles-of-attack, as well as static flight conditions. In this paper we will present several results from the current simulations. The first results to be shown are the static aerodynamic parameters of the configuration, and the structure of the vortex-dominated flow-field, at various angles-of-attack and roll-angle settings, see Figure 3 and 4. The surface-pressure and roll-moments will be shown to compare favourably with the experimental data. The static simulation cases are the starting points for each unsteady simulation. Additionally to this, some unsteady manoeuvre simulations will be shown. The delta wing is set in guided periodic roll-motion with a given velocity respectively in an oscillating motion with a given frequency and amplitude. Comparisons with the experimental data will be shown as well. Finally we will present some coupled simulation, i.e. free-roll manoeuvres initiated by flap deflection of the delta wing trailing edge flaps. The desired manoeuvrability capabilities of fighter aircraft keep increasing, thus the design and development of such aircraft become ever more complex. It is hoped that the use of coupled simulation-packages like TAU-SIMPACK will assist in keeping the complexity of fighter aircraft development at a manageable level for years to come. Therefore, the final aim of the project is the capability to simulate a fully configured, manoeuvring fighter aircraft, i.e. an aircraft with several control-surfaces and thrust-vector devices.


This article focuses on the common skin manifestations of sexually transmitted diseases. A number of unusual skin lesions associated with these diseases are shown, and pathogenesis and treatment are briefly presented. This article will be most useful as a reference for the formulation of the differential diagnosis of genital area skin lesions.


A new polymer electron acceptor (P-BNBP-CDT) composed of an alternating double B←N bridged bipyridine (BNBP) unit and a cyclopenta-[2,1-b:3,4-b′]-dithiophene (CDT) unit has been developed. P-BNBP-CDT exhibits strong light absorption in the visible range of 500–650 nm and suitable LUMO/HOMO energy levels (ELUMO/HOMO) of −3.45 eV/−5.64 eV, which are very complementary to that (ELUMO/HOMO = −3.2 eV/−5.2 eV) of the widely-used polymer donor, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) with P3HT as an electron donor and P-BNBP-CDT as an electron acceptor exhibit power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) exceeding 1.0% with high donor : acceptor blend ratios (w : w, from 0.5 : 1 to 9 : 1). The highest PCE of these devices is 1.76% with a high donor : acceptor blend ratio of 5 : 1. These results not only indicate that BNBP-based polymers are promising for P3HT : polymer acceptor devices, but also suggest the potential for low cost and facile device processing of all-PSCs.


During the development of complex assemblies such as aircraft the noise from installed components must be considered. For airborne sound sources this issue has been resolved to some extent by standard measurement procedures which allow equipment suppliers to transfer data to end users in an agreed form. The same cannot be said for structure borne sound sources however because no widely accepted standard test methods currently exist. The main complicating factor is that the procedures used for airborne sound source characterisation are not suited to the evaluation of structure borne noise because both source strength and coupling to the assembly must be considered and, as a result, no easily interpretable characterisation quantity can be found that applies beyond some special circumstances. The in-situ measurement of blocked forces is a promising approach for reaching some consensus in this area but it does differ in many ways from the accepted norms of the standard procedure because it favours the use of narrowband data and the inclusion of phase. In this paper we look at the advantages and disadvantages of the blocked force approach together with the associated uncertainties and how they might be presented or quantified in a standardised method.


This study was designed to examine the role of trade unions practices in improving the workers' performance in Tanzania. The study was carried out in Dar es Salaam. Workers performance in Tanzania seems to face some challenges while there are organs such Trade Unions which can be used as the means to improve workers performance in Tanzania. The objectives of the study were, to assess how trade union practices motivated workers' performance, to identify how trade union practices affected workers' performance and to explain the relationship between trade union activities and workers' performance. The case study design was adopted using a sample consisting of 100 respondents who were union members and leaders. In collecting primary data, the study used questionnaires and interview tools, the descriptive data analysis was used to analyze data, and table and figures were used to present data. Seventy-seven out of the 100 trade union members responded to the questionnaires and the data was analyzed descriptively. The study found out that collective bargaining meeting, Training to workers, Good working condition and good relation between workers and trade unions leaders could be used as the ways of influencing workers' performance. The study concluded that through providing training, improving working condition and by using collective bargaining meetings between trade unions and employers, where various matters are discussed for the benefit of workers' performance. The performance of workers can be improved Trade unions should make sure that the meetings of collective bargaining were conducted in every year and should have positive outcomes to workers' performance.


Community development often involves organizing participatory decision-making processes. The challenge is for this to be meaningful. Participatory decision-making has the potential to increase the transparency, accountability, equity and efficiency with which public administration serves the least privileged in society. However, in practice, it often fails to bring about these outcomes. A number of academics and practitioners have, therefore, theorized how participatory decision-making processes can better empower marginalized groups. By critically reviewing this body of work and empirically grounding the debate in recent practice, we aimed to develop a theoretically rigorous, easily applicable and holistic model of an inclusive participatory decision-making process that can work across a range of contexts. The empirical strand included surveying public engagement practitioners and participants about the participatory events they had organized or attended. These empirical findings were combined with insights from the theoretical literature to devise a new conceptual model of emancipatory, inclusive and empowering participatory decision-making – the 'Tree of Participation'. The model can be useful to both organizers of participatory processes, as a check for empowering and inclusive practice, and to disadvantaged groups, as a set of expectations and demands when engaging in public decision-making.


Background There are major concerns and uncertainty regarding a possible reduction in growth velocity and final height of children with asthma who are long-term users of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). We aimed to evaluate the association between ICS use of >12 months and growth. Methods We initially searched MEDLINE and EMBASE in July 2013, followed by a PubMed search updated to June 2014. We used a combination of search terms involving drug names and adverse effects of interest (such as growth or height), and we also hand-searched reference lists of existing systematic reviews and trial reports. We selected RCTs and controlled observational studies of any ICS vs non-ICS control treatment in patients with asthma (treatment duration of at least 52 weeks). Meta-analysis of continuous outcomes (growth velocity in cm/year or final height in cm) was conducted using RevMan 5.3. We analysed mean differences using inverse variance method, random effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic. Results We found 21 relevant studies (seventeen RCTs and four observational studies) after screening 1876 hits from the search. Meta-analysis of 16 RCTs showed a significant association between ICS use and reduction in growth velocity compared to controls (pooled Mean Difference -0.35cm/year, 95% CI -0.54 to -0.18). No significant reduction in growth velocity with ICS was reported in two observational studies of lower quality (pooled Mean Difference 0.03cm/year, 95% CI -0.61 to 0.67). Analysis of final adult height showed a mean reduction of -1.20 cm (95% CI -1.90 cm to – 0.50 cm) with budesonide versus placebo in a high quality RCT. Meta-analysis of two lower quality observational studies found a non-statistically significant pooled mean reduction in final adult height of -0.85 cm (95% CI -3.35 to 1.65). Conclusion Use of ICS for 12 months or more in children with asthma has a limited impact on annual growth velocity, with a slight reduction in final adult height. When interpreted in the context of the typical final adult height in the UK, ICS users may experience less than 0.7% reduction in height compared to non-ICS users.


Chronic stress predicts a number of adverse health outcomes, including depression, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. In the context of women's reproductive health, chronic stress exposure has been associated with increased risk of adverse birth outcomes and postpartum depression. Systemic inflammation resulting from immune system dysregulation is one of the pathways through which chronic stress is thought to influence physical health outcomes. Increasingly strong evidence suggests that engaging in regular physical activity protects individuals from the health-damaging effects of stress, possibly through alterations of biological stress responses. The present research pursued two main objectives using data from a prospective investigation conducted by academic researchers and community members at five collaborating sites across the U.S. These objectives were: 1) describing the levels and correlates of physical activity at six months postpartum in mothers of three ethnic/racial groups and different levels of SES including a large proportion who are poor and; 2) developing and testing multivariate models of the combined influence of chronic stress, physical activity, and other resilience resources on C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation that is associated with elevated risk of chronic disease. Results indicated that African American race, Latina ethnicity, and living in a rural area were generally associated with lower levels of physical activity, whereas working outside the home was associated with high activity. In analyses predicting CRP, women with higher Financial Stress one month after the birth of child had higher CRP at both six months and one year postpartum. Notably, these subjective appraisals of Financial Stress were stronger predictors of inflammation than more objective resource indicators such as income and education. Additional analyses using structural equation modeling demonstrated that this relationship was mediated by adiposity. There was no evidence that behavioral or psychological resilience resources moderated the associations between chronic stressors and CRP. These findings advance existing knowledge by identifying correlates and predictors of important health outcomes during the first postpartum year.


Be prepared for the Foothill Internship & Career Fair! This guide will help you find information on participating employers, industry information, and job hunting resources.


We have measured the intrinsic performance of a digital X-ray detector, the Medipix1, by examining the total detective quantum efficiency (DQE). We studied how the DQE depends on both the incident photon energy and spatial frequency. Reported here is the calculation of the detective quantum efficiency for the case of a 300 /spl mu/m thick silicon diode detector attached to the Medipix1 readout chip. This was done by determining the modulation transfer function and the noise power spectrum; together these allow the frequency component of the DQE to be calculated. The X-ray absorption efficiency in the detector gives the dependence on incident energy. This system was found to have a DQE that peaked at 0.118, using a dental X-ray source, and dropped to 0.049 at the Nyquist frequency of 2.94 line pairs per mm.


Inositol-lipid-specific phospholipase C-delta 1 (PtdIns-PLC delta 1) was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein containing a short 22-amino-acid lac-Z-derived amino terminus. Under appropriate conditions, the phospholipase constituted approximately 0.2% of the detergent-soluble protein and could be purified to near homogeneity in a simple three step protocol. The catalytic properties of the purified enzyme closely resemble those of the eukaryote-derived protein. The suitability of bacterial expression for the investigation of PtdIns-PLC delta regulation is discussed.


Foodborne diseases are considered a relevant issue in health around the world due to their incidence, mortality and negative effects on the economic and productive sector. Fish is considered a food of high nutritional quality, being of global production, distribution and commercialization mainly for human consumption. Among the fish worldwide obtained from capture fisheries and mainly aquaculture for human consumption is Tilapia, due to the adaptability of this fish under cultivation conditions in addition to the fact that its meat is of quality and accessible economic value. Fish due to its composition, is highly susceptible to deterioration and contamination by different hazards throughout the food chain, putting the safety of products and public health at risk. Shigellosis is among the diseases that may be contracted from the consumption of food contaminated by bacteria of the genus Shigella spp.; food contamination is mainly related to inadequate or non-hygienic conditions and practices in the production, processing and handling of food. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to provide a general perspective of foodborne diseases, especially shigellosis, causal agents, conditioning factors, related foods such as fish, as well as control and preventive actions in order to protect the food safety and public health.

 Key words: Food pathogens, food safety, food microbiology, enterobacteria, fisheries, aquaculture.


A 63-year-old Caucasian woman presented with the complaint of decreased visual acuity and metamorphopsia in her right eye. She was diagnosed with vitreomacular traction (VMT) and concurrent diabetic macular edema (DME). The patient's best corrected visual acuity was 3/10 and central macular thickness (CMT) was 387 μm in the right eye. Intravitreal anti-VEGF injection was recommended for the treatment of symptomatic VMT with DME which did not show spontaneous improvement. One month later, her BCVA increased to 7/10 and VMT resolved (CMT decreased to 247 μm). Visual acuity and fundus fi ndings remained stable with no additional treatment during the one-year follow-up.


Cloud computing has become very popular in recent years. Various SaaS, PaaS and IaaS systems for collaborative software development have been proposed. We also have proposed a PaaS system that delivers both a server-side development and server-side execution environment for character user interface applications that can be executed on the server machine and a server-side development and client-side execution environment for graphical user interface applications that can be executed on the client machine. Our previous system allows user to develop and execute software on a web-browser. But our previous system assumes standard PC to execute graphical user interface applications. The graphical user interface applications that are developed in our previous system cannot be executed on mobile devices such as smart phone and tablet. Therefore this paper proposes an extension of web-based software development environment. By the extension, our system allows software developers to implement software for mobile devices.