Objective: To evaluate cardiac functions in patients with Subclinical Hypothyroidism by 2D Echocardiography and Speckle Tracking Imaging. Background: Heart is a major target organ for thyroid hormone action. Subclinical thyroid disease has been associated with systolic and diastolic cardiac dysfunction and previous studies have shown that thyroxin replacement improved cardiac function in subjects with SH. Patients and methods: we prospectively included 50 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) (Group I; 16 male, 34 female, Mean ± SD age: 34.08 ± 9.66 years) and the control group included 75 healthy volunteers (30 male, 45 female, Mean ± SD age: 31.47 ± 7.99 years). Left ventricular (LV) functions were assessed with speckle tracking imaging.

Results: Age and sex distributions were similar among the two groups. Mean serum TSH was13.01 ± 6.91 μIU/mL for group I and 1.64 ± 0.58 μIU/mL for group II and free T4 levels were 1.138 ± 0.186 ng/dL for group I and 1.172 ± 0.172 ng/dL for group II; (p=0.001, p=0.303). The SH patients had significantly lower LV strain values compared to controls, there was a highly significant statistical difference between the two groups with group I (patients) showing significant reduction in values (p-value=0.001).

Conclusion: The Global LV Peak Longitudinal Strain is significantly reduced in patient with Subclinical Hypothyroidism comparing with the healthy control group.


The aim of this research study was to describe the perceived level of food security in the households of the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, in 2011. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed, incorporating 592 homes included in the Panel of Households of the Social Observatory of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Households were characterized sociodemographically and classified according to the level of food security by applying the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale. Association with sociodemographical factors was determined by odds ratios and logistic regression. It was found that 31.5% of households in Santa Fe show food insecurity: 21.7% is mild, 7.4% is moderate and 2.4% is severe, and insecurity is greater when children live in the household. Food insecurity is positively associated with lack of health coverage, lack of economic activity, inability to save, incomplete secondary level education and four or more people living in the household.


The management of patients with chronic conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), requires specific attention and careful planning during the transition from pediatric to adult care. Early education about the transition process and the acquisition of self-management skills are crucial to fostering independent adolescents and young adults who have the knowledge and tools to manage life with a chronic disease. A growing body of literature describes the challenges and barriers to providing adolescent and transition care. Potential barriers to effective transition include the following: differences between adult- and pediatric-onset IBD; patients' lack of developmental maturity and readiness, self-efficacy, and knowledge of the disease; poor adherence to therapy; adolescent anxiety and depression; differences between pediatric and adult IBD care; and parental and provider reluctance to transition. Despite our ability to identify barriers and challenges, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge about how they should be addressed. Outcomes data on adolescents with IBD are limited, and there are even fewer data on how the transition of care affects long-term treatment and outcomes. More research is needed to truly understand the best way to facilitate care during transition and improve outcomes. Current research and transition guidelines acknowledge that providing support and guidance to patients and their families and establishing clear goals can ultimately equip patients with the skills needed to cope with a chronic disease as adults and can improve their long-term care. This paper provides an overview of the transition from pediatric to adult IBD care, a discussion of challenges and barriers, and recommendations and resources that can help patients, parents, and providers navigate this important process.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Room air (RA) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are widely used to insufflate the colon to examine the mucosa in colonoscopy. Pain, discomfort, and bloating can be seen during and after colonoscopy secondary to bowel distention. This study aimed to investigate the effect of CO2 on post-procedure pain sensation (PPPS) in comparison with RA.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients were randomly assigned to the RA and CO2 insufflation groups in a 1:1 ratio. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure the pain before and after the colonoscopy. VAS score of 0 was accepted as the absence of pain and above 0 was accepted as the presence of pain. The primary outcome was to investigate the effect of CO2 insufflation on PPPS. Secondary outcomes were to investigate the other contributing factors affecting PPPS and the effect of CO2 on PPPS in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

RESULTS
A total of 204 patients were enrolled in the study. No significant difference in PPPS was seen between the 2 groups at any point in time after the colonoscopy. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in pain sensation between the CO2 and RA groups in patients with IBD. When we investigated the other contributing factors to pain sensation, body-mass index (BMI) was found to be significant at 30 minutes and BMI and colonoscopy time were found to be significant at 6 hours afterwards.

CONCLUSION
We found no favorable effect of CO2 insufflation on PPPS in colonoscopy, including in patients with IBD.


Abstract This paper discusses cultural translations of international campaigns against Female Genital Cutting (FGC) through a critical ethnographic study. It analyses development initiatives as cultural practices and signifying processes. The vernacularisation of these campaigns leads to certain paradoxes: while the abandonment of FGC is encouraged, nationalist-modernist processes of Othering and dominant gender and sexual moralities are also reinforced. These paradoxes reveal how certain aspects of transnational development discourse are easily transmitted while others are subverted. Individual rights discourse fades to the background in favour of putting emphasis on common social concerns and shared gender-conservative norms. FGC as an external bodily practice and a means to control sexual behaviour is rejected in favour of internal moral self-disciplining. Secondly, the transnational fight against FGC is translated into a fight for marriage. The practice is condemned for causing sexual dissatisfaction and friction within the marital bond. Local development workers aim to connect to women's life worlds through reference to dominant social anxieties - family unity, social cohesion and gender-conservative sexuality norms but, importantly, fail to address women's lived experience and knowledge. When international scripts and hegemonic social norms are foregrounded, a body affirmative discussion of female lived sexuality and actual sexual coping strategies is precluded.


This dissertation is focused on the literary representations of the artificial creation of (human) life. This project is based on the belief that advances in bio-technologies have the potential to challenge core values of society and that literature offers a space to identify and address them before their actual appearance. While the texts studies do not provide actual answers to extremely complex moral questions, they offer a starting point for reflection. They question our morality in many ways, especially because they force us to think about who and what we are as human beings. This project is a study of the representations of artificial life as much as it is a study of society's understanding of what it means to be human. In that respect, this project is indebted to the figure of the posthuman. Because this project is rooted in a discussion of actual scientific developments, I have chosen to take an historical perspective on the matter. In order to do so, I have identified four major scientific developments that have had tremendous consequences, not only in their respective fields but also on society: automation, vitalism, artificial intelligence, and cloning. I analyze the way these developments have been represented in literature and perceived by the general public, including discussions of relevant ethical issues. These ethical questions very in scope (from the responsibility of the creator to society's response) and in focus (economical, individual, etc.). Ultimately, the diversity of the representations of the posthuman leads me to propose a practice of posthuman ethics rather than an attempt to define who or what is "posthuman."


Monolayer cultures of pancreatic islets obtained from the pancreas of guinea-pigs aged 10 days and 3-3.5-months pig embryos were studied at the 2d-3d, 5th-6th and 15th-16th days. These times corresponded with the stages of culture intense growth, stabilization and physiological dying off. The rate of insulin biosynthesis and secretory activity of beta-cells were evaluated from the intensity of 3H-uridine and 3H-leucine incorporation and from the magnitude of immunoreactive insulin secretion into the cultural medium. The proliferating and insulin-synthetizing beta-cells were detected by selective 3H-thymidine or 3H-leucine incorporation. In the stages of culture intense growth and dying off the viable beta-cells were distributed into insulin-synthesizing and proliferating ones. During the transition to the stabilization stage the proliferative level of beta-cells drastically decreased, while the biosynthesis and insulin secretion rates increased. This manifested in the increased number of beta-cells which intensely incorporated 3H-thymidine into the nucleus, and 3H-leucin into the cytoplasm, as well as in the rise of immunoreactive insulin concentration in the culture.


Congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection occurs in 0.6-0.7% of newborns and represents the most frequent infectious cause of congenital neurologic handicap. Vertical transmission occurs in approximately 30% of cases, but the fetus isn't always affected. Symptomatic newborns present a higher risk for severe neurological sequelae. CMV screening should be reserved for suspected primary infection during pregnancy or for pregnant women considered at risk, so the indications are very wide. Serum IgG and IgM detection and IgG avidity seem to be the most reliable tests to identify a primary infection, although their interpretation in clinical context may be difficult. In the absence of confirmed fetal infection with structural fetal anomalies identified, pregnancy termination should be discouraged. Fetal outcome is mainly correlated with the cerebral involvement. Despite promising results regarding medical treatment with antivirals and hyperimmune globulin (HIG), results must be carefully interpreted.


This book presents an in-depth description of information structure in Isthmus Zapotec, an Otomanguean language spoken by around 50,000 people in southeastern Oaxaca, Mexico, and represents the first book-length treatment of information structure in a Mesoamerican language. Three main observations motivate the study:

Strong documentation and a relatively large and active speaker community create a unique opportunity to document information structure in Isthmus Zapotec and to study the language as it is used by speakers in everyday life;
As a tonal and verb-initial language, the examination of Isthmus Zapotec represents a chance to explore the possible combinations of tone, intonation, morphology and verb-initial syntax that may occur in the coding of information structure; and
The close analysis of spontaneous speech in an endangered language contributes to our theoretical understanding of information structure and informs our knowledge of language documentation practices and revitalization efforts.

Overall, the analysis presented here demonstrates the value and need for information structure studies to document and analyze naturally-occurring data.


Integrating clinical pathology data with anatomic pathology data is a common practice when reporting findings in the context of nonclinical toxicity studies and aids in understanding and communicating the nonclinical safety profile of test articles in development. Appropriate pathology data integration requires knowledge of analyte and tissue biology, species differences, methods of specimen acquisition and analysis, study procedures, and an understanding of the potential causes and effects of a variety of pathophysiologic processes. Neglecting these factors can lead to inappropriate data integration or a missed opportunity to enhance understanding and communication of observed changes. In such cases, nonclinical safety information relevant to human safety risk assessment may be misrepresented or misunderstood. This "Points to Consider" manuscript presents general concepts regarding pathology data integration in nonclinical studies, considerations for avoiding potential oversights and errors in data integration, and focused discussion on topics relevant to data integration for several key organ systems including liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system.


We consider univariate Gaussian mixtures theory and applications, and particularly the problem of testing the null hypothesis of homogeneity
(one component) against two components. Several approaches have been proposed in the literature during the last decades. We focus on two different techniques, one based on the Likelihood-Ratio Test (LRT), and another one based on estimation of the parameters of the mixture grounded on some specific adaptation of the well-known EM algorithm often called the EM-test. We propose in particular a novel methodology allowing application of the LRT in actual situations, by plugging-in estimates that are assumed known in asymptotic setup. We aim to provide useful comparisons between different techniques, together with guidelines for practitioners in order to enable them to use theoretical advances for analysing actual data of realistic sample sizes. We finally illustrate these methods in an application to real data corresponding to the number of days between two events concerning ovarian response and lambing for ewes.


We describe a process to fabricate simple (2D, planar) and complex (3D, non-planar) microfluidic devices using molds consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fabricated with fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer. Our approach successfully created leak-free, closed microfluidic devices in various commercial polymers, which are both photo and heat curable. The fabrication process requires only water to remove the sacrificial mold, and fabrication of microfluidic hydrogels are easily demonstrated. The approach we describe here offers a rapid and simple route to create channels with complex three-dimensional architecture.
Figure. 1 describes the schematics of the steps required in the sacrificial molding. Figure. 2 shows that sacrificial molding of FDM 3D printed microfluidic mold is suitable for use with hard polymers such as rigid polyurethane, epoxy, and thiolene-based polymers. It is also compatible for use with soft polymers like flexible polyurethane and PDMS. Water-soluble FDM 3D printed PVA mold was stable in hydrogels like TG gelatin and PEGDA. To demonstrate the versatility of the technique, we fabricated and demonstrated application of 3D staggered herringbone based chaotic mixers (Figure. 3) and modular perfusion grid of interconnected microchannels (Figure. 4).
At present, the capability to directly fabricate closed microfluidic channel, 3D microfluidic design or 3D design with undercut structures may be achieved by stereolithography1 and a combination of laminated object manufacturing and soft lithography2. Although recently, FDM was also used to produce entire reaction-wares incorporating fluidic circuit by printing polypropylene3. Alternatively, other methods may be employed albeit with additional assembly steps to achieve such feat. Even so, 3D microfluidic geometry is still difficult to achieve with these printing techniques.
The versatility of fabrication of FDM printed microchannels by sacrificial molding can be useful in fabricating microchannels in soft, biomimetic matrixes (e.g. hydrogels). In addition, the wide selection of the various polymers for the materials of the channels encourages opportunities to build chemically resistant microchannels to support relevant applications.


Testable software has two inherent properties – observability and controllability. Observability facilitates observation of internal behavior of software to required degree of detail. Controllability allows creation of difficult-to-achieve states prior to execution of various tests. In this paper, we describe COTT, a Controllability and Observability Testing Tool, to create testable object-oriented software. COTT provides a framework that helps the user to instrument object-oriented software to build the required controllability and observability. During testing, the tool facilitates creation of difficult-to-achieve states required for testing of difficultto-test conditions and observation of internal details of execution at unit, integration and system levels. The execution observations are logged in a test log file, which are used for post analysis and to generate test coverage reports. Keywords—Controllability, Observability, Test Coverage and Testing Tool.


Background: Traumatic anterior shoulder instability from recurrent dislocations or subluxations is a debilitating problem for the teenage athlete. The risk of recurrent instability is high in this adolescent population. We performed a retrospective case series analysis of adolescent athletes with recurrent instability treated with open Bankart repair and evaluated functional outcomes as well as redislocation rates. Methods: The retrospective study included 21 teenage patients with Bankart lesions and recurrent anterior shoulder instability. There were 19 males (90%) and 2 females (10%) with an average age of 16 years (range, 14 to 18 y). Patients were evaluated based on Rowe and UCLA shoulder scores, return to previous level of sport, external rotation, and recurrence. Results: The average number of anchors used to repair the Bankart lesion was 3 (range, 2 to 5). One patient was lost to follow-up at 6 months after surgery. The remaining 20 patients all had at least 2-year follow-up. The recurrent instability rate was zero. In total, 100% of patients had an excellent result based on an average Rowe score of 96.5 points of 100 points (a score of 90 to 100 is an excellent result). In total, 100% of patients had good/excellent result based on an average UCLA shoulder score of 34 of 35 (a score >27 is a good/excellent result). At final follow-up, 7 patients (34%) had lost an average of 11 degrees of external rotation (range, 5 to 20 degrees) on the injured shoulder with the arm at the side compared with the noninjured shoulder. Conclusions: Contact teenage athletes with recurrent anterior shoulder instability can be treated with open Bankart repair with a low recurrence, excellent functional shoulder outcomes, and return to sport. A small amount of external rotation may be lost with this technique. Care must be taken when considering this method with throwing athletes (ie, quarterback or pitcher). The open Bankart should remain a viable alternative for the adolescent population with recurrent anterior instability. Level of Evidence: Level IV.


Poly(A) tails of eukaryotic mRNAs serve as targets for regulatory proteins affecting mRNA stability and translation. Differential mRNA polyadenylation and deadenylation during gametogenesis and early development are now widely recognized as mechanisms of translational regulation in animals, but they have not been observed in plants. Here, we report that the expression of the PAB5 gene encoding one of the poly(A) binding proteins (PABPs) in Arabidopsis is restricted to pollen and ovule development and early embryogenesis. Furthermore, PAB5 is capable of rescuing a PABP-deficient yeast strain by partially restoring both poly(A) shortening and translational initiation functions of PABP. However, PAB5 did not restore the linkage of deadenylation and decapping, thus demonstrating that this function of PABP is not essential for viability. Also, like endogenous PABP, PAB5 expressed in yeast demonstrated genetic interaction with a recently characterized yeast protein SIS1, which is also involved in translational initiation. We propose that PAB5 encodes a post-transcriptional regulatory factor acting through molecular mechanisms similar to those reported for yeast PABP. This factor may have evolved further to post-transcriptionally regulate plant sexual reproduction and early development.


This thesis is the result of a qualitative case study of a group of ten part-time, mature,
non-traditional learners enrolled on a Foundation Degree. The thesis identifies how
students think, communicate with one another and manage the learning processes. It
explores the attitudes of students who are a new type of cohort entering Higher
Education.
The thesis commences by identifying entry barriers to Higher Education and how these
were overcome. Despite earlier failures, students retained a belief in their abilities, were
motivated and maintained aspirations to achieve a Higher Education qualification. The
research then identifies how this group of adult learners developed strategies to support
them in their quest for continuing success and achievement, including developing
supporting relationships with other students. Students were also very pragmatic in the
way they handled the complexities of learning whilst at the same time coping with
multiple roles.
E-learning contributed to the learning experience and achievement and the research
identifies new patterns and modes of learning for this group of students. Insights into
human adaptation to a new learning environment are revealed and the research shows
how students utilised technology in order to be successful in their learning. For example,
students used discussion boards and email to continue social interaction, communication
and relationships formed at day schools.
Other issues that arose from the research are gender issues as well as student change. For
example, students reported they felt they had gained confidence. This increased
confidence manifested itself in the way they approached their academic work and
approached their jobs. In addition, students also believed employers saw their value as
enhanced. Students were goal driven yet highly interested in the process of learning, very
much in line with mature female goals.
This is a study, therefore, not only of a new type of degree but of new kinds of students
following the huge expansion of entrants into Higher Education


The nutritional status of a woman before and during pregnancy is important for a healthy pregnancy outcome. Maternal malnutrition is a key contributor to poor fetal growth, low birthweight (LBW) and short- and long-term infant morbidity and mortality. This review summarised the evidence on association of maternal nutrition with birth outcomes along with review of effects of balanced protein-energy supplementation during pregnancy. A literature search was conducted on PubMed, WHOLIS, PAHO and Cochrane library. Only intervention studies were considered for inclusion and data were combined by meta-analyses if available from more than one study. Sixteen intervention studies were included in the review. Pooled analysis showed a positive impact of balanced protein-energy supplementation on birthweight compared with control [mean difference 73 (g) [95% confidence interval (CI) 30, 117]]. This effect was more pronounced in undernourished women compared with adequately nourished women. Combined data from five studies showed a reduction of 32% in the risk of LBW in the intervention group compared with control [relative risk (RR) 0.68 [95% CI 0.51, 0.92]]. There was a reduction of 34% in the risk of small-for-gestational-age babies in the intervention compared with the control group [RR 0.66 [95% CI 0.49, 0.89]]. The risk of stillbirth was also reduced by 38% in the intervention group compared with control [RR 0.62 [95% CI 0.40, 0.98]]. In conclusion, balanced protein-energy supplementation is an effective intervention to reduce the prevalence of LBW and small-for-gestational-age births, especially in undernourished women.


Cosmic ray signals from dipole-interacting dark matter annihilation are considered in the positron, antiproton and photon channels. The predicted signals in the positron channel could nicely account for the excess of positron fraction from Fermi LAT, PAMELA, HEAT and AMS-01 experiments for the dark matter mass larger than 100 GeV with a boost (enhancement) factor of 30-80. No excess of antiproton over proton ratio at the experiments also gives a severe restriction for this scenario. With the boost factors, the predicted signals from Galactic halo and signals as mono-energetic gamma-ray lines (monochromatic photons) for the region close to the Galactic center are investigated. The gamma-ray excess of recent tentative analyses based on Fermi LAT data and the potential probe of the monochromatic lines at a planned experiment, AMS-02, are also considered.


There have been a small number of studies conducted with qualified nurses and nursing/medical students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), showing that SpLD may affect those in the medical profession in relation to clinical tasks, career choices and success. There has been an increase in the number of medical students with SpLD (Gibson and Leinster, 2011) entering the medical profession, yet there is very limited research available regarding doctors who have SpLD.
This research aimed to explore how doctors with SpLD are coping in the workplace, the coping strategies used, any perceived possible areas of strength or weakness, and any practices for ensuring patient safety. It also explored the perceptions held by doctors with SpLD about the impact this has on their working life, and factors that could influence their career choice and success. These areas were also explored in relation to medical students.
A mixed methods approach was used for this project, consisting of 3 studies incorporating quantitative questionnaires with 129 doctors (Study 1) and 74 medical students (Study 3) with and without SpLD and qualitative telephone interviews with 11 doctors with SpLD (Study 2).
The results showed that the main difficulties participants with SpLD experienced were in relation to written work and associated tasks, such as spelling. These were often overcome through the use of coping strategies. The doctors rated their clinical skills highly and described strengths such as communication skills and empathy. The doctors were selective when deciding who to disclose their SpLD to.
In conclusion this project showed that SpLD do have a number of effects on doctors in the workplace. Through the implementation of coping strategies and support doctors were able to successfully overcome any difficulties experienced, indicating that having SpLD did not prevent individuals from becoming successful doctors.


A sewing machine is textile equipment used to assemble different types of materials together using stitches. One of the most important components of a sewing machine is represented by the sewing needle that fits into the needle bar. In order to ensure the movement of the needle bar, a connecting rod crank mechanism is used to transmit force and motion from the power source to the needle.
The connecting rod crank mechanism is widely used in textile industry. The paper presents the driving mechanism of the sewing needle, emphasising the influence of velocity of the main shat on the acceleration and velocity of the sewing needle in the penetration area.
This simulation contributes to a better understanding how the sewing machine works and its specific conditions. The dynamics simulation model and the kinematics are exemplified for the driving mechanism of the sewing needle. The simulation has been carried out using the Google SketchUp application and the Sketchy Physics plug-in.
The students learn how the needle movement takes place and is controlled. Because Google Sketch Up creates 3D models, the students can view the sewing needles from different angles and can understand how the system is built. The animation helps them see the sewing cycle, while this can be difficult on a sewing machine. They can also use the animations at home, without being connected necessarily to the internet. Meanwhile, it provides a foundation for the further research in the simulation of the mechanisms specific to sewing machines in the future.


Each year, Bioanalysis and Bioanalysis Zone run the Young Investigator Award to identify and reward promising early-career researchers in our community. This year, 12 young scientists were nominated for the award and their profiles have been featured on our sister website, Bioanalysis Zone. Our Advisory Panel helped us narrow down the nominees to the five most exceptional candidates.


Anesthetic drugs are widely used in medicine and research to mediate loss of consciousness (LOC). Despite the vast use of anesthesia, how LOC affects cortical sensory processing and the underlying neural circuitry, is not well understood. We measured neuronal population activity in the visual cortices of awake and isoflurane anesthetized mice and compared the visually evoked responses under different levels of consciousness. We used voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDI) to characterize the temporal and spatial properties of cortical responses to visual stimuli over a range of states from wakefulness to deep anesthesia. VSDI enabled measuring the neuronal population responses at high spatial (meso-scale) and temporal resolution from several visual regions (V1, extrastiate-lateral (ESL) and extrastiate-medial (ESM)) simultaneously. We found that isoflurane has multiple effects on the population evoked response that augmented with anesthetic depth, where the largest changes occurred at LOC. Isoflurane reduced the response amplitude and prolonged the latency of response in all areas. In addition, the intra-areal spatial spread of the visually evoked activity decreased. During visual stimulation, intra-areal and inter-areal correlation between neuronal populations decreased with increasing doses of isoflurane. Finally, while in V1 the majority of changes occurred at higher doses of isoflurane, higher visual areas showed marked changes at lower doses of isoflurane. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a reverse hierarchy shutdown of the visual cortices regions: low-dose isoflurane diminishes the visually evoked activity in higher visual areas before lower order areas and cause a reduction in inter-areal connectivity leading to a disconnected network.


For tumor tracking therapy, precise knowledge of tumor position in real-time is very important. A technique using single x-ray projection based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) was recently developed which can achieve accurate tumor localization in real-time. However, this method was only validated at fixed gantry angles. In this study, an improved technique is developed to handle arbitrary gantry angles for rotational radiotherapy. To evaluate the highly complex relationship between x-ray projections at arbitrary angles and tumor motion, a special CNN was proposed. In this network, a binary region of interest (ROI) mask was applied on every extracted feature map. This avoids the overfitting problem due to gantry rotation by directing the network to neglect those irrelevant pixels whose intensity variation had nothing to do with breathing motion. In addition, an angle-dependent fully connection layer (ADFCL) was utilized to recover the mapping from extracted feature maps to tumor motion, which would vary with the gantry angles. The method was tested with images from 15 realistic patients and compared with a variant network of VGG, developed by Oxford University's Visual Geometry Group. The tumors were clearly visible on x-ray projections for five patients only. The average tumor localization error was under 1.8 mm and 1.0 mm in superior-inferior and lateral directions. For the other ten patients whose tumors were not clearly visible in the x-ray projection, a feature point localization error was computed to evaluate the proposed method, the mean value of which was no more than 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm in both directions for all patients. A tumor localization method for single x-ray projection at arbitrary angles based on a novel CNN was developed and validated in this study for real-time operation. This greatly expanded the applicability of the tumor localization framework to the rotation therapy.


The importance of space as an ecological factor is an emerging paradigm in community ecology, particularly as a driving force of biodiversity patterns. We analysed β-diversity linked to spatial structure in four communities (tropical dry forest, savanna, xerophytic vegetation, subdeciduous forest) that occur in a tropical complex landscape of southern Mexico. The landscape was described through an object-oriented classification of a Quickbird satellite image. The classification revealed a highly heterogeneous spatial arrangement of the four communities. Global (landscape-level) P-diversity was 0.12 (mean Sorensen index), a value smaller than those observed for the individual communities (0.20-0.41). By using multivariate classic and partial Mantel tests, and Mantel correlograms based on two distance classes, we analysed P-diversity spatial variation related to landscape configuration. The Mantel statistic values for the four communities combined were negative and very similar both for the classic Mantel (rM = -0.23) and the partial Mantel test (rM = -0.19). Correlograms proved significant spatial autocorrelation across most of the analysed distance classes, except in the case of riparian subdeciduous forest. Tropical dry forest and savanna occupy large, highly connected areas in the landscape. Correlograms for these two communities showed decreasing trends, starting at positive, significant autocorrelation values at short distances. The loss of floristic autocorrelation beyond a 5000 m distance for the tropical dry forest may reflect spatially autocorrelated dispersal, and thus a dispersal-limited community. Xerophytic vegetation displayed a distinctly different correlogram, with a wavy shape showing an alternation of positive and negative values, in agreement with the insular configuration of this community in the landscape. We suggest that the routinely incorporation of a spatial approach in community ecology research will help in furthering our understanding of the elusive issues of species turnover across space.


OF THESIS GLOBAL CHANGE REACTIVE BACKGROUND SUBTRACTION Background subtraction is the technique of segmenting moving foreground objects from stationary or dynamic background scenes. Background subtraction is a critical step in many computer vision applications including video surveillance, tracking, gesture recognition etc. This thesis addresses the challenges associated with the background subtraction systems due to the sudden illumination changes happening in an indoor environment. Most of the existing techniques adapt to gradual illumination changes, but fail to cope with the sudden illumination changes. Here, we introduce a Global change reactive background subtraction to model these changes as a regression function of spatial image coordinates. The regression model is learned from highly probable background regions and the background model is compensated for the illumination changes by the model parameters estimated. Experiments were performed in the indoor environment to show the effectiveness of our approach in modeling the sudden illumination changes by a higher order regression polynomial. The results of non-linear SVM regression were also presented to show the robustness of our regression model.


The role of the new sixteenth century harbours and fortifications on the transformation of the Mediterranean city's imageThe richness of historical heritage and the complex stratification of sites, combined with the defensive functions and techniques of the fortifications, confer an added value to the cities overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The fortifications and the new harbours of Tripoli, Libya and Alexandria, Egypt are not isolated structures, which just enhance the qualities and visibility of the places where they are built. Rather, as they come into contact with the pre-existing ancient urban systems, harbours and fortifications contribute to enriching the architectural qualities and values of the cities. In such situations, the new defensive interventions assume a strong transformational role in relation with the sites where they are located, and thus create new urban realities, and new meanings to be deciphered. In the discovery of these new interpretive possibilities, lies the fascination these studies can still offer today.


As an interesting and emerging topic, zero-shot recognition (ZSR) makes it possible to train a recognition model by specifying the category's attributes when there are no labeled exemplars available. The fundamental idea for ZSR is to transfer knowledge from the abundant labeled data in different but related source classes via the class attributes. Conventional ZSR approaches adopt a two-step strategy in test stage, where the samples are projected into the attribute space in the first step, and then the recognition is carried out based on considering the relationship between samples and classes in the attribute space. Due to this intermediate transformation, information loss is unavoidable, thus degrading the performance of the overall system. Rather than following this two-step strategy, in this paper, we propose a novel one-step approach that is able to perform ZSR in the original feature space by using directly trained classifiers. To tackle the problem that no labeled samples of target classes are available, we propose to assign pseudo labels to samples based on the reliability and diversity, which in turn will be used to train the classifiers. Moreover, we adopt a robust SVM that accounts for the unreliability of pseudo labels. Extensive experiments on four datasets demonstrate consistent performance gains of our approach over the state-of-the-art two-step ZSR approaches.


Preface. 1. WRITING SCHOLARLY PAPERS. Subject and Topic. Thesis Statements, Hypotheses, or Stated Objectives. Research Goals. Research Methods. Evaluating Sources. Note-Taking. Plagiarism. Planning. Writing Strategies. 2. PREPARING APA MANUSCRIPTS. Parts of the Manuscript. General Manuscript Guidelines. 3. FOLLOWING APA EDITORIAL STYLE. Punctuation and Mechanics. General Style. Word Choice. 4. PREPARING THE REFERENCE LIST AND IN-TEXT CITATIONS. The Reference List-An Overview. Information for APA Entries. Format for APA Entries. Alphabetizing the Reference List. In-Text Citations. Quotations. 5. CITING PERIODICALS. An Article in a Journal With Continuous Paging. An Article in a Journal With Separate Paging. An Abstract. An Article in a Monthly Magazine. An Article in a Weekly Magazine. An Article in a Newspaper. An Article in a Newsletter. An Editorial. A Letter to the Editor. A Review. A Secondary Source. 6. CITING BOOKS AND OTHER SEPARATELY PUBLISHED MATERIALS. A Book by One Author. A Book by Two or More Authors. A Book With No Author Named. A Book With an Organization as Author. An Edition Other Than the First. An Edited Collection. An Original Selection in an Edited Collection. A Previously Published Selection in an Edited Collection. A Revised or Enlarged Edition. A Reprinted Book. A Multivolume Work. An Article in an Encyclopedia or Other Reference Work. A Work in a Series. A Translation. A Government Document-Committee, Commission, Department. A Preface, Introduction, Foreword, Epilogue, or Afterword. A Monograph. A Pamphlet or Brochure. An Unpublished Dissertation. Published Proceedings From a Conference. Multiple Works by the Same Author. A Secondary Source. 7. CITING AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES. A Motion Picture. A Slide Set or Filmstrip. A Television Broadcast. A Radio Broadcast. A Recording. An Interview. A Transcript. A Lecture or Speech. A Work of Art. A Map, Graph, Table, or Chart. 8. CITING ELECTRONIC SOURCES. An Article in an Online Journal. An Article in an Online Magazine. An Article in an Online Newspaper. An Article in an Online Newsletter. An Online Book. An Online Dissertation. An Online Abstract. An Article in an Online Encyclopedia or Other Reference Work. A Professional Website, Information Database, or Scholarly Project. An Online Transcript of a Lecture or Speech. An Online Map, Graph, Table, or Chart. A CD-ROM Source. An E-mail Interview. An Online Video Podcast. An Online Audio Podcast. An Online Posting-Blog or Discussion Group. 9. EXAMINING SAMPLE PAPERS. "Beyond Birth Order: Recognizing Other Variables." "Students' Reactions to Kinds of Test Questions: A Piece in the Test-Anxiety Puzzle". Appendix A. PREPARING POWERPOINT AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS. Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation. Preparing a Poster Presentation. Appendix B. ADDRESSING TECHNICAL ISSUES IN WRITING. Fragments. Comma Splices and Fused Sentences. Pronoun Reference. Pronoun Case. Positioning Modifiers. Active and Passive Sentences. Possessive Case. Outlining. Index.


Summary The tubulin cytoskeleton is vital for maintenance and dynamics of eukaryotic cells and molecular defects in its components can lead to serious conditions. So far, mutations in genes for alpha-, beta- and gamma-tubulin, motor proteins of the kinesin and dynein family, microtubule-associated and centrosomal proteins have been found to cause disorders in humans. Most phenotypic effects are on the nervous system, leading to abnormal brain development (e.g. lissencephaly and microcephaly) or to neurodegeneration in later life (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia). Another group of disorders include the ciliopathies, caused by defects in the axoneme. They include primary ciliary dyskinesia (immotile cilia syndrome), which is characterized by chronic respiratory infections, male infertility and randomly established left-right asymmetry. In most cases, the underlying defects are in axonemal dynein. Mutations in genes for centrosomal components have been shown to cause cortical dysplasia and dwarfism by disrupting the mitotic spindle, and some cases of infertility with maturation arrest are likely to be caused by unidentified mutations damaging the meiotic spindle. In view of these diverse phenotypes, knowledge about mutations affecting tubulin cytoskeleton becomes increasingly useful for clinical practice.


Under the influence of new land use planning, the condition of man-land harmony is received more and more attention, for the purpose of reaching the harmonization of social, economic and ecological benefits, then realizing sustainable land use. Therefore, an effective way to optimize land space utilization and to improve the overall efficiency is necessary. This paper focused on integrated zoning study of land use taking Pu county as a case. Firstly, the study built an index system; then used principal component analysis and cluster analysis method. The results showed three integrated land use areas were formed according to functional characteristics in leading industries, which can not only provide a reference for land-use zoning of the study area, but also ensure rational and efficient use of the regional land resources, ultimately promoting coordinated regional development.


Magnesium complex hydrides as Mg2FeH6 are interesting phases for hydrogen storage in the solid state, mainly due to its high gravimetric and volumetric densities of H2. However, the synthesis of this hydride is not trivial because the intermetallic phase Mg2Fe does not exist and Mg and Fe are virtually immiscible under equilibrium conditions. In this study, we have systematically studied the influence of the most important processing parameters in reactive milling under hydrogen (RM) for Mg2FeH6 synthesis: milling time, ball-to-powder weight ratio (BPR), hydrogen pressure and type of mill. Low cost 2Mg-Fe mixtures were used as raw materials. An important control of the Mg2FeH6 direct synthesis by RM was attained. In optimized combinations of the processing parameters, very high proportions of the complex hydride could be obtained.


Product recommendation is considered a well-known technique for bringing customers and products together. With applications in music, electronic shops, or almost any platform the user daily deals with, the recommendation system's sole scope is to help customers and attract new ones to discover new products. Through product recommendation, transaction costs can also be decreased, improving overall decision-making and quality. To perform recommendations, a recommendation system must utilize customer feedback, such as habits, interests, prior transactions as well as information used in customer profiling, and finally deliver suggestions. Hence, data is the key factor in choosing the appropriate recommendation method and drawing specific suggestions. This research investigates the data challenges of recommendation systems, specifying collaborative-based, content-based, and hybrid-based recommendations. In this context, collaborative filtering is being explored, with the Surprise library and LightFM embeddings being analysed and compared on top of foodservice transactional data. The involved algorithms' metrics are being identified and parameterized, while hyperparameters are being tuned properly on top of this transactional data, concluding that LightFM provides more efficient recommendation results following the evaluation's precision and recall outcomes. Nevertheless, even though the Surprise library outperforms, it should be used when constructing user-friendly models, requiring low code and low technicalities. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-01-01 Full Text: PDF


This paper will set out a brief review of the needs, early development, and current status of the nature of the interactions between rubber matrix and particulate filler and the intrinsic effect on mechanical and rheological behavior of filled vulcanizates. Fillers are commonly added to commercial elastomers for reasons of economy and also to favourably modify properties such as stiffness, tensile strength, heat distortion, mouldability, and other important properties, such as impact properties and elongation to break. The behavior of elastomers reinforcing with certain fillers like carbon black or high-structure silica need to be understood deeply to clarify the rubber-filler interaction and its effect on rheological and mechanical properties of filled rubber compounds. In this paper the nature of interaction between the elastomer and filler particles, the types of reinforcing fillers, the effect of its size and structure, the reinforcing concepts, and the mechanical properties of filled rubber are discussed.


Increasingly many services depend on access to data that are traceable to individuals, the so-called "personally identifiable information" (PII). The ecosystem of PII-dependent services is growing, becoming highly complex and dynamic. As a result, a wide variety of PII is constantly collected, stored, exchanged, and applied by all kinds of services. Practice of PII handling among service providers varies, as does the insight and influence of the end-users on how their own PII is treated. For a user, privacy represents a condition for his/her trust and service adoption. It is moreover essential for a service provider to be able to claim privacy awareness over time. This is particularly important as the new EU privacy regulation is about to become operative, thus enforcing strict privacy requirements on the service providers and giving new rights to the users. In order to preserve user trust and manage the technical and legal privacy requirements, a practically usable support to continuously and transparently plan and follow-up privacy compliance, is needed. To this end, we propose an initial version of a so-called "Privacy Scorecard", that is, a decision support for a service provider aimed to facilitate identification, specification, measurement and follow-up of fulfilment of privacy goals in a relatively transparent and comprehensible manner. In this position paper, we present initial design and intended usage of the Privacy Scorecard. We also exemplify how it can be applied to a concrete service. The initial findings indicate feasibility of the approach and suggest directions for further work, including refinement of the scorecard design and usage guidelines, tool support for visualization, as well as further empirical evaluation.


Summary Repeated administration of partial agonist of benzodiazepine receptors Ro 19-8022 (a derivative of quinolizine class) does not elicit withdrawal in adult rats. Our older data demonstrated that single injection of Ro 19-2088 to immature rats induces increased sensitivity to convulsant action of pentylenetetrazol as a withdrawal phenomenon. To know if repeated administration of the partial agonist has the same effect we injected rats at postnatal days 7 to 11 with an anticonvulsant dose of Ro 19-2088 (0.5 mg/kg i.p.) and tested them 24 h, 48 h and 4 days after the last injection. Repeated administration of Ro 19-8022 resulted also in an increased sensitivity to convulsant action of pentylenetetrazol in immature rats (higher incidence and severity of seizures). This effect was significant 24 h after the last injection but only outlined 48 h after administration. No signs of hypersensitivity were seen at 4-day interval. There is a difference between immature and adult brain in an appearance of withdrawal symptom after administration of the partial agonist of benzodiazepine receptors Ro 19-2088.


* E-mail: email@example.com Abstract Since the collapse of the Soviet system, many significant changes have occurred, not only in the former socialist countries, but also in western societies. One remarkable change is the mass of post-Soviet emigration from the former Soviet Union. In this article, we analyse the everyday welfare experienced by the Russian immigrant women living in the border area of Eastern Finland. We study the interrelation of family relations, the experienced welfare, transnational care, and work in the lives of Russian migrant women in North Karelia. According to the analysis, we argue that the welfare of Russian immigrant women is mainly produced by their family networks and precarious work.


A comparison is made of the performance of the four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) method in an explicit and implicit version of a barotropic quasi-geostrophic model of the wind-driven double-gyre ocean circulation. As is well known, implicit methods have the advantage that relatively large time steps can be taken with respect to explicit methods, but the computational costs of each time step is larger. We focus here on two issues: (i) the computational efficiency in the range of time steps where the chosen explicit method is still numerically stable and (ii) the performance of 4D-Var in the implicit model for time steps out of reach for the explicit model. For the same time step Δ t and the same number of points n per assimilation interval, the analyses in the implicit model is always more accurate than that in the explicit model. Due to this property the use of 4D-Var combined with the implicit model can be computationally more efficient than its use in the explicit model.


The correlation between hyperthermoradiosensitivity evaluated by an in vitro succinate dehydrogenase inhibition (SDI) test and the histopathologic effects of hyperthermochemoradiotherapy (HCR therapy) were investigated in 43 patients with carcinoma of the esophagus. The succinate dehydrogenase (SD) activity of tissue fragments taken at biopsy was assayed after exposure to heat (43 degrees C.) and radiation (6 grays) was done. The sensitivity to radiation plus heat treatment was estimated by the percentage of SD activity of the treated cells, compared with that of the control cells. The 43 patients were divided into three groups according to the degree of SD activity after exposure to radiation plus heat treatment. The SD activity was less than 50 per cent in group 1 (highly sensitive), between 50 and 70 per cent in group 2 (moderately sensitive), more than 70 per cent in group 3 (less sensitive). Eighteen of 20 in group 1, 11 of 17 in group 2 and two of six in group 3 were classified as being histopathologically "effective" for HCR therapy. The two year survival rate for groups 1, 2 and 3 were 55.5, 34.9 and zero per cent, respectively, while there were no statistical differences with regard to prognostic factors. These data suggest that in vitro activities of SD correlate well with the clinical effectiveness of HCR therapy. Therefore, it is recommended that a SD inhibition test be included among the guidelines for clinical management.


Iran has attained more than 96 percent reduce in indigenous malaria cases, and is classified in the elimination phase. Almost all malaria transmission happens in the southeastern regions of the country. Most of autochthonous malaria cases in Iran are due to Plasmodium vivax. In Iran, there is a significant decrease in disease burden; however, the overall trend of malaria prevalence is not investigated or well-documented in different localities. Hence, this study is aimed to investigate the epidemiologic features of malaria cases in Gotvand County from 1995 until 2018. This descriptive cross-sectional survey investigates malaria-related factors during a 24-year period of time based on existing data and information extracted at Gotvand's Health Services Center during 1995-2018. Malaria infected cases were confirmed by direct microscopy and treated with normal antimalarial agents. For each positive case a questionnaire containing demographic and epidemiologic data was filled out. Data analysis has been done by SPSS software.  The obtained data from the reviewed forms included 46 positive cases in Gotvand County. The total number of malaria cases has been decreased in 1995 and 2012 compared to 1998. The highest (23, 5 and 5) cases of malaria were occurred in 1995, 1996 and 2006, respectively. The majority of cases (67.4%) were male. Most cases of malaria were due to P. vivax (97.8%) followed by P. falciparum (2.2%). About 69.6% of cases were Iranian and 30.4 % non-Iranian (Afghan). Most cases of the disease (32.7%) were in age group of 20-29 years old. The highest number of infections was seen in the occupational group of workers with 19 (41.3%) cases. With respect to suitable environmental conditions for transmission of malaria in this area, necessary plans should be conducted in Khuzestan Province to prevent the reoccurrence of malaria in this county .


The discipline of art history has constructed a transcendental, universal, and ahistorical conception of Western art which in turn has shaped the view of the history of art as a progressive, continuous, and accumulative evolution. This thesis is critical of the prevailing developmental art history which sees art as a universal category. It is an attempt to deuniversalise the category, and to demonstrate the finitude of art as a social construct of historically specific practices which are thus limited by time and place. It advocates, not a replacement of conventional notions of art history, but a problematisation, a genealogical counter-history. In such a history, the present is seen as a result of the accumulation of disparate factors and events with no inherent interrelatedness rather than as the discerning goaloriented quest for ultimate meaning and perfect coherence. It proposes to displace the originating role of the subject as the organising principle of art analysis, on which the universality of art is based, in favour of Foucault's ideas of the constitutive role of discourse in and through which both the observed and the observer are socially construed. In a proper genealogical way, the thesis provides an alternative: a wholly historicist view of the emergence of a new category of social object - art, and of a new category of social subject - the artist, within European pictorial culture. Art in this approach will be related not to the anthropological theory of an originating subject, nor to the positivist theory of an objective nature, but rather to a theory of discursive practice, since the discourse constructs the subject and reality inasmuch as the subject constructs the discourse and reality. Art, as a social category, I argue, emerged as the result of discursive constraints undertaken by the scrutinising program of the Academic Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in the seventeenth century, who as the generator of a differentiation of values allowed and supported the establishment of divisions and hierarchies, concepts and precepts, that came to be realised in the eighteenth century as the autonomous consciousness of art and artist.

This research is informed by Foucauldian archaeological and genealogical tools to displace the metaphysical premises on which the belief in the universality of art depends. It shows the concrete social practices of subjectivisation and objectivisation that lead to the emergence of art as a specific category from the indiscriminate practices of picture-making. It shows how painting became an object of artistic practice, an object of aesthetic concern, an object of the discourse of art experts, and an object of society's interest, how beauty became an object of artistic pursuit and artistic expertise, and how a new category of human being - the artist - emerged.


For survey researchers, it is common practice to use the check-all question format in Web and mail surveys but to convert to the forced-choice question format in telephone surveys. The assumption underlying this practice is that respondents will answer the two formats similarly. In this research note we report results from 16 experimental comparisons in two Web surveys and a paper survey conducted in 2002 and 2003 that test whether the check-all and forced-choice formats pro- duce similar results. In all 16 comparisons, we find that the two question formats do not perform similarly; respondents endorse more options and take longer to answer in the forced-choice format than in the check-all format. These findings suggest that the forced-choice question format encourages deeper processing of response options and, as such, is pref- erable to the check-all format, which may encourage a weak satisficing response strategy. Additional analyses show that neither acquiescence bias nor item nonresponse seem to pose substantial problems for use of the forced-choice question format in Web surveys.


Mechanism of spontaneous cure was studied in mice infected with mouse‐nonadaptive Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. Adult BALB/c mice were cured spontaneously of infection with this strain of N. brasiliensis by Day 7 post‐infection. Expulsion of intestinal worms was delayed dose‐dependently by a treatment with anti‐CD4 antibody. However, the treatment had no significant effect on larval recovery from the lungs. Treatment of mice with anti‐IL‐5 antibody suppressed intestinal tissue eosinophilia induced by the infection, but did not affect intestinal worm recovery. Antigen specific IgE antibody was not detected in the sera obtained from Days 5 to 15. Therefore, IL‐5 and specific IgE antibody are probably not important in the spontaneous cure. Treatment of mice with anti‐CD4 antibody had no significant effect on number of intestinal goblet cells or on expression of terminal sugars of goblet cell mucins. However, histological and quantitative analyses revealed that significantly less intestinal mucus was released in anti‐CD4 antibody treated mice than in control mice. These results suggest that CD4+ lymphocytes control the amount of intestinal mucus and consequently the reduced mucus interferes with the spontaneous cure. Quantity of mucus released in the intestinal lumen may have an essential role in the spontaneous cure ofN. brasiliensis‐in/fcfio/i of mice.


The paper applies space-time adaptive processing (STAP) to forward looking arrays. Traditionally, STAP research provides results for a side-looking array where a linear relationship exists between clutter Doppler and azimuth sine. This relationship does not hold in the forward looking case. Additionally, mainbeam clutter in the side-looking boresight case is range independent and, consequently, the clutter notch is always at zero hertz. In contrast, mainbeam clutter is range dependent in the forward looking case, resulting in multiple clutter notches for range ambiguous clutter. This range dependency corrupts the independent, identically distributed assumption required for the samples used in covariance estimation. The assumption can still be applied for a small data set, e.g., small range extent. Therefore, partially adaptive techniques with fewer degrees or freedom and correspondingly smaller sample support requirements must be used. Results are presented in the form of clutter power spectral density, signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, improvement factor, antenna patterns, and detection probability.


Polyketide synthases construct polyketides with diverse structures and biological activities via the condensation of extender units and acyl thioesters. Although a growing body of evidence suggests that polyketide synthases might be tolerant to non-natural extender units, in vitro and in vivo studies aimed at probing and utilizing polyketide synthase specificity are severely limited to only a small number of extender units, owing to the lack of synthetic routes to a broad variety of acyl-CoA extender units. Here, we report the construction of promiscuous malonyl-CoA synthetase variants that can be used to synthesize a broad range of malonyl-CoA extender units substituted at the C2-position, several of which contain handles for chemoselective ligation and are not found in natural biosynthetic systems. We highlighted utility of these enzymes by probing the acyl-CoA specificity of several trans-acyltransferases, leading to the unprecedented discovery of poly specificity toward non-natural extender units, several of which are not found in naturally occurring biosynthetic pathways. These results reveal that polyketide biosynthetic machinery might be more tolerant to non-natural substrates than previously established, and that mutant synthetases are valuable tools for probing the specificity of biosynthetic machinery. Our data suggest new synthetic biology strategies for harnessing this promiscuity and enabling the regioselective modification of polyketides.


Abstract : Recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have brought the level of expeditionary contractors to historically unprecedented levels, altering the work composition for military engineers. The alteration has shifted emphasis from technical knowledge areas toward managerial knowledge associated with supervising the increased number of contractors. This research utilizes system dynamics modeling to analyze this shift in the United States Air Force Civil Engineer officer career field and resulting transformative effect on career field knowledge levels, both technical and managerial. The model is then tested with multiple external policy adjustments in the areas of career field structure, training, and operating policy. Results indicate the shift from technical to managerial knowledge not only diminishes technical knowledge, but also hinders managerial knowledge which requires a strong technical foundation; this creates an overall degradation of both knowledge areas. Therefore, the external policies implemented focused on limiting technical knowledge loss. The recommended policy included a combination of additional technical training and bifurcation of entry-level officers to focus on core technical knowledge, simultaneously providing the foundation for successful managerial knowledge levels.


Background The increase in drug spending and the decrease in resources make it necessary to look for strategies for minimising costs. Purpose To describe the strategy for administering high-consumption intravenous drugs (IVd) directly and estimating the associated resources saved in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Materials and Methods We obtained a list of drugs whose consumption in the ICU was more than 1,000 units/year. After a literature review, we selected those that could be safely administered via IVd but are usually administered in intermittent intravenous infusion. We prepared a table containing instructions for their reconstitution and administration. For four weeks two nurses administered the medicines that had been prescribed and were included in the table via IVd, recording: drug, time spent in preparation & administration and adverse reactions related to the route of administration. After collecting data We estimated the direct cost savings in fluids if all drugs consumed by the unit and included in the table had been administered by IVd during 2010. We compared the time spent on the preparation and administration of drug doses used in routine practise versus time used to implement this strategy. Results The ICU used more than 1,000 units/year of each of 39 intravenous drugs, of which 12 were included in the table: metoclopramide, colistimethate, hydrocortisone, phytonadione, pantoprazole, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, dexamethasone, piperacillin/tazobactam, furosemide, methylprednisolone, meropenem and ranitidine. The nurses made 117 administrations via IVd (following the usual procedure) of these drugs. The average time was 6.5 minutes for preparation and administration of each dose and no adverse reactions were detected related to the route of administration. We estimate the ICU can save 28,000€/year. Conclusions Direct IV administration can be safe and efficient. The extension of a programme of this type throughout the Hospital could increase efficiency and rational use of medicines significantly. No conflict of interest.


INTRODUCTION
Compared to younger adults, passive heating induced increases in cardiac output are attenuated by ~50% in older adults. This attenuated response may be associated with older individuals' inability to maintain stroke volume through ionotropic mechanisms and/or through altered chronotropic mechanisms.

PURPOSE
To identify the interactive effect of age and hyperthermia on cardiac responsiveness to dobutamine induced cardiac stimulation.

METHODS
11 Young (26±4 yr) and 8 Older (68±5 yr) participants underwent a normothermic and a hyperthermic (baseline core temperature +1.2°C) trial on the same day. In both thermal conditions, after baseline measurements, intravenous dobutamine was administered for 12 min at 5 µg/kg/min, followed by 12 min at 15 µg/kg/min. Primary measurements included echocardiography-based assessments of cardiac function, gastrointestinal and skin temperatures, heart rate and mean arterial pressure.

RESULTS
Heart rate responses to dobutamine were similar between groups in both thermal conditions (P > 0.05). The peak systolic mitral annular velocity (S'), i.e., an index of left ventricular longitudinal systolic function, was similar between groups for both thermal conditions at baseline. While normothermic, the increase in S' between groups was similar with dobutamine administration. However, while hyperthermic, the increase in S' was attenuated in the Older participants with dobutamine (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
Healthy, older individuals show attenuated inotropic, but maintained chronotropic responsiveness to dobutamine administration during hyperthermia. These data suggests that older individuals have a reduced capacity to increase cardiomyocyte contractility, estimated by changes in S', via β1-adrenergic mechanisms while hyperthermic.


Shake table is one of the apparatus that aids in researches to generate techniques, structural developments, and strategies to prevent, prepare, and minimize an earthquake's devastating effects. One important factor that should be considered in a shake table is the system dynamics due to control-structural interactions, which could either be linear or non-linear. To accurately model both has always been the challenge but becomes more plausible with the availability of faster hardware and computers and the continuous decrease in latency. Model Predictive Controller (MPC) is a type of controller extensively used in the industry that can be used on linear and non-linear systems. This study presents the design and simulation of an MPC for a uniaxial shake table intending to analyze the system's behavior and accuracy. MATLAB Simulink was utilized to handle the simulation analysis of the controller. Different MPC parameters such as sample time, prediction horizon, control horizon, and closed-loop performance were manipulated and adjusted to observe their effects on the output of the system. A signal that mimics the actual earthquake data was inputted into the controller, and the system's behavior and outputs were measured and presented through graphical representations. To determine the accuracy of the system's output, its relationship with the reference signal was compared. From the simulation produced, the system demonstrated high accuracy levels and could be adjusted depending on the set performance aggressiveness of the system.


We examine here recent arguments that embodied experience is an important site of collective memory, and related challenges to the standard emphasis on discourse and symbols in collective memory research. We argue that although theories of embodied memory offer new insights, they are limited by (1) an overdrawn distinction between embodied memory and textual memory that neglects the complex relations between the two, (2) an overemphasis on ritual performance at the expense of collective conversation, (3) an oversimplified view of performativity, and (4) an underestimation of the ambiguity in embodied performance. Theories of embodied collective memory should be narrowed and specified with focused comparisons examining the influence of embodied experience in the formation of collective identities, in conflicts over collective memories, and in the persistence and malleability of memories across generations. We illustrate our argument throughout with examples drawn from the collective memory of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland in 1972.


ABSTRACT mRNA (mRNA) transport focuses the expression of encoded proteins to specific regions within cells providing them with the means to assume specific functions and even identities. BicD and the mRNA binding protein Egl interact with the microtubule motor dynein to localize mRNAs in Drosophila. Because relatively few mRNA cargos were known, we isolated and identified Egl::GFP associated mRNAs. The top candidates were validated by qPCR, in situ hybridization and genetically by showing that their localization requires BicD. In young embryos these Egl target mRNAs are preferentially localized apically, between the plasma membrane and the blastoderm nuclei, but also in the pole plasm at the posterior pole. Egl targets expressed in the ovary were mostly enriched in the oocyte and some were apically localized in follicle cells. The identification of a large group of novel mRNAs associated with BicD/Egl points to several novel developmental and physiological functions of this dynein dependent localization machinery. The verified dataset also allowed us to develop a tool that predicts conserved A'-form-like stem loops that serve as localization elements in 3′UTRs.


The most relevant information about the different active phases that have been studied for the catalytic combustion of soot is reviewed and discussed in this article. Many catalysts have been reported to accelerate soot combustion, including formulations with noble metals, alkaline metals and alkaline earth metals, transition metals that can accomplish redox cycles (V, Mn, Co, Cu, Fe, etc.), and internal transition metals. Platinum catalysts are among those of most interest for practical applications, and an important feature of these catalysts is that sulphur-resistant platinum formulations have been prepared. Some metal oxide-based catalysts also appear to be promising candidates for soot combustion in practical applications, including ceria-based formulations and mixed oxides with perovskite and spinel structures. Some of these metal oxide catalysts produce highly reactive active oxygen species that promote efficient soot combustion. Thermal stability is an important requirement for a soot combustion catalyst, which precludes the practical utilisation of several potential catalysts such as most alkaline metal catalysts, molten salts, and metal chlorides. Some noble metal catalysts are also unstable due to the formation of volatile oxides (ruthenium, iridium, and osmium).


This article first appeared in the Australian Career Practitioner, Vol. 20, No. 4, Summer 2009. Some material has been updated, Reprint permission granted by Editor - Lee Miles. Introduction The term globalization is now commonplace. It refers to more than economic and political concerns. Globalization can also apply to career development services as they can be provided to the world's population. Many national, regional and international organizations have focused on career development policies and practices. The International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy (ICCD) has facilitated many meetings, research reports and policy statements. Reports by Watts and Sultana (2004) and Zelloth (2009) indicate that countries need to formulate comprehensive plans for effective delivery of career guidance services. The National Career Development Association regularly sponsors an International Symposium to facilitate world wide discussions. However, McCarthy (2004) reports on wide variations between and within countries as to the training and requirements needed to practice as guidance workers. Training for career practitioners to provide career guidance services is a major concern. Nues, Engels, and Lenz (2009) state that career practitioner preparation is challenged by the needs for - public policies on career development, greater competencies standardization, and innovative training programs. Standardization of training is not an easy task. A key component in preparing for training is to access the needs of potential providers. Splete and Hoppin (2000) discuss the lengthy process of formulating a United States training curriculum based on a needs survey of practitioner competencies. Completion of this NCDA-CDF training allows one to apply for certification as a Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF). Repetto (2008), with the support of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG), coordinated an extensive project which identified needed competencies and established a training outline based on these competencies. Completion of this training allows one to apply for an international credential in Educational and Vocational Guidance Practice (EVGP). The 120 hour NCDF-CDF Curriculum was originally developed to fill in gaps of knowledge and skill of career practitioners, usually paraprofessionals working in career centers under the supervision of Master's level counselors. Over the past 10 years, we have seen Master's degree counselors taking this training to obtain more information about career development practices and to upgrade their skills. Often this material is included in college and university courses. In addition to this training, certification groups review the educational and work background of the applicants. Some terms used to describe various practitioner roles include career counselor, career development facilitator, career coach, career advisor and employment counselor. In practice, one needs to know the qualifications and training of the practitioner so that role is well defined and the guidance worker can effectively serve the appropriate populations. For example, Patton (2005) describes the breadth of the Career Coordinator role in Australia. The government's Department of Education Science and Training formulated a series of 3 programs for various levels of career practitioner needs. The Australian Career Development Series (ACDS) includes Awareness of Career Development, Elements of Career Service Delivery and Career Development Services. These programs are sequenced from requiring no formal educational qualifications to postgraduate certificate level. So, it seems realistic for each country to recognize the training required for their use of a career practitioner title and for the most relevant training for that role. This does not preclude that country from adapting what is appropriate from training models as those of NCDA -CDF and the IAEVG. …


The results of an experimental research on plain concrete are presented. The non-linear behavior of both virgin and damaged samples is investigated by means of ultrasonic tests: recent theoretical models, indeed, have pointed out that mono-frequency ultrasonic excitations bring to light such phenomena as harmonic generation and sidebands production, which are essentially due to the material classical or hysteretic non-linearity. The estimation of the harmonic components parameters (amplitudes and phases) is achieved through a signal processing technique based on MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) system, which reveals to be optimal for the specific signal model here considered. The experiments described in this paper show that the material non-linear features increase with increasing level of internal micro-cracking, thus suggesting the possibility to use the ultrasonic signal analysis in the frequency domain as a valuable tool for damage assessment.


Building from the developmental and life course literature and the feminist pathways literature, we aim to detail when and how exposure to abuse in childhood shapes female offending trajectories. Using data from 470 female offenders in Australia, our analyses assess whether internalizing symptoms and drug use help explain the link between early abuse and later offending among females. We then examine whether these links are most acute for females who onset early and evidence chronic involvement in offending. In support of the feminist pathways model, we find evidence for a pathway from early abuse to internalizing symptoms to drug use and then offending. In addition, and in line with the life course literature, we also find important differences in how these risks unfold across women, depending particularly on age of onset and offending chronicity. We reflect on the implications of our findings for theory and intervention with respect to female offending.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in a community-dwelling population aged 80 years and older. Also to compare sleep patterns, cognitive function and prevalence of other psychiatric conditions between healthy controls and GAD subjects.

METHODS
DSM-IV criteria were used to diagnose GAD. A representative random sample of 77 community-dwelling subjects (35%), aged 80 years or more from the rural southern county of Veranopolis, Brazil, was selected. Sleep patterns were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and a 2-week sleep/wake diary. Five neuropsychological tests (Buschke-Fuld Selective Reminding Test, CERAD word list, verbal fluency test and two sub-tests of the Wechsler memory scale) were used for cognitive evaluation.

RESULTS
The estimated GAD prevalence was 10.6 percent. GAD was associated with major depression, with a significant greater number of depressive symptoms as measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale and with a significant more frequent occurrence of minor depression. Sleeping patterns and cognition function among GAD subjects were not compromised. The severity of physical diseases was similar in both GAD subjects and healthy controls. GAD was associated with a significantly lower health-related quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS
In comparison with previous studies, the prevalence of GAD is higher in the studied population. This disorder is frequently associated with both depressive symptoms and a lower health-related quality of life.


Objective
To determine the effects of methylprednisolone-laden hydrogel loaded into a chitosan conduit on the functional recovery of peripheral nerve using a rat sciatic nerve regeneration model was assessed.

Methods
10-mm sciatic nerve defect was bridged using a chitosan conduit (CHIT/CGP-Hydrogel) filled with CGP-hydrogel. In authograft group (AUTO) a segment of sciatic nerve was transected and reimplanted reversely. In methylprednisolone treated group (CHIT/MP) the conduit was filled with methylprednisolone-laden CGP-hydrogel. The regenerated fibers were studied within 16 weeks after surgery.

Results
The behavioral, functional and electrophysiological studies confirmed faster recovery of the regenerated axons in methylprednisolone treated group compared to CHIT/Hydrogel group (p<0.05). The mean ratios of gastrocnemius muscles weight were measured. There was statistically significant difference between the muscle weight ratios of CHIT/MP and CHIT/Hydrogel groups (p<0.05). Morphometric indices of regenerated fibers showed number and diameter of the myelinated fibers were significantly higher in CHIT/MP than in CHIT/Hydrogel group.

Conclusion
Methylprednisolone-laden hydrogel when loaded in a chitosan conduit resulted in improvement of functional recovery and quantitative morphometric indices of sciatic nerve.


This study analyzed the direct and indirect CO 2 emissions of the energy-intensive basic metals industry, in particular steels, using the distributions of various energy sources, including coal/peat, oil, and electricity, from an input–output table. An analysis of five major steel producing countries indicated that direct CO 2 emissions increased 1.4-fold and that indirect CO 2 emissions increased by more than two-fold between 1995 and 2010. The elasticity of the CO 2 emissions and the total energy costs indicated that Korea, Japan, and Germany are sensitive to energy sources from the electric power industry, whereas China and the US are more sensitive to energy sources pertaining to the coal and oil industry. Using the available forest area and photosynthesis, the potential neutralization ability of CO 2 was estimated using the eco-CO 2 index. The US yielded the highest CO 2 neutralization ability of 66.1%, whereas Korea yielded a CO 2 neutralization ability of 15%. Future trends of the 2030 eco-CO 2 index revealed China and Korea will rapidly lose their neutralization ability resulting in a net negative neutralization ability if left unabated. The significant decline in the eco-CO 2 index for the basic metals industry may be inhibited by utilizing bamboo wood charcoal for pulverized coal injection (PCI) in the steelmaking process.


Nowadays, municipalities intend to have 3D city models for facility management, disaster management and architectural planning. Indoor models can be reconstructed from construction plans but sometimes, they are not available or very often, they differ from 'as-built' plans. In this case, the buildings and their rooms must be surveyed. One of the most utilized methods of indoor surveying is laser scanning. The laser scanning method allows taking accurate and detailed measurements. However, Terrestrial Laser Scanner is costly and time consuming. In this paper, several techniques for indoor 3D building data acquisition have been investigated. For reducing the time and cost of indoor building data acquisition process, the Trimble LaserAce 1000 range finder is used. The proposed approache use relatively cheap equipment: a light Laser Rangefinder which appear to be feasible, but it needs to be tested to see if the observation accuracy is sufficient for the 3D building modelling. The accuracy of the rangefinder is evaluated and a simple spatial model is reconstructed from real data. This technique is rapid (it requires a shorter time as compared to others), but the results show inconsistencies in horizontal angles for short distances in indoor environments. The range finder horizontal angle sensor was calibrated using a least square adjustment algorithm, a polynomial kernel, interval analysis and homotopy continuation.


Abstract : A series of tests examining various foundation systems and construction techniques were conducted on Ellis Island near Locks and Dam No. 26 in alluvial sand deposits underlain by glacial deposits and limestone. The chemical grout tests consisted of grouting the upper 20 feet of the alluvial sand by injecting a number of different silicate and cement-bentonite grout types, while varying the grouting method, hole spacing, and injecting rates. Heave, lateral displacement, and pore pressure were monitored during grout injection. The in situ properties of the sand were measured before and after grouting by standard penetration tests, static cone penetration tests, pressuremeter tests, bore hole permeability tests, and shear wave velocity tests. Concurrently laboratory tests were conducted to investigate the strength and creep behavior of the grouted sand. After completion of grouting, the site was excavated to examine and evaluate the grouted sand. In the rock anchor test, inclined rock anchors were installed in limestone through 130 feet of alluvial and glacial deposits using a pneumatic down-the-hole hammer with an offset reamer. Load tests were conducted on three instrumentated rock anchors and the feasibility of installation of the rock anchors was determined by evaluating loss of ground during installation performance of the installation equipment, and rate of installation. The drilled-in pile tests consisted of installation of large diameter high capacity pipe piles by the Benoto method.


Statistical disclosure control (SDC) in a research environment poses particular problems. Most SDC research is concerned with ensuring that a finite set of tabular outputs are safe from disclosure, or that microdatasets are sufficiently anonymised. By its nature, a research environment is one where confidential data is made available for analysis with very few restrictions. Imposing SDC rules not designed specifically for this environment may lead to excessively complex rules which still fail to achieve the objectives of flexibility and effectiveness. This paper argues that the research environment requires a different approach to traditional SDC based on a small collection of simple rules with a necessary "fuzziness" in interpretation. This requires (a) clear agreement on the principles and general purpose of SDC (b) the demonstration of classes of safe and unsafe outputs and (c) the active involvement of researchers. However, this does raise a number of practical issues.


A collection of original articles from a number of the world's leading authorities on imprisonment. The aim of the book is to review the current state of imprisonment around the world and to look at possible future developments. The underlying theme of the book is that imprisonment is undergoing a significant change in a number of different countries and that there are important lessons which can be learned from the analysis of these changes. At the same time this book is perceived as a 'state of the art' collection which provides an informed and comprehensive analysis of the major aspects of imprisonment. Consequently the book should be of interest to a wide-ranging international audience of academic researchers and policy-makers as well as students.


This volume constitutes the proceedings of the Nobel Laureate Symposium on Applied Quantum Chemistry held during the International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, 16-21 December 1984, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Symposium was held in honour of the five Nobel Laureates who have contributed so extensively to the development of Applied Quantum Chemistry. K. Fukui, G. Herzberg, R. Hoffmann, W.N. Lipscomb and R.S. Mulliken. Professors Fukui, Hoffmann and Lipscomb attended and presented plenary lectures to the Symposium. Their lectures and the other invited papers and invited poster presentations brought into focus the current state of Applied Quantum Chemistry and showed the importance of the interaction between quantum theory and experiment. We are indebted to the Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry and the Division of Physical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, the Division of Physical Chemistry of the Chemical Institute of Canada, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., the IBM Corporation, and the Congress for their financial support which helped to make the Symposium possible. We would like to thank Dr. Philip Payne for making some of the local arrangements, and Mrs. Betty McIntosh for her assistance in arranging the Symposium and in the preparation of these proceedings for publication.


The Mesozoic fossil record has proved critical for understanding the early evolution and subsequent radiation of birds. Little is known, however, about its relative completeness: just how 'good' is the fossil record of birds from the Mesozoic? This question has come to prominence recently in the debate over differences in estimated dates of origin of major clades of birds from molecular and palaeontological data. Using a dataset comprising all known fossil taxa, we present analyses that go some way towards answering this question. Whereas avian diversity remains poorly represented in the Mesozoic, many relatively complete bird specimens have been discovered. New taxa have been added to the phylogenetic tree of basal birds, but its overall shape remains constant, suggesting that the broad outlines of early avian evolution are consistently represented: no stage in the Mesozoic is characterized by an overabundance of scrappy fossils compared with more complete specimens. Examples of Neornithes (modern orders) are known from later stages in the Cretaceous, but their fossils are rarer and scrappier than those of basal bird groups, which we suggest is a biological, rather than a geological, signal.


The tissue turnover of unperturbed adult lung is remarkably slow. However, after injury or insult, a specialised group of facultative lung progenitors become activated to replenish damaged tissue through a reparative process called regeneration. Disruption in this process results in healing by fibrosis causing aberrant lung remodelling and organ dysfunction. Post-insult failure of regeneration leads to various incurable lung diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Therefore, identification of true endogenous lung progenitors/stem cells, and their regenerative pathway are crucial for next-generation therapeutic development. Recent studies provide exciting and novel insights into postnatal lung development and post-injury lung regeneration by native lung progenitors. Furthermore, exogenous application of bone marrow stem cells, embryonic stem cells and inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) show evidences of their regenerative capacity in the repair of injured and diseased lungs. With the advent of modern tissue engineering techniques, whole lung regeneration in the lab using de-cellularised tissue scaffold and stem cells is now becoming reality. In this review, we will highlight the advancement of our understanding in lung regeneration and development of stem cell mediated therapeutic strategies in combating incurable lung diseases.


One promising approach to improving
thermoelectric energy conversion is to use nanostructured interfaces
that enhance Seebeck coefficient while reducing thermal conductivity.
Here, we synthesized Au–Cu2Se core–shell
nanoparticles with different shell thicknesses by controlling the
precursor concentration in solution. The Au–Cu2Se
core–shell nanoparticles are about 37–53 nm in size,
and the cores of the nanostructures are composed of Au nanoparticles
with sizes of ∼11 nm. The effect of shell thickness on the
thermoelectric properties of core–shell nanocomposites is investigated
after sintering the core–shell nanoparticles into pellets using
the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The power factor was optimized
by the synergetic effect of the improvement of Seebeck coefficient
by energy filtering in the Au/Cu2Se interface and the effective
tuning of carrier concentration by Ohmic contact in the interface.
The lattice thermal conductivity of core–shell nanocomposites
is reduced by coherent phonon scattering, which is caused by the wavelike
interference of phonons due to the phase shift in the core–shell
interface. The highest ZT value of 0.61 is obtained
at 723 K for Au–Cu2Se core–shell nanocomposite
with a shell thickness of 21 nm, which is higher than that of pure
Cu2Se nanocomposite or a mixture of Au and Cu2Se particles.


For a long time ethanol and biodiesel made from corn, rapeseed, and sugar beets have been regarded a win-win solution to a series of intractable issues about oil dependency, greenhouse gas emission reductions and revitalization of rural areas. Both the European Union and the United States started ambitious programs to incentivize the production and consumption of biofuels, supporting crop productions with subsidies and tax exemptions and setting standards for blending them with conventional fuels. Recently however, a growing number of experts and activists have channelled doubts about the sustainability of the technology and claims to revise current policies. The advantages and disadvantages of biofuels have been widely discussed both in EU and US policy processes, leading to different policy decisions. While the EU progressively reduced the initial targets for biofuel production and introduced a series of sustainability criteria to regulate production, the US confirmed and increased over time its initial policy goals. The article aims at explaining such differences in policy by comparing the evolution of the biofuel debates in EU and US. The paper is based on an extensive analysis of public hearings held by the European Commission and the US Congress and argues that differences in policy outputs can be explained making reference to differences in criteria for dealing with uncertain and contrasting evidence on the economic and ecologic sustainability of this specific technology.


The Bolsheviks established the deprivation of voting rights very swiftly, removing from the voting population those who were not wanted in Soviet society. Complex criteria were used: among those excluded were representatives of the tsarist regime, priests and monks, but also all those whose kind and amount of income was viewed as a residue of capitalism. This discriminatory policy was at its height when the N.E.P. was abandoned. This article draws upon a database, collected by Russian researchers, of disenfranchised persons petitioning for their rehabilitation. This case study shows the big gap between the abstract categories of political discourse and the characteristics of those who were supposed to embody them. Petitions show how these people had to use official values and categories in order to describe their own experience. The way local authorities reexamined the files of petitioners demonstrates the importance they gave to their own perceptions of individual situations.


Honeybush tea, a sweet tasting caffeine-free tea that is indigenous to South Africa, is rich in bioactive compounds that may have beneficial health effects. Bone remodeling is a physiological process that involves the synthesis of bone matrix by osteoblasts and resorption of bone by osteoclasts. When resorption exceeds formation, bone remodeling can be disrupted resulting in bone diseases such as osteoporosis. Osteoclasts are multinucleated cells derived from hematopoietic precursors of monocytic lineage. These precursors fuse and differentiate into mature osteoclasts in the presence of receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL), produced by osteoblasts. In this study, the in vitro effects of an aqueous extract of fermented honeybush tea were examined on osteoclast formation and bone resorption in RAW264.7 murine macrophages. We found that commercial honeybush tea extract inhibited osteoclast formation and TRAP activity which was accompanied by reduced bone resorption and disruption of characteristic cytoskeletal elements of mature osteoclasts without cytotoxicity. Furthermore, honeybush tea extract decreased expression of key osteoclast specific genes, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and cathepsin K. This study demonstrates for the first time that honeybush tea may have potential anti-osteoclastogenic effects and therefore should be further explored for its beneficial effects on bone.


Power system utilities continue to strive for increased system resiliency. However, quantifying a baseline system resilience, and deciding the optimal investments to improve their resilience is challenging. This paper discusses a method to create scenarios, based on historical data, that represent the threats of severe weather events, their probability of occurrence, and the system wide consequences they generate. This paper also presents a mixed-integer stochastic nonlinear optimization model which uses the scenarios as an input to determine the optimal investments to reduce the system impacts from those scenarios. The optimization model utilizes a DC power flow to determine the loss of load during an event. Loss of load is the consequence that is minimized in this optimization model as the objective function. The results shown in this paper are from the IEEE RTS-96 three area reliability model. The scenario generation and optimization model have also been utilized on full utility models, but those results cannot be published.