Objectives of the Study The aim of this master's thesis is to evaluate if and how usability testing could be used as a part of Application Lifecycle Management. This thesis addresses the current lack of evaluation and strategic management methods for Application Lifecycle Management, especially during the later phases of the application lifecycle. Scholars have acknowledged that usability testing has potential for midlifecycle use, but mid-lifecycle usability testing is not yet widely applied by organizations. Methodology of the study Prior research was used to build a framework for usability testing throughout the application lifecycle. The framework presents application lifecycle management in terms of the duration of the lifecycle as well as the different aspects of organization that manage, develop, and use the application. After developing the framework, a set of usability testing methodologies is suggested to be used with the framework. The developed framework and the developed testing methodology were evaluated through applying the testing methodology in two separate company projects and collecting feedback from company representatives. Findings and conclusions Communicating with the users during the initial development and updating of applications is important and there is potential for usability testing as a part of Application Lifecycle Management. This research confirmed the notion that greatest utility from usability testing is gained at the initial development phase of the application lifecycle. The results suggest that usability metrics can be used to support decision making also during the later phases of the application lifecycle. The company interviews showed that usability metrics are suitable to some extent for strategic management of applications in form of evaluating vendors and applications in the long-term. However, in order to make usability testing more appealing as a supporting tool for Application Lifecycle Management, usability testing methodologies must be developed. Businesses have a need for objective usability testing results even with limited samples, as it is not easy for companies to find and engage real test users. Scholars must try to develop ways to introduce cost as a measure of severity of a given usability issue. This will add the value of usability testing outside of academia.


Helical tomotherapy (HT) can be used for the delivery of cranio-spinal axis irradiation (CSAI) without the need for beam matching of conventional linac-based external beam irradiation. The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate HT plans used for treatment in nine patients treated with CSAI. Helical tomotherapy cranio-spinal axis irradiation (HT-CSAI) plans were created for each patient. Average length along the cranio-spinal axis of the PTV was 65.6 cm with a range between 53 and 74 cm. Treatment planning optimization and plan evaluation parameters were obtained from the HT planning station for each of the nine patients. PTV coverage by the 95% isodose surface ranged between 98.0 to 100.0% for all nine patients. The clinically acceptable dose variation within the PTV or tolerance range was between 0.7 and 2.5% for all nine patients. Doses to the organs at risk were clinically acceptable. An increasing length along the longitudinal axis of the PTV did not consistently increase the beam-on time indicating that using a larger jaw width had a greater impact on treatment time. With a larger jaw width it is possible to substantially reduce the normalized beam-on treatment time without compromising plan quality and sparing of organs at risk. By using a larger jaw width or lower modulation factor or both, normalized beam-on times were decreased by up to 61% as compared to the other evaluated treatment plans. From the nine cases reported in this study the minimum beam-on time was achieved with a jaw width of 5.0 cm, pitch of 0.287 and a modulation factor of 2.0. Large and long cylindrical volumes can be effectively treated with helical tomotherapy with both clinically acceptable dose distribution and beam-on time.


When frying potato snacks, it is typically observed that the dough, which is submerged in hot oil, after some critical time increases its buoyancy and floats to the surface. The lift-off time is a useful metric in ensuring that the snacks are properly cooked. Here we propose a multiphase mathematical model for the frying of potato snacks, where water inside the dough is evaporated from both the top and bottom surfaces of the snack at two receding evaporation fronts. The vapour created at the top of the snack bubbles away to the surface, whereas the vapour released from the bottom surface forms a buoyant blanket layer. By asymptotic analysis, we show that the model simplifies to solving a one-dimensional Stefan problem in the snack coupled to a thin-film equation in the vapour blanket through a non-linear boundary condition. Using our mathematical model, we predict the change in the snack density as a function of time, and investigate how lift-off time depends on the different parameters of the problem.


The costs and benefits of polyandry are central to understanding the near-ubiquity of female multiple mating. Here, we present evidence of a novel cost of polyandry: disrupted sex allocation. In Nasonia vitripennis, a species that is monandrous in the wild but engages in polyandry under laboratory culture conditions, sexual harassment during oviposition results in increased production of sons under conditions that favour female-biased sex ratios. In addition, females more likely to re-mate under harassment produce the least female-biased sex ratios, and these females are unable to mitigate this cost by increasing offspring production. Our results therefore argue that polyandry does not serve to mitigate the costs of harassment (convenience polyandry) in Nasonia. Furthermore, because males benefit from female-biased offspring sex ratios, harassment of ovipositing females also creates a novel cost of that harassment for males.


This paper looks at the challenges and solutions for intelligent mobile agents existing in virtual environments. Representing and using a map of these very large-scale, dynamic environments is a key challenge in providing an autonomous agent for large, online worlds. We look at a method for improving the generation of probabilistic roadmaps by observing and using the movements of other avatars in an environment. We also look at methods for segmenting and scaling the map in very large environments. Finally we extend this to look at generating and updating maps in dynamic environments.


The Tunney Act and its 2004 Amendment have sought to eliminate judicial rubber-stamping of antitrust consent decrees. Congress sought to assure meaningful judicial review of consent decrees to assure they were in the public interest. The caselaw in the D.C. Circuit undermines the purpose, intent, and plain meaning of the Tunney Act by arguing that such review would present separation of powers issues, an argument at best disingenuous in light of other settlements readily rejected within the Circuit. The Article commences with a review of the legislative history of the original Tunney Act. The article next examines the D.C. Circuit cases against that the drafters of the Amendment to the Tunney Act are rebelling. This legislative history is highlighted and extended in the legislative history of the 2004 TunneyAct Amendment. The article next describes how D.C. district courts uniformly ignore and dismiss the Congressional intent behind the 2004 Amendment under the auspices of prosecutorial discretion. Finally, the Article tackles the (false) problem of separation of powers the D.C. Circuit case law presents and proposes a solution to this deadlock that is true to the original intent of the Tunney Act.


Wireless systems employing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) structure at the transmitter and the receiver have recently been shown to have the potential of achieving extraordinary bit rates. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) significantly reduces receiver complexity in broadband systems. In this paper, we investigate a blind algorithm for channel identification and equalization of OFDM-MIMO systems. We exploit the second-order cyclostationarity inherent in OFDM with cyclic prefix and the characteristics of the phased antenna, construct a practical HIPERLAN/2 standard based MIMO-OFDM simulator with the sufficient considerations of statistical correlations between the multiple antenna channels under wireless wideband multipath fading environment, and formulate a new two-stage adaptive blind algorithm using rank reduced subspace channel matrix approximation and CMA (constant modulus algorithm) criteria. The performance of the new method has been justified theoretically and validated through extensive simulations over various common wireless and mobile communication links.


Along several migratory corridors in Europe, the Common Crane Grus grus exhibits a variety of migratory and roost site selection strategies. In this study we determined which environmental factors explained roost-site usage of Common Cranes in 64 fishponds and 25 marshes suitable for Crane roosting inside the Hortobágy National Park (HNP, Hungary) between 1995 and 2007. HNP has become the largest stop-over site of Cranes in Europe. Despite the relatively high number of potential roost sites, Cranes chose only 44% of suitable wetlands for roosting. Roost site selection of Common Cranes was primarily governed by conservation management measures, wetland type and size, as well as disturbance-related characteristics of the roost-site. Artificially flooded marshes, as well as large fishponds, actively managed through drainage, far from human settlements, are of critical importance for staging Common Cranes. The timing of controlled floods in marshes as well as the matching of drainage for fish-farming to migratory periods of Cranes, serve as suitable management measures for waterbird conservation. In summary, our study emphasizes the importance of managing large, undisturbed wetlands with species-specific management prescriptions in maintaining mass migrations of wetland birds.


In order to optimize the conditions for the microwave-assisted extraction of resveratrol fromPolygonumcuspidatumSieb et Zucc, in basis ofmicrowave- assisted extraction time,solvent concentration , ratio of liquid to solid, microwave power four single factor test, the optimumconditions for the microwave-assisted extraction of resveratrol from Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb et Zucc are determined by orthogonal experiment. The optimum extraction conditions confirmed by the index of extraction yield were as follows : microwave-assisted extraction time 7 min, solvent concentration 80%(v/v)ethanol, ratio of liquid to solid 25:1 (ml:g),microwave power 1.5 kw. The extraction yield of resveratrol was 1.76%. Mass spectrum analysis showed that extract was resveratrol.


Clean coal technologies (CCT) are technologies designed to enhance both the efficiency and the environmental impact of coal extraction, preparation and use. This report mainly focuses on clean coal technologies that are employed in the power generation and fuel-oil substitution sector. China is world's third largest country, the second largest economy measured by purchasing power parity (after the US), the most populated country, as well as the most heavily polluted
country, and the second largest energy consumer (after the US). All these elements indicate that China operates on a large scale, both in a positive and negative sense. Coal is the backbone of China's energy system. It meets just over 60% of the country's primary energy needs. Coal's importance in the overall fuel mix has been growing in recent years, due to booming demand for electricity, which is almost 80% coal-generated. Since China is characterized by its striking dependence on coal, now and in the future, China is potentially the biggest market for clean coal technologies. This market is increasingly attracting international attention from countries (including The Netherlands) and organizations, some of which have
already been exploring on clean coal technologies in co-operation with China for years


Spreadsheets are a special form of computer program, which are widely used in areas such as accounting, finance, business management, science and engineering. The wide use of spreadsheets can be attributed to the fact that they appeal to end-user programmers because they are easy to use and require no formal training on designing and programming techniques. However, as the literature indicates, a significant proportion of spreadsheets contain faults. This paper presents an approach for checking spreadsheets on the premises that their developers are not software professionals. It takes inherent characteristics of spreadsheets as well as the conceptual models of spreadsheet programmers into account and incorporates ideas from symbolic testing and interval analysis. To evaluate the methodology proposed, a prototype-tool preserving the look-and-feel spreadsheets developers are accustomed to has been developed.


One of the most critical aspects of integrating loosely-coupled accelerators in heterogeneous SoC architectures is orchestrating their interactions with the memory hierarchy, especially in terms of navigating the various cache-coherence options: from accelerators accessing off-chip memory directly, bypassing the cache hierarchy, to accelerators having their own private cache. By running real-size applications on FPGA-based prototypes of many-accelerator multi-core SoCs, we show that the best cache-coherence mode for a given accelerator varies at runtime, depending on the accelerator's characteristics, the workload size, and the overall SoC status. Cohmeleon applies reinforcement learning to select the best coherence mode for each accelerator dynamically at runtime, as opposed to statically at design time. It makes these selections adaptively, by continuously observing the system and measuring its performance. Cohmeleon is accelerator-agnostic, architecture-independent, and it requires minimal hardware support. Cohmeleon is also transparent to application programmers and has a negligible software overhead. FPGA-based experiments show that our runtime approach offers, on average, a 38% speedup with a 66% reduction of off-chip memory accesses compared to state-of-the-art design-time approaches. Moreover, it can match runtime solutions that are manually tuned for the target architecture.


Since brain electrical potentials (BEPs) are correlated with a variety of behavioral and clinical variables, especially tight experimental designs are necessary. Primary analysis, which usually consists of spectral analysis, linear prediction, or zero-cross detection, should match the time scale and dynamics of the states or processes being investigated. Nonneural contaminants must be removed from BEPs prior to computation of summary features. Principal components analysis, ad hoc methods, and stepwise discriminant analysis have been used to extract independent, intuitively appealing, and good-classifying features, respectively. Most pattern classification algorithms have been applied to BEPs including decision functions, trainable classification networks, distance functions, syntactic methods, and hybrids of the preceding. Because of its wide availability, most studies have used stepwise linear discriminant analysis.


Objective: The present study examined the communication patterns between children and parents regarding substance use and abuse issues. Method: The participants for the study were 111 youth and young adults (59.8% female/40.2% male). The youth were between the ages of 13 - 18. Results: Findings from the study supported the hypothesis. Results demonstrated that higher family cohesion suggested lower drug use. However, findings also identified a potential gap in the communication process among parents and youth. The majority of the youth from the qualitative analysis who admitted to using drugs stated that their parents usually say, "Do not use drugs." However, their parents "have never provided open discussions about drugs." Conclusion: This project expands our knowledge on parental communication and drug use among youth. A continuation of this research would assist with providing a deeper understanding of the parent-child relationship and drug use and abuse among African American youth.


This study describes sexual activity, nocturnal penile erections, and mood states as a function of serum levels of androgens in previously untreated hypogonadal men before and during hormone replacement, selected infertile men (elevated serum follicle-stimulating hormone levels), and normal men. Nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity were measured with a portable monitor, and sexual activity and mood were assessed by prospective, self-reported written forms. Nocturnal erections were absent or of very low amplitude and duration in the untreated hypogonadal men compared to the infertile and normal men. Nocturnal erections increased steadily during hormone replacement and were in the normal range within 6 to 12 months of treatment. In contrast, serum testosterone concentration rapidly reached the upper range of normal. During treatment, the hypogonadal men reported increases in several aspects of sexual activity, including sexual interest and the number of spontaneous erections. On mood inventories, the untreated hypogonadal men scored significantly higher in ratings of depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion than did infertile and normal men. During hormonal replacement therapy these scores decreased, although the hypogonadal men continued to score higher in "depression" than did infertile and normal men. In most instances, the men with infertility and the normal men were statistically indistinguishable in nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity parameters, self-reported sexual activity, and mood state. These data support the hypothesis that androgen treatment increases nocturnal and spontaneous erections, and sexual interest, and has some capacity to improve mood.


Background Mechanisms whereby gene–environment interactions mediate chronic, progressive neurodegenerative processes in Parkinson's disease (PD)—the second most common neurodegenerative disease—remain elusive. Objective We created a two-hit [neuroinflammation and mutant α-synuclein (α-syn) overexpression] animal model to investigate mechanisms through which mutant α-syn and inflammation work in concert to mediate chronic PD neurodegeneration. Methods We used an intraperitoneal injection of the inflammogen lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 3 × 106 EU/kg) to initiate systemic and brain inflammation in wild-type (WT) mice and transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing human A53T mutant α-syn. We then evaluated nigral dopaminergic neurodegeneration, α-syn pathology, and neuroinflammation. Results After LPS injection, both WT and Tg mice initially displayed indistinguishable acute neuroinflammation; however, only Tg mice developed persistent neuroinflammation, chronic progressive degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway, accumulation of aggregated, nitrated α-syn, and formation of Lewy body-like inclusions in nigral neurons. Further mechanistic studies indicated that 4-week infusion of two inhibitors of inducible nitric oxide synthase and NADPH oxidase, major free radical–generating enzymes in activated microglia, blocked nigral α-syn pathology and neurodegeneration in LPS-injected Tg mice. Conclusions Microglia-derived oxidative stress bridged neuroinflammation and α-syn pathogenic alteration in mediating chronic PD progression. Our two-hit animal model involving both a genetic lesion and an environmental trigger reproduced key features of PD and demonstrated synergistic effects of genetic predisposition and environmental exposures in the development of PD. The chronic progressive nature of dopaminergic neurodegeneration, which is absent in most existing PD models, makes this new model invaluable for the study of mechanisms of PD progression.


In this paper, a novel method for obtaining the random numbers utilizing astronomical data is proposed. The method uses two different algorithms for generation of random numbers sequence. Astronomical data collected from the scientific study of the universe, especially of the relative motions, relative positions of astronomical objects are utilized in our algorithms. The first algorithm uses a particular astronomical object in a fixed position for the random number generation. The random sequence is obtained from the relative positions of other astronomical objects with reference to the selected object. The second algorithm selects any diverse astronomical object as a reference in a varying mode for computation of the relative positions of different objects with that reference to generate the random number stream. Both algorithms use mathematical equations for computing the next jump or hop to the other astronomical object. The generated random numbers obtained from the two algorithms are tested with a standard statistical test suite including, frequency test, run test, random binary matrix rank test, complexity test, universal test and entropy test. The results obtained from the statistical tests of the two algorithms are compared with the other publicly available random number generation techniques, like, linear congruential and modular exponentiation. The preliminary results show that the algorithms perform well. The random numbers generated by our method has sufficient period and unpredictability that makes them suitable for consideration as encryption keys in symmetric cryptography.


In the 20th century, US policymakers often attempted to solve domestic agricultural oversupply problems by extending food aid to foreign recipients. In some instances, the United States donated food in times of natural disasters. In other instances, the United States offered commodities to induce foreign governments to support US foreign policy aims or to spur agricultural modernization. These efforts coalesced during the 1950s with the enactment of Public Law 480, commonly known as the Food for Peace program, which provided for a formal, bureaucratic mechanism for the disbursement of commodities. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, successive presidential administrations continued to deploy commodities in advance of their often disparate foreign policy objectives.


Deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) of selected strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, including strains of M. tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis, M. bovis BCG, Mycobacterium microti, and Mycobacterium africanum, were isolated and analyzed spectrophotometrically. The genome molecular weight and the guanine-plus-cytosine content of the DNA samples were approximately 1.9 × 109and 62.9 mol%, respectively. DNA relatedness among the strains was studied by both spectrophometric DNA hybridization and restriction endonuclease cleavage methods. All strains of the four species showed more than 90% DNA relatedness, except for slightly lower levels (85 to 89%) of relatedness between M. microti and some strains of M. bovis, M. bovis BCG, or M. africanum. The distribution patterns of the DNA fragments produced with restriction enzymes, such as EcoRI, EcoRV, BglII, BclI, and KpnI, were indistinguishable upon agarose gel electrophoresis. In contrast, the levels of DNA relatedness between M. tuberculosis and other slowly growing mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium nonchromogenicum, Mycobacterium intracellulare, Mycobacterium kansasii, Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium scrofulaceum, Mycobacterium haemophilum, Mycobacterium marinum, and Mycobacterium asiaticum, were significantly heterogeneous, ranging from 9 to 53%. My data indicate the extremely close evolutionary relationship among four species of the M. tuberculosis complex.


Abstract This paper presents a two-country intra-industry trade model with bilateral ad valorem tariffs and fixed export costs that are heterogeneous across firms. In this model not all firms will choose to export. We examine the effects of reciprocal changes in the tariff and the fixed export barrier on the number of firms, firm profits, tariff revenue and consumer welfare. We show that both types of trade barriers reduce (increase) the number of exporting (pure domestic) firms. However, the sum of available home and foreign varieties increases for small tariffs. Firm profits are falling in both tariff and fixed export cost barriers. Tariff revenue falls when fixed export costs increase whereas we have a Laffer curve effect for the tariff. Welfare falls when fixed export costs increase and increases for small tariffs and falls for large tariffs, i.e. there exists a welfare maximizing tariff.


PROLOG has proven useful as a language for research in Machine Learning, Natural Language and, more recently, as a control language for image processing and visual control of robots. A simulator has been written in PROLOG which allows simulated objects to be manipulated using the same image processing operations as are used in image processing systems. VISISIM allows examination of appropriate heuristics for learning to distinguish significant features with a level of control and a speed beyond real-time real-vision systems. It is designed such that once an acceptable performance has been obtained with the simulator, it may be replaced with another module (e.g. PROVISION) for evaluation in real time on real data. The simulator uses a convexity-based representation which allows explicit control over detail and noise, and parameterization of the image processing operators. VISISIM provides for learnt sequences to be available to the learning system as macros, whilst the learning program itself maintains heuristics about the utility of operators at the level of problem domain and context. VISISIM has been used to simulate a playing card recognition problem and find satisfactory variations of a hand crafted solution used with AUTOVIEW. This, however, was achieved using overly restrictive and unrealistic heuristics. Therefore it is proposed that a Knowledge Engineering approach be taken to the development of more realistic heuristics.


Abstract : Self-tracking technology is considered a critical learning and motivational resource that at best helps people self-reflect, thereby promoting attempts to make changes to lifestyle routines. This study examines how people incorporate this technology into their daily practices and the routines that self-tracking technology produces. The study is based on an in-depth empirical analysis of a sample of interviews of volunteer participants of a pilot study aiming to promote health and wellness. The interviews took place in two phases: first, after three months of self-tracking (in total 27 interviewees) and second, at the end of the pilot study after ten months of self-tracking (in total 21 interviewees). The analysis focused on the participants' reflections on their user experiences of a self-tracking device, the data that this produced and the resulting routines. The results suggest that people's self-tracking routines are often related to the maintenance of a visible and continuous data flow in self-tracking applications. Routines for wearing, tending to and communicating with self-tracking devices play an important role. These routines are either only remotely related or not necessarily at all related to making changes to lifestyle routines that affect health and wellness. The development of routines through novel artefacts involve much invisible work and can even lead to unintended consequences. During self-tracking, the focus may remain on the technology alone and on attempts to develop routines for maintaining a continuous, accurate flow of data, rather than on actually making lifestyle changes. Keywords : routines; artefacts; health and wellness promotion; pilot study; self-tracking.


The purpose of this study to propose a model of character education in religious culture at elementary school. This survey study was done for 450 students at elementary schools distributed in 5 regions in Jakarta in Indonesia. Data analysis used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The result of this study found that the model proposed was a good fit for the data. Another findings stated that character education in religious school culture was predicted by worship facilities, religious ceremonies, and religious symbols. Indicators consisting of musholla, wudhu site, and prayer equipment availability at elementary schools promoted worship facilities. Indicators involving halal bihalal on Idul Fitri celebration day, slaughtering qurban on Idul Adha day, and a religious gathering to break the fasting in Ramadhan month predicted religious ceremonies. Religious symbols were promoted by religious mottos availability, listening to religious songs weekly, and wearing Moslem uniforms promote religious symbols. It can be concluded that the model of character education in religious culture offered in this research can be implemented by elementary schools in Jakarta. Keywords—character education, religious culture, worship facilities, religious ceremonies, religious symbols


The Therapeutic Communities (TCs) movement tends to become from a revolutionary answer to the problem of addiction to another mainstream therapeutic proposal. The author considers that the crisis in 1968 in the seminal TC of Daytop was a pivotal event of this transition. This study aims to evaluate the impact of this historical crisis on the course of the TCs movement, assuming that, to enter into a constructive dialogue that can lead to the overcoming of today's deadlocks of the movement, an awareness of the history is needed.,The present paper is a perspective/opinion paper and starts with a brief review of the origins of the first TCs for addicts. Emphasis is placed on their inevitable, according to the author, confrontation with the political and scientific status quo of that time. Then, it focuses on the period of the crisis in Daytop TC. The author interprets the events under a whole new scope, based on conversations he personally had with pioneers of that time, on his longstanding experience on the field, and the available literature.,The author attempts a historical and sociological analysis of the course of TCs and the Daytop TC. He concludes with a dispute of the prevailing idea that the Daytop crisis was a product of the confrontation between personal ambitions. He maintains that the collision that took place in Daytop TC was a confrontation between two antipodal perspectives over the notion of therapy. In any case, the subsequent estrangement of the movement from the groundbreaking attributes of the first TCs did not prove to be in the best interests of addicts; it was rather dictated by the need of the leaders of TCs to rescue their professional career.,The present paper attempts to offer a different view from the conventional reading of TCs' history and their present situation for today's predicaments of this proposal to be understood and possibly overcome.


Under certain conditions, existential sentences have readings that are not predicted and cannot be modeled, given common assumptions about the construction. For example, the sentence There could be three outcomes to this election is normally taken to express that three things could be the outcome of the election, not that it is possible that the election will have three outcomes. This article proposes the first analysis of such "summative" readings of existentials, premised on a novel semantics for cardinal determiners as counting the values of an individual concept across indices. The analysis is shown to predict the observed descriptive generalizations about summative existentials, including the highly restricted circumstances that give rise to them. The unorthodox semantics proposed for cardinals is argued to be independently motivated.


Introduction: We evaluated the efficacy of inj.Metoprolol 50 µgms/kg. i.v. given 5 minutes before induction of anesthesia in attenuating the hemodynamic response to intubation and CO2 pneumoperitoneum.
Materials and Method: We conducted a randomized double-blind controlled study on 60 patients. Five minutes before induction of anesthesia, either inj. Metoprolol 50µgm/kg diluted to 10 ml or 10ml normal saline given intravenously. Heart Rate(HR) and MAP recorded at basal, one, five minutes after Intubation, 15 minutes after establishing pneumoperitoneum, before and after extubation were analyzed with Descriptive statistics.
Results: In Both the groups no significant increase was observed in HR at 1 minute and 5 minutes after intubation compared to the basal HR. But the MAP at 1 and 5 minutes after intubation increased significantly in control group, whereas no significant increase occurred in Metoprolol group. HR and MAP recorded at 15 minutes after pneumoperitoneum showed significant increase from both basal and pre pneumoperitoneum values in control group but no significant increase was observed in Metoprolol group. During Extubation also no significant increase in HR and MAP observed in Metoprolol group compared to pre extubation values whereas Control group showed significant increase in HR and MAP after extubation compared to pre extubation values.
Conclusion: Intravenous Metoprolol 50 µgms/kg. i.v. given 5 minutes before induction of anesthesia reduces adverse hemodynamic changes during intubation and pneumoperitoneum during laparoscopic surgeries. There are no significant adverse effects during surgery or 8 hours post operatively.

Keywords: Laparoscopic surgery, Metoprolol, Pneumoperitoneum, Intubation response, Hemodynamic response


This study evaluated the predictability of clinical exam ination alone in comparison with magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of meniscal tears in compet itive athletes. Ninety-three competitive athletes were prospectively investigated between 1992 and 1995. A total of 57 athletes were operated on based on clinical examination alone, and the 36 remaining athletes had magnetic resonance imaging before surgery. The cor rect diagnosis of a meniscal lesion was made on clin ical examination alone in 83 athletes (89%) and on magnetic resonance imaging the correct diagnosis was also made in 89% of 36 athletes. The overall values for the clinical investigation of the medial and lateral me nisci combined were 94.5%, 91.5%, 99%, 96.5%, 87% for accuracy, positive predictive value, negative predic tive value, sensitivity, and specificity, respectively. The overall values for magnetic resonance imaging of the medial and lateral menisci combined were 95.5%, 96.5%, 91.5%, 98%, 85.5% for accuracy, positive pre dictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity, and specificity, respectively.


There is a general lack of new evidence on which to base practical and useful diagnostic classifications of regional musculoskeletal pain for primary care. However, the 'red flag' system, developed and now disseminated successfully in the management of low back pain, seems to be applicable to the initial management of other regional pain. In this scheme, signs and symptoms of serious disease are sought, and their presence is the indication for the investigation or referral of individual patients. In their absence, the low predictive value of many signs, tests and even diagnostic labels argues against their routine use in primary care. Simple decisions based on separation into articular versus non-articular, and acute versus chronic, are favoured by the most recent expert consensus statements. In addition, the presence or absence of more widespread pain, and of other non-specific features of chronic pain, is likely to be helpful in managing regional syndromes. Prospective studies of the prognostic value of symptoms, signs and diagnostic labels remain a research priority in this field.


Motivated by our work with political scientists we present an algorithm that detects near-duplicate Web pages. These scientists analyze Web archives of news sites. The archives were collected with crawlers and contain a large number of pages that look very different because the frame around their core content differs. However, the news stories in the pages are nearly identical. The close proximity of unrelated items on the pages makes the detection of content overlap difficult. Our SpotSigs algorithm generates signatures that are spread across each document. Places for these signatures are determined by the placement of common words, like 'is' and 'the' in the documents. We can vary our method of computing the signatures. Using hash collisions the algorithm detects overlap among the signatures of matching contents. We study how the different SpotSigs parameters impact precision and recall performance. We propose and evaluate variants of SpotSigs on a test bed of 2168 Web Pages and study the tradeoffs involved. One of our motivations was also to keep pre-processing requirements low for the detection of near duplicates and to this end we do not remove ads, client side scripts and other HTML formatting elements from the documents. On this data set SpotSigs obtains a precision of over 93% and a recall of over 85% for near duplicate detection.


The construction of simple houses is always done, to meet the needs of low and middle-income people. And every time you make a home, it requires a fee to buy materials, equipment and to pay workers. So estimating the cost and material requirements at an early stage is very important. But, there is no simple cost and material estimation method, at the conceptual stage, when there is very little data information, so this is a problem for non-professionals. The solution to the problem is a theory. The theory is a program which consists of models. So this study intends to create a program, as a conceptual estimate. The quantitative method in this study uses 36 data on the Budget Plan. The data is processed using the Burgerlijke Openbare Werken (BOW) method. Then the results of the data process were analyzed using the linear regression analysis method, to get the model. The models then form the formula for the program. So that in this study produce models and applications, to estimate the cost and material requirements for the construction of simple houses. Using the program, enter the building area data information, and automatically, the cost and material requirements for the development of a simple house will be predictable. This program is a simplification of the Burgerlijke Openbare Werken (BOW) method.


Renal complications develop in about 40% of all type II diabetic patients, characterized by persistent albuminuria, leading towards end stage renal disease. N-acetyl-β-D-Glucosaminidase (NAG) a large protein is released in the tubular lumen after proximaltubular damage thus considered as a tubular injury marker. Its raised levels were observed even in normoalbuminu-rics as the onset of microalbuminuria was considered a late finding. With the objective of comparing urinary NAG between normoalbuminuric and microalbuminuric type II Diabetes Mellitus patients, this study was planned. Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2014 at Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore on 86 type-II diabetic patients. Out of known type-II diabetic patients from both genders coming to diabetic clinic for routine checkup, those having duration of diabetes for less than 10 years since its diagnosis made and aged 45 – 65 years, were selected through convenient sampling except those with any comorbidity involving kidneys, pregnancy or history of nephrotoxic drug intake. After taking consent, their spot urine samples were collected. Those having urinary ACR (albumin creatinine ratio in mg/g creatinine) > 300 on dipstick termed 'macroalbumi-nuria' were also excluded. The albumin, creatinine and NAG assays were performed in the selected spot urine samples. On the basis of urinary ACR, patients were divided into normoalbuminurics (ACR < 30) as group 1 (n = 42) and microalbuminuric (ACR 30 – 300) as group 2 (n = 44). Urinary NAG level was measured in U/L and also expressed as NAG to creatinine ratio (U/ gram creatinine). Data were analyzed through SPSS (v: 21.0) and described as tables and graphs for age, gender, duration of diabetes and urinary NAG. Five point pictorial comparison of NAG to creatinine ratio in both groups was presented through box plot. Results: Out of 86 subjects, mean age was 50.79 years in group 1 while it was 51.89 years in group 2. Majority subjects presented with disease history of 5 – 8 years, with male predominance (64% n = 55). Mean urinary NAG level was 18.69 U/L in group 1 and 42.36 U/L in group 2 and difference was significant (p = 0.01). Similarly NAG to creatinine ratio values revealed small sized box-plot in group 1 with lower minimum, maximum, median and interquartile range values as compared to group 2. Conclusion:   Among uncomplicated type-II diabetic patients in the first decade of their illness, the excretion of the urinary enzyme, 'N-acetyl-β-D-Glucosami-nidase' was observed. Its levels were lower in normo-albuminurics with less variation as compared to micro-albuminurics.


In order to understand the role of mesenchymal cells (MCs) in the adult thymus, we performed whole transcriptome analyses of primary thymic, bone, and skin MCs. These three MC populations shared expression of 2850 core MC genes involved in generic processes including interactions with tissue-resident macrophages. Moreover, we discovered that 2036 genes were differentially expressed, by at least 5-fold, in the three MC populations. Genes preferentially expressed in thymic MCs are instrumental in clearance of apoptotic thymocytes by macrophages, maintenance of a noninflammatory milieu, and attraction-expansion of thymocyte progenitors. Thymic and bone MCs share other sets of differentially expressed genes implicated in resolution of inflammation and expansion of hematolymphoid progenitors. Consistent with the fact that thymic and skin MCs have to support epithelial cells, they express at higher levels genes mediating epithelial cell adhesion to basement membrane and mesenchymal–epithelial cross-talk. Differentially expressed genes preferentially expressed by bone MCs are connected to formation and remodeling of bone, whereas those preferentially expressed in skin MCs are involved in skin and hair follicle homeostasis. We conclude that MCs from different organs display substantial heterogeneity and that the transcriptome of thymic MCs is exquisitely suited for interactions with epithelial and hematolymphoid cells in an environment with a high apoptosis rate.


Purpose: In recent years, there has been a shift in the CSR approach, from voluntary action to regulations and legal acts imposing specific obligations on enterprises in terms of their responsibility toward communities and environment in which they operate. Researchers are still divided, but there are rising voices that the adoption of CSR principles is no longer a matter of voluntary practice. The aim of this article is to answer two research questions: 1) what is the managers' attitude to the legalization of CSR, and 2) are there any differences in this issue across cultures. The study shows the cross-cultural perspective from the EMEA region. Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative approach and individual interviews have been chosen to gather reliable and in-depth information. Semi-structured, online interviews with six managers from EMEA region (three Polish citizens and three Tunisian citizens operating in the United Arab Emirates) were selected as the primary technique for data collection. Recorded and transcribed interviews were then analyzed using MAXQDA. Findings: In Poland, where CSR is more institutionalized, managers are skeptical about the obligatory nature of this concept. In the UAE on the other hand, where CSR regulations are still lacking, imposing new obligations on enterprises is seen as a positive and even necessary phenomenon. Practical Implications: Managers' approach to CSR can be universal across the globe, but there is a significant difference how this concept is understood across cultures. Results of this study show a significant difference between managers' approach to legalization of CSR in Poland and the UAE and can contribute to a better alignment of national and international CSR regulations. Originality/Value: The ambiguity of the results presented in the literature indicates the need for further research on the leaders' concern for responsibility, sustainability and its legalization. Furthermore, the literature lacks cross-cultural studies on managers' attitudes toward voluntary vs. mandatory CSR.


We report new experimental results demonstrating optical bistability and two-input NOR gate operation in intracavity-coupled in-plane and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) fabricated from the same epitaxial material. The VCSEL (or output) section gain is controlled by separately biased in-plane laser section(s), and depending on the in-plane power output, complete quenching of stimulated emission in the VCSEL is observed. Hysteresis is present in the VCSEL output power versus in-plane laser input power characteristic, and an optical memory effect is observed in the combined device.


Fish and other seafood products have a limited shelf life due to favorable conditions for microbial growth and enzymatic alterations. Various preservation and/or processing methods have been developed for shelf-life extension and for maintaining the quality of such highly perishable products. Freezing and frozen storage are among the most commonly applied techniques for this purpose. However, frozen–thawed fish or meat are less preferred by consumers; thus, labeling thawed products as fresh is considered a fraudulent practice. To detect this kind of fraud, several techniques and approaches (e.g., enzymatic, histological) have been commonly employed. While these methods have proven successful, they are not without limitations. In recent years, different emerging methods have been investigated to be used in place of other traditional detection methods of thawed products. In this context, spectroscopic techniques have received considerable attention due to their potential as being rapid and non-destructive analytical tools. This review paper aims to summarize studies that investigated the potential of emerging techniques, particularly those based on spectroscopy in combination with chemometric tools, to detect frozen–thawed muscle foods.


Two-sided marketplace platforms often run experiments (or A/B tests) to test the effect of an intervention before launching it platform-wide. A typical approach is to randomize users into a treatment group, which receives the intervention, and a control group, which does not. The platform then compares the performance in the two groups to estimate the effect if the intervention were launched to everyone. We focus on two common experiment types, where the platform randomizes users either on the supply side or on the demand side. For these experiments, it is known that the resulting estimates of the treatment effect are typically biased: individuals in the market compete with each other, which creates interference and leads to a biased estimate. Here, we observe that economic interactions (competition among demand and supply) lead to statistical phenomenon (biased estimates). We develop a simple, tractable market model to study bias and variance in these experiments with interference. We focus on two choices available to the platform: (1) Which side of the platform should it randomize on (supply or demand)? (2) What proportion of individuals should be allocated to treatment? We find that both choices affect the bias and variance of the resulting estimators, but in different ways. The bias-optimal choice of experiment type depends on the relative amounts of supply and demand in the market, and we discuss how a platform can use market data to select the experiment type. Importantly, we find that in many circumstances choosing the bias-optimal experiment type has little effect on variance, and in some cases coincide with the variance-optimal type. On the other hand, we find that the choice of treatment proportion can induce a bias-variance tradeoff, where the bias-minimizing proportion increases variance. We discuss how a platform can navigate this tradeoff and best choose the proportion, using a combination of modeling as well as contextual knowledge about the market, the risk of the intervention, and reasonable effect sizes of the intervention.


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The aim of this study is to determine the role of nasal smear in evaluating diagnosis and response to the treatment by the patient of acute maxillary sinusitis. We compared nasal smear and histopathological findings obtained from rabbits experimentally induced acute maxillary sinusitis. The animals were divided into two groups; one with blocked ostium and treated with antibiotic and the other applied natural ostiotomy, during a 4-week period. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in respect of recovery period. This conclusion was derived from nasal smear and biopsy findings. It was observed that nasal smear and biopsy findings were consistent with each other and with clinical findings. The results of this study revealed that nasal smear may be used in the diagnosis and treatment follow-up of acute maxillary sinusitis.


Background The increasing number of patients treated with peritoneal dialysis (PD) and their consistently high rate of hospital admissions have placed a large burden on the health care system. Early clinical interventions and optimal management of patients at a high risk of prolonged length of stay (pLOS) may help improve the medical efficiency and prognosis of PD-treated patients. If timely clinical interventions are not provided, patients at a high risk of pLOS may face a poor prognosis and high medical expenses, which will also be a burden on hospitals. Therefore, physicians need an effective pLOS prediction model for PD-treated patients. Objective This study aimed to develop an optimal data-driven model for predicting the pLOS risk of PD-treated patients using basic admission data. Methods Patient data collected using the Hospital Quality Monitoring System (HQMS) in China were used to develop pLOS prediction models. A stacking model was constructed with support vector machine, random forest (RF), and K-nearest neighbor algorithms as its base models and traditional logistic regression (LR) as its meta-model. The meta-model used the outputs of all 3 base models as input and generated the output of the stacking model. Another LR-based pLOS prediction model was built as the benchmark model. The prediction performance of the stacking model was compared with that of its base models and the benchmark model. Five-fold cross-validation was employed to develop and validate the models. Performance measures included the Brier score, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), estimated calibration index (ECI), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and geometric mean (Gm). In addition, a calibration plot was employed to visually demonstrate the calibration power of each model. Results The final cohort extracted from the HQMS database consisted of 23,992 eligible PD-treated patients, among whom 30.3% had a pLOS (ie, longer than the average LOS, which was 16 days in our study). Among the models, the stacking model achieved the best calibration (ECI 8.691), balanced accuracy (Gm 0.690), accuracy (0.695), and specificity (0.701). Meanwhile, the stacking and RF models had the best overall performance (Brier score 0.174 for both) and discrimination (AUROC 0.757 for the stacking model and 0.756 for the RF model). Compared with the benchmark LR model, the stacking model was superior in all performance measures except sensitivity, but there was no significant difference in sensitivity between the 2 models. The 2-sided t tests revealed significant performance differences between the stacking and LR models in overall performance, discrimination, calibration, balanced accuracy, and accuracy. Conclusions This study is the first to develop data-driven pLOS prediction models for PD-treated patients using basic admission data from a national database. The results indicate the feasibility of utilizing a stacking-based pLOS prediction model for PD-treated patients. The pLOS prediction tools developed in this study have the potential to assist clinicians in identifying patients at a high risk of pLOS and to allocate resources optimally for PD-treated patients.


The alpine tundra of the Colorado Front Range supports a variety of plant communities whose distribution corresponds to their topographic position. Our objectives were to : (i) determine patterns in net N mineralization and microbial N pools among three communities, Kobresia, Acomastylis, and Carex meadows, that span a topographic gradient, and (ii) relate any patterns to soil microclimate differences among these communities. Average yearly net N mineralization rates, measured with an in situ core incubation technique, were 1.2 g N m -2 in 1991 and 1.0 g N m -2 in 1992. No differences were detected in yearly N mineralization rates among the three communities ; however, net nitrification and other soil properties were found to differ among communities. Net N mineralization rates and microbial N showed strong temporal variation, and this variation was related to different variables for each community. Seasonal variation in N mineralization was related to soil water and microbial N in Kobresia meadows, to soil temperature and microbial N in Acomastylis meadows, and to soil water and temperature in Carex meadows. Seasonal changes in microbial N were related to soil water in Kobresia and Acomastylis meadows. Large fluctuations in microbial N indicate that periodic losses from the microbial pool may be important to N availability in this alpine tundra site.


Impaired AhR ligand production by the gut microbiota decreases AhR pathway activation, promoting inflammation in celiac disease. The advantage of a high-tryptophan diet Although 40% of the worldwide population express celiac disease susceptibility genes, only 1% will develop the disorder, suggesting a role for environmental factors, including the gut microbiota. Lamas et al. show that celiac disease is associated with an impaired capacity of the gut microbiota to metabolize tryptophan into aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands in patients with celiac disease. Gluten-induced immunopathology in mice expressing a celiac disease susceptibility gene was ameliorated after AhR pathway activation by a high-tryptophan diet, or by treatment with a pharmacological AhR agonist or bacteria producing AhR ligands. AhR pathway modulation by the gut microbiota may have potential as a therapeutic strategy for treating celiac disease. Metabolism of tryptophan by the gut microbiota into derivatives that activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) contributes to intestinal homeostasis. Many chronic inflammatory conditions, including celiac disease involving a loss of tolerance to dietary gluten, are influenced by cues from the gut microbiota. We investigated whether AhR ligand production by the gut microbiota could influence gluten immunopathology in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice expressing DQ8, a celiac disease susceptibility gene. NOD/DQ8 mice, exposed or not exposed to gluten, were subjected to three interventions directed at enhancing AhR pathway activation. These included a high-tryptophan diet, gavage with Lactobacillus reuteri that produces AhR ligands or treatment with an AhR agonist. We investigated intestinal permeability, gut microbiota composition determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, AhR pathway activation in intestinal contents, and small intestinal pathology and inflammatory markers. In NOD/DQ8 mice, a high-tryptophan diet modulated gut microbiota composition and enhanced AhR ligand production. AhR pathway activation by an enriched tryptophan diet, treatment with the AhR ligand producer L. reuteri, or pharmacological stimulation using 6-formylindolo (3,2-b) carbazole (Ficz) decreased immunopathology in NOD/DQ8 mice exposed to gluten. We then determined AhR ligand production by the fecal microbiota and AhR activation in patients with active celiac disease compared to nonceliac control individuals. Patients with active celiac disease demonstrated reduced AhR ligand production and lower intestinal AhR pathway activation. These results highlight gut microbiota-dependent modulation of the AhR pathway in celiac disease and suggest a new therapeutic strategy for treating this disorder.


The effects of different concentrations of various macroelements on growth and endogenous GAs levels in root, stem, and leaf tissue of maize plants (Zea mays L.) were studied. Plants were cultivated in sand and supplied twice a week with a nutrient solution containing optimum, excessive, or deficient concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and iron. Plants were harvested from three different periods: vegetation (4–5 leaves), flowering, and fruiting. The levels of gibberellic acid-like substances (GA3 equivalents ng g-1 FW) were determined by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).In the first period (vegetative; 4–5 leaves), the levels of GAs in root, stem, and leaf of maize plants treated with excessive concentration of N, P, and Mg were increased between 6% and 27%. In the second period (flowering), significant increase was not observed in the levels of GAs, whereas a decrease was determined between 8% and 35%. In the third period (fruiting), the levels of GAs were lower (between 11% and 76%) than control plants in all applications.


The financial crisis was a gloomy time in the structured product markets, with asset prices dropping, ratings downgrades, and huge spikes in volatility. As investors remained wary, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) performed as they were supposed to structurally, by paying down the senior noteholders with interest proceeds. Eventually, when the markets regained confidence, secondary CLO prices rose and new issuance began to slowly make a comeback. As a leveraged view on corporate credit, CLOs have and will continue to benefit from a fundamentally strong corporate market. In addition, the low-interest-rate environment and higher loan spreads have boosted many performance metrics to better than pre-crisis levels. We expect the asset class to continue to thrive because CLOs offer attractive yields relative to other structured products and have structural benefits when compared with outright corporate credit. CLOs are a resilient asset class with structures that work.


The Papaver L. plant have been well known as a source of pharmaceutically valuable alkaloids (noscapine, thebaine, codeine, roemerine, papaverine and morphine). The current study investigates the phytochemical, in-vitro antioxidant, and anticancer activities of papaver decaisnei, an endemic plant species to the flora of Kurdistan-Iraq. The chemical analysis of the methanolic (MeOH) extracts of flowers, leaves, and roots of papaver decaisnei were made by using gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS), and the antioxidant activity evaluation done by radical scavenging [on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2jazino-bis (3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS)], and reducing power [cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)] assays. The anticancer actions were presented as IC50 (inhibitory concentration at 50%) on human colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2), mammary cancer cells (MCF-7), and human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells. The results of the phytochemical analysis showed 17, 19, and 22 chemical compounds for flowers, leaves, and roots of P. decaisnei, respectively. The prevalent organic compounds of P. decaisnei were alkaloids, phenolics, fatty acids, esters, and phytosterols, namely Roemerine (70.44%), Decarbomethoxytabersonine, 9,12,15- Octadecatrien-1-ol, Hexadecanoic acid, 6,8-Dioxa-3-thiabicyclo(3,2,1)octane 3,3-dioxide, and γ-Sitosterol. The antioxidant activity of plant organ extracts was within 39.1-143.5 μg/ml for DPPH and 123.12-276.4 μg/ml for ABTS assays, while, the FRAP and CUPRAC values ranged within 12.4- 34.3 and 42.6-75.8 μg/ml, respectively. The anticancer action of P.decaisnei organ extracts was found against all tested human cell lines (Caco-2, MCF-7, HeLa) with inhibitory concentrations (IC50 ) values between 125.3-388.4 μg/ml. The presented data on alkaloid contents and biological activity of P. decaisnei can serve a ground knowledge for the future biomedical synthesis and cancer research projects.


For underwater robots working in a variety of risky, unpredictable, and complex underwater environments – with factors such as turbulence, vortex, wind, wave, and deep-water pressure – it is necessary to ensure good structural design and handling performance in the process of robot design. Based on the requirements of achieving the stability design, control system, and underwater vision system of the robot, this paper proposes the structural design of a police multipurpose underwater robot power system that realizes both stable and flexible movement. A 6-DOF driving method was designed and its motion analysis was performed. In the vision system, an image processing algorithm is suitable for underwater enhancement and defogging. Experiments verify the correctness of the design and method.


Poly(HexaMethylene Biguanide) hydrochloride (PHMB) CAS No. [32289-58-0] is a particularly effective member of the biguanides antiseptic chemical group, and has been in use since the early fifties in numerous applications. It has been proposed that PHMB be classified as a category 3 carcinogen although PHMB is not genotoxic. It has been hypothesized that PHMB may have epigenetic properties effects, including non-genotoxic modifications of DNA bases, DNA methylation and mitogenic cytokine production. These properties have been assessed in vitro using 3 cell types: Caco-2 cells (from a human colon adenocarcinoma) with a non-functional p53 gene. (∆p53: mut p53), N2-A (Neuro-2A cells, mouse neural cells), the brain being a possible target organ in rodents and HepG2 cells (human hepatocellular carcinoma) with functional p53 gene. From the concentration 1 μg/mL up to 20 μg/mL of PHMB, no effect was observed, either growth stimulation or inhibition. Viability testing using neutral red led to an IC 50 of 20–25 μg/mL after treatment with PHMB for 3 h, whereas the MTT test led to IC50 values of 80 μg/mL, 160 μg/mL and 160 μg/mL respectively for HepG2 cells, Neuro-2A cells and Caco-2 cells. PHMB does not induce significant oxidative stress (production of MDA or lipoperoxidation, nor does it induce hydroxylation of DNA (8-OH-dG) and/or its hypermethylation (m5dC), the latter being strongly implicated in DNA replication and regulation and cell division. PHMB does not induce significant production of mitogenic cytokines such as TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor), interleukins (IL-1 alpha), and the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) which can cause either apoptosis or stimulate the growth of transformed cells or tumors. Instead, from concentrations of 20 to 100 μg/mL, PHMB kills cells of all types in less than 3 h. The expression of genes involved in the mechanisms of cell death induced by PHMB, including p53, the pro apoptotic gene bax and others, the anti-apoptotic bcl-2 and caspase-3 has been evaluated by RT-PCR. Finally, the status of GAP-junctions (GJIC) in the presence of PHMB has been determined and appeared to not be significantly affected. Taken together the data show that in vitro PHMB does not exhibit clear and remarkable epigenetic properties except a slight increase of some cytokines and transcription factor at higher concentrations at which cell lysis occurs rapidly.


PURPOSE
India has a high burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), although there is little data on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Although MDR-TB has existed for long time in India, very few diagnostic laboratories are well-equipped to test drug sensitivity. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of MDR-TB, first-line drug resistance patterns and its changing trends in northern India in the 4 years.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a prospective study from July 2007 to December 2010. Microscopy, culture by Bactec460 and p-nitro-α-acetylamino-β-hydroxypropiophenone (NAP) test was performed to isolate and identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) complex (MTBC). Drug sensitivity testing (DST) was performed by 1% proportional method (Bactec460) for four drugs: Rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambutol and streptomycin. Various clinical and demographical profiles were evaluated to analyse risk factors for development of drug resistance.

RESULTS
We found the overall prevalence rate of MDR-TB to be 38.8%, increasing from 36.4% in 2007 to 40.8% in 2010. we found that the prevalence of MDR-TB in new and previously treated cases was 29.1% and 43.3% ( P < 0.05; CI 95%). The increasing trend of MDR-TB was more likely in pulmonary TB when compared with extra-pulmonary TB ( P < 0.05; CI 95%).

CONCLUSIONS
we found a high prevalence (38.8%) of MDR-TB both in new cases (29.1%) and previously treated cases (43.3%).This study strongly highlights the need to make strategies for testing, surveillance, monitoring and management of such drug-resistant cases.


Complicated navigation, costly inflight training, hazardous situations, accidents, and the inclination towards better quality of training have set the trend of novice pilot instructions to take place in flight simulators. One of the main components of such a flight simulator is the avionic system. In the Concordia Light Aircraft Simulator System, the avionic systems embody the radio stack and the associated navigational instruments. The contribution of this thesis is to document the enhancements of the Concordia flight simulator to function as a powerful academic tool, especially focusing on the design improvement and development of the radio stack system. The objective of this thesis is to upgrade the existing radio stack system. Essential for further developments, reverse engineering for the existing system is presented to understand its hardware configuration and operations. Instead of the common RS232 or parallel port, the multifunction data acquisition hardware made by National Instruments is used for the communication between the radio stack and the flight model computer. The VC++ and LabVIEW radio stack modules replace the existing assembly program to control and drive the upgraded radio stack system. A more sophisticated and versatile navigation model coded in VC++ is programmed for users to experience the radio navigation systems typically found on a general aviation aircraft.


Nosocomial pneumonia, or hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) are important health problems worldwide, with both being associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. HAP is currently the main cause of death from nosocomial infection in critically ill patients. Although guidelines for the approach to this infection model are widely implemented in international health systems and clinical teams, information continually emerges that generates debate or requires updating in its management. This scientific manuscript, written by a multidisciplinary team of specialists, reviews the most important issues in the approach to this important infectious respiratory syndrome, and it updates various topics, such as a renewed etiological perspective for updating the use of new molecular platforms or imaging techniques, including the microbiological diagnostic stewardship in different clinical settings and using appropriate rapid techniques on invasive respiratory specimens. It also reviews both Intensive Care Unit admission criteria and those of clinical stability to discharge, as well as those of therapeutic failure and rescue treatment options. An update on antibiotic therapy in the context of bacterial multiresistance, in aerosol inhaled treatment options, oxygen therapy, or ventilatory support, is presented. It also analyzes the out-of-hospital management of nosocomial pneumonia requiring complete antibiotic therapy externally on an outpatient basis, as well as the main factors for readmission and an approach to management in the emergency department. Finally, the main strategies for prevention and prophylactic measures, many of them still controversial, on fragile and vulnerable hosts are reviewed.


Research has tended to focus on children's experiences of starting school but how does it affect parents? This paper will address this question by highlighting the changes and experiences that parents may go through when their child becomes old enough to start formal schooling. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model was employed to gain a clearer and richer insight into this educational transition from the point of view of parents and care-givers. The research focussed upon documenting the experiences and level of participation of parent's during the first year of their child starting formal schooling. An important finding that emerged from this project was that this journey can be a negative and 'lonely' experience for some parents. Therefore, this paper will conclude that a system needs to be put into place that will help parents cope with this transition, with a design that will ultimately allow them to learn to adapt to their new roles with greater ease than is currently occurring with the UK.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate trends in hemoglobinopathies following the establishment of a mandatory premarital screening program (MPMSP) in the southern region of Saudi Arabia, where they are considered highly predominant.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis was performed on data from 32,130 high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tests between November 2017 and October 2020. The data was obtained from the Hematology section, Laboratory Department, Armed Forces Hospital, Southern Region.

RESULTS
Despite the establishment of the MPMSP, our data showed that sickle cell disease remains a predominant hemoglobinopathy accounting for more than 7% of total tests in Southern Saudi Arabia. Observed HPLC hemoglobin fractions among the tested population showed a reduction in Hb A mean indicating a high rate of hemoglobin abnormalities. In addition, the prevalence of hemoglobin variants, including sickle cell and thalassemia, was higher in the younger population born after the MPMSP than in older subjects.

CONCLUSION
Even with the implementation of the MPMSP, hemoglobin abnormalities remain prevalent in southern Saudi Arabia. A longer time frame is recommended to verify the validity of the program.


The student-led anti-media-monopoly movement in Taiwan has generated strong momentum since mid-2012. In early 2013, the National Communications Commission responded by drafting the "Prevention of Broadcasting and Television Monopoly and the Maintenance of Diversity Act", which was approved by the Executive Yuan in April 2013 and is now waiting to be debated in the Legislative Yuan. In contemporary Taiwan, the social is often connected with the political. The existing democratic system, which is a legacy of the democratisation process in the twentieth century, no longer seems adequate to serve the citizens of the twenty-first century. This paper considers the anti–media-monopoly movement and the burgeoning civic movements in recent years as part of a "second wave" of democratisation for further political reform and democratic consolidation. When martial law was lifted in Taiwan in 1987, the "first wave" of media liberalisation ended with the commercialisation of industry. The "second wave" of media democratisation has picked up where the first wave left off and may finally establish, through increasingly more thoughtful media policies, a better and fairer media environment that is more suitable for democratic Taiwan.


One of the most important values of a medical practice is the human resource. Therefore, medical offices, smaller or larger, need to have some knowledge about human resource management. We also need to know and observe the development of medical education system because it prepares the professionals with whom we will inherently collaborate. The interest in what happens in medical education should not disappear once we have completed our vocational training. We need to be involved in developing regulations for the acquisition of new skills and the way they can be practiced safely.


This is a prospective study of postoperative pain at iliac graft donor site in 40 selected cases undergoing bone graft procedures from the iliac bone. Comparison was made between 3 different surgical approaches (superior, medial and superior-lateral). Severity of pain after operation was assessed using 10cm. visual analogue scale (VAS). All patients were followed up as outpatient visits every 2 weeks for period of 3 months. All patients had significant donor site pain postoperatively; moreover, in 83.3% of patients the pain was more severe at donor site than the recipient site. The precise cause of donor site pain remained obscure. However, in 87.5% of cases pain which, was closely related to position as typically aggravated by walking could indicate a local muscular or periosteal origin. The superior-lateral approach was associated with the lowest level of measured pain at donor site which, was mostly due to minimal muscles stripping and also the use of outer table. The highest level of pain was associated with the use of the superior approach, which was probably due to excessive muscle stripping and reflection of both gluteal and abdominal muscles. Donor site pain was substantially higher in patients where both tables of ilium were involved. In 10 patients (superior-lateral approach), bupivacaine hydrochloride 0.5% (Marcaine) had been used to infiltrate their donor wound during operation and comparison was made with another 10 patients as control. Local infiltration with pubivacaine produced a significant reduction in postoperative donor site pain.


GANGRENE of the duodenum and afferent loop of the jejunum following subtotal gastric resection and anterior Polya anastomosis is a rare condition, and a search of the literature has revealed no report of such a case. REPORT OF A CASE On July 20, 1950, H. W., a 45-year-old white married woman, was admitted to the New York Hospital, complaining of persistent nausea and vomiting, with epigastric pain. Three years before admission she had first noticed knife-like epigastric pains two to four hours after meals and occasionally at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, which were relieved promptly by taking sodium bicarbonate or food. Up to three months before admission she had intervals of varying length when she was free from symptoms. At that time pain, nausea, and vomiting became more frequent and persistent, and during the month before entering the hospital she was in constant pain and vomited several


Nike's invented holiday, Air Max Day, is celebrated annually on March 26th by sneaker enthusiasts worldwide. Participation in this event occurs predominantly across social media platforms. This pilot study analyzes how Nike's Air Max consumers engage with this holiday and with other sneaker fans across Twitter on Air Max Day 2019. This will be discerned by studying the images, captions and replies of the top fifty tweets posted to the #AirMaxDay2019 hashtag on March 26th, 2019 using Schreiber's (2017) praxeological approach. By studying the themes and patterns present in these elements, this study seeks to better understand the content posted to #AirMaxDay2019 and users' motivations for posting it. For the purpose of this research paper, a "fandom" is defined as a distinct community of devotees, and this concept will be explored using John Fiske's 1992 work entitled "The Cultural Economy of Fandom" to discern examples of fan productivity, a term referring to the ways in which fans perform or express a social identity based on their object of fandom.


Aromatase, or cytochrome P450 19A1, catalyzes the aromatization of androgens to estrogens within the body. Changes in the activity of this enzyme can produce hormonal imbalances that can be detrimental to sexual and skeletal development. Inhibition of this enzyme can occur with drugs and natural products as well as environmental chemicals. Therefore, predicting potential endocrine disruption via exogenous chemicals requires that aromatase inhibition be considered in addition to androgen and estrogen pathway interference. Bayesian machine learning methods can be used for prospective prediction from the molecular structure without the need for experimental data. Herein, the generation and evaluation of multiple machine learning models utilizing different sources of aromatase inhibition data are described. These models are applied to two test sets for external validation with molecules relevant to drug discovery from the public domain. In addition, the performance of multiple machine learning algorithms was evaluated by comparing internal five-fold cross-validation statistics of the training data. These methods to predict aromatase inhibition from molecular structure, when used in concert with estrogen and androgen machine learning models, allow for a more holistic assessment of endocrine-disrupting potential of chemicals with limited empirical data and enable the reduction of the use of hazardous substances.


Prediction of CO2 injection performance in deep subsurface aquifers and reservoirs rely on the well ability to maintain high flow rates of carbon dioxide during several decades without significantly impairing the host formation. Dynamics of solid particulate suspensions in permeable media are recognized as one major factor leading to injection well plugging in sandstones. The invading supercritical liquid-like fluid can contain variable concentrations of exogenous fine suspensions or endogenous particles generated in-situ by colloidal of hydrodynamic release mechanisms. Suspended solids can plug the pores leading to possible formation damage and permeability reduction in the vicinity of the injector. As such, models which can predict well injectivity decline are useful in the operations of planning, design, and maintenance, related to carbon dioxide injection. In this study we developed a finite element based simulator to predict the injectivity decline nearby CO2 injection wells and also for production wells in the context of EOR. The numerical model solves a system of two coupled sets of finite element equations corresponding to the pressure-saturation two-phase flow, then a system of solute and particles convection-diffusion equations. Particle equations are subject to mechanistic rate laws of colloidal, hydrodynamic release from pore bodies, blocking in pore bodies and pore throats, and interphase particles transfer. The model was validated against available laboratory experiments at the core scale. At the field scale, challenges still exist for an accurate assessment of the permeability change due to limited current knowledge of supercritical CO2 and water phase micro-interactions at pore surfaces, but also to the multiscale nature of the numerical problem. Numerical demonstration examples in a saline sandstone aquifer reveal that formation damage during CO2 injection will primarily depend on the injected particles wettability, the injection flow rate, and the medium tortuosity. Other simulation examples are provided for a CO2 injection in a five spots pattern EOR oil field for performance assessment of the production with occurrence of in-situ sanding in a poorly consolidated sandstone reservoir.


Recently, in order to accelerate drug development, trials that use adaptive seamless designs such as phase II/III clinical trials have been proposed. Phase II/III clinical trials combine traditional phases II and III into a single trial that is conducted in two stages. Using stage 1 data, an interim analysis is performed to answer phase II objectives and after collection of stage 2 data, a final confirmatory analysis is performed to answer phase III objectives. In this paper we consider phase II/III clinical trials in which, at stage 1, several experimental treatments are compared to a control and the apparently most effective experimental treatment is selected to continue to stage 2. Although these trials are attractive because the confirmatory analysis includes phase II data from stage 1, the inference methods used for trials that compare a single experimental treatment to a control and do not have an interim analysis are no longer appropriate. Several methods for analysing phase II/III clinical trials have been developed. These methods are recent and so there is little literature on extensive comparisons of their characteristics. In this paper we review and compare the various methods available for constructing confidence intervals after phase II/III clinical trials.


Nearest neighbor query is one of the most important operations in spatial databases and their application domains, such as location-based services and advanced traveler information systems . This paper addresses the problem of finding the in-route nearest neighbor (IRNN) for a query object tuple which consists of a given route with a destination and a current location on it. The IRNN is a facility instance via which the detour from the original route on the way to the destination is smallest. This paper addresses four alternative solution methods. Comparisons among them are presented using an analytical model and an experimental framework. Extensive experiments using real road map datasets are conducted to examine the behaviors of the solutions in terms of five parameters affecting the performance. The overall experiments show that our strategy to reduce the expensive path computations to minimize the response time is reasonable. The spatial distance join-based method always shows better performance with fewer path computations compared to the recursive methods. The computation costs for all methods except the precomputed zone-based method increase with increases in the road map size and the query route length but decrease with increases in the facility density. The precomputed zone-based method shows the most efficiency when there are no updates on the road map.


Guided by the spillover hypothesis of family systems theory, we used data from the Building Strong Families project to examine intrafamily relations between destructive and constructive interparental conflict, harsh and supportive parenting behaviors, and coparenting alliance across different family configurations: married, cohabiting, and noncohabiting (never married) parents. Our sample (N = 2,784 couples/parents) was racially diverse, low-income couples/parents who were unmarried at the conception of their child. All variables were measured when children were approximately 36 months of age. Interparental conflict was assessed through an instrument that included both parents' reported conflict in the relationship and the perception of the other parent's conflict behaviors. Parenting behaviors were measured through observational data and coparenting alliance was based on mothers' and fathers' reports. As expected, path analyses revealed that destructive interparental conflict was related to lower levels of coparenting alliance, whereas constructive interparental conflict was related to higher levels of coparenting alliance, for mothers and fathers. For fathers only, destructive interparental conflict related to harsh parenting, suggesting that paternal parenting is vulnerable to the quality of the relationship with the mother. None of the proposed associations differed by family structure. These findings suggest the need for intervention programs to focus on promoting adaptive conflict management behaviors rather than on family structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


Hierarchical representations are common in digital repositories, yet are not always fully leveraged in their online search interfaces. This work describes ResultMaps, which use hierarchical treemap representations with query string-driven digital library search engines. We describe two lab experiments, which find that ResultsMap users yield significantly better results over a control condition on some subjective measures, and we find evidence that ResultMaps have ancillary benefits via increased understanding of some aspects of repository content. The ResultMap system and experiments contribute an understanding of the benefits-direct and indirect-of the ResultMap approach to repository search visualization.


Kings Park is a 400 ha reserve near the centre of the City of Perth, Western Australia. Two-hundred and sixtyseven hectares of the park remain as native vegetation and the park has a rich flora and fauna. Contributing importantly to the naturalness of Kings Park is its birdlife with more than 80 species having been recorded within the park's boundaries. Despite the large amount of native vegetation, Kings Park is not pristine and has been changed in many ways by human activities since the settlement of Perth by Europeans in 1829. These changes to the park, as well as changes to the urban matrix in which the park is found, coupled with regional changes outside the urban environment, have produced a dynamic and changing avifauna. Census data are available for a transect through Kings Park from 1928 to 2002. Between 1928 and 2002, 61 species of birds, excluding waterbirds, were recorded along the transect. Of these, 20 % increased in abundance and 40 % decreased with 10 species proceeding to local extinction. Since 1928, Kings Park and the urban landscape of Perth has been increasingly dominated by large nectar-feeding and seed-eating birds. Small insectivores, particularly ground and shrub foragers, have declined in abundance or become locally extinct. Despite the array of changes in the avifauna, the birds of Kings Park are as rich and probably as abundant as they were in 1928 when censuses commenced. The avifauna is just different. Keeping birds in Kings Park and the urban environment requires no special attention. However, if small birds and insectivores are desired, changes need to be made not only to the management of the park, but to the way vegetation in the urban matrix is managed. Foremost among the changes needed is the progressive replacement of exotic trees and shrubs along roads and in parks and gardens with indigenous species and the creation of complex foliage structures. This is necessary to foster an abundant arthropod fauna for insectivores to feed upon and to provide the kinds of habitats such birds require. Whether such changes are essential or even desirable depends on the reasons why people want birds about them in the city and suburbs. It may be that it is only important to have birds and not important as to which species are represented.


The Large Hadron Collider will collide protons with protons at a center-of-mass energy of up to 14 TeV. New physics phenomena and new particles are predicted to be detectable with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. One of these predicted new particles beyond the Standard Model are leptoquarks.

This thesis deals with the search for scalar second generation leptoquarks produced in pairs. Second generation leptoquarks decay into a muon-type lepton and a quark. In this thesis the decay of both second generation leptoquarks into a muon and a quark is considered. Since pair production is studied the final state consists of two high-energetic muons and two high-energetic jets.
This thesis studies second generation leptoquarks with masses of mLQ = 300 GeV, mLQ = 400 GeV, mLQ = 600 GeV and mLQ = 800 GeV. The best cut variables for the discrimination between the signal and the main Standard Model backgrounds ttbar and Z/gamma* found in this analysis are the pT of the muons, ST (the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the two selected muons and the transverse energies of the two selected jets), the mass of the selected dimuon system and the reconstructed leptoquark mass.
The latter three cut variables have been optimized for a discovery with a 5 significance including the systematic uncertainties and trigger efficiencies.

Second generation leptoquarks have been excluded up to the mass of 300 GeV with a 95% confidence level at present experiments. The expected integrated luminosities needed for a 5 discovery of the tested second generation leptoquark masses with the ATLAS detector have been calculated. This thesis shows that for a disocvery with 5 significance of a second generation leptoquark with mLQ = 300 GeV and mLQ = 400 GeV an expected integrated luminosity of 1.51 pb−1 and 7.42 pb−1 is needed respectively; this corresponds to a very early phase, i.e. the first few months, of the Large Hadron Collider run. For the discovery with a 5 significance of second generation leptoquarks with masses of mLQ = 600 GeV and mLQ = 800 GeV an expected integrated luminosity of 103.3 pb−1 and 663 pb−1 is needed respectively; this corresponds to several months and about half a year to a year of the Large Hadron Collider run respectively.


AIM
To report an analysis of the concept of perinatal bereavement.

BACKGROUND
The concept of perinatal bereavement emerged in the scientific literature during the 1970s. Perinatal bereavement is a practice-based concept, although it is not well-defined in the scientific literature and is often intermingled with the concepts of mourning and grief.

DESIGN
Concept Analysis.

DATA SOURCES
Using the term 'perinatal bereavement' and limits of only English and human, Pub Med and CINAHL were searched to yield 278 available references dating from 1974-2011. Articles specific to the experience of perinatal bereavement were reviewed. The final data set was 143 articles.

REVIEW METHODS
The methods of principle-based concept analysis were used. Results reveal conceptual components (antecedents, attributes and outcomes) which are delineated to create a theoretical definition of perinatal bereavement.

RESULTS
The concept is epistemologically immature, with few explicit definitions to describe the phenomenon. Inconsistency in conceptual meaning threatens the construct validity of measurement tools for perinatal bereavement and contributes to incongruent theoretical definitions. This has implications for both nursing science (how the concept is studied and theoretically integrated) and clinical practice (timing and delivery of support interventions).

CONCLUSIONS
Perinatal bereavement is a multifaceted global phenomenon that follows perinatal loss. Lack of conceptual clarity and lack of a clearly articulated conceptual definition impede the synthesis and translation of research findings into practice. A theoretical definition of perinatal bereavement is offered as a platform for researchers to advance the concept through research and theory development.


Normobaric intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) is an effective method for improvement of the FRS state, increase of the aerobic productivity, as well as general and special capacity for work in sportsmen of high qualification. High efficacy of IHT in improving all aspects of sportsmen FRS is a result of alternating the hypoxic influences and normoxic intervals between them during which the level of plastic processes remains increased, oxygen tension in arterial blood and tissues increases to nonnoxic values. After IHT course, the state of organ respiration improves, the respiration volume, a part of alveolar ventilation in the minute volume of respiration, oxygen saturation of arterial blood, hemoglobin content in blood--increase as well as economy and efficacy of oxygen regimes of organism, general and special (especially important) physical capacity for work.


The booming development of organometal halide perovskites in recent years has prompted the exploration of morphology-control strategies to improve their performance in photovoltaic, photonic, and optoelectronic applications. However, the preparation of organometal halide perovskites with high hierarchical architecture is still highly challenging and a general morphology-control method for various organometal halide perovskites has not been achieved. A mild and scalable method to prepare organometal halide perovskites in inverse opal morphology is presented that uses a polystyrene-based artificial opal as hard template. Our method is flexible and compatible with different halides and organic ammonium compositions. Thus, the perovskite inverse opal maintains the advantage of straightforward structure and band gap engineering. Furthermore, optoelectronic investigations reveal that morphology exerted influence on the conducting nature of organometal halide perovskites.


This guide helps students research their business plan proposals. Be advised this is NOT a comprehensive checklist for all topics that should be researched.


Ion-coordinating ruthenium complexes [cis-Ru(dcbpy)(L)(NCS)(2), where dcbpy is 4,4'-dicarboxylic acid-2,2'-bipyridine and L is 1,4,7,10-tetraoxa-13-azacyclopentadecane, JK-121, or bis(2-(2-methoxy-ethoxy)ethyl) amine, JK-122] have been synthesized and characterized using H-1 NMR, Fourier transform IR, UV/vis spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The effect of Li+ in the electrolyte on the photovoltaic performance was investigated. With the stepwise addition of Li+ to a liquid electrolyte, the device shows significant increase in the photo-current density, but a small decrease in the open circuit voltage. The solar cell with a hole conductor, the addition of Li+ resulted in a 30% improvement in efficiency. The JK-121 sensitized cells in the liquid and solid-state electrolyte give power conversion efficiencies of 6.95% and 2.59%, respectively, under the simulated sunlight.


Abstract Writing is not only a tool for communication but can assist in generating, elaborating and structuring knowledge, which is commonly referred to as writing-to-learn. This can be beneficial in many mathematical learning processes. However, most research on mathematical writing has focused on individual writing-to-learn in problem solving activities. In contrast, only few studies considered possible benefits for the fostering of mathematical argumentation and proving, particularly when writing-to-learn occurs in collaboration. We review fundamental principles of writing-to-learn in mathematics education and elaborate how it could be implemented in collaborative learning settings. We refer to previous research on fostering mathematical argumentation skills as well as to theories of writing-to-learn from other areas within mathematics education. Finally, we provide guidelines for designing collaborative knowledge-constituting writing activities, discussing the importance of prompts and guidance.


Echinococcosis, or hydatid disease, is uncommon in this country. In the majority of cases reported the disease was contracted abroad, the patients entering the United States as immigrants. Native cases are rare. Thirty-one cases have been reported with an apparent origin in the United States. 1 The disease is more prevalent in the state of Virginia than in other sections of the country, probably due to the high rate of infection in hogs in that state. The incidence of appearance of hydatid disease in this country may increase because of the popularity of travel abroad into countries where it may be endemic. The disease is caused by the presence of the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus (Taenia echinococcus), for which man is an intermediate host. The dog is the definitive host, and man acquires his infestation by eating contaminated food or through direct contact with infested dog excreta, thus ingesting


Aim: Aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of defensive medicine among physicians working in Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal Hospital (IABFH) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Method: This cross sectional study was conducted during December 2018 to January 2019 in which all doctors who were working in medicine and surgery department at IABFH participated in the study. Closed ended questionnaire was provided to each participant after explaining the purpose of the study. Result: Total of 52 out of 232 doctors participated in the study and hence participation rate was 83%. Doctors from surgery department showed significant disagreement compare to medicine doctor regarding practicing defensive medicine (P-value 0.032). Significantly high proportion of female (p-value 0.05) than male doctors was disagreed that defensive medicine practice would impair physician-patient relationship. Conclusion: Physicians were in favor of practicing defensive medicine as well as they also did not want to compromise the patients care. Doctors from surgery compare to medicine department showed higher agreement towards defensive medicine. Neither practicing defensive medicine would impairrelation between physician-patient nor restrict physician mentality or creativity stated by female participants. Acknowledgment: Data were collected by Dr Marzooq Alshammary, Zainab Alhassar and Adel alrwili