The presence of deoxyadenylate-rich (dA-rich) and deoxyguanylate-rich (dG-rich) regions in mammalian DNA has been demonstrated by hybridisation with [5H] poly(U) and [5H] poly(C). For BHK-21/CI3 cells, the maximum levels of these homopolymer-rich regions, as detected by the hybridisation technique, are about 0.41% of the DNA for dA-rich, and 0.1% of the DNA for dG-rich regions. Since the hybrids are largely sensitive to digestion with RNase, it is probable that the majority of hybrid molecules contain mismatched base-pairs. 0.13% of the DNA consists of dA-rich regions ranging in size from 25-130 nucleotides long and containing about 2-6% of bases other than adenine. On the other hand, dG-rich regions less than 40 nucleotides long comprise 0.07% of the DNA and contain 10-30% of bases other than guanine. Exhaustive RNase digestion of the hybrids enables detection of pure deoxyhomopolymeric regions in the DNA. Pure sequences of poly(dA) of average size about 31 nucleotides long account for 0.008% of BHK-21/C13 DNA, whereas poly(dG) sequences about 17 nucleotides long comprise 0.0016% of the-DNA. The organisation of these sequences within the genome has been investigated. Both dA-rich and dG-rich regions are present within DNA sequences of widely varying base composition. Extensive shearing of the DNA is required to produce some enrichment for dA-rich sequences in the A + T rich fraction, although dG-rich sequences are slightly enriched in the (3- + C rich fraction of even unsheared DNA. The buoyant density of hybrid molecules was found to be significantly greater than that of the unhybridised DNA only when highly sheared. DNA was used. Furthermore, dA- rich and dG-rich regions were shown to be associated with rapidly, intermediately, and slowly renaturing DNA sequences. These findings all suggest that the dA-rich and dA-rich regions have a widespread distribution throughout DNA molecules. The pure poly(dA) and poly(dG) sequences also appear to be scattered throughout DNA molecules. In situ hybridisation studies with C5H] poly(U) further suggest that the dA~rich regions are not localised to any particular chromosome or to any specific region of the chromosomes. Analysis of DNA from a number of different species has shown that, in general, the dA-rich and dG-rich regions are present to a much higher level in mammalian DNA than in bacterial, bacteriophage, and mammalian viral DNAs. Evidence for the existence of A-rich, U-rich and G-rich RNA species in BHK-21/015 cells has also been obtained. The characteristics of the homopolymer-rich regions in DNA suggest that the dA-rich and pure poly(dA) sequences are more likely to have a significant role than dG-rich and poly(dG) sequences. The possible functions of these unusual deoxynucleotide sequences are reviewed.


Industrial accidents continue to happen despite rap id technological advancement and they are often cau sed by triggers similar to those of past accidents. If we turn our eyes to the world, especially to the em erging industrial players, we hear news about accidents ca used by phenomena that have already caused similar accidents elsewhere. Industries, as they emerge and grow over hundreds o f years, learn their lessons throughout their histo ries and build rules, regulations, and common knowledge to avoid accidents. Each industry is probably well aware of accidents that took place in its own country, es pecially when the accident led to enforcement of a new law. Nevertheless, we hardly have any knowledge of accid ents in foreign countries unless they were of huge siz s. Japan had a national project of building a database of knowledge and lessons learned from past acciden ts. Failure Knowledge Database (FKDB) went on the Web i n 2005. As of today it still attracts a large numbe r of readers with its over 1,600 failure cases. Our rese arch is targeted at making use of this FKDB by abst racting the knowledge, especially what triggered the accide nts, and comparing the knowledge with functional an d structural elements used in new designs. Design Record Graph (DRG) is a graphical representa tion of the designer's intension starting from the left with the product functional requirement which itera tively divides into sub-functions to reach a set of functional elements (FE). Each FE maps to a structural element (SE). Then the SEs iteratively combine to form ass emblies and finally the product at the right end. A failure starts from one of the FE-SE pairs and propagates th DRG in both left and right directions to reach the two ends. The propagation leaves a trace of how the poi nt of failure led to disabling the product. For each failure case in FKDB, we identified the or igin of failure, the FE-SE pair that started the ac cident. An FE is abstracted by a verb phrase and a set of n oun phrases, and similarly an SE with some noun phr ases. By limiting the phrases to use, similar concepts ar e described by the same abstracted phrases. A new design has a number of FE-SE pairs and their propagations in the DRG to reach the two ends. The designer can then compare all propagations in the d esign, without the knowledge if any of them are dan gerous, with those in FKDB that are known to have led to ac cidents. We developed quantitative operators to evaluate the similarity between two traces. Our results offer a w y of warning the designer about possible flaws in a n ew design similar with causes of past accidents tha t t e designer has no idea about. Our method of preventin g design failure can apply to other fields for novi ce planners in avoiding failure while still in the pla nning stage. We can further develop the use of know ledge into overseas countries by mapping the limited number of verb and noun phrases into foreign language.


In this work, a newly designed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detector for implementation on software-defined-radio platforms is proposed and its performance and complexity are studied. In particular, we are interested in proposing and evaluating a MIMO detector that provides the optimal trade-off between the decoding complexity and bit error rate (BER) performance as compared to the state of the art detectors. The proposed MIMO decoding technique appears to find the optimal compromise between competing interests encountered in the implementation of advanced MIMO detectors in practical hardware systems where it i) exhibits deterministic decoding complexity, i.e., deterministic latency, ii) enjoys a good complexity–performance trade-off, i.e., it keeps the complexity considerably lower than that of the maximum likelihood detectors with almost optimal performance, iii) allows fully parameterizable performance to complexity trade-off where the performance (or complexity) of the MIMO detector can be adaptively adjusted without the requirement of changing the implementation, iv) enjoys simple implementation and fully supports parallel processing, and v) allows simple and efficient extension to soft-bit output generation for support of turbo decoding. From the simulation results, the proposed MIMO decoding technique shows a substantially improved complexity–performance trade-off as compared to the state of the art techniques.


The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined mental health in children to be a priority area for evidence-based interventions. Effective and efficient screening methods are needed to assess emotional well-being of children from diverse cultures. This descriptive study examined two tools for feasibility, sensitivity, cultural appropriateness, and cost/time effectiveness. Emotional well-being was conceptualized using the Roy Adaptation Model as part of the self-concept adaptive mode. Emotional indicators were measured from Human Figure Drawings. Anxiety was measured using a modification of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Survey (RCMAS). The sample included 11 girls who were 7 to 12 years of age and recruited from a girls' orphanage in Honduras. Results indicated the Human Figure Drawings identified more children possibly at risk than the RCMAS. Human Figure Drawings were found to be a time/cost-effective, sensitive, and culturally appropriate means for measuring emotional well-being in the setting. This study contributes to nursing knowledge by demonstrating feasibility of the screening tools for measuring emotional well-being of children in varied cultures.


ALuminium Fly Ash (ALFA) composites are light weight, high strength composites with good wear resistance properties. In the present investigation ALFA composites are synthesized by varying the amount of Fly ash reinforcement from 5% wt to 25% wt in the Aluminium matrix by Powder Metallurgy technique.
The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) characterization of precipitator Fly ash and the Milled Aluminium Fly
ash mixture is presented in this work along with the results on green and sintered properties of the developed
composite.
The SEM photographs indicated a fairly uniform distribution of Fly ash in the composite; the green density is found
to be decreased by 38.39% for specimen containing 25% wt of Fly ash compared to the specimen with only Aluminium. The densities of compacts sintered at 600oC were lower as compared to compacts sintered at 500oC, whereas Rockwell Hardness for compacts sintered at 550oC is found to be superior to that for compacts sintered at 600oC.
For a constant temperature with increase in diameter and decrease in duration of sintering Rockwell Hardness is
found to be increasing and for increasing diameters, decreasing temperatures and duration of time the Hardness
keeps on increasing.


The usage and prominence of bank stress tests has risen substantially in the years following the global financial crisis. They are now established as a key part of the bank regulation toolkit. Typically, bank stress tests measure the resilience of banks to hypothetical adverse scenarios like severe recessions, with results used by central banks and regulators to measure risks and manage them through the setting of prudential policy. Over time, to enhance their usefulness to policymakers, stress tests are likely to develop further, for example by testing banks against a wider range of resilience metrics than capital, and further exploring how stresses might be transmitted across the financial system (eg through contagion).


What were the effects of the Great War on religious life of East European Jews, as exemplified by its most visible, Hasidic section? What was unique in Hasidic experience of the Great War? This essay discusses the human and material losses suffered by the Hasidic movement, changes in the movement's geography, ideological and political transformations surrounding and within Hasidism, and—most importantly—the specific changes in Hasidism caused by these transformations. It agues that Hasidism after 1918 found itself in a radically new situation, and despite the fact that many of its institutions were, on the face of it, working more or less as they had done before the war, the movement experienced a profound transformation of its geography, social roles, institutional bonds, and, often, identification with Hasidism. In this regard, the First World War was a key accelerator of the processes which transformed the Hasidic movement during the interwar period, and eventually to a significant extend shaped its resurrection and renaissance after the Holocaust.


Carbon nitrides integrating macroheterocycles offer unique potential as hosts for stabilizing metal atoms due to their rich electronic structure. To date, only graphitic heptazine-based polymers have been studied. Here, we demonstrate that palladium atoms can be effectively isolated on other carbon nitride scaffolds including linear melem oligomers and poly(triazine/heptazine imides). Increased metal uptake was linked to the larger cavity size and the presence of chloride ions in the polyimide structures. Changing the host structure leads to significant variation in the average oxidation state of the metal, which can be tuned by exchange of the ionic species as evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and supported by density functional theory. Evaluation in the semi-hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol reveals an inverse correlation between the activity and the degree of oxidation of palladium, with oligomers exhibiting the highest activity. These findings provide new mechanistic insights into the influence of the carbon nitride structure on metal stabilization.


Statutory guidance in the UK requires local Councils to prioritise sites which pose a potential risk to human health on the basis of their past industrial land use and their proximity to receptors. The NW of England has a rich industrial heritage and our two study sites both contain areas identified as priority areas under the 'Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy'. Both sites are residential housing estates, with gardens and communal areas, in St Helen's, Merseyside. Site 1 was formerly occupied by a chemical works and associated alkali industry producing sodium carbonate from sodium chloride/sodium sulphate using the LeBlanc processes. A by-product is the solid waste referred to locally as 'galligu'. Galligu is rich in As. Site 2 was formerly occupied by a glass and chemical works. Intrusive investigations were undertaken by St Helen's Council which revealed made-ground rich in ash, clinker, slag and alkali waste, with As concentrations ranging from 9.47 – 24,900 mg/kg. The Generic Quantitative Risk Assessment identified the potential for a significant risk to residents from As. Our analyses revealed in vitro oral As bioaccessibilities (Unified BARGE method or UBM) of between 11.2 and 50.2%, pHs of 5.24 – 7.44, loss-on-ignition of 6.07 -18.9%, total organic carbon of 5.31 – 20.5% and cation exchange capacities of 4.14 – 45 cmol/kg in the sandy loam 0-30 cm horizon. Using the Chemometric Identification of Substrates and Element Distribution (CISED) protocol (a non-specific sequential extraction followed by chemometric data analysis) As was found to be primarily associated with Fe and Ca, and these phases are important in controlling the As solubility/bioaccessibility. Site 1 typically has lower bioaccessibilities than site 2 and this appears to be related to the presence of an Fe-As-Ca phase. Further work using scanning electron spectroscopy and laser Raman is currently underway to corroborate the mineral fractions identified via CISED.


Flow in annular geometries, i.e., flow through the gap between two cylindrical pipes, occurs in many different engineering professions, such as petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, food engineering, etc. Analysis of the flow characteristics through annular geometries is more challenging when compared with circular pipes, not only due to the uneven stress distribution on the walls but also due to secondary flows and tangential velocity components, especially when the inner pipe is rotated. In this paper, a mathematical model for predicting flow characteristics of Newtonian fluids in concentric horizontal annulus with drill pipe rotation is proposed. A numerical solution including pipe rotation is developed for calculating frictional pressure loss in concentric annuli for laminar and turbulent regimes. Navier-Stokes equations for turbulent conditions are numerically solved using the finite differences technique to obtain velocity profiles and frictional pressure losses. To verify the proposed model, estimated frictional pressure losses are compared with experimental data which were available in the literature and gathered at Middle East Technical University, Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering Flow Loop (METU-PETE Flow Loop) as well as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. The proposed model predicts frictional pressure losses with an error less than ± 10% in most cases, more accurately than the CFD software models depending on the flow conditions. Also, pipe rotation effects on frictional pressure loss and tangential velocity is investigated using CFD simulations for concentric and fully eccentric annulus. It has been observed that pipe rotation has no noticeable effects on frictional pressure loss for concentric annuli, but it significantly increases frictional pressure losses in an eccentric annulus, especially at low flow rates. For concentric annulus, pipe rotation improves the tangential velocity component, which does not depend on axial velocity. It is also noticed that, as the pipe rotation and axial velocity are increased, tangential velocity drastically increases for an eccentric annulus. The proposed model and the critical analysis conducted on velocity components and stress distributions make it possible to understand the concept of hydro transport and hole cleaning in field applications.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The propagation-dependent profile distortion of the reflected beam is studied via deriving the theoretical model of the optical field distribution in both the near and far field. It is shown that strong and fast-varying beam distortions can occur along the propagation path, compared to the profile on the reflecting surface. Numerical simulations for the case of a typical SPR configuration with a sharp angular response curve reveal that, when the phase distribution in the angular range covered by the input beam becomes nonlinear, previous theories based on the linear phase approximation fail to predict the Goos-Hanchen shift and its propagation-dependent variations precisely. Our study could shed light on more accurate modeling of the Goos-Hanchen effect's impact on the relevant photonic devices and measurement applications.


An optical biopsy system which equips miniaturized Raman probes, a miniaturized endoscope and a fluorescent image probe has been developed for in vivo studies of live experimental animals. The present report describes basic optical properties of the system and its application studies for in vivo cancer model animals and ex vivo human cancer tissues. It was developed two types of miniaturized Raman probes, micro Raman probe (MRP) made of optical fibers and ball lens hollow optical fiber Raman probe (BHRP) made of single hollow optical fiber (HOF) with a ball lens. The former has rather large working distance (WD), up to one millimeter. The latter has small WD (~300μm) which depends on the focal length of the ball lens. Use of multiple probes with different WD allows one to obtain detailed information of subsurface tissues in the totally noninvasive manner. The probe is enough narrow to be inserted into a biopsy needle (~19G), for observations of the lesion at deeper inside bodies. The miniaturized endoscope has been applied to observe progression of a stomach cancer in the same rat lesion. It was succeeded to visualize structure of non-stained cancer tissue in live model animals by the fluorescent image technique. The system was also applied to ex vivo studies of human breast and stomach cancers.


Background: Self-assertiveness is the ability to stand up for one's rights and express one's thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in an appropriate and direct manner. Adolescence is an important time to establish the social position of individuals. This study aimed to investigate the effect of positive thinking training on adolescences. Methods: The target population was female students of Hazrat-e-Masumeh School in Ilam, Iran in the academic year of 2017-2018. According to simple random sampling, 42 subjects were randomly selected and allocated into two equal groups (experimental and control). The experimental group experienced Positive Thinking Training and both groups were given pre-test and post-test through Adolescence Self-Assertiveness questionnaire. Results: The findings showed that the mean of self-assertiveness in the experimental group was 18.81 before Positive Thinking Training (PTT) and 19.95 after PTT. In the control group, the mean of this variable was 18.95 before PTT and 18.51after PTT. This indicates that after training, the mean of self-assertiveness increased in the experimental group but decreased in the control group. Data analysis through analysis of covariance test (ANCOVA) showed significant differences between self-assertiveness scores F (1, 39)=4.65 in the experimental group level in post-test compared to that of the control group (P≤0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, PTT can be effective in increasing the self-assertiveness of teenage girls. The effect of positive thinking showed that optimism is an important factor in coping with difficult life events and assisting teenagers to deal with their negative thoughts and promoting their self-assertiveness.


Functional food can be either natural or processed. Food contains known biologically active compounds, which provides clinically proven and documented health benefit. So far, no database is available in Bangladesh regarding the functionality of the indigenous foods. As a primary step, this study had been conducted with an aim to identify and characterize functionality of the indigenous foods of Bangladesh. Eight fruits and vegetables, which are very popular for their taste, price and easy availability, have been selected for in vitro screening of their functionality. High levels of fat and sugar binding capacity were observed in Pineapple (500% and 270.891% respectively). High nuplli mortality rate was found in cytotoxicity test with Pomelo extract (100%), which also contained high level of vitamin C (155 mg/100g). Pomelo contained the highest level of antioxidant among all these foods (0.674 nMol/100μl/mg protein). Red amaranth contained highest amount of protein (4.31 g/100g). In stem amaranth, Iron level was highest (1855.67 mg/kg). Total phenolics content of Water spinach and Stem amaranth were found higher than the other samples (59.339 and 55.728 mg GAE/g respectively). All these experiments showed these vegetables and fruits have high health impacts and can be act as potential functional foods.


Corrosion is naturally occuring phenomenon and will be exist by itself in the metal. The metal will be damaged by an electrochemical reaction with its environment and can not eliminated but can do a variety of prevention efforts, such as by using a barrier layer that is in the process of painting. In the process, the quality of painting is paint adhesion influenced by surface roughness. The preparation can be done by themethod of spraying a sand blasting abrasive material in the form of sand forced into the surface of the material. sand blasting process could make the paint more durable and more resistant to corrosion. The parameter used in this study were sand blasting spraying pressure i.e 4;4,5;5;5,5 bar, sand blasting spraying angle 600; 750; 900. The results showed that the greater the pressure and angle of sand blasting, the corrosion rate is lower Average corrosion rate of the lowest occured at 5 bar spraying pressure and 900 spraying angle were 7.2157-E5; 7.1157-E5; 6.95-E5 mpy Keywords : sand blasting, corrosion.


Freshwater is becoming increasingly scarce across the globe, leading to conflict over property rights for existing freshwater resources. One realization of such conflict is found in the allocation among states of interstate rivers in the United States. While interstate water markets seem like the natural solution to such allocation problems, they are rare and, property rights needed to achieve efficient market outcomes must first be well-defined through negotiated agreements, Interstate River (or Water) Compacts. To date, the process through which these compact agreements are reached has not been studied from an economics perspective. Using a sequential-offer bargaining model based on the work of Krishna and Serrano (1996) with an uncertain outside option, this paper analyzes the negotiation of interstate compacts, and compares the equilibrium allocation of a compact to a set of conditions that characterize a proposed optimal allocation. The primary result of my theoretical model is that compact allocations will tend to favor equitable allocations over- efficient allocations, over-allocating water to relatively low-value and less risk averse states at the expense of higher-value states and more risk averse states. I assess two possible policy solutions to improve the efficiency of interstate compacts.


ABSTRACT Early subsea cement and cemented sediment are restricted to marginal facies of shallow Belize barrier and atoll reefs. In these facies cementation is not ubiquitous, but is sporadic within seaward-facing spurs and within the upper meter of the reef pavement. The presence of internal sediment, composed of well-sorted lime silt, is critical to the precipitation of rock-making cement. This lime silt is made up of Mg-calcite peloids of unknown origin and angular chips of aragonite excavated from coral and mollusk skeletons by boring sponges. In Belize the reef flat pavement, a subtidal bed of lithified coral conglomerate 1 m thick and 10 to 100 m wide, occurs in the lee of all marginal reefs. Acropora palmata fronds and logs (radiocarbon age ca. 450 years) are cemented together by a mortar of lime packstone to wackestone. In seaward-facing spurs, cavities between in situ coral and Millepora are locally filled with cemented skeletal packstone. Cemented packstone and wackestone also partially fill intraskeletal pores and borings in coral fronds lying loose on the sea floor. The predominant cement of internal sediments is Mg-calcite (14.5-18.6 mole % Mg) as micrite and bladed spar. Aragonite, although common, is found only in coral pores. The crystal form of the cement and the degree of lithification can be related to variations in the texture of the internal sediments. Mg-calcite micrite, the first cement, develops preferentially in the small pores, less than 15 µ, between lime silt grains. Mixed lime sand and lime silts, with a wider range of pore sizes, are cemented after the lime silts by thin rinds of micrite that grade outward into bladed spar. In the larger pores of grainstones, bladed spar follows thorough cementation of lime silts in the same sample.


The Global Employment Challenge examines in depth the state of employment in the world today. It finds that there is a serious problem worldwide: lack of productive work for a large section of the labor force. The causes and manifestations of the problem differ in the developing, developed, and transition economies of central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The report offers groundbreaking empirical analysis of the nature and characteristics of the employment problem in each of the three types of economies. It looks at the factors underlying the problem, considers the impact of globalization, and identifies the policy challenges at national and international levels. The report warns that if national governments and the global community fail to respond to these policy challenges, the employment problem will spread throughout the world. "It is well-written, full of useful information and has a nice combination of data and analytics....The report should be valuable to the research and policy communities." --Kaushik Basu, C. Marks Professor and director of the Center for Analytic Economics, Cornell University


Identifying molecular mechanisms or therapeutic targets is typically based on large‐scale cellular analysis that measures the abundance of mRNA or protein; however, abundance does not necessarily correlate with activity. We report a method for direct large‐scale quantification of active pathways that employs a cellular array with parallel gene delivery of constructs that report pathway activity. The reporter constructs encode luciferase, whose expression is influenced by binding of transcription factors (TFs), which are the downstream targets of signaling pathways. Luciferase levels are quantified by bioluminescence imaging (BLI), which allows for rapid, non‐invasive measurements. Activity profiles by BLI of 32 TFs were robust, consistent, and reproducible, and correlated with standard cell lysis techniques. The array identified five TFs with differential activity during phorbol‐12‐myristate‐13‐acetate (PMA)‐induced differentiation of breast cancer cells. A system for rapid, large‐scale, BLI quantification of pathway activity provides an enabling technology for mechanistic studies of cellular responses and processes. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011;108: 395–403. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


As a variation on game-based learning, we propose the concept of 'gameful learning' as a framework that encourages improvisation, playfulness, and social interaction, and which takes into account the unique contingencies of individual people and specific content. We describe gameful learning in terms of three elements: attitude, identity, and ignorance. Three cases of gameful learning are examined across diverse learning environments: a fourth grade science class studying matter, a secondary world history class studying the Middle Ages, and an educational technology graduate programme. Cross-case analysis reveals how gameful learning elements relate to attitudes of agency and social necessity, becoming a game designer, and embracing ignorance for learning.


I develop a model of information spillovers in initial public offerings (IPOs). The outcomes of pioneers` IPOs reflect participating investors` private information on common valuation factors. This makes the pricing of subsequent issues relatively easier and attracts more firms to the IPO market. I show that IPO market timing by the followers emerges as an equilibrium clustering pattern. High offer price realizations for pioneers` IPOs better reflect investors` private information and trigger a larger number of subsequent IPOs than low offer price realizations do. This asymmetry in the spillover effect is more pronounced early on in a hot market. The model provides an explanation for recent empirical findings that illustrate the high sensitivity of going public decision to IPO market conditions.


Objective: Low back pain is the most common skeletal disorder worldwide that 50% to 80% of people experience it at least once in their lifetime. Physical and psychological factors in the work environment can relatively contribute to low back pain. In this study, we examined the prevalence of low back pain and influential factors in its development among nursing staff. Methods: In this cross-sectional study we assessed the prevalence of low back pain among nurses working in Poursina hospital, Rasht, Iran, during March and April 2012. Demographic data and information on the status of skeletal pain, as well as, associated factors were collected using a pre-designed check list. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results: A total of 350 nurses with a mean age of 32.00 ± 8.24 years (minimum 22 and maximum 56 years) were studied (90.3% female). 246 participants (70.3%) had a history of low back pain. There was no significant difference between gender and the incidence of low back pain, (P = 0.286). 96 participants (27.4%) aged 27 to 31 had the highest rate of low back pain and 11 participants (3.1%) aged 52 to 56 were the least frequent age group. Low back pain significantly differed by age (P = 0.001), body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.222), and physical activity (P = 0.050). Conclusion: The results of this study showed a prevalence of 70% for low back pain among nurses working in Poursina hospital in Rasht, in Gilan province. Age, BMI, and physical activity were significantly associated with the prevalence of low back pain. However, gender, occupation, marital status, smoking, family history, frequency of lifting heavy things, work experience, and workplace did not show a significant relationship


Within the process mining field we are witnessing a tremendous growth of applications and development frameworks available to perform data analyses. Such growth, which is very positive and desirable, comes with the cost of learning each new tool and difficulties in integrating different systems in order to complement the analyses. In addition, we are noticing the lack of tools enabling collaboration among the users involved in a project. Finally, we think it would be highly recommended to enable ubiquitous processing of data. This paper proposes a solution to all these issues by presenting a chat bot which can be included in discussions to enable the execution of process mining directly from the chat.


Through its quantitative easing programme the Bank of England has looked to manage the supply of nominal UK government securities in order to lower interest rates. In doing so it has removed more than 25 per cent of the overall supply of those securities from the publicly accessible market. The benchmark New Keynesian model suggests this should only have an impact on interest rates insofar as it affects expectations of future policy rates, whilst alternative theoretical frameworks imply a direct effect of changes in supply onto yields. Our aim is to test for the existence of these potential transmission mechanisms. We find empirical evidence to support the existence of both channels. Our analysis suggests the Bank's quantitative easing programme reduced yields by around 25 basis points through the supply channel alone. Importantly, we find that such supply effects have remained significant in recent years, suggesting that as quantitative easing is unwound the increase in publicly available supply will put upward pressure on interest rates. Lastly we highlight the monetary-fiscal interaction inherent in our result and discuss some of the issues it raises for policymakers.


The presence of sulphur in crude oil poses enormous challenges as regards its negative environmental and economic impacts. As such, the safety of the personnel and the equipment is at high risk during the processing of Urals crude oil in Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) because of its sour nature. This study was aimed at reducing the sulphur content of the Urals crude oil prior to processing by subjecting it to oxidative desulphurization where peracetic acid was used as the oxidant in the actual mass-to-stoichiometric mass ratio ranging from 1 to 5. The oxidized sulphur compounds were thereafter extracted using acetic acid as the extraction solvent. Furthermore, atmospheric distillation was carried out on both the raw and the desulphurized crude oil samples. Finally, the sulphur contents of the various crude oil samples and their fractions were analyzed. The results showed drastic reductions in the sulphur contents up to actual mass-to-stoichiometric mass ratio of 2 but the reductions became progressively insignificant afterwards. Meanwhile, the highest reduction in the sulphur content of the crude oil was 61.6 % while those of the gasoline, kerosene, diesel and residue were 32.0, 45.1, 68.9 and 75.0 % respectively. Therefore, peracetic acid is an effective oxidant for oxidative desulphurization of the crude oil. Keywords : Sulphur content, Crude oil, Oxidative desulphurization, Thiophenic compounds


Nowadays, using the smart metering devices for energy users to manage a wide variety of subscribers, reading devices for measuring, billing, disconnection and connection of subscribers' connection management is an important issue. The performance of these intelligent systems is based on information transfer in the context of information technology, so reported data from network should be managed to avoid the malicious activities that including the issues that could affect the quality of service the system. In this paper for control of the reported data and to ensure the veracity of the obtained information, using intrusion detection system is proposed based on the support vector machine and principle component analysis (PCA) to recognize and identify the intrusions and attacks in the smart grid. Here, the operation of intrusion detection systems for different kernel of SVM when using support vector machine (SVM) and PCA simultaneously is studied. To evaluate the algorithm, based on data KDD99, numerical simulation is done on five different kernels for an intrusion detection system using support vector machine with PCA simultaneously. Also comparison analysis is investigated for presented intrusion detection algorithm in terms of time response, rate of increase network efficiency and increase system error and differences in the use or lack of use PCA. The results indicate that correct detection rate and the rate of attack error detection have best value when PCA is used, and when the core of algorithm is radial type, in SVM algorithm reduces the time for data analysis and enhances performance of intrusion detection.


The concept of sustainability has become a global agenda penetrating from global institutions to diverse forms of domestic policy making. This dissertation focuses on how, and to what extent, the global sustainability agenda and the actors involved influence domestic policy change. The Indonesian palm oil sector, particularly the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) policy, provided the case study for the research. Three independent studies were conducted using multiple data collection strategies with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first study examines power relations amongst stakeholders in the Indonesian the palm oil sector supply chain. The second study investigates historical development of the institutions that lead towards a vision of sustainability for governing the Indonesian palm oil sector. The third study, uses discourse analysis to explore the main factors that trigger initiation of the new ISPO policy under the influence of transnational negotiations. The research revealed that international stakeholders have tried to exert influence on the national sustainability agenda in the Indonesian palm oil sector, using power held at the global level. However, institutional change in the Indonesian palm oil sector resulted from power contestation within the government's national coalitions and occurred as a form of sovereignty. The findings reveal that institutional change was not mainly a response to exogenous influence from global institutions, but resulted from the interplay of endogenous factors that changed the perspectives of national actors. The state, nevertheless, is undergoing a transformation and is enhancing national institutional capacity through the publication of the ISPO policy instead of being 'hollowed-out' by the rise of transnational actors operating at the global level. The dissertation presents novel insights on the interaction between globalization and domestic policy making. From a theoretical perspective, new insights contribute to knowledge of the links between institutions, sustainability, globalization and the processes of domestic policy change. From the practical perspective, the research results can help the palm oil sector stakeholders understand power relations between actors; development of institutions contributing to the national sustainability vision; and components of the discourses on the ISPO and oil palm sector that need to be focused to enhance sustainability.


A critical requirement for assessing drug toxicity in vitro is cytochrome P450 (CYP) function that is physiologically representative. Due to low levels of CYP enzyme activity, cell lines such as HepG2 hepatocytes have largely been supplanted with primary cells derived from human donor tissue. While these cells retain CYP activity ex vivo, drug screening is limited to short-term assessments due to de-differentiation. This limits their efficacy in testing slow-clearing, large-molecule compounds such as antibody-based therapies and low-turnover drugs. Cell lines in monolayer cultures have been effective in assessing the safety of small molecule drugs, but the disparity between cell lines and in vivo tissue biology proves too substantial for current potential therapies. Three-dimensional (3D) cultures have been shown to be more physiologically relevant models of in vivo tissue. However, even they fail to fully mimic living tissue and suffer from the lack of active oxygen and nutrient transport. Lena Biosciences has developed a groundbreaking in vitro system that facilitates long-term survival of 3D cultures. Cells seeded in 3D hydrogels supported by a rigid scaffold are maintained in statistically independent wells in their own medium which floats atop a high-density blood-substitute in which medium is immiscible. Infusion and withdrawal of this blood-substitute introduces perfusion into a medium-throughput multiwell system without the need for separate pumps for each culture condition. Internal validation experiments using hepatocytes cultured in a 12-well system showed a two-fold improvement in cellular respiration (measured by alamarBlue assay) over cultures maintained in a standard multiwell plate when the blood-substitute was introduced, and a three-fold improvement when the cultures were perfused. Cell viability (measured by LDH release) was significantly improved when perfusion was introduced. CYP activity (assessed using both fluorescent and luminescent substrate-based assays) was also significantly higher in the perfused hepatocyte cultures. These data demonstrate the substantial advantages to growing cells in this novel perfused cell culture model. Scaling the system to include multiple cell types (primary or cell lines), would allow for simultaneous testing of target and off-target effects of potential small or large molecule therapies. Thus, this system serves as a major improvement over the current organ-on-a-chip solutions in the area of drug safety testing. Citation Format: James T. Shoemaker, Jelena Vukasinovic. Cytochrome P450 enzyme activity is enhanced in hepatocytes grown using a perfused 3D cell culture drug screening system [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4080. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4080


Background Acute gout is usually associated with a decrease in serum uric acid (SUA) level but the mechanism responsible for this phenomenon remains unclear. Objectives We aimed to investigate relationships between changes in SUA level, urinary excretion of uric acid and biochemical markers during gout attack. Methods SUA, eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate), serum CRP level and urinary excretion of UA, expressed as fractional excretion of UA (FeUA), from 35 ULT (urate-lowering therapy)-free and diuretic-free gout patients were prospectively measured during acute gout attack (Tc) and intercritical (Tic) phase. In 11 patients, data were available after achievement of SUA target (Tt) (<360 μmol/l) under ULT. Demographics data and waist circumference (WC) were collected. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. Results There were 32 men, mean age 57.9 years, mean body mass index 28.6 kg/m2, and mean waist circumference 104 cm. Overall 17.1% had type 2 diabetes, 37.1% dyslipidemia, 54.3% hypertension, 34.4% obesity, 74.3% abdominal obesity and 51.4% chronic kidney disease (CKD, 31.4% CKD 2 and 20% CKD 3–5). Gout duration was 3.9±6.7 years, 28.6% of patients had tophus and 31.4% gout arthropathy. SUA, eGFR and FeUA values were similar between Tc and Tic phases: SUA: 504.9±79.9 and 507.6±89.7 μmol/l; eGFR: 78.1±28.8 and 81.4±33.8 ml/min/1.73m2; FeUA: 4.90±2.3 and 4.45±3.3%, respectively. Moreover, the FeUA values were identical between Tt, Tic and Tc in 11 patients who achieved SUA target (296.0±37.8 μmol/l) under ULT. CRP levels were higher at Tc (44.8±69.4 mg/dL) than Tic (5.2±3.3 mg/dl) and Tt (4.6±1.2 mg/dl). While mean SUA levels were similar between Tc and Tic, SUA levels were lower in Tc than Tic in 21 patients (mean difference: 56.9±33.7 μmol/l) (figure1). In contrast, 14 patients had a SUA level higher in Tc than in Tic (mean difference: 78.6±71.5 μmol/L) (figure 1). SUA variations between Tc and Tic were not correlated with FeUA modifications in these two groups (p=0.15). Similarly, SUA and FeUA variations were not correlated with CRP variations between Tc and Tic (p=0.29 and p=0.30, respectively). Conclusions SUA levels during gout attack can be either higher or lower than SUA during intercritical phase. These variations are linked neither to inflammation level nor to FeUA. It would be interesting to assess the intestinal excretion of uric acid, xanthine oxidase activity and diet intake during these different gout phases. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This study explores the potential of prepaid meters for serving urban poor communities. It provides urban utilities, oversight agencies, and other stakeholders in Africa with a basis for decision-making on the suitability, introduction, and management of such meters. The need for the assessment emerged from prepaid meters increasingly being utilized by water and sanitation utilities in developing countries, including World Bank clients. The technologies adopted have expanded over this period, but there has been a lack of consolidated data and analysis that capture the service delivery, operational efficiency, and access to services aspects of such systems across utilities and regions systematically. The review initially aimed to research experiences in six African countries from the perspective of their communities, as well as from water sector bodies, governments, and other investors. The number of case studies was increased to eight with the addition of Windhoek in Namibia and Nakuru in Kenya, as it became apparent that they may offer additional lessons. Windhoek, for example, is one of the prepaid water pioneers in Africa. The study specifically canvased the perspectives of customers, including market research and opinion surveys on people's experience and views of prepaid water in practice. Women and children were well represented in many of these groups. The analysis aimed to be robustly investigative, deliberately not advocating for prepaid systems in principle, or making firm recommendations, but rather offering balanced analysis and assessment, and considerations to inform policymakers and sector leaders, as well as other stakeholders who may face decisions or challenges on such systems. One of the key conceptual bases that the analysis identified was the need to differentiate between prepaid applications of prepaid system for standpipes, individual connections, and institutional and commercial customers each of which have different implications for their users, as well as for cost effectiveness. Utilities must be able to justify the investment in a prepayment system and its opportunity costs specific to the application they choose, and relative to alternative means of improving services.


At present, given a bulk of models for higher-order chromatin structure in interphase nuclei of animal somatic cells, little is known about the spatial chromosome organization in animal male germ cells mainly due to the lack suitable methods for detailed observation and analysis without disruption of the existing organization. We pioneered in the study of this issue via analysis of radiation-induced inversion patterns in Drosophila male germ cell genome taking into account the fact that the formation of inversion requires the spatial proximity and contact of its ends. Analysis of 72 γrayor neutron-induced vg inversions in which the first break is invariantly associated with the vestigial (vg) gene in the middle of 2R autosome shows the second inversion breakpoints that highly non-randomly distributed over the entire second chromosome clustering at the three autosome 2 "hot" chromosome areas. These findings show that the polar Rabl-configuration of interphase chromosomes in various somatic cells is not typical for the haploid genome of Drosophila mature sperms. The specific megarosetteloopstructure of haploid chromosome in the mature animal sperms is proposed and justified.


Pre-coagulation enhanced by KMnO(4) before ultrafiltration (KCUF) was compared with normal pre-coagulation by alum (CUF) in the ultrafiltration of water from the Songhua River, China. The trans-membrane pressure (TMP) with KCUF was much lower than that when alum alone was used. With KCUF a slower increment of TMP occurred, even under conditions of high river water turbidity. The results also showed that the removal of COD, UV(254) and TOC was appreciably higher after adding 0.5mg/L KMnO(4) compared with CUF. Although assimilable organic carbon (AOC) was increased by permanganate treatment, the AOC of the permeate from KCUF was nearly the same as that from CUF, showing that the cake layer on the surface of KCUF membrane could adsorb small molecules more effectively than that of CUF. This result was confirmed by the apparent molecular weight (MW) distribution measured by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). It was shown that flocs formed by KMnO(4) and alum were larger than those formed only by alum, causing higher removal of flocs and higher permeation flux. Lower NOM was found in the permeate from the KCUF systems because oxidation and adsorption of organic matter on the flocs occurred. The membrane was partly clogged by organic matter or other materials including some small flocs.


A machine vision system for real time inspection of moving web is discussed. The system is for use in detecting, locating, identifying, classifying and sizing defects on a moving sheet of web and, mapping the defects detected on the roll of web being inspected on a printer. On the latter, the precise location on the X and Y axes on the roll of web for each defect detected is recorded using a code whereby the type of defect is identified and it's size reported. The system's unique configuration of hardware components includes a novel Time Delay and Integration (TDI) type camera as the sensors, a novel image processing board directly coupled to the TDI camera forming a camera-image processing board subassembly and, a novel master timing and synchronization board subsystem. The latter being capable of synchronizing the triggering, timing and sampling time of multiple channels within the TDI sensor and multiple TDI camera-image processing board subassemblies, in parallel within the same time frame, by controlling a novel master clocking scheme within a TDI logic circuit, contained within each camera, wherein the clocks' speed for data output, in Megahertz (MHZ), remains constant regardless of web speed whereas, the imager clocks' speed and signal format varies with web speed. This allows a high level of stop motion at any web speed including high speeds, that is, motion within the defined pixel size on the web during sampling time being less than 0.00002" (0.02 mils) and, renders the system immune to process vibrations. Furthermore, through routines in firmware, the system's performance and abilities are not affected by web speed variations. The system is integrated on a 20 slots AT2 compatible backplane having a PC bus single board AT2 compatible computer system wherein is contained various routines to generate data by processing various types of defects on various types of webs which are downloaded on to each of the image processing boards' programmable chips at system start-up by a master program. Contained therein is an expert system master program especially conceived and designed for the purpose of this system having routines to operate the boards, render logical decisions based on the data generated by the image processing boards, and generate the required reports. The system also comprises a subsystem, controlled by routines contained in the master program, which maintains the intensity and uniformity of web illumination within 0.5%, according to the type and thickness of the web being inspected, and controls the various positions of the illumination source's components. The standard configuration of the system developed produces a pixel size on the moving web of 0.0025" (2.5 mils) but can be configured to have a smaller or larger pixel size, the latter being proportional to the number of camera-image processing board subassemblies used.


Abstrak- The word "administration" comes from the Latin word consisting of ad and ministrare. The word ad has the same meaning as the todalam word in English, which means "to" or "to". And ministrare is the same as the word to serve or to conduct which means "to serve", "help", or direct ". In English to administer also means "to manage", "maintain" (to look after), and "direct". So, the word "administration" can be interpreted as an activity or effort to help, serve, direct, or regulate all activities in achieving a goal. Educational Administration is the whole process of collaboration of two or more people by utilizing all available personnel and material resources and appropriate to achieve the educational goals that have been set effectively and efficiently. The purpose of education administration is that all activities support the achievement of educational goals or in other words administration is used in the world of education so that educational goals are achieved.


n the field of environmental psychology a long tradition exists in PostOccupancy Evaluation (POE) or building-in-use studies. Nowadays facility managers and real estate managers seem to show a growing interest in ex post evaluation of buildings, too, particularly in connection to ex ante assessments in the briefing and design phase. The aim of this paper is to discuss general objectives and methods of POE and to show how research findings can be used in (re-)designing and management of office buildings. The approach is illustrated by a case study of an office building of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. This building has been assessed by using the WEDI working environment diagnostic tool. The results are used to support decision making in the present renovation of the ministries headquarter in The Hague and the real estate management of other ministerial buildings. The paper ends with a series of lessons learnt from a cross-case analysis of eight office buildings and a preview into work in progress on a search for a satisfaction index that might be used in accommodation policy and for benchmarking purposes.


To improve the performance of permanent magnet (PM) machines, quasi-Halbach PM arrays are used to increase the magnetic loading in these machines. In tubular PM actuators, these arrays are often approximated using segmented magnets resulting in a 3-D magnetic field effect. This paper describes the results of this segmentation obtained from an analytical model. The influence of the number of segments on the magnetic flux density in the air gap is investigated for several actuator dimensions. Furthermore, the effect of this segmentation on the mean value of the radial component of the flux density over the circumference of the cylindrical air gap is analyzed and a 2-D definition of this effect is given. A general rule is presented as a table showing the decrease of the magnetic field as function of the design parameters.


Call type classification and topic classification for contact center calls using automatically generated transcripts is not yet widely available mainly due to the high cost and low accuracy of call-center grade automatic speech transcription. To address these challenges, we examine if using only partial conversations yields accuracy comparable to using the entire customer-agent conversations. We exploit two interesting characteristics of call center calls. First, contact center calls are highly scripted following prescribed steps, and the customers problem or request (i.e., the determinant of the call type) is typically stated in the beginning of a call. Thus, using only the beginning of calls may be sufficient to determine the call type. Second, agents often more clearly repeat or rephrase what customers said, thus it may be sufficient to process only agents' speech. Our experiments with 1,677 customer calls show that two partial transcripts comprising only the agents utterances and the first 40 speaker turns actually produce slightly higher classification accuracy than a transcript set comprising the entire conversations. In addition, using partial conversations can significantly reduce the cost for speech transcription.


Global city research links the expansion of advanced producer services in major cities to the internationalisation of real estate markets as well as to the spread of (mainly) high-rise office complexes. This research, however, has based its findings mainly on cases of the Global North. This paper examines, based on Grant and Nijman's (2002) suggestion that the "internal spatial organisation of gateway cities in the less-developed world" reflects "the city's role in the global political economy", which patterns occur in two metropoles of the Global South. In addition to this, the analysis focuses especially on the driving forces behind the changes in corporate geographies. The analysis is placed in Mexico City and Johannesburg and based on real estate market data (offices) as well as background documents on urban development. The outcome shows that in these cities, local transformation processes of the real estate market and office space location are indeed considerably shaped by global market dynamics. However, the findings also indicate that there is no clear scale dependence of the territorial form. In order to comprehensively understand the changes in the corporate geographies therefore, it is necessary to direct more attention to local and national dynamics. The restructuring of the built environment in both cities can only be grasped fully by considering the particular role of local and national governments. This additional entry point to an understanding of shifting corporate geographies helps to put recent dynamics of global capitalism and politics of urban neoliberalism in perspective.


The chemical bonding in the carbide core and the surface chemistry in a new group of transition-metal carbides Tin+1Cn-Tx (n = 1,2) called MXenes have been investigated by surface-sensitive valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Changes in band structures of stacked nano sheets of different thicknesses are analyzed in connection to known hybridization regions of TiC and TiO2 that affect elastic and transport properties. By employing high excitation energy, the photoelectron cross-section for the C 2s – Ti 3d hybridization region at the bottom of the valence band is enhanced. As shown in this work, the O 2p and F 2p bands strongly depend both on the bond lengths to the surface groups and the adsorption Xene


Visible light-active TiO2 (m-TiO2) nanoparticles were obtained by an electron beam treatment of commercial TiO2 (p-TiO2) nanoparticles. The m-TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited a distinct red-shift in the UV-visible absorption spectrum and a much narrower band gap (2.85 eV) due to defects as confirmed by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and linear scan voltammetry (LSV). The XPS revealed changes in the surface states, composition, Ti4+ to Ti3+ ratio, and oxygen deficiencies in the m-TiO2. The valence band XPS, DRS and PL results were carefully examined to understand the band gap reduction of m-TiO2. The visible light-responsive enhanced photocatalytic activity of m-TiO2 was demonstrated by degrading methylene blue and brilliant blue G. The EIS and LSV in the dark and under visible light irradiation further support the visible light-induced photocatalytic activities of the m-TiO2 due to a decrease in electron transfer resistance and an increase in photocurrent. This study confirms that m-TiO2 can be used effectively as a photocatalyst and photoelectrode material owing to its enhanced visible light-induced photocatalytic activity.


This article offers a point of view about the role that the History of Art is currently playing in the study of the Architecture of Late Antiquity and Middle Ages. It is discussed how the Archaeology of Architecture has tried to claim scientific competence over this topic of study partly by simplifying the theoretical foundations of the Art History. This academic field has been somewhat reduced exclusively to the category of an idealist, typological discourse, as if based in old-fashioned assumptions coming from 19th-century academic traditions.
The analysis and interpretation of a building as a vertical archaeological site does not provide all the answers about its historical and ideological motivations. The Art History may help to obtain more answers. The absence of the Art Historian in administrative commissions deprives society of an efficient and relevant knowledge. The art historian's task has been systematically underestimated as that of an epidermic aesthete, even when his compromise with the heritage legacy of our society is incorruptible. Architectural Archaeologists and Architectural Historians share a same topic, but the terms of the relationship among both of them are those of a dispute to obtain quotas of power and intervention. Which horizon are professionals and academics of historical architecture heading for?.


A series of T and B lymphocyte specific monoclonal antibodies was used to determine the localization of lymphocyte subpopulation in frozen and paraffin tissue sections of human normal tonsil and lymph node by means of immunocytochemical technique. In the paracortical and interfollicular area of tonsil and lymph node, most lymphocytes reacted with Leu 1, Leu 3 a, Leu 4 and OKT4. The numbers of Leu 2 a and OKT8 positive cells were rare in tissue. These cells were not only limited in paracortical area, they also appeared in considerable numbers in medullary cords of lymph nodes. Leu 2 a and OKT 8 positive cells decreased with prominent follicular hyperplasia of tonsils. In addition, substantial leu 3 a and Leu 4 cells were found in the germinal centers. This finding supports the importance of these lymphocyte subsets in regulation of human immune response. In the mantle zone of secondary follicles, the majority of lymphocytes were positive for OKB 2 and BA 1, whereas, the IgM positive cells were predominately observed in the cytoplasma and extracellular substance of B lymphocytes in the germinal centers, but the lymphocytes bearing sIgM were rarely observed. In the mantle zone, the IgM were frequently found on the surface of membrane of small lymphocytes, however, the staining intensity was much than that in the germinal centers.


Hot rolled Mg alloy has a preferred orientation, which affects the deformation behavior of Mg alloy. In this work, load relaxation and tensile tests after hot rolling process were performed to clarify the effect of the texture on deformation behavior of AZ31 Mg alloy and the results were analyzed based on an internal variable theory proposed by one of the authors. The analysis of the deformation behavior is then correlated to XRD pole figure results of the texture. The analysis result of Mg alloy was found to be comparable to the results obtained from the test of Ti alloys, which has the same HCP structure.


Learning structured models using maximum margin techniques has become an indispensable tool for com- puter vision researchers, as many computer vision applications can be cast naturally as an image labeling problem. Pixel-based or superpixel-based conditional random fields are particularly popular examples. Typ- ically, neighborhood graphs, which contain a large number of cycles, are used. As exact inference in loopy graphs is NP-hard in general, learning these models without approximations is usually deemed infeasible. In this work we show that, despite the theoretical hardness, it is possible to learn loopy models exactly in practical applications. To this end, we analyze the use of multiple approximate inference techniques together with cutting plane training of structural SVMs. We show that our proposed method yields exact solutions with an optimality guarantees in a computer vision application, for little additional computational cost. We also propose a dynamic caching scheme to accelerate training further, yielding runtimes that are comparable with approximate methods. We hope that this insight can lead to a reconsideration of the tractability of loopy models in computer vision.


This insightful book relates how Emperor Haile Selassie helped shape America's image of Africa and how that image continues to evolve in the United States today.
 The Lion of Judah in the New World: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shaping of Americans' Attitudes toward Africa tells the story of a dynamic ruler who influenced the perception of an entire continent. Documenting the Emperor's state visits to North America, the book explores U.S. foreign policy towards Ethiopia and Africa over two decades. At the same time, it seeks to understand why Haile Selassie enjoyed such celebrity in the United States and how he became so important in determining U.S. attitudes toward Africa.
 The book includes a brief biography of the Emperor and also explores the geography and long, colorful history of Ethiopia. The tensions and contradictions that marked Haile Selassie's life are highlighted in significant episodes that underscore his astute use of public relations and personal diplomacy. His leadership of postcolonial Africa during the Cold War is examined, as is his ultimate rejection by the United States in 1973 that marked the end of the monarchy and ushered in the tragic fratricide of Ethiopian civil war.


When first learning to play a wind instrument, beginner musicians are taught how to hold their instrument and correctly position their body. They are taught how to sit, where to put their hands and fingers on the keys, and how to hold their arms. This initial lesson on posture and hand positioning is often short, as one quickly moves on to learn the embouchure and breathing techniques that allow sound to be produced. As a musician progresses in skill, positioning is emphasized more, and they learn that it can affect their risk of strain or injury and improve their sound quality. Throughout a musician's lifetime, one may often find themselves in pain in one area of their body or another. This can normally be prevented by modifying or correcting their body in an optimal position to play as well as to prevent strain and pain. Common points of pain for a musician include the neck, shoulders, lower back, and wrists, depending on the type of instrument and other variables. Musicians have developed several methods to teach the best positions to play instruments. Most of these methods are developed by experimentation, to decide what position feel the best and minimizes the pain they are receiving when they play. One such method is body mapping, which in general terms, allows a musician an understanding of their body and allows them to better learn to apply it. One can consciously correct their body position to produce more efficient and graceful movements. The evidence of success is a reduction of pain and improvement of playing ability and sound quality. "The Biomechanics of Music Performance" is a study explaining the reasons why body mapping and the recommended positions for holding instruments are effective. An engineer's perspective is used to explain the basic concepts of physics and biomechanics in a musician's motion and details the related anatomical workings. The study has been narrowed to two specific instruments, the flute and the oboe, and focuses on the neuromuscular involvement of the upper limbs and body. With both instruments, there are risks for many injuries similar to those seen in computer overuse. This includes carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and more. For example, for a flutist, concentrating on the extension of the wrist and ulnar deviation in the right arm is important, and physics can explain why the optimal position of the right elbow can change the amount of pain that is produced in the right wrist. Similarly, oboists often experience strain in their right wrist and hand, and again, this can be alleviated by adjusting the angle of wrist extension and ulnar deviation. Through "The Biomechanics of Music Performance" the mechanisms of musical performance will be examined and accepted positioning will be studied to prove and explain their effectiveness. Through a new perspective on the subject, the goal is to introduce concepts to a new audience to increase the understanding and ability of musicians and their body positioning and movements.


We present an adaptive and dynamic hexagonal electro-optic phase array. The proposed device consists of a 2-dimensional hexagonal array of periodically inverted ferroelectric domains, along the z-axis, in lithium niobate crystals. The phase step is achieved via the application of an external electric field, along the z-axis, through transparent electrodes. Thanks to the electro-optic effect the phase step can changed with continuity over all the 0 to 2π by applying a variable voltage. In this way different patterns can be generated. In fact, one important property of this new proposed configuration of array iluminator is the intrinsic flexibility.


Arcobacter butzleri , A . cryaerophilus , A . skirrowii and A . thereius are recognised as emerging zoonotic agents, recovered from animals and human beings. The information available about Arcobacter species in Latin America is scarce. Among domestic animals, swine are considered important reservoir and source of contamination of different Arcobacter species. This communication reports the first simultaneous isolation of the four zoonotic Arcobacter species in Ecuador. Preliminary identification was done by phenotypic characteristics and definitive species identification was made by multiplex PCR method. Further investigation about the prevalence, distribution, ecology and interactions with human beings of these species is required. Key words : Arcobacter, zoonotic species, reservoir, Ecuador.


Temporal noise sets the fundamental limit on image sensor performance, especially under low illumination and in video applications. In a CCD image sensor, temporal noise is primarily due to the photodetector shot noise and the output amplifier thermal and 1/f noise. CMOS image sensors suffer from higher noise than CCDs due to the additional pixel and column amplifier transistor thermal and 1/f noise. Noise analysis is further complicated by the time-varying circuit models, the fact that the reset transistor operates in subthreshold during reset, and the nonlinearity of the charge to voltage conversion, which is becoming more pronounced as CMOS technology scales. The paper presents a detailed and rigorous analysis of temporal noise due to thermal and shot noise sources in CMOS active pixel sensor (APS) that takes into consideration these complicating factors. Performing time-domain analysis, instead of the more traditional frequency-domain analysis, we find that the reset noise power due to thermal noise is at most half of its commonly quoted kT/C value. This result is corroborated by several published experimental data including data presented in this paper. The lower reset noise, however, comes at the expense of image lag. We find that alternative reset methods such as overdriving the reset transistor gate or using a pMOS transistor can alleviate lag, but at the expense of doubling the reset noise power. We propose a new reset method that alleviates lag without increasing reset noise.


Heart failure comprises of clinically distinct inciting causes but a consistent pattern of change in myocardial gene expression supports the hypothesis that unifying biochemical mechanisms underlie disease progression. The recent RNA-seq revolution has enabled whole transcriptome profiling, using deep-sequencing technologies. Up to 70% of the genome is now known to be transcribed into RNA, a significant proportion of which is long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), defined as polyribonucleotides of ≥200 nucleotides. This project aims to discover whether the myocardium expression of lncRNAs changes in the failing heart. Paired end RNA-seq from a 300-400bp library of 'stretched' mouse myocyte total RNA was carried out to generate 76-mer sequence reads. Mechanically stretching myocytes with equibiaxial stretch apparatus mimics pathological hypertrophy in the heart. Transcripts were assembled and aligned to reference genome mm9 (UCSC), abundance determined and differential expression of novel transcripts and alternative splice variants were compared with that of control (non-stretched) mouse myocytes. Five novel transcripts have been identified in our RNA-seq that are differentially expressed in stretched myocytes compared with non-stretched. These are regions of the genome that are currently unannotated and potentially are transcribed into non-coding RNAs. Roles of known lncRNAs include control of gene expression, either by direct interaction with complementary regions of the genome or association with chromatin remodelling complexes which act on the epigenome.Changes in expression of genes which contribute to the deterioration of the failing heart could be due to the actions of these novel lncRNAs, immediately suggesting a target for new pharmaceuticals. Changes in the expression of these novel transcripts will be validated in a larger sample size of stretched myocytes vs non-stretched myocytes as well as in the hearts of transverse aortic constriction (TAC) mice vs Sham (surgical procedure without the aortic banding). In vivo investigations will then be carried out, using siLNA antisense technology to silence novel lncRNAs in mice.


The main drivers of tropical forest biodiversity loss are land clearing for agriculture, pasture and timber plantation development, followed by logging activities that degrade forests. Deforestation and forest degradation also significantly contribute to climate change, given that they contribute about 12–15% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change in turn negatively affects biodiversity and agricultural activities in tropical countries. Therefore the governance of forest biodiversity needs to be closely connected to the governance of the climate. The following governance factors need to be addressed to reduce tropical forest biodiversity loss. First, corruption and illegal logging appear to contribute to deforestation and forest degradation. Second, the roles in forest management of the various government levels will need to be clearly spelt out, and the appropriate performance-based financial incentives (and related capacity) for forest conservation be provided to the appropriate government levels. Third, economic incentives need to be present for countries to commit to changes in the policies that drive deforestation and forest degradation. These economic incentives will be most effective when they directly reach the holders of the property and management rights to forests. Property and management rights will need to be adjusted for economic incentives to be effective and equitable, and benefit local and indigenous communities. The paper suggests policies and activities that the Australian government could implement within Australia and through the development assistance program to support a mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), to reduce biodiversity loss, reduce carbon emissions, and contribute to local livelihoods.


Several researchers have suggested that the consistently found Anglo-American/ Mexican-American difference in cooperative-competitive social behavior is at least partly a result of the relatively larger Mexican-American family size. To test that hypothesis, 126 Anglo-American and 63 Mexican-American children were administered the Social Behavior Scale and their mothers were interviewed to determine the number of siblings and the ordinal position of the child. The results revealed cultural, age, and sex differences similar to those obtained in previous studies, and indicated that the Mexican-American children did indeed have more siblings and differed significantly in birth order compared to the Anglo-American children. However, the results did not demonstrate a significant relation between cooperative-competitive social behavior and the number of siblings or birth order; and after statistically controlling for the number of siblings and birth order, the cultural, age, and sex difference in cooperative-competitive social behavior remained statistically significant. The results are discussed in terms of alternative explanations of the observed cultural difference.


Using immunocytochemistry, the authors studied the peptidergic innervation to the vasculature of the optic nerve and retina in the rhesus monkey and rat. In the monkey, beaded nerve fibers immunoreactive to the vasoactive peptides, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), substance P (SP), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), are present in the adventitia and perivascular space along the course of the central retinal artery within the optic nerve. The CGRP and SP immunoreactivities fully co-localize. Perivascular peptidergic nerve fibers terminate as the blood vessel enters the globe and do not follow the branches of the central retinal artery inside the eye. Within the substance of the optic nerve behind the lamina cribrosa, small blood vessels occasionally are supplied with CGRP-, SP-, and sometimes NPYor VIP-immunoreactive nerve fibers. Of special note, fine nerve fibers not clearly related to blood vessels are seen within the lamina cribrosa; their simultaneous immunoreactivity to CGRP and SP suggests a sensory function. In the rat as in the monkey, the retinal arterioles beyond the surface of the optic disc lack evident peptidergic innervation. Perhaps an explanation for the known physiologic reactivity of the retinal circulation to neurohumors in the absence of recognizable peripheral innervation can be based on comparison to the brain where intraparenchymai blood vessels may be regulated by local neurons. Since the inner piexiform layer has abundant amacrine-derived nerve processes containing classical neurotransmitters and/or neuropeptides, a local mechanism coupled to intrinsic retinal activity might contribute to the regulation of the circulation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 31:1731-1737,1990


Local search is a traditional technique to solve combinatorial search problems which has raised much interest in recent years. The design and implementation of local search algorithms is not an easy task in general and may require considerable experimentation and programming eeort. However, contrary to global search, little support is available to assist the design and implementation of local search algorithms. This paper is an attempt to support the implementation of local search. It presents the preliminary design of Localizer, a modeling language which makes it possible to express local search algorithms in a notation close to their informal descriptions in scientiic papers. Experimental results on our rst implementation show the feasibility of the approach.


Importance of the field: The global increase in the popularity of alternative medicines has raised renewed concerns regarding herb–drug interactions. These interactions are especially important for drugs with narrow therapeutic indices and may either be pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic in nature. Areas covered in this review: Pharmacokinetic interactions which may exist between herbs and drugs, and the mechanisms of these interactions with appropriate examples based on primary and secondary data in publications are discussed. The mechanisms covered include those that affect oral drug absorption (e.g., modulation of efflux and uptake transporters, complex formation, gastrointestinal motility and pH) and drug biotransformation (e.g., inhibition or induction of enzymes). What the reader will gain: Knowledge on the mechanisms of herb–drug pharmacokinetic interactions supported by an extended list of these types of interactions for quick reference. A critical evaluation of certain herb–drug pharmacokinetic interactions reported in the scientific literature. Take home message: As the incidence and severity of herb–drug pharmacokinetic interactions increase due to a worldwide rise in the use of herbal preparations, more clinical data regarding herb–drug pharmacokinetic interactions are needed to make informed decisions regarding patient safety.


C-H bond activation was studied by use of density functional theory (DFT) and ONIOM calculations as implemented in Gaussian 2003 at the B3LYP level utilising 6-31G* as the basis set for Si, Al, and Fe atoms and 3-21G** as the basis set for O and H atoms. Relative energy profiles were determined for pure silica modeled by a Si7O21 cluster and Fe and Al doped silica clusters via coordinate driving calculations. The activation barriers for C-H bond activation of methane and ethane decrease with the substitution of Fe on the silica surface, which theoretically demonstrates a favorable effect of Fe substitution on that surface. The activation energy barriers of methane and ethane are substantially decreased from the approximate transition state values of 55.14 kcal/mol and 54.89 kcal/mol for pure silica cluster to 33.43 kcal/mol and 36.54 kcal/mol obtained for the approximate transition state for Fe substituted silica, respectively.


Microporous carbon molecular sieves of extremely narrow pore size distribution were obtained by carbonization of a novel raw material (Salix viminalis). The precursor is inexpensive and widely accessible. The pore capacity and specific surface area are upgradable by H3PO4 treatment without significant change of narrowed PSD. The dominating pore size indicates that these molecular sieves are a potential competitor to other nanoporous materials such as opened and purified carbon nanotubes.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of curcumin (Cur) and erythromycin (EM) on multidrug resistance (MDR) reversal of K562/A02 cell line and their mechanism.

METHODS
MTT assay was employed to determine the sensitivity of Cur, EM-treated K562/A02 cells to adriamycin (ADM). Flow cytometry was used to measure intracellular mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of daunorubicin (DNR). P-gp expression was determined by immunohistochemistry. RT-PCR technique was used to examine the mdr1 mRNA level.

RESULTS
IC(50) of ADM in K562/A02 cells was decreased when treated with Cur or EM, and the reversal times (RvT) was 4.9, 3.7 respectively. The RvT reached to 11.3 when treated with Cur (2.5 microg/ml) combined with EM (120 microg/ml). The DNR MFI in K562/A02 cells was significantly lower than that in K562 cells (P < 0.01), and was increased significantly when treated with Cur (2.5 microg/ml) or EM (120 microg/ml) (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between DNR MFI of K562/A02 cells treated with Cur (2.5 microg/ml) or EM (120 microg/ml). Immunohistochemistry showed that P-gp expression was significantly higher in K562/A02 cells than in K562 cells (P < 0.01), and was reduced in K562/A02 cells treated with each (P < 0.01), though being still higher than that in K562 cells (P < 0.01). P-gp expression of K562/A02 cells treated with each drug for 5 days were lower than that for 3 days (P < 0.01), and lowered further when treated with Cur and EM together (P < 0.01). Mdr1 mRNA level in K562/A02 cells was higher than in K562 cells (P < 0.01), and was decreased when treated with each of the drugs (P < 0.01). The mdr1 mRNA level of K562/A02 cells treated with Cur (2.5 microg/ml) plus EM (120 microg/ml) was decreased most significantly than that treated with other group of drugs. After 5 day treatment the mdr1 mRNA level of K562/A02 cells with Cur (2.5 microg/ml) was lower than that with EM 120 microg/ml (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Either Cur or EM can partly reverse the multidrug resistance of K562/A02 cells and decrease the expression and function of P-gp in a time-dependent way. MDR reversing effect of Cur combined with EM is stronger than that of Cur or EM alone.


This thesis is an in-depth critical analysis of the nature of the science/religion relationship. The purpose of this project is to expose the problems associated with the many fallacies related to these phenomena, and to evaluate the reasons behind certain perceptions. It outlines the damage done through years of misconceiving and misunderstanding the concepts of science and religion, and to address what led to such inadequacies in interpretation, emphasizing the use of insufficient and archaic methodologies. A number of the methodological problems that will be assessed are the following: Chapter One will focus primarily on the issues related to the definition of religion and will evaluate how this was/is a contributing factor in how 'religion' is received and recognized in the academic community as well as in more popular circles. The main emphasis here will be on the false conception that 'religion' is a stagnant concept rather than a dynamic one, and will be examined through an appraisal of its chromatic history. This will be followed by an examination of the primarily Christocentric and Western ideologies that are endemic to this field of study, and will demonstrate how these beliefs are related to the Western construction of 'religion' and are tied strongly to the spread of imperialism throughout the world. Chapter Two will build on these issues, through highlighting the Western conceptualizations of religion and science, especially the erroneous belief that these phenomena are universally shared. Similarly evaluated in this chapter will be a number of other factors: (1) The subjective approaches taken by some scholars who insist on making 'science' sound more like 'religion' through the use of clever machinations. (2) Related to this is the concept of inclusivism, which will call attention to the negative effects that Western biases (in academia) have on non-Western practices, mainly denuding them of their cultural uniqueness. (3) Furthermore, this chapter will examine the over simplification of complex cultural phenomena in academia and will evaluate the inefficacy of certain works in dealing with these phenomena. This will be garnished with a critical assessment of this scholarship and will gauge how years of misinformation and negligence (within the academy) has led to a troubling relationship between science and religion. This will be proceeded by a case-study of the 'scientific movement' known as transhumanism as a means to demonstrate the long lasting and problematic effects that years of misinterpretation has had on the popular understanding of the science/religion phenomena, from at least one perspective. This will be concluded with an examination of the future of this evolution. Evidenced here through the use of SF film, is how transhumanism, because of its relationship to science and religion and its communion with popular transcultural SF ideas, has the potential to become a site for a belief system that translates well cross-culturally and incorporates both of these phenomena.


This study aims to examine the link between inequality and diffusion of Information Communication and Technology (ICT). It focuses on a set of 32 African countries. ICT diffusion rate for all the countries was calculated. Two estimation techniques were used: Fractional Regression Model method and Ordinary Least Squares. The results indicate that inequality contributed to the development of ICT in all the countries considered. These results also showed that human capital and the level of development have a positive effect on ICT diffusion. It was also found that institutions play a catalytic role in the adoption and diffusion of ICT.

 Key words: Inequality, information technology and communication (ICT) diffusion, Africa, fractional regression model.


It is shown by an explicit calculation that the excitations about the self-accelerating cosmological solution of the Dvali-Gabadaze-Porrati model contain a ghost mode. This raises serious doubts about viability of this solution. Our analysis reveals the similarity between the quadratic theory for the perturbations around the self-accelerating universe and an Abelian gauge model with two Stueckelberg fields.


In the wake of Hurricanes Rita and Ike, policy and decision makers in the Houston area are concerned with the growing threat of climate change impacts and how to adapt to these changes. This capstone studied the regional impact of climate change on public infrastructure in 13 counties in the Houston-Galveston area, focusing on resiliency planning as one alternative solution to the problem. They also looked at how local governments respond to recommendations from a non-binding metropolitan planning organization (MPO). The goal was to offer conclusions that reveal the needs and solutions for local and regional governments regarding funding, capacity building, and regulatory authority necessary for adaptive responses to the hazards of global climate and environmental problems at the regional level.


—The increase of air traffic demand leads to a higher risk of collision. In the process of ensuring the safety of air traffic, Closest Point of Approach (CPA) plays an important role in estimating potential dangers. Sensitivity analysis of CPA provides related information about the influences from different aircraft parameters to CPA. The parameters such as speed of aircraft, flight direction and relative position of aircraft are used as inputs, the closest distance between two aircraft and the time from the first observation to CPA are considered to be the outputs. The main idea presented in this paper includes the establishment of the model and the selection of sensitivity analysis method. The proposed model contains all possible encounter scenarios of two aircraft and can establish the relations between dependent and independent variables simply. The objective of sensitivity analysis is to detect the influential effects from the inputs to the outputs based on the model. Thus two methods are considered in this paper: Local approach uses the partial derivative corresponding to a specific point with respect to a certain input to determine the sensitivity. This method is limited by explaining one situation each time. Variance-based method which is under a probabilistic framework bases on random numerical sampling generates numerical results to determine the global influential effects with certain assumptions. The sensitivity analysis will benefit air traffic management controllers by offering auxiliary strategies while a dangerous situation occurs.


The quinoprotein methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) contains a Ca2+ ion at the active site. Ca(2-)-free enzyme (from a processing mutant) was used to obtain enzyme containing Sr2+ or Ba2+, the Ba(2+)-MDH being the first enzyme to be described in which a Ba2+ ion functions at the active site. The activation energy for oxidation of methanol by Ba(2+)-MDH is less than half that of the reaction catalysed by Ca(2+)-MDH (a difference of 21.4 kJ/mol), and the Vmax value is 2-fold higher. The affinities of Ba(2+)-MDH for substrate and activator are very much less than those of Ca(2+)-MDH; the Km for methanol is 3.5 mM (compared with 3 microM) and the KA for ammonia is 52 mM (compared with 2 mM). The different activity of Ba(2+)-MDH is probably due to a change in the conformation of the active site, leading to a decrease in the free energy of substrate binding and hence a decrease in activation energy. The kinetic model for Ba(2+)-MDH with respect to substrate and activator is consistent with previous models for Ca(2+)-MDH. The pronounced deuterium isotope effect (6.0-7.6) is influenced by ammonia, and is consistent with activation of the pyrroloquinoline quinone reduction step by ammonia. Because of its low affinity for substrates, it is possible to prepare the oxidized form of Ba(2+)-MDH. No spectral intermediates could be detected during reduction by added substrate, and so it is not possible to distinguish between those mechanisms involving covalent substrate addition and those involving only hydride transfer.


Background: Missing or lost teeth after tooth extraction may lead to tooth decay
and infection. Many cases of tooth loss will not be followed with prosthodontics
or rehabilitative treatments. Patients might be aware of partial denture, however
no concern to replace the missing teeth.
Aims: This study was to determine the relationship between the levels of
knowledge and interest in using the partial dentures.
Methods: This study was an observational analytic survey with cross sectional
design, conducted in October - November 2017. The work involved 60 patients
who had pulled teeth at Kanina Dental Clinic, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, who had
been selected using purposive sampling technique. Levels of knowledge and
interest among the participants were assessed by a set of questionnaire. The data
obtained was then analysed using Kendall's Tau test.
Results: From the study, we found that 35 respondents had good knowledge and
high interest to use partial dentures (58.3%), while the other 22 patients (40%)
had been noted with less knowledge and poor maintenance. From Kendall's Tau
test, we found a significant relationship between the patient's knowledge and
partial removal denture maintenance of p value = 0.003. This study also
highlights the role of patients' peer to their decision to use the removable partial
dentures.
Conclusion: Respondents may consider loosing teeth affected to their physical
aesthetics, masticatory system, and speaking comfort. Data shows the higher
knowledge to the benefits of partial dentures the higher their interest in using
removable partial dentures after tooth extraction.


Colorectal cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies in humans and an important cause of cancer death. Metastatic colorectal cancer remains incurable with available systemic therapeutic options. The most active cytotoxic drug against this malignancy, the antimetabolite 5-fluorouracil, was developed more than forty years ago, and as a single agent produces responses in only 10 to 15% of patients which in general last less than one year. Efforts to ameliorate these poor results resulted in the 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin combination, which enhances response rates about two-fold, without, however, significantly improving survival rates. The recent emergence of a handful of new 5-fluorouracil analogues and folate antagonists, as well as the topoisomerase I inhibitor irinotecan, and the third-generation platinum compound oxaliplatin, is likely to alter this gloomy scenario. These agents are at least as effective as 5-fluorouracil in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma, both untreated and previously treated with 5-fluorouracil-based regimens. This has led to the approval of irinotecan as second-line treatment for 5-fluorouracil-refractory disease, while the use of oxaliplatin has been suggested for patients having a defective 5-fluorouracil catabolism. Recently, FDA approved the combination of irinotecan with 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin for first-line treatment of advanced colon cancer. Based on the synergistic preclinical antitumor effects of some of these agents, their meaningful single-agent activity, distinct mechanisms of cytotoxicity and resistance, and only partially overlapping toxicity profiles, effective combination regimens are now being developed, which are likely to lead to a new, more hopeful era for patients suffering from advanced colorectal carcinoma.


The ligand-gated anion-selective ion channels are part of a superfamily of ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) that are responsible for a majority of inhibitory signaling in the central nervous system and are the targets of numerous therapeutics. Aqueous, organic and alcoholic extracts of 47 Chinese, Bolivian and Pakistani medicinal plants were evaluated for the ability to modulate the activity of GABAA receptors. Extracts were initially screened for their ability to modulate activity of α1β2γ2 GABAA receptors expressed in HEK 293 cells. Based on the initial screen, two extracts derived from members of the Asteraceae family, Xanthium spinosum and Senecio mathewsii, were chosen for more detailed analysis. Xanthium spinosum inhibited GABAA receptor function, with an IC50 of 50 ± 10 µg/ml, while Senecio mathewsii inhibited GABAA receptor activity with an IC50 of 35 ± 3.0 µg/ml. To assess the selectivity of interaction, these extracts were also tested on two other members of the LGIC superfamily a) glycine receptors, a distinct inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor and b) 5-HT3A receptors, a cation-selective receptor. At a concentration of Xanthium spinosum that blocked 70% of GABA-activated current, only 15% of glycine-gated current, recorded from recombinant α1 glycine receptors, was blocked, suggesting a lower affinity of Xanthium spinosum for glycine receptors. Senecio mathewsii had larger inhibitory effects on glycine receptors than Xanthium spinosum, although the apparent affinity still was estimated to be three-fold lower than that seen for GABAA receptors. Xanthium spinosum and Senecio mathewsii also inhibited 5-HT3A receptor functions. Notably, the IC50 of both extracts was seven to ten-fold lower than that observed for GABAA receptors. Thus, the rank order of potency for organic extracts from both Xanthium spinosum and Senecio mathewsii was 5-HT3A receptors > GABAA receptors > glycine receptors. Therefore, these extracts may be a source of novel compounds that may serve as lead molecules for the development of novel 5-HT3 receptor antagonists.