The purpose of this study is to empirically examine whether the implications of the life cycle model hold on the firm performance path in term of growth and profitability of a sample of Swedish small and medium-sized enterprise. The study is composed of a sample containing 26721 Swedish SMEs across six industries for the period 2008-2011. The empirical results confirm a clear pattern of the performance life-cycle process among Swedish SMEs. Young SMEs, generally, tend to have smaller size but on average a higher performance than their older and larger counterparts and as they age and grow in term of size, their performance rate decreases in parallel with life stage. Accordingly, the performance path of Swedish SMEs included in the sample follows a systematic and predictable pattern associated mainly with the life stage.


This paper explores the distinctions between searching and exploring when looking for information. We propose that, while traditional search engines work well in supporting search behaviour, they are more limited in assisting those who are looking to explore new information, especially when the exploration task is ill-defined. We ran a pilot study using two systems: one based on a traditional database search engine, and the other -- a highly innovative, engaging and playful system called iFISH -- that we designed specifically to support exploration through the use of user preferences. We looked for evidence to support the concept that exploration requires a different kind of interaction. The initial results report a positive response to our exploration system and indicate the differences in preferences amongst users for systems that match their searching or exploring behaviours.


Background The amygdala is one of the nerve centers involved in drug reward. It is suggested that the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is involved in morphine dependency. The CeA gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) system is a mediator of morphine rewarding effects. In this research, the effects of stimulation or inhibition of CeA GABA type B (GABAB) receptors on sensitization acquisition to morphine-induced reward was evaluated in Wistar female rats using conditioned place preferential (CPP) method. Methods Wistar female rats provided by Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, were allocated into 17 groups including 7 groups of determining morphine dose-response, 2 groups of sensitivity and control, and 8 groups of different doses of agonists and antagonists in the acquisition stage (n = 7 in each group). Various quantities of morphine (0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 mg/kg of animal weight) were used to determine the effective and neutral doses of morphine. After 5 days from the start of the surgery, sensitization was induced. After the end of the sensitization period, CPP was conducted. Baclofen and CGP35348, as an agonist and antagonist of GABAB respectively, with the dose of 1.5, 6 and 12 μg/rat were inserted to the CeA, ten minutes before taking morphine. Findings Administration of baclofen had no significant effect on the acquisition of morphine sensitization. In contrast, injection of CGP35348 reduced the sensitivity to morphine. Conclusion GABA receptors can be effective in reducing morphine tendency by specific receptors, so these sites can be important therapeutic targets in counteracting the effects of drug abuse.


This research claims that urban design as a discipline has the potential to catalyse the production of more climate responsive urban living environments. This is now a goal for many governments who are looking for ways to tackle climate change. The research argues that a climate responsive design (CRD) approach, which originated in the field of architecture, can be scaled-up to wider urban scales in order to activate the catalysing power of urban design. Climate responsive urban design (CRUD) can help to reduce energy consumption for the provision of thermal comfort in different layers of urban life. However, its application calls for the integration of `technical knowledge(s)` (i.e. building form, street geometry, density) and `social knowledge(s)` (i.e. lifestyle, socio-cultural values) that are generated through everyday life experiences and socio-cultural relationships of local people. Adopting a socio-technical approach, the research was conducted in Mardin, Turkey, a city in the south east of the country and a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage List. Part of the city (the 'Old Town') evidences a mode of urban development that has been developed over thousands of years in response to climatic conditions, people's lifestyles and their socio-ecologic values. The research takes a comparative approach to explore the similarities and differences between the way(s) in which urban thermal comfort is evidenced and provided within the 'Old Town' heritage site and a contemporary ('New Town') development delivered by the Turkish government using a standardized design. Various techniques such as in-depth interviewing, technical measurements (i.e. temperature, humidity), street questionnaires, ethnographic observation, photographing and video-recording were used.
The results present that the current urban development pattern fits neither local requirements nor respond sufficiently to climatic variations of the type seen in Mardin. The research elaborates this mismatch by highlighting the responsive design clues/traces from the vernacular ('Old Town') urban development pattern which offer more responsive environments for the provision of thermal comfort. The research shows that, in order to achieve truly sustainable urban development, there is a need to (re)define climate responsive urban design to better respond to local climatic characteristics and consider local people`s perceptions and comfort requirements under specific climatic conditions.


Ten years of administrative data from a diverse, private, top-100 law school are used to examine the ways in which female and nonwhite students benefit from exposure to demographically similar faculty in first-year, required law courses. Arguably, causal impacts of exposure to same-sex and same-race instructors on course-specific outcomes such as course grades are identified by leveraging quasi-random classroom assignments and a two-way (student and classroom) fixed effects strategy. Having an other-sex instructor reduces the likelihood of receiving a good grade (A or A–) by 1 percentage point (3 percent) and having an other-race instructor reduces the likelihood of receiving a good grade by 3 percentage points (10 percent). The effects of student–instructor demographic mismatch are particularly salient for nonwhite and female students. These results provide novel evidence of the pervasiveness of demographic-match effects and of the graduate school education production function.


This essay, intended as a chapter in a book on ethical issues in global philanthropy, analyzes the problematic relationship between the United Nations and global civil society. Offering a brief history of the ideological transformation of international NGOs into 'global civil society', it critiques the idea of global civil society as representing the world's peoples to international organizations. It notes, however, that the idea of global civil society is considered somewhat passe today as a vehicle of legitimacy for global governance - likewise, for that matter, the UN, also somewhat passe in leading intellectual circles as the chosen vehicle for the platonic ideal of global governance. Leading intellectuals of global governance today lean instead toward such ideas as global government networks and other forms of governance that look to technocratic expertise in particular, indeed narrow, areas as their source of (deliberately limited) legitimacy, rather than seeking broad-based political legitimacy for governance. The debate over the legitimacy of the UN via legitimation from global civil society, while of great importance, perhaps, to the UN and to global civil society, appears in important respects to have been by-passed by theorists of the technocracy that has no more 'global' ambition than to ensure that the internet arrives on time. (The essay proceeds through stylized, highly notional time periods as a means to offer a convenient way of characterizing different phases of conceptualization of global governance, global civil society, the UN, and legitimacy.)


Activated Hageman factor, when injected into the rabbit ear chamber, produces a delayed and prolonged inflammatory response characterized by prominent sticking and emigration of leucocytes. In contrast, preformed bradykinin evokes an immediate and more transient response in which leucocytic emigration occurs less frequently. It is concluded that either Hageman factor produces its inflammatory effects by mechanisms other than kinin release, or bradykinin released endogenously has effects quite different from those resulting from a single injection of the exogenous material.


The word calls to mind a host of troublesome issues such as city flight, runaway suburban development, and the conversion of farmland to soulless housing developments. In "Sprawltown", architectural historian Richard Ingersoll makes the surprising claim that sprawl is an inevitable reality of modern life that should be addressed more thoughtfully and recognized as its own new form of urbanism rather than simply being criticized and condemned. In five thought-provoking chapters, covering topics such as tourism, film, and the automobile, Ingersoll takes the position that any solution to the problems of sprawl - including pressing issues like resource use and energy waste - must take into consideration its undeniable success as a social milieu. No screed against the suburb, this book offers a more sophisticated and nuanced view of the way we think about its rapid development and growth.


The Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam, signed in May 2015, has special political significance for both Eurasian integration and Russian-Vietnamese relations. However, an important issue is the problem of the efficiency of this agreement for the Russian economy. Despite the high level of political contact between Russia and Vietnam, their economic interaction is still at a relatively low level. But at the same time, the FTA is often considered to be a factor that can impact positive influence on economic cooperation between Russia and Vietnam. Focusing on the political meaning of the EAEU-Vietnam FTA, the aim of the article is to research the role of Russian state administration in the development of the free trade zone.The author analyzes the activity of Russian state structures (the Ministry of Economic Development, the Russian Export Center, the Trade Mission in Vietnam etc.) in terms of their assistance in the realization of the FTA, considers the results of their work and makes conclusions on the future prospects of the free trade zone between the EAEU and Vietnam. The Russian state administration has taken part in organizing different events (official summits, roundtables, exhibitions, business forums), assisted in communication between the Russian and Vietnamese business communities, and provided information support. But despite some achievements by the FTA, there are still a lot of unsolved problems and so interaction between state administration and business seems to be a necessary condition for the improvement of Russian-Vietnamese economic cooperation.


The anatomical level reached by the fully inserted flexible sigmoidoscope (60 cm) determines the effective potential of the instrument in the detection of left colon diseases. We performed flexible fiberoptic sigmoidoscopy (FFS) in 50 patients, without the help of fluoroscopy and without trying to reduce the bendings of the sigmoid colon. After having inserted the instrument, the endoscopist would define the section reached: sigma, sigmoid-descending colon junction, descending colon, splenic flexure. Barium sulphate was then injected through the fiberoptic sigmoidoscope in order to verify the level: the exact anatomical localization of the tip of the instrument was therefore determined by means of fluoroscopy. 90% of the investigations visualized the whole sigmoid colon, and in 52% more than 50% of the descending colon was studied; the splenic flexure was reached in only 22% of cases. Worse results, i.e. the visualization of only the sigmoid colon, were achieved in old and overweight patients, who had previously undergone abdominal or pelvic surgery. The paper concludes underlining the great diagnostic potential of FFS in the screening and early diagnosis of left colon diseases. FFS should become the surgeon's first instrumental investigation even in his own surgery, as the technique is easy to perform, fairly inexpensive and requires simple preparation.


In recent years, the study of heavy work investment (HWI) has been diversifying greatly in the various fields of application in the organizational field, for example, occupational health, human resources, quality at work among others. However, to date, no systematic review has been carried out to examine the methodological quality of the instruments designed to measure HWI. Therefore, the present systematic review examines the psychometric properties of three main measures of HWI: Workaholism Battery (WorkBAT), Work Addiction Risk Test (WART), and Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS). Five electronic databases were systematically searched, selecting psychometric articles. Of the 2621 articles identified, 35 articles met all inclusion criteria published between 1992 and 2019. The findings indicated that most of the articles were focused on reviewing psychometric properties, analyses were conducted from classical test theory, collected validity evidence based on internal structure and relationship with other variables, and reliability of scores was obtained through the internal consistency method. Of the instruments reviewed, the DUWAS is the one with the highest methodological quality. Recommendations are made for future research to address the psychometric study of these instruments based on recent advances in the field of organizational measurement.


Job hopping refers to the tendency of a person to work briefly in an organization in particular position rather than staying in an organization for a longer time. This research study is conducted to examine the job hopping tendency in millennial in private sector of Nepal. It also studies the factors which attracts millennial in new organization. The factors which force a person to leave an organization arête seek new opportunities. Generally the considered variables for leaving the job; low pay structure, low potential for growth, and unfair treatment by management and conflict with the immediate supervisor/ Coworkers. The factors considered for choosing the new job; chances of career growth, higher salary, job security, freedom at workplace, reputation of organization and higher position.
Materials and methods: Study populations are the millennial working in private organizations of Kathmandu valley. For this study the convenience sampling method was chosen where the data was collected through the questionnaire. Data were collected using likert scale questionnaire, yes/no questions, multiple choice single response and multiple choice multiple response questions. Percentage and correlation matrix was used to analyse the data,.
Results: The outcome of the research indicates that main reason behind millennial leaving the organization is no growth opportunity and attraction towards new job is career growth. The employees chose the current organization either they are getting higher position or sensize future growth.


Cooling water systems are traditionally designed with a set of cooling water using operations arranged in parallel. Recent research has shown that this design can be improved and the cooling water system can be debottlenecked by employing the cooling water reuse/recycle philosophy. However, this can leads to high cooling water network pressure drop which is associated with additional reuse/recycle streams. This paper presents a technique to debottleneck a cooling water system with multiple cooling towers while maintaining a minimum pressure drop. The technique is based on critical path algorithm (CPA) and superstructural approach. The superstructure explore the opportunity for cooling water reuse/recycle while the CPA select the cooling water network with minimum pressure drop. This technique was previously applied in cooling water systems with single source however, in this paper the technique is adapted for a cooling water systems with multiple cooling sources. Furthermore, a cooling tower model is included to predict the thermal performance of the cooling towers. The developed mathematical formulations exhibit mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) structure. The case study shows that up to 26% reduction in circulating cooling water flowrate can be realized with 3% improvement in cooling towers effectiveness.


With drug abuse proving to be a continuing problem in society, it is no surprise that the detection of such abuse is an issue of importance. No more so than in the case of detection of drug impaired driving where the lives of many people may be placed at risk. With established method detection procedures and devices in place for alcohol, analytical chemists and other scientists are focussing their efforts on establishing analytical cut-offs and devices for the detection of drugs at the roadside. In this paper, the challenges faced in such a search are discussed. The main concerns arise from the choice of biological sample, the sampling methods employed, the device used for detection, and the cut-offs or detection limits for the devices. With many commercially available kits on the market, and none meeting the required standards at this time, a search for alternative methods is on going. Microfluidic devices may prove useful in this search however, more research is required in this area.


In hydrocephalic patients, increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume puts the brain tissue under abnormal strain, leading to a degeneration of brain tissue and function. Hydrocephalus is usually treated by the surgical placement of a CSF shunt, which aims at restoring normal CSF compliance by draining excessive fluid. The drainage rate of today's CSF shunts is regulated by passive differential pressure valves. Thus, they work towards a constant pressure difference between cranium and peritoneum – the usual drainage site. As intracranial pressure (ICP) and intraperitoneal pressure are not normally linked, there are problems with over- and also underdrainage, especially related to postural changes. Therefore, there has long been the vision of a feedback-controlled active CSF shunt. However, we are yet to see such a smart shunt on the market, due to unproven feasibility, unclear physiology, and high regulatory burdens.
To reduce the cost and effort associated with testing new hardware and control concepts, a hardware-in-the-loop test bench was implemented that allows for fast, cost-effective, and repeatable testing of passive and active CSF shunts within an environment that is close to in vivo conditions. On the test bench, the shunt to be tested is placed in a dynamic in vitro setup that interfaces with a mathematical model of the relevant physiology. The model is evaluated numerically in real-time and accounts for posture dependent behavior and viscoelastic effects. With this, the test bench allows to investigate how shunts interact with CSF dynamics under the complex pressure environment seen due to postural changes.
To investigate how siphoning-induced overdrainage in upright posture can be avoided, CSF drainage rates, resulting CSF volume and ICP were determined for three different types of anti-siphon devices (ASD) in supine, sitting, and standing posture. This comparison study showed that today's passive ASDs can prevent overdrainage. However, they cannot ensure continuous drainage independent of posture and intraperitoneal pressure.
Simulating the shunt's in vivo environment on the test bench requires a precise mathematical model of the relevant physiology and how it changes with posture. To explain the changes in the craniospinal CSF volume and compliance distribution associated with posture changes, I implemented a lumped-parameter model of the CSF system and the relevant parts of the cardiovascular system. The good concordance of this model with clinical observations indicated that jugular collapse is a major contributor to CSF dynamic in upright posture.
Modelling how posture influences CSF dynamics has shown that the pulse pressure amplitude (AMP) of the ICP might be a suitable control variable for active CSF shunts, because it is theoretically independent of posture. However, calculating AMP from ICP recordings in supine and sitting posture has shown a significant AMP increase in sitting posture.
In conclusion, the implementation of a hardware-in-the-loop test bench can reduce the development costs of active CSF shunts by enabling realistic testing, without the need for in vivo experiments. With this, the test bench may catalyze the development of active shunts, which are currently prevented by their questionable economic viability. Comparing different shunts has already contributed to improving our understanding of the complex interaction of shunt and patient. Moreover, AMP, a potential control variable for active CSF shunts, was shown to be posture-dependent. But, the derivation of more sophisticated mathematical models has improved the understanding of how posture influences CSF dynamics.


ABSTRACT A pipeline with an extended blockage is modelled as a system of three pipes in series. A computational fluid dynamics approach using the ADINA software is adapted to solve the slightly compressible turbulent flow problem with complex geometry. Two-dimensional axisymmetric computational results are validated by several examples. In practice, the water hammer wave generated by rapid valve closure usually exhibits wave front smearing. The numerical analysis shows that for a blockage length larger than the wave front thickness, the magnitude of the incident wave may be significantly suppressed as a result of the interaction between the blockage and the wave front. By reflecting negative pressure waves toward the incident wave before its maximum pressure arrives at the blockage, the maximum transient pressure may be considerably reduced. Consequently, the blockage behaves as a discrete blockage. However, if the blockage length is large compared with the thickness of the wave front, the incident wave conserves its initial amplitude, and the blockage behaves as an extended blockage. Therefore, the occurrences of discrete and extended blockages depend on the thickness of the wave front and thus on the rapidity of the manoeuvre that generates the transient.


Water phase-change is of importance to many applications including energy conversion, thermal management of electronics and medical therapies. Augmenting the rate of phase-change by application of an electric field is of interest in many situations and may lead to increased effectiveness of energy transfer. Thus, it is important to develop a better understanding of the effect of an electric field on the thermodynamic properties of water. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) was utilized to assess two distinct water models, the TIP4P-Ew and the SWM4-NDP, for predicting the effect of an electric field on the density and the enthalpy of vaporization of water. Both water models possess rigid molecular geometry. However, the SWM4-NDP model has a negatively charged Drude particle (the "NDP") attached to the oxygen site in the water molecule, making the SWM4-NDP model polarizable. The objective is to understand if the polarizability of the water model has a significant effect when predicting the two properties of interest. Applying an electric field in MD simulations with each water model resulted in increased values for both the density and enthalpy of vaporization. The magnitude of these increase is comparable between water models and grows with applied field strength. Corresponding electrostriction pressure attributed to the applied field is well below values predicted by analytical models.


At the beginning of Plato's Lysis, Socrates tells how he met on his direct way back from the Academy to the Lyceum, near the fountain of Panops and apparently by chance, Hippothales and Ctesippus, two of his friends. Around them was a crowd of young people who spent their time discussing in a new palaestra where Miccos, the sophist, was teaching. My paper analyses the very mention of this otherwise unknown sophist (204 a 5-7). This mention shows that Plato indicates right from the prologue that the theme of philia will be treated in opposition to the sophists' methods (i.e. eulogy and eristic).


With the employment of ultrathin, high dielectric constant gate materials in advanced semiconductor technology, the conventional capacitance-voltage measurement technique exhibits a series of anomalies. In particular, a nonsaturating increase in the accumulation capacitance with reducing measurement frequency is frequently observed, which has not been adequately explained to our knowledge. In this article, the authors provide an explanation for this anomaly and hence set a criterion for the lower bound on measurement frequency. We then present a model which allows the easy extraction of the required parameters and apply it to an experimental set of data.


An InP/GaInAs monolithic pin FET is fabricated using MOMBE crystal growth and Be ion implantation techniques. The MOMBE crystal growth technique is shown to be adaptable to the versatile requirements of the receiver crystal. The epigrowth together with the Be ion implantation provides a promising OEIC fabrication technique. The pin FET operated with 1.3 GHz bandwidth and 6 dB gain.


Introduction: Analysis of the results of approbation of impulse sprinkling systems of auto-booster action in mountain farming (Kuba-Khachmaz zone, in the Shahdag foothills, mountain Shirvan in the village of Malkham, Shamakhi region; the Karabakh zone in the Terter district in the village of Sarijali) in Azerbaijan indicates its great efficiency. Result: The data show that with the change of the average daily water changes to several major technical and economic indices. Hence, with a reduction in the average daily water supply reduces average diameter distribution network, specific material requirements, and consequently decreasing both capital and operating costs. Result: As a result of the analysis of the data possible to draw the following. Conclusions: For the conditions of Cuba-Khacmazsk zone should be considered optimal impulse sprinkling avtokolebatelnogo actions of the average watersupply 52.0 m3/ha, which will ensure optimum diffusion hydrates soil when changes average evaporation from 10 to 60 m3/ha.


Abstract. With the increasing demand of coal, coal mining at Songzao makes the area of land subsidence growing larger. Land subsidence in coal mining area not only made large subsided farmland out of production and caused the enormous loss to local agricultural production, but also brought a number of serious problems to the local social economy and ecology Environment. To use Probability-integral Method based on numerical simulation of Songzao Mine, its subsidence simulation data from 1999 to 2009 was obtained. Hence, overlay analysis between Goaf data and the simulation data in 2009, and between field investigation and the simulation data in 2009 were carried out. After the coal mining underground was identified as the crucial cause of surface subsidence. Therefore, the accuracy and feasibility of the simulation data had been verified, and the spatial pattern and spatiotemporal variations conforming to the actual values have been obtained. The results show five main findings. The first indicated that the surface subsidence is mostly located at the top of the Goaf, where the overlap areas between Goaf data and subsidence simulation data have accounted for 93.05 % of Goaf and 65.19 % of subsidence simulation data respectively. The second finding indicated that by end of 2009, the mining subsidence extent had reached about 5087.50 hm2. This area accounts for about 40 % of total of the mining area. The third finding indicated that within 10 years from 1999 to 2009, the influence range of subsidence has expanded about 2340.54 hm2, and the coal mining subsidence rate in Songzao Mine has increased gradually with time. Moreover, average increasing speed of the extent area in the second five years was larger than the first five years (about 75.08 hm2 yr−1 more). The fourth finding indicated that maximum subsidence has increased from 2.0 m in 1999 to 2.5 m in 2004, and then 3.0m in 2009 with subsidence rate of about 0.1 m yr−1. At the same time, the area affected by the subsidence 2.0 m in 1999 was more than twice the area affected by subsidence in 2004. This in return, it was more than 7 times larger than the area affected by subsidence in 2009 of the one affected by subsidence in 2004. Extent of the area affected by the 2.5 m subsidence has also enlarged rapidly. This area has expanded by about 40 times in 2009 than its value in 2004. In addition, the area of subsidence of value 3.0 m has reached about 0.44 hm2 in 2009 from zero value. Finally, the fifth finding indicated that the overall extend of the mining subsidence was much more serious in southern than in northern side of the Songzao Mine. Moreover, it was indicated that the increasing rate of mining subsidence in the western side of the study area was as bigger as in the eastern side between 1999 and 2009. The spatiotemporal variations rules of songzao coal mining subsidence based on numerical simulation could provide reference for the subsequent subsidence prevention and land consolidation.


A key operational problem for those charged with the security of vulnerable facilities (such as airports or art galleries) is the scheduling and deployment of patrols. Motivated by the problem of optimizing randomized, and thus unpredictable, patrols, we present a class of patrolling games on graphs. The facility can be thought of as a graph Q of interconnected nodes (e.g. rooms, terminals) and the Attacker can choose to attack any node of Q within a given time T: He requires m consecutive periods there, uninterrupted by the Patroller, to commit his nefarious act (and win). The Patroller can follow any path on the graph. Thus the patrolling game is a win-lose game, where the Value is the probability that the Patroller successfully intercepts an attack, given best play on both sides. We determine analytically optimal (minimax) patrolling strategies for various classes of graphs, and discuss how our results could support decisions about hardening facilities or changing the topology of the terrain to be patrolled.


Abstract Purpose: To compare the visual outcome and refractive status of children with primary congenital glaucoma who underwent 360° trabeculotomy or goniotomy as an initial surgical procedure. Methods: This retrospective study describes 24 eyes (15 patients) with primary congenital glaucoma that underwent 360° trabeculotomy as the initial procedure and 40 eyes (23 patients) that underwent goniotomy as the initial procedure. Inclusion criteria were: (1) diagnosis of primary congenital glaucoma and initial angle surgery before 1 year of age, (2) no other ocular or systemic diseases, (3) 360° trabeculotomy or goniotomy as the first surgical procedure, and (4) ability to obtain an Allen or Snellen visual acuity. A postoperative vision of 20/50 or better was considered good. Surgical success was defined as an intraocular pressure (IOP) less than 22 mm Hg with or without medication and without evidence of a progressive optic neuropathy. Results: The IOP was successfully controlled in 92% of eyes in the trabeculotomy group and in 58% of eyes in the goniotomy group ( P =.004). Of eyes in the trabeculotomy group, 79% had vision of 20/50 or better compared with 53% in the goniotomy group ( P =.03). High myopia was more prevalent in the goniotomy group, but this difference was not statistically significant ( P =.16). A poor visual outcome was associated with failure of the angle surgery or poor compliance with follow-up and amblyopia therapy. Conclusion: For primary congenital glaucoma, 360° trabeculotomy is a highly effective procedure that results in excellent pressure control and is at least as successful as multiple standard procedures. In this study, 360° trabeculotomy resulted in better vision than what is reported in the literature for standard angle procedures. (J AAPOS 2000;4:205–10)


As an impact of climate change the yield of non-irrigated silage maize harvested in the summer is increasingly threatened. Annual precipitation amount shows a declining tendency and its distribution also becomes uneven and hectic. Therefore, we shall base our coarse fodder production on plant species with higher yield security. Winter cereals, especially triticale may excellently fulfil all requirements. The growing season of this species starts in September and ends in the beginning of May. During this period sufficient amount of water is available for the plants. By applying adequate agro-technical solutions and selecting the best varieties triticale can provide high yields together with outstanding quality. All examined triticale varieties provided high yields in 2017 accompanied by good content values. Examinations conducted on the quality of yields showed that the Dimenzio variety contained remarkably high crude protein content that significantly exceeded that of all the other triticale varieties. Taking into account the easily digestible fibre content NDFd48 Dimenzio and GK Maros performed extremely well with proportions above 77 percent. 2018 proved to be an arid year with low amount of precipitation. Average per hectare yields were ten tons less than in 2017. However, content values of the samples were still very good. 2019 has started with an arid autumn that had some negative effect. However, the largest yields were measured in this year reaching 42.14 t/ha for the Hungaro variety in the fourth mowing. Proportion of easily digestible fibre content proved to be considerably high in all three years of the examination. At the time of first mowing the value of dNDF48h was always above 70%. This can be interpreted as very good, since this value is measured only around 50 to 55 percent in case of silage maize. It is important to choose the appropriate variety. Based on our experiment results GK Maros, Hungaro and Dimenzio are suitable for coarse fodder production as well.


MAb directed at the alpha-subunits of Mac-1 (alpha M), LFA-1 (alpha L), p150,95 (alpha X), or their common beta-subunit were used to characterize the contributions of the Mac-1 glycoprotein family to granulocyte adherence reactions. Inhibitory effects of these MAb in incubation experiments with normal granulocytes indicated distinct adhesive contributions of each subunit. Significantly greater adherence, and inhibition of adherence by anti alpha M, alpha X, and beta MAb, was observed under chemotactic conditions designed to "up-regulate" the surface expression of the alpha M beta and alpha X beta complexes. Adherence to protein-coated glass and binding of albumin-coated latex beads were significantly inhibited by anti-beta greater than anti-alpha M (OKM-10, M1/70, LM2/1.6 and OKM-1) greater than anti-alpha X greater than anti-alpha L MAb, but no effects of anti-HLA, AB, or anti-CR-1 MAb were evident. A similar rank order of inhibition was observed in granulocyte aggregation assays in response to C5a, PMA, or f-Met-Leu-Phe. Significant inhibition of directed migration by anti-beta or anti-alpha M (OKM-1 or OKM-10) MAb was observed in subagarose but not Boyden chemotaxis assays; inhibition was dependent on a continuous cell exposure to anti-Mac-1 alpha or beta during the assay, suggesting that a continuum of new Mac-1 expression is required for directed translocation. Phagocytosis of Oil-Red-O paraffin or zymosan selectively opsonized with C3-derived ligands was significantly inhibited by anti-alpha M MAb (OKM-10 greater than LM2/1.6 greater than M1/70 greater than OKM-1) or by combinations of anti-alpha M + anti-CR-1 MAb, but only minimal inhibitory effects of anti-beta MAb and no effects of anti-alpha L or anti-alpha X MAb were seen. Similarly, complement-dependent phagocytosis-associated lactoferrin release, ingestion, and intracellular killing of Staphylococcus aureus 502A, and binding of iC3b-opsonized SRBC, were significantly inhibited by anti-alpha M (OKM-10, M1/70) or combinations of anti-alpha M + anti-CR-1 MAb, but not by anti-beta, alpha L, or alpha X MAb. Notably, none of the anti-Mac-1 MAb demonstrated inhibitory effects in assays of adherence-independent functions including shape change, specific f-Met-Leu-3H-Phe binding, O-2 generation, chemiluminescence evolution, or lactoferrin release in response to PMA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


In 2007, a group of avocational cavers saw engravings on the walls of a cave in the eastern Florida Panhandle. They contacted the Cave Archaeology Research Team from the University of Tennessee, who visited the site and documented eight petroglyphs on the walls of the cave. Given the subject matter of the petroglyphs, artifacts found on the floor, and the extent of weathering of the petroglyphs, it is likely that these images are prehistoric, perhaps Late Woodland, in age. This is the first instance of cave art south of the Fall Line and only the second example of prehistoric rock art in Florida. Introduction Prehistoric use of caves in the karst lands of southeastern North America has been a topic of great interest to science in general, and to archaeologists in particular, since the early nineteenth century, when Pleistocene megafauna and mummified human burials were discovered in deep Kentucky and Tennessee caves (Meloy 1984; Mercer 1897; Miller 1812). Over the nearly two centuries since those discoveries, much exploration and analysis has been done, notably by Watson and her colleagues in the 1960s in the Mammoth Cave region, where, we would argue, modern American cave archaeology was born (Watson 1969, 1974). We now know of thousands of cave sites in the Southeast, some witnessing prehistoric human activity many miles into the dark zone recesses of great karst systems (Simek 2008). Prehistoric people explored caves, used caves for human burial and deposition into vertical shafts, mined minerals, chert, and clay from deposits deep underground, and undertook ceremonies of profound sacred character in the darkness (Simek 1998; Watson 1986). Into the ceremonial category of cave use we place the now numerous examples (more than 60) of prehistoric cave art sites that have been documented in the Southeast over the past two decades (Simek and Cressler 2005). UntU recently, nearly aU of the known cave art sites were located in the limestone tablelands of the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province (Figure 1), comprising the Cumberland Plateau, the Ridge and Valley Province, and the Highland Rim, and their equivalents from Alabama and Georgia to Kentucky (Simek and Cressler 2001). A few sites are known on the western side of the Mississippi Valley (Boszhardt 2003; Diaz-Granados and Duncan 2000) and three in Virginia and West Virginia (Simek et al. 2000). No cave art sites were known below the Fall Line on the Coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In 2007, a group of avocational cavers exploring a small cave on private land near Florida Caverns State Park in Jackson County, Florida, saw fine engravings on the walls and ceiling of the cave. They contacted Alan Cressler, who visited the site and, based on what he saw there, arranged for Jan Simek to come to Florida from Tennessee to see the engravings. In September 2007, we visited the cave and documented the petroglyphs. We also saw artifacts from the cave, which we were allowed to show to Jason O'Donoughue (then at the University of Tennessee), who is familiar with the prehistoric archaeology of northern Florida, before returning the artifacts to the owners. Based on the nature of the petroglyphs and their artifact associations, we believe that the engravings represent prehistoric art, the first cave art documented in Florida and only the second rock-art site of any kind discovered in the state. We designated this site 59th Unnamed Cave, according to a naming convention that we have used for many years (Simek et al. 1997). Prehistoric cave use in Florida has been known for some time. Clarence Simpson and Charles Fairbanks surveyed and excavated at various localities in Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna in northern Florida as the Park was being developed in the 1940s (Fairbanks 1941; Simpson 1941). Ripley Bullen also undertook archaeological work in several caves around the same time (Bullen 1949). Florida caves, especially the deep karst springs related to the Florida Aquifer, have yielded a rich archaeological record extending back into the Paleoindian period (Clausen et al. …


The atmospheric correction accuracy strongly depends on the correct estimate of the aerosol scattering effects. This paper shows first results of a new aerosol optical thickness inversion method and its use for improved atmospheric correction of high spatial resolution imaging spectroscopy data. The approach uses small scale shadow pixels for the determination of the atmospheric scattering by inverting the shadow correction within the ATCOR® atmospheric compensation method. The detection of shadow pixels is done by a blue to red ratio which is further adjusted by the near infrared band in order to take the vegetation bias into account. On high resolution instruments with resolutions below 5 m, a decent quantity of shaded pixels can be found by this method in a reliable way. Using this shadow mask, the aerosol inversion is done. The aerosol contents are varied in a way that retrieves a correction of shaded areas to a brightness comparable to non-shaded areas, leading to the best fitting aerosol amount. The shadow based aerosol optical thickness (SHAOT) method is tested on APEX and HYSPEX airborne imaging spectroscopy data. It can be shown that the atmospheric compensation using the such derived aerosol contents are significantly improved in comparison to standard correction techniques.


The objective was to determine the prevalence of self-reported hearing loss in four urban areas in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and to describe the causes and socio-demographic variables. This was a population-based cross-sectional study with data on individuals 12 years or older living in the areas in 2001 and 2002. Participation included 5,250 subjects selected by two-stage probability sampling, stratified in clusters. Data analysis was exploratory, including bivariate and multiple logistic regression analysis. Prevalence of hearing loss was 5.21%, and higher levels were associated with: age > 59 years (18.7%), illness in the 15 days prior to the interview (8.4%), common mental disorders (8.8%), and use of medication in the previous 3 days (8.4%). The study of factors associated with hearing loss can lead to health interventions for addressing that the population's real needs, mostly in primary care. More population-based studies on hearing are needed in Brazil, since there are few publications on the subject.


This thesis concerns aesthetic responses to music, and is divided into four main parts, with each comprising an initial literature review and subsequent empirical studies. Part A describes 5 studies which employed conventional laboratory techniques to investigate how theories of aesthetic response might be extended to explanations of emotional responses to music and liking for musical styles. This part of the thesis also discusses how these theories might be reconciled. In contrast, Parts B-D of the thesis provide several examples of how responses to music in the real world are not made in the 'social vacuum' of conventional laboratory research, but are instead linked inextricably to the context of musical behaviour. Part B reports 7 studies which investigate the relationship between music and the immediate listening situation. These demonstrate that through variables such as 'appropriateness', musical preference may interact with the environment in which it is experienced. Part B also investigates the relative roles of arousaland cognitive-based factors in this, and suggests that music is selected to as to optimise responses to the listening situation. Part C investigates two sources of extra-musical information, namely stereotyping and the physical attractiveness of music performers. Although some research has been carried out on conformity and prestige effects on musical preference, the two studies in this part of the thesis indicate that other types of information may also be important social features of people's musical behaviour. Finally, Part D reports three studies concerning artistic eminence and acculturational factors. These demonstrate a considerable consensus between several means of measuring artistic eminence; that this consensus breaks down to some extent as a result of cultural factors; that archival data sources can reveal several interesting cultural trends in eminence; and that there are age differences in tolerance for musical styles. These three studies indicate that the broader culture in which people develop and live also influences musical behaviour. More generally, the research reported in this thesis suggests that although contextindependent laboratory studies can be informative in their own right, responses to music also seem related to their social psychological, real-world context.


Abstract. Following prolonged and extremely quiet solar activity from 2008 to 2009, the 24th solar cycle started slowly. It has been almost 5 years since then. The measurement of ionospheric critical frequency (foF2) shows the fact that solar activity has been significantly lower in the first half of cycle 24, compared to the average levels of cycles 19 to 23; the data of global average total electron content ( TEC ) confirm that the global ionosphere around the cycle 24 peak is much more weakly ionized, in contrast to cycle 23. The weak ionization has been more notable since the year 2012, when both the ionosphere and solar activity were expected to be approaching their maximum level. The undersupply of solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance somewhat continues after the 2008–2009 minimum, and is considered to be the main cause of the weak ionization. It further implies that the thermosphere and ionosphere in the first solar cycle of this millennium would probably differ from what we have learned from the previous cycles of the space age.


Surgical site infections (SSI) are a prevalent health care-associated infection (HAl). Prior to the mid-19th century, surgical sites commonly developed postoperative wound complications. It was in the 1860's, after Joseph Lister introduced carbolic acid and the principles of antisepsis that postoperative wound infection significantly decreased. Today, patient preoperative skin preparation with an antiseptic agent prior to surgery is a standard of practice. Povidone-iodine and chlorhexidine gluconate are currently the most commonly used antimicrobial agents used to prep the patient's skin. In this current study, the epidemiology, diagnosis, surveillance and prevention of SSI with chlorhexidine were investigated. The antimicrobial activity of chlorhexidine was assessed. In in-vitro and in-vivo studies the antimicrobial efficacy of 2% (w/v) chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) in 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and 10% povidoneiodine (PVP-I) in the presence of 0.9% normal saline or blood were examined. The 2% CHG in 70% IPA solutions antimicrobial activity was not diminished in the presence of 0.9% normal saline or blood. In comparison, the traditional patient preoperative skin preparation, 10% PVP-I antimicrobial activity was not diminished in the presence of 0.9% normal saline, but was diminished in the presence of blood. In an in-vivo human volunteer study the potential for reduction of the antimicrobial efficacy of aqueous patient preoperative skin preparations compromised by mechanical removal of wet product from the application site (blot) was assessed. In this evaluation, 2% CHG and 10% povidone-iodine (PVP-I) were blotted from the patient's skin after application to the test site. The blotting, or mechanical removal, of the wet antiseptic from the application site did not produce a significant difference in product efficacy. In a clinical trial to compare 2% CHG in 70% IPA and PVP-! scrub and paint patient preoperative skin preparation for the prevention of SSI, there were 849 patients randomly assigned to the study groups (409 in the chlorhexidine-alcohol and 440 in the povidone-iodine group) in the intention-to-treat analysis. The overall surgical site infection was significantly lower in the 2% CHG in 70% IPA group than in the PVP-I group (9.5% versus 16.1 %, p=0.004; relative risk, 0.59 with 95% confidence interval of 0.41 to 0.85). Preoperative cleansing of the patient's skin with chlorhexidine-alcohol is superior to povidone-iodine in preventing surgical site infection after clean-contaminated surgery.


Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious health problem worldwide. The unhealthy lifestyles, such as smoking, lack of physical activity, high glucose/calories intake, and alcohol consumption, are thought to be the risk factors for diabetes. Uncontrolled blood glucose level will increase the risk of complications such as microvascular and neuropathy. Patient's knowledge of DM and medication administration is required to prevent the complication of diabetes. Patient advocacy can increase the patient's knowledge. Materials and Methods: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of patient advocacy on their knowledge of medication administration and decrease in blood glucose levels. This pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest study was conducted on 58 patients with DM. The collected data were including blood glucose level and patient's knowledge. A questionnaire was used to collect the data of patient's knowledge. Data were analyzed using paired t-test. Results: The results showed the average knowledge before advocacy was 7.07, while the average blood glucose level was 239.48 mg/dL. After patient advocacy program, average knowledge was 7.95, while the blood glucose level was 208.52 mg/dL. Discussion and Conclusion: It can be concluded that patient advocacy increases patient's knowledge of drug administration and influences the decrease in blood glucose levels.


Persistent pain changes a neural circuit and reduces willingness to work for food [Also see Research Article by Schwartz et al.] Pain is arguably the most completely understood of all sensations at the molecular and neural circuit level (1–3). Noxious stimuli elicit a variety of rapid tissue-protective responses. Pain also has an unpleasant affective-motivational dimension that, when persistent, can dominate behavior. When chronic, pain produces fatigue and mood changes that diminish many of life's pleasures. In contrast to our detailed understanding of acute pain, we know much less about how persistent pain alters behaviors at the molecular and neural circuit levels. On page 535 of this issue, Schwartz et al. (4) advance our understanding of how persistent noxious stimuli affect reward-seeking behavior.


Preserving realism of geological structures is a challenge for the reservoir engineer when history matching. Object based models offer the chance of enforcing realism but are hard to constrain to observed data. In this paper we present a novel approach for generating channels that is easier to match to observed data than the standard object-based approach. Our new technique uses Object Modelling as the first step, mimicking the geometry of fluvial sand channels. Object Modelling enables us to constrain channel geometry with analogue information of channel local orientation and dimension. However, the morphology of the output models is smoothed and the transition channel/no-channel zones are associated with uncertainty as they are not constrained by a variogram or multi-point statistics. The second step, Probability Field Simulation, adds realism in a final output model imposing a variogram to the transition zones. Probability Field Simulation preserves the channel geometry of the object models and shows a significant CPU advantage compared with currently available approaches. The new method was applied to a synthetic problem in which 3 different channel scenarios were considered: low density, high density, and high density with thin channels. The results show that the proposed method can handle this range of channel densities, and we can therefore assume that the approach could be implemented for different channel density data. A further important finding was that there is no significant difference between the CPU time for each case. In summary, our new technique is able to constrain object models to a variety of observed data types such as channels size, density and orientation, while showing significant CPU saving and preserving the geological realism of the matched model.


The paper aims to explore the relationship between size, production orientation, and performance in the Czech agriculture and to answer the research question as to what extent a farm size and a product orientation of farm do matter in relation to its productivity and profitability. We use data from FADN CZ database (Farm Accountancy Data Network—Czech Republic) of conventional farms oriented on fieldcrops production, milk production, other grazing livestock and mixed production, and we cover the period from 2015–2020. Pursuing an econometric approach (ANOVA and multivariate regression analysis), we test productivity and profitability differentiation among the different-sized and different production orientation companies. Finally, subsidies and their effects on different groups of companies are assessed. The findings from testing our empirical model indicate that very large farms have statistically significantly higher total factor productivity than large farms, which perform better than medium and small farms. Average productivity of large-size farms compared to small and medium farms is 1.4 times higher in terms of total factor productivity, more than two times higher in terms of agricultural land productivity, and 3.2 times higher in terms of labour productivity. The findings show that farms with field production statistically significantly outperform farms with orientation on other grazing livestock and mixed production. Different levels of productivity are translated into differentiation in the profitability. The highest profitability ratios are achieved by large farms followed by very large, medium, and small ones. The assessment of ratio of subsidies to agricultural production shows that small farms received 2.3 times higher agricultural subsidies per unit of agricultural production compared to very large farms.


Electrical energy is one of the most important daily needs. Shortage of energy can be very dangerous for any society. This can affect the standard of living and quality of life of the people and even endanger the lives of those in hospitals, and so forth. Developed countries do not face such risks in general because they have well organized electrical systems and high energy security. The developing countries are faced daily with electric system collapses, especially in the case of wars, where many parts of the electrical grid in the country can be damaged and fuel transmission lines for generators cut off. Urban areas in developing countries should have a strategic plan to deal with any unexpected occurrence of energy shortages using any available renewable energy sources. City of Latakia is located in the region which has been suffering from the consequences of war for more than six years. The fact that a high number of migrants from other cities have come to Latakia along with a lack of fuel makes the energy shortage in the city worse. An emergency system could use the cheapest available renewable energy sources in addition to few big portable generators to provide an acceptable energy supply for the most needed requirements of daily life.


Research literature terminology illustrates that publications claim to pertain to "disciplinary" approaches and researcher's align themselves to specific, multi-, inter- or trans-disciplinarities. Ambiguity exists in definition and application of disciplinarity, hence there is need to establish a coherent application of disciplinarity. We present results of content analysis of research literature claiming to be inter-, multi-, or transdisciplinary to assist in ascertaining commonalities or differences for those disciplinarities. We analyse the abstracts and keywords of 8834 papers, using n-grams and bi-grams, dating from 1970 until 2018, extracting a list of 76,552 terms for comparison. The top 15 most frequent terms characterise each disciplinarity and Venn diagrams of the top 15 features illustrate differences and overlap. A total of six terms appear common to all approaches in the abstracts, with four shared by multi- and inter-, two between inter- and trans-, and none common to multi- and trans-. The term "social science(s)" appears to be a unique feature in the trans- abstracts and our findings identify common text terms such as the "research" feature, common to all disciplinarities. This supports characterising the nature of transdisciplinarity and its unique differences from other approaches such as inclusion of social science(s).


An attempt has been made to model the annual maximum streamflow, utilizing the guidelines in the regional flood frequency analysis. The Partial L-moments (PL-moments) at several censoring levels are employed to estimate the regional parameters of three extreme value distributions, namely; generalized extreme value (GEV), generalized logistic (GLO) and generalized Pareto (GPA) distributions. A total number of 18 streamflow stations located throughout the eastern region of Peninsular Malaysia were used as a case study. Firstly, the data is screening out for data verification and quality control. Next, identification of homogeneous regions is made using homogeneity test based on PL-moments. The PL - diagram is then constructed and GEV and GLO distributions appeared to be the acceptable distributions for representing the regional data. However, it is relatively difficult to identify a particular distribution that most fitted the regional data.Thus, goodness-of-fit test (Z-test) is used and the result showed that the most appropriate distribution for modeling maximum streamflow in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, based on PL-moments is the GLO distribution.


Inflammation and metabolism have been shown to be evolutionary linked and increasing evidence exists that pro-inflammatory factors are involved in the pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Until now, most data suggest that within adipose tissue these factors are secreted by cells of the innate immune system, e. g. macrophages. In the present study we demonstrate that B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) is increased in human obesity. In contrast to several pro-inflammatory factors, we found the source of BLyS in human adipose tissue to be the adipocytes rather than immune cells. In grade 3 obese human subjects, expression of BLyS in vivo in adipose tissue is significantly increased (p<0.001). Furthermore, BLyS serum levels are elevated in grade 3 human obesity (862.5+222.0 pg/ml vs. 543.7+60.7 pg/ml in lean controls, p<0.001) and are positively correlated to the BMI (r = 0.43, p<0.0002). In the present study, bariatric surgery significantly altered serum BLyS concentrations. In contrast, weight loss due to a very-low-calorie-formula-diet (800 kcal/d) had no such effect. To examine metabolic activity of BLyS, in a translational research approach, insulin sensitivity was measured in human subjects in vivo before and after treatment with the human recombinant anti-BLyS antibody belimumab. Since BLyS is known to promote B-cell proliferation and immunoglobulin secretion, the present data suggest that adipocytes of grade 3 obese human subjects are able to activate the adaptive immune system, suggesting that in metabolic inflammation in humans both, innate and adaptive immunity, are of pathophysiological relevance.


Establishment of apical-basal polarity is crucial for epithelial sheets that form a compartment in the body, which function to maintain the environment in the compartment. Effects of impaired polarization are easily observed in three-dimensional (3-D) culture systems rather than in two-dimensional (2-D) culture systems. Although the mechanisms for establishing the polarity are not completely understood, signals from the extracellular matrix (ECM) are considered to be essential for determining the basal side and eventually generating polarity in the epithelial cells. To elucidate the common features and differences in polarity establishment among various epithelial cells, we analyzed the formation of epithelial apical-basal polarity using three cell lines of different origin: MDCK II cells (dog renal tubules), EpH4 cells (mouse mammary gland), and R2/7 cells (human colon) expressing wild-type α-catenin (R2/7 α-Cate cells). These cells showed clear apical-basal polarity in 2-D cultures. In 3-D cultures, however, each cell line displayed different responses to the same ECM. In MDCK II cells, spheroids with a single lumen formed in both Matrigel and collagen gel. In R2/7 α-Cate cells, spheroids showed similar apical-basal polarity as that seen in MDCK II cells, but had multiple lumens. In EpH4 cells, the spheroids displayed an apical-basal polarity that was opposite to that seen in the other two cell types in both ECM gels, at least during the culture period. On the other hand, the three cell lines showed the same apical-basal polarity both in 2-D cultures and in 3-D cultures using the hanging drop method. The three lines also had similar cellular responses to ECM secreted by the cells themselves. Therefore, appropriate culture conditions should be carefully determined in advance when using various epithelial cells to analyze cell polarity or 3-D morphogenesis.


The global financial crisis and what followed point out at least two major failures of the financial system: its inability to contain liquidity risk and its inability to fund long term investments. We think that these two problems come from the setting up of rules and practices that tend to homogenize market participants' incentives and behaviors. Fair value accounting is one element of this set of practices and rules. If the rationale behind fair value accounting – that is enhancing transparency in order to limit unreported losses and manipulations – can justify its use in the case of short-term financial institutions (meaning institutions whose time horizon is short because of the maturity of their liabilities) that constantly face the risk of a sudden liquidity need, it seems totally irrelevant when it comes to long-term financial institutions that will not face liquidity needs before ten or twenty years. In this perspective, we develop a model that shows that an accounting regulation that takes the diversity of financial institutions into account offers better results both in terms of liquidity and in terms of efficiency than a regulation that ignores this diversity.


Least tern Sterna antillarum is endangered in New Jersey and New York and is being considered for the U. S. Federal List as threatened along the Atlantic Coast. Like many coastal, ground-nearing species, it has suffered habitat losses, increased predation, and increased human disturbance with increased human population. This paper presents an overview of ten years of monitoring and managing of least terns in New Jersey under the auspices of the Endangered and Non-Game Species Program of New Jersey. The program involves monitoring population levels and reproductive success, protecting colonies from people and predators, manipulating vegetation and habitat, and actively attracting least terns with decoys. In successive years a trend has indicated increased population levels, and reproductive success, and decreased and then increased number of colonies. During this time, monitoring and managing efforts have increased, suggesting that they are effective in very slowly restoring population levels.


Today's car traffic is dominated by human drivers. Autonomous cars must comprehend the behavior of human drivers in order to fit in current daily traffic scenarios. To achieve this goal, analysis of the behavior of other traffic participants is necessary. In this paper we present a system to record, store, and analyze the movements of other traffic participants with an autonomous car and evaluate traffic maps, which are obtained from real world experiments. The evaluation shows that the maps cover more than 80% of the driveable area with a precision of 80 to 90%. Additionally, we present the results of a traffic behavior change detection heuristic, which can detect anomalous traffic conditions.


Introduction The increasing global prevalence of suicide has made it a major public health concern. Research designed to retrospectively study suicide cases is now being conducted in populations around the world. This field of research is especially crucial in Aboriginal populations, as they often have higher suicide rates than the rest of the country. Objective This article presents the methodological aspects of the first psychological autopsy study on suicide among Inuit in Nunavut. Qaujivallianiq Inuusirijauvalauqtunik (Learning from lives that have been lived) is a large case-control study, including all 120 cases of suicide by Inuit that occurred in Nunavut between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2006. The article describes the research design, ethical considerations and strategies used to adapt the psychological autopsy method to Nunavut Inuit. Specifically, we present local social and cultural issues; data collection procedures; and the acceptability, reliability and validity of the method. Method A retrospective case-control study using the psychological autopsy approach was carried out in 22 communities in Nunavut. A total of 498 individuals were directly interviewed, and medical and correctional charts were also reviewed. Results The psychological autopsy method was well received by participants as they appreciated the opportunity to discuss the loss of a family member or friend by suicide. During interviews, informants readily identified symptoms of psychiatric disorders, although culture-specific rather than clinical explanations were sometimes provided. Results suggest that the psychological autopsy method can be effectively used in Inuit populations.


Polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM) incorporated with beta-cyclodextrin (b-CD) (referred to as PIMCD) are prepared via nucleophilic substitution copolymerization and then thermally treated at elevated temperatures from 300 to 600 C. After the decomposition of thermally labile CD, the spaces originally occupied by CD convert to micro-pores and cross-linking points in the polymer matrix. The thermally induced three-dimensional (3D) cross-linking network not only possesses ultra-fine micro-pores and interconnected microvoids but also shows a superior molecular sieve ability for propylene/propane separation. The C3H6/C3H8 selectivity of the thermally treated membranes increases remarkably, about 3 times compared to that of the original untreated membranes. In particular, the PIM-CD membranes thermally treated at 300 or 400 C are flexible, and they have C3H6/C3H8 separation performance exceeding the upper bound line in both pure and mixed gas tests. As observed from the gas sorption isotherms, membranes with a higher content of CD units have a higher gas sorption capacity. Additionally, the diffusivity selectivity of PIM-CD membranes after thermal treatment increases more quickly than that of the PIM membrane and contributes more to the permeability selectivity.


This paper presents a study of the quality of a surface roughness model for mild steel with coated carbide cutting tool on turning process. The experiments were carried out under wet and dry cutting conditions. The model is developed based on cutting speed, feed and depth of cut as the parameters of cutting process. This research applies the fractional factorial design of experiment approach to studied the influence of cutting parameters on surface roughness. The measured results were collected and analyzed using commercial software package called Minitab. Analysis of variances is used to examine the influence of turning factors and factor interactions on surface roughness. The result indicated that, there are inherent differences in surface roughness between wet and dry cutting process with the same parameters process model. Analysis of variance was found that feed parameter is the most significant cutting parameter, which influences the surface roughness. The most significant interactions were found between cutting speed and feed parameters for dry turning process. Therefore is a significant effect of using combination of the fluid for cooling the cutting operation.


We numerically demonstrate that a periodic array of metallic nanorods sustains a maximum near-field enhancement and a far field (FF)-induced transparency at the same energy and in-plane momentum. The coupling of bright and dark plasmonic lattice resonances, and electromagnetic retardation along the nanorod length, are responsible for this effect. A standing wave with a quadrupolar field distribution is formed, giving rise to a collective suppression of FF scattering and simultaneously enhanced local fields.


Innate immunity is crucial for the host to defend against infections, and understanding the effect of polymyxins on innate immunity is important for optimizing their clinical use. In this study, we investigated the potential toxicity of polymyxins on human macrophage-like THP-1 and neutrophil-like HL-60 cells. Differentiated THP-1 human macrophages (THP-1-dMs) and HL-60 human neutrophils (HL-60-dNs) were employed. Flow cytometry was used to measure the concentration-dependent effects (100 to 2,500 μM for THP-1-dMs and 5 to 2,500 μM for HL-60-dNs) and time-dependent effects (1,000 μM for THP-1-dMs and 300 μM for HL-60-dNs) of polymyxin B over 24 h. ABSTRACT Innate immunity is crucial for the host to defend against infections, and understanding the effect of polymyxins on innate immunity is important for optimizing their clinical use. In this study, we investigated the potential toxicity of polymyxins on human macrophage-like THP-1 and neutrophil-like HL-60 cells. Differentiated THP-1 human macrophages (THP-1-dMs) and HL-60 human neutrophils (HL-60-dNs) were employed. Flow cytometry was used to measure the concentration-dependent effects (100 to 2,500 μM for THP-1-dMs and 5 to 2,500 μM for HL-60-dNs) and time-dependent effects (1,000 μM for THP-1-dMs and 300 μM for HL-60-dNs) of polymyxin B over 24 h. Effects of polymyxin B on mitochondrial activity, activation of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9, and Fas ligand (FasL) expression in both cell lines were examined using fluorescence imaging, colorimetric, and fluorometric assays. In both cell lines, polymyxin B induced concentration- and time-dependent loss of viability at 24 h with 50% effective concentration (EC50) values of 751.8 μM (95% confidence interval [CI], 692.1 to 816.6 μM; Hill slope, 3.09 to 5.64) for THP-1-dM cells and 175.4 μM (95% CI, 154.8 to 198.7 μM; Hill slope, 1.42 to 2.21) for HL-60-dN cells. A concentration-dependent loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and generation of mitochondrial superoxide was also observed. Polymyxin B-induced apoptosis was associated with concentration-dependent activation of all three tested caspases. The death receptor apoptotic pathway activation was demonstrated by a concentration-dependent increase of FasL expression. For the first time, our results reveal that polymyxin B induced concentration- and time-dependent cell death in human macrophage-like THP-1 and neutrophil-like HL-60 cells associated with mitochondrial and death receptor apoptotic pathways.


ABSTRACT:  Following the mandatory implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Australia as of January 1, 2005, this study examines its impact on accounting quality by focusing on three perspectives: (1) earnings management, (2) timely loss recognition, and (3) value relevance. Using four years of adoption experience since the mandate was first made effective in Australia for a wide range of accounting-based metrics and market-based information, we find that the mandatory adoption of IFRS has resulted in better accounting quality than previously under Australian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In particular, the findings indicate that the pervasiveness of earnings management by way of smoothing has reduced, while the timeliness of loss recognition has improved post-adoption. Additionally, the value relevance of financial statement information has improved, especially for non-financial firms. This is despite the fact that there is evidence to suggest that financ...


Treatment of (silox)3Ta (1, silox = tBu3SiO) with BH3.THF and BCl2Ph afforded (silox)3Ta(BH3) (2) and (silox)3Ta(eta2-B,Cl-BCl2Ph) (3), which are both remarkably stable Ta(III) compounds. NMe3 and ethylene failed to remove BH3 from 2, and no indication of BH3 exchange with BH3.THF-d8 was noted via variable-temperature 1H NMR studies. Addition of BH3.THF to (silox)3TaH2 provided the borohydride-hydride (silox)3HTa(eta3-BH4) (5), and its thermolysis released H2 to generate 2. Exposure of 2 to D2 enabled the preparation of isotopologues (silox)3Ta(BH3-nDn) (n = 0, 2; 1, 2-D; 2, 2-D2; 3, 2-D3) for isotopic perturbation of chemical shift studies, but these failed to distinguish between "inverse adduct" (i.e., (silox)3Ta-->BH3) or (silox)3Ta(eta2-B,H-BH3) forms of 2. Computational models (RO)3Ta(BH3) (R = H, 2'; SiH3, 2SiH SiMe3, 2SiMe, and SitBu3, 2SiBu) were investigated to assess the relative importance of steric and electronic effects on structure and bonding. With small R, eta2-B,H structures were favored, but for 2SiMe and 2SiBu, the dative structure proved to be similar in energy. The electonic and vibrational features of both structure types were probed. The IR spectrum of 2 was best matched by the eta2-B,H conformer of 2SiBu. In related computations pertaining to 3, small R models favored the oxidative addition of a BCl bond, while with R = SitBu3 (3SiBu), an excellent match with its X-ray crystal structure revealed the critical steric influence of the silox ligands.


Existing air-surface temperature time series analysis methods for permafrost regions, such as n-factors, are largely limited to describing larger-scale mean conditions, while waveform analysis methods have typically focused on a single waveform propagating through a relatively uniform, primarily conductive medium (such as soil). Although the air-surface relation is more complex—there are advective inputs to air temperature, non-uniform and non-conductive interposing media, and the air and surface waveforms reflect separate (but related) heat transfer processes—air-surface waveform analysis presents a potential opportunity to analyze temperature series on an approximately diurnal scale. Using surface temperature series from sites in the Northwest Territories, a diurnal wave analysis method is proposed and evaluated as a potential means of extracting valuable information from surface temperature series that goes well beyond what can be learned from mean condition methods.


Results of a nationally representative survey of US farmers link previously validated survey measures of risk aversion and interpersonal trust to farmers' intended use of online venues for transacting used equipment. Other factors affecting online purchase propensity includes the quality of farmers' relationships with local equipment dealerships. Understanding the factors that impact farmers' use of internet market venues is crucial as rural internet penetration deepens, farm equipment needs grow more specialized and local offline markets thin. These results may also help explain past observations of severe discounting of used farm equipment sold in online venues.


Introduction. Boron neutron capture therapy (bnct) is a promising method for treating tumors, in particular, infiltrative malignant tumors, due to the selective destruction of tumor cells without damaging the surrounding normal tissues. This type of therapy is based on nuclear reaction of neutron capture by stable 10b isotope. For the successful implementation of bnct, boron delivery drugs that must be selectively accumulated in malignant cells in a sufficient amount, and a neutron source with the energy required for the neutron capture reaction are needed. At the budker institute of nuclear physics, the accelerator-based neutron source was designed with flux parameters allowing studies on bnct to be conducted.Objective: to assess the effect of bnct on tumor and normal cell lines using borphenylalanine (bpa), borcaptate (bsh) and liposomal borcaptat as boron delivery drugs.Materials and methods. Human cell cultures: glioblastoma (u87), colorectal human adenocarcinoma (sw-620), human melanoma (sk-mel28) and primary embryonic cell lines were irradiated with a neutron flux at the presence of bpa, bsh and liposomal bsh with a concentration of 10b 40 μg/ml. The short-term cytotoxic effect of irradiation was evaluated using trypan blue. Cell survival 96 hours after irradiation was determined using mtt test, and survival fraction was evaluated using the clonogenic test.Results. Early cytotoxic effects of irradiation were not observed for all 4 cell lines. According to mtt and clonogenic tests, the most pronounced effect of bnct was noticed for sw-620 and u87 lines, regardless of boron delivery drug used. For sk-mel28 line, the best effect was achieved after irradiation with liposomal borocaptate. For the primary transplanted embryonic line, high toxicity was revealed when bnct was performed with borphenylalanine and borcaptate.Conclusion. The data obtained indicate that the accelerator-based bnct using boron delivery drugs, such as borphenylalanine, borcaptate and liposomal borcaptat, has a positive effect on tumor lines of glioblastoma, colorectal adenocarcinoma and melanoma.


Superconductors allow the lossless flow of electrical current. This results in a high potential for applications in electrical energy and magnet technology. Of the many existing superconductor materials only Nb based superconductors have been developed so far into mature products. Technical superconductors used in magnet technology consist nearly exclusively of the alloy NbTi and the compound Nb3Sn. Design, fabrication technology, properties and application of these conductors are described.


: The impact of chirality on the self-assembly of supramolecular gels is of considerable importance, as molecular-scale programming can be translated into nanostructuring and ultimately affect macroscopic performance. This paper explores the effect of chirality on the assembly of two-component gels comprised of a second-generation dendritic lysine peptide acid, containing three chiral centres, and an amine. This combination forms an acid–amine complex that assembles into nanofibres through peptide-peptide hydrogen bonds, leading to organogels. With achiral amines, a racemic mixture of L , L , L and D , D , D dendritic peptide acids surprisingly forms the best gels—more commonly, mixing enantiomers suppresses gelation. Thermodynamic studies demonstrate that depending on the amine, the greater stability of heterochiral gels can either be entropically or enthalpically driven. With amines possessing " R " chirality, the L , L , L peptide acid consistently forms more effective gels than its D , D , D analogue. Furthermore, in mixed gels, L , L , L sometimes imposes its assembly preference onto D , D , D . In summary, this paper demonstrates a rare example in which heterochiral gels are preferred, and also explores directing effects when each component in a two-component gel is chiral.


Genetic diversity among 25 natural populations of three different species of Quercus in Jordan at morphological and molecular levels using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers was assessed. Significant morphological and molecular variations among and within 25 Quercus populations were estimated. Standardized canonical discrimination functions for the investigated morphological traits showed that the first function explains 72.44% of the total variability between populations and was strongly influenced by leaf and scale length. Twenty-seven polymorphic markers and 5917 scored bands were generated using six RAPD primers. Based on morphological and RAPD data, the populations were grouped together in the same cluster according to species regardless of local of collections. Result of cluster analysis based on RAPD showed significant correlation with morphological characters based on Mantel's test (r = 0.145**). This study has emphasized the ability of the morphological and molecular markers in determining the genetic diversity among and within the populations of Quercus and that the resulted high genetic variability could be utilized in implications of improving conservation, restoration and reforestation strategies of Quercus in Jordan.


Despite recent advances in stem cell biology, immunotherapy and transplantation, substantial barriers still exist in the large-scale specific separation of a discrete population of human therapeutic cells from a cell suspension. The ideal purification technique should combine high cell purity, yield and function, with fast processing and affordability. Currently, fluorescence-activated cell sorting with flow cytometry (FACS) and magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS®) are the most used methods for cell separation and purification and have been employed extensively in molecular biology, diagnostic and cell sorting applications, because they are considered to be gentle, fast and scalable. However, these methods have several key disadvantages; they are invariably expensive, yield low log cell reduction (LCR) rates, and suffer from drawbacks when applied to niche cell populations, such as those requiring multiple tandem separation steps and/or involving combined positive and negative cell selection steps. To address this challenge, a new cell affinity selection system was developed. The selectivity is based on the reversible monomeric avidin biotin interaction and it is primary designed for positive selection. The initial studies were performed on flat, nonporous, glass coverslips and the technology was then successfully transferred on high grade smooth non-porous glass beads (with a diameter of 79.12 to 118.59 μm). The multi-step layer-by-layer deposition procedure culminating in dextran-coated supports bearing monomeric avidin was rigorously characterized and subsequently employed in packed bed chromatography experiments with human erythrocytes isolated from cord blood and B lymphocytes from cell lines. The developed affinity selection platform was highly selective, efficient and, most importantly, resulted in high yields, cell purity and viability comparable with MACS® technology. Additionally scale up is possible and could be easily transferred to another chromatographic matrix with the appropriate structure.


In early March 2017, tropical cyclone (TC) Enawo formed north of Reunion Island and moved westward toward Madagascar. Enawo evolved from a tropical depression on 2 March to an intense TC on 6 March. 15 This study explores the water vapor transport into the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) throughout TC Enawo's development. High-resolution (2km) mesoscale simulations using the Meso-NH model were performed to cover TC Enawo's lifecycle over the ocean for the period 2-7 March 2017. The simulated convective cloud field agrees with geostationary satellite infrared observations. Compared to the Global Precipitation Measurements (GPM) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite observations, the 20 simulation seems to reproduce well both location and amplitude of the observed precipitation. Simulated and observed ice water content have similar ranges in the upper troposphere but simulated ice above the tropopause is overestimated by a factor 10. Balloon-borne measurements of water vapor, temperature and horizontal winds are also used to validate the Meso-NH simulations in the upper-troposphere and TTL regions. The simulations reveal that the maximum water vapor transport into the TTL occurred on 4 March, when deep (cold) convective 25 clouds were observed. As a result, the lower stratospheric water vapor is increased by ~50% when compared to pre-storm conditions. An increase of ~2ppmv in water vapor mixing ratio was simulated in the lower stratosphere within a 700-km region surrounding Enawo's center. Our simulation of TC Enawo suggests that TCs over the Southwest Indian Ocean (0-30°S, 30-90°E) could produce a moistening of 0.4 ppmv. We extended our results to the global tropics (30°S-30°N) using the estimates from published work (Allison et al., 2018; Preston et al., 2019) 30 and by calculating statistics on TC numbers and durations using the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) dataset. We estimated a global impact of TC induced tropical lower stratospheric moistening of 0.3 to 0.5 ppmv. Our results suggest that TCs may play an important role in the moistening of the TTL/lower stratosphere via direct injection of ice particles and subsequent sublimation.


In this preface we stress the relevance of the traditional collaboration between Engineering and any field of Mathematics in order to build intelligent decision-aid tools, as it is illustrated by the twelve papers contained in this Special Issue. These papers, selected by means of a standard peer review process after an open call, offer an interesting variety of models, approaches and techniques, to be applied within different specific problems. Each paper is introduced in this preface and is developed in the subsequent article. Moreover, in this preface we also claim for a more intense collaboration between decision engineers and other fields that study human brain behavior, like Neurology, Psychology, Sociology and Linguistics. Because if we really want to procure intelligent tools for decision aid, we should start by taking the human brain as our first reference, as it is the most efficient machinery we have found in order to deal with complex, uncertain, incomplete and even apparently inconsistent information. We hope that readers will enjoy this Special Issue devoted to Computational Intelligence in Decision Making.


Deep ResNets are recognized for achieving state-of-the-art results in complex machine learning tasks. However, the remarkable performance of these architectures relies on a training procedure that needs to be carefully crafted to avoid vanishing or exploding gradients, particularly as the depth L increases. No consensus has been reached on how to mitigate this issue, although a widely discussed strategy consists in scaling the output of each layer by a factor α L . We show in a probabilistic setting that with standard i.i.d. initializations, the only non-trivial dynamics is for α L = 1 / √ L —other choices lead either to explosion or to identity mapping. This scaling factor corresponds in the continuous-time limit to a neural stochastic differential equation, contrarily to a widespread interpretation that deep ResNets are discretizations of neural ordinary differential equations. By contrast, in the latter regime, stability is obtained with specific correlated initializations and α L = 1 / L . Our analysis suggests a strong interplay between scaling and regularity of the weights as a function of the layer index. Finally, in a series of experiments, we exhibit a continuous range of regimes driven by these two parameters, which jointly impact performance before and after training.


The adaptive reuse of secular buildings as churches signals a return to the fundamental belief that architecture is not necessary for Christian worship. Following are the stories and photographs of fifteen churches in the Greater Toronto Area where congregations worship inside buildings designed for non-religious purposes. These photographs document the utilitarian architecture of secular buildings as a backdrop to the act of worship and fellowship that have become the sole embodiment and expression of faith. While the stories behind these churches testify to the adaptability of Christian worship and the power of faith and community during times of economic struggle, they also ask us to reconsider our role as architects in the relationship between architecture and faith.


In many languages, terms denoting the human body and its parts constitute a closed subclass of nouns with special grammatical properties. Many if not all parts of the human body may acquire dimensions of meanings with ethnographic importance. I focus on a tri-partite division of visible and invisible parts of a human and their attributes in Manambu, a Ndu language spoken in the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. The trichotomy of 'body' (səp), 'mind' (mawul) and 'spirit' (kayik) in Manambu reflects a culturally embedded conceptualization of what a human is. Each of the three taxonomic units has specific grammatical properties. The physical and mental profile of a human being in Manambu (as in many other languages) cannot be appreciated without understanding the grammar. Conversely, a structural analysis of a language is incomplete unless it makes reference to the system of belief and concepts encoded in it.


This study focuses on factors affecting centralized procurement system effectiveness in higher Ethiopian public educational Institutions. To achieve this objective the researchers employed the explanatory research design with a primary data sources from 82 employees through questionnaires and interview in purposively selected of public educational Institutions and Public property procurement team leaders of PPPDSA at federal level.  The Pearson correlation analysis outcome showed that all explanatory variables were positively influencing the effectiveness of centralized procurement system but at different degree of correlation. The multiple linear regression analysis result of the study also revealed that public policy, control activities and staffs' educational competency of sampled public education institutions strongly and positively affected centralized procurement system effectiveness at 4.2 percent, 0.01 percent and 0.01 percent respectively. Similarly, m onitoring and contract management affected the centralized procurement system effectiveness at 0.00.01 and 5 .2 percent respectively. Therefore, to avoid the return of defect goods, malpractices, high compliance and untimely response of procurement orders, the PPPDS and sampled Ethiopian higher public educational Institutions should design very clear procurement planning criteria that fits the national procurement guideline, strong internal control system with good evaluation system. Moreover, it also advisable if the sampled Ethiopian higher public educational institutions train their staffs that partake in procurement processes and apply a computerized procurement system to support their procurement policies and further improve their overall centralized procurement system effectiveness .


The world is at the cusp of a new era where pivotal importance is being attached to the development of sustainable and high-performance energy storage systems. Potassium-ion batteries are deemed not only as cheap battery candidates, but also as the penultimate high-voltage energy storage systems within the monovalent-cation chemistries. However, their performance and sustainability are undermined by the lack of suitable electrolytes for high-voltage operation particularly due to the limited availability of cathode materials. Here, the potential of ionic liquids based on potassium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (KTFSA) as high-voltage electrolytes is presented by assessing their physicochemical properties, along with the electrochemical properties upon coupling with new high-voltage layered cathode materials. These ionic liquids demonstrate a lower redox potential for potassium dissolution / deposition (with a wide voltage tolerance of around $6.0$ $\rm V$), placing them as feasible and safe electrolytes for high-voltage potassium-ion battery configuration. This is proven by matching this electrolyte with new high-voltage layered cathode compositions, demonstrating stable electrochemical performance. The present findings of electrochemically stable ionic liquids based on potassium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide will bolster further advancement of high-performance cathode materials, whose performance at high-voltage regimes were apparently restricted by the paucity of suitable and compatible electrolytes.


Alfv\'enic modes in the current quench (CQ) stage of the tokamak disruption have been observed in experiments. In DIII-D the excitation of these modes is associated with the presence of high-energy runaway electrons, and a strong mode excitation is often associated with the failure of RE plateau formation. In this work we present results of self-consistent kinetic-MHD simulations of RE-driven compressional Alfv\'en eigenmodes (CAEs) in DIII-D disruption scenarios, providing an explanation of the CQ modes. Simulation results reveal that high energy trapped REs can have resonance with the Alfv\'en mode through their precession motion, and the resonance frequency is proportional to the energy of REs. The mode frequencies and their relationship with the RE energy are consistent with experimental observation. The perturbed magnetic fields from the modes can lead to spatial diffusion of runaway electrons including the nonresonant passing ones, thus providing the theoretical basis for a potential approach for runaway electron mitigation.


The use of Adobe Photoshop, a graphic design software, as a tool in textile designing has come to stay. There are numerous advantages derived from this software in textile designing, even though it is a graphic design program. Despite the numerous design advantages, the software presents technical constraints to textile design students and beginners in its visual representation of motif and texture pattern sizes. This problem of screen resolution settings affected the actual view of motif print sizes and texture patterns when printed in hard copy in relation to the soft copy for screen development. Furthermore, it affects design details during colour separation, screen copying and developing, and printing. The study employed the practiced-led research method in its approach to explore the possibilities of finding preferential screen resolution settings suitable for textile designing in Adobe Photoshop. The study revealed adjustments or modifications of the view-preferential settings of the program to ascertain the required screen resolution settings for textile motif and texture pattern sizes. This revelation bridged the visual differences between the soft copy and hard copy sizes of motif and texture pattern during and after designing. The research recommends that textile design students and beginners, as a prerequisite, adjust the view-preferential settings of Adobe Photoshop to obtain accurate motif and texture pattern sizes during and after designing.


Cholesterol dysregulation has been implicated in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of visual impairment in the elderly. The 18 KDa translocator protein (TSPO) is a mitochondrial outer membrane protein responsible for transporting cholesterol from the mitochondrial outer membrane to the inner membrane. TSPO is highly expressed in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, and TSPO ligands have shown therapeutic potential for the treatment of AMD. Here, we characterized retinal pathology of Tspo knockout (KO) mice using histological, immunohistochemical, biochemical and molecular biological approaches. We found that Tspo KO mice had normal retinal morphology (by light microscopy) but showed elevated levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids with perturbed cholesterol efflux in the RPE cells of Tspo KO mice. Expression of cholesterol-associated genes (Nr1h3, Abca1, Abcg1, Cyp27a1 and Cyp46a1) was significantly downregulated, and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines was markedly increased in Tspo KO retinas. Furthermore, microglial activation was also observed in Tspo KO mouse retinas. These findings provide new insights into the function of TSPO in the retina and may aid in the design of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of AMD.