21 May 2011 would have marked the 90th birthday of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, a towering 20th-century figure in science and human thought, whose ideas, research contributions, and life example exerted enormous influence on the history of the second half of the 20th century and, in particular, on the history of Russia. Whether as a scientist or a private person (including his public activities and exceptional attitude to human personality), he always displayed creativity and a freedom of spirit, thought, and action. Sakharov's life and creative work make him a model scientist and citizen for many and undoubtedly provide a legacy for the development of science and society in the 21st century. In this paper, some of Sakharov's key ideas and achievements relating to his KB-11 period are exemplified, and how they influence present day research and technology, notably as employed for affording national security, is examined.


Circulating Fluidization Bed (CFB) for Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) is widely used. But its desulfurization efficiency is lower than Wet FGD. Its investment is not much lower than Wet FGD. Flow field of CFB for FGD is hard to be uniform. Swirl Composite Fluidization Mode (SCFM) was brought forward compared to Venturi Fluidization Mode (VFM). Experiment and simulation under cold condition was proceeded. From the test, flow field along axis and in cross-sections for SCFM are uniform. Turbulent velocity fluctuation is violent. And particles concentration is high. SCFM has better flow effect than VFM. Uniformity increases with higher superficial velocity and more tangential swirl devices. Recommended tangential swirl devices number is between 3-6. SCFM technology has good foreground.


Conventional graph-based semi-supervised learning methods predominantly focus on single label problem. However, it is more popular in real-world applications that an example is associated with multiple labels simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a novel graph-based learning framework in the setting of semi-supervised learning with multi-label. The proposed approach is characterized by simultaneously exploiting the inherent correlations among multiple labels and the label consistency over the graph. We apply the proposed framework to video annotation and report superior performance compared to key existing approaches over the TRECVID 2006 corpus.


Democratic states should use democratic principles namely engagement, negotiation, discussion, persuasion and participation to resolve challenges in societies. This is in contrast to colonial and apartheid states which used police, army, imprisonment, exile or banishment from the country against blacks who demanded democratic rights. This study investigates whether democratic South Africa embraces democratic principles highlighted above to deal with its domestic problems or is merely an extension of colonial and apartheid states in addressing challenges it faces. The study makes use of literature to answer the question. This is a qualitative study. The study found that democratic South Africa uses the same undemocratic instruments as evidenced by its handling of the #FeesMustFall campaign.  #FeesMustFall leaders and students are being shot at, arrested, and imprisoned in the same jails built and used by the apartheid state, stun grenades are being thrown at them and tear gas sprayed at them. The conclusion of this study is that by implementing similar instruments of maintaining security there is no difference between the means used by oppressive colonial and apartheid governments of the past and those used by democratic SA today.


The anatomical snuffbox is a surface anatomy feature described as a triangular depression on the dorsum of the hand at the base of the thumb. The anatomical snuffbox is visible with ulnar deviation of the wrist and extension and abduction of the thumb. Its name was derived from using the depression as a means of placement for the inhalation of powdered tobacco, otherwise known as dry snuff, and was first described in the medical literature in 1850. However, the anatomical snuffbox was not introduced into anatomy textbooks until the early 1900s when it was described by Germain Cloquet and Marie Francois Bichat. Anatomically, the anatomical snuffbox is bordered medially by the tendons of the muscle named the extensor pollicis longus, and laterally by the tendons of the muscles named the extensor pollicis brevis and the abductor pollicis longus. The floor of the anatomical snuffbox is formed by the scaphoid bone and trapezium bone of the wrist, as well as the tendons of the muscle named the extensor carpi radialis longus and the muscle named the extensor carpi radialis brevis. The base of the first metacarpal bone can be palpated distally, and the styloid process of the radius can be palpated proximally. Contained within the anatomical snuffbox are the radial artery, the superficial branches of the radial nerve, and the cephalic vein.[1][2][3]


Cis regulatory elements (CREs) are defined by unique combinations of transcription factor binding sites. Emerging evidence suggests that the number, affinity and organization of sites play important roles in regulating enhancer output and ultimately gene expression. Here, we investigate how the cis-regulatory logic of a tissue-specific CRE responsible for even-skipped (eve) induction during cardiogenesis organizes the competing inputs of two ETS members, the activator Pointed (Pnt) and the repressor Yan. Using a combination of reporter gene assays and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, we show that Yan and Pnt have distinct preferences for affinity of sites. Not only does Yan prefer high affinity sites, but a tandem pair of such sites is necessary and sufficient for Yan to tune Eve expression levels in newly specified cardioblasts and to block ectopic Eve induction and cell fate specification in surrounding progenitors. Mechanistically, the cooperative Yan recruitment promoted by this conserved high affinity ETS pair not only biases Yan-Pnt competition at the specific CRE, but also organizes Yan repressive complexes in 3D across the eve locus. Taken together our results uncover a novel mechanism by which differential interpretation of CRE syntax by a competing repressor-activator pair can confer both specificity and robustness to developmental transitions.


The Industries Assistance Commission and the Green Paper on Rural Policy support different protection strategies. Both strategies allow the achievement of a pattern of protection consistent with Pareto-efficiency. The Green Paper on Manufacturing proposed an approach to tariffs that would perpetuate inefficient resource allocation. The argument of the lAC and the Green Papers on protection policy is examined. A programme of across the board reductions in protection leading to free trade, modified for terms of trade effects, is suggested. It is also argued that initial increases in assistance for low cost industries are not inconsistent with such a programme.


This article uses a Markov-switching model that incorporates duration dependence to capture nonlinear structure in both the conditional mean and the conditional variance of stock returns. The model sorts returns into a high-return stable state and a low-return volatile state. We label these as bull and bear markets, respectively. The filter identifies all major stock-market downturns in over 160 years of monthly data. Bull markets have a declining hazard functions although the best market gains come at the start of a bull market. Volatility increases with duration in bear markets. Allowing volatility to vary with duration captures volatility clustering.


Our group has previously reported potential new radiopharmaceuticals, i.e. 99m Tc-tricarbonyl-(2-amino- 5,10-dioxide- 7(8)-fluorophenazine), Tc-FZ), with the ability to detect hypoxic tumoral tissues. Previously, this probe was used to detect solid tumors, employing a model of lung carcinoma generated by inoculation of 3LL Lewis murine cells in C57BL/6 mice. The resultsrevealed an adequate tumor/muscle ratio, 3.8 at 2 h post-injection (p.i.), with lower tumor/blood ratio, i.e. 0.6 at 2 h p.i..
Due to some models of breast cancer also being characterized by hypoxic areas, herein we decided to analyze the behavior of Tc-FZ in BALB/c mice bearing mammary tumor induced with 4T1-mouse tumoral cell line. The studied ratios revealed to be slightly a little more unfavorable than in the lung tumor-porting animals, being tumor/muscle and tumor/blood ratios, at 2 h p.i., of 3.0 and 0.23, respectively. Additionally, animals in vivo images showed that the liver masked tumor signal.
AcknowledgementThe authors want to thank the ANII for financial support.


ABSTRACT Apoptosis contributes to the loss of CD4 cells during human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Although the product of the env gene, gp160/gp120, is known to play a role in cell death mediated by HIV-1, the role of other HIV-1 genes in the process is unclear. We found that HIV-1 lacking the envgene (HIVΔenv) still induced apoptosis in T-cell lines and primary CD4 T cells. The ability to induce apoptosis was attributable to Tat, a viral regulatory protein. Tat induction of apoptosis was separate from the transactivation function of Tat, required expression of the second exon of Tat, and was associated with the increased expression and activity of caspase-8 (casp-8), a signaling molecule in apoptotic pathways. Moreover, induction of apoptosis could be prevented by treating cells with an inhibitor of casp-8. In addition, we show that HIV-1Δenv infection and Tat expression increased the sensitivity of cells to Fas-mediated apoptosis, an apoptotic pathway that signals via casp-8. The up-regulation of casp-8 by HIV-1 Tat expression may contribute to the increased apoptosis and sensitivity to apoptotic signals observed in the cells of HIV-1-infected persons.


Republic Macedonia has been settled in the central part of Balkan Peninsula. It is small country (25 713 kilometer square), without sea exit, relatively undeveloped. The beginning of the transition has been parallel with the starting period of building independent state as a new historical period starting with 1991 (separation from Ex. Yugoslavia) that why, it has been known as difficult, complex and unstable period. Within basis of national development a few fundamental destinations have been established: consistently building open society, economic stability, transition to stable and sustainable economic development, export orientation of the state and outspread outward-economic relations, enlarging the employment and approving socio-economic condition in the state. The purpose was to finish successfully the transition in all domains of the society in Republic of Macedonia. But, from current perspective we could say that the valuation of the past period of building souvereny state with deep transitional changes was difficult and partly successful with strong influence in agriculture and rural development in the country.


Patients with personality disorders (PDs) represent a particular burden for the health system and the clinicians attempting to treat them. The current commentary complements reviews of outcome studies on treatments for PDs by focusing on the clinical utility as defined by the American Psychological Association. As such, extending that notion, clinical utility of a treatment comprises aspects of implementation and training in the model as well as qualities of the therapeutic technique and relationship. Our review suggests that a certain caution needs to be applied when reading outcome studies based on specific methodological caveats. In specific contexts, inpatient and day hospital treatments have some initial appeal in reducing symptoms, in particular for the treatment of more severe forms of Cluster A and B PDs. In general, treatments for PDs are long-term treatments, administered in rather high dosage, which tends to be true irrespective of the treatment model. For specific treatment targets, there is emerging evidence on effectiveness of short-term interventions. The therapeutic relationship with patients with PDs may be characterized by strains and interactional difficulties that may be addressed using clinically adapted treatment strategies. To be effective, therapists should have an open-minded and flexible approach to therapy, which is particularly central from an integrative perspective. Finally, we state that a key element for implementation of an effective treatment model is a manual-based training that, albeit controversial, remains a key component allowing for the trainee therapist to self-monitor his or her progress and get specific help in supervision as part of the learning process. We advocate that clinicians and administrators should consider these points as being specifically related with clinical utility of treatments for PDs because they contribute to optimize the implementation process of a therapy approach to a specific context.


Attention-based neural networks have become pervasive in many AI tasks. Despite their excellent algorithmic performance, the use of the attention mechanism and feedforward network (FFN) demands excessive computational and memory resources, which often compromises their hardware performance. Although various sparse variants have been introduced, most approaches only focus on mitigating the quadratic scaling of attention on the algorithm level, without explicitly considering the efficiency of mapping their methods on real hardware designs. Furthermore, most efforts only focus on either the attention mechanism or the FFNs but without jointly optimizing both parts, causing most of the current designs to lack scalability when dealing with different input lengths. This paper systematically considers the sparsity patterns in different variants from a hardware perspective. On the algorithmic level, we propose FABNet, a hardware-friendly variant that adopts a unified butterfly sparsity pattern to approximate both the attention mechanism and the FFNs. On the hardware level, a novel adaptable butterfly accelerator is proposed that can be configured at runtime via dedicated hardware control to accelerate different butterfly layers using a single unified hardware engine. On the Long-Range-Arena dataset, FABNet achieves the same accuracy as the vanilla Transformer while reducing the amount of computation by 10$\sim66\times$ and the number of parameters 2$\sim22\times$. By jointly optimizing the algorithm and hardware, our FPGA-based butterfly accelerator achieves 14.2$\sim23.2\times$ speedup over state-of-the-art accelerators normalized to the same computational budget. Compared with optimized CPU and GPU designs on Raspberry Pi 4 and Jetson Nano, our system is up to $273.8\times$ and $15.1\times$ faster under the same power budget


A comparative study of four immunological tests used for anti-Cysticercus antibodies detection--Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay IgG (ELISA-G) and IgM (ELISA-M), indirect immunofluorescence (RIFI) and complement fixation (RFC)--was made in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). 539 patients with symptoms suggesting cysticercosis, 450 relatives of these patients and 133 normal people (control group) were examined. 1122 serum samples and 120 CSF samples were analysed by ELISA-G and RIFI, 83 sera and 60 CSF also by RFC, and 28 CSF by ELISA-M. 5.2% serum samples were reagent in ELISA-G and RIFI, and 3.5% of them had discordant results. All control group sera were negative. The same tests in CSF were positive in 16.7% and had discordant results in 7.5%. ELISA-G and RIFI in serum and CSF had concordant results in 89.6% (17.7% were positive). ELISA-G, RIFI and RFC had concordant results in 54.2% sera (16.9% positives) and in 81.7% CSF (11.7% positives). When ELISA-G and RIFI were negative, RFC was positive in 41.0% sera and 11.7% CSF. ELISA-G and ELISA-M had concordant results in 78.6% CSF. When these results were discordant ELISA-G was positive in 10.7% and ELISA-M in another 10.7%. It is necessary to use concomitantly several immunological tests for anti-Cysticercus antibodies detection in serum and in CSF, in attempting to reach correct diagnosis.


Sixteenth-century Roman presses turned out hundreds of technical treatises and learned discourses written in the vernacular. Covering topics as diverse as the cultivation of silkworms, the lives of the saints, and the order of the cosmos, they made esoteric knowledge accessible to a broad spectrum of readers. Many of these books were illustrated with beautiful etchings, engravings, or woodcuts, and some were written in the form of theatrical and engaging dialogues. For writers, publishers, printers, and artists, bringing such books into the world changed the lives of those involved in their production. The process of publication, a risky business in itself, forged lively social networks centered on making and reading these treatises. Brilliant Discourse follows the story of the Roman illustrated book from the printed page back out to the Renaissance streets, piazzas, palaces, convents, and bookshops where these expensive publications, carefully shepherded through the press, acted in the real world to create lively communities of readers and viewers.


Background Pneumonitis from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) is a potentially fatal immune-related adverse event (irAE) from antiprogrammed death 1/programmed death ligand 1 immunotherapy. Most cases of ICI pneumonitis improve or resolve with 4–6 weeks of corticosteroid therapy. Herein, we report the incidence, clinicopathological features and management of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma who developed chronic ICI pneumonitis that warrants ≥12 weeks of immunosuppression. Methods Patients with ICI pneumonitis were identified from institutional databases of ICI-treated patients with advanced melanoma and NSCLC between January 2011 and July 2018. ICI pneumonitis was defined as clinical/radiographic evidence of lung inflammation without alternative diagnoses, adjudicated by a multidisciplinary team. Chronic ICI pneumonitis was defined as pneumonitis that persists or worsens with steroid tapering, and necessitates ≥12 weeks of immunosuppression, after ICI discontinuation. Serial chest CT was used to assess radiological features, and tumor response by Response EvaluationCriteria for Solid Tumors V.1.1. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were assessed by cell differential. Lung biopsy samples were evaluated by H&E staining and multiplex immunofluorescence (mIF), where available. Results Among 299 patients, 44 developed ICI pneumonitis (NSCLC: 5/205; melanoma: 1/94), and of these, 6 experienced chronic ICI pneumonitis. The overall incidence of chronic ICI pneumonitis was thus 2%. Of those who developed chronic ICI pneumonitis: the majority had NSCLC (5/6), all sustained disease control from ICIs, and none had other concurrent irAEs. Timing of chronic ICI pneumonitis development was variable (range: 0–50 months), and occurred at a median of 12 months post ICI start. Recrudescence of ICI pneumonitis occurred at a median of 6 weeks after initial steroid start (range: 3–12 weeks), with all patients requiring steroid reintroduction when tapered to ≤10 mg prednisone/equivalent. The median total duration of steroids was 37 weeks (range: 16–43+weeks). Re-emergence of radiographic ICI pneumonitis occurred in the same locations on chest CT, in most cases (5/6). All patients who developed chronic ICI pneumonitis had BALF lymphocytosis on cell differential and organising pneumonia on lung biopsy at initial ICI pneumonitis presentation, with persistent BALF lymphocytosis and brisk CD8+ infiltration on mIF at pneumonitis re-emergence during steroid taper. Conclusions A subset of patients who develop pneumonitis from ICIs will develop chronic ICI pneumonitis, that warrants long-term immunosuppression of ≥12 weeks, and has distinct clinicopathological features.


Inflatable technology for space applications is under continual development and advances in high strength fibres and rigidizable materials have pushed the limitations of these structures. This has lead to their application in deploying large-aperture antennas, reflectors and solar sails. However, many significant advantages can be achieved by combining inflatable structures with structural stiffeners such as tape springs. These advantages include control of the deployment path of the structure while it is inflating (a past weakness of inflatable structure designs), an increased stiffness of the structure once deployed and a reduction in the required inflation volume. Such structures have been previously constructed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory focusing on large scale booms. However, due to the high efficiency of these designs they are also appealing to small satellite systems. This article outlines ongoing research work performed at the University of Southampton into the field of small satellite hybrid inflatable structures. Inflatable booms have been constructed and combined with tape spring reinforcements to create simple hybrid structures. These structures have been subjected to bending tests and compared directly to an equivalent inflatable tube without tape spring reinforcement. This enables the stiffness benefits to be determined with respect to the added mass of the tape springs. The paper presents these results, which leads to an initial performance assessment of these structures.


This paper presents a scalable information theoretic
approach to infer the state of an environment by distributively
controlling robots equipped with sensors. The robots iteratively
estimate the environment state using a recursive Bayesian filter,
while continuously moving to improve the quality of the estimate
by following the gradient of mutual information. Both the filter
and the controller use a novel algorithm for approximating
the robots' joint measurement probabilities, which combines
consensus (for decentralization) and sampling (for scalability).
The approximations are shown to approach the true joint
measurement probabilities as the size of the consensus rounds
grows or as the network becomes complete. The resulting
gradient controller runs in constant time with respect to the
number of robots, and linear time with respect to the number
of sensor measurements and environment discretization cells,
while traditional mutual information methods are exponential
in all of these quantities. Furthermore, the controller is proven
to be convergent between consensus rounds and, under certain
conditions, is locally optimal. The complete distributed inference
and coordination algorithm is demonstrated in experiments with
five quad-rotor flying robots and simulations with 100 robots.


Clinicians today recognize the need for a restoration-driven approach to implant therapy that considers the placement in bone and soft tissue from a three-dimensional perspective. However, the authors of this book assert that for optimal esthetics and patient satisfaction, a fourth dimension--timing--must be given equal weight in implant treatment planning. The aim of this book is to introduce this new 4D concept for esthetic implant therapy and to re-examine the traditional treatment sequence of implant therapy so that practitioners and patients can achieve predictable and esthetically pleasing treatment outcomes. The importance of including patients and their individual needs and goals in treatment planning is emphasized, as is the preservation of alveolar bone, dentition, function, and esthetics over the long term through the proper execution of periodontal treatment. Topics include immediate implant placement in extraction sockets, extraction socket preservation, root submergence techniques, ridge augmentation, and soft tissue management in the esthetic region.


Human computation games (HCGs) often suffer from low player retention. This may be due to the constraints placed on level and game design from the real-world application of the game. Previous work has suggested using player rating systems (such as Elo, Glicko-2, or TrueSkill) as a basis for matchmaking between HCG levels and players, as a means to improve difficulty balancing and thus player retention. Such rating systems typically start incoming entities with a default rating. However, when applied to HCGs, incoming entities may have useful information associated with them, such as player behavior during tutorials and properties of the tasks underlying the levels. In this work, we examined using features derived from player behavior and level properties to predict their eventual Glicko-2 ratings in the HCG Paradox. We found that using regression produced rating estimates closer to the actual ratings than default or baseline average ratings. The use of rating systems allows a unified approach to predicting both player skill and level difficulty.


On 26 November 2010, Germany's Federal Council consented to the Parliament's plans to introduce an Air Travel Tax (Luftverkehrsteuer/LuftVSt – ATT) by way of the new Air Travel Tax Act – (Luftverkehrsteuergesetz/LuftVStG – ATTA). The new law entered into force beginning of this year – on 01 January 2011.

Regardless of the new ATT only taking effect as of this year, flights booked on or after 01 September 2010 departing on or after 01 January 2011 were already subject to the new tax, provided the tangible flight actually starts from a domestic German airport. Therefore, ATT is only payable once the trip from a German airport has actually begun, irrespective when the aircraft ticket was purchased (provided this occurred after 31 August 2010).

By means of the ATT, the German Government endeavours to bring forward the expected earnings from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in the year 2012 and onwards. Similar to European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), foreign carriers are subject to the new tax as well, which causes comparable concerns as regards customary international law and the Chicago Convention, for example. Actually the legal repercussions go beyond that since it can well be argued that the new tax is also a violation of the German Constitution and not in line with European State aid law, see Articles 107 and 108 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

During the political discussion prior to the cabinet's decision, it has been indicated that the tax will disappear as soon as aviation is included into the EU ETS. The tax bill now stipulates that the expected revenues are Euro (EUR) 1 billion and that the tax rates can only be reduced in relation to the earnings from EU ETS. Therefore, a good German tradition seems to be upheld: a tax once established is meant to stay – if not challenged in a court of law.


Phytochemical screening result of the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of the leaves of Ehretia cymosa (Borginaceae) revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, terpenes and steroids. Phenolics were detected neither in the methanol nor ethyl acetate extract. The EtOAc extract after silica gel column chromatography has led to the isolation of two isomeric triterepnes identified as α-amyrin and β-amyrin. This is the first report of the isolation of αand β-amyrin from this species. The antibacterial activities of the methanol extract were tested against four bacterial strains such as S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and P. mirabilis. The extract exhibited pronounceable activity against E. coli and S. aureus. This is significant as this plant may be used as a remedy to treat infectious diseases caused by these two pathogens such as diarrhea. Therefore, the antibacterial activity displayed by the leaves extract of E. cymosa corroborates the traditional use of this plant against bacteria. The methanol and ethyl acetate extracts displayed low percent inhibition of DPPH likely accounted to the absence of phenolics.


The influence of P2O5 on the properties of alite-calcium strontium sulphoaluminate cement was researched by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and petrographic analysis. The results show that the optimal content of P2O5 is 0.3% and the compressive strength of the cement at 1, 3, 28d are 27.0, 59.1, 110.9MPa when the calcining temperature is 1350°C. P2O5 mainly exists in the belite and a suitable amount of P2O5 can promote the formation of C1.5Sr2.5A3and alite. When the content of P2O5 is higher than 0.3%, the formation of C1.5Sr2.5A3and alite can be hindered. P2O5 can enhance the hydration heat evolution rate in the acceleration period and the hydrate heat of cement containing P2O5 increases slightly.


This paper focuses on the level of adoption of E-Commerce Technology
at the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC), a
Zimbabwean organization established by an act of parliament, with a mandate to
develop, adopt and adapt new technologies for the benefit of Zimbabwean
companies and organizations. The study was done in 2004 and the findings
reviewed in 2012 with similar results. The objective of the study was to
establish whether E-commerce technology adoption would result in the
organization being more efficient and effective in delivering its mandate and
then establish the level of adoption of the technology at the centre using
abstraction and a questionnaire survey. Abstraction results showed that
organizations which had fully embraced the technology were more efficient and effective
while the survey revealed that the centre had partially adopted the technology.
It was recommended that the centre should fully embrace the technology and
market it to other organizations as per its mandate.


Scientific data from research conducted during the past decade have demonstrated the safety of the dentist-dispensed at-home whiteners containing 10% carbamide peroxide. There has been no evidence of systemic adverse effects associated with the proper use of these whitening systems. Most commonly observed local adverse effects are mild-to-moderate tooth sensitivity and/or gingival irritation, which usually do not prevent the patient from completing the whitening treatment. The sensitivity and irritation are transient in most cases, and they dissipate when the patient discontinues the use of the whitener. There is no evidence of any long-term consequences that have resulted from tooth sensitivity and/or gingival irritation. However, potential adverse effects may occur from inappropriate applications, abuses, or the use of inappropriate products. The risks of using at-home whiteners without a dentist's involvement, or using formulations with a higher peroxide content than recommended, are yet to be determined. To maximize benefits while minimizing potential risks, the author advises using at-home tooth whiteners under the supervision of a dental professional.


— This study, tries to suggest a design method based on displacement using finite difference numerical modeling in reinforcing soil retaining wall with steel strip. In this case, dynamic loading characteristics such as duration, frequency, peak ground acceleration, geometrical characteristics of reinforced soil structure and type of the site are considered to correct the pseudo static method and finally introduce the pseudo static coefficient as a function of seismic performance level and peak ground acceleration. For this purpose, the influence of dynamic loading characteristics, reinforcement length, height of reinforced system and type of the site are investigated on seismic behavior of reinforcing soil retaining wall with steel strip. Numerical results illustrate that the seismic response of this type of wall is highly dependent to cumulative absolute velocity, maximum acceleration, and height and reinforcement length so that the reinforcement length can be introduced as the main factor in shape of failure. Considering the loading parameters, geometric parameters of the wall and type of the site showed that the used method in this study leads to efficient designs in comparison with other methods, which are usually based on limit-equilibrium concept. The outputs show the over-estimation of equilibrium design methods in comparison with proposed displacement based methods here.


We introduce the use of autoregressive normalizing flows for rapid likelihood-free inference of binary black hole system parameters from gravitational-wave data with deep neural networks. A normalizing flow is an invertible mapping on a sample space that can be used to induce a transformation from a simple probability distribution to a more complex one: if the simple distribution can be rapidly sampled and its density evaluated, then so can the complex distribution. Our first application to gravitational waves uses an autoregressive flow, conditioned on detector strain data, to map a multivariate standard normal distribution into the posterior distribution over system parameters. We train the model on artificial strain data consisting of IMRPhenomPv2 waveforms drawn from a five-parameter $(m_1, m_2, \phi_0, t_c, d_L)$ prior and stationary Gaussian noise realizations with a fixed power spectral density. This gives performance comparable to current best deep-learning approaches to gravitational-wave parameter estimation. We then build a more powerful latent variable model by incorporating autoregressive flows within the variational autoencoder framework. This model has performance comparable to Markov chain Monte Carlo and, in particular, successfully models the multimodal $\phi_0$ posterior. Finally, we train the autoregressive latent variable model on an expanded parameter space, including also aligned spins $(\chi_{1z}, \chi_{2z})$ and binary inclination $\theta_{JN}$, and show that all parameters and degeneracies are well-recovered. In all cases, sampling is extremely fast, requiring less than two seconds to draw $10^4$ posterior samples.


Gold mining in Amazonia involves forest removal, soil excavation, and the use of liquid mercury, which together pose a major threat to biodiversity, water quality, forest carbon stocks, and human health. Within the global biodiversity hotspot of Madre de Dios, Peru, gold mining has continued despite numerous 2012 government decrees and enforcement actions against it. Mining is now also thought to have entered federally protected areas, but the rates of miner encroachment are unknown. Here, we utilize high-resolution remote sensing to assess annual changes in gold mining extent from 1999 to 2016 throughout the Madre de Dios region, including the high-diversity Tambopata National Reserve and buffer zone. Regionally, gold mining-related losses of forest averaged 4437 ha yr−1. A temporary downward inflection in the annual growth rate of mining-related forest loss following 2012 government action was followed by a near doubling of the deforestation rate from mining in 2013–2014. The total estimated area of gold mining throughout the region increased about 40% between 2012 and 2016, including in the Tambopata National Reserve. Our results reveal an urgent need for more socio-environmental effort and law enforcement action to combat illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon.


ABSTRACT Although the benefits of co-teaching are emphasised in the literature, implementing it is still problematic. Teacher training is necessary to change attitudes and encourage its use, but training alone is not enough. Opportunities to practice it must exist to appreciate the benefits for both pupils and teachers. This study focuses on pre-service training. Three groups of student teachers were created: one group received conceptual training only, another received conceptual training and the opportunity to co-teach, and a third group received initial conceptual training and explanations on its use from a member of the second group. An explicative sequential mixed design was chosen, which combines a quantitative study, conducted on a pre-post basis to compare test results on attitude and willingness to use co-teaching, with a qualitative study to analyse co-teaching student-teachers' perceptions in both their own learning experience and the learning experience of the pupils. The results show that those who received only conceptual training modified their attitudes to a lesser degree and curiously, those in the group receiving explanations from a peer improved the most.


Chronic kidney disease is defi ned as a reduced glomerular fi ltration rate, increased urinary albumin excretion, or both, and is an increasing public health issue. Prevalence is estimated to be 8–16% worldwide. Complications include increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, kidney-disease progression, acute kidney injury, cognitive decline, anaemia, mineral and bone disorders, and fractures. Worldwide, diabetes mellitus is the most common cause of chronic kidney disease, but in some regions other causes, such as herbal and environmental toxins, are more common. The poorest populations are at the highest risk. Screening and intervention can prevent chronic kidney disease, and where management strategies have been implemented the incidence of end-stage kidney disease has been reduced. Awareness of the disorder, however, remains low in many communities and among many physicians. Strategies to reduce burden and costs related to chronic kidney disease need to be included in national programmes for non-communicable diseases.


Atlas Shrugged is a novel about business and the people who create businesses. This article describes Ayn Rand's treatment of business and entrepreneurs in the novel. It begins with an explanation of how Atlas S hrugged demonstrates that wealth and profit are creations of the human mind. The next section compares the worldviews of the novel's business heroes and villains. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the novel's main business protagonists—Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden. The next part provides summaries of other business characters. The last section examines how the novel is used in college-level business courses.


First-principles and classical molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the structural and thermodynamic properties of Pd under pressure. By comparing the Gibbs free energy, in the quasiharmonic approximation (QHA), of the face-centered cubic (fcc) phase with those of the hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) and body-centered-cubic (bcc) phases we found that the fcc phase is stable up to 500 GPa and 5000 K. The predicted high-temperature elastic constants of fcc Pd agree well with experiments. The phonon dispersion curves are obtained at various pressures. In contrast with experiments we did not observe any phonon anomalies in Pd. We reproduced the thermodynamic properties of Pd accurately by taking into account the electron and phonon contributions to the free energy of Pd. The obtained thermal expansion coefficient, Hugoniot curves, and specific heat capacity compare well with experiments. In particular, the excellent agreement of the thermal expansion coefficients with experiment supports the validity of the QHA for Pd at high temperatures. Our QHA-based Hugoniot curves also show good agreement with experiments and our dynamic shock simulations. Shocks along [100] produced amelting temperature with a superheating of 18.3% at 226 GPa, compared with our high-pressure melting curve of Pd from coexistence-phase simulations based on an embedded atom model.


Abstract Purpose This study compared the in-the-moment experiences among mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) by their household status (i.e., single versus coupled) and region of residence (i.e., regional versus major city area). Methods An experience sampling method was employed to collect data, and a total of 40 mothers used an iOS device to record activity types and in-the-moment experiences for one week during school term. Mann–Whitney U test and multilevel analysis were conducted to compare the experiences of these mothers. Results The analyses found the following results: 1) mothers spent most time in childcare and least time in self-care activities; 2) coupled mothers were more likely to feel supported; 3) coupled mothers were less likely to feel supported in domestic tasks; 4) mothers from major city were more likely to feel challenged in self-care activities; and 5) mothers from major city were more likely to feel supported in productivity tasks. Conclusion Limited but significant differences between single and coupled mothers, as well as mothers from regional and major city areas, were found. Future research direction and service provisions were suggested. Implications for rehabilitation This study shows that all mothers spent the most time on childcare and the least amount of time on self-care activities. In-the-moment experiences between single and coupled mothers, as well as mothers from major cities and mothers from regional areas, differ somewhat; however, this study builds evidence to support that these mothers' experiences are similar. The result of the study indicates that single mothers require extra support as they carry similar levels of responsibilities as coupled mothers, but without the support of a partner. Promoting a sense of control may assist all mothers to fully engage in parenting activities.


We report on effects from the geometrical shape of the guiding channels on the ion transmission profile. We find that capillaries of rhombic cross section produce rectangular shaped ion transmission profiles and, vice versa, capillaries of rectangular geometry give a rhombic beam shape. Our trajectory simulations for the incidence of 14-keV Ne7+ ions give clear evidence that the observed effect is due to the image forces experienced by the transmitting ions. They gain transverse energy due the image charge attraction towards the inner surfaces of the capillary. This leads to a defocusing of the ions leaving the capillaries. Due to the blocking of large deflection angles at the exit of the capillary, the transmitted ion beam is tailored into certain geometrical patterns.


The use of novel thermal-efficient building materials and technologies that allow increasing the level of thermal protection of external envelope structures and reducing the time for construction are of practical interest and represent a relevant task in the conditions of rapidly changing and increasing requirements to energy efficiency of buildings. This research aims at simulating the process of spatial heat transfer in a multilayer non-uniform structure of an external cast-in-place framed wall produced from polystyrene concrete with a stay-in-place formwork. Based on the physico-mathematical model developed with the use of ANSYS and COMSOL software complexes, parametric analysis of the impact of various factors on thermal behavior of the external wall was performed with the account of heat-stressed frame elements. The nature of temperature fields distribution in a polystyrene concrete structure was defined, and its thermal protection properties were investigated. The impact of a metal frame on thermal protection properties of a wall was found to be insignificant.


State-of-the-art report: Fracture mechanics of concrete: concepts, models and determination of material properties. Why fracture mechanics? Essential results from linear elastic fracture mechanics. Nonlinear fracture models with softening zone. Special nonlinear fracture models based on adaptions of LEFM. Size effect and brittleness of structures. Experimental or analytical determination of material fracture parameters. Factors influencing fracture parameters. Effect of reinforcement. Crack systems. Concluding remarks. References and bibliography. Appendix 1- derivations of some formulas. Conference papers. Material models for concrete fracture. Damage modelling. Numerical analysis of concrete fracture. Experimental methods and determination of fracture characteristics. Measurements of damage and size effect. Dynamic fracture. Fracture under shear. Fracture of reinforced concrete. Interaction between concrete and reinforcement. Fatigue and rate effects. Environment effects [temperature, shrinkage, corrosion]. Index.


Object description is important in performing the photon and/or electron transport using a Monte Carlo method efficiently. The authors propose a new description method using an octree representation of an object. Thus, even if the boundary of each medium is represented accurately, high speed calculation of photon transport can be accomplished because the number of voxels is much fewer than that of the voxel-based approach which represents an object by a union of the voxels of the same size. The authors' Monte Carlo code using the octree representation of an object, first, establishes the simulation geometry by reading "octree string," which is produced by forming an octree structure from a set of serial sections for the object before the simulation, and then it transports photons in the geometry. Using the code, if the user just prepares a set of serial sections for the object in which he/she wants to simulate photon trajectories, he/she can perform the simulation automatically using the suboptimal geometry simplified by the octree representation without forming the optimal geometry by handwriting.<<ETX>>


The coarsening of small metal particles can be enhanced when metal atoms are transported between particles as part of larger complexes. What is the common denominator between the geologic formation of gemstones, the degradation of pharmaceutical suspensions, and the manufacture of structural steels? They all can involve a process called coarsening, in which a group of objects of different sizes transforms into fewer objects with larger average size (1), such that "the big get bigger." The atoms that occupy boundary locations between different phases tend to be less energetically stable, and coarsening stabilizes the overall system by decreasing the number of such atoms. A fundamental scientific question in coarsening is identifying how the requisite transport of atoms occurs. New answers to this question are being revealed by studies of nanoscale particles that are grown on surfaces


Paris is a widespread urban system: a space and a landscape which have progressively become polycentric, according to logics of spatial organization which are in syntony with the city's historical development, from the center towards its peripheral areas. The center has always been the privileged ensemble of famous places which record the succession of the different historical phases of the city. The peripheral areas, on the other hand, are spaces marked by social imbalance, ethnic miscegenation and segregation. There are therefore two Parises: the one of the symbolic landmarks and of the vivacity of its social encounters and the one of the immigrants and of their exclusion. Both these Parises, in spite of their striking differences, are involved in a process of renovation and reassembling. Through the years, several modernizing projects have touched various sectors of the city, and the criteria of intervention have been adapted to their changing problems. Among this criteria is the notion of lasting development, which should realize a link between the old and new areas of the city and, and at the same time, make the urban environment easier to access by all its inhabitants. The social and environmental commitment on the one hand improves the livability of the public areas and empowers traditional collective practices, while on the other helps contextualize the remains of the past on the basis of modern exigencies such as the improvement of the living conditions and a steadily increasing pollution safeguard. In order to understand the complex urban texture of a city like Paris we should proceed with an epistemological, aestetic, political and social interpretation which also takes into consideration the economic and territorial components, because all these interwoven aspects concur to the richness of the metropolitan landscape of Paris. The historico-geographic stratification of the French capital is the very basis of its inestimable value and can become a key factor of its modernity.


Background Maternal parity is associated with variation in infant growth across mammals, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Given emerging links between growth and the microbiome, and the importance of maternal microbiota in establishing this community, the assembly of the infant gut microbiome may be a mediator of parity effects on infant growth. Results Here, we analyzed 118 fecal and milk samples from mother-infant vervet monkey dyads across the first 6 months postpartum in a population with high growth-associated infant mortality. Despite poorer milk production, infants born to low parity females were larger at 6 months of age than their counterparts and exhibited divergent patterns in gut microbiome assembly. Gut microbiome alpha diversity increased rapidly from the first days of life to 4 months old in all infants, but infants born to low parity females exhibited reduced gut microbiome alpha diversity during early life. At the taxonomic level, infants broadly exhibited a shift from Bacteroides fragilis to Prevotella dominance. Infants of low parity females housed more B. fragilis in their guts, and B. fragilis dominance drove reduced alpha diversity. Maternal vertical transmission to the infant gut was greater from milk than from the maternal gut, and was greatest among infants born to low parity females. B. fragilis was 15-fold more abundant in milk than in the maternal gut and was greater in the milk of low parity females, suggesting that milk may be the primary maternal reservoir of B. fragilis. Path analyses demonstrated that both infant gut alpha diversity and B. fragilis mediated parity effects on postnatal growth: infants were larger at 6 months old if they exhibited reduced alpha diversity and a greater relative abundance of B. fragilis during early life. Conclusion The first days of life are a critical period of infant gut microbiome organization during which the establishment of a less diverse, milk-oriented microbial community abundant in B. fragilis promotes growth among infants born to reproductively inexperienced females.


Research shows a strong relationship between student word knowledge and academic achievement. This research study explores the use of interactive, conceptual word walls to support science learning in an ethnically diverse, high-poverty middle school in a large southern state. Unit test scores of 115 sixth grade students were collected and analyzed in order to test whether the percentage of students passing, and the mean test score among students, significantly varied on the basis of whether interactive, conceptual word walls were utilized. Both were found to be significant. Linear regression determined the effects of word walls on the basis of three demographic variables. On the basis of this analysis, the percentage of students passing is expected to increase by 25% and the mean test scores is predicted to increase by 12.56 points when interactive, conceptual word walls are utilized. Qualitative methods were used to analyze student and teacher perceptions. A good, better, best word wall rubric that was used to guide word wall construction and teacher reflection is also presented. Interactive, conceptual word walls are presented as a viable teaching strategy that positively impacts both unit test means and the total number of students passing science tests.


: In an ideal typical way the cohorts 1920 and 1930 are sketched. In economical and social respects these cohorts illustrate the emergence of new social inequalities and social tension. The cohorts fit into a hypothesized pattern of four generations, that is characteristic for the Netherlands at this time. At last some social and scientific perspectives of the greying of the Netherlands are considered.


The main purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanistic underpinnings of the growth state dependence of alt-EJ. While HRR is strictly cell cycle dependent due to the requirement of a sister chromatid as template, c-NHEJ operates independently of the cell cycle and growth state. C-NHEJ does not use a template and therefore, it cannot restore the sequence around the DSBs. Moreover it can also lead to translocations. Alt-EJ operates on similar basic principles as c-NHEJ but it is even more prone to errors and chromosome translocations. However, unlike c-NHEJ, its efficiency fluctuates throughout the cell cycle and it is completely abrogated when cells are in G0.
In order to explore the mechanisms behind the growth state dependence of alt-EJ, we first inquired whether the chromatin structure is a determinant, as it was previously reported that G0 cells have more compact and transcriptionally inactive chromatin. Our approach was to artificially modify chromatin structure and to measure the kinetics of alt-EJ, particularly following chromatin relaxation. However, under the experimental conditions applied in this study, we were not able to show that chromatin relaxation promoted abrogated alt-EJ in G0 cells. Nevertheless, one intriguing finding was that DNA-PKcs deficient cells exhibited similar chromatin structure related signature of H3K9me2, H3K9me3, H3K27Ac, H3K27me3, H4K20me2/3, HP1 and KAP1 in both cycling and G0 phase. As DNA-PKcs deficient cells do not show typical growth state dependent fluctuations of alt-EJ, this finding suggests that chromatin structure may be the determinant in the growth state dependence of alt-EJ. However, it could be that treatments with limited effects on chromatin structure fail to revert this phenotype of alt-EJ. It is well established that chromatin structure is highly dynamic and plays a central role in DSB repair. Therefore, further investigations in this context are required.
Another prime candidate to explain the growth state dependence of alt-EJ was DNA end resection, as unpublished data from our laboratory has shown that DNA-PKcs deficient human glioblastoma cells, M059J, retain DNA end resection activity in G0. While DNA end resection is typically downregulated in G0/G1 phases of the cell cycle, persistent DNA end resection activity in G0 could explain why DNA-PKcs deficient cells efficiently utilize alt-EJ in G0, in contrast to other c-NHEJ mutants. Our investigations could confirm that, in DNA-PKcs proficient status, DNA end resection is only detectable in exponentially growing cells with an enhanced activity in G2 and it is downregulated in G0 phase. Indeed, cell cycle and growth state dependent fluctuations of DNA end resection parallel the kinetics of alt-EJ and suggest that abrogation of alt-EJ in G0 may be due to lack of DNA end resection. However, unlike DNA-PKcs deficient human glioblastoma cells, we were not able to detect DNA end resection activity in DNA-PKcs deficient MEF and CHO cells in G0. Moreover, we observed that alt-EJ was abrogated in Ku80 deficient MEFs despite detectable DNA end resection activity, which is possibly a consequence of inefficient growth arrest in G0. Yet the response of the latter cell line suggests that growth factors may also be regulating alt-EJ. Here we conclude that, DNA end resection alone may not be responsible for the growth state dependence of alt-EJ. Future studies should be designed with the purpose of analyzing the combined contributions of DNA end resection and other parameters such as chromatin structure, growth factors and transcriptional regulation in the growth state dependence of alt-EJ.


Background Over 180 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer susceptibility have been identified; these SNPs can be combined into polygenic risk scores (PRS) to predict breast cancer risk. Since most SNPs were identified in predominantly European populations, little is known about the performance of PRS in non-Europeans. We tested the performance of a 180-SNP PRS in Latinas, a large ethnic group with variable levels of Indigenous American, European, and African ancestry. Methods We conducted a pooled case-control analysis of U.S. Latinas and Latin-American women (4,658 cases, 7,622 controls). We constructed a 180-SNP PRS consisting of SNPs associated with breast cancer risk (p < 5 × 10−8). We evaluated the association between the PRS and breast cancer risk using multivariable logistic regression and assessed discrimination using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). We also assessed PRS performance across quartiles of Indigenous American genetic ancestry. Results Of 180 SNPs tested, 142 showed directionally consistent associations compared with European populations, and 39 were nominally significant (p < 0.05). The PRS was associated with breast cancer risk, with an odds ratio (OR) per standard deviation increment of 1.58 (95% CI 1.52 to 1.64) and AUCROC of 0.63 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.64). The discrimination of the PRS was similar between the top and bottom quartiles of Indigenous American ancestry. Conclusions The 180-SNP PRS predicts breast cancer risk in Latinas, with similar performance as reported for Europeans. The performance of the PRS did not vary substantially according to Indigenous American ancestry.


Loyalty rewards are pervasive. Airlines offer frequent flyer programs; credit cards offer miles, points, and cash-back; and groceries stores and pharmacies offer points to redeem "free" products. Despite their framing, however, "rewards" can be detrimental for consumers. Professors Oren Bar-Gill and Omri Ben-Shahar have recently noted that while rewards lock consumers in and increase the prices of goods, courts and regulators have paid little attention to them. Noting how a "No Contract" trend emerged in long-term commitments after consumers learned that teaser introductory rates with a lock-in clause triggered subsequent exploitative rates, they concluded that consumers can also learn the costs of loyalty.

In this paper, I develop an alternative view, arguing that there are economic and psychological obstacles for the rise of "No Loyalty". Concerning the former, facing greater competition sellers need to retain consumers to stay in the market and make a profit. Loyalty rewards can lock consumers in, but they also allow sellers to obtain information about their customers. This information is critical for sellers, because it allows them to segment the market, and target tailored promotions and advertising to the most valuable consumers. The lack of a good database places a firm in a serious competitive disadvantage. Regarding the psychological obstacles, when rewards touch consumers' psychological sweet spots, consumers tend to overestimate their value. Rewards can also develop affective reactions and cravings on buyers. Consumers also prefer market with rewards because the bundle product-reward appears to be more valuable than it really is for a significant part of the market.

The main implication of this work is that both, consumers and sellers, prefer markets with rewards. Accordingly, further research should shed light on the merits of legal intervention. This work surveys the evolution rewards have shown in the financial and airline sectors, arguing that loyalty programs trigger particular problems in specific markets. This article also suggests that the costs of rewards are more severe than lock-in and higher prices. Indeed, in addition to market-specific problems, rewards can create an illusion of advantage triggering a behavioral market failure.


BACKGROUND
Although electrochemotherapy appears promising for the treatment of superficial tumors, its usefulness against internal tumors, such as colorectal carcinoma (CRC), has not been well examined. Furthermore, since direct current electric pulses have been used for electropermeabilization of tumors in all in vivo electrochemotherapy studies, including clinical trials, the usefulness of alternating current systems has not been examined at all. In a mouse model it was examined whether the alternating current system with a bipolar snare, which has been employed already as a clinical endoscopic treatment modality, was useful for electrochemotherapy against CRC.

METHODS
Murine CRC colon 26 cells were implanted subcutaneously into syngeneic BALB/c mice and electrochemotherapy with bleomycin (BLM) using the alternating current system was performed against established CRC tumors.

RESULTS
Electrochemotherapy significantly suppressed the growth of established CRC tumors, resulting in significantly prolonged survival of animals with CRC. Histological examination revealed that electrochemotherapy caused massive necrosis of CRC tumors. Subsequent analysis revealed that the delivery of alternating current electric pulses to CRC tumors profoundly increased intratumoral amounts of BLM.

CONCLUSIONS
Because the alternating current system using a bipolar snare has been used widely as an endoscopic treatment modality in clinical settings, these results indicate that electrochemotherapy using the alternating current system may be a promising approach for the treatment of CRC.


AbstractFamilial gigantiform cementoma is an exceedingly rare but distinct subtype of cemento-osseous-fibrous lesion. Undocumented radiographic changes and related bone metabolism disorder are herein hypothesized and discussed.We present an adolescent case with recurrent familial gigantiform cementoma who received surgical intervention in our hospital. Apart from typical multiquadrant and expansile abnormalies involving both jaws, he also suffered from several times of fractures in lower extremity. Furthermore, radiographic examinations of calvaria, pelvis, femoris, tibia, and fibula all revealed radiolucent areas signifying diffuse osteopenic bone losses. Some of his consanguineous relatives bore the same burden of fractures during pubertal period.Considering these polyostotic conditions, a correlation of congenital bone metabolism disorder in cases with familial gigantiform cementoma, named "calcium steal disorder," was thus proposed.Familial gigantiform cementoma is closely associated with "calcium steal disorder." Whole-body dual-energy absorptiometry should be considered as a routine examination for fracture-related risk prediction.


Aim: Progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) may be accelerated by tissue hypoxia due to impaired blood supply. This could be induced by small artery narrowing resulting in abnormally high intrarenal vascular resistance (RVR). We investigated whether a reduction in RVR achieved by adding vasodilating medical therapy (AVT) is superior to adding nonvasodilating medical therapy (AnonVT) regarding tissue oxygenation and preservation of kidney function. Methods: Eighty-three grade 3 and 4 CKD patients [estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) 34.6 ml/min per 1.73 m2] were randomized to either AVT with amlodipine and/or renin angiotensin blockade or AnonVT with the nonvasodilating beta-blocker metoprolol. Investigations were performed at baseline and after 18 months of therapy. Systemic vasodilation was documented in the forearm vasculature using resting venous occlusion plethysmography. GFR was measured as 51Chrome-EDTA plasma clearance. Using MRI, renal artery blood flow was measured for calculation of RVR and for estimating renal oxygenation (R2*). Results: AVT and AnonVT achieved as planned similar blood pressure levels throughout the study. At follow-up, resistance had decreased by 7% (P < 0.05) and RVR by 12% (P < 0.05) in the AVT group, whereas in the AnonVT group, resistance increased by 39% (P < 0.01), whereas RVR remained unchanged. At follow-up, no significant differences in cortical or medullary R2* values between AVT and AnonVT were observed, and the GFR decline was similar in the two groups (3.0 vs. 3.3 ml/min per 1.73 m2). Conclusion: Long-term intensified vasodilation treatment reduced peripheral and RVR, but this was not associated with improvement of R2* or protection against loss of kidney function in CKD patients.


U.S. Army CH-47D cargo helicopter crewmembers are exposed to high levels of noise on a routine basis, yet must accomplish demanding missions that rely heavily on clear communication. This study looked at the auditory influences affecting communication by 17 crewmembers of a CH-47D Army Reserve unit. Results revealed (1) noise levels that exceed those of other Army rotary-winged aircraft, (2) different exposure levels for aviators and crewchiefs, (3) an overall preference for hearing "critical or diagnostic" aircraft sounds rather than wearing double hearing protection, (4) complaints of post-flight tinnitus or muffled hearing, (5) helmet discomfort among the majority of crewmembers, (6) a high incidence of hearing loss, (7) difficulties in adjusting radio volume controls for aviators, and (8) the effects of eyeglasses or protective masks on hearing and communications.


Lophiostoma, Lophiotrema and Massarina are similar genera that are difficult to distinguish morphologically. In order to obtain a better understanding of these genera, lectotype material of the generic types, Lophiostoma macrostomun, Lophiotrema nucula and Massarina eburnea were examined and are re-described. The phylogeny of these genera is investigated based oil the analysis of 26 Lophiostoma- and Massarina-like taxa and three genes - 18S, 28S rDNA and RPB2. These taxa formed five well-supported sub-clades in Pleosporales. This Study confirms that both Lophiostoma and Massarina are polyphyletic. Massarina-like taxa can presently be differentiated into two groups - the Lentithecium group and the Massarina group. Of these, the type species M. eburnea together with the Massarina group represents Massarina sensu stricto. Lophiostoma taxa Clustered in two groups - one group, including the type species L. macrostomum, is characterized by fusiform, hyaline one-septate ascospores which are pigmented and 3-septate when senescent, clavate asci, and apical structures which are highly variable, being crest-like in L. macrostomum, all umbilicate pore surrounded by 4-6 radial ridges in L. rugulosum, or papillate in L. glabrotunicatum. The second group comprises Lophiostoma species with heavily pigmented multi-septate ascospores and compressed crests. Lophiotrema species including the type species L. nucula form a monophyletic group. One new genus - Lentithecium with five new species - Lentithecium aquaticum, Lophiostoma glabrotunicatum, L. rugulosum, Lophiotrema brunneosporum and L. lignicola and three new combinations - Lentithecium arundinaceum, L. fluviatile and L. lineare are introduced in this paper.


Abstract:In 1913, Javanese public prosecutor Soemarsono clashed with his colonial superior by refusing him traditional deference, donning European clothes, and actively engaging in nationalist associations. These actions culminated in an overhaul of the appearance of Dutch hegemony and a widespread emancipatory social change in colonial Indonesia. This history is best appreciated from a world historical perspective that includes both long-term historical processes that shaped Soemarsono's world, such as the Indianization of Indonesia, the spread of Islam, and Western colonialism, as well as contemporary global developments, such as the rise of Japan, the Chinese revolution, Islamic Modernism, and the appeal of democratic principles. Soemarsono's awareness of these global perspectives enabled him to successfully ignite change in colonial Indonesia. His story provides an approach that allows historians to emphasize how individual agents make history in a world historical context.


Bismuth titanate is a typical layer-structured ferroelectric material and belongs to the Aurivilius type-structure compounds family. A bismuth titanate ceramic material could be obtained by mechanically activated synthesis after thermal treatment at a temperature slightly lower than in conventional solid-state reaction. In this case bismuth titanate was prepared through mechanochemical synthesis starting from bismuth oxide and titanium oxide in rutile form. The mixture of oxides was milled in a zirconium oxide jar in a planetary ball-mill in intervals from 1 to 12 hours. The ratio of powders to zirconium oxide balls during milling was 1:20. Bismuth titanate was formed after 1 h. The Raman spectroscopy analysis was performed.


BACKGROUND: Most previous studies on white cell (WBC) reduction by filtration have been small‐scale studies conducted under tightly controlled laboratory conditions. Their results would be the ideal, rather than what might be expected during routine operation. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To obtain information on routine filtration of blood components, data have been collected from a large‐scale, ongoing, multicenter clinical trial designed to determine the effectiveness of WBC reduction in or ultraviolet B radiation of platelet concentrates before transfusion in preventing platelet alloimmunization and platelet transfusion refractoriness. The WBC content of blood components both before and after filtration was determined by automated cell counters and a manual propidium iodide‐staining method, respectively. Platelet and red cell losses during filtration were measured. RESULTS: The average platelet losses after filtration were 24 +/− 15 percent and 20 +/− 9 percent for apheresis platelets and pooled platelets, respectively. The frequencies at which filtered platelet concentrates contained high levels of residual WBCs (> 5 × 10(6)) were 7 percent and 5 percent for apheresis platelets and pooled platelets, respectively. Further analysis of the platelet filtration data showed that greater numbers of total initial WBCs in the pooled platelets were associated with increased percentages of filtration failure (> 5 × 10(6) residual WBCs). For packed red cells, the average losses during filtration were 23 +/− 4 percent and 15 +/− 3 percent for CPDA‐1 units and Adsol units, respectively. The frequencies at which filtered red cells contained > 5 × 10(6) residual WBCs were 2.7 percent for one type of filter and 0.3 percent for another type of filter. CONCLUSION: There were significant losses of platelets during filtration, which could add to the costs of WBC reduction and lead to possible increases in donor exposures. Filtration failures still occurred, despite careful observation of the standard filtration procedures. The number of total WBCs in pooled platelets before filtration has been identified as an important factor in determining the success of WBC reduction.


This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12491 "Interpreting Observed Action". The aim of the seminar was to get a coherent picture, which transcends the borders of applications and disciplines, of existing approaches and problems in interpreting observed action in semantic terms -- primarily action by humans, but action by artificial agents may play some role, too. The seminar brought together, on the one hand, researchers from the different camps of AI, robotics, and knowledge-based systems who are working on the various aspects and purposes of interpreting observed action by humans, or occasionally, other agents; on the other hand, it added some researchers from cognitive science (psychology, neurosciences) working on human perception of behaviour and action. The main outcome of the seminar were a set of guidelines for setting up a workbench, which can be used to explore and test methods and techniques related to interpreting observed action.


Biofuels that are renewable and environmentally benign constitute an important area of research, as the supply of fossil fuels decreases and the amount of green house gases in the atmosphere increases. Biohydrogen is not as well explored as other biofuels, but its properties render it a promising complement, as it is clean and can be used directly in fuel cells to generate electricity, the only waste products being water and heat. Hydrogenproducing microorganisms have the potential to be used to recycle industrial waste, such as carbohydrates from food manufacturing. Hence the cost of waste disposal could be reduced whilst biofuel is being produced through microbial processes. Escherichia coli is a well-known microorganism that produces hydrogen under fermentative conditions, through the conversion of formate to hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide, via an enzyme complex called formate hydrogenlyase (FHL). The complex is anchored to the inner cell membrane and consists of seven subunits: a formate dehydrogenase, a [Ni-Fe] hydrogenase, three electron carrier proteins, which together make up a large 'hydrophilic domain', and two integral membrane proteins (the 'membrane domain'). Even though the entire bacterial genome is known, the FHL complex remains little understood and has proven difficult to isolate and characterise. During this project, a genetically modified strain producing only the hydrophilic domain of FHL was constructed, and the resultant sub-complex was purified. It was hoped that, if a stable and homogenous core complex could be isolated, it might be subjected to further analysis, such as elucidating the subunit stoichiometry and solving the structure. Furthermore, FHL is notoriously oxygen labile, which hampers its study and technological development. However, oxygen tolerance is a natural feature found in some other [Ni-Fe] hydrogenases, and recent research shows that this property is likely dependent on the presence of extra cysteine residues near an important metal cluster in the enzyme. These cysteines are not present in FHL and a complex that could be active in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions may be a useful tool in optimising microbial biohydrogen processes. Thus, three strains that each expressed a modified FHL variant carrying single Cysteine-for-Glycine substitutions were constructed. The modified FHL complexes proved to remain active in vivo, and can serve as the basis of genetically engineering oxygen tolerance into this important enzyme.


This study aims to investigate the potential of incorporating social interaction and social learning in modelling travellers' change of behaviour under uncertainty. The interdependent situation between travellers in using the road as a public good is considered a source of uncertainty to be studied. The role of social information in reducing the level of uncertainty is investigated. The research methodology utilises laboratory and simulation experiments. A social interdependence situation which is formulated as a hypothetical employer-based demand management initiative in reducing car use is used as the case study. A laboratory experiment demonstrates the dynamic processes of travel behaviour in making repeated travel decisions. Analyses on group and individual behaviours of travellers provide some indications about the existence of some types of social and individual learning mechanisms in their decision-making. The results of the laboratory experiment also provide basic information for developing a simulation model in the next stage of the study. The simulation experiment utilises an agent-based simulation model to simulate and analyse behaviours of individuals in larger environments, larger group sizes, longer time periods and various situational settings. The simulation experiments provide indications, which are supported by the evidence obtained from the laboratory experiment, that social information may have both positive and negative effects on individuals' behaviour, depending on the form of social learning mechanisms that are used by travellers. Providing social information does not necessarily reduce the uncertainty level; however, it is shown to do so when social learning strongly exists among travellers.


The spectrum of bacterial infections during pregnancy is broad. Among blood-transmitted infections especially listeriosis endangers the child. More frequent are ascending and peripartal infections, which imperil both mother and child. The disturbed vaginal flora, which occurs in 10-30% of all pregnant women, has to be regarded as its reservoir. Cervicitis caused by gonococci or chlamydiae, but also high concentrations of facultative pathogenic bacteria are regarded as the main cause of the preterm rupture of membranes leading to preterm delivery. Especially feared is the group-A-streptococci infection, which appears more frequently. In 5% of all pregnant women a chlamydial cervicitis is found.


The 20th century was a time of rapidly escalating use of lead (Pb). As a consequence, the standing stock of lead is now substantial. By linking lead extraction and use to estimates of product lifetimes and recycling, we have derived an estimate of the standing stock of lead throughout the century by top‐down techniques. We find that the stock of in‐use lead is almost entirely made up of batteries (68%), lead sheet (10%), and lead pipe (10%). Globally, about 200 teragrams (Tg) Pb was mined in the 20th century, and about 25 Tg Pb now makes up the in‐use stock, so some 87% has been lost over time. Nonetheless, about 11% of all lead entering use was added to in‐use stock in 2000, so the stock continues to increase each year. Currently, most of the stock is in Europe (32%), North America (32%), and Asia (24%). On a per capita basis, the global stock is about 5.6 kilograms (kg) Pb, and regional in‐use stock ranges from 2.0 kg Pb (Africa) to 19.7 kg Pb (Europe). From a sustainability perspective, we estimate that the global lead resource is around 415 Tg Pb. Were the entire world to receive the services of lead at the level of the developed countries, some 130 Tg Pb would be needed, so there do not appear to be significant long‐term limitations to the lead supply.


From being the "Celtic Tiger" poster child of neo-liberalism, Ireland has moved
first into recession and then into an IMF-EU bailout entailing massive cuts,
with unemployment at the highest-recorded levels ever, the historically dominant
Fianna Fail party alternatively in third or fourth place in polls and an unprecedented
level of withdrawal of trust. Yet by contrast with the political upheavals in Iceland
and Greece and the dramatic protests in countries like Britain, France and Italy,
Ireland has seen remarkably little by way of active protest. The few large events
have been determinedly single-issue or thoroughly corralled by conservative
unions, radical attempts at organising coordinated movement resistance let alone
alternative social directions have failed comprehensively to mobilise popular support,
and all the indications are that the election will lead to a relatively routine alternation
of power with Labour as junior partner in a government committed to a modified
version of neo-liberal austerity.

While the Irish left has discussed the economic side of the crisis ad nauseam,
little serious attention (in politics or academia) has been given to understanding
this situation, which is rather taken as a given. This paper attempts an answer
to the question of why responses to the crisis have been so restricted to organisational
fixes. It starts with a broad analysis of the shaping of popular agency in Ireland via
the long-term effects of nationalism, the channelling of popular hopes through state-led
modernisation and the institutionalisation of self-organisation, with particular attention
to the unresolved issues of "carceral Catholicism" in the South and war in the North.
Discussing left parties, unions, community activism and social movements, the paper
explores Ireland's "Piven and Cloward" moment in the failure of organisational
substitutionalism through electoralism, social partnership, clientelism and populism.
If modernisation and social partnership together represented a form of passive
revolution, constructing a new hegemony in the wake of the collapse of nationalist
autarky, the underlying relations constructed in this period seem remarkably unshaken
by state withdrawal from this programme. In this context it argues that casual reference
to counter-hegemony as a simple collection of moments of cultural opposition is a
wilful misunderstanding of the problem, politically and intellectually, and that the real
challenge is to construct a coherent alternative which has the capacity of becoming
hegemonic in its turn in both these dimensions.
Given this analysis of the context of Irish movement activity, what can or should
organisers do, in the historically new situation created after the end of the "Celtic
Tiger"? The paper argues that simple alliances between the leaderships of
organisations which in practice privilege their engagement with existing institutional
arrangements over popular self-organisation will not be enough, and explores the
outcomes of attempts at alliance-building in three arenas: unions, social movements
and community groups; electoral politics; and street protest.


Introduction: Each region or ethnicity commonly has certain distinguished culinary heritage, including Batak Toba ethnicity, originated from Sumatera Utara province, Indonesia that is also known for their traditional alcoholic beverage, known as Tuak. Consumption of alcohol has been reported to contribute to the occurrence of addiction and other psychiatric syndromes, including anxiety. Aim: This study is intended to investigate factors related to anxiety scores in tuak drinkers. Method: 72 tuak drinkers from 4 districts of Medan were recruited by using cluster sampling method. Anxiety was measured by using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale – Anxiety (HADS-A) questionnaire and multiple linear regression was used to determine factors related to anxiety scores. Result: Length of education, monthly income, and total score of Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) are found to be independent factors related to anxiety scores in Tuak drinkers (R2=82.9%). Conclusion: The result of this study may become important evidence to promote mental wellbeing support in the future.


BACKGROUND
EUCAST recently revised the definition of the 'I' category from 'intermediate' to 'susceptible, increased exposure'. Consequently, all current antifungal breakpoints have been reviewed and revised breakpoints (v 10.0) have been released.

OBJECTIVES
We investigated isavuconazole and comparator MICs (mg/L) against contemporary moulds and the consequences of the breakpoint revision for susceptibility classification.

METHODS
Six hundred and ninety-six Aspergillus and 46 other moulds were included. EUCAST E.Def 10.1 azole resistance screening was performed for Aspergillus fumigatus and E.Def 9.3.1 testing of non-susceptible A. fumigatus and other moulds. Most non-wildtype/resistant isolates underwent cyp51A sequencing.

RESULTS
Isavuconazole MIC50/MIC90s were ≤1/≤2 mg/L for Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans versus 2/4 mg/L for Aspergillus niger and 2/16 mg/L for Aspergillus terreus. For the remaining moulds, MICs were highest for Fusarium (16 to >16 mg/L), lowest for dermatophytes (0.06-0.5 mg/L) and in between for Mucorales and others (1 to >16 mg/L). A very strong isavuconazole-voriconazole MIC correlation was found for A. fumigatus (Pearson r = 0.888) and itraconazole-posaconazole correlation for A. fumigatus (r = 0.905) and A. terreus (r = 0.848). For A. fumigatus, the revised breakpoints lowered isavuconazole resistance (22.6% to 7.7%, P < 0.0001) and increased voriconazole resistance (3.8% to 6.7%, P = 0.025), resulting in similar resistance rates across the four azoles (range: 6.7%-7.7%). For A. terreus, isavuconazole resistance remained unchanged (81.3%) and higher than itraconazole (43.8%, P = 0.004) and posaconazole (53.1%, P = 0.03) resistance. Azole cross-resistance was found in 24/24, 13/20 and 4/90 isolates, and Cyp51A alterations in 16/18, 1/7 and 2/4 sequenced isolates with isavuconazole MICs of >4, 4 and 2 mg/L, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Isavuconazole displays broad anti-mould activity. The revised breakpoints result in fewer misclassifications of wildtype isolates without compromising detection of resistant mutants.


Introduction: Optic nerve and retinal diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are significant public health concerns and have a momentous impact on patients' functional status and quality of life. These diseases are among the most common causes of visual impairment worldwide and account for billions of dollars in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity. The importance of adequate treatment of these conditions and the need for efficacious therapeutic drugs cannot be overstated. Unoprostone continues to be developed as a potential treatment for these debilitating diseases. Areas covered: This review provides background information on unoprostone isopropyl (unoprostone), a prostanoid and synthetic docosanoid approved for the treatment of open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension, and recapitulates safety and efficacy data as it relates to this indication. Additionally, this review describes potential new uses of unoprostone as therapy for dry AMD and RP. A literature search of peer-reviewed publications was performed utilizing PubMed. Searches were last updated on 10 September 2012. Expert opinion: Current data indicate that unoprostone does significantly lower intraocular pressure (IOP) and has a favorable safety and tolerability profile. However, the IOP-lowering effects of unoprostone do not compare with other commercially available prostanoids and it has the disadvantage of a twice-daily rather than once-daily dosing regimen. Nonetheless, recent data suggest that unoprostone may improve neuronal survival and increase ocular blood flow, indicating that it may have some value as a therapy for glaucoma, RP and dry AMD. Further studies are needed to confirm whether unoprostone provides any clinically significant advantage over the other commercially available prostanoids.


This study deals with an application of the method of the coefficient of variation in strength prediction of the self-piercing riveted joints. Defined as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean, the coefficient of variation may be used in both the reliability-based design of self-piercing riveted joints and in the evaluation of existing products. In this study, the concept and definition of the coefficient of variation are stated. The procedure of the use of coefficient of variation for approximate calculations of strength of the self-piercing riveted joints is presented and compared with the classical Taylor expansion method. This is illustrated with a numerical example.


In this response to Graham Smetham's criticisms, I defend the approach of metaphysical agnosticism on philosophical grounds. Pyrrhonian (agnostic) sceptical approaches are distinguished from Academic ones and shown not to be contradictory provided one does not begin with unnecessary metaphysical assumptions. The burden of proof needs to be put on those who make metaphysical claims rather than those who stick to experience as a point of reference, and falsification involves a provisional, not an absolute, process of elimination of theories that do not fit the evidence. Smetham's appeals to certain results from quantum physics as exceptional are shown to be unacceptable on the grounds that no scientific observation can confirm metaphysical claims that lie beyond their scope. A wider psychological, moral and linguistic context is given for the argument that we should avoid the adoption of a metaphysical framework of understanding.


Social scientists often study the differential effects of explanatory variables among multiple social groups such as race, ethnic group, and nation.This paper examines the Wald test for testing equality of logit coefficients from models of multiple social groups. I propose a Wald statistic that can perform some joint tests of group comparisons that the usual likelihood ratio test cannot. Two examples apply the Wald statistic for testing various hypotheses, and show that the Wald test is flexible and straightforward for making comparisons across social groups, and that the proposed Wald test may find wide applications in the social sciences.


Social and cultural context is largely missing in current language translation systems. Dictionary based systems translate terms in a source language to an equivalent term in a target language, but often the translation could be inaccurate when context is not taken into consideration, or when an equivalent term in the target language does not exist. Domain knowledge and context can be made explicit by using ontologies, and ontology utilization would enable inclusion of semantic relations to other terms, leading to translation results which is more comprehensive than a single equivalent term. It is proposed that existing ontologies in the domain should be utilized and combined by ontology merging techniques, to leverage on existing resources to form a basis ontology with contextual representation, and this can be further enhanced by using machine translation techniques on existing corpora to improve the basic ontology to append further contextual information to the knowledge base. Statistical methods in machine translation could provide automated relevance determination of these existing resources which are machine readable, and aid the human translator in establishing a domain specific knowledge base for translation. Advancements in communication and technologies has made the world smaller where people of different regions and languages need to work together and interact. Machine translation provides an automatic approach to make translation facilities available to anyone, at any time. The accuracy of these translations are crucial as it could lead to misunderstandings and possible conflict. While single equivalent terms in a target language can provide a gist of the meaning of a source language term, a semantic conceptualisation provided by an ontology could enable the term to be understood in the specific context that it is being used.


The H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (HGPS), the first comprehensive survey of the inner Galaxy at TeV energies, has led to the discovery of an unexpectedly large and diverse population of over 60 sources of TeV gamma rays within its current range of l = 250 to 65 degrees in longitude and |b| < 3.5 degrees in latitude. The data set of the HGPS comprises 2800 hours of high-quality data, taken in the years 2004 to 2013. The sensitivity for the detection of point-like sources is at the level of 2% Crab or better in the HGPS region. The population of TeV gamma-ray emitters is dominated by the pulsar wind nebula and supernova remnant source classes, although nearly a third of the sources remain unidentified or ambiguous. We are presenting the latest HGPS significance and sensitivity maps, as well as a work on the HGPS source catalog, based on a uniform re-analysis of the full data set collected in the last decade. We will also give a brief overview of the H.E.S.S. Galactic source population.


Although most indices suggest the 1997-98 El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was more intense than the 1982-83 ENSO event, the coastline of central California sustained approximately $14 million in damages during the 1982-83 winter, more than double the economic impact experienced during the 1997-98 winter. We attribute the difference in coastal response to a combination of oceanographic and anthropogenic factors. During 1982-83, the large wave events tended to coincide with more southerly and higher velocity winds, increasing set-up along the shoreline and beach erosion due to offshore-directed flow. These large wave events also occurred during very high tides, causing the waves to break closer to shore and to strike the coast with more energy, increasing their impact on coastal structures and property. During the 1997-98 winter, however, the largest waves arrived during lower tides and coincided with lower wind velocities. The northwesterly winds reduced set-up along the shoreline and caused net onshore flow, decreasing wave impact. Another important factor contributing to the disproportionate damage between the winters was the higher percentage of shoreline that had been armored by 1997. Most areas significantly damaged in 1982-83 winter were protected by more substantial seawalls or revetments during the 1997-98 ENSO event. Improving the understanding of variations in coastal response to extreme storm events is essential to bolstering the resiliency of our coastal communities.


The chloride ingress in concrete cause deterioration in concrete due reinforcement corrosion. Adding bacteria in concrete can improve material properties and increase durability with mechanism resist chloride ingress in concrete. Chloride ingress in concrete by bacteria is particularly suited for applications in chloride ion penetration in concrete. The research is objective to determine the effect of adding bacteria to the concrete properties. The bacteria used is locally isolated and enriched to suite concrete environment. The type of the bacteria used is identified as Sulphate Reduction Bacteria (SRB). The SRB is added into concrete mix with concentrations of 3%, 5% and 7%. The compressive and water penetration tests at 28th, 56th, 90th, 180th and the 360th day of curing period were conducted. Cubes of size 150mm × 150mm × 150mm were prepared for compressive strength and water penetration tests. The result of compressive strength shows significant strength of 66.3 MPa on the 360 of day. The water depth penetration also shows a significant impact with addition of SRB with 80% reduction of penetrated water into concrete compared to the control specimen. The overall results of bacteria showed promising results and further study on chloride condition capability is encouraging. It can be concluded that SRB with 5% addition was the optimum percentage to obtain the optimum strength and durability performances.


The transcription factor achaete-scute homologue-1 (ASH1) is essential for neural differentiation during fetal development and is a cardinal feature of neuroendocrine (NE) tumors such as small cell lung cancer. To explore the potential of ASH1 to promote NE differentiation and tumorigenesis in the lung, we constitutively expressed the factor in nonendocrine airway epithelial cells using transgenic mice. Progressive airway hyperplasia and metaplasia developed beginning at 3 weeks of life. ASH1 potently enhanced the tumorigenic effect of SV40 large T antigen in airway epithelium. These doubly transgenic animals developed massive NE lung tumors, implying that ASH1 may cooperate with defects in p53, pRb, or related pathways in promoting NE lung carcinogenesis.


Islamic economics has been practiced since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, but at that time until several centuries later there is no classification of specific disciplines for economics, causing some Muslim works lost by the western historians drowned. Therefore it is necessary to study the classical Islamic economic thinking. This paper aims to review Abu Hanifah's economic ideas by comparing it with the opinion of some scholars and match whether Abu Hanifah's thoughts can be used today. The method used is literature research with documentary method to collect data. The results of this study, that Abu Hanifah does not have a special idea in the economy but has a special view in every akqqhatat fiqh such as greetings, charity honey, and hawalah. Some of Abu Hanifah's opinions are different from other priests causing a Muslim today to sort out the khilafiyah.


Oxidative DNA damages determine the activation of cell repair processes. These processes originate repair products, including the most studied one, 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG). Several analytical techniques have been applied to measure urinary 8-OH-dG, but a discrepancy in basal urinary 8-OH-dG levels has been noted when comparing chromatographic techniques with immunoenzymatic assays (ELISA). Our laboratory has developed a fully validated, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method presenting high sensitivity and specificity, which has participated in an inter-laboratory validation of assays for the measurement of urinary 8-OH-dG (ESCULA project). Mass Spectrometric techniques showed more accuracy and specificity than immunoenzymatic methods. Human spot urine samples were analyzed in order to investigate the possibility to correct urinary lesion measurements for creatinine and to evaluate the intra- and inter-day variability of 8-OH-dG excretion in urine. Our results confirm the opportunity to delve into these issues.
Finally, we measured urinary 8-OH-dG in workers exposed to antineoplastic drugs and in a group of unexposed subjects to evaluate the relationship between occupational exposure and oxidative damage related to the internal dose. We found higher levels of 8-OH-dG in exposed nurses, but, as compared to the non-exposed subjects, the difference was not statistically significant, probably do to the very low level of exposure. The scientific literature is rapidly developing on the topic of DNA damage and related repair capacity. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to achieve a better understanding of the sources of DNA lesions in urine and their significance, both in clinical and occupational medicine.


More than 8.2 billion ha of cropland, gardens, and forests are treated with the herbicide glyphosate each year. Whereas the toxicity of glyphosate and associated adjuvants has been measured in other vertebrates, few, if any, studies have looked at their effects in reptiles. In some instances, management of turtle habitat requires control of successional stages through application of herbicides. Adults and juvenile turtles may be exposed directly, whereas embryos may contact the chemicals through the soil. In the present study, we exposed eggs of red‐eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) to single applications of herbicide ranging from 0 to 11,206 ppm wet weight of glyphosate in Glypro® and 0 to 678 ppm of the surfactant, LI700. Hatching success at the highest concentration was significantly lower (73%) than in other treatments (80–100%). At hatch, turtles at the highest concentration weighed less than those at other concentrations. During a 14‐d holding period, we observed dose–response relationships in the ability of hatchlings to right themselves when turned on their backs. At the end of the holding period, hatchlings at the highest dose level were still lighter, and somatic indices were lower, than those in other treatments. Genetic damage, as measured by flow cytometry, increased with treatment concentration except for the highest dose. We conclude that because of the high concentrations needed to produce effects and the protection offered by several centimeters of soil or sediment, glyphosate with LI700 poses low levels of risk to red‐eared slider embryos under normal field operations with regards to the endpoints measured in the present study. Carelessness in handling glyphosate or failure to follow label directions may produce adverse effects. There also is a risk that the health of turtle embryos may be affected in ways not measured in the present study.