Private prisons are not subject to the same regulations as government prisons. Particularly, private prisons are exempt from the requirements set forth in the Freedom of Information Act and its state equivalents, which provide that the public has an enforceable right to request certain records from government agencies. Numerous efforts made by members of Congress to enact the Private Prison Information Act, a bill that would subject private prisons to disclosure laws found in the Freedom of Information Act, have been unsuccessful. Such efforts to strip the veil of secrecy that shades private prisons from public scrutiny are especially important because in recent years a great deal of corruption allegations and reports of unacceptable private prison conditions have come to light. As a result, in the summer of 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates instructed the Bureau of Prisons to begin winding down its operations with private prisons, ultimately seeking to end all federal outsourcing of correctional services. Immediately after the announcement of this phase-out, shares of private prison corporations plummeted and the industry fell into disarray. This Note explains that with the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, and the new administration's rescinding of the phase-out order, private prison corporations are allotted time to face the explicit need for transparency. This Note suggests that through the enactment of the Private Prison Information Act, and the subsequent allowance of greater transparency within the industry, private prisons can embrace the demand for public oversight. Such oversight would create a method through which the industry can improve its practices by becoming more accountable and efficient corporations. By doing so, the industry can strengthen its core, improve public relations, and ensure that it will continue to thrive beyond the Trump administration.


A digitally controlled clock phase shifter is described that avoids the use of conventional phase locked loops (PLLs) with their attendant stability problems. The hardware is suitable for implementation as part of an integrated circuit. Two implementations are discussed, one of which has low power consumption and is suitable for clocks of moderate speed and the second of which is suitable at higher frequencies. Simulation shows that the circuit is practically insensitive to component and timing tolerances. A prototype of the moderate speed version has been tested and has shown results comparable to simulation results. >


Bone tissue in the adult is continuously being remodelled, and overall bone mass is maintained constant by the balance between osteoclastic bone resorption and osteoblastic bone formation. Adequate osteoblastic proliferation is essential for both appropriate formation and for regulation of resorption, and thereby the maintenance of bone remodelling equilibrium. Objectives: Here, we have investigated the roles of melastatin-like transient receptor potential 6 and 7 (TRPM6, TRPM7), which are calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) conducting channels, during proliferation of human osteoblasts. Results: Genetic expression of TRPM6 and TRPM7 was shown in human osteoblast-like MG-63, SaOS and U2-OS cells, and reduction of extracellular Mg2+ or Ca2+ led to a decrease of cell proliferation. Concomitant reduction of both ions further accentuated reduction of cell proliferation. Expression of TRPM7 channels was increased under conditions of reduced extracellular Mg2+ and Ca2+ levels whereas expression of TRPM6 was not modified, suggesting compensatory mechanisms afforded by TRPM7 in order to maintain intracellular ion homeostasis. Pre-incubation of cells in reduced extracellular Mg2+ conditions led to activation of Ca2+ and Mg2+ influx. Reduction of TRPM7 expression by specific siRNA prevented latter influx and inhibited cell proliferation. Conclusions: Our results indicate that extracellular Mg2+ and Ca2+ deficiency reduces the proliferation of human osteoblastic cells. Expression and activity of TRPM7 is modulated by extracellular Mg2+ and Ca2+ availability, indicating that TRPM7 channels are involved in intracellular ion homeostasis and proliferation of osteoblasts.


Gas turbines are faced with new challenges of increasing flexibility in their operation while reducing their life cycle costs, leading to new research priorities and challenges. One of these challenges involves the establishment of high fidelity, accurate, and computationally efficient engine performance simulation, diagnosis, and prognosis schemes, which will be able to handle and address the gas turbine's ever-growing flexible and dynamic operational characteristics. Predicting accurately the performance of gas turbines depends on detailed understanding of the engine components behavior that is captured by component performance maps. The limited availability of these maps due to their proprietary nature has been commonly managed by adapting default generic maps in order to match the targeted off-design or engine degraded measurements. Although these approaches might be suitable in small range of operating conditions, further investigation is required to assess the capabilities of such methods for use in gas turbine diagnosis under dynamic transient conditions. The diversification of energy portfolio and introduction of distributed generation in electrical energy production have created need for such studies. The reason is not only the fluctuation in energy demand but also more importantly the fact that renewable energy sources, which work with conventional fossil fuel based sources, supply the grid with varying power that depend, for example, on solar irradiation. In this paper, modeling methods for the compressor and turbine maps are presented for improving the accuracy and fidelity of the engine performance prediction and diagnosis. The proposed component map fitting methods simultaneously determine the best set of equations for matching the compressor and the turbine map data. The coefficients that determine the shape of the component map curves have been analyzed and tuned through a nonlinear multi-objective optimization scheme in order to meet the targeted set of engine measurements. The proposed component map modeling methods are developed in the object oriented MATLAB/SIMULINK environment and integrated with a dynamic gas turbine engine model. The accuracy of the methods is evaluated for predicting multiple component degradations of an engine at transient operating conditions. The proposed adaptive diagnostics method has the capability to generalize current gas turbine performance prediction approaches and to improve performance-based diagnostic techniques. Copyright © 2015 by ASME.


: Tobacco is the single most important cause of avoidable morbidity and early mortality in many countries. Tobacco-related cancer (TRC) cases constitute 48.2% in men and 20.1% in women of the total cancers seen in India per year. The age-adjusted rate (AAR) of TRC ranges from 44 to 67 among males and from 23 to 27 among females in different registries in India. Of these cases, only 15% were in the lung. The religion-specific risk ratio of the TRC sites in Madras suggests that when Muslims were compared with Hindus pharynx and lung were the two sites that showed higher risk in males, while the pharynx, lung and oesophagus had higher risk in females. When Christians were compared with Hindus, lung cancer was found to have higher risk and cancer of the oesophagus lower risk in males, while cancer of the mouth had lower risk in females. The overall percentage increase in AAR of TRCs in males was 39.7 and in females was 20.1 for the period 1987-91, compared with 1982-86, with variation in the percentage increase in all the TRC sites in Madras. The change in the incident rate of TRCs seen in Madras is consistent with the change in the per capita consumption of tobacco over the years.


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The paper describes the results of a radiographic evaluation of two elite individuals from the Early Classic period of Copan, Honduras; K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', founder of the Early Classic Dynasty at Copan; and the principal individual recovered from the Motmot tomb. There were two primary goals: (1) the description of previously undocumented pathological processes; and (2) the evaluation of individual-specific forms of pathology and activity-related changes such as disuse atrophy. Despite suffering from a number of blunt force insults, K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo's cortical and trabecular bone thickness appears normal, indicating that the skeletal elements did not suffer from disuse atrophy concomitant following injury. Additionally, we examined the Motmot individual for: (1) evidence of bone thinning, either associated with reduced activity levels or pathology; (2) evidence of a parry fracture to her right forearm; and (3) the evaluation of a possible fracture to the right humerus near the surgical neck. In sum, despite her gracile appearance, we concluded that Motmot did not suffer from cortical bone thinning due to disease process or reduced activity levels, and that the right forearm parry fracture was the only sign of blunt force trauma. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract The recent development of broadband ocean-bottom seismometers that can be deployed for more than a year has led to the construction of large ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) fleets and to many successful experiments studying Earth structure and tectonics beneath the oceans. However, ocean surface waves raise noise levels at deep ocean-floor sites far above those at continental sites in the microseism band between 0.2 and 10 sec period, and currents and ocean waves raise noise levels at longer periods. Broadband OBSs are rarely deployed in shallow water because of a fear of loss due to bottom trawling and an expectation of very high noise levels from strong currents and the nearby ocean surface. However, these noise sources can be overcome such that shallow OBS deployments may provide noise levels that are comparable to deep-water sites at periods >10 sec and lower than deep-water sites at shorter periods. Burial of the instrument into the sediments can shield the seismometer from current noise, while the noise from deformation under wave loading can be removed using pressure gauge data. We predict the noise levels can be reduced to allow the detection of Rayleigh waves from 20 to 200 sec period with good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from teleseismic earthquakes as small as M w  5. Short-period ( M w  4.5.


ABSTRACT Fully synthetic endoperoxide antimalarials, namely, OZ277 (RBx11160; also known as arterolane) and OZ439 (artefenomel), have been approved for marketing or are currently in clinical development. We undertook an analysis of the kinetics of the in vitro responses of Plasmodium falciparum to the new ozonide antimalarials. For these studies we used a K13 mutant (artemisinin resistant) isolate from a region in Cambodia and a genetically matched (artemisinin sensitive) K13 revertant. We used a pulsed-exposure assay format to interrogate the time dependence of the response. Because the ozonides have physicochemical properties different from those of the artemisinins, assay optimization was required to ensure that the drugs were completely removed following the pulsed exposure. Like that of artemisinins, ozonide activity requires active hemoglobin degradation. Short pulses of the ozonides were less effective than short pulses of dihydroartemisinin; however, when early-ring-stage parasites were exposed to drugs for periods relevant to their in vivo exposure, the ozonide antimalarials were markedly more effective.


Black grouse Tetrao tetrix is a bird species composed of large, continuous as well as severely reduced and fragmented populations, making it an optimal species to investigate how genetic diversity is affected by habitat fragmentation. I have focused on genetic diversity in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) to measure the ability of the black grouse to respond to environmental changes. I partly characterized MHC class II in black grouse and found striking similarities with chicken MHC class II. I demonstrated that black grouse possess a similar compact MHC as chicken with few MHC class II B (BLB) and Y (YLB) loci. I did not find evidence of balancing selection in YLB so I concentrated further studies on BLB. I developed a PCR-based screening method for amplifying and separating expressed BLB alleles in European black grouse populations. Small fragmented populations had lost neutral genetic diversity (based on microsatellites and SNPs) compared to samples from the historical distribution and contemporary large populations. There was also a trend, albeit less pronounced, for reduced MHC diversity in these populations. Neutral markers in small isolated populations were affected by increased levels of genetic drift and were therefore genetically differentiated compared to other populations. MHC markers on the other hand, were not subjected to genetic drift to the same extent probably due a long historic process of balancing selection. Inferences of heterozygosity and evolutionary patterns as well as detailed correlations to reproductive success and diseases cannot be performed until MHC can be amplified in a locus-specific manner. Therefore, I developed a single locus sequence-based typing method for independently amplifying MHC class II B loci (BLB1 and BLB2). I found that BLB1 and BLB2 were duplicated in a common ancestor to chickens and black grouse and that these loci are subjected to homogenizing concerted evolution due to inter-genetic exchange between loci after species divergence. I could also verify that both BLB1 and BLB2 were transcribed in black grouse and under balancing selection. This collection of work has significance for future conservation of black grouse as well as research and management of zoonotic diseases.


BACKGROUND
Care required by dependent older people is mostly provided by close family members. Caregiving is a demanding task, negatively affecting the physical and mental health of the caregiver.

AIM
To describe the sociodemographic characteristics of informal caregivers of dependent elderly people in Chile and to evaluate the effect of providing care on the health of caregivers.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Data from the Economic Characterization Survey (CASEN) done in 2015 was used. Using as index cases older people who were receiving care from a family member, 4,313 informal caregivers were identified, whose characteristics were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and matching through propensity score were estimated, based on a logistic model, which included covariates such as sex, age, marital status, education, occupation, and income. Finally, the effect of being an informal caregiver versus not being a caregiver on the perception of health was calculated.

RESULTS
Forty four percent of the caregivers were offspring and 33.6% couples. Sixty seven percent were women, with a mean age of 56.5 years. Half of them had a partner, 43% had basic education or less, and 61% were inactive. Being a caregiver had a significant effect of health perception.

CONCLUSIONS
People belonging to certain more vulnerable groups are more likely to assume caregiving. Providing care to a dependent older person has a negative effect on health perception.


If you are considering a job in humanitarian relief it is worth taking time over finding the right aid agency. There are many non-governmental organisations with differing strengths and capabilities. I was attracted to Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International) by its philosophy, the nature of its programmes, and the personal stance of a small group. Three weeks after crossing the threshold I was recruited for the Rwandan programme. Before we left we were briefed over iced water in an August heat wave. Politics, safety, what to wear, take, say, and avoid saying were discussed at length. No question was deemed too trivial to remain unanswered. The programme was to comprise a measles immunisation team with a second dedicated to curative care. Equipment and housing had been arranged during the initial evaluation so we could start immediately. The measles team left for Africa and I followed three days later.

Home for the four of us was a wattle house without water and electricity two km from the town of Gikongoro in south west Rwanda. Our simple lifestyle, which included sun down queuing with the children at the town's only water tap, evenings spent talking and eating to the last light of dusk, and nights asleep on rush mats gave us a false glow of moral superiority over some of the other workers with their comfortable accommodation, water on tap, and generators. But soon we, too, were reluctantly transported into the 20th century and a large well equipped town …


This article highlights the hidden subtlety of ordinary Americans' economic populist sentiment, a longstanding and politically pivotal form of popular resentment concerning class inequalities. Based on my research in the late 1990s, I describe how economic populist attitudes in the United States can be much more complex than suggested in the relevant literature. I use data from interviews with a small number of "ordinary middle class" Americans to illustrate little known nuances in these attitudes and to highlight how such subtleties are overlooked in prevailing characterizations of public opinion. I suggest that the oversight is the result of the fragmentary nature of the study of U.S. class consciousness. I call for critical reflection on underlying biases that may obstruct a more integrated approach, and I explain how a more holistic perspective on economic populist attitudes may be used to mobilize subordinate class discontent in the United States more effectively.


Liver regeneration has been well studied with hope of discovering strategies to improve liver disease outcomes. Nevertheless, the signals that initiate such regeneration remain incompletely defined, and translation of mechanism-based pro-regenerative interventions into new treatments for hepatic diseases has not yet been achieved. We previously reported the isoform-specific regulation and essential function of zinc-dependent histone deacetylases (Zn-HDACs) during mouse liver regeneration. Those data suggest that epigenetically regulated anti-proliferative genes are deacetylated and transcriptionally suppressed by Zn-HDAC activity or that pro-regenerative factors are acetylated and induced by such activity in response to partial hepatectomy (PH). To investigate these possibilities, we conducted genome-wide interrogation of the liver histone acetylome during early PH-induced liver regeneration in mice using acetyL-histone chromatin immunoprecipitation and next generation DNA sequencing. We also compared the findings of that study to those seen during the impaired regenerative response that occurs with Zn-HDAC inhibition. The results reveal an epigenetic signature of early liver regeneration that includes both hyperacetylation of pro-regenerative factors and deacetylation of anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic genes. Our data also show that administration of an anti-regenerative regimen of the Zn-HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) not only disrupts gene-specific pro-regenerative changes in liver histone deacetylation but also reverses PH-induced effects on histone hyperacetylation. Taken together, these studies offer new insight into and suggest novel hypotheses about the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate liver regeneration.


An elderly patient population was used to investigate whether an acute bout of aerobic exercise (AE) would reduce systolic blood pressure (SBP) to a greater extent than would a bout of weight lifting (WL). SBPs were studied in the context of a laboratory Stressor as well as during activities of daily living using ambulatory monitoring devices (AMBPs). Patients participated in a laboratory Stressor and were monitored via AMBP for 8 hr. SBPs were lower for up to 5 hr postexercise for the AE treatment only. In addition, in comparison to no-exercise control data, baseline SBP was lower for the AE group than the WL group prior to the Stressor. Subjects in the AE condition also tended to have lower SBP responses following exercise than patients in the WL group, although these differences did not reach a conventional level of statistical significance. These data provide evidence that single bouts of AE, but not WL, may lower SBP in elderly patients, even for those who have compromised function due to osteoarthri...


Despite the recent appreciation of interleukin 35 (IL-35) function in inflammatory diseases, little is known for IL-35 response in patients with active tuberculosis (ATB). In the current study, we demonstrated that ATB patients exhibited increases in serum IL-35 and in mRNA expression of both subunits of IL-35 (p35 and EBI3) in white blood cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Consistently, anti-TB drug treatment led to reduction in serum IL-35 level and p35 or EBI3 expression. TB infection was associated with expression of p35 or EBI3 protein in CD4(+) but not CD8(+) T cells. Most p35(+)CD4(+) T cells and EBI3(+)CD4(+) T cells expressed Treg-associated marker CD25. Our findings may be important in understanding immune pathogenesis of TB. IL-35 in the blood may potentially serve as a biomarker for immune status and prognosis in TB.


Numerous entities such as parents, students, legislators, and the public are criticizing higher education including business schools for costs, lack of transparency, and relevance to the real world. Several studies have found declines in student performance and the lack of improvement in critical thinking and analytical skills. The deepest question is – are pedagogical methods leading to long term retention and use by graduates? Traditional education provides explicit knowledge via lectures and textbooks.  Tacit knowledge is acquired with direct experience, observation, and reflection. Research on knowledge acquisition and retention shows that several steps must be taken to move neurological impulses into long term memory. The authors argue that more teaching emphasizing tacit knowledge such as the SBI's field based consulting should be utilized.  The authors review the history of the SBI program and argue that field based consulting has more potential to tap into long term member, be retained, and used throughout an alumni's business career. Questions for future research are included.


To assess the expression of p53 in premalignant lesions, we examined by immunohistochemistry benign colorectal adenomas (n = 72, measuring more than 6 mm and less than 95 mm in diameter) from patients without (group I, n = 23) or with (group II, n = 49) concurrent sporadic colorectal carcinomas. Using a panel of three monoclonal antibodies (PAb 240, PAb 421, PAb 1801) and two polyclonal antibodies (CM1, C19) immunohistological staining was demonstrated in 26% of the cases (19 of 72 adenomas, 7 of 23 from group I and 12 of 49 from group II). In the majority of the cases, p53 positive foci in the adenomas occurred in the most dysplastic areas, although focal positivity was detected in glands that were histologically normal. Expression of p53 protein was also detected in 21 of 30 (70%) colorectal carcinomas of group II. In two cases focal positive staining was observed in the polyps but not in the concurrent carcinomas. Non-neoplastic colonic mucosa and stromal lymphoid cells were negative in all cases examined. Over-expression of p53 in neoplastic tissues detected by immunocytochemistry is generally believed to correlate with the presence of mutation in the gene. This may not be an absolute rule, because in some hemopoietic malignancies, there is evidence that p53 protein may be detectable in the absence of an underlying mutation. These findings therefore represent the highest incidence in colorectal adenomas of abnormalities in the p53 protein expression, probably largely due to underlying mutations. This study also suggests that immunocytochemical demonstration of p53 protein may be a suitable method for the routine detection of subpopulations of cells which, by clonal expansion, could acquire a growth advantage within an adenoma during the neoplastic process.


Open Government Data are data that are published in digital format by administrative bodies. The Open Government Data Guidelines should cover how data have to be published to fulfil the requirements of the linked open data approach. The idea of open linked data is that resources published on the Internet can be interlinked and this combination leads to new information by utilizing semantic web technologies (BIZER et al. 2009). One essential premise to cover linked open data requirements is that the semantics of the data must be published in order to define the meaning of the objects of events represented by the data. At the moment these requirements are not covered within the existing Open Government Data guidelines. Hence, Open Government Data are published in a digital format but they do not follow a certain data specification, nor share a semantic model. Hence, the published data of various administrative bodies can hardly be compared, due to the lack of a standardized data model and missing semantic description. This paper attempts to list current shortcomings of Open Governmental Data and presents data modelling and presentation concepts for Open Governmental Data in order to follow linked data rules (BERNERS-LEE 2006).


Librarians are presently operating electronically in this 21st century and there is a changing role of professional librarians in the academic libraries. Information services are therefore, provided electronically to meet the information needs of thousands of users at a go. The enormous advantage it has is the ease with which the delivery of information is being carried out around the world. Nevertheless, some challenges seems to confront the effective provision of the electronic information services. Literature was reviewed on the electronic information services, provision of electronic information services by professional librarians in African continent and emerging challenges of electronic information provision services in African continent. It also examines the role of the professional librarians as information professionals in the era of information technology. The paper concludes by presenting the way forward on how electronic information services can be improved in the African Continent.


We evaluated contemporary trends in radical prostatectomy (RP) in men aged >70 years and investigated associations of selected variables with recovery of urinary continence (UC) in two age groups: >70 and ≤ 70 years. A retrospective cohort of 2301 eligible patients attending our institution from 2004 to 2015 was reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups based on age at surgery (>70 years [n = 610] vs 70 years [n = 1691]) and four groups by year of surgery. Over the study period, the proportion of patients aged >70 years gradually increased up to 30.0%, and the rate of robot-assisted RP and neurovascular bundle (NVB) saving increased continually to 80.0% and 67.4% of older patients, respectively. Although the rate of recovery of UC within 12 months (3 months) in patients aged >70 years was lower than that in those aged ≤ 70 years (81.5% [52.6%] vs 88.6% [60.9%], respectively; both P < 0.001), the gap between age groups in the rate of recovery within 12 months narrowed from the second quarter of the study period. Among younger patients, age, robot-assisted RP, prostate volume, membranous urethral length (MUL), and NVB saving were predictors of recovery of UC within 3 or 12 months. In contrast, only age and MUL were predictors of recovery of UC within 3 and 12 months in patients aged >70 years. Therefore, unlike younger patients, only variables (age and MUL), possibly associated with the inherent function of the urinary sphincter, were predictors of recovery of UC in patients aged >70 years.


Recent top quark event modelling studies done using CMS proton-proton data collected at a centre of mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV and state-of-the-art theoretical predictions accurate to next-to-leading order QCD interfaced with PYTHIA and HERWIG event generators are summarised.
The particle-level top quark (pseudo-top), underlying event measurement in top quark pair events and parton shower tuning using top quark pair events are discussed.


The issues of available cyclic fatigue models in life prediction of large-area solder joints using finite-element analysis (FEA) are discussed. In this paper, a new FEA approach called successive initiation (SI) is modified and introduced in conjunction with energy partitioning (E-P) damage model to resolve some of the issues with available damage models such as geometry and scale dependency and provide a solution to large-area solder joints. This new technique models damage explicitly, meaning that it separates initiation from propagation by monitoring the plastic and creep damage at the tip of the crack successively. The SI technique could be easily used with continuous loadings of different types and frequencies. The modeling approach is then implemented on a power device with large-area solder. Sensitivity study is conducted with the help of the experiment to determine the right initiation threshold for smooth crack initiation and propagation. The results of modeling are then compared with available experimental data for the same power device. The comparison shows that using the damage model constants generated for small solder joints such as ball-grid array or chip-scale package could significantly overpredict the life of larger area solders. New E-P damage model constants for large-area solder joints are obtained and presented by calibrating the modeling to the experiment.


Considering gantry cable as an elastic string having a distributed mass, we constitute a dynamic model for coupled flexural overhead cranes by using the extended Hamilton principle. Two kinds of nonlinear controllers are proposed based on the Lyapunov stability and its improved version entitled barrier Lyapunov candidate to maintain payload motion in a certain defined range. With such a continuously distributed model, the finite difference method is utilized to numerically simulate the control system. The results show that the controllers work well and the crane system is stabilized.


Corporations have repeated reported incidents of misuse of material non-public information for illegal insider trading. Though information technologies are being inappropriately used to assist in these activities, creatively using emerging technologies and business process can also aid in preventing and detecting insider trading. This paper first discusses the issues relating to insider trading in the business environment. Next, policy and preventive measures are discussed, along with a novel model which defines a notion of Insider Information Risk value, and presents a framework for using the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) approach to monitor and deter misuse of private corporate knowledge.


In 1945, Mahmooda Rizvia, a prominent Urdu author from Sindh, published a travel account of her journey across the Arabian Sea from British India to Iraq during World War II. In her travel account, Rizvia conceptualized the declining British Empire as a dynamic space for Muslim renewal that connected India to the Middle East. Moreover, she fashioned a singular autobiographical persona as an Urdu literary pioneer and woman traveler in the Muslim lands of the British Empire. In her writings, Rizvia focused on her distinctive observations of the ocean, the history of the Ottoman Empire, and her home province of Sindh's location as a historical nexus between South Asia and the Middle East. In contrast to the expectations of modesty and de-emphasis on the self in many Muslim women's autobiographical narratives in the colonial era, Rizvia fashioned a pious, yet unapologetically self-promotional, autobiographical persona. In conversation with recent scholarship on Muslim cosmopolitanism, women's autobiographical writing, and travel literature, this article points to the development of an influential project of Muslim cosmopolitanism in late colonial Sindh that blurred the lines between British imperialism, pan-Islamic ambitions, and nationalism during the closing days of World War II.


Abstract This article explores the institutional roles of industry associations, employing institutional theory to identify and characterize the roles of leading associations in the newspaper industry. Using four leading newspaper associations as cases, the authors explore association functions evidenced through interviews with their key executives. The paper finds that the association leaders tended to emphasize normative functions, while associations' operational executives tended to focus onmimetic and coercive functions.


In this paper, we use matched-field inversion methods to estimate the geoacoustic parameters for three synthetic test cases from the Geoacoustic Inversion Techniques Workshop held in May 2001 in Gulfport, MS. The objective of this work is to use a sparse acoustic data set to obtain estimates of the parameters as well as an indication of their uncertainties. The unknown parameters include the geoacoustic properties of the sea bed (i.e., number of layers, layer thickness, density, compressional speed, and attenuation) and the bathymetry for simplified range-dependent acoustic environments. The acoustic data used to solve the problems are restricted to five frequencies for a single vertical line array of receivers located at one range from the source. Matched-field inversion using simplex simulated annealing optimization is initially used to find a maximum-likelihood (ML) estimate. However, the ML estimate provides no information on the uncertainties or covariance associated with the model parameters. To estimate uncertainties, a Bayesian formulation of matched-field inversion is used to generate posterior probability density distributions for the parameters. The mean, covariance, and marginal distributions are determined using a Gibbs importance sampler based on the cascaded Metropolis algorithm. In most cases, excellent results were obtained for relatively sensitive parameters such as wave speed, layer thickness, and water depth. The variance of the estimates increase for relatively insensitive parameters such as density and wave attenuation, especially when noise is added to the data.


&NA; Date Presented 4/1/2017 We tested an occupational therapy intervention designed to prevent medically serious pressure ulcers (MSPrUs) in 232 adults with spinal cord injury. MSPrU rates did not differ between the intervention and control groups. The intractable nature of the ulcer threat and lack of power may have contributed to the null result. Primary Author and Speaker: Florence Clark Contributing Authors: Jeanine Blanchard, Cheryl Vigen, Michael Carlson


The metabolism of calcium was studied in a man after complete removal of the thyroid and parathyroid glands. A slight retention of calcium (0.4578 of a gram of calcium oxide in the ten-day period) was noted. The urinary calcium excretion was low, averaging 0.0134 of a gram per day on a daily ingestion averaging 1.6736 grams of calcium oxide. A slight increase was observed during the period of study in the calcium content of the blood. No symptoms of tetany were noted in the patient, who survived operation thirty-nine days. The low urinary and blood calcium values are taken to show deficient absorption of calcium, which may bear some relation to the decreased gastric secretion after parathyroidectomy. Attempts are made to explain the non-occurrence of tetany as due to the high calcium intake and to the development of a compensatory mechanism in which the pituitary body may play a part.


The aim of this thesis was to evaluate long-term outcomes in a regional cohort of adolescents born extremely preterm (before the 29th gestational week) and compare them to full-term born controls. Fifty-two prematurely and 54 full-term born individuals were recruited from a follow-up study at 10 years of age. The participant rate was 85 % from the prematurely born group and 89 % from the full-term born group. A multifaceted approach was used and cognition, somatic and mental health, academic achievement, behaviour, social support and attachment were investigated, predominantly with emphasis on the adolescents' self-perceived experiences. The results showed that the prematurely born performed more poorly than the controls regarding cognitive function and flexibility; they had significantly poorer results when measuring school achievement and less often chose theoretical programmes in secondary upper school; they were shorter, weighed less and experienced more often hearing problems; they reported fewer social contacts and showed a higher frequency of insecure attachment organization. Furthermore the prematurely born showed less risk-taking behaviour and a lesser amount of delinquent and aggressive behaviour. However, no difference was obtained between the two groups regarding satisfaction with their social support; attention problems; future expectations; perceived quality of life; emotional well-being. Conclusively; cognitive problems seem to persist into late adolescence in the group of prematurely born. Furthermore, they seem to describe lesser risk-taking behaviour and appear to be at a greater risk of developing an insecure attachment organization as well as establishing fewer social contacts. Nevertheless, in several aspects such as mental health and self-perceived quality of life, the prematurely born seem to function as well as full-term peers.


We utilize Web and database technology to construct a journal based portfolios assessment system to realize a legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) (J. Lave et al., 1990) learning community. In the system, we divide system into three layers, the view layer presents data by the Oracle Portal Server, the data layer stores data by the Oracle Database Server and the operating control layer operates workflow by the Oracle Database trigger. Job data analysis and a questionnaire indicates that the Web Journal is effective to promote knowledge exchange. Students can improve learning performance and it can form a LPP structure. The purpose of using the journal approach [Roth, W.M. (1997)] is to emulate the forming of academic societies formed by journals. At the same time, the achievement of students in a course is based on their publications in journals and the positions they played in the journals. First, students submit their work such as homework, learning portfolios, reports of organizing contents in the discussion, learning problems, related Web sites. Each submitted article would be assessed by three peers. Then the reviewers will review the submitted works. The reviewers will give comments to students. The journal system will publish good articles. Articles published include submitted works and reviewer's comments hoping that students will contribute and exchange their knowledge.


ABSTRACT Analyses of carbonate content in a partially consolidated eolianite showed a highly significant correlation between the amount of carbonates in the rock and the degree of consolidation. At least 8% CaCO3 is required for the cementation to proceed. The cementation results from wetting and drying cycles and proceeds from the upper surface of the dune downwards, through the percolation of ram water and the recrystallization of the dissolved CaCO3. Lamination in the dune is a result of particle size differentiation during ripple formation; the calcareous skeletal fragments being coarser grained than quartz sand accumulate on the crest of the ripples. The preservation of the laminated dune structure with alternating laminae of smaller and larger amounts of carbonates supports Friedman's (1964) observation that the reprecipitation during cementation takes place adjacent to the place of dissolution. The environmental analysis of the factors controlling the formation of eolianite suggests that the correlation of the eolianite ridges with definite climatic phases of the Quaternary is not warranted unless supported by independent evidence. All the eolianites and associated sediments and soils of the coastal plain of Israel were formed under seasonally wet and dry climatic conditions that were not much different from those prevailing today. Because of local factors and disturbances, the sedimentary cycles of the coastal plain were not necessarily time equivalent to the major cyclic events of the Quaternary.


This article examines environmental and labour regimes in twenty-eight leading regional trade agreements (RTAs). It identifies the different legal regimes regulating labour and the environment within the territories of the parties to these regional agreements. To produce a comparative assessment of the scope and strength of these regimes, the research uses a multidimensional method of legal analysis.

This article argues that as the impact of other international law sources in the World Trade Organization (WTO), including labour and environmental law seems to be narrowing, labour and the environment regulation within RTAs is expanding. These 'behind-the-border' regulatory commitments are made more enforceable when they are linked to trade agreements because trade retaliatory measures are potentially permitted in the event of non-compliance.

This article concludes that despite the shift towards including labour and environmental regulation within RTAs, there are strict limits to how far these regimes can promote these issues. This has implications for the use of RTAs as a forum for this type of regime.


Creep characteristic is an important failure mechanism when evaluating engineering materials that are soft material as polymers or used as mechanical elements at high temperatures. One of the popular thermo-elastic polymers, Polycarbonate(PC) which is used broadly for engineering polymer, as it has excellent mechanical and thermal properties compared to other polymers, was studied for creep characteristic at various level of stresses and temperatures. From the experimental results, the creep limit of PC at room temperature is 85 % of tensile strength. which is higher than PE (75%)at room temperature. Also the creep limits decreased exponentially as the temperatures increased, up to 50 % of the melting point(267℃). Also the first and third stage among the three creep stages was non-existent nor was there any rupture failure which occurred for many metals.


The transformative potential of whole genome sequencing (WGS) as a diagnostic tool in healthcare has been demonstrated by initiatives including the 100,000 Genomes Project and is now offered to certain patients in the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Building on these foundations, the utility of WGS in the newborn period can now be explored. Genomics England is working in partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement and other healthcare, patient and public interest groups to design a research program embedded in the NHS to explore the potential challenges and implications of offering WGS in all newborns. The program will aim to: 1) evaluate the feasibility, utility and impact on the NHS of screening for childhood-onset rare actionable genetic conditions; 2) understand how, with consent, genomic and healthcare data could be used to enable research to develop new diagnostics and treatments; and 3) explore the implications of storing an individual's genome for use over their lifetime. Recognizing the important practical, scientific and ethical questions that we must explore in dialogue with the public and experts, we are taking a collaborative, evidence-based and ethically deliberate approach to designing the program. An iterative co-design process including a nationwide public dialogue has identified emergent themes and ethical considerations which are the focus of the program's design. These themes will be further developed through continued engagement with healthcare professionals, researchers, ethics experts, patient groups and the public, with an ongoing commitment to embedding ongoing ethics research and co-design into the delivery of the program.


Cell segmentation is the task of identifying cell nuclei instances in fluorescence microscopy images. It plays a key role in biomedical analysis tasks like cell characterization, cancer cell identification, and gene expression measurement. There has been a recent proliferation of deep neural network-based object detection techniques for cell segmentation. However, previous literature does not suitably address the proper understanding of the different methods and the merits of the various neural architectures proposed. One key design point relates to the learning of segmentation masks and how neural methods go about detecting, segmenting, and extracting nuclei from unseen images. The goal of this paper is to benchmark the performance of representative deep learning techniques for cell nuclei segmentation using standard datasets and common evaluation criteria. We investigate whether for cell nuclei segmentation, learning the nuclei masks in parallel with boundary detection features of the image provides superior performance and significantly cleaner separation of nuclei from images. We further explore the trade-off between increased accuracy, achieved through more complex deep learning models, and the heavy requirements imposed on both computational resources and training times. We believe this paper establishes an important baseline for cell nuclei segmentation, enabling researchers to continually refine and deploy neural models for real-world clinical applications.


: Reliable early assessment of breast cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) would provide considerable benefit to patient care and ongoing research efforts, and demand for accurate and noninvasive early-response biomarkers is likely to increase. Response assessment techniques derived from quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hold great potential for integration into treatment algorithms and clinical trials. Quantitative MRI techniques already available for assessing breast cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy include lesion size measurement, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, diffusion-weighted MRI, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Emerging yet promising techniques include magnetization transfer MRI, chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI, magnetic resonance elastography, and hyperpolarized MR. Translating and incorporating these techniques into the clinical setting will require close attention to statistical validation methods,


1. The two forms of glycogen phosphorylase were purified from human liver, and some kinetic properties were examined in the direction of glycogen synthesis. The b form has a limited catalytic capacity, resembling that of the rabbit liver enzyme. It is characterized by a low affinity for glucose 1-phosphate, which is unaffected by AMP, and a low V, which becomes equal to that of the a form in the presence of the nucleotide. Lyotropic anions stimulate phosphorylase b and inhibit phosphorylase a by modifying the affinity for glucose 1-phosphate. Both enzyme forms are easily saturated with glycogen. 2. These kinetic properties have allowed us to design a simple assay method for total (a + b) phosphorylase in human liver. It requires only 0.5 mg of tissue, and its average efficiency is 90% when the enzyme is predominantly in the b form. 3. The assay of total phosphorylase allows the unequivocal diagnosis of hepatic glycogen-storage disease caused by phosphorylase deficiency. One patient with a complete deficiency is reported. 4. The assay of human liver phosphorylase a is based on the preferential inhibition of the b form by caffeine. The a form displays the same activity when measured by either of the two assays.


Economists have long recognized the need for durability-enhancing mechanisms to facilitate political exchange, but the focus has been almost entirely on mechanisms that raise the cost of reneging on bargains once they have been struck. What happens if these mechanisms fail? This paper argues that politicians have an incentive to establish an insurance-like mechanism that indemnifies interest groups whose legislatively-created benefits have been reduced. I consider the role of the Department of Justice's settlement authority in facilitating this type of transfer, and illustrate my argument by examining two recent settlements involving Citigroup and Bank of America. These settlements are notable not only because they involved the allocation of money to third-party groups who were not directly harmed by the alleged violations of federal law, but because both corporations were required to donate millions of dollars to housing counseling organizations whose subsidies Congress reduced following the 2010 midterm elections.


Daily tactical planning of the vehicle fleet is critical for a car rental business. In this decision-making process planners have to address the conflicting concerns of field management, namely, assuring adequate vehicle availability to satisfy customer demand while maintaining a high degree of utilization for each car in the fleet; this is achieved by the appropriate fleet deployment among car rental locations. This work was inspired by a series of problems encountered by the decision-makers of a major US car rental company. We first present the formulation of the tactical fleet planning model. Based on its structure, we decompose the model into a fleet deployment model and a transportation model. We develop optimal conditions for both subproblems and then we present a heuristic to reduce the gap from optimality for the complete model. We further present the application of the entire solution methodology via a case analysis for the State of Florida. Finally, we develop three extensions to the fleet deployment model to capture the cost of unsatisfied demand and fleet surplus, the service level, and a general price-demand function. We provide optimal closed-form conditions for all the extensions.


It became evident that the payback method is still often used in organizations all over the world despite its criticism by the academicians, making inference from the analysis of companies in Europe, America and Africa. The importance of the payback method, which includes but not limited to its simplicity, liquidity and risk assessment have made the method to be gaining more awareness in appraising investment opportunity by practicing manager. %%%% The use of the payback method will always have its relevance in the corporate organization for evaluating of capital project because of it majors advantages.


A significant enhancement in solar hydrogen generation efficiency has been achieved by inductive coupled etching (ICP) surface roughening treatment using nano-sized nickel mask. As much as 7 times improvement of photocurrent is demonstrated in comparison with a planar one fabricated from the same parent wafer. Under identical illumination conditions in HBr solution, the incident photon conversion efficiency (IPCE) shows an enhancement with a factor of 3, which even exceed 54% at 400 nm wavelength. We believe the enhancement is attributed to several facts including improvement in absorption, reacting area, carrier localization and carrier lifetime.


COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic that has already reached over 2 million confirmed cases globally, with at least 140,000 deaths as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) as of April 16, 2020 1 . More than 662,000 cases have been reported in the United States with more than 29,000 deaths2 . The overall crude mortality rate now stands at 6.6% (may possibly be lower due to under-testing and under-reporting of total confirmed cases), and is highly dependent on age group, comorbidities, and the locoregional resources medically1 . A report from the United States presented age-stratified COVID-19 associated hospitalization rates among 1,482 patients during March 1-28, 2020, highlighting an alarmingly high rate of 74.5% at age > 50 years with underlining medical conditions3 . Based on a data summary report provided by New York City Health, as of April 14, 2020, the shares of a total of 6839 deaths reached 0.04%, 4.5%, 23.1%, 24.6%, and 47.7% for the age groups of 0-17, 18-44, 45-64, 65-74, and 75+ years old4 . All data suggest that adults at a more advanced age group are facing higher morbidity and mortality risks.


As educators, we have a responsibility to society to ensure that our students receive adequate learning and training. In recent years, there have been continued calls for reform within the accounting profession, particularly regarding auditor training. The following paper will analyse how a newly developed framework, the Fusion Framework, is applied to the curricula of an undergraduate auditing and assurance course, with the aim of influencing reform in audit education. In turn assuring that graduates are provided with the necessary knowledge and skills to not only meet the regulatory requirements but also the expectations of the wider market and investors. The Fusion Framework, which is a direct result of a newly instigated Audit Quality Education Reform Project (AQERP) attempts to overcome pedagogical challenges that face educators when expanding on traditional audit techniques to include newly required interdisciplinary skills. The Fusion Framework introduces students to the premise that an auditor's body of knowledge extends far beyond that of an accountant and requires an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from such areas as criminology and psychology in order to prevent catastrophic corporate collapses.


Postmortem changes in geometry, density, and sound speed within organs and tissues (melon, bone, blubber, and mandibular fat) of the dolphin head were evaluated using computed tomography (CT) scans of live and postmortem bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Specimens were classified into three different treatment groups: live, recently dead, and frozen followed by thawing. Organs and tissues in similar anatomical regions of the head were compared in CT scans of the specimens to identify postmortem changes in morphology. In addition, comparisons of Hounsfield units in the CT scans were used to evaluate postmortem changes in the density of melon, bone, blubber, and mandibular fat. Sound speed measurements from melon, blubber, connective tissue, and muscle were collected from fresh and frozen samples in the same specimen to evaluate effects due to freezing and thawing process on sound speed measurements. Similar results in tissue and organ geometry, density, and sound speed measurements suggested that postmortem material is a reliable approximation for live melon, bone, blubber, muscle, connective tissue, and mandibular fat. These results have implications for examining viscoelastic properties and the accuracy of simulating sound transmission in postmortem material. Anat Rec, 290:1023–1032, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


: Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus L. (Moench), also known as Lady's Fingers, gombo, or bamje, is an annual plant belonging to the Malvaceae family. Traditional olistic medicine since centuries directly associates this plant and its parts to a beneficial health hypoglycemic effect. Since the abscisic acid (ABA) has been associated to an interesting hypoglycemic effect, this triggered us to verify and quantify the presence of the abscisic acid in the okra phytocomplex. In particular, ABA, a plant derived hormone, has been proven by recent studies to be effective on mammals. To determine and quantify the ABA content, different parts of the Okra plant extracts have been evaluated, and HPLC-DAD analysis has been used allowing us to report for the first time the presence of this isoprenoid compound. Bioaccessibility has been also investigated using a simulated gastro intestinal (GI) digestion protocol with the aim of explore the possibility of okra extract as nutraceutical.


PFRED a software application for the design, analysis, and visualization of antisense oligonucleotides and siRNA is described. The software provides an intuitive user-interface for scientists to design a library of siRNA or antisense oligonucleotides that target a specific gene of interest. Moreover, the tool facilitates the incorporation of various design criteria that have been shown to be important for stability and potency. PFRED has been made available as an open-source project so the code can be easily modified to address the future needs of the oligonucleotide research community. A compiled version is available for downloading at https://github.com/pfred/pfred-gui/releases as a java Jar file. The source code and the links for downloading the precompiled version can be found at https://github.com/pfred.


The objective of this study was to assess the value of aeromedical evacuation when compared to road ambulance transportation in predominantly trauma patients in a rural area. Uniquely, trauma was the most common presenting condition (75%), distances to secondary care facilities were long and road routes were poor with a risk of being mined. Data were collected of all British aeromedical flights in Multi-National Division Southwest, Bosnia-Herzegovina, over a six-month period, and benefit to the patient was assessed by a panel of experts when compared to calculated road ambulance evacuation. Sixty-nine patients were evacuated by air on 57 flights and transported to a secondary care facility for further management. The panel of experts found that only 15 of the 69 patients (22%) had benefited from aeromedical evacuation. This study again shows the low benefit to the patient from indiscriminate use of aeromedical evacuation, despite the air ambulance being operated in apparently ideal conditions of a high percentage of trauma, a rural setting and poor road communications. Crew safety and the high costs further highlight the need to devise a system that can screen out unnecessary flights and identify those patients who would benefit most.


Girls with Turner syndrome (TS) are treated with supraphysiological doses of growth hormone (GH) to improve final height; however in some girls, the growth response can be poor. This may reflect aberrations in GH and/or IGF-I actions at the cellular level, and thus this study compared the response of skin fibroblasts from normal children (n = 5) and girls with TS (n = 8) to GH, IGF-I, or a combination, by assessing the IGF binding protein (IGFBP) profile of conditioned medium harvested over 7 d. The two cell types had a comparable IGFBP profile; IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-4 were the most abundant species. TS fibroblasts produced more IGFBP-3 (d 7, 51.4 ± 45 ng/mL versus 20 ± 22 ng/mL; p < 0.05) than control cells; levels of IGFBP-4 were similar (21 ± 12 ng/mL versus 30 ± 21 ng/mL). GH did not influence IGFBP production. IGF-I treatment did not affect IGFBP-4 levels but enhanced the production of IGFBP-3 by both cell types (p < 0.05). However, the response of TS fibroblasts to IGF-I was approximately half that observed in normal cells (p < 0.05). Altered IGF-I activity, because of reduced bioavailabilty and/or reduced sensitivity, could contribute to the need for high GH doses in TS and for the poor response to GH in some girls with TS.


We investigated the adaptations of primary moult to conditions on the nonbreeding areas in the Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea, an Arctic breeding, long-distance migratory wader (shorebird). Parameters of moult (start date, duration, and standard deviation) and how they are affected by rainfall patterns were estimated using and extension of the Underhill—Zucchini (1988) moult models which allows the inclusion of covariates. The estimated start date and duration of moult in Kenya was 2 October and 128 days, respectively; start date was negatively correlated with the rainfall in June. In India, the estimated start date of moult was 15 August, duration 107 days and start of moult was positively correlated to the rainfall in August. Circumstantial evidence also suggests that the rate of growth of the primaries was affected by food supply at the nonbreeding areas. The timing of moult to coincide with rainfall periods is, perhaps, an adaptation to carry out this energy demanding activity during periods of food abundance. This study shows that in these populations of the Curlew Sandpiper, the timing of moult is a direct response to environmental variation and might be used to measuring the impacts of climate change on life-history traits of migratory birds.


The carbonic acid/bicarbonate system, as defined by the Henderson-Hasselbach (H-H) equation, has traditionally formed the centrepiece of the presentation of acid/base physiology in nursing education. However, an alternative approach to describe acid/base physiology was proposed by Peter Stewart in 1983. Stewart determined, using the physiochemical principles of dissociation equilibrium, electroneutrality and conservation of mass, that hydrogen ion concentration [H+] was dependent upon the difference between the concentrations of strong cations and strong anions in a solution (the strong ion difference or SID), concentration of weak acid anions, and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in plasma. Therefore, a change in pH (the [H+] expressed as its negative log) indicates that there must be a change in one of these independent variables, and not simply explained by movement of hydrogen ions or bicarbonate into or out of the body fluids. An analysis of the complex acid/base derangements commonly seen in the critically ill can be achieved using this approach. The acid/base consequences of vomiting, gastric aspiration, diarrhoea, diuretic therapy, the infusion of large volumes of normal saline, the contribution of lactate, and the effects of methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning can all be more readily understood considering Stewart's explanation of acid/base balance. This paper outlines this alternative approach and provides some examples for the intensive care setting.


Drought and changes in weather conditions, cause damage and reduce their agricultural products. The fact that durum wheat, after common wheat or Simultaneous with that, is one of the major sources of food supplies, makes it a necessity to identify its drought tolerant species.This article reports an experiment on the impact of different levels of drought ( 5,10,20, 25 percent of field capacity) on activity of antioxidant enzymes, including Catalase (CAT), Poly phenol oxidase (PPO), Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), Guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), and also some photosynthetic pigments ( Chlorophylls a, b, total Chlorophyll and Carotenoid ), as well as some osmosic regulators include Carbohydrates and Proline in durum wheat genotypes (Shabrang, Behrang, Karkhe, Aria, Dena ). This experiment was designed as a factorial randomized blocks with three repeats, conducted at the Institute for Biotechnological Research in the University of Zabol. Following planting the seeds in pots, the drought stress was introduced at the tillering stage, after which the attributes of the plants were measured. The results of analysis of variance demonstrated that the impact of genotype, drought stress, and the interaction of stress and drought were statistically significant at 1 percent and 5 percent in all the attributes under investigation. The impact of genotype and drought stress on polyphenol oxidase trait was not significant. The most significant effects observed were those of 5 percent watering level of the capacity on antioxidant activity and osmos regulator. The results of this study indicated that in the conditions of this experiment, Behrang and Karkheh genotypes determined the highest level of photosentises pigments and Shabrang genotype have most level of antioxidant activity and Karkheh genotype have highest level of proline and carbohydrate contain, identifying it as a drought tolerant species.


We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a group education program on asthma control for children with uncontrolled asthma. Patients were randomized to receive 1-hour group education program with their parents or usual care. Our primary outcome was the change in asthma control test (ACT) between baseline and month 3 and secondary outcomes were health care utilizations and self report of exacerbations of asthma symptoms and missed school days. Change of ACT between baseline and 1st month and 3rd month was not significant in education and usual care groups. Health care utilizations and self reported exacerbations in the study groups were similar while missed school days were significantly higher in usual care group. The results of the study suggest that group education may play a useful role in the management of children with uncontrolled asthma but it is not significantly effective when compared with usual care.


The Islamic finance industry has grown substantially in Asia over the last 2 decades. The Muslim populations in different Asian countries, especially in Southeast Asia, are increasing. Rapid Muslim population growth and improving living standards may enhance the popularity of Islamic finance as a keen alternative to conventional financing mechanisms. In addition, investors from the Middle East and Asia are increasingly seeking to invest in products that are in line with their religious beliefs. The governments and financial authorities in several Asian countries have played active roles in promoting the development of Islamic financial markets in line with the efforts to boost investments and achieve sustainable funding to enhance economic growth by tapping the huge liquidity from oil- and commodity-producing countries. The ethical character and financial stability of Islamic financial products may increase their attraction. Islamic financial products have an ethical focus (notably excluding investment in alcohol and gambling) with a risk profile that appeals to wider ethically conscious investors. Given that in Islamic banking returns on investments are based on underlying economic activities and/or assets that structure the contractual relationship between transacting parties, it is possible to use the asset-based nature and risk-sharing aspects of Islamic finance for greater integration with the real economy and to improve the overall economic balance between the real and the finance sector.


Resistance spot welding (RSW) is an important welding process in modern industrial production, and the quality of welding nugget determines the strength of products to a large extent. Limited by the level of RSW quality monitor, however, RSW has rarely been applied to the fields with high welding quality requirements. Associated with the inversion theory, in this paper, an electromagnetic inverse model of RSW was established, and the analysis of influence factors, such as the layout of the probes, the discrete program and the regularization method, was implemented as well. The result shows that the layout of the probe and the regularization method has great influence on the model. When the probe is located at the y direction of x-axis or the x direction of y-axis and Conjugate Gradient method is selected, a much better outcome can be achieved.


Impregnation of a stationary phase by organic and inorganic agents in high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) may result in higher separation selectivity and resolution. This work is devoted to the application of novel core—shell polymers consisting of hyperbranched (poly(ethyleneimine)) core surrounded by oligosaccharide shell (PEI-OS) as a component of silica stationary phase in HPTLC for the separation of water-soluble vitamins, amino acids, and chiral β-blocker enantiomers. The influence of polymer structure (degree of substitution of PEI terminal amino groups with oligosaccharides and molecular weight of dendritic core [5 or 25 kDa]) as well as the content of PEI-OS in the stationary phase and a method of modification of the stationary phase on the efficiency of vitamin and amino acid determination and on the enantioselectivity factors of β-blockers separation were investigated. It was established that such polymers can be used as modifying agents of HPTLC systems for on-line preconcentration of vitamins (B2) and amino acids (lysine, tryptophan, and glutamic acids). These polymers can also be recommended as chiral selectors for the effective TLC separation of β-blockers.


In a past few years, printed media such as newspapers and magazines are the most familiar medium to contribute the information to consumers. Nowadays there are a lot of reading materials in Malaysia for the purpose of giving the information to the customers. The Star is one of the newspaper that constantly changing in order to meet the needs of the people and to prepare for challenges in the new millennium. The purpose of this study is to identify the readers' satisfaction level towards The Star printed newspaper. Otherwise this study wants to examine whether readers' satisfaction will influence a result of loyalty among The Star readers. In order to achieve high standard of excellences and compete with other competitors, it is important for Star Publications (M) Berhad to build a long-term relationship with the customers to make them loyal with the organization, and at the same time try to maintain the quality of The Star.

In this research, the researcher chooses an exploratory as a research design in order to achieve the research objectives and to define the problems more precisely. Nonprobability sampling is used whereby respondents are selected randomly by asking if they have been read The Star before this. The result of the analysis and interpretation the data was examined by established Cronbach's Alpha, Frequency Table, and also The Pearson Correlation. Besides that, some suggestions have been recommended to Star Publications (M) Berhad and such information will defmitely assist them in further providing and maintaining the quality as to meet readers' satisfaction, as well as to prepare for any challenges in the future .


Abstract. Since December 2013 the new imaging system FAIM (Fast Airglow IMager) for the study of smaller-scale features (both in space and time) is in routine operation at the NDMC (Network for the Detection of Mesospheric Change) station at DLR (German Aerospace Center) in Oberpfaffenhofen (48.1° N, 11.3° E). Covering the brightest OH vibrational bands between 1 and 1.7 µm, this imaging system can acquire two frames per second. The field of view is approximately 55 km times 60 km at the mesopause heights. A mean spatial resolution of 200 m at a zenith angle of 45° and up to 120 m for zenith conditions are achieved. The observations show a large variety of atmospheric waves. This paper introduces the instrument and compares the FAIM data with spectrally resolved GRIPS (GRound-based Infrared P-branch Spectrometer) data. In addition, a case study of a breaking gravity wave event, which we assume to be associated with Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities, is discussed.


Intruder alarm systems, IAS, are seen by many as an essential part of the United Kingdom's defence against the crime of burglary. IAS are intended either to deter the potential intruder or detect and give warning of an intruder directly or indirectly to the police. Unfortunately the false alarm rate, at over 90%, is so high that it leads to ineffectual use of police resources and calls into question the ability of IAS to perform effectively either as a deterrent or detector. To try and improve the situation the Police Forces in the UK have in conjunction with the alarm industry, over the past few years, implemented special measures in an attempt to reduce the number of false alarms and improve the effectiveness of the systems. However, from a study of the available data on the deterrent effect of alarm systems, the national statistics for all alarm call types, the numbers of arrests arising from the calls, etc., the paper concludes that IAS on their own are not an effective police crime prevention measure. Thus a radical rethink of their use is required. The paper also suggests an alternative strategy which may improve the situation


Rock glaciers are an important form of Alpine permafrost. Due to their potential instabilities, possibly caused by global warming, they pose a serious natural hazard for mountainous regions (Haeberli, 1992). To quantify the mechanical behavior of rock glaciers, a multidisciplinary research program consisting of geophysical, geotechnical and glaciological aspects has been initiated. The Muragl rock glacier, located in the eastern Swiss Alps, was chosen as a test site where a number of surface and borehole experiments are to be conducted in order to establish efficient monitoring procedures. Some of the problems that make this investigation difficult are: (i) strong heterogeneities of the rock glacier material, (ii) pronounced topographic variations and (iii) logistic constraints, in an Alpine region at an elevation of 2600 m above sea. Here, we present results from a reconnasaince seismic survey aimed at resolving the subsurface structure, with particular emphasis on delineating the bedrock depth. This information will form the basis for identifying suitable locations for boreholes where various cross-hole tomographic experiments will be conducted.


The Fight for a Right out of Sight: The Under-Prioritization of Attacks on Schools and the Lack of Accountability under the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Meaghan Shevell The multifaceted effects of armed conflict on children are well-documented. Systematic monitoring and reporting on human rights violations committed against children aim to mitigate these impacts by better informing programmatic response and analyzing trends to prevent future violations. Through personal field research, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) as implemented in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with a particular emphasis on attacks on schools. The research sought to address the following questions: 1) What are the current challenges in effectively implementing the MRM in the DRC? 2) Is the MRM effective in linking monitoring to response for the grave violation of attacks on schools? 3) Is the MRM accountable to children in situations of armed conflict? Results of qualitative Nvivo analysis of key informant interviews indicated that several challenges remain, with two major findings warranting further discussion. First, attacks on schools are relegated by other violations. Second, there is a bifurcation in accountability approaches between local grassroots groups excluded from the MRM (i.e. victim-focused and 'downward' accountability, building capacity) and UN bodies and international organizations on the MRM Task Force (i.e. perpetrator-focused and 'upward' accountability, favoring weak penal measures). Additional examination revealed that the latter strategy is often unsuccessful in its approach, highlighting the need for the MRM to be part of a broader effort, engaging with a more diverse set of actors including local representation. The challenges highlighted in this study have significant implications on whether the MRM can be used to prevent future violations and inform effective programmatic responses. Additionally, results call into question whether the UN's use of punitive measures are merely 'empty threats' that do not set a strong precedent to deter future perpetrators of grave violations against children.


The use of high Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) content mixtures together with binders produced from renewable resources (biobinders) is one of the current challenges in pavement engineering research. On the one hand, RA has been used for decades, but there are still some concerns about its performance, especially when high contents are used (>30%). On the other hand, biobinders are relatively new materials, which have to be deeply characterised and studied in order to develop good practices for their use. In this paper, linear viscoelastic properties of biobinders and bio-mixtures manufactured with high RA content and biobinders are analysed and discussed. High-modulus mixtures with 50% RA were selected for the mix design. Binders and mixtures were tested over a wide range of asphalt service temperatures and frequencies by means of Dynamic Shear Rheometer and two-point bending tests, respectively. Results show that biobinders have an important effect on mixtures behaviour. However, no direct links between their linear viscoelastic properties were found. Bio-asphalt mixtures still need further development for commercial exploitation; however, the take-away fact of this investigation is that it is possible to manufacture asphalt-like mixtures with acceptable viscoelastic properties while being composed only of RA and non-petroleum-based binders.


ABSTRACT Background The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) published an "ounce equivalents" recommendation to help consumers meet protein requirements with a variety of protein food sources. However, the metabolic equivalency of these varied protein food sources has not been established. Objective We have investigated the hypothesis that the anabolic responses to consumption of ounce equivalents of protein food sources would be directly related to the essential amino acid (EAA) content of the protein food source. Methods Following 3 d of dietary control, a total of 56 healthy young adults underwent an 8.5-h metabolic study using stable isotope tracer methodology. The changes from baseline following consumption of 1 of 7 different protein food sources were compared with the baseline value for that individual (n = 8 per group). Results Consumption of ounce equivalents of animal-based protein food sources (beef sirloin, pork loin, eggs) resulted in a greater gain in whole-body net protein balance above baseline than the ounce equivalents of plant-based protein food sources (tofu, kidney beans, peanut butter, mixed nuts; P < 0.01). The improvement in whole-body net protein balance was due to an increase in protein synthesis (P < 0.05) with all the animal protein sources, whereas the egg and pork groups also suppressed protein breakdown compared with the plant protein sources (P < 0.01). The magnitude of the whole-body net balance (anabolic) response was correlated with the EAA content of the protein food source (P < 0.001). Conclusion The "ounce equivalents" of protein food sources as expressed in the DGAs are not metabolically equivalent in young healthy individuals. The magnitude of anabolic response to dietary proteins should be considered as the DGAs develop approaches to establish healthy eating patterns.


Childhood tumors associated with the Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) all show abnormalities of the same region on chromosome 11 when occurring sporadically. In addition to chromosome 11 there are other chromosome regions which are affected in some of these tumor types. In this study we analyzed the region on chromosome lp which is involved in the etiology of the BWS-associated tumors Wilms tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma and hepatoblastoma. For this purpose we determined the location of two novel translocation breakpoints in this chromosome region in cells from a Wilms tumor and cells from a rhabdomyosarcoma. We constructed a map of the region and found that both breakpoints are separated by at least 875 kb. We did identify a PAC clone which crosses the rhabdomyosarcoma breakpoint and found several exons within this clone. We established that this breakpoint is located proximal to the PAX7 gene and therefore identified a new region involved in the etiology of rhabdomyosarcomas.


Abstract As a response to widely reported corporate tax avoidance, the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting process has relied on modifying the Transfer Pricing Guidelines in order to align taxation with economic substance, a form of incremental rather than radical change. We interpret this strategy of the OECD as an attempt to prevent a loss of authority without a politically risky complete overhaul. However, given the imperfect reconciliation – or even incompatibility – with persisting principles of international tax law, the incremental changes add to the complexity and incoherence of the guidelines on transfer pricing, leading us to expect an increase in conflicting assessments and uncertainty in the near future. Identifying a diminishing capacity of expert networks to achieve consensus on matters with strong distributional consequences, we argue that the incoherence of the system contains the seeds of its own transformation. However, due to vested interests in the current system and the reinforced capacity of the OECD to intervene in public discourses, we expect this transformation to be procedural and marked by conflicts over the meaning of the current guidelines, notably with regards to the arm's length principle and the measurement of value creation.


(1) Background: Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration affects the growth and development of the rice crop. In Southern Brazil, rice is traditionally produced with continuous irrigation, implying a significant amount of water used. Besides, continuous flooding favors the uptake of toxic elements such as arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd). In this work, one Brazilian rice cultivar (IRGA 424) was tested for the effects of elevated CO2 concentration and different water regimes on rice yield, and As and Cd accumulation in grain. (2) Methods: Rice was grown in two CO2 concentrations (400 and 700 μmol mol−1) and two irrigation regimes (continuous and intermittent). It was evaluated the number of tillers, plant height, aboveground dry weight (ADW), water use efficiency (WUE), rice yield components, and As and Cd concentration in rice grain. (3) Results: Rice plants were taller and had a higher WUE when cultivated at e[CO2]. The ADW and the rice yield component were not affected by CO2 levels nor water regimes. Intermittent flood regimes had a lower average As concentration. The Cd concentration in the samples in both growing seasons and all treatments was below the limit of quantitation (8.76 μg kg−1). (4) Conclusions: Enhanced CO2 concentration did not affect rice yield, increased the WUE, and reduced As concentration in grains. Regarding water management, the intermittent regime enhanced WUE and promoted a reduction in As concentration in grains.


This study investigates the use of polarimetric AirSAR (TopSAR) data for estimating biomass and carbon storage of Eucalyptus miniata (Darwin Woolly Butt) and E. tetrodonta (Stringybark) dominated open‐forest savannah in the Northern Territory, Australia. Radar backscatter intensity was correlated with basal area for 30 plots within the Wildman River Reserve, Northern Territory. Published allometric relationships were used to convert tree basal area to estimates of above‐ground biomass for each of the measured plots. Below‐ground biomass was also estimated for these plots, using additional published allometric relationships between below‐ground and above‐ground biomass. Backscatter of the L‐HV channel had the highest regression co‐efficient (r2 = 0.92) with ground‐based tree basal area measurements. Using a linear regression equation of backscatter intensity for the L‐HV channel versus above‐ground biomass gave a mean above‐ground biomass of 94 t DM (dry mass) ha−1 for the eucalypt dominated vegetation in the Wildman River Reserve, equivalent to 47 t C ha−1 stored in this biomass pool. Estimated below‐ground biomass was 28 t C ha−1, giving a total carbon biomass storage for this savannah ecosystem of 75 t C ha−1. The results of this study indicate that the L‐HV channel of polarimetric SAR is best suited to model biomass of the tropical savannahs of northern Australia. Given the vast spatial extent of savannah woodlands across north Australia, SAR has the potential to be a major tool in carbon stock assessment, critical for carbon accounting, as well as to contribute to gaining a better understanding of the role the tropical savannahs of northern Australia play in the biochemical cycles of Australia.


The presidential-parliamentary distinction is foundational to comparative politics and at the center of a large theoretical and empirical literature. However, an examination of constitutional texts suggests a fair degree of heterogeneity within these categories with respect to important institutional attributes. These observations lead us to suspect that the classic presidential-parliamentary distinction, as well as the semi-presidential category, is not a systemic one. This paper investigates whether the defining attributes that separate presidential and parliamentary constitutions predict other attributes that are stereotypically associated with these institutional models. The results lead us to be highly skeptical of the "systemic" nature of the classification. Indeed, the results imply that if one wanted to predict the powers of the executive and legislature, one would be better off knowing where and when the constitution was written than in knowing whether it was presidential or parliamentary.


This 'opinion article' is based on World Health Organization (WHO) news and online publications along with the cases handled by the writer It aims at overviewing psycho-social angle of collectivistic social structure of Nepal during the pandemic called COVID-19 caused by Coronavirus Majority of Nepalese are dependent on agriculture, remaining on private or public services either in or out of the country COVID-19 entered the world health threatening their existence, authority and leaving social system in halt Coronavirus attacked breathing system and lungs claiming hundreds of thousand people's lives around the world No vaccine or medicine to combat it has been developed till date Educational, professional and service organizations have been shut down leaving families isolated from friends and relatives People are living with fear, denial, panic reactions, dissociation, depression, and socially distressed in 'lockdown' condition It can damage trust in authority and socialization pattern as after-effect Doctors, Politicians, educators, local government, social workers, psychologists and people themselves can reduce negative psycho-social effects occurring in future Emotional management (situational awareness and acceptance), relationship management, meditation and relaxation exercises can contribute positively in reducing psychological problems of COVID-19


This paper studies the response of carbon fiber polymer matrix composites subjected to DC electric currents. We have developed a new fully instrumented experimental setup that enables one to measure electric field characteristics (amperage, voltage, resistance) and temperature at the surface of the electrified composites in real time. The experimental procedure ensured a low contact resistance between the composite and electrodes, high uniformity in the density of the applied electric current, and low resistance heating. An extensive experimental study on the electrical characterization of carbon fiber polymer composites of different composition, ply sequence, thickness, etc. was conducted. The effect of the resistance heating was carefully analyzed through experimental analysis as well as the finite element modeling.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


This volume publishes the Proceedings of an International Symposium held at the University of Brussels (ULB) in April 2006. It places special emphasis on the shapes of Greek vases and how they might shed light on different aspects of pottery production, such as the organization of workshops, the distribution and reception of pottery, and uses of ancient ceramics. Articles are grouped according to six topics: "Production: workshops and shapes," "Containers, capacities and uses," "Shapes and uses," "Images and shapes: iconography and uses," and "Greek vases and their consumers." In total, these topics open the path to stimulating discussions on a class of material that played an important part in the cultural exchanges and daily life of the ancient Greek world.


For laser beam steering, a pure optical-electric system without mechanical or inertial parts is used. The new device is a Liquid Crystal Optical Phased Array (LCOPA). Supplying electric field to liquid crystal cell with electrodes, the extraordinary refractive index changes, which results in phase shift that modulates the direction of incident beam. The advantages of this device are small size, less energy consuming, programmable and addressable control. A one dimensional device is designed and tested. The resolution of the steering angle is 20 μrad, the range is ±2o. The effect of flyback region and phase valley on diffraction efficiency is also discussed briefly.


Non-intentional drowning incidents remain a leading cause of mortality in Turkey as well as all over the world. A following related secondary syndrome is composed of those who drown during altruistic attempts to rescue a drowning person. Such 'rescuers' who attempt to rescue a drowning person, may themselves drown, resulting in a tragic multiple death. This study covers the year 2009, and necessary data was found by using internet search engines to identify cases in which a potential rescue attempt resulted with the rescuer's fatal drowning. Thirty-one 'rescuers' and 20 primary drowning victims (PDV) drowned in 28 incidents in which 80% of drowned primary victims (DPV) were children, and 48.4% of the 'rescuers' were children. In 48.4% of the 'rescuers' succeeded in rescuing the PDV's life. Out of them, 38.7% of the 'rescuers' and PDVs were friends/colleagues. The aim of this study is to define and examine multiple drowning syndromes (MDSs) and to suggest preventative measures. An increased awareness of such risks as promotion of swimming and rescue skills could help reducing the MDSs.


treatment without electrocardiographic confirmation of the diagnosis. In Stuart J Pocock and David J Spiegelhalter's interpretation of our mortality data5 the estimate of the prior probability of a reduction in mortality by giving treatment two hours earlier is derived from trials in which thrombolytic treatment was given in hospital at the first opportunity. But the relation between outcome and time of administration of the treatment is not a true reflection of its efficacy at different times. The outcome will be biased against indicating greater efficacy with earlier administration because of the greater severity of infarction in patients presenting earlier.5 Only in a trial with a design such as ours, in which patients are randomly allocated to receive treatment immediately on presentation or after a delay, can the importance of delay be determined. We acknowledge that three month mortality was not a predetermined end point and, indeed, that ours was not a mortality end point trial, but we would have been remiss not to draw attention to the mortality we found (figure). Though agreeing that we were lucky in our result, we do not agree that a 50% reduction in mortality can be dismissed as implausible: a reduction of similar magnitude was found in the European myocardial infarction project in patients in whom the saving in time to treatment was over 90 minutes (A Leizorowicz, personal communication).


Age-Friendly Cities (AFC) is a framework for promoting healthy ageing through local actions. We use systems thinking to assess potential outcomes of actions to support older people's mobility, undertaken within an AFC commitment in Greater Sydney. Interviews with 20 informants involved in providing space, infrastructure, or services that affect how older people get around were analysed using causal loop diagrams (CLDs). Four approaches to support older people's mobility were identified and situated to the Multiple Governance Framework: land use, open and public space, supplementary transport, and community transport. Analysis revealed potential for unwanted consequences associated with each, which can be generalised into three generic potential outcomes for other jurisdictions to consider. A recommendation from this research is for policy actors to examine feedback interactions between actions so that they can foresee a wider range of outcomes and take defensive action against those unwanted. By situating CLDs within the Multiple Governance Framework, this research not only identifies what to look for, in terms of potential outcomes, but also where to look, in terms of the level of decision-making. This research offers a new way to assess the functioning of AFC governance networks by their collective outcomes and challenges the standards for the evaluation of AFC.


In this thesis we focus on sets with a uniform rate of escape under the iteration of transcendental entire functions. We study their properties and their structure as well as using them as a tool to prove some interesting topological results.

First, motivated by the work of Rippon and Stallard, we generalise the quite fast escaping set by introducing a family of sets that escape to infinity at a uniform rate associated with the maximum modulus of the function. We examine under which conditions these sets are equal to the fast escaping set, which plays an important role in the iteration of transcendental entire functions. We prove that, in some cases, points which satisfy a relatively weak condition are actually fast escaping. We also show that this is not always the case by constructing an example of a function whose fast escaping set is not equal to these newly introduced sets.

Secondly, we look at the so-called spider's web structure and we give some general results which ensure that the escaping set, or a superset thereof, contains a spider's web. In particular, we prove that for a well-known function that was first studied by Fatou the escaping set has the structure of a spider's web. Using similar techniques, we also generalise this result to a class of functions all of which have one Baker domain.

Finally, motivated by the connection between spiders' webs and the non-escaping endpoints of Cantor bouquet Julia sets that first appeared when we studied Fatou's function, we present some topological results on the non-escaping endpoints of functions in the exponential family. More specifically, we show that the set of non-escaping endpoints together with infinity forms a totally separated set for every function in the exponential family whose singular value belongs to the Fatou set. This result is complementary to one of Alhabib and Rempe-Gillen who showed that, for the same class of functions, infinity is an explosion point for the set of escaping endpoints.


The purpose of this paper has been to explore in a preliminary way the nature and mechanism of collisional energy transfer and quenching of electronic excitation. For this purpose, the Born approximation has been used, and the triplet-triplet and singlet-singlet transfer, and the triplet-triplet and singlet-singlet quenching have been studied. It has been shown theoretically that (i) the singlet-singlet transfer constants (or cross sections) are always larger than the triplet-triplet transfer constants (or cross sections) for the same system of donor and acceptor; (ii) for the singlet-singlet transfer, the observed cross section varies linearly with respect to the spectral overlap between the donor emission and the acceptor absorption; (iii) the reason that the quenching constants (or cross sections) are always smaller than the energy transfer constants (or cross sections) is due to the fact that for the quenching the vibration of the acceptor hardly participates in accepting the electronic excitation and for the energy transfer only part of the excited electron energy of the donor is converted into the energy of nuclear motion; and (iv) the polar acceptor molecules are better quenchers than nonpolar acceptor molecules.


Cytokine and growth factor signaling mediates essential roles in the differentiation, proliferation, survival and function of a number of cell lineages. This is achieved via specific receptors located on the surface of target cells, with ligand binding activating key intracellular signal transduction cascades to mediate the requisite cellular outcome. Effective resolution of receptor signaling is also essential, with excessive signaling having the potential for pathological consequences. The Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family of proteins represent one important mechanism to extinguish cytokine and growth factor receptor signaling. There are 8 SOCS proteins in mammals; SOCS1-7 and the alternatively named Cytokine-inducible SH2-containing protein (CISH). SOCS1-3 and CISH are predominantly associated with the regulation of cytokine receptor signaling, while SOCS4-7 are more commonly involved in the control of Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling. Individual SOCS proteins are typically induced by specific cytokines and growth factors, thereby generating a negative feedback loop. As a consequence of their regulatory properties, SOCS proteins have important functions in development and homeostasis, with increasing recognition of their role in disease, particularly their tumor suppressor and anti-inflammatory functions. This review provides a synthesis of our current understanding of the SOCS family, with an emphasis on their immune and hematopoietic roles.


Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) were grown on Willamette sil (Pachic Ultic Argixerolls) amended 1 and 2 yr earlier with chrome tannery wastes at rates up to 192 Mg ha⁻¹ to determine nutrient and trace element availability. Soils were sampled at 0- to 15- and 15- to 30-cm depths just before seeding the crops. Tannery waste increased soil pH, N, extractable Ca, B, and total Cr content and reduced soil extractable Mg and Fe content. Waste application had essentially no effect on soil K, P, S, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Mo content. The N concentration of lettuce grown on waste-amended soil was higher than that of lettuce grown on untreated soils. Tannery waste did not consistently affect plant tissue concentrations of other nutrient or trace elements, including Cr. Yields of both crops increased when grown on tannery waste-amended soil and were approximately equal to the yields obtained when commercial N fertilizer was applied at 112 kg N ha⁻¹. This suggests that significant quantities of waste organic N were mineralized and made available. With proper safeguards, tannery waste may be an effective and safe crop fertilizer, and disposal on agricultural land may be an acceptable alternative to landfilling or trenching.