An adult male Eastern Grey kangaroo from a wildlife reserve near Melbourne was submitted for necropsy examination and was discovered to have abnormal dentition. There was no evidence that any premolars or molars had ever been present on the right mandible, whilst the incisors were normal. The age of the kangaroo was estimated to be 1 year 9 months using the right maxillary molars and 2 years 4 months old using the contralateral side, presumably due to the asymmetry of the dental arcades. 'Lumpy jaw', a common periodontal disease of kangaroos, from which Bacteroides sp was cultured, was present on the base of the vertical ramus of the left mandible. Complete unilateral absence of premolar and molar teeth in the mandible of a kangaroo has not been described. This condition affected molar progression in both sets of maxillary molars.


A new analytical method of evaluating the electric field distribution across the conductor surfaces of coplanar waveguides (CPWs) is presented. Here, a series of conformal mappings are used to transform the CPW's geometry and field distribution into a uniform image domain, to facilitate a direct field solution. The cumulative electric flux distribution across each conductor surface within the dielectric substrate is studied, and its effects on coupling and propagation modes are described. Direct solutions for the quasi-static normal electric field components are presented together with their graphical representations. Numerical computations show how the total electric flux terminating on the CPW's conductor surfaces varies in terms of the CPW's geometry and substrate parameters. >


The Caribbean and Latin America is the second most disaster-prone region globally. Between 2000 and 2019, the Caribbean region faced over 170 hurricanes, 148 tropical storms, eight earthquakes, and several floods. Generally, disasters have an adverse economic, social and psychological impact; however, it should be possible to reduce the severity through planning, preparation, and appropriate, timely action. Some natural hazards, such as hurricanes, are cyclical and should only become disasters when there is damage or loss of resources, lives and livelihood. Game-based blended learning focused on prevention and preparation can build knowledge and awareness, contributing to building resilience, specifically, the ability to withstand and recover from natural hazards. This article postulates that resilience should be encouraged from a young age because resilient children can become resilient adults and contributors to a society capable of functioning during crises or difficult situations, including natural hazards and disasters. // The proposed strategy involves a Be Alert Game (BAG) piloted in small groups, with children ages seven to ten, in four countries in the Caribbean (Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). Surveys were administered before and after the game was tested. The feedback from these surveys were used to determine learners' knowledge and approach before and after playing the game. // The game focuses on four natural hazards (hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes), their key features, pre-emptive and preparatory steps, and the potential impact of inaction. Gamers are encouraged to learn about natural events and disaster prevention by participating in interactive quizzes, drag-and-drop activities, researching and engaging with their teachers, family, and friends. The final component of each of the four levels in the game uses a blended approach and is mindful of the local context; thus, the location of the nearest emergency shelters will differ. Multimedia components include images, voice-over, music, sound effects, interactive buttons, animated characters and closed captioning. The developers will use the feedback from the participants to improve on the levels and interactive elements, which are all geared toward building resilience and preparing for natural hazards through game-based open learning.


Abstract Most behavioral models examine adolescent health risk behaviors using a reflective, deliberate social–psychological framework. In this study, adolescent cannabis use is investigated via an expanded social–psychological model of behavioral decision-making: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The aim was to examine the contribution of nondeliberative (impulsivity), developmental (perceived parenting styles), and temperamental (moral norms, mental health, delinquency) factors in adolescent cannabis use. A longitudinal questionnaire with baseline and follow-up measurement (14-day interval) was used. Participants were Sixth Form College students (n = 199) aged 16–18 (mean age = 16.44, SD = −0.55). At baseline (T1), demographics, TPB variables, and additional socio-psychological variables were measured. Fourteen days later (T2) self-reported cannabis use was measured. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the impulsivity subcomponent of lack of premeditation and moral norms predicted self-reported cannabis use behavior. Perceived parental rejection predicted cannabis use intentions. Adolescent cannabis use can be better understood through the expanding of behavioral models to account for nondeliberative, developmental, and temperamental factors. Drug education interventions should aim at developing self-instruction training programs teaching adolescents effortful thinking while family-based interventions should focus on encouraging open parent–adolescent communication which has shown to influence adolescents' cannabis use.


While Pompeian houses vary in size, ground plan, opulence and specific decorative schemes, they do tend to exemplify certain consistent design motivations. The owner of an urban Pompeian house — or domus — of whatever size, seems to aim towards creating a certain kind of domestic space. This paper investigates some aspects of the design and decoration of Pompeian houses of roughly the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, with a particular interest in motives — practical, social, and aspirational — for creating domestic spaces of a particular kind. In doing so three key principles of Pompeian house design and interior decoration will be highlighted: the maximisation of light and space and the display of affluent taste.


Photograph of a large group of soldiers, cooks, and other men in front of a row of Army trucks and vehicles, with a stone building in the background. They are identified as CCC Company 872, Brownwood, Texas.


Introduction: Complete resection of metastatic lesions may offer a survival advantage in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Laparoscopy might play a role in this arena by decreasing operative morbidity and shortening convalescence. Technique: An 84-year-old woman presented with a 5-cm interaortocaval mass on routine computed tomography scan 5 years after margin-negative right radical nephrectomy for pT3aN0Mx RCC. There were no other apparent metastases. A five-port approach was employed for laparoscopic excision of the interaortocaval mass. Operating time was 174 minutes. Estimated blood loss was 700 mL. Hospital stay was 2 days. Time for complete convalescence was 2 weeks. Histopathology confirmed metastatic RCC. The patient remains recurrencefree at 6 months. Role in Urological Practice: A laparoscopic approach for excision of RCC metastases in the vicinity of the great vessels is technically feasible. This may even be the preferred approach in the hands of advanced laparoscopists given the potential for rapid recovery.


Heat-inactivated murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) stimulates cellular DNA synthesis in WME, NMG, 3T3, WgIA, chick and NIK-8 cells, but active or u.v.-irradiated MCMV does not. The stimulation of DNA synthesis in NIL-8 and chick cells was studied in detail. We found that both the nuclear and the mitochondrial DNA synthesis were stimulated in these cells. There was no virus DNA synthesis during the period we studied (48 h). The stimulation of nuclear DNA synthesis was about threefold in NIL-8 and 2.5-fold in chick cells as measured by the rate of incorporation of 3H-thymidine (3H-dThd) in the CsCl fractions which banded at the density of cell DNA. The stimulation was about 9.5-fold in NIL-8 and 1.7-fold in chick cells as detected by autoradiography. There was a 3-fold and a 2.2-fold increase in the degree of incorporation of 3H-dThd into mitochondrial DNA of NIL-8 and chick cells, respectively. The amount of mitochondrial DNA obtained in infected cells of both kinds was about twice that in control cells. The synthesis of mitochondrial DNA was also stimulated by a factor of 2 in the thymidine kinaseless 3T3 cells which incorporate exogenous thymidine exclusively into mitochondrial DNA. There were no MCMV specific antigens detectable by immunofluorescence 5 h after infection, but diffuse nuclear fluorescence could be demonstrated 24 h after infection. Our results indicate that the heat-inactivated virus penetrates the cells, stimulates host DNA synthesis and induces synthesis of early MCMV antigens.


The data presented herein support the North American orthopoxviruses (NA OPXV) in a sister relationship to all other currently described Orthopoxvirus (OPXV) species. This phylogenetic analysis reaffirms the identification of the NA OPXV as close relatives of "Old World" (Eurasian and African) OPXV and presents high support for deeper nodes within the Chordopoxvirinae family. The natural reservoir host(s) for many of the described OPXV species remains unknown although a clear virus-host association exists between the genus OPXV and several mammalian taxa. The hypothesized host associations and the deep divergence of the OPXV/NA OPXV clades depicted in this study may reflect the divergence patterns of the mammalian faunas of the Old and New World and reflect a more ancient presence of OPXV on what are now the American continents. Genes from the central region of the poxvirus genome are generally more conserved than genes from either end of the linear genome due to functional constraints imposed on viral replication abilities. The relatively slower evolution of these genes may more accurately reflect the deeper history among the poxvirus group, allowing for robust placement of the NA OPXV within Chordopoxvirinae. Sequence data for nine genes were compiled from three NA OPXV strains plus an additional 50 genomes collected from Genbank. The current, gene sequence based phylogenetic analysis reaffirms the identification of the NA OPXV as the nearest relatives of "Old World" OPXV and presents high support for deeper nodes within the Chordopoxvirinae family. Additionally, the substantial genetic distances that separate the currently described NA OPXV species indicate that it is likely that many more undescribed OPXV/NA OPXV species may be circulating among wild animals in North America.


Numerical methods in spin-foam models have significantly advanced in the last few years, yet challenges remain in efficiently extracting results for amplitudes with many quantum degrees of freedom. In this paper we sketch a proposal for a ``hybrid algorithm'' that would use both the full quantum amplitude and its asymptotic approximation in the relevant regimes. As a first step towards the algorithm, we derive a new representation of the partition function where each spin-foam vertex possesses its own coherent data, such that it can be individually asymptotically approximated. We do this through the implementation of gluing constraints between vertices, which we study numerically. We further derive an asymptotic expression for the constraints for arbitrary boundary data, including data for which there are no critical points. From this new representation we conjecture an intermediate quasi-geometric spin-foam regime describing a superposition of semi-classical vertices glued in a non-matching way via the gluing constraints.


This study attempts to analyse the economic and social situation of children living in child‐headed households using a poverty analysis framework. The study used family of indexes developed by Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (1984) commonly known as FGT measures to measure aggregate poverty and micro‐econometric method to uncover the various determinants of poverty status of children in child‐headed households. Quantitative method (Household survey) was used to generate information. From the descriptive statistics we found out that the average monthly per capita income is about half of the poverty line and the average level of consumption is also by far below the poverty line. We found out that about 77.3% of the total CHHs are below the absolute poverty line. This figure is far below from the national urban average poverty level, reflecting the miserable living standard of CHHs. The difference in level of income and consumption between male‐headed and female‐headed households is very high. Close to 90% of female CHHs are living below the poverty line while the percentage for male CHHs is 59%. Gender differential is obvious in CHHs, indicating that female child headship leads to low level of welfare. From the regression result we found out that sex, size of household and age are determinants of child poverty. Male CHHs are less exposed to poverty compared to females. Household size increases the probability of falling into poverty, while its square reduced the probability of falling into poverty indicating the presence of economies of scale at the household level. The age of the head shows that the risk of poverty increases as age increases but at a decreasing rate as indicated by the coefficient on its squared variable. Likewise, increase in mean household age statistically is likely to worsen poverty.


Objective: The hypotensive effect and the time to attain the maximum antihypertensive effect (stabilization time) of losartan/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) combination therapy and therapy with a maximal dose of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients who failed to achieve adequate blood pressure (BP) control on a medium-dose of ARBs were compared by analyzing exponential decay functions using daily serial morning home BP measurements. Methods: Essential hypertensive patients treated with a medium dose of ARB, in whom a target home SBP (135 mmHg) was not achieved, were randomized into two groups: a combination group (n = 110) and a maximal-dose ARB group (n = 111). Results: The combination therapy provided additional reduction of 5.2 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.8 to 8.5 mmHg, P = 0.003] in home SBP over the maximal-dose ARB therapy in 8 weeks after randomization. A greater reduction in the home SBP values was seen in the combination group than in the maximal-dose ARB group from the second day after randomization on the basis of a linear mixed model. The maximum antihypertensive effect and stabilization time for home SBP were 10.9 ± 5.0 mmHg and 7.3 ± 29.7 days, respectively, in the combination group, whereas the corresponding values in the maximal-dose ARB group were 7.9 ± 2.6  mmHg and 122.3 ± 42.7 days, respectively, on the basis of a nonlinear mixed model. Conclusions: Changing from a medium dose of ARB monotherapy to combination therapy was more effective in the reduction of home SBP and achieved goal BP more rapidly than increasing the ARB dose. Home BP measurement is a useful tool for characterizing the antihypertensive effects of drugs.


Wave energy, being a nascent source of power generation, has lacked the infrastructure and testing facilities necessary for its streamlined development. The variability in the generated power demands certification of Wave Energy Converters (WEC) and smoothing of the power before connection to a power grid. This paper presents the development of a grid emulator by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) to test the grid compatibility of WECs, enabling developers to test their device performance before moving forward to full grid connection. The grid emulator would enable testing of WECs under different grid disturbances as well as provide isolation between the WECs and the grid during initial testing. Also detailed are the initial specifications of the full scale grid emulator, its proposed location, and functionality. This paper presents the plan and preliminary setup for an in-lab hardware-in-the-loop testing of the grid emulator. The topology of the converter has been detailed, initial simulation results have been shared and plans for further simulations have been illustrated.


The principal role of embedded software is the transformation of  data and the interaction with the physical world stimulus. The main concern in developing embedded software for network application is the lack of published best practice software architecture for optimizing performance by means of reducing protocol processing overhead, memory usage, and power consumption. This paper presents the implementation,  operation and performance evaluation of the portable network traffic monitoring system (PNtMS) on an embedded Linux platform. The system has been designed to capture network packets information from the network and performs some statistical analysis, which includes providing data on the volume and types of traffic transferred within a LAN, traffic generated per node, number of traffic going through or comming from a system or application which is causing bottleneck, and the level of peak traffic. These data are then stored into the log files, and the traffic information can be shown through web browser or onboard LCD. Result shows that PNtMS is performing at par with an existing network protocol analyzer with minimal usage of RAM ( 578  KB), low end processor (133MHz) and storage(less than 1GB).


Photographs are shown which are the images of atoms of helium, neon and argon as obtained by x-ray diffraction, magnified about 2×108 times. The images are obtained by photographing a rotating template whose shape is calculated by a mathematical transformation of our measured values of the x-rays scattered by the respective gases. This mathematical-mechanical procedure corresponds to the lens which forms the image when a microscope is used. The images formed by our procedure should be true representations of the electron distributions in the atom, except for the limited resolving power and certain minor aberrations. The photographs show the helium atom as a diffusely continuous region filled with electricity. In neon, the inner group of K electrons is clearly distinguishable from the L electron group. The resolving power is insufficient to distinguish the K and L groups of electrons in argon, but does separate these from the M electrons. The appearance of these atoms is in good accord with modern quantum theory of atomic structure.


The research in this dissertation is focused on the question what processes decentralized governments (i.e., municipalities and provinces) have to overcome in order to intervene in the Dutch and European political arena and to acquire attention for their interests. In the introduction (ch. 1) PA is defined and related to regionalism. The chapters 2, 3, 4 and 6 are based on 41 in-depth interviews with prolific subnational PA professionals and PA practitioners (i.e., subnational politicians and officials temporarily entrusted with PA messages), together representing 93 functions (by career), connected with subnational interests. The interviews were focused on the arenas (ch. 2), on the internal and external organization of PA in decentralized governments (ch. 3 and 4) and on the competences of PA professionals (ch. 6). Chapter 5 – profiling the PA professional: importance and self-evaluation of PA competences - is based on quantitative research of PA professionals who were questioned about their demography, their organization and the way they are judging PA competences, also in relation to themselves. Chapter 7 is the general discussion.
Data-analyzing points out that (a) communication with the national arena is complex because of minimal susceptibility for subnational interests, in particular as result of Randstad-dominance; the European political arena is - because of program financing - more susceptible but now national interests may frustrate subnational PA. Communication in the municipal and provincial home organization (b) is determined by the extent PA is embedded and accepted, also in the region by (potential) regional stakeholders. Cooperation (in the region) with private and other (public) stakeholders is commonly undisputed but in the national and European political arenas subnational cooperation is oftentimes fragmentized, because of self-interest, opportunism and a money-drive attitude. PA professionals, including PA practitioners are (c) diplomats and fighters at the same time, enriched with competences in local, regional, national and European arena-knowledge, in communicative and political skills and in attitude. However, knowledge-competences are weakly developed. Regionalism is less dominant than expected.


Token uniformity is commonly observed in transformer-based models, in which different tokens share a large proportion of similar information after going through stacked multiple self-attention layers in a transformer. In this paper, we propose to use the distribution of singular values of outputs of each transformer layer to characterise the phenomenon of token uniformity and empirically illustrate that a less skewed singular value distribution can alleviate the `token uniformity' problem. Base on our observations, we define several desirable properties of singular value distributions and propose a novel transformation function for updating the singular values. We show that apart from alleviating token uniformity, the transformation function should preserve the local neighbourhood structure in the original embedding space. Our proposed singular value transformation function is applied to a range of transformer-based language models such as BERT, ALBERT, RoBERTa and DistilBERT, and improved performance is observed in semantic textual similarity evaluation and a range of GLUE tasks. Our source code is available at https://github.com/hanqi-qi/tokenUni.git.


A superconducting induction generator with HTS bulk magnet is presented. The generator has two rotors. The outer rotor is made of a copper shell and the inner rotor consists of HTS bulk magnets. The outer rotor rotates at higher angular velocity than that of the rotating magnetic field generated by the stator but the inner rotor rotates at the same angular velocity with the stator field. The induced armature voltage by HTS bulk magnets can compensate reactive armature currents, which improves the power factor of the generator close to unity. A 2 kVA induction generator with permanent magnet in place of HTS bulk magnet is manufactured and tested. This has proved the advantages of the proposed generator.


It is important to define meaningful and interpretable automatic evaluation metrics for open-domain dialog research. Standard language generation metrics have been shown to be ineffective for dialog. This paper introduces the FED metric (fine-grained evaluation of dialog), an automatic evaluation metric which uses DialoGPT, without any fine-tuning or supervision. It also introduces the FED dataset which is constructed by annotating a set of human-system and human-human conversations with eighteen fine-grained dialog qualities. The FED metric (1) does not rely on a ground-truth response, (2) does not require training data and (3) measures fine-grained dialog qualities at both the turn and whole dialog levels. FED attains moderate to strong correlation with human judgement at both levels.


Objective. Final evaluation of the longterm safety of rituximab (RTX) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) up to 11 years. Methods. Pooled observed case analysis of data from patients with moderate to severe, active RA in a global clinical trial program. Results. As of September 2012, 3595 patients received a mean of 4 courses (range 1–20) of RTX over 11 years [14,816 patient-years (PY)]. Of these, 1246 patients had > 5 years of followup (8970 PY). A pooled placebo population (n = 818) was included in the analysis. The overall serious infection event (SIE) rate was 3.76/100 PY (2.71/100 PY in patients observed for > 5 yrs) and comparable with rates reported previously at 9.5 years (3.94/100 PY and 3.26/100 PY, respectively). SIE rates continued to be similar before and during/after development of low immunoglobulin levels, and serious opportunistic infections remained rare. Rates of cardiac events remained consistent with previous analysis and with rates in the general RA population. No increased risk of malignancy over time was observed. Conclusion. This final report demonstrates that RTX remains well tolerated over time and multiple courses. No new safety risks were identified and there was no increase in the rate of any types of adverse events with prolonged exposure to RTX during 11 years of observation.


This paper develops a measure of efficiency when data have been aggregated. Unlike the most commonly used efficiency measures, our estimator handles the heteroskedasticity created by aggregation appropriately. Our estimator is compared to estimators currently used to measure school efficiency. Theoretical results are supported by a Monte Carlo experiment. Results show that for samples containing small schools (sample average may be about 100 students per school but sample includes several schools with about 30 students), the proposed aggregate data estimator performs better than the commonly used OLS and only slightly worse than the multilevel estimator. Thus, when school officials are unable to gather multilevel or disaggregate data, the aggregate data estimator proposed here should be used. When disaggregate data is available, standardizing the value-added estimator should be considered.


Estimates of pig loss from Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) determine changes in economic welfare. Hog and pork prices rise, so aggregate returns to hog growers increase. For a 3% annual pig loss, growers gain $1.2 billion annually, while for a 6% annual pig loss, the gain is $2.3 billion. Losses to infected growers are smaller than gains to uninfected growers. Annual returns to hog slaughter fall by $481 to $929 million. Retail value-added falls by $1.1 to $2.2 billion. Annual consumer surplus also declines from $300 to $600 million. The estimated net annual decrease for U.S. economic welfare from PEDv summed across all effects ranges from $900 million to $1.8 billion.


Specialized encyclopedias are written by experts in the field and provide a quick introduction to key terms, topics, schools of thought, and personalities.


Information systems (IS) have been recognized as major tools to be utilized in supporting decision-makers in enterprises worldwide. However, despite of all the recent advancements in developing rational tools of information and communication technologies (ICT) for decision-making, e.g. decision support system (DSS) and business intelligence (BI), intuition still plays major role in solving problems. Thus, the purpose of this study is to expand knowledge and understanding on the concept of intuition and its systematic use, combined with visualization tools in today's globally competitive, uncertain and dynamic business environment. The focus is therefore to investigate decision-making problems related to engineering design, where decision makers face uncertainties in complex circumstances and the additional constraint of time.Furthermore, as the topic of intuition may be investigated from different perspectives, there has been a demand for multidisciplinary research on the topic. In response to this demand, a qualitative research method is selected to collect data and literature review on the latest research in psychology and creativity proves that intuition cannot always be trusted to lead to the optimal decision. A case study in engineering design is then given to validate the assumption which is, using human intuition and creativity in a balance with visualization tools is effective and beneficial in enterprise decision making.The results show that the permanent solution to creative decision-making would ideally be an integration of intuition and rational tools, to be studied in the framework of visualization tools. Furthermore, the visualization tool for decision-making was accordingly presented as a powerful Information Technology (IT) tool in dealing with decision-making problems.


An Ontario-based corporation is acting as a general contractor for about 50 Canadian firms interested in the international marker for health care services and products. After less than 1 year of operation, the firm had identified potential opportunities for Canadian firms to sell their expertise in providing primary health care services and developing national disease-prevention programs. Another promising niche for Canadian firms and researchers in the global marketplace is the development and sale of rehabilitation products.


Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of copper interconnection in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidizer based alkaline slurry was investigated. The new model is put forward, which is based on the characteristic of H2O2, chemical kinetics and mechanical removal. This properties of H2O2 can be effectively compensated the defect of surface topology during the process of polishing. Researcher previous study has shown that the surface is largely copper metal with Cu2O at low H2O2 concentrations and largely CuO at high H2O2 concentrations. Cu2O is more easily removed by both chemical and mechanical processes than CuO. During the CMP process, as the oxidizer concentration increases, the removal rate goes up initially followed by a gradual decay. This characteristic of oxidizer is used to achieve copper surface global planarity. The surface planarity was achieved by removing high area on the surface more quickly relative to the low area, because the concentration of Cu2O in the low area as the passivation film is more than the high area. Meanwhile the passivation film of the low area is thicker than the high area. In order to achieve polishing process optimization, the influence of pH adjustment and pressure, are also taken into consideration. Combining both RR and PE, the optimal H2O2 concentration and pressures are in range 1.0 ~1.5 vol% and 0.04 ~0.07 mpa, respectively. The roughness of surface which is measured by AFM is 0.49 after CMP.


234 Background: The objective of this translational research was to investigate the use of real-time novel three-dimension, quantitative ultrasound-based spectroscopic imaging of the prostate as a means of cancer detection.

METHODS
Fourteen patients with T2-3 prostate cancer underwent a 6-9 MHz trans-rectal ultrasound scan of the prostate prior to radical prostatectomy. Equally spaced axial ultrasound images (0.5 cm separation) corresponding elasticity and spectroscopy data were collected in each patient. Colour-coded spectroscopic parametric maps of 0-Mhz intercept (0-Mhz), mid-band fit (MBF) and slope of line of best fit (slope) were generated indicating where the disease in the prostate gland is hypothetically located. Quantitative data (% volume of cancer over the prostate gland) were compared to whole-mount radical prostatectomy histopathology maps to determine the sensitivity and accuracy in parametrically delineating prostate cancer.

RESULTS
Representative data indicate spectral changes were associated with the presence of co-incident disease as located on correlative histopathology whole mount sections. Of the 14 patients enrolled, 7 have been analyzed and presented here. The mean % difference between 0-MHz and MBF, with H&E, was 14% (SD 38%) and 21% (SD 24%), respectively. Gross areas of disease were readily visualized in ultrasound parametric maps and corresponded to a maximum 10dB decrease in 0-MHz or MBF. Parametric maps generated from the spectral slope offered no discrimination of disease. There were differences in scatterer size estimates and scatter concentration estimates between putative disease areas and the remaining tissue.

CONCLUSIONS
Initial results suggest that there is good correlation between spectroscopic maps with disease on whole-mount specimens. This method may ultimately permit ultrasound-guided targeted biopsies to improve detection rates and non-invasive assessment of disease for radiotherapy planning.


This paper considers sparsity-aware adaptive compressed sensing acquisition and the joint reconstruction of intraand inter-correlated signals in the wireless sensor networks via distributed compressed sensing. Due to the different sparsity order of the finite-length signals, we develop an adaptive sensing framework based on the sparsity order, in which sensor readings are sampled according to its own sparsity order measure. On the decoder side, utilizing a distributed compressive sensing scheme, a joint reconstruction method is proposed to recover signal ensemble even in imperfect data communication. Moreover, we explore that by adapting the sampling rate of the sensed signals, not only the whole required number of measurements is reduced, but also the reconstruction performance is significantly improved. Numerical experiments verify that our proposed algorithm achieves higher reconstruction accuracy with a smaller number of required transmission, and with lower complexity as compared to those of the state of the art CS methods.


This paper presents and overview, challenges and some recent results on channel modeling of the phased array type reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) in the millimeter Wave band (mmWave, 30-300 GHz) networks. The RISs have been under intense investigation lately for their ability to provide control on the mmWave sparse channels. This has been shown to improve the coverage and signal power levels in environments where line-of-sight (LoS) paths cannot be guaranteed. The gain properties of RISs in LoS channels are analyzed with respect to carrier frequency and the size of the RIS. It is shown that the RISs provide the best gain compared to LoS links at lower frequencies due to the larger RIS sizes for a fixed number of antenna elements. On the other hand, high gain RISs tend to push the near field far away from the array in the low frequencies. These observations mean that different parts of the mmWave band have advantages and disadvantages when utilizing RIS assisted channels.


Solutions of four moss powders, namely: Calymperes afzelii Sw., Thuidium gratum (P. Beauv.) Jaeg., Bryum coronatum Schwaegr. and Barbula lambarenensis (Hook) Spreng., were evaluated for insecticidal activity against maize stem borers. The aqueous solutions were smeared periodically on mature maize plants in the field. All mosses tested showed some toxic activity against the established maize stem borers, deterrence regarding further infestation and some influence on the distribution of the borers. C. afzelii and B. coronatum showed encouraging toxic activities, deterrent activities and promptness that were better or just as good as with Tricel, the control inorganic insecticide. The order of activity of the moss solutions was C. afzelii> B. coronatum >T. gratum= B. lambarenensis. The incidence of stem borer in the most preferred internode, i.e. III, was reduced significantly by C. afzelii, T. gratum and B. coronatum treatments, while B. lambarenensis like, Tricel, restricted the incidence of borer holes to internodes III and IV. The advantages proffered by the window of utilizing mosses as pesticide, namely: availability, safety, low cost, ease of application, as well as, the disadvantages, i.e. laborious serial repetitions, was highlighted.


Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health burden with high economic costs and an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in healthy systems (CVD). Nevertheless, in the development of atherosclerosis, chronic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction are critical events; both are present in CKD and HD patients. Thrombomodulin (TM) is a transmembrane glycoprotein originally located on the vascular endothelium that is expressed on the cell surface. In natural human anticoagulation systems, TM on vascular endothelial cells is a significant molecule. In atherosclerosis, TM has specific impacts on cell proliferation, adhesion and inflammation, all of which are essential measures. Aims: The aim of the present study is to detect the relationship between thrombomodulin and atherosclerosis in chronic kidney disease patients. Materials and Methods Thrombomodulin (TM) was assessed in blood specimens of 38 patients with CKD (19 patients with CKD who did not begin HD (Group 2) and 19 patients with CKD who were on regular HD for more than 6 months (Group 1) and compared to 19 control subjects (Group 3) (Control Group). Results: The mean value of Thrombomodulin (TM) in the control group (430.2±102), the mean value in the CKD predialysis group (521.1±198) and The mean value in the CKD on HD group (729.4±513),thus The mean values Thrombomodulin (TM cells in CKD on HD group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P=0.00), and The mean value of Thrombomodulin (TM) was higher in the CKD group for HD than in the CKD group for predialysis, and there was a substantial difference among the CKD group for predialysis and the CKD group for HD (P=0.00), but there was no substantial difference among the CKD group for predialysis and the control group (p=0.4). There is a high significant direct correlation between Thrombomodulin (TM) and CIM in the studied groups r=(0.618)and p(<0.01). .Conclusions: In CKD patients, not only is Thrombomodulin (TM) strongly extended, but this expansion is correlated with preclinical atherosclerosis. In the CKD (predialysis and regular HD) groups, there was an independent association between thrombomodulin (TM, age, hsCRP) and IMT.


Abstract In 2020, during excavations in the Wadi al-Ghozza in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, archaeologists from the French Archaeological Mission to the Eastern Desert of Egypt discovered a well-preserved Flavian praesidium. This small and unusually shaped fort, identified in ostraca found in the fortress as Berkou (Βɛρκου), lay along a track leading from ancient Kaine (Qena) to the imperial quarries at Porphyrites. The fort lay over the remains of a Ptolemaic village and incorporated elements from the water system of the older settlement. This article presents the results of those excavations, including an overview of the fort's architecture and associated finds, as well as a discussion of its role in the regional transportation and security network that supported Roman exploitation of the nearby porphyry quarries in the 1st c. CE.


Poland entered the process that led to the agreement of the Lisbon Treaty with a commitment to retain the advantageous conditions it was awarded under the Nice Treaty. The nationalist credentials of the current right-wing leadership in Poland produced some lively disagreements with EU partners, but much of this was political rhetoric. Poland endorsed the Treaty with some delay, but gained some advantages from its vigorous pursuit of national interests.


OBJECTIVES
Deprescribing could reduce the risk of harm from inappropriate medications. We characterized patients' acceptance of deprescribing recommendations from pharmacists, primary care providers (PCPs), and specialists relative to the original prescriber's professional background.

STUDY DESIGN
Secondary analysis of national Patient Perceptions of Discontinuation survey responses from Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care patients with 5 or more prescriptions.

METHODS
We created 4 relative deprescribing authority (RDA) outcome groups from responses to 2 yes/no (Y/N) items: (1) "Imagine…a specialist…prescribed a medicine. Would you be comfortable if your PCP told you to stop...it?" and (2) "Imagine…your VA PCP prescribed a medicine. Would you be comfortable if a VA clinical pharmacist [Pharm] told you to stop…it?" Multinomial regression associated patient factors with RDA.

RESULTS
Respondents (n = 803; adjusted response rate, 52%) were predominantly men (85%) and older than 65 years (60%). A total of 281 (38%) respondents said no to both questions (PCP-N/Pharm-N) and 146 (20%) said yes to both (PCP-Y/Pharm-Y). A total of 155 (21%) said no to a PCP stopping a specialist's medicine but yes to a pharmacist stopping a PCP's (PCP-N/Pharm-Y). A total of 153 (21%) said that a PCP could stop a specialist's medication but a pharmacist could not stop a PCP's (PCP-Y/Pharm-N). In adjusted models (reference, PCP-N/Pharm-N), those with greater medication concerns were more likely to respond PCP-Y/Pharm-Y (odds ratio [OR], 1.45; 95% CI, 1.09-1.92). Those with more interest in shared decision making were more likely to respond PCP-N/Pharm-Y (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.04-1.92). Those with greater trust in their PCP were less likely to respond PCP-N/Pharm-Y (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.34-0.81) but more likely to respond PCP-Y/Pharm-N (OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.31-3.56) or PCP-Y/Pharm-Y (OR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.13-2.98).

CONCLUSIONS
Understanding patient preferences of RDA can facilitate effective design and implementation of deprescribing interventions.


This study investigated the acquisition of specialized vocabulary from L1 and L2 textbook reading by 64 Slovak high school students who were intermediate or advanced users of English. The students were divided into two groups: One group read the academic texts in their L1, the other group in their L2. In a posttest and a delayed posttest, they were asked to orally recall the meanings of 12 technical words that appeared in the texts. The word meanings recalled by the students immediately after reading and 1 week later were examined in terms of their breadth and depth. Results showed that although the L2-instructed students acquired the meanings of the specialized vocabulary items to a considerable degree, they still differed significantly from their L1-instructed counterparts in several respects: They could recall fewer word meanings after the reading; they acquired the words to a lesser depth; and after a week, their knowledge of the words faded more rapidly than that of the L1-instructed participants. The significance of the findings for L2 vocabulary acquisition and bilingual education is discussed.


Supercritical circular Couette flow devices with a suspension in the annulus between an inner rotating cylinder and an outer fixed cylinder are used for continuous mixing of suspensions and for rotating filtration. The motion of particles in suspension depends on both centrifugal sedimentation and transport due to the vortical motion of Taylor vortices, a centrifugal flow instability that results in a stack of toroidal vortices in the annulus. We have modeled the motion of particles in Taylor Couette flow using computational particle tracking in an analytic velocity field. The fluid velocity field was based on an analytic model that has been shown to accurately represent the flow field just above the transition to supercritical Taylor vortex flow. Particles of various densities were computationally placed in the analytic flow field and tracked to determine the preferential steady state particle positions. Since the centrifugal field goes to zero near the outer cylinder, particles near the outer cylinder are easily carried by the Taylor vortices toward the inner cylinder where they are exposed to the centrifugal field. Due to their density, particles near the inner cylinder centrifugally sediment outward. As a result, particles that start near the inner cylinder or the outer cylinder both tend toward a limit cycle orbit resulting in a region of clear fluid near the inner and outer cylinders and at the centers of the vortices.


In this study, weight optimization of the prismatic core sandwich panel under transverse and longitudinal loadings has been independently investigated. To solve the optimization problems corresponding to the mentioned loadings, a new Improved Constrained Differential Evolution (ICDE) algorithm based on the multi-objective constraint handling method is implemented. The constraints of the problems are buckling load and yield stress. By comparing the results of the ICDE with those obtained by the other evolutionary algorithms based on the penalty function method in the previous studies, it is discerned that the results of the transverse loading obtained in this study are equal to those of the previous works, but the results of the ICDE in the longitudinal loading are better.


Background and Objective: There is no report on the effects of horseback riding on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of 4 weeks of horseback riding on anxiety, depression, self-esteem, attention, and learning disorder in children with ADHD.
Material and Methods: Subjects comprised a convenience sample of 10 children aged 10-12 years with ADHD and 10 children without ADHD. Horseback riding sessions were performed 2 times (40 minutes/day) per week for 4 weeks. Before and after the horseback riding program, we measured the children's anxiety, depression, self-esteem, attention, and learning disorder. The pre-test and post-test scores were analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance.
Results: After participating in the 4-week horseback riding program, anxiety (p = 0.013), depression (p = 0.007), attention (p < 0.001), and learning disorder (p < 0.001) were significantly improved in the ADHD group compared to the control group. However, self-esteem was not significantly different between the two groups (p=0.096).
Conclusion: These results indicate that the 4-week horseback riding program used in this study was very effective for significantly improving anxiety, depression, and attention in children with ADHD.


This paper describes an experimental method for the estimation of nonlinearity, calibration and testing of the different types of thermocouples (J and K) using modified Elman recurrent neural networks model based Back-Propagation Algorithms (BPA) learning. Thermocouples sensors are nonlinear in behavior nature but require an output that is linear. The linear behavior approximation is accepted, for a given accuracy level, noise and measurement errors are always present. Therefore, neural networks techniques are frequently required to minimize these effects. The problem of estimating the sensor's input–output characteristics is being increasingly tackled using software techniques such as Turbo C++ language. A neural networks and a data acquisition parallel port interface board with designed signal conditioning unit are used for data optimization and to collect experimental data, respectively. After the successful training completion of the neural networks, it is then used as a neural linearizer to calculate the temperature from the thermocouple's output voltage


plasma and urine testosterone incremental changes after 4 days ofHCG for all patients, suggesting either urine or plasma testosterone measurements under these conditions are suitable indices of testicular function. Basal levels of urine testosterone were no direct guide as to expected response to 4 days of HCG. Eight children with normal pubertal development on follow-up and 3 children with constitutional delayed puberty had base-line plasma testosterone and 4-hour levels after a single injection of HCG (1500 units), directly proportional to their maturational status (Tanner I-V). The less mature (Tanner I-II) had very low basal plasma testosterone levels which did not change significantly at 4 hours. Good responses 24 to 48 hours after the single injection ofHCG were, however, shown. This may be a useful altemative test of gonadal function to the 4-day stimulation test.


The present study investigated the correlation between speakers' self-reported Big Five personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience) and their representational gesture production. In addition, possible interactions between the speakers' personality traits and the social situation, specifically whether the gestures could be seen by the listener or not, were examined. We found that extraversion and neuroticism both positively correlated with representational gesture production. We also found an interaction between extraversion and visibility condition. While speakers produce more gestures when their audience can see them than when their audience cannot, this difference is smaller for speakers who report high levels of extraversion than it is for other speakers. The findings suggest that both the personality of the speaker as well as aspects of the social situation are important contributors to how frequently speakers gesture.


Telomere length (TL) is associated with several aging-related diseases. Here, we present a DNA methylation estimator of TL (DNAmTL) based on 140 CpGs. Leukocyte DNAmTL is applicable across the entire age spectrum and is more strongly associated with age than measured leukocyte TL (LTL) (r ~-0.75 for DNAmTL versus r ~ -0.35 for LTL). Leukocyte DNAmTL outperforms LTL in predicting: i) time-to-death (p=2.5E-20), ii) time-to-coronary heart disease (p=6.6E-5), iii) time-to-congestive heart failure (p=3.5E-6), and iv) association with smoking history (p=1.21E-17). These associations are further validated in large scale methylation data (n=10k samples) from the Framingham Heart Study, Women's Health Initiative, Jackson Heart Study, InChianti, Lothian Birth Cohorts, Twins UK, and Bogalusa Heart Study. Leukocyte DNAmTL is also associated with measures of physical fitness/functioning (p=0.029), age-at-menopause (p=0.039), dietary variables (omega 3, fish, vegetable intake), educational attainment (p=3.3E-8) and income (p=3.1E-5). Experiments in cultured somatic cells show that DNAmTL dynamics reflect in part cell replication rather than TL per se. DNAmTL is not only an epigenetic biomarker of replicative history of cells, but a useful marker of age-related pathologies that are associated with it.


Fatty acid content and enzymes of fatty acid metabolism were studied in overwintering larvae of two cold-hardy gall insects, the freeze-tolerant fly Eurosta solidaginis and the freeze-avoiding moth Epiblema scudderiana. Both species increased the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids during the winter. Whereas total lipid content did not change in Eurosta solidaginis, a decrease in total lipids over the winter in Epiblema scudderiana suggested the use of fat reserves to maintain basal metabolism. Changes in the activities of enzymes of fat oxidation correlated with these observations in Eurosta solidaginis: hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, carnitine-palmitoyl transferase, and acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase activities all decreased during overwintering. In Epiblema scudderiana the same activities were constant, decreased, or increased. These activities were, however, higher in the fat-oxidizing, freeze-avoiding species than in the freeze-tolerant larvae. Lipid content in Epiblema scudderiana increased again by early spring, possibly indicating this pool as the fate of carbon derived from the spring clearance of the cryoprotectant glycerol pool. Decreased activities of malic enzyme and ATP-citrate lyase suggested decreased potential for fatty acid synthesis in both species over the winter, consistent with the cessation offeeding in the fall. The potential for ketone body metabolism, measured as the activity of P-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, increased greatly in both species during overwintering; however, levels ofβ-hydroxybutyrate remained less than 0.35 μmol/g wet mass throughout the study period. These data indicate that changes to storage lipid profiles in order to maintain fluidity and to lipid-metabolizing enzyme activities may play important roles in insect cold hardiness.


As more and more people want to communicate with each other vividly, video encoder application will be very popular on mobile devices. But it is also a resource-killer application. Meanwhile the mobile devices are powered by battery, and energy resource is very important for mobile devices. So when using this application on mobile devices, we must consider energy conserving. The computation offloading method is to offload some computations of application from mobile device to powerful server around mobile device via wireless network. So it can relieve the resource constraint and save energy. In this paper, we use the computation offloading method to H.264 video encoder on mobile device and propose three offloading schemes. Then we apply them to encode different video sequences. Finally, we analyze the efficiency of offloading schemes with different encoder parameters and different video sequences.


In Thinking Outside the Book, Augusta Rohrbach works through the increasing convergences between digital humanities and literary studies to explore the meaning and primacy of the book as a literary, material, and cultural artifact. Rohrbach assembles a rather unlikely cohort of nineteenth-century women writers--Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Sojourner Truth, Hannah Crafts, Augusta Evans, and Mary Chesnut--to consider the publishing culture of their period from the perspective of our current digital age, bringing together scholarly concepts from both print culture and new media studies. In nineteenth-century America, women from a variety of racial and class affiliations were bombarding the print market with their literary productions, taking advantage of burgeoning rates of literacy and advances in publishing technology. Their work challenged prevailing modes of authorship and continues to do so today. Each chapter of Thinking Outside the Book positions a focal figure as both paradigmatic and problematic within the context of key terms that define the study of the book. In lieu of terms such as literacy, authorship, publication, edition, and editor, Rohrbach develops an alternate typology that includes mediation, memory, history, testimony, and loss. Recognizing that the field spans radio, cinema, television, and the Internet, she draws comparisons to the present day, when Web 2.0 allows writers from varying backgrounds and positions to seek out readers without "gatekeepers" limiting their exposure. More than a literary history, this book takes up theories of recovery, literacy, authorship, narrative, the book, and new media in connection with race, gender, class, and region.


In Paper I of this investigation a new calculus for functions of noncommuting operators was developed, based on the notion of mapping of operators onto c-number functions. With the help of this calculus, a general theory is formulated, in the present paper, of phase-space representation of quantum-mechanical systems. It is shown that there is a whole class of such representations, one associated with each type of mapping, the simplest one being the well-known representation due to Weyl. For each representation, the quantum-mechanical expectation value of an operator is found to be expressible in the form of a phase-space average of classical statistical mechanics. The phase-space distribution functions are, however, not true probabilities, in general. The phase-space forms of the main quantum-mechanical equations of motion are obtained and are found to have the form of a generalized Liouville equation. The phase-space form of the Bloch equation for the density operator of a quantum system in thermal equilibrium is also derived. The generalized characteristic functions of boson systems are defined and their main properties are studied. The equations of motion for the characteristic functions are also derived. As an illustration of the theory, a generalized stochastic description of a quantized electromagnetic field is obtained.


This paper presents manufacturing process of laser-shaped thick-film resistors as well as their chosen electrical, geometrical, microstructural and stability properties. Test structures were based on commercially available conductive and resistive pastes deposited on Al2O3 substrates. Resistors made in standard screen printing process after firing were patterned using laser beam in order to minimize their planar dimensions to tenths of millimeter and below. Prepared samples were subjected to number of electrical tests and some characteristic parameters like temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) were calculated based on these measurements. Test samples were also exposed to long-term thermal ageing. Moreover the laser profilometer was used for three-dimensional characterization of components. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used for the microstructural analysis and the EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) of samples is given.


Processing of continuous data streams is emerging as an expanding area of research and concerns the processing of information from sources that produce data in a fast rate and in a continuous way. For example, information from sensory devices can be considered as a continuously expanding and unlimited sequence of data items without any boundaries. Traditionally, such information required special monitoring applications and equipment that process and react to continual inputs from several sources such as in a weather monitoring station, patient monitoring equipment, etc. This thesis concerns the processing of fast evolving data streams in relational database management systems. It investigates the utilization of existing features in a DBMS and their adoption to process infinite data streams and discusses the performance of the proposed solution. It provides a solution to the inherent limitations in the architecture of a DBMS to be able to react to continual inputs from several sources. The outcome of this thesis shows that it is possible to process continuous data streams from several sources and in some ways a better performance was also achievable.


An adult female with congenital Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS) and severe mental retardation is described, who presented with symptoms of severe over-activity, short attention span, mood lability, and aggressive outbursts in a cyclical pattern, suggestive of recurrent manic-like episodes. These symptoms improved significantly with divalproex (Depakote) monotherapy. Review of the existing studies showed that 10-76% of persons with RTS may be identified with similar behavioral symptoms. We postulate other persons with RTS may respond to divalproex, and there may be some relationship between the chromosome 16p13.3 deletion and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor or neurotransmitter abnormalities. Recent molecular genetic studies suggest a linkage of this region to bipolar mood disorder and autism, both of which were diagnosed in this patient. Further prospective study is needed of RTS persons regarding behavioral problems, comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, and treatment responses, correlated with genetic abnormalities.


Abstract
The incidence and intensity of schistosomiasis in Ibadan in the Western State of Nigeria were estimated by examining the bladder, in 673 unselected cadavers, by mucosal snip and by digests of other tissues for the presence of Schistosoma eggs. Tissue from the rectum, kidney, liver, lung, and spleen was digested, and the egg load was compared with that found in the bladder and with the histopathological findings. The pathological findings in cadavers with schistosome infections and in noninfected cadavers were compared. In 135 cadavers, eggs of Schistosoma haematobium were found (20%), the number in the bladder per gram of tissue varying from 3 to 84,600, with a mean of 7,570. Egg loads were higher in males than in females, and they were lower in persons who died after 40 years of age. In 10 instances, eggs of Schistosoma mansoni were also detected. The mortality caused by the infection was considered low, but hydroureter and hydronephrosis were relatively common complications; terminal, acute pyelonephritis is also sometimes a hazard. Severe pathologic changes in the other systems were not noted, but a significantly higher incidence of lymphoreticular tumors was noted in cases with schistosome infections.


The aminopyrine breath test (APBT) was used to study patients with chronic congestive heart failure before and after treatment with two chemically similar intropic agents, amrinone (AR) and milrinone (MR), to determine their effects on hepatic microsomal function. Liver chemistries and cardiac indices were meansured and correlated with the 2-hour APBT score in 11 patients with chronic congestive heart failure (5 treated with AR, 6 with MR) and five healthy control subjects. Despite normal or near-normal liver chemistries, patients with chronic congestive heart failure demonstrated overall depressed hepatic microsomal oxidative function. Patients with severe congestive heart failure had a lower mean pretreatment APBT score (AR = 3.05 ± 1.02, MR = 5.38 ± 3.09) when compared with healthy controls (10.02 ± 1.02). However, the APBT score for each individual could not be predicted from the cardiac index. Although the mean cardiac index increased significantly in both the AR and the MR treated patients by 26.14% ± 15.28 (p < 0.01) and 40.0% ± 42.27 (p < 0.025), respectively, compared with protreatment values, the mean APBT score fell by 62.02% ± 22.5 (p < 0.005) in the former and increased by 38.35% ± 25.69 (p < 0.01) in the patients receiving MR. This discordance between the effects of AR and MR suggests possible differences in the effects of the two drugs on hepatic microsomal function.


In the present paper we will investigate the relation between scalar-tensor theory and f(R) theories of gravity. Such studies have been performed in the past for the metric formalism of f(R) gravity; here we will consider mainly the Palatini formalism, where the metric and the connections are treated as independent quantities. We will try to investigate under which circumstances f(R) theories of gravity are equivalent to scalar-tensor theory and examine the implications of this equivalence, when it exists. PACS numbers: 04.20.Cv, 04.20.Fy, 04.50.+h, 04.80.Cc


Alumina (Al2O3)-aluminium titanate (Al2TiO5) composites present higher toughness than alumina materials but rather low strength due to microcracking. Laminates in which a flaw tolerant material is located between high strength layers is one way to overcome this problem. In this work, the fracture behaviour of a laminated structure constituted by five layers, where low residual stresses are expected, is studied. In this system, external and central layers of monophase alumina with high strength were combined with intermediate layers of alumina with 10vol.% of aluminium titanate. In the monophase alumina layers, an additional "in situ" formed layer of about 200 µm, constituted by large (@10µm) grains was found, close to the composite layers. The laminated structure presented semistable behaviour during SENVB tests for conditions in which stable crack propagation is not predicted for small grain sized alumina materials. Toughening mechanisms related to thermal expansion mismatch between matrix and second phase in the composite layers and crack bridging in the large grain sized alumina layer were identified.


Friction, wear and the oxidation of lubricants are concerns in most mechanical systems. Selection of the best current thermoanalytical method to evaluate the oxidative performance of a lubricant for an application is an ongoing problem. The variability and complexity of mechanical systems makes correlation with bench tests difficult. The oxidative environment in automotive applications may vary from nil in sealed-for-life components to severe oxidative conditions found in piston, ring, and liner zones. The researcher's task is to develop useful and meaningful bench tests to allow the engineer to concentrate his effort and resources on developing better lubricants for a given application. This paper reviews the evolution of oxidation test methods for the past 50 years from large complex systems to the current microanalysis methods. The mechanism of oxidation has changed very little but our understanding of additive interactions has advanced significantly. Additive depletion and the resulting oxidation process can be studied using the microthermooxidative methods. Often, a combination of methods can be used to obtain a better understanding of the thermal and oxidative processes occurring. Some comparisons of the methods and their applications are described.


The research described in this thesis considers mobile technology with particular reference to the use of context sensing. It is argued that such technologies are useful to enhance user proficiency in everyday tasks. A wearable, context–aware computer system and a set of evaluation tasks are devised to investigate this premise. A photograph diary study is carried out to elicit defining features of a broad range of everyday activities. These features are called Context Identifiers. From this a structured definition of context is suggested that bridges the gap between the current theoretical and technological definitions of context. Based on a literature review of current mobile and wearable technology and on the findings of the photograph diary study, a novel wearable computer and supporting software is developed. The wearable computer can detect and interpret features of everyday context, including Location, Posture and Movement, and Objects. During the design cycle of the wearable computer, experiments are conducted to evaluate three versions of the wearable computer. The usability of the computer is considered based on measures of efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction. Use of the system is shown to improve user task proficiency in the completion of simple tasks and the wearable computer is shown to capture context in a similar way to humans. Specifically when the first version of the system is used in an information retrieval task, the wearable computer is shown to significantly decrease task completion time when compared to using a standard internet enabled computer or users searching for information in their environment. In addition the task accuracy is increased. The second version of the system in which the number of everyday contextual features the system can detect is increased, again significantly decrease the task completion time when compared to the same system detecting less context features. The third version of the system which detects further more contextual features is shown to be highly usable based on a number of usability measures and is shown to capture context in a similar fashion to humans.


Population ageing has been occurring in many countries within Europe, North America and elsewhere for a number of decades. However, recently the pace, size and global reach of such ageing has begun to be recognised, and the wider implications assessed. Population ageing poses a key policy challenge for social security and health care systems across the globe. Different governments will come to these considerations carrying with them contrasting demographic profiles, welfare regimes and institutional structures, and cultural systems. The future success of societies in their efforts to accommodate such demographic change will, to a large extent, rest with the capacity of social security and health care institutions to adapt to an ageing world.


Although the Indonesian Archipelago is phycologically rather well-known, information about the freshwater algae in New Guinea is very scanty. There are only a few papers, e.g. by Bernard (1910) and Cholnoky (1963), but these give only a glimpse of the phycocoenoses of the New Guinea lakes, especially those of the high mountains. Many of these lakes have been mentioned in travel books, and some seem to be promising localities for freshwater algae. The biogeographical relations between Malesian and Australian regions have been much discussed. A number of biogeographers have attempted to unravel the complex of transition in this part of the world. Phytogeographers often accept the Torres Strait as a boundary between the Malesian and the Australian floras. This is only true in a general statistical way; the flora of the dry savannahs of the southern lowland shows a great similarity to that of northern Australia, while the high-mountain flora shows distinct affinities with both the northern temperate Asiatic flora and the temperate South Pacific flora. Zoogeographers, however, include New Guinea mostly in the Australian region because of the existence of a land-bridge between Australia and New Guinea during past geological epochs (see fig. 11—5, in Knight, 1965). In this connection the character and relations of the freshwater algal flora of New Guinea is of some interest. It has been shown by Scott & Prescott (1958) that the freshwater algal flora of northern Australia is closely related to that of the Indo-Malayan region.


The synthesis of a new vic-dioxime ligand, N,N′2-dihydroxy-O 1,O 2-bis(4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yl)oxalimidamid (LH2) (1), bearing functional coumarins and its soluble mono- {Ni(II), Cu(II), Co(II)} and dinuclear {UO2(II)} complexes are presented. The fluorescence properties due to the 7-hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin fluorophore, which is conjugated with vic-dioxime that functions as the MN4 core of 1 and its complexes, are also reported. The formation of coordination complexes resulted in the blue shift in excitation spectrum and fluorescence quenching of 1. Both mononuclear {(LH)2M, M=Ni(II), Cu(II), and Co(II)} and homodinuclear {(LH)2(UO2)2(OH)2)} complexes have been obtained with metal : ligand ratios of 1 : 2 and 2 : 2, respectively. The characterizations of the new compounds were made by elemental analysis, 1H-NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and LCMS data. Redox behavior of 1, involving oxime and coumarin moieties, and its complexes with Ni(II), Cu(II), Co(II) and UO2(II) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The comparison of the electrochemical behavior of 1 with its complexes enabled us to identify metal-, oxime- and coumarin-based signals.


What is digital literacy? Is it something that we want or need to have? Do we have to be able to measure it? What does it mean in practice? Is it relevant in universities?
Of interest to this project is not to define digital literacy, as there is extensive existing literature on the subject, but to gain an understanding of what digital literacy means in practice for people's everyday working and learning lives. This understanding may feed into a better understanding of the definition of digital literacy, but its main goal is to look at what digital literacy means for individuals and groups. The focus is less on functional skills but on how people themselves conceptualise and articulate their understanding of the technology that many use daily. Research such as (Lovell and Baker 2009) indicates that assumptions about 'digital nativity' on the part of university students may be just that and that many students have not had 'universal and uniform digital upbringing.' (Kennedy, Judd et al. 2008) Some of the stories shared here may illustrate just that.
A secondary aim is to shed light on people's behaviours and choices in relation to digital technology that can contribute to a number of fields working with the concept of digital literacy.
Stories from current work-in-progress will be shared about how people experience digital technology and how they understand that experience. These stories will be examined to try to answer questions about what meanings people create for themselves around their experience. The social context of digital technology and the rules and norms around technology use that have an impact on people's comfort with, and ability to use, digital technology will also be discussed.


ABSTRACT Accumulation of xylitol in xylose fermentation with engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae presents a major problem that hampers economically feasible production of biofuels from cellulosic plant biomass. In particular, substantial production of xylitol due to unbalanced redox cofactor usage by xylose reductase (XR) and xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) leads to low yields of ethanol. While previous research focused on manipulating intracellular enzymatic reactions to improve xylose metabolism, this study demonstrated a new strategy to reduce xylitol formation and increase carbon flux toward target products by controlling the process of xylitol secretion. Using xylitol-producing S. cerevisiae strains expressing XR only, we determined the role of aquaglyceroporin Fps1p in xylitol export by characterizing extracellular and intracellular xylitol. In addition, when FPS1 was deleted in a poorly xylose-fermenting strain with unbalanced XR and XDH activities, the xylitol yield was decreased by 71% and the ethanol yield was substantially increased by nearly four times. Experiments with our optimized xylose-fermenting strain also showed that FPS1 deletion reduced xylitol production by 21% to 30% and increased ethanol yields by 3% to 10% under various fermentation conditions. Deletion of FPS1 decreased the xylose consumption rate under anaerobic conditions, but the effect was not significant in fermentation at high cell density. Deletion of FPS1 resulted in higher intracellular xylitol concentrations but did not significantly change the intracellular NAD+/NADH ratio in xylose-fermenting strains. The results demonstrate that Fps1p is involved in xylitol export in S. cerevisiae and present a new gene deletion target, FPS1, and a mechanism different from those previously reported to engineer yeast for improved xylose fermentation.


Since 1990, in Romania and especially in Bucharest there has been a constantly growing tendency towards new expensive residential settlements located in the suburbs. Following this, even more cars have increased the road traffic towards the city centre. In the last few years, the need to extend the metropolitan area of Bucharest City has become more accepted as a solution to relocate some socio-economic activities. Bucharest is a historically developed city and there is no available space to increase the street capacity for cars and traffic. In this paper, we propose a bicycle infrastructure project to support the sustainable development of the new metropolitan area of Bucharest, and develop a model to evaluate the impacts of such a transport infrastructure on the spatial accessibility of the city centre. We reveal the importance of bicycle parking locations and their integration with urban public transport (subway and light rail). Taking into consideration a natural, native disposition of the younger population to use bicycles, in this way, we will provide quite an effective means of attracting them to non-motorized transportation as opposed to car use.


Server instances, also known as virtual machines (VMs), with various computing and storage capabilities (i.e. different combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking), are commonly offered by cloud computing service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft, Rackspace, and SalesForce. The clients, ranging from individuals and small institutions to large companies, can rent and pay only for a set of VMs that are actually needed as a usagebased (pay-as-you-go) posted pricing model. This model alleviates the clients' concerns about the risks of capacity under-utilization and demand non-fulfillment associated with in-house facilities. These VMs are mapped onto physical servers within cloud. Such datacenters are known to be susceptible to different types of failures from frequent small-scale failures (such as disk failures) to less frequent but more catastrophic failures (such as power distribution unit failures) (Dean 2009). Failures at the physical infrastructure level inevitably render the mapped VMs unavailable due to loss of connectivity, software bugs, human errors, etc.


BACKGROUND
Significant health disparities between sexual minority individuals (that is, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender [LGBT]) and heterosexual individuals have been demonstrated.

AIM
To understand the barriers and facilitators to sexual orientation (SO) disclosure experienced by LGBT adults in healthcare settings.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Mixed methods systematic review, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods papers following PRISMA guidelines.

METHOD
Study quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) and a qualitative synthesis was performed. Studies were included if their participants were aged ≥18 years who either identified as LGBT, had a same-sex sexual relationship, or were attracted to a member of the same sex.

RESULTS
The review included 31 studies representing 2442 participants. Four overarching themes were identified as barriers or facilitators to SO disclosure: the moment of disclosure, the expected outcome of disclosure, the healthcare professional, and the environment or setting of disclosure. The most prominent themes were the perceived relevance of SO to care, the communication skills and language used by healthcare professionals, and the fear of poor treatment or reaction to disclosure.

CONCLUSION
The facilitators and barriers to SO disclosure by LGBT individuals are widespread but most were modifiable and could therefore be targeted to improve healthcare professionals' awareness of their patients' SO. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the broad range of factors that influence SO disclosure and the potential disadvantageous effects of non-disclosure on care. The environment in which patients are seen should be welcoming of different SOs as well as ensuring that healthcare professionals' communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal, are accepting and inclusive.


The general aim of this thesis was to identify factors associated with outcome after surgical attenuation of congenital portosystemic shunts (CPSS) in dogs and to clarify underlying mechanisms of postoperative recovery in this disease. Two surgical techniques used for CPSS attenuation, ligation and cellophane banding, were evaluated in 97 and 106 dogs, respectively. Cellophane banding resulted in less short-term complication and mortality rates in dogs with extrahepatic shunts. In intrahepatic shunts, cellophane banding resulted in higher complication and mortality rates than in extrahepatic CPSS. After CPSS ligation, no differences in mortality between dogs with intrahepatic or extrahepatic CPSS were found. With either technique a small proportion of dogs did not recover completely. Surgical technique is apparently not the most important factor that defines long-term outcome. After CPSS ligation, the achieved degree of closure was negatively associated with mortality. In dogs with extrahepatic shunts, both variables were correlated with the diameter of the portal vein. CPSS seems to be not only a disease of an additional abnormal vessel, but also a disease that affects the normal portal vasculature. Unexpectedly, long-term outcome did not depend on the degree of CPSS closure or on portal development at the time of surgery. Because haemorrhage was an important complication after CPSS ligation, haemostasis was evaluated in 34 dogs with a CPSS. These dogs had lower preoperative platelet counts, lower activity of clotting factors II, V, VII, X, an increased activity of factor VIII and a prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time compared to healthy dogs. Immediately after CPSS attenuation, platelet counts and the activity of clotting factors I, II, V, VII, IX, X, and XI were further decreased, and prothrombin time became prolonged. In dogs with complete recovery of shunting, haemostasis was normalized after 6 weeks, in contrast to dogs with persistent shunting. In dogs with CPSS, outcome after shunt attenuation is possibly associated with hepatocyte and portal vein proliferation. Liver size and hepatic growth following surgical attenuation of a CPSS were evaluated in 10 dogs. At 2 months after surgery, median liver size had increased from 18.2 to 28.2 cm3/kg body weight. The intraoperative hepatic expression of 19 genes involved in hepatic and vascular growth and fibrosis was evaluated in 48 dogs with a CPSS in relation to postoperative outcome. Increased mRNA expression of MAT2a (methionine adenosyltransferase 2 alpha) and HGFac (hepatocyte growth factor activator) were associated with good recovery. A model including both genes predicted outcome after CPSS ligation correctly in 75% of the dogs. Low MAT2a may partially explain the poorer prognosis of intrahepatic CPSS compared to extrahepatic CPSS. To identify genes that are differently expressed between dogs with different outcome after CPSS attenuation, microarray analyses were performed in liver tissue of 46 dogs with a CPSS. Sixty-three genes were differently expressed, including several genes that may directly affect postoperative recovery. Further studies are essential to confirm and validate these findings. Clarification of factors that define postoperative outcome may help to predict treatment response and provide additional forms of treatment.


SUMMARY Seventy-three children under the age of 18 months presenting with acute gastroenteritis were given an electrolyte mixture with added sucrose or glucose in a randomized double-blind trial. The time taken to recovery in those successfully treated as out-patients was identical. However, of the 34 who received glucose, 11 (32%) required admission compared with 7 (18%) of the 39 who received sucrose. There was a wide range of osmolality of the made-up feeds, indicating inaccuracy in diluting the solutions as prescribed, but this did not in general correlate with need for admission. Sucrose-electrolyte solution is at least as effective as a glucose-electrolyte solution for the out-patient management of acute gastroenteritis in infancy. The cheapness and easy availability of sucrose commends its use in developed and developing countries.


Why did reforming Eastern European countries adopt the electoral systems they did? Why, for example, did Poland adopt proportional representation while Hungary adopted a system of fairly strict majority rule? Often, the expectation is that new democracies will adopt electoral systems characterized by proportional representation rather than majority rule. This expectation is based on two (unwarranted) assumptions: (1) that proportional representation is better able to produce political stability and (2) that incumbent reformers care more about stability than about their own political power. Because it is reliant on these assumptions, the prevailing literature is unable to explain Hungary's adoption of majority rule; it is also unable to explain the degree of proportional representation agreed upon in the process of democratic transition. In this paper, I present a formal model of regime transition that explains the electoral systems that emerged from democratic transition in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Aside from explaining Hungary's majoritarian outcome, the model holds without reference to the efficacy of proportional representation. It also makes simpler assumptions about the behavior of parties to constitutional negotiation.


We explore the impact of phyllosilicate (weak but velocity strengthening) in a majority tectosilicate (strong but velocity weakening) matrix on bulk shear strength and slip stability of faults. Numerical simple shear experiments using a distinct element model (DEM) are conducted on both uniform mixtures of quartz and talc analogs and on textured mixtures consisting of a talc layer embedded in a quartz matrix. The mechanical response of particles is represented by a linear elastic contact model with a slip‐weakening constitutive relation representing the essence of rate‐state friction. The weight percentage of the talc in the uniform mixtures and the relative thickness of the talc layer in the textured mixtures are varied to investigate the transitional behavior of shear strength and slip stability. Specifically, for uniform mixtures, ~50% reduction on bulk shear strength is observed with 25% talc present, and a dominant influence of talc occurs at 50%; for textured mixtures, a noticeable weakening effect is shown at a relative layer thickness of 1 particle, ~50% shear strength reduction is observed with 3‐particles, and a dominant influence occurs at 5 particles. In terms of slip stability, a transition from velocity weakening to velocity strengthening is observed with 10% to 25% talc present in the uniform mixtures or with 3 particles to 5 particles in the textured mixtures. In addition, further analysis suggests that quartz has a high tendency toward dilation, potentially promoting permeability; while talc dilates with increased slip rate but compacts rapidly when slip rate is reduced, potentially destroying permeability. The simulation results match well with previous laboratory observations.


Background Fully covered self-expandable metal stents (Fc-SEMSs) have a challenging use in the treatment of anastomosis strictures after live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) because they can occlude secondary branch biliary ducts when placed above the biliary bifurcation. In this study, we evaluated the technical feasibility and safety of combining Fc-SEMSs with plastic stent(s) inserted to the secondary branch biliary ducts for the treatment of anastomosis stricture after LDLT. Methods The study group included 22 patients (12 men, aged 51±11 years) with anastomotic biliary stricture after LDLT. A Fc-SEMS, 8 to 10 mm in diameter, was inserted to the straight, dilated main duct and plastic stent(s) were inserted to the secondary branches to avoid their occlusion. Stents were left in place for 2 months and removed with a stent retrieving forceps. Technical feasibilities, including technical success, successful removal, and adverse events of this novel strategy, were evaluated. Results Fc-SEMSs were successfuly deployed and removed in all of the cases. Three (13.6%) patients had pain requiring intravenous analgesia and Fc-SEMS had to be removed because of unbearable pain in one of them. Three (13.6%) patients developed cholangitis due to occlusion of unrecognized secondary branch biliary ducts. Primary stricture resolution rate was achieved in 17 (89.5%) of 19 patients. Recurrence was observed in 3 (17.6%) patients after a mean follow-up duration of 154.3±52.6 (range, 104-304) days. Conclusions Combination of Fc-SEMS and plastic stent(s) is technically feasible and safe for the treatment of anastomotic biliary strictures after LDLT.


Software verification and validation often rely on formal specifications that encode desired program properties. Recent research proposed a combined verification approach in which a program can be incrementally verified using alternatively deductive verification and testing. Both techniques should use the same specification expressed in a unique specification language. This paper addresses this problem within the Frama-C framework for analysis of C programs, that offers ACSL as a common specification language. We provide a formal description of an automatic translation of ACSL annotations into C code that can be used by a test generation tool either to trigger and detect specification failures, or to gain confidence, or, under some assumptions, even to confirm that the code is in conformity with respect to the annotations. We implement the proposed specification translation in a combined verification tool Study. Our initial experiments suggest that the proposed support for a common specification language can be very helpful for combined static-dynamic analyses.


Objective High levels of occupational physical activity (OPA) increase heart rate, blood pressure (BP) and the risk of hypertension. Older workers may be more vulnerable to high levels of OPA due to age-related degeneration of the cardiovascular system and cardiorespiratory fitness. This study investigates the association of relative aerobic workload (RAW) with resting BP and examines if this relation is moderated by age. Design Cross-sectional epidemiological study. Setting Data were collected among employees of 15 Danish companies in the cleaning, manufacturing and transport sectors. Participants 2107 employees were invited for participation, of these 1087 accepted and 562 (42% female and 4% non-Westerns) were included in the analysis based on the criteria of being non-pregnant, no allergy to bandages, sufficient amount of heart rate data corresponding to ≥4 work hours per workday or 75% of average work hours, and no missing outcome and confounder values. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome measure was BP. Results Heart rate reserve was estimated from ambulatory 24-hour heart rate measures covering 2.5 workdays per participant (SD 1.0 day). Age significantly moderated the association between RAW and BP. Mean intensity and duration of high RAW (≥30% heart rate reserve) showed positive associations with diastolic BP and negative associations with pulse pressure (PP) among participants ≥47 years old. Tendencies towards negative associations between RAW and BP were seen among participants <47 years old. Conclusions Mean intensity and duration of RAW increased diastolic BP among participants ≥47 years old. Negative associations with PP may be due to healthy worker selection bias. Prevention of hypertension should consider reductions in RAW for ageing workers.


The purpose of this study was to examine the connections that may exist between the student technology literacy performance in the national schools and teachers who have had technology-focused professional development. Utilizing the online NAEP data, the study examined two school-reported variables related to teacher technology-specific professional development and student TEL scores on a national level. The results presented here suggest that teachers with training in technology usage may be more successful with students than those without. This study may provide insight into understanding more about the relevance of teacher training with regards to technology


The E6 proteins of the high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been shown to form a complex with and induce the degradation of human p53 in vitro. To determine whether p53 is degraded more rapidly in cells expressing E6 in vivo, the half-life of p53 was determined by pulse-chase analysis in early-passage normal human keratinocytes and fibroblasts, human keratinocytes immortalized with HPV type 16 (HPV16) E6 plus E7, and nonimmortal keratinocytes transfected with E6. The results of these experiments indicate that (i) the half-life of newly synthesized p53 is relatively long (4 h) in early-passage human keratinocytes and fibroblasts but short in keratinocytes expressing E6 (15 to 30 min), (ii) a similar increased rate of p53 degradation was measured in lines immortalized with HPV16 E6 plus E7 and senescent cells expressing E6, indicating that this increase is not simply the result of selection in the immortalized lines, and (iii) very low levels of expression of E6 result in a greatly decreased half-life of p53, suggesting that E6 acts in a catalytic manner.


Regarded as a state of servitude through which an individual or a group of persons is compelled to work their guts out without any possibility to get compensated or rewarded, slavery, for some centuries, had been implemented under various forms from one country to another. From the antiquity to the twentieth century, thralldom had been a profitable business that gangrened the African continent. Thus being, African and African American thinkers shoulder the mission to dust archives and lift the curtain of history to retell and re-narrate the episode of drudgery; among them Leonoa Miano and Toni Morrison. The purpose of this article is to examine the trauma of slavery from a comparative, matrifocal, and Afrocentric perspective so as to highlight commonalities and differences between Leonora Miano's La Saison de l'ombre and Toni Morrison's Beloved. Inspired by the infamous history of slavery, these two award-winning novels not only conjure up the ordeal of slavery, but they also catalyze its haunting memory for the sake of healing, so that both characters and readers could be cleansed off its tantalizing grip and achieve catharsis and redemption. To this end, La Saison de l'ombre and Beloved are woven around feminine counter-narratives that exhibit counter-memories which are often glossed over or overlooked in both African and Euro-American phallocentric official narratives. Whereas La Saison de l'ombre spotlights the Africans' role in the process of slavery, Beloved highlights the tragedy of a maternal love in a context of bondage. Through a comparative approach, we have spotlighted the whole process of slavery, from the captivity in Africa to enslavement in America.


Giordano Bruno (1548 – 1600) is regarded as the principal representative of the infinite and homogenous universe. Bruno has a modern rational mind by no means. However, his doctrine has so deeply influenced the reconstruction of a modern understanding of the material of universe and human body. His process of rebuilding the cosmology and humanity consists in learning the individual's psychical condition and the relations between society and man. The links between the components of the brunian organic universe can be generated spontaneously from "love-Eros" for the mundane life of its infinite expansion. And in his organic universe, Bruno considers and desires all beings to be alive, all to be animated. And from this doctrine, his predilection for the magic is derived, which is based precisely on the presupposition of a universal "panpsychism" aiming to take possession of the natural world with artifices.


Nano-sizing and scaffolding have emerged in the past decade as important strategies to control the kinetics, reversibility, and equilibrium pressure for hydrogen storage in light metal hydride systems. Reducing the size of metal hydrides to the nanometer range allows fast kinetics for both hydrogen release and subsequent uptake. Reversibility of the hydrogen release is impressively facilitated by nanoconfining the materials in a carbon or metal–organic framework scaffold, in particular for reactions involving multiple solid phases, such as the decomposition of LiBH_4, NaBH_4, and NaAlH_4. More complex is the impact of nanoconfinement on phase equilibria. It is clear that equilibrium pressures, and even decomposition pathways, are changed. However, further experimental and computational studies are essential to understand the exact origins of these effects and to unravel the role of particle size, physical confinement, and interfaces. Nevertheless, it has become clear that nanoconfinement is a strong tool to change physicochemical properties of metal hydrides, which might not only be of relevance for hydrogen storage, but also for other applications such as rechargeable batteries.


Abstract
Purpose
Improving the nutritious quality of diets for individuals and populations is a central goal of many public health advocates and intergovernmental organizations. Yet the outcome of healthy eating has been shown to systematically vary across individual-level socioeconomic lines, and across countries in different locations of the food system. We therefore assess variation in the association between eating nutritionally dense fresh fruits and vegetables and both self-rated health (SRH) and body mass index (BMI) across individual income and country locations in the food system.

Methodology/approach
We use nationally representative survey data from 31 countries drawn from the International Social Survey Programme's 2011 Health module. We estimate the effect of the frequency of eating fresh fruits and vegetables using random-intercept, random-coefficient multilevel mixed-effects regression models.

Findings
We confirm that eating nutritionally dense fresh fruits and vegetables frequently associates with more positive health outcomes. However, this general conclusion masks substantial individual- and country-level heterogeneity. For both SRH and BMI, the largest beneficial associations are concentrated among the most affluent individuals in the most affluent countries. Moving away from either reduces the positive association of healthy eating.

Social and practical implications
Our results provide an important wrinkle for policies aimed at changing the nutritional quality of diets. Adjustments to diets without taking into account fundamental causes of socioeconomic status will likely be met with attenuated results.

Originality/value
We compare two important health outcomes across a wide variety of types of countries. We demonstrate that our main conclusions are only detectable when employing a flexible multilevel methodological design.


Starch is an important contributor to plant growth as excess photosynthate is stored in leaves as starch during the day to be mobilized at night and re-synthesized in sink tissues. Starch is also the principal constituent of cereal seeds and its variation greatly influence crop yields. The starch pathway is complex and its regulation is not fully understood. Transcription Factors (TFs) are known to act as master regulators of whole biosynthetic pathways and the work presented here was aimed at gaining a better understanding of starch production in leaves by identifying a TF which specifically regulates the leaf starch biosynthetic pathway. Leaf starch levels are regulated in part by ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), the rate limiting step of starch biosynthesis. Transgenic rice event (NR16+) with increased leaf AGPase activity (due to overexpression of the AGPase large and small subunit transgenes Sh2r6hs and Bt2) was subjected to RNA-sequencing. The results indicated that the leaf specific AGP transgene, which increased leaf starch, also had upregulation of the WRKY76 TF. Another regulatory protein, F-Box, was chosen as a candidate due to the F-box family's involvement in plant development. The current study examines the potential of these gene products for increasing starch biosynthesis in leaves via leaf specific overexpression. Results indicate that overexpression of WRKY76 increases leaf starch an average of 39% at both the one month and anthesis growth stages in comparison to the Varietal Control Nipponbare. WRKY76 transgenic lines have enhanced phenotype with an improved harvest index due to biomass and immature panicles trending down by 4% and 21% respectively, while seed weight trended 12% higher. Events overexpressing WRKY76 were also found to upregulate important starch biosynthetic and carbon metabolism genes including AGPL1, AGPS2, SSIIIb, GBSII, Rbcs, PRK, and GS2 as well as leading to a general upregulation of leaf tissue carbohydrates. Events 1, 2, and 12 additionally had on average 13% increased photosynthetic rate at the one month growth stage. The findings of this study support WRKY76 as a dynamic regulator of the starch biosynthetic pathway conferring more efficient carbon assimilation leading to an increased harvest index.