This article presents the results of a descriptive phenomenological study with mixed approach carried out to identify the pedagogical, curricular and didactic elements involved in the creation of an e-learning environment for the students of the course Directed Research I at the State Distance University in Costa Rica (UNED). As for the method, it is guided by a process of concurrent triangulation where there is a preeminence of data of a quantitative nature that are complemented and validated with qualitative data. Questionnaires were applied to all 60 students enrolled in Directed Research I and interviews were carried out with three tutors. Findings show that most students are satisfied with the pedagogical, curricular and didactic elements of UNED's educational model. However, both tutors and students agree on the need to strengthen actions that promote meaningful learning. The conclusions point the need to orient the teachers' work to the students' necessities using the potential offered by ICT for the generation of educational proposals in the form of e-learning.


The 'Kuala Lumpur Waterfront' may be unfamiliar to many. Kuala Lumpur is a city that originates at the confluence of two rivers, the Klang and Gombak Rivers. The waterfront used to be very busy with activities when it was once a trading post for the export of tin. This was once the lifeline of the city - its main mode of transportation. The activity at the waterfront has changed over the years along with the social, economic and physical development of the city. Many waterfront cities throughout the world have gone through similar changes when the mode of transportation changed from water to the motor system. A number of cities have made efforts to integrate the cities' activities with their water body. This research attempts to investigate the functional aspects at the Kuala Lumpur waterfront within the city centre in terms of its level of contextual integration with the urban rivers in the current context. The technique adopted for this research is field observations which include building use survey and time interval observation to investigate the Junctional aspects in ten demarcated zones along the Kuala Lumpur waterfront within the city centre. The research concluded with the finding that all the zones have medium level of contextual integration between the waterfront and the urban river in terms of its building use, which depends much on the continuity of activities, their positioning location, accessibility and the provision of space and facilities.
© 2016 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK.. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/aje-bs.v1i1.164
Keywords: Contextual integration, waterfront, urban river, activity


Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to assess atrial changes across pregnancy and postpartum using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) to measure atrial end-diastolic volume (EDV). Study Design This was a 2-year prospective observational study of healthy nulliparous women. Each underwent serial cMRI in both maternal left lateral and supine positions at five epochs: 12 to 16 weeks, 26 to 30 weeks, 32 to 36 weeks, within 48 hours after delivery, and 12 weeks postpartum. EDV was calculated and compared with 12-week postpartum values. Results A total of 24 women completed the study. One woman developed preeclampsia, and her data were excluded. Mean age was 27 ± 2.8 years, and mean body mass index was 25.4 ± 3.8 kg/m2. Left atrial EDV increased by 12 weeks (p = 0.045) and remained significantly elevated through 32 to 36 (p < 0.0001) weeks. Maternal lateral positioning was associated with larger left atrial EDV after 12 weeks. Right atrial EDV was significantly elevated at 26 to 30 (p = 0.04) and 32 to 36 (p = 0.02) weeks in the lateral position, though there was no difference in the supine position. Conclusion We documented a significant increase in EDV for both atria during pregnancy. Volume changes were greater in the lateral compared with the supine position, with the most dramatic changes in left atrium at 32 to 36 weeks.


Metal magnetic memory (MMM) method, based on the magneto-elasticity and mechanical effect theory, is a new nondestructive testing technology. This paper aims at the material property and failure analysis for steam turbine blade with MMM method. The failure blade and its fracture face are tested with MMM technology at workshop. It has been found that the MMM signal variation gradient of the crack transition zone in the fracture face is minimal, that of the crack initiation zone is in the middle, and that of the tear fracture zone is maximal. MMM testing results reflect material behavior degradation of the failure blade. In order to proof the MMM results, the dynamic stress of the steam turbine blade under the operation loading is calculated by WESTHOMES software and analyzed theoretically. It has proved the validity of the MMM method applied on material property evaluation and failure analysis for steam turbine blade.


ABSTRACT In this study, we examined the role of context in autobiographical memory narratives, specifically as it pertains to gender among emerging adults. Male and female participants reported stressful events in their lives in the presence of an experimenter, and were randomly assigned either to report events verbally or type them, and to report in the presence of a male or female experimenter. Narratives were coded for factual and interpretive content. Results revealed that men verbally reporting to women reported longer narratives than all other groups. Women's narrative length did not vary by medium of report or conversational partner, but women used proportionally fewer internal state phrases when verbally reporting to men than when reporting to women. Women also used proportionally fewer evaluative statements in verbal reports than in typed narratives. Of these important interactions among context, gender, and experimenter gender, some findings, such as men's longer narratives and women's reduced internal states, were counter to expectations. These findings highlight the importance of methodological influences in autobiographical memory studies, in regard to both the context generated by experimental methods, and how gender differences are understood.


To evaluate response rates to 3, 5, or 10 million units (MU) of interferon alfa‐2b, given thrice weekly, and to determine whether higher doses of interferon increase the likelihood or durability of the response, a multicenter, randomized trial was performed at nine academic medical centers in the United States. Two hundred forty eight patients with chronic hepatitis C were randomized to receive 3, 5, or 10 MU of interferon alfa‐2b thrice weekly for 12 weeks. Based on the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) response at treatment‐week 12, the patients were rerandomized to additional therapy at the same or at increased doses for an additional 12 to 36 weeks; in the case of no response to the highest dose, the patients were discontinued from the study. Serum ALT concentrations and liver histology were measured. The overall complete response rates to 3, 5, or 10 MU were not different at treatment‐week 12 (31% vs. 42% vs. 40%, not significant). The majority of week‐12 responders continued to respond during additional treatment. When the treatment was discontinued, 15.4% to 19.0% of patients maintained their response. Of the nonresponders to 3 MU at week 12, who were continued on 3 MU for an additional 12 weeks, none responded. However, response to additional therapy occurred in 12% of week‐12 nonresponders, whose dose was escalated from 3 or 5 MU to 10 MU. The only baseline features associated with the treatment response were the absence of fibrosis or cirrhosis on the pretreatment liver biopsy and viral genotype. We conclude that the initial response to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C is not increased by treatment with higher doses of the drug. Patients who do not respond to 3 MU by treatment‐week 12 will not respond with continued therapy at that dose; however, a proportion of patients who do not respond to 12 weeks of treatment with 3 or 5 MU may respond to higher doses. Although the long‐term sustained response rates are marginally increased with interferon doses above 3 MU three times per week, the side effects are difficult to tolerate. The analysis of baseline factors in relation to response identified no single baseline factor associated with a low‐enough response rate to warrant withholding interferon therapy from patients with chronic hepatitis C.


Abstract Two age-equivalent Upper Triassic fluvial successions deposited on the continental interior of the southwestern United States were evaluated using an adapted marine stacking-pattern analysis methodology. A three-tier cyclic hierarchy is present in the strata at both study areas. Meter-scale fining-upward fluival aggradation cycles (FACs) comprise fluvial aggradational cycle sets (FACSETs) 4–15 m thick (avg. 8.4 m). FACSETs in turn stack into four fluvial sequences 26–48 m thick (avg. 41 m). Within these sequences, transgressive-systems-tract equivalents (TE) are characterized by channel sands and associated minor overbank deposits and relatively immature paleosols (i.e., high rates of deposition), whereas highstand- to falling-stage-systems-tract equivalents (HFE) are dominated by overbank muds and relatively well-developed paleosols (i.e., lower rates of deposition). These two fluvial successions, which are 200 km apart, contain age-equivalent fluvial sequences that record similar histories of deposition and pedogenesis: Sequence 1 contains only an incomplete HFE; Sequence 2 includes both the TE and HFE; Sequence 3 is an HFE; and Sequence 4 contains only a TE. Fluvial sequences likely accumulated in response to pulses of source area uplift and/or basin subsidence, which resulted in changes in accommodation. Conversely, higher-frequency FACs and FACSETs that occur within sequences do not correlate between study areas and are likely the products of autocyclic processes, such as channel avulsion, floodplain aggradation, and channel migration. These results suggest that regionally significant tectonic episodes may be discernible in suspended-load fluvial deposits that accumulated over a broad area.


In the Internet of Things (IoT) research arena, many efforts are devoted to adapt the existing IP standards to emerging IoT nodes. This is the direction followed by three Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Working Groups, which paved the way for research on IP-based constrained networks. Through a simplification of the whole TCP/IP stack, resource constrained nodes become direct interlocutors of application level entities in every point of the network. In this paper we analyze some side effects of this solution, when in the presence of large amounts of data to transmit. In particular, we conduct a performance analysis of the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), a widely accepted web transfer protocol for the Internet of Things, and propose a service management enhancement that improves the exploitation of the network and node resources. This is specifically thought for constrained nodes in the abovementioned conditions and proves to be able to significantly improve the node energetic performance when in the presence of large resource representations (hence, large data transmissions).


Steamwood cubic-foot volume inside bark tables are presented for 11 species and 8 species groups based on equations used to estimate timber sale volumes on national forests in the Upper Coastal Plain. Tables are based on form class measurement data for 521 trees sampled in the Upper Coastal Plain and taper data collected across the South. A series of tables is presented for each species based on diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) in combination with total height and height to a 4-inch diameter outside bark (d.o.b.) top. Volume tables are also presented based on d.b.h. in combination with height to a 7-inch d.o.b. top for softwoods and height to a 9-inch d.o.b. top for hardwoods.


Due to the delicacy of the material, stitch slipping occurs easier in silk garments than in the garments of other materials. Stitch slipping often occurs in the positions which are often subjected to stress, such as shoulder seam, side seam, and sleeve seam of the silk garment. The reasons of the stitch slipping in silk garments both from silk material itself and the manufacturing process of silk garments were analyzed. Sewing needle, stitch density and seam allowance were main manufacturing factors that affecting the stitch slipping in silk garments. By making experiments with silk garments of satin fabric, the influencing level of these three manufacturing factors were analyzed, at the same time the valuable reference data was also put forward.


Competitive adsorption of carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane from aqueous solutions onto soils was investigated. The experimental data were measured through batch equilibration studies in conjunction with gas chromatography/mass spectrometer analysis. Equilibrium isotherms were generated on three soil samples with different compositions. Competitive effects were analyzed by comparing single-component isotherms to binary and ternary solute isotherms and were quantified in terms of selectivity of an individual compound with respect to another constituent in the mixture. Influence of cosolvent was examined by generating single and multiple solute sorption isotherms from 25% (volume) and 50% (volume) methanol-water solutions. Isotherm linearity was observed, even in the vicinity of saturation, indicating constant retardation rate during the subsurface transport. The order of equilibrium uptake capacity of different soils was consistent with the order of their specific surface areas as determined through nitrogen adsorption. Competitive sorption from multisolute solutions was within a selectivity range of 1.17--2.22. While the contaminant properties determined the order of competition, soil properties determined its quantification. An opposite relationship between the organic matter content and the selectivity for the compound with higher polarity was observed. In the presence of cosolvent, soil`s equilibrium capacity significantly decreased as the volume fraction of methanol increased.more » Furthermore, competition among the solutes decreased, exhibiting a selectivity range from 1.01 to 2.07. High adsorption tendency of the cosolvent on soil and increased solubility of the contaminant species in the mixed solvent are the dominant factors for the variations.« less


Indigenous "country" or "land" is a region of reciprocities constituted through the relationships and obligations that preserve the continuity of life. It is a "region of care." In picking up and developing this phrase, this article opens a discussion about how regional political ecology can build from the materialist perspectives of contemporary scholarship and Indigenous politics. If, as some materialist scholars have argued, the political field in the Anthropocene is now more than ever an ecology of problems, how might regional political ecology use these perspectives to address the challenges of coexistence among humans, nonhumans, and other things? The article explores how praxis oriented around "regions of care" helps those involved in political-ecological work confront these challenges in an experimental politics that respects and works with nonhuman, material agencies through place-based relationships and networks. In this way, regional political ecology addresses the new environmental politics of the Anthropocene in a way that is attuned to the concerns of the many communities engaged in the challenges of coexistence. Key words: Anthropocene, Indigenous, materiality, political ecology, region


Background—Many multicenter clinical trials use permuted-block randomization to create balanced treatment allocations within clinical centers. Unlike randomized trials, observational studies do not control treatment allocation, and statistical models are used to adjust for measured confounders. For many observational data analyses, the variability in the treatment selection process within clinical centers is ignored. Furthermore, there is no consensus on the best approach for dealing with variability in the treatment selection process across clinical centers. Methods and Results—Individuals aged ≥65 years receiving either drug-eluting stents or bare metal stents were included. A cohort of 262 700 patients from 650 CathPCI Registry sites was followed up for a median of 15 months. Propensity score models were estimated to describe the process used to select drug-eluting stents across the study population. Substantial variability in the use of drug-eluting stents at the clinical center level was observed—even after accounting for differences in patient and clinical center characteristics. By refitting and matching propensity scores within clinical centers, a balanced cohort on treatment allocation and prognostic factors was obtained. This approach generated an estimated hazard ratio that was qualitatively similar to standard regression models and other propensity score approaches. Conclusions—Substantial variability in treatment selection existed between clinical centers. Matching recalibrated propensity scores within clinical centers has the potential to reduce a source of bias in multicenter observational studies. This methodology cannot eliminate all potential for biases; however, it removes the potential bias from site-level factors.


Prolyl 3-hydroxylase was purified up to about 5000-fold from an (NH4)2SO4 fraction of chick-embryo extract by a procedure consisting of affinity chromatography on denatured collagen linked to agarose, elution with ethylene glycol and gel filtration. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme is about 160000 by gel filtration The enzyme is probably a glycoprotein, since (a) its activity is inhibited by concanavalin A, and (b) the enzyme is bound to columns of this lectin coupled to agarose and can be eluted with a buffer containing methyl alpha-D-mannoside. The Km values for Fe2+, 2-oxoglutarate, O2 and ascorbate in the prolyl 3-hydroxylase reaction were found to be very similar to those previously reported for these co-substrates in the prolyl 4-hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase reactions.


During the 1970s and 1980s, a hazardous waste management industry emerged in the U.S., driven by government and polluting industry responses to a hazardous waste crisis. In 1979, labor unions began to seek federal health and safety protections for workers in that industry and for firefighters responding to hazardous materials fires. Those efforts led to a worker health and safety section in the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. The legislation mandated regulation of hazardous waste operations and emergency response worker protection, and establishment of a national health and safety training grant program - which became the Worker Education and Training Program (WETP).Craig Slatin provides a history of labor's success on the coattails of the environmental movement and in the middle of a rightward shift in American politics. He explores how the WETP established a national worker training effort across industrial sectors, with case studies on the health and safety training programs of two unions in the WETP - the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers and the Laborers' Union. Lessons can be learned from one of the last major worker health and safety/environmental protection victories of the 1960s-1980s reform era, coming at the end of the golden age of regulation and just before the new era of deregulation and market dominance. Slatin's analysis calls for a critical survey of the social and political tasks facing those concerned about worker and community health and environmental protection in order to make a transition toward just and sustainable production.


Variants that alter the DNA-binding specificity of transcription factors could affect the specificity for and expression of potentially many target genes, as has been observed in several tumor-derived mutations. Here we examined if such trans expression quantitative trait loci (trans-eQTLs) could similarly result from common genetic variants. We chose to focus on the Cys2-His2 class of zinc finger transcription factors because they are the most abundant superfamily of transcription factors in human and have well-characterized DNA binding interactions. We identified 430 SNPs that cause missense substitutions in the DNA-contacting residues. Fewer common missense SNPs were found at DNA-contacting residues compared with non-DNA-contacting residues (P = 0.00006), consistent with possible functional selection against SNPs at DNA-contacting positions. Functional predictions based on zinc finger transcription factor (ZNF) DNA binding preferences also suggested that many common substitutions could potentially alter binding specificity. However, Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium analysis and examination of seven orthologs within the primate lineage failed to find evidence of trans-eQTLs associated with the DNA-contacting positions or evidence of a different selection pressure on a contemporary and evolutionary timescales. The overall conclusion was that common SNPs that alter the DNA-contacting residues of these factors are unlikely to produce strong trans-eQTLs, consistent with the observations by others that trans-eQTLs in humans tend to be few and weak. Some rare SNPs might alter specificity and remained rare due to purifying selection. The study also underscores the need for large-scale eQTLs mapping efforts that might provide experimental evidence for SNPs that alter the choice of transcription factor binding sites.


Cutaneous metastasis from endometrial adenocarcinoma is an unusual occurrence. Our purpose is to report a case of endometrial adenocarcinoma in which metastasis was first documented by findings from a scalp biopsy. In addition, we have reviewed the experience at the Johns Hopkins Hospital with cutaneous metastasis from the uterus. Report of a Case A 53-year-old primiparous woman noticed vaginal bleeding in July 1977, six years after her menopause. Dilation and curettage demonstrated adenocarcinoma of the endometrium. A total abdominal hysterectomy was performed in August 1977, and no evidence of metastasis was found. Pathological examination showed tumor invasion halfway through the thickness of the myometrium. The patient was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in September 1977 for pelvic irradiation. A thorough workup failed to document evidence of internal metastasis. Results of blood counts, blood chemistry studies, using an automated multiple analysis system, chest x-ray film with tomography, intravenous pyelography, cystoscopy, sigmoidoscopy,


This research explores the evolutionary consequences of the transplantation and subsequent demographic adaptation of Cuanalan, a migrant population in the Valley of Mexico. Through comparisons with historical and contemporary populations from the area of origination—the state of Tlaxcala—an attempt is made to reconstruct the demographic and evolutionary changes which have occurred in the splinter population over the past four centuries. Both demographic and preliminary genetic data indicate that Cuanalan is a hybridized population. About two-thirds of marriages of Cuanalan-born individuals are endogamous. Average number of liveborn children for prolific women over 40 is 6.5. Since 1866, mean age at death in the community is 20.8 years, and the infant death rate is 30%. Major causes of death are respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and childhood infections. The high variance in completed fertility and high pre-reproductive mortality indicate a continuation of conditions making for the rapid action of natural selection which have historically characterized Tlaxcalan populations. Genetic drift was probably an important factor in the early differentiation of the migrant population. The data suggest that the evolutionary divergence of Cuanalan from the Tlaxcalan gene pool has been rapid and extensive.


Proliferation of smartphones/tablets and the apps for these devices has witnessed rapid growth in recent years. One major impact of this growth has been a trend for appification of web applications. In existing literature, there is inadequate treatment of the subject, particularly from architecture and design perspective. Modern smartphones allow apps to be much more rich and address more complex scenarios as compared to earlier generation of mobile apps. As such, the architectural clarity of different appification aspects has become critical for the overall success of such systems. Major architectural difference between a regular web application and its appified avatar is that in appified scenario, it is designed to harness smartphone or tablet's capabilities. In this paper we investigate the architectural aspects of appifying web applications. We consider the layered architecture of browser accessed web applications and bring out the possible appification architectures for it. We determine which non-functional quality attributes (QA) get impacted by appifying different components/layers. Quantitative analysis of appifying a popular public web application shows a potential for savings as much energy daily as yearly needed by 45 households!


Introduction

Pleurodesis is the fundamental treatment in patients with malignant pleural effusions. It is difficult to answer if after it the changes in inflammatory parameters such as body temperature and white blood cells count results from the procedure itself or are due to the pleural reaction after installation of agent.

Aim and objective of the study

We compare the changes in white blood cells count (WBC) and body temperature in two groups: the first one with only diagnostic thoracoscopy due To a "trapped lung" and the second one with pleurodesis. The objective is to use these parameters as predictors for successful pleurodesis and to compare effectiveness of different pleurodesis agents.

Materials

For 3 years period a total of 80 pleurodesis by different agents (talc, iodopovidone, silver nitrate, doxycycline) and 20 only diagnostic thoracoscopies were carried out. The level of pleural inflammation was measured by monitoring of WBC and differential blood count (twice within postoperative 48 hours), and a body temperature as well.

Results

The temperature elevation during the first 6 to 24 hours and stabilization during the next days was found in pleurodesis group irrespective of the pleurodesis agent (p>0,001). In diagnostic group we did not observe such temperature peaks. An increased levels of WBC and segments cells and decreased levels of lymphocytes counts were found in pleurodesis group compared to diagnostic thoracoscopy group.

Conclusion

We conclude that inflammatory changes after pleurodesis are results from pleural reaction caused by pleurodesis agents.


In this contribution we present a generic mechanism to transform an oscillator into an adaptive frequency oscillator, which can then dynamically adapt its parameters to learn the frequency of any periodic driving signal. Adaptation is done in a dynamic way: it is part of the dynamical system and not an offline process. This mechanism goes beyond entrainment since it works for any initial frequencies and the learned frequency stays encoded in the system even if the driving signal disappears. Interestingly, this mechanism can easily be applied to a large class of oscillators from harmonic oscillators to relaxation types and strange attractors. Several practical applications of this mechanism are then presented, ranging from adaptive control of compliant robots to frequency analysis of signals and construction of limit cycles of arbitrary shape.


Target tracking with ultra-wideband (UWB) signals in indoor environments is a challenging problem due to the presence of multipath and non-line-of-sight conditions (NLOS). A solution to this problem is to use particle filtering (PF), which is able to handle both nonlinear models and non-Gaussian uncertainties that typically appear in the presence of NLOS. In this paper, we compare four different PF variants, that differ in terms of how NLOS measurements are handled. According to our experimental results, based on the measurements from a basement tunnel, multiple features from the UWB impulse response should be used, and the ranging likelihood function should make use of both LOS and NLOS measurements. Standard time-of-arrival (TOA) based methods, even with NLOS rejection, are not good enough. Instead we advocate TOA-based algorithms that can actively mitigate errors due to NLOS.


We identify a benchmark point in the CMSSM's heavy stau-coannihilation region, which is favored by experiments, and demonstrate that it could be accessible to the LHC at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV with 300/fb of integrated luminosity via a golden decay measurement. With Monte-Carlo, we simulate sparticle production and subsequent golden decay at the event level and perform pseudo-measurements of sparticle masses from kinematic endpoints in invariant mass distributions. We find that two lightest neutralino masses and the first and second generation left-handed slepton and squark masses could be rather precisely measured with correlated uncertainties. We investigate whether from such measurements one could determine the CMSSM's Lagrangian parameters by including a likelihood from our pseudo-measurements of sparticle masses in a Bayesian analysis of the CMSSM's parameter space. We find that the CMSSM's parameters can be accurately determined, with the exception of the common trilinear parameter. Experimental measurements of the relic density by Planck and the Higgs boson's mass slightly improve this determination, especially for the common trilinear parameter. Finally, within our benchmark scenario, we show that the neutralino dark matter will be accessible to direct searches in future one tonne detectors.


Against the backdrop of results of a research project on career guidance services, I will hold the opinion that these services have become part and partial of reproducing a "social reality centred on the distinction between employees and job seeker. In this reality, the category of labour predominantly defines who is considered as a normal citizens and who is considered an outcast or even a parasite of the social welfare system. Even despite the fact of the high unemployment rate and growing precarious working relationships in the EU, gainful employment is seen as the most natural thing in the world. The drawing of the distinction between inside and outside of society by gainful employment, then, masks social inequalities. The paper develops the argument in four consecutive steps. After an introduction into transitions to work and the role of career guidance, methods and empirical data is presented. This is, thirdly, followed by the presentation of some major results of the project.  Eventually, I will link the results to current political discourses and development.


Chi-Chao Chan earned her M.D. from Johns Hopkins University and ophthalmology residency from Stanford University School of Medicine. She has completed two post-doctoral fellowships: ophthalmic pathology at Wilmer Institute, Johns Hopkins and clinical ocular immunology at National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health. She is the Chief of Immunopathology Section, Laboratory of Immunology and Head of Histopathology Core, National Eye Institute, the federal government medical research institute in the US. She has published 582 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 51 book chapters, and one textbook. She also serves as an editorial board member for 16 medical journals. Diagnosis of primary vitreoretinal lymphoma, a subtype of primary CNS lymphoma


Background & objectives: Majoon Suranjan (MS) is a polyherbal formulation used in Unani system of medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The present study evaluates the antiarthritic efficacy of this formulation in three different experimental models. Methods: The anti-inflammatory activity of MS (in doses of 450, 900 and 1800 mg/kg body wt) was evaluated using the turpentine oil induced paw oedema model and the antiarthritic efficacy was evaluated using the formaldehyde and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis models. Aspirin (100 mg/kg body wt) was used as the standard drug in all the models. In order to assess the safety of the test drug, oral acute and 28 day toxicity studies were also carried out. Results: MS produced a dose dependent protective effect in all the experimental models. Its antiarthritic efficacy was comparable to aspirin in formaldehyde induced arthritis and was superior to aspirin in turpentine oil induced paw oedema and CFA induced arthritis. MS also inhibited the delayed increase in joint diameter as seen in control and aspirin treated animals in CFA induced arthritis. Oral LD50 of MS was found to be >5000 mg/kg in rats. Chronic administration did not produce any significant physiological changes in the tested animals. Interpretation & conclusions: Results of the present study suggest that the antiarthritic activity of MS was due to the interplay between its anti-inflammatory and disease modifying activities, thus supporting its use in traditional medicine for the treatment of RA.


Retirement is one of the most important transitions in a person's life, which also might affect health and well-being. Adjustment to a life as retiree does not follow a uniform pattern, which emphasizes the importance of an individual perspective. This article uses transition theory as a theoretical perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 individuals newly retired, focusing on experiences from the last year of work and the time after retirement. Content analysis was used to analyze data. Two themes emerged: 'become aware of' and 'become adapted to'. Nine subthemes describe the individual experiences reflecting positive expectations and outcomes but also feelings of grief and disconnectedness and fears about loss of social network and identity. Transition into retirement should receive more attention from a nursing perspective since experiences such as, for example, grief, disconnectedness and loss of identity if unaddressed could lead to an unhealthy transition.


A general method is provided for constructing Jones's reflection and transmission matrices of any beam splitter. Derivations are presented for the various known configurations. The method uses Abelès's matrices and pays special consideration to the different expressions of Jones's matrices relative to the various beams in an interferometric arrangement. The reversibility of the beam splitter in its action on the amplitude or phase, or both, of an incident light is studied. It is finally suggested that, even for an asymmetric beam splitter configuration, the symmetry of the interferogram can still be preserved by adjusting the thickness of the beam splitter in a prescribed manner.


The propagation of ultrashort light pulses in two-photon media is investigated on the basis of a density-matrix formalism for the molecular levels and a wave equation for the dynamics of the light fields. The simulation shows that the dynamic light-matter coupling and level dynamics lead to saturation effects and space-dependent pulse shaping that determine the dynamic response of the molecular medium.


In SVM ensemble learning, diversity strategy is one of the most important determinants to obtain good performance. In order to examine and analyze the impacts of diversity strategies on SVM ensemble learning, this study tries to make such a deep investigation by taking credit scoring as an illustrative example. Experimental results found that the accuracy of ensemble models will be increased if ensemble members are carefully selected for diversity maximization.


This paper proposes a new control method for D-STATCOM (Distribution STATIC Compensator) control system. The operation of this proposed control method enables D-STATCOM to mitigate all types of fault, intelligently (such as Single Line to Ground (SLG) fault and Double Phase to Ground (DPG) fault and three-phase fault). In this paper, the 12-pulse D-STATCOM configuration with IGBT is designed and the graphic based models of the DSTATCOM are developed using the PSCAD/EMTDC electromagnetic transient simulation program. This paper validates the performance of a D-STATCOM system for improving distribution system performance under all types of fault. The reliability and robustness of the control scheme in the system response to the voltage sags caused by SLG and DPG and three-phase faults is obviously proved in the simulation results.


This thesis is a contribution towards an historically informed understanding of contemporary music making amongst Roma in Ostrava, Czech Republic. It also challenges, from a theoretical perspective, conceptions of relationships between music and discourses of 'race'. My research is based on fieldwork conducted in Ostrava, between August 2003 and July 2004 and East Slovakia in July 2004, as well as archival research in Ostrava and Vienna. These fieldwork experiences compelled me to explore music and ideas of 'race' through discourses of diaspora in order to assist in conceptualising and interpreting Romani music making in Ostrava. The vast majority of Roma in Ostrava are post-World War II emigres or descendants of emigres from East Slovakia. In contemporary Ostrava, most Roma live on the socioeconomic margins and are most often regarded as a separate 'race' with a separate culture from the dominant population. Chapter 1 considers Romani history and origins in the light of postmodern perspectives. Academic and grassroots debates are reviewed and I explore their significance in the context of contemporary Romani music making in Ostrava. The history of 'race', the history of Roma in the Czech lands and Slovakia 1399-1948, and their increasing interweaving and fatal collision in the Nazi-led Holocaust, is outlined in chapter 2. The legacies of the Holocaust, Romani history and contemporary racial experiences are considered in relation to the anthem of the Czech and Slovak Roma. Chapter 3 considers life for Roma under Czechoslovak socialism and I examine recordings of Romani music and memories of this time. In chapter 4, the vast socio-economic and cultural changes following the demise of the Communist party and the influence of the modern nation-state and nationalism are explored in relation to Ostrava Roma and the major reinterpretations of Romani musical traditions that have been taking place post-1989. The phenomenon of Rompop is discussed in chapter 5, particularly its contemporary expressions in bands, parties and discos in Ostrava, which is then used as an example in the consideration of possible connections between music and ideas of 'race' in a theoretical interlude. Chapter 6 explores new trends in Ostrava music making that mark a fundamental rupture with traditions and draw on a variety of cultural expressions from around the globe. In chapter 7, I introduce the small and separate group of Vlach Roma in Ostrava and their strong diasporic connections to other Vlach. I conclude my theoretical challenge to conceptions of music and 'race' in chapter 8 by offering a framework with which to consider Romani music making in Ostrava and its racialisation, drawing on Hall's theory of articulation and discourses of diaspora.


Exaggerated CD4+ T helper 2–specific cytokine producing memory T cell responses developing concomitantly with a T helper 1 response might have a detrimental role in immunity to infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. To assess the dynamics of Ag-specific memory T cell compartments in the context of filarial infection, we used multiparameter flow cytometry on PBMCs from 25 microfilaremic filarial-infected (Inf) and 14 filarial-uninfected (Uninf) subjects following stimulation with filarial Ag (BmA) or with the M. tuberculosis–specific Ag culture filtrate protein-10 (CFP-10). Our data demonstrated that the Inf group had a marked increase in BmA-specific CD4+IL-4+ cells (median net frequency compared with baseline [Fo] = 0.09% versus 0.01%; p = 0.038) but also to CFP-10 (Fo = 0.16% versus 0.007%; p = 0.04) and staphylococcal enterotoxin B (Fo = 0.49% versus 0.26%; p = 0.04). The Inf subjects showed a BmA-specific expansion of CD4+CD45RO+IL-4+ producing central memory (TCM, CD45RO+CCR7+CD27+; Fo = 1.1% versus 0.5%; p = 0.04) as well as effector memory (TEM, CD45RO+CCR7−CD27−; Fo = 1.5% versus 0.2%; p = 0.03) with a similar but nonsignificant response to CFP-10. In addition, there was expansion of CD4+IL-4+CD45RA+CCR7+CD27+ (naive-like) in Inf individuals compared with Uninf subjects. Among Inf subjects with definitive latent tuberculosis, there were no differences in frequencies of IL-4–producing cells within any of the memory compartments compared with the Uninf group. Our data suggest that filarial infection induces Ag-specific, exaggerated IL-4 responses in distinct T cell memory compartments to M. tuberculosis–specific Ags, which are attenuated in subjects who are able to mount a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction to M. tuberculosis.


We describe a diode-pumped Yb:YAG laser that produces 1080 W of power cw with 27.5% optical optical efficiency and 532 W Q-switched with M2=2.2 and 17% optical–optical efficiency. The laser uses two composite Yb:YAG rods separated by a 90° quartz rotator for bifocusing compensation. A microlensed diode array end pumps each rod, using a hollow lens duct for pump delivery. By changing resonator parameters we can adjust the fundamental mode size and the output beam quality. Using a flattened Gaussian intensity profile to calculate the mode-fill efficiency and clipping losses, we compare experimental data with modeled output power versus beam quality.


Memes are an increasingly omnipresent political technology in the age of Trump, weaponized by troll armies, while at the same time reviving oppositional genres of caricature and satire that are in turn conducive to new forms of political literacy. As a medium, the meme is a mechanism of transliteration, translating affects into icons that read out visually and orthographically, as alphabet, cipher, rebus, anagram, tag, GIF, secret message. In their antidepressant function, memes are salves for solitary souls. They are community-builders connecting solo agents to social networks and political causes. They engender an implicit trust among the users who co-produce and distribute them (modeling a sharing economy dubbed "platform cooperativism" by Trebor Scholz). And yet, because of their predication on impersonal intimacy, memes shift the ground of the political, from an ethics of direct responsibility to an ethics of limited liability and indirect consequence in moral action. This essay examines some key episodes in the political life of memes, examining works by Jenny Holzer, Mary Kelly, Lutz Bacher, Slavs and Tartars, Tony Cokes, and Silvia Kolbowski, as well as anonymous meme-makers.


The educational restructuring movement began with the publication of the now famous A Nation at Risk report, which provided convincing evidence that the quality of American schools was unacceptably low. Two waves of reform rolled across the country during the decade. The first emphasised "top‐down" initiatives put in motion by State governors who identified educators as the problem. The solution was greater accountability, closer supervision, tighter regulation, better teacher screening, tougher graduation standards, and a longer school year. Quickly disenchanted with the insensitivity and inflexibility of the first wave, a second began later in the decade which emphasised that educators were the solution, not the problem. The decade ended with importance given to "bottom‐up" reform initiatives emphasising deregulation, choice, school‐based management, and schools within schools.


Meta-synthesis of the research evidence adds value to the process of literature reviewing, providing useful knowledge for researchers, practitioners and policymakers. The aim of the chapter is to explain what meta-synthesis involves and how it illuminates our understanding of concepts. Previous papers on meta-synthesis (by the author) have reviewed research strategies in information behaviour research and methods for meta-synthesis, discussed application of meta-synthesis to research on information behaviour of women, and proposed methods suitable for integrating information literacy research. Meta-synthesis methods have been applied to many areas of social science research. The literature review examines how to reduce the risks involved in suitable for integrating qualitative research or qualitative and quantitative research; outlines the main approaches used in meta-synthesis before explaining the processes used in a meta-synthesis of research on information behaviour of women, reflects on the meta-synthesis methods used, and which might have been used, and shows what meta-synthesis achieves. Meta-synthesis should be used more in information behaviour research, but it is a rigorous process, requiring time and effort to get useful results. On the other hand, meta-synthesis provides more new knowledge, and a deeper understanding of our ideas, than a conventional literature review.


Insemination is used less commonly in the population of beef cattle than in dairy cattle. As a con - sequence, herds are genetically isolated and their comparison is difficult. The objective of the paper was to evaluate the impact of the use of reference sires in insemination on the estimation of breeding value and its reliability by means of stochastic simulation based on a single addition of calves to the basic set. Simulation was divided into three variants according to the connectedness calves through sires (variant 1 - unrelated calves, variant 2 calves related between HYS but unrelated within HYS, variant 3 - calves related within and between HYS). The degree of connectedness was determined by computation of genetic drift variance (GDV). The average value of GDV in the basic set was 0.71. In our study the highest values of GDV were reached in simulated variant 3, in which the relationship increased not only between HYS but also within HYS. The lowest values of GDV were in variant 2, when the relationship increased only between HYS (simulated calves after reference sires did not have any half- sibs in HYS). The single use of reference sires in one generation to make herds connected slightly increased the average coefficient of reliability from 0.121 to 0.145 (by 2.4%) in the whole set. But this increase from 0.24 to 0.33 (by 8.9%) was observed only in animals that were directly connected through reference sires. The increase in reliability was mainly due to an increase in the number of contemporaries. A decrease in the effective number of sires' offspring was an indirect consequence of the increase in the connectedness of the set and higher use of reference sires in insemination. This is the reason why the increase in the connectedness of the set influenced the reliability of breeding value of the whole set less than we would expect. The use of reference sires influenced the fluctuation of breeding values. The use of a higher number of reference sires in insemination with only one offspring in each of the connected herds appeared as the most suitable approach from the aspect of the connectedness of the set and reliability of breeding value estimation. A marked influence of herd connectedness on the estimation of breeding value and its reliability, and on the result of breeding, is to be expected after reference sires have been used in several successive generations.


Based on student evaluation of teaching (SET) ratings from 1,432 units of study over a period of a year, representing 74,490 individual sets of ratings, and including a significant number of units offered in wholly online mode, we confirm the significant influence of class size, year level, and discipline area on at least some SET ratings. We also find online mode of offer to significantly influence at least some SET ratings. We reveal both the statistical significance and effect sizes of these influences, and find that the magnitudes of the effect sizes of all factors are small, but potentially cumulative. We also show that the influence of online mode of offer is of the same magnitude as the other 3 factors. These results support and extend the rating interpretation guides (RIGs) model proposed by Neumann and colleagues, and we present a general method for the development of a RIGs system.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a worldwide public health problem affecting 180 million patients, is Likely the cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. In Israel it is estimated that 100,000 people are infected with HCV, 25% are diagnosed and 20-22% were treated with antiviral agents. Advances in our understanding of the HCV lifecycle have led to development of direct acting antiviral agents (DAAs) therapies capable of increasing significantly the curative SVR rates in patients with HCV. New standard-of-care treatment has been approved in 2011 for HCV genotype 1 that has markedly improved treatment results, based on a triple combination of pegylated IFN-alpha, ribavirin, and either telaprevir or boceprevir, two inhibitors of the HCV protease. Two new oral antiviral agents, simeprevir and sofosbuvir, have already been approved and are now available. Other antiviral agents will be available during 2014-2015 and many others, are in phase II or III clinical development. The results of nine phase-3 interferon-free combination regimens of DAAs were reported in the NEJM 2014. These studies demonstrated unequivocal superiority of such regimens over the standard-of-care treatment with an SVR rate of > or = 90% in HCV genotype 1 and 2, naïve, experienced and cirrhotics patients. Interferon-free regimens are associated with lower rate and severity of side effects and a shorter duration of treatment. A number of unanswered questions remain treating special populations, the role of ribavirin, genotype 3, the role of HCV resistance, and how to re-treat failures of treatment. The Ministry of Health wills have to consider: 1. HCV screening in high risk populations. 2. The strategic choices based on cost issues (the predicted costs of the new oral DAAs is extremely high) and on the severity of the liver disease.


ABSTRACT Background: Existing research on post-traumatic sequelae suggests a positive association between fatalism and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the associations between fatalism and the new ICD-11 diagnosis of complex PTSD (CPTSD) have never been explored before. Objective: The current study explored the association between fatalism and PTSD and CPTSD in samples from three African countries. Methods: A total of 2,524 participants from Nigeria (n = 1018), Kenya (n = 1006), and Ghana (n = 500) completed measures of fatalism (non-judgemental fatalism, current fatalism, pessimistic fatalism, prospective fatalism) and the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ). A combination of a multinomial regression and path analysis was used to identify fatalism predictors of PTSD and CPTSD versus no diagnosis, and CPTSD versus PTSD, adjusted for demographic variables and trauma exposure. Results: While PTSD was not predicted by any of the fatalism types, compared to no diagnosis, CPTSD was significantly predicted by pessimistic, non-judgemental and current fatalism, both compared to no diagnosis and PTSD. Conclusions: The results broaden the knowledge on potential correlates of the new diagnosis of CPTSD. Addressing fatalistic beliefs by empowering people to think that they can choose their fate should be further explored as a possible target for intervention in the treatment of CPTSD. HIGHLIGHTS The study explored the association between fatalism and PTSD and CPTSD according to ICD-11 definition in samples from three African countries. The results broaden the knowledge beyond Western population on potential correlates of the new diagnosis of CPTSD.


In the WHO European Region, 73 000 people were killed by interpersonal violence in 2002, and homicide represents the third leading cause of death after road traffic and suicide. Information on deaths is relatively easy to collect but these are just the tip of the iceberg: psychological, physical, sexual damage and neglect are not captured by routine data. To address this, the general objectives of the PHASE (Public Health Actions for a Safer Europe) project are to enhance injury data exchange in the Member States and to reinforce current health-sector related networks; in particular WP 6 addresses the theme of interpersonal violence. Four focus intervention areas have been identified: child, youth, intimate partners and elderly and four teams of European experts in collaboration with WHO National Focal Points on injury and violence prevention have identified and collected information on: (a) Country profile indicators; (b) Markers of prevalence; (c) Characteristics of violent behaviour; (d) National strategies, prevention programmes and services; (e) Legislation; (f) Reporting Systems; (g) Cost Analysis in the 27 European member states. These domains aimed to describe the magnitude of violence, understand which factors increase the risk for violent victimisation and perpetration, identify which type of programmes are effective and how legislation acts in this respect. The presentation will focus on the methodology adopted; discuss gaps and deficiencies in available information; present epidemiological findings and meta-analysis results. Intervention programmes and strategies that have been implemented and shown effectiveness in preventing violence will also be presented.


Plant processes affect fluxes of energy, moisture and CO2 between the land and the atmosphere.
Land surface models need to correctly represent the vegetation functioning and
its response to environmental conditions. Due to anthropogenic carbon emissions rising,
and global warming, plant processes are being affected and in turn modulate the terrestrial
carbon sink. However, models still disagree on the response of plants to changing
conditions. This work analyses how vegetation is treated in two land surface models: the
Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) and Carbon Hydrology Tiled ECMWF
Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land (CTESSEL). The aim is to analyse how environmental
variables control the vegetation processes at daily and seasonal timescales at
present day climate and the changes that arise in a scenario of double atmospheric CO2
and higher temperature. The analyses are carried out at the leaf level and at the canopy
level. To investigate the responses at the leaf level, the photosynthesis scheme used in each
model was extracted, thereby providing a submodel that can be run in stand alone mode.
The photosynthesis submodel provides a means to analyse the leaf level response of each
photosynthesis model to environment variables as well as the internal model parameters
that characterise each plant type. In JULES the environmental controls on photosynthesis
are explicitly introduced by three limiting regimes: light, rubisco (carbon) or export
limiting regime. In CTESSEL the carbon and light limitations are implicitly represented
but there is no export limitation. Due to the lack of export limiting regime, CTESSEL
presents higher sensitivity to CO2 concentration resulting in a stronger CO2 fertilization
effect. The carbon and energy fluxes produced by the full land surface models were tested
and compared at 10 European FLUXNET sites. The main differences between modellled
carbon fluxes were found to be the treatment of soil moisture stress and the lack of export
limiting regime in CTESSEL. The optimum temperature for photosynthesis in models is
the result of model parameters' dependence on temperature and the combination of limiting
regimes. The optimum temperature for photosynthesis was found to be a determining
element in the strength and sign of the vegetation modelled feedback to climate change.


The research was conducted to determine what the success factors for new product development and commercialization were for a selected sample of SMEs in South Africa. Academic literature on success factors for New Product Development and commercialization, as well as small and medium businesseswere reviewed. The review of the literature provided the theoretical framework for 21 success factors relevant to the study. These success factors were further extrapolated to 36 success factors and used as a basis for determining South African SME relevance. The findings were consistent with the literature review and point to several success factors that South African SMEs deem critical to success of new product development. In conclusion, South African SMEs confirm the importance of the success factors as presented in the literature. The ranking by importance of these success factors highlight the specific value that South African SMEs place on these success factors. These need further in-depth research. Research Report 7099-088-3


The 4% rule is the advice many retirees follow for managing spending and investing. We examine this rule's inefficiencies-the price paid for funding its unspent surpluses and the overpayments made to purchase its spending policy. We show that a typical rule allocates 10-20% of a retiree's initial wealth to surpluses and an additional 2-4% to overpayments. Further, we argue that even if retirees were to recoup these costs, the 4% rule's spending plan remains wasteful, since many retirees actually prefer a different, cheaper spending plan.


William Blake thought that John Milton had been betrayed by both his commentators and his illustrators, and he set out to recover Milton's vision, particularly in "Paradise Lost," from the misguided academic and Augustan misinterpretation to which it had been subjected."The Moment of Explosion: Blake and the Illustration of Milton" is the first detailed. analysis of all of Blake's illustrations for Milton's poetry. Blake explicitly believed he was correcting errors that Milton wanted corrected, and he felt that his illustration was interpretive criticism in its highest sense, a re-vision that would broadcast Milton's revolutionary ethic afresh. Stephen C. Behrendt blends a close reading of Blake and Milton with meticulous and provocative examination of the illustrations of Blake, his predecessors, and his contemporaries. The focus on visual art as criticism establishes the book as a major essay on the interaction of the arts within and across cultural periods. Fifty-four black-and-white illustrations document that radical, Romantic assault by Blake on tradition in the name of tradition. The highlight of the book is Blake's two sets of "Paradise Lost" illustrations, reproduced here in twenty-four color plates--Blake's final statements on "Paradise Lost" and the culmination of his aesthetic and critical development.This beautiful book presents a wealth of illustration previously scattered or inaccessible. It will be of major interest to students of Blake, Milton, Romanticism, art history, and the history of ideas.


The article indicate the interpenetration between Amaterasu Oomikami and environment within the Japanese thought. The protection of environment as a product of interpretation of Japanese culture in reciprocal relation is categorized by: the normative – the real; the sacred – the profane; supranatural world – human world. The system classification is the product of knowledge from the Japanese way in seeing the world based on the classification of the inside (uchi) – the outside (soto/yoso). This classification and its attributes produce differentiation between the inside – the outside. The environment destruction is considered as disgrafuk and dirty action. Any violation should be given sanctions. The Japanese watch over their environment by following the pattern of jinja and tera maintainance.. The purity of human behaviour is to protect the environment whilst dirty actions should be avoided. The Japanese view the environment in relevant to the religious belief as primordial as Amaterasu Oomikami the great ancestor of Japanese tenno. The belief in the sacred enfolds the life of the Japanese to nurture collective consciousness in every individual and groups in local, prefecture and nation-state hierarchically. Collective consciousness or solidarity in individuals is socialized by and within institutions in order to produce confirmity among individuals and with the environment. Interpretive method with symbolic approach produce the understanding of Amaterasu Oomikami and the environment as a system of relations in Japanese interpenetrated in the culture through a set of values and actions. keywords: Sacred, profane, normative, protection, pollution


Pea genotypes exhibited significant genetic variation in drought tolerance. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening for dehydrins in different pea genotypes indicated the amplification of at least six dehydrin gene fragments varied in length from 500 to 1000 bp. In this study, a dehydrin gene, PsDhn1 (GenBank accession number JN182234), was isolated and characterized from wild Egyptian pea ( Pisum sativum L.) using specific PCR. It belongs to the Y 2 K 2 dehydrin subclass induced by drought stress. DNA sequence indicated an open reading frame which predicts a protein with 196 amino acids and molecular mass of about 21 kDa. Deduced amino acid sequence indicated the presence of the N-terminal consensus motif, Y-segment D(E/Q)YGNP, and the lysine rich domain, K-segment KIKEK(I/L)PG, common for all dehydrins, both of which are present in two copies. However, it lacks the track of serine residues (S-segment). Egyptian pea dehydrin (PsDHN1) contains two copies of a semi-conserved sequence of six amino acid residues in length (EYVREE), which lie in front of the lysine rich motif (K-segment), and common only for pea dehydrins. Northern blot analysis indicated two dehydrin mRNA transcripts detectable by PsDhn1 probe. Western blot analysis using anti-dehydrin polyclonal antibody detected two corresponding dehydrins (29 and 21 kDa) accumulated in developing pea cotyledons. Both mRNA transcripts and dehydrins showed different patterns of expression and accumulation. The amino acid composition of dehydrins with high content of charged and polar residues may promote their specific protective functions under conditions of cell dehydration. Key words : Dehydrins, late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) genes, drought tolerance, pea, desiccation.


This brief argues for a pragmatic approach to poverty, rather than an analytical one: 1. Poverty is a wicked issue - complex, multidimensional, unclear and changeable. There is not one problem to be addressed. If we are not dealing with a set, specific problem, or even a defined process, there is little point in chasing after definitive, mechanistic answers. 2. There are some common misunderstandings about anti-poverty policy. The first is the belief that we can prevent poverty by identifying and dealing with its causes, or the 'generative mechanisms' that lead to people being poor; this has led to a long series of bad policies. The second misconception is to suppose that if we know what causes the problems, we will know how to stop them; the way into a problem is not usually the way out of it. Neither position is tenable, and too often they have led policy astray. 3. The problems are not going to sit there waiting for someone to solve them, so that they can be picked off one by one; new problems and issues are arising all the time. Poverty is dynamic - constantly shifting and changing, as an enormous range of processes coincide and collide. 4. One of the central insights offered by the emphasis on poverty as a multidimensional issue has been to emphasise the importance of the perceptions, experience and voice of people who suffer it, as a way of clarifying issues and developing priorities.


During the course of this paper we mobilise an ideal typical framework that identifies three waves of reduction within contemporary qualitative inquiry as they relate to key aspects of the sociological tradition. The paper begins with a consideration of one of sociology's key questions; namely how is social organisation possible? The paper aims to demonstrate how this question moves from view as increased specialisation and differentiation in qualitative methodology within sociology and related disciplines results in a fragmentation and decontextualisation of social practices from social orders. Indeed, the extent to which qualitative methods have been detached from sociological principles is considered in relation to the emergence of a reductionist tendency. The paper argues that the first wave is typified by conceptual couplings such as 'discourse and the subject', 'narrative and experience', 'space and place' and the second by 'activity type couplings' such as 'walking and talking' and 'making and telling' and then, finally, the third wave exemplified through auto-ethnography and digital lifelogging. We argue each of these three waves represent a series of steps in qualitative reduction that, whilst representing innovation, need to reconnect with questions of action, order and social organisation as a complex whole as opposed to disparate parts.


Abstract Introduction: Four weeks after the earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan, multi-disciplinary surgical teams were organized within the United Kingdom to help treat disaster victims who had been transferred to Rawalpindi. The work of these teams between 05-17 November 2005 is reviewed, and experiences and lessons learned are presented. Methods: Two self-sufficient teams consisting of orthopedic, plastic surgical, anesthetic, and theatre staff were deployed consecutively over a two-week period. A trauma unit was set up in a donated ward within a private ophthalmological hospital in Rawalpindi. Results: Seventy-eight patients with a mean age of 23 years were treated: more than half (40) were <16 years of age. Fifty-two patients only had lower limb injuries, 18 upper limb injuries, and eight combined lower and upper limb. The most common types of injuries were: (1) tibial fractures (n = 24), with the majority being open grade 3B injuries (n = 22); (2) femoral fractures (n = 11); and (3) forearm fractures (n = 9). Almost half (n = 34) of the fractures were open injuries requiring soft tissue cover. Over 12 days, 293 operations were performed (average 24.4 per day). A total of 202 examinations under anesthesia, washouts, and debridements were performed. The majority of wounds required multiple washouts prior to definitive procedures. Thirty-four definitive orthopedic procedures (fixations) and 57 definitive plastic procedures were performed. Definitive orthopedic procedures included 15 circular frame fixations of long bones, nine of which required acute shortening and five open reduction and internal fixation of long bones. Definitive plastic procedures included 21 skin grafts, four amputations, 11 revisions of amputations, 20 regional flaps, and one free flap. Conclusions: A joint ortho-plastic approach was key to the treatment of the spectrum of injuries encountered. Only four patients required fresh amputations. Twenty patients may have required amputation without the use of ring fixators and soft tissue reconstruction. Having self-sufficient teams along with their own equipment and supplies also was mandatory in order not to put further demand on already scarce resources. However, mobilizing such teams logistically was difficult, and therefore, an organization consisting of willing volunteers for future efforts has been established.


This paper discusses the competence of Tanzanian pre-service French teachers in connected speech. The study particularly aimed at measuring the extent to which they are capable of comprehending the message through the stream of words from French native speakers and producing a text naturally with liaison and enchaînement. The study was conducted at the University of Dar es Salaam covering 46% of 2014/2015 academic year B.A. Education finalists who were randomly selected. Data were collected through watching a video-clip, and oral discourse test (ODT). As for the analysis, interpretive content analysis was used with the aid of tables. The results show that the subjects scored excellently at 17% in both liaison and enchaînement but had more challenges in enchaînement than in liaison as the scores in the production of liaison ranged from 60% to 77% while that of enchaînement ranged from 53% to 73%. However, the comprehension of native speakers' conversation was excellent at 33% implying that the subjects were better at understanding than producing the aspects of the French connected speech. The inability of the subjects to comprehend and produce precisely the said features was caused mainly by the influence of the learner's Bantu L1 and L2 which are deprived of the liaison and enchaînement, lack of enough oral exercises, contact with native French users and poor learning environment. The study recommends that all the factors should be dealt with severely through communicative approach which is the best in the today's modern teaching-learning process.


Rural areas of most developing nations are dependent on agriculture. In the most remote areas, sometimes referred to as the 'less favored areas' (LFAs), the economic importance of agriculture is paramount. An important obstacle to development in these areas is that agriculture is at the mercy of nature, which may not be particularly friendly. These areas have remained remote due to natural shortcomings causing economic development to occur slower than more advantaged areas elsewhere. Cochabamba Department, in central Bolivia, is home to some of these LFAs. Most Cochabamban producers are located in the 'high climatic risk' (CIP-WPA) Andean highlands. Farmers in LFAs surrounding Cochabamba city produce (among other things) potatoes for market and home consumption; the potato is the main source of food and income for most residents. Previous studies and anecdotal evidence have shown that Andean potato farmers may plant upwards of 10 varieties of potatoes on small amounts of land (Brush, 92). Because of the low rates of improved crop variety adoption in many LFA's, efforts are needed to understand farmer objectives and needs with respect to variety characteristics. The goal of this study is to determine how exposure to risk factors impacts potato planting decisions through demand for potato variety characteristics. The main source of data for this project is a survey of 145 farm households implemented during the last quarter of 2007 in 3 communities of Cochabamba. These data were used to estimate an econometric model that evaluated the role of household, regional and variety characteristics in farmer decision making. Decisions about planting each variety were modeled with a Tobit framework and estimated by the Heckman method (as suggested by Cameron and Trivedi), with the impact of individual variety characteristics restricted to be the same for each variety. Several hypotheses were confirmed such as the importance of yield, though many results were different than expected. Blight tolerance was found to be negatively correlated with selection, although most farmers report taking some kind of action to decrease damage from blight. Possible explanations for this negative correlation are discussed in this paper, and strategies for overcoming these obstacles are suggested. Staple Crop Diversity and Risk MitigationPotatoes in Bolivia


Two mini-sequencing methods, FP-TDI (template-directed dye-terminator incorporation with fluorescence-polarization) and MassArray (matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight detection mass spectrometry), were optimized. A numeric standard was introduced to evaluate the SNP scoring quality of FP-TDI assay, thus made the optimization work easier. At the same time, using multi-PCR technology, 8-plex genotyping of MassArray assay was successfully carried out, some softwares were developed and the data process of MassArray was highly automated. Then these two methods were applied to high throughput SNP genotyping, the accuracy, efficiency and robustness were compared. The result shows FP-TDI is more sensitive to the concentration of SNPprimer and PCR product, as well as extension cycles,the SNPprimer length of FP-TDI should be 24-30bp long, whereas MassArray assay prefers to be as short as only 16bp. Altogether 6440 SNP sites of human chromosome 3 were genotyped in a sample of 90 individuals,4792 sites by FP-TDI assay and 1648 sites by MassArray assay, the success rates of FP-TDI and MassArray were 67.7% and 93.6% respectively. The throughput of MassArray was higher than FP-TDI, and the cost of MassArray was lower, MassArray was more suitable for high throughput SNP genotyping.


The purpose of this research is to investigate effect of rare-earth elements (Y and Dy) on industrial pure Mg through the ignition point test and oxide film analysis. The results show that the 0.5%Y can make the ignition point of pure magnesium about 30°C higher. However, the ignition point of pure magnesium can be multiplied about 50°C by the mixed additions of 0.5wt%Y and 5wt%Dy. The SEM analysis indicates the oxide film of Mg-0.5Y-5Dy is more compact and tenacious than that of Mg-0.5Y. The XRD analysis indicates that the oxide film of Mg-0.5Y-5Dy consists of MgO, Y2O3 and Dy2O3. The most of all the three oxides are Dy2O3, which can prevent magnesium from further oxidizing.


Production, availability and accessibility of reliable data and statistics are of fundamental importance in monitoring and in taking evidence-based decisions for good land governance. The demand for data as evidence is increasingly focused to monitor global and national developmental status and targets. Implementation of intentionally agreed commitments like Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) influence data production and availability, and the development of national statistical capacities (OECD, 2015). At the same time, it also challenges the countries towards production of internationally comparable data to induce fair comparability among nations. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSTAT), the nodal agency for monitoring the SDGs has also highlighted the key role of reliable data sets with adequate disaggregation and granularity in measuring progress around SDG targets. FAO's Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (the "Guidelines", FAO, 2012) outlines the importance of monitoring in achieving equity over land tenure and access. With a long and diverse land tenure history, India has launched many progressive reforms around land laws and institutions to make land governance more inclusive and equitable and land information and records more transparent and accessible. However its assessment with respect to global best practices through use of World Bank's Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF) in 6 states conducted in 2014, indicate the need of improvements around different land dimensions including women land rights. Secure and equitable land rights of women form one of the key indicators (Indicator 5 under Goal 1) of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equity has also been globally recognized as one of the ten core principles for implementation of the FAO's VGGT. The Indian Constitution provides equal rights to both men and women. The post-independence era has seen many progressive reforms in land policies with a focus on redistributive justice and gender equity. Land is a state subject in India and many states have gone ahead with exemplary initiatives to ensure gender justice in their land governance frameworks. Movement towards good land governance outcomes is incumbent upon robust and regular monitoring mechanism of women land rights indicators across spatial (viz. administrative boundaries, land being a state subject in India) and temporal scales. Over years, India has developed institutional capacity and considerably improved data production, accessibility and availability, around different land parameters. Available administrative as well as open source data collected, interpreted and reported by government and non-government agencies at state and national level provide seamless opportunities to monitor and improve land governance. They also enable scope of aligning national level statistics along with international standards and databases and induce comparison. Monitoring and reporting land-indicators is expected to provide a basis to systematically discover and identify good practice that can then be documented and disseminated across states, manage change, and gradually move towards a more performance1 https://www.oecd.org/dac/POST-2015%20P21.pdf 2 FAO, 2012. Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, at http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2801e/i2801e.pdf based approach to improving land governance in India. Periodic monitoring is also imperative in the context of tracking global targets and goals viz. women land rights in the context of SDGs. Under Target 5a of SDGs, which addresses the rights of women to economic resources and access to ownership of land, indicators are 1(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and 1 (b) share of women among owners or rightsbearers of agricultural land, type of tenure(UNSTAT, 2016). This monitoring require availability of periodic and reliable gender disaggregated data across administrative layers on 'agricultural land' (includes land used for farming, livestock and forestry activities) and 'agricultural population' (people living out of farming, livestock and forestry, with land rights or without). UNSTAT prescribes the data sources for this indicator to be LSMS-ISA and DHS surveys and National household income and expenditure surveys. FAO's Gender and Land Rights Database (GLRD) is already disseminating some of these available data. In the context of gender-disaggregated land data, information in India are available through different databases, collected by different agencies with varied granularity, sampling intensity and periodicity, as survey, census, administrative data and digital online database. Nation-wide surveys like National Family Health Survey (NFHS) reports gender disaggregated data on property rights including ownership of houses and even non-agricultural land. In India DHS used as NFHS. India Human Development Survey (IHDS) executed in 2005-06 and 2011-12 by a Consortium of American Universities, reports gender-disaggregated intra-holding agricultural land ownership, based on interviews with a nationally representative sample. LSMS was executed only once in 199798. Census data like Population Census, Agriculture Census and Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) also indirectly reports information on agriculture land ownership and management, which can be used. Population Census carried out every 10 years, provide information on agriculture population. Agricultural Census records operational holdings data every fifth year, following the FAO Guidelines, reports land information in disaggregated form across gender, ethnicity (caste) and other socioeconomic parameters for different administrative layers. For India, GRLD, uses Agricultural Census information on land holdings. SECC, done in 2011 provides land ownership data. Administrative data include Annual Reports of State Land Departments and Judicial reports/ databases (viz. High Court database on land acquisition related cases). Online databases maintained by states under flagship program Digital India Land Record Modernization Program (DILRMP), which has been digitizing all spatial and textual land records. Availability of gender-disaggregated information has not yet universalized in India's Digitized Land Record programs implemented by states. SDG indicator development and tracking has so far been limited to international agencies and country level practical actions are yet to begin. The availability of such potential data sources, provides India, a strategic advantage to advance the monitoring around the SDG indicator on women's land rights. The situation can also be leveraged to monitor and report women land rights indicators at state and sub-state level, providing opportunities for comparative appreciation and competition among land-administration units and departments, leading to better governance. However, there has been very limited initiative in this regard. Consideration of 'land' as a state 3 http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/metadata-compilation/Metadata-Goal-5.pdf subject and associated complexity and bureaucratic inertia can be attributed as the raison d'être for lack of such efforts. The absence of a formal mechanism in India to monitor progress in land reforms in general, and gender equity in particular, may be one of the causes behind the entrenched inequity in land tenure governance. However, increasing attention on land governance at the state, national and global level, as a tool for sustainable development and efforts to make it better through transparent and evidence-based better land governance, have triggered initiatives in this direction. In this direction, we have made an attempt to see if tracking and reporting of women land rights indicators in the context of SDG is possible through use of these administrative and open datasets. In this paper we provide a comparative appreciation of all the datasets especially the metadata and methodology along with a SWOT vis-à-vis reporting requirement of SDG indicator. Describing the heterogeneity and complementarity between these datasets, we also explore if individually or in combination, they meet the SDG requirements of reporting sex-disaggregated land indicator. This paper illustrates the spatial distribution and temporal trends around women land rights in India with state-wise and district-wise granularity along with their further segregation across ethnicity and socio-economic categories, using open source agriculture census database. We also test the robustness of these indicators by comparing them with those reported in published micro-studies, based on primary data at state and sub-state levels as well as with those reported by another paper using IHDS database at aggregate country level. Lastly, we have tried to examine and analyze the link between the spatial and temporal variability of WLR and relevant policies and legalinstitutional frameworks in the concerned states to see if there are correlations for informed policyfeedback and the scope to induce healthy competition among states for gender-equitable land


The study aimed to determine the food safety and sanitation practices in terms of food receiving, storage, production area, and personal hygiene of the production staff and on transporting of foods of Infinite Flavors Catering Service. The study also determined its compliance on food safety and sanitation set by the literature standards. The study used the descriptive method of research. Data were obtained using observation checklist and interview guide. The interview guide was answered by the /manager, supervisor, and kitchen staff of the establishment while the observation was done by the researchers themselves. Results showed that the actual practices on food safety and sanitation of Infinite Flavors Catering Service had an overall rating of very good on food receiving, excellent on food storage, and good in food production. It also showed that Infinte Flavors complied with the standard operating procedures. In addition, the personal hygiene of the kitchen staff has an overall rating of excellent since they were all aware on the proper wearing of uniforms and good grooming. Its food transportation was rated good and it moderately complied with the literature standards. On the other hand, there were some deficiencies in its transporting practices that need improvements. The study recommended that Infinite Flavors Catering Service should have a thermometer to check and monitor that the proper temperature of its refrigerators and freezers are maintained. It was also to check and monitor the temperature of foods in the food production and in transporting of foods in the event catered site.


The catheter breaking into the body is a rare complication. In this report, we described one case in which the Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) broke and fell into the body, and then removed by a snare. A 32 year old female suffering from cervical cancer was enrolled in this study. She was catheterized with 4 Fr PICC in the left median vein on April 21, 2014. She fell on the ground by external force at 10:00, June 21, 2014, and felt that the PICC in her left arm moved. She was emergently hospitalized at 16:04, June 21, 2014. Digital subtraction angiography showed that, the PICC fell off and entered the central vein, while its end did not reach the right pulmonary artery. The right femoral vein was punctured and 8F sheath was placed, through which the single bent adapter and guide wire were ascended. The PICC was caught, and then was pulled out of the pulmonary artery, letting its end located inside the right ventricle. EV3 Goose-Neck snare was used to trap the end of PICC. The PICC was slowly dragged out of the sheath. Finally, the sheath was removed. The patients had no intraoperative and postoperative discomfort. This study indicates that, once the PICC breaks and falls off into the patient body, the appropriate medical means should be performed timely to remove the catheter promptly. Meanwhile, the health education should be performed towards the patient.


Effective flow conditions for making fine structure of a model immiscible polymer blend, i.e., equiviscous immiscible polymer blend was examined by using interrupted flow and combination of step increase and decrease of shear rate. Overshoot peak of first normal stress difference, which corresponds to the existence of most elongated domains, was used as an indicator for changing shear rate. That is, shear rate was decreased (including zero shear rate) just after the overshoot peak of first normal stress difference appeared. Time needed to rupture the elongated domains and also droplet size and distributions thus obtained were compared to the data evaluated by using shear flow with step increase of shear rate. The time needed to rupture the domain with interrupted flow and combination of step increase and decrease of shear rate was shorten to be one fifth and the size of domains and their distribution were almost the same compared to corresponding data for flow with step increase of shear rate. It was concluded that decreasing of shear rate at the most elongated state of domain structure is an effective procedure to make fine structure of immiscible polymer blends.


Purpose: Estimate the matching efficiency on the Swedish labour market to see how it has developed over time as well as determine whether there are any regional differences. I will use a panel data set extending from January 1996 to December 2014 on county level.Method: Estimate labour market matching functions with a fixed effects model including dummy variables for each county, year and month in order to capture the region and time fixed effects.Result: The results indicate that the labour market matching process has impaired during recent years where a significant decrease occurred between the years 2004 and 2005. Since then, the matching efficiency has continued to decrease, thus implying that structural changes have occurred in the labour market. The regional differences in matching efficiency between the Swedish counties still exist when comparing the results to previous studies' conclusions. Blekinge continues to be in the bottom with the lowest matching efficiency whilst Jamtland is still in the lead. The biggest decrease can be seen in Gotland. Some minor improvements have occurred, mainly amongst the big city counties.


The purpose of this teaching case is to help students gain an appreciation of some of the challenges inherent in implementing large software packages such as ERP systems. First it attempts to give a concrete sense of what it means to "configure" software. It then introduces the student to some of the standard dilemmas a company faces trying to make packaged software fit specific business needs. In looking at the gaps between a specific business process and the ERP application's functionality, the case introduces the student to the way in which ERP systems demand structure in the business processes they support, and the resulting tension between managerial control and organizational flexibility. The case also illustrates some of the ways companies try to address the gaps between what they want and what the software offers.


We consider the Koopman operator theory in the context of nonlinear infinite-dimensional systems, where the operator is defined over a space of bounded continuous functionals. The properties of the Koopman semigroup are described and a finite-dimensional projection of the semigroup is proposed, which provides a linear finite-dimensional approximation of the underlying infinite-dimensional dynamics. This approximation is used to obtain spectral properties from the data, a method which can be seen as a generalization of the Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition for infinite-dimensional systems. Finally, we exploit the proposed framework to identify (a finite-dimensional approximation of) the Lie generator associated with the Koopman semigroup. This approach yields a linear method for nonlinear PDE identification, which is complemented with theoretical convergence results.


The aim of this review is to present 3D bioprinting of skin substitutes as an efficient approach of managing skin injuries. From a clinical point of view, classic treatments only provide physical protection from the environment, and existing engineered scaffolds, albeit acting as a physical support for cells, fail to overcome needs, such as neovascularisation. In the present work, the basic principles of bioprinting, together with the most popular approaches and choices of biomaterials for 3D-printed skin construct production, are explained, as well as the main advantages over other production methods. Moreover, the development of this technology is described in a chronological manner through examples of relevant experimental work in the last two decades: from the pioneers Lee et al. to the latest advances and different innovative strategies carried out lately to overcome the well-known challenges in tissue engineering of skin. In general, this technology has a huge potential to offer, although a multidisciplinary effort is required to optimise designs, biomaterials and production processes.


Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has become widely accepted in the evaluation of adult patients with coronary heart disease. There are new challenges about the use of DSE in the pediatric age group to document ischemia. DSE can demonstrate ischemia noninvasively in Kawasaki disease (KD) patients who are candidates for coronary angiography. We wanted to assess the feasibility and the physiologic responses of DSE in a KD patient with coronary aneurysm. The patient had no ischemia in DSE, which was confirmed by coronary angiography showing no stenosis. The literature about DSE use in KD is reviewed.


A case of permanent molar impactions involving maxillary and mandibular second and third molars is reported. An odontogenic keratocyst was present in conjunction with root resorption of adjacent teeth. Treatment involved surgical removal of the impacted teeth and enucleation of the cystic lesion.


In the present study, a Cr(III)-imprinted polymer (Cr(III)-IIP) was prepared by an easy one-step sol-gel reaction with a surface imprinting technique on the support of silica mesoporous material. A new SPE method for the speciation, separation, preconcentration, and determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and UV on the mesoporous-imprinted polymer adsorbent was developed. The structure of the imprinted polymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The adsorption kinetics, thermodynamics behavior, and recognition ability toward Cr(III) on Cr(III)-IIP and nonimprinted polymer were compared. The results showed that Cr(III)-IIP had higher selectivity and nearly a two times larger Langmuir adsorption capacity (38.50 mg/g) than that of NIP. The proposed method has been successfully applied in the determination and speciation of chromium in natural water samples with satisfactory results.


The author of the article analyzes the significance of radiation medicine in the system of medical sciences, and stresses that radiation medicine and other fields of medicine have a lot of common points in their interests and the ways of development. All these points concern patients and problems of the evaluation of their health status in connection with diverse forms of radiation contacts. The author discusses the reliability of the sources of information and the forms of data presentation in the main publications addressed to certain groups of medical practitioners, researchers, and healthcare managers. The most significant results of radiation medicine, which may be useful to clinical medicine in general, are summarized in the article. The author annotates and assesses the targeting of manuals of radiobiology and radiation medicine issued in the resent years.


Threat-related information strongly biases attention, particularly for high anxious individuals. It is less clear though what the consequences of attentional capture by threat are and how this influences subsequent visual processing. This study examined how capture by threat influences visual search when attributes related to a threat reappear as task-irrelevant information. In Experiment 1, participants completed a search task preceded by task-irrelevant face cues on each trial expressing neutral, happy, or angry emotions. Faces were filtered to appear in different colors, where this color could match a nonemotional distractor object in the upcoming search display. Although the color of neutral/happy face cues had no impact on performance, there was evidence that angry face colors delayed reaction times when this color reappeared, driven by a positive correlation between costs and individual differences in trait anxiety. Experiment 2 assessed whether this phenomenon would be more readily observed when designating face cues task-relevant. When participants attended to and memorized faces for occasional probe trials, color biases were now evident irrespective of the emotional valence of face cues and unaffected by trait anxiety levels. These results suggest that task-irrelevant threat stimuli are granted privileged depth of processing by high anxious individuals, triggering biased attention toward features related to this object. Such biases are not dependent on threat per se, occurring for other objects voluntarily processed to similar depth regardless of personality factors. This highlights that anxiety-related phenomena, such as delayed disengagement of spatial attention from threat, may stem from task-irrelevant visual working memory representation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).


Commercial storage of potatoes often relies on the use of sprout inhibitors to prolong storage and reduce spoilage. The compound 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene (DMN) has seen increase application as a sprout inhibitor in the potato industry as older chemistries are being phased out. The mode of action of DMN is poorly understood as is the sensitivity of potato tissues to this new class of inhibitor. During storage potato tubers transition from a state of endo-dormant to eco-dormant and it is not known if the DMN response is consistent across this developmental transition. RNA-seq gene expression profiling was used to establish if stored potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum cv La Chipper) have differential sensitivity to DMN as tubers age. DMN was applied at three different times during storage; just after harvest when tubers are in endo-dormancy, midwinter at early eco-dormancy, and in spring during late eco-dormancy when sprouting was prevented via exposure to cold storage temperatures. Changes in gene expression were lowest during endo-dormancy while midwinter and spring treatments exhibited a greater and more diverse expression response. Functional analysis of differential gene expression demonstrated gene sets associated with DNA replication, cell division, and DNA methylation are suppressed after DMN treatment. However, gene sets associated with salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, abiotic and biotic stress responses are elevated by DMN only after endodormancy terminates. Gene clusters associated with pathogenesis related proteins PR-4 and PR-5 are also upregulated in response to DMN. These results indicate that DMN sensitivity changes as potato tubers age and transition from endo-dormant to eco-dormant in storage and the overall response is a shift in gene classes that regulate growth and response to stress.


Arbitrary digital filters are uniquely described by the element equations proposed here in which the outputs of adders and multipliers are defined as variables in addition to state variables. Equations of overflow oscillations in arbitrary digital filters are represented using the simultaneous equations or the DFT. A sufficient condition for absence of overflow oscillations is obtained by means of the element equations and the second neth— od of Liapunov, and is applied to a ladder form an an example.