Iraq's liberation from the Saddam regime after a few decades of oppression signalled national transition to peace and stability. The entire world had its eyes fixed on Iraq as a model for newly liberated nation states. Even though Iraq was liberated from authoritarian rule, but it
has yet to be liberated from its socio-economic woes. Decades of neglect at the hands of a military dictatorship, newly found ethnic and sectarian divides and now a regional cum international jihadist agenda threaten to tear Iraq apart. The true underlying cause of Iraq's problems is socio-economic divide – precipitated at both domestic and international levels, and manifested as ethnic and sectarian conflicts. The only real solution to Iraq's woes is to capitalise on the oil and gas resources, in such a fashion that they provide socio-economic dividends with a hope of conserving the environment for future generations.

The idea of sustainable development is auspicious in terms of consequences yet elusive in terms of implementation. Iraq's domestic problems and international pressure groups are creating an environment where sustainable development is a hard-to-realise goal. Moreover, the everchanging definition of sustainable development and the concept's credibility poses its own dynamic undercurrents. The greatest hope at sustainable development for Iraq's situation is to shape and implement a legislated framework through public participation, responsible legislation along the lines of globally accepted sustainable development principles. This research aims to provide various options for a legal framework for sustainable development keeping in view Iraq's peculiar circumstances. The various challenges confronting Iraq on domestic, regional and international forums for sustainable development are discussed at length, and legal solutions are provided through an examination of international practice, stakeholder views and emerging best practices.


An algorithm is described for multiplying multiprecision floating-point numbers. The algorithm can produce either the smallest floating-point number greater than or equal to the true product, or the greatest floating-point number smaller than or equal to the true product. Software implementations of multiprecision floating-point multiplication can reduce the computation time by a factor of two if they do not compute the low-order digits of the product of the two mantissas. However, these algorithms do not necessarily provide optimally rounded results. The algorithms described here is guaranteed to produce optimally rounded results and typically obtains the same savings.<<ETX>>


This paper presents an environment for collecting clinical data using structured speech input. The system uses nomenclature terms and data consistency rules to limit the speech input to a discrete set of phrases which can be configured to support a wide range of studies. This information is stored in an event-oriented data model as strongly typed observations for subsequent distribution and data analysis. The use of speech input should result in increased efficiency during hands-busy data collection tasks. The strongly typed data, as opposed to free-form narratives, ensures a quantitative information base for analysis and clinical decision support.


It is becoming increasingly important to design high-performance circuits with as low power as possible. In this paper, we study the gate sizing and device parameter selection problem for today's industrial designs. We first outline the typical practical problems that make it difficult to use traditional algorithms on high-performance industrial designs. Then, we propose a Lagrangian relaxation-based formulation that decouples timing analysis from optimization without a resulting loss in accuracy. We also propose a graph model that accurately captures discrete cell-type characteristics based on library data. We model the relaxed Lagrangian subproblem as a graph problem and propose algorithms to solve it. In our experiments, we demonstrate the importance of using the signoff timing engine to guide the optimization. We also show the benefit of the graph model we propose to solve the discrete optimization problem. Compared to a state-of-the art industrial optimization flow, we show that our algorithms can obtain up to 38% leakage power reductions and better overall timing for real high-performance microprocessor blocks.


Background: MlcB is a MyoB-specific light chain. Results: MlcB adopts a unique fold among EF-hand calcium-binding proteins and binds the MyoB IQ motif via a hydrophobic surface that is maintained in the holo state. Conclusion: The MlcB structure and mode of IQ recognition is unique among myosin light chains. Significance: ApoMlcB structure provides a basis for MyoB IQ-motif recognition. Dictyostelium discoideum MyoB is a class I myosin involved in the formation and retraction of membrane projections, cortical tension generation, membrane recycling, and phagosome maturation. The MyoB-specific, single-lobe EF-hand light chain MlcB binds the sole IQ motif of MyoB with submicromolar affinity in the absence and presence of Ca2+. However, the structural features of this novel myosin light chain and its interaction with its cognate IQ motif remain uncharacterized. Here, we describe the NMR-derived solution structure of apoMlcB, which displays a globular four-helix bundle. Helix 1 adopts a unique orientation when compared with the apo states of the EF-hand calcium-binding proteins calmodulin, S100B, and calbindin D9k. NMR-based chemical shift perturbation mapping identified a hydrophobic MyoB IQ binding surface that involves amino acid residues in helices I and IV and the functional N-terminal Ca2+ binding loop, a site that appears to be maintained when MlcB adopts the holo state. Complementary mutagenesis and binding studies indicated that residues Ile-701, Phe-705, and Trp-708 of the MyoB IQ motif are critical for recognition of MlcB, which together allowed the generation of a structural model of the apoMlcB-MyoB IQ complex. We conclude that the mode of IQ motif recognition by the novel single-lobe MlcB differs considerably from that of stereotypical bilobal light chains such as calmodulin.


Aims and objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the effect of plasma high sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP) levels on hypertensive and apparently healthy normotensive Nigerians in the management of hypertension. This is a preliminary study; a study involving larger numbers of normotensives and hypertensives is in progress. Subjects and methods: Plasma C-reactive protein level was determined in 150 hypertensive patients mean age 46.8±8.2 years and 30 apparently healthy normotensive individuals mean age 38.8 ±13.2years using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: The hypertensive subjects had significantly higher body mass index (BMI) (p-value < 0.05) than the normotensive subjects (BMI=28.34±4.40kg/m2 Vs. 25.79±2.91kg/m2). The hypertensive subjects also had significantly higher C- reactive protein values (0.18±0.1mg/dL Vs 0.08±0.04 mg/dL) (p-value < 0.0001). Among the hypertensive subjects, there was no significant difference in the level of C-reactive protein between the males and the females (0.17±0.10 mg/dL Vs 0.20±0.09 mg/dL). In the hypertensive patients, CRP positively correlated with atherogenic index (r = 0.551, p < 0.05) and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk (r = 0.589, p < 0.05). However, in normotensive patients, CRP was positively correlated with atherogenic index (r = 0.492, p < 0.01) but negatively correlated with CHD risk (r = -0.475, p < 0.01).
 Conclusion: These results show that the plasma concentrations of HsCRP in hypertensive subjects were significantly higher than those of the normotensive subjects and HsCRP positively correlated with atherogenic index and CHD risk in hypertensive Nigerians.


Background According to the World Health Organization (WHO), non-communicable diseases are responsible for 71% of annual global mortality. National governments and international organizations are increasingly considering medical imaging and nuclear medicine access data in strategies to address epidemiologic priorities. Our objective here was to develop a statistical model to assist countries in estimating their needs for PET-CT systems for the management of specific cancer types. Material/Methods We introduce a patient-centered statistical model based on country-specific epidemiological data, PET-CT performance, and evidence-based clinical guidelines for PET-CT use for cancer. The output of the model was integrated into a Bayesian model to rank countries or world regions that would benefit the most from upscaling PET-CT scanners. Results We applied our model to the IMAGINE database, recently developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Our model indicates that at least 96 countries should upscale their PET-CT services and more than 200 additional PET-CT scanners would be required to fulfill their needs. The model also provides quantitative evidence indicating that low-income countries would benefit the most from increasing PET-CT provision. Finally, we discuss several cases in which the standard unit [number of scanners]/[million inhabitants] to guide strategic planning or address inequities is misleading. Conclusions Our model may help in the accurate delineation and further reduction of global inequities in access to PET-CT scanners. As a template, the model also has the potential to estimate the costs and socioeconomic impact of implementing any medical imaging modality for any clinical application.


Weakly-supervised Temporal Action Localization (WTAL) aims to detect the action segments with only video-level action labels in training. The key challenge is how to distinguish the action of interest segments from the background, which is unlabelled even on the video-level. While previous works treat the background as "curses", we consider it as "blessings". Specifically, we first use causal analysis to point out that the common localization errors are due to the unobserved confounder that resides ubiquitously in visual recognition. Then, we propose a Temporal Smoothing PCA-based (TS-PCA) deconfounder, which exploits the unlabelled background to model an observed substitute for the unobserved confounder, to remove the confounding effect. Note that the proposed deconfounder is model-agnostic and non-intrusive, and hence can be applied in any WTAL method without model re-designs. Through extensive experiments on four state-of-the-art WTAL methods, we show that the deconfounder can improve all of them on the public datasets: THUMOS-14 and ActivityNet-1.31.


ABSTRACT Background The consumption of legumes is promoted as part of a healthy diet in many countries but associations of total and types of legume consumption with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are not well established. Analyses across diverse populations are lacking despite the availability of unpublished legume consumption data in prospective cohort studies. Objective To examine the prospective associations of total and types of legume intake with the risk of incident T2D. Methods Meta-analyses of associations between total legume, pulse, and soy consumption and T2D were conducted using a federated approach without physical data-pooling. Prospective cohorts were included if legume exposure and T2D outcome data were available and the cohort investigators agreed to participate. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and CIs of associations using individual participant data including ≤42,473 incident cases among 807,785 adults without diabetes in 27 cohorts across the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, and Western Pacific. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to combine effect estimates and estimate heterogeneity. Results Median total legume intake ranged from 0–140 g/d across cohorts. We observed a weak positive association between total legume consumption and T2D (IRR = 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.04) per 20 g/d higher intake, with moderately high heterogeneity (I2 = 74%). Analysis by region showed no evidence of associations in the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific. The positive association in Europe (IRR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.10, I2 = 82%) was mainly driven by studies from Germany, UK, and Sweden. No evidence of associations was observed for the consumption of pulses or soy. Conclusions These findings suggest no evidence of an association of legume intakes with T2D in several world regions. The positive association observed in some European studies warrants further investigation relating to overall dietary contexts in which legumes are consumed, including accompanying foods which may be positively associated with T2D.


Perchlorate (ClO4(-)) is ubiquitous in the environment. It is produced naturally by atmospheric photochemical reactions, and also is synthesized in large quantities for military, aerospace, and industrial applications. Nitrate-enriched salt deposits of the Atacama Desert (Chile) contain high concentrations of natural ClO4(-), and have been exported worldwide since the mid-1800s for use in agriculture. The widespread introduction of synthetic and agricultural ClO4(-) into the environment has contaminated numerous municipal water supplies. Stable isotope ratio measurements of Cl and O have been applied for discrimination of different ClO4(-) sources in the environment. This study explores the potential of 36Cl measurements for further improving the discrimination of ClO4(-) sources. Groundwater and desert soil samples from the southwestern United States (U.S.) contain ClO4(-) having high 36Cl abundances (36Cl/Cl = 3100 x 10(-15) to 28,800 x 10(-15)), compared with those from the Atacama Desert (36Cl/Cl = 0.9 x 10(-15) to 590 x 10(-15)) and synthetic ClO4(-) reagents and products (36Cl/Cl = 0.0 x 10(-15) to 40 x 10(-15)). In conjunction with stable Cl and O isotope ratios, 36Cl data provide a clear distinction among three principal ClO4(-) source types in the environment of the southwestern U.S.


Abstract. Objective measurement of the nasal valve region is valuable for the assessment of functional rhinoplasty surgical outcomes. Anatomical optical coherence tomography (aOCT) is an imaging modality that may be used to obtain real-time, quantitative, and volumetric scans of the nasal airway. We aim to evaluate if volumetric aOCT imaging is useful for the examination of the nasal valve region before and after functional rhinoplasty procedures. aOCT scans of the nasal valves were performed on four cadaveric heads before and after spreader graft and butterfly graft procedures. The resulting aOCT images were compared against video endoscopy images, and the segmented volumes of the nasal airway obtained from aOCT scans were compared with computed tomography (CT) derived volumes acquired under the same conditions. The aOCT-derived volumes match the CT volumes closely, with a mean Dice similarity coefficient of 0.88 and a mean Hausdorff distance of 2.3 mm. Furthermore, the aOCT images were found to represent the shape of the nasal cavity accurately. Due to its ability to perform real-time, quantitative, and accurate evaluation of the nasal airway, aOCT imaging is a promising modality for the objective assessment of the nasal valves before and after functional rhinoplasty procedures.


Abstract The Catalogue of Scientific Papers, published by the Royal Society of London beginning in 1867, projected back to the beginning of the nineteenth century a novel vision of the history of science in which knowledge was built up out of discrete papers each connected to an author. Its construction was an act of canon formation that helped naturalize the idea that scientific publishing consisted of special kinds of texts and authors that were set apart from the wider landscape of publishing. By recovering the decisions and struggles through which the Catalogue was assembled, this essay aims to contribute to current efforts to denaturalize the scientific paper as the dominant genre of scientific life. By privileging a specific representation of the course of a scientific life as a list of papers, the Catalogue helped shape underlying assumptions about the most valuable fruits of a scientific career. Its enumerated lists of authors' periodical publications were quickly put to use as a means of measuring scientific productivity and reputation, as well as by writers of biography and history. Although it was first conceived as a search technology, this essay locates the Catalogue's most consequential legacy in its uses as a technology of valuation.


We delineated seven soil clay mineral provinces in Namibia. Many individual clay mineral assemblages occur in fluvial, pan, cave and other environments. Previous researchers have used clay mineral compositions as evidence for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, often without analyzing the formation, the transport and the deposition of these clay minerals. In Namibia, rates of erosion and denudation by water and wind have been very small since early Quaternary times. During the Quaternary, the clay mineral assemblages of the seven provinces and of individual clay mineral deposits did not change significantly. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions have to consider these small rates of erosion, especially if clay minerals were transported by water and/or wind from their source area to distant regions (e.g., the ocean). Changes in marine clay mineral compositions may not reflect climate change, but can be caused by changes in the ratio of fluvial to aeolian transport. If the changes in the transport mode are known, these changes can be interpreted palaeoenvironmentally. Future researchers have to decipher quantity and quality of the fluvial and aeolian dust transport (clay minerals, pollen, etc.) over southwestern Africa and the Benguela Current area.


The Swedish micro-satellite Astrid-2 was successfully launched into a near polar orbit in December 1998. Despite the fact that the primary science mission was auroral research, the magnetic instrument was designed to accomplish high-resolution and high-precision vector field magnetic measurements, and therefore mapping of the Earth's magnetic field was possible. The spacecraft spins about a highly stable axis in space. This fact and the globally distributed data make the magnetic measurements well suited for the estimate of a magnetic field model at the spacecraft altitude (about 1000 km). This paper describes the initial analysis of the Astrid-2 magnetic data. As a result of the study of a single day (February 7, 1999), magnetically fairly quiet, it was possible to in-flight adjust the calibration of the magnetometer and find a magnetic field model fitting the scalar component of the measurements to better than 5 nT/sub rms/ for latitudes equatorward of 50/spl deg/. Several methods for field modeling are discussed in this paper under the assumption that the direction of the spin axis in inertial space is nearly constant, and this assumption is corroborated by the observations. The approximate inertial orientation of the magnetometer could then be determined simultaneously with the instrument intrinsic calibration and the estimate of main field model coefficients.


A series of new acid hydrazides have been synthesized by reaction of novel ligands Acetic acid (3- chloro – 4 – hydroxyl benzylidene )-hydrazide (A), Acetic acid (2 – nitro – benzaylidene )- hydrazide (B) with cadimium (II) bromide , These new complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and UV spectral techniques. The changes observed between the FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra of the ligands and of the complexes allowed us to establish the coordination mode of the metal in complexes . The results suggest that the Schiff bases coordinate as univalent anions with their two dentate N, O donors derived from the carbonyl and azomethine nitrogen . This newly synthesized compounds have been tested against grampositive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (E.coli and Salmonella typhi ) for their antibacterial activity.


This article analyzes data from a randomized experiment on how matched-savings accounts affect the net worth of low-income people. We find that estimates are sensitive to probable data errors and to the handling of missing values. In contrast to the findings of Mills et al. 2008, some of the estimated impacts on net worth are large, both economically and statistically. We argue that the jury is still out on the impacts of Individual Development Accounts (IDA) on net worth, and we highlight that data quality and modeling assumptions are crucial even (or especially) for randomized experiments.


Some biological plasma membranes pass water with a permeability and selectivity largely exceeding those of commercial membranes for water desalination using specialized trans-membrane proteins aquaporins. However, highly selective transport of water through aquaporins is usually driven by an osmotic rather mechanical pressure, which is not as attractive from the engineering point of view. The feasibility of adopting biomimetic membranes for water purification driven by a mechanical pressure, i.e., filtration is explored in this paper. Toward this goal, it is proposed to use a commercial nanofiltration (NF) membrane as a support for biomimetic lipid bilayer membranes to render them robust enough to withstand the required pressures. It is shown in this paper for the first time that by properly tuning molecular interactions supported phospholipid bilayers (SPB) can be prepared on a commercial NF membrane. The presence of SPB on the surface was verified and quantified by several spectroscopic and microscopic techniques, which showed morphology close to the desired one with very few defects. As an ultimate test it is shown that hydraulic permeability of the SPB supported on the NF membrane (NTR-7450) approaches the values deduced from the typical osmotic permeabilities of intact continuous bilayers. This permeability was unaffected by the trans-membrane flow of water and by repeatedly releasing and reapplying a 10 bar pressure. Along with a parallel demonstration that aquaporins could be incorporated in a similar bilayer on mica, this demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed approach. The prepared SPB structure may be used as a platform for preparing biomimetic filtration membranes with superior performance based on aquaporins. The concept of SPBs on permeable substrates of the present type may also be useful in the future for studying transport of various molecules through trans-membrane proteins.


In summer 2014 the Northern Collaboration Content Special Interest Group began an investigation into the student experience of eBooks on mobile devices. The idea arose from a number of projects and workshops that had highlighted issues with the users' experience of eBooks on mobile devices, and accessibility for users with disabilities, it had also long been an area of student complaint. The research focussed on eBooks purchased from the five main aggregators: Askew and Holts (VLeBooks), Coutts (MyiLibrary), Dawson (DawsonERA), EBL, and Ebrary. eBooks bought directly from publishers were not included. Tests were conducted using eBooks from each aggregator's platform on a PC, iPad Air, ASUS Transformer Android tablet, Samsung Galaxy Android tablet and Kindle Fire. The group had a number of assumptions about student usage and where complaints were coming from, however, the results were more of a surprise. It is hoped that this paper will establish a constructive dialogue between libraries, suppliers and software partners in order to facilitate a better student experience in the future.


This study relates various types of educational spending to mean mathematics achievement and its social distribution among students. A nationally representative database of 7,217 twelfth graders was developed by linking the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress in mathematics to the U.S. Common Core of Data and the School District Data Book. Through applying Hierarchical Linear Modeling to the database, the study found that spending on instruction and capital expenditures, while not related to mean achievement levels, were related to differences in achievement between SES groups; lower spending levels are associated with greater achievement gaps within schools.


How has China been able to maintain high-speed economic growth during the last thirty-plus years and successfully transform itself from a poor, backward, and developing country to become the world's second-largest economy? What are the challenges that China faces today and how will she deal with them in order to continue moving toward a truly prosperous and modern society? Standing at a crossroads today, what future direction should China choose: a free market economy or state capitalism? In a series of penetrating dialogues, Wu Jinglian, China's most celebrated and influential economist, and Ma Guochuan, chief commentator of Caijing Magazine, attempt to address the following question: "Where is China going? " This volume offers critical insights into the historical evolution of China's ongoing economic and social transformation. Strongly reflecting Professor Wu's views on the future prospects of the economic reforms, the book provides readers with a deep and lucid understanding of the social and economic issues now confronting China, analyzes their underlying causes, and examines the serious challenges to implementing further reforms. Professor Wu argues that the only way to escape the various social ills in China today is to restart the economic and political reforms, which began thirty years ago but have slowed down during the recent decade, and to move China in the direction of a market economy, the rule of law, and democracy. Available in OSO:


A total of 108 grill and 108 roast samples were prepared from lamb (n = 10) and mutton (n = 8) carcasses for sensory testing using a consumer taste panel. Grill and roast samples were prepared from the left and right sides of the carcass, respectively, using longissimus, biceps femoris, gluteus medius, serratus ventralis and semimembranosus. Due to size constraints, muscle from both sides was used to form grill samples for the vastus lateralis, and roast samples from the triceps brachii. Grill and roast samples were sensory tested using 360 untrained consumers. Each consumer was given a total of 6 experimental samples and each sample was tested by 10 different consumers. Sensory scores for tenderness, juiciness, like flavour and overall liking from both the grilled and roasted samples were highly correlated (P 0.05). In contrast, juiciness and like flavour scores were poorly correlated between grilled muscles. For the roasted samples, sensory scores were generally uncorrelated between muscles. The statistical significance of the age category and muscle effects was greater in grill samples, but stimulation effects were of similar significance using either cooking method. It was proposed that roasting reduced treatment effects that affected sensory via differences in connective tissue toughness, due to gelatinisation of connective tissue during cooking. For testing production and processing effects on palatability, grilling was more sensitive for detecting treatment effects, than roasting.


Background Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an inherited multi‐systemic disease involving the central nervous system (CNS) and is consequently characterized by a range of cognitive impairments. However, whether this cognitive profile progresses over time is still a matter of debate. The aim of this study was to longitudinally assess a DM1 sample, in order to compare, for the first time, this progression with that of a control group. Clinical and socio‐demographic predictive factors potentially implicated in this possible decline are analysed. Method Seventy‐five DM1 patients with childhood, juvenile, adult, and late‐onset, and 54 control participants were re‐assessed in an 11‐year follow‐up with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. The analyses employed were mixed ANOVA for repeated measures to test intergroup comparisons over time and multiple linear regression for predictive variable analysis. Results Myotonic dystrophy type 1 patients significantly worsened in visuospatial/visuoconstructive abilities and visual memory compared with controls. Multiple linear regression revealed that progression of cognitive impairment measured by copy of the Rey–Osterrieth complex figure was predicted by muscular impairment, whilst on the block design test age predicted the change with a cut‐off at 31 years of age. Discussion A domain‐specific progressive cognitive decline was found in DM1, with visuospatial/visuoconstructive abilities showing the greatest vulnerability to the passage of time. In addition to important clinical implications, these results suggest the need for the scientific community to delve deeper into the potential mechanisms underlying early cognitive decline in this population.


With the aim to investigate the influence of strain hardening on the stainless steels susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking, tests were conducted in PWR environment on CT specimens, taken from a 316L stainless steel sheet cold rolled to 40% in thickness reduction. The initial cracks obtained by the fatigue pre-cracking have an atypical 'V' shape with smaller propagation in the center of the CT thickness compared to nominal propagation observed at both sides. The initial explanation was to consider a stress intensity factor derived from classical reference solution on the basis of a straight crack front, and considering the local value of the crack depth in the equation. This assumption raised several problems analsyes in this paper. This particular shape of the initial defect may be related to several factors, and partly to the 40% cold rolling. It is likely that the hardening is not uniform, with a higher rate at the specimen sides than in the central area. In addition, significant residual stresses due to the gradient of mechanical properties are observed. Due to the high rate of work hardening by rolling of the sheet metal, a gradient of the mechanical properties through the thickness was determined, and the residual stresses profile induced by this process was measured. The variations obtained are consistent with each other: the material is more hardened in the vicinity of specimen surface and residual stresses are compressive in nature in the central part of the specimen and of tensile type on the flanks. All these data were firstly considered in order to assess their role regarding the particular form of the initial crack front obtained after fatigue: the 3D finite element calculations taking into account the true shape of the crack front demonstrate the relationship between the characteristics of the experimental crack front obtained after fatigue pre-cracking and the residual stresses. Moreover, from the residual stresses measured on the plate where samples have been machined/prepared, the residual stresses field in the specimen after its machining is calculated and then taken into account in the mechanical analysis. The characteristics of this field in addition to the mechanical loading applied during SCC testing can explain the crack propagation behavior observed experimentally.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


The disaccharide trehalose has strong effects on plant metabolism and development. In Arabidopsis seedlings, growth on trehalose-containing medium leads to an inhibition of root elongation, an accumulation of starch in the shoots, an increased activity of ADP-Glc pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), and an induction of the expression of the AGPase gene, ApL3 (A. Wingler, T. Fritzius, A. Wiemken, T. Boller, R.A. Aeschbacher [2000] Plant Physiol 124: 105–114). We used Arabidopsis mutants deficient in starch synthesis to examine whether the primary effect of trehalose was to affect carbohydrate allocation by the induction of AGPase in the photosynthetic tissue. In a mutant lacking the large AGPase subunit, ApL1, (adg2-1 mutant) growth on trehalose restored AGPase activity and led to a strong accumulation of starch in the shoots. In contrast, starch synthesis could not be induced in a mutant lacking the small AGPase subunit, ApS, (adg1-1 mutant) or in a mutant lacking plastidic phosphoglucomutase (pgm1-1 mutant). These results indicate that ApL3 can substitute for ApL1 in the AGPase complex. In addition, root elongation in the mutants, especially in the adg1-1 mutant, was partially resistant to trehalose, suggesting that the induction of ApL3 expression and the resulting accumulation of starch in the shoots were partially responsible for the effects of trehalose on the growth of wild-type plants.


Although benefit ‐ cost analysis (BCA) can be traced back to European thinkers, its first practical applications were in the United States. Recent years have witnessed a growing demand for economic appraisals of policies in different sectors in Europe, but the implementation rate is still low compared to that in the US. This article introduces a symposium that includes four articles that present current examples of how BCA is being applied in different sectors and in different institutional settings in Europe. They deal with environmental valuation in the United Kingdom, economic analysis for investment in Sweden's transport sector, economic versus financial returns in European Union investment project appraisal, and BCA in EU chemicals legislation. The goal is to stimulate continuing discussion on the implementation of BCA, not only in Europe but also worldwide.


Animal nervous systems are highly efficient in processing sensory input. The neuromorphic computing paradigm aims at the hardware implementation of neural network computations to support novel solutions for building brain-inspired computing systems. Here, we take inspiration from sensory processing in the nervous system of the fruit fly larva. With its strongly limited computational resources of <200 neurons and <1.000 synapses the larval olfactory pathway employs fundamental computations to transform broadly tuned receptor input at the periphery into an energy efficient sparse code in the central brain. We show how this approach allows us to achieve sparse coding and increased separability of stimulus patterns in a spiking neural network, validated with both software simulation and hardware emulation on mixed-signal real-time neuromorphic hardware. We verify that feedback inhibition is the central motif to support sparseness in the spatial domain, across the neuron population, while the combination of spike frequency adaptation and feedback inhibition determines sparseness in the temporal domain. Our experiments demonstrate that such small, biologically realistic neural networks, efficiently implemented on neuromorphic hardware, can achieve parallel processing and efficient encoding of sensory input at full temporal resolution.


Different types of knowledge have been found important for a successful search. We designed a user interface: CIRR tool (Collaborative Information Retrieval Research) that supports sharing of search results as well as search queries (knowledge of finding the relevant items). We conducted a pilot study to explore what factors would affect the use of these knowledge sharing features. The results demonstrate that knowledge sharing in general is preferred by only some subjects for some tasks. For those who preferred sharing they share search queries, domain knowledge, and search results, rather than the usefulness judgment. The findings also show that knowledge sharing does not seem to have effects on search performance. However, it is significantly associated with the perceived task difficulty. The possible reasons leading to these results are analyzed. Limitations of this study are pointed out and the future studies are discussed.


SIR,-I can understand and have some sympathy with the irritated comments of Dr. P. M. S. Gillam (11 March, p. 685) on the two trials of clofibrate in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease. One finds that not only patients but also some doctors (who cannot have read the two papers) are expecting that the symptom of angina will improve as soon as the drug is consumed. There is no evidence and has been no claim for this whatever. But I must answer his criticism of the Newcastle trial, for which I bear much responsibility. Regarding "the most important criticism"-namely, that non-cardiac deaths have not been reported-the facts are that I have records of seven patients who withdrew because of illness and later died-four of them in the clofibrate group (three dying of cancer) and three in the placebo (one dying of cancer). If these figures, which are I suspect incomplete, are added to the Scottish ones, which are believed to be complete, then we have 12 known deaths in the clofibrate group (six from cancer and four from cerebrovascular accidents) and 13 in the placebo (six from cancer and two from cerebrovascular accidents). Doubtless some patients in both trials who withdrew for reasons other than illness died later of non-cardiac causes before the 51 years of the trials were completed, the most frequent causes being, as in the above list, cancer and cerebrovascular accidents. One can only say that there is no evidence at all that clofibrate either prevents or precipitates these maladies. The wisdom of admitting patients to the trial on the basis of history alone can indeed be questioned. but less than a quarter of the patients had normal E.C.G.s, and it is hard to believe that when all of them were personally selected by experienced consultant physicians as suitable for a trial more than a tiny fraction would be wrongly diagnosed. Regarding status on entry, some of the parameters were so obviously similar in the treated and controlled groups as not to need statistical analysis. In the remainder, including for example smoking habits on entry, statistical tests were applied, and in no instances were differences significant at the 5% level discovered. Regarding the subsequent fate of the clofibrate patients who withdrew from the trial, it is difficult to see how this can have much bearing on the conclusions. The great majority of them certainly discontinued the drug. If they fared better than the placebo group it would strengthen the trial results in which Dr. Gillan does not believe. If they fared worse it could, as with anticoagulant therapy, be attributed to a rebound ill effect from stopping treatment. It seemed to us best just to disregard them. Finally Dr. M. F. Oliver and I were well aware of the dubiety of combining the results of two trials whose criteria of entry differed. We did not therefore combine the figures, except in one instance-the nonfatal infarcts. We simply set them close together for easy comparison, and for the same reason preceded them with a full exposition of those differing criteria. Dr. W. H. S. St. John-Brooks's strictures (18 March, p. 750) cover some of the same points, but he also refers to others of some importance. He states that in the relatively few females in the trial and in those patients on anticoagulants the causative factors and the course of their ischaemic heart disease might well differ significantly from what they would be in the uncoagulated males. This is very true, and it is one of our regrets that in the design of the trial females were included. It was our hope that patients on anticoagulants would not be included but the trial was mounted at a time when there was more confidence in their value than there is today, and several physicians did not care for that treatment to be discontinued on entry, and some patients were put on it during the course of the trial when they were doing badly. Because of this, as Dr. St. John-Brooks noted, the mortality of those on anticoagulants was greater than that of the remainder. It was also, he may note, equal in the clofibrate and the placebo groups. Because this anticoagulant group comprised so many with a poor prognosis it seemed to us wisest in the analysis to include them. For the same reason we included against Dr. St. John-Brocks's objections, those who withdrew from the trial up to the time of that withdrawal. If clofibrate had made the patients so much worse from repeated infarcts and/or angina that they had insisted on withdrawingwould Dr. St. John-Brocks have wished them still to be excluded? One cannot have it both ways. Finally his composite statement of some of the Newcastle results is founded on the selection of those where the advantage to clofibrate attained statistical significance. There were several others where owing to lack of numbers the advantage, though clear and consistent, did not attain this level. In the same way, though it is true that some of the advantageous results could have been thrown up by chance, it is unlikely that this would have happened to the same results in both the Newcastle and Scottish trials, and it is for this reason that we think that the protection, especially against sudden death, afforded to patients with angina is probably genuine. Like Dr. Oliver I would be delighted if a new trial of male patients with angina only could be mounted to confirm this point.-I am, etc.,


Velocity fields in rectangular shallow reservoirs with different length-to-width and expansion ratios were investigated in an experimental study, to evaluate the effect of geometry on the flow field. A wide range of combinations of these two non-dimensional geometric parameters were tested at constant hydraulic conditions. Ultrasound velocity profilers were used to measure the horizontal velocity components across the entire reservoir surface, allowing for the visualization of streamlines and of the instantaneous and average velocities. Five different types of flow patterns were identified, depending on the values of the length-to-width ratio and expansion ratio of the reservoir. Asymmetrical flow patterns were found to develop for certain combinations of these geometric parameters despite the perfect reservoir symmetry. A critical comparison of these new experimental results with those of other works is provided.


In the mid-1980s a movement towards privatization and de-regulation of the telecommunications sector was begun. The sector has been privatized in most countries and subjected to regulatory reform. The major reform occurred in the late 1990s. Since then the internet and cellular-mobile industries have advanced significantly. Mobile service has exploded, particularly in the developing world. This has changed the dynamics of the industry dramatically. This paper empirically evaluates the reforms twenty-plus years after they have been implemented in selected Latin American countries using cross-country analysis. Earlier studies did not account for the regulatory environment nor cover the entire ICT sector. This paper empirically evaluates the impact of regulation in selected Latin American countries. The results are only suggestive, but not conclusive – that weaker regulation supports investment in the ICT sector due to higher prices for the service.


We evaluated the contribution of 67 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the β‐globin gene cluster to disease severity in groups of 207 mild‐ and 305 severe unrelated patients from Thailand with Hemoglobin E (HbE)/β0‐thalassemia and normal α‐globin genes. Our analysis showed that these SNPs comprise two distinct linkage disequilibrium blocks, one containing the β‐globin gene and the other extending from the locus control region (LCR) to the δ gene, which are separated by a recombination hotspot in the narrow region of the β‐globin gene promoter. Forty‐five SNPs within the interval including the LCR region and the δ gene showed strong association with disease severity. The strongest association was observed with the XmnI polymorphism located 158‐bp upstream to the Gγ gene (p = 4.6E−12). Carriers of the T allele of XmnI were more likely to have a milder disease course and higher level of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in both the mild (p = 0.005) and severe (p = 8.7E−06) patient groups. Haplotype analysis revealed that the T allele of XmnI was nearly always in cis with the HbE allele. The high frequency of this haplotype may be favored by positive selection against malarial infection. Further studies are needed to validate this hypothesis and determine whether XmnI or another closely linked variant modulates severity and HbF levels in patients with β0‐thalassemia/HbE disease.


For the complex features of many varieties, varying quantities of inserting production, we use such a complex system as Swarm intelligence to study the process of the production line of SMEs setting up and human resources scheduling. Based on the analysis of the operating characteristics of production cell and their comparison labor division model of the ant colony, it re-designs the workers' features and the deployment of staff between the Production cells and finally, realizes an adaptive division of labor model by the control of computer, depending on the production task requirements and each production cell load. The experiments show that the digital simulation results can match the real cases well.


Radiosurgery is to irradiate the small volume targets inside of the cranium with high dose radiation in a single session. Gamma knife radiosurgery has been in use for treatment of pain many years. The first cases which have been treated with radiosurgery technique were trigeminal neuralgia patients. After the first installment of gamma knife in 1968, it has been used for thalamotomy in cancer pain. Nowadays the main indication for gamma knife radiosurgery for pain is trigeminal neuralgia.


Interbank networks amplified the contraction in lending during the Great Depression. Panics induced banks in the hinterland to withdraw interbank deposits from Federal Reserve member banks located in reserve and central reserve cities. These correspondent banks responded by curtailing lending to businesses. Between the peak in the summer of 1929 and the banking holiday in the winter of 1933, interbank amplification reduced aggregate commercial bank lending by an estimated 15 percent.


We study the macroeconomic implications of the debt overhang distortion. In our model, the distortion arises because investment is non-contractible?when a firm borrows funds, the debt contract cannot specify or depend on the firm?s future level of investment. After the debt contract is signed, the probability that the firm will default on its debt obligation acts like a tax that discourages its new investment, because the marginal benefit of that investment will be reaped by the creditors in the event of default. We show that the distortion moves countercyclically: It increases during recessions, when the risk of default is high. Its dynamics amplify and propagate the effects of shocks to productivity, government spending, volatility and funding costs. Both the size and the persistence of these effects are quantitatively important. The model replicates important features of the joint dynamics of macro variables and credit risk variables, like default rates, recovery rates and credit spreads.


Background Myelofibrosis (MF), polycythemia vera (PV), and essential thrombocythemia (ET) represent three of the most common Philadelphia chromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Individuals with these disorders suffer from excessive debilitating fatigue compared to age-matched controls. Although cytokine deregulation and impaired hematopoiesis contributes to the intrinsic causes of MPN-related fatigue, there may be contributory effects of underlying mood. To date few studies have prospectively evaluated the role of mood disorders on fatigue among this population. Methods A 70-item internet-based survey was developed by MPN investigators and patient/advocates and hosted by the Mayo Clinic Survey Research Center. The survey was promoted online via multiple MPN-related webpages including the MPN Forum , MPN Net , MPN Research Foundation , and MPN Voice during February/March of 2014. Surveyed data included disease demographics such as splenomegaly, thrombosis, hemorrhage transfusions, medications, and phlebotomies. The MPN-SAF (including the MPN 10), and Brief Fatigue Inventory were used to assess disease burden (Blood. 2011 14;118(2):401-8). Mental health was assessed using the Profile of Mood States (POMS-short form (J Nerv Ment Dis. 1979;167(10):612-4)), Patient Health Questionaire (PHQ-2 (Ann Fam Med. 2010. 8(4): 348–353)) and Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5 (J Consult Clin Psychol. 1983. 51;730-742)). Results Demographics : Overall 1788 MPN patients participated in the survey. Of these, 1676 consented to participate and provided additional data (answered at least 10 questions). Of these, 555 (33%) patients had ET, 651 (39.0%) have PV, and 417 (25.0%) have MF. Respondents were 68% female with a mean age of 59. Overall brief fatigue inventory score had a mean of 4.4 (range 0-10). MPN-10 score average was 28.4 (range 0-83). Psychological Comorbidities : Mental health assessments were obtained among participants. Mean PHQ-2 score was 1.6 (SD = 1.6, range 0-6.0). Twenty three percent of respondents scored greater than or equal to three on the PHQ-2 indicating a high probability of depression (mean = 1.6 (SD = 1.6, range 0-6)). Additionally, average MHI-5 score was 21.8 (SD = 4.9), with scores less than 60 likely representing a mental disorder with minimal misclassification rate (BMC Psychiatry. 2008. 19;8:10). Mean POMS-B score was 76.9 (SD=19.9, mean subscale scores: tension-anxiety 15.1, vigor-activity 6.0, fatigue-inertia 10.0, depression-dejection 15.5, confusion-bewilderment 14.3, anger-hostility 15.7). Patients frequently endorsed having being seen for or diagnosed with depression (32.0%), anxiety (29.5%), stress (26.2%), and grief (15.0%). Of participants, 22.2% had received active treatment of a mood disorder in the past 6 months. When queried on treatments of mood disorders, respondents often had received medication treatments (81.4%), counseling/therapy (40.3%), and group therapy (6.0%). Correlations : Many significant correlations were observed between MPN-SAF items and PHQ, MHI-5, and POMS-B (Table 1). When evaluating likelihood of depressive symptoms (as assessed by a PHQ), survey items including older age (p= 0.0006) and lower educational attainment (p=0.0001) were noted to have significant association with depressive symptoms . Higher BFI, MPN-10, and individual MPN-SAF scores were significantly associated with a higher likelihood of depressive symptoms (p Conclusions Overall many MPN patients reported having had coexisting mood disorders. The frequency of mood disturbance is likely greater than that in the general population (e.g., 11% of individuals in the primary care population have PHQ-2 greater than or equal to 3 (Ann Fam Med. 2010; 8(4): 348–353) and average control population POMS-B total mood disturbance score = 34.1 (BioPsychoSocial Medicine 2011, 5:6)). The causality of relationship between mood disorders and MPN-related fatigue severity is not entirely clear, fatigue could contribute to depressive symptoms, depression could cause fatigue, or it can be bidirectional. Thus mood disorders may represent a primary or secondary process in the disease course. Evaluation of MPN-related fatigue should be multifactorial, and should take into consideration underlying mood disorders as part of a comprehensive assessment and subsequent treatment regimen. Disclosures Harrison: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria; CTI: Consultancy, Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; SBio: Consultancy; Shire: Speakers Bureau. Mesa: Incyte: Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy; Gilead: Research Funding; Genentech: Research Funding; Promedior: Research Funding; Ns Pharma: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Lilly: Research Funding; Cti: Research Funding.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the total number, recruitment rate, departure rate, and growth rate of full-time academic dermatologists in the United States over the last decade.

DESIGN
Mail survey.

SETTING
Academic dermatology departments in the United States.

PARTICIPANTS
Respondents among 113 chairs or chiefs of academic dermatology departments or their designees.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The total number of full-time academic dermatologists including departures and recruitments in 4 selected academic years (1994-1995, 1998-1999, 2001-2002, and 2003-2004).

RESULTS
Of the 113 academic dermatology departments, 89 (79%) responded. During the 4 selected academic years, more dermatologists joined academia (n = 255) than departed (n = 200). Those recruited into academia were predominantly graduating fellows (35%), residents (30%), and in private practice (16%). Of those who left academia, their primary roles were clinician-educator (55%), followed by dermatologic surgeon (16%). Most of those who departed went into private practice (65%). From 1994-1995 to 2001-2002, the recruitment rate increased by 36% (from 10.1% to 13.7%), and the departure rate increased by 88% (from 5.8% to 10.9%), resulting in a 35% decrease in growth rate (from 4.3% to 2.8%).

CONCLUSIONS
Retention of academic dermatologists is as important as recruitment. Our results confirm that insufficient retention has contributed to a substantial decrease in the growth rate of academic dermatologists. Future efforts to increase academic manpower must focus on retention as well as recruitment, particularly of clinician-educators. Specific strategies for improving retention include identifying or establishing funding sources for teaching/mentoring and clinical research. Recruitment efforts may be improved by focusing on fellows and private practitioners with academic affiliations.


Positioning error is inherent in normal human hand motion and limits precision in manual microsurgery. A computer-based surgery can reduce human error. This work discuss tool orientation, motion error and computer simulation of a microsurgical end effector based on a parallel spatial manipulator. Among several previously developed parallel manipulators for other applications, the selected architecture for this work is consisting of a moving platform attached to a base through three identical prismatic-revolute-spherical jointed serial linkages. The actuation is conducted through the prismatic joints while the others are passive. These prismatic actuators lie on a common plane and have radial directions of action. A surgical tool of specific length is attached to the moving platform centre. A computer-based simulation is built for the end effector by obtaining the forward and inverse kinematics solutions. The developed relation for tool tip motion with respect to actuators positioning is used to evaluate tool location and orientation. Architectural designs for two arrangements are compared for better design and positioning error.


Neuropathy is a common finding in patients with multiple myeloma. Several different factors can cause neuropathy in these patients, such as the underlying disease itself, medications used for treatment, or immune-mediated processes. Immune-mediated neuropathies (IMN) consist of a heterogeneous spectrum of peripheral nerve disorders. Although IMN is associated with several hematological disorders, it remains a very rare complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). We describe our experiences of 3 patients with multiple myeloma who experienced IMN following autologous HCT (auto-HCT). These 3 patients were felt to have IMN clearly attributable to auto-HCT because of a clear temporal association with auto-HCT and absence of any other obvious causative factor. The variety in their clinical presentations, diagnostic approach, and approaches to management are explained. The pathophysiology of how HCT may predispose to IMN remains poorly understood. Our report helps highlight several potential causes of this phenomenon, such as a paraneoplastic syndrome, immune reconstitution syndrome, or drug toxicity. We emphasize that a comprehensive approach is needed to address this rare entity, and that there should be a low threshold to initiate immune-specific therapy, such as plasmapheresis, if symptoms do not resolve spontaneously.


In this introduction to the history of translation theory, Edwin Gentzler explores the strengths and weaknesses of the most important approaches that have developed in translation studies over the last 30 years. Tracing the connections and overlaps between the different schools of thought, the author challenges many of their assumptions and illustrates the importance of translation theory to the current debates on the nature of language. By demonstrating how translation theories relate to the fields of linguistics, literary and cultural theory, Gentzler offers new insights into the nature of translation and into the nature of language and cross-cultural communication. "Contemporary Translation Theories" should be a prime resource for students of translation, linguistics, the philosophy of language and literary theory, serving them both as a beginner's guide and subsequently as a valuble reference source.


Abstract : Geolocation is a common application for satellite systems. This involves estimating an object's location (herein called the subject) based on noisy satellite data. Many geolocation methods exist; however, none are tailored specifically for the unique problems faced by satellite systems. Some satellites are so far from the subject being localized that by the time the satellite receives a signal from the subject it might have moved appreciably. Furthermore, some satellites or terrestial sensors may be much closer to the subject than others. Therefore, sensors may need to be weighted based upon their distance to the subject being localized. In addition, even if a subject can be localized, the confidence in this localization may be unknown. Non-linear optimization is proposed, implemented, and analyzed as a means of geolocating objects and providing confidence estimates from passive satellite line-of-sight data. Non-linear optimization requires an initial estimate. This estimate is provided by a triangulation method. The non-linear optimization then improves upon this estimate iteratively by finding estimates that are more likely to have produced the observed line-of-sight measurements. The covariance matrix of the geolocation parameters being estimated is naturally produced by the optimization which provides quantified confidence in the geolocation estimate. Simulations are developed to provide a means of evaluating the performance of the non-linear optimization algorithm. It was found that non-linear optimization can reduce the average error in geolocation estimates, provide improved estimation confidence, and accurately estimate its geolocation confidence for some subjects. The results from the theoretical development of the non-linear optimization algorithm and its simulated performance is quanti ed and discussed.


Background: Population-based metastatic recurrence rates for patients diagnosed with nonmetastatic colorectal cancer cannot be estimated directly from population-based cancer registries because recurrence information is not reported. We derived population-based colorectal cancer recurrence rates using disease-specific survival data based on our understanding of the colorectal cancer recurrence-death process. Methods: We used a statistical continuous-time multistate survival model to derive population-based annual colorectal cancer recurrence rates from 6 months to 10 years after colorectal cancer diagnosis using relative survival data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. The model was based on the assumption that, after 6 months of diagnosis, all colorectal cancer–related deaths occur only in patients who experience a metastatic recurrence first, and that the annual colorectal cancer–specific death rate among patients with recurrence was the same as in those diagnosed with de novo metastatic disease. We allowed recurrence rates to vary by post-diagnosis time, age, stage, and location for two diagnostic time periods. Results: In patients diagnosed in 1975–1984, annual recurrence rates 6 months to 5 years after diagnosis ranged from 0.054 to 0.060 in stage II colon cancer, 0.094 to 0.105 in stage II rectal cancer, and 0.146 to 0.177 in stage III colorectal cancer, depending on age. We found a statistically significant decrease in colorectal cancer recurrence among patients diagnosed in 1994–2003 compared with those diagnosed in 1975–1984 for 6 months to 5 years after diagnosis (hazard ratios between 0.43 and 0.70). Conclusions: We derived population-based annual recurrence rates for up to 10 years after diagnosis using relative survival data. Impact: Our estimates can be used in decision-analytic models to facilitate analyses of colorectal cancer interventions that are more generalizable.


Background Study design in the fields of basic and clinical sciences is classified generally into two categories: 1) observational; and 2) Interventional. In observational studies, the researcher just focuses on the status of the study question and describes the current status as well as measuring associations between exposures and outcomes. While, in the interventional studies, the main aim of research is the study of the intervention effects which applied on the eligible persons by researcher that could finally result in prevention and health promotion or treatment of diseases depends on applied interventions. The aim of current study is to determine the frequency of the published study designs in the fields of safety promotion and prevention of injury regarding to the continents during the last three decades (1985-2015). Methods In this review article, all published papers in Pubmed from 1984 to 2015 in the field of safety promotion and injury prevention were studied. We used the following keywords for our search: Road traffic, burning, drowning, fall, and violence. The total number of articles in the field of injury prevention and safety promotion were 115 manuscripts from 1985 to 2015, which were assessed in terms of study design. Results We showed that the most published papers on the safety promotion and injury prevention were conducted in America. About 67% of all studies and 78% of all intervention studies in this area have been conducted in the continent of America and Europe. Asia shared 9% of intervention studies and Iran shared 3.6% of the studies which have been conducted in this area. Conclusions Considering the current situation in developed countries compared to developing countries, in the field of injury prevention and safety promotion, if one of the goals of the national health system to be health promotion in the society, the current status in terms of study design that are running, cannot results in safety promotion and injury prevention, therefore, as long as the frequency of intervention studies with the aim of injury prevention and safety promotion in the developing countries would not as much as developed countries, we could not expect any advances in the field of injury prevention and safety promotion in developing countries.


Cyclocreatine (CCr), a substrate analogue of creatine kinase (CK: EC 188.8.131.52.), exhibits anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. We examined the effects of CCr on the hepatocarcinogenesis of F344 rats caused by treatment with diethylnitrosamine (DEN), partial hepatectomy (PH) or 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF). The rats were given a single intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg of DEN per kg in 0.85% NaCl solution at four weeks of age. Two weeks later they were divided into two groups. One group was continuously fed a commercial powder diet containing 0.02% 2-AAF for 12 weeks and the other was continuously fed a commercial powder diet containing 1% CCr plus 0.02% 2-AAF for 12 weeks. A third group of rats as a control was given only a normal powder diet for 12 weeks. All the groups were subjected to a two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) at 3 weeks under avertin anesthesia. To elucidate the inhibitory effect of CCr on chemical induced hepatocarcinogenesis, we examined not only the distribution of glutathione-S-transferase placental form (GST-P) a marker used for tumorigenesis, but also the inhibition of the degree of apoptosis. The number (No./cm2) and area (mm2/cm2) of GST-P positive liver foci were significantly lower in the 2-AAF + CCr treated when compared to the group treated with 2-AAF only. Our data suggest that CCr inhibits the degrees of GST-P-positive cells and apoptosis and is active against hepatocarcinogenesis in rat models. This result points out the unique nature of an anticancer agent that inhibits progression of chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis of rats.


The adoption of continuous development mechanisms including ISO 9001 among public sector organizations intends to improve the government's capability in providing high-quality products and services to the public. The study was conducted among 70 employees of DepEd Tanauan City during the implementation of ISO 9001. The respondents were grouped into either ISO process owners or non-ISO process owners. Using Difference-in-Differences Model (DID), this quantitative research focused on estimating the effect of people involved in the implementation of ISO 9001 on employee performance. Findings revealed that the level of job engagement in the implementation of ISO 9001 among employees of DepEd Tanauan City is evident using the Job Engagement Scale (JES) by Rich. More so, ISO process owners are invested to participate in people-involvement interventions in the implementation of ISO 9001. Between employee engagement and employee performance, people's involvement in the implementation of ISO 9001 has a significant effect to work performances of DepEd Tanauan employees. The increase in performance rating can be attributed to their engagement in ISO 9001 since process owners have deliberate roles and functions in its implementation. They are exposed to different capability-building activities such as training, workshops, seminars, and focus group discussions that intensify their functional knowledge about quality management systems. Accordingly, people involvement plays a vital role in the effective implementation of ISO 9001. Keywords: people involvement, employee performance, ISO 9001, quality management system, public service


This paper is one of a series prepared for use in Current Operational Problems (COPs) forums with the goal of focusing the attention of the industry on high priority problems faced by those who are involved in the actual operation of power systems.


The conditions leading to the recent observation of efficient upconversion of 1319-nm radiation to 580 nm in SiO(2) single-mode fiber are examined. Simulation results, based on the third-order nonlinearity and the waveguiding characteristics of typical fiber, show that the visible signal may be generated by phase-matched four-wave mixing within the concurrently generated infrared spectral continuum.


[1] A time-dependent, 1-D coupled ice-ocean model is used to quantify the impact of ocean stratification on the Arctic ice cover. The model results show that the ice growth during winter equals the ice melt in summer for areas with a well-developed cold halocline layer (CHL), provided that the initial ice thickness is around 3 m, while thinner initial ice thickness results in net growth. Areas with weak salt stratification can have a negative annual thickness change irrespective of the initial ice thickness and are thus dependent on ice import in order to remain ice covered. The model results also show that ocean stratification is mostly important for ice-thickness development during the growing season. Areas with weak stratification have an ocean heat flux up to 8 W m−2 reaching the ice during the growing season, while areas with a CHL have an average of about 0.7 W m−2. In the extreme area, north of Svalbard, the ocean heat fluxes are typically around 25 W m−2 but can be up to 400 W m−2 during the initial adjustment, when the warm Atlantic water has direct contact with the ice. A general outcome of the study is that, depending on ocean stratification, the ice cover of Arctic Ocean can be divided into one part with net ice growth (the major part) and another part with net ice melt (mainly in the Nansen Basin).


According to three-point bending test, this paper explores the influence of low temperature on the flexural strength, the tensile strain and bending stiffness modulus of the aged Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA-13) concrete. The asphalt mixtures are aged according to the short-term aging (at 135°C, 4 hours), and long-term aging (asphalt concrete at 85°C, 120 hours) and natural aging (3 months, 6 months and 9 months). The result shows that, with the same loading rate, the tensile strain of specimens at -30°C are smaller than those at -10°C; but when temperature is certain, the tensile strain of specimens lager than those of aged specimens. The longer the aging time lasts, the more flexural strength differences between high and low temperatures can be found. A pretty well index variation can be found between the tensile strain and temperature. The same trend also appears between the bending stiffness modulus and temperature of SMA-13 asphalt concrete.


The study aimed at identifying patient-specific dosimetric and nondosimetric factors predicting outcome of non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients after 131I-tositumomab radioimmunotherapy for potential use in treatment planning. Methods: Tumor-absorbed dose measures were estimated for 130 tumors in 39 relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients by coupling SPECT/CT imaging with the Dose Planning Method (DPM) Monte Carlo code. Equivalent biologic effect was calculated to assess the biologic effects of nonuniform absorbed dose including the effects of the unlabeled antibody. Evaluated nondosimetric covariates included histology, presence of bulky disease, and prior treatment history. Tumor level outcome was based on volume shrinkage assessed on follow-up CT. Patient level outcome measures were overall response (OR), complete response (CR), and progression-free survival (PFS), determined from clinical assessments that included PET/CT. Results: The estimated mean tumor-absorbed dose had a median value of 275 cGy (range, 94–711 cGy). A high correlation was observed between tracer-predicted and therapy-delivered mean tumor-absorbed doses (P < 0.001; r = 0.85). In univariate tumor-level analysis, tumor shrinkage correlated significantly with almost all of the evaluated dosimetric factors, including equivalent biologic effect. Regression analysis showed that OR, CR, and PFS were associated with the dosimetric factors and equivalent biologic effect. Both mean tumor-absorbed dose (P = 0.025) and equivalent biologic effect (P = 0.035) were significant predictors of PFS whereas none of the nondosimetric covariates were found to be statistically significant factors affecting PFS. The most important finding of the study was that in Kaplan–Meier curves stratified by mean dose, longer PFS was observed in patients receiving mean tumor-absorbed doses greater than 200 cGy than in those receiving 200 cGy or less (median PFS, 13.6 vs. 1.9 mo for the 2 dose groups; log-rank P < 0.0001). Conclusion: A higher mean tumor-absorbed dose was significantly predictive of improved PFS after 131I-tositumomab radioimmunotherapy. Hence tumor-absorbed dose, which can be estimated before therapy, can potentially be used to design radioimmunotherapy protocols to improve efficacy.


The bark and wood parts of the root of Terminalia mollis was investigated for its phytochemical and antimicrobial properties. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of tannins and resins as the major secondary metabolites. Test for antimicrobial activity of the plant crude extracts using the agar diffusion method showed that both the water and ethanolic extracts of the bark and wood parts of the root exhibited profound inhibitory activities against Staph. aureus, Bacillus subtilis, E. coli, Ps. aeruginosa and C. albicans and no activity against A. niger. MIC values varied from 0.3125%w/w for S. aureus and B. subtilis to 1.25%w/w for C. albicans. MBC/MFC values of the extracts against the test organisms were generally two geometric dilutions higher than their corresponding MIC values. Rate of kill studies indicated that the extracts had microbicidal activities against the susceptible organisms, effecting at least 3 log decimal reduction within one hour of contact with the extracts. Generally, the root bark extracts exhibited slightly greater inhibitory activities against the test organisms compared with the wood parts of the root.


The quantum uncertainty principle famously predicts that there exist measurements that are inherently incompatible, in the sense that their outcomes cannot be predicted simultaneously. In contrast, no such uncertainty exists in the classical domain, where all uncertainty results from ignorance about the exact state of the physical system. Here, we critically examine the concept of preparation uncertainty and ask whether similarly in the quantum regime, some of the uncertainty that we observe can actually also be understood as a lack of information (LOI), albeit a lack of quantum information. We answer this question affirmatively by showing that for the well known measurements employed in BB84 quantum key distribution (Bennett and Brassard 1984 Int. Conf. on Computer System and Signal Processing), the amount of uncertainty can indeed be related to the amount of available information about additional registers determining the choice of the measurement. We proceed to show that also for other measurements the amount of uncertainty is in part connected to a LOI. Finally, we discuss the conceptual implications of our observation to the security of cryptographic protocols that make use of BB84 states.


A panel study was conducted in autumn (116 children) and repeated in spring (66 children) to test the hypothesis that the individual variability of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) depends on the environmental exposure to tobacco smoke (ETS). PEFR was measured twice a day (morning: PEFR-M; evening: PEFR-E), using individual meters at homes, in children exposed (ETS+) and not exposed (ETS-) to tobacco smoke at home. In examined groups the individual variability of PEFR-M was--on average--8.0% (ETS+; autumn), 8.1% (ETS+; spring), 10.5% (ETS-; autumn) and 7.7% (ETS-; spring). The individual variability of PEFR-E was 8.0% (ETS+; autumn), 7.9% (ETS+; spring), 9.5% (ETS-; autumn) and 7.4% (ETS-; spring). The results of multivariate analysis of within- and between-subject variability showed the presence of statistically significant within-subject variability only in ETS+ group (PEFR-M in autumn; PEFR-M and PEFR-E in spring). With all the limitations of a panel study design the findings suggest that environmental exposure to tobacco smoke in children affects the degree of within-subject variability of PEFR in children.


: The results of microroentgenographic study of vascularisation of Ehrlich's carcinoma in albino mice 2, 24 and 48 hrs after implantation are discussed. Pronounced reorganisation of blood vessels occurs in muscles, bone lymph nodes, skin and subcutaneous fat within the first hours after tumor implantation. Venous collectors of peripheral blood vessels become dilated due to the formation of arterio-venous anastamoses and the by-passing of capillary beds. The formation of arterio-venous shunts is a biological factor which is conducive to hypoxia development at tumor site.


In April 1937 Albright and his co-workers in Boston reported 5 cases in which were presented the bizarre concurrent features of osteitis fibrosa cystica, areas of pigmentation of the skin and endocrine dysfunction, with premature puberty in the female patients. Although 12 similar cases had previously been reported in the literature under a variety of titles, beginning with Weil's report in 1922, the paper of Albright and his associates was the first to establish this peculiar syndrome as a clinical entity distinctly separate from, rather than an aberrant type of, one of the other known diseases affecting bone. For this reason and because there is no simple term to encompass all the prerequisite elements, in the "Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease" the term "Osteitis Fibrosa Cystica (Albright)" has been adopted to identify this particular disease picture. CHARACTER OF THE SYNDROME The osseous disorder in this group of cases is one


Systems Factorial Technology (SFT) is a popular framework for that has been used to investigate processing capacity across many psychological domains over the past 25+ years. To date, it had been assumed that no processing resources are used for sources in which no signal has been presented (i.e., in a location that can contain a signal but does not on a given trial). Hence, response times are purely driven by the ``signal-containing'' location or locations. This assumption is critical to the underlying mathematics of the capacity coefficient measure of SFT. In this manuscript, we show that stimulus locations influence response times even when they contain no signal, and that this influence has repercussions for the interpretation of processing capacity under the SFT framework, particularly in conjunctive (AND) tasks - where positive responses require detection of signals in multiple locations. We propose a modification to the AND task requiring participants to fully identify both target locations on all trials. This modification allows a new coefficient to be derived. We apply the new coefficient to novel experimental data and resolve a previously reported empirical paradox, where observed capacity was limited in an OR detection task but super capacity in an AND detection task. Hence, previously reported differences in processing capacity between OR and AND task designs are likely to have been spurious.


Changes of soil biological activity and microbial diversity were assessed after application of biochar in different doses. The biochar doses were determined based on the initial carbon content in the soil, and they were increased to 2.5%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, and 100% in the experimental conditions. The experiment design also included a control condition, which was not treated with biochar. The basic biological activities in the soil, i.e., enzymatic activity and the content of carbon and nitrogen in the microbial biomass, were determined. Additionally, the functional biodiversity of soil microorganisms was assessed using the Biolog EcoPlates method. It was demonstrated that biochar added to the soil at the dose of 10 to 20% significantly increased soil biological activity and functional diversity. The biochar dose of 10 to 20% was the optimal dose for enhancement of soil biological activity. This dose induced a significant increase in the total carbon content in the microbial biomass, enzymatic activity, and the overall content of total and easily extractable glomalins. The highest values of the Shannon and AWCD indices were determined in soil supplemented with 5 to 20% of biochar.


Extracted from text ... SIVIELE INGENIEURSWESE ? JUNIE 2005 32
Text Hennie Kotze and Alex van Niekerk Senior project managersSA National Roads Agency LtdNorthern Region
AROUND PRETORIA
Innovative engineering solutions
WORLDWIDE, funding to improve, expand and maintain roads generally does not meet the demand. South Africa is no different.
To manage this situation, different approaches can be followed. A standards-driven approach implies that if one cannot achieve the required standard, nothing should be done. Another approach is to waive standards and do what is affordable. The first approach compromises the needs of the road user, whereas the second approach may seriously compromise ..


This paper describes the design process carried out to develop a new hole geometry. This geometry is able to increase the cooling coverage effect on a turbine blade, in order to have a higher efficiency compared to the standard holes. The first step of the activity described is a CFD analysis of the performances of different hole geometries on a flat plate. Starting from the cylindrical holes the performances of several geometries have been compared. This study allowed the determination of the geometrical parameters mostly responsible of the film effectiveness increase. In this way a criterion able to optimize the hole geometry has been found. Keeping as constraint the same inlet section for all the geometries, the shape of the outlet section was modified in order to maximize the film coverage performances. An optimized hole geometry had been determined. This solution, called V-Shaped hole is characterized by a wide lateral expansion angle and a negligible laidback angle and it is able to increase the cooling effectiveness compared to cylindrical and shaped holes with typical expansion angles (lateral and laidback about 10°). Finally, a comparison with an experimental campaign has been performed to confirm the main results of the CFD analysis.


This report explains the additional information on the Standard Data Forms for species listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive. These forms make up part of the database of information on Natura 2000 sites. The database can be used as material evidence in legal proceedings and is used by the European Commission when assessing proposals for Natura 2000 sites. In 2017 an analysis was made of present but not designated conservation values for habitats and species under the Habitats Directive. The analysis identified 74 species-site combinations to be added to designation orders for Natura 2000 sites. Information on these combinations has been entered onto the Standard Data Forms, including data on the numbers of a species, the type of population, the relative population compared with other populations in the Netherlands, species habitat quality, the location of the population within the European range and a general evaluation. The assessments of the sites for each species were made by experts


Many televangelists in the United States preach the "prosperity gospel," a doctrine which teaches that a religiously faithful person who continually donates money to church ministries can expect God to grant material improvements to their finances, health, and relationships. Americans who participate in prosperity gospel churches often donate thousands of dollars to these churches, despite their difficulty financing such large donations and the lack of the promised material improvement to their lives. Televangelists who preach the prosperity gospel secretly use these donations to finance their extravagant lifestyles, instead of using the funds to support the faithful masses who continue to donate. The U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise Clause makes it difficult to regulate this religiously-based scheme. This Note argues that to rectify the abuses of prosperity preachers, prosecutors and private individuals should work within the framework of existing criminal and tax law to seek convictions for fraud and tax evasion.


The Jiles-Atherton (J-A) model is widely used in magnetic characteristic modeling in alternating field. A dynamic J-A model, which is applied under high-frequency condition, is established. A pointwise iterative calculation method is used, and an approximate calculation method of the anhysteretic magnetization intensity and its derivative is proposed. The solving procedure of the J-A model is optimized. The platform for the magnetization and temperature characteristic test is designed and constructed. The hysteresis curves of ferrite cores at different temperatures are measured. The variation of parameters of magnetic properties with temperature is analyzed, including maximum magnetic flux density, remanence, coercivity, and core loss. Based on the particle swarm optimization combined with natural selection, optimized parameters of the J-A model are obtained. Their variation is analyzed, and their fitted curves with temperature are obtained. It is found that J-A model's modification in temperature can be used to guide the modeling analysis of electrical equipment containing magnetic cores working in high-temperature environment and to predict magnetic properties at high temperatures.


Abstraet-Quantitative studies have been performed to determine the action of low-intensity visible monochromatic light on various cells (E. coli, yeasts, HeLa, Chinese hamster fibroblasts and human lymphocytes); also irradiation conditions (wavelength, dose and intensity) conducive to vital activity stimulation have been examined. Respiratory chain components are discussed as primary photoacceptors. The possible ways for photosignal transduction and amplification are discussed. It is proposed that enhanced wound healing due to irradiation with low-intensity visible laser light (He-Cd, He-Ne and semiconductor lasers) is due to the increasing proliferation of cells.


Morphine, used clinically for pain management for its potent analgesic effects, has a high abuse potential. In this study, we utilized the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm and tail-flick latency to examine the effects of the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on sensitivity to morphine. Rats were pretreated with either LPS (250 μg/kg) or saline, followed by either a higher dose of LPS (2 mg/kg) or saline. Rats were then given either morphine (3.5 mg/kg) or saline every other day for 6 d starting 72 h after the last dose of LPS or saline as part of the conditioning phase. Drug preference was assessed during the postconditioning phase. LPS-treated rats displayed a stronger and prolonged morphine preference during the 20 d of extinction testing. A parallel analysis revealed that tail-flick latencies were significantly longer in LPS-treated rats. Together, our data indicate that systemic infections can increase sensitivity to morphine both physiologically and behaviorally.


BACKGROUND
Coenzyme Q10, or ubiquinone, is a non-prescription nutritional supplement. It is a fat-soluble molecule that acts as an electron carrier in mitochondria, and as a coenzyme for mitochondrial enzymes. Coenzyme Q10 deficiency may be associated with a multitude of diseases, including heart failure. The severity of heart failure correlates with the severity of coenzyme Q10 deficiency. Emerging data suggest that the harmful effects of reactive oxygen species are increased in people with heart failure, and coenzyme Q10 may help to reduce these toxic effects because of its antioxidant activity. Coenzyme Q10 may also have a role in stabilising myocardial calcium-dependent ion channels, and in preventing the consumption of metabolites essential for adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) synthesis. Coenzyme Q10, although not a primary recommended treatment, could be beneficial to people with heart failure. Several randomised controlled trials have compared coenzyme Q10 to other therapeutic modalities, but no systematic review of existing randomised trials was conducted prior to the original version of this Cochrane Review, in 2014.

OBJECTIVES
To review the safety and efficacy of coenzyme Q10 in heart failure.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, and AMED on 16 October 2020; ClinicalTrials.gov on 16 July 2020, and the ISRCTN Registry on 11 November 2019. We applied no language restrictions.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised controlled trials of either parallel or cross-over design that assessed the beneficial and harmful effects of coenzyme Q10 in people with heart failure. When we identified cross-over studies, we considered data only from the first phase.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We used standard Cochrane methods, assessed study risk of bias using the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool, and GRADE methods to assess the quality of the evidence. For dichotomous data, we calculated the risk ratio (RR); for continuous data, the mean difference (MD), both with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Where appropriate data were available, we conducted meta-analysis. When meta-analysis was not possible, we wrote a narrative synthesis. We provided a PRISMA flow chart to show the flow of study selection.

MAIN RESULTS
We included eleven studies, with 1573 participants, comparing coenzyme Q10 to placebo or conventional therapy (control). In the majority of the studies, sample size was relatively small. There were important differences among studies in daily coenzyme Q10 dose, follow-up period, and the measures of treatment effect. All studies had unclear, or high risk of bias, or both, in one or more bias domains. We were only able to conduct meta-analysis for some of the outcomes. None of the included trials considered quality of life, measured on a validated scale, exercise variables (exercise haemodynamics), or cost-effectiveness. Coenzyme Q10 probably reduces the risk of all-cause mortality more than control (RR 0.58, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.95; 1 study, 420 participants; number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB) 13.3; moderate-quality evidence). There was low-quality evidence of inconclusive results between the coenzyme Q10 and control groups for the risk of myocardial infarction (RR 1.62, 95% CI 0.27 to 9.59; 1 study, 420 participants), and stroke (RR 0.18, 95% CI 0.02 to 1.48; 1 study, 420 participants). Coenzyme Q10 probably reduces hospitalisation related to heart failure (RR 0.62, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.78; 2 studies, 1061 participants; NNTB 9.7; moderate-quality evidence). Very low-quality evidence suggests that coenzyme Q10 may improve the left ventricular ejection fraction (MD 1.77, 95% CI 0.09 to 3.44; 7 studies, 650 participants), but the results are inconclusive for exercise capacity (MD 48.23, 95% CI -24.75 to 121.20; 3 studies, 91 participants); and the risk of developing adverse events (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.45 to 1.10; 2 studies, 568 participants). We downgraded the quality of the evidence mainly due to high risk of bias and imprecision.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The included studies provide moderate-quality evidence that coenzyme Q10 probably reduces all-cause mortality and hospitalisation for heart failure. There is low-quality evidence of inconclusive results as to whether coenzyme Q10 has an effect on the risk of myocardial infarction, or stroke. Because of very low-quality evidence, it is very uncertain whether coenzyme Q10 has an effect on either left ventricular ejection fraction or exercise capacity. There is low-quality evidence that coenzyme Q10 may increase the risk of adverse effects, or have little to no difference. There is currently no convincing evidence to support or refute the use of coenzyme Q10 for heart failure. Future trials are needed to confirm our findings.


The mobility of highly skilled employees is seen as a critical way for organizations to transfer knowledge and to improve organizational performance. Yet, the relationship between mobility and individual performance is still largely a theoretical and empirical puzzle. Building both on human capital mobility research and economics of science literature, and exploiting a unique dataset of 348 academics working in biology department in the United Kingdom, we show that mobility has a positive effect on individual productivity. We also find that this positive effect is reinforced when academics move towards better-endowed institutions. We complement our econometrical analysis with more qualitative evidence from a survey.


INTRODUCTION Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The retrovirus and the infection itself are known as HIV. The term AIDS is used to describe the later stages of HIV infection. HIV utilizes ribonucleic acid (RNA) for cellular replication and protein synthesis instead of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the customary substance for viral replication. HIV interferes with the body's ability to fend off viruses, bacteria, and fungi that cause disease by damaging or destroying the cells of the immune system. The virus multiplies in the lymph nodes and slowly begins to destroy the helper T cells (CD4 lymphocytes). This deterioration in the white blood cells, which coordinate the activities of the entire immune system, makes the patient more susceptible to opportunistic infections that the body would normally resist.1 HIV accounts for approximately 40,000 new infections annually in the U.S. HIV/AIDS is a worldwide epidemic; an estimated 37.8 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS.2 Of that number, approximately 850,000 to 950,000 U.S. residents are living with HIV; 180,000 to 280,000 of these persons do not know that they are infected.3 Because of the continuing rise in HIV cases, researchers are continuing to develop strategies for preventing infection, with an emphasis on testing; to identify infected persons; and to ensure access to appropriate medical care.4 On August 2, 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gilead's fixed-dose combination drug (TruvadaTM), composed of emtricitabine (Emtriva®) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Viread®). TruvadaTM is indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults and for use with other antiretroviral agents such as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) and protease inhibitors (PIs).5 Both Viread® and Emtriva® are already available and have been studied individually. They exhibit inhibitory activity against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and have been found to be safe and effective. Therefore, their resistance profiles, efficacy, and safety as part of multidrug regimens have been extrapolated to support the use of TruvadaTM.


At two Swedish universities critical perspectives on gender and science were integrated as part of preschool teacher science courses. In one assignment 45 preservice teachers described and reflected upon episodes in their pre-school placements where they judged gender to be of importance and impacted the children's science and technology learning. Two main themes regarding the view of children were identified: (1) children have a stable core identity and should be supported to 'be who they are', or (2) children are a "jack-of-all-trades" with potential interests in a variety of subject matter topics and that these interests could be supported by teachers. We will discuss how the different themes may affect preservice teachers' strategies to challenge children's stereotypical gender patterns.


The present paper represents an introspection into the world of social media marketing (SMM) with focus on higher education institutions (HEI). The continuous expansion of social media allows universities to move closer to the millennial generation. Since education is about acquiring knowledge, transferring information, and professional development all of them being subject of the individual evaluation of the student, traditional marketing channels are not enough. Spreading flyers, printing brochures, web-sites, or word of mouth (WOM) are examples of promotional instruments that have been used for years by Universities. The substantial competition among universities and even among faculties inside the same university represent realistic motives for HEI's to discover and apply new marketing promotional techniques. Marketing concepts like brand community or critical mass do apply even in this sector characterized by such special features. Education and especially HEI was one of the laggards when it comes to social media marketing (SMM). Unfortunately a distinctive characteristic of most universities in our country was to consider SMM is just for household goods or consumer loyalty and neglected such an important marketing channel. According to Anderson (2008), an important objection against marketing practices by academics was that it would undermine academic standards of quality and excellence. [Gibbs 2002] considers that marketing policies in HEI have to follow the 'collaborative relationships' model. Nowadays, social media has emerged as a way for students to connect with the university in a more casual and familiar manner. For HEI's relationship marketing involves building and maintaining a relationship of value exchanges between the institution and the three main customer groups: alumni, current students and future students. [Efthymios Constantinides & Marc C. Zinck Stagno 2011].By maintaining such a close relationship between past, present and future, faculties may change the perception from time oriented towards family/community oriented and to ultimately influence the enrollment process.
 Using quantitative methods, data from official Facebook pages, and qualitative research methodology, a survey regarding the content and interactions on students already enrolled, the present paper tries to emphasize the importance of SMM in a higher education institution in Romania. We start from two hypothesis: 1) social media can impact University's choice 2) social media will tighten the connections between actual students and the university. Hypotheses are followed by positive outcomes, the electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) will be used and a major target market prospected. The use of SMM in academia is fairly new.


Tuberculosis remains one of the most serious infectious diseases worldwide requiring new tools to circumvent current molecular diagnostics limitations. Nanodiagnostics, i.e. nanotechnology based diagnostics, may do just that by decreasing the time needed for the molecular characterisation of the infecting agent, and allowing for miniaturisation and portability for point-of-need adapted to remote regions without suitable lab equipment.


The kinetic excitation of ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Alfvén instabilities is investigated for operations at the EAST tokamak. The instabilities include α-induced toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (αTAE; here, α = −q2Rdβ/dr, with q being the safety factor, β the ratio between the plasma and magnetic pressures, R the major radius, and r the minor radius), toroidicity-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (TAE), and the energetic particle continuum mode (EPM). The αTAE, trapped by α-induced potential wells along the magnetic field line, can be readily destabilized by energetic particles due to negligible continuum damping via wave energy tunneling. It is shown for the geometry and the parameters similar to those of the EAST equilibrium that αTAE is different not only from the EPM by the potential-well determined frequency, but also from the TAE by the broad frequency spectrum outside the toroidal frequency gap.