The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act encourages health information exchange between clinical care and public health through Meaningful Use measures. Meaningful Use specifically identifies objectives to support a number of public health programs including immunizations, cancer registries, syndromic surveillance, and disease case reports. The objective is to improve public and population health. Stage 2 of Meaningful Use focused on compliance to sending of information to public health. The next phase focuses on bi-directional information exchange to support immunization intelligence and to empower providers, pharmacists, and the consumer. The HITECH Act Stage 2 initiative provided incentive and motivation for healthcare providers to encourage their Electronic Medical Record (EMR) vendors to implement data exchanges with public health, with the expected result being timely awareness of health risks. The empowerment nugget in the HITECH Act is not in the compliance reporting to public health. The nugget is the ability for a provider to receive relevant information on the patient or consumer currently in front of them or to those they will connect to through their outreach efforts. The ability for public health to retain current immunization records of individuals from a variety of providers supports their program goals to increase immunization rates and mitigate the risk of vaccine-preventable disease (VPD). The ability for providers to receive at the point of service more complete immunization histories integrated with decision support enhances their delivery of care, thereby reducing the risk of VPD to their patients. Indirectly payers benefit through healthcare cost savings and when the focus is expanded from a health model to a business model, there are significant return on investment (ROI) opportunities that exponentially increase the value of a bi-directional immunization data exchange. This paper will provide descriptions of case examples to demonstrate the value of electronic data exchanges when pharmacy immunization providers and public health work together.


Arabidopsis thaliana is a plant species widely utilized by scientists to estimate the impact of genetic differences in root morphological features. For this purpose, images of this plant after genetic modifications are taken to study differences in the root architecture. This task requires manual segmentations of radicular structures, although this is a particularly tedious and time-consuming labor. In this work, we present an unsupervised method for Arabidopsis thaliana root segmentation based on morphological operations and fully-connected Conditional Random Fields. Although other approaches have been proposed to this purpose, all of them are based on more complex and expensive imaging modalities. Our results prove that our method can be easily applied over images taken using conventional scanners, with a minor user intervention. A first data set, our results and a fully open source implementation are available online.


Abstract. The Flemish nation is a reality. Flanders has even become a state to some extent. Flanders no longer speaks French. French has been gradually ideologised from the language of prestige to the language of the enemy. Flanders has not chosen Flemish, but Dutch as its new language of prestige. There was no elite in Flanders speaking Flemish. Those who should have developed Standard Flemish in the 17th and 18th centuries, switched to French. After 1830, the Orangists put forward three major arguments to reject Flemish and to opt for Dutch. First, Flemish was not strong enough to compete with French. Second, Flemish was not good enough; it was corrupted by French, it was only a poor by-product of a Belgian nation-state that was dominated by French. Third, by opting for Dutch, the Flemings would link up with their history. In the second half of the 19th century, a process of dutchification gradually set in. As the importance of language as a social, economic and, therefore, political factor increased, the influence of Dutch grew stronger. Yet, there seem to be limits to the dutchification of Flemish society and, consequently, of the language of the Flemings. Even the most dedicated supporters of Pan-Netherlandic unity somehow reject the language of the Dutch as a model for Flanders.


This paper presents a multimodal learning system that can ground spoken names of objects in their physical referents and learn to recognize those objects simultaneously from naturally co-occurring multisensory input. There are two technical problems involved: (1) the correspondence problem in symbol grounding - how to associate words (symbols) with their perceptually grounded meanings from multiple cooccurrences between words and objects in the physical environment. (2) object learning - how to recognize and categorize visual objects. We argue that those two problems can be fundamentally simplified by considering them in a general system and incorporating the spatio-temporal and cross-modal constraints of multimodal data. The system collects egocentric data including image sequences as well as speech while users perform natural tasks. It is able to automatically infer the meanings of object names from vision, and categorize objects based on teaching signals potentially encoded in speech. The experimental results reported in this paper reveal the effectiveness of using multimodal data and integrating heterogeneous techniques in machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision.


Networked Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are proprietary industrial devices utilized in critical infrastructure that execute control logic applications in complex proprietary runtime environments that provide standardized access to the hardware resources in the PLC. These control applications are programmed in domain-specific IEC 61131-3 languages, compiled into a proprietary binary format, and process data provided via industrial protocols. Control applications present an attack surface threatened by manipulated traffic. For example, remote code injection in a control application would directly allow to take over the PLC, threatening physical process damage and the safety of human operators. However, assessing the security of control applications is challenging due to domain-specific challenges and the limited availability of suitable methods. Network-based fuzzing is often the only way to test such devices but is inefficient without guidance from execution tracing. This work presents the FieldFuzz framework that analyzes the security risks posed by the Codesys runtime (used by over 400 devices from 80 industrial PLC vendors). FieldFuzz leverages efficient network-based fuzzing based on three main contributions: i) reverse-engineering enabled remote control of control applications and runtime components, ii) automated command discovery and status code extraction via network traffic and iii) a monitoring setup to allow on-system tracing and coverage computation. We use FieldFuzz to run fuzzing campaigns, which uncover multiple vulnerabilities, leading to three reported CVE IDs. To study the cross-platform applicability of FieldFuzz, we reproduce the findings on a diverse set of Industrial Control System (ICS) devices, showing a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art.


A database is a collection of some knowledge. Knowledge can be presented as some semantic network. Entity-relationship model is one of representations of the semantic network. When using the entity-relationship model, it is possible to distinguish entities and relations between these entities. The entity-relationship model can be then converted into a database schema. The user interacts with the database by writing requests and receiving answers containing the requested information.
There are several ways to write queries to databases with different convenience of creating and speed of execution. The article reviews three different approaches to writing queries: SQL query, Prolog query and Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) query. Each of the approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages. You need to know the basics of relational algebra to write queries with the SQL language, while ORM libraries and the Prolog don't require any additional knowledge. Writing queries with the Prolog language is similar to writing text in natural language, which makes these queries understandable for people who have never worked with databases.
There was made the comparison of the plainness of the approaches when explaining them to listeners who are studying databases. The listeners participated in the compilation were divided into groups according to their specialties. The following groups took part in the study: first-year students of an economic and managerial specialty, engineering students and students with a specialty software engineering. The purpose of this comparison is to determine the method of compiling database queries, which is most suitable for teaching students of various specialties.


An international consensus of scientific experts is now demanding "immediate action" in response to the environmental, climate, and biodiversity crises. But are our legal and regulatory frameworks equipped to respond to the rapid pace of environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change? What incidence is there, transnationally, of laws that seek to protect the Earth from the humans that inhabit it? In the past few decades, there is a growing social, legal, and political movement towards more ecocentric regulation of the planet, where new laws and institutions seek to protect natural resources for their own intrinsic value. In this paper, I consider recent efforts to protect the rights of rivers in the U.S. and Mexico, which are novel and emerging attempts to discover new pathways for enhanced protection of vulnerable waterways. These attempts are being pragmatically driven from the bottom up to the highest levels of the legislature or judiciary as local communities (and sometimes Indigenous Peoples) become increasingly frustrated with apathetic and complacent governmental responses to environmental challenges, using whatever legal tools and processes are available to them. However, rather than an Earth-centred revolution, efforts to protect the rights of nature are distinctly "human"; as communities appeal to human rights laws, and their enhanced constitutional status, to upset the status quo. There are important lessons to be learned from these experiences in other countries in terms of the ability to entrench transformative environmental protections via constitutional hierarchies and the potential for the rights and interests of humans to be both an enabler of, as well as a threat to, nature's rights.


Abstract Although understanding patient perspectives on treatment is a major component of patient-centered care, little is known about patient perspectives related to dysarthria treatment in Parkinson's disease (PD). This article attempts to explore the perspective of patients with dysarthria associated with PD by interviewing them before and after treatment. Treatment expectations and experiences are summarized along with a discussion of how patients are using the tools they learned once treatment was completed. Comments about treatment were generally positive and suggested increased awareness and improved speech loudness. However, areas for improvement were also identified including: (1) treatment was not addressing some communication problems that were of concern to patients; (2) therapy programs were not enjoyable; and (3) it was difficult to maintain gains after therapy ended. Principles of self-management are reviewed to address some of the shortcomings of current treatment approaches.


Proximate analysis and mineral composition of some Nigerian leafy vegetables: bitter leaf (Veronia amygdalina L), India spinach (Basella alba L), bush buck (Gongronema latifolium), scent leaf (Ocimium grastissimum), Smooth amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus), Roselle plant (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and fluted pumpkin (Telfaria occidentali) were carried out using standard analytical procedures. The moisture content of the samples ranged between 10.0-12.08 %, crude protein, crude fibre, crude fat, ash contents and carbohydrate ranged between: 46.56 and 66.60, 4.02 and 12.08, 3.51 and 14.02, 5.02 and 15.55, 1.16 and 15.79 % dry matter (DM). Mineral element analysis showed that the leafy vegetables contained high levels of calcium (63.36-110.16), magnesium (27.51-288.65), sodium (15.01-88.00) and potassium (16.85-168.96) and low levels of copper (nd-3.14), nickel (2.32-18.16) and manganese (2.54-10.06) mg/100g respectively. The study showed that the leafy vegetables examined contained high levels of crude protein with low fat content and crude fibres.


ABSTRACT Novel swine-origin influenza viruses of the H1N1 subtype were first detected in humans in April 2009. As of 12 August 2009, 180,000 cases had been reported globally. Despite the fact that they are of the same antigenic subtype as seasonal influenza viruses circulating in humans since 1977, these viruses continue to spread and have caused the first influenza pandemic since 1968. Here we show that a pandemic H1N1 strain replicates in and transmits among guinea pigs with similar efficiency to that of a seasonal H3N2 influenza virus. This transmission was, however, partially disrupted when guinea pigs had preexisting immunity to recent human isolates of either the H1N1 or H3N2 subtype and was fully blocked through daily intranasal administration of interferon to either inoculated or exposed animals. Our results suggest that partial immunity resulting from prior exposure to conventional human strains may blunt the impact of pandemic H1N1 viruses in the human population. In addition, the use of interferon as an antiviral prophylaxis may be an effective way to limit spread in at-risk populations.


Conducting or overseeing research in correctional settings requires knowledge of specific federal rules and regulations designed to protect the rights of individuals in incarceration. To investigate the extent to which relevant groups possess this knowledge, using a 10-item questionnaire, we surveyed 885 IRB prisoner representatives, IRB members and chairs with and without experience reviewing HIV/AIDS correctional protocols, and researchers with and without correctional HIV/AIDS research experience. Across all groups, respondents answered 4.5 of the items correctly. Individuals who have overseen or conducted correctional research had the highest scores; however, even these groups responded correctly only to slightly more than half of the items. These findings emphasize the need for ongoing training in federal guidelines governing correctional research, particularly for those individuals who are embarking on this type of research.


Based on information processing, models of intertemporal choice can be classified into two broad classes: alternative-based models and attribute-based models. The former assume that options are independently assigned an overall value. These values are then compared, and the option with the highest value is chosen. The latter assumes that options are directly compared along their attributes, and the option favored by these comparisons is chosen. This paper reviews recent evidence supporting the attribute-based models with regard to behavioral results, process data and violations of assumptions of the alternative-based models. The paper suggests that, researchers should strengthen process-oriented studies by adopting cognitive experiments and eye-tracking techniques, conduct f MRI studies with the guidance of the attribute-based models, and expand the research of intertemporal choice into the loss domain.


Background: It is well established that effective clinical leadership improves the quality of healthcare service provision and promotes leadership outcomes. [1,2] Leadership capacity and capability of allied health professionals is needed for successful clinical service provision, [3] but less is known about allied health leadership than about other clinical groups.
Aims: The literature review aimed to identify research about leadership and leadership development of allied health practitioners in healthcare settings.
Methods: A database review was undertaken using SCOPUS, CINAHL, Medline and Business Elite databases from December 2014-September 2015. Three leadership journals were also hand searched. A total of 1665 articles were identified. These were scanned and 129 articles were retrieved with 70 articles shortlisted for indepth review.
Results: After application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, seven journal articles were included in the literature review. Review of the studies identified two areas of primary focus: leadership styles and outcomesand leadership development programs.
Conclusions: Findings showed that there are currently a limited number of robust published reports in relation to leadership and allied health practitioners. Implications for Practice: Well-designed research studies to further evaluate leadership skills of allied health practitioners as well as to determine the effectiveness of leadership programs in developing transformational leaders are required.
Abbreviations: CASP – Clinical Appraisal Skills Program; NHMRC – National Health and Medical Research Council.


(1) Calcium greatly increased crystallization of monosodium urate in otherwise pure water, by enhancing both nucleation and growth. (2) Acid accelerated urate nucleation, both by its direct action and indirectly by increasing the free calcium in physiological fluids. (3) Synovial fluid from one gouty patient accelerated urate nucleation, while that from one rheumatoid patient inhibited nucleation. (4) X-rays, collagen, ethyl alcohol, cupric ion, and potassium ion all had negligible influence on urate nucleation. (5) Mechanical shock greatly increased urate nucleation.


With the backdrop of global concern about dwindling stocks of fossil fuels and climate change, small islands have additional pressures and challenges to adopt new energy technologies, particularly renewable energy. As is well documented, islands are characterised by: insularity, a limited range of resources, small markets, specialisation of economies, diseconomies of scale, fragility of eco-systems and skill and labour constraints. These characteristics create an over-reliance on imported fossil fuels, loss of economies of scale, and higher distribution costs. The motivation, therefore, to research, invest in and adopt alternative technologies is arguably heightened in island economies. The benefits observed from examples of energy self-sufficient islands e.g. Samso (Denmark), are driving greater investment by other islands and agencies into alternative solutions. The Pacific Islands in particular as a region is embracing alternative energy and has since 2007, been receiving funding from the World Bank for a ten year programme. Many small islands are well placed to trial such projects where funding is available, with: ready access to certain alternative energy sources e.g. tidal, wave, geothermal and solar energy; adaptable communities; and the ability to implement new technology and encourage rapid dissemination throughout the population. Additional benefits include encouraging on-island production of biofuels and supply of additional revenue to the economy. Island Analysis will present a comparative study of energy policies and management in global island economies, drawing out the critical success factors and pointing to examples of leading edge practice.


The Itaipu hydroelectric project, the worlds largest, did not have a problem with sediment loading initially and was expected to have a life of +300 yr. Since, landuse change from forest to crops increased sediment to the lake. This change caused a reduction in quality of aquatic habitat, reduced capacity, and shortened the project life. To determine the extent of sedimentation and target areas producing sediment, a study began to monitor sediment flux, and model the watershed to determine those areas to concentrate conservation efforts. A methodology was developed which includes: 1) Monitoring major tributaries with a network of gauging stations and turbidity meters. 2). Measuring stage height and developing calibration curves relating height to discharge. 3). Measuring turbidity and calibrating to sediment load. These measurements will be digitally recorded and allow computation of water and sediment flux hourly to the lake. Modeling will use the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in a Geographic Information System (GIS). RUSLE erosivity (R) will be collected from a network of climatic stations, erodibility maps (K) from existing data, topographic (LS) data from digital elevation models (DEM) and cropping and management (C and P) from remote sensing and field plots. These parameters will allow predicting erosion spatially in a GIS. Monitoring will be compared to predictions on smaller watersheds to calibrate the RUSLE/GIS model. The calibrated model will be used to develop erosion potential maps for the watershed. The impact of this project is a prediction of the effect that land-use change has had on the project life and areas can be targeted for conservation efforts to protect the project life.


NOTE: The cover sheet and information contained herein neither replaces nor supplements the filing and service of pleadings or other papers as required by law. This form is required for use by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina for the purpose of docketing and must be filled out completely. DOCKETING INFORMATION (,Check all that apply) () Emergency Relief demanded in petition () Request for item to be placed on Commission's Agenda expeditiously


Modeling Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) can involve significant CPU (Central Processing Unit) time when both thermal fluid flow and geomechanics are coupled in order to take into account variations of permeability and porosity inside the reservoir due to stress changes. Here, a numerical procedure that performs thermo-hydro-mechanical simulations, in an efficient way, is presented. This procedure relies on an iterative coupling between a thermal reservoir simulator based on a finite volume method and a geomechanical one based on a finite element method. A strong feature of this procedure is that it allows handling the case when the reservoir simulations are performed using Adaptive Mesh Refinements (AMR). It thus provides an accurate description of the steam front evolution and allows taking geomechanical effects into account without performing the geomechanical simulations on a refined mesh. The efficiency of this coupling procedure is illustrated on a synthetic but realistic SAGD test case.


Background: Prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been associated with impaired performance on attention tasks in previous studies, but the extent to which these cognitive deficits translate into behavioral problems in the classroom and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remains unknown. By contrast, lead (Pb) exposure in childhood has been associated with ADHD and disruptive behaviors in several studies. Objectives: In this study we examined the relation of developmental exposure to MeHg, PCBs, and Pb to behavioral problems at school age in Inuit children exposed through their traditional diet. Methods: In a prospective longitudinal study conducted in the Canadian Arctic, exposure to contaminants was measured at birth and at school age. An assessment of child behavior (n = 279; mean age = 11.3 years) was obtained from the child's classroom teacher on the Teacher Report Form (TRF) from the Child Behavior Checklist, and the Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale (DBD). Results: Cord blood mercury concentrations were associated with higher TRF symptom scores for attention problems and DBD scores consistent with ADHD. Current blood Pb concentrations were associated with higher TRF symptom scores for externalizing problems and with symptoms of ADHD (hyperactive-impulsive type) based on the DBD. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this study is the first to identify an association between prenatal MeHg and ADHD symptomatology in childhood and the first to replicate previously reported associations between low-level childhood Pb exposure and ADHD in a population exposed to Pb primarily from dietary sources.


Nowadays, in different industrial fields as transport or aerospace, a research effort is conducted to reduce the structural weight. One of the most promising solutions is the use of composite structures due to their high stiffness, their low mass density and their low damping factor. At the same time, there is an intensification of the operational dynamic environment and an increase of durability requirements. These different expectations seem to be contradictory. One solution to manage these points is to design and manufacture smart composite structures with a fully distributed set of integrated piezoelec-tric transducers. These structures are able to modify their mechanical properties with respect to their environment (e.g. active vibration control), to interact with other structures (e.g. mechatronic) or with human beings (e.g. Human-Machine Interaction). To meet the technical specifications of smart composite structures, in particular for complex geom-etries, it is necessary to master the manufacturing process and consequently the material parameters of the manufactured composite. Indeed, during the design phase, these parameters have to be absolutely known. A design approach based on engineering system theory and uncertainty calculation is applied to our manufacturing process of smart composite structures. In this paper, two different material identification methods (the Resonalyser technique and the Time-of-Flight technique) were selected and are applied to several test plates and, finally, on a large smart spherical cap. The Resonalyser technique is a good method to extract overall material parameters. Its major drawback in terms of cost and difficulty of implementation is the use of contactless devices for the measurements. The Time-of-Flight technique is based on the duration measurements of pulse propagation with a simple and low cost experimental setup. Integrated piezoelectric transducers are used for this purpose in the present analysis. The results obtained are quite local (mean values along the propagation path) and need a strong physical interpretation. The different material parameters obtained are compared and discussed.


Background: Unpleasant side effect of awareness within general anesthesia is potentially an important concern in patients. The patient may sleep during anesthesia and feels the pain due to loss of pain suppression of sensory perception of pain during surgery. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of BIS monitoring on level of awareness during anesthesia in women undergoing elective caesarean section. Materials and Methods: In this double-blind, randomized clinical trial, 214 ASAI–II patients, over 15 years of age, candidate for elective cesarean section were included in the study. Patients randomly divided to two groups of anesthesia with and without BIS monitoring. Patients were assessed for awareness within anesthesia immediately, 24 hours, and 3-6 days after operation. Results: From 107 patients without BIS monitoring, 8 patients (7.4%) suffered from awareness during anesthesia and their awareness score was two and greater than two. While none of the patients in the BIS group experienced awareness during anesthesia. Level of awareness during anesthesia in the control group was significantly more than the BIS group (p<0.0000). Conclusion: The incidence of awareness during anesthesia is significantly lower in BIS monitored group than the control group.


We present the environmental dependence of colour, stellar mass, and star formation (SF) activity in H-alpha-selected galaxies along the huge cosmic web at z=0.4 hosting twin clusters in DEEP2-3 field, discovered by Subaru Strategic Programme of Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC SSP). By combining photo-z selected galaxies and H-alpha emitters selected with broad-band and narrow-band data of the recent internal data release of HSC SSP (DR1), we confirm that galaxies in higher-density environments or galaxies in the cluster central regions show redder colours. We find that there still remains a colour-density and colour-radius correlation even if we restrict the sample to H-alpha-selected galaxies. We also find an increase of star formation rates (SFR), and possible decline in specific SFRs, amongst H-alpha emitters towards the highest-density environment, primarily driven by the excess of red/massive H-alpha emitters in high-density environment. Finally, we find a hint that pairs of H-alpha emitters located in higher-density environment show redder colours than those in underdense regions, implying that galaxy-galaxy interaction in different environments have different impacts on the properties of SF galaxies.


Conventional Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is that weld materials are joint at room temperature by stirring softened materials due to frictional heat of rotating tool. Therefore, high speed and high efficiency would be expected, as pre-heating make weld materials more softened, as well known that yield point goes lower due to heating. In this study, FSW was done to improve welding speed on FSW of aluminum alloy (A5052) for high vacuum vessel for processing of electronics devices. As the result, welding speed was 2.0 times to more than 3.0 at 300 oC comparing with conventional FSW at room temperature, using improved a milling machine with heater.


Objective: To determine the impact of psychological distress on ALS caregivers longitudinally, while investigating the mitigating role of cognitive dysfunction, disease progression, and clinico-demographics. Background: Caregiver burden is a recognised consequence of caring for a patient with neurodegeneration. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) differs from other neurodegenerations by its rapid progression and impairment of motor, cognitive and behavioural function, which contribute to caregiver burden. However, longitudinal factors that determine the extent of caregiver burden, and in particular the impact of psychological distress among caregivers, have not been established. Design/Methods: Patients with ALS (n=85) and their primary caregivers (n=85) completed three serial evaluations. Caregiver burden was measured using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Anxiety and Depression were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The Edinburgh Cognitive-Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) was used to determine cognitive and behavioural function in patients. The ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) measured disease progression. Results: Using the ZBI, caregivers were categorised as high or low burden. In the low burden group, anxiety scores from the HADS predicted caregiver burden (r= .410, F= 3.73, p= .033), whereas the depression sub-score from the HADS was predictive of caregiver burden in the high burden group (r=. 501, F=5.87, p=. 006) for cross-sectional analyses. Longitudinally, an elevated score on the HADS was the largest predictor of caregiver burden. Conclusions: In a patient cohort with relatively preserved cognitive function, anxiety and depression, as measured by the HADS, were the best predictors of caregiver burden. This observation provides a mechanism by which caregiver burden can be identified by healthcare professionals and a programme of intervention initiated. Disclosure: Dr. Burke has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hardiman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Pinto Grau has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lonergan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Tobin has nothing to disclose. Dr. Staines has nothing to disclose. Dr. Galvin has nothing to disclose. Dr. Pender has nothing to disclose.


Savage, D. C. L., Forsyth, C. C., and Cameron, J. (1974). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 49, 946. Excretion ofindividual adrenocortical steroids in obese children. The excretion of 13 individual adrenocortical metabolites in the urine of 21 obese children aged 7 months to 16 years is reported. Fractionation of the steroids was carried out on 24-hour samples of urine by paper chromatography using Bush systems and incorporating a radioactive steroid recovery technique. The excretion of the 17-hydroxycorticosteroids and of the oc-ketolic metabolites of cortisol and corticosterone exceeded that of normal children studied in the same manner. These differences persisted when the results were corrected for surface area but were eliminated by correction for body weight. The raised corticosteroid excretion in obese children is therefore related to the increased weight. In addition the excessive calorie intake enhances the hepatic metabolism of cortisol leading to an increased corticosteroid excretion. The excretion of the 17-oxosteroids and 11-deoxygenated-17-oxosteroids exceeded that of normal children. Before puberty these steroids represent the adrenal androgens, and the raised excretion in the obese children was associated with an advanced bone age. The early onset of puberty in obesity may be related to the increased body weight, but it is suggested that the increased adrenal androgen secretion may stimulate early maturation of the hypothalamic centre controlling the onset of puberty.


Background: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) gives the necessary information of various breast lesions for surgical management of patients and can be extremely useful for establishing the best neoadjuvant therapy in patients where surgical removal of tumor is not the best option. The National Cancer Institute, Bethesda sponsored conference recommended that the tumor grading on FNAC should be incorporated in reports for prognostication. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the correlation between cytomorphologic and histomorphological features and to evaluate the utility of different cytological grading systems and to determine which cytology grade corresponds best to the histology grade. Materials and Methods: The present prospective study included fifty cases of breast carcinoma diagnosed on FNAC and confirmed on histopathology. Detailed cytomorphological features were studied. Cytology grading was done using six grading systems. Detailed histological features were studied, and carcinomas were graded as per modified Scarff-Bloom-Richardson's histopathological grading system. Cytology grading was correlated with histology grading. Results: Out of fifty cases of breast carcinomas, the 29 (58%) cases of each Robinson's cytological grading and Fisher's modification of Black grading correlated with histological grading. The cytological features, namely, nuclear chromatin, nuclear pleomorphism, cell size, nuclear margins, and naked tumor nuclei used in grading correlated well with histological grade. Conclusion: Cytology grading adds to objectivity, reproducibility, and authenticity to the report. The cytology features such as nuclear chromatin, nuclear pleomorphism, cell size, nuclear margins, and naked tumor nuclei had influential role in predicting the final cytology grade. Among the six cytology grading systems, Robinson's system is simple to interpret, more objective, takes less time, and is reproducible and correlates precisely with histological grade as evident from our study. It should be used for routine evaluation of aspirates of breast carcinoma.


Following an official announcement of the Chromosome-centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP), the Chromosome 12 (Ch12) Consortium has been established by five representative teams from five Asian countries including Thailand (Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University), Singapore (National University of Singapore), Taiwan (Academia Sinica), Hong Kong (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), and India (Institute of Bioinformatics). We have worked closely together to extensively and systematically analyze all missing and known proteins encoded by Ch12 for their tissue/cellular/subcellular localizations. The target organs/tissues/cells include kidney, brain, gastrointestinal tissues, blood/immune cells, and stem cells. In the later phase, post-translational modifications and functional significance of Ch12-encoded proteins as well as their associations with human diseases (i.e., immune diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancers) will be defined. We have collaborated with other chromosome teams, Human Kidney and Urine Proteome Project (HKUPP), AOHUPO Membrane Proteomics Initiative, and other existing HUPO initiatives in the Biology/Disease-Based Human Proteome Project (B/D-HPP) to delineate functional roles and medical implications of Ch12-encoded proteins. The data set to be obtained from this multicountry consortium will be an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle to fulfill the missions and goals of the C-HPP and the global Human Proteome Project (HPP).


Over five years ago, in Hirst v UK (No. 2), the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights found that the Representation of the People Act 1983 breached the right of prisoners to vote under Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Nonetheless, this often misunderstood decision did not require the United Kingdom to enfranchisement of all prisoners, but instead gave it the opportunity to reform its disproportionate blanket ban on prisoners voting. This article examines Hirst, assessing the reasons behind the Grand Chamber"s cautious approach and the stalled reform process which it set in train. After Hirst, however, the Labour Government relied upon extended consultations to delay law reform for the remainder of its time in office. With the election of the Coalition Government a fresh opportunity arose to proceed with reform, although not one which the Conservative Party, as the senior Coalition partner, was eager to grasp. Conterminously, however, various sections of the Strasbourg Court finally lost patience with the vacillation of several countries, including the United Kingdom, over prisoner voting. In a series of decisions these sections sought to impose a broad measure of prisoner enfranchisement, although not always speaking with one voice as to the limits of the right to free and fair elections in this controversial context. This article considers the importance of these decisions both in terms of the divisions they indicate within the Strasbourg Court regarding the limits upon its supranational role and their implications for the ultimate shape of reform to the UK voting ban.


Education providers in North East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire and Goole have come together to form the Simulation Partnership Advancing Regional Knowledge – SPARK. This initiative was created to strengthen partnership working and promotion of simulation based education within the region. SPARK's inaugural meeting was held to discuss and develop plans for the group. Terms of reference were set and common goals were noted. The chair and administrator for the group were elected at this meeting. Over the coming months the group plan to create a regional strategy for simulation based education and share best practice. The partnership hopes to raise the profile of clinical education within the area, improving the care given to our patients, thus improving their safety. To promote SPARK the group were officially launched at the HILS 5 year anniversary conference -- Educating to Improve Patient Care in April 2016. Members of the team with technical capabilities were challenged with developing a website to create an online presence for the group. The website was launched and can be found at www.spark-neynl.org.uk The group agreed an advertising and marketing strategy as to how the good work of the group would be communicated with others and also with the intention of recruiting others. Individuals were made responsible for each task identified, such as creation of newsletters and how to distribute. Impact on practice SPARK is the first Regional Network Group for the area 23 members have now joined the group Website is now launched and live First newsletter has been published Meetings have been set for 2016 The regions courses are being standardised in terms of delivery and content starting with the chest Drain Course


Background: Ascites, the commonest complication of cirrhosis, leads to frequent hospitalisations. Refractory ascites confers a median survival of 6 months without liver transplantation. In many, the management remains palliative (large-volume paracentesis). Despite calls for improvement, palliative and end-of-life care is not yet integrated into end-stage liver disease. Long-term abdominal drains are a palliative strategy in malignant ascites, but not end-stage liver disease. Case presentation: A retrospective, single centre, case series review was performed of patients undergoing long-term abdominal drain placement for refractory ascites secondary to end-stage liver disease at a large teaching hospital between August 2011 and March 2013. Case management: Patients with end-stage liver disease and refractory ascites, where liver transplantation was not an option, were considered for long-term abdominal drains. Seven patients underwent successful long-term abdominal drain insertion after multi-professional assessment. Case outcome: Following long-term abdominal drain insertion, mean hospital attendances reduced to 1 (0–4) from 9 (4–21), with none for ascites management. Median survival after long-term abdominal drain insertion was 29 days (8–219). The complication rate was low and none life threatening. Conclusion: Palliative and end-of-life care needs in end-stage liver disease remain under-addressed. Our data suggest that long-term abdominal drains may be a safe and effective palliative intervention in end-stage liver disease. Prospective randomised controlled trials comparing large-volume paracentesis versus long-term abdominal drains in refractory ascites secondary to end-stage liver disease are warranted.


The Dutch physical planning system is at a turning point. Recently the Government proposed a new institutional framework for spatial planning. Theoretically, existing planning hierarchy suggests that planning in the Netherlands is conducted systematically, including a strong notion of integrated rationality and definition of goals. Theoretically, energy efficiency might be such a goal and hence, energy efficiency could be served by the planning system. In practice, the planning process is discursive and decisions are usually made through concerted action based on negotiations. At first sight, the intention to change the planning system is rationally oriented. However, the main lines of the proposal deviate from the insights into planning sustainability. Balanced decision-making and 'governance' may be affected. This is not likely to be favourable to energy efficiency, because these aspects are usually recognised as crucial to planning sustainability. Land use planning, planning policy and planning implementation introduce constraints for energy efficiency in consumption as well as for implementation of renewable options. The current trends in the planning system will be discussed with respect to the principles of sustainability and the consequences in the energy domain. The focus will be on the way knowledge of local conditions ('situated knowledge') is used in planning, which will be illustrated with examples of the significance of using such knowledge. If a planning process is closed as in the proposed 'funnel model', specific knowledge forms and value systems (experiential, local, tacit) are excluded.


Esophageal resection with fundus rotation gastroplasty. Anastomotic failure after esophageal resection remains a surgical problem with high clinical relevance. Anastomotic failure can be attributed to tension at the anastomosis especially in cervical anastomoses, as well as a perfusion deficit due to resection of the arterial arcade along the gastric lesser curvature. We attributed the anatomical deficiencies of conventional gastroplasties by developing a technique, that utilizes the whole gastric fundus and maintains the arterial arcade along the gastric lesser curvature: fundus rotation gastroplasty. Experimentally those tubes are 20 % longer than conventional tubes according to Kirschner/Akiyama and twice as good perfused. Clinically low failure rates of 7 % for cervical and thoracic anastomoses are achieved.


With the immense popularity of the internet and the much lower cost for online surveys compared to in-person interviews, many surveys are now conducted online. One approach to identify whether respondents are having difficulty answering a question is by analysing cursor trajectory data. There are many different input devices, for example computer mouses and touchpads. Respondents' behaviour and thus their cursor trajectories might vary depending on which device is used. As a first step toward tackling this issue, this thesis tries to differentiate between trajectories produced by using a mouse and those made by a touchpad. There are two classification methods used here; one is using a simple logistic regression model to try and classify the input device, the other is a tree-based approach, more specifically, a Random Forest model. Furthermore, two models with different features are being fitted to the data: a baseline model using features based on previous research as well as a full model utilising several other, new features. Both methods and models offer a very limited capability to classify respondents' input devices. A comparison between them shows that the full Random Forest model exhibits the best performance of the methods used. Finally, measures to improve the classification performance and the question whether a differentiation between the input devices is necessary at all, are discussed.


Arctic landscape dynamics are an indicator of long-term natural processes. Within the Arctic system, permafrost-related processes are key ecosystem drivers and influence regional landscape evolution, hydrology, etc. Thermokarst lake dynamics, involving initiation, expansion, drainage, and re-initiation, have reshaped vast Arctic lowlands in Siberia, Alaska, and Canada since the last deglaciation (~15,000 years ago). Today, thermokarst lakes across the circum-Arctic are responding quite variably to a warming. A multitude of remote sensing studies reports on losses in thermokarst lake area due to increased evapotranspiration and drying or rapid lake drainage, while increased thermokarst lake formation is reported from more northern regions. To understand these modern dynamics and place observations into a long-term context it is necessary to understand the paleodynamics of thermokarst lakes. A useful technique to achieve this is the use of core-based reconstructions of paleoenvironmental conditions during the lake history using various sedimentological, biogeochemical, and biological proxies.

We applied a multi-proxy approach on sediment cores making use of methods in sedimentology (grain size analyses, magnetic susceptibility), biogeochemistry (TN, TC, TOC, δ13C), geochronology (14C, tephra chronology), and micropaleontology (ostracods, rhizopods). Our studies on modern but also recently drained basins in Arctic Alaska (USA) are based on sediment cores from the northern Seward Peninsula and the Teshekpuk Lake region and provide insights into past landscape dynamics since the late Pleistocene in these continuous permafrost regions.

GG basin on the northern Seward Peninsula, shown in the figure below, drained in spring 2005. Its lake initiation was radiocarbon-dated to about 300 years before present (BP) and was indicated by freshwater ostracods (e.g. Fabaeformiscandina protzi) and hydrophilic rhizopods (e.g. Cyclopyxis kahli). Before this, ice-rich silty and organic-rich sediments known as yedoma deposits accumulated during cold and dry conditions of the Late Mid-Wisconsin. An intermediate peaty layer with hydrophilic rhizopods indicates wet conditions from 44.5-41.5 ka BP. This possibly first thermokarst development was interrupted by a 1 m thick layer of tephra which could be associated with the South Killeak Maar eruption around 42 ka BP. As observed by satellite images, the modern lake drained between May and June 2015 possible due to increased discharge by thawing of snow which was possibly also blocking the outlet. Permafrost redeveloped since then from the surface down to 270 cm depth.

Our investigations demonstrate that lake development in the permafrost-affected terrestrial Arctic can be triggered but also interrupted by global climate change (e.g. rapid warming and wetting in the Holocene), by regional environmental dynamics (e.g. nearby volcanic eruptions and tephra deposition) or by local disturbance processes (e.g. lake drainage).

We found that Arctic lake systems and periglacial landscapes were sensitive to rapid change in the past. Field and remote sensing observations show that thermokarst lakes are vulnerable to rapid change in the present. Thus most likely thermokarst lake dynamics will have an important role for landscape and ecosystem change in a warming Arctic during the Anthropocene.


The public plays an important role in controlling the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. A large British survey showed that there is still public misunderstanding about microbes and antibiotics. e-Bug, a European DG Sanco sponsored project, aims to disseminate a school antibiotic and hygiene educational pack and website across Europe. Interactive science shows based on the e-Bug educational packs were developed to take the key health and hygiene messages from the e-Bug school resources to families. The science show was evaluated to assess public knowledge and understanding of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance pre and post intervention. An interactive stall comprised of a 3×2 m backing stand with background information, an interactive activity and discussions with a trained demonstrator was on display at a family holiday resort. Pre-piloted knowledge questionnaires were completed by parents and children pre and post intervention. Adult (≥19 years) baseline knowledge regarding antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was high although significant knowledge improvement was observed where baseline knowledge was low. Children's (5–11 years) knowledge around antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was significantly improved for all questions. The science show can be viewed as a success in improving parents' and children's knowledge of antibiotic use thereby highlighting the importance of educating the public through interaction.


: Arachidonic acid can induce platelet aggregation in rabbits in vitro. The experimental model was designed to observe inhibitory effect of 8 classical recipes of activating blood circulation to remove the stasis on platelet aggregation in vitro. The results showed that each one of 8 classical recipes has inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation in vitro in various degree. Among them, Gexia Zhuyu Tang (GZT), Shentong Zhuyu Tang (SZT) and Shaofu Zhuyu Tang (SFZT) were more effective. The results suggested that inhibitory effect of platelet aggregation produced by 8 classical recipes might be one of mechanisms of blood stasis treatment.


Nowadays, many economist and scientist worried for sharply increased to fuel consumption. Developed and developing countries investigation new energy system. It is base on the low emission gas, high energy efficiency, permanence and cogeneration. Specially, transportation system has restricted to system's total weight. It is concern with light weight offer to increase to performance by itself. And give to other benefit that reduce to oil consumption, improved fuel economy, engine downsizing and increased to Market-value. Fuel cell is one of the new energy systems for next generation. Normally, fuel cell is consisting of bipolar plate, MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) and GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer). Conventional bipolar plate material was applied Graphite. Graphite has very weak for external shock, machining process is not easy, and the main problem is that the graphite material supplied by oxidizing and reducing agent composition of the gas leak comes. Thus, by this reason, the manufacturing cost is increased. In this study, to replace the graphite material was selected as a metal material. In this experiment, STS304 austenite base stainless steel is used. This study was based on the metal material's corrosion behavior observed with 2 type's surface pretreatment on the STS304 with similar PEMFC operating condition. Experimental results, As-Polished condition has good corrosion resistance better than As-Received condition. It was concerned with passivation layer.


Author(s): Johnston, John C. | Abstract: The jackrabbit, Lepus californicus, is properly called a hare rather than a rabbit, because the young are born fully furred and with eyes open. Hares differ from rabbits in anatomy and in the lack of burrowing, although individual hares often have a more or less regular retreat or "form" at the base of a bush or clump of grass. Jackrabbits rely upon speed and dodging to escape enemies. They live chiefly in open places, seldom inhabiting dense brush or woods. Black-tailed hares or jackrabbits are classed as game mammals by the California Fish and Game Code, but when found to be injuring growing crops or other property may be taken at anytime or in any manner by the owner or tenant of the premises. They also may be taken by employees of the Department of Food and Agriculture or by county employees when acting in their official capacities pursuant to the provisions of the California Food and Agriculture Code pertaining to pests. In recent years large roving populations of jackrabbits on airports have created serious problems to approaching aircraft. One such problem occurred at the Hayward Municipal Airport in Alameda County when jackrabbits caused a traffic hazard to approaching aircraft. The problem was compounded by domestic dogs chasing rabbits across the runways and dead rabbits being fed upon by scavenger birds such as gulls and turkey vultures.


This article explores reciprocity within the exchange relationship between the employee and employer using the psychological contract framework. Specifically, we examine the bi-directionality of the norm of reciprocity. We hypothesize that there will be a positive relationship between perceived employer obligations, fulfilment of obligations, and employee obligations and fulfilment. In addition, we hypothesize that employee fulfilment of obligations will be positively associated with perceived employer obligations. Using a longitudinal survey of 1400 public sector employees and 84 managers, our findings suggest that there is broad agreement between the two parties regarding the norm of reciprocity that governs the relationship. We found that perceived employer obligations at time 1 is positively associated with employees' fulfilment of obligations at time 2 and perceived employer fulfilment of obligations at time 1 is positively related to employee obligations and fulfilment of obligations at time 2. Furthermore, we found that employee fulfilment of obligations at time 1 is positively associated with perceived employer obligations at time 2. Overall, these findings provide initial empirical support for the norm of reciprocity in exchange relationships from both the perspective of employees as well as managers, as employer representatives.


This study adopted a positivist research design and quantitatively assessed the pedagogic delivery of teachers of physical education and youth sport coaches. The frequency and duration of behaviours from twenty-two teachers of physical education and twenty-two youth sport coaches were independently observed using a validated observation instrument ASUOI (Arizona State University Observation Instrument). The ASUOI was configured to a computerised software system BEST (Behavioural Evaluation Strategies and Taxonomies) and data were collected from practical teaching and coaching environments. Independent sample t-tests revealed significant differences in both frequency and time duration in the behaviour categories pre-instruction, negative modelling and scold. The level of significance was set at p < .05. Both the teachers and the sports coaches were engaged in prolonged periods of management and silence. However, no other statistical significances were found. The findings from this study suggest that the pedagogic delivery of teachers of physical education and youth sport coaches may actually contain more similarities than differences. The notion that a difference exits between the pedagogic behaviour of teachers of physical education and sports coaches, in this study at least, cannot be totally supported.


A new assay based on using an original chromogenic substrate (z-Ala-Ala-Arg-pNa) and designed for the determination of antithrombin III is described in the paper. It was used in examinations of patients with malignancy after surgery. The content of antithrombin III was detected to be lower in 12% of cases in 2 days after surgery. Additionally, patients with DIC, as complications after surgery, were examined to find out that the antithrombin III content was decreasing in them.


Softwood cuttings of gola variety of guava were successfully rooted by quick dip method of dipping the basal ends of the cuttings in mixture of indole-3-butyric acid in low tunnel under shady situation. The treated lots in every instance had a greater percentage of rooted cuttings with a higher number of roots per cutting as produced by control. Cuttings were dipped for 5 s in mixture of 0, 2000, 4000, 6000, and 8000 ppm of IBA. The data showed a significant positive effect of different IBA concentrations on the guava establishment. The rooted soft wood cuttings were assessed for days to sprout, sprouted cuttings, sprouting percent, average number of roots per cuttings, average root length and survival percent. In present studies among all the IBA concentration, IBA (4000 ppm) showed highest results in terms of days to sprout (22.00), sprouted cuttings (40.11), sprouting percent (68.22), average number of roots per cutting (31.65), average root length (31.65) and survival percent (57.82) respectively. In absence of indole-3-butyric acid treatment, cuttings had not rooted. We suggest that the use of softwood cuttings tested associated to indole-3-butyric acid as quick dip for 5s may be beneficial to commercial propagators with well-developed root system. The development of healthier plants after hardening under in vivo conditions showed that guava could be effectively propagated by this cheapest and soft wood cuttings technique.


Abstract Hole-nesting tits Parus spp. have been classified as "unsuitable" hosts for cuckoo parasitism because cuckoos cannot enter a cavity if the entrance is too small. However, Chinese tits could reject alien eggs and egg ejection rate increased with the local diversity of parasitic cuckoo species. Antiparasitic behavior among Chinese tits may have evolved due to greater size variation among sympatric cuckoo species. This raises the question of whether differently sized parasitic cuckoos pose different threats to Chinese tits. A green-backed tit Parus monticolus population that is sympatric with Asian emerald cuckoo Chrysococcyx maculatus (eme-cuckoo, small-sized parasite) and common cuckoo Cuculus canorus (com-cuckoo, large-sized parasite), and a cinereous tit P. cinereus population that is only sympatric with com-cuckoo were chosen as study organisms. We observed behavioral response and recorded alarm calls of the 2 tit species to eme-cuckoo, com-cuckoo, chipmunk Tamias sibiricus (a nest predator) and dove Streptopelia orientalis (a harmless control), and subsequently played back alarm calls to conspecific incubating females. In dummy experiments, both tit species performed intense response behavior to chipmunk, but rarely responded strongly to the 3 avian species. In playback experiments, both tit species responded strongly to conspecific chipmunk alarm calls, but rarely responded to dove alarm calls. The intensity of response of incubating female green-backed tits to eme-cuckoo and com-cuckoo alarm calls were similar to that of chipmunk alarm calls, while the intensity to eme-cuckoo alarm calls was higher than the intensity to dove alarm calls which was similar to that of com-cuckoo alarm calls. In contrast, few female cinereous tits responded to eme-cuckoo and com-cuckoo alarm calls. These findings indicated that the threat level of eme-cuckoo was slightly greater than that of com-cuckoo for sympatric green-backed tits, but not for allopatric cinereous tits.


Lexical Simplification is the process of replacing complex words in a given sentence with simpler alternatives of equivalent meaning. This task has wide applicability both as an assistive technology for readers with cognitive impairments or disabilities, such as Dyslexia and Aphasia, and as a pre-processing tool for other Natural Language Processing tasks, such as machine translation and summarisation. The problem is commonly framed as a pipeline of four steps: the identification of complex words, the generation of substitution candidates, the selection of those candidates that fit the context, and the ranking of the selected substitutes according to their simplicity. In this survey we review the literature for each step in this typical Lexical Simplification pipeline and provide a benchmarking of existing approaches for these steps on publicly available datasets. We also provide pointers for datasets and resources available for the task.


Aging leads to alterations in the function and plasticity of hippocampal circuitry in addition to behavioral changes. To identify critical alterations in the substrate for inhibitory circuitry as a function of aging, we evaluated the numbers of hippocampal interneurons that were positive for glutamic acid decarboxylase and those that expressed calcium‐binding proteins (parvalbumin, calbindin, and calretinin) in young adult (4–5 months old) and aged (23–25 months old) male Fischer 344 rats. Both the overall interneuron population and specific subpopulations of interneurons demonstrated a commensurate decline in numbers throughout the hippocampus with aging. Interneurons positive for glutamic acid decarboxylase were significantly depleted in the stratum radiatum of CA1, the strata oriens, radiatum and pyramidale of CA3, the dentate molecular layer, and the dentate hilus. Parvalbumin interneurons showed significant reductions in the strata oriens and pyramidale of CA1, the stratum pyramidale of CA3, and the dentate hilus. The reductions in calbindin interneurons were more pronounced than other calcium‐binding protein‐positive interneurons and were highly significant in the strata oriens and radiatum of both CA1 and CA3 subfields and in the dentate hilus. Calretinin interneurons were decreased significantly in the strata oriens and radiatum of CA3, in the dentate granule cell and molecular layers, and in the dentate hilus. However, the relative ratio of parvalbumin‐, calbindin‐, and calretinin‐positive interneurons compared with glutamic acid decarboxylase‐positive interneurons remained constant with aging, suggesting actual loss of interneurons expressing calcium‐binding proteins with age. This loss contrasts with the reported preservation of pyramidal neurons with aging in the hippocampus. Functional decreases in inhibitory drive throughout the hippocampus may occur due to this loss, particularly alterations in the processing of feed‐forward information through the hippocampus. In addition, such a profound alteration in interneuron number will likely alter inhibitory control of excitability and neuronal synchrony with behavioral states. J. Comp. Neurol. 394:252–269, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In recent developmental research, sleep-wake patterns and preferences, in other words Morningness-Eveningness, have been shown to be related to various kinds of problem behavior. Previous research on adolescents has demonstrated that individuals with a sleep-wake preference toward staying up late in the evening and arising late in the morning (i.e., Eveningness), are more likely to face problems in development. Accordingly, Eveningness has been proposed as a risk factor in development, but through processes which researchers have not been able to fully explain. The present dissertation focuses on the relationship between Morningness-Eveningness and developmental patterns across contexts in adolescence. Links between Morningness-Eveningness, and negative adjustment, life style, personality characteristics, family relationships, peer networks, and school achievement, are discussed within an interactionistic framework. Also, factors that might explain and/or moderate these associations are elucidated. The empirical material stems from two cohorts of 8th grade adolescents in a middle size Swedish community. Eveningness is proposed to be a concurrent marker of risk behavior. However, there seems to be different kinds of Evening types that encounter different kinds of problems. Also, the present findings do not support the notion of Morningness being protective. How temporal patterns in general, and Eveningness in particular, are connected to other behaviors is emphasized as important knowledge for stemming negative developmental processes and facilitating positive outcomes.


PDE3A (phosphodiesterase 3A) was identified as a phosphoprotein that co-immunoprecipitates with endogenous 14-3-3 proteins from HeLa cell extracts, and binds directly to 14-3-3 proteins in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. Among cellular stimuli tested, PMA promoted maximal binding of PDE3A to 14-3-3 proteins. While p42/p44 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase), SAPK2 (stress-activated protein kinase 2)/p38 and PKC (protein kinase C) were all activated by PMA in HeLa cells, the PMA-induced binding of PDE3A to 14-3-3 proteins was inhibited by the non-specific PKC inhibitors Ro 318220 and H-7, but not by PD 184352, which inhibits MAPK activation, nor by SB 203580 and BIRB0796, which inhibit SAPK2 activation. Binding of PDE3A to 14-3-3 proteins was also blocked by the DNA replication inhibitors aphidicolin and mimosine, but the PDE3A– 14-3-3 interaction was not cell-cycle-regulated. PDE3A isolated from cells was able to bind to 14-3-3 proteins after in vitro phosphorylation with PKC isoforms. Using MS/MS of IMAC (immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography)-enriched tryptic phosphopeptides and phosphospecific antibodies, at least five sites on PDE3A were found to be phosphorylated in vivo, of which Ser was selectively phosphorylated in response to PMA and dephosphorylated in cells treated with aphidicolin and mimosine. Phosphorylation of Ser therefore correlated with 143-3 binding to PDE3A. Ser of PDE3A was phosphorylated in an H-89-sensitive response to forskolin, indicative of phosphorylation by PKA (cAMP-dependent protein kinase), but phosphorylation at this site did not stimulate 14-3-3 binding. Thus 14-3-3 proteins can discriminate between sites in a region of multisite phosphorylation on PDE3A. An additional observation was that the cytoskeletal cross-linker protein plectin-1 coimmunoprecipitatedwithPDE3Aindependentlyof14-3-3binding.


Numerous recent laboratory studies have shown that vegetation can influence soil water flow by inducing very low levels of water repellency. In this study we extended on this previous research by developing a field-based test using a miniature infiltrometer to assess low levels of water repellency from physically based measurements of liquid flow in soil. The field-based test was verified through a simple laboratory experiment and then applied to determine the impact of vegetation and antecedent soil water content. The soil hydraulic properties determined were hydraulic conductivity, sorptivity, as well as the persistence and index of water repellency. Tests were conducted following a dry spell and wet spell on (1) forest soil (0 cm depth), (2) glade soil (0 cm depth) and (3) glade soil (50 cm depth). It was found that both the persistence and index of water repellency, R, decreased in the order as follows: forest soil > glade soil (0 cm) > glade soil (50 cm) for both dry and wet spell. The range of values of R was 0.28 (wettable) to 360 (highly water repellent), which affected hydraulic conductivity kr(−2 cm). R increased and hence kr(−2 cm) decreased in the order: forest soil < glade soil (0 cm) < glade soil (50 cm) for both the dry and wet spell. There were clear interactions between vegetation and changes to water flow caused by presence of repellency.


OBJECTIVE
New evidence indicates that treatment response can be predicted with high sensitivity after 2 weeks of treatment. Here, we assess whether early improvement with antidepressant treatment predicts treatment outcome in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

DATA SOURCES
Forty-one clinical trials comparing mirtazapine with active comparators or placebo in inpatients and outpatients (all-treated population, N = 6907; intent-to-treat population, N = 6562) with MDD (DSM-III-R or DSM-IV Criteria) were examined for early improvement (>or= 20% score reduction from baseline on the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [HAM-D-17] within 2 weeks of treatment) and its relationship to treatment outcome.

STUDY SELECTION
Data were obtained from a systematic search of single- or double-blind clinical trials (clinical trials database, Organon, a part of Schering-Plough Corporation, Oss, The Netherlands). All included trials (a total of 41) employed antidepressant treatment for more than 4 weeks and a maximum of 8 weeks. The studies ranged from March 1982 to December 2003. Trials were excluded if there were no HAM-D-17 ratings available, no diagnosis of MDD, or if the study was not blinded. Trials were also excluded if HAM-D-17 assessments were not available at week 2, week 4, and at least once beyond week 4.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Early improvement predicted stable response and stable remission with high sensitivity (>or= 81% and >or= 87%, respectively). Studies utilizing rapid titration vs. slow titration of mirtazapine demonstrated improved sensitivity for stable responders (98%, [95% CI = 93% to 100%] vs. 91% [95% CI = 89% to 93%]) and stable remitters (100%, [95% CI = 92% to 100%] vs. 93% [95% CI = 91% to 95%]). Negative predictive values for stable responders and stable remitters were much higher (range = 82%-100%) than positive predictive values (range = 19%-60%).

CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that early improvement with antidepressant medication can predict subsequent treatment outcome with high sensitivity in patients with major depressive disorder. The high negative predictive values indicate little chance of stable response or stable remission in the absence of improvement within 2 weeks. A lack of improvement during the first 2 weeks of therapy may indicate that changes in depression management should be considered earlier than conventionally thought.


Abstract. To serve the changing needs of road traffic control, the road space and road structure surrounding an intersection have evolved into complex forms. The redesign of the trajectories, though complex, can be accomplished by the application of methods for navigation, guidance, and combination of expert knowledge of road traffic control of vehicles, using a concept of request/response in a two-way-to-way traffic light-controlled crossroad. The communication between the infrastructures and the vehicles (I2V), between vehicles (V2V), and from the vehicles to the infrastructures (V2I) is performed through visible light communication (VLC) using the street lamps and the traffic signaling to broadcast the information. Vehicle headlamps and taillights are used to transmit data to other vehicles or infrastructures allowing digital safety and data privacy. Data are encoded, modulated, and converted into light signals emitted by the transmitters. Tetra-chromatic white sources are used providing a different data channel for each chip. As receivers and decoders, silicon/carbon wavelength division multiplexer devices, with light filtering properties, are used. The primary objective is to control the arrival of vehicles to an intersection and schedule them to cross at times that minimize delays. A further objective is to allocate delays between left-turns and forward movements, moderating the speed and slot between vehicles traveling in these directions, maintaining a safe distance from one to another. Pedestrians and bicycles are incorporated. A I2V2V2I traffic scenario is established. A phasing traffic flow is developed as a proof of concept. The experimental results confirm the cooperative VLC architecture showing that communication between connected cars is optimized.


The spring season was the target for the Nansen Legacy cruise organized in late April and first half of May 2021 following the transect defined for this series of cruises to capture the variations of the year sampling physical, biological and chemical conditions in the ice and the sea. The transect went through both open water and ice. Seven process stations were visited (P1 through P7) together with smaller NLEG stations according to the program for the seasonal investigations. The first station (P1) was in open waters, while the remaining six main station had ice coverage of varying degree. Each of the process stations lasted 24 hours or more to allow a full diurnal cycle. Sampling included ice physics, ice samples, phytoplankton, zooplankton, marine chemistry and eco toxicology using acoustic, optical and robotics methods together with lab analyses of physical samples. Remote sensing data were also matched with in situ observations of both sea and ice conditions.


This review is concerned with the main classes of medicines stimulating the motor activity of the gastrointestinal tract widely used in clinical practice and studied in clinical trials (dopamine receptor blockers, 5-HT4- and 5-HT1-receptor antagonists, agonists of motilin receptors, antagonists of A type cholecystokinin and opioid receptors, etc.). The necessity of developing new generations of prokinetics is emphasized in order to improve efficiency and safety of therapy with these preparations.


Disasters have major impacts on populations, disrupting people's lives and exposing them to harm and, potentially, injustice. A range of actors, including national and international non-governmental organisations, provide assistance to victims of disasters. Initial disaster relief efforts primarily focus on saving lives. As the response progresses, efforts to promote recovery for individuals and communities affected by disaster become increasingly important. Given the heightened vulnerability and widespread needs of populations affected by disaster, choices must be made regarding which services and programs will be prioritized at each stage of the response. In consequence, questions of equity and justice arise related to these decisions, particularly as the acute crisis abates and a range of assistance programs aimed at promoting recovery is con- sidered. The nature of these justice considerations and their implica- tions for disaster response programs has received limited discussion in the literature. In this paper, we consider the potential contribution of Powers and Faden's theory of Social Justice for clarifying justice-based responsibilities of non-governmental organizations towards populations displaced within their own country by a disaster, and contrast it with the Basic Needs Approach widely used by humanitarian organizations. According to Powers and Faden, justice requires that a minimally suffi - cient level of well-being be secured for individuals who are systemati- cally disadvantaged. We argue that this conception of social justice can help direct attention to diverse dimensions of well-being, and orient program planning in situations where non-governmental organizations work with internally displaced populations post the acute crisis of the disaster response.


A maltogenic amylase gene from Lactobacillus gasseri ATCC33323 (LGMA) was expressed in Lactococcus lactis MG1363 using the P170 expression system. The successful production of recombinant LGMA (rLGMA) was confirmed by the catalytic activity of the enzyme in liquid and solid media. The N-terminal amino acid sequencing analysis of the rLGMA showed that it was Met-Gln-Leu-Ala-Ala-Leu-, which was the same as that of genuine protein, meaning the signal peptide was efficiently cleaved during secretion to the extracellular milieu. The optimal reaction temperature and pH of rLGMA (55 degrees C and pH 5, respectively) and enzymatic hydrolysis patterns on various substrates (beta-cyclodextrin, starch, and pullulan) supported that rLGMA was not only efficiently secreted from the Lactococcus lactis MG1363 but was also functionally active. Finally, the branched maltooligosaccharides were effectively produced from liquefied corn starch, by using rLGMA secreted from Lactococcus lactis, with a yield of 53.1%.


: For the online problem of Internet Search Engines' Keyword Advertisement-place auction, two online models are present in this paper. The number of the auction phases is known or unknown beforehand respectively in the two models. For the first model we propose the Multi-Level of Accepted Price Strategy (abbr. MLAP) and prove it to be O (Φ 1 / 4 )-competitive, where Φ is the ratio of the highest bid to the lowest one in the auction. For the second model a strategy similar to the first one (abbr. MLAP1) is put forward and proved to be (2 √ Φ − 1)-competitive. Furthermore, the experimental results show that in both models the experimental ratios between what the optimal strategy and the online strategies gain are much better than the theoretical ones, indicating that the two strategies perform much better in practice than in theory. In practice, these strategies may help to realize the automatic auction of heterogeneous objects that have similar traits to advertisement-places.


Diesel engine is widely used in the different applications of the modern life. Diesel fuel quality is an important indicator of the engine efficiency and exhaust emissions. However, the low cetane number of the commercial diesel resulting from improper refining processes lead to significant reduction in the engine efficiency. Hence, the aim of this study is to use diethyl ether to improve the fuel quality for better engine performance at lower engine emissions. Diethyl ether has been used at 5% percentage with commercial diesel, and the cetane number of the fuel was measured. Engine test was conducted at increasing speed to evaluate the engine performance and emissions. The study results show an improvement in the fuel cetane number from 49 to 51 with 5% diethyl ether. Furthermore, significant increase in engine power by about 10% has been recorded for the whole engine speed with slightly lower specific fuel consumption at low and medium engine speeds. Moreover, noticeable reduction in NOx emissions and CO emissions has been observed compared to commercial diesel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the utilization of diethyl ether as a fuel additive with commercial diesel can be considered for improving engine efficiency and control exhaust emissions.


OF DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Linliang Yu Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Yinan Wei, Department of Chemistry Lexington, Kentucky Copyright © Linliang Yu 2013 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATIONOF DISSERTATION STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANCE TRANSPORTER AND REGULATOR Drug resistant bacteria pathogen poses a severe threat to human health. Bacterial drug efflux pumps are transporter proteins involved in the export of antibiotics out of cells. Efflux by transporters is one of the major drug resistant mechanisms. Multidrug efflux pumps can transport multiple classes of antibiotics and are associated with bacteria multiple drug resistance (MDR). Overproduction of these pumps reduces susceptibility of bacteria to a variety of antibiotics. MDR regulators are cytoplasmic proteins that control the expression level of MDR transporters in response to the cellular concentration of antibiotics. This thesis research focuses on three main directions in the area of bacteria drug resistance: the structural and functional study of a MDR transporter, the characterization of a novel MDR regulator protein, and the development of a sensing method for the detection of glycopeptide antibiotics. Acriflavine resistance protein B (AcrB) in Escherichia coli belongs to resistance nodulation division (RND) superfamily of efflux transporters. It plays an important role in confering multidrug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. The functional unit of AcrB is a trimer in vivo. However, the relationship between AcrB trimer stability and functionality remains elusive. In chapter 2, a residue that is critical for AcrB trimerization, Pro 223, was identified. The replacement of Pro 223 by other residues destabilized AcrB trimer, and thus decreased its activity. The loss of transport activity could be partially recovered when the AcrB trimer was stabilized by the introduction of a pair of inter-subunit disulfide bond. In chapter 3, a systematically alaninescanning study of the producing loop (amino acid residues 211-240) was conducted. Five residues in the loop were found to be important for AcrB activity. These residues form a collar or belt in the loop close to the tip. These mutation studies revealed new insight into the conformation of the loop during AcrB trimerization. In chapter 4, residue Arg 780 was identified to be crucial for the pump function of AcrB. The study results indicated that Pro 223 serves as a "wedge" and Arg 780 as a "lock" via hydrogen bonding between the backbone carbonyl oxygen of Pro 223 and side chain of Arg780. Similar as Pro 223, replacement of Arg 780 by other residues drastically decreased the activity of AcrB. Dissociation of the AcrB trimer also contributed to the decrease of activity. However, the introduction of inter-subunit disulfide bond could not restore the function of the mutant, indicating that Arg 780 plays multiples roles in the operation of AcrB. In chapter 5, a MDR regulator ST1710 from the archaeon Sulfolobus tokodaii, homologous to the multiple-antibiotic resistance repressor (MarR) family bacterial regulators, was characterized in vitro. The binding affinities of ligands and double strand (ds) DNA for ST1710 were measured. The presence of substrates suppressed the interaction between ST1710 and dsDNA, which indicated that ST1710 functioned as a repressor in vivo. Finally, in chapter 6, a direct fluorescence polarization based method for the detection of glycopeptide antibiotics is developed. Briefly, the acetylated tripeptide L-Lys-DAla-D-Ala was labeled with a fluorophore (fluorescein isothiocyanate or AlexaFluor 680) to create a peptide probe. The fluorescence polarization signal of the peptide probe increased upon binding with glycopeptide antibiotics in a concentration dependent manner. The detection is highly selective toward glycopeptide antibiotics. The designed method is expected it to have broad applications in both research and clinical settings.


Orientation: Whilst the limited investigations into the relationship between identity and burnout have made an important contribution to our understanding of the development of burnout, further research is required to gain a deeper understanding of how the processes associated with the construction and enactment of a specific identity could contribute to burnout amongst client service employees. Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to explore whether levels of burnout amongst client service employees are associated with the manner in which they define and enact the client service role identity. Motivation for the study: The negative effects of burnout amongst client service employees can be particularly devastating for client service organisations. A deeper understanding of the causes of burnout amongst client service employees is therefore essential if we wish to reduce the significant costs associated with burnout in this environment. Research approach, design and method: The research strategy comprised a qualitative design consisting of semi-structured interviews. Main findings: The results of the study indicate that the role identities of higher burnout client service employees differ from the role identities of lower burnout client service employees. Lower burnout employees view the client relationship as a partnership and experience a high level of self-verification when dealing with their clients. Higher burnout employees, on the other hand, describe themselves as subordinate to the client and exhibit strong feelings of defeat and failure when interacting with their clients. Practical implications/managerial implications: The study shows that if client service organisations wish to reduce the detrimental effects of burnout in the workplace, they need to pay careful attention to the way in which their client service employees perceive themselves in relation to the client. Since client service employees construct role identities in response to the dominant discourse of the organisation, client service organisations should exercise caution in how they define and refer to the client-employee interaction through this discourse. Contribution/value-add: The article makes a number of practical recommendations, which, if implemented by client service organisations, should result in lower levels of burnout, increased productivity and improved client relations. One such recommendation requires client service organisations to reframe their client discourses in such a way that client service employees are referred to as knowledge experts that are valued by their organisations.


The calcium–aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) from chondritic meteorites are the first solids formed in the solar system. Rim formation around CAIs marks a time period in early solar system history when CAIs existed as free-floating objects and had not yet been incorporated into their chondritic parent bodies. The chronological data on these rims are limited. As seen in the limited number of analyzed inclusions, the rims formed nearly contemporaneously (i.e., <300,000 yr after CAI formation) with the host CAIs. Here we present the relative ages of rims around two type B CAIs from NWA 8323 CV3 (oxidized) carbonaceous chondrite using the 26Al–26Mg chronometer. Our data indicate that these rims formed ∼2–3 Ma after their host CAIs, most likely as a result of thermal processing in the solar nebula at that time. Our results imply that these CAIs remained as free-floating objects in the solar nebula for this duration. The formation of these rims coincides with the time interval during which the majority of chondrules formed, suggesting that some rims may have formed in transient heating events similar to those that produced most chondrules in the solar nebula. The results reported here additionally bolster recent evidence suggesting that chondritic materials accreted to form chondrite parent bodies later than the early-formed planetary embryos, and after the primary heat source, most likely 26Al, had mostly decayed away.


: The mutagenicity of 14 samples of Don river delta water was studied by the Ames test and the technique of estimation of Drosophila dominant lethals. Experiments revealed that mutagenic pollution of Don river delta water was total at least in April--May 1989.


Abstract In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, the applicant BASF SE submitted two requests to the competent national authority in Germany. The first one, to modify the existing maximum residue levels (MRL) for the active substance pyraclostrobin in various crops and to set import tolerances for sugar canes and American persimmons; the second one to set import tolerances for pineapples and passion fruits/maracujas. The data submitted in support of the requests were found to be sufficient to derive MRL proposals for mandarins, grapefruits, lemons, limes, passion fruits/maracujas, pineapples, flowering brassica, head cabbages, lamb's lettuce, cresses and other sprouts, land cresses, rucola, red mustards, baby leaf crops, globe artichokes and leeks. For oranges, American persimmons, spinaches and similar leaves and sugar canes, data gaps were identified which precluded the derivation of MRL proposals. The data submitted did not provide evidence that the existing MRLs for crops belonging to the group of lettuces and maize have to be modified to accommodate for the intended uses. For escaroles, no MRL was proposed as the intended use was found to lead to residues for which a potential consumer health risk cannot be excluded. EFSA concluded that the short‐term intake of residues resulting from the uses of pyraclostrobin according to the reported agricultural practices assessed is unlikely to present a risk to consumer health, except for escaroles, where the expected intake was found to exceed the toxicological reference value. Taking into account the existing and the proposed new MRLs, a long‐term intake concern for consumers was not identified.


Evaluating building performances, such as the indoor daylight, is usually based on numerical simulation and 2D image illustration. It does not take advantage of emerging Augmented Reality (AR) or Mixed Reality (MR) techniques to intuitively aid the building design. The current study probes into the topic bringing building geometry information together with simulation results into AR/MR environments. After introducing some precedent work in the literature, authors recap the typical workflow and report its application on two case studies. The first case study displays the structural simulation of a high-rise building in AR, while the second case study shows the daylight simulation of a two-story house within MR. At last, reflections are conducted and future possibilities are identified. Authors deem that, in the aim of this study, only retrofitting projects are suitable for MR. The present work can help practitioners better understand this new approach, offering the added value of using AR/MR for building design.


ABSTRACT Scaffold proteins play a critical role in controlling the activity of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway. Shoc2 is a leucine-rich repeat scaffold protein that acts as a positive modulator of ERK1/2 signaling. However, the precise mechanism by which Shoc2 modulates the activity of the ERK1/2 pathway is unclear. Here we report the identification of the E3 ubiquitin ligase HUWE1 as a binding partner and regulator of Shoc2 function. HUWE1 mediates ubiquitination and, consequently, the levels of Shoc2. Additionally, we show that both Shoc2 and HUWE1 are necessary to control the levels and ubiquitination of the Shoc2 signaling partner, RAF-1. Depletion of HUWE1 abolishes RAF-1 ubiquitination, with corresponding changes in ERK1/2 pathway activity occurring. Our results indicate that the HUWE1-mediated ubiquitination of Shoc2 is the switch that regulates the transition from an active to an inactive state of the RAF-1 kinase. Taken together, our results demonstrate that HUWE1 is a novel player involved in regulating ERK1/2 signal transmission through the Shoc2 scaffold complex.


This eCademy webinar provides an overview of workforce development initiatives in the states, including a high-level summary of state plans for implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA. Experts on WIOA provide state examples of both the consolidated and unified plans, highlight the process used to choose the plan, and discuss implementation and intrastate regional coordination.


The multi-processor cores in SoC which have high burst data transactions can play a critical role while accessing the shared resources such as the off-chip memory. These processor cores can starve other processor cores that have less burst data transactions while accessing the same shared resources. The starving issue of other processor cores leads to degrade the entire system performance of the SoC. However, the arbiter architecture in the SoC design plays the best solution to manage different processor core requests and granting one of them to access the shared resources according to different scheduling algorithms. In this paper, we have designed AXI interconnect, which includes arbiter architecture to connect four processor cores represented by the AXI masters and the off-chip memory represented by the salve. Each processor core (AXI Master) uses the AXI4 interface protocol to improve the system performance and the arbiter based on the static fixed-priority algorithm to improve the average waiting time for all the processor cores. The SoC design architecture is modeled in System Verilog HDL; simulation and synthesis are done by using the Vivado tool and FPGA ZYNQ-7 ZC702 Evaluation Board (xc7z020clg484-1).


This Article addresses various concerns with the redesigned elective-share system in terms of its effect on the surviving spouse who owns or succeeds to a partial interest in property. In particular, this Article focuses on the surviving spouse's right as the income beneficiary of a trust for life. The Article first explains the general operation of the redesign elective-share system, and then considers the system's application to trust and other partial interests. The remainder of the Article raises concerns over, and makes suggestions with respect to the treatment or trust and other partial interests under the redesigned system. The author addresses specific problem areas that deserve attention in this context, including: valuation problems, especially the potential for reducing the surviving spouse's benefit by overvaluing partial interests; the rule that counts disclaimed property against the surviving spouse; and the inclusion of certain separate property in elective share computations. The author's comments are made in the spirit of constructive criticism and with the hope that improvements can be made in the redesigned elective-share system's treatment of partial interests. The author goes on in his final analysis to find that the goal of a uniform elective-share law is desirable, especially considering the shocking lack of uniformity among the forty-one American jurisdictions currently operating under elective-share systems.


A dual-modality imaging system for simultaneous fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) and positron emission tomography (PET) of small animals has been developed. The system consists of a noncontact 360°-projection FMT module and a flat panel detector pair based PET module, which are mounted orthogonally for the sake of eliminating cross interference. The FMT images and PET data are simultaneously acquired by employing dynamic sampling mode. Phantom experiments, in which the localization and range of radioactive and fluorescence probes are exactly indicated, have been carried out to verify the feasibility of the system. An experimental tumor-bearing mouse is also scanned using the dual-modality simultaneous imaging system, the preliminary fluorescence tomographic images and PET images demonstrate the in vivo performance of the presented dual-modality system.


Age of Big Data and internet has brought variety of opportunities for social researchers on identifying on-going social trends instantly. As internet user base grew exponentially, major internet content search companies have begun to offer data mining products which could extract attitude of on-going trends and identify new trends on web as well. Since 2009, as a pioneer on these web analytics solutions Google has launched Google Trends service, which enables to researchers to examine change of trend on specific keywords. We use weekly Google Trends Index of 'General Purpose Loan' (GT) and total out-standing volume of Turkish banking system from the data period of first week of March 2011 to second week of September 2014. In this paper we test whether the Google Analytics search index series can be used as a consistent forecaster of national general purpose loan (GPL] demand in Turkey. We show how to use search engine data to forecast Turkish GPL demand. The results show that Google search query data is successful at nowcasting GPL demand.


The first of these arti c l e s (in Studi es in Design Education and Craft No . 1 0 .2 Spring 78) pr e sented the case for majority education in te c hn o log y through the medium of History of Technology ; it was also shown that recent developments in examination syllabuses, at Ordinary , Advanced , and OND levels, offer wide opportunity for craft , design , and history , teachers to broaden their teaching into an area of direct relevance to contemporary technological society. History of Technology , as well as offering a comprehensible , nonquantitative, introduction to the fundamentals of design processes, also provides the key to technology education for the majority of pupils , without restriction to those with special aptitudes in numeracy or craft skills . Over the last 8 or 9 years we have e x plored , in the Education Department at Keele , a variety of approaches to technology education for teachers - both in training and in service - and, as quoted in the previous article , have found that History of Technology has proved itself the most popular with all the classes 9f students to undergraduat e and postgraduate courses in the Department , and has proved itself an asset to teachers seeking employment or promotion.


Abstract A new species of nematode, Pseudodelphis chilensis n. sp., is described. This parasite was found in muscles of the pectoral fins of a blenniid fish, Scartichthys viridis, from central Chile. The new species differs from the other 2 described (P. oligocotti Adamson and Roth, 1990 and P. limnicola Brugni and Viozzi, 2006) for its longer glandular esophagus and a small caecum at the beginning of the glandular esophagus; both characteristics are in males and females. In addition, the male of P. chilensis n. sp. does not have an adanal caudal papillae, and it has longer spicules than the other 2 species. This is the first Pseudodelphis species described for Chile and the second for South America.