Ceramic anodes, made of perovskite-type rare-earth and strontium cobaltites substituted in both sublattices, exhibit a high electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen evolution in alkaline media. This work analyzes the relationships between cation composition, defect structure, electronic conductivity and electrochemical performance for a wide group of perovskite-like cobaltites, including Ln1-yAyCoO3-δ (Ln= Pr, Nd, Sm; A= Sr, Ca; y= 0-0.4), La1-x-ySrxBiyCoO3-δ (x= 0-0.6, y= 0-0.1), La0.7-xSr0.3CoO3-δ (x= 0-0.10), Sr1-xBaxCoO3-δ (x= 0.1-0.2) and SrCo1-yMyO3-δ (M=Fe, Ni, Ti, Cu; y= 0.1-0.6). The materials were prepared by the standard ceramic technique and characterized employing XRD, TGA, iodometric titration, and total conductivity measurements. A relatively high electrochemical performance in alkaline solutions was observed for (La,Sr)CoO3-based compositions with a moderate A-site deficiency. For SrCoO3-based materials, an increase in the oxygen evolution rate was found when co-substituting cobalt with several transition metal cations, such as Fe3+/4+ and Cu2+/3+. The results show that, in general, the key composition-related factors influencing electrochemical activity in alkaline media include the oxygen vacancy concentration, the average positive charge density in the crystal lattice, and possible blocking of active sites on the electrode surface.


Abstract : This report describes the work performed under the Assured Service Concepts and Models (ASCM) contract. The report is organized as follows. Volume I is a summary of all of the work done in the ASCM project. Volume II describes the various security policies that were developed on the contract. Volume III describes the availability policies that were developed on the contract and the approaches that were developed for identifying trade-offs between secrecy and availability. Volume III also contains the findings of the formalism study.


Previous Kramers–Kronig dispersion analyses of the LiF infrared reflectance band gave physically impossible results; significant portions of the phase angle and absorption-index spectra are distorted and/or are negative. The published reflectance data have been carefully evaluated; this indicated errors in the construction of the reflectance curve in the low-reflectance region. A new method has been developed for the construction of the difficult low-reflectance curve. This method employs the mean-value integral theorem and the concept of central frequency. Selfconsistency is achieved by forcing the Kramers–Kronig output-phase-angle values to agree with phase-angle values calculated from reliable optical-index values measured outside of the difficult low-reflectance region. The final Kramers–Kronig analysis yields for the first time a phase-angle spectrum which is physically plausible and absorption-index values which are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements.


An artificial neural network (ANN) is a flexible mathematical structure which is capable of identifying complex nonlinear relationships between input and output data sets. ANN models have been found useful and efficient, particularly in problems for which the characteristics of the processes are difficult to describe using physical equations. This study presents a new procedure (entitled linear least squares simplex, or LLSSIM) for identifying the structure and parameters of three-layer feed forward ANN models and demonstrates the potential of such models for simulating the nonlinear hydrologic behavior of watersheds. The nonlinear ANN model approach is shown to provide a better representation of the rainfall-runoff relationship of the medium-size Leaf River basin near Collins, Mississippi, than the linear ARMAX (autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs) time series approach or the conceptual SAC-SMA (Sacramento soil moisture accounting) model. Because the ANN approach presented here does not provide models that have physically realistic components and parameters, it is by no means a substitute for conceptual watershed modeling. However, the ANN approach does provide a viable and effective alternative to the ARMAX time series approach for developing input-output simulation and forecasting models in situations that do not require modeling of the internal structure of the watershed.


Money, income, and prices are important macroeconomic
 variables that play a crucial roles in an economy. The trends in money
 supply, movements in prices, changes in nominal and real income, as well
 as their interrelationships affect the economic life and well-being of a
 nation. The compilation of data on these magnitudes over long periods of
 time along with the supporting analysis is what constitutes monetary
 history. The present book by P. R. Brahmananda has carried out such an
 exercise for India. In presenting the monetary history of India, the
 author has kept the pioneering work of Milton Friedman and Anna Shwartz
 as a model for his work, and has comprehensively treated the 19th
 century events and experiences of the then Indian Subcontinent in the
 monetary and related areas. In the process, more than 200 time series of
 different variables have been brought together. The book not only
 contains a narrative account including the summary of the various
 viewpoints before the currency committees, and a detailed chronology of
 the period, but also examines the pros and cons of the various
 controversies of that period. Moreover, it subjects the empirical
 evidence to econometric testing of several important hypotheses of the
 modern-day monetary theory.


This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework for a comprehensive landscape characterization, focussing on the largest and most complex urban realm: the metropolitan region. Landscape character has in recent years emerged as a new paradigm to understand, monitor and evaluate cultural landscapes undergoing change. The scope of characterization methods however, is by and large limited to the non-urban realm. In physical terms, the border between the urban and non-urban realms is becoming increasingly diffuse, particularly in metropolitan regions. Metropolitan regions thus conceptually challenge the scope of landscape characterization, as cities can also be understood to be in and of themselves a form of cultural landscape. Moreover, territories where urban and rural realms merge, result in new 'hybrid' types of space that fall outside existing characterization methods. The method developed and presented in this paper is aimed at producing a comprehensive landscape characterization tool for metropolitan regions in order to understand, evaluate and monitor their spatial form. The method developed combines elements from conventional landscape character assessment with urban morphology, mapping, and cluster analyses. The first version of the method was tested using the metropolitan region of Rotterdam and resulted in a preliminary categorization of thirty-six metropolitan landscape types. Twenty-four of the thirty-six types are defined as 'hybrid' or mixed landscape types, which occupy approximately 30% of the territory. Their make-up is determined by formal varying densities of topographic elements, land use categories, and heights. The hybrid landscape types that have emerged as a result of applying this method are of particular interest, as they were not recognized as a specific category by other classification methods. The extent and character of these landscapes is not yet fully understood and therefore not used in the landscape policy forming. The method also reveals a substantial disparity between the assumed threshold of city and countryside in the Rotterdam region, and the one that has resulted from this study. The distribution of hybrid landscape types also shows that patterns of dispersion, diffusion, periphery and fragmentation have exceeded what is considered the peri-urban area of Rotterdam in administrative and planning circles.


The main objective of this study was to develop a model for traceability of train passengers. To achieve this objective, KTMB as a main national railway operator had been used as a model for study. As there are many different types of rail passenger transport services provided by KTMB, Ekspress Rakyat 1 & 2 had been selected to serve as a model. Basis of this study was that there are no such models ever developed for the existing railway system. The scope of the research was focused between KL Sentral and Ipoh Station only. The software used to create the model was ARENA Simulation Software (student version). ARENA software was also able to create simulations and animations that were used in this study. Due to data provided by KTMB was too general, interview with staff of KTMB like training managers, station managers, trainers and drivers has been done to obtain more detailed information. As a result, Modelling Traceability of Train Passenger was managed to develop. The simulation results show that there are certain things that need to be addressed by the KTMB. Among the things, there are stations which had high volatility passengers. There are also stations which has a number of passengers who boarded the train more than come down from the train at the same station. In addition, there are also stations which show the number of passengers who boarded the train in the opposite direction more than the other way around. With this model, it's hoped it will help the KTMB improve their passenger rail services. In addition, this model can also be used as a guide for researchers in the future.


This paper elaborates on the impact of war upon the environment, which is frequently ignored or forgotten. The United States of America, as the country with the greatest military power on earth, has been able to create pretexts with the purpose of violating the sovereignty of other countries and strike upon them without previous warning with the help of allied countries. In this context, it is possible to state that these war conflicts have been gradually poisoning the environment to such an extent that now the damages begin to revert on mankind and some of them are unfortunately irreparable.


Nitrofurans are antibacterials banned in livestock by different countries due to its relationship with the production of carcinogenic metabolites. Several studies have been conducted to find the best methodology to identify these residues. Te objectives of this review work were to show the risk of nitrofuran metabolites (furazolidone; nitrofurazone; nitrofurantoin, furaltadone and nifursol); to explain the application of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to determine the presence of these residues in foods of animal origin; and, finally, to report some methodologies that were recently used in different foods of animal origin.


With the rapid developments occurring in cloud services, there has been a growing trend to use cloud for large-scale data storage. Due to the increasing popularity of cloud storage, many healthcare organizations have started moving electronic health records (EHRs) to cloud-based storage systems. However, this has raised the important security issue of how to protect and prevent unauthorized access to EHR data stored in a public cloud. Several cryptographic access control schemes have been proposed to protect the security of data stored in the cloud by integrating cryptographic techniques with access control models. In this paper, we consider a novel role-based encryption technique to build a secure and flexible large-scale EHR system where role-based access control policies are enforced in a cloud environment. Then we discuss a practical EHR system called the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system recently developed by the Australian Government, and show how the security weaknesses in the PCEHR system can be addressed by our proposed scheme. The proposed system has the potential to be useful in commercial healthcare systems as it captures practical access policies based on roles in a flexible manner and provides secure data storage in the cloud enforcing these access policies.


We consider the problem of finding communities or modules in directed networks. In the past, the most common approach to this problem has been to ignore edge direction and apply methods developed for community discovery in undirected networks, but this approach discards potentially useful information contained in the edge directions. Here we show how the widely used community finding technique of modularity maximization can be generalized in a principled fashion to incorporate information contained in edge directions. We describe an explicit algorithm based on spectral optimization of the modularity and show that it gives demonstrably better results than previous methods on a variety of test networks, both real and computer generated.


Driver distraction is the diversion of attention to a non-driving related activity. It has been identified as major cause of accidents. Even as we move away from traditional 'driver' and towards highly-automated vehicles, distraction remains an important issue. A distracted driver could still potentially miss a handover of control message from the car, or have a reduced awareness of the traffic environment. With the increased number and complexity of new features being introduced in vehicles, it is becoming more important to understand how drivers interact with them, to understand the benefit they offer in helping the driver to focus on-road, but also to identify their limitations and risks. Thereby it is important to consider that the interaction between human and technology, e.g. driver distraction, can be described by many aspects. To learn the most about the interaction between user and technology, it is important to select a suitable measure and to utilise that measure in best practice, which can be hard to find in literature. This research project is divided into two research streams that investigate the opportunities of new in-vehicle interfaces to mitigate driver distraction and that research how to efficiently identify measures for the ergonomic evaluation of in-vehicle interfaces.

Research stream one, comprising four studies, evaluated tactile information as a new interface technology to mitigate distraction in manual and automated cars. Tactile perception requires physical contact between the driver and the device delivering the feedback. It can be decreased by clothing. In the first user trial it was evaluated, for the first time, how shoe type, gender, and age influence the driver's perception of a tactile pedal. Shoe type did not, but gender, age, and the feedback's duration and amplitude did influence the perception. In some durations and amplitudes, the feedback was recognised by all participants and was rated highly intense, both aspects a warning should have. Next, it was evaluated how fast people would react to a tactile warning compared to a traditional auditory warning and an auditory-tactile warning. The participants reacted significantly slower to the tactile warning. Following, a tactile warning might not be suitable as an in-vehicle warning. However, adding an auditory component to the tactile warning increases its efficiency and people missed less auditory-tactile compared to auditory warnings. Newly introduced interfaces, such as tactile interfaces, put an effort on drivers to adjust to them and might lead to unsafe interactions. In the third and fourth study, it was investigated how a driver's trust effects the reaction time and glance behaviour. Trust was not associated with the reaction time towards a tactile warning signal, but it influenced the glances at a voice-navigation interface that was new for the majority of the participants. The findings can be utilised to increase the trust in the interface dialogue and thereby decrease a driver's time glanced off-road.

Research stream two investigated how Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) engineers can be supported in the comparison and selection of measures (e.g. a usability score) to evaluate the ergonomics of in-vehicle devices, for example to measure driver distraction. Industry projects are often restricted by tight deadlines and limited availability of equipment. Measure selection can then become a time critical issue. In published literature, there existed no guidelines to support this task. In four rapid prototyping evaluations, an interface was developed that can aid HMI-engineers in the comparison and selection of measures for an ergonomic evaluation. The tool functions as knowledge management and foresees to inform users about the best practice to utilise a measure, tips to set-up required equipment, and templates for the measure, for example templates for the analysis or electronic versions of questionnaires.


Chemokines are critical in controlling lymphocyte traffic and migration. The CXC chemokine CXCL12/SDF-1α interacts with its receptor CXCR4 to induce the migration of a number of different cell types. Although an understanding of the physiological functions of this chemokine is emerging, the mechanism by which it regulates T cell migration is still unclear. We show here that the Tec family kinase ITK is activated rapidly following CXCL12/SDF-1α stimulation, and this requires Src and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activities. ITK regulates the ability of CXCL12/SDF-1α to induce T cell migration as overexpression of wild-type ITK-enhanced migration, and T cells lacking ITK exhibit reduced migration as well as adhesion in response to CXCL12/SDF-1α. Further analysis suggests that ITK may regulate CXCR4-mediated migration and adhesion by altering the actin cytoskeleton, as ITK null T cells were significantly defective in CXCL12/SDF-1a-mediated actin polymerization. Our data suggest that ITK may regulate the ability of CXCR4 to induce T cell migration.


We study the nature of systemic sovereign credit risk using CDS spreads for the U.S. Treasury, individual U.S. states, and major European countries. Using a multifactor affine framework that allows for both systemic and sovereign-specific credit shocks, we find that there is considerable heterogeneity across U.S. and European issuers in their sensitivity to systemic risk. U.S. and Euro systemic shocks are highly correlated, but there is much less systemic risk among U.S. sovereigns than among European sovereigns. We also find that U.S. and European systemic sovereign risk is strongly related to financial market variables. These results provide strong support for the view that systemic sovereign risk has its roots in financial markets rather than in macroeconomic fundamentals.


Can reforms that shift the balance among different taxes in the revenue mix lastingly influence the overall prosperity of an economy and the distribution of income across households? The present study takes this question to the data, using the experience of 34 OECD countries over 1980-2014 to assess the effects of changes in the tax structure on the long-term level of average output per capita and the distribution of disposable income across households. Changing the revenue mix while keeping government size constant typically lift long-term output per capita when they involve cuts in the labour tax wedge below or above average incomes, cuts in corporate income taxes or increases in property taxes. The relative-income effects of revenue-neutral reductions in labour tax wedges are broadly in line with intuition: the relative position of those benefitting from them typically improves. In absolute terms, however, nearly all the income distribution benefits from revenue-neutral reductions in labour tax wedges, be they focused on below or average income earners.


The article mainly quotes a previously unpublished manuscript of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz's novel about Bona Sforza, entitled The Funeral of the Queen, which he has worked on between the 6th of June 1949 and 1953. The editor presents the origins of the book and its development. Additionally, all documents that Iwaszkiewicz researched and collected while working on the novel are included in the book, including notes, nine versions of the first sentence of the novel, and the letters from Ludwik Kolankowski and Zofia Zarembianka, who provided Iwaszkiewicz with factual information. The conclusion of the article reveals the nature of Iwaszkiewicz's writing, showing that a huge amount of documents he researched – instead of helping him – paralysed him.


To study the fire spread in a metro carriage, fire tests in a scale model (1:3) were performed. A total of 10 tests were carried out to investigate the effect of material, fuel load, openings (doors and windows), and ignition location on the fire development. The fuel loads consisted of PUR seats, wall and floor coverings, and in some tests longitudinal wood cribs simulating luggage. Different parameters including heat release rate, gas temperature, gas concentration, heat flux and smoke density were investigated. The results show that the material and especially the luggage play a significant role in the fire development in the tested metro carriage. This proves to make the difference between minor fire spread and a carriage totally involved in the fire. The number and size of openings are also important for the fire development and maximum heat release rate. The focus of this paper is on the influence of the material and fuel load (luggage) on the fire development and fire spread.


The recent detection of coalescing black holes by theLaser InterferometerGravitationalwave Observatory has brought forth the era of gravitational wave astronomy. Physicists are only now beginning to probe the mergers of compact objects that send ripples through space and time. These distortions carry with them the information from the system where they originated. The dynamics of black hole collisions and neutron star mergers are new and exciting events which were undetectable just a few years ago. Einstein's theory of General Relativity has done an excellent job of describing gravity and the information that can be extracted from gravitational systems. However, his theory contains several anomalies such as the inability to explain the inflation of the universe, the effects of dark matter and energy, the presence of singularities, as well as a failure to reconcile with quantum mechanics. Modified theories of gravity have been proposed to answer any remaining questions about gravitation while prescribing solutions to the problems General Relativity still has. The work within this thesis describes how we may study modified theories of gravity in the strong field regime through two different means. The first, is through the calculation of the rate of gravitational radiation from binary systems. This rate varies depending on the theory of gravity being studied. Comparing the theoretical predictions of these rates from alternative theories to astronomical observation will allow us to place better constraints on modified gravity and test General Relativity like never before. The second way is through the investigation of the spacetime surrounding a neutron star. Unlike black holes which emit no light, we are able to see neutron stars (more specifically pulsars) through their light curve as they rotate. The shape of the light curve is dictated by the theory of gravitation used to describe the spacetime around the neutron star. My goal of constructing such a spacetime for neutron stars in modified gravity allows for future scientists to study the light curves to be detected and place constraints on the particular theory.


OBJECTIVE
We designed a simple rating instrument, the Occupational Therapy Task Observation Scale (OTTOS), to facilitate evaluation and documentation of patient performance during occupational therapy task groups and to improve the communication between occupational therapists and other treatment team members.

METHOD
After analysis of other rating instruments, a preliminary version of OTTOS was designed, extensively field tested, and further modified. Interrater reliability was determined, and validity was tested against three established rating instruments: the Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation, the Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Evaluation Scale, and the Milwaukee Evaluation of Daily Living Skills.

RESULTS
The final version of OTTOS contains two parts, 10 items for evaluation of specific task functions and 5 items for rating general behavior. Field use demonstrated that the scale successfully tracked changes in functional capacity and included most facets of patient function evaluated during task groups. Use of OTTOS required minimal training, and scoring required less than 2 min for each patient. The correlation between the scores of experienced occupational therapists was high (.92 for the total scores). The correlation between OTTOS and the other rating instruments ranged from .880 to .340; the highest correlations, as expected, were with test subscales that most closely resembled OTTOS:

CONCLUSION
Preliminary data indicated that OTTOS offers a reliable and valid method for rapidly rating the function of patients with psychiatric illness attending task groups. In addition, use of OTTOS improved the communication between occupational therapists and other health care providers, facilitated the education of occupational therapy students, and met the documentation requirements of third-party payers.


Abstract Our objective was to analyze the diversity of the microbiota over 180 d of ripening of eight batches of artisanal goatskin Tulum cheeses by culture-dependent and culture-independent (PCR-DGGE) methods. V3 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified with the PCR after direct DNA isolation from the cheese samples. Nine different species and five genera were determined by culturing, while 11 species were identified in the PCR-DGGE technique. This diversity revealed the uniqueness of artisanal cheese varieties. The dominant genera in all the cheese samples were composed of Enterococcus species. The culture-dependent method revealed five genera (Enterococcus, Bacillus, Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, Sphingomonas) while three genera (Enterococcus, Streptococcus, Lactococcus) were detected in the culture-independent method. It was concluded that combining the two methods is important for characterizing the whole microbiota of the Tulum cheese varieties produced in the Anamur region.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Although advances have made in treatment of HCC, the overall survival rate remains low and the molecular pathogenesis of HCC is still poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to explore the molecular pathogenesis of HCC. A total of 89 patients were involved in the study. MicroRNA-93 (miR-93) was aberrantly up-regulated in HCC tissues as determined by qRT-PCR. The high level of miR-93 was closely associated with larger tumor size (p < 0.05) and poor overall survival (p < 0.05). In in vitro and in vivo assays, we demonstrated that high miR-93 levels enhanced cell growth of HCC. The luciferase activity assay showed that PDCD4 was a direct target of miR-93 and its expression was down-regulated by miR-93. Re-expression of PDCD4 inversely correlated with the level of miR-93 and attenuated the miR-93-induced promotion of cell growth in HCC. Taken together, our data indicate that miR-93 may function as an oncogenic factor in HCC, and promotes HCC cell proliferation by targeting PDCD4.


Among diseases of the 21st century, intestinal tumours are frequently mentioned. Colon cancer is a serious and growing health problem not only in Poland, but also in the world. As the most common result of fighting for one's own health and often even life is the consent to the intestinal stoma. Intestinal stoma is made by exteriorisation of the preserved intestinal end by abdominal incision outside the abdominal cavity, the incision of the mucous membrane and suturing it to the skin. The three main groups of indications for exteriorisation of stoma are: (a) inflammatory disease of intestines, (b) colitis, rectal and colonic trauma, (c) colorectal cancer. Properly exteriorised stoma on the large intestine should be located on the smooth surface of the skin away from the navel, hip bone, skin folds, scars and also at least 4 cm away from the main surgical cut. Patients should see the fistula well because it is the basis of proper self-care. Dermatological complications are the most common complication of stoma and occur in nearly 80% of patients. It comes to them as a result of irritation of the skin by the intestinal contents that come out of it and causes inflammation. This is usually the result of incorrect stoma care or improper use of stoma equipment. Despite medical advances towards minimizing invasive procedures and limiting the severity of the disease, the problem of the great stress experienced by every person undergoing surgical treatment is still valid and relevant to the outcome of the whole therapy. Choosing intestinal stoma is one of the most stressful treatments, so in this case, not only medical care but also psychological over the patient seems to be a priority.


Crop succession system implementation, which allows the introduction of plant species that are antagonists or non-hosts for soybean pathogens during the intercrop period, is a sustainable alternative in crop systems. Thus, careful selection of succession plants is recommended to ensure that they do not allow the proliferation of nematodes, especially the soybean parasites Pratylenchus brachyurus and Meloidogyne javanica. The aim of this study was to assess P. brachyurus and M. javanica population reduction potential by growing species in succession with soybean, comparing them to crambe. Soybean seeds cv. 5909RR Nidera were sown in 18-L pots, and after fifteen days inoculations were performed in separate experiments, with 1000 specimens of P. brachyurus and Tavares-Silva, C.A.; Dias-Arieira, C.R.; Puerari, H.H.; Silva E.J.; Izidoro Junior, A. Crambe – soybean succession on the management of Pratylenchus brachyurus and Meloidogyne javanica. Summa Phytopathologica, v.43, n.4, p.316-320, 2017. 3000 eggs and possible second-stage juveniles (J2) of M. javanica. At 60 days after inoculation, the shoot of soybean plants was discarded, and the succession crops (maize cv. IPR114, bean cv. IPR Tangará, oilseed radish, black oat cv. IAPAR 61 and crambe cv. MS Brilhante) were sown. Plants were cultivated for 90 days, when the shoot was removed, and soybean cultivar was sown again and cultivated for additional 60 days. At the end of this period, plants were removed from the pots for determination of vegetative and nematological parameters for soybean. Crambe introduction in the crop succession system effectively reduced P. brachyurus population. M. javanica reproduction was lower for crambe compared to the remaining systems, but its reproductive factor was high.


The number of immunocytochemically identified vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OXT) neurons was determined morphometrically in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus of 20 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients and 10 controls. The AIDS group consisted of 14 homosexual males (age range 25-62 years), four of whom had a probable HIV-1 associated dementia complex, and six non-demented heterosexuals (four males and two females, age range 21-73 years). Ten males without a primary neurological or psychiatric disease served as a control group. The number of OXT-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of both groups of AIDS patients was approximately 40% lower than that of the controls. In contrast, the three groups showed no significant differences in the number of AVP-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus. Since there were no significant differences in the number of AVP and OXT cells between the homosexual and heterosexual subjects with AIDS, the morphological difference in the paraventricular nucleus seems to be related to AIDS and not to sexual orientation. No inflammatory changes were found in the paraventricular nucleus area. The selective changes in the OXT neurons of the paraventricular nucleus may be the basis for part of the neuroendocrine, autonomic dysfunction or vegetative symptoms in AIDS.


Background: Health care workers are generally predisposed to injuries from sharps as a health hazard. This is more pronounced among waste handlers. Objective: It is therefore important to assess these injuries among this group of people with a view to identifying the risk factors and suggesting preventive methods. Methods: Questionnaires were administered to People handling wastes in our hospital to assess their level of education on injury prevention, immunization status and preventive methods used by them to prevent these injuries and subsequent infections. Results : Forty three waste handlers were interviewed. Twenty eight (65.8%) of them received training before commencing on the job while 14 (32.5%) never received any training. Only thirty nine (90.7%) of them always use hand gloves before carrying wastes. Only three (7.0%) of the respondents have been screened for Hepatitis B, 19 (44.2%) for HIV, while 10 (23.3%) were screened for Hepatitis B, C, and HIV. Eleven (25.6%) of them have been injured with sharps. The finger was the most injured in 7 (93%) of them. Conclusion : Training and re-training of health workers is important and should be encouraged. All health workers should have pre-employment immunization against Hepatitis B, C as well as other before commencing on their jobs. Workers should be screened for infective diseases that can be of legal problem while at the job and the workers should be effectively immunized. Key words : sharp injuries, waste, handlers, hospital.


Summoning everyday Catholic laywomen to the forefront of twentieth-century Catholic history, Mary J. Henold considers how these committed parishioners experienced their religion in the wake of Vatican II (1962–1965). This era saw major changes within the heavily patriarchal religious faith—at the same time as an American feminist revolution caught fire. Who was the Catholic woman for a new era? Henold uncovers a vast archive of writing, both intimate and public facing, by hundreds of rank-and-file American laywomen active in national laywomen's groups, including the National Council of Catholic Women, the Catholic Daughters of America, and the Daughters of Isabella. These records evoke a formative period when laywomen played publicly with a surprising variety of ideas about their own position in the Catholic Church.
While marginalized near the bottom of the church hierarchy, laywomen quietly but purposefully engaged both their religious and gender roles as changing circumstances called them into question. Some eventually chose feminism while others rejected it, but most, Henold says, crafted a middle position: even conservative, nonfeminist laywomen came to reject the idea that the church could adapt to the modern world while keeping women's status frozen in amber.


in about 15 minutes using 3D reconstructed volumes, but the evaluation time of volume data sets may be decreased significantly if the acquisition of volumes is standardized to minimize artefacts and produce uniform images. Evaluation of thoracic bones has been possible in all cases. The scapulae and clavicles can be easily visualized by multiplanar mode, but the relationships between the thoracic bones, especially with ribs, are better observed by rendering mode. Two fetuses affected by trisomy 21 have eleven ribs; one fetus with tetralogy of Fallot has also a spondylocostal dysostosis with hemivertebrae and four fused ribs; one fetus referred for ventriculomegaly had two thoracic hemivertebrae. In all cases ultrasound scans were confirmed after birth by radiological examinations. Conclusions: Three-dimensional ultrasound provides additional diagnostic information for the evaluation of fetal thoracic skeleton and it should be of value in the diagnosis of skeletal anomalies. Until now its use must be reserved in a research setting and offered to high-risk patients in order to understand which role 3D may play in the study of skeletal thoracic malformations as a screening or diagnostic tool.


PAINT EXPRESSIONS: EFFECTS OF AN ART PROGRAM ON COGNITION, QUALITY OF LIFE, COMMUNICATION, AND BEHAVIOR FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DEMENTIA Tertia Jeppson, M.A. School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders Northern Illinois University, 2017 Jamie F. Mayer, Ph.D., Thesis Director Dementia is a disease that has impacted 35 million people around the world. With that number expected to double in 20 years, researchers have been investigating multiple options to reverse or slow the cognitive decline and/or promote positive health outcomes. Although pharmacological interventions have been shown to slow the deterioration rate in dementia, such medications do not cure the underlying disease, nor has their effectiveness and safety been empirically established. Therefore, many researchers have turned their focus towards nonpharmacological interventions, such as cognitive stimulation, designed to maximize and/or maintain functional cognitive abilities for individuals with dementia. One example of cognitive stimulation is the utilization of creative arts. Although participation in arts-based activities has been shown to benefit individuals with dementia, few widely used, quantitative outcome measures exist for this purpose. Therefore, in this study we implemented a communication-based arts program for three individuals with dementia, and examined subsequent, quantitative indicators of cognition, quality of life, communication, and behavior in a single-subject across multiple subjects ABA design. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS


An alpha-glucosidase activity (SAG) occurs in a/alpha Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells beginning at about 8 to 10 h after the initiation of sporulation. This enzyme is responsible for the rapid degradation of intracellular glycogen which follows the completion of meiosis in these cells. SAG differs from similar activities present in vegetative cells and appears to be a sporulation-specific enzyme. Cells arrested at various stages in sporulation (DNA replication, recombination, meiosis I, and meiosis II) were examined for SAG activity; the results show that SAG appearance depends on DNA synthesis and some recombination events but not on the meiotic divisions.


Gas phase trace chemical detection techniques such as ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) can be used in many settings, such as evaluating the health condition of patients or detecting explosives at airports. These devices separate chemical compounds in a mixture and provide information to identify specific chemical species of interest. Further, these types of devices operate well in both controlled lab environments and in field applications. Frequently, the commercial versions of these devices are highly tailored for niche applications (e.g. explosives detection) because of the difficulty involved in reconfiguring instrumentation hardware and data analysis software algorithms. In order for researchers to quickly adapt these tools for new purposes and broader panels of chemical targets, it is critical to develop new algorithms and methods for generating libraries of these sensor responses. Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology has been used to fabricate DMS devices that miniaturize the platforms for easier deployment; however, concurrent advances in advanced data analytics are lagging. DMS generates complex three-dimensional dispersion plots for both positive and negative ions in a mixture. While simple spectra of single chemicals are straightforward to interpret (both visually and via algorithms), it is exceedingly challenging to interpret dispersion plots from complex mixtures with many chemical constituents. This study uses image processing and computer vision steps to automatically identify features from DMS dispersion plots. We used the bag-of-visual-words approach adapted from natural language processing and information retrieval to cluster and organize these features. Finally, a support vector machine (SVM) learning algorithm was trained using these features in order to detect and classify specific compounds in these represented conceptualized data outputs. Using this approach, we successfully maintain a high level of correct chemical identification, even when a gas mixture increases in complexity with interfering chemicals present.


: We report 2 cases of occlusion of the internal carotid artery in young, non-atherosclerotic patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET). This complication of ET seems to be rare, but is probably underdiagnosed since transient ischemia, which is frequent in ET patients, is seldom explored by angiography. The excess of thrombocytes and the thrombopathy may account for the microvascular complications, but in the absence of any other contributory factor, occlusions of large arteries, such as the ICA, is more difficult to explain.


"The destiny of a people is intricately bound to the way its children are educated" (RCAP 1996, v. 3: 404). Firm in this belief, the current study undertakes an examination of language and education policy in Canada, seeking to understand how these two factors together impact the formation of identity, not only for individual students in a classroom, but more broadly for the linguistic and cultural communities of which they are a part, as these struggle to establish a place for themselves within the country's social sphere. Despite the rhetoric of multicultural equality which predominates in Canadian public discourse, the examination of a corpus of historical legislation, carried out within the framework of narrative theory and critical discourse analysis, plainly demonstrates a clear hierarchy of languages and cultures in Canada – established and enforced in law, rooted and reflected in social institutions, reinforced and replicated through formal systems of schooling. As a result, even as speakers of minority languages are taught as students that to achieve success in schooling, they must translate their speech, thinking, and ways of knowing into the language and manners of the majority, so as members of their communities do they learn that, in order to gain a place of full participation in society, they must also translate their ways of acting, of relating to others, and of being in the world. In short, they must translate themselves. Recognizing that students are in this manner transformed in the very movement between classroom and community; and that as these transformed students return to their communities, these are likewise impacted in terms of their sense of belonging in society; we seek to discern what new insights might be gained from the consideration of education in light of a translational paradigm, ultimately identifying three productive methods of entry into such critical reflection: through the variety of significant questions that are raised, through the consideration of specific theoretical concepts reassessed and applied anew, and finally through the reframing and retelling of narratives in translation. ! !


The eighteenth century is considered as the golden age of epistolary art. If we analyse the historical and social value of letters, we notice that epistolary exchange soon becomes one of the principal ways of communication and of providing information. One of the most important qualities of the epistolary novel is its ability to effectively convey emotion. The epistolary novel removes the temporal distance between personal history and its written form. The most famous writers of the time (such as Montesquieu) and libertine writers (Laclos and Sade in particular) employed the epistolary novel in different ways. So eighteenth-century literature is characterised by the successful epistolary novel. Since the Modern Age letter has held great historical and social importance due to the power of letter to act as a vehicle for information. This emerges as one of the main reasons for the rise in popularity of the epistolary novel. Keyword: novel, letter, modern Age, Eighteenth-century, France.


In this paper we present ActSee, an activity-aware radio duty-cycling protocol that utilizes the learned activity pattern information to intelligently adjust radio duty-cycles. The goal is to minimize data delivery latency and maximize throughput, while still conserving energy in the network. Based on the collected intelligence about activity transition patterns in form of Activity Transition Probability Graph (ATPG), ActSee solves a linear programming problem to select the duty cycles for a set of nodes. The non-uniform and dynamic duty cycle assignments are distributed by the active node(s) in a defined neighborhood. As a case study we have evaluated ActSee using the activity pattern information from real Smart Home testbed CASAS [1]. The activity events are generated based on that pattern, in the form of ATPG. Experimental results from both real sensor network testbed and sensor network simulator TOSSIM validate that our proposed activity-aware radio duty cycling protocol ActSee outperforms the existing designs (traditional MAC protocols, uniform duty cycling, reactive duty cycling) in terms of: data delivery latency, throughput and network lifetime.


Background Intergenerational exercise possesses the potential to becoming an innovative strategy for promoting physical activity in seniors and children. Although this approach has gained attraction within the last decade, controlled trials on physical and psychosocial effects have not been performed yet. Methods Sixty-eight healthy preschool children (age: 4.9 y (SD 0.7)) and 47 residential seniors (age: 81.7 y (7.1)) participated in this five-armed intervention study. All participants were assigned to either an intergenerational (IG), peer (PG) or a control group (CON). Children were tested on gross motor skills (TGMD-2), jump performance and handgrip strength. Social-emotional skills questionnaires (KOMPIK) were assessed by kindergarten teachers. Seniors performed the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), including gait speed. Arterial stiffness parameters were also examined. Questionnaires assessing psychosocial wellbeing were filled in with staff. IG and PG received one comparable exercise session a week lasting 45 minutes for 25-weeks. CON received no intervention. Measurements were performed before and after the intervention. Results In children: IG improved all measured physical parameters. When adjusted for baseline values, large effects were observed in favor of IG compared to CON in TGMD-2 (Cohen's d=0.78 [0.33;1.24]) and in handgrip strength (d = 1.07 [0.63;1.51]). No relevant differences were found in KOMPIK between groups (−0.38<d≤0.14). In seniors: IG showed moderate to very large improvements in all main physical performance (0.61<d≤2.53) and psychosocial parameters (0.89<d≤1.20) compared to CON. Conclusion IG children showed large benefits in motor skills compared to CON while IG seniors benefit especially in psychosocial wellbeing and functional mobility necessary for everyday life. Intergenerational exercise is comparable and in certain dimensions superior to peer group exercise and a promising strategy to integratively improve mental health as well as physical fitness in preschool children and residential seniors.


Objectives: To study the changes in serum electrolytes with special emphasis on serum sodium status in children admitted with acute febrile encephalopathy. Material and Methods: A hospital based observational prospective study involving 120 children between1 to 12 years of age group who were admitted with fever and altered sensorium with or without convulsion, headache or vomiting, and whose total duration of illness was less than 2 weeks; was conducted in the department of Pediatrics of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, over a period of one year. Results: The mean age of the children included in the study was 72.4 months. 20% children were in the age group of 1 to 3 years, 34.16% in the age group of 3 to 6 years and rest (45.84%) were in the age group of 6 to 12 years. 58.33% were male, 41.66% were female. Hyponatremia and low bicarbonate were the predominantly noticeable electrolyte changes on admission. Mean serum sodium on admission was 133.39 ± 5.63 mEq/L and after 48 hours was 139.60 ± 3.24 mEq/L. Mean bicarbonate on admission and after 48 hours were 21.59 ± 1.72 and 23.94 ± 1.81 mEq/L, respectively. Both these differences were statistically significant (p=0.000 in both cases). However serum level of potassium, calcium and chloride were not significantly changed. Conclusion: An idea of serum electrolyte changes in children with acute febrile encephalopathy can help us to initiate appropriate fluid therapy early in the course of management and thus can prevent or reduce mortality and morbidity.


This paper presents a fault-tolerant control approach for four-wheel independently driven (4WID) electric vehicles. An adaptive control-based passive fault-tolerant controller is designed to ensure vehicle system stability and to track the desired vehicle motion when an in-wheel motor/motor driver fault happens. Due to the system actuation redundancy, it is challenging to isolate the faulty wheel and to accurately estimate the control gain of the faulty in-wheel motor/motor driver for 4WID electric vehicles. An active fault diagnosis (FD) approach is thus proposed to explicitly isolate and evaluate the fault. Based on the estimated control gain of the faulty wheel, the control efforts of all the wheels are redistributed to relieve the torque demand on the faulty wheel. Simulations using a high-fidelity CarSim full-vehicle model show the effectiveness of the proposed in-wheel motor/motor driver active fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control approaches in various driving scenarios.


In the year 1991 the Technical Advisory Commission (TAW-A4) ordered a full scale investigation on wave impacts on an asphaltic concrete revetment. The goal of the experiment was to gain insight into the mechanisms which would lead to failure, cracking of the revetment. Also the behaviour of the revetment after failure (residual strength) was studied. To gain insight in the behaviour of the revetment, strain measuring devices and pressure transducers were placed into the revetment. The measured strains were compared with calculated strains by several researchers. One of the researchers concluded there was almost no resemblance between the measured and calculated strain and recommended to perform a sensitivity analysis on the calculations. This conclusion and recommendation is what resulted into the subject of the thesis. Due to extensive testing of materials in the last fifteen years a better understanding of material behaviour is achieved. This concerns in particular the modulus of elasticity of asphaltic concrete and the modulus of subgrade reaction. This knowledge is used in the thesis to get new results, by recalculation, from the same model. To perform a sensitivity analysis a stochastic simulation is used. A choice is made for using the Monte Carlo method for simulation of the strains and the results of the simulations are compared with the measured strains. The conclusions are divided into conclusions regarding the recalculation and conclusions regarding the Monte Carlo simulation. In the recalculation a better agreement between the measured and calculated strain is obtained. The model describes the calculated dynamic strain in a good way. This is also concluded by Ruygrok, one of the researchers who also investigated this Delta flume experiment. The simulated strains calculated with the Monte Carlo method are not in agreement with the measured strains. The difference between the calculation and the measurements are assigned to the differences between the quasi-static and the dynamic strain. Another reason for the differences is that the information of the wave impacts stored in the impact factor distribution cannot be divided into time and space, which leads to a too rough approach in the simulation.It is recommended to investigate the relation between the quasi-static or dynamic strain with the total strain. If the quasi-static strain adds extra damage to the revetment this part should be taken into account when a safety assessment is performed.


Burn wound healing process consists of three phases of inflammation, proliferation and remodelling. The number of fibroblasts has increased during the proliferation phase. Oxidative stress in burn may disrupt proliferation through TGF-β inhibition, result in decreased number of fibroblasts and poor burn wound healing. Genistein in edamame seeds has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Edamame contains vitamins A, C, and E which is also have antioxidant properties. Edamame has been suggested to protect burn wound healing from oxidative stress. This study aimed to understand the effectiveness of edamame seed (Glycine max L. Merril) ethanolic extract (ED) to fibroblast count in second degree burn wound healing. This is true experimental research with post test only control group design. The sample of this research was 24 rat models of second degree burn which was made by attaching hot metal (60 ° C) for 5 seconds on the shaved back of the rats. The sample was divided into 6 groups with topical treatment, among others: positive control group (silver sulfadiazine), negative control group (Na CMC 0.5%), group with ED 20%, ED 40%, ED 60%, and ED 80%. Treatment was given for 15 days and skin sample was taken on the 16th day. Observation of the number of fibroblasts was done by taking pictures of histhologic preparations in Hematoxylin and Eosin staining under 400x magnification of light microscope. In one way ANOVA test, significance value of 0.011 (p≤0,05) indicated that there was at least a significant difference between 2 groups. LSD's post hoc analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the group ED 20, 40, and 60% compared with negative control.
Keyword: burn wound healing, vegetable soybean, genistein, fibroblast count, silver sulfadiazine


The standard approach to privacy generally and to privacy in biomedical ethics in particular is the rights-based approach. In this approach privacy is thought of as a right, which entails a duty on others' part to respect a person's privacy. However, the rights-based approach presupposes a certain social arrangement in which conflicts and discords are fore-grounded, and co-operation and social solidarity have no role to play. Such presupposition undermines the noble aims of biomedical research and leads to legal privacy provisions that are cumbersome and counterproductive. By contrast, the role-based approach puts privacy in the context of fulfilling social roles and trust in others to fulfill their social roles. While this approach may not lead to the right amount of protection of privacy generally, it is arguably a better approach for privacy in the biomedical context.


In this paper, we study the problem of learning image classification models in the presence of label noise. We revisit a simple compression regularization named Nested Dropout [22]. We find that Nested Dropout [22], though originally proposed to perform fast information retrieval and adaptive data compression, can properly regularize a neural network to combat label noise. Moreover, owing to its simplicity, it can be easily combined with Co-teaching [5] to further boost the performance.Our final model remains simple yet effective: it achieves comparable or even better performance than the state-of-the-art approaches on two real-world datasets with label noise which are Clothing1M [28] and ANIMAL-10N [24]. On Clothing1M [28], our approach obtains 74.9% accuracy which is slightly better than that of DivideMix [12]. On ANIMAL-10N [24], we achieve 84.1% accuracy while the best public result by PLC [30] is 83.4%. We hope that our simple approach can be served as a strong baseline for learning with label noise. Our implementation is available at https://github.com/yingyichen-cyy/Nested-Co-teaching.


The ferrite phase strengthened by the highly dense nanometer-sized carbides is named super ferrite. The effects of Ti, Ti-Mo, and Ti-Nb micro-alloy additions on the precipitation strengthening in three experimental high-strength low-alloy steels have been investigated by using transmission electron microscopy and micro-hardness measurement. The objective of this work was to study the carbide precipitation under the conditions of isothermal transformation. It was found that interphase precipitation of nano-sized carbide in Steel Ti-Mo had very strong contribution to the hardness of the steel. The distribution of interphase precipitated carbides is associated with both the sheet spacing and the inter-particle spacing, which have been studied. The result implies that (Ti, Mo)C particles possess an excellent effect on precipitation hardening.


An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of protein levelin diet on feed eficiency and growth rate of Snakehead (Channa striata). Fivediet with different level of protein, diet P25(25% protein); P30 (30% protein); P35(35% protein); P40 (40% protein); and P45 (45% protein) were applied in thisexperiment. Ten fishes with initial body weight range 0.7 – 1.0 gram were rearedin each aquarium (water volume 10 L). Fishes were fed three time a day, atsatiation. Fish reared for 30 days.The result showed that growth rate and feedefficiency of fish fed diet 25% protein level (P25) were0.28 g and 2.46%, diet30% protein (P30) were 0.71 g and 9.86%, diet 35% (P35%) were 0.84 g and14.18%, diet 40% protein were 1.17 g and 16.97%, or diet 45% protein (P45)were 1.00 g and 9.58%. Based on BNT test showed that diet 40% protein levelwas higher growth rate and feed efficiency of fish than others diet. While survivalrate of fish fed diet 25% protein level was 50%, diet 30% protein was 46.67%,diet 35% protein was 76.67%, diet 40% protein was 63.33%, or diet 45% proteinwas 100%. Based on analysis of varians, had no significant different on survivalrate.Water quality of rearing media were temperature range was 26 – 29oC, pHwas 6.7 – 7.2, dissolved oxygen was 1.46 – 4.16 mg.L-1, and ammonia was 0.014- 0.182 mg.L-1. Keywords : Protein level in diet, feed efficiency, growth rate, Channa striata


The work reported the design and cytotoxic screening of synthetic small molecules: carbonitriles 3a-c, carboximidamides 4a-c, and oxadiazoles 5-19 as antitumor molecules. Molecules 4c, 9, 12, and 14 show promising cytotoxicity profiles against two cell lines higher than prodigiosin (PG). The results of topoisomerase enzyme inhibition assay show that carboximidamide 4c and oxadiazole 14 display potent inhibitory activity in nano-molar concentration higher than PG. In addition, carboximidamide 4c and oxadiazoles 9, 12, and 14 exhibit antiproliferative activities over MCF-7 cells by cell cycle arrest at G1 phase and apoptosis inducing activity by increasing cell population percentages at pre G1 and G2/M phases as shown by DNA-flow cytometry assay and annexin V analysis. Moreover, measurement of p53 and cell death mediators, show that carboximidamide 4c and oxadiazoles 9, 12, and 14 significantly up-regulate p53, Puma and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio levels. Subsequently, pro-apoptotic activities are confirmed by active caspase 3/7 percentages green fluorescence assay.


ABSTRACT Quaternary palaeoclimatic studies in India, with reference to palynology, commenced in the early part of the twentieth century. Sporadic studies continued until the 1940s. A watershed in palynological research in the country occurred in the late 1940s, primarily with the inception of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany (recently renamed the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences). Since then, other academic centres and universities have also steadily contributed in augmenting palynological research in India. Preliminary studies, though seemingly rudimentary, nonetheless helped in the expansion of the palynological database for the country. The pioneering workers, in spite of limited resources, did a creditable job in undertaking palynological studies across a vast territory. Earlier, studies were limited to local data generation; recent research has featured stronger global contextualisation. This includes the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Younger Dryas (YD), Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO), Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA). The recent progress of palynology in India, with reference to Quaternary palaeoclimatic studies, is discussed and reviewed in this article.


A Coverage Metric to Aid in Testing Multi-Agent Systems Jane Ostergar Linn Department of Computer Science, BYU Master of Science Models are frequently used to represent complex systems in order to test the systems before they are deployed. Some of the most complicated models are those that represent multi-agent systems (MAS), where there are multiple decision makers. Brahms is an agentoriented language that models MAS. Three major qualities affect the behavior of these MAS models: workframes that change the state of the system, communication activities that coordinate information between agents, and the schedule of workframes. The primary method to test these models that exists is repeated simulation. Simulation is useful insofar as interesting test cases are used that enable the simulation to explore different behaviors of the model, but simulation alone cannot be fully relied upon to adequately cover the test space, especially in the case of non-deterministic concurrent systems. It takes an exponential number of simulation trials to uncover schedules that reveal unexpected behaviors. This thesis defines a coverage metric to make simulation more meaningful before verification of the model. The coverage metric is divided into three different metrics: workframe coverage, communication coverage, and schedule coverage. Each coverage metric is defined through static analysis of the system, resulting in the coverage requirements of that system. These coverage requirements are compared to the logged output of the simulation run to calculate the coverage of the system. The use of the coverage metric is illustrated in several empirical studies and explored in a detailed case study of the SATS concept (Small Aircraft Transportation System). SATS outlines the procedures aircraft follow around runways that do not have communication towers. The coverage metric quantifies the test effort, and can be used as a basis for future automated test generation and active test.


The intent of this workshop is to bring together researchers who are working on or interested in real-world planning and scheduling systems, along with those who can bring expertise from outside of the planning and scheduling community relevant to the successful development and deployment of real-world systems. The workshop is designed to be a forum for topics beyond the theoretical or even practical modeling of planning and scheduling problems and the development of algorithms to solve them, important as these ongoing efforts are. The goals of this workshop are to stimulate broader thinking within the planning and scheduling community about the factors that play significant roles in applications, and to foster an exchange of ideas, approaches, and experiences that will improve the community's ability to transition its research to important problem domains.


Egypt is nowadays facing a lot of challenges, such as limited water and energy resources. In the near future and after building El-NAHDA Dam in Ethiopia, Egypt will suffer from a severe aqueous shortage. Another fatal problem is the unavailability of getting enough energy supplies. Here, the problem of energy is a natural consequence of unsustainable development of energy patterns followed during the last decades. There are many new water resources that have not been well exploited in agriculture. One of these resources is the ablution water in the Egyptian mosques. This new resource can be managed by solar (photovoltaic) energy, as Egypt has good weather with high rates of solar radiation which can reach up to 3000 hours/year. This study cared out to investigate the impact and feasibility of reusing the ablution water as a new source for irrigation and pumping it by photovoltaic (PV) on sustainable crop production. Systems designs of green roof [traditional design (green roof using fresh water in irrigation and using electric energy for pumping it) and sustainable design (green roof by reusing ablution water as a new water resource for irrigation and using PV energy for pumping it] in main plots and number of green layers [one green layer, two green layers and three green layers] in sub- main plots. Statistical analysis indicated that, maximum yield of vegetables crops and maximum net income for seasons 2015 and 2016 are occurred under sustainable design with three green layers.


Sulfur compounds produced at intermediate stages during transformation of sulfate to sulfide were analyzed in experiments with a culture of sulfate reducing bacteria. Small quantities of thiosulfate can accumulate in the medium at the beginning of growth of the sulfate reducing bacterium. The data are discussed and compared with the results of Chambers and Trudinger (1975) who could not detect thiosulfate in similar experiments.


In this work gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), were prepared. Chemical method (Seed-Growth) was used to prepare it, then doping AuNPs with porous silicon (PS), used silicon wafer p-type to produce (PS) the processes doping achieved by electrochemical etching, the solution etching consist of HF, ethanol and AuNPs suspension, the result UV-visible absorption for AuNPs suspension showed the single peak located at ~(530 – 521) nm that related to SPR, the single peak is confirmed that the NPs present in the suspension is spherical shape and non-aggregated. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated growth AuNPs with PS. compare the PS layer without AuNPs and with AuNPs doped for electrical properties and sensitivity properties we found AuNPs:PS is more better than PS layer alone that refer to the AuNPs is improve properties PS.


Abstract Poa, with about 575 species, is the largest genus of grasses, and has diversified throughout temperate, boreal, and arctic regions, and similar habitats through the tropics. This new phylogenetic study of Poa based on analysis of restriction site data from PCR amplified regions of chloroplast DNA (trnT-trnF, trnF-trnV, trnV-rbcL, rbcL-ORF106, trnH-trnK) expands previous sampling in the genus to where 1/5 to 1/6 of the species have been characterized for chloroplast DNA types. A broad phylogenetic structure detected in a previous study using restriction site mapping of Poa chloroplast DNA gained additional and robust support. Accounting for extended intra- and extrageneric sampling, Poa remains monophyletic if Austrofestuca and Parodiochloa are included as sections within P. subg. Poa, and if Poa subg. Andinae is removed from the genus. Two new combinations are made: Poa sect. Austrofestuca and Poa sect. Parodiochloa. This new analysis supports the recognition of five major clades within Poa: 1) ArcSyl, Poa subg. Arctopoa sects. Arctopoa and Aphydris, and P. subg. Poa sect. Sylvestres; 2) BAPO, P. subg. Poa sects. (Bolbophorum + Alpinae) (Parodiochloa + Ochlopoa); 3) SPOSTA, P. subg. Poa sects. (Secundae (Pandemos (Orienos + Stenopoa + Tichopoa + Abbreviatae))); 4) PoM, P. subg. Poa sects. (Poa + Macropoa); 5) HAMBADD, P. subg. Poa sects. (Homalopoa, Acutifolae, Brizoides, Madropoa, Austrofestuca, Dasypoa, Dioicopoa, and informal groups "Punapoa" and "Australopoa"). These clades diverge in the following arrangement from the outgroups: ArcSyl (BAPO (SPOSTA ((PoM) (HAMBADD))).


Two experiments were designed to assess the potential utility of the propionate challenge test (PCT) as an index of gluconeogenic capacity. In Expt. 1, the dose-response to jugular propionate infusion was assessed in a duplicated 4 x 4 Latin square experiment with 8 lactating dairy cows. Sodium propionate (4.5 mol/L, pH 7.4) was infused in an intrajugular bolus at 0 (saline), 0.52, 1.04, or 1.56 mmol/kg body weight (BW), and jugular blood was sampled over the following 2 h. Peak propionate concentration in plasma and area under the curve for plasma glucose both increased linearly with increasing propionate dose (P < 0.01). Plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentration was elevated by all propionate treatments at 20 min postinfusion (P = 0.03), and plasma cortisol concentration tended to increase (P < 0.10) after propionate infusions. Experiment 2 was designed to study the effect of short-term differences in fed state on responses to propionate infusion. Lactating dairy cows (n = 8) were included in a duplicated 4 x 4 Latin square design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Sodium propionate (1.04 mmol/kg BW) or saline was infused either before feeding (0900) or 2 h after feeding (1300). Fed cows consumed 4.4 +/- 1.4 kg dry matter before the PCT. Although fed cows had a significantly higher preinfusion plasma propionate concentration, fed state did not influence postinfusion changes in plasma propionate, glucose, insulin, glucagon, or FFA concentrations. Liver glycogen concentration decreased significantly after propionate, but not saline infusion (P < 0.05). Short-term differences in fed state do not affect the physiological responses to PCT. However, glucagon release after jugular administration of propionate is likely supraphysiologic, and postinfusion lipolysis and glycogenolysis suggest that stress responses may alter PCT measurements. Although the PCT may help to diagnose liver dysfunction, it is not a useful index with which to assess differences in gluconeogenic capacity.


Publication costs assisted by the Naval Weapons Center There are two formalisms for mathematically describing the time behavior of a spatially homogeneous chemical system: The deterministic approach regards the time evolution as a continuous, wholly predictable process which is governed by a set of coupled, ordinary differential equations (the " reaction-rate equations "); the stochastic approach regards the time evolution as a kind of random-walk process which is governed by a single differential difference equation (the " master equation "). Fairly simple kinetic theory arguments show that the stochastic formulation of chemical kinetics has a firmer physical basis than the deterministic formulation, but unfortunately the stochastic master equation is often mathematically intractable. There is, however, a way to make exact numerical calculations within the framework of the stochastic formulation without having to deal with the master equation directly. It is a relatively simple digital computer algorithm which uses a rigorously derived Monte Carlo procedure to numerically simulate the time evolution of the given chemical system. Like the master equation, this " stochastic simulation algorithm " correctly accounts for the inherent fluctuations and correlations that are necessarily ignored in the deterministic formulation. In addition, unlike most procedures for numerically solving the deterministic reaction-rate equations, this algorithm never approximates infinitesimal time increments dt by finite time steps At. The feasibility and utility of the simulation algorithm are demonstrated by applying it to several well-known model chemical systems, including the Lotka model, the Brusselator, and the Oregonator.


Investigating and predicting the magnetization of bulk superconducting materials and developing practical magnetizing techniques is crucial to using them as trapped field magnets in engineering applications. The pulsed field magnetization (PFM) technique is considered to be a compact, mobile and relative inexpensive way to magnetize bulk samples, requiring shorter magnetization times (on the order of milliseconds) and a smaller and less complicated magnetization fixture; however, the trapped field produced by PFM is generally much smaller than that of slower zero field cooling or field cooling techniques, particularly at lower operating temperatures. In this paper, the PFM of two, standard Ag-containing Gd–Ba–Cu–O samples is carried out using two types of magnetizing coils: (1) a solenoid coil, and (2) a split coil, both of which make use of an iron yoke to enhance the trapped magnetic field. It is shown that a significantly higher trapped field can be achieved using a split coil with an iron yoke, and in order to explain these how this arrangement works in detail, numerical simulations using a 2D axisymmetric finite element method based on the H-formulation are carried to qualitatively reproduce and analyze the magnetization process from both electromagnetic and thermal points of view. It is observed that after the pulse peak significantly less flux exits the bulk when the iron core is present, resulting in a higher peak trapped field, as well as more overall trapped flux, after the magnetization process is complete. The results have important implications for practical applications of bulk superconductors as such a split coil arrangement with an iron yoke could be incorporated into the design of a portable, high magnetic field source/magnet to enhance the available magnetic field or in an axial gap-type bulk superconducting electric machine, where iron can be incorporated into the stator windings to (1) improve the trapped field from the magnetization process, and (2) increase the effective air-gap magnetic field.


Purpose

Recent research places an increased emphasis on the inclusion of the customer in value creation, learning and innovation processes; yet, there remains a gap in the understanding of just how such customer involvement may work. This paper aims to address this gap by examining two aspects of customer involvement – their knowledgeability and their agency. In addition, three boundaries (semantic, syntactic and pragmatic) across which relationship development occurs and which may facilitate and/or inhibit value co-creation, collaborative learning and innovation processes have been explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Three case studies have been used. Two were large-scale construction projects in the UK, and one was a global professional accounting firm in the USA.

Findings

Customers may become frustrated if not allowed to exercise their agency. However, their involvement can create tensions for suppliers who may have to become more tolerant of divergent goals. In respect of knowledgeability, it was found that constraint satisfaction is important in allowing customers to reconcile their personal knowledge schema with the collective schema. However, it was also noted that customer knowledgeability brings with it challenges for suppliers, who must find ways to add value for such customers.

Research limitations/implications

A number of further questions relating to the agency and knowledgeability of customers and their inclusion in value co-creation, collaborative learning and innovation processes have been posed. The need for guidance in identifying and minimising the barriers to crossing semantic, syntactic and pragmatic boundaries between customers and suppliers has also been highlighted.

Originality/value

This study makes an important contribution to research in the field, in that how the inclusion of the customer in business networks alters current assumptions and practices is investigated.


Activation of an innate immune response is among the first lines of defense after tissue injury. Restoring blood flow to the site of injured tissue is often a necessary prerequisite for mounting an initial immune response to pathogens and for subsequent initiation of a successful repair of wounded tissue. The multiple links among pathogen recognition and suppression, increased angiogenesis, and tissue repair are the topics of this review, which examines of the roles of antimicrobial peptides, mammalian toll-like receptors (TLRs), inflammatory cytokines, and putative "danger" signals, among other signaling pathways, in triggering, sustaining, and then terminating an angiogenic response.


Hepatocytes were the first cell-type for which oscillations of cytoplasmic calcium levels in response to hormones were described. Since then, investigation of calcium dynamics in liver explants and culture has greatly increased our understanding of calcium signaling. A bottleneck, however, exists in observing calcium dynamics in a non-invasive manner due to the optical inaccessibility of the mammalian liver. Here we take advantage of the transparency of the zebrafish larvae to develop a setup that allows in vivo imaging of calcium flux in zebrafish hepatocytes at cellular resolution. Using this, we provide quantitative assessment of intracellular calcium dynamics during multiple contexts, including growth, feeding, ethanol-induced stress and cell ablation. Specifically, we show that synchronized calcium oscillations are present in vivo, which are lost upon starvation. Feeding recommences calcium waves in the liver, but in a spatially restricted manner. Further, ethanol treatment as well as cell ablation induces calcium flux, but with different dynamics. The former causes asynchronous calcium oscillations, while the latter leads to a single calcium spike. Overall, we demonstrate the presence of oscillations, waves and spikes in vivo. Thus, our study introduces a platform for observing diverse calcium dynamics while maintaining the native environment of the liver, which will help investigations into the dissection of molecular mechanisms supporting the intra- and intercellular calcium signaling in the liver.


Reconstitution of urethral defects through a tissue-engineered autologous urethra is an exciting area of clinical urology research. Despite rapid advances in this field, a tissue-engineered urethra is still inaccessible to clinical applications because of the poor vascularization of the current scaffold materials, especially for the reconstruction of complex urethral defects. In this study, we report the preparation of multifaceted bio-interfacing tissue-engineered autologous scaffolds based on alternating block polyurethane (abbreviated as PU-alt), a kind of tubular scaffold with a hierarchical nanofiber architecture, flexible mechanical properties and a hydrophilic PEGylation interface capable of promoting adhesion, oriented elongation, and proliferation of New Zealand rabbit autologous urethral epithelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) simultaneously, and also upregulating the expression of keratin (AE1/AE3) in ECs and contractile protein (α-SMA) in SMCs as well as the subsequent synthesis of elastin. Three months in vivo scaffold substitution of rabbit urethras displayed that the engineered autologous PU-alt scaffold grafts, with a coating rich in seed cell-matrix, could induce local neo-vascularization, facilitating oriented SMC remodeling and lumen epithelialization as well as patency. Our findings indicate a central role of the synergistic interplay of seed cell-matrix bio-interface and nano-topographic cues in the vascularized urethral reconstruction.


Many algorithmic problems are interesting to both theoreticians and practitioners, but in a different manner. While the theoreticians have traditionally focused on worst-case scenarios which is often not very useful in practice, the practitioners are sometimes stuck in the hacking culture and arrive at solutions that only work well in a few specific cases. An example of such an algorithmic problem is ray shooting.Imposing some data structure to support ray-shooting queries usually helps to improve the efficiency of the algorithm. We focus on one such data structure---the octree. It is flexible and adaptive and has many applications. However, its degree of adaptiveness usually depends on manually selected parameters controlling its termination criteria. It is difficult to fix a set of parameter values that is good for all possible scenes. One approach to resolve this problem is to construct a data structure which "tunes itself" to the input without using arbitrary preset parameters, so that a single algorithm is suitable for all situations. Surprisingly, only a few investigations have focused on this approach compared to the huge amount of research papers on ray shooting from both the theoreticians and the practitioners. We take some steps in this direction by evaluating several octree construction schemes for use in ray shooting, some widely used in the computer graphics literature (such as bounding the number of objects in a leaf and the maximum depth) and some developed in companion papers as part of this research (cost-driven k-greedy termination criteria). Our experimental results show that the octrees constructed using our schemes are better than those built with a priori fixed parameters.Our octree construction algorithm is driven by a simple cost predictor and has been proven elsewhere to approximate the optimal tree to within a constant factor. We fine-tune the predictor and observe the behavior of our algorithm on octrees built to support a simple ray tracing engine and compare its performance with those of commonly used alternatives. It appears to work well in practice.


: A study is presented of 582 patients with acute viral-bacterial pneumonia in those with a history of influenza and acute respiratory disease (ARD). Protracted course of the disease was observed in 121 (20.8%) and 461 (79.2%) the course of pneumonia was acute. It is shown that the formation of protracted of acute pneumonia in patients with influenza and ARD is furthered by several factors: age, foci of chronic infection, a history of inflammation, increased level of circulating immune complexes, late hospitalization and inadequate therapy. Experiments on Syrian hamsters with induced parainfluenzal infection showed that mixed viral-bacterial infection is more severe than monoinfection.


BACKGROUND Several studies have suggested that temperature may have an effect on the number of cardiovascular deaths in societies. Global warming is a concern, and cardiovascular diseases are the top cause of death worldwide. This study investigated the relation between temperature and cardiovascular mortality in Shiraz City, Iran. METHODS In this ecological study, data about temperature and cardiovascular deaths (in age and gender groups) in Shiraz City were inquired from 2006 to 2012. The simultaneous and delayed relation between monthly temperature and cardiovascular deaths was examined using Spearman and Pearson correlation tests, and crude and adjusted negative binomial regression analysis with adjustment for confounding factors such as humidity, rainfall, wind direction, wind speed, and air pollutants. Analysis was done using MINITAB and STATA software. RESULTS During this period 17,167 deaths were reported in Shiraz. The lowest number of cardiovascular deaths was reported in 20 °C. No significant relation was observed between mean monthly temperature and cardiovascular deaths in the same month after adjusting for confounding factors. Although, cardiovascular death in 18- to 60-year-old people showed an inverse significant relation with minimum [Incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.98989, P = 0.020], maximum (IRR = 0.99046, P = 0.011), and mean temperature (IRR = 0.98913, P = 0.006) of the same month in the crude model, it was not significant in the adjusted model (IRR = 0.99848, P = 0.848, IRR = 0.99587, P = 0.584, and IRR = 0.99512, P = 0.506, respectively). CONCLUSION It seems that there is no significant relation between temperature and cardiovascular deaths in Shiraz, which is probably due to its moderate climate, and the fact that no major heat or cold wave occurred during this time.


This report summarizes the status of electronic manufacturing and packaging technology in Japan in comparison to that in the United States, and its impact on competition in electronic manufacturing in general. In addition to electronic manufacturing technologies, the report covers technology and manufacturing infrastructure, electronics manufacturing and assembly, quality assurance and reliability in the Japanese electronics industry, and successful product realization strategies. The panel found that Japan leads the United States in almost every electronics packaging technology. Japan clearly has achieved a strategic advantage in electronics production and process technologies. Panel members believe that Japanese competitors could be leading U.S. firms by as much as a decade in some electronics process technologies. Japan has established this marked competitive advantage in electronics as a consequence of developing low-cost, high-volume consumer products. Japan's infrastructure, and the remarkable cohesiveness of vision and purpose in government and industry, are key factors in the success of Japan's electronics industry. Although Japan will continue to dominate consumer electronics in the foreseeable future, opportunities exist for the United States and other industrial countries to capture an increasingly large part of the market. The JTEC panel has identified no insurmountable barriers that would prevent the United States from regaining a significant share of the consumer electronics market; in fact, there is ample evidence that the United States needs to aggressively pursue high-volume, low-cost electronic assembly, because it is a critical path leading to high-performance electronic systems.


New media literacy is an important employability skill for the future workforce and particularly important for graduates in the Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Digital story telling is a widely recognised strategy to engage student learning. This project evaluated student perspectives of the value digital story telling in the context of graduate skills development, digital media capability and leading areas of concern. Forth-year Pharmacy students (n=92) from the University of South Australia and 2nd year Health Science Students (n=83) from Griffith University were surveyed. Overwhelmingly, students reported the assessment was fun and they enjoyed working creatively and in teams. They also reported the development of graduate qualities including problem solving (85%), critical thinking (82%), oral (91%) communication, team work (95%) and time management (90%). For educators interested in this form of assessment, key considerations include mindfulness of level of anxiety this new form of activity may place on students, in particular their "need" for instruction and access to software and hardware. Students reporting anxiety or apprehension were most concerned about technical skill (87%) and the time required to complete the task (83%) that was linked to lower levels of computing ability (55% vs. 90% reporting as good/expert).


Etiology, clinical manifestations and outcome were reviewed in 139 cases of "locked-in syndrome." Six cases were reported from our center and the remaining 133 cases were taken from a review of the literature. The results of this review emphasized the necessity for a comprehensive program of pulmonary management in this population. Furthermore, an effective system of communication for the patient is considered essential in the management of the "locked-in" state. Reported mortality in the cases reviewed was 60%. Overall, the prognosis for survival and recovery was found to be better in the group of patients whose syndrome was nonvascular in origin than those with a vascular etiology. Functional recovery was generally good in those patients with a vascular etiology who survived beyond 4 months while recovery occurred earlier and more completely in the nonvascular group. Thus, a program of intensive rehabilitation should be considered early in both groups in order to assist each patient in attaining the highest level of function possible as recovery progresses.


CO2 and hydrocarbon fluxes from a sitka spruce forest were measured using a conditional sampling method. The method was used in two ways: (1) an automated system was used to monitor continuously the mixing ratio difference of total hydrocarbons and CO2 in sampling lines for updraught and downdraught air and (2) conditionally sampled updraught and downdraught air was passed through adsorption tubes, which subsequently were analyzed in the laboratory, to determine the fluxes of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs). Aerodynamic gradient measurements of NMHC fluxes were made over the same period. Method (1) produced a high temporal resolution data set of approximately 4 days of near-continuous fluxes. Marked diurnal trends in CO2 flux were evident. Peak daylight photosynthetic fluxes ranged from −30 to −90 mmol m−2 h−1. Smaller fluxes were noted during heavy rainfall and diminished photosynthetic ally active radiation. Nighttime respiration ranged from 0 to 10 mmol m−2 h−l. Total hydrocarbon fluxes were 3 orders of magnitude smaller. During hot, sunny conditions a total hydrocarbon flux of approximately 400 μmol m−2 h−1 (CH4 equivalents) was observed. Fluxes of specific NMHC compounds, from method (2), ranged between 90 and 563 μg m−2 hour−1. The annual carbon flux to Great Britain's conifer forests was estimated to be 1.3 Mt using a simple upscaling model based on the observations of CO2 flux during the field experiment.


Evolutionary ecological theory predicts that among insect herbivores 'mothers know best' when selecting a plant to deposit their eggs. Host-plant selection is usually studied for the adult stage exclusively, although mothers have not always been reported to know best. Here, we investigate the host-plant selection behaviour of caterpillars, which are considered to be completely dependent on their mothers' choices. We use a system that offers a biologically relevant framework to compare the degree of participation of adults and juveniles in host-plant selection. Our results show that neonate Pieris brassicae caterpillars can actively discriminate between conspecific Brassica oleracea plants with or without aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae) infestation. The caterpillars prefer aphid-infested plants on which their performance is significantly better, while their mothers, the female butterflies, did not discriminate. We compared caterpillar preferences of individuals released individually or in groups, because P. brassicae is a gregarious species. We found that the strength of the preference for aphid-infested plants was not affected by the degree of grouping. Caterpillar choices were made before contact with the plants, indicating that plant odours were used for orientation. However, the composition of the volatile blends emitted by plants with and without aphids did not show strong differences. Similarly, like with aphid-infested plants, plants treated with salicylic acid (SA) were also preferred by neonates over untreated control, indicating that the infestation by aphids may have rendered the plants more attractive to the neonates via changes related to interference with JA-signaling. The main parasitoid of the caterpillars did not discriminate between plants with hosts in the presence or absence of aphids, showing that top–down forces do not influence the relative suitability of the different food sources for the caterpillars. These data are discussed in the context of mothers and offspring having both important, but different roles in the process of host-plant selection. Butterflies may select the plant species patch, while their offspring adjust and/or update the choices of their mothers at the local scale, within the micro-habitat selected by the adult.


Progressive increases in cigarette tax rates provide a powerful contribution to policy for reducing cigarette consumption and generate extra government revenue. The policy has been most effective in groups for whom health publicity effects have been least so, but special provision may be necessary to avoid hardship to poor families.


There has been a growing interest in research investigating various issues of zakah. Following the theory of planned behavior, this study aimed to determine the effect of attitudes, subjective norms, and control behavior on muzakki's intention to pay zakah. This study involved 247 muzakki participants responding to 300 questionnaires. Using the method of multiple linear regression for data analysis, it was found that Attitudes and Control Behavior variables have a positive and significant effect on the muzakki intention variable, while Subjective norms do not. The variables of Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Control Behavior each contributed 4.62%, 2.88% and 8.5% to the muzakki intention variable. The overall contribution value of Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Control Behavior variables to muzakki's intention variable is 16%. This indicates that 84% of muzakki's intention to pay is influenced by other variables not analyzed in this study.


A computer search was carried out for homologies between HLA‐A and HLA‐B antigen sequences and the sequences of constant and variable regions of immunoglobulins and of all other sequenced proteins. Searches were made both with relatively short peptide sequences from the HLA antigens and with those longer peptide sequences which were available in 1978. Significant homology of HLA antigen sequences to immunoglobulin constant region sequences was found in two cases: (1) a short decapeptide sequence which includes the fourth cysteine residue of HLA‐B7 and (2) an 89‐amino‐acid residue (Ac‐2) C‐terminal fragment of the papain‐solubilized HLA‐B7 molecule. The difficulty of establishing statistically significant sequence homology with relatively short peptide sequences is emphasized by computer‐based comparisons of the decapeptide sequence with randomly generated peptide sequences. It is concluded that statistically significant homology with short sequences can be assured only when extraordinarily high degrees of homology are present and additional constraints are included in the matches, for example, matches at relatively rare amino acid residues such as Cys, His and Trp. The homology of the 89‐amino‐acid residue sequence to constant region sequences of immunoglobulins is as great as or greater than that of β2‐microglobulin. These findings and the unique domain structure involving a disulphide loop of comparable size strongly favour a common evolutionary origin for this region of HLA‐A and ‐B, β2‐microglobulin and immunoglobulin constant regions.


The Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) is endorsed as a first-line treatment for tic disorders, but it is not widely available. This is partially due to an enduring misconception that behavior therapy results in tic worsening, as well as the perception that treatment manuals are too inflexible for use in clinical settings. In an effort to address these concerns, the present study was conducted with two primary goals: (1) use existing clinical data to assess the effectiveness of CBIT in a pediatric clinic and (2) systematically examine similarities and differences between the CBIT protocol and clinic-based treatment in a subset of patients identified as treatment successes. We conducted a chart review of pediatric outpatients who received the CBIT intervention. Clinical characteristics, clinician symptom severity ratings, and session content data were extracted. A repeated-measures t test was used to determine whether the change in symptom severity was significant, and one-sample t tests were used to compare clinic-based treatment against the manual. Clinic-based CBIT treatment significantly reduced tic symptom severity, t(9) = 5.08, p = .001, d = 1.68. Moreover, this significant reduction was found with flexible use of the CBIT manual. While it is unclear if CBIT or other components of treatment were responsible for the treatment effects, the results suggest that for at least some pediatric patients with tic disorders, positive treatment outcomes can be achieved when CBIT is flexibly applied in a clinical setting.


The nosocomial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulates its virulence via a complex quorum sensing network, which, besides N-acylhomoserine lactones, includes the alkylquinolone signal molecules 2-heptyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-quinolone (Pseudomonas quinolone signal [PQS]) and 2-heptyl-4(1H)-quinolone (HHQ). Mycobacteroides abscessus subsp. abscessus, an emerging pathogen, is capable of degrading the PQS and also HHQ. Here, we show that although M. abscessus subsp. ABSTRACT The nosocomial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulates its virulence via a complex quorum sensing network, which, besides N-acylhomoserine lactones, includes the alkylquinolone signal molecules 2-heptyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-quinolone (Pseudomonas quinolone signal [PQS]) and 2-heptyl-4(1H)-quinolone (HHQ). Mycobacteroides abscessus subsp. abscessus, an emerging pathogen, is capable of degrading the PQS and also HHQ. Here, we show that although M. abscessus subsp. abscessus reduced PQS levels in coculture with P. aeruginosa PAO1, this did not suffice for quenching the production of the virulence factors pyocyanin, pyoverdine, and rhamnolipids. However, the levels of these virulence factors were reduced in cocultures of P. aeruginosa PAO1 with recombinant M. abscessus subsp. massiliense overexpressing the PQS dioxygenase gene aqdC of M. abscessus subsp. abscessus, corroborating the potential of AqdC as a quorum quenching enzyme. When added extracellularly to P. aeruginosa cultures, AqdC quenched alkylquinolone and pyocyanin production but induced an increase in elastase levels. When supplementing P. aeruginosa cultures with QsdA, an enzyme from Rhodococcus erythropolis which inactivates N-acylhomoserine lactone signals, rhamnolipid and elastase levels were quenched, but HHQ and pyocyanin synthesis was promoted. Thus, single quorum quenching enzymes, targeting individual circuits within a complex quorum sensing network, may also elicit undesirable regulatory effects. Supernatants of P. aeruginosa cultures grown in the presence of AqdC, QsdA, or both enzymes were less cytotoxic to human epithelial lung cells than supernatants of untreated cultures. Furthermore, the combination of both aqdC and qsdA in P. aeruginosa resulted in a decline of Caenorhabditis elegans mortality under P. aeruginosa exposure.