SIR,-Since our attention was drawn some timiie ago by Dr. G. E. H. Enderby to the use of procaine amide to augment the hypotensive action of hexamethonium, described by Dr. A. A. Mason and Dr. J. F. Pelmore (Journal, January 31, p. 250), we have investigated some of its pharmacological properties. The action of procaine amide has usually been discussed with respect to its direct cardiac action. But, since procaine itself is well known to be able to interfere with ganglionic transmission, a study of the effects of procaine amide on ganglia seemed necessary. We have found in cats anaesthetized with chloralose (1) that procaine amide in doses of 15 mg. /kg. or more will cause relaxation of the nictitating membrane excited by preganglionic stimulation; (2) that in doses of 15 mg./kg. it will paralyse the slowing of the heart to vagal stimulation; (3) that in doses of 15-30 mg./kg. it does not lessen the depressor effect of acetylcholine or the pressor effect of adrenaline; (4) in doses of 15 mg./kg. or more it reduces the pressor effect of nicotine. In concentration of 20-S50 g./ml. it reduces the contraction of the guinea-pig's small intestine to nicotine without affecting its response to acetylcholine. These observations indicated that procaine amide can interfere with ganglionic fuhction in three ganglia at least, the superior cervical ganglion and the vagal ganglia of the heart and viscera, without modifying the reactions of the effector cells. Jt remained to determine the mechanism of action. Procaine amide, 10 mg., injected during perfusion of the cat's superior cervical ganglion caused complete failure of transmission and abolished release of acetylcholine on preganglionic nerve stimulation. With the perfused ganglion, procaine amide antagonized the stimulant effect of acetylcholine on the ganglion. Using the electrical recording of ganglion action potentials, procaine amide was found to be able to reduce these considerably without causing any depolarization of the ganglion. These results show that procaine amide has two actions at the ganglion-inhibition of acetylcholine release, and an antagonism to the effects of acetylcholine. The second of these two actions should, of course, simply sum with that of hexamethonium, if the two drugs are given together. But the interaction of the first action, that of preventing acetylcholine release, with the acetylcholine-antagonizing power of hexamethonium, might present novel features. We find, in fact, that in the cat procaine amide and hexamethonium potentiate one another, and that the effect of a mixture is greater than that expected from simple addition of the two components. It seems probable, therefore, that this synergism between depression of acetylcholine release and competition with acetylcholine could go some way to explain the clinical synergism observed. The question arises whether any of the hypotensive action of procaine amide can be attributed to a direct cardiac action. Our only evidence on this point suggests that, in the cat, this is not true, since the relative potency of procaine amide to hexamethonium in lowering blood pressure is actually less than its relative potency in relaxing the nictitating membrane. Procaine amide appears to offer, therefore, a new possibility of supplementing the action of a ganglion-blocking agent with a drug active by mouth, with which it might be possible to attack ganglia at present relatively refractory to such agents.-We are, etc., W. D. M. PATON.


In recent years, one dimensional nanostructure, nanofibers with unique properties have been subjected of intense research due to potential properties in many applications. This study presents synthesize of Perovskite-type Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (BSCF) nanofibers using sol-gel via electrospinning as a cathode for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell. BSCF nanofibers are prepared by treating electrospun polyvinyl Pyrrolidon/ Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ composite fibers at high temperature in an air atmosphere. BSCF nanofibers were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) to observe desired structure, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigated the morphology of fibers, and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) for measuring the surface area. To the best of our knowledge, investigation on Ba0.5Sr0.5 Co0.2 Fe 0.8O3−δ nanofibers has not been reported up to now.


An alternative implementation of of fractional derivative/integral defined by Grunwald-Letnikov definition (GL) is introduced. By using the average of GL binomial coefficients along a window size instead of the real values of coefficients. Such an implementation can help in implementing large window-sized approximated GL with fewer resources which will help obtaining less error on a small amount of resources. For example, the proposed optimization can implement a GL integral of fractional order (α = −0.5) to sin(t) limited by a window size L of 1024 by the same resources that are used to implement a window size of 10 with an absolute error of 0.138 instead of 0.512. Another way to optimize resources usage of the fixed window method is by implementing different fractional-order operator for systems that do not require certain fractional-order such as PIDs. As different fractional-order requires a different amount of resources for the same output error.


OBJECTIVE To investigate whether electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces brain tissue damage expressed as an increase in neuron specific enolase and protein S-100. METHODS A total of 179 serial measurements of S-100 and NSE serum concentrations were performed on 14 patients during the course of a bilaterally stimulated ECT series. Cognitive performance was assessed by psychometric testing carried out on the day before the start of ECT as well as on the days after the third, sixth, and last ECT. Pre-ECT and post-ECT concentrations of NSE and S-100 were compared by non-parametric tests. RESULTS On average, 9.5 (SD 2.9) (range 3–12) ECTs were applied; 13 of 14 patients received at least six ECTs. The average duration of convulsion (computed for all ECTs) was 29.0 (SD 10.5) seconds. At no point during the ECT series was there a significant increase in the average NSE or S-100 concentrations compared with the baseline investigation before the start of the ECT series. The maximal measured post-ECT values of NSE and S-100 were 26.6 ng/ml and 0.46 ng/ml, respectively. The cumulative energy doses applied, seizure durations, and ECT induced changes in cognitive performance scores were never significantly correlated with the NSE or S-100 serum concentrations. CONCLUSION This pattern of findings suggests that a modern ECT, fulfilling current quality standards, induces no brain tissue damage detectable by changes in NSE or protein S-100.


This volume constitutes the papers and discussions from a symposium on "Societal Risk Assessment: How Safe is Safe Enough?" held at the General Motors Research Laboratories on October 8-9, 1979. This symposium was the twenty-fourth in an annual series sponsored by the Research Laboratories. Initi- ated in 1957, these symposia have as their objective the promotion of the interchange ofknowledge among specialists from many allied disciplines in rapidly developing or changing areas ofscience or technology. Attendees characteristically represent the academic, government, and industrial institutions that are noted for their ongoing activities in the particular area of interest. The objective of this symposium was to develop a balanced view of the current status of societal risk assessment's role in the public policy process and then to establish, if possible, future directions of research. Accordingly, the symposium was structured in two dimensions; certainty versus uncertainty and the subjective versus the objective. Furthermore, people representing extremely diverse discip- lines concerned with the perception, quantification, and abatement of risks were brought together to provide an environment that stimulated the exchange of ideas and experiences. The keys to this exchange were the invited papers, arranged into four symposium sessions. These papers appear in this volume in the order of their presentation. The discussions that in turn followed from the papers are also included.


In this paper we address the planning problem of a robot searching for multiple residents in a retirement home in order to remind them of an upcoming multi-person recreational activity before a given deadline. We introduce a novel Multi-User Schedule Based (M-USB) Search approach which generates a high-level-plan to maximize the number of residents that are found within the given time frame. From the schedules of the residents, the layout of the retirement home environment as well as direct observations by the robot, we obtain spatio-temporal likelihood functions for the individual residents. The main contribution of our work is the development of a novel approach to compute a reward to find a search plan for the robot using: 1) the likelihood functions, 2) the availabilities of the residents, and 3) the order in which the residents should be found. Simulations were conducted on a floor of a real retirement home to compare our proposed M-USB Search approach to a Weighted Informed Walk and a Random Walk. Our results show that the proposed M-USB Search finds residents in a shorter amount of time by visiting fewer rooms when compared to the other approaches.


In this paper we demonstrate how to relate the semantics given by the nondeterministic call-by-need calculus FUNDIO [SS03] to Haskell. After introducing new correct program transformations for FUNDIO, we translate the core language used in the Glasgow Haskell Compiler into the FUNDIO language, where the IO construct of FUNDIO corresponds to direct-call IO-actions in Haskell. We sketch the investigations of [Sab03b] where a lot of program transformations performed by the compiler have been shown to be correct w.r.t. the FUNDIO semantics. This enabled us to achieve a FUNDIO-compatible Haskell-compiler, by turning off not yet investigated transformations and the small set of incompatible transformations. With this compiler, Haskell programs which use the extension unsafePerformIO in arbitrary contexts, can be compiled in a 'safe' manner.


In the last dozen years or so the world experienced a dynamic growth in cultivations of genetically modified plants. Agricultural producers, achieving measurable economic benefits, have developed the production of genetically modified plants to an increasingly great scale. The number of supporters of the GMOs use has been increasing systematically, not only among farmers noting the potential to improve income owing to this technology, but also among politicians noting the chances for agriculture to contribute to providing solutions to basic problems of the world today, e.g.: ensuring food and energy safety. Genetically modified food and food produced with the use of raw materials obtained from GMO plants has become a permanent element of our diet and forms an increasing part of food consumed today. Currently, it is difficult to produce poultry and pig meat, in particular in Europe and other highly-developed countries, without feed containing genetically modified soy. The list of highly processed food products has been expanding quickly and the number of opponents of releasing genetically modified organisms into the environment has been on the raise. Social concern about unknown, long-term effects of unnatural genetic manipulations on natural environment and consumer health has been growing, though so far, despite numerous tests, no significant evidence of their negative impact on human and animal health was found. For several years, Poland has been one of the opponents of using modified plants and has been trying, by means of national legal provisions, to prevent from using this technology both in agriculture and food processing, which makes the respective provisions of acts on feedstuff and the act on seed contradictory to the EU legislation. This article provides a revision of evolution of views on GMO, current legal state in the European Union and Poland as well as proposed changes in this regard. 160 Development of genetically modified plants production in the world was also analysed, both in terms of species cultivated and countries using them in agricultural production. Selected economic and social effects, a given state policy may have on the current and future potential of rural areas in Poland, were presented against this background. In 2011, genetically modified plants were cultivated within the area of 160 million ha, and the number of countries in which their use was permitted increased to 29. Average annual pace of increase as regards these cultivations since 1996, i.e. when commodity production with the use of modified plants was first launched, reached over 35%, i.e. ca. 10 million ha. In this period a total of 1.25 billion ha was subject to cultivation with the number of farmers involved in non-conventional production exceeding 110 million. According to estimations, global benefits of using GM plants in cultivation reached nearly USD 10.8 billion in 2009, and since 1996 they exceeded USD 64 billion in total. Under Polish conditions, from the point of view of economic aspects the problem of whether to use GMOs in field crops or not, is considerably insignificant, yet political decisions on possible prohibition of marketing of GMO products, especially including protein feed components, may have negative impact on farmers involved in commodity animal production (poultry and pig livestock, to a lesser extent bovine animals).


Predation has long been described as one of the major driving forces in evolution. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from natural populations exposed to different predation pressures, were found to have different life history traits. Reproductive plasticity in response to direct predation cues has mainly been reported for invertebrates. The goals of the present study were to determine whether exposure to predation cues would induce reproductive phenotypic plasticity in female guppies and to determine whether the effective cues are visual, chemical, or a combination of both. In our first experiment, female guppies exposed to predation cues of the african cichlids Aulonocara nyassae increased their reproductive output by almost two fold, having larger brood-sizes and shorter brood-interval at the first spawn. This effect disappeared in the second spawn in the absence of predators. In the second experiment we found that exposure to the predators induced an increase in the brood-size regardless of whether the cue was: only visual, only chemical, visual and chemical or visual, chemical and tactile. The impacts of these cues were equally powerful on the tested variables and they did not have any cumulative effect. Similar to the results of the first experiment, this effect disappeared in the second spawn, in the absence of predation cues. The present study demonstrates a direct immediate and reversible effect of predation cues on guppy reproduction.


Regardless of the remarkable improvement in sanitary conditions in urbanised areas, infectious diseases caused by pathogenic viruses in water have been reported year after year. The actual situation for the behaviour of pathogenic viruses in urbanised society should be understood. In this study, infectious enteroviruses and adenoviruses in water and wastewater samples from urbanised areas were investigated. Infectious enteroviruses were continuously detected from sewage and sewage sludge during the summer season. The detection of infectious viruses in sewage and sewage sludge was facilitated by the enzymatic virus elution (EVE) method. The concentration of infectious enteroviruses in positive samples of sewage and sewage sludge was >400 virions/L. Infectious viruses were also detected from water samples at levels >4 virions/L.


The drive for cost reduction has led to the use of CMOS technology in the implementation of highly integrated radios. This paper presents a single-chip 5-GHz fully integrated direct conversion transceiver for IEEE 802.11a WLAN systems, manufactured in 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS. The IC features an innovative system architecture which takes advantage of the computing resources of the digital companion chip in order to eliminate I/Q mismatch and achieve accurately matched baseband filters. The integrated voltage-controlled oscillator and synthesizer achieve an integrated phase noise of less than 0.8/spl deg/ rms. The receiver has an overall noise figure of 5.2 dB and achieves sensitivity of -75 dBm at 54-Mb/s operation, both referred to the IC input. The transmit error vector magnitude is -33 dB at -5-dBm output power from the integrated power-amplifier driver amplifier. The transceiver occupies an area of 18.5 mm/sup 2/.


of graduated extracts from various authors, mainly in prose but with a sprinkling of Catullus, Virgil, Martial, and a few lines of other poets, and it presents the reader with glimpses of subjects such as Verres, the Catilinarian conspiracy, the Empire, and the Stoic philosophy. It will be seen that Mr. Robinson is not afraid to lead his readers to passages whose interest derives rather from thought than from action, and the experiment seems to promise success. At the same time there are numerous anecdotes and narrative extracts. Especially well chosen are the pieces from Pliny, which include the death of the elder Pliny, some of the correspondence with Trajan, and the memorable dolphin of Hippo. This is an enterprising book by a seasoned hand. D. S. COLMAN.


In Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), there is a fundamental tradeoff between the aggregate transport cost of a packet and the delay in its delivery. We study this tradeoff in the context of geographical routing in wireless DTNs. We first specify the optimal cost/delay tradeoff, i.e., the tradeoff under optimal network operation, using a dynamic network construction termed the Cost/Delay Evolving Graph (C/DEG) and the Optimal Cost/Delay Curve (OC/DC), a function that gives the minimum possible aggregate transportation cost versus the maximum permitted delivery delay. We proceed to evaluate the performance of two known delay tolerant geographic routing rules, i.e., MOVE and AeroRP, a delay tolerant version of the geographic routing rule that selects as next relay the node for which the cost-per-progress ratio is minimized, and finally two novel rules, the Balanced Ratio Rule (BRR) and the Composite Rule (CR). The evaluation is in terms of the aggregate packet transmission cost as a function of the maximum permitted packet delivery delay. Simulations show that CR achieves a cost/delay tradeoff that is overall the closest to the optimal one specified by the OC/DC, while BRR achieves the smallest aggregate transmission costs for large packet delays and a fixed transmission cost model.


This dissertation explores the reception of French Enlightenment thought and the reaction to French revolutionary events in late colonial and early independent Spanish America between 1790 and 1812, focusing on New Granada, Peru and Venezuela. The years leading up to the historical and political processes known as Spanish American Independence witnessed radical transformations; during this period accepted wisdom was questioned, new discoveries were made and questions of political rights were open to debate. This dissertation, through a close reading of the contemporary periodical press and early discourses of Simon Bolivar, assesses the dissemination of the French Enlightenment and news of the 'Age of Revolution' in colonial society. The initial rejection of Revolutionary events is examined in the Papel Periodico de Bogota, whilst the Mercurio Peruano charts scientific discovery through the 1790s. Following the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula, 1808, the Gazeta de Caracas is studied to demonstrate the change in attitudes and cautious desire for autonomy. Finally, the early writings of Simon Bolivar are used to assess the compatibility and appropriation of Enlightenment thought and revolutionary models within colonial society. It will be shown that a public sphere did exist amongst a small, but highly educated, colonial elite in the 1790s, and that French Enlightenment ideas had been transmitted to Spanish America and were in circulation. However, the arrival of the Enlightenment and news of Revolution in the Spanish colonies was partial and fragmented; some parts were strongly rejected whilst others were embraced. A detailed, logical development is recorded in the periodical press. Following the events of 1808, heightened Creole discontent and the acceptance of the principles of 1789 are shown to propel the Independence movement forward.


We introduce XTREME-S, a new benchmark to evaluate universal cross-lingual speech representations in many languages. XTREME-S covers four task families: speech recognition, classification, speech-to-text translation and retrieval. Covering 102 languages from 10+ language families, 3 different domains and 4 task families, XTREME-S aims to simplify multilingual speech representation evaluation, as well as catalyze research in"universal"speech representation learning. This paper describes the new benchmark and establishes the first speech-only and speech-text baselines using XLS-R and mSLAM on all downstream tasks. We motivate the design choices and detail how to use the benchmark. Datasets and fine-tuning scripts are made easily accessible at https://hf.co/datasets/google/xtreme_s.


Background
We conducted co-clinical trials in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models to identify predictive biomarkers for the multikinase inhibitor dovitinib in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC).

Methods
The PDX01-02 were established from LSCC patients enrolled in the phase II trial of dovitinib (NCT01861197) and PDX03-05 were established from LSCC patients receiving surgery. These five PDX tumors were subjected to in vivo test of dovitinib efficacy, whole exome sequencing and gene expression profiling.

Results
The PDX tumors recapitulate histopathological properties and maintain genomic characteristics of originating tumors. Concordant with clinical outcomes of the trial enrolled-LSCC patients, dovitinib produced substantial tumor regression in PDX-01 and PDX-05, whereas it resulted in tumor progression in PDX-02. PDX-03 and -04 also displayed poor antitumor efficacy to dovitinib. Mutational and genome-wide copy number profiles revealed no correlation between genomic alterations of FGFR1-3 and sensitivity to dovitinib. Of note, gene expression profiles revealed differentially expressed genes including FGF3 and FGF19 between PDX-01 and 05 and PDX-02-04. Pathway analysis identified two FGFR signaling-related gene sets, FGFR ligand binding/activation and SHC-mediated cascade pathway were substantially up-regulated in PDX-01 and 05, compared with PDX-02-04. The comparison of gene expression profiles between dovitinib-sensitive versus -resistant lung cancer cell lines in the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia database also found that transcriptional activation of 18 key signaling components in FGFR pathways can predict the sensitivity to dovitinib both in cell lines and PDX tumors. These results highlight FGFR pathway activation as a key molecular determinant for sensitivity to dovitinib.

Conclusions
FGFR gene expression signatures are predictors for the response to dovitinib in LSCC.


There is an increasing need for highly accurate 3D inspection and measurement capabilities for applications in SMT, semiconductor and metrology markets. 3D Multiple Reflection Suppression (MRS) sensor technology has been effectively combined with Automated Optical Inspection for several years and is now being utilized for many SPI applications such as microelectronics and sub-100-micron solder paste deposits and other challenging applications, like packaging, automotive, medical and other applications with stringent quality requirements. In addition to inspection, there is an increasing need to capture coordinate measurements inline. Phase shift profilometry (PSP) is widely used for 3D automated optical inspection (AOI) by electronics manufacturers assembling printed circuit boards (PCB) using automated surface mount technologies (SMT). Conventional PSP measurements are significantly challenged by inaccuracies caused by multiple reflections between surfaces on the inspected object. Multiple Reflection Suppression (MRS) sensor technology addresses this challenge. The sensor's unique optical architecture and the system's proprietary image fusing and processing algorithms provide fast, accurate 3D characterization capabilities that are well suited to other important applications, including solder paste inspection (SPI) and measurements typically performed by coordinate measurement machines (CMM). Coordinate measurements can now be attained in seconds, rather than the hours or days it would take a traditional coordinate measurement machine. MRS sensor technology provides significant advantages in speed, accuracy and resolution over the alternate technologies. This technology is a key building block for achieving high accuracy at production speed for Automated Optical Inspection (AOI), Solder Paste Inspection (SPI) and Coordinate Measurement (CMM) applications.


We present experimental evidence, obtained from small-angle neutron scattering and photon correlation measurements, indicating the existence of two types of structurally arrested (glassy) states in a copolymer micellar system with a short-range interparticle attractive interaction. Within a certain range of micellar volume fractions, a sharp transition between these two types of glass is observed by varying the temperature. Furthermore, we found an end point of this transition line beyond which the two glasses become identical in their local structure and their long-time dynamics. These findings confirm the recent mode-coupling theory predictions regarding the phase behavior of the structurally arrested states for this type of system.


Dipolar splitting AH from proton-NMR experiments in 5-BCB, 5-8 OCB and PAA are presented and compared with the quantity Z, calculated from refractive index data, in the same set of compounds obtained by Bunning et al. [3]. According to these authors the quantity Z is rather insensitive to the biaxial terms in the ordering matrix and gives the best indication currently available of the temperature dependence of S~~ in these materials. S~~ can be reliably determined from NMR measurements on suitably deuterated specimens but among the compounds discussed in this paper only SCB and PAA has so far been studied in this way. The values of S~~ for these compounds are compared with land the variation is found to be slight (within 3 fb). Because of the involvement of the chain protons, in the proton NMR of the undeuterated specimens it is not obvious that AH should be closely proportional to S~~, but for SCB and PAA it seems to be so (again within 3 fb). For 6CB too AH/Z is almost constant but for other compounds a systematic rise on cooling is apparent.


Two new prenylflavanones, tanariflavanones A (1), and B (2), and one known compound, (-)-nymphaeol-C (3), were isolated from the fallen leaves of Macaranga tanarius. Compounds 1 and 2 showed inhibition of radical growth of lettuce seedlings at 200 ppm. Their structures were elucidated primarily by NMR, circular dichroism, and mass spectroscopic methods.


Numerous studies have addressed various aspects of the East African Rift system but surprisingly few on the offshore continuation of the south-eastern branch of the rift into the Mozambique Channel. The most prominent article has been published almost 30 years ago by Mougenot et al. (1986) and is based on vintage seismic data. Several studies investigating earthquakes and plate motions from GPS measurements reveal recent deformation along the offshore branch of the East African Rift system. Slip vectors from earthquakes data in Mozambique's offshore basins show a consistent NE direction. Fault plane solutions reveal ~ E-W extensional failure with focal depth clustering around 19 km and 40 km, respectively.

Here, we present new evidence for neotectonic deformation derived from modern seismic reflection data and supported by additional geophysical data. The modern rift system obviously reactivates structures from the disintegration of eastern Gondwana.

During the Jurassic/Cretaceous opening of the Somali and Mozambique Basins, Madagascar moved southwards along a major shear zone, to its present position. Since the Miocene, parts of the shear zone became reactivated and structurally overprinted by the East African rift system. The Kerimbas Graben offshore northern Mozambique is the most prominent manifestation of recent extensional deformation. Bathymetry data shows that it deepens northwards, with approximately 700 m downthrown on the eastern shoulder. The graben can be subdivided into four subbasins by crosscutting structural lineaments with a NW-SE trend. Together with the N-S striking graben-bounding faults, this resembles a conjugate fault system. In seismic reflection data normal faulting is distinct not only at the earthquake epicenters. The faults cut through the sedimentary successions and typically reach the seafloor, indicating ongoing recent deformation.


Temporary deafferentation of the upper limb, with ischemic or anesthetic nerve block, has rapid effects on sensorimotor cortex. Cutaneous anesthesia of the forearm has recently been found to improve sensory and motor function of the paretic hand in chronic stroke patients. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the behavioral and neurophysiological effects of cutaneous forearm anesthesia. Twenty-five healthy right-handed adults participated in this double-blind, randomized study. Participants completed two sessions, with either a topical anesthesia cream (EMLA) or placebo applied to their left forearm in each session. Thresholds for cutaneous sensation and spatial acuity of the left hand were measured before and after the intervention. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to measure corticomotor excitability and short-interval intracortical inhibition in the left first dorsal interosseous and abductor digiti minimi muscles before and after the intervention. Manual dexterity was assessed with the grooved pegboard task after the intervention in each session. Left-hand dexterity improved to a greater extent after treatment with EMLA than placebo, and this was related to improved spatial acuity at the fingertips. Corticomotor excitability remained stable, and short-interval intracortical inhibition increased after EMLA treatment. We have confirmed and extended previous reports that cutaneous forearm anesthesia results in improved spatial acuity and manual dexterity of the ipsilateral hand. The neurophysiological mechanisms involve an increase in intracortical inhibition, which may improve the precision of voluntary movement. These results lend support to the therapeutic application of EMLA in movement rehabilitation.


Understanding the historical evolution of biotas and the dynamics of contemporary human-mediated species introductions are two central tasks of biology. One hypothesis may address both—the taxon cycle. Taxon cycles are phases of range expansion and contraction coupled to ecological and evolutionary niche shifts. These historical invasion processes resemble human-mediated invasions in pattern and possibly mechanism, but both the existence of historical cycles and the roles of recent introductions are in question. We return to the system that originally inspired the taxon cycle—Melanesian ants—and perform novel tests of the hypothesis. We analyze (i) the habitat distributions of Fiji's entire ant fauna (183 species), (ii) ecological shifts associated with the in situ radiation of Fijian Pheidole in a phylogenetic context, and (iii) the ecological structure of a massive exotic ant invasion of the archipelago. Our analyses indicate lineages shift toward primary habitats, higher elevation, rarity, and ecological specialization with increasing level of endemism, consistent with taxon cycle predictions. The marginal habitats that historically formed a dispersal conduit in the Pacific are now mostly replaced by human-modified habitats dominated by a colonization pulse of exotic species. We propose this may represent the first phase of an incipient global cycle of human-mediated colonization, ecological shifts, and diversification.


The cross between different ploidy grape was one of the effective ways to obtain new seedless cultivars, in this study, through testing the changes of the ovule weight and observing its anatomical structure, the period and mode of ovule abortion in crosses between diploid and tetraploid grape cultivars were studied, reciprocal cross was also conducted between them, the results indicated that the proper sampling period is one of the most important factors of the grape in ovule culture, unlike the seedless cultivars, the embryo abortion did not occur at the same time for most seeded cultivars crossed with different ploidy plants, the ovule abortion was only individual behavior. The period of ovule abortion was correlated with the mature period of the female parent. The abortive embryo of early-maturing cultivars occurred at five weeks after pollination, then the mid-maturing ones and latematuring ones were at six and nine weeks after pollination comparatively. The reciprocal crossing results showed that this crossing form has great mating obstruction and the situation was more serious when tetraploid cultivars were used as female parent. Few seeds from 2X×4X had good germinability, while those from 4X×2X had lost their germinability and no seedlings were obtained, the highest germination rate and seedling survivals rate were obtained when the ovule was excised 60 days after pollination, it is easier to harvest hybrid progeny when using diploid as female parent.


Boosted by the Middlebury challenge, the precision of dense multi-view stereovision methods has increased drastically in the past few years. Yet, most methods, although they perform well on this benchmark, are still inapplicable to large-scale data sets taken under uncontrolled conditions. In this paper, we propose a multi-view stereo pipeline able to deal at the same time with very large scenes while still producing highly detailed reconstructions within very reasonable time. The keys to these benefits are twofold: (i) a minimum s-t cut based global optimization that transforms a dense point cloud into a visibility consistent mesh, followed by (ii) a mesh-based variational refinement that captures small details, smartly handling photo-consistency, regularization and adaptive resolution. Our method has been tested on numerous large-scale outdoor scenes. The accuracy of our reconstructions is also measured on the recent dense multi-view benchmark proposed by Strecha et al., showing our results to compare more than favorably with the current state-of-the-art.


Herein, we describe the design, synthesis and drug release kinetics of a low molecular weight gel based on an aryl ether dendron, under in vitro conditions. The first generation dendron self-assembles and forms gels, resulting in a robust three-dimensional fibrous network, to facilitate controlled release of molecules. While aryl ether dendrons are known for their enhanced self-assembling propensity, these systems have not been used for drug release studies. The self-assembled system was characterized using SEM, TEM, rheology and PXRD experiments. In vitro cytotoxicity of the dendron gel was studied and the results show that the dendron gel is biocompatible. The effect of gel leaching and the exposure time on NIH/3T3 cells is also studied. Further, the gel based on poly aryl ether dendron derivative (D1) is capable of entrapping model hydrophilic dyes and a local anaesthetic drug (prilocaine hydrochloride), where the D1 gel could effectively entrap about 1.5 mg of prilocaine hydrochloride per 5 mg of gelator. The in vitro drug release suggests that the release kinetics is inversely proportional to the gelator wt%, and the lowest release rate obtained is 1.75 min−n with 0.7 gelator wt%. The release profiles of prilocaine hydrochloride are fitted with the Peppas–Korsmeyer model, and the results depict a non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. These studies indicate that the poly aryl ether dendron based gel shows desirable characteristics and also displays promising possibilities of expanding dendron based drug delivery systems for transdermal applications.


Corporate Social Responsibility has now face a new challenge. Skepticism and untruthful reactionfrom public and stakeholders rise as a form of response toward the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility. Latest research in England found that UK's biggest corporation facing the same condition as the public level of trust declining and skepticism towards corporate efforts rising up (Hawkins, 2005). This negative perception and skepticism toward the CSR messages communicate by the corporate has a matter of fact become challenge for the future development of the practice of CSR. Moreover, the response given by the media, pressuring groups and other significant groups in the community cannot be considered as a friendly and supportive action. It takes more than just a 30 second spots of TV commercial to build public trust and support. Detail information gained from an open dialogue with various stakeholders will give a better picture of how people think, hope, expect from corporation and its action.


ABSTRACT Influenza virus NS1 protein is a nonstructural, multifunctional protein that counteracts host innate immune responses, modulating virus pathogenesis. NS1 protein variability in subjects infected with H3N2 influenza A viruses (IAVs) during the 2010/2011 season was analyzed, and amino acid changes in residues 86, 189, and 194 were found. The consequences of these mutations for the NS1-mediated inhibition of IFN responses and the pathogenesis of the virus were evaluated, showing that NS1 mutations D189N and V194I impaired the ability of the NS1 protein to inhibit general gene expression, most probably because these mutations decreased the binding of NS1 to the cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor 30 (CPSF30). A recombinant A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (PR8) H1N1 virus encoding the H3N2 NS1-D189N protein was slightly attenuated, whereas the virus encoding the H3N2 NS1-V194I protein was further attenuated in mice. The higher attenuation of this virus could not be explained by differences in the ability of the two NS1 proteins to counteract host innate immune responses, indicating that another factor must be responsible. In fact, we showed that the virus encoding the H3N2 NS1-V194I protein demonstrated a temperature-sensitive (ts) phenotype, providing a most likely explanation for the stronger attenuation observed. As far as we know, this is the first description of a mutation in NS1 residue 194 conferring a ts phenotype. These studies are relevant in order to identify new residues important for NS1 functions and in human influenza virus surveillance to assess mutations affecting the pathogenicity of circulating viruses. IMPORTANCE Influenza viral infections represent a serious public health problem, with influenza virus causing a contagious respiratory disease that is most effectively prevented through vaccination. The multifunctional nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) is the main viral factor counteracting the host antiviral response. Therefore, influenza virus surveillance to identify new mutations in the NS1 protein affecting the pathogenicity of the circulating viruses is highly important. In this work, we evaluated amino acid variability in the NS1 proteins from H3N2 human seasonal viruses and the effect of the mutations on innate immune responses and virus pathogenesis. NS1 mutations D189N and V194I impaired the ability of the NS1 protein to inhibit general gene expression, and recombinant viruses harboring these mutations were attenuated in a mouse model of influenza infection. Interestingly, a virus encoding the H3N2 NS1-V194I protein demonstrated a temperature-sensitive phenotype, further attenuating the virus in vivo.


This article critically explores the discourses surrounding the concept of language awareness in the school-specific curricula of basic schools in Helsinki. The school curricula have been designed at the process of reforming the Finnish national core curriculum for basic education and should be aligned with it. The newest Finnish national core curriculum for basic education came in to effect in 2016. Language awareness is one of the core concepts defining language education in the national curriculum and multilingual learning is an essential part of it. However, results of this study show that the school curricula do not always support multilingual outlook, but instead reflect monolingual practices. The most important theoretical tools in this study are the semiotic processes iconization and erasure defined by Judith T. Irivine and Susan Gal. The data for discourse analysis consists of 92 texts collected from the website http://ops.edu.hel.fi   in August 2018. This article is unique in analyzing school-specific curricula.


In the era of large spectroscopic surveys, massive databases of high-quality spectra provide tools to outline a new picture of our Galaxy. In this framework, an important piece of information is provided by our ability to infer stellar ages. We aim to provide empirical relations between stellar ages and abundance ratios for a sample of solar-like stars. We investigate the dependence on metallicity, and we apply our relations to Gaia-ESO samples of open clusters and field stars. We analyse high-resolution and high-S/N HARPS spectra of a sample of solar-like stars to obtain precise determinations of their atmospheric parameters and abundances through differential spectral analysis and age through isochrone fitting. We investigate the relations between ages and abundance ratios. For the abundance ratios with a steeper dependence on age, we perform multivariate linear regressions, including the dependence on metallicity. We apply our relations to a sample of open clusters located in 4 7 kpc. In these clusters, the content of s-elements is lower than expected from chemical evolution models, and consequently the [s/$\alpha$] are lower than in clusters of the same age located in the solar neighbourhood. With our chemical evolution model and a set of empirical yields, we suggest that a strong dependence on the star formation history and metallicity-dependent yields of s-elements can substantially modify the slope of the [s/$\alpha$]-[Fe/H]-age relation in different regions of the Galaxy. Our results point towards a non-universal relation [s/$\alpha$]-[Fe/H]-age, indicating the existence of relations at different R$_{GC}$ or for different star formation history. A better understanding of the s-process at high metallicity is necessary to fully understand the origin of these variations.


Professionals in animal agriculture promote prudent use of antimicrobials to address public and animal health concerns, such as reduction of antimicrobial residues and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in products. Few studies evaluate the effect of selective dry-cow therapy on preservation of the milk microbiome or the profile of AMR genes (the resistome) present at freshening. Our objectives were to characterize and compare the microbiomes and resistomes in the colostrum of cows with low somatic cell count that were treated or not treated with intramammary cephapirin benzathine at dry-off. From a larger parent study, cows on a New York dairy farm eligible for dry-off and with histories of somatic cell counts ≤200,000 cells/mL were enrolled to this study (n = 307). Cows were randomly assigned to receive an intramammary antimicrobial and external teat sealant (ABXTS) or sealant only (TS) at dry-off. Composite colostrum samples taken within 4 h of freshening, and quarter milk samples taken at 1 to 7 d in milk were subjected to aerobic culture. The DNA extraction was performed on colostrum from cows with culture-negative samples (ABXTS = 43; TS = 33). The DNA from cows of the same treatment group and parity were pooled (26 pools; ABXTS = 12; TS = 14) for 16S rRNA metagenomic sequencing. Separately, the resistome was captured using a custom RNA bait library for target-enriched sequencing. Sequencing reads were aligned to taxonomic and AMR databases to characterize the microbiome and resistome, respectively. The R statistical program was used to tabulate abundances and to analyze differences in diversity measures and in composition between treatment groups. In the microbiome, the most abundant phyla were Firmicutes (68%), Proteobacteria (23%), Actinobacteria (4%), and Bacteroidetes (3%). Shannon and richness diversity means were 0.93 and 14.7 for ABXTS and 0.94 and 13.1 for TS, respectively. Using analysis of similarities (ANOSIM), overall microbiome composition was found to be similar between treatment groups at the phylum (ANOSIM R = 0.005), class (ANOSIM R = 0.04), and order (ANOSIM R = -0.04) levels. In the resistome, we identified AMR gene accessions associated with 14 unique mechanisms of resistance across 9 different drug classes in 14 samples (TS = 9, ABXTS = 5). The majority of reads aligned to gene accessions that confer resistance to aminoglycoside (TS = ABXTS each 35% abundance), tetracycline (TS = 22%, ABXTS = 54%), and β-lactam classes (TS = 15%, ABXTS = 12%). Shannon diversity means for AMR class and mechanism, respectively, were 0.66 and 0.69 for TS and 0.19 and 0.19 for ABXTS. Resistome richness diversity means for class and mechanism were 3.1 and 3.4 for TS and 1.4 and 1.4 for ABXTS. Finally, resistome composition was similar between groups at the class (ANOSIM R = -0.20) and mechanism levels (ANOSIM R = 0.01). Although no critical differences were found between treatment groups regarding their microbiome or resistome composition in this study, a larger sample size, deeper sequencing, and additional methodology is needed to identify more subtle differences, such as between lower-abundance features.


The effect of rolling strain on precipitation kinetics of Al 7075 alloy processed at liquid nitrogen temperature has been investigated in the present work. The Al 7075 alloy plates were solutionized and cryorolled with thickness reduction of 35% and 90%. The microstructural characterizations of the bulk and cryorolled Al alloy samples were carried out by electron backscatter diffraction analysis (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The cryorolled Al alloys upon 90% thickness reduction exhibit ultrafine grained microstructure. The DSC results of cryorolled Al 7075 alloys obtained at different heating rates are used to calculate activation energies for the evolution of precipitates. The influence of different reduction rates on activation energy of precipitate formation in the cryorolled Al 7075 alloys was analyzed. The present study has shown that an ultrafine-grained Al 7075 alloy exhibits a higher driving force for the precipitation formation when compared to that of its bulk Al alloys.


Efficient heat dissipation from modern electronic devices is a key issue for their proper performance. An important role in the assembly of electronic devices is played by polymers, due to their simple application and easiness of processing. The thermal conductivity of pure polymers is relatively low and addition of thermally conductive particles into polymer matrix is the method to enhance the overall thermal conductivity of the composite. The aim of the presented work is to examine a possibility of increasing the thermal conductivity of the filled epoxy resin systems, applicable for electrical insulation, by the use of composites filled with graphene nanoplatelets. It is remarkable that the addition of only 4 wt.% of graphene could lead to 132 % increase in thermal conductivity. In this study, several new aspects of graphene composites such as sedimentation effects or temperature dependence of thermal conductivity have been presented. The thermal conductivity results were also compared with the newest model. The obtained results show potential for application of the graphene nanocomposites for electrical insulation with enhanced thermal conductivity. This paper also presents and discusses the unique temperature dependencies of thermal conductivity in a wide temperature range, significant for full understanding thermal transport mechanisms.


The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of ipil-ipil ( Leucaena leucocephala , Lam. de Wit), betel nut ( Areca catechu L.), and papaya ( Carica papaya Linn.) seeds as anthelmintic in Darag native chicken. The study utilized 165 Darag native chickens subjected to a 3 x 3 factorial experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Two factors were considered: (A) the kind of ethnobotanical dewormer (Ipil ipil, Betel nut or Papaya) and (B) the dosages (2 g, 4 g, or 6 g/ kg BW). T- test was used to compare the efficacy with the commercial dewormer. Data on the efficacy of the ethnobotanicals were obtained by getting the percent reduction of egg per gram (EPG) count before the administration of experimental treatments and on the 7 th , 14 th , 21 st , and 28 th day post treatment. F-test and Duncan Multiple Range Test interpreted at 5% and 1% levels of significance were used for statistical analysis. Results showed that the ethnobotanical dewormers under study can significantly reduce the EPG count of roundworms of Darag native chickens. A dosage of 6 g/kg BW of the three ethnobotanicals is effective in controlling gastrointestinal helminths. The efficacy of the kind of ethnobotanical is dependent to the dosage on the 21 st and 28 th day post treatment. The higher the dosage, the more effective is the ethnobotanical. The ipil-ipil, betel nut and papaya seed powder were found to have a comparable percent reduction of EPG count with the commercial dewormer. Key words: Areca catechu , Carica papaya , chickens, phytotherapy, round worms


The present study characterized the nerve growth factor (NGF)-mediated regulation of tau protein expression and transcription in IMR32 human neuroblastoma cells. Treatment of IMR32 cells with 50 ng/mL NGF resulted in increased levels of specific tau protein isoforms. A 550 bp fragment of the tau promoter was cloned and treatment of transfected IMR32 and PC12 cells with NGF also resulted in increased promoter activation, suggesting that the NGF-mediated increase in tau isoforms is regulated, at least in part, at the level of transcription. Pretreatment with the MAP kinase inhibitor U0126 or the PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide 1 (BIS-1) attenuated the NGF-mediated increase in tau transcription, indicating that the NGF-mediated activation of the MAP kinase and PKC signaling pathways modulate tau transcription. Pre-treatment of cells with the Akt inhibitor, LY294002 or with NOS inhibitors Nω-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME) or s-methylisothiourea (S-MIU) had no effect on the NGF-mediated increase in tau promoter activation, suggesting that NO and the NGF-Akt signaling pathway do not modulate tau transcription. Taken together, these data demonstrate that NGF increases the levels of multiple human tau isoforms in IMR32 cells which may result, at least in part, from NGF-mediated PKC and MAP kinase-induced tau transcription.


refreshing to find discussions on tests for normality, and reasonable descriptions of more recent confidence limits and poisson distributions. Ifall clinicians read the chapter on correlation and regression there would be far fewer papers incorrectly correlating, for example, blood glucose [method 1] with blood glucose [method 2]. The only caveat I would mention is that this book is designed for use with computer programmes on statistics, but which one?


Active surveillance of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection among hospitalized patients in Calcutta, India, showed the appearance of the O4[ratio ]K68 serovar for the first time in March 1998 alongside the continued predominant incidence of the O3[ratio ]K6 serovar. Strains belonging to both these serovars have been reported to possess pandemic potential. The genomes of O3[ratio ]K6 and O4[ratio ]K68 strains and for comparison, non-O3[ratio ]K6 and non-O4[ratio ]K68 strains isolated from two different countries, India and Thailand, were examined by different molecular techniques to determine their relatedness. The O3[ratio ]K6 and O4[ratio ]K68 strains from Calcutta and Bangkok carried the tdh gene but not the trh gene. Characterization of representative strains of these two serovars by ribotyping and by arbitrarily primed-polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) showed that the isolates had identical ribotype and DNA fingerprint. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) performed with the same set of strains yielded nearly similar restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns for the O3[ratio ]K6 and O4[ratio ]K68 isolates from Calcutta and Thailand. Phylogenetic analysis of the NotI RFLP showed that the O3[ratio ]K6 and O4[ratio ]K68 strains formed a cluster with 78–91% similarity thus indicating close genetic relationship between the two different serovars isolated during the same time-frame but from widely separated geographical regions. The non-O3[ratio ]K6 and non-O4[ratio ]K68, in contrast, showed different ribotype, AP-PCR and PFGE patterns.


In special dietary products for people intolerant to gluten, gluten content is not supposed to exceed the regulatory thresholds. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are routinely used to quantitate gluten in these products. They measure gliadin/gluten with high specifi city and sensitivity, but they have some limitations. Quantitative and qualitative variability of the target proteins among wheat cultivars is a factor that may cause inaccurate results. One of the aims of this work was to characterize the protein composition of fi ve wheat cultivars grown in multiple harvest years and their blends by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The gliadin/gluten content of these wheat fl ours was also analysed with two commercial ELISA kits. The effect of differences in protein profi les between the fl ours from an individual cultivar and the blend of fi ve cultivars, harvest years, as well as processing procedures (dough forming and baking) on the results of two ELISA kits was investigated and their relative magnitude was determined. Among the factors investigated, the differences between fl ours had the greatest impact on gliadin recoveries.


ABSTRACT Background Evidence suggests that short sleep duration may be a newly identified modifiable risk factor for obesity, yet there is a paucity of studies to investigate this. Objective We assessed the feasibility of a personalized sleep extension protocol in adults aged 18–64 y who are habitually short sleepers (5 to <7 h), with sleep primarily measured by wrist actigraphy. In addition, we collected pilot data to assess the effects of extended sleep on dietary intake and quality measured by 7-d food diaries, resting and total energy expenditure, physical activity, and markers of cardiometabolic health. Design Forty-two normal-weight healthy participants who were habitually short sleepers completed this free-living, 4-wk, parallel-design randomized controlled trial. The sleep extension group (n = 21) received a behavioral consultation session targeting sleep hygiene. The control group (n = 21) maintained habitual short sleep. Results Rates of participation, attrition, and compliance were 100%, 6.5%, and 85.7%, respectively. The sleep extension group significantly increased time in bed [0:55 hours:minutes (h:mm); 95% CI: 0:37, 1:12 h:mm], sleep period (0:47 h:mm; 95% CI: 0:29, 1:05 h:mm), and sleep duration (0:21 h:mm; 95% CI: 0:06, 0:36 h:mm) compared with the control group. Sleep extension led to reduced intake of free sugars (–9.6 g; 95% CI: –16.0, –3.1 g) compared with control (0.7 g; 95% CI: –5.7, 7.2 g) (P = 0.042). A sensitivity analysis in plausible reporters showed that the sleep extension group reduced intakes of fat (percentage), carbohydrates (grams), and free sugars (grams) in comparison to the control group. There were no significant differences between groups in markers of energy balance or cardiometabolic health. Conclusions We showed the feasibility of extending sleep in adult short sleepers. Sleep extension led to reduced free sugar intakes and may be a viable strategy to facilitate limiting excessive consumption of free sugars in an obesity-promoting environment. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02787577.


The goal of this work was to study if patients suffering from tinnitus, that affects 14.5% of Italian people, are more susceptible to psychological distress than those who are not affected by tinnitus; to evaluate the prevalence of psychopathological disorders among the cohort, their relationship with the severity of tinnitus and eventual correlation between the distress caused by tinnitus and age of patients. 191 cases and 237 controls were enrolled between 2009-2011. Cases were 80 females and 111 males with mean age of 48.06. Controls were 106 females and 131 males with mean age of 47.09. Overall subjects completed Symptom CheckList-90 R (SCL 90-R) and some brief questionnaire about audiological history while Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) was compiled by cases. Our study indicates that there is a significance correlation between tinnitus and psychopathological disorders, especially with anxiety (χ2=8.08; p=0.004) and sleep disturbance (χ2=38.85; p=0.0001) and there is a slight correlation between higher THI score and lower age subjects (r=0.76). Especially causing working impairment, the highest correlation resulted for ages 25-50 (r=0.96).


Geopolymer concrete is an alternate to conventional concrete with reduced carbon emission, embodied energy and global warming potential and transforming waste product into an useful material. Geopolymer concrete is produced by mixing highly alkaline activator solution with alumino silicate source materials. Geopolymer concrete is highly viscous or sticky in nature, to overcome this drawback, an attempt has been made to study the effect of naphthalene based superplasticizer on geopolymer concrete blended with GGBS. Fly ash was replaced by GGBS at 20% increment levels, keeping a constant superplasticizer dosage at 3% by weight of binding material. Workability and strength characteristics were compared with those of geopolymer concrete blended with GGBS without superplasticizer. Up to certain replacement level of fly ash with GGBS, results in decrease of strength parameters with increase in workability, further replacement results in increase of strength with reduced workability with the addition of superplasticizer.


The impact of a high‐speed solar wind stream (HSS) on the topside near‐equatorial ionosphere (Arecibo: 28.17°N, L = 1.3) is investigated for the first time. Although the HSS did not lead to any significant geomagnetic storm activity, the ionosphere over Arecibo became hotter and expanded significantly in altitude as compared to a non‐HSS interval. The O+/H+ transition height hT increased by ~200 km in the daytime and by ~100 km at night. At the hT, the peak ionospheric electron and ion temperatures increased by ~200–500 K during day and by ~50–70 K at night. While the O+ ion concentration exhibited an overall enhancement, deep penetration of the H+ ions below hT are observed during the day. The noontime peak electron density was ~4 times higher during the HSS event compared to the non‐HSS interval. We present three possible mechanisms to explain this topside ionospheric heating.


This article examines the spatial dependence among housing losses due to tornadoes using data from the May 1999 Oklahoma City tornado. In order to examine the existence of spatial dependence and its impacts on the damage analysis, we compare an estimation based on a traditional ordinary least square model with the general spatial model. The results show that housing damage in this disaster area is highly correlated. Monetary losses not only depend on the tornado that struck residences, but are related to the damage magnitudes of neighboring houses. Average losses as well as the loss ratio increase with the Fujita Scale damage rating. We conclude that the general spatial model provides unbiased estimates compared to the ordinary least square model. In order to construct appropriate home insurance policies for tornado disasters or to improve the damage resistance capabilities of houses, it is necessary for insurance underwriters and builders to consider spatial correlation of tornado damage.


Burnout among military nurses has been found to lead to job absenteeism, staff conflicts, and a high turnover of personnel. Factors influencing nurses working in smaller and often isolated military installations of the South African National Defence Force were investigated using a job-stress and burnout questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Investigation focused on registration categories, geographic location, and age. It was found that the senior registration categories experienced more burnout, and nurses in isolated areas reported almost double the number of cases of burnout than nurses in larger centers. Age played a role in the very young (19-25 years) and older (40-50 years) nurses. The lack of support from supervisors, high responsibility, long working hours, and task overload were the four most common stressors reported. Some suggestions are forwarded to manage the risk of burnout among military nurses in similar situations.


The present study aimed at testing the general assumption that virtual reality can enhance the experience of exercising. More specifically, we tested the effects of sensory input (music and video feedback) during physical training on performance, enjoyment, and attentional focus by means of a computerized ergometer coupled with VR software. Twelve university students participated in the study. The experimental procedure consisted in a 2 3 4 mixed design, with two types of feedback (video feedback vs. video feedback and music), three course phases (e.g., flat, uphill, and downhill) and four sessions (task repetition). The virtual feedback was a video film of the course that participants had to complete. Video display speed was proportional to the participant's pedaling speed. Force feedback, applied to the real bicycle wheel, was proportional to the instantaneous course slope. The results showed a positive effect of task repetition on participants' performance only when video feedback was associated with listening to music. In an attempt to objectively assess attentional focus, we analyzed participants' gaze orientation. Gaze analysis showed a reduction in the time spent gazing at video feedback across sessions. Associating video feedback with freely chosen music led to a differential use of video feedback as a function of exercise intensity. Finally, sensory stimulation appeared to have a dissociative role on participants' attentional focus during exercise, but adding music listening to video feedback appears to be necessary to maintain (long term) the participants' commitment to the task. The results are discussed in terms of the functional status of sensory stimulation during exercise, and its interactions with exercise intensity, participants' performance, and attentional focus. They also suggest that gaze analysis is one promising way to access attention allocation and its relationships with performance.


The formation of parallel indexing cam profile was described in detail with the calculation of the cam profile data. With VB as the software platform, the parallel indexing cam contour was calculated, the contour mapping was also displayed, and the data was saved as required format. Then a three-dimensional entity of the parallel indexing cam mechanism is drawn up directly in SolidWorks in order to perform the 3D parameterization design and motion emulation of the parallel indexing cam mechanism. This can help designers to find the problems, such as the rotation difficulties caused by excessive pressure angle, the motion distortion caused by small radius of curvature. So the designer can make modification in time to improve design quality and shorten the product development cycles. The software platform can select type of the interval splitter by calculating and selecting the power motor according to the input drive shaft angle and the output shaft such shares. The system could perform the transmission of information and share the information between subsystems, enhancing the degree of integration and automation of parallel indexing cam design and manufacture. A good software platform was developed for parallel indexing cam mechanism's design, manufacturing and performance studying. Finally, the example of interval paper-feed mechanism in an automatic die-cutting machine was verified the usability and effectiveness of the software platform.


Abstract : The transfer of theater airlift assets from the Military Airlift Command (MAC) and the Air Mobility Command (AMC) to the theater commanders in 1992 and 1993 was an appropriate reallocation of forces. However, there is more to theater airlift than just accepting the aircraft. The key to successful airlift operations is utilization of an effective airlift management system. Because the theaters had not controlled airlift since 1974 and therefore initially lacked any substantial expertise in theater airlift, they essentially tried to 'construct' their own airlift system rather than "duplicate" the system that AMC utilizes. As a result, theater airlift has floundered and several issues have emerged regarding command and control capabilities, en route support capabilities, major command relationships, and theater airlift doctrine. To alleviate the current problems that exist regarding theater airlift and to help realize the full potential of theater airlift, the following actions should be taken: (1) establish deployable 'enhanced' Airlift Control Elements (ALCEs) in each theater which are managed by the theaters instead of AMC, (2) embrace the 'seamless' logistics system concept and implement it in each theater, and (3) update and revise theater airlift doctrine to blend with the post-Cold War strategy of U.S. military forces.


The hydroelectric plants are first in the Brazilian energy matrix, so irregularities in the rainfall regime can affect the energy generation, thus evidencing the need to know the rainfall distribution in the studied area. This work aimed to evaluate possible analysis of the impacts of climate change on the rainfall regime in the Machadinho hydroelectric region. For the research development, the IPCC-AR5 pessimistic scenario was used, representing a scenario with a continuous population growth and high carbon dioxide emissions. From the historical series and organized projections, precipitation anomalies were calculated. Analyzing the difference between the average of the month and the climatological normal, it was inferred that the model used presented a positive trend for precipitation in the period from 2026 - 2100, projecting anomalies between 25 and 200 mm per month. A greater amplitude is observed in the precipitation of 2076-2100, indicating an increase in the occurrence of extreme events of precipitation, mainly in the spring period. Considering that the rains in the Machadinho hydroelectric region are increasing in the scenarios analyzed, the average water level in the reservoir of the plant tends to increase.


▸ Carvajal-Carmona LG, Zauber AG, Jones AM, et al. Much of the genetic risk of colorectal cancer is likely to be mediated through susceptibility to adenomas. Gastroenterology 2013;144:53–5. Genetic association studies have identified a number of single nucleotide polypmorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. Since these studies have used CRC cases, it remains uncertain whether or not functional genetic variants associated with CRC increase cancer risk through predisposition to adenomas. Carvajal-Carmona and co-workers set out to address this question by performing a genetic association study utilising 1755 adenoma cases, derived from two chemoprevention studies and one gene-identification study, and controls derived from existing population-based collections. Cases with a personal or family history CRC were excluded. The researchers assessed associations with 18 CRC predisposition SNPs and found that, for 8 out of the 18 SNPs, there were significant associations with adenoma risk, with no interstudy heterogeneity. For all SNPs that were associated with adenoma risk, the direction of the association was the same as that for CRC. For four SNPs (rs6983267, rs3802842, rs4939827, and rs961253), the associations were very strong. The studies used to source the cases resulted in enrichment for early onset, multiple, and advanced adenoma, permitting case-case analyses stratified by clinical features such as adenoma multiplicity and size. In these analyses, rs6983267 appeared to be associated with multiple adenomas, suggesting a role in neoplastic initiation as opposed to progression (where one might imagine a SNP to be associated with highrisk polyps). Although power to detect an association between SNPs and adenoma risk was limited to around 70%, it seems possible that those SNPs that were not associated with adenoma risk may be associated with functional variants that have roles in malignant transformation and invasion. Further studies are required to determine which CRC-associated genetic variants are associated with adenoma risk, carcinoma risk, or both. Knowledge of the stage at which genetic variants influence adenomagenesis and/or carcinogenesis will hopefully enhance our understanding of the biology of these processes.


Research over the past decade has advanced our understanding of the neuroanatomical and neuro-chemical substrates of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder. For example, the results of challenge studies with a variety of panicogenic agents that operate by diverse pharmacologic mechanisms have suggested a network model of panic involving dysregulation of multiple neuronal systems. Genetic analyses are consistent with a heritable predisposition, or panic diathesis, that confers an increased susceptibility to pharmacologic challenge, even in subjects with no overt history of panic disorder. Functional imaging studies confirm preclinical investigations of the anatomical basis of anxiety and provide further evidence for a network of related brain regions mediating the genesis of anxious and fearful behaviors, including panic attacks. Taken together, this research offers a theoretical framework for the ongoing development of improved diagnostic and treatment options.


A phase-referenced Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT) system includes a low-coherence optical radiation source and a reference source co-propagated to a sample arm and a reference arm. The low-coherence and reference optical radiation reflected from the reference and arms is detected by a pair of detectors, yielding OCT and reference interferometric data output signals. The reference interferometric data output signal can be used to correct the OCT interferometric to yield velocity-indicating images that are free from defects due to sample motion and/or interferometer jitter.


Organs of rats flown for 19.5 days on board the Cosmos-782 biosatellite were investigated morphologically and cytochemically. After flight, as a result of drastic decrease or loss of static load on the musculeskeletal system in zero-g, the rats developed mineral metabolism changes that morphologically appeared as osteoporosis of spongy bones, their periosteocytic osteolysis, as well as inhibition of red blood cell precursors in bone marrow, atrophy and dystrophy of skeletal muscles. The development of stress-reaction which seemed to increase at certain flight stages (launch and re-entry) and weightlessness--1 g transition brought about changes in the structure and cell composition of lymph organs, changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-neurosecretory system, adrenals, gastro-intestinal tract and other organs and systems. Changes in the receptor system of the inner ear resulted, evidently, from weightlessness and acceleration effects, whereas retinal lesions were due to heavy charged particles of cosmic radiation. The changes noted were reversible and 25 days after flight returned, completely or partly, to the normal.


The use of employee-owned mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc., to access business enterprise content or networks otherwise referred to as of 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) has further made the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of organizations' data become insecure, and prone to breaches and fraudulent activities. In this study, the authors explored a narrative review that focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of vast works of literature that revealed significant information on the conceptual framework, existing systems that adopt BYOD security, analysis, and synthesis of prior research. Using some keywords "BYOD system security", "BYOD security threats", "cyber-attacks and security", etc., an electronic database search extracted peer-reviewed articles from the last five years. The thematic analysis of fifty-one articles retrieved revealed that breaches and fraudulent activities exist with the use of BYOD that may be perpetrated against organization's data, intentionally or maliciously. Good policies and guidelines on the use of BYOD coupled with good formulation and communication of same, should be adhered to avert some forms of security breaches. There is the need to preserve user's privacy, organizations' data confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and secure same in the devices of employees using their own devices to process corporate and personal data, by using acceptable and effective BYOD Policy and Mobile Device Management Solution (MDMS). This may increase mutual trust and BYOD adoption rate, new innovations and influence that can positively impact the organizations and their employees. Keyword: BYOD, security threats, password, cyber-attacks and security, Information security. DOI : 10.7176/JIEA/8-1-07


Chronic infection of Mycoplasma hyorhinis (M. hyorhinis) has been postulated to be associated with several types of cancer, but its effect on patients' survival and host factors mediating its infection remain unclear. Herein, we demonstrated that M. hyorhinis p37 protein expression in gastric cancer tissues predicts poor survival and associates with metastasis. M. hyorhinis infects mammalian cells and promotes gastric cancer cell invasiveness via its membrane protein p37. Synthesized peptide corresponding to the N-terminus of p37 prevents M. hyorhinis infection. Host Annexin A2 (ANXA2) interacts with the N-terminus of p37. In addition, EGFR forms a complex with p37 and ANXA2, and is required for M. hyorhinis-induced phosphorylation and membrane recruitment of ANXA2. M. hyorhinis infection is inhibited by siRNA-mediated knockdown of ANXA2 or EGFR, but is enhanced by expression of ectopic ANXA2 or EGFR. Downstream of ANXA2 and EGFR, the NF-κB pathway is activated and mediates M. hyorhinis-driven cell migration. In conclusion, our study unveils the effect of M. hyorhinis infection on gastric cancer survival and uncovers the mechanisms by which M. hyorhinis infects mammalian cells and promotes cancer cell migration.


Max Reger forged a special path to musical modernism, one that may be considered historicist, through his assimilation of the music of J. S. Bach. Historicism acknowledges a debt to tradition and the past,
 but through the perspective and techniques of the present. Brahms proved a powerful model for Reger9s historicist modernism. The article first briefly examines Bach reception in the Austro-German sphere
 in the years around 1900 and Reger9s own activities as editor, arranger, and performer of Bach9s music. It then focuses on two of Reger9s own compositions. An early work, the Organ Suite, op. 16 (1895),
 has as its slow movement a chorale prelude based on three different melodies associated with Bach, which are combined in dense counterpoint. The E-minor finale of op. 16 is an extraordinary synthesis of
 Bach9s C-Minor Passacaglia and the last movement of Brahms9s Fourth Symphony. In a mature work, the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Bach, op. 81 (1904), for piano, Reger self-consciously places himself
 in the tradition of two monumental variation sets from the nineteenth century, Beethoven9s "Diabelli" and Brahms9s Handel Variations. Reger creates a complex temporal-historical framework in which Bach9s
 theme and the stricter variations that adhere to its structure seem to imply a more stable past while the freer, more fragmentary, and improvisatory-sounding variations capture an anxious present. This
 tension between past and present lies at the heart of Reger9s historicist modernism.


BACKGROUND
Our aim was to investigate levels of lipocalin-2 and its relationship with metabolic factors in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

MATERIALS/SUBJECTS AND METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, two groups of women were studied: group 1 consisted of women with PCOS (no.=30), and group 2 consisted of control women with normal ovulatory function (no.=30). The circulating levels of free testosterone (T), DHEAS, glucose, insulin, triglycerides (TG), HDL, LDL and lipocalin were measured. Insulin resistance was assessed using the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). In order to determine a lipocalin value indicating insulin resistance, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were established.

RESULTS
Serum lipocalin was significantly higher in PCOS subjects (54.26 ± 15.58 vs 26.09 ± 7.47 ng/ml, p=0.0001).We found a close correlation between lipocalin and insulin, lipocalin and HOMA-IR, lipocalin and T, and lipocalin and DHEAS. A cut-off level of >39.54 ng/ml for serum lipocalin has a predictive value for insulin resistance of 81% sensitivity and 82.1% specificity.

CONCLUSION
In our study, lipocalin-2 levels were found to be significantly higher in women with PCOS compared to body mass index-matched controls. Serum lipocalin-2 may prove to be a useful marker for insulin resistance in patients with PCOS.


At uniform excitation of semiconductors by laser radiation with pre-threshold power, locally melted regions are formed on irradiated surfaces. This is induced by thermo diffusive instability of a distribution of uniformly generated electron-hole plasma. The shapes of locally melted regions give rise to a great variety of interesting surface patterns. A mathematical model of the surface dynamics, when the instability of the melt front arises along a chosen wave vector, is proposed. The results of computer simulation of interface dynamics of solitary melted region are compared with experimental data.


We argue that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides a stupendous opportunity for the Creator of our universe (assuming one exists) to have sent a message to its occupants, using known physics. Our work does not support the Intelligent Design movement in any way whatsoever, but asks, and attempts to answer, the entirely scientific question of what the medium and message might be IF there was actually a message. The medium for the message is unique. We elaborate on this observation, noting that it requires only careful adjustment of the fundamental Lagrangian, but no direct intervention in the subsequent evolution of the universe.


Author(s): Moreso Subirats, Gerard | Advisor(s): Reinkensmeyer, David J | Abstract: Power wheelchair users have a high level of sedentarism, which negatively impacts health. If they could exercise while driving their chair they could potentially improve their health through integrated daily exercise. This dissertation presents the development of MOVit, a novel, arm exercise-enabling, wheelchair control interface and the results of three preliminary tests with unimpaired subjects. MOVit consists of two custom-made, instrumented mobile arm supports that replace the armrests of a normal power wheelchair. Instead of using a joystick to drive the wheelchair, the user moves the arm supports with his or her arms through a cyclical motion. MOVit was first tested in a stationary setting with five healthy individuals (two expert users and three naive users) to determine if they could achieve increasing levels of exercise by increasing the frequency and range of motion of arm movement, and decreasing the amount of weight support. Secondly, driving performance using MOVit was evaluated with the same subjects on a long, straight track. Third, maneuverability with MOVit was evaluated for the expert users. Heart rate and oxygen consumption significantly increased as the level of exercise intensity increased in the stationary setting. Driving performance for the long, straight track and for the maneuverability test were comparable to the performance achieved using a standard joystick for the two expert users, but was worse for the three novice users. In conclusion, MOVit can modulate exercise intensity during power wheelchair driving. For experienced users, driving performance and maneuverability is comparable to that achieved with a standard joystick.


In this article the author explores in detail the "unforeseen developments†requirement in the Agreement on Safeguards under the WTO. The author seeks to answer questions such as whether the requirement (i.e., unforeseen developments must be demonstrated in order for safeguard measures to be justified) is an integral part of the Agreement on Safeguards, and how the subjectivity associated with this requirement contributes to the difficulty of constructing a reasoned and adequate account of the causal chain. The article also includes within its scope a brief analysis of larger issues such as the political and economic rationale behind safeguard measures, and how ambiguities in the Agreement on Safeguards can destabilize the discipline of safeguards and defeat one of its major purposes - to help countries nurture their infant industries. Finally, the article reflects upon how India, being one of the leading users of safeguard measures as of 2008, is likely to be affected by unclear areas in the present legislation such as the unforeseen developments clause.


The use of modern simulation tools in the development of new armoured vehicles permits shorter development times and a reduction in the number of prototypes. This paper shows the importance of virtual prototypes in the development process. Owing to more stringent protection requirements, the design layout of new vehicle concepts is possible only with the help of a complete vehicle simulation. Modelling techniques and simulation methods are presented by the example of mobility and mine protection analyses.


This article studies the unequal distribution of the benefits a country enjoys from participating in globalization from the perspective of international business. As globalization is a set of mutually beneficial interactions between countries and MNCs to enhance competitiveness of each participant, benefits countries enjoy from globalization should be understood in terms of national competitiveness. In this light, this article applies the generalized double diamond (GDD) model to the analysis of national competitiveness and introduces the globalization inequality index (GII) as an extension of the Gini index to measure inequality in globalization. Statistical analyses of GIIs show that benefits from globalization are unequally distributed over countries and suggest a need for the strategic interpretation of the role of a location in the era of globalization.


We introduce ApolloRL, an open platform for research in reinforcement learning for autonomous driving. The platform provides a complete closed-loop pipeline with training, simulation, and evaluation components. It comes with 300 hours of real-world data in driving scenarios and popular baselines such as Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) and Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) agents. We elaborate in this paper on the architecture and the environment defined in the platform. In addition, we discuss the performance of the baseline agents in the ApolloRL environment.


This paper seeks to examine from an employee perspective, the promises made on behalf of telework as a new work practice. We are especially concerned with the relationship between gender and telework in relation to home work boundaries, since gender roles in society are largely shaped by home and family. Drawing on management and organisation studies, in the first half of the paper we develop a critique of proposed advantages for women home workers by deconstructing the set of benefits which are said to be delivered by this new socio-technological ensemble. Having once outlined the problems to which teleworking is posed as the solution, an alternative set of issues are generated by recourse to existing literature on women and information technology. In the second part of the paper, we then move to construct an alternative research agenda which is focused to provide a more thorough-going review of concerns faced by employee's working at home, using information and communication technologies, and at a distance from the host organization. The re-orientation on employee-centred priorities is enhanced by engaging with current writings on the changing nature of work identities in the risk society. In conclusion, we underline the contribution of this paper and the research agenda for IS research and for those agencies engaged in ameliorating employees rights at work.


BACKGROUND
Although autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) may achieve disease control in severe treatment-resistant Crohn's disease (CD), relapse is frequent, and there is little information regarding long-term outcomes in terms of response to subsequent treatments and complications of ASCT.

DESIGN
Retrospective evaluation of UK patients treated on a compassionate basis from three UK tertiary centres.

METHODS
We summarize long-term outcomes of six previously unreported patients with severe treatment-resistant CD treated with ASCT according to international guidelines between 2003 and 2009. Median duration of CD before ASCT was 14 (7-22) years. Following stem cell mobilization, patients were treated with high-dose cyclophosphamide (200 mg/kg) and rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (7.5 mg/kg) followed by ASCT.

RESULTS
All patients tolerated ASCT with routine toxicities and no treatment-related mortality and are alive at 50-123 months post-ASCT. Clinical and endoscopic remissions of CD were confirmed at 3 months post-ASCT in five patients, although median time to next treatment for inflammatory disease was 10 months (range: 3-16 months). Subsequently, disease control was achieved with previously ineffective and newer treatments, with surgery performed predominantly for pre-existing fibrotic strictures. Two patients became independent of home total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Reported late complications of ASCT included hypothyroidism and ovarian failure.

CONCLUSION
Long-term follow-up supports the safety and feasibility of ASCT as a means of achieving short-term control of severe CD whilst potentially re-sensitizing the disease to medical therapy and reducing requirements for surgery and TPN. Given the inevitability of relapse, pre-emptive salvage and/or maintenance treatments post-ASCT should be the focus of future trials.


AIM
To examine the incidence of hepatitis E (HepE) in individuals with acute liver injury severe enough to warrant treatment at a transplant unit.

METHODS
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging pathogen in developed countries causing severe illness, particularly in immunocompromised patients or those with underlying chronic liver disease. HepE infection is often under diagnosed, as clinicians can be reluctant to test patients who have not travelled to regions traditionally considered hyperendemic for HepE. There are few data regarding the significance of HEV in patients with very severe acute liver injury in developed countries. Eighty patients with acute severe liver injury attending the Scottish Liver Transplant unit were tested for HEV and anti-HEV IgG and IgM. Severe acute liver injury was defined as a sudden deterioration in liver function confirmed by abnormal liver function tests and coagulopathy or presence of hepatic encephalopathy. Eighty percent of these patients were diagnosed with paracetomol overdose. No patients had a history of chronic or decompensated chronic liver disease at time of sampling. IgG positive samples were quantified against the World Health Organization anti-HEV IgG standard. Samples were screened for HEV viral RNA by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS
Four cases of hepatitis E were identified. Three of the four cases were only diagnosed on retrospective testing and were initially erroneously ascribed to drug-induced liver injury and decompensated chronic liver disease, with the cause of the decompensation uncertain. One case was caused by HEV genotype 1 in a traveller returning from Asia, the other three were autochthonous and diagnosed on retrospective testing. In two of these cases (where RNA was detected) HEV was found to be genotype 3, the most prevalent genotype in developed countries. Three patients survived, two of whom had been misdiagnosed as having drug induced liver injury. The fourth patient died from sepsis and liver failure precipitated as a result of hepatitis E infection and previously undiagnosed cirrhosis. Histopathology data to date is limited to mainly that seen for endemic HepE. All patients, with the exception of patient 1, demonstrated characteristics of HepE infection, as seen in previously described locally acquired cases.

CONCLUSION
In patients with acute severe liver injury, HEV testing should be part of the initial diagnostic investigation algorithm irrespective of suspected initial diagnosis, age or travel history.


1 The honey bee Apis mellifera is native to Eurasia and Africa, although it is commonly introduced into crop fields of different parts of the world because of the assumption that it improves yield. This bee is, however, a poor pollinator of several crops compared with native insects. Indeed, honey bees can displace native pollinators and reduce their diversity. The present study evaluated the potential impacts of A. mellifera on the diversity of native pollinators of highland coffee (Coffea arabica) and its putative consequences for coffee production at the state of Veracruz, Mexico. 2 The abundance of A. mellifera and diversity of native pollinators were assessed during blooming at 12 shade coffee plantations and pollination experiments were conducted to determine the impacts of pollinators on coffee fruit production. Regression analyses were used to assess whether the abundance of honey bees was related to native pollinator diversity, and whether fruit production was influenced by both the diversity of pollinators and the abundance of A. mellifera. 3 Native pollinator diversity decreased as the number of honey bees increased. Furthermore, although coffee fruit production was positively related to the diversity of native pollinators, an increasing abundance of A. mellifera was correlated with a decrease in fruit production. 4 Highland shade coffee plantations are considered as reservoirs of the Mexican insect fauna. Thus, native pollinator diversity could be better preserved if beekeepers reduced the number of managed hives that they brought into plantations. This may also help to increase coffee yield by decreasing the putative negative effects of A. mellifera on native pollinators.


Abstract The Nordic countries are often referred to as a group even though their education systems and training models are very different. The aim of this study is to advance understanding of those differences and compare the developments and organisation of initial vocational education and training (IVET) in Finland and Sweden since the 1990s as examples of school-based models of IVET in statist regimes. The research questions address the following: how these two countries have institutionalised school-based IVET since the 1990s; the kinds of legislative reforms that have been decisive for the construction of school-based IVET; and how the models of school-based IVET in these two countries allow access to higher education and the world of work. The analysis shows the heterogeneity of the statist model of school-based IVET systems in two Nordic countries and underlines differences with respect to school-to-work transitions between IVET and different labour market sectors.


Inria white papers look at major current challenges in informatics and mathematics and show actions conducted by our project-teams to address these challenges. This document is the first produced by the Strategic Technology Monitoring & Prospective Studies Unit. Thanks to a reactive observation system, this unit plays a lead role in supporting Inria to develop its strategic and scientific orientations. It also enables the institute to anticipate the impact of digital sciences on all social and economic domains. It has been coordinated by Bertrand Braunschweig with contributions from 45 researchers from Inria and from our partners. Special thanks to Peter Sturm for his precise and complete review.


We discuss the rise of modern physics in Spain during Francoism (1939–1975) within the context of culture, power, and the ongoing historical assessment of science during the dictatorship. Contrary to the idea that Francoist policy was indifferent if not hostile to modern science, and that ideology did not go deeper than the rhetorical surface, we discuss the ways in which the physical sciences took advantage of, and in turn were used by, the regime to promote international relations, further the autarkic economy, and ultimately generate power. In order to understand what physics meant within the National Catholic political order, we contrast the situation in the post–Civil War decades with the situation before the war. First we discuss how the war transformed the physicists' community, molding it around certain key fields. We then turn to the work of right-wing ideologues and conservative scientists and philosophers, who stressed the spiritual dimension of the discipline and argued for the integration of science into the Christian scheme of the world. The cultural realignment of the discipline coincided with the institutional changes that harnessed physics to the military and economic needs of the autarkic state, which we discuss in the final section. To conclude, we reflect upon the demise of autarkic physics in the late 1960s and the overall implications of our argument with regard to the development of physics in Spain.


Background and aims Patient safety culture (PSC) is an essential component of the quality of healthcare. Improving PSC is considered a priority in many developed countries. A specialized software platform for registration and evaluation of hospital patient safety culture has been developed with the support of the Medical University Plovdiv Project №11/2017. The aim of the study is to assess the status of PSC in Bulgarian hospitals and to compare it to that in USA and Croatian hospitals. Methods The study was conducted from June 01 to July 31, 2018 using the web-based Bulgarian Version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Questionnaire (B-HSOPSC). Two hundred and forty-eight medical professionals from different hospitals in Bulgaria participated in the study. In order to quantify the differences of positive scores distributions for each of the 42 HSOPSC items between Bulgarian, Croatian and USA samples, the χ2-test was applied. The research hypothesis assumed that there were no significant differences between the Bulgarian, Croatian and US PSCs. Results The results revealed 14 significant differences in the positive scores between the Bulgarian and Croatian PSCs and 15 between the Bulgarian and the USA PSC, respectively. Bulgarian medical professionals provided less positive responses to 12 items compared with Croatian and USA respondents. The Bulgarian respondents were more positive compared to Croatians on the feedback and communication of medical errors (Items - C1, C4, C5) as well as on the employment of locum staff (A7) and the frequency of reported mistakes (D1). Bulgarian medical professionals were more positive compared with their USA colleagues on the communication of information at shift handover and across hospital units (F5, F7). The distribution of positive scores on items: "Staff worry that their mistakes are kept in their personnel file" (RA16), "Things 'fall between the cracks' when transferring patients from one unit to another" (RF3) and "Shift handovers are problematic for patients in this hospital" (RF11) were significantly higher among Bulgarian respondents compared with Croatian and US respondents. Conclusions Significant differences of positive scores distribution were found between Bulgarian and USA PSC on one hand and between Bulgarian and Croatian on the other. The study reveals that distribution of positive responses could be explained by the cultural, organizational and healthcare system differences.


Range based system simulations are increasingly preferred in recent years to cope with the performance issues inherent with standard multi-run simulations. Traditionally, deviations of nominal system parameters are considered statistically by steadily varying the system parameters and simulating all of these parameter space realizations in multiple simulation runs. In range based or semi-symbolic simulations, deviations of system parameters are modeled in continuous ranges expressed as symbolic quantities. Therefore, a range based system simulation achieves in one simulation run the result for all the modeled parameter deviations, thus significantly reducing the computation effort. This work uses a semi-symbolic simulation environment to obtain a range based system response. Subsequently the symbolic labeling of ranges is used to trace back the resulting sub-ranges of the system response to their respective parameter origin to identify potential refinement candidates. Based on this capability a refinement design flow is introduced which allows by refinements to improve the robustness and accuracy of cyber physical systems. Identifying refinement candidates is manifold and is demonstrated in an example by assessing a communication receiver SNR metric.