ABSTRACT The peptidoglycan composition in lactic acid bacteria dictates vancomycin resistance. Vancomycin binds relatively poorly to peptidoglycan ending in d-alanyl-d-lactate and binds with high affinity to peptidoglycan ending in d-alanyl-d-alanine (d-Ala-d-Ala), which results in vancomycin resistance and sensitivity, respectively. The enzyme responsible for generating these peptidoglycan precursors is dipeptide ligase (Ddl). A single amino acid in the Ddl active site, phenylalanine or tyrosine, determines depsipeptide or dipeptide activity, respectively. Here, we established that heterologous expression of dipeptide ligase in vancomycin-resistant lactobacilli increases their sensitivity to vancomycin in a dose-dependent manner and overcomes the effects of the presence of a native d-Ala-d-Ala dipeptidase. We incorporated the dipeptide ligase gene on a suicide vector and demonstrated that it functions as a counterselection marker (CSM) in lactobacilli; vancomycin selection allows only those cells to grow in which the suicide vector has been lost. Subsequently, we developed a liquid-based approach to identify recombinants in only 5 days, which is approximately half the time required by conventional approaches. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Ddl serves as a marker to predict vancomycin resistance and consequently indicated the broad applicability of the use of Ddl as a counterselection marker in the genus Lactobacillus. Finally, our system represents the first "plug and play" counterselection system in lactic acid bacteria that does not require prior genome editing and/or synthetic medium. IMPORTANCE The genus Lactobacillus contains more than 200 species, many of which are exploited in the food and biotechnology industries and in medicine. Prediction of intrinsic vancomycin resistance has thus far been limited to selected Lactobacillus species. Here, we show that heterologous expression of the enzyme Ddl (dipeptide ligase)—an essential enzyme involved in peptidoglycan synthesis—increases sensitivity to vancomycin in a dose-dependent manner. We exploited this to develop a counterselection marker for use in vancomycin-resistant lactobacilli, thereby expanding the poorly developed genome editing toolbox that is currently available for most strains. Also, we showed that Ddl is a phylogenetic marker that can be used to predict vancomycin resistance in Lactobacillus; 81% of Lactobacillus species are intrinsically resistant to vancomycin, which makes our tool broadly applicable.


A 10 year old boy, brought for the evaluation of short stature, was found to have facial dysmorphism in the form of a bulbous nose, long philtrum and a thin upper lip. He had lateral thinning of eye brows though his scalp hair was normal. Skeletal abnormalities included broad hands and feet, brachyclinodactyly, brachytarsia with broad thumbs and toes. Since he manifested the classic triad of craniofacial, skeletal and hair abnormalities, he was diagnosed to have Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome (TRPS) type 1. Radiological evidence of cone shaped epiphysis in some of the proximal phalanges was diagnostic. In addition, the boy had evidence of growth hormone deficiency and has been started on growth hormone therapy. TRPS type 1 with growth hormone deficiency is being reported for the first time from the Indian sub continent.


Bonachera Martin, Francisco Javier. M. S. C. E., Purdue University, May, 2014. Detailed Finite Element Analysis and Preliminary Study of the Effects of Friction and Fastener PreTension on the Mechanical Behavior of Fastened Built-Up Members. Major Professors: Ghadir Haikal & Robert J. Connor. The characterization of fatigue resistance is one of the main concerns in structural engineering, a concern that is particularly important in the evaluation of existing bridge members designed or erected before the development of fatigue design provisions. The ability of a structural member to develop alternate load paths after the failure of a component is known as member-level or internal redundancy. In fastened built-up members, these alternate load paths are affected by the combination of fastener pre-tension and friction between the structural member components in contact. In this study, a finite element methodology to model and analyze riveted and bolted built-up members was developed in ABAQUS and validated with experimental results. This methodology was used to created finite element models of three fastened plates subjected to tension, in which the middle plate had failed, in order to investigate the fundamental effects of combined fastener pre-tension and friction on their mechanical behavior. Detailed finite element models of riveted and bolted built-up flexural members were created and analyze to understand the effect of fastener pretension in member-level redundancy and resistance to fatigue and fracture. xii The obtained results showed that bolted members are able to redistribute a larger portion of the load away from the failing component into the rest of the member than riveted members, and that this transfer of load also took place over a smaller length. Superior pre-tension of bolts, in comparison to rivets, results in larger frictional forces that develop at the contact interfaces between components and constitute additional alternate load paths that increase member-level redundancy which increase the fatigue and fracture resistance of the structural member during the failure of one of its components. Although fatigue and fracture potential may be mitigated by compressive stresses developing around the fastener hole due to fastener pre-tension, it was also observed, that at the surface of the fastener hole and at the contact interface with another plate, tensional stresses could develop; however, further computational and experimental work should be performed to verify this claim.


Thank you very much for reading advances in medicinal chemistry volume 1 advances in medicinal chemistry. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their chosen novels like this advances in medicinal chemistry volume 1 advances in medicinal chemistry, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some harmful bugs inside their desktop computer.


We report on direct time-of-flight based mass measurements of 16 light neutron-rich nuclei. These include the first determination of the masses of the Borromean drip-line nuclei (19)B, (22)C, and (29)F as well as that of (34)Na. In addition, the most precise determinations to date for (23)N and (31)Ne are reported. Coupled with recent interaction cross-section measurements, the present results support the occurrence of a two-neutron halo in (22)C, with a dominant ν2s(1/2)(2) configuration, and a single-neutron halo in (31)Ne with the valence neutron occupying predominantly the 2p(3/2) orbital. Despite a very low two-neutron separation energy the development of a halo in (19)B is hindered by the 1d(5/2)(2) character of the valence neutrons.


Apical meristems of monocotyl roots.-DAIsY G. SCOTT48 has investigated the root tips of Alisma, Butomus, Vallisneria, Ruppia, Zostera, Naias, Stratiotes, and Limnocharis. Her results support DE BARY'S statement in reference to the roots of monocotyledons in general, namely that there are three distinct groups of initials, one giving rise to calyptrogen, another to dermatogen and periblem, and the third to plerome.-J. M. C.


Among the methods used to increase enjoyment and performance in serious games, reward schedules, i.e., determining when in-game rewards should be given, have not been sufficiently explored. In the present study, we designed a simple memory training serious game and compared two methods of scheduling rewards, both based on the paradigm of positive reinforcement: fixed ratio schedule, in which rewards were given after a fixed number of correct responses, and variable ratio schedule, in which rewards were given after an unpredictable number of correct responses. To account for the variability in player preference for rewards, a player-centered sub-mode was included in both schedules by adjusting the schedule ratio according to player preference for rewards. The effectiveness of this approach was tested by comparing it against two more sub-modes: one which used a predetermined ratio, and another which set the ratio to the opposite of player preference. The game was put online and tested with 210 participants. Enjoyment, performance, duration of gameplay, and likelihood to play again were significantly higher in the player-centered sub-mode than the other sub-modes. On average, the variable-ratio schedule was better in the outcome measures than the fixed-ratio schedule. The results highlight the importance of in-game rewards, and indicate that giving rewards according to a player-centered variable-ratio schedule has the potential to make serious games more effective.


We present in situ and remote observations of a Mississippi plume front in the Louisiana Bight. The plume propagated freely across the bight, rather than as a coastal current. The observed cross-front circulation pattern is typical of density currents, as are the small width (≈100 m) of the plume front and the presence of surface frontal convergence. A comparison of observations with stratified density current theory is conducted. Additionally, subcritical to supercritical transitions of frontal propagation speed relative to internal gravity wave (IGW) speed are demonstrated to occur. That is in part due to IGW speed reduction with decrease in seabed depth during the frontal propagation toward the shore. Theoretical steady-state density current propagation speed is in good agreement with the observations in the critical and supercritical regimes but not in the inherently unsteady subcritical regime. The latter may be due to interaction of IGW with the front, an effect previously demonstrated only in laboratory and numerical experiments. In the critical regime, finite-amplitude IGWs form and remain locked to the front. A critical to supercritical transition eventually occurs as the ambient conditions change during frontal propagation, after which IGWs are not supported at the front. The subcritical (critical) to critical (supercritical) transition is related to Froude number ahead (under) the front, consistently with theory. Finally, we find that the front-locked IGW (critical) regime is itself dependent on significant nonlinear speed enhancement of the IGW by their growth to finite amplitude at the front.


Late-instars of Bryothinusa koreana Ahn & Jeon are described for the first time based upon DNA sequence data of larvae and adults. Twelve larvae were collected on Geoje Island, Korea, in association with adults of B. koreana. The partial cytochrome oxidase II gene (410 bp) was sequenced from the larvae and from several identified adult Bryothinusa specimens, including B. koreana. The intraspecific p-distances of adult B. koreana were from 0 to 4.44%, and interspecific pairwise distances were 10.77% to 13.47%. The sequence results of the larvae were similar to those of adult B. koreana. Based on these results, the larvae were identified as B. koreana and diagnostic characters of the species are provided, with illustrations of features.


Objective: the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of celiac disease among the adult population of Madrid by measuring antibodies against tissue transglutaminase as serologic screening method. Population and methods: 2,215 subjects participated voluntarily in this study. All of them completed a clinical questionnaire. We determined the levels of total IgA and antibodies to tissue transglutaminase (tTG). An intestinal biopsy by endoscopy was proposed to all subjects who were tTG-positive. The histologic lesion was classified in accordance to Marsh. Results: three known CD cases were identified by the questionnaire. Eleven donors with tTG positivity were detected, all of them asymptomatic. Four subjects rejected the intestinal biopsy. Seven out of 11 positive subjects consented to undergo a duodenal biopsy ‐3 had villous atrophy and 4 had increased intraepithelial lymphocyte counts with normal villi. In our study the number of donors with biopsy-proven CD was 6, and the prevalence was 1/370. If we include the subcategories of gluten sensitive enteropathy (Marsh I), the prevalence would be 1/222. When we considered antibody positivity the prevalence of gluten sensitivity was 1 in 201, and it reached 1 in 158 when the three known CD cases were included. Conclusions: data on CD prevalence in this study confirm that CD is a first-line healthcare problem that may warrant universal screening. We detected a high number of lymphocytic enteritis cases, and thus some sort of action is mandatory.


The aim of this study was to analyze a variety of environmental organic contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) and their metabolites in representative digestate samples from Norwegian biogas production plants. Biogas digestates can be a valuable source for soil amendments and/or fertilizers in commercial agriculture. It is important to assess whether the digestates contain harmful contaminants in order to avoid unintended exposure of human consumers. In total 19 biogas digestates from 12 biogas production plants in Norway were collected and analyzed. Furthermore, process related parameters such as pretreatment of substrates, additives, flocculation and temperature conditions were considered for interpretation of the results. The CEC levels found in the digestates were shown to be dependent on the original composition of the substrate, dry-matter content, and conditioning of the substrate. The sunscreen octocrylene (147 mg L ) and acetaminophen (paracetamol; 58.6 mg L ) were found at the highest concentrations in liquid digestates, whereas octocrylene (>600 ng g , on a wet weight basis 1⁄4 ww) and the flame retardant TCPP (tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate, >500 ng g 1 ww) were found at the highest levels in solid digestates, exceeding even the upper limit of quantification (uLOQ) threshold. The highest levels of total CECs were measured in solid digestates (1411 ng g 1 ww) compared to liquid digestates (354 mg L 1 equals 354 ng g ). The occurrence of CECs in digestate samples, even after extensive and optimized anaerobic digestion, indicates that the operational conditions of the treatment process should be adjusted in order to minimize CEC contamination.


A newborn diprosopic female calf had a partially duplicated head with two faces each exhibiting a mouth, a snout, an anomalous incomplete mandible, two eyes and a lateral ear. A single ear with two small auditory canals was present on the midline between the two medial eyes. A type 1 persistent truncus arteriosus and hypoplasia of the thoracic portion of thymus were the most outstanding extracranial defects. In the heart, a persistent foramen secundum and a large patent foramen ovale allowed communication between the right and left atria. In the right ventricle, the small conus arteriosus was separated in part from the inflow tract by an anomalous 'septomarginal muscular septum'. An interventricular septal defect was also present. A large undivided truncus arteriosus, exhibiting a tricuspid truncal valve at its origin, arose for the most part from the conus arteriosus of the right ventricle. The truncus gave rise to the brachiocephalic trunk, the aortic arch, a small pulmonary trunk, from which the left and right pulmonary arteries emerged, and two coronary arteries. The etiology and pathogenetic mechanisms implicated in the appearance of persistent truncus arteriosus are reviewed. It is suggested that a deficit or insufficiency in the cranial neural crest may play a role in the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to the production of persistent truncus arteriosus and related defects in cephalic duplications.


Year of study and the level of social interaction anxiety may be related to several outcomes associated to the academic performance of students. This study thus set out to investigate possible differences in social interaction anxiety based on the years of study of students in the University of Lagos. This study adopted a cross sectional survey research design as data was obtained utilising self-report measures from students sampled from four different levels of study. 142 (54%) were male students while 121 (46%) were female students. The age of participants was between 16 years and 30 years. The number of participants across the levels indicate that 96 (36.7%), 80 (30.3%), 47 (17.8%) and 40 (15.2%) students represented 100, 200 300 and 400 level students respectively from six faculties in the University of Lagos. Two hypotheses were tested to explain students' year of study and their social interaction anxiety. The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) was administered to the participants. Thus, one-way ANOVA statistic was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results reveal statistical differences in social interaction anxiety exhibited by 100, 200, 300 and 400 level participants (F(3, 269, = 2.969, P<.05). The results were discussed in relation to the achievement of social cohesion among undergraduate students.


: According to the 1996 WHO Report, the world is heading for a major crisis in public health as outbreaks of new and re-emerging infectious diseases are striking at increasing frequencies within the past 10 to 15 years. The given information is true not only for an infection. On the other side eventually a food of the persons considerably changes. The urgent question which needs to be addressed is the nutrition modification and optimization for public health improvement.


This paper reinterprets core issues in economic anthropology by exploring transfers as a theoretical resource. After describing deliberate usage of the term "transfer" in anthropology and economics, transfers are defined as movements of economic matter, while transactions are the forms arising from their configuration. Transactional categories such as Maussian gift exchange or market exchange become second-order reifications. Examining the politics of creating and sustaining transactional categories by first looking at the elementary transfers out of which they are constructed places "one-way transfers" of wealth on the same conceptual plane as reciprocal and market transactions, instead of being a derivative or a remainder of either or both. Gifts and gambling are considered as examples. Gambling and "pure gifts" are one-way transfers engineered to possess only one component transfer, and Maussian gifts explicitly connect transfers together in a particular politics. Anthropological literature that employs an incipient version of the transfer strategy is detailed, demonstrating its nascent explanatory promise. The article concludes by suggesting renewed engagement with contemporary economics on the basis of transfers.


We describe the notion of "equivalent kernels" and suggest that this provides a framework for comparing different classes of regression models, including neural networks and both parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques. Unfortunately, standard techniques break down when faced with models, such as neural networks, in which there is more than one "layer" of adjustable parameters. We propose an algorithm which overcomes this limitation, estimating the equivalent kernels for neural network models using a data perturbation approach. Experimental results indicate that the networks do not use the maximum possible number of degrees of freedom, that these can be controlled using regularisation techniques and that the equivalent kernels learnt by the network vary both in "size" and in "shape" in different regions of the input space.


For a few dazzling years in the early 1990s, many eyes in the Australian theatre world were turning to Canberra The centre of attention was a brash young company called Splinters, recommended to those of us then working at The Performance Space by the late Bruce Keller, who had been working in Canberra with theatre-in-education company Jigsaw. Splinters was arguably the most remarkable and influential, truly home-grown artistic venture that Canberra has produced It grew from the local (counter-) culture, and arose in and around the national government, the cultural institutions and the embassies of many nations that the city was designed to serve The company's meteoric rise to national prominence in the early 1990s has not, to date, been documented and shared with the community that nurtured it, and its astonishing works and techniques deserve to be made available for overdue critical analysis.


Purpose To retrospectively evaluate the short-term efficacy of omidenepag isopropyl (EYBELIS 0.002%) by assessing its intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering capability and safety in patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG). Patients and Methods Fifty-four NTG patients (54 eyes) who were newly administrated with omidenepag isopropyl were enrolled in the study. The subjects comprised 22 men and 32 women, and the mean age of the subjects was 55.0 ± 14.1 years. The mean deviation value using the Humphrey visual field test program (30–2 SITA Standard) was −5.03 ± 3.38 dB. The following data were retrieved from the medical records and used for retrospective analyses: IOP at baseline 1–2 months and 3–4 months after administration. The frequency of non-responder patients who had less than 10% IOP reduction was evaluated. Patients were observed for adverse reactions and dropouts at each time point. Results IOP at baseline, after 1–2 months and after 3–4 months was 15.7 ± 2.6 mmHg, 13.5 ± 2.3 mmHg, and 13.6 ± 2.4 mmHg, respectively. There was a significant decrease in IOP after administration (p<0.0001). Eleven patients (22.4%) were non-responders. Adverse reactions occurred in 4 patients (7.4%), including conjunctival hyperemia in 3 patients (after 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month, respectively) and eye pain in 1 patient (after 1 month). Five patients (9.3%) dropped out of the study because of an adverse reaction in 3 patients, insufficient IOP reduction in 1 patient, and discontinuation of follow-up of 1 patient at our institution. Conclusion After administration of omidenepag isopropyl, IOP in patients with NTG was significantly decreased. However, adverse reactions occurred in 7.4% of patients.


Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are at the heart of many people lives, and the majority of both students and adults who use them to share information, keeping contact with old friends and meeting new acquaintances. However, the increasing number of action on online services also gives a raised to privacy concerns and issues. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is investigate the two SNSs i.e. Facebook and Friendster in terms of privacy policy and features, users" preferences and needs as well as producing a guideline for good SNSs from users design perspective. In an attempt to achieve the objectives of this study, however, two different approaches were employed; first literature has reviewed for two SNSs for the comparative analysis, and secondly quantitative approach technique was used. Online questionnaire was designed and published on the web and the respondents were able to access and sent back respectively. The survey was limited only to one hundred respondents within the Universiti Utara Malaysia. Findings from this study reveal that there are significant differences and similarities between Facebook and Friendster privacy policy and features. However, Friendster has hidden users" identity information by default to only friends, while Facebook has made it public to everyone. Results from survey in this study indicate that most of the respondents disclose information including personal and private information with public and friends, nevertheless, many respondents prefer to share their personal and private information with friends. Although, majority of respondents are aware of privacy setting changes, while they have notable attitude toward privacy protection as well as trust. This study usher a new era towards knowledge of social networking sites and the result can be use to the body of literature on information system with emphasis on privacy policy setting and features.


BACKGROUND
Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common health complaints, with lifetime prevalence rates as high as 84%. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is often the measure of choice for LBP in both research and clinical settings and, as such, has been translated into 29 languages and dialects. Currently, however, there is no validated version of Hebrew-translated ODI (ODI-H).

OBJECTIVE
To examine the psychometric properties of the ODI-H.

METHODS
Cross-culturally appropriate translation into Hebrew was conducted. A convenience sample of 115 participants (Case Group) with LBP and 68 without LBP (Control Group) completed the ODI-H, SF-36 Health Survey, and two Visual Analog Scales (VAS).

RESULTS
Internal consistency was α = 0.94 and test-retest reliability for 18 participants repeating the ODI-H was 0.97. No floor or ceiling effects were noted for Cases, although there was a floor effect for the Control Group. Scores were significantly different for the two groups, indicating discriminant validity. Concurrent validity was reflected by significant correlations with SF-36 scores, particularly the Physical Functioning and Bodily Pain subscales (-0.83 and -0.79, respectively) and with the VAS (0.84 and 0.79).

CONCLUSIONS
The ODI-H is a valid and reliable measure of low back pain-related disability for the Hebrew-speaking public.


Small field of view (FOV) SPECT imaging can benefit from the improving performances of CdZnTe pixelated detectors, especially their excellent spatial resolution. An additional feature, specific to semiconductor detectors, is the measurement of the depth of interaction (DOI). LETI is developing a MICRO GAMma-ray Imager. From technological, electronics and physical constraints, the CdZnTe detector size is 48 mm times 48 mm times 4.6 mm with a 0.75 mm pixel pitch. We have chosen a versatile collimation architecture. The Anger analytical formulae for collimators help us to dimension two parallel square hole collimators with different sensitivity-spatial resolution trade-offs. To get high resolution (0.6 mm) in at least 1cm2 FOV, we change to a pinhole collimator with a focal length of 50 mm or so. Simulations of selected setups are then made with SINDBAD, a LETI code developed to simulate radiographic chains. The collimator and attenuation phantom are described through a CAD tool. Either direct analytical simulation or Monte Carlo simulation or both can be done. A voxelized emission phantom can be simulated through an external loop. As scattering and fluorescence are not dominant in small FOV exams, the ray-tracing approach is an attractive way to help the architecture design. A variety of parallel hole or pinhole collimators are simulated. For parallel collimators, simulation shows that, compared to a typical NaI device, a High Sensitivity collimator can yield a gain in sensitivity of 4.7 with the same spatial resolution, whereas a High Resolution collimator can improve the spatial resolution by a factor of 1.9 without degrading sensitivity. For single pinhole collimators, the benefit of small detector pitch is counterbalanced by the reduced detector size. SINDBAD simulation helps to emphasize the effects of pinhole profile and of parallax errors.


Purpose

A three-year study of information technology and information systems management in South Africa has delivered (amongst other things) a bibliography and a new reference model. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The new reference model indicates the key informational components of the education "system" that education management must acknowledge, understand and deal with. This paper presents an overview of these two principal outcomes from that research, leading to a view as to how education can be improved through better information management.

Findings

There is some available reported work that addresses management, or information, or education, but relatively little that brings the essence of these three domains together. The derived reference model effectively addresses a number of set objectives, hence providing a basis for improved understanding of how information can be more effectively managed in education.

Originality/value

The new reference model comprises an arrangement of ideas that allows education managers to focus on a more strategic approach to their management challenges. It also provides foundations for further research. Although the study was undertaken in South Africa, it has relevance to all countries and regions where education needs improved management.


Modeling user engagement dynamics on social media has compelling applications in market trend analysis, user-persona detection, and political discourse mining. Most existing approaches depend heavily on knowledge of the underlying user network. However, a large number of discussions happen on platforms that either lack any reliable social network (news portal, blogs, Buzzfeed) or reveal only partially the inter-user ties (Reddit, Stackoverflow). Many approaches require observing a discussion for some considerable period before they can make useful predictions. In real-time streaming scenarios, observations incur costs. Lastly, most models do not capture complex interactions between exogenous events (such as news articles published externally) and in-network effects (such as follow-up discussions on Reddit) to determine engagement levels. To address the three limitations noted above, we propose a novel framework, ChatterNet, which, to our knowledge, is the first that can model and predict user engagement without considering the underlying user network. Given streams of timestamped news articles and discussions, the task is to observe the streams for a short period leading up to a time horizon, then predict chatter: the volume of discussions through a specified period after the horizon. ChatterNet processes text from news and discussions using a novel time-evolving recurrent network architecture that captures both temporal properties within news and discussions, as well as influence of news on discussions. We report on extensive experiments using a two-month-long discussion corpus of Reddit, and a contemporaneous corpus of online news articles from the Common Crawl. ChatterNet shows considerable improvements beyond recent state-of-the-art models of engagement prediction. Detailed studies controlling observation and prediction windows, over 43 different subreddits, yield further useful insights.


Angiopoietin-1 is dysregulated in pediatric severe malaria, and targeting it prevents vascular dysfunction and death in a mouse model of cerebral malaria. Bolstering the host to beat malaria Cerebral malaria is a devastating disease associated with high death rates and brain injury despite the use of potent antimalarials. Understanding the role of the host response in determining the ability of the host to survive a severe malaria infection may enable development of host-based therapeutics to prevent infection-induced death. Higgins et al. now demonstrate how the loss of a key host vascular protective protein, angiopoietin-1, is associated with severe and fatal malaria in children and in a mouse model. Administering angiopoietin-1 to mice with cerebral malaria reinforced the blood-brain barrier and improved survival, even when initiated late in disease. Cerebral malaria is a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Interventions targeting the underlying pathophysiology of cerebral malaria may improve outcomes compared to treatment with antimalarials alone. Microvascular leak plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria. The angiopoietin (Ang)–Tie-2 system is a critical regulator of vascular function. We show that Ang-1 expression and soluble Tie-2 expression were associated with disease severity and outcome in a prospective study of Ugandan children with severe malaria and in a preclinical murine model of experimental cerebral malaria. Ang-1 was necessary for maintenance of vascular integrity and survival in a mouse model of cerebral malaria. Therapeutic administration of Ang-1 preserved blood-brain barrier integrity and, in combination with artesunate treatment, improved survival beyond that with artesunate alone. These data define a role for dysregulation of the Ang–Tie-2 axis in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria and support the evaluation of Ang–Tie-2–based interventions as potential adjunctive therapies for treating severe malaria.


It has recently been suggested that lycra garments are helpful for children with cerebral palsy (CP). Twelve children, with athetosis, ataxia, and spasticity, were fitted with lycra garments (Kendall‐Camp UK Ltd). Scores on the Paediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) scales were determined before and after wearing the garment for at least 6 hours a day for 6 weeks. Five children with motor problems representative of the whole group were investigated during a reach‐and‐grasp task by kinematic motion analysis; reflective markers were used with and without the garment. Carers were given a questionnaire concerning the practicalities of using the garments. All 12 children made improvements in at least one of the functional scales of the PEDI, and scores for the whole group showed significant gains (Wilcoxon X2 test, self‐help p<0.01; mobility p<0.5; social p<0.1). These changes were usually slight, although noticed by carers. Six children made gains of at least one scale of the caregiver assistance scores, two of the children showed losses (due to difficulties removing the garment for toileting), and four showed no change. Motion analysis indicated that (1) two children with athetosis had improved proximal stability in sitting and in smoothness of arm movements, (2) one child with ataxia had improved in proximal and distal stability, and (3) two children with spasticity had more jerky movements, although one improved in proximal stability. All children had problems in wearing the garments, including problems with toileting and incontinence of urine; the parents of only one child wanted to continue using it. Results suggest that the functional benefit of lycra garments for children with CP is mainly due to improvements in proximal stability but this should be weighed against the inconvenience and loss of independence.


The study examined the impact of dementia severity on repeat fallers among the institutionalized elderly. A secondary analysis of a dataset containing information on 466 residents (86 of whom were fallers) of nine care facilities around Tokyo was carried out. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the baseline characteristics. Then, logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify the risk factors between the non-fallers and fallers and between the single and repeat fallers. Finally, the relative risks that had an impact on the repeat fallers were calculated. Sixty-one persons (13.1%) were identified as single fallers and 25 (5.4%) were identified as repeat fallers. An unstable gait was a dominant risk factor. In addition, the person's sex and the facility type were identified as risk factors for the fallers, while severe dementia was identified as a risk factor for the repeat fallers. Nurses should recognize the combination of severe dementia and unstable gait as a warning sign for potential repeat fallers.


We study the problem of designing efficient auctions where bidders have interdependent values; i.e., values that depend on the signals of other agents. We consider a contingent bid model in which agents can explicitly condition the value of their bids on the bids submitted by others. In particular, we adopt a linear contingent bidding model for single minded combinatorial auctions (CAs), in which submitted bids are linear combinations of bids received from others. We extend the existing state of the art, by identifying constraints on the interesting bundles and contingency weights reported by the agents which allow the efficient second priced, fixed point bids auction to be implemented in single minded CAs. Moreover, for domains in which the required single crossing condition fails (which characterizes when efficient, IC auctions are possible), we design a two-stage mechanism in which a subset of agents ("experts") are allocated first, using their reports to allocate the remaining items to the other agents.


In the near term there will be no available, unallocated IPv4 addresses. From original estimates of IPv4 exhaustion in 2037, the most widely-cited current estimates for ARIN IPv4 address depletion is now at 2013. This deadline gives a particular importance to IPv6 adoption. The goals of this work were to identify valid measures of IPv6 diffusion and use classic diffusion models to bound the uncertainty in those measures. With these measures and simple models we can bound best case, current projection and reasonably optimistic cases for the adoption of the IPv6 protocol. For these ends, the work discusses previous analysis of IPv6 routes and ASN data from ARIN to quantify the current adoption rate. We conclude that there is no reasonable case for diffusion of IPv6 before IPv4 full allocation. The second significant contribution, besides measurement and bounding uncertainty, that is provided in this paper is to what extent the now well established fundamental findings of the economics of computer security can apply to the diffusion of IPv6. The second significant but unanswered question is if the creation of a transferrable property interest in IPv4 addresses, informed by computer security economics, will hinder or galvanize IPv6 adoption. In order to address these questions the paper provides some non-trivial insights on IPv6 through presenting sketches of four scenarios: no action, IPv4 market creation, coordination government action and registrar- only management. As much as conclusions, this paper offers a set of questions that are critical to consider.


Abstract : The transverse (radial) vibrations of geometrically thin circular rings are experimentally and analytically investigated in order to further understand the order and degree of nonlinearities present. Two important mechanisms have been identified that contribute to the quadratic elements of the nonlinear equations of motion. The first results from the first order nonlinear strain displacement relations interacting with the effect of circumferential periodicity present in a complete ring which gives rise to a double frequency breathing mode. The second mechanism is due to the geometric imperfections present in any manufactured structure which can give rise to a double frequency flexural mode response. These and other nonlinear mechanisms that generate multiple wavenumber responses and interactions among these wavenumbers have been identified. The Galerkin's procedure was used to analytically determine the differential equations of motion. An experimental study has also been conducted on three rings of various thickness to radius ratios. The experimental results question the existence of the nonlinear breathing mode response but confirm, at least qualitatively, the geometric imperfection flexural mode response. The investigation of these nonlinear structural vibrations is enhanced by the use of higher order spectral signal processing, such as bicoherency, which preserves phase information and allows the investigation of frequency interactions and can indicate the presence of nonlinear system effects.


Objective - The imbalance in income and expenditure in the JKN-KIS program clearly illustrates the main causes of its financial balance deficit. The government has implemented many top-down programs to overcome this issue, but these efforts have not yet shown any satisfying outcomes. The collaborative efforts in dealing with budget deficit problems in the JKN-KIS program have been carried out by many actors. The extant literature suggests it should be noted that the components are comprehensive and appropriately used in answering problems. This study consists of a theoretical discussion focusing on the potentials and challenges of bottom-up collaborative governance concept as well as a practical example of how this concept works in dealing with financial deficits in the National Health Insurance (JKN) program in Indonesia. Methodology/Technique - This study aims to explain the tendency of collaborative governance approach used. This study is conducted using a post-positivism approach with qualitative and quantitative data analysis using 13 state and non-state institutions for the period of the JKN from 2014 to 2018. Finding & Novelty - The results of the study show that there is no dominant tendency in each existing model. However, there are a "red thread" between collaborative governance models formulated. The results suggest that a bottom-up approach emerges as a critique to the old scheme of top-down approach in which the participation of the citizens or NGOs are not proportionally given. This finding implies that in adopting the bottom-up collaborative governance concept there are significant challenges for the collaborative governance approach in the future. Type of Paper - Review


The purpose of this study was to develop robust class II organic–inorganic films as antibacterial coatings on titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) implants. Coating materials were prepared from organic chitosan (20–80 wt.%) coupled by 3-glycydoxytrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) with inorganic tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). These hybrid networks were imbedded with antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and coated onto polished and acid-etched Ti6Al4V substrates. Magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (13CMAS-NMR), attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and the ninhydrin assay, confirmed the presence and degree of covalent crosslinking (91%) between chitosan and GPTMS. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) identified surface roughness and microtopography on thin films and confirmed homogeneous distribution of elements throughout the coating. Cross-hatch and tensile adhesion testing demonstrated the robustness and adherence (15–20 MPa) of hybrid coatings to acid-etched titanium substrates. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli cultures and their biofilm formation were inhibited by all hybrid coatings. Antibacterial effects increased markedly for coatings loaded with AgNPs and appeared to increase with chitosan content in biofilm assays. These results are promising in the development of class II hybrid materials as robust and highly adherent antibacterial films on Ti6Al4V implants.


Image steganography is applicable in defence, police department, detective investigation department and medical field. In this paper we give a review on various techniques in image steganography. Nowadays internet technologies need a very strong level of security during data transmission. We can achieve it by steganography. Integer wavelet transform, list significant bit are some techniques used in image steganography. The results of such reviews of various methodologies are to get an efficient analogy to create a much better techniques for image steganography.


The paper presents a fluid structure interaction based numerical study of impact loading for a hemispherical structure upon water and a space capsule water landing. The study has a strong relevance in the determination of the crashworthiness of aerospace structures upon water impact loading. Finite element based numerical techniques have been used for the analysis of the underlying transient dynamic and fluid-structure interaction. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian (ALE) methods have been used to simulate the behaviour of the fluid (water) under impact conditions. The accelerations and velocities of the impacting objects have been validated with by experimental measurements and analytical results. Numerical analyses showed a strong potential for the use of developed computational fluid structure interaction models for analyses of water impact loading related problems.


Background To examine the corneal epithelial phenotype in an altered basement membrane. Methodology/Principal Findings Corneas from 9 patients with symptoms of continuous unstable corneal curvature (CUCC) were harvested by penetrating keratoplasty and subjected to histology examination and immunohistochemical staining with transactivating and N-terminally truncated pP63 transcript (ΔNp63), cytokeratin 3 (Krt3), ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2), connexin 43 (CX43), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (p38MAPK), activating protein 2 (TFAP2), and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk1/2) monoclonal antibodies. Positive immunostaining with ABCG2, p38MAPK, and TFAP2 monoclonal antibodies was observed in the basal epithelial cells of CUCC patients, and CX43 and ΔNp63 were detected in the full-thickness epithelial cells of CUCC patients. Conclusions/Significance Our results indicate that alteration of the corneal basement membrane induces a de-differentiation-like phenotype in corneal basal epithelial cells.


In this work, a dynamic arched magnetic field steered arc source was deigned by virtue of Finite Element Method (FEM) calculation. The magnetic field was produced by two main electromagnetic coils so that the magnetic field can be adjusted with the help of the two current I1and I2,where I1is the current to the internal coil mounted coaxially in a magnetic yoke generating a static arched magnetic field to confine the cathode spots and I2 is the current to the external coil mounted coaxially outside the above yoke adjusting the position of the vertex of arch. Base on the results of simulation, it was found this design enable the sweeping of the arc spots on the target surface by means of adjusting the ratio of current (I1/ I2) , and cause the arc distribute evenly on the cathode surface in the diffuse arc mode transferred from the constricted arc mode. The effects of the target thickness and current ratio on the configuration and intensity of dynamic arched magnetic field were investigated. The optimized operating modes was proposed and discussed.


Mechanical and thermal treatments during the manufacturing process inevitably cause the accumulation of residual stresses in parts consisting of materials with complex microstructures. Neutron diffraction is particularly well suited to determine residual stress distributions within the bulk of the component. Due to the nature of a diffraction experiment an inextricable mixture of type I and II residual stresses is measured. The accumulation of type II stresses (microstresses) is strongly related to the microstructure. The impact of changes in the microstructure on neutron diffraction experiments has been investigated on Inconel 718 (IN718) samples.


We propose a new statistical instrument-free method to tackle the endogeneity problem. The proposed method models the joint distribution of the endogenous regressor and the error term in the structural equation of interest (the structural error) using a copula method, and it makes inferences on the model parameters by maximizing the likelihood derived from the joint distribution. Similar to the "exclusion restriction" in instrumental variable methods, extant instrument-free methods require the assumption that the unobserved instruments are exogenous, a requirement that is difficult to meet. The proposed method does not require such an assumption. Other benefits of the proposed method are that it allows the modeling of discrete endogenous regressors and offers a new solution to the slope endogeneity problem. In addition to linear models, the method is applicable to the popular random coefficient logit model with either aggregate-level or individual-level data. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method via a series of simulation studies and an empirical example.


This paper describes a navigation system for a blind person that uses an audio guidance system including input from a voice recognition system. The proposed voice recognition system is used in order to easily set the desired destination for the blind person. By using the proposed voice recognition system, the destination can be set by using a microphone. An EasyVR module is used to develop the voice input navigation system. In order to measure the performance of the developed system, the user's voice is evaluated by using the template matching method. Some experiments on the proposed voice input navigation system are also conducted at different locations with different sound intensity levels. As a result, the satisfactory performance of the developed voice navigation system is confirmed.


In this paper we evaluate what economists have learned over the past 40 years about the determinants of crime. We base our evaluation on two kinds of evidence: an examination of aggregate data over long time periods and across countries, and a critical review of the literature. We argue that economists know little about the empirically relevant determinants of crime. Even hypotheses that find some support in U.S. data for recent decades are inconsistent with data over longer horizons or across countries. This conclusion applies both to policy variables like arrest rates or capital punishment and to less conventional factors such as abortion or gun laws. The hypothesis that drug prohibition generates violence, however, is generally consistent with the long times-series and cross-country facts. This analysis is also consistent with a broader perspective in which government policies that affect the nature and amount of dispute resolution play an important role in determining violence.


REPORT OF A CASE A 36-year-old woman presented with a four-week history of gingival enlargement. She had no history of periodontal procedures or local radiation and was taking no medications. She had a 15-pack-per-year history of cigarette smoking. Aside from a vague low-grade fever and night sweats for one to two months, she felt well. As an outpatient, she had been treated with very brief courses of oral penicillin and tetracycline without improvement. A gingival biopsy specimen was said to show nonspecific changes. Shortly before her first hospitalization, an "abscess" on the back had been drained and treated with dicloxacillin. Additional "boils" were noted about this time. She was admitted to the hospital for evaluation. Physical examination revealed marked gingival hyperplasia, forming spongy bluish-red masses. The process was somewhat more extensive in the mandibular gingivae than in the maxillary gingivae and was especially prominent at the interdental papillae (Fig 1).


It is necessary to take into account synthetically attribute of every index because of independence and incompatibility resulted from single index evaluating outcomes. Through the information entropy theory and attribute recognition model being combined together, attribute recognition model based on entropy weight is constructed and applied to evaluating groundwater quality by a new method, weight coefficient by the law of entropy value is exercised so that it is more objective. The outcome from concrete application indicates that it is suitable to evaluate water quality with reasonable conclusion and simple calculation.


Image processing and machine learning applications benefit tremendously from hardware acceleration. Existing compilers target either FPGAs, which sacrifice power and performance for programmability, or ASICs, which become obsolete as applications change. Programmable domain-specific accelerators, such as coarse-grained reconfigurable arrays (CGRAs), have emerged as a promising middle-ground, but they have traditionally been difficult compiler targets since they use a different memory abstraction. In contrast to CPUs and GPUs, the memory hierarchies of domain-specific accelerators use push memories: memories that send input data streams to computation kernels or to higher or lower levels in the memory hierarchy and store the resulting output data streams. To address the compilation challenge caused by push memories, we propose that the representation of these memories in the compiler be altered to directly represent them by combining storage with address generation and control logic in a single structure—a unified buffer. The unified buffer abstraction enables the compiler to separate generic push memory optimizations from the mapping to specific memory implementations in the backend. This separation allows our compiler to map high-level Halide applications to different CGRA memory designs, including some with a ready-valid interface. The separation also opens the opportunity for optimizing push memory elements on reconfigurable arrays. Our optimized memory implementation, the Physical Unified Buffer, uses a wide-fetch, single-port SRAM macro with built-in address generation logic to implement a buffer with two read and two write ports. It is 18% smaller and consumes 31% less energy than a physical buffer implementation using a dual-port memory that only supports two ports. Finally, our system evaluation shows that enabling a compiler to support CGRAs leads to performance and energy benefits. Over a wide range of image processing and machine learning applications, our CGRA achieves 4.7× better runtime and 3.5× better energy-efficiency compared to an FPGA.


Travel time distributions obtained from advective transport in multiple realizations of realistic discrete fracture network simulations are analyzed using the truncated one‐sided stable distribution, which has previously been shown to generalize both the advection‐dispersion solution as well as one‐sided stable distributions. Using this model, it is shown that the Fickian assumption inherent in the advection‐dispersion equation generally fails, despite the first two moments of travel time essentially scaling linearly with distance. It is also observed that the equally probable realizations drawn from the ensemble can produce a wide range of behavior under the current configuration, such that Fickian conditions are almost obtained in some cases for increasing scales. On the basis of a small‐scale calibration against particle breakthrough, the model is then shown to successfully predict limiting bounds of transport for a one order of magnitude increase in scale. Correlation in particle velocity is explicitly shown to be significant for scales close to the characteristic Lagrangian segment length. The network configuration is obtained from extensive site characterization data at the Laxemar region in Sweden and represents a block‐scale domain of reasonably sparse background fractures.


We present a facile microfluidic method for forming narrow chemical gradients in polymer brushes. Co-flow of an alkylating agent solution and a neat solvent in a microfluidic channel forms a diffusion-driven concentration gradient, and thus a gradient in reaction rate at the interface of the two flows, leading to a quaternization gradient in the underlying poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) polymer brush. The spatial distribution of the quaternized polymer brush is characterized by confocal Raman microscopy. The quaternization gradient length in the polymer brush can be varied with the injection flow rate and the distance from the co-flow junction. A chemical gradient in the polymer brush as narrow as 5 μm was created by controlling these parameters. The chemical gradient by laminar co-flow is compared with numerical calculations that include only one adjustable parameter: the reaction rate constant of the polymer brush quaternization. The calculated chemical gradient agrees with the experimental data, which validates the numerical procedures established in this study. Flow of multiple laminar streams of reactive agent solutions enables single-run fabrication of brush gradients with more than one chemical property. As one example, four laminar streams-neat solvent/benzyl bromide solution/propargyl bromide solution/neat solvent-generate multistep gradients of aromatic and alkyne groups. Because the alkyne functional group is a click-reaction available site, the alkyne gradient could allow small gradient formation with a wide variety of chemical properties in a polymer brush.


A cytomorphological study was made of peculiarly structured polytene chromosomes in supergiant trophoblast cells of Microtus subarvalis. The polyteny level was extremely high (over 1024C). The polytene chromosomes are characterized by a rather high degree of condensation of single chromosomes, and, as a consequence, close chromosome junctions and the typical disk pattern are lacking. The presence of complex nucleoli in the nuclei of these cells also testifies to a great detachment of chromonemes in polytene chromosomes of the studied supergiant trophoblast cells. Compared to other rodent species, a lower degree of chromoneme junction in the vole polytene chromosomes may cause their easy dissociation into single chromonemata, whose further condensation results in endomitotic chromosome formation. The chromosome depolytenization, earlier suggested from the analysis of interphase nucleus markers, has been traced here in detail. The process of polytene chromosome splitting was most obvious in the nucleolus-organizing chromosomes. A hony-combed nucleolus splits into numerous micronucleoli. The nucleus pattern becomes altered. Once in the polytene nucleus, chromosome bundles were located below the nuclear membrane and the central zone of the karyoplasm was not completely filled up. However, after dissociation of polytene chromosomes the whole karyoplasm was filled up with small nucleoli, and a thin layer of endomitotic chromosomes was seen beneath the nuclear membrane. The correlation between endomitosis and polyteny is discussed in terms of the dissociation of polytene chromosomes and formation of endomitotic chromosomes.


Paclobutrazol (PBZ) was applied to 6-year-old pecan (Carya illinoinensis) trees as a basal trunk drench (0, 30, 90, and 150 mg·cm−2 trunk cross-sectional area) in Dec. 2012. Terminal shoot growth was retarded for 1 year after a single application of PBZ. The total number of current season shoots showed a significant increase with 30- and 90-mg·cm−2 PBZ treatments. After PBZ application at 30, 60, and 90 mg·cm−2, the percentage of very short shoots (<5 cm) was 32.3%, 36.3%, and 32.3%, respectively, compared with 22.4% on control trees; the percentage of short shoots (5–15 cm) increased to 36.0%, 38.1%, and 43.5%, respectively. The percent of long shoots (>30 cm) was decreased to 7.4%, 5.1%, and 7.6%, respectively, after PBZ application, compared with 18.7% with control. Shoots varying from 5 to 30 cm in length accounted for at least 63.3% of all pistillate inflorescences the following spring.


Background: Complete atrioventricular block (AV block) is a serious complication of slow pathway ablation therapy in the treatment of atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT). The present study was aimed at determining whether the electroanatomical pace mapping of Koch's triangle could significantly improve the safety, efficiency, and efficacy of selective slow pathway ablation in the treatment of AVNRT. Methods: A total number of 124 patients were selected to be studied consecutively for radiofrequency (RF) ablation therapy in the treatment of AVNRT. The subjects were divided into two groups: one, designated Group 1, to serve as the control group, and the other, designated Group 2, to serve as the study group. Conventional fluoroscopic slow pathway ablation was performed on the Group 1 subjects (n=66), with the Group 2 subjects receiving slow pathway ablation therapy guided by pace mapping of Koch's triangle. The slow pathway ablation in Group 2 (n=58) was performed with regard to the pace mapping data obtained on the basis of the St-H interval in the anteroseptal (AS), midseptal (MS), and posteroseptal (PS) regions of Koch's triangle. The anterograde fast pathway (AFP) location was determined based on the shortest St-H interval obtained by stimulating the anteroseptal (AS), midseptal (MS), and posteroseptal (PS) aspects of Koch's triangle. Results: In the Group 2 subjects, AFP location was AS in 50 (86.2%) of the cases, MS in 7 (12%) of the cases, and PS in 1 case (1.7%). One patient with posteroseptal AFP was administered retrograde fast pathway ablation therapy. One patient in the control group (Group 1), representing 1.5% of the group, developed persistent AV block in the course of the treatment, but none of the subjects in the study group (Group 2) developed any complications. Conclusion : It was concluded that an atypical fast pathway location is conducive to the development of atrioventricular block in the ablation therapy in AVNRT, with pace mapping of Koch's triangle having the capacity to eliminate the risk of any such complication developing. It follows that it helps to identify the AFP location before ablation therapy is administered in AVNRT, thereby improving the safety of the treatment.


OBJECTIVE
To examine independent and combined effects of child, family and neighborhood on medically attended childhood injuries.

METHODS
Logistic modeling of longitudinal data (n=9796) from the Census Linked National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.

RESULTS
Child age and gender were strong predictors of injuries. Smaller effects were found for parenting, neighborhood cohesion among difficult children less than 2 years old, and neighborhood disadvantage among aggressive children 2-3 years old.

CONCLUSION
Neighborhood in addition to parenting can affect injury risk. Further research is needed into the influence of neighborhood disadvantage and the processes of neighbor's cohesion at different childhood stages.


A practical method to measure 17-OHP, in peripheral blood by radioimmunoanalysis using a highly specific antiserum, is described. The method usefulness described in dependability studies present a sensitivity of the pattern curve of 10 picograms; precision shows a variation rate intranalysis < or = 11.9% and interanalysis of < or = 10.0%. Accuracy was > or = 95% and specificity is demonstrated by antiserum characterization with other steroids. Measuring 17-OHP4 in ng/ml in plasma of women under different physiological conditions, it was found that the levels of this hormone on day -5 of proliferative phase were 0.31 +/- 0.24 nanograms (ng)/ml, and at day +7 of secretory phase of 1.47 +/- 0.65 ng/ml. In patients with stimulation with ACTH show as to the basal sample an increase (double) of levels at 30 minutes, that keeps increasing until 90 minutes with certain trend to diminish at 120 minutes. This study shows that it is possible, to measure 17-OHP4 in human plasma with good dependability degree and easy handling reducing, in addition, operative cost.


Ischemic preconditioning is the effect of brief ischemic episodes which protect the heart from the following more prolonged ischemic episode. This mechanism is effective in younger but not in aged heart. The age-related reduction of ischemic preconditioning has been demonstrated in experimental models and in elderly patients. Preinfarction angina, a clinical equivalent of ischemic preconditioning, reduces mortality in adult but not in elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction. Physical activity or caloric restriction is partially capable to preserve the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning in the aging heart. More importantly, physical activity and caloric restriction in tandem action completely preserve the protective mechanism of ischemic preconditioning. Accordingly, the protective mechanism of preinfarction angina is preserved in elderly patients with a high grade of physical activity or a low body-mass index. Thus, both physical activity and caloric restriction are confirmed as powerful anti-aging interventions capable to restore age-dependent reduction of a critical endogenous protective mechanism such as ischemic preconditioning.


There are many case studies for which the formulation of RDF constraints and the validation of RDF data conforming to these constraint is very important. As a part of the collaboration with the W3C
and the DCMI working groups on RDF validation, we identified major
RDF validation requirements and initiated an RDF validation requirements
database which is available to contribute at http://purl.org/net/rdf-validation.
The purpose of this database is to collaboratively collect case studies, use
cases, requirements, and solutions regarding RDF validation. Although,
there are multiple constraint languages which can be used to formulate
RDF constraints (associated with these requirements), there is no standard
way to formulate them. This paper serves to evaluate to which extend
each requirement is satisfied by each of these constraint languages.
We take reasoning into account as an important pre-validation step and
therefore map constraints to DL in order to show that each constraint
can be mapped to an ontology describing RDF constraints generically.


Re-examination of the therapeutic factors in group treatment is not a rhetorical exercise. Developments in our understanding of the group psychic apparatus suggest that this unconscious dimension structures the subject's psyche from birth onward. Moreover, given the current sociocultural context's increasing inability to anchor subjectivity to shared unconscious alliances, community therapy offers valuable tools for the treatment of narcissistic, psychotic and borderline pathologies. Illustrated, in particular, are the stimulus shield, the narcissistic contract and transitional and creative processes.


Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which are leading indications of liver transplantation (LT). To date, there is no vaccine to prevent HCV infection and LT is invariably followed by infection of the liver graft. Within the past years, direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have had a major impact on the management of chronic hepatitis C, which has become a curable disease in the majority of DAA-treated patients. In contrast to DAAs that target viral proteins, host-targeting agents (HTAs) interfere with cellular factors involved in the viral life cycle. By acting through a complementary mechanism of action and by exhibiting a generally higher barrier to resistance, HTAs offer a prospective option to prevent and treat viral resistance. Indeed, given their complementary mechanism of action, HTAs and DAAs can act in a synergistic manner to reduce viral loads. This review summarizes the different classes of HTAs against HCV infection that are in preclinical or clinical development and highlights their potential to prevent HCV infection, e.g., following LT, and to tailor combination treatments to cure chronic HCV infection.


This study explores the consequences of a software agent volunteering one of its issue priorities and inviting its human counterpart to reciprocate in order to obtain preference tradeoffs in a multi-issue e-commerce negotiation scenario. Results indicated that while the agent followed the same negotiation strategy algorithm, agent-human dyads achieved better agreement rate and joint outcomes, and the human negotiators experienced more positive post-negotiation affect when the agent volunteered to communicate an issue priority than when it didn't. The findings have implications for automated negotiation research and practice.


Between 1966 and 1997, over 10 000 pancreas transplants were performed worldwide, 88% of these being simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplantations (SKPTs). The overall 1-year patient survival rate exceeds 90%, and the graft survival (complete insulin independence) rate is 80%. SKPT should be regarded as the treatment of choice in carefully selected patients with type 1 (insulin-dependent; IDDM) diabetes mellitus and advanced nephropathy, because of its ability to offer superior glycaemic control and an improved quality of life. Studies have shown that the addition of a pancreas transplant does not appear to jeopardise either the patient or the kidney transplant, as many centres report either similar or improved survival rates after SKPT compared with kidney transplantation alone. Indications for solitary pancreas transplantation are based on the presence of early, well defined diabetic complications or glucose hyperlability with poor quality of life. Improvements in quality of life and possible prevention of further morbidity associated with diabetes makes pancreas transplantation an important therapeutic option for selected diabetic patients. According to registry data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Registry, rejection accounts for 32% of graft failures in the first year after pancreas transplantation. Most pancreas transplant centres employ quadruple drug immunosuppression with antilymphocyte induction with either a monoclonal or polyclonal agent. Maintenance immunosuppression involves triple therapy, consisting of a calcineurin inhibitor (cyclosporin or tacrolimus), corticosteroids and an antimetabolite (azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil). Before 1995, nearly all pancreas transplant recipients were managed with the original formulation of cyclosporin ('Sandimmun'). In the past 2 years, tacrolimus-based therapy has been used in approximately 20% of cases and a new microemulsion formulation of cyclosporin ('Neoral') has replaced the original formulation in contemporary post-transplant immunosuppression. In addition, mycophenolate mofetil is replacing azathioprine as part of the standard immunosuppressive regimen after pancreas transplantation. At present, a number of centres are conducting various trials with new drug combinations including either cyclosporin microemulsion or tacrolimus in combination with corticosteroids and mycophenolate mofetil with or without antibody induction therapy. The current array of new immunosuppressive agents is providing more effective control of rejection and permitting solitary pancreas transplantation to become an accepted treatment option in diabetic patients without advanced complications. Immunosuppressive strategies will continue to evolve to achieve effective control of rejection while minimising injury to the allograft and risk to the patient. In addition, new regimens must not only address the issue of specific drug toxicities but also long term economic, metabolic and quality-of-life outcomes.


Expression of lipid metabolism and myosin heavy chain genes was evaluated in skeletal muscle of pig's genotypes submitted to different dietary digestible lysine contents. Fifty-two barrows and fifty gilts from three genotypes (G: Piau, Duroc and Pietrain crossbreds) were assigned to three dietary digestible lysine contents (DL: Low, Medium and High). Ten genes were evaluated, being six involved with lipid metabolism: Fatty acid synthase (FAS), Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), Protein kinase AMP-activated γ1 subunit (PRKAG1), Protein kinase AMP-activated γ3 subunit (PRKAG3), Hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), Heart fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), and four in Myosin heavy chain: MyHC I, MyHC IIa, MyHC IIb and MyHC IIx. There were no G × DL interactions. The expression levels for FAS, SCD, PRKAG1, HFABP, MyHC IIb and MyHC IIa were affected by G (P<0.05). A higher expression were observed for FAS in Pietrain barrows and gilts (P<0.05); for SCD in Duroc barrows, and in Duroc and Pietrain gilts (P<0.05); for PRKAG1 in Piau barrows and gilts (P<0.05); for H-FABP and MyHC IIb in Duroc and Pietrain barrows (P<0.05); and for MyHC IIa in Duroc and Pietrain gilts (P<0.05). The expression levels for MyHC IIb, PRKAG3 and MyHC IIa were affected by DL (P<0.05). A higher ex'pression were observed for MyHC IIb in barrows fed High and Medium DL, and in gilts fed High DL (P<0.05); for PRKAG3 in barrows fed Low DL (P<0.05); and for MyHC IIa in gilts fed High DL (P<0.05). Our results indicate that genotype and dietary lysine appear to affect the expression of lipid metabolism and myosin heavy chain genes of barrows and gilts in different ways.


Study on primary productivity and plankton community of man-made lake situated at Organ Permata Indah, Jakabaring area, Palembang was conducted in October and November 2002. Study was carried out by stratified random sampling and laboratory analysis. Samples for primary productivity, plankton  and water quality were taken from several sampling sites set up by using stratification method. Statification was based on the depth of the lakes which were station A (370 to 450 cm), station B (330-350 cm) and station C (200 to 240 cm). The result showed that primary productivity in October and November 2002, reached 3,75 and 12,51 mg C/m 3 /hour, respectively. The average abundance of phytoplankton was 595,56 and 1383,34 ind/L respectively. Composition of phytoplankton consisted of 71 genera, deriving from five classes: Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Xanthophyceae and Chrysophyceae. Genus which had high abundance where Chroococcus and Synechococcus (Cyanophyceae), Bracteococcus, Chlorella, Gonatozygon and Pleurotaenium (Chlorophyceae). Extreme low pH, high transparency and daily oxygen cycle indicated that OPI can be categorized as an oligotrophic lake. Keywords : man-madelake, acidity, productivity, plankton


In 1991 the House of Lords conclusively recognized the existence of the law of unjust enrichment in England and Wales. So began a process of development and refinement that in other branches of private law had begun many decades ago. A central issue was what it was that made an enrichment ?unjust?. In a groundbreaking work in 1985, Professor Birks had argued that the reasons why an enrichment was unjust were protean. He explained that the approach to ?unjust? which was most consistent with the corpus of pre-existing case law required the identification of an ?unjust factor? which had been recognized in judicial decisions. After 1991 many cases followed this approach and recognized, as unjust factors, diverse reasons for restitution which had long existed in the corpus of case law such as mistake, duress, failure of consideration as well as new unjust factors. In his last book in 2003, Professor Birks relied upon a group of cases involving restitution following ultra vires interest rate swaps and argued that English law had changed direction. The new direction, Birks argued, was to ask whether there was any basis upon which a recipient could retain an enrichment rather than looking for any particular, recognized, unjust factor. This article assesses the two views and concludes that whilst the meaning of unjust may not yet be entrenched in English law, and whilst the two approaches will usually lead to the same result, the dominant model is still the unjust factors approach and this is the model which should be preferred.


High-throughput, data-directed computational protocols for Structural Genomics (or Proteomics) are required in order to evaluate the protein products of genes for structure and function at rates comparable to current gene-sequencing technology. To develop such methods, new algorithms are required that can quickly extract significantly more structural information from sparse experimental data. This paper presents a new class of signal processing algorithms for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structural biology, based on time-frequency analysis of chemical shift dynamics.
A novel approach to multidimensional NMR analysis is proposed in which the data are interpreted in the time-frequency domain, as opposed to the traditional frequency domain. Time-frequency analysis (TFA) exposes behavior orthogonal to the magnetic coherence transfer pathways, thus affording new avenues of NMR discovery. An implementation yielding new biophysical results is discussed. In particular, we demonstrate the heretofore unknown presence of through-space inter-atomic distance information within 15N-edited heteronuclear single-quantum coherence(15N HSQC) data. A biophysical model explains these results, and is supported by further experiments on simulated spectra.


BACKGROUND
Pea cultivation is strongly hampered in Mediterranean and Middle East farming systems by the occurrence of Orobanche crenata Forsk. Strategies of control have been developed, but only marginal successes have been achieved. Most control methods are either unfeasible, uneconomical, hard to achieve or result in incomplete protection. The integration of several control measures is the most desirable strategy.

RESULTS
[corrected] Recent developments in control are presented and re-evaluated in light of recent developments in crop breeding and molecular genetics. These developments are placed within a framework that is compatible with current agronomic practices.

CONCLUSION
The current focus in applied breeding is leveraging biotechnological tools to develop more and better markers to speed up the delivery of improved cultivars to the farmer. To date, however, progress in marker development and delivery of useful markers has been slow. The application of knowledge gained from basic genomic research and genetic engineering will contribute to more rapid pea improvement for resistance against O. crenata and/or the herbicide.


Concurrent Multipath Transmission (CMT) mechanisms have been proposed to improve the transmission performance by means of concurrently transmitting data packets via two or more network interfaces. Based on the wireless cognitive radio, that can dynamically adjust the transmission parameters of the specified device, the required CMT mechanism in the wireless environment differs from that in the wired one since the multirate capacity which the data transmission can take place at a number of different rates according to channel conditions, is characterized in wireless networks to cater for the error-prone problem. Accordingly, this paper extends previous CMT mechanisms to propose Multirate-aware Concurrent Multipath (MCM) transmission mechanism to maximize the data good-put in wireless networks. Compared with the previous CMT mechanisms, the MCM mechanism has a higher data throughput and obtains the better transmission performances in terms of end-to-end delay, packet loss rate, decodable frame rate, and peak signal to noise ratio.


Global Satellite Navigation Systems (GNSS) have become the primary Position Navigation and Time (PNT) source in the maritime navigation domain, however natural and artificial interference may disrupt the GNSS signals causing performance degradation or service outages. In order to minimize the maritime navigational risk, a terrestrial backup system called Ranging Mode (R-Mode) is under development. Based on the signal of opportunity (SoOP) concept, the phase measurements of the medium frequency differential GNSS (MF DGNSS) signals can be exploited for positioning purposes. Among the possible techniques for phase estimation, the maximum likelihood (ML) and the discrete Fourier transform (DTFT) are currently used. Although they are suitable in a static scenario, for a dynamic one these techniques may be not the best choice since their performance are related to the observation time. In this work the phase locked loop (PLL) is considered as an alternative approach for phase estimation. The PLL design process is described and two self-interference mitigation techniques are proposed in order to improve its performance. The performance metrics are firstly assessed in a controlled simulated environment for validation, in both static and dynamic cases, and then applied on real measurement data.


In the wake of recent disasters including September 11, 2001, and the 2005 hurricane season, regional planning has become a high priority. Despite the 2007 release of the National Preparedness Guidelines, improving regional collaboration has continued to be a significant challenge and remains immeasurable. Regional operational plans are ineffective during disasters because of the differing goals of the jurisdictions within that region. It is evident that regions should be formed naturally based on how jurisdictions usually interact with each other. Regional planning is ineffective today because the federal funding process does not promote regional planning as a main goal. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified Expanding Regional Collaboration as a National Priority; however, DHS does not effectively target this priority with grant money. To accomplish true regional collaboration, it is important to remember that all disasters are local. The federal government has become highly reactionary to major incidents and has forgotten this basic truth. Federal policies are built from the top down and do not effectively facilitate the traditional decentralized system of emergency management. The overhaul of existing systems to conform with national policies has resulted in less effective planning and disaster response. Regional planning needs to incorporate local jurisdictions and define their roles and processes. Local operational plans must be developed in concert with each other. Plans created for the region should be regional coordination plans. Additionally, the grant money must be tied closer to the National Priority of Expanding Regional Cooperation.


This paper provides a detailed description of employers' attitudes and practices in hiring newcomer job seekers in an attempt to examine the access to employment issue through the lens of employers. It applies social inclusion theory and expands the existing conceptualization in order to answer four key questions: Who are these employers? Who do these employers hire and why? What are current recruiting practices? And how do such practices disadvantage newcomer job seekers, deliberately or inadvertently? Some key findings in this paper include: the disconnect between immigration and skill shortages in the perception of employers leads to their maintaining the status quo in hiring practices; employers' preferred hiring strategies and technologies are constructed on the existing social networks and therefore largely exclude newcomer job seekers; and employers interpret personal attributes based on mainstream social and corporate cultural norms and it disproportionately disadvantages newcomer job seekers.


Hypernatremia in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infant is a rather frequent condition due to an imbalance between the sodium and free water loss through kidney and skin. ELBW preemies receive natrium within the parenteral nutrition solutions, as normal saline bolus for hypotension and metabolic acidosis, and sometimes with antibiotics or other drugs diluted in normal saline; all these can lead to hypernatremia, symptomatic or not. We present a case of hypernatremia causing seizures, whose etiology was an increased sodium intake and excessive free water loss, which raised questions for differential diagnosis and treatment.


Digital signature schemes allow a signer to transform any message into a signed message, such that anyone can verify the validity of the signed message using the signer's public key, but only the signer can generate signed messages. A proxy re-signature, which is a type of digital signatures, has significant applications in many areas. Proxy signature scheme was first introduced by Blaze, Bleumer, and Strauss, but that scheme is inefficient and with limited features. After that, some Proxy re-signature schemes were proposed by researchers. This paper constructs a blind proxy re-signatures scheme. Comparing to the previous proxy re-signature schemes, the scheme adds a message blinded feature, and then the security of the scheme is proven.


One of the distinguishing characteristics of modern deep learning systems is that they typically employ neural network architectures that utilize enormous numbers of parameters, often in the millions and sometimes even in the billions. While this paradigm has inspired significant research on the properties of large networks, relatively little work has been devoted to the fact that these networks are often used to model large complex datasets, which may themselves contain millions or even billions of constraints. In this work, we focus on this high-dimensional regime in which both the dataset size and the number of features tend to infinity. We analyze the performance of a simple regression model trained on the random features F = f(WX + B) for a random weight matrix W and random bias vector B, obtaining an exact formula for the asymptotic training error on a noisy autoencoding task. The role of the bias can be understood as parameterizing a distribution over activation functions, and our analysis directly generalizes to such distributions, even those not expressible with a traditional additive bias. Intriguingly, we find that a mixture of nonlinearities can outperform the best single nonlinearity on the noisy autoecndoing task, suggesting that mixtures of nonlinearities might be useful for approximate kernel methods or neural network architecture design.


Against the current background of dependence on fossil fuels, climate change, global population increase and finite resources; this thesis investigates a performance-driven design method that combines modelling, low carbon technologies and architecture design to achieve an Energy Positive Housing (EPH) model that could potentially decarbonise the new housing sector and help, with a bottom-up approach, achieving a future low carbon built environment. Literature review identifies the main design guidelines for the EPH method. For modelling, the need of a simple and uncomplicated pre-design tool; for technologies, the need of a systems approach to reduced energy demand, building-integrated renewable supply and on-site energy storage; and for architecture design, the need of a replicable, affordable and sustainable design suitable for the UK's climate and able to hit the mass market.
Initially, the EPH tool is developed as a versatile pre-design modelling tool to size renewable energy supply and storage integrated with the grid, to simulate the system's behaviour predicting demand, supply and storage profiles, and to evaluate the system's potential considering autonomy, supply/demand ratio and export/import ratio. Afterwards, the tool outputs are used to design the EPH system, which combines photovoltaic panels and lithium-ion batteries, for electrical energy; and transpired solar collectors and a compact unit with exhaust air heat pump, mechanical ventilation heat recovery and hot water tank, for thermal energy. Finally, the energy system is integrated into the EPH design, which is highly insulated and airtight, and built with innovative materials such as low carbon cement, structural insulated panels, insulated render and low-emissivity double-glazed composite windows.
The actual performance of the EPH method is examined to verify the tool's accuracy, the system's performance and the design assumptions, to provide future feedback for the EPH design's application and to establish improvements for future implementation. Therefore, the EPH design is built as a real case study, known as Solcer House, and monitored over different seasons for three years. The extensive set of data from the case study allows to validate and calibrate the EPH tool so it is accurate and reliable; assess the performance of each component of the EPH system comparing real performance against manufacturers' claims; and evaluate the holistic performance of the EPH design. When studying electrical energy, results indicate that the all-electric EPH design is energy positive achieving 70% autonomy, 1/1.03 supply/demand ratio and 1:1.13 import/export ratio, even though photovoltaic panels efficiency is lower than expected and batteries only use 25% of their full capacity. When examining thermal energy, results show components efficiencies to be 8% for the transpired solar collectors, 78% for the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and a 3.78 COP for the heat pump; but working as a system all together achieve a 5.15 COP with a contribution of 42% from the transpired solar collectors and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. Finally, when analysing the online survey to visitors, over 80% are impressed with the EPH replicable and affordable house model.
The findings suggest that the integration of energy modelling, technologies performance and architecture design has resulted in a successful and viable EPH method that could decarbonise the new housing sector and help solving, with a bottom-up approach, the energy trilemma of security of supply, affordability and sustainability. The proposed EPH performance-driven design method leaves room for creativity, it is not a quantitatively defined standard, but rather a performance-driven design strategy that pays attention to both the principles of passive solar and the direct and active use of renewable energy, in particular solar radiation, therefore liberating the EPH design from the limitations of purely passive strategies such as the Passivhaus standard.


The Fulbari by-pass road is a service road running parallel with Tista-Mahananda canal of West Bengal, India. The road has been damaged repeatedly for the last few years. There are huge depressions on the road surface and it now look like a sine curve. Field investigation, field tests indicate huge seepage is flowing under the road throughout the year, ultimately leading to piping and consequent soil loss. The adjoining canal lining is severely damaged leading to huge seepage. Field and laboratory tests suggest that the sub-grade soil is poor, un-compacted heterogeneous sub-soil of very loose compactness and thus unfit to act as a sub-grade material under severe traffic load. A combination of these factors is jointly responsible for the damage of the road, even after repairing every year. Two alternative suggestions have been given by the author. Either construct rigid pavement on supporting piers founded on a firm-soil. Also absolute leak proofing of the adjoining canal was suggested to be mandatory. Or search for a new location, where there will be no seepage effect. A new flexible pavement could be constructed, which might be cheaper than the first suggestion and keep the aforesaid road to serve just like a service road.


Colleen Browning (1929 - 2003) was a pivotal realist painter and of the few women to achieve national recognition for a genre dominated primarily by men. Since childhood, Browning had the desire to be a painter. She attended London's Slade School of Art from 1946-1948, and had her first solo exhibition at London's Little Gallery when she was 20 years old. She moved to America in 1949 from Ireland, and felt immediately at home in New York City; making it her home for the next five decades. A major figure in the realist movement during the 1950s, she drew on the inspiration and direction she received from the already established realist artists Joseph Hirsch, Ben Shahn, and George Tooker. Browning has a distinct brand of figurative painting, with subjects ranging from worshipers in a Guatemalan church to graffiticovered Harlem subway cars to still life compositions. Her work is largely recognized for its superior command of materials and media and for her unwavering devotion to understanding the human condition. She was a prominent contributor the realist revival of the 1990s as she continued to paint until the very last years of her life. Her work was included in the National Academy of Design's yearly exhibitions, and she has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial exhibitions, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Kennedy Galleries in New York. She was elected a National Academician in 1966, and has served as an officer at the Academy.


OBJECTIVES
The stratification of individuals suffering from acute and post-acute SARS-CoV-2 infection remains a critical challenge. Notably, biomarkers able to specifically monitor viral progression, providing details about patient clinical status, are still not available. Herein, quantitative metabolomics is progressively recognized as a useful tool to describe the consequences of virus-host interactions considering also clinical metadata.

METHODS
The present study characterized the urinary metabolic profile of 243 infected individuals by quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Results were compared with a historical cohort of noninfected subjects. Moreover, we assessed the concentration of recently identified antiviral nucleosides and their association with other metabolites and clinical data.

RESULTS
Urinary metabolomics can stratify patients into classes of disease severity, with a discrimination ability comparable to that of clinical biomarkers. Kynurenines showed the highest fold change in clinically-deteriorated patients and higher-risk subjects. Unique metabolite clusters were also generated based on age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Changes in the concentration of antiviral nucleosides were associated with either other metabolites or clinical variables. Increased kynurenines and reduced trigonelline excretion indicated a disrupted nicotinamide adenine nucleotide (NAD+) and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) pathway.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results confirm the potential of urinary metabolomics for noninvasive diagnostic/prognostic screening and show that the antiviral nucleosides could represent novel biomarkers linking viral load, immune response, and metabolism. Moreover, we established for the first time a casual link between kynurenine accumulation and deranged NAD+/SIRT1, offering a novel mechanism through which SARS-CoV-2 manipulates host physiology.


The understanding of the term Scripture in early Christianity is best described as an evolving concept that can be categorised into various stages. This can best be seen in the most popular Greek term the NT uses in designating Scripture, γραφή and its cognates.   Γραφή was used 50 times in the NT to represent Scripture, and in each of these instances, it refers to more than just a mere writing which is what the term originally meant in Greek prior to the NT's consistent use of it as a technical term for sacred writing. This study attempts to reflect briefly on (part of) the evolution γραφή underwent on the pages of the NT especially within the Pastoral Epistles (PE) - a product of the early second century CE. This study bears in mind that the recognition of books as Scripture is not a series of clearly defined steps , but rather a long and complicated process involving creativity and powerplay. This study therefore serves to enhance a more accurate understanding of the transition the concept of Scripture in the PE, most especially pertaining to the use of the term γραφή. The question regarding the scope of the term γραφή in the NT and especially in the PE is open to debate – especially the use of the two different words, ἱeρὰ γράμματα and γραφή for Scripture in 2 Tim. 3:15–16. So is the reference to Jesus' words as Scripture in 1 Tim. 5:18. These have raised questions of a possible shift in the PE' understanding of γραφή. Findings from this research include the extensive use of  γραφή in the PE to accommodate more than just the Jewish Scripture, as it has evolved to include emerging earlier writings of the NT; the author of the PE was creative in adopting and adapting to a new understanding of sacred writings which serves the context of his time. This unveils the influence a community exerts on recognition of authoritative Scripture while teasing out the politics intertwined in the recognition of Scripture and the identity of a people, as this later became the path to canonicity of Scripture.