In view of existing usability problems in user interface of multimedia electronic atlas, it applied the usability theory in the user interface design. In this paper, it introduced the usability theory and its application in electronic map field. Then, it analyzed the factors which influenced the interface design of multimedia electronic atlas. Then it designed an experiment to evaluate the usability of multimedia electronic atlas. In the experiment, it found and analyzed the usability problems of the interface. At last, it gave the principles of designing the layout, the colorway, and the tools' icon of the interface. The result of research provides a theoretic basis for user interface design of multimedia electronic atlas.


An Abaqus/Standard FEA based study was carried out to develop a structural format for a wing sail used on a sailing boat, V-39 Albatross. As well as providing a novel structural solution to meet a challenging set of requirements, the study has given the necessary mass properties and stiffness data required to further progress the preliminary design phase of the overall boat. The brief for the boat is to set a new world outright sailing speed record at Portland, UK. The choice of location influences the overall concept from the outset, since the conditions are closer to real world conditions when compared to currently favored locations for speed sailing. The boat is configured to add at least 10 knots to the current record by setting a speed above 60 knots (111 km/h). At speed the boat hulls will fly above the surface using a wing in ground effect. The pilot is able to sail on both port and starboard tack and can actively control the craft in roll and height as well as yaw. The boat has two handed wing-sails to give both lift and power. Each wing-sail is split into an inner and outer plank. Each plank is free to rotate or 'weathercock' about its longitudinal axis into the local air stream. The degree of lift generated by a given plank is set by controlling the upward deflection of a full trailing edge flap. This approach brings an essential weight saving benefit when compared to the conventional approach of adopting a tail surface to provide stability and control; this would necessitate the addition of four booms, tail surfaces and additional counterweights, one for each plank. The overall CG position of the boat is paramount to its stability and control and would not allow this additional structure. The 'tailless' aerodynamic approach adopted gives rise to a profound structural problem. A wing type structure would typically have a very different in-plane and perpendicular flexural stiffness. This causes the direction of deflection to differ from the direction of applied wing lift. This effect results in a shifting of the centre of lift and causes the outer plank to exert unwanted moments about the axis of rotation to the inner plank. This prevents satisfactory plank stability and control. The structure developed includes a main tubular carbon fiber spar holding the bearing housings as well as carrying the wing-sail bending and shear loads. The surrounding structure including ribs, skin and secondary spars gives each plank its form and carries local aerodynamic loads into the main spar. However, this additional structure has been partially decoupled from the main spar to prevent it from increasing the flexural stiffness of the main spar in the plane of the plank. The resultant structure has near axisymmetric properties and therefore mimics a purely tubular structure. Composite modeling techniques used are of a macroscopic nature, i.e. composite lay-ups are represented using thick conventional shells. Angular contact bearings are defined within the interaction module and their weight represented through a concentrated force at the control point. The plank Mylar skins are tensioned by applying a temperature predefined field and including an expansion (contraction) step. Visit the SIMULIA Resource Center for more customer examples. Visit the SIMULIA Resource Center for more customer examples. 2 2010 SIMULIA Customer Conference


Rugby is a complex, high-intensity, intermittent, collision sport with emphasis placed on players possessing high lean body-mass and low body-fat. After an 8-12 week pre-season focused on physiological adaptations, emphasis shifts towards optimizing competitive performance and recovery through periodising player's diets and training. In Chapter 4 the physiological demands and nutritional intakes of 45 elite rugby players were assessed during a pre-season through a battery of strength and conditioning tests, quantification of training demands using global positioning system (GPS), and two 24-hour diet recalls. Mean weekly distance covered during training was 9774 ± 1404 and 11585 ± 1810 m with a total mean weekly session RPE (sRPE) of 3398 ± 335 and 2944 ± 410 arbitrary units (AU) for forwards and backs respectively. Mean daily energy intake was 14.8 ± 1.9 and 13.3 ± 1.9 MJ, carbohydrate (CHO) intake was 3.3 ± 0.7 and 4.14 ± 0.4 g·kg-1 body mass, protein intake was 2.52 ± 0.3 and 2.59 ± 0.6 g·kg-1 body mass, and fat intake was 1.0 ± 0.3 and 0.95 ± 0.3 g·kg-1 body mass for forwards and backs respectively. Markers of physical performance (1-RM strength, speed, and repeated sprint tests) and anthropometry (body fat, and estimated lean mass) significantly improved in all players, despite players' self-selecting a 'low' CHO 'high' protein diet. It may be speculated therefore that 'low' CHO 'high' protein intakes are appropriate to fuel the pre-season, although whether these intakes are sufficient to fuel the in-season is unknown. Once the demands of the pre-season were established, the next aim of the thesis was to examine if requirements changed during the playing season, as well as quantifying energy expenditure. In Chapter 5 in-season training load using GPS and sRPE, alongside six-day assessments of energy intake (EI) and energy expenditure (EE) was measured in 44 elite Rugby Union players. Mean weekly distance covered was 7827 ± 954 m and 9572 ± 1233 m with a total mean weekly sRPE of 1776 ± 355 and 1523 ± 434 AU for forwards and backs, respectively. Mean daily EI was 16.6 ± 1.5 and 14.2 ± 1.2 MJ, and EE was 15.9 ± 0.5 and 14 ± 0.5 MJ for forwards and backs respectively. Mean CHO intake was 3.5 ± 0.8 and 3.4 ± 0.7 g·kg-1 body mass, protein intake was 2.7 ± 0.3 and 2.7 ± 0.5 g·kg-1 body mass, and fat intake was 1.4 ± 0.2 and 1.4 ± 0.3 g·kg-1 body mass for forwards and backs respectively. All players who completed the food diary self-selected a 'low' CHO 'high' protein diet during the early part of the week which increased in the days leading up to a match. EI and EE followed an inverse trend, with expenditure exceeding intake during the first four-days of the training week and then reversed in the day leading up to competition with intake exceeding expenditure. Despite this, mean EI exceeded EE which alongside no micronutrient deficiencies, suggest that the current dietary practices of these elite rugby players seem sufficient to fuel training during the in-season, providing energy intake and CHO are increased leading up to a match. Given that intakes reported in this study are still below recommended CHO intake for elite athletes (Burke et al 2011), however, it is still possible that such intakes are not optimal for match day performance. Given that in Chapters 4 and 5 it was found that elite Rugby players appear to deliberately select a low carbohydrate intake, it was deemed important to assess match-play glycogen demands following a low (the amount self selected in chapter 4) and higher (the amount self selected leading in to competition in chapter 5) carbohydrate diet. Therefore, in Chapter 6 the metabolic and physiological demands of rugby competition was assessed in 16 professional Rugby League players following either a 6g·kg (HCHO) or 3g·kg (LCHO) CHO diet for 36-hours. Muscle biopsy and blood was collected, alongside monitoring internal and external load through GPS and heart rate. Mean distance covered was 93.7 ± 12.4 and 89.4 ± 9.8 m·min-1 in the first, and 85.3 ± 13.1 and 86.9 ± 9.7 m·min-1 in the second half for HCHO and LCHO conditions respectively. Mean %HRpeak was 82.9 ± 6.1 and 81.9 ± 7.2 % in the first and 82.5 ± 7.5 and 78.4 ± 10.5 % in the second half for HCHO and LCHO conditions respectively. Mean muscle glycogen was 448.6 ± 50.8 and 444.2 ± 81.1 mmol·kg d·w-1 pre-game, and 243.4 ± 42.5 and 297.7 ± 130.5 mmol·kg d·w-1 post-game for HCHO and LCHO conditions respectively. Results demonstrate that a competitive RL match can result in ~40% muscle glycogen depletion and that match-day performance variables did not differ between conditions. It was postulated that an absolute amount of ~600 g CHO consumed 36-hours pre-match is a recommended strategy for rugby league players, although optimal dietary strategies to refuel after rugby competition are unknown. The final aim of the thesis was to examine if the current post exercise CHO guidelines are appropriate for rugby players. In Chapter 7 the magnitude of muscle glycogen repletion after consuming an immediate, or delayed re-feed post Rugby League Match Simulation Protocol (RLMSP) was assessed in 16 university rugby league players using muscle biopsy and blood letting techniques. Muscle glycogen very likely increased 48-h post-simulation (272 ± 97 cf. 416 ± 162 mmol·kg-1d.w.) after an immediate re-feed, but changes were unclear (283 ± 68 cf. 361 ± 144 mmol·kg-1d.w.) after a delayed re-feed. Creatine Kinase (CK) almost certainly increased by 77.9 ± 25.4 % (0.75 ± 0.19) post-simulation for all players. Player Load (8 ± 0.7 AU) and %HRpeak (83 ± 4.9 %) were consistent with professional RL match-play. Time to exhaustion performance test revealed no difference between conditions. This study found that simulated RL match-play elicits lower muscle glycogen utilisation (21 cf. 40 %) despite similar player load and metabolic demands to a professional RL match. This may be attributed to the difficulties of replicating extensive structural damage and physical exertion from collisions during a simulation. It was also found that substantial muscle glycogen resynthesis was possible in the immediate dietary re-feed group despite evidence of muscle damage via increased blood proteins, indicating that with appropriate feeding strategies it is possible to replenish a damaged muscle. Taken together, this thesis has characterized the training demands and energy balance of elite rugby players during the pre-season and in-season, alongside quantifying the metabolic demands of elite rugby match-play, and the most appropriate strategies to load and replenish muscle glycogen around such exercise. Future studies must now further titrate these studies and assess muscle glycogen utilisation over a number of games whilst assessing the glycogen content of individual muscle fibre types.


This document is a summary of criminal behavior in the Dutch town of Leiden from the middle sixteenth century until the eighteenth century. The thesis maintains that this crime, and criminal statistics in general, may be used as a criteria by which to judge mass social unrest in Early Modern Europe. This period has been termed an age of crisis by a number of historians who point to economic and political instability. This document argues that this crisis also had a social component with the marked rise in criminal behavior as the main indicator of this.The document details the historiographical arguments behind the crisis. It outlines the recognized components of the crisis in a Pan-European context. It argues against the assertion that Holland escaped the crisis by illustrating the extent of turmoil which Leiden shared with the rest of Europe.The document goes on to provide evidence of a dramatic rise in violent and property crime which occurred at the height of the crisis period. Individual trends for each crime and the apparatus of social control within the town are also illustrated in order to examine their relationship to the general crisis.


LEF-1 is a DNA-binding protein that interacts with &bgr;-catenin and activates Wnt-responsive target genes. We analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of LEF-1 in 602 gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary neoplasms in an attempt to (1) investigate the utility of LEF-1 immunohistochemistry as an ancillary marker in gastrointestinal/pancreatobiliary neoplasia, and (2) to perform a clinicopathologic and survival analysis of colorectal carcinoma stratified by LEF-1 expression. LEF-1 nuclear positivity was frequently identified in colorectal carcinoma (89/241, 37%) and only infrequently identified in other neoplasms: 11% esophagus/esophagogastric adenocarcinomas, 7% gastric adenocarcinomas, 1% pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, 4% pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, and in no cases of appendiceal mucinous neoplasms or pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasms. LEF-1 expression was identified in 35% of colorectal carcinomas that lacked CK20 and CDX2 expression. In colorectal carcinomas, LEF-1-positive tumors more frequently harbored KRAS mutations compared with LEF-1-negative tumors (39% vs. 16%, P=0.005). Patients with moderate/strong LEF-1-positive colorectal carcinoma had a trend of worse overall survival compared with patients with colorectal carcinomas with weak/negative LEF-1 expression (5 y overall survival, 31% vs. 47%, P=0.15). In conclusion, LEF-1 is most commonly expressed in colorectal carcinoma and infrequently observed in the upper gastrointestinal tract and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. LEF-1 Immunohistochemistry may be especially useful as an ancillary diagnostic marker in colorectal carcinomas, which lack the expression of both CK20 and CDX2. LEF-1 expression is associated with the presence of KRAS mutations and may have prognostic value as a trend of worse overall survival is seen in patients with LEF-1-positive colorectal carcinoma.


Purpose of this research was to determine level of standard time formally to employee in yielding one stove units.
Hypothesis at this research expressed that anticipated the duration time to finalize one making cycles of box type stove with axis 30 is 49 minutes 35 seconds.
Analyzer applied to know level of standard time was by using method Time Study where its the stages; steps inter alia; specifies mode of action of standard, elaborates work of this elements, determines number of cycles, work study, measures achievement of worker, determines average time, determines normal time, determines rating factor, determines back up time, determines standard time.
From result of calculation with Metode Time Study is got level of standard time 3472,80 seconds or 57,88 minutes. With result of this expected employee can work in the range of time so that level of out put amounts yielded able to be estimated with interest precise.
Based on solution which had been done hence got standard time 3472, 80 seconds or 57 minutes 88 seconds. So level of applicable time standard at stove company "Terang Bulan" Malang to yield one coaxial box type stove units 30 is 3472,80 seconds or 57 minutes 88 seconds. From initial hypothesis of research, where in gets level of time in yielding one stove units is 49 minutes 35 seconds unlike result of research that is 57 minutes 88 seconds, so that inferential that initial hypothesis is refused.
Based on research result done at stove company "Terang Bulan" Malang and in earns level of standard time hence expected company in doing planning of its the job activity referring to the process of coaxial box type stove 30 using in working standard at employee 3472,80 seconds or 57 minutes 88 seconds


Robots navigating in a social way should use some knowledge about common motion patterns of people in the environment. Moreover, it is known that people move intending to reach certain points of interest, and machine learning techniques have been widely used for acquiring this knowledge by observation. Learning algorithms such as Growing Hidden Markov Models (GHMMs) usually assume that points of interest are located at the end of human trajectories, but complete trajectories cannot always be observed by a mobile robot due to occlusions and people going out of sensor range. This paper extends GHMMs to deal with partial observed trajectories where people's goals are not known a priori. A novel technique based on hypothesis testing is also used to discover the points of interest (goals) in the environment. The approach is validated by predicting people's motion in three different datasets.


In the experiment Al-Zr(CO3)2 components were utilized to in situ synthesize the Al2O3, Al3Zr reinforced aluminum matrix composites. Low frequency and high frequency electromagnetic fields were combined and introduced into the fabrication of particulates reinforced aluminum matrix composites. The average size of particulate and grain size of matrix were refined to 0.5~1μm and 20~40μm separately. The particulates distributed uniformly in matrix. The Lorenz force improved the kinetic condition and accelerated the nucleation of endogenetic particulates. At the meniscus of solidifying billet the high frequency electromagnetic field was applied. The surface quality of billet was enhanced obviously.


This session addressed some of the practical issues
arising from open access. The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) links members with open access resources through the Gold Rush service, which includes 80 open access title lists. Librarians at the Colorado School of Mines have collaborated to develop a subject specialized list of titles - for their own library, and to share with all CARL members through Gold Rush. E-LIS, the Open Archive for Library and Information Studies, provides a means for librarians to share our own work with colleagues.


Objective Proximal tibiofibular joint proximal tibiofibular joint cysts are rare entities that can cause disability. Excision remains the traditional surgical treatment. Cyst recurrence has been a problem. This study reviews one of the largest series of patients with proximal tibiofibular joint cysts and evaluates the role of a new surgical option, proximal tibiofibular joint fusion. Methods Thirteen patients were admitted to the institution between 1987 and 1999. Diagnoses were confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and histological examination. A database was compiled after medical record review. Patients completed a phone survey describing activity levels, symptom severity, recurrence history, and additional surgery. Average postoperative follow-up and average time to date of survey were 1.7 and 6.3 years, respectively. Results Patient complaints included lateral knee "fullness" (75%) and peroneal nerve dysesthesias (54%). Twelve patients opted for surgery: cyst excision (8) and cyst excision with proximal tibiofibular joint fusion (4). A recurrence rate of 13% (1 of 8) following primary excision was observed. A 100% (3 of 3) repeat recurrence rate was noted in second resections. Four patients underwent proximal tibiofibular joint fusion: 2 with a recurrence history and 2 for primary treatment. At follow-up, all fusion patients were without cyst recurrence or activity limitations. Procedure morbidity was minimal. Conclusions Proximal tibiofibular joint cysts can recur after simple excision. Repeat resection after a recurrence is often not effective. Proximal tibiofibular joint arthrodesis appears to be a more effective surgical option after a recurrence.


Character building education can be internalized through education components as learning tools the form of teaching material. Bacteria material are abstract thing which may appears more attractive as a teaching material if it delivered through short stories which based from the Punokawan characters and figures. This kind of teaching strategies are expected to be something that can explore the local culture or local wisdom. The purpose of this study is to deliver the teaching material of Bacteria in Biology class in the form of short stories which based on Punokawan character, as well as the understanding concept of the students. It showed by providing teaching material in the form of short stories which contain of materials and character values will affect ed the excavation of character values and students ' understanding concept.


The Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (BPCSA) was the first autonomous South African church to be established in 1923 as the result of the work of the mission of a Church of European origin (CEO). It had taken one hundred years after the first missionaries of the Glasgow Missionary Society and subsequently the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which united in 1900 to form the United Free Church of Scotland, had arrived in the Eastern Cape to form an autonomous church. It would continue to pursue its missionary strategy for the next seventy-six years until it united with the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa in 1999 to form the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. The aim of this article is to explore the extent to which it remained true to the mission of its founders and God's mission as it became institutionalised.  The ecumenical aspect of mission has already been dealt with and will not be considered here. This particular article will concentrate on internal church policies and activities including the role of missionaries, evangelists and church associations, theological education and socio-political issues. This is predominantly an exercise in primary archival research.


To increase range of motion, physical therapists frequently use passive stretch as a means of gaining increased excursion around a joint. In addition to clinical studies showing effectiveness, thereby supporting evidence-based practice, the basic sciences can provide an explanation how a technique might work once a technique is known to be effective. The goal of this article is to review the potential cellular events that may occur when muscle fibers are stretched passively. A biomechanical example of passive stretch applied to the ankle is used to provide a means to discuss passive stretch at the cellular and molecular levels. The implications of passive stretch on muscle fibers and the related connective tissue are discussed with respect to tissue biomechanics. Emphasis is placed on structures that are potentially involved in the sensing and signal transduction of stretch, and the mechanisms that may result in myofibrillogenesis are explored.


The concept of stressful cognitive dysfunction, which is under consideration in this review, allows picking out several therapeutic targets. The brain, immune and endocrine systems being the principal adaptive systems in the body permanently share information both in the form of neural impulses and soluble mediators. The CNS differs from other organs due to several peculiarities that affect local immune surveillance. The brain cells secluded from the blood flow by a specialized blood-brain-barrier (BBB) can endogenously express pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines without the intervention of the immune system. In normal brain the cytokine signaling rather contributes to exclusive brain function (e.g. long-term potentiation, synaptic plasticity, adult neurogenesis) than serves as immune communicator. The stress of different origin increases the serum cytokine levels and disrupts BBB. As a result peripheral cytokines penetrate into the brain where they begin to perform new functions. Mass intrusion of biologically active peptides having a lot of specific targets alters the brain work that we can observe both in humans and in animal experiments. In addition owing to BBB disruption dendritic cells and T cells also penetrate into the brain where they take up a perivascular position. The changes observed in stressed subject may accumulate during repeated episodes of stress forming a picture typical of the aging brain. Moreover long-term stress as well as physiological aging result in hormonal and immunological disturbances including hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis depletion, regulatory T-cell accumulation and dehydroepiandrosterone decrease.


This paper investigates the financial viability of producing steam and electricity from forest biomass using a small-scale cogeneration facility (5 MW capacity) in the context of Geraldton, a small municipality in Northern Ontario. Two sources of biomass fuel were considered; sawmill residues and chipped biomass. Results of the financial analysis indicate that, for 100% capacity utilization, using sawmill residues for cogeneration would yield a net present value of over $7 million and an internal rate of return of approximately 17% On an initial investment of $6 million. In comparison, using chipped biomass would yield a net present value of about $2 million and an internal rate of return of 9% at 100% capacity utilization. Calculations based on 80% capacity utilization produced rates of returns of approximately 12% for sawmill residues and about 2% for chipped forest biomass respectively.


Summary α-Granule protein storage is important for producing platelets with normal haemostatic function. The low to undetectable levels of several megakaryocyte-synthesized α-granule proteins in normal plasma suggest megakaryocytes are important to sequester these proteins in vivo. α-Granule protein storage in vitrohas been studied using other cell types, with differences observed in how some proteins are processed compared to platelets. Human megakaryocytes, cultured from cord blood CD34+cells and grown in serum-free media containing thrombopoietin, were investigated to determine if they could be used as a model for studying normal α-granule protein processing and storage. ELISA indicated that cultured megakaryocytes contained the α-granule proteins multimerin, von Willebrand factor, thrombospondin-1, β-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4, but no detectable fibrinogen and factor V. A significant proportion of the α-granule protein in megakaryocyte cultures was contained within the cells (averages: 41 – 71 %), consistent with storage. Detailed analyses of multimerin and von Willebrand factor confirmed that α-granule proteins were processed to mature forms and were predominantly located in the α-granules of cultured megakaryocytes. Thrombopoietin-stimulated cultured megakaryocytes provide a useful model for studying α-granule protein processing and storage.


Recently, a large number of candidates of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has been predicted by experimental or computational approaches. Moreover, in genomic sequences, there are still many interesting regions whose functions are unknown (e.g., indel conserved regions, human accelerated regions, ultraconserved elements and transposon free regions) and some of those regions may be ncRNAs. On the other hand, it is known that many ncRNAs have characteristic secondary structures which are strongly related to their functions. Therefore, detecting clusters which have mutually similar secondary structures is important for revealing new ncRNA families. In this paper, we describe a novel method, called RNAclique, which is able to search for clusters containing mutually similar and locally stable secondary structures among a large number of unaligned RNA sequences. Our problem is formulated as a constraint quasi-clique search problem, and we use an approximate combinatorial optimization method, called GRASP, for solving the problem. Several computational experiments show that our method is useful and scalable for detecting ncRNA families from large sequences. We also present two examples of large scale sequence analysis using RNAclique.


During the next major shutdown (2019-2020), the ATLAS experiment at the LHC will adopt the Front-End Link eXchange (FELIX) system as the interface between the data acquisition, detector control and TTC (Timing, Trigger and Control) systems and new or updated trigger and detector front-end electronics. FELIX will function as a router between custom serial links from front-end ASICs and FPGAs to data collection and processing components via a commodity switched network. Links may aggregate many slower links or be a single high bandwidth link. FELIX will also forward the LHC bunchcrossing clock, fixed latency trigger accepts and resets received from the TTC system to front-end electronics. The FELIX system uses commodity server technology in combination with FPGAbased PCIe I/O cards. The FELIX servers will run a software routing platform serving data to network clients. Commodity servers connected to FELIX systems via the same network will run the new Software Readout Driver (SW ROD) infrastructure for event fragment building and buffering, with support for detector or trigger specific data processing, and will serve the data upon request to the ATLAS High Level Trigger for Event Building and Selection. This paper will cover the design and status of FELIX, the SW ROD, results of early performance testing and integration tests with several ATLAS front-ends.


Evidence suggests that a tumor behaves, in its pattern of growth, like an integrated organ rather than a collection of independently growing cells. Tumor growth tends to slow progressively as size increases and to undergo compensatory growth after partial resection. Consequently, therapies that reduce tumor mass may tend to accelerate the growth of the remaining tumor and tumor metastases. An approach to therapy based upon a simulated increase in tumor mass may be worthy of consideration.


Background and Objective: Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) is a microscopic parasite that causes cryptosporidiosis in human. Accessible medications to treat cryptosporidiosis are ineffective and there is yet no immunization against C. parvum. So there is an urgent need to develop a suitable synthetic drug from available databases for suitable targets using computer aided drug designing and quantitative structure activity relationship. Present study was conducted to screen the best compound suitable for binding 5-Monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) target having optimum binding energy. Materials and Methods: In this regards, 38 benzoxazole derivatives were screened from PubChem compound database and docked with inosine 5-Monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) of Cryptosporidium parvum using the program AutoDock 4.2 from docked compound. Results: Four best predicted compounds CID 649646, CID 1318080, CID782217, CID1385213 with optimal binding energies -9.48, -9.39, -9.07 and -9.13 kcal moLG1 were found with IMPDH, respectively. The biological activity of docked compounds in terms of pIC50 was predicted based on 2D QSAR model built in our previously published work. The docked complex structures were optimized by molecular dynamics simulation with the CHARMM-22 force field using NAMD and evaluated the stability of complex structures by calculating RMSD. In silico ADME/Tox properties of best predicted derivatives of IMPDH were evaluated. Conclusion: The screened compounds showed satisfactory results for oral administration. Compounds have HIA in the range of well absorbed compounds and value in standard range. Skin 2 CaCO P permeability of derivatives showed negative values. Derivatives lightly bind to plasma proteins. The Ames test showed compounds were mutagenic and carcinogenicity showed negative value in mouse and positive value in rat.


The loss severity model, combined with prepayment and default models, can be used to project loss-adjusted cash flows for mortgage pools and deals. In addition, the loss model can be used for identifying potentially risky loans in a portfolio of subprime loans. In this article we analyze loss severities on mortgage loans with varying borrower and loan characteristics, and we develop a predictive model for projecting losses. We also show that simplistic models that rely heavily on loan-to-value ratio produce unreliable loss severity projections and that a more comprehensive approach, such as the one described in this article, is required for accurately estimating credit risk.


strands often exhibit instabilities in 4.2 K liquid helium at low fields 0.5 to 3 T which are associated with magnetization flux-jumps. However at 1.9 K in superfluid helium, a minimum in premature quench currents at intermediate fields of 5 to 7 T has been observed in voltage-current measurements. These measurements are typically used for critical current determinations, and the premature quenching is driven by current redistribution within the strand as the current is increased and is termed "self-field" instability. In this paper, the magnetization and self-field stability of strands with at 12 T are described for a series of wires made using the Sn-tube approach with filament diameters ranging from 13 to 65 . The copper stabilizer of these wires after reaction has residual resistivity ratio, ,o f 5, which in effect means that any dynamic stabilization from thermal conduction effects is negligible. In this regime of , we find that the magnetization stability with transport current increases with decreasing filament diameter as predicted by simple adiabatic theory. We also observed that at 4.2 K the self-field stability improved with decreasing filament size, but became worse with decreasing temperature as seen in measurements at 2.0 K.


Objective: To determine the prevalence of and investigate factors associated with hypertension among elderly Barbadians. Method: This was a cross-sectional, population-based household survey. A total of 1,508 persons aged 60 and older were examined. The occurrence of hypertension was assessed by the following question: "Do you take any medication for high blood pressure?" Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 29.9% in men and 45.9% in women. Multivariable analysis (the hierarchical model) showed that alcohol consumption, arthritis, heart attack, and self-reported health presented, in women, an association with hypertension (p < .05). Obesity and diabetes were associated with hypertension in both genders. Discussion: Sociodemographic variables, sedentary lifestyles, and smoking did not have a noticeable role in the chosen model for the determination of hypertension. Obesity was an especially noteworthy risk factor due to its high prevalence as well as the possibility of the latter being altered throu...


It is likely that at least some planetary nebulae are composed of matter which was ejected from a binary star system during common-envelope (CE) evolution. For these planetary nebulae the ionizing component is the hot and luminous remnant of a giant which had its envelope ejected by a companion in the process of spiralling-in to its current short-period orbit. A large fraction of CE phases which end with ejection of the envelope are thought to be initiated by low-mass red giants, giants with inert, degenerate helium cores. We discuss the possible end-of-CE structures of such stars and their subsequent evolution to investigate for which structures planetary nebulae are formed. We assume that a planetary nebula forms if the remnant reaches an effective temperature greater than 30 kK within 104 yr of ejecting its envelope. We assume that the composition profile is unchanged during the CE phase so that possible remnant structures are parametrized by the end-of-CE core mass, envelope mass and entropy profile. We find that planetary nebulae are expected in post-CE systems with core masses greater than about 0.3 M⊙ if remnants end the CE phase in thermal equilibrium. We show that whether the remnant undergoes a pre-white dwarf plateau phase depends on the prescribed end-of-CE envelope mass. Thus, observing a young post-CE system would constrain the end-of-CE envelope mass and post-CE evolution.


We used remotely sensed snow cover data and a physically based snowmelt model to estimate the spatial distribution of energy fluxes, snowmelt, snow water equivalent, and snow cover extent over the different land cover types within the Green Lakes Valley, Front Range, Colorado. The spatially explicit snowpack model was coupled to the Alpine Hydrochemical Model (AHM), and estimates of hydrochemistry at the basin outlflow were compared with the baseline AHM approach, which implicitly prescribes snowmelt. The proportions of total meltwater production from soil, talus, and rock subunits were 46, 25, and 29%, respectively, for the baseline simulation without our advanced snowmelt representation. Conversely, simulations in which the AHM was coupled to our distributed snowmelt model ascribed the largest meltwater production to talus (47%) subunits, with 37% ascribed to soil and 16% ascribed to rock. Accounting for these differences in AHM reduced model overestimates of cation concentration during snowmelt; modeled Ca2+ estimates explained 82 and 70% (P values < 0.01) of observations with and without the coupled model, respectively. Similarly, the coupled model explained more variability in nitrate concentrations, with 83 versus 70% (P values < 0.01) explained by the coupled and baseline models, respectively. Early snowmelt over talus subunits was not detected at the basin outflow, confirming earlier reports that deeper flow paths are needed in biogeochemical models of alpine systems. Realistic treatment of snowmelt within these models will allow efforts to improve understanding of flow paths and predict catchment response to increases in atmospheric deposition and climate change.


For decades, social scientists have been advocating for more social science in transnational conservation. Yet they confront considerable structural and epistemological challenges as they integrate in the organisations that hire them, since they face dual challenges of being numerical minorities and occupying low rungs on environmentalist knowledge hierarchies. This article analyses the labour of conservation social scientists employed in transnational non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through the lenses of interdisciplinarity and expertise to elucidate how they attempt to effect changes in their institutions. Conservation social scientists find themselves collaborating in asymmetrical interdisciplinarity and, therefore, they engage in extra hidden labour as they seek to disrupt hegemonic ways of conceptualising and practising conservation. These findings suggest that institutions must continue to make more meaningful bureaucratic, structural, and ideological changes if they truly aim to 'mainstream' the human dimensions of conservation.


This paper analyzes transport modes in the urban environment and the paper confronts the experience in different settings, urban and suburban, in cities of different sizes. The process introduced aims to improve the quality of life and access for more sustainable patterns of development, while at the same time not harming the urban mobility, proposing a model that can be applied to the different urban areas. The high costs of construction of additional road space, and the consideration that a greater offer of road space is an impulse for a greater demand of private car traffic, leads the planning process in the direction of using existing road space more efficiently, by using traffic control mechanisms, and shifting demand to alternative modes. The spreading of heavy traffic using unsuitable roads has led to the increase of the risks for public health and safety, being the levels of pollution to be dangerously high and the pedestrian mobility to be strongly restricted. The actions discussed in the paper are parking policies, which aim to redistribute on and off road parking, discouraging parking in what is the central area by means of charging policies and the institution of Controlled Traffic Zones, and by doing so shifting long term parking to fringe areas. A key factor of the success of the proposed parking policy is the institution of pedestrian routes promoting walking and cycling. The planning of the Transport System includes a mix of measures designed to encourage people to use public transport ("pull" measures) and, where appropriate, measures to reduce the use of private cars ("push" measures). Push-measures can be divided into financial instruments, and technical and regulatory constraints. In the paper an application to study areas is presented, describing the scenario before the adoption of the proposed policies, and after the application at the date, presenting some results in comparison. The government of cities requires a policy for traffic management, and thus it implies, among the other traffic control strategies, adequate parking policies. Traffic and transport related activities and infrastructures can affect users and non users of the system alike, as in the case of the occupation of public spaces, accidents, noise and air pollution, and congestion of the road network (i.e. transport externalities).


Measurements of radial velocity variations from the spectroscopic monitoring of stars and their companions are essential for a broad swath of astrophysics; these measurements provide access to the fundamental physical properties that dictate all phases of stellar evolution and facilitate the quantitative study of planetary systems. The conversion of those measurements into both constraints on the orbital architecture and individual component spectra can be a serious challenge, however, especially for extreme flux ratio systems and observations with relatively low sensitivity. Gaussian processes define sampling distributions of flexible, continuous functions that are well-motivated for modeling stellar spectra, enabling proficient searches for companion lines in time-series spectra. We introduce a new technique for spectral disentangling, where the posterior distributions of the orbital parameters and intrinsic, rest-frame stellar spectra are explored simultaneously without needing to invoke cross-correlation templates. To demonstrate its potential, this technique is deployed on red-optical time-series spectra of the mid-M-dwarf binary LP661-13. We report orbital parameters with improved precision compared to traditional radial velocity analysis and successfully reconstruct the primary and secondary spectra. We discuss potential applications for other stellar and exoplanet radial velocity techniques and extensions to time-variable spectra. The code used in this analysis is freely available as an open-source Python package.


ABSTRACT Student incivility is a growing problem in the academic nursing community. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the increasing prevalence of incivility among nursing students. Various databases (Allied and Complimentary Medicine, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Ovid MEDLINE) were queried using the key words incivility, student incivility, nursing education, studentfaculty relations, student aggression, and student violence. Both research‐ and non‐research‐based articles were selected for review. Also included among the references retrieved were articles pertaining to unethical conduct and disruptive behavior. Virtually all of the articles characterized incivility as the product of a symbiotic relationship between students and faculty. Fundamentally, incivility was found to be a multifaceted problem whose resolution is predicated on gaining a heightened understanding of the economic, sociological, and psychological underpinnings of disruptive behavior.


Meckel's diverticulum is the result of an incomplete obliteration of the vitelline duct, which joins the yolk sac to the midgut lumen and is typically obliterated during the sixth week of gestation. It's considered the most common congenital anomaly of the gastrointestinal tract, affecting 2% of the general population. It is a true diverticulum, located in the distal ileum and consisting of all layers of the bowel wall. The distance between the diverticulum and the ileocecal valve changes with increasing age, from an average distance of 34 cm in children (< 2 years) to an average distance of 67 cm in adults. Only 4% of people with Meckel's diverticulum develop complications (Dumper J et al. Complications of Meckel's diverticula in adults; J Can chir, Vol. 49, No. 5; oct. 2006). Most complications occur in patients under the age of 2. Further predisposing factors are male sex (male: female = 3:1), diverticulum length of more than 2 cm and ectopic tissue in the diverticulum wall. Heterotopic gastric mucosa is present in 50% of all Meckel's diverticula, pancreatic mucosa is encountered in approximately 5% of diverticula, and colonic mucosa is present on rare occasions (Chandramohan K et al. Gastrointestinal stromal tumour in Meckel's diverticulum; World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2007, 5: 50). The most common clinical presentations of the Meckel's diverticulum in adults are intestinal obstruction (22–50%) and diverticulitis (20%).Bleeding is less common. In children the most frequent complication is hemorrhage (Dumper J et al. Complications of Meckel's diverticula in adults; J Can chir, Vol. 49, No. 5; oct. 2006).


A single Israel layer can be created when two metrics adjoin with no continuous metric derivative across the boundary. The properties of the layer depend only on the two metrics it separates. By using a fractional derivative match, a family of Israel layers can be created between the same two metrics. The family is indexed by the order of the fractional derivative. The method is applied to Tolman IV and V interiors and a Schwarzschild vacuum exterior. The method creates new ranges of modeling parameters for fluid spheres. A thin shell analysis clarifies pressure/tension in the family of boundary layers.


Activities and events in our lives are structural, be it a vacation, a camping trip, or a wedding. While individual details vary, there are characteristic patterns that are specific to each of these scenarios. For example, a wedding typically consists of a sequence of events such as walking down the aisle, exchanging vows, and dancing. In this paper, we present a data-driven approach to learning event knowledge from a large collection of photo albums. We formulate the task as constrained optimization to induce the prototypical temporal structure of an event, integrating both visual and textual cues. Comprehensive evaluation demonstrates that it is possible to learn multimodal knowledge of event structure from noisy web content.


Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are employed in antifouling paints, and chromium oxide nanoparticles (Cr2O3 NPs) have been used as a green pigment. Their extensive use can contaminate aquatic ecosystems, and the toxicological effects of these NPs to the biota are poorly known. In this study, we evaluated the acute toxicity induced by CuO and Cr2O3 NPs, comparing with CuSO4 and Cr(NO3)3 as Cu2+ and Cr3+ ion source, respectively, using the microcrustacean Daphnia similis. The mean EC50-48h for CuO NPs was 0.064 mg L-1 and for CuSO4 was 0.015 mg L-1. CuO NPs tend to agglomerate, which may have reduced the release of Cu2+ in the test medium in relation to CuSO4.The mean EC50-48h for Cr2O3 NPs was 6.74 mg L-1 and for Cr(NO3)3 was 11.98 mg L-1. The reduced size of the Cr2O3 NPs (15-30 nm) and the higher zeta potential may have contributed to the higher stability in suspension and less potential for agglomeration, partially explaining the higher toxicity of NPs in relation to Cr(NO3)3. After the tests, we observed morphological damages such as increase in fat droplets, internal organ exposure and partially disintegration in organisms exposed to all tested substances, NPs or the salts.


Pastures in the northeastern USA typically contain multiple species with different plant morphologies and seasonal growth. We hypothesized that some measures of botanical composition do not describe the contribution of species to forage for grazing animals, knowledge that is necessary to improve animal production. We compared three measures of botanical composition: (i) harvested herbage at prescribed post-grazing heights, (ii) total herbage cut at ground level, and (iii) tiller/leaf density. In spring, summer, and fall 1998 to 2000, we sampled a mixed pasture of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), bluegrass (Poa sp. L.), quackgrass [Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski], legumes, and other species that was rotationally grazed by cattle. We measured ground cover in 1999 and 2000. Relative ranking and percent contribution of orchardgrass, bluegrass, white clover (Trifolium repens L.), tall legumes, and other species differed significantly among methods; only dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber in Wiggers) and quackgrass measures did not. Percentage of harvested herbage from orchardgrass, tall legumes, and other species was greater than percentages based on total herbage, ground cover, and tiller/leaf density. More prostrate and shorter-growing bluegrass and white clover contributed smaller percentages to harvested herbage than to the other botanical composition measures. Interaction of botanical composition measure by season was significant for white clover and other species; bluegrass, quackgrass, and white clover percent contribution to the sward differed with season. To improve an understanding of the relative contribution of species to grazed forage in a mixed pasture, and to enhance animal production, harvested herbage should be measured rather than total herbage, ground cover, or tiller/leaf density; and preferably during spring, summer, and fall.


Receptors for dopamine and the subcellular localization of dopamine in the anterior pituitary gland were studied in young cycling female rats and in aged, constant estrous female rats. Dopamine receptors were quantified in membrane preparations of anterior pituitary tissue using [3H] spiperone as the ligand. On the basis of saturation isotherms, it was calculated that the equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) and binding capacity for [3H]spiperone binding to pituitary membranes from young rats were 34.2 pM and 82 fmol/mg protein, respectively. The relative binding capacity of membranes from aged rats was 35% greater than that of membranes from young rats. There was no difference in the Kd values in aged and young rats. When the relative binding of [3H]spiperone by anterior pituitary membranes from individual animals was quantified by incubation with a saturating concentration of the ligand, it was found that [3H]spiperone binding in aged rats was significantly greater than that in young rats. When the subcellular localization of dopamine in anterior pituitary tissue was examined by means of density gradient centrifugation, it was found that the subcellular distribution of dopamine in tissue of aged rats was quantitatively different from that in young rats. In young rats, a small amount of dopamine was associated with light particles, whereas a large amount of dopamine was associated with heavy particles, which cosedimented with PRL-containing granules. In aged rats, the amount of dopamine associated with light particles was 5 times that found in young rats, whereas the amount of dopamine associated with heavy particles was the same as that in young rats. We speculate that altered intracellular compartmentalization of dopamine, leading to a marked accumulation of dopamine in the light particles, is related to increased secretion of PRL in aged rats.


Two morphologically and genetically distinct populations were recently recognized in the Asian yellow pond turtle (Mauremys mutica), but little information is available on between-population variation in life-history traits. We collected eggs from Zhejiang (northern) and Hainan (southern) populations, and incubated them at constant temperatures of 26 °C and 30 °C. Hatchling body mass and early growth were determined in a common garden experiment to identify the intrinsic between-population difference in these life-history traits. Relative to egg size, hatchling body mass was larger in the Zhejiang population than in the Hainan population. Hatchlings from the Hainan population grew faster than their counterparts from the Zhejiang population. Growth rates differed between the sexes in the Hainan population (females > males), but not in the Zhejiang population. These results suggest that 1) eggs from the Zhejiang population might contain more energy and thus produce larger hatchings than eggs of the same size from the Hainan population, and 2) the intrinsic fast growth rate of hatchlings could be the reason for the larger adult size observed in the Hainan population.


The current paper attempts to describe the labor market parameter dynamics using a different method, namely the semi-Markovian processes. This method allows for the labor market study without the large fluctuations that occurred at a certain moment in time impinging upon the results of the future estimations. This method, like other statistic and econometric methods provide the economic agent with information for adopting long run decisions, through which possible development trajectories are drawn for economic, budgetary and financial strategies. The aim of this paper is to analyze the following issues: what is an economic model; economic models typology and the sequences of the numerical modeling process. (* Lecture Notes, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, March 2002)


This study examines the acquisition of thematic verbs in relation to adverbs and negation by adult third language French beginners who were advanced L2 English learners of L1 Chinese. Results from a grammaticality judgment test indicate that the L2 Status Factor Hypothesis of Bardel and Falk (2007), which views acquired L2 morphosyntax as the primary factor affecting syntactic development in initial L3 acquisition, provides a partial explanation of the observed behavior in which traces of L1 influence are apparent. We propose that, following Schwartz and Sprouse (1994), previously acquired linguistic knowledge constitutes transfer in early L3 development and that early L3 interlanguage grammars involve the use of alternative resources made available by Universal Grammar (UG) instead.


Nowadays railway operators are improving their services by offering IT-services within their trains. This paper reports on a design study we performed at Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS) in order to research whether or not NS can crowdsource activities utilizing the novel in-train IT infrastructure it is currently rolling out, and provide their passengers a better journey experience at the same time. We specifically focused the potential of future services an the users intention to use the service over time. The study followed a design cycle, in which we created artefacts, and analysed adoption of these artefacts utilizing an in-train survey. Despite the limited scope of the study we can conclude that there is potential for in-train crowdsourcing. Passengers do show interest in the applications we designed, and the more general concept of in-train interaction. Adoption is more likely to occur when serious applications are used, as opposed to entertainment applications.


Background: It is occasionally difficult to distinguish the stellate reticulum-like region of ameloblastoma from the fibrous connective tissue stroma. This difficulty is further pronounced in the plexiform variant of ameloblastoma that has very sparse fibrous connective tissue. Aim: To test the utility of Azan trichrome stain in marking tumour regions and the peri-tumour environment of ameloblastoma. Materials and Methods: Sections were prepared for 18 formalin fixed paraffin-embedded blocks of ameloblastoma cases and stained with Azan trichrome stain according to the manufacturer′s specification. Results and Conclusions: The tumour areas were stained mostly brown, with the ameloblasts mainly marked as deep brown while the stellate reticulum-like region was light brown. The structures in the peri-tumour region were marked with different shades of blue. Azan trichrome staining was able to distinguish between the fibrous connective tissue and the stellate reticulum-like areas in 100% of the cases.


The goal of this article are three-fold. The first is to explore the relations between the properties designated by the terms "human", "post-human," "Transhuman", and to clarify the corresponding "isms". The second is to scrutinize the current techniques for cognitive enhancement in order to assess their relations with the three categories just mentioned, and, with the specific ethical issues that they are raising. The third is to examine whether general ethical principles could be invoked either in favor of or against, the normative proposals of post- and trans-humanism, and to consider how compatible the types of enhancement presently developed are with respect to these principles.


Model driven engineering allows many stakeholders to contribute their expertise to the system description. This practice enables agility but implies consistency maintenance issues between different system models. Incremental model transformations (IMT) are used to synchronize different artifacts contributed by the stakeholders. IMTs detect changes on the source model and execute change rules to propagate updates to the target model. However, the execution of change rules is not straightforward. A rule is only correctly executed if its precondition is satisfied at execution time. The precondition checks the availability of certain source and target elements involved in the rule. If a rule is executed when the precondition is false, either the execution is blocked or stopped. Therefore, the produced target model becomes incorrect. This paper presents two approaches to the scheduling of change rule execution in incremental model transformations. These approaches are also applied to the case of model and code synchronization and implemented in a tool named IncRoundtrip that transforms and generates code for distributed systems. We also compare the runtime execution performance of different incremental approaches with batch transformation and evaluate their correctness.


Author(s): Priest, Chad | Advisor(s): Jiang, De-en | Abstract: Uranium's economical consumption is based on the industrial nuclear fuel cycle. Today there remains 4-6 million tons of terrestrial uranium in Earth's ores. However, as the projected population is estimated to double by 2040, current uranium reserves are only estimated to provide nuclear fuel for the next century. Unconventional methods for acquiring uranium are, therefore, required to maintain longevity and sustainability for future economic nuclear energy demands. One unconventional alternative for mining uranium is diving from land and into the open seas. Although uranium resides uniformly in the oceans at very low concentrations of 3.3 ppb, in a vast body of Earths water, there exists an untapped reserve of uranium at an astounding 4.5 billion ton. Uranium exists in aqueous environment as the stable oxo-cation, in the hexavalent (VI) state called uranyl, UO22+, and as the neutral ternary-uranyl-carbonato, Ca2UO2(CO3)3, in seawater. After six generations of research and development, current extraction methods rely on a polymer grafter amidoxime-based (poly(AO)) material for uranium recovery from seawater. One chemical advancement in adsorption capacity is from the inclusion the hydrophilic group carboxylate (Ac). However, displacing coordinating carbonates with poly(amidoxime) from uranyl, which is both at low concentrations and existing in soup of various metal-ions in a seawater matrix, still remains a formidable challenge. One of the multifaceted efforts involved with increasing adsorption selectivity is by the theoretical insight into uranium's coordination chemistry with interacting ligands in seawater-related environments.Herein we utilize current state-of-the-art, advanced computing technology to investigate coordinating uranium species in a completely explicit model. First, we employ a pure quantum mechanical (QM) simulations to pry into the chemistry of surrounding water molecules' influence on the dominant Ca2[UO2(CO3)3] specie. Furthermore, large scale classical molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations are assisted with umbrella sampling to develop computational techniques for investigating coordinating uranyl-AO from calculating binding free-energies (Gbind). Furthermore, we investigate the influence of capacity by inspecting the interactions of mix-ligand containing AO/Ac. Additionally, employing umbrella sampling method coupled with WHAM, we investigate the sodium ion solvation environment of one of the most competing vanadium-containing species, HVO42-.


The Kwaaihoek region of the eastern Cape coast, South Africa, consists of an 8 km long stretch of largely unspoiled dunefield. This dunefield is interrupted by three vegetated rocky promontories, Kwaaihoek 1, 2, and 3. In response to a proposal for a road across this dunefield to a parking lot behind Kwaaihoek 1, the rates and volumes of sand movement in the vicinity of the proposed site were determined by the use of aerial photographs, long term observations, and dune transects. The rate of dune movement of 2.9 m yr -1 for a large dune compared favourably with other rates for dune movements in the eastern Cape. At this dune the volume of sand shifted was 23.5 m 3 m -1 yr -1 . These data were presented to the relevant authorities, resulting in the cancellation of the proposed road.


PURPOSE
The stigma experienced by the family members of an individual with a stigmatized illness is defined by 3 dimensions: caregiver stigma, lay public stigma, and structural stigma. Research in the area of mental illness suggests that caregivers' perception of stigma is associated with increased burden. However, the effect of stigma on caregiver burden among those caring for a relative with Alzheimer's disease (AD) has yet to undergo theoretical and empirical testing. The aim of this study was to examine whether family stigma is a predictor of caregiver burden in the case of Alzheimer's disease.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 185 adult child caregivers (75% female; mean age = 53 years) for persons with Alzheimer's disease.

RESULTS
Caregiver stigma variables improved the prediction of caregiver burden by adding an additional 18% to the explained variance over and above the other covariates. The 2 caregiver stigma variables of shame and decreased involvement with caregiving were found to be the major contributing factors.

IMPLICATIONS
Our findings show that caregiver stigma increases caregiver burden in the case of Alzheimer's disease. Using this knowledge, psychosocial interventions should target stigmatic beliefs in order to reduce caregiver burden.


Abstract Time-varying elastance of the ventricles is an important metric both clinically and as an input for a previously developed cardiovascular model. However, currently time-varying elastance is not normally available in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) setting, as it is an invasive and ethically challenging metric to measure. A previous paper developed a method to map less invasive metrics to the driver function, enabling an estimate to be achieved without invasive measurements. This method requires reliable and accurate processing of the aortic and pulmonary artery pressure waveforms to locate the specific points that are required to estimate the driver function. This paper details the method by which these waveforms are processed, using a data set of five pigs induced with pulmonary embolism, and five pigs induced with septic shock (with haemofiltration), adding up to 88 waveforms (for each of aortic and pulmonary artery pressure), and 616 points in total to locate. 98.2% of all points were located to within 1% of their true value, 0.81% were between 1% and 5%, 0.65% were between 5% and 10%, the remaining 0.32% were below 20%.


The parental HeLa cell population, a morphologically uniform, human cancer cell strain, grown for several years in tissue culture by procedures always involving massive inocula, has been shown to contain different mutant cell types. Two clonal lines have been isolated and established as reliable stock cultures. Both strains exhibit 100 per cent plating efficiency in high or low serum concentrations in the presence of a feeder system. In the absence of a feeder system and in low serum concentrations, the two strains are quantitatively differentiable: S3 still exhibits 100 per cent plating efficiency, while that of S1 lies in the neighborhood of zero. These differences have remained stable throughout 100 successive generations of growth of each strain including 2 single cell isolations. Application of these techniques to studies in the genetics of mammalian somatic cells and to specific cell-cell interactions has been indicated.


Abstract The objective of this review is to summarize knowledge on the inhibitory effects (IEs) of flavonoids on α-amylase (αA) and α-glucosidase (αG) relevant to the search of substitutes of acarbose (Aca). Flavonoids reported to be more effective at inhibiting αG than Aca have been summarized. The concept of "relative coefficient to Aca (RCAca)" has been proposed to integrate data from various reports. Correlations between hydrogen bond donors (H-donors), hydrogen bond acceptors (H-acceptors), partition coefficient values (XLog P3), and RCAca are discussed. Two kinds of binding modes between flavonoids and enzymes have been observed: (i) flavonoids directly bind to amino acid residues (AARs) in the active sites of enzymes and exclude the binding of substrate; (ii) flavonoids interact with AARs near the active site and close the channel to the active center. Some groups are correlated with stronger IEs: (i) substitutions of caffeoyl, galloyl, and prenyl groups in flavonoids enhance IEs; (ii) steric hindrance attenuates IEs, and linear molecules tend to be stronger inhibitors of porcine pancreatic αA (PPA). Whilst many achievements have been made, our understanding of the combined effects of different flavonoids, and flavonoids and Aca, remain ambiguous, and the effects of food matrices and stomach digestion on IEs of flavonoids are poorly understood. This review provides a comprehensive understanding on the use of flavonoids as αA and αG inhibitors for controlling diabetes.


Software correlation, where a correlation algorithm written in a high-level language such as C++ is run on commodity computer hardware, has become increasingly attractive for small- to medium-sized and/or bandwidth-constrained radio interferometers. In particular, many long-baseline arrays (which typically have fewer than 20 elements and are restricted in observing bandwidth by costly recording hardware and media) have utilized software correlators for rapid, cost-effective, correlator upgrades to allow compatibility with new, wider-bandwidth, recording systems and to improve correlator flexibility. The DiFX correlator, made publicly available in 2007, has been a popular choice in such upgrades and is now used for production correlation by a number of observatories and research groups worldwide. Here, we describe the evolution in the capabilities of the DiFX correlator over the past three years, including a number of new capabilities, substantial performance improvements, and a large amount of supporting infrastructure to ease use of the code. New capabilities include the ability to correlate a large number of phase centers in a single correlation pass, the extraction of phase-calibration tones, correlation of disparate but overlapping sub-bands, the production of rapidly sampled filter-bank and kurtosis data at minimal cost, and many more. The latest version of the code is at least 15% faster than the original (and in certain situations, many times this value). Finally, we also present detailed test results validating the correctness of the new code.


While people hear in a vague way about the International Criminal Police Organisation, not much is known about its origin, scope, working and ramifications with a view to contain and struggle against what the author calls the "world's travelling criminality". The lengthening shadow of the network of criminal operators who work on a global scale necessitates close and continuing cooperation between nation states and this particular professional organisation provides the necessary connecting link. This small monograph by an experienced police officer provides a good introduction to the people in general as well as to the police officers.


New Orleans--Bicalutamide (Casodex), 50 mg, plus castration leads to an estimated 20% reduction in risk of prostate cancer death versus castration alone, according to results of a historical data analysis presented at the annual of the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting here.


In this work, it was clarified that many dislocations present on the substrate surface markedly deteriorated the TDDB property of thermal gate oxide on commercially purchased 4H-SiC epitaxial substrates. However, it was also experimentally shown that even after removing all of the dislocations, there was still a significant difference in the charge-to-breakdown (QBD) value between thermal oxides on SiC and on Si. It was suggested that this difference might partly originate from the intrinsic physics. The ONO gate dielectric was shown to be a promising alternative to thermal oxide. Experimental results indicate that the ONO dielectric on 4H-SiC could achieve a higher QBD value than thermal oxide on Si. A value of QBD = 408 C/cm2 was achieved for an ONO gate dielectric, with a SiO2 equivalent thickness of 40 nm, on regular 4H-SiC.


An epidemiological cross sectional study was undertaken in Yaoundé in 2002 and updated in 2005. Focused on health within the city, the objectives were to measure diarrheal prevalence and to identify the risk factors associated with them. Results of microbiological examinations have revealed an urban average prevalence rate of 14.5%. Access to basic services in the living environment appears to be an important risk factor for diarrheas. Statistical and spatial analyses conducted have revealed that prevalence of diarrheal diseases vary among the two main types of settlement (informal and planned). More importantly, this study shows that, diarrhea prevalence rates (notably bacterial and parasitic diarrheas) vary according to the subcategory of settlements. The study draws a number of theoretical and policy implications for researchers and policy decision makers. Keywords—Cameroon, diarrheal diseases, health risk factor, planned and spontaneous settlement, urban policy, urbanization.


Information security risk management (ISRM) is a major concern of organizations worldwide. Although the number of existing ISRM methodologies is enormous, in practice a lot of resources are invested by organizations in creating new ISRM methodologies in order to capture more accurately the risks of their complex information systems. This is a crucial knowledge-intensive process for organizations, but in most cases it is addressed in an ad hoc manner. The existence of a systematic approach for the development of new or improved ISRM methodologies would enhance the effectiveness of the process. In this paper we propose a systematic meta-process for developing new, or improved ISRM methods. We also present the specifications for a collaboration and knowledge-sharing platform supporting a virtual intra-organizational cross-disciplinary team, which aims at improving its ISRM methodologies by adopting the proposed meta-process.


The alkaloid spectrum of the yellow horned poppy G. flavum was studied in early stages of development of this plant by methods of thin-layer chromatography and spectrophotometry. It was established that gradual formation of the alkaloid complex takes place in parallel with growth differentiation of the organs during seed germination and the formation of seedlings, which is due to the de novo biosynthesis (in a specific sequence) of alkaloids of various structural types: first 1,2,9,10-substituted aporphines, then protopines, and, finally 1,2,10,11-substituted aporphines, benzophenanthridine, as well as morphinans. It was found that glaucine predominates among the alkaloids of the seeds and in the above-ground organs of seedlings of different ages, while protopine predominates in the subsoil organs. The data obtained on the nature of the formation of the alkaloid complex suggest that the aporphines are the phylogenetically oldest compounds among alkaloids of other groups of this plant.


This article looks at Elechi Amadi's The Great Ponds and explores how suicide is for Wago a state of self healing. It will argue how Wago takes his life not out of cowardice but as a rejection of what society demands of him. The fatal removal of the self will be shown as an attempt to reject that society for the finality of death. It will be argued how suicide is a weapon of choice that heroic characters make use of when all other methods, civil and military, have failed. The damnation of death is seen not as a curse of the self but a final statement about society and its relationship with the individual. In essence the text explores how suicide in African literature is appraised especially in a setting where Christian or European notions of sin are nonexistent.


As a scientific discipline, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around since the late 1950s. During the past few years, however, a subdiscipline of AI known as Machine Learning (ML) has captured the imagination of investors, technologists and policy makers with break through achievements in the recognition of speech and images and its performance in playing complex games. Countries all over the world are adopting national strategies to position themselves to get a piece of the proverbial pie, setting up new public funds to support AI research, expert groups on AI ethics, or new initiatives to study the implications of AI on the future of work.

But AI is not only a hot topic for social and economic policy. It has also become an increasingly important topic in the foreign policy community. For example, as national governments try to strengthen their own AI innovation base, they are worried about domestic AI companies becoming targets of foreign takeovers. But while there has been a lot of talk about AI, the policy debates still suffer from a poor understanding of what AI actually is and means. This paper seeks to address this problem. It explains why most of the international conversation on AI is focused on Machine Learning (ML). In chapter one it breaks down ML into its core inputs – data, software, hardware, and human talent, explaining the importance of each of these inputs for building and applying AI. Chapter two introduces a model with three stages to assess the capabilities of AI companies: early stage ventures, larger companies using AI, and AI platforms.

The analytical framework introduced in this paper can help foreign policy analysts understand AI and develop tools to monitor trends, especially among companies. Foreign policy officers can leverage the distributed network of embassies for information gathering and analysis on the global distribution of ML's core ingredients and global AI companies. Furthermore, the framework allows foreign policy makers to inform government as a whole on the international AI developments and their economic and ultimately geostrategic implications.


Cryptocaryon irritans is a ciliate parasite that causes "white spot disease" in marine teleosts. The disease outbreak is influenced by hosts and a range of abiotic factors, such as temperature, salinity, and pH. ABSTRACT Cryptocaryon irritans are the main pathogens of white spot disease in marine teleost. However, the occurrence of cryptocaryoniasis is influenced by several abiotic factors including the pH. To explore the effect of pH on the life cycle of C. irritans (encystment, cleavage, and hatchability), protomonts and tomonts of C. irritans were incubated in seawater of 10 different pH levels (2–11). pH 8 was used as the control. The change in morphology and infectivity of theronts that hatched from tomonts against Larimichthys crocea were then recorded. We found that pH 6–9 had no significant effect on the encystment, cleavage, and hatching of the parasites. However, pH beyond this limit decreased the cleavage and hatching of the tomonts. Furthermore, extreme pH decreased the number of theronts hatched by each tomont and the pathogenicity of the theronts, but increased the aspect ratio of the theronts. Infectivity experiments further revealed that extreme pH significantly decreased the infectivity of C. irritans against L. crocea. In conclusion, the C. irritans can survive in pH of 5 to 10, but pH 6–9 is the optimal range for the reproduction and infectivity of C. irritans. However, extreme pH negatively affects these aspects. IMPORTANCE Cryptocaryon irritans is a ciliate parasite that causes "white spot disease" in marine teleosts. The disease outbreak is influenced by hosts and a range of abiotic factors, such as temperature, salinity, and pH. Studies have shown that change in pH of seawater affects the structure (diversity and abundance of marine organisms) of marine ecosystem. However, how pH affects the life cycle and survival of C. irritans, and how future ocean acidification will affect the occurrence of cryptocaryoniasis, are not well understood. In this study, we explored the effect of pH on the formation and hatching of C. irritans tomonts. The findings of this study provide the foundation of the environmental adaptation of C. irritans, the occurrence of cryptocaryoniasis, and better management of marine fish culture.


Plunger lifted, and free-flowing gas wells experience a wide range of issues and operational inefficiencies such as liquid-loading, downhole and surface restrictions, stuck or leaking motor control valves, and metering issues. These issues can lead to extended downtime, equipment failures, and other production inefficiencies. Using data science and machine-learning algorithms, a self-adjusting anomaly detection model considers all sensor data, including the associated statistical behavior and correlations, to parse any underlying issues and anomalies and classifies the potential cause(s). This paper presents the result of a Proof of Concept (PoC) study conducted for a South Texas operator encompassing 50 wells over a three-month period. The results indicate an improvement compared to the operators' visual inspection and surveillance anomaly detection system. The model allows operators to focus their time on solving problems instead of discovering them. This novel approach to anomaly detection improves workflow efficiencies, decreases lease operating expenses (LOE), and increases production by reducing downtime.


Abstracts: Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research 2008

A131

We reported that the feeding of a diet containing 5 or 10% freeze-dried black raspberries (BRB) to N -nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA)-treated rats results in a 39-64% reduction in the number of esophageal papillomas when using either anti-initiation or anti-promotion/progression protocols. The molecular events associated with the effects of BRB on NMBA-induced preneoplastic and papillomatous esophageal lesions however, have not been fully elucidated. In the present study, 4-5 week-old male F344 rats were injected s.c. with NMBA (0.3 mg/kg b.w., 3x/wk for 5 wks) after which they were fed either control diet or diet containing 5% BRB until the end of the study (35 wks). Control rats were injected s.c. with a solution of DMSO/water (20:80), the vehicle for NMBA. Esophagi from vehicle control, NMBA- and NMBA + BRB-treated rats were collected at 35 weeks for histologic grading, and for microarray and Real-Time PCR analyses. Treatment with 5% BRB reduced the number of preneoplastic lesions (dysplasias) and the number and size of papillomas in the esophagus of NMBA-treated rats. When compared to esophagi from vehicle control rats, NMBA treatment alone led to the differential expression of 4,807 genes in preneoplastic esophagus and 17,846 genes in esophageal papillomas. Treatment with 5% BRB resulted in a modulation towards control levels of expression of 626 genes in preneoplastic esophagus and 627 genes in papillomas. In both preneoplastic esophagus and in papillomas, the berry-modulated genes were associated with regulation of cell proliferation, inflammation and receptor-mediated pathways. Twenty-five genes were commonly modulated (down- or up-regulated) by BRB in both preneoplastic lesions and in papillomas. Interestingly, several of these genes are associated with matrix metalloproteinases involved in tissue invasion and metastasis, cell-cell adhesion and with calcium signaling. This is the first report suggesting that berries might influence genes involved in tissue invasion and metastasis in the rat esophagus. (Supported by NCI grant No. CA103180)

Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):A131.


RNA interference is mediated by small interfering RNAs produced by members of the ribonuclease III (RNase III) family represented by bacterial RNase III and eukaryotic Rnt1p, Drosha and Dicer. For mechanistic studies, bacterial RNase III has been a valuable model system for the family. Previously, we have shown that RNase III uses two catalytic sites to create the 2‐nucleotide (nt) 3′ overhangs in its products. Here, we present three crystal structures of RNase III in complex with double‐stranded RNA, demonstrating how Mg2+ is essential for the formation of a catalytically competent protein–RNA complex, how the use of two Mg2+ ions can drive the hydrolysis of each phosphodiester bond, and how conformational changes in both the substrate and the protein are critical elements for assembling the catalytic complex. Moreover, we have modelled a protein–substrate complex and a protein–reaction intermediate (transition state) complex on the basis of the crystal structures. Together, the crystal structures and the models suggest a stepwise mechanism for RNase III to execute the phosphoryl transfer reaction.


To communicate effectively, learners have to become proficient in both the language and the culture of the target language. Being aware of socio-cultural frameworks does not mean that as an outcome of instruction learners have to become "native-like," but an awareness of L2 cultural norms can allow learners to make their own informed choices of how to become competent and astute language users. This paper provides an overview of practical approaches and techniques to teaching culture in the classroom in conjunction with instruction in the essential language skills. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this brief review of strategies and tactics for cross-cultural teaching and learning is minimalist, and a number of additional sources of pedagogical techniques are currently available.


Imagine a troupe of dancers flying together across a big open stage, their movement choreographed to the rhythm of the music. Their performance is both coordinated and skilled; the dancers are well rehearsed, and the choreography well suited to their abilities. They are no ordinary dancers, however, and this is not an ordinary stage. The performers are quadrocopters, and the stage is the ETH Zurich Flying Machine Arena, a state-of-the-art mobile testbed for aerial motion control research (Figure 1).


Work out control measures for pillar upward mining of left-over coal, in view of coal floor movement, this paper analyzes theoretical foundation and mechanical properties of mechanical model on coal floor movement of rock strata between coal seams in pillar upward mining of left-over coal and presents a simplified corresponding mechanical condition. Taking into the relation between layer movement and time consideration, the PTh model is used to show its rheological properties. By using a two-dimension model, mechanical model of coal floor movement is set up and both ends of cantilever beam are fixed. Finally, subsiding partial differential equation is induced at different districts in pillar upward mining of left-over coal. After solving the equation, prediction model about law of coal floor movement at different districts is gotten in pillar upward mining of left-over coal, which provides a theory basis for further study on upward mining.


This thesis provides a philosophical account of the morality of extraterritorial punishment. The introduction clarifies the methodology by putting forward an analytical account of moral rights and endorsing the interest-based theory of rights, and presents a normative appraisal of the moral significance of political boundaries. Chapter 1 presents an innovative interest-based justification for the right to punish. Chapter 2 examines the extraterritorial scope of this right to punish with regards to domestic offences. It argues that the justification here advocated is the best suited to account for the strong intuition that the right to punish should be primarily territorial in scope, and provides a critique of the principles for states' power to punish offences committed extraterritorially currently in force under international law. The next part of the thesis focuses on extraterritoriality in the context of international criminal law. Chapter 3 argues that the defining feature of the concept of an international crime is that it warrants conferring upon some extraterritorial body the power to punish their perpetrators regardless of the nationality of both offender and victim. Chapter 4 provides a fresh look at universal and international jurisdiction, i.e., at the theoretical explanation for the proposition that every state should have the right to punish international crimes and the scope of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Chapter 5 provides a theory of legitimate authority to punish offenders. It relies on an innovative application of the influential service conception of authority to this specific question and permits a philosophical examination of issues such as show trials, victor's justice, tu quoque, and trials in absentia or against defendants who have been abducted abroad. A conclusion summarizes the central findings of the thesis and suggests possible avenues for future research.


Is it really possible to achieve significant reductions in your manufacturing inventories while improving customer service? If you really want to achieve significant inventory reductions, focus on the root causes, and develop countermeasures and a work plan, to execute your countermeasures. Include measurements for recording your progress, and deploy your countermeasures until they are no longer required, or until new ones are needed.


TE-pass integrated optical polarizers have been fabricated in X-cut LiNbO3 by using titanium indiffusion in conjunction with proton exchange. The polarizers, which are designed to operate at λ = 0.8–0.85 μm, exhibit an excess insertion loss of 0.2 dB and a measurement-limited polarization-extinction ratio of >50 dB. These values represent a significant improvement over previously published results.


In the modern population, few third molars erupt normally and have a good long-term prognosis. This paper reviews the etiology and potential pathology of impacted teeth, and discusses indications and contraindications for extraction.


During the past decade, divisible load theory has become a powerful tool for modeling data-intensive computational problems. DLT emerged from a desire to create intelligent sensor networks, but most recent applications involve parallel and distributed computing. Like other linear mathematical models such as Markovian queuing theory and electric resistive circuit theory, DLT offers easy computation, a schematic language, and equivalent network element modeling. While it can incorporate stochastic features, the basic model does not make statistical assumptions, which can be the Achilles' heel of a performance evaluation model.


This paper presents a new approach to infer return on capital from firms' capital expenditures, and then examines how institutions and financial development affect this implied return on capital. We apply the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator derived from a structural investment model to a large sample of Chinese industrial firms in China. Based on the estimated structural parameters, we compute the stochastic discount rate perceived by the managers to decide investment spending. We identify robust evidence that this return on capital measure is a function of variables capturing institutions and financial development. The results from our benchmark estimation show that return on capital for a non-state firm is more than 10 percentage points higher than that of an otherwise similar state firm. We document evidence that regions with better institutions and a market-prone financial system have more efficient non-state sectors. Our estimates show that redirecting the capital from less efficient state sector to more efficient private sectors can unleash a 4.5% GDP growth in China every year, and the deadweight loss due to capital mis-allocation is about 8% of China's GDP.


The Mexican Caribbean Sea has potential zones for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) implementation. Universidad del Caribe and Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, with the support of the Mexican Centre of Innovation in Ocean Energy, designed and constructed a prototype OTEC plant (OTEC-CC-MX-1 kWe), which is the first initiative in Mexico for exploitation of this type of renewable energy. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis whose objective was to know, before carrying out the experimental tests, the behavior of OTEC-CC-MX-1 kWe regarding temperature differences, as well as the non-possible operating conditions, which allows us to assess possible modifications in the prototype installation. An algorithm was developed to obtain the inlet and outlet temperatures of the water and working fluid in the heat exchangers using the monthly surface and deep-water temperature data from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model and Geographically Weighted Regression Temperature Model for the Mexican Caribbean Sea. With these temperatures, the following were analyzed: fluctuation of thermal efficiency, mass flows of R-152a and water and power production. By analyzing the results, we verified maximum and minimum mass flows of water and R-152a to produce 1 kWe during a typical year in the Mexican Caribbean Sea and the conditions when the production of electricity is not possible for OTEC-CC-MX-1 kWe.


In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the human body is divided into Yin and Yang. Diseases occur when the Yin and Yang balance is disrupted. Different herbs are used to restore this balance, achieving the goal of treatment. However, inherent difficulties in designing experimental trials have left much of TCM yet to be substantiated by science. Despite that, TCM not only remains a popular form of medical treatment among the Chinese, but is also gaining popularity in the West. This phenomenon has brought along with it increasing reports on herb-drug interactions, beckoning the attention of Western physicians, who will find it increasingly difficult to ignore the impact of TCM on Western therapies. This paper aims to facilitate the education of Western physicians on common Chinese herbs and raise awareness about potential interactions between these herbs and warfarin, a drug that is especially susceptible to herb-drug interactions due to its narrow therapeutic range.


Acute renal failure (ARF) is a syndrome defined by sudden impairment of filtration and an increase of nitrogenated compounds in blood with or without decreased urinary output. In Mexico, its prevalence is 79.7 per cent in pregnant women with high-risk factors,1 and 75 per cent in pre-eclamptic patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICU).2 Critically ill obstetric patients are especially susceptible to develop ARF. Both the clinical manifestations and the complications are related to renal failure and fetoplacental repercussion.3 Early diagnosis and timely treatment solve the problem in most patients except for when severity is extreme which is when admission in the ICU is recommended.4 When required, early hemodialysis to reduce complications and serious sequelae should be initiated.5 The goal of this research was to determine the frequency and clinical progression of ARF in obstetric patients treated in the ICU of a high-specialty hospital in the City of Mexico. 1305 medical records of women admitted at the ICU of the High-Specialty Medical Unit of the Hospital of Gynecology and Obstetrics #3 of the ''La Raza'' National Medical Centre at the Mexican Institute of Social Security were reviewed between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2014. Pregnant patients or patients in the puerperium phase with ARF defined as the acute impairment (<48 h) of filtration based on the following Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria were included: (a) increase of serum creatinine (Cr) levels ≥0.3 mg/dl; (b) increase of serum Cr levels ≥50 per cent (1.5 times above the basal level) and (c) uresis <0.5 ml/K/h during a ≤6 h period of time.6 Patients with chronic nephropathy, peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis or carriers of renal grafts were excluded. No cases were precluded because all medical records and lab reports were complete and fully available. The frequency of obstetric patients with ARF in relation to the total number of admissions was estimated. Three (3) measurements of the serum Cr levels and glomerular filtration rate were taken: at the moment of ICU admission,


In endothelium-denuded rat aortic rings, the sustained contractile effects produced by endothelin-1 (ET-1; 3.2 nM) were concentration-dependently overcome by nicorandil, aprikalim (RP 52891), a specific K+ channel opener, and nitroglycerin, a stimulant of guanylate cyclase (EC50: 2.55 +/- 0.06, 0.37 +/- 0.05 and 0.3 +/- 0.008 microM respectively, n = 13-16/group). The decontractant activity of aprikalim was not affected by the guanylate cyclase inhibitor methylene blue (10 microM), whereas it was markedly antagonized by glibenclamide (1 microM) (pKB: 7.19 +/- 0.15), an antagonist of ATP-gated K+ channels in pancreatic beta cells. This sulfonylurea failed to modify nitroglycerin-induced effects, but slightly reduced (10-15%) those produced by high concentrations of nicorandil. By contrast, methylene blue significantly displaced (4-fold) the control concentration-vasorelaxant response curves obtained with nitroglycerin and nicorandil. Zaprinast (20 microM), an inhibitor of soluble low Km cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase, enhanced the effects of nitroglycerin and nicorandil but did not alter those of aprikalim. Nicorandil relaxed ET-1-contracted rings from micropig left circumflex coronary artery with an EC50 of 24 +/- 2.8 microM (n = 7); this effect was antagonized by methylene blue (10 microM) and glibenclamide (3 microM) (2- and 4-fold dextral shift of the control concentration-response curve, respectively). In rat Langendorff-perfused heart with base-line coronary flow reduced by the addition of ET-1 to the perfusion medium, nicorandil and aprikalim increased coronary flow, while nitroglycerin did not. The vasodilator effects of the two compounds were also inhibited by glibenclamide (pKB congruent to 7).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract Ultrasound examination is a valuable method in diagnosing visceral vasoconstriction of atherosclerotic origin, as well as constriction related to the compression of the celiac trunk. Given the standard stenosis recognition criteria of >70%, the increase in peak systolic velocity (PSV) over 200 cm/s in the celiac trunk; of PSV > 275 cm/s in the superior mesenteric artery, and of PSV > 250 cm/s in the inferior mesenteric artery, the likelihood of correct diagnosis is above 90%. In the case of stenosis due to compression of the celiac trunk by median arcuate ligament of the diaphragm, a valuable addition to the regular examination procedure is to normalize the flow velocity in the vessel, i.e. the reduction in peak systolic velocity levels below 200 cm/s, and in end-diastolic velocity (EDV) levels below 55 cm/s during deep inspiration. In the case of celiac trunk stenosis exceeding 70–80%, additional information on the level of collateral circulation can be obtained by measuring the flow in the hepatic and splenic arteries – assessing the flow velocity, resistance, and pulsatility indices (which fall below 0.65 and below 1.0 in cases of stenosis of the celiac trunk with a reduced capacity of collateral circulation), as well as assessing the changes in these parameters during normal respiration and during inspiration. This paper discusses in detail the examination methods for the celiac trunk and mesenteric arteries, as well as additional procedures used to confirm the diagnosis and pathologies affecting visceral blood flow velocity, i.e.: cirrhosis and hypersplenism. The publication is an update of the Polish Ultrasound Society guidelines published in 2011.


The authors used a vulnerability-stress-adaptation framework to examine personality traits and chronic stress as predictors of the developmental course of physical aggression in the early years of marriage. Additionally, personality traits and physical aggression were examined as predictors of the developmental course of chronic stress. Data from 103 couples collected 4 times over the first 3 years of marriage were analyzed with an actor-partner interdependence model and structural equation modeling techniques. Personality traits of husbands predicted their own physical aggression and stress trajectories, as well as their wives' levels of stress and physical aggression. Personality traits of wives predicted their levels of stress and physical aggression and predicted changes in their physical aggression over time. Both husbands' and wives' changes in stress predicted changes in physical aggression over time. Implications for employment of a vulnerability-stress-adaptation model in the study of physical aggression and for improvement of the efficacy of therapies targeting physical aggression in intimate relationships are delineated.